THE BRIDAL JEWELS.
Two sitting-rooms and bedrooms were prepared for Giulia and Beate in
the old wing of the Castle. Blanden had ridden over to the nearest town
to meet her, and sent on his carriage and four in advance.
He drove back with her. When they arrived at the boundary of his
possessions, they were greeted by the peasants and tenants with loud
acclamations. A handsomely decorated triumphal arch was erected; canon
resounded far and near, and genuine, indeed, were the rejoicings of the
people, who idolised Blanden. None of the proprietors on the lakes of
Masuren were so gentle and kind as he, certainly none others had
studied Buddha's teachings, or recognised pity for every being of
creation as the original spring of all wisdom and morality.
The school girl who presented a huge nosegay to Giulia at the gate of
honour, had learned a very long and very profound address, which was
listened to with intense weariness by all but the bride-elect, for whom
an accusation lay in every one of those moral sentiments. Cold water
seemed to be running down her, when the little girl, with devout
dove-like eyes, looked lovingly into her face.
And when old Olkewicz acted as spokesman for the officials and those
belonging to the estate, and spoke of the old family possession, of the
worthy heir, of his forefathers, then she suddenly felt what, until
now, had been quite unknown to her: that here she was entering into the
sacred circle of a family, into a well-regulated world governed by
moral laws, into touching familiarity amongst equals, into a beautiful
blending together of past and future; and to herself she appeared in
the light of an intruder, who deserved to be cursed, who tore down the
old saintly household gods from the domestic hearth, and with a guilty
hand polluted a stainless roll of ancestors. She shuddered as if seized
with cold; while Olkewicz also stammered in his honest speech and lost
himself--he had suddenly recognised Giulia; it was actually the same
white fairy who had stood on high in the moonlight on the gallery of
the belfry tower.
The carriage drove on through the park. The Castle was decked with
flags and banners, fluttering merrily in the breeze; all the doors were
wreathed; here a dense crowd--part of which had hastened by a short cut
from the triumphal arch, and were thus in advance--received them with
renewed cheers.
Blanden was deeply moved, and pressed his betrothed's hand; he knew
that it was true hearty love which bade them welcome. He thought of his
father, of the old lords of the Castle--they blessed his entry. His
feelings were solemn as he lifted his future bride out of the carriage
and led her into the Castle, where he delivered her into the hands of
the guardian spirits of his home.
When Giulia was seated alone in her room, for a few moments she gave
herself up to a sensation of luxurious comfort; how strange was it for
a wandering disciple of art to have a home, to reign as mistress over a
vast estate! No more need she trouble about the gains of the moment, no
more need she struggle from day to day for a living, competing for fame
and gold, and the favour of the variable crowd which alone could grant
both to her. The labour of art in the muses' temple appeared like a
miserable daily task, which is forced from the reluctant senses, while
only the holiness of enthusiasm sanctifies the artistic duty! From
country to country had she wandered with her nomad tent, tarrying long
wherever she had found plentiful pastures; but how many dangers did the
pirates of criticism prepare for her, by how many _fata morgana_ had
she been deceived--how homeless was her life, her soul!
What a sensation of security behind the stout walls of this Castle; for
decades, for a whole life-time, every struggle with its necessities was
banished, a life belonging to itself, one not given up to the mob! And
how one must learn to love every little spot of earth which, by the
habit of long association and possession, has become a portion of
ourselves! Without, the trees rustled, the eastern sky glanced in the
reflection of the declining sun, and the evening star, the star of
love, peeped forth in the vapour-like clouds that were tinged with a
delicate red.
Yonder the tall oaks, the silver poplars, and Scotch firs; the pavilion
with its gay windows peeping out of the Chinese shrubs that surrounded
it; the bridge over the lake; upon the island stood the swans' houses:
at first all seemed but a pretty picture for her contemplation, but
from day to day it must all become blended into her life--every spot,
sanctified by love, become endeared to her heart.
And how home-like the old furniture in the drawing and other rooms:
_roccoco_ cupboards, and drawers with their sweeping lines, those
arm-chairs, little works of art carved in wood, those heavy curtains,
which formed an easily moved partition between the secret concealed
cabinets and drawing-rooms! How pleasant the faces of the old male and
female servants, who at once took the new mistress to their hearts, and
were ready to watch over their new precious possession as well as they
had ever guarded the most valuable treasure confided to them.
A proud sensation of happiness overcame her; the dream of a peaceable
existence, of ensured happiness, hovered before her mind, then her hand
was pressed convulsively to her heart; painfully she felt the rift that
extended through her whole life--that she always experienced, even
although concealed from her lover and the world, but which, when it
suddenly yawned, became an abyss which must swallow up all her
felicity.
She could only listen absently to Beate's chatter, "I must say it is a
true Palazzo Pitti, in which we, however, are the most beautiful
pictures! And as to its being countryfied, the Castle itself certainly
is not so, although the entire population consists of rough unhewn
blocks. One might be in a fortress; down below, Signora, at the foot of
the hill, still stands a massive square tower. I enquired about it,
they call it the 'Dantziger;' it was used for watching the besiegers
and taking them in their rear, it also ensured escape, as a secret
outlet leads to the lake. The stone passage, with its handsome arches,
unites it with the Castle. Well, if I can find a sweetheart here, the
old Dantziger will do me good service for secret adventures and secret
flight. Besides which, in the Castle, there are divers stairs in the
walls, hidden doors--what else I know not! The Knights of the Order had
their secrets, too. We shall find it all out in good time."
"You are incorrigible with your love of adventures, Beate."
"Think of the sacristy in the church of San Giulio. What should you be
without me? A very doubtful betrothed, your past rests in the Orta Lake
with the sacristy key! But enough of it. They are very lively over in
the new wing, where all are preparing for the Polter-abend
entertainment; they say it is just like being behind the scenes, gay
masks of every kind, but terribly inexpert wardrobe women; everything
in the world requires experience. If only we were with them, we
understand the art."
Beate was still chattering when Blanden entered; she possessed tact
enough to disappear as speedily as possible.
"Only get dressed quickly, dear Giulia!" cried Blanden, "all are
preparing to greet us. I am an outlawed man it is true, but yet one
always possesses some real friends. The Castle is full from attic to
cellar; for twenty years or more there has not been such a garrison.
You bring life into my solitude, let me welcome you cordially once
more."
He clasped her in his arms and pressed a fervent kiss upon her lips.
"What is that little box," said Giulia, "which you carry in your hand?"
"My bridal gift, beloved! I come with a full heart, and may not do so
empty handed."
He opened the ebony casket: the most beautiful ornaments, a diadem with
brilliants, necklets and bracelets of the most magnificent pearls, and
beside them unset precious stones, sapphires, and rubies shone in such
radiance that Giulia could not suppress a sudden cry of admiration.
"It is all yours, it is the inheritance which has been bequeathed to
the last Blanden by his mother and by the ancestral mistresses of this
house, there being no living heiress who has the right to these
ornaments. From henceforth you shall wear them, they have found an
owner again who is worthy of them, and well they will suit your dark
hair and fine features!"
Giulia was dazzled with the brilliant gift, and yet-- Like
will-'o-the-wisps, like snakes of fire, they flashed and quivered
before her eyes! Was it not a robber's hand which grasped this family
possession?
But she overcame the slight shudder with which she saw the ghostly
ancestresses of the house of Blanden, as they stretched out their bony
hands in protest, or touched her brow and imprinted the sign of the
curse upon her. She was only conscious of Blanden's love and goodness
in confiding such a priceless heritage to her, and, thanking him
cordially, laid her hand upon her heart.
On that evening she would be queen of the feast, banish all gloomy
thoughts; he should have a right to be proud of her. A mistress of the
toilet, an art belonging to the stage, she would enhance her beauty by
simple attire. Merrily adorned with a wreath of flowers, her hair,
black as ebony, as it fell upon her neck, enframed a face whose fine
moulding did not suffer from the pallor of its features, for that
Venetian colouring appertained to the beauty of marble, to that
idealism of form which was peculiar to her. Her tall slight figure was
seductively enveloped in clouds of pink tulle, and as if of gleaming
foam, bosom and neck, the glorious outlines of a Venus Anadyomene rose
from out that mass of clouds. As she entered the dining-hall with
Blanden, a buzz of admiration passed through the apartment. They were
mostly elderly gentlemen who were present, the younger ones were still
behind the scenes preparing the masquerade.
Hermann von Gutskoehnen and Sengen von Laerchen had never seen anything
of the kind; the former greeted her with a whispered monologue which
reached its climax in a low oath; the latter held his finger
thoughtfully to his nose, and after his address, "dear friends," had
allowed a considerable pause to follow, "she is a most beautiful woman,
tall, she has breeding, something Arab-like in her nostrils, and
devilish black hair, but no healthy colour--she needs some Masuren
breezes to blow about her cheeks."
"Thunder and lightning," replied Hermann, "a splendid toilet! But a
betrothed should really be a rose-bud, she is perfectly full blown!"
"Herr von Blanden has good taste," said Baron von Fuchs to his
neighbour, the Landrath, "it is well that our wives have not come with
us. It was well feigned hoarseness, and a most justifiable headache
which befell them, because I must say--naturally I exclude our
wives--we have no beauties in the district who can be compared with
her. And they who stayed at home have all happily escaped this
sensation. In words they would not have acknowledged this beauty, but
at heart they would have bowed before it as the brethren bowed before
Joseph, in the dream; they would have tingled with unbounded jealousy
to the very tips of their fingers and toes, because whosoever bathes in
the pool of Bethsaida knows how to respect the beauty of the
Olympians."
Blanden and Giulia welcomed their guests heartily, and then seated
themselves in two garlanded arm-chairs to receive the homage of the
Polter-abend. A merry blast of music announced the commencement of the
performance.
First appeared lovely water-fairies from the lake. Olga von Dornau led
the dance; the daughter of the Sanitaetsrath from the district town, the
daughters of a retired major, who lived there, and a rich young widow
represented the Naiads decked with reeds.
The concessions made to the local colouring and faithful costume of the
legend, were of varying degrees, the young widow's being the greatest.
Olga was the speaker of the Kingdom of the Nymphs--
"With the welcome of sisters we greet thee
In thy beauty, our sovereign anew;
Long we mourned, never hoping to meet thee,
Now thine image again we review.
The waters shall mirror thy image afar
As in glory and triumph we carry thy car."
Thereupon, Caecilie appeared as the goddess of Song, a wreath of laurels
in her hand; behind her, Thalia and Melpomene, which characters were
assumed by two of her friends.
Caecilie had composed these lines for herself--
"Silently, sadly, we see you depart,
Leaving our kingdom made greater by you,
But the laurel of fame must give place to the heart,
Happiness there is more lasting and true.
Go you to bliss that cannot be measured,
And leave those behind who will never forget,
Your art as yourself will ever be treasured,
O'er your gain we rejoice, our loss we regret."
Then Schoener entered as a herald; in sonorous flowing verses he
announced the arrival of the new mistress of the Castle, and poured
forth praises of the perfection of her beauty and art; he recited these
verses with wonted enthusiasm, and received plenteous applause.
Herr von Wegen came as the Master, at the head of a number of Knights
of the Order; their white mantles with the black cross, harmonised well
with the old dining-hall, which thus gained historical animation.
The German Order also greeted the new mistress; the poem, of whose
authorship the fair-haired District Deputy was guiltless, while his
brother-in-law, Dr. Kuhl, was universally thought to be its composer,
contained some humourous flashes; it spoke of a fair lady who had not,
as in former times, surreptitiously entered the house of the Order, and
by the back way, but like a mistress, who is entitled to go up the
principal wide staircase. Thus the Order was completely secularised,
and by this brilliant example the Order of wilful old bachelors equally
so, as was demonstrated by the master himself, and his friend, the
Prussian heathen.
And now, armed with a mighty club, Dr. Kuhl stepped forth as an ancient
Prussian at the head of a band dressed in skins; he greeted Giulia in
the name of the original inhabitants of the land, who alone possessed a
right to these forests and lakes; he declared war to the knights who
had been imported into this free land, to those monks of the sword,
that black-crossed hypocrisy; with his people he would destroy this
Castle to its very foundations if the presence of so beautiful a
guardian goddess did not compel him to lay his club in homage at her
feet; he concluded with the words--
"I swear it by every sacred god
To-day all wars for ever cease,
No more our blood shall soil the sod
For hence shall reign eternal peace.
When the gods clamour for foemen dead
Our goddess shall offer the olive instead."
Then followed another series of more stately pictures, and merry jests.
Salomon had conceived the unhappy idea of appearing as Ariosto,
introducing himself as the Italian Heinrich Heine, and in a mixture of
verses, which were collected, partly from the _Ottave rime_ of the poet
of Reggio, partly from free thinking verses by the Parisian
Aristophanes, and speaking of Herr von Blanden as Orlando, who had
delivered Angelica, bound to the rock of the stage.
A tall girl, whose form was as redundant as those of the Genoese women,
appeared as "Italia," a basket of fruit in her hands, a wreath of
perfumed orange blossoms in her hair. It was Iduna; she had left
Fraeulein Baute's school, after having met with frequent insults from
the mistress, and openly displayed contempt on the part of her Theodore
Koerner, Dr. Sperner. Her father owned a small estate in the
neighbourhood, and thus she was invited to the entertainment.
Soon all revolved in merry dance. Blanden opened the ball with Giulia,
and then stood thoughtfully for some time, leaning against a pillar of
the radiated arch; he thought of the other dance beneath the pear tree,
and the pale shadow of his lovely Eva mingled in the rows of the
dancers. She had pledged him in the unalloyed bliss of youth; this
woman brought the rapture of passion. But he felt that with her came a
rent in his life. The gay company assembled, from which the most
distinguished ladies of the neighbourhood were absent, the coldness of
the members of his party in the capital, all proved to him that he had
once more rendered it impossible to take a firm foothold in his home,
and to attain a higher position in political life by any recognised
influence; but it was only a transient heretical thought! There she
stood before him in all her beauty, a fascinating woman! Her eyes
gleamed with promise; dancing had brought a warmer colour to the marble
of her features; her bosom heaved with sweet excitement, she appeared
like a breathing statue of a goddess! A lamp shone in the pavilion!
myrtles and oranges shed their perfume; the stars of Italy gazed
sparklingly down from the deep blue sky! He encircled her firmly with
his arms, and sped to a wild measure through the old hall. Giulia was
in her brightest mood, she would and did forget everything that was
painful and hostile in her life; she chatted more pleasantly than ever
before, and had a friendly winning word for every one; a roguish smile
played around her lips, as she said to Blanden--
"I cannot realise that I shall never more stand behind the piano; never
more look down upon my worthy conductor's bald head when he wields his
_baton_, or into the manager's complacent countenance after a
well-paying house; that Dr. Schoener will never more arrange a poetical
nosegay for my vase; no Spiegeler cause me sleepless nights by the
stings of his wasps and bees. But away with all laurel wreaths!
Without, in the theatrical world, the echo of my name will not yet have
quite died away, and when it is dead, it will no longer trouble the
memory of the world to come, which will be inundated with many more."
Kuhl, the heathen, who had just performed a wild round dance with the
orange-perfumed Italian, in which he had squeezed Iduna's hands with
more fervour than the requirements of the dance demanded, now turned to
Giulia and began a battle of words with her upon which she readily
entered. Kuhl had only seen her as Blanden's nurse, when wounded, and
spoken to her in a serious manner; her happy mood stirred him
strangely, but was doubly attractive, and he could not leave her side
while Blanden was enjoying a dance with Olga.
"Excuse me, Signora," suddenly said Caecilie's somewhat sharp voice.
"Look here, my friend! I only wish to tell you that there must now be
an end of polytheism, and that you shall neither worship the slight
Italian marble goddess nor plump Iduna with her apples of eternal
youth, neither one of Raffael's nor Ruben's beauties. Look this way my
friend! I am now your Alpha and Omega, as the Bible says. I have now a
right to you, and shall know how to assert it."
Kuhl listened to the conjugal lecture; sadly he then took up his club,
which had been propped against a pillar, and leaning upon it, pondered
over the fate which even the most irrefutable theories find in life's
irksome custom. He resigned himself to the melancholy conviction that
he, the Hercules of free love, had, after all, allowed his Dejanira to
charm him into a Nessus shirt.
Dancing and enjoyment lasted until late into the night, then the guests
retired to their chambers. Blanden accompanied his betrothed to the
carved oak door of her apartment, and left her with an ardent kiss and
the whispered words, "Until to-morrow!"
Beate, who had danced bravely and made a slight conquest of a young
lawyer, was so fatigued that she had thrown herself, half undressed,
upon the bed in her room, which was situated behind Giulia's, and had
fallen into a sound sleep.
Giulia was still in her sitting-room--she gazed into the moonlit park;
high into the air the fountain cast its stream of silver, gently around
the trees quivered that dreamy light which rocks the soul with vague
forebodings.
Dance, wine, love had intoxicated her. Was not the world so beautiful,
life so happy!
She longed to rejoice, like the ray of water springing up towards the
skies!
She threw aside her ball dress, and in her light dressing-gown
contemplated her reflection in the large mirror. She felt so
lighthearted, so free--and was she not beautiful, youthfully beautiful?
A heavy destiny had passed over her, but in its flight it only slightly
touches the favourites of the gods. No creases, no wrinkles, she needed
no paint-pot to conceal them, no weight of cares had been able to bow
her tall form, and the consciousness of her own beauty thrilled her
with delight.
Then she hastened to the cupboard, which was placed in a panel of the
wall, opened it with a carefully secured key, and took out the jewel
box which Blanden had given to her. First she let the splendid stones
glisten in the lamp light, then flash in the moon's radiance, while she
revelled in the sparkling lights and the prismatic rays which played to
and fro.
Then she stepped before the large mirror, put the diadem of brilliants
upon her curls, decked herself with the pearl necklace, with the
bracelets, glistening with rubies and emeralds. She thought herself
magnificent as a queen; thus, in her dazzling splendour, ornamented
with the prince's crown, might not everything be permitted to her? Need
a ruler fear his conscience, that sentinel of the garrison? Did she, in
her power and beauty, not stand far above it?
They were proud dreams in which she indulged--blissful
self-forgetfulness, the ruinous intoxication of dark spirits of the
earth, which guard the treasures of the deep, and scatter that shining
dust into the eyes of mankind that it may perceive nothing but the
sparkling brilliance of mammon and soulless splendour. She walked up
and down before the mirror, bent her head to see how the coronet of
brilliants became her dark locks, turned to the right and to the left;
but then the spirit of the stage came upon her, a vain spirit at first,
and she repeated scenes from operas, raising her arms, now wringing her
hands, then extending them as if cursing, all the time admiring the
shining lights of her bracelets as they played about those beautifully
rounded forms.
Then she stood again as still as sculptured marble and gazed at herself
as though she were looking at a statue, standing in a niche of a
Pantheon. Then, suddenly--it was no dream--the mirror began to move; it
was pushed on one side by invisible hands: she commenced to tremble, to
rub her eyes--her own reflection disappeared with the mirror like a
ghost into the surface of the wall--and, instead, a space black as an
abyss yawned before her--and a draped figure sprang into the room and
threw off its cloak.
It was Baluzzi!
She started back with a loud cry.
"Traitoress!" cried he, "now you are worthy of me!"
Giulia staggered back a few paces, half unconscious, with one hand
resting upon the back of the roccoco chair, she held the other
tremblingly towards the intrusive ghost.
"Back, back!" she cried with a failing voice, that was almost stifled
into a convulsive whisper.
"I believe, indeed, that you would refuse to see me, and that I am more
hateful to you to-day than any other being whom the world contains. I
come most inopportunely, I know, and that is why I come. And how
beautifully you are adorned--for the galley!"
Giulia seized the diamond crown, the necklace and bracelet, all almost
unconsciously, as if in a heavy dream, in which one seeks in blind
haste to protect life, possessions and estate from unavoidable ruin;
but her hand was paralysed, and the ornaments adhered to her.
"Beautifully adorned, and still beautiful!" cried Baluzzi, stepping
nearer, "still as beautiful as once when you stood before the altar in
the little church of San Giulio! Do not shrink from me--before others
you are a bride elect, before others you may feign modesty, and wrap
yourself in the bridal veil, not before me! I have an old and sacred
right over you--your body, your soul belong to me, and to me alone; you
cannot be separated from me so long as the indissoluble word of the
Church exists upon earth, and I place my hand upon you as upon a
runaway slave--Giulia Baluzzi, my wife!"
And he went up to her, held the struggling woman with a strong arm, and
laid the other hand upon her marble shoulder that quivered as if in the
grip of a tiger cat.
"Stand back, madman," whispered Giulia in a suppressed tone of alarm,
"stand back, or I shall call for help."
"You will not do so, my child! You will not call for help, not even if
I murder you with my dagger! You would prefer to drop mutely into my
arms, and with expiring eyes to implore me--for silence, for
forgetfulness! Is it not so? A cry for help!--what is a cry for help
but a cry for shame, for disgrace, for law and executioner? I know you
better, my little dove; so imprudent you are not; the friend of Beate,
the cunning robber of a church, possesses too much sense and
understanding."
"I shall call for help," said Giulia, with pride and defiance, now
releasing herself from Baluzzi's arms. "And if I declare you before all
the world to be a robber and a liar, all will deem your utterances to
be madness, because the proofs are wanting."
"The proofs are ready."
"They were, perhaps; but they are no longer."
"Haha," said Baluzzi, with a mocking laugh, "you rely upon your astute
messenger, upon Beate, who lays her devil's paw upon the altar candles
and registers, at the ghostly hour of midnight lights a firebrand in a
sacristy. A harmless amusement! Had it not been so harmless I should
have prevented it, but it was great amusement for me to watch the
lizard as it glided into the crevices in the church walls, and to carry
on a game with it; unfortunately she swooned too soon. I should have
liked to torture her still longer, have made her bones rattle, the
good-for-nothing! You all possess courage only up to a certain point;
the little witch, too, showed courage, but then, in a moment, it goes
out like a candle that has burned down, that has consumed itself all
too speedily."
"But the proofs are destroyed," said Giulia, although doubtfully and
alarmed at Baluzzi's scorn, because she could not help fearing that by
some means Beate's undertaking had failed.
"You are mistaken, my child. I do not allow the thread by which I hold
you to be so easily withdrawn from my hands. I have my spies, and when
I heard from Antoinette, my little scout, whither Beate intended to go,
I knew enough. At first I accompanied her in the greatest possible
_incognito_, then I gained a considerable start in order to obtain the
necessary information. I was at the See at Milan. I knew that an
enquiry into some forgery was pending against the former priest of San
Giulio. I have staunch friends, even at the holy courts of law. A
priest, with whom I worked formerly in Monaco, at my desire, enquired
if amongst the deeds of the suit a copy of the registry of San Giulio
did not exist; a legal official copy certified by the chaplain. I had
reason to expect this because the suit concerned a falsification of the
register. My supposition was well-founded--now I was safe, now I could
play with that dangerous culprit who is your greatest friend, as a cat
does with a mouse. All respect to you, we are quits. I awaited her
arrival in Orta, dogged all her steps, and my knowledge of the church
permitted me to hide myself in the little crypt. The fire of joy at
midnight I vouchsafed to her with malicious pleasure, but our marriage,
my child, is signed and sealed in the legal copy in the register number
two, that lies at Milan, valid before God and man. It is a pity that
the travelling expenses, and heroic courage were spent in vain, that
the triumph was useless--I have the proofs!"
Giulia's courage fell with each of Baluzzi's words. She felt herself to
be completely in his power, thus everything that she had done to free
herself from him, even Beate's criminal proceeding, was all in vain.
She looked at him with the glance of a mortally wounded deer.
"You do not believe my story? Here in my pocket-book is the most exact
information as to where the document can be found which proves my
perfect right to you. Now will you still cry for help?"
Silently Giulia covered her face with her hands.
"You are going to be sensible, my child; I thought so! That is why I
come to you at night, it is very considerate of me, and on a toilsome
road too. A wonderful child led me here--my rare little sea-devil, whom
I have taken into my service. It is the road upon which you must now
follow me!"
"What are you thinking of? Impossible!" said Giulia, springing up.
"The road is not very pleasant! Close beside the shore of the lake
there is a cave--my blood-hound found it; it is overgrown with thistles
and bushes, the little one worked with an axe and sickle all last night
to clear the passage. One must stoop to pass through. It leads to the
old tower, which, with its ivy-clad walls, casts its shadow below upon
the moonlit shrubs in the park. It was the watch tower, the battle and
sally-tower of the knights, and the hidden road ensures them flight in
case of defeat. From the tower a secret walled passage leads into the
Castle. It is covered with rubbish and ruins, and there are awkward
steps to go up and down. But then a little masked winding-staircase in
the wall leads up to this mirror door. My wonderfully clever seal
discovered all this. It took us some time last night before we could
find out the mechanism of this door. We knew that these rooms were
destined for you. We tried a long time, but I am clever at such
secrets, and beneath its external disguise found the spot where one
must press so as to make the wooden panel move and slide back. The
little one waits below with a dark lantern--the boat is tied up close
to the egress of the hollow way. It will cost a few bruises and torn
clothes, then we shall sail over the lake and away over the Russian
frontier."
"You are out of your senses, Baluzzi!"
"Shall I remind you of our past, of our agreement? We were married
secretly. You were a singer whose fame was waxing. I, an inferior
chorus singer, who could do no better. I saw myself, that your
prospects would be damaged if the world knew of our marriage. Soon I
resigned the miserable position of an incapable helper's helper in the
troupe of singers at the theatre, and I must confess it, gave myself up
to a somewhat dissipated life. I drank and gambled. I became a croupier
in Monaco, your fame was augmenting. Our paths led farther and farther
asunder. All the same, I loved you fervently, but I perceived that your
love diminished daily. You were ashamed of me. You began to avoid me,
to fly from me. I required money, much money for my habits of life.
They are as respectable and distinguished as those of a well-born
prince who squanders his heritage. How often was I not in
embarrassments enough to make one's hair stand on end, badly in debt.
It was at that time we made an agreement that I should avoid you as
long as you were at the theatre, but, that in return, the greater
portion of your abundant gains should always be paid over to me. So
long as you were at the theatre--that was the condition. Recollect it!
No evasions! I am a man of my word, and I shall see that faith is kept
with me also. _Cospetto!_ In my hand I hold the power to compel you."
"I, too, kept my word," said Giulia, "and more than this, I have often
starved that you might live luxuriously."
"For two years," said Baluzzi, "when you were here in Prussia during
the summer I was left without news of you."
"Owing to your irregular life the letter to you must have been lost--an
unfortunate chance which I do not lament over much."
"Then for two years I was in Russia, lost to you. I had business that
made me acquainted with sables and ermines. I exonerate you from blame
for that time, nevertheless you thus became my debtor. However, if you
leave the stage, you cannot redeem yourself now, you no longer have
your own independent earnings and possessions. Therefore, from
henceforth, you belong to me! Thank the Madonna that I have come to
hold you back from a crime--follow me!"
"Never!" said Giulia, folding her hands.
"Do you then think that my passion for you is extinguished? Even when
far away it burned in my bosom with silent fervour, and this glow
expands into bright flames since I have seen you once more, because you
are the most beautiful woman whom I have met with upon my manifold
journies in life, and I have seen women of every nation and of every
class. It is a proud sensation that of possessing you, not secretly,
no, before all the world to display you, and it is a delight to fold
you in my arms."
Giulia hid her face as she drew back.
"Yet do not believe that it is the same old love, as beneath Italy's
orange and myrtle trees when you were my Madonna, when my heart beat
for you, when I looked up to you as to a queen of heaven floating amid
a bright halo. And even then, when you parted from me as from one
unworthy who might not follow in the ascending paths of your life, even
in the desolate existence that I led, still I always looked up as one
looks up at a heavenly orb through a crevice in a grotto. Then came
those days of Lago Maggiore, I watched and saw how you were faithless
to me, you bought yourself free from my anger, because then I was in a
desperate position, but since that time my feelings have been
completely metamorphosed. My Madonna was one no longer, and though she
may not repent, I have vowed to myself to make her do so."
"Oh, to be fettered to crime, and in addition by sacred bonds--is there
a more unhappy fate? Is despair not justified, even when it clutches
convulsively at transient felicity? Well, I may belong to you, but you
do not belong to me, never so long as my spirit can move its wings in
liberty, can appreciate the beautiful, believe in what is noble."
Giulia had risen proudly, she had recovered herself, overcame her fear
and terror, courage of death shone on her brow.
"Any one who saw you now--truly a vestal, whose fire, alas, had often
gone out. It looks like gold and is brass, it gleams like silver and is
tin. And this, on the day on which a crime shall be consecrated. The
cocks have already crowed, midnight is past, your second wedding day
will soon dawn, do not forget your first myrtles; its stars still
shine, the second can only consist of nightshade and fox-glove, it
breathes the poison of a lie. _Corpo di bacco_--such a saint--it makes
one laugh!"
"I know, I feel that I am committing an impious act, I am defying law,
I am deceiving the best of men, but I only deceive him out of endless
love, and so utterly unworthy is that which is protected by law, that I
dare all because I believe in the pardon of Heaven."
"You need not have this sin pardoned, it will not be committed."
"Hear me Baluzzi!"
"Hear me first! I have not yet told you all. Since those days by the
lake, love died in my heart, passion remained, but it was a wild
passion that wavered between love and hatred; expiation I had hoped for
from you, but you cast flaming anger into my heart. You shall be mine,
your kisses shall give me rapture, my pulses shall throb louder, when I
hold you in my arms, but only like the pirate's pulses, who rejoices
over the captured beauty. Never shall I forget that you injured and
betrayed me beyond expression, that you are my slave, over whom I
exercise my proud right of master, whether I torture and chastise, or
whether I love her. What are your laurel wreaths to me? Dried up straw
which I burn, because no more gold glitters on its leaves, but as in
mockery of your renown, the queen of the stage shall preside at my
gaming-tables beside other painted harridans, and shall decoy victims
into my net--the trade will flourish! The remains of a great name will
suffice for it, that little candle end can still shed some light. You
shall obey me, tremble before me! That is the expiation, the penance
for an overbearing and faithless wife!"
"And to such degradation shall I follow you, give myself up to such
disappointment? Death rather!"
"There is a still better means, Signora! Seize your dagger, kill me,
let me be killed as a robber and housebreaker, then you will be free,
and with a light heart can greet the first ray of the morning sun; but
I am on my guard, my glances do not leave you, do not leave that door
behind which Beate sleeps. I know that she has a pocket pistol under
her pillow, and a crime more or less does not matter to her, but I am
prepared to meet her also."
And Baluzzi pulled out a pistol.
"Beate sleeps in the second room," said Giulia, "she does not hear us!
We will not excite ourselves--one calm word! An unhappy fate has
brought us together, it should never have happened. Our paths led far
asunder, but the indissoluble bond remains; it is cruel to tie up my
soul with it, it is indissoluble there, indissoluble also for me here,
because I dare not venture forth with this life-long lie, without
forfeiting my future happiness. But you would not be separated,
although to do so lay in your power. I beg, I implore you, do not let
your old right interfere in my life. I was always your friend, I will
remain so, but upon my knees I implore you, grant me the bliss of this
true love. I ask nothing but silence, do not make him miserable who
hazarded his life for me. Is it then so great a sacrifice not to utter
words which would plunge two people into calamity? Is it impossible to
resign a dreamed-of possession, a right that is dead?"
"A dreamed-of possession?" shouted the Italian, "the real right will
still find its protection in the world, and when I see you thus before
me, in all the magic of your charms, I long to press you to my heart
and to rejoice in my beautiful possession; my blood surges up within
me, like the fire-spring of Salfatora. I am no Don Juan who breaks at
night into the sanctuary of the house, I am no adulterer, no seducer; I
am the husband, and that word is like a king's crown and sceptre,
before which all the nation bows. The law would drive you into my arms
with rods, if you refuse, because to me is given power over you."
"Away, do not touch me!"
"And if I do? I am safe from your cries for help!"
"That you are not," cried Giulia in supreme excitement, "not even if I
must let my shame resound through the house with the alarm bell! Rather
than rest in your arms, rather than follow you and obey that vile
control which your right and will exercise, rather would I fall crushed
upon my knees before every one, confess the incredible, pray for mercy,
and then seek and find death. You know me! I dare do much, I dare do
what is unheard of! With bold hand I will rob myself of my own
happiness. He who dares that is prepared for all! Beside the summit
there is an abyss and no other path--least of all no other path in
common with you!"
Giulia's wild determination made an impression upon Baluzzi; he knew
those convulsively closed lips, those knitted eyebrows, those rigid
glances; he knew that at such moments she was capable of extremities.
What, then, was left to him? The sensation of gratified revenge, a mere
shadow of recollection--but not the bliss of the rack, and what his
passion, his avarice, might perhaps still expect of the future, would
then be buried for evermore.
He stopped, and hesitated.
Then, as Giulia rose from her knees in haughty anger, the light of the
lamp swept across her head-dress, so that the diamonds flashed and
quivered, and a dream-like firework of precious stones seemed to
scintillate upon her head.
The Italian was suddenly dazzled and enraptured with the ornament which
he had, indeed, perceived immediately upon his entrance, but which he
had not estimated at its full value.
His eyes wandered from the coronet to the strings of pearls, down to
the bracelets; they passed on to the open jewel casket on the table
whence a brilliancy betokening great promise shone in the dim light.
Giulia followed his gaze, his expression had entirely changed: the glow
of passion, the madness of revenge had given place to mute greed, to
avarice, that sought gratification, not from the animate, but the
inanimate objects. As if spell-bound his glance hung upon the
brilliants. A considerable pause ensued, Giulia imbibed new courage.
"You are not poor," said Baluzzi, suddenly, "is that your own?"
"My wedding present," replied Giulia.
"All this--and those precious stones, too? Show me the coronet!"
Giulia removed it. Baluzzi seized a candle which stood upon the table
beside him and illuminated the glittering stones. He drank in their
radiance as he slowly examined them. Then, as if making some
calculation, moved his lips; every one of these stones became changed
into a sparkling number, and dazzling as if in a Bengal light, a noble
sum flashed before him.
"You see," said Giulia, who had grasped the sudden change equally
quickly, "Blanden is liberal, and although I may earn nothing more
myself, his gifts will render it possible for me, even, if not to the
same extent as formerly, still to remember you."
"Do you think so?" said Baluzzi, as he looked at her with widely opened
eyes.
"And although I have retired from the stage, I will save for you just
the same, only do not demand impossibilities, take the circumstances
into consideration; less than formerly can I only call my own, dispose
of less, but, otherwise, things shall be as they were."
"Less? You are very modest! When did you ever have such beautiful
ornaments before?"
"They are the Blandens' family jewels, they do not belong to me! They
are only lent to me."
"Lent? You told me yourself that he had given them to you."
"For my life-time, perhaps! Such heirlooms revert to the family. I look
upon them as a property entrusted to my keeping."
"Give me the ornaments," cried Baluzzi, taking hold quickly.
"Impossible," replied Giulia, paling. "They are my wedding jewels for
tomorrow."
"Haha," laughed Baluzzi. "And you do not fear that these sparkling
stones should scorch your hair, or change themselves into little
snakes, such as play around the heads of the Furies? I have a great
undertaking in prospect, besides, I have much money to pay in Russia. I
offer you the choice: give me the diadem or I remain. I shall expose
you before all the world, and assert my rights."
Giulia looked once more imploringly at him. Her eye dropped. She was
weary of the endless torture.
"Cease! I beseech you, Baluzzi! What shall I say? How excuse myself?"
"Invent a robber. You are inventive enough. A lie, more or less, cannot
matter to you, and this is not the worst," added he, scornfully.
"Oh, this torture, this humiliation! Am I not a cowardly woman? Where
is my pride, where is my strength? Have you not appeared as one come to
warn me, to call to me, 'So far, and no farther! Cease, cease from your
reckless game!' And I have not courage to resign, standing before
supreme happiness, not the courage of truth, not the courage to speak
one single word, to avoid an act of infamous sacrilege! Unworthy
struggling, and cheating! That is the greatest humiliation. In open
confession, in the lowest abnegation, before universal repudiation,
there would still be sublimity! A voice would cry to me, 'You have done
rightly,' and above my head I should hear the fluttering of the wings
of my life's good genii who have long since forsaken me."
She seemed to be speaking to herself! Eagerly Baluzzi awaited the
decisive result of this monologue, at the same time with his eyes
devouring the diamonds in Giulia's hand.
"I cannot," cried she suddenly, striking her brow with her clenched
hand. "I am too weak, too powerless! Duty's command appears like a
horrible spectre that gives me up to boundless misery, while under the
spell of criminal silence an ardently longed-for happiness beckons to
me. Pity, pity!"
She cried to Heaven for it with clasped hands; Baluzzi answered, as
though she had spoken to him.
"None of that! The diamonds! It is my last word!"
"And the price--your everlasting silence!"
"Everlasting? Oh, no! That would be a bad bargain! But, by my honour,
for a year, if I live so long, I will not remind you. I will be
silent."
"A very sword above my head! And yet a year's felicity! How much
happiness does not even a moment contain! Who can destroy what once was
ours? And what once it has bought from hell can never be reclaimed! And
yet--how my heart will beat at every step, at every rustle or rattle of
the leaves. No, no, everlasting silence--and the jewels are yours."
"A year--give them, give them, senseless woman!"
He grasped the diamond circle and wrenched it from Giulia's hands after
a short indifferent resistance.
"Then farewell, complete your crime! A year--but pray for my life! For
I have sworn before I die to be revenged upon you! I leave no other
will, save my curse, which shall be upon you."
With these words, and still holding the sparkling ornament high in the
air, he disappeared behind the mirror-door, which he pushed back again
into the framework of the wall.
Giulia sank upon a seat. She extinguished the lamp and candles.
Sleepless, dreamless, she gazed fixedly through the windows into the
night. The moon had set. The grey dawn did her good. Everything faded
into uncertainty. A cradle song passed through her mind! How terrible
the rising day which gave distinct form again to everything which
erected the implacable barriers of life!
And on it came with its increasing light, and tinged the tops of the
trees. When Beate entered Giulia was still sitting motionlessly in her
evening robe in the easy chair.
On descending the winding staircase Baluzzi found Kaetchen sitting upon
the first steps of the subterranean passage beside the dark lantern.
Impatient she had certainly become, and had even crept up the stairs.
She had listened, but understood nothing, for Baluzzi and Giulia spoke
in Italian.
In her hand she held something that fluttered and flapped strangely. It
was a bat which had whirled around her lantern, and threatened to
entangle itself in her hair. When she perceived Baluzzi she started up.
"Well, and she?"
"She will remain this time," said the Italian. "She has bought herself
off."
He showed the magnificent diamonds, but they made no impression upon
the girl.
"Bought herself off?" said she, as she raised the lantern, let the bat
fly away, and stared at Baluzzi in idiotic amazement.
She scrambled down a few steps through the rubbish in the subterranean
passage.
Then Kaetchen stopped suddenly.
"And the marriage will still take place to-morrow?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Most wonderful!"
"Is she not your wife?"
"So the legend says, my child!"
On they clambered over the rubbish. Bats whirred round the lantern.
"To-morrow I must go to the district town," said Baluzzi.
"Leave me here, to-morrow. I will dance in the barn with the peasants
at the wedding."
The Italian gave his consent.
They rested themselves in the old watch tower, before commencing the
still more toilsome path through the narrow passage to the shore of the
lake.
"And you could not, would not prevent it. I thought we should drag her
with us, perhaps, still in her beautiful clothes, in her satin shoes
over the sharp stones, so that the blood would flow over her delicate
little feet! Why, you said you would torture her, bind her firmly if
she resisted, oh, I had bandages ready that she could not have torn. We
should have stowed her away in the boat like a little mass of misery
and had she become unruly, I might have struck her with a dripping oar.
You said this, and what have you done? Nothing--she will be happy, the
proud creature--and he, he!"
"Come before dawn breaks," said Baluzzi, urging her to start.
"I must think it over," Kaetchen muttered to herself.
A gust of wind sweeping through the loopholes of the Dantziger,
extinguished the lantern.
"Follow me," said Kaetchen, "I have cat's eyes, and can see in the dark.
Here is the passage to the shore. Stoop, you know it is low, but we can
feel and grope our way through."
"Horrible darkness, _corpo di bacco_," muttered Baluzzi, while he
measured the height of the grotto passage with one hand.
"To-morrow it will be brighter here," Kaetchen hummed, "but come on,
thorns and thistles will not sting you now. I have beheaded and cut
them down, I understand how to clear things away, away with the weeds!"