PAST AND PRESENT.
Egon rose to dress after Wangen had left him, but he found that he had
overrated his strength. He grew giddy, a dull headache confused his
thoughts, and he lay down again for a while to collect them before
making another attempt to rise. By degrees the pain subsided, and he
was able to reflect calmly upon what had occurred, and upon the future.
He was to see Bertha again, and, to his own surprise, the thought of a
fresh meeting with the woman with whom he had once dreamed of passing
his life had no power to agitate him, or to quicken his pulses. It was
simply a necessity, and, since the vicinity of Plagnitz to Linau made
future intercourse unavoidable, the sooner it was over the better.
His second attempt to complete his toilet was much more successful than
the first, although, as he finally looked at himself in the mirror
before leaving his room, he was startled at the pale face and weary
eyes which he saw there. He was conscious for the first time that he
had grown very much older in the last four years. Was there not a white
hair in the curl that escaped from beneath the narrow strip of linen
bound about his brow?
"Madame will hardly find her old admirer dangerous," he said to
himself, with a smiling nod at his reflection. "You never were
handsome, old fellow, at the best of times, but to-day you are a
positive fright. Perhaps 'tis best so. The consciousness of the figure
that I cut may be of use in putting an end to any foolish fancies that
might be born from a very gracious reception of me. Let the past be
buried in the grave of poor Pigglewitch, we do not need it for the
better life of the future." Thus reflecting, he left his room to take
his way to the balcony, where, Wangen had told him, he should find the
mistress of the mansion.
As he closed his door behind him he heard another door open at the end
of the corridor, along which there instantly came tripping a graceful
little girl of scarcely fifteen.
Involuntarily Egon's slow steps were stayed. There was something about
the child that reminded him of Lieschen as he had first seen her. For
an instant the present vanished, and he was standing, in the form of
'the new tutor,' at his window at Castle Osternau. Merry laughter
floated upward from the lawn, and two children came flying out of the
shrubbery. Lieschen's image as he had then seen it arose vividly before
his mind's eye in all its innocent charm; but another moment brought
him back to reality, and he knew that he was in a strange house, and
that courtesy required that he should show himself aware of the
presence of the new-comer. He bowed as ceremoniously as he would have
done to a woman grown, and surveyed the pretty girl with great
interest. Indeed, there was something of Lieschen in the arch sparkle
of her eyes and in the girlish grace of her movements.
Clara paused also as she became aware of the stranger's presence, and
returned his bow with a charming little courtesy. Then, suddenly
approaching him, she said, "Are you Herr von Ernau, of whom I have
heard so much? Oh, I thought you would look so different!"
"Indeed? And in what does the reality differ from the picture you
condescended to frame of my insignificance?"
"I can't exactly say, but you are very---- Of course that bandage
disfigures you, and you will look better when you have recovered from
losing so much blood. Do you feel better? Are you strong enough to go
alone, or shall I support you? Oh, you think I am too little to be of
any use; but indeed you are mistaken, I am very strong. Lean on me.
Indeed you do need help, you look so terribly pale and tired."
"I thank you for your kind offer of help, but----"
"Oh, you refuse it, of course; but I shall walk behind you, and if you
totter I shall hold you up. Now I think of it, you do not know who I
am. I must introduce myself. I am Clara von Wangen, Hugo von Wangen's
sister, and I know you are on your way to pay my sister-in-law a visit.
Is it not so?"
"You are right, Fraeulein Clara."
"Do not call me Fraeulein, it sounds as if you were laughing at me. Only
the servants say Fraeulein Clara, every one else calls me Clara only. I
will show you the way to the balcony, where my sister-in-law is
anxiously expecting you. She was very much surprised when she heard
that you were Herr von Ernau, and I don't wonder at it, for a cousin
who used to live with us while poor papa was alive told me such an
interesting tale about how you were once betrothed to Bertha, and how
you were thought dead, when she was betrothed to my brother. I hope it
is not pert and forward to talk so to you, Herr von Ernau?"
"Not at all, I like it very much."
"Well, then, I'll go on, and tell you that you'd better be careful with
Bertha. I don't think she has a good heart, and just when she seems
kindest she is sometimes really most unkind. You'd better take care,
Herr von Ernau. But I really must not talk to you any longer, or she
will wonder what has become of you. Good-by!"
She turned as they reached the door of the balcony-room, and, tripping
up-stairs, vanished from Egon's sight. He stood for an instant,
pondering upon her childish warning, and then entered the room, where
Bertha advanced instantly from the balcony to meet him.
How exquisitely beautiful she was! much more beautiful even than the
picture of her which he had preserved in his memory. Her figure had not
lost one whit in grace, while it had gained in fulness and finish. Her
dark eyes sparkled and she smiled bewitchingly as she held out both
hands to him, with "Welcome! a thousand times welcome, Herr von Ernau!
Ah, what an anxious night you have given us!"
'You'd better be careful with Bertha.' The words occurred to Egon as he
kissed the fair hand extended to him and felt its lingering pressure.
The ordeal through which he was passing could hardly have been imagined
by the child who had just left him, and yet her words helped him to
suppress all evidence of emotion, although his heart did undeniably
beat faster and louder.
"Your kind welcome, madame, gives me courage to hope that you forgive
me for once deceiving you with a name and personality not my own,
and----"
"I will not hear one more word that bears reference to the past, Herr
von Ernau. It lies far behind us, and I have made a vow to forget it
and to think only of the present and the future. Promise me to follow
my example."
"It shall be as you please, madame."
"And I please to forget everything that is not delightful. We are near
neighbours, I hope we shall frequently see each other, and I promise
never to ask you a single question about your masquerading time. You
must dismiss it from your thoughts."
"That will not be so easy. I should like to explain----"
"But I always detested explanations. What interests me at present is
that you should take a comfortable chair and rest yourself: you are
weak from loss of blood. You are trembling: take my arm."
In truth Egon was giddy for a moment, and involuntarily availed himself
of the hand she extended to him. Wangen came forward to assist his
wife, and conducted Egon to a luxurious chair on the balcony, where
Bertha flitted about him, placing the cushions comfortably beneath his
head, silently lavishing upon him a hundred little kindnesses, which
scarcely contributed to dispel a certain embarrassment which began to
possess him. Wangen was unwontedly silent; in truth his thoughts, like
those of his wife and his guest, were busy with the past. Although
hardly of a jealous temperament, his sense of his wife's intellectual
superiority was always present to prompt him to self-depreciation, and
he had remembered more than once during the morning the many brilliant
qualities which he had long since heard attributed to Egon von
Ernau,--the same man who, marvellously enough, had played the part of
the Candidate at Castle Osternau. As he marked his wife's eager
attention to their guest it occurred to him to wonder--it was but a
passing thought--whether Bertha had not once been more interested in
the tutor than she would have cared to admit. He felt ashamed of
himself on the instant that such an idea should have found entrance in
his mind, and yet he could not quite forget it.
His wife's influence, however, was so great over his moods that she
soon conquered his taciturnity, and Egon was both interested and
charmed by the lively talk that occupied the next hour. Bertha passed
in review for her guest's entertainment and information all the
principal persons in the neighborhood. True, her wit was sometimes far
from kindly, but her tact was great, and she was quick to mark and to
obliterate any adverse impression with regard to herself which she
might produce. He therefore resigned himself to the spell of the
moment, and had quite forgotten the unfortunate cause of his presence
in Linau, when Inspector Kaempf made his appearance to announce to
Wangen that the conveyance was about to start for Station R---- with
the body of the unfortunate driver.
This recalled Egon to a sense of reality, the spell of the moment was
broken; he begged the inspector to inform himself as to the poor man's
family, for whose future he should care, and then, turning to Wangen,
asked that he would kindly allow him the use of a vehicle in which to
drive immediately to Plagnitz.
"Impossible! Indeed you cannot, you must not leave us, Herr von Ernau,"
Bertha exclaimed, in answer to his request. "You must stay in Linau
until your wound is healed. We cannot let you go until you are
perfectly strong."
Wangen added his entreaties to his wife's, although not with the same
urgency, but Egon was firm. He declared that it was a matter of
necessity that he should be in Plagnitz before evening, that he was
quite strong enough to undertake the short journey thither, and that,
with many thanks for the kind hospitality extended to him at Linau, he
was resolved not to trespass upon it further. Neither Wangen nor Bertha
could turn him from his purpose, and the former therefore yielded to
his request, and directed Inspector Kaempf to have a light wagon made
ready for Herr von Ernau's use.