Schwarzburg? I am jolly glad!”
“I am not,” responded papa. “It is as I expected. But then, I am no
idealist; I know mankind.”
Bernhard blurted out, “If he had really been such a Don Quixote as
to----”
“Be still!” said my father authoritatively.
But he continued: “I would have cut him dead.”
Here a footman announced that mamma awaited the gentlemen in the
small drawing room. They obeyed the summons at once; papa sending me
up to my own room. Here I still am. They seem to have quite forgotten
me; or else they will have no more to say to me. No one seems to
trouble about me. Oh, if I had not you, my faithful Diary, in which
to confide my every thought, I should indeed be greatly, greatly to
be pitied.
[Illustration: Decorative image]
[Illustration: Decorative image]
EPILOGUE.
If you have followed me thus far, kind readers, my thanks are due
to you for your constancy. We must now bid farewell to each other.
Not only have the Memoirs I so presumptuously undertook to write
degenerated into a diary, but even that diary must now give place to
a correspondence, the nature of which will forever remain the secret
of two individuals.
If you care to know how this came about, grant me your indulgence yet
a little longer.
They left me an unconscionable time to myself that day. It had grown
dark, and a deathlike stillness reigned around. Even the most
indefatigable songster among my birds had ceased singing, and, all
crouched up, was asleep on his perch. How I envied the pretty little
creature’s peace of mind.
At last I heard the sound of footsteps approaching my door, the tiny
step of my Duphot.
“Ah, _ma chère_!” she said, mournful and reproachful, as she came in
and bade me go with her to my parents. So wild a beating of the heart
I do not suppose anyone has ever experienced as that with which I
obeyed her behest; it was too agonizing, too dreadful.
Besides papa and mamma, I found my brother and sister and Baron
Schwarzburg. He stood up as I came in; I, too, remained standing.
Papa began:
“Paula, your mother and I, not desiring to incur a second time the
reproach that the happiness of one of our children----”
“Or what she considers to be happiness,” broke in mamma.
“Is of less importance to us,” continued papa, “than it should be to
parents who love their children, had therefore given our permission
to Baron Schwarzburg to speak to you before he left. It has
resulted----”
“Differently from what we anticipated,” interpolated mamma.
“And, as I hear, you are agreed in the idea----”
“Or in imagining,” suggested mamma.
“That you are made for each other,” said papa.
To which I said “Yes.”
“Yes,” repeated the Baron Schwarzburg, deeply moved.
“Well then, if two people are really made for each other--a thing
which very rarely happens--there is but one thing to be done. But
it remains to be proved; and proof requires time. Endurance is the
proof; so you must wait.”
“We will wait,” said Schwarzburg.
“Three years,” said papa.
My head turned. I could not realize my happiness. So it was not, as I
had with fear and trembling so fully expected to hear: “Do it if you
will. But give up all hope of our consent!”
“Only three years?” I asked.
“Not a day less,” said mamma.
And I: “Why, that is nothing! We would wait _ten_ years if you
required it, dearest father and mother. We are happy beyond
everything, and have no other wish than----”
“Speak for yourself!” put in Bernhard.
Baron Schwarzburg was looking decidedly alarmed, and I asked him:
“Do you think so? To wait--wait for each other--what could be more
heavenly?”
“The shorter, the more heavenly,” he returned.
Elizabeth, coming up to me, had taken me in her arms. “See, what a
wise, sensible child it is! Three years’ probation are too little for
her; she prefers ten. Ah, she knows death is easy, but marriage is a
venture!”
“Do not jest, countess,” interposed Schwarzburg. “I consent to three
years--not a day less, but not a day more.” His voice faltered, but a
strong, unswerving determination gleamed in his eyes.
“So it is settled, and so it shall remain. A few hours ago,” he
continued, turning to me, “I had counted the happiness that has come
to me as utterly unattainable; but now I have known it; it is mine,
and I hold it fast, as fast as I am wont to hold the things most
precious to me; and you are the most precious thing of all to me,
Paula, and, I well know, the most sure.” He took my hand, “In three
years; but then; for life.”
“From now; for life.” I could say no more.
He took leave of us all. How sweet and natural Elizabeth was with
him! Oh, dear sister mine, can I ever thank you enough?
Only when the door had closed upon him, did the consciousness of
our parting fall with leaden weight upon my heart. He had gone, and
we had scarce--nay, we had not even said good-by to each other. An
unspeakable sense of yearning came over me; I fought with the tears
which choked me. No one said a word.
Suddenly Bernhard said laughingly: “Why, he has actually gone without
his hat!”
All at once it flashed across me where it had been left; and I ran
to the great drawing room to fetch it. To the drawing room they
came, papa and the baron--and how it happened I have not the least
conception, but the next instant I was in the arms of my betrothed,
pressed close to his heart, and he was showering kisses upon me--hot,
passionate kisses.
Papa was standing by us; no longer the stern papa of the last few
weeks, but the tender, loving one of old, and of all time to come.
I had only to look into his dear face to straightway regain my former
boundless confidence in him; and in the strength of this confidence
to say:
“May I write to him, papa?”
“And I to her?” asked Schwarzburg.
Papa hesitated.
“Why? what for? See----” he broke off, sighed, looked at us both with
strong emotion, then with all the loving intonation of old came the
dear, priceless formula:
“Well, do whatever you like.”
THE END.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 33: ‘and goodess only’ replaced by ‘and goodness only’.
Pg 42: ‘so, extendng’ replaced by ‘so, extending’.
Pg 64: ‘know off the’ replaced by ‘know of the’.
Pg 142: ‘la crême’ replaced by ‘la crème’.