In laughter it began, and in laughter continued.
When Lilly awoke the next morning she saw that everything about her, the
chandelier, the washstand, and the pretty, sentimental gleaner on the
wall, had assumed a new aspect, and the sun was shining twice as
brightly.
She stepped to the mirror in her nightgown, and forthwith had to laugh
again at the reflection she saw there, a veritable street Arab's face
with sly, darting eyes and saucy nose.
At breakfast she fairly sparkled with playful conceits, chased the
stiff-legged colonel about the table, and felt a warm sense of gratitude
toward Miss von Schwertfeger rise within her.
As for Miss von Schwertfeger, she smiled to herself significantly; and
when the colonel left the room, caught Lilly by her ears, kissed her on
her forehead, and said:
"You baby, you."
She made no reference to the confession Lilly had let slip that she and
Von Prell were old friends. In fact, to judge by her manner, you might
suppose she had not heard it.
Lilly ran up to her balcony, pushed aside the creepers, and sent a
summoning nod to Von Prell, who was walking up and down uncertainly
between the castle and the lodge.
He understood, bowed, and disappeared in the direction of the terrace
steps.
What took place between him and Miss von Schwertfeger remained a secret;
and there was no finding out whether or no she had questioned him in
regard to his former relations with the colonel's wife. But whatever the
doubts on that score, the success of his interview was indisputable. So
far from having to slink away from the place, he appeared at the supper
table that very same day, ushered in by the colonel himself. In his
striped coat, white waistcoat and high collar, in which his face lay
almost buried, and wearing his most respectful expression, he was the
very embodiment of correctness.
"I heard," said the colonel, leading him to Lilly, "that Mr. von Prell
doesn't feel entirely happy over there in the lodge. If you have no
objections he will come to meals oftener after this."
Lilly hadn't the slightest objections. The thought, however, that Katie
would appear in the doorway the next instant almost choked her. But
another maid took Katie's place in handing old Ferdinand the dishes.
Lilly gave Miss von Schwertfeger a questioning look, which she answered
in a whisper, so as not to be overheard by the gentlemen:
"The poor girl got very sick, and asked for a long leave of absence.
Most likely she will never come back again."
In her gratification Lilly impetuously pressed Miss von Schwertfeger's
hand under the table. She had a dim idea that Katie had been dismissed
in order to spare her the repugnance of witnessing something impure.
The gentlemen without delay plunged deep into a discussion of the
cavalry, richly interlarding their talk with proper names.
Mr. von Prell sat inclined toward the colonel to take in the
instructions of his old commander, and kept blinking his lids in
respectful attention. The colonel dominated like a wrathful god. He
spoke gruffly and noisily and shot out his dagger glances as if to mow
down rank after rank of the enemy's army. But this was nothing else
than a craftsman's vain joy in his work.
Lilly listened, and would gladly have taken part in the conversation,
but the men had forgotten her presence, and a jealous gloom clouded her
spirit, for which she did not know whether to blame the colonel or Von
Prell.
When Von Prell rose to take leave the colonel laying his hand on the
young man's shoulder said:
"See here, why haven't we done this before?" The glance he sent Lilly
seemed to signify: "Such an amount of caution was really unnecessary."
When the first cool days in September brought on the colonel's gout
again, and his visits to town had to be postponed indefinitely, Von
Prell's invitations to supper grew more frequent.
The colonel groaned and cursed each time he mounted a horse, though he
refused to listen to Lilly when she pled with him to give up his morning
gallop.
"Too bad all of you are always so dreadfully concerned about me," she
observed, "because sometimes I might take your place in riding about the
country."
The colonel and his housekeeper exchanged looks.
"After all, it's a shame she can't ride horseback. Any decent sort of a
riding master might take her in hand. My morning excursion is more than
enough for me. What do you think, Anna, can we entrust her to that
humbug Von Prell?"
Lilly's face lighted up with joy. Miss von Schwertfeger let her eyes
rest on her glowing cheeks and said very slowly, as if to chew the cud
of every word:
"You know Von Prell is reckless. What if he should bring our darling
back to us some day with broken bones? At all events, it seems to me,
before deciding, we had better consider the matter carefully."
Though Lilly took good care not to utter a syllable expressive of desire
or opposition, she was not successful, apparently, in concealing her
secret wishes; for the next time they were alone together, Miss von
Schwertfeger suddenly took Lilly's face between her hands and said:
"Get rid of the idea, darling. Do. Believe me, it's better so."
About this time Lilly made a remarkable and somewhat suspicious find.
She enjoyed going on expeditions of discovery through the spacious
castle, only part of which was inhabited; and on one occasion while
rummaging about in one of the third-story guest rooms, now seldom used,
she extracted from a chiffonier a light gauze shirt, covered with silver
spangles and shot with silver thread, resembling the shirt she had often
had to wear during the Dresden stay before going to bed. Her own shirt
these days hung undisturbed in her closet, from which it had not been
removed even for Miss von Schwertfeger's inspection, because Lilly was a
little ashamed of it.
Her curiosity was piqued by the vestment she had found, and folding it
carefully she went down to question her friend about it.
Miss von Schwertfeger was sitting over her account books, and scarcely
looked up when Lilly entered. But suddenly the gleam of the tinsel in
the sunlight attracted her attention. A quiver ran through her body. Her
eyes widened, her figure stiffened, as if she were looking at a ghost.
"What's the matter? What's the matter?" laughed Lilly.
"I thought I had cleared up thoroughly," she said, shaking herself.
She snatched the garment from Lilly's hand, wrapped it up in a piece of
paper, and carried it to the kitchen, followed by Lilly, who saw a
whirl of smoke carry bits of silver thread up the hearth chimney.
Old Maggie stood by looking in bewilderment from one to the other. She
seemed to know what the discovery involved, but later, when Lilly tried
to extract information from her, she had lost her faculty of speech.
"I didn't always use to be just where the colonel was," she stuttered.
"Ask Miss von Schwertfeger. She knows. She'll tell you."
But Miss von Schwertfeger would not tell. She went about with compressed
lips, gave short answers when spoken to, and kept her extinct eyes
fastened upon empty space.
One evening at supper, her demeanour, apparently from no external cause,
underwent a sudden change. She laughed, chatted, was tender to Lilly,
and attentive to her master, pitying him on account of his pain,
suggesting new remedies, and obtaining his promise to give up his
morning ride.
"By the way," she went on, "as to Lilly's taking riding lessons, I've
thought it over carefully, and have come to the conclusion that if we
are present--at first, at least--we may entrust her to the young man."
Lilly fetched a deep sigh of joy; but the two pairs of eyes could not
have detected the trace of a smile on her face, the faintest glimmer of
delight, so well had she learned to keep herself under control.
The next morning the riding lessons began, with the colonel and Miss von
Schwertfeger, of course, in attendance.
Walter von Prell appeared in riding boots and a jockey's cap. The
forward inclination of the upper part of his body seemed to signify, "I
am awaiting orders," and his respectfulness and obsequiousness kept him
shifting from one foot to the other.
For the first essay they had chosen a lamblike grey mare, narrow-chested
and somewhat overtrained in the fore-hand, yet a smart, well-fed animal.
Mr. von Prell proceeded very methodically to explain the construction of
the saddle and bridle, showed Lilly how the girths are buckled, how the
snaffle and curb rein have to lie, and how to keep the curb chain from
choking the horse.
Next came learning how to mount. When Lilly for the first time put her
foot on his interlaced fingers she felt a warm thrill to the very back
of her neck, as if this contact with him were a sign of secret
understanding between them.
"One, two, three," he counted, and there she was in the saddle.
The colonel clapped his hands in approval, and Walter von Prell blushed
with pride to the roots of his blond hair.
From now on he had the game in his hands.
"Who'd have thought that blusterer has such a lot of pedantry in his
make-up?" said the colonel turning to Miss von Schwertfeger, who nodded
silently and took a deep breath, as if something were oppressing her.
By the time Lilly was ready to dismount, she had learned how to draw in
the reins and slacken them and to turn to the right or the left; and she
had even ventured a trot about the yard. In short, as the colonel
good-humouredly remarked, "She was on the road to becoming the most
dashing horsewoman in the army."
The lessons followed in quick succession. Either Miss von Schwertfeger
or the colonel was always present, and there was no opportunity for
private conversation between Lilly and Von Prell.
Von Prell maintained his stiff, abject obsequiousness, while Lilly
burned with the desire to see his waggery flash up in a look or word
intelligible to her alone.
One day, it chanced, both guards were absent.
The colonel was busied with the construction of a riding-ring, in which
his gout might defy the inclemencies of the weather, and Miss von
Schwertfeger was nowhere to be found.
Lilly's heart beat violently when she met her friend, and the smile with
which she held out her hand to him, expressed uneasy triumph.
He responded with a sly thrust of his tongue in the direction of the
terrace, where her honour was wont to stand.
"She couldn't be found anywhere," whispered Lilly.
"_What_ will we do?" he moaned, wringing his hands. "Why, without the
worthy dame's protection we shan't even be able to mount."
Deep blue heavens arched above. A cool breeze, heavy with the smell of
freshly turned soil, blew across the courtyard.
He pointed with a wily look to the open gate.
She laughed and nodded assent.
The next minute she was galloping at his side along the grassy wood
path, where no Argus eyes could follow her, in utter abandon, inwardly
exulting and eagerly expectant of mad pranks to be played.
Von Prell, for his part, seemed indisposed to avail himself of his
unhoped for liberty. He held his eyes fixed on the road in front, every
now and then caught at her reins, regulated the length of the stirrup,
and made her sit better in the saddle. He was the riding master,
nothing else.
"How's Tommy?" she asked at length, bored.
"Tommy sends his regards," he replied, without removing his gaze from
the road, "and says we'd better pay attention to nothing but the horses
to-day, because if something should happen we'd never be allowed to go
out again."
"And I send my regards to Tommy, and tell him he's a goose."
"I will without fail," he rejoined, and nodded his riding crop.
They now entered a grove of birch trees, where the ground was somewhat
boggy and demanded added attention.
But Lilly had eyes for nothing but the silvery gleam of the trunks and
the golden webs which quivered in the wind and floated down on her
cheeks.
"Oh, see how beautiful!" she said with a blissful sigh.
"Walk your horse, please."
A demon took possession of Lilly. Touching her horse with her crop she
went off in a mad gallop that was contrary to all the rules and
regulations of horseback riding.
The next instant, however, Von Prell was at her side gripping her reins
and pulling up both horses.
They looked at each other with flashing eyes.
Lilly felt she had to throw herself over toward him just to be nearer to
him.
"Say, Lilly, what do you mean by that?" he hissed.
She started and showed her white teeth.
"Say, Walter, what do you mean by that?" she retorted.
They turned the horses' heads and rode back home slowly, in silence,
without looking at each other.