In the merchant's house domestic life flowed smoothly on again. The
small disturbance made by the return of Anton had gradually settled
down. Those first-class treasures of Sabine's had made way for other
specimens of damask, still of a superior kind, it is true, but which
came within the compass of the elderly cousin's comprehension. She had
been quite right in prophesying that Anton would never remark those
signs of exuberant gratitude or their withdrawal. However, one change
had been permanently made--the greatest, the best of all changes--the
clerk retained a privileged place in the heart of the young mistress of
the firm, and his tall figure often appeared as one of the circle that
Sabine's fancy loved to gather round her when at her work-table or in
her treasure-chamber.
To-day she was walking restlessly up and down before dinner. The cousin,
who heard every thing, had just told her that a maid from Ehrenthal's
had run into the office to announce Bernhard's death to his friend. "How
will he bear it?" thought she. And the name of Ehrenthal forced her
thoughts back to the past, to one now far away, and to that painful hour
when the struggle going on in her own mind had been suddenly brought to
a close by a letter from the house of the departed. And Anton had known
of that conquered feeling of hers. How considerate he had always been,
how chivalrous, how helpful! She wondered if he had any idea of the
completeness of her triumph over a girlish illusion. She shook her head.
"No, he has not. It was here, at this very table, that an accident first
betrayed me to him. That past time still rises like a cloud between us.
Whenever I sit near Wohlfart of an evening, I am conscious of another's
shadow at my side; and when he speaks to me, his tone, his manner always
seem to say, 'You are not alone; he is with you.'" Sabine started, and
lovingly passed her hand over the beautiful flowers on the table before
her, as if to dispel a painful thought. She could not tell him that she
was free from that long-felt sorrow. Now, however, when he had lost a
friend whom he so much loved, she must show him that there were other
hearts that clung to him still. And again she walked up and down, trying
to devise a way of speaking to him alone.
Dinner was announced. Anton came with the rest, and took his place at
once. There was no opportunity of exchanging a word during the meal, but
he often met her sad and sympathizing eye. "He eats nothing at all
to-day," whispered her cousin; "not even any of the roast," she added,
reproachfully. Sabine was much perturbed. Mr. Jordan had already risen;
Anton would leave the room with the rest, and she should not see him
again the whole day through. So she called out, "The great Calla is
fully blown now. You were admiring the buds the other day; will you
remain a moment; I should like to show it you?" Anton bowed and staid
behind. A few more awkward moments, then her brother rose too; and,
hurrying to Anton, she took him to the room where the flowers were.
"You have had sorrowful tidings to-day," she began.
"The tidings themselves did not surprise me," replied Anton. "The doctor
gave no hope. But I lose much in him."
"I never saw him," said Sabine; "but I know from you that his life was
lonely--poor in affection and in enjoyment."
She moved an arm-chair toward Anton, and led him on to talk about his
friend. She listened to every word with warm sympathy, and well knew
what to ask and how to comfort. It was a relief to Anton to speak of the
departed one, to describe his quiet way of life, his erudition, his
poetical enthusiasm. After a pause, Sabine looked up frankly into his
face, and asked, "Have you any tidings of Herr von Fink?"
It was the first time since his departure that she had ever breathed his
name. Anton felt how touching her confidence was, given in this hour of
his sadness. In his emotion, he seized her hand, which she was slow in
withdrawing.
"He is not happy in his new life," he gravely replied. "There was a
savage humor in his last letter, from which I gather, even more than
from his actual words, that the business into which his uncle's death
has thrown him does not suit him."
"It is unworthy," cried Sabine.
"At all events, it is not what would be recognized as honorable in this
house," replied Anton. "Fink is upright, and has lived too long with
your brother to take pleasure in the wild speculations so common on the
other side the Atlantic. His partners and colleagues are for the most
part men without a conscience, and his feelings revolt against their
companionship."
"And can Herr von Fink tolerate such relations as these for a day?"
"It is a remarkable thing that he whose own will was ever so arbitrarily
exercised, should now be obliged against that will to obey a pressure
from without, and every where to work with his hands tied. The
organization of such speculations in America is so complicated that one
shareholder can do little to alter it; and, now that Fink has attained
what used to be the goal of his wishes--a large capital, and the
management of immense districts--his condition appears more uncertain
than it ever was before. He was always in danger of thinking slightingly
of others, now I am distressed at the bitter contempt he expresses for
his own life. His last letter paints an intolerable state of things, and
seems to point to some decisive resolve."
"There is only one resolve for him," cried Sabine. "May I ask what you
said to him in reply?"
"I entreated him instantly, come what would, to free himself from the
business in which he was entangled. I said that his own strong will
might find a way of extrication, even if that which I pointed out proved
impracticable. Then I begged of him either to carry out his old plan of
becoming a landed proprietor in America, or to return to us."
"I knew that you would write thus," said Sabine, drawing a long breath.
"Yes, Wohlfart, he shall return," said she, gently, "but he shall not
return to us."
Anton was silent.
"And do you think that Herr von Fink will follow your advice?"
"I do not know. My advice was not very American."
"But it was worthy of you," cried Sabine, with proud delight.
"An officer wishes to speak to Mr. Wohlfart," said a servant at the
door.
Anton sprang up. Sabine went to her flowers and bent mournfully over
them. The shadows of others hovered still between her friend and her.
The few words spoken by the servant filled Anton with a vague terror. He
hurried into the ante-room: there stood Eugene von Rothsattel. Anton was
gladly rushing forward to greet him, but the young soldier's face of
agony made him start back. He whispered, "My mother wishes to speak to
you; something dreadful has occurred." Anton caught up his hat, ran into
the office, hurriedly asked Baumann to excuse him to the principal, and
then accompanied the lieutenant to the baron's house.
On the way, Eugene, who had lost all self-command, said unconnectedly to
Anton, "My father last night accidentally wounded himself by a
pistol-shot--a messenger was sent to summon me--when I came, I found my
mother in a swoon--my sister and I do not know what to do--Lenore
implored my mother on her knees to send for you--you are the only one in
whom we have any confidence in our distress--I understand nothing about
business, but my father's affairs must be in a dreadful state--my mother
is beside herself--the whole house is in the greatest disorder."
From what Eugene said and what he did not say; from his broken sentences
and his look of agony, Anton guessed at the horrors of the previous
evening. In the boudoir of the baroness he found Lenore, weeping and
exhausted.
"Dear Wohlfart!" cried she, taking his hand and beginning again to sob,
while her head sank powerless on his shoulder.
Meanwhile Eugene walked up and down, wringing his hands, and at length
throwing himself on the sofa, he gave himself up to silent tears.
"It is horrible, Mr. Wohlfart," said Lenore, lifting up her head. "No
one may approach my father--Eugene may not, nor I--only my mother and
old John are with him; and early this morning the merchant Ehrenthal was
here, insisting that he must see my father. He screamed at my mother,
and called my father a deceiver, till she fainted away. When I rushed
into the room, the dreadful man went off threatening her with his
clenched fist."
Anton led Lenore to a chair and waited till she had told him all. There
was no possibility of comforting in this case, and his own heart was
wrung to the utmost by the misery he witnessed.
"Call my mother, Eugene," said Lenore, at length.
Her brother left the room.
"Do not forsake us," implored Lenore, clasping her hands; "we are at the
last gasp; even your help can not save us."
"He is dead who might perhaps have done so," mournfully replied Anton.
"Whether I can be of any use I know not, but you can not doubt my
willingness to be so."
"No," cried Lenore. "And Eugene, too, thought of you at once."
The baroness now entered. She walked wearily; but, steadying herself by
a chair, she saluted Anton with dignity. "In our position," said she,
"we need a friend who knows more of business than we three do. An
unfortunate accident prevents the baron--possibly for a long time to
come--from managing his own affairs, and, little as I understand them, I
can see that our interests require prompt measures. My children have
mentioned you to me, but I fear I am unreasonable in asking you to
devote your time to our service."
She sat down, beckoned Anton to take a chair, and said to her children,
"Leave us; I shall be better able to tell Mr. Wohlfart the little that I
know when I do not see your grief."
When they were alone, she motioned him nearer and tried to speak, but
her lips quivered, and she hid her face in her handkerchief.
"Before I can consent, gracious lady," said he, "to your reposing in me
such confidence as this, I must first inquire whether the baron has no
relative or intimate friend to whom you could with less pain make such a
communication. I pray you to remember that my own knowledge of business
is but small, and my position not one to constitute me a proper
counselor to the baron."
"I know no one," said the baroness, hopelessly. "It is less painful to
me to tell you what I can not conceal, than to one of our own circle.
Consider yourself a physician sent for to visit a patient. The baron has
this morning told me some particulars of his present circumstances." And
then she proceeded to relate what she had gathered as to the nature of
his embarrassments, the danger in which the family property was placed,
and the capital needed to take possession of the Polish estate.
"My husband," continued she, "has given me the key of his desk, and he
wishes Eugene, with the help of a man of business, to go over his
papers. I now request of you to make this examination together with my
son. When you need explanations, I will try to obtain them from the
baron. The question is now, whether you are inclined to undertake this
trouble for us, who are only strangers."
"I am most willing to do so," earnestly replied Anton; "and I hope that
the kindness of my principal will allow me the time needful for the
purpose, if you do not consider it more advisable to depute the baron's
experienced legal adviser to the task."
"There will be an opportunity of asking that gentleman's advice later,"
said the baroness.
Anton rose. "When do you wish to begin?"
"Immediately. I fear there is not a day to lose. I shall do all I can to
help you look the papers over." She led Anton into the next room, called
in Eugene, and unlocked the baron's desk. As she opened it she lost her
self-command for a moment, and moving to the window, the quivering of
the curtains betrayed the anguish that shook her fragile frame.
The mournful task began. Hour after hour passed. Eugene was in no
condition to peruse any thing, but his mother reached letters and
documents to Anton, and, though often obliged to desist a while, she
bravely returned to the task. Anton placed the papers in order, and
sought, by glancing over each, to arrive at least at a superficial view
of the facts of the case.
It was evening, when the old servant opened the door in dismay, and
called out, "He is there again." The baroness could not repress a slight
scream, and made a gesture of aversion.
"I have told him that no one is at home, but he will not be dismissed;
he makes such a noise on the steps. I can not get rid of him."
"It will kill me if I hear his voice again," murmured the baroness.
"If the man be Ehrenthal," said Anton, rising, "I will try to get him
away. We have now done what was most necessary; have the goodness to
lock up these papers, and to allow me to return to-morrow." The baroness
silently assented, and sank back in her chair. Anton hurried off to the
ante-room, whence he could hear Ehrenthal's loudly-raised voice.
The appearance of the usurer shocked him. His hat pushed half off his
head, his pale face swelled as if by drinking, his glazed eyes red with
tears, Ehrenthal stood before him, calling in broken sentences for the
baron, wailing and cursing alternately. "He must come! he must come at
once!" cried he; "the wicked man! A nobleman, indeed! he is a vagabond,
after whom I will send the police. Where is my money? Where is my
security? I want my mortgage from this man who is not at home."
Anton went straight up to him, and asked, "Do you know me, Mr.
Ehrenthal?" Ehrenthal turned his glazed eyes upon him, and gradually
recognized the friend of his dead son.
"He loved you!" he cried, in a lamentable voice. "He spoke to you more
than to his father. You were the only friend that he had on earth. Have
you heard what has happened in the house of Ehrenthal?" continued he, in
a whisper. "Just as they stole the papers he died. He died with a hand
like this," and clenching his fist he struck his forehead. "Oh my son!
my son! why didst not thou forgive thy father!"
"We will go to your son," said Anton, taking the arm of the old man, who
unresistingly allowed himself to be led back to his own house.
From thence Anton hurried to Councilor Horn, with whom he had a long
conversation.
It was late before he returned home. In the midst of his anxiety about
those whose prosperity had filled his imagination years before, the
confidence that they, in their adversity, reposed in him, dilated his
breast with a feeling of pride. He burned with desire to help them, and
hoped that his zealous devotion might yet find some way of rescue. As
yet he saw none. Looking up at the great building before him, so firm
and secure, in the moonlight, a thought flashed into his mind. If any
man could help them, it was his principal. His keen eye would be able to
unravel all the dark secrets in which the baron was entangled, and his
iron strength of will would crush the villains who held the unfortunate
nobleman in their power. And then he had a noble nature; he always
decided on the right, without an effort or a struggle. Anton looked at
the first floor. The whole house-front was dark, but in a corner room a
light still burned. It was the private office of his chief.
With sudden resolve, Anton begged the servant to take him to Mr.
Schröter, who looked with amazement at the unexpected visitor, and asked
what brought him, and whether any thing had happened.
"I implore your counsel--I implore your help," cried Anton.
"For yourself or for others?" inquired the merchant.
"For a family with whom I have accidentally become connected. They are
lost if a strong hand does not ward off the impending catastrophe."
Anton then rapidly related the occurrences of the afternoon, and,
seizing his principal's hand in his emotion, cried, "Have pity upon the
unhappy ladies, and help them."
"Help them!" replied the merchant; "how can I? Have you been
commissioned to apply to me, or are you only following the impulse of
your own feelings?"
"I am not commissioned; it is only the interest that I take in the
baron's fate which leads me to you."
"And what right have you to inform me of facts communicated in strict
confidence to yourself by the baron's lady?" asked the merchant, dryly.
"I am committing no indiscretion in telling you what will, in a few
days, be no secret, even to strangers."
"You are unusually excited, otherwise you would not forget that, under
no circumstances whatever, does a man of business venture to make such a
communication without the special permission of the parties concerned.
Of course, I shall make no wrong use of what you have said, but it was
by no means business-like, Wohlfart, to be so open toward me."
Anton was silent, feeling, indeed, that his principal was right, but yet
it seemed hard to be blamed for reposing confidence at such a time as
this. The merchant walked silently up and down; at length, stopping
before Anton, he said, "I do not now inquire how you come to take so
warm an interest in this family. I fear it is an acquaintance you owe to
Fink."
"You shall hear all," said Anton.
"Not at present. I will now content myself with repeating that it is
impossible for me to interfere in these affairs without being specially
applied to by the parties themselves. I may add that I by no means wish
for such an application, and do not disguise from you that, were it
made, I should probably decline to do any thing for the Baron
Rothsattel."
Anton's feelings were roused to the utmost. "The question is the rescue
of an honorable man, and of lovely and amiable women from the toils of
rogues and impostors. To me, this seems the duty of every one; I, at
least, consider it a sacred obligation which I dare not shrink from. But
without your support I can do nothing."
"And how do you think this embarrassed man can be helped?" inquired the
merchant, seating himself.
With somewhat more composure, Anton replied: "In the first instance, by
an experienced man of business making himself master of the case. There
must be some way of circumventing these villains. Your penetration would
discover it."
"Any attorney would be far more likely to do so, and the baron might
readily engage the services of experienced and upright legal advisers.
If his enemies have done any thing illegal, the quick eye of a lawyer is
the most likely to detect it."
"Alas! the baron's own lawyer gives but little hope," replied Anton.
"Then, my dear Wohlfart, no other is likely to do much good. Show me an
embarrassed man who has strength to grasp an offered hand, and bid me
help him, and for the sake of all I owe you, I will not refuse to do so.
I think you are convinced of this."
"I am," said Anton, dejectedly.
"From all I hear, however," the merchant went on, "this is not the case
with the baron. From what I gather from general report, as well as from
you, his embarrassments arise from his having fallen into the hands of
usurers, which proves him deficient in what alone ennobles the life of
any man--good sense, and the power of steady exertion."
Anton could only sigh his assent.
"To help such a man," inexorably continued the merchant, "is a futile
attempt, against which reason may well protest. We are not to despair of
any, but want of strength is the most hopeless case of all. Our power of
laboring for others being limited, it becomes our duty to inquire,
before we devote our time to the weak, whether we are not thus
diminishing our chances of helping better men."
Anton interrupted him. "Does he not deserve every allowance to be made
for him? He was brought up to exact much; he has not learned, as we
have, to make his way by his own labor."
The merchant laid his hand on the young man's shoulder. "The very
reason. Believe me, a large number of these landed gentry, who pay the
penalty of their old family memories, are beyond help. I am the last to
deny that many worthy and admirable men belong to this class. Indeed,
wherever remarkable talent or nobility of character shoots up among
them, no doubt their position offers peculiar scope for its development,
but for average men it is not a favorable one. He who considers it his
hereditary privilege to enjoy life, and who assumes a distinguished
position in virtue of his family, will very often fail to put forth his
whole strength in order to deserve that position. Accordingly, numbers
of our oldest families are declining, and their fall will be no loss to
the state. Their family associations make them haughty without any
right to be so--limit their perceptions and confuse their judgment."
"Even if all this be true," cried Anton, "it does not absolve us from
helping individuals of the class who have excited our sympathy."
"No," said the principal, "if it be excited. But it does not glow so
rapidly in advancing years as in youth. The baron has endeavored to
isolate his property from the current of circumstances, in order to
leave it forever to his family. Forever! You, as a merchant, know how to
estimate the attempt. True, every rational man must allow it to be
desirable that the culture of the same soil should be handed down from
father to son. We all prize what our forefathers have possessed before
us, and Sabine would unlock every room in this house with pride, because
her great-great-grandmother turned the same keys before her. It is
therefore natural that the landed proprietor should desire to preserve
those familiar scenes, which are the source of his own prosperity, to
those nearest and dearest to him. But there must be means to this end,
and these means are the making his own existence available for the
maintenance and increase of his patrimony. Where energy dies in families
or individuals, then it is well that their means die too, that their
money should circulate through other hands, and their plowshare pass to
those who can guide it better. A family that has become effete through
luxury ought to sink down into common life, to make room for the
uprising of fresh energies and faculties. Every one who seeks, at the
cost of free activity for others, to preserve permanent possessions and
privileges for himself or his family, I must look upon as an enemy to
the healthy development of our social state. And if such a man ruin
himself in his endeavors, I should feel no malicious pleasure in his
downfall, but I should say that he is rightly served, because he has
sinned against a fundamental law of our social being; consequently, I
should consider it doubly wrong to support this man, because I could but
fear that I should thus be supporting an unsound condition of the body
politic."
Anton looked down mournfully. He had expected sympathy and warm
concurrence, and he met with disaffection and coldness that he despaired
of conquering. "I can not gainsay you," he at length replied; "but in
this case I can not feel as you do. I have been witness to the
unspeakable distress in the baron's family, and my whole soul is full
of sadness and sympathy, and of the wish to do something for those who
have opened their heart to me. After what you have said, I dare no
longer ask you to trouble yourself with their affairs, but I have
promised the baroness to assist her as far as my small powers permit,
and your kindness allows. I implore you to grant me permission to do
this. I shall endeavor to be regular in my attendance at the office, but
if during the next few weeks I am occasionally absent, I must ask you to
excuse me."
Once more the merchant walked up and down the room, and then, looking at
Anton's excited face, with deep seriousness and something of regret, he
replied, "Remember, Wohlfart, that every occupation which excites the
mind soon obtains a hold over a man, which may retard as well as advance
his success in life. It is this which makes it difficult to me to agree
to your wishes."
"I know it," said Anton, in a low voice; "but I have now no choice
left."
"Well, then, do what you must," said the merchant, gloomily; "I will lay
no hinderance in your way; and I hope that after a few weeks you will be
able to consider the whole circumstances more calmly." Anton left the
room, and the merchant stood looking long with frowning brow at the
place his clerk had occupied.
Nor was Anton in a more congenial mood. "So cold, so inexorable!"
exclaimed he, as he reached his own room. He began to suspect that his
principal was more selfish and less kindly than he had hitherto
supposed. Many an expression of Fink's recurred to his mind, as well as
that evening when young Rothsattel, in his boyish conceit, had spoken
impertinently to the merchant. "Is it possible," thought he, "that that
rude speech should be unforgotten?" And his chief's keen, deep-furrowed
face lost inexpressibly by contrast with the fair forms of the noble
ladies. "I am not wrong," he cried to himself; "let him say what he
will, my views are more just than his, and henceforth my destiny shall
be to choose for myself the way in which I shall walk." He sat long in
the darkness, and his thoughts were gloomy as it; then he went to the
window to look down into the dark court below. A great white blossom
rose before him like a phantom. Striking a light, he saw that it was the
beautiful Calla out of Sabine's room. It hung down mournfully on its
broken stem. Sabine had had it placed there. This little circumstance
struck him as a mournful omen.
Meanwhile Sabine, taper in hand, entered her brother's room.
"Good-night, Traugott," nodded she. "Wohlfart has been with you this
evening; how long he staid!"
"He will leave us," replied the merchant, gloomily.
Sabine started and dropped her taper on the table. "For God's sake, what
has happened? Has Wohlfart said that he was going away?"
"I do not yet know it, but I see it coming step by step; and I can not,
and still less can you, do any thing to retain him. When he stood before
me here with glowing cheeks and trembling voice, pleading for a ruined
man, I found out what it was that lured him away."
"I do not understand you," said Sabine, looking full at her brother.
"He chooses to become the confidential friend of a decayed noble. A pair
of bright eyes draws him away from us: it seems to him a worthy object
of ambition to become Rothsattel's man of business. This intimacy with
nobility is the legacy bequeathed to him by Fink."
"And you have refused to help him?" inquired Sabine, in a low voice.
"Let the dead bury their dead," said the merchant, harshly; and he
turned to his writing-table.
Sabine slowly withdrew. The taper trembled in her hand as she passed
through the long suite of rooms listening to her own footfall, and
shuddering as the feeling came over her that an invisible companion
glided by her side. This was the revenge of that other. The shadow that
once fell on her innocent life now drove her friend away from their
circle. Anton's affections clung to another. She had but been in his
eyes a mere stranger, who had once loved and languished for one now far
away, and who now, in widow's weeds, looked back regretfully to the
feelings of her youth.
The few next weeks were spent by Anton in over-hard work. He had great
difficulty in keeping up his counting-house duties, while he spent every
spare hour in conference with the baroness and the lawyer.
In the mean time, the misfortunes of the baron ran their course. He had
not been able to pay the interest of the sums with which his estate was
burdened. When last they were due, a whole series of claims was brought
against him, and the estate fell under the administration of the
district authorities. Complicated lawsuits arose. Ehrenthal complained
loudly, claiming the first mortgage of twenty thousand dollars--nay, he
was inclined to advance claims on the last mortgage offered by the baron
in the recent fatal hour. Löbel Pinkus also appeared as claimant of the
first mortgage, and asserted that he had paid the whole sum of twenty
thousand dollars. Ehrenthal had no proof to bring forward, and had been
for some weeks past quite unable to manage his own affairs, while
Pinkus, on the contrary, fought with every weapon a hardened sinner can
devise or employ, and the deeds which the baron had executed at Veitel's
suggestion proved to be so capital a master-stroke of the cunning
advocate, that the baron's man of business had, from the first, little
hope of the case. We may here observe that Pinkus did eventually win it,
and that the mortgage was made over to him.
Anton was now gradually gaining some insight into the baron's
circumstances. But the double sale of the first mortgage was still kept
a secret by the latter, even from his wife. He declared Ehrenthal's
claim unfounded, and even expressed a suspicion that he had himself had
something to do with the robbery in his office. Indeed, he really
believed this. Then the name of Itzig was never broached, and the
suspicion against Ehrenthal, which the baron's lawyer shared, prevented
Anton seeking any explanation from him.
Meanwhile, an estrangement had sprung up between our hero and his
principal, which the whole counting-house remarked with surprise. The
merchant scowled at Anton's vacant seat when the latter chanced to be
absent during office-hours, or looked coldly at his clerk's face, made
pale as it was with excitement of mind and night-work. He took no notice
of his new occupation, and never seemed to remark him. Even to his
sister he maintained a stiff-necked silence; nor could all her attempts
lead him to speak of Anton, who, on his side, felt his heart revolt
against this coldness. After his return, to be treated like a child of
the house, praised, promoted, petted, and now to be treated like a mere
hireling, who is not worth the bread thrown to him; to be a toy of an
incomprehensible caprice--this, at least, he had not deserved; so he
became reserved toward the whole family, and sat silent at his desk; but
he felt the contrast between the now and the then so keenly, that often,
when alone, he would spring up and stamp on the ground in the bitter
indignation of his heart.
One comfort remained. Sabine was not estranged. True, he saw little of
her, and at dinner she seemed to avoid speaking to him, but he knew that
she was on his side.
A few days after his first conversation with the merchant, she came down
stairs as he stood in the hall, and had to pass him by so closely that
her dress touched him. He had retreated, and made a formal bow, but she
looked at him imploringly, and whispered, "You must not be estranged
from me." It was an affair of a moment, but the faces of both were
radiant with a happy understanding.
The time had now arrived when Mr. Jordan was to quit the firm. The
principal again called Anton into his little office, and without any
severity, but also without a trace of his former cordiality, began: "I
have already mentioned to you my intention of appointing you Jordan's
successor; but, during the last few weeks, your time has been more taken
up with other business than would be compatible with such a post, I
therefore ask you whether you are now at liberty to undertake Jordan's
duties?"
"I am not," replied Anton.
"Can you name any--not very distant--time when you will be free from
your present occupation? In that case I will endeavor to find a
substitute until then."
Anton sorrowfully replied, "I can not at present say when I shall again
be master of my whole time; and, besides, I feel that, even as it is, I
tax your indulgence by many irregularities. Therefore, Mr. Schröter, I
beg that you will fill up this post without any reference to me."
The merchant's brow grew furrowed and dark, and he silently bowed
assent. Anton felt as he closed the door that the estrangement between
them was now complete, and, resuming his place, he leaned his throbbing
head on his hand. A moment later Baumann was summoned to the principal,
and Jordan's situation conferred upon him. On returning to the office,
he went up to Anton and whispered, "I refused at first, but Mr. Schröter
insisted. I am doing you an injustice." And that evening Mr. Baumann, in
his own room, read in the first book of Samuel the chapters treating of
the unjust Saul (the principal), and of the friendship between Jonathan
and the persecuted David, and strengthened his heart thereby.
The next day Anton was summoned to the baroness. Lenore and her mother
sat before a large table covered with jewel-boxes and toilette elegances
of every description, while a heavy iron chest stood at their feet. The
curtains were drawn, and the subdued light shone softly into the richly
furnished room. On the carpet glowed wreaths of unfading flowers, and
the clock ticked cheerfully in its alabaster case. Under the shade of
flowering plants sat the two love-birds in their silvered cage, hopping
from perch to perch, screaming ceaselessly, or sitting up quietly close
to each other. The whole room was beauty and perfume. "For how long?"
thought Anton. The baroness rose. "We are already obliged to trouble you
again," said she; "we are engaged in a very painful occupation." On the
table were all manner of ornaments, gold chains, brilliants, rings,
necklaces, gathered into a heap.
"We have been looking out all that we can dispense with," said the
baroness, "and now pray you to undertake to sell these things for us. I
have been told that some of them are of value, and as we are now in much
need of money, we turn here for help."
Anton looked in perplexity at the glittering heap.
"Tell us, Wohlfart," cried Lenore, anxiously, "is this necessary? can it
be of any use? Mamma has insisted upon setting apart for sale all our
ornaments, and whatever plate is not in daily use. What I can give is
not worth talking of, but my mother's jewels are costly; many of them
were presents made to her in youth, which she shall not part with unless
you say that it is necessary."
"I fear," said Anton, gravely, "that it will prove so."
"Take them," said the baroness to Anton; "I shall be calmer when I know
that we have at least done what we could."
"But do you wish to part with all?" inquired Anton, anxiously. "Much
that is dear to you may have but little value in a jeweler's eyes."
"I shall never wear an ornament again," quietly replied the baroness.
"Take them all;" and, holding her hands before her eyes, she turned
away.
"We are torturing my mother," cried Lenore, hastily; "will you lock up
all that is on the table, and get them out of the house as soon as you
can?"
"I can not undertake the charge of these valuables," said Anton,
"without taking some measures to decrease my own responsibility. First
of all, I will in your presence make a short note of all you intrust to
me."
"What useless cruelty!" exclaimed Lenore.
"It will not take long."
Anton took out a few sheets from his pocket-book, and began to note down
the different articles.
"You shall not see it done, mother," said Lenore, drawing her mother
away, and then returning to watch Anton at his task.
"These preparations for the market are horrible," said she. "My mother's
whole life will be sold; some memory of hers is linked with every single
thing. Look, Wohlfart, the princess gave her this diamond ornament when
she married my father."
"They are magnificent brilliants," cried Anton, admiringly.
"This ring was my grandfather's, and these are presents of poor papa's.
Alas! no man can know how we love all these things. It was always a
festival to me when mamma put on her diamonds. Now we come to my
possessions. They are not worth much. Do you think this bracelet good
gold?" She held out her hand as she spoke.
"I do not know."
"It shall go with the rest," said Lenore, taking it off. "Yes, you are a
kind, good man, Wohlfart," continued she, looking trustfully into his
tearful eyes; "do not forsake us. My brother has no experience, and is
more helpless than we are. It is a frightful position for me. Before
mamma I do all I can to be composed, else I could scream and weep the
whole day through." She sank in a chair, still holding his hand. "Dear
Wohlfart, do not forsake us."
Anton bent over her, and looked with passionate emotion at the lovely
face that turned so trustfully to him in the midst of its tears.
"I will be helpful to you when I can," said he, in the fullness of his
heart. "I will be at hand whenever you need me. You have too good an
opinion of my information and my faculties; I can be of less assistance
to you than you suppose, but what I can, that I will do in any and every
possible way."
Their hands parted with a warm pressure; the affair was settled.
The baroness now returned. "Our lawyer was with me this morning," said
she; "and now I must ask for your opinion on another subject. He tells
me that there is no prospect of preserving the baron's family estate."
"At this time, when interest is high, and money difficult to get, none,"
replied Anton.
"And you, too, think that we must turn all our efforts toward preserving
the Polish property?"
"I do," was the answer.
"For that, also, money will be necessary. Perhaps I may be able through
my relatives to intrust you with a small sum, which, with the help of
that"--she pointed to the iron chest--"may suffice to cover the first
necessary expenses. I do not, however, wish to sell the jewels here, and
a journey to the residence would be necessary in order to procure the
sum to which I have just alluded. The baron's lawyer has spoken most
highly of your capacity for business. It is his wish which now decides
me to make a proposal to you. Will you for the next few years, or, at
all events, until our greatest difficulties are over, devote your whole
time to our affairs? I have consulted my children, and they agree with
me in believing that in your assistance lies our only hope of rescue.
The baron, too, has come in to the plan. The question now is whether
your circumstances allow you to give your support to our unfortunate
family. We shall be grateful to you, whatever conditions you affix; and
if you can find any way of making our great obligations to you apparent
in the position you hold, pray impart it to me."
Anton stood petrified. What the baroness required of him was separation
from the firm, separation from his principal, and from Sabine! Had this
thought occurred to him before, when standing in Lenore's presence or
bending over the baron's papers? At all events, now that the words were
spoken, they shocked him. He looked at Lenore, who stood behind her
mother with hands clasped in supplication. At length he replied, "I
stand in a position which I can not leave without the consent of others.
I was not prepared for this proposal, and beg to have time allowed me
for consideration. It is a step which will decide my whole future life."
"I do not press you," said the baroness; "I only request your
consideration. Whatever your decision be, our warmest gratitude will
still be yours; if you are unable to uphold our feeble strength, I fear
that we shall find no one to do so. You will think of that," she added,
beseechingly.
Anton hurried through the street with throbbing pulse. The noble lady's
glance of entreaty, Lenore's folded hands, beckoned him out of the
gloomy counting-house into a sphere of greater liberty, into a new
future, from whose depths bright images flashed out upon his fancy. A
request had been frankly made, and he was strongly inclined to justify
the confidence that prompted it. Those ladies required an unwearied,
self-sacrificing helper to save them from utter ruin, and if he
followed his impulse he should be doing a good work--fulfilling a duty.
In this mood he entered the merchant's dwelling. Alas! all that he saw
around him seemed to stretch out a hand to detain him. As he looked at
the warehouse, the good-humored faces of the porters, the chains of the
great scales, the hieroglyphics of the worthy Pix, again he felt that
this was the place that he belonged to. Sabine's dog kissed his hand,
and ran before him to his room--his and Fink's room. Here the childish
heart of the orphan boy had found a friend, kind companions, a home, a
definite and honorable life-purpose. Looking down through his window on
all the long-familiar objects, he saw a light in Sabine's store-chamber.
How often he had sought for that light, which brightened the whole great
building, and brought a sense of comfort and cheerfulness even into his
room. He now sprang up suddenly, and said to himself, "She shall
decide."
Sabine started in amazement when Anton appeared before her. "I am
irresistibly impelled to seek you," cried he. "I have to decide upon my
future life, and I feel undetermined, and unable to trust to my own
judgment. You have always been a kind friend to me since the day of my
arrival. I am accustomed to look up to you, and to think of you in
connection with all that interests me here. Let me hear your opinion
from your own lips. The Baroness Rothsattel has to-day proposed to me
permanently to undertake the situation of confidential adviser and
manager of the baron's affairs. Shall I accept; or shall I remain here?
I know not--tell me what is right both for myself and others."
"Not I," said Sabine, drawing back and growing very pale. "I can not
venture to decide in the matter. Nor do you wish me to do so, Wohlfart,
for you have already decided."
Anton looked straight before him and was silent.
"You have thought of leaving this house, and a wish to do so has sprung
out of the thought. And I am to justify you, and approve your resolve!
This is what you require of me," continued she, bitterly. "But this,
Wohlfart, I can not do, for I am sorry that you go away from us."
She turned away from him and leaned on the back of a chair.
"Oh, be not angry with me too!" said Anton; "that I can not bear. I have
suffered much of late. Mr. Schröter has suddenly withdrawn from me the
friendly regard that I long held my life's greatest treasure. I have not
deserved his coldness. What I have been doing has not been wrong, and
it was done with his knowledge. I had been spoiled by his kindness; I
have the more deeply felt his displeasure. My only comfort has been that
you did not condemn me. And now, do not you be cold toward me, else I
shall be wretched forever. There is not a soul on earth to whom I can
turn for affectionate comprehension of my difficulties. Had I a sister,
I should seek her heart to-day. You do not know what to me, lonely as I
am, your smile, your kindly shake of the hand has been till now. Do not
turn coldly from me, I beseech you."
Sabine was silent. At length she inquired, still with averted face,
"What draws you to those strangers; is it a joyful hope, is it sympathy
alone? Give this question close consideration before you answer it to
yourself at least."
"What it is that makes it possible for me to leave this house," said
Anton, "I do not myself know. If I can give a name to my motives, it is
gratitude felt toward one. She was the first to speak kindly to the
wandering boy on his way out into the world. I have admired her in the
peaceful brightness of her former life. I have often dreamed childish
dreams about her. There was a time when a tender feeling for her filled
my whole heart, and I then believed myself forever the slave of her
image. But years bring changes, and I learned to look on men and on life
with other eyes. Then I met her again, distressed, unhappy, despairing,
and my compassion became overmastering. When I am away from her, I know
that she is nothing to me; when I am with her, I feel only the spell of
her sorrow. Once, when I had to depart out of her circle like a culprit,
she came to me, and before the whole scornful assembly she gave me her
hand and acknowledged me her friend; and now she comes and asks for my
hand to help her father. Can I refuse it? Is it wrong to feel as I do? I
know not, and no one can tell me--no one but you alone."
Sabine's head had sunk down to the back of the chair on which she bent.
She now suddenly raised it, and with tearful eyes, and a voice full of
love and sorrow, cried, "Follow the voice that calls you. Go, Wohlfart,
go."