When I began to reflect on the coming day, I remembered that it
would be necessary for me to congratulate my uncle on his birthday;
and I felt it would require a stretch of the forms of politeness to
do this in a becoming manner. It occurred to me now that if Francis
could only see through that little glass window in my breast, she
would have the best of the argument in future on the subject of the
conventionalities of society; for I confess to you, dear William,
I had become a convert to Aunt Sophia's opinions with regard to this
same General von Zwenken, and now I admired her prudence in preventing
her fortune from falling into such hands.
As the birthday fell on a Sunday we all went to the village church,
a duty which the General considered his position as lord of the manor
imposed upon him; and one which he performed as he would have done
any other duty laid down by the military code. The clergyman was old,
monotonous, and wearisome. The greater part of the congregation went
to sleep under the effects of his sermon. Francis took up a Bible
and pretended to read, whilst it seemed to me the wakeful part of the
congregation paid more attention to us than to their minister; and the
remarks they whispered about one to another struck me as not being
very favourable to us. The General alone kept his eyes fixed on the
preacher throughout the sermon; but whether his mind was so intently
occupied with the subject matter, I will not take upon myself to say.
On our return the fete commenced. The village schoolmaster brought
up his scholars, who recited a string of verses glorifying the Baron
as patron of the school, though I doubt whether he had ever entered
it. And I believe the same verses had done duty for several generations
on similar occasions, when the owners of the Werve admitted the master
and his scholars to an audience.
Then came the Pauwelsens from the farm, who still address the
General as their landlord; after them some of the villagers. All
these people were regaled with cake and chocolate. The burgomaster
[5] called in his turn; he was a regular rustic, and paid a good deal
more attention to me than to the General. He evidently saw in me a
mystery which excited his curiosity.
Captain Willibald also put in an appearance, and after congratulating
my uncle, handed him a box of cigars, saying--
"They are the old sort; I know your taste exactly."
"Certainly you do, my good fellow; it is an agreeable present. Here
in the country one must lay in a stock. What say you, Leo?"
"To my shame, I must own I did not know what to buy you on such an
occasion; but I will take care to make up for this omission of mine
very soon."
Uncle rejoined in a whisper--
"The one thing I should like you to do is to reconcile yourself with
your uncle, the Minister for Foreign Affairs."
Happily it was not necessary for me to reply to this remark. Francis
entered the room, and quite charmed me by her manner. She was cordial
to all the visitors--I thought I had never seen a better hostess. I
saw how amiable she could be when quite at her ease, and not beset by
fears of what envious tongues might say as soon as her back was turned.
The dinner was beautifully arranged. The Captain had put on his
full-dress uniform, the General his also, and I had given some extra
attention to my toilette. Francis was dressed plainly as usual,
without much regard for the day or the visitors; and yet there was
something original in her style of dress, an elegance which seemed to
heighten her beauty considerably. I was struck by the richness and
weight of the silver, all engraved with the family coat-of-arms. I
felt sure that the Captain and Francis had put their money together
to get it from the pawnbrokers for the occasion. At table she took
her place between the clergyman and myself. The village lawyer, the
postmaster, and some rough-looking country farmers, together with
the churchwardens and several members of the local board, had been
invited to the dinner. Rolf took his place in the midst of them, and
soon loosened their tongues by pointing out the various sorts of wine,
and filling up their glasses with no sparing hand. Even the clergyman
I found to be much more entertaining at table than in the pulpit,
and the conversation never flagged. Fritz, assisted for the nonce by
one of the sons of farmer Pauwelsen, had donned a livery which I felt
pretty certain was the uniform of an officer metamorphosed. He was
more attentive, and more particular than ever in his manner of serving
every one; it seemed to me as if he had something on his mind, he was
so solemn and serious. In spite of myself I could not help thinking
of the utter ruin this once opulent house had fallen into, and of the
unhappy son banished from his father's table. As for the General, I had
never yet seen him in such good spirits. The table so well served, the
appetizing dishes, and the wines which he had such a delicate manner
of tasting--all this just suited his epicurean habits. Afterwards
we drank coffee in the garden, and Rolf insisted upon our drinking
a bowl of May wine; for he was most anxious to display his skill in
the composition of this very famous German beverage.
This completed the entertainment, for the country people are accustomed
to retire early; and the evening was still young when a great lumbering
coach drew up before the hall door, to convey the visitors back to
the village.
I had hoped to meet Francis and propose a walk round the garden,
but she was nowhere to be found. It appeared she had run over to
the Pauwelsens with some of the dainties for the old bed-ridden
grandmother. And her first care on her return was to inquire the
whereabouts of her grandfather.
"He must not be left alone for a moment to-day," she said to me;
"I have not been at my ease all this day."
"Because of Rudolf?" I inquired.
"I can never be sure what whim he will take into his head next. But
you are sure that he is gone?"
"Certainly, before I was awake; but he left his pocket-book on the
table. I will take it to him to-morrow."
"Don't do anything of the sort, I am sure he will come back; this
thought has pursued me like my shadow all this day. But tell me what
you thought of my dinner."
"You were a charming hostess, Francis. How I should like to see you
mistress of a well-furnished house of your own!"
"And one in which it would not be necessary to take the silver out
of pawn when I expected visitors," she replied bitterly.
"My dear cousin, I know this must have been a bitter trouble to you,"
I answered compassionately.
"This I feel the most humiliating of all; but I did it to please
my old grandfather, upon whom I can be severe enough at times about
his weaknesses. Rolf, who in spite of his faults is the best-natured
fellow in the world, went to the town of----, and we polished it up
ourselves. We would not let Fritz into the secret."
"And to me, Francis, to whom you owe nothing, you have given much
pleasure, by surprising me with this little Russian leather case----"
"Don't mention such a trifle. I only wished to mark the day on which
you became my friend."
"Yes, indeed, your friend for life," I answered, gently drawing her arm
within mine. This word had given me courage, it rendered me bold. "I
thank you for that word, Francis; but it is not yet enough. Let me
be to you more than a friend; permit me----"
"More than a friend?" she cried, visibly agitated. "I beseech you,
Leopold, let us not aim at what cannot be realized, nor destroy
this relationship which is dear to me, by striving after the
impossible. Promise me seriously, Leopold, you will not mention this
subject to me again, or use any such language to me."
This answer seemed very like a formal refusal, and yet I remarked an
emotion in her voice which to a certain extent reassured me.
"And why should it be impossible, Francis?" I resumed, mustering up
all my courage.
This time I got no answer; she uttered a shriek and rushed off to the
summer-house, I following her. There a frightful spectacle awaited us.
Rudolf, the miserable Rudolf, was on his knees before his father,
kissing his hand. The latter was seated on the bench, to all appearance
motionless. Suddenly Rudolf uttered a cry of terror and despair.
"I warned you," said Francis; "you have been the death of your father."
"No, Francis, no, he has fainted. But I found him in this condition;
I swear to you by all that's dear to me that I found him thus."
The fact was that the General had become stiff and motionless as
a corpse. The trellis work alone had prevented his falling to the
ground. His face had turned a little blue, his eyes were fixed and
wide open, and his features distorted. Francis rubbed his temples with
the contents of her scent-bottle. This friction revived him a little;
but prompt medical aid was necessary.
"Tell me where the village doctor lives," cried Rudolf, beside himself
in his agitation, "that I may fly to him."
"It will be better to send Fritz," replied Francis, in a cold,
decided tone.
I ran off in search of the old and faithful servant, to whom I
explained the state of affairs.
"The General has had an attack!" he exclaimed, with tears in his eyes,
"and it is my fault!"
"How so?"
"I ought not to have allowed it--but I--I could not drive away the
only son of the house."
"Of course not, but keep your own counsel and make haste."
And the old soldier started off at a speed I had thought him little
capable of.
When I returned the General was in the same condition; Rudolf,
leaning against a tree, was wringing his hands.
"That will do no good," Francis said to him; "help me to carry him
to his room; Leopold will give us a hand."
"That's not necessary--he is my father, and it is my place to carry
him."
In an instant he took up the old man with so much gentleness, and yet
with such firmness of muscle, that you would have thought he carried
a babe. He refused my assistance even up the staircase. He laid the
old Baron on his bed, with his eyes still fixed, and quite unconscious.
"Thank God! there he is safe," said Rudolf, falling into a chair. "I
have had many a hard piece of work in my life, but never one in which
my heart was so deeply concerned. May I stay here until he regains
consciousness?" he asked of Francis like a supplicant.
"I feel that it is impossible for you to leave at such a moment,"
she answered; "but we must call in Rolf, and if he sees you here----"
"Oh, if he makes the slightest to do I'll twist his neck about like
a chicken's."
It occurred to me that the more simple and prudent plan would be for
me to go and make the Captain acquainted with what had happened, and
obtain his promise to keep silent and to pretend not to know anything
about Rudolf's presence. He was enjoying his after-dinner nap when I
found him, and I was afraid he would have an attack of apoplexy when
I told him about the coming of Rudolf. His anger seemed to make him
forget the gravity of the General's position. I endeavoured to make
him understand that the accident might possibly be attributed to a
fit of cold, caused by drinking May wine in the cool of the evening so
shortly after the copious dinner of which the General had partaken; but
he had made up his mind that Rudolf was the cause of the misfortune,
and he asserted that his duty as a soldier and an officer was to have
him forthwith arrested as a deserter.
It was only with the greatest difficulty that I could get this fixed
idea out of his head. I succeeded, however, at length in proving to
him that the duty which he owed to humanity far surpassed all others at
present; that it would be an unheard-of cruelty to arrest the son now
at the bedside of a father, dying, for all we knew; that even Francis
herself had consented to his staying, and that we were in duty bound
to cast a veil over the family secrets. Finally the inborn good-nature
of Rolf triumphed, and we went together to the General's room.
The doctor had just arrived. He considered the case serious, and said
it would be necessary to bleed the patient. Fritz and Rolf were left
to aid the doctor and undress the invalid. Meantime I led Francis
into a cabinet where Rudolf had taken refuge and was breathlessly
awaiting the doctor's verdict.
As we had left the door ajar we heard the patient recover
consciousness, and call for Francis in a strangely altered voice,
and address questions to her in a frightened tone; which questions
the doctor, not understanding, put down to delirium, though they
made it clear enough to us that he had seen and recognized Rudolf,
although he mentioned no names.
"If the patient is not kept strictly quiet, I fear it will turn to
brain fever," said the doctor on leaving.
"Would you like to see the person you referred to just now?" I asked
the General in a whisper, as soon as we were alone.
"No, indeed! I know he is here; he must leave in peace, and at once,
never more to appear before my eyes, or--I will curse him."
We could hear a suppressed sigh in the neighbouring cabinet. Rudolf
had understood.
Rolf and Francis undertook the duty of watching at the bedside of
the patient during the night; and I led Rudolf to my room--I may say
supported him, for the strong man reeled. He threw himself on the
sofa and wept like a child.
"It is finished," he said. "I could not, after all, have expected
anything else, and I have my deserts."
"Francis was in the right, you see; you ought not to have broken
your promise."
"It is not my fault I broke it. Fritz caught me this morning just as I
was scaling the garden wall, and I was obliged to make myself known to
him, otherwise he would have given me in charge as a housebreaker. He
then offered to hide me in an unoccupied room on the ground floor until
to-night. Thence, unseen, I could watch the movements of my father;
and when his guests were gone, I saw him walking alone towards the
summer-house, where he sat down, and, as I thought, he had fallen
asleep. Then it was I ventured out of my hiding-place and approached
him. It appears, however, he must both have seen me and recognized
me. But now I have said enough, and this time I will go away for
good. God bless him! May the Almighty strengthen dear Francis."
I persuaded him to spend this night with me, and try to get a little
rest. From time to time I went to make inquiries about the General,
and towards morning I was able to inform Rudolf that his father had
passed a fair night and was now sleeping calmly; he could therefore
leave with his mind more at ease. I accompanied him a part of the way
outside the grounds, and promised to keep him informed of the state
of his father's health. He gave me his address, as I was to write
to him under the name of Richard Smithson, and he then parted from
me with the most passionate expressions of gratitude for the little
kindnesses I had been able to show him.