"You are going to Italy? Why there particularly?" asked the Captain.
"Where then?" interposed Reinhold impatiently. "Italy is the school of
all art and artists. There alone could I complete the meagre, defective
study to which circumstances confined me. Can you not understand that?"
"No," said the Captain, somewhat coldly. "I do not see the necessity
that a beginner should go at once to the higher school. You can find
opportunity enough for study here; most of our talented men have had to
struggle and work for years before Italy at last crowned their work.
Supposing, however, you carry out your plan, what is to become of your
wife and child in the meanwhile? Do you intend to take them with you?"
"Ella?" cried the young man, in an almost contemptuous voice. "That
would be the most certain method of rendering my success impossible. Do
you think, that in the first step I take towards freedom, I could drag
the whole chain of domestic misery with me?"
A slight frown was perceptible between Hugo's eyes--
"That sounds very hard, Reinhold," he answered.
"Is it my fault, that I am at last conscious of the truth?" growled
Reinhold. "My wife cannot raise herself above the sphere of cooking and
household management. It is not her fault, I know, but it is not
therefore any less the misfortune of my life."
"Ella's incapacity, certainly seems settled as a sort of dogma in the
family," remarked the Captain quietly. "You believe in it blindly, like
the rest. Have you ever given yourself the trouble to find out if this
accepted fact be really infallible?"
Reinhold shrugged his shoulders--
"I think it would be unnecessary in this case. But in none can there be
a question of my taking Ella with me. Naturally she will remain with
the child in her parents' house until I return."
"Until you return--and if that do not happen?"
"What do you say? What do you mean?" said the young man angrily, while
a deep colour spread over his face.
Hugo crossed his arms and looked fiercely at him--
"It strikes me you are now suddenly coming forward with ready-made
plans, which have certainly long been arranged, and probably well
talked over. Do not deny it Reinhold! You, by yourself, would never
have gone to such extremities as you do now in the disputes with my
uncle, listening to no advice or representations; there is some foreign
influence at work. Is it really absolutely necessary that you should go
day after day to Biancona?"
Reinhold vouchsafed no reply; he turned away, and so withdrew himself
from his brother's observation.
"It is talked of already in the town," continued the latter. "It cannot
continue long without the report reaching here. Is it a matter of
perfect indifference to you?"
"Signora Biancona is studying my new composition," said Reinhold
shortly, "and I only see in her the ideal of an actress. You admired
her also?"
"Admired, yes! At least in the beginning. She never attracted me. The
beautiful Signora has something too vampire-like in her eyes. I fear
that whoever it be, upon whom she fixes those eyes with the intention
of holding him fast, will require a powerful dose of strength of will
in order to remain master of himself."
At the last words he had gone to his brother's side, who now turned
round slowly and looked at him.
"Have you experienced that already?" he asked, gloomily.
"I? No!" replied Hugo, with a touch of his old mocking humour.
"Fortunately I am very unimpressionable as regards such-like
romantic dangers, besides being sufficiently used to them. Call it
frivolity--inconstancy--what you will--but a woman cannot fascinate me
long or deeply; the passionate element is wanting in me. You have it
only too strongly, and when you encounter anything of the sort, the
danger lies close by. Take care of yourself, Reinhold!"
"Do you wish to remind me of the fetters I bear?" asked Reinhold,
bitterly. "As if I did not feel them daily, hourly, and with them the
powerlessness to destroy them. If I were free as you, when you tore
yourself away from this bondage, all might be well; but you are right,
they chained me by times, and a bridal altar is the most secure bar
which can be placed before all longing for freedom--I experience it
now."
They were interrupted; the servant from the house brought a message
from the bookkeeper to young Herr Almbach. The latter bade the man go,
and turned to his brother.
"I must go to the office for a moment. You see I am not in much danger
of coming to grief by excessive romance; our ledgers, in which,
probably, a couple of dollars are not properly entered, guard against
that. Adieu until we meet again, Hugo!"
He went, and the Captain remained alone. He stayed a few moments as if
lost in thought, while the frown on his brow became still darker; then
suddenly he raised himself as with some resolve, and left the room, but
not to go to the lower floor to his uncle or aunt; he went straight to
the opposite apartments inhabited by his sister-in-law.
Ella was there; she sat by the window, her head was bent over some
needlework, but it seemed as if this had been seized hurriedly when the
door opened unexpectedly; the handkerchief thrown down hastily, and the
inflamed eyelids betrayed freshly dried tears. She looked up at her
brother-in-law's entrance with undisguised astonishment. It was
certainly the first time he had sought her rooms; he came half-way
only, and then stood still without approaching her seat.
"May the adventurer dare to come near you, Ella? or did that condemning
verdict banish him entirely from your threshold?"
The young wife blushed; she turned her work about in her hands in most
painful confusion.
"Herr--"
"Captain!" interrupted Hugo. "Quite right--thus do my sailors address
me. Once more this name from your lips, and I shall never trouble you
again with my presence. Pray Ella, listen to me to-day!" he continued
determinedly, as the young wife made signs of rising. "This time I
shall keep the door barred by which you always try to elude my
approach; fortunately, too, there is no maid near whom you can keep by
your side for some task. We are alone, and I give you my word I shall
not leave this spot until I am either forgiven, or--hear the
unavoidable 'Herr Captain' which will drive me away once for all."
Ella raised her eyes, and now it was plainly evident that she had wept.
"What do you care for my forgiveness?" she replied quickly. "You have
wounded me least of all; I only spoke in the name of my parents and all
the household."
"For them I do not care," said Hugo with the most unabashed candour,
"but that I have hurt you I do regret, very much regret; it has lain
like a nightmare upon me until now. I can surely do no more than beg
honestly and heartily for forgiveness. Are you still angry with me,
Ella?"
He put out his hand towards her. In the movement and words there lay
such a warm, open kindliness and frankness, that it seemed almost
impossible to refuse the petition, and Ella actually, although somewhat
reluctantly, laid her hand in his.
"No," said she, simply.
"Thank God!" cried Hugo, drawing a long breath. "So at last my rights
as brother-in-law are conceded. I thus take solemn possession of them."
The words were followed by the deed, as he drew forward a chair and sat
down beside her. "Do you know, Ella, that since our late encounter you
have interested me very much?" continued he.
"It seems one must be rude to you in order to arouse your interest,"
remarked Ella, almost reproachfully.
"Yes, it appears so," agreed the Captain, with perfect composure. "We
'adventurers' are a peculiar people, and require different treatment to
ordinary mankind. You have taken the right course with me. Since you
read me my lecture so unsparingly, I have left all the house in peace;
I have behaved towards my uncle and aunt with the most perfect respect
and deference, and even robbed my Indian stories of all their appalling
effects, simply from fear of certain rebuking eyes. This can surely not
have escaped your notice?"
Something like a half-smile crossed Ella's countenance as she asked--
"It has been very hard for you, then?"
"Very hard! Although the state of affairs in the house should have made
it somewhat easier for me, they have not been of a description lately,
on which one could exercise one's love of joking."
The passing gleam of merriment vanished immediately from Ella's face at
this allusion; it bore an anxious, beseeching expression, as she turned
to her brother-in-law.
"Yes, it is very sad with us," she said, softly, "and it becomes worse
from day to day. My parents are so hard, and Reinhold so irritated, so
furious at every occurrence. Oh, my God, can you do nothing with him?"
"I?" asked Hugo, seriously, "I might put that question to you, his
wife."
Ella shook her head in inconsolable resignation. "No one listens to me,
and Reinhold less than any one. He thinks I understand nothing about it
all--he would repulse me roughly."
Hugo looked sorrowfully at the young wife, who confessed openly that
she was quite wanting in power and influence over her husband, and that
she was not permitted to share his longings and strivings in the least.
"And yet something must be done," said he decidedly. "Reinhold
irritates himself in this struggle; he suffers tremendously under it,
and makes others suffer too. You had been crying, Ella, as I entered,
and in the last few weeks not a day has passed without my seeing this
red appearance about your eyes. No, do not turn aside so timidly!
Surely the brother may be allowed to speak freely, and you shall see
that I do more than talk nonsense. I repeat it; something must be
done--done by you. Reinhold's artistic career depends upon it, his
whole future; and in the struggle his wife must stand at his side,
otherwise others might do it instead, and that would be dangerous."
Ella looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and alarm. For the
first time in her life she was called upon to take a side openly, and
some result was looked for depending upon her interference. What could
be meant by "others" who might take her place? Her face showed plainly
that she had not the slightest suspicion of anything.
Hugo saw this, and yet had not the courage to go any farther; as going
farther meant planting the first suspicion in the mind of the so-far
quite unconscious wife--being his brother's betrayer--and unavoidably
calling forth a catastrophe, of whose necessity he was nevertheless
convinced. But the young Captain's whole nature rebelled against the
painful task; he sat there undecided, when chance came to his help.
Some one knocked at the door, and immediately Jonas entered, carrying a
large bouquet of flowers.
The sailor was surely more prudent when he executed such commissions
for his master. He knew from experience, that the latter's offerings of
flowers, although received with pleasure by the young ladies, were not
always treated the same by their fathers and protectors, and although
with possible secret annoyance, he always took care to go to the right
address. But this time Hugo's casual remark that the flowers were
intended for his sister-in-law, caused the mistake. Jonas never doubted
that the Captain's remark, meant merely to shield his brother, was made
in earnest; he therefore went straight to the young Frau Almbach, and
presented the flowers to her, with the words--
"I cannot find Herr Reinhold anywhere in the house, so had better
deliver the flowers here at once."
Ella looked down in surprise at the beautiful bouquet which, arranged
with as much skill as taste, showed a selection of the most perfect
flowers.
"From whom are the flowers?" asked she.
"From the garden," answered Jonas. "Herr Reinhold ordered them, and I
have brought them; but as I cannot find him--"
"That will do. You can go," broke in Hugo, as he stepped quickly to his
sister-in-law's side, and put his hand on her arm as if to stop her. A
sign gave more stress to his order, and Jonas rolled away, but could
not help wondering that the young Frau Almbach received her husband's
attention in so peculiar a manner. She had started suddenly, as if she
had been seized with a pain at her heart, and become ashen white. But
the Captain stood there with knitted brows, and an expression on his
face as if he should have liked best to throw the expensive flowers out
of the window. Fortunately, Jonas was too phlegmatic to trouble himself
much about the state of affairs in the Almbachs' house; owing to the
warlike footing on which he stood to the servants he learned but little
about it; so, after wondering slightly, he gave it up, and being
satisfied he had executed his orders conscientiously, troubled himself
no more about the giver of them.
Deep silence reigned a few seconds in the room. Ella still held the
bouquet convulsively in her hand, but her usually quiet, listless
countenance, with its vacant, almost stupid expression, had changed
curiously. Now every feature was dilated as if in agonising pain, and
her eyes remained fixed and immovable upon the gay, blooming beauty,
even when she turned to her brother-in-law.
"Reinhold gave the order?" she asked, as if striving for breath, "then
the flowers only came by mistake to me!"
"Why then," said Hugo, with a vain attempt to soothe her, "Reinhold
ordered the flowers; well, surely they are for you?"
"For me?" Her voice sounded full of pain. "I have never yet received
flowers from him; these are certainly not intended for me."
Hugo saw he could not hesitate any more; chance had decided for him;
now he must obey fate's signal. "You are right, Ella," he replied
firmly, "and it would be useless and dangerous to deceive you any
longer. Reinhold did not say for whom the flowers were, but I know that
this evening they will be in Signora Biancona's hands."
Ella shivered, and the bouquet fell to the ground. "Signora Biancona,"
repeated she, in a dull tone.
"The actress who sang his first song in public," continued the Captain,
impressively, "for whom, also, his new composition is intended; to whom
he goes daily; who enters into all his thoughts and feelings. You know
nothing of it as yet, I see in your face, but you must learn it now,
before it is too late."
The young wife made no reply; her face was as colourless as the white
blossoms which formed the outer circle of the bouquet; silently she
stooped, picked it up, and laid it on the table, but no sound, no
response came from her lips. Hugo waited for one in vain.
"Do you believe the cruelty of disclosing that which one always hides
from every wife has given me any pleasure?" asked he, with suppressed
emotion. "Do you think I could not, by some pretence, have covered the
man's stupidity, and given myself out as the sender of the unlucky
flowers? If I do not act thus, if I discover the whole truth
unsparingly, I do it because the danger has become extreme--because
only you can still save him; and this you must see clearly. Signora
Biancona is about to return to her home, and Reinhold explained to me
just now that he must and will continue his studies in Italy. Do you
comprehend the connection?"
Ella started. Now, for the first time, a desperate fear broke through
the stolid calm of her nature.
"No, no!" she cried, as if beside herself, "He cannot! he _dare_ not.
We are married!"
"He dare not?" repeated Hugo. "You know men but little, and your own
husband least of all. Do not trust too much to the right which the
Church gave you; even this power has its limits, and I fear Reinhold
already stands beyond them. To be sure, you have no conception of that
burning fiendish passion, which enchains and makes a man powerless--so
surrounds him with its bonds, that for its sake he forgets and
sacrifices everything. Signora Biancona is one of those demonlike
natures which can inspire such passions, and here she is connected with
everything which makes up Reinhold's life--with music, art and
imagination. Nor Church nor marriage can protect, if the wife cannot
protect herself. You are wife, and mother of his child. Perhaps he will
listen to your voice, when he will to nothing else."
The young wife's heavily-drawn breath showed how much she suffered, and
two tears, the first, rolled slowly down her cheeks as she replied,
almost inaudibly, "I will try it."
Hugo came close to her side. "I know I have thrown a lighted brand into
the family to-day, which will, perhaps, destroy the last remains of
peace," he said, earnestly. "Hundreds of wives would now rush
despairingly to their parents, so as, with them or alone, to call their
husbands to account, and cause a scene which would break the last bond,
and drive him irretrievably from the house. You will not do this, Ella;
I know it, therefore I dared do with you what I should not have
ventured on so easily with any other woman. What you may say to
Reinhold--what you may insist upon, rests with yourself; but do not let
him leave you now; do not let him go to Italy!"
He ceased, and seemed to expect an answer--in vain; Ella sat there, her
face buried in her hands. She hardly moved as he said good-bye to her.
The young Captain saw that she must overcome the blow alone, so he
went.
When, half-an-hour later, Reinhold returned from the office, he saw the
bouquet of roses lying on the writing-table in his own room, and took
it up under the firm impression that Jonas had put it there. In the
meanwhile Ella sat in her child's room and waited, not for a farewell
from her husband, she had not been used to such tendernesses ever since
her marriage; but she knew he never left the house without first going
to see his boy. The wife felt only too well that she herself was
nothing to her husband, that her only value for him lay in the child;
she felt that the love for his child was the only point by which she
could approach his heart, and therefore she waited here for him in
order to hold the terribly difficult and painful interview. He must
surely come; but to-day she had to wait in vain. Reinhold did not
come. For the first time he forgot the farewell kiss on his child's
brow--forgot the last and only bond which chained him to his home. In
his heart there was only room now for one thought, and that was
Beatrice Biancona.
The opera was over. A stream of people flowed out of the theatre,
dispersing in all directions, and carriages rolled by on every side to
take up their respective owners. The house had been filled to
overflowing, as the Italian Opera Company had given their farewell
performance, and all H---- had tried to show the singers, especially
the _prima donna_, how much charmed it was with their efforts, and how
sorry it was to lose them now the hour of parting had arrived. The
stairs and corridors were still crowded; below in the vestibule people
were closely packed, and at the places of egress the numbers increased
to an uncomfortable, almost dangerous degree.
"It is almost impossible to get through," said Doctor Welding, who,
with another gentleman, descended the stairs. "One's life is imperilled
in the crush below. Rather let us wait until the rush is over!"
His companion agreed, and both stepped aside into one of the deep, dark
niches in the corridor, where a lady had already taken shelter. Her
dress, although simple, betokened that she belonged to the upper
classes; she had drawn her veil closely over her face, and appeared to
avoid the crowd, also to feel quite strange in the theatre, from the
manner in which she pressed herself with evident nervousness firmly
against the wall, when the two gentlemen approached, and, without
paying any attention to her, resumed their interrupted conversation.
"I prophesied it from the commencement that this Almbach would make a
great sensation," said Welding; "his second composition surpasses his
first in every respect; and the first was great enough for a beginner.
I should think he might be satisfied with its reception this time; it
was, if possible, more enthusiastic. Certainly, every one has not the
luck to find a Biancona for his works, and to inspire her for them, so
that she exerts her utmost power. It was altogether her idea to sing
this newest song of Almbach's as introduction to the last act of the
opera, to-day, too, at her farewell; when applause was a matter of
course, she made sure, by those means, of success at once."
"Well, I don't think he is wanting in gratitude," scoffed the other
gentleman. "People say all sorts of things. So much is certain, all her
circle of adorers is furious at this interloper, who hardly appears
before he is on the high road to be sole ruler. The affair, besides,
seems rather serious and highly romantic, and I am really anxious to
see what will be the end of it, when Biancona departs."
The Doctor buttoned his overcoat quietly--
"That is not difficult to guess; an elopement of the first order."
"You think he will elope with her?" asked the other incredulously.
"He with her? That would be objectless. Biancona is perfectly free to
decide what she likes, as to the choice of her residence. But she with
him; that would be more like the case--the fetters are on his side."
"To be sure, he is married," rejoined his companion. "Poor woman! Do
you know her personally?"
"No," said Welding, indifferently; "but from Herr Consul Erlau's
description, I can form a truly correct picture of her. Contracted
ideas, passive, unimportant in the highest degree, quite given up to
the kitchen and household affairs--just the woman in fact to drive a
genial, fiery-headed fellow like Almbach to a desperate step; and as it
is a Biancona who is set up against her, this step will not have to be
waited for very long. Perhaps it would be fortunate for Almbach if he
were torn suddenly out of these confined surroundings, and thrown on to
the path of life, but certainly the little family peace there is would
be entirely ruined. The usual fate of such early marriages, in which
the wife cannot in the smallest degree raise herself to her husband's
importance."
At these last words he turned round somewhat astonished; involuntarily
the lady behind them had made a passionate movement, but at the same
moment as the Doctor was about to observe her more narrowly, a side
door was opened, and Reinhold Almbach appeared, accompanied by Hugo,
the conductor, and several other gentlemen.
Reinhold here was quite a different being from what he was at home. The
gloom which always rested on his features there, the reserve which made
him so often unapproachable, seemed thrown off with one accord; he
beamed with excitement, success, and triumph. His brow was raised
freely and proudly, his dark eyes flashed with conscious victory, and
his whole manner breathed forth passionate satisfaction, as he turned
to his companions.
"I thank you, gentlemen. You are very kind, but you will excuse me if I
retire from these flattering acknowledgments. The Signora wishes for my
company at the entertainment, where the members of the opera assemble
once more as a farewell meeting. You will understand, I must obey this
command before all others."
The gentlemen seemed to understand it perfectly, and also to regret
they had not to obey a similar command, when Doctor Welding joined the
group.
"I congratulate you," he said, giving his hand to the young composer.
"That was a great, and what is more, a merited success."
Reinhold smiled. Praise from the lips of a critic usually so exacting
was not indifferent to him.
"You see, Herr Doctor, I have to appear at last before your judgment
seat," replied he pleasantly. "Herr Consul Erlau was unfortunately
wrong when he considered me quite safe from any such danger."
"None should be considered happy before the end," remarked the Doctor
laconically. "Why do you rush so headlong into danger, and turn your
back upon the noble merchant's position? Is it true we are to lose you
with Signora Biancona? Shall you take flight to the south at the same
time?"
"To Italy, yes!" said Reinhold positively. "It has been my plan for
long. This evening has decided it, but now--excuse me gentlemen, I
cannot possibly allow the Signora to wait."
He bowed and left them, accompanied by his brother. The usually not
quite silent Captain had observed a remarkable reticence during the
conversation. He started slightly, when at Welding's approach the niche
was disclosed in which the woman's dark figure was pressed back in the
shadow of the wall, as if not wishing to be seen on any account, and no
one else did see her, at least no one took any notice of her; she could
not leave her place of refuge without passing the group, which kept its
place after the departure of the brothers. The gentlemen all knew one
another, and took advantage of this meeting to exchange their opinions
about the young composer, Signora Biancona, and the suspected state of
affairs between the two. The latter especially was subjected to a
tolerably merciless criticism. The scoffing, witty, and malicious
remarks fell thick as hail, and some time elapsed before the group
separated at last. Now that the corridor was quite empty, the lady in
the recess raised herself and prepared to depart, but she tottered at
the first few steps, and seized the banisters of the staircase as if
about to fall, when a powerful arm supported, and held her up.