THE ENTAIL.
Not far from the shore of the Baltic Sea is situated the ancestralcastle of the noble family Von R----, called R--sitten. It is a wildand desolate neighbourhood, hardly anything more than a single blade ofgrass shooting up here and there from the bottomless drift-sand; andinstead of the garden that generally ornaments a baronial residence,the bare walls are approached on the landward side by a thin forest offirs, that with their never-changing vesture of gloom despise thebright garniture of Spring, and where, instead of the joyous carollingof little birds awakened anew to gladness, nothing is heard but theominous croak of the raven and the whirring scream of the storm-bodingsea-gull. A quarter of a mile distant Nature suddenly changes. As if bythe wave of a magician's wand you are transported into the midst ofthriving fields, fertile arable land, and meadows. You see, too, thelarge and prosperous village, with the land-steward's spaciousdwelling-house; and at the angle of a pleasant thicket of alders youmay observe the foundations of a large castle, which one of the formerproprietors had intended to erect. His successors, however, living ontheir property in Courland, left the building in its unfinished state;nor would Freiherr[1] Roderick von R---- proceed with the structurewhen he again took up his residence on the ancestral estate, since thelonely old castle was more suitable to his temperament, which wasmorose and averse to human society. He had its ruinous walls repairedas well as circumstances would admit, and then shut himself upwithin them along with a cross-grained house-steward and a slenderestablishment of servants.
He was seldom seen in the village, but on the other hand he oftenwalked and rode along the sea-beach; and people claimed to have heardhim from a distance, talking to the waves and listening to the rollingand hissing of the surf, as though he could hear the answering voice ofthe spirit of the sea. Upon the topmost summit of the watch-tower hehad a sort of study fitted up and supplied with telescopes--with acomplete set of astronomical apparatus, in fact. Thence during thedaytime he frequently watched the ships sailing past on the distanthorizon like white-winged sea-gulls; and there he spent the starlightnights engaged in astronomical, or, as some professed to know, withastrological labours, in which the old house-steward assisted him. Atany rate the rumour was current during his own lifetime that he wasdevoted to the occult sciences or the so-called Black Art, and that hehad been driven out of Courland in consequence of the failure of anexperiment by which an august princely house had been most seriouslyoffended. The slightest allusion to his residence in Courland filledhim with horror; but for all the troubles which had there unhinged thetenor of his life he held his predecessors entirely to blame, in thatthey had wickedly deserted the home of their ancestors. In order tofetter, for the future, at least the head of the family to theancestral castle, he converted it into a property of entail. Thesovereign was the more willing to ratify this arrangement since by itsmeans he would secure for his country a family distinguished for allchivalrous virtues, and which had already begun to ramify into foreigncountries.
Neither Roderick's son Hubert, nor the next Roderick, who was so calledafter his grandfather, would live in their ancestral castle; bothpreferred Courland. It is conceivable, too, that, being more cheerfuland fond of life than the gloomy astrologer, they were repelled by thegrim loneliness of the place. Freiherr Roderick had granted shelter andsubsistence on the property to two old maids, sisters of his father,who were living in indigence, having been but niggardly provided for.They, together with an aged serving-woman, occupied the small warmrooms of one of the wings; besides them and the cook, who had a largeapartment on the ground floor adjoining the kitchen, the only otherperson was a worn-out _chasseur_, who tottered about through the loftyrooms and halls of the main building, and discharged the duties ofcastellan. The rest of the servants lived in the village with theland-steward. The only time at which the desolated and deserted castlebecame the scene of life and activity was late in autumn, when the snowfirst began to fall and the season for wolf-hunting and boar-huntingarrived. Then came Freiherr Roderick with his wife, attended byrelatives and friends and a numerous retinue, from Courland. Theneighbouring nobility, and even amateur lovers of the chase who livedin the town hard by, came down in such numbers that the main building,together with the wings, barely sufficed to hold the crowd of guests.Well-served fires roared in all the stoves and fireplaces, while thespits were creaking from early dawn until late at night, and hundredsof light-hearted people, masters and servants, were running up and downstairs; here was heard the jingling and rattling of drinking glassesand jovial hunting choruses, there the footsteps of those dancing tothe sound of the shrill music,--everywhere loud mirth and jollity;so that for four or five weeks together the castle was more like afirst-rate hostelry situated on a main highroad than the abode of acountry gentleman. This time Freiherr Roderick devoted, as well as hewas able, to serious business, for, withdrawing from the revelry of hisguests, he discharged the duties attached to his position as lord ofthe entail. He not only had a complete statement of the revenues laidbefore him, but he listened to every proposal for improvement and toevery the least complaint of his tenants, endeavouring to establishorder in everything, and check all wrongdoing and injustice as far aslay in his power.
In these matters of business he was honestly assisted by the oldadvocate V----, who had been law agent of the R---- family andJustitiarius[2] of their estates in P---- from father to son for manyyears; accordingly, V---- was wont to set out for the estate at least aweek before the day fixed for the arrival of the Freiherr. In the year179- the time came round again when old V---- was to start on hisjourney for R--sitten. However strong and healthy the old man, nowseventy years of age, might feel, he was yet quite assured that ahelping hand would prove beneficial to him in his business. So he saidto me one day as if in jest, "Cousin!" (I was his great-nephew, but hecalled me "cousin," owing to the fact that his own Christian name andmine were both the same)--"Cousin, I was thinking it would not be amissif you went along with me to R--sitten and felt the sea-breezes blowabout your ears a bit. Besides giving me good help in my oftenlaborious work, you may for once in a while see how you like therollicking life of a hunter, and how, after drawing up a neatly-writtenprotocol one morning, you will frame the next when you come to look inthe glaring eyes of such a sturdy brute as a grim shaggy wolf or a wildboar gnashing his teeth, and whether you know how to bring him downwith a well-aimed shot." Of course I could not have heard such strangeaccounts of the merry hunting parties at R--sitten, or entertain such atrue heartfelt affection for my excellent old great-uncle as I did,without being highly delighted that he wanted to take me with him thistime. As I was already pretty well skilled in the sort of business hehad to transact, I promised to work with unwearied industry, so as torelieve him of all care and trouble.
Next day we sat in the carriage on our way to R--sitten, well wrappedup in good fur coats, driving through a thick snowstorm, the firstharbinger of the coming winter. On the journey the old gentleman toldme many remarkable stories about the Freiherr Roderick, who hadestablished the estate-tail and appointed him (V----), in spite of hisyouth, to be his Justitiarius and executor. He spoke of the harsh andviolent character of the old nobleman, which seemed to be inherited byall the family, since even the present master of the estate, whom hehad known as a mild-tempered and almost effeminate youth, acquired moreand more as the years went by the same disposition. He thereforerecommended me strongly to behave with as much resolute self-relianceand as little embarrassment as possible, if I desired to possess anyconsideration in the Freiherr's eyes; and at length he began todescribe the apartments in the castle which he had selected to be hisown once for all, since they were warm and comfortable, and soconveniently retired that we could withdraw from the noisyconvivialities of the hilarious company whenever we pleased. The rooms,namely, which were on every visit reserved for him, were two smallones, hung with warm tapestry, close beside the large hall of justice,in the wing opposite that in which the two old maids resided.
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At last, after a rapid but wearying journey, we arrived at R--sitten,late at night. We drove through the village; it was Sunday, and fromthe alehouse proceeded the sounds of music, and dancing, andmerrymaking; the steward's house was lit up from basement to garret,and music and song were there too. All the more striking therefore wasthe inhospitable desolation into which we now drove. The sea-windhowled in sharp cutting dirges as it were about us, whilst the sombrefirs, as if they had been roused by the wind from a deep magic trance,groaned hoarsely in a responsive chorus. The bare black walls of thecastle towered above the snow-covered ground; we drew up at the gates,which were fast locked. But no shouting or cracking of whips, noknocking or hammering, was of any avail; the whole castle seemed to bedead; not a single light was visible at any of the windows. The oldgentleman shouted in his strong stentorian voice, "Francis, Francis,where the deuce are you? In the devil's name rouse yourself; we are allfreezing here outside the gates. The snow is cutting our faces tillthey bleed. Why the devil don't you stir yourself?" Then the watch-dogbegan to whine, and a wandering light was visible on the ground floor.There was a rattling of keys, and soon the ponderous wings of the gatecreaked back on their hinges. "Ha! a hearty welcome, a hearty welcome,Herr Justitiarius. Ugh! it's rough weather!" cried old Francis, holdingthe lantern above his head, so that the light fell full upon hiswithered face, which was drawn up into a curious grimace, that wasmeant for a friendly smile. The carriage drove into the court, and wegot out; then I obtained a full view of the old servant's extraordinaryfigure, almost hidden in his wide old-fashioned chasseur livery, withits many extraordinary lace decorations. Whilst there were only a fewgrey locks on his broad white forehead, the lower part of his face worethe ruddy hue of health; and, notwithstanding that the cramped musclesof his face gave it something of the appearance of a whimsical mask,yet the rather stupid good-nature which beamed from his eyes and playedabout his mouth compensated for all the rest.
"Now, old Francis," began my great-uncle, knocking the snow from hisfur coat in the entrance hall, "now, old man, is everything prepared?Have you had the hangings in my room well dusted, and the beds carriedin? and have you had a big roaring fire both yesterday and to-day?""No," replied Francis, quite calmly, "no, my worshipful HerrJustitiarius, we've got none of that done." "Good Heavens!" burst outmy great-uncle, "I wrote to you in proper time; you know that I alwayscome at the time I fix. Here's a fine piece of stupid carelessness! Ishall have to sleep in rooms as cold as ice." "But you see, worshipfulHerr Justitiarius," continued Francis, most carefully clipping aburning thief from the wick of the candle with the snuffers andstamping it out with his foot, "but, you see, sir, all that would nothave been of much good, especially the fires, for the wind and the snowhave taken up their quarters too much in the rooms, driving in throughthe broken windows, and then"---- "What!" cried my uncle, interruptinghim as he spread out his fur coat and placing his arms akimbo, "do youmean to tell me the windows are broken, and you, the castellan of thehouse, have done nothing to get them mended?" "But, worshipful HerrJustitiarius," resumed the old servant calmly and composedly, "but wecan't very well get at them owing to the great masses of stones andrubbish lying all over the room." "Damn it all, how come there to bestones and rubbish in my room?" cried my uncle. "Your lasting healthand good luck, young gentleman!" said the old man, bowing politely tome, as I happened to sneeze;[3] but he immediately added, "They are thestones and plaster of the partition wall which fell in at the greatshock." "Have you had an earthquake?" blazed up my uncle, now fairly ina rage. "No, not an earthquake, worshipful Herr Justitiarius," repliedthe old man, grinning all over his face, "but three days ago the heavywainscot ceiling of the justice-hall fell in with a tremendous crash.""Then may the"---- My uncle was about to rip out a terrific oath in hisviolent passionate manner, but jerking up his right arm above his headand taking off his fox-skin cap with his left, he suddenly checkedhimself; and turning to me, he said with a hearty laugh, "By my troth,cousin, we must hold our tongues; we mustn't ask any more questions, orelse we shall hear of some still worse misfortune, or have the wholecastle tumbling to pieces about our ears." "But," he continued,wheeling round again to the old servant, "but, bless me, Francis, couldyou not have had the common sense to get me another room cleaned andwarmed? Could you not have quickly fitted up a room in the mainbuilding for the court-day?" "All that has been already done," said theold man, pointing to the staircase with a gesture that invited us tofollow him, and at once beginning to ascend them. "Now there's a mostcurious noodle for you!" exclaimed my uncle as we followed old Francis.The way led through long lofty vaulted corridors, in the dense darknessof which Francis's flickering light threw a strange reflection. Thepillars, capitals, and vari-coloured arches seemed as if they werefloating before us in the air; our own shadows stalked along beside usin gigantic shape, and the grotesque paintings on the walls over whichthey glided seemed all of a tremble and shake; whilst their voices, wecould imagine, were whispering in the sound of our echoing footsteps,"Wake us not, oh! wake us not--us whimsical spirits who sleep here inthese old stones." At last, after we had traversed a long suite of coldand gloomy apartments, Francis opened the door of a hall in which afire blazing brightly in the grate offered us as it were a home-likewelcome with its pleasant crackling. I felt quite comfortable themoment I entered, but my uncle, standing still in the middle of thehall, looked round him and said in a tone which was so very grave as tobe almost solemn, "And so this is to be the justice-hall!" Francis heldhis candle above his head, so that my eye fell upon a light spot in thewide dark wall about the size of a door; then he said in a pained andmuffled voice, "Justice has been already dealt out here." "Whatpossesses you, old man?" asked my uncle, quickly throwing aside his furcoat and drawing near to the fire. "It slipped over my lips, I couldn'thelp it," said Francis; then he lit the great candles and opened thedoor of the adjoining room, which was very snugly fitted up for ourreception. In a short time a table was spread for us before the fire,and the old man served us with several well-dressed dishes, whichwere followed by a brimming bowl of punch, prepared in true Northernstyle,--a very acceptable sight to two weary travellers like my uncleand myself. My uncle then, tired with his journey, went to bed as soonas he had finished supper; but my spirits were too much excited by thenovelty and strangeness of the place, as well as by the punch, for meto think of sleep. Meanwhile, Francis cleared the table, stirred up thefire, and bowing and scraping politely, left me to myself.
Now I sat alone in the lofty spacious _Rittersaal_ or Knight's Hall.The snow-flakes had ceased to beat against the lattice, and the stormhad ceased to whistle; the sky was clear, and the bright full moonshone in through the wide oriel-windows, illuminating with magicaleffect all the dark corners of the curious room into which the dimlight of my candles and the fire could not penetrate. As one oftenfinds in old castles, the walls and ceiling of the hall were ornamentedin a peculiar antique fashion, the former with fantastic paintings andcarvings, gilded and coloured in gorgeous tints, the latter with heavywainscoting. Standing out conspicuously from the great pictures, whichrepresented for the most part wild bloody scenes in bear-hunts andwolf-hunts, were the heads of men and animals carved in wood and joinedon to the painted bodies, so that the whole, especially in theflickering light of the fire and the soft beams of the moon, had aneffect as if all were alive and instinct with terrible reality. Betweenthese pictures reliefs of knights had been inserted, of life size,walking along in hunting costume; probably they were the ancestors ofthe family who had delighted in the chase. Everything, both in thepaintings and in the carved work, bore the dingy hue of extreme oldage; so much the more conspicuous therefore was the bright bare placeon that one of the walls through which were two doors leading intoadjoining apartments. I soon concluded that there too there must havebeen a door, that had been bricked up later; and hence it was that thisnew part of the wall, which had neither been painted like the rest, noryet ornamented with carvings, formed such a striking contrast with theothers.
Who does not know with what mysterious power the mind isenthralled in the midst of unusual and singularly strangecircumstances? Even the dullest imagination is aroused when it comesinto a valley girt around by fantastic rocks, or within the gloomywalls of a church or an abbey, and it begins to have glimpses of thingsit has never yet experienced. When I add that I was twenty years ofage, and had drunk several glasses of strong punch, it will easily beconceived that as I sat thus in the _Rittersaal_ I was in a moreexceptional frame of mind than I had ever been before. Let the readerpicture to himself the stillness of the night within, and without therumbling roar of the sea--the peculiar piping of the wind, which rangupon my ears like the tones of a mighty organ played upon by spectralhands--the passing scudding clouds which, shining bright and white,often seemed to peep in through the rattling oriel-windows like giantssailings past--in very truth, I felt, from the slight shudder whichshook me, that possibly a new sphere of existences might now berevealed to me visibly and perceptibly. But this feeling was like theshivery sensations that one has on hearing a graphically narrated ghoststory, such as we all like. At this moment it occurred to me that Ishould never be in a more seasonable mood for reading the book which,in common with every one who had the least leaning towards theromantic, I at that time carried about in my pocket,--I mean Schiller's"Ghost-seer." I read and read, and my imagination grew ever more andmore excited. I came to the marvellously enthralling description of thewedding feast at Count Von V----'s.
Just as I was reading of the entrance of Jeronimo's bloody figure,[4]the door leading from the gallery into the antechamber flew open with atremendous bang. I started to my feet in terror; the book fell from myhands. In the very same moment, however, all was still again, and Ibegan to be ashamed of my childish fears. The door must have been burstopen by a strong gust of wind or in some other natural manner. It isnothing; my over-strained fancy converts every ordinary occurrence intothe supernatural. Having thus calmed my fears, I picked up my book fromthe ground, and again threw myself in the arm-chair; but there came asound of soft, slow, measured footsteps moving diagonally across thehall, whilst there was a sighing and moaning at intervals, and in thissighing and moaning there was expressed the deepest trouble, the mosthopeless grief, that a human being can know. "Ha! it must be some sickanimal locked up somewhere in the basement storey. Such acousticdeceptions at night time, making distant sounds appear close at hand,are well known to everybody. Who will suffer himself to be terrified atsuch a thing as that?" Thus I calmed my fears again. But now there wasa scratching at the new portion of the wall, whilst louder and deepersighs were audible, as if gasped out by some one in the last throes ofmortal anguish. "Yes, yes; it is some poor animal locked up somewhere;I will shout as loudly as I can, I will stamp violently on the floor,then all will be still, or else the animal below will make itself heardmore distinctly, and in its natural cries," I thought. But the bloodran cold in my veins; the cold sweat, too, stood upon my forehead, andI remained sitting in my chair as if transfixed, quite unable to rise,still less to cry out. At length the abominable scratching ceased, andI again heard the footsteps. Life and motion seemed to be awakened inme; I leapt to my feet, and went two or three steps forward. But thenthere came an ice-cold draught of wind through the hall, whilst at thesame moment the moon cast her bright light upon the statue of a graveif not almost terrible-looking man; and then, as though his warningvoice rang through the louder thunders of the waves and the shrillerpiping of the wind, I heard distinctly, "No further, no further! or youwill sink beneath all the fearful horrors of the world of spectres."Then the door was slammed too with the same violent bang as before, andI plainly heard the footsteps in the anteroom, then going down thestairs. The main door of the castle was opened with a creaking noise,and afterwards closed again. Then it seemed as if a horse were broughtout of the stable, and after a while taken back again, and finally allwas still.
At that same moment my attention was attracted to my old uncle in theadjoining room; he was groaning and moaning painfully. This brought mefully to consciousness again; I seized the candles and hurried into theroom to him. He appeared to be struggling with an ugly, unpleasantdream. "Wake up, wake up!" I cried loudly, taking him gently by thehand, and letting the full glare of the light fall upon his face. Hestarted up with a stifled shout, and then, looking kindly at me, said,"Ay, you have done quite right--that you have, cousin, to wake me. Ihave had a very ugly dream, and it's all solely owing to this room andthat hall, for they made me think of past times and many wonderfulthings that have happened here. But now let us turn to and have agood sound sleep." Therewith the old gentleman rolled himself in thebed-covering and appeared to fall asleep at once. But when I hadextinguished the candles and likewise crept into bed, I heard himpraying in a low tone to himself.
Next morning we began work in earnest; the land-steward brought hisaccount-books, and various other people came, some to get a disputesettled, some to get arrangements made about other matters. At noon myuncle took me with him to the wing where the two old Baronesses lived,that we might pay our respects to them with all due form. Francishaving announced us, we had to wait some time before a little old dame,bent with the weight of her sixty years, and attired in gay-colouredsilks, who styled herself the noble ladies' lady-in-waiting, appearedand led us into the sanctuary. There we were received with comicalceremony by the old ladies, whose curious style of dress had gone outof fashion years and years before. I especially was an object ofastonishment to them when my uncle, with considerable humour,introduced me as a young lawyer who had come to assist him in hisbusiness. Their countenances plainly indicated their belief that, owingto my youth, the welfare of the tenants of R--sitten was placed injeopardy. Although there was a good deal that was truly ridiculousduring the whole of this interview with the old ladies, I wasnevertheless still shivering from the terror of the preceding night; Ifelt as if I had come in contact with an unknown power, or rather as ifI had grazed against the outer edge of a circle, one step across whichwould be enough to plunge me irretrievably into destruction, as thoughit were only by the exertion of all the power of my will that I shouldbe able to guard myself against _that_ awful dread which never slackensits hold upon you until it ends in incurable insanity. Hence it wasthat the old Baronesses, with their remarkable towering head-dresses,and their peculiar stuff gowns, tricked off with gay flowers andribbons, instead of striking me as merely ridiculous, had an appearancethat was both ghostly and awe-inspiring. My fancy seemed to glean fromtheir yellow withered faces and blinking eyes, ocular proof of the factthat they had succeeded in establishing themselves on at least a goodfooting with the ghosts who haunted the castle, as it derived auricularconfirmation of the same fact from the wretched French which theycroaked, partly between their tightly-closed blue lips and partlythrough their long thin noses, and also that they themselves possessedthe power of setting trouble and dire mischief at work. My uncle, whoalways had a keen eye for a bit of fun, entangled the old dames in hisironical way in such a mish-mash of nonsensical rubbish that, had Ibeen in any other mood, I should not have known how to swallow down myimmoderate laughter; but, as I have just said, the Baronesses and theirtwaddle were, and continued to be, in my regard, ghostly, so that myold uncle, who was aiming at affording me an especial diversion,glanced across at me time after time utterly astonished. So afterdinner, when we were alone together in our room, he burst out, "But inHeaven's name, cousin, tell me what is the matter with you? You don'tlaugh; you don't talk; you don't eat; and you don't drink. Are you ill,or is anything else the matter with you?" I now hesitated not a momentto tell him circumstantially all my terrible, awful experiences of theprevious night I did not conceal anything, and above all I did notconceal that I had drunk a good deal of punch, and had been readingSchiller's "Ghostseer." "This I must confess to," I add, "for only socan I credibly explain how it was that my over-strained and activeimagination could create all those ghostly spirits, which only existwithin the sphere of my own brain." I fully expected that my unc
lewould now pepper me well with the stinging pellets of his wit for thismy fanciful ghost-seeing; but, on the contrary, he grew very grave, andhis eyes became riveted in a set stare upon the floor, until he jerkedup his head and said, fixing me with his keen fiery eyes, "Your book Iam not acquainted with, cousin; but your ghostly visitants were dueneither to it nor to the fumes of the punch. I must tell you that Idreamt exactly the same things that you saw and heard. Like you, I satin the easy-chair beside the fire (at least I dreamt so); but what wasonly revealed to you as slight noises I saw and distinctly comprehendedwith the eye of my mind. Yes, I beheld that foul fiend come in,stealthily and feebly step across to the bricked-up door, and scratchat the wall in hopeless despair until the blood gushed out from beneathhis torn finger-nails; then he went downstairs, took a horse out of thestable, and finally put him back again. Did you also hear the cockcrowing in a distant farmyard up at the village? You came and awoke me,and I soon resisted the baneful ghost of that terrible man, who isstill able to disturb in this fearful way the quiet lives of theliving." The old gentleman stopped; and I did not like to ask himfurther questions, being well aware that he would explain everything tome when he deemed that the proper time was come for doing so. Aftersitting for a while, deeply absorbed in his own thoughts, he went on,"Cousin, do you think you have courage enough to encounter the ghostagain now that you know all that happens,--that is to say, along withme?" Of course I declared that I now felt quite strong enough, andready for what he wished. "Then let us watch together during the comingnight," the old gentleman went on to say. "There is a voice within metelling me that this evil spirit must fly, not so much before the powerof my will as before my courage, which rests upon a basis of firmconviction. I feel that it is not at all presumption in me, but rathera good and pious deed, if I venture life and limb to exorcise this foulfiend that is banishing the sons from the old castle of theirancestors. But what am I thinking about? There can be no risk in thecase at all, for with such a firm, honest mind and pious trust that Ifeel I possess, I and everybody cannot fail to be, now and always,victorious over such ghostly antagonists. And yet if, after all, itshould be God's will that this evil power be enabled to work memischief, then you must bear witness, cousin, that I fell in honestChristian fight against the spirit of hell which was here busy aboutits fiendish work. As for yourself, keep at a distance; no harm willhappen to you then."
Our attention was busily engaged with divers kinds of business untilevening came. As on the day before, Francis had cleared away theremains of the supper, and brought us our punch. The full moon shonebrightly through the gleaming clouds, the sea-waves roared, and thenight-wind howled and shook the oriel window till the panes rattled.Although inwardly excited, we forced ourselves to converse onindifferent topics. The old gentleman had placed his striking watch onthe table; it struck twelve. Then the door flew open with a terrificbang, and, just as on the preceding night, soft slow footsteps movedstealthily across the hall in a diagonal direction, whilst there werethe same sounds of sighing and moaning. My uncle turned pale, but hiseyes shone with an unusual brilliance. He rose from his arm-chair,stretching his tall figure up to its full height, so that as he stoodthere with his left arm propped against his side and with his rightstretched out towards the middle of the hall, he had the appearance ofa hero issuing his commands. But the sighing and moaning were growingevery moment louder and more perceptible, and then the scratching atthe wall began more horribly even than on the previous night. My unclestrode forwards straight towards the walled-up door, and his steps wereso firm that they echoed along the floor. He stopped immediately infront of the place, where the scratching noise continued to grow worseand worse, and said in a strong solemn voice, such as I had neverbefore heard from his lips, "Daniel, Daniel! what are you doing here atthis hour?" Then there was a horrible unearthly scream, followed by adull thud as if a heavy weight had fallen to the ground. "Seek forpardon and mercy at the throne of the Almighty; that is your place.Away with you from the scenes of this life, in which you can nevermorehave part." And as the old gentleman uttered these words in a tonestill stronger than before, a feeble wail seemed to pass through theair and die away in the blustering of the storm, which was justbeginning to rage. Crossing over to the door, the old gentleman slammedit to, so that the echo rang loudly through the empty anteroom. Therewas something so supernatural almost in both his language and hisgestures that I was deeply struck with awe. On resuming his seat in hisarm-chair his face was as if transfigured; he folded his hands andprayed inwardly. In this way several minutes passed, when he asked mein that gentle tone which always went right to my heart, and which healways had so completely at his command, "Well, cousin?" Agitated andshaken by awe, terror, fear, and pious respect and love, I threw myselfupon my knees and rained down my warm tears upon the hand he offeredme. He clasped me in his arms, and pressing me fervently to his heartsaid very tenderly, "Now we will go and have a good quiet sleep, goodcousin;" and we did so. And as nothing of an unusual nature occurred onthe following night, we soon recovered our former cheerfulness, to theprejudice of the old Baronesses; for though there did still continue tobe something ghostly about them and their odd manners, yet it emanatedfrom a diverting ghost which the old gentleman knew how to call up in adroll fashion.
At length, after the lapse of several days, the Baron put in hisappearance, along with his wife and a numerous train of servants forthe hunting; the guests who had been invited also arrived, and thecastle, now suddenly awakened to animation, became the scene of thenoisy life and revelry which have been before described. When the Baroncame into our hall soon after his arrival, he seemed to be disagreeablysurprised at the change in our quarters. Casting an ill-tempered glancetowards the bricked-up door, he turned abruptly round and passed hishand across his forehead, as if desirous of banishing some disagreeablerecollection. My great-uncle mentioned the damage done to thejustice-hall and the adjoining apartments; but the Baron found faultwith Francis for not accommodating us with better lodgings, and hegood-naturedly requested the old gentleman to order anything he mightwant to make his new room comfortable; for it was much lesssatisfactory in this respect than that which he had usually occupied.On the whole, the Baron's bearing towards my old uncle was not merelycordial, but largely coloured by a certain deferential respect, as ifthe relation in which he stood towards him was that of a youngerrelative. But this was the sole trait that could in any way reconcileme to his harsh, imperious character, which was now developed more andmore every day. As for me, he seemed to notice me but little; if he didnotice me at all, he saw in me nothing more than the usual secretary orclerk. On the occasion of the very first important memorandum that Idrew up, he began to point out mistakes, as he conceived, in thewording. My blood boiled, and I was about to make a caustic reply, whenmy uncle interposed, informing him briefly that I did my work exactlyin the way he wished, and that in legal matters of this kind he alonewas responsible. When we were left alone, I complained bitterly of theBaron, who would, I said, always inspire me with growing aversion. "Iassure you, cousin," replied the old gentleman, "that the Baron,notwithstanding his unpleasant manner, is really one of the mostexcellent and kind-hearted men in the world. As I have already toldyou, he did not assume these manners until the time he became lord ofthe entail; previous to then he was a modest, gentle youth. Besides, heis not, after all, so bad as you make him out to be; and further, Ishould like to know why you are so averse to him." As my uncle saidthese words he smiled mockingly, and the blood rushed hotly andfuriously into my face. I could not pretend to hide from myself--I sawit only too clearly, and felt it too unmistakably--that my peculiarantipathy to the Baron sprang out of the fact that I loved, even tomadness, a being who appeared to me to be the loveliest and mostfascinating of her sex who had ever trod the earth. This lady was noneother than the Baroness herself. Her appearance exercised a powerfuland irresistible charm upon me at the very moment of her arrival, whenI saw her traversing the apartments in her Russian sable cloak, whichfitted c
lose to the exquisite symmetry of her shape, and with a richveil wrapped about her head. Moreover, the circumstance that thetwo old aunts, with still more extraordinary gowns and be-ribbonedhead-dresses than I had yet seen them wear, were sweeping along one oneach side of her and cackling their welcomes in French, whilst theBaroness was looking about her in a way so gentle as to baffle alldescription, nodding graciously first to one and then to another, andthen adding in her flute-like voice a few German words in the puresonorous dialect of Courland--all this formed a truly remarkable andunusual picture, and my imagination involuntarily connected it with theghostly midnight visitant,--the Baroness being the angel of light whowas to break the ban of the spectral powers of evil. This wondrouslylovely lady stood forth in startling reality before my mind's eye. Atthat time she could hardly be nineteen years of age, and her face, asdelicately beautiful as her form, bore the impression of the mostangelic good-nature; but what I especially noticed was theindescribable fascination of her dark eyes, for a soft melancholy gleamof aspiration shone in them like dewy moonshine, whilst a perfectelysium of rapture and delight was revealed in her sweet and beautifulsmile. She often seemed completely lost in her own thoughts, and atsuch moments her lovely face was swept by dark and fleeting shadows.Many observers would have concluded that she was affected by somedistressing pain; but it rather seemed to me that she was strugglingwith gloomy apprehensions of a future pregnant with dark misfortunes;and with these, strangely enough, I connected the apparition of thecastle, though I could not give the least explanation of why I did so.
On the morning following the Baron's arrival, when the companyassembled to breakfast, my old uncle introduced me to the Baroness;and, as usually happens with people in the frame of mind in which Ithen was, I behaved with indescribable absurdity. In answer to thebeautiful lady's simple inquiries how I liked the castle, &c., Ientangled myself in the most extraordinary and nonsensical phrases, sothat the old aunts ascribed my embarrassment simply and solely to myprofound respect for the noble lady, and thought they were calledupon condescendingly to take my part, which they did by praisingme in French as a very nice and clever young man, as a _garcon tresjoli_ (handsome lad). This vexed me; so suddenly recovering myself-possession, I threw out a _bonmot_ in better French than the olddames were mistresses of; whereupon they opened their eyes wide inastonishment, and pampered their long thin noses with a liberal supplyof snuff. From the Baroness's turning from me with a more serious airto talk to some other lady, I perceived that my _bonmot_ borderedclosely upon folly; this vexed me still more, and I wished the two oldladies to the devil. My old uncle's irony had long before brought methrough the stage of the languishing love-sick swain, who in childishinfatuation coddles his love-troubles; but I knew very well that theBaroness had made a deeper and more powerful impression upon my heartthan any other woman had hitherto done. I saw and heard nothing buther; nevertheless I had a most explicit and unequivocal consciousnessthat it would be not only absurd, but even utter madness to dream of anamour, albeit I perceived no less clearly the impossibility of gazingand adoring at a distance like a love-lorn boy. Of such conduct Ishould have been perfectly ashamed. But what I could do, and what Iresolved to do, was to become more intimate with this beautiful girlwithout allowing her to get any glimpse of my real feelings, to drinkthe sweet poison of her looks and words, and then, when far away fromher, to bear her image in my heart for many, many days, perhaps forever. I was excited by this romantic and chivalric attachment to such adegree, that, as I pondered over it during sleepless nights, I waschildish enough to address myself in pathetic monologues, and even tosigh lugubriously, "Seraphina! O Seraphina!" till at last my old unclewoke up and cried, "Cousin, cousin! I believe you are dreaming aloud.Do it by daytime, if you can possibly contrive it, but at night havethe goodness to let me sleep." I was very much afraid that the oldgentleman, who had not failed to remark my excitement on the Baroness'sarrival, had heard the name, and would overwhelm me with his sarcasticwit. But next morning all he said, as we went into the justice-hall,was, "God grant every man the proper amount of common sense, andsufficient watchfulness to keep it well under hand. It's a bad look-outwhen a man becomes converted into a fantastic coxcomb without so muchas a word of warning." Then he took his seat at the great table andadded, "Write neatly and distinctly, good cousin, that I may be able toread it without any trouble."
The respect, nay, the almost filial veneration which the Baronentertained towards my uncle, was manifested on all occasions.Thus, at the dinner-table he had to occupy the seat--which many enviedhim--beside the Baroness; as for me, chance threw me first in one placeand then in another; but for the most part, two or three officers fromthe neighbouring capital were wont to attach me to them, in order thatthey might empty to their own satisfaction their budget of news andamusing anecdotes, whilst diligently passing the wine about. Thus ithappened that for several days in succession I sat at the bottom of thetable at a great distance from the Baroness. At length, however, chancebrought me nearer to her. Just as the doors of the dining-hall werethrown open for the assembled company, I happened to be in the midst ofa conversation with the Baroness's companion and confidante,--a lady nolonger in the bloom of youth, but by no means ill-looking, and notwithout intelligence,--and she seemed to take some interest in myremarks. According to etiquette, it was my duty to offer her my arm,and I was not a little pleased when she took her place quite close tothe Baroness, who gave her a friendly nod. It may be readily imaginedthat all that I now said was intended not only for my fair neighbour,but also mainly for the Baroness. Whether it was that the inwardtension of my feelings imparted an especial animation to all I said, atany rate my companion's attention became more riveted with everysucceeding moment; in fact, she was at last entirely absorbed in thevisions of the kaleidoscopic world which I unfolded to her gaze. Asremarked, she was not without intelligence, and it soon came to passthat our conversation, completely independent of the multitude of wordsspoken by the other guests (which rambled about first to this subjectand then to that), maintained its own free course, launching aneffective word now and again whither I wanted it. For I did not fail toobserve that my companion shot a significant glance or two across tothe Baroness, and that the latter took pains to listen to us. And thiswas particularly the case when the conversation turned upon music and Ibegan to speak with enthusiasm of this glorious and sacred art; nor didI conceal that, despite the fact of my having devoted myself to the drytedious study of the law, I possessed tolerable skill on theharpsichord, could sing, and had even set several songs to music.
The majority of the company had gone into another room to take coffeeand liqueurs; but, unawares, without knowing how it came about, I foundmyself near the Baroness, who was talking with her confidante. She atonce addressed me, repeating in a still more cordial manner and in thetone in which one talks to an acquaintance, her inquiries as to how Iliked living in the castle, &c. I assured her that for the first fewdays, not only the dreary desolation of the situation, but the ancientcastle itself had affected me strangely, but even in this mood I hadfound much of deep interest, and that now my only wish was to beexcused from the stirring scenes of the hunt, for I had not beenaccustomed to them. The Baroness smiled and said, "I can readilybelieve that this wild life in our fir forests cannot be very congenialto you. You are a musician, and, unless I am utterly mistaken, a poetas well. I am passionately fond of both arts. I can also play the harpa little, but I have to do without it here in R--sitten, for my husbanddoes not like me to bring it with me. Its soft strains would harmonizebut ill with the wild shouts of the hunters and the ringing blare oftheir bugles, which are the only sounds that ought to be heard here.And O heaven! how I should like to hear a little music!" I protestedthat I would exert all the skill I had at my command to fulfil herwish, for there must surely without doubt be an instrument of some kindin the castle, even though it were only an old harpsichord. Then theLady Adelheid (the Baroness's confidante) burst out into a silverylaugh and asked, did I not kno
w that within the memory of man no otherinstrument had ever been heard in the castle except cracked trumpets,and hunting-horns which in the midst of joy would only sound lugubriousnotes, and the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and brayingoboes of itinerant musicians. The Baroness reiterated her wish that sheshould like to have some music, and especially should like to hear me;and both she and Adelheid racked their brains all to no purpose todevise some scheme by which they could get a decent pianoforte broughtto the Castle. At this moment old Francis crossed the room. "Here's theman who always can give the best advice, and can procure everything,even things before unheard of and unseen." With these words the LadyAdelheid called him to her, and as she endeavoured to make himcomprehend what it was that was wanted, the Baroness listened with herhands clasped and her head bent forward, looking upon the old man'sface with a gentle smile. She made a most attractive picture, like somelovely, winsome child that is all eagerness to have a wished-for toy inits hands. Francis, after having adduced in his prolix manner severalreasons why it would be downright impossible to procure such awonderful instrument in such a big hurry, finally stroked his beardwith an air of self-flattery and said, "But the land-steward's lady upat the village performs on the manichord, or whatever is the outlandishname they now call it, with uncommon skill, and sings to it so fine andmournful-like that it makes your eyes red, just like onions do, andmakes you feel as if you would like to dance with both legs at once.""And you say she has a pianoforte?" interposed Lady Adelheid. "Aye,to be sure," continued the old man; "it comed straight from Dresden;a"--("Oh, that's fine!" interrupted the Baroness)--"a beautifulinstrument," went on the old man, "but a little weakly; for not longago, when the organist began to play on it the hymn 'In all Thyworks,'[5] he broke it all to pieces, so that"--("Good gracious!"exclaimed both the Baroness and Lady Adelheid)--"so that," went on theold man again, "it had to be taken to R---- to be mended, and cost alot of money." "But has it come back again?" asked Lady Adelheidimpatiently. "Aye, to be sure, my lady, and the steward's lady willreckon it a high honour----" At this moment the Baron chanced to pass.He looked across at our group rather astonished, and whispered with asarcastic smile to the Baroness, "So you have to take counsel ofFrancis again, I see?" The Baroness cast down her eyes blushing, whilstold Francis breaking off terrified, suddenly threw himself intomilitary posture, his head erect, and his arms close and straight downhis side. The old aunts came sailing down upon us in their stuff gownsand carried off the Baroness. Lady Adelheid followed her, and I wasleft alone as if spell-bound. A struggle began to rage within mebetween my rapturous anticipations of now being able to be near herwhom I adored, who completely swayed all my thoughts and feelings, andmy sulky ill-humour and annoyance at the Baron, whom I regarded as abarbarous tyrant. If he were not, would the grey-haired old servanthave assumed such a slavish attitude?
"Do you hear? Can you see, I say?" cried my great-uncle, tapping me onthe shoulder;--we were going upstairs to our own apartments. "Don'tforce yourself so on the Baroness's attention," he said when we reachedthe room. "What good can come of it? Leave that to the young fops wholike to pay court to ladies; there are plenty of them to do it." Irelated how it had all come about, and challenged him to say if I haddeserved his reproof. His only reply to this, however, was, "Humph!humph!" as he drew on his dressing-gown. Then, having lit his pipe, hetook his seat in his easy-chair and began to talk about the adventuresof the hunt on the preceding day, bantering me on my bad shots. All wasquiet in the castle; all the visitors, both gentlemen and ladies, werebusy in their own rooms dressing for the evening. For the musicianswith the twanging fiddles, untuned violoncellos, and braying oboes, ofwhom Lady Adelheid had spoken, were come, and a merrymaking of no lessimportance than a ball, to be given in the best possible style, was inanticipation. My old uncle, preferring a quiet sleep to such foolishpastimes, stayed in his chamber. I, however, had just finished dressingwhen there came a light tap at our door, and Francis entered. Smilingin his self-satisfied way, he announced to me that the manichord hadjust arrived from the land-steward's lady in a sledge, and had beencarried into the Baroness's apartments. Lady Adelheid sent hercompliments and would I go over at once. It may be conceived how mypulse beat, and also with what a delicious tremor at heart I opened thedoor of the room in which I was to find _her_. Lady Adelheid came tomeet me with a joyful smile. The Baroness, already in full dress forthe ball, was sitting in a meditative attitude beside the mysteriouscase or box, in which slumbered the music that I was called upon toawaken. When she rose, her beauty shone upon me with such glorioussplendour that I stood staring at her unable to utter a word. "Come,Theodore"--(for, according to the kindly custom of the North, which isfound again farther south, she addressed everybody by his or herChristian name)--"Come, Theodore," she said pleasantly, "here's theinstrument come. Heaven grant it be not altogether unworthy of yourskill!" As I opened the lid I was greeted by the rattling of a score ofbroken strings, and when I attempted to strike a chord, the effect washideous and abominable, for all the strings which were not broken werecompletely out of tune. "I doubt not our friend the organist has beenputting his delicate little hands upon it again," said Lady Adelheidlaughing; but the Baroness was very much annoyed and said, "Oh, itreally is a slice of bad luck! I am doomed, I see, never to have anypleasure here." I searched in the case of the instrument, andfortunately found some coils of strings, but no tuning-key anywhere.Hence fresh laments. "Any key will do if the ward will fit on thepegs," I explained; then both Lady Adelheid and the Baroness ranbackwards and forwards in gay spirits, and before long a whole magazineof bright keys lay before me on the sounding-board.
Then I set to work diligently, and both the ladies assisted me all theycould, trying first one peg and then another. At length one of thetiresome keys fitted, and they exclaimed joyfully, "This will do! itwill do!" But when I had drawn the first creaking string up to justproper pitch, it suddenly snapped, and the ladies recoiled in alarm.The Baroness, handling the brittle wires with her delicate littlefingers, gave me the numbers as I wanted them, and carefully held thecoil whilst I unrolled it. Suddenly one of them coiled itself up againwith a whirr, making the Baroness utter an impatient "Oh!" LadyAdelheid enjoyed a hearty laugh, whilst I pursued the tangled coil tothe corner of the room. After we had all united our efforts to extracta perfectly straight string from it, and had tried it again, to ourmortification it again broke; but at last--at last we found some goodcoils; the strings began to hold, and gradually the discordant janglinggave place to pure melodious chords. "Ha! it will go! it will go! Theinstrument is getting in tune!" exclaimed the Baroness, looking at mewith her lovely smile. How quickly did this common interest banish allthe strangeness and shyness which the artificial manners of socialintercourse impose. A kind of confidential familiarity arose betweenus, which, burning through me like an electric current, consumed thetimorous nervousness and constraint which had lain like ice upon myheart. That peculiar mood of diffused melting sadness which isengendered of such love as mine was had quite left me; and accordingly,when the pianoforte was brought into something like tune, instead ofinterpreting my deeper feelings in dreamy improvisations, as I hadintended, I began with those sweet and charming canzonets which havereached us from the South. During this or the other _Senza di te_(Without thee), or _Sentimi idol mio_ (Hear me, my darling), or _Almense nonpos'io_ (At least if I cannot), with numberless _Morir mi sentos_(I feel I am dying), and _Addios_ (Farewell), and _O dios!_ (OHeaven!), a brighter and brighter brilliancy shone in Seraphina'seyes. She had seated herself close beside me at the instrument; I felther breath fanning my cheek; and as she placed her arm behind meon the chair-back, a white ribbon, getting disengaged from herbeautiful ball-dress, fell across my shoulder, where by my singing andSeraphina's soft sighs it was kept in a continual flutter backwards andforwards, like a true love-messenger. It is a wonder how I kept fromlosing my head.
As I was running my fingers aimlessly over the keys, thinking of a newsong, Lady Adelheid, who had been sittin
g in one of the corners of theroom, ran across to us, and, kneeling down before the Baroness, beggedher, as she took both her hands and clasped them to her bosom, "Oh,dear Baroness! darling Seraphina! now you must sing too." To this shereplied, "Whatever are you thinking about, Adelheid? How could I dreamof letting our virtuoso friend hear such poor singing as mine?" And shelooked so lovely, as, like a shy good child, she cast down her eyes andblushed, timidly contending with the desire to sing. That I too addedmy entreaties can easily be imagined; nor, upon her making mention ofsome little Courland _Volkslieder_ or popular songs, did I desist frommy entreaties until she stretched out her left hand towards theinstrument and tried a few notes by way of introduction. I rose to makeway for her at the piano, but she would not permit me to do so,asserting that she could not play a single chord, and for that reason,since she would have to sing without accompaniment, her performancewould be poor and uncertain. She began in a sweet voice, pure as abell, that came straight from her heart, and sang a song whose simplemelody bore all the characteristics of those _Volkslieder_ whichproceed from the lips with such a lustrous brightness, so to speak,that we cannot help perceiving in the glad light which surrounds us ourown higher poetic nature. There lies a mysterious charm in theinsignificant words of the text which converts them into a hieroglyphicscroll representative of the unutterable emotions which throng ourhearts. Who does not know that Spanish canzonet the substance of whichis in words little more than, "With my maiden I embarked on the sea; astorm came on, and my timid maiden was tossed up and down: nay, I willnever again embark on the sea with my maiden?" And the Baroness'slittle song contained nothing more than, "Lately I was dancing with mysweetheart at a wedding; a flower fell out of my hair; he picked it upand gave it me, and said, 'When, sweetheart mine, shall we go to awedding again?'" When, on her beginning the second verse of the song, Iplayed an _arpeggio_ accompaniment, and further when, in theinspiration which now took possession of me, I at once stole from theBaroness's own lips the melodies of the other songs she sang, Idoubtless appeared in her eyes, and in those of the Lady Adelheid, tobe one of the greatest of masters in the art of music, for theyoverwhelmed me with enthusiastic praise. The lights and illuminationsfrom the ball-room, situated in one of the wings of the castle, nowshone across into the Baroness's chamber, whilst a discordant bleatingof trumpets and French horns announced that it was time to gather forthe ball. "Oh, now I must go," said the Baroness. I started up from thepianoforte. "You have afforded me a delightful hour; these have beenthe pleasantest moments I have ever spent in R--sitten," she added,offering me her hand; and as in the extreme intoxication of delight Ipressed it to my lips, I felt her fingers close upon my hand with asudden convulsive tremor. I do not know how I managed to reach myuncle's chamber, and still less how I got into the ball-room. There wasa certain Gascon who was afraid to go into battle since he was allheart, and every wound would be fatal to him. I might be compared tohim; and so might everybody else who is in the same mood that Iwas in; every touch was then fatal. The Baroness's hand--her tremulousfingers--had affected me like a poisoned arrow; my blood was burning inmy veins.
On the following morning my old uncle, without asking any directquestions, had soon drawn from me a full account of the hour I hadspent in the Baroness's society, and I was not a little abashed whenthe smile vanished from his lips and the jocular note from his words,and he grew serious all at once, saying, "Cousin, I beg you will resistthis folly which is taking such a powerful hold upon you. Let me tellyou that your present conduct, as harmless as it now appears, may leadto the most terrible consequences. In your thoughtless fatuity you arestanding on a thin crust of ice, which may break under you ere you areaware of it, and let you in with a plunge. I shall take good care notto hold you fast by the coat-tails, for I know you will scramble outagain pretty quick, and then, when you are lying sick unto death, youwill say, 'I got this little bit of a cold in a dream.' But I warn youthat a malignant fever will gnaw at your vitals, and years will passbefore you recover yourself, and are a man again. The deuce take yourmusic if you can put it to no better use than to cozen sentimentalyoung women out of their quiet peace of mind." "But," I began,interrupting the old gentleman, "but have I ever thought of insinuatingmyself as the Baroness's lover?" "You puppy!" cried the old gentleman,"if I thought so I would pitch you out of this window." At thisjuncture the Baron entered, and put an end to the painful conversation;and the business to which I now had to turn my attention brought meback from my love-sick reveries, in which I saw and thought of nothingbut Seraphina.
In general society the Baroness only occasionally interchanged a fewfriendly words with me; but hardly an evening passed in which a secretmessage was not brought to me from Lady Adelheid, summoning me toSeraphina. It soon came to pass that our music alternated withconversations on divers topics. Whenever I and Seraphina began to gettoo absorbed in sentimental dreams and vague aspirations, the LadyAdelheid, though now hardly young enough to be so naive and droll asshe once was, yet intervened with all sorts of merry and somewhatchaotic nonsense. From several hints she let fall, I soon discoveredthat the Baroness really had something preying upon her mind, even as Ithought I had read in her eyes the very first moment I saw her; and Iclearly discerned the hostile influence of the apparition of thecastle. Something terrible had happened or was to happen. Although Iwas often strongly impelled to tell Seraphina in what way I had come incontact with the invisible enemy, and how my old uncle had banishedhim, undoubtedly for ever, I yet felt my tongue fettered by ahesitation which was inexplicable to myself even, whenever I opened mymouth to speak.
One day the Baroness failed to appear at the dinner table; it was saidthat she was a little unwell, and could not leave her room. Sympatheticinquiries were addressed to the Baron as to whether her illness was ofa grave nature. He smiled in a very disagreeable way, in fact, it wasalmost like bitter irony, and said, "Nothing more than a slightcatarrh, which she has got from our blustering sea-breezes. They can'ttolerate any sweet voices; the only sounds they will endure are thehoarse 'Halloos' of the chase." At these words the Baron hurled a keensearching look at me across the table, for I sat obliquely opposite tohim. He had not spoken to his neighbour, but to me. Lady Adelheid, whosat beside me, blushed a scarlet red. Fixing her eyes upon the plate infront of her, and scribbling about on it with her fork, she whispered,"And yet you must see Seraphina to-day; your sweet songs shall to-dayalso bring soothing and comfort to her poor heart." Adelheid addressedthese words to me; but at this moment it struck me that I was almostapparently entangled in a base and forbidden intrigue with theBaroness, which could only end in some terrible crime. My old uncle'swarning fell heavily upon my heart. What should I do? Not see heragain? That was impossible so long as I remained in the castle; andeven if I might leave the castle and return to K----, I had not thewill to do it Oh! I felt only too deeply that I was not strong enoughto shake myself out of this dream, which was mocking one with delusivehopes of happiness. Adelheid I almost regarded in the light of a commongo-between; I would despise her, and yet, upon second thoughts, I couldnot help being ashamed of my folly. Had anything ever happened duringthose blissful evening hours which could in the least degree lead toany nearer relation with Seraphina than was permissible by proprietyand morality? How dare I let the thought enter my mind that theBaroness would ever entertain any warm feeling for me? And yet I wasconvinced of the danger of my situation.
We broke up from dinner earlier than usual, in order to go again aftersome wolves which had been seen in the fir-wood close by the castle. Alittle hunting was just the thing I wanted in the excited frame of mindin which I then was. I expressed to my uncle my resolve to accompanythe party; he gave me an approving smile and said, "That's right; I amglad you are going out with them for once. I shall stay at home, so youcan take my firelock with you, and buckle my whinger round your waist;in case of need it is a good and trusty weapon, if you only keep yourpresence of mind." That part of the wood in which the wolves weresupposed to lie was surround
ed by the huntsmen. It was bitterly cold;the wind howled through the firs, and drove the light snow-flakes rightin my face, so that when at length it came on to be dusk I couldscarcely see six paces before me. Quite benumbed by the cold, I leftthe place that had been assigned to me and sought shelter deeper in thewood. There, leaning against a tree, with my firelock under my arm, Iforgot the wolf-hunt entirely; my thoughts had travelled back toSeraphina's cosy room. After a time shots were heard in the fardistance; but at the same moment there was a rustling in the reed-bank,and I saw not ten paces from me a huge wolf about to run past me. Itook aim, and fired, but missed. The brute sprang towards me withglaring eyes; I should have been lost had I not had sufficient presenceof mind to draw my hunting-knife, and, just as the brute was flying atme, to drive it deep into his throat, so that the blood spurted outover my hand and arm. One of the Baron's keepers, who had stood not farfrom me, came running up with a loud shout, and at his repeated"Halloo!" all the rest soon gathered round us. The Baron hastened up tome, saying, "For God's sake, you are bleeding--you are bleeding. Areyou wounded?" I assured him that I was not Then he turned to the keeperwho had stood nearest to me, and overwhelmed him with reproaches fornot having shot after me when I missed. And notwithstanding that theman maintained this to have been perfectly impossible, since in thevery same moment the wolf had rushed upon me, and any shot would havebeen at the risk of hitting me, the Baron persisted in saying that heought to have taken especial care of me as a less experienced hunter.Meanwhile the keepers had lifted up the dead animal; it was one of thelargest that had been seen for a long time; and everybody admired mycourage and resolution, although to myself what I had done appearedquite natural I had not for a moment thought of the danger I had run.The Baron in particular seemed to take very great interest in thematter; I thought he would never be done asking me whether, though Iwas not wounded by the brute, I did not fear the ill effects that wouldfollow from the fright As we went back to the castle, the Baron took meby the arm like a friend, and I had to give my firelock to a keeper tocarry. He still continued to talk about my heroic deed, so thateventually I came to believe in my own heroism, and lost all myconstraint and embarrassment, and felt that I had established myselfin the Baron's eyes as a man of courage and uncommon resolution. Theschoolboy had passed his examination successfully, was now no longer aschoolboy, and all the submissive nervousness of the schoolboy had lefthim. I now conceived I had earned a right to try and gain Seraphina'sfavour. Everybody knows of course what ridiculous combinations thefancy of a love-sick youth is capable of. In the castle, over thesmoking punchbowl, by the fireside, I was the hero of the hour. Besidesmyself the Baron was the only one of the party who had killed awolf--also a formidable one; the rest had to be content with ascribingtheir bad shots to the weather and the darkness, and with relatingthrilling stories of their former exploits in hunting and the dangersthey had escaped. I thought, too, that I might reap an especial shareof praise and admiration from my old uncle as well; and so, with a viewto this end, I related to him my adventure at pretty considerablelength, nor did I forget to paint the savage brute's wild andbloodthirsty appearance in very startling colours. The old gentleman,however, only laughed in my face and said, "God is powerful even in theweak."
Tired of drinking and of the company, I was going quietly along thecorridor towards the justice-hall when I saw a figure with a light slipin before me. On entering the hall I saw it was Lady Adelheid. "This isthe way we have to wander about like ghosts or night-walkers in orderto catch you, my brave slayer of wolves," she whispered, taking my arm.The words "ghosts" and "sleep-walkers," pronounced in the place wherewe were, fell like lead upon my heart; they immediately brought to myrecollection the ghostly apparitions of those two awful nights. Asthen, so now, the wind came howling in from the sea in deep organ-likecadences, rattling the oriel windows again and again and whistlingfearfully through them, whilst the moon cast her pale gleams exactlyupon the mysterious part of the wall where the scratching had beenheard. I fancied I discerned stains of blood upon it. Doubtless LadyAdelheid, who still had hold of my hand, must have felt the cold icyshiver which ran through me. "What's the matter with you?" shewhispered softly; "what's the matter with you? You are as cold asmarble. Come, I will call you back into life. Do you know how veryimpatient the Baroness is to see you? And until she does see you shewill not believe that the ugly wolf has not really bitten you. She isin a terrible state of anxiety about you. Why, my friend,--oh! how haveyou awakened this interest in the little Seraphina? I have never seenher like this. Ah!--so now the pulse is beginning to prickle; see howquickly the dead man comes to life! Well, come along--but softly,still! Come, we must go to the little Baroness." I suffered myself tobe led away in silence. The way in which Adelheid spoke of the Baronessseemed to me undignified, and the innuendo of an understanding betweenus positively shameful. When I entered the room along with Adelheid,Seraphina, with a low-breathed "Oh!" advanced three or four pacesquickly to meet me; but then, as if recollecting herself, she stoodstill in the middle of the room. I ventured to take her hand and pressit to my lips. Allowing it to rest in mine, she asked, "But, forHeaven's sake! is it your business to meddle with wolves? Don't youknow that the fabulous days of Orpheus and Amphion are long past, andthat wild beasts have quite lost all respect for even the mostadmirable of singers?" But this gleeful turn, by which the Baroness atonce effectually guarded against all misinterpretation of her warminterest in me, I was put immediately into the proper key and theproper mood. Why I did not take my usual place at the pianoforte Icannot explain, even to myself, nor why I sat down beside the Baronesson the sofa. Her question, "And what were you doing then to get intodanger?" was an indication of our tacit agreement that conversation,not music, was to engage our attention for that evening. After I hadnarrated my adventure in the wood, and mentioned the warm interestwhich the Baron had taken in it, delicately hinting that I had notthought him capable of so much feeling, the Baroness began in a tenderand almost melancholy tone, "Oh! how violent and rude you must thinkthe Baron; but I assure you it is only whilst we are living withinthese gloomy, ghostly walls, and during the time there is hunting goingon in the dismal fir-forests, that his character completely changes, atleast his outward behaviour does. What principally disquiets him inthis unpleasant way is the thought, which constantly haunts him, thatsomething terrible will happen here. And that undoubtedly accounts forthe fact of his being so greatly agitated by your adventure, whichfortunately has had no ill consequences. He won't have the meanest ofhis servants exposed to danger, if he knows it, still less a new-wonfriend whom he has come to like; and I am perfectly certain thatGottlieb, whom he blames for having left you in the lurch, will bepunished; even if he escapes being locked up in a dungeon, he will yethave to suffer the punishment, so mortifying to a hunter, of going outthe next time there is a hunt with only a club in his hand instead of arifle. The circumstance that hunts like those which are held here arealways attended with danger, and the fact that the Baron, though alwaysfearing some sad accident, is yet so fond of hunting that he cannotdesist from provoking the demon of mischief, make his existence here akind of conflict, the ill effects of which I also have to feel. Manyqueer stories are current about his ancestor who established theentail; and I know myself that there is some dark family secret lockedwithin these walls like a horrible ghost which drives away theowners, and makes it impossible for them to bear with it longer than afew weeks at a time--and that only amid a tumult of jovial guests. ButI--Oh! how lonely I am in the midst of this noisy, merry company! Andhow the ghostly influences which breathe upon me from the walls stirand excite my very heart! You, my dear friend, have given me, throughyour musical skill, the first cheerful moments I have spent here. Howcan I thank you sufficiently for your kindness!" I kissed the hand sheoffered to me, saying, that even on the very first day, or ratherduring the very first night, I had experienced the ghostliness of theplace in all its horrors. The Baroness fixed her staring eyes upon myface, as I went on to descri
be the ghostly character of the building,discernible everywhere throughout the castle, particularly in thedecorations of the justice-hall, and to speak of the roaring of thewind from the sea, &c. Possibly my voice and my expressions indicatedthat I had something more in my mind than what I said; at any rate whenI concluded, the Baroness cried vehemently, "No, no; something dreadfulhas happened to you in that hall, which I never enter withoutshuddering. I beg you--pray, pray, tell me all."
Seraphina's face had grown deadly pale; and I saw plainly that it wouldbe more advisable to give her a faithful account of all that I hadexperienced than to leave her excited imagination to conjure up someapparition that might perhaps, in a way I could not foresee, be farmore horrible than what I had actually encountered. As she listened tome her fear and strained anxiety increased from moment to moment; andwhen I mentioned the scratching on the wall she screamed, "It'shorrible! Yes, yes, it's in that wall that the awful secret isconcealed!" But as I went on to describe with what spiritual power andsuperiority of will my old uncle had banished the ghost, she sigheddeeply, as though she had shaken off a heavy burden that had weighedoppressively upon her. She leaned back in the sofa and held her handsbefore her face. Now I first noticed that Adelheid had left us. Aconsiderable pause ensued, and as Seraphina still continued silent, Isoftly rose, and going to the pianoforte, endeavoured in swellingchords to invoke the bright spirits of consolation to come and deliverSeraphina from the dark influence to which my narration had subjectedher. Then I soon began to sing as softly as I was able one of the AbbeSteffani's[6] canzonas. The melancholy strains of the _Ochi, perchepiangete_ (O eyes, why weep you?) roused Seraphina out of her reverie,and she listened to me with a gentle smile upon her face, and brightpearl-like tears in her eyes. How am I to account for it that I kneeleddown before her, that she bent over towards me, that I threw my armsabout her, that a long ardent kiss was imprinted on my lips? How am Ito account for it that I did not lose my senses when she drew me softlytowards her, how that I tore myself from her arms, and, quickly risingto my feet, hurried to the pianoforte? Turning from me, the Baronesstook a few steps towards the window, then she turned round again andapproached me with an air of almost proud dignity, which was not at allusual with her. Looking me straight in the face, she said, "Your uncleis the most worthy old man I know; he is the guardian-angel of ourfamily. May he include me in his pious prayers!" I was unable to uttera word; the subtle poison that I had imbibed with her kiss burned andboiled in every pulse and nerve. Lady Adelheid came in. The violence ofmy inward conflict burst out at length in a passionate flood of tears,which I was unable to repress. Adelheid looked at me with wonder andsmiled dubiously;--I could have murdered her. The Baroness gave me herhand, and said with inexpressible gentleness, "Farewell, my dearfriend. Fare you right well; and remember that nobody perhaps has everunderstood your music better than I have. Oh! these notes! they willecho long, long in my heart." I forced myself to utter a few stupid,disconnected words, and hurried up to my uncle's room. The oldgentleman had already gone to bed. I stayed in the hall, and fallingupon my knees, I wept aloud; I called upon my beloved by name, I gavemyself up completely and regardlessly to all the absurd folly of alove-sick lunatic, until at last the extravagant noise I made awoke myuncle. But his loud call, "Cousin, I believe you have gone cranky, orelse you're having another tussle with a wolf. Be off to bed with youif you will be so very kind"--these words compelled me to enter hisroom, where I got into bed with the fixed resolve to dream only ofSeraphina.
It would be somewhere past midnight when I thought I heard distantvoices, a running backwards and forwards, and an opening and banging ofdoors--for I had not yet fallen asleep. I listened attentively; I heardfootsteps approaching the corridor; the hall door was opened, and soonthere came a knock at our door. "Who is there?" I cried. A voice fromwithout answered, "Herr Justitiarius, Herr Justitiarius, wake up, wakeup!" I recognised Francis's voice, and as I asked, "Is the castle onfire?" the old gentleman woke up in his turn and asked, "Where--whereis there a fire? Is it that cursed apparition again? where is it?" "Oh!please get up, Herr Justitiarius," said Francis, "Please get up; theBaron wants you." "What does the Baron want me for?" inquired my unclefurther; "what does he want me for at this time of night? does he notknow that all law business goes to bed along with the lawyer, andsleeps as soundly as he does?" "Oh!" cried Francis, now anxiously;"please, Herr Justitiarius, good sir, please get up. My lady theBaroness is dying." I started up with a cry of dismay. "Open the doorfor Francis," said the old gentleman to me. I stumbled about the roomalmost distracted, and could find neither door nor lock; my uncle hadto come and help me. Francis came in, his face pale and troubled, andlit the candles. We had scarcely thrown on our clothes when we heardthe Baron calling in the hall, "Can I speak to you, good V----?" "Butwhat have you dressed for, cousin? the Baron only wanted me," asked theold gentleman, on the point of going out. "I must go down--I must seeher and then die," I replied tragically, and as if my heart were rentby hopeless grief. "Ay, just so; you are right, cousin," he said,banging the door to in my face, so that the hinges creaked, and lockingit on the outside. At the first moment, deeply incensed at thisrestraint, I thought of bursting the door open; but quickly reflectingthat this would entail the disagreeable consequences of a piece ofoutrageous insanity, I resolved to await the old gentleman's return;then however, let the cost be what it might, I would escape hiswatchfulness. I heard him talking vehemently with the Baron, andseveral times distinguished my own name, but could not make outanything further. Every moment my position grew more intolerable. Atlength I heard that some one brought a message to the Baron, whoimmediately hurried off. My old uncle entered the room again. "She isdead!" I cried, running towards him, "And you are a stupid fool," heinterrupted coolly; then he laid hold upon me and forced me into achair. "I must go down," I cried, "I must go down and see her, eventhough it cost me my life." "Do so, good cousin," said he, locking thedoor, taking out the key, and putting it in his pocket. I now flew intoa perfectly frantic rage; stretching out my hand towards the rifle, Iscreamed, "If you don't instantly open the door I will send this bulletthrough my brains." Then the old gentleman planted himself immediatelyin front of me, and fixing his keen piercing eyes upon me said, "Boy,do you think you can frighten me with your idle threats? Do you think Ishould set much value on your life if you can go and throw it away inchildish folly like a broken plaything? What have you to do with theBaron's wife? who has given you the right to insinuate yourself, like atiresome puppy, where you have no claim to be, and where you are notwanted? do you wish to go and act the love-sick swain at the solemnhour of death?" I sank back in my chair utterly confounded After awhile the old gentleman went on more gently, "And now let me tell youthat this pretended illness of the Baroness is in all probabilitynothing. Lady Adelheid always loses her head at the least little thing.If a rain-drop falls upon her nose, she screams, 'What fearful weatherit is!' Unfortunately the noise penetrated to the old aunts, and they,in the midst of unseasonable floods of tears, put in an appearancearmed with an entire arsenal of strengthening drops, elixirs of life,and the deuce knows what. A sharp fainting-fit"---- The old gentlemanchecked himself; doubtless he observed the struggle that was going onwithin me. He took a few turns through the room; then again plantinghimself in front of me, he had a good hearty laugh and said, "Cousin,cousin, what nonsensical folly have you now got in your head? Ah well!I suppose it can't be helped; the devil is to play his pretty gameshere in divers sorts of ways. You have tumbled very nicely into hisclutches, and now he's making you dance to a sweet tune," He again tooka few turns up and down, and again went on, "It's no use to think ofsleep now; and it occurred to me that we might have a pipe, and sospend the few hours that are left of the darkness and the night." Withthese words he took a clay pipe from the cupboard, and proceeded tofill it slowly and carefully, humming a song to himself; then herummaged about amongst a heap of papers, until he found a sheet,which he picked out and rolled into a spill and lighted. Blowing thetobacco
-smoke from him in thick clouds, he said, speaking between histeeth, "Well, cousin, what was that story about the wolf?"
I know not how it was, but this calm, quiet behaviour of the oldgentleman operated strangely upon me. I seemed to be no longer inR--sitten, and the Baroness was so far, far distant from me that Icould only reach her on the wings of thought. The old gentleman's lastquestion, however, annoyed me. "But do you find my hunting exploit soamusing?" I broke in,--"so well fitted for banter?" "By no means," herejoined, "by no means, cousin mine; but you've no idea what a comicalface such a whipper-snapper as you cuts, and how ludicrously he acts aswell, when Providence for once in a while honours him by putting him inthe way to meet with something out of the usual run of things. I oncehad a college friend who was a quiet, sober fellow, and always on goodterms with himself. By accident he became entangled in an affair ofhonour,--I say by accident, because he himself was never in any wayaggressive; and although most of the fellows looked upon him as a poorthing, as a poltroon, he yet showed so much firm and resolute couragein this affair as greatly to excite everybody's admiration. But fromthat time onwards he was also completely changed. The sober andindustrious youth became a bragging, insufferable bully. He was alwaysdrinking and rioting, and fighting about all sorts of childish trifles,until he was run through in a duel by the Senior[7] of an exclusivecorps. I merely tell you the story, cousin; you are at liberty to thinkwhat you please about it But to return to the Baroness and herillness"---- At this moment light footsteps were heard in the hall; Ifancied, too, there was an unearthly moaning in the air. "She is dead!"the thought shot through me like a fatal flash of lightning. The oldgentleman quickly rose to his feet and called out, "Francis, Francis!""Yes, my good Herr Justitiarius," he replied from without. "Francis,"went on my uncle, "rake the fire together a bit in the grate, and ifyou can manage it, you had better make us a good cup or two of tea.""It is devilish cold," and he turned to me, "and I think we had bettergo and sit round the fire and talk a little." He opened the door, and Ifollowed him mechanically. "How are things going on below?" he asked."Oh!" replied Francis; "there was not much the matter. The LadyBaroness is all right again, and ascribes her bit of a fainting-fit toa bad dream." I was going to break out into an extravagantmanifestation of joy and gladness, but a stern glance from my unclekept me quiet "And yet, after all, I think it would be better if we laydown for an hour or two. You need not mind about the tea, Francis." "Asyou think well, Herr Justitiarius," replied Francis, and he left theroom with the wish that we might have a good night's rest, albeit thecocks were already crowing. "See here, cousin," said the old gentleman,knocking the ashes out of his pipe on the grate, "I think, cousin, thatit's a very good thing no harm has happened to you either from wolvesor from loaded rifles." I now saw things in the right light, and wasashamed at myself to have thus given the old gentleman good grounds fortreating me like a spoiled child.
Next morning he said to me, "Be so good as to step down, good cousin,and inquire how the Baroness is. You need only ask for Lady Adelheid;she will supply you with a full budget, I have no doubt" You mayimagine how eagerly I hastened downstairs. But just as I was about togive a gentle knock at the door of the Baroness's anteroom, the Baroncame hurriedly out of the same. He stood still in astonishment, andscrutinised me with a gloomy searching look. "What do you want here?"burst from his lips. Notwithstanding that my heart beat, I controlledmyself and replied in a firm tone, "To inquire on my uncle's behalf howmy lady, the Baroness, is?" "Oh! it was nothing--one of her usualnervous attacks. She is now having a quiet sleep, and will, I am sure,make her appearance at the dinner-table quite well and cheerful. Tellhim that--tell him that." This the Baron said with a certain degree ofpassionate vehemence, which seemed to me to imply that he was moreconcerned about the Baroness than he was willing to show. I turned togo back to my uncle, when the Baron suddenly seized my arm and said,whilst his eyes flashed fire, "I have a word or two to say to you,young man." Here I saw the deeply injured husband before me, and fearedthere would be a scene which would perhaps end ignominiously for me. Iwas unarmed; but at that moment I remembered I had in my pocket theingeniously-made hunting-knife which my uncle had presented to me afterwe got to R--sitten. I now followed the Baron, who led the way rapidly,with the determination not even to spare his life if I ran any risk ofbeing treated dishonourably.
We entered the Baron's own room, the door of which he locked behindhim. Now he began to pace restlessly backwards and forwards, with hisarms folded one over the other; then he stopped in front of me andrepeated, "I have a word or two to say to you, young man." I had woundmyself up to a pitch of most daring courage, and I replied, raising myvoice, "I hope they will be words which I may hear without resentment."He stared hard at me in astonishment, as though he had failed tounderstand me. Then, fixing his eyes gloomily upon the floor, he threwhis arms behind his back, and again began to stride up and down theroom. He took down a rifle and put the ramrod down the barrel to seewhether it were loaded or not. My blood boiled in my veins; grasping myknife, I stepped close up to him, so as to make it impossible for himto take aim at me. "That's a handsome weapon," he said, replacing therifle in the corner. I retired a few paces, the Baron following me.Slapping me on the shoulder, perhaps a little more violently than wasnecessary, he said, "I daresay I seem to you, Theodore, to be excitedand irritable; and I really am so, owing to the anxieties of asleepless night. My wife's nervous attack was not in the leastdangerous; that I now see plainly. But here--here in this castle, whichis haunted by an evil spirit, I always dread something terriblehappening; and then it's the first time she has been ill here. Andyou--you alone were to blame for it." "How that can possibly be I havenot the slightest conception," I replied calmly. "I wish," continuedthe Baron, "I wish that damned piece of mischief, my steward's wife'sinstrument, were chopped up into a thousand pieces, and that you--butno, no; it was to be so, it was inevitably to be so, and I alone am toblame for all. I ought to have told you, the moment you began to playmusic in my wife's room, of the whole state of the case, and to haveinformed you of my wife's temper of mind." I was about to speak; "Letme go on," said the Baron, "I must prevent your forming any rashjudgment. You probably regard me as an uncultivated fellow, averse tothe arts; but I am not so by any means. There is a particularconsideration, however, based upon deep conviction, which constrains meto forbid the introduction here as far as possible of such music as canpowerfully affect any person's mind, and to this I of course am noexception. Know that my wife suffers from a morbid excitability, whichwill finally destroy all the happiness of her life. Within thesestrange walls she is never quit of that strained over-excitedcondition, which at other times occurs but temporarily, and thengenerally as the forerunner of a serious illness. You will ask me, andquite reasonably too, why I do not spare my delicate wife the necessityof coming to live in this weird castle, and mix amongst the wildconfusion of a hunting-party. Well, call it weakness--be it so; in aword, I cannot bring myself to leave her behind. I should be torturedby a thousand fears, and quite incapable of any serious business,for I am perfectly sure that I should be haunted everywhere, in thejustice-hall as well as in the forest, by the most horrid ideas of allkinds of fatal mischief happening to her. And, on the other hand, Ibelieve that the sort of life led here cannot fail to operate upon theweakly woman like strengthening chalybeate waters. By my soul, thesea-breezes, sweeping keenly after their peculiar fashion through thefir-trees, and the deep baying of the hounds, and the merry ringingnotes of our hunting-horns _must_ get the better of all your sicklylanguishing sentimentalisings at the piano, which no man ought play in_that way_. I tell you, you are deliberately torturing my wife todeath." These words he uttered with great emphasis, whilst his eyesflashed with a restless fire. The blood mounted to my head; I made aviolent gesture against the Baron with my hand; I was about to speak,but he cut me short "I know what you are going to say," he began, "Iknow what you are going to say, and I repeat that you are going theright road to kill my wife. But that you int
ended this I cannot ofcourse for a moment maintain; and yet you will understand that I mustput a stop to the thing. In short, by your playing and singing you workher up to a high pitch of excitement, and then, when she drifts withoutanchor and rudder on the boundless sea of dreams and visions and vagueaspirations which your music, like some vile charm, has summoned intoexistence, you plunge her down into the depths of horror with a taleabout a fearful apparition which you say came and played pranks withyou up in the justice-hall. Your great-uncle has told me everything;but, pray, repeat to me all you saw, or did not see, heard, felt,divined by instinct."
I braced myself up and narrated calmly how everything had happened frombeginning to end, the Baron merely interposing at intervals a few wordsexpressive of his astonishment. When I came to the part where my olduncle had met the ghost with trustful courage and had exorcised himwith a few powerful words, the Baron clasped his hands, raised themfolded towards Heaven, and said with deep emotion, "Yes, he is theguardian-angel of the family. His mortal remains shall rest in thevault of my ancestors." When I finished my narration, the Baronmurmured to himself, "Daniel, Daniel, what are you doing here at thishour?" as he folded his arms and strode up and down the room. "And wasthat all, Herr Baron?" I asked, making a movement as though I wouldretire. Starting up as if out of a dream, the Baron took me kindly bythe hand and said, "Yes, my good friend, my wife, whom you have dealtso hardly by without intending it--you must cure her again; you alonecan do so." I felt I was blushing, and had I stood opposite a mirrorshould undoubtedly have seen in it a very blank and absurd face. TheBaron seemed to exult in my embarrassment; he kept his eyes fixedintently upon my face, smiling with perfectly galling irony. "How inthe world can I cure her?" I managed to stammer out at length with aneffort "Well," he said, interrupting me, "you have no dangerous patientto deal with at any rate. I now make an express claim upon your skill.Since the Baroness has been drawn into the enchanted circle of yourmusic, it would be both foolish and cruel to drag her out of it all ofa sudden. Go on with your music therefore. You will always be welcomeduring the evening hours in my wife's apartments. But gradually selecta more energetic kind of music, and effect a clever alternation of thecheerful sort with the serious; and above all things, repeat your storyof the fearful ghost very very often. The Baroness will grow familiarwith it; she will forget that a ghost haunts this castle; and the storywill have no stronger effect upon her than any other tale ofenchantment which is put before her in a romance or a ghost-story book.Pray, do this, my good friend." With these words the Baron left me. Iwent away. I felt as if I were annihilated, to be thus humiliated tothe level of a foolish and insignificant child. Fool that I was tosuppose that jealousy was stirring his heart! He himself sends me toSeraphina; he sees in me only the blind instrument which, after he hasmade use of it, he can throw away if he thinks well. A few minutespreviously I had really feared the Baron; deep down within my heartlurked the consciousness of guilt; but it was a consciousness whichallowed me to feel distinctly the beauty of the higher life for which Iwas ripe. Now all had disappeared in the blackness of night; and I sawonly the stupid boy who in childish obstinacy had persisted in takingthe paper crown which he had put on his hot temples for a real goldenone. I hurried away to my uncle, who was waiting for me. "Well, cousin,why have you been so long? Where have you been staying?" he cried assoon as he saw me. "I have been having some words with the Baron!" Iquickly replied, carelessly and in a low voice, without being able tolook at the old gentleman. "God damn it all," said he, feigningastonishment "Good gracious, boy! that's just what I thought. I supposethe Baron has challenged you, cousin?" The ringing peal of laughterwhich the old gentleman immediately afterwards broke out into taught methat this time too, as always, he had seen me through and through. Ibit my lip, and durst not speak a word, for I knew very well that itwould only be the signal for the old gentleman to overwhelm me beneaththe torrent of teasing which was already hovering on the tip of histongue.
The Baroness appeared at the dinner-table in an elegant morning-robe,the dazzling whiteness of which exceeded that of fresh-fallen snow. Shelooked worn and low-spirited; but she began to speak in her soft andmelodious accents, and on raising her dark eyes there shone a sweet andyearning look full of aspiration in their voluptuous glow, and afugitive blush flitted across her lily-white cheeks. She was morebeautiful than ever. But who can fathom the follies of a young man whohas got too hot blood in his head and heart? The bitter pique which theBaron had stirred up within me I transferred to the Baroness. Theentire business seemed to me like a foul mystification; and I would nowshow that I was possessed of alarmingly good common-sense and also ofextraordinary sagacity. Like a petulant child, I shunned the Baronessand escaped Adelheid when she pursued me, and found a place where Iwished, right at the bottom end of the table between the two officers,with whom I began to carouse right merrily. We kept our glasses goinggaily during dessert, and I was, as so frequently is the case in moodslike mine, extremely noisy and loud in my joviality. A servant broughtme a plate with some bonbons on it, with the words, "From LadyAdelheid." I took them; and observed on one of them, scribbled inpencil, "and Seraphina." My blood coursed tumultuously in my veins. Isent a glance in Adelheid's direction, which she met with a most slyand archly cunning look; and taking her glass in her hand, she gave mea slight nod. Almost mechanically I murmured to myself, "Seraphina!"then taking up my glass in my turn, I drained it at a single draught.My glance fell across in _her_ direction; I perceived that she also haddrunk at the very same moment and was setting down her glass. Our eyesmet, and a malignant demon whispered in my ear, "Unhappy wretch, shedoes love you!" One of the guests now rose, and, in conformity with thecustom of the North, proposed the health of the lady of the house. Ourglasses rang in the midst of a tumult of joy. My heart was torn withrapture and despair; the wine burned like fire within me; everythingspun round in circles; I felt as if I must hasten and throw myself ather feet and there sigh out my life. "What's the matter with you, myfriend?" asked my neighbour, thus recalling me to myself; but Seraphinahad left the hall. We rose from the table. I was making for the door,but Adelheid held me fast, and began to talk about divers matters; Ineither heard nor understood a single word. She grasped both my handsand, laughing, shouted something in my ear. I remained dumb andmotionless, as though affected by catalepsy. All I remember is that Ifinally took a glass of liqueur out of Adelheid's hand in a mechanicalway and drank it off, and then I recollect being alone in a window, andafter that I rushed out of the hall, down the stairs, and ran out intothe wood. The snow was falling in thick flakes; the fir-trees weremoaning as they waved to and fro in the wind. Like a maniac I ran roundand round in wide circles, laughing and screaming loudly, "Look, lookand see. Aha! Aha! The devil is having a fine dance with the boy whothought he would taste of strictly forbidden fruit!" Who can tell whatwould have been the end of my mad prank if I had not heard my namecalled loudly from the outside of the wood? The storm had abated; themoon shone out brightly through the broken clouds; I heard dogsbarking, and perceived a dark figure approaching me. It was the old manFrancis. "Why, why, my good Herr Theodore," he began, "you have quitelost your way in the rough snow-storm. The Herr Justitiarius isawaiting you with much impatience." I followed the old man in silence.I found my great-uncle working in the justice-hall. "You have donewell," he cried, on seeing me, "you have done a very wise thing to goout in the open air a little and get cool. But don't drink quite somuch wine; you are far too young, and it's not good for you." I did notutter a word in reply, and also took my place at the table in silence."But now tell me, good cousin, what it was the Baron really wanted youfor?" I told him all, and concluded by stating that I would not lendmyself for the doubtful cure which the Baron had proposed. "Andit would not be practicable," the old gentleman interrupted, "forto-morrow morning early we set off home, cousin." And so it was that Inever saw Seraphina again.
As soon as we arrived in K---- my old uncle complained that he feltthe effects of the wearying journey this
time more than ever. Hismoody silence, broken only by violent outbreaks of the worst possibleill-humour, announced the return of his attacks of gout. One day I wassuddenly called in; I found the old gentleman confined to his bed andunable to speak, suffering from a paralytic stroke. He held a letter inhis hand, which he had crumpled up tightly in a spasmodic fit. Irecognised the hand-writing of the land-steward of R--sitten; but,quite upset by my trouble, I did not venture to take the letter out ofthe old gentleman's hand. I did not doubt that his end was near. Buthis pulse began to beat again, even before the physician arrived; theold gentleman's remarkably tough constitution resisted the mortalattack, although he was in his seventieth year. That selfsame day thedoctor pronounced him out of danger.
We had a more severe winter than usual; this was followed by a roughand stormy spring; and hence it was more the gout--a consequence of theinclemency of the season--than his previous accident which kept him fora long time confined to his bed. During this period he made up his mindto retire altogether from all kinds of business. He transferred hisoffice of Justitiarius to others; and so I was cut off from all hope ofever again going to R--sitten. The old gentleman would allow no one toattend him but me; and it was to me alone that he looked for allamusement and every cheerful diversion. And though, in the hours whenhe was free from pain, his good spirits returned, and he had no lack ofbroad jests, even making mention of hunting exploits, so that I fullyexpected every minute to hear him make a butt of my heroic deed, when Ihad killed the wolf with my whinger, yet never once did he allude toour visit to R--sitten, and as may well be imagined, I was verycareful, from natural shyness, not to lead him directly up to thesubject. My harassing anxiety and continual attendance upon the oldgentleman had thrust Seraphina's image into the background. But as soonas his sickness abated somewhat, my thoughts returned with moreliveliness to that moment in the Baroness's room, which I now lookedupon as a star--a bright star--that had set, for me at least, for ever.An occurrence which now happened, by making me shudder with an ice-coldthrill as at sight of a visitant from the world of spirits, revivedall the pain I had formerly felt. One evening, as I was opening thepocket-book which I had carried whilst at R--sitten, there fell out ofthe papers I was unfolding a dark curl, wrapped about with a whiteribbon; I immediately recognised it as Seraphina's hair. But, onexamining the ribbon more closely, I distinctly perceived the mark of aspot of blood on it! Perhaps Adelheid had skilfully contrived tosecrete it about me during the moments of conscious insanity by which Ihad been affected during the last days of our visit; but why was thespot of blood there? It excited forebodings of something terrible in mymind, and almost converted this too pastoral love-token into an awfuladmonition, pointing to a passion which might entail the expenditure ofprecious blood. It was the same white ribbon that had fluttered aboutme in light wanton sportiveness as it were the first time I sat nearSeraphina, and which Mysterious Night had stamped as an emblem ofmortal injury. Boys ought not to play with weapons with the dangerousproperties of which they are not familiar.
At last the storms of spring had ceased to bluster, and summer assertedher rights; and if the cold had formerly been unbearable, so now toowas the heat when July came in. The old gentleman visibly gatheredstrength, and following his usual custom, went out to a garden in thesuburbs. One still, warm evening, as we sat in the sweet-smellingjasmine arbour, he was in unusually good spirits, and not, as wasgenerally the case, overflowing with sarcasm and irony, but in a gentleand almost soft and melting mood. "Cousin," he began, "I don't know howit is, but I feel so nice and warm and comfortable all over to-day; Ihave not felt like it for many years. I believe it is an augury that Ishall die soon." I exerted myself to drive these gloomy thoughts fromhis mind. "Never mind, cousin," he said, "in any case I'm not long forthis world; and so I will now discharge a debt I owe you. Do you stillremember our autumn in R--sitten?" This question thrilled through melike a lightning-flash, so before I was able to make any reply hecontinued, "It was Heaven's will that your entrance into that castleshould be signalised by memorable circumstances, and that you shouldbecome involved against your own will in the deepest secrets of thehouse. The time has now come when you must learn all. We have oftenenough talked about things which you, cousin, rather dimly guessed atthan really understood. In the alternation of the seasons naturerepresents symbolically the cycle of human life. That is a triteremark; but I interpret it differently from everybody else. The dews ofspring fall, summer's vapours fade away, and it is the pure atmosphereof autumn which clearly reveals the distant landscape, and then finallyearthly existence is swallowed in the night of winter. I mean that thegovernment of the Power Inscrutable is more plainly revealed in theclear-sightedness of old age. It is granted glimpses of the promisedland, the pilgrimage to which begins with the death on earth. Howclearly do I see at this moment the dark destiny of that house, towhich I am knit by firmer ties than blood relationship can weave!Everything lies disclosed to the eyes of my spirit. And yet the thingswhich I now see, in the form in which I see them--the essentialsubstance of them, that is--this I cannot tell you in words; for noman's tongue is able to do so. But listen, my son, I will tell youas well as I am able, and do you think it is some remarkable storythat might really happen; and lay up carefully in your soul theknowledge that the mysterious relations into which you ventured toenter, not perhaps without being summoned, might have ended in yourdestruction--but--that's all over now."
The history of the R---- entail, which my old uncle told me, I retainso faithfully in my memory even now that I can almost repeat it in hisown words (he spoke of himself in the third person).
One stormy night in the autumn of 1760 the servants of R--sitten werestartled out of the midst of their sleep by a terrific crash, as if thewhole of the spacious castle had tumbled into a thousand pieces. In amoment everybody was on his legs; lights were lit; the house-steward,his face deadly pale with fright and terror, came up panting with hiskeys; but as they proceeded through the passages and halls and rooms,suite after suite, and found all safe, and heard in the appallingsilence nothing except the creaking rattle of the locks, whichoccasioned some difficulty in opening, and the ghost-like echo of theirown footsteps, they began one and all to be utterly astounded. Nowherewas there the least trace of damage. The old house-steward wasimpressed by an ominous feeling of apprehension. He went up into thegreat Knight's Hall, which had a small cabinet adjoining where FreiherrRoderick von R---- used to sleep when engaged in making hisastronomical observations. Between the door of this cabinet andthat of a second was a postern, leading through a narrow passageimmediately into the astronomical tower. But directly Daniel (that wasthe house-steward's name) opened this postern, the storm, blusteringand howling terrifically, drove a heap of rubbish and broken pieces ofstones all over him, which made him recoil in terror; and, droppingthe candles, which went out with a hiss on the floor, he screamed, "OGod! O God! The Baron! he's miserably dashed to pieces!" At the samemoment he heard sounds of lamentation proceeding from the Freiherr'ssleeping-cabinet, and on entering it he saw the servants gatheredaround their master's corpse. They had found him fully dressed and moremagnificently than on any previous occasion, and with a calm earnestlook upon his unchanged countenance, sitting in his large and richlydecorated arm-chair as though resting after severe study. But his restwas the rest of death. When day dawned it was seen that the crowningturret of the tower had fallen in. The huge square stones had brokenthrough the ceiling and floor of the observatory-room, and then,carrying down in front of them a powerful beam that ran across thetower, they had dashed in with redoubled impetus the lower vaultedroof, and dragged down a portion of the castle walls and of the narrowconnecting-passage. Not a single step could be taken beyond the posternthreshold without risk of falling at least eighty feet into a deepchasm.
The old Freiherr had foreseen the very hour of his death, and had sentintelligence of it to his sons. Hence it happened that the very nextday saw the arrival of Wolfgang, Freiherr von R----, eldest son of thedecease
d, and now lord of the entail. Relying confidently upon theprobable truth of the old man's foreboding, he had left Vienna, whichcity he chanced to have reached in his travels, immediately he receivedthe ominous letter, and hastened to R--sitten as fast as he couldtravel. The house-steward had draped the great hall in black, and hadhad the old Freiherr laid out in the clothes in which he had beenfound, on a magnificent state-bed, and this he had surrounded with tallsilver candlesticks with burning wax-candles. Wolfgang ascended thestairs, entered the hall, and approached close to his father's corpse,without speaking a word. There he stood with his arms folded on hischest, gazing with a fixed and gloomy look and with knitted brows, intohis father's pale countenance. He was like a statue; not a tear camefrom his eyes. At length, with an almost convulsive movement of theright arm towards the corpse, he murmured hoarsely, "Did the starscompel you to make the son whom you loved miserable?" Throwing hishands behind his back and stepping a short pace backwards, the Baronraised his eyes upwards and said in a low and well-nigh broken voice,"Poor, infatuated old man! Your carnival farce with its shallowdelusions is now over. Now you no doubt see that the possessions whichare so niggardly dealt out to us here on earth have nothing in commonwith Hereafter beyond the stars. What will--what power can reach overbeyond the grave?" The Baron was silent again for some seconds, then hecried passionately, "No, your perversity shall not rob me of a grain ofmy earthly happiness, which you strove so hard to destroy," andtherewith he took a folded paper out of his pocket and held it upbetween two fingers to one of the burning candles that stood closebeside the corpse. The paper was caught by the flame and blazed uphigh; and as the reflection flickered and played upon the face of thecorpse, it was as though its muscles moved and as though the old manuttered toneless words, so that the servants who stood some distanceoff were filled with great horror and awe. The Baron calmly finishedwhat he was doing by carefully stamping out with his foot the lastfragment of paper that fell on the floor blazing. Then, casting yetanother moody glance upon his father, he hurriedly left the hall.
On the following day Daniel reported to the Freiherr the damage thathad been done to the tower, and described at great length all that hadtaken place on the night when their dear dead master died; and heconcluded by saying that it would be a very wise thing to have thetower repaired at once, for, if a further fall were to take place,there would be some danger of the whole castle--well, if not tumblingdown, at any rate suffering serious damage.
"Repair the tower?" the Freiherr interrupted the old servant curtly,whilst his eyes flashed with anger, "Repair the tower? Never, never!Don't you see, old man," he went on more calmly, "don't you see thatthe tower could not fall in this way without some special cause? How ifit was my father's own wish that the place where he carried on hisunhallowed astrological labours should be destroyed--how if he hadhimself made certain preparations by which he was enabled to bring downthe turret whenever he pleased and so occasion the ruin of the interiorof the tower! But be that as it may. And if the whole castle tumblesdown, I shan't care; I shall be glad. Do you imagine I am going todwell in this weird owls' nest? No; my wise ancestor who had thefoundations of a new castle laid in the beautiful valley yonder--he hasbegun a work which I intend to finish." Daniel said crestfallen, "Thenwill all your faithful old servants have to take up their bundles andgo?" "That I am not going to be waited upon by helpless, weak-kneed oldfellows like you is quite certain; but for all that I shall turn noneaway. You may all enjoy the bread of charity without working for it.""And am I," cried the old man, greatly hurt, "am I, the house-steward,to be forced to lead such a life of inactivity?" Then the Freiherr, whohad turned his back upon the old man and was about to leave the room,wheeled suddenly round, his face perfectly ablaze with passion, strodeup to the old man as he stretched out his doubled fist towards him, andshouted in a thundering voice, "You, you hypocritical old villain, it'syou who helped my old father in his unearthly practices up yonder; youlay upon his heart like a vampire; and perhaps it was you who baselytook advantage of the old man's mad folly to plant in his mind thosediabolical ideas which brought me to the brink of ruin. I ought, I tellyou, to kick you out like a mangy cur." The old man was so terrified atthese harsh terrible words that he threw himself upon his knees besidethe Freiherr; but the Baron, as he spoke these last words, threwforward his right foot, perhaps quite unintentionally (as is frequentlythe case in anger, when the body mechanically obeys the mind, and whatis in the thought is imitatively realised in action) and hit the oldman so hard on the chest that he rolled over with a stifled scream.Rising painfully to his feet and uttering a most singular sound, likethe howling whimper of an animal wounded to death, he looked theFreiherr through and through with a look that glared with mingled rageand despair. The purse of money which the Freiherr threw down as hewent out of the room, the old man left lying on the floor where itfell.
Meanwhile all the nearest relatives of the family who lived in theneighbourhood had arrived, and the old Freiherr was interred with muchpomp in the family vault in the church at R--sitten; and now, after theinvited guests had departed, the new lord of the entail appeared toshake off his gloomy mood, and to be prepared to duly enjoy theproperty that had fallen to him. Along with V----, the old Freiherr'sJustitiarius, who won his full confidence in the very first interviewthey had, and who was at once confirmed in his office, the Baron madean exact calculation of his sources of income, and considered how largea part he could devote to making improvements and how large a part tobuilding a new castle. V---- was of opinion that the old Freiherr couldnot possibly have spent all his income every year, and that there mustcertainly be money concealed somewhere, since he had found nothingamongst his papers except one or two bank-notes for insignificantsums, and the ready-money in the iron safe was but very little morethan a thousand thalers, or about L150. Who would be so likely toknow anything about it as Daniel, who in his obstinate self-willed waywas perhaps only waiting to be asked about it? The Baron was nownot a little concerned at the thought that Daniel, whom he had sogrossly insulted, might let large sums moulder somewhere soonerthan discover them to him, not so much, of course, from any motives ofself-interest,--for of what use could even the largest sum of money beto him, a childless old man, whose only wish was to end his days in thecastle of R--sitten?--as from a desire to take vengeance for theaffront put upon him. He gave V---- a circumstantial account of theentire scene with Daniel, and concluded by saying that from severalitems of information communicated to him he had learned that it wasDaniel alone who had contrived to nourish in the old Freiherr's mindsuch an inexplicable aversion to ever seeing his sons in R--sitten. TheJustitiarius declared that this information was perfectly false, sincethere was not a human creature on the face of the earth who would havebeen able to guide the Freiherr's thoughts in any way, far lessdetermine them for him; and he undertook finally to draw from Danielthe secret, if he had one, as to the place in which they would belikely to find money concealed. His task proved far easier than he hadanticipated, for no sooner did he begin, "But how comes it, Daniel,that your old master has left so little ready-money?" than Danielreplied, with a repulsive smile, "Do you mean the few triflingthalers, Herr Justitiarius, which you found in the little strong box?Oh! the rest is lying in the vault beside our gracious master'ssleeping-cabinet. But the best," he went on to say, whilst hissmile passed over into an abominable grin, and his eyes flashedwith malicious fire, "but the best of all--several thousand goldpieces--lies buried at the bottom of the chasm beneath the ruins." TheJustitiarius at once summoned the Freiherr; they proceeded there, andthen into the sleeping-cabinet, where Daniel pushed aside the wainscotin one of the corners, and a small lock became visible. Whilst theFreiherr was regarding the polished lock with covetous eyes, and makingpreparations to try and unlock it with the keys of the great bunchwhich he dragged with some difficulty out of his pocket, Daniel drewhimself up to his full height, and looked down with almost malignantpride upon his master, who had now stooped down in order to see thelock better.
Daniel's face was deadly pale, and he said, his voicetrembling, "If I am a dog, my lord Freiherr, I have also at least adog's fidelity." Therewith he held out a bright steel key to hismaster, who greedily snatched it out of his hand, and with it heeasily succeeded in opening the door. They stepped into a small andlow-vaulted apartment, in which stood a large iron coffer with thelid open, containing many money-bags, upon which lay a strip ofparchment, written in the old Freiherr's familiar handwriting, largeand old-fashioned.
One hundred and fifty thousand Imperial thalers in old _Fredericks d'or_,[8] money saved from the revenues of the estate-tail of R--sitten; this sum has been set aside for the building of the castle. Further, the lord of the entail who succeeds me in the possession of this money shall, upon the highest hill situated eastward from the old tower of the castle (which he will find in ruins), erect a high beacon tower for the benefit of mariners, and cause a fire to be kindled on it every night. R--sitten, on Michaelmas Eve of the year 1760. RODERICK, FREIHERR von R.
The Freiherr lifted up the bags one after the other and let them fallagain into the coffer, delighted at the ringing clink of so much goldcoin; then he turned round abruptly to the old house-steward, thankedhim for the fidelity he had shown, and assured him that they were onlyvile tattling calumnies which had induced him to treat him so harshlyin the first instance. He should not only remain in the castle, butshould also continue to discharge his duties, uncurtailed in any way,as house-steward, and at double the wages he was then having. "I oweyou a large compensation; if you will take money, help yourself to oneof these bags." As he concluded with these words, the Baron stoodbefore the old man, with his eyes bent upon the ground, and pointed tothe coffer; then, approaching it again, he once more ran his eyes overthe bags. A burning flush suddenly mounted into the old house-steward'scheeks, and he uttered that awful howling whimper--a noise as of ananimal wounded to death, according to the Freiherr's previousdescription of it to the Justitiarius. The latter shuddered, for thewords which the old man murmured between his teeth sounded like, "Bloodfor gold." Of all this the Freiherr, absorbed in the contemplation ofthe treasure before him, had heard not the least. Daniel tottered inevery limb, as if shaken by an ague fit; approaching the Freiherr withbowed head in a humble attitude, he kissed his hand, and drawing hishandkerchief across his eyes under the pretence of wiping away histears, said in a whining voice, "Alas! my good and gracious master,what am I, a poor childless old man, to do with money? But the doubledwages I accept with gladness, and will continue to do my dutyfaithfully and zealously."
The Freiherr, who had paid no particular heed to the old man's words,now let the heavy lid of the coffer fall to with a bang, so that thewhole room shook and cracked, and then, locking the coffer andcarefully withdrawing the key, he said carelessly, "Very well, verywell, old man." But after they entered the hall he went on talking toDaniel, "But you said something about a quantity of gold pieces buriedunderneath the ruins of the tower?" Silently the old man steppedtowards the postern, and after some difficulty unlocked it. But so soonas he threw it open the storm drove a thick mass of snow-flakes intothe hall; a raven was disturbed and flew in croaking and screaming anddashed with its black wings against the window, but regaining the openpostern it disappeared downwards into the chasm. The Freiherr steppedout into the corridor; but one single glance downwards, and he startedback trembling. "A fearful sight!--I'm giddy!" he stammered as he sankalmost fainting into the Justitiarius' arms. But quickly recoveringhimself by an effort, he fixed a sharp look upon the old man and asked,"Down there, you say?" Meanwhile the old man had been locking thepostern, and was now leaning against it with all his bodily strength,and was gasping and grunting to get the great key out of the rustylock. This at last accomplished, he turned round to the Baron,and, changing the huge key about backwards and forwards in hishands, replied with a peculiar smile, "Yes, there are thousandsand thousands down there--all my dear dead master's beautifulinstruments--telescopes, quadrants, globes, dark mirrors, they all liesmashed to atoms underneath the ruins between the stones and the bigbalk." "But money--coined money," interrupted the Baron, "you spoke ofgold pieces, old man?" "I only meant things which had cost severalthousand gold pieces," he replied; and not another word could be gotout of him.
The Baron appeared highly delighted to have all at once come intopossession of all the means requisite for carrying out his favouriteplan, namely, that of building a new and magnificent castle. TheJustitiarius indeed stated it as his opinion that, according to thewill of the deceased, the money could only be applied to the repair andcomplete finishing of the interior of the old castle, and further, anynew erection would hardly succeed in equalling the commanding size andthe severe and simple character of the old ancestral castle. TheFreiherr, however, persisted in his intention, and maintained that inthe disposal of property respecting which nothing was stated in thedeeds of the entail the irregular will of the deceased could have novalidity. He at the same time led V---- to understand that he shouldconceive it to be his duty to embellish R--sitten as far as theclimate, soil, and environs would permit, for it was his intention tobring home shortly as his dearly loved wife a lady who was in everyrespect worthy of the greatest sacrifices.
The air of mystery with which the Freiherr spoke of this alliance,which possibly had been already consummated in secret, cut short allfurther questions from the side of the Justitiarius. Nevertheless hefound in it to some extent a redeeming feature, for the Freiherr'seager grasping after riches now appeared to be due not so much toavarice strictly speaking as to the desire to make one dear to himforget the more beautiful country she was relinquishing for his sake.Otherwise he could not acquit the Baron of being avaricious, or at anyrate insufferably close-fisted, seeing that, even though rolling inmoney and even when gloating over the old _Fredericks d'or_, he couldnot help bursting out with the peevish grumble, "I know the old rascalhas concealed from us the greatest part of his wealth, but next springI will have the ruins of the tower turned over under my own eyes."
The Freiherr had architects come, and discussed with them at greatlength what would be the most convenient way to proceed with hiscastle-building. He rejected one drawing after another; in none of themwas the style of architecture sufficiently rich and grandiose. He nowbegan to draw plans himself, and, inspirited by this employment, whichconstantly placed before his eyes a sunny picture of the happiestfuture, brought himself into such a genial humour that it oftenbordered on wild exuberance of spirits, and even communicated itself toall about him. His generosity and profuse hospitality belied allimputations of avarice at any rate. Daniel also seemed to have nowforgotten the insult that had been put upon him. Towards the Freiherr,although often followed by him with mistrustful eyes on account of thetreasure buried in the chasm, his bearing was both quiet and humble.But what struck everybody as extraordinary was that the old manappeared to grow younger from day to day. Possibly this might be,because he had begun to forget his grief for his old master, which hadstricken him sore, and possibly also because he had not now, as he oncehad, to spend the cold nights in the tower without sleep, and gotbetter food and good wine such as he liked; but whatever the causemight be, the old greybeard seemed to be growing into a vigorous manwith red cheeks and well-nourished body, who could walk firmly andlaugh loudly whenever he heard a jest to laugh at.
The pleasant tenor of life at R--sitten was disturbed by the arrival ofa man whom one would have judged to be quite in his element there. Thiswas Wolfgang's younger brother Hubert, at the sight of whom Wolfganghad screamed out, with his face as pale as a corpse's, "Unhappy wretch,what do you want here?" Hubert threw himself into his brother's arms,but Wolfgang took him and led him away up to a retired room, where helocked himself in with him. They remained closeted several hours, atthe end of which time Hubert came down, greatly agitated, and calledfor his horses. The Justitiarius intercepted him; Hubert tried to passhim; but V----, inspired by the hope that he might perhaps stifle inthe bud wh
at might else end in a bitter life-long quarrel between thebrothers, besought him to stay, at least a few hours, and at the samemoment the Freiherr came down calling, "Stay here, Hubert! you willthink better of it." Hubert's countenance cleared up; he assumed an airof composure, and quickly pulling off his costly fur coat, and throwingit to a servant behind him, he grasped V----'s hand and went with himinto the room, saying with a scornful smile, "So the lord of the entailwill tolerate my presence here, it seems." V---- thought that theunfortunate misunderstanding would assuredly be smoothed away now, forit was only separation and existence apart from each other that would,he conceived, be able to foster it. Hubert took up the steel tongswhich stood near the fire-grate, and as he proceeded to break up aknotty piece of wood that would only sweal, not burn, and to rake thefire together better, he said to V----, "You see what a good-naturedfellow I am, Herr Justitiarius, and that I am skilful in all domesticmatters. But Wolfgang is full of the most extraordinary prejudices,and--a bit of a miser." V---- did not deem it advisable to attempt tofathom further the relations between the brothers, especially asWolfgang's face and conduct and voice plainly showed that he was shakento the very depths of his nature by diverse violent passions.
Late in the evening V---- had occasion to go up to the Freiherr's roomin order to learn his decision about some matter or other connectedwith the estate-tail. He found him pacing up and down the room withlong strides, his arms crossed on his back, and much perturbation inhis manner. On perceiving the Justitiarius he stood still, and then,taking him by both hands and looking him gloomily in the face, he saidin a broken voice, "My brother is come. I know what you are going tosay," he proceeded almost before V---- had opened his mouth to put aquestion. "Unfortunately you know nothing. You don't know that myunfortunate brother--yes, I will not call him anything worse thanunfortunate--that, like a spirit of evil, he crosses my patheverywhere, ruining my peace of mind. It is not his fault that I havenot been made unspeakably miserable; he did his best to make me so, butHeaven willed it otherwise. Ever since he has known of the conversionof the property into an entail, he has persecuted me with deadlyhatred. He envies me this property, which in his hands would only bescattered like chaff. He is the wildest spendthrift I ever heard of.His load of debt exceeds by a long way the half of the unentailedproperty in Courland that fell to him, and now, pursued by hiscreditors, who fail not to worry him for payment, he hurries here to meto beg for money." "And you, his brother, refuse to give him any?"V---- was about to interrupt him; but the Freiherr, letting V----'shands fall, and taking a long step backwards, went on in a loud andvehement tone. "Stop! yes; I refuse. I neither can nor will give away asingle thaler of the revenues of the entail. But listen, and I willtell you what was the proposal which I made the insane fellow a fewhours ago, and made in vain, and then pass judgment upon the feelingsof duty by which I am actuated. Our unentailed possessions in Courlandare, as you are aware, considerable; the half that falls to me I amwilling to renounce, but in favour of his family. For Hubert hasmarried, in Courland, a beautiful lady, but poor. She and the childrenshe has borne him are starving. The estates should be put under trust;sufficient should be set aside out of the revenues to support him, andhis creditors be paid by arrangement. But what does he care for a quietlife--a life free of anxiety?--what does he care for wife and child?Money, ready-money, and large quantities, is what he will have, that hemay squander it in infamous folly. Some demon has made him acquaintedwith the secret of the hundred and fifty thousand thalers, half ofwhich he in his mad way demands, maintaining that this money is movableproperty and quite apart from the entailed portion. This, however, Imust and will refuse him, but the feeling haunts me that he is plottingmy destruction in his heart."
No matter how great the efforts which V---- made to persuade theFreiherr out of this suspicion against his brother, in which, ofcourse, not being initiated into the more circumstantial details of thedisagreement, he could only appeal to broad and somewhat superficialmoral principles, he yet could not boast of the smallest success. TheFreiherr commissioned him to treat with his hostile and avariciousbrother Hubert. V---- proceeded to do so with all the circumspection hewas master of, and was not a little gratified when Hubert at lengthdeclared, "Be it so then; I will accept my brother's proposals, butupon condition that he will now, since I am on the point of losing bothmy honour and my good name for ever through the severity of mycreditors, make me an advance of a thousand _Fredericks d'or_ in hardcash, and further grant that in time to come I may take up myresidence, at least for a short time occasionally, in our beautifulR--sitten, along with my good brother." "Never, never!" exclaimedthe Freiherr violently, when V---- laid his brother's amendedcounter-proposals before him. "I will never consent that Hubert stayin my house even a single minute after I have brought home my wife. Go,my good friend, tell this mar-peace that he shall have two thousand_Fredericks d'or_, not as an advance, but as a gift--only, bid him go,bid him go." V---- now learned at one and the same time that the groundof the quarrel between the two brothers must be sought for in thismarriage. Hubert listened to the Justitiarius proudly and calmly, andwhen he finished speaking replied in a hoarse and hollow tone, "I willthink it over; but for the present I shall stay a few days in thecastle." V---- exerted himself to prove to the discontented Hubert thatthe Freiherr, by making over his share of their unentailed property,was really doing all he possibly could do to indemnify him, and that onthe whole he had no cause for complaint against his brother, althoughat the same time he admitted that all institutions of the natureof primogeniture, which vested such preponderant advantages in theeldest-born to the prejudice of the remaining children, were in manyrespects hateful. Hubert tore his waistcoat open from top to bottomlike a man whose breast was cramped and he wanted to relieve it byfresh air. Thrusting one hand into his open shirt-frill and plantingthe other in his side, he spun round on one foot in a quick pirouetteand cried in a sharp voice, "Pshaw! What is hateful is born of hatred."Then bursting out into a shrill fit of laughter, he said, "Whatcondescension my lord of the entail shows in being thus willing tothrow his gold pieces to the poor beggar!" V---- saw plainly that allidea of a complete reconciliation between the brothers was quite out ofthe question.
To the Freiherr's annoyance, Hubert established himself in the roomsthat had been appointed for him in one of the side wings of the castleas if with the view to a very long stay. He was observed to holdfrequent and long conversations with the house-steward; nay, the latterwas sometimes even seen to accompany him when he went out wolf-hunting.Otherwise he was very little seen, and studiously avoided meeting hisbrother alone, at which the latter was very glad. V---- felt howstrained and unpleasant this state of things was, and was obliged toconfess to himself that the peculiar uneasiness which marked all thatHubert both said and did was such as to destroy intentionally andeffectually all the pleasure of the place. He now perfectly understoodwhy the Freiherr had manifested so much alarm on seeing his brother.
One day as V---- was sitting by himself in the justice-room amongst hislaw-papers, Hubert came in with a grave and more composed manner thanusual, and said in a voice that bordered upon melancholy, "I willaccept my brother's last proposals. If you will contrive that I havethe two thousand _Fredericks d'or_ today, I will leave the castle thisvery night--on horseback--alone." "With the money?" asked V----. "Youare right," replied Hubert; "I know what you would say--the weight!Give it me in bills on Isaac Lazarus of K----. For to K---- I am goingthis very night. Something is driving me away from this place. The oldfellow has bewitched it with evil spirits." "Do you mean your father,Herr Baron?" asked V---- sternly. Hubert's lips trembled; he had tocling to the chair to keep from falling; but then suddenly recoveringhimself, he cried, "To-day then, please, Herr Justitiarius," andstaggered to the door, not, however, without some exertion. "He nowsees that no deceptions are any longer of avail, that he can do nothingagainst my firm will," said the Freiherr whilst drawing up the bills onIsaac Lazarus in K----. A burden was lifted off his heart by t
hedeparture of his inimical brother; and for a long time he had not beenin such cheerful spirits as he was at supper. Hubert had sent hisexcuses; and there was not one who regretted his absence.
The room which V---- occupied was somewhat retired, and its windowslooked upon the castle-yard. In the night he was suddenly startled upout of his sleep, and was under the impression that he had beenawakened by a distant and pitiable moan. But listen as he would, allremained still as the grave, and so he was obliged to conclude that thesound which had fallen upon his ears was the delusion of a dream. Butat the same time he was seized with such a peculiar feeling ofbreathless anxiety and terror that he could not stay in bed. He got upand approached the window. It was not long, however, before the castledoor was opened, and a figure with a blazing torch came out of thecastle and went across the court-yard. V---- recognised the figure asthat of old Daniel, and saw him open the stable-door and go in, andsoon afterwards bring out a saddle horse. Now a second figure came intoview out of the darkness, well wrapped in furs, and with a fox-skin capon his head. V---- perceived that it was Hubert; but after he hadspoken excitedly with Daniel for some minutes, he returned into thecastle. Daniel led back the horse into the stable and locked thedoor, and also that of the castle, after he had returned across thecourt-yard in the same way in which he crossed it before. It wasevident Hubert had intended to go away on horseback, but had suddenlychanged his mind; and no less evident was it that there was a dangerousunderstanding of some sort between Hubert and the old house-steward.V---- looked forward to the morning with burning impatience; he wouldacquaint the Freiherr with the occurrences of the night. Really it wasnow time to take precautionary measures against the attacks of Hubert'smalice, which V---- was now convinced, had been betrayed in hisagitated behaviour of the day before.
Next morning, at the hour when the Freiherr was in the habit of rising,V---- heard people running backwards and forwards, doors opened andslammed to, and a tumultuous confusion of voices talking and shouting.On going out of his room he met servants everywhere, who, withoutheeding him, ran past him with ghastly pale faces, upstairs,downstairs, in and out the rooms. At length he ascertained that theFreiherr was missing, and that they had been looking for him for hoursin vain. As he had gone to bed in the presence of his personalattendant, he must have afterwards got up and gone away somewhere inhis dressing-gown and slippers, taking the large candlestick with him,for these articles were also missed. V----, his mind agitated with darkforebodings, ran up to the ill-fated hall, the cabinet adjoining whichWolfgang had chosen, like his father, for his own bedroom. The posternleading to the tower stood wide open, with a cry of horror V----shouted, "There--he lies dashed to pieces at the bottom of the ravine."And it was so. There had been a fall of snow, so that all they coulddistinctly make out from above was the rigid arm of the unfortunate manprotruding from between the stones. Many hours passed before theworkmen succeeded, at great risk of life, in descending by means ofladders bound together, and drawing up the corpse by the aid of ropes.In the last agonies of death the Baron had kept a tight hold upon thesilver candlestick; the hand in which it was clenched was the onlyuninjured part of his whole body, which had been shattered in the mosthideous way by rebounding on the sharp stones.
Just as the corpse was drawn up and carried into the hall, and laidupon the very same spot on the large table where a few weeks before oldRoderick had lain dead, Hubert burst in, his face distorted by thefrenzy of despair. Quite overpowered by the fearful sight he wailed,"Brother! O my poor brother! No; this I never prayed for from thedemons who had entered into me." This suspicious self-exculpation madeV---- tremble; he felt impelled to proceed against Hubert as themurderer of his brother. Hubert, however, had fallen on the floorsenseless; they carried him to bed; but on taking strong restorativeshe soon recovered. Then he appeared in V----'s room, pale andsorrow-stricken, and with his eyes half clouded with grief; and unableto stand owing to his weakness, he slowly sank down into an easy-chair,saying, "I have wished for my brother's death, because my father hadmade over to him the best part of the property through the foolishconversion of it into an entail. He has now found a fearful death. I amnow lord of the estate-tail, but my heart is rent with pain--I can--Ishall never be happy. I confirm you in your office; you shall beinvested with the most extensive powers in respect to the management ofthe estate, upon which I cannot bear to live." Hubert left the room,and in two or three hours was on his way to K----.
It appeared that the unfortunate Wolfgang had got up in the night,probably with the intention of going into the other cabinet where therewas a library. In the stupor of sleep he had mistaken the door, and hadopened the postern, taken a step out, and plunged headlong down. Butafter all had been said, there was nevertheless a good deal that wasstrained and unlikely in this explanation. If the Baron was unable tosleep and wanted to get a book out of the library, this of itselfexcluded all idea of sleep-stupor; but this condition alone couldaccount for any mistaking of the postern for the door of the cabinet.Then again, the former was fast locked, and required a good deal ofexertion to unlock it. These improbabilities V---- accordingly putbefore the domestics, who had gathered round him, and at length theFreiherr's body-servant, Francis by name, said, "Nay, nay, my good HerrJustitiarius; it couldn't have happened in that way." "Well, how then?"asked V---- abruptly and sharply. But Francis, a faithful, honestfellow, who would have followed his master into his grave, wasunwilling to speak out before the rest; he stipulated that what he hadto say about the event should be confided to the Justitiarius alone inprivate. V---- now learned that the Freiherr used often to talk toFrancis about the vast treasure which he believed lay buried beneaththe ruins of the tower, and also that frequently at night, as if goadedby some malicious fiend, he would open the postern, the key of whichDaniel had been obliged to give him, and would gaze with longing eyesdown into the chasm where the supposed riches lay. There was now nodoubt about it; on that ill-omened night the Freiherr, after hisservant had left him, must have taken one of his usual walks to thepostern, where he had been most likely suddenly seized with dizziness,and had fallen over. Daniel, who also seemed much upset by theFreiherr's terrible end, thought it would be a good thing to have thedangerous postern walled up; and this was at once done.
Freiherr Hubert von R----, who had then succeeded to the entail, wentback to Courland without once showing himself at R--sitten again.V---- was invested with full powers for the absolute management of theproperty. The building of the new castle was not proceeded with; buton the other hand the old structure was put in as good a state ofrepair as possible. Several years passed before Hubert came again toR--sitten, late in the autumn, but after he had remained shut up in hisroom with V---- for several days, he went back to Courland. Passing onhis way through K----, he deposited his will with the governmentauthorities there.
The Freiherr, whose character appeared to have undergone a completerevolution, spoke more than once during his stay at R--sitten ofpresentiments of his approaching death. And these apprehensions werereally not unfounded, for he died in the very next year. His son,named, like the deceased Baron, Hubert, soon came over from Courland totake possession of the rich inheritance; and was followed by his motherand his sister. The youth seemed to unite in his own person all the badqualities of his ancestors: he proved himself to be proud, arrogant,impetuous, avaricious, in the very first moments after his arrival atR--sitten. He wanted to have several things which did not suit hisnotions of what was right and proper altered there and then: the cookhe kicked out of doors; and he attempted to thrash the coachman, inwhich, however, he did not succeed, for the big brawny fellow had theimpudence not to submit to it. In fact, he was on the high road toassuming the _role_ of a harsh and severe lord of the entail, whenV---- interposed in his firm earnest manner, declaring most explicitlythat not a single chair should be moved, that not even a cat shouldleave the house if she liked to stay in it, until after the will hadbeen opened. "You have the presumption to tell me, the lord of theentail," began
the Baron. V----, however, cut short the young man, whowas foaming with rage, and said, whilst he measured him with a keensearching glance, "Don't be in too great a hurry, Herr Baron. At allevents, you have no right to exercise authority here until after theopening of your father's will. It is I--I alone--who am now masterhere; and I shall know how to meet violence with violent measures.Please to recollect that by virtue of my powers as executor of yourfather's will, as well as by virtue of the arrangements which have beenmade by the court, I am empowered to forbid your remaining in R--sittenif I think fit to do so; and so, if you wish to spare me thisdisagreeable step, I would advise you to go away quietly to K----." Thelawyer's earnestness, and the resolute tone in which he spoke, lent theproper emphasis to his words. Hence the young Baron, who was chargingwith far two sharp-pointed horns, felt the weakness of his weaponsagainst the firm bulwark, and found it convenient to cover the shame ofhis retreat with a burst of scornful laughter.
Three months passed and the day was come on which, in accordance withthe expressed wish of the deceased, his will was to be opened at K----,where it had been deposited. In the chambers there was, besides theofficers of the court, the Baron, and V----, a young man of nobleappearance, whom V---- had brought with him, and who was taken to beV----'s clerk, since he had a parchment deed sticking out from thebreast of his buttoned-up coat. Him the Baron treated as he did nearlyall the rest, with scornful contempt; and he demanded with noisyimpetuosity that they should make haste and get done with all theirtiresome needless ceremonies as quickly as possible and without overmany words and scribblings. He couldn't for the life of him make outwhy any will should be wanted at all with respect to the inheritance,and especially in the case of entailed property; and no matter whatprovisions were made in the will, it would depend entirely upon hisdecision as to whether they should be observed or not. After casting ahasty and surly glance at the handwriting and the seal, the Baronacknowledged them to be those of his dead father. Upon the clerk of thecourt preparing to read the will aloud, the young Baron, throwing hisright arm carelessly over the back of his chair and leaning his left onthe table, whilst he drummed with his fingers on its green cover, satstaring with an air of indifference out of the window. After a shortpreamble the deceased Freiherr Hubert von R---- declared that he hadnever possessed the estate-tail as its lawful owner, but that he hadonly managed it in the name of the deceased Freiherr Wolfgang vonR----'s only son, called Roderick after his grandfather; and he it wasto whom, according to the rights of family priority, the estate hadfallen on his father's death. Amongst Hubert's papers would be found anexact account of all revenues and expenditure, as well as of existingmovable property, &c. The will went on to relate that Wolfgang vonR---- had, during his travels, made the acquaintance of Mdlle. Julia deSt. Val in Geneva, and had fallen so deeply in love with her that heresolved never to leave her side again. She was very poor; and herfamily, although noble and of good repute, did not, however, rankamongst the most illustrious, for which reason Wolfgang dared notexpect to receive the consent of old Roderick to a union with her, forthe old Freiherr's aim and ambition was to promote by all possiblemeans the establishment of a powerful family. Nevertheless he venturedto write from Paris to his father, acquainting him with the fact thathis affections were engaged. But what he had foreseen was actuallyrealised; the old Baron declared categorically that he had himselfchosen the future mistress of the entail, and therefore there couldnever be any mention made of any other. Wolfgang, instead of crossingthe Channel into England, as he was to have done, returned into Genevaunder the assumed name of Born, and married Julia, who after the lapseof a year bore him a son, and this son became on Wolfgang's death thereal lord of the entail. In explanation of the facts why Hubert, thoughacquainted with all this, had kept silent so long and had representedhimself as lord of the entail, various reasons were assigned, basedupon agreements formerly made with Wolfgang, but they seemed for themost part insufficient and devoid of real foundation.
The Baron sat staring at the clerk of the court as if thunderstruck,whilst the latter went on proclaiming all this bad news in aprovokingly monotonous and jarring tone. When he finished, V---- rose,and taking the young man whom he had brought with him by the hand,said, as he bowed to the assembled company, "Here I have the honour topresent to you, gentlemen, Freiherr Roderick von R----, lord of theentail of R--sitten." Baron Hubert looked at the youth, who had, as itwere, fallen from the clouds to deprive him of the rich inheritancetogether with half the unentailed Courland estates, with suppressedfury in his gleaming eyes; then, threatening him with his doubled fist,he ran out of the court without uttering a word. Baron Roderick, onbeing challenged by the court-officers, produced the documents by whichhe was to establish his identity as the person whom he representedhimself to be. He handed in an attested extract from the register ofthe church where his father was married, which certified that on suchand such a day Wolfgang Born, merchant, born in K----, had been unitedin marriage with the blessing of the Church to Mdlle. Julia de St. Val,in the presence of certain witnesses, who were named. Further, heproduced his own baptismal certificate (he had been baptized in Genevaas the son of the merchant Born and his wife Julia, _nee_ De St. Val,begotten in lawful wedlock), and various letters from his father to hismother, who was long since dead, but they none of them had any othersignature than W.
V---- looked through all these papers with a cloud upon his face; andas he put them together again, he said, somewhat troubled, "Ah well!God will help us!"
The very next morning Freiherr Hubert von R---- presented, through anadvocate whose services he had succeeded in enlisting in his cause, astatement of protest to the government authorities in K----, actuallycalling upon them to effectuate the immediate surrender to him of theentail of R--sitten. It was incontestable, maintained the advocate,that the deceased Freiherr Hubert Von R---- had not had the power todispose of entailed property either by testament or in any other way.The testament in question, therefore, was nothing more than anevidential statement, written down and deposited with the court, to theeffect that Freiherr Wolfgang von R---- had bequeathed the estate-tailto a son who was at that time still living; and accordingly it had asevidence no greater weight than that of any other witness, and so couldnot by any possibility legitimately establish the claims of the personwho had announced himself to be Freiherr Roderick von R----. Hence itwas rather the duty of this new claimant to prove by action at law hisalleged rights of inheritance, which were hereby expressly disputed anddenied, and so also to take proper steps to maintain his claim to theestate-tail, which now, according to the laws of succession, fell toBaron Hubert von R----. By the father's death the property came at onceimmediately into the hands of the son. There was no need for anyformal declaration to be made of his entering into possession of theinheritance, since the succession could not be alienated; at any rate,the present owner of the estate was not going to be disturbed in hispossession by claims which were perfectly groundless. Whatever reasonsthe deceased might have had for bringing forward another heir of entailwere quite irrelevant. And it might be remarked that he had himself hadan intrigue in Switzerland, as could be proved if necessary from thepapers he had left behind him; and it was quite possible that theperson whom he alleged to be his brother's son was his own son, thefruit of an unlawful love, for whom in a momentary fit of remorse hehad wished to secure the entail.
However great was the balance of probability in favour of the truth ofthe circumstances as stated in the will, and however revolted thejudges were, particularly by the last clauses of the protest, in whichthe son felt no compunction at accusing his dead father of a crime, yetthe views of the case there stated were after all the right ones; andit was only due to V----'s restless exertions, and his explicit andsolemn assurance that the proofs which were necessary to establishlegitimately the identity of Freiherr Roderick von R---- should beproduced in a very short time, that the surrender of the estate to theyoung Baron was deferred, and the contrivance of the administration ofit in t
rust agreed to, until after the case should be settled.
V---- was only too well aware how difficult it would be for him to keephis promise. He had turned over all old Roderick's papers withoutfinding the slightest trace of a letter or any kind of a statementbearing upon Wolfgang's relation to Mdlle. de St. Val. He was sittingwrapt in thought in old Roderick's sleeping-cabinet, every hole andcomer of which he had searched, and was working at a long statement ofthe case that he intended despatching to a certain notary in Geneva,who had been recommended to him as a shrewd and energetic man, torequest him to procure and forward certain documents which wouldestablish the young Freiherr's cause on firm ground. It was midnight;the full moon shone in through the windows of the adjoining hall, thedoor of which stood open. Then V---- fancied he heard a noise as ofsome one coming slowly and heavily up the stairs, and also at the sametime a jingling and rattling of keys. His attention was arrested; herose to his feet and went into the hall, where he plainly made out thatthere was some one crossing the ante-room and approaching the door ofthe hall where he was. Soon afterwards the door was opened and a mancame slowly in, dressed in night-clothes, his face ghastly pale anddistorted; in the one hand he bore a candle-stick with the candlesburning, and in the other a huge bunch of keys. V---- at oncerecognised the house-steward, and was on the point of addressing himand inquiring what he wanted so late at night, when he was arrested byan icy shiver; there was something so unearthly and ghost-like in theold man's manner and bearing as well as in his set, pallid face. Heperceived that he was in presence of a somnambulist. Crossing the hallobliquely with measured strides, the old man went straight to thewalled-up postern that had formerly led to the tower. He came to a haltimmediately in front of it, and uttered a wailing sound that seemed tocome from the bottom of his heart, and was so awful and so loud thatthe whole apartment rang again, making V---- tremble with dread. Then,setting the candlestick down on the floor and hanging the keys on hisbelt, Daniel began to scratch at the wall with both hands, so that theblood soon burst out from beneath his finger-nails, and all the whilehe was moaning and groaning as if tortured by nameless agony. Afterplacing his ear against the wall in a listening attitude, he waved hishand as if hushing some one, stooped down and picked up thecandlestick, and finally stole back to the door with soft measuredfootsteps. V---- took his own candle in his hand and cautiouslyfollowed him. They both went downstairs; the old man unlocked the greatmain door of the castle, V---- slipped cleverly through. Then they wentto the stable, where old Daniel, to V----'s perfect astonishment,placed his candlestick so skilfully that the entire interior of thebuilding was sufficiently lighted without the least danger. Havingfetched a saddle and bridle, he put them on one of the horses which hehad loosed from the manger, carefully tightening the girth and takingup the stirrup-straps. Pulling the tuft of hair on the horse's foreheadoutside the front strap, he took him by the bridle and led him out ofthe stable, clicking with his tongue and patting his neck with onehand. On getting outside in the courtyard he stood several seconds inthe attitude of one receiving commands, which he promised by sundrynods to carry out. Then he led the horse back into the stable,unsaddled him, and tied him to the manger. This done, he took hiscandlestick, locked the stable, and returned to the castle, finallydisappearing in his own room, the door of which he carefully bolted.V---- was deeply agitated by this scene; the presentiment of somefearful deed rose up before him like a black and fiendish spectre, andrefused to leave him. Being so keenly alive as he was to the precariousposition of his _protege_, he felt that it would at least be his dutyto turn what he had seen to his account.
Next day, just as it was beginning to be dusk, Daniel came into theJustitiarius's room to receive some instructions relating to hisdepartment of the household. V---- took him by the arms, and forcinghim into a chair, in a confidential way began, "See you here, my oldfriend Daniel, I have long been wishing to ask you what you think ofall this confused mess into which Hubert's peculiar will has tumbledus. Do you really think that the young man is Wolfgang's son, begottenin lawful marriage?" The old man, leaning over the arm of his chair,and avoiding V----'s eyes, for V---- was watching him most intently,replied doggedly, "Bah! Maybe he is; maybe he is not. What does itmatter to me? It's all the same to me who's master here now." "But Ibelieve," went on V----, moving nearer to the old man and placing hishand on his shoulder, "but I believed you possessed the old Freiherr'sfull confidence, and in that case he assuredly would not conceal fromyou the real state of affairs with regard to his sons. He told you, Idare say, about the marriage which Wolfgang had made against his will,did he not?" "I don't remember to have ever heard him say anything ofthat sort," replied the old man, yawning with the most ill-manneredloudness. "You are sleepy, old man," said V----; "perhaps you have hada restless night?" "Not that I am aware," he rejoined coldly; "but Imust go and order supper." Whereupon he rose heavily from his chair andrubbed his bent back, yawning again, and that still more loudly thanbefore. "Stay a little while, old man," cried V----, taking hold of hishand and endeavouring to force him to resume his seat; but Danielpreferred to stand in front of the study-table; propping himself uponit with both hands, and leaning across towards V----, he askedsullenly, "Well, what do you want? What have I to do with the will?What do I care about the quarrel over the estate?" "Well, well,"interposed V----, "we'll say no more about that now. Let us turn tosome other topic, Daniel. You are out of humour and yawning, and allthat is a sign of great weariness, and I am almost inclined to believethat it really was _you_ last night, who"---- "Well, what did I do lastnight?" asked the old man without changing his position. V---- wenton, "Last night, when I was sitting up above in your old master'ssleeping-cabinet next the great hall, you came in at the door, yourface pale and rigid; and you went across to the bricked-up postern andscratched at the wall with both your hands, groaning as if in verygreat pain. Do you walk in your sleep, Daniel?" The old man droppedback into the chair which V---- quickly managed to place for him; butnot a sound escaped his lips. His face could not be seen, owing to thegathering dusk of the evening; V---- only noticed that he took hisbreath short and that his teeth were rattling together. "Yes," continued V---- after a short pause, "there is one thing that is verystrange about sleep-walkers. On the day after they have been in thispeculiar state in which they have acted as if they were perfectly wideawake, they don't remember the least thing, that they did." Daniel didnot move. "I have come across something like what your condition wasyesterday once before in the course of my experience," proceeded V----."I had a friend who regularly began to wander about at night as you dowhenever it was full moon,--nay, he often sat down and wrote letters.But what was most extraordinary was that if I began to whisper softlyin his ear I could soon manage to make him speak; and he would answercorrectly all the questions I put to him; and even things that he wouldmost jealously have concealed when awake now fell from his lipsunbidden, as though he were unable to offer any resistance to the powerthat was exerting its influence over him. Deuce take it! I reallybelieve that, if a man who's given to walking in his sleep had evercommitted any crime, and hoarded it up as a secret ever so long, itcould be extracted from him by questioning when he was in this peculiarstate. Happy are they who have a clean conscience like you and me,Daniel! We may walk as much as we like in our sleep; there's no fear ofanybody extorting the confession of a crime from us. But come now,Daniel! when you scratch so hideously at the bricked-up postern, youwant, I dare say, to go up the astronomical tower, don't you? I supposeyou want to go and experiment like old Roderick--eh? Well, next timeyou come, I shall ask you what you want to do." Whilst V---- wasspeaking, the old man was shaken with continually increasing agitation;but now his whole frame seemed to heave and rock convulsively past allhope of cure, and in a shrill voice he began to utter a string ofunmeaning gibberish. V---- rang for the servants. They brought lights;but as the old man's fit did not abate, they lifted him up as though hehad been a mere automaton, not possessed of the power of voluntarymovement, and carried him to bed.
After continuing in this frightfulstate for about an hour, he fell into a profound sleep resembling adead faint When he awoke he asked for wine; and, after he had got whathe wanted, he sent away the man who was going to sit with him, andlocked himself in his room as usual.
V---- had indeed really resolved to make the attempt he spoke of toDaniel, although at the same time he could not forget two facts. In thefirst place, Daniel, having now been made aware of his propensity towalk in his sleep, would probably adopt every measure of precaution toavoid him; and on the other hand, confessions made whilst in thiscondition would not be exactly fitted to serve as a basis for furtherproceedings. In spite of this, however, he repaired to the hall on theapproach of midnight, hoping that Daniel, as frequently happens tothose afflicted in this way, would be constrained to act involuntarily.About midnight there arose a great noise in the courtyard. V----plainly heard a window broken in; then he went downstairs, and as hetraversed the passages he was met by rolling clouds of suffocatingsmoke, which, he soon perceived were pouring out of the open door ofthe house-steward's room. The steward himself was just being carriedout, to all appearance dead, in order to be taken and put to bed inanother room. The servants related that about midnight one of theunder-grooms had been awakened by a strange hollow knocking; he thoughtsomething had befallen the old man, and was preparing to get up and goand see if he could help him, when the night watchman in the courtshouted, "Fire! Fire! The Herr House-Steward's room is all of a brightblaze!" At this outcry several servants at once appeared on the scene;but all their efforts to burst open the room door were unavailing.Whereupon they hurried out into the court, but the resolute watchmanhad already broken in the window, for the room was low and on thebasement story, had torn down the burning curtains, and by pouring afew buckets of water on them had at once extinguished the fire. Thehouse-steward they found lying on the floor in the middle of the roomin a swoon. In his hand he still held the candlestick tightly clenched,the burning candles of which had caught the curtains, and so occasionedthe fire. Some of the blazing rags had fallen upon the old man, burninghis eyebrows and a large portion of the hair of his head. If thewatchman had not seen the fire the old man must have been helplesslyburned to death. The servants, moreover, to their no littleastonishment found the room door secured on the inside by two quite newbolts, which had been fastened on since the previous evening, for theyhad not been there then. V---- perceived that the old man had wished tomake it impossible for him to get out of his room; for the blindimpulse which urged him to wander in his sleep he could not resist. Theold man became seriously ill; he did not speak; he took but littlenourishment; and lay staring before him with the reflection of death inhis set eyes, just as if he were clasped in the vice-like grip of somehideous thought. V---- believed he would never rise from his bed again.
V---- had done all that could be done for his client; and he could nowonly await the result in patience; and so he resolved to return toK----. His departure was fixed for the following morning. As he waspacking his papers together late at night, he happened to lay his handupon a little sealed packet which Freiherr Hubert von R---- had givenhim, bearing the inscription, "To be read after my will has beenopened," and which by some unaccountable means had hitherto escaped hisnotice. He was on the point of breaking the seal when the door openedand Daniel came in with still, ghostlike step. Placing upon the table ablack portfolio which he carried under his arm, he sank upon his kneeswith a deep groan, and grasping V----'s hands with a convulsive clutchhe said, in a voice so hollow and hoarse that it seemed to come fromthe bottom of a grave, "I should not like to die on the scaffold! Thereis One above who judges!" Then, rising with some trouble and with manypainful gasps, he left the room as he had come.
V---- spent the whole of the night in reading what the black portfolioand Hubert's packet contained. Both agreed in all circumstantialparticulars, and suggested naturally what further steps were to betaken. On arriving at K----, V---- immediately repaired to FreiherrHubert von R----, who received him with ill-mannered pride. But theremarkable result of the interview, which began at noon and lasted onwithout interruption until late at night, was that the next day theFreiherr made a declaration before the court to the effect that heacknowledged the claimant to be, agreeably to his father's will, theson of Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of Freiherr Roderick von R----,and begotten in lawful wedlock with Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, andfurthermore acknowledged him as rightful and legitimate heir to theentail. On leaving the court he found his carriage, with post-horses,standing before the door; he stepped in and was driven off at a rapidrate, leaving his mother and his sister behind him. They would perhapsnever see him again, he wrote, along with other perplexing statements.Roderick's astonishment at this unexpected turn which the case hadtaken was very great; he pressed V---- to explain to him how thiswonder had been brought about, what mysterious power was at work in thematter. V----, however, evaded his questions by giving him hopes oftelling him all at some future time, and when he should have come intopossession of the estate. For the surrender of the entail to him couldnot be effected immediately, since the court, not content with Hubert'sdeclaration, required that Roderick should also first prove his ownidentity to their satisfaction. V---- proposed to the Baron that heshould go and live at R--sitten, adding that Hubert's mother andsister, momentarily embarrassed by his sudden departure, would preferto go and live quietly on the ancestral property rather than stay inthe dear and noisy town. The glad delight with which Roderick welcomedthe prospect of dwelling, at least for a time, under the same roof withthe Baroness and her daughter, betrayed the deep impression which thelovely and graceful Seraphina had made upon him. In fact, the Freiherrmade such good use of his time in R--sitten that, at the end of a fewweeks, he had won Seraphina's love as well as her mother's cordialapproval of her marriage with him. All this was for V---- rather tooquick work, since Roderick's claims to be lord of the entail stillcontinued to be rather doubtful. The life of idyllic happiness at thecastle was interrupted by letters from Courland. Hubert had not shownhimself at all at the estates, but had travelled direct to StPetersburg, where he had taken military service and was now in thefield against the Persians, with whom Russia happened to be just thenwaging war. This obliged the Baroness and her daughter to set offimmediately for their Courland estates, where everything was inconfusion and disorder. Roderick, who regarded himself in the light ofan accepted son-in-law, insisted upon accompanying his beloved; andhence, since V---- likewise returned to K----, the castle was left inits previous loneliness. The house-steward's malignant complaint grewworse and worse, so that he gave up all hopes of ever getting aboutagain; and his office was conferred upon an old _chasseur_, Francis byname, Wolfgang's faithful servant.
At last, after long waiting, V---- received from Switzerlandinformation of the most favourable character. The priest who hadmarried Roderick was long since dead; but there was found in the churchregister a memorandum in his hand writing, to the effect that the manof the name of Born, whom he had joined in the bonds of wedlock withMdlle. Julia de St. Val, had established completely to his satisfactionhis identity as Freiherr Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of FreiherrRoderick von R---- of R--Sitten. Besides this, two witnesses of themarriage had been discovered, a merchant of Geneva and an old Frenchcaptain, who had moved to Lyons; to them also Wolfgang had inconfidence stated his real name; and their affidavits confirmed thepriest's notice in the church register. With these memoranda in hishands, drawn up with proper legal formalities, V---- now succeeded insecuring his client in the complete possession of his rights; and asthere was now no longer any hindrance to the surrender to him of theentail, it was to be put into his hands in the ensuing autumn. Huberthad fallen in his very first engagement, thus sharing the fate of hisyounger brother, who had likewise been slain in battle a year beforehis father's death. Thus the Courland estates fell to BaronessSeraphina von R----, and made a handsome dowry for her to take to thetoo happy Roderick.
November had already come in when the
Baroness, along with Roderick andhis betrothed, arrived at R--sitten. The formal surrender of theestate-tail to the young Baron took place, and then his marriage withSeraphina was solemnised. Many weeks passed amid a continual whirl ofpleasure; but at length the wearied guests began gradually to departfrom the castle, to V----'s great satisfaction, for he had made up hismind not to take his leave of R--sitten until he had initiated theyoung lord of the entail in all the relations and duties connected withhis new position down to the minutest particulars. Roderick's uncle hadkept an account of all revenues and disbursements with the mostdetailed accuracy; hence, since Hubert had only retained a small sumannually for his own support, the surplus revenues had all gone toswell the capital left by the old Freiherr, till the total now amountedto a considerable sum. Hubert had only employed the income of theentail for his own purposes during the first three years, but to coverthis he had given a mortgage on the security of his share of theCourland property.
From the time when old Daniel had revealed himself to V---- as asomnambulist, V---- had chosen old Roderick's bed-room for his ownsitting-room, in order that he might the more securely gather from theold man what he afterwards voluntarily disclosed. Hence it was in thisroom and in the adjoining great hall that the Freiherr transactedbusiness with V----. Once they were both sitting at the great table bythe bright blazing fire; V---- had his pen in his hand, and was notingdown various totals and calculating the riches of the lord of theentail, whilst the latter, leaning his head on his hand, was blinkingat the open account-books and formidable-looking documents. Neither ofthem heard the hollow roar of the sea, nor the anxious cries of thesea-gulls as they dashed against the windowpanes, flapping their wingsand flying backwards and forwards, announcing the oncoming storm.Neither of them heeded the storm, which arose about midnight, and wasnow roaring and raging with wild fury round the castle walls, so thatall the sounds of ill omen in the fire-grates and narrow passagesawoke, and began to whistle and shriek in a weird, unearthly way. Atlength, after a terrific blast, which made the whole castle shake, thehall was completely lit up by the murky glare of the full moon, andV---- exclaimed, "Awful weather!" The Freiherr, quite absorbed in theconsideration of the wealth which had fallen to him, repliedindifferently, as he turned over a page of the receipt-book with asatisfied smile, "It is indeed; very stormy!" But, as if clutched bythe icy hand of Dread, he started to his feet as the door of the hallflew open and a pale spectral figure became visible, striding in withthe stamp of death upon its face. It was Daniel, who, lying helplessunder the power of disease, was deemed in the opinion of V---- as ofeverybody else incapable of the ability to move a single limb; but,again coming under the influence of his propensity to wander in hissleep at full moon, he had, it appeared, been unable to resist it. TheFreiherr stared at the old man without uttering a sound; and whenDaniel began to scratch at the wall, and moan as though in the painfulagonies of death, Roderick's heart was filled with horrible dread. Withhis face ashy pale and his hair standing straight on end, he leapt tohis feet and strode towards the old man in a threatening attitude andcried in a loud firm voice, so that the hall rang again, "Daniel,Daniel, what are you doing here at this hour?" Then the old man utteredthat same unearthly howling whimper, like the death-cry of a woundedanimal, which he had uttered when Wolfgang had offered to reward hisfidelity with gold; and he fell down on the floor. V---- summoned theservants; they raised the old man up; but all attempts to restoreanimation proved fruitless. Then the Freiherr cried, almost besidehimself, "Good God! Good God! Now I remember to have heard that asleepwalker may die on the spot if anybody calls him by his name. Oh!oh! unfortunate wretch that I am! I have killed the poor old man! Ishall never more have a peaceful moment so long as I live." When theservants had carried the corpse away and the hall was again empty,V---- took the Freiherr, who was still continuing his self-reproaches,by the hand and led him in impressive silence to the walled-up postern,and said, "The man who fell down dead at your feet, Freiherr Roderick,was the atrocious murderer of your father." The Freiherr fixed hisstaring eyes upon V---- as though he saw the foul fiends of hell. ButV---- went on, "The time has come now for me to reveal to you thehideous secret which, weighing upon the conscience of this monster andburthening him with curses, compelled him to roam abroad in his sleep.The Eternal Power has seen fit to make the son take vengeance upon themurderer of his father. The words which you thundered in the ears ofthat fearful night-walker were the last words which your unhappy fatherspoke." V---- sat down in front of the fire, and the Freiherr,trembling and unable to utter a word, took his seat beside him.V---- began to tell him the contents of the document which Hubert hadleft behind him, and the seal of which he (V----) was not to breakuntil after the opening of the will Hubert lamented, in expressionstestifying to the deepest remorse, the implacable hatred against hiselder brother which took root in him from the moment that old Roderickestablished the entail. He was deprived of all weapons; for, even if hesucceeded in maliciously setting the son at variance with the father,it would serve no purpose, since even Roderick himself had not thepower to deprive his eldest son of his birth-right, nor would he onprinciple have ever done so, no matter how his affections had beenalienated from him. It was only when Wolfgang formed his connectionwith Julia de St. Val in Geneva that Hubert saw his way to effectinghis brother's ruin. And that was the time when he came to anunderstanding with Daniel, to provoke the old man by villainous devicesto take measures which should drive his son to despair.
He was well aware of old Roderick's opinion that the only way to ensurean illustrious future for the family to all subsequent time was bymeans of an alliance with one of the oldest families in the country.The old man had read this alliance in the stars, and any perniciousderangement of the constellation would only entail destruction upon thefamily he had founded. In this way it was that Wolfgang's union withJulia seemed to the old man like a sinful crime, committed against theordinances of the Power which had stood by him in all his worldlyundertakings; and any means that might be employed for Julia's ruin hewould have regarded as justified for the same reason, for Julia had, heconceived, ranged herself against him like some demoniacal principle.Hubert knew that his brother loved Julia passionately, almost tomadness in fact, and that the loss of her would infallibly make himmiserable, perhaps kill him. And Hubert was all the more ready toassist the old man in his plans as he had himself conceived an unlawfulaffection for Julia, and hoped to win her for himself. It was, however,determined by a special dispensation of Providence that all attacks,even the most virulent, were to be thwarted by Wolfgang's resoluteness;nay, that he should contrive to deceive his brother: the fact that hismarriage was actually solemnised and that of the birth of a son werekept secret from Hubert In Roderick's mind also there occurred, alongwith the presentiment of his approaching death, the idea that Wolfganghad really married the Julia who was so hostile to him. In the letterwhich commanded his son to appear at R--sitten on a given day to takepossession of the entail, he cursed him if he did not sever hisconnection with her. This was the letter that Wolfgang burnt beside hisfather's corpse. To Hubert the old man wrote, saying that Wolfgang hadmarried Julia, but that he would part from her. This Hubert took to bea fancy of his visionary father's; accordingly he was not a littledismayed when on reaching R--sitten Wolfgang with perfect frankness notonly confirmed the old man's supposition, but also went on to add thatJulia had borne him a son, and that he hoped in a short time tosurprise her with the pleasant intelligence of his high rank and greatwealth, for she had hitherto taken him for Born, a merchant from M----.He intended going to Geneva himself to fetch his beloved wife. Butbefore he could carry out this plan he was overtaken by death. Hubertcarefully concealed what he knew about the existence of a son born toWolfgang in lawful wedlock with Julia, and so usurped the property thatreally belonged to his nephew. But only a few years passed before hebecame a prey to bitter remorse. He was reminded of his guilt interrible wise by destiny, in the hatred which grew up and developedmore and more betwee
n his two sons. "You are a poor starving beggar!"said the elder, a boy of twelve, to the younger, "but I shall be lordof R--sitten when father dies, and then you will have to be humble andkiss my hand when you want me to give you money to buy a new coat." Theyounger, goaded to ungovernable fury by his brother's proud andscornful words, threw the knife at him which he happened to have in hishand, and almost killed him. Hubert, for fear of some dire misfortune,sent the younger away to St. Petersburg; and he served afterwards asofficer under Suwaroff, and fell fighting against the French. Hubertwas prevented revealing to the world the dishonest and deceitful way inwhich he had acquired possession of the estate-tail by the shame anddisgrace which would have come upon him; but he would not rob therightful owner of a single penny more. He caused inquiries to be set onfoot in Geneva, and learned that Madame Born had died of grief at theincomprehensible disappearance of her husband, but that young RoderickBorn was being brought up by a worthy man who had adopted him. Hubertthen caused himself to be introduced under an assumed name as arelative of Born the merchant, who had perished at sea, and heforwarded at given times sufficient sums of money to give the youngheir of entail a good and respectable education. How he carefullytreasured up the surplus revenues from the estate, and how he drew upthe terms of his will, we already know. Respecting his brother's death,Hubert spoke in strangely obscure terms, but they allowed this much tobe inferred, that there must be some mystery about it, and that he hadtaken part, indirectly, at least, in some heinous crime.
The contents of the black portfolio made everything clear. Along withHubert's traitorous correspondence with Daniel was a sheet of paperwritten and signed by Daniel. V---- read a confession at which his verysoul trembled, appalled. It was at Daniel's instigation that Hubert hadcome to R--sitten; and it was Daniel again who had written and told himabout the one hundred and fifty thousand thalers that had been found.It has been already described how Hubert was received by his brother,and how, deceived in all his hopes and wishes, he was about to go offwhen he was prevented by V----, Daniel's heart was tortured by aninsatiable thirst for vengeance, which he was determined to take on theyoung man who had proposed to kick him out like a mangy cur. He it waswho relentlessly and incessantly fanned the flame of passion by whichHubert's desperate heart was consumed. Whilst in the fir forestshunting wolves, out in the midst of a blinding snowstorm, they agreedto effect his destruction. "Make away with him!" murmured Hubert,looking askance and taking aim with his rifle. "Yes, make away withhim," snarled Daniel, "but not in _that way_, not in _that way!_" Andhe made the most solemn asseverations that he would murder the Freiherrand not a soul in the world should be the wiser. When, however, Huberthad got his money, he repented of the plot; he determined to go away inorder to shun all further temptation. Daniel himself saddled his horseand brought it out of the stable; but as the Baron was about to mount,Daniel said to him in a sharp, strained voice, "I thought you wouldstay on the entail, Freiherr Hubert, now that it has just fallen toyou, for the proud lord of the entail lies dashed to pieces at thebottom of the ravine, below the tower." The steward had observed thatWolfgang, tormented by his thirst for gold, often used to rise in thenight, go to the postern which formerly led to the tower, and standgazing with longing eyes down into the chasm, where, according to his(Daniel's) testimony, vast treasures lay buried. Relying upon thishabit, Daniel waited near the hall-door on that ill-omened night; andas soon as he heard the Freiherr open the postern leading to the tower,he entered the hall and proceeded to where the Freiherr was standing,close by the brink of the chasm. On becoming aware of the presence ofhis villainous servant, in whose eyes the gleam of murder shone, theFreiherr turned round and said with a cry of terror, "Daniel, Daniel,what are you doing here at this hour?" But then Daniel shrieked wildly,"Down with you, you mangy cur!" and with a powerful push of his foot hehurled the unhappy man over into the deep chasm.
Terribly agitated by this awful deed, Freiherr Roderick found no peacein the castle where his father had been murdered. He went to hisCourland estates, and only visited R--sitten once a year, in autumn.Francis--old Francis--who had strong suspicions as to Daniel's guilt,maintained that he often haunted the place at full moon, and describedthe nature of the apparition much as V--- afterwards experienced it forhimself when he exorcised it. It was the disclosure of thesecircumstances, also, which stamped his father's memory with dishonour,that had driven young Freiherr Hubert out into the world.
This was my old great-uncle's story. Now he took my hand, and whilsthis eyes filled with tears, he said, in a broken voice, "Cousin,cousin! And she too--the beautiful lady--has fallen a victim to thedark destiny, the grim, mysterious power which has established itselfin that old ancestral castle. Two days after we left R--sitten theFreiherr arranged an excursion on sledges as the concluding event ofthe visit. He drove his wife himself; but as they were going down thevalley the horses, for some unexplained reason, suddenly taking fright,began to snort and kick and plunge most savagely. 'The old man! The oldman is after us!' screamed the Baroness in a shrill, terrified voice.At this same moment the sledge was overturned with a violent jerk, andthe Baroness was hurled to a considerable distance. They picked her uplifeless--she was quite dead. The Freiherr is perfectly inconsolable,and has settled down into a state of passivity that will kill him. Weshall never go to R--sitten again, cousin!"
Here my uncle paused. As I left him my heart was rent by emotion; andnothing but the all-soothing hand of Time could assuage the deep painwhich I feared would cost me my life.
Years passed. V---- was resting in his grave, and I had left my nativecountry. Then I was driven northwards, as far as St. Petersburg, by thedevastating war which was sweeping over all Germany. On my returnjourney, not far from K----, I was driving one dark summer night alongthe shore of the Baltic, when I perceived in the sky before me aremarkably large bright star. On coming nearer I saw by the redflickering flame that what I had taken for a star must be a large fire,but could not understand how it could be so high up in the air."Postilion, what fire is that before us yonder?" I asked the manwho was driving me. "Oh! why, that's not a fire; it's the beacontower of R--sitten." "R--sitten!" Directly the postilion mentionedthe name all the experiences of the eventful autumn days which I hadspent there recurred to my mind with lifelike reality. I saw theBaron--Seraphina--and also the remarkably eccentric old aunts--myselfas well, with my bare milk-white face, my hair elegantly curled andpowdered, and wearing a delicate sky-blue coat--nay, I saw myself in mylove-sick folly, sighing like a furnace, and making lugubrious odes onmy mistress's eyebrows. The sombre, melancholy mood into which thesememories plunged me was relieved by the bright recollection of V----'sgenial jokes, shooting up like flashes of coloured light, and I foundthem now still more entertaining than they had been so long ago.Thus agitated by pain mingled with much peculiar pleasure, I reachedR--sitten early in the morning and got out of the coach in front of thepost-house, where it had stopped I recognised the house as that of theland-steward; I inquired after him. "Begging your pardon," said theclerk of the post-house, taking his pipe from his mouth and giving hisnight-cap a tilt, "begging your pardon; there is no land-steward here;this is a Royal Government office, and the Herr Administrator is stillasleep." On making further inquiries I learnt that Freiherr Roderickvon R----, the last lord of the entail, had died sixteen years beforewithout descendants, and that the entail in accordance with the termsof the original deeds had now escheated to the state. I went up to thecastle; it was a mere heap of ruins. I was informed by an old peasant,who came out of the fir-forest, and with whom I entered intoconversation, that a large portion of the stones had been employed inthe construction of the beacon-tower. He also could tell the story ofthe ghost which was said to have haunted the castle, and he affirmedthat people often heard unearthly cries and lamentations amongst thestones, especially at full moon.
Poor short-sighted old Roderick! What a malignant destiny did youconjure up to destroy with the breath of poison, in the first momentsof its growth, that rac
e which you intended to plant with firm roots tolast on till eternity!
* * * * * * *
FOOTNOTES TO "THE ENTAIL":
[Footnote 1: Freiherr = Baron, though not exactly in the presentsignificance of the term in Germany. A Freiherr belongs to the"superior nobility," and is a Baron of the older nobility of the MiddleAges; and he ranks immediately after a Count (Graf). The title Baron isnow restricted to comparatively newer creations, and its bearer belongsto the "lower nobility." In this tale "Freiherr" and "Baron" are usedindifferently.]
[Footnote 2: The Justitiarius acted as justiciary in the seignorialcourts of justice, which were amongst the privileges accorded to thenobility of certain ranks, in certain cases, by the feudal institutionsof the Middle Ages. This privilege the R---- family is represented asexercising.]
[Footnote 3: At the present time the Germans say _Prosit!_ under likecircumstances. This of coarse reminds one of the Greek custom ofregarding sneezing as an auspicious omen.]
[Footnote 4: This refers to an episode in Schiller's work, related by aSicilian. The story is of a familiar type. Two brothers, Jeronymo andLorenzo, fall in love with the same Lady Antonia; the elder brother issecretly killed by the younger. But on the marriage day of the murdererthe murdered man appears in the disguise of a monk, and proceeds toreveal himself in his bloody habiliments and show his ghastly wounds.]
[Footnote 5: By Paul Fleming (1609-1640); one of the pious but gloomyreligious songs of this leading spirit of the "first Silesian school."]
[Footnote 6: See note, p. 40.]
[Footnote 7: The reference is to a _Landsmannschaft_. These wereassociations, at a university, of students from the same state orcountry, bound to the observance of certain traditional customs, &c,and under the control of certain self-elected officers (the _Senior_being one).]
[Footnote 8: Imperial thalers varied in value at different times, butestimating their value at three shillings, the sum here mentioned wouldbe equivalent to about L22,500. A _Frederick d'or_ was a gold coinworth five thalers.]
ARTHUR'S HALL.[1]
You must of course, indulgent reader, have heard a good deal about theremarkable old commercial town of Dantzic. Perhaps you may beacquainted from abundant descriptions with all the sights to be seenthere; but I should like it best of all if you have ever been thereyourself in former times, and seen with your own eyes the wonderfulhall into which I will now take you--I mean Arthur's Hall.[2]
At the hour of noon the hall was crammed full of men of the mostdiverse nations, all pushing about and immersed to the eyes inbusiness, so that the ears were deafened by the confused din. But whenthe exchange hours were over, and the merchants had gone to dinner, andonly a few odd individuals hurried through the hall on business (for itserved as a means of communication between two streets), that I daresay was the time when you, gracious reader, liked to visit Arthur'sHall best, whenever you were in Dantzic. For then a kind of magicaltwilight fell through the dim windows, and all the strange reliefs andcarvings, with which the wall was too profusely decorated, becameinstinct with life and motion. Stags with immense antlers, togetherwith other wonderful animals, gazed down upon you with their fiery eyestill you could hardly look at them; and the marble statue of the king,also in the midst of the hall, caused you to shiver more in proportionas the dusk of evening deepened. The great picture representing anassemblage of all the Virtues and Vices, with their respective namesattached, lost perceptibly in moral effect; for the Virtues, beinghigh up, were blended unrecognisably in a grey mist, whilst theVices--wondrously beautiful ladies in gay and brilliant costumes--stoodout prominently and very seductively, threatening to enchant you withtheir sweet soft words. You preferred to turn your eyes upon the narrowborder which went almost all round the hall, and on which wererepresented in pleasing style long processions of gay-uniformed militiaof the olden time, when Dantzic was an Imperial town. Honestburgomasters, their features stamped with shrewdness and importance,ride at the head on spirited horses with handsome trappings, whilstthe drummers, pipers, and halberdiers march along so jauntily andlife-like, that you soon begin to hear the merry music they play, andlook to see them all defile out of that great window up there into theLangemarkt.[3]
While, then, they are marching off, you, indulgent reader,--if youwere, that is, a tolerable sketcher,--would not be able to do otherwisethan copy with pen and ink yon magnificent burgomaster with hisremarkably handsome page. Pen and ink and paper, provided at publiccost, were always to be found lying about on the tables; accordinglythe material would be all ready at hand, and you would have felt thetemptation irresistible. This you would have been permitted to do, butnot so the young merchant Traugott, who, on beginning to do anything ofthis kind, encountered a thousand difficulties and vexations. "Adviseour friend in Hamburg at once that that business has been settled, mygood Herr Traugott," said the wholesale and retail merchant, EliasRoos, with whom Traugott was about to enter upon an immediatepartnership, besides marrying his only daughter, Christina. After alittle trouble, Traugott found a place at one of the crowded tables; hetook a sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the ink, and was about tobegin with a free caligraphic flourish, when, running over once more inhis mind what he wished to say, he cast his eyes upwards. Now ithappened that he sat directly opposite a procession of figures, at thesight of which he was always, strangely enough, affected with aninexplicable sadness. A grave man, with something of dark melancholy inhis face, and with a black curly beard and dressed in sumptuousclothing, was riding a black horse, which was led by the bridle by amarvellous youth: his rich abundance of hair and his gay and gracefulcostume gave him almost a feminine appearance. The face and form of theman made Traugott shudder inwardly, but a whole world of sweet vagueaspirations beamed upon him from the youth's countenance. He couldnever tear himself away from looking at these two; and hence, on thepresent occasion, instead of writing Herr Elias Roos's letter of adviceto Hamburg, he sat gazing at the wonderful picture, absently scribblingall over his paper. After this had lasted some time, a hand clapped himon the shoulder from behind, and a gruff voice said, "Nice--very nice;that's what I like; something maybe made of that." Traugott, awakeningout of his dreamy reverie, whisked himself round; but, as if struck bya lightning flash, he remained speechless with amazement and fright,for he was staring up into the face of the dark melancholy man who wasdepicted on the wall before him. He it was who uttered the words statedabove; at his side stood the delicate and wonderfully beautiful youth,smiling upon him with indescribable affection. "Yes, it is they--thevery same!" was the thought that flashed across Traugott's mind. "Iexpect they will at once throw off their unsightly mantles and standforth in all the splendours of their antique costume." The members ofthe crowd pushed backwards and forwards amongst each other, and thestrangers had soon disappeared in the crush; but even after the hoursof 'Change were long over, and only a few odd individuals crossed thehall, Traugott still remained in the self-same place with the letter ofadvice in his hand, as though he were converted into a solid stonestatue.
At length he perceived Herr Elias Roos coming towards him with twostrangers. "What are you about, cogitating here so long after noon, myrespected Herr Traugott?" asked Elias Roos; "have you sent off theletter all right?" Mechanically Traugott handed him the paper; but HerrElias Roos struck his hands together above his head, stamping at firstgently, but then violently, with his right foot, as he cried, makingthe hall ring again, "Good God! Good God! what childish tricks arethese? Nothing but sheer childishness, my respected Traugott,--mygood-for-nothing son-in-law--my imprudent partner. Why, the devil mustbe in your honour! The letter--the letter! O God! the post!" Herr EliasRoos was almost choking with vexation, whilst the two strangers werelaughing at the singular letter of advice, which could hardly be saidto be of much use. For, immediately after the words, "In reply to yoursof the 20th inst. respecting----" Traugott had sketched the twoextraordinary figures of the old man and the youth in neat boldout
lines. The two strangers sought to pacify Herr Elias Roos byaddressing him in the most affectionate manner; but Herr Elias Roostugged his round wig now on this side and now on that, struck his caneagainst the floor, and cried, "The young devil!--was to write letter ofadvice--makes drawings--ten thousand marks gone--dam!" He blew throughhis fingers and then went on lamenting, "Ten thousand marks!" "Don'tmake a trouble of it, my dear Herr Roos," said at length the elder ofthe two strangers. "The post is of course gone; but I am sending off acourier to Hamburg in an hour. Let me give him your letter, and it willthen reach its destination earlier than it would have done by the post""You incomparable man!" exclaimed Herr Elias, his face a perfect blazeof sunshine. Traugott had recovered from his awkward embarrassment; hewas hastening to the table to write the letter, but Herr Elias pushedhim away, casting a right malicious look upon him, and murmuringbetween his teeth, "No need for you, my good son!"
Whilst Herr Elias was studiously busy writing, the elder gentlemanapproached young Traugott, who was standing silent with shame, and saidto him, "You don't seem to be exactly in your place, my good sir. Itwould never have come into a true merchant's head to make drawingsinstead of writing a business letter as he ought" Traugott could nothelp feeling that this reproach was only too well founded. Muchembarrassed, he replied, "By my soul, this hand has already writtenmany admirable letters of advice; it is only, occasionally that suchconfoundedly odd ideas come into my mind." "But, my good sir,"continued the stranger smiling, "these are not confoundedly odd ideasat all. I can really hardly believe that all your business letterstaken together have been so admirable as these sketches, outlinedso neatly and boldly and firmly. There is, I am sure, true geniusin them." With these words the stranger took out of Traugott's handthe letter--or rather what was begun as a letter but had ended insketches--carefully folded it together, and put it in his pocket. Thisawakened in Traugott's mind the firm conviction that he had donesomething far more excellent than write a business letter. A strangespirit took possession of him; so that, when Herr Elias Roos, who hadnow finished writing, addressed him in an angry tone, "Your childishfolly might have cost me ten thousand marks," he replied louder andwith more decision than was his habit, "Will your worship please not tobehave in such an extraordinary way, else I will never write youanother letter of advice so long as I live, and we will separate." HerrElias pushed his wig right with both hands and stammered, as he staredhard at Traugott, "My estimable colleague, my dear, dear son, whatproud words you are using!" The old gentleman again interposed, and afew words sufficed to restore perfect peace; and so they all went toHerr Elias's house to dinner, for he had invited the strangers homewith him. Fair Christina received them in holiday attire, all clean andprim and proper; and soon she was wielding the excessively heavy silversoup-ladle with a practised hand.
Whilst these five persons are sitting at table, I could, graciousreader, bring them pictorially before your eyes; but I shall onlymanage to give a few general outlines, and those certainly worse thanthe sketches which Traugott had the audacity to scribble in theinauspicious letter; for the meal will soon be over; and besides, I amurged by an impulse I cannot resist to go on with the remarkablehistory of the excellent Traugott, which I have undertaken to relate toyou.
That Herr Elias Roos wears a round wig you already know from whathas been stated above; and I have no need to add anything more; forafter what he has said, you can now see the round little man with hisliver-coloured coat, waistcoat, and trousers, with gilt buttons, quiteplainly before your eyes. Of Traugott I have a very great deal to say,because this is his history which I am telling, and so of course heoccurs in it. If now it be true that a man's thoughts and feelings andactions, making their influence felt from within him outwards, so modeland shape his bodily form as to give rise to that wonderful harmony ofthe whole man, that is not to be explained but only felt, which we callcharacter, then my words will of themselves have already shown youTraugott himself in the flesh. If this is not the case, then all mygossip is wasted, and you may forthwith regard my story as unread. Thetwo strangers are uncle and nephew, formerly retail dealers, but nowmerchants trading on their gains, and friends of Herr Elias Roos, thatis to say, they had a good many business transactions together. Theylive at Koenigsberg, dress entirely in the English fashion, carryabout with them a mahogany boot-jack which has come from London,possess considerable taste for art, and are, in a word, experienced,well-educated people. The uncle has a gallery of art objects andcollects hand-sketches (witness the pilfered letter of advice).
But properly my chief business was to give you, kindly reader, a trueand life-like description of Christina; for her nimble person will, Iobserve, soon disappear; and it will be as well for me to get a fewtraits jotted down at once. Then she may willingly go! Picture toyourself a medium-sized stoutish female of from two to three and twentyyears of age, with a round face, a short and rather turned-up nose, andfriendly light-blue eyes, which smile most prettily upon everybody,saying, "I shall soon be married now." Her skin is dazzling white, herhair is not altogether of a too reddish tinge; she has lips which werecertainly made to be kissed, and a mouth which, though indeed ratherwide, she yet screws up small in some extraordinary way, but so as todisplay then two rows of pearly teeth. If we were to suppose that theflames from the next-door neighbour's burning house were to dart in ather chamber-window, she would make haste to feed the canary and lock upthe clean linen from the wash, and then assuredly hasten down into theoffice and inform Herr Elias Roos that by that time his house also wason fire. She has never had an almond-cake spoilt, and her melted-butteralways thickens properly, owing to the fact that she never stirs thespoon round towards the left, but always towards the right. But sinceHerr Elias Roos has poured out the last bumper of old French wine, Iwill only hasten to add that pretty Christina is uncommonly fond ofTraugott because he is going to marry her; for what in the name ofwonder should she do if she did not get married?
After dinner Herr Elias Roos proposed to his friends to take a walk onthe ramparts. Although Traugott, whose mind had never been stirred byso many wonderful and extraordinary things as to-day, would very muchhave liked to escape the company, he could not contrive it; for, justas he was going out of the door, without having even kissed hisbetrothed's hand, Herr Elias caught him by the coat-tails, crying, "Myhonoured son-in-law, my good colleague, but you're not going to leaveus?" And so he had to stay.
A certain professor of physics once stated the theory that the _AnimaMundi_, or Spirit of the World, had, as a skilful experimentalist,constructed somewhere an excellent electric machine, and from itproceed certain very mysterious wires, which pass through the lives ofus all; these we do our best to creep round and avoid, but at somemoment or other we must tread upon them, and then there passes a flashand a shock through our souls, suddenly altering the forms ofeverything within them. Upon this thread Traugott must surely have trodin the moment that he was unconsciously sketching the two persons whostood in living shape behind him, for the singular appearance of thestrangers had struck him with all the violence of a lightning-flash;and he now felt as if he had very clear conceptions of all those thingswhich he had hitherto only dimly guessed at and dreamt about. Theshyness which at other times had always fettered his tongue so soon asthe conversation turned upon things which lay concealed like holysecrets at the bottom of his heart had now left him; and hence it wasthat, when the uncle attacked the curious half-painted, half-carvedpictures in Arthur's Hall as wanting in taste, and then proceeded moreparticularly to condemn the little pictures representing the soldiersas being whimsical, Traugott boldly maintained that, although it wasvery likely true that all these things did not harmonize with the rulesof good taste, nevertheless he had experienced, what indeed severalothers had also experienced, viz., a wonderful and fantastic world hadbeen unfolded to him in Arthur's Hall, and some few of the figures hadreminded him in even lifelike looks, nay, even in plain distinct words,that he also was a great master, and could paint and wield the chiselas well as
the man out of whose unknown studio they themselves hadproceeded Herr Elias certainly looked more stupid than usual whilst theyoung fellow was saying such grand things, but the uncle made answer ina very malicious manner, "I repeat once more, I do not comprehend whyyou want to be a merchant, why you haven't rather devoted yourselfaltogether to art."
Traugott conceived an extreme repugnance to the man, and accordingly hejoined the nephew for the walk, and found his manner very friendly andconfidential. "O Heaven!" said the latter, "how I envy you yourbeautiful and glorious talent! I wish I could only sketch like you! Iam not at all wanting in genius; I have already sketched some deucedlypretty eyes and noses and ears, ay, and even three or four entireheads;--but, dash it all! the business, you know! the business!" "Ialways thought," said Traugott, "that as soon as a man detected thespark of true genius--of a genuine love for art--within him, he oughtnot to know anything about any other business." "You mean he ought tobe an artist!" rejoined the nephew. "Ah! how can you say so? See youhere, my estimable friend! I have, I believe, reflected more upon thesethings than many others; in fact, I am such a decided admirer of art,and have gone into the real essential nature of the thing far deeperthan I am even able to express, and so I can only make use of hints andsuggestions." The nephew, as he expressed these opinions, looked solearned and so profound that Traugott really began to feel in awe ofhim. "You will agree with me," continued the nephew, after he had takena pinch of snuff and had sneezed twice, "you will agree with me thatart embroiders our life with flowers; amusement, recreation afterserious business--that is the praiseworthy end of all effort in art;and the attainment of this end is the more perfect in proportion as theart products assume a nearer approach to excellence. This end is veryclearly seen in life; for it is only the man who pursues art in thespirit I have just mentioned who enjoys comfort and ease; whilst thesefor ever and eternally flee away from the man who, directly contrary tothe nature of the case, regards art as a true end in itself--as thehighest aim in life. And so, my good friend, don't take to heart whatmy uncle said to try and persuade you to turn aside from the seriousbusiness of life, and rely upon a way of employing your energies which,if without support, will only make you stagger about like a helplesschild." Here the nephew paused as if expecting Traugott's reply; butTraugott did not know for the life of him what he ought to say. Allthat the nephew had said struck him as indescribably stupid talk. Hecontented himself with asking, "But what do you really mean by theserious business of life?" The nephew looked at him somewhat takenaback. "Well, by my soul, you can't help conceding to me that a man whois alive must live, and that's what your artist by profession hardlyever succeeds in doing, for he's always hard up." And he went on with along rigmarole of bosh, which he clothed in fine words and stereotypedphrases. The end of it all appeared to be pretty much this--that byliving he meant little else than having no debts but plenty of money,plenty to eat and drink, a beautiful wife, and also well-behavedchildren, who never got any grease-stains on their nice Sunday-clothes,and so on. This made Traugott feel a tightness in his throat, and hewas glad when the clever nephew left him, and he found himself alone inhis own room.
"What a wretched miserable life I lead, to be sure!" he soliloquised."On beautiful mornings in the glorious golden spring-time, when intoeven the obscure streets of the town the warm west wind finds its way,and its faint murmurings and rustlings seem to be telling of all thewonders which are to be seen blooming in the woods and fields, then Ihave to crawl down sluggishly and in an ill-temper into Herr EliasRoos's smoke-begrimed office. And there sit pale faces before hugeugly-shaped desks; all are working on amidst gloomy silence, which isonly broken by the rustle of leaves turned over in the big books, bythe chink of money that is being counted, and by unintelligible soundsat odd intervals. And then again what work it is! What is the good ofall this thinking and all this writing? Merely that the pile of goldpieces may increase in the coffers, and that the Fafnir's[4] treasure,which always brings mischief, may glitter and sparkle more and more!Oh, how gladly a painter or a sculptor must go out into the air, andwith head erect imbibe all the refreshing influences of spring, untilthey people the inner world of his mind with beautiful images pulsingwith glad and energetic life! Then from the dark bushes step forthwonderful figures, which his own mind has created, and which continueto be his own, for within him dwells the mysterious wizard power oflight, of colour, of form; hence he is able to give abiding shape towhat he has seen with the eye of his mind, in that he represents it ina material substitute. What is there to prevent me tearing myself loosefrom this hated mode of life? That remarkable old man assured me that Iam called to be an artist, and still more so did the nice handsomeyouth. For although he did not speak a word, it yet somehow struck methat his glance said plainly what I had for such a long time felt likea vague emotional pulsation within me, and what, oppressed by amultitude of doubts, has hitherto been unable to rise to the level ofconsciousness. Instead of going on in this miserable way, could I notmake myself a good painter?"
Traugott took out all the things that he had ever drawn and examinedthem with critical eyes. Several things looked quite different to-dayfrom what they had ever done before, and that not worse, but better.His attention was especially attracted by one of his childish attempts,of the time when he was quite a boy; it was a sketch of the oldburgomaster and the handsome page, the outlines very much wanting infirmness, of course, but nevertheless recognisable. And he rememberedquite well that these figures had made a strange impression upon himeven at that time, and how one evening at dusk they enticed him withsuch an irresistible power of attraction, that he had to leave hisplaymates and go into Arthur's Hall, where he took almost endless painsto copy the picture. The contemplation of this drawing filled him witha feeling of very deep yearning sadness. According to his usual habit,he ought to go and work a few hours in the office; but he could not doit; he went out to the Carlsberg[5] instead. There he stood and gazedout over the heaving sea, striving to decipher in the waves and in thegrey misty clouds which had gathered in wonderful shapes over Hela,[6]as in a magic mirror, his own destiny in days to come.
Don't you too believe, kindly reader, that the sparks which fall intoour hearts from the higher regions of Love are first made visible to usin the hours of hopeless pain? And so it is with the doubts that stormthe artist's mind. He sees the Ideal and feels how impotent are hisefforts to reach it; it will flee before him, he thinks, alwaysunattainable. But then again he is once more animated by a divinecourage; he strives and struggles, and his despair is dissolved into asweet yearning, which both strengthens him and spurs him on to strainafter his beloved idol, so that he begins to see it continually nearerand nearer, but never reaches it.
Traugott was now tortured to excess by this state of hopeless pain.Early next morning, on again looking over his drawings, which he hadleft lying on the table he thought them all paltry and foolish, and henow called to mind the oft-repeated words of one of his artisticfriends, "A great deal of the mischief done by dabblers in art ofmoderate abilities arises from the fact that so many people take asomewhat keen superficial excitement for a real essential vocation topursue art." Traugott felt strongly urged to look upon Arthur's Halland his adventure with the two mysterious personages, the old man andthe young one, for one of these states of superficial excitement; so hecondemned himself to go back to the office again; and he worked soassiduously at Herr Elias Roos's, without heeding the disgust whichfrequently so far overcame him that he had to break off suddenly andrush off out into the open air. With sympathetic concern, Herr EliasRoos set this down to the indisposition which, according to hisopinion, the fearfully pale young man must be suffering from.
Some time passed; Dominic's Fair[7] came, after which Traugott was tomarry Christina and be introduced to the mercantile world as Herr EliasRoos's partner. This period he regarded as that of a sad leave-takingfrom all his high hopes and aspirations; and his heart grew heavywhenever he saw dear Christina as busy as a bee superintending thescrubb
ing and polishing that was going on everywhere in the middlestory, folding curtains with her own hands, and giving the final polishto the brass pots and pans, &c.
One day, in the thick of the surging crowd of strangers in Arthur'sHall, Traugott heard close behind him a voice whose well-known tonesmade his heart jump. "And do you really mean to say that this stockstands at such a low figure?" Traugott whisked himself quickly round,and saw, as he had expected, the remarkable old man, who had appealedto a broker to get him to buy some stock, the price of which had atthat moment fallen to an extremely low figure. Behind the old man stoodthe youth, who greeted Traugott with a friendly but melancholy smile.Then Traugott hastened to address the old man. "Excuse me, sir; theprice of the stock which you are desirous of selling is really nohigher than what you have been told; nevertheless, it may withconfidence be anticipated that in a few days the price will riseconsiderably. If, therefore, you take my advice, you will postpone theconversion of your stock for a little time longer." "Eh! sir?" repliedthe old man rather coldly and roughly, "what have you to do with mybusiness? How do you know that just now a silly bit of paper like thisis of no use at all to me, whilst ready money is what I have great needof?" Traugott, not a little abashed because the old man had taken hiswell-meant intention in such ill part, was on the point of retiring,when the youth looked at him with tears in his eyes, as if in entreaty."My advice was well meant, sir," he replied quickly; "I cannot sufferyou to inflict upon yourself an important loss. Let me have your stock,but on the condition that I afterwards pay for it the higher pricewhich it will be worth in a few day's time." "Well, you are anextraordinary man," said the old man. "Be it so then; although I can'tunderstand what induces you to want to enrich me." So saying, he shot akeen flashing glance at the youth, who cast down his beautiful blueeyes in shy confusion. They both followed Traugott to the office, wherethe money was paid over to the old man, whose face was dark and sullenas he put it in his purse. Whilst he was doing so, the youth whisperedsoftly to Traugott, "Are you not the gentleman who was sketching suchpretty figures several weeks ago in Arthur's Hall?" "Certainly I am,"replied Traugott, and he felt how the remembrance of the ridiculousepisode of the letter of advice drove the hot blood into his face. "Ohthen, I don't at all wonder," the youth was continuing, when the oldman gave him an angry look, which at once made him silent. In thepresence of these strangers Traugott could not get rid of a certainfeeling of awkward constraint; and so they went away before he couldmuster courage enough to inquire further into their circumstances andmode of life.
In fact there was something so quite out of the ordinary in theappearance of these two persons that even the clerks and others in theoffice were struck by it. The surly book-keeper had stuck his penbehind his ear, and leaning on his arms, which he clasped behind hishead, he sat watching the old man with keen glittering eyes. "Godforgive me," he said when the strangers had left the office, "if hedidn't look like an old picture of the year 1400 in St. John's parishchurch, with his curly beard and black mantle." Herr Elias set him downwithout more ado as a Polish Jew, notwithstanding his noble bearing andhis extremely grave old-German face, and cried with a simper, "Sillyfellow! sells his stock now; might make at least ten per cent, more ina week." Of course he knew nothing about the additional price which hadbeen agreed upon, and which Traugott intended to pay out of his ownpocket. And this he really did do when some days later he again met theold man and the youth in Arthur's Hall.
The old man said, "My son has reminded me that you are an artist also,and so I will accept what I should have otherwise refused." They werestanding close beside one of the four granite pillars which support thevaulted roof of the hall, and immediately in front of the two paintedfigures which Traugott had formerly sketched in the letter of advice.Without reserve he spoke of the great resemblance between these figuresand the old man himself and the youth. The old man smiled a peculiarsmile, and laying his hand on Traugott's shoulder, said in a low anddeliberate tone, "Then you didn't know that I am the German painterGodofredus Berklinger, and that it was I who painted the pictures whichseem to give you so much pleasure, a long time ago, whilst still alearner in art. That burgomaster I copied in commemoration of myself,and that the page who is leading the horse is my son you can of coursevery easily see by comparing the faces and figures of the two."Traugott was struck dumb with astonishment. But he very soon came tothe conclusion that the old man, who took himself to be the artist of apicture more than two hundred years old must be labouring under somepeculiar delusion. The old man went on, lifting up his head and lookingproudly about him, "Ay, that was an artistic age if you like--glorious,vigorous, flourishing, when I decorated this hall with all these gaypictures in honour of the wise King Arthur and his Round Table. Iverily believe that the tall stately figure who once came to me as Iwas working here, and exhorted me to go on and gain my mastership--forat that time I had not reached that dignity,--was King Arthur himself."Here the young man interposed, "My father is an artist, sir, who hasfew equals; and you would have no cause to be sorry if he would allowyou to inspect his works." Meanwhile the old man was taking a turnthrough the hall, which had now become empty; he now called to theyouth to go, and then Traugott begged him to show him his pictures. Theold man fixed his eyes upon him and regarded him for some time with akeen and searching glance, and at length said with much gravity, "Youare, I must say, rather audacious to be wanting to enter the innershrine before you have begun your probationary years. But--be it so! Ifyour eyes are still too dull to see, you may at least dimly feel. Comeand see me early to-morrow morning," and he indicated where he lived.Next morning Traugott did not fail to get away from business early andhasten to the retired street where the remarkable old man lived. Theyouth, dressed in old-German style, opened the door to receive himand led him into a spacious room, in the centre of which he foundthe old man sitting on a little stool in front of a large piece ofoutstretched grey primed canvas. "You have come exactly at the righttime, sir," the old man cried by way of greeting, "for I have just putthe finishing-touch to yon large picture, which has occupied me morethan a year and cost me no small amount of trouble. It is the fellow ofa picture of the same size, representing 'Paradise Lost,' which Icompleted last year and which I can also show you here. This, as youwill observe, is 'Paradise Regained,' and I should be very sorry foryou if you begin to put on critical airs and try to get some allegoryout of it Allegorical pictures are only painted by duffers andbunglers; my picture is not to _signify_ but to _be_. You perceive howall these varied groups of men and animals and fruits and flowers andstones unite to form one harmonic whole, whose loud and excellent musicis the divinely pure chord of glorification." And the old man began todwell more especially upon the individual groups; he called Traugott'sattention to the secrets of the division of light and shade, to theglitter of the flowers and the metals, to the singular shapes which,rising up out of the calyx of the lilies, entwined themselves aboutthe forms of the divinely beautiful youths and maidens who were dancingto the strains of music, and he called his attention to the bearded menwho, with all the strong pride of youth in their eyes and movements,were apparently talking to various kinds of curious animals. The oldman's words, whilst they grew continually more emphatic, grew alsocontinually more incomprehensible and confused. "That's right, oldgreybeard, let thy diamond crown flash and sparkle," he cried at last,riveting a fixed but fiery glance upon the canvas. "Throw off the Isisveil which thou didst put over thy head when the profane approachedthee. What art thou folding thy dark robe so carefully over thy breastfor? I want to see thy heart; that is the philosopher's stone throughwhich the mystery is revealed. Art thou not I? Why dost thou put onsuch a bold and mighty air before me? Wilt thou contend with thymaster? Thinkest thou that the ruby, thy heart, which sparkles so, cancrush my breast? Up then--step forward--come here! I have created thee,for I am"---- Here the old man suddenly fell on the floor like onestruck by lightning. Whilst Traugott lifted him up, the youth quicklywheeled up a small arm-chair, into which they
placed the old man, whosoon appeared to have fallen into a gentle sleep.
"Now you know, my kind sir, what is the matter with my good oldfather," said the youth softly and gently. "A cruel destiny hasstripped off all the blossoms of his life; and for several years pasthe has been insensible to the art for which he once lived. He spendsdays and days sitting in front of a piece of outstretched primedcanvas, with his eyes fixed upon it in a stare; that he calls painting.Into what an overwrought condition the description of such a picturebrings him, you have just seen for yourself. Besides this he is hauntedby another unhappy thought, which makes my life to be a sad andagitated one; but I regard it as a fatality by which I am swept alongin the same stream that has caught him. You would like something tohelp you to recover from this extraordinary scene; please follow methen into the adjoining room, where you will find several pictures ofmy father's early days, when he was still a productive artist."
And great was Traugott's astonishment to find a row of picturesapparently painted by the most illustrious masters of the NetherlandsSchool. For the most part they represented scenes taken from real life;for example, a company returning from hunting, another amusingthemselves with singing and playing, and such like subjects. They boreevidences of great thought, and particularly the expression of theheads, which were realised with especially vigorous life-like power.Just as Traugott was about to return into the former room, he noticedanother picture close beside the door, which held him fascinated to thespot. It was a remarkably pretty maiden dressed in old-German style,but her face was exactly like the youth's, only fuller and with alittle more colour in it, and she seemed to be somewhat taller too. Atremor of nameless delight ran through Traugott at the sight of thisbeautiful girl. In strength and vitality the picture was quite equal toanything by Van Dyk. The dark eyes were looking down upon Traugott witha soft yearning look, whilst her sweet lips appeared to be half openedready to whisper loving words. "O heaven! Good heaven!" sighedTraugott with a sigh that came from the very bottom of his heart;"where--oh! where can I find her?" "Let us go," said the youth.Then Traugott cried in a sort of rapturous frenzy, "Oh! it is indeedshe!--the beloved of my soul, whom I have so long carried about in myheart, but whom I only knew in vague stirrings of emotion. Where--oh!where is she?" The tears started from young Berklinger's eyes; heappeared to be shaken by a convulsive and sudden attack of pain, and tocontrol himself with difficulty. "Come along," he at length said, in afirm voice, "that is a portrait of my unhappy sister Felicia.[8] Shehas gone for ever. You will never see her."
Like one in a dream, Traugott suffered himself to be led into theother room. The old man was still sleeping; but all at once he startedup, and staring at Traugott with eyes flashing with anger, he cried,"What do you want? What do you want, sir?" Then the youth steppedforward and reminded him that he had just been showing his new pictureto Traugott, had he forgotten? At this Berklinger appeared to recollectall that had passed; it was evident that he was much affected; and hereplied in an undertone, "Pardon an old man's forgetfulness, my goodsir." "Your new piece is an admirable--an excellent work. MasterBerklinger," Traugott proceeded; "I have never seen anything equal toit. I am sure it must cost a great deal of study and an immense amountof labour before a man can advance so far as to turn out a work likethat. I discern that I have an inextinguishable propensity for art, andI earnestly entreat you, my good old master, to accept me as yourpupil; you will find me industrious." The old man grew quite cheerfuland amiable; and embracing Traugott, he promised that he would be afaithful master to him.
Thus it came to pass that Traugott visited the old painter every daythat came, and made very rapid progress in his studies. He nowconceived an unconquerable disgust of business, and was so carelessthat Herr Elias Roos had to speak out and openly find fault with him;and finally he was very glad when Traugott kept away from the officealtogether, on the pretext that he was suffering from a lingeringillness. For this same reason the wedding, to Christina's no littleannoyance, was indefinitely postponed. "Your Herr Traugott seems to besuffering from some secret trouble," said one of Herr Elias Roos'smerchant-friends to him one day; "perhaps it's the balance of some oldlove-affair that he's anxious to settle before the wedding-day. Helooks very pale and distracted." "And why shouldn't he then?" rejoinedHerr Elias. "I wonder now," he continued after a pause,--"I wondernow if that little rogue Christina has been having words with him? Mybook-keeper--the love-smitten old ass--he is always kissing andsqueezing her hand. Traugott's devilishly in love with my little girl,I know. Can there be any jealousy? Well, I'll sound my younggentleman."
But however carefully he sounded he could find no satisfactory bottom,and he said to his merchant-friend, "That Traugott is a most peculiarfellow; well, I must just let him go his own way; though if he had notfifty thousand thalers in my business I know what I should do, sincenow he never does a stroke of anything."
Traugott, absorbed in art, would now have led a real bright sunshinylife, had his heart not been torn with passionate love for thebeautiful Felicia, whom he often saw in wonderful dreams. The picturehad disappeared; the old man had taken it away; and Traugott durst notask him about it without risk of seriously offending him. On the whole,old Berklinger continued to grow more confidential; and instead oftaking any honorarium for his instruction, he permitted Traugott tohelp out his narrow house-keeping in many ways. From young BerklingerTraugott learned that the old man had been obviously taken in in thesale of a little cabinet, and that the stock which Traugott hadrealised for them was all that they had left of the price received forit, as well as all the money they possessed. But it was only seldomthat Traugott was allowed to have any confidential conversation withthe youth; the old man watched over him with the most singularjealousy, and at once scolded him sharply if he began to conversefreely and cheerfully with their friend. This Traugott felt all themore painfully since he had conceived a deep and heart-felt affectionfor the youth, owing to his striking likeness to Felicia. Indeed heoften fancied, when he stood near the young man, that he was standingbeside the picture he loved so much, now alive and breathing, and thathe could feel her soft breath on his cheek; and then he would like tohave drawn the youth, as if he really were his darling Felicia herself,to his swelling heart.
Winter was past; beautiful spring was filling the woods and fields withbrightness and blossoms. Herr Elias Roos advised Traugott either todrink whey for his health's sake or to go somewhere to take the baths.Fair Christina was again looking forward with joy to the wedding,although Traugott seldom showed himself--and thought still less of hisrelations with her.
Once Traugott was confined to the office the whole day long, making arequisite squaring up of his accounts, &c.; he had been obliged toneglect his meals, and it was beginning to get very dark when hereached Berklinger's remote dwelling. He found nobody in the firstroom, but from the one adjoining he heard the music of a lute. He hadnever heard the instrument there before. He listened; a song, from timeto time interrupted, accompanied the music like a low soft sigh. Heopened the door. O Heaven! with her back towards him sat a femalefigure, dressed in old-German style with a high lace ruff, exactly likethe picture. At the noise which Traugott unavoidably made on entering,the figure rose, laid the lute on the table, and turned round. It wasshe, Felicia herself! "Felicia!" cried Traugott enraptured; and he wasabout to throw himself at the feet of his beloved divinity when he felta powerful hand laid upon his collar behind, and himself dragged out ofthe room by some one with the strength of a giant. "You abandonedwretch! you incomparable villain!" screamed old Berklinger, pushing himon before him, "so that was your love for art? Do you mean to murderme?" And therewith he hurled him out at the door, whilst a knifeglittered in his hand. Traugott flew downstairs and hurried back homestupefied; nay, half crazy with mingled delight and terror.
He tossed restlessly on his couch, unable to sleep. "Felicia! Felicia!"he exclaimed time after time, distracted with pain and the pangs oflove. "You are there, you are there, and I may not see you, may notc
lasp you in my arms! You love me, oh yes! that I know. From the painwhich pierces my breast so savagely I feel that you love me."
The morning sun shone brightly into Traugott's chamber; then he got up,and determined, let the cost be what it might, that he would solve themystery of Berklinger's house. He hurried off to the old man's, but hisfeelings may not be described when he saw all the windows wide open andthe maid-servants busy sweeping out the rooms. He was struck with apresentiment of what had happened. Berklinger had left the house lateon the night before along with his son, and was gone nobody knew where.A carriage drawn by two horses had fetched away the box of paintingsand the two little trunks which contained all Berklinger's scantyproperty. He and his son had followed half an hour later. All inquiriesas to where they had gone remained fruitless: no livery-stable keeperhad let out horses and carriage to persons such as Traugott described,and even at the town gates he could learn nothing for certain;--inshort, Berklinger had disappeared as if he had flown away on themantle[9] of Mephistopheles.
Traugott went back home prostrated by despair. "She is gone! She isgone! The beloved of my soul! All--all is lost!" Thus he cried as herushed past Herr Elias Roos (for he happened to be just at that momentin the entrance hall) towards his own room. "God bless my soul!" criedHerr Elias, pulling and tugging at his wig. "Christina! Christina!" heshouted, till the whole house echoed. "Christina! You disgraceful girl!My good-for-nothing daughter!" The clerks and others in the officerushed out with terrified faces; the book-keeper asked amazed, "ButHerr Roos?" Herr Roos, however, continued to scream without stopping,"Christina! Christina!" At this point Miss Christina stepped in throughthe house-door, and raising her broad-brimmed straw-hat just a littleand smiling, asked what her good father was bawling in this outrageousway for. "I strictly beg you will let such unnecessary running awayalone," Herr Elias began to storm at her. "My son-in-law is amelancholy fellow and as jealous as a Turk. You'd better stay quietlyat home, or else there'll be some mischief done. My partner is in therescreaming and crying about his betrothed, because she will gad aboutso." Christina looked at the book-keeper astounded; but he gave asignificant glance in the direction of the cupboard in the office whereHerr Roos was in the habit of keeping his cinnamon water. "You'd bettergo in and console your betrothed," he said as he strode away. Christinawent up to her own room, only to make a slight change in her dress, andgive out the clean linen, and discuss with the cook what would have tobe done about the Sunday roast-joint, and at the same time pick up afew items of town-gossip, then she would go at once and see what reallywas the matter with her betrothed.
You know, kindly, reader, that we all of us, when in Traugott's case,have to go through our appointed stages; we can't help ourselves.Despair is succeeded by a dull dazed sort of moody reverie, in whichthe crisis is wont to occur; and this then passes over into a milderpain, in which Nature is able to apply her remedies with effect.
It was in this stage of sad but beneficial pain that, some days later,Traugott again sat on the Carlsberg, gazing out as before upon thesea-waves and the grey misty clouds which had gathered over Hela; buthe was not seeking as before to discover the destiny reserved for himin days to come; no, for all that he had hoped for, all that he haddimly dreamt of, had vanished. "Oh!" said he, "my call to art was abitter, bitter deception. Felicia was the phantom who deluded me intothe belief in that which never had any other existence but in theinsane fancy of a fever-stricken mind. It's all over. I will give itall up, and go back--into my dungeon. I have made up my mind; I will goback." Traugott again went back to his work in the office, whilst thewedding-day with Christina was once more fixed. On the day before thewedding was to come off, Traugott was standing in Arthur's Hall,looking, not without a good deal of heart-rending sadness, at thefateful figures of the old burgomaster and his page, when his eye fellupon the broker to whom Berklinger was trying to sell his stock.Without pausing to think, almost mechanically in fact, he walked up tohim and asked, "Did you happen to know the strikingly curious old manwith the black curly beard who some time ago frequently used to be seenhere along with a handsome youth?" "Why, to be sure I did," answeredthe broker; "that was the crack-brained old painter GottfriedBerklinger." "Then don't you know where he has gone to and where he isnow living?" asked Traugott again. "Ay, that I do," replied the broker;"he has now for a long time been living quietly at Sorrento along withhis daughter." "With his daughter Felicia?" asked Traugott sovehemently and so loudly that everybody turned round to look at him."Why, yes," went on the broker calmly, "that was, you know, the prettyyouth who always followed the old man about everywhere. Half Dantzicknew that he was a girl, notwithstanding that the crazy old fellowthought there was not a single soul could guess it. It had beenprophesied to him that if his daughter were ever to get married hewould die a shameful death; and accordingly he determined never to letanybody know anything about her, and so he passed her off everywhereas his son." Traugott stood like a statue; then he ran off throughthe streets--away out of the town-gates--into the open country, intothe woods, loudly lamenting, "Oh! miserable wretch that I am! It wasshe--she, herself; I have sat beside her scores and hundreds oftimes--have breathed her breath--pressed her delicate hands--lookedinto her beautiful eyes--heard her sweet words--and now I have losther! No; not lost I will follow her into the land of art. I acknowledgethe finger of destiny. Away--away to Sorrento."
He hurried back home. Herr Elias Roos got in his way; Traugott laidhold of him and carried him along with him into the room. "I shallnever marry Christina, never!" he screamed. "She looks like _Voluptas_(Pleasure) and _Luxuries_ (Wantonness), and her hair is like that of_Ira_ (Wrath), in the picture in Arthur's Hall. O Felicia! Felicia! Mybeautiful darling! Why do you stretch out your arms so longinglytowards me? I am coming, I am coming. And now let me tell you, HerrElias," he continued, again laying hold of the pale merchant, "youwill never see me in your damned office again. What do I care foryour cursed ledgers and day-books? I am a painter, ay, and a goodpainter too. Berklinger is my master, my father, my all, and you arenothing--nothing at all." And therewith he gave Herr Elias a goodshaking. Herr Elias, however, began to shout at the top of his voice,"Help! help! Come here, folks! Help! My son-in-law's gone mad. Mypartner's in a raging fit Help! help!" Everybody came running out ofthe office. Traugott had released his hold upon Elias and now sank downexhausted in a chair. They all gathered round him; but when he suddenlyleapt to his feet and cried with a wild look, "What do you all want?"they all hurried off out of the room in a string, Herr Elias in themiddle.
Soon afterwards there was a rustling of a silk dress, and a voiceasked, "Have you really gone crazed, my dear Herr Traugott, or are youonly jesting?" It was Christina. "I am not the least bit crazed, myangel," replied Traugott, "nor is it one whit truer that I am jesting.Pray compose yourself, my dear, but our wedding won't come offto-morrow; I shall never marry you, neither to-morrow, nor at any othertime." "There is not the least need of it," said Christina very calmly."I have not been particularly pleased with you for some time, and someone I know will value it far differently if he may only lead home ashis bride the rich and pretty Miss Christina Roos. Adieu!" Therewithshe rustled off. "She means the book-keeper," thought Traugott. As soonas he had calmed down somewhat he went to Herr Elias and explained tohim in convincing terms that he need not expect to have him either ashis son-in-law or as his partner in the business. Herr Elias reconciledhimself to the inevitable; and repeated with downright honest joy inthe office again and again that he thanked God to have got rid of thatcrazy-headed Traugott--even after the latter was a long, long waydistant from Dantzic.
On at length arriving at the longed-for country, Traugott found a newlife awaiting him, bright and brilliant. At Rome he was introduced tothe circle of the German colony of painters and shared in theirstudies. Thus it came to pass that he stayed there longer than wouldseem to have been permissible in the face of his longing to findFelicia again, by which he had hitherto been so restlessly urgedonwards. But his longing was n
ow grown weaker; it shaped itself in hisheart like a fascinating dream, whose misty shimmer enveloped his lifeon all sides, so that he believed that all he did and thought, and allhis artistic practice, were turned towards the higher supernaturalregions of blissful intuitions. All the female figures which his nowexperienced artistic skill enabled him to create bore lovely Felicia'sfeatures. The young painters were greatly struck by the exquisitelybeautiful face, the original of which they in vain sought to find inRome; they overwhelmed Traugott with multitudes of questions as towhere he had seen the beauty. Traugott however was very shy of tellingof his singular adventure in Dantzic, until at last, after the lapse ofseveral months, an old Koenigsberg friend, Matuszewski by name, who hadcome to Rome to devote himself entirely to art, declared joyfully thathe had seen there--in Rome, the girl whom Traugott copied in all hispictures. Traugott's wild delight may be imagined. He no longerconcealed what it was that had attracted him so strongly to art, andurged him on with such irresistible power into Italy; and his Dantzicadventure proved so singular and so attractive that they all promisedto search eagerly for the lost loved one.
Matuszewski's efforts were the most successful. He had soon found outwhere the girl lived, and discovered moreover that she really was thedaughter of a poor old painter, who just at that period was busyputting a new coat on the walls of the church Trinita del Monte. Allthese things agreed nicely. Traugott at once hastened to the church inquestion along with Matuszewski; and in the painter, whom he sawworking up on a very high scaffolding, he really thought he recognisedold Berklinger. Thence the two friends hurried off to the old man'sdwelling, without having been noticed by him. "It is she," criedTraugott, when he saw the painter's daughter standing on the balcony,occupied with some sort of feminine work. "Felicia, my Felicia!" heexclaimed aloud in his joy, as he burst into the room. The girl lookedup very much alarmed. She had Felicia's features; but it was notFelicia. In his bitter disappointment poor Traugott's wounded heart wasrent as if from innumerable dagger-thrusts. In a few words Matuszewskiexplained all to the girl. In her pretty shy confusion, with her cheeksdeep crimson, and her eyes cast down upon the ground, she made amarvellously attractive picture to look at; and Traugott, whose firstimpulse had been quickly to retire, nevertheless, after casting but asingle pained glance at her, remained standing where he was, as thoughheld fast by silken bonds. His friend was not backward in saying allsorts of complimentary things to pretty Dorina, and so helped her torecover from the constraint and embarrassment into which she had beenthrown by the extraordinary manner of their entrance. Dorina raised the"dark fringed curtains of her eyes" and regarded the stranger with asweet smile, and said that her father would soon come home from hiswork, and would be very pleased to see some German painters, for heesteemed them very highly. Traugott was obliged to confess that,exclusive of Felicia, no girl had ever excited such a warm interest inhim as Dorina did. She was in fact almost a second Felicia; the onlydifferences were that Dorina's features seemed to him less delicate andmore sharply cut, and her hair was darker. It was the same picture,only painted by Raphael instead of by Rubens.
It was not long before the old gentleman came in; and Traugott nowplainly saw that he had been greatly misled by the height of thescaffolding in the church, on which the old man had stood. Instead ofhis being the strong Berklinger, he was a thin, mean-looking little oldman, timid and crushed by poverty. A deceptive accidental light in thechurch had given his clean-shaved chin an appearance similar toBerklinger's black curly beard. In conversing about art matters the oldman unfolded considerable ripe practical knowledge; and Traugott madeup his mind to cultivate his acquaintance; for though his introductionto the family had been so painful, their society now began to exercisea more and more agreeable influence upon him.
Dorina, the incarnation of grace and child-like ingenuousness, plainlyallowed her preference for the young German painter to be seen. AndTraugott warmly returned her affection. He grew so accustomed to thesociety of the pretty child (she was but fifteen), that he often spentthe whole day with the little family; his studio he transferred to thespacious apartment which stood empty next their rooms; and finally heestablished himself in the family itself. Hence he was able of hisprosperity to do much in a delicate way to relieve their straitenedcircumstances; and the old man could not very well think otherwise thanthat Traugott would marry Dorina; and he even said so to him withoutreservation. This put Traugott in no little consternation: for he nowdistinctly recollected the object of his journey, and perceived whereit seemed likely to end. Felicia again stood before his eyes instinctwith life; but, on the other hand, he felt that he could not leaveDorina. His vanished darling he could not, for some extraordinaryreason, conceive of as being his wife. She was pictured in hisimagination as an intellectual vision, that he could neither lose norwin. Oh! to be immanent in his beloved intellectually for ever! neverto have her and own her physically! But Dorina was often in histhoughts as his dearly loved wife; and as often as he contemplated theidea of again binding himself in the indissoluble bonds ofbetrothal,[10] he felt a delicious tremor run through him and a gentlewarmth pervade his veins; and yet he regarded it as unfaithfulness tohis first love. Thus Traugott's heart was the scene of contest betweenthe most contradictory feelings; he could not make up his mind what todo. He avoided the old painter; and _he_ accordingly feared Traugottintended to receive his dear child. He had moreover already spoken ofTraugott's wedding as a settled thing; and it was only under thisimpression that he had tolerated Dorina's familiar intimacy withTraugott, which otherwise would have given the girl an ill name. Theblood of the Italian boiled within him, and one day he roundly declaredto Traugott that he must either marry Dorina or leave him, for he wouldnot tolerate this familiar intercourse an hour longer. Traugott wastormented by the keenest annoyance as well as by the bitterestvexation. The old man he viewed in the light of a vile match-maker; hisown actions and behaviour were contemptible; and that he had everdeserted Felicia he now judged to be sinful and abominable. His heartwas sore wounded at parting from Dorina; but with a violent effort hetore himself free from the sweet bonds. He hastened away to Naples, toSorrento.
He spent a whole year in making the strictest inquiries afterBerklinger and Felicia; but all was in vain; nobody knew anything aboutthem. The sole gleam of intelligence that he could find was a vaguesort of presumption, which was founded merely upon the traditionthat an old German painter had been seen in Sorrento several yearsbefore--and that was all. After being driven backwards and forwardslike a boat on the restless sea, Traugott at length came to a stand inNaples; and in proportion as his industry in art pursuits againawakened, the longing for Felicia which he cherished in his bosom grewsofter and milder. But he never saw any pretty girl, if she was theleast like Dorina in figure, movement, or bearing, without feeling mostbitterly the loss of the dear sweet child. Yet when he was painting henever thought of Dorina, but always of Felicia; she continued to be hisconstant ideal.
At length he received letters from his native town. Herr Elias Roos haddeparted this life, his business agent wrote, and Traugott's presencewas required in order to settle matters with the book-keeper, who hadmarried Miss Christina and undertaken the business. Traugott hurriedback to Dantzic by the shortest route.
Again he was standing in Arthur's Hall, leaning against the granitepillar, opposite the burgomaster and the page; he dwelt upon thewonderful adventure which had had such a painful influence upon hislife; and, a prey to deep and hopeless sadness, he stood and lookedwith a set fixed gaze upon the youth, who greeted him with living eyes,as it were, and whispered in a sweet and charming voice, "And so youcould not desert me then after all?"
"Can I believe my eyes? Is it really your own respected self come backagain safe and sound, and quite cured of your unpleasant melancholy?"croaked a voice near Traugott. It was the well-known broker. "I havenot found her," escaped Traugott involuntarily. "Whom do you mean? Whomhas your honour not found?" asked the broker. "The painter GodofredusBerklinger and his
daughter Felicia," rejoined Traugott. "I havesearched all Italy for them; not a soul knew anything about them inSorrento." This made the broker open his eyes and stare at him, and hestammered, "Where do you say you have searched for Berklinger andFelicia? In Italy? in Naples? in Sorrento?" "Why, yes; to be sure,"replied Traugott, very testily. Whereupon the broker struck his handstogether several times in succession, crying as he did so, "Did youever now? Did you ever hear tell of such a thing? But Herr Traugott!Herr Traugott!" "Well, what is there to be so much astonished at?"rejoined Traugott, "don't behave in such a foolish fashion, pray. Ofcourse a man will travel as far as Sorrento for his sweetheart's sake.Yes, yes; I loved Felicia and followed her." But the broker skippedabout on one foot, and continued to say, "Well, now, did you ever? didyou ever?" until Traugott placed his hand earnestly upon his arm andasked, "Come, tell me then, in heaven's name! what is it that you findso extraordinary?" The broker began, "But, my good Herr Traugott, doyou mean to say you don't know that Herr Aloysius Brandstetter, ourrespected town-councillor and the senior of our guild, calls his littlevilla, in that small fir-wood at the foot of Carlsberg, in thedirection of Conrad's Hammer, by the name of Sorrento? He boughtBerklinger's pictures of him and took the old man and his daughter intohis house, that is, out to Sorrento. And there they lived for severalyears; and if you, my respected Herr Traugott, had only gone andplanted your own two feet on the middle of the Carlsberg, you couldhave had a view right into the garden, and could have seen Miss Feliciawalking about there dressed in curious old-German style, like the womenin those pictures--there was no need for you to go to Italy. Afterwardsthe old man--but that is a sad story" "Never mind; go on," saidTraugott, hoarsely. "Yes," continued the broker. "Young Brandstettercame back from England, saw Miss Felicia, and fell in love with her.Coming unexpectedly upon the young lady in the garden, he fell upon hisknees before her in romantic fashion, and swore that he would wed herand deliver her from the tyrannical slavery in which her father kepther. Close behind the young people, without their having observed it,stood the old man; and the very self-same moment in which Felicia said,'I will be yours,' he fell down with a stifled scream, and was dead asa door nail. It's said he looked very very hideous--all blue andbloody, because he had by some inexplicable means burst an artery.After that Miss Felicia could not bear young Brandstetter at all, andat last she married Mathesius, criminal and aulic counsellor, ofMarienwerder. Your honour, as an old flame, should go and see the _FrauKriminalraethin_. Marienwerder is not so far, you know, as your realItalian Sorrento. The good lady is said to be very comfortable and tohave enriched the world with divers children."
Silent and crushed, Traugott hastened from the Hall. This issue of hisadventure filled him with awe and dread. "No, it is not she--it is notshe!" he cried. "It is not Felicia, that divine image which enkindledan infinite longing in my bosom, whom I followed into yon distant land,seeing her before me everywhere where I went like my star of fortune,twinkling and glittering with sweet hopes. Felicia--_Kriminalraethin_Mathesius! Ha! Ha! Ha!--_Kriminalraethin_ Mathesius!" Traugott, shakenby extreme sensations of misery, laughed aloud and hastened in hisusual way through the Oliva Gate along the Langfuhr[11] to theCarlsberg. He looked down into Sorrento, and the tears gushed from hiseyes. "Oh!" he cried, "Oh! how deep, how incurably deep an injury, Othou eternal ruling Power, does thy bitter irony inflict upon poorman's soft heart! But no, no! But why should the child cry over theincurable pain when instead of enjoying the light and warmth he thrustshis hand into the flames? Destiny visibly laid its hand upon me, but mydimmed vision did not recognise the higher nature at work; and I hadthe presumption to delude myself with the idea that the forms, createdby the old master and mysteriously awakened to life, which stepped downto meet me, were my own equals, and that I could draw them down intothe miserable transitoriness of earthly existence. No, no, Felicia, Ihave never lost you; you are and will be mine for ever, for youyourself are the creative artistic power dwelling within me. Now,--andonly now have I first come to know you. What have you--what have I todo with the _Kriminalraethin_ Mathesius? I fancy, nothing at all."
"Neither did I know what you should have to do with her, my respectedHerr Traugott," a voice broke in. Traugott awakened out of his dream.Strange to say, he found himself, without knowing how he got there,again leaning against the granite pillar in Arthur's Hall. The personwho had spoken the abovementioned words was Christina's husband. Hehanded to Traugott a letter that had just arrived from Rome.Matuszewski wrote:--
"Dorina is prettier and more charming than ever, only pale with longingfor you, my dear friend. She is expecting you every hour, for she ismost firmly convinced that you could never be untrue to her. She lovesyou with all her heart. When shall we see you again?"
"I am very pleased that we settled all our business this morning," saidTraugott to Christina's husband after he had read this, "for to-morrowI set out for Rome, where my bride is most anxiously longing for me."
* * * * * * *
FOOTNOTES TO "ARTHUR'S HALL":
[Footnote 1: Written for the _Urania_ for 1817.]
[Footnote 2: The _Artushof_ or _Junkerhof_ derives its names from itsconnection with the Arthurian cycle of legends, and from the fact thatthere the _Stadtjunker_, or wealthy merchants of Dantzic, used formerlyto meet both to transact business and for the celebration of festiveoccasions. It has been used as an exchange since 1742. The site of thepresent building was occupied by a still older one down to 1552, and tothis the hall, which is vaulted and supported on four slender pillarsof granite, belongs architecturally. It was very quaintly decoratedwith pictures, statues, reliefs, &&, both of Christian and Pagantraditions.]
[Footnote 3: A broad street crossing Dantzic in an east-to-westdirection.]
[Footnote 4: In Scandinavian mythology, Fafnir, the worm, becamethe owner of the treasure which his father, Hreidmar, had exacted asblood-money from Loki, because he had slain Hreidmar's son Otur, thesea-otter. This treasure Loki had taken by violence from its rightfulowner, a dwarf, who in revenge prophesied that the possession of thetreasure should henceforward be fraught with dire mischief to everysuccessive owner of it.]
[Footnote 5: A hill to the north-west of Dantzic, affording a splendidview of the Gulf of Dantzic.]
[Footnote 6: A long narrow spit of land projecting from the coast at apoint north of Dantzic in a south-south-east direction into the Gulf ofDantzic.]
[Footnote 7: August 4th.]
[Footnote 8: The name in the text is _Felizitas_--Felicity; Feliciahas been adopted in the translation as being the nearest approach toit. Felicity would in all probability be extremely strange to Englishears, besides being liable to lead to ambiguities.]
[Footnote 9: A mode of aerial conveyance made use of on occasion bythe personage named, in the popular Faust legend.]
[Footnote 10: In Germany the betrothal is a more significant act thanin England, and by some regarded as more sacred and binding than theactual marriage ceremony.]
[Footnote 11: A suburb of Dantzic, on the N. W., 3-1/2 miles nearerthan Carlsberg; it is connected with the city by a double avenue offine limes.]
END OF VOLUME I.
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