They reached Lischnitz late Saturday night. Since the colonel had
prohibited a formal reception, all Lilly could see of the castle and
outbuildings were black shadowy masses, which the veiled moon painted
light on the edges.
A couple of servant maids stood on the steps holding lanterns, and a
very slim lady with a wasp-like waist and a halo of red hair streaked
with white put a pair of long, extremely thin arms about Lilly's neck,
and in a melancholy, cracked voice spoke motherly words of welcome,
which, though intended to bring about a speedy friendship between them,
intimidated Lilly and inspired her with dread.
Overcome with weariness, Lilly sank into a swelling white bed, with
gleaming brass rods draped in light blue ribbons, the bows of which
perched there like great exotic butterflies.
It was these butterflies which the next morning carried her from a doze
into full wakefulness, into the new existence.
From the ceiling hung a gilded lamp with opaline shades and blue silk
covers over the shades. A white-enamelled wainscoting about four or five
feet high ran about the entire room, and the walls between the
wainscoting and the ceiling were panelled in silk of the same light blue
as the counterpane and scarfs set in frames of white enamel.
All this was revealed by a beam of light, which came in through the
narrow space between the curtains and threw a shining bridge across the
Persian carpet of a yellowish colour intertwined with blue.
Joyfully Lilly sprang out of bed and trod on the carpet, which seemed to
ripple in waves, so soft and long was its nap.
Nothing of the colonel was to be seen or heard.
Long before, he had told Lilly his bedroom would be apart from hers.
"But it cannot be far off," she thought; "it must be on the other side
of that shining white carved door."
Opening it softly she peeped into the next room.
The window curtains had scarcely been drawn aside. The bed, a huge piece
of dark mahogany, was empty, though the crushed sheets and pillows
testified to its having been occupied. There were engravings of racers
on the wall, tall boots, whips, pistols, some uniforms, and on the round
side-table a rack for pipes, and next to the bed the tube of gout
ointment. So, the evening before, though it was her sacred duty to
massage him, he had treacherously done it himself.
She felt hurt, and then a little shudder ran through her. It was all so
strange and hard, as if mysterious threats were lurking somewhere.
She hastily shut the door and retreated into her sky-blue silk realm.
Her room had two other doors, one of which opened on the corridor. This
was the one through which Miss von Schwertfeger had led her in the night
before.
Lilly shuddered again. Without question, without asking permission, the
thin, melancholy person of the extinct eyes and commanding manners had
taken possession of Lilly. The colonel and his housekeeper had exchanged
a glance, a brief glance of mutual understanding, which, on the
colonel's part, said:
"I put her into your charge."
And Lilly was thrown on Miss von Schwertfeger's mercy.
The lady, to be sure, had afterward tried to insinuate herself into
Lilly's good graces by calling her pet names and embracing her, and with
her own hands bringing the comforting cup of tea to Lilly's bedside. But
a voice within Lilly, who usually flew to meet everybody, whether man or
woman, with expectant trustfulness, had called to her:
"Be on your guard."
While staring at the door which the spidery fingers had thrown open for
her the night before and faint-heartedly recalling the incidents of the
arrival, Lilly was overpowered, there in the midst of her gay glory, by
a feeling of strangeness and solitude, which nearly broke her heart.
She rapidly put on the morning gown, which Miss von Schwertfeger must
have unpacked and hung next to Lilly's bed after she had fallen asleep.
The third door had still to be investigated. Lilly hoped it would lead
out into the open.
She cautiously turned the knob and drew back with a little cry. What she
saw fairly dazzled her.
A small room flooded with sunlight and filled with flowers smiled at her
like a tiny paradise. Azaleas as tall as a man spread their rosy
coronets over a much-becushioned couch. And there was a dear little
secretaire inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell, over the top
of which a palm placidly waved its flattering fronds. But that was by no
means the most beautiful thing. The most beautiful thing was the toilet
table, which sent a lovely, shamefaced greeting to her from the corner
where it stood. It was draped with white lace and the surface was
covered with a large, smooth, even-edged plate of glass. The mirror was
tall and composed of three adjustable faces, so that you could see
yourself on all sides--the hair at the back of your neck, the fastening
of your dress, everything.
Lilly had long desired such a mirror, but had not dared to ask for it.
The room, doubtless, was her "boudoir."
She, Lilly Czepanek, owned a "boudoir!" Was the wonder conceivable?
On the glass plate lay all sorts of things which you couldn't take in at
first glance, yet expanded your eyes and your soul like a divine
revelation. There were ivory-backed brushes--three--four--of varying
degrees of hardness or softness; an ivory-backed hand-mirror with a
charmingly carved handle, a powder puff in an ivory box, a glove
buttoner, a shoe horn, everything of silver and ivory. And many more
things, mysterious in their functions, the significance of which would
have to be learned gradually. On each shone resplendent the gold
monogram L. M. with a seven-pointed coronet above.
It was enough to set one wild.
After having inspected her treasures to her heart's content, Lilly
prepared to extend her expedition of conquest to outlying districts.
The room in which she was had only one window, or, rather, a glass door,
leading to a balcony, on which there was a rocking chair, and the high
railing of which was partly overgrown with young creepers. Later in the
season, when the leaves had unfolded all the way, a person standing on
the balcony would be completely screened by walls of green; but now, in
early spring, there was still so much space between the shoots that he
might easily be seen from below.
Lilly softly opened the casement door and slipped out into the open air.
To the left, rising above a wall, were the barns and stables, which
formed a large quadrangle about the yard. To the right, giant trees, a
chaos of mazy, moss-green branches set with the golden-green buttons of
the leaf buds. Inside the labyrinth the birds kept up a scandalous riot,
which deafened one's ears as with a hail-storm of sounds. Straight
ahead, about thirty paces away, rose the gable roof of an ancient
one-story structure, which also bordered on the park wall and seemed to
open in front on the yard.
There at last a few mortals were to be seen. Two gentlemen, one with a
round grey beard, the other stout, middle-aged and copper-coloured, were
walking up and down the lawn at the back of the house smoking and
conversing, while a third--
Who was that?
The slim, sinewy young man with the high collar and light yellow
gaiters, sitting at a window, pulling a red dog to his lap by a thin
chain, that was--no, impossible!--yes, it was--it actually was--Walter
von Prell!
It was her merry friend, who had, so to speak, slunk off around the
corner, the little lieutenant, famed as one utterly devoid of moral
fibre--the only man that had ever kissed her mouth.
Except the colonel, of course; but the colonel didn't count.
There were the silvery white lids and the clinking bracelet and the mute
laugh, which shook him like a storm each time the red dog with the
pointed ears fell from his knees. The only change in him was that the
close-cropped, velvety head of hair had been replaced by a somewhat
unkempt growth shining with pomade.
Lilly laughed aloud and stretched her arms to him.
"Mr. von Prell! Mr. von Prell!" she was about to call out, but checked
herself in time.
No matter--now, she knew, she was no longer solitary in that strange
world. Her merry friend was here, her comrade, her playmate, the man to
whom she owed her good fortune.
She remembered his having said, "The old man has taken a tremendous
liking to me and wants me to run about his estate as Fritz
Triddelfitz"--Lilly knew her Fritz Reuter well.
Strange that in all these months it should not have occurred to the
colonel to mention a word about Von Prell's being at Lischnitz. To be
sure, he had seldom spoken of his estate. Even Miss von Schwertfeger
cropped up in his mind only when he wished to reprimand his young wife.
Perhaps he suspected it was Von Prell and no other who had discovered
Lilly and brought her forth from concealment. However, she would tell
the colonel and Miss von Schwertfeger without an hour's delay that she
had met an old acquaintance. They need not be informed of the kiss. To
what end? It had no more significance than a kiss in a game of forfeits.
She slipped back into the bedroom, and a moment later, while she was
drawing aside the window curtains, someone knocked at the door--three
short, sharp, rapid taps, which seemed to probe to the marrow of her
bones.
It was Miss von Schwertfeger, of course. Who else would have frightened
Lilly so?
Lilly received a kiss on her forehead; and her cheeks were patted with
every appearance of consideration and fondness. But the great colourless
eyes travelled silently up and down her body, and a wry, bitter smile
hovered about Miss von Schwertfeger's fleshy yet severely cut mouth,
the skin about which was reddened, as often happens when women with a
fine skin age before their time.
She carried clothes thrown over her arm, which Lilly recognised as her
own.
"I brought you these necessaries, my dear," she said, "so that you can
dress this morning. Here in the country we don't go about in matinees.
Besides, directly after you have breakfasted, we will make a little tour
of the grounds to give you an opportunity of getting acquainted with the
household and the people."
"May I keep house myself?" asked Lilly, hesitatingly.
"If you know how," said Miss von Schwertfeger, and gnawed her lips and
squinted.
Lilly vaguely felt that her harmless query suggested the infraction of
the housekeeper's rights, and, trying immediately to atone for her
thoughtlessness, she added, stammering:
"That is--I am only asking for what I will be--"
She was going to say "permitted," but Miss von Schwertfeger interrupted
her and said, drawing herself up:
"My dear child, you are the mistress here; nobody is better aware of
that than I. But I mean well by you when I advise you to ask for nothing
at present. Pay attention to nothing but your deportment. Upon that
depends how soon you will really be that which, unfortunately, you are
now merely in name."
Lilly, depressed and humiliated, maintained silence.
The disciplinarian was already showing her fangs.
"And I advise you," she continued, "to bear in mind that you must first
study the ground you will have to tread in the future. For this you need
a guide, who knows a thing or two of which you are ignorant. Otherwise
you will find yourself in difficult situations, from which it will be
impossible to extract you. And that in view of your relations with the
colonel, would be greatly to be deplored."
Lilly felt the tears rising. The old inability to defend herself, which
was her gravest weakness, took hold of her again.
"Oh, please," she begged, folding her hands, "don't _you_ feel hostile
to me."
Miss von Schwertfeger's extinct eyes, which lay half buried under heavy
lids, lighted up--was it with a question, or with amazement, or pity?
For a moment she stared into space, turning her head aside, and Lilly
saw a noble, bold profile of cameo cut, which appeared to belong to a
different person.
Then Lilly felt long arms about her neck. The embrace in which she was
held seemed warmer, more genuine than any of the caresses Miss von
Schwertfeger had yet bestowed upon her.
"You're a dear child, you _are_ a dear child," said she, and with that
left the room.
Half an hour later Lilly, dressed in the garments Miss von Schwertfeger
had brought, entered the dining room, where breakfast was being served
by old Ferdinand, a dried-up, spindle-legged heirloom of a servant. That
smooth, round-faced fellow with the mischievous smile, had been
dismissed, thank goodness!
The colonel came in from his early ride, his eyes sparkling with the
pride of proprietorship. The little crisscross veins of his gaunt cheeks
were filled with blood, and the grey brushes over his ears glistened
with dew drops. The heavy jacket he wore was becoming to him, and the
O-shaped legs were hidden under the table. He looked like a kingly old
warrior, both evil and kind-hearted.
Lilly flew into his arms, and he said with a sweep of his hand about the
place:
"Well, do you like--your home?"
She kissed his hand for the "your home."
The dining room was a long chamber, arched at each end and filled with
carved pieces of furniture darkened by age. It was only moderately
lighted by three large bow-windows giving upon the terrace, from which a
flight of railed stone steps led down to the park.
At breakfast they discussed the walk they had planned for showing the
young mistress her new realm. The colonel would not hear of such a thing
as having the people come to the castle and wait upon Lilly
ceremoniously. They were wearing their Sunday-best that day at any rate
and with no derogation to themselves could receive her in the spots
where they lived and toiled.
The upper employes, the inspectors and bookkeepers, would come to dinner
Sundays, as had been the immemorial custom, and take that as the
occasion for paying their respects.
"The youngest of them used to be one of my men," remarked the colonel,
"a Mr. von Prell--" He stopped short, looked Lilly over thoughtfully,
then, as if reassured, continued: "But he left service some time before
I did, and he's to learn farming on my estate."
This was the very moment for Lilly's happy avowal. But the words died on
her lips. She could not--for all her good intentions, she could not. As
it was, those great colourless eyes, resting on her face, were putting
her to the proof.
However, one thing was certain--the colonel knew nothing. His silence
had been due simply to the fact that he had not deemed the gay dog
worthy of mention.
"How's he behaving?" asked the colonel, turning to Miss von
Schwertfeger.
"Oh, Colonel," she said with a smile, regarding her long, bony fingers,
on which her crescent-shaped nails shone like mother-of-pearl, "you know
I never denounce unless I have to."
"Such a good-for-nothing rascal," laughed the colonel.
Lilly, instinctively taking her friend's part, thought the lady's words
were in themselves sufficient denunciation.
After breakfast they started out on their little expedition.
Lilly was placed between the colonel and Miss von Schwertfeger, and a
pack of dogs all of a sudden appeared to keep them company. Lilly
thought them more likable than anything else about her.
The kitchen was visited first. A perfect marvel of a kitchen, with tiled
walls, porcelain sinks, and all sorts of up-to-date arrangements. Lilly
did not know at what to look first.
A face was there, an old, brown, furrowed, thick-lipped face, with a
pair of moist eyes turned upon Lilly in mute questioning:
"Don't you recognise me?"
Lilly's eyes answered:
"Yes, I do."
But she did not dare to speak with her lips as well as with her eyes,
for fear Miss von Schwertfeger would inquire concerning the decisive
moment of her life and come to despise her still more.
She gave the old woman her hand, and the bond of friendship was renewed.
Next they went to the servants' kitchen, where the Sunday soup was
bubbling like a seething sea in a huge copper vessel. After this came
the laundry with its wringers and mangles resembling brightly armoured
monsters. It was good to smell the ancient odour of soap which had
nestled permanently in every nook and cranny.
In the pantries and storerooms, rows of hams wrapped in grey gauze
depended from the rafters like gigantic bats. Sausages hung there, too,
and last winter's golden pippins and other fine apples were still lying
on straw beds. Long lines of wide-mouthed jars were ranged on the closet
shelves--you could pilfer sweets to your heart's content.
The party now cut diagonally across the paved yard, where the waggons
and harvesters stood like soldiers on parade, to the barns and stables.
The stable of the pleasure horses! Heavens! It was like a drawing-room.
Upholstered wicker chairs with footstools in front stood about
invitingly. A matting strip ran along the stalls, over each of which a
porcelain plate proclaimed the name of the noble animal within. The
horses moved supple, slender, lustrous necks and turned knowing human
eyes to greet their beautiful mistress.
"You will choose one of these for yourself," said the colonel.
"I don't know how to ride," replied Lilly, embarrassed.
The grooms standing about, cap in hand, grinned at her
uncomprehendingly. A lady who could not ride had never before stepped
into their world.
The home of the draught horses was not nearly so interesting; it was
dirty and malodorous, and the cow stalls nauseated Lilly.
But she took good care not to betray her sensations. Ready to learn, she
patiently listened to the explanations the colonel and Miss von
Schwertfeger gave in turn.
A difficult piece of work was still ahead of them, the visit to the
cottagers, who had just returned from church and were standing before
their doors in expectant groups.
The oldest and most trustworthy came first. There were many new names to
learn, many dirty hands to shake and many eyes to look into which stared
at her in respectful suspicion.
Lilly felt she was fairly well able to cope with the situation. She
found a few friendly words to reach the hearts of the old and the sick;
and when she stooped and drew on her lap a blubbering little urchin a
pleased whisper ran before her to smooth her path.
At the end of the settlement were two structures originally erected for
barns, but later converted into dwellings. Small windows in red and blue
frames were set in the walls at irregular intervals, and what had once
been the broad entrance had been built up with yellow bricks.
Here lived the Polish immigrants, who had come as contract labourers
from distant regions. The district in which Lischnitz lay had been
German from times of old and had remained a German island amid the
invading flood of Slavs.
For this reason it was necessary to hold aloft the banner of Germanism,
as Miss von Schwertfeger admonished lovingly. And Lilly felt mortified,
as though she had been in the habit of disavowing it.
Red head cloths gleamed. Great, blue, intimidated eyes prayed to her.
Here and there an awed bobbing to the hem of her skirt, a shy attempt to
kiss her sleeve.
"_Niech bedzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus_," she heard in a whisper about
her, and involuntarily she answered: "_Na wieki wiekow!_ Amen!"
In the course of her Catholic bringing up she had learned that this is
the answer to a Polish greeting.
A glad humming and buzzing, a ripple of happiness ran through the
fearsome huddling little group. The lovely young _pana_ had spoken
their language, the language of their God.
"I had no idea you could speak Polish," said the colonel, his voice
grating with blame of her.
Lilly gave an embarrassed laugh and explained.
They tarried a shorter time at the next entrance, where a group of young
fellows in heavy grey jackets were twirling their caps and making
awkward bows. Lilly scarcely ventured to give them a cordial nod. Even
that, she felt, was forbidden.
Miss von Schwertfeger said not a word, but with aquiline nose in the air
held aloft the banner of Germanism.
"Now, my dear," she said when they reached the castle door, "put on your
dark blue cloth dress. I have already had it taken from the trunk and
pressed. You will find it in your room, and a lace collar to wear with
it. That is the correct thing here for Sunday dinner, which we take in
the middle of the day."
Lilly obediently donned the blue gown. It enhanced her slim grace. Her
heart beat for fear that her merry friend, who could not suspect she had
disowned him, would betray both of them at the first meeting by a
careless word of recognition.
The dinner bell rang and the next instant came those three probing taps
on the door.
Lilly in alarm started away from the mirror. Miss von Schwertfeger
should never discover she was vain. She looked Lilly up and down a
while, then grasped both her hands, and buried her pale blue eyes, which
now flared up again, in the improbable eyes.
"God grant," she said, "that you don't cause too much mischief in this
world, my child."
"Why should I cause mischief?" Lilly faltered, mortified again. "I don't
do a bit of harm to anybody."
Miss von Schwertfeger laughed.
"The one good thing is, you don't know who you are," she said, and drew
her to the corridor and down the old stairway, which cracked at every
step.
In the dining room were four dark men's figures besides the colonel's.
At Lilly's entrance they hastily drew up in line.
One was the man with the round grey beard--"Mr. Leichtweg, our chief
inspector," said the colonel. The next was the stout, copper-coloured
man--"Mr. Messner, our bookkeeper." Somebody else was introduced, and
then--then--
"Lieutenant von Prell, who is learning farming here," said the colonel.
Just a slight inclination of her head, the same as to the others, no
more.
But my poor, merry friend, how you look!
A long frock-coat fell below his knees, his narrow-pointed head was lost
in his high collar, his clothes hung in loose, limp folds. Every feature
of his, every marionette movement bespoke rigid formality and
obsequiousness.
Lilly stood there lost in pity and astonishment. If she had not seen him
that very morning while he was--
"Shake hands with the gentlemen," she heard whispered behind her.
She started and pressed the honest country fists more firmly than
beseems a chatelaine. But she quickly let go Von Prell's freckled hand,
which was still well kept.
"Thank the Lord, he won't betray us," she thought.
Then came grace.