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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/35311-8.txt b/35311-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d033a18 --- /dev/null +++ b/35311-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8629 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eichhofs, by Moritz von Reichenbach + +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: The Eichhofs + A Romance + +Author: Moritz von Reichenbach + +Translator: Mrs. A. L. Wister + +Release Date: February 18, 2011 [EBook #35311] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EICHHOFS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + 1. Moritz von Reichenbach is the pseudonymn for Valeska + (von Reiswitz-Kaderzin) Bethusy-Huc + + 2. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?id=bXs5AAAAMAAJ&dq + + 3. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + Mrs. A. L. Wister's Translations. + + 12mo. Cloth, $1.00 per volume. + + + Countess Erika's Apprenticeship By Ossip Schubin. + "O Thou, My Austria!" By Ossip Schubin. + Erlach Court By Ossip Schubin. + The Alpine Fay By E. Werner. + The Owl's Nest By E. Marlitt. + Picked Up In The Streets By H. Schobert. + Saint Michael By E. Werner. + Violetta By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel. + The Lady With The Rubies By E. Marlitt. + Vain Forebodings By E. Oswald. + A Penniless Girl By W. Heimburg. + Quicksands By Adolph Streckfuss. + Banned And Blessed By E. Werner. + A Noble Name By Claire von Glümer. + From Hand To Hand By Golo Raimund. + Severa By E. Hartner. + A New Race By Golo Raimund. + The Eichhofs By Moritz von Reichenbach. + Castle Hohenwald By Adolph Streckfuss. + Margarethe By E. Juncker. + Too Rich By Adolph Streckfuss. + A Family Feud By Ludwig Harder. + The Green Gate By Ernst Wichert. + Only A Girl By Wilhelmine von Hillern. + Why Did He Not Die? By Ad. von Volckhauser. + Hulda By Fanny Lewald. + The Bailiff's Maid By E. Marlitt. + In The Schillingscourt By E. Marlitt. + Countess Gisela By E. Marlitt. + At The Councillor's By E. Marlitt. + The Second Wife By E. Marlitt. + The Old Mam'selle's Secret By E. Marlitt. + Gold Elsie By E. Marlitt. + The Little Moorland Princess By E. Marlitt. + + * * * * * + +"Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels from the +German, has established a reputation of the highest order for literary +judgment, and for a long time her name upon the title-page of such a +translation has been a sufficient guarantee to the lovers of fiction of +a pure and elevating character, that the novel would be a cherished +home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is fully justified by the fact +that among her more than thirty translations that have been published +by Lippincott's there has not been a single disappointment. And to the +exquisite judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of +her translations, which has commanded the admiration of literary and +linguistic scholars."--_Boston Home Journal_. + + * * * * * + + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + + + + THE EICHHOFS + + A ROMANCE + + + FROM THE GERMAN + OF + MORITZ VON REICHENBACH + + + BY + MRS. A. L. WISTER + TRANSLATOR OF "THE SECOND WIFE," "THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET," + "ONLY A GIRL," ETC., ETC. + + + + + PHILADELPHIA: + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. + 1896. + + + + + + * * * * * + Copyright, 1881, by J. B. Lippincott & Co. + * * * * * + + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER + I. Shadows of Coming Events + + II. Two Discontented Fathers + + III. Hidden Springs + + IV. Gossip + + V. Marriage + + VI. A Farewell Glass and a Death-bed + + VII. Unexpected + + VIII. At The Tomb + + IX. Cloudy Weather at Eichhof + + X. Found and Lost + + XI. Thea Rounds her First Promontory + + XII. Another Promontory Comes In Sight + + XIII. A Period put to a Long Row of Figures + + XIV. The Mistress of Eichhof and her Guests + + XV. In Berlin + + XVI. Revelations and their Consequences + + XVII. The Consequences begin to Appear + + XVIII. An Eventful Day + + XIX. The Shadows Gather + + XX. Dr. Nordstedt + + XXI. Summer Days + + XXII. A Crisis + + XXIII. A Short Chapter, with a Far Glance into the Future + + XXIV. Per Crucem ad Lucem + + CONCLUSION + + + + + + + THE EICHHOFS. + + + + CHAPTER I. + + SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS. + + +In a box of the Berlin Opera-House sat three young officers. All wore +the uniform of the same regiment of the Guards, and all three were +directing their opera-glasses towards the same opposite box. + +"The girl has just got home from boarding-school, and will have a _dot_ +of half a million in cash," observed Lieutenant von Hohenstein, +dropping his opera-glass. + +"The deuce she will! No end of pity that I am such an infernal +aristocrat,--it would be such a fine morsel for a poor younger son," +said the younger of the Von Eichhof brothers, with a laugh, as he +stroked his blonde moustache. "She has a good figure, too, and any +amount of fire in her eyes." + +"True," said his elder brother; "but why under heaven does the portly +mamma, with her double chin, and huge satin-clad bust, plant herself so +close to her Rose of Sharon, proclaiming to all the world, 'As she is +now so was I once, and as I am now so shall she one day be'?" + +"Take warning, Hohenstein," laughed Lothar Eichhof. + +"Pshaw! there's no danger," the other replied, leaning back in his +comfortable chair and stretching his long legs as far out as the limits +of the box would allow. + +"Councillor Kohnheim greeted you with extreme affability, I thought, +just now, and you are well informed as to the financial affairs of the +family," Lothar persisted, in a teasing tone. + +Hohenstein put up his hand to conceal a yawn. Among his peculiarities +was that of being bored everywhere and always. + +"Kohnheim thinks wealth no disgrace, and loves to acquaint people with +the amount of his own," he said. "Besides, he is my landlord; of course +we are acquainted. To my German eyes, however, the ladies are of too +Oriental a type. I have no desire to know them." + +"Thank heaven! then there is nothing to fear from that quarter. I +confess it vexes me when one of our good old names is allied to such a +family." + +"Make your mind easy on my account," rejoined Herr von Hohenstein. "I +do not undervalue wealth, but I prize blood rather more." + +Lothar Eichhof meanwhile was scanning the house, while his elder +brother, Bernhard, had withdrawn into the shadow, and was steadily +scrutinizing through his glass the foreign ambassadors' box. He now +dropped his glass, shook his head, then put up his glass again, and +finally said, more to himself than to his companions, "That is--Marzell +Wronsky--and---- He bit his lip, and did not finish the sentence. + +"Marzell Wronsky?" Lothar repeated. "Where?" But as he spoke he +discovered him. "I did not know he had come back!" he exclaimed. "I +wonder if the handsome blonde beside him is his wife?" + +"Probably," said Hohenstein. "Where does the lady come from? Marzell's +marriage was so sudden that one hardly knows anything about it." + +"She is a kind of cousin of his," said Lothar, "with a Polish name, +ending in 'ky' or 'ka,' and was formerly married to a Hungarian, who +either died or was divorced from her. Marzell met her last year at +Wiesbaden, and shortly afterwards they were betrothed and married." + +"And where has he been hiding since?" + +"He has been travelling with his bride. I must go over and see them in +the next entr'acte. You will come, too?" + +"Of course; this new addition to society must be inspected." + +Bernhard Eichhof had taken no part in the conversation, but had +frequently glanced towards the box where the persons under discussion +were sitting. When, at the close of the act, the other two men arose, +with the evident intention of visiting its occupants, he sat still, in +apparent indecision. + +"Well, are you not coming?" asked Lothar "Marzell is more your friend +than ours. I confess I am going more from curiosity than from +friendship." + +Bernhard looked over at the box once more. "They are just rising; +perhaps they are going to leave the house," he said, hesitating. + +"Yes, they seem to be going," said Hohenstein, resuming his seat. + +"Well, then, I will go and reconnoitre," said Lothar, "and if you see +me in the box you two can come over." + +In five minutes he returned. "The Wronskys are really gone. Marzell +seems to have adopted high and mighty manners since his marriage. He +puts in an appearance only during a single act. However, we shall +certainly see his wife at Eichhof, if we should fail to meet her here." + +"Quite time enough for the acquaintance. I have scarcely seen Marzell +since the old school-boy days, and am not at all intimate with him +now," Bernhard remarked. + +If his two companions had been less occupied with the new prima-donna, +and with the champagne supper at a noted restaurant after the opera was +over, they must have noticed that Bernhard was unusually absent-minded +and monosyllabic all through the evening. But his mood was entirely +unnoticed by them,--all the more since several brother officers joined +their party, which did not break up until long past midnight. + +When at last the young men separated, the two brothers Von Eichhof +walked together to their apartments, at present beneath the same roof, +and for a while not a word was exchanged between them. + +Then the younger asked, suddenly, "Shall I tell you the news, Bernhard? +I'm at the end of my income,--the last thaler went to-night." + +Bernhard turned with some impatience. "Lothar," he exclaimed, +reproachfully, "this is really too much! When I helped you out last +month you promised me----" + +"Come, come, my dear fellow, there's no use in that," Lothar +interrupted him. "I know as well as you do that I partake largely of +the character of the domestic fly, provided, indeed, that that insect +is endowed with a character. I frisk in the sunshine and buzz or +grumble in the shade." + +"I cannot understand your jesting in such a matter, Lothar." + +"But what am I to do, then?" the other rejoined. "Whether I indulge in +poor jokes or sit in sackcloth and ashes, the confounded fact remains +the same. 'All I have is gone, gone, gone,'" he hummed, _sotto voce_; +but suddenly he grew grave and sighed. "Shall I go to-morrow to Herr +Solomon Landsberger, who has often and with great kindness offered to +give me his valuable assistance?" he asked. + +They walked a few steps farther in silence, and then Bernhard said, "I +can't understand what becomes of your money. You have apartments just +like mine and live very much the same life that I do." + +"With the exception of the extra bills, which I dare not send to +Eichhof." + +Bernhard made an impatient gesture, but Lothar went on: "I know what +you mean. You mean that I ought to think of the future, when our +positions will be so different. I ought to consider that what is all +right for the future possessor of Eichhof is supreme folly for a petty +lieutenant. All true and just; but why the deuce, then, did our father +put me in the same regiment with yourself? and why does every one +expect exactly the same from the poor lieutenant as from the eldest son +and heir? and why are people so infernally stupid as not to take into +account the immense difference between us?" + +"It was certainly unfortunate," said Bernhard, "that you joined just +this regiment; no doubt you are led here into many expenses that can +hardly be avoided; but still----" + +"Well, then, I'd better go to friend Solomon to-morrow, and try my luck +with him," Lothar interrupted him. + +Bernhard stamped his foot impatiently. + +"Don't talk nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Of course I shall help you out, +since, as you justly remark, I may send in extra accounts when I +please; but pray listen to reason, Lothar. You know that we shall +shortly cease to live here together. When I marry I can no longer +place my means at your disposal as at present." + +"Ah, when Thea is your wife, I shall quarter myself upon you so soon as +my money is gone. It usually lasts until the twentieth of the month, +and then I shall ensconce myself in your happy home. But I have not +thanked you yet. Indeed, old fellow, you are a brick of a brother. Then +I need not pay my respects to friend Solomon to-morrow?" + +Meanwhile they had reached their lodgings, and, as Bernhard was putting +his key in the lock, he said, "I will help you through this time, +Lothar, but remember it is the last. You must learn prudence, and it is +in direct opposition to my principles to encourage this perpetual +getting into debt. I did not, as you know, make the laws controlling +inheritance, and I cannot alter the fact that our circumstances will be +very different in the future. But I say now only just what I should say +were you in my place and I in yours. Every man must cut his coat +according to his cloth." + +"And if one is a six-footer and has only a scrap of cloth, he is in a +desperate case," thought Lothar; but he kept his thought to himself, +and softly whistled an opera air as he entered their apartments with +his brother. + +"It's no end of a pity that we must leave our charming quarters so +soon," he sighed, as he threw himself upon a lounge in their joint +drawing-room, which was certainly most luxuriously fitted up for a +bachelor establishment, while Bernhard opened and read, with a smile, a +letter lying upon his table. + +Lothar watched him for a moment, then folded his arms and raised his +eyes to the ceiling, with an expression half resignation and half +disdain, while his thoughts ran somewhat thus: "Of course that is a +letter from Thea. What under the sun can that little country girl have +to say to him? A deuced pretty girl, and she'll make a capital wife. +It's very odd that I'm not angry with her, for there's not another +creature in the world so confoundedly in my way. If it were not for +her, we should keep our comfortable lodgings, and Bernhard, who is +certainly a trump, would go on paying my bills; and, besides, he has +grown so infernally serious since he has had that little witch's +betrothal-ring on his finger; before then we lived a jolly life enough. +It is all Thea's fault,--his immense gravity, his ceasing to pay my +debts, and our having to give up our delightful rooms. It is, +therefore, Thea who prevents my enjoying my youth, as I should do +otherwise, and yet, in spite of all this, I am rather fond of her. But +it is not my nature to bear malice towards any woman, even although she +be such an unformed little country girl as Thea, who certainly might +have been content to wait a few years longer." + +"Bernhard," he suddenly said aloud, "I will withdraw to my inmost +apartment, and leave you to your letter and to dreams of future +petticoat rule." + +Bernhard put his letter in his pocket. "I have finished," he said, "and +am going to bed. Thea sends her love to you." + +"Of course," yawned Lothar; "thanks. We'll talk about the other matter +to-morrow?" + +"Yes. Good-night, Lothar." + +"Good-night, old fellow." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + TWO DISCONTENTED FATHERS. + + +A forest bridle-path. The ground is covered with gnarled, twisted +roots, and the way is bordered with dark pines, and firs somewhat +lighter in tone, between which only a narrow strip of spring sky shines +down upon the two riders pursuing the dim pathway. Their horses, slowly +walking abreast, seem by no means content to saunter thus; the chestnut +upon which the man is mounted champs its bit impatiently, and the gray +by its side pricks its ears, but the girl upon the back of the latter +is as interested as her companion in the conversation going on between +them, and neither pays any heed to the signs of their steeds' +impatience, while the groom riding at some distance behind them is +enjoying a huge sandwich that he has produced from his pocket, in full +security from observation. + +"It is too vexatious to know nothing about it all!" the girl exclaimed. +"I am almost ashamed never to have been in Berlin." + +"But, good heavens, you are so young, Adela!" her companion rejoined. + +"If we are to continue friends, Walter, you will not begin again about +my fifteen years, of which there can be no further mention after next +month, when I shall be sixteen," was the irritated reply. "I am in +reality much, much older, as you know, and I know that I look older. +Only the other day Lieutenant Müllheim took me for eighteen; and if +papa would only allow me to dress suitably, and if it were not for that +stupid Almanach de Gotha that tells everybody our ages----!" She sighed +pathetically. + +Walter laughed. "That sigh would sound more natural from the lips of a +lady past her prime than from those of a budding girl in her teens," he +said; adding instantly, with a meaning glance at his companion, "You +must not look so angry with me, Adela dear. If you refuse to allow me +more license in speaking than you accord to the rest of the world, I +shall address you as Fräulein von Hohenstein and think all our +good-comradeship at an end. Must I do so? In fact, you certainly are +too much of a great lady to be my 'good comrade' any longer." He spoke +without irony, and there was a mournful earnestness in his fine eyes. + +She gave her horse a light cut with her whip, that his sudden start +might give her the chance to conceal the bright blush that overspread +her face. Then she looked up, half pouting, half in entreaty, and said, +"If you want to tease me, Walter, I can't see why you came for me to +ride; you might as well have stayed at home." + +Walter smiled, and saluted with his riding-whip. "Well, then, let us be +good comrades for the future, as neighbors' children ought to be," he +cried. + +Her reply was a merry glance from her blue eyes. + +They had reached the borders of the forest, and before them a well-kept +road, bordered by fine old trees, led directly up to an imposing pile +of buildings. + +"Let us have one more canter," said Adela; and away flew the two horses +so suddenly that the groom behind them was, in his surprise, nearly +choked by his last mouthful of sandwich, and followed his mistress +coughing and gasping all the way up the avenue to the court-yard, where +the two riders drew rein. + +"It has really grown so late that I cannot come in with you," said +Walter. "I must hurry home; you know we are terribly punctual about our +meals at Eichhof." + +"Well, then, good-by; for only a short time, I hope," said Adela, +giving her comrade her hand, and then vanishing with the groom behind +the court-yard gate, while Walter took the road to Eichhof. + +He was the third and youngest son of the Baron or Freiherr von Eichhof. +A few days previously he had passed a brilliant preparatory examination +in Berlin, and was now spending a few weeks at Eichhof before leaving +home for some university. + +As he rode on he looked so grave and thoughtful that one would hardly +have suspected in him the budding student for whom, so thinks the +world, everything must be _couleur de rose_. And yet it was the thought +of this very student-time that occupied Walter now day and night. He +knew that his father had destined him for the study of law, whilst his +own wishes led him in a contrary direction. He knew further that his +wishes would meet with obstinate opposition, and he had therefore +avoided hitherto all explanations with his father. This state of things +he felt could not possibly continue longer, and he was pondering, as he +rode on thus thoughtfully, how he should clearly explain his views. + +Whilst Walter was preparing for a conversation with his father that +would in all probability be far from agreeable, Adela was in the midst +of an interview of a like nature. + +The Baron von Hohenstein was in fact standing at the hall door as his +young daughter reached it. He was just inspecting some young horses of +his own breeding, from which he wished to select one for the use of his +son in the capital. A magnificent gelding that had been judged by him +quite worthy to support his son's soldierly form, and to maintain the +reputation of his stud, had just been discovered to be lame. The +Freiherr turned angrily from the horse to his daughter. + +"You have been gone very long, Adela," he called to her. "And it's +great nonsense your riding half the day with Walter Eichhof; you're too +old for such pranks." + +Adela curled her lip rebelliously as she dismounted, and without a word +took her father's arm and drew him with her into the house. + +"Papa," she said, "you are always saying, 'You are not old enough for +this, you are too young for that,' and so on. What is the matter with +me, then, that I am always too old or too young?" + +But the Freiherr was not disposed to jest to-day. + +"Nonsense!" he growled. "I may not think you old enough to wear a +train, but you look sufficiently like a young lady to make people stare +when they see you always with that school-boy." + +"I beg pardon, papa, Walter has passed his examination." + +"What is that to me? The long and the short of it is, that I won't have +you riding with him." + +"But, papa, Thea Rosen rode with Bernhard Eichhof when he was a +lieutenant and she was only sixteen." + +"That's an entirely different affair. Theresa Rosen was afterwards +betrothed to Bernhard Eichhof, and has done very well for herself. But +when such rides end in no betrothal they are a great folly; and if a +fledgling scarcely out of the nest should have any entanglement with a +young fellow who has neither money nor prospects, it would be a greater +folly still; and I am not the man to allow my daughter to make such a +fool of herself." + +Adela had grown pale, and she looked at her father in a kind of terror +as she left his side and slipped out of the room. What was all this? +Betrothal? Such a thing had never entered her head. And to Walter? It +was all perfect nonsense. Walter was her good comrade. What could put +such ideas into her papa's head? And must she give up the rides which +had been such a pleasure to her? No; it was simply impossible. She +would tell Thea and Alma Rosen about it. What would they say? And +Walter? Should she tell Walter too? She blushed, and discovered that it +would not be easy to tell Walter. And he really had grown very tall and +handsome since his last vacation. She must watch him, and see if he had +any idea of falling in love with her. How hard it was to have no mother +to turn to at such a time! Mademoiselle Belmont, her governess, was not +at all a person to invite confidence. Adela fell into a revery, and +then looked into her mirror. + +"I wonder whether Walter noticed that I dress my hair differently?" she +thought; "and does he think it becoming? I can ask him that, at all +events, when I see him next." + +Meanwhile poor Walter was thinking of anything rather than of the +fashion of Adela's hair. + +The Countess Eichhof, his mother, had withdrawn to her room after +dinner, and Walter was sitting on the castle terrace with his father, +or, more correctly speaking, was walking restlessly to and fro, while +his father, leaning hack in a comfortable arm-chair, was smoking a +cigarette. Count Eichhof, in spite of his years and silvery hair, was a +tall, handsome man, with sparkling eyes and ruddy complexion. The early +bleaching of his locks was a family inheritance, and became excellently +well the present representative of the Eichhof estate and title. + +In his youth the Count had been an officer in the Guards, in the same +regiment where were his two elder sons at present, and where he had so +enjoyed life as to become convinced that it was altogether a capital +invention, and might still be very entertaining even with three +grown-up sons about him. He was now watching with a kind of curiosity +the manner in which these same sons would turn it to account. + +The eldest had betrothed himself quite young. + +"He is a susceptible fellow,--he gets his temperament from me," the +Count said, with a laugh. + +The second, Lothar, was forever at odds with his income, which never +sufficed for his expenses. + +"He is sowing his wild oats with a free hand,--a regular +spendthrift,--but he gets that from me. I was just like him," the Count +said, and laughed again. + +And now it was Walter's turn. + +In conformity to the wishes of his mother, whose family were all +diplomatists and courtiers, he was not destined to enter the army, but +was to pursue a juridical career. The Countess already saw in him a +future ambassador or minister; the Count regarded him with a curious +mixture of compassion and resignation. + +"Our youngest child really should have been a daughter," he was wont to +say. "Since that's impossible, they are going to make a quill-driver of +him. Well, well, there's no help for it. I must make some concessions, +and I had my own way with the two elder boys." + +Thus, instead of entering a military school, Walter had been placed +under the care of a distant relative of the Count, residing in Berlin, +where he enjoyed the advantages of the principal preparatory school in +the capital, to the surprise of his father's 'good friends and +neighbors,' who thought that a first-class provincial establishment +would have served the boy's turn quite as well, and even better. + +"It is a good thing for Walter to become familiar with the capital, and +to feel at home there while he is young," the Countess observed, +without explaining, or indeed understanding herself, in what this 'good +thing' consisted. + +"Let him go to Berlin," thought the Count; "he'll have a chance there +to see his brothers and his cousins in the Guards more often than +elsewhere; and the deuce is in it if, after passing his examinations, +the boy does not 'boot and saddle' and be a soldier. I know I should +have done so in his place." + +And now the 'boy' had reached this point of his career, and had already +been one week at home without uttering a word upon the subject. + +"There's not much of me in him," the Count thought, smoking his +cigarette, as he watched his youngest son pace the terrace to and +fro,--"not much of me; but he's a handsome fellow for all." + +"'Tis a pity; your figure would suit a hussar's uniform much better +than that dress-coat," he said aloud, involuntarily. "Walter stood +still, and observed, smiling, that he could easily serve his year in +the hussars. + +"Are you really determined then to stick to the quill?" his father +asked, incredulously. "You mean to go to the university?" + +"Most certainly, father," Walter replied, seating himself beside the +Count. "And, since we are upon the subject, let me tell you that I have +long desired to discuss my future career with you." + +"Aha! you want to change the programme?" + +"Yes, father, it is my sincere desire to do so; but----" + +"Now, that you get from me, Walter," the Count interrupted his son, +with a laugh. "I should have done just so; there's no ignoring this +soldier-blood of ours." + +Walter leaned forward and fixed his eyes upon the marble pavement of +the terrace. "I did not mean that, sir," he said, in a low tone. + +The Count looked at him in surprise. + +"You don't mean that?" he repeated. "What the deuce do you mean, then?" + +"I wish to continue my studies, but I have not the slightest +predilection for the law," the young man began again. + +The Count looked at his son as though he were speaking some unknown +tongue. + +"What is there for one of your name save the law or the army?" he +asked, his expression, which had hitherto been one of amusement, +suddenly becoming very serious. "You must be aware that those are the +only careers open to a nobleman." + +"Both cost too much money and insure no independence. As a lieutenant +of the Guards, or as an ambassadorial attaché, my expenses would be +very great." + +"The like of this I never before imagined!" the Count exclaimed, with a +resounding slap upon his knee. "The fellow is my son, nineteen years +old; and is thinking of the amount of his expenses. What the deuce put +that into your head?" + +"I know that our property lies chiefly in real estate, and that Lothar +uses a great deal of money," Walter replied, shyly. + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the Count. "You are a most extraordinary specimen of +an Eichhof. I can't tell where you got that economic vein; but since +there it is, let me tell you something, my boy. The net income of the +Eichhof estates amounts to some hundred and fifty thousand marks. I +have so improved and repaired everywhere that nothing more is required +in that quarter; and we are not going to Berlin any more, it is too +much for your mother's nerves. Well, then, we can easily live, and live +well, upon sixty thousand marks a year. Therefore, if you use only +sixty thousand marks yearly for the next five years, we shall have laid +up a capital of four hundred and fifty thousand marks, without +reckoning the interest. Add to that about a hundred thousand marks of +income derived from other sources, and--you need not tell Lothar, for +he spends quite enough,--but you can easily see that you will be very +comfortable one of these days. We enjoyed our youth. Age exacts less of +life; it will not be hard for us to retrench our expenses somewhat. +And since there never was an Eichhof who died before he was at least +fifty-five,--most of them live to be seventy or eighty,--there is quite +time enough to save money. Poor fellow! your prudence is quite thrown +away." + +The Count was always rather inclined to pity his youngest son, and he +did so now from the bottom of his heart, as he twisted himself a fresh +cigarette. + +But Walter did not yet seem quite satisfied. + +"You are very kind to your children, sir," he began once more, after a +pause; "but it was not only pecuniary considerations that influenced my +desire to change my studies. There is a profession which I should +embrace with enthusiasm, yes, which would even be more attractive to +me, could I cease to see in it a means of income. There is a study that +interests me far more than that of law,--a science to which I should +gladly devote any talent that I may possess." + +"Well, well, if we must discuss the matter, at least speak +intelligibly, Walter," the Count exclaimed, impatiently. "What's all +this about profession and science?" + +"Father," Walter said, taking his hand and looking full into his face +with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks, "I want to be a naturalist and +a physician." + +If some one had informed the Count that Castle Eichhof was to be +immediately converted into a lunatic asylum, he could not have looked +more amazed and indignant than now upon hearing his son declare that he +wished to be a physician. + +"Physician?" he repeated. "Physician!" + +He rose from his arm-chair and stood proudly erect. "You are insane, +Walter!" he said, angrily. But with the anger there was evidently +mingled a large share of that compassion upon which Walter seemed now +to have established a special claim. + +Walter, too, had risen, and looked frankly and honestly at his father. +"It is the only calling for which I shall ever really care," he said, +warmly, "and I know that I could devote myself to it heart and soul. I +entreat you, do not force me into another career for which I am quite +unfit. Give your consent to what, believe me, is no passing whim of +mine. I have had opportunity to observe this calling in all its +aspects. I pondered the matter earnestly before mentioning it to you. +I----" + +"Enough!" exclaimed the Count, and a dark shadow clouded his usually +jovial face. "Enough of this nonsense! You may be in earnest, Walter, +but I,--I too am just as much in earnest, and I solemnly declare to you +that I never will consent that an Eichhof--a son of mine--should +embrace such a senseless career. I will not have it; do you understand? +I will not have it; and my will must be your law." + +And the Count left the terrace with an echoing tread, while Walter +stood still, utterly cast down. + +"I knew it," he murmured, "and yet--and yet----" + +He threw himself into the arm-chair that his father had left, and +leaned his head on his hand. + +Nevertheless there must have been in his veins some particle of the +soldier-blood of the Eichhofs, for he had not sat there long lost in +thought, when he suddenly sprang up, saying,-- + +"Well, that was the first attack, and it has been repulsed. Now for +besieging the fortress, which may yield at last." + +But the Count did not yield. He persisted in his refusal, and the +Countess shed tears over Walter's 'inconceivable desire.' She was sure +the idea must have been suggested to him by some association unfitting +his rank and position, and she was, as we shall see, not far wrong in +her surmises. + +There followed some very disagreeable days at Castle Eichhof, and the +result was that Walter, with a heavy heart, resolved to conform to his +parents' wishes, and at least to attempt the study of law. He could not +see how to act otherwise at present. He must, he thought, furnish this +proof of his willingness to obey, but in secret he did not relinquish +the hope of one day carrying out his own plans. The Count was seriously +out of sorts for a few days, but upon Walter's submission his brow +cleared again, and his thoughts turned from this annoying intermezzo to +the approaching Easter holidays, when he expected his two other sons at +Castle Eichhof, which should once more be, as he expressed it, "the +headquarters of youthful fun and frolic." + +"The boys must be entertained when they come home," was his watchword. +The Countess had the ball-room newly decorated, and made out lists for +dinner- and dancing-parties. Walter was a great deal alone in the +library writing letters, and took many a lonely ride. He rode once to +Rollin to invite Adela Hohenstein to ride with him, but the Baron +declared that the physician had forbidden so much horseback exercise, +and Adela's manner towards him was so strangely altered that, instead +of confiding his grief to her as he had intended to do, he soon rode +home again. + +"Adela is playing the young lady, I see,--she really coquetted with me +to-day," he said to himself; "but I am no longer in the mood to be +entertained by her upon the subject of the fashion in which her hair is +dressed. If she will no longer be my good comrade, she may let it +alone. These young girls are very little good after all." + +Still, oddly enough, he thought oftener than usual of Adela that day, +and when he was occupied with the most serious plans for the future her +fair curly head would intrude upon his thoughts in a most unnecessary +and uncalled-for manner. "She certainly has grown extremely pretty of +late,--there is no doubt of that," he thought. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + HIDDEN SPRINGS. + + +Thus Easter came 'slowly up this way,' and with the holidays the 'sons' +from Berlin came to Eichhof and to Rollin. + +No finer sight was to be seen than the handsome Count Eichhof and his +wife, whose rather faded face and figure retained the traces of former +beauty, surrounded by their three sons, the two elder models of manly +strength and grace, while a kind of vague nimbus of future distinction +hovered around Walter, for which, as the reader knows, his mother was +far more responsible than himself. When her high-handed lord had +yielded a reluctant consent that her youngest boy should be moulded +according to his mother's desire, her imagination instantly perceived +in him the future diplomat,--the one of her children born to act a part +in the world's history. He was in her eyes a most remarkable child, +and, since he really was a very docile, amiable boy, and in +consideration of the fact that one of his uncles was an ambassador and +another a lord of the treasury, there were found family friends on all +sides ready, whenever Walter was spoken of, to whisper significantly, +"A wonderful young fellow! He has a brilliant career before him!" + +To complete the charming family picture another figure was now added, +in the person of Bernhard's lovely betrothed. She was the daughter of a +Herr von Rosen, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of Eichhof. +Bernhard and she had been boy and girl lovers. Bernhard, indeed, knew +something of society and of other women, but Therese--or Thea, as she +was called--knew absolutely nothing of the outside world. Without her +being in the least aware of it, the love of the child had grown into +the pure devotion of the maiden. It had seemed the most natural thing +in the world to be betrothed to Bernhard,--that he should henceforth be +the centre around which every thought and hope of her heart should +cling, and that he should typify to her all that she could conceive of +beauty and excellence. + +And now he was at home on leave. She saw him daily, and in May they +were to be married. + +"Thea is 'fearfully happy,'" said her younger sister Alma, Adela's +bosom friend; and the servants at Eichhof, who were wont to consider +their verdict as important in such cases, as well as all the +neighbouring gentry, rung the changes upon the same theme. + +The neighbours were soon offered a special opportunity for admiring and +discussing the 'charming Eichhofs,' since very early in the Easter +holidays they were bidden to a grand dinner at the castle. The state +apartments were thrown open, and worthy representatives of the noblest +of the county families--the Hohensteins, the Rosens, the Lindenstadts, +and many others--gladly accepted this first invitation issued after the +return home of the soldier sons. + +And yet the betrothed pair were not on this occasion the cynosure of +every eye, the theme of every tongue, as might have been expected. +These guests were all either distantly related to one another or +intimate from the association of years. One of them, however, appeared +to-day for the first time in this exclusive circle, exciting universal +attention and remark. This was the young wife of Marzell Wronsky, who, +himself a very German of the Germans, had lately, by marrying a distant +Polish cousin, revived in the minds of all the memory of his Polish +ancestry. + +"What do you think of young Madame Wronsky?" was a question often +whispered at this dinner behind a lady's fan or in the recess of some +window. The answer would consist either of a shrug of the shoulders and +an elevation of the eyebrows, signifying 'not much,' or in the +whispered reply, "Very elegant, yes, undeniably elegant, but not at all +handsome; scarcely good-looking. Why, she has red hair and green eyes, +and then she is so very pale." + +But when Madame Wronsky came to be discussed after dinner in the +smoking-room over a bowl of punch,--her husband having rejoined the +ladies,--the opinions expressed concerning her were rather different. + +"A striking creature, the Wronsky," was heard from Lieutenant +Hohenstein,--"decided air of race; she would create a _furor_ in +Berlin." + +"A perfect Undine," murmured the Assessor von Schönburg; "coy, cold, +and immovable at first, but as soon as she is interested, all fire and +passion,--indescribably attractive." + +"Schönburg is off on his old romantic track," laughed Lieutenant von Z. +"I rather think your fair Undine is quite capable of giving an eager +admirer a bath of very cold water; there is something absolutely +freezing in her eye at times, and she has a way of throwing back her +head that reminds one of an obstinate horse." + +"A profane simile!" the Assessor declared, with a shrug, swallowing his +irritation in a glass of punch. + +"In what capital taste the Wronsky was dressed!" came from the other +side of the table. "Everything about her is so _chic_. She's a great +acquisition to the neighbourhood." + +"Still, she is not regularly beautiful," said Lothar Eichhof. + +Hohenstein looked at him with his eyes half closed, after his listless +manner. "You are either in love with her, or she has treated you +badly," he said, in a low tone. "I tell you that if the Wronskys go to +Berlin next year, as Marzell says they think of doing, that woman will +create a perfect _furor_. Remember this." + +Meanwhile, the object of this discussion was leaning back negligently +in one of the low arm-chairs in the drawing-room, adding a word now and +then in broken German to the general conversation, while, with eyes +cast down as though finding nothing worthy of their special notice, she +toyed with a costly lace fan. Her dark arched eyebrows contrasted +strangely with the transparent pallor of her face, and when a slanting +sunbeam called forth brilliant sparkles of light from the diamonds in +her hair, certainly, in her light-blue gown trimmed with water-lilies, +she justified the Assessor's declaration that she was an Undine. + +"How reserved and haughty she looks!" Thea Rosen whispered to her +lover, as she was walking through the room upon his arm towards the +conservatories. + +"I do not think her attractive," he rejoined. "I cannot conceive how +Marzell Wronsky could ever fall in love with that woman." + +"It is a pity you do not like her." + +"You never could be friends with her, my darling." + +"Why not?" asked Thea, lifting her lovely eyes to his. + +"Why not? I can hardly tell you; it's a matter of sentiment. You are my +rosebud, you know, and the Countess Wronsky, if she can be likened to +any flower, resembles one of those strange, unnatural orchids." + +Thea looked up. Just above her hung one of the fantastic blossoms of +which he spoke. + +"Well, at all events, an orchid is far more distinguished than a poor +little rose, that only needs a little sunlight to blossom and grow, +while the grander flower must be petted in a hot-house." + +"Do not talk so," said Bernhard, closing her lips with a kiss in the +solitude of the conservatory. "I will not have you compared with that +woman. What is she to us? You are and always will be my May rose, and I +wish May were here, and that we were married. We will have charming +apartments in a villa in the Thiergarten, with roses blossoming all +over the door, and a wild grape-vine growing about the windows to the +very roof. Such a pretty, comfortable, cosey nest as it shall be, with +a boudoir---- But no, I'll tell you nothing about that; it shall be a +surprise." + +While these happy lovers were building their airy castles in one of the +conservatories, in another two young people were also carrying on an +eager conversation. There was much mention of "rides" and "papa's +strange ideas," whereat Fräulein Adela von Hohenstein would frequently +blush rosy red, and Herr Walter von Eichhof would put on a very grave +and thoughtful expression. + +In the mean time, the smokers were growing rather noisy in their talk +and laughter, and there was now and then a suppressed yawn in the +drawing-room, when suddenly new life was infused into the guests by the +lighting of the candles and the throwing open of the ball-room, whence +came the strains of the polonaise. + +The gentlemen in the drawing-room were immediately largely reinforced, +and all led their partners to the brilliant ball-room. + +"A delightful surprise this for the young people," said Frau von Rosen, +who, on Count Eichhof's arm, led the polonaise. + +"We must entertain our children," the Count replied, with a smile; "and +since we have enjoyed dancing ourselves, it seems to us the best thing +to provide for the young." + +"You have been rather sly about this evening, however, my dear Count," +the lady continued. "If I had known that our pleasant dinner was to be +followed by a small ball, I should have left my little Alma at home. +She was, as you know, confirmed but very lately." + +The Count laughed. "All the better then that you did not know it," he +replied; "we could ill spare the buds from among our blossoms. Only +look at Adela von Hohenstein; the child has prevailed upon her father +to let her appear to-night in a train for the first time, and she +really looks a finished little lady, who would have probably cried +herself to sleep had she been forced to stay at home to-night, although +she is just Fräulein Alma's age." + +"Adela is too precocious; but then the poor child has no mother, and +has been forced to judge for herself and to depend upon her own +intuitions now for so many years." + +"And if she should be betrothed at eighteen, like our Thea, it is well +that she should begin to enjoy herself now. I like to see these very +young girls about us. Oho! _changement de dames_," he suddenly called +out as he made a turn, resigned Frau von Rosen to another gentleman, +and took for his partner Frau von Wronsky, who blushed a little at this +distinction, then smiled, and really looked very charming. + +The Count made a sign to the musicians, and the dignified polonaise was +converted into a rapid waltz. + +"_Au galop_," he called gayly, and away he flew with his partner, +followed by all the younger dancers, while their elders smilingly +retired from among them. The Freiherr von Hohenstein alone, who never +would be outdone in anything by his neighbour Eichhof, joined in the +galop, while his son, with Lothar Eichhof, to both of whom elderly +partners had been assigned, after having led these to their seats, +stood together and clapped applause of their several fathers whirling +like the wind from one end to the other of the ball-room. + +"Your governor dances famously," Hohenstein said to Lothar, who +assented,-- + +"Yes, he is as light on his feet as any one of us. The Wronsky dances +well." + +"Just wait, my son, and you'll see what you will see. Then think of +me!" + +With these oracular words Lieutenant Hohenstein retreated privately to +the smoking-room, for he was, as he expressed it, long past the age for +the passion for dancing, and found his El-Dorado in the smoking-room, +where card-tables were now laid ready for him and such as he. + +The ball-room windows at Eichhof gleamed brilliantly until long after +midnight, and the cocks were already beginning their morning concert, +when the sisters Thea and Alma Rosen, leaning back among the cushions +of their carriage, began to dream of the vanished delights of the +evening. + +Immediately after their departure, Herr von Wronsky's carriage drew up +before the castle terrace. Frau von Wronsky appeared with her husband +at the hall door, where Bernhard, who had just taken leave of his +betrothed, was still standing. + +The lights on the castle wall shone upon the equipage and the horses. +Wronsky detected something wrong in the harness of the latter; and as +he descended the steps to direct the groom to repair the error, his +wife was left for a few moments alone in the vestibule with Bernhard. +Their eyes met, and in hers there was a hasty, mute inquiry. Bernhard +stepped close to her side. He looked very grave, and there was a gloomy +fire in his glance, as he gazed steadfastly into her face, and said in +a low tone, and yet so as to be distinctly heard by her, "You may rely +upon my silence, but I impose certain conditions. Confine your +intercourse with us within as narrow bounds as is possible without +exciting remark, and never, never attempt to make friends with my +future wife!" + +The young wife's cheek first flushed crimson and then grew deadly pale, +while the eyes, which were for one moment opened wide and riveted upon +Bernhard's face, seemed fairly to flash fire. Then the eyelids drooped +over them, and the same cold, proud countenance that had been shown all +the evening in the ball-room looked out from among the snowy folds of +her white wrap. + +"Good-night, Herr von Eichhof," she said, calmly, putting her hand upon +her husband's arm as he returned to her, and, passing the young man +with the air of a queen dismissing a subject, she descended the steps +and entered her carriage. + +Bernhard followed the vehicle with his eyes as it rolled away. "Did she +really suppose until this moment that I had not recognized her?" he +thought. "She certainly betrayed herself by no look or gesture. Poor +Wronsky, how could he----" + +His thoughts were interrupted by other guests, who at that moment +thronged into the hall. There was the usual bustle of departure, +calling of carriages, searching for wraps, etc., and as the son of the +house he was obliged to make himself as useful as possible. + +At last every guest had left Castle Eichhof, the lights were +extinguished, and its inmates were wrapped in the slumber which was to +refresh them after past enjoyments. But Bernhard's dreams were not of +his lovely betrothed, but of the brilliant eyes of Frau von Wronsky, +and, instead of the cold 'good-night' she had given him, he heard her +say, "I hate you, and I will work your ruin!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + GOSSIP. + + +Bernhard and Lothar returned to Berlin as soon as the holidays were +over, and Hohenstein shortly followed them thither. + +"I am glad he has gone," said Adela, one afternoon that she was +spending with her friend Alma Rosen. "I am glad not to have him here +any longer, for he grows more and more tiresome, and it spoils my +enjoyment of everything to see him lounging about and yawning all the +time." + +"You ought not to say that so openly, dear child," said Frau von Rosen, +who happened to be in the room, and who thought it her duty to admonish +the motherless girl now and then. "It is sad enough when brothers and +sisters do not agree perfectly, but there is no need to publish such +lack of harmony to the world." + +"But indeed I do not care. I am perfectly willing that everybody should +know it," said Adela. "It is the truth, and I detest hypocrisy." + +"No one requires hypocrisy from you, my dear," Frau von Rosen replied; +"but there is a very wide difference between hypocrisy and a discreet +reserve. Besides, there are, I think, certain sensations and opinions +that are undesirably strengthened by being put into words." + +"Ah, yes, dear Frau von Rosen, it is easy for you to speak so; you know +nothing of such trials," Adela rejoined. "If you had any sons, Thea and +Alma would have their own opinion too of fraternal amenities." + +"Ah, Adela, I have always so longed for a brother!" Alma exclaimed. +"When I see Lothar Eichhof he always seems like half a brother; and how +delightful it must be to have a real one!" + +"That is because you know nothing about it," said Adela, with a wise +shake of her curls. "I will tell you how my brother Hugo conducts +himself. Let me speak just this once," she went on, turning to Frau von +Rosen; "it is such a relief to speak it all out, and you know I would +not mention it anywhere else. Well, when he comes home he first goes +directly to the stables, and in fact it is there only that he ever +shows a pleasant face. Then he comes into the house, drops into an +arm-chair in the drawing-room, and looks about him with a sneering +expression which he knows I detest. If I chance to be alone with him, +he says, languidly, 'Frightful taste, the furniture of this room! I +really cannot understand why my father does not have this old-fashioned +stuff replaced by something decent. If he will commission me to attend +to it I will see that you have something here really _chic_.' If my +patience gives way and I remind him that the furniture was all of our +mother's selection, and that papa would never think of altering a +single article, he sneers again,--that same odious sneer,--and either +whistles some popular air or remarks, 'Of course not. I, however, never +would live in such a beastly hole. In fact, Rollin is an infernally +tiresome old nest, only fit for breeding horses, or some such colt as +you are!' meaning me. Is that not enough to vex one? And papa is so +kind and good to him, granting all he asks, and getting nothing from +him in return but disappointment and grief." + +"But, Adela, your father has great satisfaction in him nevertheless," +Frau von Rosen observed. "He is an excellent officer, and very popular +with his comrades, as I know from Bernhard." + +But Adela would hear nothing of that. "Ah, that indeed!" she exclaimed, +irritably. "You would hear very little more of his popularity if papa +did not give him so much money. Walter says he gambles, and that his +comrades win his money." + +"Walter Eichhof says that?" Thea exclaimed. "And how came you, Adela, +to discuss such matters with Walter?" + +Adela blushed slightly, and replied that she had happened to speak of +Hugo to Walter because he had been in Berlin and had heard about many +things there. + +Frau von Rosen looked grave, and shook her head, but Adela, now fairly +roused, went on unheeding: "I know myself that papa has often to send +him a great deal of money, and is always in a very bad humour for days +afterwards, and very cross to the inspector and the steward and to me. +And it is all Hugo's fault. He alone is to blame----" + +"Hush, hush, Adela!" said Frau von Rosen. "If you do not choose to +suppress your own sentiments with regard to your brother, it is at +least your bounden duty to have nothing whatever to say of +circumstances with which you have nothing to do, and which concern your +father and brother only. Of such matters I must distinctly forbid you +to speak here." + +Adela stopped, rather startled, but her flushed, indignant face showed +plainly that she thought herself unjustly treated. Frau von Rosen +approached her, and gently laid her hand upon her fair curly head. + +"Dear child," she said, softly, "have you not confidence in my +affection for you?" + +Adela was silent, evidently a prey to a conflict of feeling. + +"I was your mother's friend," Frau von Rosen continued, gently, "and +when I hear you utter such sharp, decided opinions upon matters of +which you are, perhaps, incapable of judging, I cannot help fancying +what your mother would feel if she heard you. Do you think she would be +pleased with you at this moment?" + +The tears started from Adela's eyes, and she hastily, almost +passionately, pressed Frau von Rosen's hand to her lips. + +"Oh, if my mother were only living!" she exclaimed. "Everything at home +would be so different!" + +Frau von Rosen clasped her in her arms and kissed her. "You have a +tender and loving father," she said, softly: "be to him a good daughter +in the true sense of the word." + +Adela dried her tears, and smiled at the remembrance of her father. +"Oh, yes, he is very, very kind," she said. "I know he is, even when he +pretends to be angry. I know, too, that he will always do what I want +in the end, if I do not contradict him. He has given me leave to ride +with Walter again if I will only tell him when and where we are going, +and I always like to do that. And then, too, he has let me wear long +dresses at last. Yes, he is the dearest old papa,--but indeed Hugo +spoils him!" + +Frau von Rosen was rather shocked at the conversation's taking this +turn, but when she looked into Adela's honest eyes--now gazing so +frankly into her own--she found it impossible to be angry with the +child. She thought it best to take no notice of her last words, and +only said, "Remember, then, always that it is your first duty to +requite your father for all the care and kindness he has lavished upon +his children." + +"Oh!" cried Adela, "if papa should ever have a fall from his horse, and +break his leg or anything, I would nurse him day and night, and never +leave his side; but then," she added, rather ruefully, "nothing of that +sort ever happens to him." + +Frau von Rosen smiled involuntarily. "There is no need, dear, of any +extraordinary occasion for testifying affection," she said. "The +greatest proof of love lies in overcoming one's self for the +gratification of others. Think of this, Adela dear; you are quite old +enough and sensible enough to know of yourself everything that I can +tell you. Promise me to reflect upon it all. Will you try?" + +Adela promised, with a mixture of emotion and of satisfaction with her +own good sense. + +Thea and Alma, who had withdrawn to the other end of the room during +this conversation, now came forward and begged Adela to go with them +into the garden. + +Frau von Rosen nodded kindly, and the three girls went off together, at +first somewhat embarrassed, but soon talking and laughing together as +usual. The Easter holidays were indeed a fruitful theme for +conversation, and the name of Eichhof occurred very frequently in their +talk. + +"Only think," said Alma Rosen, "Lothar told me that Walter wanted to be +a doctor!" + +Adela burst into a laugh. "Walter a doctor!" she exclaimed. "What a +delightful idea of Lothar's! Walter a doctor? It is too comical!" + +"Only ask Thea; she knows about it too," said Alma. + +And her sister added, "Yes, it is true; Walter did get such an idea +into his head, but he has given it up, and there is to be no more said +upon the subject." + +"Now I know why Walter has been so queer all through these last +holidays," said Adela. "It is perfectly odious in him not to tell me a +word of it. I will tease him well about it to-morrow if we ride +together." + +"Do you often ride together now?" + +"Oh, yes. That was a perfectly ridiculous idea of papa's; I soon talked +him out of it. He had consented to our rides even before we went to the +ball at Eichhof. There's one good to be gained from Hugo's being at +home, papa is so full of business at such times that he will almost +always say 'yes' just to be rid of me. I take very few lessons now with +Mademoiselle Belmont, and the good soul is being gradually transformed +from a governess into a companion. I got papa to tell her that she +might look upon herself as rather occupying the latter position. The +only thing to do is to take papa just when he happens to be in a good +humour; but----" She suddenly clapped her hand upon her mouth. "There, +I promised your mother that I would not speak of that. I should like to +know what kind of girls we should all be if I had a mother and you had +a couple of brothers." + +"Well, Bernhard soon will be my brother," said Alma. + +"Oh, that's very different," rejoined Adela; "made-up brothers like +that never do anything to vex you. I know all about that, for I look +upon Walter Eichhof as a kind of brother, and--but I forgot," she +interrupted herself, hesitating,--"he does vex me sometimes. I'll have +my revenge to-morrow at all events, and I wish to-morrow were here." + +Twenty-four hours later this wish of Adela's was fulfilled, and Walter +and she were slowly riding towards the forest, followed at a discreet +distance by the groom with a taste for sandwiches. + +"I have been hearing sad tales of you, Walter," Adela began her attack, +"and the saddest part of them is that you never, by word or look, +confided anything with regard to your evil schemes to your faithful +comrade." + +"My evil schemes?" + +"Yes. Would you not, if you could, torture poor mortals, cut off their +arms and legs, and heaven knows what besides that is horrible and +cruel?" + +"Since you call that cruel, you certainly must admit that I was +perfectly right not to mention to you the profession at which you jeer, +but which I consider the noblest that can be embraced." + +The gravity with which he spoke made some impression upon Adela. She +looked at him almost timidly, and said, shyly, "Were you really in +earnest, then, about being a doctor?" + +"I have found it very hard to relinquish the idea,--for the present at +least. But why should we speak of all this? Rather let us admire the +exquisite beauty of the afternoon, and of the woods and trees. Shall we +canter?" + +Strangely enough, Adela instantly forgot all her vexation and her +determination to be revenged upon Walter. She saw that he refused her +his confidence, and, instead of being angry that this was so, she +became very sad. + +"You are very fond of that Doctor Nordstedt of whom you were telling me +awhile ago, are you not?" she asked, suddenly reining in her mare after +a long canter. + +Walter turned and looked her full in the face. "I thought you had +forgotten all that," he said. "I certainly thought that my comrade had +grown to be altogether too much of a fine lady, too much taken up with +dressing and visiting, to feel any interest in what I could tell her." + +Adela blushed. Certainly she did very much desire to be a fine lady, +but she could not give up her comrade. She replied, "Well, and what +now, when you find that in spite of dressing and visiting I still have +time to think of Dr. Nordstedt?" + +"Now I tell you that I certainly honour and love him, and that I am +proud to consider myself his friend." + +"It is his fault, then, that you want to be a doctor?" + +"On the contrary, it is he who is always pointing out to me all the +difficulties of the profession." + +"Good heavens! how did you ever come to make such an acquaintance? Your +sight was always good. Certainly you had no need for consulting an +oculist--the man is an oculist, is he not?" + +"Yes; and I never went near him on account of my eyes. But, as I told +you before, he is my aunt's family physician, and it was through her +that I became acquainted with him and with his family." + +"Oh, yes,--his family! And of whom does this family consist?" + +"This family consists of the father, Herr Nordstedt,--a self-made man, +sprung from the people,--of his wife, and of their son, my friend. They +are charming people; you ought to know them, Adela." + +"Do they speak the Berlin _patois_ and mix up their parts of speech?" +Adela asked, slightly turning up her pretty little nose. + +Walter laughed. "What an idea!" he exclaimed. "It is true that Herr +Nordstedt has worked hard with his hands to amass the modest competence +that he now possesses, but he is too clever a man to have allowed his +brain to lie idle in the mean while. His information is extensive and +various, and upon every question of the day his opinions are those of +the cultured class. The advantages of education of which he was +deprived he has, however, taken good care that his son shall enjoy to +the fullest extent. My friend is now entirely independent, pecuniarily, +of his father, and takes pride in being so." + +"I wish Hugo would take a few lessons of him, then," said Adela; "I +think papa has to pay more and more for him every year. But then," she +added, hastily, "I really should not like him to be a doctor." + +Walter smiled. "And would you dislike to have me one?" he asked. + +"Very much," she replied, emphatically. + +Walter touched his horse with the spur, and started upon another +canter. + +"How rude you are!" Adela exclaimed; but she followed him, and in the +rapid pace which Walter seemed to enjoy so much on this particular day +there was no opportunity for any further serious conversation between +them. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + MARRIAGE. + + +The larks were soaring high in air above the tender green of the +fields, and the blossoming cherry-trees looked like white bridal +bouquets in the midst of the sunny landscape, as the villagers of +Schönthal, in their gayest holiday dresses, streamed towards their +little church. + +While the bells rang out their merriest peal, the brilliant +marriage-train left the lordly mansion-house and walked down the broad +avenue of chestnut-trees, the drooping buds of which had not yet begun +to 'spread into the perfect fan.' No equipage of any kind hid either +bridal pair or guests from the delighted gaze of the peasants who lined +the wayside. Little girls dressed in white, their fair hair braided and +tied with white ribbons, scattered violets and May flowers upon the +broad carpet stretched, as a protection for satin-slippered feet, from +the hall door to the gateway of the neighbouring church, and +immediately behind them came the bridal pair. + +An admiring "Ah!" from the spectators among whom they had grown up +accompanied them as they walked slowly on; and certainly they were a +fair sight to look upon. Bernhard, in his brilliant uniform, beaming +with pride and happiness, could scarcely turn his eyes from Thea, +hanging blushing upon his arm. Thus they trod beneath their feet the +spring flowers scattered in their path on their road--to what? To +happiness? Are these flowers of spring to be followed by the roses of +summer and the golden fruits of autumn, or is a premature winter with +its ice and snow to wither them all too soon? Who can tell? And who +would ask such a question? Not Alma and Adela, the two bridesmaids, who +follow Bernhard and Thea, conducted by Lothar and Walter Eichhof, and +certainly not Count Eichhof, who, as he looks at the three couples with +a smile of pride, reflects that flowers must always strew the pathway +of the heir of Eichhof, and that there will be enough left to provide +handsomely for the two other sons. He certainly seems right to-day at +least, for Lothar and Walter look extremely happy. Lothar's debts have +just been paid again 'for the last time,' and Walter had returned the +previous night from a journey which seemed to have delighted and +refreshed him. + +The train vanishes beneath the church-portals; the solemn rite is +performed, the mystic rings are exchanged, and two mortals plight faith +and affection to each other until death shall separate them. + +It is all over. The gay procession returns through the chestnut avenue, +and the old mansion of Schönthal once more opens its portals to receive +the maiden flower that has blossomed beneath its roof, to leave it +to-day for another home. + +Gradually the solemnity of mood which very naturally possessed every +one during the ceremony vanishes. Congratulations have been showered +upon the pair. There have been tender embraces, cordial hand-shakes; +the due amount of 'my dear old friends' and 'precious darlings' has +been uttered, and the evidences of unusual emotion disappear from all +countenances, save those of the bride and her mother, who cannot quite +regain their wonted composure. Gay laughter and lively conversation +resound from all sides of the table, where justice is done to the +wedding breakfast. Speeches are made, toasts proposed, and healths +drunk amid much clinking of glasses. The wit of the gentlemen and the +smiles of the ladies grow brighter with every toast. There are many new +titles of relationship exchanged between the young people of the two +allied houses, and blushes and smiles are frequent when Count Eichhof +arises, glass in hand, and, repeating the old proverb,-- + + + "Never a marriage here below + From which a second did not grow," + + +proposes the health of the "next bride and bridegroom." Alma Rosen's +hand trembles slightly as it touches Lothar Eichhof's when they clink +their glasses; and when later in the day, before he left her, he +declared that a kiss was his right in pledge of their new relationship, +and calmly availed himself of this right, he had no idea of how fast +and loud her heart beat the while. + +"She is a perfect child," he said, after they had risen from table, to +Hugo Hohenstein, who had taken Frau von Wronsky to breakfast. "A +perfect child, but a pretty little puss, and _faute de mieux_----" And +he snapped his fingers, and then paused as his glance lighted upon his +new sister-in-law, standing talking with Adela Hohenstein by one of the +windows, her girlish figure draped in white satin and shrouded in her +lace veil. + +"_À propos_, Thea is quite dazzling," he said. "I never should have +given her credit for so much dignity and self-possession." + +Hohenstein put up his eye-glass, and bestowed a critical glance upon +the bride. + +"Yes, she has a good figure and rather fine features," he said, with +the oracular air of a connoisseur. "Her face is an unwritten page as +yet; but time will change all that, even although it may never show +such a startling romance as may be read in the Wronsky's eyes." + +Lothar was still gazing at his sister-in-law, and only half heard +Hohenstein's words. + +"Was the lady very entertaining at table?" he asked, rather absently. + +"Why, either she is not in a good humour today, or she is playing a +part; I cannot make out which," Hohenstein replied. "At all events, she +is excessively interesting. Before her marriage there was some very +piquant story about her; she has had experiences. I know nothing +explicit, but that woman has been through an immense deal, you may be +certain." + +Thea left the room to put on her travelling-dress, and Bernhard, who +until now had been constantly near her, went into an antechamber, +whence he was instantly about to withdraw upon finding it occupied by +Frau von Wronsky, who was seated in a negligent attitude on a divan, +her head resting on her hand. She called him, however, by name, and +involuntarily, although with an air of constraint, he paused on the +threshold. + +"I should like to speak with you for a moment," she said, in a low, +hurried tone. "You ought at least to know that I had resolved not to +inflict my presence upon you to-day; that I have done so is owing +entirely to your father, who paid us a visit the day before yesterday +and was so pertinacious in his request that we should be present to-day +that----" + +"There is no need of this apology, madame," Bernhard replied, coldly. +"It would have excited remark if you had absented yourself without +sufficient reason, and it is my especial desire that your conduct +towards us should be such as to invite no observation." + +The lady's face was agitated for an instant as if by the suppression of +a passionate outburst, but she only bent her head, and replied, "You +have nothing to fear. However painful the consciousness may be, I know +that you are right in not allowing me any intimacy with your wife. +Believe me, I feel only too intensely and grievously the gulf that +divides us. I know how hardly you judge me, and that you have a right +to do so, even although I am more to be pitied than blamed." + +"Madame," Bernhard rejoined, approaching her in some confusion, "I pray +you let the past rest." + +"Ah, I wish it would rest, that I could forget! But even when I succeed +in doing so for a moment, as when but now, attracted irresistibly by +the grace and loveliness of your wife, I longed to approach her as any +other woman might do, my past rises as an avenger, and I bow before the +Nemesis; for, hard as it is to endure, I know it is not wholly +undeserved." + +Her voice, as she uttered these words, was full of such melancholy +sweetness, her eyes shone so with unshed tears, and she arose and stood +with such touching humility before Bernhard, that he could not help +expressing his regret at having recalled to her an unhappy past. She +cut his phrases short by a forbidding wave of her hand. + +"You were quite right," she said. "Forget all this, and may you be +happy, very happy!" + +Tone and manner were so full of a heart-felt sincerity that Bernhard +was almost moved to offer her his hand. He bethought himself in time, +however, and, in obedience to a wave of dismissal, left the room. + +"Forget all this," she had said, but he never could forget the look or +the tone with which these words were uttered. + +Thea returned clad in travelling costume to bid farewell to all. +Bernhard hastily changed his dress, and, when the travelling-carriage +drove up, led his young wife down the steps of the hall, which were +thronged with bridesmaids and their attendant squires. Alma burst into +tears as she threw her arms around her sister's neck. Herr and Frau von +Rosen called out their adieux in faltering tones. + +The wedding guests waved their kerchiefs from the open windows, and +servants and peasants crowded about the carriage for one last look at +their "dear young Fräulein." The swallows stretched out their heads +from their nest under the eaves, and seemed to twitter "Good-by, +good-by," and the hanging wreaths of the wild grapevine in which the +veranda was embowered seemed to wave a mute farewell. + +"Farewell, farewell!" + +The carriage rolled out of the court-yard, and Thea hid her tearful +face on Bernhard's shoulder. "Oh, Bernhard," she whispered, "you will +always love me dearly, very dearly, will you not?" + +He kissed away her tears. "My darling, what a question to ask!" he +replied. "You know that you are my sweetest, loveliest May rosebud." + +She smiled at him through her tears, and he vowed inwardly that she +never should shed a tear caused by word or deed of his. + +The road here made a turn, and the mansion of Schönthal, upon the +windows of which the last beams of the setting sun were shining, came +into view once more. + +Thea leaned from the carriage window and looked back. Bernhard, +clasping her hand firmly in his own, looked back also. The windows of +the balconied room, the same in which he had spoken with Frau von +Wronsky scarcely an hour before, gleamed brilliantly. + +"Is she there still?" he thought, and he seemed to hear again her low, +penetrating tones, "Forget all this,"--her pale face and brilliant +figure were like a shadow dimming the sunshine of his marriage-day. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A FAREWELL GLASS AND A DEATH-BED. + + +Far removed from the fashionable quarter of Berlin, in one of those +east-end streets where labourers' carts are far more numerous than gay +equipages, stood Herr Nordstedt's house. It was quite a stately +structure, with two projecting wings, between which extended a +little front garden, lending a retired air to the whole, and +distinguishing it pleasantly among the old and rather shabby houses +of the neighbourhood. The hall door was adorned by rich carvings in +wood,--"The old cabinet-maker in me takes great delight in such +things," Herr Nordstedt was wont to say,--and yet was so simply +fashioned that it must always be regarded as a door, never as a +'portal.' Through this door on a certain evening in May walked Walter +Eichhof, who had returned to town shortly after his brother's marriage, +and who, before departing to continue his studies in a university town +on the Rhine, desired to take leave personally of his friend Dr. +Nordstedt. He passed through the hall leading to a small court-yard, +and into a garden which was really very large for a city so closely +built as Berlin. The wing looking upon this garden contained Dr. +Nordstedt's study and his office, where he received all in need of his +advice as oculist. + +Walter made sure of finding him in his study, and was not disappointed. +He was seated at his table, writing busily. + +"I have been expecting you, my dear fellow," the doctor exclaimed, +springing up and holding out both hands. "As you did not write, I knew +you would come. Well, and----?" He looked expectantly at the young man +for an instant. "Hm!" he went on, "clouds in the sky, I see. Well, +well, I expected them. But come, take a cigar, and tell me all about +it." + +"There's not much to be told. It was very short work, and what will +come next I do not know,--which is what troubles me," replied Walter. +"At present I am on my way to Bonn to study law." + +The doctor silently nodded. + +"There would have been entire estrangement from my parents if I had +insisted upon my wishes," Walter continued. + +"And I think you are quite right in yielding," said his friend. "You +owe it to your parents to make an attempt at least to adopt the career +in life that they have chosen for you. There must be difficulties to be +encountered everywhere. We cannot escape them, whatever freedom of +choice may be granted us." + +"If I could only get up some small amount of interest in the law," +sighed Walter. + +"You know nothing about it yet," the doctor replied, seriously. +"Reflect, investigate, contemplate the _corpus juris_ in every possible +light, and depend upon it you will attain that ideal standpoint which +is what you desire, and which will give you all the interest you lack +in the study of equity. The struggle will strengthen your mental +muscles." + +"At present, however, any old skull or bone interests me more than the +most complicated legal process," said Walter. + +The doctor leaned back in his arm-chair, and puffed forth clouds of +smoke. + +"Well, go on," he said, when Walter paused. + +The young man looked at him surprised. His friend smiled. "Apparently +you come to-day not to discuss this matter, but to bewail it," he said. +"For many people this is a positive necessity when they find themselves +face to face with irritating circumstances. So go on, my dear fellow, I +entreat." + +Walter arose and paced the room hastily to and fro. "If I did not know +you better I should take my leave of you this instant, convinced that +you were the most unsympathetic man in the world," he said; "but I am +sure that, in spite of your ridicule, you thoroughly understand what I +feel, and only mask with sarcasm your compassion for me." + +"And I am sure that, in spite of your groans and plaints, you will +apply yourself to your new task like a man of courage," cried the +doctor. "There is genuine content and satisfaction to be found in the +conscientious performance of duty, however irksome that duty may be. +You have excellent powers of mind, and I know you will use them well." + +Walter paused in front of his friend, and offered him his hand. + +"I will try," he said. "You are right. 'Things without all remedy +should be without regard.' So there's an end of my groaning." + +"When do you leave town?" asked the doctor. + +"To-morrow, or the day after," was the reply. "There is not much time +left before the long vacation, and my father wishes me to spend that in +travelling." + +"You will like that, at all events." + +"Yes, that will be pleasant enough." + +"I believe you. At your age it would have been the realization of my +most cherished hopes." + +"Have you never travelled?" + +"I spent a couple of years in Paris." + +"Oh, yes, studying your profession; but you would have liked entire +freedom, and to wander where the paths were not quite so well worn, if +I am not mistaken in you." + +The doctor laughed again. "He first bewails his own fate, and now is +bewailing mine," he exclaimed. "My dear Eichhof, you are in a deucedly +morbid, sentimental mood to-day, and farewells are scarcely propitious +to the cure of such maladies. If you are really going away to-morrow, +come and say good-by to my father and mother, and afterwards I will +walk home with you." + +They repaired to Herr Nordstedt's study in the main portion of the +house. + +"Ah, Herr von Eichhof," said the old man, as Walter entered. "Glad to +see you once more before you go to the university. Well, what cheer? Is +all right between you and your father? Has the Baron consented?" + +His son in a few words made him acquainted with the state of the case. + +"Well, well," said the father, running his fingers through his thick +hair, only faintly streaked with gray, as was his wont when anything +went "against the grain" with him, as he expressed it,--"well, well, it +will all come right in the end, and you will reconcile yourself to the +law, as I did to carpentering. You see, Herr von Eichhof, I believed I +was more of an artist than an artisan, and I was wild to take up the +brush instead of the chisel and plane. I longed to study, but that +would have cost money. I turned to the plane instead, and, thank God, +all came right in the end." + +"And you never could have married me, Nikolas," said Frau Nordstedt, +who had entered the room meanwhile, "if you had been a learned man. For +I have heard my blessed father say a hundred times that like should +mate with like, and that a master-carpenter's daughter should marry +some one skilled in her father's trade." + +"So, you see, my carpentering brought me happiness," said old +Nordstedt. "Nevertheless, now that my days are all holidays, I look +back with indulgence upon my youthful dreams. And since my wife and I +took our Italian journey together, she has nothing but respect and +admiration for art." + +"As if I ever had anything else for what you delighted in," his wife +said, parenthetically. + +"Take care," the old man rejoined, holding up a warning finger. "But +no, Therese, I must admit that you are and always were the most +sensible of women." + +"We women always are sensible," she said; "and, since you acknowledge +the fact so frankly, you shall have some punch brewed by my own hands +in which to drink success to Herr von Eichhof." + +She left the room on hospitable thoughts intent; the doctor pushed +forward the large, leather-covered arm-chair in which Walter had so +often sat, and the young man took his place between the father and son +and discussed the past, present, and future. The old man related many +an episode from his past life, which had been full of trials and +struggles, which he recounted as a soldier recounts the victories he +has won, lingering upon the incidents of many a well-fought field. And +the punch having been brought in and placed upon the table by a stout +maid-servant, Frau Nordstedt filled the glasses of the three men, and +in snowy cap and apron seated herself with her knitting at her +husband's elbow, nodding now and then with a smile as he spoke of early +days in their life together, her kind old eyes beaming with placid +content and pride in her 'boy' and his father. + +"It is strange, and no less true than strange, Herr von Eichhof," said +the latter, "that life is made up so largely of mistakes and errors. +And it is an impregnable fact that content is the result of the +performance of one's duty, and that no man need look for anything +beyond genuine content." + +"You are right, Herr Nordstedt," Walter said, eagerly, and the doctor +nodded a silent assent. + +"To a faithful discharge of duty, then, and a successful career at the +university," exclaimed the old man, as he raised his glass filled with +the steaming mixture. The others touched it with their own and +exchanged a silent pressure of hands. + +Shortly afterwards Walter took his leave, carrying with him the +farewell blessings of both the old people. + +"How often I shall think of our pleasant evenings here!" he said to the +doctor as they crossed the street together. The doctor muttered a few +low words in reply, and strode on as if he were in a great hurry. +Walter knew him well, and that he always grew monosyllabic when +agitated by any emotion. Thus they reached Walter's lodgings in +silence. + +"And now good-by," the doctor said, grasping the young man's hand; "I +know how I shall miss you, so I will cut short all leave-taking." + +His voice was deep and low, as though he feared to betray how much he +felt his friend's departure. Then he turned hastily away, and walked +down the street with a rapid stride. Just as he reached his own door a +dark figure emerged from the shadow where it had apparently been +crouching, and said, timidly, "Ah, Herr Doctor." + +"Is that you, Marianne?" he said, with a hasty glance at the woman. +"What do you want? Is anything going wrong?" + +"Ah, Herr Doctor, very, very wrong, I am afraid," she sighed. "He is +out again, and indeed it would be better he should not come home, for +he earned a trifle to-day, and he is spending it in drink, I suppose. +If he should come home in one of his raging moods the lady will +die----" + +"Is she worse?" the doctor asked, hastily. + +"Ah, good heavens! I don't know, but she talks so strange-like that I +begged Christine, who lives just over me, to sit by her for a moment, +and I ran all the way here to beg you to come to her if you can. She +talked about you, and then prayed, and called herself wicked and +ungrateful; it's hard to hear her talk so, when I know how good and +gentle and unhappy she is, and how thankful she is for everything that +is done for her. I thought to myself that the Herr Doctor would know +just what to do, when you are so good as to pay my rent to the landlord +to let me nurse the poor lady, and I came directly to you; and when +they told me you were not at home I waited here until you should come, +for---- But here we are already; indeed, doctor, you can run faster +than I can." + +Whilst Marianne had talked on they had reached the house where was +lodged the patient whom the doctor had been called to visit at this +late hour. + +"Only wait one instant, Herr Doctor, till I light a candle," Marianne +called out, when they had entered the passage-way. But before her match +was lighted the doctor had groped his way up the narrow staircase and +stood at the door of the sick-room. + +The woman hastened after him, and both entered a low room but feebly +illuminated by the light of a tallow candle. + +A young girl, from her dress one of the working class, arose from the +bedside where she had been sitting and came towards them. + +"How is she, Christine?" the doctor asked, under his breath. + +"She is sleeping," was the whispered reply. + +Nordstedt went to the bed, upon which lay a young woman, her face +turned to the wall, while her abundant fair hair hung down from the +pillows in two thick braids. Her little emaciated hand, upon the third +finger of which glistened a broad golden ring, lay upon the coverlet, +now and then twitching nervously in its owner's feverish sleep. + +The doctor noiselessly took his seat by the bedside, and his eyes grew +dim with moisture as they glanced from the fair braids to the small +hand, and then to the bare, smoky walls of the room. Some minutes +passed in profound silence. Christine had left the place; Marianne sat +by the stove, her hands folded in her lap, looking anxiously towards +the bed where the sleeper was breathing painfully. The doctor leaned +over her, and smoothed her pillows with the tender skill of a father +watching beside the sick-bed of his child. Suddenly the invalid sat up +in bed and gazed at him from large blue eyes that gleamed with +unnatural brilliancy in the poor little face, deadly pale but for the +hectic flush of fever. "I cannot help it, Robert; don't be angry with +me!" she cried, clasping her hands in entreaty. + +The doctor laid his own cool, strong hand upon them. "Robert is not +here," he said; "be quiet and calm." + +She gazed at him, the eager, distressed expression fading from her +eyes, her face growing more natural and placid. "Oh, it is you!" she +said, with a sigh of relief, sinking back upon her pillows. "I have had +such a terrible dream! How kind of you to come to me when it is so +late!" she added, softly. "How can I ever thank you!" + +"Hush, hush, child! you must not talk so much, and there is no occasion +for any gratitude. It is a doctor's duty to look after his patients." + +She gazed at him with an intensity of fervour in her gleaming eyes. "I +shall not give you much more trouble," she said; "but I have something +to say to you," she added, entreatingly; "tell Marianne to go out of +the room." + +The doctor motioned to the woman, who left the room, and then turned to +the invalid, saying, "But I cannot let you talk much; you must say only +a very few words." + +A sad, weary smile passed over her face. "Nothing now can either harm +or help me. You know as well as I do that I shall soon be at rest." + +The doctor would have interrupted her, but she begged him by a look to +let her speak, and he mutely inclined his head. + +"I know that the end is near, and I am so glad of it," she said, +softly; "but before it comes I want so much to thank you,--thank you +from my very heart, and to beg you to think of me kindly when I am no +longer here. Tell me that you have forgiven me. Although you have shown +me your forgiveness in a hundred ways, I long to hear your lips utter +it." + +"Hedwig," he murmured, and his lips quivered; for a moment the strong +man was unable to utter a word. + +"Have you quite forgiven me?" she asked again, looking eagerly up at +him. + +"Utterly and entirely," he replied, controlling his emotion. + +"Ah, how happy you make me! My suffering has atoned for my sin against +you. Ah, how I thank you,--I thank you!" She paused suddenly and put +her handkerchief to her lips. + +The doctor sprang up and called aloud to Marianne, as he raised the +invalid's head from the pillows and supported her in his arms. + +She opened her eyes and gazed into his. "Friedrich," she whispered. But +a crimson stream choked the words she would have spoken. A spasm passed +through her frame; she threw back her head. All was over. The doctor +gently laid her back upon the pillows, and, kneeling beside her, +pressed his lips upon the cold little hand that lay motionless on the +coverlet. + +Marianne was not in the next room; she did not appear in answer to the +doctor's call, and her presence was not needed. + +A moment afterwards he arose, covered the quiet figure, so that only +the pale, calm face was visible, and then sat down beside the bed, +riveting his gaze upon the marble features as if to call them back to +life,--the life that now informed them in his mind's eye. Yes, she +stood vividly before him, a little fair-haired girl, the daughter of a +neighbouring tradesman, his playfellow through many childish years. And +then she was again the blushing, still childlike girl, who replied to +his passionate wooing by a low 'yes,' breathed almost inaudibly as she +hid her face on his breast. Then came a change in the picture. The +petty tradesman, her father, embarked in a lucky speculation and +suddenly achieved wealth. And the girl was clad in costly silks and +velvets, and lived in a showy villa surrounded by luxurious gardens,--a +fit home for a parvenu millionaire, where the daughter, but lately so +shrinking and modest, suddenly learned to talk and laugh loudly and to +bandy pert jests with the young fortune-hunters that thronged about +her. She grew to delight in their homage, and would have missed it had +it been withdrawn. She never was haughty or arrogant towards the friend +of her youth, but she began to suppress a yawn when he spoke of his +love. She had just begun to live, she said, and wished to enjoy for a +while. They had deferred any public announcement of their mutual +affection until Nordstedt should have passed the coming examinations, +and he left her to her new-found enjoyment, coming but seldom to visit +her. The day before he was to go up for examination he went to her +house, and was told that she had been betrothed the week before, and +was paying some visits of ceremony. He turned away, and a few steps +from the house passed her carriage returning home. He saw her smile, +saw the handsome faded face of her lover, and the satisfaction in her +father's air. He was proud of the wealthy son-in-law, who had, +moreover, lately become his partner. Nordstedt hurried along the street +where he had so often walked with his head and heart filled with dreams +of future happiness, and from that day her name never passed his lips. +Thenceforth he belonged only to his books and his patients. The years +went by. He knew that her father had become bankrupt, and that her +husband had suffered some losses in consequence. But he did not know +how soon the remainder of his property had been lost or squandered. +Without either the capacity or the desire to exert himself, the man had +sunk into depths of abject poverty, until at last his wretched wife was +discovered by chance by the lover of her youth in a garret room, the +victim of a mortal disease. He did not now dwell upon the care that he +had from that moment lavished upon the first, the only woman whom he +had ever loved; pictures of a distant past floated too vividly before +him, and the quiet face on the pillow was to him as a last greeting +from his youth, the faint, fading shadow of what once had been. Youth +and love, how far away and unattainable they were now! Lost, gone +forever. He bade a long farewell to that pale face and to all of which +it spoke to him. + +At last he arose, and, walking slowly and like one in a dream, left the +room, and, calling Marianne, gave her directions as to the decent +burial of his lost love. And as the street door closed behind him and +the black night received him, the strong man shivered. "She is dead, +and Walter is gone," he muttered to himself. "It is my lot to be a +lonely man." + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + UNEXPECTED. + + +Summer had gone, and autumn was tinging forest and field with crimson +and gold. + +The Freiherr von Hohenstein was driving in a little open vehicle +through his forest,--that is, over that part of his estate which a few +years previously had been covered with fine old trees, but where now +some labourers were removing a few stumps, while at intervals a +solitary giant of the woods seemed to tell of his brothers, certain of +whom were now sailing the seas, while others upheld the roofs of city +dwellings. + +The Freiherr von Hohenstein looked gloomily about him upon the desert +plain, dotted here and there with small spots of future forest in the +shape of low scraggy shrubs, and found as much food for vexation in the +quick disappearance of the former forest as in the slow growth of the +young trees. He was powerless, however, to alter either of these +annoying facts, and he sighed heavily as his thoughts wandered oddly +enough, and yet by a strictly logical train of ideas, from the +forest-trees to his son Hugo, who had not indeed any personal +connection with ship-builders and carpenters, but who could have told a +great deal about the money paid by them for the trees. + +"The deuce knows how it is all to end!" the Freiherr growled to +himself. "Every year living is dearer and the income smaller; +everything to be bought goes up in price, everything to be sold comes +down. It is enough to drive me mad!" + +Such had now for some time been the usual conclusion of the Freiherr's +reflections, and after these deep-drawn sighs he was wont to fall into +a still gloomier revery, in which he arrived at no single clear idea +except that fate was using him with singular injustice in so +complicating his financial affairs from year to year. + +"Was he extravagant in any direction? No, assuredly not! It is true, he +bred racers, and in order to do so was obliged to employ certain people +who required high wages; but it was his only pleasure, and could not be +altered. His domestic affairs were conducted upon a very liberal scale; +but, as the neighbour and friend of the Eichhofs, it was his duty not +to allow any difference to be observed between the Baron's style of +living and his own; he surely owed this to his rank and station in +life. His son required enormous sums; but the Freiherr had but two +children, and his daughter cost him almost nothing. And it was natural +that Hugo should enjoy life,--he must represent his name worthily. The +Hohensteins had never been bookworms or arithmeticians, and if the +young fellow sometimes went too far and his father resolved that he +should be 'brought to book' the very next time, still his debts must be +paid; the boy could not be dishonoured. All these expenses were really +matters of course; they would not have troubled the Freiherr in the +least except for this unaccountable yearly deficit in his income. + +"I suppose the bad harvest years are at the bottom of the mischief," +the Freiherr thought, and consoled himself with the reflection that the +good years must come, and that then the 'unavoidable expenses' would be +met, and the 'inconceivable deficits' be made up. He had of late +positively loathed the books of the estate, and had in consequence +rather neglected them. Now he remembered that the time was at hand for +the first instalment to be paid of a loan he had had of Count Eichhof, +and that he could not possibly pay it. He looked up from his gloomy +contemplation of the soil which had once been forest-land, and which +was to be forest-land again in the future, and drove over to Eichhof to +discuss matters with the Count. But he did not find him at home. "The +Herr Count is hunting to-day," the footman informed the visitor. The +Freiherr decided to await the Count's return. He could not be long +away, for twilight was close at hand. He asked for the Countess, was +most graciously received by her, and inquired after the welfare of her +sons. When the Countess talked of her sons she adopted a manner and +bearing which plainly indicated that, although the young men might very +possibly conduct themselves pretty much after the fashion of other +young people of their age and rank in society, still they were +unquestionably very remarkable men, as she and indeed many others well +knew. Bernhard was at present, after the usual wedding-tour among the +Alps, installed in his vine-wreathed villa in one of the Thiergarten +streets. + +"He writes seldom," said the Countess, "and seems to spend much of his +time at home. I could have wished that they had continued to travel +until the _saison morte_ was over in Berlin; for, although he is +extremely happy with his little wife, a man of his force and intellect +needs social excitement." + +"Oh, your daughter-in-law is so charming that her husband's distaste +for general society is easily understood," the Freiherr observed. + +"She is a good child," said the Countess. + +A more attentive listener than the Freiherr could possibly be at this +time would have plainly heard in the Countess's intonation as she +uttered the words 'good child' the unspoken thought, "but much too +insignificant for my Bernhard." The Freiherr, however, was only +listening to catch the first sound of the hoofs of the horses that were +bringing home the hunting-party, and just as the Countess was preparing +to tell him of the charming letter she had just received from her +cousin the ambassador, with whom she had begun a correspondence "solely +upon Walter's account," the wished-for cadence struck upon his ear. + +"I think your husband has returned," he said, "Allow me to go and meet +him." + +"I don't think it is my husband," was the reply. "His voice usually +makes itself unmistakably heard upon his return from hunting. But pray +inform yourself about it, my dear Baron." + +The Freiherr left the room, although there was still no sound of the +Count's voice. The Countess sat gazing towards the western sky, where +the last gleams of the dying day faintly lingered, and began to wonder +why the servant had not brought in the lamp, and why the house was so +silent, since, as the Freiherr did not return, her husband must surely +be at home. + +The room grew darker and darker, and silence still prevailed. This +quiet was positively oppressive. The Countess arose, passed through the +antechamber, and opened the door leading out to the landing of the +grand staircase. No light was burning here either, but from below came +a dull gleam, and the smothered sounds of hurried words and whispers. + +"What is the matter? Why are the lamps not lighted?" the Countess +asked, standing at the head of the stairs. The Freiherr, who stood at +their foot with a candle in his hand, looked up at her with a face so +pale and horror-stricken that a cold shudder ran through her as she +repeated her question, "What is the matter? For God's sake tell me what +has happened!" + +"Be calm," said the Baron, who stood beside her in an instant, while +his voice trembled as perceptibly as did the candle in his hand. "Be +calm, I entreat you, dearest madame; your husband has met with an +accident." + +The Countess grew pale to the very lips. "Oh, God!" she shrieked; +"where is he? where is he?" And she would have rushed down the +staircase, but the Freiherr detained her. "He is not yet here,--he is +coming. One of his huntsmen brought us the news." + +"He is coming?" she cried; "he is only wounded,--he must be only +wounded?" + +"He is seriously injured, very seriously," said the Freiherr. "I fear +we must be prepared for everything,--even for the worst!" + +The Countess stared at him with eyes wide with horror; her lips +twitched convulsively, as though unable to utter the terrible word +written so plainly in the Freiherr's face,--uttered so distinctly in +this fearful silence, which was interrupted only by the sounds of +suppressed sobs from the group of servants in the hall below. + +Suddenly she threw up her arms. "Dead!" she shrieked, "dead!" + +The word was spoken, and she fell back senseless into the Baron's arms. + +At that moment a vehicle drew up in the castle court-yard, and the +Count, surrounded by his huntsmen, and a few others whom the accident +had called together, was slowly carried up the terrace steps. They bore +him into the castle through the same portal which he had left lusty and +joyous only a few hours before, never to behold it again. + +With drooping tail, and now and then uttering a melancholy whine, his +favourite hound followed his master's body; he had long been the +faithful companion of his sport. And in the wagon that had brought his +master home dead lay the gun, which all shunned to touch, for it had +caused all this woe, by its accidental discharge as the Count was +leaping a ditch in the ardour of the chase. + +A few hours later, mounted horsemen rode out into the night, and +telegraphs and letters spread the news of the Count's sudden death far +and wide. + +In the big drawing-room heavy silver candelabra, with their myriad +candles, are burning at the head of the couch where Count Eichhof is +lying sunk in his last sleep. His head is turned slightly to one side, +so as entirely to conceal the fatal wound in the right temple, and the +smile that the excitement of the hunt had called to his face still +lingers there. + +"Can this be? Is it really true?" murmurs the Countess, seated in an +arm-chair beside the couch, and gazing fixedly with dry eyes at the +smiling face; while the old servant, kneeling at the dead man's feet, +slowly shakes his white head. He cannot believe it, it is so unlike his +master to die; it must all be an evil dream. But below-stairs all are +fully convinced of its reality. The huntsman in the kitchen is telling +circumstantially, for the twelfth time, the whole terrible story,--how +the Count jumped across the ditch and the gun went off. Nor does he +forget to mention the black rabbit that crossed their path when the +chase had just begun, or his own frightful dream of the previous night, +which had caused him to say to his wife when he left her, "Look out for +some accident to-day!" And the cook listens with the same shudder that +he felt the first time the story was told, only it passes off rather +more quickly, and he is able to find consolation not only in the +tankard to which he has frequent recourse, but also in the thought that +he stands very well "with the young master" and will in all probability +retain his position. At last the huntsman goes home, the kitchen is +gradually deserted, and the lights are extinguished, leaving the castle +in darkness, save for the broad glare out into the night from the +windows of the big drawing-room, where he who was the castle's lord now +lies at rest. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + AT THE TOMB. + + +The Count's three sons hurried to Eichhof immediately upon the receipt +of the sad news, and the obsequies were performed with all the gloomy +pomp demanded by the occasion and by the rank of the deceased. The +sarcophagus, in accordance with a traditionary custom of the family, +was placed before the altar in the Eichhof monumental chapel, where it +was to remain three years before it should be finally consigned to the +tomb. The road to the chapel was still strewn with cut hemlock boughs, +when Walter Eichhof slowly walked along it some days after the funeral +ceremonies, while Bernhard and Lothar were busied over the affairs of +the estate and the settlement of the Count's testamentary dispositions. + +Although the dead man had annihilated all Walter's plans for the +future, he had always been to him a tender and loving father, whose +merry voice and resounding tread he seemed still to hear everywhere in +Eichhof, so indissolubly were they connected in his mind with his home. +And now that voice and that tread had died away forever! Walter +wandered restlessly through the well-known rooms of the castle, +lingering in those where he had been with his father during the last +few months, pacing to and fro on the terrace where he had talked with +him about his future, when the Count in his sanguine way had spoken of +his expectation of living to an advanced age and of providing +handsomely for all his children. Where now were all his plans, and what +was Walter's future to be? He knew that there would be no means to +further him in that diplomatic career which might perhaps have +reconciled him to the study of the law, and the prospect of passing his +youth as the legal authority of some petty town seemed as insupportable +as was any idea at present of transgressing the injunctions of the +dead. + +The Count's "I will not have it!" still rang in the son's ears. Oh, if +his father were only here now, that he might appeal to him once more! +An idle wish. That "I will not have it!" had been spoken, and Walter +bowed to the decision of him whose untimely departure would greatly +change his home for him, as he well knew. He was not upon intimate +terms with Bernhard; their training and education had differed so +widely. He had never appealed to him for aid as Lothar had been in the +habit of doing. And he had paid but little regard to his brother's +claims as the future head of the family. So long as their father lived, +he had felt himself upon an entire equality with his brothers. They +were all 'sons of the house.' Now he was the younger brother of the +heir who had entered into possession. He had no rights to assert, and +only his brother's kindness could justify him in regarding the castle +as a home in the future. And this very feeling of dependence which +united Lothar with his brother estranged Walter from him. He was more +reserved with Bernhard than before, partly perhaps because he thought +he observed that Lothar, and even his mother, treated him with a degree +of deference. It wounded him deeply to hear his mother lament not only +her loss, but her changed circumstances. To his irritated sensibility +it seemed as if the settlement of the estate thrust grief for the +departed into the background, and as though life had put forward so +many claims that but small time could be spared in which to pay due +tribute to death. All this distressed him, and hence he often strolled +away to the quiet chapel, where nothing offended his filial affection +or disturbed his memories of his dead father. + +No one out of the family, except the sexton, who lived close by, +owned a key to the building; and therefore Walter was surprised to find +the door unlocked and ajar. He looked in. The light through the +stained-glass window fell full upon a female figure, dressed in black, +kneeling beside the sarcophagus, and engaged in hanging about it +wreaths of ferns and autumnal leaves. Walter entered softly. The +kneeling figure was so occupied with her pious task that she did not +observe him until he stood close beside her. Then she looked up. + +"Adela!" Walter exclaimed, in surprise. "You here? I never expected to +find you here." + +"And why not?" she asked, a gleam of defiance in her eyes, which +nevertheless showed traces of recent tears. "Did I not love your father +dearly?" she continued, with a perceptible tremor in her voice, "and do +I not know how dearly he loved the woods?--and--and--there were only +flowers from the garden and greenhouse laid upon his coffin." + +Walter was silent for a moment, looking down at the forest wreaths that +Adela had brought. Then he took her hand in his. "You are right," he +said, gently. "Your heart is true and kind, after all." + +Instead of replying, the girl turned from him, and, hurrying out of the +chapel, sank down upon the steps, covered her face with her hands, and +burst into a passion of sobs. + +Walter followed her, startled, and yet touched, by this outbreak of +grief. + +"I thank you for these tears, Adela," he said, Beating himself on the +step beside her. "You loved him, and can understand what we have all +lost." + +"Oh, I know there is no one left like him, so good and kind!" the girl +sobbed. "And he loved me, too, and was always tender to me. I can never +forget it, for no one else cares for me!" + +"Adela!" Walter exclaimed, interrupting her. + +She dried her eyes, and looked up at him. "Yes," she went on, "no +one gives me credit for anything good; no one really cares for +me; but he--he said, only a few days ago,--the last time he came +to us,--'Little Adelaide,'--oh, no one will ever call me that +again!--'Little Adelaide, some day you will----' But why should I +repeat it, and to you, who are surprised that I have a warm, kind +heart? Oh, I am so unhappy!" + +In spite of her naïve egotism in the expression of her grief, Walter +felt that she was really deeply moved, and the unaccustomed spectacle +of one who was always laughing, always gay, giving way to such a +heart-breaking burst of tears, touched him profoundly. + +"Adela, dear Adela, I pray you be calm," he entreated. "How can you say +that no one cares for you,--you who have a father, and so many others +who love you?" + +"Don't speak of them," she interrupted him, angrily. "You do not +understand. Papa lets me do as I please because he cannot help it, and, +besides, he thinks of nothing but his business affairs and of Hugo. He +cares about that for me," and the girl snapped her fingers. "My +governess is going back to her home, and is immensely delighted to be +rid of me. Frau von Rosen is angry with me, and will not let Alma come +to see me, because I persuaded her the other day to disguise herself +with me in two new liveries that had just come home, and to drive into +town, where nobody recognized us, and where all that we did was to eat +a couple of queen-cakes at the confectioner's. And all because of that +perfectly innocent frolic I am thought unfeminine and odious, and I +must lose my best friend. And now you come, and give me to understand +that you think me heartless; and your dear, good, splendid father is +dead, and will never speak kindly to me again. I am alone,--all alone!" + +Walter took her hand again; he knew that she was indeed alone if the +Rosens had forsaken her, and he was so grieved for her that he almost +forgot his purpose in coming hither. + +"And it hurts me more than all," Adela went on in an agitated way, +"that you, who have been my good comrade ever since we were little +children, should think all manner of ill of me, and should treat me so +coldly as you did the day of the funeral. Then I thought it was because +of your grief, but now I know that it was something else. No, no, do +not contradict me. I know you were surprised to find me here, and to +see my wreaths, because you thought me too frivolous and childish, and +heaven knows what beside, to think of what your dear dead father loved +best. Can you deny it?" + +"No, Adela, I will not deny that I was surprised," Walter frankly +confessed; "but I cannot tell you how happy I am to find I was wrong." + +"Why did you think so of me?" + +"Because, Adela, you have lately seemed 'so' to me. We were always good +friends until a few months ago, and then you suddenly changed your +manner to me. When we rode together you talked only of new dresses, of +the officers from the neighbouring garrison, of your plans and +prospects for the winter, which you hoped to pass in Berlin, and of +heaven knows what nonsense besides. If I tried to talk of something +else, you yawned, and I felt that we no longer were in sympathy with +each other. And when I called upon you in Kissingen in the summer, as I +was passing through the town, instead of my old playmate I found a +fashionable little lady flirting with a couple of affected fops and +quite ready to make game of her old 'comrade.'" + +"That is not true!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Oh, yes, it is," said Walter, who had quite talked himself into a +heat; "remember the day we made a party on the mountain, and you gave +your shawl to Herr von somebody, and your parasol to that other fellow +to carry, and when I asked whether you had nothing for me, you +answered, although you must have seen that I was not in jest, 'Oh, yes: +my caprices; you may have those; the youngest always ought to carry the +heaviest burden.' And then you ran on laughing with the others, and we +never spoke another word to each other the whole day long. Do you +remember?" + +"Yes; but I did not mean anything." + +"Nevertheless you were ready enough to laugh with the others at your +'comrade's' discomfiture; and that laugh broke the bond between us. +From that moment you were no more to me than a strange young lady; and +that I forget this and tell you all that I am saying now, is due to the +sight of those wreaths and of your tears." + +"And when the wreaths are withered and the tears are dried, must we be +strangers again?" Adela whispered softly, with a questioning glance. + +"Would you have it otherwise?" he asked. + +She was silent, her looks bent on the ground. He, too, looked away from +her beyond the crosses and marbles of the church-yard, where the autumn +asters were blooming and a few belated white butterflies were +fluttering. All was so quiet around them, except for the low rustling +amid the old oaks on the other side of the church-yard, and a soft +twitter from a little bird perched on the roof of the chapel, who +hushed his note suddenly, as though silenced by the influence of the +spot. + +Walter's gentle mood had changed. He was irritated by the provoking +silence of this girl, who had no kind reply for him, and he was +wellnigh ashamed of having made an attempt to renew the youthful +friendship the loss of which had given him more pain than he liked to +acknowledge even to himself. + +He arose and touched his hat. + +"Farewell, Fräulein Adela," he said, and turned to go. + +Then she looked up, and all the former bravado had vanished from her +eyes. "Walter!" she said, and at the sound of her voice he stopped +involuntarily. "Walter, do not go; stay for one moment and listen to +me." + +"I thought you wished me to go," he said. + +She shook her head emphatically. "Do not tease me, Walter," she said, +imploringly. "You see, it is not so easy to confess that one has been +in the wrong. I know I was wrong, and that I am really very vain and +often behaved very foolishly to you. You were quite right to be +displeased, and I am glad to know that you were so, but for all that +you need not be so very angry with me. You see, I know what a foolish +girl I am; and indeed I don't care in the least what people in general +think of me, but it cuts me to the heart when I see that you take my +nonsense seriously and believe me heartless." + +"Walter sat down again beside her on the step. + +"I never thought you 'heartless,' Adela," he cried, interrupting her; +"only superficial and----" + +"But that's just the same thing!" she exclaimed; "and I cannot change +your opinion of me all in a moment. Perhaps you are partly right; but +one thing I can and will promise you, and that is, that I will always +in future be honest and frank with you, and never again play such +idiotic pranks as on that day at Kissingen. I will not pretend to be +better than I am, and neither will I pretend to be worse than I am, and +you shall always have the right to lecture me and tell me what you +think of me. In return you must promise always to be my friend. If ever +I vex you again, tell me so, and scold me, but do not instantly run +away from me as though I were too contemptible a thing to turn back and +look at. Will you promise me this?" + +She looked up at him with eager anxiety, though with a childlike +confidence, and held out her hand, which he grasped cordially. + +"Yes, Adela," he said, "I will be a true and faithful friend to you. I +cannot tell you how glad I am to find my dear little playfellow once +more. I know now that she may sometimes hide herself, but she will not +vanish utterly. Be sure I shall remember this." + +Adela gave him so sunny a smile that he smiled too, and then, passing +quickly to other things, she asked after his mother and his brothers. + +"You are alone too, Walter," she said. "You are very unlike your +brothers, and your mother cannot be much to you. She sees you more in +the future than in the present." + +"Why, Adela!" said Walter, almost startled, "what puts such ideas into +your head?" + +"I keep my eyes open," she said, and then grew suddenly very grave. "I +only mean that your father is a terrible loss to you, and that Eichhof +will be much changed. Thea will come, and I am glad of it, although she +is something of a prig, like all the Rosens. I love her dearly for all +that, and she will be a good sister to you." + +Walter gazed sadly before him. + +"Come," said Adela, laying her hand upon his arm, "do not look so +troubled; you know I am just like a sister too." + +He pressed her hand; they rose, and she noticed that his eyes sought +the door of the chapel. + +"Shall we not go in again together?" she asked, gently, and they +ascended the steps and entered the building. Adela knelt down beside +the sarcophagus, and hid her face for some time upon the wreaths that +she had placed there. Walter looked down at her, and it seemed to him +that they were in the presence of his father, who smiled upon them. + +When Adela rose from her knees she looked him gravely and earnestly in +the face, and then left the chapel with him in silence. They went out +into the calm autumn evening; the skies were naming with crimson and +gold, for the sun was just sinking behind the line of forest that +bounded the horizon, and the bell in the little village church began to +ring for vespers. + +"How solemn!" said Adela, pausing before the chapel. Suddenly she +turned to Walter again: "From this moment we are friends for life, are +we not?" + +"Yes, Adela; at least I promise to be your friend for life," he +replied. + +She took from her finger a ring set with a sapphire. "Take this ring in +remembrance of today," she said. "It was my mother's, and I have always +worn it, first on my chain and then on my finger. Take it." + +"But, Adela," Walter said, delighted, and yet hesitating to accept so +strange a gift, "will it not be missed from your finger?" + +"Who is there to miss it? No one cares enough for me to notice whether +I wear it or not," she said, with some bitterness. + +He took the ring, and as he did so detained her hand in his for some +moments, as they walked down the steps and across the church-yard. + +"I thank you, Adela; the ring will be most precious indeed to me," he +said, in a low, earnest voice. "But I do not need it to make me +remember this evening." + +She smiled, and at the gate of the church-yard they took leave of each +other. The chapel lay about half-way between Rollin and Eichhof, so +that each could reach home before dark. + +Adela felt very happy this evening, and, as there was no one to whom +she could speak of her happiness, she carried a basket of sugar into +the stable and fed her various black and brown pets. + +"Some living creatures shall be happy with me, at all events," she +said, stroking the necks of the horses as they took their sugar from +her hand. + +No one shared Walter's happiness. Indeed, he was not clear as to +whether the emotion that filled his heart at the thought of Adela was +precisely happiness. But he thought much of her all through the +evening, and was even more quiet and dreamy in his mood than usual. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + CLOUDY WEATHER AT EICHHOF. + + +Several months had passed since Count Eichhof's death. The Countess had +withdrawn to her dower-house, about half a league distant, whence, +however, she drove over at least once every week to complain of the +miserable condition of her present abode. She witnessed, with a +resignation made apparent amid many sighs and tears, the alterations +effected by her son and her daughter-in-law in Eichhof. She found it +perfectly right and proper that Bernhard should be master there, but +that Thea--"that insignificant little girl," as she called her--should +have usurped the position so lately her own, was more than she could +understand or endure. + +It required all Thea's gentleness and amiability to enable her to +endure her mother-in-law's visits, and her task was made none the +easier by Bernhard's passing almost the entire day out-of-doors. The +Freiherr von Hohenstein, who had found the son quite as accommodating a +creditor as the father had been before him, said that Bernhard was +"launching out tremendously," which was his way of designating the +restless energy with which Bernhard had entered upon the duties of his +new position. + +It was not in vain that the young man had so often heard from his +mother that his position would be one of unusual distinction, and that +he himself was endowed with extraordinary powers of mind. He was +convinced that much, very much, was due from him to himself and to his +position, and his head was so crammed with ideas of the reform that was +to be effected in the management of his estate, that he could not waste +an instant before beginning to carry them out in action. His father had +employed clever agents, and had left all the farming to their care, +prudently aware that he was quite ignorant of rural economy; but +Bernhard was determined to see to everything himself, to have every +operation conducted under his own eye. An unfavourable crisis in the +business world had greatly depreciated the iron-works on the Eichhof +estate. Bernhard determined to indemnify himself for the loss of income +in this direction, and to this end established various extensive +factories. Eichhof was to be a model estate in every respect. + +It must be confessed that results by no means kept pace with his +purposes, and his orders, issued as they were with autocratic decision, +produced terrible confusion when, as frequently happened, they were +hostile not only to traditional customs, but to especial existing +arrangements. His bailiffs would gravely shake their heads at the young +Count's excessive though praiseworthy energy, and slight differences +would arise, which were, however, speedily adjusted by his personal +amiability and the rare kindliness of his manner towards his inferiors. + +Owing to his personal qualities, and to the influence of his old +superintendent, whose faithful attachment to the Eichhof family knew no +bounds, Bernhard suffered no losses of any significance, and was saved +from the disastrous results that might have ensued from his ignorant +interference in all sorts of affairs connected with the estate. + +"He is hardly more than a boy, but he'll come all right," the old +superintendent would declare. "Others lose their money at cards or on +the race-course, we waste some on these 'useless improvements;' but +there's enough left after all, and it will all come right with time. +The Count has not lost his head, but the sudden possession of such an +estate and such an income has confused it a little, that's all. He is +so young." + +Thea sometimes sadly missed her idyllic Thiergarten home, but in her +secret soul she was proud of Bernhard's untiring energy, and thought it +only natural that he should have but little time to devote to her, +since, as she had been educated to think, wealth entailed many duties +upon its possessor. + +What she did regret was that, even when he came home to her, it was +often with a clouded brow. He could not forget even in her presence the +business of the day. She told herself that this was also quite natural; +he must take more interest in these important and weighty matters than +in her small joys and sorrows. Nevertheless, she felt a certain void in +her life, which could not be filled either by her domestic occupations +or by her intercourse with her parents or with Adela Hohenstein. Adela +was friends with Alma again, and had promised to be very quiet and +good; but it is to be feared that she was a sad romp still at heart. +Thea laughed and gossiped with the girls, as she had always done, but +somehow she did not seem really to belong to them any longer. + +Thus the winter passed, and Easter came again. Lothar and Walter both +came to Eichhof at Bernhard's invitation, but the holidays were very +different from those of the previous year. Lothar's debts amounted to +such a sum that Bernhard, who now needed all his money for his +improvements, declared that he would never again pay one penny for his +brother, and would help him now only upon condition that he would have +himself transferred from Berlin to his native province, where the +cavalry regiments were scattered about in small garrisons and there was +not so much opportunity to spend money. Willy-nilly, Lothar was obliged +to agree to this condition, since he was utterly powerless to extricate +himself from his financial embarrassments without his brother's aid, +and was only too grateful to be helped out of a scrape once more. + +"I believe you are the only one who has any real compassion for me," +said Lothar one day to Alma Rosen, with whom he had been left alone in +his sister-in-law's boudoir. "You pity me, do you not?" + +"And so does Thea," Alma replied, a little embarrassed, as she always +was with Lothar; "but then she is glad too, for she thinks that you +will be near us--that is, near Eichhof--in your new garrison." + +"Well, yes, that would be the best thing that could happen to me," he +said, smiling. "And Thea is glad? That's very good of her. You both +have excellent hearts, you and Thea, but your father and mother, you +know, look upon me as a terrible black sheep." + +Alma was silent, and looked out of the window. She could not deny the +truth of his assertion, and she would not have admitted it for the +world. + +Then Lothar, in default of any other occupation or amusement, proceeded +to give Alma a short lecture upon himself. "Pray don't turn your eyes +so resolutely away," he began; "indeed, I am not quite such a black +sheep as I am called; only I cannot, somehow or other, manage my money +affairs. It's contrary to my nature, and nobody ever taught me how to +do it, and yet when I go all wrong every one is vastly surprised. Now, +my dear Alma, is not that perfectly unjust? There's no denying that +money in itself is a very low, vulgar thing, and consequently only +common men can manage it properly. I like beautiful things, and never +want to ask their cost. I enjoy, and I like to share my enjoyment with +others, without pausing to consider its price. I bask in the sunshine +and consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, who +never count the cost and yet continue to live. Suddenly a black cloud +thrusts itself between me and the sun, and a perfect hail-storm of +unpaid bills comes pelting down upon me, while all my dear friends and +neighbours join in a chorus of 'You are not worthy to enjoy the +sunshine, for you never remember that twice one are two.' Oh, yes, my +dear Alma, life is very hard, especially when one is so alone in the +world as I am. Yes, if I had a wife as gentle, wise, and lovely as your +sister Thea, something might be made of me after all. I might become a +really respectable member of society." + +It was perhaps quite as well that Thea's entrance interrupted the +conversation at this point; and half an hour later Lothar was making +preparations for his departure, whistling an opera air, and with as +little thought of the pelting storm of unpaid bills which his brother +was sure to convert to sunshine as of Alma's sweet serious face. The +girl meanwhile sat by herself in the bow-windowed room, and would have +fervently prayed heaven to send Lothar a wise and gentle wife like +Thea, if only her heart would not have throbbed so loud and fast in its +protest against any such petition. + +Adela Hohenstein came running in and roused her from her dreams. "Here +you sit lonely and forlorn as an enchanted princess in her tower gazing +drearily from her window in hopes of a glimpse of some princely +deliverer!" she cried, laughing. "Good heavens, how stupid and quiet +Eichhof is, when one compares it with what it was awhile ago!" + +"How can you talk so, Adela? You know they are all in deep mourning; +any entertainments are quite out of the question," said Alma, conscious +that just now she would infinitely prefer her solitude to Adela's +society. + +"Oh, I don't mean that," exclaimed Adela; "but just fancy, I came all +the way up-stairs without meeting a living soul except the servants, +whose faces are so long and solemn since the funeral that it gives one +the horrors to look at them. What in the world has become of the entire +Eichhof family?" + +"Thea is walking in the park with her mother-in-law, Lothar is getting +ready to leave Eichhof, and Walter is having a talk with Bernhard. They +have been closeted together for more than an hour." + +"So Lothar is packing up? Then the bomb-shell has burst, and Bernhard +has turned him out. You need not deny it, my dear, I know all about his +debts; Hugo told papa of them to console him. And what is to be done +now?" + +Alma told all that she knew, but Adela listened with only half an ear. +"What is Walter discussing with Bernhard?" she asked, suddenly. + +"I am sure I cannot tell." + +"Something is going very wrong with Walter," Adela observed; "he is +altogether too solemn. I used to have so much fun with him; but when he +paid us a visit the other day it was like the shock of a shower-bath, +he was so changed. Lothar, who had far more reason for being grave and +solemn, was very merry and amusing, while Walter--but indeed, Alma, you +must have seen yourself how fearfully stupid and tiresome Walter has +grown to be." + +Alma had not noticed Walter's increase of gravity; what she did observe +at this moment was the arrival before the hall door of Lothar's +travelling-carriage. + +She looked anxiously towards the door through which Lothar entered to +take his leave, just as the Countesses Eichhof returned from their +walk. Judging from the countenance of each, their _tête-à-tête_ had not +been of a very edifying nature. Bernhard and Walter also made their +appearance, and were quite in harmony with the rest of the party, for +they looked irritated and discontented. + +"Good-morning to some and good-by to others, in most admired +confusion," said Adela, offering her hand right and left, and +exchanging greetings and farewells, until Lothar's carriage had carried +him away. + +The Countess wiped her eyes with her lace handkerchief, and pitied in +one breath her "dear Lothar, who is such a fine fellow after all," and +her "beloved Bernhard, who has so much worry and vexation on his +brother's account." And finally she clasped Walter in her arms, +declaring that he would never be anything but a blessing and comfort to +every one. Whereupon Bernhard instantly left the room, closing the door +after him with unnecessary violence, whilst Walter looked the picture +of dejection. + +"Ah! all joy has fled from this household," sighed the Countess, with a +reproachful glance towards her daughter-in-law, who was silently +bending over her embroidery-frame. + +"Upon my word," whispered Adela to her friend, who looked quite cast +down by Lothar's sudden departure, "it is too terrible here to-day. If +you do not want me to order round my carriage instantly, ask Walter to +take a walk with us." + +"He does not look as if he wanted to take a walk." + +"No matter; ask him, or I will go immediately." + +Walter made no objection to going, and the three young people left the +bow-windowed room. Thea looked after them with entreaty in her eyes, as +though to detain them, but they paid her no heed, and she turned again +to her work with a resigned face, resolved to endure in silence the +further unavoidable _tête-à-tête_ with her mother-in-law. + +It was not destined, however, to last long on this occasion, for in a +very few minutes Herr von Rosen's light wagon drove up; he had come for +his daughter Alma. Thea hastened to meet him, and brought him in +triumph into the room, which was instantly illumined as by sunlight by +the old man's genial smile, the brightness of which called forth a pale +reflection even on the old Countess's sad face. No human being could +remain unresponsive to Herr von Rosen's cordiality. It was so easy to +see that his kindliness was not the result of conventional habit, but +was due to the genuine warmth of a noble heart, that it cheered and +refreshed every one around him. + +"I knew that I should find you here," he said, turning to the old +Countess, "for I stopped on my way hither at your cottage, and they +told me you were at Eichhof. You have planted new shrubberies around +the house, I see, and the balcony is an immense improvement. The old +house will soon be a charming little retreat." + +"Indeed, did you really think it pretty?" asked the Countess. "Good +heavens, it is so plain and simple!" + +"I think it charming; and if you find it too quiet, why, you always +have Eichhof, you know. I am so glad to think of you so near here, for +my wife is, as you know, too much of an invalid to drive out very +often, and my dear little daughter will often need counsel and aid in +her new sphere of life. She has learned something already, however, for +her manner of receiving her guests at her last small dinner reminded me +a little of old times at Eichhof. I was proud of you, my little Thea, +and I was sincerely grateful to you for your influence over her, my +dear Countess." + +Herr von Rosen put his arm around his daughter's waist, and his frank +blue eyes as he looked at her were full of affection. For the first +time to-day the old Countess really smiled, and also looked kindly at +her daughter-in-law. + +Scarcely, however, had Herr von Rosen succeeded in banishing the clouds +from the brows of the ladies, when Bernhard entered with the +threatening of a positive tempest in his face. + +"I am very glad to see you to-day, sir," he said, as, after greeting +his father-in-law, he seated himself beside him. "I have arranged +Lothar's affairs after the manner you advised; they are all right: but +now it is Walter's turn." + +"Walter? Surely the boy has no debts?" + +"No; but I almost wish he had, for then I should know what to do, +inconvenient as it might be for me just at present." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed the old Countess, "what is the matter now?" + +"You must be told of it, mother, and perhaps there is no better time +than the present for the telling. Walter has gone back to his insane +idea of last year,--in fact, he seems never to have really relinquished +it,--and he has been attending medical lectures in addition to those +upon jurisprudence. He insists that he shall never be worth anything +unless he pursues the study of medicine." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed his mother. "I never will give my consent to so +crazy a scheme. Besides, my cousin the ambassador has promised him a +position." + +Bernhard made an impatient gesture with his hand. "You know, mother, +that we have already discussed this matter," he said, "and you know +that I have given up all thoughts of a diplomatic future for Walter, +because such a career requires an independent fortune, far larger than +any I could give him. My plan was that he should first become an +assessor, and then a provincial judge somewhere in the country. Thus he +would become entirely independent----" + +"But not before many years, and in the mean time he would be called +'Assessor' and 'Circuit Judge,'" moaned the Countess. "You cannot +seriously entertain the idea of your brother's being a circuit judge? +He had better enter the army immediately. Oh, if he only had never +studied anything!" + +"The army would have been best, but it cannot be thought of now, and +that is not the question at present; he insists upon studying +medicine." + +"Did you tell him it was entirely out of the question?" + +"I told him my opinion on the subject, to which, however, he opposed +his own. He declares that he has done his best conscientiously to +comply with our father's wishes, and that it is upon his account alone +that he has silently endured and struggled. He has, he says, been very +unhappy, and is firmly convinced that he shall miss his vocation and +live a useless life if he does conform to these wishes. In short, he +said a great deal to me that sounds plausible enough, but that +nevertheless does not alter the fact that this idea of his of studying +medicine is insanely absurd. I told him that if he persisted in it I +would not help him with a single penny, to which he replied that he had +no intention of applying to me for assistance; he meant that his income +of five hundred thalers should suffice for all his needs, and nothing +would induce him to accept anything further from me. Of course after +this we can have no more to do with each other. He declares that +nothing I can say will have the least influence upon his determination, +which is the result of mature deliberation, and that he does not want +any aid from me. The case is clear, and a breach is unavoidable if +Walter will not listen to reason. He values your opinion highly, sir, +and I thought perhaps you would expostulate with him. I can do no +more." + +"Yes, yes, you must talk to him," said the Countess, wiping away her +tears, while Thea looked eagerly at her father, quite undecided whether +to side with Walter or with Bernhard. + +"And what in the world can I say to him?" Herr von Rosen asked. +"Certainly, from what I know of Walter, I judge it very unlikely that +he should arrive at any over-hasty conclusions, and I am not at all +competent to overthrow in an hour a resolve that has been the result on +his part of a year of struggle and endurance. Besides, if I did as you +desire, it would be in opposition to my own conviction. Walter is +subjected to the necessity of carving out his own fortunes, of winning +his own means of subsistence. A hard task under all circumstances, why +should we make it harder for him by forcing him to do what he +positively dislikes? The beginnings of every career are arduous enough, +and, since Walter does not possess sufficient means to surround himself +with outward luxuries, it is surely natural that he should covet inward +content. This he can find only in a calling in which he takes a genuine +interest, to which he can cheerfully devote all his powers of mind." + +"But how can he do that as a doctor?" wailed the Countess. + +There was a slight smile upon Rosen's kindly face as he replied, "Your +son probably wonders how he can do it as circuit judge. It is all a +matter of taste and temperament." + +"Oh, don't speak of a circuit judge! If he is to be nothing but that he +may as well be a doctor." The Countess sighed heavily, and, putting her +handkerchief to her eyes, again burst into tears. + +"One is certainly as honourable a calling as the other," Rosen said, +calmly. + +Bernhard maintained a gloomy silence. Thea gazed at her father with +eyes that understood and appreciated him. His view of the matter was +new to her, but she agreed with him. + +Fortunately, the young girls with Walter made their appearance at this +moment, and the conversation was not prolonged before Adela. Countess +Eichhof, finding it impossible to control her agitation, and with very +vague ideas as to what really was Walter's intention, withdrew to bury +with many tears her enchanting dream of Walter as an ambassador. + +Adela, who found the air at Eichhof to-day not at all to her liking, +ordered her carriage, and Walter and Alma accompanied her into the +hall. "Oh, I forgot to bring down the book you lent me, Alma!" she +exclaimed, standing on the lowest of the flight of steps. "No, Walter, +you cannot get it; I left it in Alma's room." + +Alma good-naturedly ran to fetch it, and Adela looked after her with a +smile. + +"I left it there on purpose," she said to Walter; "and I hid it a +little, for I wanted to speak to you one moment alone." + +Walter smiled at her small plot, though he shook his finger at her. +"What have you to say to me?" he said, stepping close to her side. + +"First, I want to know whether you are still my good friend." + +Instead of replying, Walter took out her ring, which he wore on a +ribbon around his neck, and kissed it. + +Adela blushed. + +"Put it away quickly," she said, with a shy glance around. "No one must +know that you have it, for people are so stupid; too stupid! They could +not understand. But what I really wanted to ask was why you are so +terribly serious and quiet. Has anything gone particularly wrong?" + +Adela's blue eyes were so near Walter's face that his breath stirred +the curls upon her forehead, and she looked at him so earnestly and +kindly that his cheek suddenly flushed, and the voice in which he +answered her was rather unsteady. "I cannot explain it to you now, +Adela. It is a long story, and everything seems to me to be going +particularly wrong just now." + +"But I am fairly dying with curiosity; tell me about it, quickly!" she +exclaimed, impatiently. + +He shook his head. "Not now; I will come to Rollin to-morrow." + +"Ride through the park, then, and I will be waiting for you on the +round white bench near the pond. Some one is always sure to interrupt +us at the house, and you never will be able to finish your story. By +the white bench, then, at eleven o'clock in the morning; I cannot +possibly wait until the afternoon." + +She had scarcely issued this _ordre de bataille_, which was given quite +in the tone of a military commander, when Alma appeared with the book, +and Fräulein Adela drove off, well satisfied with the success of her +plot and with the prospect of Walter's visit. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + FOUND AND LOST. + + +There was a misty green, betokening the coming spring, upon the bare +boughs of the trees in the park at Rollin, and the little lake in its +midst reflected the clear blue of the skies above it. Adela, seated on +the white bench, near the water, was hardly aware either of the budding +branches around her or of the gleaming mirror before her. Her thoughts +were occupied with her expected visitor, and her hands and eyes with a +beautiful brown greyhound that never seemed to tire of leaping to and +fro over the riding-whip she held out for him. + +"What will Walter tell me?" she thought. "Jump, Fidèle!" she called out +to the dog, who had paused for a moment and looked dubiously at his +mistress. "You are a good creature," she went on, stroking his handsome +head, and again her thoughts flew to Walter. "Poor dear fellow, his +eyes have so sad a look in them now; and indeed it is too uncomfortable +in Eichhof. Thea really looks quite ill; she must be fairly bored to +death. Come, Fidèle, you shall jump once more, and then I'll give you +some sugar." + +And the dog jumped again, and was fed with sugar, while his mistress +began to think that Walter allowed himself to be waited for too long. +Suddenly she sprang up. The sound of a horse's hoofs was audible, and +in an instant Walter turned into the avenue of oaks that led to where +she was sitting. Fidèle ran towards him, and leaped beside the horse +barking his welcome, while Adela, in sudden and unexpected confusion, +which she strove to hide behind an affectation of indifference, fixed +her eyes upon the surface of the lake beyond the rider. + +"Well," she said, when Walter, having tied his horse to a tree, stood +beside her, "I have only just arrived. I nearly forgot our +appointment." + +"I should have been so sorry not to find you," he said, "for after our +offensive and defensive alliance it would have pained me to leave +Eichhof without telling you myself of what you will be sure to hear +from others, coloured, probably, by their prejudices." + +"Leave? You are going away? Where? You have only just come!" the girl +exclaimed, evidently alarmed, and quite forgetting her part of +indifference, as she drew Fidèle towards her and put her arms around +his neck, as if craving some sympathy from him, while she looked up at +Walter anxiously. + +"You perhaps remember a ride we took together, about a year ago, when I +told you how hard I had found it to resign the idea of studying +medicine," Walter began. + +"Good heavens, Walter," she interrupted him, "you are not going to +begin about that again?" + +He gazed at her seriously and sadly for a moment in silence, and noted +the eager and yet terrified expression in her eyes. + +"But I am," he then said, softly. "I am firmly, unalterably +resolved----" + +"Walter!" she exclaimed loudly, thrusting Fidèle from her. "You cannot! +you dare not! Think of your father!" + +"I have thought of him and tried to do as he wished. But do you not +think that my father loved me and earnestly desired my happiness?" + +"Yes; and for that very reason you ought to do nothing that he would +have disapproved." + +"And suppose I am perfectly convinced that I never could be contented, +but, on the contrary, should be positively miserable, in the career he +chose for me?" + +"You still ought to pursue that career." + +"And live but half a life, tormented by the consciousness that I was +entirely unfitted for my position? No, Adela, my father never could +have wished me to do this. When I told him of my wishes I had not yet +made an attempt to conform to his. This was my duty, and I have done +it. Now what I only suspected has come to be a certainty. I have no +interest whatever in the study of the law. I cannot make it the +business of my life. Do you not believe that the knowledge of this +would alter my father's views?" + +"Your father never would have allowed you to be a doctor." + +"Then he would have sacrificed his better self to a prejudice. The very +essence of his being was a kindly enjoyment of life, and it would have +caused him the greatest sorrow to have been the occasion of unhappiness +to one of his sons. I believe that if he had lived he would have seen +this and would have yielded to my wishes. Happiness and unhappiness are +dealt out to us by heaven, but human will is not without influence in +their distribution. As far as I can I choose to be happy, and in so +being to fulfil what I know to have been my father's chief hope for +me." + +"But your mother,--think of your mother; she never will consent to what +you desire." + +"No, my mother never will consent until some brilliant result justifies +my choice. But she is just as averse to a commonplace legal career, +which is what I should now be obliged to pursue, since I cannot be +under obligations to my brother. I must be independent. My mother has +no decided views for me at present. I hope to win her over in time. +Bernhard is angry with me; Lothar only laughs at me. I am very much +alone in my family, Adela. But I never shall forget that I am an +Eichhof, and I shall try, so far as I can, to do honour to my name. I +hope that my mother may one day be proud of me; at all events she shall +never be ashamed of me." + +He had spoken with some emotion latterly, almost more to himself than +to Adela. He suddenly paused and looked at her. Her eyes were opened +wide, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. + +"Now you know all. Are you still my friend, Adela?" he asked, bending +over her. + +She seized his hand, and cried, between laughter and tears, "Dear, dear +Walter, I know I ought to be angry with you, but I cannot, I cannot." + +He pressed her hand to his lips. "Then you think I am right, Adela?" he +asked, gazing earnestly into her eyes. + +"Good heavens! I do not know, Walter," she sobbed; "but you are so +good, and we have known each other so long, and I know you will go away +now and never come back again for years." + +"And you are sorry?" he whispered. + +She did not reply, but her tears continued to flow silently, and, as if +to conceal them, she leaned her head upon Walter's shoulder. He put his +arm around her, and she made no resistance. + +His lips almost touched her curls, and she wept so uncontrollably that +his heart was inexpressibly touched. Her tears, and the gentle pressure +of her head upon his shoulder, annihilated all the fixed resolves he +had made with regard to her; all the prudent reasonings with which he +had silenced the promptings of his heart were melted by those 'kindly +drops,' like the last snow beneath a warm spring shower. "Dear, dearest +Adela!" he whispered, and kissed her brow. She threw her arms about his +neck and nestled close to him. + +The larks trilled above them, and the sunbeams kissed open the buds of +the elder-bush that grew beside the lake, while Fidèle looked at the +youthful pair clasped in each other's arms with a certain expression of +comprehension in his honest eyes, as if it were all a matter of course. + +"And so the very words which I feared would separate us have united us +forever, my darling," said Walter, after a long and ecstatic pause. +"Ah, how proudly I shall now pursue my path, since I know that I shall +not be struggling and working only for myself, but for you! And you +will believe in me, and will be patient until the goal is reached, and +I have a home for you where you shall be shielded from every blast that +blows?" + +She suddenly freed herself from his clasp, and, stroking her curls from +before her eyes, looked at him in a kind of terror. "Walter," she said, +hastily, "for heaven's sake, don't talk so!" + +He smiled, and drew her towards him again. "Never fear, dear love," he +said. "Be sure that my strength and courage will be all-sufficient to +provide for our future. I know now that you love me, and will one day +consent to be my wife, although I still persist in being a doctor." + +Again she broke away from him. "I never said that, Walter," she cried; +"no, no; and I never will say it. You ought to know that if I love +you,--and I am not so very sure that I do love you,--all this happened +so quickly,--but even if I did love you, I never, never would consent +to be a doctor's wife." + +Walter looked at her like some sleeper awakening from a dream. He +found it hard to understand her, but her words could bear no other +meaning except that she meant to break with him if he adhered to his +resolve. "It was all a mistake, then,--the saddest mistake of my life," +he said, slowly and monotonously. "I do not understand how it could be, +Adela, but I understand that you now send me from you." He stood still +for a moment, as though awaiting a reply. Adela was silent, and pressed +her handkerchief to her lips to restrain her sobs. Walter still looked +inquiringly at her. "Farewell!" he suddenly said, and turned to go, but +she seized his arm and clung to him as in desperation. + +"Walter!" she cried. "Oh, heavens! I--I think--I love you, Walter. You +must not go!" + +"Adela, do not torture me so!" he entreated. "After what has passed +between us, I do not, I cannot know what you mean. You say you love me, +and----" + +"Yes, yes, Walter; but you must not be a doctor. If you are poor, no +matter; we will wait until you are a Landrath, and I will learn all +about housekeeping and whatever you wish me to, for--even if I do not +know exactly whether I love you--yet----" + +"You do not know whether you love me, Adela?" he said, with a bitter +laugh. "You do not know exactly? Well, I know, and I will tell you. No, +you do not love me, or you never, after what I have told you, could +demand such a sacrifice of me! You do not love me, Adela; it was all a +dream, and"--he drew out the ribbon upon which he wore her ring--"and +it is past and gone!" + +He held out the ring to her. "There, take it back," he said, his voice +trembling with agitation. "I cannot any longer be your friend. There is +only one relation possible between us. I must have all or nothing. Take +it, take it back!" And he still held the ring out to her. + +"I will not have it," she said, turning stubbornly away. + +"Take it, or I will throw it into the lake. I will not keep it." + +"Do as you please." + +Walter tossed the ring from him. For an instant it glittered in the +sunlight above the waters of the little lake, into which it sank with a +faint splash. + +Adela never looked towards it. She stooped and stroked the head of her +dog, who pressed close to her side as if in dread of some coming +misfortune. The girl thought that Walter would speak again. Suddenly +she heard the sound of a horse's hoofs behind her. She started up, to +see both steed and rider just disappearing at the turning of the oak +avenue. + +"Walter!" she almost screamed. + +But he had gone. She sank on her knees, and laid her head upon Fidèle's +neck. + +"Walter," she sobbed, "I love you! Oh, now I know I love you!" But +Walter could not hear her. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THEA ROUNDS HER FIRST PROMONTORY. + + +His brother's affairs were soon driven from Bernhard's mind by anxiety +with regard to his own. The building of the factory was in full +progress, and the new agricultural machines were to be tested. Meadows +were being cleared and fields drained, and Bernhard wanted to be +everywhere, and to have everything under his personal supervision. He +spent the greater part of the day riding or driving to distant parts of +his estate, and his dreams at night were of ploughing-machines, and of +new leases for farms. Thea, who had at first accompanied him in his +rides and drives, now generally stayed at home, and grew graver and +more silent every day,--a fact which Bernhard had no time to notice. He +never, it is true, left the house without a hurried visit to her room, +when he would leave a hasty kiss upon her forehead, with a "Well, Thea, +how are you? I'm off on horseback!" and then, without waiting for her +reply, he would leave her and run down-stairs as if in hopes of making +up for the minute he had wasted upon her. Now and then she ventured a +timid question with regard to his occupations, but, since a fitting +reply demanded explanations for which Bernhard had no time, and to +comprehend which would require more technical knowledge than she +possessed, the answers she received were brief and vague. Whenever +anything occurred, however, that was especially unfortunate, Bernhard +appealed to his wife for sympathy, which she freely gave him, although +in doing so she often betrayed her entire ignorance of the matter in +question. + +Visits and social events were rare, since the family were still in +mourning. Thea's girl friends were all, with the exception of Adela +Hohenstein, now married, and had left the neighbourhood, where there +were no young married women save Frau von Wronsky, with whom Bernhard +did not wish Thea to associate, and who since the death of the Count +had paid only one short visit of condolence at Eichhof. Thus Thea +was very much alone, and although she did her best to kill time with +china-painting and reading, with embroidery and new music, she could +not always escape ennui. She had no special talent for either music or +painting, only a certain facility which always requires encouragement +for practice. This encouragement was wanting. She thought of her +mother, who had been continually occupied, but the household at Eichhof +was very different from that at Schönthal. Everything at her old home +had been comprised in a much smaller compass, was much more simple, and +Frau von Rosen had held unlimited sway, had overseen her people, and +arranged her housekeeping herself. At Eichhof there was an omnipotent +housekeeper, who had lived more than twenty years in the family, and +for whom Thea entertained an immense respect. The cook was a very fine +gentleman, and the footmen were correspondingly grand. All these people +knew so much, and had been in the house so long, that Thea, with her +eighteen years and her inexperience, scarcely regarded herself as their +mistress. Everything went its way like a clock that has been wound up, +any interference with which would only do harm. + +Thus Thea felt that the following of her mother's example was quite +impossible here; and she was equally conscious that her small +occupations were far from sufficient to fill up her days. As she was +too proud, however, to admit to any one that she was discontented, she +said nothing of this to her parents or to Alma. + +"They cannot help me," she thought, "and why should I trouble them? Let +them believe me perfectly happy." + +One day she was sitting in the bow-windowed room, vainly endeavouring +to concentrate her thoughts upon a forget-me-not that she was painting +upon a china cup. These same thoughts would fly off to Bernhard, and +she wondered, as she did perpetually, whether there was no way in which +she could be nearer him, could share his interests, and really live +with him instead of only at his side. She was interrupted by a visit +from her father, who often came to Eichhof at this time. + +When Herr von Rosen entered his daughter's room she joyfully bade him +welcome, and took from him a package of books that he had under his +arm. + +"Books for Bernhard," he said, as Thea opened the bundle and began to +arrange the volumes. "Nothing for you, my dear; nothing but treatises +on agricultural matters, and descriptions of just such factories as he +is now building." + +Thea bent over the books with great interest. "And why should they be +nothing to me, papa?" she asked. "Is it impossible for me to share +Bernhard's interests?" + +The tone of the question was so peculiar that Herr von Rosen looked at +his daughter in surprise. "Impossible?" he repeated. "Oh, no; women can +do a great deal if they choose." And, as he stood by his daughter, he +suddenly put his hand beneath her chin, lifted her face to his, and +looked into her eyes. "What is it you want, Thea? Ah, tears in your +eyes! Then the matter is serious. What is it?" + +Then Thea broke down; she had always made a confidant of her father in +the old days, and her reserve had been hard to maintain. She threw her +arms around his neck, and they sat down together on the small sofa in +the corner. Here father and daughter had a long and earnest talk, and +when they arose from it Thea's eyes and cheeks glowed, and there was a +mysterious smile as of a secret understanding upon Herr von Rosen's +lips as in his subsequent conversation with Bernhard he frequently +glanced towards his daughter. It was arranged that Thea should go +oftener than had been her wont to Schönthal,--that she should drive +over at least twice a week, since Frau von Rosen's health did not at +present permit her to leave the house. Bernhard gave his consent to +this willingly, as he was obliged to be absent from home so much +himself. + +"He will not miss me," thought Thea; "he would rather talk with his +superintendent than with me." But this thought did not sadden her +to-day. Her eyes sparkled, and there was a certain resolute expression +on her face that seemed to declare, "All this shall be different." + +Two days afterwards she drove over to Schönthal and spent the whole day +there. She took with her one of the books which her father had brought +for Bernhard, and when she came home in the evening another package of +books accompanied her. At some distance from Eichhof, Bernhard came +riding to meet her. Thea blushed and stood up in the carriage,--he had +missed her, then, after all! + +But that did not prevent her from going to Schönthal again the next +week. Meanwhile, Herr von Rosen came frequently to Eichhof, where he +took long rambles with his daughter through the fields and farms, and +had prolonged conversations with her on the small sofa in her favourite +room. + +Thus several weeks passed, until one day Thea begged her husband to let +her go with him to the factory, which was now roofed in, and where the +machinery was just being set up. + +"Yes, my child," he said, "come if you choose, but it will bore you +terribly. I have so much to attend to about which you know nothing." + +She smiled, and put on her hat and gloves to accompany him. + +It was a lovely warm afternoon. The little open carriage flew along the +broad road, but Thea made no observations upon the beauty of the sunset +or the misty colours of the distant forest, although she saw and +enjoyed both. She knew that Bernhard's thoughts were occupied with far +other topics, and her questions bore such evident reference to these +that his replies, at first vague and constrained, soon altered their +tone. He was so absorbed in these interests of his that he had no time +for surprise at his young wife's sudden accession of knowledge, but at +least he made no objection when, upon arriving at the factory, she +prepared to accompany him in his tour of inspection. She listened +attentively to all that the workmen had to tell, examined the machines, +and now and then asked questions, which the machinists answered +eagerly, and which so astounded Bernhard that he several times +found himself looking inquiringly at her as if to make sure that +it really was his 'May-rose' who was discoursing so learnedly of +machines, and water-power, and steam-power. He himself had never been +so absent-minded before upon a visit here. Scarcely were they seated in +the carriage again on their homeward way when he turned to her and +asked, "For heaven's sake, tell me, Thea, where you learned all this?" + +She laughed merrily. "Learned what?" she asked, in her turn. "I have +but the merest superficial knowledge of these things." + +"But a short time ago you had no idea of them." + +She gave him a look from her large dark eyes that was half saucy, half +entreating. "Will you not try me and see whether I have not some more +'ideas' perhaps, and take me with you oftener?" she asked. + +"Good heavens, Thea! I was only afraid of boring you." + +"And you thought I had better be bored at home alone than in your +society?" + +"Have you been bored at home?" + +"Very nearly; but just at the right time something pleasanter occurred +to me." + +"And that was?" he asked, when she paused. + +"And that was,--guess what." + +"Good-evening, Bernhard; good-evening, Thea," a joyous voice called out +very near them, and Lothar galloped up, followed by a second horseman +in uniform. + +Lothar had in fact been transferred to a regiment of hussars stationed +in the neighbourhood of Eichhof, but he had been sent until lately to a +distant garrison, and had but just arrived at the small town near by. + +"I am making my first formal neighbourly visit to you," said Lothar, +riding close up beside the carriage, while the other horseman also +approached and saluted Bernhard and Thea. + +"Lieutenant Werner is my stay and consolation in my present Gotham," +said Lothar, as the carriage proceeded slowly, escorted by the two +riders; "he knows Berlin as well as I do, and we exchange +reminiscences." + +Lieutenant Werner smiled. "Yes, it was hard enough at one time to be +away from Berlin, but I am very well content now to be in R----." + +"And what of your studies, Herr von Werner?" Thea asked. She was +already acquainted with the young officer, and knew that he was +interested in science. + +"Ah, madame, there is much to be desired in that direction," he +replied. + +And Lothar called out from the other side of the carriage, "He lives +like a hermit, Thea; but I hope to spoil his books for him." + +"You will hardly do that," said Werner. + +"Nonsense, my dear fellow! 'All printed stuff is dull and gray, the +tree of life is ever green and gay,'" Lothar declared, in a rather free +paraphrase of Goethe. Then he turned to talk with Bernhard about his +horses, while Werner rode by Thea's side until the carriage stopped at +the gateway of the castle. + +"I am so glad to see you here; I hope you will come often," Thea said, +as she got out of the carriage and offered her hand to Lothar. + +Lothar kissed it, and replied, "I am only afraid of coming too often, +Thea; so let us have it settled in the beginning that if I come to +Eichhof as often as I have the time and desire to come, you will turn +me out if I come at the wrong time." + +Thea laughed. "I agree," she said. "You shall at all events have a room +always ready for you, and plenty of almond-cakes." + +"Oh, you have not forgotten what I like best. Bernhard, your wife is an +angel!" + +"I knew that long ago," Bernhard said, with a laugh, as he led his +guests into the bow-windowed room, where the servants were just +lighting the lamps. + +"I must set Werner afloat," Lothar said, in the course of conversation; +"to-day we call here, to-morrow at the Wronskys, the day after +to-morrow----" + +"Are the Wronskys at home?" Thea interrupted him. "I thought they were +travelling." + +"They have been back for two weeks," Lothar replied. "I saw her at a +dinner at the Schönburgs'. She is really a very charming and +interesting creature. I was not half so much pleased with her at first +as I am now. They tell all kinds of stories about her, but----" + +"What are the stories about her?" asked Thea. + +"Nonsense, Lothar!" Bernhard interposed, as his brother was about to +give his version of an _on dit_. "Why repeat silly stories, which no +one will vouch for, and of which every one has a different version? The +lady is now Marzell Wronsky's wife; he is our neighbour, and for his +sake we ought not to repeat such reports." + +Thea looked at her husband in surprise. He had so often expressed his +dislike of this woman, and yet he was suddenly so eager in her defence. + +She said nothing, however, because she suspected that it would be +better not to have these 'reports' retailed at her table, and Werner, +who thought he detected a shadow of annoyance on her countenance, said +quickly, "The lady's conduct certainly is at present perfectly correct, +and she is very interesting in conversation. I lately took her in to +dinner somewhere, and I was amazed to find how much she had seen of the +world. She is perfectly familiar with Europe, and has been to Palestine +and spent a winter in Cairo besides." + +"Did you not envy her?" said Thea, to whom Werner had formerly confided +his great love of travel, and the fact that with all his economy he +could only contrive to take a short journey every other year. + +"Just a little," he replied; "but we had one memory in common of one of +her smallest journeys and of my largest one. After the Paris Exposition +she went to Trouville." + +"You were there too, Bernhard, and just at that time," said Thea. + +"Oh, there must have been many people there at that time of whose +existence I was entirely unaware," Bernhard said, hastily; but +something in his tone of voice and in the expression of his face struck +Thea, and, little prone as she was to suspicion, the thought occurred +to her, "He knew her." + +"Of course, society at Trouville is so mixed," said Werner, "and so +various, that it is impossible to know every one. Frau von Wronsky +seemed not to have enjoyed her stay there very much." + +"Naturally." Thea turned to her husband. Had he spoken the word, or had +she been mistaken? + +"What do you mean?" she asked. + +"I said nothing," he replied. + +"Heavens, Thea, you have an entire agricultural library here!" Lothar +exclaimed at this moment. He was never quiet long, and while the others +had been conversing he had been walking about the room on a tour of +discovery in search of new books or pieces of furniture. He was now +standing before a pretty open set of book-shelves, from which he took +several books and brought them to the table. "Since when have you been +perusing works upon drainage, irrigation, and plans for factories?" he +asked, laughing, and pointing to the titles of the volumes. + +Thea blushed, and piled the books together. "Don't be so rude as to +disarrange my books, Lothar," she said, as she took up some to put them +away again. + +But Bernhard detained her. "Thea," he said, "now I understand where +your 'ideas' came from. Have you really been studying all this +tiresome, dry stuff, and was this what you meant the other day when you +declared that you had discovered an excellent antidote for ennui?" + +"Why, of course, I wanted to be able to talk about all these things +with you, and to know something at least of what is absorbing your +thoughts," she said, with a still brighter blush, forgetting for the +moment both her guests and Frau von Wronsky, as she noted the +expression of her husband's eyes. The next instant she turned away, +with a laugh, to rearrange her books. + +Bernhard looked after her with an emotion that he would have found it +difficult to express: never had she seemed to him so enchanting, so +charming, as at this moment. Lothar laughed; Lieutenant Werner looked +grave, and, when Thea again joined the group around the table, gave her +a glance of intense admiration. + +A servant announced that tea was served in the dining-hall, and thither +the party repaired. + +Thea tried to lead the conversation to the Wronskys again, but Bernhard +persistently changed the subject whenever they were alluded to. + +"Why is it so disagreeable to him to hear that woman talked of?" Thea +said to herself. + +It was tolerably late when the two officers took their leave, but Thea +was not at all tired, and while Bernhard accompanied them down into the +hall, she fetched a large photograph book, in which were the +photographs of all the landed proprietors of the neighbourhood, with +their wives, and when Bernhard returned he found her lost in +contemplation of Frau von Wronsky's face. + +"I am glad they are gone, Thea," he cried, more quickly and merrily +than was his wont to speak, "for now I can thank you as I should for +reading all those books for my sake. I know you did it all for love of +me, my darling." + +He drew her tenderly towards him; but although his words would have +made her perfectly happy a few hours before, she now returned his kiss +rather coldly, and said,-- + +"Good heavens, it was not much to do; it really interested me very +much, and papa explained everything to me that I did not understand. +But," she added, without explaining the strange sequence of ideas, +otherwise than by pushing forward the book of photographs,--"tell me, +Bernhard, did you not know the Wronsky at Trouville?" + +"What put that into your head?" asked Bernhard, thrusting the book +aside. "I told you before----" + +"You spoke of _many_ people, Bernhard, but you did not say that you did +not know _her_." + +Now Bernhard smiled. "Oh, you women!" he exclaimed, drawing his wife +towards him. "Well, since you are developing such a talent for +diplomacy, you may learn that I certainly did have a distant +acquaintance with her, but that she belonged to a circle that makes it +very desirable that I should ignore all former acquaintance with her +whatsoever. Yes, I owe it to Marzell Wronsky to preserve entire silence +with regard to that time, and all I can tell you is that she did not so +conduct herself as to lead me to regard her as a fit associate for +you." + +"Why, what did she do?" + +"She was very imprudent, my child. But pray let us drop this subject; +we neither of us care anything about her, and I have told you what I +have because I know you are no gossip and would rather help me to keep +the secret of my former acquaintance with her than prevent me from +doing so. You now know that my only reason for silence as to my ever +having seen her before is a reluctance, for her husband's sake, to +being questioned with regard to her former life." + +"Yes, Bernhard, but----" Thea hesitated, and hid her face in her hands, +although Bernhard could see her forehead and neck flush crimson. + +"But? What is it that you want to know?" + +"Bernhard," she whispered, still covering her face, "tell me truly and +really, were you never in love with her?" + +"Never!" he exclaimed, drawing down her hands. + +"Look in my eyes, Thea, while I tell you that I never cared for this +woman, and never had any association with her whatever." + +"Thank God!" she whispered, drawing a long breath of relief. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + ANOTHER PROMONTORY COMES IN SIGHT. + + +The long summer days as they passed were happy indeed for Thea, and all +the more cloudless and sunny because of the absence at a watering-place +of the old Countess Eichhof. + +The young wife had wellnigh forgotten the shadow that had been cast +upon her path for a moment by the figure of Frau von Wronsky, and she +was no longer in the least jealous of the old superintendent, for she +was now Bernhard's daily companion and her advice and opinion were +eagerly sought for. Bernhard was almost as inexperienced as herself in +the management of an estate, and, since she had more leisure and less +ambition for distinction than he, the old superintendent sometimes +declared that the Frau Countess really understood matters better than +the young master. Lothar frequently occupied his room at Eichhof, rode +Bernhard's horses, ate almond-cakes, and entertained his comrade, +Werner, with accounts of his sister-in-law's constantly increasing +beauty. Werner seldom came to Eichhof, but when he did come, Thea +always had much to tell him. She read the books that he recommended to +her, and he was the only one who seemed to take any interest in Walter. +Thea corresponded with her youngest brother-in-law, and hoped in time +to be the medium of reconciliation between him and Bernhard, who made +no objection to this correspondence, although he refused to listen to +Walter's letters. Lothar was not so decided in his antagonism towards +his younger brother, but he yawned whenever Thea spoke of him, and so +she was driven to seek sympathy solely from her father and from Werner. +Each listened attentively to all she had to say of Walter, for, +although Werner did not know him personally, the young fellow's pluck +and determination interested him greatly. + +In all things else perfect harmony existed between Thea and her +husband. And yet these sunny summer days were not long cloudless. For +some time it had seemed to the superintendent that his master's +enthusiasm was on the wane. "It will increase again," he thought at +first, but before long he began to shake his head over the state of +affairs. At last Thea too noticed that Bernhard was often out of sorts +and not so actively employed as heretofore. The reason for this was to +be found not in outward circumstances, but in Bernhard himself. He had, +it is true, had many disappointments, and had encountered many +obstacles, but what especially galled him was the reflection that he +was not turning his talents to sufficient account. When, young as he +was, he entered upon his inheritance he had determined to effect +extraordinary results. In his ardour for accomplishment he had +forgotten that there must be a certain knowledge acquired for such +accomplishment, and now he could not but frankly confess to himself +that he had really done very little, that those in his employ had been +the real workers and had understood matters far better than had their +master. There had been much outlay of capital also, and it was +questionable whether this outlay had always been judicious. + +"I fritter away my powers of mind in too many directions," he said to +Thea one day, "and I fear I am not precisely fulfilling my vocation. I +attempt to be architect, mathematician, grazier, and ever so many other +things besides, and I know that I am really none of all these, and do +not indeed desire to be. I fancied the management of a landed estate to +be something vastly more important." + +"But it certainly is a fine thing to arrange and to create as you are +doing," Thea replied. "I feel proud as we drive through the meadows, +where your will has transformed what was unprofitable land into green +grassy fields." + +"Yes, I am pleased with that too, but in fact I have had very little to +do with it; others have done it for me, and would have done it as well +without me." + +Thea sighed; she was so content, and she had been so proud of this very +industry of Bernhard's that he was now depreciating. + +Then Lothar came to Eichhof one day and reported that several of the +most respectable citizens of R---- had asked him whether he thought +that his brother would accept a nomination for the Reichstag. Bernhard +knew that there had been some such proposition talked of in official +circles, and he had cherished the idea, since he was the largest landed +proprietor in his district, and the seat that it commanded would fall +vacant just when he had completed his twenty-fifth year and was thus +eligible for a nomination. + +"I know that some of our neighbours are thinking of you, too," said +Lothar; "and you will see, when you come to the Diet-assembly +to-morrow, that you will be offered the nomination." + +Bernhard's eyes sparkled. "I confess that the possibility occurred to +me," he replied. "Hohenstein said something about it the other day; but +I'm afraid that the ultramontane candidate has the only chance." + +"That's a question," said Lothar. "Herr M----, it seems, has some blots +on his scutcheon, which his opponent will use to the best advantage; +and since Wronsky, in view of his Polish ancestry, I suppose, is to be +their second candidate, there will hardly be a due amount of enthusiasm +among the ultramontanists, since he is, to my certain knowledge, a very +lukewarm Romanist. And, besides, you, with all your dependants here, +have more votes at your disposal than any one of them." + +"I never would force my people to vote against their own convictions." + +"Nonsense! If they are not convinced that their master is the fittest +man to represent them, let them find another master." + +"Now you are talking just like Hohenstein," said Bernhard, laughing. +"Did you not discuss a bowl of punch together last night while he +explained to you his views upon the coming election?" + +"You're right as far as the punch goes, Bernhard, but as for the views, +they are my own, and I think you owe it to the good cause to accept the +nomination, since every one says that you have by far the best chance +to defeat the ultramontanist." + +"Well, we shall see how matters look to-morrow at the Diet," said +Bernhard. + +"You will be there, at all events?" + +"Of course." + +Thea had hitherto listened in silence. "Bernhard," she now said, +suddenly, "if you were elected you would have to go to Berlin in the +autumn." + +"Possibly." + +"But, Bernhard, you know----" She leaned over him and whispered a few +words in his ear. + +"No need to trouble ourselves about it, my child," he replied. "In the +first place, my nomination is entirely uncertain, not to speak of my +election----" + +"But you would accept it?" + +"Good heavens! I really do not know. 'Tis a matter for grave +reflection." + +He tried to convince himself that he had come to no decision, and he +was nevertheless exulting in his inmost heart at the thought of +political activity. Politics were assuredly fitted to employ all his +powers, to call forth all his energy. Here was a field in which a man +could gratify his ambition and achieve prominence without the petty +labour, the commonplace effort required by the management of an estate. + +Lothar, usually so slow to reflect and to draw conclusions, was +clearer-sighted than Thea in this matter. He knew that his brother +would accept this nomination, while the young wife hoped to induce him +to decline it. She had taken great pains to fit herself to share in her +husband's present interests, and she was proud that she had succeeded. +What possibility was there of her gaining any insight into politics, +when that was to take place in the autumn which would prevent her from +accompanying her husband to Berlin? + +There was no room for doubt upon the subject, however, by the evening +of the next day, when Bernhard came home, accompanied by the Freiherr +von Hohenstein, who presented her husband to Thea as "our future member +for the Reichstag, madame." + +"Bernhard?" she exclaimed, in involuntary alarm. + +"Certainly not member yet," said Bernhard: "but the confidence reposed +in me by my old friends and neighbours is so flattering, dear Thea, +that I could not do otherwise than accept the nomination with thanks." + +"Nonsense! your election is a certainty," said Hohenstein; "leave that +to us. I'll have no one in my service or on my land who does not vote +with me; nor shall those who do not vote with me be benefited by my +bounty during the winter. Every man of them has something to gain from +us, and must do our pleasure if he hopes to retain our good will." + +"But, papa," cried Adela, who had ridden over to Eichhof to meet her +father, "you must not send Jusak away. He is the best groom we ever +had, and keeps my mare in such beautiful trim; besides, he rides +superbly. Only a week ago the poor fellow was groaning over the coming +election, because his wife is such a terrible scold and the most devout +Catholic in the entire village, always going twice to church every +Sunday and holiday. He says his vote must cost him either dismissal +from your service or a terrible row at home that will last he cannot +tell how long." + +Hohenstein laughed. "Why doesn't the rascal keep his wife in better +order, then?" he rejoined. + +"He keeps the mare and everything else in his charge in perfect order." + +"Nevertheless, if he votes against me he shall go. All our neighbours +think as I do in this matter, and you, Eichhof, are, I suppose, no +exception." + +"Bernhard, you would not really act thus?" asked Thea. Her husband +shrugged his shoulders. + +"Hohenstein has far more experience in such affairs than I," he +replied. "Such a course is hardly what I should like, but it may be the +only one to pursue. It is not simply a personal question; the +principles that I advocate are at stake, and they must be maintained; +each vote that I lose adds one to the opposition. We must look to the +end in view." + +"And shut your eyes to the means; there speaks the Jesuit, Thea!" Adela +exclaimed, laughing. + +"You do not understand, Fräulein Adela," said Bernhard, who was still +under the influence of the excited speakers to whom he had been +listening in R----. "I was disposed to be of your opinion, and even now +I am not in favour of harsh measures to secure votes, but I see clearly +that some pressure must, be brought to bear. The vote of one of us, +trained as we have been to reflect and decide, to draw logical +conclusions, is of no more weight than is that of an ignorant groom, +whose ideas are centred in his stables. These people scarcely know what +questions are at stake in the choice of a member for the Reichstag, and +cannot possibly judge who would best represent the interests of the +country. They have been strongly influenced all their lives long, and +to suppose that they can suddenly form an independent judgment in so +important a matter as an election of this kind is perfect nonsense. +Therefore it is for their own good that they should be influenced now." + +"Yes, with food, fagots, and dismissals," exclaimed Adela. "Very well, +Count Bernhard; if I lose Jusak through your fault all friendship +between us is at an end." + +"Then all I can do to regain your good will, Fräulein Adela, is to +raise my voice in the Reichstag, if I ever get there, in favour of the +emancipation of woman." + +"That would go far to appease me, to be sure," she said; and then, +taking Thea's arm, she added, "Come, Thea; when men begin to talk +politics they are simply detestable, and I see very well that they are +to be the topic here." + +"Not at all; we would far rather enjoy your charming society," said +Bernhard. + +"Oh, yes; and in order to do so plunge into discussions as to where the +next election meeting shall be held, and what you mean to say at it, +and what some one else will say then, and how many votes you have, and +how many your opponent has. It's all excessively interesting, no doubt. +I heard it all last year at the official elections for the lower +chamber, and I know that papa and you and all the rest will think of +nothing else for weeks to come, and that I shall be bored to death. +Thank heaven, officers cannot vote; my hope is in them for the +present." + +The gentlemen laughed, and even Thea smiled at Adela's irritation. +Since, however, Herr von Hohenstein was evidently eager for the +discussion which his daughter so reprobated, she allowed herself to be +drawn away to the next room, where Adela instantly began to describe a +dress she intended to wear at a picnic to be given by the officers of +hussars in the neighbourhood. Thea listened but vaguely, for her mind +was much occupied by Bernhard's election. She could not quite +understand or approve his sudden enthusiasm for political life. She +felt it her duty as a wife to rejoice in the distinction conferred upon +him, and yet she could not control her dislike of this hasty change in +her husband's views and plans. + +"Alma is to be dressed just as I am," Adela chattered on meanwhile. +"Tell me, Thea, have you noticed that Lothar seems very attentive to +Alma?" Thea's attention was aroused. + +"Lothar?" she repeated. "How did such an idea enter your head? I have +seen nothing of it." + +Adela declared that she did not believe there was anything in it, but +Thea resolved to watch Lothar more closely and to talk more with him, +for hitherto, although he was older than she, she had treated him as a +younger brother, who told funny stories very well and ate almond-cakes +with a grateful relish, but who could not possibly be suspected of +falling honestly and seriously in love. But when her own sister was +thus spoken of, it behoved her to be more observant. + +Adela, whose moods were as variable as an April day, suddenly fell +silent and looked very grave. Then she asked, "Walter is not coming to +Eichhof this year, is he?" + +"No; Walter is very economical, and, since he will accept nothing from +Bernhard, he must find going to Berlin quite expensive." + +"He is going to Berlin, then?" + +"Yes; he is to continue his studies there. Did you not know that? Oh, I +remember you would not listen to his letter the other day when I wanted +to read it to you." + +Adela blushed crimson, and rejoined, with a laugh, "I wish I could stop +saying everything that comes into my head, without stopping to think. +But come, let us see if the gentlemen are still as tiresome as ever." + +When they returned to the drawing-room they found Bernhard and his +friend still discussing the election. But Adela joined them, and sat +still between Bernhard and Thea for the remainder of the evening, as +though she dreaded another _tête-à-tête_ with the latter. + +Bernhard was extremely animated. He spoke with more energy and fluency +than usual, and Thea thought, "Perhaps he is now choosing the career +for which he is best fitted, and it is silly and petty of me not to +rejoice in it." When he looked towards her inquiringly, she nodded with +a smile; but still it seemed to her as though there were another shadow +rising between her husband and herself. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + A PERIOD PUT TO A LONG ROW OF FIGURES. + + +It was a gray, rainy day. Adela was sitting at the window watching the +falling drops and stroking Fidèle, who laid his head upon her knee and +gaped. + +"The world is very tiresome, Fidèle," said Adela, and the dog looked at +his mistress out of his wise brown eyes, evidently with no disposition +to gainsay her verdict. + +"There is nothing to be done with papa," the girl continued, still +addressing her remarks to Fidèle. "Scarcely is the election over when +he buries himself in accounts, shuts himself up all day in his room, +and if ever I stay with him there he is silent and _distrait_. I wish +he had been a candidate and had been elected instead of Bernhard +Eichhof; then we should have gone for the winter to Berlin, where I +could have consoled myself for Jusak's loss. Poor wretch! he must go, I +suppose; and it's all nonsense, for Bernhard did not need his vote; the +Catholics had no chance after Herr von Wronsky withdrew his name." + +The rain beat against the window-pane. Adela sighed, and then pursued +her train of thought: "I wonder if it is true that Frau von Wronsky +persuaded her husband to retire? It may have been so, for they say she +believes in nothing and has the upper hand of him; but Thea says that's +all mere gossip, and that Herr von Wronsky went to see them himself to +tell them that he did not wish to oppose Bernhard, and that he would +rather retire voluntarily than have any interruption of kindly feeling +between them. Who can tell? The Wronskys are going to Berlin this +winter, at any rate. Oh, everybody is going to Berlin; if we could only +go too!" And then she thought quite naturally of Walter, who was also +in Berlin. Her thoughts usually strayed in his direction, although she +believed herself firmly convinced that she had reason to be very angry +with him, and that she was so in reality. + +Suddenly Fidèle raised his head, and Adela sprang up. A carriage drove +past the window and stopped before the house. + +"Thank heaven, some one is good enough to pay us a visit in this +storm!" Adela exclaimed, and hurried out of the room to receive the +guest. But when she reached the hall she started in surprise. There +stood a tall young man, who took off his overcoat and hat and stood +revealed--her brother Hugo! + +"Heavens, Hugo! where do you come from?" she called out to him. + +"Apparently from Berlin," he replied. "Where is my father? He is at +home?" + +"Yes; but how is it that----" + +"Be good enough to spare me all questions for the present," Hugo +rejoined, impatiently. "I have important matters to discuss with my +father, and I must return to Berlin to-morrow. Is my father in his +room?" And without awaiting a reply, he hurried past her and went into +his father's study. + +Adela involuntarily followed him thither as far as the door; then she +suddenly paused, and turned away angrily. + +"What can be the matter? More debts, I suppose," she said. "But----" +The next moment she opened the door. + +"What do you want here?" the Freiherr fairly shouted, so that she +retreated in dismay. + +"Curious, as women always are," Hugo said, with a shrug. + +Adela shut the door behind her and ran along the passage to her room, +where she threw herself into an arm-chair and burst into a passion of +angry tears. Fidèle nestled close beside her, and she stroked his head. + +"You love me, Fidèle, do you not?" she said, wiping away her tears. +"Ah, you dumb brutes are far better than human beings!" The girl threw +a shawl over her head, and, followed by the dog, ran out to the +stables. "Here, at least, I know that I am welcome," she said, going +from one horse to another; and finally seating herself on a bundle of +straw, she propped her head on her hand, gazing in most melancholy +fashion at her favourites. + +"Fräulein! Fräulein Adela!" a voice near her called suddenly, and as +she sprang up from her straw seat a servant entered the stable. + +"Good heavens, Anton, how you look!" the girl cried, startled by the +old servant's pale face. "What is the matter? What has happened?" + +"Ah, Fräulein Adela, do not be frightened, but the Herr Baron has had a +fainting-fit or something. I don't know----" + +Adela heard not another word. Fast as her feet could carry her she ran +towards the house, and was in her father's room the next moment. The +Freiherr lay upon the lounge, his eyes wide open and fixed, while the +housekeeper and one of the younger servants were rubbing his forehead +and his hands with hartshorn. Adela took the hartshorn-bottle from the +old housekeeper's trembling hand, and bent over her father. "Dear, dear +papa!" she whispered. His eyes had a look of recognition in them,--a +spasm passed over his face, but not a word issued from his pale lips. + +"Good God! how did this happen?" Adela, trembling like an aspen leaf, +asked of old Anton, who entered the room. + +"I do not know," he whispered. "The Herr Lieutenant arrived suddenly, +and they were talking very loud together, and as I was carrying the +Herr Lieutenant's portmanteau past the door the Herr Baron said, 'I +cannot!' and the Herr Lieutenant cried, 'It must be done!' And then, +when I had passed by, I suddenly heard a heavy fall, and the Herr +Lieutenant called me." + +"My poor, poor father!" Adela whispered, bending over him again. She +thought she understood it all now, and glanced furtively at her +brother, who, having despatched a mounted messenger for the doctor, now +entered the room and approached his father. The Freiherr cast upon him +a glance of such utter agony, and his agitation so evidently increased +at sight of his son, that Adela said, "Go out of his sight, Hugo; it is +best that he should not see you." + +This time she encountered no angry reply, but Hugo quietly obeyed her, +and retreated to the recess of the window, where he threw himself into +an arm-chair and sat motionless for the next fifteen minutes, his head +buried in his hands, as if his spirit were far away and his body only +present beside the couch whereon his father lay--through his fault. + +At last the doctor arrived, and explained that the Herr Baron was +suffering from a stroke that had paralyzed his tongue and his right +arm. Adela and old Anton never stirred from beside him, while Hugo +wandered restlessly about the house, now looking through his father's +papers and locking up those still scattered about, now taking down the +weapons that hung upon the wall to examine them, and often opening the +Freiherr's case of pistols and passing his fingers over the smooth +steel barrels. + +After midnight the Freiherr fell asleep, and Adela's eyes, too, closed, +and her head fell back against the high arm-chair in which she sat. +Hugo was in the next room, but no sound betrayed his presence there. He +was sitting at the table, upon which stood the open case of pistols, +and his head was buried in his hands. Fiery balls that turned into long +rows of figures seemed to dance before his eyes. Longer and longer grew +these rows; there seemed to be no end to them. + +"And he can pay nothing more; he is bankrupt," Hugo muttered, clenching +his fist convulsively. "There will be no more Hohensteins at Rollin." +He had so often despised his home, and now he suddenly became conscious +of how closely the name of the estate was connected with that of the +family who had owned it for two hundred years. And again the long rows +of figures danced before his eyes. Could no period be put to them? +Yes, one--in the shape of a small round ball. He shuddered and shrank +back,--his hand had touched the cold barrel of a pistol. He opened his +eyes for an instant, but closed them again, and--another period that +might be put to the endless row of figures hovered before him. It was +round, too, in form, but instead of a ball it was a ring. He sprang up, +pushed away the case of pistols, and, going to the writing-table, took +a sheet of paper, and began to write. Suddenly he noticed that the +paper was edged with black. He threw it aside and took another sheet. +The sick man was still sleeping. Adela's head had sunk farther back in +her chair; she was dreaming that her father had been thrown from his +horse and was lying lifeless on the ground. Then some one suddenly came +between her father and herself and--laughed. It was a bitter, terrible +laugh. Adela started in terror, and rubbed her eyes. + +The same low laugh came from the next room. + +She shuddered, rose, and went to the door. There she saw her brother +sitting at the writing-desk. The open case of pistols was on the table +behind him, and before him lay a letter which he was folding to put +into an envelope, while the bitter smile had not yet faded from his +face. A fearful thought flashed upon the girl's mind. With a timid +glance at the open case, she hurried across the room and laid her hand +upon her brother's shoulder. + +"For heaven's sake, Hugo, tell me what you are going to do!" He shook +off her hand. + +"Go!" he said. "It is the only means of salvation!" + +"Would you add suicide to all the other misfortunes overwhelming us?" + +Again there came the laugh, the echo of which had roused her from +sleep. + +"On the contrary," he said, "there will be joy throughout the family, +and you will shortly have an opportunity to figure as a bridesmaid." + +"Oh, Hugo, how can you think of such things?" + +"These are just the things that I must think about, or we should soon +cease to have need for thought of any kind. But you know nothing of it. +Go to your father, and leave the rest to me." + +Adela fixed her eyes on a white sheet of paper, edged with black, that +lay on the writing-desk, and on which she read the words, "My dear +Councillor, I am a man of few words, and therefore frankly ask of you +the hand of----" + +Hugo seized the paper and tore it in pieces. + +"There is no need for you to look so horrified," he said. "Fräulein +Kohnheim is a very pretty girl; her parents had her baptized some time +ago; and her father could pay the debts of an entire regiment if he +chose." + +"Hugo!" + +"Leave me in peace, and be thankful that there is one way out of this +for all of us. To-morrow morning this letter goes; to-morrow evening I +go, and the next day our troubles will all be over." + +"And papa?" + +"Our father will soon recover; the doctor says so. A first stroke is +never so dangerous----" + +"Adela!" a weak voice called at this moment. + +"You see he has already recovered his speech, as the doctor said he +would," said Hugo. + +Adela flew to her father's side and covered his hand with kisses. For a +moment her brother was forgotten; she only felt that a change for the +better had come, that her father would recover, and that he had wanted +her--her; that the first use he had made of his returning voice had +been to call his daughter! + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE MISTRESS OF EICHHOF AND HER GUESTS. + + +With the first fall of snow there was born in Eichhof a little son and +heir, and Bernhard, who had been summoned from Berlin, whither he had +gone for a short autumn session, stared helplessly at the little +creature that Thea presented to him, and which he proudly called his +son, although how that red, wrinkled mite, quite buried in laces, could +ever develop into a stalwart representative of the Eichhofs he could +hardly imagine. + +Consideration for her child kept Thea at Eichhof this winter, and +Bernhard allowed her to follow her inclination in this respect, all the +more willingly that his 'improvements' at Eichhof had cost a great +deal, and he would scarcely have been able to maintain the state which +he deemed required by his rank had his wife gone with him to Berlin and +been presented at court. + +"You are the dearest and most prudent of wives," he said to Thea; "and +you are quite right to stay here this winter. But for all that you must +not live the life of a recluse, for, since our year of mourning is +over, we owe it to our position and to our neighbours to open our house +again, even although I must be away. Your father and Lothar are close +at hand, and will supply my place." + +Lothar was enchanted with this prospect, although he was, upon the +whole, more cool and reserved in his demeanour towards his brother at +this time than he had ever been before. He had found Thea in tears once +or twice during Bernhard's absence; for these tears he considered his +brother responsible, and not wholly without reason. + +"Now that is really a sensible idea of yours, Bernhard," said he. +"Thea, we will give charming entertainments. We must take good +care to have no more tears," he added in a low voice, meant for his +sister-in-law's ear alone. + +Herr von Rosen shook his head, and pronounced Thea still too young to +go out and to give entertainments without her husband, especially this +winter, when, in consequence of a cattle-plague in neighbouring Poland, +there was a strong _cordon militaire_ established in the vicinity to +keep guard over the frontier. + +"There are many young officers hereabouts now," he said, "and the +Schönburgs and Lindenstadts have some young girls staying with them, so +that the feminine element is not wanting. There are balls and all kinds +of entertainments in the air, which my wife and I shall not always be +able to attend, although I wish with all my heart that Alma could enjoy +them all." + +"Well, if you cannot go, Thea can chaperone her; the greater the +gayety, the more frequent the balls, the more reason, it seems to me, +that Thea should not shut herself up. She owes it to her position not +to do so; and if her going out without me, young as she is, seems +unusual, why, we must remember that she is an unusual woman. Much that +would be very unbecoming in a Frau Miller or Frau Schmidt would be +quite fitting in the Countess Eichhof." + +Lothar entirely agreed with his brother upon this point, and all that +Herr von Rosen could do was to try to persuade the old Countess Eichhof +to spend this winter in the castle with Thea. + +Bernhard left home, after having made known far and wide that Castle +Eichhof was no longer closed to visitors, and the old Countess, who had +actually come to her daughter-in-law, soon followed him, as she had +accepted an invitation from a relative who lived in great splendour in +Dresden. She explained to Herr von Rosen, with many sighs and tears, +that she found it impossible to be only number two in a house where she +had so long held sole sway; she assured him that upon the whole Thea +was a dear child and could not help it, but her visitors showed such an +inconceivable lack of tact as constantly to make her conscious of the +great difference that there was between Castle Eichhof now and what it +had been formerly, and so on, until she exhausted Herr von Rosen's +patience, and he mutely assented to whatever she had to say and made no +more efforts to induce her to remain. + +Nor did Thea try to detain her. She was so proud and secure in the +possession of her little son that she was quite ready to undertake to +fulfil her social duties without any timidity, and she received with +extreme dignity the young officers, who of course hastened to avail +themselves of Bernhard's invitation to call at the castle. + +"Thea is absolutely famous," Lothar repeated incessantly to Werner, and +he was quite irritated that his friend did not join in his enthusiastic +praise of his sister-in-law, merely assenting by a cool nod of his +head, and even going less frequently to Eichhof. Lothar reproached him +with this, and yet was never in a good humour when Werner accompanied +him thither. For this man, usually so grave and silent, knew how to +introduce subjects of conversation that absorbed all Thea's interest. +He would become really talkative and brilliant, and, since the topics +under discussion generally had some reference to literature or art, +Lothar was soon bored, and felt himself quite _de trop_ and thrust out +in the cold. It was odd that Werner had lately seemed to have a perfect +talent for irritating Lothar, who often, nowadays, was very impatient +with his friend without any reasonable cause, for Werner's demeanour +towards him was not changed in any respect. + +One day Thea was seated in her bow-windowed room in full council with +the cook, the housekeeper, and the major-domo. The matter in hand was +the arrangements for an entertainment to be given the next day at +Eichhof, and Thea was availing herself of the experience of her trusty +retainers. She sat at a table with a sheet of paper before her, jotting +down various memoranda, and the three people stood by with grave faces, +evidently quite aware of the enormous responsibility resting upon their +shoulders. There had been a slight difference of opinion between the +housekeeper and her young mistress, and Thea had for the first time +asserted herself and carried her point with quiet firmness. She was so +much interested that she bestowed only a careless 'good-day' upon +Lothar, who entered the room and, seated in a low arm-chair, became +both spectator and auditor of the debate. He sat with his back towards +the window, so that the light fell full upon Thea. She wore a black +silk gown, with a profusion of rich white lace at her throat and +wrists, her sole ornament being a cross upon a broad, heavy golden +chain at her neck. The very simplicity of her dress set off the +delicate noble outline of her face, from which the large dark eyes, +beneath the finely-pencilled eyebrows, were now gazing with a gentle, +kindly expression upon the servants who were receiving her orders. + +"How beautiful she is!" thought Lothar, as he sat and looked at her. +"Bernhard is a fool to leave this woman here while he busies himself, +or thinks he busies himself, with politics in Berlin. To be sure, she +is an angel, and can do everything that she attempts, even to +representing her husband in his absence. But it is not right of him for +all that, and I should just like to know what she thinks of it. I +wonder whether she misses him much?" + +Thea now dismissed her people and turned to Lothar. "What! alone +again?" she asked, offering him her hand. "Has Herr von Werner repented +his promise to help us with the decoration of the ball-room?" + +"Oh, you never can count upon him," said Lothar; "he said he could not +possibly come with me, but would make his appearance later." + +"Well, then, let us go to the greenhouses and pick out what we want +from there." + +Half an hour afterwards Lieutenant Werner arrived. He did not follow +the young people to the greenhouses as the servant suggested, but +awaited their return in the bow-windowed room. Here he walked slowly +to and fro, paused for a few seconds before Thea's writing-table, and +then went into the bow-window, where stood her low chair and her +embroidery-frame. He passed his hand over her work with a touch that +was like a caress, then suddenly turned away and stood at the window, +leaning his forehead against the glass pane. Here he remained +motionless until Lothar and Thea entered the room. + +"Oh, I am so glad you are come!" the Countess exclaimed upon seeing +him. "Now we will go immediately to the ball-room to arrange the plants +and the table for the cotillon favours." + +"Ah, we are to have a cotillon, then?" said Werner. + +"Yes; this is to be a dinner followed by a dance, after the old Eichhof +fashion. My husband writes me that our section of country is actually +falling into undeserved disrepute from a social point of view, and he +makes it my bounden duty to do the honours of the castle as well as +possible. I pray you, therefore, to do all that you can to help me to +entertain the young officers from the frontier posts." + +Lothar and Werner arranged the pretty favours for the cotillon on a +satin cushion placed on the table for the purpose, while Thea disposed +little flowering plants around it. It all looked very bright and +fancifully gay. + +"I want it to be all ready by the afternoon," she said, "for my father +and sister are coming over to tea, and the dance is a surprise for +Alma." + +"It absolutely delights my soul to see you busy with anything so +frivolous as cotillon favours," said Lothar to Werner, who was just +arranging a refractory ribbon. + +"Do I weary you with all I give you to do?" asked Thea. + +Werner laughed. "For heaven's sake, my dear Countess, do not take me, +as your brother-in-law does, for a mere bookworm in uniform." + +"Not at all; I take you for a profound philosopher." + +"Greatly obliged, I'm sure; but really, Eichhof, I cannot see why I +should not like to unpack and arrange these pretty little things, or +why my books, which you so despise, should hinder me from winning some +of them in the cotillon." + +"I know how well you dance, and ride too, and that is just why I cannot +understand how you can read so much. When did you learn that habit?" + +"I learned it when my income would not allow of my passing much time +outside of my four walls." + +Lothar was silent, and Werner went on very composedly: "At the time of +the universal money-panic, after those years when gold seemed to be +lying about by millions in the streets, and when many a man, in +stooping to pick up what he fancied he saw, lost his own hard thalers +out of his pocket, I suddenly found my modest income reduced by +one-half. All the choice I had was either to make it suffice or to +leave the service, and as I was a soldier, and nothing but a soldier to +the very marrow of my bones, I got through." + +"Couldn't you give me a receipt for the process?" asked Lothar. + +Werner laughed. "The receipt is simple enough: 'Determine to do what +you must.'" + +"And then it was that you began to read?" said Thea. + +"Oh, I had tried somewhat before to fill up the gaps in a cadet's +education, but then it was that I began to read in earnest, for my +books had to indemnify me for so much else. Now that I have no longer +that reason for study, my taste leads me in the same direction. Did you +look through the book I sent you the other day, Countess?" + +Here they were again launched upon one of those confounded literary +topics that made Lothar feel his presence so superfluous. He gave a +vicious dig to the pin by which he was fastening a knot of ribbon to +the cushion, and then went and worked away among the flower-pots, +wishing fervently that Herr von Rosen would come and interrupt this +bookish talk, and altogether getting himself into a desperately bad +humour. + +When at last the carriage from Schönthal drove up, he hurried out to +meet the guests. Thea observed for the first time this afternoon that +Lothar was certainly attentive to Alma; he devoted himself to her +exclusively, and no wonder, she looked so bright and pretty that it was +but natural that Lothar should be fascinated. + +Thea brought out Walter's last letter, from which she wished to read a +few extracts to her father. As she opened it, two photographs fell out +of the envelope and made the round of the table about which they were +sitting over a cup of afternoon tea. One was a late picture of Walter; +the other, which he asked to have returned to him, was Dr. Nordstedt. + +"A fine, earnest face," said Werner, looking at the latter. + +Lothar glanced at it over his friend's shoulder. "By Jove, that is a +beard!" he exclaimed. "Look, Alma: how do you like that?" + +He handed her the picture. She looked at it with a smile. "He has fine +eyes," she said, "but otherwise the picture does not please me. I +detest those huge beards." + +Lothar stroked and twisted his handsome blonde moustache, and Alma cast +a glance at him as if to compare the two heads,--heads so dissimilar +that there was absolutely no comparison between them. + +"Does Walter say nothing of the Hohensteins?" asked Herr von Rosen. +"Adela and her father have been two weeks now in Berlin." + +"Walter does not seem to have seen them," replied Thea; "he never +mentions them." + +"I should like to see how papa Hohenstein comports himself towards his +new relatives," said Lothar. + +"He does not comport himself towards them at all," Alma answered him. +"Adela wrote me that her father seems very well, and is very amiable to +everybody, except that he will neither hear nor see anything of the +Kohnheims, and if his affairs did not compel him to be in Berlin, he +would, owing to them, far rather never have gone there." + +"I am very curious with regard to Hugo's wife," said Lothar. "I really +never dreamed that he would make such a marriage. In the spring the +happy couple are to come to Rollin, because papa-in-law Kohnheim +absolutely must see his daughter installed there as a noble châtelaine. +Aha! our part of the country is growing excessively interesting; we +have a Polish countess already, we are going to have a Jewess, and we +may hope shortly to have a third,--a Japanese." + +"Matters are bad enough," Herr von Rosen said, seriously, "when the +salvation from ruin of a young nobleman and of an ancient family must +be sought at the hand of a Jewish heiress." + +"Before resorting to such means it surely would be better to send a +bullet through one's brains," said Lothar. + +"Or to live within one's income," Herr von Rosen gravely corrected him. + +"Of course; and Hohenstein might have done so, since he was the only +son of a man who certainly some years ago possessed considerable +wealth." + +Herr von Rosen fixed his eyes earnestly upon Lothar for a moment, and +then said, "My dear Lothar, I think it can be done in every case. He +who has but little must rely solely upon that, and not try to build +himself a house of cards." + +A flush mounted to Lothar's forehead; he passed his hand through his +hair in some embarrassment, but said nothing. It seemed to him that +Herr von Rosen had laid special emphasis upon the word 'cards,' and it +awakened in his mind all kinds of disagreeable memories. + +"I am so sorry for the poor rich girl,--I mean Hugo Hohenstein's wife," +said Alma; "although, for Adela's sake, I cannot but be glad that +matters are to be arranged at Rollin." + +Lothar had conquered his embarrassment. "Nonsense!" he said. "The 'poor +rich girl' is my lady Baroness von Hohenstein, wears Parisian +toilettes, and will be quite content if you do not all treat her too +badly. Why, Rollin is being turned inside-out to make it worthy to +receive her. A regiment of tradesfolk are at work there, and the Rollin +wagons are rolling to and from the railroad station every day, +transporting the adornments of the cage that is to imprison the golden +bird." + +"Adela will be unhappy if much in Rollin is changed," said Alma. + +"Oh, Adela will be a lovely sister-in-law for the little Jewess; she is +not to be pitied so far as Adela is concerned," Lothar declared. + +"Most certainly not," said Thea. + +"Werner had taken no part in the discussion. He looked at his watch, +and rose to take leave. + +"I am seriously concerned about Lothar," said Herr von Rosen, when the +young officers had departed. "There are a couple of incorrigible +gamblers among the officers of the frontier posts, and it is reported +that Lothar lately played with them all night long." + +"But that would be horrible, papa," exclaimed Thea, "when he promised +Bernhard so faithfully that he would be prudent----" + +"He is too heedless!" + +"And yet such a dear good fellow withal," Thea said, affectionately, +inwardly resolving to entreat Werner on the morrow to have an eye upon +her brother-in-law while Bernhard was away. + +"Yes, he is an amiable fellow, but thoroughly untrustworthy," Herr von +Rosen rejoined. + +Alma said nothing, but her cheek flushed and paled. She knew her father +was right, but then she could find so many reasons for excusing Lothar. +Thea looked very grave and sad. She suspected how it stood with her +sister. She had honestly taken pains to know Lothar, and, although she +could not but be prepossessed by his frank amiability, she had arrived +at the conviction that he was wavering and uncertain in his views and +principles. She had not sufficient experience of life to judge whether +his character would ever become firm and stable, but with true feminine +instinct she suspected what she could not know, and felt instinctively +that it would cost her many an anxious fear to see her sister's +happiness intrusted to a man like Lothar. Often when Alma had +involuntarily betrayed her affection Thea had wished for an instant +that Lothar might reciprocate it, but the next moment she would gladly +have known them miles asunder. And on the morrow they were to dance +together in her house, and to enjoy all the opportunity for familiar +intercourse afforded by an entire evening! She wished Alma had fallen +in love with Werner, who she could see was attracted by her. Else why +should he come to Eichhof whenever Alma was there? And why else had she +so often surprised that dreamy expression in his eyes? Oh, if Alma had +only loved him! He was so trustworthy and honourable! Long after she +had retired for the night her thoughts were occupied with her sister +and the young officers. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + IN BERLIN. + + + +The chorus was intoning a grand polonaise, to the strains of which a +glittering train of splendidly-attired couples was marching around the +magnificent ball-room of the Berlin Opera-House. The Emperor's tall, +venerable figure was followed by the various royal pairs, at whose +approach the guests of the opera-ball stood in line and bowed +respectfully while the court passed by. Twice the royal party made the +circuit of the room, and then for the most part retired to their +private boxes. Meanwhile the glittering crowd of the public--the truly +mixed metropolitan society--thronged the foyers and public boxes. +Magnificent toilettes surged up and down the broad flight of steps that +to-night replaced the box usually appropriated to the court, and that +led down to the parquette, now floored over for the dancers, the number +of whom was still on the increase. At the head of these steps stood a +couple who had already been the subject of frequent remark. The +cavalier was a distinguished, aristocratic figure; the lady, unique in +air, with bright sparkling eyes and a bewitching smile upon her +delicately curved lips, wore a robe of sea-green satin, that suited +well the red gold of her abundant hair. + +"Count Bernhard Eichhof, the youngest member of the Reichstag, and Frau +von Wronsky," whispered one of the initiated to a guest from the +provinces. + +Count Bernhard Eichhof and Fran von Wronksy! How came it to pass that +her hand rested on his arm? How came it to pass that she was clever, +witty, amusing for all the rest of the world, and gentle, often humble, +always femininely delicate and reserved towards him alone? The one +manner perhaps explained the other. + +Certainly since the election it was Bernhard's duty to be civil to +Marzell Wronsky, and just as certainly it was the fact that Marzell's +wife attracted a throng of ardent admirers around her in the +metropolis, although she passed for a very cold beauty. None of the men +who worshipped at her shrine could boast of the least distinction +accorded them by her. It was said of her that she had witty, clever +words for all, but a heart for none, unless, indeed, her husband was +its fortunate possessor, as to which there was a great diversity of +opinion. This cold, haughty woman was meekness itself towards Bernhard. +He could not himself tell why it was, but he was never with her without +a conviction that she hid a warm, nay, a glowing heart beneath a coldly +composed exterior. + +Bernhard had believed himself justified in despising her. She had +endured his scorn without remonstrance, only showing him that she +suffered fearfully beneath it. He began to pity her, and the thought +that he had perhaps been too harsh towards her gradually gave way to +the conviction that there might be many reasons for a milder judgment +of her. He saw all the homage that was paid her here, and often heard +women in whose opinion he placed great confidence declare that her +conduct was always exemplary. At last he came to regard himself as an +insufferable prig, and decided that his manner towards the lady must +undergo a change. She was so grateful for every little attention from +him, while any such from others was received so coldly, that Bernhard +felt himself exalted to the position of her magnanimous protector. He +really desired to hear from herself the explanation of a dark point in +her past, about which, as he knew, all the world was in error. And thus +it came to pass that Count Bernhard Eichhof offered his arm to Frau von +Wronsky to conduct her about the opera-house, and to be conscious that +she was admired by everybody, and that he was envied of many. The +couple paused for a few minutes at the head of the steps, observing +those going and coming. + +"What exquisite toilettes!" said Julutta Wronsky, indicating with a +scarcely perceptible motion of her fan two ladies who were passing. +"This is an excellent post of observation." + +"Unfortunately, you cannot see the most exquisite toilette here, +madame," said a young officer who stood on the other side of her. + +She looked at him inquiringly. + +"You could only see that by standing opposite a mirror," the officer +said, with a meaning smile, stroking his moustache and scanning her +figure with a bold glance of admiration. + +Bernhard felt her hand rest somewhat more heavily on his arm, as she +replied, with a certain far-away look in her eyes which did not seem +even to see the young fellow, "It is a pity you cannot exercise your +talents in a milliner's shop, Herr von Dollen; that is the place for +mirrors and a certain kind of complimentary speeches." + +Herr von Dollen laughed rather constrainedly, and soon took his +departure, while Bernhard and Julutta descended the steps. + +"Dollen has had a lesson," said Bernhard, smiling. + +"I cannot endure that sort of compliment," Julutta replied, +impatiently,--instantly, however, bending her head slightly, while a +faint flush rose to her cheeks. + +"Forgive me," she whispered; "I forgot that you, very naturally, cannot +believe this of _me_." The words were uttered with no appearance either +of offence or of irony; there was only a slight vibration, as from +suppressed, painful emotion, audible in her voice. + +Bernhard looked at her. Her face wore the sweet, timid expression that +it was wont to assume for him alone. + +"Nay, madame," he said; "I can easily believe that the expression of +such coarse and impertinent admiration may well wound your pride." + +"I thank you," she rejoined, with a glance of fervid gratitude raised +for an instant to his face; "it would, however, have been but natural +for you to disbelieve in any genuine pride on my part." + +"If I had done so before, this winter would have convinced me of my +error," he replied, in a low voice, bending towards her. + +He saw her sudden blush; her breath came quicker and her lips quivered. +She said nothing, but she looked at him again, and in her eyes there +was so much gratitude and happiness that Bernhard was involuntarily +touched. Suddenly her hand trembled, and the blush on her cheek faded, +to be succeeded by a mortal pallor. + +"Let us go," she murmured, pausing abruptly and turning from the +direction in which they were walking; "for God's sake take me away from +here!" + +"What is the matter?" + +"Good heavens, do you not see?" She took her hand from his arm and +tried to penetrate alone the crowd which had gathered closely about the +dancers. Bernhard looked around him,--a few steps off stood a tall, +rather good-looking man, in the dress of a civilian, watching the +dancers. Bernhard recognized the dark, sharply-defined features, the +lofty brow, and the thin hair brushed away from the temples. He knew +now why Julutta Wronsky had turned and fled. For an instant he +hesitated; then he followed her. Just as he reached her she covered her +eyes with her hand. "I am so dizzy," she moaned; "the whole room is +turning round. Oh, my God!" + +She tottered and seemed about to fall. Bernhard supported her to the +foyer, where he found an armchair for her. Her hand trembled +perceptibly upon his arm; she shivered. He addressed no word to her; +she sank into the chair without speaking again, and, leaning back, half +closed her eyes. "Find my husband for me; we must go," she said, at +last. + +"You are ill. Let me bring you a glass of wine," he said, looking at +her marble-white face. She shook her head. + +"I cannot breathe here, now that I know----" Her lips quivered, and she +did not finish her sentence. Bernhard stood hesitating for a moment +beside her. + +"Go!" she entreated again. + +And he went to let Wronsky know that his wife had suddenly been taken +ill and wished to leave the hall. + +A quarter of an hour afterwards Bernhard was standing alone at the head +of the broad steps, looking listlessly down upon the surging crowd. The +stranger whom he had observed was no longer there; the Wronskys had +gone home. Bernhard thought the opera-ball rather stupid. + +"Aha! where is your beautiful companion?" asked Herr von Dollen, +suddenly appearing. + +"Gone home," Bernhard answered, rather brusquely. + +"Remarkable woman; cold and hard as an icicle, but piquante. You are +very intimate there, eh?" + +"Scarcely that. But the Wronskys are neighbours of ours." + +"Ah! then you really know something of them, and can tell me about the +lady's former marriage. They say it was short and unhappy, but no one +seems to know whether she is a widow or a _divorcée_. She never alludes +to her past----" + +"I do not know why you should suppose her to have made an exception in +my case, Herr von Dollen," Bernhard interrupted him, with some +irritation. + +"Ah! _pardon_, I only thought that perhaps you knew----" + +"I know nothing," Bernhard briefly rejoined. He was not in a pleasant +mood, and soon after left the ball. + +As he was passing through the gateway, he suddenly heard himself called +by name. + +"_Vraiment, c'est Monsieur de Eikhoff_," said a harsh, grating voice +that Bernhard seemed to have heard before. He turned and confronted the +stranger. + +"Ah, _enchanté_, charmed to see you, _mon cher ami_; an unexpected +meeting." + +"Most unexpected, Herr von Möhâzy," Bernhard said, coldly, touching his +hat, and apparently overlooking the stranger's outstretched hand. The +latter took no notice of this oversight, however, but continued, in his +grating voice and in German, spoken with a strong foreign accent,-- + +"Are you, too, tired of the ball? They say we are going too soon, the +height of gayety has not yet been reached. _À propos_, do you make a +long stay in Berlin?" + +"So long as the Reichstag is in session. And you?" Bernhard asked, with +sudden interest. "Shall you stay for the Carnival?" + +"Heaven, or whatever other powers there be, forbid! Berlin is too +provincial, although it has made some progress of late years. I come +from Paris, and am on my way to St. Petersburg." + +An expression of relief passed across Bernhardt face: "Ah? Allow me to +wish you a pleasant winter." And he turned to go. + +"_O çà, Herr von Eikhoff!_" Herr von Möhâzy called after him; "I will +not detain you if you are expected at a rendezvous!" He laughed, and +Bernhard made a gesture of impatience. "Pardon, but I should like to +learn something of a lady whom perhaps you know." + +"I can hardly have anything to tell of a lady whom _you_ inquire for," +Bernhard said, sharply, while a flush rose to his forehead. + +But Herr von Möhâzy was not easily disconcerted. "Ah! pardon, I know +you are _un jeune homme vertueux_; but my question refers to a lady of +position, a Frau von---- Ah, what is her name at present?" He took out +a note-book and turned over the leaves, while Bernhard, agitated by +conflicting emotions, stood rooted as by a spell to the spot, instead +of turning his back upon the man at once. + +"Ah, here it is," said Herr von Möhâzy,--"Frau Julutta Wronsky." And he +looked at Bernhard again. "Do you know her? and could you tell me where +to find her? It is merely for _un petit amusement sans consequence_." + +"You can look for the name in the directory," replied Bernhard, well +knowing that 'Wronsky' could not be found in it. + +"You do not know her, then? But, _parbleu_! you did know her, +_sûrement_. Ah, I must take you into confidence; the story is very +piquant." + +"I regret, Herr Möhâzy, that I have not a moment to spare at present. +Let me advise you to search the directory, and if you do not find the +name there you may conclude that the lady is not in Berlin." + +He jumped into his carriage and drove to his hotel. + +"What will he do?" was the question that filled his mind, "and what +_can_ he do? He can certainly destroy the social position, and perhaps +the very existence, of this woman, wretch that he is! But he must be +prevented; he must!" He suddenly bethought himself and took himself to +task. + +"What business is it all of mine? I am very sorry for the woman, but it +is none the less true that she went wrong, and must now bear the +consequences, which may perhaps ruin her, who knows? I cannot prevent +it; and, indeed, when I remember everything, I cannot even excuse her. +And yet----" + +The carriage stopped at his hotel. + +In his room he found a letter from Thea, describing the dance at +Eichhof. He read it with thoughts elsewhere. It all seemed like child's +play, whilst here in Berlin there might shortly be enacted one of those +tragedies which now and then disturb the smooth surface of society. He +saw before him the unsuspicious husband, from whose eyes the veil was +suddenly torn; the guilty woman, who had vainly tried to atone for the +sin of her youth; the vile betrayer--oh, here were the same parts +played in so many dramas, but each of these performers wore a face +familiar to Bernhard. This husband, the happiness of whose life was +perhaps to be annihilated at a blow, had been his schoolmate; he had +exchanged friendly words with this woman--no, he would not think of the +wife, but of the deceived husband,--only of him; and for the sake of +this companion of his boyhood--for the husband's sake--the thought of +this drama filled him with horror. Must he not try to avert its +fulfilment? He believed that he must do so, and for the husband's +sake alone; and whenever through the night the image of the pale, +golden-haired woman intruded upon his thoughts, he thrust it from him. +She must be sacrificed to his sense of justice in his thoughts, if +not in reality. "Not for her,--she does not deserve it,--but for her +husband, I must try to see this Möhâzy once more, and in some way render +him harmless. First, however, I must speak with her; I must clearly +understand the matter, and consult with her as to the best measures for +her protection." + +With her! Yes; the indirect ways of the heart and of the devil are +marvellous indeed. They led Count Bernhard Eichhof the next morning to +Frau von Wronsky's boudoir! + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + REVELATIONS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. + + * * * * * + + +"I did not love him, but I consented to be his wife. I loved no one +except my father, and even he was more of an abstraction than a reality +to me, for I saw him but seldom, and scarcely ever talked with him. He +was always away from home, and I was left alone with my French +governess at the lonely country-house in Russian Poland. Nevertheless I +loved the being that my fancy had created, to which I had lent my +father's form and name, little as it really resembled him. It was, +therefore, not at all difficult for me, in order to save him from ruin, +to promise to be the wife of a handsome man who had presented me with a +_parure_ of diamonds. I was, besides, weary of my quiet life, and +longed to see something of the world of which I read in books. They +told me that for political reasons my future husband was obliged to +preserve a certain incognito in Russia, and that therefore our marriage +must take place shortly and privately. + +"I thought this very romantic, and packed my trunk--which was but +scantily furnished--and got into the travelling-carriage, full of happy +dreams of the future. The marriage ceremony was performed in the chapel +of a castle which was entirely unknown to me. + +"Thus I became the wife of Josef von Möhâzy, and my father retrieved +his fortune with the money paid him by my husband. I had been sold like +a chattel, but I was such a perfect child that I saw nothing degrading +in the transaction, but was glad to have been of use to my father. + +"We went to Paris; Herr von Möhâzy purchased exquisite toilettes for +me, since I did not know how to select them myself, and engaged a +French maid for me. + +"Standing before a huge mirror in the Hotel Royal, I first discovered +that I looked well, and the same evening I was told, also for the first +time, that I was beautiful. From this day I continually contemplated +myself in the looking-glass, and Herr von Möhâzy rubbed his hands and +told me I 'exceeded his expectations.' + +"My expectations were also exceeded. I had not imagined the world so +bright and merry, and if I had dreamed of love it had seemed to me that +its home would be found in some quiet garden among blossoming roses, +rather than in a ball-room with gas-lights and artificial flowers and +finely-dressed people; but I soon perceived that the garden of roses +existed for me only in my dreams, and that I must accommodate myself to +the ball-room. + +"Herr von Möhâzy loved travel and variety. From Paris we went to Cairo, +then to Naples, and thence still farther. I saw new countries and new +people, and learned that there are two forces that influence the world +and mankind,--money, and the attraction between man and woman which +they call love. + +"There were days when life did not seem to me worth the living, only to +repeat the same experience,--days when all that I saw others engaged in +wearied and disgusted me. But these were only passing shadows, +sentimental emotions, deserving only, Herr von Möhâzy thought, of a +compassionate shrug. On the whole, I liked the splendour and the +pleasure reigning everywhere in my world, and would not willingly have +foregone them. We returned to Paris when the chaotic bustle of the +great Exposition was at its height, and went thence to Trouville. We +had charming apartments, comprising the larger half of a pretty villa. +In the other half a couple of rooms were rented to a young German, whom +I sometimes saw sitting on a little side-balcony near our veranda. +Sometimes, too, I met him on the shore, and, as we lived beneath the +same roof, we bowed to each other. At last, when driving one day on the +Corso, it so befell that he was introduced to me. There was a certain +distinguished air of cool reserve about him that struck me, because it +was to me quite a novel characteristic in a man. I soon found that he +differed entirely from the men whom I was accustomed to see in Herr von +Möhâzy's society, and although, in spite of his youth, he inspired me +with a kind of diffidence, I nevertheless felt great confidence in him. +I often thought that if some terrible accident were to happen where we +were, all the other men of our society would take care of their own +safety, but that Herr von Eichhof would think of me because I was the +weakest. I believed he would do this, although he never paid me the +smallest attention, much less made love to me, as did so many of the +others. I regretted extremely that he evidently rather avoided us, and +I told him so one day. I cannot remember his reply exactly, but I know +that it made a deep impression upon me. Perhaps it was less his words +than his manner that told me that he disapproved of our mode of life +and did not enjoy our society. + +"I ought, I suppose, to have felt insulted, but instead I only felt +sad. I certainly began at this time to be less gay and more and more +thoughtful. + +"One day I thought that Herr von Möhâzy paid very marked attentions to +a lady of our acquaintance. I was by no means strait-laced on this +point, and it did not pain me at all to be neglected by Herr von +Möhâzy, but my pride revolted at the thought that his neglect might be +observed by others, and that I might be thought an object of +compassion. An unpleasant scene between this lady and myself ensued, +and I imperatively demanded of Herr von Möhâzy that he should take me +away from Trouville. + +"At first he laughed, then he ridiculed me, and finally he angrily +refused to listen to my request. I insisted upon my demand; he +persisted in his refusal. The words we exchanged grew more and more +sharp and bitter, until at last he uttered the dreadful revelation that +influenced my whole future life, and separated me in my own eyes from +everything which my instinct told me was good and noble. + +"'You have no right to demand this of me, for you are not my wife!' + +"I staggered back, and stared at him as though I could not understand +the words he spoke. + +"'You are not legally my wife,' he repeated once more. + +"Then the calm of despair seemed to take possession of me. I did not +faint, I did not even burst into tears. I approached Herr von Möhâzy +and ordered him to give me a thorough explanation. Perhaps I still +entertained a slight hope that he had only meant to terrify me. + +"If this were so, that hope was annihilated in a moment. The priest by +whom I had supposed myself married was a friend of Herr von Möhâzy's, +and had but worn the priestly garb over his uniform. I had been +fearfully betrayed, and--my father had known the truth. When Herr von +Möhâzy told me this I lost consciousness. + +"When I came to myself I heard talking and laughing in the next room. I +could distinguish Möhâzy's voice and the laughter of the woman who had +been the cause of our quarrel. I sprang up and rushed out of my chamber +and down the stairs, not knowing what I did, possessed by the one +thought that I must leave the house, that I would rather die than ever +again set eyes upon the man who had deceived me so terribly. + +"At the foot of the staircase I met Herr von Eichhof. My disordered +appearance probably struck him, for he stood still and addressed me. My +teeth chattered as in a fever-fit; instead of answering him, I covered +my face with my hands and burst into tears. + +"'You are in no condition to go out,' he said, taking my hand; and his +voice sounded so kind and gentle that I let him detain me for an +instant as he tried to persuade me to go up-stairs again. + +"'It is your duty to stay with your husband,' he said, 'even +although----' + +"I extricated myself, and in an access of disgust and aversion the +words escaped my lips, 'He is not my husband!' + +"Herr von Eichhof started, then turned silently away, and ascended the +stairs without turning once to look at me. I stared after him until he +had vanished. I was not in his eyes worthy of another glance. I knew +it, and I knew that his judgment would be echoed by every one. I left +the house almost mechanically. + +"Outside it was growing dark. I pulled a black lace shawl that I had on +over my head and passed on quickly, without an aim, without a resolve, +desiring nothing, caring for nothing except to leave the house that had +so lately been my home. + +"Suddenly I found myself on the shore. It was a lonely spot, and I +heard the roar of the ocean and saw the moon rise out of it like a +fiery red ball. I went on until the waves broke almost at my feet, and +I thought how it would be best for me to go on and on thus until the +waters rolled over my head. Then all would be over; the sea would look +unchanged, and on shore no one would miss me. In my thoughts death +seemed far easier and better than life. Suddenly two points of light +gleamed on the water,--a dark shadow glided over the waves across the +wake of the moon, and the tones of a woman's glorious voice singing +fell upon my ear. It sang a song that I knew and loved; the voice +seemed to allure my thoughts and take them captive. I listened first, +and finally I sang too. I cannot understand now how such a thing was +possible at such a moment, but I did it. Some inward impulse urged me +to unite my voice with those lovely tones. Perhaps the people in the +boat would remember my voice after it was silent forever. I would have +liked to leave some kindly memory behind me. And as I sang I thought of +my lonely childhood, my ruined and desolate youth, and unutterable +compassion for myself overcame me, and as the song died away I burst +into a flood of burning tears. + +"I went back from the shore. Life can be thrown away when it is hated +or despised, but not when it is pitied. + +"The singer had ceased; but the sound of voices came to me across the +water. I could distinguish no words, but it was the sound of kindly +human speech, and I began to wonder if some voice might not speak +tenderly to me at some future day; the world was so large, surely there +was some quiet corner in it for me. + +"I remembered to have heard that a famous songstress, who had retired +from a public career on account of her health, and who devoted her +powers to the training of other voices, was among the visitors at +Trouville, and that I had also heard that she was to leave on the +following morning. + +"The thought occurred to me that it was her voice that had so attracted +me, and with it came the determination to go to her, to tell her of my +utter misery, and to beg her to grant me her protection. Her voice had +called me back to life. I would ask her to decide my future fate. +Perhaps she would employ me as her maid, perhaps she would think my +voice worth training. I hurried on. There was still, then, a 'perhaps,' +still a hope for me----" + +Here the manuscript ended, and when Bernhard Eichhof had finished +reading it he still held it in his hand, and his eyes were riveted upon +the written page, as though it could afford him further intelligence. +And yet he knew what must follow. He knew that Julutta's hopes were +fulfilled, that she left Trouville with that same singer and came to +Germany, where her distant cousin, Marzell Wronsky, met her beneath the +roof of her protectress and married her. + +At last he laid aside the sheets that she had given him at his visit of +the morning, and sighed deeply. "Poor, poor creature!" he murmured. "I +judged her too harshly; and she is so gentle, so humble to me in spite +of the pain I have given her." + +He remembered how pale and ill she had looked to-day. The event of the +previous evening had evidently agitated and distressed her fearfully. +And yet when Bernhard had offered to seek out Möhâzy, to induce him to +pursue his journey immediately, she had not hastened to accept his aid. + +"You must first know the story of my youth," she said, "and then decide +whether I am worthy of your help. I could not trust myself to tell you +this story; but if you will read it--since my marriage I have indulged +the idle practice of keeping a diary, and that it might be complete I +have prefaced it with my sad story. No human eye save my own was ever +to rest upon these pages; but I make an exception in your case, because +fate has already willed that you should have some knowledge of my +secret." + +In this wise had Bernhard come into possession of these pages. "Fate +has dealt cruelly with her," he thought, "and I have added to its +cruelty wherever I could. Oh, I have much to atone for!" + +He paced his room to and fro in some agitation, then consulted the +paper for the list of names of new arrivals, among which he had already +seen Möhâzy's address, and, after re-reading it, tossed the paper aside +and ordered his carriage. + +Half an hour later a servant handed Herr von Möhâzy the Count's card. +Herr von Möhâzy was wont to rise about noon, and was therefore still +wrapped in his silken Turkish dressing-gown when his unexpected visitor +was announced. As the visitor followed close upon his card, there was +nothing for it but to prepare for his reception as best he might by +tightening the silken cord and tassels around his waist. + +"Excessively delighted to see you. Quite an unexpected honour," he +called out, as Bernhard hastily entered the room and closed the door +behind him; "but I must beg you to excuse this." And he indicated his +brilliant habiliments. + +"I have a very special reason for my visit, Herr von Möhâzy," Bernhard +replied curtly, without accepting an offered seat. "You asked yesterday +for a lady who is held in high esteem in society here. I know that you +had certain relations with this lady, which, by a monstrous deceit, as +you know, you----" + +"Sir!" + +"I am ready to answer for my words,--which relations you established by +a monstrous deceit." + +"I must pray you to use less violent language!" + +"I must pray you to hear me out!" Bernhard said, in a raised voice, and +with flashing eyes. "From what you said yesterday, I cannot but suppose +that you intend to compromise this lady, and to destroy the peace of a +happy home." + +"Not an idea of anything of the kind," Herr von Möhâzy calmly remarked. +But Bernhard had grown so eager in his part of chivalrous defender that +he neither heard nor heeded. + +"I am come to you now to give you an opportunity of leaving Berlin this +very day, if you would not be so insulted by me as to make a hostile +meeting between us inevitable." + +Herr von Möhâzy was speechless for a moment, staring by turns at +Bernhard's tall, threatening figure, as it stood between him and the +door, and at a singular object which the young man had taken out as he +spoke, and which strongly resembled a braided leather riding-whip. +Bernhard's eyes were riveted upon him, and the singular object quivered +meanwhile in his hand. But Herr von Möhâzy was not bewildered for +longer than a second, and, putting the entire length of the table +between Bernhard and himself, he suddenly threw back his head and burst +into a fit of laughter. + +"Delicious!" he cried. "But, my dear Herr von Eichhof, all this could +have been arranged very much more comfortably. I think your Berlin so +insupportably tedious that I should certainly have left it to-day or +to-morrow, and because I find it all so tiresome, I thought it might +possibly have amused me to see that lady again; although, I assure you, +she is far too indifferent to me to make it worth while to run the risk +of a bullet or a sabre-cut for a sight of her. I am rejoiced to learn +that she has found so devoted a friend in you. I--ha! ha!--I--'tis so +excellent a joke that it more than atones to me for not seeing her +again. A thousand thanks, Herr von Eichhof!" + +Bernhard had grown pale. He had not looked for this turn of affairs, +and it was his part now to be bewildered for a moment. + +"You are as coarse as you are cowardly," he ground out between his +teeth, coming up to the table, whereat Herr von Möhâzy thought best to +bluster a little. + +"No need of such ugly words, sir," he said, with a forced smile. + +"Will you leave Berlin to-day?" Bernhard insisted. + +"_Mais oui, mon cher_; I see no reason why I should remain here." + +"I should have no more difficulty in finding you to-morrow than +to-day!" Bernhard exclaimed, with a glance of menace, as he turned +towards the door. + +Herr von Möhâzy came out from behind his table. "Oh, you have nothing +further to fear!" he cried, as Bernhard opened the door. "I dislike to +disturb the amusements of others. My remembrances to Frau Julutta +Wronsky!" And he laughed once more. + +Bernhard slammed the door behind him. + +Julutta now had nothing to fear, and Bernhard and she had one more +secret, one more memory, in common. + +Herr von Möhâzy left Berlin the same day, and an hour later a note from +Bernhard informed Frau von Wronsky that there was no reason why she +should absent herself from the opera on the plea of illness, as she had +resolved to do in case Möhâzy did not leave town. + +She appeared in her box, and when Bernhard paid his respects to her +between the acts he read in every glance of her fine eyes the gratitude +that she could not otherwise express in her husband's presence. + +Hugo von Hohenstein sat in Councillor Kohnheim's box opposite, and his +opera-glass was scarcely, during the _entr'acte_, turned away from his +_vis-à-vis_. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + THE CONSEQUENCES BEGIN TO APPEAR. + + +Lothar was sitting in a rocking-chair by the window of his room in the +officers' quarters and gazing after the blue rings of the smoke from +his cigar. His thoughts were far, however, from being as placid as his +attitude, and his eyes would now and then turn from the airy rings to +various papers tossed in a confused heap upon his table. At last he +threw away his cigar and took up these papers. + +"Monstrous!" he muttered; "the man must be insane! How the deuce could +I ever use one hundred marks' worth of soap and perfumes? The bill, to +be sure, dates from last year. I can't prove that it's incorrect, +but I believe it to be so. And here again, three hundred marks for +gloves,--now that's an utter impossibility,--and the Berlin tailor +insists, too, that he has never been paid. The scoundrels are rolling +in the money they steal from the pockets of us poor lieutenants." + +Then he remembered that he had the day before ordered another large +supply of gloves and perfumery, for in that 'den of a garrison' there +was nothing to be had fit to use. And for a moment he really reflected +upon some method of regulating his finances. In fact, it was all a mere +bagatelle not worth mentioning, but then the 'scoundrels' dunned so +insolently, and it would really be refreshing to be rid of them all. +Werner had relieved Lothar of his large gambling debt, and the latter +had had a lucky evening at play shortly afterward, and had repaid his +friend every farthing. What if he should have recourse to his friend in +his brother's absence? But then the fellow was so priggish. He had +lectured him when he went to pay him because he had won the money at +cards. As if there were any positive harm in cards! To be sure, he had +never played in Berlin, there were so many other ways of amusing one's +self there. But here in this 'infernal den' what else was there to do +but play cards, unless one was a tiresome bookworm like Werner? And +from his vexation with his bills Lothar passed into quite a fit of +irritation against Werner, and decided that he certainly would ask no +new favour from him. + +"Haberdasher, perfumer, tailor & Co. may wait," he decided. "Why in +thunder did they let their bills run on so?" + +A knock at the door interrupted his disagreeable reflections, and upon +his "Come in," a very unexpected visitor appeared,--Hugo von +Hohenstein. He had come to pass a few days in Rollin to superintend the +alterations there, and would not go back to Berlin, he said, without +"hunting up" his old friend and comrade. He laughed as he noticed the +pile of bills upon the table. + +"Why not follow my example?" he cried, tapping Lothar on the shoulder. +"Marry a daughter of Israel with heaps of money. 'Tis the only +salvation for a poor lieutenant, and a very delightful salvation +besides, upon my honour! The young Baroness von Hohenstein, in spite of +the _née_ Kohnheim, is a model of high-bred elegance, and our +apartments and our equipage are quite perfect. Oh, absolutely +aristocratic, I can tell you! As for Rollin, I am turning it into an +El-Dorado. You would hardly recognize it." + +"What does your father say to it all?" asked Lothar, who with all his +levity could hardly bring himself to treat his former comrade with the +old genuine cordiality. + +Hugo shrugged his shoulders. "Since my governor no longer lives at +Rollin, I see no reason why I should consult his taste, especially as +it seems likely at present that I shall seldom have the pleasure of +seeing him; that little witch Adela has turned his head with her high +and mighty ideas. Fortunately, he was not himself when the bombshell +exploded in the midst of us, and he could do nothing to prevent my +arranging my affairs as seemed to me best. But now when he is perfectly +well again and ought to be reasonable, he scolds and rages at my +marriage." + +"Then the reports are true? I had heard something of this----" + +"Of course they are true, and it is all Fräulein Adela's doing. She has +the governor absolutely in leading-strings. He has lately refused to +see me." + +"But what will he do?" + +"Oh, Fräulein Adela has arranged all that. Unfortunately, she has a +small income of her own, which was not lost in the universal crash, and +which makes her independent of me, or I could soon bring her to terms." + +"But that seems to me to be very fortunate for her, and for you +too----" + +"Hm! That's according to circumstances. I have not sufficient +influence; people will talk, and it's deuced disagreeable to be at odds +with the old man. It's all that witch's doing." + +"Adela is a deuce of a girl!" + +"She was always a good-for-nothing hoyden, but I never supposed that +she would so meddle in business matters and take such an obstinate +stand. Fancy the old man's writing to me that he was quite willing to +accept everything from her, but that he would take nothing from me!" + +Lothar shook his head. He was wavering between feelings of +old-comradeship and the involuntary disgust with which Hugo's conduct +and talk inspired him. + +"Well, let's have done with these cursed matters!" cried Hohenstein. "I +am so glad to see you that I must crack a bottle of champagne with you. +Have you one here?" + +"No, not here; but let us go to the Casino: our dinner will be served +in half an hour." + +"True, we are in the provinces; my Berlin stomach can hardly +accommodate itself to these mid-day meals. But to-day, if you will have +me, I'll dine with you, and drive from here to the station. I must go +back to Berlin by the night-train." + +"I shall be glad to introduce you as my guest to our mess," Lothar +said, more courteously than cordially. "Let us wait here, then, for the +half-hour." + +"Agreed. And now tell me all about the people hereabouts, and in +especial how your sister-in-law fares at Eichhof. You go there a good +deal, eh?" This question was accompanied by an odd sidelong glance. + +Lothar gave various particulars with regard to his comrades and the +county gentry. + +"Of course I am frequently at Eichhof," he concluded, without further +mention of Thea. + +"Hm! And what are you doing at Eichhof?" Hohenstein asked. + +"I go to see my brother's wife," Lothar answered, with an air of cold +reserve. + +"And to make love to her?" Hohenstein said, with a laugh. + +The colour mounted to Lothar's forehead; his blue eyes gleamed almost +black for a moment. + +"I beg you to refrain from expressions which I regard as insulting," he +said, angrily. + +"Oh! ah!" said the other. "I had no idea that you would fire up so at +an innocent jest. For the matter of that, your brother Bernhard's views +on such matters are not so provincial; he is making furious love to a +certain blonde lady from these parts." + +"Bah! such stuff as is called 'making love' in Berlin society," Lothar +said, depreciatingly. + +Hohenstein looked at him in his half-sneering, half-malicious way. "Ah, +you fancy you understand it better here in the country. Well, well, in +spite of that, I can assure you that Bernhard understands it too, and +that Frau Julutta Wronsky is an admirable teacher." + +"You would not suggest that he is actually making love to that woman?" +Lothar said, with a shrug, and a struggle to preserve an appearance of +indifference. + +"I suggest nothing; I only mention what I have seen and heard." + +"And that is?" + +"That is, that friend Bernhard is daily seen riding with Frau von +Wronsky in the Thiergarten; that he is her inseparable cavalier at +every ball and party; and that, last though not least, he very nearly +fought a duel upon her account,--would have fought it undoubtedly had +not his opponent preferred to make his escape----" + +"Nonsense, Hugo! Bernhard is much too sensible." + +"Ha! ha! Why, what a country bumpkin you are become, Lothar! Well, it +is really of no consequence whether you believe it or not. The duel I +know all about from a perfectly trustworthy source. The occupant of the +next room to that belonging to the gentleman in question, who was no +other, in fact, than the lady's first husband, is a business friend of +my father-in-law's, and knows Bernhard quite well. He could not help +hearing a part of the conversation in the next room, for Bernhard must +have roared like a lion." + +Lothar rummaged among his belongings and tossed everything into +confusion. He looked for his gloves, which he had just thrust into his +pocket, and locked up his cap, to begin to search for it immediately +afterwards. Evidently his hands were as hurriedly and uncertainly +employed as were his thoughts. Hohenstein watched him narrowly, while a +smile of scornful superiority played about the corners of his mouth. + +"Do you remember my prophecies with regard to the Wronsky?" he asked. +"I tell you they have been most brilliantly fulfilled. She is making a +_furor_, and Bernhard has enviers enough to satisfy the vainest of men. +A handsomer couple cannot be imagined." + +Lothar tore one of his bills into minute fragments; Hohenstein leaned +back in his chair and contemplated him with the same sensation with +which a heartless boy watches the flutterings of the butterfly that he +has just impaled on a pin. + +"You know that woman was never to my taste," said Lothar, "and I hope +that Bernhard's taste also is sufficiently good to see that Thea is a +hundred times the more beautiful of the two. There cannot be a moment's +doubt upon that score." + +Hohenstein observed that taste was a matter which it was useless to +discuss. As meanwhile the time had arrived for the Casino, they left +the room together, Lothar's irritated mood giving Hohenstein further +opportunity for the play of his sarcastic humour. + +They found a larger party than usual assembled at the Casino, for some +comrades from the next garrison and several officers from the border +posts were present. After dinner there was a bowl of punch, around +which they sat until dark; and then, since they had begun the evening +together, they resolved to finish it in the same way. A second bowl was +brewed, tables were arranged for play, and the entire company took +their places at these. + +Hohenstein was still present, since his train did not leave until after +midnight. Whist and ombre not being to his taste, however, he proposed +a game of faro. "Just a quiet little game," he said, "to make matters +rather more lively." + +Werner, who had just finished a rubber at whist, came up to Lothar, and +said, "Will you not take my place at that table? I see you are not yet +engaged, and I want to go home early to-night." + +"No," said Lothar, who had taken more punch than was good for him, and +whose irritable mood had gradually given place to one of noisy +merriment. "No, I couldn't think of it. If you are tired of whist, come +and play faro with us." + +"You know I never play faro," Werner replied, and then added, in a low +tone, "and neither ought you to play it. You never have any luck, my +dear Eichhof, and----" + +"Nevertheless, I shall do as I please," Lothar rejoined haughtily. + +Werner bit his lips to suppress an angry retort. He saw that Lothar +was hardly responsible for his words or manner, and he therefore only +looked him steadily in the face, and said, "I have _warned_ you, my +dear Eichhof." + +He then left the window-recess, whither he had withdrawn Lothar, and +rejoined his whist-party, but without losing sight of his friend. +Lothar, however, seemed to have a run of luck, and won repeatedly. + +At last the game of whist was over, and Werner, who was weary, tried +once more to induce Lothar to leave with him. But he soon saw that he +must be given up to his fate, and accordingly left the Casino without +him. + +"I knew I should have no influence over him," he thought; "and this +fresh proof of it that I have had to-night makes my departure from this +place easier. Easier?" He smiled sadly. "Was there any choice left me? +I owed it to myself, and---- It is by a fortunate dispensation of +Providence that I am enabled to go so soon." + +He walked slowly along the moonlit street; his footsteps echoed firmly +and regularly through the silence of the night, and straight and clear +before his mind lay the path that duty required him to tread. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + AN EVENTFUL DAY. + + +The next day was Sunday. + +Werner stood at the church door, looking down the road from Eichhof, +along which Thea's carriage was wont to come at this hour. + +To-day it did not appear. The tones of the organ, heard through the +open door, died away at last, and Werner entered. + +There were none of his comrades there except a young lieutenant, who +had been absent from the garrison the day before, and who could, of +course, know nothing of the events of the previous evening. Werner +hesitated whether or not to look up Lothar after church, but, seeing +the curtains before his windows still closed, he decided not to disturb +him. As he left the church and walked out into the clear winter +sunshine, his mood was very grave, almost solemn. + +"I will ride to Eichhof and take leave of Countess Thea," he thought. +"I can do so calmly now, without betraying myself; and the sooner it is +over the better." A quarter of an hour later he was riding along the +broad Eichhof road. + +Thea, sitting in the bow-window, saw him coming. Her cheeks did not +flush, her heart beat no faster, as she recognized him. In her pure +unconsciousness of self she had not a shadow of a suspicion of this +man's sentiments towards her. Her first thought was, "How strange that +he should know that Alma is coming here again at noon!" And then she +took up the letter which she had just received and read before +recognizing Werner riding along the road. Was there really nothing more +in it than the few hasty words she had just read? was this all the +answer from Bernhard to the two long letters, filled with every detail +that could interest him, that she had written to her husband? Of course +he must be very busy, his thoughts entirely occupied with the +proceedings of the Reichstag, and his time with his social duties. But +she had so longed for some heartsome words from him; she missed him so +terribly, and she would so gladly have had some little share in his +present life, even although she were so far away from him. She would so +much have liked to know whom he saw most, and what chiefly occupied +him. She had asked him a hundred questions, but for all he had but a +brief indifferent answer. She had often pressed Bernhard's letters to +her lips, but to-day she could not,--something cold and strange seemed +breathing upon her from these few lines: she was chilled. Yes, she had, +she knew, perceived the same thing in all of Bernhard's letters lately, +but what it was she could not tell, she could not explain. + +For a moment she had forgotten the approaching guest, and her sad eyes, +half veiled in tears, saw only the leafless branches outside her +window, now glittering with snow. Not until her glance fell upon the +road did she remember Werner, and she blushed, for she feared that if +he found her sad, and with a letter from her husband in her hand, he +might suspect the cause of her melancholy mood. Therefore she hurriedly +thrust the letter into her work-table. When Lieutenant von Werner +entered, she arose and calmly and kindly offered him her hand. + +"I am come to take my leave of you," he said, and there was a slight +tremor in the voice usually so firm and clear. "I am ordered to the +military school at S----; and, as I shall be excessively busy during +the next few days, I thought I would employ my Sunday leisure in paying +a farewell visit to Eichhof." + +Thea looked at him surprised, and almost alarmed. "Good heavens, so +suddenly!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea that you expected to be +transferred----" + +"I did not expect it, although I had asked for it. A happy combination +of circumstances has favoured me." + +"You wish to go away, then?" + +"I think this transfer is best for me," he replied, passing his hand +across his brow. Never in his life had he felt the atmosphere so +insufferably sultry and close as at this moment. + +"Oh, then I will not be sorry that you are transferred, grieved as I +must be for ourselves and for Lothar. Ah, if Bernhard were only at home +again! When you go Lothar will be left entirely to himself." + +The introduction of this subject restored Werner's self-possession. He +told Thea that he had become convinced of the impossibility of his +exercising any influence over Lothar, and that this certainty had added +to his desire to be ordered elsewhere. They were still discussing +Lothar, when the noise of carriage-wheels was heard, and Thea arose +with the words, "Ah, there comes my sister!" Werner, too, arose. His +broad forehead flushed crimson, for the moment had come in which he +must say farewell, and he knew that perhaps--yes, most probably--he was +alone with Thea for the last time in his life. He was not in a +condition to carry on an indifferent conversation with her any longer. + +"Let me say farewell to you now, madame," he said. "I have several +other visits to pay, and anything so painful as leave-taking should not +be unnecessarily prolonged." + +Thea looked up at him in startled wonder, and there was some +embarrassment in her voice as she asked him if he would not stay and +dine. + +But she knew as she spoke that he would not accept her invitation. Yes, +she saw it all; she knew now that he loved Alma, and that he wished to +avoid meeting her, since he saw plainly that his affection was not +returned. Filled with compassion and sympathy for him, she held out to +him both her hands, and said, in the firm conviction that his heart lay +open before her, "Go; you are right to go now. God bless you! and +believe that I shall always think of you with warm, genuine +friendship." + +He made no reply, but for one short moment pressed her hand to his +trembling lips, and then left the room. On the stairs he met Alma, and +briefly bade her good-by, leaving her as much astonished at his sudden +departure as Thea had been. + +Then he flung himself upon his horse, and gave him the spur. He avoided +the roads leading to the town, and turned towards the forest. The swift +gallop cooled his heart and brain, and when he had reached a low hill +whence there was a last view of the castle and park of Eichhof, he +slackened rein and turned for one more look. Then, with a murmured +"Farewell! farewell!" he plunged into the forest, to reach by a +circuitous route a neighbouring estate, where his leave-taking would be +a far easier matter. + +He was fleeing, it is true, but his flight was a victory; he had come +off conqueror in the hardest battle in which the human soul can ever +engage,--the strife between passion and duty. + +Meanwhile Lothar had awakened from his prolonged morning slumbers, and +endeavoured in vain to recall how he had got home and to bed on the +previous evening. It cost him a considerable amount of resolution to +get up, and when he did so he felt wretched and depressed. Gradually +certain vague memories of last night occurred to his mind. He put his +hand into one of his coat-pockets, then into the other; both were +empty. He shook his head, and finally recollected that he had worn +another coat yesterday. It was hanging over an arm-chair. He proceeded +to search the pockets, and produced a crumpled roll of paper. He opened +it, and sank upon a lounge with an exclamation of despair. + +The paper contained an acknowledgment for the round sum of ten thousand +marks, which he had lost in the course of the night at play, and which +he had pledged his honour should be paid within a week. Lothar stared +at the characters on the crumpled sheet. Ten thousand marks! Payable +within a week! Here was an overwhelming disaster! How had it happened? +He racked his brain to remember; the events of the evening were mere +formless shadows in his dulled remembrance. He had first won, then +lost, and there had been a good deal of champagne drunk; all that was +perfectly simple and commonplace. But this debt! How was it to be paid? +If Bernhard had been at home, he would have gone to him again in spite +of everything that he had said to him. He had always been wont to +rectify in this manner the unjust family traditions that endowed one +son with everything in the way of the goods of this world and left the +others destitute. But Bernhard was away, and must either be sought out +in Berlin or informed by letter of this last terrible debt. And what if +Bernhard refused this time, as he had so often threatened to do, to pay +the debts? Lothar buried his face in his hands, and the moisture stood +in beads upon his forehead. There was but a week before him in which to +adopt any plan of payment; he must decide immediately, and, in common +with all men lacking independence, he was incapable of decision without +consultation with some friend. It is true that he now remembered that +Werner had warned him and that he had rejected his advice; he knew, +too, that of late there had been a certain diminution of the cordial +friendship that had existed between them. But nevertheless it was to +Werner that his thoughts turned in this dire extremity. + +"He is the best of fellows, and has proved that he is really my +friend," he thought. "I could not, of course, accept a loan from him +again, aside from the fact that this sum is far beyond his means; but I +will, at all events, ask his advice. One's own perceptions become +clearer when one has talked matters over with a sensible man." + +He rose, arranged his dress, and went to Werner's apartments. He found +them closed; but, as the key was hanging up beside the door, Lothar +determined to go in and await the return of his friend or of his +friend's servant, who was also absent. He knew that Werner frequently +went to church, and if he had gone there this morning, and had been +detained, he might come in at any moment. Lothar paced the room to and +fro several times, then went to the window, and finally decided that +this waiting was intolerable. He threw himself upon the small leathern +sofa, and spent some moments lost in gloomy revery; then he sprang +suddenly to his feet again, and as he did so accidentally twitched off +the cover of a small table, so that several books and some papers that +had lain upon it fell upon the ground. With an exclamation of +impatience he stooped to gather them up. A small portfolio had opened +in falling, and several sheets of paper fluttered out of it on to the +floor. + +"Cursed scribblings!" muttered Lothar, picking them up. Suddenly his +attention was arrested by one of these, and he looked at it more +closely. + +"Why, that is Eichhof," he thought; "there is the fountain, with the +old oaks in the background, the chapel by the pond, and the avenue on +the right. When did he draw this, and what induced him to select +exactly this view?" Suddenly the thought flashed upon him, "This is the +view from Thea's bow-window. How did Werner come by it?" + +He stooped for the other sheets, firmly resolved not to look at them. + +"Good heavens, 'tis Thea herself!" he exclaimed involuntarily, as he +held the last of them in his hand. "The resemblance is so striking that +it can be seen at a glance. Well, there's surely no reason why I should +not look closely at the picture of my sister-in-law. I did not know +that Werner was such an artist, and still less was I aware that Thea +had been sitting to him. A charming study of a head. I really should +like to know when and where it was drawn. I thought he never went to +Eichhof without me; but he always vexed me with his want of frankness. +Who knows what he has been about while he has been pretending to +study---- Ah!" As he threw the sheet upon the table it turned upon its +face, and upon the other side was written the refrain of a song, "Fair +Marjory," that Thea often sung: "Be still, my heart, be still." + +Lothar, who had meant to see and to read nothing, had seen and read +enough to make him stride to and fro in the room like a madman, +muttering in broken sentences, "He loves her,--she has been sitting to +him! Bernhard has neglected her, and Werner has consoled her, while I, +fool, double-dyed fool that I am, suspected nothing! Night and day I +have thought of her, and never dared, not even to myself, to call what +I felt for her by its right name! And now I know that Bernhard is +faithless to her, that Werner is false, and that she, indeed, is no +saint! Was I not half mad for her sake yesterday when Hohenstein went +on telling such fine stories of Bernhard, my worthy brother? Did I not +try to drive away with wine and cards the thoughts that would haunt me? +and at that very time perhaps Werner was with her. Oh, if it were not +so horrible it would be ridiculous,--a silly, ridiculous farce----" + +"Has the Herr Lieutenant any orders?" the voice of Werner's servant +suddenly asked just behind him. + +"Where is your master?" Lothar asked, roughly. + +"The Herr Lieutenant has ridden over to Eichhof. He left word that he +should be gone some time, as he meant to go farther still." + +Lothar was gone before the man had finished his sentence. + +For a moment he had forgotten his gambling debt: he thought only of +Werner and Thea. His brain seemed on fire; his temples throbbed +violently. Without one distinct idea formed in his mind, he threw +himself upon his horse and rode furiously to Eichhof. + +As he dismounted in the court-yard his first question was with regard +to Werner. + +"The Herr Lieutenant rode away more than two hours ago," the footman +replied. + +Lothar ran up the staircase, and entered Thea's bow-windowed room +almost at the same moment in which the servant announced him. As he did +so an opposite door was hastily closed, and he thought he could hear +the sound of retreating footsteps. + +Agitated as he was, no longer master of himself, he took no notice of +Thea, who was sitting at her writing-table and who rose to greet him, +but rushed to the closed door and tore it open, to discover Alma, who +quickened her pace almost to a run as she perceived him. He turned +about, went to Thea, seized her by the wrist, and said, with flashing +eyes, "Has Alma been here all day long?" + +Thea tried to free her hand from his grasp. + +"What is the matter, Lothar?" she asked, alarmed by his expression and +his strange conduct. "What do you want with Alma?" + +"Why did she hurry away as though there was some mystery to conceal?" + +"Good heavens! she went to lay aside her wraps. I had detained her here +to read a letter." + +"A letter? What letter?" + +Thea shook her head and tried to smile. + +"It was nothing," she said; "nothing worth mentioning," but her lip +quivered. + +Lothar still gazed at her with eyes that were menacing and yet +unutterably sad. + +"But that is not what I would ask," he said, retreating a step or two +without turning his eyes from her face. "I pray you tell me,--how long +have you been receiving Werner's visits,--how long have you known that +he loves you?" + +"Lothar!" she almost screamed, involuntarily steadying herself by the +table as if she needed a support; every trace of colour faded from her +face, and she muttered beneath her breath, "He is mad!" + +Hitherto Lothar had been convinced of the truth of his suspicions. But +now that he had hurled the base inquiry in Thea's face, as it were, now +that she had made him no reply save by an indignant and terrified +exclamation, he suddenly doubted, and as he looked at her the +conviction of her perfect innocence overwhelmed him with irresistible +force. + +"Answer me, Thea! for God's sake answer me!" he implored her. "Tell me +it was all a phantom of my disordered fancy. I know that Werner was +here alone to-day,--that he has taken your picture, that he loves you; +but tell me that you are innocent, and I will believe it. Only speak, +speak! I implore you!" + +Thea looked fixedly at him; she saw the entreaty in his eyes and the +agony expressed in all his features. + +"You are ill, Lothar," she said, "and therefore I will answer your +wild questions. Werner came to Eichhof for the first time without you +to-day. He came to take leave of me, since he is ordered to the +military school of S----. What you say about a picture is as +unintelligible to me as all the rest of your words." + +"Werner going away! I knew nothing of it." + +"His orders arrived only last evening. You were still sleeping this +morning when he called for you. And now go to your room and lie down: +your eyes show that you have fever. I will send a servant to you." + +She put her hand upon the bell, but Lothar stayed her as she was about +to ring. + +"Forgive me, Thea," he begged. "I have suffered so much!" + +"You are still suffering, for you are ill." + +"No, no! I am well enough, only--but I will not speak of myself. Thea, +tell me one thing, are you happy? Does Bernhard write often, and are +his letters what they should be?" + +Thea's cheeks flushed and grew pale; her hands trembled as she +collected, with nervous haste, the various letters lying upon her +table, and which Lothar, who watched her narrowly, could see were +postmarked 'Berlin.' + +For a moment she could not reply in words, but Lothar, believing that +he read an answer in her face to his words, cried, "Oh, I see,--you +know it all! They have written you all about it from Berlin, have they +not?" + +"Hush!" she said, imperatively, her face dyed with a burning blush. +"How dare you touch upon that subject?" + +"Oh, it is just that which drove me mad,--which made me dream what I +said of Werner possible," Lothar exclaimed, passionately. "I knew how +unhappy you must be. I hate Bernhard for it, but I hated Werner still +more, because I thought that in your misery you----" + +Thea had turned away, and in silent indignation would have left the +room, but Lothar interposed between her and the door, and, throwing +himself at her feet, cried, "Forgive me! forgive me! My sin is my +excuse; for I love you, Thea, I love you! more--far more--than all the +rest!" + +Suddenly he sprang to his feet. A servant entered with some commonplace +message. + +Lothar stood for a moment as though paralyzed. He heard the man's voice +and then Thea's as though from some vast distance, and when he looked +around Thea had vanished, and the servant was asking whether the Herr +Lieutenant would drive home in the open wagon or the covered carriage. + +For an instant Lothar stared at him in bewilderment. Then he passed his +hand across his brow. "No; the Countess's kindness is unnecessary," he +said, when the explanation of the scene dawned upon him. "I am no +longer giddy, and I can ride home." + +He left the room, and in the hall he encountered Alma, who had dried +her tears and bathed her eyes. + +"Farewell, my dear Alma," he said, with a deliberate gravity, almost a +solemnity of manner, quite foreign to him. + +"Are you going away?" the girl asked, all unconsciously, and impressed +by this strange mood of his. + +"Going away? No--that is--yes--perhaps so. At all events, I bid you +farewell." + +She heard him go down the stairs slowly and heavily. A sudden +inexplicable foreboding weighed upon her like lead. She felt as though +some evil threatened him, and she longed to avert it, to call him back. +She started to do so, when she heard the voices of the servants in the +hall below, and reflected that she did not know what to say to him. She +ran into the bow-windowed room, and looked down the avenue. A flock of +crows hovered above it; they were the only living things in sight. Alma +waited. One of the crows that had alighted in the road flew into the +air, and instantly afterward a lonely horseman rode along between the +snow-clad trees. Alma pressed her forehead against the window-panes, +but the rider never turned to look towards the castle. His head was +bent forward on his breast, and he seemed to pay no heed to his horse. +Like some shadow horse and rider appeared and disappeared at regular +intervals among the poplars lining the avenue. Alma gazed after them +until the last glimpse of Lothar had vanished in the wintry mist that +had begun to veil the landscape. + +"Farewell," she whispered, and her heart was as heavy as if she had +parted from him forever. + +Suddenly she roused herself from her revery. "How selfish I am!" she +thought. "I stand dreaming here, thinking of all kinds of impossible +misfortunes, while Thea is alone. Ah, we have enough real sorrow to +bear! There is no need to invent fancied woes." She went to look for +her sister, whom she had some difficulty in finding. + +Thea had retained sufficient self-possession to tell the servant that +her brother-in-law was ill, and to order a carriage for him; and then, +like some scared bird, she had flown through the castle, and taken +refuge in the conservatory adjoining the drawing-room. Here she sank +upon a seat,--the same seat where she had so often sat with Bernhard +before their marriage. She pressed her hands upon her throbbing heart, +and then upon her eyes, which were dry, hot, and tearless. Could all +that had happened in the last hour be real? The wild, insane words in +which Lothar had told her of Werner's love and of his own still rang in +her ears. Could such things be? Had she in her utter unconsciousness so +deceived herself? Or had Lothar actually spoken in the delirium of +fever? She sighed heavily. These questions, press upon her as they +might, vanished before that other: Was it possible that she had lost +Bernhard's heart,--nay, that perhaps she had never possessed it,--that +he had deceived her from the first? "No," her own heart answered, "that +cannot be! And yet----" She selected a letter from among those she had +gathered up from her table and brought hither with her, and read it +once more. It was from Adela Hohenstein, and addressed to Alma, who had +taken it from the post on her way to Eichhof that morning, and had read +it in the carriage. She had been unable to conceal from her sister the +agitation its contents had produced. Thea had questioned her, +suspecting that she had heard some news of Bernhard, and Alma had +finally been induced to show her the letter. Adela wrote in her usual +thoughtless harum-scarum way all that she had heard and seen of +Bernhard. She had frequently, at the house of one of her relatives, met +Bernhard and Julutta Wronsky together, and her letter was evidently +written in the first flush of her anger after one of these occasions. + +"Let me tell Thea that for at least a year she ought never even to +condescend to look at that husband of hers," she wrote upon the last +page, "and then perhaps he may come to learn that she is a thousand +times prettier and better and lovelier than this detestable Frau von +Wronsky. For I have learned thus much of the world, that men like to be +ill-treated; they make all the good women unhappy, but they will lay +down their lives for the worthless ones. Papa is the only exception; it +does not spoil him to be loved and petted. He is kinder and dearer than +words can tell; but all other men are monsters, your Bernhard as well +as the rest." Then there was a postscript: + +"Dearest Alma, for heaven's sake don't give Thea my message. I have +reflected that it can only do mischief. She is married to him, and they +must get along together as they best can. It can do no kind of good for +other people to meddle and talk. I would tear up this letter, but it is +well that you at least should know what men are worth, and every word +that I have written is true. So I send my letter just as it is, and +only beg you to say nothing to Thea about it. + +"P. S. the second. _À propos_, yesterday I met Walter in the street, +and I stopped him and asked him to come and see us. Do you know what +his reply was? 'I am very sorry, Fräulein von Hohenstein' (that is what +he called me), 'that my studies leave me no time for visiting.' What do +you think of that? Just like men in general, and the Eichhofs in +particular." + +At another time this letter of Adela's might not have made such an +impression upon Thea as it had produced to-day, when her heart was +filled with doubts and fears with regard to Bernhard. Had she not +foreboded all that Adela had written? + +Still, after she had re-read the letter, it might perhaps not have +affected her so deeply as at first had not the tidings it contained +been confirmed by Lothar's wild words. Bernhard's conduct was then +striking enough to be a theme for Berlin gossip! Oh, if only his +devotion had been shown towards any other woman! But that he should +turn to this Frau von Wronsky, with whom he had at first denied all +acquaintance, and afterwards confessed to it under such strange +circumstances; that it should be she, the woman with whom Bernhard had +desired that his wife might have as little intercourse as possible! +Thea's thoughts were in a whirl,--an abyss seemed yawning between +Bernhard and herself which all her love could not bridge over. She +raised her eyes. Above her trembled the mysterious fantastic blossom of +the orchid to which Bernhard had once compared the Countess Wronsky. +Ah, whither had they gone, those bright summer days when he had called +Thea his rose of May and had promised to surround her with perpetual +sunshine? + +"If this is all true, he does not deserve that I should weep for him," +she said, aloud. "No, he does not deserve it," she repeated, firmly, +closing her quivering lips. But then she thought of her child, of her +lost happiness, of her lonely youth, and she wept bitterly. + +Thus Alma found her at length, and led her back to the bow-windowed +room, where a lamp was now lighted. + +"Do not speak," Thea entreated, and Alma only put her arms about her +and held her in a tender embrace. But Thea was restless. She sprang up +and went to her child. Even there she could not stay long, but returned +to the bow-windowed room, and paced it hurriedly to and fro. She could +not talk to her young sister of what was agitating her. Why, she seemed +to herself almost guilty when she remembered Lothar's passionate words. +Lothar,--there was another dark spot in her thoughts! Ah! from all +sides black clouds were gathering above her, and she could do nothing +save wait quietly until the tempest broke. She was condemned to quiet, +and what could be more horrible in her present agitation? + +Alma felt that the struggle in Thea's soul must be fought out alone. +She went silently hither and thither, looked after the child, presided +at the tea-table, and only now and then approached her sister to press +her hand or to imprint a kiss upon her forehead. She went to the window +and looked out into the night, now illumined by the rising moon. Her +heart was filled with a yearning melancholy, and, reproach herself for +it as she might at such a time, she could not restrain her thoughts +from deserting Thea and centring about Lothar. He had looked so +strange, so disturbed, when he had spoken that last 'farewell.' + +Suddenly her attention was attracted towards the avenue, which lay like +burnished silver beneath the moon. Was there not a shadow stirring +there? And could she not distinguish the sound of horses' hoofs? She +peered eagerly out, but the moonlight was deceptive,--she might be +mistaken. Then she heard doors closing below and steps coming through +the antechamber. Thea had sunk into the arm-chair at her writing-table, +and with pen in hand was pondering upon a letter which she believed it +her duty to write, and for which she could find not only no words but +not even one clear idea. Alma hastened to the door. + +"Who is there?" she asked, so quickly that Thea looked up startled. + +"Herr Lieutenant von Werner begs----" the entering servant began. + +"Lieutenant Werner,--how, so late?" Alma repeated, and her slight +figure trembled as she added, beneath her breath, "That means +misfortune." + +Thea had risen. "What, what is coming now?" she thought. "Show Herr von +Werner up!" she said, in a sharp tone of command very unlike her. But +Herr von Werner had followed close upon the footman's heels, and stood +at the door. Alma could not utter a word; she only gazed anxiously into +his pale face, and steadied herself by an arm-chair as though she were +afraid of falling. Thea went firmly to meet him. She had never borne +herself so proudly, her dark eyes had never been so haughty and cold, +as, without seeming to notice Werner's agitation, she asked, calmly, +"What brings you to us so late, Herr von Werner? It must be something +very unusual." + +"Yes, madame, it is so, and very sad." + +Alma could hardly stand. Thea still looked at Werner with an +unnaturally calm expression, and with not the faintest suspicion of +what was to come. + +"Lothar!" came breathed like a sigh from Alma's pale lips. + +Thea's thoughts were not of him. "Tell me. I need no preparation; I am +prepared," she said. + +"Your brother-in-law met with an accident in riding home from Eichhof, +and is severely injured." + +Now Thea too grew pale. + +"Was he thrown? Is his life in danger?" she asked, in low, uncertain +tones, while Alma's eyes never for one moment left Werner's face. + +"His condition leaves little room for hope. He was not thrown,--an +accident, probably the result of carelessness----" + +"He is dead! he has shot himself!" Alma suddenly gasped. Her gloomy +forebodings had at last found distinct expression. + +Thea looked at Werner. He was very pale, but he uttered no +contradiction. + +Alma sank on her knees and buried her face in her hands. Thea slowly +passed her hand across her forehead. "Dead,--shot," she repeated +softly, as if hardly able to apprehend the meaning of the words. The +erect figure tottered, and before Werner could spring forward to +support her she fell fainting on the floor. + +Alma raised her head at Werner's exclamation of terror, and saw her +sister's unconscious form. She called the servants and did all that was +necessary to restore Thea, while she herself felt hardly aware of what +had happened. + +She, the younger and weaker of the two sisters, had not fainted, while +to Thea the thought that she might have had some share in Lothar's +death had been like a destroying flash of lightning. Alma did not +succumb, but deep darkness seemed to envelop her, in which she was +aware only of the present moment and its duties; all else was a blank. +She felt a dull pain in her head and heart, and would fain have cast +herself on the earth and have wept passionately. But shame lest she +should betray feelings that only the closest and dearest ties with +Lothar could justify, restrained her, and Thea's helpless condition +gave her a power of self-control of which she never could have believed +herself capable. + +"I instantly telegraphed to your brother-in-law," Werner said to Alma, +"and then hurried hither, because I knew that, with the garrison so +near, you must hear the fatal news before to-morrow." + +Alma bent her head in silent assent, and in her eyes alone could be +read the entreaty that he would tell her all he knew of this terrible +calamity. He went on, in a low tone: "I only reached home at dusk, and +I saw a light in Eichhof's room. It therefore surprised me to find it +locked, and to receive no answer to my call when I had knocked at the +door in vain. I was about to descend the staircase, when I met +Eichhof's servant, who, in reply to my questions with regard to his +master, told me that the Herr Lieutenant had returned from Eichhof half +an hour previously, and had seemed very unwell; that he had sent him +ten minutes before to the apothecary's for some soothing draught, which +he was just taking to him. Why the door should be locked he could not +possibly comprehend. We tried again to open it, and finally broke it +open. He sat upon the sofa, his head lying on the table before him. As +I raised him up, the revolver fell on the floor. Death must have been +instantaneous." + +Alma covered her face with her hands and burst at last into a flood of +tears, weeping so passionately, so uncontrollably, that Werner could +not but comprehend what this death was to this girl. In his agitation +he had said more than he meant to, and he reproached himself for so +doing. Almost in a whisper he began again: "He probably intended to +clean the revolver. I feel convinced the pistol was discharged through +carelessness, for--for--there were materials for cleaning it lying upon +the table." Werner was so unaccustomed to say what was not true that he +succeeded but ill in this attempt. + +Suddenly Thea entered the room; her eyes glowed with an unnatural +feverish brilliancy. She hastily approached Werner and held out her +hand as if to clasp his, then instantly withdrew it, and asked, +standing close to him, as if to prevent him from evading her question, +"Do you know why he shot himself?" + +"It is not impossible that it was an accident, madame." + +Thea shook her head. "That you do not believe," she said. "You know of +no reason for this deed?" + +"He was ill, and perhaps a momentary insanity----" + +"Yes, a momentary insanity. And you think my husband will come +to-morrow?" + +"I am sure of it." + +She cast down her eyes and was silent for a moment, while a shudder +seemed to pass through her delicate frame. + +"Can anything be done to-night?" she asked. + +"Nothing by you, madame." + +"Well, then farewell, Herr von Werner. It is best you should return to +town." + +"In fact, I still have much to arrange there." + +Agitated as Werner was, he could not but observe the strange alteration +in Thea's manner towards him. + +"Lothar was really like an own brother to her; the shock and her great +suffering have thus changed her," he thought, without dreaming of the +real state of her mind. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + THE SHADOWS GATHER. + + +In a first-class carriage of an express-train from Berlin sat Bernhard +Eichhof. Upon his return quite late from a ball, he had received the +despatch informing him of Lothar's sudden death. He had spent the rest +of the night in writing a letter to Julutta Wronsky and several others +to political associates, and was now hastening to his home by the early +train. He had scarcely found it possible to believe the sad tidings +brought by the despatch. Lothar dead!--Lothar, whom but a few weeks +previously he had left in the pride of youth and strength, a picture of +blooming health. And yet the despatch left no room for doubt. He +thought of every possible accident that could have befallen Lothar. He +saw before him his brother's smiling merry face, and the thought that +he was to look upon it cold and stiff in death seemed to him +inconceivable. In Berlin the hurried preparations for his departure had +scarcely left him time to appreciate his loss. + +But now, during his lonely ride, with Lothar's image constantly before +him, now he first comprehended how near this brother had been to him, +and how terribly he should miss him. In the consciousness of his +position as the future head of the family, upon whom the others must +more or less depend, Bernhard had developed, when quite young, a +certain liking for the part of a protector,--a part that became +him excellently well, because he was naturally warm-hearted and +good-natured. And precisely because Lothar had so constantly appealed +to him for aid, and, in his lack of self-dependence, had always turned +to his brother in his troubles, he had grown very, very dear to +Bernhard. Lost in melancholy reflection, he leaned back in a corner of +his coupé, without bestowing the faintest notice upon two ladies who +had entered the coupé just after him. He had closed his eyes in his +revery, and had entirely forgotten his travelling companions. + +Suddenly the name of 'Eichhof,' uttered by one of the ladies, aroused +his attention. + +"Is the member of the Reichstag your son-in-law's neighbour?" the other +lady asked. + +"Yes; Rollin is in the midst of a very aristocratic neighbourhood," was +the reply. "Good heavens, the Barons von Hohenstein have lived upon the +estate for hundreds of years, and all the neighbours are old noble +families,--my daughter's surroundings will be really 'feudal.' It is +well to give one's children an education that fits them for any rank in +life. Only a few days ago Count Dornat said to me, 'Your daughter, the +Baroness von Hohenstein, is a charming woman.' And my son-in-law is +delightful. Indeed, my dear, it is really a model marriage. Between +ourselves, many an aristocratic family might take example by it,--these +Eichhofs, for instance." + +Bernhard, who had ceased to pay any heed to the speakers, now listened +again. + +"Is it possible, Frau Kohnheim, that the Eichhofs----" Thus the +conversation continued. + +Frau Kohnheim said in a low voice a few words that Bernhard could not +understand, and then went on, in a louder tone, "Yes; I was at Rollin a +couple of weeks ago with a Berlin upholsterer to see to the furnishing +there, and the housekeeper from Eichhof was paying a visit to our +housekeeper,--I mean to my son-in-law's housekeeper,--and I learned all +about it from her. The young Countess at the castle was an innocent +young creature at first, but she has grown to be very different, +especially since her husband has been away. Only fancy such a young +woman's giving entertainments to which the young men for miles around +are invited, while a young unmarried brother-in-law of the Countess +plays the part of host! And he is in garrison only half a mile from +Eichhof, and of course is there constantly. So there you have a young +man and a young woman alone together in the country in a big castle, +and you may imagine what it must lead to!" + +"Good heavens! how can the Count be so thoughtless as to allow it?" + +"How indeed? Of course the young brother-in-law is over head and ears +in love. The housekeeper, who seems to be a very sensible person, has +often watched him. He never takes his eyes off the Countess, and, +naturally enough, she is not blind to the attractions of a handsome +young officer. There they sit in the conservatory talking together, or +they take long walks arm-in-arm, and the housekeeper----" Here the +voice sank to a whisper. + +Bernhard could no longer sit quietly in his corner. He stirred and +altered his position, so that the conversation was carried on in still +lower tones. + +"Infernal old women's gossip!" he thought, flushing angrily. +"Contemptible lies!--Lothar to----" Anger and pain possessed him. How +dared any one assail his wife's reputation? How could the innocent +relations between Thea and Lothar give rise to such calumnies? Was he +not false to the memory of the dead even to listen to such talk? He +arose and opened the window, only to close it again noisily; then +dragged out his portmanteau, and so bestirred himself that the ladies +involuntarily ceased to speak. But when he leaned back in his corner +again, all the 'old women's gossip,' all the 'contemptible lies,' +recurred to his mind word for word. Thea was young and beautiful, and +Lothar was thoughtless and susceptible, therein lay the justification +of the 'old women's gossip.' But Thea was his wife, and Lothar was his +brother. Nonsense, nonsense! why dwell upon such thoughts for an +instant? And yet they would intrude; they even came between Bernhard +and his sorrow for the loss of his brother; they suggested wild images +that showed some connection between what he had just heard and Lothar's +sudden death; they sent the blood seething through his veins, and kept +him awake, when weariness from sorrow and want of repose would have +bidden him to sleep. + +After a while the two ladies left the train, and Bernhard was alone +with his torturing doubts and suggestions. + +At the station he was met by Werner, who had meanwhile been informed of +the result of Lothar's gambling on the previous evening. As gently as +possible, but without withholding a single detail, he told Bernhard the +truth: Lothar had contracted gambling-debts, and had, in consequence, +shot himself. Fearful as the calamity was, it was by no means without +parallel,--the same cause had often led to the same desperate resolve. +Still, to Bernhard, it did not seem to explain Lothar's act. The amount +of this last debt did most certainly exceed the amount of Lothar's +usual deficits, but yet it did not seem to Bernhard large enough to +have been paid by a life, unless there had been other motives in +Lothar's mind to prompt him to self-destruction. Why had he not applied +to his brother, as he had so often done before? Had he despaired of +himself and of his capacity for improvement? That was so unlike Lothar +that Bernhard could not believe it to be so. What, then, had prevented +him this time from appealing to his brother for aid? + +"He had been to Eichhof just before?" Bernhard, arousing himself from +gloomy reflections, asked of Werner, who was driving from the station +with him. Werner assented. + +"And you never spoke with him afterward?" + +"No; none of his comrades saw him. His servant was the only one who did +so, and he says that Eichhof was very unwell. The calamity occurred +almost immediately after his return." + +"Immediately after his return----" Bernhard bit his lip; he would ask +no more questions. Arrived in garrison, he made all the necessary +arrangements, promised to return in a few hours, for Lothar's body was +to be taken to Eichhof in the evening, and then drove on alone. + +He had had some hope that Thea would come to meet him, but she did not +do so; she did not even receive him as usual at the hall door. + +"The Frau Countess is not well," the servant said. + +Bernhard hurried up the stairs to Thea's room. At the door he met the +family physician. + +"Is my wife ill?" he asked, hastily. + +"Nothing serious at present," the old man replied. "Countess Eichhof +cannot for the moment sustain the terrible nervous shock. I have +ordered perfect rest,--her best medicine next to your arrival, my dear +Count. A sad time, indeed. Your brother was never ill in his life, and +now----" + +Bernhard pressed the good doctor's hand, and, leaving him, entered +Thea's room. In the first moment of reunion he forgot all his doubts. +He clasped his pale, distressed Thea in his arms. At sight of her he +felt something like remorse for having left her alone so long. + +"This is a sad meeting, dear heart," he said with emotion, as he laid +her head upon his breast. Thea shook as with a fever-fit, her lips +quivered, but she could not speak. + +Bernhard looked in her face in alarm. "My poor, poor Thea!" he +whispered. + +She extricated herself from his clasp, and withdrew her hand from his. +"It will pass," she said, turning from him to draw a shawl over her +shoulders. "Never mind me. Have you seen him,--I mean Lothar?" + +"Yes; he looks perfectly unchanged. I shall have him brought here +to-day." + +Again Thea shuddered, and for a moment her look was fixed and wild. +Bernhard tried again to draw her to him, but she pushed him away. +"Leave me! leave me!" she cried. "Oh, my God!" And she burst into a +passionate fit of sobbing. + +Bernhard turned away and walked to the window. He felt that all his +doubts would have vanished like morning mists if Thea had met him as +usual and wept out her pain and grief upon his breast. Now they arose +again before him, and took firmer, clearer shape. For a few moments he +stood motionless at the window, then suddenly he approached Thea again. + +"You know why Lothar shot himself?" he asked, in a voice that sounded +hoarse and unlike his own. + +She bent her head lower upon her hands and made no reply. + +"He lost a large sum at play last night," Bernhard continued. "But----" + +Then Thea looked up. For an instant her face looked transfigured with +hope, like that of a criminal reprieved when under sentence of death. +Involuntarily she seized Bernhard's hand, and asked, with a passionate +excitement such as Bernhard had never before known her to express, "Do +you believe that that was why he shot himself? Do you believe it? Can +it be?" + +Her eyes as she looked up at him were full of imploring anguish, and +he, in his turn, thrust away her hand, and said, in a cold, hard voice, +"No! I see you do not believe it, and I--neither do I believe it!" + +At this moment Alma entered with Herr von Rosen, who had come over +immediately upon hearing the sad news. This put an end to Bernhard's +and Thea's _tête-à-tête_, and neither of them at this time could have +wished it prolonged. + +Nor was there any opportunity for renewing it during the next few days. +The dowager Countess had hastened to Eichhof upon hearing of her son's +sudden death, and her grief and suffering were of so exacting a nature +as to employ the time and energies of at least one member of the +family, and sometimes several of them, all the time. She called herself +the unhappiest, the most sorely tried of women; but when Bernhard +proposed that she should remain at Eichhof with Thea, she thought it +but right to inform him that she had been offered the position of +abbess in the aristocratic institution of B----, and that she intended +to accept it and retire thither as soon as possible, since it seemed to +offer her the advantages to which her birth and rank entitled her. + +Thea suffered terribly, but she was cold and repellant towards +Bernhard, who was very much occupied and rather avoided her than +otherwise. The physician shook his head; he was far from satisfied with +his patient's condition, although he still maintained that she was only +suffering from prolonged nervous agitation. + +On the day after Lothar's funeral Thea was lying back on her lounge, +not sleeping, but with closed eyes. She could not sleep either by night +or by day, for so soon as she began to dream she saw either Lothar or +Bernhard before her, and the thought of them banished repose. Was she +not guilty of Lothar's death? Ought she not, instead of turning angrily +away, to have tried gently to lead him back to the right path? If +there had been no shadow between Bernhard and herself, this torturing +self-reproach would not have taken shape; her conscience would not have +been so morbidly sensitive, inclining her to the gloomiest reflections. +But the shadow was there, and it was therefore impossible for her to +seek refuge with her husband, and be consoled and soothed in his arms. +Agitated as she was, she saw Bernhard's relations with Frau von Wronsky +in the darkest light. She attributed his altered demeanour entirely to +these, and never for an instant suspected that he too was tormented by +doubts and suspicions with regard to herself. And Bernhard? All through +these days he scarcely thought of Julutta; he never suspected that his +friendship for her could have given rise to remarks and comments which +Thea had overheard, and if he had suspected this he would have been +indignant that Thea should give ear to such scandal. In all that +concerned that 'poor persecuted woman' his conscience felt perfectly +pure, and the struggle between his love for Thea and his dead brother, +and the hate which now threatened to arise within him for both of them, +left no space for thoughts of aught else. + +And now the time for his return to Berlin was at hand. He resolved that +certainty should at least be his. Thea, apparently calmly passive, and +yet wretchedly restless, had just adopted a resolve to entreat Bernhard +to tell her frankly of his sentiments for Frau von Wronsky. She would +make no claim upon his affection, since she had never possessed it, +but she would be his true and honest friend, asking nothing from him +save confidence and truth. For their child's sake they must remain +friends,--friends, but nothing more! Yes, she would say all this to him +to-day--this very hour. Suddenly she started: a cold, heavy hand was +laid upon her shoulder. She raised her head. Bernhard had entered +softly, and had only been aware when he stood close beside her that she +was not sleeping. His hand was upon her shoulder, and he said, gazing +at her the while with eyes so changed, so darkly stern, "I must speak +with you, Thea, before I leave for Berlin. I have a question to put to +you." + +She looked up at him startled. She had just been thinking of him, but +the face she saw before her in no wise resembled the image of him in +her mind, and there was an unusual imperious tone in his voice that +offended her. + +"Go on," she said, looking away from him. + +"What occurred between yourself and Lothar?" + +Thea started up. All her lately-formed resolutions were forgotten. He, +against whom she believed herself to have such just cause for +complaint, dared to take her to task thus! + +She could not and would not lie; it was just as impossible for her at +this moment to answer his question frankly. She stood erect before him. +Her pale cheeks glowed, and her eyes gleamed angrily. + +"You certainly have no right to ask that question. You less than all +others." + +The words passed her lips quick as thought. The next instant she +repented of them, but they were spoken, and they had their effect. A +terrible alteration took place in Bernhard's face. For an instant he +looked as though about to crush to the earth the woman before him; then +he suddenly turned away, without a word, and left the room. + +"Bernhard!" Thea called after him; but the door was shut and he did not +return. + +"Past and gone!" echoed in Thea's soul. + +"Past and gone!" a voice muttered in Bernhard's heart. Of what avail +was it that she wrung her hands, and that he, in his room, hid his face +and wished himself dead in Lothar's place rather than live through all +this? The doors between the husband and wife were closed, and neither +could overcome self so far as to open them and cry out to the other, "I +love you,--I love you in spite of everything!" + +The reconciling words remained unspoken. + +Thus they parted. Bernhard returned to Berlin to await the close of the +Reichstag, and Thea was alone again,--really alone now, since she knew +that there was no union between Bernhard and herself even in thought. + +Werner had departed immediately after Lothar's funeral, and Thea +shortly afterwards sent Alma home. Their mother was quite ill; there +were fears of her becoming blind, and Alma was much more needed there +than at Eichhof. Thea exacted from her a solemn promise that she would +never mention the contents of Adela's letter. What the future had in +store for her she could not tell, only one thing she was resolved upon, +that the unhappy state of affairs existing between Bernhard and herself +should be concealed from the world as long as possible. While he had +been in Eichhof her illness had made such concealment entirely +feasible, and in future--yes, what was to be done in future she could +ponder upon in her solitude at her leisure. + +But upon this Bernhard had also pondered, and a few days after his +departure Thea received a letter from him. + +Her heart beat so strongly when this letter arrived that she held it +for a moment in her hand without being able to open it. And when at +last she did so, the characters of the familiar handwriting danced so +before her eyes that at first she could scarcely decipher them. +Bernhard wrote: + +"From what you said to me on the day before I left Eichhof, I conclude +that you find it impossible to bestow your confidence and affection +upon me any longer. I do not ask why this is so; you know the reason +for it, and it is better that it should not be discussed between us. To +what is inevitable we must resign ourselves as best we may. After what +has passed you probably desire to return to your parents, as life with +me would be only a constant pain to you. I should not oppose your wish +in this regard were it not for the existence of one for whose sake it +seems to me best that we should maintain at least the appearance of +union before the world,--I mean our child. For his sake we must avoid a +public separation. Therefore it is that I pray you to remain in +Eichhof, even although I should return thither. My sphere of action +must enlarge with time. I shall travel much, and thus the brief +duration of our meetings in Eichhof will seem not unnatural. You can +shorten them still further by visits to watering-places, if it so +pleases you. Before the world due regard must be paid to _les +convenances_; of course the cause of our separation must never be +mentioned between ourselves. In this wise our relations to each other +may be duly arranged, and I pray you to inform me as soon as possible +if your views in this respect coincide with mine. + + "Bernhard Eichhof." + + +This was the letter which Thea read over and over again amid floods of +tears, the letter the composition of which had cost Bernhard a +sleepless night. What a night it had been! Anger and pain strove within +him for the mastery, and pain at length conquered. He thought of Thea's +youth, of her solitude and inexperience, and he thought of Lothar's +thoughtless gayety, of his susceptible nature, and of all his winning +qualities. And he, Bernhard, had been fool enough to leave these two +children dependent upon each other for society! Through his own fault +his happiness was destroyed, and he had lost the woman whom he +loved,--lost her forever! + +He was overcome with compassion for himself, for Lothar, who had sought +by his death to expiate his fault, for Thea! While writing that letter +to her his heart was filled with sympathy for her. He pitied the poor +young creature whom he had delivered over to her destruction; she could +be nothing more to him, but his roof should shelter her at least from +further harm. + +These were Bernhard's reflections; but Thea thought she could read +between the lines, and that it was not his insulting suspicions of her +fidelity, but his own sentiments for Julutta Wronsky that made it easy +indeed for him to give up his wife, if only appearances were kept up +before the world. She accepted what he proposed with a dull +resignation. In the tormenting self-accusations in which she so often +indulged in her solitude, she seemed to have a crime to expiate. She +repeatedly recalled every conversation, every interview, she had ever +had with Lothar. She thought now that she had often been too cordial +and friendly to him, she reproached herself for the ease and +carelessness of her manner towards him, and she regarded Bernhard's +estrangement from her as a punishment from heaven, which she must +patiently endure. She grew paler and more silent, so that the old +family physician often shook his head anxiously when he visited her, +although he could not pronounce her really ill. Once he wrote to +Bernhard about her, and Bernhard thought 'of course she cannot recover +from Lothar's loss,' and, in spite of his pity for her, he crushed the +innocent letter in his hand and flung it from him as if it contained +some poison that he feared to touch. And then he carried his gloom, his +pain, and his sore heart to Julutta Wronsky, not for consolation, as he +said to himself,--who could console him?--but for some distraction of +mind, to listen to her glorious contralto as she sang his favorite +songs, and to discuss the events of the day. Meanwhile he could not but +be conscious of the influence that he exerted upon this woman, and of +how entirely she looked at the world through his eyes. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + DR. NORDSTEDT. + + +Spring had come, and life in Eichhof had developed into just what +Bernhard had foreseen. He had taken an active part in a new railway +enterprise which was to bring his secluded estates more into contact +with the world and to connect a great Russian branch-line with a German +trunk-line. By degrees he had become a prime mover in this scheme, and +when he returned to Eichhof every moment of his time and every thought +of his mind were put under requisition. He had to go to Russia, and +backwards and forwards to and from Berlin; guests of every social rank +came to Eichhof in the interests of the new railway, a prominent +banking-house had to be induced to join in the scheme, and there were +all kinds of foreseen and unforeseen obstacles to be overcome. And +Bernhard was wanted everywhere. A great work was to be undertaken, one +that would be of immense benefit to his section of the country, and the +less satisfaction Bernhard took in his home-life the more did he devote +himself to these outside interests, that were to be, as he thought, so +productive of good. It was natural that Julutta Wronsky should +understand and sympathize with him in these interests more than Thea +possibly could. The time was past when Thea, for love of him, would +interest herself in subjects that else would never have occupied her +thoughts. And, besides, she was so very far from well that she no +longer refused to heed the advice of the physician, who urged her to +try change of air and scene at one of the well-known baths. + +So she made ready for the journey, upon which her little son was to be +her only companion and consolation. Yes, her only consolation, for +except in her boy's laughing eyes she could see no brightness anywhere. +At Schönthal, Frau von Rosen had been seriously ill, and when she began +to recover her disease settled in her eyes, so that at the end of a few +weeks her sight was almost entirely gone. It was a sad picture, that of +one who had been so active now so entirely helpless, and Herr von Rosen +and Alma vied with each other in devotion to the invalid. Care for her +mother helped Alma to conceal and to overcome her grief for Lothar far +more easily than would otherwise have been the case. She had no time to +think of it,--the present claimed all her powers of mind and body, and +the past retreated into a dim distance. While Thea was preparing for +her journey, her mother was about to travel also; but while Thea's goal +was a mountain watering-place, Frau von Rosen was going to Berlin to +consult Walter's friend, Dr. Nordstedt. He advised her to place herself +entirely under his care for a while, and accordingly Frau von Rosen and +Alma were soon established in two quiet rooms in a wing of the +Nordstedt mansion, the windows of which looked out upon the blossoming +fruit-trees and green grass-plats of the pleasant garden. Soon this +prospect was shut out from one of the rooms by blue curtains, for Frau +von Rosen was to undergo an operation which would decide whether she +should henceforth dwell in perpetual night or once more look upon the +light of day and the faces of those whom she loved. They were weary +days that Alma now passed beside her mother's couch, hovering between +fear and hope. Herr von Rosen left them immediately after the +operation, for pressing business at home prevented him from awaiting +the final decision, and Walter Eichhof and Adela Hohenstein were the +only friends from home who came now and then to ask after Frau von +Rosen and to chat awhile with Alma. Oddly enough, the two had never met +upon any of their visits; 'fortunately,' Walter said, 'unfortunately,' +Adela thought, although not for worlds would she have uttered the word +aloud. At last after days of prolonged anxiety the bandage could be +removed from the invalid's eyes, and Dr. Nordstedt pronounced the +operation entirely successful. That was the first happy day that Alma +had known since Lothar's death. A smile transfigured for a moment Dr. +Nordstedt's grave face as he announced the glad tidings to Alma, and +tears glittered in the girl's eyes as she held out both hands to him, +and, forgetting all her shyness, cried, "Ah, how I thank you, Dr. +Nordstedt! If I only had some way in which to show you how grateful I +am!" + +He held her little white hands in a firm clasp for an instant, and +replied, "Such moments are the bright spots in a physician's life, +Fräulein von Rosen, and they atone for many a gloomy day." + +On the evening of that day Alma stood at the open window of her room, +looking out into the starry June night. The leaves of the trees +whispered gently in the evening breeze, and the garden lay silent and +dark below her, while beyond the gardens and court-yard that surrounded +the Nordstedt mansion there was the glimmer of distant gas-lights, and +the street-noises fell upon her ear like a muffled hum. Alma was so +grateful that she longed to be happy and glad, and yet precisely at +this time, when she was relieved from her weight of care and could +breathe freely, she felt doubly lonely in the strange great city. She +seemed to herself to be upon a lonely island in the midst of a roaring +ocean. As she stood thus looking out, she thought of that winter night +in Eichhof when she had stood at the window gazing thus. Lothar's +image, which her recent care had banished to the background of her +thoughts, arose vividly before her, and she was conscious of a painful +yearning for her home. She clasped her hands against the window-frame, +and leaned her head upon them. The air was sultry; she had loosened her +fair hair, and it fell down about her shoulders, as she remained thus +lost in thoughts of the past. Suddenly the door was opened, and a woman +with a lighted candle entered the room. It was the nurse to whose care +Frau von Rosen was specially intrusted. + +"Good gracious, Fräulein dear, you are in pitch darkness!" she +exclaimed, putting the candle on the table, "and with the window open +too! Have you closed the door, that your mother may not feel the +draught?" + +"Indeed I have, Marianne," Alma replied, half turning round. "My mother +is asleep, and I came here to get a little fresh air." + +"Yes, yes, you ought to have more fresh air, Fräulein dear; the Herr +Doctor always says you ought to walk in the garden every day. The Herr +Doctor is not at all pleased to see you grow so pale here. He looks at +you,--yes, just as he always does at people with whom he is not +satisfied, and for whom he would like to prescribe. No offence, +Fräulein, but he does; such a sad look, and yet so kind. Good gracious! +I know the look well enough. And he has, perhaps, a particular reason +for it in your case." + +Alma was only lending half an ear to the woman's chatter, and it was +more out of kindness than from interest that she asked, "Indeed? How +so?" + +Marianne put on an air of mystery. "Ah, you see, 'tis a long story. You +look like somebody," she replied. + +"Indeed?" + +"Somebody who is dead; of course it was a woman," Marianne chattered +on. "She had braids just like yours. Now your hair is down, I can see +that she had the very same. And she had blue eyes, too, and was so like +you in some way, I cannot exactly tell how; but as soon as you came you +reminded me of her, and our doctor saw it too,--I knew that in a +moment, for I know him well." + +"Well, and who was this other?" Alma asked, with more interest. + +Marianne sighed, and then told Alma of the unfortunate young woman whom +her doctor had once intrusted to her care. "And only think, Fräulein +dear, the woman had once been so rich that she did not know what to do +with her money, and--but this is a secret; I only happen to know it +because my husband, who is dead, was once a footman in her house. Only +since you look so like her I'll tell it to you. Well, our doctor loved +this woman dearly when she was a girl. But he was very young, and the +girl's parents, and the girl herself, perhaps, thought he was not rich +enough for her. At all events, she wouldn't marry him, and that's the +only reason why he has never married, although now he might choose a +wife where he would and thank you, too. But he cannot forget his +Hedwig. And when he found her so sick and miserable, and got me to +nurse her, and then at last when she died, any one could see how +fond he was of her. Our doctor is an angel to all sick people, but +then--then he was something more." + +Alma listened now with keen interest, and was almost sorry when +Marianne had finished arranging her room for the night and was obliged +to attend to some other patients. + +"Yes, yes, Fräulein dear, the best of men must have trials. Well, +good-night." + +And the nurse left the room, and Alma was again alone at the window. +And so this calm, grave Dr. Nordstedt had also lived through his +romance. He had lost his love, and lost her so cruelly! "Poor man!" +Alma whispered, thinking of what she had just heard. Then she heard +footsteps on the garden gravel path below her window. She leaned out, +and saw a tall, manly figure slowly walking towards the house. She +hurriedly withdrew, as though fearing that the doctor might suspect +that she was thinking of him and that she knew his secret. Still, she +no longer felt lonely as before; it was a certain consolation to her to +reflect that in the heart of the man walking alone beneath the trees on +this sultry evening there might perhaps be thoughts similar to her own. + +From this day it was not gratitude solely that prompted her to observe +the doctor with greater interest than hitherto. There seemed a certain +resemblance between his fate and her own. She thought she could +understand him; and when he paced the garden to and fro alone in the +evening, and she stood alone at her window, she thought that surely +there was some mysterious sympathy between them. + +Thus some time passed, and at last Frau von Rosen was allowed to leave +her room. When she spent an hour for the first time in an arbour in the +garden, Herr von Hohenstein and his daughter came to wish their old +friend joy in her restoration to health, and to inform her at the same +time that Herr von Hohenstein had purchased a country-house with a +little land, and that they were to occupy it the ensuing week. The +house was in the vicinity of one of the larger cities of their native +province, and Adela was enthusiastic in her praises of its lovely +situation, while her head was filled with plans for gardens of roses, +asparagus-beds, dove-cotes, and chicken-yards. Herr von Hohenstein, who +had entirely recovered his health, although he was greatly changed and +found his memory often defective, so that he was obliged to turn to +Adela for aid, agreed to everything, and spoke of employing his leisure +in the quiet of the country, if his strength admitted of it, in +collecting his varied experience on the subject of the breeding of +horses, and in publishing it for the use and enlightenment of +posterity. Adela had taken a pencil out of her pocket, and was +just about to draw a ground-plan of her future home on a leaf of +her note-book for Alma, when a shadow fell upon her paper, and a +familiar voice that had not fallen upon her ears for a long time bade +'good-morning' to the little circle in the arbour. Adela started up and +confronted Walter Eichhof. Perhaps each was at first inclined, so +unexpected was this meeting, to run away; but Adela was imprisoned in +the arbour, and Dr. Nordstedt's broad shoulders appeared just behind +Walter. As there was no way of avoiding each other, they each had +recourse to the same line of conduct; Walter devoted himself to the +Rosens, and Adela found inexhaustible matter for conversation with Dr. +Nordstedt in his establishment and his methods of treatment, in which +she expressed the greatest interest. Both Walter and Adela, however, +took occasion to scan each other furtively, and at times replied rather +vaguely to remarks addressed to them, from an anxiety on the part of +each to hear what the other was saying. At last Dr. Nordstedt expressed +a fear lest so much conversation around her might fatigue Frau von +Rosen, and proposed that she should be left for a while with the Baron +von Hohenstein, while he conducted Walter and the young ladies through +the garden, and the establishment in which Fräulein von Hohenstein +expressed such an interest. + +Adela immediately declared herself ready to go, and, as Walter was +standing by Alma's side, it fell to Dr. Nordstedt to conduct Fräulein +von Hohenstein. He showed them through various rooms in the house, and +told them how they had been enlarged to their present size from small +beginnings, until he had ended by adding the present spacious wings to +the original mansion. The waiting-rooms were filled with all kinds of +costly _objets d'art_, mementos from grateful patients from near and +far. Adela, who had chattered fast enough at first, gradually became +silent, and looked up with a kind of awe at the tall, serious man who +had made himself what he was. Then she cast a stolen glance at Walter. +He was right to be proud of this friend, she thought, and then she +wondered whether Walter possessed sufficient energy and industry to be +like him. She could not but observe meanwhile that in the course of the +last year Walter had grown far more manly, and at last she arrived at +the conclusion that she never should suspect either Walter or Dr. +Nordstedt of being doctors if she had not known about them. The image +of a 'doctor' in her mind was inseparably connected with a large pair +of spectacles and a strong odour of ether,--both attributes of the +family physician at Rollin, and of a certain professor who had been +called in at the time of her father's illness. They had hitherto been +the only representatives of the medical profession known to her. + +"Fräulein Alma would like to see your study," Walter suddenly said to +Nordstedt, who turned to the girl with a smile, and said,-- + +"You have seen it already, Fräulein von Rosen. It is the little room I +showed you where I performed my first successful operation. When one +wishes to work, any decoration around one has a disturbing influence, I +think; and then, too, I like old places, and so I stayed there with my +books." + +"For the first time I cannot agree with you," cried Adela. "Whoever has +any taste for the beautiful must like to see it around him." + +Nordstedt laughed. "You are right," he rejoined; "but beauty incites me +either to enjoyment or to dreamy revery, and neither is any assistance +to hard work." + +"But, lest the ladies should think you a scorner of the beautiful, you +must open your music-room for us," said Walter. + +This Nordstedt did with pleasure. He certainly was much more talkative +and less reserved than usual to-day. Walter wondered whether Adela's +gay humour had wrought this change. Although he was firmly convinced +that he himself had entirely ceased to think of Adela, he found this +suspicion far from agreeable. + +As they entered the music-room both the girls uttered an exclamation of +delight. The furniture, the hangings, the pictures on the walls, all +gave evidence of genuine taste and a fine artistic perception. + +"Yes, the requirements of art differ from those of labour," said +Nordstedt. "Art gives beauty and must have beauty." + +And everything in this room was beautiful. From the grand piano to the +smallest footstool, all was perfect of its kind. Adela's admiration was +loudly expressed, Alma's was silent. But whenever she lifted her eyes +they were sure to encounter Nordstedt's glance seeking hers. "Do you +love music?" he asked, suddenly stepping to her side. + +"Dearly!" she replied. + +He went to the piano, and played one of Mendelssohn's Songs without +Words. Walter stood at a window, looking very grave. Nordstedt never +played before strangers. What had come over him to-day? And how +devoutly Adela was listening! Walter wished he had not come here +to-day, and the brighter his friend's face grew the gloomier he felt. + +The song that Nordstedt had chosen was one of those brief melancholy +strains that suggest a lament. When he had finished, Alma said, "That +song is one of my favourites. It is so fervent, and yet so sad. It +sounds as if one were thinking of some one loved and lost----" + +Nordstedt turned upon her one brief questioning glance of surprise. +Alma blushed, fearing that she had said too much. But Adela, who +generally said whatever came into her head without reflecting, +exclaimed, as she looked admiringly at Nordstedt, "Why, you can do +everything! You give me an entirely different idea of doctors from any +I have ever had before!" + +Scarcely had the words left her lips when she, too, blushed crimson to +the roots of her hair, for she remembered that Walter heard what she +said. She was glad that Nordstedt proposed returning to Frau von Rosen, +who ought now to be taken to her room. Without waiting for the escort +of the two gentlemen, she took Alma's arm, and ran, rather than walked, +along the corridor into the garden, while the young men silently +followed them. Nordstedt's face was bright with a smile, but Walter was +annoyed and discontented with himself, with Adela, with everybody. He +was more startled than pleased when Adela offered him her hand at +parting and said, softly, "It has given me great pleasure to see you +again." He replied only by a low, formal bow. He wandered about the +loneliest streets on this evening until ten o'clock, and at last closed +his door behind him and threw himself upon his lounge, saying, "And yet +I wish I had not seen her again!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + SUMMER DAYS. + + +Broad sunlight lay upon the comfortable mansion of Schönthal. Frau von +Rosen was better than she had been for years, but she was still obliged +to spare her eyes, and so Alma had undertaken to advise Dr. Nordstedt +from time to time of the condition of his patient. The less there was +to tell of her, however, the more there always seemed to be to say. +Nordstedt was now looked upon by the whole family more as a friend than +as a physician, and, busy as he might be, he always found time to +answer Alma's letters. As Walter was to spend his summer holidays at +Schönthal, Herr von Rosen invited Dr. Nordstedt to pay them a visit at +the same time. + +"But, papa, what are you thinking of? He never will come," said Alma. + +Nevertheless he came. + +"What a pity it is that Thea has not yet come home!" said Alma. "She +would be so much pleased with Dr. Nordstedt, and he would like her so +much." + +Frau von Rosen gazed thoughtfully at her daughter. How did she know so +well whom Dr. Nordstedt would like? She began to shake her head, but +not for long, for Nordstedt had grown dear to her, and she only glanced +shyly now and then at her husband, wondering if the same thoughts that +had occurred to her had been suggested to him also, and what he would +say. But it really was all his fault. Why had he invited the doctor to +the house? + +One evening Herr von Rosen said to her, "We are thought to be people of +very advanced ideas, mamma. Do you not think we should justify the +opinion entertained of us if we chanced some day to marry our daughter +to a man of the people?" + +"It seems to me," she replied, "that everything would depend upon who +the man was, and what confidence we could repose in him." + +"Aha! Then, in principle, you would not be opposed to such a match? Of +course, I am only discussing such things in general." + +"In general, then, I have no objection to the bourgeoisie, although I +once thought I could favour none save sons-in-law of rank. But what is +the use of growing older if one grows no wiser?" + +Then there was a pause, which was ended by Herr von Rosen's saying, +"Alma certainly never would have been happy with Lothar Eichhof." + +Frau von Rosen sighed. She laid her hand on her husband's shoulder, and +said, softly, "Do you think Thea is happy?" + +"Ah! her letters have struck you too?" + +"Not only that, but she has now been three months away from Eichhof. It +was all very well for her to go to the baths, but to visit my sister +afterward and stay there so long,--I cannot understand it. Mountain air +is good for the child, she says. Possibly; but Eichhof air would be +equally good for him. And we so seldom see anything of Bernhard----" + +"Bernhard has a great deal to do at present." + +"Ah, my dear, I can easily see that you do not believe that to be the +only reason. I often lie awake thinking of it all. I cannot comprehend +it." + +"Wait until Thea comes home. She is a clever woman, and she loves +Bernhard; she will make matters all right again. You remember how she +behaved about his agricultural interests. At all events, we must know +nothing until we are told. Not even a parent should interfere between +man and wife." + +Frau von Rosen assented. "But yet it is hard," she rejoined; "and if +anything has estranged them from each other, be sure it is the result +of the grand state in which they are obliged to live. Love is more +likely to nourish amid simple, comfortable surroundings." + +The next day the family and their guests were taking their coffee when +the post-bag was brought in. There was a general distribution of +letters and newspapers, and among the former was a thick envelope for +Alma from Adela Hohenstein. + +There had been a brisk correspondence carried on of late between the +two girls, and Alma was as familiar with Adela's quiet life in her +country home as was Adela with Alma's walks and rides with her guests, +and even with the conversations carried on among them. + +"It is very charming here," Adela wrote. "My plants and my animals +flourish finely. Papa is contented, and we love each other dearly. +But--you see there is a but--it is very quiet. The people about us are +strangers to us, and those whom we know are far away. I go to walk just +when you do, but I am quite alone. Since my Fidèle died I have not even +a dog, for the one I have now is too stupid to care to go with me. +While I walk, papa writes his book, which, however, between ourselves, +will not come to anything, because poor papa has forgotten so much. But +it gives him pleasure, and so I let him believe that it will be good, +and go to walk alone. And sometimes I am quite low in my mind and could +envy you your guests. Not Walter, of course, but Dr. Nordstedt is so +nice; and even Walter is a human being, and an old acquaintance +besides. Papa, too, thinks--but then he had better write you himself +what he thinks. I only want to tell you that I am no longer so +seriously angry with Walter as I told you I was in Berlin. I have been +thinking about it since I have been so much alone, and I have reflected +that it is folly to be angry with any one for as long as I have been +vexed with Walter. To be sure, you do not know the cause I had for +anger, and I certainly had good cause; but nevertheless I am angry with +him no longer, and he need not refuse papa's invitation on my account. +You may tell him so." + +Alma read this strange letter twice, and just as she finished it Herr +von Rosen said, "Baron Hohenstein has written to me, Dr. Nordstedt, +asking whether you and Walter will not stop and pay him a little visit +on your way home. He says he has received so much hospitality in your +house that he should like to requite it. You will go directly past his +retreat, and----" + +"Don't decide against this plan; I have something to tell you from +Adela," Alma whispered to Walter, who was just opening his lips to +declare that the visit would be impossible. + +Dr. Nordstedt read the Freiherr's kind invitation, and then declared, +with a glance at Walter, the state of whose mind he guessed, although +he knew nothing of it positively, that he felt inclined to go. After +breakfast Alma took occasion to deliver Adela's message to Walter. The +young man hesitated at first whether to rejoice or be vexed. Adela was +no longer angry with him! As if she had ever had any cause to be so. He +had laid his heart at her feet, and she had thrust it from her. The +bitterest moments of his life he had experienced upon her account. No +human being had ever so grieved and wounded him as she had done. And +now she sent him word that she was no longer angry with him. What a +confusion of ideas there must be in that fair curly head! But in spite +of his vexation his heart beat faster, and there was a joyous light in +his eyes. Was not a desire to see him again at the bottom of her +message? Did she not say "I am no longer angry with you" only because +pride and mortification kept her from saying, "Do not be angry with me +any longer"? Of what avail was it that he had so often convinced +himself that he would forget her,--nay, that he had forgotten her? Her +image was more vividly distinct than ever in his mind, and in spite of +all his self-remonstrances he was delighted at the thought of this +visit, and counted the days that must elapse before it could begin. + +One day Herr von Rosen invited him to drive with him to Rollin, where +he and Alma had long owed a visit. Dr. Nordstedt stayed with Frau von +Rosen, and the three others set out upon a lovely afternoon. How +strange were Walter's sensations upon seeing the fine old pile once +more! The memories connected with it took more vivid shape in his mind. +There were the two old lindens beside the court-yard gate stretching +their leafy arms above the tall old wooden crucifix, and upon the other +side was the ancient oak, in which the storks were wont to build. But +between these unchanged trees two brand-new gothic gate-posts had +lately been erected, and as the carriage rolled along the avenue Walter +saw that the old house had been decorated with all kinds of turrets and +bow-windows. The arbour of clematis had been replaced by a sloping +terrace; the elder-bushes in front of the house had been exchanged for +closely-trimmed acacias, and instead of the climbing roses, which had +been killed by the various renovations, the shield and baronial crest +of the Hohensteins were conspicuous between the windows of the upper +story. A footman in elegant livery received the guests. The hall was +redolent of fresh paint and new carpets, and the doors creaked upon +their hinges, as though discontented with the new order of affairs, but +no footstep could be heard upon the luxurious rugs and carpets. Hugo +Hohenstein received them in the hall in his customary _blasé_ but not +inelegant manner. He conducted Alma to the drawing-room, and presented +the party to his wife, who greeted them with a curtsey that was +needlessly low, but maintained towards them generally an air of cool +reserve, which finally had a paralyzing effect upon them all. The young +hostess had perhaps not received a satisfactory amount of attention +from her husband's acquaintances, and was fearful of compromising +herself; at all events, she was evidently embarrassed, perfectly +courteous but perfectly cold, so that when the gentlemen retired to +smoke a cigar, Alma found it very difficult to carry on a conversation. +She admired several treasures of art that were displayed on shelves and +brackets, as well as the entire arrangement of the drawing-room. Frau +von Hohenstein replied that it was all very simple, and that she was +sure that Fräulein von Rosen was accustomed to a far greater degree of +elegance. But something in her expression gave the lie to her words, +and Alma's heart grew heavy, for she could not but remember, as these +conventional phrases were being exchanged, the many delightful talks +she had had with Adela in this very room. + +"Walter's sensations were very similar to Alma's, while Hugo Hohenstein +conducted the gentlemen through the gardens, where stiff flower-beds +but poorly replaced the rose-hedges. The trees in the park, too, were +much thinned, and part of the pond had been drained to give place to +more trim flower-beds. + +"When the pond was drained a ring was found," said Hugo,--"a golden +ring, set with a blue or green stone. I have it now; and I should like +to know how it came in the pond." + +The blood mounted to Walter's cheeks, but he said nothing, until +shortly afterwards, when he was shown the ring in the smoking-room. +Then he could not refrain from remarking, "I think your sister, +Fräulein Adela, used to wear that ring. If I am not mistaken, there is +a date engraved upon it,--the date of your parents' betrothal----Ah! +there it is: 'August 28, 1830.' Does that coincide with your knowledge +on the subject?" + +"To be sure! I never thought of that. Really, it is remarkable how +stupid everything is when one comes to investigate it. Some interest +attached to the ring so long as no one knew how it came in the pond. +But now that we know all about it, it turns out to be perfectly +commonplace." + +"Would you like to see my collection of weapons?" he asked, after a +while. "I have some rare pieces." He opened a cabinet and displayed its +contents to his guests. "They really are fine, are they not?" he said. +"I am thinking now of making an Egyptian collection. I intend going to +Egypt; it is a fearful bore to stay at home forever." + +"Ah!" said Herr von Rosen. "What does your lady wife say to that?" + +Hugo von Hohenstein looked at his neighbour with undisguised +astonishment, then he smiled with an air of superiority. "_Mon Dieu!_" +he said, "we did not marry to be bored. My wife will probably visit a +French watering-place, or something of the sort." He suppressed a +slight yawn, and thought how impossible it was to be entertained by +these _gentilshommes campagnards_, who, with their old-fashioned ideas, +were really quite out of place in the modern world. + +Herr von Rosen ordered his carriage. + +"_À propos_, since you are shortly to pay my governor a visit, my dear +Eichhof, why not take the ring with you?" said Hugo. + +"Walter had already thought of doing so, but had not made up his mind +how to propose it. He took the ring, and his heart beat fast. Fate +willed that the ring he had cast away in anger should now be returned +to him; he would accept the omen,--it was the talisman of his good +fortune that he had thus regained. Therefore on the drive home to +Schönthal he was in the gayest humour, while Herr von Rosen and Alma +could not recover from the impression the visit had made upon them. +They had had a fleeting glimpse of a modern fashionable marriage, and +both were prompted to make a comparison which pained them. + +"He is going to Egypt and she to France," Herr von Rosen thought, "and +this they call not being 'bored.' And my daughter and my son-in-law, +too, have put miles between them. Are they afraid of being 'bored'? +Good heavens! have home-life and home-happiness lost all charm for the +young people of the present day?" + +Alma on her part thought of the cool courtesy with which Hugo +Hohenstein and his wife treated each other, and then her thoughts +travelled to Thea and Bernhard. Would they at some future day treat +each other thus, or even more coldly and stiffly? She longed to see +Thea again; now when her first sharp pang for Lothar's death was past, +and when her mother was so nearly well, the secret in which she was a +sharer weighed heavily upon her youthful soul. The world was so fair +and sunny, and people were so kind, and Dr. Nordstedt--no, he had +nothing to do with it; but she felt so calmly happy that her heart was +full of gratitude to God for this lovely world. But then, when she +remembered Thea and Lothar, she felt that she was wrong to be happy and +to enjoy. Oh, there was so much sorrow in the world after all! + +And to-day, after the visit to Rollin, she felt in a particularly +melancholy mood. Rollin had impressed her as so sadly changed, she +missed Adela everywhere; she thought of how changed too Eichhof would +be when Thea finally returned thither, and she remembered that their +guests were to leave Schönthal on the morrow. + +Occupied with these thoughts, she went out alone in the evening into +the park, while the rest were sitting on the veranda. Frau von Rosen +soon reentered the house, and asked her husband to come with her, as +she wished to speak with him. Nordstedt and Walter were left alone. +Nordstedt drummed with his fingers upon the garden-table, near which he +sat, in a nervous way quite unlike him. He arose once or twice, then +seated himself and drummed again, saying, at last, "I will go find +Fräulein Alma; the evening is damp, she may take cold." + +"Well, then, come," said Walter, evidently regarding his companionship +as indispensable. + +Nordstedt stood one moment in silence, then put both hands upon his +young friend's shoulders, and said, gently, "Let me go alone; I have +something to say to Fräulein Alma." + +"Nordstedt, is it possible?" Walter ejaculated, having already during +his visit at Schönthal made up his mind that it was not Adela who had +wrought the change in Nordstedt which had so surprised and annoyed him +in Berlin. + +Nordstedt looked abroad into the moonlight. "Much is possible, my dear +fellow; nothing is certain!" he said. And without another word he +descended the steps of the veranda and walked alone: the moonlit path +towards the park. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + A CRISIS. + + +It was very lonely at Castle Eichhof. On lovely summer afternoons the +servants would sit in the pleasantest nooks in the garden discussing +old times and new ones, and the windows of the second story were +closely curtained, and looked as if they had all kinds of secrets to +keep. Thea had not yet returned, and Bernhard's visits to his home were +very short, and when he did come he occupied his bachelor apartments. +His railway scheme gave him a great deal to do, and even if this had +not been the case he could not have borne to stay long in his lonely +castle. + +It was fortunate that the Wronskys were at home this summer! Although +their estate, Paniênka, was more than two miles distant from Eichhof, +Bernhard was their frequent guest. + +Wronsky, who was much too undecided a character to insist upon his own +way when it was not agreeable to his wife, was extremely glad that she +had chosen to spend this summer at home, for he dearly loved his ease +and good eating. He looked up to his wife much as he did to his old +schoolfellow Bernhard, and if he thought it the great blessing of his +life that he had won the hand of his beautiful, clever, and proud +Julutta, none the less did he feel himself greatly honoured by +Bernhard's frequent presence in his house. In his unpretending +_bonhommie_ he thought it but natural that his friend should prefer his +wife's society to his own. Bernhard's influence over his good-natured +friend dated from their school-days; he had always been first in his +classes, while Wronsky had contentedly remained at their foot. And +Julutta? She smiled when she perceived Bernhard approaching, but it was +a strange, contemptuous smile, very different from the one with which +she greeted him when he stood before her. Latterly she had not smiled +when he appeared, but had bidden him welcome with eyes that were large +and serious, and with a certain shy confusion in her manner. The more +embarrassed she seemed, the warmer and the firmer was his clasp of her +hand, the more frank and cordial did he become, until she, too, adopted +his tone, and they talked together like good friends and comrades. At +least so Bernhard would have said, and he forced himself to believe +that so it was. Yes, Julutta's blush when he touched her hand, the +liquid brilliancy of her eyes, the pathetic tone of her voice when she +talked with him, all this was only friendship. True it was, however, +that Julutta could not only talk and blush with a grace all her own, +but could also observe and combine with a cleverness beyond that of +other women. + +Bernhard took a certain credit to himself for never mentioning Thea in +his conversations with Julutta, for concealing the ruined sanctuary of +his home from the eyes of his friend. + +But Julutta heard and saw what he never told her. Why it was she did +not indeed know, but she did know that he was not happy in his +marriage, and from the moment when she first became aware of this she +smiled no more upon Bernhard as formerly, but her earnest gaze told +him, "I know that you suffer, and I suffer with you." And in spite of +himself he understood this language, and the longer Thea remained away, +and the wider the breach became that separated them, the better did he +learn to comprehend what Frau Julutta's eyes said to him. + +When he returned to his lonely home was it any wonder that Julutta's +image pursued him thither? At first he had pitied her, then he had +admired her intellect, and now he could no longer banish from his mind +the expression of her eyes, the strange, bewildering charm of her +beauty. He saw her before him as he rode slowly home on moonlit summer +nights through the fragrant meadows; he saw her still when he entered +his lonely house. He had felt so secure, so superior, with regard to +this woman, and now? Bernhard would not analyze, would not even reflect +upon, his present sentiments towards her. Why should he? Has not many a +one, seeing his every hope in life wrecked, sought forgetfulness in the +intoxicating bowl? And Bernhard sought to forget; and if he suspected +that his senses were bewildered, he never dreamed of throwing aside the +goblet. This bewilderment should never reach the point of intoxication; +Bernhard never could forget that Julutta was the wife of the friend of +his youth; no, beyond a certain point Bernhard was still sure of +himself. + +In this sense of security he drove over to Paniênka one sultry +afternoon. The sun was near its setting as he reached the pine forest +bordering on the park, but the air was still oppressively hot, and not +a breath stirred the ferns that grew on the roadside. Not a bird +twittered, not a squirrel was seen climbing the gray trunks, not a +human being encountered the vehicle, and the crunching of its wheels on +the road was the only sound that disturbed the breathless silence. The +air was filled with the strong fragrance of the pines, and across the +blue strips of sky visible among the tree-tops stretched isolated gray +clouds like menacing fingers foreboding a storm. Bernhard did not see +them. He leaned back in the carriage, gazing into the gray-green forest +twilight without really seeing that either. The dreamy quiet of nature +seemed to have infected him. Suddenly he sat upright. There was more +light between the trunks of the trees, a gray wall draped with trailing +hop-vines appeared, and then two red gateposts,--that was the little +side-entrance to the park at Paniênka. The carriage was just about +to turn into a broad avenue of chestnuts, which led to the castle +court-yard, when he told the coachman to stop. He thought he heard +himself called by name. He stood up, and thus could see over the wall. +Across the green lawn stretching between the wall and a little pond +came the slender figure of a woman, who beckoned to him. In her white +trailing dress and her gold-gleaming hair she looked like the nymph of +the cool forest pool whose waters glistened behind her. + +"Where are you going, Count Eichhof?" exclaimed Julutta. "My husband is +at R----, and it is so insufferably warm in-doors that I have taken +refuge here by the pond. If you will come and drive away the gnats with +a cigar I shall be grateful to you." + +Bernhard sprang from the carriage and approached the little gate. +Julutta leaned upon the wall, which just there was low and crumbling. +"Tell them to bring us some fruit and wine from the castle," she called +out to the coachman. Then she went to the gate and opened it to admit +Bernhard. So soon as she was alone with him her self-possession +vanished. She offered him her hand without looking at him, she spoke of +the heat of the weather, of Bernhard's long drive, excused herself for +thus detaining him, perhaps against his will, and then congratulated +herself upon his visit,--all this so hastily spoken, and in such +bewitching confusion, that Bernhard could not but see that she was +embarrassed, and that she wished to conceal or overcome her +embarrassment by talking quickly. They had reached a charming spot, a +seat half surrounded by low rocks, and looking upon the little forest +lake. A small waterfall plashed close by and diffused a refreshing +coolness, so that Bernhard after his warm drive involuntarily drew a +deep breath. + +"It is charming here," he said; "and you come to me like a kind fairy +who lives in an enchanted forest and who conducts weary wanderers into +her fairy home, where it is always cool and delightful." + +Julutta laughed. "Only favoured wanderers," she said. + +"I thank you, gentle fairy," Bernhard said, earnestly. She blushed and +looked away from him towards the water. For an instant he gazed at her +admiringly, and then, as if forcing himself to look at something +else, he took up a little book lying on a rustic table. He read the +title-page,--"Pages from the Life of a Good-for-Nothing," by +Eichendorff. "Ah, have you been reading this midsummer night's dream of +Eichendorff's on this sultry summer day?" he asked. + +With a smile she turned to him. "And why not?" she said, with a gentle +dreamy expression in her eyes. "Do you think, because I have known more +than most women of the stern realities of life, that I must have lost +all sense of its poetry?" + +"No, assuredly not; but I thought you too much of a critic to enjoy the +story, which, charming as it is, is so absolutely impossible that you +must admit that it is thoroughly unreal and unnatural." + +"But, good heavens! there are moods in which one longs for just that. A +day like this in a lonely forest--for this park is really only a +forest--makes one dream; and why should one not indulge in this +charming midsummer dream, and for an hour believe that, even in this +mortal life, everything may be delightful? Reality will teach us soon +enough that it is not so." + +Bernhard turned over the leaves of the book. Julutta seated herself +upon the gnarled roots of a beech beside the waterfall, and gazed +at the green lily-pads floating on the little lake, and at the +dragon-flies hovering on gauzy wings above it. + +"You have been dreaming, then, to-day?" Bernhard asked, seating himself +beside her. + +"Yes; shall you laugh at me for doing so?" + +"On the contrary, I envy you. I have had to write such dreadfully long +and tiresome letters at home." + +"Do you never dream?" + +"They say a man should never dream." + +"Ah, 'they say' so much, 'they' are so wise; but folly is not to be +easily banished from the world. I even maintain that every man of +sensibility and imagination has often found himself dreaming of some +foolish happiness." + +"Why of a foolish happiness?" + +"Because happiness can hardly ever stand the test of critical reason, +but depends upon imagination, which is often folly. And what is +happiness, after all? A moment, an intoxication, a dream,--and yet we +all long for it." + +A year before--a few months before--Bernhard would perhaps have +contradicted her. Now he nodded a mute assent. She was right. Happiness +was an intoxication, a dream. + +"I sometimes think," Julutta continued, eagerly, "that mortals would be +better and happier if there were somewhere an island where all could be +happy in their own way for at least three weeks of every year." + +Bernhard laughed. "There is method in your dreaming at least," he said. + +"Laugh if you will," she said; "but do you not believe that many a one +would bear his burden more easily and willingly if each year brought +him so happy a memory and so glad a hope?" + +"Possibly; but many would be miserably unhappy in longing for this +blessed island all through the rest of the year." + +"Oh, no. Children at school are not made unhappy by thoughts of their +holidays; they are refreshed and strengthened for their studies by +them." + +Bernhard sat drawing hieroglyphics in the gravel with his cane. A clink +of glasses was heard approaching, and Julutta arose. + +"Here comes our 'Little table spread thee,'" she said, going to the +rustic table, upon which the servant arranged decanters, wine-glasses, +and fragrant fruit. "Come," said Julutta. "There are those who maintain +that wine can conduct to the Island of the Blest." She handed him a +sparkling glass and laughed. "Which only means that we are too sensible +to be happy; for common sense must be thrown overboard before we can +land upon my Island of the Blest." + +Bernhard took the glass. "To the Island of the Blest!" he said, +emptying it at a draught. + +Julutta divided a fragrant peach with her snowy fingers, and offered +half of it to Bernhard. + +A dragon-fly hovered above the table, and settled for a moment upon the +basket of fruit. "A greeting from the Island of the Blest!" Bernhard +exclaimed. + +But Julutta had suddenly grown grave and thoughtful. She brushed the +dragon-fly away with her handkerchief, leaned her head upon her hand, +and gazed at the little lake, that now looked gray and leaden. + +"Of what are you thinking?" Bernhard asked. + +"What folly I have been talking!" she said, hastily arising. "Come, let +us go to the house. My husband will soon return, and we can receive +him." + +"Your husband? Oh, if Wronsky has gone to the circuit court at R----, +he cannot be back again for two or three hours at least. It is so +lovely here, why not stay?" + +She looked at him almost angrily. "Why?" she repeated, and her eyes +grew tender and yearning again. "Well, then let us stay," she added, in +a low tone, and walked down to the water's edge. + +Bernhard followed her. "You are strangely agitated to-day," he said, +standing close beside her. "May I not, as your friend, know----?" + +She seemed scarcely to hear him, but pointed towards the black canopy +of clouds that hung above the forest on the other side of the water, +and through which just then there shone a zigzag flash of flame. + +"It is lightning!" she said. + +He looked in her face; one might almost see the blood pulsing beneath +the delicate transparent skin, and there was a gleam in her eyes akin +to the lightning-flash in the clouds. + +They stood thus silently side by side for some moments, until the +servant had removed the fruit and wine and gone to the house. + +"What is the matter?" Bernhard gently asked. + +She shook her head, and a forced smile played about her mouth. +"Nothing," she said; "nothing at all." But her eyes suddenly filled +with tears. + +"What, tears!" he exclaimed, in alarm. "You have a sorrow that you are +hiding from me! Am I no longer worthy of your confidence? What have I +done?" + +"Nothing, nothing!" she said again. "You are the best, the noblest of +men, and I--but I pray you, I entreat you, ask me nothing further!" + +Bernhard's eyes fell before her, and he was silent. Every moment it +grew darker around them; the evening shadows made the water show almost +black, except that now and then the lurid glare of the lightning was +reflected in its calm surface. The sultry breath of the storm, heavy +with the fragrance of the pines and the perfume of roses, was wafted +across forest and water. To Bernhard it seemed stifling. He sighed +heavily. + +"I wish I had _never_ returned from the ocean that night at Trouville," +Julutta whispered; "then all suffering would be over, and I should be +at peace!" + +"Julutta!" + +Again she shook her head sadly. "The waters have closed over our Island +of the Blest forever," she whispered, scarce audibly. + +But Bernhard heard and understood. He clasped her white hand in both +his own, and she made no resistance. "Bernhard!" she breathed, as if +carried away by the spell of the moment. And he, too, yielded to the +spell. + +"Julutta!" he cried, involuntarily opening his arms to her. But lithe +and swift as some smooth serpent she glided past him. At the same +instant a blast of wind ruffled the surface of the pond, and a few +large drops of rain began to fall. + +Through the rising tempest Julutta's laughing voice fell upon his ear: +"The thunder-storm is upon us!" she called, and the next instant had +vanished behind the rocks. At such a moment she could laugh and +remember the storm! To him it seemed a matter of course that the +tempest should come: the wind and storm suited his mood. He did not +think of seeking shelter, but through the increasing hurly-burly the +conviction flashed upon him, vivid as the glare of the lightning, "Your +conduct and your love are alike disgraceful!" + +He shuddered. Before him, among the tossing boughs and wind-swept +bushes, fluttered a white robe,--Julutta was fleeing from the tempest. +In an instant the flashing rain hid all around and before him in a gray +twilight. He slowly took his way towards the house. Julutta had reached +it long before he entered the hall, from the walls of which the +portraits of Marzell's parents looked down upon him, strangely endowed +with a ghostly life by the repeated flashes of lightning. The memory of +his childhood was suddenly present as in a vision to Bernhard. He saw +Marzell and himself on the knees of that kindly old man, he seemed to +hear the gentle voice of Marzell's mother, and he passed his hand +across his forehead with a sigh. + +"I am a guest in Marzell Wronsky's house, and Julutta is his wife," he +murmured, and again he shuddered. "Julutta is his wife," he repeated, +and with sudden decision he turned and would have gone to order his +carriage. What mattered the wind and storm? He must leave this house, +and the sooner the better. + +But at the door he encountered Marzell Wronsky himself, who had but +just arrived, and whom the storm had overtaken at a short distance from +his home. He shook himself like some wet dog, scolded at the weather, +and would not hear of Bernhard's leaving Paniênka. He declared it to be +simply impossible, and Bernhard himself could not now see why he should +refuse to spend an hour with his friend and await the abating of the +wind and rain. With a sigh of resignation, and feeling like some +penitent who suffers patiently a just punishment, he consented to +remain. + +"I am delighted to have come just in time to catch you," said Wronsky. +"Now we shall have a charming evening together. But where in the world +is my wife?" Bernhard said that they had been overtaken in the garden +by the rain, and that he supposed Frau von Wronsky had gone to change +her dress. + +"Then you must be wet, too!" exclaimed Marzell, feeling the sleeve of +his friend's coat. "Of course, drenched to the skin! And you were going +to drive home in this condition, as if there were no dry things to be +had here! I am, to be sure, rather stouter than you, and not quite so +tall, but that's no matter. Come with me to my dressing-room. What were +you about, to think of driving two miles to Eichhof in your wet +clothes! You ought to have known that my entire wardrobe is at your +service." + +Wronsky's self-importance was vastly increased by his belief that he +had surprised his admired friend in a small piece of stupidity, and by +the certainty that he could save him, if not from any great misfortune, +at least from a cold in his head. He was so innocently officious, so +indescribably amiable, that Bernhard endured torments at the +remembrance of the scene at the pond in the park. He felt thoroughly +ashamed of himself, and he hoped and believed that Julutta would find +some pretext for refusing to join the gentlemen. Instead of which she +soon made her appearance in a kind of _négligé_, which was both elegant +and bewitching, and her air and manner were not at all what Bernhard +had supposed they would be. Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks glowed, and +she was evidently under the influence of a joyous excitement, which +annoyed Bernhard, and which he could not comprehend. She was brilliant +in her conversation, and while talking with her husband frequently +looked towards Bernhard. In much that she said there was a double +meaning which could be perceived by Bernhard alone, and this secret +understanding which she seemed thus to establish between herself and +Bernhard in the presence of her unconscious husband became each moment +more and more painful to Count Eichhof. + +At last the storm had passed, and he could order his carriage. + +"I am glad you happened to come to-day," said Marzell, "for to-morrow I +must go to my sister's again. You know that since her husband's death +affairs are in terrible confusion over there, and I have my hands full +in settling matters. I shall have to be away for some time; perhaps you +will find time to come over and see my wife. She will be very lonely. +Eh, Julutta?" + +"If it would not bore you, Count Eichhof." Her eyes had an arch sparkle +in them, and there was a bewitching smile upon her lips, as, with one +hand on her husband's shoulder, she extended the other to her guest, +and said, with significant emphasis, "_Au revoir_." + +Bernhard turned hurriedly away and got into his carriage. Wronsky had +something to say to his inspector, and Julutta retired to her own room. + +Here she walked to and fro for a few minutes in great agitation of +mind. Then she seated herself at her writing-table, and drew forth the +mute confidante of her thoughts and her life,--her diary. Her pen +travelled swiftly over the paper. She wrote: "At last--at last my +haughty Count is as wax in my hands, for I know now that he loves me. I +could have trodden him in the dust at my feet to-day; but no, my +triumph, my revenge, shall be prolonged! I will exult for a while +longer in the consciousness that he loves me and suffers on my account. +My heart throbs fast at the thought. I scarcely know sometimes whether +it is hate or love with which he inspires me. Love? Can I love? No; the +tempest of my life has left me no heart that can love. And yet I find a +strange discord in my mind. There is no need to put a force upon myself +to treat him with gentleness and affection. If this means love, I have +used it to minister to my hatred, for it has helped me to acquire a +mastery over him. Yes, I have gained this mastery, and I shall know how +to use it. I will listen to the confession of his love from his own +proud lips that I may spurn him from me with contempt. And have I not +just cause to hate him thus? Did he not trample beneath his feet the +last remnant of my better self,--my pride? My pride was still mine. It +drove me to leave Herr von Möhâzy when I learned his treachery; it +caused me to accept the hand of a country squire, but a man of honour, +and thus to prove to myself and the world that I was not the outcast I +was inclined to believe myself. And he--he, when I was more unfortunate +than guilty, condemned me as utterly base, without even hearing me! Oh, +I have suffered too deeply from this man's scorn ever to forget it! I +resolved to requite him for this scorn. I would compel him to love +me,--me, upon whom he looked down so proudly from the heights of his +virtue; me, the wife of his friend. It was a bold scheme, but it has +been successful. My meeting Möhâzy and the Count's interference was a +tie established between us. Then, when Möhâzy left Berlin, I told my +husband the story of my youth. I knew I could do it with safety, that +his affection would find excuses for me. He did so, and I thus +destroyed the only weapon which Bernhard Eichhof could turn against me. +But will Wronsky find excuses for this man,--this model of a haughty, +virtuous aristocrat, who, in spite of his virtue, loves the wife of his +friend? All his pride, all his virtue, I now hold like some toy in my +hand. If I choose, I can toss it at his feet; and I will so choose. He +will come and help me to complete my retribution. I know what men are." + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile Bernhard's thoughts, like restless night-moths, hovered about +the woman whose hatred he never suspected, and whose love had, perhaps +unconsciously to himself, inspired some of his dreams. Now the veil had +dropped from his eyes, and at his feet yawned an abyss that threatened +to bury in its depths honour, self-respect, and friendship. And this +woman's white hand would have beckoned him on! + +He thought of her coquettish glances, of the double meaning in her +words, and this after that one supreme moment which had betrayed to +both that they were not indifferent to each other. If she had been a +true woman and wife would she not have recoiled in horror from the +memory of that moment? Instead of which there was an inconceivable +gleam of triumph in her eyes; and even when her husband, in +unsuspecting cordiality, was inviting his friend to his house, she had +known no shame, but had whispered significantly, "_Au revoir_." + +Bernhard's brow contracted, and a cold hand seemed to clutch his heart. +"Oh, women, women!" he thought, and something akin to hatred stirred in +his soul for Thea. Had she so looked, so smiled? He, to be sure, had +made it all easier for her. He had not been by while she was coquetting +with Lothar. His thoughts were unutterably bitter. + +"I will not dwell upon the reason for those false smiles and glances +to-day," he said to himself. "I will act the part of an honest man, and +put an end to the whole affair. I did not know myself, and I will be +upon my guard. Never talk to me again of friendship between man and +woman." + +Arrived at home, he looked over the letters that were awaiting him. +Among them was one from Thea. He knew that it could bring him nothing +for which his heart longed, but nevertheless he opened it instantly. +She wrote briefly, almost in a business-like way, as was now her wont. +She should be at Eichhof at the end of a week, to arrange some affairs +that needed her presence there. The boy, she wrote, would certainly be +quite well by that time. He had been often ailing of late, but the +physician had assured her that there was nothing serious the matter. + +Bernhard tossed the letter impatiently aside. "She writes as if her +coming to Eichhof needed an excuse!" he exclaimed, irritably, and took +up a large letter postmarked 'Berlin.' + +He opened it hurriedly, as one opens a business letter, in haste to be +done with a disagreeable task. He first merely glanced at it, but his +attention was soon arrested. He stared at the paper as though he could +not appreciate its contents. But there, plainly to be seen, were the +inexorable characters that announced to him the failure of the great +banking-house upon whose support the railway scheme had chiefly +depended. The prosecution of this scheme was simply an impossibility +without the aid of this house; all the time and money hitherto expended +upon it were of no avail, and Bernhard was personally a considerable +loser by the failure. He saw the work of which he had thought to be so +proud fall to pieces at one blow. Gone--gone; and yet perhaps something +might still be done, some new plan adopted. At all events, his presence +in Berlin was absolutely necessary. He had great influence there. He +might effect something. + +His self-respect, his confidence in his own strength of mind, had +suffered a terrible blow with regard to Julutta. Could not something be +done to restore these? If he could succeed in spite of all obstacles in +putting new life into the ruined scheme, in securing the benefits it +had promised to his part of the country, this would indeed be an +achievement worthy of a struggle. And any struggle was welcome to him +at present. He would cast aside all doubts and self-analysis and +concentrate his thoughts upon one point. Yes, he would leave Eichhof by +the earliest train on the morrow, and do his best to reanimate the lost +enterprise. + +In a short, courteous note he informed Frau von Wronsky that important +business affairs called him for an indefinite time to Berlin, and that +he must therefore ask her and her husband to excuse him if he did not +appear at Paniênka during the next few weeks. "That is ended and done +with," he said, as he sealed the envelope, before ordering every +arrangement to be made for Thea's reception and his own departure. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + A SHORT CHAPTER, WITH A FAR GLANCE INTO THE FUTURE. + + +The Freiherr von Hohenstein sat on the veranda of his villa, puffing +forth clouds of cigar-smoke, and looking down at his daughter, who +stood at the bottom of the veranda steps surrounded by all sorts of +animals. She had apparently just returned from riding, for a long +dark-blue riding-habit clung closely to her pretty figure, and a high +black hat, with a blue veil, sat jauntily upon her curling hair, which, +loosened by her ride, was tumbling picturesquely over her shoulders. +With one hand she was feeding her horse, that still stood beside her, +with sugar, and with the other she was stroking a tame fawn that +nestled close to her. A young Newfoundland, Fidèle's successor, was +making clumsy efforts to attract her attention, and the sound of a +shrill whistle, hardly permissible from such rosy lips, and yet not +much out of keeping with Adela's general manner, brought the doves +flying to her from all sides. Suddenly they fluttered away in terror: +the dog began to bark angrily. Adela looked towards the garden-gate, +and then, with a deep blush, ran up the veranda steps to say, "Papa, +papa, it is Walter Eichhof!" + +Yes, it was he; and as he offered Adela his hand, and she, still +blushing crimson, cast down her eyes, both knew that neither was angry. + +The Freiherr bade his guests welcome. He was now so convinced of his +daughter's infallibility that he had not made the least objection when +Adela had proposed to him to invite her old comrade to visit them, +suggesting that Walter might conduct negotiations for the Freiherr with +some Berlin publisher. Herr von Hohenstein was delighted with this +idea, and, besides, he contemplated reading his work aloud to his +guests; for although they knew nothing of the breeding of horses, yet +they were two human beings who could sit still and listen, and more the +author did not desire. + +"I have a letter for you," Dr. Nordstedt said to Adela, after the first +greetings were over. As soon as the girl received it she made it a +pretext for slipping into the house, since, to her surprise, she seemed +suddenly to have lost all her self-possession, and to be unable to take +the satisfaction she had looked for in the visit she had so happily +arranged. + +She gave orders for the reception and comfort of her guests, and then +retired to her own room, whence she could overlook the terrace in front +of the house, and could hear Walter's voice through the open window. +There she stood, looking out and listening, with her hands clasped over +her beating heart. + +"He has come! he has come!" she thought, exultantly. Then she opened +Alma's letter to glance through it, but the first lines arrested her +attention. What was it? These were strange tidings indeed! This grave +Dr. Nordstedt, for whom Adela entertained an immense respect, loved +Alma Rosen, and had asked her to be his wife. Alma wrote, "Can you +believe, dearest Adela, that he loves me? I seem to myself so little +and silly that it is incredible to me; but it must be true, for he says +so, and it makes me so proud and happy that I could shout for joy. But, +when I think of one who is gone, I no longer rejoice. And so I have +begged Friedrich--you know his name is Friedrich--to be only my friend +for the present, and I have told him why I ask this. And he--oh, he is +the best and noblest man living!--he says he loves me the more for it, +and will wait until I summon him. I have told him that you are my +dearest friend, and that I should write all this to you, that you may +not treat him like a stranger." + +Adela stared at the sheet before her in absolute bewilderment. She was +entirely unprepared tor its contents, for she had been far too much +occupied with Walter and herself when in Berlin to have had any time +for observation of Dr. Nordstedt and Alma. "Alma Nordstedt, Frau Dr. +Nordstedt," she whispered, shaking her head; "it sounds very odd!" She +looked very thoughtful, but in an instant her face broke into smiles, +and, alone as she was, she covered her face with her hands to hide her +blushes. + +When some hours later she was walking with her guests through the +garden, she broke off an opening rosebud and offered it to Nordstedt. +"Imagine it a greeting from Alma," she whispered, with a smile. + +"I thank you," he replied, simply, pressing her offered hand. + +Walter stood by. Adela looked up at him, half shyly, half archly, but +there was no rose for him. + +Later in the evening, while Nordstedt and the Freiherr were playing a +game of chess, the other two were walking along the same garden-path +and by the same rose-bush. + +"You gave me no rose to-day," Walter said, pausing in their stroll. + +"From whom did you desire a greeting?" she asked him, mockingly. + +"No one sends me any, and I expect none. But I have brought you +something that looks like a greeting from the past. Will you not +receive it as such?" + +He held out the ring to her, and told her how it had been found. + +"My ring! How strange!" exclaimed Adela. But she did not take it. She +dropped the hand she had extended towards it, and said, half turning +away her head, "The ring does not belong to me. I gave it away." + +"You know I cannot keep it?" + +"But I wish you to keep it." + +Walter was silent for a moment, and then said, gently, "Adela, do you +remember all I told you then?" + +She silently assented, and he went on: "My plans and views are nowise +altered; on the contrary, I am more than ever devoted to the profession +I have chosen." + +She gave him a sidelong glance. "Yes, I know it," she said; "and in two +years you are to pass your examination." + +"Adela, can you tell me that and yet wish me to keep this ring?" + +He took her hand, but she withdrew it from his clasp. + +"Stay, Herr Doctor _in spe_; if I _do_ refuse to take back the ring, +there is no need for such conduct on your part as we remember on a +former occasion." + +"Dearest Adela, I entreat you not to trifle with me. This moment must +decide our future, and if you deceive me now----" + +"Good heavens, Walter! I am not deceiving you; I have grown older, and +perhaps a little wiser, but for all that I am only sixteen years old, +and you are still a student, and papa cannot spare me, and you must +work very hard, and--no, stay where you are, please--what I wanted to +say to you was that I thought it terrible that we should both go +through the world so angry with each other, and I could not bear it, +and so I begged papa to ask you here." + +Whilst she spoke she had retreated step for step around the rose-bush +as Walter advanced, so that both had now made its entire circuit. Again +he tried to take her hand, but, lithe and swift as a fawn, she placed +the entire bush between herself and her lover, and from her place of +vantage went on: "Stand still there, and I will tell you something. +There was a young officer in Berlin who wanted me to marry him----" + +"Adela!" + +"Hush! Yes, he wanted me to marry him, and I refused point-blank." + +"Adela!" + +"Stand still, Walter, or I will leave you. I told him that at present +I would betroth myself to no one, but that when I was eighteen, if any +one should woo me, I never would marry an officer or a lawyer, for that +I had decided if I ever married that it should be a doctor!" + +And away she sped to the house, which she was entering just as Walter +reached the foot of the veranda steps. + +"Adela! dearest Adela!" he cried. + +As he spoke, a fresh dewy rose was tossed into his face, and Adela +vanished, with a laugh, inside the house. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + PER CRUCEM AD LUCEM. + + +Bernhard's exertions in Berlin were fruitless. The failure of the large +banking firm had involved many other business firms. There had been +heavy losses, and those who had not suffered shook their heads and kept +their money safe in their pockets. The word 'railway' provoked a +perfect panic, and confidence everywhere was greatly shaken. Upon a +closer examination Bernhard's losses were found to be much greater than +had been at first supposed. After conscientious consideration he could +not but admit to himself that it was time for him to look after his own +interests and relinquish, for the present at least, his efforts for the +benefit of the country at large. So he returned to his home very much +cast down, his confidence in his own ability greatly shaken, +discontented with himself and with destiny. + +At the station, which was about three miles from Eichhof, his carriage +was awaiting him. He got into it with a sigh, and as it rolled through +the monotonous pine forest he sat thinking how refreshing it would be +to him to be affectionately welcomed to his home. He saw before him +Thea as she had been a year before, when she had studied so hard for +his sake, and the past lay before his mental vision like a lost +Paradise. Why was it all so different now? why was there this shadow +between himself and his wife, the shadow of a dead man, and yet +palpable enough to separate them forever? + +"She was pure as a lily when she came to me," he said to himself. +"Could I not have shielded her from every possible danger? Did I not +know Lothar? Did I not know that he was as thoughtless as he was +susceptible? Why did I look so far abroad and shut my eyes to what was +nearest me? I built castles in the air for the future, and lost the +ground beneath my feet. But then--Thea was my wife, Lothar was my +brother,--how could I think---- Oh, it is hard, fearfully hard!" + +Monotonous as the road along which he was driving, his future life now +lay before him, without one sunny, peaceful spot that promised repose. +Suddenly he thought of his child, his son, of whom he had as yet seen +so little. From his fair rosy boy a light seemed to issue and illumine +the future pathway of the lonely man. He could devote himself to the +care of his child, he could prepare for him a golden future. To be +sure, he was himself still too young not to rebel against his fate, but +nevertheless the thought of his boy consoled him. He roused himself +from his gloomy revery, and asked the coachman whether the Countess +Thea and his child were at Eichhof. The old servant turned towards him, +and his eyes seemed mutely to reproach his master as he replied, "Yes, +Herr Count; Madame the Countess arrived at Eichhof yesterday." + +"And the child is well?" Bernhard inquired. + +The old man's face grew sad, but his eyes were not so reproachful; his +master had not quite forgotten his wife and child. "Beg pardon, Herr +Count," he said, "but the child is not well. They were both well when +they arrived, but in the night----" + +"Not well; what do you mean? The child is not seriously ill?" + +"Beg pardon, Herr Count, but the child is very ill. Just before the +despatch came from Berlin ordering the carriage, Madame the Countess +telegraphed to the Herr Count----" + +"And you have never told me until now?" Bernhard exclaimed. + +The old man began once more with his "Beg pardon, Herr Count;" and +added, "Madame the Countess thought that the Herr Count would have left +Berlin before her despatch could reach him, and she was afraid that the +Herr Count might be anxious, and so she told me to say nothing unless +the Herr Count inquired. And I did just as Madame the Countess +ordered." + +"Drive on!" Bernhard cried, wrapping himself in his cloak. He looked at +his watch; they were just crossing the forest near Paniênka; he could +not reach home in less than an hour. And his child, for whom he had +just been planning in his mind, was ill, dangerously ill, or Thea would +not have telegraphed him. + +"What are you about, Hadasch?" he suddenly exclaimed to the coachman. +"Drive as fast as you possibly can----" + +Instead of which the carriage stood still, and with his usual "Beg +pardon, Herr Count," the coachman pointed to a very dashing and +graceful horsewoman who had just appeared from a side-road, and who was +the cause of the delay. + +She reined in her steed beside the carriage, and Bernhard replied to +the enchanting smile of the fair Amazon by a formal lifting of his hat. + +"What a delightful encounter!" cried Frau von Wronsky, and her eyes +were more eloquent than any words. "I hope your business matters are +concluded, or rather I know they are, and that you have had much that +was most annoying to endure." + +"You know----" He was now standing in his barouche, with his hand upon +the back of the seat, and her brilliant eyes were on a level with his +own. + +"Yes; I have heard it all in my letters from Berlin, and naturally I +have sympathized with you from my heart. Your home must indemnify you, +my dear Count, for all that you have suffered abroad." She leaned +forward and looked him full in the face as she spoke. "I trust you will +soon come to Paniênka, that we may discuss it all together." + +"You are very kind, but I have just heard that my boy is very ill, +and----" + +"Oh, has your wife returned? Happy man! I am still alone; my husband is +away for an indefinite time----" + +Bernhard looked not at her, but at his horses pawing the ground +impatiently, as he rejoined, "I am extremely anxious with regard to my +boy; he seems to be dangerously ill." + +She struck her glove impatiently with the silver butt of her +riding-whip, and her dark brows lowered, but she controlled herself, +and said, "If the sick-room should be too confining for you, I pray you +to remember the rocks about the lake in the park at Paniênka. My +remembrances to your charming wife. I hope soon to hear from you." + +She inclined her head and reined in her horse for an instant longer, as +though awaiting an answer. + +"I certainly will send you word with regard to the child's condition," +Bernhard said, gravely. + +She galloped off, and he again ordered the coachman to drive as fast as +possible. + +The old man, however, who had listened with an impassive face to the +conversation between his master and the charming Julutta, took the +liberty of begging pardon once more, that he might inform Bernhard that +Madame von Wronsky's groom had met him to-day, and had questioned him +as to the exact hour of the Herr Count's arrival. + +Bernhard's brow grew dark. His people then were aware, it seemed, of +his 'friendship,' and watched him. And she, Julutta, had not disdained +to learn what she wished concerning him through her groom. And she +seemed also to have made inquiries about him in Berlin. And yet, in +spite of all this interest, she had no comprehension of his anxiety +concerning his child! The sentiment with which he now regarded this +woman, for whose sake he had for an instant done violence to all that +was best in him, was more like hate than love. When at last he reached +Eichhof he sprang impatiently from the carriage. + +"How is the child?" he asked of the footman who instantly appeared. The +man shook his head. "The doctor is up-stairs, Herr Count; I am afraid +he is no better." + +Bernhard hurried to the sick-room and entered noiselessly. He saw Thea +leaning back in an armchair, deadly pale, and the physician occupied +with her. Beside the child's cradle two women knelt weeping. One glance +at the little form lying there told Bernhard that he was too late, that +all was over. For an instant he stood as though turned to stone. Then +the doctor perceived him. The old friend of the family could scarcely +speak to the young Count for a moment, but pressed his hand in silence. + +"Is it all over?" Bernhard asked in a scarcely audible whisper, +pointing to the child. + +The physician assented. "Human means were of no avail. He died of +convulsions." + +"And my wife?" + +"It is only a fainting-fit; but Countess Thea is terribly distressed." + +Just then Thea opened her eyes, and, obeying his first impulse, +Bernhard hurried to her side and clasped her in his arms. For an +instant she allowed her head to rest upon his shoulder. Her whole frame +was shaken by convulsive sobs. Then she gently disengaged herself, and +sank on her knees beside the cradle, laying her head down upon the +pillow. + +Bernhard stood beside her, profoundly agitated. Perfect silence reigned +in the room, which was broken at last by the physician's entreaty to +Thea to remember how much she needed care, and how overwrought she was. + +She shook her head, and begged to be left alone with the child. + +"It is best to let her have her way," the doctor said. + +Bernhard once more stooped over her. "Thea!" he whispered. She waved +him off, and he left the room silently with the others. He saw that she +was determined to allow him no share in her grief. "And yet this grief +is the only, the last bond between us," he thought. + +Through all these days Thea was so touching and yet so dignified in her +sorrow, that Bernhard knew, as he had never known before, how truly +she, and she alone, was the only woman whom he could ever love. In +spite of her suffering she found time to attend to his lightest wish. +He felt himself surrounded by her love, and yet he met with the same +gentle but firm repulse whenever he sought to approach her. His sorrow +for his child was scarcely more keen than his sorrow for the loss of +his wife. For that he had lost her was now clearer to him than ever; +and yet, strangely enough, he doubted more strongly every day whether +the cause of this loss was what he had hitherto supposed it to be. When +he saw her performing her duties so quietly, bearing her pain so +proudly and yet with such true womanliness, it seemed to him impossible +that she could ever have been other than proud and womanly. He began to +scrutinize himself and his conduct towards her, and to have doubts +whether the fault were not, after all, his own. But then he thought of +Lothar's death, of her refusal to answer his question, and of the total +change in her manner towards him from that time. Would she have agreed +to the letter he had written her then, if she were not guilty? Would +she not have eagerly sought an explanation with him had she been +innocent, instead of mutely avoiding it as she had done? + +This was the state of affairs when, a few days after the child's +funeral, Thea entered his room. Since Lothar's death she had never done +so, and Bernhard, therefore, received her with surprise, and almost +with alarm; for he instantly saw by her face that the coming hour would +be decisive for them both. She seated herself in the armchair he placed +for her, and looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. +There was no ring upon them. + +It went to Bernhard's heart to observe that she had laid aside her +betrothal-ring, and yet he knew that so it must be. + +He had not the courage to begin the conversation, and, after a pause, +she said, in a low tone, "I am come to remind you of that letter,--of +the letter in which you expressed your views of our relation to each +other. Our child is dead----" Her voice was choked for an instant, but +she went on: "There is nothing now to unite us. I propose going to +Schönthal to-morrow." + +He sat opposite her, his head leaning on his hand. "Can you not stay, +then?" he asked, gently. + +She rose proudly, her self-possession entirely recovered. "No," she +cried, "I will not be endured out of pity!" + +Bernhard rose in his turn, and looked her full in the face. "Pity?" he +repeated. "What do you mean, Thea?" + +"I mean that you are sorry for me, that you think it will be hard for +me to leave the place where my child lies in his grave, the house in +which he was born. But I have borne heavier griefs, and I can bear that +too; and, although I know that your happiness does not depend alone +upon _your_ freedom, I am too proud to remain where I am only endured!" + +He stared at her as if she were some phantom. "For God's sake, Thea, +tell me what you mean," he cried. + +The expression of his face bewildered her. She paused again for a +moment. + +Then he took her hand, and said, in a voice vibrating with emotion, +"This is perhaps the last time that we shall stand thus face to +face,--our last conversation. Thea, will you not answer truly and +frankly one question?" + +"I have always been true," she replied, gazing past him as into space. + +"Tell me, then, do you believe the cause that separates us to exist in +me? Do you believe that I desire our separation? and is there no reason +_known only to yourself_, no memory in _your_ soul, to keep us +asunder?" + +She covered her eyes with her hand, as if dazzled by a sudden light. A +slight tremor passed through her frame, and a delicate flush coloured +the pale, resigned face. Bernhard gazed at her in breathless eagerness; +but, even before she spoke, he was overpowered by the conviction that +this woman could not be false; that he had been the victim of an +illusion. + +"I have no such memory," said Thea, helplessly dropping her clasped +hands before her. "Nothing in this world except yourself could ever +separate me from you. I thought----" + +Before she could utter another word she was clasped in his arms. "Thea! +my own Thea! what useless misery we have caused each other!" + +She extricated herself in utter bewilderment from his embrace. + +"And do you still love me, then?" she asked. + +"More deeply and truly than on our marriage-day," he said, fervently. + +"And Julutta Wronsky----" + +"Ah, dearest child, let me tell you all. I will confess everything to +you,--all the doubts that have so tortured me." + +She looked at him in amazement. "Doubts?" she repeated. + +"Yes, my darling; foolish doubts. I know them to be so now, but they +were terrible. Do you remember refusing me any explanation with regard +to Lothar? Then I----" + +"Ah, poor Lothar! I, too, have something to tell you, Bernhard." + +She nestled close to him, and he told her of his adventures with +Julutta Wronsky. He did not even suppress the account of the fleeting +emotion of that moment when he thought he loved her; he told her all; +and she listened to him, without doubt, without reproach, with the +entire confidence of a woman who loves. + +"We have both been blind," she said; "but only when we doubted of each +other's love did we learn how valueless life was to us without it. Oh, +Bernhard, how wretched we have been!" + +"And how blest we are once more,--each living in the other's heart!" + +"Oh, why is our child not with us?" Thea cried. + +He kissed the tears from her eyes. "He has been our guardian angel, my +darling," he said. "He has reunited us; for who can say how long we +should have been estranged from each other without this sorrow?" + +Late in the afternoon of this day Thea carried a bunch of white roses +to the little chapel; Bernhard was with her, and as they entered he +took one of the fragrant rosebuds from her hand and laid it on Lothar's +coffin. + +"_Requiescat in pace_," he whispered softly. + +Hand in hand they stood before their child's coffin, one in their +sorrow, one in their love. The last rays of the setting sun streamed +through the stained glass of the window and played upon the wreaths and +palm branches, and when Bernhard and Thea left the chapel, forest and +field lay before them bathed in the red gold of sunset, and they walked +hand in hand through the nodding grasses and bright flowers of the +little grave-yard towards a new life in the old home. + + + + + CONCLUSION. + + +Years have flown by. A stock company has taken in hand the railway in +which Bernhard was so much interested, and there is a station at R----, +where the express-train from Warschau is just arriving. + +A man with a dark sunburned face is leaning out of a coupé window, +looking eagerly across the platform towards the town and the poplar +avenue leading to Eichhof. Then he scans those who are leaving and +those who are entering the train, and a shadow of melancholy clouds his +brow. + +"Strangers, all strangers!" he murmurs. "How changed it is! The same +place, and yet so different; and no one here to recognize me." + +Just then a gentleman with a full gray beard came hurriedly from the +waiting-room. The signal for departure sounded, and the porter opened +the coupé door in great haste, and the gray-bearded individual took his +seat beside our traveller. The two men scanned each other for an +instant, and then he of the sunburned face said, "If I am not mistaken, +chance has led two old acquaintances into the same railway-carriage. +Are you not Herr Superintendent Bergmann from Eichhof?" + +"Most certainly; and I think I call to mind----" + +"Ah!" laughed the stranger, "I see you do not know who I am. The sun on +the Bulgarian battlefields has tanned me past recognition. Do you not +remember Lieutenant Werner, Lothar Eichhof's comrade?" + +"Ah! Lieutenant Werner, forgive me. But you are Colonel Werner now, I +hear, with a breast covered with orders. The newspapers have kept us +advised with regard to you. How much my Count will be interested to +hear of this meeting! We have all rejoiced in your advancement." + +Werner shook his head. "Advancements are for the most part the work of +chance," he said; "but, in spite of some terrible experiences, these +last years have been the most interesting of my life. I could write +books, let me tell you; indeed, I will not promise not to write them. +But let us leave the Turks and Russians, of whom I have latterly seen +quite enough, and let me hear something of my old friends and +acquaintances. First, how goes everything at Eichhof?" + +The old man smiled. "Admirably; as it must, I think, where an honest +man does his duty, and Count Bernhard is a fine fellow and does his +duty well,--sometimes, we think, rather exceeds it. I always said, when +people used to shake their heads at him, 'He is young; only wait, and +you'll see he'll come all right.' And now he has come all right. Since +he ceased to look abroad for a sphere of action, and made up his mind +to do what lay nearest to him, he has enjoyed his work. You ought to +pay us a visit and see how well everything goes on. His people would go +through fire and water to serve him." + +"And his wife? How is the Countess?" + +"Oh, you ought to see her! She grows younger and prettier every year. +One need only look in her eyes to see how happy she is, when she walks +through fields and gardens on her husband's arm, with their two fine +boys playing about them. And our youngest--the little Countess Thea--is +a perfect rosebud. Yes, laugh,--I confess to a weakness for these +children; they are like grandchildren to me. Have I not had Count +Bernhard in my arms when he was no older than they?" + +Werner gazed thoughtfully from the window. "Three children, have they? +It is really strange to hear of such a happy household, with the +thunder of trumpets and cannon scarcely out of one's ears. Well, +perhaps I will come to Eichhof in the autumn. I should have liked to +stop there to-day, but I have urgent business in Berlin." + +"Why, then, you can hunt up the Count. He is there now." + +"Ah! I had forgotten the Reichstag." + +"No, he is no longer a member of the Reichstag. He has so much +practical work to attend to that he has no time for theorizing, even +politically; but he is there to attend a family festival,--the +christening of the first boy of Walter Eichhof, our youngest." + +"Ah! is he married?" + +"Yes; to the love of his boyhood, the daughter of the old Freiherr von +Hohenstein." + +"Had he not some idea formerly of becoming a physician?" + +"He is a physician, and a fine one, I can tell you. Our Count was in a +terrible way about it at first, but Countess Thea insisted that the boy +was right, and the brothers were reconciled when Walter was betrothed. +He undertook the management of Dr. Nordstedt's large infirmary when +Nordstedt was called to a professor's chair in Strasburg. You know, I +suppose, that Fräulein Alma, our Countess's sister, is married to +Professor Nordstedt?" + +"I think I heard of that before I left Germany. I certainly must look +up my old acquaintances. This vagabond life makes one a terrible +stranger in his home." + +The locomotive whistles, the next station is reached, and the +superintendent takes his leave of Werner, who leans back in a corner of +the coupé and falls into a revery. The past rises before him like a +dream. He sees Thea in memory the same, and yet so different. He can +think of her now as of some lovely picture, which one admires and +enjoys without coveting, and he can ponder upon the past without +remorse. + +"What a wonder life is!" he muses, as the train speeds on. "But it all +amounts to the fact that if you would be happy--and who would not?--you +must do what is right." + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + By Captain Charles King, U.S.A + + * * * * * + + Under Fire. Illustrated. The Colonel's Daughter. Illustrated. + Marion's Fair. Illustrated. Captain Blake. Illustrated. + Foes in Ambush. (Paper, 50 cents.) + 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. + + * * * * * + + Waring's Peril. Trials of a Staff Officer. + 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + + * * * * * + + Kitty's Conquest. + Starlight Ranch, and Other Stories. + Laramie; or, The Queen of Bedlam. + The Deserter, and From the Ranks. + Two Soldiers, and Dunraven Ranch. + A Soldier's Secret, and An Army Portia. + Captain Close, and Sergeant Cr[oe]sus. + + 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents. + + + * * * * * + +EDITOR OF + + The Colonel's Christmas Dinner, and Other Stories. + 12mo. Cloth, $1.25; paper, 50 cents. + + An Initial Experience, and Other Stories. + + 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents. + + Captain Dreams, and Other Stories. + + 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents. + + +"From the lowest soldier to the highest officer, from the servant to +the master, there is not a character in any of Captain King's novels +that is not wholly in keeping with expressed sentiments. There is not a +movement made on the field, not a break from the ranks, not an offence +against the military code of discipline, and hardly a heart-beat that +escapes his watchfulness."--_Boston Herald_. + + * * * * * + + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + + By Marie Corelli. + + * * * * * + + Cameos. + + Ten Short Stories. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +The surprising versatility of Marie Corelli has never been better +displayed than in this varied group of short stories which run the +whole gamut of feeling, sentiment, and purpose known to contemporary +fiction. 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While the story is +exciting, and must be read through when once begun, it furnishes a +vivid and impressive picture of Italian life and morals."---_Washington +National Republican_. + + * * * * * + + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eichhofs, by Moritz von Reichenbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EICHHOFS *** + +***** This file should be named 35311-8.txt or 35311-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/1/35311/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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/35311-8.zip b/35311-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e36b00 --- /dev/null +++ b/35311-8.zip diff --git a/35311-h.zip b/35311-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce3d6e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/35311-h.zip diff --git a/35311-h/35311-h.htm b/35311-h/35311-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f67252 --- /dev/null +++ b/35311-h/35311-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8839 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>The Eichhofs: A Romance.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="Moritz von Reichenbach"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="J. B. Lippincott Company"> +<meta name="Date" content="1896"> +<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;} + +i {color:red} + +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 The Eichhofs, by Moritz von Reichenbach + +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: The Eichhofs + A Romance + +Author: Moritz von Reichenbach + +Translator: Mrs. A. L. Wister + +Release Date: February 18, 2011 [EBook #35311] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EICHHOFS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + +</pre> + +<br> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> + + +1. Moritz von Reichenbach is the pseudonymn for Valeska +(von Reiswitz-Kaderzin) Bethusy-Huc<br> +<br> +2. Page scan source: +http://books.google.com/books?id=bXs5AAAAMAAJ&dq</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>Mrs. A. L. Wister's Translations.</h1> + +<h4>12mo. Cloth, $1.00 per volume.</h4> +<hr class="W10"> +<table style="width:70%; margin-left:15%; margin-top:12pt"> +<colgroup><col style="width:50%"><col style="width:50%; text-align:right"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td>Countess Erika's Apprenticeship</td> +<td>By Ossip Schubin.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>"O Thou, My Austria!"</td> +<td>By Ossip Schubin.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Erlach Court</td> +<td>By Ossip Schubin.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Alpine Fay</td> +<td>By E. Werner.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Owl's Nest</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Picked Up In The Streets</td> +<td>By H. Schobert.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Saint Michael</td> +<td>By E. Werner.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Violetta</td> +<td>By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Lady With The Rubies</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Vain Forebodings</td> +<td>By E. Oswald.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A Penniless Girl</td> +<td>By W. Heimburg.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Quicksands</td> +<td>By Adolph Streckfuss.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Banned And Blessed</td> +<td>By E. Werner.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A Noble Name</td> +<td>By Claire von Glümer.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>From Hand To Hand</td> +<td>By Golo Raimund.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Severa</td> +<td>By E. Hartner.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A New Race</td> +<td>By Golo Raimund.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Eichhofs</td> +<td>By Moritz von Reichenbach.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Castle Hohenwald</td> +<td>By Adolph Streckfuss.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Margarethe</td> +<td>By E. Juncker.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Too Rich</td> +<td>By Adolph Streckfuss.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>A Family Feud</td> +<td>By Ludwig Harder.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Green Gate</td> +<td>By Ernst Wichert.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Only A Girl</td> +<td>By Wilhelmine von Hillern.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Why Did He Not Die?</td> +<td>By Ad. von Volckhauser.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Hulda</td> +<td>By Fanny Lewald.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Bailiff's Maid</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>In The Schillingscourt</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Countess Gisela</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>At The Councillor's</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Second Wife</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Old Mam'selle's Secret</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Gold Elsie</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>The Little Moorland Princess</td> +<td>By E. Marlitt.</td> +</tr></table> +<br> +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">"Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels from the +German, has established a reputation of the highest order for literary +judgment, and for a long time her name upon the title-page of such a +translation has been a sufficient guarantee to the lovers of fiction of +a pure and elevating character, that the novel would be a cherished +home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is fully justified by the fact +that among her more than thirty translations that have been published +by Lippincott's there has not been a single disappointment. And to the +exquisite judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of +her translations, which has commanded the admiration of literary and +linguistic scholars."--<i>Boston Home Journal</i>.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<h2>J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE EICHHOFS</h1> +<br> +<h3>A ROMANCE</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h4>FROM THE GERMAN</h4> +<h4>OF</h4> +<h3>MORITZ VON REICHENBACH</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>MRS. A. L. WISTER</h3> +<h5>TRANSLATOR OF "THE SECOND WIFE," "THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,"<br> +"ONLY A GIRL," ETC., ETC.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3><span class="sc2">PHILADELPHIA</span>:<br> +J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.<br> +1896.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W20"> +<h4>Copyright, 1881, by J. B. Lippincott & Co.</h4> +<hr class="W20"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:80%; margin-right:10%"> +<colgroup><col style="width:15%; text-align:right"> +<col style="width:85%"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td><span class="sc2">CHAPTER</span></td> +<td></td> +</tr><tr> +<td> +I.</td> +<td><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">Shadows of Coming Events</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>II.</td> +<td><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">Two Discontented Fathers</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>III.</td> +<td><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">Hidden Springs</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IV.</td> +<td><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">Gossip</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>V.</td> +<td><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">Marriage</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VI.</td> +<td><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">A Farewell Glass and a Death-bed</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">Unexpected</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">At The Tomb</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IX.</td> +<td><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">Cloudy Weather at Eichhof</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>X.</td> +<td><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">Found and Lost</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XI.</td> +<td><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">Thea Rounds her First Promontory</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">Another Promontory Comes In Sight</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">A Period put to a Long Row of Figures</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XIV.</td> +<td><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">The Mistress of Eichhof and her Guests</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XV.</td> +<td><a name="div1_15" href="#div1Ref_15">In Berlin</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XVI.</td> +<td><a name="div1_16" href="#div1Ref_16">Revelations and their Consequences</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XVII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_17" href="#div1Ref_17">The Consequences begin to Appear</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XVIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_18" href="#div1Ref_18">An Eventful Day</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XIX.</td> +<td><a name="div1_19" href="#div1Ref_19">The Shadows Gather</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XX.</td> +<td><a name="div1_20" href="#div1Ref_20">Dr. Nordstedt</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXI.</td> +<td><a name="div1_21" href="#div1Ref_21">Summer Days</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_22" href="#div1Ref_22">A Crisis</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1_23" href="#div1Ref_23">A Short Chapter, with a Far Glance into the Future</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXIV.</td> +<td><a name="div1_24" href="#div1Ref_24">Per Crucem ad Lucem</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="2" style="text-align:left"><a name="div1_25" href="#div1Ref_25">CONCLUSION</a></td> +</tr></table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE EICHHOFS.</h1> + +<hr class="W10"> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In a box of the Berlin Opera-House sat three young officers. All wore +the uniform of the same regiment of the Guards, and all three were +directing their opera-glasses towards the same opposite box.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The girl has just got home from boarding-school, and will have a <i>dot</i> +of half a million in cash," observed Lieutenant von Hohenstein, +dropping his opera-glass.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The deuce she will! No end of pity that I am such an infernal +aristocrat,--it would be such a fine morsel for a poor younger son," +said the younger of the Von Eichhof brothers, with a laugh, as he +stroked his blonde moustache. "She has a good figure, too, and any +amount of fire in her eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," said his elder brother; "but why under heaven does the portly +mamma, with her double chin, and huge satin-clad bust, plant herself so +close to her Rose of Sharon, proclaiming to all the world, 'As she is +now so was I once, and as I am now so shall she one day be'?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take warning, Hohenstein," laughed Lothar Eichhof.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw! there's no danger," the other replied, leaning back in his +comfortable chair and stretching his long legs as far out as the limits +of the box would allow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Councillor Kohnheim greeted you with extreme affability, I thought, +just now, and you are well informed as to the financial affairs of the +family," Lothar persisted, in a teasing tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein put up his hand to conceal a yawn. Among his peculiarities +was that of being bored everywhere and always.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kohnheim thinks wealth no disgrace, and loves to acquaint people with +the amount of his own," he said. "Besides, he is my landlord; of course +we are acquainted. To my German eyes, however, the ladies are of too +Oriental a type. I have no desire to know them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank heaven! then there is nothing to fear from that quarter. I +confess it vexes me when one of our good old names is allied to such a +family."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Make your mind easy on my account," rejoined Herr von Hohenstein. "I +do not undervalue wealth, but I prize blood rather more."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar Eichhof meanwhile was scanning the house, while his elder +brother, Bernhard, had withdrawn into the shadow, and was steadily +scrutinizing through his glass the foreign ambassadors' box. He now +dropped his glass, shook his head, then put up his glass again, and +finally said, more to himself than to his companions, "That is--Marzell +Wronsky--and---- He bit his lip, and did not finish the sentence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marzell Wronsky?" Lothar repeated. "Where?" But as he spoke he +discovered him. "I did not know he had come back!" he exclaimed. "I +wonder if the handsome blonde beside him is his wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Probably," said Hohenstein. "Where does the lady come from? Marzell's +marriage was so sudden that one hardly knows anything about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is a kind of cousin of his," said Lothar, "with a Polish name, +ending in 'ky' or 'ka,' and was formerly married to a Hungarian, who +either died or was divorced from her. Marzell met her last year at +Wiesbaden, and shortly afterwards they were betrothed and married."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where has he been hiding since?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has been travelling with his bride. I must go over and see them in +the next entr'acte. You will come, too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course; this new addition to society must be inspected."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard Eichhof had taken no part in the conversation, but had +frequently glanced towards the box where the persons under discussion +were sitting. When, at the close of the act, the other two men arose, +with the evident intention of visiting its occupants, he sat still, in +apparent indecision.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, are you not coming?" asked Lothar "Marzell is more your friend +than ours. I confess I am going more from curiosity than from +friendship."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard looked over at the box once more. "They are just rising; +perhaps they are going to leave the house," he said, hesitating.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, they seem to be going," said Hohenstein, resuming his seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, I will go and reconnoitre," said Lothar, "and if you see +me in the box you two can come over."</p> + +<p class="normal">In five minutes he returned. "The Wronskys are really gone. Marzell +seems to have adopted high and mighty manners since his marriage. He +puts in an appearance only during a single act. However, we shall +certainly see his wife at Eichhof, if we should fail to meet her here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite time enough for the acquaintance. I have scarcely seen Marzell +since the old school-boy days, and am not at all intimate with him +now," Bernhard remarked.</p> + +<p class="normal">If his two companions had been less occupied with the new prima-donna, +and with the champagne supper at a noted restaurant after the opera was +over, they must have noticed that Bernhard was unusually absent-minded +and monosyllabic all through the evening. But his mood was entirely +unnoticed by them,--all the more since several brother officers joined +their party, which did not break up until long past midnight.</p> + +<p class="normal">When at last the young men separated, the two brothers Von Eichhof +walked together to their apartments, at present beneath the same roof, +and for a while not a word was exchanged between them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the younger asked, suddenly, "Shall I tell you the news, Bernhard? +I'm at the end of my income,--the last thaler went to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard turned with some impatience. "Lothar," he exclaimed, +reproachfully, "this is really too much! When I helped you out last +month you promised me----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come, my dear fellow, there's no use in that," Lothar +interrupted him. "I know as well as you do that I partake largely of +the character of the domestic fly, provided, indeed, that that insect +is endowed with a character. I frisk in the sunshine and buzz or +grumble in the shade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot understand your jesting in such a matter, Lothar."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what am I to do, then?" the other rejoined. "Whether I indulge in +poor jokes or sit in sackcloth and ashes, the confounded fact remains +the same. 'All I have is gone, gone, gone,'" he hummed, <i>sotto voce</i>; +but suddenly he grew grave and sighed. "Shall I go to-morrow to Herr +Solomon Landsberger, who has often and with great kindness offered to +give me his valuable assistance?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">They walked a few steps farther in silence, and then Bernhard said, "I +can't understand what becomes of your money. You have apartments just +like mine and live very much the same life that I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With the exception of the extra bills, which I dare not send to +Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard made an impatient gesture, but Lothar went on: "I know what +you mean. You mean that I ought to think of the future, when our +positions will be so different. I ought to consider that what is all +right for the future possessor of Eichhof is supreme folly for a petty +lieutenant. All true and just; but why the deuce, then, did our father +put me in the same regiment with yourself? and why does every one +expect exactly the same from the poor lieutenant as from the eldest son +and heir? and why are people so infernally stupid as not to take into +account the immense difference between us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was certainly unfortunate," said Bernhard, "that you joined just +this regiment; no doubt you are led here into many expenses that can +hardly be avoided; but still----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, I'd better go to friend Solomon to-morrow, and try my luck +with him," Lothar interrupted him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard stamped his foot impatiently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't talk nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Of course I shall help you out, +since, as you justly remark, I may send in extra accounts when I +please; but pray listen to reason, Lothar. You know that we shall +shortly cease to live here together. When I marry I can no longer +place my means at your disposal as at present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, when Thea is your wife, I shall quarter myself upon you so soon as +my money is gone. It usually lasts until the twentieth of the month, +and then I shall ensconce myself in your happy home. But I have not +thanked you yet. Indeed, old fellow, you are a brick of a brother. Then +I need not pay my respects to friend Solomon to-morrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile they had reached their lodgings, and, as Bernhard was putting +his key in the lock, he said, "I will help you through this time, +Lothar, but remember it is the last. You must learn prudence, and it is +in direct opposition to my principles to encourage this perpetual +getting into debt. I did not, as you know, make the laws controlling +inheritance, and I cannot alter the fact that our circumstances will be +very different in the future. But I say now only just what I should say +were you in my place and I in yours. Every man must cut his coat +according to his cloth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if one is a six-footer and has only a scrap of cloth, he is in a +desperate case," thought Lothar; but he kept his thought to himself, +and softly whistled an opera air as he entered their apartments with +his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's no end of a pity that we must leave our charming quarters so +soon," he sighed, as he threw himself upon a lounge in their joint +drawing-room, which was certainly most luxuriously fitted up for a +bachelor establishment, while Bernhard opened and read, with a smile, a +letter lying upon his table.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar watched him for a moment, then folded his arms and raised his +eyes to the ceiling, with an expression half resignation and half +disdain, while his thoughts ran somewhat thus: "Of course that is a +letter from Thea. What under the sun can that little country girl have +to say to him? A deuced pretty girl, and she'll make a capital wife. +It's very odd that I'm not angry with her, for there's not another +creature in the world so confoundedly in my way. If it were not for +her, we should keep our comfortable lodgings, and Bernhard, who is +certainly a trump, would go on paying my bills; and, besides, he has +grown so infernally serious since he has had that little witch's +betrothal-ring on his finger; before then we lived a jolly life enough. +It is all Thea's fault,--his immense gravity, his ceasing to pay my +debts, and our having to give up our delightful rooms. It is, +therefore, Thea who prevents my enjoying my youth, as I should do +otherwise, and yet, in spite of all this, I am rather fond of her. But +it is not my nature to bear malice towards any woman, even although she +be such an unformed little country girl as Thea, who certainly might +have been content to wait a few years longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard," he suddenly said aloud, "I will withdraw to my inmost +apartment, and leave you to your letter and to dreams of future +petticoat rule."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard put his letter in his pocket. "I have finished," he said, "and +am going to bed. Thea sends her love to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," yawned Lothar; "thanks. We'll talk about the other matter +to-morrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. Good-night, Lothar."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-night, old fellow."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">TWO DISCONTENTED FATHERS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">A forest bridle-path. The ground is covered with gnarled, twisted +roots, and the way is bordered with dark pines, and firs somewhat +lighter in tone, between which only a narrow strip of spring sky shines +down upon the two riders pursuing the dim pathway. Their horses, slowly +walking abreast, seem by no means content to saunter thus; the chestnut +upon which the man is mounted champs its bit impatiently, and the gray +by its side pricks its ears, but the girl upon the back of the latter +is as interested as her companion in the conversation going on between +them, and neither pays any heed to the signs of their steeds' +impatience, while the groom riding at some distance behind them is +enjoying a huge sandwich that he has produced from his pocket, in full +security from observation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is too vexatious to know nothing about it all!" the girl exclaimed. +"I am almost ashamed never to have been in Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, good heavens, you are so young, Adela!" her companion rejoined.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If we are to continue friends, Walter, you will not begin again about +my fifteen years, of which there can be no further mention after next +month, when I shall be sixteen," was the irritated reply. "I am in +reality much, much older, as you know, and I know that I look older. +Only the other day Lieutenant Müllheim took me for eighteen; and if +papa would only allow me to dress suitably, and if it were not for that +stupid Almanach de Gotha that tells everybody our ages----!" She sighed +pathetically.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter laughed. "That sigh would sound more natural from the lips of a +lady past her prime than from those of a budding girl in her teens," he +said; adding instantly, with a meaning glance at his companion, "You +must not look so angry with me, Adela dear. If you refuse to allow me +more license in speaking than you accord to the rest of the world, I +shall address you as Fräulein von Hohenstein and think all our +good-comradeship at an end. Must I do so? In fact, you certainly are +too much of a great lady to be my 'good comrade' any longer." He spoke +without irony, and there was a mournful earnestness in his fine eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">She gave her horse a light cut with her whip, that his sudden start +might give her the chance to conceal the bright blush that overspread +her face. Then she looked up, half pouting, half in entreaty, and said, +"If you want to tease me, Walter, I can't see why you came for me to +ride; you might as well have stayed at home."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter smiled, and saluted with his riding-whip. "Well, then, let us be +good comrades for the future, as neighbors' children ought to be," he +cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her reply was a merry glance from her blue eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had reached the borders of the forest, and before them a well-kept +road, bordered by fine old trees, led directly up to an imposing pile +of buildings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us have one more canter," said Adela; and away flew the two horses +so suddenly that the groom behind them was, in his surprise, nearly +choked by his last mouthful of sandwich, and followed his mistress +coughing and gasping all the way up the avenue to the court-yard, where +the two riders drew rein.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has really grown so late that I cannot come in with you," said +Walter. "I must hurry home; you know we are terribly punctual about our +meals at Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, good-by; for only a short time, I hope," said Adela, +giving her comrade her hand, and then vanishing with the groom behind +the court-yard gate, while Walter took the road to Eichhof.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was the third and youngest son of the Baron or Freiherr von Eichhof. +A few days previously he had passed a brilliant preparatory examination +in Berlin, and was now spending a few weeks at Eichhof before leaving +home for some university.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he rode on he looked so grave and thoughtful that one would hardly +have suspected in him the budding student for whom, so thinks the +world, everything must be <i>couleur de rose</i>. And yet it was the thought +of this very student-time that occupied Walter now day and night. He +knew that his father had destined him for the study of law, whilst his +own wishes led him in a contrary direction. He knew further that his +wishes would meet with obstinate opposition, and he had therefore +avoided hitherto all explanations with his father. This state of things +he felt could not possibly continue longer, and he was pondering, as he +rode on thus thoughtfully, how he should clearly explain his views.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst Walter was preparing for a conversation with his father that +would in all probability be far from agreeable, Adela was in the midst +of an interview of a like nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Baron von Hohenstein was in fact standing at the hall door as his +young daughter reached it. He was just inspecting some young horses of +his own breeding, from which he wished to select one for the use of his +son in the capital. A magnificent gelding that had been judged by him +quite worthy to support his son's soldierly form, and to maintain the +reputation of his stud, had just been discovered to be lame. The +Freiherr turned angrily from the horse to his daughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have been gone very long, Adela," he called to her. "And it's +great nonsense your riding half the day with Walter Eichhof; you're too +old for such pranks."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela curled her lip rebelliously as she dismounted, and without a word +took her father's arm and drew him with her into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Papa," she said, "you are always saying, 'You are not old enough for +this, you are too young for that,' and so on. What is the matter with +me, then, that I am always too old or too young?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Freiherr was not disposed to jest to-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense!" he growled. "I may not think you old enough to wear a +train, but you look sufficiently like a young lady to make people stare +when they see you always with that school-boy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg pardon, papa, Walter has passed his examination."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that to me? The long and the short of it is, that I won't have +you riding with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, papa, Thea Rosen rode with Bernhard Eichhof when he was a +lieutenant and she was only sixteen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's an entirely different affair. Theresa Rosen was afterwards +betrothed to Bernhard Eichhof, and has done very well for herself. But +when such rides end in no betrothal they are a great folly; and if a +fledgling scarcely out of the nest should have any entanglement with a +young fellow who has neither money nor prospects, it would be a greater +folly still; and I am not the man to allow my daughter to make such a +fool of herself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela had grown pale, and she looked at her father in a kind of terror +as she left his side and slipped out of the room. What was all this? +Betrothal? Such a thing had never entered her head. And to Walter? It +was all perfect nonsense. Walter was her good comrade. What could put +such ideas into her papa's head? And must she give up the rides which +had been such a pleasure to her? No; it was simply impossible. She +would tell Thea and Alma Rosen about it. What would they say? And +Walter? Should she tell Walter too? She blushed, and discovered that it +would not be easy to tell Walter. And he really had grown very tall and +handsome since his last vacation. She must watch him, and see if he had +any idea of falling in love with her. How hard it was to have no mother +to turn to at such a time! Mademoiselle Belmont, her governess, was not +at all a person to invite confidence. Adela fell into a revery, and +then looked into her mirror.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wonder whether Walter noticed that I dress my hair differently?" she +thought; "and does he think it becoming? I can ask him that, at all +events, when I see him next."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile poor Walter was thinking of anything rather than of the +fashion of Adela's hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Countess Eichhof, his mother, had withdrawn to her room after +dinner, and Walter was sitting on the castle terrace with his father, +or, more correctly speaking, was walking restlessly to and fro, while +his father, leaning hack in a comfortable arm-chair, was smoking a +cigarette. Count Eichhof, in spite of his years and silvery hair, was a +tall, handsome man, with sparkling eyes and ruddy complexion. The early +bleaching of his locks was a family inheritance, and became excellently +well the present representative of the Eichhof estate and title.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his youth the Count had been an officer in the Guards, in the same +regiment where were his two elder sons at present, and where he had so +enjoyed life as to become convinced that it was altogether a capital +invention, and might still be very entertaining even with three +grown-up sons about him. He was now watching with a kind of curiosity +the manner in which these same sons would turn it to account.</p> + +<p class="normal">The eldest had betrothed himself quite young.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is a susceptible fellow,--he gets his temperament from me," the +Count said, with a laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">The second, Lothar, was forever at odds with his income, which never +sufficed for his expenses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is sowing his wild oats with a free hand,--a regular +spendthrift,--but he gets that from me. I was just like him," the Count +said, and laughed again.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now it was Walter's turn.</p> + +<p class="normal">In conformity to the wishes of his mother, whose family were all +diplomatists and courtiers, he was not destined to enter the army, but +was to pursue a juridical career. The Countess already saw in him a +future ambassador or minister; the Count regarded him with a curious +mixture of compassion and resignation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our youngest child really should have been a daughter," he was wont to +say. "Since that's impossible, they are going to make a quill-driver of +him. Well, well, there's no help for it. I must make some concessions, +and I had my own way with the two elder boys."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus, instead of entering a military school, Walter had been placed +under the care of a distant relative of the Count, residing in Berlin, +where he enjoyed the advantages of the principal preparatory school in +the capital, to the surprise of his father's 'good friends and +neighbors,' who thought that a first-class provincial establishment +would have served the boy's turn quite as well, and even better.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a good thing for Walter to become familiar with the capital, and +to feel at home there while he is young," the Countess observed, +without explaining, or indeed understanding herself, in what this 'good +thing' consisted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him go to Berlin," thought the Count; "he'll have a chance there +to see his brothers and his cousins in the Guards more often than +elsewhere; and the deuce is in it if, after passing his examinations, +the boy does not 'boot and saddle' and be a soldier. I know I should +have done so in his place."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the 'boy' had reached this point of his career, and had already +been one week at home without uttering a word upon the subject.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's not much of me in him," the Count thought, smoking his +cigarette, as he watched his youngest son pace the terrace to and +fro,--"not much of me; but he's a handsome fellow for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Tis a pity; your figure would suit a hussar's uniform much better +than that dress-coat," he said aloud, involuntarily. "Walter stood +still, and observed, smiling, that he could easily serve his year in +the hussars.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you really determined then to stick to the quill?" his father +asked, incredulously. "You mean to go to the university?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most certainly, father," Walter replied, seating himself beside the +Count. "And, since we are upon the subject, let me tell you that I have +long desired to discuss my future career with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha! you want to change the programme?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, father, it is my sincere desire to do so; but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, that you get from me, Walter," the Count interrupted his son, +with a laugh. "I should have done just so; there's no ignoring this +soldier-blood of ours."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter leaned forward and fixed his eyes upon the marble pavement of +the terrace. "I did not mean that, sir," he said, in a low tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Count looked at him in surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't mean that?" he repeated. "What the deuce do you mean, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish to continue my studies, but I have not the slightest +predilection for the law," the young man began again.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Count looked at his son as though he were speaking some unknown +tongue.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is there for one of your name save the law or the army?" he +asked, his expression, which had hitherto been one of amusement, +suddenly becoming very serious. "You must be aware that those are the +only careers open to a nobleman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Both cost too much money and insure no independence. As a lieutenant +of the Guards, or as an ambassadorial attaché, my expenses would be +very great."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The like of this I never before imagined!" the Count exclaimed, with a +resounding slap upon his knee. "The fellow is my son, nineteen years +old; and is thinking of the amount of his expenses. What the deuce put +that into your head?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that our property lies chiefly in real estate, and that Lothar +uses a great deal of money," Walter replied, shyly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha!" laughed the Count. "You are a most extraordinary specimen of +an Eichhof. I can't tell where you got that economic vein; but since +there it is, let me tell you something, my boy. The net income of the +Eichhof estates amounts to some hundred and fifty thousand marks. I +have so improved and repaired everywhere that nothing more is required +in that quarter; and we are not going to Berlin any more, it is too +much for your mother's nerves. Well, then, we can easily live, and live +well, upon sixty thousand marks a year. Therefore, if you use only +sixty thousand marks yearly for the next five years, we shall have laid +up a capital of four hundred and fifty thousand marks, without +reckoning the interest. Add to that about a hundred thousand marks of +income derived from other sources, and--you need not tell Lothar, for +he spends quite enough,--but you can easily see that you will be very +comfortable one of these days. We enjoyed our youth. Age exacts less of +life; it will not be hard for us to retrench our expenses somewhat. +And since there never was an Eichhof who died before he was at least +fifty-five,--most of them live to be seventy or eighty,--there is quite +time enough to save money. Poor fellow! your prudence is quite thrown +away."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Count was always rather inclined to pity his youngest son, and he +did so now from the bottom of his heart, as he twisted himself a fresh +cigarette.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Walter did not yet seem quite satisfied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very kind to your children, sir," he began once more, after a +pause; "but it was not only pecuniary considerations that influenced my +desire to change my studies. There is a profession which I should +embrace with enthusiasm, yes, which would even be more attractive to +me, could I cease to see in it a means of income. There is a study that +interests me far more than that of law,--a science to which I should +gladly devote any talent that I may possess."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well, if we must discuss the matter, at least speak +intelligibly, Walter," the Count exclaimed, impatiently. "What's all +this about profession and science?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father," Walter said, taking his hand and looking full into his face +with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks, "I want to be a naturalist and +a physician."</p> + +<p class="normal">If some one had informed the Count that Castle Eichhof was to be +immediately converted into a lunatic asylum, he could not have looked +more amazed and indignant than now upon hearing his son declare that he +wished to be a physician.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Physician?" he repeated. "Physician!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose from his arm-chair and stood proudly erect. "You are insane, +Walter!" he said, angrily. But with the anger there was evidently +mingled a large share of that compassion upon which Walter seemed now +to have established a special claim.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter, too, had risen, and looked frankly and honestly at his father. +"It is the only calling for which I shall ever really care," he said, +warmly, "and I know that I could devote myself to it heart and soul. I +entreat you, do not force me into another career for which I am quite +unfit. Give your consent to what, believe me, is no passing whim of +mine. I have had opportunity to observe this calling in all its +aspects. I pondered the matter earnestly before mentioning it to you. +I----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Enough!" exclaimed the Count, and a dark shadow clouded his usually +jovial face. "Enough of this nonsense! You may be in earnest, Walter, +but I,--I too am just as much in earnest, and I solemnly declare to you +that I never will consent that an Eichhof--a son of mine--should +embrace such a senseless career. I will not have it; do you understand? +I will not have it; and my will must be your law."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Count left the terrace with an echoing tread, while Walter +stood still, utterly cast down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it," he murmured, "and yet--and yet----"</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw himself into the arm-chair that his father had left, and +leaned his head on his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nevertheless there must have been in his veins some particle of the +soldier-blood of the Eichhofs, for he had not sat there long lost in +thought, when he suddenly sprang up, saying,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that was the first attack, and it has been repulsed. Now for +besieging the fortress, which may yield at last."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Count did not yield. He persisted in his refusal, and the +Countess shed tears over Walter's 'inconceivable desire.' She was sure +the idea must have been suggested to him by some association unfitting +his rank and position, and she was, as we shall see, not far wrong in +her surmises.</p> + +<p class="normal">There followed some very disagreeable days at Castle Eichhof, and the +result was that Walter, with a heavy heart, resolved to conform to his +parents' wishes, and at least to attempt the study of law. He could not +see how to act otherwise at present. He must, he thought, furnish this +proof of his willingness to obey, but in secret he did not relinquish +the hope of one day carrying out his own plans. The Count was seriously +out of sorts for a few days, but upon Walter's submission his brow +cleared again, and his thoughts turned from this annoying intermezzo to +the approaching Easter holidays, when he expected his two other sons at +Castle Eichhof, which should once more be, as he expressed it, "the +headquarters of youthful fun and frolic."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The boys must be entertained when they come home," was his watchword. +The Countess had the ball-room newly decorated, and made out lists for +dinner- and dancing-parties. Walter was a great deal alone in the +library writing letters, and took many a lonely ride. He rode once to +Rollin to invite Adela Hohenstein to ride with him, but the Baron +declared that the physician had forbidden so much horseback exercise, +and Adela's manner towards him was so strangely altered that, instead +of confiding his grief to her as he had intended to do, he soon rode +home again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela is playing the young lady, I see,--she really coquetted with me +to-day," he said to himself; "but I am no longer in the mood to be +entertained by her upon the subject of the fashion in which her hair is +dressed. If she will no longer be my good comrade, she may let it +alone. These young girls are very little good after all."</p> + +<p class="normal">Still, oddly enough, he thought oftener than usual of Adela that day, +and when he was occupied with the most serious plans for the future her +fair curly head would intrude upon his thoughts in a most unnecessary +and uncalled-for manner. "She certainly has grown extremely pretty of +late,--there is no doubt of that," he thought.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">HIDDEN SPRINGS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Thus Easter came 'slowly up this way,' and with the holidays the 'sons' +from Berlin came to Eichhof and to Rollin.</p> + +<p class="normal">No finer sight was to be seen than the handsome Count Eichhof and his +wife, whose rather faded face and figure retained the traces of former +beauty, surrounded by their three sons, the two elder models of manly +strength and grace, while a kind of vague nimbus of future distinction +hovered around Walter, for which, as the reader knows, his mother was +far more responsible than himself. When her high-handed lord had +yielded a reluctant consent that her youngest boy should be moulded +according to his mother's desire, her imagination instantly perceived +in him the future diplomat,--the one of her children born to act a part +in the world's history. He was in her eyes a most remarkable child, +and, since he really was a very docile, amiable boy, and in +consideration of the fact that one of his uncles was an ambassador and +another a lord of the treasury, there were found family friends on all +sides ready, whenever Walter was spoken of, to whisper significantly, +"A wonderful young fellow! He has a brilliant career before him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">To complete the charming family picture another figure was now added, +in the person of Bernhard's lovely betrothed. She was the daughter of a +Herr von Rosen, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of Eichhof. +Bernhard and she had been boy and girl lovers. Bernhard, indeed, knew +something of society and of other women, but Therese--or Thea, as she +was called--knew absolutely nothing of the outside world. Without her +being in the least aware of it, the love of the child had grown into +the pure devotion of the maiden. It had seemed the most natural thing +in the world to be betrothed to Bernhard,--that he should henceforth be +the centre around which every thought and hope of her heart should +cling, and that he should typify to her all that she could conceive of +beauty and excellence.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now he was at home on leave. She saw him daily, and in May they +were to be married.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thea is 'fearfully happy,'" said her younger sister Alma, Adela's +bosom friend; and the servants at Eichhof, who were wont to consider +their verdict as important in such cases, as well as all the +neighbouring gentry, rung the changes upon the same theme.</p> + +<p class="normal">The neighbours were soon offered a special opportunity for admiring and +discussing the 'charming Eichhofs,' since very early in the Easter +holidays they were bidden to a grand dinner at the castle. The state +apartments were thrown open, and worthy representatives of the noblest +of the county families--the Hohensteins, the Rosens, the Lindenstadts, +and many others--gladly accepted this first invitation issued after the +return home of the soldier sons.</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet the betrothed pair were not on this occasion the cynosure of +every eye, the theme of every tongue, as might have been expected. +These guests were all either distantly related to one another or +intimate from the association of years. One of them, however, appeared +to-day for the first time in this exclusive circle, exciting universal +attention and remark. This was the young wife of Marzell Wronsky, who, +himself a very German of the Germans, had lately, by marrying a distant +Polish cousin, revived in the minds of all the memory of his Polish +ancestry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you think of young Madame Wronsky?" was a question often +whispered at this dinner behind a lady's fan or in the recess of some +window. The answer would consist either of a shrug of the shoulders and +an elevation of the eyebrows, signifying 'not much,' or in the +whispered reply, "Very elegant, yes, undeniably elegant, but not at all +handsome; scarcely good-looking. Why, she has red hair and green eyes, +and then she is so very pale."</p> + +<p class="normal">But when Madame Wronsky came to be discussed after dinner in the +smoking-room over a bowl of punch,--her husband having rejoined the +ladies,--the opinions expressed concerning her were rather different.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A striking creature, the Wronsky," was heard from Lieutenant +Hohenstein,--"decided air of race; she would create a <i>furor</i> in +Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A perfect Undine," murmured the Assessor von Schönburg; "coy, cold, +and immovable at first, but as soon as she is interested, all fire and +passion,--indescribably attractive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Schönburg is off on his old romantic track," laughed Lieutenant von Z. +"I rather think your fair Undine is quite capable of giving an eager +admirer a bath of very cold water; there is something absolutely +freezing in her eye at times, and she has a way of throwing back her +head that reminds one of an obstinate horse."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A profane simile!" the Assessor declared, with a shrug, swallowing his +irritation in a glass of punch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In what capital taste the Wronsky was dressed!" came from the other +side of the table. "Everything about her is so <i>chic</i>. She's a great +acquisition to the neighbourhood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Still, she is not regularly beautiful," said Lothar Eichhof.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein looked at him with his eyes half closed, after his listless +manner. "You are either in love with her, or she has treated you +badly," he said, in a low tone. "I tell you that if the Wronskys go to +Berlin next year, as Marzell says they think of doing, that woman will +create a perfect <i>furor</i>. Remember this."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, the object of this discussion was leaning back negligently +in one of the low arm-chairs in the drawing-room, adding a word now and +then in broken German to the general conversation, while, with eyes +cast down as though finding nothing worthy of their special notice, she +toyed with a costly lace fan. Her dark arched eyebrows contrasted +strangely with the transparent pallor of her face, and when a slanting +sunbeam called forth brilliant sparkles of light from the diamonds in +her hair, certainly, in her light-blue gown trimmed with water-lilies, +she justified the Assessor's declaration that she was an Undine.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How reserved and haughty she looks!" Thea Rosen whispered to her +lover, as she was walking through the room upon his arm towards the +conservatories.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not think her attractive," he rejoined. "I cannot conceive how +Marzell Wronsky could ever fall in love with that woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a pity you do not like her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You never could be friends with her, my darling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" asked Thea, lifting her lovely eyes to his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not? I can hardly tell you; it's a matter of sentiment. You are my +rosebud, you know, and the Countess Wronsky, if she can be likened to +any flower, resembles one of those strange, unnatural orchids."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea looked up. Just above her hung one of the fantastic blossoms of +which he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, at all events, an orchid is far more distinguished than a poor +little rose, that only needs a little sunlight to blossom and grow, +while the grander flower must be petted in a hot-house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not talk so," said Bernhard, closing her lips with a kiss in the +solitude of the conservatory. "I will not have you compared with that +woman. What is she to us? You are and always will be my May rose, and I +wish May were here, and that we were married. We will have charming +apartments in a villa in the Thiergarten, with roses blossoming all +over the door, and a wild grape-vine growing about the windows to the +very roof. Such a pretty, comfortable, cosey nest as it shall be, with +a boudoir---- But no, I'll tell you nothing about that; it shall be a +surprise."</p> + +<p class="normal">While these happy lovers were building their airy castles in one of the +conservatories, in another two young people were also carrying on an +eager conversation. There was much mention of "rides" and "papa's +strange ideas," whereat Fräulein Adela von Hohenstein would frequently +blush rosy red, and Herr Walter von Eichhof would put on a very grave +and thoughtful expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the mean time, the smokers were growing rather noisy in their talk +and laughter, and there was now and then a suppressed yawn in the +drawing-room, when suddenly new life was infused into the guests by the +lighting of the candles and the throwing open of the ball-room, whence +came the strains of the polonaise.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentlemen in the drawing-room were immediately largely reinforced, +and all led their partners to the brilliant ball-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A delightful surprise this for the young people," said Frau von Rosen, +who, on Count Eichhof's arm, led the polonaise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must entertain our children," the Count replied, with a smile; "and +since we have enjoyed dancing ourselves, it seems to us the best thing +to provide for the young."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have been rather sly about this evening, however, my dear Count," +the lady continued. "If I had known that our pleasant dinner was to be +followed by a small ball, I should have left my little Alma at home. +She was, as you know, confirmed but very lately."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Count laughed. "All the better then that you did not know it," he +replied; "we could ill spare the buds from among our blossoms. Only +look at Adela von Hohenstein; the child has prevailed upon her father +to let her appear to-night in a train for the first time, and she +really looks a finished little lady, who would have probably cried +herself to sleep had she been forced to stay at home to-night, although +she is just Fräulein Alma's age."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela is too precocious; but then the poor child has no mother, and +has been forced to judge for herself and to depend upon her own +intuitions now for so many years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if she should be betrothed at eighteen, like our Thea, it is well +that she should begin to enjoy herself now. I like to see these very +young girls about us. Oho! <i>changement de dames</i>," he suddenly called +out as he made a turn, resigned Frau von Rosen to another gentleman, +and took for his partner Frau von Wronsky, who blushed a little at this +distinction, then smiled, and really looked very charming.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Count made a sign to the musicians, and the dignified polonaise was +converted into a rapid waltz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Au galop</i>," he called gayly, and away he flew with his partner, +followed by all the younger dancers, while their elders smilingly +retired from among them. The Freiherr von Hohenstein alone, who never +would be outdone in anything by his neighbour Eichhof, joined in the +galop, while his son, with Lothar Eichhof, to both of whom elderly +partners had been assigned, after having led these to their seats, +stood together and clapped applause of their several fathers whirling +like the wind from one end to the other of the ball-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your governor dances famously," Hohenstein said to Lothar, who +assented,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he is as light on his feet as any one of us. The Wronsky dances +well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just wait, my son, and you'll see what you will see. Then think of +me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With these oracular words Lieutenant Hohenstein retreated privately to +the smoking-room, for he was, as he expressed it, long past the age for +the passion for dancing, and found his El-Dorado in the smoking-room, +where card-tables were now laid ready for him and such as he.</p> + +<p class="normal">The ball-room windows at Eichhof gleamed brilliantly until long after +midnight, and the cocks were already beginning their morning concert, +when the sisters Thea and Alma Rosen, leaning back among the cushions +of their carriage, began to dream of the vanished delights of the +evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">Immediately after their departure, Herr von Wronsky's carriage drew up +before the castle terrace. Frau von Wronsky appeared with her husband +at the hall door, where Bernhard, who had just taken leave of his +betrothed, was still standing.</p> + +<p class="normal">The lights on the castle wall shone upon the equipage and the horses. +Wronsky detected something wrong in the harness of the latter; and as +he descended the steps to direct the groom to repair the error, his +wife was left for a few moments alone in the vestibule with Bernhard. +Their eyes met, and in hers there was a hasty, mute inquiry. Bernhard +stepped close to her side. He looked very grave, and there was a gloomy +fire in his glance, as he gazed steadfastly into her face, and said in +a low tone, and yet so as to be distinctly heard by her, "You may rely +upon my silence, but I impose certain conditions. Confine your +intercourse with us within as narrow bounds as is possible without +exciting remark, and never, never attempt to make friends with my +future wife!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife's cheek first flushed crimson and then grew deadly pale, +while the eyes, which were for one moment opened wide and riveted upon +Bernhard's face, seemed fairly to flash fire. Then the eyelids drooped +over them, and the same cold, proud countenance that had been shown all +the evening in the ball-room looked out from among the snowy folds of +her white wrap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-night, Herr von Eichhof," she said, calmly, putting her hand upon +her husband's arm as he returned to her, and, passing the young man +with the air of a queen dismissing a subject, she descended the steps +and entered her carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard followed the vehicle with his eyes as it rolled away. "Did she +really suppose until this moment that I had not recognized her?" he +thought. "She certainly betrayed herself by no look or gesture. Poor +Wronsky, how could he----"</p> + +<p class="normal">His thoughts were interrupted by other guests, who at that moment +thronged into the hall. There was the usual bustle of departure, +calling of carriages, searching for wraps, etc., and as the son of the +house he was obliged to make himself as useful as possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last every guest had left Castle Eichhof, the lights were +extinguished, and its inmates were wrapped in the slumber which was to +refresh them after past enjoyments. But Bernhard's dreams were not of +his lovely betrothed, but of the brilliant eyes of Frau von Wronsky, +and, instead of the cold 'good-night' she had given him, he heard her +say, "I hate you, and I will work your ruin!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">GOSSIP.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard and Lothar returned to Berlin as soon as the holidays were +over, and Hohenstein shortly followed them thither.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am glad he has gone," said Adela, one afternoon that she was +spending with her friend Alma Rosen. "I am glad not to have him here +any longer, for he grows more and more tiresome, and it spoils my +enjoyment of everything to see him lounging about and yawning all the +time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ought not to say that so openly, dear child," said Frau von Rosen, +who happened to be in the room, and who thought it her duty to admonish +the motherless girl now and then. "It is sad enough when brothers and +sisters do not agree perfectly, but there is no need to publish such +lack of harmony to the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But indeed I do not care. I am perfectly willing that everybody should +know it," said Adela. "It is the truth, and I detest hypocrisy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one requires hypocrisy from you, my dear," Frau von Rosen replied; +"but there is a very wide difference between hypocrisy and a discreet +reserve. Besides, there are, I think, certain sensations and opinions +that are undesirably strengthened by being put into words."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, yes, dear Frau von Rosen, it is easy for you to speak so; you know +nothing of such trials," Adela rejoined. "If you had any sons, Thea and +Alma would have their own opinion too of fraternal amenities."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Adela, I have always so longed for a brother!" Alma exclaimed. +"When I see Lothar Eichhof he always seems like half a brother; and how +delightful it must be to have a real one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is because you know nothing about it," said Adela, with a wise +shake of her curls. "I will tell you how my brother Hugo conducts +himself. Let me speak just this once," she went on, turning to Frau von +Rosen; "it is such a relief to speak it all out, and you know I would +not mention it anywhere else. Well, when he comes home he first goes +directly to the stables, and in fact it is there only that he ever +shows a pleasant face. Then he comes into the house, drops into an +arm-chair in the drawing-room, and looks about him with a sneering +expression which he knows I detest. If I chance to be alone with him, +he says, languidly, 'Frightful taste, the furniture of this room! I +really cannot understand why my father does not have this old-fashioned +stuff replaced by something decent. If he will commission me to attend +to it I will see that you have something here really <i>chic</i>.' If my +patience gives way and I remind him that the furniture was all of our +mother's selection, and that papa would never think of altering a +single article, he sneers again,--that same odious sneer,--and either +whistles some popular air or remarks, 'Of course not. I, however, never +would live in such a beastly hole. In fact, Rollin is an infernally +tiresome old nest, only fit for breeding horses, or some such colt as +you are!' meaning me. Is that not enough to vex one? And papa is so +kind and good to him, granting all he asks, and getting nothing from +him in return but disappointment and grief."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Adela, your father has great satisfaction in him nevertheless," +Frau von Rosen observed. "He is an excellent officer, and very popular +with his comrades, as I know from Bernhard."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Adela would hear nothing of that. "Ah, that indeed!" she exclaimed, +irritably. "You would hear very little more of his popularity if papa +did not give him so much money. Walter says he gambles, and that his +comrades win his money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter Eichhof says that?" Thea exclaimed. "And how came you, Adela, +to discuss such matters with Walter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela blushed slightly, and replied that she had happened to speak of +Hugo to Walter because he had been in Berlin and had heard about many +things there.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen looked grave, and shook her head, but Adela, now fairly +roused, went on unheeding: "I know myself that papa has often to send +him a great deal of money, and is always in a very bad humour for days +afterwards, and very cross to the inspector and the steward and to me. +And it is all Hugo's fault. He alone is to blame----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, hush, Adela!" said Frau von Rosen. "If you do not choose to +suppress your own sentiments with regard to your brother, it is at +least your bounden duty to have nothing whatever to say of +circumstances with which you have nothing to do, and which concern your +father and brother only. Of such matters I must distinctly forbid you +to speak here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela stopped, rather startled, but her flushed, indignant face showed +plainly that she thought herself unjustly treated. Frau von Rosen +approached her, and gently laid her hand upon her fair curly head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear child," she said, softly, "have you not confidence in my +affection for you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela was silent, evidently a prey to a conflict of feeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was your mother's friend," Frau von Rosen continued, gently, "and +when I hear you utter such sharp, decided opinions upon matters of +which you are, perhaps, incapable of judging, I cannot help fancying +what your mother would feel if she heard you. Do you think she would be +pleased with you at this moment?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The tears started from Adela's eyes, and she hastily, almost +passionately, pressed Frau von Rosen's hand to her lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, if my mother were only living!" she exclaimed. "Everything at home +would be so different!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen clasped her in her arms and kissed her. "You have a +tender and loving father," she said, softly: "be to him a good daughter +in the true sense of the word."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela dried her tears, and smiled at the remembrance of her father. +"Oh, yes, he is very, very kind," she said. "I know he is, even when he +pretends to be angry. I know, too, that he will always do what I want +in the end, if I do not contradict him. He has given me leave to ride +with Walter again if I will only tell him when and where we are going, +and I always like to do that. And then, too, he has let me wear long +dresses at last. Yes, he is the dearest old papa,--but indeed Hugo +spoils him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen was rather shocked at the conversation's taking this +turn, but when she looked into Adela's honest eyes--now gazing so +frankly into her own--she found it impossible to be angry with the +child. She thought it best to take no notice of her last words, and +only said, "Remember, then, always that it is your first duty to +requite your father for all the care and kindness he has lavished upon +his children."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" cried Adela, "if papa should ever have a fall from his horse, and +break his leg or anything, I would nurse him day and night, and never +leave his side; but then," she added, rather ruefully, "nothing of that +sort ever happens to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen smiled involuntarily. "There is no need, dear, of any +extraordinary occasion for testifying affection," she said. "The +greatest proof of love lies in overcoming one's self for the +gratification of others. Think of this, Adela dear; you are quite old +enough and sensible enough to know of yourself everything that I can +tell you. Promise me to reflect upon it all. Will you try?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela promised, with a mixture of emotion and of satisfaction with her +own good sense.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea and Alma, who had withdrawn to the other end of the room during +this conversation, now came forward and begged Adela to go with them +into the garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen nodded kindly, and the three girls went off together, at +first somewhat embarrassed, but soon talking and laughing together as +usual. The Easter holidays were indeed a fruitful theme for +conversation, and the name of Eichhof occurred very frequently in their +talk.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only think," said Alma Rosen, "Lothar told me that Walter wanted to be +a doctor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela burst into a laugh. "Walter a doctor!" she exclaimed. "What a +delightful idea of Lothar's! Walter a doctor? It is too comical!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only ask Thea; she knows about it too," said Alma.</p> + +<p class="normal">And her sister added, "Yes, it is true; Walter did get such an idea +into his head, but he has given it up, and there is to be no more said +upon the subject."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now I know why Walter has been so queer all through these last +holidays," said Adela. "It is perfectly odious in him not to tell me a +word of it. I will tease him well about it to-morrow if we ride +together."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you often ride together now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes. That was a perfectly ridiculous idea of papa's; I soon talked +him out of it. He had consented to our rides even before we went to the +ball at Eichhof. There's one good to be gained from Hugo's being at +home, papa is so full of business at such times that he will almost +always say 'yes' just to be rid of me. I take very few lessons now with +Mademoiselle Belmont, and the good soul is being gradually transformed +from a governess into a companion. I got papa to tell her that she +might look upon herself as rather occupying the latter position. The +only thing to do is to take papa just when he happens to be in a good +humour; but----" She suddenly clapped her hand upon her mouth. "There, +I promised your mother that I would not speak of that. I should like to +know what kind of girls we should all be if I had a mother and you had +a couple of brothers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Bernhard soon will be my brother," said Alma.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that's very different," rejoined Adela; "made-up brothers like +that never do anything to vex you. I know all about that, for I look +upon Walter Eichhof as a kind of brother, and--but I forgot," she +interrupted herself, hesitating,--"he does vex me sometimes. I'll have +my revenge to-morrow at all events, and I wish to-morrow were here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Twenty-four hours later this wish of Adela's was fulfilled, and Walter +and she were slowly riding towards the forest, followed at a discreet +distance by the groom with a taste for sandwiches.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have been hearing sad tales of you, Walter," Adela began her attack, +"and the saddest part of them is that you never, by word or look, +confided anything with regard to your evil schemes to your faithful +comrade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My evil schemes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. Would you not, if you could, torture poor mortals, cut off their +arms and legs, and heaven knows what besides that is horrible and +cruel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since you call that cruel, you certainly must admit that I was +perfectly right not to mention to you the profession at which you jeer, +but which I consider the noblest that can be embraced."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gravity with which he spoke made some impression upon Adela. She +looked at him almost timidly, and said, shyly, "Were you really in +earnest, then, about being a doctor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have found it very hard to relinquish the idea,--for the present at +least. But why should we speak of all this? Rather let us admire the +exquisite beauty of the afternoon, and of the woods and trees. Shall we +canter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Strangely enough, Adela instantly forgot all her vexation and her +determination to be revenged upon Walter. She saw that he refused her +his confidence, and, instead of being angry that this was so, she +became very sad.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very fond of that Doctor Nordstedt of whom you were telling me +awhile ago, are you not?" she asked, suddenly reining in her mare after +a long canter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter turned and looked her full in the face. "I thought you had +forgotten all that," he said. "I certainly thought that my comrade had +grown to be altogether too much of a fine lady, too much taken up with +dressing and visiting, to feel any interest in what I could tell her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela blushed. Certainly she did very much desire to be a fine lady, +but she could not give up her comrade. She replied, "Well, and what +now, when you find that in spite of dressing and visiting I still have +time to think of Dr. Nordstedt?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now I tell you that I certainly honour and love him, and that I am +proud to consider myself his friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is his fault, then, that you want to be a doctor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"On the contrary, it is he who is always pointing out to me all the +difficulties of the profession."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! how did you ever come to make such an acquaintance? Your +sight was always good. Certainly you had no need for consulting an +oculist--the man is an oculist, is he not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; and I never went near him on account of my eyes. But, as I told +you before, he is my aunt's family physician, and it was through her +that I became acquainted with him and with his family."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes,--his family! And of whom does this family consist?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This family consists of the father, Herr Nordstedt,--a self-made man, +sprung from the people,--of his wife, and of their son, my friend. They +are charming people; you ought to know them, Adela."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do they speak the Berlin <i>patois</i> and mix up their parts of speech?" +Adela asked, slightly turning up her pretty little nose.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter laughed. "What an idea!" he exclaimed. "It is true that Herr +Nordstedt has worked hard with his hands to amass the modest competence +that he now possesses, but he is too clever a man to have allowed his +brain to lie idle in the mean while. His information is extensive and +various, and upon every question of the day his opinions are those of +the cultured class. The advantages of education of which he was +deprived he has, however, taken good care that his son shall enjoy to +the fullest extent. My friend is now entirely independent, pecuniarily, +of his father, and takes pride in being so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish Hugo would take a few lessons of him, then," said Adela; "I +think papa has to pay more and more for him every year. But then," she +added, hastily, "I really should not like him to be a doctor."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter smiled. "And would you dislike to have me one?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very much," she replied, emphatically.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter touched his horse with the spur, and started upon another +canter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How rude you are!" Adela exclaimed; but she followed him, and in the +rapid pace which Walter seemed to enjoy so much on this particular day +there was no opportunity for any further serious conversation between +them.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">MARRIAGE.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The larks were soaring high in air above the tender green of the +fields, and the blossoming cherry-trees looked like white bridal +bouquets in the midst of the sunny landscape, as the villagers of +Schönthal, in their gayest holiday dresses, streamed towards their +little church.</p> + +<p class="normal">While the bells rang out their merriest peal, the brilliant +marriage-train left the lordly mansion-house and walked down the broad +avenue of chestnut-trees, the drooping buds of which had not yet begun +to 'spread into the perfect fan.' No equipage of any kind hid either +bridal pair or guests from the delighted gaze of the peasants who lined +the wayside. Little girls dressed in white, their fair hair braided and +tied with white ribbons, scattered violets and May flowers upon the +broad carpet stretched, as a protection for satin-slippered feet, from +the hall door to the gateway of the neighbouring church, and +immediately behind them came the bridal pair.</p> + +<p class="normal">An admiring "Ah!" from the spectators among whom they had grown up +accompanied them as they walked slowly on; and certainly they were a +fair sight to look upon. Bernhard, in his brilliant uniform, beaming +with pride and happiness, could scarcely turn his eyes from Thea, +hanging blushing upon his arm. Thus they trod beneath their feet the +spring flowers scattered in their path on their road--to what? To +happiness? Are these flowers of spring to be followed by the roses of +summer and the golden fruits of autumn, or is a premature winter with +its ice and snow to wither them all too soon? Who can tell? And who +would ask such a question? Not Alma and Adela, the two bridesmaids, who +follow Bernhard and Thea, conducted by Lothar and Walter Eichhof, and +certainly not Count Eichhof, who, as he looks at the three couples with +a smile of pride, reflects that flowers must always strew the pathway +of the heir of Eichhof, and that there will be enough left to provide +handsomely for the two other sons. He certainly seems right to-day at +least, for Lothar and Walter look extremely happy. Lothar's debts have +just been paid again 'for the last time,' and Walter had returned the +previous night from a journey which seemed to have delighted and +refreshed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The train vanishes beneath the church-portals; the solemn rite is +performed, the mystic rings are exchanged, and two mortals plight faith +and affection to each other until death shall separate them.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is all over. The gay procession returns through the chestnut avenue, +and the old mansion of Schönthal once more opens its portals to receive +the maiden flower that has blossomed beneath its roof, to leave it +to-day for another home.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gradually the solemnity of mood which very naturally possessed every +one during the ceremony vanishes. Congratulations have been showered +upon the pair. There have been tender embraces, cordial hand-shakes; +the due amount of 'my dear old friends' and 'precious darlings' has +been uttered, and the evidences of unusual emotion disappear from all +countenances, save those of the bride and her mother, who cannot quite +regain their wonted composure. Gay laughter and lively conversation +resound from all sides of the table, where justice is done to the +wedding breakfast. Speeches are made, toasts proposed, and healths +drunk amid much clinking of glasses. The wit of the gentlemen and the +smiles of the ladies grow brighter with every toast. There are many new +titles of relationship exchanged between the young people of the two +allied houses, and blushes and smiles are frequent when Count Eichhof +arises, glass in hand, and, repeating the old proverb,--</p> + +<div style="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; margin-left:30%;font-size:90%"> +<p class="t0">"Never a marriage here below<br> +From which a second did not grow,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">proposes the health of the "next bride and bridegroom." Alma Rosen's +hand trembles slightly as it touches Lothar Eichhof's when they clink +their glasses; and when later in the day, before he left her, he +declared that a kiss was his right in pledge of their new relationship, +and calmly availed himself of this right, he had no idea of how fast +and loud her heart beat the while.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is a perfect child," he said, after they had risen from table, to +Hugo Hohenstein, who had taken Frau von Wronsky to breakfast. "A +perfect child, but a pretty little puss, and <i>faute de mieux</i>----" And +he snapped his fingers, and then paused as his glance lighted upon his +new sister-in-law, standing talking with Adela Hohenstein by one of the +windows, her girlish figure draped in white satin and shrouded in her +lace veil.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>À propos</i>, Thea is quite dazzling," he said. "I never should have +given her credit for so much dignity and self-possession."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein put up his eye-glass, and bestowed a critical glance upon +the bride.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, she has a good figure and rather fine features," he said, with +the oracular air of a connoisseur. "Her face is an unwritten page as +yet; but time will change all that, even although it may never show +such a startling romance as may be read in the Wronsky's eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar was still gazing at his sister-in-law, and only half heard +Hohenstein's words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was the lady very entertaining at table?" he asked, rather absently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, either she is not in a good humour today, or she is playing a +part; I cannot make out which," Hohenstein replied. "At all events, she +is excessively interesting. Before her marriage there was some very +piquant story about her; she has had experiences. I know nothing +explicit, but that woman has been through an immense deal, you may be +certain."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea left the room to put on her travelling-dress, and Bernhard, who +until now had been constantly near her, went into an antechamber, +whence he was instantly about to withdraw upon finding it occupied by +Frau von Wronsky, who was seated in a negligent attitude on a divan, +her head resting on her hand. She called him, however, by name, and +involuntarily, although with an air of constraint, he paused on the +threshold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should like to speak with you for a moment," she said, in a low, +hurried tone. "You ought at least to know that I had resolved not to +inflict my presence upon you to-day; that I have done so is owing +entirely to your father, who paid us a visit the day before yesterday +and was so pertinacious in his request that we should be present to-day +that----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no need of this apology, madame," Bernhard replied, coldly. +"It would have excited remark if you had absented yourself without +sufficient reason, and it is my especial desire that your conduct +towards us should be such as to invite no observation."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lady's face was agitated for an instant as if by the suppression of +a passionate outburst, but she only bent her head, and replied, "You +have nothing to fear. However painful the consciousness may be, I know +that you are right in not allowing me any intimacy with your wife. +Believe me, I feel only too intensely and grievously the gulf that +divides us. I know how hardly you judge me, and that you have a right +to do so, even although I am more to be pitied than blamed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Madame," Bernhard rejoined, approaching her in some confusion, "I pray +you let the past rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, I wish it would rest, that I could forget! But even when I succeed +in doing so for a moment, as when but now, attracted irresistibly by +the grace and loveliness of your wife, I longed to approach her as any +other woman might do, my past rises as an avenger, and I bow before the +Nemesis; for, hard as it is to endure, I know it is not wholly +undeserved."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her voice, as she uttered these words, was full of such melancholy +sweetness, her eyes shone so with unshed tears, and she arose and stood +with such touching humility before Bernhard, that he could not help +expressing his regret at having recalled to her an unhappy past. She +cut his phrases short by a forbidding wave of her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were quite right," she said. "Forget all this, and may you be +happy, very happy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Tone and manner were so full of a heart-felt sincerity that Bernhard +was almost moved to offer her his hand. He bethought himself in time, +however, and, in obedience to a wave of dismissal, left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forget all this," she had said, but he never could forget the look or +the tone with which these words were uttered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea returned clad in travelling costume to bid farewell to all. +Bernhard hastily changed his dress, and, when the travelling-carriage +drove up, led his young wife down the steps of the hall, which were +thronged with bridesmaids and their attendant squires. Alma burst into +tears as she threw her arms around her sister's neck. Herr and Frau von +Rosen called out their adieux in faltering tones.</p> + +<p class="normal">The wedding guests waved their kerchiefs from the open windows, and +servants and peasants crowded about the carriage for one last look at +their "dear young Fräulein." The swallows stretched out their heads +from their nest under the eaves, and seemed to twitter "Good-by, +good-by," and the hanging wreaths of the wild grapevine in which the +veranda was embowered seemed to wave a mute farewell.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, farewell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The carriage rolled out of the court-yard, and Thea hid her tearful +face on Bernhard's shoulder. "Oh, Bernhard," she whispered, "you will +always love me dearly, very dearly, will you not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He kissed away her tears. "My darling, what a question to ask!" he +replied. "You know that you are my sweetest, loveliest May rosebud."</p> + +<p class="normal">She smiled at him through her tears, and he vowed inwardly that she +never should shed a tear caused by word or deed of his.</p> + +<p class="normal">The road here made a turn, and the mansion of Schönthal, upon the +windows of which the last beams of the setting sun were shining, came +into view once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea leaned from the carriage window and looked back. Bernhard, +clasping her hand firmly in his own, looked back also. The windows of +the balconied room, the same in which he had spoken with Frau von +Wronsky scarcely an hour before, gleamed brilliantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is she there still?" he thought, and he seemed to hear again her low, +penetrating tones, "Forget all this,"--her pale face and brilliant +figure were like a shadow dimming the sunshine of his marriage-day.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">A FAREWELL GLASS AND A DEATH-BED.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Far removed from the fashionable quarter of Berlin, in one of those +east-end streets where labourers' carts are far more numerous than gay +equipages, stood Herr Nordstedt's house. It was quite a stately +structure, with two projecting wings, between which extended a +little front garden, lending a retired air to the whole, and +distinguishing it pleasantly among the old and rather shabby houses +of the neighbourhood. The hall door was adorned by rich carvings in +wood,--"The old cabinet-maker in me takes great delight in such +things," Herr Nordstedt was wont to say,--and yet was so simply +fashioned that it must always be regarded as a door, never as a +'portal.' Through this door on a certain evening in May walked Walter +Eichhof, who had returned to town shortly after his brother's marriage, +and who, before departing to continue his studies in a university town +on the Rhine, desired to take leave personally of his friend Dr. +Nordstedt. He passed through the hall leading to a small court-yard, +and into a garden which was really very large for a city so closely +built as Berlin. The wing looking upon this garden contained Dr. +Nordstedt's study and his office, where he received all in need of his +advice as oculist.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter made sure of finding him in his study, and was not disappointed. +He was seated at his table, writing busily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have been expecting you, my dear fellow," the doctor exclaimed, +springing up and holding out both hands. "As you did not write, I knew +you would come. Well, and----?" He looked expectantly at the young man +for an instant. "Hm!" he went on, "clouds in the sky, I see. Well, +well, I expected them. But come, take a cigar, and tell me all about +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's not much to be told. It was very short work, and what will +come next I do not know,--which is what troubles me," replied Walter. +"At present I am on my way to Bonn to study law."</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor silently nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There would have been entire estrangement from my parents if I had +insisted upon my wishes," Walter continued.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I think you are quite right in yielding," said his friend. "You +owe it to your parents to make an attempt at least to adopt the career +in life that they have chosen for you. There must be difficulties to be +encountered everywhere. We cannot escape them, whatever freedom of +choice may be granted us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I could only get up some small amount of interest in the law," +sighed Walter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know nothing about it yet," the doctor replied, seriously. +"Reflect, investigate, contemplate the <i>corpus juris</i> in every possible +light, and depend upon it you will attain that ideal standpoint which +is what you desire, and which will give you all the interest you lack +in the study of equity. The struggle will strengthen your mental +muscles."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At present, however, any old skull or bone interests me more than the +most complicated legal process," said Walter.</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor leaned back in his arm-chair, and puffed forth clouds of +smoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, go on," he said, when Walter paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man looked at him surprised. His friend smiled. "Apparently +you come to-day not to discuss this matter, but to bewail it," he said. +"For many people this is a positive necessity when they find themselves +face to face with irritating circumstances. So go on, my dear fellow, I +entreat."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter arose and paced the room hastily to and fro. "If I did not know +you better I should take my leave of you this instant, convinced that +you were the most unsympathetic man in the world," he said; "but I am +sure that, in spite of your ridicule, you thoroughly understand what I +feel, and only mask with sarcasm your compassion for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I am sure that, in spite of your groans and plaints, you will +apply yourself to your new task like a man of courage," cried the +doctor. "There is genuine content and satisfaction to be found in the +conscientious performance of duty, however irksome that duty may be. +You have excellent powers of mind, and I know you will use them well."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter paused in front of his friend, and offered him his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will try," he said. "You are right. 'Things without all remedy +should be without regard.' So there's an end of my groaning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"When do you leave town?" asked the doctor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-morrow, or the day after," was the reply. "There is not much time +left before the long vacation, and my father wishes me to spend that in +travelling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will like that, at all events."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that will be pleasant enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe you. At your age it would have been the realization of my +most cherished hopes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you never travelled?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I spent a couple of years in Paris."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, studying your profession; but you would have liked entire +freedom, and to wander where the paths were not quite so well worn, if +I am not mistaken in you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor laughed again. "He first bewails his own fate, and now is +bewailing mine," he exclaimed. "My dear Eichhof, you are in a deucedly +morbid, sentimental mood to-day, and farewells are scarcely propitious +to the cure of such maladies. If you are really going away to-morrow, +come and say good-by to my father and mother, and afterwards I will +walk home with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">They repaired to Herr Nordstedt's study in the main portion of the +house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Herr von Eichhof," said the old man, as Walter entered. "Glad to +see you once more before you go to the university. Well, what cheer? Is +all right between you and your father? Has the Baron consented?"</p> + +<p class="normal">His son in a few words made him acquainted with the state of the case.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, well," said the father, running his fingers through his thick +hair, only faintly streaked with gray, as was his wont when anything +went "against the grain" with him, as he expressed it,--"well, well, it +will all come right in the end, and you will reconcile yourself to the +law, as I did to carpentering. You see, Herr von Eichhof, I believed I +was more of an artist than an artisan, and I was wild to take up the +brush instead of the chisel and plane. I longed to study, but that +would have cost money. I turned to the plane instead, and, thank God, +all came right in the end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you never could have married me, Nikolas," said Frau Nordstedt, +who had entered the room meanwhile, "if you had been a learned man. For +I have heard my blessed father say a hundred times that like should +mate with like, and that a master-carpenter's daughter should marry +some one skilled in her father's trade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, you see, my carpentering brought me happiness," said old +Nordstedt. "Nevertheless, now that my days are all holidays, I look +back with indulgence upon my youthful dreams. And since my wife and I +took our Italian journey together, she has nothing but respect and +admiration for art."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As if I ever had anything else for what you delighted in," his wife +said, parenthetically.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take care," the old man rejoined, holding up a warning finger. "But +no, Therese, I must admit that you are and always were the most +sensible of women."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We women always are sensible," she said; "and, since you acknowledge +the fact so frankly, you shall have some punch brewed by my own hands +in which to drink success to Herr von Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">She left the room on hospitable thoughts intent; the doctor pushed +forward the large, leather-covered arm-chair in which Walter had so +often sat, and the young man took his place between the father and son +and discussed the past, present, and future. The old man related many +an episode from his past life, which had been full of trials and +struggles, which he recounted as a soldier recounts the victories he +has won, lingering upon the incidents of many a well-fought field. And +the punch having been brought in and placed upon the table by a stout +maid-servant, Frau Nordstedt filled the glasses of the three men, and +in snowy cap and apron seated herself with her knitting at her +husband's elbow, nodding now and then with a smile as he spoke of early +days in their life together, her kind old eyes beaming with placid +content and pride in her 'boy' and his father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is strange, and no less true than strange, Herr von Eichhof," said +the latter, "that life is made up so largely of mistakes and errors. +And it is an impregnable fact that content is the result of the +performance of one's duty, and that no man need look for anything +beyond genuine content."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, Herr Nordstedt," Walter said, eagerly, and the doctor +nodded a silent assent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To a faithful discharge of duty, then, and a successful career at the +university," exclaimed the old man, as he raised his glass filled with +the steaming mixture. The others touched it with their own and +exchanged a silent pressure of hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shortly afterwards Walter took his leave, carrying with him the +farewell blessings of both the old people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How often I shall think of our pleasant evenings here!" he said to the +doctor as they crossed the street together. The doctor muttered a few +low words in reply, and strode on as if he were in a great hurry. +Walter knew him well, and that he always grew monosyllabic when +agitated by any emotion. Thus they reached Walter's lodgings in +silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now good-by," the doctor said, grasping the young man's hand; "I +know how I shall miss you, so I will cut short all leave-taking."</p> + +<p class="normal">His voice was deep and low, as though he feared to betray how much he +felt his friend's departure. Then he turned hastily away, and walked +down the street with a rapid stride. Just as he reached his own door a +dark figure emerged from the shadow where it had apparently been +crouching, and said, timidly, "Ah, Herr Doctor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that you, Marianne?" he said, with a hasty glance at the woman. +"What do you want? Is anything going wrong?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Herr Doctor, very, very wrong, I am afraid," she sighed. "He is +out again, and indeed it would be better he should not come home, for +he earned a trifle to-day, and he is spending it in drink, I suppose. +If he should come home in one of his raging moods the lady will +die----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is she worse?" the doctor asked, hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, good heavens! I don't know, but she talks so strange-like that I +begged Christine, who lives just over me, to sit by her for a moment, +and I ran all the way here to beg you to come to her if you can. She +talked about you, and then prayed, and called herself wicked and +ungrateful; it's hard to hear her talk so, when I know how good and +gentle and unhappy she is, and how thankful she is for everything that +is done for her. I thought to myself that the Herr Doctor would know +just what to do, when you are so good as to pay my rent to the landlord +to let me nurse the poor lady, and I came directly to you; and when +they told me you were not at home I waited here until you should come, +for---- But here we are already; indeed, doctor, you can run faster +than I can."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst Marianne had talked on they had reached the house where was +lodged the patient whom the doctor had been called to visit at this +late hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only wait one instant, Herr Doctor, till I light a candle," Marianne +called out, when they had entered the passage-way. But before her match +was lighted the doctor had groped his way up the narrow staircase and +stood at the door of the sick-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman hastened after him, and both entered a low room but feebly +illuminated by the light of a tallow candle.</p> + +<p class="normal">A young girl, from her dress one of the working class, arose from the +bedside where she had been sitting and came towards them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is she, Christine?" the doctor asked, under his breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is sleeping," was the whispered reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nordstedt went to the bed, upon which lay a young woman, her face +turned to the wall, while her abundant fair hair hung down from the +pillows in two thick braids. Her little emaciated hand, upon the third +finger of which glistened a broad golden ring, lay upon the coverlet, +now and then twitching nervously in its owner's feverish sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor noiselessly took his seat by the bedside, and his eyes grew +dim with moisture as they glanced from the fair braids to the small +hand, and then to the bare, smoky walls of the room. Some minutes +passed in profound silence. Christine had left the place; Marianne sat +by the stove, her hands folded in her lap, looking anxiously towards +the bed where the sleeper was breathing painfully. The doctor leaned +over her, and smoothed her pillows with the tender skill of a father +watching beside the sick-bed of his child. Suddenly the invalid sat up +in bed and gazed at him from large blue eyes that gleamed with +unnatural brilliancy in the poor little face, deadly pale but for the +hectic flush of fever. "I cannot help it, Robert; don't be angry with +me!" she cried, clasping her hands in entreaty.</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor laid his own cool, strong hand upon them. "Robert is not +here," he said; "be quiet and calm."</p> + +<p class="normal">She gazed at him, the eager, distressed expression fading from her +eyes, her face growing more natural and placid. "Oh, it is you!" she +said, with a sigh of relief, sinking back upon her pillows. "I have had +such a terrible dream! How kind of you to come to me when it is so +late!" she added, softly. "How can I ever thank you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, hush, child! you must not talk so much, and there is no occasion +for any gratitude. It is a doctor's duty to look after his patients."</p> + +<p class="normal">She gazed at him with an intensity of fervour in her gleaming eyes. "I +shall not give you much more trouble," she said; "but I have something +to say to you," she added, entreatingly; "tell Marianne to go out of +the room."</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor motioned to the woman, who left the room, and then turned to +the invalid, saying, "But I cannot let you talk much; you must say only +a very few words."</p> + +<p class="normal">A sad, weary smile passed over her face. "Nothing now can either harm +or help me. You know as well as I do that I shall soon be at rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor would have interrupted her, but she begged him by a look to +let her speak, and he mutely inclined his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that the end is near, and I am so glad of it," she said, +softly; "but before it comes I want so much to thank you,--thank you +from my very heart, and to beg you to think of me kindly when I am no +longer here. Tell me that you have forgiven me. Although you have shown +me your forgiveness in a hundred ways, I long to hear your lips utter +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hedwig," he murmured, and his lips quivered; for a moment the strong +man was unable to utter a word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you quite forgiven me?" she asked again, looking eagerly up at +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Utterly and entirely," he replied, controlling his emotion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, how happy you make me! My suffering has atoned for my sin against +you. Ah, how I thank you,--I thank you!" She paused suddenly and put +her handkerchief to her lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">The doctor sprang up and called aloud to Marianne, as he raised the +invalid's head from the pillows and supported her in his arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">She opened her eyes and gazed into his. "Friedrich," she whispered. But +a crimson stream choked the words she would have spoken. A spasm passed +through her frame; she threw back her head. All was over. The doctor +gently laid her back upon the pillows, and, kneeling beside her, +pressed his lips upon the cold little hand that lay motionless on the +coverlet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianne was not in the next room; she did not appear in answer to the +doctor's call, and her presence was not needed.</p> + +<p class="normal">A moment afterwards he arose, covered the quiet figure, so that only +the pale, calm face was visible, and then sat down beside the bed, +riveting his gaze upon the marble features as if to call them back to +life,--the life that now informed them in his mind's eye. Yes, she +stood vividly before him, a little fair-haired girl, the daughter of a +neighbouring tradesman, his playfellow through many childish years. And +then she was again the blushing, still childlike girl, who replied to +his passionate wooing by a low 'yes,' breathed almost inaudibly as she +hid her face on his breast. Then came a change in the picture. The +petty tradesman, her father, embarked in a lucky speculation and +suddenly achieved wealth. And the girl was clad in costly silks and +velvets, and lived in a showy villa surrounded by luxurious gardens,--a +fit home for a parvenu millionaire, where the daughter, but lately so +shrinking and modest, suddenly learned to talk and laugh loudly and to +bandy pert jests with the young fortune-hunters that thronged about +her. She grew to delight in their homage, and would have missed it had +it been withdrawn. She never was haughty or arrogant towards the friend +of her youth, but she began to suppress a yawn when he spoke of his +love. She had just begun to live, she said, and wished to enjoy for a +while. They had deferred any public announcement of their mutual +affection until Nordstedt should have passed the coming examinations, +and he left her to her new-found enjoyment, coming but seldom to visit +her. The day before he was to go up for examination he went to her +house, and was told that she had been betrothed the week before, and +was paying some visits of ceremony. He turned away, and a few steps +from the house passed her carriage returning home. He saw her smile, +saw the handsome faded face of her lover, and the satisfaction in her +father's air. He was proud of the wealthy son-in-law, who had, +moreover, lately become his partner. Nordstedt hurried along the street +where he had so often walked with his head and heart filled with dreams +of future happiness, and from that day her name never passed his lips. +Thenceforth he belonged only to his books and his patients. The years +went by. He knew that her father had become bankrupt, and that her +husband had suffered some losses in consequence. But he did not know +how soon the remainder of his property had been lost or squandered. +Without either the capacity or the desire to exert himself, the man had +sunk into depths of abject poverty, until at last his wretched wife was +discovered by chance by the lover of her youth in a garret room, the +victim of a mortal disease. He did not now dwell upon the care that he +had from that moment lavished upon the first, the only woman whom he +had ever loved; pictures of a distant past floated too vividly before +him, and the quiet face on the pillow was to him as a last greeting +from his youth, the faint, fading shadow of what once had been. Youth +and love, how far away and unattainable they were now! Lost, gone +forever. He bade a long farewell to that pale face and to all of which +it spoke to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he arose, and, walking slowly and like one in a dream, left the +room, and, calling Marianne, gave her directions as to the decent +burial of his lost love. And as the street door closed behind him and +the black night received him, the strong man shivered. "She is dead, +and Walter is gone," he muttered to himself. "It is my lot to be a +lonely man."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">UNEXPECTED.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Summer had gone, and autumn was tinging forest and field with crimson +and gold.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr von Hohenstein was driving in a little open vehicle +through his forest,--that is, over that part of his estate which a few +years previously had been covered with fine old trees, but where now +some labourers were removing a few stumps, while at intervals a +solitary giant of the woods seemed to tell of his brothers, certain of +whom were now sailing the seas, while others upheld the roofs of city +dwellings.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr von Hohenstein looked gloomily about him upon the desert +plain, dotted here and there with small spots of future forest in the +shape of low scraggy shrubs, and found as much food for vexation in the +quick disappearance of the former forest as in the slow growth of the +young trees. He was powerless, however, to alter either of these +annoying facts, and he sighed heavily as his thoughts wandered oddly +enough, and yet by a strictly logical train of ideas, from the +forest-trees to his son Hugo, who had not indeed any personal +connection with ship-builders and carpenters, but who could have told a +great deal about the money paid by them for the trees.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The deuce knows how it is all to end!" the Freiherr growled to +himself. "Every year living is dearer and the income smaller; +everything to be bought goes up in price, everything to be sold comes +down. It is enough to drive me mad!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Such had now for some time been the usual conclusion of the Freiherr's +reflections, and after these deep-drawn sighs he was wont to fall into +a still gloomier revery, in which he arrived at no single clear idea +except that fate was using him with singular injustice in so +complicating his financial affairs from year to year.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was he extravagant in any direction? No, assuredly not! It is true, he +bred racers, and in order to do so was obliged to employ certain people +who required high wages; but it was his only pleasure, and could not be +altered. His domestic affairs were conducted upon a very liberal scale; +but, as the neighbour and friend of the Eichhofs, it was his duty not +to allow any difference to be observed between the Baron's style of +living and his own; he surely owed this to his rank and station in +life. His son required enormous sums; but the Freiherr had but two +children, and his daughter cost him almost nothing. And it was natural +that Hugo should enjoy life,--he must represent his name worthily. The +Hohensteins had never been bookworms or arithmeticians, and if the +young fellow sometimes went too far and his father resolved that he +should be 'brought to book' the very next time, still his debts must be +paid; the boy could not be dishonoured. All these expenses were really +matters of course; they would not have troubled the Freiherr in the +least except for this unaccountable yearly deficit in his income.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose the bad harvest years are at the bottom of the mischief," +the Freiherr thought, and consoled himself with the reflection that the +good years must come, and that then the 'unavoidable expenses' would be +met, and the 'inconceivable deficits' be made up. He had of late +positively loathed the books of the estate, and had in consequence +rather neglected them. Now he remembered that the time was at hand for +the first instalment to be paid of a loan he had had of Count Eichhof, +and that he could not possibly pay it. He looked up from his gloomy +contemplation of the soil which had once been forest-land, and which +was to be forest-land again in the future, and drove over to Eichhof to +discuss matters with the Count. But he did not find him at home. "The +Herr Count is hunting to-day," the footman informed the visitor. The +Freiherr decided to await the Count's return. He could not be long +away, for twilight was close at hand. He asked for the Countess, was +most graciously received by her, and inquired after the welfare of her +sons. When the Countess talked of her sons she adopted a manner and +bearing which plainly indicated that, although the young men might very +possibly conduct themselves pretty much after the fashion of other +young people of their age and rank in society, still they were +unquestionably very remarkable men, as she and indeed many others well +knew. Bernhard was at present, after the usual wedding-tour among the +Alps, installed in his vine-wreathed villa in one of the Thiergarten +streets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He writes seldom," said the Countess, "and seems to spend much of his +time at home. I could have wished that they had continued to travel +until the <i>saison morte</i> was over in Berlin; for, although he is +extremely happy with his little wife, a man of his force and intellect +needs social excitement."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, your daughter-in-law is so charming that her husband's distaste +for general society is easily understood," the Freiherr observed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is a good child," said the Countess.</p> + +<p class="normal">A more attentive listener than the Freiherr could possibly be at this +time would have plainly heard in the Countess's intonation as she +uttered the words 'good child' the unspoken thought, "but much too +insignificant for my Bernhard." The Freiherr, however, was only +listening to catch the first sound of the hoofs of the horses that were +bringing home the hunting-party, and just as the Countess was preparing +to tell him of the charming letter she had just received from her +cousin the ambassador, with whom she had begun a correspondence "solely +upon Walter's account," the wished-for cadence struck upon his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think your husband has returned," he said, "Allow me to go and meet +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think it is my husband," was the reply. "His voice usually +makes itself unmistakably heard upon his return from hunting. But pray +inform yourself about it, my dear Baron."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr left the room, although there was still no sound of the +Count's voice. The Countess sat gazing towards the western sky, where +the last gleams of the dying day faintly lingered, and began to wonder +why the servant had not brought in the lamp, and why the house was so +silent, since, as the Freiherr did not return, her husband must surely +be at home.</p> + +<p class="normal">The room grew darker and darker, and silence still prevailed. This +quiet was positively oppressive. The Countess arose, passed through the +antechamber, and opened the door leading out to the landing of the +grand staircase. No light was burning here either, but from below came +a dull gleam, and the smothered sounds of hurried words and whispers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter? Why are the lamps not lighted?" the Countess +asked, standing at the head of the stairs. The Freiherr, who stood at +their foot with a candle in his hand, looked up at her with a face so +pale and horror-stricken that a cold shudder ran through her as she +repeated her question, "What is the matter? For God's sake tell me what +has happened!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be calm," said the Baron, who stood beside her in an instant, while +his voice trembled as perceptibly as did the candle in his hand. "Be +calm, I entreat you, dearest madame; your husband has met with an +accident."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Countess grew pale to the very lips. "Oh, God!" she shrieked; +"where is he? where is he?" And she would have rushed down the +staircase, but the Freiherr detained her. "He is not yet here,--he is +coming. One of his huntsmen brought us the news."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is coming?" she cried; "he is only wounded,--he must be only +wounded?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is seriously injured, very seriously," said the Freiherr. "I fear +we must be prepared for everything,--even for the worst!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Countess stared at him with eyes wide with horror; her lips +twitched convulsively, as though unable to utter the terrible word +written so plainly in the Freiherr's face,--uttered so distinctly in +this fearful silence, which was interrupted only by the sounds of +suppressed sobs from the group of servants in the hall below.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly she threw up her arms. "Dead!" she shrieked, "dead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The word was spoken, and she fell back senseless into the Baron's arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">At that moment a vehicle drew up in the castle court-yard, and the +Count, surrounded by his huntsmen, and a few others whom the accident +had called together, was slowly carried up the terrace steps. They bore +him into the castle through the same portal which he had left lusty and +joyous only a few hours before, never to behold it again.</p> + +<p class="normal">With drooping tail, and now and then uttering a melancholy whine, his +favourite hound followed his master's body; he had long been the +faithful companion of his sport. And in the wagon that had brought his +master home dead lay the gun, which all shunned to touch, for it had +caused all this woe, by its accidental discharge as the Count was +leaping a ditch in the ardour of the chase.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few hours later, mounted horsemen rode out into the night, and +telegraphs and letters spread the news of the Count's sudden death far +and wide.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the big drawing-room heavy silver candelabra, with their myriad +candles, are burning at the head of the couch where Count Eichhof is +lying sunk in his last sleep. His head is turned slightly to one side, +so as entirely to conceal the fatal wound in the right temple, and the +smile that the excitement of the hunt had called to his face still +lingers there.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can this be? Is it really true?" murmurs the Countess, seated in an +arm-chair beside the couch, and gazing fixedly with dry eyes at the +smiling face; while the old servant, kneeling at the dead man's feet, +slowly shakes his white head. He cannot believe it, it is so unlike his +master to die; it must all be an evil dream. But below-stairs all are +fully convinced of its reality. The huntsman in the kitchen is telling +circumstantially, for the twelfth time, the whole terrible story,--how +the Count jumped across the ditch and the gun went off. Nor does he +forget to mention the black rabbit that crossed their path when the +chase had just begun, or his own frightful dream of the previous night, +which had caused him to say to his wife when he left her, "Look out for +some accident to-day!" And the cook listens with the same shudder that +he felt the first time the story was told, only it passes off rather +more quickly, and he is able to find consolation not only in the +tankard to which he has frequent recourse, but also in the thought that +he stands very well "with the young master" and will in all probability +retain his position. At last the huntsman goes home, the kitchen is +gradually deserted, and the lights are extinguished, leaving the castle +in darkness, save for the broad glare out into the night from the +windows of the big drawing-room, where he who was the castle's lord now +lies at rest.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">AT THE TOMB.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The Count's three sons hurried to Eichhof immediately upon the receipt +of the sad news, and the obsequies were performed with all the gloomy +pomp demanded by the occasion and by the rank of the deceased. The +sarcophagus, in accordance with a traditionary custom of the family, +was placed before the altar in the Eichhof monumental chapel, where it +was to remain three years before it should be finally consigned to the +tomb. The road to the chapel was still strewn with cut hemlock boughs, +when Walter Eichhof slowly walked along it some days after the funeral +ceremonies, while Bernhard and Lothar were busied over the affairs of +the estate and the settlement of the Count's testamentary dispositions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although the dead man had annihilated all Walter's plans for the +future, he had always been to him a tender and loving father, whose +merry voice and resounding tread he seemed still to hear everywhere in +Eichhof, so indissolubly were they connected in his mind with his home. +And now that voice and that tread had died away forever! Walter +wandered restlessly through the well-known rooms of the castle, +lingering in those where he had been with his father during the last +few months, pacing to and fro on the terrace where he had talked with +him about his future, when the Count in his sanguine way had spoken of +his expectation of living to an advanced age and of providing +handsomely for all his children. Where now were all his plans, and what +was Walter's future to be? He knew that there would be no means to +further him in that diplomatic career which might perhaps have +reconciled him to the study of the law, and the prospect of passing his +youth as the legal authority of some petty town seemed as insupportable +as was any idea at present of transgressing the injunctions of the +dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Count's "I will not have it!" still rang in the son's ears. Oh, if +his father were only here now, that he might appeal to him once more! +An idle wish. That "I will not have it!" had been spoken, and Walter +bowed to the decision of him whose untimely departure would greatly +change his home for him, as he well knew. He was not upon intimate +terms with Bernhard; their training and education had differed so +widely. He had never appealed to him for aid as Lothar had been in the +habit of doing. And he had paid but little regard to his brother's +claims as the future head of the family. So long as their father lived, +he had felt himself upon an entire equality with his brothers. They +were all 'sons of the house.' Now he was the younger brother of the +heir who had entered into possession. He had no rights to assert, and +only his brother's kindness could justify him in regarding the castle +as a home in the future. And this very feeling of dependence which +united Lothar with his brother estranged Walter from him. He was more +reserved with Bernhard than before, partly perhaps because he thought +he observed that Lothar, and even his mother, treated him with a degree +of deference. It wounded him deeply to hear his mother lament not only +her loss, but her changed circumstances. To his irritated sensibility +it seemed as if the settlement of the estate thrust grief for the +departed into the background, and as though life had put forward so +many claims that but small time could be spared in which to pay due +tribute to death. All this distressed him, and hence he often strolled +away to the quiet chapel, where nothing offended his filial affection +or disturbed his memories of his dead father.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one out of the family, except the sexton, who lived close by, +owned a key to the building; and therefore Walter was surprised to find +the door unlocked and ajar. He looked in. The light through the +stained-glass window fell full upon a female figure, dressed in black, +kneeling beside the sarcophagus, and engaged in hanging about it +wreaths of ferns and autumnal leaves. Walter entered softly. The +kneeling figure was so occupied with her pious task that she did not +observe him until he stood close beside her. Then she looked up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela!" Walter exclaimed, in surprise. "You here? I never expected to +find you here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not?" she asked, a gleam of defiance in her eyes, which +nevertheless showed traces of recent tears. "Did I not love your father +dearly?" she continued, with a perceptible tremor in her voice, "and do +I not know how dearly he loved the woods?--and--and--there were only +flowers from the garden and greenhouse laid upon his coffin."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter was silent for a moment, looking down at the forest wreaths that +Adela had brought. Then he took her hand in his. "You are right," he +said, gently. "Your heart is true and kind, after all."</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of replying, the girl turned from him, and, hurrying out of the +chapel, sank down upon the steps, covered her face with her hands, and +burst into a passion of sobs.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter followed her, startled, and yet touched, by this outbreak of +grief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you for these tears, Adela," he said, Beating himself on the +step beside her. "You loved him, and can understand what we have all +lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I know there is no one left like him, so good and kind!" the girl +sobbed. "And he loved me, too, and was always tender to me. I can never +forget it, for no one else cares for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela!" Walter exclaimed, interrupting her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She dried her eyes, and looked up at him. "Yes," she went on, "no +one gives me credit for anything good; no one really cares for +me; but he--he said, only a few days ago,--the last time he came +to us,--'Little Adelaide,'--oh, no one will ever call me that +again!--'Little Adelaide, some day you will----' But why should I +repeat it, and to you, who are surprised that I have a warm, kind +heart? Oh, I am so unhappy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of her naïve egotism in the expression of her grief, Walter +felt that she was really deeply moved, and the unaccustomed spectacle +of one who was always laughing, always gay, giving way to such a +heart-breaking burst of tears, touched him profoundly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela, dear Adela, I pray you be calm," he entreated. "How can you say +that no one cares for you,--you who have a father, and so many others +who love you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't speak of them," she interrupted him, angrily. "You do not +understand. Papa lets me do as I please because he cannot help it, and, +besides, he thinks of nothing but his business affairs and of Hugo. He +cares about that for me," and the girl snapped her fingers. "My +governess is going back to her home, and is immensely delighted to be +rid of me. Frau von Rosen is angry with me, and will not let Alma come +to see me, because I persuaded her the other day to disguise herself +with me in two new liveries that had just come home, and to drive into +town, where nobody recognized us, and where all that we did was to eat +a couple of queen-cakes at the confectioner's. And all because of that +perfectly innocent frolic I am thought unfeminine and odious, and I +must lose my best friend. And now you come, and give me to understand +that you think me heartless; and your dear, good, splendid father is +dead, and will never speak kindly to me again. I am alone,--all alone!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter took her hand again; he knew that she was indeed alone if the +Rosens had forsaken her, and he was so grieved for her that he almost +forgot his purpose in coming hither.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And it hurts me more than all," Adela went on in an agitated way, +"that you, who have been my good comrade ever since we were little +children, should think all manner of ill of me, and should treat me so +coldly as you did the day of the funeral. Then I thought it was because +of your grief, but now I know that it was something else. No, no, do +not contradict me. I know you were surprised to find me here, and to +see my wreaths, because you thought me too frivolous and childish, and +heaven knows what beside, to think of what your dear dead father loved +best. Can you deny it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Adela, I will not deny that I was surprised," Walter frankly +confessed; "but I cannot tell you how happy I am to find I was wrong."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why did you think so of me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because, Adela, you have lately seemed 'so' to me. We were always good +friends until a few months ago, and then you suddenly changed your +manner to me. When we rode together you talked only of new dresses, of +the officers from the neighbouring garrison, of your plans and +prospects for the winter, which you hoped to pass in Berlin, and of +heaven knows what nonsense besides. If I tried to talk of something +else, you yawned, and I felt that we no longer were in sympathy with +each other. And when I called upon you in Kissingen in the summer, as I +was passing through the town, instead of my old playmate I found a +fashionable little lady flirting with a couple of affected fops and +quite ready to make game of her old 'comrade.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not true!" exclaimed the girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, it is," said Walter, who had quite talked himself into a +heat; "remember the day we made a party on the mountain, and you gave +your shawl to Herr von somebody, and your parasol to that other fellow +to carry, and when I asked whether you had nothing for me, you +answered, although you must have seen that I was not in jest, 'Oh, yes: +my caprices; you may have those; the youngest always ought to carry the +heaviest burden.' And then you ran on laughing with the others, and we +never spoke another word to each other the whole day long. Do you +remember?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but I did not mean anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nevertheless you were ready enough to laugh with the others at your +'comrade's' discomfiture; and that laugh broke the bond between us. +From that moment you were no more to me than a strange young lady; and +that I forget this and tell you all that I am saying now, is due to the +sight of those wreaths and of your tears."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And when the wreaths are withered and the tears are dried, must we be +strangers again?" Adela whispered softly, with a questioning glance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would you have it otherwise?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was silent, her looks bent on the ground. He, too, looked away from +her beyond the crosses and marbles of the church-yard, where the autumn +asters were blooming and a few belated white butterflies were +fluttering. All was so quiet around them, except for the low rustling +amid the old oaks on the other side of the church-yard, and a soft +twitter from a little bird perched on the roof of the chapel, who +hushed his note suddenly, as though silenced by the influence of the +spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter's gentle mood had changed. He was irritated by the provoking +silence of this girl, who had no kind reply for him, and he was +wellnigh ashamed of having made an attempt to renew the youthful +friendship the loss of which had given him more pain than he liked to +acknowledge even to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">He arose and touched his hat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, Fräulein Adela," he said, and turned to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she looked up, and all the former bravado had vanished from her +eyes. "Walter!" she said, and at the sound of her voice he stopped +involuntarily. "Walter, do not go; stay for one moment and listen to +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought you wished me to go," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head emphatically. "Do not tease me, Walter," she said, +imploringly. "You see, it is not so easy to confess that one has been +in the wrong. I know I was wrong, and that I am really very vain and +often behaved very foolishly to you. You were quite right to be +displeased, and I am glad to know that you were so, but for all that +you need not be so very angry with me. You see, I know what a foolish +girl I am; and indeed I don't care in the least what people in general +think of me, but it cuts me to the heart when I see that you take my +nonsense seriously and believe me heartless."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter sat down again beside her on the step.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never thought you 'heartless,' Adela," he cried, interrupting her; +"only superficial and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that's just the same thing!" she exclaimed; "and I cannot change +your opinion of me all in a moment. Perhaps you are partly right; but +one thing I can and will promise you, and that is, that I will always +in future be honest and frank with you, and never again play such +idiotic pranks as on that day at Kissingen. I will not pretend to be +better than I am, and neither will I pretend to be worse than I am, and +you shall always have the right to lecture me and tell me what you +think of me. In return you must promise always to be my friend. If ever +I vex you again, tell me so, and scold me, but do not instantly run +away from me as though I were too contemptible a thing to turn back and +look at. Will you promise me this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked up at him with eager anxiety, though with a childlike +confidence, and held out her hand, which he grasped cordially.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Adela," he said, "I will be a true and faithful friend to you. I +cannot tell you how glad I am to find my dear little playfellow once +more. I know now that she may sometimes hide herself, but she will not +vanish utterly. Be sure I shall remember this."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela gave him so sunny a smile that he smiled too, and then, passing +quickly to other things, she asked after his mother and his brothers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are alone too, Walter," she said. "You are very unlike your +brothers, and your mother cannot be much to you. She sees you more in +the future than in the present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Adela!" said Walter, almost startled, "what puts such ideas into +your head?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I keep my eyes open," she said, and then grew suddenly very grave. "I +only mean that your father is a terrible loss to you, and that Eichhof +will be much changed. Thea will come, and I am glad of it, although she +is something of a prig, like all the Rosens. I love her dearly for all +that, and she will be a good sister to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter gazed sadly before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come," said Adela, laying her hand upon his arm, "do not look so +troubled; you know I am just like a sister too."</p> + +<p class="normal">He pressed her hand; they rose, and she noticed that his eyes sought +the door of the chapel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall we not go in again together?" she asked, gently, and they +ascended the steps and entered the building. Adela knelt down beside +the sarcophagus, and hid her face for some time upon the wreaths that +she had placed there. Walter looked down at her, and it seemed to him +that they were in the presence of his father, who smiled upon them.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Adela rose from her knees she looked him gravely and earnestly in +the face, and then left the chapel with him in silence. They went out +into the calm autumn evening; the skies were naming with crimson and +gold, for the sun was just sinking behind the line of forest that +bounded the horizon, and the bell in the little village church began to +ring for vespers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How solemn!" said Adela, pausing before the chapel. Suddenly she +turned to Walter again: "From this moment we are friends for life, are +we not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Adela; at least I promise to be your friend for life," he +replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">She took from her finger a ring set with a sapphire. "Take this ring in +remembrance of today," she said. "It was my mother's, and I have always +worn it, first on my chain and then on my finger. Take it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Adela," Walter said, delighted, and yet hesitating to accept so +strange a gift, "will it not be missed from your finger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is there to miss it? No one cares enough for me to notice whether +I wear it or not," she said, with some bitterness.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took the ring, and as he did so detained her hand in his for some +moments, as they walked down the steps and across the church-yard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Adela; the ring will be most precious indeed to me," he +said, in a low, earnest voice. "But I do not need it to make me +remember this evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">She smiled, and at the gate of the church-yard they took leave of each +other. The chapel lay about half-way between Rollin and Eichhof, so +that each could reach home before dark.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela felt very happy this evening, and, as there was no one to whom +she could speak of her happiness, she carried a basket of sugar into +the stable and fed her various black and brown pets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Some living creatures shall be happy with me, at all events," she +said, stroking the necks of the horses as they took their sugar from +her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one shared Walter's happiness. Indeed, he was not clear as to +whether the emotion that filled his heart at the thought of Adela was +precisely happiness. But he thought much of her all through the +evening, and was even more quiet and dreamy in his mood than usual.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">CLOUDY WEATHER AT EICHHOF.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Several months had passed since Count Eichhof's death. The Countess had +withdrawn to her dower-house, about half a league distant, whence, +however, she drove over at least once every week to complain of the +miserable condition of her present abode. She witnessed, with a +resignation made apparent amid many sighs and tears, the alterations +effected by her son and her daughter-in-law in Eichhof. She found it +perfectly right and proper that Bernhard should be master there, but +that Thea--"that insignificant little girl," as she called her--should +have usurped the position so lately her own, was more than she could +understand or endure.</p> + +<p class="normal">It required all Thea's gentleness and amiability to enable her to +endure her mother-in-law's visits, and her task was made none the +easier by Bernhard's passing almost the entire day out-of-doors. The +Freiherr von Hohenstein, who had found the son quite as accommodating a +creditor as the father had been before him, said that Bernhard was +"launching out tremendously," which was his way of designating the +restless energy with which Bernhard had entered upon the duties of his +new position.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not in vain that the young man had so often heard from his +mother that his position would be one of unusual distinction, and that +he himself was endowed with extraordinary powers of mind. He was +convinced that much, very much, was due from him to himself and to his +position, and his head was so crammed with ideas of the reform that was +to be effected in the management of his estate, that he could not waste +an instant before beginning to carry them out in action. His father had +employed clever agents, and had left all the farming to their care, +prudently aware that he was quite ignorant of rural economy; but +Bernhard was determined to see to everything himself, to have every +operation conducted under his own eye. An unfavourable crisis in the +business world had greatly depreciated the iron-works on the Eichhof +estate. Bernhard determined to indemnify himself for the loss of income +in this direction, and to this end established various extensive +factories. Eichhof was to be a model estate in every respect.</p> + +<p class="normal">It must be confessed that results by no means kept pace with his +purposes, and his orders, issued as they were with autocratic decision, +produced terrible confusion when, as frequently happened, they were +hostile not only to traditional customs, but to especial existing +arrangements. His bailiffs would gravely shake their heads at the young +Count's excessive though praiseworthy energy, and slight differences +would arise, which were, however, speedily adjusted by his personal +amiability and the rare kindliness of his manner towards his inferiors.</p> + +<p class="normal">Owing to his personal qualities, and to the influence of his old +superintendent, whose faithful attachment to the Eichhof family knew no +bounds, Bernhard suffered no losses of any significance, and was saved +from the disastrous results that might have ensued from his ignorant +interference in all sorts of affairs connected with the estate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is hardly more than a boy, but he'll come all right," the old +superintendent would declare. "Others lose their money at cards or on +the race-course, we waste some on these 'useless improvements;' but +there's enough left after all, and it will all come right with time. +The Count has not lost his head, but the sudden possession of such an +estate and such an income has confused it a little, that's all. He is +so young."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea sometimes sadly missed her idyllic Thiergarten home, but in her +secret soul she was proud of Bernhard's untiring energy, and thought it +only natural that he should have but little time to devote to her, +since, as she had been educated to think, wealth entailed many duties +upon its possessor.</p> + +<p class="normal">What she did regret was that, even when he came home to her, it was +often with a clouded brow. He could not forget even in her presence the +business of the day. She told herself that this was also quite natural; +he must take more interest in these important and weighty matters than +in her small joys and sorrows. Nevertheless, she felt a certain void in +her life, which could not be filled either by her domestic occupations +or by her intercourse with her parents or with Adela Hohenstein. Adela +was friends with Alma again, and had promised to be very quiet and +good; but it is to be feared that she was a sad romp still at heart. +Thea laughed and gossiped with the girls, as she had always done, but +somehow she did not seem really to belong to them any longer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus the winter passed, and Easter came again. Lothar and Walter both +came to Eichhof at Bernhard's invitation, but the holidays were very +different from those of the previous year. Lothar's debts amounted to +such a sum that Bernhard, who now needed all his money for his +improvements, declared that he would never again pay one penny for his +brother, and would help him now only upon condition that he would have +himself transferred from Berlin to his native province, where the +cavalry regiments were scattered about in small garrisons and there was +not so much opportunity to spend money. Willy-nilly, Lothar was obliged +to agree to this condition, since he was utterly powerless to extricate +himself from his financial embarrassments without his brother's aid, +and was only too grateful to be helped out of a scrape once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe you are the only one who has any real compassion for me," +said Lothar one day to Alma Rosen, with whom he had been left alone in +his sister-in-law's boudoir. "You pity me, do you not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And so does Thea," Alma replied, a little embarrassed, as she always +was with Lothar; "but then she is glad too, for she thinks that you +will be near us--that is, near Eichhof--in your new garrison."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, yes, that would be the best thing that could happen to me," he +said, smiling. "And Thea is glad? That's very good of her. You both +have excellent hearts, you and Thea, but your father and mother, you +know, look upon me as a terrible black sheep."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma was silent, and looked out of the window. She could not deny the +truth of his assertion, and she would not have admitted it for the +world.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Lothar, in default of any other occupation or amusement, proceeded +to give Alma a short lecture upon himself. "Pray don't turn your eyes +so resolutely away," he began; "indeed, I am not quite such a black +sheep as I am called; only I cannot, somehow or other, manage my money +affairs. It's contrary to my nature, and nobody ever taught me how to +do it, and yet when I go all wrong every one is vastly surprised. Now, +my dear Alma, is not that perfectly unjust? There's no denying that +money in itself is a very low, vulgar thing, and consequently only +common men can manage it properly. I like beautiful things, and never +want to ask their cost. I enjoy, and I like to share my enjoyment with +others, without pausing to consider its price. I bask in the sunshine +and consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, who +never count the cost and yet continue to live. Suddenly a black cloud +thrusts itself between me and the sun, and a perfect hail-storm of +unpaid bills comes pelting down upon me, while all my dear friends and +neighbours join in a chorus of 'You are not worthy to enjoy the +sunshine, for you never remember that twice one are two.' Oh, yes, my +dear Alma, life is very hard, especially when one is so alone in the +world as I am. Yes, if I had a wife as gentle, wise, and lovely as your +sister Thea, something might be made of me after all. I might become a +really respectable member of society."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was perhaps quite as well that Thea's entrance interrupted the +conversation at this point; and half an hour later Lothar was making +preparations for his departure, whistling an opera air, and with as +little thought of the pelting storm of unpaid bills which his brother +was sure to convert to sunshine as of Alma's sweet serious face. The +girl meanwhile sat by herself in the bow-windowed room, and would have +fervently prayed heaven to send Lothar a wise and gentle wife like +Thea, if only her heart would not have throbbed so loud and fast in its +protest against any such petition.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela Hohenstein came running in and roused her from her dreams. "Here +you sit lonely and forlorn as an enchanted princess in her tower gazing +drearily from her window in hopes of a glimpse of some princely +deliverer!" she cried, laughing. "Good heavens, how stupid and quiet +Eichhof is, when one compares it with what it was awhile ago!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can you talk so, Adela? You know they are all in deep mourning; +any entertainments are quite out of the question," said Alma, conscious +that just now she would infinitely prefer her solitude to Adela's +society.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I don't mean that," exclaimed Adela; "but just fancy, I came all +the way up-stairs without meeting a living soul except the servants, +whose faces are so long and solemn since the funeral that it gives one +the horrors to look at them. What in the world has become of the entire +Eichhof family?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thea is walking in the park with her mother-in-law, Lothar is getting +ready to leave Eichhof, and Walter is having a talk with Bernhard. They +have been closeted together for more than an hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So Lothar is packing up? Then the bomb-shell has burst, and Bernhard +has turned him out. You need not deny it, my dear, I know all about his +debts; Hugo told papa of them to console him. And what is to be done +now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma told all that she knew, but Adela listened with only half an ear. +"What is Walter discussing with Bernhard?" she asked, suddenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure I cannot tell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Something is going very wrong with Walter," Adela observed; "he is +altogether too solemn. I used to have so much fun with him; but when he +paid us a visit the other day it was like the shock of a shower-bath, +he was so changed. Lothar, who had far more reason for being grave and +solemn, was very merry and amusing, while Walter--but indeed, Alma, you +must have seen yourself how fearfully stupid and tiresome Walter has +grown to be."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma had not noticed Walter's increase of gravity; what she did observe +at this moment was the arrival before the hall door of Lothar's +travelling-carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked anxiously towards the door through which Lothar entered to +take his leave, just as the Countesses Eichhof returned from their +walk. Judging from the countenance of each, their <i>tête-à-tête</i> had not +been of a very edifying nature. Bernhard and Walter also made their +appearance, and were quite in harmony with the rest of the party, for +they looked irritated and discontented.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-morning to some and good-by to others, in most admired +confusion," said Adela, offering her hand right and left, and +exchanging greetings and farewells, until Lothar's carriage had carried +him away.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Countess wiped her eyes with her lace handkerchief, and pitied in +one breath her "dear Lothar, who is such a fine fellow after all," and +her "beloved Bernhard, who has so much worry and vexation on his +brother's account." And finally she clasped Walter in her arms, +declaring that he would never be anything but a blessing and comfort to +every one. Whereupon Bernhard instantly left the room, closing the door +after him with unnecessary violence, whilst Walter looked the picture +of dejection.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! all joy has fled from this household," sighed the Countess, with a +reproachful glance towards her daughter-in-law, who was silently +bending over her embroidery-frame.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Upon my word," whispered Adela to her friend, who looked quite cast +down by Lothar's sudden departure, "it is too terrible here to-day. If +you do not want me to order round my carriage instantly, ask Walter to +take a walk with us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He does not look as if he wanted to take a walk."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter; ask him, or I will go immediately."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter made no objection to going, and the three young people left the +bow-windowed room. Thea looked after them with entreaty in her eyes, as +though to detain them, but they paid her no heed, and she turned again +to her work with a resigned face, resolved to endure in silence the +further unavoidable <i>tête-à-tête</i> with her mother-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not destined, however, to last long on this occasion, for in a +very few minutes Herr von Rosen's light wagon drove up; he had come for +his daughter Alma. Thea hastened to meet him, and brought him in +triumph into the room, which was instantly illumined as by sunlight by +the old man's genial smile, the brightness of which called forth a pale +reflection even on the old Countess's sad face. No human being could +remain unresponsive to Herr von Rosen's cordiality. It was so easy to +see that his kindliness was not the result of conventional habit, but +was due to the genuine warmth of a noble heart, that it cheered and +refreshed every one around him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew that I should find you here," he said, turning to the old +Countess, "for I stopped on my way hither at your cottage, and they +told me you were at Eichhof. You have planted new shrubberies around +the house, I see, and the balcony is an immense improvement. The old +house will soon be a charming little retreat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed, did you really think it pretty?" asked the Countess. "Good +heavens, it is so plain and simple!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think it charming; and if you find it too quiet, why, you always +have Eichhof, you know. I am so glad to think of you so near here, for +my wife is, as you know, too much of an invalid to drive out very +often, and my dear little daughter will often need counsel and aid in +her new sphere of life. She has learned something already, however, for +her manner of receiving her guests at her last small dinner reminded me +a little of old times at Eichhof. I was proud of you, my little Thea, +and I was sincerely grateful to you for your influence over her, my +dear Countess."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Rosen put his arm around his daughter's waist, and his frank +blue eyes as he looked at her were full of affection. For the first +time to-day the old Countess really smiled, and also looked kindly at +her daughter-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely, however, had Herr von Rosen succeeded in banishing the clouds +from the brows of the ladies, when Bernhard entered with the +threatening of a positive tempest in his face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am very glad to see you to-day, sir," he said, as, after greeting +his father-in-law, he seated himself beside him. "I have arranged +Lothar's affairs after the manner you advised; they are all right: but +now it is Walter's turn."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter? Surely the boy has no debts?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; but I almost wish he had, for then I should know what to do, +inconvenient as it might be for me just at present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" exclaimed the old Countess, "what is the matter now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must be told of it, mother, and perhaps there is no better time +than the present for the telling. Walter has gone back to his insane +idea of last year,--in fact, he seems never to have really relinquished +it,--and he has been attending medical lectures in addition to those +upon jurisprudence. He insists that he shall never be worth anything +unless he pursues the study of medicine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible!" exclaimed his mother. "I never will give my consent to so +crazy a scheme. Besides, my cousin the ambassador has promised him a +position."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard made an impatient gesture with his hand. "You know, mother, +that we have already discussed this matter," he said, "and you know +that I have given up all thoughts of a diplomatic future for Walter, +because such a career requires an independent fortune, far larger than +any I could give him. My plan was that he should first become an +assessor, and then a provincial judge somewhere in the country. Thus he +would become entirely independent----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But not before many years, and in the mean time he would be called +'Assessor' and 'Circuit Judge,'" moaned the Countess. "You cannot +seriously entertain the idea of your brother's being a circuit judge? +He had better enter the army immediately. Oh, if he only had never +studied anything!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The army would have been best, but it cannot be thought of now, and +that is not the question at present; he insists upon studying +medicine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you tell him it was entirely out of the question?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I told him my opinion on the subject, to which, however, he opposed +his own. He declares that he has done his best conscientiously to +comply with our father's wishes, and that it is upon his account alone +that he has silently endured and struggled. He has, he says, been very +unhappy, and is firmly convinced that he shall miss his vocation and +live a useless life if he does conform to these wishes. In short, he +said a great deal to me that sounds plausible enough, but that +nevertheless does not alter the fact that this idea of his of studying +medicine is insanely absurd. I told him that if he persisted in it I +would not help him with a single penny, to which he replied that he had +no intention of applying to me for assistance; he meant that his income +of five hundred thalers should suffice for all his needs, and nothing +would induce him to accept anything further from me. Of course after +this we can have no more to do with each other. He declares that +nothing I can say will have the least influence upon his determination, +which is the result of mature deliberation, and that he does not want +any aid from me. The case is clear, and a breach is unavoidable if +Walter will not listen to reason. He values your opinion highly, sir, +and I thought perhaps you would expostulate with him. I can do no +more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, you must talk to him," said the Countess, wiping away her +tears, while Thea looked eagerly at her father, quite undecided whether +to side with Walter or with Bernhard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what in the world can I say to him?" Herr von Rosen asked. +"Certainly, from what I know of Walter, I judge it very unlikely that +he should arrive at any over-hasty conclusions, and I am not at all +competent to overthrow in an hour a resolve that has been the result on +his part of a year of struggle and endurance. Besides, if I did as you +desire, it would be in opposition to my own conviction. Walter is +subjected to the necessity of carving out his own fortunes, of winning +his own means of subsistence. A hard task under all circumstances, why +should we make it harder for him by forcing him to do what he +positively dislikes? The beginnings of every career are arduous enough, +and, since Walter does not possess sufficient means to surround himself +with outward luxuries, it is surely natural that he should covet inward +content. This he can find only in a calling in which he takes a genuine +interest, to which he can cheerfully devote all his powers of mind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how can he do that as a doctor?" wailed the Countess.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a slight smile upon Rosen's kindly face as he replied, "Your +son probably wonders how he can do it as circuit judge. It is all a +matter of taste and temperament."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, don't speak of a circuit judge! If he is to be nothing but that he +may as well be a doctor." The Countess sighed heavily, and, putting her +handkerchief to her eyes, again burst into tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One is certainly as honourable a calling as the other," Rosen said, +calmly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard maintained a gloomy silence. Thea gazed at her father with +eyes that understood and appreciated him. His view of the matter was +new to her, but she agreed with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fortunately, the young girls with Walter made their appearance at this +moment, and the conversation was not prolonged before Adela. Countess +Eichhof, finding it impossible to control her agitation, and with very +vague ideas as to what really was Walter's intention, withdrew to bury +with many tears her enchanting dream of Walter as an ambassador.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela, who found the air at Eichhof to-day not at all to her liking, +ordered her carriage, and Walter and Alma accompanied her into the +hall. "Oh, I forgot to bring down the book you lent me, Alma!" she +exclaimed, standing on the lowest of the flight of steps. "No, Walter, +you cannot get it; I left it in Alma's room."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma good-naturedly ran to fetch it, and Adela looked after her with a +smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I left it there on purpose," she said to Walter; "and I hid it a +little, for I wanted to speak to you one moment alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter smiled at her small plot, though he shook his finger at her. +"What have you to say to me?" he said, stepping close to her side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"First, I want to know whether you are still my good friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of replying, Walter took out her ring, which he wore on a +ribbon around his neck, and kissed it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela blushed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put it away quickly," she said, with a shy glance around. "No one must +know that you have it, for people are so stupid; too stupid! They could +not understand. But what I really wanted to ask was why you are so +terribly serious and quiet. Has anything gone particularly wrong?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela's blue eyes were so near Walter's face that his breath stirred +the curls upon her forehead, and she looked at him so earnestly and +kindly that his cheek suddenly flushed, and the voice in which he +answered her was rather unsteady. "I cannot explain it to you now, +Adela. It is a long story, and everything seems to me to be going +particularly wrong just now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I am fairly dying with curiosity; tell me about it, quickly!" she +exclaimed, impatiently.</p> + +<p class="normal">He shook his head. "Not now; I will come to Rollin to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ride through the park, then, and I will be waiting for you on the +round white bench near the pond. Some one is always sure to interrupt +us at the house, and you never will be able to finish your story. By +the white bench, then, at eleven o'clock in the morning; I cannot +possibly wait until the afternoon."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had scarcely issued this <i>ordre de bataille</i>, which was given quite +in the tone of a military commander, when Alma appeared with the book, +and Fräulein Adela drove off, well satisfied with the success of her +plot and with the prospect of Walter's visit.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">FOUND AND LOST.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">There was a misty green, betokening the coming spring, upon the bare +boughs of the trees in the park at Rollin, and the little lake in its +midst reflected the clear blue of the skies above it. Adela, seated on +the white bench, near the water, was hardly aware either of the budding +branches around her or of the gleaming mirror before her. Her thoughts +were occupied with her expected visitor, and her hands and eyes with a +beautiful brown greyhound that never seemed to tire of leaping to and +fro over the riding-whip she held out for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What will Walter tell me?" she thought. "Jump, Fidèle!" she called out +to the dog, who had paused for a moment and looked dubiously at his +mistress. "You are a good creature," she went on, stroking his handsome +head, and again her thoughts flew to Walter. "Poor dear fellow, his +eyes have so sad a look in them now; and indeed it is too uncomfortable +in Eichhof. Thea really looks quite ill; she must be fairly bored to +death. Come, Fidèle, you shall jump once more, and then I'll give you +some sugar."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the dog jumped again, and was fed with sugar, while his mistress +began to think that Walter allowed himself to be waited for too long. +Suddenly she sprang up. The sound of a horse's hoofs was audible, and +in an instant Walter turned into the avenue of oaks that led to where +she was sitting. Fidèle ran towards him, and leaped beside the horse +barking his welcome, while Adela, in sudden and unexpected confusion, +which she strove to hide behind an affectation of indifference, fixed +her eyes upon the surface of the lake beyond the rider.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," she said, when Walter, having tied his horse to a tree, stood +beside her, "I have only just arrived. I nearly forgot our +appointment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should have been so sorry not to find you," he said, "for after our +offensive and defensive alliance it would have pained me to leave +Eichhof without telling you myself of what you will be sure to hear +from others, coloured, probably, by their prejudices."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave? You are going away? Where? You have only just come!" the girl +exclaimed, evidently alarmed, and quite forgetting her part of +indifference, as she drew Fidèle towards her and put her arms around +his neck, as if craving some sympathy from him, while she looked up at +Walter anxiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You perhaps remember a ride we took together, about a year ago, when I +told you how hard I had found it to resign the idea of studying +medicine," Walter began.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Walter," she interrupted him, "you are not going to +begin about that again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He gazed at her seriously and sadly for a moment in silence, and noted +the eager and yet terrified expression in her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I am," he then said, softly. "I am firmly, unalterably +resolved----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter!" she exclaimed loudly, thrusting Fidèle from her. "You cannot! +you dare not! Think of your father!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have thought of him and tried to do as he wished. But do you not +think that my father loved me and earnestly desired my happiness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; and for that very reason you ought to do nothing that he would +have disapproved."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And suppose I am perfectly convinced that I never could be contented, +but, on the contrary, should be positively miserable, in the career he +chose for me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You still ought to pursue that career."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And live but half a life, tormented by the consciousness that I was +entirely unfitted for my position? No, Adela, my father never could +have wished me to do this. When I told him of my wishes I had not yet +made an attempt to conform to his. This was my duty, and I have done +it. Now what I only suspected has come to be a certainty. I have no +interest whatever in the study of the law. I cannot make it the +business of my life. Do you not believe that the knowledge of this +would alter my father's views?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your father never would have allowed you to be a doctor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then he would have sacrificed his better self to a prejudice. The very +essence of his being was a kindly enjoyment of life, and it would have +caused him the greatest sorrow to have been the occasion of unhappiness +to one of his sons. I believe that if he had lived he would have seen +this and would have yielded to my wishes. Happiness and unhappiness are +dealt out to us by heaven, but human will is not without influence in +their distribution. As far as I can I choose to be happy, and in so +being to fulfil what I know to have been my father's chief hope for +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But your mother,--think of your mother; she never will consent to what +you desire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my mother never will consent until some brilliant result justifies +my choice. But she is just as averse to a commonplace legal career, +which is what I should now be obliged to pursue, since I cannot be +under obligations to my brother. I must be independent. My mother has +no decided views for me at present. I hope to win her over in time. +Bernhard is angry with me; Lothar only laughs at me. I am very much +alone in my family, Adela. But I never shall forget that I am an +Eichhof, and I shall try, so far as I can, to do honour to my name. I +hope that my mother may one day be proud of me; at all events she shall +never be ashamed of me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had spoken with some emotion latterly, almost more to himself than +to Adela. He suddenly paused and looked at her. Her eyes were opened +wide, and tears were rolling down her cheeks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you know all. Are you still my friend, Adela?" he asked, bending +over her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She seized his hand, and cried, between laughter and tears, "Dear, dear +Walter, I know I ought to be angry with you, but I cannot, I cannot."</p> + +<p class="normal">He pressed her hand to his lips. "Then you think I am right, Adela?" he +asked, gazing earnestly into her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! I do not know, Walter," she sobbed; "but you are so +good, and we have known each other so long, and I know you will go away +now and never come back again for years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you are sorry?" he whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not reply, but her tears continued to flow silently, and, as if +to conceal them, she leaned her head upon Walter's shoulder. He put his +arm around her, and she made no resistance.</p> + +<p class="normal">His lips almost touched her curls, and she wept so uncontrollably that +his heart was inexpressibly touched. Her tears, and the gentle pressure +of her head upon his shoulder, annihilated all the fixed resolves he +had made with regard to her; all the prudent reasonings with which he +had silenced the promptings of his heart were melted by those 'kindly +drops,' like the last snow beneath a warm spring shower. "Dear, dearest +Adela!" he whispered, and kissed her brow. She threw her arms about his +neck and nestled close to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The larks trilled above them, and the sunbeams kissed open the buds of +the elder-bush that grew beside the lake, while Fidèle looked at the +youthful pair clasped in each other's arms with a certain expression of +comprehension in his honest eyes, as if it were all a matter of course.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And so the very words which I feared would separate us have united us +forever, my darling," said Walter, after a long and ecstatic pause. +"Ah, how proudly I shall now pursue my path, since I know that I shall +not be struggling and working only for myself, but for you! And you +will believe in me, and will be patient until the goal is reached, and +I have a home for you where you shall be shielded from every blast that +blows?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She suddenly freed herself from his clasp, and, stroking her curls from +before her eyes, looked at him in a kind of terror. "Walter," she said, +hastily, "for heaven's sake, don't talk so!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He smiled, and drew her towards him again. "Never fear, dear love," he +said. "Be sure that my strength and courage will be all-sufficient to +provide for our future. I know now that you love me, and will one day +consent to be my wife, although I still persist in being a doctor."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again she broke away from him. "I never said that, Walter," she cried; +"no, no; and I never will say it. You ought to know that if I love +you,--and I am not so very sure that I do love you,--all this happened +so quickly,--but even if I did love you, I never, never would consent +to be a doctor's wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter looked at her like some sleeper awakening from a dream. He +found it hard to understand her, but her words could bear no other +meaning except that she meant to break with him if he adhered to his +resolve. "It was all a mistake, then,--the saddest mistake of my life," +he said, slowly and monotonously. "I do not understand how it could be, +Adela, but I understand that you now send me from you." He stood still +for a moment, as though awaiting a reply. Adela was silent, and pressed +her handkerchief to her lips to restrain her sobs. Walter still looked +inquiringly at her. "Farewell!" he suddenly said, and turned to go, but +she seized his arm and clung to him as in desperation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter!" she cried. "Oh, heavens! I--I think--I love you, Walter. You +must not go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela, do not torture me so!" he entreated. "After what has passed +between us, I do not, I cannot know what you mean. You say you love me, +and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, Walter; but you must not be a doctor. If you are poor, no +matter; we will wait until you are a Landrath, and I will learn all +about housekeeping and whatever you wish me to, for--even if I do not +know exactly whether I love you--yet----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You do not know whether you love me, Adela?" he said, with a bitter +laugh. "You do not know exactly? Well, I know, and I will tell you. No, +you do not love me, or you never, after what I have told you, could +demand such a sacrifice of me! You do not love me, Adela; it was all a +dream, and"--he drew out the ribbon upon which he wore her ring--"and +it is past and gone!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held out the ring to her. "There, take it back," he said, his voice +trembling with agitation. "I cannot any longer be your friend. There is +only one relation possible between us. I must have all or nothing. Take +it, take it back!" And he still held the ring out to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not have it," she said, turning stubbornly away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take it, or I will throw it into the lake. I will not keep it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do as you please."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter tossed the ring from him. For an instant it glittered in the +sunlight above the waters of the little lake, into which it sank with a +faint splash.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela never looked towards it. She stooped and stroked the head of her +dog, who pressed close to her side as if in dread of some coming +misfortune. The girl thought that Walter would speak again. Suddenly +she heard the sound of a horse's hoofs behind her. She started up, to +see both steed and rider just disappearing at the turning of the oak +avenue.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter!" she almost screamed.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he had gone. She sank on her knees, and laid her head upon Fidèle's +neck.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter," she sobbed, "I love you! Oh, now I know I love you!" But +Walter could not hear her.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">THEA ROUNDS HER FIRST PROMONTORY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">His brother's affairs were soon driven from Bernhard's mind by anxiety +with regard to his own. The building of the factory was in full +progress, and the new agricultural machines were to be tested. Meadows +were being cleared and fields drained, and Bernhard wanted to be +everywhere, and to have everything under his personal supervision. He +spent the greater part of the day riding or driving to distant parts of +his estate, and his dreams at night were of ploughing-machines, and of +new leases for farms. Thea, who had at first accompanied him in his +rides and drives, now generally stayed at home, and grew graver and +more silent every day,--a fact which Bernhard had no time to notice. He +never, it is true, left the house without a hurried visit to her room, +when he would leave a hasty kiss upon her forehead, with a "Well, Thea, +how are you? I'm off on horseback!" and then, without waiting for her +reply, he would leave her and run down-stairs as if in hopes of making +up for the minute he had wasted upon her. Now and then she ventured a +timid question with regard to his occupations, but, since a fitting +reply demanded explanations for which Bernhard had no time, and to +comprehend which would require more technical knowledge than she +possessed, the answers she received were brief and vague. Whenever +anything occurred, however, that was especially unfortunate, Bernhard +appealed to his wife for sympathy, which she freely gave him, although +in doing so she often betrayed her entire ignorance of the matter in +question.</p> + +<p class="normal">Visits and social events were rare, since the family were still in +mourning. Thea's girl friends were all, with the exception of Adela +Hohenstein, now married, and had left the neighbourhood, where there +were no young married women save Frau von Wronsky, with whom Bernhard +did not wish Thea to associate, and who since the death of the Count +had paid only one short visit of condolence at Eichhof. Thus Thea +was very much alone, and although she did her best to kill time with +china-painting and reading, with embroidery and new music, she could +not always escape ennui. She had no special talent for either music or +painting, only a certain facility which always requires encouragement +for practice. This encouragement was wanting. She thought of her +mother, who had been continually occupied, but the household at Eichhof +was very different from that at Schönthal. Everything at her old home +had been comprised in a much smaller compass, was much more simple, and +Frau von Rosen had held unlimited sway, had overseen her people, and +arranged her housekeeping herself. At Eichhof there was an omnipotent +housekeeper, who had lived more than twenty years in the family, and +for whom Thea entertained an immense respect. The cook was a very fine +gentleman, and the footmen were correspondingly grand. All these people +knew so much, and had been in the house so long, that Thea, with her +eighteen years and her inexperience, scarcely regarded herself as their +mistress. Everything went its way like a clock that has been wound up, +any interference with which would only do harm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus Thea felt that the following of her mother's example was quite +impossible here; and she was equally conscious that her small +occupations were far from sufficient to fill up her days. As she was +too proud, however, to admit to any one that she was discontented, she +said nothing of this to her parents or to Alma.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They cannot help me," she thought, "and why should I trouble them? Let +them believe me perfectly happy."</p> + +<p class="normal">One day she was sitting in the bow-windowed room, vainly endeavouring +to concentrate her thoughts upon a forget-me-not that she was painting +upon a china cup. These same thoughts would fly off to Bernhard, and +she wondered, as she did perpetually, whether there was no way in which +she could be nearer him, could share his interests, and really live +with him instead of only at his side. She was interrupted by a visit +from her father, who often came to Eichhof at this time.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Herr von Rosen entered his daughter's room she joyfully bade him +welcome, and took from him a package of books that he had under his +arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Books for Bernhard," he said, as Thea opened the bundle and began to +arrange the volumes. "Nothing for you, my dear; nothing but treatises +on agricultural matters, and descriptions of just such factories as he +is now building."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea bent over the books with great interest. "And why should they be +nothing to me, papa?" she asked. "Is it impossible for me to share +Bernhard's interests?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The tone of the question was so peculiar that Herr von Rosen looked at +his daughter in surprise. "Impossible?" he repeated. "Oh, no; women can +do a great deal if they choose." And, as he stood by his daughter, he +suddenly put his hand beneath her chin, lifted her face to his, and +looked into her eyes. "What is it you want, Thea? Ah, tears in your +eyes! Then the matter is serious. What is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Thea broke down; she had always made a confidant of her father in +the old days, and her reserve had been hard to maintain. She threw her +arms around his neck, and they sat down together on the small sofa in +the corner. Here father and daughter had a long and earnest talk, and +when they arose from it Thea's eyes and cheeks glowed, and there was a +mysterious smile as of a secret understanding upon Herr von Rosen's +lips as in his subsequent conversation with Bernhard he frequently +glanced towards his daughter. It was arranged that Thea should go +oftener than had been her wont to Schönthal,--that she should drive +over at least twice a week, since Frau von Rosen's health did not at +present permit her to leave the house. Bernhard gave his consent to +this willingly, as he was obliged to be absent from home so much +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will not miss me," thought Thea; "he would rather talk with his +superintendent than with me." But this thought did not sadden her +to-day. Her eyes sparkled, and there was a certain resolute expression +on her face that seemed to declare, "All this shall be different."</p> + +<p class="normal">Two days afterwards she drove over to Schönthal and spent the whole day +there. She took with her one of the books which her father had brought +for Bernhard, and when she came home in the evening another package of +books accompanied her. At some distance from Eichhof, Bernhard came +riding to meet her. Thea blushed and stood up in the carriage,--he had +missed her, then, after all!</p> + +<p class="normal">But that did not prevent her from going to Schönthal again the next +week. Meanwhile, Herr von Rosen came frequently to Eichhof, where he +took long rambles with his daughter through the fields and farms, and +had prolonged conversations with her on the small sofa in her favourite +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus several weeks passed, until one day Thea begged her husband to let +her go with him to the factory, which was now roofed in, and where the +machinery was just being set up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my child," he said, "come if you choose, but it will bore you +terribly. I have so much to attend to about which you know nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">She smiled, and put on her hat and gloves to accompany him.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a lovely warm afternoon. The little open carriage flew along the +broad road, but Thea made no observations upon the beauty of the sunset +or the misty colours of the distant forest, although she saw and +enjoyed both. She knew that Bernhard's thoughts were occupied with far +other topics, and her questions bore such evident reference to these +that his replies, at first vague and constrained, soon altered their +tone. He was so absorbed in these interests of his that he had no time +for surprise at his young wife's sudden accession of knowledge, but at +least he made no objection when, upon arriving at the factory, she +prepared to accompany him in his tour of inspection. She listened +attentively to all that the workmen had to tell, examined the machines, +and now and then asked questions, which the machinists answered +eagerly, and which so astounded Bernhard that he several times +found himself looking inquiringly at her as if to make sure that +it really was his 'May-rose' who was discoursing so learnedly of +machines, and water-power, and steam-power. He himself had never been +so absent-minded before upon a visit here. Scarcely were they seated in +the carriage again on their homeward way when he turned to her and +asked, "For heaven's sake, tell me, Thea, where you learned all this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She laughed merrily. "Learned what?" she asked, in her turn. "I have +but the merest superficial knowledge of these things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But a short time ago you had no idea of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">She gave him a look from her large dark eyes that was half saucy, half +entreating. "Will you not try me and see whether I have not some more +'ideas' perhaps, and take me with you oftener?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Thea! I was only afraid of boring you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you thought I had better be bored at home alone than in your +society?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you been bored at home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very nearly; but just at the right time something pleasanter occurred +to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that was?" he asked, when she paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that was,--guess what."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-evening, Bernhard; good-evening, Thea," a joyous voice called out +very near them, and Lothar galloped up, followed by a second horseman +in uniform.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar had in fact been transferred to a regiment of hussars stationed +in the neighbourhood of Eichhof, but he had been sent until lately to a +distant garrison, and had but just arrived at the small town near by.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am making my first formal neighbourly visit to you," said Lothar, +riding close up beside the carriage, while the other horseman also +approached and saluted Bernhard and Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lieutenant Werner is my stay and consolation in my present Gotham," +said Lothar, as the carriage proceeded slowly, escorted by the two +riders; "he knows Berlin as well as I do, and we exchange +reminiscences."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lieutenant Werner smiled. "Yes, it was hard enough at one time to be +away from Berlin, but I am very well content now to be in R----."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what of your studies, Herr von Werner?" Thea asked. She was +already acquainted with the young officer, and knew that he was +interested in science.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, madame, there is much to be desired in that direction," he +replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Lothar called out from the other side of the carriage, "He lives +like a hermit, Thea; but I hope to spoil his books for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will hardly do that," said Werner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense, my dear fellow! 'All printed stuff is dull and gray, the +tree of life is ever green and gay,'" Lothar declared, in a rather free +paraphrase of Goethe. Then he turned to talk with Bernhard about his +horses, while Werner rode by Thea's side until the carriage stopped at +the gateway of the castle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am so glad to see you here; I hope you will come often," Thea said, +as she got out of the carriage and offered her hand to Lothar.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar kissed it, and replied, "I am only afraid of coming too often, +Thea; so let us have it settled in the beginning that if I come to +Eichhof as often as I have the time and desire to come, you will turn +me out if I come at the wrong time."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea laughed. "I agree," she said. "You shall at all events have a room +always ready for you, and plenty of almond-cakes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you have not forgotten what I like best. Bernhard, your wife is an +angel!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew that long ago," Bernhard said, with a laugh, as he led his +guests into the bow-windowed room, where the servants were just +lighting the lamps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must set Werner afloat," Lothar said, in the course of conversation; +"to-day we call here, to-morrow at the Wronskys, the day after +to-morrow----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are the Wronskys at home?" Thea interrupted him. "I thought they were +travelling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have been back for two weeks," Lothar replied. "I saw her at a +dinner at the Schönburgs'. She is really a very charming and +interesting creature. I was not half so much pleased with her at first +as I am now. They tell all kinds of stories about her, but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are the stories about her?" asked Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense, Lothar!" Bernhard interposed, as his brother was about to +give his version of an <i>on dit</i>. "Why repeat silly stories, which no +one will vouch for, and of which every one has a different version? The +lady is now Marzell Wronsky's wife; he is our neighbour, and for his +sake we ought not to repeat such reports."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea looked at her husband in surprise. He had so often expressed his +dislike of this woman, and yet he was suddenly so eager in her defence.</p> + +<p class="normal">She said nothing, however, because she suspected that it would be +better not to have these 'reports' retailed at her table, and Werner, +who thought he detected a shadow of annoyance on her countenance, said +quickly, "The lady's conduct certainly is at present perfectly correct, +and she is very interesting in conversation. I lately took her in to +dinner somewhere, and I was amazed to find how much she had seen of the +world. She is perfectly familiar with Europe, and has been to Palestine +and spent a winter in Cairo besides."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you not envy her?" said Thea, to whom Werner had formerly confided +his great love of travel, and the fact that with all his economy he +could only contrive to take a short journey every other year.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just a little," he replied; "but we had one memory in common of one of +her smallest journeys and of my largest one. After the Paris Exposition +she went to Trouville."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You were there too, Bernhard, and just at that time," said Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, there must have been many people there at that time of whose +existence I was entirely unaware," Bernhard said, hastily; but +something in his tone of voice and in the expression of his face struck +Thea, and, little prone as she was to suspicion, the thought occurred +to her, "He knew her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, society at Trouville is so mixed," said Werner, "and so +various, that it is impossible to know every one. Frau von Wronsky +seemed not to have enjoyed her stay there very much."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Naturally." Thea turned to her husband. Had he spoken the word, or had +she been mistaken?</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I said nothing," he replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens, Thea, you have an entire agricultural library here!" Lothar +exclaimed at this moment. He was never quiet long, and while the others +had been conversing he had been walking about the room on a tour of +discovery in search of new books or pieces of furniture. He was now +standing before a pretty open set of book-shelves, from which he took +several books and brought them to the table. "Since when have you been +perusing works upon drainage, irrigation, and plans for factories?" he +asked, laughing, and pointing to the titles of the volumes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea blushed, and piled the books together. "Don't be so rude as to +disarrange my books, Lothar," she said, as she took up some to put them +away again.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bernhard detained her. "Thea," he said, "now I understand where +your 'ideas' came from. Have you really been studying all this +tiresome, dry stuff, and was this what you meant the other day when you +declared that you had discovered an excellent antidote for ennui?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, of course, I wanted to be able to talk about all these things +with you, and to know something at least of what is absorbing your +thoughts," she said, with a still brighter blush, forgetting for the +moment both her guests and Frau von Wronsky, as she noted the +expression of her husband's eyes. The next instant she turned away, +with a laugh, to rearrange her books.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard looked after her with an emotion that he would have found it +difficult to express: never had she seemed to him so enchanting, so +charming, as at this moment. Lothar laughed; Lieutenant Werner looked +grave, and, when Thea again joined the group around the table, gave her +a glance of intense admiration.</p> + +<p class="normal">A servant announced that tea was served in the dining-hall, and thither +the party repaired.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea tried to lead the conversation to the Wronskys again, but Bernhard +persistently changed the subject whenever they were alluded to.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why is it so disagreeable to him to hear that woman talked of?" Thea +said to herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was tolerably late when the two officers took their leave, but Thea +was not at all tired, and while Bernhard accompanied them down into the +hall, she fetched a large photograph book, in which were the +photographs of all the landed proprietors of the neighbourhood, with +their wives, and when Bernhard returned he found her lost in +contemplation of Frau von Wronsky's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am glad they are gone, Thea," he cried, more quickly and merrily +than was his wont to speak, "for now I can thank you as I should for +reading all those books for my sake. I know you did it all for love of +me, my darling."</p> + +<p class="normal">He drew her tenderly towards him; but although his words would have +made her perfectly happy a few hours before, she now returned his kiss +rather coldly, and said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, it was not much to do; it really interested me very +much, and papa explained everything to me that I did not understand. +But," she added, without explaining the strange sequence of ideas, +otherwise than by pushing forward the book of photographs,--"tell me, +Bernhard, did you not know the Wronsky at Trouville?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What put that into your head?" asked Bernhard, thrusting the book +aside. "I told you before----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You spoke of <i>many</i> people, Bernhard, but you did not say that you did +not know <i>her</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Bernhard smiled. "Oh, you women!" he exclaimed, drawing his wife +towards him. "Well, since you are developing such a talent for +diplomacy, you may learn that I certainly did have a distant +acquaintance with her, but that she belonged to a circle that makes it +very desirable that I should ignore all former acquaintance with her +whatsoever. Yes, I owe it to Marzell Wronsky to preserve entire silence +with regard to that time, and all I can tell you is that she did not so +conduct herself as to lead me to regard her as a fit associate for +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, what did she do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She was very imprudent, my child. But pray let us drop this subject; +we neither of us care anything about her, and I have told you what I +have because I know you are no gossip and would rather help me to keep +the secret of my former acquaintance with her than prevent me from +doing so. You now know that my only reason for silence as to my ever +having seen her before is a reluctance, for her husband's sake, to +being questioned with regard to her former life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bernhard, but----" Thea hesitated, and hid her face in her hands, +although Bernhard could see her forehead and neck flush crimson.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But? What is it that you want to know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard," she whispered, still covering her face, "tell me truly and +really, were you never in love with her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!" he exclaimed, drawing down her hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look in my eyes, Thea, while I tell you that I never cared for this +woman, and never had any association with her whatever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God!" she whispered, drawing a long breath of relief.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">ANOTHER PROMONTORY COMES IN SIGHT.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The long summer days as they passed were happy indeed for Thea, and all +the more cloudless and sunny because of the absence at a watering-place +of the old Countess Eichhof.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife had wellnigh forgotten the shadow that had been cast +upon her path for a moment by the figure of Frau von Wronsky, and she +was no longer in the least jealous of the old superintendent, for she +was now Bernhard's daily companion and her advice and opinion were +eagerly sought for. Bernhard was almost as inexperienced as herself in +the management of an estate, and, since she had more leisure and less +ambition for distinction than he, the old superintendent sometimes +declared that the Frau Countess really understood matters better than +the young master. Lothar frequently occupied his room at Eichhof, rode +Bernhard's horses, ate almond-cakes, and entertained his comrade, +Werner, with accounts of his sister-in-law's constantly increasing +beauty. Werner seldom came to Eichhof, but when he did come, Thea +always had much to tell him. She read the books that he recommended to +her, and he was the only one who seemed to take any interest in Walter. +Thea corresponded with her youngest brother-in-law, and hoped in time +to be the medium of reconciliation between him and Bernhard, who made +no objection to this correspondence, although he refused to listen to +Walter's letters. Lothar was not so decided in his antagonism towards +his younger brother, but he yawned whenever Thea spoke of him, and so +she was driven to seek sympathy solely from her father and from Werner. +Each listened attentively to all she had to say of Walter, for, +although Werner did not know him personally, the young fellow's pluck +and determination interested him greatly.</p> + +<p class="normal">In all things else perfect harmony existed between Thea and her +husband. And yet these sunny summer days were not long cloudless. For +some time it had seemed to the superintendent that his master's +enthusiasm was on the wane. "It will increase again," he thought at +first, but before long he began to shake his head over the state of +affairs. At last Thea too noticed that Bernhard was often out of sorts +and not so actively employed as heretofore. The reason for this was to +be found not in outward circumstances, but in Bernhard himself. He had, +it is true, had many disappointments, and had encountered many +obstacles, but what especially galled him was the reflection that he +was not turning his talents to sufficient account. When, young as he +was, he entered upon his inheritance he had determined to effect +extraordinary results. In his ardour for accomplishment he had +forgotten that there must be a certain knowledge acquired for such +accomplishment, and now he could not but frankly confess to himself +that he had really done very little, that those in his employ had been +the real workers and had understood matters far better than had their +master. There had been much outlay of capital also, and it was +questionable whether this outlay had always been judicious.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fritter away my powers of mind in too many directions," he said to +Thea one day, "and I fear I am not precisely fulfilling my vocation. I +attempt to be architect, mathematician, grazier, and ever so many other +things besides, and I know that I am really none of all these, and do +not indeed desire to be. I fancied the management of a landed estate to +be something vastly more important."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it certainly is a fine thing to arrange and to create as you are +doing," Thea replied. "I feel proud as we drive through the meadows, +where your will has transformed what was unprofitable land into green +grassy fields."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I am pleased with that too, but in fact I have had very little to +do with it; others have done it for me, and would have done it as well +without me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea sighed; she was so content, and she had been so proud of this very +industry of Bernhard's that he was now depreciating.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Lothar came to Eichhof one day and reported that several of the +most respectable citizens of R---- had asked him whether he thought +that his brother would accept a nomination for the Reichstag. Bernhard +knew that there had been some such proposition talked of in official +circles, and he had cherished the idea, since he was the largest landed +proprietor in his district, and the seat that it commanded would fall +vacant just when he had completed his twenty-fifth year and was thus +eligible for a nomination.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that some of our neighbours are thinking of you, too," said +Lothar; "and you will see, when you come to the Diet-assembly +to-morrow, that you will be offered the nomination."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard's eyes sparkled. "I confess that the possibility occurred to +me," he replied. "Hohenstein said something about it the other day; but +I'm afraid that the ultramontane candidate has the only chance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's a question," said Lothar. "Herr M----, it seems, has some blots +on his scutcheon, which his opponent will use to the best advantage; +and since Wronsky, in view of his Polish ancestry, I suppose, is to be +their second candidate, there will hardly be a due amount of enthusiasm +among the ultramontanists, since he is, to my certain knowledge, a very +lukewarm Romanist. And, besides, you, with all your dependants here, +have more votes at your disposal than any one of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never would force my people to vote against their own convictions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense! If they are not convinced that their master is the fittest +man to represent them, let them find another master."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you are talking just like Hohenstein," said Bernhard, laughing. +"Did you not discuss a bowl of punch together last night while he +explained to you his views upon the coming election?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're right as far as the punch goes, Bernhard, but as for the views, +they are my own, and I think you owe it to the good cause to accept the +nomination, since every one says that you have by far the best chance +to defeat the ultramontanist."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we shall see how matters look to-morrow at the Diet," said +Bernhard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will be there, at all events?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea had hitherto listened in silence. "Bernhard," she now said, +suddenly, "if you were elected you would have to go to Berlin in the +autumn."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Possibly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Bernhard, you know----" She leaned over him and whispered a few +words in his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No need to trouble ourselves about it, my child," he replied. "In the +first place, my nomination is entirely uncertain, not to speak of my +election----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you would accept it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! I really do not know. 'Tis a matter for grave +reflection."</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried to convince himself that he had come to no decision, and he +was nevertheless exulting in his inmost heart at the thought of +political activity. Politics were assuredly fitted to employ all his +powers, to call forth all his energy. Here was a field in which a man +could gratify his ambition and achieve prominence without the petty +labour, the commonplace effort required by the management of an estate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar, usually so slow to reflect and to draw conclusions, was +clearer-sighted than Thea in this matter. He knew that his brother +would accept this nomination, while the young wife hoped to induce him +to decline it. She had taken great pains to fit herself to share in her +husband's present interests, and she was proud that she had succeeded. +What possibility was there of her gaining any insight into politics, +when that was to take place in the autumn which would prevent her from +accompanying her husband to Berlin?</p> + +<p class="normal">There was no room for doubt upon the subject, however, by the evening +of the next day, when Bernhard came home, accompanied by the Freiherr +von Hohenstein, who presented her husband to Thea as "our future member +for the Reichstag, madame."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard?" she exclaimed, in involuntary alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not member yet," said Bernhard: "but the confidence reposed +in me by my old friends and neighbours is so flattering, dear Thea, +that I could not do otherwise than accept the nomination with thanks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense! your election is a certainty," said Hohenstein; "leave that +to us. I'll have no one in my service or on my land who does not vote +with me; nor shall those who do not vote with me be benefited by my +bounty during the winter. Every man of them has something to gain from +us, and must do our pleasure if he hopes to retain our good will."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, papa," cried Adela, who had ridden over to Eichhof to meet her +father, "you must not send Jusak away. He is the best groom we ever +had, and keeps my mare in such beautiful trim; besides, he rides +superbly. Only a week ago the poor fellow was groaning over the coming +election, because his wife is such a terrible scold and the most devout +Catholic in the entire village, always going twice to church every +Sunday and holiday. He says his vote must cost him either dismissal +from your service or a terrible row at home that will last he cannot +tell how long."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein laughed. "Why doesn't the rascal keep his wife in better +order, then?" he rejoined.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He keeps the mare and everything else in his charge in perfect order."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nevertheless, if he votes against me he shall go. All our neighbours +think as I do in this matter, and you, Eichhof, are, I suppose, no +exception."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard, you would not really act thus?" asked Thea. Her husband +shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hohenstein has far more experience in such affairs than I," he +replied. "Such a course is hardly what I should like, but it may be the +only one to pursue. It is not simply a personal question; the +principles that I advocate are at stake, and they must be maintained; +each vote that I lose adds one to the opposition. We must look to the +end in view."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And shut your eyes to the means; there speaks the Jesuit, Thea!" Adela +exclaimed, laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You do not understand, Fräulein Adela," said Bernhard, who was still +under the influence of the excited speakers to whom he had been +listening in R----. "I was disposed to be of your opinion, and even now +I am not in favour of harsh measures to secure votes, but I see clearly +that some pressure must, be brought to bear. The vote of one of us, +trained as we have been to reflect and decide, to draw logical +conclusions, is of no more weight than is that of an ignorant groom, +whose ideas are centred in his stables. These people scarcely know what +questions are at stake in the choice of a member for the Reichstag, and +cannot possibly judge who would best represent the interests of the +country. They have been strongly influenced all their lives long, and +to suppose that they can suddenly form an independent judgment in so +important a matter as an election of this kind is perfect nonsense. +Therefore it is for their own good that they should be influenced now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, with food, fagots, and dismissals," exclaimed Adela. "Very well, +Count Bernhard; if I lose Jusak through your fault all friendship +between us is at an end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then all I can do to regain your good will, Fräulein Adela, is to +raise my voice in the Reichstag, if I ever get there, in favour of the +emancipation of woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would go far to appease me, to be sure," she said; and then, +taking Thea's arm, she added, "Come, Thea; when men begin to talk +politics they are simply detestable, and I see very well that they are +to be the topic here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all; we would far rather enjoy your charming society," said +Bernhard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes; and in order to do so plunge into discussions as to where the +next election meeting shall be held, and what you mean to say at it, +and what some one else will say then, and how many votes you have, and +how many your opponent has. It's all excessively interesting, no doubt. +I heard it all last year at the official elections for the lower +chamber, and I know that papa and you and all the rest will think of +nothing else for weeks to come, and that I shall be bored to death. +Thank heaven, officers cannot vote; my hope is in them for the +present."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentlemen laughed, and even Thea smiled at Adela's irritation. +Since, however, Herr von Hohenstein was evidently eager for the +discussion which his daughter so reprobated, she allowed herself to be +drawn away to the next room, where Adela instantly began to describe a +dress she intended to wear at a picnic to be given by the officers of +hussars in the neighbourhood. Thea listened but vaguely, for her mind +was much occupied by Bernhard's election. She could not quite +understand or approve his sudden enthusiasm for political life. She +felt it her duty as a wife to rejoice in the distinction conferred upon +him, and yet she could not control her dislike of this hasty change in +her husband's views and plans.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alma is to be dressed just as I am," Adela chattered on meanwhile. +"Tell me, Thea, have you noticed that Lothar seems very attentive to +Alma?" Thea's attention was aroused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lothar?" she repeated. "How did such an idea enter your head? I have +seen nothing of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela declared that she did not believe there was anything in it, but +Thea resolved to watch Lothar more closely and to talk more with him, +for hitherto, although he was older than she, she had treated him as a +younger brother, who told funny stories very well and ate almond-cakes +with a grateful relish, but who could not possibly be suspected of +falling honestly and seriously in love. But when her own sister was +thus spoken of, it behoved her to be more observant.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela, whose moods were as variable as an April day, suddenly fell +silent and looked very grave. Then she asked, "Walter is not coming to +Eichhof this year, is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; Walter is very economical, and, since he will accept nothing from +Bernhard, he must find going to Berlin quite expensive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is going to Berlin, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; he is to continue his studies there. Did you not know that? Oh, I +remember you would not listen to his letter the other day when I wanted +to read it to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela blushed crimson, and rejoined, with a laugh, "I wish I could stop +saying everything that comes into my head, without stopping to think. +But come, let us see if the gentlemen are still as tiresome as ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they returned to the drawing-room they found Bernhard and his +friend still discussing the election. But Adela joined them, and sat +still between Bernhard and Thea for the remainder of the evening, as +though she dreaded another <i>tête-à-tête</i> with the latter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard was extremely animated. He spoke with more energy and fluency +than usual, and Thea thought, "Perhaps he is now choosing the career +for which he is best fitted, and it is silly and petty of me not to +rejoice in it." When he looked towards her inquiringly, she nodded with +a smile; but still it seemed to her as though there were another shadow +rising between her husband and herself.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">A PERIOD PUT TO A LONG ROW OF FIGURES.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It was a gray, rainy day. Adela was sitting at the window watching the +falling drops and stroking Fidèle, who laid his head upon her knee and +gaped.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The world is very tiresome, Fidèle," said Adela, and the dog looked at +his mistress out of his wise brown eyes, evidently with no disposition +to gainsay her verdict.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is nothing to be done with papa," the girl continued, still +addressing her remarks to Fidèle. "Scarcely is the election over when +he buries himself in accounts, shuts himself up all day in his room, +and if ever I stay with him there he is silent and <i>distrait</i>. I wish +he had been a candidate and had been elected instead of Bernhard +Eichhof; then we should have gone for the winter to Berlin, where I +could have consoled myself for Jusak's loss. Poor wretch! he must go, I +suppose; and it's all nonsense, for Bernhard did not need his vote; the +Catholics had no chance after Herr von Wronsky withdrew his name."</p> + +<p class="normal">The rain beat against the window-pane. Adela sighed, and then pursued +her train of thought: "I wonder if it is true that Frau von Wronsky +persuaded her husband to retire? It may have been so, for they say she +believes in nothing and has the upper hand of him; but Thea says that's +all mere gossip, and that Herr von Wronsky went to see them himself to +tell them that he did not wish to oppose Bernhard, and that he would +rather retire voluntarily than have any interruption of kindly feeling +between them. Who can tell? The Wronskys are going to Berlin this +winter, at any rate. Oh, everybody is going to Berlin; if we could only +go too!" And then she thought quite naturally of Walter, who was also +in Berlin. Her thoughts usually strayed in his direction, although she +believed herself firmly convinced that she had reason to be very angry +with him, and that she was so in reality.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly Fidèle raised his head, and Adela sprang up. A carriage drove +past the window and stopped before the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank heaven, some one is good enough to pay us a visit in this +storm!" Adela exclaimed, and hurried out of the room to receive the +guest. But when she reached the hall she started in surprise. There +stood a tall young man, who took off his overcoat and hat and stood +revealed--her brother Hugo!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens, Hugo! where do you come from?" she called out to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Apparently from Berlin," he replied. "Where is my father? He is at +home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but how is it that----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be good enough to spare me all questions for the present," Hugo +rejoined, impatiently. "I have important matters to discuss with my +father, and I must return to Berlin to-morrow. Is my father in his +room?" And without awaiting a reply, he hurried past her and went into +his father's study.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela involuntarily followed him thither as far as the door; then she +suddenly paused, and turned away angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What can be the matter? More debts, I suppose," she said. "But----" +The next moment she opened the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want here?" the Freiherr fairly shouted, so that she +retreated in dismay.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Curious, as women always are," Hugo said, with a shrug.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela shut the door behind her and ran along the passage to her room, +where she threw herself into an arm-chair and burst into a passion of +angry tears. Fidèle nestled close beside her, and she stroked his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You love me, Fidèle, do you not?" she said, wiping away her tears. +"Ah, you dumb brutes are far better than human beings!" The girl threw +a shawl over her head, and, followed by the dog, ran out to the +stables. "Here, at least, I know that I am welcome," she said, going +from one horse to another; and finally seating herself on a bundle of +straw, she propped her head on her hand, gazing in most melancholy +fashion at her favourites.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fräulein! Fräulein Adela!" a voice near her called suddenly, and as +she sprang up from her straw seat a servant entered the stable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Anton, how you look!" the girl cried, startled by the +old servant's pale face. "What is the matter? What has happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Fräulein Adela, do not be frightened, but the Herr Baron has had a +fainting-fit or something. I don't know----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela heard not another word. Fast as her feet could carry her she ran +towards the house, and was in her father's room the next moment. The +Freiherr lay upon the lounge, his eyes wide open and fixed, while the +housekeeper and one of the younger servants were rubbing his forehead +and his hands with hartshorn. Adela took the hartshorn-bottle from the +old housekeeper's trembling hand, and bent over her father. "Dear, dear +papa!" she whispered. His eyes had a look of recognition in them,--a +spasm passed over his face, but not a word issued from his pale lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God! how did this happen?" Adela, trembling like an aspen leaf, +asked of old Anton, who entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know," he whispered. "The Herr Lieutenant arrived suddenly, +and they were talking very loud together, and as I was carrying the +Herr Lieutenant's portmanteau past the door the Herr Baron said, 'I +cannot!' and the Herr Lieutenant cried, 'It must be done!' And then, +when I had passed by, I suddenly heard a heavy fall, and the Herr +Lieutenant called me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My poor, poor father!" Adela whispered, bending over him again. She +thought she understood it all now, and glanced furtively at her +brother, who, having despatched a mounted messenger for the doctor, now +entered the room and approached his father. The Freiherr cast upon him +a glance of such utter agony, and his agitation so evidently increased +at sight of his son, that Adela said, "Go out of his sight, Hugo; it is +best that he should not see you."</p> + +<p class="normal">This time she encountered no angry reply, but Hugo quietly obeyed her, +and retreated to the recess of the window, where he threw himself into +an arm-chair and sat motionless for the next fifteen minutes, his head +buried in his hands, as if his spirit were far away and his body only +present beside the couch whereon his father lay--through his fault.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the doctor arrived, and explained that the Herr Baron was +suffering from a stroke that had paralyzed his tongue and his right +arm. Adela and old Anton never stirred from beside him, while Hugo +wandered restlessly about the house, now looking through his father's +papers and locking up those still scattered about, now taking down the +weapons that hung upon the wall to examine them, and often opening the +Freiherr's case of pistols and passing his fingers over the smooth +steel barrels.</p> + +<p class="normal">After midnight the Freiherr fell asleep, and Adela's eyes, too, closed, +and her head fell back against the high arm-chair in which she sat. +Hugo was in the next room, but no sound betrayed his presence there. He +was sitting at the table, upon which stood the open case of pistols, +and his head was buried in his hands. Fiery balls that turned into long +rows of figures seemed to dance before his eyes. Longer and longer grew +these rows; there seemed to be no end to them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he can pay nothing more; he is bankrupt," Hugo muttered, clenching +his fist convulsively. "There will be no more Hohensteins at Rollin." +He had so often despised his home, and now he suddenly became conscious +of how closely the name of the estate was connected with that of the +family who had owned it for two hundred years. And again the long rows +of figures danced before his eyes. Could no period be put to them? +Yes, one--in the shape of a small round ball. He shuddered and shrank +back,--his hand had touched the cold barrel of a pistol. He opened his +eyes for an instant, but closed them again, and--another period that +might be put to the endless row of figures hovered before him. It was +round, too, in form, but instead of a ball it was a ring. He sprang up, +pushed away the case of pistols, and, going to the writing-table, took +a sheet of paper, and began to write. Suddenly he noticed that the +paper was edged with black. He threw it aside and took another sheet. +The sick man was still sleeping. Adela's head had sunk farther back in +her chair; she was dreaming that her father had been thrown from his +horse and was lying lifeless on the ground. Then some one suddenly came +between her father and herself and--laughed. It was a bitter, terrible +laugh. Adela started in terror, and rubbed her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">The same low laugh came from the next room.</p> + +<p class="normal">She shuddered, rose, and went to the door. There she saw her brother +sitting at the writing-desk. The open case of pistols was on the table +behind him, and before him lay a letter which he was folding to put +into an envelope, while the bitter smile had not yet faded from his +face. A fearful thought flashed upon the girl's mind. With a timid +glance at the open case, she hurried across the room and laid her hand +upon her brother's shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For heaven's sake, Hugo, tell me what you are going to do!" He shook +off her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go!" he said. "It is the only means of salvation!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would you add suicide to all the other misfortunes overwhelming us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Again there came the laugh, the echo of which had roused her from +sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">"On the contrary," he said, "there will be joy throughout the family, +and you will shortly have an opportunity to figure as a bridesmaid."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Hugo, how can you think of such things?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"These are just the things that I must think about, or we should soon +cease to have need for thought of any kind. But you know nothing of it. +Go to your father, and leave the rest to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela fixed her eyes on a white sheet of paper, edged with black, that +lay on the writing-desk, and on which she read the words, "My dear +Councillor, I am a man of few words, and therefore frankly ask of you +the hand of----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo seized the paper and tore it in pieces.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no need for you to look so horrified," he said. "Fräulein +Kohnheim is a very pretty girl; her parents had her baptized some time +ago; and her father could pay the debts of an entire regiment if he +chose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hugo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave me in peace, and be thankful that there is one way out of this +for all of us. To-morrow morning this letter goes; to-morrow evening I +go, and the next day our troubles will all be over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And papa?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our father will soon recover; the doctor says so. A first stroke is +never so dangerous----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela!" a weak voice called at this moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see he has already recovered his speech, as the doctor said he +would," said Hugo.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela flew to her father's side and covered his hand with kisses. For a +moment her brother was forgotten; she only felt that a change for the +better had come, that her father would recover, and that he had wanted +her--her; that the first use he had made of his returning voice had +been to call his daughter!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">THE MISTRESS OF EICHHOF AND HER GUESTS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">With the first fall of snow there was born in Eichhof a little son and +heir, and Bernhard, who had been summoned from Berlin, whither he had +gone for a short autumn session, stared helplessly at the little +creature that Thea presented to him, and which he proudly called his +son, although how that red, wrinkled mite, quite buried in laces, could +ever develop into a stalwart representative of the Eichhofs he could +hardly imagine.</p> + +<p class="normal">Consideration for her child kept Thea at Eichhof this winter, and +Bernhard allowed her to follow her inclination in this respect, all the +more willingly that his 'improvements' at Eichhof had cost a great +deal, and he would scarcely have been able to maintain the state which +he deemed required by his rank had his wife gone with him to Berlin and +been presented at court.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are the dearest and most prudent of wives," he said to Thea; "and +you are quite right to stay here this winter. But for all that you must +not live the life of a recluse, for, since our year of mourning is +over, we owe it to our position and to our neighbours to open our house +again, even although I must be away. Your father and Lothar are close +at hand, and will supply my place."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar was enchanted with this prospect, although he was, upon the +whole, more cool and reserved in his demeanour towards his brother at +this time than he had ever been before. He had found Thea in tears once +or twice during Bernhard's absence; for these tears he considered his +brother responsible, and not wholly without reason.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now that is really a sensible idea of yours, Bernhard," said he. +"Thea, we will give charming entertainments. We must take good +care to have no more tears," he added in a low voice, meant for his +sister-in-law's ear alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Rosen shook his head, and pronounced Thea still too young to +go out and to give entertainments without her husband, especially this +winter, when, in consequence of a cattle-plague in neighbouring Poland, +there was a strong <i>cordon militaire</i> established in the vicinity to +keep guard over the frontier.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There are many young officers hereabouts now," he said, "and the +Schönburgs and Lindenstadts have some young girls staying with them, so +that the feminine element is not wanting. There are balls and all kinds +of entertainments in the air, which my wife and I shall not always be +able to attend, although I wish with all my heart that Alma could enjoy +them all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, if you cannot go, Thea can chaperone her; the greater the +gayety, the more frequent the balls, the more reason, it seems to me, +that Thea should not shut herself up. She owes it to her position not +to do so; and if her going out without me, young as she is, seems +unusual, why, we must remember that she is an unusual woman. Much that +would be very unbecoming in a Frau Miller or Frau Schmidt would be +quite fitting in the Countess Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar entirely agreed with his brother upon this point, and all that +Herr von Rosen could do was to try to persuade the old Countess Eichhof +to spend this winter in the castle with Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard left home, after having made known far and wide that Castle +Eichhof was no longer closed to visitors, and the old Countess, who had +actually come to her daughter-in-law, soon followed him, as she had +accepted an invitation from a relative who lived in great splendour in +Dresden. She explained to Herr von Rosen, with many sighs and tears, +that she found it impossible to be only number two in a house where she +had so long held sole sway; she assured him that upon the whole Thea +was a dear child and could not help it, but her visitors showed such an +inconceivable lack of tact as constantly to make her conscious of the +great difference that there was between Castle Eichhof now and what it +had been formerly, and so on, until she exhausted Herr von Rosen's +patience, and he mutely assented to whatever she had to say and made no +more efforts to induce her to remain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nor did Thea try to detain her. She was so proud and secure in the +possession of her little son that she was quite ready to undertake to +fulfil her social duties without any timidity, and she received with +extreme dignity the young officers, who of course hastened to avail +themselves of Bernhard's invitation to call at the castle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thea is absolutely famous," Lothar repeated incessantly to Werner, and +he was quite irritated that his friend did not join in his enthusiastic +praise of his sister-in-law, merely assenting by a cool nod of his +head, and even going less frequently to Eichhof. Lothar reproached him +with this, and yet was never in a good humour when Werner accompanied +him thither. For this man, usually so grave and silent, knew how to +introduce subjects of conversation that absorbed all Thea's interest. +He would become really talkative and brilliant, and, since the topics +under discussion generally had some reference to literature or art, +Lothar was soon bored, and felt himself quite <i>de trop</i> and thrust out +in the cold. It was odd that Werner had lately seemed to have a perfect +talent for irritating Lothar, who often, nowadays, was very impatient +with his friend without any reasonable cause, for Werner's demeanour +towards him was not changed in any respect.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day Thea was seated in her bow-windowed room in full council with +the cook, the housekeeper, and the major-domo. The matter in hand was +the arrangements for an entertainment to be given the next day at +Eichhof, and Thea was availing herself of the experience of her trusty +retainers. She sat at a table with a sheet of paper before her, jotting +down various memoranda, and the three people stood by with grave faces, +evidently quite aware of the enormous responsibility resting upon their +shoulders. There had been a slight difference of opinion between the +housekeeper and her young mistress, and Thea had for the first time +asserted herself and carried her point with quiet firmness. She was so +much interested that she bestowed only a careless 'good-day' upon +Lothar, who entered the room and, seated in a low arm-chair, became +both spectator and auditor of the debate. He sat with his back towards +the window, so that the light fell full upon Thea. She wore a black +silk gown, with a profusion of rich white lace at her throat and +wrists, her sole ornament being a cross upon a broad, heavy golden +chain at her neck. The very simplicity of her dress set off the +delicate noble outline of her face, from which the large dark eyes, +beneath the finely-pencilled eyebrows, were now gazing with a gentle, +kindly expression upon the servants who were receiving her orders.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How beautiful she is!" thought Lothar, as he sat and looked at her. +"Bernhard is a fool to leave this woman here while he busies himself, +or thinks he busies himself, with politics in Berlin. To be sure, she +is an angel, and can do everything that she attempts, even to +representing her husband in his absence. But it is not right of him for +all that, and I should just like to know what she thinks of it. I +wonder whether she misses him much?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea now dismissed her people and turned to Lothar. "What! alone +again?" she asked, offering him her hand. "Has Herr von Werner repented +his promise to help us with the decoration of the ball-room?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you never can count upon him," said Lothar; "he said he could not +possibly come with me, but would make his appearance later."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, let us go to the greenhouses and pick out what we want +from there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Half an hour afterwards Lieutenant Werner arrived. He did not follow +the young people to the greenhouses as the servant suggested, but +awaited their return in the bow-windowed room. Here he walked slowly +to and fro, paused for a few seconds before Thea's writing-table, and +then went into the bow-window, where stood her low chair and her +embroidery-frame. He passed his hand over her work with a touch that +was like a caress, then suddenly turned away and stood at the window, +leaning his forehead against the glass pane. Here he remained +motionless until Lothar and Thea entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I am so glad you are come!" the Countess exclaimed upon seeing +him. "Now we will go immediately to the ball-room to arrange the plants +and the table for the cotillon favours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, we are to have a cotillon, then?" said Werner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; this is to be a dinner followed by a dance, after the old Eichhof +fashion. My husband writes me that our section of country is actually +falling into undeserved disrepute from a social point of view, and he +makes it my bounden duty to do the honours of the castle as well as +possible. I pray you, therefore, to do all that you can to help me to +entertain the young officers from the frontier posts."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar and Werner arranged the pretty favours for the cotillon on a +satin cushion placed on the table for the purpose, while Thea disposed +little flowering plants around it. It all looked very bright and +fancifully gay.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want it to be all ready by the afternoon," she said, "for my father +and sister are coming over to tea, and the dance is a surprise for +Alma."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It absolutely delights my soul to see you busy with anything so +frivolous as cotillon favours," said Lothar to Werner, who was just +arranging a refractory ribbon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do I weary you with all I give you to do?" asked Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner laughed. "For heaven's sake, my dear Countess, do not take me, +as your brother-in-law does, for a mere bookworm in uniform."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at all; I take you for a profound philosopher."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Greatly obliged, I'm sure; but really, Eichhof, I cannot see why I +should not like to unpack and arrange these pretty little things, or +why my books, which you so despise, should hinder me from winning some +of them in the cotillon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know how well you dance, and ride too, and that is just why I cannot +understand how you can read so much. When did you learn that habit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I learned it when my income would not allow of my passing much time +outside of my four walls."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar was silent, and Werner went on very composedly: "At the time of +the universal money-panic, after those years when gold seemed to be +lying about by millions in the streets, and when many a man, in +stooping to pick up what he fancied he saw, lost his own hard thalers +out of his pocket, I suddenly found my modest income reduced by +one-half. All the choice I had was either to make it suffice or to +leave the service, and as I was a soldier, and nothing but a soldier to +the very marrow of my bones, I got through."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Couldn't you give me a receipt for the process?" asked Lothar.</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner laughed. "The receipt is simple enough: 'Determine to do what +you must.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then it was that you began to read?" said Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I had tried somewhat before to fill up the gaps in a cadet's +education, but then it was that I began to read in earnest, for my +books had to indemnify me for so much else. Now that I have no longer +that reason for study, my taste leads me in the same direction. Did you +look through the book I sent you the other day, Countess?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here they were again launched upon one of those confounded literary +topics that made Lothar feel his presence so superfluous. He gave a +vicious dig to the pin by which he was fastening a knot of ribbon to +the cushion, and then went and worked away among the flower-pots, +wishing fervently that Herr von Rosen would come and interrupt this +bookish talk, and altogether getting himself into a desperately bad +humour.</p> + +<p class="normal">When at last the carriage from Schönthal drove up, he hurried out to +meet the guests. Thea observed for the first time this afternoon that +Lothar was certainly attentive to Alma; he devoted himself to her +exclusively, and no wonder, she looked so bright and pretty that it was +but natural that Lothar should be fascinated.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea brought out Walter's last letter, from which she wished to read a +few extracts to her father. As she opened it, two photographs fell out +of the envelope and made the round of the table about which they were +sitting over a cup of afternoon tea. One was a late picture of Walter; +the other, which he asked to have returned to him, was Dr. Nordstedt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fine, earnest face," said Werner, looking at the latter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar glanced at it over his friend's shoulder. "By Jove, that is a +beard!" he exclaimed. "Look, Alma: how do you like that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He handed her the picture. She looked at it with a smile. "He has fine +eyes," she said, "but otherwise the picture does not please me. I +detest those huge beards."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar stroked and twisted his handsome blonde moustache, and Alma cast +a glance at him as if to compare the two heads,--heads so dissimilar +that there was absolutely no comparison between them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does Walter say nothing of the Hohensteins?" asked Herr von Rosen. +"Adela and her father have been two weeks now in Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter does not seem to have seen them," replied Thea; "he never +mentions them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should like to see how papa Hohenstein comports himself towards his +new relatives," said Lothar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He does not comport himself towards them at all," Alma answered him. +"Adela wrote me that her father seems very well, and is very amiable to +everybody, except that he will neither hear nor see anything of the +Kohnheims, and if his affairs did not compel him to be in Berlin, he +would, owing to them, far rather never have gone there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am very curious with regard to Hugo's wife," said Lothar. "I really +never dreamed that he would make such a marriage. In the spring the +happy couple are to come to Rollin, because papa-in-law Kohnheim +absolutely must see his daughter installed there as a noble châtelaine. +Aha! our part of the country is growing excessively interesting; we +have a Polish countess already, we are going to have a Jewess, and we +may hope shortly to have a third,--a Japanese."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Matters are bad enough," Herr von Rosen said, seriously, "when the +salvation from ruin of a young nobleman and of an ancient family must +be sought at the hand of a Jewish heiress."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before resorting to such means it surely would be better to send a +bullet through one's brains," said Lothar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or to live within one's income," Herr von Rosen gravely corrected him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course; and Hohenstein might have done so, since he was the only +son of a man who certainly some years ago possessed considerable +wealth."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Rosen fixed his eyes earnestly upon Lothar for a moment, and +then said, "My dear Lothar, I think it can be done in every case. He +who has but little must rely solely upon that, and not try to build +himself a house of cards."</p> + +<p class="normal">A flush mounted to Lothar's forehead; he passed his hand through his +hair in some embarrassment, but said nothing. It seemed to him that +Herr von Rosen had laid special emphasis upon the word 'cards,' and it +awakened in his mind all kinds of disagreeable memories.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am so sorry for the poor rich girl,--I mean Hugo Hohenstein's wife," +said Alma; "although, for Adela's sake, I cannot but be glad that +matters are to be arranged at Rollin."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar had conquered his embarrassment. "Nonsense!" he said. "The 'poor +rich girl' is my lady Baroness von Hohenstein, wears Parisian +toilettes, and will be quite content if you do not all treat her too +badly. Why, Rollin is being turned inside-out to make it worthy to +receive her. A regiment of tradesfolk are at work there, and the Rollin +wagons are rolling to and from the railroad station every day, +transporting the adornments of the cage that is to imprison the golden +bird."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela will be unhappy if much in Rollin is changed," said Alma.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Adela will be a lovely sister-in-law for the little Jewess; she is +not to be pitied so far as Adela is concerned," Lothar declared.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most certainly not," said Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Werner had taken no part in the discussion. He looked at his watch, +and rose to take leave.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am seriously concerned about Lothar," said Herr von Rosen, when the +young officers had departed. "There are a couple of incorrigible +gamblers among the officers of the frontier posts, and it is reported +that Lothar lately played with them all night long."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that would be horrible, papa," exclaimed Thea, "when he promised +Bernhard so faithfully that he would be prudent----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is too heedless!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet such a dear good fellow withal," Thea said, affectionately, +inwardly resolving to entreat Werner on the morrow to have an eye upon +her brother-in-law while Bernhard was away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he is an amiable fellow, but thoroughly untrustworthy," Herr von +Rosen rejoined.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma said nothing, but her cheek flushed and paled. She knew her father +was right, but then she could find so many reasons for excusing Lothar. +Thea looked very grave and sad. She suspected how it stood with her +sister. She had honestly taken pains to know Lothar, and, although she +could not but be prepossessed by his frank amiability, she had arrived +at the conviction that he was wavering and uncertain in his views and +principles. She had not sufficient experience of life to judge whether +his character would ever become firm and stable, but with true feminine +instinct she suspected what she could not know, and felt instinctively +that it would cost her many an anxious fear to see her sister's +happiness intrusted to a man like Lothar. Often when Alma had +involuntarily betrayed her affection Thea had wished for an instant +that Lothar might reciprocate it, but the next moment she would gladly +have known them miles asunder. And on the morrow they were to dance +together in her house, and to enjoy all the opportunity for familiar +intercourse afforded by an entire evening! She wished Alma had fallen +in love with Werner, who she could see was attracted by her. Else why +should he come to Eichhof whenever Alma was there? And why else had she +so often surprised that dreamy expression in his eyes? Oh, if Alma had +only loved him! He was so trustworthy and honourable! Long after she +had retired for the night her thoughts were occupied with her sister +and the young officers.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_15" href="#div1_15">IN BERLIN.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal"> +The chorus was intoning a grand polonaise, to the strains of which a +glittering train of splendidly-attired couples was marching around the +magnificent ball-room of the Berlin Opera-House. The Emperor's tall, +venerable figure was followed by the various royal pairs, at whose +approach the guests of the opera-ball stood in line and bowed +respectfully while the court passed by. Twice the royal party made the +circuit of the room, and then for the most part retired to their +private boxes. Meanwhile the glittering crowd of the public--the truly +mixed metropolitan society--thronged the foyers and public boxes. +Magnificent toilettes surged up and down the broad flight of steps that +to-night replaced the box usually appropriated to the court, and that +led down to the parquette, now floored over for the dancers, the number +of whom was still on the increase. At the head of these steps stood a +couple who had already been the subject of frequent remark. The +cavalier was a distinguished, aristocratic figure; the lady, unique in +air, with bright sparkling eyes and a bewitching smile upon her +delicately curved lips, wore a robe of sea-green satin, that suited +well the red gold of her abundant hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Count Bernhard Eichhof, the youngest member of the Reichstag, and Frau +von Wronsky," whispered one of the initiated to a guest from the +provinces.</p> + +<p class="normal">Count Bernhard Eichhof and Fran von Wronksy! How came it to pass that +her hand rested on his arm? How came it to pass that she was clever, +witty, amusing for all the rest of the world, and gentle, often humble, +always femininely delicate and reserved towards him alone? The one +manner perhaps explained the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">Certainly since the election it was Bernhard's duty to be civil to +Marzell Wronsky, and just as certainly it was the fact that Marzell's +wife attracted a throng of ardent admirers around her in the +metropolis, although she passed for a very cold beauty. None of the men +who worshipped at her shrine could boast of the least distinction +accorded them by her. It was said of her that she had witty, clever +words for all, but a heart for none, unless, indeed, her husband was +its fortunate possessor, as to which there was a great diversity of +opinion. This cold, haughty woman was meekness itself towards Bernhard. +He could not himself tell why it was, but he was never with her without +a conviction that she hid a warm, nay, a glowing heart beneath a coldly +composed exterior.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard had believed himself justified in despising her. She had +endured his scorn without remonstrance, only showing him that she +suffered fearfully beneath it. He began to pity her, and the thought +that he had perhaps been too harsh towards her gradually gave way to +the conviction that there might be many reasons for a milder judgment +of her. He saw all the homage that was paid her here, and often heard +women in whose opinion he placed great confidence declare that her +conduct was always exemplary. At last he came to regard himself as an +insufferable prig, and decided that his manner towards the lady must +undergo a change. She was so grateful for every little attention from +him, while any such from others was received so coldly, that Bernhard +felt himself exalted to the position of her magnanimous protector. He +really desired to hear from herself the explanation of a dark point in +her past, about which, as he knew, all the world was in error. And thus +it came to pass that Count Bernhard Eichhof offered his arm to Frau von +Wronsky to conduct her about the opera-house, and to be conscious that +she was admired by everybody, and that he was envied of many. The +couple paused for a few minutes at the head of the steps, observing +those going and coming.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What exquisite toilettes!" said Julutta Wronsky, indicating with a +scarcely perceptible motion of her fan two ladies who were passing. +"This is an excellent post of observation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately, you cannot see the most exquisite toilette here, +madame," said a young officer who stood on the other side of her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You could only see that by standing opposite a mirror," the officer +said, with a meaning smile, stroking his moustache and scanning her +figure with a bold glance of admiration.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard felt her hand rest somewhat more heavily on his arm, as she +replied, with a certain far-away look in her eyes which did not seem +even to see the young fellow, "It is a pity you cannot exercise your +talents in a milliner's shop, Herr von Dollen; that is the place for +mirrors and a certain kind of complimentary speeches."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Dollen laughed rather constrainedly, and soon took his +departure, while Bernhard and Julutta descended the steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dollen has had a lesson," said Bernhard, smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot endure that sort of compliment," Julutta replied, +impatiently,--instantly, however, bending her head slightly, while a +faint flush rose to her cheeks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive me," she whispered; "I forgot that you, very naturally, cannot +believe this of <i>me</i>." The words were uttered with no appearance either +of offence or of irony; there was only a slight vibration, as from +suppressed, painful emotion, audible in her voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard looked at her. Her face wore the sweet, timid expression that +it was wont to assume for him alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, madame," he said; "I can easily believe that the expression of +such coarse and impertinent admiration may well wound your pride."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you," she rejoined, with a glance of fervid gratitude raised +for an instant to his face; "it would, however, have been but natural +for you to disbelieve in any genuine pride on my part."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I had done so before, this winter would have convinced me of my +error," he replied, in a low voice, bending towards her.</p> + +<p class="normal">He saw her sudden blush; her breath came quicker and her lips quivered. +She said nothing, but she looked at him again, and in her eyes there +was so much gratitude and happiness that Bernhard was involuntarily +touched. Suddenly her hand trembled, and the blush on her cheek faded, +to be succeeded by a mortal pallor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let us go," she murmured, pausing abruptly and turning from the +direction in which they were walking; "for God's sake take me away from +here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, do you not see?" She took her hand from his arm and +tried to penetrate alone the crowd which had gathered closely about the +dancers. Bernhard looked around him,--a few steps off stood a tall, +rather good-looking man, in the dress of a civilian, watching the +dancers. Bernhard recognized the dark, sharply-defined features, the +lofty brow, and the thin hair brushed away from the temples. He knew +now why Julutta Wronsky had turned and fled. For an instant he +hesitated; then he followed her. Just as he reached her she covered her +eyes with her hand. "I am so dizzy," she moaned; "the whole room is +turning round. Oh, my God!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She tottered and seemed about to fall. Bernhard supported her to the +foyer, where he found an armchair for her. Her hand trembled +perceptibly upon his arm; she shivered. He addressed no word to her; +she sank into the chair without speaking again, and, leaning back, half +closed her eyes. "Find my husband for me; we must go," she said, at +last.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are ill. Let me bring you a glass of wine," he said, looking at +her marble-white face. She shook her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot breathe here, now that I know----" Her lips quivered, and she +did not finish her sentence. Bernhard stood hesitating for a moment +beside her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go!" she entreated again.</p> + +<p class="normal">And he went to let Wronsky know that his wife had suddenly been taken +ill and wished to leave the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">A quarter of an hour afterwards Bernhard was standing alone at the head +of the broad steps, looking listlessly down upon the surging crowd. The +stranger whom he had observed was no longer there; the Wronskys had +gone home. Bernhard thought the opera-ball rather stupid.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha! where is your beautiful companion?" asked Herr von Dollen, +suddenly appearing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gone home," Bernhard answered, rather brusquely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Remarkable woman; cold and hard as an icicle, but piquante. You are +very intimate there, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Scarcely that. But the Wronskys are neighbours of ours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! then you really know something of them, and can tell me about the +lady's former marriage. They say it was short and unhappy, but no one +seems to know whether she is a widow or a <i>divorcée</i>. She never alludes +to her past----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know why you should suppose her to have made an exception in +my case, Herr von Dollen," Bernhard interrupted him, with some +irritation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! <i>pardon</i>, I only thought that perhaps you knew----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know nothing," Bernhard briefly rejoined. He was not in a pleasant +mood, and soon after left the ball.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he was passing through the gateway, he suddenly heard himself called +by name.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Vraiment, c'est Monsieur de Eikhoff</i>," said a harsh, grating voice +that Bernhard seemed to have heard before. He turned and confronted the +stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, <i>enchanté</i>, charmed to see you, <i>mon cher ami</i>; an unexpected +meeting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most unexpected, Herr von Möhâzy," Bernhard said, coldly, touching his +hat, and apparently overlooking the stranger's outstretched hand. The +latter took no notice of this oversight, however, but continued, in his +grating voice and in German, spoken with a strong foreign accent,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you, too, tired of the ball? They say we are going too soon, the +height of gayety has not yet been reached. <i>À propos</i>, do you make a +long stay in Berlin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So long as the Reichstag is in session. And you?" Bernhard asked, with +sudden interest. "Shall you stay for the Carnival?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven, or whatever other powers there be, forbid! Berlin is too +provincial, although it has made some progress of late years. I come +from Paris, and am on my way to St. Petersburg."</p> + +<p class="normal">An expression of relief passed across Bernhardt face: "Ah? Allow me to +wish you a pleasant winter." And he turned to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>O çà, Herr von Eikhoff!</i>" Herr von Möhâzy called after him; "I will +not detain you if you are expected at a rendezvous!" He laughed, and +Bernhard made a gesture of impatience. "Pardon, but I should like to +learn something of a lady whom perhaps you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can hardly have anything to tell of a lady whom <i>you</i> inquire for," +Bernhard said, sharply, while a flush rose to his forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Herr von Möhâzy was not easily disconcerted. "Ah! pardon, I know +you are <i>un jeune homme vertueux</i>; but my question refers to a lady of +position, a Frau von---- Ah, what is her name at present?" He took out +a note-book and turned over the leaves, while Bernhard, agitated by +conflicting emotions, stood rooted as by a spell to the spot, instead +of turning his back upon the man at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, here it is," said Herr von Möhâzy,--"Frau Julutta Wronsky." And he +looked at Bernhard again. "Do you know her? and could you tell me where +to find her? It is merely for <i>un petit amusement sans consequence</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can look for the name in the directory," replied Bernhard, well +knowing that 'Wronsky' could not be found in it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You do not know her, then? But, <i>parbleu</i>! you did know her, +<i>sûrement</i>. Ah, I must take you into confidence; the story is very +piquant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I regret, Herr Möhâzy, that I have not a moment to spare at present. +Let me advise you to search the directory, and if you do not find the +name there you may conclude that the lady is not in Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">He jumped into his carriage and drove to his hotel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What will he do?" was the question that filled his mind, "and what +<i>can</i> he do? He can certainly destroy the social position, and perhaps +the very existence, of this woman, wretch that he is! But he must be +prevented; he must!" He suddenly bethought himself and took himself to +task.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What business is it all of mine? I am very sorry for the woman, but it +is none the less true that she went wrong, and must now bear the +consequences, which may perhaps ruin her, who knows? I cannot prevent +it; and, indeed, when I remember everything, I cannot even excuse her. +And yet----"</p> + +<p class="normal">The carriage stopped at his hotel.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his room he found a letter from Thea, describing the dance at +Eichhof. He read it with thoughts elsewhere. It all seemed like child's +play, whilst here in Berlin there might shortly be enacted one of those +tragedies which now and then disturb the smooth surface of society. He +saw before him the unsuspicious husband, from whose eyes the veil was +suddenly torn; the guilty woman, who had vainly tried to atone for the +sin of her youth; the vile betrayer--oh, here were the same parts +played in so many dramas, but each of these performers wore a face +familiar to Bernhard. This husband, the happiness of whose life was +perhaps to be annihilated at a blow, had been his schoolmate; he had +exchanged friendly words with this woman--no, he would not think of the +wife, but of the deceived husband,--only of him; and for the sake of +this companion of his boyhood--for the husband's sake--the thought of +this drama filled him with horror. Must he not try to avert its +fulfilment? He believed that he must do so, and for the husband's +sake alone; and whenever through the night the image of the pale, +golden-haired woman intruded upon his thoughts, he thrust it from him. +She must be sacrificed to his sense of justice in his thoughts, if +not in reality. "Not for her,--she does not deserve it,--but for her +husband, I must try to see this Möhâzy once more, and in some way render +him harmless. First, however, I must speak with her; I must clearly +understand the matter, and consult with her as to the best measures for +her protection."</p> + +<p class="normal">With her! Yes; the indirect ways of the heart and of the devil are +marvellous indeed. They led Count Bernhard Eichhof the next morning to +Frau von Wronsky's boudoir!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_16" href="#div1_16">REVELATIONS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES.</a></h3> + +<hr class="W20"> + + +<p class="normal">"I did not love him, but I consented to be his wife. I loved no one +except my father, and even he was more of an abstraction than a reality +to me, for I saw him but seldom, and scarcely ever talked with him. He +was always away from home, and I was left alone with my French +governess at the lonely country-house in Russian Poland. Nevertheless I +loved the being that my fancy had created, to which I had lent my +father's form and name, little as it really resembled him. It was, +therefore, not at all difficult for me, in order to save him from ruin, +to promise to be the wife of a handsome man who had presented me with a +<i>parure</i> of diamonds. I was, besides, weary of my quiet life, and +longed to see something of the world of which I read in books. They +told me that for political reasons my future husband was obliged to +preserve a certain incognito in Russia, and that therefore our marriage +must take place shortly and privately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought this very romantic, and packed my trunk--which was but +scantily furnished--and got into the travelling-carriage, full of happy +dreams of the future. The marriage ceremony was performed in the chapel +of a castle which was entirely unknown to me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thus I became the wife of Josef von Möhâzy, and my father retrieved +his fortune with the money paid him by my husband. I had been sold like +a chattel, but I was such a perfect child that I saw nothing degrading +in the transaction, but was glad to have been of use to my father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We went to Paris; Herr von Möhâzy purchased exquisite toilettes for +me, since I did not know how to select them myself, and engaged a +French maid for me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Standing before a huge mirror in the Hotel Royal, I first discovered +that I looked well, and the same evening I was told, also for the first +time, that I was beautiful. From this day I continually contemplated +myself in the looking-glass, and Herr von Möhâzy rubbed his hands and +told me I 'exceeded his expectations.'</p> + +<p class="normal">"My expectations were also exceeded. I had not imagined the world so +bright and merry, and if I had dreamed of love it had seemed to me that +its home would be found in some quiet garden among blossoming roses, +rather than in a ball-room with gas-lights and artificial flowers and +finely-dressed people; but I soon perceived that the garden of roses +existed for me only in my dreams, and that I must accommodate myself to +the ball-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Möhâzy loved travel and variety. From Paris we went to Cairo, +then to Naples, and thence still farther. I saw new countries and new +people, and learned that there are two forces that influence the world +and mankind,--money, and the attraction between man and woman which +they call love.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There were days when life did not seem to me worth the living, only to +repeat the same experience,--days when all that I saw others engaged in +wearied and disgusted me. But these were only passing shadows, +sentimental emotions, deserving only, Herr von Möhâzy thought, of a +compassionate shrug. On the whole, I liked the splendour and the +pleasure reigning everywhere in my world, and would not willingly have +foregone them. We returned to Paris when the chaotic bustle of the +great Exposition was at its height, and went thence to Trouville. We +had charming apartments, comprising the larger half of a pretty villa. +In the other half a couple of rooms were rented to a young German, whom +I sometimes saw sitting on a little side-balcony near our veranda. +Sometimes, too, I met him on the shore, and, as we lived beneath the +same roof, we bowed to each other. At last, when driving one day on the +Corso, it so befell that he was introduced to me. There was a certain +distinguished air of cool reserve about him that struck me, because it +was to me quite a novel characteristic in a man. I soon found that he +differed entirely from the men whom I was accustomed to see in Herr von +Möhâzy's society, and although, in spite of his youth, he inspired me +with a kind of diffidence, I nevertheless felt great confidence in him. +I often thought that if some terrible accident were to happen where we +were, all the other men of our society would take care of their own +safety, but that Herr von Eichhof would think of me because I was the +weakest. I believed he would do this, although he never paid me the +smallest attention, much less made love to me, as did so many of the +others. I regretted extremely that he evidently rather avoided us, and +I told him so one day. I cannot remember his reply exactly, but I know +that it made a deep impression upon me. Perhaps it was less his words +than his manner that told me that he disapproved of our mode of life +and did not enjoy our society.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ought, I suppose, to have felt insulted, but instead I only felt +sad. I certainly began at this time to be less gay and more and more +thoughtful.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One day I thought that Herr von Möhâzy paid very marked attentions to +a lady of our acquaintance. I was by no means strait-laced on this +point, and it did not pain me at all to be neglected by Herr von +Möhâzy, but my pride revolted at the thought that his neglect might be +observed by others, and that I might be thought an object of +compassion. An unpleasant scene between this lady and myself ensued, +and I imperatively demanded of Herr von Möhâzy that he should take me +away from Trouville.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At first he laughed, then he ridiculed me, and finally he angrily +refused to listen to my request. I insisted upon my demand; he +persisted in his refusal. The words we exchanged grew more and more +sharp and bitter, until at last he uttered the dreadful revelation that +influenced my whole future life, and separated me in my own eyes from +everything which my instinct told me was good and noble.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'You have no right to demand this of me, for you are not my wife!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"I staggered back, and stared at him as though I could not understand +the words he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'You are not legally my wife,' he repeated once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then the calm of despair seemed to take possession of me. I did not +faint, I did not even burst into tears. I approached Herr von Möhâzy +and ordered him to give me a thorough explanation. Perhaps I still +entertained a slight hope that he had only meant to terrify me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If this were so, that hope was annihilated in a moment. The priest by +whom I had supposed myself married was a friend of Herr von Möhâzy's, +and had but worn the priestly garb over his uniform. I had been +fearfully betrayed, and--my father had known the truth. When Herr von +Möhâzy told me this I lost consciousness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I came to myself I heard talking and laughing in the next room. I +could distinguish Möhâzy's voice and the laughter of the woman who had +been the cause of our quarrel. I sprang up and rushed out of my chamber +and down the stairs, not knowing what I did, possessed by the one +thought that I must leave the house, that I would rather die than ever +again set eyes upon the man who had deceived me so terribly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the foot of the staircase I met Herr von Eichhof. My disordered +appearance probably struck him, for he stood still and addressed me. My +teeth chattered as in a fever-fit; instead of answering him, I covered +my face with my hands and burst into tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'You are in no condition to go out,' he said, taking my hand; and his +voice sounded so kind and gentle that I let him detain me for an +instant as he tried to persuade me to go up-stairs again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'It is your duty to stay with your husband,' he said, 'even +although----'</p> + +<p class="normal">"I extricated myself, and in an access of disgust and aversion the +words escaped my lips, 'He is not my husband!'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Eichhof started, then turned silently away, and ascended the +stairs without turning once to look at me. I stared after him until he +had vanished. I was not in his eyes worthy of another glance. I knew +it, and I knew that his judgment would be echoed by every one. I left +the house almost mechanically.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Outside it was growing dark. I pulled a black lace shawl that I had on +over my head and passed on quickly, without an aim, without a resolve, +desiring nothing, caring for nothing except to leave the house that had +so lately been my home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suddenly I found myself on the shore. It was a lonely spot, and I +heard the roar of the ocean and saw the moon rise out of it like a +fiery red ball. I went on until the waves broke almost at my feet, and +I thought how it would be best for me to go on and on thus until the +waters rolled over my head. Then all would be over; the sea would look +unchanged, and on shore no one would miss me. In my thoughts death +seemed far easier and better than life. Suddenly two points of light +gleamed on the water,--a dark shadow glided over the waves across the +wake of the moon, and the tones of a woman's glorious voice singing +fell upon my ear. It sang a song that I knew and loved; the voice +seemed to allure my thoughts and take them captive. I listened first, +and finally I sang too. I cannot understand now how such a thing was +possible at such a moment, but I did it. Some inward impulse urged me +to unite my voice with those lovely tones. Perhaps the people in the +boat would remember my voice after it was silent forever. I would have +liked to leave some kindly memory behind me. And as I sang I thought of +my lonely childhood, my ruined and desolate youth, and unutterable +compassion for myself overcame me, and as the song died away I burst +into a flood of burning tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I went back from the shore. Life can be thrown away when it is hated +or despised, but not when it is pitied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The singer had ceased; but the sound of voices came to me across the +water. I could distinguish no words, but it was the sound of kindly +human speech, and I began to wonder if some voice might not speak +tenderly to me at some future day; the world was so large, surely there +was some quiet corner in it for me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remembered to have heard that a famous songstress, who had retired +from a public career on account of her health, and who devoted her +powers to the training of other voices, was among the visitors at +Trouville, and that I had also heard that she was to leave on the +following morning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The thought occurred to me that it was her voice that had so attracted +me, and with it came the determination to go to her, to tell her of my +utter misery, and to beg her to grant me her protection. Her voice had +called me back to life. I would ask her to decide my future fate. +Perhaps she would employ me as her maid, perhaps she would think my +voice worth training. I hurried on. There was still, then, a 'perhaps,' +still a hope for me----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here the manuscript ended, and when Bernhard Eichhof had finished +reading it he still held it in his hand, and his eyes were riveted upon +the written page, as though it could afford him further intelligence. +And yet he knew what must follow. He knew that Julutta's hopes were +fulfilled, that she left Trouville with that same singer and came to +Germany, where her distant cousin, Marzell Wronsky, met her beneath the +roof of her protectress and married her.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he laid aside the sheets that she had given him at his visit of +the morning, and sighed deeply. "Poor, poor creature!" he murmured. "I +judged her too harshly; and she is so gentle, so humble to me in spite +of the pain I have given her."</p> + +<p class="normal">He remembered how pale and ill she had looked to-day. The event of the +previous evening had evidently agitated and distressed her fearfully. +And yet when Bernhard had offered to seek out Möhâzy, to induce him to +pursue his journey immediately, she had not hastened to accept his aid.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must first know the story of my youth," she said, "and then decide +whether I am worthy of your help. I could not trust myself to tell you +this story; but if you will read it--since my marriage I have indulged +the idle practice of keeping a diary, and that it might be complete I +have prefaced it with my sad story. No human eye save my own was ever +to rest upon these pages; but I make an exception in your case, because +fate has already willed that you should have some knowledge of my +secret."</p> + +<p class="normal">In this wise had Bernhard come into possession of these pages. "Fate +has dealt cruelly with her," he thought, "and I have added to its +cruelty wherever I could. Oh, I have much to atone for!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He paced his room to and fro in some agitation, then consulted the +paper for the list of names of new arrivals, among which he had already +seen Möhâzy's address, and, after re-reading it, tossed the paper aside +and ordered his carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Half an hour later a servant handed Herr von Möhâzy the Count's card. +Herr von Möhâzy was wont to rise about noon, and was therefore still +wrapped in his silken Turkish dressing-gown when his unexpected visitor +was announced. As the visitor followed close upon his card, there was +nothing for it but to prepare for his reception as best he might by +tightening the silken cord and tassels around his waist.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excessively delighted to see you. Quite an unexpected honour," he +called out, as Bernhard hastily entered the room and closed the door +behind him; "but I must beg you to excuse this." And he indicated his +brilliant habiliments.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a very special reason for my visit, Herr von Möhâzy," Bernhard +replied curtly, without accepting an offered seat. "You asked yesterday +for a lady who is held in high esteem in society here. I know that you +had certain relations with this lady, which, by a monstrous deceit, as +you know, you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sir!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am ready to answer for my words,--which relations you established by +a monstrous deceit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must pray you to use less violent language!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must pray you to hear me out!" Bernhard said, in a raised voice, and +with flashing eyes. "From what you said yesterday, I cannot but suppose +that you intend to compromise this lady, and to destroy the peace of a +happy home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not an idea of anything of the kind," Herr von Möhâzy calmly remarked. +But Bernhard had grown so eager in his part of chivalrous defender that +he neither heard nor heeded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am come to you now to give you an opportunity of leaving Berlin this +very day, if you would not be so insulted by me as to make a hostile +meeting between us inevitable."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Möhâzy was speechless for a moment, staring by turns at +Bernhard's tall, threatening figure, as it stood between him and the +door, and at a singular object which the young man had taken out as he +spoke, and which strongly resembled a braided leather riding-whip. +Bernhard's eyes were riveted upon him, and the singular object quivered +meanwhile in his hand. But Herr von Möhâzy was not bewildered for +longer than a second, and, putting the entire length of the table +between Bernhard and himself, he suddenly threw back his head and burst +into a fit of laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Delicious!" he cried. "But, my dear Herr von Eichhof, all this could +have been arranged very much more comfortably. I think your Berlin so +insupportably tedious that I should certainly have left it to-day or +to-morrow, and because I find it all so tiresome, I thought it might +possibly have amused me to see that lady again; although, I assure you, +she is far too indifferent to me to make it worth while to run the risk +of a bullet or a sabre-cut for a sight of her. I am rejoiced to learn +that she has found so devoted a friend in you. I--ha! ha!--I--'tis so +excellent a joke that it more than atones to me for not seeing her +again. A thousand thanks, Herr von Eichhof!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard had grown pale. He had not looked for this turn of affairs, +and it was his part now to be bewildered for a moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are as coarse as you are cowardly," he ground out between his +teeth, coming up to the table, whereat Herr von Möhâzy thought best to +bluster a little.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No need of such ugly words, sir," he said, with a forced smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you leave Berlin to-day?" Bernhard insisted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Mais oui, mon cher</i>; I see no reason why I should remain here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should have no more difficulty in finding you to-morrow than +to-day!" Bernhard exclaimed, with a glance of menace, as he turned +towards the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Möhâzy came out from behind his table. "Oh, you have nothing +further to fear!" he cried, as Bernhard opened the door. "I dislike to +disturb the amusements of others. My remembrances to Frau Julutta +Wronsky!" And he laughed once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard slammed the door behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Julutta now had nothing to fear, and Bernhard and she had one more +secret, one more memory, in common.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Möhâzy left Berlin the same day, and an hour later a note from +Bernhard informed Frau von Wronsky that there was no reason why she +should absent herself from the opera on the plea of illness, as she had +resolved to do in case Möhâzy did not leave town.</p> + +<p class="normal">She appeared in her box, and when Bernhard paid his respects to her +between the acts he read in every glance of her fine eyes the gratitude +that she could not otherwise express in her husband's presence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo von Hohenstein sat in Councillor Kohnheim's box opposite, and his +opera-glass was scarcely, during the <i>entr'acte</i>, turned away from his +<i>vis-à-vis</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_17" href="#div1_17">THE CONSEQUENCES BEGIN TO APPEAR.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Lothar was sitting in a rocking-chair by the window of his room in the +officers' quarters and gazing after the blue rings of the smoke from +his cigar. His thoughts were far, however, from being as placid as his +attitude, and his eyes would now and then turn from the airy rings to +various papers tossed in a confused heap upon his table. At last he +threw away his cigar and took up these papers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Monstrous!" he muttered; "the man must be insane! How the deuce could +I ever use one hundred marks' worth of soap and perfumes? The bill, to +be sure, dates from last year. I can't prove that it's incorrect, +but I believe it to be so. And here again, three hundred marks for +gloves,--now that's an utter impossibility,--and the Berlin tailor +insists, too, that he has never been paid. The scoundrels are rolling +in the money they steal from the pockets of us poor lieutenants."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he remembered that he had the day before ordered another large +supply of gloves and perfumery, for in that 'den of a garrison' there +was nothing to be had fit to use. And for a moment he really reflected +upon some method of regulating his finances. In fact, it was all a mere +bagatelle not worth mentioning, but then the 'scoundrels' dunned so +insolently, and it would really be refreshing to be rid of them all. +Werner had relieved Lothar of his large gambling debt, and the latter +had had a lucky evening at play shortly afterward, and had repaid his +friend every farthing. What if he should have recourse to his friend in +his brother's absence? But then the fellow was so priggish. He had +lectured him when he went to pay him because he had won the money at +cards. As if there were any positive harm in cards! To be sure, he had +never played in Berlin, there were so many other ways of amusing one's +self there. But here in this 'infernal den' what else was there to do +but play cards, unless one was a tiresome bookworm like Werner? And +from his vexation with his bills Lothar passed into quite a fit of +irritation against Werner, and decided that he certainly would ask no +new favour from him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Haberdasher, perfumer, tailor & Co. may wait," he decided. "Why in +thunder did they let their bills run on so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A knock at the door interrupted his disagreeable reflections, and upon +his "Come in," a very unexpected visitor appeared,--Hugo von +Hohenstein. He had come to pass a few days in Rollin to superintend the +alterations there, and would not go back to Berlin, he said, without +"hunting up" his old friend and comrade. He laughed as he noticed the +pile of bills upon the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not follow my example?" he cried, tapping Lothar on the shoulder. +"Marry a daughter of Israel with heaps of money. 'Tis the only +salvation for a poor lieutenant, and a very delightful salvation +besides, upon my honour! The young Baroness von Hohenstein, in spite of +the <i>née</i> Kohnheim, is a model of high-bred elegance, and our +apartments and our equipage are quite perfect. Oh, absolutely +aristocratic, I can tell you! As for Rollin, I am turning it into an +El-Dorado. You would hardly recognize it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does your father say to it all?" asked Lothar, who with all his +levity could hardly bring himself to treat his former comrade with the +old genuine cordiality.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo shrugged his shoulders. "Since my governor no longer lives at +Rollin, I see no reason why I should consult his taste, especially as +it seems likely at present that I shall seldom have the pleasure of +seeing him; that little witch Adela has turned his head with her high +and mighty ideas. Fortunately, he was not himself when the bombshell +exploded in the midst of us, and he could do nothing to prevent my +arranging my affairs as seemed to me best. But now when he is perfectly +well again and ought to be reasonable, he scolds and rages at my +marriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then the reports are true? I had heard something of this----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course they are true, and it is all Fräulein Adela's doing. She has +the governor absolutely in leading-strings. He has lately refused to +see me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what will he do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Fräulein Adela has arranged all that. Unfortunately, she has a +small income of her own, which was not lost in the universal crash, and +which makes her independent of me, or I could soon bring her to terms."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that seems to me to be very fortunate for her, and for you +too----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm! That's according to circumstances. I have not sufficient +influence; people will talk, and it's deuced disagreeable to be at odds +with the old man. It's all that witch's doing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela is a deuce of a girl!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She was always a good-for-nothing hoyden, but I never supposed that +she would so meddle in business matters and take such an obstinate +stand. Fancy the old man's writing to me that he was quite willing to +accept everything from her, but that he would take nothing from me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar shook his head. He was wavering between feelings of +old-comradeship and the involuntary disgust with which Hugo's conduct +and talk inspired him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, let's have done with these cursed matters!" cried Hohenstein. "I +am so glad to see you that I must crack a bottle of champagne with you. +Have you one here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not here; but let us go to the Casino: our dinner will be served +in half an hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True, we are in the provinces; my Berlin stomach can hardly +accommodate itself to these mid-day meals. But to-day, if you will have +me, I'll dine with you, and drive from here to the station. I must go +back to Berlin by the night-train."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall be glad to introduce you as my guest to our mess," Lothar +said, more courteously than cordially. "Let us wait here, then, for the +half-hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Agreed. And now tell me all about the people hereabouts, and in +especial how your sister-in-law fares at Eichhof. You go there a good +deal, eh?" This question was accompanied by an odd sidelong glance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar gave various particulars with regard to his comrades and the +county gentry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course I am frequently at Eichhof," he concluded, without further +mention of Thea.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm! And what are you doing at Eichhof?" Hohenstein asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I go to see my brother's wife," Lothar answered, with an air of cold +reserve.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And to make love to her?" Hohenstein said, with a laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">The colour mounted to Lothar's forehead; his blue eyes gleamed almost +black for a moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg you to refrain from expressions which I regard as insulting," he +said, angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! ah!" said the other. "I had no idea that you would fire up so at +an innocent jest. For the matter of that, your brother Bernhard's views +on such matters are not so provincial; he is making furious love to a +certain blonde lady from these parts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bah! such stuff as is called 'making love' in Berlin society," Lothar +said, depreciatingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein looked at him in his half-sneering, half-malicious way. "Ah, +you fancy you understand it better here in the country. Well, well, in +spite of that, I can assure you that Bernhard understands it too, and +that Frau Julutta Wronsky is an admirable teacher."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would not suggest that he is actually making love to that woman?" +Lothar said, with a shrug, and a struggle to preserve an appearance of +indifference.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suggest nothing; I only mention what I have seen and heard."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that is?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is, that friend Bernhard is daily seen riding with Frau von +Wronsky in the Thiergarten; that he is her inseparable cavalier at +every ball and party; and that, last though not least, he very nearly +fought a duel upon her account,--would have fought it undoubtedly had +not his opponent preferred to make his escape----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nonsense, Hugo! Bernhard is much too sensible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha! ha! Why, what a country bumpkin you are become, Lothar! Well, it +is really of no consequence whether you believe it or not. The duel I +know all about from a perfectly trustworthy source. The occupant of the +next room to that belonging to the gentleman in question, who was no +other, in fact, than the lady's first husband, is a business friend of +my father-in-law's, and knows Bernhard quite well. He could not help +hearing a part of the conversation in the next room, for Bernhard must +have roared like a lion."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar rummaged among his belongings and tossed everything into +confusion. He looked for his gloves, which he had just thrust into his +pocket, and locked up his cap, to begin to search for it immediately +afterwards. Evidently his hands were as hurriedly and uncertainly +employed as were his thoughts. Hohenstein watched him narrowly, while a +smile of scornful superiority played about the corners of his mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you remember my prophecies with regard to the Wronsky?" he asked. +"I tell you they have been most brilliantly fulfilled. She is making a +<i>furor</i>, and Bernhard has enviers enough to satisfy the vainest of men. +A handsomer couple cannot be imagined."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar tore one of his bills into minute fragments; Hohenstein leaned +back in his chair and contemplated him with the same sensation with +which a heartless boy watches the flutterings of the butterfly that he +has just impaled on a pin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know that woman was never to my taste," said Lothar, "and I hope +that Bernhard's taste also is sufficiently good to see that Thea is a +hundred times the more beautiful of the two. There cannot be a moment's +doubt upon that score."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein observed that taste was a matter which it was useless to +discuss. As meanwhile the time had arrived for the Casino, they left +the room together, Lothar's irritated mood giving Hohenstein further +opportunity for the play of his sarcastic humour.</p> + +<p class="normal">They found a larger party than usual assembled at the Casino, for some +comrades from the next garrison and several officers from the border +posts were present. After dinner there was a bowl of punch, around +which they sat until dark; and then, since they had begun the evening +together, they resolved to finish it in the same way. A second bowl was +brewed, tables were arranged for play, and the entire company took +their places at these.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hohenstein was still present, since his train did not leave until after +midnight. Whist and ombre not being to his taste, however, he proposed +a game of faro. "Just a quiet little game," he said, "to make matters +rather more lively."</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner, who had just finished a rubber at whist, came up to Lothar, and +said, "Will you not take my place at that table? I see you are not yet +engaged, and I want to go home early to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Lothar, who had taken more punch than was good for him, and +whose irritable mood had gradually given place to one of noisy +merriment. "No, I couldn't think of it. If you are tired of whist, come +and play faro with us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know I never play faro," Werner replied, and then added, in a low +tone, "and neither ought you to play it. You never have any luck, my +dear Eichhof, and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nevertheless, I shall do as I please," Lothar rejoined haughtily.</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner bit his lips to suppress an angry retort. He saw that Lothar +was hardly responsible for his words or manner, and he therefore only +looked him steadily in the face, and said, "I have <i>warned</i> you, my +dear Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">He then left the window-recess, whither he had withdrawn Lothar, and +rejoined his whist-party, but without losing sight of his friend. +Lothar, however, seemed to have a run of luck, and won repeatedly.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the game of whist was over, and Werner, who was weary, tried +once more to induce Lothar to leave with him. But he soon saw that he +must be given up to his fate, and accordingly left the Casino without +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew I should have no influence over him," he thought; "and this +fresh proof of it that I have had to-night makes my departure from this +place easier. Easier?" He smiled sadly. "Was there any choice left me? +I owed it to myself, and---- It is by a fortunate dispensation of +Providence that I am enabled to go so soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">He walked slowly along the moonlit street; his footsteps echoed firmly +and regularly through the silence of the night, and straight and clear +before his mind lay the path that duty required him to tread.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_18" href="#div1_18">AN EVENTFUL DAY.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The next day was Sunday.</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner stood at the church door, looking down the road from Eichhof, +along which Thea's carriage was wont to come at this hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">To-day it did not appear. The tones of the organ, heard through the +open door, died away at last, and Werner entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">There were none of his comrades there except a young lieutenant, who +had been absent from the garrison the day before, and who could, of +course, know nothing of the events of the previous evening. Werner +hesitated whether or not to look up Lothar after church, but, seeing +the curtains before his windows still closed, he decided not to disturb +him. As he left the church and walked out into the clear winter +sunshine, his mood was very grave, almost solemn.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will ride to Eichhof and take leave of Countess Thea," he thought. +"I can do so calmly now, without betraying myself; and the sooner it is +over the better." A quarter of an hour later he was riding along the +broad Eichhof road.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea, sitting in the bow-window, saw him coming. Her cheeks did not +flush, her heart beat no faster, as she recognized him. In her pure +unconsciousness of self she had not a shadow of a suspicion of this +man's sentiments towards her. Her first thought was, "How strange that +he should know that Alma is coming here again at noon!" And then she +took up the letter which she had just received and read before +recognizing Werner riding along the road. Was there really nothing more +in it than the few hasty words she had just read? was this all the +answer from Bernhard to the two long letters, filled with every detail +that could interest him, that she had written to her husband? Of course +he must be very busy, his thoughts entirely occupied with the +proceedings of the Reichstag, and his time with his social duties. But +she had so longed for some heartsome words from him; she missed him so +terribly, and she would so gladly have had some little share in his +present life, even although she were so far away from him. She would so +much have liked to know whom he saw most, and what chiefly occupied +him. She had asked him a hundred questions, but for all he had but a +brief indifferent answer. She had often pressed Bernhard's letters to +her lips, but to-day she could not,--something cold and strange seemed +breathing upon her from these few lines: she was chilled. Yes, she had, +she knew, perceived the same thing in all of Bernhard's letters lately, +but what it was she could not tell, she could not explain.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment she had forgotten the approaching guest, and her sad eyes, +half veiled in tears, saw only the leafless branches outside her +window, now glittering with snow. Not until her glance fell upon the +road did she remember Werner, and she blushed, for she feared that if +he found her sad, and with a letter from her husband in her hand, he +might suspect the cause of her melancholy mood. Therefore she hurriedly +thrust the letter into her work-table. When Lieutenant von Werner +entered, she arose and calmly and kindly offered him her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am come to take my leave of you," he said, and there was a slight +tremor in the voice usually so firm and clear. "I am ordered to the +military school at S----; and, as I shall be excessively busy during +the next few days, I thought I would employ my Sunday leisure in paying +a farewell visit to Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea looked at him surprised, and almost alarmed. "Good heavens, so +suddenly!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea that you expected to be +transferred----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not expect it, although I had asked for it. A happy combination +of circumstances has favoured me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wish to go away, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think this transfer is best for me," he replied, passing his hand +across his brow. Never in his life had he felt the atmosphere so +insufferably sultry and close as at this moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, then I will not be sorry that you are transferred, grieved as I +must be for ourselves and for Lothar. Ah, if Bernhard were only at home +again! When you go Lothar will be left entirely to himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">The introduction of this subject restored Werner's self-possession. He +told Thea that he had become convinced of the impossibility of his +exercising any influence over Lothar, and that this certainty had added +to his desire to be ordered elsewhere. They were still discussing +Lothar, when the noise of carriage-wheels was heard, and Thea arose +with the words, "Ah, there comes my sister!" Werner, too, arose. His +broad forehead flushed crimson, for the moment had come in which he +must say farewell, and he knew that perhaps--yes, most probably--he was +alone with Thea for the last time in his life. He was not in a +condition to carry on an indifferent conversation with her any longer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me say farewell to you now, madame," he said. "I have several +other visits to pay, and anything so painful as leave-taking should not +be unnecessarily prolonged."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea looked up at him in startled wonder, and there was some +embarrassment in her voice as she asked him if he would not stay and +dine.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she knew as she spoke that he would not accept her invitation. Yes, +she saw it all; she knew now that he loved Alma, and that he wished to +avoid meeting her, since he saw plainly that his affection was not +returned. Filled with compassion and sympathy for him, she held out to +him both her hands, and said, in the firm conviction that his heart lay +open before her, "Go; you are right to go now. God bless you! and +believe that I shall always think of you with warm, genuine +friendship."</p> + +<p class="normal">He made no reply, but for one short moment pressed her hand to his +trembling lips, and then left the room. On the stairs he met Alma, and +briefly bade her good-by, leaving her as much astonished at his sudden +departure as Thea had been.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he flung himself upon his horse, and gave him the spur. He avoided +the roads leading to the town, and turned towards the forest. The swift +gallop cooled his heart and brain, and when he had reached a low hill +whence there was a last view of the castle and park of Eichhof, he +slackened rein and turned for one more look. Then, with a murmured +"Farewell! farewell!" he plunged into the forest, to reach by a +circuitous route a neighbouring estate, where his leave-taking would be +a far easier matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was fleeing, it is true, but his flight was a victory; he had come +off conqueror in the hardest battle in which the human soul can ever +engage,--the strife between passion and duty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Lothar had awakened from his prolonged morning slumbers, and +endeavoured in vain to recall how he had got home and to bed on the +previous evening. It cost him a considerable amount of resolution to +get up, and when he did so he felt wretched and depressed. Gradually +certain vague memories of last night occurred to his mind. He put his +hand into one of his coat-pockets, then into the other; both were +empty. He shook his head, and finally recollected that he had worn +another coat yesterday. It was hanging over an arm-chair. He proceeded +to search the pockets, and produced a crumpled roll of paper. He opened +it, and sank upon a lounge with an exclamation of despair.</p> + +<p class="normal">The paper contained an acknowledgment for the round sum of ten thousand +marks, which he had lost in the course of the night at play, and which +he had pledged his honour should be paid within a week. Lothar stared +at the characters on the crumpled sheet. Ten thousand marks! Payable +within a week! Here was an overwhelming disaster! How had it happened? +He racked his brain to remember; the events of the evening were mere +formless shadows in his dulled remembrance. He had first won, then +lost, and there had been a good deal of champagne drunk; all that was +perfectly simple and commonplace. But this debt! How was it to be paid? +If Bernhard had been at home, he would have gone to him again in spite +of everything that he had said to him. He had always been wont to +rectify in this manner the unjust family traditions that endowed one +son with everything in the way of the goods of this world and left the +others destitute. But Bernhard was away, and must either be sought out +in Berlin or informed by letter of this last terrible debt. And what if +Bernhard refused this time, as he had so often threatened to do, to pay +the debts? Lothar buried his face in his hands, and the moisture stood +in beads upon his forehead. There was but a week before him in which to +adopt any plan of payment; he must decide immediately, and, in common +with all men lacking independence, he was incapable of decision without +consultation with some friend. It is true that he now remembered that +Werner had warned him and that he had rejected his advice; he knew, +too, that of late there had been a certain diminution of the cordial +friendship that had existed between them. But nevertheless it was to +Werner that his thoughts turned in this dire extremity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is the best of fellows, and has proved that he is really my +friend," he thought. "I could not, of course, accept a loan from him +again, aside from the fact that this sum is far beyond his means; but I +will, at all events, ask his advice. One's own perceptions become +clearer when one has talked matters over with a sensible man."</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose, arranged his dress, and went to Werner's apartments. He found +them closed; but, as the key was hanging up beside the door, Lothar +determined to go in and await the return of his friend or of his +friend's servant, who was also absent. He knew that Werner frequently +went to church, and if he had gone there this morning, and had been +detained, he might come in at any moment. Lothar paced the room to and +fro several times, then went to the window, and finally decided that +this waiting was intolerable. He threw himself upon the small leathern +sofa, and spent some moments lost in gloomy revery; then he sprang +suddenly to his feet again, and as he did so accidentally twitched off +the cover of a small table, so that several books and some papers that +had lain upon it fell upon the ground. With an exclamation of +impatience he stooped to gather them up. A small portfolio had opened +in falling, and several sheets of paper fluttered out of it on to the +floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cursed scribblings!" muttered Lothar, picking them up. Suddenly his +attention was arrested by one of these, and he looked at it more +closely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, that is Eichhof," he thought; "there is the fountain, with the +old oaks in the background, the chapel by the pond, and the avenue on +the right. When did he draw this, and what induced him to select +exactly this view?" Suddenly the thought flashed upon him, "This is the +view from Thea's bow-window. How did Werner come by it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stooped for the other sheets, firmly resolved not to look at them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, 'tis Thea herself!" he exclaimed involuntarily, as he +held the last of them in his hand. "The resemblance is so striking that +it can be seen at a glance. Well, there's surely no reason why I should +not look closely at the picture of my sister-in-law. I did not know +that Werner was such an artist, and still less was I aware that Thea +had been sitting to him. A charming study of a head. I really should +like to know when and where it was drawn. I thought he never went to +Eichhof without me; but he always vexed me with his want of frankness. +Who knows what he has been about while he has been pretending to +study---- Ah!" As he threw the sheet upon the table it turned upon its +face, and upon the other side was written the refrain of a song, "Fair +Marjory," that Thea often sung: "Be still, my heart, be still."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar, who had meant to see and to read nothing, had seen and read +enough to make him stride to and fro in the room like a madman, +muttering in broken sentences, "He loves her,--she has been sitting to +him! Bernhard has neglected her, and Werner has consoled her, while I, +fool, double-dyed fool that I am, suspected nothing! Night and day I +have thought of her, and never dared, not even to myself, to call what +I felt for her by its right name! And now I know that Bernhard is +faithless to her, that Werner is false, and that she, indeed, is no +saint! Was I not half mad for her sake yesterday when Hohenstein went +on telling such fine stories of Bernhard, my worthy brother? Did I not +try to drive away with wine and cards the thoughts that would haunt me? +and at that very time perhaps Werner was with her. Oh, if it were not +so horrible it would be ridiculous,--a silly, ridiculous farce----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has the Herr Lieutenant any orders?" the voice of Werner's servant +suddenly asked just behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is your master?" Lothar asked, roughly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Herr Lieutenant has ridden over to Eichhof. He left word that he +should be gone some time, as he meant to go farther still."</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar was gone before the man had finished his sentence.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment he had forgotten his gambling debt: he thought only of +Werner and Thea. His brain seemed on fire; his temples throbbed +violently. Without one distinct idea formed in his mind, he threw +himself upon his horse and rode furiously to Eichhof.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he dismounted in the court-yard his first question was with regard +to Werner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Herr Lieutenant rode away more than two hours ago," the footman +replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar ran up the staircase, and entered Thea's bow-windowed room +almost at the same moment in which the servant announced him. As he did +so an opposite door was hastily closed, and he thought he could hear +the sound of retreating footsteps.</p> + +<p class="normal">Agitated as he was, no longer master of himself, he took no notice of +Thea, who was sitting at her writing-table and who rose to greet him, +but rushed to the closed door and tore it open, to discover Alma, who +quickened her pace almost to a run as she perceived him. He turned +about, went to Thea, seized her by the wrist, and said, with flashing +eyes, "Has Alma been here all day long?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea tried to free her hand from his grasp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter, Lothar?" she asked, alarmed by his expression and +his strange conduct. "What do you want with Alma?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why did she hurry away as though there was some mystery to conceal?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! she went to lay aside her wraps. I had detained her here +to read a letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A letter? What letter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea shook her head and tried to smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was nothing," she said; "nothing worth mentioning," but her lip +quivered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar still gazed at her with eyes that were menacing and yet +unutterably sad.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that is not what I would ask," he said, retreating a step or two +without turning his eyes from her face. "I pray you tell me,--how long +have you been receiving Werner's visits,--how long have you known that +he loves you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lothar!" she almost screamed, involuntarily steadying herself by the +table as if she needed a support; every trace of colour faded from her +face, and she muttered beneath her breath, "He is mad!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hitherto Lothar had been convinced of the truth of his suspicions. But +now that he had hurled the base inquiry in Thea's face, as it were, now +that she had made him no reply save by an indignant and terrified +exclamation, he suddenly doubted, and as he looked at her the +conviction of her perfect innocence overwhelmed him with irresistible +force.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Answer me, Thea! for God's sake answer me!" he implored her. "Tell me +it was all a phantom of my disordered fancy. I know that Werner was +here alone to-day,--that he has taken your picture, that he loves you; +but tell me that you are innocent, and I will believe it. Only speak, +speak! I implore you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea looked fixedly at him; she saw the entreaty in his eyes and the +agony expressed in all his features.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are ill, Lothar," she said, "and therefore I will answer your +wild questions. Werner came to Eichhof for the first time without you +to-day. He came to take leave of me, since he is ordered to the +military school of S----. What you say about a picture is as +unintelligible to me as all the rest of your words."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Werner going away! I knew nothing of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"His orders arrived only last evening. You were still sleeping this +morning when he called for you. And now go to your room and lie down: +your eyes show that you have fever. I will send a servant to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">She put her hand upon the bell, but Lothar stayed her as she was about +to ring.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forgive me, Thea," he begged. "I have suffered so much!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are still suffering, for you are ill."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! I am well enough, only--but I will not speak of myself. Thea, +tell me one thing, are you happy? Does Bernhard write often, and are +his letters what they should be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea's cheeks flushed and grew pale; her hands trembled as she +collected, with nervous haste, the various letters lying upon her +table, and which Lothar, who watched her narrowly, could see were +postmarked 'Berlin.'</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment she could not reply in words, but Lothar, believing that +he read an answer in her face to his words, cried, "Oh, I see,--you +know it all! They have written you all about it from Berlin, have they +not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" she said, imperatively, her face dyed with a burning blush. +"How dare you touch upon that subject?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it is just that which drove me mad,--which made me dream what I +said of Werner possible," Lothar exclaimed, passionately. "I knew how +unhappy you must be. I hate Bernhard for it, but I hated Werner still +more, because I thought that in your misery you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea had turned away, and in silent indignation would have left the +room, but Lothar interposed between her and the door, and, throwing +himself at her feet, cried, "Forgive me! forgive me! My sin is my +excuse; for I love you, Thea, I love you! more--far more--than all the +rest!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly he sprang to his feet. A servant entered with some commonplace +message.</p> + +<p class="normal">Lothar stood for a moment as though paralyzed. He heard the man's voice +and then Thea's as though from some vast distance, and when he looked +around Thea had vanished, and the servant was asking whether the Herr +Lieutenant would drive home in the open wagon or the covered carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">For an instant Lothar stared at him in bewilderment. Then he passed his +hand across his brow. "No; the Countess's kindness is unnecessary," he +said, when the explanation of the scene dawned upon him. "I am no +longer giddy, and I can ride home."</p> + +<p class="normal">He left the room, and in the hall he encountered Alma, who had dried +her tears and bathed her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, my dear Alma," he said, with a deliberate gravity, almost a +solemnity of manner, quite foreign to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going away?" the girl asked, all unconsciously, and impressed +by this strange mood of his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Going away? No--that is--yes--perhaps so. At all events, I bid you +farewell."</p> + +<p class="normal">She heard him go down the stairs slowly and heavily. A sudden +inexplicable foreboding weighed upon her like lead. She felt as though +some evil threatened him, and she longed to avert it, to call him back. +She started to do so, when she heard the voices of the servants in the +hall below, and reflected that she did not know what to say to him. She +ran into the bow-windowed room, and looked down the avenue. A flock of +crows hovered above it; they were the only living things in sight. Alma +waited. One of the crows that had alighted in the road flew into the +air, and instantly afterward a lonely horseman rode along between the +snow-clad trees. Alma pressed her forehead against the window-panes, +but the rider never turned to look towards the castle. His head was +bent forward on his breast, and he seemed to pay no heed to his horse. +Like some shadow horse and rider appeared and disappeared at regular +intervals among the poplars lining the avenue. Alma gazed after them +until the last glimpse of Lothar had vanished in the wintry mist that +had begun to veil the landscape.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell," she whispered, and her heart was as heavy as if she had +parted from him forever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly she roused herself from her revery. "How selfish I am!" she +thought. "I stand dreaming here, thinking of all kinds of impossible +misfortunes, while Thea is alone. Ah, we have enough real sorrow to +bear! There is no need to invent fancied woes." She went to look for +her sister, whom she had some difficulty in finding.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea had retained sufficient self-possession to tell the servant that +her brother-in-law was ill, and to order a carriage for him; and then, +like some scared bird, she had flown through the castle, and taken +refuge in the conservatory adjoining the drawing-room. Here she sank +upon a seat,--the same seat where she had so often sat with Bernhard +before their marriage. She pressed her hands upon her throbbing heart, +and then upon her eyes, which were dry, hot, and tearless. Could all +that had happened in the last hour be real? The wild, insane words in +which Lothar had told her of Werner's love and of his own still rang in +her ears. Could such things be? Had she in her utter unconsciousness so +deceived herself? Or had Lothar actually spoken in the delirium of +fever? She sighed heavily. These questions, press upon her as they +might, vanished before that other: Was it possible that she had lost +Bernhard's heart,--nay, that perhaps she had never possessed it,--that +he had deceived her from the first? "No," her own heart answered, "that +cannot be! And yet----" She selected a letter from among those she had +gathered up from her table and brought hither with her, and read it +once more. It was from Adela Hohenstein, and addressed to Alma, who had +taken it from the post on her way to Eichhof that morning, and had read +it in the carriage. She had been unable to conceal from her sister the +agitation its contents had produced. Thea had questioned her, +suspecting that she had heard some news of Bernhard, and Alma had +finally been induced to show her the letter. Adela wrote in her usual +thoughtless harum-scarum way all that she had heard and seen of +Bernhard. She had frequently, at the house of one of her relatives, met +Bernhard and Julutta Wronsky together, and her letter was evidently +written in the first flush of her anger after one of these occasions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me tell Thea that for at least a year she ought never even to +condescend to look at that husband of hers," she wrote upon the last +page, "and then perhaps he may come to learn that she is a thousand +times prettier and better and lovelier than this detestable Frau von +Wronsky. For I have learned thus much of the world, that men like to be +ill-treated; they make all the good women unhappy, but they will lay +down their lives for the worthless ones. Papa is the only exception; it +does not spoil him to be loved and petted. He is kinder and dearer than +words can tell; but all other men are monsters, your Bernhard as well +as the rest." Then there was a postscript:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dearest Alma, for heaven's sake don't give Thea my message. I have +reflected that it can only do mischief. She is married to him, and they +must get along together as they best can. It can do no kind of good for +other people to meddle and talk. I would tear up this letter, but it is +well that you at least should know what men are worth, and every word +that I have written is true. So I send my letter just as it is, and +only beg you to say nothing to Thea about it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"P. S. the second. <i>À propos</i>, yesterday I met Walter in the street, +and I stopped him and asked him to come and see us. Do you know what +his reply was? 'I am very sorry, Fräulein von Hohenstein' (that is what +he called me), 'that my studies leave me no time for visiting.' What do +you think of that? Just like men in general, and the Eichhofs in +particular."</p> + +<p class="normal">At another time this letter of Adela's might not have made such an +impression upon Thea as it had produced to-day, when her heart was +filled with doubts and fears with regard to Bernhard. Had she not +foreboded all that Adela had written?</p> + +<p class="normal">Still, after she had re-read the letter, it might perhaps not have +affected her so deeply as at first had not the tidings it contained +been confirmed by Lothar's wild words. Bernhard's conduct was then +striking enough to be a theme for Berlin gossip! Oh, if only his +devotion had been shown towards any other woman! But that he should +turn to this Frau von Wronsky, with whom he had at first denied all +acquaintance, and afterwards confessed to it under such strange +circumstances; that it should be she, the woman with whom Bernhard had +desired that his wife might have as little intercourse as possible! +Thea's thoughts were in a whirl,--an abyss seemed yawning between +Bernhard and herself which all her love could not bridge over. She +raised her eyes. Above her trembled the mysterious fantastic blossom of +the orchid to which Bernhard had once compared the Countess Wronsky. +Ah, whither had they gone, those bright summer days when he had called +Thea his rose of May and had promised to surround her with perpetual +sunshine?</p> + +<p class="normal">"If this is all true, he does not deserve that I should weep for him," +she said, aloud. "No, he does not deserve it," she repeated, firmly, +closing her quivering lips. But then she thought of her child, of her +lost happiness, of her lonely youth, and she wept bitterly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus Alma found her at length, and led her back to the bow-windowed +room, where a lamp was now lighted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not speak," Thea entreated, and Alma only put her arms about her +and held her in a tender embrace. But Thea was restless. She sprang up +and went to her child. Even there she could not stay long, but returned +to the bow-windowed room, and paced it hurriedly to and fro. She could +not talk to her young sister of what was agitating her. Why, she seemed +to herself almost guilty when she remembered Lothar's passionate words. +Lothar,--there was another dark spot in her thoughts! Ah! from all +sides black clouds were gathering above her, and she could do nothing +save wait quietly until the tempest broke. She was condemned to quiet, +and what could be more horrible in her present agitation?</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma felt that the struggle in Thea's soul must be fought out alone. +She went silently hither and thither, looked after the child, presided +at the tea-table, and only now and then approached her sister to press +her hand or to imprint a kiss upon her forehead. She went to the window +and looked out into the night, now illumined by the rising moon. Her +heart was filled with a yearning melancholy, and, reproach herself for +it as she might at such a time, she could not restrain her thoughts +from deserting Thea and centring about Lothar. He had looked so +strange, so disturbed, when he had spoken that last 'farewell.'</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly her attention was attracted towards the avenue, which lay like +burnished silver beneath the moon. Was there not a shadow stirring +there? And could she not distinguish the sound of horses' hoofs? She +peered eagerly out, but the moonlight was deceptive,--she might be +mistaken. Then she heard doors closing below and steps coming through +the antechamber. Thea had sunk into the arm-chair at her writing-table, +and with pen in hand was pondering upon a letter which she believed it +her duty to write, and for which she could find not only no words but +not even one clear idea. Alma hastened to the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is there?" she asked, so quickly that Thea looked up startled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Lieutenant von Werner begs----" the entering servant began.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lieutenant Werner,--how, so late?" Alma repeated, and her slight +figure trembled as she added, beneath her breath, "That means +misfortune."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea had risen. "What, what is coming now?" she thought. "Show Herr von +Werner up!" she said, in a sharp tone of command very unlike her. But +Herr von Werner had followed close upon the footman's heels, and stood +at the door. Alma could not utter a word; she only gazed anxiously into +his pale face, and steadied herself by an arm-chair as though she were +afraid of falling. Thea went firmly to meet him. She had never borne +herself so proudly, her dark eyes had never been so haughty and cold, +as, without seeming to notice Werner's agitation, she asked, calmly, +"What brings you to us so late, Herr von Werner? It must be something +very unusual."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, madame, it is so, and very sad."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma could hardly stand. Thea still looked at Werner with an +unnaturally calm expression, and with not the faintest suspicion of +what was to come.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lothar!" came breathed like a sigh from Alma's pale lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea's thoughts were not of him. "Tell me. I need no preparation; I am +prepared," she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your brother-in-law met with an accident in riding home from Eichhof, +and is severely injured."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Thea too grew pale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was he thrown? Is his life in danger?" she asked, in low, uncertain +tones, while Alma's eyes never for one moment left Werner's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"His condition leaves little room for hope. He was not thrown,--an +accident, probably the result of carelessness----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is dead! he has shot himself!" Alma suddenly gasped. Her gloomy +forebodings had at last found distinct expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea looked at Werner. He was very pale, but he uttered no +contradiction.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma sank on her knees and buried her face in her hands. Thea slowly +passed her hand across her forehead. "Dead,--shot," she repeated +softly, as if hardly able to apprehend the meaning of the words. The +erect figure tottered, and before Werner could spring forward to +support her she fell fainting on the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma raised her head at Werner's exclamation of terror, and saw her +sister's unconscious form. She called the servants and did all that was +necessary to restore Thea, while she herself felt hardly aware of what +had happened.</p> + +<p class="normal">She, the younger and weaker of the two sisters, had not fainted, while +to Thea the thought that she might have had some share in Lothar's +death had been like a destroying flash of lightning. Alma did not +succumb, but deep darkness seemed to envelop her, in which she was +aware only of the present moment and its duties; all else was a blank. +She felt a dull pain in her head and heart, and would fain have cast +herself on the earth and have wept passionately. But shame lest she +should betray feelings that only the closest and dearest ties with +Lothar could justify, restrained her, and Thea's helpless condition +gave her a power of self-control of which she never could have believed +herself capable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I instantly telegraphed to your brother-in-law," Werner said to Alma, +"and then hurried hither, because I knew that, with the garrison so +near, you must hear the fatal news before to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma bent her head in silent assent, and in her eyes alone could be +read the entreaty that he would tell her all he knew of this terrible +calamity. He went on, in a low tone: "I only reached home at dusk, and +I saw a light in Eichhof's room. It therefore surprised me to find it +locked, and to receive no answer to my call when I had knocked at the +door in vain. I was about to descend the staircase, when I met +Eichhof's servant, who, in reply to my questions with regard to his +master, told me that the Herr Lieutenant had returned from Eichhof half +an hour previously, and had seemed very unwell; that he had sent him +ten minutes before to the apothecary's for some soothing draught, which +he was just taking to him. Why the door should be locked he could not +possibly comprehend. We tried again to open it, and finally broke it +open. He sat upon the sofa, his head lying on the table before him. As +I raised him up, the revolver fell on the floor. Death must have been +instantaneous."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma covered her face with her hands and burst at last into a flood of +tears, weeping so passionately, so uncontrollably, that Werner could +not but comprehend what this death was to this girl. In his agitation +he had said more than he meant to, and he reproached himself for so +doing. Almost in a whisper he began again: "He probably intended to +clean the revolver. I feel convinced the pistol was discharged through +carelessness, for--for--there were materials for cleaning it lying upon +the table." Werner was so unaccustomed to say what was not true that he +succeeded but ill in this attempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly Thea entered the room; her eyes glowed with an unnatural +feverish brilliancy. She hastily approached Werner and held out her +hand as if to clasp his, then instantly withdrew it, and asked, +standing close to him, as if to prevent him from evading her question, +"Do you know why he shot himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is not impossible that it was an accident, madame."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea shook her head. "That you do not believe," she said. "You know of +no reason for this deed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was ill, and perhaps a momentary insanity----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, a momentary insanity. And you think my husband will come +to-morrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">She cast down her eyes and was silent for a moment, while a shudder +seemed to pass through her delicate frame.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can anything be done to-night?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing by you, madame."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then farewell, Herr von Werner. It is best you should return to +town."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In fact, I still have much to arrange there."</p> + +<p class="normal">Agitated as Werner was, he could not but observe the strange alteration +in Thea's manner towards him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lothar was really like an own brother to her; the shock and her great +suffering have thus changed her," he thought, without dreaming of the +real state of her mind.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_19" href="#div1_19">THE SHADOWS GATHER.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In a first-class carriage of an express-train from Berlin sat Bernhard +Eichhof. Upon his return quite late from a ball, he had received the +despatch informing him of Lothar's sudden death. He had spent the rest +of the night in writing a letter to Julutta Wronsky and several others +to political associates, and was now hastening to his home by the early +train. He had scarcely found it possible to believe the sad tidings +brought by the despatch. Lothar dead!--Lothar, whom but a few weeks +previously he had left in the pride of youth and strength, a picture of +blooming health. And yet the despatch left no room for doubt. He +thought of every possible accident that could have befallen Lothar. He +saw before him his brother's smiling merry face, and the thought that +he was to look upon it cold and stiff in death seemed to him +inconceivable. In Berlin the hurried preparations for his departure had +scarcely left him time to appreciate his loss.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now, during his lonely ride, with Lothar's image constantly before +him, now he first comprehended how near this brother had been to him, +and how terribly he should miss him. In the consciousness of his +position as the future head of the family, upon whom the others must +more or less depend, Bernhard had developed, when quite young, a +certain liking for the part of a protector,--a part that became +him excellently well, because he was naturally warm-hearted and +good-natured. And precisely because Lothar had so constantly appealed +to him for aid, and, in his lack of self-dependence, had always turned +to his brother in his troubles, he had grown very, very dear to +Bernhard. Lost in melancholy reflection, he leaned back in a corner of +his coupé, without bestowing the faintest notice upon two ladies who +had entered the coupé just after him. He had closed his eyes in his +revery, and had entirely forgotten his travelling companions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the name of 'Eichhof,' uttered by one of the ladies, aroused +his attention.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is the member of the Reichstag your son-in-law's neighbour?" the other +lady asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; Rollin is in the midst of a very aristocratic neighbourhood," was +the reply. "Good heavens, the Barons von Hohenstein have lived upon the +estate for hundreds of years, and all the neighbours are old noble +families,--my daughter's surroundings will be really 'feudal.' It is +well to give one's children an education that fits them for any rank in +life. Only a few days ago Count Dornat said to me, 'Your daughter, the +Baroness von Hohenstein, is a charming woman.' And my son-in-law is +delightful. Indeed, my dear, it is really a model marriage. Between +ourselves, many an aristocratic family might take example by it,--these +Eichhofs, for instance."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard, who had ceased to pay any heed to the speakers, now listened +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it possible, Frau Kohnheim, that the Eichhofs----" Thus the +conversation continued.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Kohnheim said in a low voice a few words that Bernhard could not +understand, and then went on, in a louder tone, "Yes; I was at Rollin a +couple of weeks ago with a Berlin upholsterer to see to the furnishing +there, and the housekeeper from Eichhof was paying a visit to our +housekeeper,--I mean to my son-in-law's housekeeper,--and I learned all +about it from her. The young Countess at the castle was an innocent +young creature at first, but she has grown to be very different, +especially since her husband has been away. Only fancy such a young +woman's giving entertainments to which the young men for miles around +are invited, while a young unmarried brother-in-law of the Countess +plays the part of host! And he is in garrison only half a mile from +Eichhof, and of course is there constantly. So there you have a young +man and a young woman alone together in the country in a big castle, +and you may imagine what it must lead to!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! how can the Count be so thoughtless as to allow it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How indeed? Of course the young brother-in-law is over head and ears +in love. The housekeeper, who seems to be a very sensible person, has +often watched him. He never takes his eyes off the Countess, and, +naturally enough, she is not blind to the attractions of a handsome +young officer. There they sit in the conservatory talking together, or +they take long walks arm-in-arm, and the housekeeper----" Here the +voice sank to a whisper.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard could no longer sit quietly in his corner. He stirred and +altered his position, so that the conversation was carried on in still +lower tones.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infernal old women's gossip!" he thought, flushing angrily. +"Contemptible lies!--Lothar to----" Anger and pain possessed him. How +dared any one assail his wife's reputation? How could the innocent +relations between Thea and Lothar give rise to such calumnies? Was he +not false to the memory of the dead even to listen to such talk? He +arose and opened the window, only to close it again noisily; then +dragged out his portmanteau, and so bestirred himself that the ladies +involuntarily ceased to speak. But when he leaned back in his corner +again, all the 'old women's gossip,' all the 'contemptible lies,' +recurred to his mind word for word. Thea was young and beautiful, and +Lothar was thoughtless and susceptible, therein lay the justification +of the 'old women's gossip.' But Thea was his wife, and Lothar was his +brother. Nonsense, nonsense! why dwell upon such thoughts for an +instant? And yet they would intrude; they even came between Bernhard +and his sorrow for the loss of his brother; they suggested wild images +that showed some connection between what he had just heard and Lothar's +sudden death; they sent the blood seething through his veins, and kept +him awake, when weariness from sorrow and want of repose would have +bidden him to sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a while the two ladies left the train, and Bernhard was alone +with his torturing doubts and suggestions.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the station he was met by Werner, who had meanwhile been informed of +the result of Lothar's gambling on the previous evening. As gently as +possible, but without withholding a single detail, he told Bernhard the +truth: Lothar had contracted gambling-debts, and had, in consequence, +shot himself. Fearful as the calamity was, it was by no means without +parallel,--the same cause had often led to the same desperate resolve. +Still, to Bernhard, it did not seem to explain Lothar's act. The amount +of this last debt did most certainly exceed the amount of Lothar's +usual deficits, but yet it did not seem to Bernhard large enough to +have been paid by a life, unless there had been other motives in +Lothar's mind to prompt him to self-destruction. Why had he not applied +to his brother, as he had so often done before? Had he despaired of +himself and of his capacity for improvement? That was so unlike Lothar +that Bernhard could not believe it to be so. What, then, had prevented +him this time from appealing to his brother for aid?</p> + +<p class="normal">"He had been to Eichhof just before?" Bernhard, arousing himself from +gloomy reflections, asked of Werner, who was driving from the station +with him. Werner assented.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you never spoke with him afterward?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; none of his comrades saw him. His servant was the only one who did +so, and he says that Eichhof was very unwell. The calamity occurred +almost immediately after his return."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Immediately after his return----" Bernhard bit his lip; he would ask +no more questions. Arrived in garrison, he made all the necessary +arrangements, promised to return in a few hours, for Lothar's body was +to be taken to Eichhof in the evening, and then drove on alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had had some hope that Thea would come to meet him, but she did not +do so; she did not even receive him as usual at the hall door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Frau Countess is not well," the servant said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard hurried up the stairs to Thea's room. At the door he met the +family physician.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is my wife ill?" he asked, hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing serious at present," the old man replied. "Countess Eichhof +cannot for the moment sustain the terrible nervous shock. I have +ordered perfect rest,--her best medicine next to your arrival, my dear +Count. A sad time, indeed. Your brother was never ill in his life, and +now----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard pressed the good doctor's hand, and, leaving him, entered +Thea's room. In the first moment of reunion he forgot all his doubts. +He clasped his pale, distressed Thea in his arms. At sight of her he +felt something like remorse for having left her alone so long.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is a sad meeting, dear heart," he said with emotion, as he laid +her head upon his breast. Thea shook as with a fever-fit, her lips +quivered, but she could not speak.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard looked in her face in alarm. "My poor, poor Thea!" he +whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">She extricated herself from his clasp, and withdrew her hand from his. +"It will pass," she said, turning from him to draw a shawl over her +shoulders. "Never mind me. Have you seen him,--I mean Lothar?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; he looks perfectly unchanged. I shall have him brought here +to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again Thea shuddered, and for a moment her look was fixed and wild. +Bernhard tried again to draw her to him, but she pushed him away. +"Leave me! leave me!" she cried. "Oh, my God!" And she burst into a +passionate fit of sobbing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard turned away and walked to the window. He felt that all his +doubts would have vanished like morning mists if Thea had met him as +usual and wept out her pain and grief upon his breast. Now they arose +again before him, and took firmer, clearer shape. For a few moments he +stood motionless at the window, then suddenly he approached Thea again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know why Lothar shot himself?" he asked, in a voice that sounded +hoarse and unlike his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">She bent her head lower upon her hands and made no reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He lost a large sum at play last night," Bernhard continued. "But----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Thea looked up. For an instant her face looked transfigured with +hope, like that of a criminal reprieved when under sentence of death. +Involuntarily she seized Bernhard's hand, and asked, with a passionate +excitement such as Bernhard had never before known her to express, "Do +you believe that that was why he shot himself? Do you believe it? Can +it be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her eyes as she looked up at him were full of imploring anguish, and +he, in his turn, thrust away her hand, and said, in a cold, hard voice, +"No! I see you do not believe it, and I--neither do I believe it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment Alma entered with Herr von Rosen, who had come over +immediately upon hearing the sad news. This put an end to Bernhard's +and Thea's <i>tête-à-tête</i>, and neither of them at this time could have +wished it prolonged.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nor was there any opportunity for renewing it during the next few days. +The dowager Countess had hastened to Eichhof upon hearing of her son's +sudden death, and her grief and suffering were of so exacting a nature +as to employ the time and energies of at least one member of the +family, and sometimes several of them, all the time. She called herself +the unhappiest, the most sorely tried of women; but when Bernhard +proposed that she should remain at Eichhof with Thea, she thought it +but right to inform him that she had been offered the position of +abbess in the aristocratic institution of B----, and that she intended +to accept it and retire thither as soon as possible, since it seemed to +offer her the advantages to which her birth and rank entitled her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea suffered terribly, but she was cold and repellant towards +Bernhard, who was very much occupied and rather avoided her than +otherwise. The physician shook his head; he was far from satisfied with +his patient's condition, although he still maintained that she was only +suffering from prolonged nervous agitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the day after Lothar's funeral Thea was lying back on her lounge, +not sleeping, but with closed eyes. She could not sleep either by night +or by day, for so soon as she began to dream she saw either Lothar or +Bernhard before her, and the thought of them banished repose. Was she +not guilty of Lothar's death? Ought she not, instead of turning angrily +away, to have tried gently to lead him back to the right path? If +there had been no shadow between Bernhard and herself, this torturing +self-reproach would not have taken shape; her conscience would not have +been so morbidly sensitive, inclining her to the gloomiest reflections. +But the shadow was there, and it was therefore impossible for her to +seek refuge with her husband, and be consoled and soothed in his arms. +Agitated as she was, she saw Bernhard's relations with Frau von Wronsky +in the darkest light. She attributed his altered demeanour entirely to +these, and never for an instant suspected that he too was tormented by +doubts and suspicions with regard to herself. And Bernhard? All through +these days he scarcely thought of Julutta; he never suspected that his +friendship for her could have given rise to remarks and comments which +Thea had overheard, and if he had suspected this he would have been +indignant that Thea should give ear to such scandal. In all that +concerned that 'poor persecuted woman' his conscience felt perfectly +pure, and the struggle between his love for Thea and his dead brother, +and the hate which now threatened to arise within him for both of them, +left no space for thoughts of aught else.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the time for his return to Berlin was at hand. He resolved that +certainty should at least be his. Thea, apparently calmly passive, and +yet wretchedly restless, had just adopted a resolve to entreat Bernhard +to tell her frankly of his sentiments for Frau von Wronsky. She would +make no claim upon his affection, since she had never possessed it, +but she would be his true and honest friend, asking nothing from him +save confidence and truth. For their child's sake they must remain +friends,--friends, but nothing more! Yes, she would say all this to him +to-day--this very hour. Suddenly she started: a cold, heavy hand was +laid upon her shoulder. She raised her head. Bernhard had entered +softly, and had only been aware when he stood close beside her that she +was not sleeping. His hand was upon her shoulder, and he said, gazing +at her the while with eyes so changed, so darkly stern, "I must speak +with you, Thea, before I leave for Berlin. I have a question to put to +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked up at him startled. She had just been thinking of him, but +the face she saw before her in no wise resembled the image of him in +her mind, and there was an unusual imperious tone in his voice that +offended her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go on," she said, looking away from him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What occurred between yourself and Lothar?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thea started up. All her lately-formed resolutions were forgotten. He, +against whom she believed herself to have such just cause for +complaint, dared to take her to task thus!</p> + +<p class="normal">She could not and would not lie; it was just as impossible for her at +this moment to answer his question frankly. She stood erect before him. +Her pale cheeks glowed, and her eyes gleamed angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You certainly have no right to ask that question. You less than all +others."</p> + +<p class="normal">The words passed her lips quick as thought. The next instant she +repented of them, but they were spoken, and they had their effect. A +terrible alteration took place in Bernhard's face. For an instant he +looked as though about to crush to the earth the woman before him; then +he suddenly turned away, without a word, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard!" Thea called after him; but the door was shut and he did not +return.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Past and gone!" echoed in Thea's soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Past and gone!" a voice muttered in Bernhard's heart. Of what avail +was it that she wrung her hands, and that he, in his room, hid his face +and wished himself dead in Lothar's place rather than live through all +this? The doors between the husband and wife were closed, and neither +could overcome self so far as to open them and cry out to the other, "I +love you,--I love you in spite of everything!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The reconciling words remained unspoken.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus they parted. Bernhard returned to Berlin to await the close of the +Reichstag, and Thea was alone again,--really alone now, since she knew +that there was no union between Bernhard and herself even in thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner had departed immediately after Lothar's funeral, and Thea +shortly afterwards sent Alma home. Their mother was quite ill; there +were fears of her becoming blind, and Alma was much more needed there +than at Eichhof. Thea exacted from her a solemn promise that she would +never mention the contents of Adela's letter. What the future had in +store for her she could not tell, only one thing she was resolved upon, +that the unhappy state of affairs existing between Bernhard and herself +should be concealed from the world as long as possible. While he had +been in Eichhof her illness had made such concealment entirely +feasible, and in future--yes, what was to be done in future she could +ponder upon in her solitude at her leisure.</p> + +<p class="normal">But upon this Bernhard had also pondered, and a few days after his +departure Thea received a letter from him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her heart beat so strongly when this letter arrived that she held it +for a moment in her hand without being able to open it. And when at +last she did so, the characters of the familiar handwriting danced so +before her eyes that at first she could scarcely decipher them. +Bernhard wrote:</p> + +<p class="normal">"From what you said to me on the day before I left Eichhof, I conclude +that you find it impossible to bestow your confidence and affection +upon me any longer. I do not ask why this is so; you know the reason +for it, and it is better that it should not be discussed between us. To +what is inevitable we must resign ourselves as best we may. After what +has passed you probably desire to return to your parents, as life with +me would be only a constant pain to you. I should not oppose your wish +in this regard were it not for the existence of one for whose sake it +seems to me best that we should maintain at least the appearance of +union before the world,--I mean our child. For his sake we must avoid a +public separation. Therefore it is that I pray you to remain in +Eichhof, even although I should return thither. My sphere of action +must enlarge with time. I shall travel much, and thus the brief +duration of our meetings in Eichhof will seem not unnatural. You can +shorten them still further by visits to watering-places, if it so +pleases you. Before the world due regard must be paid to <i>les +convenances</i>; of course the cause of our separation must never be +mentioned between ourselves. In this wise our relations to each other +may be duly arranged, and I pray you to inform me as soon as possible +if your views in this respect coincide with mine.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="sc">Bernhard Eichhof</span>."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">This was the letter which Thea read over and over again amid floods of +tears, the letter the composition of which had cost Bernhard a +sleepless night. What a night it had been! Anger and pain strove within +him for the mastery, and pain at length conquered. He thought of Thea's +youth, of her solitude and inexperience, and he thought of Lothar's +thoughtless gayety, of his susceptible nature, and of all his winning +qualities. And he, Bernhard, had been fool enough to leave these two +children dependent upon each other for society! Through his own fault +his happiness was destroyed, and he had lost the woman whom he +loved,--lost her forever!</p> + +<p class="normal">He was overcome with compassion for himself, for Lothar, who had sought +by his death to expiate his fault, for Thea! While writing that letter +to her his heart was filled with sympathy for her. He pitied the poor +young creature whom he had delivered over to her destruction; she could +be nothing more to him, but his roof should shelter her at least from +further harm.</p> + +<p class="normal">These were Bernhard's reflections; but Thea thought she could read +between the lines, and that it was not his insulting suspicions of her +fidelity, but his own sentiments for Julutta Wronsky that made it easy +indeed for him to give up his wife, if only appearances were kept up +before the world. She accepted what he proposed with a dull +resignation. In the tormenting self-accusations in which she so often +indulged in her solitude, she seemed to have a crime to expiate. She +repeatedly recalled every conversation, every interview, she had ever +had with Lothar. She thought now that she had often been too cordial +and friendly to him, she reproached herself for the ease and +carelessness of her manner towards him, and she regarded Bernhard's +estrangement from her as a punishment from heaven, which she must +patiently endure. She grew paler and more silent, so that the old +family physician often shook his head anxiously when he visited her, +although he could not pronounce her really ill. Once he wrote to +Bernhard about her, and Bernhard thought 'of course she cannot recover +from Lothar's loss,' and, in spite of his pity for her, he crushed the +innocent letter in his hand and flung it from him as if it contained +some poison that he feared to touch. And then he carried his gloom, his +pain, and his sore heart to Julutta Wronsky, not for consolation, as he +said to himself,--who could console him?--but for some distraction of +mind, to listen to her glorious contralto as she sang his favorite +songs, and to discuss the events of the day. Meanwhile he could not but +be conscious of the influence that he exerted upon this woman, and of +how entirely she looked at the world through his eyes.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_20" href="#div1_20">DR. NORDSTEDT.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Spring had come, and life in Eichhof had developed into just what +Bernhard had foreseen. He had taken an active part in a new railway +enterprise which was to bring his secluded estates more into contact +with the world and to connect a great Russian branch-line with a German +trunk-line. By degrees he had become a prime mover in this scheme, and +when he returned to Eichhof every moment of his time and every thought +of his mind were put under requisition. He had to go to Russia, and +backwards and forwards to and from Berlin; guests of every social rank +came to Eichhof in the interests of the new railway, a prominent +banking-house had to be induced to join in the scheme, and there were +all kinds of foreseen and unforeseen obstacles to be overcome. And +Bernhard was wanted everywhere. A great work was to be undertaken, one +that would be of immense benefit to his section of the country, and the +less satisfaction Bernhard took in his home-life the more did he devote +himself to these outside interests, that were to be, as he thought, so +productive of good. It was natural that Julutta Wronsky should +understand and sympathize with him in these interests more than Thea +possibly could. The time was past when Thea, for love of him, would +interest herself in subjects that else would never have occupied her +thoughts. And, besides, she was so very far from well that she no +longer refused to heed the advice of the physician, who urged her to +try change of air and scene at one of the well-known baths.</p> + +<p class="normal">So she made ready for the journey, upon which her little son was to be +her only companion and consolation. Yes, her only consolation, for +except in her boy's laughing eyes she could see no brightness anywhere. +At Schönthal, Frau von Rosen had been seriously ill, and when she began +to recover her disease settled in her eyes, so that at the end of a few +weeks her sight was almost entirely gone. It was a sad picture, that of +one who had been so active now so entirely helpless, and Herr von Rosen +and Alma vied with each other in devotion to the invalid. Care for her +mother helped Alma to conceal and to overcome her grief for Lothar far +more easily than would otherwise have been the case. She had no time to +think of it,--the present claimed all her powers of mind and body, and +the past retreated into a dim distance. While Thea was preparing for +her journey, her mother was about to travel also; but while Thea's goal +was a mountain watering-place, Frau von Rosen was going to Berlin to +consult Walter's friend, Dr. Nordstedt. He advised her to place herself +entirely under his care for a while, and accordingly Frau von Rosen and +Alma were soon established in two quiet rooms in a wing of the +Nordstedt mansion, the windows of which looked out upon the blossoming +fruit-trees and green grass-plats of the pleasant garden. Soon this +prospect was shut out from one of the rooms by blue curtains, for Frau +von Rosen was to undergo an operation which would decide whether she +should henceforth dwell in perpetual night or once more look upon the +light of day and the faces of those whom she loved. They were weary +days that Alma now passed beside her mother's couch, hovering between +fear and hope. Herr von Rosen left them immediately after the +operation, for pressing business at home prevented him from awaiting +the final decision, and Walter Eichhof and Adela Hohenstein were the +only friends from home who came now and then to ask after Frau von +Rosen and to chat awhile with Alma. Oddly enough, the two had never met +upon any of their visits; 'fortunately,' Walter said, 'unfortunately,' +Adela thought, although not for worlds would she have uttered the word +aloud. At last after days of prolonged anxiety the bandage could be +removed from the invalid's eyes, and Dr. Nordstedt pronounced the +operation entirely successful. That was the first happy day that Alma +had known since Lothar's death. A smile transfigured for a moment Dr. +Nordstedt's grave face as he announced the glad tidings to Alma, and +tears glittered in the girl's eyes as she held out both hands to him, +and, forgetting all her shyness, cried, "Ah, how I thank you, Dr. +Nordstedt! If I only had some way in which to show you how grateful I +am!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held her little white hands in a firm clasp for an instant, and +replied, "Such moments are the bright spots in a physician's life, +Fräulein von Rosen, and they atone for many a gloomy day."</p> + +<p class="normal">On the evening of that day Alma stood at the open window of her room, +looking out into the starry June night. The leaves of the trees +whispered gently in the evening breeze, and the garden lay silent and +dark below her, while beyond the gardens and court-yard that surrounded +the Nordstedt mansion there was the glimmer of distant gas-lights, and +the street-noises fell upon her ear like a muffled hum. Alma was so +grateful that she longed to be happy and glad, and yet precisely at +this time, when she was relieved from her weight of care and could +breathe freely, she felt doubly lonely in the strange great city. She +seemed to herself to be upon a lonely island in the midst of a roaring +ocean. As she stood thus looking out, she thought of that winter night +in Eichhof when she had stood at the window gazing thus. Lothar's +image, which her recent care had banished to the background of her +thoughts, arose vividly before her, and she was conscious of a painful +yearning for her home. She clasped her hands against the window-frame, +and leaned her head upon them. The air was sultry; she had loosened her +fair hair, and it fell down about her shoulders, as she remained thus +lost in thoughts of the past. Suddenly the door was opened, and a woman +with a lighted candle entered the room. It was the nurse to whose care +Frau von Rosen was specially intrusted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Fräulein dear, you are in pitch darkness!" she +exclaimed, putting the candle on the table, "and with the window open +too! Have you closed the door, that your mother may not feel the +draught?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed I have, Marianne," Alma replied, half turning round. "My mother +is asleep, and I came here to get a little fresh air."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, you ought to have more fresh air, Fräulein dear; the Herr +Doctor always says you ought to walk in the garden every day. The Herr +Doctor is not at all pleased to see you grow so pale here. He looks at +you,--yes, just as he always does at people with whom he is not +satisfied, and for whom he would like to prescribe. No offence, +Fräulein, but he does; such a sad look, and yet so kind. Good gracious! +I know the look well enough. And he has, perhaps, a particular reason +for it in your case."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma was only lending half an ear to the woman's chatter, and it was +more out of kindness than from interest that she asked, "Indeed? How +so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianne put on an air of mystery. "Ah, you see, 'tis a long story. You +look like somebody," she replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Somebody who is dead; of course it was a woman," Marianne chattered +on. "She had braids just like yours. Now your hair is down, I can see +that she had the very same. And she had blue eyes, too, and was so like +you in some way, I cannot exactly tell how; but as soon as you came you +reminded me of her, and our doctor saw it too,--I knew that in a +moment, for I know him well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and who was this other?" Alma asked, with more interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianne sighed, and then told Alma of the unfortunate young woman whom +her doctor had once intrusted to her care. "And only think, Fräulein +dear, the woman had once been so rich that she did not know what to do +with her money, and--but this is a secret; I only happen to know it +because my husband, who is dead, was once a footman in her house. Only +since you look so like her I'll tell it to you. Well, our doctor loved +this woman dearly when she was a girl. But he was very young, and the +girl's parents, and the girl herself, perhaps, thought he was not rich +enough for her. At all events, she wouldn't marry him, and that's the +only reason why he has never married, although now he might choose a +wife where he would and thank you, too. But he cannot forget his +Hedwig. And when he found her so sick and miserable, and got me to +nurse her, and then at last when she died, any one could see how +fond he was of her. Our doctor is an angel to all sick people, but +then--then he was something more."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma listened now with keen interest, and was almost sorry when +Marianne had finished arranging her room for the night and was obliged +to attend to some other patients.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, Fräulein dear, the best of men must have trials. Well, +good-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the nurse left the room, and Alma was again alone at the window. +And so this calm, grave Dr. Nordstedt had also lived through his +romance. He had lost his love, and lost her so cruelly! "Poor man!" +Alma whispered, thinking of what she had just heard. Then she heard +footsteps on the garden gravel path below her window. She leaned out, +and saw a tall, manly figure slowly walking towards the house. She +hurriedly withdrew, as though fearing that the doctor might suspect +that she was thinking of him and that she knew his secret. Still, she +no longer felt lonely as before; it was a certain consolation to her to +reflect that in the heart of the man walking alone beneath the trees on +this sultry evening there might perhaps be thoughts similar to her own.</p> + +<p class="normal">From this day it was not gratitude solely that prompted her to observe +the doctor with greater interest than hitherto. There seemed a certain +resemblance between his fate and her own. She thought she could +understand him; and when he paced the garden to and fro alone in the +evening, and she stood alone at her window, she thought that surely +there was some mysterious sympathy between them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus some time passed, and at last Frau von Rosen was allowed to leave +her room. When she spent an hour for the first time in an arbour in the +garden, Herr von Hohenstein and his daughter came to wish their old +friend joy in her restoration to health, and to inform her at the same +time that Herr von Hohenstein had purchased a country-house with a +little land, and that they were to occupy it the ensuing week. The +house was in the vicinity of one of the larger cities of their native +province, and Adela was enthusiastic in her praises of its lovely +situation, while her head was filled with plans for gardens of roses, +asparagus-beds, dove-cotes, and chicken-yards. Herr von Hohenstein, who +had entirely recovered his health, although he was greatly changed and +found his memory often defective, so that he was obliged to turn to +Adela for aid, agreed to everything, and spoke of employing his leisure +in the quiet of the country, if his strength admitted of it, in +collecting his varied experience on the subject of the breeding of +horses, and in publishing it for the use and enlightenment of +posterity. Adela had taken a pencil out of her pocket, and was +just about to draw a ground-plan of her future home on a leaf of +her note-book for Alma, when a shadow fell upon her paper, and a +familiar voice that had not fallen upon her ears for a long time bade +'good-morning' to the little circle in the arbour. Adela started up and +confronted Walter Eichhof. Perhaps each was at first inclined, so +unexpected was this meeting, to run away; but Adela was imprisoned in +the arbour, and Dr. Nordstedt's broad shoulders appeared just behind +Walter. As there was no way of avoiding each other, they each had +recourse to the same line of conduct; Walter devoted himself to the +Rosens, and Adela found inexhaustible matter for conversation with Dr. +Nordstedt in his establishment and his methods of treatment, in which +she expressed the greatest interest. Both Walter and Adela, however, +took occasion to scan each other furtively, and at times replied rather +vaguely to remarks addressed to them, from an anxiety on the part of +each to hear what the other was saying. At last Dr. Nordstedt expressed +a fear lest so much conversation around her might fatigue Frau von +Rosen, and proposed that she should be left for a while with the Baron +von Hohenstein, while he conducted Walter and the young ladies through +the garden, and the establishment in which Fräulein von Hohenstein +expressed such an interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela immediately declared herself ready to go, and, as Walter was +standing by Alma's side, it fell to Dr. Nordstedt to conduct Fräulein +von Hohenstein. He showed them through various rooms in the house, and +told them how they had been enlarged to their present size from small +beginnings, until he had ended by adding the present spacious wings to +the original mansion. The waiting-rooms were filled with all kinds of +costly <i>objets d'art</i>, mementos from grateful patients from near and +far. Adela, who had chattered fast enough at first, gradually became +silent, and looked up with a kind of awe at the tall, serious man who +had made himself what he was. Then she cast a stolen glance at Walter. +He was right to be proud of this friend, she thought, and then she +wondered whether Walter possessed sufficient energy and industry to be +like him. She could not but observe meanwhile that in the course of the +last year Walter had grown far more manly, and at last she arrived at +the conclusion that she never should suspect either Walter or Dr. +Nordstedt of being doctors if she had not known about them. The image +of a 'doctor' in her mind was inseparably connected with a large pair +of spectacles and a strong odour of ether,--both attributes of the +family physician at Rollin, and of a certain professor who had been +called in at the time of her father's illness. They had hitherto been +the only representatives of the medical profession known to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fräulein Alma would like to see your study," Walter suddenly said to +Nordstedt, who turned to the girl with a smile, and said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have seen it already, Fräulein von Rosen. It is the little room I +showed you where I performed my first successful operation. When one +wishes to work, any decoration around one has a disturbing influence, I +think; and then, too, I like old places, and so I stayed there with my +books."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For the first time I cannot agree with you," cried Adela. "Whoever has +any taste for the beautiful must like to see it around him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Nordstedt laughed. "You are right," he rejoined; "but beauty incites me +either to enjoyment or to dreamy revery, and neither is any assistance +to hard work."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, lest the ladies should think you a scorner of the beautiful, you +must open your music-room for us," said Walter.</p> + +<p class="normal">This Nordstedt did with pleasure. He certainly was much more talkative +and less reserved than usual to-day. Walter wondered whether Adela's +gay humour had wrought this change. Although he was firmly convinced +that he himself had entirely ceased to think of Adela, he found this +suspicion far from agreeable.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they entered the music-room both the girls uttered an exclamation of +delight. The furniture, the hangings, the pictures on the walls, all +gave evidence of genuine taste and a fine artistic perception.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, the requirements of art differ from those of labour," said +Nordstedt. "Art gives beauty and must have beauty."</p> + +<p class="normal">And everything in this room was beautiful. From the grand piano to the +smallest footstool, all was perfect of its kind. Adela's admiration was +loudly expressed, Alma's was silent. But whenever she lifted her eyes +they were sure to encounter Nordstedt's glance seeking hers. "Do you +love music?" he asked, suddenly stepping to her side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dearly!" she replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to the piano, and played one of Mendelssohn's Songs without +Words. Walter stood at a window, looking very grave. Nordstedt never +played before strangers. What had come over him to-day? And how +devoutly Adela was listening! Walter wished he had not come here +to-day, and the brighter his friend's face grew the gloomier he felt.</p> + +<p class="normal">The song that Nordstedt had chosen was one of those brief melancholy +strains that suggest a lament. When he had finished, Alma said, "That +song is one of my favourites. It is so fervent, and yet so sad. It +sounds as if one were thinking of some one loved and lost----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Nordstedt turned upon her one brief questioning glance of surprise. +Alma blushed, fearing that she had said too much. But Adela, who +generally said whatever came into her head without reflecting, +exclaimed, as she looked admiringly at Nordstedt, "Why, you can do +everything! You give me an entirely different idea of doctors from any +I have ever had before!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely had the words left her lips when she, too, blushed crimson to +the roots of her hair, for she remembered that Walter heard what she +said. She was glad that Nordstedt proposed returning to Frau von Rosen, +who ought now to be taken to her room. Without waiting for the escort +of the two gentlemen, she took Alma's arm, and ran, rather than walked, +along the corridor into the garden, while the young men silently +followed them. Nordstedt's face was bright with a smile, but Walter was +annoyed and discontented with himself, with Adela, with everybody. He +was more startled than pleased when Adela offered him her hand at +parting and said, softly, "It has given me great pleasure to see you +again." He replied only by a low, formal bow. He wandered about the +loneliest streets on this evening until ten o'clock, and at last closed +his door behind him and threw himself upon his lounge, saying, "And yet +I wish I had not seen her again!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_21" href="#div1_21">SUMMER DAYS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Broad sunlight lay upon the comfortable mansion of Schönthal. Frau von +Rosen was better than she had been for years, but she was still obliged +to spare her eyes, and so Alma had undertaken to advise Dr. Nordstedt +from time to time of the condition of his patient. The less there was +to tell of her, however, the more there always seemed to be to say. +Nordstedt was now looked upon by the whole family more as a friend than +as a physician, and, busy as he might be, he always found time to +answer Alma's letters. As Walter was to spend his summer holidays at +Schönthal, Herr von Rosen invited Dr. Nordstedt to pay them a visit at +the same time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, papa, what are you thinking of? He never will come," said Alma.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nevertheless he came.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a pity it is that Thea has not yet come home!" said Alma. "She +would be so much pleased with Dr. Nordstedt, and he would like her so +much."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen gazed thoughtfully at her daughter. How did she know so +well whom Dr. Nordstedt would like? She began to shake her head, but +not for long, for Nordstedt had grown dear to her, and she only glanced +shyly now and then at her husband, wondering if the same thoughts that +had occurred to her had been suggested to him also, and what he would +say. But it really was all his fault. Why had he invited the doctor to +the house?</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening Herr von Rosen said to her, "We are thought to be people of +very advanced ideas, mamma. Do you not think we should justify the +opinion entertained of us if we chanced some day to marry our daughter +to a man of the people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems to me," she replied, "that everything would depend upon who +the man was, and what confidence we could repose in him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha! Then, in principle, you would not be opposed to such a match? Of +course, I am only discussing such things in general."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In general, then, I have no objection to the bourgeoisie, although I +once thought I could favour none save sons-in-law of rank. But what is +the use of growing older if one grows no wiser?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then there was a pause, which was ended by Herr von Rosen's saying, +"Alma certainly never would have been happy with Lothar Eichhof."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen sighed. She laid her hand on her husband's shoulder, and +said, softly, "Do you think Thea is happy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! her letters have struck you too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not only that, but she has now been three months away from Eichhof. It +was all very well for her to go to the baths, but to visit my sister +afterward and stay there so long,--I cannot understand it. Mountain air +is good for the child, she says. Possibly; but Eichhof air would be +equally good for him. And we so seldom see anything of Bernhard----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard has a great deal to do at present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, my dear, I can easily see that you do not believe that to be the +only reason. I often lie awake thinking of it all. I cannot comprehend +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wait until Thea comes home. She is a clever woman, and she loves +Bernhard; she will make matters all right again. You remember how she +behaved about his agricultural interests. At all events, we must know +nothing until we are told. Not even a parent should interfere between +man and wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau von Rosen assented. "But yet it is hard," she rejoined; "and if +anything has estranged them from each other, be sure it is the result +of the grand state in which they are obliged to live. Love is more +likely to nourish amid simple, comfortable surroundings."</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day the family and their guests were taking their coffee when +the post-bag was brought in. There was a general distribution of +letters and newspapers, and among the former was a thick envelope for +Alma from Adela Hohenstein.</p> + +<p class="normal">There had been a brisk correspondence carried on of late between the +two girls, and Alma was as familiar with Adela's quiet life in her +country home as was Adela with Alma's walks and rides with her guests, +and even with the conversations carried on among them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is very charming here," Adela wrote. "My plants and my animals +flourish finely. Papa is contented, and we love each other dearly. +But--you see there is a but--it is very quiet. The people about us are +strangers to us, and those whom we know are far away. I go to walk just +when you do, but I am quite alone. Since my Fidèle died I have not even +a dog, for the one I have now is too stupid to care to go with me. +While I walk, papa writes his book, which, however, between ourselves, +will not come to anything, because poor papa has forgotten so much. But +it gives him pleasure, and so I let him believe that it will be good, +and go to walk alone. And sometimes I am quite low in my mind and could +envy you your guests. Not Walter, of course, but Dr. Nordstedt is so +nice; and even Walter is a human being, and an old acquaintance +besides. Papa, too, thinks--but then he had better write you himself +what he thinks. I only want to tell you that I am no longer so +seriously angry with Walter as I told you I was in Berlin. I have been +thinking about it since I have been so much alone, and I have reflected +that it is folly to be angry with any one for as long as I have been +vexed with Walter. To be sure, you do not know the cause I had for +anger, and I certainly had good cause; but nevertheless I am angry with +him no longer, and he need not refuse papa's invitation on my account. +You may tell him so."</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma read this strange letter twice, and just as she finished it Herr +von Rosen said, "Baron Hohenstein has written to me, Dr. Nordstedt, +asking whether you and Walter will not stop and pay him a little visit +on your way home. He says he has received so much hospitality in your +house that he should like to requite it. You will go directly past his +retreat, and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't decide against this plan; I have something to tell you from +Adela," Alma whispered to Walter, who was just opening his lips to +declare that the visit would be impossible.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dr. Nordstedt read the Freiherr's kind invitation, and then declared, +with a glance at Walter, the state of whose mind he guessed, although +he knew nothing of it positively, that he felt inclined to go. After +breakfast Alma took occasion to deliver Adela's message to Walter. The +young man hesitated at first whether to rejoice or be vexed. Adela was +no longer angry with him! As if she had ever had any cause to be so. He +had laid his heart at her feet, and she had thrust it from her. The +bitterest moments of his life he had experienced upon her account. No +human being had ever so grieved and wounded him as she had done. And +now she sent him word that she was no longer angry with him. What a +confusion of ideas there must be in that fair curly head! But in spite +of his vexation his heart beat faster, and there was a joyous light in +his eyes. Was not a desire to see him again at the bottom of her +message? Did she not say "I am no longer angry with you" only because +pride and mortification kept her from saying, "Do not be angry with me +any longer"? Of what avail was it that he had so often convinced +himself that he would forget her,--nay, that he had forgotten her? Her +image was more vividly distinct than ever in his mind, and in spite of +all his self-remonstrances he was delighted at the thought of this +visit, and counted the days that must elapse before it could begin.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day Herr von Rosen invited him to drive with him to Rollin, where +he and Alma had long owed a visit. Dr. Nordstedt stayed with Frau von +Rosen, and the three others set out upon a lovely afternoon. How +strange were Walter's sensations upon seeing the fine old pile once +more! The memories connected with it took more vivid shape in his mind. +There were the two old lindens beside the court-yard gate stretching +their leafy arms above the tall old wooden crucifix, and upon the other +side was the ancient oak, in which the storks were wont to build. But +between these unchanged trees two brand-new gothic gate-posts had +lately been erected, and as the carriage rolled along the avenue Walter +saw that the old house had been decorated with all kinds of turrets and +bow-windows. The arbour of clematis had been replaced by a sloping +terrace; the elder-bushes in front of the house had been exchanged for +closely-trimmed acacias, and instead of the climbing roses, which had +been killed by the various renovations, the shield and baronial crest +of the Hohensteins were conspicuous between the windows of the upper +story. A footman in elegant livery received the guests. The hall was +redolent of fresh paint and new carpets, and the doors creaked upon +their hinges, as though discontented with the new order of affairs, but +no footstep could be heard upon the luxurious rugs and carpets. Hugo +Hohenstein received them in the hall in his customary <i>blasé</i> but not +inelegant manner. He conducted Alma to the drawing-room, and presented +the party to his wife, who greeted them with a curtsey that was +needlessly low, but maintained towards them generally an air of cool +reserve, which finally had a paralyzing effect upon them all. The young +hostess had perhaps not received a satisfactory amount of attention +from her husband's acquaintances, and was fearful of compromising +herself; at all events, she was evidently embarrassed, perfectly +courteous but perfectly cold, so that when the gentlemen retired to +smoke a cigar, Alma found it very difficult to carry on a conversation. +She admired several treasures of art that were displayed on shelves and +brackets, as well as the entire arrangement of the drawing-room. Frau +von Hohenstein replied that it was all very simple, and that she was +sure that Fräulein von Rosen was accustomed to a far greater degree of +elegance. But something in her expression gave the lie to her words, +and Alma's heart grew heavy, for she could not but remember, as these +conventional phrases were being exchanged, the many delightful talks +she had had with Adela in this very room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter's sensations were very similar to Alma's, while Hugo Hohenstein +conducted the gentlemen through the gardens, where stiff flower-beds +but poorly replaced the rose-hedges. The trees in the park, too, were +much thinned, and part of the pond had been drained to give place to +more trim flower-beds.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When the pond was drained a ring was found," said Hugo,--"a golden +ring, set with a blue or green stone. I have it now; and I should like +to know how it came in the pond."</p> + +<p class="normal">The blood mounted to Walter's cheeks, but he said nothing, until +shortly afterwards, when he was shown the ring in the smoking-room. +Then he could not refrain from remarking, "I think your sister, +Fräulein Adela, used to wear that ring. If I am not mistaken, there is +a date engraved upon it,--the date of your parents' betrothal----Ah! +there it is: 'August 28, 1830.' Does that coincide with your knowledge +on the subject?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure! I never thought of that. Really, it is remarkable how +stupid everything is when one comes to investigate it. Some interest +attached to the ring so long as no one knew how it came in the pond. +But now that we know all about it, it turns out to be perfectly +commonplace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would you like to see my collection of weapons?" he asked, after a +while. "I have some rare pieces." He opened a cabinet and displayed its +contents to his guests. "They really are fine, are they not?" he said. +"I am thinking now of making an Egyptian collection. I intend going to +Egypt; it is a fearful bore to stay at home forever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" said Herr von Rosen. "What does your lady wife say to that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo von Hohenstein looked at his neighbour with undisguised +astonishment, then he smiled with an air of superiority. "<i>Mon Dieu!</i>" +he said, "we did not marry to be bored. My wife will probably visit a +French watering-place, or something of the sort." He suppressed a +slight yawn, and thought how impossible it was to be entertained by +these <i>gentilshommes campagnards</i>, who, with their old-fashioned ideas, +were really quite out of place in the modern world.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr von Rosen ordered his carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>À propos</i>, since you are shortly to pay my governor a visit, my dear +Eichhof, why not take the ring with you?" said Hugo.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Walter had already thought of doing so, but had not made up his mind +how to propose it. He took the ring, and his heart beat fast. Fate +willed that the ring he had cast away in anger should now be returned +to him; he would accept the omen,--it was the talisman of his good +fortune that he had thus regained. Therefore on the drive home to +Schönthal he was in the gayest humour, while Herr von Rosen and Alma +could not recover from the impression the visit had made upon them. +They had had a fleeting glimpse of a modern fashionable marriage, and +both were prompted to make a comparison which pained them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is going to Egypt and she to France," Herr von Rosen thought, "and +this they call not being 'bored.' And my daughter and my son-in-law, +too, have put miles between them. Are they afraid of being 'bored'? +Good heavens! have home-life and home-happiness lost all charm for the +young people of the present day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Alma on her part thought of the cool courtesy with which Hugo +Hohenstein and his wife treated each other, and then her thoughts +travelled to Thea and Bernhard. Would they at some future day treat +each other thus, or even more coldly and stiffly? She longed to see +Thea again; now when her first sharp pang for Lothar's death was past, +and when her mother was so nearly well, the secret in which she was a +sharer weighed heavily upon her youthful soul. The world was so fair +and sunny, and people were so kind, and Dr. Nordstedt--no, he had +nothing to do with it; but she felt so calmly happy that her heart was +full of gratitude to God for this lovely world. But then, when she +remembered Thea and Lothar, she felt that she was wrong to be happy and +to enjoy. Oh, there was so much sorrow in the world after all!</p> + +<p class="normal">And to-day, after the visit to Rollin, she felt in a particularly +melancholy mood. Rollin had impressed her as so sadly changed, she +missed Adela everywhere; she thought of how changed too Eichhof would +be when Thea finally returned thither, and she remembered that their +guests were to leave Schönthal on the morrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">Occupied with these thoughts, she went out alone in the evening into +the park, while the rest were sitting on the veranda. Frau von Rosen +soon reentered the house, and asked her husband to come with her, as +she wished to speak with him. Nordstedt and Walter were left alone. +Nordstedt drummed with his fingers upon the garden-table, near which he +sat, in a nervous way quite unlike him. He arose once or twice, then +seated himself and drummed again, saying, at last, "I will go find +Fräulein Alma; the evening is damp, she may take cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, come," said Walter, evidently regarding his companionship +as indispensable.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nordstedt stood one moment in silence, then put both hands upon his +young friend's shoulders, and said, gently, "Let me go alone; I have +something to say to Fräulein Alma."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nordstedt, is it possible?" Walter ejaculated, having already during +his visit at Schönthal made up his mind that it was not Adela who had +wrought the change in Nordstedt which had so surprised and annoyed him +in Berlin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nordstedt looked abroad into the moonlight. "Much is possible, my dear +fellow; nothing is certain!" he said. And without another word he +descended the steps of the veranda and walked alone: the moonlit path +towards the park.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_22" href="#div1_22">A CRISIS.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It was very lonely at Castle Eichhof. On lovely summer afternoons the +servants would sit in the pleasantest nooks in the garden discussing +old times and new ones, and the windows of the second story were +closely curtained, and looked as if they had all kinds of secrets to +keep. Thea had not yet returned, and Bernhard's visits to his home were +very short, and when he did come he occupied his bachelor apartments. +His railway scheme gave him a great deal to do, and even if this had +not been the case he could not have borne to stay long in his lonely +castle.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was fortunate that the Wronskys were at home this summer! Although +their estate, Paniênka, was more than two miles distant from Eichhof, +Bernhard was their frequent guest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wronsky, who was much too undecided a character to insist upon his own +way when it was not agreeable to his wife, was extremely glad that she +had chosen to spend this summer at home, for he dearly loved his ease +and good eating. He looked up to his wife much as he did to his old +schoolfellow Bernhard, and if he thought it the great blessing of his +life that he had won the hand of his beautiful, clever, and proud +Julutta, none the less did he feel himself greatly honoured by +Bernhard's frequent presence in his house. In his unpretending +<i>bonhommie</i> he thought it but natural that his friend should prefer his +wife's society to his own. Bernhard's influence over his good-natured +friend dated from their school-days; he had always been first in his +classes, while Wronsky had contentedly remained at their foot. And +Julutta? She smiled when she perceived Bernhard approaching, but it was +a strange, contemptuous smile, very different from the one with which +she greeted him when he stood before her. Latterly she had not smiled +when he appeared, but had bidden him welcome with eyes that were large +and serious, and with a certain shy confusion in her manner. The more +embarrassed she seemed, the warmer and the firmer was his clasp of her +hand, the more frank and cordial did he become, until she, too, adopted +his tone, and they talked together like good friends and comrades. At +least so Bernhard would have said, and he forced himself to believe +that so it was. Yes, Julutta's blush when he touched her hand, the +liquid brilliancy of her eyes, the pathetic tone of her voice when she +talked with him, all this was only friendship. True it was, however, +that Julutta could not only talk and blush with a grace all her own, +but could also observe and combine with a cleverness beyond that of +other women.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard took a certain credit to himself for never mentioning Thea in +his conversations with Julutta, for concealing the ruined sanctuary of +his home from the eyes of his friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Julutta heard and saw what he never told her. Why it was she did +not indeed know, but she did know that he was not happy in his +marriage, and from the moment when she first became aware of this she +smiled no more upon Bernhard as formerly, but her earnest gaze told +him, "I know that you suffer, and I suffer with you." And in spite of +himself he understood this language, and the longer Thea remained away, +and the wider the breach became that separated them, the better did he +learn to comprehend what Frau Julutta's eyes said to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he returned to his lonely home was it any wonder that Julutta's +image pursued him thither? At first he had pitied her, then he had +admired her intellect, and now he could no longer banish from his mind +the expression of her eyes, the strange, bewildering charm of her +beauty. He saw her before him as he rode slowly home on moonlit summer +nights through the fragrant meadows; he saw her still when he entered +his lonely house. He had felt so secure, so superior, with regard to +this woman, and now? Bernhard would not analyze, would not even reflect +upon, his present sentiments towards her. Why should he? Has not many a +one, seeing his every hope in life wrecked, sought forgetfulness in the +intoxicating bowl? And Bernhard sought to forget; and if he suspected +that his senses were bewildered, he never dreamed of throwing aside the +goblet. This bewilderment should never reach the point of intoxication; +Bernhard never could forget that Julutta was the wife of the friend of +his youth; no, beyond a certain point Bernhard was still sure of +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this sense of security he drove over to Paniênka one sultry +afternoon. The sun was near its setting as he reached the pine forest +bordering on the park, but the air was still oppressively hot, and not +a breath stirred the ferns that grew on the roadside. Not a bird +twittered, not a squirrel was seen climbing the gray trunks, not a +human being encountered the vehicle, and the crunching of its wheels on +the road was the only sound that disturbed the breathless silence. The +air was filled with the strong fragrance of the pines, and across the +blue strips of sky visible among the tree-tops stretched isolated gray +clouds like menacing fingers foreboding a storm. Bernhard did not see +them. He leaned back in the carriage, gazing into the gray-green forest +twilight without really seeing that either. The dreamy quiet of nature +seemed to have infected him. Suddenly he sat upright. There was more +light between the trunks of the trees, a gray wall draped with trailing +hop-vines appeared, and then two red gateposts,--that was the little +side-entrance to the park at Paniênka. The carriage was just about +to turn into a broad avenue of chestnuts, which led to the castle +court-yard, when he told the coachman to stop. He thought he heard +himself called by name. He stood up, and thus could see over the wall. +Across the green lawn stretching between the wall and a little pond +came the slender figure of a woman, who beckoned to him. In her white +trailing dress and her gold-gleaming hair she looked like the nymph of +the cool forest pool whose waters glistened behind her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you going, Count Eichhof?" exclaimed Julutta. "My husband is +at R----, and it is so insufferably warm in-doors that I have taken +refuge here by the pond. If you will come and drive away the gnats with +a cigar I shall be grateful to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard sprang from the carriage and approached the little gate. +Julutta leaned upon the wall, which just there was low and crumbling. +"Tell them to bring us some fruit and wine from the castle," she called +out to the coachman. Then she went to the gate and opened it to admit +Bernhard. So soon as she was alone with him her self-possession +vanished. She offered him her hand without looking at him, she spoke of +the heat of the weather, of Bernhard's long drive, excused herself for +thus detaining him, perhaps against his will, and then congratulated +herself upon his visit,--all this so hastily spoken, and in such +bewitching confusion, that Bernhard could not but see that she was +embarrassed, and that she wished to conceal or overcome her +embarrassment by talking quickly. They had reached a charming spot, a +seat half surrounded by low rocks, and looking upon the little forest +lake. A small waterfall plashed close by and diffused a refreshing +coolness, so that Bernhard after his warm drive involuntarily drew a +deep breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is charming here," he said; "and you come to me like a kind fairy +who lives in an enchanted forest and who conducts weary wanderers into +her fairy home, where it is always cool and delightful."</p> + +<p class="normal">Julutta laughed. "Only favoured wanderers," she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, gentle fairy," Bernhard said, earnestly. She blushed and +looked away from him towards the water. For an instant he gazed at her +admiringly, and then, as if forcing himself to look at something +else, he took up a little book lying on a rustic table. He read the +title-page,--"Pages from the Life of a Good-for-Nothing," by +Eichendorff. "Ah, have you been reading this midsummer night's dream of +Eichendorff's on this sultry summer day?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a smile she turned to him. "And why not?" she said, with a gentle +dreamy expression in her eyes. "Do you think, because I have known more +than most women of the stern realities of life, that I must have lost +all sense of its poetry?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, assuredly not; but I thought you too much of a critic to enjoy the +story, which, charming as it is, is so absolutely impossible that you +must admit that it is thoroughly unreal and unnatural."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, good heavens! there are moods in which one longs for just that. A +day like this in a lonely forest--for this park is really only a +forest--makes one dream; and why should one not indulge in this +charming midsummer dream, and for an hour believe that, even in this +mortal life, everything may be delightful? Reality will teach us soon +enough that it is not so."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard turned over the leaves of the book. Julutta seated herself +upon the gnarled roots of a beech beside the waterfall, and gazed +at the green lily-pads floating on the little lake, and at the +dragon-flies hovering on gauzy wings above it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have been dreaming, then, to-day?" Bernhard asked, seating himself +beside her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; shall you laugh at me for doing so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"On the contrary, I envy you. I have had to write such dreadfully long +and tiresome letters at home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you never dream?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They say a man should never dream."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, 'they say' so much, 'they' are so wise; but folly is not to be +easily banished from the world. I even maintain that every man of +sensibility and imagination has often found himself dreaming of some +foolish happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why of a foolish happiness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because happiness can hardly ever stand the test of critical reason, +but depends upon imagination, which is often folly. And what is +happiness, after all? A moment, an intoxication, a dream,--and yet we +all long for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">A year before--a few months before--Bernhard would perhaps have +contradicted her. Now he nodded a mute assent. She was right. Happiness +was an intoxication, a dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I sometimes think," Julutta continued, eagerly, "that mortals would be +better and happier if there were somewhere an island where all could be +happy in their own way for at least three weeks of every year."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard laughed. "There is method in your dreaming at least," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Laugh if you will," she said; "but do you not believe that many a one +would bear his burden more easily and willingly if each year brought +him so happy a memory and so glad a hope?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Possibly; but many would be miserably unhappy in longing for this +blessed island all through the rest of the year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no. Children at school are not made unhappy by thoughts of their +holidays; they are refreshed and strengthened for their studies by +them."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard sat drawing hieroglyphics in the gravel with his cane. A clink +of glasses was heard approaching, and Julutta arose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here comes our 'Little table spread thee,'" she said, going to the +rustic table, upon which the servant arranged decanters, wine-glasses, +and fragrant fruit. "Come," said Julutta. "There are those who maintain +that wine can conduct to the Island of the Blest." She handed him a +sparkling glass and laughed. "Which only means that we are too sensible +to be happy; for common sense must be thrown overboard before we can +land upon my Island of the Blest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard took the glass. "To the Island of the Blest!" he said, +emptying it at a draught.</p> + +<p class="normal">Julutta divided a fragrant peach with her snowy fingers, and offered +half of it to Bernhard.</p> + +<p class="normal">A dragon-fly hovered above the table, and settled for a moment upon the +basket of fruit. "A greeting from the Island of the Blest!" Bernhard +exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Julutta had suddenly grown grave and thoughtful. She brushed the +dragon-fly away with her handkerchief, leaned her head upon her hand, +and gazed at the little lake, that now looked gray and leaden.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of what are you thinking?" Bernhard asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What folly I have been talking!" she said, hastily arising. "Come, let +us go to the house. My husband will soon return, and we can receive +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your husband? Oh, if Wronsky has gone to the circuit court at R----, +he cannot be back again for two or three hours at least. It is so +lovely here, why not stay?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him almost angrily. "Why?" she repeated, and her eyes +grew tender and yearning again. "Well, then let us stay," she added, in +a low tone, and walked down to the water's edge.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard followed her. "You are strangely agitated to-day," he said, +standing close beside her. "May I not, as your friend, know----?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She seemed scarcely to hear him, but pointed towards the black canopy +of clouds that hung above the forest on the other side of the water, +and through which just then there shone a zigzag flash of flame.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is lightning!" she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked in her face; one might almost see the blood pulsing beneath +the delicate transparent skin, and there was a gleam in her eyes akin +to the lightning-flash in the clouds.</p> + +<p class="normal">They stood thus silently side by side for some moments, until the +servant had removed the fruit and wine and gone to the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter?" Bernhard gently asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head, and a forced smile played about her mouth. +"Nothing," she said; "nothing at all." But her eyes suddenly filled +with tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, tears!" he exclaimed, in alarm. "You have a sorrow that you are +hiding from me! Am I no longer worthy of your confidence? What have I +done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing, nothing!" she said again. "You are the best, the noblest of +men, and I--but I pray you, I entreat you, ask me nothing further!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard's eyes fell before her, and he was silent. Every moment it +grew darker around them; the evening shadows made the water show almost +black, except that now and then the lurid glare of the lightning was +reflected in its calm surface. The sultry breath of the storm, heavy +with the fragrance of the pines and the perfume of roses, was wafted +across forest and water. To Bernhard it seemed stifling. He sighed +heavily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish I had <i>never</i> returned from the ocean that night at Trouville," +Julutta whispered; "then all suffering would be over, and I should be +at peace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Julutta!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Again she shook her head sadly. "The waters have closed over our Island +of the Blest forever," she whispered, scarce audibly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bernhard heard and understood. He clasped her white hand in both +his own, and she made no resistance. "Bernhard!" she breathed, as if +carried away by the spell of the moment. And he, too, yielded to the +spell.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Julutta!" he cried, involuntarily opening his arms to her. But lithe +and swift as some smooth serpent she glided past him. At the same +instant a blast of wind ruffled the surface of the pond, and a few +large drops of rain began to fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Through the rising tempest Julutta's laughing voice fell upon his ear: +"The thunder-storm is upon us!" she called, and the next instant had +vanished behind the rocks. At such a moment she could laugh and +remember the storm! To him it seemed a matter of course that the +tempest should come: the wind and storm suited his mood. He did not +think of seeking shelter, but through the increasing hurly-burly the +conviction flashed upon him, vivid as the glare of the lightning, "Your +conduct and your love are alike disgraceful!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He shuddered. Before him, among the tossing boughs and wind-swept +bushes, fluttered a white robe,--Julutta was fleeing from the tempest. +In an instant the flashing rain hid all around and before him in a gray +twilight. He slowly took his way towards the house. Julutta had reached +it long before he entered the hall, from the walls of which the +portraits of Marzell's parents looked down upon him, strangely endowed +with a ghostly life by the repeated flashes of lightning. The memory of +his childhood was suddenly present as in a vision to Bernhard. He saw +Marzell and himself on the knees of that kindly old man, he seemed to +hear the gentle voice of Marzell's mother, and he passed his hand +across his forehead with a sigh.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am a guest in Marzell Wronsky's house, and Julutta is his wife," he +murmured, and again he shuddered. "Julutta is his wife," he repeated, +and with sudden decision he turned and would have gone to order his +carriage. What mattered the wind and storm? He must leave this house, +and the sooner the better.</p> + +<p class="normal">But at the door he encountered Marzell Wronsky himself, who had but +just arrived, and whom the storm had overtaken at a short distance from +his home. He shook himself like some wet dog, scolded at the weather, +and would not hear of Bernhard's leaving Paniênka. He declared it to be +simply impossible, and Bernhard himself could not now see why he should +refuse to spend an hour with his friend and await the abating of the +wind and rain. With a sigh of resignation, and feeling like some +penitent who suffers patiently a just punishment, he consented to +remain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am delighted to have come just in time to catch you," said Wronsky. +"Now we shall have a charming evening together. But where in the world +is my wife?" Bernhard said that they had been overtaken in the garden +by the rain, and that he supposed Frau von Wronsky had gone to change +her dress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must be wet, too!" exclaimed Marzell, feeling the sleeve of +his friend's coat. "Of course, drenched to the skin! And you were going +to drive home in this condition, as if there were no dry things to be +had here! I am, to be sure, rather stouter than you, and not quite so +tall, but that's no matter. Come with me to my dressing-room. What were +you about, to think of driving two miles to Eichhof in your wet +clothes! You ought to have known that my entire wardrobe is at your +service."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wronsky's self-importance was vastly increased by his belief that he +had surprised his admired friend in a small piece of stupidity, and by +the certainty that he could save him, if not from any great misfortune, +at least from a cold in his head. He was so innocently officious, so +indescribably amiable, that Bernhard endured torments at the +remembrance of the scene at the pond in the park. He felt thoroughly +ashamed of himself, and he hoped and believed that Julutta would find +some pretext for refusing to join the gentlemen. Instead of which she +soon made her appearance in a kind of <i>négligé</i>, which was both elegant +and bewitching, and her air and manner were not at all what Bernhard +had supposed they would be. Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks glowed, and +she was evidently under the influence of a joyous excitement, which +annoyed Bernhard, and which he could not comprehend. She was brilliant +in her conversation, and while talking with her husband frequently +looked towards Bernhard. In much that she said there was a double +meaning which could be perceived by Bernhard alone, and this secret +understanding which she seemed thus to establish between herself and +Bernhard in the presence of her unconscious husband became each moment +more and more painful to Count Eichhof.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the storm had passed, and he could order his carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am glad you happened to come to-day," said Marzell, "for to-morrow I +must go to my sister's again. You know that since her husband's death +affairs are in terrible confusion over there, and I have my hands full +in settling matters. I shall have to be away for some time; perhaps you +will find time to come over and see my wife. She will be very lonely. +Eh, Julutta?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it would not bore you, Count Eichhof." Her eyes had an arch sparkle +in them, and there was a bewitching smile upon her lips, as, with one +hand on her husband's shoulder, she extended the other to her guest, +and said, with significant emphasis, "<i>Au revoir</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard turned hurriedly away and got into his carriage. Wronsky had +something to say to his inspector, and Julutta retired to her own room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here she walked to and fro for a few minutes in great agitation of +mind. Then she seated herself at her writing-table, and drew forth the +mute confidante of her thoughts and her life,--her diary. Her pen +travelled swiftly over the paper. She wrote: "At last--at last my +haughty Count is as wax in my hands, for I know now that he loves me. I +could have trodden him in the dust at my feet to-day; but no, my +triumph, my revenge, shall be prolonged! I will exult for a while +longer in the consciousness that he loves me and suffers on my account. +My heart throbs fast at the thought. I scarcely know sometimes whether +it is hate or love with which he inspires me. Love? Can I love? No; the +tempest of my life has left me no heart that can love. And yet I find a +strange discord in my mind. There is no need to put a force upon myself +to treat him with gentleness and affection. If this means love, I have +used it to minister to my hatred, for it has helped me to acquire a +mastery over him. Yes, I have gained this mastery, and I shall know how +to use it. I will listen to the confession of his love from his own +proud lips that I may spurn him from me with contempt. And have I not +just cause to hate him thus? Did he not trample beneath his feet the +last remnant of my better self,--my pride? My pride was still mine. It +drove me to leave Herr von Möhâzy when I learned his treachery; it +caused me to accept the hand of a country squire, but a man of honour, +and thus to prove to myself and the world that I was not the outcast I +was inclined to believe myself. And he--he, when I was more unfortunate +than guilty, condemned me as utterly base, without even hearing me! Oh, +I have suffered too deeply from this man's scorn ever to forget it! I +resolved to requite him for this scorn. I would compel him to love +me,--me, upon whom he looked down so proudly from the heights of his +virtue; me, the wife of his friend. It was a bold scheme, but it has +been successful. My meeting Möhâzy and the Count's interference was a +tie established between us. Then, when Möhâzy left Berlin, I told my +husband the story of my youth. I knew I could do it with safety, that +his affection would find excuses for me. He did so, and I thus +destroyed the only weapon which Bernhard Eichhof could turn against me. +But will Wronsky find excuses for this man,--this model of a haughty, +virtuous aristocrat, who, in spite of his virtue, loves the wife of his +friend? All his pride, all his virtue, I now hold like some toy in my +hand. If I choose, I can toss it at his feet; and I will so choose. He +will come and help me to complete my retribution. I know what men are."</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Bernhard's thoughts, like restless night-moths, hovered about +the woman whose hatred he never suspected, and whose love had, perhaps +unconsciously to himself, inspired some of his dreams. Now the veil had +dropped from his eyes, and at his feet yawned an abyss that threatened +to bury in its depths honour, self-respect, and friendship. And this +woman's white hand would have beckoned him on!</p> + +<p class="normal">He thought of her coquettish glances, of the double meaning in her +words, and this after that one supreme moment which had betrayed to +both that they were not indifferent to each other. If she had been a +true woman and wife would she not have recoiled in horror from the +memory of that moment? Instead of which there was an inconceivable +gleam of triumph in her eyes; and even when her husband, in +unsuspecting cordiality, was inviting his friend to his house, she had +known no shame, but had whispered significantly, "<i>Au revoir</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard's brow contracted, and a cold hand seemed to clutch his heart. +"Oh, women, women!" he thought, and something akin to hatred stirred in +his soul for Thea. Had she so looked, so smiled? He, to be sure, had +made it all easier for her. He had not been by while she was coquetting +with Lothar. His thoughts were unutterably bitter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not dwell upon the reason for those false smiles and glances +to-day," he said to himself. "I will act the part of an honest man, and +put an end to the whole affair. I did not know myself, and I will be +upon my guard. Never talk to me again of friendship between man and +woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">Arrived at home, he looked over the letters that were awaiting him. +Among them was one from Thea. He knew that it could bring him nothing +for which his heart longed, but nevertheless he opened it instantly. +She wrote briefly, almost in a business-like way, as was now her wont. +She should be at Eichhof at the end of a week, to arrange some affairs +that needed her presence there. The boy, she wrote, would certainly be +quite well by that time. He had been often ailing of late, but the +physician had assured her that there was nothing serious the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard tossed the letter impatiently aside. "She writes as if her +coming to Eichhof needed an excuse!" he exclaimed, irritably, and took +up a large letter postmarked 'Berlin.'</p> + +<p class="normal">He opened it hurriedly, as one opens a business letter, in haste to be +done with a disagreeable task. He first merely glanced at it, but his +attention was soon arrested. He stared at the paper as though he could +not appreciate its contents. But there, plainly to be seen, were the +inexorable characters that announced to him the failure of the great +banking-house upon whose support the railway scheme had chiefly +depended. The prosecution of this scheme was simply an impossibility +without the aid of this house; all the time and money hitherto expended +upon it were of no avail, and Bernhard was personally a considerable +loser by the failure. He saw the work of which he had thought to be so +proud fall to pieces at one blow. Gone--gone; and yet perhaps something +might still be done, some new plan adopted. At all events, his presence +in Berlin was absolutely necessary. He had great influence there. He +might effect something.</p> + +<p class="normal">His self-respect, his confidence in his own strength of mind, had +suffered a terrible blow with regard to Julutta. Could not something be +done to restore these? If he could succeed in spite of all obstacles in +putting new life into the ruined scheme, in securing the benefits it +had promised to his part of the country, this would indeed be an +achievement worthy of a struggle. And any struggle was welcome to him +at present. He would cast aside all doubts and self-analysis and +concentrate his thoughts upon one point. Yes, he would leave Eichhof by +the earliest train on the morrow, and do his best to reanimate the lost +enterprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a short, courteous note he informed Frau von Wronsky that important +business affairs called him for an indefinite time to Berlin, and that +he must therefore ask her and her husband to excuse him if he did not +appear at Paniênka during the next few weeks. "That is ended and done +with," he said, as he sealed the envelope, before ordering every +arrangement to be made for Thea's reception and his own departure.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_23" href="#div1_23">A SHORT CHAPTER, WITH A FAR GLANCE INTO THE FUTURE.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr von Hohenstein sat on the veranda of his villa, puffing +forth clouds of cigar-smoke, and looking down at his daughter, who +stood at the bottom of the veranda steps surrounded by all sorts of +animals. She had apparently just returned from riding, for a long +dark-blue riding-habit clung closely to her pretty figure, and a high +black hat, with a blue veil, sat jauntily upon her curling hair, which, +loosened by her ride, was tumbling picturesquely over her shoulders. +With one hand she was feeding her horse, that still stood beside her, +with sugar, and with the other she was stroking a tame fawn that +nestled close to her. A young Newfoundland, Fidèle's successor, was +making clumsy efforts to attract her attention, and the sound of a +shrill whistle, hardly permissible from such rosy lips, and yet not +much out of keeping with Adela's general manner, brought the doves +flying to her from all sides. Suddenly they fluttered away in terror: +the dog began to bark angrily. Adela looked towards the garden-gate, +and then, with a deep blush, ran up the veranda steps to say, "Papa, +papa, it is Walter Eichhof!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, it was he; and as he offered Adela his hand, and she, still +blushing crimson, cast down her eyes, both knew that neither was angry.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Freiherr bade his guests welcome. He was now so convinced of his +daughter's infallibility that he had not made the least objection when +Adela had proposed to him to invite her old comrade to visit them, +suggesting that Walter might conduct negotiations for the Freiherr with +some Berlin publisher. Herr von Hohenstein was delighted with this +idea, and, besides, he contemplated reading his work aloud to his +guests; for although they knew nothing of the breeding of horses, yet +they were two human beings who could sit still and listen, and more the +author did not desire.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a letter for you," Dr. Nordstedt said to Adela, after the first +greetings were over. As soon as the girl received it she made it a +pretext for slipping into the house, since, to her surprise, she seemed +suddenly to have lost all her self-possession, and to be unable to take +the satisfaction she had looked for in the visit she had so happily +arranged.</p> + +<p class="normal">She gave orders for the reception and comfort of her guests, and then +retired to her own room, whence she could overlook the terrace in front +of the house, and could hear Walter's voice through the open window. +There she stood, looking out and listening, with her hands clasped over +her beating heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has come! he has come!" she thought, exultantly. Then she opened +Alma's letter to glance through it, but the first lines arrested her +attention. What was it? These were strange tidings indeed! This grave +Dr. Nordstedt, for whom Adela entertained an immense respect, loved +Alma Rosen, and had asked her to be his wife. Alma wrote, "Can you +believe, dearest Adela, that he loves me? I seem to myself so little +and silly that it is incredible to me; but it must be true, for he says +so, and it makes me so proud and happy that I could shout for joy. But, +when I think of one who is gone, I no longer rejoice. And so I have +begged Friedrich--you know his name is Friedrich--to be only my friend +for the present, and I have told him why I ask this. And he--oh, he is +the best and noblest man living!--he says he loves me the more for it, +and will wait until I summon him. I have told him that you are my +dearest friend, and that I should write all this to you, that you may +not treat him like a stranger."</p> + +<p class="normal">Adela stared at the sheet before her in absolute bewilderment. She was +entirely unprepared tor its contents, for she had been far too much +occupied with Walter and herself when in Berlin to have had any time +for observation of Dr. Nordstedt and Alma. "Alma Nordstedt, Frau Dr. +Nordstedt," she whispered, shaking her head; "it sounds very odd!" She +looked very thoughtful, but in an instant her face broke into smiles, +and, alone as she was, she covered her face with her hands to hide her +blushes.</p> + +<p class="normal">When some hours later she was walking with her guests through the +garden, she broke off an opening rosebud and offered it to Nordstedt. +"Imagine it a greeting from Alma," she whispered, with a smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you," he replied, simply, pressing her offered hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter stood by. Adela looked up at him, half shyly, half archly, but +there was no rose for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Later in the evening, while Nordstedt and the Freiherr were playing a +game of chess, the other two were walking along the same garden-path +and by the same rose-bush.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You gave me no rose to-day," Walter said, pausing in their stroll.</p> + +<p class="normal">"From whom did you desire a greeting?" she asked him, mockingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one sends me any, and I expect none. But I have brought you +something that looks like a greeting from the past. Will you not +receive it as such?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held out the ring to her, and told her how it had been found.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My ring! How strange!" exclaimed Adela. But she did not take it. She +dropped the hand she had extended towards it, and said, half turning +away her head, "The ring does not belong to me. I gave it away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know I cannot keep it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I wish you to keep it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Walter was silent for a moment, and then said, gently, "Adela, do you +remember all I told you then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She silently assented, and he went on: "My plans and views are nowise +altered; on the contrary, I am more than ever devoted to the profession +I have chosen."</p> + +<p class="normal">She gave him a sidelong glance. "Yes, I know it," she said; "and in two +years you are to pass your examination."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela, can you tell me that and yet wish me to keep this ring?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He took her hand, but she withdrew it from his clasp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay, Herr Doctor <i>in spe</i>; if I <i>do</i> refuse to take back the ring, +there is no need for such conduct on your part as we remember on a +former occasion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dearest Adela, I entreat you not to trifle with me. This moment must +decide our future, and if you deceive me now----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Walter! I am not deceiving you; I have grown older, and +perhaps a little wiser, but for all that I am only sixteen years old, +and you are still a student, and papa cannot spare me, and you must +work very hard, and--no, stay where you are, please--what I wanted to +say to you was that I thought it terrible that we should both go +through the world so angry with each other, and I could not bear it, +and so I begged papa to ask you here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whilst she spoke she had retreated step for step around the rose-bush +as Walter advanced, so that both had now made its entire circuit. Again +he tried to take her hand, but, lithe and swift as a fawn, she placed +the entire bush between herself and her lover, and from her place of +vantage went on: "Stand still there, and I will tell you something. +There was a young officer in Berlin who wanted me to marry him----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush! Yes, he wanted me to marry him, and I refused point-blank."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stand still, Walter, or I will leave you. I told him that at present +I would betroth myself to no one, but that when I was eighteen, if any +one should woo me, I never would marry an officer or a lawyer, for that +I had decided if I ever married that it should be a doctor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And away she sped to the house, which she was entering just as Walter +reached the foot of the veranda steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adela! dearest Adela!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he spoke, a fresh dewy rose was tossed into his face, and Adela +vanished, with a laugh, inside the house.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3><a name="div1Ref_24" href="#div1_24">PER CRUCEM AD LUCEM.</a></h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard's exertions in Berlin were fruitless. The failure of the large +banking firm had involved many other business firms. There had been +heavy losses, and those who had not suffered shook their heads and kept +their money safe in their pockets. The word 'railway' provoked a +perfect panic, and confidence everywhere was greatly shaken. Upon a +closer examination Bernhard's losses were found to be much greater than +had been at first supposed. After conscientious consideration he could +not but admit to himself that it was time for him to look after his own +interests and relinquish, for the present at least, his efforts for the +benefit of the country at large. So he returned to his home very much +cast down, his confidence in his own ability greatly shaken, +discontented with himself and with destiny.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the station, which was about three miles from Eichhof, his carriage +was awaiting him. He got into it with a sigh, and as it rolled through +the monotonous pine forest he sat thinking how refreshing it would be +to him to be affectionately welcomed to his home. He saw before him +Thea as she had been a year before, when she had studied so hard for +his sake, and the past lay before his mental vision like a lost +Paradise. Why was it all so different now? why was there this shadow +between himself and his wife, the shadow of a dead man, and yet +palpable enough to separate them forever?</p> + +<p class="normal">"She was pure as a lily when she came to me," he said to himself. +"Could I not have shielded her from every possible danger? Did I not +know Lothar? Did I not know that he was as thoughtless as he was +susceptible? Why did I look so far abroad and shut my eyes to what was +nearest me? I built castles in the air for the future, and lost the +ground beneath my feet. But then--Thea was my wife, Lothar was my +brother,--how could I think---- Oh, it is hard, fearfully hard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Monotonous as the road along which he was driving, his future life now +lay before him, without one sunny, peaceful spot that promised repose. +Suddenly he thought of his child, his son, of whom he had as yet seen +so little. From his fair rosy boy a light seemed to issue and illumine +the future pathway of the lonely man. He could devote himself to the +care of his child, he could prepare for him a golden future. To be +sure, he was himself still too young not to rebel against his fate, but +nevertheless the thought of his boy consoled him. He roused himself +from his gloomy revery, and asked the coachman whether the Countess +Thea and his child were at Eichhof. The old servant turned towards him, +and his eyes seemed mutely to reproach his master as he replied, "Yes, +Herr Count; Madame the Countess arrived at Eichhof yesterday."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the child is well?" Bernhard inquired.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man's face grew sad, but his eyes were not so reproachful; his +master had not quite forgotten his wife and child. "Beg pardon, Herr +Count," he said, "but the child is not well. They were both well when +they arrived, but in the night----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not well; what do you mean? The child is not seriously ill?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beg pardon, Herr Count, but the child is very ill. Just before the +despatch came from Berlin ordering the carriage, Madame the Countess +telegraphed to the Herr Count----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you have never told me until now?" Bernhard exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man began once more with his "Beg pardon, Herr Count;" and +added, "Madame the Countess thought that the Herr Count would have left +Berlin before her despatch could reach him, and she was afraid that the +Herr Count might be anxious, and so she told me to say nothing unless +the Herr Count inquired. And I did just as Madame the Countess +ordered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Drive on!" Bernhard cried, wrapping himself in his cloak. He looked at +his watch; they were just crossing the forest near Paniênka; he could +not reach home in less than an hour. And his child, for whom he had +just been planning in his mind, was ill, dangerously ill, or Thea would +not have telegraphed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you about, Hadasch?" he suddenly exclaimed to the coachman. +"Drive as fast as you possibly can----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of which the carriage stood still, and with his usual "Beg +pardon, Herr Count," the coachman pointed to a very dashing and +graceful horsewoman who had just appeared from a side-road, and who was +the cause of the delay.</p> + +<p class="normal">She reined in her steed beside the carriage, and Bernhard replied to +the enchanting smile of the fair Amazon by a formal lifting of his hat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a delightful encounter!" cried Frau von Wronsky, and her eyes +were more eloquent than any words. "I hope your business matters are +concluded, or rather I know they are, and that you have had much that +was most annoying to endure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know----" He was now standing in his barouche, with his hand upon +the back of the seat, and her brilliant eyes were on a level with his +own.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; I have heard it all in my letters from Berlin, and naturally I +have sympathized with you from my heart. Your home must indemnify you, +my dear Count, for all that you have suffered abroad." She leaned +forward and looked him full in the face as she spoke. "I trust you will +soon come to Paniênka, that we may discuss it all together."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very kind, but I have just heard that my boy is very ill, +and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, has your wife returned? Happy man! I am still alone; my husband is +away for an indefinite time----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard looked not at her, but at his horses pawing the ground +impatiently, as he rejoined, "I am extremely anxious with regard to my +boy; he seems to be dangerously ill."</p> + +<p class="normal">She struck her glove impatiently with the silver butt of her +riding-whip, and her dark brows lowered, but she controlled herself, +and said, "If the sick-room should be too confining for you, I pray you +to remember the rocks about the lake in the park at Paniênka. My +remembrances to your charming wife. I hope soon to hear from you."</p> + +<p class="normal">She inclined her head and reined in her horse for an instant longer, as +though awaiting an answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I certainly will send you word with regard to the child's condition," +Bernhard said, gravely.</p> + +<p class="normal">She galloped off, and he again ordered the coachman to drive as fast as +possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man, however, who had listened with an impassive face to the +conversation between his master and the charming Julutta, took the +liberty of begging pardon once more, that he might inform Bernhard that +Madame von Wronsky's groom had met him to-day, and had questioned him +as to the exact hour of the Herr Count's arrival.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard's brow grew dark. His people then were aware, it seemed, of +his 'friendship,' and watched him. And she, Julutta, had not disdained +to learn what she wished concerning him through her groom. And she +seemed also to have made inquiries about him in Berlin. And yet, in +spite of all this interest, she had no comprehension of his anxiety +concerning his child! The sentiment with which he now regarded this +woman, for whose sake he had for an instant done violence to all that +was best in him, was more like hate than love. When at last he reached +Eichhof he sprang impatiently from the carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is the child?" he asked of the footman who instantly appeared. The +man shook his head. "The doctor is up-stairs, Herr Count; I am afraid +he is no better."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard hurried to the sick-room and entered noiselessly. He saw Thea +leaning back in an armchair, deadly pale, and the physician occupied +with her. Beside the child's cradle two women knelt weeping. One glance +at the little form lying there told Bernhard that he was too late, that +all was over. For an instant he stood as though turned to stone. Then +the doctor perceived him. The old friend of the family could scarcely +speak to the young Count for a moment, but pressed his hand in silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it all over?" Bernhard asked in a scarcely audible whisper, +pointing to the child.</p> + +<p class="normal">The physician assented. "Human means were of no avail. He died of +convulsions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is only a fainting-fit; but Countess Thea is terribly distressed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then Thea opened her eyes, and, obeying his first impulse, +Bernhard hurried to her side and clasped her in his arms. For an +instant she allowed her head to rest upon his shoulder. Her whole frame +was shaken by convulsive sobs. Then she gently disengaged herself, and +sank on her knees beside the cradle, laying her head down upon the +pillow.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard stood beside her, profoundly agitated. Perfect silence reigned +in the room, which was broken at last by the physician's entreaty to +Thea to remember how much she needed care, and how overwrought she was.</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head, and begged to be left alone with the child.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is best to let her have her way," the doctor said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard once more stooped over her. "Thea!" he whispered. She waved +him off, and he left the room silently with the others. He saw that she +was determined to allow him no share in her grief. "And yet this grief +is the only, the last bond between us," he thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">Through all these days Thea was so touching and yet so dignified in her +sorrow, that Bernhard knew, as he had never known before, how truly +she, and she alone, was the only woman whom he could ever love. In +spite of her suffering she found time to attend to his lightest wish. +He felt himself surrounded by her love, and yet he met with the same +gentle but firm repulse whenever he sought to approach her. His sorrow +for his child was scarcely more keen than his sorrow for the loss of +his wife. For that he had lost her was now clearer to him than ever; +and yet, strangely enough, he doubted more strongly every day whether +the cause of this loss was what he had hitherto supposed it to be. When +he saw her performing her duties so quietly, bearing her pain so +proudly and yet with such true womanliness, it seemed to him impossible +that she could ever have been other than proud and womanly. He began to +scrutinize himself and his conduct towards her, and to have doubts +whether the fault were not, after all, his own. But then he thought of +Lothar's death, of her refusal to answer his question, and of the total +change in her manner towards him from that time. Would she have agreed +to the letter he had written her then, if she were not guilty? Would +she not have eagerly sought an explanation with him had she been +innocent, instead of mutely avoiding it as she had done?</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the state of affairs when, a few days after the child's +funeral, Thea entered his room. Since Lothar's death she had never done +so, and Bernhard, therefore, received her with surprise, and almost +with alarm; for he instantly saw by her face that the coming hour would +be decisive for them both. She seated herself in the armchair he placed +for her, and looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. +There was no ring upon them.</p> + +<p class="normal">It went to Bernhard's heart to observe that she had laid aside her +betrothal-ring, and yet he knew that so it must be.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had not the courage to begin the conversation, and, after a pause, +she said, in a low tone, "I am come to remind you of that letter,--of +the letter in which you expressed your views of our relation to each +other. Our child is dead----" Her voice was choked for an instant, but +she went on: "There is nothing now to unite us. I propose going to +Schönthal to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sat opposite her, his head leaning on his hand. "Can you not stay, +then?" he asked, gently.</p> + +<p class="normal">She rose proudly, her self-possession entirely recovered. "No," she +cried, "I will not be endured out of pity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bernhard rose in his turn, and looked her full in the face. "Pity?" he +repeated. "What do you mean, Thea?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I mean that you are sorry for me, that you think it will be hard for +me to leave the place where my child lies in his grave, the house in +which he was born. But I have borne heavier griefs, and I can bear that +too; and, although I know that your happiness does not depend alone +upon <i>your</i> freedom, I am too proud to remain where I am only endured!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stared at her as if she were some phantom. "For God's sake, Thea, +tell me what you mean," he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">The expression of his face bewildered her. She paused again for a +moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he took her hand, and said, in a voice vibrating with emotion, +"This is perhaps the last time that we shall stand thus face to +face,--our last conversation. Thea, will you not answer truly and +frankly one question?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have always been true," she replied, gazing past him as into space.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me, then, do you believe the cause that separates us to exist in +me? Do you believe that I desire our separation? and is there no reason +<i>known only to yourself</i>, no memory in <i>your</i> soul, to keep us +asunder?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She covered her eyes with her hand, as if dazzled by a sudden light. A +slight tremor passed through her frame, and a delicate flush coloured +the pale, resigned face. Bernhard gazed at her in breathless eagerness; +but, even before she spoke, he was overpowered by the conviction that +this woman could not be false; that he had been the victim of an +illusion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no such memory," said Thea, helplessly dropping her clasped +hands before her. "Nothing in this world except yourself could ever +separate me from you. I thought----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before she could utter another word she was clasped in his arms. "Thea! +my own Thea! what useless misery we have caused each other!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She extricated herself in utter bewilderment from his embrace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you still love me, then?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"More deeply and truly than on our marriage-day," he said, fervently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Julutta Wronsky----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, dearest child, let me tell you all. I will confess everything to +you,--all the doubts that have so tortured me."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked at him in amazement. "Doubts?" she repeated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my darling; foolish doubts. I know them to be so now, but they +were terrible. Do you remember refusing me any explanation with regard +to Lothar? Then I----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, poor Lothar! I, too, have something to tell you, Bernhard."</p> + +<p class="normal">She nestled close to him, and he told her of his adventures with +Julutta Wronsky. He did not even suppress the account of the fleeting +emotion of that moment when he thought he loved her; he told her all; +and she listened to him, without doubt, without reproach, with the +entire confidence of a woman who loves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have both been blind," she said; "but only when we doubted of each +other's love did we learn how valueless life was to us without it. Oh, +Bernhard, how wretched we have been!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how blest we are once more,--each living in the other's heart!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, why is our child not with us?" Thea cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">He kissed the tears from her eyes. "He has been our guardian angel, my +darling," he said. "He has reunited us; for who can say how long we +should have been estranged from each other without this sorrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Late in the afternoon of this day Thea carried a bunch of white roses +to the little chapel; Bernhard was with her, and as they entered he +took one of the fragrant rosebuds from her hand and laid it on Lothar's +coffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Requiescat in pace</i>," he whispered softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hand in hand they stood before their child's coffin, one in their +sorrow, one in their love. The last rays of the setting sun streamed +through the stained glass of the window and played upon the wreaths and +palm branches, and when Bernhard and Thea left the chapel, forest and +field lay before them bathed in the red gold of sunset, and they walked +hand in hand through the nodding grasses and bright flowers of the +little grave-yard towards a new life in the old home.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1Ref_25" href="#div1_25">CONCLUSION.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Years have flown by. A stock company has taken in hand the railway in +which Bernhard was so much interested, and there is a station at R----, +where the express-train from Warschau is just arriving.</p> + +<p class="normal">A man with a dark sunburned face is leaning out of a coupé window, +looking eagerly across the platform towards the town and the poplar +avenue leading to Eichhof. Then he scans those who are leaving and +those who are entering the train, and a shadow of melancholy clouds his +brow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Strangers, all strangers!" he murmurs. "How changed it is! The same +place, and yet so different; and no one here to recognize me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then a gentleman with a full gray beard came hurriedly from the +waiting-room. The signal for departure sounded, and the porter opened +the coupé door in great haste, and the gray-bearded individual took his +seat beside our traveller. The two men scanned each other for an +instant, and then he of the sunburned face said, "If I am not mistaken, +chance has led two old acquaintances into the same railway-carriage. +Are you not Herr Superintendent Bergmann from Eichhof?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most certainly; and I think I call to mind----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" laughed the stranger, "I see you do not know who I am. The sun on +the Bulgarian battlefields has tanned me past recognition. Do you not +remember Lieutenant Werner, Lothar Eichhof's comrade?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! Lieutenant Werner, forgive me. But you are Colonel Werner now, I +hear, with a breast covered with orders. The newspapers have kept us +advised with regard to you. How much my Count will be interested to +hear of this meeting! We have all rejoiced in your advancement."</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner shook his head. "Advancements are for the most part the work of +chance," he said; "but, in spite of some terrible experiences, these +last years have been the most interesting of my life. I could write +books, let me tell you; indeed, I will not promise not to write them. +But let us leave the Turks and Russians, of whom I have latterly seen +quite enough, and let me hear something of my old friends and +acquaintances. First, how goes everything at Eichhof?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man smiled. "Admirably; as it must, I think, where an honest +man does his duty, and Count Bernhard is a fine fellow and does his +duty well,--sometimes, we think, rather exceeds it. I always said, when +people used to shake their heads at him, 'He is young; only wait, and +you'll see he'll come all right.' And now he has come all right. Since +he ceased to look abroad for a sphere of action, and made up his mind +to do what lay nearest to him, he has enjoyed his work. You ought to +pay us a visit and see how well everything goes on. His people would go +through fire and water to serve him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And his wife? How is the Countess?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you ought to see her! She grows younger and prettier every year. +One need only look in her eyes to see how happy she is, when she walks +through fields and gardens on her husband's arm, with their two fine +boys playing about them. And our youngest--the little Countess Thea--is +a perfect rosebud. Yes, laugh,--I confess to a weakness for these +children; they are like grandchildren to me. Have I not had Count +Bernhard in my arms when he was no older than they?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Werner gazed thoughtfully from the window. "Three children, have they? +It is really strange to hear of such a happy household, with the +thunder of trumpets and cannon scarcely out of one's ears. Well, +perhaps I will come to Eichhof in the autumn. I should have liked to +stop there to-day, but I have urgent business in Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, then, you can hunt up the Count. He is there now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! I had forgotten the Reichstag."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, he is no longer a member of the Reichstag. He has so much +practical work to attend to that he has no time for theorizing, even +politically; but he is there to attend a family festival,--the +christening of the first boy of Walter Eichhof, our youngest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! is he married?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; to the love of his boyhood, the daughter of the old Freiherr von +Hohenstein."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Had he not some idea formerly of becoming a physician?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is a physician, and a fine one, I can tell you. Our Count was in a +terrible way about it at first, but Countess Thea insisted that the boy +was right, and the brothers were reconciled when Walter was betrothed. +He undertook the management of Dr. Nordstedt's large infirmary when +Nordstedt was called to a professor's chair in Strasburg. You know, I +suppose, that Fräulein Alma, our Countess's sister, is married to +Professor Nordstedt?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think I heard of that before I left Germany. I certainly must look +up my old acquaintances. This vagabond life makes one a terrible +stranger in his home."</p> + +<p class="normal">The locomotive whistles, the next station is reached, and the +superintendent takes his leave of Werner, who leans back in a corner of +the coupé and falls into a revery. The past rises before him like a +dream. He sees Thea in memory the same, and yet so different. He can +think of her now as of some lovely picture, which one admires and +enjoys without coveting, and he can ponder upon the past without +remorse.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a wonder life is!" he muses, as the train speeds on. "But it all +amounts to the fact that if you would be happy--and who would not?--you +must do what is right."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>By Captain Charles King, U.S.A</h1> + +<hr class="W10"> +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:80%; margin-left:10%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt"> +<colgroup><col style="width:50%;"> +<col style="width:50%;"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td>Under Fire. Illustrated.</td> +<td>The Colonel's Daughter. Illustrated.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>Marion's Fair. Illustrated.</td> +<td>Captain Blake. Illustrated.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center">Foes in Ambush. (Paper, 50 cents.)</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center">12mo. Cloth, $1.25.</td> +</tr></table> + +<hr class="W10"> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:80%; margin-left:10%; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt"> +<colgroup><col style="width:50%; text-align:center"> +<col style="width:50%; text-align:center"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td>Waring's Peril.</td> +<td>Trials of a Staff Officer.</td> +</tr><tr> +<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center"> +12mo. Cloth, $1.00.</td></tr></table> + +<hr class="W10"> + +<p class="continue">Kitty's Conquest.</p> +<p style="text-indent:2%">Starlight Ranch, and Other Stories.</p> +<p style="text-indent:4%">Laramie; or, The Queen of Bedlam.</p> +<p style="text-indent:6%">The Deserter, and From the Ranks.</p> +<p style="text-indent:8%">Two Soldiers, and Dunraven Ranch.</p> +<p style="text-indent:10%">A Soldier's Secret, and An Army Portia.</p> +<p style="text-indent:12%">Captain Close, and Sergeant Crœsus.</p> + +<p class="center">12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.</p> + + +<hr class="W10"> + +<p class="continue">EDITOR OF</p> +<div style="margin-left:5%"> +<p class="hang1">The Colonel's Christmas Dinner, and Other Stories.<br> +<span style="font-size:90%">12mo. Cloth, $1.25; paper, 50 cents.</span></p> + +<p class="hang1">An Initial Experience, and Other Stories.<br> + +<span style="font-size:90%">12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.</span></p> + +<p class="hang1">Captain Dreams, and Other Stories.<br> + +<span style="font-size:90%">12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.</span></p> +</div> +<hr class="W10"> + +<p class="normal">"From the lowest soldier to the highest officer, from the servant to +the master, there is not a character in any of Captain King's novels +that is not wholly in keeping with expressed sentiments. There is not a +movement made on the field, not a break from the ranks, not an offence +against the military code of discipline, and hardly a heart-beat that +escapes his watchfulness."--<i>Boston Herald</i>.</p> + +<hr class="W10"> + +<h2>J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>By Marie Corelli.</h1> + +<hr class="W10"> +<br> +<h2>Cameos.</h2> + +<h4>Ten Short Stories. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00.</h4> + +<p class="normal">The surprising versatility of Marie Corelli has never been better +displayed than in this varied group of short stories which run the +whole gamut of feeling, sentiment, and purpose known to contemporary +fiction. Appearing as they do almost simultaneously with "The Sorrows +of Satan," that wonderful romance of nineteenth-century life which is +the theme of the day, alike in England and America, they serve to mark +the tenderness, the love of human sentiment, and the sympathy for human +suffering which are naturally less emphasized in the more powerful and +concentrated novel.</p> +<br> + +<h2>The Sorrows of Satan;</h2> +<h3>Or, The Strange Experience of one Geoffrey Tempest, +Millionaire.</h3> + +<h4>A Romance. With frontispiece by Van Schaick. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.</h4> + +<p class="normal">"There is very little in common between this story and 'Barabbas.' In +'The Sorrows of Satan' Miss Corelli wields a much more vigorous pen. +She is full of her purpose. Dear me, how she scathes English society! +She exposes the low life of nigh life with a ruthless pen. The sins of +the fashionable world made even Satan sad; they were more than he could +bear, poor man! The book is lively reading, and will be read in England +with an eager curiosity."--<i>Chicago Tribune</i>.</p> +<br> + +<h2>Barabbas.</h2> +<h3>A Dream of the World's Tragedy.</h3> + +<h4>12mo. Cloth, $1.00.</h4> + +<p class="normal">"A book which aroused in some quarters more violent hostility than any +book of recent years. By most secular critics the authoress was accused +of bad taste, bad art, and gross blasphemy; but, in curious contrast, +most religious papers acknowledged the reverence of treatment and the +dignity of conception which characterized the work."--<i>London +Athenæum</i>.</p> +<br> + +<h2>Vendetta;</h2> +<h3>Or, The Story of One Forgotten.</h3> + +<h4>12mo. Cloth, $1.00.</h4> + +<p class="normal">"It is a thrilling and irresistibly charming book."--<i>Baltimore +American</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The story is Italian, the time 1884, and the precise stage of the +acts, Naples, during the last visitation of the cholera. A romance, but +a romance of reality. No mind of man can imagine incidents so +wonderful, so amazing as those of actual occurrence. While the story is +exciting, and must be read through when once begun, it furnishes a +vivid and impressive picture of Italian life and morals."--<i>Washington +National Republican</i>.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<h2>J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eichhofs, by Moritz von Reichenbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EICHHOFS *** + +***** This file should be named 35311-h.htm or 35311-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/1/35311/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Eichhofs + A Romance + +Author: Moritz von Reichenbach + +Translator: Mrs. A. L. Wister + +Release Date: February 18, 2011 [EBook #35311] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EICHHOFS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + 1. Moritz von Reichenbach is the pseudonymn for Valeska + (von Reiswitz-Kaderzin) Bethusy-Huc + + 2. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?id=bXs5AAAAMAAJ&dq + + 3. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + Mrs. A. L. Wister's Translations. + + 12mo. Cloth, $1.00 per volume. + + + Countess Erika's Apprenticeship By Ossip Schubin. + "O Thou, My Austria!" By Ossip Schubin. + Erlach Court By Ossip Schubin. + The Alpine Fay By E. Werner. + The Owl's Nest By E. Marlitt. + Picked Up In The Streets By H. Schobert. + Saint Michael By E. Werner. + Violetta By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel. + The Lady With The Rubies By E. Marlitt. + Vain Forebodings By E. Oswald. + A Penniless Girl By W. Heimburg. + Quicksands By Adolph Streckfuss. + Banned And Blessed By E. Werner. + A Noble Name By Claire von Gluemer. + From Hand To Hand By Golo Raimund. + Severa By E. Hartner. + A New Race By Golo Raimund. + The Eichhofs By Moritz von Reichenbach. + Castle Hohenwald By Adolph Streckfuss. + Margarethe By E. Juncker. + Too Rich By Adolph Streckfuss. + A Family Feud By Ludwig Harder. + The Green Gate By Ernst Wichert. + Only A Girl By Wilhelmine von Hillern. + Why Did He Not Die? By Ad. von Volckhauser. + Hulda By Fanny Lewald. + The Bailiff's Maid By E. Marlitt. + In The Schillingscourt By E. Marlitt. + Countess Gisela By E. Marlitt. + At The Councillor's By E. Marlitt. + The Second Wife By E. Marlitt. + The Old Mam'selle's Secret By E. Marlitt. + Gold Elsie By E. Marlitt. + The Little Moorland Princess By E. Marlitt. + + * * * * * + +"Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels from the +German, has established a reputation of the highest order for literary +judgment, and for a long time her name upon the title-page of such a +translation has been a sufficient guarantee to the lovers of fiction of +a pure and elevating character, that the novel would be a cherished +home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is fully justified by the fact +that among her more than thirty translations that have been published +by Lippincott's there has not been a single disappointment. And to the +exquisite judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of +her translations, which has commanded the admiration of literary and +linguistic scholars."--_Boston Home Journal_. + + * * * * * + + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + + + + THE EICHHOFS + + A ROMANCE + + + FROM THE GERMAN + OF + MORITZ VON REICHENBACH + + + BY + MRS. A. L. WISTER + TRANSLATOR OF "THE SECOND WIFE," "THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET," + "ONLY A GIRL," ETC., ETC. + + + + + PHILADELPHIA: + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. + 1896. + + + + + + * * * * * + Copyright, 1881, by J. B. Lippincott & Co. + * * * * * + + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER + I. Shadows of Coming Events + + II. Two Discontented Fathers + + III. Hidden Springs + + IV. Gossip + + V. Marriage + + VI. A Farewell Glass and a Death-bed + + VII. Unexpected + + VIII. At The Tomb + + IX. Cloudy Weather at Eichhof + + X. Found and Lost + + XI. Thea Rounds her First Promontory + + XII. Another Promontory Comes In Sight + + XIII. A Period put to a Long Row of Figures + + XIV. The Mistress of Eichhof and her Guests + + XV. In Berlin + + XVI. Revelations and their Consequences + + XVII. The Consequences begin to Appear + + XVIII. An Eventful Day + + XIX. The Shadows Gather + + XX. Dr. Nordstedt + + XXI. Summer Days + + XXII. A Crisis + + XXIII. A Short Chapter, with a Far Glance into the Future + + XXIV. Per Crucem ad Lucem + + CONCLUSION + + + + + + + THE EICHHOFS. + + + + CHAPTER I. + + SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS. + + +In a box of the Berlin Opera-House sat three young officers. All wore +the uniform of the same regiment of the Guards, and all three were +directing their opera-glasses towards the same opposite box. + +"The girl has just got home from boarding-school, and will have a _dot_ +of half a million in cash," observed Lieutenant von Hohenstein, +dropping his opera-glass. + +"The deuce she will! No end of pity that I am such an infernal +aristocrat,--it would be such a fine morsel for a poor younger son," +said the younger of the Von Eichhof brothers, with a laugh, as he +stroked his blonde moustache. "She has a good figure, too, and any +amount of fire in her eyes." + +"True," said his elder brother; "but why under heaven does the portly +mamma, with her double chin, and huge satin-clad bust, plant herself so +close to her Rose of Sharon, proclaiming to all the world, 'As she is +now so was I once, and as I am now so shall she one day be'?" + +"Take warning, Hohenstein," laughed Lothar Eichhof. + +"Pshaw! there's no danger," the other replied, leaning back in his +comfortable chair and stretching his long legs as far out as the limits +of the box would allow. + +"Councillor Kohnheim greeted you with extreme affability, I thought, +just now, and you are well informed as to the financial affairs of the +family," Lothar persisted, in a teasing tone. + +Hohenstein put up his hand to conceal a yawn. Among his peculiarities +was that of being bored everywhere and always. + +"Kohnheim thinks wealth no disgrace, and loves to acquaint people with +the amount of his own," he said. "Besides, he is my landlord; of course +we are acquainted. To my German eyes, however, the ladies are of too +Oriental a type. I have no desire to know them." + +"Thank heaven! then there is nothing to fear from that quarter. I +confess it vexes me when one of our good old names is allied to such a +family." + +"Make your mind easy on my account," rejoined Herr von Hohenstein. "I +do not undervalue wealth, but I prize blood rather more." + +Lothar Eichhof meanwhile was scanning the house, while his elder +brother, Bernhard, had withdrawn into the shadow, and was steadily +scrutinizing through his glass the foreign ambassadors' box. He now +dropped his glass, shook his head, then put up his glass again, and +finally said, more to himself than to his companions, "That is--Marzell +Wronsky--and---- He bit his lip, and did not finish the sentence. + +"Marzell Wronsky?" Lothar repeated. "Where?" But as he spoke he +discovered him. "I did not know he had come back!" he exclaimed. "I +wonder if the handsome blonde beside him is his wife?" + +"Probably," said Hohenstein. "Where does the lady come from? Marzell's +marriage was so sudden that one hardly knows anything about it." + +"She is a kind of cousin of his," said Lothar, "with a Polish name, +ending in 'ky' or 'ka,' and was formerly married to a Hungarian, who +either died or was divorced from her. Marzell met her last year at +Wiesbaden, and shortly afterwards they were betrothed and married." + +"And where has he been hiding since?" + +"He has been travelling with his bride. I must go over and see them in +the next entr'acte. You will come, too?" + +"Of course; this new addition to society must be inspected." + +Bernhard Eichhof had taken no part in the conversation, but had +frequently glanced towards the box where the persons under discussion +were sitting. When, at the close of the act, the other two men arose, +with the evident intention of visiting its occupants, he sat still, in +apparent indecision. + +"Well, are you not coming?" asked Lothar "Marzell is more your friend +than ours. I confess I am going more from curiosity than from +friendship." + +Bernhard looked over at the box once more. "They are just rising; +perhaps they are going to leave the house," he said, hesitating. + +"Yes, they seem to be going," said Hohenstein, resuming his seat. + +"Well, then, I will go and reconnoitre," said Lothar, "and if you see +me in the box you two can come over." + +In five minutes he returned. "The Wronskys are really gone. Marzell +seems to have adopted high and mighty manners since his marriage. He +puts in an appearance only during a single act. However, we shall +certainly see his wife at Eichhof, if we should fail to meet her here." + +"Quite time enough for the acquaintance. I have scarcely seen Marzell +since the old school-boy days, and am not at all intimate with him +now," Bernhard remarked. + +If his two companions had been less occupied with the new prima-donna, +and with the champagne supper at a noted restaurant after the opera was +over, they must have noticed that Bernhard was unusually absent-minded +and monosyllabic all through the evening. But his mood was entirely +unnoticed by them,--all the more since several brother officers joined +their party, which did not break up until long past midnight. + +When at last the young men separated, the two brothers Von Eichhof +walked together to their apartments, at present beneath the same roof, +and for a while not a word was exchanged between them. + +Then the younger asked, suddenly, "Shall I tell you the news, Bernhard? +I'm at the end of my income,--the last thaler went to-night." + +Bernhard turned with some impatience. "Lothar," he exclaimed, +reproachfully, "this is really too much! When I helped you out last +month you promised me----" + +"Come, come, my dear fellow, there's no use in that," Lothar +interrupted him. "I know as well as you do that I partake largely of +the character of the domestic fly, provided, indeed, that that insect +is endowed with a character. I frisk in the sunshine and buzz or +grumble in the shade." + +"I cannot understand your jesting in such a matter, Lothar." + +"But what am I to do, then?" the other rejoined. "Whether I indulge in +poor jokes or sit in sackcloth and ashes, the confounded fact remains +the same. 'All I have is gone, gone, gone,'" he hummed, _sotto voce_; +but suddenly he grew grave and sighed. "Shall I go to-morrow to Herr +Solomon Landsberger, who has often and with great kindness offered to +give me his valuable assistance?" he asked. + +They walked a few steps farther in silence, and then Bernhard said, "I +can't understand what becomes of your money. You have apartments just +like mine and live very much the same life that I do." + +"With the exception of the extra bills, which I dare not send to +Eichhof." + +Bernhard made an impatient gesture, but Lothar went on: "I know what +you mean. You mean that I ought to think of the future, when our +positions will be so different. I ought to consider that what is all +right for the future possessor of Eichhof is supreme folly for a petty +lieutenant. All true and just; but why the deuce, then, did our father +put me in the same regiment with yourself? and why does every one +expect exactly the same from the poor lieutenant as from the eldest son +and heir? and why are people so infernally stupid as not to take into +account the immense difference between us?" + +"It was certainly unfortunate," said Bernhard, "that you joined just +this regiment; no doubt you are led here into many expenses that can +hardly be avoided; but still----" + +"Well, then, I'd better go to friend Solomon to-morrow, and try my luck +with him," Lothar interrupted him. + +Bernhard stamped his foot impatiently. + +"Don't talk nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Of course I shall help you out, +since, as you justly remark, I may send in extra accounts when I +please; but pray listen to reason, Lothar. You know that we shall +shortly cease to live here together. When I marry I can no longer +place my means at your disposal as at present." + +"Ah, when Thea is your wife, I shall quarter myself upon you so soon as +my money is gone. It usually lasts until the twentieth of the month, +and then I shall ensconce myself in your happy home. But I have not +thanked you yet. Indeed, old fellow, you are a brick of a brother. Then +I need not pay my respects to friend Solomon to-morrow?" + +Meanwhile they had reached their lodgings, and, as Bernhard was putting +his key in the lock, he said, "I will help you through this time, +Lothar, but remember it is the last. You must learn prudence, and it is +in direct opposition to my principles to encourage this perpetual +getting into debt. I did not, as you know, make the laws controlling +inheritance, and I cannot alter the fact that our circumstances will be +very different in the future. But I say now only just what I should say +were you in my place and I in yours. Every man must cut his coat +according to his cloth." + +"And if one is a six-footer and has only a scrap of cloth, he is in a +desperate case," thought Lothar; but he kept his thought to himself, +and softly whistled an opera air as he entered their apartments with +his brother. + +"It's no end of a pity that we must leave our charming quarters so +soon," he sighed, as he threw himself upon a lounge in their joint +drawing-room, which was certainly most luxuriously fitted up for a +bachelor establishment, while Bernhard opened and read, with a smile, a +letter lying upon his table. + +Lothar watched him for a moment, then folded his arms and raised his +eyes to the ceiling, with an expression half resignation and half +disdain, while his thoughts ran somewhat thus: "Of course that is a +letter from Thea. What under the sun can that little country girl have +to say to him? A deuced pretty girl, and she'll make a capital wife. +It's very odd that I'm not angry with her, for there's not another +creature in the world so confoundedly in my way. If it were not for +her, we should keep our comfortable lodgings, and Bernhard, who is +certainly a trump, would go on paying my bills; and, besides, he has +grown so infernally serious since he has had that little witch's +betrothal-ring on his finger; before then we lived a jolly life enough. +It is all Thea's fault,--his immense gravity, his ceasing to pay my +debts, and our having to give up our delightful rooms. It is, +therefore, Thea who prevents my enjoying my youth, as I should do +otherwise, and yet, in spite of all this, I am rather fond of her. But +it is not my nature to bear malice towards any woman, even although she +be such an unformed little country girl as Thea, who certainly might +have been content to wait a few years longer." + +"Bernhard," he suddenly said aloud, "I will withdraw to my inmost +apartment, and leave you to your letter and to dreams of future +petticoat rule." + +Bernhard put his letter in his pocket. "I have finished," he said, "and +am going to bed. Thea sends her love to you." + +"Of course," yawned Lothar; "thanks. We'll talk about the other matter +to-morrow?" + +"Yes. Good-night, Lothar." + +"Good-night, old fellow." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + TWO DISCONTENTED FATHERS. + + +A forest bridle-path. The ground is covered with gnarled, twisted +roots, and the way is bordered with dark pines, and firs somewhat +lighter in tone, between which only a narrow strip of spring sky shines +down upon the two riders pursuing the dim pathway. Their horses, slowly +walking abreast, seem by no means content to saunter thus; the chestnut +upon which the man is mounted champs its bit impatiently, and the gray +by its side pricks its ears, but the girl upon the back of the latter +is as interested as her companion in the conversation going on between +them, and neither pays any heed to the signs of their steeds' +impatience, while the groom riding at some distance behind them is +enjoying a huge sandwich that he has produced from his pocket, in full +security from observation. + +"It is too vexatious to know nothing about it all!" the girl exclaimed. +"I am almost ashamed never to have been in Berlin." + +"But, good heavens, you are so young, Adela!" her companion rejoined. + +"If we are to continue friends, Walter, you will not begin again about +my fifteen years, of which there can be no further mention after next +month, when I shall be sixteen," was the irritated reply. "I am in +reality much, much older, as you know, and I know that I look older. +Only the other day Lieutenant Muellheim took me for eighteen; and if +papa would only allow me to dress suitably, and if it were not for that +stupid Almanach de Gotha that tells everybody our ages----!" She sighed +pathetically. + +Walter laughed. "That sigh would sound more natural from the lips of a +lady past her prime than from those of a budding girl in her teens," he +said; adding instantly, with a meaning glance at his companion, "You +must not look so angry with me, Adela dear. If you refuse to allow me +more license in speaking than you accord to the rest of the world, I +shall address you as Fraeulein von Hohenstein and think all our +good-comradeship at an end. Must I do so? In fact, you certainly are +too much of a great lady to be my 'good comrade' any longer." He spoke +without irony, and there was a mournful earnestness in his fine eyes. + +She gave her horse a light cut with her whip, that his sudden start +might give her the chance to conceal the bright blush that overspread +her face. Then she looked up, half pouting, half in entreaty, and said, +"If you want to tease me, Walter, I can't see why you came for me to +ride; you might as well have stayed at home." + +Walter smiled, and saluted with his riding-whip. "Well, then, let us be +good comrades for the future, as neighbors' children ought to be," he +cried. + +Her reply was a merry glance from her blue eyes. + +They had reached the borders of the forest, and before them a well-kept +road, bordered by fine old trees, led directly up to an imposing pile +of buildings. + +"Let us have one more canter," said Adela; and away flew the two horses +so suddenly that the groom behind them was, in his surprise, nearly +choked by his last mouthful of sandwich, and followed his mistress +coughing and gasping all the way up the avenue to the court-yard, where +the two riders drew rein. + +"It has really grown so late that I cannot come in with you," said +Walter. "I must hurry home; you know we are terribly punctual about our +meals at Eichhof." + +"Well, then, good-by; for only a short time, I hope," said Adela, +giving her comrade her hand, and then vanishing with the groom behind +the court-yard gate, while Walter took the road to Eichhof. + +He was the third and youngest son of the Baron or Freiherr von Eichhof. +A few days previously he had passed a brilliant preparatory examination +in Berlin, and was now spending a few weeks at Eichhof before leaving +home for some university. + +As he rode on he looked so grave and thoughtful that one would hardly +have suspected in him the budding student for whom, so thinks the +world, everything must be _couleur de rose_. And yet it was the thought +of this very student-time that occupied Walter now day and night. He +knew that his father had destined him for the study of law, whilst his +own wishes led him in a contrary direction. He knew further that his +wishes would meet with obstinate opposition, and he had therefore +avoided hitherto all explanations with his father. This state of things +he felt could not possibly continue longer, and he was pondering, as he +rode on thus thoughtfully, how he should clearly explain his views. + +Whilst Walter was preparing for a conversation with his father that +would in all probability be far from agreeable, Adela was in the midst +of an interview of a like nature. + +The Baron von Hohenstein was in fact standing at the hall door as his +young daughter reached it. He was just inspecting some young horses of +his own breeding, from which he wished to select one for the use of his +son in the capital. A magnificent gelding that had been judged by him +quite worthy to support his son's soldierly form, and to maintain the +reputation of his stud, had just been discovered to be lame. The +Freiherr turned angrily from the horse to his daughter. + +"You have been gone very long, Adela," he called to her. "And it's +great nonsense your riding half the day with Walter Eichhof; you're too +old for such pranks." + +Adela curled her lip rebelliously as she dismounted, and without a word +took her father's arm and drew him with her into the house. + +"Papa," she said, "you are always saying, 'You are not old enough for +this, you are too young for that,' and so on. What is the matter with +me, then, that I am always too old or too young?" + +But the Freiherr was not disposed to jest to-day. + +"Nonsense!" he growled. "I may not think you old enough to wear a +train, but you look sufficiently like a young lady to make people stare +when they see you always with that school-boy." + +"I beg pardon, papa, Walter has passed his examination." + +"What is that to me? The long and the short of it is, that I won't have +you riding with him." + +"But, papa, Thea Rosen rode with Bernhard Eichhof when he was a +lieutenant and she was only sixteen." + +"That's an entirely different affair. Theresa Rosen was afterwards +betrothed to Bernhard Eichhof, and has done very well for herself. But +when such rides end in no betrothal they are a great folly; and if a +fledgling scarcely out of the nest should have any entanglement with a +young fellow who has neither money nor prospects, it would be a greater +folly still; and I am not the man to allow my daughter to make such a +fool of herself." + +Adela had grown pale, and she looked at her father in a kind of terror +as she left his side and slipped out of the room. What was all this? +Betrothal? Such a thing had never entered her head. And to Walter? It +was all perfect nonsense. Walter was her good comrade. What could put +such ideas into her papa's head? And must she give up the rides which +had been such a pleasure to her? No; it was simply impossible. She +would tell Thea and Alma Rosen about it. What would they say? And +Walter? Should she tell Walter too? She blushed, and discovered that it +would not be easy to tell Walter. And he really had grown very tall and +handsome since his last vacation. She must watch him, and see if he had +any idea of falling in love with her. How hard it was to have no mother +to turn to at such a time! Mademoiselle Belmont, her governess, was not +at all a person to invite confidence. Adela fell into a revery, and +then looked into her mirror. + +"I wonder whether Walter noticed that I dress my hair differently?" she +thought; "and does he think it becoming? I can ask him that, at all +events, when I see him next." + +Meanwhile poor Walter was thinking of anything rather than of the +fashion of Adela's hair. + +The Countess Eichhof, his mother, had withdrawn to her room after +dinner, and Walter was sitting on the castle terrace with his father, +or, more correctly speaking, was walking restlessly to and fro, while +his father, leaning hack in a comfortable arm-chair, was smoking a +cigarette. Count Eichhof, in spite of his years and silvery hair, was a +tall, handsome man, with sparkling eyes and ruddy complexion. The early +bleaching of his locks was a family inheritance, and became excellently +well the present representative of the Eichhof estate and title. + +In his youth the Count had been an officer in the Guards, in the same +regiment where were his two elder sons at present, and where he had so +enjoyed life as to become convinced that it was altogether a capital +invention, and might still be very entertaining even with three +grown-up sons about him. He was now watching with a kind of curiosity +the manner in which these same sons would turn it to account. + +The eldest had betrothed himself quite young. + +"He is a susceptible fellow,--he gets his temperament from me," the +Count said, with a laugh. + +The second, Lothar, was forever at odds with his income, which never +sufficed for his expenses. + +"He is sowing his wild oats with a free hand,--a regular +spendthrift,--but he gets that from me. I was just like him," the Count +said, and laughed again. + +And now it was Walter's turn. + +In conformity to the wishes of his mother, whose family were all +diplomatists and courtiers, he was not destined to enter the army, but +was to pursue a juridical career. The Countess already saw in him a +future ambassador or minister; the Count regarded him with a curious +mixture of compassion and resignation. + +"Our youngest child really should have been a daughter," he was wont to +say. "Since that's impossible, they are going to make a quill-driver of +him. Well, well, there's no help for it. I must make some concessions, +and I had my own way with the two elder boys." + +Thus, instead of entering a military school, Walter had been placed +under the care of a distant relative of the Count, residing in Berlin, +where he enjoyed the advantages of the principal preparatory school in +the capital, to the surprise of his father's 'good friends and +neighbors,' who thought that a first-class provincial establishment +would have served the boy's turn quite as well, and even better. + +"It is a good thing for Walter to become familiar with the capital, and +to feel at home there while he is young," the Countess observed, +without explaining, or indeed understanding herself, in what this 'good +thing' consisted. + +"Let him go to Berlin," thought the Count; "he'll have a chance there +to see his brothers and his cousins in the Guards more often than +elsewhere; and the deuce is in it if, after passing his examinations, +the boy does not 'boot and saddle' and be a soldier. I know I should +have done so in his place." + +And now the 'boy' had reached this point of his career, and had already +been one week at home without uttering a word upon the subject. + +"There's not much of me in him," the Count thought, smoking his +cigarette, as he watched his youngest son pace the terrace to and +fro,--"not much of me; but he's a handsome fellow for all." + +"'Tis a pity; your figure would suit a hussar's uniform much better +than that dress-coat," he said aloud, involuntarily. "Walter stood +still, and observed, smiling, that he could easily serve his year in +the hussars. + +"Are you really determined then to stick to the quill?" his father +asked, incredulously. "You mean to go to the university?" + +"Most certainly, father," Walter replied, seating himself beside the +Count. "And, since we are upon the subject, let me tell you that I have +long desired to discuss my future career with you." + +"Aha! you want to change the programme?" + +"Yes, father, it is my sincere desire to do so; but----" + +"Now, that you get from me, Walter," the Count interrupted his son, +with a laugh. "I should have done just so; there's no ignoring this +soldier-blood of ours." + +Walter leaned forward and fixed his eyes upon the marble pavement of +the terrace. "I did not mean that, sir," he said, in a low tone. + +The Count looked at him in surprise. + +"You don't mean that?" he repeated. "What the deuce do you mean, then?" + +"I wish to continue my studies, but I have not the slightest +predilection for the law," the young man began again. + +The Count looked at his son as though he were speaking some unknown +tongue. + +"What is there for one of your name save the law or the army?" he +asked, his expression, which had hitherto been one of amusement, +suddenly becoming very serious. "You must be aware that those are the +only careers open to a nobleman." + +"Both cost too much money and insure no independence. As a lieutenant +of the Guards, or as an ambassadorial attache, my expenses would be +very great." + +"The like of this I never before imagined!" the Count exclaimed, with a +resounding slap upon his knee. "The fellow is my son, nineteen years +old; and is thinking of the amount of his expenses. What the deuce put +that into your head?" + +"I know that our property lies chiefly in real estate, and that Lothar +uses a great deal of money," Walter replied, shyly. + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the Count. "You are a most extraordinary specimen of +an Eichhof. I can't tell where you got that economic vein; but since +there it is, let me tell you something, my boy. The net income of the +Eichhof estates amounts to some hundred and fifty thousand marks. I +have so improved and repaired everywhere that nothing more is required +in that quarter; and we are not going to Berlin any more, it is too +much for your mother's nerves. Well, then, we can easily live, and live +well, upon sixty thousand marks a year. Therefore, if you use only +sixty thousand marks yearly for the next five years, we shall have laid +up a capital of four hundred and fifty thousand marks, without +reckoning the interest. Add to that about a hundred thousand marks of +income derived from other sources, and--you need not tell Lothar, for +he spends quite enough,--but you can easily see that you will be very +comfortable one of these days. We enjoyed our youth. Age exacts less of +life; it will not be hard for us to retrench our expenses somewhat. +And since there never was an Eichhof who died before he was at least +fifty-five,--most of them live to be seventy or eighty,--there is quite +time enough to save money. Poor fellow! your prudence is quite thrown +away." + +The Count was always rather inclined to pity his youngest son, and he +did so now from the bottom of his heart, as he twisted himself a fresh +cigarette. + +But Walter did not yet seem quite satisfied. + +"You are very kind to your children, sir," he began once more, after a +pause; "but it was not only pecuniary considerations that influenced my +desire to change my studies. There is a profession which I should +embrace with enthusiasm, yes, which would even be more attractive to +me, could I cease to see in it a means of income. There is a study that +interests me far more than that of law,--a science to which I should +gladly devote any talent that I may possess." + +"Well, well, if we must discuss the matter, at least speak +intelligibly, Walter," the Count exclaimed, impatiently. "What's all +this about profession and science?" + +"Father," Walter said, taking his hand and looking full into his face +with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks, "I want to be a naturalist and +a physician." + +If some one had informed the Count that Castle Eichhof was to be +immediately converted into a lunatic asylum, he could not have looked +more amazed and indignant than now upon hearing his son declare that he +wished to be a physician. + +"Physician?" he repeated. "Physician!" + +He rose from his arm-chair and stood proudly erect. "You are insane, +Walter!" he said, angrily. But with the anger there was evidently +mingled a large share of that compassion upon which Walter seemed now +to have established a special claim. + +Walter, too, had risen, and looked frankly and honestly at his father. +"It is the only calling for which I shall ever really care," he said, +warmly, "and I know that I could devote myself to it heart and soul. I +entreat you, do not force me into another career for which I am quite +unfit. Give your consent to what, believe me, is no passing whim of +mine. I have had opportunity to observe this calling in all its +aspects. I pondered the matter earnestly before mentioning it to you. +I----" + +"Enough!" exclaimed the Count, and a dark shadow clouded his usually +jovial face. "Enough of this nonsense! You may be in earnest, Walter, +but I,--I too am just as much in earnest, and I solemnly declare to you +that I never will consent that an Eichhof--a son of mine--should +embrace such a senseless career. I will not have it; do you understand? +I will not have it; and my will must be your law." + +And the Count left the terrace with an echoing tread, while Walter +stood still, utterly cast down. + +"I knew it," he murmured, "and yet--and yet----" + +He threw himself into the arm-chair that his father had left, and +leaned his head on his hand. + +Nevertheless there must have been in his veins some particle of the +soldier-blood of the Eichhofs, for he had not sat there long lost in +thought, when he suddenly sprang up, saying,-- + +"Well, that was the first attack, and it has been repulsed. Now for +besieging the fortress, which may yield at last." + +But the Count did not yield. He persisted in his refusal, and the +Countess shed tears over Walter's 'inconceivable desire.' She was sure +the idea must have been suggested to him by some association unfitting +his rank and position, and she was, as we shall see, not far wrong in +her surmises. + +There followed some very disagreeable days at Castle Eichhof, and the +result was that Walter, with a heavy heart, resolved to conform to his +parents' wishes, and at least to attempt the study of law. He could not +see how to act otherwise at present. He must, he thought, furnish this +proof of his willingness to obey, but in secret he did not relinquish +the hope of one day carrying out his own plans. The Count was seriously +out of sorts for a few days, but upon Walter's submission his brow +cleared again, and his thoughts turned from this annoying intermezzo to +the approaching Easter holidays, when he expected his two other sons at +Castle Eichhof, which should once more be, as he expressed it, "the +headquarters of youthful fun and frolic." + +"The boys must be entertained when they come home," was his watchword. +The Countess had the ball-room newly decorated, and made out lists for +dinner- and dancing-parties. Walter was a great deal alone in the +library writing letters, and took many a lonely ride. He rode once to +Rollin to invite Adela Hohenstein to ride with him, but the Baron +declared that the physician had forbidden so much horseback exercise, +and Adela's manner towards him was so strangely altered that, instead +of confiding his grief to her as he had intended to do, he soon rode +home again. + +"Adela is playing the young lady, I see,--she really coquetted with me +to-day," he said to himself; "but I am no longer in the mood to be +entertained by her upon the subject of the fashion in which her hair is +dressed. If she will no longer be my good comrade, she may let it +alone. These young girls are very little good after all." + +Still, oddly enough, he thought oftener than usual of Adela that day, +and when he was occupied with the most serious plans for the future her +fair curly head would intrude upon his thoughts in a most unnecessary +and uncalled-for manner. "She certainly has grown extremely pretty of +late,--there is no doubt of that," he thought. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + HIDDEN SPRINGS. + + +Thus Easter came 'slowly up this way,' and with the holidays the 'sons' +from Berlin came to Eichhof and to Rollin. + +No finer sight was to be seen than the handsome Count Eichhof and his +wife, whose rather faded face and figure retained the traces of former +beauty, surrounded by their three sons, the two elder models of manly +strength and grace, while a kind of vague nimbus of future distinction +hovered around Walter, for which, as the reader knows, his mother was +far more responsible than himself. When her high-handed lord had +yielded a reluctant consent that her youngest boy should be moulded +according to his mother's desire, her imagination instantly perceived +in him the future diplomat,--the one of her children born to act a part +in the world's history. He was in her eyes a most remarkable child, +and, since he really was a very docile, amiable boy, and in +consideration of the fact that one of his uncles was an ambassador and +another a lord of the treasury, there were found family friends on all +sides ready, whenever Walter was spoken of, to whisper significantly, +"A wonderful young fellow! He has a brilliant career before him!" + +To complete the charming family picture another figure was now added, +in the person of Bernhard's lovely betrothed. She was the daughter of a +Herr von Rosen, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of Eichhof. +Bernhard and she had been boy and girl lovers. Bernhard, indeed, knew +something of society and of other women, but Therese--or Thea, as she +was called--knew absolutely nothing of the outside world. Without her +being in the least aware of it, the love of the child had grown into +the pure devotion of the maiden. It had seemed the most natural thing +in the world to be betrothed to Bernhard,--that he should henceforth be +the centre around which every thought and hope of her heart should +cling, and that he should typify to her all that she could conceive of +beauty and excellence. + +And now he was at home on leave. She saw him daily, and in May they +were to be married. + +"Thea is 'fearfully happy,'" said her younger sister Alma, Adela's +bosom friend; and the servants at Eichhof, who were wont to consider +their verdict as important in such cases, as well as all the +neighbouring gentry, rung the changes upon the same theme. + +The neighbours were soon offered a special opportunity for admiring and +discussing the 'charming Eichhofs,' since very early in the Easter +holidays they were bidden to a grand dinner at the castle. The state +apartments were thrown open, and worthy representatives of the noblest +of the county families--the Hohensteins, the Rosens, the Lindenstadts, +and many others--gladly accepted this first invitation issued after the +return home of the soldier sons. + +And yet the betrothed pair were not on this occasion the cynosure of +every eye, the theme of every tongue, as might have been expected. +These guests were all either distantly related to one another or +intimate from the association of years. One of them, however, appeared +to-day for the first time in this exclusive circle, exciting universal +attention and remark. This was the young wife of Marzell Wronsky, who, +himself a very German of the Germans, had lately, by marrying a distant +Polish cousin, revived in the minds of all the memory of his Polish +ancestry. + +"What do you think of young Madame Wronsky?" was a question often +whispered at this dinner behind a lady's fan or in the recess of some +window. The answer would consist either of a shrug of the shoulders and +an elevation of the eyebrows, signifying 'not much,' or in the +whispered reply, "Very elegant, yes, undeniably elegant, but not at all +handsome; scarcely good-looking. Why, she has red hair and green eyes, +and then she is so very pale." + +But when Madame Wronsky came to be discussed after dinner in the +smoking-room over a bowl of punch,--her husband having rejoined the +ladies,--the opinions expressed concerning her were rather different. + +"A striking creature, the Wronsky," was heard from Lieutenant +Hohenstein,--"decided air of race; she would create a _furor_ in +Berlin." + +"A perfect Undine," murmured the Assessor von Schoenburg; "coy, cold, +and immovable at first, but as soon as she is interested, all fire and +passion,--indescribably attractive." + +"Schoenburg is off on his old romantic track," laughed Lieutenant von Z. +"I rather think your fair Undine is quite capable of giving an eager +admirer a bath of very cold water; there is something absolutely +freezing in her eye at times, and she has a way of throwing back her +head that reminds one of an obstinate horse." + +"A profane simile!" the Assessor declared, with a shrug, swallowing his +irritation in a glass of punch. + +"In what capital taste the Wronsky was dressed!" came from the other +side of the table. "Everything about her is so _chic_. She's a great +acquisition to the neighbourhood." + +"Still, she is not regularly beautiful," said Lothar Eichhof. + +Hohenstein looked at him with his eyes half closed, after his listless +manner. "You are either in love with her, or she has treated you +badly," he said, in a low tone. "I tell you that if the Wronskys go to +Berlin next year, as Marzell says they think of doing, that woman will +create a perfect _furor_. Remember this." + +Meanwhile, the object of this discussion was leaning back negligently +in one of the low arm-chairs in the drawing-room, adding a word now and +then in broken German to the general conversation, while, with eyes +cast down as though finding nothing worthy of their special notice, she +toyed with a costly lace fan. Her dark arched eyebrows contrasted +strangely with the transparent pallor of her face, and when a slanting +sunbeam called forth brilliant sparkles of light from the diamonds in +her hair, certainly, in her light-blue gown trimmed with water-lilies, +she justified the Assessor's declaration that she was an Undine. + +"How reserved and haughty she looks!" Thea Rosen whispered to her +lover, as she was walking through the room upon his arm towards the +conservatories. + +"I do not think her attractive," he rejoined. "I cannot conceive how +Marzell Wronsky could ever fall in love with that woman." + +"It is a pity you do not like her." + +"You never could be friends with her, my darling." + +"Why not?" asked Thea, lifting her lovely eyes to his. + +"Why not? I can hardly tell you; it's a matter of sentiment. You are my +rosebud, you know, and the Countess Wronsky, if she can be likened to +any flower, resembles one of those strange, unnatural orchids." + +Thea looked up. Just above her hung one of the fantastic blossoms of +which he spoke. + +"Well, at all events, an orchid is far more distinguished than a poor +little rose, that only needs a little sunlight to blossom and grow, +while the grander flower must be petted in a hot-house." + +"Do not talk so," said Bernhard, closing her lips with a kiss in the +solitude of the conservatory. "I will not have you compared with that +woman. What is she to us? You are and always will be my May rose, and I +wish May were here, and that we were married. We will have charming +apartments in a villa in the Thiergarten, with roses blossoming all +over the door, and a wild grape-vine growing about the windows to the +very roof. Such a pretty, comfortable, cosey nest as it shall be, with +a boudoir---- But no, I'll tell you nothing about that; it shall be a +surprise." + +While these happy lovers were building their airy castles in one of the +conservatories, in another two young people were also carrying on an +eager conversation. There was much mention of "rides" and "papa's +strange ideas," whereat Fraeulein Adela von Hohenstein would frequently +blush rosy red, and Herr Walter von Eichhof would put on a very grave +and thoughtful expression. + +In the mean time, the smokers were growing rather noisy in their talk +and laughter, and there was now and then a suppressed yawn in the +drawing-room, when suddenly new life was infused into the guests by the +lighting of the candles and the throwing open of the ball-room, whence +came the strains of the polonaise. + +The gentlemen in the drawing-room were immediately largely reinforced, +and all led their partners to the brilliant ball-room. + +"A delightful surprise this for the young people," said Frau von Rosen, +who, on Count Eichhof's arm, led the polonaise. + +"We must entertain our children," the Count replied, with a smile; "and +since we have enjoyed dancing ourselves, it seems to us the best thing +to provide for the young." + +"You have been rather sly about this evening, however, my dear Count," +the lady continued. "If I had known that our pleasant dinner was to be +followed by a small ball, I should have left my little Alma at home. +She was, as you know, confirmed but very lately." + +The Count laughed. "All the better then that you did not know it," he +replied; "we could ill spare the buds from among our blossoms. Only +look at Adela von Hohenstein; the child has prevailed upon her father +to let her appear to-night in a train for the first time, and she +really looks a finished little lady, who would have probably cried +herself to sleep had she been forced to stay at home to-night, although +she is just Fraeulein Alma's age." + +"Adela is too precocious; but then the poor child has no mother, and +has been forced to judge for herself and to depend upon her own +intuitions now for so many years." + +"And if she should be betrothed at eighteen, like our Thea, it is well +that she should begin to enjoy herself now. I like to see these very +young girls about us. Oho! _changement de dames_," he suddenly called +out as he made a turn, resigned Frau von Rosen to another gentleman, +and took for his partner Frau von Wronsky, who blushed a little at this +distinction, then smiled, and really looked very charming. + +The Count made a sign to the musicians, and the dignified polonaise was +converted into a rapid waltz. + +"_Au galop_," he called gayly, and away he flew with his partner, +followed by all the younger dancers, while their elders smilingly +retired from among them. The Freiherr von Hohenstein alone, who never +would be outdone in anything by his neighbour Eichhof, joined in the +galop, while his son, with Lothar Eichhof, to both of whom elderly +partners had been assigned, after having led these to their seats, +stood together and clapped applause of their several fathers whirling +like the wind from one end to the other of the ball-room. + +"Your governor dances famously," Hohenstein said to Lothar, who +assented,-- + +"Yes, he is as light on his feet as any one of us. The Wronsky dances +well." + +"Just wait, my son, and you'll see what you will see. Then think of +me!" + +With these oracular words Lieutenant Hohenstein retreated privately to +the smoking-room, for he was, as he expressed it, long past the age for +the passion for dancing, and found his El-Dorado in the smoking-room, +where card-tables were now laid ready for him and such as he. + +The ball-room windows at Eichhof gleamed brilliantly until long after +midnight, and the cocks were already beginning their morning concert, +when the sisters Thea and Alma Rosen, leaning back among the cushions +of their carriage, began to dream of the vanished delights of the +evening. + +Immediately after their departure, Herr von Wronsky's carriage drew up +before the castle terrace. Frau von Wronsky appeared with her husband +at the hall door, where Bernhard, who had just taken leave of his +betrothed, was still standing. + +The lights on the castle wall shone upon the equipage and the horses. +Wronsky detected something wrong in the harness of the latter; and as +he descended the steps to direct the groom to repair the error, his +wife was left for a few moments alone in the vestibule with Bernhard. +Their eyes met, and in hers there was a hasty, mute inquiry. Bernhard +stepped close to her side. He looked very grave, and there was a gloomy +fire in his glance, as he gazed steadfastly into her face, and said in +a low tone, and yet so as to be distinctly heard by her, "You may rely +upon my silence, but I impose certain conditions. Confine your +intercourse with us within as narrow bounds as is possible without +exciting remark, and never, never attempt to make friends with my +future wife!" + +The young wife's cheek first flushed crimson and then grew deadly pale, +while the eyes, which were for one moment opened wide and riveted upon +Bernhard's face, seemed fairly to flash fire. Then the eyelids drooped +over them, and the same cold, proud countenance that had been shown all +the evening in the ball-room looked out from among the snowy folds of +her white wrap. + +"Good-night, Herr von Eichhof," she said, calmly, putting her hand upon +her husband's arm as he returned to her, and, passing the young man +with the air of a queen dismissing a subject, she descended the steps +and entered her carriage. + +Bernhard followed the vehicle with his eyes as it rolled away. "Did she +really suppose until this moment that I had not recognized her?" he +thought. "She certainly betrayed herself by no look or gesture. Poor +Wronsky, how could he----" + +His thoughts were interrupted by other guests, who at that moment +thronged into the hall. There was the usual bustle of departure, +calling of carriages, searching for wraps, etc., and as the son of the +house he was obliged to make himself as useful as possible. + +At last every guest had left Castle Eichhof, the lights were +extinguished, and its inmates were wrapped in the slumber which was to +refresh them after past enjoyments. But Bernhard's dreams were not of +his lovely betrothed, but of the brilliant eyes of Frau von Wronsky, +and, instead of the cold 'good-night' she had given him, he heard her +say, "I hate you, and I will work your ruin!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + GOSSIP. + + +Bernhard and Lothar returned to Berlin as soon as the holidays were +over, and Hohenstein shortly followed them thither. + +"I am glad he has gone," said Adela, one afternoon that she was +spending with her friend Alma Rosen. "I am glad not to have him here +any longer, for he grows more and more tiresome, and it spoils my +enjoyment of everything to see him lounging about and yawning all the +time." + +"You ought not to say that so openly, dear child," said Frau von Rosen, +who happened to be in the room, and who thought it her duty to admonish +the motherless girl now and then. "It is sad enough when brothers and +sisters do not agree perfectly, but there is no need to publish such +lack of harmony to the world." + +"But indeed I do not care. I am perfectly willing that everybody should +know it," said Adela. "It is the truth, and I detest hypocrisy." + +"No one requires hypocrisy from you, my dear," Frau von Rosen replied; +"but there is a very wide difference between hypocrisy and a discreet +reserve. Besides, there are, I think, certain sensations and opinions +that are undesirably strengthened by being put into words." + +"Ah, yes, dear Frau von Rosen, it is easy for you to speak so; you know +nothing of such trials," Adela rejoined. "If you had any sons, Thea and +Alma would have their own opinion too of fraternal amenities." + +"Ah, Adela, I have always so longed for a brother!" Alma exclaimed. +"When I see Lothar Eichhof he always seems like half a brother; and how +delightful it must be to have a real one!" + +"That is because you know nothing about it," said Adela, with a wise +shake of her curls. "I will tell you how my brother Hugo conducts +himself. Let me speak just this once," she went on, turning to Frau von +Rosen; "it is such a relief to speak it all out, and you know I would +not mention it anywhere else. Well, when he comes home he first goes +directly to the stables, and in fact it is there only that he ever +shows a pleasant face. Then he comes into the house, drops into an +arm-chair in the drawing-room, and looks about him with a sneering +expression which he knows I detest. If I chance to be alone with him, +he says, languidly, 'Frightful taste, the furniture of this room! I +really cannot understand why my father does not have this old-fashioned +stuff replaced by something decent. If he will commission me to attend +to it I will see that you have something here really _chic_.' If my +patience gives way and I remind him that the furniture was all of our +mother's selection, and that papa would never think of altering a +single article, he sneers again,--that same odious sneer,--and either +whistles some popular air or remarks, 'Of course not. I, however, never +would live in such a beastly hole. In fact, Rollin is an infernally +tiresome old nest, only fit for breeding horses, or some such colt as +you are!' meaning me. Is that not enough to vex one? And papa is so +kind and good to him, granting all he asks, and getting nothing from +him in return but disappointment and grief." + +"But, Adela, your father has great satisfaction in him nevertheless," +Frau von Rosen observed. "He is an excellent officer, and very popular +with his comrades, as I know from Bernhard." + +But Adela would hear nothing of that. "Ah, that indeed!" she exclaimed, +irritably. "You would hear very little more of his popularity if papa +did not give him so much money. Walter says he gambles, and that his +comrades win his money." + +"Walter Eichhof says that?" Thea exclaimed. "And how came you, Adela, +to discuss such matters with Walter?" + +Adela blushed slightly, and replied that she had happened to speak of +Hugo to Walter because he had been in Berlin and had heard about many +things there. + +Frau von Rosen looked grave, and shook her head, but Adela, now fairly +roused, went on unheeding: "I know myself that papa has often to send +him a great deal of money, and is always in a very bad humour for days +afterwards, and very cross to the inspector and the steward and to me. +And it is all Hugo's fault. He alone is to blame----" + +"Hush, hush, Adela!" said Frau von Rosen. "If you do not choose to +suppress your own sentiments with regard to your brother, it is at +least your bounden duty to have nothing whatever to say of +circumstances with which you have nothing to do, and which concern your +father and brother only. Of such matters I must distinctly forbid you +to speak here." + +Adela stopped, rather startled, but her flushed, indignant face showed +plainly that she thought herself unjustly treated. Frau von Rosen +approached her, and gently laid her hand upon her fair curly head. + +"Dear child," she said, softly, "have you not confidence in my +affection for you?" + +Adela was silent, evidently a prey to a conflict of feeling. + +"I was your mother's friend," Frau von Rosen continued, gently, "and +when I hear you utter such sharp, decided opinions upon matters of +which you are, perhaps, incapable of judging, I cannot help fancying +what your mother would feel if she heard you. Do you think she would be +pleased with you at this moment?" + +The tears started from Adela's eyes, and she hastily, almost +passionately, pressed Frau von Rosen's hand to her lips. + +"Oh, if my mother were only living!" she exclaimed. "Everything at home +would be so different!" + +Frau von Rosen clasped her in her arms and kissed her. "You have a +tender and loving father," she said, softly: "be to him a good daughter +in the true sense of the word." + +Adela dried her tears, and smiled at the remembrance of her father. +"Oh, yes, he is very, very kind," she said. "I know he is, even when he +pretends to be angry. I know, too, that he will always do what I want +in the end, if I do not contradict him. He has given me leave to ride +with Walter again if I will only tell him when and where we are going, +and I always like to do that. And then, too, he has let me wear long +dresses at last. Yes, he is the dearest old papa,--but indeed Hugo +spoils him!" + +Frau von Rosen was rather shocked at the conversation's taking this +turn, but when she looked into Adela's honest eyes--now gazing so +frankly into her own--she found it impossible to be angry with the +child. She thought it best to take no notice of her last words, and +only said, "Remember, then, always that it is your first duty to +requite your father for all the care and kindness he has lavished upon +his children." + +"Oh!" cried Adela, "if papa should ever have a fall from his horse, and +break his leg or anything, I would nurse him day and night, and never +leave his side; but then," she added, rather ruefully, "nothing of that +sort ever happens to him." + +Frau von Rosen smiled involuntarily. "There is no need, dear, of any +extraordinary occasion for testifying affection," she said. "The +greatest proof of love lies in overcoming one's self for the +gratification of others. Think of this, Adela dear; you are quite old +enough and sensible enough to know of yourself everything that I can +tell you. Promise me to reflect upon it all. Will you try?" + +Adela promised, with a mixture of emotion and of satisfaction with her +own good sense. + +Thea and Alma, who had withdrawn to the other end of the room during +this conversation, now came forward and begged Adela to go with them +into the garden. + +Frau von Rosen nodded kindly, and the three girls went off together, at +first somewhat embarrassed, but soon talking and laughing together as +usual. The Easter holidays were indeed a fruitful theme for +conversation, and the name of Eichhof occurred very frequently in their +talk. + +"Only think," said Alma Rosen, "Lothar told me that Walter wanted to be +a doctor!" + +Adela burst into a laugh. "Walter a doctor!" she exclaimed. "What a +delightful idea of Lothar's! Walter a doctor? It is too comical!" + +"Only ask Thea; she knows about it too," said Alma. + +And her sister added, "Yes, it is true; Walter did get such an idea +into his head, but he has given it up, and there is to be no more said +upon the subject." + +"Now I know why Walter has been so queer all through these last +holidays," said Adela. "It is perfectly odious in him not to tell me a +word of it. I will tease him well about it to-morrow if we ride +together." + +"Do you often ride together now?" + +"Oh, yes. That was a perfectly ridiculous idea of papa's; I soon talked +him out of it. He had consented to our rides even before we went to the +ball at Eichhof. There's one good to be gained from Hugo's being at +home, papa is so full of business at such times that he will almost +always say 'yes' just to be rid of me. I take very few lessons now with +Mademoiselle Belmont, and the good soul is being gradually transformed +from a governess into a companion. I got papa to tell her that she +might look upon herself as rather occupying the latter position. The +only thing to do is to take papa just when he happens to be in a good +humour; but----" She suddenly clapped her hand upon her mouth. "There, +I promised your mother that I would not speak of that. I should like to +know what kind of girls we should all be if I had a mother and you had +a couple of brothers." + +"Well, Bernhard soon will be my brother," said Alma. + +"Oh, that's very different," rejoined Adela; "made-up brothers like +that never do anything to vex you. I know all about that, for I look +upon Walter Eichhof as a kind of brother, and--but I forgot," she +interrupted herself, hesitating,--"he does vex me sometimes. I'll have +my revenge to-morrow at all events, and I wish to-morrow were here." + +Twenty-four hours later this wish of Adela's was fulfilled, and Walter +and she were slowly riding towards the forest, followed at a discreet +distance by the groom with a taste for sandwiches. + +"I have been hearing sad tales of you, Walter," Adela began her attack, +"and the saddest part of them is that you never, by word or look, +confided anything with regard to your evil schemes to your faithful +comrade." + +"My evil schemes?" + +"Yes. Would you not, if you could, torture poor mortals, cut off their +arms and legs, and heaven knows what besides that is horrible and +cruel?" + +"Since you call that cruel, you certainly must admit that I was +perfectly right not to mention to you the profession at which you jeer, +but which I consider the noblest that can be embraced." + +The gravity with which he spoke made some impression upon Adela. She +looked at him almost timidly, and said, shyly, "Were you really in +earnest, then, about being a doctor?" + +"I have found it very hard to relinquish the idea,--for the present at +least. But why should we speak of all this? Rather let us admire the +exquisite beauty of the afternoon, and of the woods and trees. Shall we +canter?" + +Strangely enough, Adela instantly forgot all her vexation and her +determination to be revenged upon Walter. She saw that he refused her +his confidence, and, instead of being angry that this was so, she +became very sad. + +"You are very fond of that Doctor Nordstedt of whom you were telling me +awhile ago, are you not?" she asked, suddenly reining in her mare after +a long canter. + +Walter turned and looked her full in the face. "I thought you had +forgotten all that," he said. "I certainly thought that my comrade had +grown to be altogether too much of a fine lady, too much taken up with +dressing and visiting, to feel any interest in what I could tell her." + +Adela blushed. Certainly she did very much desire to be a fine lady, +but she could not give up her comrade. She replied, "Well, and what +now, when you find that in spite of dressing and visiting I still have +time to think of Dr. Nordstedt?" + +"Now I tell you that I certainly honour and love him, and that I am +proud to consider myself his friend." + +"It is his fault, then, that you want to be a doctor?" + +"On the contrary, it is he who is always pointing out to me all the +difficulties of the profession." + +"Good heavens! how did you ever come to make such an acquaintance? Your +sight was always good. Certainly you had no need for consulting an +oculist--the man is an oculist, is he not?" + +"Yes; and I never went near him on account of my eyes. But, as I told +you before, he is my aunt's family physician, and it was through her +that I became acquainted with him and with his family." + +"Oh, yes,--his family! And of whom does this family consist?" + +"This family consists of the father, Herr Nordstedt,--a self-made man, +sprung from the people,--of his wife, and of their son, my friend. They +are charming people; you ought to know them, Adela." + +"Do they speak the Berlin _patois_ and mix up their parts of speech?" +Adela asked, slightly turning up her pretty little nose. + +Walter laughed. "What an idea!" he exclaimed. "It is true that Herr +Nordstedt has worked hard with his hands to amass the modest competence +that he now possesses, but he is too clever a man to have allowed his +brain to lie idle in the mean while. His information is extensive and +various, and upon every question of the day his opinions are those of +the cultured class. The advantages of education of which he was +deprived he has, however, taken good care that his son shall enjoy to +the fullest extent. My friend is now entirely independent, pecuniarily, +of his father, and takes pride in being so." + +"I wish Hugo would take a few lessons of him, then," said Adela; "I +think papa has to pay more and more for him every year. But then," she +added, hastily, "I really should not like him to be a doctor." + +Walter smiled. "And would you dislike to have me one?" he asked. + +"Very much," she replied, emphatically. + +Walter touched his horse with the spur, and started upon another +canter. + +"How rude you are!" Adela exclaimed; but she followed him, and in the +rapid pace which Walter seemed to enjoy so much on this particular day +there was no opportunity for any further serious conversation between +them. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + MARRIAGE. + + +The larks were soaring high in air above the tender green of the +fields, and the blossoming cherry-trees looked like white bridal +bouquets in the midst of the sunny landscape, as the villagers of +Schoenthal, in their gayest holiday dresses, streamed towards their +little church. + +While the bells rang out their merriest peal, the brilliant +marriage-train left the lordly mansion-house and walked down the broad +avenue of chestnut-trees, the drooping buds of which had not yet begun +to 'spread into the perfect fan.' No equipage of any kind hid either +bridal pair or guests from the delighted gaze of the peasants who lined +the wayside. Little girls dressed in white, their fair hair braided and +tied with white ribbons, scattered violets and May flowers upon the +broad carpet stretched, as a protection for satin-slippered feet, from +the hall door to the gateway of the neighbouring church, and +immediately behind them came the bridal pair. + +An admiring "Ah!" from the spectators among whom they had grown up +accompanied them as they walked slowly on; and certainly they were a +fair sight to look upon. Bernhard, in his brilliant uniform, beaming +with pride and happiness, could scarcely turn his eyes from Thea, +hanging blushing upon his arm. Thus they trod beneath their feet the +spring flowers scattered in their path on their road--to what? To +happiness? Are these flowers of spring to be followed by the roses of +summer and the golden fruits of autumn, or is a premature winter with +its ice and snow to wither them all too soon? Who can tell? And who +would ask such a question? Not Alma and Adela, the two bridesmaids, who +follow Bernhard and Thea, conducted by Lothar and Walter Eichhof, and +certainly not Count Eichhof, who, as he looks at the three couples with +a smile of pride, reflects that flowers must always strew the pathway +of the heir of Eichhof, and that there will be enough left to provide +handsomely for the two other sons. He certainly seems right to-day at +least, for Lothar and Walter look extremely happy. Lothar's debts have +just been paid again 'for the last time,' and Walter had returned the +previous night from a journey which seemed to have delighted and +refreshed him. + +The train vanishes beneath the church-portals; the solemn rite is +performed, the mystic rings are exchanged, and two mortals plight faith +and affection to each other until death shall separate them. + +It is all over. The gay procession returns through the chestnut avenue, +and the old mansion of Schoenthal once more opens its portals to receive +the maiden flower that has blossomed beneath its roof, to leave it +to-day for another home. + +Gradually the solemnity of mood which very naturally possessed every +one during the ceremony vanishes. Congratulations have been showered +upon the pair. There have been tender embraces, cordial hand-shakes; +the due amount of 'my dear old friends' and 'precious darlings' has +been uttered, and the evidences of unusual emotion disappear from all +countenances, save those of the bride and her mother, who cannot quite +regain their wonted composure. Gay laughter and lively conversation +resound from all sides of the table, where justice is done to the +wedding breakfast. Speeches are made, toasts proposed, and healths +drunk amid much clinking of glasses. The wit of the gentlemen and the +smiles of the ladies grow brighter with every toast. There are many new +titles of relationship exchanged between the young people of the two +allied houses, and blushes and smiles are frequent when Count Eichhof +arises, glass in hand, and, repeating the old proverb,-- + + + "Never a marriage here below + From which a second did not grow," + + +proposes the health of the "next bride and bridegroom." Alma Rosen's +hand trembles slightly as it touches Lothar Eichhof's when they clink +their glasses; and when later in the day, before he left her, he +declared that a kiss was his right in pledge of their new relationship, +and calmly availed himself of this right, he had no idea of how fast +and loud her heart beat the while. + +"She is a perfect child," he said, after they had risen from table, to +Hugo Hohenstein, who had taken Frau von Wronsky to breakfast. "A +perfect child, but a pretty little puss, and _faute de mieux_----" And +he snapped his fingers, and then paused as his glance lighted upon his +new sister-in-law, standing talking with Adela Hohenstein by one of the +windows, her girlish figure draped in white satin and shrouded in her +lace veil. + +"_A propos_, Thea is quite dazzling," he said. "I never should have +given her credit for so much dignity and self-possession." + +Hohenstein put up his eye-glass, and bestowed a critical glance upon +the bride. + +"Yes, she has a good figure and rather fine features," he said, with +the oracular air of a connoisseur. "Her face is an unwritten page as +yet; but time will change all that, even although it may never show +such a startling romance as may be read in the Wronsky's eyes." + +Lothar was still gazing at his sister-in-law, and only half heard +Hohenstein's words. + +"Was the lady very entertaining at table?" he asked, rather absently. + +"Why, either she is not in a good humour today, or she is playing a +part; I cannot make out which," Hohenstein replied. "At all events, she +is excessively interesting. Before her marriage there was some very +piquant story about her; she has had experiences. I know nothing +explicit, but that woman has been through an immense deal, you may be +certain." + +Thea left the room to put on her travelling-dress, and Bernhard, who +until now had been constantly near her, went into an antechamber, +whence he was instantly about to withdraw upon finding it occupied by +Frau von Wronsky, who was seated in a negligent attitude on a divan, +her head resting on her hand. She called him, however, by name, and +involuntarily, although with an air of constraint, he paused on the +threshold. + +"I should like to speak with you for a moment," she said, in a low, +hurried tone. "You ought at least to know that I had resolved not to +inflict my presence upon you to-day; that I have done so is owing +entirely to your father, who paid us a visit the day before yesterday +and was so pertinacious in his request that we should be present to-day +that----" + +"There is no need of this apology, madame," Bernhard replied, coldly. +"It would have excited remark if you had absented yourself without +sufficient reason, and it is my especial desire that your conduct +towards us should be such as to invite no observation." + +The lady's face was agitated for an instant as if by the suppression of +a passionate outburst, but she only bent her head, and replied, "You +have nothing to fear. However painful the consciousness may be, I know +that you are right in not allowing me any intimacy with your wife. +Believe me, I feel only too intensely and grievously the gulf that +divides us. I know how hardly you judge me, and that you have a right +to do so, even although I am more to be pitied than blamed." + +"Madame," Bernhard rejoined, approaching her in some confusion, "I pray +you let the past rest." + +"Ah, I wish it would rest, that I could forget! But even when I succeed +in doing so for a moment, as when but now, attracted irresistibly by +the grace and loveliness of your wife, I longed to approach her as any +other woman might do, my past rises as an avenger, and I bow before the +Nemesis; for, hard as it is to endure, I know it is not wholly +undeserved." + +Her voice, as she uttered these words, was full of such melancholy +sweetness, her eyes shone so with unshed tears, and she arose and stood +with such touching humility before Bernhard, that he could not help +expressing his regret at having recalled to her an unhappy past. She +cut his phrases short by a forbidding wave of her hand. + +"You were quite right," she said. "Forget all this, and may you be +happy, very happy!" + +Tone and manner were so full of a heart-felt sincerity that Bernhard +was almost moved to offer her his hand. He bethought himself in time, +however, and, in obedience to a wave of dismissal, left the room. + +"Forget all this," she had said, but he never could forget the look or +the tone with which these words were uttered. + +Thea returned clad in travelling costume to bid farewell to all. +Bernhard hastily changed his dress, and, when the travelling-carriage +drove up, led his young wife down the steps of the hall, which were +thronged with bridesmaids and their attendant squires. Alma burst into +tears as she threw her arms around her sister's neck. Herr and Frau von +Rosen called out their adieux in faltering tones. + +The wedding guests waved their kerchiefs from the open windows, and +servants and peasants crowded about the carriage for one last look at +their "dear young Fraeulein." The swallows stretched out their heads +from their nest under the eaves, and seemed to twitter "Good-by, +good-by," and the hanging wreaths of the wild grapevine in which the +veranda was embowered seemed to wave a mute farewell. + +"Farewell, farewell!" + +The carriage rolled out of the court-yard, and Thea hid her tearful +face on Bernhard's shoulder. "Oh, Bernhard," she whispered, "you will +always love me dearly, very dearly, will you not?" + +He kissed away her tears. "My darling, what a question to ask!" he +replied. "You know that you are my sweetest, loveliest May rosebud." + +She smiled at him through her tears, and he vowed inwardly that she +never should shed a tear caused by word or deed of his. + +The road here made a turn, and the mansion of Schoenthal, upon the +windows of which the last beams of the setting sun were shining, came +into view once more. + +Thea leaned from the carriage window and looked back. Bernhard, +clasping her hand firmly in his own, looked back also. The windows of +the balconied room, the same in which he had spoken with Frau von +Wronsky scarcely an hour before, gleamed brilliantly. + +"Is she there still?" he thought, and he seemed to hear again her low, +penetrating tones, "Forget all this,"--her pale face and brilliant +figure were like a shadow dimming the sunshine of his marriage-day. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A FAREWELL GLASS AND A DEATH-BED. + + +Far removed from the fashionable quarter of Berlin, in one of those +east-end streets where labourers' carts are far more numerous than gay +equipages, stood Herr Nordstedt's house. It was quite a stately +structure, with two projecting wings, between which extended a +little front garden, lending a retired air to the whole, and +distinguishing it pleasantly among the old and rather shabby houses +of the neighbourhood. The hall door was adorned by rich carvings in +wood,--"The old cabinet-maker in me takes great delight in such +things," Herr Nordstedt was wont to say,--and yet was so simply +fashioned that it must always be regarded as a door, never as a +'portal.' Through this door on a certain evening in May walked Walter +Eichhof, who had returned to town shortly after his brother's marriage, +and who, before departing to continue his studies in a university town +on the Rhine, desired to take leave personally of his friend Dr. +Nordstedt. He passed through the hall leading to a small court-yard, +and into a garden which was really very large for a city so closely +built as Berlin. The wing looking upon this garden contained Dr. +Nordstedt's study and his office, where he received all in need of his +advice as oculist. + +Walter made sure of finding him in his study, and was not disappointed. +He was seated at his table, writing busily. + +"I have been expecting you, my dear fellow," the doctor exclaimed, +springing up and holding out both hands. "As you did not write, I knew +you would come. Well, and----?" He looked expectantly at the young man +for an instant. "Hm!" he went on, "clouds in the sky, I see. Well, +well, I expected them. But come, take a cigar, and tell me all about +it." + +"There's not much to be told. It was very short work, and what will +come next I do not know,--which is what troubles me," replied Walter. +"At present I am on my way to Bonn to study law." + +The doctor silently nodded. + +"There would have been entire estrangement from my parents if I had +insisted upon my wishes," Walter continued. + +"And I think you are quite right in yielding," said his friend. "You +owe it to your parents to make an attempt at least to adopt the career +in life that they have chosen for you. There must be difficulties to be +encountered everywhere. We cannot escape them, whatever freedom of +choice may be granted us." + +"If I could only get up some small amount of interest in the law," +sighed Walter. + +"You know nothing about it yet," the doctor replied, seriously. +"Reflect, investigate, contemplate the _corpus juris_ in every possible +light, and depend upon it you will attain that ideal standpoint which +is what you desire, and which will give you all the interest you lack +in the study of equity. The struggle will strengthen your mental +muscles." + +"At present, however, any old skull or bone interests me more than the +most complicated legal process," said Walter. + +The doctor leaned back in his arm-chair, and puffed forth clouds of +smoke. + +"Well, go on," he said, when Walter paused. + +The young man looked at him surprised. His friend smiled. "Apparently +you come to-day not to discuss this matter, but to bewail it," he said. +"For many people this is a positive necessity when they find themselves +face to face with irritating circumstances. So go on, my dear fellow, I +entreat." + +Walter arose and paced the room hastily to and fro. "If I did not know +you better I should take my leave of you this instant, convinced that +you were the most unsympathetic man in the world," he said; "but I am +sure that, in spite of your ridicule, you thoroughly understand what I +feel, and only mask with sarcasm your compassion for me." + +"And I am sure that, in spite of your groans and plaints, you will +apply yourself to your new task like a man of courage," cried the +doctor. "There is genuine content and satisfaction to be found in the +conscientious performance of duty, however irksome that duty may be. +You have excellent powers of mind, and I know you will use them well." + +Walter paused in front of his friend, and offered him his hand. + +"I will try," he said. "You are right. 'Things without all remedy +should be without regard.' So there's an end of my groaning." + +"When do you leave town?" asked the doctor. + +"To-morrow, or the day after," was the reply. "There is not much time +left before the long vacation, and my father wishes me to spend that in +travelling." + +"You will like that, at all events." + +"Yes, that will be pleasant enough." + +"I believe you. At your age it would have been the realization of my +most cherished hopes." + +"Have you never travelled?" + +"I spent a couple of years in Paris." + +"Oh, yes, studying your profession; but you would have liked entire +freedom, and to wander where the paths were not quite so well worn, if +I am not mistaken in you." + +The doctor laughed again. "He first bewails his own fate, and now is +bewailing mine," he exclaimed. "My dear Eichhof, you are in a deucedly +morbid, sentimental mood to-day, and farewells are scarcely propitious +to the cure of such maladies. If you are really going away to-morrow, +come and say good-by to my father and mother, and afterwards I will +walk home with you." + +They repaired to Herr Nordstedt's study in the main portion of the +house. + +"Ah, Herr von Eichhof," said the old man, as Walter entered. "Glad to +see you once more before you go to the university. Well, what cheer? Is +all right between you and your father? Has the Baron consented?" + +His son in a few words made him acquainted with the state of the case. + +"Well, well," said the father, running his fingers through his thick +hair, only faintly streaked with gray, as was his wont when anything +went "against the grain" with him, as he expressed it,--"well, well, it +will all come right in the end, and you will reconcile yourself to the +law, as I did to carpentering. You see, Herr von Eichhof, I believed I +was more of an artist than an artisan, and I was wild to take up the +brush instead of the chisel and plane. I longed to study, but that +would have cost money. I turned to the plane instead, and, thank God, +all came right in the end." + +"And you never could have married me, Nikolas," said Frau Nordstedt, +who had entered the room meanwhile, "if you had been a learned man. For +I have heard my blessed father say a hundred times that like should +mate with like, and that a master-carpenter's daughter should marry +some one skilled in her father's trade." + +"So, you see, my carpentering brought me happiness," said old +Nordstedt. "Nevertheless, now that my days are all holidays, I look +back with indulgence upon my youthful dreams. And since my wife and I +took our Italian journey together, she has nothing but respect and +admiration for art." + +"As if I ever had anything else for what you delighted in," his wife +said, parenthetically. + +"Take care," the old man rejoined, holding up a warning finger. "But +no, Therese, I must admit that you are and always were the most +sensible of women." + +"We women always are sensible," she said; "and, since you acknowledge +the fact so frankly, you shall have some punch brewed by my own hands +in which to drink success to Herr von Eichhof." + +She left the room on hospitable thoughts intent; the doctor pushed +forward the large, leather-covered arm-chair in which Walter had so +often sat, and the young man took his place between the father and son +and discussed the past, present, and future. The old man related many +an episode from his past life, which had been full of trials and +struggles, which he recounted as a soldier recounts the victories he +has won, lingering upon the incidents of many a well-fought field. And +the punch having been brought in and placed upon the table by a stout +maid-servant, Frau Nordstedt filled the glasses of the three men, and +in snowy cap and apron seated herself with her knitting at her +husband's elbow, nodding now and then with a smile as he spoke of early +days in their life together, her kind old eyes beaming with placid +content and pride in her 'boy' and his father. + +"It is strange, and no less true than strange, Herr von Eichhof," said +the latter, "that life is made up so largely of mistakes and errors. +And it is an impregnable fact that content is the result of the +performance of one's duty, and that no man need look for anything +beyond genuine content." + +"You are right, Herr Nordstedt," Walter said, eagerly, and the doctor +nodded a silent assent. + +"To a faithful discharge of duty, then, and a successful career at the +university," exclaimed the old man, as he raised his glass filled with +the steaming mixture. The others touched it with their own and +exchanged a silent pressure of hands. + +Shortly afterwards Walter took his leave, carrying with him the +farewell blessings of both the old people. + +"How often I shall think of our pleasant evenings here!" he said to the +doctor as they crossed the street together. The doctor muttered a few +low words in reply, and strode on as if he were in a great hurry. +Walter knew him well, and that he always grew monosyllabic when +agitated by any emotion. Thus they reached Walter's lodgings in +silence. + +"And now good-by," the doctor said, grasping the young man's hand; "I +know how I shall miss you, so I will cut short all leave-taking." + +His voice was deep and low, as though he feared to betray how much he +felt his friend's departure. Then he turned hastily away, and walked +down the street with a rapid stride. Just as he reached his own door a +dark figure emerged from the shadow where it had apparently been +crouching, and said, timidly, "Ah, Herr Doctor." + +"Is that you, Marianne?" he said, with a hasty glance at the woman. +"What do you want? Is anything going wrong?" + +"Ah, Herr Doctor, very, very wrong, I am afraid," she sighed. "He is +out again, and indeed it would be better he should not come home, for +he earned a trifle to-day, and he is spending it in drink, I suppose. +If he should come home in one of his raging moods the lady will +die----" + +"Is she worse?" the doctor asked, hastily. + +"Ah, good heavens! I don't know, but she talks so strange-like that I +begged Christine, who lives just over me, to sit by her for a moment, +and I ran all the way here to beg you to come to her if you can. She +talked about you, and then prayed, and called herself wicked and +ungrateful; it's hard to hear her talk so, when I know how good and +gentle and unhappy she is, and how thankful she is for everything that +is done for her. I thought to myself that the Herr Doctor would know +just what to do, when you are so good as to pay my rent to the landlord +to let me nurse the poor lady, and I came directly to you; and when +they told me you were not at home I waited here until you should come, +for---- But here we are already; indeed, doctor, you can run faster +than I can." + +Whilst Marianne had talked on they had reached the house where was +lodged the patient whom the doctor had been called to visit at this +late hour. + +"Only wait one instant, Herr Doctor, till I light a candle," Marianne +called out, when they had entered the passage-way. But before her match +was lighted the doctor had groped his way up the narrow staircase and +stood at the door of the sick-room. + +The woman hastened after him, and both entered a low room but feebly +illuminated by the light of a tallow candle. + +A young girl, from her dress one of the working class, arose from the +bedside where she had been sitting and came towards them. + +"How is she, Christine?" the doctor asked, under his breath. + +"She is sleeping," was the whispered reply. + +Nordstedt went to the bed, upon which lay a young woman, her face +turned to the wall, while her abundant fair hair hung down from the +pillows in two thick braids. Her little emaciated hand, upon the third +finger of which glistened a broad golden ring, lay upon the coverlet, +now and then twitching nervously in its owner's feverish sleep. + +The doctor noiselessly took his seat by the bedside, and his eyes grew +dim with moisture as they glanced from the fair braids to the small +hand, and then to the bare, smoky walls of the room. Some minutes +passed in profound silence. Christine had left the place; Marianne sat +by the stove, her hands folded in her lap, looking anxiously towards +the bed where the sleeper was breathing painfully. The doctor leaned +over her, and smoothed her pillows with the tender skill of a father +watching beside the sick-bed of his child. Suddenly the invalid sat up +in bed and gazed at him from large blue eyes that gleamed with +unnatural brilliancy in the poor little face, deadly pale but for the +hectic flush of fever. "I cannot help it, Robert; don't be angry with +me!" she cried, clasping her hands in entreaty. + +The doctor laid his own cool, strong hand upon them. "Robert is not +here," he said; "be quiet and calm." + +She gazed at him, the eager, distressed expression fading from her +eyes, her face growing more natural and placid. "Oh, it is you!" she +said, with a sigh of relief, sinking back upon her pillows. "I have had +such a terrible dream! How kind of you to come to me when it is so +late!" she added, softly. "How can I ever thank you!" + +"Hush, hush, child! you must not talk so much, and there is no occasion +for any gratitude. It is a doctor's duty to look after his patients." + +She gazed at him with an intensity of fervour in her gleaming eyes. "I +shall not give you much more trouble," she said; "but I have something +to say to you," she added, entreatingly; "tell Marianne to go out of +the room." + +The doctor motioned to the woman, who left the room, and then turned to +the invalid, saying, "But I cannot let you talk much; you must say only +a very few words." + +A sad, weary smile passed over her face. "Nothing now can either harm +or help me. You know as well as I do that I shall soon be at rest." + +The doctor would have interrupted her, but she begged him by a look to +let her speak, and he mutely inclined his head. + +"I know that the end is near, and I am so glad of it," she said, +softly; "but before it comes I want so much to thank you,--thank you +from my very heart, and to beg you to think of me kindly when I am no +longer here. Tell me that you have forgiven me. Although you have shown +me your forgiveness in a hundred ways, I long to hear your lips utter +it." + +"Hedwig," he murmured, and his lips quivered; for a moment the strong +man was unable to utter a word. + +"Have you quite forgiven me?" she asked again, looking eagerly up at +him. + +"Utterly and entirely," he replied, controlling his emotion. + +"Ah, how happy you make me! My suffering has atoned for my sin against +you. Ah, how I thank you,--I thank you!" She paused suddenly and put +her handkerchief to her lips. + +The doctor sprang up and called aloud to Marianne, as he raised the +invalid's head from the pillows and supported her in his arms. + +She opened her eyes and gazed into his. "Friedrich," she whispered. But +a crimson stream choked the words she would have spoken. A spasm passed +through her frame; she threw back her head. All was over. The doctor +gently laid her back upon the pillows, and, kneeling beside her, +pressed his lips upon the cold little hand that lay motionless on the +coverlet. + +Marianne was not in the next room; she did not appear in answer to the +doctor's call, and her presence was not needed. + +A moment afterwards he arose, covered the quiet figure, so that only +the pale, calm face was visible, and then sat down beside the bed, +riveting his gaze upon the marble features as if to call them back to +life,--the life that now informed them in his mind's eye. Yes, she +stood vividly before him, a little fair-haired girl, the daughter of a +neighbouring tradesman, his playfellow through many childish years. And +then she was again the blushing, still childlike girl, who replied to +his passionate wooing by a low 'yes,' breathed almost inaudibly as she +hid her face on his breast. Then came a change in the picture. The +petty tradesman, her father, embarked in a lucky speculation and +suddenly achieved wealth. And the girl was clad in costly silks and +velvets, and lived in a showy villa surrounded by luxurious gardens,--a +fit home for a parvenu millionaire, where the daughter, but lately so +shrinking and modest, suddenly learned to talk and laugh loudly and to +bandy pert jests with the young fortune-hunters that thronged about +her. She grew to delight in their homage, and would have missed it had +it been withdrawn. She never was haughty or arrogant towards the friend +of her youth, but she began to suppress a yawn when he spoke of his +love. She had just begun to live, she said, and wished to enjoy for a +while. They had deferred any public announcement of their mutual +affection until Nordstedt should have passed the coming examinations, +and he left her to her new-found enjoyment, coming but seldom to visit +her. The day before he was to go up for examination he went to her +house, and was told that she had been betrothed the week before, and +was paying some visits of ceremony. He turned away, and a few steps +from the house passed her carriage returning home. He saw her smile, +saw the handsome faded face of her lover, and the satisfaction in her +father's air. He was proud of the wealthy son-in-law, who had, +moreover, lately become his partner. Nordstedt hurried along the street +where he had so often walked with his head and heart filled with dreams +of future happiness, and from that day her name never passed his lips. +Thenceforth he belonged only to his books and his patients. The years +went by. He knew that her father had become bankrupt, and that her +husband had suffered some losses in consequence. But he did not know +how soon the remainder of his property had been lost or squandered. +Without either the capacity or the desire to exert himself, the man had +sunk into depths of abject poverty, until at last his wretched wife was +discovered by chance by the lover of her youth in a garret room, the +victim of a mortal disease. He did not now dwell upon the care that he +had from that moment lavished upon the first, the only woman whom he +had ever loved; pictures of a distant past floated too vividly before +him, and the quiet face on the pillow was to him as a last greeting +from his youth, the faint, fading shadow of what once had been. Youth +and love, how far away and unattainable they were now! Lost, gone +forever. He bade a long farewell to that pale face and to all of which +it spoke to him. + +At last he arose, and, walking slowly and like one in a dream, left the +room, and, calling Marianne, gave her directions as to the decent +burial of his lost love. And as the street door closed behind him and +the black night received him, the strong man shivered. "She is dead, +and Walter is gone," he muttered to himself. "It is my lot to be a +lonely man." + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + UNEXPECTED. + + +Summer had gone, and autumn was tinging forest and field with crimson +and gold. + +The Freiherr von Hohenstein was driving in a little open vehicle +through his forest,--that is, over that part of his estate which a few +years previously had been covered with fine old trees, but where now +some labourers were removing a few stumps, while at intervals a +solitary giant of the woods seemed to tell of his brothers, certain of +whom were now sailing the seas, while others upheld the roofs of city +dwellings. + +The Freiherr von Hohenstein looked gloomily about him upon the desert +plain, dotted here and there with small spots of future forest in the +shape of low scraggy shrubs, and found as much food for vexation in the +quick disappearance of the former forest as in the slow growth of the +young trees. He was powerless, however, to alter either of these +annoying facts, and he sighed heavily as his thoughts wandered oddly +enough, and yet by a strictly logical train of ideas, from the +forest-trees to his son Hugo, who had not indeed any personal +connection with ship-builders and carpenters, but who could have told a +great deal about the money paid by them for the trees. + +"The deuce knows how it is all to end!" the Freiherr growled to +himself. "Every year living is dearer and the income smaller; +everything to be bought goes up in price, everything to be sold comes +down. It is enough to drive me mad!" + +Such had now for some time been the usual conclusion of the Freiherr's +reflections, and after these deep-drawn sighs he was wont to fall into +a still gloomier revery, in which he arrived at no single clear idea +except that fate was using him with singular injustice in so +complicating his financial affairs from year to year. + +"Was he extravagant in any direction? No, assuredly not! It is true, he +bred racers, and in order to do so was obliged to employ certain people +who required high wages; but it was his only pleasure, and could not be +altered. His domestic affairs were conducted upon a very liberal scale; +but, as the neighbour and friend of the Eichhofs, it was his duty not +to allow any difference to be observed between the Baron's style of +living and his own; he surely owed this to his rank and station in +life. His son required enormous sums; but the Freiherr had but two +children, and his daughter cost him almost nothing. And it was natural +that Hugo should enjoy life,--he must represent his name worthily. The +Hohensteins had never been bookworms or arithmeticians, and if the +young fellow sometimes went too far and his father resolved that he +should be 'brought to book' the very next time, still his debts must be +paid; the boy could not be dishonoured. All these expenses were really +matters of course; they would not have troubled the Freiherr in the +least except for this unaccountable yearly deficit in his income. + +"I suppose the bad harvest years are at the bottom of the mischief," +the Freiherr thought, and consoled himself with the reflection that the +good years must come, and that then the 'unavoidable expenses' would be +met, and the 'inconceivable deficits' be made up. He had of late +positively loathed the books of the estate, and had in consequence +rather neglected them. Now he remembered that the time was at hand for +the first instalment to be paid of a loan he had had of Count Eichhof, +and that he could not possibly pay it. He looked up from his gloomy +contemplation of the soil which had once been forest-land, and which +was to be forest-land again in the future, and drove over to Eichhof to +discuss matters with the Count. But he did not find him at home. "The +Herr Count is hunting to-day," the footman informed the visitor. The +Freiherr decided to await the Count's return. He could not be long +away, for twilight was close at hand. He asked for the Countess, was +most graciously received by her, and inquired after the welfare of her +sons. When the Countess talked of her sons she adopted a manner and +bearing which plainly indicated that, although the young men might very +possibly conduct themselves pretty much after the fashion of other +young people of their age and rank in society, still they were +unquestionably very remarkable men, as she and indeed many others well +knew. Bernhard was at present, after the usual wedding-tour among the +Alps, installed in his vine-wreathed villa in one of the Thiergarten +streets. + +"He writes seldom," said the Countess, "and seems to spend much of his +time at home. I could have wished that they had continued to travel +until the _saison morte_ was over in Berlin; for, although he is +extremely happy with his little wife, a man of his force and intellect +needs social excitement." + +"Oh, your daughter-in-law is so charming that her husband's distaste +for general society is easily understood," the Freiherr observed. + +"She is a good child," said the Countess. + +A more attentive listener than the Freiherr could possibly be at this +time would have plainly heard in the Countess's intonation as she +uttered the words 'good child' the unspoken thought, "but much too +insignificant for my Bernhard." The Freiherr, however, was only +listening to catch the first sound of the hoofs of the horses that were +bringing home the hunting-party, and just as the Countess was preparing +to tell him of the charming letter she had just received from her +cousin the ambassador, with whom she had begun a correspondence "solely +upon Walter's account," the wished-for cadence struck upon his ear. + +"I think your husband has returned," he said, "Allow me to go and meet +him." + +"I don't think it is my husband," was the reply. "His voice usually +makes itself unmistakably heard upon his return from hunting. But pray +inform yourself about it, my dear Baron." + +The Freiherr left the room, although there was still no sound of the +Count's voice. The Countess sat gazing towards the western sky, where +the last gleams of the dying day faintly lingered, and began to wonder +why the servant had not brought in the lamp, and why the house was so +silent, since, as the Freiherr did not return, her husband must surely +be at home. + +The room grew darker and darker, and silence still prevailed. This +quiet was positively oppressive. The Countess arose, passed through the +antechamber, and opened the door leading out to the landing of the +grand staircase. No light was burning here either, but from below came +a dull gleam, and the smothered sounds of hurried words and whispers. + +"What is the matter? Why are the lamps not lighted?" the Countess +asked, standing at the head of the stairs. The Freiherr, who stood at +their foot with a candle in his hand, looked up at her with a face so +pale and horror-stricken that a cold shudder ran through her as she +repeated her question, "What is the matter? For God's sake tell me what +has happened!" + +"Be calm," said the Baron, who stood beside her in an instant, while +his voice trembled as perceptibly as did the candle in his hand. "Be +calm, I entreat you, dearest madame; your husband has met with an +accident." + +The Countess grew pale to the very lips. "Oh, God!" she shrieked; +"where is he? where is he?" And she would have rushed down the +staircase, but the Freiherr detained her. "He is not yet here,--he is +coming. One of his huntsmen brought us the news." + +"He is coming?" she cried; "he is only wounded,--he must be only +wounded?" + +"He is seriously injured, very seriously," said the Freiherr. "I fear +we must be prepared for everything,--even for the worst!" + +The Countess stared at him with eyes wide with horror; her lips +twitched convulsively, as though unable to utter the terrible word +written so plainly in the Freiherr's face,--uttered so distinctly in +this fearful silence, which was interrupted only by the sounds of +suppressed sobs from the group of servants in the hall below. + +Suddenly she threw up her arms. "Dead!" she shrieked, "dead!" + +The word was spoken, and she fell back senseless into the Baron's arms. + +At that moment a vehicle drew up in the castle court-yard, and the +Count, surrounded by his huntsmen, and a few others whom the accident +had called together, was slowly carried up the terrace steps. They bore +him into the castle through the same portal which he had left lusty and +joyous only a few hours before, never to behold it again. + +With drooping tail, and now and then uttering a melancholy whine, his +favourite hound followed his master's body; he had long been the +faithful companion of his sport. And in the wagon that had brought his +master home dead lay the gun, which all shunned to touch, for it had +caused all this woe, by its accidental discharge as the Count was +leaping a ditch in the ardour of the chase. + +A few hours later, mounted horsemen rode out into the night, and +telegraphs and letters spread the news of the Count's sudden death far +and wide. + +In the big drawing-room heavy silver candelabra, with their myriad +candles, are burning at the head of the couch where Count Eichhof is +lying sunk in his last sleep. His head is turned slightly to one side, +so as entirely to conceal the fatal wound in the right temple, and the +smile that the excitement of the hunt had called to his face still +lingers there. + +"Can this be? Is it really true?" murmurs the Countess, seated in an +arm-chair beside the couch, and gazing fixedly with dry eyes at the +smiling face; while the old servant, kneeling at the dead man's feet, +slowly shakes his white head. He cannot believe it, it is so unlike his +master to die; it must all be an evil dream. But below-stairs all are +fully convinced of its reality. The huntsman in the kitchen is telling +circumstantially, for the twelfth time, the whole terrible story,--how +the Count jumped across the ditch and the gun went off. Nor does he +forget to mention the black rabbit that crossed their path when the +chase had just begun, or his own frightful dream of the previous night, +which had caused him to say to his wife when he left her, "Look out for +some accident to-day!" And the cook listens with the same shudder that +he felt the first time the story was told, only it passes off rather +more quickly, and he is able to find consolation not only in the +tankard to which he has frequent recourse, but also in the thought that +he stands very well "with the young master" and will in all probability +retain his position. At last the huntsman goes home, the kitchen is +gradually deserted, and the lights are extinguished, leaving the castle +in darkness, save for the broad glare out into the night from the +windows of the big drawing-room, where he who was the castle's lord now +lies at rest. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + AT THE TOMB. + + +The Count's three sons hurried to Eichhof immediately upon the receipt +of the sad news, and the obsequies were performed with all the gloomy +pomp demanded by the occasion and by the rank of the deceased. The +sarcophagus, in accordance with a traditionary custom of the family, +was placed before the altar in the Eichhof monumental chapel, where it +was to remain three years before it should be finally consigned to the +tomb. The road to the chapel was still strewn with cut hemlock boughs, +when Walter Eichhof slowly walked along it some days after the funeral +ceremonies, while Bernhard and Lothar were busied over the affairs of +the estate and the settlement of the Count's testamentary dispositions. + +Although the dead man had annihilated all Walter's plans for the +future, he had always been to him a tender and loving father, whose +merry voice and resounding tread he seemed still to hear everywhere in +Eichhof, so indissolubly were they connected in his mind with his home. +And now that voice and that tread had died away forever! Walter +wandered restlessly through the well-known rooms of the castle, +lingering in those where he had been with his father during the last +few months, pacing to and fro on the terrace where he had talked with +him about his future, when the Count in his sanguine way had spoken of +his expectation of living to an advanced age and of providing +handsomely for all his children. Where now were all his plans, and what +was Walter's future to be? He knew that there would be no means to +further him in that diplomatic career which might perhaps have +reconciled him to the study of the law, and the prospect of passing his +youth as the legal authority of some petty town seemed as insupportable +as was any idea at present of transgressing the injunctions of the +dead. + +The Count's "I will not have it!" still rang in the son's ears. Oh, if +his father were only here now, that he might appeal to him once more! +An idle wish. That "I will not have it!" had been spoken, and Walter +bowed to the decision of him whose untimely departure would greatly +change his home for him, as he well knew. He was not upon intimate +terms with Bernhard; their training and education had differed so +widely. He had never appealed to him for aid as Lothar had been in the +habit of doing. And he had paid but little regard to his brother's +claims as the future head of the family. So long as their father lived, +he had felt himself upon an entire equality with his brothers. They +were all 'sons of the house.' Now he was the younger brother of the +heir who had entered into possession. He had no rights to assert, and +only his brother's kindness could justify him in regarding the castle +as a home in the future. And this very feeling of dependence which +united Lothar with his brother estranged Walter from him. He was more +reserved with Bernhard than before, partly perhaps because he thought +he observed that Lothar, and even his mother, treated him with a degree +of deference. It wounded him deeply to hear his mother lament not only +her loss, but her changed circumstances. To his irritated sensibility +it seemed as if the settlement of the estate thrust grief for the +departed into the background, and as though life had put forward so +many claims that but small time could be spared in which to pay due +tribute to death. All this distressed him, and hence he often strolled +away to the quiet chapel, where nothing offended his filial affection +or disturbed his memories of his dead father. + +No one out of the family, except the sexton, who lived close by, +owned a key to the building; and therefore Walter was surprised to find +the door unlocked and ajar. He looked in. The light through the +stained-glass window fell full upon a female figure, dressed in black, +kneeling beside the sarcophagus, and engaged in hanging about it +wreaths of ferns and autumnal leaves. Walter entered softly. The +kneeling figure was so occupied with her pious task that she did not +observe him until he stood close beside her. Then she looked up. + +"Adela!" Walter exclaimed, in surprise. "You here? I never expected to +find you here." + +"And why not?" she asked, a gleam of defiance in her eyes, which +nevertheless showed traces of recent tears. "Did I not love your father +dearly?" she continued, with a perceptible tremor in her voice, "and do +I not know how dearly he loved the woods?--and--and--there were only +flowers from the garden and greenhouse laid upon his coffin." + +Walter was silent for a moment, looking down at the forest wreaths that +Adela had brought. Then he took her hand in his. "You are right," he +said, gently. "Your heart is true and kind, after all." + +Instead of replying, the girl turned from him, and, hurrying out of the +chapel, sank down upon the steps, covered her face with her hands, and +burst into a passion of sobs. + +Walter followed her, startled, and yet touched, by this outbreak of +grief. + +"I thank you for these tears, Adela," he said, Beating himself on the +step beside her. "You loved him, and can understand what we have all +lost." + +"Oh, I know there is no one left like him, so good and kind!" the girl +sobbed. "And he loved me, too, and was always tender to me. I can never +forget it, for no one else cares for me!" + +"Adela!" Walter exclaimed, interrupting her. + +She dried her eyes, and looked up at him. "Yes," she went on, "no +one gives me credit for anything good; no one really cares for +me; but he--he said, only a few days ago,--the last time he came +to us,--'Little Adelaide,'--oh, no one will ever call me that +again!--'Little Adelaide, some day you will----' But why should I +repeat it, and to you, who are surprised that I have a warm, kind +heart? Oh, I am so unhappy!" + +In spite of her naive egotism in the expression of her grief, Walter +felt that she was really deeply moved, and the unaccustomed spectacle +of one who was always laughing, always gay, giving way to such a +heart-breaking burst of tears, touched him profoundly. + +"Adela, dear Adela, I pray you be calm," he entreated. "How can you say +that no one cares for you,--you who have a father, and so many others +who love you?" + +"Don't speak of them," she interrupted him, angrily. "You do not +understand. Papa lets me do as I please because he cannot help it, and, +besides, he thinks of nothing but his business affairs and of Hugo. He +cares about that for me," and the girl snapped her fingers. "My +governess is going back to her home, and is immensely delighted to be +rid of me. Frau von Rosen is angry with me, and will not let Alma come +to see me, because I persuaded her the other day to disguise herself +with me in two new liveries that had just come home, and to drive into +town, where nobody recognized us, and where all that we did was to eat +a couple of queen-cakes at the confectioner's. And all because of that +perfectly innocent frolic I am thought unfeminine and odious, and I +must lose my best friend. And now you come, and give me to understand +that you think me heartless; and your dear, good, splendid father is +dead, and will never speak kindly to me again. I am alone,--all alone!" + +Walter took her hand again; he knew that she was indeed alone if the +Rosens had forsaken her, and he was so grieved for her that he almost +forgot his purpose in coming hither. + +"And it hurts me more than all," Adela went on in an agitated way, +"that you, who have been my good comrade ever since we were little +children, should think all manner of ill of me, and should treat me so +coldly as you did the day of the funeral. Then I thought it was because +of your grief, but now I know that it was something else. No, no, do +not contradict me. I know you were surprised to find me here, and to +see my wreaths, because you thought me too frivolous and childish, and +heaven knows what beside, to think of what your dear dead father loved +best. Can you deny it?" + +"No, Adela, I will not deny that I was surprised," Walter frankly +confessed; "but I cannot tell you how happy I am to find I was wrong." + +"Why did you think so of me?" + +"Because, Adela, you have lately seemed 'so' to me. We were always good +friends until a few months ago, and then you suddenly changed your +manner to me. When we rode together you talked only of new dresses, of +the officers from the neighbouring garrison, of your plans and +prospects for the winter, which you hoped to pass in Berlin, and of +heaven knows what nonsense besides. If I tried to talk of something +else, you yawned, and I felt that we no longer were in sympathy with +each other. And when I called upon you in Kissingen in the summer, as I +was passing through the town, instead of my old playmate I found a +fashionable little lady flirting with a couple of affected fops and +quite ready to make game of her old 'comrade.'" + +"That is not true!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Oh, yes, it is," said Walter, who had quite talked himself into a +heat; "remember the day we made a party on the mountain, and you gave +your shawl to Herr von somebody, and your parasol to that other fellow +to carry, and when I asked whether you had nothing for me, you +answered, although you must have seen that I was not in jest, 'Oh, yes: +my caprices; you may have those; the youngest always ought to carry the +heaviest burden.' And then you ran on laughing with the others, and we +never spoke another word to each other the whole day long. Do you +remember?" + +"Yes; but I did not mean anything." + +"Nevertheless you were ready enough to laugh with the others at your +'comrade's' discomfiture; and that laugh broke the bond between us. +From that moment you were no more to me than a strange young lady; and +that I forget this and tell you all that I am saying now, is due to the +sight of those wreaths and of your tears." + +"And when the wreaths are withered and the tears are dried, must we be +strangers again?" Adela whispered softly, with a questioning glance. + +"Would you have it otherwise?" he asked. + +She was silent, her looks bent on the ground. He, too, looked away from +her beyond the crosses and marbles of the church-yard, where the autumn +asters were blooming and a few belated white butterflies were +fluttering. All was so quiet around them, except for the low rustling +amid the old oaks on the other side of the church-yard, and a soft +twitter from a little bird perched on the roof of the chapel, who +hushed his note suddenly, as though silenced by the influence of the +spot. + +Walter's gentle mood had changed. He was irritated by the provoking +silence of this girl, who had no kind reply for him, and he was +wellnigh ashamed of having made an attempt to renew the youthful +friendship the loss of which had given him more pain than he liked to +acknowledge even to himself. + +He arose and touched his hat. + +"Farewell, Fraeulein Adela," he said, and turned to go. + +Then she looked up, and all the former bravado had vanished from her +eyes. "Walter!" she said, and at the sound of her voice he stopped +involuntarily. "Walter, do not go; stay for one moment and listen to +me." + +"I thought you wished me to go," he said. + +She shook her head emphatically. "Do not tease me, Walter," she said, +imploringly. "You see, it is not so easy to confess that one has been +in the wrong. I know I was wrong, and that I am really very vain and +often behaved very foolishly to you. You were quite right to be +displeased, and I am glad to know that you were so, but for all that +you need not be so very angry with me. You see, I know what a foolish +girl I am; and indeed I don't care in the least what people in general +think of me, but it cuts me to the heart when I see that you take my +nonsense seriously and believe me heartless." + +"Walter sat down again beside her on the step. + +"I never thought you 'heartless,' Adela," he cried, interrupting her; +"only superficial and----" + +"But that's just the same thing!" she exclaimed; "and I cannot change +your opinion of me all in a moment. Perhaps you are partly right; but +one thing I can and will promise you, and that is, that I will always +in future be honest and frank with you, and never again play such +idiotic pranks as on that day at Kissingen. I will not pretend to be +better than I am, and neither will I pretend to be worse than I am, and +you shall always have the right to lecture me and tell me what you +think of me. In return you must promise always to be my friend. If ever +I vex you again, tell me so, and scold me, but do not instantly run +away from me as though I were too contemptible a thing to turn back and +look at. Will you promise me this?" + +She looked up at him with eager anxiety, though with a childlike +confidence, and held out her hand, which he grasped cordially. + +"Yes, Adela," he said, "I will be a true and faithful friend to you. I +cannot tell you how glad I am to find my dear little playfellow once +more. I know now that she may sometimes hide herself, but she will not +vanish utterly. Be sure I shall remember this." + +Adela gave him so sunny a smile that he smiled too, and then, passing +quickly to other things, she asked after his mother and his brothers. + +"You are alone too, Walter," she said. "You are very unlike your +brothers, and your mother cannot be much to you. She sees you more in +the future than in the present." + +"Why, Adela!" said Walter, almost startled, "what puts such ideas into +your head?" + +"I keep my eyes open," she said, and then grew suddenly very grave. "I +only mean that your father is a terrible loss to you, and that Eichhof +will be much changed. Thea will come, and I am glad of it, although she +is something of a prig, like all the Rosens. I love her dearly for all +that, and she will be a good sister to you." + +Walter gazed sadly before him. + +"Come," said Adela, laying her hand upon his arm, "do not look so +troubled; you know I am just like a sister too." + +He pressed her hand; they rose, and she noticed that his eyes sought +the door of the chapel. + +"Shall we not go in again together?" she asked, gently, and they +ascended the steps and entered the building. Adela knelt down beside +the sarcophagus, and hid her face for some time upon the wreaths that +she had placed there. Walter looked down at her, and it seemed to him +that they were in the presence of his father, who smiled upon them. + +When Adela rose from her knees she looked him gravely and earnestly in +the face, and then left the chapel with him in silence. They went out +into the calm autumn evening; the skies were naming with crimson and +gold, for the sun was just sinking behind the line of forest that +bounded the horizon, and the bell in the little village church began to +ring for vespers. + +"How solemn!" said Adela, pausing before the chapel. Suddenly she +turned to Walter again: "From this moment we are friends for life, are +we not?" + +"Yes, Adela; at least I promise to be your friend for life," he +replied. + +She took from her finger a ring set with a sapphire. "Take this ring in +remembrance of today," she said. "It was my mother's, and I have always +worn it, first on my chain and then on my finger. Take it." + +"But, Adela," Walter said, delighted, and yet hesitating to accept so +strange a gift, "will it not be missed from your finger?" + +"Who is there to miss it? No one cares enough for me to notice whether +I wear it or not," she said, with some bitterness. + +He took the ring, and as he did so detained her hand in his for some +moments, as they walked down the steps and across the church-yard. + +"I thank you, Adela; the ring will be most precious indeed to me," he +said, in a low, earnest voice. "But I do not need it to make me +remember this evening." + +She smiled, and at the gate of the church-yard they took leave of each +other. The chapel lay about half-way between Rollin and Eichhof, so +that each could reach home before dark. + +Adela felt very happy this evening, and, as there was no one to whom +she could speak of her happiness, she carried a basket of sugar into +the stable and fed her various black and brown pets. + +"Some living creatures shall be happy with me, at all events," she +said, stroking the necks of the horses as they took their sugar from +her hand. + +No one shared Walter's happiness. Indeed, he was not clear as to +whether the emotion that filled his heart at the thought of Adela was +precisely happiness. But he thought much of her all through the +evening, and was even more quiet and dreamy in his mood than usual. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + CLOUDY WEATHER AT EICHHOF. + + +Several months had passed since Count Eichhof's death. The Countess had +withdrawn to her dower-house, about half a league distant, whence, +however, she drove over at least once every week to complain of the +miserable condition of her present abode. She witnessed, with a +resignation made apparent amid many sighs and tears, the alterations +effected by her son and her daughter-in-law in Eichhof. She found it +perfectly right and proper that Bernhard should be master there, but +that Thea--"that insignificant little girl," as she called her--should +have usurped the position so lately her own, was more than she could +understand or endure. + +It required all Thea's gentleness and amiability to enable her to +endure her mother-in-law's visits, and her task was made none the +easier by Bernhard's passing almost the entire day out-of-doors. The +Freiherr von Hohenstein, who had found the son quite as accommodating a +creditor as the father had been before him, said that Bernhard was +"launching out tremendously," which was his way of designating the +restless energy with which Bernhard had entered upon the duties of his +new position. + +It was not in vain that the young man had so often heard from his +mother that his position would be one of unusual distinction, and that +he himself was endowed with extraordinary powers of mind. He was +convinced that much, very much, was due from him to himself and to his +position, and his head was so crammed with ideas of the reform that was +to be effected in the management of his estate, that he could not waste +an instant before beginning to carry them out in action. His father had +employed clever agents, and had left all the farming to their care, +prudently aware that he was quite ignorant of rural economy; but +Bernhard was determined to see to everything himself, to have every +operation conducted under his own eye. An unfavourable crisis in the +business world had greatly depreciated the iron-works on the Eichhof +estate. Bernhard determined to indemnify himself for the loss of income +in this direction, and to this end established various extensive +factories. Eichhof was to be a model estate in every respect. + +It must be confessed that results by no means kept pace with his +purposes, and his orders, issued as they were with autocratic decision, +produced terrible confusion when, as frequently happened, they were +hostile not only to traditional customs, but to especial existing +arrangements. His bailiffs would gravely shake their heads at the young +Count's excessive though praiseworthy energy, and slight differences +would arise, which were, however, speedily adjusted by his personal +amiability and the rare kindliness of his manner towards his inferiors. + +Owing to his personal qualities, and to the influence of his old +superintendent, whose faithful attachment to the Eichhof family knew no +bounds, Bernhard suffered no losses of any significance, and was saved +from the disastrous results that might have ensued from his ignorant +interference in all sorts of affairs connected with the estate. + +"He is hardly more than a boy, but he'll come all right," the old +superintendent would declare. "Others lose their money at cards or on +the race-course, we waste some on these 'useless improvements;' but +there's enough left after all, and it will all come right with time. +The Count has not lost his head, but the sudden possession of such an +estate and such an income has confused it a little, that's all. He is +so young." + +Thea sometimes sadly missed her idyllic Thiergarten home, but in her +secret soul she was proud of Bernhard's untiring energy, and thought it +only natural that he should have but little time to devote to her, +since, as she had been educated to think, wealth entailed many duties +upon its possessor. + +What she did regret was that, even when he came home to her, it was +often with a clouded brow. He could not forget even in her presence the +business of the day. She told herself that this was also quite natural; +he must take more interest in these important and weighty matters than +in her small joys and sorrows. Nevertheless, she felt a certain void in +her life, which could not be filled either by her domestic occupations +or by her intercourse with her parents or with Adela Hohenstein. Adela +was friends with Alma again, and had promised to be very quiet and +good; but it is to be feared that she was a sad romp still at heart. +Thea laughed and gossiped with the girls, as she had always done, but +somehow she did not seem really to belong to them any longer. + +Thus the winter passed, and Easter came again. Lothar and Walter both +came to Eichhof at Bernhard's invitation, but the holidays were very +different from those of the previous year. Lothar's debts amounted to +such a sum that Bernhard, who now needed all his money for his +improvements, declared that he would never again pay one penny for his +brother, and would help him now only upon condition that he would have +himself transferred from Berlin to his native province, where the +cavalry regiments were scattered about in small garrisons and there was +not so much opportunity to spend money. Willy-nilly, Lothar was obliged +to agree to this condition, since he was utterly powerless to extricate +himself from his financial embarrassments without his brother's aid, +and was only too grateful to be helped out of a scrape once more. + +"I believe you are the only one who has any real compassion for me," +said Lothar one day to Alma Rosen, with whom he had been left alone in +his sister-in-law's boudoir. "You pity me, do you not?" + +"And so does Thea," Alma replied, a little embarrassed, as she always +was with Lothar; "but then she is glad too, for she thinks that you +will be near us--that is, near Eichhof--in your new garrison." + +"Well, yes, that would be the best thing that could happen to me," he +said, smiling. "And Thea is glad? That's very good of her. You both +have excellent hearts, you and Thea, but your father and mother, you +know, look upon me as a terrible black sheep." + +Alma was silent, and looked out of the window. She could not deny the +truth of his assertion, and she would not have admitted it for the +world. + +Then Lothar, in default of any other occupation or amusement, proceeded +to give Alma a short lecture upon himself. "Pray don't turn your eyes +so resolutely away," he began; "indeed, I am not quite such a black +sheep as I am called; only I cannot, somehow or other, manage my money +affairs. It's contrary to my nature, and nobody ever taught me how to +do it, and yet when I go all wrong every one is vastly surprised. Now, +my dear Alma, is not that perfectly unjust? There's no denying that +money in itself is a very low, vulgar thing, and consequently only +common men can manage it properly. I like beautiful things, and never +want to ask their cost. I enjoy, and I like to share my enjoyment with +others, without pausing to consider its price. I bask in the sunshine +and consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, who +never count the cost and yet continue to live. Suddenly a black cloud +thrusts itself between me and the sun, and a perfect hail-storm of +unpaid bills comes pelting down upon me, while all my dear friends and +neighbours join in a chorus of 'You are not worthy to enjoy the +sunshine, for you never remember that twice one are two.' Oh, yes, my +dear Alma, life is very hard, especially when one is so alone in the +world as I am. Yes, if I had a wife as gentle, wise, and lovely as your +sister Thea, something might be made of me after all. I might become a +really respectable member of society." + +It was perhaps quite as well that Thea's entrance interrupted the +conversation at this point; and half an hour later Lothar was making +preparations for his departure, whistling an opera air, and with as +little thought of the pelting storm of unpaid bills which his brother +was sure to convert to sunshine as of Alma's sweet serious face. The +girl meanwhile sat by herself in the bow-windowed room, and would have +fervently prayed heaven to send Lothar a wise and gentle wife like +Thea, if only her heart would not have throbbed so loud and fast in its +protest against any such petition. + +Adela Hohenstein came running in and roused her from her dreams. "Here +you sit lonely and forlorn as an enchanted princess in her tower gazing +drearily from her window in hopes of a glimpse of some princely +deliverer!" she cried, laughing. "Good heavens, how stupid and quiet +Eichhof is, when one compares it with what it was awhile ago!" + +"How can you talk so, Adela? You know they are all in deep mourning; +any entertainments are quite out of the question," said Alma, conscious +that just now she would infinitely prefer her solitude to Adela's +society. + +"Oh, I don't mean that," exclaimed Adela; "but just fancy, I came all +the way up-stairs without meeting a living soul except the servants, +whose faces are so long and solemn since the funeral that it gives one +the horrors to look at them. What in the world has become of the entire +Eichhof family?" + +"Thea is walking in the park with her mother-in-law, Lothar is getting +ready to leave Eichhof, and Walter is having a talk with Bernhard. They +have been closeted together for more than an hour." + +"So Lothar is packing up? Then the bomb-shell has burst, and Bernhard +has turned him out. You need not deny it, my dear, I know all about his +debts; Hugo told papa of them to console him. And what is to be done +now?" + +Alma told all that she knew, but Adela listened with only half an ear. +"What is Walter discussing with Bernhard?" she asked, suddenly. + +"I am sure I cannot tell." + +"Something is going very wrong with Walter," Adela observed; "he is +altogether too solemn. I used to have so much fun with him; but when he +paid us a visit the other day it was like the shock of a shower-bath, +he was so changed. Lothar, who had far more reason for being grave and +solemn, was very merry and amusing, while Walter--but indeed, Alma, you +must have seen yourself how fearfully stupid and tiresome Walter has +grown to be." + +Alma had not noticed Walter's increase of gravity; what she did observe +at this moment was the arrival before the hall door of Lothar's +travelling-carriage. + +She looked anxiously towards the door through which Lothar entered to +take his leave, just as the Countesses Eichhof returned from their +walk. Judging from the countenance of each, their _tete-a-tete_ had not +been of a very edifying nature. Bernhard and Walter also made their +appearance, and were quite in harmony with the rest of the party, for +they looked irritated and discontented. + +"Good-morning to some and good-by to others, in most admired +confusion," said Adela, offering her hand right and left, and +exchanging greetings and farewells, until Lothar's carriage had carried +him away. + +The Countess wiped her eyes with her lace handkerchief, and pitied in +one breath her "dear Lothar, who is such a fine fellow after all," and +her "beloved Bernhard, who has so much worry and vexation on his +brother's account." And finally she clasped Walter in her arms, +declaring that he would never be anything but a blessing and comfort to +every one. Whereupon Bernhard instantly left the room, closing the door +after him with unnecessary violence, whilst Walter looked the picture +of dejection. + +"Ah! all joy has fled from this household," sighed the Countess, with a +reproachful glance towards her daughter-in-law, who was silently +bending over her embroidery-frame. + +"Upon my word," whispered Adela to her friend, who looked quite cast +down by Lothar's sudden departure, "it is too terrible here to-day. If +you do not want me to order round my carriage instantly, ask Walter to +take a walk with us." + +"He does not look as if he wanted to take a walk." + +"No matter; ask him, or I will go immediately." + +Walter made no objection to going, and the three young people left the +bow-windowed room. Thea looked after them with entreaty in her eyes, as +though to detain them, but they paid her no heed, and she turned again +to her work with a resigned face, resolved to endure in silence the +further unavoidable _tete-a-tete_ with her mother-in-law. + +It was not destined, however, to last long on this occasion, for in a +very few minutes Herr von Rosen's light wagon drove up; he had come for +his daughter Alma. Thea hastened to meet him, and brought him in +triumph into the room, which was instantly illumined as by sunlight by +the old man's genial smile, the brightness of which called forth a pale +reflection even on the old Countess's sad face. No human being could +remain unresponsive to Herr von Rosen's cordiality. It was so easy to +see that his kindliness was not the result of conventional habit, but +was due to the genuine warmth of a noble heart, that it cheered and +refreshed every one around him. + +"I knew that I should find you here," he said, turning to the old +Countess, "for I stopped on my way hither at your cottage, and they +told me you were at Eichhof. You have planted new shrubberies around +the house, I see, and the balcony is an immense improvement. The old +house will soon be a charming little retreat." + +"Indeed, did you really think it pretty?" asked the Countess. "Good +heavens, it is so plain and simple!" + +"I think it charming; and if you find it too quiet, why, you always +have Eichhof, you know. I am so glad to think of you so near here, for +my wife is, as you know, too much of an invalid to drive out very +often, and my dear little daughter will often need counsel and aid in +her new sphere of life. She has learned something already, however, for +her manner of receiving her guests at her last small dinner reminded me +a little of old times at Eichhof. I was proud of you, my little Thea, +and I was sincerely grateful to you for your influence over her, my +dear Countess." + +Herr von Rosen put his arm around his daughter's waist, and his frank +blue eyes as he looked at her were full of affection. For the first +time to-day the old Countess really smiled, and also looked kindly at +her daughter-in-law. + +Scarcely, however, had Herr von Rosen succeeded in banishing the clouds +from the brows of the ladies, when Bernhard entered with the +threatening of a positive tempest in his face. + +"I am very glad to see you to-day, sir," he said, as, after greeting +his father-in-law, he seated himself beside him. "I have arranged +Lothar's affairs after the manner you advised; they are all right: but +now it is Walter's turn." + +"Walter? Surely the boy has no debts?" + +"No; but I almost wish he had, for then I should know what to do, +inconvenient as it might be for me just at present." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed the old Countess, "what is the matter now?" + +"You must be told of it, mother, and perhaps there is no better time +than the present for the telling. Walter has gone back to his insane +idea of last year,--in fact, he seems never to have really relinquished +it,--and he has been attending medical lectures in addition to those +upon jurisprudence. He insists that he shall never be worth anything +unless he pursues the study of medicine." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed his mother. "I never will give my consent to so +crazy a scheme. Besides, my cousin the ambassador has promised him a +position." + +Bernhard made an impatient gesture with his hand. "You know, mother, +that we have already discussed this matter," he said, "and you know +that I have given up all thoughts of a diplomatic future for Walter, +because such a career requires an independent fortune, far larger than +any I could give him. My plan was that he should first become an +assessor, and then a provincial judge somewhere in the country. Thus he +would become entirely independent----" + +"But not before many years, and in the mean time he would be called +'Assessor' and 'Circuit Judge,'" moaned the Countess. "You cannot +seriously entertain the idea of your brother's being a circuit judge? +He had better enter the army immediately. Oh, if he only had never +studied anything!" + +"The army would have been best, but it cannot be thought of now, and +that is not the question at present; he insists upon studying +medicine." + +"Did you tell him it was entirely out of the question?" + +"I told him my opinion on the subject, to which, however, he opposed +his own. He declares that he has done his best conscientiously to +comply with our father's wishes, and that it is upon his account alone +that he has silently endured and struggled. He has, he says, been very +unhappy, and is firmly convinced that he shall miss his vocation and +live a useless life if he does conform to these wishes. In short, he +said a great deal to me that sounds plausible enough, but that +nevertheless does not alter the fact that this idea of his of studying +medicine is insanely absurd. I told him that if he persisted in it I +would not help him with a single penny, to which he replied that he had +no intention of applying to me for assistance; he meant that his income +of five hundred thalers should suffice for all his needs, and nothing +would induce him to accept anything further from me. Of course after +this we can have no more to do with each other. He declares that +nothing I can say will have the least influence upon his determination, +which is the result of mature deliberation, and that he does not want +any aid from me. The case is clear, and a breach is unavoidable if +Walter will not listen to reason. He values your opinion highly, sir, +and I thought perhaps you would expostulate with him. I can do no +more." + +"Yes, yes, you must talk to him," said the Countess, wiping away her +tears, while Thea looked eagerly at her father, quite undecided whether +to side with Walter or with Bernhard. + +"And what in the world can I say to him?" Herr von Rosen asked. +"Certainly, from what I know of Walter, I judge it very unlikely that +he should arrive at any over-hasty conclusions, and I am not at all +competent to overthrow in an hour a resolve that has been the result on +his part of a year of struggle and endurance. Besides, if I did as you +desire, it would be in opposition to my own conviction. Walter is +subjected to the necessity of carving out his own fortunes, of winning +his own means of subsistence. A hard task under all circumstances, why +should we make it harder for him by forcing him to do what he +positively dislikes? The beginnings of every career are arduous enough, +and, since Walter does not possess sufficient means to surround himself +with outward luxuries, it is surely natural that he should covet inward +content. This he can find only in a calling in which he takes a genuine +interest, to which he can cheerfully devote all his powers of mind." + +"But how can he do that as a doctor?" wailed the Countess. + +There was a slight smile upon Rosen's kindly face as he replied, "Your +son probably wonders how he can do it as circuit judge. It is all a +matter of taste and temperament." + +"Oh, don't speak of a circuit judge! If he is to be nothing but that he +may as well be a doctor." The Countess sighed heavily, and, putting her +handkerchief to her eyes, again burst into tears. + +"One is certainly as honourable a calling as the other," Rosen said, +calmly. + +Bernhard maintained a gloomy silence. Thea gazed at her father with +eyes that understood and appreciated him. His view of the matter was +new to her, but she agreed with him. + +Fortunately, the young girls with Walter made their appearance at this +moment, and the conversation was not prolonged before Adela. Countess +Eichhof, finding it impossible to control her agitation, and with very +vague ideas as to what really was Walter's intention, withdrew to bury +with many tears her enchanting dream of Walter as an ambassador. + +Adela, who found the air at Eichhof to-day not at all to her liking, +ordered her carriage, and Walter and Alma accompanied her into the +hall. "Oh, I forgot to bring down the book you lent me, Alma!" she +exclaimed, standing on the lowest of the flight of steps. "No, Walter, +you cannot get it; I left it in Alma's room." + +Alma good-naturedly ran to fetch it, and Adela looked after her with a +smile. + +"I left it there on purpose," she said to Walter; "and I hid it a +little, for I wanted to speak to you one moment alone." + +Walter smiled at her small plot, though he shook his finger at her. +"What have you to say to me?" he said, stepping close to her side. + +"First, I want to know whether you are still my good friend." + +Instead of replying, Walter took out her ring, which he wore on a +ribbon around his neck, and kissed it. + +Adela blushed. + +"Put it away quickly," she said, with a shy glance around. "No one must +know that you have it, for people are so stupid; too stupid! They could +not understand. But what I really wanted to ask was why you are so +terribly serious and quiet. Has anything gone particularly wrong?" + +Adela's blue eyes were so near Walter's face that his breath stirred +the curls upon her forehead, and she looked at him so earnestly and +kindly that his cheek suddenly flushed, and the voice in which he +answered her was rather unsteady. "I cannot explain it to you now, +Adela. It is a long story, and everything seems to me to be going +particularly wrong just now." + +"But I am fairly dying with curiosity; tell me about it, quickly!" she +exclaimed, impatiently. + +He shook his head. "Not now; I will come to Rollin to-morrow." + +"Ride through the park, then, and I will be waiting for you on the +round white bench near the pond. Some one is always sure to interrupt +us at the house, and you never will be able to finish your story. By +the white bench, then, at eleven o'clock in the morning; I cannot +possibly wait until the afternoon." + +She had scarcely issued this _ordre de bataille_, which was given quite +in the tone of a military commander, when Alma appeared with the book, +and Fraeulein Adela drove off, well satisfied with the success of her +plot and with the prospect of Walter's visit. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + FOUND AND LOST. + + +There was a misty green, betokening the coming spring, upon the bare +boughs of the trees in the park at Rollin, and the little lake in its +midst reflected the clear blue of the skies above it. Adela, seated on +the white bench, near the water, was hardly aware either of the budding +branches around her or of the gleaming mirror before her. Her thoughts +were occupied with her expected visitor, and her hands and eyes with a +beautiful brown greyhound that never seemed to tire of leaping to and +fro over the riding-whip she held out for him. + +"What will Walter tell me?" she thought. "Jump, Fidele!" she called out +to the dog, who had paused for a moment and looked dubiously at his +mistress. "You are a good creature," she went on, stroking his handsome +head, and again her thoughts flew to Walter. "Poor dear fellow, his +eyes have so sad a look in them now; and indeed it is too uncomfortable +in Eichhof. Thea really looks quite ill; she must be fairly bored to +death. Come, Fidele, you shall jump once more, and then I'll give you +some sugar." + +And the dog jumped again, and was fed with sugar, while his mistress +began to think that Walter allowed himself to be waited for too long. +Suddenly she sprang up. The sound of a horse's hoofs was audible, and +in an instant Walter turned into the avenue of oaks that led to where +she was sitting. Fidele ran towards him, and leaped beside the horse +barking his welcome, while Adela, in sudden and unexpected confusion, +which she strove to hide behind an affectation of indifference, fixed +her eyes upon the surface of the lake beyond the rider. + +"Well," she said, when Walter, having tied his horse to a tree, stood +beside her, "I have only just arrived. I nearly forgot our +appointment." + +"I should have been so sorry not to find you," he said, "for after our +offensive and defensive alliance it would have pained me to leave +Eichhof without telling you myself of what you will be sure to hear +from others, coloured, probably, by their prejudices." + +"Leave? You are going away? Where? You have only just come!" the girl +exclaimed, evidently alarmed, and quite forgetting her part of +indifference, as she drew Fidele towards her and put her arms around +his neck, as if craving some sympathy from him, while she looked up at +Walter anxiously. + +"You perhaps remember a ride we took together, about a year ago, when I +told you how hard I had found it to resign the idea of studying +medicine," Walter began. + +"Good heavens, Walter," she interrupted him, "you are not going to +begin about that again?" + +He gazed at her seriously and sadly for a moment in silence, and noted +the eager and yet terrified expression in her eyes. + +"But I am," he then said, softly. "I am firmly, unalterably +resolved----" + +"Walter!" she exclaimed loudly, thrusting Fidele from her. "You cannot! +you dare not! Think of your father!" + +"I have thought of him and tried to do as he wished. But do you not +think that my father loved me and earnestly desired my happiness?" + +"Yes; and for that very reason you ought to do nothing that he would +have disapproved." + +"And suppose I am perfectly convinced that I never could be contented, +but, on the contrary, should be positively miserable, in the career he +chose for me?" + +"You still ought to pursue that career." + +"And live but half a life, tormented by the consciousness that I was +entirely unfitted for my position? No, Adela, my father never could +have wished me to do this. When I told him of my wishes I had not yet +made an attempt to conform to his. This was my duty, and I have done +it. Now what I only suspected has come to be a certainty. I have no +interest whatever in the study of the law. I cannot make it the +business of my life. Do you not believe that the knowledge of this +would alter my father's views?" + +"Your father never would have allowed you to be a doctor." + +"Then he would have sacrificed his better self to a prejudice. The very +essence of his being was a kindly enjoyment of life, and it would have +caused him the greatest sorrow to have been the occasion of unhappiness +to one of his sons. I believe that if he had lived he would have seen +this and would have yielded to my wishes. Happiness and unhappiness are +dealt out to us by heaven, but human will is not without influence in +their distribution. As far as I can I choose to be happy, and in so +being to fulfil what I know to have been my father's chief hope for +me." + +"But your mother,--think of your mother; she never will consent to what +you desire." + +"No, my mother never will consent until some brilliant result justifies +my choice. But she is just as averse to a commonplace legal career, +which is what I should now be obliged to pursue, since I cannot be +under obligations to my brother. I must be independent. My mother has +no decided views for me at present. I hope to win her over in time. +Bernhard is angry with me; Lothar only laughs at me. I am very much +alone in my family, Adela. But I never shall forget that I am an +Eichhof, and I shall try, so far as I can, to do honour to my name. I +hope that my mother may one day be proud of me; at all events she shall +never be ashamed of me." + +He had spoken with some emotion latterly, almost more to himself than +to Adela. He suddenly paused and looked at her. Her eyes were opened +wide, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. + +"Now you know all. Are you still my friend, Adela?" he asked, bending +over her. + +She seized his hand, and cried, between laughter and tears, "Dear, dear +Walter, I know I ought to be angry with you, but I cannot, I cannot." + +He pressed her hand to his lips. "Then you think I am right, Adela?" he +asked, gazing earnestly into her eyes. + +"Good heavens! I do not know, Walter," she sobbed; "but you are so +good, and we have known each other so long, and I know you will go away +now and never come back again for years." + +"And you are sorry?" he whispered. + +She did not reply, but her tears continued to flow silently, and, as if +to conceal them, she leaned her head upon Walter's shoulder. He put his +arm around her, and she made no resistance. + +His lips almost touched her curls, and she wept so uncontrollably that +his heart was inexpressibly touched. Her tears, and the gentle pressure +of her head upon his shoulder, annihilated all the fixed resolves he +had made with regard to her; all the prudent reasonings with which he +had silenced the promptings of his heart were melted by those 'kindly +drops,' like the last snow beneath a warm spring shower. "Dear, dearest +Adela!" he whispered, and kissed her brow. She threw her arms about his +neck and nestled close to him. + +The larks trilled above them, and the sunbeams kissed open the buds of +the elder-bush that grew beside the lake, while Fidele looked at the +youthful pair clasped in each other's arms with a certain expression of +comprehension in his honest eyes, as if it were all a matter of course. + +"And so the very words which I feared would separate us have united us +forever, my darling," said Walter, after a long and ecstatic pause. +"Ah, how proudly I shall now pursue my path, since I know that I shall +not be struggling and working only for myself, but for you! And you +will believe in me, and will be patient until the goal is reached, and +I have a home for you where you shall be shielded from every blast that +blows?" + +She suddenly freed herself from his clasp, and, stroking her curls from +before her eyes, looked at him in a kind of terror. "Walter," she said, +hastily, "for heaven's sake, don't talk so!" + +He smiled, and drew her towards him again. "Never fear, dear love," he +said. "Be sure that my strength and courage will be all-sufficient to +provide for our future. I know now that you love me, and will one day +consent to be my wife, although I still persist in being a doctor." + +Again she broke away from him. "I never said that, Walter," she cried; +"no, no; and I never will say it. You ought to know that if I love +you,--and I am not so very sure that I do love you,--all this happened +so quickly,--but even if I did love you, I never, never would consent +to be a doctor's wife." + +Walter looked at her like some sleeper awakening from a dream. He +found it hard to understand her, but her words could bear no other +meaning except that she meant to break with him if he adhered to his +resolve. "It was all a mistake, then,--the saddest mistake of my life," +he said, slowly and monotonously. "I do not understand how it could be, +Adela, but I understand that you now send me from you." He stood still +for a moment, as though awaiting a reply. Adela was silent, and pressed +her handkerchief to her lips to restrain her sobs. Walter still looked +inquiringly at her. "Farewell!" he suddenly said, and turned to go, but +she seized his arm and clung to him as in desperation. + +"Walter!" she cried. "Oh, heavens! I--I think--I love you, Walter. You +must not go!" + +"Adela, do not torture me so!" he entreated. "After what has passed +between us, I do not, I cannot know what you mean. You say you love me, +and----" + +"Yes, yes, Walter; but you must not be a doctor. If you are poor, no +matter; we will wait until you are a Landrath, and I will learn all +about housekeeping and whatever you wish me to, for--even if I do not +know exactly whether I love you--yet----" + +"You do not know whether you love me, Adela?" he said, with a bitter +laugh. "You do not know exactly? Well, I know, and I will tell you. No, +you do not love me, or you never, after what I have told you, could +demand such a sacrifice of me! You do not love me, Adela; it was all a +dream, and"--he drew out the ribbon upon which he wore her ring--"and +it is past and gone!" + +He held out the ring to her. "There, take it back," he said, his voice +trembling with agitation. "I cannot any longer be your friend. There is +only one relation possible between us. I must have all or nothing. Take +it, take it back!" And he still held the ring out to her. + +"I will not have it," she said, turning stubbornly away. + +"Take it, or I will throw it into the lake. I will not keep it." + +"Do as you please." + +Walter tossed the ring from him. For an instant it glittered in the +sunlight above the waters of the little lake, into which it sank with a +faint splash. + +Adela never looked towards it. She stooped and stroked the head of her +dog, who pressed close to her side as if in dread of some coming +misfortune. The girl thought that Walter would speak again. Suddenly +she heard the sound of a horse's hoofs behind her. She started up, to +see both steed and rider just disappearing at the turning of the oak +avenue. + +"Walter!" she almost screamed. + +But he had gone. She sank on her knees, and laid her head upon Fidele's +neck. + +"Walter," she sobbed, "I love you! Oh, now I know I love you!" But +Walter could not hear her. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THEA ROUNDS HER FIRST PROMONTORY. + + +His brother's affairs were soon driven from Bernhard's mind by anxiety +with regard to his own. The building of the factory was in full +progress, and the new agricultural machines were to be tested. Meadows +were being cleared and fields drained, and Bernhard wanted to be +everywhere, and to have everything under his personal supervision. He +spent the greater part of the day riding or driving to distant parts of +his estate, and his dreams at night were of ploughing-machines, and of +new leases for farms. Thea, who had at first accompanied him in his +rides and drives, now generally stayed at home, and grew graver and +more silent every day,--a fact which Bernhard had no time to notice. He +never, it is true, left the house without a hurried visit to her room, +when he would leave a hasty kiss upon her forehead, with a "Well, Thea, +how are you? I'm off on horseback!" and then, without waiting for her +reply, he would leave her and run down-stairs as if in hopes of making +up for the minute he had wasted upon her. Now and then she ventured a +timid question with regard to his occupations, but, since a fitting +reply demanded explanations for which Bernhard had no time, and to +comprehend which would require more technical knowledge than she +possessed, the answers she received were brief and vague. Whenever +anything occurred, however, that was especially unfortunate, Bernhard +appealed to his wife for sympathy, which she freely gave him, although +in doing so she often betrayed her entire ignorance of the matter in +question. + +Visits and social events were rare, since the family were still in +mourning. Thea's girl friends were all, with the exception of Adela +Hohenstein, now married, and had left the neighbourhood, where there +were no young married women save Frau von Wronsky, with whom Bernhard +did not wish Thea to associate, and who since the death of the Count +had paid only one short visit of condolence at Eichhof. Thus Thea +was very much alone, and although she did her best to kill time with +china-painting and reading, with embroidery and new music, she could +not always escape ennui. She had no special talent for either music or +painting, only a certain facility which always requires encouragement +for practice. This encouragement was wanting. She thought of her +mother, who had been continually occupied, but the household at Eichhof +was very different from that at Schoenthal. Everything at her old home +had been comprised in a much smaller compass, was much more simple, and +Frau von Rosen had held unlimited sway, had overseen her people, and +arranged her housekeeping herself. At Eichhof there was an omnipotent +housekeeper, who had lived more than twenty years in the family, and +for whom Thea entertained an immense respect. The cook was a very fine +gentleman, and the footmen were correspondingly grand. All these people +knew so much, and had been in the house so long, that Thea, with her +eighteen years and her inexperience, scarcely regarded herself as their +mistress. Everything went its way like a clock that has been wound up, +any interference with which would only do harm. + +Thus Thea felt that the following of her mother's example was quite +impossible here; and she was equally conscious that her small +occupations were far from sufficient to fill up her days. As she was +too proud, however, to admit to any one that she was discontented, she +said nothing of this to her parents or to Alma. + +"They cannot help me," she thought, "and why should I trouble them? Let +them believe me perfectly happy." + +One day she was sitting in the bow-windowed room, vainly endeavouring +to concentrate her thoughts upon a forget-me-not that she was painting +upon a china cup. These same thoughts would fly off to Bernhard, and +she wondered, as she did perpetually, whether there was no way in which +she could be nearer him, could share his interests, and really live +with him instead of only at his side. She was interrupted by a visit +from her father, who often came to Eichhof at this time. + +When Herr von Rosen entered his daughter's room she joyfully bade him +welcome, and took from him a package of books that he had under his +arm. + +"Books for Bernhard," he said, as Thea opened the bundle and began to +arrange the volumes. "Nothing for you, my dear; nothing but treatises +on agricultural matters, and descriptions of just such factories as he +is now building." + +Thea bent over the books with great interest. "And why should they be +nothing to me, papa?" she asked. "Is it impossible for me to share +Bernhard's interests?" + +The tone of the question was so peculiar that Herr von Rosen looked at +his daughter in surprise. "Impossible?" he repeated. "Oh, no; women can +do a great deal if they choose." And, as he stood by his daughter, he +suddenly put his hand beneath her chin, lifted her face to his, and +looked into her eyes. "What is it you want, Thea? Ah, tears in your +eyes! Then the matter is serious. What is it?" + +Then Thea broke down; she had always made a confidant of her father in +the old days, and her reserve had been hard to maintain. She threw her +arms around his neck, and they sat down together on the small sofa in +the corner. Here father and daughter had a long and earnest talk, and +when they arose from it Thea's eyes and cheeks glowed, and there was a +mysterious smile as of a secret understanding upon Herr von Rosen's +lips as in his subsequent conversation with Bernhard he frequently +glanced towards his daughter. It was arranged that Thea should go +oftener than had been her wont to Schoenthal,--that she should drive +over at least twice a week, since Frau von Rosen's health did not at +present permit her to leave the house. Bernhard gave his consent to +this willingly, as he was obliged to be absent from home so much +himself. + +"He will not miss me," thought Thea; "he would rather talk with his +superintendent than with me." But this thought did not sadden her +to-day. Her eyes sparkled, and there was a certain resolute expression +on her face that seemed to declare, "All this shall be different." + +Two days afterwards she drove over to Schoenthal and spent the whole day +there. She took with her one of the books which her father had brought +for Bernhard, and when she came home in the evening another package of +books accompanied her. At some distance from Eichhof, Bernhard came +riding to meet her. Thea blushed and stood up in the carriage,--he had +missed her, then, after all! + +But that did not prevent her from going to Schoenthal again the next +week. Meanwhile, Herr von Rosen came frequently to Eichhof, where he +took long rambles with his daughter through the fields and farms, and +had prolonged conversations with her on the small sofa in her favourite +room. + +Thus several weeks passed, until one day Thea begged her husband to let +her go with him to the factory, which was now roofed in, and where the +machinery was just being set up. + +"Yes, my child," he said, "come if you choose, but it will bore you +terribly. I have so much to attend to about which you know nothing." + +She smiled, and put on her hat and gloves to accompany him. + +It was a lovely warm afternoon. The little open carriage flew along the +broad road, but Thea made no observations upon the beauty of the sunset +or the misty colours of the distant forest, although she saw and +enjoyed both. She knew that Bernhard's thoughts were occupied with far +other topics, and her questions bore such evident reference to these +that his replies, at first vague and constrained, soon altered their +tone. He was so absorbed in these interests of his that he had no time +for surprise at his young wife's sudden accession of knowledge, but at +least he made no objection when, upon arriving at the factory, she +prepared to accompany him in his tour of inspection. She listened +attentively to all that the workmen had to tell, examined the machines, +and now and then asked questions, which the machinists answered +eagerly, and which so astounded Bernhard that he several times +found himself looking inquiringly at her as if to make sure that +it really was his 'May-rose' who was discoursing so learnedly of +machines, and water-power, and steam-power. He himself had never been +so absent-minded before upon a visit here. Scarcely were they seated in +the carriage again on their homeward way when he turned to her and +asked, "For heaven's sake, tell me, Thea, where you learned all this?" + +She laughed merrily. "Learned what?" she asked, in her turn. "I have +but the merest superficial knowledge of these things." + +"But a short time ago you had no idea of them." + +She gave him a look from her large dark eyes that was half saucy, half +entreating. "Will you not try me and see whether I have not some more +'ideas' perhaps, and take me with you oftener?" she asked. + +"Good heavens, Thea! I was only afraid of boring you." + +"And you thought I had better be bored at home alone than in your +society?" + +"Have you been bored at home?" + +"Very nearly; but just at the right time something pleasanter occurred +to me." + +"And that was?" he asked, when she paused. + +"And that was,--guess what." + +"Good-evening, Bernhard; good-evening, Thea," a joyous voice called out +very near them, and Lothar galloped up, followed by a second horseman +in uniform. + +Lothar had in fact been transferred to a regiment of hussars stationed +in the neighbourhood of Eichhof, but he had been sent until lately to a +distant garrison, and had but just arrived at the small town near by. + +"I am making my first formal neighbourly visit to you," said Lothar, +riding close up beside the carriage, while the other horseman also +approached and saluted Bernhard and Thea. + +"Lieutenant Werner is my stay and consolation in my present Gotham," +said Lothar, as the carriage proceeded slowly, escorted by the two +riders; "he knows Berlin as well as I do, and we exchange +reminiscences." + +Lieutenant Werner smiled. "Yes, it was hard enough at one time to be +away from Berlin, but I am very well content now to be in R----." + +"And what of your studies, Herr von Werner?" Thea asked. She was +already acquainted with the young officer, and knew that he was +interested in science. + +"Ah, madame, there is much to be desired in that direction," he +replied. + +And Lothar called out from the other side of the carriage, "He lives +like a hermit, Thea; but I hope to spoil his books for him." + +"You will hardly do that," said Werner. + +"Nonsense, my dear fellow! 'All printed stuff is dull and gray, the +tree of life is ever green and gay,'" Lothar declared, in a rather free +paraphrase of Goethe. Then he turned to talk with Bernhard about his +horses, while Werner rode by Thea's side until the carriage stopped at +the gateway of the castle. + +"I am so glad to see you here; I hope you will come often," Thea said, +as she got out of the carriage and offered her hand to Lothar. + +Lothar kissed it, and replied, "I am only afraid of coming too often, +Thea; so let us have it settled in the beginning that if I come to +Eichhof as often as I have the time and desire to come, you will turn +me out if I come at the wrong time." + +Thea laughed. "I agree," she said. "You shall at all events have a room +always ready for you, and plenty of almond-cakes." + +"Oh, you have not forgotten what I like best. Bernhard, your wife is an +angel!" + +"I knew that long ago," Bernhard said, with a laugh, as he led his +guests into the bow-windowed room, where the servants were just +lighting the lamps. + +"I must set Werner afloat," Lothar said, in the course of conversation; +"to-day we call here, to-morrow at the Wronskys, the day after +to-morrow----" + +"Are the Wronskys at home?" Thea interrupted him. "I thought they were +travelling." + +"They have been back for two weeks," Lothar replied. "I saw her at a +dinner at the Schoenburgs'. She is really a very charming and +interesting creature. I was not half so much pleased with her at first +as I am now. They tell all kinds of stories about her, but----" + +"What are the stories about her?" asked Thea. + +"Nonsense, Lothar!" Bernhard interposed, as his brother was about to +give his version of an _on dit_. "Why repeat silly stories, which no +one will vouch for, and of which every one has a different version? The +lady is now Marzell Wronsky's wife; he is our neighbour, and for his +sake we ought not to repeat such reports." + +Thea looked at her husband in surprise. He had so often expressed his +dislike of this woman, and yet he was suddenly so eager in her defence. + +She said nothing, however, because she suspected that it would be +better not to have these 'reports' retailed at her table, and Werner, +who thought he detected a shadow of annoyance on her countenance, said +quickly, "The lady's conduct certainly is at present perfectly correct, +and she is very interesting in conversation. I lately took her in to +dinner somewhere, and I was amazed to find how much she had seen of the +world. She is perfectly familiar with Europe, and has been to Palestine +and spent a winter in Cairo besides." + +"Did you not envy her?" said Thea, to whom Werner had formerly confided +his great love of travel, and the fact that with all his economy he +could only contrive to take a short journey every other year. + +"Just a little," he replied; "but we had one memory in common of one of +her smallest journeys and of my largest one. After the Paris Exposition +she went to Trouville." + +"You were there too, Bernhard, and just at that time," said Thea. + +"Oh, there must have been many people there at that time of whose +existence I was entirely unaware," Bernhard said, hastily; but +something in his tone of voice and in the expression of his face struck +Thea, and, little prone as she was to suspicion, the thought occurred +to her, "He knew her." + +"Of course, society at Trouville is so mixed," said Werner, "and so +various, that it is impossible to know every one. Frau von Wronsky +seemed not to have enjoyed her stay there very much." + +"Naturally." Thea turned to her husband. Had he spoken the word, or had +she been mistaken? + +"What do you mean?" she asked. + +"I said nothing," he replied. + +"Heavens, Thea, you have an entire agricultural library here!" Lothar +exclaimed at this moment. He was never quiet long, and while the others +had been conversing he had been walking about the room on a tour of +discovery in search of new books or pieces of furniture. He was now +standing before a pretty open set of book-shelves, from which he took +several books and brought them to the table. "Since when have you been +perusing works upon drainage, irrigation, and plans for factories?" he +asked, laughing, and pointing to the titles of the volumes. + +Thea blushed, and piled the books together. "Don't be so rude as to +disarrange my books, Lothar," she said, as she took up some to put them +away again. + +But Bernhard detained her. "Thea," he said, "now I understand where +your 'ideas' came from. Have you really been studying all this +tiresome, dry stuff, and was this what you meant the other day when you +declared that you had discovered an excellent antidote for ennui?" + +"Why, of course, I wanted to be able to talk about all these things +with you, and to know something at least of what is absorbing your +thoughts," she said, with a still brighter blush, forgetting for the +moment both her guests and Frau von Wronsky, as she noted the +expression of her husband's eyes. The next instant she turned away, +with a laugh, to rearrange her books. + +Bernhard looked after her with an emotion that he would have found it +difficult to express: never had she seemed to him so enchanting, so +charming, as at this moment. Lothar laughed; Lieutenant Werner looked +grave, and, when Thea again joined the group around the table, gave her +a glance of intense admiration. + +A servant announced that tea was served in the dining-hall, and thither +the party repaired. + +Thea tried to lead the conversation to the Wronskys again, but Bernhard +persistently changed the subject whenever they were alluded to. + +"Why is it so disagreeable to him to hear that woman talked of?" Thea +said to herself. + +It was tolerably late when the two officers took their leave, but Thea +was not at all tired, and while Bernhard accompanied them down into the +hall, she fetched a large photograph book, in which were the +photographs of all the landed proprietors of the neighbourhood, with +their wives, and when Bernhard returned he found her lost in +contemplation of Frau von Wronsky's face. + +"I am glad they are gone, Thea," he cried, more quickly and merrily +than was his wont to speak, "for now I can thank you as I should for +reading all those books for my sake. I know you did it all for love of +me, my darling." + +He drew her tenderly towards him; but although his words would have +made her perfectly happy a few hours before, she now returned his kiss +rather coldly, and said,-- + +"Good heavens, it was not much to do; it really interested me very +much, and papa explained everything to me that I did not understand. +But," she added, without explaining the strange sequence of ideas, +otherwise than by pushing forward the book of photographs,--"tell me, +Bernhard, did you not know the Wronsky at Trouville?" + +"What put that into your head?" asked Bernhard, thrusting the book +aside. "I told you before----" + +"You spoke of _many_ people, Bernhard, but you did not say that you did +not know _her_." + +Now Bernhard smiled. "Oh, you women!" he exclaimed, drawing his wife +towards him. "Well, since you are developing such a talent for +diplomacy, you may learn that I certainly did have a distant +acquaintance with her, but that she belonged to a circle that makes it +very desirable that I should ignore all former acquaintance with her +whatsoever. Yes, I owe it to Marzell Wronsky to preserve entire silence +with regard to that time, and all I can tell you is that she did not so +conduct herself as to lead me to regard her as a fit associate for +you." + +"Why, what did she do?" + +"She was very imprudent, my child. But pray let us drop this subject; +we neither of us care anything about her, and I have told you what I +have because I know you are no gossip and would rather help me to keep +the secret of my former acquaintance with her than prevent me from +doing so. You now know that my only reason for silence as to my ever +having seen her before is a reluctance, for her husband's sake, to +being questioned with regard to her former life." + +"Yes, Bernhard, but----" Thea hesitated, and hid her face in her hands, +although Bernhard could see her forehead and neck flush crimson. + +"But? What is it that you want to know?" + +"Bernhard," she whispered, still covering her face, "tell me truly and +really, were you never in love with her?" + +"Never!" he exclaimed, drawing down her hands. + +"Look in my eyes, Thea, while I tell you that I never cared for this +woman, and never had any association with her whatever." + +"Thank God!" she whispered, drawing a long breath of relief. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + ANOTHER PROMONTORY COMES IN SIGHT. + + +The long summer days as they passed were happy indeed for Thea, and all +the more cloudless and sunny because of the absence at a watering-place +of the old Countess Eichhof. + +The young wife had wellnigh forgotten the shadow that had been cast +upon her path for a moment by the figure of Frau von Wronsky, and she +was no longer in the least jealous of the old superintendent, for she +was now Bernhard's daily companion and her advice and opinion were +eagerly sought for. Bernhard was almost as inexperienced as herself in +the management of an estate, and, since she had more leisure and less +ambition for distinction than he, the old superintendent sometimes +declared that the Frau Countess really understood matters better than +the young master. Lothar frequently occupied his room at Eichhof, rode +Bernhard's horses, ate almond-cakes, and entertained his comrade, +Werner, with accounts of his sister-in-law's constantly increasing +beauty. Werner seldom came to Eichhof, but when he did come, Thea +always had much to tell him. She read the books that he recommended to +her, and he was the only one who seemed to take any interest in Walter. +Thea corresponded with her youngest brother-in-law, and hoped in time +to be the medium of reconciliation between him and Bernhard, who made +no objection to this correspondence, although he refused to listen to +Walter's letters. Lothar was not so decided in his antagonism towards +his younger brother, but he yawned whenever Thea spoke of him, and so +she was driven to seek sympathy solely from her father and from Werner. +Each listened attentively to all she had to say of Walter, for, +although Werner did not know him personally, the young fellow's pluck +and determination interested him greatly. + +In all things else perfect harmony existed between Thea and her +husband. And yet these sunny summer days were not long cloudless. For +some time it had seemed to the superintendent that his master's +enthusiasm was on the wane. "It will increase again," he thought at +first, but before long he began to shake his head over the state of +affairs. At last Thea too noticed that Bernhard was often out of sorts +and not so actively employed as heretofore. The reason for this was to +be found not in outward circumstances, but in Bernhard himself. He had, +it is true, had many disappointments, and had encountered many +obstacles, but what especially galled him was the reflection that he +was not turning his talents to sufficient account. When, young as he +was, he entered upon his inheritance he had determined to effect +extraordinary results. In his ardour for accomplishment he had +forgotten that there must be a certain knowledge acquired for such +accomplishment, and now he could not but frankly confess to himself +that he had really done very little, that those in his employ had been +the real workers and had understood matters far better than had their +master. There had been much outlay of capital also, and it was +questionable whether this outlay had always been judicious. + +"I fritter away my powers of mind in too many directions," he said to +Thea one day, "and I fear I am not precisely fulfilling my vocation. I +attempt to be architect, mathematician, grazier, and ever so many other +things besides, and I know that I am really none of all these, and do +not indeed desire to be. I fancied the management of a landed estate to +be something vastly more important." + +"But it certainly is a fine thing to arrange and to create as you are +doing," Thea replied. "I feel proud as we drive through the meadows, +where your will has transformed what was unprofitable land into green +grassy fields." + +"Yes, I am pleased with that too, but in fact I have had very little to +do with it; others have done it for me, and would have done it as well +without me." + +Thea sighed; she was so content, and she had been so proud of this very +industry of Bernhard's that he was now depreciating. + +Then Lothar came to Eichhof one day and reported that several of the +most respectable citizens of R---- had asked him whether he thought +that his brother would accept a nomination for the Reichstag. Bernhard +knew that there had been some such proposition talked of in official +circles, and he had cherished the idea, since he was the largest landed +proprietor in his district, and the seat that it commanded would fall +vacant just when he had completed his twenty-fifth year and was thus +eligible for a nomination. + +"I know that some of our neighbours are thinking of you, too," said +Lothar; "and you will see, when you come to the Diet-assembly +to-morrow, that you will be offered the nomination." + +Bernhard's eyes sparkled. "I confess that the possibility occurred to +me," he replied. "Hohenstein said something about it the other day; but +I'm afraid that the ultramontane candidate has the only chance." + +"That's a question," said Lothar. "Herr M----, it seems, has some blots +on his scutcheon, which his opponent will use to the best advantage; +and since Wronsky, in view of his Polish ancestry, I suppose, is to be +their second candidate, there will hardly be a due amount of enthusiasm +among the ultramontanists, since he is, to my certain knowledge, a very +lukewarm Romanist. And, besides, you, with all your dependants here, +have more votes at your disposal than any one of them." + +"I never would force my people to vote against their own convictions." + +"Nonsense! If they are not convinced that their master is the fittest +man to represent them, let them find another master." + +"Now you are talking just like Hohenstein," said Bernhard, laughing. +"Did you not discuss a bowl of punch together last night while he +explained to you his views upon the coming election?" + +"You're right as far as the punch goes, Bernhard, but as for the views, +they are my own, and I think you owe it to the good cause to accept the +nomination, since every one says that you have by far the best chance +to defeat the ultramontanist." + +"Well, we shall see how matters look to-morrow at the Diet," said +Bernhard. + +"You will be there, at all events?" + +"Of course." + +Thea had hitherto listened in silence. "Bernhard," she now said, +suddenly, "if you were elected you would have to go to Berlin in the +autumn." + +"Possibly." + +"But, Bernhard, you know----" She leaned over him and whispered a few +words in his ear. + +"No need to trouble ourselves about it, my child," he replied. "In the +first place, my nomination is entirely uncertain, not to speak of my +election----" + +"But you would accept it?" + +"Good heavens! I really do not know. 'Tis a matter for grave +reflection." + +He tried to convince himself that he had come to no decision, and he +was nevertheless exulting in his inmost heart at the thought of +political activity. Politics were assuredly fitted to employ all his +powers, to call forth all his energy. Here was a field in which a man +could gratify his ambition and achieve prominence without the petty +labour, the commonplace effort required by the management of an estate. + +Lothar, usually so slow to reflect and to draw conclusions, was +clearer-sighted than Thea in this matter. He knew that his brother +would accept this nomination, while the young wife hoped to induce him +to decline it. She had taken great pains to fit herself to share in her +husband's present interests, and she was proud that she had succeeded. +What possibility was there of her gaining any insight into politics, +when that was to take place in the autumn which would prevent her from +accompanying her husband to Berlin? + +There was no room for doubt upon the subject, however, by the evening +of the next day, when Bernhard came home, accompanied by the Freiherr +von Hohenstein, who presented her husband to Thea as "our future member +for the Reichstag, madame." + +"Bernhard?" she exclaimed, in involuntary alarm. + +"Certainly not member yet," said Bernhard: "but the confidence reposed +in me by my old friends and neighbours is so flattering, dear Thea, +that I could not do otherwise than accept the nomination with thanks." + +"Nonsense! your election is a certainty," said Hohenstein; "leave that +to us. I'll have no one in my service or on my land who does not vote +with me; nor shall those who do not vote with me be benefited by my +bounty during the winter. Every man of them has something to gain from +us, and must do our pleasure if he hopes to retain our good will." + +"But, papa," cried Adela, who had ridden over to Eichhof to meet her +father, "you must not send Jusak away. He is the best groom we ever +had, and keeps my mare in such beautiful trim; besides, he rides +superbly. Only a week ago the poor fellow was groaning over the coming +election, because his wife is such a terrible scold and the most devout +Catholic in the entire village, always going twice to church every +Sunday and holiday. He says his vote must cost him either dismissal +from your service or a terrible row at home that will last he cannot +tell how long." + +Hohenstein laughed. "Why doesn't the rascal keep his wife in better +order, then?" he rejoined. + +"He keeps the mare and everything else in his charge in perfect order." + +"Nevertheless, if he votes against me he shall go. All our neighbours +think as I do in this matter, and you, Eichhof, are, I suppose, no +exception." + +"Bernhard, you would not really act thus?" asked Thea. Her husband +shrugged his shoulders. + +"Hohenstein has far more experience in such affairs than I," he +replied. "Such a course is hardly what I should like, but it may be the +only one to pursue. It is not simply a personal question; the +principles that I advocate are at stake, and they must be maintained; +each vote that I lose adds one to the opposition. We must look to the +end in view." + +"And shut your eyes to the means; there speaks the Jesuit, Thea!" Adela +exclaimed, laughing. + +"You do not understand, Fraeulein Adela," said Bernhard, who was still +under the influence of the excited speakers to whom he had been +listening in R----. "I was disposed to be of your opinion, and even now +I am not in favour of harsh measures to secure votes, but I see clearly +that some pressure must, be brought to bear. The vote of one of us, +trained as we have been to reflect and decide, to draw logical +conclusions, is of no more weight than is that of an ignorant groom, +whose ideas are centred in his stables. These people scarcely know what +questions are at stake in the choice of a member for the Reichstag, and +cannot possibly judge who would best represent the interests of the +country. They have been strongly influenced all their lives long, and +to suppose that they can suddenly form an independent judgment in so +important a matter as an election of this kind is perfect nonsense. +Therefore it is for their own good that they should be influenced now." + +"Yes, with food, fagots, and dismissals," exclaimed Adela. "Very well, +Count Bernhard; if I lose Jusak through your fault all friendship +between us is at an end." + +"Then all I can do to regain your good will, Fraeulein Adela, is to +raise my voice in the Reichstag, if I ever get there, in favour of the +emancipation of woman." + +"That would go far to appease me, to be sure," she said; and then, +taking Thea's arm, she added, "Come, Thea; when men begin to talk +politics they are simply detestable, and I see very well that they are +to be the topic here." + +"Not at all; we would far rather enjoy your charming society," said +Bernhard. + +"Oh, yes; and in order to do so plunge into discussions as to where the +next election meeting shall be held, and what you mean to say at it, +and what some one else will say then, and how many votes you have, and +how many your opponent has. It's all excessively interesting, no doubt. +I heard it all last year at the official elections for the lower +chamber, and I know that papa and you and all the rest will think of +nothing else for weeks to come, and that I shall be bored to death. +Thank heaven, officers cannot vote; my hope is in them for the +present." + +The gentlemen laughed, and even Thea smiled at Adela's irritation. +Since, however, Herr von Hohenstein was evidently eager for the +discussion which his daughter so reprobated, she allowed herself to be +drawn away to the next room, where Adela instantly began to describe a +dress she intended to wear at a picnic to be given by the officers of +hussars in the neighbourhood. Thea listened but vaguely, for her mind +was much occupied by Bernhard's election. She could not quite +understand or approve his sudden enthusiasm for political life. She +felt it her duty as a wife to rejoice in the distinction conferred upon +him, and yet she could not control her dislike of this hasty change in +her husband's views and plans. + +"Alma is to be dressed just as I am," Adela chattered on meanwhile. +"Tell me, Thea, have you noticed that Lothar seems very attentive to +Alma?" Thea's attention was aroused. + +"Lothar?" she repeated. "How did such an idea enter your head? I have +seen nothing of it." + +Adela declared that she did not believe there was anything in it, but +Thea resolved to watch Lothar more closely and to talk more with him, +for hitherto, although he was older than she, she had treated him as a +younger brother, who told funny stories very well and ate almond-cakes +with a grateful relish, but who could not possibly be suspected of +falling honestly and seriously in love. But when her own sister was +thus spoken of, it behoved her to be more observant. + +Adela, whose moods were as variable as an April day, suddenly fell +silent and looked very grave. Then she asked, "Walter is not coming to +Eichhof this year, is he?" + +"No; Walter is very economical, and, since he will accept nothing from +Bernhard, he must find going to Berlin quite expensive." + +"He is going to Berlin, then?" + +"Yes; he is to continue his studies there. Did you not know that? Oh, I +remember you would not listen to his letter the other day when I wanted +to read it to you." + +Adela blushed crimson, and rejoined, with a laugh, "I wish I could stop +saying everything that comes into my head, without stopping to think. +But come, let us see if the gentlemen are still as tiresome as ever." + +When they returned to the drawing-room they found Bernhard and his +friend still discussing the election. But Adela joined them, and sat +still between Bernhard and Thea for the remainder of the evening, as +though she dreaded another _tete-a-tete_ with the latter. + +Bernhard was extremely animated. He spoke with more energy and fluency +than usual, and Thea thought, "Perhaps he is now choosing the career +for which he is best fitted, and it is silly and petty of me not to +rejoice in it." When he looked towards her inquiringly, she nodded with +a smile; but still it seemed to her as though there were another shadow +rising between her husband and herself. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + A PERIOD PUT TO A LONG ROW OF FIGURES. + + +It was a gray, rainy day. Adela was sitting at the window watching the +falling drops and stroking Fidele, who laid his head upon her knee and +gaped. + +"The world is very tiresome, Fidele," said Adela, and the dog looked at +his mistress out of his wise brown eyes, evidently with no disposition +to gainsay her verdict. + +"There is nothing to be done with papa," the girl continued, still +addressing her remarks to Fidele. "Scarcely is the election over when +he buries himself in accounts, shuts himself up all day in his room, +and if ever I stay with him there he is silent and _distrait_. I wish +he had been a candidate and had been elected instead of Bernhard +Eichhof; then we should have gone for the winter to Berlin, where I +could have consoled myself for Jusak's loss. Poor wretch! he must go, I +suppose; and it's all nonsense, for Bernhard did not need his vote; the +Catholics had no chance after Herr von Wronsky withdrew his name." + +The rain beat against the window-pane. Adela sighed, and then pursued +her train of thought: "I wonder if it is true that Frau von Wronsky +persuaded her husband to retire? It may have been so, for they say she +believes in nothing and has the upper hand of him; but Thea says that's +all mere gossip, and that Herr von Wronsky went to see them himself to +tell them that he did not wish to oppose Bernhard, and that he would +rather retire voluntarily than have any interruption of kindly feeling +between them. Who can tell? The Wronskys are going to Berlin this +winter, at any rate. Oh, everybody is going to Berlin; if we could only +go too!" And then she thought quite naturally of Walter, who was also +in Berlin. Her thoughts usually strayed in his direction, although she +believed herself firmly convinced that she had reason to be very angry +with him, and that she was so in reality. + +Suddenly Fidele raised his head, and Adela sprang up. A carriage drove +past the window and stopped before the house. + +"Thank heaven, some one is good enough to pay us a visit in this +storm!" Adela exclaimed, and hurried out of the room to receive the +guest. But when she reached the hall she started in surprise. There +stood a tall young man, who took off his overcoat and hat and stood +revealed--her brother Hugo! + +"Heavens, Hugo! where do you come from?" she called out to him. + +"Apparently from Berlin," he replied. "Where is my father? He is at +home?" + +"Yes; but how is it that----" + +"Be good enough to spare me all questions for the present," Hugo +rejoined, impatiently. "I have important matters to discuss with my +father, and I must return to Berlin to-morrow. Is my father in his +room?" And without awaiting a reply, he hurried past her and went into +his father's study. + +Adela involuntarily followed him thither as far as the door; then she +suddenly paused, and turned away angrily. + +"What can be the matter? More debts, I suppose," she said. "But----" +The next moment she opened the door. + +"What do you want here?" the Freiherr fairly shouted, so that she +retreated in dismay. + +"Curious, as women always are," Hugo said, with a shrug. + +Adela shut the door behind her and ran along the passage to her room, +where she threw herself into an arm-chair and burst into a passion of +angry tears. Fidele nestled close beside her, and she stroked his head. + +"You love me, Fidele, do you not?" she said, wiping away her tears. +"Ah, you dumb brutes are far better than human beings!" The girl threw +a shawl over her head, and, followed by the dog, ran out to the +stables. "Here, at least, I know that I am welcome," she said, going +from one horse to another; and finally seating herself on a bundle of +straw, she propped her head on her hand, gazing in most melancholy +fashion at her favourites. + +"Fraeulein! Fraeulein Adela!" a voice near her called suddenly, and as +she sprang up from her straw seat a servant entered the stable. + +"Good heavens, Anton, how you look!" the girl cried, startled by the +old servant's pale face. "What is the matter? What has happened?" + +"Ah, Fraeulein Adela, do not be frightened, but the Herr Baron has had a +fainting-fit or something. I don't know----" + +Adela heard not another word. Fast as her feet could carry her she ran +towards the house, and was in her father's room the next moment. The +Freiherr lay upon the lounge, his eyes wide open and fixed, while the +housekeeper and one of the younger servants were rubbing his forehead +and his hands with hartshorn. Adela took the hartshorn-bottle from the +old housekeeper's trembling hand, and bent over her father. "Dear, dear +papa!" she whispered. His eyes had a look of recognition in them,--a +spasm passed over his face, but not a word issued from his pale lips. + +"Good God! how did this happen?" Adela, trembling like an aspen leaf, +asked of old Anton, who entered the room. + +"I do not know," he whispered. "The Herr Lieutenant arrived suddenly, +and they were talking very loud together, and as I was carrying the +Herr Lieutenant's portmanteau past the door the Herr Baron said, 'I +cannot!' and the Herr Lieutenant cried, 'It must be done!' And then, +when I had passed by, I suddenly heard a heavy fall, and the Herr +Lieutenant called me." + +"My poor, poor father!" Adela whispered, bending over him again. She +thought she understood it all now, and glanced furtively at her +brother, who, having despatched a mounted messenger for the doctor, now +entered the room and approached his father. The Freiherr cast upon him +a glance of such utter agony, and his agitation so evidently increased +at sight of his son, that Adela said, "Go out of his sight, Hugo; it is +best that he should not see you." + +This time she encountered no angry reply, but Hugo quietly obeyed her, +and retreated to the recess of the window, where he threw himself into +an arm-chair and sat motionless for the next fifteen minutes, his head +buried in his hands, as if his spirit were far away and his body only +present beside the couch whereon his father lay--through his fault. + +At last the doctor arrived, and explained that the Herr Baron was +suffering from a stroke that had paralyzed his tongue and his right +arm. Adela and old Anton never stirred from beside him, while Hugo +wandered restlessly about the house, now looking through his father's +papers and locking up those still scattered about, now taking down the +weapons that hung upon the wall to examine them, and often opening the +Freiherr's case of pistols and passing his fingers over the smooth +steel barrels. + +After midnight the Freiherr fell asleep, and Adela's eyes, too, closed, +and her head fell back against the high arm-chair in which she sat. +Hugo was in the next room, but no sound betrayed his presence there. He +was sitting at the table, upon which stood the open case of pistols, +and his head was buried in his hands. Fiery balls that turned into long +rows of figures seemed to dance before his eyes. Longer and longer grew +these rows; there seemed to be no end to them. + +"And he can pay nothing more; he is bankrupt," Hugo muttered, clenching +his fist convulsively. "There will be no more Hohensteins at Rollin." +He had so often despised his home, and now he suddenly became conscious +of how closely the name of the estate was connected with that of the +family who had owned it for two hundred years. And again the long rows +of figures danced before his eyes. Could no period be put to them? +Yes, one--in the shape of a small round ball. He shuddered and shrank +back,--his hand had touched the cold barrel of a pistol. He opened his +eyes for an instant, but closed them again, and--another period that +might be put to the endless row of figures hovered before him. It was +round, too, in form, but instead of a ball it was a ring. He sprang up, +pushed away the case of pistols, and, going to the writing-table, took +a sheet of paper, and began to write. Suddenly he noticed that the +paper was edged with black. He threw it aside and took another sheet. +The sick man was still sleeping. Adela's head had sunk farther back in +her chair; she was dreaming that her father had been thrown from his +horse and was lying lifeless on the ground. Then some one suddenly came +between her father and herself and--laughed. It was a bitter, terrible +laugh. Adela started in terror, and rubbed her eyes. + +The same low laugh came from the next room. + +She shuddered, rose, and went to the door. There she saw her brother +sitting at the writing-desk. The open case of pistols was on the table +behind him, and before him lay a letter which he was folding to put +into an envelope, while the bitter smile had not yet faded from his +face. A fearful thought flashed upon the girl's mind. With a timid +glance at the open case, she hurried across the room and laid her hand +upon her brother's shoulder. + +"For heaven's sake, Hugo, tell me what you are going to do!" He shook +off her hand. + +"Go!" he said. "It is the only means of salvation!" + +"Would you add suicide to all the other misfortunes overwhelming us?" + +Again there came the laugh, the echo of which had roused her from +sleep. + +"On the contrary," he said, "there will be joy throughout the family, +and you will shortly have an opportunity to figure as a bridesmaid." + +"Oh, Hugo, how can you think of such things?" + +"These are just the things that I must think about, or we should soon +cease to have need for thought of any kind. But you know nothing of it. +Go to your father, and leave the rest to me." + +Adela fixed her eyes on a white sheet of paper, edged with black, that +lay on the writing-desk, and on which she read the words, "My dear +Councillor, I am a man of few words, and therefore frankly ask of you +the hand of----" + +Hugo seized the paper and tore it in pieces. + +"There is no need for you to look so horrified," he said. "Fraeulein +Kohnheim is a very pretty girl; her parents had her baptized some time +ago; and her father could pay the debts of an entire regiment if he +chose." + +"Hugo!" + +"Leave me in peace, and be thankful that there is one way out of this +for all of us. To-morrow morning this letter goes; to-morrow evening I +go, and the next day our troubles will all be over." + +"And papa?" + +"Our father will soon recover; the doctor says so. A first stroke is +never so dangerous----" + +"Adela!" a weak voice called at this moment. + +"You see he has already recovered his speech, as the doctor said he +would," said Hugo. + +Adela flew to her father's side and covered his hand with kisses. For a +moment her brother was forgotten; she only felt that a change for the +better had come, that her father would recover, and that he had wanted +her--her; that the first use he had made of his returning voice had +been to call his daughter! + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE MISTRESS OF EICHHOF AND HER GUESTS. + + +With the first fall of snow there was born in Eichhof a little son and +heir, and Bernhard, who had been summoned from Berlin, whither he had +gone for a short autumn session, stared helplessly at the little +creature that Thea presented to him, and which he proudly called his +son, although how that red, wrinkled mite, quite buried in laces, could +ever develop into a stalwart representative of the Eichhofs he could +hardly imagine. + +Consideration for her child kept Thea at Eichhof this winter, and +Bernhard allowed her to follow her inclination in this respect, all the +more willingly that his 'improvements' at Eichhof had cost a great +deal, and he would scarcely have been able to maintain the state which +he deemed required by his rank had his wife gone with him to Berlin and +been presented at court. + +"You are the dearest and most prudent of wives," he said to Thea; "and +you are quite right to stay here this winter. But for all that you must +not live the life of a recluse, for, since our year of mourning is +over, we owe it to our position and to our neighbours to open our house +again, even although I must be away. Your father and Lothar are close +at hand, and will supply my place." + +Lothar was enchanted with this prospect, although he was, upon the +whole, more cool and reserved in his demeanour towards his brother at +this time than he had ever been before. He had found Thea in tears once +or twice during Bernhard's absence; for these tears he considered his +brother responsible, and not wholly without reason. + +"Now that is really a sensible idea of yours, Bernhard," said he. +"Thea, we will give charming entertainments. We must take good +care to have no more tears," he added in a low voice, meant for his +sister-in-law's ear alone. + +Herr von Rosen shook his head, and pronounced Thea still too young to +go out and to give entertainments without her husband, especially this +winter, when, in consequence of a cattle-plague in neighbouring Poland, +there was a strong _cordon militaire_ established in the vicinity to +keep guard over the frontier. + +"There are many young officers hereabouts now," he said, "and the +Schoenburgs and Lindenstadts have some young girls staying with them, so +that the feminine element is not wanting. There are balls and all kinds +of entertainments in the air, which my wife and I shall not always be +able to attend, although I wish with all my heart that Alma could enjoy +them all." + +"Well, if you cannot go, Thea can chaperone her; the greater the +gayety, the more frequent the balls, the more reason, it seems to me, +that Thea should not shut herself up. She owes it to her position not +to do so; and if her going out without me, young as she is, seems +unusual, why, we must remember that she is an unusual woman. Much that +would be very unbecoming in a Frau Miller or Frau Schmidt would be +quite fitting in the Countess Eichhof." + +Lothar entirely agreed with his brother upon this point, and all that +Herr von Rosen could do was to try to persuade the old Countess Eichhof +to spend this winter in the castle with Thea. + +Bernhard left home, after having made known far and wide that Castle +Eichhof was no longer closed to visitors, and the old Countess, who had +actually come to her daughter-in-law, soon followed him, as she had +accepted an invitation from a relative who lived in great splendour in +Dresden. She explained to Herr von Rosen, with many sighs and tears, +that she found it impossible to be only number two in a house where she +had so long held sole sway; she assured him that upon the whole Thea +was a dear child and could not help it, but her visitors showed such an +inconceivable lack of tact as constantly to make her conscious of the +great difference that there was between Castle Eichhof now and what it +had been formerly, and so on, until she exhausted Herr von Rosen's +patience, and he mutely assented to whatever she had to say and made no +more efforts to induce her to remain. + +Nor did Thea try to detain her. She was so proud and secure in the +possession of her little son that she was quite ready to undertake to +fulfil her social duties without any timidity, and she received with +extreme dignity the young officers, who of course hastened to avail +themselves of Bernhard's invitation to call at the castle. + +"Thea is absolutely famous," Lothar repeated incessantly to Werner, and +he was quite irritated that his friend did not join in his enthusiastic +praise of his sister-in-law, merely assenting by a cool nod of his +head, and even going less frequently to Eichhof. Lothar reproached him +with this, and yet was never in a good humour when Werner accompanied +him thither. For this man, usually so grave and silent, knew how to +introduce subjects of conversation that absorbed all Thea's interest. +He would become really talkative and brilliant, and, since the topics +under discussion generally had some reference to literature or art, +Lothar was soon bored, and felt himself quite _de trop_ and thrust out +in the cold. It was odd that Werner had lately seemed to have a perfect +talent for irritating Lothar, who often, nowadays, was very impatient +with his friend without any reasonable cause, for Werner's demeanour +towards him was not changed in any respect. + +One day Thea was seated in her bow-windowed room in full council with +the cook, the housekeeper, and the major-domo. The matter in hand was +the arrangements for an entertainment to be given the next day at +Eichhof, and Thea was availing herself of the experience of her trusty +retainers. She sat at a table with a sheet of paper before her, jotting +down various memoranda, and the three people stood by with grave faces, +evidently quite aware of the enormous responsibility resting upon their +shoulders. There had been a slight difference of opinion between the +housekeeper and her young mistress, and Thea had for the first time +asserted herself and carried her point with quiet firmness. She was so +much interested that she bestowed only a careless 'good-day' upon +Lothar, who entered the room and, seated in a low arm-chair, became +both spectator and auditor of the debate. He sat with his back towards +the window, so that the light fell full upon Thea. She wore a black +silk gown, with a profusion of rich white lace at her throat and +wrists, her sole ornament being a cross upon a broad, heavy golden +chain at her neck. The very simplicity of her dress set off the +delicate noble outline of her face, from which the large dark eyes, +beneath the finely-pencilled eyebrows, were now gazing with a gentle, +kindly expression upon the servants who were receiving her orders. + +"How beautiful she is!" thought Lothar, as he sat and looked at her. +"Bernhard is a fool to leave this woman here while he busies himself, +or thinks he busies himself, with politics in Berlin. To be sure, she +is an angel, and can do everything that she attempts, even to +representing her husband in his absence. But it is not right of him for +all that, and I should just like to know what she thinks of it. I +wonder whether she misses him much?" + +Thea now dismissed her people and turned to Lothar. "What! alone +again?" she asked, offering him her hand. "Has Herr von Werner repented +his promise to help us with the decoration of the ball-room?" + +"Oh, you never can count upon him," said Lothar; "he said he could not +possibly come with me, but would make his appearance later." + +"Well, then, let us go to the greenhouses and pick out what we want +from there." + +Half an hour afterwards Lieutenant Werner arrived. He did not follow +the young people to the greenhouses as the servant suggested, but +awaited their return in the bow-windowed room. Here he walked slowly +to and fro, paused for a few seconds before Thea's writing-table, and +then went into the bow-window, where stood her low chair and her +embroidery-frame. He passed his hand over her work with a touch that +was like a caress, then suddenly turned away and stood at the window, +leaning his forehead against the glass pane. Here he remained +motionless until Lothar and Thea entered the room. + +"Oh, I am so glad you are come!" the Countess exclaimed upon seeing +him. "Now we will go immediately to the ball-room to arrange the plants +and the table for the cotillon favours." + +"Ah, we are to have a cotillon, then?" said Werner. + +"Yes; this is to be a dinner followed by a dance, after the old Eichhof +fashion. My husband writes me that our section of country is actually +falling into undeserved disrepute from a social point of view, and he +makes it my bounden duty to do the honours of the castle as well as +possible. I pray you, therefore, to do all that you can to help me to +entertain the young officers from the frontier posts." + +Lothar and Werner arranged the pretty favours for the cotillon on a +satin cushion placed on the table for the purpose, while Thea disposed +little flowering plants around it. It all looked very bright and +fancifully gay. + +"I want it to be all ready by the afternoon," she said, "for my father +and sister are coming over to tea, and the dance is a surprise for +Alma." + +"It absolutely delights my soul to see you busy with anything so +frivolous as cotillon favours," said Lothar to Werner, who was just +arranging a refractory ribbon. + +"Do I weary you with all I give you to do?" asked Thea. + +Werner laughed. "For heaven's sake, my dear Countess, do not take me, +as your brother-in-law does, for a mere bookworm in uniform." + +"Not at all; I take you for a profound philosopher." + +"Greatly obliged, I'm sure; but really, Eichhof, I cannot see why I +should not like to unpack and arrange these pretty little things, or +why my books, which you so despise, should hinder me from winning some +of them in the cotillon." + +"I know how well you dance, and ride too, and that is just why I cannot +understand how you can read so much. When did you learn that habit?" + +"I learned it when my income would not allow of my passing much time +outside of my four walls." + +Lothar was silent, and Werner went on very composedly: "At the time of +the universal money-panic, after those years when gold seemed to be +lying about by millions in the streets, and when many a man, in +stooping to pick up what he fancied he saw, lost his own hard thalers +out of his pocket, I suddenly found my modest income reduced by +one-half. All the choice I had was either to make it suffice or to +leave the service, and as I was a soldier, and nothing but a soldier to +the very marrow of my bones, I got through." + +"Couldn't you give me a receipt for the process?" asked Lothar. + +Werner laughed. "The receipt is simple enough: 'Determine to do what +you must.'" + +"And then it was that you began to read?" said Thea. + +"Oh, I had tried somewhat before to fill up the gaps in a cadet's +education, but then it was that I began to read in earnest, for my +books had to indemnify me for so much else. Now that I have no longer +that reason for study, my taste leads me in the same direction. Did you +look through the book I sent you the other day, Countess?" + +Here they were again launched upon one of those confounded literary +topics that made Lothar feel his presence so superfluous. He gave a +vicious dig to the pin by which he was fastening a knot of ribbon to +the cushion, and then went and worked away among the flower-pots, +wishing fervently that Herr von Rosen would come and interrupt this +bookish talk, and altogether getting himself into a desperately bad +humour. + +When at last the carriage from Schoenthal drove up, he hurried out to +meet the guests. Thea observed for the first time this afternoon that +Lothar was certainly attentive to Alma; he devoted himself to her +exclusively, and no wonder, she looked so bright and pretty that it was +but natural that Lothar should be fascinated. + +Thea brought out Walter's last letter, from which she wished to read a +few extracts to her father. As she opened it, two photographs fell out +of the envelope and made the round of the table about which they were +sitting over a cup of afternoon tea. One was a late picture of Walter; +the other, which he asked to have returned to him, was Dr. Nordstedt. + +"A fine, earnest face," said Werner, looking at the latter. + +Lothar glanced at it over his friend's shoulder. "By Jove, that is a +beard!" he exclaimed. "Look, Alma: how do you like that?" + +He handed her the picture. She looked at it with a smile. "He has fine +eyes," she said, "but otherwise the picture does not please me. I +detest those huge beards." + +Lothar stroked and twisted his handsome blonde moustache, and Alma cast +a glance at him as if to compare the two heads,--heads so dissimilar +that there was absolutely no comparison between them. + +"Does Walter say nothing of the Hohensteins?" asked Herr von Rosen. +"Adela and her father have been two weeks now in Berlin." + +"Walter does not seem to have seen them," replied Thea; "he never +mentions them." + +"I should like to see how papa Hohenstein comports himself towards his +new relatives," said Lothar. + +"He does not comport himself towards them at all," Alma answered him. +"Adela wrote me that her father seems very well, and is very amiable to +everybody, except that he will neither hear nor see anything of the +Kohnheims, and if his affairs did not compel him to be in Berlin, he +would, owing to them, far rather never have gone there." + +"I am very curious with regard to Hugo's wife," said Lothar. "I really +never dreamed that he would make such a marriage. In the spring the +happy couple are to come to Rollin, because papa-in-law Kohnheim +absolutely must see his daughter installed there as a noble chatelaine. +Aha! our part of the country is growing excessively interesting; we +have a Polish countess already, we are going to have a Jewess, and we +may hope shortly to have a third,--a Japanese." + +"Matters are bad enough," Herr von Rosen said, seriously, "when the +salvation from ruin of a young nobleman and of an ancient family must +be sought at the hand of a Jewish heiress." + +"Before resorting to such means it surely would be better to send a +bullet through one's brains," said Lothar. + +"Or to live within one's income," Herr von Rosen gravely corrected him. + +"Of course; and Hohenstein might have done so, since he was the only +son of a man who certainly some years ago possessed considerable +wealth." + +Herr von Rosen fixed his eyes earnestly upon Lothar for a moment, and +then said, "My dear Lothar, I think it can be done in every case. He +who has but little must rely solely upon that, and not try to build +himself a house of cards." + +A flush mounted to Lothar's forehead; he passed his hand through his +hair in some embarrassment, but said nothing. It seemed to him that +Herr von Rosen had laid special emphasis upon the word 'cards,' and it +awakened in his mind all kinds of disagreeable memories. + +"I am so sorry for the poor rich girl,--I mean Hugo Hohenstein's wife," +said Alma; "although, for Adela's sake, I cannot but be glad that +matters are to be arranged at Rollin." + +Lothar had conquered his embarrassment. "Nonsense!" he said. "The 'poor +rich girl' is my lady Baroness von Hohenstein, wears Parisian +toilettes, and will be quite content if you do not all treat her too +badly. Why, Rollin is being turned inside-out to make it worthy to +receive her. A regiment of tradesfolk are at work there, and the Rollin +wagons are rolling to and from the railroad station every day, +transporting the adornments of the cage that is to imprison the golden +bird." + +"Adela will be unhappy if much in Rollin is changed," said Alma. + +"Oh, Adela will be a lovely sister-in-law for the little Jewess; she is +not to be pitied so far as Adela is concerned," Lothar declared. + +"Most certainly not," said Thea. + +"Werner had taken no part in the discussion. He looked at his watch, +and rose to take leave. + +"I am seriously concerned about Lothar," said Herr von Rosen, when the +young officers had departed. "There are a couple of incorrigible +gamblers among the officers of the frontier posts, and it is reported +that Lothar lately played with them all night long." + +"But that would be horrible, papa," exclaimed Thea, "when he promised +Bernhard so faithfully that he would be prudent----" + +"He is too heedless!" + +"And yet such a dear good fellow withal," Thea said, affectionately, +inwardly resolving to entreat Werner on the morrow to have an eye upon +her brother-in-law while Bernhard was away. + +"Yes, he is an amiable fellow, but thoroughly untrustworthy," Herr von +Rosen rejoined. + +Alma said nothing, but her cheek flushed and paled. She knew her father +was right, but then she could find so many reasons for excusing Lothar. +Thea looked very grave and sad. She suspected how it stood with her +sister. She had honestly taken pains to know Lothar, and, although she +could not but be prepossessed by his frank amiability, she had arrived +at the conviction that he was wavering and uncertain in his views and +principles. She had not sufficient experience of life to judge whether +his character would ever become firm and stable, but with true feminine +instinct she suspected what she could not know, and felt instinctively +that it would cost her many an anxious fear to see her sister's +happiness intrusted to a man like Lothar. Often when Alma had +involuntarily betrayed her affection Thea had wished for an instant +that Lothar might reciprocate it, but the next moment she would gladly +have known them miles asunder. And on the morrow they were to dance +together in her house, and to enjoy all the opportunity for familiar +intercourse afforded by an entire evening! She wished Alma had fallen +in love with Werner, who she could see was attracted by her. Else why +should he come to Eichhof whenever Alma was there? And why else had she +so often surprised that dreamy expression in his eyes? Oh, if Alma had +only loved him! He was so trustworthy and honourable! Long after she +had retired for the night her thoughts were occupied with her sister +and the young officers. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + IN BERLIN. + + + +The chorus was intoning a grand polonaise, to the strains of which a +glittering train of splendidly-attired couples was marching around the +magnificent ball-room of the Berlin Opera-House. The Emperor's tall, +venerable figure was followed by the various royal pairs, at whose +approach the guests of the opera-ball stood in line and bowed +respectfully while the court passed by. Twice the royal party made the +circuit of the room, and then for the most part retired to their +private boxes. Meanwhile the glittering crowd of the public--the truly +mixed metropolitan society--thronged the foyers and public boxes. +Magnificent toilettes surged up and down the broad flight of steps that +to-night replaced the box usually appropriated to the court, and that +led down to the parquette, now floored over for the dancers, the number +of whom was still on the increase. At the head of these steps stood a +couple who had already been the subject of frequent remark. The +cavalier was a distinguished, aristocratic figure; the lady, unique in +air, with bright sparkling eyes and a bewitching smile upon her +delicately curved lips, wore a robe of sea-green satin, that suited +well the red gold of her abundant hair. + +"Count Bernhard Eichhof, the youngest member of the Reichstag, and Frau +von Wronsky," whispered one of the initiated to a guest from the +provinces. + +Count Bernhard Eichhof and Fran von Wronksy! How came it to pass that +her hand rested on his arm? How came it to pass that she was clever, +witty, amusing for all the rest of the world, and gentle, often humble, +always femininely delicate and reserved towards him alone? The one +manner perhaps explained the other. + +Certainly since the election it was Bernhard's duty to be civil to +Marzell Wronsky, and just as certainly it was the fact that Marzell's +wife attracted a throng of ardent admirers around her in the +metropolis, although she passed for a very cold beauty. None of the men +who worshipped at her shrine could boast of the least distinction +accorded them by her. It was said of her that she had witty, clever +words for all, but a heart for none, unless, indeed, her husband was +its fortunate possessor, as to which there was a great diversity of +opinion. This cold, haughty woman was meekness itself towards Bernhard. +He could not himself tell why it was, but he was never with her without +a conviction that she hid a warm, nay, a glowing heart beneath a coldly +composed exterior. + +Bernhard had believed himself justified in despising her. She had +endured his scorn without remonstrance, only showing him that she +suffered fearfully beneath it. He began to pity her, and the thought +that he had perhaps been too harsh towards her gradually gave way to +the conviction that there might be many reasons for a milder judgment +of her. He saw all the homage that was paid her here, and often heard +women in whose opinion he placed great confidence declare that her +conduct was always exemplary. At last he came to regard himself as an +insufferable prig, and decided that his manner towards the lady must +undergo a change. She was so grateful for every little attention from +him, while any such from others was received so coldly, that Bernhard +felt himself exalted to the position of her magnanimous protector. He +really desired to hear from herself the explanation of a dark point in +her past, about which, as he knew, all the world was in error. And thus +it came to pass that Count Bernhard Eichhof offered his arm to Frau von +Wronsky to conduct her about the opera-house, and to be conscious that +she was admired by everybody, and that he was envied of many. The +couple paused for a few minutes at the head of the steps, observing +those going and coming. + +"What exquisite toilettes!" said Julutta Wronsky, indicating with a +scarcely perceptible motion of her fan two ladies who were passing. +"This is an excellent post of observation." + +"Unfortunately, you cannot see the most exquisite toilette here, +madame," said a young officer who stood on the other side of her. + +She looked at him inquiringly. + +"You could only see that by standing opposite a mirror," the officer +said, with a meaning smile, stroking his moustache and scanning her +figure with a bold glance of admiration. + +Bernhard felt her hand rest somewhat more heavily on his arm, as she +replied, with a certain far-away look in her eyes which did not seem +even to see the young fellow, "It is a pity you cannot exercise your +talents in a milliner's shop, Herr von Dollen; that is the place for +mirrors and a certain kind of complimentary speeches." + +Herr von Dollen laughed rather constrainedly, and soon took his +departure, while Bernhard and Julutta descended the steps. + +"Dollen has had a lesson," said Bernhard, smiling. + +"I cannot endure that sort of compliment," Julutta replied, +impatiently,--instantly, however, bending her head slightly, while a +faint flush rose to her cheeks. + +"Forgive me," she whispered; "I forgot that you, very naturally, cannot +believe this of _me_." The words were uttered with no appearance either +of offence or of irony; there was only a slight vibration, as from +suppressed, painful emotion, audible in her voice. + +Bernhard looked at her. Her face wore the sweet, timid expression that +it was wont to assume for him alone. + +"Nay, madame," he said; "I can easily believe that the expression of +such coarse and impertinent admiration may well wound your pride." + +"I thank you," she rejoined, with a glance of fervid gratitude raised +for an instant to his face; "it would, however, have been but natural +for you to disbelieve in any genuine pride on my part." + +"If I had done so before, this winter would have convinced me of my +error," he replied, in a low voice, bending towards her. + +He saw her sudden blush; her breath came quicker and her lips quivered. +She said nothing, but she looked at him again, and in her eyes there +was so much gratitude and happiness that Bernhard was involuntarily +touched. Suddenly her hand trembled, and the blush on her cheek faded, +to be succeeded by a mortal pallor. + +"Let us go," she murmured, pausing abruptly and turning from the +direction in which they were walking; "for God's sake take me away from +here!" + +"What is the matter?" + +"Good heavens, do you not see?" She took her hand from his arm and +tried to penetrate alone the crowd which had gathered closely about the +dancers. Bernhard looked around him,--a few steps off stood a tall, +rather good-looking man, in the dress of a civilian, watching the +dancers. Bernhard recognized the dark, sharply-defined features, the +lofty brow, and the thin hair brushed away from the temples. He knew +now why Julutta Wronsky had turned and fled. For an instant he +hesitated; then he followed her. Just as he reached her she covered her +eyes with her hand. "I am so dizzy," she moaned; "the whole room is +turning round. Oh, my God!" + +She tottered and seemed about to fall. Bernhard supported her to the +foyer, where he found an armchair for her. Her hand trembled +perceptibly upon his arm; she shivered. He addressed no word to her; +she sank into the chair without speaking again, and, leaning back, half +closed her eyes. "Find my husband for me; we must go," she said, at +last. + +"You are ill. Let me bring you a glass of wine," he said, looking at +her marble-white face. She shook her head. + +"I cannot breathe here, now that I know----" Her lips quivered, and she +did not finish her sentence. Bernhard stood hesitating for a moment +beside her. + +"Go!" she entreated again. + +And he went to let Wronsky know that his wife had suddenly been taken +ill and wished to leave the hall. + +A quarter of an hour afterwards Bernhard was standing alone at the head +of the broad steps, looking listlessly down upon the surging crowd. The +stranger whom he had observed was no longer there; the Wronskys had +gone home. Bernhard thought the opera-ball rather stupid. + +"Aha! where is your beautiful companion?" asked Herr von Dollen, +suddenly appearing. + +"Gone home," Bernhard answered, rather brusquely. + +"Remarkable woman; cold and hard as an icicle, but piquante. You are +very intimate there, eh?" + +"Scarcely that. But the Wronskys are neighbours of ours." + +"Ah! then you really know something of them, and can tell me about the +lady's former marriage. They say it was short and unhappy, but no one +seems to know whether she is a widow or a _divorcee_. She never alludes +to her past----" + +"I do not know why you should suppose her to have made an exception in +my case, Herr von Dollen," Bernhard interrupted him, with some +irritation. + +"Ah! _pardon_, I only thought that perhaps you knew----" + +"I know nothing," Bernhard briefly rejoined. He was not in a pleasant +mood, and soon after left the ball. + +As he was passing through the gateway, he suddenly heard himself called +by name. + +"_Vraiment, c'est Monsieur de Eikhoff_," said a harsh, grating voice +that Bernhard seemed to have heard before. He turned and confronted the +stranger. + +"Ah, _enchante_, charmed to see you, _mon cher ami_; an unexpected +meeting." + +"Most unexpected, Herr von Moehazy," Bernhard said, coldly, touching his +hat, and apparently overlooking the stranger's outstretched hand. The +latter took no notice of this oversight, however, but continued, in his +grating voice and in German, spoken with a strong foreign accent,-- + +"Are you, too, tired of the ball? They say we are going too soon, the +height of gayety has not yet been reached. _A propos_, do you make a +long stay in Berlin?" + +"So long as the Reichstag is in session. And you?" Bernhard asked, with +sudden interest. "Shall you stay for the Carnival?" + +"Heaven, or whatever other powers there be, forbid! Berlin is too +provincial, although it has made some progress of late years. I come +from Paris, and am on my way to St. Petersburg." + +An expression of relief passed across Bernhardt face: "Ah? Allow me to +wish you a pleasant winter." And he turned to go. + +"_O ca, Herr von Eikhoff!_" Herr von Moehazy called after him; "I will +not detain you if you are expected at a rendezvous!" He laughed, and +Bernhard made a gesture of impatience. "Pardon, but I should like to +learn something of a lady whom perhaps you know." + +"I can hardly have anything to tell of a lady whom _you_ inquire for," +Bernhard said, sharply, while a flush rose to his forehead. + +But Herr von Moehazy was not easily disconcerted. "Ah! pardon, I know +you are _un jeune homme vertueux_; but my question refers to a lady of +position, a Frau von---- Ah, what is her name at present?" He took out +a note-book and turned over the leaves, while Bernhard, agitated by +conflicting emotions, stood rooted as by a spell to the spot, instead +of turning his back upon the man at once. + +"Ah, here it is," said Herr von Moehazy,--"Frau Julutta Wronsky." And he +looked at Bernhard again. "Do you know her? and could you tell me where +to find her? It is merely for _un petit amusement sans consequence_." + +"You can look for the name in the directory," replied Bernhard, well +knowing that 'Wronsky' could not be found in it. + +"You do not know her, then? But, _parbleu_! you did know her, +_surement_. Ah, I must take you into confidence; the story is very +piquant." + +"I regret, Herr Moehazy, that I have not a moment to spare at present. +Let me advise you to search the directory, and if you do not find the +name there you may conclude that the lady is not in Berlin." + +He jumped into his carriage and drove to his hotel. + +"What will he do?" was the question that filled his mind, "and what +_can_ he do? He can certainly destroy the social position, and perhaps +the very existence, of this woman, wretch that he is! But he must be +prevented; he must!" He suddenly bethought himself and took himself to +task. + +"What business is it all of mine? I am very sorry for the woman, but it +is none the less true that she went wrong, and must now bear the +consequences, which may perhaps ruin her, who knows? I cannot prevent +it; and, indeed, when I remember everything, I cannot even excuse her. +And yet----" + +The carriage stopped at his hotel. + +In his room he found a letter from Thea, describing the dance at +Eichhof. He read it with thoughts elsewhere. It all seemed like child's +play, whilst here in Berlin there might shortly be enacted one of those +tragedies which now and then disturb the smooth surface of society. He +saw before him the unsuspicious husband, from whose eyes the veil was +suddenly torn; the guilty woman, who had vainly tried to atone for the +sin of her youth; the vile betrayer--oh, here were the same parts +played in so many dramas, but each of these performers wore a face +familiar to Bernhard. This husband, the happiness of whose life was +perhaps to be annihilated at a blow, had been his schoolmate; he had +exchanged friendly words with this woman--no, he would not think of the +wife, but of the deceived husband,--only of him; and for the sake of +this companion of his boyhood--for the husband's sake--the thought of +this drama filled him with horror. Must he not try to avert its +fulfilment? He believed that he must do so, and for the husband's +sake alone; and whenever through the night the image of the pale, +golden-haired woman intruded upon his thoughts, he thrust it from him. +She must be sacrificed to his sense of justice in his thoughts, if +not in reality. "Not for her,--she does not deserve it,--but for her +husband, I must try to see this Moehazy once more, and in some way render +him harmless. First, however, I must speak with her; I must clearly +understand the matter, and consult with her as to the best measures for +her protection." + +With her! Yes; the indirect ways of the heart and of the devil are +marvellous indeed. They led Count Bernhard Eichhof the next morning to +Frau von Wronsky's boudoir! + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + REVELATIONS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. + + * * * * * + + +"I did not love him, but I consented to be his wife. I loved no one +except my father, and even he was more of an abstraction than a reality +to me, for I saw him but seldom, and scarcely ever talked with him. He +was always away from home, and I was left alone with my French +governess at the lonely country-house in Russian Poland. Nevertheless I +loved the being that my fancy had created, to which I had lent my +father's form and name, little as it really resembled him. It was, +therefore, not at all difficult for me, in order to save him from ruin, +to promise to be the wife of a handsome man who had presented me with a +_parure_ of diamonds. I was, besides, weary of my quiet life, and +longed to see something of the world of which I read in books. They +told me that for political reasons my future husband was obliged to +preserve a certain incognito in Russia, and that therefore our marriage +must take place shortly and privately. + +"I thought this very romantic, and packed my trunk--which was but +scantily furnished--and got into the travelling-carriage, full of happy +dreams of the future. The marriage ceremony was performed in the chapel +of a castle which was entirely unknown to me. + +"Thus I became the wife of Josef von Moehazy, and my father retrieved +his fortune with the money paid him by my husband. I had been sold like +a chattel, but I was such a perfect child that I saw nothing degrading +in the transaction, but was glad to have been of use to my father. + +"We went to Paris; Herr von Moehazy purchased exquisite toilettes for +me, since I did not know how to select them myself, and engaged a +French maid for me. + +"Standing before a huge mirror in the Hotel Royal, I first discovered +that I looked well, and the same evening I was told, also for the first +time, that I was beautiful. From this day I continually contemplated +myself in the looking-glass, and Herr von Moehazy rubbed his hands and +told me I 'exceeded his expectations.' + +"My expectations were also exceeded. I had not imagined the world so +bright and merry, and if I had dreamed of love it had seemed to me that +its home would be found in some quiet garden among blossoming roses, +rather than in a ball-room with gas-lights and artificial flowers and +finely-dressed people; but I soon perceived that the garden of roses +existed for me only in my dreams, and that I must accommodate myself to +the ball-room. + +"Herr von Moehazy loved travel and variety. From Paris we went to Cairo, +then to Naples, and thence still farther. I saw new countries and new +people, and learned that there are two forces that influence the world +and mankind,--money, and the attraction between man and woman which +they call love. + +"There were days when life did not seem to me worth the living, only to +repeat the same experience,--days when all that I saw others engaged in +wearied and disgusted me. But these were only passing shadows, +sentimental emotions, deserving only, Herr von Moehazy thought, of a +compassionate shrug. On the whole, I liked the splendour and the +pleasure reigning everywhere in my world, and would not willingly have +foregone them. We returned to Paris when the chaotic bustle of the +great Exposition was at its height, and went thence to Trouville. We +had charming apartments, comprising the larger half of a pretty villa. +In the other half a couple of rooms were rented to a young German, whom +I sometimes saw sitting on a little side-balcony near our veranda. +Sometimes, too, I met him on the shore, and, as we lived beneath the +same roof, we bowed to each other. At last, when driving one day on the +Corso, it so befell that he was introduced to me. There was a certain +distinguished air of cool reserve about him that struck me, because it +was to me quite a novel characteristic in a man. I soon found that he +differed entirely from the men whom I was accustomed to see in Herr von +Moehazy's society, and although, in spite of his youth, he inspired me +with a kind of diffidence, I nevertheless felt great confidence in him. +I often thought that if some terrible accident were to happen where we +were, all the other men of our society would take care of their own +safety, but that Herr von Eichhof would think of me because I was the +weakest. I believed he would do this, although he never paid me the +smallest attention, much less made love to me, as did so many of the +others. I regretted extremely that he evidently rather avoided us, and +I told him so one day. I cannot remember his reply exactly, but I know +that it made a deep impression upon me. Perhaps it was less his words +than his manner that told me that he disapproved of our mode of life +and did not enjoy our society. + +"I ought, I suppose, to have felt insulted, but instead I only felt +sad. I certainly began at this time to be less gay and more and more +thoughtful. + +"One day I thought that Herr von Moehazy paid very marked attentions to +a lady of our acquaintance. I was by no means strait-laced on this +point, and it did not pain me at all to be neglected by Herr von +Moehazy, but my pride revolted at the thought that his neglect might be +observed by others, and that I might be thought an object of +compassion. An unpleasant scene between this lady and myself ensued, +and I imperatively demanded of Herr von Moehazy that he should take me +away from Trouville. + +"At first he laughed, then he ridiculed me, and finally he angrily +refused to listen to my request. I insisted upon my demand; he +persisted in his refusal. The words we exchanged grew more and more +sharp and bitter, until at last he uttered the dreadful revelation that +influenced my whole future life, and separated me in my own eyes from +everything which my instinct told me was good and noble. + +"'You have no right to demand this of me, for you are not my wife!' + +"I staggered back, and stared at him as though I could not understand +the words he spoke. + +"'You are not legally my wife,' he repeated once more. + +"Then the calm of despair seemed to take possession of me. I did not +faint, I did not even burst into tears. I approached Herr von Moehazy +and ordered him to give me a thorough explanation. Perhaps I still +entertained a slight hope that he had only meant to terrify me. + +"If this were so, that hope was annihilated in a moment. The priest by +whom I had supposed myself married was a friend of Herr von Moehazy's, +and had but worn the priestly garb over his uniform. I had been +fearfully betrayed, and--my father had known the truth. When Herr von +Moehazy told me this I lost consciousness. + +"When I came to myself I heard talking and laughing in the next room. I +could distinguish Moehazy's voice and the laughter of the woman who had +been the cause of our quarrel. I sprang up and rushed out of my chamber +and down the stairs, not knowing what I did, possessed by the one +thought that I must leave the house, that I would rather die than ever +again set eyes upon the man who had deceived me so terribly. + +"At the foot of the staircase I met Herr von Eichhof. My disordered +appearance probably struck him, for he stood still and addressed me. My +teeth chattered as in a fever-fit; instead of answering him, I covered +my face with my hands and burst into tears. + +"'You are in no condition to go out,' he said, taking my hand; and his +voice sounded so kind and gentle that I let him detain me for an +instant as he tried to persuade me to go up-stairs again. + +"'It is your duty to stay with your husband,' he said, 'even +although----' + +"I extricated myself, and in an access of disgust and aversion the +words escaped my lips, 'He is not my husband!' + +"Herr von Eichhof started, then turned silently away, and ascended the +stairs without turning once to look at me. I stared after him until he +had vanished. I was not in his eyes worthy of another glance. I knew +it, and I knew that his judgment would be echoed by every one. I left +the house almost mechanically. + +"Outside it was growing dark. I pulled a black lace shawl that I had on +over my head and passed on quickly, without an aim, without a resolve, +desiring nothing, caring for nothing except to leave the house that had +so lately been my home. + +"Suddenly I found myself on the shore. It was a lonely spot, and I +heard the roar of the ocean and saw the moon rise out of it like a +fiery red ball. I went on until the waves broke almost at my feet, and +I thought how it would be best for me to go on and on thus until the +waters rolled over my head. Then all would be over; the sea would look +unchanged, and on shore no one would miss me. In my thoughts death +seemed far easier and better than life. Suddenly two points of light +gleamed on the water,--a dark shadow glided over the waves across the +wake of the moon, and the tones of a woman's glorious voice singing +fell upon my ear. It sang a song that I knew and loved; the voice +seemed to allure my thoughts and take them captive. I listened first, +and finally I sang too. I cannot understand now how such a thing was +possible at such a moment, but I did it. Some inward impulse urged me +to unite my voice with those lovely tones. Perhaps the people in the +boat would remember my voice after it was silent forever. I would have +liked to leave some kindly memory behind me. And as I sang I thought of +my lonely childhood, my ruined and desolate youth, and unutterable +compassion for myself overcame me, and as the song died away I burst +into a flood of burning tears. + +"I went back from the shore. Life can be thrown away when it is hated +or despised, but not when it is pitied. + +"The singer had ceased; but the sound of voices came to me across the +water. I could distinguish no words, but it was the sound of kindly +human speech, and I began to wonder if some voice might not speak +tenderly to me at some future day; the world was so large, surely there +was some quiet corner in it for me. + +"I remembered to have heard that a famous songstress, who had retired +from a public career on account of her health, and who devoted her +powers to the training of other voices, was among the visitors at +Trouville, and that I had also heard that she was to leave on the +following morning. + +"The thought occurred to me that it was her voice that had so attracted +me, and with it came the determination to go to her, to tell her of my +utter misery, and to beg her to grant me her protection. Her voice had +called me back to life. I would ask her to decide my future fate. +Perhaps she would employ me as her maid, perhaps she would think my +voice worth training. I hurried on. There was still, then, a 'perhaps,' +still a hope for me----" + +Here the manuscript ended, and when Bernhard Eichhof had finished +reading it he still held it in his hand, and his eyes were riveted upon +the written page, as though it could afford him further intelligence. +And yet he knew what must follow. He knew that Julutta's hopes were +fulfilled, that she left Trouville with that same singer and came to +Germany, where her distant cousin, Marzell Wronsky, met her beneath the +roof of her protectress and married her. + +At last he laid aside the sheets that she had given him at his visit of +the morning, and sighed deeply. "Poor, poor creature!" he murmured. "I +judged her too harshly; and she is so gentle, so humble to me in spite +of the pain I have given her." + +He remembered how pale and ill she had looked to-day. The event of the +previous evening had evidently agitated and distressed her fearfully. +And yet when Bernhard had offered to seek out Moehazy, to induce him to +pursue his journey immediately, she had not hastened to accept his aid. + +"You must first know the story of my youth," she said, "and then decide +whether I am worthy of your help. I could not trust myself to tell you +this story; but if you will read it--since my marriage I have indulged +the idle practice of keeping a diary, and that it might be complete I +have prefaced it with my sad story. No human eye save my own was ever +to rest upon these pages; but I make an exception in your case, because +fate has already willed that you should have some knowledge of my +secret." + +In this wise had Bernhard come into possession of these pages. "Fate +has dealt cruelly with her," he thought, "and I have added to its +cruelty wherever I could. Oh, I have much to atone for!" + +He paced his room to and fro in some agitation, then consulted the +paper for the list of names of new arrivals, among which he had already +seen Moehazy's address, and, after re-reading it, tossed the paper aside +and ordered his carriage. + +Half an hour later a servant handed Herr von Moehazy the Count's card. +Herr von Moehazy was wont to rise about noon, and was therefore still +wrapped in his silken Turkish dressing-gown when his unexpected visitor +was announced. As the visitor followed close upon his card, there was +nothing for it but to prepare for his reception as best he might by +tightening the silken cord and tassels around his waist. + +"Excessively delighted to see you. Quite an unexpected honour," he +called out, as Bernhard hastily entered the room and closed the door +behind him; "but I must beg you to excuse this." And he indicated his +brilliant habiliments. + +"I have a very special reason for my visit, Herr von Moehazy," Bernhard +replied curtly, without accepting an offered seat. "You asked yesterday +for a lady who is held in high esteem in society here. I know that you +had certain relations with this lady, which, by a monstrous deceit, as +you know, you----" + +"Sir!" + +"I am ready to answer for my words,--which relations you established by +a monstrous deceit." + +"I must pray you to use less violent language!" + +"I must pray you to hear me out!" Bernhard said, in a raised voice, and +with flashing eyes. "From what you said yesterday, I cannot but suppose +that you intend to compromise this lady, and to destroy the peace of a +happy home." + +"Not an idea of anything of the kind," Herr von Moehazy calmly remarked. +But Bernhard had grown so eager in his part of chivalrous defender that +he neither heard nor heeded. + +"I am come to you now to give you an opportunity of leaving Berlin this +very day, if you would not be so insulted by me as to make a hostile +meeting between us inevitable." + +Herr von Moehazy was speechless for a moment, staring by turns at +Bernhard's tall, threatening figure, as it stood between him and the +door, and at a singular object which the young man had taken out as he +spoke, and which strongly resembled a braided leather riding-whip. +Bernhard's eyes were riveted upon him, and the singular object quivered +meanwhile in his hand. But Herr von Moehazy was not bewildered for +longer than a second, and, putting the entire length of the table +between Bernhard and himself, he suddenly threw back his head and burst +into a fit of laughter. + +"Delicious!" he cried. "But, my dear Herr von Eichhof, all this could +have been arranged very much more comfortably. I think your Berlin so +insupportably tedious that I should certainly have left it to-day or +to-morrow, and because I find it all so tiresome, I thought it might +possibly have amused me to see that lady again; although, I assure you, +she is far too indifferent to me to make it worth while to run the risk +of a bullet or a sabre-cut for a sight of her. I am rejoiced to learn +that she has found so devoted a friend in you. I--ha! ha!--I--'tis so +excellent a joke that it more than atones to me for not seeing her +again. A thousand thanks, Herr von Eichhof!" + +Bernhard had grown pale. He had not looked for this turn of affairs, +and it was his part now to be bewildered for a moment. + +"You are as coarse as you are cowardly," he ground out between his +teeth, coming up to the table, whereat Herr von Moehazy thought best to +bluster a little. + +"No need of such ugly words, sir," he said, with a forced smile. + +"Will you leave Berlin to-day?" Bernhard insisted. + +"_Mais oui, mon cher_; I see no reason why I should remain here." + +"I should have no more difficulty in finding you to-morrow than +to-day!" Bernhard exclaimed, with a glance of menace, as he turned +towards the door. + +Herr von Moehazy came out from behind his table. "Oh, you have nothing +further to fear!" he cried, as Bernhard opened the door. "I dislike to +disturb the amusements of others. My remembrances to Frau Julutta +Wronsky!" And he laughed once more. + +Bernhard slammed the door behind him. + +Julutta now had nothing to fear, and Bernhard and she had one more +secret, one more memory, in common. + +Herr von Moehazy left Berlin the same day, and an hour later a note from +Bernhard informed Frau von Wronsky that there was no reason why she +should absent herself from the opera on the plea of illness, as she had +resolved to do in case Moehazy did not leave town. + +She appeared in her box, and when Bernhard paid his respects to her +between the acts he read in every glance of her fine eyes the gratitude +that she could not otherwise express in her husband's presence. + +Hugo von Hohenstein sat in Councillor Kohnheim's box opposite, and his +opera-glass was scarcely, during the _entr'acte_, turned away from his +_vis-a-vis_. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + THE CONSEQUENCES BEGIN TO APPEAR. + + +Lothar was sitting in a rocking-chair by the window of his room in the +officers' quarters and gazing after the blue rings of the smoke from +his cigar. His thoughts were far, however, from being as placid as his +attitude, and his eyes would now and then turn from the airy rings to +various papers tossed in a confused heap upon his table. At last he +threw away his cigar and took up these papers. + +"Monstrous!" he muttered; "the man must be insane! How the deuce could +I ever use one hundred marks' worth of soap and perfumes? The bill, to +be sure, dates from last year. I can't prove that it's incorrect, +but I believe it to be so. And here again, three hundred marks for +gloves,--now that's an utter impossibility,--and the Berlin tailor +insists, too, that he has never been paid. The scoundrels are rolling +in the money they steal from the pockets of us poor lieutenants." + +Then he remembered that he had the day before ordered another large +supply of gloves and perfumery, for in that 'den of a garrison' there +was nothing to be had fit to use. And for a moment he really reflected +upon some method of regulating his finances. In fact, it was all a mere +bagatelle not worth mentioning, but then the 'scoundrels' dunned so +insolently, and it would really be refreshing to be rid of them all. +Werner had relieved Lothar of his large gambling debt, and the latter +had had a lucky evening at play shortly afterward, and had repaid his +friend every farthing. What if he should have recourse to his friend in +his brother's absence? But then the fellow was so priggish. He had +lectured him when he went to pay him because he had won the money at +cards. As if there were any positive harm in cards! To be sure, he had +never played in Berlin, there were so many other ways of amusing one's +self there. But here in this 'infernal den' what else was there to do +but play cards, unless one was a tiresome bookworm like Werner? And +from his vexation with his bills Lothar passed into quite a fit of +irritation against Werner, and decided that he certainly would ask no +new favour from him. + +"Haberdasher, perfumer, tailor & Co. may wait," he decided. "Why in +thunder did they let their bills run on so?" + +A knock at the door interrupted his disagreeable reflections, and upon +his "Come in," a very unexpected visitor appeared,--Hugo von +Hohenstein. He had come to pass a few days in Rollin to superintend the +alterations there, and would not go back to Berlin, he said, without +"hunting up" his old friend and comrade. He laughed as he noticed the +pile of bills upon the table. + +"Why not follow my example?" he cried, tapping Lothar on the shoulder. +"Marry a daughter of Israel with heaps of money. 'Tis the only +salvation for a poor lieutenant, and a very delightful salvation +besides, upon my honour! The young Baroness von Hohenstein, in spite of +the _nee_ Kohnheim, is a model of high-bred elegance, and our +apartments and our equipage are quite perfect. Oh, absolutely +aristocratic, I can tell you! As for Rollin, I am turning it into an +El-Dorado. You would hardly recognize it." + +"What does your father say to it all?" asked Lothar, who with all his +levity could hardly bring himself to treat his former comrade with the +old genuine cordiality. + +Hugo shrugged his shoulders. "Since my governor no longer lives at +Rollin, I see no reason why I should consult his taste, especially as +it seems likely at present that I shall seldom have the pleasure of +seeing him; that little witch Adela has turned his head with her high +and mighty ideas. Fortunately, he was not himself when the bombshell +exploded in the midst of us, and he could do nothing to prevent my +arranging my affairs as seemed to me best. But now when he is perfectly +well again and ought to be reasonable, he scolds and rages at my +marriage." + +"Then the reports are true? I had heard something of this----" + +"Of course they are true, and it is all Fraeulein Adela's doing. She has +the governor absolutely in leading-strings. He has lately refused to +see me." + +"But what will he do?" + +"Oh, Fraeulein Adela has arranged all that. Unfortunately, she has a +small income of her own, which was not lost in the universal crash, and +which makes her independent of me, or I could soon bring her to terms." + +"But that seems to me to be very fortunate for her, and for you +too----" + +"Hm! That's according to circumstances. I have not sufficient +influence; people will talk, and it's deuced disagreeable to be at odds +with the old man. It's all that witch's doing." + +"Adela is a deuce of a girl!" + +"She was always a good-for-nothing hoyden, but I never supposed that +she would so meddle in business matters and take such an obstinate +stand. Fancy the old man's writing to me that he was quite willing to +accept everything from her, but that he would take nothing from me!" + +Lothar shook his head. He was wavering between feelings of +old-comradeship and the involuntary disgust with which Hugo's conduct +and talk inspired him. + +"Well, let's have done with these cursed matters!" cried Hohenstein. "I +am so glad to see you that I must crack a bottle of champagne with you. +Have you one here?" + +"No, not here; but let us go to the Casino: our dinner will be served +in half an hour." + +"True, we are in the provinces; my Berlin stomach can hardly +accommodate itself to these mid-day meals. But to-day, if you will have +me, I'll dine with you, and drive from here to the station. I must go +back to Berlin by the night-train." + +"I shall be glad to introduce you as my guest to our mess," Lothar +said, more courteously than cordially. "Let us wait here, then, for the +half-hour." + +"Agreed. And now tell me all about the people hereabouts, and in +especial how your sister-in-law fares at Eichhof. You go there a good +deal, eh?" This question was accompanied by an odd sidelong glance. + +Lothar gave various particulars with regard to his comrades and the +county gentry. + +"Of course I am frequently at Eichhof," he concluded, without further +mention of Thea. + +"Hm! And what are you doing at Eichhof?" Hohenstein asked. + +"I go to see my brother's wife," Lothar answered, with an air of cold +reserve. + +"And to make love to her?" Hohenstein said, with a laugh. + +The colour mounted to Lothar's forehead; his blue eyes gleamed almost +black for a moment. + +"I beg you to refrain from expressions which I regard as insulting," he +said, angrily. + +"Oh! ah!" said the other. "I had no idea that you would fire up so at +an innocent jest. For the matter of that, your brother Bernhard's views +on such matters are not so provincial; he is making furious love to a +certain blonde lady from these parts." + +"Bah! such stuff as is called 'making love' in Berlin society," Lothar +said, depreciatingly. + +Hohenstein looked at him in his half-sneering, half-malicious way. "Ah, +you fancy you understand it better here in the country. Well, well, in +spite of that, I can assure you that Bernhard understands it too, and +that Frau Julutta Wronsky is an admirable teacher." + +"You would not suggest that he is actually making love to that woman?" +Lothar said, with a shrug, and a struggle to preserve an appearance of +indifference. + +"I suggest nothing; I only mention what I have seen and heard." + +"And that is?" + +"That is, that friend Bernhard is daily seen riding with Frau von +Wronsky in the Thiergarten; that he is her inseparable cavalier at +every ball and party; and that, last though not least, he very nearly +fought a duel upon her account,--would have fought it undoubtedly had +not his opponent preferred to make his escape----" + +"Nonsense, Hugo! Bernhard is much too sensible." + +"Ha! ha! Why, what a country bumpkin you are become, Lothar! Well, it +is really of no consequence whether you believe it or not. The duel I +know all about from a perfectly trustworthy source. The occupant of the +next room to that belonging to the gentleman in question, who was no +other, in fact, than the lady's first husband, is a business friend of +my father-in-law's, and knows Bernhard quite well. He could not help +hearing a part of the conversation in the next room, for Bernhard must +have roared like a lion." + +Lothar rummaged among his belongings and tossed everything into +confusion. He looked for his gloves, which he had just thrust into his +pocket, and locked up his cap, to begin to search for it immediately +afterwards. Evidently his hands were as hurriedly and uncertainly +employed as were his thoughts. Hohenstein watched him narrowly, while a +smile of scornful superiority played about the corners of his mouth. + +"Do you remember my prophecies with regard to the Wronsky?" he asked. +"I tell you they have been most brilliantly fulfilled. She is making a +_furor_, and Bernhard has enviers enough to satisfy the vainest of men. +A handsomer couple cannot be imagined." + +Lothar tore one of his bills into minute fragments; Hohenstein leaned +back in his chair and contemplated him with the same sensation with +which a heartless boy watches the flutterings of the butterfly that he +has just impaled on a pin. + +"You know that woman was never to my taste," said Lothar, "and I hope +that Bernhard's taste also is sufficiently good to see that Thea is a +hundred times the more beautiful of the two. There cannot be a moment's +doubt upon that score." + +Hohenstein observed that taste was a matter which it was useless to +discuss. As meanwhile the time had arrived for the Casino, they left +the room together, Lothar's irritated mood giving Hohenstein further +opportunity for the play of his sarcastic humour. + +They found a larger party than usual assembled at the Casino, for some +comrades from the next garrison and several officers from the border +posts were present. After dinner there was a bowl of punch, around +which they sat until dark; and then, since they had begun the evening +together, they resolved to finish it in the same way. A second bowl was +brewed, tables were arranged for play, and the entire company took +their places at these. + +Hohenstein was still present, since his train did not leave until after +midnight. Whist and ombre not being to his taste, however, he proposed +a game of faro. "Just a quiet little game," he said, "to make matters +rather more lively." + +Werner, who had just finished a rubber at whist, came up to Lothar, and +said, "Will you not take my place at that table? I see you are not yet +engaged, and I want to go home early to-night." + +"No," said Lothar, who had taken more punch than was good for him, and +whose irritable mood had gradually given place to one of noisy +merriment. "No, I couldn't think of it. If you are tired of whist, come +and play faro with us." + +"You know I never play faro," Werner replied, and then added, in a low +tone, "and neither ought you to play it. You never have any luck, my +dear Eichhof, and----" + +"Nevertheless, I shall do as I please," Lothar rejoined haughtily. + +Werner bit his lips to suppress an angry retort. He saw that Lothar +was hardly responsible for his words or manner, and he therefore only +looked him steadily in the face, and said, "I have _warned_ you, my +dear Eichhof." + +He then left the window-recess, whither he had withdrawn Lothar, and +rejoined his whist-party, but without losing sight of his friend. +Lothar, however, seemed to have a run of luck, and won repeatedly. + +At last the game of whist was over, and Werner, who was weary, tried +once more to induce Lothar to leave with him. But he soon saw that he +must be given up to his fate, and accordingly left the Casino without +him. + +"I knew I should have no influence over him," he thought; "and this +fresh proof of it that I have had to-night makes my departure from this +place easier. Easier?" He smiled sadly. "Was there any choice left me? +I owed it to myself, and---- It is by a fortunate dispensation of +Providence that I am enabled to go so soon." + +He walked slowly along the moonlit street; his footsteps echoed firmly +and regularly through the silence of the night, and straight and clear +before his mind lay the path that duty required him to tread. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + AN EVENTFUL DAY. + + +The next day was Sunday. + +Werner stood at the church door, looking down the road from Eichhof, +along which Thea's carriage was wont to come at this hour. + +To-day it did not appear. The tones of the organ, heard through the +open door, died away at last, and Werner entered. + +There were none of his comrades there except a young lieutenant, who +had been absent from the garrison the day before, and who could, of +course, know nothing of the events of the previous evening. Werner +hesitated whether or not to look up Lothar after church, but, seeing +the curtains before his windows still closed, he decided not to disturb +him. As he left the church and walked out into the clear winter +sunshine, his mood was very grave, almost solemn. + +"I will ride to Eichhof and take leave of Countess Thea," he thought. +"I can do so calmly now, without betraying myself; and the sooner it is +over the better." A quarter of an hour later he was riding along the +broad Eichhof road. + +Thea, sitting in the bow-window, saw him coming. Her cheeks did not +flush, her heart beat no faster, as she recognized him. In her pure +unconsciousness of self she had not a shadow of a suspicion of this +man's sentiments towards her. Her first thought was, "How strange that +he should know that Alma is coming here again at noon!" And then she +took up the letter which she had just received and read before +recognizing Werner riding along the road. Was there really nothing more +in it than the few hasty words she had just read? was this all the +answer from Bernhard to the two long letters, filled with every detail +that could interest him, that she had written to her husband? Of course +he must be very busy, his thoughts entirely occupied with the +proceedings of the Reichstag, and his time with his social duties. But +she had so longed for some heartsome words from him; she missed him so +terribly, and she would so gladly have had some little share in his +present life, even although she were so far away from him. She would so +much have liked to know whom he saw most, and what chiefly occupied +him. She had asked him a hundred questions, but for all he had but a +brief indifferent answer. She had often pressed Bernhard's letters to +her lips, but to-day she could not,--something cold and strange seemed +breathing upon her from these few lines: she was chilled. Yes, she had, +she knew, perceived the same thing in all of Bernhard's letters lately, +but what it was she could not tell, she could not explain. + +For a moment she had forgotten the approaching guest, and her sad eyes, +half veiled in tears, saw only the leafless branches outside her +window, now glittering with snow. Not until her glance fell upon the +road did she remember Werner, and she blushed, for she feared that if +he found her sad, and with a letter from her husband in her hand, he +might suspect the cause of her melancholy mood. Therefore she hurriedly +thrust the letter into her work-table. When Lieutenant von Werner +entered, she arose and calmly and kindly offered him her hand. + +"I am come to take my leave of you," he said, and there was a slight +tremor in the voice usually so firm and clear. "I am ordered to the +military school at S----; and, as I shall be excessively busy during +the next few days, I thought I would employ my Sunday leisure in paying +a farewell visit to Eichhof." + +Thea looked at him surprised, and almost alarmed. "Good heavens, so +suddenly!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea that you expected to be +transferred----" + +"I did not expect it, although I had asked for it. A happy combination +of circumstances has favoured me." + +"You wish to go away, then?" + +"I think this transfer is best for me," he replied, passing his hand +across his brow. Never in his life had he felt the atmosphere so +insufferably sultry and close as at this moment. + +"Oh, then I will not be sorry that you are transferred, grieved as I +must be for ourselves and for Lothar. Ah, if Bernhard were only at home +again! When you go Lothar will be left entirely to himself." + +The introduction of this subject restored Werner's self-possession. He +told Thea that he had become convinced of the impossibility of his +exercising any influence over Lothar, and that this certainty had added +to his desire to be ordered elsewhere. They were still discussing +Lothar, when the noise of carriage-wheels was heard, and Thea arose +with the words, "Ah, there comes my sister!" Werner, too, arose. His +broad forehead flushed crimson, for the moment had come in which he +must say farewell, and he knew that perhaps--yes, most probably--he was +alone with Thea for the last time in his life. He was not in a +condition to carry on an indifferent conversation with her any longer. + +"Let me say farewell to you now, madame," he said. "I have several +other visits to pay, and anything so painful as leave-taking should not +be unnecessarily prolonged." + +Thea looked up at him in startled wonder, and there was some +embarrassment in her voice as she asked him if he would not stay and +dine. + +But she knew as she spoke that he would not accept her invitation. Yes, +she saw it all; she knew now that he loved Alma, and that he wished to +avoid meeting her, since he saw plainly that his affection was not +returned. Filled with compassion and sympathy for him, she held out to +him both her hands, and said, in the firm conviction that his heart lay +open before her, "Go; you are right to go now. God bless you! and +believe that I shall always think of you with warm, genuine +friendship." + +He made no reply, but for one short moment pressed her hand to his +trembling lips, and then left the room. On the stairs he met Alma, and +briefly bade her good-by, leaving her as much astonished at his sudden +departure as Thea had been. + +Then he flung himself upon his horse, and gave him the spur. He avoided +the roads leading to the town, and turned towards the forest. The swift +gallop cooled his heart and brain, and when he had reached a low hill +whence there was a last view of the castle and park of Eichhof, he +slackened rein and turned for one more look. Then, with a murmured +"Farewell! farewell!" he plunged into the forest, to reach by a +circuitous route a neighbouring estate, where his leave-taking would be +a far easier matter. + +He was fleeing, it is true, but his flight was a victory; he had come +off conqueror in the hardest battle in which the human soul can ever +engage,--the strife between passion and duty. + +Meanwhile Lothar had awakened from his prolonged morning slumbers, and +endeavoured in vain to recall how he had got home and to bed on the +previous evening. It cost him a considerable amount of resolution to +get up, and when he did so he felt wretched and depressed. Gradually +certain vague memories of last night occurred to his mind. He put his +hand into one of his coat-pockets, then into the other; both were +empty. He shook his head, and finally recollected that he had worn +another coat yesterday. It was hanging over an arm-chair. He proceeded +to search the pockets, and produced a crumpled roll of paper. He opened +it, and sank upon a lounge with an exclamation of despair. + +The paper contained an acknowledgment for the round sum of ten thousand +marks, which he had lost in the course of the night at play, and which +he had pledged his honour should be paid within a week. Lothar stared +at the characters on the crumpled sheet. Ten thousand marks! Payable +within a week! Here was an overwhelming disaster! How had it happened? +He racked his brain to remember; the events of the evening were mere +formless shadows in his dulled remembrance. He had first won, then +lost, and there had been a good deal of champagne drunk; all that was +perfectly simple and commonplace. But this debt! How was it to be paid? +If Bernhard had been at home, he would have gone to him again in spite +of everything that he had said to him. He had always been wont to +rectify in this manner the unjust family traditions that endowed one +son with everything in the way of the goods of this world and left the +others destitute. But Bernhard was away, and must either be sought out +in Berlin or informed by letter of this last terrible debt. And what if +Bernhard refused this time, as he had so often threatened to do, to pay +the debts? Lothar buried his face in his hands, and the moisture stood +in beads upon his forehead. There was but a week before him in which to +adopt any plan of payment; he must decide immediately, and, in common +with all men lacking independence, he was incapable of decision without +consultation with some friend. It is true that he now remembered that +Werner had warned him and that he had rejected his advice; he knew, +too, that of late there had been a certain diminution of the cordial +friendship that had existed between them. But nevertheless it was to +Werner that his thoughts turned in this dire extremity. + +"He is the best of fellows, and has proved that he is really my +friend," he thought. "I could not, of course, accept a loan from him +again, aside from the fact that this sum is far beyond his means; but I +will, at all events, ask his advice. One's own perceptions become +clearer when one has talked matters over with a sensible man." + +He rose, arranged his dress, and went to Werner's apartments. He found +them closed; but, as the key was hanging up beside the door, Lothar +determined to go in and await the return of his friend or of his +friend's servant, who was also absent. He knew that Werner frequently +went to church, and if he had gone there this morning, and had been +detained, he might come in at any moment. Lothar paced the room to and +fro several times, then went to the window, and finally decided that +this waiting was intolerable. He threw himself upon the small leathern +sofa, and spent some moments lost in gloomy revery; then he sprang +suddenly to his feet again, and as he did so accidentally twitched off +the cover of a small table, so that several books and some papers that +had lain upon it fell upon the ground. With an exclamation of +impatience he stooped to gather them up. A small portfolio had opened +in falling, and several sheets of paper fluttered out of it on to the +floor. + +"Cursed scribblings!" muttered Lothar, picking them up. Suddenly his +attention was arrested by one of these, and he looked at it more +closely. + +"Why, that is Eichhof," he thought; "there is the fountain, with the +old oaks in the background, the chapel by the pond, and the avenue on +the right. When did he draw this, and what induced him to select +exactly this view?" Suddenly the thought flashed upon him, "This is the +view from Thea's bow-window. How did Werner come by it?" + +He stooped for the other sheets, firmly resolved not to look at them. + +"Good heavens, 'tis Thea herself!" he exclaimed involuntarily, as he +held the last of them in his hand. "The resemblance is so striking that +it can be seen at a glance. Well, there's surely no reason why I should +not look closely at the picture of my sister-in-law. I did not know +that Werner was such an artist, and still less was I aware that Thea +had been sitting to him. A charming study of a head. I really should +like to know when and where it was drawn. I thought he never went to +Eichhof without me; but he always vexed me with his want of frankness. +Who knows what he has been about while he has been pretending to +study---- Ah!" As he threw the sheet upon the table it turned upon its +face, and upon the other side was written the refrain of a song, "Fair +Marjory," that Thea often sung: "Be still, my heart, be still." + +Lothar, who had meant to see and to read nothing, had seen and read +enough to make him stride to and fro in the room like a madman, +muttering in broken sentences, "He loves her,--she has been sitting to +him! Bernhard has neglected her, and Werner has consoled her, while I, +fool, double-dyed fool that I am, suspected nothing! Night and day I +have thought of her, and never dared, not even to myself, to call what +I felt for her by its right name! And now I know that Bernhard is +faithless to her, that Werner is false, and that she, indeed, is no +saint! Was I not half mad for her sake yesterday when Hohenstein went +on telling such fine stories of Bernhard, my worthy brother? Did I not +try to drive away with wine and cards the thoughts that would haunt me? +and at that very time perhaps Werner was with her. Oh, if it were not +so horrible it would be ridiculous,--a silly, ridiculous farce----" + +"Has the Herr Lieutenant any orders?" the voice of Werner's servant +suddenly asked just behind him. + +"Where is your master?" Lothar asked, roughly. + +"The Herr Lieutenant has ridden over to Eichhof. He left word that he +should be gone some time, as he meant to go farther still." + +Lothar was gone before the man had finished his sentence. + +For a moment he had forgotten his gambling debt: he thought only of +Werner and Thea. His brain seemed on fire; his temples throbbed +violently. Without one distinct idea formed in his mind, he threw +himself upon his horse and rode furiously to Eichhof. + +As he dismounted in the court-yard his first question was with regard +to Werner. + +"The Herr Lieutenant rode away more than two hours ago," the footman +replied. + +Lothar ran up the staircase, and entered Thea's bow-windowed room +almost at the same moment in which the servant announced him. As he did +so an opposite door was hastily closed, and he thought he could hear +the sound of retreating footsteps. + +Agitated as he was, no longer master of himself, he took no notice of +Thea, who was sitting at her writing-table and who rose to greet him, +but rushed to the closed door and tore it open, to discover Alma, who +quickened her pace almost to a run as she perceived him. He turned +about, went to Thea, seized her by the wrist, and said, with flashing +eyes, "Has Alma been here all day long?" + +Thea tried to free her hand from his grasp. + +"What is the matter, Lothar?" she asked, alarmed by his expression and +his strange conduct. "What do you want with Alma?" + +"Why did she hurry away as though there was some mystery to conceal?" + +"Good heavens! she went to lay aside her wraps. I had detained her here +to read a letter." + +"A letter? What letter?" + +Thea shook her head and tried to smile. + +"It was nothing," she said; "nothing worth mentioning," but her lip +quivered. + +Lothar still gazed at her with eyes that were menacing and yet +unutterably sad. + +"But that is not what I would ask," he said, retreating a step or two +without turning his eyes from her face. "I pray you tell me,--how long +have you been receiving Werner's visits,--how long have you known that +he loves you?" + +"Lothar!" she almost screamed, involuntarily steadying herself by the +table as if she needed a support; every trace of colour faded from her +face, and she muttered beneath her breath, "He is mad!" + +Hitherto Lothar had been convinced of the truth of his suspicions. But +now that he had hurled the base inquiry in Thea's face, as it were, now +that she had made him no reply save by an indignant and terrified +exclamation, he suddenly doubted, and as he looked at her the +conviction of her perfect innocence overwhelmed him with irresistible +force. + +"Answer me, Thea! for God's sake answer me!" he implored her. "Tell me +it was all a phantom of my disordered fancy. I know that Werner was +here alone to-day,--that he has taken your picture, that he loves you; +but tell me that you are innocent, and I will believe it. Only speak, +speak! I implore you!" + +Thea looked fixedly at him; she saw the entreaty in his eyes and the +agony expressed in all his features. + +"You are ill, Lothar," she said, "and therefore I will answer your +wild questions. Werner came to Eichhof for the first time without you +to-day. He came to take leave of me, since he is ordered to the +military school of S----. What you say about a picture is as +unintelligible to me as all the rest of your words." + +"Werner going away! I knew nothing of it." + +"His orders arrived only last evening. You were still sleeping this +morning when he called for you. And now go to your room and lie down: +your eyes show that you have fever. I will send a servant to you." + +She put her hand upon the bell, but Lothar stayed her as she was about +to ring. + +"Forgive me, Thea," he begged. "I have suffered so much!" + +"You are still suffering, for you are ill." + +"No, no! I am well enough, only--but I will not speak of myself. Thea, +tell me one thing, are you happy? Does Bernhard write often, and are +his letters what they should be?" + +Thea's cheeks flushed and grew pale; her hands trembled as she +collected, with nervous haste, the various letters lying upon her +table, and which Lothar, who watched her narrowly, could see were +postmarked 'Berlin.' + +For a moment she could not reply in words, but Lothar, believing that +he read an answer in her face to his words, cried, "Oh, I see,--you +know it all! They have written you all about it from Berlin, have they +not?" + +"Hush!" she said, imperatively, her face dyed with a burning blush. +"How dare you touch upon that subject?" + +"Oh, it is just that which drove me mad,--which made me dream what I +said of Werner possible," Lothar exclaimed, passionately. "I knew how +unhappy you must be. I hate Bernhard for it, but I hated Werner still +more, because I thought that in your misery you----" + +Thea had turned away, and in silent indignation would have left the +room, but Lothar interposed between her and the door, and, throwing +himself at her feet, cried, "Forgive me! forgive me! My sin is my +excuse; for I love you, Thea, I love you! more--far more--than all the +rest!" + +Suddenly he sprang to his feet. A servant entered with some commonplace +message. + +Lothar stood for a moment as though paralyzed. He heard the man's voice +and then Thea's as though from some vast distance, and when he looked +around Thea had vanished, and the servant was asking whether the Herr +Lieutenant would drive home in the open wagon or the covered carriage. + +For an instant Lothar stared at him in bewilderment. Then he passed his +hand across his brow. "No; the Countess's kindness is unnecessary," he +said, when the explanation of the scene dawned upon him. "I am no +longer giddy, and I can ride home." + +He left the room, and in the hall he encountered Alma, who had dried +her tears and bathed her eyes. + +"Farewell, my dear Alma," he said, with a deliberate gravity, almost a +solemnity of manner, quite foreign to him. + +"Are you going away?" the girl asked, all unconsciously, and impressed +by this strange mood of his. + +"Going away? No--that is--yes--perhaps so. At all events, I bid you +farewell." + +She heard him go down the stairs slowly and heavily. A sudden +inexplicable foreboding weighed upon her like lead. She felt as though +some evil threatened him, and she longed to avert it, to call him back. +She started to do so, when she heard the voices of the servants in the +hall below, and reflected that she did not know what to say to him. She +ran into the bow-windowed room, and looked down the avenue. A flock of +crows hovered above it; they were the only living things in sight. Alma +waited. One of the crows that had alighted in the road flew into the +air, and instantly afterward a lonely horseman rode along between the +snow-clad trees. Alma pressed her forehead against the window-panes, +but the rider never turned to look towards the castle. His head was +bent forward on his breast, and he seemed to pay no heed to his horse. +Like some shadow horse and rider appeared and disappeared at regular +intervals among the poplars lining the avenue. Alma gazed after them +until the last glimpse of Lothar had vanished in the wintry mist that +had begun to veil the landscape. + +"Farewell," she whispered, and her heart was as heavy as if she had +parted from him forever. + +Suddenly she roused herself from her revery. "How selfish I am!" she +thought. "I stand dreaming here, thinking of all kinds of impossible +misfortunes, while Thea is alone. Ah, we have enough real sorrow to +bear! There is no need to invent fancied woes." She went to look for +her sister, whom she had some difficulty in finding. + +Thea had retained sufficient self-possession to tell the servant that +her brother-in-law was ill, and to order a carriage for him; and then, +like some scared bird, she had flown through the castle, and taken +refuge in the conservatory adjoining the drawing-room. Here she sank +upon a seat,--the same seat where she had so often sat with Bernhard +before their marriage. She pressed her hands upon her throbbing heart, +and then upon her eyes, which were dry, hot, and tearless. Could all +that had happened in the last hour be real? The wild, insane words in +which Lothar had told her of Werner's love and of his own still rang in +her ears. Could such things be? Had she in her utter unconsciousness so +deceived herself? Or had Lothar actually spoken in the delirium of +fever? She sighed heavily. These questions, press upon her as they +might, vanished before that other: Was it possible that she had lost +Bernhard's heart,--nay, that perhaps she had never possessed it,--that +he had deceived her from the first? "No," her own heart answered, "that +cannot be! And yet----" She selected a letter from among those she had +gathered up from her table and brought hither with her, and read it +once more. It was from Adela Hohenstein, and addressed to Alma, who had +taken it from the post on her way to Eichhof that morning, and had read +it in the carriage. She had been unable to conceal from her sister the +agitation its contents had produced. Thea had questioned her, +suspecting that she had heard some news of Bernhard, and Alma had +finally been induced to show her the letter. Adela wrote in her usual +thoughtless harum-scarum way all that she had heard and seen of +Bernhard. She had frequently, at the house of one of her relatives, met +Bernhard and Julutta Wronsky together, and her letter was evidently +written in the first flush of her anger after one of these occasions. + +"Let me tell Thea that for at least a year she ought never even to +condescend to look at that husband of hers," she wrote upon the last +page, "and then perhaps he may come to learn that she is a thousand +times prettier and better and lovelier than this detestable Frau von +Wronsky. For I have learned thus much of the world, that men like to be +ill-treated; they make all the good women unhappy, but they will lay +down their lives for the worthless ones. Papa is the only exception; it +does not spoil him to be loved and petted. He is kinder and dearer than +words can tell; but all other men are monsters, your Bernhard as well +as the rest." Then there was a postscript: + +"Dearest Alma, for heaven's sake don't give Thea my message. I have +reflected that it can only do mischief. She is married to him, and they +must get along together as they best can. It can do no kind of good for +other people to meddle and talk. I would tear up this letter, but it is +well that you at least should know what men are worth, and every word +that I have written is true. So I send my letter just as it is, and +only beg you to say nothing to Thea about it. + +"P. S. the second. _A propos_, yesterday I met Walter in the street, +and I stopped him and asked him to come and see us. Do you know what +his reply was? 'I am very sorry, Fraeulein von Hohenstein' (that is what +he called me), 'that my studies leave me no time for visiting.' What do +you think of that? Just like men in general, and the Eichhofs in +particular." + +At another time this letter of Adela's might not have made such an +impression upon Thea as it had produced to-day, when her heart was +filled with doubts and fears with regard to Bernhard. Had she not +foreboded all that Adela had written? + +Still, after she had re-read the letter, it might perhaps not have +affected her so deeply as at first had not the tidings it contained +been confirmed by Lothar's wild words. Bernhard's conduct was then +striking enough to be a theme for Berlin gossip! Oh, if only his +devotion had been shown towards any other woman! But that he should +turn to this Frau von Wronsky, with whom he had at first denied all +acquaintance, and afterwards confessed to it under such strange +circumstances; that it should be she, the woman with whom Bernhard had +desired that his wife might have as little intercourse as possible! +Thea's thoughts were in a whirl,--an abyss seemed yawning between +Bernhard and herself which all her love could not bridge over. She +raised her eyes. Above her trembled the mysterious fantastic blossom of +the orchid to which Bernhard had once compared the Countess Wronsky. +Ah, whither had they gone, those bright summer days when he had called +Thea his rose of May and had promised to surround her with perpetual +sunshine? + +"If this is all true, he does not deserve that I should weep for him," +she said, aloud. "No, he does not deserve it," she repeated, firmly, +closing her quivering lips. But then she thought of her child, of her +lost happiness, of her lonely youth, and she wept bitterly. + +Thus Alma found her at length, and led her back to the bow-windowed +room, where a lamp was now lighted. + +"Do not speak," Thea entreated, and Alma only put her arms about her +and held her in a tender embrace. But Thea was restless. She sprang up +and went to her child. Even there she could not stay long, but returned +to the bow-windowed room, and paced it hurriedly to and fro. She could +not talk to her young sister of what was agitating her. Why, she seemed +to herself almost guilty when she remembered Lothar's passionate words. +Lothar,--there was another dark spot in her thoughts! Ah! from all +sides black clouds were gathering above her, and she could do nothing +save wait quietly until the tempest broke. She was condemned to quiet, +and what could be more horrible in her present agitation? + +Alma felt that the struggle in Thea's soul must be fought out alone. +She went silently hither and thither, looked after the child, presided +at the tea-table, and only now and then approached her sister to press +her hand or to imprint a kiss upon her forehead. She went to the window +and looked out into the night, now illumined by the rising moon. Her +heart was filled with a yearning melancholy, and, reproach herself for +it as she might at such a time, she could not restrain her thoughts +from deserting Thea and centring about Lothar. He had looked so +strange, so disturbed, when he had spoken that last 'farewell.' + +Suddenly her attention was attracted towards the avenue, which lay like +burnished silver beneath the moon. Was there not a shadow stirring +there? And could she not distinguish the sound of horses' hoofs? She +peered eagerly out, but the moonlight was deceptive,--she might be +mistaken. Then she heard doors closing below and steps coming through +the antechamber. Thea had sunk into the arm-chair at her writing-table, +and with pen in hand was pondering upon a letter which she believed it +her duty to write, and for which she could find not only no words but +not even one clear idea. Alma hastened to the door. + +"Who is there?" she asked, so quickly that Thea looked up startled. + +"Herr Lieutenant von Werner begs----" the entering servant began. + +"Lieutenant Werner,--how, so late?" Alma repeated, and her slight +figure trembled as she added, beneath her breath, "That means +misfortune." + +Thea had risen. "What, what is coming now?" she thought. "Show Herr von +Werner up!" she said, in a sharp tone of command very unlike her. But +Herr von Werner had followed close upon the footman's heels, and stood +at the door. Alma could not utter a word; she only gazed anxiously into +his pale face, and steadied herself by an arm-chair as though she were +afraid of falling. Thea went firmly to meet him. She had never borne +herself so proudly, her dark eyes had never been so haughty and cold, +as, without seeming to notice Werner's agitation, she asked, calmly, +"What brings you to us so late, Herr von Werner? It must be something +very unusual." + +"Yes, madame, it is so, and very sad." + +Alma could hardly stand. Thea still looked at Werner with an +unnaturally calm expression, and with not the faintest suspicion of +what was to come. + +"Lothar!" came breathed like a sigh from Alma's pale lips. + +Thea's thoughts were not of him. "Tell me. I need no preparation; I am +prepared," she said. + +"Your brother-in-law met with an accident in riding home from Eichhof, +and is severely injured." + +Now Thea too grew pale. + +"Was he thrown? Is his life in danger?" she asked, in low, uncertain +tones, while Alma's eyes never for one moment left Werner's face. + +"His condition leaves little room for hope. He was not thrown,--an +accident, probably the result of carelessness----" + +"He is dead! he has shot himself!" Alma suddenly gasped. Her gloomy +forebodings had at last found distinct expression. + +Thea looked at Werner. He was very pale, but he uttered no +contradiction. + +Alma sank on her knees and buried her face in her hands. Thea slowly +passed her hand across her forehead. "Dead,--shot," she repeated +softly, as if hardly able to apprehend the meaning of the words. The +erect figure tottered, and before Werner could spring forward to +support her she fell fainting on the floor. + +Alma raised her head at Werner's exclamation of terror, and saw her +sister's unconscious form. She called the servants and did all that was +necessary to restore Thea, while she herself felt hardly aware of what +had happened. + +She, the younger and weaker of the two sisters, had not fainted, while +to Thea the thought that she might have had some share in Lothar's +death had been like a destroying flash of lightning. Alma did not +succumb, but deep darkness seemed to envelop her, in which she was +aware only of the present moment and its duties; all else was a blank. +She felt a dull pain in her head and heart, and would fain have cast +herself on the earth and have wept passionately. But shame lest she +should betray feelings that only the closest and dearest ties with +Lothar could justify, restrained her, and Thea's helpless condition +gave her a power of self-control of which she never could have believed +herself capable. + +"I instantly telegraphed to your brother-in-law," Werner said to Alma, +"and then hurried hither, because I knew that, with the garrison so +near, you must hear the fatal news before to-morrow." + +Alma bent her head in silent assent, and in her eyes alone could be +read the entreaty that he would tell her all he knew of this terrible +calamity. He went on, in a low tone: "I only reached home at dusk, and +I saw a light in Eichhof's room. It therefore surprised me to find it +locked, and to receive no answer to my call when I had knocked at the +door in vain. I was about to descend the staircase, when I met +Eichhof's servant, who, in reply to my questions with regard to his +master, told me that the Herr Lieutenant had returned from Eichhof half +an hour previously, and had seemed very unwell; that he had sent him +ten minutes before to the apothecary's for some soothing draught, which +he was just taking to him. Why the door should be locked he could not +possibly comprehend. We tried again to open it, and finally broke it +open. He sat upon the sofa, his head lying on the table before him. As +I raised him up, the revolver fell on the floor. Death must have been +instantaneous." + +Alma covered her face with her hands and burst at last into a flood of +tears, weeping so passionately, so uncontrollably, that Werner could +not but comprehend what this death was to this girl. In his agitation +he had said more than he meant to, and he reproached himself for so +doing. Almost in a whisper he began again: "He probably intended to +clean the revolver. I feel convinced the pistol was discharged through +carelessness, for--for--there were materials for cleaning it lying upon +the table." Werner was so unaccustomed to say what was not true that he +succeeded but ill in this attempt. + +Suddenly Thea entered the room; her eyes glowed with an unnatural +feverish brilliancy. She hastily approached Werner and held out her +hand as if to clasp his, then instantly withdrew it, and asked, +standing close to him, as if to prevent him from evading her question, +"Do you know why he shot himself?" + +"It is not impossible that it was an accident, madame." + +Thea shook her head. "That you do not believe," she said. "You know of +no reason for this deed?" + +"He was ill, and perhaps a momentary insanity----" + +"Yes, a momentary insanity. And you think my husband will come +to-morrow?" + +"I am sure of it." + +She cast down her eyes and was silent for a moment, while a shudder +seemed to pass through her delicate frame. + +"Can anything be done to-night?" she asked. + +"Nothing by you, madame." + +"Well, then farewell, Herr von Werner. It is best you should return to +town." + +"In fact, I still have much to arrange there." + +Agitated as Werner was, he could not but observe the strange alteration +in Thea's manner towards him. + +"Lothar was really like an own brother to her; the shock and her great +suffering have thus changed her," he thought, without dreaming of the +real state of her mind. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + THE SHADOWS GATHER. + + +In a first-class carriage of an express-train from Berlin sat Bernhard +Eichhof. Upon his return quite late from a ball, he had received the +despatch informing him of Lothar's sudden death. He had spent the rest +of the night in writing a letter to Julutta Wronsky and several others +to political associates, and was now hastening to his home by the early +train. He had scarcely found it possible to believe the sad tidings +brought by the despatch. Lothar dead!--Lothar, whom but a few weeks +previously he had left in the pride of youth and strength, a picture of +blooming health. And yet the despatch left no room for doubt. He +thought of every possible accident that could have befallen Lothar. He +saw before him his brother's smiling merry face, and the thought that +he was to look upon it cold and stiff in death seemed to him +inconceivable. In Berlin the hurried preparations for his departure had +scarcely left him time to appreciate his loss. + +But now, during his lonely ride, with Lothar's image constantly before +him, now he first comprehended how near this brother had been to him, +and how terribly he should miss him. In the consciousness of his +position as the future head of the family, upon whom the others must +more or less depend, Bernhard had developed, when quite young, a +certain liking for the part of a protector,--a part that became +him excellently well, because he was naturally warm-hearted and +good-natured. And precisely because Lothar had so constantly appealed +to him for aid, and, in his lack of self-dependence, had always turned +to his brother in his troubles, he had grown very, very dear to +Bernhard. Lost in melancholy reflection, he leaned back in a corner of +his coupe, without bestowing the faintest notice upon two ladies who +had entered the coupe just after him. He had closed his eyes in his +revery, and had entirely forgotten his travelling companions. + +Suddenly the name of 'Eichhof,' uttered by one of the ladies, aroused +his attention. + +"Is the member of the Reichstag your son-in-law's neighbour?" the other +lady asked. + +"Yes; Rollin is in the midst of a very aristocratic neighbourhood," was +the reply. "Good heavens, the Barons von Hohenstein have lived upon the +estate for hundreds of years, and all the neighbours are old noble +families,--my daughter's surroundings will be really 'feudal.' It is +well to give one's children an education that fits them for any rank in +life. Only a few days ago Count Dornat said to me, 'Your daughter, the +Baroness von Hohenstein, is a charming woman.' And my son-in-law is +delightful. Indeed, my dear, it is really a model marriage. Between +ourselves, many an aristocratic family might take example by it,--these +Eichhofs, for instance." + +Bernhard, who had ceased to pay any heed to the speakers, now listened +again. + +"Is it possible, Frau Kohnheim, that the Eichhofs----" Thus the +conversation continued. + +Frau Kohnheim said in a low voice a few words that Bernhard could not +understand, and then went on, in a louder tone, "Yes; I was at Rollin a +couple of weeks ago with a Berlin upholsterer to see to the furnishing +there, and the housekeeper from Eichhof was paying a visit to our +housekeeper,--I mean to my son-in-law's housekeeper,--and I learned all +about it from her. The young Countess at the castle was an innocent +young creature at first, but she has grown to be very different, +especially since her husband has been away. Only fancy such a young +woman's giving entertainments to which the young men for miles around +are invited, while a young unmarried brother-in-law of the Countess +plays the part of host! And he is in garrison only half a mile from +Eichhof, and of course is there constantly. So there you have a young +man and a young woman alone together in the country in a big castle, +and you may imagine what it must lead to!" + +"Good heavens! how can the Count be so thoughtless as to allow it?" + +"How indeed? Of course the young brother-in-law is over head and ears +in love. The housekeeper, who seems to be a very sensible person, has +often watched him. He never takes his eyes off the Countess, and, +naturally enough, she is not blind to the attractions of a handsome +young officer. There they sit in the conservatory talking together, or +they take long walks arm-in-arm, and the housekeeper----" Here the +voice sank to a whisper. + +Bernhard could no longer sit quietly in his corner. He stirred and +altered his position, so that the conversation was carried on in still +lower tones. + +"Infernal old women's gossip!" he thought, flushing angrily. +"Contemptible lies!--Lothar to----" Anger and pain possessed him. How +dared any one assail his wife's reputation? How could the innocent +relations between Thea and Lothar give rise to such calumnies? Was he +not false to the memory of the dead even to listen to such talk? He +arose and opened the window, only to close it again noisily; then +dragged out his portmanteau, and so bestirred himself that the ladies +involuntarily ceased to speak. But when he leaned back in his corner +again, all the 'old women's gossip,' all the 'contemptible lies,' +recurred to his mind word for word. Thea was young and beautiful, and +Lothar was thoughtless and susceptible, therein lay the justification +of the 'old women's gossip.' But Thea was his wife, and Lothar was his +brother. Nonsense, nonsense! why dwell upon such thoughts for an +instant? And yet they would intrude; they even came between Bernhard +and his sorrow for the loss of his brother; they suggested wild images +that showed some connection between what he had just heard and Lothar's +sudden death; they sent the blood seething through his veins, and kept +him awake, when weariness from sorrow and want of repose would have +bidden him to sleep. + +After a while the two ladies left the train, and Bernhard was alone +with his torturing doubts and suggestions. + +At the station he was met by Werner, who had meanwhile been informed of +the result of Lothar's gambling on the previous evening. As gently as +possible, but without withholding a single detail, he told Bernhard the +truth: Lothar had contracted gambling-debts, and had, in consequence, +shot himself. Fearful as the calamity was, it was by no means without +parallel,--the same cause had often led to the same desperate resolve. +Still, to Bernhard, it did not seem to explain Lothar's act. The amount +of this last debt did most certainly exceed the amount of Lothar's +usual deficits, but yet it did not seem to Bernhard large enough to +have been paid by a life, unless there had been other motives in +Lothar's mind to prompt him to self-destruction. Why had he not applied +to his brother, as he had so often done before? Had he despaired of +himself and of his capacity for improvement? That was so unlike Lothar +that Bernhard could not believe it to be so. What, then, had prevented +him this time from appealing to his brother for aid? + +"He had been to Eichhof just before?" Bernhard, arousing himself from +gloomy reflections, asked of Werner, who was driving from the station +with him. Werner assented. + +"And you never spoke with him afterward?" + +"No; none of his comrades saw him. His servant was the only one who did +so, and he says that Eichhof was very unwell. The calamity occurred +almost immediately after his return." + +"Immediately after his return----" Bernhard bit his lip; he would ask +no more questions. Arrived in garrison, he made all the necessary +arrangements, promised to return in a few hours, for Lothar's body was +to be taken to Eichhof in the evening, and then drove on alone. + +He had had some hope that Thea would come to meet him, but she did not +do so; she did not even receive him as usual at the hall door. + +"The Frau Countess is not well," the servant said. + +Bernhard hurried up the stairs to Thea's room. At the door he met the +family physician. + +"Is my wife ill?" he asked, hastily. + +"Nothing serious at present," the old man replied. "Countess Eichhof +cannot for the moment sustain the terrible nervous shock. I have +ordered perfect rest,--her best medicine next to your arrival, my dear +Count. A sad time, indeed. Your brother was never ill in his life, and +now----" + +Bernhard pressed the good doctor's hand, and, leaving him, entered +Thea's room. In the first moment of reunion he forgot all his doubts. +He clasped his pale, distressed Thea in his arms. At sight of her he +felt something like remorse for having left her alone so long. + +"This is a sad meeting, dear heart," he said with emotion, as he laid +her head upon his breast. Thea shook as with a fever-fit, her lips +quivered, but she could not speak. + +Bernhard looked in her face in alarm. "My poor, poor Thea!" he +whispered. + +She extricated herself from his clasp, and withdrew her hand from his. +"It will pass," she said, turning from him to draw a shawl over her +shoulders. "Never mind me. Have you seen him,--I mean Lothar?" + +"Yes; he looks perfectly unchanged. I shall have him brought here +to-day." + +Again Thea shuddered, and for a moment her look was fixed and wild. +Bernhard tried again to draw her to him, but she pushed him away. +"Leave me! leave me!" she cried. "Oh, my God!" And she burst into a +passionate fit of sobbing. + +Bernhard turned away and walked to the window. He felt that all his +doubts would have vanished like morning mists if Thea had met him as +usual and wept out her pain and grief upon his breast. Now they arose +again before him, and took firmer, clearer shape. For a few moments he +stood motionless at the window, then suddenly he approached Thea again. + +"You know why Lothar shot himself?" he asked, in a voice that sounded +hoarse and unlike his own. + +She bent her head lower upon her hands and made no reply. + +"He lost a large sum at play last night," Bernhard continued. "But----" + +Then Thea looked up. For an instant her face looked transfigured with +hope, like that of a criminal reprieved when under sentence of death. +Involuntarily she seized Bernhard's hand, and asked, with a passionate +excitement such as Bernhard had never before known her to express, "Do +you believe that that was why he shot himself? Do you believe it? Can +it be?" + +Her eyes as she looked up at him were full of imploring anguish, and +he, in his turn, thrust away her hand, and said, in a cold, hard voice, +"No! I see you do not believe it, and I--neither do I believe it!" + +At this moment Alma entered with Herr von Rosen, who had come over +immediately upon hearing the sad news. This put an end to Bernhard's +and Thea's _tete-a-tete_, and neither of them at this time could have +wished it prolonged. + +Nor was there any opportunity for renewing it during the next few days. +The dowager Countess had hastened to Eichhof upon hearing of her son's +sudden death, and her grief and suffering were of so exacting a nature +as to employ the time and energies of at least one member of the +family, and sometimes several of them, all the time. She called herself +the unhappiest, the most sorely tried of women; but when Bernhard +proposed that she should remain at Eichhof with Thea, she thought it +but right to inform him that she had been offered the position of +abbess in the aristocratic institution of B----, and that she intended +to accept it and retire thither as soon as possible, since it seemed to +offer her the advantages to which her birth and rank entitled her. + +Thea suffered terribly, but she was cold and repellant towards +Bernhard, who was very much occupied and rather avoided her than +otherwise. The physician shook his head; he was far from satisfied with +his patient's condition, although he still maintained that she was only +suffering from prolonged nervous agitation. + +On the day after Lothar's funeral Thea was lying back on her lounge, +not sleeping, but with closed eyes. She could not sleep either by night +or by day, for so soon as she began to dream she saw either Lothar or +Bernhard before her, and the thought of them banished repose. Was she +not guilty of Lothar's death? Ought she not, instead of turning angrily +away, to have tried gently to lead him back to the right path? If +there had been no shadow between Bernhard and herself, this torturing +self-reproach would not have taken shape; her conscience would not have +been so morbidly sensitive, inclining her to the gloomiest reflections. +But the shadow was there, and it was therefore impossible for her to +seek refuge with her husband, and be consoled and soothed in his arms. +Agitated as she was, she saw Bernhard's relations with Frau von Wronsky +in the darkest light. She attributed his altered demeanour entirely to +these, and never for an instant suspected that he too was tormented by +doubts and suspicions with regard to herself. And Bernhard? All through +these days he scarcely thought of Julutta; he never suspected that his +friendship for her could have given rise to remarks and comments which +Thea had overheard, and if he had suspected this he would have been +indignant that Thea should give ear to such scandal. In all that +concerned that 'poor persecuted woman' his conscience felt perfectly +pure, and the struggle between his love for Thea and his dead brother, +and the hate which now threatened to arise within him for both of them, +left no space for thoughts of aught else. + +And now the time for his return to Berlin was at hand. He resolved that +certainty should at least be his. Thea, apparently calmly passive, and +yet wretchedly restless, had just adopted a resolve to entreat Bernhard +to tell her frankly of his sentiments for Frau von Wronsky. She would +make no claim upon his affection, since she had never possessed it, +but she would be his true and honest friend, asking nothing from him +save confidence and truth. For their child's sake they must remain +friends,--friends, but nothing more! Yes, she would say all this to him +to-day--this very hour. Suddenly she started: a cold, heavy hand was +laid upon her shoulder. She raised her head. Bernhard had entered +softly, and had only been aware when he stood close beside her that she +was not sleeping. His hand was upon her shoulder, and he said, gazing +at her the while with eyes so changed, so darkly stern, "I must speak +with you, Thea, before I leave for Berlin. I have a question to put to +you." + +She looked up at him startled. She had just been thinking of him, but +the face she saw before her in no wise resembled the image of him in +her mind, and there was an unusual imperious tone in his voice that +offended her. + +"Go on," she said, looking away from him. + +"What occurred between yourself and Lothar?" + +Thea started up. All her lately-formed resolutions were forgotten. He, +against whom she believed herself to have such just cause for +complaint, dared to take her to task thus! + +She could not and would not lie; it was just as impossible for her at +this moment to answer his question frankly. She stood erect before him. +Her pale cheeks glowed, and her eyes gleamed angrily. + +"You certainly have no right to ask that question. You less than all +others." + +The words passed her lips quick as thought. The next instant she +repented of them, but they were spoken, and they had their effect. A +terrible alteration took place in Bernhard's face. For an instant he +looked as though about to crush to the earth the woman before him; then +he suddenly turned away, without a word, and left the room. + +"Bernhard!" Thea called after him; but the door was shut and he did not +return. + +"Past and gone!" echoed in Thea's soul. + +"Past and gone!" a voice muttered in Bernhard's heart. Of what avail +was it that she wrung her hands, and that he, in his room, hid his face +and wished himself dead in Lothar's place rather than live through all +this? The doors between the husband and wife were closed, and neither +could overcome self so far as to open them and cry out to the other, "I +love you,--I love you in spite of everything!" + +The reconciling words remained unspoken. + +Thus they parted. Bernhard returned to Berlin to await the close of the +Reichstag, and Thea was alone again,--really alone now, since she knew +that there was no union between Bernhard and herself even in thought. + +Werner had departed immediately after Lothar's funeral, and Thea +shortly afterwards sent Alma home. Their mother was quite ill; there +were fears of her becoming blind, and Alma was much more needed there +than at Eichhof. Thea exacted from her a solemn promise that she would +never mention the contents of Adela's letter. What the future had in +store for her she could not tell, only one thing she was resolved upon, +that the unhappy state of affairs existing between Bernhard and herself +should be concealed from the world as long as possible. While he had +been in Eichhof her illness had made such concealment entirely +feasible, and in future--yes, what was to be done in future she could +ponder upon in her solitude at her leisure. + +But upon this Bernhard had also pondered, and a few days after his +departure Thea received a letter from him. + +Her heart beat so strongly when this letter arrived that she held it +for a moment in her hand without being able to open it. And when at +last she did so, the characters of the familiar handwriting danced so +before her eyes that at first she could scarcely decipher them. +Bernhard wrote: + +"From what you said to me on the day before I left Eichhof, I conclude +that you find it impossible to bestow your confidence and affection +upon me any longer. I do not ask why this is so; you know the reason +for it, and it is better that it should not be discussed between us. To +what is inevitable we must resign ourselves as best we may. After what +has passed you probably desire to return to your parents, as life with +me would be only a constant pain to you. I should not oppose your wish +in this regard were it not for the existence of one for whose sake it +seems to me best that we should maintain at least the appearance of +union before the world,--I mean our child. For his sake we must avoid a +public separation. Therefore it is that I pray you to remain in +Eichhof, even although I should return thither. My sphere of action +must enlarge with time. I shall travel much, and thus the brief +duration of our meetings in Eichhof will seem not unnatural. You can +shorten them still further by visits to watering-places, if it so +pleases you. Before the world due regard must be paid to _les +convenances_; of course the cause of our separation must never be +mentioned between ourselves. In this wise our relations to each other +may be duly arranged, and I pray you to inform me as soon as possible +if your views in this respect coincide with mine. + + "Bernhard Eichhof." + + +This was the letter which Thea read over and over again amid floods of +tears, the letter the composition of which had cost Bernhard a +sleepless night. What a night it had been! Anger and pain strove within +him for the mastery, and pain at length conquered. He thought of Thea's +youth, of her solitude and inexperience, and he thought of Lothar's +thoughtless gayety, of his susceptible nature, and of all his winning +qualities. And he, Bernhard, had been fool enough to leave these two +children dependent upon each other for society! Through his own fault +his happiness was destroyed, and he had lost the woman whom he +loved,--lost her forever! + +He was overcome with compassion for himself, for Lothar, who had sought +by his death to expiate his fault, for Thea! While writing that letter +to her his heart was filled with sympathy for her. He pitied the poor +young creature whom he had delivered over to her destruction; she could +be nothing more to him, but his roof should shelter her at least from +further harm. + +These were Bernhard's reflections; but Thea thought she could read +between the lines, and that it was not his insulting suspicions of her +fidelity, but his own sentiments for Julutta Wronsky that made it easy +indeed for him to give up his wife, if only appearances were kept up +before the world. She accepted what he proposed with a dull +resignation. In the tormenting self-accusations in which she so often +indulged in her solitude, she seemed to have a crime to expiate. She +repeatedly recalled every conversation, every interview, she had ever +had with Lothar. She thought now that she had often been too cordial +and friendly to him, she reproached herself for the ease and +carelessness of her manner towards him, and she regarded Bernhard's +estrangement from her as a punishment from heaven, which she must +patiently endure. She grew paler and more silent, so that the old +family physician often shook his head anxiously when he visited her, +although he could not pronounce her really ill. Once he wrote to +Bernhard about her, and Bernhard thought 'of course she cannot recover +from Lothar's loss,' and, in spite of his pity for her, he crushed the +innocent letter in his hand and flung it from him as if it contained +some poison that he feared to touch. And then he carried his gloom, his +pain, and his sore heart to Julutta Wronsky, not for consolation, as he +said to himself,--who could console him?--but for some distraction of +mind, to listen to her glorious contralto as she sang his favorite +songs, and to discuss the events of the day. Meanwhile he could not but +be conscious of the influence that he exerted upon this woman, and of +how entirely she looked at the world through his eyes. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + DR. NORDSTEDT. + + +Spring had come, and life in Eichhof had developed into just what +Bernhard had foreseen. He had taken an active part in a new railway +enterprise which was to bring his secluded estates more into contact +with the world and to connect a great Russian branch-line with a German +trunk-line. By degrees he had become a prime mover in this scheme, and +when he returned to Eichhof every moment of his time and every thought +of his mind were put under requisition. He had to go to Russia, and +backwards and forwards to and from Berlin; guests of every social rank +came to Eichhof in the interests of the new railway, a prominent +banking-house had to be induced to join in the scheme, and there were +all kinds of foreseen and unforeseen obstacles to be overcome. And +Bernhard was wanted everywhere. A great work was to be undertaken, one +that would be of immense benefit to his section of the country, and the +less satisfaction Bernhard took in his home-life the more did he devote +himself to these outside interests, that were to be, as he thought, so +productive of good. It was natural that Julutta Wronsky should +understand and sympathize with him in these interests more than Thea +possibly could. The time was past when Thea, for love of him, would +interest herself in subjects that else would never have occupied her +thoughts. And, besides, she was so very far from well that she no +longer refused to heed the advice of the physician, who urged her to +try change of air and scene at one of the well-known baths. + +So she made ready for the journey, upon which her little son was to be +her only companion and consolation. Yes, her only consolation, for +except in her boy's laughing eyes she could see no brightness anywhere. +At Schoenthal, Frau von Rosen had been seriously ill, and when she began +to recover her disease settled in her eyes, so that at the end of a few +weeks her sight was almost entirely gone. It was a sad picture, that of +one who had been so active now so entirely helpless, and Herr von Rosen +and Alma vied with each other in devotion to the invalid. Care for her +mother helped Alma to conceal and to overcome her grief for Lothar far +more easily than would otherwise have been the case. She had no time to +think of it,--the present claimed all her powers of mind and body, and +the past retreated into a dim distance. While Thea was preparing for +her journey, her mother was about to travel also; but while Thea's goal +was a mountain watering-place, Frau von Rosen was going to Berlin to +consult Walter's friend, Dr. Nordstedt. He advised her to place herself +entirely under his care for a while, and accordingly Frau von Rosen and +Alma were soon established in two quiet rooms in a wing of the +Nordstedt mansion, the windows of which looked out upon the blossoming +fruit-trees and green grass-plats of the pleasant garden. Soon this +prospect was shut out from one of the rooms by blue curtains, for Frau +von Rosen was to undergo an operation which would decide whether she +should henceforth dwell in perpetual night or once more look upon the +light of day and the faces of those whom she loved. They were weary +days that Alma now passed beside her mother's couch, hovering between +fear and hope. Herr von Rosen left them immediately after the +operation, for pressing business at home prevented him from awaiting +the final decision, and Walter Eichhof and Adela Hohenstein were the +only friends from home who came now and then to ask after Frau von +Rosen and to chat awhile with Alma. Oddly enough, the two had never met +upon any of their visits; 'fortunately,' Walter said, 'unfortunately,' +Adela thought, although not for worlds would she have uttered the word +aloud. At last after days of prolonged anxiety the bandage could be +removed from the invalid's eyes, and Dr. Nordstedt pronounced the +operation entirely successful. That was the first happy day that Alma +had known since Lothar's death. A smile transfigured for a moment Dr. +Nordstedt's grave face as he announced the glad tidings to Alma, and +tears glittered in the girl's eyes as she held out both hands to him, +and, forgetting all her shyness, cried, "Ah, how I thank you, Dr. +Nordstedt! If I only had some way in which to show you how grateful I +am!" + +He held her little white hands in a firm clasp for an instant, and +replied, "Such moments are the bright spots in a physician's life, +Fraeulein von Rosen, and they atone for many a gloomy day." + +On the evening of that day Alma stood at the open window of her room, +looking out into the starry June night. The leaves of the trees +whispered gently in the evening breeze, and the garden lay silent and +dark below her, while beyond the gardens and court-yard that surrounded +the Nordstedt mansion there was the glimmer of distant gas-lights, and +the street-noises fell upon her ear like a muffled hum. Alma was so +grateful that she longed to be happy and glad, and yet precisely at +this time, when she was relieved from her weight of care and could +breathe freely, she felt doubly lonely in the strange great city. She +seemed to herself to be upon a lonely island in the midst of a roaring +ocean. As she stood thus looking out, she thought of that winter night +in Eichhof when she had stood at the window gazing thus. Lothar's +image, which her recent care had banished to the background of her +thoughts, arose vividly before her, and she was conscious of a painful +yearning for her home. She clasped her hands against the window-frame, +and leaned her head upon them. The air was sultry; she had loosened her +fair hair, and it fell down about her shoulders, as she remained thus +lost in thoughts of the past. Suddenly the door was opened, and a woman +with a lighted candle entered the room. It was the nurse to whose care +Frau von Rosen was specially intrusted. + +"Good gracious, Fraeulein dear, you are in pitch darkness!" she +exclaimed, putting the candle on the table, "and with the window open +too! Have you closed the door, that your mother may not feel the +draught?" + +"Indeed I have, Marianne," Alma replied, half turning round. "My mother +is asleep, and I came here to get a little fresh air." + +"Yes, yes, you ought to have more fresh air, Fraeulein dear; the Herr +Doctor always says you ought to walk in the garden every day. The Herr +Doctor is not at all pleased to see you grow so pale here. He looks at +you,--yes, just as he always does at people with whom he is not +satisfied, and for whom he would like to prescribe. No offence, +Fraeulein, but he does; such a sad look, and yet so kind. Good gracious! +I know the look well enough. And he has, perhaps, a particular reason +for it in your case." + +Alma was only lending half an ear to the woman's chatter, and it was +more out of kindness than from interest that she asked, "Indeed? How +so?" + +Marianne put on an air of mystery. "Ah, you see, 'tis a long story. You +look like somebody," she replied. + +"Indeed?" + +"Somebody who is dead; of course it was a woman," Marianne chattered +on. "She had braids just like yours. Now your hair is down, I can see +that she had the very same. And she had blue eyes, too, and was so like +you in some way, I cannot exactly tell how; but as soon as you came you +reminded me of her, and our doctor saw it too,--I knew that in a +moment, for I know him well." + +"Well, and who was this other?" Alma asked, with more interest. + +Marianne sighed, and then told Alma of the unfortunate young woman whom +her doctor had once intrusted to her care. "And only think, Fraeulein +dear, the woman had once been so rich that she did not know what to do +with her money, and--but this is a secret; I only happen to know it +because my husband, who is dead, was once a footman in her house. Only +since you look so like her I'll tell it to you. Well, our doctor loved +this woman dearly when she was a girl. But he was very young, and the +girl's parents, and the girl herself, perhaps, thought he was not rich +enough for her. At all events, she wouldn't marry him, and that's the +only reason why he has never married, although now he might choose a +wife where he would and thank you, too. But he cannot forget his +Hedwig. And when he found her so sick and miserable, and got me to +nurse her, and then at last when she died, any one could see how +fond he was of her. Our doctor is an angel to all sick people, but +then--then he was something more." + +Alma listened now with keen interest, and was almost sorry when +Marianne had finished arranging her room for the night and was obliged +to attend to some other patients. + +"Yes, yes, Fraeulein dear, the best of men must have trials. Well, +good-night." + +And the nurse left the room, and Alma was again alone at the window. +And so this calm, grave Dr. Nordstedt had also lived through his +romance. He had lost his love, and lost her so cruelly! "Poor man!" +Alma whispered, thinking of what she had just heard. Then she heard +footsteps on the garden gravel path below her window. She leaned out, +and saw a tall, manly figure slowly walking towards the house. She +hurriedly withdrew, as though fearing that the doctor might suspect +that she was thinking of him and that she knew his secret. Still, she +no longer felt lonely as before; it was a certain consolation to her to +reflect that in the heart of the man walking alone beneath the trees on +this sultry evening there might perhaps be thoughts similar to her own. + +From this day it was not gratitude solely that prompted her to observe +the doctor with greater interest than hitherto. There seemed a certain +resemblance between his fate and her own. She thought she could +understand him; and when he paced the garden to and fro alone in the +evening, and she stood alone at her window, she thought that surely +there was some mysterious sympathy between them. + +Thus some time passed, and at last Frau von Rosen was allowed to leave +her room. When she spent an hour for the first time in an arbour in the +garden, Herr von Hohenstein and his daughter came to wish their old +friend joy in her restoration to health, and to inform her at the same +time that Herr von Hohenstein had purchased a country-house with a +little land, and that they were to occupy it the ensuing week. The +house was in the vicinity of one of the larger cities of their native +province, and Adela was enthusiastic in her praises of its lovely +situation, while her head was filled with plans for gardens of roses, +asparagus-beds, dove-cotes, and chicken-yards. Herr von Hohenstein, who +had entirely recovered his health, although he was greatly changed and +found his memory often defective, so that he was obliged to turn to +Adela for aid, agreed to everything, and spoke of employing his leisure +in the quiet of the country, if his strength admitted of it, in +collecting his varied experience on the subject of the breeding of +horses, and in publishing it for the use and enlightenment of +posterity. Adela had taken a pencil out of her pocket, and was +just about to draw a ground-plan of her future home on a leaf of +her note-book for Alma, when a shadow fell upon her paper, and a +familiar voice that had not fallen upon her ears for a long time bade +'good-morning' to the little circle in the arbour. Adela started up and +confronted Walter Eichhof. Perhaps each was at first inclined, so +unexpected was this meeting, to run away; but Adela was imprisoned in +the arbour, and Dr. Nordstedt's broad shoulders appeared just behind +Walter. As there was no way of avoiding each other, they each had +recourse to the same line of conduct; Walter devoted himself to the +Rosens, and Adela found inexhaustible matter for conversation with Dr. +Nordstedt in his establishment and his methods of treatment, in which +she expressed the greatest interest. Both Walter and Adela, however, +took occasion to scan each other furtively, and at times replied rather +vaguely to remarks addressed to them, from an anxiety on the part of +each to hear what the other was saying. At last Dr. Nordstedt expressed +a fear lest so much conversation around her might fatigue Frau von +Rosen, and proposed that she should be left for a while with the Baron +von Hohenstein, while he conducted Walter and the young ladies through +the garden, and the establishment in which Fraeulein von Hohenstein +expressed such an interest. + +Adela immediately declared herself ready to go, and, as Walter was +standing by Alma's side, it fell to Dr. Nordstedt to conduct Fraeulein +von Hohenstein. He showed them through various rooms in the house, and +told them how they had been enlarged to their present size from small +beginnings, until he had ended by adding the present spacious wings to +the original mansion. The waiting-rooms were filled with all kinds of +costly _objets d'art_, mementos from grateful patients from near and +far. Adela, who had chattered fast enough at first, gradually became +silent, and looked up with a kind of awe at the tall, serious man who +had made himself what he was. Then she cast a stolen glance at Walter. +He was right to be proud of this friend, she thought, and then she +wondered whether Walter possessed sufficient energy and industry to be +like him. She could not but observe meanwhile that in the course of the +last year Walter had grown far more manly, and at last she arrived at +the conclusion that she never should suspect either Walter or Dr. +Nordstedt of being doctors if she had not known about them. The image +of a 'doctor' in her mind was inseparably connected with a large pair +of spectacles and a strong odour of ether,--both attributes of the +family physician at Rollin, and of a certain professor who had been +called in at the time of her father's illness. They had hitherto been +the only representatives of the medical profession known to her. + +"Fraeulein Alma would like to see your study," Walter suddenly said to +Nordstedt, who turned to the girl with a smile, and said,-- + +"You have seen it already, Fraeulein von Rosen. It is the little room I +showed you where I performed my first successful operation. When one +wishes to work, any decoration around one has a disturbing influence, I +think; and then, too, I like old places, and so I stayed there with my +books." + +"For the first time I cannot agree with you," cried Adela. "Whoever has +any taste for the beautiful must like to see it around him." + +Nordstedt laughed. "You are right," he rejoined; "but beauty incites me +either to enjoyment or to dreamy revery, and neither is any assistance +to hard work." + +"But, lest the ladies should think you a scorner of the beautiful, you +must open your music-room for us," said Walter. + +This Nordstedt did with pleasure. He certainly was much more talkative +and less reserved than usual to-day. Walter wondered whether Adela's +gay humour had wrought this change. Although he was firmly convinced +that he himself had entirely ceased to think of Adela, he found this +suspicion far from agreeable. + +As they entered the music-room both the girls uttered an exclamation of +delight. The furniture, the hangings, the pictures on the walls, all +gave evidence of genuine taste and a fine artistic perception. + +"Yes, the requirements of art differ from those of labour," said +Nordstedt. "Art gives beauty and must have beauty." + +And everything in this room was beautiful. From the grand piano to the +smallest footstool, all was perfect of its kind. Adela's admiration was +loudly expressed, Alma's was silent. But whenever she lifted her eyes +they were sure to encounter Nordstedt's glance seeking hers. "Do you +love music?" he asked, suddenly stepping to her side. + +"Dearly!" she replied. + +He went to the piano, and played one of Mendelssohn's Songs without +Words. Walter stood at a window, looking very grave. Nordstedt never +played before strangers. What had come over him to-day? And how +devoutly Adela was listening! Walter wished he had not come here +to-day, and the brighter his friend's face grew the gloomier he felt. + +The song that Nordstedt had chosen was one of those brief melancholy +strains that suggest a lament. When he had finished, Alma said, "That +song is one of my favourites. It is so fervent, and yet so sad. It +sounds as if one were thinking of some one loved and lost----" + +Nordstedt turned upon her one brief questioning glance of surprise. +Alma blushed, fearing that she had said too much. But Adela, who +generally said whatever came into her head without reflecting, +exclaimed, as she looked admiringly at Nordstedt, "Why, you can do +everything! You give me an entirely different idea of doctors from any +I have ever had before!" + +Scarcely had the words left her lips when she, too, blushed crimson to +the roots of her hair, for she remembered that Walter heard what she +said. She was glad that Nordstedt proposed returning to Frau von Rosen, +who ought now to be taken to her room. Without waiting for the escort +of the two gentlemen, she took Alma's arm, and ran, rather than walked, +along the corridor into the garden, while the young men silently +followed them. Nordstedt's face was bright with a smile, but Walter was +annoyed and discontented with himself, with Adela, with everybody. He +was more startled than pleased when Adela offered him her hand at +parting and said, softly, "It has given me great pleasure to see you +again." He replied only by a low, formal bow. He wandered about the +loneliest streets on this evening until ten o'clock, and at last closed +his door behind him and threw himself upon his lounge, saying, "And yet +I wish I had not seen her again!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + SUMMER DAYS. + + +Broad sunlight lay upon the comfortable mansion of Schoenthal. Frau von +Rosen was better than she had been for years, but she was still obliged +to spare her eyes, and so Alma had undertaken to advise Dr. Nordstedt +from time to time of the condition of his patient. The less there was +to tell of her, however, the more there always seemed to be to say. +Nordstedt was now looked upon by the whole family more as a friend than +as a physician, and, busy as he might be, he always found time to +answer Alma's letters. As Walter was to spend his summer holidays at +Schoenthal, Herr von Rosen invited Dr. Nordstedt to pay them a visit at +the same time. + +"But, papa, what are you thinking of? He never will come," said Alma. + +Nevertheless he came. + +"What a pity it is that Thea has not yet come home!" said Alma. "She +would be so much pleased with Dr. Nordstedt, and he would like her so +much." + +Frau von Rosen gazed thoughtfully at her daughter. How did she know so +well whom Dr. Nordstedt would like? She began to shake her head, but +not for long, for Nordstedt had grown dear to her, and she only glanced +shyly now and then at her husband, wondering if the same thoughts that +had occurred to her had been suggested to him also, and what he would +say. But it really was all his fault. Why had he invited the doctor to +the house? + +One evening Herr von Rosen said to her, "We are thought to be people of +very advanced ideas, mamma. Do you not think we should justify the +opinion entertained of us if we chanced some day to marry our daughter +to a man of the people?" + +"It seems to me," she replied, "that everything would depend upon who +the man was, and what confidence we could repose in him." + +"Aha! Then, in principle, you would not be opposed to such a match? Of +course, I am only discussing such things in general." + +"In general, then, I have no objection to the bourgeoisie, although I +once thought I could favour none save sons-in-law of rank. But what is +the use of growing older if one grows no wiser?" + +Then there was a pause, which was ended by Herr von Rosen's saying, +"Alma certainly never would have been happy with Lothar Eichhof." + +Frau von Rosen sighed. She laid her hand on her husband's shoulder, and +said, softly, "Do you think Thea is happy?" + +"Ah! her letters have struck you too?" + +"Not only that, but she has now been three months away from Eichhof. It +was all very well for her to go to the baths, but to visit my sister +afterward and stay there so long,--I cannot understand it. Mountain air +is good for the child, she says. Possibly; but Eichhof air would be +equally good for him. And we so seldom see anything of Bernhard----" + +"Bernhard has a great deal to do at present." + +"Ah, my dear, I can easily see that you do not believe that to be the +only reason. I often lie awake thinking of it all. I cannot comprehend +it." + +"Wait until Thea comes home. She is a clever woman, and she loves +Bernhard; she will make matters all right again. You remember how she +behaved about his agricultural interests. At all events, we must know +nothing until we are told. Not even a parent should interfere between +man and wife." + +Frau von Rosen assented. "But yet it is hard," she rejoined; "and if +anything has estranged them from each other, be sure it is the result +of the grand state in which they are obliged to live. Love is more +likely to nourish amid simple, comfortable surroundings." + +The next day the family and their guests were taking their coffee when +the post-bag was brought in. There was a general distribution of +letters and newspapers, and among the former was a thick envelope for +Alma from Adela Hohenstein. + +There had been a brisk correspondence carried on of late between the +two girls, and Alma was as familiar with Adela's quiet life in her +country home as was Adela with Alma's walks and rides with her guests, +and even with the conversations carried on among them. + +"It is very charming here," Adela wrote. "My plants and my animals +flourish finely. Papa is contented, and we love each other dearly. +But--you see there is a but--it is very quiet. The people about us are +strangers to us, and those whom we know are far away. I go to walk just +when you do, but I am quite alone. Since my Fidele died I have not even +a dog, for the one I have now is too stupid to care to go with me. +While I walk, papa writes his book, which, however, between ourselves, +will not come to anything, because poor papa has forgotten so much. But +it gives him pleasure, and so I let him believe that it will be good, +and go to walk alone. And sometimes I am quite low in my mind and could +envy you your guests. Not Walter, of course, but Dr. Nordstedt is so +nice; and even Walter is a human being, and an old acquaintance +besides. Papa, too, thinks--but then he had better write you himself +what he thinks. I only want to tell you that I am no longer so +seriously angry with Walter as I told you I was in Berlin. I have been +thinking about it since I have been so much alone, and I have reflected +that it is folly to be angry with any one for as long as I have been +vexed with Walter. To be sure, you do not know the cause I had for +anger, and I certainly had good cause; but nevertheless I am angry with +him no longer, and he need not refuse papa's invitation on my account. +You may tell him so." + +Alma read this strange letter twice, and just as she finished it Herr +von Rosen said, "Baron Hohenstein has written to me, Dr. Nordstedt, +asking whether you and Walter will not stop and pay him a little visit +on your way home. He says he has received so much hospitality in your +house that he should like to requite it. You will go directly past his +retreat, and----" + +"Don't decide against this plan; I have something to tell you from +Adela," Alma whispered to Walter, who was just opening his lips to +declare that the visit would be impossible. + +Dr. Nordstedt read the Freiherr's kind invitation, and then declared, +with a glance at Walter, the state of whose mind he guessed, although +he knew nothing of it positively, that he felt inclined to go. After +breakfast Alma took occasion to deliver Adela's message to Walter. The +young man hesitated at first whether to rejoice or be vexed. Adela was +no longer angry with him! As if she had ever had any cause to be so. He +had laid his heart at her feet, and she had thrust it from her. The +bitterest moments of his life he had experienced upon her account. No +human being had ever so grieved and wounded him as she had done. And +now she sent him word that she was no longer angry with him. What a +confusion of ideas there must be in that fair curly head! But in spite +of his vexation his heart beat faster, and there was a joyous light in +his eyes. Was not a desire to see him again at the bottom of her +message? Did she not say "I am no longer angry with you" only because +pride and mortification kept her from saying, "Do not be angry with me +any longer"? Of what avail was it that he had so often convinced +himself that he would forget her,--nay, that he had forgotten her? Her +image was more vividly distinct than ever in his mind, and in spite of +all his self-remonstrances he was delighted at the thought of this +visit, and counted the days that must elapse before it could begin. + +One day Herr von Rosen invited him to drive with him to Rollin, where +he and Alma had long owed a visit. Dr. Nordstedt stayed with Frau von +Rosen, and the three others set out upon a lovely afternoon. How +strange were Walter's sensations upon seeing the fine old pile once +more! The memories connected with it took more vivid shape in his mind. +There were the two old lindens beside the court-yard gate stretching +their leafy arms above the tall old wooden crucifix, and upon the other +side was the ancient oak, in which the storks were wont to build. But +between these unchanged trees two brand-new gothic gate-posts had +lately been erected, and as the carriage rolled along the avenue Walter +saw that the old house had been decorated with all kinds of turrets and +bow-windows. The arbour of clematis had been replaced by a sloping +terrace; the elder-bushes in front of the house had been exchanged for +closely-trimmed acacias, and instead of the climbing roses, which had +been killed by the various renovations, the shield and baronial crest +of the Hohensteins were conspicuous between the windows of the upper +story. A footman in elegant livery received the guests. The hall was +redolent of fresh paint and new carpets, and the doors creaked upon +their hinges, as though discontented with the new order of affairs, but +no footstep could be heard upon the luxurious rugs and carpets. Hugo +Hohenstein received them in the hall in his customary _blase_ but not +inelegant manner. He conducted Alma to the drawing-room, and presented +the party to his wife, who greeted them with a curtsey that was +needlessly low, but maintained towards them generally an air of cool +reserve, which finally had a paralyzing effect upon them all. The young +hostess had perhaps not received a satisfactory amount of attention +from her husband's acquaintances, and was fearful of compromising +herself; at all events, she was evidently embarrassed, perfectly +courteous but perfectly cold, so that when the gentlemen retired to +smoke a cigar, Alma found it very difficult to carry on a conversation. +She admired several treasures of art that were displayed on shelves and +brackets, as well as the entire arrangement of the drawing-room. Frau +von Hohenstein replied that it was all very simple, and that she was +sure that Fraeulein von Rosen was accustomed to a far greater degree of +elegance. But something in her expression gave the lie to her words, +and Alma's heart grew heavy, for she could not but remember, as these +conventional phrases were being exchanged, the many delightful talks +she had had with Adela in this very room. + +"Walter's sensations were very similar to Alma's, while Hugo Hohenstein +conducted the gentlemen through the gardens, where stiff flower-beds +but poorly replaced the rose-hedges. The trees in the park, too, were +much thinned, and part of the pond had been drained to give place to +more trim flower-beds. + +"When the pond was drained a ring was found," said Hugo,--"a golden +ring, set with a blue or green stone. I have it now; and I should like +to know how it came in the pond." + +The blood mounted to Walter's cheeks, but he said nothing, until +shortly afterwards, when he was shown the ring in the smoking-room. +Then he could not refrain from remarking, "I think your sister, +Fraeulein Adela, used to wear that ring. If I am not mistaken, there is +a date engraved upon it,--the date of your parents' betrothal----Ah! +there it is: 'August 28, 1830.' Does that coincide with your knowledge +on the subject?" + +"To be sure! I never thought of that. Really, it is remarkable how +stupid everything is when one comes to investigate it. Some interest +attached to the ring so long as no one knew how it came in the pond. +But now that we know all about it, it turns out to be perfectly +commonplace." + +"Would you like to see my collection of weapons?" he asked, after a +while. "I have some rare pieces." He opened a cabinet and displayed its +contents to his guests. "They really are fine, are they not?" he said. +"I am thinking now of making an Egyptian collection. I intend going to +Egypt; it is a fearful bore to stay at home forever." + +"Ah!" said Herr von Rosen. "What does your lady wife say to that?" + +Hugo von Hohenstein looked at his neighbour with undisguised +astonishment, then he smiled with an air of superiority. "_Mon Dieu!_" +he said, "we did not marry to be bored. My wife will probably visit a +French watering-place, or something of the sort." He suppressed a +slight yawn, and thought how impossible it was to be entertained by +these _gentilshommes campagnards_, who, with their old-fashioned ideas, +were really quite out of place in the modern world. + +Herr von Rosen ordered his carriage. + +"_A propos_, since you are shortly to pay my governor a visit, my dear +Eichhof, why not take the ring with you?" said Hugo. + +"Walter had already thought of doing so, but had not made up his mind +how to propose it. He took the ring, and his heart beat fast. Fate +willed that the ring he had cast away in anger should now be returned +to him; he would accept the omen,--it was the talisman of his good +fortune that he had thus regained. Therefore on the drive home to +Schoenthal he was in the gayest humour, while Herr von Rosen and Alma +could not recover from the impression the visit had made upon them. +They had had a fleeting glimpse of a modern fashionable marriage, and +both were prompted to make a comparison which pained them. + +"He is going to Egypt and she to France," Herr von Rosen thought, "and +this they call not being 'bored.' And my daughter and my son-in-law, +too, have put miles between them. Are they afraid of being 'bored'? +Good heavens! have home-life and home-happiness lost all charm for the +young people of the present day?" + +Alma on her part thought of the cool courtesy with which Hugo +Hohenstein and his wife treated each other, and then her thoughts +travelled to Thea and Bernhard. Would they at some future day treat +each other thus, or even more coldly and stiffly? She longed to see +Thea again; now when her first sharp pang for Lothar's death was past, +and when her mother was so nearly well, the secret in which she was a +sharer weighed heavily upon her youthful soul. The world was so fair +and sunny, and people were so kind, and Dr. Nordstedt--no, he had +nothing to do with it; but she felt so calmly happy that her heart was +full of gratitude to God for this lovely world. But then, when she +remembered Thea and Lothar, she felt that she was wrong to be happy and +to enjoy. Oh, there was so much sorrow in the world after all! + +And to-day, after the visit to Rollin, she felt in a particularly +melancholy mood. Rollin had impressed her as so sadly changed, she +missed Adela everywhere; she thought of how changed too Eichhof would +be when Thea finally returned thither, and she remembered that their +guests were to leave Schoenthal on the morrow. + +Occupied with these thoughts, she went out alone in the evening into +the park, while the rest were sitting on the veranda. Frau von Rosen +soon reentered the house, and asked her husband to come with her, as +she wished to speak with him. Nordstedt and Walter were left alone. +Nordstedt drummed with his fingers upon the garden-table, near which he +sat, in a nervous way quite unlike him. He arose once or twice, then +seated himself and drummed again, saying, at last, "I will go find +Fraeulein Alma; the evening is damp, she may take cold." + +"Well, then, come," said Walter, evidently regarding his companionship +as indispensable. + +Nordstedt stood one moment in silence, then put both hands upon his +young friend's shoulders, and said, gently, "Let me go alone; I have +something to say to Fraeulein Alma." + +"Nordstedt, is it possible?" Walter ejaculated, having already during +his visit at Schoenthal made up his mind that it was not Adela who had +wrought the change in Nordstedt which had so surprised and annoyed him +in Berlin. + +Nordstedt looked abroad into the moonlight. "Much is possible, my dear +fellow; nothing is certain!" he said. And without another word he +descended the steps of the veranda and walked alone: the moonlit path +towards the park. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + A CRISIS. + + +It was very lonely at Castle Eichhof. On lovely summer afternoons the +servants would sit in the pleasantest nooks in the garden discussing +old times and new ones, and the windows of the second story were +closely curtained, and looked as if they had all kinds of secrets to +keep. Thea had not yet returned, and Bernhard's visits to his home were +very short, and when he did come he occupied his bachelor apartments. +His railway scheme gave him a great deal to do, and even if this had +not been the case he could not have borne to stay long in his lonely +castle. + +It was fortunate that the Wronskys were at home this summer! Although +their estate, Panienka, was more than two miles distant from Eichhof, +Bernhard was their frequent guest. + +Wronsky, who was much too undecided a character to insist upon his own +way when it was not agreeable to his wife, was extremely glad that she +had chosen to spend this summer at home, for he dearly loved his ease +and good eating. He looked up to his wife much as he did to his old +schoolfellow Bernhard, and if he thought it the great blessing of his +life that he had won the hand of his beautiful, clever, and proud +Julutta, none the less did he feel himself greatly honoured by +Bernhard's frequent presence in his house. In his unpretending +_bonhommie_ he thought it but natural that his friend should prefer his +wife's society to his own. Bernhard's influence over his good-natured +friend dated from their school-days; he had always been first in his +classes, while Wronsky had contentedly remained at their foot. And +Julutta? She smiled when she perceived Bernhard approaching, but it was +a strange, contemptuous smile, very different from the one with which +she greeted him when he stood before her. Latterly she had not smiled +when he appeared, but had bidden him welcome with eyes that were large +and serious, and with a certain shy confusion in her manner. The more +embarrassed she seemed, the warmer and the firmer was his clasp of her +hand, the more frank and cordial did he become, until she, too, adopted +his tone, and they talked together like good friends and comrades. At +least so Bernhard would have said, and he forced himself to believe +that so it was. Yes, Julutta's blush when he touched her hand, the +liquid brilliancy of her eyes, the pathetic tone of her voice when she +talked with him, all this was only friendship. True it was, however, +that Julutta could not only talk and blush with a grace all her own, +but could also observe and combine with a cleverness beyond that of +other women. + +Bernhard took a certain credit to himself for never mentioning Thea in +his conversations with Julutta, for concealing the ruined sanctuary of +his home from the eyes of his friend. + +But Julutta heard and saw what he never told her. Why it was she did +not indeed know, but she did know that he was not happy in his +marriage, and from the moment when she first became aware of this she +smiled no more upon Bernhard as formerly, but her earnest gaze told +him, "I know that you suffer, and I suffer with you." And in spite of +himself he understood this language, and the longer Thea remained away, +and the wider the breach became that separated them, the better did he +learn to comprehend what Frau Julutta's eyes said to him. + +When he returned to his lonely home was it any wonder that Julutta's +image pursued him thither? At first he had pitied her, then he had +admired her intellect, and now he could no longer banish from his mind +the expression of her eyes, the strange, bewildering charm of her +beauty. He saw her before him as he rode slowly home on moonlit summer +nights through the fragrant meadows; he saw her still when he entered +his lonely house. He had felt so secure, so superior, with regard to +this woman, and now? Bernhard would not analyze, would not even reflect +upon, his present sentiments towards her. Why should he? Has not many a +one, seeing his every hope in life wrecked, sought forgetfulness in the +intoxicating bowl? And Bernhard sought to forget; and if he suspected +that his senses were bewildered, he never dreamed of throwing aside the +goblet. This bewilderment should never reach the point of intoxication; +Bernhard never could forget that Julutta was the wife of the friend of +his youth; no, beyond a certain point Bernhard was still sure of +himself. + +In this sense of security he drove over to Panienka one sultry +afternoon. The sun was near its setting as he reached the pine forest +bordering on the park, but the air was still oppressively hot, and not +a breath stirred the ferns that grew on the roadside. Not a bird +twittered, not a squirrel was seen climbing the gray trunks, not a +human being encountered the vehicle, and the crunching of its wheels on +the road was the only sound that disturbed the breathless silence. The +air was filled with the strong fragrance of the pines, and across the +blue strips of sky visible among the tree-tops stretched isolated gray +clouds like menacing fingers foreboding a storm. Bernhard did not see +them. He leaned back in the carriage, gazing into the gray-green forest +twilight without really seeing that either. The dreamy quiet of nature +seemed to have infected him. Suddenly he sat upright. There was more +light between the trunks of the trees, a gray wall draped with trailing +hop-vines appeared, and then two red gateposts,--that was the little +side-entrance to the park at Panienka. The carriage was just about +to turn into a broad avenue of chestnuts, which led to the castle +court-yard, when he told the coachman to stop. He thought he heard +himself called by name. He stood up, and thus could see over the wall. +Across the green lawn stretching between the wall and a little pond +came the slender figure of a woman, who beckoned to him. In her white +trailing dress and her gold-gleaming hair she looked like the nymph of +the cool forest pool whose waters glistened behind her. + +"Where are you going, Count Eichhof?" exclaimed Julutta. "My husband is +at R----, and it is so insufferably warm in-doors that I have taken +refuge here by the pond. If you will come and drive away the gnats with +a cigar I shall be grateful to you." + +Bernhard sprang from the carriage and approached the little gate. +Julutta leaned upon the wall, which just there was low and crumbling. +"Tell them to bring us some fruit and wine from the castle," she called +out to the coachman. Then she went to the gate and opened it to admit +Bernhard. So soon as she was alone with him her self-possession +vanished. She offered him her hand without looking at him, she spoke of +the heat of the weather, of Bernhard's long drive, excused herself for +thus detaining him, perhaps against his will, and then congratulated +herself upon his visit,--all this so hastily spoken, and in such +bewitching confusion, that Bernhard could not but see that she was +embarrassed, and that she wished to conceal or overcome her +embarrassment by talking quickly. They had reached a charming spot, a +seat half surrounded by low rocks, and looking upon the little forest +lake. A small waterfall plashed close by and diffused a refreshing +coolness, so that Bernhard after his warm drive involuntarily drew a +deep breath. + +"It is charming here," he said; "and you come to me like a kind fairy +who lives in an enchanted forest and who conducts weary wanderers into +her fairy home, where it is always cool and delightful." + +Julutta laughed. "Only favoured wanderers," she said. + +"I thank you, gentle fairy," Bernhard said, earnestly. She blushed and +looked away from him towards the water. For an instant he gazed at her +admiringly, and then, as if forcing himself to look at something +else, he took up a little book lying on a rustic table. He read the +title-page,--"Pages from the Life of a Good-for-Nothing," by +Eichendorff. "Ah, have you been reading this midsummer night's dream of +Eichendorff's on this sultry summer day?" he asked. + +With a smile she turned to him. "And why not?" she said, with a gentle +dreamy expression in her eyes. "Do you think, because I have known more +than most women of the stern realities of life, that I must have lost +all sense of its poetry?" + +"No, assuredly not; but I thought you too much of a critic to enjoy the +story, which, charming as it is, is so absolutely impossible that you +must admit that it is thoroughly unreal and unnatural." + +"But, good heavens! there are moods in which one longs for just that. A +day like this in a lonely forest--for this park is really only a +forest--makes one dream; and why should one not indulge in this +charming midsummer dream, and for an hour believe that, even in this +mortal life, everything may be delightful? Reality will teach us soon +enough that it is not so." + +Bernhard turned over the leaves of the book. Julutta seated herself +upon the gnarled roots of a beech beside the waterfall, and gazed +at the green lily-pads floating on the little lake, and at the +dragon-flies hovering on gauzy wings above it. + +"You have been dreaming, then, to-day?" Bernhard asked, seating himself +beside her. + +"Yes; shall you laugh at me for doing so?" + +"On the contrary, I envy you. I have had to write such dreadfully long +and tiresome letters at home." + +"Do you never dream?" + +"They say a man should never dream." + +"Ah, 'they say' so much, 'they' are so wise; but folly is not to be +easily banished from the world. I even maintain that every man of +sensibility and imagination has often found himself dreaming of some +foolish happiness." + +"Why of a foolish happiness?" + +"Because happiness can hardly ever stand the test of critical reason, +but depends upon imagination, which is often folly. And what is +happiness, after all? A moment, an intoxication, a dream,--and yet we +all long for it." + +A year before--a few months before--Bernhard would perhaps have +contradicted her. Now he nodded a mute assent. She was right. Happiness +was an intoxication, a dream. + +"I sometimes think," Julutta continued, eagerly, "that mortals would be +better and happier if there were somewhere an island where all could be +happy in their own way for at least three weeks of every year." + +Bernhard laughed. "There is method in your dreaming at least," he said. + +"Laugh if you will," she said; "but do you not believe that many a one +would bear his burden more easily and willingly if each year brought +him so happy a memory and so glad a hope?" + +"Possibly; but many would be miserably unhappy in longing for this +blessed island all through the rest of the year." + +"Oh, no. Children at school are not made unhappy by thoughts of their +holidays; they are refreshed and strengthened for their studies by +them." + +Bernhard sat drawing hieroglyphics in the gravel with his cane. A clink +of glasses was heard approaching, and Julutta arose. + +"Here comes our 'Little table spread thee,'" she said, going to the +rustic table, upon which the servant arranged decanters, wine-glasses, +and fragrant fruit. "Come," said Julutta. "There are those who maintain +that wine can conduct to the Island of the Blest." She handed him a +sparkling glass and laughed. "Which only means that we are too sensible +to be happy; for common sense must be thrown overboard before we can +land upon my Island of the Blest." + +Bernhard took the glass. "To the Island of the Blest!" he said, +emptying it at a draught. + +Julutta divided a fragrant peach with her snowy fingers, and offered +half of it to Bernhard. + +A dragon-fly hovered above the table, and settled for a moment upon the +basket of fruit. "A greeting from the Island of the Blest!" Bernhard +exclaimed. + +But Julutta had suddenly grown grave and thoughtful. She brushed the +dragon-fly away with her handkerchief, leaned her head upon her hand, +and gazed at the little lake, that now looked gray and leaden. + +"Of what are you thinking?" Bernhard asked. + +"What folly I have been talking!" she said, hastily arising. "Come, let +us go to the house. My husband will soon return, and we can receive +him." + +"Your husband? Oh, if Wronsky has gone to the circuit court at R----, +he cannot be back again for two or three hours at least. It is so +lovely here, why not stay?" + +She looked at him almost angrily. "Why?" she repeated, and her eyes +grew tender and yearning again. "Well, then let us stay," she added, in +a low tone, and walked down to the water's edge. + +Bernhard followed her. "You are strangely agitated to-day," he said, +standing close beside her. "May I not, as your friend, know----?" + +She seemed scarcely to hear him, but pointed towards the black canopy +of clouds that hung above the forest on the other side of the water, +and through which just then there shone a zigzag flash of flame. + +"It is lightning!" she said. + +He looked in her face; one might almost see the blood pulsing beneath +the delicate transparent skin, and there was a gleam in her eyes akin +to the lightning-flash in the clouds. + +They stood thus silently side by side for some moments, until the +servant had removed the fruit and wine and gone to the house. + +"What is the matter?" Bernhard gently asked. + +She shook her head, and a forced smile played about her mouth. +"Nothing," she said; "nothing at all." But her eyes suddenly filled +with tears. + +"What, tears!" he exclaimed, in alarm. "You have a sorrow that you are +hiding from me! Am I no longer worthy of your confidence? What have I +done?" + +"Nothing, nothing!" she said again. "You are the best, the noblest of +men, and I--but I pray you, I entreat you, ask me nothing further!" + +Bernhard's eyes fell before her, and he was silent. Every moment it +grew darker around them; the evening shadows made the water show almost +black, except that now and then the lurid glare of the lightning was +reflected in its calm surface. The sultry breath of the storm, heavy +with the fragrance of the pines and the perfume of roses, was wafted +across forest and water. To Bernhard it seemed stifling. He sighed +heavily. + +"I wish I had _never_ returned from the ocean that night at Trouville," +Julutta whispered; "then all suffering would be over, and I should be +at peace!" + +"Julutta!" + +Again she shook her head sadly. "The waters have closed over our Island +of the Blest forever," she whispered, scarce audibly. + +But Bernhard heard and understood. He clasped her white hand in both +his own, and she made no resistance. "Bernhard!" she breathed, as if +carried away by the spell of the moment. And he, too, yielded to the +spell. + +"Julutta!" he cried, involuntarily opening his arms to her. But lithe +and swift as some smooth serpent she glided past him. At the same +instant a blast of wind ruffled the surface of the pond, and a few +large drops of rain began to fall. + +Through the rising tempest Julutta's laughing voice fell upon his ear: +"The thunder-storm is upon us!" she called, and the next instant had +vanished behind the rocks. At such a moment she could laugh and +remember the storm! To him it seemed a matter of course that the +tempest should come: the wind and storm suited his mood. He did not +think of seeking shelter, but through the increasing hurly-burly the +conviction flashed upon him, vivid as the glare of the lightning, "Your +conduct and your love are alike disgraceful!" + +He shuddered. Before him, among the tossing boughs and wind-swept +bushes, fluttered a white robe,--Julutta was fleeing from the tempest. +In an instant the flashing rain hid all around and before him in a gray +twilight. He slowly took his way towards the house. Julutta had reached +it long before he entered the hall, from the walls of which the +portraits of Marzell's parents looked down upon him, strangely endowed +with a ghostly life by the repeated flashes of lightning. The memory of +his childhood was suddenly present as in a vision to Bernhard. He saw +Marzell and himself on the knees of that kindly old man, he seemed to +hear the gentle voice of Marzell's mother, and he passed his hand +across his forehead with a sigh. + +"I am a guest in Marzell Wronsky's house, and Julutta is his wife," he +murmured, and again he shuddered. "Julutta is his wife," he repeated, +and with sudden decision he turned and would have gone to order his +carriage. What mattered the wind and storm? He must leave this house, +and the sooner the better. + +But at the door he encountered Marzell Wronsky himself, who had but +just arrived, and whom the storm had overtaken at a short distance from +his home. He shook himself like some wet dog, scolded at the weather, +and would not hear of Bernhard's leaving Panienka. He declared it to be +simply impossible, and Bernhard himself could not now see why he should +refuse to spend an hour with his friend and await the abating of the +wind and rain. With a sigh of resignation, and feeling like some +penitent who suffers patiently a just punishment, he consented to +remain. + +"I am delighted to have come just in time to catch you," said Wronsky. +"Now we shall have a charming evening together. But where in the world +is my wife?" Bernhard said that they had been overtaken in the garden +by the rain, and that he supposed Frau von Wronsky had gone to change +her dress. + +"Then you must be wet, too!" exclaimed Marzell, feeling the sleeve of +his friend's coat. "Of course, drenched to the skin! And you were going +to drive home in this condition, as if there were no dry things to be +had here! I am, to be sure, rather stouter than you, and not quite so +tall, but that's no matter. Come with me to my dressing-room. What were +you about, to think of driving two miles to Eichhof in your wet +clothes! You ought to have known that my entire wardrobe is at your +service." + +Wronsky's self-importance was vastly increased by his belief that he +had surprised his admired friend in a small piece of stupidity, and by +the certainty that he could save him, if not from any great misfortune, +at least from a cold in his head. He was so innocently officious, so +indescribably amiable, that Bernhard endured torments at the +remembrance of the scene at the pond in the park. He felt thoroughly +ashamed of himself, and he hoped and believed that Julutta would find +some pretext for refusing to join the gentlemen. Instead of which she +soon made her appearance in a kind of _neglige_, which was both elegant +and bewitching, and her air and manner were not at all what Bernhard +had supposed they would be. Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks glowed, and +she was evidently under the influence of a joyous excitement, which +annoyed Bernhard, and which he could not comprehend. She was brilliant +in her conversation, and while talking with her husband frequently +looked towards Bernhard. In much that she said there was a double +meaning which could be perceived by Bernhard alone, and this secret +understanding which she seemed thus to establish between herself and +Bernhard in the presence of her unconscious husband became each moment +more and more painful to Count Eichhof. + +At last the storm had passed, and he could order his carriage. + +"I am glad you happened to come to-day," said Marzell, "for to-morrow I +must go to my sister's again. You know that since her husband's death +affairs are in terrible confusion over there, and I have my hands full +in settling matters. I shall have to be away for some time; perhaps you +will find time to come over and see my wife. She will be very lonely. +Eh, Julutta?" + +"If it would not bore you, Count Eichhof." Her eyes had an arch sparkle +in them, and there was a bewitching smile upon her lips, as, with one +hand on her husband's shoulder, she extended the other to her guest, +and said, with significant emphasis, "_Au revoir_." + +Bernhard turned hurriedly away and got into his carriage. Wronsky had +something to say to his inspector, and Julutta retired to her own room. + +Here she walked to and fro for a few minutes in great agitation of +mind. Then she seated herself at her writing-table, and drew forth the +mute confidante of her thoughts and her life,--her diary. Her pen +travelled swiftly over the paper. She wrote: "At last--at last my +haughty Count is as wax in my hands, for I know now that he loves me. I +could have trodden him in the dust at my feet to-day; but no, my +triumph, my revenge, shall be prolonged! I will exult for a while +longer in the consciousness that he loves me and suffers on my account. +My heart throbs fast at the thought. I scarcely know sometimes whether +it is hate or love with which he inspires me. Love? Can I love? No; the +tempest of my life has left me no heart that can love. And yet I find a +strange discord in my mind. There is no need to put a force upon myself +to treat him with gentleness and affection. If this means love, I have +used it to minister to my hatred, for it has helped me to acquire a +mastery over him. Yes, I have gained this mastery, and I shall know how +to use it. I will listen to the confession of his love from his own +proud lips that I may spurn him from me with contempt. And have I not +just cause to hate him thus? Did he not trample beneath his feet the +last remnant of my better self,--my pride? My pride was still mine. It +drove me to leave Herr von Moehazy when I learned his treachery; it +caused me to accept the hand of a country squire, but a man of honour, +and thus to prove to myself and the world that I was not the outcast I +was inclined to believe myself. And he--he, when I was more unfortunate +than guilty, condemned me as utterly base, without even hearing me! Oh, +I have suffered too deeply from this man's scorn ever to forget it! I +resolved to requite him for this scorn. I would compel him to love +me,--me, upon whom he looked down so proudly from the heights of his +virtue; me, the wife of his friend. It was a bold scheme, but it has +been successful. My meeting Moehazy and the Count's interference was a +tie established between us. Then, when Moehazy left Berlin, I told my +husband the story of my youth. I knew I could do it with safety, that +his affection would find excuses for me. He did so, and I thus +destroyed the only weapon which Bernhard Eichhof could turn against me. +But will Wronsky find excuses for this man,--this model of a haughty, +virtuous aristocrat, who, in spite of his virtue, loves the wife of his +friend? All his pride, all his virtue, I now hold like some toy in my +hand. If I choose, I can toss it at his feet; and I will so choose. He +will come and help me to complete my retribution. I know what men are." + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile Bernhard's thoughts, like restless night-moths, hovered about +the woman whose hatred he never suspected, and whose love had, perhaps +unconsciously to himself, inspired some of his dreams. Now the veil had +dropped from his eyes, and at his feet yawned an abyss that threatened +to bury in its depths honour, self-respect, and friendship. And this +woman's white hand would have beckoned him on! + +He thought of her coquettish glances, of the double meaning in her +words, and this after that one supreme moment which had betrayed to +both that they were not indifferent to each other. If she had been a +true woman and wife would she not have recoiled in horror from the +memory of that moment? Instead of which there was an inconceivable +gleam of triumph in her eyes; and even when her husband, in +unsuspecting cordiality, was inviting his friend to his house, she had +known no shame, but had whispered significantly, "_Au revoir_." + +Bernhard's brow contracted, and a cold hand seemed to clutch his heart. +"Oh, women, women!" he thought, and something akin to hatred stirred in +his soul for Thea. Had she so looked, so smiled? He, to be sure, had +made it all easier for her. He had not been by while she was coquetting +with Lothar. His thoughts were unutterably bitter. + +"I will not dwell upon the reason for those false smiles and glances +to-day," he said to himself. "I will act the part of an honest man, and +put an end to the whole affair. I did not know myself, and I will be +upon my guard. Never talk to me again of friendship between man and +woman." + +Arrived at home, he looked over the letters that were awaiting him. +Among them was one from Thea. He knew that it could bring him nothing +for which his heart longed, but nevertheless he opened it instantly. +She wrote briefly, almost in a business-like way, as was now her wont. +She should be at Eichhof at the end of a week, to arrange some affairs +that needed her presence there. The boy, she wrote, would certainly be +quite well by that time. He had been often ailing of late, but the +physician had assured her that there was nothing serious the matter. + +Bernhard tossed the letter impatiently aside. "She writes as if her +coming to Eichhof needed an excuse!" he exclaimed, irritably, and took +up a large letter postmarked 'Berlin.' + +He opened it hurriedly, as one opens a business letter, in haste to be +done with a disagreeable task. He first merely glanced at it, but his +attention was soon arrested. He stared at the paper as though he could +not appreciate its contents. But there, plainly to be seen, were the +inexorable characters that announced to him the failure of the great +banking-house upon whose support the railway scheme had chiefly +depended. The prosecution of this scheme was simply an impossibility +without the aid of this house; all the time and money hitherto expended +upon it were of no avail, and Bernhard was personally a considerable +loser by the failure. He saw the work of which he had thought to be so +proud fall to pieces at one blow. Gone--gone; and yet perhaps something +might still be done, some new plan adopted. At all events, his presence +in Berlin was absolutely necessary. He had great influence there. He +might effect something. + +His self-respect, his confidence in his own strength of mind, had +suffered a terrible blow with regard to Julutta. Could not something be +done to restore these? If he could succeed in spite of all obstacles in +putting new life into the ruined scheme, in securing the benefits it +had promised to his part of the country, this would indeed be an +achievement worthy of a struggle. And any struggle was welcome to him +at present. He would cast aside all doubts and self-analysis and +concentrate his thoughts upon one point. Yes, he would leave Eichhof by +the earliest train on the morrow, and do his best to reanimate the lost +enterprise. + +In a short, courteous note he informed Frau von Wronsky that important +business affairs called him for an indefinite time to Berlin, and that +he must therefore ask her and her husband to excuse him if he did not +appear at Panienka during the next few weeks. "That is ended and done +with," he said, as he sealed the envelope, before ordering every +arrangement to be made for Thea's reception and his own departure. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + A SHORT CHAPTER, WITH A FAR GLANCE INTO THE FUTURE. + + +The Freiherr von Hohenstein sat on the veranda of his villa, puffing +forth clouds of cigar-smoke, and looking down at his daughter, who +stood at the bottom of the veranda steps surrounded by all sorts of +animals. She had apparently just returned from riding, for a long +dark-blue riding-habit clung closely to her pretty figure, and a high +black hat, with a blue veil, sat jauntily upon her curling hair, which, +loosened by her ride, was tumbling picturesquely over her shoulders. +With one hand she was feeding her horse, that still stood beside her, +with sugar, and with the other she was stroking a tame fawn that +nestled close to her. A young Newfoundland, Fidele's successor, was +making clumsy efforts to attract her attention, and the sound of a +shrill whistle, hardly permissible from such rosy lips, and yet not +much out of keeping with Adela's general manner, brought the doves +flying to her from all sides. Suddenly they fluttered away in terror: +the dog began to bark angrily. Adela looked towards the garden-gate, +and then, with a deep blush, ran up the veranda steps to say, "Papa, +papa, it is Walter Eichhof!" + +Yes, it was he; and as he offered Adela his hand, and she, still +blushing crimson, cast down her eyes, both knew that neither was angry. + +The Freiherr bade his guests welcome. He was now so convinced of his +daughter's infallibility that he had not made the least objection when +Adela had proposed to him to invite her old comrade to visit them, +suggesting that Walter might conduct negotiations for the Freiherr with +some Berlin publisher. Herr von Hohenstein was delighted with this +idea, and, besides, he contemplated reading his work aloud to his +guests; for although they knew nothing of the breeding of horses, yet +they were two human beings who could sit still and listen, and more the +author did not desire. + +"I have a letter for you," Dr. Nordstedt said to Adela, after the first +greetings were over. As soon as the girl received it she made it a +pretext for slipping into the house, since, to her surprise, she seemed +suddenly to have lost all her self-possession, and to be unable to take +the satisfaction she had looked for in the visit she had so happily +arranged. + +She gave orders for the reception and comfort of her guests, and then +retired to her own room, whence she could overlook the terrace in front +of the house, and could hear Walter's voice through the open window. +There she stood, looking out and listening, with her hands clasped over +her beating heart. + +"He has come! he has come!" she thought, exultantly. Then she opened +Alma's letter to glance through it, but the first lines arrested her +attention. What was it? These were strange tidings indeed! This grave +Dr. Nordstedt, for whom Adela entertained an immense respect, loved +Alma Rosen, and had asked her to be his wife. Alma wrote, "Can you +believe, dearest Adela, that he loves me? I seem to myself so little +and silly that it is incredible to me; but it must be true, for he says +so, and it makes me so proud and happy that I could shout for joy. But, +when I think of one who is gone, I no longer rejoice. And so I have +begged Friedrich--you know his name is Friedrich--to be only my friend +for the present, and I have told him why I ask this. And he--oh, he is +the best and noblest man living!--he says he loves me the more for it, +and will wait until I summon him. I have told him that you are my +dearest friend, and that I should write all this to you, that you may +not treat him like a stranger." + +Adela stared at the sheet before her in absolute bewilderment. She was +entirely unprepared tor its contents, for she had been far too much +occupied with Walter and herself when in Berlin to have had any time +for observation of Dr. Nordstedt and Alma. "Alma Nordstedt, Frau Dr. +Nordstedt," she whispered, shaking her head; "it sounds very odd!" She +looked very thoughtful, but in an instant her face broke into smiles, +and, alone as she was, she covered her face with her hands to hide her +blushes. + +When some hours later she was walking with her guests through the +garden, she broke off an opening rosebud and offered it to Nordstedt. +"Imagine it a greeting from Alma," she whispered, with a smile. + +"I thank you," he replied, simply, pressing her offered hand. + +Walter stood by. Adela looked up at him, half shyly, half archly, but +there was no rose for him. + +Later in the evening, while Nordstedt and the Freiherr were playing a +game of chess, the other two were walking along the same garden-path +and by the same rose-bush. + +"You gave me no rose to-day," Walter said, pausing in their stroll. + +"From whom did you desire a greeting?" she asked him, mockingly. + +"No one sends me any, and I expect none. But I have brought you +something that looks like a greeting from the past. Will you not +receive it as such?" + +He held out the ring to her, and told her how it had been found. + +"My ring! How strange!" exclaimed Adela. But she did not take it. She +dropped the hand she had extended towards it, and said, half turning +away her head, "The ring does not belong to me. I gave it away." + +"You know I cannot keep it?" + +"But I wish you to keep it." + +Walter was silent for a moment, and then said, gently, "Adela, do you +remember all I told you then?" + +She silently assented, and he went on: "My plans and views are nowise +altered; on the contrary, I am more than ever devoted to the profession +I have chosen." + +She gave him a sidelong glance. "Yes, I know it," she said; "and in two +years you are to pass your examination." + +"Adela, can you tell me that and yet wish me to keep this ring?" + +He took her hand, but she withdrew it from his clasp. + +"Stay, Herr Doctor _in spe_; if I _do_ refuse to take back the ring, +there is no need for such conduct on your part as we remember on a +former occasion." + +"Dearest Adela, I entreat you not to trifle with me. This moment must +decide our future, and if you deceive me now----" + +"Good heavens, Walter! I am not deceiving you; I have grown older, and +perhaps a little wiser, but for all that I am only sixteen years old, +and you are still a student, and papa cannot spare me, and you must +work very hard, and--no, stay where you are, please--what I wanted to +say to you was that I thought it terrible that we should both go +through the world so angry with each other, and I could not bear it, +and so I begged papa to ask you here." + +Whilst she spoke she had retreated step for step around the rose-bush +as Walter advanced, so that both had now made its entire circuit. Again +he tried to take her hand, but, lithe and swift as a fawn, she placed +the entire bush between herself and her lover, and from her place of +vantage went on: "Stand still there, and I will tell you something. +There was a young officer in Berlin who wanted me to marry him----" + +"Adela!" + +"Hush! Yes, he wanted me to marry him, and I refused point-blank." + +"Adela!" + +"Stand still, Walter, or I will leave you. I told him that at present +I would betroth myself to no one, but that when I was eighteen, if any +one should woo me, I never would marry an officer or a lawyer, for that +I had decided if I ever married that it should be a doctor!" + +And away she sped to the house, which she was entering just as Walter +reached the foot of the veranda steps. + +"Adela! dearest Adela!" he cried. + +As he spoke, a fresh dewy rose was tossed into his face, and Adela +vanished, with a laugh, inside the house. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + PER CRUCEM AD LUCEM. + + +Bernhard's exertions in Berlin were fruitless. The failure of the large +banking firm had involved many other business firms. There had been +heavy losses, and those who had not suffered shook their heads and kept +their money safe in their pockets. The word 'railway' provoked a +perfect panic, and confidence everywhere was greatly shaken. Upon a +closer examination Bernhard's losses were found to be much greater than +had been at first supposed. After conscientious consideration he could +not but admit to himself that it was time for him to look after his own +interests and relinquish, for the present at least, his efforts for the +benefit of the country at large. So he returned to his home very much +cast down, his confidence in his own ability greatly shaken, +discontented with himself and with destiny. + +At the station, which was about three miles from Eichhof, his carriage +was awaiting him. He got into it with a sigh, and as it rolled through +the monotonous pine forest he sat thinking how refreshing it would be +to him to be affectionately welcomed to his home. He saw before him +Thea as she had been a year before, when she had studied so hard for +his sake, and the past lay before his mental vision like a lost +Paradise. Why was it all so different now? why was there this shadow +between himself and his wife, the shadow of a dead man, and yet +palpable enough to separate them forever? + +"She was pure as a lily when she came to me," he said to himself. +"Could I not have shielded her from every possible danger? Did I not +know Lothar? Did I not know that he was as thoughtless as he was +susceptible? Why did I look so far abroad and shut my eyes to what was +nearest me? I built castles in the air for the future, and lost the +ground beneath my feet. But then--Thea was my wife, Lothar was my +brother,--how could I think---- Oh, it is hard, fearfully hard!" + +Monotonous as the road along which he was driving, his future life now +lay before him, without one sunny, peaceful spot that promised repose. +Suddenly he thought of his child, his son, of whom he had as yet seen +so little. From his fair rosy boy a light seemed to issue and illumine +the future pathway of the lonely man. He could devote himself to the +care of his child, he could prepare for him a golden future. To be +sure, he was himself still too young not to rebel against his fate, but +nevertheless the thought of his boy consoled him. He roused himself +from his gloomy revery, and asked the coachman whether the Countess +Thea and his child were at Eichhof. The old servant turned towards him, +and his eyes seemed mutely to reproach his master as he replied, "Yes, +Herr Count; Madame the Countess arrived at Eichhof yesterday." + +"And the child is well?" Bernhard inquired. + +The old man's face grew sad, but his eyes were not so reproachful; his +master had not quite forgotten his wife and child. "Beg pardon, Herr +Count," he said, "but the child is not well. They were both well when +they arrived, but in the night----" + +"Not well; what do you mean? The child is not seriously ill?" + +"Beg pardon, Herr Count, but the child is very ill. Just before the +despatch came from Berlin ordering the carriage, Madame the Countess +telegraphed to the Herr Count----" + +"And you have never told me until now?" Bernhard exclaimed. + +The old man began once more with his "Beg pardon, Herr Count;" and +added, "Madame the Countess thought that the Herr Count would have left +Berlin before her despatch could reach him, and she was afraid that the +Herr Count might be anxious, and so she told me to say nothing unless +the Herr Count inquired. And I did just as Madame the Countess +ordered." + +"Drive on!" Bernhard cried, wrapping himself in his cloak. He looked at +his watch; they were just crossing the forest near Panienka; he could +not reach home in less than an hour. And his child, for whom he had +just been planning in his mind, was ill, dangerously ill, or Thea would +not have telegraphed him. + +"What are you about, Hadasch?" he suddenly exclaimed to the coachman. +"Drive as fast as you possibly can----" + +Instead of which the carriage stood still, and with his usual "Beg +pardon, Herr Count," the coachman pointed to a very dashing and +graceful horsewoman who had just appeared from a side-road, and who was +the cause of the delay. + +She reined in her steed beside the carriage, and Bernhard replied to +the enchanting smile of the fair Amazon by a formal lifting of his hat. + +"What a delightful encounter!" cried Frau von Wronsky, and her eyes +were more eloquent than any words. "I hope your business matters are +concluded, or rather I know they are, and that you have had much that +was most annoying to endure." + +"You know----" He was now standing in his barouche, with his hand upon +the back of the seat, and her brilliant eyes were on a level with his +own. + +"Yes; I have heard it all in my letters from Berlin, and naturally I +have sympathized with you from my heart. Your home must indemnify you, +my dear Count, for all that you have suffered abroad." She leaned +forward and looked him full in the face as she spoke. "I trust you will +soon come to Panienka, that we may discuss it all together." + +"You are very kind, but I have just heard that my boy is very ill, +and----" + +"Oh, has your wife returned? Happy man! I am still alone; my husband is +away for an indefinite time----" + +Bernhard looked not at her, but at his horses pawing the ground +impatiently, as he rejoined, "I am extremely anxious with regard to my +boy; he seems to be dangerously ill." + +She struck her glove impatiently with the silver butt of her +riding-whip, and her dark brows lowered, but she controlled herself, +and said, "If the sick-room should be too confining for you, I pray you +to remember the rocks about the lake in the park at Panienka. My +remembrances to your charming wife. I hope soon to hear from you." + +She inclined her head and reined in her horse for an instant longer, as +though awaiting an answer. + +"I certainly will send you word with regard to the child's condition," +Bernhard said, gravely. + +She galloped off, and he again ordered the coachman to drive as fast as +possible. + +The old man, however, who had listened with an impassive face to the +conversation between his master and the charming Julutta, took the +liberty of begging pardon once more, that he might inform Bernhard that +Madame von Wronsky's groom had met him to-day, and had questioned him +as to the exact hour of the Herr Count's arrival. + +Bernhard's brow grew dark. His people then were aware, it seemed, of +his 'friendship,' and watched him. And she, Julutta, had not disdained +to learn what she wished concerning him through her groom. And she +seemed also to have made inquiries about him in Berlin. And yet, in +spite of all this interest, she had no comprehension of his anxiety +concerning his child! The sentiment with which he now regarded this +woman, for whose sake he had for an instant done violence to all that +was best in him, was more like hate than love. When at last he reached +Eichhof he sprang impatiently from the carriage. + +"How is the child?" he asked of the footman who instantly appeared. The +man shook his head. "The doctor is up-stairs, Herr Count; I am afraid +he is no better." + +Bernhard hurried to the sick-room and entered noiselessly. He saw Thea +leaning back in an armchair, deadly pale, and the physician occupied +with her. Beside the child's cradle two women knelt weeping. One glance +at the little form lying there told Bernhard that he was too late, that +all was over. For an instant he stood as though turned to stone. Then +the doctor perceived him. The old friend of the family could scarcely +speak to the young Count for a moment, but pressed his hand in silence. + +"Is it all over?" Bernhard asked in a scarcely audible whisper, +pointing to the child. + +The physician assented. "Human means were of no avail. He died of +convulsions." + +"And my wife?" + +"It is only a fainting-fit; but Countess Thea is terribly distressed." + +Just then Thea opened her eyes, and, obeying his first impulse, +Bernhard hurried to her side and clasped her in his arms. For an +instant she allowed her head to rest upon his shoulder. Her whole frame +was shaken by convulsive sobs. Then she gently disengaged herself, and +sank on her knees beside the cradle, laying her head down upon the +pillow. + +Bernhard stood beside her, profoundly agitated. Perfect silence reigned +in the room, which was broken at last by the physician's entreaty to +Thea to remember how much she needed care, and how overwrought she was. + +She shook her head, and begged to be left alone with the child. + +"It is best to let her have her way," the doctor said. + +Bernhard once more stooped over her. "Thea!" he whispered. She waved +him off, and he left the room silently with the others. He saw that she +was determined to allow him no share in her grief. "And yet this grief +is the only, the last bond between us," he thought. + +Through all these days Thea was so touching and yet so dignified in her +sorrow, that Bernhard knew, as he had never known before, how truly +she, and she alone, was the only woman whom he could ever love. In +spite of her suffering she found time to attend to his lightest wish. +He felt himself surrounded by her love, and yet he met with the same +gentle but firm repulse whenever he sought to approach her. His sorrow +for his child was scarcely more keen than his sorrow for the loss of +his wife. For that he had lost her was now clearer to him than ever; +and yet, strangely enough, he doubted more strongly every day whether +the cause of this loss was what he had hitherto supposed it to be. When +he saw her performing her duties so quietly, bearing her pain so +proudly and yet with such true womanliness, it seemed to him impossible +that she could ever have been other than proud and womanly. He began to +scrutinize himself and his conduct towards her, and to have doubts +whether the fault were not, after all, his own. But then he thought of +Lothar's death, of her refusal to answer his question, and of the total +change in her manner towards him from that time. Would she have agreed +to the letter he had written her then, if she were not guilty? Would +she not have eagerly sought an explanation with him had she been +innocent, instead of mutely avoiding it as she had done? + +This was the state of affairs when, a few days after the child's +funeral, Thea entered his room. Since Lothar's death she had never done +so, and Bernhard, therefore, received her with surprise, and almost +with alarm; for he instantly saw by her face that the coming hour would +be decisive for them both. She seated herself in the armchair he placed +for her, and looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. +There was no ring upon them. + +It went to Bernhard's heart to observe that she had laid aside her +betrothal-ring, and yet he knew that so it must be. + +He had not the courage to begin the conversation, and, after a pause, +she said, in a low tone, "I am come to remind you of that letter,--of +the letter in which you expressed your views of our relation to each +other. Our child is dead----" Her voice was choked for an instant, but +she went on: "There is nothing now to unite us. I propose going to +Schoenthal to-morrow." + +He sat opposite her, his head leaning on his hand. "Can you not stay, +then?" he asked, gently. + +She rose proudly, her self-possession entirely recovered. "No," she +cried, "I will not be endured out of pity!" + +Bernhard rose in his turn, and looked her full in the face. "Pity?" he +repeated. "What do you mean, Thea?" + +"I mean that you are sorry for me, that you think it will be hard for +me to leave the place where my child lies in his grave, the house in +which he was born. But I have borne heavier griefs, and I can bear that +too; and, although I know that your happiness does not depend alone +upon _your_ freedom, I am too proud to remain where I am only endured!" + +He stared at her as if she were some phantom. "For God's sake, Thea, +tell me what you mean," he cried. + +The expression of his face bewildered her. She paused again for a +moment. + +Then he took her hand, and said, in a voice vibrating with emotion, +"This is perhaps the last time that we shall stand thus face to +face,--our last conversation. Thea, will you not answer truly and +frankly one question?" + +"I have always been true," she replied, gazing past him as into space. + +"Tell me, then, do you believe the cause that separates us to exist in +me? Do you believe that I desire our separation? and is there no reason +_known only to yourself_, no memory in _your_ soul, to keep us +asunder?" + +She covered her eyes with her hand, as if dazzled by a sudden light. A +slight tremor passed through her frame, and a delicate flush coloured +the pale, resigned face. Bernhard gazed at her in breathless eagerness; +but, even before she spoke, he was overpowered by the conviction that +this woman could not be false; that he had been the victim of an +illusion. + +"I have no such memory," said Thea, helplessly dropping her clasped +hands before her. "Nothing in this world except yourself could ever +separate me from you. I thought----" + +Before she could utter another word she was clasped in his arms. "Thea! +my own Thea! what useless misery we have caused each other!" + +She extricated herself in utter bewilderment from his embrace. + +"And do you still love me, then?" she asked. + +"More deeply and truly than on our marriage-day," he said, fervently. + +"And Julutta Wronsky----" + +"Ah, dearest child, let me tell you all. I will confess everything to +you,--all the doubts that have so tortured me." + +She looked at him in amazement. "Doubts?" she repeated. + +"Yes, my darling; foolish doubts. I know them to be so now, but they +were terrible. Do you remember refusing me any explanation with regard +to Lothar? Then I----" + +"Ah, poor Lothar! I, too, have something to tell you, Bernhard." + +She nestled close to him, and he told her of his adventures with +Julutta Wronsky. He did not even suppress the account of the fleeting +emotion of that moment when he thought he loved her; he told her all; +and she listened to him, without doubt, without reproach, with the +entire confidence of a woman who loves. + +"We have both been blind," she said; "but only when we doubted of each +other's love did we learn how valueless life was to us without it. Oh, +Bernhard, how wretched we have been!" + +"And how blest we are once more,--each living in the other's heart!" + +"Oh, why is our child not with us?" Thea cried. + +He kissed the tears from her eyes. "He has been our guardian angel, my +darling," he said. "He has reunited us; for who can say how long we +should have been estranged from each other without this sorrow?" + +Late in the afternoon of this day Thea carried a bunch of white roses +to the little chapel; Bernhard was with her, and as they entered he +took one of the fragrant rosebuds from her hand and laid it on Lothar's +coffin. + +"_Requiescat in pace_," he whispered softly. + +Hand in hand they stood before their child's coffin, one in their +sorrow, one in their love. The last rays of the setting sun streamed +through the stained glass of the window and played upon the wreaths and +palm branches, and when Bernhard and Thea left the chapel, forest and +field lay before them bathed in the red gold of sunset, and they walked +hand in hand through the nodding grasses and bright flowers of the +little grave-yard towards a new life in the old home. + + + + + CONCLUSION. + + +Years have flown by. A stock company has taken in hand the railway in +which Bernhard was so much interested, and there is a station at R----, +where the express-train from Warschau is just arriving. + +A man with a dark sunburned face is leaning out of a coupe window, +looking eagerly across the platform towards the town and the poplar +avenue leading to Eichhof. Then he scans those who are leaving and +those who are entering the train, and a shadow of melancholy clouds his +brow. + +"Strangers, all strangers!" he murmurs. "How changed it is! The same +place, and yet so different; and no one here to recognize me." + +Just then a gentleman with a full gray beard came hurriedly from the +waiting-room. The signal for departure sounded, and the porter opened +the coupe door in great haste, and the gray-bearded individual took his +seat beside our traveller. The two men scanned each other for an +instant, and then he of the sunburned face said, "If I am not mistaken, +chance has led two old acquaintances into the same railway-carriage. +Are you not Herr Superintendent Bergmann from Eichhof?" + +"Most certainly; and I think I call to mind----" + +"Ah!" laughed the stranger, "I see you do not know who I am. The sun on +the Bulgarian battlefields has tanned me past recognition. Do you not +remember Lieutenant Werner, Lothar Eichhof's comrade?" + +"Ah! Lieutenant Werner, forgive me. But you are Colonel Werner now, I +hear, with a breast covered with orders. The newspapers have kept us +advised with regard to you. How much my Count will be interested to +hear of this meeting! We have all rejoiced in your advancement." + +Werner shook his head. "Advancements are for the most part the work of +chance," he said; "but, in spite of some terrible experiences, these +last years have been the most interesting of my life. I could write +books, let me tell you; indeed, I will not promise not to write them. +But let us leave the Turks and Russians, of whom I have latterly seen +quite enough, and let me hear something of my old friends and +acquaintances. First, how goes everything at Eichhof?" + +The old man smiled. "Admirably; as it must, I think, where an honest +man does his duty, and Count Bernhard is a fine fellow and does his +duty well,--sometimes, we think, rather exceeds it. I always said, when +people used to shake their heads at him, 'He is young; only wait, and +you'll see he'll come all right.' And now he has come all right. Since +he ceased to look abroad for a sphere of action, and made up his mind +to do what lay nearest to him, he has enjoyed his work. You ought to +pay us a visit and see how well everything goes on. His people would go +through fire and water to serve him." + +"And his wife? How is the Countess?" + +"Oh, you ought to see her! She grows younger and prettier every year. +One need only look in her eyes to see how happy she is, when she walks +through fields and gardens on her husband's arm, with their two fine +boys playing about them. And our youngest--the little Countess Thea--is +a perfect rosebud. Yes, laugh,--I confess to a weakness for these +children; they are like grandchildren to me. Have I not had Count +Bernhard in my arms when he was no older than they?" + +Werner gazed thoughtfully from the window. "Three children, have they? +It is really strange to hear of such a happy household, with the +thunder of trumpets and cannon scarcely out of one's ears. Well, +perhaps I will come to Eichhof in the autumn. I should have liked to +stop there to-day, but I have urgent business in Berlin." + +"Why, then, you can hunt up the Count. He is there now." + +"Ah! I had forgotten the Reichstag." + +"No, he is no longer a member of the Reichstag. He has so much +practical work to attend to that he has no time for theorizing, even +politically; but he is there to attend a family festival,--the +christening of the first boy of Walter Eichhof, our youngest." + +"Ah! is he married?" + +"Yes; to the love of his boyhood, the daughter of the old Freiherr von +Hohenstein." + +"Had he not some idea formerly of becoming a physician?" + +"He is a physician, and a fine one, I can tell you. Our Count was in a +terrible way about it at first, but Countess Thea insisted that the boy +was right, and the brothers were reconciled when Walter was betrothed. +He undertook the management of Dr. Nordstedt's large infirmary when +Nordstedt was called to a professor's chair in Strasburg. You know, I +suppose, that Fraeulein Alma, our Countess's sister, is married to +Professor Nordstedt?" + +"I think I heard of that before I left Germany. I certainly must look +up my old acquaintances. This vagabond life makes one a terrible +stranger in his home." + +The locomotive whistles, the next station is reached, and the +superintendent takes his leave of Werner, who leans back in a corner of +the coupe and falls into a revery. The past rises before him like a +dream. He sees Thea in memory the same, and yet so different. He can +think of her now as of some lovely picture, which one admires and +enjoys without coveting, and he can ponder upon the past without +remorse. + +"What a wonder life is!" he muses, as the train speeds on. "But it all +amounts to the fact that if you would be happy--and who would not?--you +must do what is right." + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + By Captain Charles King, U.S.A + + * * * * * + + Under Fire. Illustrated. The Colonel's Daughter. Illustrated. + Marion's Fair. Illustrated. Captain Blake. Illustrated. + Foes in Ambush. (Paper, 50 cents.) + 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. + + * * * * * + + Waring's Peril. Trials of a Staff Officer. + 12mo. 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There is not a +movement made on the field, not a break from the ranks, not an offence +against the military code of discipline, and hardly a heart-beat that +escapes his watchfulness."--_Boston Herald_. + + * * * * * + + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + + By Marie Corelli. + + * * * * * + + Cameos. + + Ten Short Stories. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00. + +The surprising versatility of Marie Corelli has never been better +displayed than in this varied group of short stories which run the +whole gamut of feeling, sentiment, and purpose known to contemporary +fiction. 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While the story is +exciting, and must be read through when once begun, it furnishes a +vivid and impressive picture of Italian life and morals."---_Washington +National Republican_. + + * * * * * + + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eichhofs, by Moritz von Reichenbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EICHHOFS *** + +***** This file should be named 35311.txt or 35311.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/1/35311/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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