"I am not in the habit of smoking in the presence of----" (I had
almost said ladies).
"Nonsense! I am not so fastidious; and you know that quite well. Shall
I make you some coffee? The gentlemen yonder do not take any; they
smoke and drink till----"
I interrupted her with--
"I want nothing but to talk confidentially with you for a quarter of
an hour. Will you grant me that favour?"
"Certainly; take the easy-chair and sit down opposite; that is the
best position for a talk."
I obeyed, and she began--
"Tell me, first of all, do you now understand why I do not like
receiving company?"
"Perhaps. I venture to suppose that you wish to simplify the way of
living, and that the gentlemen do not approve of it. And visitors
cause expense."
"Now, indeed, it is clever of you to guess after what you have
just seen!" and she laughed a merry laugh. "I see I must explain
matters. But let us talk about yourself, Leopold; that will change the
current of my thoughts--and they want changing in my present state of
mind. You see there my constant and daily society," she continued,
looking towards the dining-room. "They have now reached the topmost
point of their enjoyment--the General asleep with a cigar in his mouth,
and the Captain absorbing his quantum of cognac. Afterwards he will
fill his German pipe, totter off to the billiard-room, and smoke and
sleep till tea-time. Come, now, as we have a full hour before us,
confess yourself. Why have you not studied for a barrister?" And
she fixed her large eyes on me as if she suspected that I had been
rusticated.
"Simply because my good father died too soon."
"A good father always dies too soon. Even a bad one who neglects his
child is a great loss. Yours left nothing?"
"Except a widow with a very small pension--too small to maintain
me at Leyden, and therefore I left after one year's residence, as
I wished to earn my own living and obtain comforts for my mother,
who was in very weak health."
"I admire you for that, Leo; a man who is not selfish, and can make
sacrifices for his mother or his wife's sake, is a rarity. It does
me good to hear such men still exist."
"Now, Francis, give me your confidence. Perhaps I can assist you in
your troubles."
"Don't attempt the impossible, Leopold," she replied in a tone of
profound sadness. "However, as I believe you to be loyal and generous,
I will be explicit with you; and if I am deceived in you, as I have
often been in others, one deception more or less cannot make much
difference in the grand total. When my grandfather had obtained his
pension we came to the Werve, as it was urgently necessary for us
to economize. His rank as commandant in a small fortified town had
necessitated our living in grand style. He had to invite the mayor and
other dignitaries to his table, as well as his own lieutenants; and let
me acknowledge we had both got into the habit of living in abundance
and of being very hospitable; consequently we had nearly always an
open table. Owing to many events and painful family circumstances,
our fortune with the last few years has shrunk so visibly that it was
impossible to continue our old style of living. And grandpapa at last
saw things as I did. We retired to the Werve; we did not want company,
and we severed ourselves from all parasites at one stroke.
"I counted on the kitchen garden, the orchard, and the home farm
(which in those days still belonged to the Werve) providing for all
our wants; and I cherished a secret hope of saving money, so as one
day to make some repairs and raise this castle from its state of decay.
"At first everything went on tolerably well. We came in the
summer-time. We both needed rest; the splendid and varied scenery
enticed us out on long rides and drives; in fact, everything combined
to make us enjoy our solitude. But, alas! the autumn came with its
long evenings and chilly days; the General suffered from rheumatism
and could not mount his horse. Then weariness overmastered him like
a plague, and I tried music and reading in vain. He is not fond of
music, and he does not care for reading. He cannot bear to see me
with a book in my hand, unless it be an illustrated book to ornament
the drawing-room table. When I had read the paper there was nothing
more to say. I played dominoes with him and piquet-a-deux. I could
hardly do it any longer; but he never had enough of it. He grew
fidgetty and melancholy, began to languish, and was less and less
satisfied with our simple way of living. I could not bear to see
him so cast down, without the means of helping him. Just about this
time one of his former comrades, who had also obtained his pension,
invited grandfather to visit him in Arnheim. I thought it would be a
nice change, and encouraged him to go. He was quite happy and quite
at his ease there, and stayed the three winter months."
"And you?"
"I stayed at home. They had forgotten to invite me; and when they
thought of it, it seemed to me such a formal invitation that I made
up my mind to decline it, as I had before reflected it would save a
great deal of expense in ball dresses and other ways of squandering
money which such visits necessarily bring with them."
"Yet, even here, a little attention to dress would not be out of
place," I interposed, seizing the opportunity to tell her my opinion
on the subject.
"Oh, it does not matter for me. I can speak as a certain French woman
du temps que j'etais femme. That time's past; what does it matter
how Major Frank dresses?"
"Major Frank," I replied, "should wear a uniform suitable to her rank
and the position in which she finds herself. That is no coquetry,
it is only decency--seemliness."
"But, Leopold," she cried, feverishly beating the devil's tattoo with
her little foot, "since I have been here I have bought nothing new,
and part of my wardrobe I have given away to the daughter of a poor
officer, who had obtained a place as governess in a rich family,
and had scarcely the wherewithal to clothe herself decently. Now,
cousin, that you are initiated into the mysteries of my wardrobe,
you understand why I could not come to table in a ball costume. But
don't trouble me with any more of your silly remarks about dress;
let me continue.
"My grandfather returned from Arnheim, cured of his melancholy and
more deeply in debt than ever. His stay, even with a friend, had cost
him much money in dress. He had had to order a new general's uniform,
as he could not go into society in that of a colonel; then there were
fees to servants; and, worst of all, that abominable high play which
is the curse of our nation. In short, on his return he was obliged to
sell the home-farm, and even this did not bring in sufficient money
to satisfy his creditors. This time my grandfather solemnly vowed he
would never enter society again, and he has kept his word; but he soon
fell into a black melancholy, from which he is only just recovering.
"Rolf, a brave soldier, but one who, in spite of his merits, would
never have obtained the rank of officer without grandpapa's protection,
called upon us. He was a sort of servant in the house before I
was born, making himself generally useful as only soldiers can. His
sister was my nurse, my mother having died soon after I came into the
world. Unfortunately, she had neither education nor character to fit
her for the task. With the best intentions, she thoroughly spoilt me,
a work in which she was assisted by her brother, Sergeant Rolf, who
would sooner have thought of disobeying his colonel than of opposing
any caprice of his 'little Major,' as he already called me. Well,
when he got his pension as captain he stayed here a few days, and his
company seemed to be a welcome change to grandfather; and perceiving
that a third person would be an agreeable addition to our society,
I proposed to him to take up his quarters here, as he could live
on his pension in one place as well as another. My proposition was
eagerly accepted, and I took the command, as he expresses it, whilst
he did his best to cheer up the General, and the winter has passed
less monotonously than I anticipated.
"Meantime Rolf has inherited some property in North Brabant, and now
he insists upon paying his quota towards the housekeeping expenses,
to which I have consented for the General's sake, because he is so
fond of delicacies. But you don't know how I suffer when I see them
rivalling each other in the pleasures of the table, and think of the
humiliation and abasement of my grandfather----"
Fritz entered with the lamp, and asked if Freule had not rung for the
tea. The General and the Captain followed. The conversation languished
over the tea-table, and Francis became silent; when suddenly the
Captain exclaimed, pointing to her hair--
"Ah, the lioness shakes her mane to frighten us!"
"It's true," she answered coolly; "excuse me, gentlemen."
And away she went to her own room.
"It is curious how Francis has these attacks of nonchalance," muttered
the General.
"And just now, when we have a visitor whom she herself brought,"
assented the Captain.
But to change the subject the General proposed a game at cards.