"If you go on and give yourself up to the law, as the best proof of
Albert's deposition, I shall think well of you."
"I have determined to do something of the kind," said _Heinrich_, "and
I hope you will then be convinced that I am not so entirely destitute
of all enthusiasm."
"I shall be very glad, for the sake of my prisoners."
"Only for your prisoners? Why not for your own sake too?"
"Because it will principally concern the welfare of the unfortunate men
who are now apparently dependent upon your compassion. I, thank God,
have nothing to hope from you."
"Indeed!" said _Heinrich_, in an irritated tone. "But if, after those
words, I refuse you permission to go to your _proteges_ again?"
"You will not do that," replied the young girl, firmly. "If you really
feel compassion, you will not, merely from an irritable whim, deprive
the prisoners of the only comfort that can be afforded them in their
cheerless situation."
"Fraeulein," said _Heinrich_, with his usual winning courtesy, "you
certainly do very little to bribe the government official; yet this
very course wins me still more, and I do not merely permit, I entreat
you to return and accept me as your assistant."
"So long as you are with the prisoners, sir, they will not need me.
Permit me to come here at a time when you are absent."
"You have become suspicious of me; we are farther apart now than at the
first moment of meeting. My candor in your presence was over-hasty.
Forgive me, and mingle a little of your kindness of heart with the
austerity of your youthful ideas of virtue, that you may not utterly
condemn. Will you? You forgive, and try to reform even criminals:
reform me too. Why are you so intolerant to me alone?"
She gazed at him with gentle earnestness, and slowly shook her head.
"When I enter a prison, I know I shall find a criminal, and am prepared
for arguments about sin which are not too difficult to disprove. But
with you I am disappointed and embarrassed, for your face promised
something better, and I cannot enter into your delicate sophistry. I am
an 'enthusiast'; you a 'servant of the government': the two characters
are not easily harmonized. Farewell. Allow me to choose the time of my
visits here, and forgive the poor jailers whom I have outwitted." With
these words she hastily ran up the stone staircase.
_Heinrich_ stamped his foot angrily on the floor. "Willful, haughty
witch!" he murmured, as he hurried after her.
She paused on the upper step and nodded to him with all the winning
charm of heartfelt emotion. "Be kind to my prisoners, Herr von Ottmar,
and I will be kind to you!" Then, turning a corner, she disappeared
before _Heinrich_ could follow her. He gazed into vacancy, as if he
wished to trace in the air the shadow into which she seemed to have
dissolved before his eyes.
The jailers timidly approached him with their petition for pardon. "You
shall be forgiven for the sake of this lady's eloquence, which is
difficult to resist. But on pain of losing your places let no one hear
of what has taken place to-day, or may occur in future," said
_Heinrich_, sternly, and left the building.
The two turnkeys looked at each other a long time in silence; at last
one said, as the result of his meditations, "It's the Prison Fairy!"
_Heinrich's_ astonishment was raised to the highest pitch by the
appearance of this young girl. Even the thought of the strange fatality
which had made Severinus the innocent victim of the sensuality he had
denounced so bitterly, a few weeks before, could not long fix his
attention. He was convinced that Severinus had discovered to what
"rose" he had wished to open his doors, and had gone to Martin's house
with the intention of obtaining his daughter's confidence, and using it
against him. "Poor Severinus!" said he. "You were compelled to pay
dearly for your efforts to save souls. The ghost of the artist whose
Hebe you so mercilessly shattered has revenged itself upon you; but the
innocent tool of this vengeance was the very person whom you had most
deeply injured, the poor, rejected Albert! Oh, the wonderful justice of
fate!"
Then he returned again to the remarkable apparition of the young girl,
which unceasingly occupied his thoughts. She had such a peculiar,
changeful temperament that she had pleasantly affected every chord of
his being. A deep earnestness gleamed through the naive coquetry by
which she had sought to bribe him to favor her _proteges_. He perceived
that hers was a kindred spirit, that she too, like himself, was under
the influence of supernatural powers, but in her childlike soul had
unconsciously united these forces in harmonious, changeful action,
instead of, like him, being their sport.
This perception awed him. He felt that he would be understood by this
nature if he showed himself openly to her, and rejected a thousand
plans to discover who she was. "What strength is it that, in a feeble
woman, rules powers which have crushed and conquered me--a man? Would
not this strength exert a blissful influence over me also? With what
joyous pride she said, 'I am making myself useful.' She is happy in the
thought, and wants nothing more. Is it possible? Yet it must be. In her
character lies concealed that spirit of martyrdom which dies smiling
for its idea.
"There is something strange in a philanthropy which rejoices in making
others happy. Hitherto I have not desired to give joy to any one except
myself! Perhaps she will teach me her art.
"She joyously collects the tears of her dirty criminals as if they were
the most precious pearls. I wear on my breast the jewels of various
orders,--and yet all have never given me so much pleasure as a single
tear causes her.
"Who knows, perhaps I have not yet done as much to earn my orders as
she was compelled to do to win her pearls from the secret depths of
those hardened souls. Oh, she is a glorious creature! She has the
cleverness of a man, and yet is so thoroughly womanly. She proves
conclusively that woman can really rise above her narrow sphere of
ideas without becoming unwomanly, and that the true emancipation of the
mind has nothing in common with that emancipation from principles and
forms which so often repels us in those termed women of genius. Yes,
such a woman would be capable of obtaining an influence over me.
"But what shall I do to find her again? First of all, I will do what
she desired, I will confess the truth to the prince and obtain Albert's
pardon. Noble as she is in thought and feeling, she will be touched and
conciliated,--will believe in me. So, when occasion offers, I am doing
a good deed once more. The prince is a sensible man. He will see the
affair in its true light and not refuse me the little favor."