THE MAD COUNTESS.
Count Starhemberg paced his splendid drawing-room in a state of great
excitement. Sometimes he murmured broken sentences, then he sighed
heavily, and again he seemed to be a prey to fear. Occasionally, his
eyes glanced almost reproachfully toward the figure of a young man, who,
with folded arms and smiling countenance, stood in the embrasure of a
window watching the old man's agitation.
As the clock on the marble mantel struck the hour, the count stopped
before his young visitor, and looked searchingly at his mild and
effeminate farce.
"The half hour has elapsed, Count Esterhazy," said he, solemnly. "I have
told you frankly that my niece, although a beautiful and perchance a
good-hearted woman, has a temper which is the terror of my household.
She inherits this misfortune from her deceased father, and, unhappily,
her lovely and amiable mother did not long survive him. There has been
no one, therefore, to control her; and her terrible temper has never
been restrained. Do not say to me that I might have conquered it! I have
dedicated my whole life to her; and lest she should make another being
unhappy, I have remained a bachelor, as you perceive. But I had made a
solemn promise to her parents that I would be a father to her, and I
have kept my promise. It is not my fault if their child is less amiable
than other women. She has an energetic character, and I fear that if she
marries, she will find means to tyrannize over her husband. I repeat
this to you count, that we may clearly understand each other; and now
that the half hour has gone by, do you still urge your suit?"
"Yes, count, I do," replied Esterhazy in a, soft, treble voice. "I
repeat to you the offer of my hand to the Countess Margaret
Starhemberg."
The count bowed. "I have done my duty, and, being cleared of all
responsibility in the affair, I give my consent. You must now try to win
hers."
"I would like to see the countess in your presence," said Esterhazy,
unmoved.
Count Starhemberg rang the bell, and ordered a servant to bear a request
to his niece to join him in the drawing-room.
"The countess would have the honor of joining her uncle immediately,"
was the answer.
"This promises well," said the old count, looking relieved. "She
generally practises her music at this hour; and I am surprised that--"
Just then the sharp tones of an angry female voice were heard without,
then the jingling of glasses, then a crash, and the fall of some heavy
metallic body.
"That is my niece," said the old man with a shiver. "With that fanfare
she usually announces her coming."
Now the door was flung violently open, and a tall, magnificent woman
dashed into the room. Her features, marvellously chiselled as those of
the antique Venus, would have been irresistible in beauty, if their
expression had corresponded to their symmetry--But in her large black
eyes glared the fire of ungoverned passion, and her rosy mouth was
curled with contempt.
Her tall figure was of exquisite proportions; and her arms, adorned but
not hidden by the lace which fell from the short sleeves of her crimson
velvet dress, were as fair and beautiful as those of the Venus of Milo.
Count Esterhazy, intoxicated by the sight of her wondrous beauty,
withdrew abashed behind the window-curtain, while the countess, graceful
as an angry leopardess, bounded through the room, and stood before her
uncle.
"Who has annoyed you, my child?" asked he timidly.
"He is an idiot, an awkward animal, and shall be driven from the house
with the lash!" cried she. "Just imagine, uncle, that as I was coming
hither, I met him in the anteroom with a plateau of cups and glasses.
When he saw me, the fool fell to trembling as if he had seen an evil
spirit--the plateau shook; and my dear mother's last gift, the goblet
from which she had cooled her dying lips, fell to the floor and was
broken."
Her voice, at first so loud and angry, was now soft and pathetic, and
her eyes glistened with tears. She shook them off impatiently.
"I can well understand, dear child, how much it must have grieved you to
lose this precious relic," said her uncle, soothingly.
She blushed as though she had been surprised in a fault.
"Oh, it was not that," said she, pettishly, "it is all the same to me
whether the goblet was a relic or not, for I hate sentiment. But I
detest such an awkward fool. He never COULD carry any thing without
letting it fall."
"Nay, my child, he has often carried you for hours in his arms, and yet
he never let you fall."
"Uncle, your jests are insupportable," cried she, stamping with her
little satin-slippered foot upon the carpet. "You excuse this
gray-headed dunce merely to vex me, and to remind me that I am an orphan
without a home."
"But my dear--"
"Peace! I will not be interrupted. If I am tyrannized over in every
other way, I will at least claim the right to speak--I wish to say that
this old plague shall not remain here another day to torment my life
with his nonsense. This time, however, I made him feel the weight of my
hand. His face was as red as my dress after it."
"You struck my faithful old Isidor?" cried the count, shocked.
"Yes, I did," replied she, looking defiantly into her uncle's mild face.
"I beat him well, and then I threw the whole waiter of cups and glasses
upon the floor. Have you any fault to find with that, my sympathizing
uncle?"
"None, none," said the old man. "If it gave you pleasure to break the
glasses, we will go out and buy others."
"WE! No, indeed, we shall not. Isidor shall pay for them from his wages.
It was his fault that I was obliged to break them, and no one shall
suffer for it except himself. I claim that as an act of bare justice to
myself. "
"But, my dear countess--"
She stamped her foot again. "Great God! have you no object in life
except that of contradicting and ill-treating me?"
The count sighed and approached the door. She heard him, and an exulting
smile lit up her beautiful, stormy face.
"Well, as you will not tell him, I shall do it myself. Yes--I shall do
it myself. Do you hear, uncle? You shall not say a word to him."
"I will say nothing, Margaret. Will you now allow me to speak of other
things? Is your vehemence--"
"UNCLE!"
"In your just displeasure, you have overlooked the fact that we are not
alone."
He pointed to the window where, half hidden by the heavy silk drapery,
stood Count Frank Esterhazy. The countess followed her uncle's glance,
and as she became aware of the visitor's presence, burst into a merry
laugh.
"Do not be frightened, young man," said she then; "you may come out from
your corner. I am not a cat, and I don't devour mice. Ah, you have heard
our discussion? What a pity you are not a dramatic poet, you have had
such an opportunity for depicting a foolish old guardian and his
spirited ward!"
"Unfortunately, I am not a poet," said the young count, coming forward
and bowing to the floor. "If I were, I could write to-day a hundred
sonnets to the eyes of the majestic Hera whose anger heightens her
wonderful beauty."
"Uncle," said the countess, suddenly assuming a stately and court-like
demeanor, "be so good as to present me this young stranger, who pays
such insipid compliments."
"My dear niece, let me introduce Count Frank Esterhazy, a nobleman just
returned from Italy, who is in high favor with the empress."
"The latter is no recommendation, uncle, for am I not also a favorite
with the empress? Have you not often told me so, when the empress was
humbling me with some of her tyrannical condescension?"
"Certainly, my child, I have said so."
"Then you see that it is not necessary to be estimable for one to gain
the empress's good-will. For my part, I wish she loved me less, for then
she would spare me some of the long sermons with which she edifies me,
when I happen to appear at court."
"That, probably, is the reason you appear so seldom," said Count
Esterhazy. "I have heard your absence complained of."
"By her majesty?" asked Count Starhemberg.
"No, your excellency, by the emperor."
"What did he say?"
"Dare I repeat his words?" asked Esterhazy, appealing to the countess.
She bowed her head, and leaned against the back of an arm-chair.
"I was yesterday at the empress's reception. The emperor was so kind as
to do the honors of the court to me. He pointed out the several beauties
of Vienna, who were all strangers to me--'But,' said he, 'the most
beautiful woman in Austria I cannot show you, for she is not here. The
Countess Margaret von Starhemberg has the beauty of Juno and Venus
united.'"
The countess said nothing; she stood with downcast eyes. Her cheek had
paled, and her lips were firmly compressed together. Suddenly she
rallied and said, with a careless laugh
"I wager that the empress and her ladies made some amiable commentary on
the emperor's words. Come, tell me, what said the empress?"
"If you command me, countess, I will tell you. The empress added, with a
sigh, 'It is true, she is as beautiful as a goddess, but it is Eris whom
she resembles."'
"Very witty!" exclaimed the countess, with a sneer.
"And the emperor?" inquired the uncle.
"The emperor frowned at the ladies, who began to laugh. 'Your majesty
may be right,' said he, 'but Grecian mythology has forgotten to say
whether the fierce goddess was ever vanquished by love. Love tames the
most turbulent of women."'
The countess uttered a sharp cry, and caught with both her hands at the
back of the arm-chair. Her eyes closed, and a deadly paleness overspread
her countenance. Her uncle hastened to put his arm around her, inquiring
tenderly, "Dearest child, what ails you?"
She leaned for a while upon his shoulder; then raising her head while
deep blushes crimsoned her cheeks, she said, haughtily: "It is nothing.
A sudden faintness to which I am subject." With an inclination of the
head to Count Esterhazy, she continued
"You will be so good as not to mention this weakness of mine. It is
purely physical, and I hope to conquer it in time. I am rejoiced to
think that I have verified the words of the empress and have appeared
before you to-day as an Eris. I suppose you came hither to see me out of
curiosity."
"No Countess Margaret, the purport of my visit was any thing but
curiosity. I come, with the sanction of your guardian, to offer you my
hand."
The black eyes of the countess darted fire at the smiling suitor.
"You do not answer me," said he blandly. "I say that I have won the
consent of your uncle, and respectfully solicit yours. It shall be the
study of my life to make you happy, and, perhaps, at some future day, my
untiring devotion may win a return of my love. Speak, then, countess;
say that you will be my wife."
"Never, never!" cried she, stretching forth her arms as though to ward
away some threatening evil. "I shall never be the wife of any man. I was
not made for marriage, I cannot bow my will before that of any other
fellow-mortal."
"I shall not require you to do so," replied the count, as though he had
now removed every objection. "You will be in my house as you are here,
absolute mistress of all things, and I shall claim nothing but the right
of being your humblest and most devoted servant."
"Unhappily for you, you know not what you claim," exclaimed the countess
angrily. "Ask my uncle, ask his household, and they will tell you that I
am a tyrant, changing my will twenty times an hour; hating to-day the
thing I shall love to-morrow. You would aspire to be my husband, would
you? Have you no friends to warn you of the reefs upon which you are
running that poor little crazy bark of yours? Why the very people, as
they see me pass, tell of my frantic doings; and every child in Vienna
knows that I beat my servants, rage about my uncle's house like the foul
fiend, and dash through the streets on horseback like the Wild
Huntsman."
"'Love tames the wildest hearts,' so says the emperor."
Margaret started, and darted a fiery glance at his tranquil face.
"But I do not love you, I tell you; and it is useless to say another
word on the subject."
"Nay," said the count, taking her hand, "it is not useless. I beseech
you, do not deny my suit."
At this moment the door opened, and a servant came in with a golden
tray, on which lay a letter.
"From her majesty the empress," said the servant, handing it to Count
Starhemberg. The count took the letter and went into the embrasure of
the window, while the servant retired noiselessly.
"Countess Margaret," said Count Esterhazy, in an imploring voice, "once
more I entreat you to accept me as your husband."
She looked at him with withering contempt. "Have I not told you," cried
she, passionately, "that I do not love you? A man of honor ceases to
importune a woman after such an avowal."
"A man of spirit never gives up; he perseveres, in the hope that sooner
or later, he will reach his goal. No man has the right to expect that he
will obtain a treasure without trouble."
"Cant! miserable cant!" And the great glowing eyes that were looking
with such scorn at the alight figure of the count, encountered their own
image in the glass before which they both were standing.
"Look!" cried she, pointing to the mirror, "yonder reflection gives its
answer to your suit. Do you see that tall woman, whose head towers above
the blond mannikin that stands beside her? Look at her black hair, her
fiery eyes, and resolute bearing! And now look at the little fair-haired
puppet, that resembles a man about as much as do the statuettes on my
toilet-table. Ah, sir count, if you were the woman and I the man there
might be marriage between us! But as it is, you would die of my
violence, or I of your insipidity. So, excuse me."
She made a deep courtesy and turned to leave the room. But she felt a
touch upon her shoulder, and looking back, she saw her uncle gazing at
her with a face of great anxiety.
"My child," said he, in a faltering voice, "do not send Count Esterhazy
so rudely away. He is rich, noble, and distinguished, and in every way
worthy of my lovely niece. Do not refuse him, Margaret."
"The count has recovered from his stupid delusion, uncle; I have told
him how impossible it is for me to accept his hand."
"But, my poor child, you must try to love him. You dare not reject his
offer."
"What! _I_ dare not reject whom I please!" cried she, in a voice shrill
with passion.
"No, you dare not. The empress commands you to accept the hand of Count
Esterhazy. Here is the note I have at this moment received from her
majesty."
Margaret tore the paper savagely from her uncle's hand. With staring
eyes she read its contents, while her whole body trembled violently, and
her lips were bloody with the efforts she was making to suppress a
scream.
At last she gave it back. "Read it," said she, hoarsely; "the letters
swim before my eyes."
The count took the note and read:
"Dear Count Starhemberg: It is my desire that your niece, the Countess
Margaret, shall become the wife of some honorable man. In this way she
may hope to conquer her ungovernable temper, and become a reasonable
woman. I have heard that Count Esterhazy intends to become her suitor,
and I command her to accept his hand. She has led a life of wild
independence, and it is time she were tamed by the cares, duties, and
responsibilities of matrimony. I am both her empress and godmother, and
I use my double right for her good. The marriage shall take place in one
week, or she goes into a convent. That is my ultimatum. "I remain yours
with sentiments of esteem, "MARIA THERESA."