Meanwhile Gustave had also returned slowly to the house. As he entered
the drawing-room, Jessie came to him full of uneasiness.
"Mr. Sandow, pray, pray tell me what has happened. Ten minutes ago
Frida rushed into my room, threw her arms round my neck, and wished me
good-bye. She seemed quite beside herself, and declared that she must
go, she could not stay another hour, would answer no questions, but
referred me to you for all explanations. What has happened?"
Gustave shrugged his shoulders.
"What I feared, if the discovery could not be postponed. An accident
betrayed our secret to my brother, and we were obliged to confess the
truth. His auger at the deception burst forth with great violence, and
was poured unsparingly upon us both. Frida could not support this, she
declared she would go at once, and now is, most probably, making the
necessary preparations for her journey."
"And you are not with her!" cried Jessie. "You have not protected and
supported her! Can you leave her alone at such a moment? Go to her!"
"I should only be in the way," declared Gustave, with a composure which
appeared to Miss Clifford as the height of selfishness. "What remains
to be done Frida must fight out alone. I may, at last, be allowed to
think of myself."
His eyes, which rested on Jessie's face, beamed again as when Frida had
made a certain revelation to him. Lost in this gaze, he quite forgot
that his words must give rise to fresh misunderstanding, and this
indeed happened in fullest measure.
"All this while you have only thought too much of yourself!" replied
Jessie, her excitement rising, "but if there is one spark of love in
your breast, you must feel that your place is at the side of your
betrothed bride."
Gustave smiled, and stepped close to the indignant girl, while he said
impressively--
"Frida is not, and has never been, betrothed to me."
"Not betrothed to you?"
"No; if you remember, it was expressly as my _protegee_ I introduced
her. It was you, Miss Clifford, who took the other connection for
granted, and I left you in your error. But now, when I have ceased to
play the part of protector, I may acknowledge to you that my
inclinations were directed to quite another quarter."
He bent over her hand, and pressed a passionate kiss upon it, which
amply explained his words, but the game which he had so boldly carried
on was now to be revenged on him. He had too long played the part of
the heartless egoist, and must now do penance.
Jessie snatched her hand away with the greatest indignation.
"Mr. Sandow, you are going too far! So now, when my guardian repulses
Frida, when you see the impossibility of gaining his consent, you dare
to approach me! You even venture to deny your bride before me, and to
give the whole thing out as a farce. That is really too much!"
"But Miss Clifford--for heaven's sake!" cried Gustave, now seriously
disturbed.
She would not allow him to speak, but continued, as if beside herself--
"I knew long ago, when you laid such stress upon the word _protegee_,
that you were leaving a way of escape open. If Frida and fortune could
both be won, well and good; if only fortune, Frida must go. There would
still remain the heiress, who in the first place was intended for you,
and this heiress you would secure while the forsaken, deceived girl was
still under our roof. I have already experienced bitter disappointment
with respect to your character, but such disgraceful disregard of truth
and good faith I had not expected, even from you!"
A flood of tears choked her voice. Gustave tried prayers, entreaties,
explanations; all were in vain. She hurried into the adjoining room,
and when he tried to follow her she drew the bolt inside. Directly
after he heard her leave that room also by another door, so that his
words could no longer reach her. Left thus in the lurch, Gustave began
to give vent to his anger.
"This is really too bad! This is what I have gained by sacrificing
myself to the interests of others! My brother bursts upon me raging and
storming because I give a caress to my own niece, and now I am treated
like a criminal because I am too indifferent to her. Really, I ought to
have taken Jessie into our confidence. This comes of too great a supply
of high spirits. The thing amused me, and she--now she cries like one
in the depths of despair. Now perhaps I may wait till tomorrow without
her reappearing, and the misunderstanding should be brought to an end
at once."
Despairingly he stamped with his foot, when suddenly a voice behind him
said--
"I beg pardon--but I was directed here."
Gustave started and looked round. At the principal entrance of the
drawing-room stood a stranger, a little man with a round face, who,
bowing politely, said--
"Have I the honour of addressing the head of the house of Clifford?" He
looked rather nervous, for Gustave's violent pantomime had not escaped
him. "I have been to the office, and was there told that Mr. Sandow had
already left. As my business is very urgent, I have been obliged to
follow him out here."
"My brother is not visible," said Gustave irritably, for this
interruption was in the highest degree unwelcome at such a moment. "He
has important business in hand, and cannot be disturbed."
At the word "brother" the little gentleman bowed still more profoundly,
and approaching with a confidential air, said--
"Mr. Gustave Sandow! the great German journalist! I am deeply rejoiced
that fortune has permitted me to make the acquaintance of such a
celebrity, a celebrity whose value is thoroughly appreciated by our
firm."
"What do you want?" asked Gustave, with a look which clearly expressed
a burning desire to show the admirer of his greatness to the door.
"I am an agent of Jenkins and Co.," explained the stranger, with an air
of great self-satisfaction. "I arrived here today with a number of
emigrants, and found myself obliged to call upon our honoured
correspondent here. Since Mr. Sandow cannot be disturbed, perhaps I may
make my statement to you."
Now Gustave's sorely tried patience was at an end. At a moment of such
anxiety to receive an agent of Jenkins and Co. was beyond his power. He
turned with great want of politeness to the bearer of the hated name--
"I can receive no communications intended for my brother. Bring your
news to-morrow to the counting-house. I would"--here he suddenly
dropped the English in which he had spoken to the American, and
relieved his mind with a few strong German curses. "I wish the devil
would take Jenkins and Co. with all their agents to their accursed
place in the West, that the consequences of their philanthropical
speculation might fall on their own heads."
With this he quitted the room by another door, leaving the astonished
agent dumb with horror. For a few minutes he looked at the door by
which Gustave had vanished with a bewildered mien. He had not
understood the words of the German objurgations, but so much was clear
to him that the "great German journalist" had not expressed very
benevolent wishes with regard to himself and his Company. What should
he do? The elder Mr. Sandow invisible, and the younger--
The little gentleman shook his head thoughtfully, and said to himself--
"Remarkable people, these German journalists! They are so nervous, so
excited, one might almost say raving mad. When one pays them a
compliment they answer by insult. Our gentlemen of the press are much
more polite when people talk of their fame."