As Madame de Heidendorf's mornings were always passed in receiving the
visits or answering the letters of her political acquaintances, Kate was
free to spend her hours with Frank, exchanging confidences, and
talking of that dear home from which they were more separated even by
circumstance than by space.
The cadet had obtained leave for the entire day,--an inconceivable favor
in his eyes,--and Kate was seated at her breakfast when he appeared.
When they met the day before, Frank's undivided attention had been drawn
to Kate herself,--the change in her whole air and manner, that graceful
dignity of mien which elevated his regard for her to a species of
worship. Now, however, he had time to be struck with the accessories of
her position,--the gorgeous chamber, the splendid silver of the service,
the rich liveries, everything which bespoke her proud and affluent
condition.
“I almost start back with shame, Kate,” said he, “if, in passing these
great mirrors, I catch a glimpse of my humble figure, so unsuited does
it seem to magnificence like this; nor can I help thinking that your
household agrees with me. With all their respectful courtesy, they must
wonder when they look on the brother of their Princess.”
“You know well, dearest Frank, that in your service the highest in the
land must pass the ordeal of cadetship.”
“Which means half an hour for an archduke, and a forenoon for a serene
highness. Even Walstein took but a week to spring from the ranks to
a lieutenancy; a month later saw him a rittmeister; and already he
commands a regiment.”
“What a young soldier to have caught up the complaining cant about slow
promotion!” said Kate, laughing.
“Ten months a cadet, and not even made corporal yet!” sighed Frank. “To
be sure, I might have been, had it not been for the 'stockhaus.'”
“And what may that be, dear Frank?”
“The prison; neither more nor less. When I came here, Kate, the nephew
or grand-nephew of the Feld-Marschall von Auersberg, I thought it became
me to assume something like style in my mode of life. My comrades told
me as much, too; and as I had no difficulty in obtaining credit, I ran
in debt everywhere. I lent to all who asked me, and gave away to many
more. Every one said the Feld would pay one day or other, and I never
confessed how poor we were at home. I know I was wrong there, dearest
Kate; I feel that acutely now; but somehow the deception I began with
others gained even more rapidly on myself. From continually talking of
our Dalton blood, and our high position in our own country, I grew to
believe it all, and fancied that some, at least, of these imaginings
must be real. But, above all, I cherished the hope that promotion would
come at last, and that I should live to be an honored soldier of the
Kaiser.
“In the very midst of all this self-deception, the Feld returns to
Vienna from a tour of inspection, and, instead of sending to see me,
orders my Colonel to his presence. I know not, of course, what passed,
but report alleges that for an hour the old General harangued him in
terms the most bitter and insulting. Now, my dear sister, the wrath
poured out upon a commanding officer does not become diminished as it
descends through the successive grades of rank, and falls at last on the
private. For _my_ misdemeanor the regiment was ordered away from Vienna,
and sent to Laybach, in the very depth of winter too. This could not
help my popularity much among my comrades; and as I was now as destitute
of credit as of means, you may fancy the alteration of my position,--the
black bread of the commissary instead of the refined cookery of the
'Schwan;' the midnight patrol, in rain or snow-drift, in place of
the Joyous carouse of the supper-table; the rude tyranny of a vulgar
sergeant, in lieu of the friendly counsels of an equal; all that is
menial and servile,--and there is enough of both in the service,--heaped
upon me day after day; till, at last, my only hope was in the chance
that I might ultimately imbibe the rude feelings of the peasant-soldier,
and drag out my existence without a wish or a care for better.
“As if to make life less endurable to me, the officers were forbidden
to hold intercourse with me; even such of the cadets as were above the
humbler class were ordered not to associate with me; my turns of duty
were doubled; my punishments for each trifling offence increased; and
there I was, a soldier in dress, a convict in duty, left to think over
all the flattering illusions I had once conceived of the service, its
chivalry, and its fame.
“I wrote to Walstein, telling him that if I could not obtain my freedom
otherwise, I would desert. A copy of my letter, I know not how obtained,
was sent to my Colonel, and I was sentenced to a month's arrest, a week
of which I was to pass in irons. They now made me a rebel in earnest,
and I came out of the 'stockbaus' more insubordinate than I went in. It
would weary, and it would fret you, dearest sister, were I to tell all
the petty schemes I formed of resistance, and all the petty tyrannies
they brought down upon my head; the taunt of my 'gentle blood,' my
'noble origin,' my 'high descent,' being added to every cruelty they
practised, till I was ready to curse the very name that associated me
with this bitterness. They told me that a second desertion was always
punished with death, and that even the attempt was accounted as the act.
I resolved, then, to finish with this dreary existence, and I wrote a
farewell letter to poor Nelly, telling her that, as I was certain of
being taken, these were the last lines I should ever write. In this I
repeated all I have now told you, and a vast deal more, of the hardships
and indignities I had endured; and this, like my former letter, was sent
back to me. Then came three months more of durance, after which I came
out what they deemed a good soldier.”
“Subdued at last!” sighed Kate.
“Not a bit of it. Like a Banat charger I had a kick in me, after all
their teaching and training. I found out the lance-corporal of our
company was the man who had discovered my letters. I sent him a
challenge, fought, and wounded him. Here was another offence; and now
the Minister of War was to deal with me himself; and I half fancied they
would be glad to get rid of me. Far from it The 'stockhaus' again, and
short fetters, my wrist to my ankle, were the sovereign remedies for all
misdeeds. In this plight I made my entrance into Vienna.”
“Did you never think of Uncle Stephen all this while, Frank,----never
appeal to him?”
“Ay, Kate, and what was worse, _he_ thought of _me_, for he had my
punishment-rolls brought to him; and although from some good-natured
interference they did not forward more than a fourth of my misdeeds,
there was enough to condemn me in his eyes, and he wrote, 'No favor to
this cadet,' on the back of my certificate.”
“Poor boy! so friendless and deserted.”
“Persecuted by creditors, too,” continued Frank, as, excited by the
recital of his sorrows, he paced the room in a transport of anger;
“fellows that never rested till they got me in their books, and now gave
me no peace for payment. Out of three kreutzers a day, Kate,--a penny
English,--I was to discharge all the debts of my extravagance, and live
in style! A Dalton, well born and nurtured, in a position of ignominious
poverty!”
“Not one to aid you?”
“Walstein was away in Bohemia with his regiment; and, perhaps, it
were better so, for I had told him such narratives of our family, such
high-flown stories of our princely possessions, that I could not have
had the courage to face him with an avowal of the opposite. At last I
did make a friend, Kate; at least one poor fellow took an interest in
me, talked to me of home, of you and Nelly; mostly of her, and of her
curious carvings, which he prized almost as much as little Hans used. He
sat with me many an hour under the trees of the Prater, or we strolled
along in the shady alleys of the 'Augarten;' and his companionship
somehow always soothed and comforted me, for he was so stored with book
learning that he could ever bring out something from Uhland or Richter
or Wieland that suited the moment, just as if the poet had one in his
mind when he wrote it. How often have I wished that I was like him,
Kate, and had a mind like his, teeming with its own resources against
sorrow.”
“Tell me more of him, Frank dearest; I feel an interest in him already.”
“And yet you would scarcely have liked him, if you saw him,” said the
boy, with a bashful and hesitating manner.
“Why not, Frank? His appearance might have been little promising, his
face and figure commonplace--”
“No, no; not that,--not that Adolf was good-looking, with a fine, clear
brow, and a manly, honest face; nor was his manner vulgar,--at least,
for his station. He was a pedler.”
“A pedler, Frank,” cried Kate, growing scarlet as she spoke.
“Ay, I knew well how you would hear the word,” said the boy; “I often
used to fancy my high-bred sister's scorn if she could but have seen the
companion whose arm lay around my neck, and who spoke to me as 'thou.'”
Kate made no answer, but her cheek was crimson, and her lip trembled.
“You and Walstein were never out of my thoughts,” continued Frank; “for
I could fancy how each of you would look down upon him.”
“Not that, Frank,” said she, in confusion; “if he were indeed kind to
you,--if he were a true friend in that time of dreariness and gloom.”
“So was he,----with hand and heart and purse. And yet,--confound that
sense of pride, which poisons every generous movement of the heart and
will not let it throb in unison with one of humble fortune!--I never
could get the Dalton out of my head. There it was, with that lumbering
old fabric of an Irish house, our wasteful habits, and our idle
dependants, all going down to ruin together; and instead of despising
myself for this, I only was ashamed--at what, think you?--of my
friendship for a pedler! Many a holiday have I kept my barrack-room
rather than be seen with Adolf in the Volks Garten or the Graben. I
liked to be along with him in the solitude of the Prater, or in our
country walks; but when he asked me to accompany him to the _café_ or
the theatre, Kate, to some ordinary in the Leopoldstadt, or some
wine-cellar on the Danube, I used to feign duty, or actually take a
comrade's guard, to avoid it How meanly you think of me for all this,
Kate! I see, by the flush upon your cheek, what shame the confession has
given you.”
Kate's confusion grew almost intolerable; she twice tried to speak, but
the effort was above her strength, and Frank, who mistook her silence
for rebuke, at last went on,----
“You may guess, Kate, from what I have now told you, how much soldiering
has realized all my early hopes and ambitions. I suppose times were
different long ago.”
“Of course they were, or Uncle Stephen would not now be a
field-marshal.”
As if in echo to her words, at this moment a servant, throwing wide the
door, announced “The Feld” himself. Frank fell back as the old General
advanced into the room, bowing with a courtesy that would have done
honor to a courtier. He was dressed in the uniform of his rank, and wore
all his decorations,--a goodly mass, that covered one entire side of his
coat.
Approaching Kate with a manner of admirably blended affection and
respect, he kissed her hand, and then saluted her on either cheek.
“Forgive me, my dear niece,” said be, “if I have not been earlier to pay
my respects, and say welcome to Vienna; but my note will have told you
that I was on duty yesterday with the Emperor.”
Kate blushed and bowed, for unhappily she had not read the note through.
Frank's presence had made her forget all but himself. With all the
gallantry of his bygone school, the old Feld proceeded to compliment
Kate on her beauty and grace, expressing in proper phrase his pride at
the possession of such a relative.
“The Empress was the first to tell me of your arrival,” said he; “and
nothing could be more gracious than the terms in which she spoke of
you.”
With a thrill of pleasure Kate heard these words, and greedily drank in
every syllable he uttered. Not alone her betrothal to the Prince, but
all the circumstances of her future destiny, seemed to be matters of
deep interest to the Court, and poor Kate listened with wonder to the
Feld as he recounted the various speculations her marriage had given
rise to. She little knew within what a narrow circle the sympathies
of royalty are forced to revolve, and how glad they are of anything to
relieve the tedious monotony of existence. One most important question
had already arisen, since the Empress had expressed a wish that the
young Princess should be presented to her; but Madame de Heidendorf
refused her permission, on the ground that she had not yet been
presented at the Court of the Czar. All the difficulties of the two
cases, the arguments for either course, the old General deployed with an
earnestness that if it at first amused, at last deeply interested Kate;
the flattering sense of self-importance giving a consequence to trifles
which, if told of another, she would have smiled at.
“I was desirous of gratifying the Empress before I saw you, my dear
niece,” said he, taking her hand; “but you may guess how much greater is
my anxiety now that I have learned to know you. It will be, indeed, a
proud day for the old Field-Marshal when he shall present one of his own
name and family, so gifted and so beautiful. A thorough Dalton!” added
he, gazing on her with rapture.
“How glad am I, sir, to see that all the distinctions your great career
has won have not effaced the memory of our old name and house.”
“I have but added to it another as noble as itself,” replied he,
haughtily. “Others have given their energies to degrade our ancient
lineage. It is to be your task and mine, Madame la Princesse, to replace
us in our rightful station.”
Kate instinctively sought out Frank with her eyes, but could barely
catch a glimpse of his figure within a recess of a window. More than
once the poor cadet had meditated an escape; but as the door was on the
opposite side of the room, he saw discovery would be inevitable. With a
graceful courtesy the old Feld asked after Father and Nelly, expressing
his wish to see and know them, in terms which plainly conveyed to Kate
his utter ignorance of their station and habits.
“As a younger son myself, without the ties of fortune, I may be
permitted to doubt how far the head of a distinguished house has a
right, from any considerations of personal gratification, to reside away
from his country, Madame. I must own that my nephew's conduct in this
respect has not met my approval. I have not felt free to tell him so,
our intercourse being for so many years interrupted; but you will say as
much for me. Let him know that the great names of a nation ought not to
die out in people's memories.”
“You are aware, sir,” said Kate, timidly, “that papa's means are not
as they once were; circumstances of economy first suggested his coming
abroad.”
“A reason that always has appeared to me insufficient,” said the
other, sternly. “He could have reduced his establishment at home--fewer
hunters--less splendid banquets.”
“Hunters and banquets!” sighed Kate; “how little he knows of us!”
“Here I see nothing but the best fruits of his system,” said he, kissing
her hand with gallantry; “no cost could be accounted too much that
aided the attainment of such perfection. I am too old a courtier not
to distinguish between mere native gracefulness and that more polished
elegance which comes of refined intercourse. My niece is worthy to be a
princess! But your brother--”
“Oh! what of dear Frank?” cried she, eagerly.
“Simply this, Madame: habits of wasteful expenditure have unsuited him
to the stern realities of a soldier's life. With his fortune and his
tastes, he should have sought service among those popinjays that English
tailors make lancers or hussars of. He might have won the laurels
that are gathered on Honnslow or St. James's Park; he might have been
distinguished in that barbaric warfare you call an Indian campaign; but
here, in this empire, where soldiering means discipline, self-denial,
hardship, endurance!--I was eight years a cadet, Madame, twelve a
sous-lieutenant. I saw the decoration I should have received given to
another. The Dienst Kreutz I had won was refused me, because I had not
served twenty years; and yet, by accepting these and hundreds like them
as the inevitable necessities of the service, I am what now you see me.”
“And if Frank will be but patient--”
“He may be a corporal within a year, Madame,” said the Feld, gravely,
and with the air of a man who had advanced a somewhat bold pledge.
“But he must be an officer within a week, sir,” said Kate, taking the
General's hand within her own. “I seldom ask favors, and as seldom are
they refused me. The chivalry of Austria will surely suffer no attaint
from one whose distinction it is to be _your_ relative, and a Dalton.
Nay, dear uncle, this is the first, the very first request I have ever
made of you. It would not be meet for me to say, in _your_ presence,
what a guerdon is his name for his good conduct.”
“You are too sanguine, Madame. You do not know this boy.”
“Every thought of his heart I know,--every hope that sustains him. He
himself has told me all his shortcomings.”
“His insubordination?”
“Yes.”
“Extravagance?”
“Yes.”
“His days of imprisonment?”
“Yes.”
“His arrests in irons?”
“All--everything; and what are they, save the boyish excesses of one
who, carried away by high spirits, and buoyed up by the flattering sense
of relationship to a great and distinguished name, has been led on to
follies by the mere native warmth of temperament? It is easy to see how
little he thought of himself, and how much of his uncle!”
The old General shook his head dubiously.
“There, dear uncle,” said she, pressing him into a seat before a table
with writing-materials, “take that pen and write.”
“Write what, dear child?” said he, with a softness very different from
his usual manner.
“I know nothing of the forms, nor the fitting phrases. All I want is
that Frank should have his sword-knot.”
“You have learned the proper word, I see,” said he, smiling, while he
balanced the pen doubtingly in his fingers “The Colonel of his regiment
is an imperial prince.”
“So much the better, uncle. A Hapsburg will know how to reward a
Dalton.”
“So, then, we begin thus,” said the old General, whose half-suppressed
smile showed that he was merely jesting with her eagerness: “'Imperial
Highness,--the Cadet von Dalton, whose distinction it is to be the
grand-nephew of a very old soldier, and the brother of a very young
princess--'”
“Nay, surely, this will not do,” said Kate.
“'A very young princess,” resumed the Feld, as he continued to
write, “'who, confiding in her own captivations and your Highnesses
gallantry--'”
“This is but jesting with me, uncle, and I am serious,” said she,
poutingly.
“And am not I serious, too, Madame?” cried he, laying down the pen. “If
I ask promotion for a boy whose whole career has been one infraction of
discipline, whose services are all inscribed in the Provost-Marshal's
return, is it not better that I should press his claims on the merits
of others than dwell upon his own misconduct? My dear child,” said
he, affectionately, “there are natures that cannot bear a too sudden
prosperity, as there are individuals who cannot endure too sudden
changes of climate. Our Dalton blood has a little of this same
infirmity. Shall I tell you how I won my first step in the service? I
was at Hohenkirchen when Morea began his celebrated retreat through the
defiles of the Schwartzwald. The company in which I served as a simple
corporal occupied a large farm-house, on an elevated plateau, above the
road to Schweinfurt. We could see for miles along the valley, and
our position was taken up to observe the movement of the enemy, and
immediately report when his advanced guard came in sight. Our orders
also were to hold the place as long as we were able, and delay as much
as possible the enemy's advance; in other words, if we could retard him
by half a day, at the sacrifice of our party, our duty would be well
done. These unpleasant situations arise now and then in war; but one
comfort is, they seldom occur twice to the same man!”
[Illustration: 150]
“The captain who commanded us was an old officer, who had borne his slow
promotion with many a heart-burning, and now resolved, come what might,
to win his grade.
“Without waiting for the enemy, he took a patrol party, and set out to
meet them. We never saw them again! Our lieutenant, alike impatient,
determined on a _reconnaissance_, He had scarcely been gone half an
hour, when a quick rattling of fire-arms told us that he was engaged
with the enemy. One man alone returned to tell us that the rest had
fallen, and that the enemy was approaching in force. The command now
devolved on me. I had been four times passed over in promotion, distinct
acts of service left unnoticed, and my claims as much ignored as if
I was the veriest dolt. I will not pretend to say that I bore these
disappointments without pain; but they taught me one lesson at least,
'that duty is above all consideration of self.' I well knew what was
expected of us, and resolved, if possible, to fulfil it. I prepared at
once for a stout resistance,--a hopeless, of course, but an obstinate
one. Well, I will not imitate the tardiness of the duty by a similar
prolixity. We held the farm for two hours, during which the roof was
twice on fire from the enemy's shells; and when, at length, they stormed
the place, our defence was reduced to eight men, commanded by a corporal
with two shot-wounds in his chest. We were made prisoners, and carried
away to Strasburg, from whence I was exchanged under a cartel, and came
back to my regiment as a lieutenant. Had I merely sought promotion,
Madame, and followed the dictates of ambition and not of duty, I had
perhaps fallen like the others. It was in the very forgetfulness of
myself lay my prosperity and my reward.”
Kate's eyes sought out Frank, resolved on one effort more for her
object, but the boy was gone. He had contrived to slip away unseen
during the conversation, and was now waiting at the corner of the
street, impatient for the General's departure, to return to his sister.
“I am to have the honor of dining in your company to-day,” said the
Feld, rising to take leave. “Let me hope that my obduracy will not
weaken your regard for one so proud of being your uncle.”
“No, uncle,” said she, “and chiefly since I do not believe in the
obduracy, and have full faith in the affection.”
With every testimony of regard, they now took leave of each other, and
the General retired as Kate betook herself to her own room.
She had scarcely left the apartment when the Archduke entered it. Madame
de Heidendorf had told him that the Princess was there with her uncle,
and he came expressly to see her. “Gone again!” exclaimed he; “am I
never to see this mysterious beauty?” while he threw his eyes around
the room. “What's this addressed to myself here?” added he, as he caught
sight of the paper which the Feld had half written. “To his Imperial
Highness the Archduke Franz Albrecht, commanding the Eleventh Regiment
of Infantry.” Rapidly glancing over the few lines, he at once caught
their meaning, and detected the playful spirit in which they were
conceived. “The fair Princess must not be disappointed in her opinion,”
said he, laughingly, as he took up the pen and wrote: “Too happy to
anticipate the unexpressed wish, the Archduke appoints Cadet von Dalton
to a lieutenancy in the Hussars of the Wurtemberg Regiment,” and signing
his well-known initials at the foot, he sealed and addressed the paper
to the Princesse de Midchekoff. This done, he left the house, passing
as he went a young cadet, whose military salute he scarcely noticed, nor
knew the anxious heart for whose happiness he had just provided.
Young Frank stood respectfully at the salute as the Prince passed, and
then bounded away to rejoin his sister. The drawing-room, however, was
empty, and it was by mere chance that he saw the letter, on which the
address was scarcely dry. Taking this with him, he hastened to her room.
“A letter for you, Kate,” cried he, “and with a royal seal too!”
“Poor Frank!” said she, coming out to meet him. “That I should have such
tidings for you! The Feld is obdurate and unyielding. He fancies that
there is no road to honor save the old track he has trod himself.”
“I knew as much, Kate. Had I stayed longer in the room, I could not have
refrained from bursting out to say, 'Hold, sister dearest; not the best
grade in all the service is worth so much solicitation. I 'll carry the
musket while I must, and the day they make me an officer I 'll smash the
sword across my knee and leave them!'”
Kate broke the seal of the packet without answering this passionate
speech, and then, with a cry of joy, exclaimed, “Here it is, Frank! The
Prince himself has given you the rank, and in the hussars too!”
“Let me see it,” cried the boy,--“let me see it.” And tearing the paper
from her hand, he read it again and again. “I scarce know--I can scarce
believe this real; but a Prince's word--a royal promise, Kate, is surely
sacred.”
“Of that there can be no doubt, Frank.”
“And I am a hussar and an officer,” said he, with a burst of delight
“I'd not change with the kaiser this minute, Kate.”
“My dear, dear Frank!” said she, passing her arm around his neck.
“And to owe it all to you, my sweet Kate! If anything could enhance the
pleasure of this piece of fortune, it is this fact. And such a regiment,
Kate,--the Prince Paul's. The turappé all one mass of gold, and the
chako splendid, and their horses the true Hungarian breed,--the native
horse crossed with the Arab! I feel already as if I were in the saddle,
and careering wildly about. Oh, Kate, what glorious news!”
Again and again he embraced her in his ecstasy, and she, hiding her head
upon his shoulder, tried to suppress the burst of emotions which filled
her heart, for she thought at what a price she purchased the power she
wielded.
They sat long with hands close locked beside each other,--neither
speaking,----each travelling his own road of thought; and how wide apart
they lay!