More than two months had elapsed. Midsummer had arrived, but the
houses of Ettersberg and Brunneck were still, as Count Edmund
expressed it, playing the Montague and Capulet game. Neither the
Countess nor Ruestow had yielded an inch. They were vigorous as ever in
their opposition to the projected marriage between their children, but
these latter only clung the more tenaciously to their plan. In spite
of prohibitions they met often, and wrote to each other still more
frequently. To manage the first, it had been found necessary to
include Aunt Lina in the plot, and that good lady thought it better
that the meetings, which certainly would have taken place under any
circumstances, should be held with her sanction and in her presence.
She had long ago been won over to the young people's side, and the
lovers themselves took matters very easily. It was not in the nature
of either Hedwig or Edmund to take a sentimental or tragic view of
their temporary separation. A love affair, the course of which had
constantly run smooth, would no doubt have appeared to them
excessively tame and wearisome. Parental opposition gave to this
courtship the necessary spice of romance. They revelled in the
situation with all the eagerness of their youthful years, and looked
on themselves and their true love as intensely poetical and
interesting. Neither felt any uneasiness as to the final issue; they
knew too well that they, their parents' spoilt and petted darlings,
would ultimately carry their point. Meanwhile the Countess posed as
the inexorable mother, and the Councillor was fiercer and more prone
to ire than ever. Signs, however, were not wanting that the fortresses
were not quite as impregnable as they pretended to be, that they would
finally succumb to the daily assaults to which they were subjected.
The _denoument_ came more speedily than any of the parties concerned
had expected. Fraeulein Lina Ruestow had been absent for a few days
staying in town, where she had purchases to make. She came back to
Brunneck suspecting nothing, and prepared to find the old feud with
Ettersberg raging fiercely as when she left. Rather surprised at being
received on her arrival by her cousin alone, she made inquiries after
Hedwig, who was nowhere to be seen.
'Hedwig?' stammered Ruestow, looking half embarrassed, half wrathful.
'She is not here just now; you will see her by-and-by.'
Aunt Lina inquired no further. There had probably been some fresh
discussion on the subject of the projected marriage, a circumstance
which never promoted the comfort of any member of the household, for
the Councillor was in the habit of venting his anger on all about him,
his daughter only excepted. On this occasion, however, the traveller
felt herself to be in possession of a piece of intelligence which
would scare away ill-humour. They had hardly got into the parlour when
she burst forth with it.
'I have brought you some news, Erich. Your solicitor wanted to send
you a telegram, but I begged him to let me convey the pleasant
tidings. You have won your suit in the first instance. Dornau has been
adjudged to Hedwig.'
'I am glad of it, glad of it, in spite of all that has come and gone.
But I wish the judgment had been given a few weeks back; now my
pleasure in it is spoiled, completely spoiled! So we have won the
suit?'
'Subject to appeal, of course--though our solicitor seems confident
about the final issue. No doubt the opposite party will do everything
in their power to contest the victory with us.'
'They will do nothing of the kind,' grumbled Ruestow, still with the
same queer, embarrassed look.
'Of course they will; there can be no doubt of that. The lawyer has
already taken his measures in view of an appeal to a higher court.'
'He may save himself the trouble,' Ruestow broke forth. 'Nobody is
thinking of appealing. The lawsuit is over and done with, and the end
of the story is that Dornau will go to Ettersberg after all.'
'To Ettersberg? Why, don't I tell you ... But, good heavens, Erich,
what makes you look so black and miserable, and why is Hedwig out of
the way? What has happened? Is she ill, or----'
'Now, don't get excited,' said Ruestow, interrupting the flow of
questions. 'Hedwig is quite well and in excellent spirits, and at
the present moment is staying over at Ettersberg with her future
mother-in-law. That is right, Lina, sit down. I shan't take it amiss
if you show some surprise. I showed and felt not a little myself at
first.'
Aunt Lina had indeed dropped on to a seat, and was staring at her
cousin in speechless, petrified amazement. He went on again:
'These young people have really had the most wonderful luck! You were
within a hair's-breadth of finding us all dead and gone, Lina. The
Countess was as nearly drowned as could be, and we were within an ace
of having our necks broken.'
'Merciful powers! And you call that luck?' exclaimed the old lady, in
a tone expressive of horror.
'I said "nearly" and "within an ace," did not I? Well, the upshot of
it all was a betrothal on the spot. The whole business went upon
wheels; deadly peril, consequent emotion, embracing of the lovers! We
were in the midst of it all, and found ourselves giving our parental
benediction almost before we knew what had happened. Oh, those
confounded black Ettersberg beasts! Why do my horses never run away, I
wonder?'
'What in the world are your horses to me at this moment?' broke in his
cousin, half desperate with the prolonged suspense. 'If you go on in
this way, I shall never hear what has happened. Do try and tell the
story rationally.'
'Yes, yes, you are right. I must tell you all about it calmly and
quietly,' said the Councillor, inaugurating the promised calm by
pacing violently up and down the room, as was his wont when much
excited. 'Well, then, the day before yesterday I drove over with
Hedwig to pay a visit to Neuenfeld. You will remember that the road
lies over that steep Stag's Hill, where just at the summit the path is
so narrow that great caution is required for two vehicles to pass side
by side. Precisely at this spot, what should we meet but the
Ettersberg carriage with the Countess in it! We, of course, took no
notice, pretended not to know each other; but our coachmen, instead of
not noticing, rushed together like mad. I shouted to Anthony to stop,
but the other idiot came tearing on, until the animals brushed against
each other. The high-spirited Ettersberg steeds took this amiss. They
reared and plunged and kicked, and finally set off at furious speed,
almost smashing our wheels for us as they passed. The coachman tried
all sorts of foolish man[oe]uvres in the hope of checking them, upon
which they took to their heels and ran away with him in good earnest.
Springing out of the carriage, I saw at a glance that it was too
late--they were spinning down the hill as fast as a top. The coachman
flew off the box; the footman, instead of seizing the reins, clung to
his seat with might and main. The Countess screamed for help, and so
they went on, straight down towards the pond which lies at the foot of
the hill, and is so admirably situated for drowning purposes.'
Aunt Lina was listening in breathless suspense.
'Frightful! Horrible! Was there no help at hand?'
'Certainly; I was at hand,' said Ruestow drily; 'and at need I can play
the angel of rescue, though it is not my habitual occupation. There
was not time for much reflection, and I soon gave up running after the
carriage. Happily we had halted close to that steep footpath which
shortens the way down by one half. How I got to the bottom I don't
know. Anyhow, I was there as soon as the carriage, and just contrived
to stop it as it reached the pond.'
'Thank God!' cried the old lady, with a sigh of relief.
'So said I, a little later on--just at that moment I was furious.
There I stood with the Countess in my arms, and no one to give me any
assistance. She had gone off into a swoon, and that fool of a man was
so bewildered and scared, that he was nearly as unconscious as his
mistress. Now, a pair of restive horses I can manage at a pinch, but
fainting ladies are altogether out of my line. Presently, however,
Hedwig came flying down the footpath, and then Anthony, and then the
man who had been thrown--he was limping terribly, and had a famous
bump on his forehead, but that served him right. It was his folly and
reckless driving which had caused all the mischief.'
'And the Countess?' interposed his listener eagerly.
'Well, happily the Countess had escaped uninjured. We carried her into
a neighbouring house belonging to one of the rural police, and here
she partly recovered from her fright. The gentle, well-mannered
horses, besides running away, had accorded to themselves the special
pleasure of breaking their carriage-pole and of so injuring our wheels
in the rencontre, that we could not move the landau from the spot. So
I sent the footman over to Ettersberg to fetch another vehicle,
despatched Anthony and the policeman, who happened to be at home,
to the scene of the disaster, and dismissed the coachman with his
black monsters, which he conducted home in safety. We three remained
alone--it was a pleasing moment, as you may suppose.'
'I do hope and trust, Erich, that you did not behave with rudeness,'
said Aunt Lina reproachfully.
'No, rudeness was out of the question--unfortunately!' replied Ruestow,
in a tone of sincere regret. 'The Countess was still as pale as death
and half fainting. I had received a slight memorial of the affair
myself, a mere scratch on the arm, which, however, bled rather
profusely; and the poor child, Hedwig, ran from one to the other, not
knowing whom she should help first. In such a situation politeness
comes as a thing of course. We were therefore intensely polite to each
other, and intensely anxious about each other's welfare. I hoped the
matter would blow over with an expression of thanks and a courteous
farewell, and I was looking out, longing for the arrival of the
Ettersberg carriage, when suddenly, instead of it. Count Edmund came
up at a tearing gallop. From the footman's confused report he had
thought that his mother was injured or half dead, and he had not
waited for the carriage to be got ready, but had jumped on the first
horse that came to hand and had ridden over as though his own life had
been at stake. I should not have believed the young jackanapes had so
much heart. He rushed into the house and into his mother's arms like a
madman, and for the first moment or so he evidently saw and thought of
no one but her. I must say that pleased me--pleased me much. He seems
to be passionately attached to his mother.'
At this point the narrator's voice softened a little. Unfortunately
his cousin took it into her head to produce her handkerchief and press
it to her eyes, which at once roused the Councillor to a contrary
humour.
'I do believe you are going to cry,' he said, turning upon her
sharply. 'Let us have no nonsense of that sort, pray. There has been
emotion enough and to spare. Well, of course there now ensued a string
of questions and explanations,' he went on, taking up again the thread
of his narrative; 'a lively description, in which, in spite of my
protests, I was made to figure as a sort of hero and knight-errant.
The Countess overflowed with gratitude, and all at once Edmund threw
his arms round my neck, declaring I had saved his mother's life, and
that he would rather owe such a debt to me, the father of his Hedwig,
than to anyone in the world.' Here Ruestow's strides grew longer and
his countenance more wrathful. 'Yes, that is what he had the coolness
to say, "the father of his Hedwig"! I tried to shake him off; then
Hedwig got the other side of me, and began the same story about the
mother of her Edmund. Presently the Countess stepped up, and held out
her hand to me--well, you can imagine the rest. As I said before, a
general embracing and reconciliation went on, and we only came to our
senses when the carriage, which had followed the Count, drove up to
the door. As it further appeared that ours was totally disabled, we
had no alternative but to mount all together and drive over to
Ettersberg. It was agreed ultimately that Hedwig should remain with
the Countess, who was really much upset by the fright she had had, and
I ... well, here I am, left by myself in my own house, without a soul
to keep me company.'
'Please to remember I count as somebody,' said Aunt Lina, a little
piqued. 'You don't seem to reckon me at all.'
Ruestow grumbled something that was unintelligible. At this moment a
servant came in, and announced the pastor of Brunneck, who was a
friend of the house.
'There!' cried the master, in a tone of desperation. 'There! he has
come over to congratulate us on the approaching marriage--he has, as
sure as I stand here. The story is going the round of the
neighbourhood already. Each time I have shown my nose outside the door
to-day, somebody has come up to me with a smirk and a smile, and some
hint about the "happy event." But I can't stand it yet. I must collect
my thoughts and get used to the idea first. Lina, you'll do me the
favour to receive the parson. In my present frame of mind, I tell you,
I am capable of chucking anyone out of the window who should come to
me with his congratulations!'
So saying, the Councillor ran out of one door just as the pastor was
admitted by the other. This was fortunate, for the worthy man had no
sooner entered than he proceeded solemnly and with much unction to
offer to the old lady his heartfelt congratulations on the coming
'happy event,' the news of which had, he said, filled him with genuine
delight.