AT LAST.
Flammingen's affairs are satisfactorily adjusted. Treurenberg is
relieved of that anxiety. He can devote his thoughts to his own
complications, as he rides back from X---- to Dobrotschau.
The dreamy lullaby from "Trovatore" still thrills his nerves, and again
and again he recalls the pair living happily in Switzerland. He sees
their valley in his mental vision enclosed amid lofty mountains,--walls
erected by God Himself to protect that green Paradise from the
intrusion and cruelty of mankind,--walls which shut out the world and
reveal only the blue heavens. How happy one could be in that green
seclusion, forgotten by the world! In fancy he breathes the fresh
Alpine air laden with the wholesome scent of the pines; upon his ear
there falls the rushing murmur of the mountain-stream. He sees a
charming home on a mountain-slope, and at the door stands a lovely
woman dressed in white, with large, tender eyes filled with divine
sympathy. She is waiting for some one's return; whence does he come?
From the nearest town, whither he is forced to go from time to time to
adjust his affairs, but whither she never goes; oh, no! People pain
her,--people who despise and envy her. But what matters it? He opens
his arms to her, she flies to meet him; ah, what bliss, what rapture!
His horse stumbles slightly; he rouses with a start. A shudder thrills
him, and, as in the morning, he is horrified at himself. Will it always
be thus? Can he not relax his hold upon himself for one instant without
having every thought rush in one direction, without being possessed by
one intense longing? How can he thus desecrate Olga's image?
Meanwhile, the expected guests have arrived at Dobrotschau. They came
an hour ago,--three carriage-loads of distinction from, Vienna, some of
them decorated with feudal titles. A very aristocratic party will
assemble at table in Dobrotschau to-day. Countess Weiseneck, a born
Grinzing, wife of a rather disgraceful _mauvais sujet_, whose very
expensive maintenance she contests paying, and from whom she has been
separated for more than a year; Countess Mayenfeld, _nee_ Gerstel, the
wife of a gentleman not quite five feet in height, who is known in
Vienna by the _sobriquet_ of "the numismatician." When his betrothal to
the wealthy Amanda Gerstel was announced, society declared that he had
chosen his bride to augment his collection of coins. His passion for
collecting coins enables this knightly aristocrat to endure with
philosophy the cold shoulders which his nearest relatives turned to him
after his marriage; moreover, he lives upon excellent terms with his
wizened little wife. One more couple with a brand-new but high-sounding
title; then an unmarried countess, with short hair and a masculine
passion for sport,--an acquaintance made at a watering-place; then
Baron Kilary, the cleverest business-man among Vienna aristocrats, who
is always ready to eat oysters and _pate de foie gras_ at any man's
table, without, however, so far forgetting himself as to require his
wife and daughter to visit any one of his entertainers who is socially
his inferior. The famous poet, Paul Angelico Orchys, and little Baron
Koenigsfeld, complete the list of arrivals.
The first greetings are over; ended also is the running to and fro of
lady's-maids looking for mislaid handbags, with the explanations of
servants, who, having carried the trunks to the wrong rooms, are trying
to make good their mistakes. All is quiet. The ladies and gentlemen are
seated at small tables in a shady part of the park, drinking tea and
fighting off a host of wasps that have attacked the delicacies forming
part of the afternoon repast.
The castle is empty; the sound of distant voices alone falls on Lato's
ear as he returns from his expedition to X---- and goes to his room,
desirous only of deferring as long as possible the playing of his part
in this tiresome entertainment. The first thing to meet his eyes
on his writing-table is a letter addressed to himself. He picks
it up; the envelope is stamped with a coronet and Selina's monogram.
He tears the letter open; it encloses nothing save a package of
bank-notes,--eighteen hundred guilders in Austrian currency.
Lato's first emotion is anger. What good will the wretched money do him
now? How rejoiced he is that he no longer needs it, that he can return
it within the hour to Selina! The address arrests his attention; there
is something odd about it. Is it Selina's handwriting? At first sight
he had thought it was, but now, upon a closer inspection can it be his
mother-in-law's hand? Is she trying to avoid a domestic scandal by
atoning thus for her daughter's harshness? He tosses the money aside in
disgust. Suddenly a peculiar fragrance affects him agreeably. What is
it?--a faint odour of heliotrope. Could it be----? His downcast eyes
discover a tiny bunch of faded purple blossoms lying on the floor
almost at his feet. He stoops, picks it up, and kisses it passionately:
it is the bunch of heliotrope which Olga wore on her breast at
breakfast. It is she who has cared for him, who has thought of him!
But instantly, after the first access of delight, comes the reaction.
How could Olga have known? Selina, in her irritation, may have
proclaimed his request to the entire household; the servants may be
discussing in the kitchen Count Treurenberg's application to his wife
for eighteen hundred guilders, and her angry refusal to grant them to
him. He clinches his fist and bites his lip, when on a sudden he
recalls the rustle of a robe in the next room, which he thought he
heard at one time during his interview with Selina. The blood mounts to
his forehead. Olga had been in the library; she had heard him talking
with his wife. And if she had heard him ask Selina for the money, she
had also heard---- Ah! He buries his face in his hands.
The afternoon tea has been enjoyed; the ladies have withdrawn to their
rooms to "arm themselves for the fray," as Paul Angelico expresses it;
the gentlemen have betaken themselves to the billiard-room, where they
are playing a game, as they smoke the excellent cigars which Baron
Kilary has ordered a lackey to bring them.
Lato has wandered out into the park. He is not quite himself; the
ground beneath his feet seems uncertain. He leans against the trunk of
a tree, always pondering the same question, "What if she heard?"
He turns involuntarily into the garden-path where, but a short time
since, he had soothed her agitation and dried her tears. There, on the
rough birchen bench, something white gleams. Is it----?
He would fain flee, but he cannot; he stands as if rooted to the spot.
She turns her face towards him, and recognizes him. A faint colour
flushes her cheek, and in her eyes, which rest full upon him, there is
a heavenly light.
"Lato!" she calls. Is that her voice sounding so full and soft? She
rises and approaches him. He has never before seen her look so
beautiful. Her slender figure is erect as a young fir; she carries her
head like a youthful queen whose brow is crowned for the first time
with the diadem. She stands beside him; her presence thrills him to his
very soul.
"Olga," he murmurs at last, "was it you who left the money on my table?
How did you know that I wanted it?" he asks, bluntly, almost
authoritatively.
She is silent.
"Olga, Olga, were you in the library while----?"
She nods.
"And you heard all,--everything?"
"Yes."
"Olga!" His eyes are riveted upon her face in what is almost horror.
"Olga,--what now?"
"I cannot bear to see you suffer," she murmurs, scarce audibly.
Did he extend his arms to her? He could not himself tell; but what he
has dreamed has happened,--he clasps her to his breast, his lips meet
hers; his anguish is past; wings seem to be given him wherewith to soar
to heaven.
But only for an instant is he thus beguiled; then reality in its full
force bursts upon him. He unclasps the dear arms from his neck, presses
one last kiss upon the girlish hand before he releases it, and then
turns and walks away with a firm tread, without looking round, and in
the full consciousness of the truth,--the consciousness that no wings
are his, and that the heavy burden which has weighed him down is doubly
heavy now.