CONFESSIONS.
"When you receive these lines," wrote Giulia, "I shall have left
Kulmitten with Beate, and all traces of me, it is to be hoped, will be
lost to you and to the world. I take nothing with me, save the
remembrance of your goodness and love, and they shall support me in my
forsakenness, and render it possible for me to endure life.
"What else can it be to me, but an atonement of the past, but a prayer,
a prayer for forgiveness? I shall never learn if it be fulfilled, but
in my best hours I shall comfort myself with it, I shall hope and
believe in it, as we believe in one only happiness!
"And I dare believe and hope, because the crime that I committed was
committed only through boundless love for you, through passion that
gives up and sacrifices everything for the possession of the beloved
one, even its duty, its honour--at least that which before law and the
world passes for such. I had hoped to be able to preserve my secret,
and at the same time untroubled happiness for you, even although mine
was ever disturbed by pangs of conscience; it has been ordained
differently, the veil has suddenly fallen. I stand as a criminal before
your eyes. If you, too, measure me with the measure of others, then
there is no absolution for me, but you, whom I loved most deeply, will
also be more capable than all others of forgiveness.
"The whole history of my sorrow is connected with a man who has now met
with so terrible an end, he was fatal to my life. I may regret that a
low mind made him an unsettled, unhappy wanderer upon earth, but I
cannot weep for him, because tears are too precious to be wasted upon
what is ignoble. Others may, perhaps, think the same of me, but every
great passion has an atoning power. The story of my life is short, but
eventful.
"My parents possessed a small estate near Bergamo; they exchanged it
for another in the Italian Tyrol, but they were unfortunate, their
affairs went wrong. Young as I was, I had to think of earning something
for myself, and as I was esteemed tolerably good looking, and my voice
melodious and strong, it was determined that I should devote myself to
the stage. Influential friends provided for my education, so that I
might enter the chorus at the _Pergola_, in Florence.
"I was eighteen years old, I did not know life. In my dreams I might
sketch a brilliant future for myself: the present was poor enough, it
did not satisfy the ambition of artistic struggles, it barely yielded
daily bread. Gradually, however, I began to receive subordinate parts,
in which, if not by my singing, yet by my voice, my whole manner, I
could rouse people's attention.
"At that time I became acquainted with Baluzzi; he was twenty years
older than I, and also a chorus singer, but for him the chorus was only
a place of refuge, as it seemed, the sad close to a mysterious life. He
was considered to be a handsome man, all my friends were proud when he
paid them any little attention. Soon he began to distinguish me
especially, which roused my companions' jealousy, made me, however, the
more susceptible of the tokens of his favour. He understood how to win
a young heart; he surrounded himself with the charm of recklessness;
here and there he allowed a reminiscence of his past, a picture to
gleam shedding around him the halo of a bold, daring man. Being a
member of the chorus appeared to us as a disguise which he had assumed
in his momentary need.
"Unacquainted with life, captivated by Baluzzi's fiery glances, and the
power of his language, I was soon beneath his spell. I loved him with
inexperienced, ardent love. An event also occurred that showed me his
uncontrolled feelings, it is true, but also the strength of his
passion. I had inspired a Florentine noble with one of those transient
affections which the stage so easily ignited. I had treated him
politely, and he looked upon me as an easy prey. Late one evening he
came to me. I bade him leave, he became more importunate. Baluzzi had
watched for him, came to me, drew out his dagger, and wounded the
nobleman. The wound was not dangerous and my well-born friend deemed it
best to observe silence. I, however, could gauge Baluzzi's love for me
by the measure of his savage jealousy.
"Nor did he only crave for fleeting love, he strove to possess me from
the first. He told the wounded intruder that I was his betrothed, and
asserted his right of active defence. I had not given him the right
until now, but I did not show over-much resistance when he claimed it.
Once when I refused to listen to him, we were standing upon the
platform of the _companile_, he threatened to throw himself down, and I
appeased him with hasty consent, because I believed that he would
fulfil his threat.
"One thing I must say for him--and that was my misfortune--he believed
in my talent, my future. While others thought my performances pretty
and taking, he was convinced that, with my voice, my appearance, after
a little progress in singing, I should become great on the Italian
stage. In imagination he foresaw my pecuniary, my brilliant successes,
therefore he strove to possess me. I was an object of his calculations,
and they had not deceived him. That he also found me personally
desirable I will readily believe, for the world, the public, the
newspapers, and above all, my mirror told me that I was beautiful.
"Baluzzi's passionate courtship, which inspired me with fear and
dread--as he intimidated me with menaces if I should not do his will--I
could no longer resist. I had sung my first more important part at the
_Pergola_ and been very successful; his calculations now gained a
firmer basis, more resolutely he went at his object. At that time, it
is true, I only perceived the expression of unlimited passion in all
that he said or did, which at last intoxicated me, for nothing is more
infectious than the soul's warmth. I gave my consent to the marriage;
that it should be a secret one at first, we both agreed. Nothing is
more fatal to young actresses than the title of _Signora_, it sets a
barrier to those undecided wishes which spontaneously, like a
superfluous element of nature, mingle with the admiration of beauty and
artistic revelations; in such unexpressed emotions often lies the
secret of success. A grand career lay before me, it must remain free
and open to me. Baluzzi also desired this. We were married in the
remote little church in the middle of the Orta lake. For the stage I
continued to be Signora Bollini; but the heavy, fatal error of my life
had been committed, it was no youthful folly whose consequences could
be brushed away with a light hand. Marriage is indissoluble according
to the laws of the Church, indissoluble according to those of the
country. The priest's words had converted me into a slave for evermore.
I did not feel it then, I was happy. This confession does not disgrace
me, because felicity lies in our feelings, and delusion can call it
forth as well as truth. Youth has its own rapture, its own bliss, and
love is not so powerless as not to procure full enjoyment for all who
are filled with it. Those were glorious days which I spent by the banks
of the Orta lake. Baluzzi then seemed like a demi-god to me, but that
bliss was of short duration.
"Returned to Florence, I soon remarked that he displayed several
rougher sides of his nature, at first surprising, then alarming me. I
perceived that he gave himself up to a wild life, which, merely to win
and deceive me, he had interrupted for some time. He laid an embargo
upon my cash-box, I was almost reduced to poverty; he was a gambler, a
drunkard, and spent his nights with wild companions.
"The rapture of love, however, had given unthought-of wings to my
talent; from part to part I attained greater success, and after the
lapse of a year was engaged at the _Pergola_ with a considerable
salary, but, with the salary, increased Baluzzi's claims; often he
demanded money for his journeys to Monaco, where he indulged his mania
for play, whence he always returned a bankrupt. All my expostulations
were vain, he met them with bitter scorn and the defiant manner of a
lord and master.
"He gambled at Monaco, he engaged in equivocal business, and did I not
send him sufficient money at any time, he pursued me like a spy, like a
shadow. He read of my successes in the papers, he kept a book of them,
he calculated my receipts. In Milan, not long after, began the era of
my triumphs, the most distinguished circles were opened to me. I became
intimate with Princess Dolgia, and she invited we to her villa at
Stresa.
"It was then that I saw you for the first time, when my heart burned
for you with glowing passion, when I experienced all the charms of love
and life, and felt the shame of my chains doubly heavy; then, too, he
spied upon me by the lake shore, he had been dissatisfied with the last
remittance; he demanded more. At the same time his heart was inflamed
with savage jealousy, or was it rather an emotion of hatred--he saw
that we loved one another. I feared for your life, only a great price
could assuage his wrath. But, carried away with delight that knew no
bounds, as if to raise me in blissful dreams above the unworthiness
with which my life was filled, I would not curb my glowing love, and
greater than the sin of loving was the wicked doubt, whether the
welfare of my soul was more imperilled by your love than by the mad
passion of a brutal criminal.
"Since then my only thought has been for you and your love; he followed
me upon my career of triumph which I commenced through Europe. I would
fly from you, only entwine your love like a transient dream in my
life--and ever again it urged me to seek you; therefore I came here
and stayed so long on the shores of the northern lakes. It drew me to
your native land, to your own home. I visited your Castle while you
were absent; then I tore myself away from the glowing dreams of my
longing--for almost two years I lingered in Russia. Owing to no fault
of mine, Baluzzi had lost all traces of me for a considerable time; he
had been guilty of some breach of the laws in Russia, and was, I know
not why, banished to Siberia, but he discovered me again, and, like a
leech, he clung to my heels.
"My increasing fame gave me the _entree_ to good society, I gained the
friendship of princes and princesses. Intercourse with Baluzzi could
only injure my name. Little as he fulfilled his duties as a chorus
singer in Florence, he was known as one of those musical assistants who
stood upon a subordinate step of the ladder of art, in those circles I
had risen far above his horizon. I often let him feel it, and he
rebelled with double defiance against my 'impudent overbearing.' Yet he
saw that, for his own sake, he must not disturb my career; he agreed
only to see and speak to me secretly, and before the world to assume
the semblance of friendship; he often came after dissipated
entertainments and asserted his rights, rousing my anger.
"Another fearful surprise awaited me. A falling scene had struck his
shoulder; he persistently rejected all assistance from the surgeon, and
from me. I went to see him, he lay in feverish sleep. I wanted to see
the wound, that appeared to me as serious as his resistance was
suspicious. I drew back the bandage and saw--even now the recollection
fills me with horror--upon his shoulder the branded mark of a
galley-slave! It was to a desperate criminal that I had given hand and
heart!
"There are countries in which the law would grant the right of divorce
in cases where such discoveries were made after marriage, because they
assume that only by mistake could such an union have been formed. But
in Italy there is no such law, and had there been I had neglected the
time which is allowed for such an appeal. I knew nothing about it.
"Nevertheless, my resolution, to set myself free from the horrible
control of this man, so far as lay in my power, remained immovable.
When Baluzzi had recovered, I imparted my discovery to him with great
composure; he started. I told him that I knew now that I had married a
heavily punished criminal.
"'Quarrels at the gaming table,' said he shortly, 'a hasty dagger that
caught its victim.'
"'Perhaps combined with cheating and robbery,' added I.
"'What does it matter to you? Who dares to reproach me with a
punishment that I have undergone?' I explained succinctly to him that I
could have nothing in common with a dismissed galley-slave, and forbade
him to visit me any more. Naturally this prohibition angered him, but I
declared that I should betray his secret to the world, publish the
brand which justice had imprinted upon him, and thus had cast him out
for ever from association with his fellow-men.
"'Then I shall proclaim our marriage,' cried he triumphantly, 'and upon
you will rest the same curse.'
"'And our fame, my talent, our gains?'
"He became thoughtful, and entered into negociations; he should not
disturb my path any more, but he claimed the greater portion of my
receipts for himself; under these conditions, so long as I remained on
the stage, where he prophesied me a brilliant career, he should not
assert his rights over me, but so soon as from any cause I left the
theatre, I should again fall into his power, not only my possessions,
but also my life and person; thus should he be indemnified for the long
privation. I might then proclaim that he had been in the _bagno_, it
was immaterial to him. The wife of a galley-slave shared his disgrace;
yes, then he should be my master again and possess the right to the
whims of a sultan.
"He parted from me; I bound myself always to give him my address, as I
was about to set out on a starring tour in Italy and abroad. I felt
like a serf who is granted liberty which is liable to be recalled at
any moment, but my earnings were paralysed, and my heart could not beat
freely without committing sin. That was control worse than the galley!
"I saw you again. From that time my life has been no secret to you. I
would belong to you for ever, it was the one object of my life, and yet
unattainable if I did not possess the audacity to defy the constraint
of a law binding me for life to the galley. Is there no higher decree
than the mutable chequered one of these countries in our hemisphere? Is
there not a holier love which may scorn an unholy bond? I hoped to
annihilate the proofs of my slavery: I hoped to keep the spectre of my
life far aloof from myself, and still farther from you; to enjoy a
happiness over which, indeed, hung a sword on a silver thread, yet
invisible to you and your repose, not hostile to your peace--in vain!
He came because I had resigned the stage; he came not to demand my
money, but myself, and in wild desperation I bought a new reprieve with
the gift of your love, the diamond diadem, the family jewels of the
Blandens. But dying, the wretched man fulfilled his oaths of revenge,
and, as bleeding, he descends amongst the shadows, he leaves me behind
amidst the falling ruins of my bliss.
"Well;--I am a guilty woman! Now condemn me! I have deceived you, I
bring disgrace upon your house--and yet, so long as my heart beats, it
will beat for you; I go forth into misery, behind me the myrmidons of
the law, nothing is left for me save the last greeting, the last word
of blessing! God protect the most noble man whom the earth contains,
and if he cannot forgive me then may his pity follow me--the outcast,
the scorned--into the wide world!"
Again, and again, Blanden read the letter with throbbing heart and a
tear in his eyes, he ordered his horses to be harnessed and drove
furiously to Kulmitten. The Castle was desolate and empty. Giulia and
Beate had left it in a peasant's cart which chanced to be passing
through, both in the plainest garments, none could tell whither.
He was alone. He waited for the officers of justice who would soon
knock at those doors and attach the seal of nameless shame to the
sacred heritage of his family. He sat there a silent, moody man, and
buried all his hopes.
LAST CHAPTER.
TO THE EAST!
Since the occurrences which we have just related, two years had passed
away.
The political storm had burst which the weather tokens on the horizon
had long since foretold, the regeneration of the German people was
proclaimed amid mighty convulsions.
It was a premature spring whose blossoms shed their leaves before they
attained maturity.
The uproar raged through the large towns. Blood flowed over the
streets. War between brothers was unfettered. Often those fought
together, who desired the same object; with cannon balls, the people
greeted the desired concessions of Government; wild tumult had taken
possession of hearts and minds. The equinoctial gale of the spring of
liberty swept through Europe, and general shipwreck ensued.
Only upon one tiny spot of earth, where it was necessary to defend
German soil against foreign encroachments, and to prepare the place for
the German Empire of the future, a struggle had been commenced, which
did not bear the fearful impress of a war between brothers, which was
ennobled by glorious enthusiasm for the fatherland. The dependence upon
the will of foreign rulers who trod old rights under foot, had become
insupportable to a brave race of people which flew to arms to preserve
the right, to repel the interference of a newly-crowned king, and to
maintain its connection with Germany at the point of the sword.
It was on a day in April, 1848, that the thunder of cannon echoed
across the narrow bay of Flensburg; the red columns of the Danish army
had extended themselves around the village of Bau and threatened to cut
off the advance guard of the Schleswig-Holstein army that was stationed
at Bau and Krusau. Soon the battle began! The flower of the country's
youth, the students of Kiel, with the riflemen of that town, had to
withstand the first onslaught of the enemy.
Over the hedges, out of the ditches, the advanced out-posts fired upon
the red sharpshooters, upon the rushing enemy.
"Forward!" resounded the cry of the officers; "forward!" rang Blanden's
voice. He led the disciples of _alma mater_ to the battle; he had
hastened to them, and entered their ranks amongst the first German
volunteers, who placed their swords at the disposal of the good cause
of Schleswig-Holstein.
"Forward!" replied the students' cry, with tempestuous enthusiasm, many
of whom had a musket in their hands for the first time, who had poured
in from the lecture-rooms to prove by active deeds their devotion to
their fatherland. And forward moved the volunteer band; with levelled
bayonets they charged the Danish vanguard, drove it back, and held
their position beneath a heavy fire; courage and energy compensated for
lack of numbers.
The Danes gave the courageously attacking force credit for strong
supports; for a fresh effort they summoned fresh powers to their
assistance.
Regardless of the balls which whistled round him from every side,
Blanden, too, stood under fire; it almost seemed as if death would be
welcome to him, and yet he was filled with burning love of battle as he
looked into the radiant faces of those youths who went so full of the
courage of sacrifice to meet their death.
Yes, and it was no common food for powder that filled the ditches, they
were the best sons of the land. It was the vanguard of the German
spirit, and wherever it had conquered it was always the united word of
the sword, and the sword of the word which had gained the victory.
These bayonets were not merely a flashing protest of the northern
nations; the hands in which they rested were equally powerful to wield
the pen--and knew how to prove this right.
Meanwhile the shots thundered from Bau, the crashing salvoes, however,
drew towards the south-east of Flensburg. Soon scattered troops
announced that the sixteenth battalion at Bau had been beaten by the
Danes. Now the brave men stood helplessly, no order from head-quarters
came to them; one orderly after another was despatched, none returned.
The retreat to Flensburg was endangered.
Thus they left the corpse-strewn battle field in order to force a
retreat for themselves. Bau and Krusau were the Schleswig-Holstein
Thermopylae!
Singing battle songs, the troops of lads approached the town, but they
were hymns to the dead, for now only did death reap its abundant
harvest.
The road ran along the shore, the bay suddenly became alive, the white
and red flags approached, and the sky-blue lion prepared to spring. Was
not the sea, the kingdom of the old Vikings, subject to the island
people; how long did the Sound stand beneath the dominion of Danish
cannon?
And it was a submissive bay of the conquered East Sea, which here made
its entry into the Schleswig-Holstein country of beeches and hedges.
Suddenly the waves became alive, from the narrow tongue of land, from
Holsens, where the Leviathans, the armed men of war, lay, it came ever
nearer like a dark cloud upon the billows, a dense evil-boding throng.
They were the Danish gun-boats; then flashed the shots, then blazed the
touch-holes. Astonished, the waves caught the strange smoke of powder
which spread itself over them like a veil, and the cartridges rattled
on the strand.
Like an ocean monster of the old legend rolling devouringly upon the
land, death leaped from the waves and laid its victims low. The road
became filled with corpses, of what use were the single bullets, which
struck the boats; of what avail the temporary shelter behind the trunks
of trees along the path!
"Forward to the foundry!" rang the cry of death. It was a kind of
trench granting protection. There they could fall fighting; here the
band resembled game driven by the keepers, upon which the sportsmen can
shoot from a safe position.
And with winged steps all thronged to the fort of death, determined, at
least, to sell their lives dearly.
Cartridge upon cartridge blazed across; wounded and dying leaned
against the tall stems of the beeches, and the down crashing branches
decked these pale brows as if with a homely wreath of honour, upon
which trickled the cold drops of death.
Already Blanden saw the smoking furnaces of the foundry before him;
there a flash quivers through the cloud of vapour; in conical flight
the birds of death swept through, on right and left, fell into the
trees, here and there penetrated the earth, struck the companions by
his side, and stretched Blanden himself on the ground. He gazed into
the night, as it descended upon his eyes--the night of death--but
uttered not a word of lament. His last thought before his senses
forsook him was the futility of his life, which was honourably
terminated by death upon the battle-field.
When he opened his eyes again amidst violent pain, he fancied he was
still under the spell of a dream: had he awoke in India amongst the
peris? His bewildered fancy led the favourite images of his waking
dreams before his mind.
A tear-bedimmed eye rested upon him, a slight form, wrapped in a cloak,
bent over him.
They were the eyes, it was the figure of Giulia; with a loud cry of joy
she welcomed his awaking.
But it was yet the day, the same day of the battle. Vollies rattled
round the iron fort; where at other times the wheels of machinery
revolved, now revolved the wheel of death.
A gun-boat still lay upon the strand, the otters had moved nearer to
Flensburg, but that one did not cease from its work of devastation. A
cartridge rattled and fell into the beech and struck down a branch,
which fell upon Giulia and cut her brow. She had bent over Blanden to
shelter him.
"Where am I? You here?" said he, half unconsciously.
"Do not ask how."
"Who brings you here?"
"Charity and longing for death, but now there is not a moment to lose."
She beckoned to two peasants, who stood close by with a little cart,
and lifted Blanden into it, beside a wounded man who already lay there.
Giulia seated herself upon the hard straw sack. They went along back
streets to the inn of a neighbouring village, where several surgeons
were in full employment.
It was a long time before Blanden recovered from his wounds, which left
him slightly lame for life. Giulia was once more his faithful nurse,
she also followed him to the Danish captivity, into which he, with the
other wounded men, had fallen.
The feeling of belonging wholly to one another became quickened in
both. From every side Blanden heard with what heroic valour Giulia had
hastened into the battle field, how amidst shot and shells she had
brought consolation, succour and relief to the wounded, an angel of
mercy, whose memory would live for all ages in the hearts of the
Schleswig-Holstein youth. For long both avoided speaking of their
separation, its causes, of their later experiences. There would have
been the risk of great agitation for Blanden, for both the danger of
parting again, and yet both felt how painful an effect this would have
upon their lives.
At last Blanden had sufficiently recovered to be allowed to go out into
the fresh air, and he, with others, had been already exchanged for
Danish prisoners.
They sat under a lofty avenue of beeches by the sea, lying so quietly
and blue before them. Islands rose out of the waves and ships passed on
the horizon.
"Where have you been, Giulia, since you left me?"
"Upon a little island near that of Sylt, in a lonely fisherman's
cottage, there I deemed myself most effectually concealed. So quickly
could the law not raise its accusation, not follow my track and find me
yonder in my solitude, where, with Beate, I helped to mend fishing
nets, and obtained a little money by teaching children. For hours I sat
upon the 'dunes,' I saw the tide rush in which for centuries has been
washing away these islands, ready to swallow them up, and which already
has buried so much work of men's hands within its depths. Like a sea
mew's flight over the foaming, dashing billows, my thoughts swept over
the heights and abysses of my life, and my bruised heart did bitter
penance, and as the roaring hurricane came and stirred the waves and
tore them upwards until towering on high they dashed upon the shore, so
was I now overwhelmed with the fire and wild passion which had animated
me, and with the recollection of all the tempests of my life.
"I could have retired to a convent in my own country, but my soul
longed for the free breath of heaven, and an irrevocable bond would
have crushed it to the ground.
"Beate left me, she had often been at Sylt during the season, and there
had made the acquaintance of a well-to-do Hamburg merchant, whom her
sparkling eyes and lively manner had fascinated. We parted amid tears,
she was my most faithful friend, who for me had jeopardised her honour.
Then the feeling of being utterly forsaken came upon me, the never
ceasing return of ebb and flow, the only event of which the 'dunes'
could tell, made my spirit weary and listless, all the fettered springs
of life stirred within me. I could not have lived amid the ocean
solitude another year, my talent for a Robinsonade was exhausted. Then
the news of war, which was at that time only imminent, but of whose
outbreak messengers brought premature intelligence, penetrated to our
fishermen's cottages; I resolved to make atonement for my past as a
nurse in the midst of the conflict, and hoped, perhaps, to meet death
from a merciful bullet. When I came here I found nothing prepared, I
wished to go upon the battle-field as a volunteer Samaritan, and
beneath its terrible and yet elevating influences, I felt the pulses of
my life beat higher once more--I forgot myself. I relieved pain, I
earned thanks--the sin of my life seemed to be melting away as if tears
and words of gratitude washed it out. Thus I found you. Fate led those
together again, whom it had parted, but still the gulf of guilt lies
between them. You have recovered, my task is completed, let me go hence
once more."
"No Giulia," cried Blanden with a burst of emotion, "now we part no
more."
Giulia looked enquiringly at him; she could not believe his words.
"I part from my preserver no more. I am superstitious, or believing
enough to follow the signal of fate which re-united us upon the field
of honour. You have nothing more to fear from justice. Baluzzi's
messenger, wild Robert, did not reach his goal, he fell, lost in the
swamp, the edges of which were thoroughly searched by the guards;
doubtlessly he ventured too far in order to escape them. Baluzzi's
accusation lies deep down in the morass where it ought to lie; he
himself is dead, never did any messenger of justice trouble me. Thus
there is but one human being in the world who can bring an accusation
against you, and that one dare not, because you only sinned out of love
for me, out of blind, but yet true ardent love, and with this kiss I
absolve you."
He kissed Giulia's brow; sobbing, she sank into his arms.
"Fate has foiled my most glorious plans of life, we cannot return to
the desolate Castle. Your sudden flight injured my name again, the
people there will not associate with us, but the world is large!
Although my life has been a failure, although I must stay far from my
home, there yet remains to me the thinker's dream and the ecstasy of
love."
"Not for my sake shall you fly from all," said Giulia imploringly.
"I, too, am dead to this portion of the world. I can do nothing more
for my fatherland. This bullet has rendered me unfit for war, a chain
of unfortunate circumstances for peace. I cannot stand before any
electors, a political career is closed to me. Thus I fly for my sake
also, and you, my fondly loved wife, I take with me as comforter. The
registry at San Giulio still tells of your guilt, we must away, far
away from here. I know a land, the cradle of the gods, perhaps the
cradle of mankind, a wonder land. There beneath the giant mountain lies
the Walar Lake, and the Behat winds through a paradise of rustling
fruit trees and prolific plains upon which gaze down glaciers high as
heaven. Beautiful beings wander there in the most blessed valley of the
world, and there free from the constraint of law and the trammels of
society, which here rule the world, we will build ourselves huts
and I will introduce you to the profound wisdom of the land of the
lotus-flowers. Follow me to Cashmere."
Giulia pressed him to her heart, "I have no will but yours."
Blanden wrote to Wegen and begged him to sell Kulmitten, Rositten, and
Nehren. His friend, Olga's happy husband, doubly happy by her
unexpected mastery of the art of cooking, executed Blanden's
commission, and by means of a large inheritance, was enabled to buy
Kulmitten, the principal estate, for himself.
To Kuhl, however, who really had invited no living creature excepting
Caro, to his wedding dinner, Blanden wrote--
"I go far away, to the primeval home of mankind; I am a shipwrecked
mariner, and, united to Giulia, shall build myself a hut in the desert.
Withered leaves--they fell upon the flowers of my heart, and twice have
covered and crushed out their life. My friend! no man can overcome his
past. Unforeseen it rises again like a spectre and stretches the
destroyer's hand into our lives. Poor Eva was the victim of one of
those fearful chains of events which, long invisible, suddenly seize us
with a ghostly grasp. That I had loved the mother, was the daughter's
death! Withered leaves--vainly my Giulia amid bitterest pain sought to
wrench herself loose from her past, but it held her firmly as in an
iron vice. Away into the kingdom of Buddha, into the dream-world of the
East! I could not live as I would, therefore now I will live as I can."
Not long after a Hamburg steamboat bore the loving pair into the land
of the lotus-flowers.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: The evening preceding the wedding day,--_Translator's
note_.]
THE END.
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