Rojanow looked after him until the vehicle had disappeared behind the
trees, then he turned and took one of the paths which led into the
forest. He carried his gun over his shoulder, but evidently did not
think of hunting. Lost in thought, he walked further and further
aimlessly, without noticing the road or direction, until deepest forest
loneliness surrounded him.
Prince Adelsberg was right; he knew his friend's taste. This forest
poetry took full possession of him. He finally came to a standstill and
drew a deep breath, but the cloud upon his brow would not dispel; it
grew darker and darker as he leaned against the trunk of a tree and
allowed his eyes to roam about. Something not of peace or joy was
depicted in those beautiful features, which all the sunny beauty around
could not erase.
He saw this country for the first time; his former home was far removed
in the northern part of Germany; nothing here reminded him directly of
the past, and yet just here something awoke in him which seemed to have
long been dead--something which had not made itself felt in all those
years when he crossed oceans and countries, when intoxicating waves of
life surrounded him and he drank with full thirsty draughts the freedom
for which he had sacrificed so much--everything.
The old German woods! They rustled here in the south as up there in the
familiar north; the same breath floated through the firs and oaks here
which whispered there in the crowns of the pines; the same voice which
had once been so familiar to the boy when he lay upon the mossy forest
soil. He had heard many other voices since, some coaxing and
flattering, some intoxicating and enthusiastic, but this voice sounded
so grave and yet so sweet in the rustling of the forest trees--the
fatherland spoke to the lost son!
Something moved yonder in the bushes. Hartmut looked up indifferently,
thinking that some game was passing through, but instead of that he saw
the glimmer of a light dress. A lady emerged from a narrow side path
which wound through the forest, and stood still, apparently undecided
as to the direction she ought to take.
Rojanow had started at the unexpected sight. It awoke him suddenly from
his dream and called him back to reality. The stranger had also noticed
him. She, too, seemed surprised, but only for a moment; then she drew
near and said with a slight bow: "May I ask you, sir, to show me the
road to Furstenstein? I am a stranger here and have lost my way in my
walk. I fear I have wandered considerably from my path."
Hartmut had scanned the appearance of the young lady with a quick
glance, and immediately decided to act as guide. Although he did not
know the road about which she had asked--knew only the direction in
which it lay--it troubled him but little. He made a deeply polite bow.
"I place myself entirely at your service, gracious Fraulein.
Furstenstein is, indeed, rather far from here, and you cannot possibly
find the road by yourself, so I must beg you to accept my escort."
The lady seemed to have expected the right direction to be pointed out,
and the proffered escort was evidently not especially welcome, but she
may have been afraid of losing her way a second time, and the perfect
politeness with which the offer was made scarcely left her any choice.
She bowed after a moment's hesitation and replied: "I shall be very
much obliged to you. Please let us go."
Rojanow pointed out a narrow, half-covered path which led in the
direction of Furstenstein, and entered it without further ado. He
decided to retain his role as guide, for the little adventure began to
interest him.
His protege was, indeed, beautiful enough to make the encounter
interesting. The pure, delicate oval of her face; the high, clear brow
surrounded by shining blonde hair; the lines of the features--all was
perfect symmetry, but there was something chilling in the strong
regularity of these lines, which was rather increased by a mark of
energetic will power most plainly pronounced. The young lady could not
be more than eighteen or nineteen years old at the utmost, but she had
nothing of the charm of mirth and gayety belonging to that age. The
large blue eyes looked as calm and grave as if a girlish dream had
never brightened them, and the same cold, proud composure was visible
in the carriage and whole appearance.
This tall, slender figure affected one like a chilling breath. Her
plain but elegant apparel showed that she belonged to the high classes.
Rojanow had time enough to observe her as he walked now behind her and
now before, bending back the low-hanging bows, or warning of the
unevenness of the ground. This narrow forest path was truly not
comfortable, and proved itself not very appropriate for the toilet of a
lady. More than once her dress was caught by the bushes; the veil of
her hat was entangled in the boughs at every opportunity, while the
mossy soil proved at times very damp and foggy.
All of this, however, was borne with perfect indifference, but Hartmut
felt that he was not doing himself much credit with his post as guide.
"I am sorry to have to lead you over such a rough path, Fraulein," he
said courteously. "I am really afraid of fatiguing you, but we are in
the densest forest and there is no choice whatever."
"I am not easily fatigued," was the calm rejoinder. "I care little for
the roughness of the road if it only leads to the desired end."
The remark sounded somewhat unusual from the lips of a young girl.
Rojanow seemed to think so, and smiled rather sarcastically as he
repeated:
"If it only leads to the desired end? Quite so--that is my opinion, but
ladies are usually of a different mind; they wish to be borne softly
over every inconvenience."
"All of them? There are also women who prefer to go alone, without
being led like a child."
"Perhaps, as an exception. I prize the chance which gives me the good
fortune of meeting such a charming exception----"
Hartmut was about to utter a bold compliment, but suddenly grew silent,
for the blue eyes looked at him with an expression that made the words
die upon his lips.
At this moment the lady's veil was caught again by a thorny bush, which
held it fast relentlessly. She stood still, but hardly had her
companion stretched forth his hand to disengage the delicate fabric,
when she tore herself free with a quick motion of the head. The veil
remained hanging in shreds on the bough, but his help had become
totally superfluous.
Rojanow bit his lip. This adventure was developing quite differently
from what he had expected. He had thought to play the agreeable in that
bold, vainglorious manner which had become his second nature toward
ladies, to a timid young being who trusted herself entirely to his
protection, but he was being shown back to his proper place by a mere
glance at his first attempt. It was made very clear to him that he was
to be guide here and nothing else.
Who, then, in truth, was this girl who, with her eighteen or nineteen
years, already showed the perfect ease of a great lady and who knew so
well how to make herself unapproachable? He concluded to have light
about it at any cost.
The narrow path now ended; they emerged into an opening, the forest
continuing on the other side.
It was not easy to be a guide here, where one was as little acquainted
with the country as Hartmut, but he would never confess his ignorance
now.
Apparently quite certain, he kept in the same direction, choosing one
of the wood roads which crossed through the forest. There must surely
be a spot somewhere which would offer a free outlook and make it
possible to find the right road.
The wider path now permitted them to walk side by side, and Hartmut
took immediate advantage of it to start a conversation, which thus far
had been impossible, since they had had to struggle with so many
obstacles.
"I have neglected so far to introduce myself, gracious Fraulein," he
commenced. "My name is Rojanow. I am at present at Rodeck, a guest of
Prince Adelsberg, who enjoys the privilege of being your neighbor,
since you live at Furstenstein."
"No; I am likewise only a guest there," replied the lady.
The princely neighbor seemed to be as indifferent to her as the name of
her companion; at all events, she did not seem to consider it necessary
to give her name in return, but accepted the introduction with that
proud, aristocratic movement of the head which seemed to be peculiar to
her.
"Ah, you live, then, at the Residenz, and have taken advantage of the
beautiful fall weather for an excursion here?"
"Yes."
It sounded as monosyllabic and rebuking as possible, but Rojanow was
not the man to be rebuked. He was accustomed to have his personality
felt everywhere--to meet with consideration and importance,
particularly among the ladies, and he felt it almost an insult that
this oft-tested success was denied him here. But it excited him to
enforce a conversation which apparently was not desired.
"Are you satisfied with your stay at Furstenstein?" he began anew. "I
have not yet been there, and have only seen the castle from afar, but
it seems to overlook the whole vicinity. A peculiar taste is needed,
however, to find the country beautiful."
"And this taste does not seem to be yours."
"At any rate, I do not love the monotony, and here one has the same
view everywhere. Forest and forest and nothing but forest! It is enough
sometimes to create despair."
It sounded like suppressed resentment. The poor German forests had to
atone for torturing the returned prodigal to such an extent that he had
been upon the point several times of fleeing from their whispering and
rustling. He could not bear it--this grave, monotonous tune of old
times which the leaves whispered to him.
His companion heard, of course, only the sarcasm in the remark.
"You are a foreigner, Herr Rojanow?" she asked calmly.
A dark shadow passed again over Hartmut's brow. He hesitated for a
moment, then replied coldly: "Yes, gracious Fraulein."
"I thought so; your name, as well as appearance, betrays it, and
therefore your opinion is conceivable."
"It is certainly an unbiased opinion," said Hartmut, irritated by the
reproach contained in the last words. "I have seen a great deal of the
world, and have but now returned from the Orient. Whoever has known the
ocean in its brilliant, transparent blue, or its majestic, stormy
uproar; whoever has enjoyed the charm of the tropics, and been
intoxicated with their splendor and coloring--to him these evergreen
forest depths appear but cold and colorless, like all of these German
landscapes, anyhow."
The contemptuous shrug of the shoulders with which he concluded seemed
to finally arouse his companion from her cool indifference. An
expression of displeasure flitted across her features, and her voice
betrayed a certain excitement as she answered: "That is probably solely
and entirely a matter of taste. I know, if not the Orient, at least the
south of Europe. Those sun-glaring, color-shining landscapes intoxicate
for the moment, certainly, and then they weary one. They lack freshness
and strength. One can dream and enjoy there, but not live and work. But
why argue about it? You do not understand our German forests."
Hartmut smiled with undeniable satisfaction. He had succeeded in
breaking the icy reticence of his companion. All of his charming
politeness had been without effect, but he saw now that there was
something which could call life into those cold features, and he found
it attractive to draw it out. If he offended by it, it did not matter;
it gave him pleasure.
"That sounds like a reproof which, alas! I have to accept," he said,
with an undisguised sneer. "It is possible that this understanding is
wanting in me. I am accustomed to measure nature differently from most
people. Live and work! It depends greatly upon what one calls living
and working. I have lived for years in Paris, that mighty centre of
civilization, where life throbs and flows in a thousand streams.
Whoever is used to being borne on those sparkling waves cannot bring
himself again into narrow, _petit_ views--into all those prejudices and
pedantries which in this good Germany are called 'life.'"
The contemptuous stress which he put upon the last words had something
of a challenge in it, and reached its aim.
His companion came to a sudden standstill and measured him from head to
foot, while from the formerly cold, blue eyes there flashed a spark of
burning anger. She seemed to have an angry reply upon her lips, but
suppressed it. She only straightened herself to her fullest height, and
her words were few and of icy, haughty reprimand.
"You forget, mein Herr, that you speak to a German. I remind you of
it."
Hartmut's brow glowed dark-red under this stern reproof, and yet it was
directed only to the stranger--the foreigner--who forgot the
consideration of a guest.
If this girl had an idea who spoke so to her--if she knew! Hot, burning
shame rose suddenly within him, but he was man of the world enough to
control himself immediately.
"I beg your pardon," he said with a slight, half-sarcastic bow. "I was
under the impression that we were exchanging only general views, which
have the right of unbiased opinions. I am sorry to have offended you,
gracious Fraulein."
An inimitable, proud and disdainful motion of the head assured him that
he did not even possess the power to offend her. She shrugged her
shoulders in a barely perceptible manner.
"I do not wish to bias your opinions in the least, but as our views are
so widely different on this matter, we will do better to discontinue
our conversation."
Rojanow was not inclined to continue it. He knew now that those cold,
blue eyes could flash. He had wished to see it--had caused it to
happen, and yet the matter had ended differently from what he had
anticipated. He glanced with a half hostile look at the slender figure
at his side, and then his eyes roamed resentfully again in the bitterly
abused green depths of the forest.