A week passed quietly by, and the excitement caused by Brother Daniel's
departure had given place to the usual monotonous religious routine.
During this time things had gone badly with Adele. Self-control and
obedience were things entirely new to her, and she felt by no means
attracted towards the young girls about her, always excepting Carmen.
The predilection which her mother had shown for the latter had quickly
communicated itself to the daughter, and Carmen, in return, feeling
that she could never be sufficiently grateful to Frau von Trautenau for
her kindness, showed every possible favor to Adele. This young lady's
naturally vivacious and merry disposition, which was not at all subdued
by the calm seriousness which surrounded her, proved a great source of
amusement to Carmen. She gladly reciprocated the warm affection
lavished upon her by the petted heiress, and every letter which reached
Wolmershain teemed with the pleasure the two friends took in each
other's society. Adele told how Carmen had passed her eighteenth
birthday, and now wore pink instead of red; how Carmen had undertaken
to teach some of the English classes, and how all the girls loved their
new teacher, etc., etc.
Carmen's natural cheerfulness had not been disturbed by the
communication Sister Agatha had made to her in regard to Brother
Jonathan. The morning after, Sister Agatha asked if she had considered
the matter well, and prayed over it; to which Carmen answered in the
affirmative, but persisted in her positive refusal; to which Brother
Jonathan submitted with apparent calmness. If he felt at all
mortified, he certainly exerted immense self-control, for he seemed the
same as usual, and his voice was clear and firm; so that Agatha felt
sure that it was only his great unselfishness which had prompted him to
entertain the idea.
His profession took him frequently to the Sisters' house, but when
there he had intercourse only with the nurses and patients. 'Tis true
he now came oftener than formerly, and at more irregular hours, on the
plea of looking after this or that which he had forgotten; but as he,
with silent tread, passed along through the halls, he seldom met any of
the Sisters, and Carmen never.
To-day had been rainy and wet, but towards evening the sky cleared up,
and Carmen led little Frieda home from the school-house. On her return
she took a roundabout path, and slackened her usually fleet steps to
enjoy the fresh, balmy spring air. She passed into a lonely lane,
bordered on either side with beautiful gardens, whose hedges were
unfolding their first blossoms, filling the air with sweetest perfume.
As she stooped to pick some lovely violets which peeped up from the
wayside, she, all at once, felt as if some one was standing behind her,
although no footfall had reached her ear. She raised herself hastily
from her stooping posture, and as she did so, felt a man's strong arm
passed around her, and in another second she was pressed violently to
his breast. She strove to cry out for help, but voice and tongue
failed her, as she turned and met Brother Jonathan's burning glance;
and there seemed to thrill through her, under the touch of his arm, the
same creeping, numbing horror that she felt when the snake coiled about
her arm. But how changed he looked! His whole countenance seemed
lighted up by a new expression, and eager, passionate words poured from
his lips.
"Carmen, so young, so warm-hearted, why can you not respond to a love
which is offered to you with all the intensity of a true heart? You
see in me only the grave, elderly man who wants you for his wife, and
therefore you reject him. But, Carmen, under this calm exterior you
will find an ardent lover, who desires to win you, that he may make for
you a heaven on earth, and fill your life with such unutterable bliss
as you have never dreamed of. Oh, Carmen, do not say me nay; but lay
your lovely head upon my breast, and believe that my heart throbs
wildly and deeply for you only. Look in my eyes, and let the love you
read there serve to kindle a like feeling in you. Have you forgotten
that we must love one another, we Brothers and Sisters? Give me your
love, then, my darling, and say you will be mine!"
Rendered powerless to move by his pitiless embrace, she seemed like a
little bird doomed to death by the irresistible fascination of a
serpent. Quickly, passionately, his hot breath scorching her bloodless
lips, he kissed her again and again. With a sudden powerful effort she
tore herself from his arms, retreated a few steps, and turning on him a
countenance ablaze with scorn and indignation, she cried:
"Back, villain! How dare you venture to insult me thus? Approach one
step nearer, and I will cry out so that heaven and earth will fly to my
succor."
She stood before him, so proud and haughty, so intensely excited, that
he dared not venture farther.
"I will not approach you again, Carmen, if it displeases you; and
forgive my violence just now," he pleaded earnestly. "But promise to
give yourself to me, Carmen; you are not by nature cold; you will, you
must return my love. Let me teach you what real happiness is; you may
imagine it, but you cannot come near the reality."
The girl was silent; this antipathy to Jonathan was as old as her
memory. In Jamaica he had been an object of aversion to her, yet she
could give no definite reason for this deeply-rooted dislike. Every
one spoke so highly of him that she often blamed herself for not
feeling more kindly towards one who enjoyed the respect and esteem of
the whole community. His piety and temperate habits, his humility and
devotion to his work, were conspicuous even here. Of late, he had been
particularly friendly towards Carmen, which seemed a very natural
thing, he having been such an old friend of her father's. But his
increased kindness only awoke a greater dislike in the girl, so that
she tried in every way to escape an avowal from him of his feelings.
She did not consider her refusal to marry him a matter of much
importance, as she concluded his offer had arisen only from a desire to
transfer his friendship from the father to the daughter. His
unexpected outburst of passion alarmed her, although in her childish
innocence, she did not fully understand why she felt so deeply
insulted. The thought that he had given her a love which she could not
return made her fearful of hurting his feelings in some way beyond her
comprehension, and she endeavored to subdue her anger sufficiently to
answer him.
"Forgive me if I wound you, Brother Jonathan, but I cannot help it. I
do not love you as you desire, and I neither deserve nor wish that you
should have such a warm feeling for me."
"Carmen, you surely cannot mean what you say. I have taken you by
surprise. Calm yourself, and do not make this a final decision." He
attempted to approach her again, but the maiden shrank back from him in
terror.
"I cannot do otherwise," she said firmly. "Now let me, I pray, go on
my way in peace. Sister Agatha must be waiting for me."
At the mention of the Sister's name, Jonathan gave an anxious glance at
Carmen. It flashed on his mind what fearful consequences might result
from his conduct. He remembered the law of the Brotherhood, which
required that the members must report the slightest departure from
strict morality in any one of their number, so that the delinquent be
reprimanded and excluded once or twice from the monthly celebration of
the Communion. Should he give evidence of repentance, and return to
the right path, he might be restored to his usual privileges; but if he
should not acknowledge his fault, he must absent himself from the
society of others, and, in an extreme case, be banished from the
Brotherhood.
Brother Jonathan, heretofore so strict, and spotless in his reputation,
to be publicly accused and admonished! What an appalling example of
fallen greatness!
At the mention of Agatha's name, he endeavored to resume his habitual
calmness. He passed his hand over his eyes, as if to blot out the
remembrance of the passion which yet burned within him, and gradually
regained, in voice and manner, a more collected mien.
"You have seen, dear Sister, how our passions sometimes get the mastery
over us, and how vain are our efforts to subdue them, even though we
have devoted ourselves to a religious life!" said he, in an humble
tone. "If you cannot give me your love, you can at least be silent
about my feeling towards you, and forget what has just occurred, and
for which I shall ask pardon from Heaven."
Carmen looked at him, with a feeling of pity. She had brought so much
trouble to this man that the thought of it did much towards dissipating
her ill-will towards him. With tears in her eyes, she said: "Be easy
about that, Brother Jonathan. I will not betray you. Forget this
hour, as I will try to forget it."
Then turning away, she hurried, as fast as her feet would carry her, to
the safe shelter of the Sisters' house.
From this time forth, Carmen's peace of mind was gone. Her aversion to
Jonathan was outweighed by her fear of him. His hot, ardent nature had
broken bounds so violently and ungovernably that she could not feel at
all sure it was so quickly subdued. A deep sense of desolation, came
over her. Her mother, lying in the grave, far away on a sea-girt
island, under a tropical sun; her father, in all likelihood murdered,
and buried in some foreign land; and she living among strangers, with
whom she found it utterly impossible to feel any congeniality! She
avoided Brother Jonathan, and he seemed to shun her no less
assiduously. He had absented himself from one Communion; explaining
his conduct by expressing an unusual sense of his own unworthiness.
His calculations were well made: Carmen pitied him sincerely on account
of the deep remorse he seemed to feel. How could her pure mind imagine
it was all hypocrisy! In the house where he lived with the other
unmarried Brothers, he maintained the same pious, serious demeanor as
heretofore. His patients received the same care and attention as
formerly, but he looked haggard and care-worn, and Thomas, his faithful
attendant, whom he had brought with him from the New World, would often
hear him groan heavily in the night, as if some secret grief preyed on
his mind.
Carmen could not witness his misery unmoved. Since the unfortunate
incident connected with him, her life among the Sisters had become
doubly oppressive to her. Like a welcome release from her unpleasant
surroundings came a request from Frau von Trautenau that Sister Agatha
would permit Adele and her dear Carmen to spend Whitsuntide with her at
Wollmershain; an invitation which Agatha gladly accepted for her pupils.
Wollmershain was a large, beautiful estate, which, upon the death of
its owner, had become the joint property of Adele and her brothers; and
Frau von Trautenau had resided there since her widowhood, and proposed
to continue doing so until one of her sons should buy his sister's and
brother's portion and assume the management of it. The relations
between Frau von Trautenau and her step-son had always been of the most
happy and agreeable kind; he honored and loved his step-mother, who had
brought him up with the greatest possible care and affection; and she,
in return placed implicit confidence in his opinions and advice, making
him her chief counsellor since her husband's death.
Into this beautiful home-life Carmen now entered, as if into a new
world. Whereas, the affection between the Brothers and Sisters in the
"community" had always appeared to her in the austere light of a duty,
here it seemed like a natural impulse, springing spontaneously from the
depths of warm and loving hearts.
In all the arrangements of the house and grounds, the idea of the
beautiful, in connection with the comfortable and useful, was
everywhere prominent.
The lofty, well-lighted rooms, adorned and furnished with elegant
simplicity; the smooth green lawns, bordered with lovely flowers of
every hue; the magnificent avenues of grand old trees, and the
innumerable, lovely little nooks to be found here and there in the
park, all breathed a charm which reminded Carmen of what she dimly
remembered about her father's plantation and hacienda in Jamaica.
Alexander and Hans were also at home for the holidays; and while Adele
rambled with the latter through park and garden, Carmen, who shyly
avoided Alexander, was entertained by her hostess, to whose warm
motherly nature the girl was attracted with genuine, childlike
heartiness. It was indeed her society, more than anything else, which
contributed to Carmen's happiness at Wollmershain, for she felt
embarrassed in this new kind of life; and the remarks which her
peculiar dress occasioned were especially annoying. To avoid being
conspicuous, she had already laid aside the white cap; but her beauty,
enhanced by the coils of glossy hair which crowned her queenly little
head, was so remarkable, so foreign-looking and striking, that she
seemed like some rare exotic which, in all the luxuriance of its
loveliness, had been transplanted from the land of palms to our colder
soil. There was in her manner an odd mixture of pride and humility,
dignity and modesty, which gave her all the reserve of a woman and the
winsomeness of a child. Perhaps it was the knowledge of the fact that
the peculiarities of the Sisters elicited so much ridicule from the
world that caused her to use her pride as a defence and a weapon, when
in company with any one save Frau von Trautenau. She always seemed
ready to do battle with Alexander, and yet he had never by word or deed
given cause for such a feeling.
"She is full of pluck and mettle like a thoroughbred horse!" said old
General von Bergen, who, with his daughter and his adjutant, had come
up from the barracks on a visit. "It is a pleasure to provoke her; her
eyes light up so. Pohlen," he said, turning to the adjutant, "you
seemed to be unfortunate in your remarks to her during dinner; those
lovely lips curled as scornfully as if you had seriously offended her,
and her great eyes glowed like fire, as she looked away off, over your
head."
The gentleman addressed laughed as if amused. "And yet I only ventured
on some complimentary speeches. I asked if all the Creoles were as
beautiful as herself. That was surely flattering enough, and I think
this little Moravian ought, by this time, to possess some of the
humility they pride themselves so much on, and not toss her head so
haughtily and look at me so contemptuously."
The gentlemen were comfortably smoking in the veranda, after dinner;
and Alexander, who sat on the steps, half hidden by a large
syringa-bush in full bloom, flushed deeply at Pohlen's words. In a
sharp tone of reprimand, he said:
"My friend, Creole is a term which is not at all agreeable to some
people; for the rest, flattery is often another name for insult;
perhaps the young lady considered yours as such."
"Do you think so?" drawled out Pohlen. "That is altogether a new thing
to me. A lady of higher quality would at least have known how to
receive homage offered to her; and a second time I will not put up with
a rebuff from this Moravian girl, but will treat her as she does me."
Alexander colored with anger, and his blood boiled. It was only by a
powerful effort that he controlled himself sufficiently to answer in a
tolerably calm voice:
"A lady of higher quality? Higher quality presupposes greater merit,
and you will do well to bear in mind, Herr von Pohlen, that this lady
is my mother's guest, and, as such, is under my most special
protection. Any mortification or insult inflicted on her is also
inflicted on me."
"Gentlemen, I beg the conversation may not become serious, but retain
the bantering tone in which I began it. Let what has been said lead to
nothing unpleasant," interrupted the general, in a pacifying manner.
"Herr von Pohlen will, of course, remember what he owes to the inmates
of this hospitable mansion. You two fortunate knights must vie with
each other as to who shall win the favor of this young maiden, who is
as beautiful as a dream. For myself, I lament nothing so much as my
sixty years, which prevent me from entering the lists with you."
Alexander rose as the old man finished speaking, and as he passed down
the steps, said:
"If agreeable, let us find the ladies now, General; they are, I think,
awaiting us on the lawn."
He paused abruptly, for at the foot of the steps stood Carmen, as if
irresolute whether to advance or withdraw. She had evidently heard the
foregoing conversation, for she was very pale and trembled slightly.
The young officer descended quickly toward her, as she raised her head,
and calmly waited for him to pass. As he came up to where she stood,
she whispered softly:
"I thank you!" and a gentle glance from the beautiful black eyes
thrilled him with pleasure. Then seeing the other gentlemen preparing
to descend also, her face became suffused with blushes.
"I came to find a cushion for Frau von Trautenau," she remarked
confusedly.
"Allow me, Fraulein Carmen, to take it to my mother," said Alexander,
coming to her assistance; and he ran back, upstairs, as she hastened
away.
Games were now arranged on the lawn, and Fraulein von Bergen, a merry
maiden, soon had every one actively engaged in them. There were
familiar ones, which Carmen had often played at school with the
day-pupils; but how different they seemed here, when the gentlemen took
part in them! Carmen could never have been as unrestrained as the
general's daughter; but she laughed merrily and enjoyed it all,
contenting herself with allowing Adele to catch her, and carefully
avoiding any contact with the others.
After a while a drop of rain fell, then another, and at last a hard
shower drove the party from the open air into the drawing-room; but the
spirit of merriment had been aroused, and sitting down quietly was not
to be thought of.
"Come, papa, lead out your war-horse to the front!" urged the general's
daughter; and the old gentleman good-naturedly seated himself at the
piano and began thrumming the one, solitary piece he could play--a
lively galop. Herr von Pohlen seized Fraulein von Bergen, Hans his
sister, and the two couples went whirling through the mazes of the
dance.
Carmen looked on with sparkling eyes; a bright flush of happiness
colored her cheek, her little foot involuntarily beat time, and her
lithe form swayed to and fro with a dreamy, rhythmical movement.
"Will you not dance also?" asked Alexander, close beside her.
"Oh, I would like to, above all things!" she replied with a lovely
smile, her eyes still fixed on the dancers. "How delightful it must be
to whirl around so!"
"Will you not try it with me, Fraulein Carmen?" he urged pleadingly.
"I cannot dance; at least, not like that!" she returned, turning her
beaming countenance towards him.
"Oh, it is very easily learned; just trust yourself to my guidance.
Put your hand on my shoulder, if you please, and with my arm I will
hold you firmly as we move around;" saying which, he proceeded to put
his arm about her waist. But she drew back, and gave him a horrified
look. As yet, no man's arm had encircled her--except Brother
Jonathan's, during that one dreadful moment of her life.
"I cannot do it--no, it is quite impossible!" she stammered.
"Then you must pardon me for making the attempt," said Alexander, and
bowed coolly.
"Refused!" whispered Pohlen, mockingly, when he stopped dancing, for he
had seen Alexander's defeat.
"Yes; but as she knows _how_ to refuse, it is perhaps more to be
appreciated than when others accept," he replied.
When the family separated for the night, and Carmen had as usual given
her hand to her hostess, Adele, and Hans, she hesitated a second, and
then, with a burning blush mantling her cheek, extended her hand to
Alexander. Heretofore she had persistently avoided him; but to-day he
had proved himself her friend and protector, and she felt that some
reparation was due him for her rudeness in the past.
As she held out the little hand, and wished him "Good-night," she gave
him a pleading glance, as if to say, "Do not be angry with me!"
His countenance lighted up with surprise and pleasure. Her eyes, so
fascinating when flashing with indignation, now seemed irresistible
when moistened by a gentler emotion; and as he looked into their dark,
unfathomable depths, he felt as if he would like to gaze forever. But
her eyes fell before his ardent glance, and bowing low over the
proffered hand, he kissed it respectfully, feeling as honored as if a
queen had allowed him the privilege.
From this night Carmen's intercourse with Alexander assumed a much more
friendly character; but was, of course, very brief, as only two more
days remained ere the pleasant party at Wollmershain would be broken
up, and Adele and Carmen return to their duties.