Chapter 68
They held one another in a close embrace. He kissed her hair, her forehead, her lips; she leant her head, sobbing, on his shoulder.
"Oh! my G.o.d! is it possible? This morning--even when I came in at the door--here, see! see! I wanted to give you this--my treasure! I meant to part with it, to renounce all happiness. And now, now! I may keep it, may I not, and look to my lord, as the needle does to the pole? I have learnt it from it."
She kissed the compa.s.s and let it slip again into her pocket, and threw her arms again round Reinhold, and said:
"And now, my dearest, that you know that I will be true to you, waking and sleeping, and will be your wife, and will follow you to the ends of the world whenever you call me, do not call me yet, but leave me here with my father, whose support and comfort I am in this affliction, with my Aunt Valerie, who clings to me in the anguish of her heart. Ah!
there is so much suffering which I only partly guess, but which does not therefore the less exist, and which I know will overflow so soon as I turn my back. It will perhaps come even now, and I cannot check it, but I shall have done my duty, you know, as Meta would say."
The old sweet smile gleamed in the brown eyes which shone upon him. "We must just have patience and be sensible, and love each other very, very much, and then everything must come right, will it not, my darling?"
"The man who knows himself beloved by you," whispered Reinhold, "can only fear one thing in this world--not to deserve your love."
CHAPTER XIII.
The two friends wandered up and down the brightly-illuminated platform of the station, waiting for the train. Uncle Ernst's carriage which had brought them, had come very quickly, the train was only just being made up, they had still nearly half an hour.
"You will not stop in Sundin?" said Justus.
"Only to-morrow," answered Reinhold; "I hope that will suffice to present myself before the President, and my immediate superiors, the Government surveyor, and the other gentlemen, and to receive my instructions."
"I think the President has been here," said Justus, "for the last four days. He is to be Chairman of the Board for the new railway. They made him the most splendid offer, I am told."
"So the papers say, but I do not believe it," answered Reinhold. "A man like the President could not agree to such a project, and moreover, if he were here, he would certainly have sent for me."
"And the day after to-morrow you will be at your post with a north-easter whistling in your ears, and will swagger about in your pilot coat. What a lucky man you are!"
Justus sighed; Reinhold looked at his friend, who, with downcast eyes walked dejectedly beside him, and then burst into a fit of laughter.
"It is all very well to laugh," said Justus; "'laden with foreign treasures, he returns to his former home,' but how do I stand? A leafless stem."
"Do not cry yourself down, Justus."
"Ah! cry myself down!" said Justus; "do you mean to say that it is not enough to drive a poor fellow mad! I meant to have spared you this to-day, so as not to disturb your happiness and joy; but perhaps it is better for me to tell you now, instead of writing to you as I intended.
You will be in his immediate neighbourhood, and will surely do me the kindness to go over some day and appeal to the old gentleman's conscience--though I don't believe he is old."
"Alack!" said Reinhold, "blows the wind in that quarter?"
"And how it blows!" cried Justus, "so that one can neither see nor hear. You know that Meta wrote to me on her arrival that every thing was going capitally. Mamma was, as she foresaw, entirely on her side, but papa, of course, made a tremendous row--only then, as she also foretold, to give in utterly a little while after, supposing that the 'stone-cutter' could maintain his daughter suitably, as he could give her nothing--not a s.h.i.+lling--he was a poor, ruined man. Good! I accept the ruined father-in-law, and he accepts me upon my showing that
Justus had halted under a lamp, and took a letter out of his pocket.
"If the spelling leaves something to be desired, the letters are big enough, as you see, and the interpretation is clear enough from one point of view at any rate."
Justus struck the crumpled leaf with the back of his hand, and read:
"'Sir' (the first time I was 'Dear Sir'),
"'In consequence of a telegram that I have just received from Berlin, the state of my affairs is so completely altered, my daughter's future prospects are so entirely changed, that the position which you can offer her at the best no longer appears sufficient to me; and before I give a final answer'--as if he had not done so already, the Jesuit!--'I must, as a conscientious man and provident father, beg for a few weeks delay, until the fortunate conjuncture of circ.u.mstances which has just occurred for me can be completely gone into.
"'Sincerely yours,
"'Otto von Strummin,
"'Lord of the Manor of Strummin, Member of the a.s.sembly, Vice-President of the Agricultural Society of ----'
"I can't read that--but it is enough!"
And Justus crumpled up the unfortunate letter, and with a scornful snort stuffed it again into his pocket.
"Am I not right, Reinhold? Every possible difficulty stands in your path, I admit, but through it all, at the worst, you have to deal with a man who is the very soul of honour, and on whose word once given--and he will give it--you may rely. You can build your house upon a solid foundation, but how can a man build a house upon sand--treacherous quicksand, which, when he thinks he is as firmly fixed as the Colossus of Rhodes, gives way under his feet? If I only knew what the 'Lord of the Manor' really means! It is my belief that the whole story--telegram, conjuncture, every thing--is all dust which he wants to throw into my eyes to get rid of me--don't you think so?"
"Of course he wants to get rid of you," answered Reinhold, "and the man's meaning is pitiful enough; but the matter to which he alludes has some truth in it, and I think I can tell you what it all means. Herr von Strummin has probably, for some reason or another, been kept in the dark as to the position of the question of the concession, so as to shut him out of a share of the first rich booty, possibly has been persuaded that the concession will not be granted. Disordered as his affairs appear to be, perhaps in a desperate condition, he was delighted to see his daughter provided for, and shut both eyes (which, by the way, are somewhat prominent) to the 'stone-cutter's' position.
Now he has been informed that the concession is a _fait accompli_, some additional promises--G.o.d knows what--have been made to him, and everything looks bright to him. He reminds himself that he is lord of the manor and so forth, and that it is his duty to protect his daughter from a mesalliance. You see it is again the old pitiful bargaining with men's hearts, sticking to insane prejudices at the expense of all sound morality. But console yourself, Justus, it is not you, but Herr von Strummin who has built his house upon sand. He will find it out soon enough, and he will come to you and say, 'My dear sir, I have been terribly in the wrong, and here is my daughter's hand.'"
"That would be splendid," said Justus, smiling in spite of his trouble, "only--I do not believe in it."
"Justus! Justus!" cried Reinhold; "do I hear this from you? From whom have I learnt that sandstone is hard to work, but marble much harder, and that whoso works all his life in sandstone and marble must take life easy, if he would not have the devil take possession of him. Do you really mean him to take possession of you?"
"You may well say that," answered Justus; "I do not recognise myself any longer. It is as if gipsies had stolen me in the night, and left a miserable, dismal, incapable sneak in my place. All that I have lately done has been rubbish, which I would undo were I not certain that I should make it still worse. Oh! this love! this love! I have always foreseen it, I have always said it would be fatal to me; it always has been fatal to every artist. To-day, whilst you were paying your visit, I glanced into Ferdinanda's studio. She is working at a Bacchante--in her present mood! but there is genius in it, only it is carried to madness, to absolute caricature. That is what she has got by it, that glorious creature! Uncle Ernst is all right again. He has allowed himself to be elected delegate of the city, because he has not got enough to do, and next year will have himself elected to the Chamber of Deputies and the Imperial Diet, and will stupefy himself with work, which is at any rate more wholesome than wine. But poor, poor Ferdinanda! I think, Reinhold, you must get in."
The platform had meanwhile filled with travellers, some of whom hurried into the opened carriages, or after taking possession of their places, stood chatting at the doors. Amongst the latter was a party of young men in shooting dress, whom the two friends had just pa.s.sed.
"I don't think he will come," said one of them, in whom Reinhold thought he recognised Herr von Tettritz.
"Seems so," said another--Herr von Wartenberg, as Reinhold, turning his head, convinced himself.
From the door of the waiting-room hastily appeared a gentleman, also in shooting-dress, followed by a soldier-servant carrying the game-bag and gun over his shoulder. It was Ottomar.
And Ottomar, for all his haste, had at once recognised the two friends.
They saw how he started, and then, as if he had remarked nothing, pa.s.sed on, but suddenly turned round.
"I am not mistaken. Good-evening, gentlemen. You are coming with us?"
"I am," said Reinhold, "to Sundin."
"Ah! I heard as much from my sister, who, I think, had it from Fraulein von Strummin, and also at Wallbach's, from whom I have just come. You have got the post; I congratulate. Sorry I was not at home this morning. Parade, barracks--nonsense! You may be thankful that you have nothing more to do with such stuff. I envy you, by Jove! It's shameful that we have seen so little of each other lately. It's a little your fault too; you might have let yourself be seen again. I shall heap coals of fire on your head, and visit you at Wissow--next spring. Golm has invited me to shoot snipe--best in all Germany, so he says, and I believe him--for once. My sister will very likely come earlier--to Warnow; perhaps Fraulein von Wallbach also. My aunt Valerie, who finds this place too noisy, has invited both the young ladies. _Au revoir_, then, or will you--but that will not do--we are already six. We are only going as far as Schonau, a property belonging to an uncle of the Captain's. _Au revoir_, then. I will soon pay you a visit too, if you will allow me--it was delightful in your studio. I must also see Fraulein von Strummin; I hear she is wonderfully----"
"Take your seats, gentlemen!" said the guard.
"Werben, Werben!"
"Coming! Good-bye, good-bye!"
Ottomar shook hands with the friends in pa.s.sing, and hurried to his clamouring companions.