"Well, thank Heaven, we are in order at last! but it was high time, for
they may be here in another quarter of an hour. I have given the people
up on the hill full instructions; as soon as the carriage is visible on
the heights, the first salute is to be given."
"Why, my dear Director, you are all fire and excitement to-day!"
"Keep some of your strength for the important moment of the reception."
"Indeed, your present position as Master of the Ceremonies and Lord
High Chamberlain" ...
"Spare your pleasantries, gentlemen!" said the Director with some
vexation in his tone. "I wish one of you had been honoured with this
confounded post. I have had enough of it!"
The entire staff of officials connected with the great Berkow mines was
assembled in full dress at the foot of the terrace running before the
chateau. Built in the style of an elegant and modern villa with a
handsome facade, great plate-glass windows and a fine entrance, the
house produced a striking effect, which was still further heightened by
the tasteful gardens surrounding it on all sides, and looking specially
beautiful to-day in their fete-like dress.
The conservatories had evidently been stripped of their richest
treasures for the decoration of the steps, balconies and terraces. The
rarest and most precious plants, so seldom brought in contact with the
outer air, unfolded here their wealth of colour, and perfumed the air
with their sweet scents. On the broad lawns stood fountains, throwing
high into the air their sparkling waters, and round them, most
carefully cultivated, bloomed all the native beauties of spring in her
first awakening. At the chief entrance a lofty triumphal arch was
reared, all decked with flags and garlands, and the great gates, thrown
wide open, were also twined with flowers.
"I have had enough of it!" repeated the Director, stepping up to the
other gentlemen. "Herr Berkow demands the most brilliant reception
possible, and thinks he has done everything when he gives us unlimited
credit. As to the good-will of the people, he never takes that into
account. Well and good, if we had the working men of twenty years ago
to deal with! When, for once in a way, there came an off-day then, any
kind of a holiday with a dance in the evening, one need never be
anxious about the way they would cheer; but now--what with passive
indifference on the one hand, and open hostility on the other, they
were very near refusing to give any reception at all to their young
master and his bride. If you go back to town to-morrow, Herr Schaeffer,
it would do no harm, in your report of our festive doings, to let a
hint drop of the state of things. It seems they either do not, or will
not, know of it there."
"That I certainly shall not!" returned the other. "Do you care to
listen to our respected governor's very polite language when he has to
hear of anything unpleasant? As for me, I prefer at such times to
retire to the greatest possible distance from his august person."
The others laughed; it hardly seemed as though the absent master were
held in much veneration among them.
"So he really has brought about the grand marriage," began the chief
engineer. "He has given himself trouble enough about it. It will be
some compensation for that patent of nobility which has been hitherto
so persistently denied him, and for which, above all else, his soul
yearns. He has, at least, the triumph of seeing that the noble old
houses feel no prejudice against him as a plain commoner. The Windegs
are willing to ally themselves with him."
Herr Schaeffer shrugged his shoulders. "They had no choice left. The
embarrassed state of the family affairs is no secret in the city. I
doubt if it has been an easy thing to the proud Baron to give up his
daughter on such a speculation. The Windegs have always been, not only
among the oldest, but also among the haughtiest of the aristocracy; but
even pride must bend to a bitter necessity."
"One thing is certain, this grand connection will cost us a famous sum
of money," said the Director. "The Baron is sure to have made his
conditions. Besides, I really do not see the object of all these
sacrifices. I could understand it, if they were made with a view to
buying rank and a title for a daughter, but Herr Arthur will be just as
plebeian as before, in spite of his wife's ancient lineage."
"Do you think so? I would wager not. They will grant to the husband of
a Baroness Windeg-Babenau, to the Baron's son-in-law, all that his
father has striven for in vain; and, as for the latter, in his
daughter-in-law's salon, nothing can hinder him from meeting all the
people who have hitherto held him at a respectful distance. Don't tell
me! The governor knows well enough what this marriage will bring him
in, and so he can afford to pay something for the cost of it."
One of the officials, a fair young man with a tight-fitting dress-coat
and irreproachable gloves, here thought fit to put in an observation.
"For my part, I don't understand why the newly-married pair should make
their wedding trip to our solitudes, and not rather to the land of
poetry, to Italy" ....
The chief-engineer laughed out loud.
"What an idea, Wilberg! Poetry in a match like this, between money and
a title! Besides, wedding tours to Italy have become so general that
they probably appear vulgar to Herr Berkow. At such times the
aristocracy retire to their estates, and we must be aristocratic before
everything."
"I fear there is another and a deeper reason," said the Director. "They
suspect that the young fellow would continue in Rome, or Naples, the
same sort of life he has led in the capital for the last few years, and
it is high time to put an end to it. His expenditure latterly might be
reckoned by tens of thousands! Most springs may be exhausted, and Herr
Arthur was in the right way for trying this little experiment on his
father."
Schaeffer's thin lips curled sarcastically.
"His father has always encouraged him in it; he only reaps what he has
sown! Perhaps you are right It will be easier for him to get used to
the yoke up here in these wilds, and to learn to obey his wife. I am
only afraid she may not fulfil her mission with much enthusiasm. It
certainly is not a very enviable one."
"Do you think she has been forced to marry him?" asked Wilberg eagerly.
"Nonsense--forced! the thing is not done in a tragic way now-a-days.
She has simply yielded to reasonable advice, and to a clear insight
into the position of affairs. I have no doubt this marriage of
convenience will turn out tolerably well. They do mostly."
The fair Herr Wilberg, who clearly had a leaning to the tragical, shook
his head with a melancholy air.
"It may be--not! If, in the heart of the young wife, true love should
awake later, if another .... Good heavens, Hartmann! cannot you lead
your men farther off. You are covering us with a perfect cloud of dust,
you and your regiment!"
The young miner, to whom these words were addressed, and who was
passing at the head of about fifty of his comrades, gave a contemptuous
glance at the carefully appointed dress of the speaker, and another at
the sandy carriage-road, where the miners' heavy shoes certainly had
raised some dust.
"Right about face!" he cried, and the column wheeled round with almost
military precision, taking the direction indicated.
"What a bear that Hartmann is!" said Wilberg, fanning the dust from his
coat with his handkerchief. "Not a word of excuse for his awkwardness!
'Right about face!' in a tone of command, like a general at the head of
his troops. And then he takes so much upon himself! If his father had
not put in his word, he would have forbidden the girl Martha to recite
my poem composed for the bride's reception, my poem--which I" ....
"Have already read aloud to everybody," finished the chief-engineer in
an undertone to the Director. "If only it were a little shorter! but he
is right; it was audacious of Hartmann to wish to forbid it. You should
not have posted him and his people just on this spot; there is no sort
of welcome to be looked for from them. They are the most rebellious
fellows on the whole works."
The Director shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, but then they are the finest
men. I have stationed all the others in the village and on the road,
the _elite_ of our people ought to be at the chief entrance, the post
of honour. On an occasion like this, one wishes to make a show of one's
belongings."
The young miner, who was thus being discussed, had, in the meantime,
stationed his comrades round the triumphal arch and placed himself at
their head. The Director was right; they were fine fellows, but they
were all surpassed by their leader, who towered high above them. He had
a powerful, well-knit frame, this Hartmann, and he looked to full
advantage in his dark miner's dress. His face would hardly have been
called handsome, if judged by the strict laws of symmetry. The brow
might have seemed too low, the lips too full, the lines not noble
enough; but those sharply-cut and well-marked features were certainly
no ordinary ones.
The light curly hair lay thick on the broad massive forehead, and a
wavy brown beard encircled the lower part of the face, the manly bronze
of which did not betray that it was so often deprived of air and
sunshine. His parted lips had a defiant look, and in the rather sombre
expression of his blue eyes lay a something which can hardly be
defined, but which impressed itself at once on ordinary minds, and was
respected by them, as the sure token of a superior mind. His whole
appearance was that of energy incarnate, and however little sympathy
his stiff, unbending bearing might excite, it yet commanded attention
at the first glance.
An older man who, although wearing the miner's dress, did not appear to
belong to the working-men, drew near now, accompanied by a young girl,
and came close up to the group.
"Good day to you. Here we are ready to take our part. How do things go,
Ulric? Are you all in order?"
Ulric assented shortly, while the others returned the old man's
greeting with a hearty, "Good day, Manager Hartmann!" and the looks of
most of them turned on his young companion.
The girl was about twenty and very comely. She wore the holiday costume
peculiar to the locality, and it became her well. Rather below the
middle height, her head hardly reached to the gigantic Hartmann's
shoulder; her fresh young face, with its blooming cheeks and clear blue
eyes, a little sunburnt and crowned with thick dark plaits, had
strength in it as well as attractiveness. She had made a movement, as
if to offer her hand to the young man, but he stood with his arms
folded, and she let it fall quickly. The Manager noticed this, and
looked sharply at them both.
"We are out of humour because we could not have our own way for once?"
he asked. "Never mind, Ulric, it does not happen often, but when you
push matters too far, your father must speak a word of authority."
"If I had anything to say about Martha, I should certainly have spoken
out pretty plainly," declared Ulric decidedly, and a dark look fell
upon the splendid bouquet in the girl's hand, which certainly owed its
origin to a hothouse.
"I believe you," said the old man equably; "it would be exactly like
you. For the present, however, she is my niece and has to conform to my
wishes. But what is the matter with your arch up there? The great
flag-staff is drooping; you must bind it up more firmly, or the whole
concern will be tumbling down, wreaths and all."
Ulric, to whom this warning was specially addressed, looked up
indifferently at the wreaths in danger, but made no attempt to come to
their rescue.
"Don't you hear?" repeated his father impatiently.
"I thought I was hired to work in the mine, and not here at a triumphal
arch. Is not it enough that we should have to mount guard in this
place? Let those who built the thing set it to rights again."
"Can't you forget the old tune for one day?" cried the old man angrily.
"Well then, one of you go up and see to it."
The miners all looked at Ulric, waiting for a sign of assent from him.
As none came, they did not stir; one man only made a move, as though he
would respond to the summons; the young leader turned silently and
looked at him. It was but a single glance from the imperious blue eyes,
but it had the effect of command. The man stepped back at once, and no
other hand was raised to help.
"I wish it would fall on your obstinate heads," cried the Manager
hotly, as he mounted with quite youthful activity and tied up the
flag-staff himself. "Perhaps that would teach you how to behave on such
a day as this. You have spoilt Lawrence already amongst you; he used to
be worth something, but now he only does what his lord and master Ulric
directs."
"Ought we to be so overjoyed that a new set of fine masters is coming?"
said Ulric in a low tone. "I should have thought we had had enough of
the old!"
The Manager, still busy with the flag, luckily did not hear this
speech; but the young girl, who had stood silent on one side, turned
hastily and cast an anxious look upwards.
"Ulric, for my sake!"
At this injunction the defiant young miner held his peace, but his
features did not soften by a shade. The girl remained standing before
him; she seemed to hesitate, having something to say and not liking to
say it. At last she spoke in a low tone, half questioning, half
entreating.
"So you really will not come to the fete this evening?"
"No."
"Ulric!" ...
"Let me be, Martha, you know I can't bear your dancing nonsense."
Martha stepped back quickly, her red lips pouting, and a glistening
tear in her eyes which sprang even more from anger than from wounded
feeling at his unfriendly reply. Ulric either did not notice it, or did
not care; indeed, he seemed to trouble himself but little about her.
Without wasting another word, the girl turned her back on him, and
crossed over to the other side.
The eyes of the young fellow, who just before had been willing to help
with the flag, followed her intently. Evidently he would have given
much that the invitation should have been addressed to him. He,
assuredly, would not have rejected it so cavalierly.
In the meantime, the Manager had come down, and was reviewing his work
with much satisfaction, when the first volley burst forth from the hill
opposite, followed, at short intervals, by another and another. As was
natural, these signs that the expected visitors were approaching at
last, produced some excitement. The gentlemen assembled out yonder
became suddenly animated.
The Director hurriedly inspected all the preparations for the last
time; the chief-engineer and Herr Schaeffer buttoned their gloves, and
Wilberg rushed over to Martha, probably to ask, for the twentieth time,
whether she were sure she knew his verses, and would not endanger his
triumph as a poet by inopportune shyness. Even the miners betrayed some
interest in the young and, as it was said, beautiful bride of their
future master. More than one drew in his belt, and pressed his hat more
firmly on his head. Ulric alone stood quite unmoved, erect and
disdainful as before, and did not even cast a glance over at the other
side.
But the reception, prepared with so much thought and care, was to turn
out differently from what had been hoped and expected. A cry of horror
from the Manager, who was now standing outside the great arch, drew all
eyes in that direction, and what they saw was certainly terrible
enough.