Downstairs I met the General ready for a walk, and he offered to
accompany me. He had also a letter for the post, which was a secret
to be kept from Francis; and he expected to find a packet awaiting
him, which could not be entrusted to a servant. The packet was there
amongst the letters marked poste restante; but when he had opened
it with precipitation, a cloud of disappointment covered his face,
and he heaved a heavy sigh.
"Don't say anything to Francis about the packet," he said to me, as we
walked back from the post. "Such business I must manage unknown to her;
she does not understand these things, and she would not agree with
me; and with her temper--at my age I have great need of quiet--that
you comprehend. The Captain is entirely indebted to me for his rank,
and it is but natural he should pay me some little attention. Yet you
heard how my granddaughter took the matter up this morning. Instead of
being content with me for retiring to this wilderness of a place, which
I did to please her, she does nothing to render my life supportable."
"And yet the Werve is beautifully situated, uncle."
"I agree with you there; but when one must give up all field sports,
this becomes a very isolated place. The village offers not the
slightest resource, and the town is too far away."
"Why don't you sell the Castle, uncle?"
"Ah, my dear boy, for that I must have money, much money; and that
I have been in want of all my life. There are so many mortgages
on the Castle that nobody would give the sum necessary to pay
them. Besides, the person who bought it would like to possess the
neighbouring estates. My sister-in-law, who possessed the Runenberg
estates bordering on my property, wished to buy it, but I refused
her; family hatred would not suffer me to make room for her. Thank
heaven, she's gone. She instituted proceedings against me about a
strip of land of no real value to either of us; and the lawsuit cost
me thousands of guilders. She won, as a matter of course, and then
laid claim to a small bridge which connected the land in question
with my grounds. Again I lost my money and my case; and now I must
make a long round to reach places quite near, because the use of the
bridge is forbidden me. Oh, that woman has been the curse of my life!"
"But to come back to the question. Overberg has commissioned me to say
that the heir to the Runenberg is likely to make you an advantageous
offer for the Werve."
"It could be done privately--as in the case of the farms? Overberg
arranged that for me--and there are reasons for avoiding a public
sale," cried the old man, brightening up with a ray of hope.
"Yes, Overberg said as much; the only question was whether you could
be induced to sell it."
"For myself, yes, with all my heart. But Francis--there's the
rub! She has an affection for this old rats' nest, for the family
traditions, and for heaven know's what; nay, even for the title which
its possession carries with it. God bless the mark! She has got it
into her head that at some future day she will be Baroness de Werve;
and it is an illusion of hers to restore this old barrack. But her
only chance of doing it is to make a rich marriage. Formerly she had
chances enough amongst the rich bachelors, but she treated them all
slightingly; and now we see nobody in this lonely place."
"But you do not need her permission to sell the Castle?"
"Legally I do not require it; but there would be no living with her
if I sold it without her consent. Besides, she has a right to be
consulted. When she came of age I had to inform her that her mother's
fortune was nearly all spent. It was not my fault. Sir John Mordaunt
kept up a large establishment, and lived in English style, without
English money to support it; for he was only a second son, and his
captain's pay was not large. A little before his death he lost an
uncle, to whose property and title Francis would have succeeded if
she had been a boy. Shortly after this event my son-in-law died of
apoplexy, and I was left guardian to Francis. My evil fate pursued
me still, and being in want of a large sum of money to clear off a
debt, which would disgrace the family if not paid at once, Francis
generously offered me her whole fortune. I accepted it, as there was
no alternative, but only as a loan; and promised to leave the Werve
to her at my death."
"But Francis is your only grandchild--or stay, I have heard you had
a son, General; has he children?"
"My son is--dead," Von Zwenken answered, with a strange kind of
hesitancy in his voice. "He was never married so far as I know--at
least, he never asked my consent to a marriage; and if he has left
children I should not acknowledge them to be legitimate. In short,
you now understand why I cannot sell the Castle without Francis'
consent; after my death my creditors cannot take possession of it
without reckoning with her."
It struck me that Aunt Sophia had never foreseen this, and the mine
she had been digging for Von Zwenken would have blown up Francis in
the ruins if things had been allowed to take their course. I had, in
fact, at my side, a type of the most refined selfishness, profoundly
contemptible, recounting to me his shameful scheming under the cover
of a gentlemanlike exterior and a polite friendliness, which might
deceive the shrewdest man alive. Could I any longer wonder why Francis
had so great an aversion to outward forms and ceremonies.
"But," I resumed, "are you not afraid that after your death your
granddaughter will be sadly undeceived, and perhaps cheated out of
her all by your negligence."
"What can I say, mon cher? Necessity knows no law; and I still hope
to better my fortune before the end comes."
"At his age, by what means?" I asked myself.
Then I thought of the packet he had been to fetch from the
post-office. I believed I had seen it contained long lists of numbers;
they were certainly the official numbers of some German lottery. The
unhappy man evidently rested all his hopes on this expedient for
re-establishing order in his affairs; and probably invested every
penny he could scrape together in such lotteries. I though him an
idiot to trust to any such means.
"Nephew," he exclaimed, briskly, and with vivacity, as if a bright
idea had struck him, "if it be true Overberg intends to treat with me
about the sale of the Castle, would it not be well for you to break
the subject to Francis, just to sound her? It appears to me you have
some influence over her; and the greatest obstacle would be removed
if you could change her fixed ideas on the point."
"I will do so, uncle."
"You can make use of this argument, that the company of the Captain
would become less of a necessity for me if I were in some town where
other society is to be found."
Fortunately I did not need to answer him: we were at home, the luncheon
bell was ringing, and the Captain came out to meet us, jovial as
ever. Francis had not returned, and we took luncheon without waiting
for her. Only at dinner-time did she put in an appearance. Her toilette
was simply made, but she was dressed in good taste, and her beauty
brought out to perfection. I was charmed. She seemed to tell me in
a silent way that Major Frank had given place to Miss Mordaunt. She
was quiet and thoughtful at dinner, and did not scold the Captain,
who watched all her movements with dog-like humility. She paid much
attention to the General, who seemed absent and out of sorts, for he
only tasted some of the dishes. The dinner itself was a much simpler
affair than on the preceding day; yet there was sufficient, and one
extra dish had been made specially for Von Zwenken, who did not ask
for the finer sorts of wine, but made up for this want by drinking two
bottles of the ordinary wine without appearing any the worse for it.
The only difference between him and the Captain was, that unlike the
latter, he did not frankly confess that he lived to eat, and that
his belly was his god. I began to feel a most hearty contempt for
this grand-uncle of mine, and more especially when I reflected on
the conversation we had had during our morning's walk.