ODENSBURG MANOR.
The Dernburg iron and steel works had a worldwide reputation, and could
compare, indeed, with the greatest undertakings of this sort in the old
as well as in the new world.
Odensburg was situated in a wooded valley between mountains, the chief
wealth of which consisted in its inexhaustible mines, and, a generation
before, the father of the present proprietor had established here a
plain foundry and iron factory, that kept growing as the years went by.
But it had only assumed its present truly vast proportions under his
son, who really created the present works, that were upon an
astonishingly vast scale. He had gradually bought in all the mines and
forges of the region round about, absorbing also all the labor at
command, and giving to his undertakings an expansion that controlled
the industrial life of the whole province.
It required, indeed, an unusual amount of energy to devise such an
enterprise, and then carry it on to success, but Dernburg was equal to
the occasion. He had a whole array of engineers, technicians, and
administrative officials; but the director, like the humblest workman,
knew that all the reins joined in the master's hand, who decided
everything important for himself. This master had the character of
being stern and unbending, but likewise just, and if he was conscious
of the whole power of his position, he had an equally high idea of its
duties.
The accommodations that he provided for his workmen were on a scale
commensurate with the other departments of his works, and were
everywhere pronounced to be the most excellent conceivable. They were
only possible for a man who had millions at his disposal, and was not
stingy with his wealth, when the welfare of his subordinates was in
question.
But in return for this, Dernburg demanded complete subjection to his
will, and planted himself like a rock against the advent of modern
ideas, such as that every individual has the right to follow his own
convictions. At Odensburg, strikes, rebellion, and conflicts, such as
are so common in other industrial establishments, were things unknown.
It was well understood that nothing was to be gotten out of the chief
by force, and, with their situations, the people well knew they
lost certain provision, in the future, for themselves and their
families,--thus all those incitements to insubordination, that were not
lacking here either, failed to get foothold, and even if they were
listened to here and there, came to nothing so far as actions were
concerned.
And yet this man, who was the very embodiment of strength, had an only
son for whose life he had perpetually to tremble. From his very infancy
Eric had been puny and delicate, and that fall into the water, caused
by his own imprudence, brought on him a dangerous illness, that lasted
for months. He recovered, it is true, but could never again be called a
well man, and two years before so significant a symptom as hemorrhage
from the lungs had appeared, which necessitated his speedy removal from
the harsh climate of home, and a long sojourn in the South.
The peculiar relation in which the youth who had saved Eric's life
stood to the Dernburg family, had always been a matter of surprise in
the village, and to many of envy as well. Egbert Runeck, the son of a
workman employed in the foundry, had passed his early boyhood amid the
plainest surroundings, and continued to move in the same sphere as his
parents, until nearly grown. If, nevertheless, he learned more than any
of his companions of the same age, he had, in the first place, to thank
the excellent schools, which Dernburg had established for the children
of his employés, and upon which he lavished uncommon care. The rarely
endowed boy, with his unflagging diligence, had already, in earlier
days, attracted the chief's attention, but after he had saved the life
of his only son his future was decided. He shared Eric's lessons, was
treated almost as a member of the family, and was finally sent to
Berlin for the completion of his education.
The Manor-house lay quite apart from the works, on an eminence that
commanded the whole valley. It was an imposing edifice, built in good
style, with a broad terrace, long rows of windows, and a great covered
piazza in front, the roof of which was supported upon columns. Dotted
here and there, ever the broad expanse of lawn and park, were monarchs
of the forest that had been spared in clearing, the long line of wooded
hills in the rear, with their grand old trees, forming an extremely
effective background for the picture. It was a fair and stately abode,
that might well have merited the name of castle, but Dernburg did not
like it at all when they applied that designation to it, and so it was
called in the end as in the beginning, "Odensburg Manor."
The family were accustomed to spend the greatest part of the year here,
although Dernburg possessed several other estates that were more
beautifully situated, and he also had a residence in Berlin. But he
never went to the capital, unless his duty as a member of the diet
called him there; for the most part, too, he only paid short and flying
visits to his other estates. Odensburg needed the master's hand and
eye, and was it not the creation of his own brain? Upon this ground he
was unlimited ruler; here his will alone held sway; here much could be
won or lost; and therefore it had been and continued to be his favorite
abode.
There was as little to be found fault with in the family-life of the
Dernburgs as in their outward surroundings. He and his gentle,
shrinking wife, had been a model married couple, she being in perfect
subjection to her domineering husband. Now his only sister, the widowed
Frau von Ringstedt took the part of lady of the house. She had lived
with her brother for a good many years, and tried to make up to his
children for the loss of their mother, who had died young.
It was towards the end of April, but the weather was still cold and
uncomfortable. In the South, for two months already Spring had
gladdened the earth with her wealth of bloom, but here, at the North,
buds and leaves even now hardly dared to burst their sheaths, and a
gray, cloud-covered sky spanned the somber, dark green foliage of the
fir-trees.
Guests were expected at the Manor to-day. The curtains to the
guest-chambers of the upper story were put far back, and the little
parlor belonging to that suite of rooms had a festal air. Everywhere
bloomed flowers, dispensing their sweet odors around; sweet,
bright-hued children of Spring, that to be sure, even now had to be
grown in hot-houses, decorated in lavish profusion the room evidently
destined for a lady.
Two ladies were in it at this very moment, also. One, the younger,
was amusing herself with teasing a little, soft, white Spitz dog, that
she incessantly egged on to bark and jump, while the other lady
surveyed the parlor with a critical eye, here straightening a chair,
there pushing a curtain back, and once more arranging the pretty
writing-materials on the desk.
"Must you always have that pug about you, Maia?" said she
discontentedly. "He puts everything out of order, and just now came
very near dragging off the table the vase of flowers as well as the
cloth."
"I did lock him up, but he got out and ran after me," cried Maia.
"Down, Puck. You must be good. Miss Friedberg says positively you
must."
She laughingly called him, and, at the same time, cut at the little
beast, with her pocket handkerchief, that, of course tried to catch
hold of the handkerchief with loud barking. Miss Friedberg shuddered
nervously and heaved a sigh.
"And do you call these the manners of a grown-up young lady! I felt
obliged recently to complain to Herr Dernburg, and tell him that
nothing was to be done with you. You will not be anything but the
veriest child, and, if possible, exceed Puck himself in playing all
manner of monkey-tricks. Tell me, if you ever intend to be earnest and
rational?"
"Not for a long while, I hope," declared Maia. "Everything is so
horribly earnest and rational at Odensburg already. Papa, aunt, you,
Miss Leona, and lately Eric has been intolerable, too, sighing and
longing after his lady-love from morning to night. And am I, too, to be
made rational? But we do not like that, do we, Puck? We, at least, want
to be merry." And so saying, she seized Puck by the fore-paws, and made
him dance on his hind-legs, although he gave unmistakable signs of
displeasure.
Maia Dernburg, who objected so emphatically to being rational, was
evidently in the first bloom of young girlhood, not being a day over
seventeen years of age. She was one of those creatures, at sight of
whom the heart bounds, and who gladden the beholder as does bright
sunshine. Her lovely face, that bore only a very remote likeness to her
brother, beamed in the rosy freshness of youth and health, and her
beautiful brown eyes had nothing mysterious about them like Eric's,
They shone clear and bright, dimmed by no shadow in the world. Her fair
hair, that glistened like gold, when the sun's rays struck it, only
confined by a ribbon, fell in rich curls over her shoulders, while a
few tiny ringlets, that would not submit to be bound, enhanced greatly
the beauty of her brow. Her features were still half child-like, and
the delicate, pretty figure had apparently not yet attained its full
height; but this very thing gave to the young girl an unspeakable
charm.
Miss Leona Friedberg, the governess of the young daughter of the
house, who still filled an office that was by no means a sinecure,
although, properly speaking, Maia's education was finished, was about
five-and-thirty years old, and, although no longer young, had an
attractive appearance: a slight, delicate form, with dark hair and eyes
and a somewhat languid expression upon the pale but pleasant features.
She responded to the rash remark of her pupil with a shrug of the
shoulders, and then cast a searching look through the room.
"There, now we are ready! But you have been too extravagant with your
flowers; Maia, the perfume is almost intoxicating."
"Oh! a promised bride must have flowers showered upon her! Cecilia is
to find her future home beautiful, and flowers are the only things,
with which we can welcome her. Papa will not hear of a grand reception
taking place."
"Of course, since the betrothal is to be publicly announced first from
here."
"And then there is to be a betrothal-party and a grand, grand wedding!"
shouted Maia. "Oh! I am so curious to see Eric's betrothed. She must be
beautiful, very beautiful. Eric is continually raving over her to me;
but he does behave so comically as a love-sick swain. He never has a
bright day now, because he is always dreaming of his Cecilia. Sometimes
papa gets seriously vexed over it, and yesterday he said to me: 'You
will behave more sensibly, my little Maia, when you are engaged, will
you not?' Of course I shall: I'll be a model of good sense, I will!"
And to prove this incontestably, she took Puck in her arms, and whirled
about the room with him, like a spinning-top.
"Oh yes! that is very likely!" cried Miss Leona, indignantly. "Maia,
once more, I beseech you not to behave like a wild tom-boy, when your
new connections come. What are the Baroness Wildenrod and her brother
to think of your bringing-up, if they see a young lady almost seventeen
years old behaving in that wild, hoydenish manner."
Maia, meanwhile, had finished her round dance and let loose her Puck,
and now seated herself in a ceremonious manner, before her governess.
"I shall behave so as to satisfy the most fastidious, for I know
the points thoroughly. Miss Wilson she tutored me: that English
governess, you know, with the sallow face, turned-up nose, and no end
of learning--do not look so provoked, Miss Leona, I am not talking
about you!--Miss Wilson was really very tiresome, but I learned to
curtesy as they do at court from her anyhow, look, so!" She made a low
and solemn reverence. "You see I shall make an impression upon my
future sister-in-law with my fine manners, and then I shall fall upon
her neck and kiss her so and so;" and with this she overwhelmed the
unsuspecting lady with impetuous caresses.
"But, Maia, you will choke me to death," cried the horrified lady,
freeing herself with some difficulty. "Why, dear me, it is striking
twelve already! We must go down. I shall only cast one more glance into
the chamber, to see if all there is in order."
She left the parlor, and Maia fluttered down the steps like a
butterfly, Puck bounding after her, as a matter of course. The
dwelling-rooms of the family were in the lower story; there the
large reception hall was likewise decorated, in honor of the expected
guests with tall laurel, and orange-trees and the whole flora, of the
hot-houses. There stood a young man, who seemed to be waiting for
somebody, who, upon seeing the young lady of the house, made a very low
and reverential bow. Maia bestowed upon him a casual nod.
"Good-day, Herr Hagenbach. Is the doctor here too?"
"He is, and at your service, Miss Dernburg," answered the person
interrogated, with a second bow just as low. "My uncle is with your
father, laying before him the week's report of the infirmary, and I--I
am waiting here for him--with your most gracious permission."
"Oh, yes, you have my permission," said Maia, highly amused at this
overstrained reverence, while Puck eyed, with somewhat critical
glances, the stranger whose plaid pantaloons seemed to excite his
displeasure.
Herr Hagenbach was a very young man, with exceedingly light hair, and
exceedingly pale blue eyes, and a timid, awkward gait. The meeting
evidently threw him into great embarrassment, for he reddened and
stammered considerably. Nevertheless, he seemed to feel the necessity
of showing himself versed in the usages of society, for several times
he made the effort to speak in vain, and finally succeeded in getting
out the words:
"May--may I venture to ask after your health, Miss Dernburg?"
"I thank you, my health is perfectly good," answered Maia, the corners
of whose mouth began to twitch.
"I am exceedingly glad to hear it," asseverated the young man. He had
really purposed to say something else, something intellectual,
important, but nothing, alas! occurred to him, and so he continued:
"I cannot tell you how delighted I am to hear it, and I hope Madam von
Ringstedt is well, too."
Maia, with difficulty suppressed a laugh, while she answered his
question in the affirmative. Herr Hagenbach, who was still on his vain
chase after the witty remark, meanwhile persisting convulsively in
inquiring after the health of every member of the family, then asked
for the third time: "And young Herr Dernburg----"
"Has gone to the railroad station," wound up Maia, who could no longer
restrain her merriment. "You may be easy as to the condition of my
brother, however, and of my father, as well--the whole family thank you
for your extraordinary kindness in asking after our health."
Herr Hagenbach's embarrassment increased perceptibly. In his confusion
he bowed down before Puck, who was still devoting his attention to the
plaid pantaloons, and tried to stroke him, while he remarked: "What a
dear little doggie!"
The dear little doggie, however, showed himself very unappreciative of
this caress, and darted, with a loud bark, at the legs of the young man
who jumped back, but Puck sprang after and stuck his teeth into the gay
trousers. The person attacked, who did not dare to drive away the young
lady's dog, took refuge behind the tub of flowers, at his heels his
pursuer, who now aimed his attack at his legs, while Maia, instead of
calling off the dog, was highly amused at the scene.
Fortunately help now came from a different direction. Out of the door
leading to Dernburg's apartments, stepped an elderly gentleman, who,
without further ceremony, seized the still yelping Spitz by the nape of
his woolly neck, and lifted him up, while he said fretfully,
"Why did you not defend yourself, Dagobert? Were you going to let him
tear your pantaloons off you? Puck is such an artful little rascal!"
Dagobert, all out of breath, stood under a laurel-tree, looking greatly
relieved--and now Maia also came forward.
"Let go the evil-doer, do, Dr. Hagenbach. There would really have been
no risk to your nephew's life. In the whole course of the one year of
Puck's life he has never torn a single man to pieces."
"It is enough to make a dead-set at pantaloons, especially when they
are such magnificent ones as the pair that has just been imperiled,"
answered Doctor Hagenbach pleasantly, as he set down the tiny,
struggling creature. "A good-day to you, Miss Maia! No need to ask
after your health, I perceive."
"No, indeed, it has certainly been sufficiently asked after, for one
day," protested the young lady, with a saucy look at Dagobert. She took
her little dog upon her arm and caused it to make a comical bow.
"Beg pardon, Puck, and promise that you will not do it again.
Good-morning, gentlemen, I must go to papa as fast as ever I can." And
with a careless salutation she flew off to her father's rooms.
Dr. Hagenbach, the surgeon for the works and Dernburg family-physician,
was a man of forty-five or forty-six years, whose hair already began to
be tinged with gray here and there, and whose figure tended to rather
too much fullness, was, on the whole a fine-looking man, the perfect
counterpart of the nephew to whom he now turned.
"You have played the part of a veritable hero, to be sure!" mocked he.
"That ungovernable little thing only wanted to play, and you to run
away!"
"I did not want to treat the young lady's pet roughly," explained
Dagobert, solicitously examining his pantaloons, that fortunately had
not been damaged. The uncle silently shrugged his shoulders.
"We shall hardly be able to make the visit to-day to Miss Friedberg,"
said he then. "As I just learned, they are expecting the party from
Nice in about an hour, and the whole house is upset, preparing to
receive them. But since we are here, I'll make the attempt, anyhow, to
speak with the lady; you meanwhile can be recovering composure, both as
to the outward and inner man."
He mounted the stairs, and at the top met the governess, who had just
come out of the parlor. Almost daily she saw the doctor, who, for long
years, had stood upon a very friendly footing with the Dernburg family,
nevertheless, there was a perceptible reserve in her manner as she
returned his greeting. Hagenbach seemed not to remark this, he asked
lightly after her health, listening in the same way to her answer, and
then said:
"I had an especial reason for calling upon you, Miss Friedberg. The
time is badly chosen, it is true, for apparently you, too, are
engrossed by the coming reception of the expected guests, but my
request can be made in a few minutes, so permit me to lay it before
you, just as we stand."
"You have a request to make of me?" asked Leona, with cool surprise.
"Actually?"
"You think I can do nothing but give orders and write prescriptions, I
suppose. Yes, Miss Friedberg, it is the physician's right, he must
preserve his authority under all circumstances, especially when he has
to do with so-called _nervous_ patients."
He emphasized the word, in a way that evidently provoked his hearer,
for she replied tartly:
"Why, I believe your authority remains undisputed, security is given
for that by your very considerate manner of ensuring obedience."
"Even as--I know patients upon whom all love's labors are lost,"
replied Hagenbach composedly. "But--now to the errand that brought me
here. You know my nephew, who has been three weeks at Odensburg?"
"Yes, indeed, your brother's son. The young man has no longer any
parents?"
"No, he is a double orphan, and I am his guardian, having, indeed, to
charge myself entirely with his future, for his parents were so
unmindful of their duty as not to leave him a single penny. They
thought very likely that I, as a confirmed old bachelor, might need an
heir."
Leona's countenance plainly betrayed that she thought this mode of
expressing himself very indelicate; the doctor saw this, too, but
disturbed himself not in the least about it, but continued in the same
tone:
"Dagobert has gone through the gymnasium, and also passed the
examination for admission to college, with much groaning, to be sure,
for he is not a specially clear-headed fellow. Now he looks wretchedly
from sitting so steadily at his books and drudging. Only think, the
fellow is nervous, too, or at least fancies himself to be so, therefore
I have undertaken to cure him. I'll teach him to forget that he has
nerves."
"Then I only hope the young man will survive the cure," said the lady
sharply. "You love heroic measures, doctor?"
"When they are in place, certainly. As for the rest I shall not put an
end to my nephew, as you seem to fear. He is to spend the summer over
here and take a good rest ere he enters the high school. If the fellow
has nothing at all to do, he will fall into folly of various kinds, so
he may as well learn a little about languages, modern languages I mean.
They have drilled him sufficiently in Latin and Greek, but he seems to
know very little French and English, and so I wanted to inquire if you
would give him a little help in this, you speak both fluently, I hear."
"If Mr. Dernburg has no objection----"
"Mr. Dernburg is agreed. I have just spoken with him on the
subject--the only question is, whether you are willing. I know, indeed,
that I am not much in your favor----"
"Pray do not go on, doctor," coolly interposed the lady. "I am very
glad that you give me an opportunity to prove my gratitude for the
medical advice that you have given me several times."
"Yes, in your 'nervous' attacks. Very well, the matter's settled.
Dagobert, boy, where are you hiding? Come up!" He shouted these last
words down the steps in a very peremptory tone.
Leona fairly shrank and said disapprovingly: "You treat the young man
exactly as if he were a schoolboy."
"Am I to put on more than usual ceremony with the youth? He would
evidently like to take the part of a man in society--and at the same
time he blushes and stammers as soon as he addresses a stranger. Well,
there you are, Dagobert! This lady is going to have the goodness to
take you as a pupil. Return your thanks!"
Again Dagobert made an uncommonly low and reverential bow--he seemed to
have made a regular study of it--again blushed and began:
"I am very grateful to the lady--I am perfectly delighted--I cannot
begin to say, how glad I am----" There he stuck fast, but Leona came to
the help of his embarrassment, and turned to him kindly:
"I am not going to be a strict teacher, and I think we shall get on
nicely together, Herr Hagenbach."
"Call him simply 'Dagobert,'" interrupted the doctor in his reckless
way. "He has such an odd name though."
"Have you any objection to make to his name. I think it very pretty."
"I am not at all of that way of thinking," declared Hagenbach, without
observing the deeply injured mien of his nephew. "By rights, he should
have been named Peter, for that is my name, and I am his godfather. But
that was not poetical enough for my sister-in-law, and so she fell upon
Dagobert. Dagobert Hagenbach--there is a jaw-breaker for you!"
A smile, unmistakably derisive, played about Leona's lips, as she
replied: "In that case your sister-in-law was undoubtedly right. The
name Peter has not only poetry opposed to it."
"What objection have you to make to it?" cried the doctor irritably,
while he straightened himself up, ready for combat. "Peter is a good
name, a famous name, a Bible name. I should think the Apostle Peter
would have been a fine enough man."
"But, you have only the quarrelsomeness of the Apostle--nothing else,"
remarked Leona cheerfully. "So, Herr Hagenbach, I shall look for you
to-morrow afternoon, when we shall settle upon the time and plan of
instruction. It will give me pleasure to push you forward as much as
possible."
The shy Dagobert seemed very agreeably touched by this friendliness,
and had just begun again to assure her that he was extremely glad,
etc., when his uncle interposed, in a highly ungracious mood:
"We have detained the lady long enough. Come, Dagobert, else we'll be
caught, and figure as unbidden guests at the family reunion."
So saying, he and his nephew took their leave. As they went downstairs
the latter adventured the remark: "Fräulein Friedberg is a very amiable
lady."
"But nervous and eccentric," growled Hagenbach. "Cannot bear the name
Peter. Why not, I wonder? Had your lamented parents baptized you Peter,
you would have been another sort of a fellow! But so, you look like a
girl with the green-sickness, that was dubbed Dagobert by mistake!"
He placed a very contemptuous emphasis upon the name. Meanwhile, they
had left the house, and now emerged upon the terrace, where they met
Egbert Runeck. The doctor was for passing him by with a short, very
formal salutation, but the young engineer stood still and said:
"I have just been to your house, doctor, to solicit your help. One of
my workmen, through heedlessness, has come by a hurt. It is not
dangerous, so far as I can judge, but medical aid is necessary. I have
brought him to Odensburg and left him in the hospital. Let me commend
him to your particular attention."
"I shall see after him immediately," replied Hagenbach. "Are you on
your way to the Manor, Herr Runeck? They are just now expecting the
party from Nice, and Herr Dernburg will hardly----"
"I know," interposed Runeck. "It was on that very account that I came
in from Radefeld. Good-morning, doctor!" He bowed and went on his way.
Hagenbach looked after him, then struck his cane hard upon the ground,
and said in a low tone:
"That is going it strong!"
"Did you notice, uncle, that he wore a dress-suit under his overcoat,"
remarked Dagobert. "He is specially invited."
"It would really seem so!" ejaculated the doctor wrathfully. "Invited
too, to this reception, which was to be strictly confined to the limits
of the family circle.--Strange things happen at Odensburg!"
"And all Odensburg is talking about it too," said Dagobert, under
his breath, looking cautiously around. "There is only one voice of
fault-finding and regret over this incredible weakness of Herr
Dernburg, for----"
"What do you know about it, saucebox?" continued the doctor. "At
Odensburg nobody either finds fault with the chief or presumes to
regret what he does--they simply obey him. Herr Dernburg always knows
what he is about, and is not going to make any mistake in this case,
either, unless his _protégé_ should, perchance, disappoint him. He too
is one bent on having his own way, like his lord and master, and when
steel and stone meet there are sparks. But, now, make haste and get
home, for I must be seeing after the Radefeld workman."
So saying, he took the path to the infirmary, and dismissed his nephew,
who was evidently rejoiced to be rid of his tyrannical uncle.