Princess Sophie had arrived at Bucheneck with her lady of honor and the
elder ladies in carriages, and now attempted, above everything, to lay
hands on her illustrious nephew; but he developed an incredible aptness
at keeping out of her reach. He was everywhere except in the near
presence of his most gracious aunt, until finally she lost patience and
ordered a gentleman to call Prince Adelsberg into her presence.
Egon had to obey this command, but he used the precaution of taking the
"lightning rod" with him. Rojanow was at his side when he stood before
the Princess.
"Well, Egon, do I really get a glimpse of you?" was the not very
gracious reception. "You seem to have been taken possession of on all
sides to-day."
"I am always ready for the service of my most gracious aunt," declared
Egon in honeyed accents; but the sweetness did him no good. The
Princess measured him with an annihilating glance.
"As far as your knightly service to Frau von Wallmoden leaves you time.
She will give this chivalry a glowing mention to her husband. You may
know him, perhaps?"
"Certainly. I revere him highly as a man, as a diplomat and as His
Excellency. Your Highness may believe that."
"I believe you unconditionally, Egon. Your love for veracity is far
above any doubts with me," said the lady, with stinging sarcasm. "I
just happen to remember speaking the day before yesterday with the
steward of Rodeck--the old Stadinger--who is still very active for his
years."
"But he suffers seriously from failing memory," the Prince hastened to
assure her. "I am sorry to say that Stadinger forgets everything. Is it
not so, Hartmut? He positively does not know to-day what he saw
yesterday."
"On the contrary, I found that his memory was exceptionally fresh.
Besides, he is the oldest and truest servant of your house,
reliable--careful----"
"And a churl," interrupted Egon, sighing. "Your Highness, you have no
idea of the unlimited gruffness which dwells in this Peter Stadinger.
He tyrannizes over Herr Rojanow and me shamefully. I have actually
thought of retiring him."
Of course, he did not dream of that. His Highness knew better than to
make Peter Stadinger such a proposition, and would have fared badly if
he had. But Princess Sophie, who had the reputation of being very
haughty and relentless toward her servants, now favored a very mild
course.
"You should not do that," she remonstrated. "A man who is now serving
the third generation of the ducal family may be pardoned such a thing,
particularly considering the somewhat loose housekeeping which the
young gentlemen lead at Rodeck. It seems that they do not like to see
visitors there, preferring the solitude."
"Ah, yes, the solitude!" sighed Egon, sentimentally. "It does one so
much good after the stormy life of travel, and we enjoy it in full
draughts. I occupy myself mostly----"
"With the taming of your wild animals," finished the Princess
maliciously.
"No, with--with my travelling memoirs, which I intend to publish; and
Hartmut composes melancholy songs. He has just now the material for a
ballad under his pen, to which Your Highness drew his attention."
"Why, Herr Rojanow, have you really utilized the theme?" asked the
lady, whose face now suddenly beamed with sunshine, as she turned to
the young poet.
"Certainly, Your Highness. I am very grateful to you for the
suggestion," said Hartmut, who had not the slightest idea what the
subject was, but felt that he had to go into action now.
"I am glad of that. I love poetry and seek it at every opportunity."
"And with what understanding and appreciation!" cried Egon,
enthusiastically. But he quickly embraced the opportunity of slipping
away, leaving his friend behind as the victim. He hastened to the
presence of the Duchess, which meant the presence of Frau von
Wallmoden, where he seemed to feel decidedly better than with his most
gracious aunt.
The chase was resumed after luncheon was over. It was now a hunt for
large game, which was commenced with renewed zeal.
But the hitherto sunny weather changed in the afternoon. The sky grew
cloudy and dark, but it remained warm, almost stifling, and a heavy
bank of cloud arose in the west. It looked as if one of those late
thunderstorms was preparing, which passed at times over the Wald at
this season.
The Duchess, with a portion of her attendants, had taken her stand upon
a hill which seemed to afford the best view, but soon the chase took
another quite unexpected direction, and the onlookers made ready to
follow.
Frau von Wallmoden met here with a slight accident. The girth of her
saddle suddenly broke and she sprang lightly from the stirrup, thus
saving herself from a fall. It was not possible to continue her ride,
for although the accompanying groom could have given her a horse, there
was no lady's saddle at hand; consequently she had to give up further
participation, and decided to walk back to Bucheneck, to where one of
the grooms would lead her horse.
Adelaide had requested the servant to precede her, and she lingered on
the hill which had become quiet and lonely. It almost seemed that the
accident had been welcome to her, since it relieved her from attending
the chase to the end.
It is always a relief when one can drop a mask which has deceived the
world and can breathe in solitude, if it only brings conviction of the
heavy load one had to bear under that mask.
Where had the cold, proud calm vanished with which the young wife had
entered her new home upon the arm of her husband? Now, when she knew
herself alone and unobserved, it could be plainly seen that she had
changed much.
That strong will-line which had made her resemble her father so much
had become more pronounced, but besides that there was another line--a
painful one--as of a person who has to struggle with secret torture and
anxiety. The blue eyes had lost the cold, dispassionate expression. A
deep shadow rested within them which also told of struggle and pain,
and the blonde head drooped as if under an invisible but heavy load.
And yet Adelaide drew a breath of relief at the thought that this would
be the last day she should spend at Furstenstein. By to-morrow she
would be far from here. Perhaps there would be rest in the far removal
of the dark power against which she had struggled now for weeks so
painfully, and yet so vainly.
Perhaps she would get better if she did not see those eyes day after
day, nor hear that voice.
When she should have fled from the enchanted circle the charm would
have to break, and now at last she could flee--oh, the happiness of it!
The noise of the chase sounded in ever-increasing distance, and was
finally lost, but steps now sounded in the forest which encircled the
hill closely, and warned the young Baroness that she was no longer
alone. She started to leave, but at the moment she turned the one
approaching emerged from under the trees.
Hartmut Rojanow stood before her.
The meeting was so sudden and unexpected that Adelaide's composure was
not proof against it. She retreated to the trunk of the tree, under the
boughs of which she had been standing, as if seeking there a protection
from this man, upon whom she gazed with fixed, fearful eyes--with the
gaze of a wounded animal which sees the huntsman approach.
Rojanow did not seem to notice it. He saluted her and asked hastily:
"You are alone, Your Excellency? The accident did not have any serious
consequences?"
"What accident?"
"It was said you had a fall from your horse."
"What exaggeration! The girth broke, but I knew it in time to spring
from the stirrup, while the horse stood perfectly still--that was the
accident."
"God be praised! I heard something of a fall--an injury--and as you did
not reappear at the chase I feared----"
He paused, for Adelaide's glance showed him plainly that she did not
believe this pretense; probably he knew the whole occurrence and had
learned why and where Frau von Wallmoden had been left behind. She now
regained her composure.
"I thank you, Herr Rojanow, but your being at all concerned was not
necessary," she said coldly. "You could have told yourself that had
there been a real accident the Duchess and the other ladies would not
have left me helpless in the forest. I am on my way to Bucheneck."
She attempted to pass him. He bowed and stepped aside as if to let her
pass, but said in a low voice:
"Gracious lady, I have yet to ask your pardon."
"My pardon! For what?"
"For a request which I uttered thoughtlessly and for which I have had
to suffer seriously. I only asked for a flower. Is that, then, so
severe a transgression that one should be angry over it for weeks?"
Adelaide had paused almost without knowing it.
Again she was under the charm of these eyes--this voice, which held her
fast as with magnetism.
"You are mistaken, Herr Rojanow. I am not angry with you."
"Not? And yet it is this icy tone I have always to hear since I dared
approach you in that hour. You have learned, too, to know my work, for
which I begged a recognition. You were present when I read it at
Furstenstein. My Arivana was praised overwhelmingly on all sides, but
from your mouth alone I heard no word--not one. Will you refuse it even
now?"
"I thought we were hunting to-day," said Adelaide with an attempt to
pass the subject by, "where it is surely not admissible to speak of
poetical works."
"We have both left the chase; it is running now toward the Rodeck
forest. There is only forest solitude here. Look at this autumn-tinted
foliage which warns so mournfully of fleeting existence--the silent
water down there, those thunder clouds in the distance. I believe there
is a more endless amount of poetry in all this than in the halls of
Furstenstein."
He pointed to the landscape which spread out before them, but no longer
in the bright sunlight that had favored the chase at the beginning. Now
it lay in the dim light of an overcast sky, which made even the gay
foliage appear withered and dull.
They could see far out into the mountains, which, retreating on both
sides, left the distance free. The endless ocean of forest crowns which
only a few weeks ago waved green and airily in the breeze, now bore the
color of the fall. They shone from the darkest brown to brilliant
golden yellow in every shade all around, and shining red gleamed from
the bushes and shrubs.
The dying forest adorned itself once more with deceptive splendor, but
it was only the coloring of the passing away and dying. All life and
bloom were at an end.
Deep in the ravine lay a little forest lake, which, dark and
motionless, seemed to dream in the wreath of reeds and rushes which
surrounded it. It resembled strangely another pond that, far away
in North Germany, lay in the midst of a pine forest--the Burgsdorf
pond--which, like this one, ended in a meadow where rich green
beckoned, nourished by the swamp and bog, hiding itself deceitfully
beneath it, and drawing the ignorant one into its depth without hope of
rescue.
Even now in daylight it seemed to breathe fog and twilight, and when
night should descend the will-o'-the-wisp probably commenced here also
its ghostly play.
At the horizon, where in clear weather the summits of the mountains
were visible, towered now a dark bank of clouds. As yet in the
distance, its stifling breath rested already over the Wald, and at
times a dull light flashed from it.
Adelaide had not answered Hartmut's question. She gazed out over the
country to avoid looking into the face of the man who stood before her,
but she felt the dark, passionate look which rested upon her face, as
she had always felt it in the last weeks, as soon as Rojanow was in her
presence.
"You are going away to-morrow, gracious lady," he commenced again. "Who
knows when you will return and when I shall see you again? May not I
beg for your opinion? May I not ask if my work has found grace in the
eyes of--Ada?"
Her name again upon his lips; again that soft, veiled, yet passionate,
tone which she feared, and yet to which she listened as to enchanting
music!
Adelaide felt that here she was a prisoner; there was no chance for
flight. She had to look the danger full in the face.