CHAPTER V.
ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE.
The Plankenhorst family in Vienna was an entirely respectable one,although its name lacked the prefix which denotes nobility.Nevertheless the widow was honoured with the title of baroness, as shewas of noble birth, and her daughter, too, was similarly addressed byher admirers. They lived in a house of their own in the inner city;and that signifies a great deal in Vienna. But the house was anold-fashioned one, built in the style of Maria Theresa, and the groundfloor was given up to shops. They were admitted to court circles andwere often seen there; yet it was the men rather than the women thatsought their society. Barons and princes not seldom offered an arm tothe amiable Madame Antoinette to escort her to the supper-room, orbegged of the charming Miss Alfonsine the pleasure of a dance. But nobaron or prince was ever known to seek an intimate acquaintance witheither of them.
Their receptions were well attended, and it was there that manypolitical and love intrigues were hatched. To be sure, theSedlniczkys, the Insaghis, and the Apponys never graced thesefunctions, but their secretaries were to be seen there. No one everthought of seeking the Princes WindischgrA?tz and Colloredo in thathouse; yet military celebrities with decorated breasts and gold-lacedcollars were to be found there in plenty, as well as jovial officersand guardsmen of good family. The ladies, too, in attendance, bothmatrons and misses, belonged to families distinguished either for highofficial station or for birth.
The tone of these assemblies was thoroughly respectable, while theyoffered peculiar facilities for enjoying oneself without irksomerestraint,--an advantage not found everywhere.
For all that, however, when at nine o'clock of the appointed eveningJenA' betook himself in full evening dress to his brother's quarters,he found the young cavalry officer not yet attired for the reception,and, apparently, utterly indifferent to the great pleasure awaitinghim. He was lying on his lounge, reading a novel.
"Well, aren't you going to the party?" asked the younger brother.
"What party?"
"At the Plankenhorsts'."
"There now, I had forgotten all about it," exclaimed Richard,springing up and summoning his servant.
"Do tell me, Richard, why you have such an aversion to these people?They are so friendly and cordial, and one is always sure to pass apleasant evening at their house."
"What's wanted now?" inquired Paul, appearing at the door.
"Come in, Paul, and shave me," returned his master.
The old hussar was barber as well as cook.
"Why don't you answer my question?" persisted JenA', while old Paulbeat up the lather. "What have you against the Plankenhorsts?"
"The deuce take me if I can tell," answered Richard; "but they aresuch tuft-hunters!"
"Better not talk now, or I shall be cutting your face," interposed theold servant. "Let the young gentleman go on ahead, and you can followhim as soon as I have made you presentable. You won't need any ropeladder or skeleton key to get into the Plankenhorst house."
JenA' adopted this suggestion, and half an hour later his brotherjoined him in the Plankenhorst parlours. JenA' hastened to present thenewcomer to the hostess and her daughter, both of whom remembered thatthey had already had the pleasure of meeting him. The mother declaredherself delighted to welcome him under her own roof, to which Richardreplied with an appropriate compliment, and then made room for otherarrivals.
"Shall I introduce you to some of the people here?" asked JenA'.
"No, don't trouble yourself; I know them better than you do. Thatmarshal over there, with the military figure and a voice as loud as ifhe were commanding a brigade, is an officer in the commissarydepartment. He spends his time in weighing out provender, and hasnever smelt gunpowder except on the emperor's birthday. The youngprince yonder, with the condescending smile and his eye-glasses stuckhigh up on his nose, is secretary to the chief of police, and a veryinfluential man. The duenna in the coffee-coloured dress and withpaint on her cheeks, is the wife of Blumenbach, the banker, who lendsmoney to the spendthrift young aristocrats, and, consequently, knowsall that is going on in high society. And the young lady near us,talking and smiling so confidentially with a young man about your age,is the most accomplished detective that ever ferreted out a secret;but aside from that she is a very nice little innocent creature."
JenA' felt not entirely at his ease as he listened to his brother, whomhe suspected of entertaining no very high opinion of the wholecompany.
"The little maid that I met on the stairs," resumed Richard, "pleasesme more than all this company put together. I don't know whether shebelongs in the house, but I came here to-night wholly on her account.I pinched her cheek as she was running away from me, and she gave me aslap on the hand that I can feel now."
The last words received but scant attention from JenA', as a certainillustrious ornament of society had caught sight of the two brothersand was hastening toward them. He was a tall, angular man, with asharp nose and a little pointed beard. Greeting JenA' on the way, hemade straight for the elder brother, and placed his bony handfamiliarly on the young man's shoulder.
"Your humble servant, my dear Richard!" he exclaimed in Hungarian.
The other returned the greeting with much coolness and indifference.
The angular gentleman pulled at his beard as if not wholly pleasedwith his reception, and JenA' bit his lip in vexation at his brother'sconduct.
"Well, how are you?" asked the tall gentleman, with graciouscondescension.
"Well enough," replied Richard nonchalantly; "and I see you are ingood trim, too."
The other seemed not exactly to relish this answer. "I am going toleave for home to-morrow," said he; "what word shall I carry to yourmother from you?"
"Ah, you live in our neighbourhood, do you?" blandly inquired theyoung hussar officer.
At this the polygonal gentleman nearly lost command of himself, whileJenA' tried to look as if his attention were elsewhere engaged.
"What message, then, do you wish to send?" resumed Richard'sinterlocutor.
"I kiss her hand," answered the young man briefly.
"Ah, that commission I will execute with the greatest pleasure, inperson," exclaimed the other, with effusive friendliness.
"Oh, you needn't feel obliged to convey my respects in such a literalsense as that," returned Richard. "I was speaking figuratively."
JenA' meanwhile had opened a conversation with the innocent-lookingyoung lady near him; but he kept one eye on his brother, and as soonas he saw that the angular gentleman had departed, he took leave ofthe young lady and returned to Richard.
"Well, now, you've put your foot in it this time!" he exclaimed.
"How so?" asked the other, with much composure.
"Didn't you know that man? It was RideghvAiry."
"Well, he might have been MeleghvAiry, for all I care."
"But he is an intimate friend of the family, and you have often seenhim at our house."
"As if I could remember all the faces I saw in our house when I was alittle boy, before I was sent away to the military academy. I didn'tkeep an album of them,--the RideghvAirys and all the other vAirys."
JenA' tried to draw his brother aside where they would not beoverheard. "You must know," said he, "that RideghvAiry is a veryinfluential man."
"What is that to me?" asked the other, indifferently.
"He is the administrator of our county."
"Well, that is the county's affair, not mine."
"And, still more, he is likely to be our stepfather."
"That is our mother's affair." So saying, Richard turned his back onhis brother, who wished to detain him, but the other shook him off."Don't bother me with your RideghvAiry. We didn't come here to see him.Go and court Alfonsine; there's no one with her now but the littlesecretary with the squeaky voice."
The hussar officer danced for awhile and otherwise sought to amusehimself. Cards were never played at the Plankenhorst parties. Youngladies were there in plenty, and Richard enjoye
d the reputation of averitable Don Juan; but the very ease of his conquests destroyed theirvalue in his eyes. A little maid-servant, however, who slapped him andran away because he pinched her cheek, was something new. No man hadever defeated him in a duel, nor woman triumphed over him in a loveaffair.
Entering the supper-room later with his brother, he saw the littlemaid-servant presiding over the lemonade, and he pointed her out toJenA'.
"You bungler!" exclaimed the latter, under his breath; "you only fallfrom one blunder into another. She isn't a servant, but Miss EdithLiedenwall, a relative of the family."
"What! She one of the family? And do they leave her alone on thestairs in the evening, and let her serve lemonade to the guests?"
JenA' shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you see, she is the daughter ofsome poor relations, and her aunt here has taken pity on her. Then,too, she is little more than a child,--only about fifteen yearsold,--and no one heeds her."
Richard looked at his brother coldly. "Was your Baroness Plankenhorstnever of that age herself?" he asked.
"But what would you have them do with an adopted waif like that?"returned the other. "They can't rear her as if she were to be a greatlady."
"Then they ought not to have adopted her," objected Richard. "Nogentleman will pay court to her as long as she fills a menial's place,and no poor man will venture to do so on account of her high birth."
"Quite true, but what can we do about it?" said JenA'.
Richard left his brother and advanced to the sideboard, where the girlwas serving lemonade. She presented an exceedingly attractiveappearance, her abundant dark hair coiled high on her head, her blackeyes full of life, and a ready smile on her coral lips. She seemed toenjoy the part allotted to her, and met the guests' friendly advancesin an unconstrained but modest manner. Upon Richard's approach she didnot turn away from him, as he might have expected from their earliermeeting, but met his look with a roguish smile in her bright eyes, andsaid to him, as he came nearer:
"Aha! now you are afraid of me, aren't you?" And she had hit thetruth, for the young officer really felt abashed in her presence.
"Miss Edith," said he, "I beg you to pardon me; but why do they letyou wander about alone in the evening, where you are sure to meet somany people?"
"Oh, they all know me," she answered, "and I had an errand to do. Youtook me for a maid-servant, didn't you?"
"That is, indeed, my only excuse," he replied.
"Well, don't you think maid-servants have any rights that others arebound to respect?" asked the girl.
The question was a hard one for Richard to answer; he could findnothing to say.
"Now tell me what to give you," said Edith, "and then go back to thedancing-hall, where they are waiting for you."
The young man refused all the offered refreshments, but asked the girlto reach him the tip of her little finger in sign of forgiveness forhis offence.
"No, no!" she cried, "I won't shake hands with you. Your hand has beenwicked."
"If you call my hand wicked," he returned, "I will go to-morrow andfight a duel and have it cut off. Do you really want my poor hand tobe chopped off for offending you? If you do, just as surely as I standhere you shall see me day after to-morrow with only one hand."
"Oh, don't talk like that!" exclaimed Edith. "I won't be angry anylonger." So saying, she gave him her hand--not merely her littlefinger, but the whole of her soft, warm little hand--and let him pressit in his own. No one was near them at the moment.
"And now, not to offend you even with a look," said he, "I promise onmy honour not to raise my eyes higher than your hand."
He kept his word, dropping his eyes as he released her hand and tookhis leave with a low bow.
As the two young men returned home together after midnight, JenA'noticed that his elder brother no longer teased him.