From the short letters which he had received from his relations during
the last ten years, Reinhold had gathered that at all events his
uncle's business prospered fairly. Ferdinanda's handsome dress, and the
smart carriage in which they dashed at a tremendous pace through the
long, crowded, twilight streets, led him to expect that his uncle must
have become a well-to-do, if not a rich man, and the entrance to the
house quite fulfilled these expectations. The broad marble steps before
which the carriage stopped, at the entrance; the square marble
staircase, decorated with flowers, divided from the entrance by a glass
door, and which led, in three flights, to the gallery that ran along
two sides of it, whence various doors opened to the living rooms; the
spare room on the upper floor, to which his uncle himself led him, with
the request that he would make himself comfortable and then come down
to supper--everything was of the best; rich, without show, showing
taste even; but still it struck Reinhold as not comfortable. There was
a chilliness about it, he thought, and then felt that this was but
imagination, the result of that state of mind so common to any one
suddenly coming without much preparation to a new place, where he is
expected to be at home at once, amongst people who, without being
absolute strangers, are yet strange enough to lead one to anticipate at
any moment something odd and chilling, because unexpected, unhoped-for,
or even undesired.
"But in fact that is how it always is in this life," said Reinhold to
himself, as he put the finishing touches to his dress. "And if I did
not know it before, the last few days might have taught it to me. How
much that was unexpected and unhoped for have they not brought! And
just now again, a good-looking young fellow, tired out with a long
day's shooting and a little too much wine, after sleeping for an hour,
at the last moment discloses himself as a fellow-soldier and her
brother! It is like a romance, and yet it all comes so naturally! And
to think that she is living close by, that the boughs of the trees
which rise above the gables of the house are perhaps in her garden,
that she whom I never hoped to see again--Reinhold, tell the
truth!--you know that you have always cherished a hope that you would
see her again! You certainly did the day before yesterday, the last
time that you gazed into her eyes. Those loved and lovely eyes showed
you a faint glimmering of hope which must not, cannot be extinguished,
even if there should be but slight sympathy in this house with your
aristocratic tastes, unless it come from Aunt Rikchen."
Uncle Ernst's sister had hastened to him with open arms, and embraced
him over and over again, with an exuberance of emotion which could
hardly find sufficient vent in tears and exclamations, a wonderful
contrast to the suppressed emotion with which her brother had received
him. Even this scene Uncle Ernst speedily put an end to with a short
gruff, "If you have cried enough, Rike, I might perhaps take Reinhold
to his room." Whereupon his aunt, taking advantage of a final embrace,
whispered to Reinhold: "He still calls me Rike! but I shall be Aunt
Rikchen to you, shall I not?"
"Poor old aunt! For indeed she has grown quite old, though, by the way,
I suspect she really is younger than her stately brother! And passing
years do not seem to have improved the terms on which they are
together. He still calls her Rike! But no doubt they unite in spoiling
my pretty cousin."
Reinhold carefully combed out his beard, and then punished himself for
his vanity and for the grievous wrong thus done to the love and truth
which he had sworn to Elsa von Werben, by disarranging it again with
his hand, but only moderately, "half-measures," thought he, smiling to
himself, as he ran downstairs to the dining-room, where Uncle Ernst and
Ferdinanda were already awaiting him.
"Of course Rike cannot be in time," said Uncle Ernst.
"Aunt is in the kitchen," said Ferdinanda.
"Of course she is somewhere, only she never is where she should be."
"I beg your pardon," said Aunt Rikchen, who just at that moment
entered, and hastily went towards her place, stopping at the sideboard
on her way, to busy herself over something else.
"Are we to sit down to supper to-night?" demanded Uncle Ernst.
"Directly--directly!" said Aunt Rikchen.
The large round table was only laid for four. Reinhold had hoped now to
meet his cousin Philip, after whom he had not been able to make any
inquiries during the first interchange of question and answer; so he
asked now.
His question was addressed to Ferdinanda.
"Philip does not come often," she replied.
"Say, rather, that he never comes."
Reinhold gazed in astonishment at his uncle, who had said this with a
displeased look, and in a harsh, stern voice; and he thought that he
observed on the two women's faces an anxious, confused expression. He
had unwittingly touched upon a string which sent a sharp discord
through the whole family.
"This is a good beginning," thought Reinhold, as he seated himself
between his uncle and aunt, with Ferdinanda opposite.