THE MYSTERIOUS LETTER.
A-dAśn could not persuade himself that Boksa had done him a kindness in
bringing him home. It was a time of torturing suspense for all the
family. The Austrian general had been duly informed where A-dAśn
Baradlay could be found, and a summons from him was daily expected.
Poor Aranka could not hear a door open, or the sound of a strange
step, without starting and turning pale. Every day, when the mail
came, they all ran to look over the letters and make sure that the
dreaded call to A-dAśn was not among them.
One day a suspicious-looking letter came to view addressed in German
to "Herr Eugen von Baradlay."
_Eugen_--why, that was German for _JenA'_. He opened the letter, read
it, and put it in his pocket. All the family were present, and his
mother asked him from whom his letter came, and what news it brought.
But JenA' only answered, "I must go on a journey."
"Whither and for what purpose?" asked the baroness.
"I can't sit idle here any longer," he replied. "One of my brothers
has vanished from our sight, and the other daily expects to be taken
prisoner. Such a life is more than I can bear any longer. It is my
turn now to try what I can do."
"But what can you do?" asked his mother.
"That is my secret."
"But I have a right to share it. No member of my family shall adopt a
course which affects us all, which I have not first approved."
"You will learn all in due time."
"But what if I then refuse to give my sanction?"
"Your refusal will be too late to be of any avail."
"Then I forbid you to go on."
"I cannot obey you. I am no longer a child, but am responsible to
myself alone for my actions."
"But," interposed A-dAśn, "you are still a son and a brother."
"As you shall soon see," answered JenA', with significant emphasis.
The baroness took her youngest son by the hand. "You have some plan
for saving our family," said she. "I can read your soul; you are an
open book to me. I have studied you from your infancy. You think now
to rescue us by leaving us and resuming your old connections, thus
exerting an influence in our favour upon our enemies. I see that you
are planning to return to the Plankenhorsts."
JenA' smiled sadly. "Do you read that in my heart?" he asked.
"You wish to marry that girl in order to save your brother through the
powerful influence of her family,--that girl whose dower will be my
hatred, and on whom her country's curse and God's anger rest."
Aranka threw herself on her mother-in-law's breast. "Mother," she
cried, "do not speak of her like that; he loves her!"
A-dAśn led his wife back to her seat. "Do not interpose, my dear," said
he, firmly. "We are here concerned with matters of which your innocent
soul can have not the slightest conception. To purchase life and
property by swearing fidelity to the woman who was the inspiring demon
of all the woe that so lately befell our poor country; who has nursed
the hatred of one people against another; who has played the part of
traitress, spy, slanderer; who has stirred up men against the throne
only for the purpose of delivering them over to the hangman; who
harbours such fiendish plots in her bosom that, if she had her way,
she would embitter for ever one country against its neighbour,--to
bring such a woman as wife into his father's house is what no
Baradlay shall do, or if he should do it I know one who would refuse
the gift of his life at such a price."
The baroness sank weeping on her eldest son's bosom. He had voiced the
cry of her own proud soul. JenA' said nothing; he smiled sadly, and
went about his preparations for departure. Aranka regarded him with
compassion in her eyes.
"And do you, too, condemn me?" he asked softly.
"Do what your heart bids you," she sighed.
"Yes, with Heaven's help I will!"
His mother would not let him leave the room; she threw herself on her
knees before him and blocked the way. "My son," she cried, "I beg you
not to go. Let misery, torture, death itself overtake us; we will bear
them all without complaint. Have not ten thousand already died for the
cause? But our souls we will keep unsullied. Oh, do not close against
us the way to heaven!"
"Mother, I implore you, rise."
"No; if you go, my place is here in the dust,--crushed to the earth."
"You do not understand me, mother; nor is it my will that you should."
"What!" cried the mother, joyfully; "you are not planning to do as I
suspected?"
"That question I must refuse to answer."
"One word more," interrupted A-dAśn; "if you would relieve our anxiety,
show us the letter you have received."
JenA' put his hand to his breast, as if fearful lest some one might try
to take the letter from him by force. "That letter you shall not see,"
he declared.
"I am determined to read it," returned the other.
At this JenA''s face flushed hotly. "A-dAśn Baradlay," he exclaimed, "the
letter is addressed to Eugen Baradlay. I am Eugen Baradlay." So
saying, he turned proudly away.
"Then our mother was right, after all," said his brother bitterly.
The baroness rose to her feet. Tears coursed down her cheeks. "Go,
then," she cried, "whither your obstinate will leads you. Leave us
here in despair and in tears. But know that, though two of my sons are
likely to die on the scaffold, I shall not mourn those that are taken,
but the one that is left."
At these hard words JenA' looked with a gentle smile at the speaker.
"Mother," said he, "remember that my last words to you were, 'I love
you.' Farewell!" And he was gone.
The contents of his letter were as follows:
"HERR COMMISSARY-GENERAL EUGEN VON BARADLAY:--You are
hereby summoned before the military tribunal in Pest."
The judge-advocate's signature followed.
By a slight mistake in translation, "A-dAśn" had been rendered in German
by "Eugen" instead of "Edmund." Such mistakes were not uncommon in
those days.