At Fürstenstein everything was in readiness for the reception of the
Court. The ducal party was coming this autumn for the entire hunting
season, which lasted for several weeks, and the duchess was expected as
well. The second floor of the castle, with its countless rooms, was
prepared for the illustrious guests, and some of the officials and
servants had already arrived. The little town of Waldhofen, through
which the duke would pass, was in a state of excitement, too, as the
townspeople made their modest preparations to do the great man honor.
The Wallmodens had come for a short visit, but under existing
circumstances, decided to prolong it; in fact the duke himself, learning
of their whereabouts, and desirous of showing the ambassador and his
wife some especial mark of his favor, had expressed a desire to meet
them at Fürstenstein. This amounted to an invitation which it would have
been unwise to refuse.
Frau von Eschenhagen and her son were to remain also, to have an
opportunity of "viewing these Court people close at hand." The head
forester, in view of the prospective hunting which was his especial
care, had daily interviews with the under foresters and their
subordinates, and kept them all pretty well on their legs, that nothing
might be neglected. Life at the castle just at present was anything but
monotonous. In Fräulein von Schönau's room, this bright morning, there
were sounds of gay chatter, and many a clear, good-natured laugh.
Marietta Volkmar had come for a little gossip with her old friend, and
as usual during such visits, the laughter and the babble knew no end.
Toni sat in the window-seat, and near her stood Willibald, who, by his
mother's special orders, was to play the _rôle_ of sentinel.
Frau von Eschenhagen had not yet been able to accomplish her purpose
concerning the opera singer. Her brother-in-law had remained obdurate,
and even from her future daughter, whom she imagined so pliant, she had
met with decided resistance when she demanded that all intercourse
should be broken off between the two. "I cannot do that, dear auntie.
You ask too much," Toni had answered. "Marietta is so noble and good. I
could not wound her so deeply."
"Noble and good!" Frau Regine shrugged her shoulders over the
inexperience of this girl whose eyes she might not open; but she was
diplomatic enough to let the subject drop for the present and bide her
time. Willibald, accustomed to confide in his mother, had told her of
his meeting with Fräulein Volkmar, and how he had enacted the part of
porter at her suggestion. Frau von Eschenhagen was, naturally enough,
incensed at the thought that her son, the heir of Burgsdorf, should act
as lackey for a "theatrical hussy." She drew, for his benefit, a picture
of this child of the devil, and explained how it would be an
impossibility for her to follow such a shameless life without being
thoroughly bad. Willibald, of course, was horror stricken at what he
heard, and agreed fully with his mother that his future wife must be
protected from so contaminating an influence.
He received orders never to let the young girls be alone, and to watch
carefully how this Marietta behaved. At the very first intimation of a
disgraceful word or action, Regine would go to her brother-in-law and
demand that he should no longer permit his daughter to associate with
such an one; then she would call her son as witness, and the incubus
would be expelled at once and forever from their presence. Willibald
had been on guard when Marietta paid her first visit to Fürstenstein,
had accompanied Toni to Waldhofen when she went to the old doctor's to
see her friend, and he was now at his post again, to-day, in Antonie's
boudoir.
Antonie and Marietta were chatting over the approaching arrival of the
Court at Fürstenstein, and the former, who possessed little taste in the
matter of dress, was asking her friend's advice about some details of
the toilette, and Marietta was giving it eagerly.
"What are you going to wear with this gown?" asked Marietta. "Roses of
course, white or very delicate ones. They will suit admirably with this
faint blue."
"No, I can't get roses," Toni declared. "I shall wear china asters."
"Better wear sunflowers. Why should you, a young girl, just affianced,
too, wear such autumnal flowers? I do love roses so, and wear them
whenever opportunity offers. I was so disappointed that I couldn't have
one for my hair for the burgermeister's party to-night, but there isn't
one to be had in Waldhofen. It is getting late in the year for them."
"The castle gardener has a rose tree in bloom in one of the hot-houses,"
said Antonie in her sleepy manner, which formed so decided a contrast to
her friend's sharp, decisive tones.
Marietta shook her head with a laugh. "They're for the duchess without
doubt, so we cannot beg for them, and must think of something in their
stead. And now that we are entering upon the toilet question, your
presence, Herr von Eschenhagen, is quite unnecessary. You don't know
anything about such matters, and our chatter must weary you greatly. But
in spite of all, you don't desert us, and what have I done so very
remarkable, pray, that you stare at me all the time?"
The words sounded very ungracious. Will was startled, for the last
question was only too true. He had just been thinking how well a fresh,
half-blown rose would look peeping from those dark, curly locks. Toni,
who had not observed how attentively he was gazing at her friend, now
said good-naturedly:
"Yes, Will, do go. You'll be wearied to death with our gossip, and I'm
not half through yet--I have a great deal to tell Marietta."
"As you will, dear Toni," answered her lover, hesitatingly. "But I may
come back again?"
"Of course, whenever you wish."
Willibald went. It did not annoy him in the least, this having to desert
his post of observation. He was thinking of something quite different as
he stood for a moment alone in a little ante-room. The result of his
thoughts was that he left the castle a few minutes later, and directed
his steps toward the head gardener's quarters.
Scarcely had he left the room when Marietta sprang up exclaiming:
"Heavens, but you're a pokey pair of lovers!"
"But, Marietta," said Toni, vexed.
"Yes, whether you are vexed with me or not, I must say it. I had
expected such a jolly time when I heard you were engaged. You never were
particularly lively, but as for this fiancé of yours he don't seem to
know how to talk at all. What in the world did he say when he proposed
to you? Or did his mother do it for him?"
"Don't jest all the time," said Toni, really angry now. "It's only in
your presence he's so silent; when we're alone he can talk glibly
enough."
"Yes, over the new threshing-machine which he has invented himself. I
heard him talking about it just as I came in, and you were listening all
ears. Oh, you'll be a pattern man and wife, and rule Burgsdorf in a most
exemplary manner, but heaven protect me from such a happy marriage."
"Marietta, you are very rude," said the young girl, highly incensed now.
In the same moment her friend had thrown her arms around her neck, and
said coaxingly: "Do not be angry, Toni. I did not mean to be
disagreeable, and do indeed rejoice in my heart if you are happy; only
you see--every one to his taste; my husband must be different from
yours."
"Well, what must he be, pray?" asked Toni, resentful yet, but mollified
by her friend's coaxing tone.
"In the first place he must be under my rule and not under his mother's;
second, he must be an honest, upright man, of whose protection I can
feel assured--that's not inconsistent with petticoat government, so long
as I do the governing. He need not be much of a talker. I'll attend to
that part myself. But he must love me, love me better than father and
mother or houses or lands, better than his threshing-machine, even--I
must be first in his thoughts, ever and always."
Toni shrugged her shoulders contemptuously. "You have very childish
ideas at times, Marietta; but let us decide about the gowns."
"Yes, we'd better do that at once, for your dearly beloved will come
back soon and plant himself down like a sentinel between us. He
certainly has a talent for standing sentry. Now as to this blue silk--"
Even now the pros and cons of dress could not go on smoothly, for Frau
von Eschenhagen opened the door at this moment, and called Toni to give
her advice concerning some household matter. Toni rose at once and left
the room, but, instead of following her, her aunt remained and sank
down in a chair by the window. Frau von Eschenhagen wished to see for
herself. Will had not satisfied her; he had grown red and embarrassed
when called upon to repeat the girlish gossip which had taken place
between the two maidens, and his mother, who believed all this light
chatter but a cloak for something worse, determined to take the matter
into her own hands.
Marietta had risen respectfully at the entrance of the elder woman, whom
she had met but once before, and whose inimical bearing toward herself
she had not perceived in the joy of her first meeting again with her
friends. She only noticed that Toni's future mother-in-law was not a
cordial woman. This morning Frau Regine looked her over from head to
foot with a critical eye. Marietta seemed to her like all other girls,
but she was pretty, very pretty--and that was bad. She had short curly
hair all over her head--and that was worse.
There was no mistaking Frau Regine's attitude toward the young singer,
whom she now begun to question. "You are a friend of my son's betrothed,
I believe?"
"Yes, my lady," was the unconcerned reply.
"A friend since childhood, I understand. You were brought up and
educated by Dr Volkmar?"
"Yes, I lost my parents when I was very young."
"So my brother-in-law was telling me. And what was your father's
calling?"
"He was a physician, the same as grandfather," answered Marietta, more
amused than annoyed by this examination, the object of which she did not
suspect. "And my mother was a physician's daughter, so we might well be
called a medical family, might we not? I'm the only one who has branched
off into another profession."
"Ah--what a pity," said Frau von Eschenhagen, impressively. The young
girl looked at her puzzled. Was she joking? No, there was no expression
of pleasantry on the lady's face as she continued: "You will agree with
me, my child, that the descendant of an honorable and respected race
should show herself worthy of her family. And you should have thought of
that in choosing your vocation."
"Good heavens, but I couldn't study medicine like my father and
grandfather," cried Marietta, laughing outright. The matter seemed a
joke to her, but her merriment displeased her severe questioner, who
said, sharply:
"There are, thank God, plenty of honorable positions for young girls.
You are a singer?"
"Yes, madame, at the Court theatre."
"I know it, I know it! Do you feel inclined to resign your position
there?"
The question was put so suddenly and in such a domineering tone, that
Marietta involuntarily drew back. Since her first meeting with the son,
when he had seemed so stupid and silent, and had run off so
precipitately, she had decided within herself that he was not of sound
mind. Now the thought came to her that his weakness was an inherited
disease from his mother; for certainly this woman could not be in her
right mind.
"To resign my position?" she repeated. "And why?"
"Upon moral grounds, altogether. I am ready to offer you a helping hand.
If you will turn your back upon those paths of frivolity and vice, I
pledge myself to obtain for you a respectable position as governess or
companion."
The young singer understood at last why the matron had been so
concerned; she threw her head back with an angry, half spiteful
movement. "I thank you very much. I love my profession dearly, and have
no thought of exchanging it for any dependent position. Besides, I fear
my education has not fitted me to make an efficient upper housemaid."
"I expected some such answer," Frau von Eschenhagen replied, nodding her
head darkly, "but I felt it my duty to make at least one appeal to your
conscience. You are very young, and, consequently, are not altogether
responsible; the heavier blame falls upon Dr. Volkmar for allowing his
son's child to enter such a vicious career."
"My dear madame, I must request you to leave my grandfather out of the
play altogether," Marietta spoke excitedly now. "You are Toni's future
mother-in-law, otherwise I would not have allowed this questioning. But
an insult to my grandfather I will not permit from any human being."
The two excited women had not heard a distant door open, and did not
know that Willibald had entered. He seemed frightened when he saw his
mother, and slipped something which he carried carefully wrapped in
paper, into his coat-pocket, but he kept his place by the door.
"I have no intention of quarreling with you, my child," said Frau Regine
in an arrogant tone. "But I am, as you say, Toni's future mother-in-law,
and as such deem it my duty to protect her from all improper
intercourse. I beg you will not misunderstand me. I am not proud, and
the grandchild of Dr. Volkmar is, in my eyes, a fit companion for my
niece; but a lady of the theatre will, rightly enough, seek her
companions among the theatrical circle, but here at Fürstenstein--you
understand me, I hope?"
"Oh, yes, I understand you, my dear madame," cried Marietta, her whole
face aflame now. "You need say nothing further; I have but one word to
ask. Do Herr von Schönau and Antonie agree with you in what you have
just said?"
"As regards the root of the matter, certainly. But I would not have you
think for a moment that they would refuse to--" a very expressive shrug
of the shoulders concluded this sentence. The upright and truth-loving
woman did not for a moment imagine she was guilty of an untruth; her
prejudices were deeply rooted, and she could not imagine the head
forester not agreeing with her at bottom, notwithstanding his
contradictory nature prevented him admitting it frankly; as for Antonie,
she was a good-natured little thing, but she lacked the stamina required
to end such an intimacy, and her aunt, in consequence, was resolved to
end it for her. But at this critical moment something unexpected
happened. Willibald stepped forward and said, half reproachfully:
"But, mother--"
"Is it you, Will? What are you doing here?" asked his mother, to whom
this interruption was anything but pleasant.
Willibald understood full well that his mother had been ungracious, and
he usually retreated as quickly as possible when he found her in a bad
humor. To-day he took his stand with unwonted bravery. He came a step
nearer and repeated: "But, mother, you must have misunderstood them.
Toni never thought of such a thing, Fräulein Volkmar."
"What do you know about it? Do you mean to accuse me of falsehood?" his
enraged mother turned on him. "What business is it of yours what I
discuss with Fräulein Volkmar? Your bride's not here, you can see that
for yourself, so you may go, also, and at once!"
The young heir had flushed deeply at this tone, to which he was well
accustomed; but before this girl it seemed to shame him, and he looked
as though he would resist his mother's authority for once. His face
assumed a defiant expression, but a threatening, "Well, don't you hear
me?" conquered him as usual. He turned hesitatingly, and left the room,
but the door behind him remained half open.
Marietta glanced after him with a contemptuous curl of the lip and then
turned back to her adversary. "You need give yourself no further
uneasiness, my dear madame. I have come to Fürstenstein for the last
time. As the head forester had received me with his old-time cordiality,
and as Antonie was as affectionate toward me as ever, I could not know
that they felt that there was a stain upon me on account of the
profession which I follow. Had I suspected such a thing I surely would
not have inflicted myself upon them. It will not happen in the future,
never again."
Her voice failed her, and her face bore a new, pained expression, while
it was with difficulty she restrained the tears. Frau von Eschenhagen
felt she had gone too far in her candid statement.
"I do not want to annoy you, my child," she said, unbending a little. "I
only wanted to make it clear to you that--"
"Not want to annoy me when you say such things to me?" interrupted the
girl with flashing eyes. "You treat me like an outcast, not fit any
longer for association with decent people, and why? Because I earn my
bread with the talent which God has given me, and give pleasure to
mankind at the same time. You traduce my old grandfather who made great
sacrifices to have me well educated, and who saw me go out into the
world with a heavy heart. The bitter tears stood in his eyes as he
clasped me in his arms, and said, as he bade me good-bye: 'Be honest and
true, my Marietta. One can be that always, no matter what their road in
life. When I close my eyes on this world I shall have nothing to leave
you. You will have to fight your own battle. Well, I have remained
honest and true, and shall remain so, even though everything is not as
easy for me as for Toni, the daughter of a rich father, who only leaves
her parent's home to go into her husband's. But I don't envy her the
happiness of calling you mother."
"Fräulein Volkmar, you forget yourself," said the insulted mother
drawing herself to her full height. But Marietta wasn't going to be
silenced now, she was too excited.
"O, no, it is not I who forget myself. It was you who insulted me
without cause, and the head forester and Antonie must be well under your
influence to turn away from me. But no matter. I do not desire the
friendship of any girl who will allow herself to be bullied and
brow-beaten by a mother-in-law. I am done, once for all. Tell Toni I say
that, Frau von Eschenhagen."
She turned away with a passionate motion and left the room. In the front
one, however, she could retain her composure no longer, and the hot
tears, kept back so bravely until now, forced themselves from her eyes.
With a passionate sob the young girl leaned her head against the wall
and wept bitterly. She heard her name called in a low, trembling tone,
and turning, she saw Willibald von Eschenhagen, in his hand the very
paper which he had so hastily concealed in his pocket. It was crumpled
now, but within, as he unfolded the paper, lay a delicate spray of
leaves with two fragrant half-blown roses.
"Fräulein Volkmar," he stammered again. "You wished for a rose, please
accept--" In his eyes and in his whole bearing one could read plainly
that he deplored his mother's ruthless candor. Marietta repressed her
sobs, the tears were still glistening in her eyes, as she looked up at
him with an expression of disdain and contempt.
"I thank you, Herr von Eschenhagen," she said with acerbity. "You heard
distinctly the words which your mother spoke to me, and whatever else
they may have meant, they most certainly meant that I was to be shunned.
Why do you not obey them?"
"My mother has done you an injustice," said Willibald, half-aloud. "And
she did not speak in the name of the others. Toni knew nothing about it,
believe me. She--"
"Then why didn't you speak out and say so?" interrupted the girl with
growing anger. "There you stood, listening to a shameful, insulting
attack upon a young, defenseless girl, and hadn't enough manhood to come
forward and take her part. True enough, you did attempt something of the
kind, but you were well scolded, and sent off like a school-boy, and you
went without a word, too."
Willibald stood like one in whose ears heavy thunder is echoing. He had
felt most keenly the injustice of his mother's scathing remarks, and was
trying in his timid way, to do what he could to make amends and show his
good will, and here he was being soundly rated for his pains. He stood
and stared at her without speaking, and his silence incensed the girl
still more.
"And now you come and bring me flowers," she continued with growing
excitement. "Secretly, behind your mother's back, and do you think I
would accept such an insult? First learn how a man should behave when he
witnesses such an iniquity, then pay attention to trifling courtesies
afterwards. Now--now, I will show you what I think of you and your
present." She tore the paper from his hand, rolled it like a ball and
threw it upon the floor, where she stamped on it passionately with her
little foot.
"But Fräulein--" Willibald, vacillating between shame and anger, would
have interfered to save his roses, but the dangerous look in the dark
eyes warned him to keep back.
"Now we are quits. If Toni knows nothing about all this I am sorry, but
I shall stay away for the future rather than expose myself to fresh
insults. I pray she may be happy, though I should certainly not be so in
her place. I am only a poor girl, but I would never marry a man who was
afraid to speak without his mother's permission. No, not if he were heir
to Burgsdorf ten times over."
With this she turned her back upon the heir, and a second later left the
room.
"Will, what does this mean?" sounded the voice of Frau von Eschenhagen,
who stood in the half-open door. As she received no answer, she crossed
the room to her son's side with a step and manner which prophesied no
good for that young man.
"That was a most remarkable scene which I have just witnessed. Will you
be good enough to explain to me what it signifies? That little
insignificant thing, bubbling over with passion and anger, telling you
the most disgraceful things to your very face, and you standing there
like a sheep, taking them all."
"Because she had the right to say them," said Will, still looking down
at the scattered rose leaves.
"She had what?" asked the mother, who could not believe she heard
aright.
The young heir raised his head and looked at her; his face wore a new
and singular expression.
"She had the right of it, mother. It is true you have always treated me
like a school-boy, so how could I defend myself against such an
accusation?"
"Boy, I believe you have lost your senses," said Frau Regine.
Willibald was roused now. He continued: "I am no boy, I am the heir of
Burgsdorf, and twenty-seven years old. You have always forgotten that,
mother, and so have I, for that matter, but I remember it to-day."
Frau von Eschenhagen gazed astonished at her son, so tractable all his
life until this moment. "I verily believe you are becoming refractory.
Let us have no more of it, for you know I would never permit such a
thing. What has come over you that you make such reckless assertions?
Because I have seen fit to bring this very unsuitable intercourse to an
end, and dismiss this Marietta, do you take it upon yourself, as soon as
my back is turned, to make formal apologies and present her with roses
which you have just plucked for your bride? I don't know what's come
over you. It's the first time in your life you ever acted so. Toni will
be very much displeased when she learns what has become of her roses. It
served you just right to have the little vixen trample them under foot.
You won't be guilty of such idiotic folly soon again, I fancy."
"I did not pluck the roses for Toni, but for Fräulein Volkmar," Will
explained, defiantly.
"For--?" the name stuck in the excited woman's throat.
"For Fräulein Volkmar! She was wishing she had a rose to wear in her
hair this evening, and said she could not get any in Waldhofen. So I
went to the gardener and got them for her--now you know all about it,
mother."
Frau von Eschenhagen stood like the pillar of salt; she had become
deadly pale and for a moment the light seemed to go out; she saw such
fearful possibilities that she lost all power of speech and motion. Then
suddenly she regained all her old strength. She grasped her son's arm
impressively, as if to make sure of him under all circumstances, and
said curtly:
"Will--we will start to-morrow."
"Start where?"
"For home. We will start early, at eight o'clock, in order to catch the
afternoon express, and reach Burgsdorf the day following. So go at once
to your room and do your packing."
The commanding tone did not this time make the slightest impression on
her son. "I do not intend to pack," he declared, doggedly.
"You will pack at once, I tell you!"
"No," said the son. "If you wish to go, mother, then go--I remain here."
This was rebellion, and it removed the last doubt in the mother's mind
that there was something at the bottom of all her son's assertiveness.
She said now in her hardest tone: "Boy, wake up, be yourself again! I
really don't believe you know what has come over you. But I will tell
you. You are in love--in love with Marietta Volkmar."
She brought out the last words in a towering rage, but Will was not
overwhelmed by them. He stood for a moment staring in surprise, as if
wondering if it was really that which had overtaken him, then a light
seemed to dawn upon him.
"O!" he said, drawing a deep breath, and a slight smile flitted across
his face.
"O! is that your only answer?" broke forth the furious mother, who, in
spite of everything, still hoped for a contradiction. "You do not even
deny it. And this is what I must live to see in my own son, whom I
educated so carefully and never allowed to leave my side. While I was
having you watch and protect your betrothed from this infamous woman,
you were acting a hypocrite. And she playing the virtuous, deeply
injured part before me, that creature--"
"Mother, be silent! I will not allow that," interrupted Willibald, angry
too, now.
"You will not allow it--what does that mean?"
Frau von Eschenhagen stopped suddenly and listened.
"There comes Toni, your betrothed bride, to whom you have pledged your
word, who wears your ring. How do you purpose treating her?" She had at
last found the right means to conquer her son, who now hung his head
despondently as Antonie entered the room.
"You're here already, are you, Will?" she asked. "I thought--but what is
the matter? Has anything happened?"
"Yes," said Regine, who, as usual seized the reins without fear. "We
have just received a telegram from Burgsdorf which will compel us to
start for home to-morrow morning. You need not be alarmed, my dear
child, it is nothing serious, only a piece of stupidity,"--she laid a
sharp accent upon the last words,--"a piece of stupidity which will soon
right itself, and the sooner its checked, the sooner the matter'll be
ended. I'll explain it all to you later, but we must go now; it can't be
helped."
Antonie listened attentively, but it required more than such an
announcement to stir her from her wonted repose, and the declaration
that it was nothing of moment, satisfied her. "But will Willibald have
to go, too?" she asked, without any special eagerness. "Can not he
remain?"
"Well, Will, can't you answer your sweetheart?" said his mother,
fastening her sharp gray eyes on her son. "You know best all the
circumstances. Do you think you can afford to remain here?"
There followed a short pause. Willibald's glance met his mother's; then
he turned toward Toni and said, in a half-depressed tone:
"No, Toni, I must go home--there is nothing else for it."
Toni took this news, which another girl would have seriously deplored,
very calmly, and began to plan where they had better dine on the morrow,
for they had a long distance to go by carriage before they would meet
the express train. This troubled her much more than the parting, and she
finally decided that she would prepare a luncheon for them, so that they
need have no care concerning their midday meal.
Frau von Eschenhagen triumphed in her heart as she went to announce
their departure to her brother-in-law. She had already decided upon the
reason which she would give him for their abrupt departure. Of course a
great many things could happen on a large estate like Burgsdorf, which
would demand the master's presence at a moment's notice. So the head
forester knew no more than his daughter, although he, in his blindness,
had been the cause of it all.
As for the rest, Frau Regine did not doubt her powers as soon as she
should get her son away from the influence of this witch. He had shown
himself amenable to reason at the last moment. She would say nothing
more to him now, save to point out what his betrothal to Toni demanded
from him as a man of honor, and what a fatal error it had been to allow
another to influence him even for an hour.
"Wait, my son," she said grimly, to herself, after conning over the
whole thing for the twentieth time, "wait. I will teach you to harbor
such sentiments, and revolt against your mother. Only wait until I get
you to Burgsdorf, then God have mercy on you, if you evince any signs of
obstinacy!"