But the deliverers of ambiguous oracles do not always find their
avocation an exhilarating one, as I at once discovered while the light,
elegant vehicle, drawn by two magnificent blood-horses, rolled over the
excellent new road which led from Zehrendorf past Trantowitz to Rossow.
It was a glorious afternoon; here and there in the clear blue sky stood
great white clouds, whose shadows agreeably diversified the otherwise
rather monotonous landscape; larks were singing gaily over the broad
fields of young grain waving in the soft west-wind, plovers flew over
the great heath, trenched in various parts by turf-cuttings between the
beech-woods of Trantow and the pine-forest of Rossow; and from the
distance came unceasingly the call of the cuckoo. The whole landscape
to its minutest details has remained imprinted on my memory, perhaps
because the bright laughing picture was in so marked a contrast with my
own gloomy and undecided feelings. The indiscreet question of the
governess had lifted the veil from a secret of my heart, which I had
hitherto carefully passed with averted face. Only lifted a little, not
removed. I had not the courage nor the strength to complete what I had
begun, and as in such moments of confusion one usually catches at the
first object that presents itself, in order to escape mere distraction,
I now clutched the determination not to let my heart, though it should
break in the effort, interpose a word in the affair I had undertaken.
In this mood I looked forward to the approaching interview with a calm
that would have astonished myself had I reflected where and how I last
met the prince, and under what singular circumstances our previous
meetings had occurred. But I scarcely thought of this at all, or, if at
all, only to shake off the thought and say to myself: I have wandered
here into such a labyrinth, that one strange meeting more or less makes
no difference. Only forward! have done with it! for it is no longer
possible to turn back.
The pines of Rossow--a beautiful piece of woods of fine stately
trees--had now closed around us; the road growing sandy, compelled the
driver to go at a slower pace, and I sprang from the carriage and
walked beside it with long strides, so that I soon left it behind.
The trees grew ever larger, the silence ever deeper, the mysterious
forest-twilight dimmer, until suddenly I stepped from under the last
trees and saw before me a well-proportioned small castle, gray with
antiquity, with tall spires on the turrets, numerous balconies and
other projections of various kinds, here and there thickly overgrown
with ivy, standing in a clear space surrounded by magnificent trees.
This was the hunting-lodge Rossow, the temporary residence of the young
banished prince.
An old domestic with snow-white hair, who was sitting in the Gothic
portal, now approached me, and after respectfully inquiring the object
of my coming, and telling me that the prince had been expecting me some
time, led me through a small dark hall, singularly decorated with old
armor and weapons of all kinds, up several stairs to a Gothic door,
artistically ornamented with iron-work, which he threw open with a bow
and the whispered words, "His Highness has given orders to admit you
unannounced." I stepped into the room and stood before the young
prince.
He was rising from a wide sofa upon which he had probably fallen asleep
while waiting for me; at least the expression of his handsome, pale,
refined face indicated confusion, and it was some moments before he
appeared quite to comprehend the situation.
"Ah, yes," he said, at last; "Herr--excuse me, my memory for names is
so very bad--Hartig? Oh, excuse me Hartwig--so it is! Now this is very
kind of you to come; very kind indeed. I beg you will be seated. Do you
smoke? There are cigars; help yourself. Very kind of you indeed!"
He had thrown himself back again in the corner of the sofa, and half
closed his eyes as if he wished to go to sleep again. I took advantage
of the opportunity to cast a hasty glance around the apartment.
It was a large antique room, not very high, panelled in dark oak, with
a ceiling of oak, divided into compartments. Portraits, brown with age,
hung around the whole wall, to the solitary wide Gothic window, through
the small stained panes of which fell a dim and colored light. The
furniture, which was very numerous, was in a correspondingly antique
and venerable style: wide-backed chairs, cabinets and tables richly
inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory; and on the mantelpiece, between
elegant pitchers of beaten silver and goblets of cut-crystal, stood a
large clock, artistically inlaid, and covered with elaborate and
fantastic scroll-work, a master-piece of _rococo_.
Upon a great bear-skin rug before the fire-place lay a handsome
long-haired wolf-hound, who at my entrance had raised his head a little
and then laid it between his fore-paws again. The clock on the mantel
ticked softly in the silence, a thrush twittered outside of the window,
the footsteps of the old domestic resounded on the stone hall, and
presently the young prince in the sofa corner opened his large weary
eyes and said: "What were we speaking of just now?"
"We?" I asked, in some surprise.
"Ah, to be sure," said the prince, "we have not yet spoken of anything.
You must excuse me; but really it would be no marvel if I forgot how to
speak altogether; for I have been sitting now two months already in
this frightful den, like an owl that dreads the daylight. I sometimes
look at my nails to see if they are not turning to talons. How
wearisome it all is! But now we will proceed to business. Will you have
the goodness to push the cigar-box over this way; and, if it is not too
much trouble, touch the bell there to your left?"
I did as he requested, and the old servant entered with a bottle and
two glasses.
"You need not wait," said the prince.
The old man placed the waiter between us on the table, and left the
room.
"Will you fill your glass?" said the prince; "and mine too, if you will
be so good--thank you. We shall need it in this dry business."
But despite this thorough preparation, he seemed to be in no hurry. He
examined his nails as attentively as if he now really detected the
first sproutings of the owl's talons, then suppressed a slight yawn and
seemed to have the question as to what we had been talking about, once
more on his lips, but luckily bethought himself, and said, while
playing with a large signet on his finger:
"I have always wished to see you sometime at my house; you must know
that I take an extraordinary interest in you."
"Indeed?" I said.
"Yes indeed, an extraordinary interest," the prince repeated. "I have
retained you in my memory from the time of our first meeting, which, to
tell you the truth, is but rarely the case with me. But you seemed to
me, and still seem, to be an original, and I take a peculiar interest
in originals."
I bowed slightly, and took advantage of the pause to remark, "If it is
agreeable to you to hear from me what I think, from careful examination
of the chalk-quarry----"
"You see, originals are very scarce," went on the young prince, as if I
had not spoken,--"incredibly scarce. No one knows that better than one
of our class, who are chased up and down through the world from our
youth up. Everlasting sameness: the same stereotyped faces, the same
stereotyped manners, the same stereotyped phrases. I could scarcely
name more than two or three persons who have produced upon me the
impression that I was talking with real human beings and not with
puppets. One of these is, as I said, yourself; another is an old
decrepit dervish whom I lighted on, if my memory serves me, in
Jerusalem, and who told me that after a search of a hundred and four
years he had found the philosopher's stone, and that the thing was not
worth finding; and the other was perhaps poor Constance von Zehren."
I moved uneasily in my chair, and began again--"The chalk-quarry, about
which your Highness----"
"She it was that brought about our acquaintance," went on the prince,
who again could not have heard me; "so it is but natural that my memory
reverts to her at this moment when I have the pleasure of conversing
with you so agreeably. She was a peculiar, a strangely organized being,
whose nature has been to me, up to this moment, a perfect riddle, and
probably will ever remain so. A mixture of apparently absolute
contradictions: proud, without self-respect; bold, even foolhardy, and
yet, if I may so express myself, of a catlike timidity; romantic, yet
calculating--in a word, I have never been able to comprehend how such
characteristics could exist together in one and the same soul. You, as
you have yourself known her, will admit the correctness of my judgment;
and perhaps will also agree with me in the opinion that one should
reflect long before one holds a man who has had the fortune--or
misfortune--to be drawn into too close an intimacy with a person of so
strange a nature--an intimacy which I may well call perilous--one
should reflect long, I say, before holding that man responsible for all
the consequences which this perilous intimacy may entail."
The young man was still leaning back in the sofa-corner, playing with
his ring, a picture of ennui and indifference. I was in the most
painful position imaginable, and inly cursed the chance which had
brought the indolent man to speak upon this theme of all others. Or was
it then a chance? I fancied that I perceived in the tone with which he
spoke the last words, some signs of internal emotion; but I could not
be sure of it, and I was about to make a third and decisive attempt to
bring the conversation to business matters, when the prince began again
in a more animated tone:
"It is not my fault that all happened as it did. I have, it may be, one
or two things upon my conscience which I had rather not have there when
I sit here all alone, and for very weariness cannot even sleep; but in
that affair I am really not the most culpable party. I was very young
when I first saw her; she was far the older of the two, if not in
years, at least in experience and worldly prudence. How she came by it
I know not--with women anyhow we rarely know how they come by it--and
she had it all, as I said, in a high degree. It was no slight
achievement to blind me to the ruin which lay plainly enough before my
eyes; the anger of the prince, my father, upon whom I am altogether
dependent, the certainty that I was throwing away the hand of a noble
and amiable lady who had been chosen for me: it was no trifling
achievement, I say, and yet she succeeded in bringing me to it. And
yet, upon my word as a nobleman, I would never have abandoned her, if I
had not heard a circumstance connected with Fräulein von Zehren--or at
least having reference to her--something of which she was altogether
innocent--absolutely and entirely innocent--which I cannot further
explain because it is not my secret, but which was of such a nature
that from the moment I learned it all thoughts, whether of a lawful or
illicit connection between us, became for me at once and forever
impossible. Strange things come to pass in life: things which at first
appall us like hideous spectres, but which one gradually becomes
accustomed to and learns to endure. Do you not think so?"
The prince seemed to be half in slumber again as he put this question;
but somehow I could not entirely believe in this half-sleep; on the
contrary the impression grew stronger upon my mind that my
distinguished host was playing with very laudable skill, a well
concerted part. So his confidential communications only made me
distrustful, and with a reserve that was otherwise foreign to my
nature, I determined to wait and see whither this singular discourse
was really tending. The prince probably expected to produce a different
effect upon me, for he presently added, with eyelids half closed.
"You once felt an interest in the lady of whom we are speaking, did you
not?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Your answer sounds as if you no longer felt that interest."
"Not to my knowledge," I replied.
"Indeed?" said the prince, opening his handsome wearied eyes wide for a
moment, and looking me full in the face; "Indeed? that is precisely the
opposite of what Zehren has informed me."
"I do not think that Arthur--that Herr von Zehren--can give any
information concerning me, that has even the shadow of credibility," I
answered.
"Very possible," replied the prince, "very possible: his veracity is by
no means beyond the possibility of doubt: indeed I frequently permit
myself to assume the exact opposite of what he pleases to tell me. For
example, I am perfectly convinced that he was decidedly in error when
he assured me that the charming young artist at whose house I had the
pleasure of meeting you, would be gratified by my attentions. The
reverse seems to have been the case."
The prince looked at me as if he expected an answer, but I replied only
by an ambiguous gesture.
"Nor am I any more sure of the final disposal of a certain
insignificant sum of money which I entrusted to him on the same day, if
I remember rightly, for a special purpose. I beg you! You need not say
anything--I am now satisfied. My friend Zehren is very little troubled
with over-scrupulousness"--the prince made a slight gesture of
contempt--"very little indeed. It is really high time that he had
settled himself: such men as he, in a desperate position, are
hopelessly ruined. Well, he has at present a capital opportunity for
settling himself: I congratulate him upon it!"
I felt how at these words of the prince, which could only be
interpreted in one way, the blood rushed to my cheeks and brow; but I
controlled myself as well as I could, and only replied:
"I think your highness just remarked that you were disposed in certain
cases to take for granted the precise opposite of what Arthur thinks
fit to inform you."
"Indeed!" said the prince. "I should be sorry for that in this case. I
mean on his account; though I could not exactly congratulate the young
lady, whom I have not the honor to know, upon the match. But this time
I do believe the statement, because all the circumstances seem to
confirm it. I have had several interviews with the old man: he is a
horrible--what shall I say?--roturier, and like all the rest of his
class, greedy after respectable connections, and distinctions of every
kind. This very morning he intimated to me through the justizrath that
he would make more favorable propositions in the matter of the sale of
Zehrendorf, provided I would obtain for him from my father the title of
privy-councillor, or the order of the third class; he has contrived in
some way already to get the fourth. For such people it is the height of
happiness if they can marry a daughter, and especially an only
daughter, into an old family; and the Zehrens are an old family--there
is no disputing that fact. How the young lady views the matter, I do
not know; probably not differently from other young women in her rank
of life. Indeed, it would be a very serious matter if Zehren had
deceived me in this affair, and I should not readily forgive him. On
this representation I have paid his debts for him; and what is just now
more important for me, he has promised to use all his influence with
his prospective father-in-law to bring about the sale of Zehrendorf.
And on your account also, Herr Hartwig, I should regret it, for I
devised a plan which I think it would interest you to hear, and to
communicate which to you was the main reason for my requesting the
honor of an interview this afternoon. I had the idea, namely, that it
would be agreeable for you, and perhaps open you a future career, if I
asked you, after the purchase of Zehrendorf has been consummated, to
help me in its management, and in that of some other estates here. The
prince, my father, insists upon my undertaking the administration of
these estates, before he re-admits me to his favor. Now for more than
one cause I am very anxious for this reconciliation; but the condition
he attaches to it is less easy of accomplishment, and the acquisition
of a man of whom I have heard so much that was to his honor, who has
borne himself so well in many a trying situation, and--what I consider
of most importance--whom I have myself learned to know as a perfect
gentleman--the acquisition of such a man I should value highly, yes,
inexpressibly."
For the first time during our conversation the prince had spoken with a
warmth which was not without an effect upon my susceptible nature, and
at his last words he bowed gracefully to me, and a kind and friendly
smile brightened his pale refined face. It was a noble and most
inviting offer that he made me; I felt that, and I also felt that under
other circumstances I would have accepted it without hesitation; but as
it was----
"You are a cautious man," said the prince, after politely waiting a
little while for my answer. "You are thinking, 'Will Prince Prora keep
the promise he makes me? and will he be able to keep it?' On this point
I think I can satisfy you. The prince, my father, must be no less
desirous of this reconciliation than I am myself; he would eagerly
welcome the first advances from my side, and reward me with princely
magnanimity for the first results that I was able to produce. I believe
even that he would at once place all our estates in this part of the
country under my charge. This at the beginning would be a field of
action which I should think would be satisfactory to your ambition--you
are a little ambitious are you not? As for myself, you would have every
reason to be content with me. I am by nature rather indolent, and my
training has not done much to eradicate that natural fault; I should
give you uncontrolled authority, or, at least you would always find me
inclined to agree with whatever was reasonable. Under no circumstances
would I be a hard landlord; and as you are unfortunately not in the
position to--how shall I express it? you understand what I mean--why
should you not give me your service as freely--more freely, I flatter
myself--than to that horrible plebeian over yonder? whose affairs,
moreover, as I learn on good authority, are by no means in the most
prosperous condition."
While the prince was speaking, I had been putting to myself the
question with which he concluded, and answered myself that in reality I
could see no reason why my activity could not work as effectively for
good in this new field as in the old. And yet I could not bring myself
to accept the offer. It is so hard for one to renounce a favorite
dream.
"I see my proposition appears somewhat to embarrass you," said the
prince, a little piqued, as I fancied, by my hesitation. "Well, I will
not urge you: think the matter over; you have my word, and I will let
it stand for a few days. I am here for the purpose of practising
patience, as it seems. Then in a few days I promise myself this
pleasure again."
He bowed to me from his sofa-corner as if to intimate that the
conversation was at an end, when the rapid tramp of a horse was heard
under the window.
"Who can that be?" said the prince, and touched the silver bell on the
table. But in the same instant the old servant entered followed by an
equerry with a sealed letter in his hand. The old man was very pale and
the equerry very red, but both had such agitated faces that the prince
exclaimed hastily, "What upon earth is the matter?"
"A letter from his high--I should say from Herr Chancellor Henzel,"
said the old man, taking the letter from the courier's hand and handing
it to the prince without thinking to place it upon the salver which he
was holding in his other hand for this purpose. He must have been
informed of the contents of the letter by the messenger.
The prince broke open the large seal, and I remarked that while he
hastily ran over the contents of the letter, his hands began to tremble
violently. Then he looked up and said with a voice which he evidently
tried to keep as steady as possible:
"His highness has had an attack of apoplexy. Saddle Lady, or better,
Brownlock, he is faster. Albert can take Essex and come with me. Be
quick about it!" and he stamped impatiently.
The equerry hurried out of the door, and the old servant ran through
another door which I had not observed, into an adjoining room, probably
to pack up such things as were necessary for his master to take.
As the prince, who was pacing the room with unsteady steps, did not
seem to notice that I was still there, I was about trying to slip away
unperceived, when he suddenly stopped before me, and looking at me with
an attempt to smile, said:
"Now see how hard it is for one in my position to become an orderly
man. I am just about making the attempt, and I am called away in
another direction. Now, farewell, and let me soon hear from you.
Remember, you have my word, and I shall now probably need you more than
ever. Farewell!"
He gave me his hand, which I pressed warmly.
Five minutes later, as I was going back on foot through the pine
woods--I had declined the carriage which had been kept harnessed for
me--I heard horses behind me. It was the young prince, with a groom
following him. As he flew by me at full gallop, he waved his hand in
friendly salutation, and in the next instant both riders had
disappeared among the thick trunks and the trampling of their horses
grew fainter and ceased to sound in the dim forest.