After a quarter of an hour's run across the fields, he arrived at last
at the side of the lake, with the sounds of his rival's triumphal march
for ever sounding in his ears. The evening breeze, the air from the sea,
"the wandering harmonies of earth and sky," were all unable to bring
rest to the perturbed spirit of the musician. He was no longer conscious
of the sinful act he was about to commit. He shut his eyes--he was just
going to throw himself into the water when he felt a hand laid upon his
left shoulder. Frederick turned quickly round. He saw at his side a tall
man wrapped up in large cloak--in spite of the hot weather--which hid
every part of him but his face. His expression was hard, almost
repulsive. His eyes shot sinister glances on the youth from beneath the
thick eyebrows that overshadowed them. The brewer's son, who had been on
the point of facing death without a tremour, grew pale and trembled. He
wished to fly, but an irresistible power nailed him to the spot. He was
fascinated by the look of the Unknown.
"Madman!" said the stranger in a hollow voice--"madman who cannot resist
the first impulse of anger and false shame!"
"Leave me," answered Frederick in his turn; "I am disgraced, and have no
resource but to die."
"The triumph of Castero, then--the triumph he owes to luck--has cowed
you so that you are afraid to challenge him to another trial?"--rejoined
the stranger in an angry tone.
"Every thing is lost," said Frederick, "don't you hear those sounds?" he
added, holding his hands out towards the city--"my courage cannot bear
up against such mockery--_vae victis_!--my doom is sealed."
"But you do not yet know the full extent of your rival's victory. There
is a young girl who was to have been your wife--a girl who loves you--"
"Maina!"--cried Frederick, to whom these words restored his
recollection.
"Yes, Maina, the daughter of Jansen Pyl, the burgomaster of Haarlem.
Well, encouraged by his success, Castero went to the house, and demanded
the hand of her you love."
"What?--what do I hear?"--said Frederick, and looked once more towards
the lake.
"The burgomaster never liked you very well, as you are aware. In
consenting to receive you as his son-in-law, he yielded more to the
wishes of his daughter, to her prayers and tears, than to his preference
of you over the other adorers of the Beauty of Haarlem. Castero's fame
had long predisposed him in his favour; and the triumph he obtained
to-day has entirely won the old man's heart."
"He has promised her?" enquired Frederick in a voice almost inaudible
from anxiety.
"To-morrow he will decide between you. You are ignorant of the
arrangement entered into; and, yielding to a cowardly impulse, you give
up the happiness of your life at the moment it is in your grasp. Listen.
The Stadtholder, who did not intend to remain at Haarlem, has accepted
the invitation of the burgomaster, and will not leave the city till
to-morrow afternoon. That illustrious personage has expressed a wish to
hear again the two performers who pleased him so much, and his patronage
is promised to the successful candidate in the next trial. He is a
judge of music--he perceived the fineness of your touch, and saw that it
was a mere accident which was the cause of your failure. Do you
understand me now? Maina will be the wife of the protege of the
Stadtholder--and you give up your affianced bride if you refuse to
measure your strength once more against Castero."
The explanation brought tears into Frederick's eyes. In his agony as a
musician he had forgotten the object of his love--the fair young girl
whose heart was all his own. Absorbed in the one bitter thought of his
defeat--of the disgrace he had endured--he had never cast a recollection
on the being who, next to his art, was dearer to him than all the world.
The fair maid of Haarlem occupied but the second place in the musician's
heart; but not less true is it, that to kiss off a tear from the white
eyelid of the beautiful Maina, he would have sacrificed his life. And
now to hear that she was about to be carried off by his rival--by
Castero--that Castero whom he hated so much--that Maina was to be the
prize of the conqueror! His courage revived. Hope played once more round
his heart--he felt conscious of his superiority; but--oh misery!--his
fiddle--his Straduarius, which could alone insure his victory--it was
lying in a million pieces on his floor!
The Unknown divined what was passing in his mind; a smile of strange
meaning stole to his lip. He went close up to Frederick, whose agitated
features betrayed the struggle that was going on within. "Maina will be
the reward of the protege of the Stadtholder, and Castero will be the
happy man if you do not contest the prize," he whispered in poor
Frederick's ear.
"Alas! my fate is settled--I have no arms to fight with," he answered in
a broken voice.
"Does your soul pant for glory?" enquired the stranger.
"More than for life--more than for love--more than for--"
"Go on."
"More than for my eternal salvation!" exclaimed the youth in his
despair.
A slight tremour went through the stranger as he heard these words.
"Glory!" he cried, fixing his sparkling eyes on the young man's face
"glory, the passion of noble souls--of exalted natures--of superior
beings!--Go home to your room, you will find your fiddle restored," he
added in a softer tone.
"My fiddle?" repeated Frederick.
"The fiddle of which the wreck bestrewed your chamber when you left it,"
replied the stranger.
"But who are you?" said Frederick amazed. "You who know what passes in
my heart--you whose glances chill me with horror--you, who promise me a
miracle which only omnipotence can accomplish. Who are you?"
"Your master," answered the man in the mantle, in an altered voice.
"Recollect the words you used a minute or two ago, 'Glory is dearer to
me than life--than love--than eternal salvation!' That is quite enough
for me; and we must understand each other. Adieu. Your favourite
instrument is again whole and entire, and sweeter toned than ever. You
will find it on the table in your room. Castero, your rival, will be
vanquished in this second trial, and Maina will be yours--for you are
the protege of a greater than the Stadtholder. Adieu--we shall meet
again." On finishing this speech the Unknown advanced to the lake.
Immediately the waves bubbled up, and rose in vast billows; and opening
with dreadful noise, exposed an unfathomable abyss. At the same moment
thunder growled in the sky, the moon hid herself behind a veil of
clouds, and the brewer's son, half choked with the smell of brimstone,
fell insensible on the ground.