IMMACULATE
Eveline was still writing her programme when the Abbé Samuel was
announced. In Paris it is not thought out of the way for an abbé to
visit an actress, and, for the rest, the abbé was an old friend, well
known to both husband and wife. He was naturally very much interested
in the concert, and read the programme most attentively.
"It would have been all so nice," said Eveline, in a vexed tone, "only
for that stupid Arpad. See, father, just there, between my song and
the violoncello solo, he would have come in so well."
"Is Arpad in town?"
"Yes, he has only just gone. I begged of him to help my concert; and
my song from the Stabat Mater would have gone so much better to the
harmonium, and he accompanies beautifully; but he has grown quite
silly; he has become a heretic."
The priest shook his sides with laughter, and then a sudden idea
struck him. It was plain Eveline liked Arpad, which was only natural,
for they were about the same age. He was twenty, she nineteen--a pair
of children, and children like to amuse themselves. They don't care
for serious things; that comes later. What if he made use of Arpad to
introduce Waldemar?
"I should like to take a bet with you that Arpad Belenyi will play
the piano at your concert, and that, moreover, he will accompany your
Stabat Mater on the harmonium. If he does so, what will you give me?"
"Oh, he won't do it; you may be sure of that! I know him well; he is
very obstinate once he takes anything into his cockatoo's head, and if
_I_ have not been able to persuade him--"
Eveline had immense faith in the magic power of her black eyes.
"Well, you shall see. What will you give me if I succeed?" repeated
the abbé.
Eveline replied to this question by another:
"How do you mean to get round him?" She said nothing of what she would
give in case he succeeded.
"Oh, there are many ways; for instance, I might say to him that if he
played in your drawing-room it is very likely he may be engaged by the
empress, and that then his fortune was made--at least, for this
season. An artist would at once see what a chance this would be. Then
I would offer him money."
"I have done that already--five hundred francs."
"Well, although a young man may turn up his nose at five hundred
francs, an old woman will appreciate a hundred Napoleons at their true
value. Arpad must obey his mother's wishes, and what she promises for
him he must do. I know the circumstances."
"You are a very sensible man. I should have begun with the mother, but
it never occurred to me. Well, manage it all for me. If you only
accomplish it I shall do whatever you ask me."
She was in such good-humor that the abbé saw he could ask her
anything; still, it was with a slight hesitation that he said:
"I want you to give me an invitation for your charity concert for a
friend of mine."
"You shall have ten," cried Eveline, joyfully.
"I only require one, but this invitation must be written with your own
hand."
"Give me the name of your friend and I will write the card this
moment."
As she spoke she seated herself at her writing-table, took an
invitation-card from her drawer, and made all ready to begin.
"Now the name."
"Prince Waldemar Sondersheim."
When she heard the name Eveline threw down her pen and sprang hastily
to her feet.
"No," she said, decidedly, "never!"
The abbé burst into a shrill laugh. "Your excitement is very
becoming," he said. "You are a fine actress."
"I shall not invite Prince Sondersheim to my concert," returned
Eveline, seating herself on the sofa with a defiant air.
"Is the prince disagreeable to you?"
"I loathe him."
"Do you imagine that the world contains nothing but simpletons like
Arpad Belenyi?"
Eveline got up from the sofa, went to the writing-table, and tore the
programme she had been writing into a hundred pieces.
"Arpad may stay at home, tied to his mother's apron-strings. I don't
want him nor any one. I'll give up the concert;" and she threw the
torn fragments of her programme into the fireplace.
The abbé rose from his seat and took the excited girl by the hand.
"Compose yourself, my dear young lady," he said. "I have come to you
on a most urgent matter--a matter which is of serious consequence to
you and your husband, and I do not deny that it is of great moment to
me. I may, in fact, call it of vital importance to each one of us. If
it should turn out as badly as it threatens your husband shall have to
go to America, I must return to my monastery, and what will become of
you I do not know."
Eveline sat down again on the sofa. She listened to him attentively.
"At all events, you will have to go out of this," went on the abbé,
"and that without loss of time. You must know that the old Prince
Theobald, after you had returned to him the palace in the Maximilian
Strasse, which he had made a present to you, took shares in your name
in the Bondavara Company to the amount of a million."
"I never knew it," said Eveline.
"That proves that you never thought of asking your husband what the
expense of this splendid hotel was, to say nothing of your magnificent
carriage and horses, your numerous servants, your conservatory--"
"I thought that my salary, added to what Herr Kaulmann--" She stopped
suddenly; the incredulous smile on the abbé's lips made her silent. He
continued:
"All this splendor is at an end. A telegram which came a few hours ago
brings the news that, at the suit of his son-in-law, Prince Theobald's
affairs have been placed in the hands of trustees; the trustees will,
without any doubt, seize the shares taken for you."
"They may do as they like," returned the girl, indifferently.
"Oh, there may be a lawsuit! But there is worse to come. Another
telegram brings the news that last week there was a fearful explosion
at the Bondavara colliery."
At this news Eveline gave a cry; then quickly asked:
"And Herr Behrend, has his mine also exploded?"
The abbé looked somewhat surprised, but continued, in his earnest
manner:
"I believe not. The company's shares, however, have received a
terrible blow. The more so, that one of the collieries is still
burning, with no chance of being extinguished."
As he spoke he looked fixedly at her, and his penetration soon took in
the truth: that her joy at the escape of Behrend's property outweighed
her sorrow for her husband's loss.
"You can understand," continued the abbé, "in what danger we are of
actual ruin; everything now depends upon one thing. Of course, you are
aware that, in consequence of the Bondavara Company, Kaulmann's
reputation is one of the highest in the financial world. Millions of
money have actually been put into the affair, and ten times as much is
floating in the air of the stock-exchange. Money is not a tangible
quantity. This catastrophe--which, after all, may still be averted,
for it is possible that the fire may be extinguished--will be a
terrible engine in the hands of the enemies of the company, who want,
above all things, to upset Kaulmann. The colliery explosion is a
powder-mine in the hands of the bears. To-day he is a king, hands full
of gold are stretched out to him, a hundred millions are eagerly
offered to him; to-morrow these very people will surround him,
clamoring to get back their money, which they have intrusted to him.
Whether the cry is raised or not depends altogether on one man, and
this man is Prince Waldemar Sondersheim. He is here; he arrived
to-day. Probably he has had news of the explosion sooner than
Kaulmann, whose director, Rauné, no doubt, hoped against hope to get
the fire under. Kaulmann's fate lies in the hands of Prince
Sondersheim, and so does my own. I do not conceal it. I was the pivot
of an enormous, world-wide project. To-morrow Kaulmann's proposal for
the Church loan was to be laid before the financial world of Paris and
Brussels; it is an important crisis that may give to history a new
page. If Prince Waldemar makes use of his knowledge of the collapse of
the Bondavara Company to raise a cry against us, then the whole fabric
upon which so much is built vanishes as a dream. If he or his bears
call out on the exchange that the Bondavara shares are sixty per cent.
below par we are lost. If he keeps silent the loan will float
splendidly, and then the Bondavara misfortune will sink into a matter
of small importance, such as constantly occurs in the money-market.
Now you can understand what an effect a word from you may have, and
what you can do if you speak this word."
Eveline shook her head, and laid her finger on her lips; she looked
the very genius of silence.
"What!" cried the abbé, his anger getting the better of him, "you
refuse? You think more of one word that can cost you nothing than of
the consequences? The Holy See may be overthrown, the standard of
infidelity may be unfurled, the saints torn from their shrines--and
all for a woman's caprice."
Eveline spread out her arms as if she were engaged in a combat with a
giant. She called out, in a resolute voice:
"No; I cannot speak to that man."
The abbé grew angry. He said to himself if he could not persuade this
vexatious woman, at least he would give himself the pleasure of
wounding her in a tender point. He took his hat in his hand, and,
holding it behind his back, said, in a cold, cutting voice:
"I neither understand your dislike to the prince nor your extreme
delicacy. Prince Sondersheim is no way inferior to the men you have
admitted to your intimacy."
At this insult Eveline seized the hand of the abbé, and cried, with a
sudden abandonment of her usual reserve:
"Oh, father, I have never been a wife; I am still as innocent as a
child!"
The abbé looked at her in unfeigned astonishment. He saw by her
burning blushes, her modest, downcast eyes, her childish sobs, that
she was speaking the truth. He sighed deeply; he could not help it. It
was his last stake, and he had lost. Good-bye to glory, to greatness.
All had vanished into thin air at Eveline's words; they had scattered
his dreams. He recognized that all the great deeds which have made men
famous were as dust and ashes in comparison with the real nobility of
soul possessed by this peasant girl, this woman who, in obedience to
her husband's infamous commands, and because she had sworn to obey
him, had worn the mask of a Phryne while she preserved the purity of a
saint. By no act of his should she descend from her pedestal.
"Eveline," he said, in a voice of deep emotion, "the words you have
spoken banish me to my cell. My dreams of power and splendor lie in
the dust--their fitting place. You said,'I am still innocent'; my
child, keep yourself so. The French law recognizes no marriage unless
it has been contracted before the civil authorities. Your marriage
with Felix Kaulmann is in this country null and void; you are here
Mademoiselle Eva Dirkmal, nothing more. You can tell Kaulmann that I
have told you this. I have given him the same information, as he
wished to free himself from this nominal tie to you. And now,
farewell; I return to my monastery, to reconcile myself with an
offended God."
Eva Dirkmal threw herself at the feet of the priest, and covered his
hands with tears and kisses.
"Put your hand upon my head," she sobbed, "and ask God to bless me."
"My daughter," said the abbé, "an invincible hand watches over you and
protects you. May you ever be thus safely guarded."
With these words the priest left the room. He did as he said; he
sought no further interview with Kaulmann, but went straight to the
railway, and buried himself in his monastery. The world knew him no
more.