It was a princely banquet that Hildegard had prepared for her guests in
the dining-hall of the whilom princely abode. The closed curtains had
excluded the daylight from the beginning, and the light of innumerable
candles fell upon the table from the three great chandeliers and from a
number of candelabras fixed to the wall. The table shone and sparkled
with crystal and silver, was decked with a profusion of the choicest
flowers, and surrounded by a most brilliant company. There were five
and twenty officers in their uniforms--and the general _coup d'[oe]il_
was truly enchanting. Everything went off well. Hildegard herself could
scarcely distinguish from her own serving-men the extra waiters ordered
from town, and put into liveries; in the adjoining hall the band of the
99th was playing, for Colonel von Waldor had insisted upon My Lady thus
honouring his regiment, although she had a band from town in readiness.
The toasts, in reference to which she had been somewhat uneasy, had
been a wonderful success. Otto had not blundered or stopped short in
the first toast--His Majesty the Emperor, of course; then Bertram, whom
she had, at dinner, by means of a pencilled note, asked to do so, had
in the name of the host, and as the oldest friend of the family
present, welcomed the guests and proposed the health of the 99th.
Thereupon Colonel von Waldor returned thanks in a really capital
speech, abounding in merry quips and happy inspirations. He called the
brilliant reception given to the regiment, a posthumous celebration of
their doings in the last war, and a lordly payment "on account" for
what they were destined to do in the campaigns of the future. He then
proceeded to describe the reception in detail, and added that to him,
personally, it had been the most charming of all the charming surprises
of the day, to find in the gentleman who had so cordially welcomed them
all to this most hospitable house, an old and dear friend from whom he
had been separated for years; and at last, passing adroitly from the
host's representative to the host himself, he proposed the health of
"their far too generous entertainer, and of the kind, gracious, and
beauteous lady of the manor, by whose side, he had the rare happiness
of being seated."
And the other officers--four and-twenty in number--had started from
their seats like one man, and had three times shouted their _Hoch_ in
singularly sharp and definite intervals, overpowering the _Hoch_ of the
other guests as the roar of cannon drowns the sound of musket firing,
and the band had joined in the celebration; and they had all crowded
around Hildegard, with their champagne-goblets held on high; and as she
received all these homages, she looked radiantly, superbly beautiful,
and so the Colonel had told her, adding that she was by far the fairest
of all the fair ladies there; and as they settled in their places
again, he had kissed her hand in eager gallantry.
Hildegard thanked the enchanted Colonel with a gracious smile for his
flattery, and thanked him warmly, too, for his excellent toast, in
which she had missed but one thing, to wit, some clever allusion,
some dainty reference to her illustrious guest, the Princess, who, from
her place of honour next to Otto, on the opposite side of the
banqueting-table, had, followed the speaker with the greatest
attention, and had evidently expected something of the kind.
The Colonel smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"I had thought of it, too, My Lady," he said; "but, upon honour, it
could not be done."
"Why not?
"I have already told My Lady that the Princess and I met last year in
Teplitz. Since My Lady--and I must express my sincere gratitude for the
condescension--did me last night repeatedly the honour of mentioning my
name to her, without, it would appear, recalling any reminiscence on
her part, I surely could not indulge in reminiscences. My wounded
vanity peremptorily forbade any such thing. And, moreover, it was
wounded ere then. It is no joke for a Colonel who has been somewhat
spoiled, to see a young officer, and particularly one belonging to his
own regiment, preferred to himself, and such, was then undoubtedly the
case. The young gentleman suffering, like myself, from a severe wound
received during the '70 campaign, had accompanied me to Teplitz, and
was my constant companion, so that he can bear witness to everything.
The reminiscence of that wound inflicted upon my vanity is at this
moment the more vivid, because the young gentleman is here."
The Colonel pointed, as he spoke, to a slender young officer, dark of
eye and hair, who was sitting between Agatha and Augusta, and who was
conversing eagerly with the former, while Augusta, a coquettish beauty,
looked supremely bored.
Upon Hildegard the young man's appearance had already made so pleasing
an impression after he had been introduced to her, that she had
actually remembered his name and rank--Premier-Lieutenant and Adjutant
Ringberg. But she thought she was acting prudently in saying that she
saw nothing remarkable in the young gentleman. Much to her amazement,
the Colonel seemed almost offended at this; Ringberg, he said, was
really in every way a remarkable man, the most studious, and at the
same time the smartest officer in his regiment, a man of excellent
character; and a jolly companion, for whom he himself had a sort of
paternal fondness; indeed, Ringberg was the son of a dear friend of his
own, left early an orphan, and he, the Colonel, had acted for him _in
loco parentis_, and wished him every happiness under the sun, including
the conquest of the beautiful Russian and her millions.
"But there seems little prospect of that," Hildegard said, smilingly
interrupting the Colonel in his eager talk; "as far as I have been able
to observe, your _protege_ does not exist for our beautiful friend."
"That may be one of her masks," replied the Colonel. "I think the lady
has a great many."
"You must not talk like this to me; I adore Alexandra."
"But, My Lady, so do I too, otherwise I should never dream of abusing
her."
"That, too, I must forbid."
"Then I will swear that she does not even know what a mask is, and I am
ready to face a world in arms in proof of the assertion," laughed the
Colonel, and Hildegard laughed too, and kissed her hand to the Princess
across the table, a compliment which the fair Russian returned eagerly.
Hildegard felt so happy by the side of her brilliant cavalier, that she
could scarcely make up her mind to give the signal for rising from the
table. But at last it had to be done, after she had exchanged a few
hurried words with Herr von Busche, who had quietly come up behind her
chair. When, a few minutes later, she rose from her seat, the curtains
were suddenly and simultaneously withdrawn from the windows and doors,
the glass doors flew wide open, and before the amazed eyes of the
company lay the garden in fairy-like illumined splendour. Rows of
coloured balloons were drawn like garlands along and adown the
terraces; and every prominent point--and there were many of them--had
been utilised for some effective purpose of decoration: a pyramid of
stars, a wreath of light, or a radiant crown. And the guests, now
hurrying away from the tables, had scarcely all gathered upon
the verandah before they found themselves enveloped in the dazzling
brilliancy of coloured lights; the magnificent facade of the
mansion-house, wrapt in a glorious purple glow, stood out with
wonderful effect against the darkening sky, and a deep green flame sent
a soft and tender light along the terraces and mingled on the great
grass plot in front of the verandah with the red light, the combination
yielding a dim, mysterious kind of magic dawn. And before the glow had
faded away, and before the admiring and wondering exclamations of the
delighted and surprised guests had ceased, there was the thunder of
cannon, a signal, and lo! from the wide common below, a rocket winged
its shining flight upwards, followed by another and yet another, in
such swift succession that the fiery missiles bursting anon high, high
up in the air, seemed to fill the dark sky with a galaxy of glowing
stars, whilst below squibs and crackers were exploding and wheels of
fire were whirling round in all directions.
But now the younger members of the company could be restrained no
longer. In vain did anxious mammas preach patience and caution and call
for shawls and cloaks, the young ladies would not wait, and fortunately
the night was so calm and warm that they could really dispense with
wrappings; the officers had, anyhow, to remain bare-headed unless they
cared to put on the spiked helmets with which they had appeared at the
banquet. So they all danced merrily down the wide steps; and were soon
scattered over the terraces; and from all sides there came the laughing
shouts of those who were looking for each other, who perhaps met
unexpectedly at some turn in the labyrinth, or who were pretending to
escape, a merry game in which the young ladies, whether staying in the
house or belonging to the neighbourhood, being familiar with the
locality, gladly assumed the leadership, adroitly using their knowledge
to their own advantage.
Meanwhile the greater part of the guests had gradually withdrawn to the
chambers on either side of the great banqueting-hall, the ladies to the
music-rooms and tea-rooms on the left, the gentlemen mostly to the
billiard-room, which opened into the smoking- and card-rooms. Some
still went in and out at the great French windows, all of which opened
on the verandah, but on the verandah itself there were now
comparatively few people, so that Bertram had but now and again to
exhort the Colonel to lower his sonorous voice a little. The friends
were pacing up and down arm in arm; the Colonel's uniform was all but
entirely unbuttoned, he was puffing vigorously at his cigar, and his
handsome, gallant features were aglow with the after-effect of the
champagne, and with the excitement which increased with every word
which he was rapidly uttering.
"Believe me," he cried, "my good fellow, if anything could still
increase my feeling of absolute worship for this unique woman, it would
be the pluck with which she went into action for young Ringberg. But
unfortunately with all those fair and adorable creatures, intention and
execution never correspond. A masterly outflanking of the foe, an
assault _comme il faut_, and then at once this ludicrous mistake! I
could have died with laughter! Not the slightest idea on her part that
you are such a very special and intimate friend of mine! And so she
goes and tells you all the minutest details of our story, as to an
absolute stranger, supposed to be quite incapable of translating it
back into German from the French, because he can have no idea as to the
identity of the real persons involved! And why this stupendous want of
caution? To frighten you away! From what? From falling in love with the
little damsel, or to induce you, in case you had already done so, to be
kind enough to retire immediately! As though the like of us were to be
rightened away from our purpose by a reconnoitring like this, however
forced! 'You may thank your stars,' I said to her 'that Doctor Bertram
has better things to occupy himself with than the childishness which
you impute to him!' To be sure she swears that she became convinced of
it last night, for you remained perfectly calm and self-possessed, and
had the contrary been the case, it would certainly not have escaped
her, as she was scrutinising your every mien with the upmost care; but
then her own mien, as she was telling me all this, proved how pleased
and relieved she felt that all had gone off so happily!"
"And what," asked; Bertram, "have you decided in Ringberg's affair?
Will you not at least take Erna, and, of course, her parents, into the
secret?"
"The deuce I will!" cried Waldor. "I surely should not hesitate to
rescue Ringberg at any cost from some position of great danger, but
this is, not a question of my making a sacrifice, but of Alexandra
making one that she cannot make, unless she wishes to give up half her
fortune, which goes to the deuce as soon as our engagement gets
known. But I want the whole fortune and not the half! When I was but
a lieutenant I swore a great oath to myself that I would die a
Field-Marshal, and would live like a Prince until I got to be one! Now
you surely cannot expect that I should break my oath, and, to myself
too?"
Bertram did not think it advisable to point out to his friend, the
contradictions he was guilty of in one breath. He only said--
"I should think the sacrifice might be avoided, if you made the people
who are interested pledge themselves to secrecy. None of them would
hesitate to accept that objection."
"In such things," replied the Colonel, "one should not trust any one's
promise of secrecy. Why, every thing would already be betrayed, if
Alexandra had honoured any one but yourself with her indiscretions!"
"But if the Princess absolutely insists upon making the sacrifice?"
"Then I shall as absolutely forbid her doing anything of the kind! The
services which Kurt has rendered us are considerable, I admit; but
then, in the first case, they were rendered to me. How can I ask her to
act such a generous part? Nay, what does she mean by wishing to do it?
One would not, one could not, do more for one's lover! And, to the best
of my knowledge, she is in love with me, and not with Ringberg!"
His cigar had gone out and he flung it away, turning to light a new one
at one of the lights placed along the verandah. Thus he did not see the
smile which Bertram--though his heart was little attuned to mirth--had
not been able to repress at the words which his not over-modest friend
had been uttering.
"In that case the Princess will have to say, like the priest Domingo,
in Schiller's 'Don Carlos:' 'We have been here in vain,'" he resumed,
as the Colonel took his arm again.
"To be sure," was the calm reply; "and I have strongly urged her to
leave to-morrow. Surrounded as we are here by my officers, one or two
of whom are already likely enough to know more than I care for, we are
not for a single moment safe from startling disclosures. I think I have
as strong nerves as most people, but to be seated upon a powder-barrel
when there is a conflagration raging all round, is uncomfortable for
the most courageous."
"What is uncomfortable, Colonel?" asked Alexandra's voice behind them.
The Colonel turned on his heels; and quickly buttoning his uniform,
exclaimed--
"Ah, most gracious Princess!"
"Let us call each other by our names before this good friend," said
Alexandra. "Give me your arm, dear Doctor Bertram; and you, my friend,
please to come to the other side. So now we can talk confidentially."
"May I go on with my cigar?"
"I should like to smoke one myself, if I dared! But now to the point.
What have you decided?"
"That is the very question," Bertram said, "which I was just submitting
to Waldor."
"I have decided, that the young people are to see how they can best
settle things for themselves!"
"That is an abominable decision!"
"It is necessary."
"Not for me! I shall speak to the young lady."
"You will not do so if you value my advice ever so little. Moreover, if
you felt so sure of this, why did you not do so yesterday?"
"Because I require your co-operation."
"Which I refuse!"
They were talking excitedly, almost vehemently now. Then, there was a
pause, a very uncomfortable one for Bertram, although he said to
himself that discord between the two ought to be welcome to him. He had
closely watched Erna and Ringberg. At dinner, where they had been
seated almost directly opposite to each other, they had not exchanged a
single word; and just now, whilst Erna had followed the other young
ladies into the garden, Ringberg had remained on the verandah and had
subsequently gone into the billiard-room. As Erna was so very proud, a
meeting of the two seemed difficult, almost impossible, without kind
and skilful mediation, and there would be little time or opportunity
for it now. To-morrow the regiment was again to leave its quarters.
They would again be separated for long--for ever, if he chose to avail
himself of the influence which he doubtless had over Erna; and if he
could only bring into play something of the robust egotism, with which
the handsome soldier by his side was smoothing his own way to rank and
unlimited riches.
"Then I only know one way to achieve our object," the Princess said at
last, speaking somewhat huskily.
"I knew you would find something," said Waldor; "but what is it?"
"It is this ..."
Alexandra paused abruptly, for as they reached the end of the verandah,
and were turning round, the very man of whom they were all thinking was
approaching them.
"Anything for me, my dear Ringberg?" exclaimed the Colonel.
"Yes, Colonel; an orderly from the General in command ..."
"May the ..." muttered the Colonel through his teeth.
He went up to the young officer, who made his report in a low voice,
whilst the Princess and Bertram remained standing at some little
distance. They saw the Colonel angrily fling away his cigar, and draw
himself up.
"Thank you, my dear Ringberg; you need not come with me. It is bad
enough if one of us has to lose all the fun. No remonstrance, sir! I
shall want an orderly to go with me, and, perhaps, you will, in
passing, kindly bid them saddle Almansor."
"Yes, Colonel," said the young officer, saluting.
Ringberg had gone. Waldor turned round.
"It seems," he said, "that the soldiers have taken a different position
from what His Excellency had expected, and now he is getting all the
officers in command of regiments together, to get things done as
noisily as possible. The old owl! Upon my word, I would let him have a
bit of my mind, if he did this in actual war, and summoned me at such a
time two or three miles off from a position where we may be 'alarmed'
at any moment. However, there is no help for it. I shall not spare the
horse, but I am afraid I shall not be back before one o'clock. My
officers must be in their quarters by twelve o'clock precisely, and the
rest of the party are likely to vanish too. I presume that we shall be
attacked between two and three o'clock. If, then, I do not see you
again, dearest Alexandra, the arrangement is this: you drive to town
to-morrow and remain there until I can look in for a moment, as I hope
to be able to do the day after, or else until I send word. Farewell,
dearest! And you, my good friend, will probably not have gone to bed
before I return. I will come to your room, and learn what the best and
cleverest of women will have planned in the interest of our
_proteges_."
The Colonel kissed her hand again, and hurried away. Alexandra looked
gloomily after him, standing with her hands crossed over her bosom,
until he had vanished through the door of the billiard-room; where
several of the senior officers were advancing to meet him. Then, with a
passionate gesture, she turned to Bertram.
"He is mistaken! Alexandra Volinzov is not to be ordered about like a
pack of recruits. I shall not leave to-morrow! I shall not leave at
all, until I have achieved my object; and you, friend, you must help me
to achieve it."
She flung the end of her shawl impatiently across her shoulder, and
took Bertram's arm, drawing him away from the verandah down into the
garden, whence the young people, in pairs and in groups, were now
hurrying merrily back to the mansion-house, attracted by the sound of
the band striking up a polka in the banqueting-hall, which had been
cleared in the interval.
"And what is my help to consist in?" asked Bertram.
"You must speak to Erna. You must explain all to her. I am powerless
without Waldor's co-operation, and you have heard how he refuses it?
Nay, more; I have learned from Hildegard, that he has definitely
denied standing in any special relation to me, and as he could not
disown me altogether, has accounted for it all by talking of a casual
watering-place acquaintance; nay he has actually gone the length, of
reviving the old suspicion of there being something between Kurt and
myself; in a word, he has done his utmost to shake my credibility
with the parents, and with Erna; and to make my interference, if I
dared interfere, appear a ridiculous and hideous farce. You are the
intimate friend of the parents; you are Erna's natural protector and
guardian--you are more to her than her own father. The foolish dread of
the mother, that you loved the dear child in a different way, I have
absolutely put an end to; you will be met on all sides with the utmost
confidence, and if any doubt still existed, if any objections were
still raised, why, you are so clever, so wise, so eloquent, that you
will with ease remove every objection, that you will with a sure hand
bring all things to a good end, be the saviour of those two poor dear
souls, and rescue them from the infernal torments of jealousy, doubt,
and despair. I shall not be found wanting; I shall confirm everything
that you say; I shall take the full responsibility of it all, of
course. I am firmly resolved upon this; it is simply my duty, and I
shall do it, and Waldor may put up with it or not, as he pleases."
Alexandra had been saying all this with hurried breath and heaving
bosom. Bertram's own excitement was intense, too, but he managed to
reply in calmer accents--
"You ask much, My Lady. You call me Erna's guardian, her second
father. I accept these titles; now, will you please and try to fancy
yourself in the position of a guardian, a father, under these
circumstances. In the story of Claudine you have told me your own,
striving, I do not doubt for a moment, to be strictly truthful, seeing
no danger in this, when speaking to a stranger, and being, moreover,
impelled to do so, both by your quick temperament and by your
passionate sympathy. But now comes the question: Has your truthfulness
really brought out the truth? Not the truth of yesterday and to-day,
but of to-morrow. The truth, the truthful picture of the future, when
you will be constantly and closely brought into contact with the former
object of your ardent love, when you will be ever seeing him by the
side of a woman who is not much younger than yourself, who is not as
beautiful as you, not as clever as you; who, however graceful, lacks
that nameless charm which is radiated by a beautiful and clever woman
of the great world, and which is so apt to beguile the hearts of men;
can you then--I am now speaking of yourself only, My Lady, only of what
is in your power--can you, for your part, for your own heart, undertake
the guarantee for the future? I conjure you, by all you hold sacred,
can you conscientiously give the guardian, the father, this assurance?"
"By all I hold sacred," replied. Alexandra, "yes! And I will rather die
than break my oath!"
She had stooped suddenly, and was about to draw Bertram's hand to her
lips, but he prevented her with gentle force.
"We must not soften each other's hearts," said he, his own voice
quivering with emotion, "must not dim the clearness of our vision by
tears of emotion. I accept your vow. And now I crave but one boon from
Fate, to wit, that I be permitted one look, one deep, searching look
into the young man's heart,--and into Erna's heart!"
He had been murmuring the last words in a scarcely audible tone; his
lips were trembling; Alexandra also was too much moved to be able to
speak. Thus they had silently reascended the verandah-steps and moved
on--unintentionally--to the open door which led to the card-room.
Alexandra paused, uttering a slight exclamation.
"What is it, My Lady?"
She made no answer, but drew her arm swiftly out of his, and hurried
away from him into the card-room. Bertram did not follow her; amazed
and hurt that she could so suddenly leave him, attracted it would seem
by the large oval table, around which there stood a fairly large group
of gentlemen, either staking money themselves or watching the progress
of the game which was evidently some game of chance, with Lotter acting
as banker. Bertram anyhow saw that hated person sitting at the head of
the table and dealing the cards, and next moment he heard that loud
voice of his, which he disliked so much, exclaiming: "_Faites votre
jeu, messieurs!_" Alexandra had advanced to the table as though she
meant to join in the game, and Bertram turned away in grave
displeasure. How could he have full confidence in a being, who was
accustomed to obey every movement of a restless heart, every temptation
of a light-winged fancy? No, no! If he was to resign, Erna's happiness
must be anchored in firmer ground!
He leaned against the door of the hall in which the couples were taking
their places for the Lancers. Erna and her partner were standing but a
few yards off. She was conversing with him in her usual, measured way;
he could watch every movement of those beloved lips, when she spoke or
when, with a fleeting smile, she answered a jesting word of her
partner's. Her face was partly turned in his direction; he thought
every moment that she would turn round completely and look at him. I
"felt that some one was looking at me," she had said on that memorable
morning, when he found her writing beneath the plantain-tree. Now she
did not feel it. What had broken the magic spell of his glance? Was it
because his love was no longer unselfish? Because a fierce wild longing
seized him to press the slender white-robed form in his arms, to cover
the sweet lips with wild kisses? No, no--it was not that! It was this!
her heart no longer knew anything of him. It was this: new and younger
gods had moved inside the temple, and the old one's might now depart
ingloriously and hide their disgrace in the darkness of night!
The music struck up, Erna held out her hand to her partner and floated
across to the other side of the hall; and Bertram hurried away, down
the verandah steps, away into the garden.
Then he wandered about aimlessly, muttering wild words, wringing his
hands despairingly. The deserted garden, with the coloured lamps
swinging in the night wind, some dead, some dying, seemed a fit image
of his wasted and desolate life; whilst the strains of mirthful music
wafted across to him in mighty volumes from the brightly illumined
mansion-house, and the sounds of singing and rejoicing that came up to
him from the village below, seemed to mock the solitary self-tormentor.
He felt that this could not go on, if he did not wish to go mad; he
asked himself, pressing his hands to his throbbing temples, whether he
was not mad already? Whether he was not the ill-omened victim, pursued
by the relentless furies of jealousy, pursued until he breaks down--and
to be spared only by voluntary resignation? Yet you surely can but
resign what you own, what--if need be--you could defend; the possession
of which you could dispute anyhow with your adversary to the last gasp.
Despair does not resign, it only lets go what can no longer be held.
What had he done to hold Erna? What was he doing at this very moment,
except again making room for a rival, for whom, as it was, the stars in
their courses were fighting, one who had youth and the privilege of an
earlier attachment on his side? No, he deserved to be conquered, he who
neither had the strength to conquer himself, nor the courage to join
issue with the rival. Let the decision come then!