Directly after his arrival, _Heinrich_ went to Ottilie's physician to
make inquiries about the state of her health. It was of importance to
himself to be correctly informed in this respect; for it would have
been very useless to base his ambitious plans upon one doomed to an
early death. With her, these, and perhaps even the favor of the prince,
might sink into the grave; since he had described her as healthy, the
responsibility would fall upon him if she died. The physician, it is
true, said that she was delicate, but, according to the principles of
the old school, declared that her illness was a nervous one; and
_Heinrich_ boldly requested a private audience with Ottilie to obtain
her consent before he presented himself to the Prince of H---- as an
ambassador.
As he passed through the antechamber, a fair-haired little waiting-maid
issued from Ottilie's room, glided by, starting violently as she caught
sight of him, and disappeared through a side door. _Heinrich_ perceived
with astonishment that it was Roeschen. The servant ushered him into the
reception-room. The uniform, unvarying stream of hot air from a Russian
stove vibrated around him with suffocating sultriness, increased by the
fragrance of numberless flowers grouped in hot-house fashion in the
lofty windows of stained glass. The heavy carpets and portieres exhaled
warmth; it seemed to _Heinrich_ as if his lungs were bursting with the
longing for a breath of fresh air. He dreaded this first meeting, for
in Ottilie's presence his insolent frivolity deserted him, and he stood
before her as if she were his conscience. The fervent heat and
deathlike stillness that surrounded him increased his embarrassment.
There is something strange in the official silence of royal apartments,
which rouses the greatest excitement and impatience in any one who is
anxiously awaiting an important audience. This was the case with
_Heinrich_. He wished to repeat what he was to say to Ottilie, but
could no longer remember it. "How shall I appear before her?" was his
only thought; and the polished courtier feared this great soul whose
prophetic vision had penetrated his inmost heart, and which he now
approached like a thief, to try to steal it for his own plans.
A clock struck twelve, and was answered from every side by a multitude
of larger and smaller ones, whose buzzing and humming lasted several
minutes; then all was silent as before. _Heinrich_ uttered a deep sigh.
Why did she linger so long? Was she, too, obliged to collect her
thoughts, and could she not obtain the composure needed to receive him?
"Oh, God! if she should love me still!" he thought, wiping the cold
perspiration from his brow.
Just then a door opened noiselessly,--he did not notice it,--and
Ottilie floated across the room as lightly as if her feet did not touch
the carpet.
_Heinrich_ started as if roused from a dream, when, beautiful as a
glorified spirit, she stood before him. Both looked at each other a
moment in silence neither could find words; their souls were too full
for the narrow forms of speech.
At last Ottilie held out her hand to him, and there was deep sadness in
her expression as she said, "Is it really you?"
"I understand the reproof in your question, princess," replied
_Heinrich_. "I was prepared for it; and yet accompanied with that voice
and glance, it now pierces deep into my breast. As the ambassador of my
princely master, I had courage to appear before you--as your friend. My
heart trembles, for I well know I shall not bear your sublime, angelic
judgment."
Ottilie motioned to him to be seated. "Yes," she began, after a pause,
"I had wished to see you a different man, and I do not even know
whether I still have the right to tell you so."
"Speak! heap upon my head the whole burden of your accusation,
princess."
"Do not fear reproaches from me. All that there is to be said I
represented to you, if I remember rightly, long ago. You did not obey
my warning voice; what was useless then will also be vain now."
_Heinrich_ covered his eyes with his hand, as if obliged to conceal his
tears; and yet it was not all hypocrisy, for it really seemed to him as
if a pang of remorse shot through his breast.
Ottilie remained silent for a long time.
"Be merciful, princess," pleaded _Heinrich_; "you reproach me with my
change of opinions, but you do not know what may exert an influence
over a life, how even the most independent man may be forced into a
course contrary to his wishes, and where he must be untrue to himself;
therefore be charitable, princess; do not give me up!"
"Ah, how could I!" exclaimed Ottilie, in an outburst of feeling. "Do
you not see that I grieve for you, pity you, deeply and sincerely? I do
not accuse you; but let me lament that you have defrauded yourself of
all true happiness. Do not tell me the career you have adopted
satisfies you; in it you can neither follow your own convictions nor
develop your talents. I speak now as a woman who has done with self,
who is bound to life by no wish, no hope. What have you made of
yourself, Ottmar? How have you used the gifts God so richly, so
abundantly, bestowed? I have carefully watched your political activity;
alas that I must say it you have fallen lower in my eyes the higher you
rose in the world. Forgive the harshness," she pleaded, extending her
hand to him, "it is the most heartfelt anxiety that speaks from my
lips. Do you not see the double danger to which you are exposed? You
are robbing yourself of your moral freedom as well as the nation of its
political rights; you are servilely bending your noble soul to the
dominion of principles in which you do not believe, making yourself the
slavish supporter of an impotent reaction. Thus you are losing your
intrinsic dignity, and sooner or later your influence as a statesman;
for a new and invincible spirit, purer than that of the revolution, is
pervading the nations,--the spirit of a profound political knowledge.
We cannot subdue this with cannon, nor shut it into prisons; where we
believe it to be shattered, it unites again above our heads. It is the
child of the age, and unceasingly advances, demanding its rights. And
you, instead of throwing yourself into the free current and allowing
your breast to expand with the universal impulse, prop yourself with
narrow-hearted blindness against the crumbling steps of a throne, to
withstand the weight of the approaching shock. You will fall, and as an
enemy of ideas which you cherish with every drop of your blood, fall a
victim to your hypocrisy, not your convictions. Then you will seek to
find compensation in yourself, and perceive with despair that by your
perpetual untruthfulness you have destroyed yourself."
"It is very possible," murmured _Heinrich_.
"Oh, believe me; through many a sleepless night I have stretched out my
hand to you to draw you out of the gulf into which I saw you sinking.
Yet I still trust you; what you did could not estrange me. I still
hope, still pray for you; I can say no more than I have already done;
but I know that although you have not yet listened to me, quiet hours
will come, hours of repentance, when my long silent words will unite
with the voice of your conscience,--then, perhaps, you will obey me."
_Heinrich_ seized Ottilie's hands and gazed into her sparkling eyes. A
deep blush was glowing upon her cheeks. "Ah, the old magic! Ottilie,
Ottilie," he cried, "I fear I am too deeply entangled in hypocrisy! If
you could read my soul you would reject me."
"This is one of the moments of depression which utterly subdue such
natures. To-morrow, in another mood, you will smile at it. But it is
true that you think yourself worse than you really are, that you have
less faith in yourself than I in you. Every power needs to be used,
even that of the soul. Exert your strength in doing right, then you
will first ascertain your own capabilities."
"Ah, princess, how am I to help myself? I know not; I have gone astray
into this path, and cannot find strength to retrace my steps. I am well
aware that my political career is not in accordance with the spirit of
the age; when I entered upon it I really had no other thought than to
save myself from a momentary humiliation by the Jesuits, and therefore
considered my position in N---- a mere episode. But by degrees my
success, and the magnificent means at my command for the advancement of
my apparent purposes, charmed me. My influence over the prince tempted
me irresistibly. The power he placed in my hands roused all the
ambition of my nature. Power, Ottilie, has often transformed a hero
into a despot. This being the history of my political development,
everything else follows as a matter of course. As everything was
at the command of the feared and admired favorite, I felt myself
justified in enjoying all. That, in so doing, I formed many a sacred
tie only to break it again, and profaned many a bond that already
existed,--everything was considered allowable, because everything was
granted to me,--you will of course suppose. But I will confess to you,
to you alone of all human beings, that this haughty, envied Ottmar
became a crushed, wearied, joyless man, an egotist,--who does not even
love himself. I can no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood;
for everything has two sides, and, as no voice within my breast pleads
for either, I decide in favor of the one which will bring me the most
immediate advantage. There is no philanthropy in my nature, and thus I
make men happy or miserable according as it will be profitable or
injurious to myself. I perceive that all this is reprehensible; I envy
those who act from principle; I would fain be virtuous, yet cannot
discover what virtue is; for my blase feelings make me perceive, in all
the dogmas of religion, morality, and philosophy, only arbitrary
beliefs without any eternal foundation, which change at every advance
of the nations in civilization, are now wrested here, now there, nay,
even dependent upon the fashion of the day; and thus I have formed the
despairing conclusion, that there is no virtue, believe the loathing of
my own deeds which sometimes seizes upon me to be a relic of old school
prejudices, and despise myself. Therefore I have no rule of conduct for
my acts except advantage; and when this is obtained, it does not make
me happy. I scorn it, as well as the men by whose weakness I won it!"
Ottilie had hung upon his words in breathless suspense. This frank
self-accusation had borne her along with it, and she was obliged to
collect her thoughts before she could reply.
"Then you are even more unhappy, more worthy of commiseration, than I
feared. All lofty, independent natures yield unwillingly to the human
law of right and wrong; for the same power which instilled the theories
of goodness lives also in them and justifies them in giving its law to
themselves. But in you, my friend, this power was only sufficient to
dissolve existing beliefs, not to make them unnecessary to you, for you
are now wandering, unsupported, without any clear standard of
measurement, amid the ruins of your shattered world of ideas. You are
seeking for a higher divine law, and because it does not reveal itself
to you you despair of virtue. It would be useless to refer you to
religion, for you do not believe it; but even without religion a man of
lofty character feels a moral want, which, without regard to reward or
punishment, impels him toward the right. Though such a man is never
quite happy, for only faith can give the highest joy, he will yet
experience that peace which a pure conscience bestows. But you have
destroyed even this. Your heart is desolate, your soul flutters wearily
upon the ground. I no longer see deliverance, blessing, or hope for
you. So I must behold the fairest work God and nature ever made, the
noble image in which I joy with reverent admiration, sink into the
dust, and stand powerless, unable to stretch out a hand to save for God
a soul which he has favored beyond all others. Alas, Ottmar! By the
sorrow in my own heart, I feel how your Creator mourns over you!" She
leaned back upon the sofa and wept aloud.
_Heinrich_ could not resist the contagion of her emotion. For the first
time the request he was about to make seemed like sacrilege, and yet he
could not give up all his carefully matured plans for the sake of a
"fit of sentimentality," as he mentally called it. He perceived that
she clung to him with unchanging affection, and that no political
considerations whatever would induce her to wed with such a nature as
that of the prince. If he won her, it would only be by means of his
influence over the heart so susceptible to his power. Years before she
had taken an oath that she would never become his wife, so she must
either part with him or marry his ruler. The more she loved him the
greater was his power over her, the more surely he would succeed in
convincing her that she could not live without him. Thus he was
compelled to throw the whole weight of his own personal attractions
into the scale, and there was a strange blending of honesty and
hypocrisy in his plan of persuasion. He really felt what he wished to
say, but his manner of turning it to account was artfully calculated,
and converted truth into falsehood. "Your Highness," he exclaimed, at
last, "I have come to bring you a crown; but at this moment I see a
halo shining around your head, and can scarcely venture to offer the
pitiful diadem of royalty. Princess, it is of great importance to my
interests to bind you to the country in which I play a part; I came
here to obtain your hand for the prince, to cunningly win your consent,
even at the cost of your happiness. But before your noble nature all
the arts of diplomacy dissolve into nothing. Therefore, my friend, I
will leave you free to choose, will not steal the decision of your
destiny, but tell you frankly that it is from selfishness I press my
master's offer, for I wish, I long, to have you near me. Your character
is formed, your opinions are matured, you will advise me when God is
silent in my own breast. You will aid me to give a new direction to our
politics, one more in harmony with the spirit of the age; supported by
you, I will venture it, without you I cannot. Look, Ottilie, the crafty
diplomatist is prostrate in the dust before your victorious
truthfulness, and prattles out his whole programme like a school-boy. I
do not plead for the country whose salvation you would be, nor in the
name of a philanthropy I have never known, but by which I might win
your gentle heart; I do not implore you to aid a nation I helped to
crush: I renounce all this acting, and plead simply and openly for
myself; for in this hour I perceive more clearly than ever what you are
to me. If I have hitherto thought I needed you for the attainment of
certain advantages, I now know that you will do more for me by teaching
me to despise as well as dispense with them."
Ottilie gazed silently into vacancy; her breath came more quickly, and
her hands were burning as though with fever.
"I know," continued _Heinrich_, "that it is the sacrifice of your whole
life; but you have yourself given me the courage to ask it, for you
give me the belief that you will make it."
"Oh, God I what do you ask?" Ottilie began. "You wish me to marry,--to
destroy my life! Is it possible? Have I deserved this from you? You
wish to lure me from my home to a desolate career of grandeur, to chain
me to a man whom I know to be a cold-hearted weakling, and scorn as a
mere tool in the hands of the oppressors of his people. And by the
painful act I am to perform I do not even make one person happy."
"Ottilie, how can you say so? Thousands will lavish blessings upon you,
the gratitude of thousands will recompense you, if the happiness of one
whom your presence can transform into another man does not reward you,"
cried _Heinrich_, reproachfully.
"Ottmar, if I knew that I should be permitted to exert a good influence
over you, no sacrifice would seem too great. But you are deceiving
yourself now, as usual. You are easily moved, easily excited: the
moment carries you away with it; the present person is in the right
with you, and when you turn your back upon this room the emotions you
have experienced will be effaced with all their impressions. What
influence did I exert over you while you lived in H----? It would be
precisely the same thing again, and then I should not even be allowed
the one consolation of mourning for you unheeded, in quiet solitude."
"Do you think me so unstable?"
"Confess, my friend, that you have given me proofs of it. Besides, you
are mistaken if you hope to obtain goodness from any influence
whatever. The true man is everything to himself; what he does not
become by his own strength, no other can make him. A character that
depends upon influences is unmanly; the acts and developments of such a
temperament are decided solely by ever-changing accidents. Prosperity
has spoiled you; you have measured your powers only against those
weaker than yourself; they have thereby become relaxed; and, if destiny
does not compel you to put forth your strength in a contact with more
powerful elements, all is vain, you will remain----" She paused.
"Pray go on," said _Heinrich_, bitterly; "I shall remain a
characterless weakling, who balances to and fro like a juggler on the
narrow line between right and wrong! Is not that what you meant to
say?"
Ottilie gazed into his beautiful, restless eyes with an expression of
deep sorrow. "Forgive me if I have caused you pain; I only wished to
convince you that the use which I might be to you is too little for the
sacrifice you demand."
_Heinrich_ felt the moment for persuading her had now arrived; for he
knew by experience that a woman can never be more easily won than at
the moment she believes she has been too harsh.
"You feel you have caused me pain, Ottilie. Oh, make amends for it, and
follow me to my country as my protectress, my guardian angel! You
reproach me with being unmanly. Well, if I am so, and depend upon
influences, the one you exert over me will be my salvation, and that of
all with whom I am connected by any ties. What do I ask of you that is
so very terrible? I wish to make you mistress of a beautiful and
wealthy land, to give you a position in which alone your superior
qualities can make themselves valuable, wed you to a prince whom you
greatly undervalue, and who will understand and love you as you
deserve."
"I want no love," interrupted Ottilie, "I am weary of suffering; do not
grudge my repose; I have, by a violent struggle obtained the peace of
the grave. Oh, do not drag me back to life! for life is conflict. Ah,
Ottmar, have pity upon me! Your glance sinks into my soul, and the
spark that flashes from it kindles anew the vital flame which was
buried beneath the ashes of my dead hopes. You seize my hand, and by
some magnetic attraction I am compelled to follow you. I know not by
what invisible threads you hold me: loose them and I sink peacefully
towards the grave; draw them firmly and I am forced to yield to your
wishes. Oh, the victory you obtain is an easy one! Renounce it, leave
me, Ottmar! You can test your power everywhere; why must you try it an
one who has no longer any defense save the resignation of a dying
woman?"
"Good heavens, princess, what a strange mood you are in! See, this is
the result of your seclusion. Whence come these thoughts of the grave?
You are healthy, in the very prime of life, beloved by all, regarded by
the nation with the warmest affection. How could you resign yourself to
such melancholy fancies? Nay, I will rouse you now. You must learn to
use your vital powers, as well as I my moral strength. Why should you
wither here, useless and lonely, without having fulfilled the eternal
vocation of a woman? Even if you have no feeling for the man to whom I
wish to unite you, you do not know that he may not become dear to you."
Ottilie sadly shook her head.
"But granted that you can never love him as a husband, you will some
day as the father of your children. Fate has granted no desire of your
heart, and with royal dignity you have learned to crush it; but,
because the first joy of love was denied you, must you now also
renounce the maternal happiness this marriage can bestow,--the only one
which is a wellspring of lasting joy to a woman? I cannot believe,
Ottilie, that with your pure, womanly feelings, the thought of being a
mother would have no charm for you."
"Oh, God! have often dreamed of such bliss; but I am not born for it. I
shall perish without object or joy in life."
"Do not believe it," said _Heinrich_, with melting tenderness. "Rise
again in the strength of hope; a prosperous future is still before you.
You will find the prince a man full of delicacy of feeling and dignity,
a man formed to understand you. He, too, bears a secret sorrow in his
heart, and needs a wife who will know and pity the wound."
"Alas, poor prince!" murmured Ottilie. "That would rouse my sympathy
for him."
_Heinrich_ suppressed a smile. "Do you perceive the true state of the
case? You will become attached to him, for he is noble and wishes to do
good to all. His despotic principles are rooted in his education; to
him despotism is an absolute dogma, like religion. He now depends upon
his confessor and upon me,--errors which are the result of his youth.
When you are his wife, he will, like all of us, rely on you. But even
if you could never produce any change in his maxims of government, you
will, perhaps, have the satisfaction of inculcating into the mind of a
son what you have vainly tried to obtain from the father, and through
the former obtain for your people the fulfillment of their dearest
hopes. Then, Ottilie, your name will be blessed by thousands and
recorded in history; then you may bend to death your royal brow, armed
with the noble words, 'I have not lived in vain!' Oh, I know you will
some day smile at the thought of the time when you were consuming away
in fruitless dreams, and could find strength neither to live nor die!
Then I shall perhaps stand as your most faithful servant at the steps
of the throne to which you gave new splendor, and a friendly glance,
radiant with the pleasure of ruling and giving happiness, will be my
highest reward, my greatest satisfaction. Take courage, Ottilie, and
gain new strength to live, to rule, to make others happy."
Ottilie's breath came more and more quickly, as, following _Heinrich's_
movements, she rose from her seat. Her sparkling eyes were fixed upon
his lips, and a ray of melancholy pride flashed over her face. "Ottmar,
you have conquered. Happy I can never be, so let us try whether I can
still accomplish some good."
"Then I have your promise, princess? You think me right?"
"You are right; yet it is not that conviction, but a secret necessity,
which impels me to obey you, although I feel it will be my death. In
you, I am well aware, my destiny is fulfilled; you have made me the
prince's wife, you overmaster me by your powerful will, and call from
my lips the 'yes' that you ask, and I am forced to utter it, no matter
for whom. I must utter it because you ask it."
_Heinrich_ was perplexed by this outburst of long-repressed feeling.
The seriousness of his relations with Cornelia had already taken so
deep a root in his nature that none of that frivolous delight which
overwhelms vain men at the sight of their conquests stirred within him.
On the contrary, a holy awe seized upon him at the sight of the frank
truthfulness of an omnipotent feeling. But he did not understand that
this very feeling no longer needed to disguise itself; because, by
self-renunciation, it had become purified and transfigured. He
therefore thought himself obliged to lead Ottilie's feelings, as far as
possible, back to their former moderation, and yet dared not wound this
sore heart by coldness. "Ottilie," he said, at last, after a long
pause, with an air of sorrowful resignation, "princess, do not make it
too difficult for me to perform my duty as suitor in my princes's
place. I might forget that I now stand before you as your subject, who
no longer dares desire what belongs to his master!"
Ottilie looked at him earnestly. "Ottmar, that recollection would shame
me if I could suppose you did not remember the oath I took in your
presence years ago, and doubted the firmness of my resolution. But that
you cannot do; you will not inflict upon me the humiliation of seeing
myself misunderstood by you. I belong to your prince,--my heart to the
past."
"Then let me offer you the first homage as my princess, my saint!"
exclaimed _Heinrich_, and sank an one knee to kiss her hand.
"The saints are above," whispered Ottilie, waving him back. "May they
take us under their protection!"
_Heinrich_ did not notice that it was difficult for her to stand erect
while she dismissed him, and armed with Ottilie's consent, pressed
forward as unyielding as fate. With this promise, he held in
imagination the portfolio which was to be the price of his years of
self-deception. That he would rule where Ottilie reigned was to him a
matter of course; to secure her influence over the prince should be his
care, and to rule appeared to him the only really valuable gift in
life. To assert his power everywhere, to use the terrible will which
had divided his own nature according to his pleasure, to let it weigh
upon a whole country bending before him, to promise joy or sorrow by
his smile or frown,--this alone seemed divine, and could make him
resemble God. He confidently expected to be appointed ambassador
extraordinary to conduct the affair of the marriage; the prince had no
one more suitable, no one with whom his relations were so intimate. He
reported Ottilie's consent, and requested further instructions, then
arranged his own and Albert's business in regard to the estate, which
was very badly managed.
Albert sought Roeschen at her father's house, and learned that since the
death of Ottilie's head waiting-maid, which had occurred two years
before, she had filled her place. _Heinrich_ smiled when he heard this;
he readily perceived that love for him had induced Ottilie to keep near
her person the young girl he had tried to win; for true love embraces
not only its object but everything connected with it. He had already
often observed how noble womanly natures did not hate those of whom
they were jealous, but treated them with sorrowful tenderness, how they
kissed them as if seeking on their cheeks and lips traces of their
lover's caresses. As we keep a flower or a handkerchief because the
absent one has touched it, Ottilie had taken Roeschen into her service
to inhale from her presence the lingering breath of his love.
Poor Ottilie!
The prince kept him waiting a long time for his instructions, and
Ottmar began to grow weary of his incognito. "Albert," said he one day,
"you don't seem to have any great desire to see your Roeschen. Try to
arrange a meeting with her, and let me be a secret witness of it; I
should like, for a change, to be present at such a touching scene."
"I have settled it with her father that I am to have an interview next
Sunday, Herr Count," replied Albert. "Roeschen cannot leave the palace
whenever she chooses, so I must wait. But, if you are tired,--excuse
the boldness of my question,--why don't you write to the Prison Fairy?"
"To the Prison Fairy? Why, my good fellow, you don't understand such
matters. I neglect it because I wish her to love me."
"No, I don't understand it," cried Albert. "If that is what you want, I
should think you would be obliged to write to her at once."
_Heinrich_ smilingly shook his head. "Blessed simplicity! Ten letters
would not have the success obtained by the weeks of anxiety in which
she has brooded over my silence."
Albert looked at _Heinrich_ almost sorrowfully. "But you have caused
her pain. How can any one wish to grieve a creature he loves?"
"She will be all the happier in my affection afterwards."
Albert was painfully agitated, but kept silence; and in a few moments
turned to leave the room, murmuring, "poor Prison Fairy!"
On the same day a letter arrived from the prince, containing
instructions to make an official request for the hand of Ottilie, and
appointing him ambassador extraordinary. _Heinrich's_ duties now began.
It was a great satisfaction to him to play a distinguished part at the
very court from which he had been so ignominiously dismissed; and when,
in a private audience with the Prince of H----, he presented his
credentials, and the request for an alliance with Ottilie, written by
his master's own hand, he was delighted at the sight of his
embarrassment, and felt fully conscious of his own importance. The
prince, pleased with the proposal made to his niece, overwhelmed him
with marks of honor, which he accepted very condescendingly, almost
patronizingly.
"Herr Count," said the old man, "you have shamed us deeply; for I know
it is to you we owe this great piece of good fortune, and do not
deserve it at your hands."
"Your Highness," replied _Heinrich_, "I joyfully seized upon this
opportunity of proving that my loyalty to your royal house is greater
than the sense of the mortification I suffered."
"You are a noble man, count," said the prince, pressing his hand; "our
political opinions are dissimilar, but I have the highest respect for
your character."
_Heinrich_ bowed low and smiled as he thought: "If I do not soon
believe myself a noble man, modesty will be my greatest fault."
The solemn betrothal at last took place, and Ottilie remained firm. In
the presence of what was now unalterable, and before the eyes of her
man, she was every inch a princess. Pale, and almost as inanimate as a
marble statue, she went through the usual ceremonies; but not the
slightest change of countenance betrayed the conflict within. A weary
smile sometimes curved her delicate lips; but even this was
conventional; her eyes did not join in it: the same shadow lingered in
their depths; and when she had coldly and firmly signed the deed, it
seemed to _Heinrich_ as if her manner conveyed a gentle reproach. Her
glance rested upon him as if to say, "You have conquered, cruel man,
and I am your victim." The look haunted him incessantly, and long after
the ceremony was over he felt as if there was a weight upon his heart,
as if the deed he was to take to his master was stolen property, from
which the mute reproach in Ottilie's glance constantly warned him. He
had no compassion for the sufferings of this noble nature, deceived by
all; but he perceived that there was a fiendish mockery in adorning
such misery with the colors of joy. We have pity upon a sick animal,
and let it die in peace; but he dragged a writhing, dying heart to a
bridal mummery. It was devil's work, he confessed it to himself; and
yet--the deed could not now be undone. Why did she allow herself to be
so easily persuaded?
Meantime Albert's interview with Roeschen had taken place, but led to no
union. Roeschen declared she would gladly become his wife and atone for
the wrong she had done him, if she did not know that the poor princess
needed her more than any one else in the world. She was very unhappy,
and there was no one to whom she could betray her feelings. Only a
short time before, when she found Ottilie half fainting and in tears,
the princess said, "You will stay with me, Roeschen, if I go to a
foreign country, will you not? you will stay with me as long as I live,
that I may have one true, faithful soul near me?" Then Roeschen had
promised never to leave her, and she would keep her word.
Albert asked why the princess was unhappy, but Roeschen said she did not
know; and even if she did she would never betray what was not her
secret. When Albert repeated this to _Heinrich_, the latter exclaimed,
with a laugh: "A rare instance of discretion; really Roeschen might be a
worthy companion of John of Nepomuk. Were you equally prudent, Albert?
Did you confide as little of my affairs?"
Albert reddened with embarrassment. "Herr Count, I only spoke of things
which I supposed were no secrets: your kindness to me, your friendship
for the Prison Fairy--"
"But, for Heaven's sake!" interrupted _Heinrich_, vehemently, "how
could you tell her that, of all people?--her!" Albert looked at him in
alarm. "If she should tell the pr---- Oh, Albert, it was very
imprudent!"
_Heinrich_ now watched Ottilie closely at all the entertainments given
by the court, but observed nothing except her immovable calmness and
apparent coldness; this, however, might be the result of her royal
pride. But when, after the betrothal ceremony, he requested a private
audience and was refused, he bit his lips and muttered, "Albert's
prating has already produced its effect; she is aware of my relations
with Cornelia!"
Yet he had again misjudged Ottilie. At the official farewell audience,
in the presence of the ladies of the court, although very dignified and
evidently exhausted, she was so gracious, and the prescribed forms of
etiquette were pervaded with such an atmosphere of true feeling, that
_Heinrich_ could not doubt that he still retained her favor. When she
dismissed him she whispered, "Take all my future subjects my kind
wishes and blessing." The words were simple, but they were accompanied
by a significant, tearful glance which told _Heinrich_ all.
He again assumed the air of struggling to repress emotion, which he
could so skillfully adopt. "Will your Highness deign to accept my
heartfelt gratitude for the message, and the assurance that the
blessing cannot be fully received until your Highness appears in the
home of your subjects in person."
Thus the audience ended, and Ottmar was obliged to confess that Ottilie
was a mystery to him. This was because the comprehension of true
womanhood was still denied him. The power of virtue, the strength of
self-sacrifice, which woman, spite of her many weaknesses, possesses,
were unknown to him; fate still reserved this great lesson. He was to
buy it dearly enough.