One red August morning Lilly, sprinkled with dew from head to foot and
clasping a bunch of dewy roses in both arms, entered the dining-room,
where Anna von Schwertfeger, tall and thin in her greyish blue linen
dress, was standing at the table smiling to herself.
It was not her manner, it was not her greeting; both were as usual. It
was an intangible something which instantly caused Lilly to realize that
an extraordinary event had occurred.
Katie, she noticed, who helped Ferdinand with the serving, had red
eyelids and kept gnawing her lips while setting the table. Katie was of
finer material than the average servant girl, her father having been a
teacher, and was very pretty besides; owing to which qualities Miss von
Schwertfeger had selected her as Lilly's special maid.
When Katie left the room, Lilly began to ask questions.
In reply Miss von Schwertfeger merely kissed her with redoubled
tenderness, and observed:
"Why should you sully your pure young spirit with such ugly things? If
certain people are bent upon breaking their necks, that's their
business. We cannot help them."
"Breaking their necks--that must mean Walter von Prell," thought Lilly,
and said aloud: "After all this is my home, and nothing that happens
here in my future province"--she modestly said "future"--"ought to be
kept from me."
Miss von Schwertfeger yielded to her arguments.
"It will be painful to you," she said, "because I know you like him."
"Him--whom?" queried Lilly, conscious of blushing.
"In fact all of us like him," continued Miss von Schwertfeger by way of
mitigation, "the colonel most of all. So long as he confined himself to
the rooms of the labourers' girls I winked my eyes, and begged the
kitchen help not to annoy me with gossip about his adventures. But if he
commits the outrage of breaking into the castle, it's time the matter
ended."
"Why, what did he do?" asked Lilly, in fright.
"For some weeks past I noticed certain things which struck me as rather
curious. In spots the vine on your balcony was withered--"
"On--my--" Seized with a wild suspicion Lilly stepped a pace nearer to
Miss von Schwertfeger, and clutching her arm asked: "What has my balcony
to do with Mr. von Prell, Miss Anna?"
Miss von Schwertfeger avoided Lilly's look.
"Calm yourself, my dear," she said, "calm yourself. Persons in my
position have to keep their eyes wide open. That's what they are there
for. I was simply acting for your protection, because anyone who does
not know you as I do might come to the vile conclusion that if a man
climbs up to your balcony--"
Lilly began to cry.
"It's so low, so low."
Miss von Schwertfeger drew her to the sofa and stroked her brow.
"I have gone through much worse things, dear child. At any rate, I
wanted to get at the bottom of the affair, and although, I need not say,
I hadn't the least suspicion of you"--she turned her eyes away
again--"nevertheless I spent a few nights outside your door."
Lilly started. While she had been sleeping in innocent unconsciousness,
someone had lurked in hiding close by--so fast was she held captive!
"And about one o'clock this morning I caught him in the act. Fancy! The
dare-devil had the temerity to lean one of Haberland's ladders against
your balcony--that was the cause of the broken, withered vines--and
enter your sitting room through the glass door--glass doors, dearie,
ought never be left open. He passed your bedroom, and went to the
corridor without seeing me, of course. Since Katie is the only person
who sleeps on that side I charged her with it early this morning. She
made no denials. I always act in such matters with the utmost mildness
and reserve, and I told her she might give notice and leave on the
first. But what shall we do about the young man? I know this is the one
place where he can be brought to turn over a new leaf. Should the
colonel dismiss him, all's over with him. And I have no right to conceal
his conduct from the colonel. An affair that so nearly compromises his
wife's honour--"
"What has my honour to do with Mr. von Prell if he runs after servant
girls?" Lilly ventured to interject, hoping to improve his prospects a
bit by playing the innocent.
Miss von Schwertfeger had just time enough to enlighten her innocence
concerning all the evil results of Mr. von Prell's mad conduct, when the
table began to quiver from the colonel's tread as he came tramping down
the corridor.
"Don't say anything--not yet!" begged Lilly, and with that was hanging
on the colonel's neck to hide her confusion.
The colonel noticed nothing amiss.
His suspicions, ever alert, had gone to sleep now that he knew his young
wife secure under the Argus eyes of his old and tried housekeeper.
He was no longer that greedy lover, simulating youthfulness, who had
spied upon her every look and emotion, jealous of his mastery. The
humourous condescension with which he watched the doings of the lovely
gentle child gave him a natural semblance of fatherliness, which became
him well.
His visits to the club house in the garrison town nearby, at first only
occasional, had begun to grow more frequent. Sometimes he even departed
from his custom of leaving after supper, and took the afternoon train.
But whatever time he left, he never returned before two o'clock in the
morning, since there was no train to bring him back earlier.
During breakfast he good-humouredly explained to the ladies that he
would have to go to town that day to unload the barley crop on the Jews.
An idea occurred to Lilly which filled her soul with sacred joy. The
colonel's absence must be employed for rescuing Von Prell. How, she did
not yet know, but save him she must. She was the only one to do it. If
she did not concern herself in his behalf, who else was there in the
wide world to tow his drifting vessel to security?
After the colonel had left the room, she plucked up the courage to put
in a plea with Miss von Schwertfeger, who, however, refused to relent.
"On the next occasion he will do even worse things," she said. "Then the
shame both for him and for us will be still greater."
"No, he won't do anything worse," Lilly averred. "He will get better.
You need only take him to task."
"I'm old enough to," replied Miss von Schwertfeger, with a bitter-sweet
smile, "and I possess the authority. But, to be quite frank, the subject
is rather a delicate one, and I should like nevermore to have a thing to
do with such sordid affairs."
The extinct eyes, over which the lids lay like heavy blankets, fell into
a fixed stare, which Lilly had frequently noticed. It seemed to bring to
the top an old, dark, bitter hatred which had long lain buried. Then
Miss von Schwertfeger herself returned to the subject.
"All I can agree to," she said, "is, that if he comes to me of his own
will and begs my pardon, maybe I will yield. That's all I can do without
incurring the blame of being underhanded."
"Why, he doesn't even suspect he's been discovered."
"I should like to wager," rejoined Miss von Schwertfeger, "that Katie
will use her first free moment to run over to him."
"And if she doesn't?" cried Lilly, scarcely mastering her anxiety.
Miss von Schwertfeger took her head between her hands.
"If I did not know, dearie, what a sweet, harmless young creature you
are, I should say your interest in the little rake is most curious. Now,
you needn't blush. I know there's nothing back of it. At all events, I
will wait until to-morrow, because you plead for him, my love."
Thus the conversation ended. Nothing more was to be expected of Miss von
Schwertfeger.
"If I don't save him, he will be driven away, and if he's driven away,
he'll go to rack and ruin, and if he goes to rack and ruin, I shall be
to blame."
In this fashion Lilly's thoughts kept revolving dizzily in her brain.
The simplest thing would be to come to an understanding with Katie, but
that was unbefitting Lilly's station. Besides, it had not occurred to
the poor girl, who crept about apathetically, to run over to see Von
Prell. Later in the day, in fact, she got an attack of cramps and had to
be put to bed.
At four o'clock the colonel drove off to the station. He had stuck a
package of blue banknotes into his bill-folder; which was an unfailing
sign that he would not return before early morning.
Evening came. The lowing of the cattle and the cracking of whips
proclaimed the end of the day's work.
Lilly crouched behind the vine on her balcony, and listened to what was
going on at the lodge. Finally the scapegrace appeared at his dormer
window dragging his little dog by a chain. He was wearing the sort of
greenish grey jacket with innumerable pockets that managers of estates
affect; and each pocket was stuffed full, giving his figure a warty
appearance. Nevertheless he was a dear, bright little fellow, well worth
the saving.
If she were to signal to him and throw down a piece of paper, would it
be possible for him to pick it up later without being seen?
She went into her room and scrawled a few lines in pencil.
"Everything has been discovered. Miss von Schwertfeger promises to keep
silent provided you--"
She stopped short. Should the note fall into strange hands the stupidest
mortal would construe them into a confession of guilt.
"I will speak to him," she decided.
The supper bell rang.
How strangely Miss von Schwertfeger regarded her, as if she had gotten a
glimpse into the depths of Lilly's soul and discovered her bold design.
But she did not refer to the malefactor again.
On rising from the table she put her arm through Lilly's, after her wont
when she intended to bar the way to Lilly's Polish friends.
"She won't let go the whole evening," thought Lilly, raging inwardly.
In a short while, however, word was brought that Katie had grown sicker,
and it might be necessary to send for the physician.
"I'll be back directly," said Miss von Schwertfeger, as she left the
room giving Lilly a look expressive of stubborn resistance.
In an instant Lilly had slipped out of the door and was running down the
terrace steps leading to the park.
Profound silence reigned. The only sound was of a splashing which came
from behind a cypress tree where old Haberland, still occupied with
watering the roses, was filling his cans.
Lilly made straight for the lodge considering ways of making him look
from his window and see her.
She was saved from committing this indiscretion.
He was lying at full length on the green bench outside the house,
smoking a cigarette with evident gusto, the dog's chain wrapped about
his left wrist, and the dog himself asleep at his feet. None of the
other men were about.
Her heart's throbbing almost deprived her of breath.
"Mr. von Prell!"
He jumped to his feet, the dog along with him.
"Mr. von Prell, I should like to speak with you."
He put his hand to his head to remove his cap, but no cap was there.
"I am at my lady's service."
"Will you accompany me a little way?"
"At my lady's service."
He threw away the stump of his cigarette, glanced about hastily for his
vanished cap, then walked at her side bare-headed, stiff as a puppet in
his extravagant respect.
Lilly led the way into the interior of the park, where the clusters of
trees and the open grassy spaces melted into purple-edged darkness. She
had gotten back her calm. The desire to save him gave her strength of
which she had not deemed herself capable.
"You must not misunderstand my coming to you," she began.
"Certainly not, my lady," he replied, bowing obsequiously. "The evening
is so lovely, and old acquaintances like to chat with each other once in
a while."
"If I had wanted anything like that," said Lilly, making no effort to
conceal her sense of insult, "I should have invited you to the castle.
If I come to you instead, you can readily imagine the matter is more
important."
"What can be more important to me than strolling here at my lady's
side?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, Mr. von Prell, if you knew the difficulty you were in, you would
take care not to indulge in such talk."
Lilly had never thought herself capable of so much haughtiness.
"What difficulty can I be in, my lady?" he rejoined, raising his brows
and wrinkling his forehead. "My soul has worn half-mourning ever since I
was condemned to live in a certain close distance from, or, rather, a
certain distant proximity to--my gracious lady. Whether Tommy and myself
possess the character for enduring this trial--come, come Tommy, don't
be a goose. Our lady benefactress will have no objections to your not
treading on her train."
Tommy obstinately planted his forelegs and had to be dragged along like
a lifeless toy.
"You'll strangle the poor little beast," said Lilly, happy to have found
a way of avoiding his personalities.
"He will simply be sharing the sensations of his master," said Von
Prell, illustrating his reply by clutching at his throat and emitting a
horrible gurgle.
Such behaviour must no longer be permitted. Lilly owed it to herself and
her position to resent it.
"Mr. von Prell," she said very condescendingly, "do you realize that by
the same time to-morrow you will probably have been dismissed?"
He was touched at last. He frowned and bit the ends of his moustache;
but then he said:
"What gives me some satisfaction in the fact is that my lady seems to
take no slight interest in the matter."
Now she became angry in earnest.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mr. von Prell," she cried. "I wear
myself out and take great risks trying to help you, and you show your
gratitude by making silly remarks all the time."
"Courage, Tommy," he said, taking the dog in his arms. "First they flay
us, then they kick us out. Our one comfort is, we are innocent
sufferers. Poor, poor Tommy."
"Don't try to whitewash yourself," Lilly reprimanded. "Miss von
Schwertfeger discovered everything--your relations--you understand--your
nightly trips to my balcony and through my room--everything. Do you
think I take pleasure in having to treat you like a criminal when I've
always thought so much of you? Don't you think I'd much rather be proud
of you, than stand here and see you driven away like a stray dog? Or can
you say anything in justification of yourself? Can you? Tell me."
She talked herself into such warmth that she forgot the unseemliness of
her being there with him. She was now that which she wanted to be--the
benevolent chatelaine, who turns everything to good account; and her
breast swelled with the consciousness of her lofty ethical undertaking.
They had stepped from under the dark arches of the linden walk. A few
sharply defined streaks of red still coloured the west, and cast a deep
glow over his narrow, freckled face.
He looked completely crushed and penitent, and Lilly regretted having
dealt with him so harshly.
"I realise," he began after a short pause, his voice quivering as with
suppressed excitement, "I realise I must not let so grave a charge go
without justifying myself. And I can justify myself, I most undoubtedly
can. But in doing so, I am compelled to disclose a secret, which--I
really do not know if I ought to initiate you into the horrible
mysteries that threaten to ruin my life."
"What are they?" queried Lilly, in terrified curiosity.
"Well, then, from my boyhood up I have been pursued by an awful fate,
which comes upon me when I am utterly defenceless and imposes upon me
responsibility for misdeeds of which I am absolutely innocent, and
places me in breakneck situations, which--I will be outspoken--I
am--well, I am a somnambulist."
The merry little devils frolicked between his silvery lids, and Lilly,
in spite of herself, burst out laughing. He joined in with his dear,
mute tehee, which shook him like a storm; and they stood there laughing
till they wearied. Lilly no longer thought of her chatelaine's dignity,
or her ethical mission.
As if by mutual agreement they turned into the deserted depths of the
park, which bordered on a bosky beech grove with neither fence nor hedge
between.
It grew darker at each step.
Tommy resigning himself to his fate trotted behind his master
obediently.
"Well," said Von Prell, after they had recovered from their laugh, "why
should I try to throw dust in your eyes? I am a poor pickerel floundering
here on dry land. Have you the faintest notion of what it means to keep
company with three plebeians and lead a useful vegetable existence, and
from morning till evening steadfastly practise dutifulness and
uprightness? It's more than a fellow can stomach. I tell you, it's enough
to drive him to a dose of castor oil. Tommy self-denyingly helps me tide
over the worst moments, but every now and then he, too, is a
disappointment to me. Will my lady permit me to use this occasion for
asking her an extremely important question?"
Pleased at his having grown serious, Lilly assented.
"Can you--can you wag your ears?"
She succumbed to another paroxysm of laughter as to a spell of sickness,
leaning against a tree and panting for breath, while he continued with
profound affliction in his voice:
"I am master of the modest art and have been proud to exercise my skill
ever since I was at high school, where it was considered the acme of
human accomplishments. I made up my mind to train Tommy to do the same
trick, and I spent many an hour over him in difficult intellectual
effort, but without result. One day, however, I discovered he could wag
his ears much better than I can, and, I assume, always had been able to.
Only he did it when he wanted to, not when I wanted him to. Isn't that
distressing? Doesn't it reflect the general aimlessness of human
endeavour? O dearest baronissima, I am afraid I shall soon become a
great philosopher out of sheer boredom."
Lilly could now see only the outline of his figure, behind which the
dog's eyes glowed like two beacon lights. Since her school days she had
not abandoned herself so completely to a spirit of pure fun, and she had
to wait until a pause came in her laughing before she could tell him it
was high time to be returning.
He obediently turned on his heels, transferring Tommy's chain from one
hand to the other.
The catastrophe that menaced him seemed to have passed from his mind.
Lilly, therefore, since time pressed and something had to be done for
him, took the bit between her teeth, and reported what Miss von
Schwertfeger intended to do, and what she demanded from him as the price
of her silence.
Lilly was helping him, but not with that beautiful, dignified air of
superiority with which she had wanted to hold out her rescuing hand. She
felt she was like a playmate of his, and every few moments a
half-suppressed giggle interrupted her speech.
"The worthy dame has an unconquerable desire to stand about on people's
toes," said Von Prell. "But since we've gotten ourselves into a scrape,
my dear little Tommy, we'll have to juggle to get ourselves out of it.
Thank you very much, my lady. In accordance with your instructions I
will go to her and ask her to forgive me--before going I'll oil my
speaking apparatus. I will be more than repentant, I will even be
roguish. That works on respectable old maids like Spanish fly. And I
will use the opportunity to the best advantage for our future
intercourse with each other--provided of course, my young queen agrees."
Oh, she agreed fully!
"But how will you do it?" she asked fearfully.
"Leave the matter to me," he replied. "Your duenna is a knowing old
beast. But I am even more knowing. I shouldn't be surprised if to-morrow
I didn't earn an occasional supper in the castle, at which I shall have
the opportunity of looking into the eyes of my exalted mistress without
being observed by the two High Mightinesses."
There were several things in his speech that grated on Lilly. He might
make merry as much as he pleased at Miss von Schwertfeger's expense, but
the colonel stood on too high a plane to be the butt of his ridicule.
And now that Von Prell was out of danger, it occurred to Lilly for the
first time how detestable his conduct had been, and how lacking in
character she was to be sauntering about with him in the dark, laughing
at his sallies.
"One moment, Mr. von Prell," she said. "I warned you of the danger you
were in, because I thought I owed it to our former friendship. But now
that I have told you, we have nothing more to do with each other. My
time is up. Good evening, Mr. von Prell."
With that she hurried on ahead along the obscure wood path, and gave no
look around. Suddenly she felt something soft and warm and living slip
between her feet. She screamed and turned about for Von Prell's help. At
the same instant a chain wound itself about her ankle, and held her
fast.
Since she and Von Prell had turned back, the dog in his eagerness to get
home, had been straining on the chain with all his might, and had taken
her hastening off as a signal to break away, thus entangling himself in
her dress. The more he tugged the more painfully the chain cut into her
flesh.
That made an end of Lilly's ire.
Von Prell had to kneel and hold down the unruly little animal, while he
unwound the chain from her ankle.
"Tommy, Tommy, what have we done? We have grievously hurt our noble
mistress. We can't be blamed for pulling at our chains, but if in doing
so we get under people's skirts, we give great offence. Shame on you,
you rascal."
He planted a kiss on the dog's pointed little snout.
"Doesn't he ever bite?" asked Lilly with interest.
"He has had the benefit of a rigorous military training, as a result of
which he has grown accustomed to kisses."
Another burst of gaiety. Von Prell held the struggling little ball of
wool up to Lilly, and asked whether she would like to try a kiss, too.
Laughing she declined, and, laughing, she went home with him.
Characterless as she was.
Still laughing aloud, she entered the lighted hall of the castle, where
Miss von Schwertfeger met her with great reproachful eyes.
"Where have you been, my dear?" she asked, evidently prepared to meet
the grave situation in a mild spirit, while subjecting Lilly, none the
less, to a keen cross-examination.
"He's so funny!" Lilly sang out, hiding her face red with laughter on
Miss von Schwertfeger's shoulder.
"Did you--"
"Of course I did. Do you suppose I'd leave such a delightful, jolly old
friend of mine in the lurch?"
Miss von Schwertfeger's face became rigid.
Lilly gave herself a little shake and uttered a joyous gurgle. Then she
ran off to her room, undressed, and burying her head in the pillows
laughed herself to sleep.