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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fickle Fortune, by 
+Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: Fickle Fortune
+
+Author: Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+Translator: Christina Tyrrell
+
+Release Date: March 18, 2012 [EBook #39194]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FICKLE FORTUNE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+no gutcheck/jeebies/gutspell
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://www.archive.org/details/3935129
+
+   2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+                           FICKLE FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           FICKLE FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+                              E. WERNER,
+                              AUTHOR OF
+           'UNDER A CHARM,' 'NO SURRENDER,' 'SUCCESS,' ETC.
+
+
+
+                           From the German
+                                  BY
+                          CHRISTINA TYRRELL.
+
+
+
+
+
+                           _A NEW EDITION_.
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                       RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
+           Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
+                                1888.
+                       [_All Rights Reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           FICKLE FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+
+'This is what they are pleased to call spring in these parts! The snow
+drifts thicker and thicker every minute, and the delightful north-east
+wind comes in vigorous blasts which threaten to carry us away into
+space, post-chaise and all. It is perfectly maddening.'
+
+The carriage, one of the occupants of which thus gave vent to his
+ill-humour, was in truth working its way slowly and with difficulty
+through the accumulated snow on the high-road. Notwithstanding all
+their efforts, the horses could only advance at a foot-pace, so that
+the patience of the two travellers seated in the interior of the
+vehicle was put to a severe test.
+
+Of these, the younger, who was attired in an elegant travelling-suit,
+far too light of texture, however, for the occasion, could certainly
+not be more than four-and-twenty years of age. All the hopefulness and
+confidence, or rather the bright audacity of youth beamed in his frank
+handsome face, in the dark eyes, which were bold and clear as though
+no trace of a shadow had ever clouded them. There was something
+peculiarly winning and agreeable about the young man's whole
+appearance, but he seemed highly impatient of the delay which now
+occurred in his journey, and gave expression to his annoyance in every
+possible way.
+
+His companion, on the other hand, appeared altogether calm and
+indifferent, as he sat, wrapped in his cloak, leaning well back in the
+other corner of the carriage. But a few years older than his friend,
+he possessed little of the latter's attractiveness. He was of
+powerful, rather than of graceful, build, and he bore himself with an
+ease which was almost nonchalance. His face would have passed muster
+as being, at least, full of character, though it could lay claim
+neither to beauty nor regularity of outline, but it was spoiled by an
+expression of stern reserve which chilled and repelled.
+
+The deeper bitterness of life, its harsher experiences, could hardly
+have come home to one so young, and yet there was a look which spoke
+of these, a something not to be defined or accurately traced, which
+set on the countenance its own distinctive mark, and made the man
+appear much older than he really was. The abundant dark hair
+harmonised with the bushy dark eyebrows, but the eyes themselves were
+of that uncertain hue which is not generally approved. They made,
+indeed, scant appeal to the sympathies, expressing none of the happy
+vivacity, none of those passionate emotions wherein, as a rule, youth
+is so rich. Their cold unmoved survey was hard, and hardness
+characterised the young man's entire appearance and demeanour.
+
+The gentleman above described had hitherto sat silent, looking out at
+the hurrying, driving snow; but now he turned, and in answer to his
+companion's impatient exclamation, said:
+
+'You forget that we are no longer in Italy, Edmund. In our climate,
+and especially here among the mountains, March counts among the winter
+months.'
+
+'Ah me, my beautiful Italy! There we left all bathed in sunshine and
+fragrant with flowers, and here at home we are received by a snowstorm
+imported direct from the North Pole, You seem, however, to find no
+fault with the temperature. The whole journey has been nothing to you
+but just a troublesome task to be got through. Don't deny it, Oswald.
+Could you have chosen, you would rather have stayed at home with your
+books.'
+
+Oswald shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'What I wished, or did not wish, was not taken into consideration. It
+was decided that you were not to travel without a companion. I
+therefore simply had to obey orders.'
+
+'Yes, you were given to me as a Mentor,' laughed Edmund; 'charged with
+the high mission of watching over me, and, at need, of applying a
+salutary check.'
+
+'In which I certainly have not succeeded. You have committed follies
+innumerable.'
+
+'Bah! of what use is it to be young and rich, if one is not to enjoy
+life? I must say this, I have always had to enjoy it by myself. You
+have not been a good comrade to me, Oswald, my friend. What made you
+always draw back into your shell in that obstinate, sombre fashion?'
+
+'Because I knew, and know, that what is permitted to the heir of
+Ettersberg, or what, at most, will be condoned with a few tender
+reproaches, would be esteemed a crime in me,' was the brusque reply.
+
+'Nonsense!' cried Edmund. 'You know very well that I should have taken
+the whole responsibility on myself. As it is, I must take all the
+blame. Well, the judgment on my backslidings will not be over-severe,
+I warrant, whereas, when you on our return publicly announce your
+plans for the future, you may hold yourself prepared for a storm.'
+
+'I know that,' replied Oswald laconically.
+
+'But I shall not stand by you this time as I did before, when you so
+decidedly refused to enter the army,' went on the young Count. 'I got
+you through that, for I naturally thought you would go into a
+Government office. We all thought so, looked upon it as a thing
+decided, and now you suddenly come forward with this insane idea of
+yours.'
+
+'The idea is neither so new nor so insane as you suppose. It had
+germinated and taken root in my mind when I began my University career
+with you. I have directed all my studies with a view to it; but as I
+wished to avoid a useless conflict lasting through years, I have been
+silent until now, when the time for the decision has come.'
+
+'I warn you, this project of yours will set the whole family in
+commotion. And I must say it is a most extraordinary one. Think of an
+Ettersberg turning barrister, and taking up the defence of any thief
+or forger who comes in his way! My mother will never hear of it, and
+she will be perfectly right. Now, if you were to enter a Government
+office----'
+
+'Years must elapse before I should have mounted the first grades, and
+during that time I must be altogether dependent on you and your
+mother.'
+
+This was said in so harsh and curt a tone that Edmund drew himself up
+quickly.
+
+'Oswald, have I ever let you feel that?'
+
+'You--never! But your very generosity makes me feel it more.'
+
+'So here we are on the old ground again! You are capable of doing the
+most idiotic thing in the world, merely to shake off this so-called
+dependence. But what is the matter, I wonder? Why has the carriage
+stopped? I really believe we are fast in the snow here on the
+main-road.'
+
+Oswald had already let down the window, and was looking out.
+
+'What is up?' he asked.
+
+'We are stuck,' was the phlegmatic reply of the post-boy, who seemed
+to consider the thing as perfectly natural.
+
+'Oh, we are stuck, are we!' repeated Edmund, with an irritated laugh.
+'And the man informs us of it with that sweet philosophic calm. Well,
+granted we are stuck. What is to be done?'
+
+Oswald made no reply, but opened the carriage-door and stepped out.
+The situation could be taken in at a glance; agreeable it certainly
+was not. From the spot they had reached, the road descended in a steep
+incline, and the narrow defile through which they must pass was
+completely blocked by an enormous drift. There the snow lay several
+feet high, and presented so compact a mass that to get through it
+seemed impossible. The coachman and horses must have become aware of
+this simultaneously, for the latter ceased all exertion, and the
+former sat with drooping whip and reins, gazing at his two passengers
+as though he expected from them counsel or assistance.
+
+'This confounded post-chaise!' burst forth Edmund, who had followed
+his companion's example and alighted in his turn. 'Why the deuce had
+not we our own horses sent out to meet us! We shall not reach
+Ettersberg now before dark. Driver, we must get on!'
+
+'There is no getting on, sir,' replied the latter, with imperturbable
+serenity. 'You, gentlemen, can see it for yourselves.'
+
+The young Count was about to make an angry retort, when Oswald laid
+his hand on his arm.
+
+'The man is right. It really is not to be done. With these two horses
+only we cannot possibly advance. There is nothing left us but to stop
+here a while in the carriage, and to send the post-boy on to the next
+station to procure us a relay.'
+
+'So that we may be snowed up here meanwhile. Rather than that, I would
+go on to the post-house  on foot.'
+
+Oswald's eyes travelled with a somewhat sarcastic glance over his
+comrade's dress, which was suited only to a railway _coupé_ or a
+carriage.
+
+'You propose going through the woods on foot in that attire? Along a
+path where one sinks to the knee at every step? But you will take cold
+standing here exposed to this sharp wind. Have my cloak.'
+
+So saying, and without more ado, he unfastened his cloak, and placed
+it about the Count's shoulders, the latter protesting violently, but
+in vain.
+
+'Do not give it to me; you will have no protection yourself against
+the wind and weather.'
+
+'Nothing hurts me. I am not delicate.'
+
+'And, in your opinion, I am?' inquired Edmund tetchily.
+
+'No, only spoilt. But now we must come to some decision. Either we
+must stay here in the carriage and send on the post-boy, or we must
+endeavour to push forwards by the footpath. Decide quickly. What is to
+be done?'
+
+'What an abominable way you have of summing up things!' said Edmund,
+with a sigh. 'You are constantly setting one an alternative----choose
+this or that. How do I know if the footpath is practicable?'
+
+Here the discussion was interrupted. The snorting of horses and the
+thud of hoofs on the snow were heard at some little distance, and
+through the mist and falling flakes a second carriage could be seen
+approaching. The powerful animals which drew it overcame with
+tolerable ease the difficulties of the way, until they reached the
+formidable descent. Here they, too, came to a stand. The coachman drew
+rein, contemplated the block before him with an ominous shake of the
+head, and then turned to speak to some one inside the carriage. His
+report was evidently as unsatisfactory as that delivered by the
+post-boy, and was received with a like impatience. The answer, which
+came in a clear, youthful voice, was given sharply and with much
+energy:
+
+'It is all of no use, Anthony. We must get through.'
+
+'But, Fräulein, if it can't be done!' objected the coachman.
+
+'Nonsense! it _must_ be done. I will just look for myself.'
+
+No sooner were the words spoken in a most decided tone than they were
+carried into effect. The carriage-door flew open, and a young lady--a
+lady of whose youth there could be no possible doubt--sprang out.
+She appeared to be familiar with the March temperature of this
+mountainous country, and to have taken the necessary precautionary
+measures, for her costume was one suited to winter. She wore a dark
+travelling-dress, and over it a fur-trimmed jacket well buttoned about
+her slender figure, while securely pinned about her hat was a thick
+veil which covered head and face. The fact that on alighting her foot
+sank into the soft snow almost to the border of her boot seemed in no
+way to affect her. She advanced valiantly a few steps, then stopped on
+beholding another carriage drawn up just before her own.
+
+The attention of the two gentlemen had, of course, also been
+attracted. Oswald, indeed, merely bestowed a cursory glance on the
+new-comer, and then addressed his mind again to the critical situation
+in which they found themselves; but Edmund, on the other hand, at once
+lost all interest in it.
+
+He left to his companion any further consideration of the difficulty.
+In an instant he was at the stranger's side, and, executing a bow as
+elaborate as though they had been in a drawing-room, spoke thus:
+
+'Pardon me, Fräulein, but I perceive we are not the only persons
+surprised by this incomparable spring weather. It is always
+consolatory to meet with companions in misfortune; and as we are
+exposed to a like danger, that of being completely, hopelessly snowed
+up, you will allow us to offer you our aid and assistance.'
+
+In making this chivalrous offer. Count Ettersberg lost sight of the
+fact that he and Oswald were as yet helpless themselves, having found
+no way of overcoming the obstacle in their path. Unfortunately, he was
+at once taken at his word, for the young lady, no whit abashed by a
+stranger's address, replied promptly in her former decided tone:
+
+'Well, have the kindness then to make us a way through the snow.'
+
+'I?' asked Edmund, dismayed. 'You wish me to----'
+
+'I wish you to make us a road through the snow--most certainly I do,
+sir.'
+
+'With the utmost pleasure, Fräulein, if only you will be so good as to
+tell me how I am to set about it.'
+
+The toe of her little boot tapped the ground vigorously, and there was
+some slight asperity in her reply.
+
+'I fancied you might have found out that already, as you proffered
+your help. Well, we must get through some way, no matter how it is
+managed.'
+
+With this, the speaker threw back her veil, and proceeded to inspect
+the situation. The withdrawal of that dark blue gauze revealed
+features of such unwonted loveliness that Edmund, in his surprise,
+forgot to make response. A fairer sight, indeed, could hardly have
+been beheld than the face of this young girl, rose-tinted by the
+action of the keen mountain air. Her brown curly hair peeped and
+struggled rebelliously out of the silken net which sought to confine
+it. Her eyes, of the deepest, deepest blue, were not serene and calm
+as blue eyes are expected to be; on the contrary, they gleamed and
+sparkled with the saucy merriment which youth and happiness alone can
+give. Every smile brought a charming, delicious little dimple into
+either cheek, but there was an expression about the small mouth which
+hinted at waywardness and defiance; and it might well be that in that
+little head, beneath those rebellious locks, there lodged a child's
+caprice, all a child's manifold wilful conceits. Perhaps it was
+precisely this which gave to the face its own peculiar, piquant charm,
+which fascinated irresistibly, and forced those who had once looked to
+look again.
+
+The young lady was by no means unaware of the impression her
+appearance had created. To the consciousness of it was due, no doubt,
+the involuntary smile which now chased the petulance from her
+features. Edmund's silence was not of long duration. Timidity and a
+want of self-confidence  were not among his failings, and he was about
+to renew the attack with a well-turned compliment when Oswald came up
+and spoke.
+
+'The difficulty can be overcome,' he said, bowing slightly to the
+stranger. 'If you, Fräulein, will allow us to harness your horses
+to our team, it will be possible in the first place to get the
+post-chaise through the snow, and then to proceed with your carriage
+in its track.'
+
+'Uncommonly practical!' said Edmund, who was considerably annoyed at
+being thus interrupted, at the check to his compliment, and to the
+further development of his many delightful qualities. The young lady
+appeared somewhat surprised at the curt dry tone in which the proposal
+was made. The highly unpractical admiration of herself manifested by
+Count Ettersberg was evidently more to her taste than the cold
+commonsense of his companion.
+
+She replied, speaking rather shortly in her turn:
+
+'Pray do exactly as you think best.' Then she instructed the coachman
+to obey the gentleman's orders, and turning to her carriage, prepared
+to seek a shelter therein from the persistent, thickly-falling snow.
+
+Edmund promptly followed. He felt it incumbent on him to help her in,
+after which he took up his station on the carriage-step, in order to
+keep her informed of the progress of the business which Oswald had
+energetically taken in hand.
+
+'Now the procession has started,' he began his report, the
+carriage-window having been lowered to facilitate communication. 'They
+can hardly advance even with the double team. Ah, there, as they go
+downhill, things look serious. The ramshackle old post-chaise cracks
+and shakes at every joint; the two men are as awkward in driving as
+they can possibly be. It is lucky that my companion is commandant of
+the troop. If there is a thing he thoroughly understands, and in which
+he excels, it is the art of commanding! Upon my word, they are making
+a breach in the snow-rampart! They will manage it. Oswald is over
+yonder already, pointing out to them the direction they are to take.'
+
+'While you are securely posted on my carriage-step,' remarked the
+young lady, rather caustically.
+
+'Why, Fräulein, you would not require of me to leave you all alone
+here on the highroad,' said Edmund, taking up his defence. 'Some one
+must stay here to protect you.'
+
+'I do not think there is any danger of an attack by robbers. Our
+highways are safe, so far as I know. But you seem to have a fancy for
+your point of vantage.'
+
+'Whence I enjoy so charming a prospect, yes.'
+
+This too gallant speech was evidently distasteful, for instantaneously
+the dark blue veil was lowered, and the vaunted prospect disappeared
+from view. Count Edmund was a little discomfited. He saw his error,
+and grew more respectful.
+
+A quarter of an hour had well-nigh elapsed before the chaise could be
+got over the difficult ground. At length it stood secure on the other
+side. Oswald retraced his steps, and the coachman followed with the
+horses. Edmund was still on the carriage-step. He had, as it seemed,
+received absolution for the impertinence of which he had been guilty,
+for a most animated conversation was going on between the lady and her
+self-appointed guardian. The former took, however, a certain malicious
+pleasure in concealing her features from view. Her veil was still
+closely drawn when Oswald again approached.
+
+'I must beg of you to alight, Fräulein,' he said. 'The descent is
+rather precipitous, and the snow is deep. Our post-chaise was several
+times within an ace of being overturned, and your carriage is much
+heavier. It might be a risk for you to remain in it.'
+
+'What an idea, Oswald!' cried Edmund. 'How can this lady pass along
+such a road on foot? It is impossible!'
+
+'Not so, only rather uncomfortable,' was the unmoved reply. 'The
+carriages will have formed some sort of a track; if we follow in that,
+the journey will really not be so difficult as you imagine. Of course,
+if the lady is afraid to venture----'
+
+'Afraid?' she interrupted, in an angry tone. 'Pray, sir, do not
+attribute any such excessive timidity to me. I shall most certainly
+venture, and that at once.'
+
+So saying, she jumped out of the carriage, and next minute was braving
+the elements on the open road. Here the wind caught the veil which had
+been so persistently held down, and it fluttered high in the air.
+True, the little hand clutched quickly at the truant gauze, but it had
+wound itself about the hat, and the attempt to regain control of it
+failed signally; to the great satisfaction of Count Edmund, who was
+now able to enjoy the 'prospect' without let or hindrance.
+
+Meanwhile the horses had been harnessed to the second carriage. Ruts
+having previously been made in the snow, the journey this time was
+more easily performed. Nevertheless, Oswald, who followed closely in
+the wake of the vehicle, was constantly obliged to offer his guidance
+and assistance. The driving snow knew no intermission, and the great
+white flakes whirled round and round, chased by the wind. The high
+dyke-walls on either side of the road were seen but indistinctly as
+through a veil, while all further prospect was completely blotted out,
+hidden in dense mist. It needed the elastic spirits of youth to
+support with philosophy so severe an ordeal, to find in it food for
+mirth. Fortunately, this talismanic quality was possessed by the two
+younger travellers in a high degree. The difficult progress, in the
+course of which they sank at each step ankle-deep into the snow, the
+incessant struggle with the wind, all the difficulties, great and
+small, which had to be overcome, were to them an inexhaustible source
+of merriment. Their lively talk never flagged an instant. Repartees
+flowed backwards and forwards rocketwise. Each joke was caught in its
+passage, and sent back with interest. Neither would allow the other to
+have the last word, and all this badinage went on as unrestrainedly,
+in as frank and natural a manner, as though the two had been
+acquainted for years.
+
+At length the journey was performed, and the summit of the opposite
+hill reached in safety. Here the road branched off in two directions,
+and no further obstruction was to be apprehended. The carriages stood
+side by side, and the respective teams were speedily harnessed in
+their proper order.
+
+'We shall have to part company now,' said the young lady, pointing to
+the divergent routes. 'You, no doubt, will continue along the
+highroad, while my destination lies in the other direction.'
+
+'At no very great distance, I hope,' said Edmund quickly. 'I beg
+pardon, but all the small misadventures of this journey have done away
+with anything like etiquette. We have not even told you our names.
+Under the very exceptional circumstances, you will allow me,
+Fräulein'--here a violent gust of wind blew the cape of his cloak
+about his ears, and dashed a shower of wet flakes in his face--'you
+will allow me to introduce myself, your humble servant. Count Edmund
+von Ettersberg, who at the same time has the honour of presenting his
+cousin, Oswald von Ettersberg. You will excuse the reverence which
+should accompany these words. Our friend Boreas is capable of
+prostrating me at your feet in the snow.'
+
+The young lady started at the mention of his name.
+
+'Count Edmund? The heir of Ettersberg?'
+
+'At your service.'
+
+The stranger's lips twitched as with a strong inclination to laughter
+forcibly restrained.
+
+'And you have acted as my protector? We have mutually helped each
+other in need with our horses. Oh, that is admirable!'
+
+'My name would appear to be familiar to you,' said Edmund. 'May I in
+my turn learn----'
+
+'Who I am? No, Count, you certainly will not learn that now. But I
+would advise you not to mention this meeting of ours at Ettersberg,
+for, innocent as we are in the matter, the avowal would, I think, at
+once place us both beyond the pale of the law.'
+
+Here the young lady's self-control gave way, and she broke out into
+such a peal of merry laughter that Oswald looked at her in surprise.
+Not a whit disconcerted, Edmund immediately adopted the same tone.
+
+'It seems that there exists between us a certain secret connection of
+which I had no idea,' he said. 'The secret, however, appears to be of
+a cheerful nature, and though you decline to raise the veil of your
+incognito, you will, I am sure, permit me to enjoy my share of the
+joke,' whereupon he joined in her merriment, laughing as heartily and
+extravagantly as herself.
+
+'The carriages are ready,' said Oswald, breaking in upon this noisy
+gaiety. 'It is time, I think, for us to be setting out again.'
+
+The two suddenly ceased laughing, and looked as though they considered
+such an interruption to be most unmannerly. The young lady threw back
+her head with an angry toss, looked at the speaker from head to foot,
+and then without more ado turned her back on him, and walked towards
+the carriage. Edmund naturally accompanied her. He pushed aside the
+coachman, who was standing by the wheel ready to assist, lifted his
+beautiful _protégée_ in, and closed the door.
+
+'And I really am not to hear whom chance has thrown in my way in this
+kind, but all too transitory, manner?' he asked, with a profound bow.
+
+'No, Count. Possibly some explanation may be given you at home--that
+is, if my _signalement_ be known there. I, most certainly, shall not
+solve the enigma. One question more, however. Is your cousin always as
+polite and as sociable as he has shown himself to-day?
+
+'Ah, you would say that he has not opened his lips once during the
+whole of our walk. Yes, that is unfortunately his way with strangers.
+As for any sense of gallantry, of deference towards ladies!' Edmund
+sighed. 'Ah, you little know, Fräulein, what efforts I have to make,
+how often I have to intervene and make amends for his utter deficiency
+in that respect.'
+
+'Well, you seem to accept the task with much self-abnegation,' replied
+the young lady mischievously; 'and you have an extraordinary
+predilection for mounting carriage-steps. Why, you are up there
+again!'
+
+Edmund certainly was up there, and would probably long have retained
+the position, had not the coachman, who now grasped the reins, given
+visible signs of impatience. The beautiful unknown graciously inclined
+her head.
+
+'Many thanks for your kindness. Adieu.'
+
+'Adieu, for the present only, I may hope,' cried Edmund eagerly.
+
+'For heaven's sake, hope nothing of the kind. We must forego any such
+wild notion. You will see it yourself before long. Adieu, Count von
+Ettersberg.'
+
+These farewell words were followed by the musical, merry laugh. The
+horses pulled with a will, and the young man had only just time to
+jump from his standing-point on the step.
+
+'Will you have the kindness to get in at last?'--this in the
+remonstrant tones of Oswald's voice. 'You were in such a great hurry
+to reach home, you know, and we are considerably behind time now.'
+
+Edmund cast one more glance at the carriage which was whirling from
+him his charming new acquaintance. Presently it disappeared among the
+trees. Then he obeyed his cousin's summons.
+
+'Oswald, who was the lady?' he asked quickly, as the post-chaise in
+its turn began to move onwards.
+
+'Why on earth ask me? How should I know?'
+
+'Well, you were long enough away with the carriage. You might have
+inquired of the coachman.'
+
+'It is not my way to question coachmen. Besides, the matter possesses
+little interest for me.'
+
+'Well, it possesses a good deal for me,' said Edmund irritably. 'But
+it is just like you. You don't consider it worth while to put a
+question, though of course, as you are full well aware, one would
+like to have the matter cleared up. I really don't quite know what to
+make of the girl. She emits sparks, so to say, at the slightest
+contact--she attracts and repels in a breath. One minute you feel as
+if you may address her with perfect unconstraint, and the next you
+find yourself scared back to the most respectful distance. A most
+seductive little witch!'
+
+'Exceedingly spoilt and wilful, I should say,' remarked Oswald drily.
+
+'What an abominable pedant you are!' cried the young Count. 'You have
+always some fault to find. It is precisely her capricious, merry
+wilfulness which makes the girl so irresistible. But who in the world
+can she be? I saw no crest on the carriage-panels. The coachman wore a
+plain livery without any particular badge. Some middle-class family in
+the neighbourhood, evidently; and yet she seemed to know us very well.
+Why refuse to give her name? why that allusion to some connection
+existing between us? In vain I rack my brains to find some
+explanation.'
+
+Oswald, who seemed to think such mental exertion on his cousin's part
+most unnecessary, leaned back in his corner in silence, and the
+journey was continued without further obstacle, but with the tedious
+slowness which had characterised it throughout. To the Count's great
+annoyance, instead of the four horses they desired and expected, two
+only could be had at each relay. In consequence of the downfall of
+snow, the available animals at each post-house  had been put into
+requisition, so that the travellers had lost fully a couple of hours
+on the road since they started from the railway-station at noon. It
+was growing dark when the carriage at length rolled into the courtyard
+of Castle Ettersberg, where their arrival had evidently long been
+looked for. The portals of the spacious and brilliantly lighted hall
+were thrown open, and at the sound of approaching wheels a goodly band
+of servants hastened to receive their master. One of these, an old
+retainer, who, like the rest, wore the handsome Ettersberg livery,
+came straight up to the carriage.
+
+'Good-evening, Everard,' cried Edmund joyfully. 'Here we are at last,
+in spite of snow and stress of weather. All is well at home, I hope.'
+
+'Quite well, the Lord be praised. Count! but her ladyship was growing
+very anxious at the delay. She was afraid the young gentlemen had met
+with a mishap.'
+
+As he spoke, Everard opened the carriage-door, and at that moment a
+lady of tall and imposing stature, clad in a dark silk robe, appeared
+at the head of a flight of steps which led from the entrance-hall into
+the interior of the castle. To spring out of the carriage, to rush
+into the hall and bound up the steps, was, for Edmund, the affair of
+an instant. Next minute he was fast in his mother's embrace.
+
+'Dearest mother, what happiness to see you again at last!'
+
+There was nothing in the young Count's exclamation of that light, airy
+playfulness which had marked his every utterance hitherto. His tone
+was genuine now, coming from the heart, and a like passionate
+tenderness thrilled the voice and illumined the features of the
+Countess as she folded her son in her arms again, and kissed him.
+
+'My Edmund!'
+
+'We are late, are we not? The block on the roads and the detestable
+arrangements at the post-houses are to blame for it. Moreover, we had
+a little adventure by the way.'
+
+'How could you travel at all in such weather?' said the Countess, in a
+tone of loving reproach. 'I was hourly expecting a telegram to say
+that you would stay the night in B----, and come on here to-morrow.'
+
+'What! Be separated from you four-and-twenty hours longer?' Edmund
+broke in. 'No, mother, I certainly should not have agreed to that, and
+you did not believe it of me either.'
+
+The mother smiled. 'No; and for that very reason I have been in
+distress about you for several hours. But come now, you must need some
+refreshment after your long and arduous journey.'
+
+She would have taken her son's arm to lead him away, but he stood
+still, and said a little reproachfully:
+
+'You do not see Oswald, mother.'
+
+Oswald von Ettersberg had followed his cousin in silence. He stood a
+little aside in the shadow of the great staircase, only emerging from
+it now as the Countess turned towards him.
+
+'Welcome home, Oswald.'
+
+The greeting was very cool--cool and formal as the salute by which the
+young man responded to it. He just touched his aunt's hand with his
+lips, and as he did so, her glance travelled over his attire.
+
+'Why, you are wet through!' she exclaimed in surprise. 'How came that
+to be?'
+
+'Oh, I forgot to tell you!' cried Edmund. 'When we had to alight, he
+gave me his cloak, and braved the storm himself without it. Oswald,'
+he went on, turning to his cousin, 'I might have given it back to you
+in the carriage at least; why did you not remind me of it? Now you
+have been sitting a whole hour in that wet coat. I do trust you will
+take no harm from it.'
+
+He took off the cloak hastily, and passed his hand inquiringly over
+Oswald's shoulder, which certainly bore evidence of a good wetting.
+The other shook him off.
+
+'Don't. It is not worth speaking of.'
+
+'I really think not,' said the Countess, to whom this kindly concern
+on her son's part was evidently distasteful. 'You know that Oswald is
+not susceptible to the influence of the weather. He must change his
+clothes, that is all. Go, Oswald; but no, one word more,' she added
+carelessly, and, as it were, by an afterthought: 'I have this time
+given you another room, one situated over yonder, in the side-wing.'
+
+'For what reason?' asked Edmund, surprised and annoyed. 'You know that
+we have always had our rooms together.'
+
+'I have made some alterations in your apartments, my son,' said the
+Countess, in a tone of much decision; 'and they have obliged me to
+take possession of Oswald's room. He will have no objection, I am
+sure. He will find himself very comfortably lodged over yonder in the
+tower-chamber.'
+
+'No doubt, aunt.'
+
+The reply sounded quiet and indifferent enough, yet there was
+something in its tone which struck on the Count's ear unpleasantly.
+
+He frowned, and would have spoken again, but glancing at the servants
+standing round, he suppressed the remark he had been about to make.
+Instead of pursuing the discussion, he went up to his cousin and
+grasped his hand.
+
+'Well, we can talk this over later on. Go now, Oswald, and change your
+clothes at once--at once, do you hear? If you keep those wet things on
+any longer, you will give me cause for serious self-reproach. Do it to
+please me; we will wait dinner for you.'
+
+'Edmund, you seem to forget that I am waiting for you.'
+
+'One minute, mother. Everard, light Herr von Ettersberg to his room,
+and see that he has dry clothes ready without delay.'
+
+So saying, he turned to his mother, and offered his arm to lead her
+away. Oswald had responded by no single syllable to all the concern on
+his account so heartily expressed. He stood for a few seconds, looking
+after the two as they departed; then, as the old servant approached,
+he took the candelabrum from his hand.
+
+'That will do, Everard; I can find my way alone. Look after my trunk,
+will you?'
+
+He turned into the faintly  illumined corridor which led to the
+side-wing of the castle. The wax tapers he carried threw their clear
+light on the young man's face, from which, now that he was alone, the
+mask of indifference had dropped. The lips were tightly compressed,
+the brows contracted, and an expression of bitterness, almost of hate,
+distorted his features, as he murmured to himself under his breath:
+
+'Will the day never come when I shall be free?'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The house of Ettersberg had originally been great, and had boasted
+many branches; but in the course of years death and the marriage of
+the female descendants had lopped off one good member after another,
+so that at the time of which this story treats there were, besides the
+widowed Countess who lived at the patronymic castle, but two
+representatives of the name, Count Edmund, the heir, and his cousin
+Oswald.
+
+The latter shared the fate common to younger sons in families where
+the property is strictly entailed. Destitute of any personal fortune,
+he was entirely dependent on the head of his house, or must be so, at
+least, until he had carved out for himself a position in life. Things
+had not always worn this aspect; on the contrary, he had at his birth
+been greeted by his parents as the presumptive heir to the family
+lands. The then head of the family, Edmund's father, was childless,
+and already well advanced in years when he became a widower; his only
+brother, a man considerably younger than himself, who held a
+commission in the army, might therefore legitimately count on the
+prospective inheritance. It was esteemed a special piece of good
+fortune for this gentleman when, after many years of wedlock, blessed
+so far only by the advent of daughters early deceased, a son was born
+to him. The uncle himself gladly hailed the event as assuring the
+continuance of his race, and during the first years of infancy, the
+prospects of little Oswald were as brilliant as heart could desire.
+
+Then occurred a most unlooked-for reversal of fortune. Count
+Ettersberg, a sexagenarian and more, led to the altar as his second
+wife a girl of twenty. The young Countess was very beautiful, but she
+came of a ruined, though of a noble house. It was generally said that
+the family had spared no exertions to bring about so splendid an
+alliance. Splendid the match might certainly be called; but it was
+ill-qualified to satisfy the needs of a youthful heart, especially as,
+so it was whispered, this suit had interfered with, and roughly broken
+asunder, the bonds of a previous attachment. Whether absolute
+constraint, or persuasion only, had been used on the part of the
+relations, no one knew; however prompted, the young lady gave her
+consent to a marriage which insured her a brilliant and most enviable
+position. Old Count Ettersberg succumbed so completely to the
+influence of this tardily kindled passion that he forgot all else in
+it, and when a scarcely hoped-for happiness befell him, when a son and
+heir was placed in his arms, the dominion of his wise and beautiful
+wife became absolute.
+
+It was natural that the younger brother should feel somewhat aggrieved
+at the utter destruction of all his prospects, and natural too that
+his sister-in-law should entertain towards him no feelings of special
+friendship. The affectionate relations formerly existing between the
+brothers gave place to a coldness and estrangement which lasted until
+the death of the younger. The Colonel and his wife died within but a
+short interval, and the orphan boy was taken to his uncle's house and
+there brought up on equal terms with the young heir.
+
+But old Count Ettersberg did not survive his brother long. By his will
+he assigned the guardianship of the two boys to Baron Heideck, his
+wife's brother, and the latter justified the confidence placed in him,
+standing by his sister in every circumstance where a man's aid and
+assistance became necessary.
+
+In general, however, the will assured to the Countess perfect freedom
+and independence of action. She it was who, in reality, had control of
+the property, and who directed the education of both son and nephew.
+
+This latter was at length complete. Count Edmund had been absent all
+the winter, travelling through France and Italy in his cousin's
+company. He had now returned to make himself acquainted with the
+management of his estates, which at his approaching majority he was to
+take upon himself, while Oswald had to prepare to enter one of the
+Government bureaux.
+
+On the day succeeding the arrival of the two young men, the weather
+cleared a little, though the outer world still presented a most wintry
+aspect. The Countess was sitting with her son in her own boudoir.
+Though she stood midway between forty and fifty, the lady yet in a
+great measure retained the beauty which once had been dazzling. Her
+appearance, albeit majestic, was still so youthful, that it was
+difficult to imagine her the mother of this son of two-and-twenty,
+more especially as there was no single trait of resemblance between
+them. Edmund, with his dark hair and eyes, his sparkling gaiety and
+mobile humour, which manifested itself in every word and gesture, was
+a direct contrast to his grave, beautiful mother. Her fair tresses and
+calm blue eyes harmonised with the cool serenity of mien peculiar to
+her, a serenity which towards her darling alone would occasionally
+yield to a warmer impulse.
+
+The young Count had apparently been making an open breast with regard
+to what Oswald termed his 'follies innumerable,' but he could not have
+found it hard to obtain absolution, for his mother, though she shook
+her head as she spoke, addressed him in a tone more tender than
+reproachful.
+
+'You madcap! It is time for me to take you in hand again. In the
+perfect unconstraint you have enjoyed abroad, the maternal rein has
+grown slack indeed. Will you bear it again, now that you have come
+back to me?'
+
+'Bear control from you?--always!' returned Edmund, pressing his lips
+fervently to her white hand. Then relapsing immediately into his
+former lighthearted, saucy vein, he added: 'I told Oswald beforehand
+that the verdict on my misdeeds would be a merciful one. I know my
+lady mother well.'
+
+The Countess's face darkened.
+
+'Oswald seems to have altogether neglected his duty,' she replied. 'I
+could discover so much from your letters. As the elder and steadier of
+the two, he should have remained at your side; instead of which he
+left you to yourself, going only where he was absolutely obliged to
+follow. Had your own nature not preserved you from anything worse than
+folly, his counsels certainly would not have done so.'
+
+'Oh, he preached enough,' said Edmund. 'It was my fault, you know, if
+I did not listen to him. But before we say anything more, mother, let
+me put one question. Why has Oswald been banished to the side-wing?'
+
+'Banished! What an expression! You have seen the alterations I have
+had made in your rooms. Are you not pleased with the new
+arrangements?'
+
+'Yes, but----'
+
+'It was necessary for you to have your apartments distinct.' The
+Countess interrupted him quickly. 'Now that you are about to take
+possession of your own house, it would not be seemly for you to share
+your rooms with your cousin. He will see that himself.'
+
+'But it was not necessary to send him over to that old part of the
+castle, which is only used in exceptional cases,' objected Edmund.
+'There are rooms enough and to spare in the main building. Oswald was
+hurt by this arrangement of yours. I could see it plainly. Have it
+altered--I beg of you.'
+
+'I cannot do that without making myself ridiculous in the eyes of all
+the servants.' said the Countess, in a very decided tone. 'If you wish
+to revoke the orders I have expressly given, you are, of course, at
+liberty to do so.'
+
+'Mother!' exclaimed the young Count, impatiently. 'You know very well
+that I never interfere with your proceedings. But this might have
+stood over for a time. Oswald will be leaving us in a few months.'
+
+'Yes, in the autumn. By then my brother will have taken all necessary
+steps to introduce him into one of the Government offices.'
+
+Edmund looked down.
+
+'I rather think Oswald has other plans for the future,' he said, with
+some hesitation.
+
+'Other plans?' repeated the Countess. 'I trust that we shall not
+encounter disobedience from him a second time. Once, when he rebelled
+against entering the army, I yielded, thanks to your persuasion and
+advocacy. You were always on his side. I have not yet forgiven him his
+wilful, defiant conduct on that occasion.'
+
+'It was not defiance,' pleaded Edmund in defence. 'Only the conviction
+he felt that, as an officer and the representative of an old and noble
+name, he would not be able to keep up his position in the army without
+permanent assistance from us.'
+
+'Assistance you would amply have afforded him.'
+
+'But which he would on no account accept. He possesses, as you know,
+indomitable pride.'
+
+'Say rather unbounded arrogance,' interrupted the Countess. 'I know
+the quality, for I have had to battle with it since the day he first
+came to this house. But for my husband's formally expressed desire
+that this nephew should share your education and opportunities, I
+would never have left you so exclusively to his companionship. I never
+liked him. I cannot endure those cold searching eyes, which are always
+on the alert, which nothing escapes, not even the best-guarded
+secret.'
+
+Edmund laughed out loud.
+
+'Why, mother, you are making a regular detective of Oswald. He
+certainly is a particularly keen observer, as may be noted from his
+occasional remarks on men and things which strike no one else as
+peculiar. Here, at Ettersberg, he can, however, hardly put his talents
+to account. We have, thank God, no secrets for him to discover.'
+
+The Countess bent over some papers lying on the table, and seemed to
+be seeking for something among them.
+
+'No matter,' she said. 'I never could understand your blind partiality
+for him. You, with your frank, warm, open nature, and Oswald with his
+icy reserve! You are about as congenial as fire and water.'
+
+'The very contrast may be the cause of our mutual attraction,' said
+Edmund, jestingly. 'Oswald is not the most amiable person in the
+world, that I must admit; towards me he decidedly is not amiable at
+all. Nevertheless, I feel myself drawn to him, and he in turn is
+attracted to me--I know it.'
+
+'You think so?' said the Countess, coldly. 'You are mistaken, most
+mistaken. Oswald is one of the class who hate those from whom they
+must accept benefits. He has never forgiven me the fact that my
+marriage destroyed his own and his father's prospects, and he cannot
+forgive you for standing between him and the property. I know him
+better than you do.'
+
+Edmund was silent. He was aware from experience that any advocacy from
+him only made matters worse; for it surely aroused the maternal
+jealousy, always prompt to ignite when he spoke openly of his
+affection for this cousin, the comrade of his youth.
+
+Moreover, the conversation was here brought to a natural end, the
+subject of it at this moment appearing upon the scene.
+
+Oswald's greeting was as formal, and the Countess's reply as cool, as
+their manner had been on the preceding evening. Unfavourable as were
+the lady's sentiments towards her nephew, the duty of this morning
+call and of daily inquiries after her health was rigorously imposed
+upon him. On the present occasion the tour so recently concluded
+furnished food for discourse. Edmund related some of their adventures;
+Oswald supplemented his cousin's account, putting in a finishing touch
+here and there, and so it happened that the visit, which in general
+was exceedingly brief, had soon passed the usual quarter of an hour's
+limit.
+
+'You have both altered during the past six months,' said the Countess,
+at length. 'Your bronzed complexion especially, Edmund, gives you
+quite the appearance of a Southerner.'
+
+'I have often been taken for one,' replied Edmund. 'In the matter of
+complexion I have unfortunately inherited nothing from my beautiful
+fair mother.'
+
+The Countess smiled.
+
+'I think you may be satisfied with what Nature has done for you. You
+certainly do not resemble me. There is more likeness to your father.'
+
+'To my uncle? Hardly,' remarked Oswald.
+
+'How can you be a judge of that?' asked the Countess, rather sharply.
+'You and Edmund were mere boys when my husband died.'
+
+'No, mother; don't trouble yourself to try and discover a likeness,'
+interposed Edmund. 'I certainly have but a vague remembrance of my
+father; but, you know, we possess a portrait life-size, which was
+taken when he was in his prime. I have not a single feature of that
+face, and it really is strange, when you come to think of it, for in
+our race the family traits have usually been especially marked. Look
+at Oswald, for instance. He is an Ettersberg from the crown of his
+head to the sole of his foot. He is in every feature an exact copy of
+the old family portraits in the gallery yonder, which from one
+generation to another went on reproducing the same lines and contours.
+Heaven only knows why this historical resemblance should be denied to
+me alone! What are you gazing at me in that way for, Oswald?'
+
+The young man's eyes were, indeed, fixed on his cousin's face with a
+keen and searching scrutiny.
+
+'I think you are right,' he replied. 'You have not a single Ettersberg
+feature.'
+
+'That is but another of your venturesome assertions,' said the
+Countess, in a tone of sharp rebuke. 'It frequently happens that a
+family likeness, absent in youth, grows striking as the person
+advances in years. That will, no doubt, be the case with Edmund.'
+
+The young Count laughed and shook his head.
+
+'I doubt it. I am formed in altogether a different mould. Indeed, I
+often wonder how I, with my hot, excitable blood, my thoughtlessness
+and high spirits, for which I am always being lectured, could come of
+a race so desperately wise and virtuous; in fact, rather slow and
+stupid from overmuch virtue. Oswald, now, would represent the family
+far better than I.'
+
+'Edmund!' cried the Countess indignantly.
+
+It was uncertain whether her remonstrance applied to the young man's
+last assertion, or to his irreverent mention of his forefathers.
+
+'Well, I ask pardon of the shades of my ancestors,' said Edmund,
+rather abashed. 'You see, mother, I have none of their traditional
+excellences, not even that of sober sense.'
+
+'My aunt was meaning something else, I fancy,' said Oswald quietly.
+
+The Countess pressed her lips together tightly. Her face plainly
+betokened the dislike she had avowed to the cold, searching eyes now
+resting upon her.
+
+'Enough of this dispute on the subject of family likeness,' she said,
+waiving the point. 'Tradition affords at least as many exceptions as
+rules. Oswald, I wish you would look through these papers. You have
+some legal knowledge. Our solicitor seems to consider the issue of the
+affair as doubtful, but I am sanguine, and Edmund is of my opinion,
+that we must follow out the matter to the end.'
+
+So saying, she pushed the papers, which were lying on the table,
+across to her nephew, who glanced at their contents.
+
+'Ah, yes. They refer to the lawsuit against Councillor Rüstow of
+Brunneck.'
+
+'Good heavens! is not that business settled yet?' asked Edmund. 'Why,
+the suit was on before we left home six months ago.'
+
+Oswald smiled rather ironically.
+
+'You appear to have peculiar notions as to the length of our legal
+procedure. It may go on for years. If you will allow me, aunt, I will
+take these papers with me to my own room to look through them, unless
+Edmund would prefer to see them first.'
+
+'Oh no, spare me all that!' cried Edmund, parrying the threatened
+infliction. 'I have forgotten pretty nearly all about the business.
+This Rüstow married a daughter of Uncle Francis, I know; and he raises
+a claim to the Dornau estate, which my uncle bequeathed to me.'
+
+'And with perfect justice,' added the Countess; 'for that marriage
+took place against his wish, expressly declared. His daughter, by her
+mésalliance, broke with him and with the entire family. It was
+natural, under such circumstances, that he should disinherit her
+absolutely; and just as natural, there being no nearer relations, that
+he should annex Dornau to the entailed family estates by leaving it to
+you.'
+
+A slight cloud gathered on Edmund's brow as he listened to this
+statement.
+
+'It may be so, but the whole subject is painful to me. What do I, the
+owner of Ettersberg, want with the possession of Dornau? I seem to be
+intruding on the rights of others, who, in spite of wills and family
+squabbles, are the direct and proper heirs. What I should prefer would
+be to see a compromise effected.'
+
+'That is impossible,' said the Countess decidedly. 'Rüstow's attitude,
+from the very commencement of the affair, has been such as to preclude
+any idea of an arrangement. The way in which he attacked the will and
+proceeded against you, the acknowledged heir, was downright insulting,
+and would make any show of concession on our part appear as
+unpardonable weakness. Besides which, you have no right to set at
+nought the wishes of your relative as expressed in his will. It was
+his desire to shut out this "Frau Rüstow" from any share in his
+fortune.'
+
+'But she has been dead for years,' objected Edmund. 'And her husband
+would not in any case be entitled to inherit.'
+
+'No; but he advances a claim on behalf of his daughter.'
+
+The two young men looked up simultaneously.
+
+'His daughter? So he has a daughter?'
+
+'Certainly, a girl of about eighteen, I believe.'
+
+'And this young lady and I are the hostile claimants?'
+
+'Just so; but why this sudden interest in the matter?'
+
+'Eureka, I have it!' cried Edmund. 'Oswald, this is our charming
+acquaintance of yesterday. I see now why the meeting struck her as
+being so indescribably comic--why she refused to give her name. The
+allusion to a certain connection existing between us becomes
+intelligible. It all fits in, word for word. There can be no possible
+doubt about it.'
+
+'Perhaps, when you have time, you will tell me the meaning of all
+this,' said the Countess, who seemed to think such animation on her
+son's part unnecessary and out of place.
+
+'Certainly, mother; I will explain it to you at once. We yesterday
+made the acquaintance of a young lady, or, it would be more correct to
+say, _I_ made her acquaintance, for Oswald, as usual, vouchsafed her
+little attention--I, however, as you may imagine, was gallant enough
+for both'--and so the young Count set about relating the adventure of
+the preceding day, going into all the details with much sparkling
+humour, and exulting in the fact of having so soon discovered his
+beautiful unknown. Nevertheless, he did not succeed in calling up a
+smile to his mother's face. She listened in silence, and when he wound
+up with an enthusiastic description of his heroine, she said very
+coolly and deliberately:
+
+'You seem to look on this meeting in the light of a pleasurable
+occurrence. In your place I should have felt it to be a painful one.
+It is never agreeable to meet face to face persons with whom we are at
+strife.'
+
+'At strife?' cried Edmund. 'I can never be at strife with a young lady
+of eighteen--certainly not with this one, though she should lay claim
+to Ettersberg itself. I would with pleasure lay Dornau at her feet,
+could----'
+
+'I beg you not to treat this matter with so much levity, Edmund,'
+interrupted the Countess. 'I know that you have a leaning to these
+follies, but when serious interests are at stake they must recede into
+the background. This affair is of a serious nature. Our opponents have
+imported into it a degree of bitterness, have acted with a churlish
+insolence, which makes any personal contact a thing absolutely to be
+deprecated. You will, I hope, see this yourself, and avoid any further
+meetings with firmness and consistency.'
+
+With these lofty words she rose, and to leave no doubt in her son's
+mind as to the displeasure he had incurred, she left the room.
+
+The young Master of Ettersberg, whose authority his mother was
+constantly asserting, seemed still docile to the maternal sceptre. He
+ventured no word of reply to her sharp remonstrance, though he might
+have urged that, after all, the lawsuit concerned no one but himself.
+
+'That was to be expected,' remarked Oswald, as the door closed. 'Why
+did you not keep your supposition to yourself?'
+
+'How was I to know that it would be so ungraciously received? There
+appears to be a deadly feud between this Rüstow and our family. No
+matter, that will not prevent my going over to Brunneck.'
+
+Oswald looked up quickly from the papers he was turning over.
+
+'You are not thinking of paying the Councillor a visit, are you?'
+
+'Certainly I am. Do you think I mean to give up our charming
+acquaintance because our respective lawyers are wrangling over a cause
+which, in reality, is perfectly indifferent to me? On the contrary, I
+shall seize the opportunity of introducing myself to my lovely
+opponent as her adversary in the strife. I intend to go over very
+shortly, in the course of a few days.'
+
+'The Councillor will soon show you the door,' said Oswald drily. 'He
+is known all over the country for his surly humour.'
+
+'Well, that will only make me the more polite. I can take nothing
+amiss from the father of such a daughter, and I suppose even this bear
+will have some human points about him. What makes you look so solemn,
+Oswald? Are you jealous, old fellow? If so, you are free to ride over
+with me, and put your luck to the test.'
+
+'Do not talk such nonsense to me,' said Oswald shortly, rising as he
+spoke, and going up to the window. The rapid movement and something in
+his tone told of a certain irritability with difficulty repressed.
+
+'As you like; but I have one word more to say.' The young Count's face
+grew serious, and he cast a meaning glance in the direction of the
+adjoining room. 'Do not put forward your plans for the future just at
+present. We are not just now in a favourable humour to receive them. I
+wanted to take the lead, and make the inevitable disclosure easier to
+you, but I was met by such a hurricane that I wisely resolved not to
+acknowledge complicity in the business.'
+
+'Why should I put off an explanation? The subject must of necessity be
+broached shortly between my aunt and myself. I see no advantage in a
+delay.'
+
+'Well, you can hold your tongue for a week at least,' cried Edmund
+testily. 'I have other things to think of just now, and no desire to
+be always on guard as a mediating angel between my mother and
+yourself.'
+
+'Have I ever asked you to mediate?' said Oswald, in so sharp and
+uncourteous a tone that the young Count was roused to anger.
+
+'Oswald, this is going a little too far. I am accustomed, it is true,
+to such rudeness on your part, but really I hardly see why I should
+take from my cousin what I would endure from no one else.'
+
+'Because your cousin is a dependent, one inferior in the social scale,
+and you feel yourself called upon to show generosity towards--the poor
+relation.'
+
+The words breathed of such infinite bitterness of spirit that Edmund's
+ill-humour vanished instantly.
+
+'You are irritated,' he said kindly; 'and not without reason. But why
+do you visit your anger on me? I am in no way responsible for
+yesterday's incident. You know I cannot put myself in open opposition
+to my mother, even when my views differ decidedly from hers. But in
+this case she will give way, for if your own rooms next to mine are
+not made ready for you to-morrow, I shall remove to the side-wing and
+quarter myself upon you, spite of bats and the accumulated dust of
+ages.'
+
+The bitter expression vanished from Oswald's face, and he answered in
+a gentler voice:
+
+'You are capable of it, I believe. But no more of this, Edmund. It
+really signifies little where I spend the few months of my sojourn
+here. The rooms in the tower are very quiet, and admirably suited for
+study. I would far rather be there than here, in this castle of
+yours.'
+
+'"This castle of yours,"' repeated Edmund, in a tone of pique. 'As
+though it had not always been as much your home as mine! But I believe
+you are seeking to estrange yourself from us. Oswald, I must say, if
+things are not always pleasant between my mother and you, a great
+share of the blame rests on your shoulders. You have never shown any
+affection for her, or any ready compliance with her wishes. Cannot you
+bring yourself to it, if you try?'
+
+'I cannot comply where blind subjection is demanded of me, and where
+the whole future fortune of my life is at stake--no!'
+
+'Well, then, we may expect another family quarrel at no very distant
+date,' said Edmund, evidently ill-pleased at the prospect. 'So you
+will not have any alteration made in the rooms?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'As you like. Goodbye.'
+
+He walked off towards the door, but had not reached it when Oswald
+came quickly forth from the window-recess where he had been standing,
+and followed him.
+
+'Edmund!'
+
+'Well?' returned the other interrogatively, and halted.
+
+'I shall remain where I am, in the side-wing, but---- I thank you for
+your kindness.'
+
+The young Count smiled.
+
+'Really? That sounds almost like an apology. I really did not think
+you were capable of such expansiveness, Oswald;' and suddenly, with an
+impulse of frank, hearty affection, he threw his arm round his
+cousin's shoulder. 'Is it true that you cherish a hatred towards me,
+because Fate has willed that I should be heir to the property, because
+I stand between you and the Ettersberg estates?'
+
+Oswald looked at him again with one of those strange, penetrating
+glances which seemed to be searching the young heir's features for
+something hidden from him. This time, however, the keen scrutiny soon
+gave place to an expression of warmer, deeper feeling, to a kindlier
+ray which beamed suddenly forth, melting the icy rampart of suspicion
+and reserve.
+
+'It is not true, Edmund,' was the steady, grave reply.
+
+'I knew it,' cried Edmund. 'And now we will bury all past
+misunderstandings. As regards our travelling acquaintance, however, I
+warn you that I shall summon up all my talent--and you know how justly
+it is esteemed--to produce an effect at Brunneck. This I shall do in
+spite of your frowning visage and of my mother's high displeasure. And
+I shall succeed in my endeavours, you may rely upon it.'
+
+So saying, he caught hold of his cousin's arm, and drew him laughingly
+from the room.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Brunneck, the residence of Chief Councillor Rüstow, was situated only
+a few miles distant from Ettersberg, and had been in the hands of its
+present proprietor for a long series of years. It was a property of
+considerable extent and value, comprising various farms, and furnished
+with every improvement which modern science has devised. On all
+agricultural subjects the Councillor was looked upon as a first-class
+authority, and as, in addition to this, he owned one of the finest
+seigneurial manors of the province, his position was one of great
+influence. Brunneck could not, indeed, compare with the vast
+Ettersberg domain, but it was generally asserted that, in point of
+fortune, Rüstow was to the full as good a man as his noble neighbour.
+The numerous reforms he had introduced on his estates, and to the
+number of which he was with indefatigable energy constantly adding,
+had in the course of time become handsomely remunerative, and were now
+a source of wealth to him; whereas over at Ettersberg the management
+of the land was left almost entirely to underlings, and was conducted
+on so lofty and aristocratic a principle, that pecuniary interests
+were overlooked, and any tangible, practical return rendered out of
+the question.
+
+As has already been stated, the two families were connected by
+marriage, but this circumstance was ignored on both sides with equal
+obstinacy and hostile feeling. In the position he now occupied, the
+Councillor might more fitly have ventured to sue for the hand of a
+Fräulein von Ettersberg. Twenty years or more ago, the young
+gentleman-farmer who had come to Dornau to pick up some knowledge of
+his future vocation, and who had but a slender fortune to rely upon,
+was certainly no suitable _parti_ for the daughter of the house. The
+young people fell in love, however, paying little heed either to
+prejudices or obstacles.
+
+When their elders harshly interfered and separated them, when all
+resistance, all entreaties, failed to move them, Rüstow persuaded his
+betrothed, who meanwhile had come of age, to take a decisive step. She
+left her home clandestinely, and the marriage was celebrated, without
+her father's consent, it is true, but with all due formality. The
+young couple hoped that, this step being once irrevocably taken,
+forgiveness would follow, but this hope proved illusive. Neither the
+young wife's oft-repeated overtures, nor the birth of a grandchild,
+not even the rapidly ensuing change in Rüstow's circumstances--he
+achieved wealth and position in a marvellously short time--could
+appease the father's wrath. The old Count was too completely under the
+influence of his relations, who looked on the middle-class connection
+with horror and aversion, and used every means in their power to
+strengthen him in his hard resolve.
+
+Frau Rüstow died without having obtained pardon, and at her death all
+chance of a reconciliation vanished. Her husband had, from the first,
+openly avowed his dislike to a family which had so cruelly wounded his
+pride and self-love. For his wife's sake alone had he tolerated the
+former attempts at peacemaking; now that he had no longer her to
+consider, he assumed towards his father-in-law and the entire clan an
+attitude of hostility and surly defiance which precluded any
+intercourse. As a result of these tactics came the will which passed
+over the granddaughter, and, without even a mention of her or her
+mother assigned Dornau to the heir of the entailed family estates.
+This will was contested by Rüstow, who would not admit of his marriage
+being thus altogether ignored, and was determined to have his daughter
+acknowledged as her grandfather's legitimate successor and heiress.
+The suit had some base to rest upon, for the deceased had not
+disinherited his grandchild in so many words. He had contented himself
+with treating her as nonexistent, and had proceeded to dispose of his
+property in the manner which seemed to him good. This lapsus, and a
+few technical errors subsequently detected, rendered the will
+assailable. The issue was, however, most uncertain, and the lawyers on
+both sides had full opportunity of exercising their sagacity and
+judgment.
+
+The Brunneck manor-house was neither so vast nor so imposing of aspect
+as Castle Ettersberg, yet it was a stately building, spacious, and
+bearing all the marks of age. The inner arrangements of the house,
+though boasting no pretence at luxury, were ordered on a scale
+suitable to the position and the fortune of the owner.
+
+In the large veranda-parlour commonly used by the family, a lady was
+sitting, busy with household accounts. This was an elderly relative of
+Rüstow's, who, on the death of that gentleman's wife, eight years
+previously, had come to preside over her cousin's establishment, and
+to act as a mother to his young daughter. She was bending over her
+books and making some memoranda when the door was hastily thrown open,
+and the Councillor himself appeared on the scene.
+
+'I wish all the lawsuits and parchments, the courts and everything
+related to them, lawyers included, were at the deuce!' he cried,
+throwing to the door with a violent bang which made his cousin jump.
+
+'Oh, Erich, how can you startle me so! You have been absolutely
+unbearable ever since that wretched suit was instituted. You seem to
+think of nothing else. Cannot you wait patiently until you see what
+the issue will be?'
+
+'Patiently?' repeated Herr Rüstow, with a bitter laugh. 'I should like
+to see the man who would not lose his patience over it. They go on
+pulling this way and that, protesting against everything we do,
+lodging one appeal after another. Every letter of that blessed will
+has been discussed, evidence has been advanced, proofs have been
+furnished, and yet they are no forwarder than they were six months
+ago, not a whit!' And as he ended his tirade he threw himself into a
+chair.
+
+Erich Rüstow was a man still in the prime of life, who, it was plain
+to see, had been handsome in his youth. Now his brow was furrowed and
+his face lined with the cares of a restless, busy life. He was,
+however, a stately, well-built person, whose appearance would have
+been eminently agreeable, but for certain evidences of a hasty temper,
+prompt to break forth on every occasion; but for, so to say, a
+pugnacity of expression which considerably impaired his good looks.
+
+'Where is Hedwig?' asked the master of the house, after a pause.
+
+'She went out riding an hour ago,' replied her cousin, who had taken
+up her memoranda again.
+
+'Went out riding? I told her not to ride to-day. This sudden thaw has
+made the roads impassable, and upon the hills the snow still lies
+deep.'
+
+'No doubt, but you are aware that Hedwig generally does the thing she
+ought not to do.'
+
+'Upon my soul, it is a strange fact, but I believe she does,' assented
+her father, who seemed to consider it merely a 'strange fact,' and not
+one calculated to excite his anger.
+
+'You have let the girl grow up in too great freedom. How often have I
+entreated you to send Hedwig to a boarding-school for a few years; but
+no, nothing would induce you to part with her.'
+
+'Because I did not want her to be estranged from me and from her home.
+I am sure I have had masters and governesses enough here at Brunneck,
+and she has learned pretty nearly everything under the sun.'
+
+'True; one thing she has learned especially, and that is how to
+tyrannise over you and the entire household.'
+
+'Don't go on preaching in that way, Lina,' said Rüstow angrily. 'You
+are always finding some fault with Hedwig. First she is thoughtless,
+then she is too superficial to please you, not deep, not "feeling"
+enough. I am satisfied with her as she is. I like my girl to be a
+bright, merry young thing, taking some pleasure in life, and not one
+of your sensitive, fashionable ladies with "feelings" and "nerves."'
+
+As he spoke the last words, he cast a rather meaning glance at
+Fräulein Lina, who was quick to take up the gauntlet.
+
+'One has to divest one's self of any such appurtenances here at
+Brunneck, I think. You take good care of that.'
+
+'Well, I fancy the last eight years have done something for you in the
+way of getting rid of your nerves,' said Rüstow, with much apparent
+satisfaction. 'But the feelings are there still. How you felt for your
+_protégé_, Baron Senden, the other day, when Hedwig sent him to the
+rightabout!'
+
+A pink flush of vexation mounted to the lady's cheek as she replied:
+
+'Hedwig, at all events, showed little enough feeling in the matter.
+She merely ridiculed an offer which would, at least, have brought any
+other girl to a serious frame of mind. Poor Senden! He was in
+despair.'
+
+'He will get over it,' observed Rüstow. 'In the first place, I believe
+that both his passion and his despair had my Brunneck, rather than my
+daughter, for their object. Her dowry would have come in nicely to
+rescue his estates, which are mortgaged over and over again; in the
+second place, it was his own fault that he met with a refusal. A man
+should know how matters stand, before he proposes definitely; and
+thirdly, I should not have given my consent to the match under any
+circumstances, for I won't have Hedwig marrying into the aristocracy.
+I had too good experience of that with my own marriage. Of all the
+grand folk who come bothering us with their visits, not one shall have
+the girl--not one of them, I say. I will find a husband for her myself
+when the proper time comes.'
+
+'And you really suppose that Hedwig will wait for that?' asked the
+lady, with gentle irony. 'Hitherto her suitors have all been
+indifferent to her. When she has an inclination towards anyone, she
+will certainly not stay to consider whether the gentleman belongs to
+the aristocracy, or whether she may not be acting contrary to her
+father's principles--and you, Erich, will submit, and do your
+darling's bidding in this, as in all else.'
+
+'Lina, do you wish to exasperate me?' shouted Rüstow. 'You seem to
+think that where my daughter is concerned I can exercise no will of my
+own.'
+
+'None at all,' she replied emphatically. Then she gathered together
+her papers and left the room.
+
+The Master of Brunneck was furious, perhaps because he could not
+altogether dispute the truth of the assertion. He paced with rapid
+steps up and down the room, and turned wrathfully upon a servant who
+entered, bearing a card.
+
+'What is it now? Another visit?'
+
+Rüstow pulled the card out of the man's hand, but nearly let it fall
+in his amazement as the name upon it met his eye.
+
+'Edmund, Count von Ettersberg? What can be the meaning of this?'
+
+'The Count desires the favour of an interview with Councillor Rüstow.'
+
+The latter looked down at the card again. There, clear and distinct,
+stood the name of Ettersberg, and, inexplicable as the circumstance
+undoubtedly was, he had no choice but to admit the strange visitor.
+
+Orders to this effect being given to the servant, the young Count
+promptly made his appearance, and greeted his neighbour, who yet was a
+perfect stranger to him, with as much ease and assurance as though
+this visit had been the most natural thing in the world.
+
+'Councillor Rüstow, you will allow me to make the personal
+acquaintance of so near a neighbour as yourself. I should have
+endeavoured to do so long ago, but my studies and subsequent travels
+have kept me so much away from Ettersberg. I have only been home on
+flying visits, and this is my first opportunity of repairing previous
+shortcomings.'
+
+At the first moment Rüstow was so staggered by this complete ignoring
+of the existing quarrel that he could not work himself up to anger. He
+grumbled something which sounded like an invitation to be seated.
+Edmund accordingly took a chair in the most unconcerned manner
+possible, and as his host showed no desire to open the conversation,
+he assumed the burden of it himself, and launched into praises of the
+admirable system of management obtaining on the Brunneck estates, a
+system with which it had long been his wish to make himself
+acquainted.
+
+Meanwhile Rüstow had minutely examined his visitor from head to foot,
+and had no doubt satisfied himself that the young gentleman's
+appearance did not tally with this pretended zealous interest in
+matters agricultural. He therefore broke in on Edmund's enthusiasm
+with the disconcerting question:
+
+'May I ask. Count, to what I am indebted for the honour of this
+visit?'
+
+Edmund saw that he must change his tactics. The mere easy jargon of
+politeness would not help him through. The Councillor's far-famed
+churlishness was already roused. A low growl, betokening a storm,
+might, as it were, be heard in the distance; but the young Count was
+well prepared for this, and was determined to remain master of the
+field.
+
+'You will not accept me simply in my quality of neighbour?' he said,
+with an affable smile.
+
+'You appear to forget that we are something else besides neighbours,
+namely, opponents in a court of justice,' retorted Rüstow, who began
+now to be angry in right earnest.
+
+Edmund examined with attention the riding-whip he held in his hand.
+
+'Oh, ah! You are alluding to that tiresome Dornau suit.'
+
+'Tiresome? Wearisome, endless, you mean, for endless it would appear
+to be. You are as well acquainted with the pleadings, I suppose, as I
+am.'
+
+'I know nothing at all about them,' confessed Edmund, with great
+ingenuousness. 'I only know that there is a dispute about my uncle's
+will which assigns Dornau to me, but the validity of which you
+contest. Pleadings? I have had copies of all the documents, certainly,
+whole volumes of them, but I never looked over their contents.'
+
+'But, Count, it is you who are carrying on this lawsuit!' cried
+Rüstow, to whom this placid indifference was something beyond belief.
+
+'Pardon me, my lawyer is carrying it on,' corrected Edmund. 'He is of
+opinion that it is incumbent on me to uphold my uncle's will at any
+cost. I do not attach any such particular value to the possession of
+Dornau myself.'
+
+'Do you suppose I do?' asked Rüstow sharply. 'My Brunneck is worth
+half a dozen such places, and my daughter has really no need to
+trouble herself about any inheritance from her grandfather.'
+
+'Well, what are we fighting for, then? If the matter stands so, some
+compromise might surely be arrived at, some arrangement which would
+satisfy both parties----'
+
+'I will hear of no compromise,' exclaimed the Councillor. 'To me it is
+not a question of money, but of principle, and I will fight it out to
+the last. If my father-in-law had chosen to disinherit us in so many
+words, well and good. We set him at defiance; he had the right to
+retaliate. I don't deny it. It is the fact of his ignoring our
+marriage in that insulting manner, as though it had not been legally
+and duly celebrated--the fact of his passing over the child of the
+marriage, and declining to recognise her as his granddaughter--this is
+what I cannot forgive him, even in his grave, and this is what makes
+me determined to assert my right. The marriage shall be established,
+in the face of those who wish to repudiate it; my daughter shall be
+acknowledged as her grandfather's sole and legitimate heiress. Then,
+when the verdict of the court has once placed this beyond all doubt,
+Dornau and all belonging to it may go to the family estates, or to the
+devil, for what I care.'
+
+'Ah, now we are getting rude,' thought Count Edmund, who had long been
+expecting some such outbreak, and who was highly amused by the whole
+affair.
+
+He had come with the settled resolve to take nothing amiss from the
+Master of Brunneck, who was looked on as an original in his way, so he
+chose to view this tirade from its humorous side, and replied, with
+undiminished good-humour:
+
+'Well, Councillor, the association is, I am sure, a very flattering
+one. It does not seem particularly probable that Dornau will lapse to
+the devil--whether it be adjudged to Brunneck or to Ettersberg, we
+must wait to see. But that is the court's business, and not ours. I
+frankly confess that I am curious to hear what all the wisdom of these
+learned counsel will ultimately bring forth.'
+
+'I must say it has not occurred to me to look at the case in that
+light,' admitted Rüstow, whose amazement grew with every minute.
+
+'No, why not? You are contending, you say yourself, for a principle
+only. I am actuated by a pious regard for my relative's expressed
+wishes. We are most enviably placed, being simply objective in the
+matter. So, for heaven's sake, let the lawyers wrangle on. Their
+squabbles need not prevent our meeting as good neighbours on friendly
+terms.'
+
+Rüstow was about to protest against the possibility of any friendly
+intercourse when the door opened, and his daughter appeared on the
+threshold. The young lady, whose cheeks were brightly tinted with the
+rapid exercise she had taken, looked even more charming to-day in her
+dark closely-fitting riding-habit than she had looked on a previous
+occasion when wrapped in furs and attired in winter clothing--so, at
+least, thought Count Edmund, who had sprung up with great alacrity,
+with more alacrity, indeed, than politeness called for, to greet her
+on her entrance. Hedwig had, no doubt, already heard from the servants
+who was with her father, for she betrayed no surprise, returning the
+Count's bow as formally as though he had been a complete stranger to
+her. The merry sparkle in her eye, however, told him that she had no
+more forgotten their first meeting than he himself. The Councillor,
+whether he liked it or not, was forced to condescend to an
+introduction; and the manner in which he pronounced the name of
+Ettersberg, a name heretofore prohibited in that house, proved that
+the bearer of it, despite the great prejudice against him, had already
+gained some ground.'
+
+'Fräulein,' said Edmund, turning to the young lady, 'but the other day
+I learned whom Fate had assigned me as an opponent in the Dornau
+lawsuit. I therefore seize this, the first opportunity, to present
+myself in due form as your adversary in the strife.'
+
+'And you have come to Brunneck to reconnoitre the enemy's territory, I
+suppose?' replied Hedwig, entering at once into the spirit of the
+joke.
+
+'Certainly. It was my evident duty, under the circumstances. Your
+father has already pardoned this invasion of the hostile camp. I may
+trust for a like clemency from you, though you once showed yourself
+inexorable, refusing even to disclose your name.'
+
+'What is all this?' broke in Rüstow. 'You have met the Count before
+to-day?'
+
+'Yes, papa,' said Hedwig serenely. 'You know that when I was returning
+from the town the other day with the carriage and Anthony, we very
+nearly stuck in the snow, and I think I told you of the two gentlemen
+by whose assistance we managed to get home.'
+
+A light appeared to dawn on the Councillor, revealing the source of
+this sudden and extreme friendliness on his young neighbour's part. He
+had hitherto racked his brains in vain to find a reason for it, and
+the discovery now made did not seem to afford him any particular
+satisfaction; the tone of his voice was exceedingly sharp as he
+replied:
+
+'So it was Count Ettersberg, was it? Why did you conceal the name from
+me?'
+
+Hedwig laughed: 'Because I knew your prejudice against it, papa. I
+believe if an avalanche had come down upon us and swallowed us up,
+your first feeling would have been one of anger at my being caught and
+buried in company of an Ettersberg.'
+
+'Avalanches do not occur on our highroads,' growled Rüstow, to whom
+this merry humour did not commend itself.
+
+'Well, Councillor, something of the sort seemed really to have taken
+place where the road descends into the valley,' joined in Edmund. 'I
+assure you, the journey was both difficult and dangerous. I esteem
+myself happy to have been able to offer your daughter my assistance.'
+
+'Now, Count, you remained almost all the time on the carriage-step,'
+laughed Hedwig. 'It was your silent companion who really helped us in
+our need. He'--the question came rather hesitatingly--'he did not come
+over with you to-day, of course?'
+
+'Oswald was not aware that I intended riding over to Brunneck this
+afternoon,' confessed Edmund. 'He will, I know, reproach me with
+having thus deprived him of the pleasure----'
+
+'Oh, pray, do not trouble yourself to make pretty speeches,'
+interrupted the young lady, throwing back her head with an angry
+little toss, and looking as ungracious as possible--much as she had
+looked in the carriage on that previous occasion. 'I have had
+experience of your cousin's politeness, and, for my part, I certainly
+have no wish to renew the acquaintance.'
+
+Edmund did not notice the pique expressed in these words. He thought
+it natural that the sombre, unsociable Oswald should not be missed
+when he, Count Ettersberg, was present, and, moreover, using his best
+efforts to make himself agreeable. This he did with so much zeal and
+perseverance, that even Rüstow yielded to the charm. True, he
+struggled against it manfully, endeavouring by sundry barbed and
+sardonic remarks to impart a hostile tone to the conversation. But he
+was foiled at all points. His visitor's captivating manners and
+appearance won upon him more and more. The young Count was evidently
+bent on doing away with the prejudice which existed against him. He
+fascinated his hearers with his bright and sparkling talk, seducing
+them by its easy flow, and charming even by his saucy humour. The
+enemy, as personified in the master of the house, was overthrown and
+bound hand and foot before either side was well aware of the fact.
+Rüstow, at length, altogether forgot with whom he was dealing, and
+when after a protracted visit Edmund rose to go, his host actually
+accompanied him to the door, and even shook him cordially by the hand
+on parting.
+
+It was only when the Councillor returned to the sitting-room that a
+full consciousness of what had occurred loomed upon him. Then his
+anger revived in full force. As he came in, Hedwig was standing out on
+the balcony, looking after the young Count, who turned and waved her
+an adieu as he galloped away. This gave the signal for the storm to
+break forth.
+
+'Well, upon my word, this passes all belief! I don't know that I ever
+heard of such a piece of impudence! Count von Ettersberg to come
+riding over here, doing the agreeable, treating the whole affair of
+the lawsuit as a mere bagatelle. He talked of a compromise, begad! of
+meeting on friendly terms, of the Lord knows what; fairly addling one,
+taking one's breath away with his audacity. But I will not put up with
+it a second time. If he really shows himself here again, I will have
+him told--politely, of course--that I am not at home.'
+
+'You will do nothing of the kind, papa,' said Hedwig, who had gone up
+to him and laid her arm caressingly about his neck. 'You were too
+pleased with him yourself for that.'
+
+'Ah, and you still more so, I suppose, my young lady?' said the
+father, with a highly critical, scrutinizing look. 'Do you imagine I
+can't guess what brought the young gentleman over to Brunneck? Do you
+think I did not see him kiss your hand as he took leave of you? But I
+will put a stop to this, once and for all. I will have nothing to
+do with any Ettersberg; I know the set by experience. Arrogance,
+selfishness, stupid obstinacy--those are the characteristics of the
+race. They are all alike, all cut out on the same pattern.'
+
+'That is not true, papa,' said Hedwig decidedly. 'My mother was an
+Ettersberg, and you were very happy with her.'
+
+The remark was so telling, that it quite disconcerted Rüstow.
+
+'That--that was an exception,' he stammered at length.
+
+'I believe Count Edmund is an exception too,' declared Hedwig
+confidently.
+
+'Oh, you believe that, do you? You seem to have a great knowledge of
+character for a girl of eighteen,' cried the Councillor, and forthwith
+delivered a lecture to his daughter, in which the before-mentioned
+'principles' were much insisted on. Fräulein Hedwig listened with an
+expression of countenance which said plainly enough that the said
+'principles' were highly indifferent to her, and if her father could
+have read her thoughts, he would again have had the 'strange fact'
+forced upon him that, on this occasion as on most others, she proposed
+to adopt a contrary course to that enjoined upon her.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+March and the greater part of April had gone by; snowstorms and sharp
+frosts were things of the past. Nevertheless, spring came but tardily.
+The country, which at this season of the year is usually decked in
+vernal bloom, looked bare and desolate. Warmth and sunshine were
+well-nigh unknown, and for weeks together the weather continued as
+ungenial as it well could be.
+
+To all outward appearance, the hostile relations between Ettersberg
+and Brunneck remained unmodified. The lawsuit dragged its weary length
+along, both parties maintaining their original position, and no
+attempt at a compromise was, or seemed likely to be, made. The
+Countess furnished all instructions in her son's name, that young
+gentleman taking not the smallest interest in the affair; and the
+Councillor represented his daughter, a minor, who naturally could have
+no opinion in the matter.
+
+It had been so from the beginning, therefore the delegation of
+authority was accepted as a thing of course.
+
+But the principal persons concerned, the real opponents in this legal
+warfare, were by no means so passive as they appeared to be; and the
+parents, while pursuing their own determined course, upholding their
+'principles' with the utmost persistency, little guessed what was
+preparing for them in secret.
+
+Rüstow himself had been absent from Brunneck during the last few
+weeks. Some business connected with a great industrial enterprise of
+which he was one of the promoters had called him to the capital. His
+counsel and aid were needed and sought in high quarters; unlooked-for
+delays occurred, and his stay, which was to have been a short one, had
+extended over an entire month.
+
+When Count Ettersberg, after an interval of a week, repeated his visit
+to Brunneck, he found the master of the house absent. Fräulein Hedwig
+and her aunt were at home, however, and Edmund naturally made the most
+of his opportunity and ingratiated himself with the two ladies. This
+second visit was promptly succeeded by a third and a fourth; and from
+this time forward, by some remarkable accident, it invariably happened
+that when the ladies drove out, took a walk, or paid a visit in the
+neighbourhood, the young Count would be found at the same hour on the
+same road. By this fortunate chance, greetings were frequently
+exchanged, and meetings of varying duration occurred. In short, the
+friendly intercourse proposed some time before was thriving and
+prospering exceedingly.
+
+The Councillor knew nothing of all this. His daughter did not consider
+it necessary to mention the matter in her letters, and Edmund pursued
+the same tactics with regard to his mother. To his cousin he had,
+indeed, imparted with triumphant glee the fact of that first invasion
+of the enemy's camp; but as Oswald made some rather sharp observations
+on the subject, describing any intercourse with Brunneck during the
+progress of the lawsuit as improper in the highest degree, no further
+communications were vouchsafed him.
+
+On a rather cool and cloudy morning towards the end of April, Count
+Edmund and Oswald sallied out into the woods together. The Ettersberg
+forests were of great extent, stretching away to, and partly clothing,
+the low chain of hills which acted as advanced sentinels to the
+mountain-range beyond. The two gentlemen bent their steps in the
+direction of the rising ground. They had evidently something more than
+a pleasant walk in view, for they carefully surveyed the trees and the
+land as they advanced, and Oswald frequently addressed his cousin in
+terms of urgent appeal.
+
+'Now just look at these woods! It really is astounding to see how
+things have been mismanaged here during the last few years. Why, they
+have cut down half your timber for you. I cannot understand how you
+were not at once struck by the fact yourself. You have been riding
+about all over the place nearly every day.'
+
+'Oh, I did not think about it,' said Edmund. 'But you are right, it
+does look rather queer. The steward declares, I believe, that he had
+no other way of covering the deficit in the receipts.'
+
+'The steward declares just what seems good to him, and as he stands
+high in favour with your mother, she accepts it all and gives him full
+tether, allowing him to act as he sees fit.'
+
+'I will talk to my mother about it,' declared the young Count. 'It
+would be a great deal better, though, if you would do it yourself. You
+can explain these matters much more clearly and cogently than I can.'
+
+'You know that I never offer advice to your mother on any subject. She
+would consider it an unjustifiable piece of impertinence on my part,
+and would reject it accordingly.'
+
+Edmund made no reply to this last observation, the truth of which he
+no doubt recognised.
+
+'Are you of opinion that the steward is dealing unfairly by us?' he
+asked, after a short pause.
+
+'Not that precisely, but I consider him to be incompetent, wholly
+unfitted for the position of trust he occupies. He has no initiative,
+no method or power of keeping things together. As it is with the
+forests, so is it with all under his rule. Each man on the place does
+what seemeth best in his own eyes. If matters are allowed to go on in
+this way, I tell you they will absolutely ruin your property. Look at
+Brunneck; see the order that reigns there. Councillor Rüstow draws as
+much from that one estate as you from the whole Ettersberg domain,
+though the resources here are incomparably greater. Hitherto you have
+had to confide in others. You have been absent for years, first at the
+University, then abroad; but now you are on the spot--you are here
+expressly to look after your property for yourself. Energetic measures
+must at once be taken.'
+
+'Good heavens! what discoveries you have made during the six weeks we
+have spent at home!' said Edmund, in a tone of sincere admiration. 'If
+it is all as you say, I certainly shall have to take some steps; but
+I'll be hanged if I know how I ought to begin!'
+
+'First of all, dismiss those employés who have proved themselves
+incapable; put men of more power and intelligence in their place. I
+almost fear that you will have to change the entire staff.'
+
+'Not for the world! Why, that would give rise to perplexities and
+disagreeables without end. It is painful to me to see all new faces
+about me, and it would take months before they settled down into
+harness, and got used to their work. Meanwhile, all the burden would
+fall upon me. I should have to do everything myself.'
+
+'That is what you are master for. You can at least command those
+beneath you.'
+
+Edmund laughed.
+
+'Ah, if I had your special liking and talent for command! In a month
+you would have metamorphosed Ettersberg, and in three years you would
+make of it a model establishment after the pattern of Brunneck. Now,
+if you were going to stay by me, Oswald, it would be different. I
+should have some one to back and support me then; but you are
+determined to go away in the autumn, and here shall I be all alone
+with unreliable or strange new servants to deal with. Pretty prospect,
+I must say! I have not formally taken possession yet, and the whole
+concern has become a worry to me already.'
+
+'As Fate has willed that you should be heir to the estates, you must
+perforce bear the heavy burden laid upon you,' said Oswald
+sarcastically. 'But once more, Edmund, it is high time something
+should be done. Promise me that you will proceed to action without
+delay.'
+
+'Certainly, certainly,' assented the young Count, who had visibly had
+enough of the subject. 'As soon as I can find time--just now I have so
+many other things to think of.'
+
+'Things of more importance than the welfare of your estates?'
+
+'Possibly. But I must be off now. Are you going straight back home?'
+
+The question was a particularly pointed one. Oswald did not notice
+this; he had turned away in evident displeasure.
+
+'Certainly. Are not you coming with me?'
+
+'No, I am going over to the lodge. The forester has my Diana in
+training, and I must go over and have a look at her.'
+
+'Must your visit be made now?' asked Oswald, in surprise. 'You know
+that the lawyer is coming over from town at twelve o'clock to-day, to
+hold a conference with you and your mother on the subject of the
+lawsuit, and that you have promised to be punctual?'
+
+'Oh! I shall be back long before then,' said Edmund lightly. 'Good
+bye for the present, Oswald. Don't look so black at me. I give you my
+word that I will have a thorough good talk with the steward to-morrow,
+or the day after. Any way, I will have it out with him, you may depend
+upon it.'
+
+So saying, he struck into a side-path, and soon disappeared among the
+trees.
+
+Oswald looked after him with a frowning brow.
+
+'Neither to-morrow, nor the next day, nor, in fact, ever, will a
+change be made. He has some fresh folly in his head, and Ettersberg
+may go to the dogs for anything he cares. But, after all'--and an
+expression of profound bitterness flitted like a spasm across the
+young man's face--'after all, what is it to me? I am but a stranger on
+this soil, and shall always remain so. If Edmund will not listen to
+reason, he must take the consequences. I will trouble myself no
+further about the matter.'
+
+But this was more easily said than done; Oswald's gaze constantly
+wandered back to the mutilated forest, where such cruel gaps were to
+be seen. His anger and indignation at the senseless, purposeless work
+of devastation he beheld on all sides grew too strong to be subdued,
+and instead of returning home, as he had intended, he continued on his
+way uphill, to inspect the state of the woods on the higher ground.
+What he there saw was not of a consoling nature. Everywhere the axe
+had been at its work of destruction, and not until he reached the
+summit could a change be noted. Here, on the heights, began the
+Brunneck territory, where a different and a better order of things
+prevailed.
+
+A wish to draw a comparison first drew Oswald on to the neighbour's
+land, but his anger swelled high within him as he paced on through the
+noble woods and carefully preserved plantations, with which, in their
+present maimed condition, the Ettersberg forests could certainly not
+compare. What a great work the energy and activity of one man had
+effected here at Brunneck, and how, on the other hand, had Ettersberg
+fallen! Since the old Count's death, the care of the estates had been
+left almost entirely in the hands of employés. The Countess, an
+exalted lady who from the day of her marriage had known nothing, seen
+nothing but wealth and splendour, considered it a matter of course
+that the administration of affairs should be conducted by
+subordinates, and that the family should be troubled on such subjects
+as little as possible. Moreover, the establishment was kept up on a
+costly footing; the sums for its maintenance had to be found, and, of
+course, the estates must be made to provide them--it signified little
+how. The Countess's brother, Edmund's guardian, lived in the capital.
+He filled a high office under the State, and was much taken up by the
+duties and claims of his position. He interfered but rarely; never
+except in special cases when his sister desired his counsel and
+assistance. Her husband's testamentary arrangements had vested all
+real authority in her. There would, of course, be an end to all this
+now that Edmund was of age; but proof had just been forthcoming of
+what might be expected from the young heir's energy and concern for
+the welfare of his estates. Oswald told himself, with bitter vexation
+of spirit, that he should see one of the finest properties of the
+country drift on to certain ruin, owing entirely to the heedlessness
+and indifference of its owner; and the thought was the more galling to
+him that he felt assured a swift and energetic course of action might
+still repair the mischief that had been done. There was yet time. Two
+short years hence it might possibly be too late.
+
+Absorbed by these reflections, the young man had plunged deeper and
+deeper into the woods. Presently he stopped and looked at his watch.
+More than an hour had passed since he had parted with Edmund--the
+young Count must long ere this have turned his face homewards. Oswald
+determined that he also would go back, but for his return he chose
+another and a somewhat longer route. No duty called him home. His
+presence at the conference to be held that day was neither necessary
+nor desired. He was therefore free to extend his walk according to his
+fancy.
+
+Those must have been singular meditations which occupied the young
+man's mind as he paced slowly on. The forests and the steward's
+mismanagement had long ago passed from his thoughts. It was some other
+hidden trouble which knit his brow with that menacing frown, and lent
+to his face that harsh, implacable expression--an expression that
+seemed to say he was ready to do battle with the whole world. Dark and
+troubled musings were they, revolving incessantly about one haunting
+subject from which he strove in vain to tear himself free, but which,
+nevertheless, held him more and more captive.
+
+'I will not think of it any more,' he said at length, half aloud. 'It
+is always the same thing, always the old wretched suspicion which I
+cannot put from me. I have nothing--absolutely nothing to confirm it,
+or to base it upon, and yet it embitters my every hour, poisons every
+thought--away with it!'
+
+He passed his hand across his brow, as though to scare away all
+tormenting fancies, and walked on more quickly along the road, which
+now took a sharp turn and suddenly emerged from the forest. Oswald
+stepped out on to an open hill-summit, but stopped suddenly, rooted to
+the ground in astonishment at the unlooked-for spectacle which
+presented itself.
+
+Not twenty paces from him, on the grassy slope close to the border of
+the forest, a young lady was seated. She had taken off her hat, so a
+full view of her face could be obtained--and he who had once looked on
+that charming face, with its dark beaming eyes so full of light, could
+not readily forget it.
+
+The young lady was Hedwig Rüstow, and close by her, in most suggestive
+proximity, lounged Count Edmund, who certainly could not have paid his
+visit to the forester in the interval. The two were engaged in an
+animated conversation, which did not, however, appear to turn on
+serious or very important topics. It was rather the old war of
+repartee which they had waged with so much satisfaction to themselves
+on the occasion of their first meeting, the same exchange of banter,
+of merry jests accompanied by gleeful laughter; but to-day their
+manner told of much familiarity. Presently Edmund took the hat from
+the girl's hand and threw it on to the grass; after which, lifting the
+little palms to his lips, he imprinted on them one fervid kiss after
+the other, Hedwig offering no opposition, but accepting it all as the
+most natural thing in the world.
+
+For some moments the amazed spectator stood motionless, watching the
+pair. Then he turned and would have stepped back among the trees
+unnoticed, but a dry bough crackled beneath his feet and betrayed him.
+
+Hedwig and Edmund looked up simultaneously, and the latter sprang
+quickly to his feet.
+
+'Oswald!'
+
+His cousin saw that a retreat was now impossible. He therefore
+reluctantly left his position and advanced towards the young people.
+
+'So it is you, is it?' said Edmund, in a tone which vacillated between
+annoyance and embarrassment. 'Where do you come from?'
+
+'From the woods,' was the laconic reply.
+
+'I thought you said you were going straight home.'
+
+'I thought you were going over to the forester's lodge, which lies in
+the opposite direction.'
+
+The young Count bit his lips. He was, no doubt, conscious that he
+could not pass off this meeting as an accidental one. Moreover, those
+fervent kisses must have been witnessed--so he resolved to put as good
+a face upon it as possible.
+
+'You know Fräulein Rüstow, having been present at our first meeting; I
+therefore need not introduce you,' he said lightly.
+
+Oswald bowed to the young lady with all a stranger's frigid courtesy.
+
+'I must apologize for intruding,' he said. 'The interruption was most
+involuntary on my part. I could have no idea that my cousin was here.
+Allow me to take my leave at once, Fräulein.'
+
+Hedwig had risen in her turn. She evidently was more keenly alive to
+the awkwardness of the situation than Edmund, for her cheeks were
+suffused by a flaming blush, and her eyes sought the ground.
+Something, however, in the tone of this address, which, though polite,
+was icy in its reserve, struck her disagreeably, and she looked up.
+Her glance met Oswald's, and there must have been that in the
+expression of his face which wounded her and called her pride into
+arms; for suddenly the dark blue eyes kindled with indignant fire, and
+the voice, which so lately had rung out in merry jest and silver-clear
+laughter, shook with emotion and anger as she cried:
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg, I beg of you to remain.'
+
+Oswald, on the point of departure, halted. Hedwig went up to the young
+Count, and laid her hand on his.
+
+'Edmund, you will not let your cousin go from us in this manner. You
+will give him the necessary explanation--immediately, on the spot. You
+must see that he--that he misunderstands.'
+
+Oswald, involuntarily, had drawn back a step, as the familiar 'Edmund'
+met his ears. The Count himself seemed somewhat taken aback by the
+determined, almost authoritative tone which he now heard probably for
+the first time from those lips.
+
+'Why, Hedwig, it was you yourself who imposed silence on me,' he said.
+'Otherwise I should certainly not have kept the fact of our attachment
+secret from Oswald. You are right. We must take him into our
+confidence now. My severe Mentor is capable else of preaching us both
+a long sermon, setting forth our iniquity. We will therefore go
+through the introduction in due form. Oswald, you see before you my
+affianced wife and your future relation, whom I herewith commend to
+your cousinly esteem and affection.'
+
+This introduction, though decidedly meant in earnest, was performed in
+the Count's old light, jesting tone; but the gay humour, which Hedwig
+was usually so prompt to echo, seemed to jar upon her now almost
+painfully. She stood quite silent by her lover's side, watching with
+strange intensity the new relative opposite, who was mute as herself.
+
+'Well?' said Edmund, surprised and rather hurt at this silence. 'Have
+you no congratulations to offer us?'
+
+'I must in the first place sue for pardon,' said Oswald, turning to
+the young girl. 'For such a piece of news, I certainly was not
+prepared.'
+
+'That is entirely your own fault,' laughed Edmund. 'Why did you
+receive my communication so ungraciously when I told you about my
+first visit to Brunneck? There was every prospect for you then of
+filling the post of confidant. But I must say, Hedwig, we are not
+lucky as regards our rendezvous. This is the first time we have met
+alone, unsheltered by Aunt Lina's protecting wing--and behold, we are
+overtaken by this Cato! The philosopher's face is so eloquent of
+horror at witnessing an act of homage on my part that we are obliged
+at once to soothe him back into calm by notifying to him our
+engagement. You may recall your little pleasantry about the
+"intrusion," my dear fellow, and proceed to express--rather
+tardily--your wishes for our happiness.'
+
+'I congratulate you,' said Oswald, taking his cousin's proffered hand;
+'and you too, Fräulein.'
+
+'How very monosyllabic! Can it be that we are to have a foe in you?
+That would be the drop too much. It will be quite enough for us to
+meet the opposition which our beloved parents will in all probability
+offer to our plans. We shall be between two fires, and I hope, at
+least, to be able to count on you as an ally.'
+
+'You are aware that I have no influence with my aunt,' said Oswald
+quietly. 'In that quarter you must trust to your own powers of
+persuasion alone. But precisely for this reason you should avoid
+giving your mother any extra cause for offence, and offend her you
+certainly will, if you are not present at to-day's conference. Your
+lawyer must be waiting at Ettersberg at the present moment, and you
+have a good hour's walk before you. Excuse me, Fräulein, but I am
+forced to remind my cousin of a duty which he appears to have entirely
+lost sight of.'
+
+'Is there a conference at the castle to-day?' asked Hedwig, who had
+remained wonderfully quiet during the last few minutes.
+
+'Yes, about the Dornau business,' said Edmund, laughing. 'We are still
+at open feud--irreconcilable enemies, you know. In your company I had
+certainly forgotten all about lawsuits and appointments. It is
+fortunate that Oswald has reminded me of them. I must perforce be
+present to-day, and concoct plans with my mother and the lawyer for
+snatching Dornau from the enemy. They little dream that we settled the
+matter in dispute long ago by the unusual, but highly practical,
+compromise of a betrothal.'
+
+'And when will they hear this?' inquired Oswald.
+
+'As soon as I know how Hedwig's father takes the affair. He came back
+yesterday, and that is why we wanted some quiet talk together, to draw
+up the plan of the campaign. Ettersberg and Brunneck will thrill with
+horror at the news, no doubt, and do the Montague and Capulet business
+yet a little longer; but we shall take care there is no tragic ending
+to the drama. It will wind up to the tune of wedding-bells.'
+
+He spoke with such gay confidence, and the smile with which Hedwig
+answered him was so superb and assured of victory, that it was evident
+the parents' opposition was not looked upon by the young people as a
+real obstacle, likely to involve any serious conflict. They were fully
+conscious of their power and influence where father and mother were
+concerned.
+
+'But now I really must go home,' cried Edmund, making a start. 'It is
+true that I should not rouse my lady-mother's displeasure just now,
+and nothing displeases her more than to be kept waiting. Excuse me,
+Hedwig, if I leave you here. Oswald will replace me, and will
+accompany you back through the wood. As you are so soon to be related,
+you must become better acquainted with him. He is not always so
+taciturn as he appears at a first meeting. Oswald, I solemnly entrust
+my affianced wife to your protection and knightly conduct. So
+farewell, my charming Hedwig!'
+
+He carried the girl's hand tenderly to his lips, waved an adieu to his
+cousin, and hurried away.
+
+The two who were left were, it seemed, not agreeably surprised by the
+Count's sudden arrangement. They certainly did not fall into the tone
+of cousinly familiarity so promptly as he had wished. A cloud rested
+on the young girl's brow, and Oswald's manner showed as yet little of
+the chivalrous gallantry which had been enjoined upon him. At length
+he spoke:
+
+'My cousin has kept his acquaintance with you so secret, that the
+disclosure he has just made took me altogether by surprise.'
+
+'You made that sufficiently evident, Herr von Ettersberg,' replied
+Hedwig. It was strange how lofty and decided a tone she could adopt
+when really serious and in earnest.
+
+Oswald approached slowly. 'You are offended Fräulein, and justly
+offended, but the greater blame rests with Edmund. He ought never to
+have exposed his betrothed, his future wife, to such misconceptions as
+that of which I was guilty.'
+
+At this allusion a crimson flush again mounted to Hedwig's cheek.
+
+'The reproach you address in words to Edmund is in reality aimed at
+me, for I was a consenting party. My imprudence was only made manifest
+to me just now by your look and tone.'
+
+'I have already apologized, and now once more I pray to be forgiven,'
+said Oswald earnestly. 'But ask yourself, Fräulein, what a stranger,
+to whom a frank, straightforward explanation could not have been
+given, would have thought of this meeting? I say again, my cousin
+should not have induced you to agree to it.'
+
+'Edmund always speaks of you as his Mentor,' exclaimed Hedwig, with
+unmistakable annoyance. 'It seems that, as I am engaged to be married
+to him, I also am to enjoy the privilege of being ... educated by
+you.'
+
+'I merely wished to warn, and by no means to offend you. It is for you
+to judge in what spirit you should take the warning.'
+
+She made no reply. The grave earnestness of his words was not without
+effect upon her, though it did not altogether calm her ruffled spirit.
+
+Hedwig picked up her hat, which lay neglected on the ground, and sat
+down in her former place to rearrange the crushed flowers. The fresh
+and dainty spring headgear had suffered a little from its contact with
+the grass, still damp with mist and rime; such a hat was, indeed,
+hardly suited to the inclement April day. Spring comes tardily among
+the mountains, and this year especially she showed no smiling
+countenance. Her advent was heralded by rain and tempest. To frosty
+nights succeeded days of mist, through which the pale sunshine gleamed
+but fitfully.
+
+On this day the sky was as usual shrouded in masses of gray cloud. A
+wall of fog shut out the distant horizon, and the air was close and
+laden with moisture. The woods were still bare and leafless; in the
+undergrowth alone signs of the first tender green could be seen
+sprouting timidly forth. Each leaflet, each bud, had to struggle for
+existence, with difficulty holding its own in that raw, keen
+temperature. The scene altogether was cheerless and desolate.
+
+Oswald made no attempt to renew the conversation, and Hedwig, for her
+part, showed but little inclination to pursue it. After a while,
+however, the silence became oppressive to her, and she ventured the
+first remark that suggested itself.
+
+'What a miserable April! Anyone would think we were in cold, foggy
+autumn, with winter closing in upon us. We are to be cheated this year
+of all our spring delights.'
+
+'Are you so fond of spring?' asked Oswald.
+
+'I should like to know who is not fond of it? When one is young,
+flowers and sunshine seem necessary as the air we breathe. One cannot
+do without them. But perhaps you are of a different opinion.'
+
+'It all depends. Flowers and sunshine do not come with every spring;
+nor are they given to everyone in their youth.'
+
+'Were they not given to you?'
+
+'No.'
+
+The negative was very harsh and decided. Hedwig glanced up at the
+speaker; it occurred to her, perhaps, that he was austere and
+undelightful as the spring day which excited her displeasure. What a
+contrast was there between this conversation and the sparkling,
+playful babble in which the young engaged pair had so recently
+indulged here, on the self-same spot! Even the 'plan of campaign' to
+be undertaken against their parents had been sketched out in a spirit
+of drollery, amid endless pleasantries, and any lurking anxiety as to
+the issue had been chased away by jests and laughter. But now, with
+Oswald von Ettersberg standing before her in his cold unyielding
+attitude, not only all the merriment, but all desire for it, had
+vanished as by enchantment. This solemn strain of talk seemed to come
+as a matter of course, and the young girl even experienced a certain
+attraction in it and desire to pursue it.
+
+'You lost your parents early? Edmund has told me so; but at Ettersberg
+you found a second home and a second mother.'
+
+The stern, aggressive look, which for a while had disappeared, showed
+itself again in the young man's face, and his lips twitched almost
+imperceptibly.
+
+'You mean my aunt, the Countess?'
+
+'Yes. Has she not been a mother to you?' Again there came that slight
+spasmodic working about the corners of the mouth, which was anything
+rather than a smile, but his voice was perfectly calm, as he replied:
+
+'Oh, certainly. Still, there is a difference between being the only
+child of the house--beloved as you and Edmund have been--and a
+stranger admitted by favour.'
+
+'Edmund looks on you exactly as a brother,' interrupted the young
+girl. 'It is a great grief to him that you are meaning to leave him so
+soon.'
+
+'Edmund appears to have been very communicative with regard to me,'
+said Oswald coldly. 'So he has told you of that already, has he?'
+
+Hedwig flushed a little at this remark.
+
+'It is natural, I think, that he should make me acquainted with the
+affairs of the family I am likely to enter. He mentioned this fact to
+me, lamenting that all his efforts to induce you to remain at
+Ettersberg had failed.'
+
+'To remain at Ettersberg?' repeated Oswald, with unfeigned
+astonishment. 'My cousin could not possibly have been in earnest. In
+what capacity would he have me remain there?'
+
+'In your present capacity of a friend and near relation, I suppose.'
+
+The young man smiled bitterly.
+
+'Fräulein, you have probably no idea of the position occupied by so
+superfluous a member of a family, or you would not expect me to hold
+out in it longer than necessity compels. There may be men who,
+accepting the convenient and pleasant side of such a life, could shut
+their eyes to its true significance; I have been absolutely unable to
+do so. Truly, it never was my intention to remain at Ettersberg and
+now I would not stay, no, not for the whole world!'
+
+He spoke the last words with fire. His eyes kindled with a strange
+lightning-like gleam, of which one would not have supposed those cold
+orbs capable. It flashed on the young girl and was gone, and who
+should determine the true meaning of it?
+
+To Hedwig, accustomed to read in other glances a tender homage and
+admiration, which this certainly did not convey, the look remained
+problematical.
+
+'Why not now?' she asked in surprise. 'What do you mean by that?'
+
+'Oh, nothing, nothing! I was alluding to family affairs which are
+unknown to you as yet.'
+
+Evidently he repented his hasty error; as though in anger at himself,
+he fiercely snapped to pieces a branch which he had torn from a
+neighbouring bush.
+
+Hedwig was silent, but the explanation did not suffice her. She felt
+there must have been other grounds for the sudden vehemence and bitter
+emphasis with which he had spoken those words. Was it the thought of
+her entering the family which had roused him thus? Did this new
+relation intend to take up a hostile attitude towards her from the
+very first? And what did that strange, that enigmatic glance portend?
+She sat thinking over all this, while Oswald, who had turned away,
+looked persistently over in the opposite direction.
+
+Suddenly, from the higher ground, a low, far-off sound was wafted
+down. It was like the chirping of many birds, and yet consisted in a
+single note, long drawn out.
+
+Hedwig and Oswald looked up simultaneously. High in the air above them
+hovered a swallow. As they looked, it directed its course downwards,
+shooting by them so close that it almost brushed their foreheads in
+its arrow-like swiftness. Quickly following the first came a second
+and a third, and presently out of the misty distance a whole flight
+was seen emerging. On they came, nearer and still nearer, winging
+their way rapidly through the moist, heavy air. Then, circling above
+the woods and hilltops, they dispersed fluttering about in all
+directions, joyfully greeting, as it were, the old home they had found
+again. Here, with their gracious, hopeful message, were the first
+harbingers of spring.
+
+The lonely hill-side  had suddenly grown animated, a scene of movement
+and of life. Restlessly, incessantly, the swallows darted hither and
+thither, sometimes high overhead at an unattainable distance, then
+quite low to the ground, almost touching the soil. Backwards and
+forwards shot the pretty slender creatures on facile wings, so swiftly
+that the eye could hardly follow them; and all the while the air was
+resonant with that low happy piping which has nothing in common with
+the nightingale's trill or the lark's ecstasy of song, and which yet
+is sweeter to man's ears than either, because it is the herald's note,
+proclaiming the approach of Spring, and bearing her first message to
+fair nature, fresh from the long winter trance.
+
+Hedwig had started from her reverie. All else was suddenly forgotten.
+Bending eagerly forwards, with a glad radiance in her eyes, she
+watched the tiny newcomers; then, with all the delight, the joyful
+excitement of a child, she cried:
+
+'Oh, the swallows, the swallows!'
+
+'Truly, they are here,' assented her companion, 'and fortunate they
+may consider themselves in receiving so hearty a welcome.'
+
+The cool observation fell like a chilling hoarfrost on the girl's
+innocent joy. She turned and measured the sober spectator at her side
+with an indignant glance.
+
+'To you, Herr von Ettersberg, it appears inconceivable how one can
+rejoice over anything. It is not one of your failings, and I dare say
+the poor swallows to you signify nothing--you have never bestowed the
+smallest attention on them.'
+
+'Oh, pardon me! I have always envied them for their distant
+journeyings, their free powers of flight, which nothing shackles or
+restrains. Ah, liberty! there is nothing better, no higher good in
+life than liberty!'
+
+'No higher good?'
+
+The question was put in a tone of anger and indignation, making the
+answer seem all the colder and more decided.
+
+'None, in my estimation, at least.'
+
+'Really, one would think you had hitherto been languishing in chains,'
+said Hedwig, with unconcealed irony.
+
+'Must one breathe dungeon-air in order to long for freedom?' asked
+Oswald in the same tone, only that his irony amounted to scathing
+sarcasm. 'The accidents of life often forge fetters which weigh more
+heavily than the real iron chains of a captive.'
+
+'Then the fetters must be shaken off.'
+
+'Quite true, they must be shaken off. Only that is much more easily
+said than done. They who have never been otherwise than free, hardly
+prize their liberty, looking upon it as a thing of course. They cannot
+understand how others will strive and struggle for years, will stake
+life itself to secure that precious guerdon. But, after all, the
+efforts matter little, if the end be but attained.'
+
+He turned away, and seemed to be attentively watching the swallows in
+their rapid flittings to and fro. A fresh silence ensued, lasting
+longer, and putting Hedwig's patience to a still severer test than
+those which had previously occurred. These lapses in the conversation
+were strange and intolerable to her. Really, this Oswald von
+Ettersberg was an audacious personage. In the first place he presumed
+to reprimand her with regard to her meeting with Edmund; then he
+declared sharply, and with an emphasis which was almost insulting,
+that nothing should now induce him to remain on in his cousin's house;
+then he began to talk of dungeons and all sorts of disagreeable
+things, and finally lapsed into absolute silence, giving himself up to
+his meditations as completely as though a young lady, his cousin's
+promised wife, were not in his company. Hedwig thought the measure of
+his rudeness was filled, and she rose to go.
+
+'It is time for me to be returning,' she remarked shortly.
+
+'I am at your service.'
+
+Oswald moved forward, intending to escort her, but she waved him back
+with an ungracious gesture.
+
+'Thank you, Herr von Ettersberg. I know the way perfectly.'
+
+'Edmund expressly charged me to see you home,' objected Oswald.
+
+'And I release you from the obligation,' rejoined the young lady, in a
+tone which plainly said the young Count's wishes were not as law to
+her when opposed to her own will. 'I came alone, and will go back
+alone.'
+
+Oswald retreated at once.
+
+'Then you must make haste to reach Brunneck,' he said coolly. 'The
+clouds are gathering yonder, and in half an hour we shall have rain.'
+
+Hedwig looked inquiringly at the threatening clouds. 'I shall be home
+long before then; and if it comes to the worst, I think nothing of
+being caught in a spring shower. The swallows have reappeared, you
+know--have told us that spring is coming at last.'
+
+The words were spoken almost in a tone of challenge, but the gauntlet
+was not taken up. Oswald merely bowed with an air of constrained
+politeness, thereby forfeiting the young lady's last remnant of
+indulgence. She, in return, strove to infuse the utmost chilliness
+into her parting salutation, after which she hastened away, light and
+swift of foot as a roe.
+
+This haste was not induced by fear of rain, for when she had left the
+hill-side  well behind her, Hedwig slackened her pace. She only wished
+to get out of the neighbourhood of this unbearable 'Mentor,' who had
+tried to extend his system of education to her, and had been guilty of
+considerable rudeness in the attempt. He had not even raised any
+serious objection when she declined his escort. She had fully meant
+it, but the merest politeness demanded some words of regret at her
+decision. Yet there had been nothing of this; he was visibly delighted
+at being relieved of a troublesome office. This spoilt young lady,
+whose beauty, and perhaps also whose wealth, had won for her on all
+sides attention and lavish homage, looked on such indifference almost
+in the light of an insult, and she had not fully recovered from the
+vexation it caused her when she issued from the forest and saw
+Brunneck lying before her in close vicinity.
+
+Oswald, remaining behind alone, seemed altogether to forget the rain
+he had prophesied. He stood motionless, with folded arms, leaning
+against the trunk of a tree, and made no sign of setting out
+homewards.
+
+The clouds grew heavier and more lowering; the whole forest was now
+shrouded in mist, and the swallows almost swept the ground with their
+wings as they shot by to and fro. Patches of white might here and
+there be seen bearing witness still to the night's hoarfrost; but
+beneath, amidst all this mist and rime, a great work was going on. The
+life-germs hidden away in a thousand unsuspected buds and leafless
+branches were secretly, silently stirring; it wanted but the first
+balmy breath, the first glow of sunshine, to awaken all Nature from
+her long slumber. Ungenial as the air might be, there was in it just a
+touch, a faint suggestion of spring, and a whisper of spring ran
+through the bare forest. All around mysterious powers were active,
+weaving their chains, arraying their forces, unseen, unheard, yet felt
+and understood even by the lonely self-absorbed man who stood gazing
+dreamily out into the cloudy distance.
+
+A while ago, as he pursued his solitary way through the woods, all had
+been void and desolate. Not a sound had reached his ears of the
+language which was now so distinct and eloquent to him. He knew not,
+or would not know, what had so suddenly opened his understanding; but
+the harsh, aggressive look died out of his face, and with it faded
+away the remembrance of a dreary, joyless youth--faded away the
+rancour and bitterness of spirit which dependence and neglect had
+engendered in a proud, strong nature. The soft, half-unconscious
+dreams, which visit others so frequently, had spun their magic web
+around the cold, impenetrable Oswald. It was, perhaps, his first
+experience of them, but the spell was therefore the more irresistible.
+Overhead the swallows were still busy, flitting incessantly to and fro
+through the heavy, rain-charged air. The happy chirping of their tiny
+throats, the wonderful whisperings about him, the low voice in his own
+breast, all repeated in constant refrain that message which other lips
+had so triumphantly proclaimed: 'Spring is coming, really coming to us
+at last.'
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+
+In the course of a few days the plan of campaign devised by Edmund and
+Hedwig was carried into execution. The young people made their
+important disclosure, declaring their sentiments in most unambiguous
+terms, and the effects produced were precisely those expected. First
+came a simultaneous outburst of indignation at Brunneck and at
+Ettersberg; then followed reproaches, prayers, threats; finally an
+irrevocable fiat was issued on either side. The Countess solemnly
+announced to her son, the heir, that she once for all refused her
+consent to such a marriage; and Fräulein Hedwig Rüstow, on making her
+avowal, encountered a small hurricane, before which she was fain for a
+while to bow her head. The Councillor grew fairly distracted with
+wrath when he heard that an Ettersberg, a member of the family he
+hated, and his adversary in the Dornau suit, was to be presented to
+him as a son-in-law.
+
+The parental displeasure, though most pointedly expressed,
+unfortunately made but small impression on the young people.
+Prohibited, as a matter of course, from holding any further
+communication, they calmly within the hour sat down to write to each
+other, having, with a wise prevision of coming events, already fixed
+on a plan for the safe conveyance of their letters.
+
+Councillor Rüstow was striding angrily up and down the family
+sitting-room at the Brunneck manor-house. Hedwig had thought it wise
+to retire and leave her infuriated parent to himself for a while. The
+worthy gentleman, finding his daughter beyond his reach, turned
+fiercely upon his unhappy cousin, whom he bitterly accused of having,
+by her unpardonable weakness and folly in favouring the acquaintance,
+paved the way for all that had occurred.
+
+Fräulein Lina Rüstow sat in her accustomed place by the window and
+listened, going on steadily with the needlework she had in hand. She
+waited patiently for a pause to supervene. When at length her
+exasperated cousin was compelled to stop and take breath, she
+inquired, with perfect imperturbability:
+
+'Tell me, in the first place, Erich, what objection you really have to
+offer to this marriage?'
+
+The master of the house came to a sudden stand. This was a little too
+much! For the last half-hour he had been giving expression in every
+possible way to his anger, his fury, his indignation, and now he was
+coolly asked what objection he really had to offer to the marriage.
+The question so amazed and upset him that for a moment he could find
+no fitting answer.
+
+'Upon my word, I do not understand why you should be so angry,' went
+on the lady, in the same tone. 'There is evidently a sincere and
+mutual attachment. Count Ettersberg, in himself, is a most charming
+person. That unhappy lawsuit, which has so tried your temper during
+the whole of the winter, will be brought to the simplest conclusion;
+while, in a worldly point of view, the match is in every respect a
+brilliant one for Hedwig. Why do you set yourself so strongly against
+it?'
+
+'Why--why?' cried Rüstow, more and more incensed by this calm,
+argumentative tone of hers. 'Because I will not suffer my daughter to
+marry an Ettersberg. Because, once for all, I forbid it--that is why!'
+
+Aunt Lina shrugged her shoulders.
+
+'I do not think Hedwig will surrender to such reasons as those. She
+will simply appeal to the example of her parents, who married without
+the father's consent----'
+
+'That was a very different matter,' interrupted Rüstow hotly. 'A very
+different matter indeed.'
+
+'It was a precisely similar case, only that in that instance all the
+circumstances were far more unfavourable than they are now, when
+really prejudice and obstinacy alone stand in the way of the young
+people's happiness.'
+
+'Well, these are nice compliments you are heaping upon me, I must
+say,' cried the Councillor, breaking forth anew. 'Prejudice!
+obstinacy! Have you any more flattering epithets to bestow on me?
+Don't hesitate, pray. I am waiting to hear.'
+
+'There is no speaking sensibly to you to-day, I see,' observed the
+lady, tranquilly resuming the work which for a few minutes had been
+discontinued. 'We will talk of this another time, when you have grown
+calmer.'
+
+'Lina, you will drive me mad with that abominable composure of yours,
+which is nothing but affectation. Put that confounded sewing stuff
+away, do. I can't endure to see you drawing your thread in and out as
+primly as though there were nothing amiss, while I--I----'
+
+'Feel inclined to pull the whole house about our ears. Don't take the
+trouble; it will stand after all, you know, just as firm on its
+foundations as ever.'
+
+'Yes, it will stand, though everyone prove rebellious, though even you
+set yourself in open opposition to me, the master. Thank God, I have
+an ally, and a strong one, in the Countess-mother over at Ettersberg.
+She will show more obstinacy even than I, you may depend upon it. We
+can't endure each other; we are doing our very best to harass and
+torment each other by raising fresh quibbles in the lawsuit; but on
+this point we shall, for once, be agreed. She will soon bring her son
+to reason, and I am glad of it. It meets my views exactly. I shall act
+in the same way by my daughter.'
+
+'I do not suppose that the Countess will give her consent very
+readily,' said Aunt Lina, in a pensive tone. 'To obtain that from her
+must be Edmund's business.'
+
+'Edmund!' repeated Rüstow, whose indignation was constantly being
+roused afresh. 'Dear, dear! how very familiar we are, quite like
+relations already! You regard him altogether in the light of a nephew,
+I suppose. But you will find yourself mistaken. I say no, and I mean
+no, so that is all about it.'
+
+With these words he stormed out of the room, banging the door to
+behind him with a crash which set all the windows jarring. Aunt Lina
+must indeed have conquered 'her nerves,' for she did not start at the
+noise, but merely looked after the angry man with a shake of the head,
+and murmured to herself:
+
+'I wonder how long it will be before he gives in!'
+
+There was certainly less noise and bluster at Ettersberg, but the
+prospects of the young pair were not on that account more hopeful. The
+Countess thought the matter serious enough to warrant her in sending
+for her brother, Baron Heideck, who, in all cases of difficulty, was
+her stay and counsellor. He answered her summons in person, so Count
+Edmund had now to contend with the allied forces of mother and
+guardian.
+
+The latter, who had arrived from the capital a few hours previously,
+was closeted with the Countess in her own boudoir. He was several
+years older than his sister, and while she had preserved an almost
+youthful appearance, a premature look of age, on the contrary, was to
+be remarked in him. Cold, grave, and methodical in speech and bearing,
+his outward man at once denoted the bureaucrat of high standing. He
+listened attentively and in silence to the Countess as she made her
+report, which concluded in rather desponding terms.
+
+'As I told you in my letter, there is nothing whatever to be done with
+Edmund. He persists stubbornly in this marriage-scheme, and is
+constantly urging me to give my consent to it. I really did not know
+what better course to take than to send for you.'
+
+'You did quite right,' said the Baron; 'for I fear that, left to
+yourself, you would not have the necessary firmness to resist your
+darling, and refuse him his heart's desire. I think, however, we are
+agreed in this--the alliance in question must be prevented at any
+pains or any cost.'
+
+'Certainly we are,' assented the Countess. 'The only point to be
+discussed is _how_ we are to prevent it. Edmund will shortly come of
+age, and he will then be absolute master, free to follow his own
+will.'
+
+'Hitherto he has submitted to yours,' remarked the Count. 'His love
+for you is paramount.'
+
+'Has been hitherto!' said the Countess, with a rush of bitter feeling.
+'But now another shares his love. It remains to be seen whether his
+mother will retain her old place in his affections.'
+
+'Ah, this maternal sensitiveness of yours has been the cause of all
+the trouble, Constance,' remonstrated her brother. 'You have loved
+your son with a jealous exclusiveness which has made you shrink from
+the thought of his marriage. That was why you refused to entertain the
+proposal I made to you last year. An alliance suitable in point of
+rank and in every other respect could then easily have been secured.
+You see the result of your conduct on that occasion. But let us to the
+matter in hand. This Rüstow is wealthy?'
+
+'He passes, at least, for wealthy in this part of the country.'
+
+'And in town also. Not long ago he contributed funds towards one of
+our great industrial undertakings to a surprisingly large amount.
+Moreover, he is looked upon as an authority in his own particular
+line. Even at the Ministry his opinion on all subjects connected with
+agriculture carries weight with it. Add to this his connection by
+marriage with the Ettersberg family, which, say what you will, exists,
+and must be taken into account, and it becomes evident that we cannot
+treat this intended marriage as we would an unworthy mésalliance.'
+
+'No, and I think Edmund builds on that fact.'
+
+'He builds simply on your unbounded affection for him, from which he
+hopes to obtain all he desires--perhaps would have obtained it, had I
+not stepped in in time. You owe it to your husband's memory and to the
+name you bear to resist this marriage, which, as you know, he never
+would have allowed. Remember how he condemned his cousin for
+contracting a union with Rüstow. You are bound to act according to his
+wishes.'
+
+'I have done so in all respects,' said the Countess, a little piqued;
+'but if Edmund will not listen----'
+
+'It is for you to exact obedience from him, no matter by what means.
+This plebeian blood must not again be infused into the Ettersberg
+race. One such taint was sufficient.'
+
+He spoke slowly and meaningly, and the Countess grew pale beneath the
+menace of his look.
+
+'Armand, what do you mean? I----'
+
+'I am alluding to Rüstow's marriage with your husband's cousin,' the
+Baron interrupted coldly. 'The reminder was, I think, necessary to
+warn you that there must be no weakness now. You are not wanting in
+energy generally, but to Edmund you have always been far too indulgent
+a mother.'
+
+'Possibly,' said the Countess, with sad and bitter emphasis. 'I have
+had no one but him to love since you compelled me to accept the Count
+as my husband.'
+
+'It was not I, but circumstances, that compelled you. I should have
+thought you had in your youth sufficient experience of poverty and
+privations to make you bless your brother's hand, which delivered you
+from that wretched life and placed you in a high position.'
+
+'Bless?' repeated the Countess, in a low, half-stifled voice. 'No,
+Armand, I have never blessed your action in the matter.'
+
+Baron Heideck frowned.
+
+'I acted according to my conscience and sense of duty. It was my
+desire to procure for my father one last satisfaction on this side the
+grave, to free my mother from anxiety as to the future, and to secure
+for yourself a brilliant and much-envied position. If I used some
+pressure--some force to deliver you from the trammels of a first and
+foolish attachment, I did so with the firm conviction that for the
+Countess Ettersberg the past would be as though it had not been. I
+could not possibly foresee that my sister would not justify the
+confidence I placed in her.'
+
+The Countess shuddered as he spoke these words, and turned away.
+
+'Enough of these reminiscences, Armand; I cannot bear them.'
+
+'You are right,' said Heideck, changing his tone. 'We will leave the
+past, and turn our attention to the present. Edmund must not be
+allowed to commit this act of youthful folly. I hardly touched on the
+subject as we drove here from the station--I purposely avoided any
+discussion of it until I had spoken to you; but a very decided
+impression was left on my mind that we have not to do with a very deep
+or serious passion, capable of breaking down all barriers and setting
+all at defiance in order to obtain its end. He has merely fallen in
+love with a young and, as I hear, beautiful girl, and is naturally in
+a great hurry to be married at once. We must take care that this does
+not occur. We have weapons enough in our armoury to combat any such
+juvenile sentiment.'
+
+'I hope so,' said the Countess, making a visible effort to regain her
+composure, and speak in an ordinary conversational tone. 'That is why
+I asked you to come. You are his guardian, you know.'
+
+Heideck shook his head.
+
+'My guardianship has never been more than a barren legal fact, and in
+a few months it will lapse altogether. Edmund will hardly bow to its
+authority but to you he will yield, for he is accustomed to be guided
+by you. Place before him the choice between this new fancy of his and
+yourself. Threaten that you will leave Ettersberg if he brings this
+bride home to the castle. He worships you, and will take no step which
+would estrange his mother from him.'
+
+'No; he would not do that,' said the Countess in a tone of absolute
+conviction; 'I am still sure of his love.'
+
+'And you may continue to feel sure of it, if you know how to use your
+influence over him, as I doubt not you will, to the fullest extent.
+You are well aware, Constance, that in your son's case, in his case
+especially, the traditions of the family must be maintained. Remember
+this, I beg of you.'
+
+'I know it,' said the Countess, drawing a deep breath. 'You may set
+your mind at rest.'
+
+A long pause ensued. Then Baron Heideck spoke again:
+
+'And now to the other disagreeable matter! Will you send for Oswald? I
+should like to have some talk with him about this wonderful new
+project of his.'
+
+The Countess rang the bell.
+
+'Let Herr von Ettersberg know that Baron Heideck wishes to speak to
+him, and is waiting for him here,' she said to the servant who
+answered the summons.
+
+The man withdrew with his instructions, and Heideck continued, in a
+sarcastic vein:
+
+'It must be admitted that Edmund and Oswald are outvying each other
+just now in their endeavours to add lustre to the family name. One is
+bent on marrying the daughter of a ci-devant farmer, and the other
+means to set up as a lawyer. Oswald cannot, I fancy, have conceived
+this idea quite suddenly.'
+
+'I think he has cherished the project for years, but he has never
+committed himself by a word,' said the Countess. 'It is only now, just
+when he is on the point of passing his examination, that he thinks fit
+to publish his plan. I have declared to him, however, in the most
+decided manner, that he must give up all notion of the law, and
+prepare to enter a Government office.'
+
+'And what reply did he make to you?'
+
+'He made none--as usual. You know the moody, obstinate silence with
+which, even as a boy, he received reproof and punishment, the look of
+insufferable defiance which he always has in readiness, though his
+lips remain closed. I am persuaded that my opposition only makes him
+cling the more pertinaciously to his absurd plan.'
+
+'Precisely what I should expect from him, but in this case he will
+have to give way. A young man who, like Oswald, is absolutely without
+resources of his own, must, no matter in what position, be for a time
+dependent on his relations. Disobedience would cost him too dearly.'
+
+The conversation had undergone a marked change. Previously, when
+Edmund's conduct had been under debate, the Countess and her brother
+had spoken gravely and with a certain anxiety, but every word
+testified to the consideration in which the wilful young son and
+nephew was held. They merely wished to lead, to guide him back into
+the paths of prudence, and the love he bore his mother was the only
+constraining influence suggested. But from the moment Oswald's name
+was mentioned, another and a very different tone prevailed. His sins
+were reported with harshness, and condemned with great severity;
+measures of compulsion were at once discussed. Baron Heideck evidently
+shared in an eminent degree his sister's dislike to this young
+relation.
+
+The offender now came in. He greeted his aunt and his guardian, whom
+he had seen only for a few minutes on arrival, with his accustomed
+calm composure; but a keen observer might have detected the fact that
+he had armed himself for the coming scene. He stood before them in the
+'sombre, obstinate silence' to which allusion had been made, with his
+ever-ready look of 'insufferable defiance,' and waited for what should
+be made known to him.
+
+'You have prepared a singular surprise for us,' began Baron Heideck,
+addressing Oswald. 'For me especially, as I was just about to move in
+your interest. What are these absurd ideas you are so suddenly
+disclosing? You refused formerly to enter the army, and now you object
+to a Government office. Let me tell you that, situated as you are, you
+have no right to vacillate thus between the only professions which are
+open to you.'
+
+'I have never vacillated, for no choice has ever been offered me,'
+replied Oswald quietly. 'I was destined first for the army and then
+for a Government clerkship, but my inclination was never consulted.'
+
+'And why did you never inform us by a single word that it would please
+you in the last instance to set yourself against this second plan?'
+asked the Countess.
+
+'That is easily divined,' interposed Heideck. 'He wished to avoid a
+long struggle against you and myself, a struggle in which he was sure
+to succumb, and hoped that by taking us unawares he might paralyse our
+resistance. But you are mistaken, Oswald. My sister has already
+informed you that we consider the name and rank of a Count von
+Ettersberg to be incompatible with the calling of the law, and I
+repeat to you that you will never receive our consent to your present
+scheme.'
+
+'I am sorry for that,' was the steady reply. 'For I shall thus be
+obliged to pursue the course I have determined on without the approval
+of my nearest relatives.'
+
+The Countess would have started up in anger, but her brother signed to
+her to be calm.
+
+'Say nothing, Constance. We shall see if he can carry out this famous
+plan. I really do not understand you, Oswald,' he continued, with
+withering sarcasm. 'You have been long enough away from home to form
+some idea of the world and its ways. Have you never said to yourself
+that without some assured means of existence you can neither pass the
+examination in the capital, nor live on for years until an income of
+your own be forthcoming? Have you not reflected that these means may
+be withdrawn, if you push matters so far as to provoke a rupture with
+your family? You probably rely on Edmund's good-nature and on his
+affection for yourself, but in this case my sister will take care that
+he does not second and support you in your wilful obstinacy.'
+
+'I rely on no one but myself,' declared Oswald. 'Edmund knows that I
+shall make no claim on him for assistance.'
+
+'Well, perhaps you will allow me, as your ex-guardian, to inquire how
+you propose to live during the next few years?' said Heideck, in his
+former scornful tone.
+
+'I think of going to town to stay with Councillor Braun, a lawyer of
+eminence, whose name is probably known to you.'
+
+'Certainly I know him. He has a considerable reputation at the bar.'
+
+'He was my father's legal adviser, and the intimate friend of our
+house. I called on him and renewed our acquaintance when Edmund and I
+were in town together, and he has been good enough to transfer the old
+friendship from the father to the son. During the time I was at the
+university, he gave me many hints how best to direct my studies with a
+view to the career I had already chosen, and since then we have
+remained in constant correspondence. He wishes now for some assistance
+in his really overgrown practice, and the assistant of to-day may,
+very probably will, be his successor in the future. The berth will be
+held open for me until I shall have passed my examination. He has
+asked me to stay at his house during the period of that examination,
+and this offer I have thankfully accepted.'
+
+Oswald delivered this speech with imperturbable calm, but the
+astonishment of his hearers knew no bounds. They had supposed that a
+simple assertion of authority on their part would extinguish all
+'absurd ideas,' and quell the rebellious nephew whose dependent
+position placed him so completely at their mercy. Instead of this,
+they were met by a steady resolve, a practical, matured plan, every
+detail of which had been considered and provided for, and which
+withdrew the young man altogether from their influence and control.
+The disagreeable surprise this discovery caused them was expressed in
+the look they now exchanged.
+
+'Really, this is remarkable news,' said the Countess, who could no
+longer suppress her anger. 'So you have been conspiring against us
+with a stranger in secret--and this conspiracy has been going on for
+years!'
+
+'And with what an aim in view!' added Heideck. 'Either in the army or
+in a Government office your ancient and noble name would have been of
+service to you; it would have assured you a career. But the advantages
+you possess you deliberately put from you in order to embrace the law
+as a profession. I really thought your ambition would soar higher. Are
+you so wedded--so enthusiastically attached to this new vocation of
+yours?'
+
+'No,' said Oswald coldly; 'not in the least. But in any other
+profession I should have been compelled to go on for years
+accepting--accepting benefits I have hitherto enjoyed; and to this I
+will not consent. The path I have chosen is the only one that leads to
+freedom and independence, and to gain these I willingly sacrifice all
+else.'
+
+The words told of a resolve which was not to be shaken, but at the
+same time they were barbed with a reproach which the Countess
+understood but too well.
+
+'You have accepted these benefits so long that you can now
+conveniently do without them,' she remarked.
+
+The tone of this observation was even more insulting than the words.
+Oswald's composure seemed to be giving way at length. His quick, short
+breathing betrayed his emotion, as he replied in accents to the full
+as biting as hers had been:
+
+'If I have hitherto been held fettered by the chain of my dependence,
+that assuredly has not been my fault. It was not considered fitting
+for an Ettersberg to go out into the world and seek his fortune, as a
+man of humbler origin might have done. I could but yield to the
+traditional prejudices of my family. I have had to wait on and on for
+this hour when at length--at length I can take my future into my own
+hands!'
+
+'Which you seem inclined to do in the most offensive manner possible,'
+said the Countess, with increasing warmth. 'With the utmost
+indifference to those family traditions of which you speak, in open
+opposition to the friends to whom you owe everything. Could my husband
+have foreseen this, he never would have directed that you should be
+brought up with his own son, and treated as a child of the house you
+now disown in this manner. But, indeed, gratitude is a word which
+seems to have no meaning for you.'
+
+A dangerous light kindled in Oswald's eyes, and they flashed upon the
+speaker a glance of menace and evil portent.
+
+'I know, aunt, what a heavy burden my uncle laid on you by those
+directions, but, believe me, I have suffered beneath it even more
+severely than yourself. It would have been better for me to have been
+driven out into the world and brought up among strangers, than to pass
+my life amid splendid surroundings, in a sphere where I have daily,
+hourly been reminded of my nothingness, where the proud Ettersberg
+blood in my veins had but to show itself to be instantly repressed. My
+uncle carried his point, and had me received into this house; beyond
+that, he made no attempt to shield or protect me. To you I was, from
+the first, simply a troublesome legacy left by an unfriendly and
+detested brother-in-law. I was accepted with disinclination, and
+endured with absolute dislike, and the consciousness of this has
+sometimes well-nigh driven me desperate. But for Edmund, the one
+person who showed me any affection, the one who held faithfully by me,
+in spite of all that was done to estrange us, I could not have borne
+the life. Gratitude! You require gratitude at my hands? I have never
+felt any, I never shall feel any towards you; for there is a voice
+within me which says I am not benefited, but injured. I need not
+thank, but might ... accuse!'
+
+He flung the last word at her with loud and threatening emphasis. The
+dykes were broken down, and all the hatred, the bitterness he had
+secretly borne within him for years flowed out in a stream of fierce
+rebellion against this woman who, outwardly at least, had been as a
+mother to him. She had risen in her turn, and they now stood face to
+face. So might two deadly enemies have measured each other's strength
+before the fray; the next word would perhaps have led to an
+irreparable breach, had not Heideck intervened.
+
+'Oswald, you forget yourself!' he cried. 'How can you venture to
+address such language to your aunt?'
+
+The keen, cold tones of his voice brought reflection to both at the
+same moment. The Countess sank slowly back into her seat, and her
+nephew retreated a step. For a few seconds a painful silence reigned.
+Then Oswald spoke in a changed voice, in a tone freezing as ice:
+
+'You are right; I have to apologize. But at the same time I must beg
+of you to allow me henceforth to go my own way unhindered. The path I
+shall follow will, in all probability, take me from Ettersberg for
+ever, and all further connection may cease between us. I think this is
+what we all should wish, and it will certainly be best for the family,
+collectively and individually.'
+
+Then, without waiting for an answer, or any sign of dismissal, he
+turned and left the room.
+
+'What did that mean?' asked the Countess in a low voice, when the door
+had closed upon him.
+
+'It meant a threat,' said Heideck. 'Could you not understand it,
+Constance? It was, I think, plainly enough expressed.'
+
+He sprang up, and paced several times uneasily up and down the room.
+Even the bureaucrat's cold and measured calm was not proof against
+such a scene as this. Presently he halted before his sister.
+
+'We must give way. The matter has now assumed a different aspect--a
+very different aspect. Active resistance on our part might lead to
+serious trouble--the last few moments have made that evident to me.'
+
+'You really think so?'
+
+The Countess spoke these words almost mechanically. She was still
+gazing fixedly over at the door through which Oswald had departed.
+
+'Decidedly I think so,' said Heideck, in a determined tone. 'The
+fellow suspects more than is good for any of us. It would be dangerous
+to irritate him--besides which, we have no longer any power to control
+his acts. By this masterly scheme of his, he has secured for himself
+an unassailable position. I certainly was not prepared for it, but at
+least we now know what lies hidden beneath that calm, indifferent
+exterior.'
+
+'I have long known it,' declared the Countess, who seemed only now to
+be recovering the full use of her faculties. 'Not without reason have
+I feared those cold, searching eyes. From the very first time I saw
+that boy's face and met his look, a sort of presentiment awoke within
+me that he would work ruin to me and to my son.'
+
+'Folly!' said Heideck. 'Whatever Oswald may suspect, it never can or
+will be more than a suspicion; and he will take good care not to put
+it into words. It was only in the great excitement of the moment that
+he allowed that hint to escape him; but no matter, there must not be a
+renewal of this scene. He is right in one thing at least--it will be
+better for him in future to avoid Ettersberg; thus the connection with
+Edmund will cease. In our own interest, we must let him pursue the
+career he has chosen.'
+
+Meanwhile Oswald had passed rapidly through the Countess's apartments,
+and was about to turn from them into the corridor, where he met Edmund
+on his way to his mother. Gay, lighthearted, and careless as usual,
+the young Count stopped at once, caught his cousin by the arm, and
+proceeded to interrogate him.
+
+'Well, Oswald, how did the judgment-scene in there go off? We must
+hold firmly together now, you know, for we are both in the same
+boat--only my case smacks of romance, whereas yours has a dry legal
+savour. I underwent a sort of preliminary examination in the carriage
+just now, and am about to appear before the high tribunal of justice.
+Is my uncle in a very ungracious humour?'
+
+'He will hardly be ungracious to you,' was the laconic reply.
+
+'Oh, I am not in the least afraid!' cried Edmund, laughing. 'I should
+have won my mother over long ago, if I had had her alone. She knows
+it, and that is why she summoned my uncle to her aid. He is just a
+trifle more difficult to manage, though I don't suppose even he will
+bear too hardly on me. But you, Oswald'--he came close up to his
+cousin, and looked him searchingly in the face--'you have that frown
+on your brow again, that bitter expression of countenance I dislike so
+much. They have been tormenting you, I am afraid.'
+
+'You know these things cannot be settled without some rather warm
+discussion,' replied Oswald evasively. 'But I have gained my end,
+notwithstanding. One word more, Edmund. I shall probably leave
+Ettersberg sooner than I at first intended--perhaps in the course of a
+few days.'
+
+'Why?' exclaimed the young Count. 'What has happened? You had
+determined to stay until the autumn. Has my uncle offended you, that
+you now talk of leaving at once? I shall stand no nonsense of that
+sort, as I shall let him know on the spot----'
+
+'I tell you everything is arranged and settled,' Oswald interrupted.
+'Nothing whatever has happened. My aunt and her brother are naturally
+rather incensed against me, but they will place no further obstacles
+in my way.'
+
+'Do you mean it in earnest?' asked Edmund in surprise. He evidently
+could not understand this sudden strange compliance.
+
+'In right good earnest. You will hear it from themselves by-and-by.
+Now go and stand your trial. They will not be too hard on you. You
+have only to appeal to your mother's love--whereas I had to invoke
+fear to my aid.'
+
+Edmund stared at him in amazement.
+
+'Fear? Fear of what--of whom? You really do sometimes use the most
+extraordinary expressions.'
+
+'Never mind, go now,' insisted Oswald. 'I can give you an account of
+our interview later on.'
+
+'All right.' Edmund turned to the door, but paused again on the
+threshold. 'I must say one thing more, though, Oswald. I will not hear
+of this sudden departure of yours. You promised to stay until the
+autumn, and nothing shall induce me to let you go before. It will be
+bad enough for me to have to do without you then for months--for you
+will hardly get to Ettersberg before that abominable examination is
+over. I know that beforehand.'
+
+With these words he departed. Oswald looked after him moodily. 'For
+months? Ah, we must learn to do without each other for good and for
+all,' he said. Then in a lower voice he added, 'I did not think I
+should have felt it so keenly.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+More than two months had elapsed. Midsummer had arrived, but the
+houses of Ettersberg and Brunneck were still, as Count Edmund
+expressed it, playing the Montague and Capulet game. Neither the
+Countess nor Rüstow had yielded an inch. They were vigorous as ever in
+their opposition to the projected marriage between their children, but
+these latter only clung the more tenaciously to their plan. In spite
+of prohibitions they met often, and wrote to each other still more
+frequently. To manage the first, it had been found necessary to
+include Aunt Lina in the plot, and that good lady thought it better
+that the meetings, which certainly would have taken place under any
+circumstances, should be held with her sanction and in her presence.
+She had long ago been won over to the young people's side, and the
+lovers themselves took matters very easily. It was not in the nature
+of either Hedwig or Edmund to take a sentimental or tragic view of
+their temporary separation. A love affair, the course of which had
+constantly run smooth, would no doubt have appeared to them
+excessively tame and wearisome. Parental opposition gave to this
+courtship the necessary spice of romance. They revelled in the
+situation with all the eagerness of their youthful years, and looked
+on themselves and their true love as intensely poetical and
+interesting. Neither felt any uneasiness as to the final issue; they
+knew too well that they, their parents' spoilt and petted darlings,
+would ultimately carry their point. Meanwhile the Countess posed as
+the inexorable mother, and the Councillor was fiercer and more prone
+to ire than ever. Signs, however, were not wanting that the fortresses
+were not quite as impregnable as they pretended to be, that they would
+finally succumb to the daily assaults to which they were subjected.
+
+The _dénoûment_ came more speedily than any of the parties concerned
+had expected. Fräulein Lina Rüstow had been absent for a few days
+staying in town, where she had purchases to make. She came back to
+Brunneck suspecting nothing, and prepared to find the old feud with
+Ettersberg raging fiercely as when she left. Rather surprised at being
+received on her arrival by her cousin alone, she made inquiries after
+Hedwig, who was nowhere to be seen.
+
+'Hedwig?' stammered Rüstow, looking half embarrassed, half wrathful.
+'She is not here just now; you will see her by-and-by.'
+
+Aunt Lina inquired no further. There had probably been some fresh
+discussion on the subject of the projected marriage, a circumstance
+which never promoted the comfort of any member of the household, for
+the Councillor was in the habit of venting his anger on all about him,
+his daughter only excepted. On this occasion, however, the traveller
+felt herself to be in possession of a piece of intelligence which
+would scare away ill-humour. They had hardly got into the parlour when
+she burst forth with it.
+
+'I have brought you some news, Erich. Your solicitor wanted to send
+you a telegram, but I begged him to let me convey the pleasant
+tidings. You have won your suit in the first instance. Dornau has been
+adjudged to Hedwig.'
+
+'I am glad of it, glad of it, in spite of all that has come and gone.
+But I wish the judgment had been given a few weeks back; now my
+pleasure in it is spoiled, completely spoiled! So we have won the
+suit?'
+
+'Subject to appeal, of course--though our solicitor seems confident
+about the final issue. No doubt the opposite party will do everything
+in their power to contest the victory with us.'
+
+'They will do nothing of the kind,' grumbled Rüstow, still with the
+same queer, embarrassed look.
+
+'Of course they will; there can be no doubt of that. The lawyer has
+already taken his measures in view of an appeal to a higher court.'
+
+'He may save himself the trouble,' Rüstow broke forth. 'Nobody is
+thinking of appealing. The lawsuit is over and done with, and the end
+of the story is that Dornau will go to Ettersberg after all.'
+
+'To Ettersberg? Why, don't I tell you ... But, good heavens, Erich,
+what makes you look so black and miserable, and why is Hedwig out of
+the way? What has happened? Is she ill, or----'
+
+'Now, don't get excited,' said Rüstow, interrupting the flow of
+questions. 'Hedwig is quite well and in excellent spirits, and at
+the present moment is staying over at Ettersberg with her future
+mother-in-law. That is right, Lina, sit down. I shan't take it amiss
+if you show some surprise. I showed and felt not a little myself at
+first.'
+
+Aunt Lina had indeed dropped on to a seat, and was staring at her
+cousin in speechless, petrified amazement. He went on again:
+
+'These young people have really had the most wonderful luck! You were
+within a hair's-breadth of finding us all dead and gone, Lina. The
+Countess was as nearly drowned as could be, and we were within an ace
+of having our necks broken.'
+
+'Merciful powers! And you call that luck?' exclaimed the old lady, in
+a tone expressive of horror.
+
+'I said "nearly" and "within an ace," did not I? Well, the upshot of
+it all was a betrothal on the spot. The whole business went upon
+wheels; deadly peril, consequent emotion, embracing of the lovers! We
+were in the midst of it all, and found ourselves giving our parental
+benediction almost before we knew what had happened. Oh, those
+confounded black Ettersberg beasts! Why do my horses never run away, I
+wonder?'
+
+'What in the world are your horses to me at this moment?' broke in his
+cousin, half desperate with the prolonged suspense. 'If you go on in
+this way, I shall never hear what has happened. Do try and tell the
+story rationally.'
+
+'Yes, yes, you are right. I must tell you all about it calmly and
+quietly,' said the Councillor, inaugurating the promised calm by
+pacing violently up and down the room, as was his wont when much
+excited. 'Well, then, the day before yesterday I drove over with
+Hedwig to pay a visit to Neuenfeld. You will remember that the road
+lies over that steep Stag's Hill, where just at the summit the path is
+so narrow that great caution is required for two vehicles to pass side
+by side. Precisely at this spot, what should we meet but the
+Ettersberg carriage with the Countess in it! We, of course, took no
+notice, pretended not to know each other; but our coachmen, instead of
+not noticing, rushed together like mad. I shouted to Anthony to stop,
+but the other idiot came tearing on, until the animals brushed against
+each other. The high-spirited Ettersberg steeds took this amiss. They
+reared and plunged and kicked, and finally set off at furious speed,
+almost smashing our wheels for us as they passed. The coachman tried
+all sorts of foolish man[oe]uvres in the hope of checking them, upon
+which they took to their heels and ran away with him in good earnest.
+Springing out of the carriage, I saw at a glance that it was too
+late--they were spinning down the hill as fast as a top. The coachman
+flew off the box; the footman, instead of seizing the reins, clung to
+his seat with might and main. The Countess screamed for help, and so
+they went on, straight down towards the pond which lies at the foot of
+the hill, and is so admirably situated for drowning purposes.'
+
+Aunt Lina was listening in breathless suspense.
+
+'Frightful! Horrible! Was there no help at hand?'
+
+'Certainly; I was at hand,' said Rüstow drily; 'and at need I can play
+the angel of rescue, though it is not my habitual occupation. There
+was not time for much reflection, and I soon gave up running after the
+carriage. Happily we had halted close to that steep footpath which
+shortens the way down by one half. How I got to the bottom I don't
+know. Anyhow, I was there as soon as the carriage, and just contrived
+to stop it as it reached the pond.'
+
+'Thank God!' cried the old lady, with a sigh of relief.
+
+'So said I, a little later on--just at that moment I was furious.
+There I stood with the Countess in my arms, and no one to give me any
+assistance. She had gone off into a swoon, and that fool of a man was
+so bewildered and scared, that he was nearly as unconscious as his
+mistress. Now, a pair of restive horses I can manage at a pinch, but
+fainting ladies are altogether out of my line. Presently, however,
+Hedwig came flying down the footpath, and then Anthony, and then the
+man who had been thrown--he was limping terribly, and had a famous
+bump on his forehead, but that served him right. It was his folly and
+reckless driving which had caused all the mischief.'
+
+'And the Countess?' interposed his listener eagerly.
+
+'Well, happily the Countess had escaped uninjured. We carried her into
+a neighbouring house belonging to one of the rural police, and here
+she partly recovered from her fright. The gentle, well-mannered
+horses, besides running away, had accorded to themselves the special
+pleasure of breaking their carriage-pole and of so injuring our wheels
+in the rencontre, that we could not move the landau from the spot. So
+I sent the footman over to Ettersberg to fetch another vehicle,
+despatched Anthony and the policeman, who happened to be at home,
+to the scene of the disaster, and dismissed the coachman with his
+black monsters, which he conducted home in safety. We three remained
+alone--it was a pleasing moment, as you may suppose.'
+
+'I do hope and trust, Erich, that you did not behave with rudeness,'
+said Aunt Lina reproachfully.
+
+'No, rudeness was out of the question--unfortunately!' replied Rüstow,
+in a tone of sincere regret. 'The Countess was still as pale as death
+and half fainting. I had received a slight memorial of the affair
+myself, a mere scratch on the arm, which, however, bled rather
+profusely; and the poor child, Hedwig, ran from one to the other, not
+knowing whom she should help first. In such a situation politeness
+comes as a thing of course. We were therefore intensely polite to each
+other, and intensely anxious about each other's welfare. I hoped the
+matter would blow over with an expression of thanks and a courteous
+farewell, and I was looking out, longing for the arrival of the
+Ettersberg carriage, when suddenly, instead of it. Count Edmund came
+up at a tearing gallop. From the footman's confused report he had
+thought that his mother was injured or half dead, and he had not
+waited for the carriage to be got ready, but had jumped on the first
+horse that came to hand and had ridden over as though his own life had
+been at stake. I should not have believed the young jackanapes had so
+much heart. He rushed into the house and into his mother's arms like a
+madman, and for the first moment or so he evidently saw and thought of
+no one but her. I must say that pleased me--pleased me much. He seems
+to be passionately attached to his mother.'
+
+At this point the narrator's voice softened a little. Unfortunately
+his cousin took it into her head to produce her handkerchief and press
+it to her eyes, which at once roused the Councillor to a contrary
+humour.
+
+'I do believe you are going to cry,' he said, turning upon her
+sharply. 'Let us have no nonsense of that sort, pray. There has been
+emotion enough and to spare. Well, of course there now ensued a string
+of questions and explanations,' he went on, taking up again the thread
+of his narrative; 'a lively description, in which, in spite of my
+protests, I was made to figure as a sort of hero and knight-errant.
+The Countess overflowed with gratitude, and all at once Edmund threw
+his arms round my neck, declaring I had saved his mother's life, and
+that he would rather owe such a debt to me, the father of his Hedwig,
+than to anyone in the world.' Here Rüstow's strides grew longer and
+his countenance more wrathful. 'Yes, that is what he had the coolness
+to say, "the father of his Hedwig"! I tried to shake him off; then
+Hedwig got the other side of me, and began the same story about the
+mother of her Edmund. Presently the Countess stepped up, and held out
+her hand to me--well, you can imagine the rest. As I said before, a
+general embracing and reconciliation went on, and we only came to our
+senses when the carriage, which had followed the Count, drove up to
+the door. As it further appeared that ours was totally disabled, we
+had no alternative but to mount all together and drive over to
+Ettersberg. It was agreed ultimately that Hedwig should remain with
+the Countess, who was really much upset by the fright she had had, and
+I ... well, here I am, left by myself in my own house, without a soul
+to keep me company.'
+
+'Please to remember I count as somebody,' said Aunt Lina, a little
+piqued. 'You don't seem to reckon me at all.'
+
+Rüstow grumbled something that was unintelligible. At this moment a
+servant came in, and announced the pastor of Brunneck, who was a
+friend of the house.
+
+'There!' cried the master, in a tone of desperation. 'There! he has
+come over to congratulate us on the approaching marriage--he has, as
+sure as I stand here. The story is going the round of the
+neighbourhood already. Each time I have shown my nose outside the door
+to-day, somebody has come up to me with a smirk and a smile, and some
+hint about the "happy event." But I can't stand it yet. I must collect
+my thoughts and get used to the idea first. Lina, you'll do me the
+favour to receive the parson. In my present frame of mind, I tell you,
+I am capable of chucking anyone out of the window who should come to
+me with his congratulations!'
+
+So saying, the Councillor ran out of one door just as the pastor was
+admitted by the other. This was fortunate, for the worthy man had no
+sooner entered than he proceeded solemnly and with much unction to
+offer to the old lady his heartfelt congratulations on the coming
+'happy event,' the news of which had, he said, filled him with genuine
+delight.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The day on which the young Lord of Ettersberg attained his majority
+had come and gone, being celebrated with much splendour. The Countess
+judged this a fitting occasion for the display of all the grandeur of
+which Ettersberg was capable, and displayed it accordingly was in
+fullest measure. In the spacious, brilliantly lighted apartments of
+the castle there gathered a gay and numerous throng, for whom the
+fête, besides its more immediate cause, had yet another and a special
+interest. The young couple, who had been quietly betrothed at Brunneck
+some weeks previously, in the presence only of members of the two
+families, now made their first appearance together in public, and were
+accordingly overwhelmed by the congratulations of their friends. The
+news of the engagement had, as may be supposed, created a considerable
+stir in the neighbourhood; but the astounding fact was in some small
+degree explained by a report of the incident which had brought it
+about. It was easy to understand how the Countess, carried away by her
+gratitude, had held out the hand of reconciliation to a man whose
+courage and presence of mind had saved her life, how in such a moment
+her class-prejudices had given way, and she had consented to an
+alliance which, so it was said, she had at first vehemently opposed.
+Equally intelligible was it that after such an episode the Councillor
+should have yielded up his long-cherished grudge against the
+Ettersberg family; especially as the Dornau lawsuit had been decided
+in his favour, and his stubborn pride had thus received satisfaction.
+On the whole, Count Edmund's choice provoked envy rather than hostile
+attack, particularly among his younger compeers. The heiress of
+Brunneck and Dornau was no unfitting consort, even for a Count von
+Ettersberg. Similar marriages were constantly arranged where no such
+romantic inclination prevailed, where the rich heiress was not, as in
+this case, a youthful, beautiful, and accomplished lady.
+
+But whatever might be the judgment passed on them in private, the
+young engaged couple were, of course, met on all sides by flattering
+speeches and the most amiable expressions of interest.
+
+Baron Heideck did not honour the castle with his presence on the
+occasion, though, in his quality of guardian to the heir, he had been
+confidently expected. He did not surrender his point so easily as the
+Countess, but persisted in his exclusive views. Fortunately, Edmund
+had wisely arranged that the news of his engagement should reach his
+uncle in the capital precisely at the time it was made generally
+public. The Countess could not possibly recede now, and any
+interference on her brother's part would come too late. Nevertheless,
+the Baron wrote a stern letter, reproaching his sister with her weak
+and foolish compliance, and would not understand how anyone could be
+so carried away by the emotion of the moment as to offer up their
+'principles.' He did not know how the mother's love had secretly been
+at work, undermining her stern resolve, and paving the way for the
+sudden concession. It so angered him that he went the length of
+refusing to be present at the coming festivities. By his mother's
+express wish, Edmund wrote to him, begging him to reconsider this
+decision, but he merely sent a short cool note in reply, declaring
+that his official duties would not permit him to leave town just then;
+all the formalities attendant on the coming of age should be settled
+by writing.
+
+Edmund bore the blow with much philosophy, but the Countess was
+greatly annoyed. She had always been guided by her brother's opinion,
+and now felt his displeasure the more keenly that in her heart she
+shared his way of thinking. She saw, however, that having gone so far,
+the position she had taken up must be maintained before the world. So
+she set herself to the task before her, and with much tact and
+charming affability of manner convinced everyone that the consent,
+which in truth circumstances had wrung from her, had been
+spontaneously and freely given.
+
+Supported by her son and his promised bride, the Countess received the
+guests as they arrived. Her toilette was sumptuous and in finest
+taste, and the fact that she was still a very beautiful woman had
+never made itself so triumphantly manifest as on this occasion. At her
+side stood her future daughter-in-law, radiant in all the bloom and
+grace of early youth; yet the elder lady's beauty shone undimmed by
+the contrast. Edmund's eyes rested now and again with loving
+admiration on his handsome, proud mother, who seemed to claim his
+attention in almost equal degree with his affianced bride.
+
+'The Countess looks magnificent to-day,' said the Councillor, going up
+to his cousin. 'Magnificent, upon my word! and she knows how to do
+this sort of thing--that, one must admit. It is all proportionate and
+on a grand scale, and the lady has a wonderful talent of making
+herself the life and centre of the whole affair. She sees everything,
+has something pleasant to say to everyone. Hedwig may learn much from
+her in this respect.'
+
+'You seem fond of extremes,' remarked Aunt Lina, who had retired to a
+quiet corner seat, whence she could observe at ease all that was going
+on. 'From a most unreasonable dislike you have gone over to boundless
+admiration of the Countess. Why, I noticed you even kissed her hand
+just now.'
+
+'What, don't I please you even yet?' asked Rüstow, in a tone of
+offence. 'You wrung from me a solemn promise that I would make myself
+agreeable tonight, and now that I am doing everything in my power to
+keep my word--making extraordinary efforts, in fact--you won't even
+acknowledge it.'
+
+Aunt Lina smiled rather mischievously.
+
+'Oh, but indeed I do! I admire the "extraordinary efforts" quite as
+much as the rest of the company, who really do not know what to make
+of it. People are accustomed to see you shrouded in a sort of
+thundercloud, and this sudden sunshine puzzles them. But I have one
+question to ask, Erich. What has gone wrong between Hedwig and Oswald
+von Ettersberg? They avoid each other openly in a manner which almost
+courts attention.'
+
+'Gone wrong? Nothing, so far as I know. Hedwig cannot endure this
+cousin, and I fancy he does not care much for her.'
+
+The last words betrayed some little pique. Evidently the Councillor
+could not understand anyone not caring much for his daughter.
+
+'But there must be some grounds for this mutual dislike. Young
+Ettersberg's manners are not particularly agreeable, I must say.'
+
+'Ah, but he has a real genius for farming and agriculture generally.
+Now, if _he_ were the heir coming into his own, things would wear a
+very different aspect here. He sees clearly how the estates are being
+mismanaged; and the other day, when he was over at Brunneck, he gave
+me some hints and information which will lead me to take serious steps
+myself, if Edmund will not act. We talked the matter over thoroughly.'
+
+'Yes, and at great length,' rejoined the lady. 'It almost seemed to me
+as if Herr von Ettersberg held you to the conversation purposely, that
+he might not have to listen to all Edmund's tender speeches to his
+beloved.'
+
+'I am afraid he has some nonsensical high-flying notions in his head,'
+said Rüstow. 'The marriage does not meet with his high approval. I saw
+that the very day of the accident. He received us here at Ettersberg,
+and when Edmund lifted his future wife out of the carriage, my young
+gentleman looked as if the skies had fallen upon him; he darted a
+glance at the pair which by no means pleased me. However, he recovered
+himself in a minute, and was very polite, expressing regret at his
+aunt's accident, and wishes for his cousin's happiness, but in a cool,
+half-hearted sort of way which showed that both were forced. He does
+not appear to possess much heart, but a genius for farming he has, and
+no mistake.'
+
+'Did that flattering compliment refer to me?' asked Edmund, who just
+then drew near with Hedwig, and overheard the last words.
+
+Rüstow turned.
+
+'To you, no! We were talking of your cousin. You, I am sorry to say,
+have no practical gifts that I have been able to discover.'
+
+'None in the world,' Edmund laughingly assured him. 'That was made
+plain to me the other day when I was over at Brunneck, and you were
+engrossed in one of your endless debates about forest-culture and
+drainage. Hedwig and I only caught a word here and there, but that was
+enough to make us yawn.'
+
+'These are views which promise well for a landed proprietor, I must
+say,' remarked the Councillor tartly. 'So our conversation made you
+yawn, did it? Why, you and Hedwig had not a sensible word to say to
+each other. I heard nothing but jokes and laughter. Yet you had every
+cause to listen with attention. The state of the timber on your----'
+
+'Oh, for Heaven's sake, spare me all that to-day,' broke in Edmund.
+'If you really must talk on these subjects, I will bring you over the
+genius you admire so much. Oswald is capable of discussing timber all
+the evening. But where is he, I wonder? I have missed him for the last
+quarter of an hour or so. Everard, have you seen Herr von Ettersberg?
+Perhaps he is over in the ballroom.'
+
+'No, Count, I have just come from there,' replied the old servant, who
+was passing with a tray.
+
+'Well, I shall have to go and look him up myself. One can never reckon
+on Oswald on such occasions as this. He leaves the entire burden on
+me. Come, Hedwig, dancing will begin soon; we ought to go and see that
+all the necessary arrangements are made.'
+
+So saying, the young Count placed Hedwig's hand within his arm, and
+led her away to the ballroom, which lay at the other extremity of the
+long and glittering suite of apartments.
+
+The spacious ballroom was for the moment quite empty, as also was the
+adjoining conservatory, and this fact probably had beguiled Oswald
+into seeking a refuge there. The intention he had expressed of leaving
+Ettersberg at once had been combated on all sides, and especially by
+Edmund, who warmly insisted on his cousin remaining at the castle, and
+besieged him perpetually with entreaties and reproaches. The Countess
+even, and Baron Heideck, after due reflection, had decided that it
+might be a serious matter to provoke an open rupture with this
+rebellious nephew, and to launch him forth into the world in hostile
+mood. They therefore also opposed his departure. The family
+differences, which could not be healed, must at least be hidden from
+others. No further opposition should thwart the young man's plans.
+
+It was agreed that his future should be left altogether in his own
+hands; so he had yielded to the pressure put upon him, and consented
+to stay on until the autumn, according to his original intention.
+
+Oswald was standing before a group of camellias, apparently absorbed
+in the contemplation of their wealth of bloom. In reality he was
+insensible to it, as to all else around him. The expression of his
+countenance had little in common with the general rejoicing of the
+day, which placed the young Lord of Ettersberg in full possession of
+his own. An ominous frown contracted his brow, which had been smooth
+enough as he mixed in the ranks of the company. It was one of those
+moments when the mask of calm, imperturbable indifference was dropped.
+This mask the habit of years and the young man's self-control had
+enabled him to assume, but how foreign to his real nature was the
+indifference he feigned might be seen from his heaving breast and
+clenched teeth as he now stood alone, battling with himself. It had
+been impossible to him to remain amid the brilliant throng. He felt he
+must seek solitude, that he might draw breath freely, that he might
+not stifle beneath the crowd of thoughts which surged wildly through
+his mind. Was this really but the mean, bitter envy of an ingrate, who
+repaid benefits received with hate, and could not forgive the Fortune
+which favoured his cousin more highly than himself? Oswald's attitude
+implied more than this. There was in it something of the proud
+defiance with which a subdued and downtrodden right may at times
+assert itself, something of unspoken yet menacing protest against all
+the gay, splendid doings of the day.
+
+'So here you are!' Edmund's voice broke in upon the stillness.
+
+Oswald started and turned round, to behold the young Count standing in
+the doorway. Edmund went up to him now quickly, and continued, in a
+reproachful tone:
+
+'You seem to look upon yourself quite in the light of a guest to-day!
+You turn your back on the company and devote yourself to a quiet
+inspection of these camellias, instead of helping me to do the honours
+of the house.'
+
+A moment had sufficed to restore to Oswald his wonted calm, but there
+was a lurking bitterness in his tone as he replied:
+
+'That, I imagine, is your business exclusively. Are you not the hero
+of the day?'
+
+'No doubt, in a double capacity,' replied Edmund lightly. 'As a man
+coming into his property, and a man about to be married. In this last
+quality, I have to read you a lecture. You have omitted to ask Hedwig
+for a dance; yet you might have foreseen that she would be besieged by
+petitions on all sides. Luckily, I interfered in your behalf, and have
+secured for you the only waltz that was left at her disposal. I hope
+you will duly appreciate my self-abnegation.'
+
+It hardly seemed to be appreciated, or at least not in the measure
+expected. Oswald's answer betrayed a marked coldness.
+
+'You are very kind. To tell you the truth, it had been my intention
+not to dance this evening.'
+
+'Now this is too bad!' exclaimed his cousin angrily. 'It would be
+shameful if you were to refuse now. Why should you? you used to dance
+formerly.'
+
+'Because my aunt would not excuse me. The duty was always an onerous
+one. You know how little taste I have for dancing.'
+
+Edmund shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'No matter; this waltz you will have to undertake, whether you like it
+or not. I have expressly retained it for you.'
+
+'If Fräulein Rüstow has consented----'
+
+'"Fräulein Rüstow"! Just the tone in which Hedwig said, "If Herr von
+Ettersberg desires it"! How often have I asked you both to give up
+this stiff form of address, and to behave towards each other as
+relations should? But it seems to me that every time you meet you grow
+more formal and freezing. This is getting quite unbearable.'
+
+'I was not aware that I had been wanting in proper respect towards the
+lady of your choice.'
+
+'Oh no, certainly not. You are, on the contrary, so exceedingly
+reverential to each other, that it chills the very blood in my veins
+to listen to you. I really do not understand you, Oswald. The reserve
+you affect towards Hedwig is so patent, so obvious, you positively
+cannot complain if she is occasionally a little ... a little brusque
+in her manner towards you.'
+
+Oswald accepted the rebuke with perfect equanimity. His hand toyed,
+absently as it were, with one of the flowering branches as he
+replied:'
+
+'Say no more about it, Edmund--be very sure that this reserve of mine
+meets the lady's wishes exactly. As you have asked for a waltz in my
+name, I shall claim it, of course, but you must not force me to take
+any further part in the ball. It really was my intention not to dance
+tonight at all.'
+
+'All right,' said Edmund, who was as easily appeased as ruffled, and
+whose anger never lasted long. 'If you are bent on depriving the
+ladies of a partner, I cannot compel you to favour them, and nothing
+shall induce me to put myself out of temper tonight. It really would
+be thankless of me on such a day as this, a day which fulfils my
+every wish. You see, Hedwig and I were right not to take a tragic
+view of the situation, though Rüstow's deed of heroism settled the
+matter more quickly than we had ventured to hope. The feud between the
+houses is at an end, and our romance winds up to the merry tune of
+wedding-bells. I knew it would be so!'
+
+The fearless, happy confidence which marked the young Count's bearing,
+and was to-day more strikingly expressed than ever, formed a strong
+contrast to his cousin's almost gloomy gravity. Oswald's eyes rested
+with a dark and moody gaze on the other's bright face.
+
+'You are Fortune's favoured child,' he said slowly. 'All the good
+things of this life fall to your share.'
+
+'All?' repeated Edmund jestingly. 'No; you are in error there. My
+future father-in-law's genuine admiration, for instance, is given to
+you. He declares you are a heaven-born genius, extols your practical
+notions, and no doubt in his heart regrets that you are not destined
+to be his son-in-law in my stead.'
+
+Harmless as was the jest, and lightly as the words were spoken, they
+produced a visible and painful effect. Oswald's brow contracted
+darkly, and he replied with much irritation:
+
+'How often have I begged you to spare me this perpetual banter? Cannot
+you desist from it for once, if it be only for a moment?'
+
+Count Edmund, who greatly enjoyed the spectacle of his cousin's wrath,
+broke into a fit of laughter.
+
+'Make your mind easy,' he said. 'I should be the first to protest
+against an exchange, and I hardly think Hedwig would be disposed to
+agree to it. I have no intention of abdicating in your favour. But now
+come. It is high time for us to return to the guests.'
+
+Oswald, who had no further pretext for lingering behind,
+obeyed the summons, and the two young men returned together to the
+reception-rooms. Here the heir's absence had already been remarked.
+The Countess's eyes were roving in impatient quest of her son, for she
+was waiting to give the signal for the dancing to begin, and a cloud
+lay on fair Hedwig's brow as the two gentlemen entered. The young lady
+thought it most unnecessary that Edmund should go off in search of his
+unsociable cousin, and could not excuse him for deserting her side for
+such an object. She did not like this particular new relation, with
+his icy hauteur and reserve, which never condescended to a word of
+flattery or admiration, and therefore gave herself little trouble to
+conceal from him the fact that the promise of a waltz had been almost
+wrested from her. Oswald was constrained to utter some words of
+thanks, but even in so doing he let it be seen that he was in reality
+little moved by the high distinction conferred on him. No special
+attention was vouchsafed his speech. Hedwig made a brief reply, cold
+as the address had been, diligently studying the design of her fan as
+she spoke, and then turned at once to her affianced husband. Poor
+Edmund saw that his efforts to establish a friendship between his
+cousin and future wife were worse than useless; they invariably
+produced an effect contrary to that desired. He had to confess to
+himself that this, his latest half-playful, half-serious attempt to
+bring the two together, had resulted in a complete fiasco.
+
+The ball now began in earnest, and soon all the younger members of the
+company were taking part in its revels. Oswald von Ettersberg was the
+one exception. He remained true to his resolution, and abstained from
+dancing, to the great displeasure of the Countess. Since their last
+interview, however, that lady had refrained from any attempt to
+control her nephew, and she now allowed him to have his way in
+silence. Edmund and Hedwig, on the other hand, gave themselves up
+heart and soul to the pleasure of the hour. They both danced well, and
+were passionately fond of the exercise. It would have been difficult
+to find a handsomer couple than the young heir and his promised bride
+as they floated through the room, radiant with youth, happiness, and
+beauty, surrounded by the aureole of wealth and Fortune's fairest
+gifts. Not a cloud dimmed the broad, sunshiny horizon of their future.
+
+Baron Heideck himself must that evening have given in his adhesion,
+have become reconciled to his nephew's choice, so charming did the
+young girl appear in her dress of pale pink silk adorned with airy
+white laces and roses strewn, as it seemed, with a random hand. Her
+luxuriant curly hair, restrained by no net, but held together simply
+by a flowering spray, waved over her shoulders in all its rich
+abundance. A happy light shone in the dark-blue eyes, and the
+beautiful face, slightly flushed by the rapid movement of the dance,
+beamed with youthful excitement and delight--perhaps a little also
+with gratified vanity, for it could not be doubtful that the young
+lady was conscious of her all-conquering charms and of the triumph she
+had that evening achieved.
+
+To this triumph Edmund was by no means insensible. The evident
+admiration which his betrothed excited on all sides flattered him most
+agreeably. He was unremitting in his attentions to Hedwig, and
+perfectly captivating in his general efforts to please. Oswald was
+right. The Count was indeed the favoured child of Fortune--of Fortune,
+which, in addition to all that had been his from birth, now set him
+free to follow the dictates of his heart. Truly, all the good things
+of this life fell to his share.
+
+Three or four dances had gone by, and now came the waltz which Edmund
+had solicited in his cousin's name. Oswald approached his fair
+partner, and offered his arm with his accustomed cold politeness.
+
+'You have not danced at all this evening, Herr von Ettersberg,' said
+Hedwig, a little ironically. 'It seems that an exception is to be made
+in my honour alone. Is it really true, as I heard a lady asserting
+just now, that you positively detest dancing?'
+
+'I may say, at least, that I am not fond of it,' he replied.
+
+'Oh, then I am sincerely sorry that you should impose such a penance
+on yourself on my account. It was Edmund's wish, I imagine, that we
+should fulfil the demands of etiquette by going through this waltz
+together?'
+
+The sarcasm failed in its effect, for Oswald remained perfectly cool.
+He evaded any direct reply to her rather captious remark, and answered
+ambiguously:
+
+'I hardly knew whether I was to accept Edmund's promise as sufficient.
+I thought it advisable to assure myself personally of your consent,
+Fräulein.'
+
+Hedwig bit her lip. Her supposition was confirmed. This most ungallant
+new relation made no attempt to disguise from her that the arrangement
+had been a master-stroke of Edmund's diplomacy, but coolly allowed her
+to divine the fact. It almost seemed as though the young Count might
+have to pay some penalty for this, for the young lady's lip curled
+with a defiance of which he had already had some slight experience.
+The promise she had given could not, however, be recalled without
+absolute offence, especially as the dance had already commenced.
+
+'I await your bidding,' said Oswald, pointing to the couples flying
+past.
+
+Hedwig made no reply, but placed her hand on his arm with an air of
+resignation, and next moment they, too, were whirling through the
+room.
+
+That was a strange waltz, danced merely in satisfaction of
+'etiquette.' Hedwig had purposed to make it as short and as formal as
+possible, and yet something like confusion overcame her when her
+partner placed his arm about her waist. Hitherto they had not even
+shaken hands, but had restricted themselves to the severest outward
+forms of politeness, and now suddenly they were so near, so near each
+other! Up to this time Oswald had hardly noticed the girl's loveliness
+by a glance. He had, almost purposely, abstained from looking at her,
+and she had resented this as a sort of affront. But now his eyes were
+riveted on her face, fascinated, as it seemed, by some spell he could
+not break, and those eyes spoke quite another language from the
+sternly-set lips. His breast heaved with a quick tempestuous movement,
+and the arm which encircled the girl's slender figure trembled
+perceptibly.
+
+Hedwig felt this. She raised her eyes in surprised inquiry to his
+face, and there met again that enigmatic expression which had so
+startled her on a previous occasion when they had been left together
+alone on the hill-side. She had not understood then the sudden, ardent
+flash, the kindling gaze--often had she pondered over it, wondering
+what it could purport--oftener than she cared to confess to herself;
+now some notion of its meaning dawned upon her. No clear recognition
+of the truth as yet, only a dim vague foreshadowing, which gradually,
+very gradually, took form and substance. Vague as was the feeling, it
+harassed and agitated her. Though the danger it seemed to imply as yet
+menaced only from afar, it already exercised a magnetic influence,
+which slowly, irresistibly drew her on and on towards the fatal orbit.
+
+Mechanically, half as in a dream, the girl followed the windings of
+the dance. The brightly lighted ballroom, the sparkling music, the gay
+couples revolving round her--this all grew misty and unreal to her
+dulled senses, receding, as it were, to an illimitable distance.
+
+It seemed to Hedwig that a great gap separated her from these
+surroundings, that she was alone with the man who held her in
+his arms, alone beneath the spell of those eyes, from which she
+strove to escape, but which held her ever inexorably fast. Suddenly,
+in the midst of all these surging emotions, indefinite and most
+unintelligible, a clear, strong ray of light streamed in upon her, a
+prescience, as it were, of some hitherto unknown, but infinite,
+amazing bliss.
+
+The dance came to an end. It had hardly lasted ten minutes, and
+yet had been too long for either of them. Once again their eyes
+met--resting for a second or more, then Oswald bowed and stepped back.
+
+'I thank you, Fräulein,' he murmured.
+
+Hedwig replied not a syllable. She merely inclined her head in
+acknowledgment. No time could she have found, indeed, to answer, for
+Edmund was already at her side, triumphing in the thought that he had
+successfully carried out his plan, and much disposed to venture some
+bantering remarks in consequence. But for once his mirth-loving humour
+had to be restrained; for at the conclusion of the dance the couples
+dispersed, and many ladies and gentlemen drew near their host. The
+Count and his betrothed were quickly surrounded; their attention was
+claimed on all sides, and a lively chatter soon set in about them.
+
+Edmund was in brilliant vein, and soon became the soul and centre of
+the group. Hedwig smiled too, and made reply when appealed to, but her
+replies were faint, her smiles strangely forced. The radiant gaiety
+she had shown throughout the evening had suddenly faded away, died
+out. But a little while ago she had entered with the heartiest spirit
+into all the animation and the pleasure, luxuriating in it as in her
+true element; had moved through the bright and merry throng,
+brightest, merriest of all; but now it had all grown strange and
+indifferent to her. The light jests and flattering speeches that
+buzzed about her ears seemed to her quite meaningless and inane. A
+veil had fallen upon her soul, as it were, obscuring all the
+brightness and splendour of the scene. It was only by a great effort
+that she forced herself to play her part in it.
+
+Oswald had taken advantage of the approach of strangers to beat a
+retreat unnoticed, and to leave the ballroom. Count Edmund would have
+been wiser not so pertinaciously to have insisted on having his own
+way. He little guessed, indeed, that his cousin had refrained from
+dancing simply and solely to avoid the duty which 'etiquette' marked
+out for him, and which he could hope to escape in no other manner. And
+now, after all, it had been forced upon him! Oswald could not but feel
+that he had in some measure betrayed himself, and it availed little
+that anger and self-reproach burned hot and fierce within him. That
+which he had denied to his own thoughts, which nothing would induce
+him to admit even to himself, had through that unhappy waltz become
+clear to him as the noonday. He knew now how matters stood with him.
+
+The solitude the young man so longed for was not yet to be accorded
+him; for in one of the adjacent rooms he came upon Councillor Rüstow,
+who was resting there, seeking to recruit, after his unusual and
+amazing efforts at urbanity. He had surpassed himself this evening,
+and had been almost knightly in his behaviour towards the Countess;
+but the duty had become irksome to him after awhile, and he now
+joyfully seized the opportunity which offered of having a little
+sensible conversation. In an instant he had buttonholed Oswald, who
+was of necessity compelled to stand and surrender.
+
+'You were right, I am sorry to say,' remarked Rüstow, in the course of
+their talk. 'In consequence of what you said to me, I have been
+looking into the state of affairs here on the Ettersberg estates.
+Things are, indeed, in a deplorable condition. I don't see one person
+employed on the place who is worth his salt. The bailiff is totally
+inefficient, and my lady, the Countess, has trusted to him entirely
+for years. Well, I suppose one could not expect her to exercise much
+supervision, but I shall take my son-in-law to task, I can tell you.
+There has been no doing anything with him at present--his head is so
+full of his marriage and all sorts of nonsense--but there must be an
+end to this at last. He has to-day become the actual and sole master
+here. With the possession comes the responsibility, and it is for him
+now to see that all is set in order.'
+
+'Edmund will not move a finger in the matter,' said Oswald. 'He will
+promise anything you like, and will seriously intend to do as he
+promises, but nothing will come of it. You may rely on what I say.'
+
+Rüstow started at this strong assertion, which was made with much
+decision of manner.
+
+'You mean that Edmund is not equal to the task before him?' he asked
+anxiously.
+
+'No; his nature is excellent, most amiable, but he lacks energy, and
+energy is here imperatively needed. You will have to take steps
+yourself, Councillor, if you wish to save the property.'
+
+'And how is it you have not done so before this? You must have seen on
+your return how matters were going.'
+
+'I have no right to interfere with other people's concerns.'
+
+'Other people's concerns? Have not you been treated in all respects as
+the son of the house whose name you bear?'
+
+Oswald was silent. He could not explain to this gentleman the terms on
+which he stood towards his aunt, or how little she would have brooked
+any interference on his part; so after a moment he replied evasively:
+
+'Early in the spring I spoke to my cousin about the mismanagement
+reigning here, told him without any reticence whatever all I had
+observed, and called upon him to take some active steps. I met with no
+success. You can summon your paternal authority to your aid; and
+Edmund will willingly agree to all you advise, if only you dispense
+him from the obligation of doing anything himself.'
+
+Rüstow looked concerned and thoughtful. He did not seem particularly
+edified by the view of his son-in-law's character which Oswald's
+words, perhaps unintentionally, afforded him.
+
+'Edmund is still so young,' he said at length, half apologetically;
+'and he has hitherto resided little on the estate. With possession,
+pride and pleasure in his home will come to him, and interest in its
+welfare will spring up. In the first place, however, the senseless
+doings in the forests must be put a stop to.' Hereupon the Councillor
+began to develop his plans and ideas with regard to the new system to
+be pursued, and soon grew so absorbed by his subject that he failed to
+remark how completely he had the conversation to himself. Only when
+Oswald's answers, from being brief, became monosyllabic, when his
+assent to the propositions advanced came fainter and fainter, was
+Rüstow's attention aroused.
+
+'Does anything ail you, Herr von Ettersberg?' he asked. 'You are
+looking so pale.'
+
+Oswald forced a smile, and passed his hand across his brow.
+
+'Nothing of any importance. Merely a headache, which has been
+tormenting me all day. If I could have chosen, I should not have
+appeared at all this evening.'
+
+'In that case you were wrong to dance,' said Rüstow. 'It was sure to
+increase an ailment of that sort.'
+
+The young man's lips quivered. 'You are right; I should not have
+danced. But it will not happen again.'
+
+His voice was so low and agitated that Rüstow grew really anxious, and
+advised him to go out upon the terrace--he would get rid of his
+headache sooner in the open air. Oswald hastily seized the proffered
+pretext and went. The Councillor looked after him with a shake of the
+head, a little regretful that the pleasant chat was over already.
+Young Ettersberg's 'genius' had not displayed itself so obviously as
+usual on this occasion.
+
+So the ball spent its course, noisy and brilliant as a ball should be,
+fully sustaining the castle's ancient renown for successful
+hospitality. No doubt, the Countess was a past mistress in the art of
+entertaining and in the ordering and arrangement of such festivities.
+The night was far advanced when the carriages containing the last
+departing guests rolled from the door, and the members of the family
+separated almost immediately. Edmund went down to see the Councillor
+and Fräulein Lina off on their return-journey to Brunneck, and Hedwig,
+who was to remain a few days longer with the Countess at Ettersberg,
+said good-night  at once and retired to her own room.'
+
+The splendid apartments, lately the scene of so much animation, were
+now empty and deserted, though still radiant with light and bright
+with festive ornament. The Countess alone remained in them. She stood
+before her husband's picture, absorbed, as it were, in thought. This
+portrait had been a present to her on her marriage, and now filled a
+prominent position in the great drawing-room. The face which looked
+forth from that richly-gilt frame was mild and kindly in its
+expression, but it was the face of an old man, and she who now stood
+gazing upon it could yet lay claim to beauty. This proud and almost
+royal woman, robed in rich satin, with diamonds of purest water
+gleaming on neck and arms, would have been no fitting consort for an
+old man even now, and five-and-twenty years had passed since this pair
+had been affianced. The story, perhaps the sorrow, of a life lay in
+that strange disparity between the lady and the picture.
+
+A sense of this seemed to impress itself on the Countess in the
+present hour. The look she fixed on the portrait before her grew more
+absorbed, more gloomy, and when at length she turned from it and
+surveyed the glittering vista of rooms, a very bitter expression
+played about her lips.
+
+The splendid surroundings testified so amply to the high position
+attained by the Countess Ettersberg, a position in which she for years
+had reigned alone and supreme. Perhaps some of the bitterness was due
+to the thought that this sole supremacy was over now, that a new, a
+younger mistress was to be introduced to the home; perhaps it was
+awakened by other, sadder reminiscences. There were moments when this
+haughty and self-confident woman, despite the brilliant _rôle_ which,
+had been hers through life, could not forgive her Fate, or forget that
+she had been--offered up.
+
+Edmund's voice, addressing her on his return, roused the Countess from
+her reverie.
+
+'The worthy Councillor desires his compliments once more,' he
+said gaily. 'You have made a conquest there, mother. He became
+perfectly chivalrous in his homage to you, and was so extraordinarily
+good-tempered throughout the evening, that I really hardly recognised
+him.'
+
+'It is less difficult to get on with him than I had expected,' replied
+the Countess. 'He is rather rough and unpolished, certainly, but his
+is a frank and vigorous nature, which one must just take with all its
+peculiarities. Your future wife enjoyed one long triumph this evening,
+Edmund. I must admit that her appearance acts as the best advocate for
+your choice.'
+
+Edmund smiled.
+
+'Yes, Hedwig looked charming. In the whole assembly there was but one
+lady who could compare with her--and that lady was my mother.'
+
+His eyes rested with a look of affectionate admiration on the
+beautiful face before him, saying plainly that his words were spoken
+in no spirit of mere flattery. The Countess smiled in her turn. She
+knew full well that she could yet outrival younger women, that even
+her much-admired daughter-in-law would not place her in the shade. But
+the transient satisfaction soon yielded to a deeper emotion, as she
+held out her hand to her son and asked:
+
+'Are you satisfied with your mother now?'
+
+The young Count carried the hand to his lips, and kissed it fervently.
+
+'Can you ask me that to-day, a day which has seen my every wish
+fulfilled? I know that you made a great sacrifice in giving your
+consent, and that you have had to fight many a battle with my uncle on
+my behalf.'
+
+The Countess repressed a sigh at this mention of her brother.
+
+'Armand will never forgive me for yielding. Perhaps he is right! It
+would have been my duty, no doubt, to maintain the traditions of our
+house. And yet I could not resist your entreaties. I desired, at
+least, to see _you_ happy.'
+
+As she spoke, she glanced involuntarily at the old Count's portrait
+hanging opposite. Edmund caught the look, and understood the thought
+underlying the words.
+
+'You were not happy?' he asked in a low tone.
+
+'My husband never once in the whole course of my married life gave me
+ground for complaint. He was always most kind and indulgent towards
+me.'
+
+'But he was an old man,' said Edmund, gazing up at his father's kindly
+but withered features; 'and you were young and beautiful, like Hedwig,
+and had a right to expect all happiness in life. My poor dear!' his
+voice shook with suppressed emotion. 'It is only since I have been so
+happy myself that I have understood how dreary and desolate your life
+must have been, notwithstanding all my father's goodness. He could not
+love you with the ardour of youth. You bore your lot bravely always,
+but it must be a hard lot, nevertheless, to have constantly to listen
+to the dictates of duty, and to stifle the voice which calls for a
+fuller life and fuller happiness.'
+
+He paused, for the Countess sharply withdrew her hand from his, and
+turned away from him and the picture.
+
+'Enough, Edmund!' she said, with a hasty gesture. 'You distress me.'
+
+The son stood silent and confused. It was the first time he had
+permitted to himself such an allusion, but he had not dreamed his
+mother would be wounded by it.
+
+'Forgive me,' he said, after a pause. 'I did not intend any reproach
+to my father's memory. It assuredly was no fault of his if anything
+were wanting to your contentment.'
+
+'Nothing was wanting,' exclaimed the Countess, with a rush of genuine
+feeling. 'Nothing, for I had you, my Edmund. You have been all in all
+to me; you have made up to me for everything. I have desired no other
+happiness since I have had my son's love. So far indeed'--here her
+voice sank--'so far his love has been mine alone; now I must share it
+with another, who henceforth will take the first place in his heart.'
+
+'Mother!' broke in the young Count, half pleading, half reproachful.
+'You will be to me still what you have ever been.'
+
+The Countess shook her head gently.
+
+'I have, of course, long known that the time would come when the
+mother must make way for the wife; but now that it is here, it seems
+hard--so hard to bear, that I sometimes seriously think of leaving
+Ettersberg when you are married, and of going to live at Schönfeld,
+which you know was appointed me as a dower-house.'
+
+'Never!' exclaimed Edmund, with vehemence. 'You cannot, will not, act
+so unkindly by me. You must not leave me, mother. You know that I
+cannot do without you, even though I have Hedwig. Much as I love her,
+she would not make up to me for all that I should lose in you.'
+
+The Countess heard these words with secret triumph. She knew that
+Edmund was sincere in his speech; the present moment convinced her of
+her power afresh. For his promised wife he had never anything but
+light talk and merry jests; Hedwig knew only the pleasant but
+superficial side of his character, which he showed to the world
+generally. All the deeper, intenser feelings of his nature belonged
+exclusively to his mother. As they flowed out towards her in all their
+warmth and fulness, she triumphantly recognised the fact that the
+first place in her son's heart was still hers.
+
+She had indeed known it, felt sure of it all along, and perhaps to
+this conviction Hedwig owed much of the friendly consideration which
+the Countess had always shown her. A bride more ardently, more
+passionately beloved would have found a redoubtable adversary in the
+jealous mother; this young girl, who neither gave nor required any
+great depth of affection, was endured because she did not endanger the
+maternal sway.
+
+'Hush, hush! do not let anyone hear you,' said the Countess playfully,
+yet with a swift deep undercurrent of tenderness. 'It is not becoming
+in an engaged man, and the lord of many broad acres, to declare that
+he cannot do without his mother. Do you think, my dear, that it would
+be easy for me to leave you?'
+
+'Do you think I would let you go? The mere formal recognition of my
+majority will not make a straw's difference in our position one
+towards the other.'
+
+'It will, Edmund,' said the Countess gravely. 'This day signifies to
+you more than a mere form. Hitherto you have been my son, the heir,
+over whom I exercised a guardian's authority. Henceforth you will be
+the leading person, the head of the house. It now devolves on you to
+represent the name and family of Ettersberg. May you sustain your rank
+brilliantly and well, in all happiness and honour! Then no sacrifice
+will have been too great. All that I have borne and suffered will seem
+to me a light thing--for your sake.'
+
+The words breathed of a great secret satisfaction. Perhaps they had
+another and a deeper meaning than any Edmund attached to them. He
+thought only of the sacrifice she had made in consenting to his
+marriage, and, stooping, he kissed her brow, thereby expressing his
+mute thanks.
+
+The Countess warmly returned his embrace, but in the very act of doing
+so she started, and clasped her arms tightly, eagerly about her son,
+as though she would shield him from some danger.
+
+'Why, what ails you?' asked Edmund calmly, following the direction of
+her eyes. 'It is only Oswald.'
+
+'Oswald! Yes, indeed,' murmured the Countess. 'He, and always he!'
+
+The interruption was indeed caused by Oswald, who had opened the
+glass-door leading from the terrace, and now, as he came in, appeared
+much surprised at beholding his aunt and cousin.
+
+'I thought these rooms were quite empty,' he said, going up to them.
+
+'And I thought you had long ago retired to rest,' replied the
+Countess. 'Where have you been?'
+
+'In the park,' answered the young man laconically, not noticing the
+sharpness of her tone.
+
+'What, at this hour of the night?' cried Edmund. 'If it were not an
+offence to attribute anything like mooning or romance to you, I should
+believe that one of our fair ladies this evening had touched your
+rebel heart. At such a time one feels instinctively a desire to sigh
+out to the stars alone one's bliss or misery. Do my words displease
+you again? Oswald, my mother has just solemnly proclaimed me head of
+the house and representative-in-chief of the family. In this exalted
+capacity, I now forbid me those black looks of yours, and call on you
+to show a smiling countenance. I will have no clouds, nothing but
+sunshine, in this my Castle of Ettersberg.'
+
+He would have thrown his arms about his cousin's shoulder in the old
+familiar fashion, but the Countess suddenly stepped between the two.
+So energetic was this dumb protest against the young men's close
+intimacy that Edmund involuntarily receded. Oswald coldly scanned his
+aunt's face, and she returned the gaze. Neither of them spoke, but the
+expression of undying, irreconcilable hatred which gleamed in their
+eyes was eloquent enough.
+
+'Sunshine alone?' repeated Oswald drily. 'I fear that you are
+stretching the supremacy you enjoy under your own roof too far. To
+command that is hardly possible even to the "head of the house," or to
+the "representative-in-chief of the family." Goodnight, Edmund. I
+will not intrude on you and my aunt any longer.'
+
+He bowed to the Countess, without offering to kiss her hand, as usual,
+and left the room. Edmund looked after him, half angry, half
+surprised.
+
+'Oswald grows harder in his manner and more unsociable day by day. Do
+you not think so?'
+
+'Why did you force him to remain on here?' said the Countess, curtly
+and bitterly. 'You see how he repays your affection.'
+
+The young Count shook his head. 'That is not it. This singular
+behaviour of his has nothing to do with me. There is some trouble
+weighing on Oswald. I can see it plainly, though he will not admit or
+speak of it. To you he always shows the more unpleasant side of his
+character, from some spirit of perversity, I suppose. I know him as he
+really is, and that is why I am so fond of him.'
+
+'And I hate him!' exclaimed the Countess. 'I know that he is secretly
+hatching something against us at the present moment. Just as I was
+about to give you my blessing, and wish you all happiness and joy in
+the future, he rose up like a shadow, and stepped between us like a
+messenger of evil tidings. Why did you keep him here when he wanted to
+go? I shall not breathe freely until he has left Ettersberg.'
+
+Edmund looked at his mother in real alarm. Passionate outbreaks were
+so foreign to her nature that he positively hardly recognised her in
+this mood. Her dislike to Oswald was no secret from him, but this
+exceeding irritation he could in no way explain to himself.
+
+The entrance of Everard and another servant here put an end to the
+conversation. They had extinguished the lights in the ballroom, and
+wished to continue and finish their work elsewhere. The Countess,
+accustomed to control herself in the presence of her servants,
+speedily recovered her usual composure of manner. After giving some
+few orders, she took Edmund's arm and begged him to take her to her
+room. Already she repented the vehemence of her speech to her son, and
+to him as to herself the interruption came opportunely. They never
+could, never would agree in their judgment of Oswald.
+
+All grew quiet and dark in the state apartments. The doors were
+closed, and the domestics had withdrawn. In Edmund's room and in his
+mother's the lights were soon put out. Down the whole castle façade
+two windows only gleamed brightly: that of the turret-chamber in the
+side-wing where Oswald von Ettersberg had his lodging, and another in
+the main building, situated very near the Countess's own bedroom.
+
+The young affianced bride, the heroine of the evening, had not yet
+retired to rest. She sat leaning back in a great armchair, her head
+half buried in its cushions, unmindful of the fact that the laces
+and roses adorning her dress were being unmercifully, irreparably
+crushed. Before her on a table lay her lover's latest offering, a
+costly pearl-necklace, which she had worn that day for the first time.
+To these jewels, however, she vouchsafed not a glance, though but a
+few days ago they had been received by her with great manifestations
+of delight.
+
+The evening had been plentiful in pleasure. Hedwig had made her
+entrance into society as Edmund's promised wife, had appeared amid the
+brilliant surroundings among which her future life would be passed. To
+be mistress of Ettersberg was assuredly no unenviable lot, even for so
+rich an heiress, so spoilt a child of Fortune, as Hedwig Rüstow. She
+had never enjoyed such triumphs, never received so much homage, as had
+been lavished on her tonight in her quality of the future Countess
+Ettersberg.
+
+Yet no happy smile, no sparkle of satisfied vanity, brightened the
+girl's face. Motionless, with her hands folded in her lap, she sat
+looking vaguely, dreamily before her into space. The veil still
+shrouded her soul; the dream still held her enchained. It led her away
+from the gaiety and glamour of the fête to a lonely wooded hill-side,
+where, beneath a gray and cloudy sky, the swallows flitted through the
+rain-charged air, piping their shrill greetings.
+
+They really had brought spring upon their wings, those small, joyful
+messengers. Beneath all the frost and rime the mighty work of
+germination had been progressing, and everywhere around, noiselessly,
+invisibly, mysterious forces had been active, weaving their wondrous
+tissues. Yes; springtime, though tardy, surely comes to Mother Earth
+and to her wearying, longing sons. Sad is it when the bright season is
+too long delayed, when from despairing hearts the cry goes up, 'Too
+late! too late!'
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+The Ettersberg festivities had taken place at midsummer, and now a
+September sun shone over the land. The young master had taken the
+reins, but it could not be said that any material change for the
+better was noticeable in the management of his estates. On the
+contrary, all remained _in statu quo_. Rüstow's urgent persuasion so
+far prevailed that the land-steward received notice to leave; but it
+was arranged that he should continue in office until after the new
+year, and though some restraint had become so necessary, none was
+laid either on him or any of the other officials. Count Edmund
+judged it superfluous--he knew it was most inconvenient--to trouble
+himself about such matters. He always lent a willing ear to his
+father-in-law's plans and projects, agreed with him on all points,
+and regularly gave him an assurance that he would see about it all
+'to-morrow'; but that morrow never came. Oswald's prediction was
+verified. The Councillor soon found out that he must intervene
+himself, if any good were to be effected.
+
+Edmund, for his part, would have been quite satisfied to let Rüstow
+act for him, but the latter encountered unexpected resistance from the
+Countess, who thought it highly unnecessary that anyone should now
+attempt to tutor her son, and was not disposed to yield up to the
+future father-in-law an authority she had hitherto exercised herself.
+
+Besides this, the changes the Councillor proposed making were by no
+means to the lady's taste. Rules and arrangements which might be
+suitable for plain Brunneck would not fittingly serve aristocratic
+Ettersberg. The number of persons employed on the estates might be
+greater than was required, the system prevailing might be a costly and
+a comparatively unproductive one, but so it had been for long years.
+It was all part of the large and liberal style in which they were
+accustomed to live. Any limitation of the staff, that fretting and
+minute attention to all the details of management which Rüstow
+advocated, appeared to the Countess as a species of degradation; and
+hers being still the casting-vote at the castle, the opposition
+carried the day. Already there had been some lively skirmishes of
+debate between the reigning mistress and the Councillor, and though
+Edmund promptly interfered on these occasions and made peace, a
+certain amount of acrimonious feeling lingered on both sides.
+
+Rüstow's admiration for the grand and haughty dame had considerably
+diminished since he had discovered how grandly she could assert and
+defend her own privileges; and the Countess, for her part, now
+declared that the Councillor was really too peculiar, and that it was
+impossible to accept all his whims without remark. In short, the
+harmony of their relations was disturbed, and there were clouds on the
+hitherto clear sky, clouds which seemed to menace the family peace.
+
+Oswald had consistently held himself aloof from all these discussions.
+He seemed to look on himself as a stranger in the house he was so soon
+to leave. Moreover, his legal studies absorbed all his time, and
+afforded him a pretext for withdrawing from society, and declining
+most of the invitations with which the young engaged couple and their
+families were overwhelmed.
+
+The end of September had now arrived, and with it the date appointed
+for his departure. All his preparations were made, the necessary
+farewell visits had been duly rendered, and his journey was fixed for
+the day after the morrow. One thing alone had been left undone. He
+must still pay his respects at the Brunneck manor-house, and take
+leave of the family there. In view of the connection now existing
+between the houses, this duty could not be avoided, though Oswald had
+postponed its fulfilment to the last moment. He had intended to drive
+over in Edmund's company, but the Count, it appeared, had agreed to
+join a shooting-party on that very day, so his cousin had no
+alternative but to proceed on his expedition alone. Despite the
+Councillor's friendly and oft-repeated invitations, Oswald had not set
+foot in the house since the day of the betrothal, at which ceremony he
+had been compelled to assist. Nevertheless, he had met his cousin's
+affianced wife on several occasions, for Hedwig now frequently came
+over to Ettersberg with her father. Part of the castle was already
+being put in readiness for the accommodation of the young married
+couple.
+
+The Master of Brunneck was sitting in the veranda-parlour, reading his
+newspapers, while his cousin, stationed before a side-table, took up
+and carefully examined first one and then another of several elegant
+articles of toilette which lay spread out before her. They were
+patterns of new fashions, which had just arrived from town, and were
+destined to form part of Hedwig's trousseau, now in active course of
+preparation.
+
+The Councillor did not appear to be much interested in his reading. He
+turned over the pages absently, and at length looked up from his
+paper, and said in an impatient tone:
+
+'Have not you made your choice, or done looking over those things yet,
+Lina? Why don't you get Hedwig to help you?'
+
+Aunt Lina shrugged her shoulders.
+
+'Hedwig has declared, as usual, that she intends to leave it all to
+me. I must make a selection by the light of my own unaided judgment.'
+
+'I don't understand how it is the girl shows so little interest in
+these matters. They all relate to her own trousseau, and formerly
+dress was to her an affair of state.'
+
+'Formerly--yes,' said Aunt Lina emphatically.
+
+A pause ensued. The Councillor seemed to have something on his mind.
+Presently he laid aside his newspaper, and stood up.
+
+'Lina, I have something to say to you--Hedwig does not quite please
+me.'
+
+'Nor me either,' murmured the old lady; but she avoided looking at her
+cousin, and kept her eyes fixed on a lace-pattern she had taken up.
+
+'Not?' cried Rüstow, who always grew quarrelsome when he was at all
+worried. 'Now I should have thought her present manner would have been
+exactly what you would like. According to you, Hedwig was always too
+superficial and light-minded; now she is growing so wonderfully
+profound in her feelings that she is forgetting how to laugh. Why, she
+is never contradictious, never up to tricks of any sort! Upon my word,
+it is enough to drive one mad!'
+
+'What, that she has given up contradiction, and all her foolish
+tricks?'
+
+Rüstow took no notice of this ironical interruption. He went up to his
+cousin, and posted himself before her in a menacing attitude.
+
+'What has happened to the girl? What has become of my merry, saucy
+Hedwig, my madcap who was never weary of frolic and fun? I must and
+will know.'
+
+'You need not look at me so fiercely, Erich,' said Aunt Lina calmly.
+'I have not injured your child in any way.'
+
+'But you know what has brought about the change,' cried the anxious
+father, in a dictatorial tone. 'You can, at least, explain to me what
+it all means.'
+
+'I cannot do that, for your daughter has not made me her confidante.
+Don't take the matter so much to heart. Hedwig has certainly grown
+grave and pensive of late, but you must remember she is about to take
+a most important step, to leave her father's house and enter upon new
+relationships and new surroundings. She may have much to fight through
+and to overcome, but when once she is married, a sense of duty will
+sustain her.'
+
+'A sense of duty?' repeated the Councillor, petrified with amazement.
+'Why, has not this love-affair of hers been a perfect romance? Have
+not they got their own way in spite of the Countess and of me? Is not
+Edmund the most tender, the most attentive lover the world ever saw?
+And you talk about a sense of duty! It is a very excellent thing in
+its way, no doubt, but when a young woman of eighteen has nothing
+warmer than that to offer her husband, you may reckon with certainty
+on a miserable marriage. Take my word for it.'
+
+'You misunderstand me,' said his cousin soothingly. 'I only meant that
+Hedwig would be brought face to face with life's graver side and with
+its duties when she goes to live at Ettersberg. The situation does not
+appear to me so simple, the future so smooth and thornless, as we at
+first supposed.'
+
+Rüstow did not observe that a trap was laid for him, a palpable effort
+made to lead him from the topic under discussion. He followed up the
+seemingly careless remark at once, and with some warmth.
+
+'No, truly not. If things go on in this way, the Countess and I will
+come to words again. Whatever I do, or propose doing, I am met and
+stopped by those confounded uppish notions of hers, to which
+everything else must be kept subordinate. There is no making the woman
+understand that the ruin impending over the property can only be
+averted by strong and timely measures. No, all must go on in the old
+routine! The most necessary reforms are rejected if they, as she
+thinks, in any way diminish the glory of the house, or impair the halo
+surrounding it. The actual owner and master does just nothing at all.
+He thinks he has made the greatest effort that can be demanded of him,
+if he holds half-an-hour's interview with his steward. Beyond this he
+ventures not, but simply kneels and adores his wonderful mamma, whom
+he looks on as the embodiment of all wisdom and perfection. Hedwig
+will have to make very sure of her husband, if she does not mean to be
+altogether thrust into the background by her mother-in-law.'
+
+The Councillor would probably have continued in this strain,
+disburdening his heart of its pent-up fears and anxieties, but he was
+interrupted by the sound of approaching wheels.
+
+Aunt Lina, who was standing by the window, looked out.
+
+'It is Herr von Ettersberg,' said she, returning that gentleman's
+salutation.
+
+'Oswald?' inquired Rüstow in surprise. 'Ah, he has come to say
+good-bye, no doubt. I know he was to leave one of these days. Let
+Hedwig be sent for. She is somewhere out in the park.'
+
+The old lady hesitated. 'I don't know--I rather think Hedwig intended
+going for a walk. It will not be so easy to find her; besides, you and
+I are both here to receive him.'
+
+'I must say it would be more than impolite if Hedwig failed to appear
+when a near relation of her future husband comes to take leave of us,'
+said Rüstow angrily. 'The man shall go out, at least, and see if she
+is in the park. If he finds her, he can let her know who is here.'
+
+He stretched out his hand to the bell, but Aunt Lina was too quick for
+him.
+
+'I will send out after her. You stay and receive Herr von Ettersberg.'
+
+So saying, she left the room, returning after the lapse of a few
+minutes. She knew very well that Hedwig was in the park, yet no order
+to seek her out was given, no summons was sent her.
+
+Meanwhile Oswald had entered the house. He came, as had been rightly
+guessed, to take leave, but much pressing business awaited him at
+home. Some preparations for his journey were yet unmade, which must be
+completed that day; he could therefore only pay a flying visit. A
+little commonplace chat ensued. The Councillor regretted much that his
+daughter had gone out for a walk. He had sent into the park after the
+truant, but presumably the man had failed to find her. Oswald, in
+return, expressed polite regret, begged that her father would present
+his kind regard to the young lady and say good-bye for him. In a brief
+quarter of an hour the visit was concluded. Rüstow looked on with a
+heavy heart at his favourite's departure, but Aunt Lina, on the other
+hand, drew a deep breath of relief when the carriage rolled out of the
+courtyard.
+
+Oswald leaned back in the corner of the barouche. He was glad that
+this leave-taking was over, immensely glad--or so, at least, he told
+himself. He had long feared this hour--feared and yet longed for it.
+No matter, it was best so. The farewell, which accident had denied
+him, would have been but one pang more, and a useless one. Now the
+struggle of many days and weeks was at an end; a struggle which none
+had witnessed, but which had shaken the young man's being to its very
+centre, and had threatened completely to unhinge him. It was high time
+he should go. Distance would enfeeble, and perhaps ultimately break,
+the spell; and even were it not broken, a partition-wall of defence
+would be erected. Now he must throw all his energy into the new life
+before him, must zealously work, wrestle, and, if possible, forget.
+While Oswald thus reasoned with himself, his heart beat wildly,
+despairingly, in his breast, reminding him that he had looked forward
+to this one last pang as to a last gleam of happiness. Was he not
+going--going never to return?
+
+The carriage passed the corner of the park. Oswald turned and looked
+back once more. There at some little distance above him, on a small
+wooded eminence, he caught sight of a slender girlish figure--and in a
+trice all the wise comfort he had been administering to himself, all
+his fine resolutions for the future, melted away, fell to pieces. Once
+more--just once! Reflection, prudence vanished at the thought. In a
+second Oswald had called to the coachman to stop, and had sprung out
+of the carriage.
+
+The man drove on to the village, with instructions to wait there.
+Oswald entered the park by a side-gate, and proceeded towards the
+raised terrace; but as he approached the goal before him, his pace
+slackened, and when at length he mounted the steps, and Hedwig came
+forward to meet him, he had fully recovered his usual calmness of
+demeanour. He was, as it seemed, simply obeying the dictates of
+courtesy which called on him to stop and say a word of leave-taking to
+his cousin's future wife.
+
+'I have just paid my farewell visit to your father,' he began; 'and I
+could not omit saying good-bye to you in person, Fräulein.'
+
+'You are leaving shortly?' inquired Hedwig.
+
+'The day after to-morrow.'
+
+'Edmund told me that your departure was imminent. He will miss you
+sadly.'
+
+'And I him; but in this life we cannot stay to consult our feelings.
+When Fate decrees a separation, we must perforce submit and obey.'
+
+The remark was intended to be playful, but the young man's voice
+thrilled with a certain sadness. His gaze rested on Hedwig as she
+stood before him, leaning slightly against the wooden railing. The
+Councillor's anxiety must have been exaggerated. His daughter appeared
+rosy and blooming, full of grace and charm as ever.
+
+No tittle of change could be detected in her outward appearance, and
+yet she seemed quite other than the merry capricious fairy who had
+emerged so unexpectedly before two travellers from the clouds of
+drifting, driving snow. The flower which has blossomed in the full
+sunshine, but on which suddenly a shadow falls, remains in form and
+hue the same; it sends forth the same fragrance, only the sunlight has
+gone from it. Such a shadow now lay on the face of Count Ettersberg's
+happy, much-envied chosen bride, and the dark blue eyes had a dewy
+shimmer, as though they had learned a trick which so long had been
+unknown to them--the trick of tears.'
+
+'The separation will be painful to you, then?' Hedwig said, continuing
+the conversation.'
+
+'Certainly. In the great city, a longing will often come over me, a
+longing for Edmund and ... for the dear old mountains.'
+
+'And none for Ettersberg?'
+
+'None.'
+
+The answer was so brief and decided that the girl looked up in
+surprise. Oswald noticed this, and added, by way of amendment:
+
+'Forgive me. I forgot that Ettersberg will shortly be your home. I was
+thinking only of the circumstances which have made my sojourn there a
+painful one, and which no doubt have long been known to you.'
+
+'But surely the circumstances you speak of have been modified. The
+family now place no obstacle in the way of your future career.'
+
+'No; I have forcibly secured for myself freedom of action; but it cost
+a conflict, and to contend with my aunt is no light task, as you will
+one day find out for yourself.'
+
+'I?' asked Hedwig, in surprise. 'I trust no contention may ever arise
+between me and my mother-in-law!'
+
+She drew herself up as she spoke, and measured her companion with a
+half-proud, half-angry glance. He replied firmly and quietly:
+
+'It may perhaps seem indelicate in me to touch on this subject, and it
+may be that you will altogether reject my interference as unwarranted,
+but I cannot go without uttering at least one word of warning. My aunt
+often speaks of leaving Ettersberg after her son's marriage--of
+retiring to her house of Schönfeld. Edmund opposes this plan
+vehemently, and hitherto you have lent him your support. Do so no
+longer; on the contrary, persuade him, if possible, to let his mother
+go. You owe it to him and to yourself, for both his happiness and
+yours are at stake. There will be no room at Ettersberg for a young
+mistress, so long as the Countess retains her position there--and in
+your case, grafted on an old enmity is a new and strong prejudice
+which you will find it hard to encounter.'
+
+'I really do not understand you, Herr von Ettersberg,' said Hedwig,
+not a little agitated. 'Prejudice? Enmity? You cannot possibly be
+alluding to that foolish lawsuit about Dornau?'
+
+'Not to the suit itself, but to the hostile feeling which gave rise to
+it. You probably do not know who strengthened and confirmed your
+grandfather in his harsh obduracy, and induced him finally altogether
+to ignore his daughter's marriage with a commoner. But your father
+knows, and he is mistaken if he thinks that the Countess has outlived
+her prejudices. She gave her consent to this union in a moment of
+surprise, moved by a sudden burst of gratitude towards the man who had
+saved her life, moved, above all, by her great love for her son. What
+would she not do or surrender for his sake? But sooner or later she
+will repent the concession, if she does not repent already, and it is
+not Edmund, but you, who will be made to suffer for it.'
+
+Hedwig listened with increasing agitation. The difficulties now so
+boldly and mercilessly set before her had become dimly apparent to
+herself, especially in these later days--but dimly only; she had as
+yet formed no clear idea of the situation.
+
+'So far, I have had no reason to complain of Edmund's mother,' she
+said hesitatingly. 'She has always been most courteous and kind to
+me.'
+
+'And heartily affectionate?'
+
+The young girl was silent.
+
+'Do not think I am influenced in my judgment by my own personal
+relations towards my aunt,' pursued Oswald. 'I assuredly would not
+take upon me to sow distrust, did I not know how misleading too
+guileless a confidence may here prove. You are entering on a difficult
+position. The ground at Ettersberg is perilous ground for you, and it
+is right you should be warned before you set foot on it. Your mother
+fought a hard fight for her wedded happiness, but at least she had in
+her husband a firm stay and valiant defender. In your case the
+struggle will begin only after the marriage, but I fear it will not be
+spared you; for you are entering the bigoted and narrow-minded circle
+from which she escaped, and it remains to be seen whether Edmund will
+afford you the support of which you will stand in need. At all events,
+it is best to rely on one's self. Again I entreat of you on no
+consideration to consent to the plan of a joint household. You and
+your mother-in-law cannot live under one roof--Edmund must give up the
+idea.'
+
+Hedwig shook her head slightly. 'That will be difficult, if not
+impossible. He loves his mother so well----'
+
+'More than his affianced wife!' concluded Oswald emphatically.
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg!'
+
+'My words hurt you, Fräulein? No doubt the fact is a painful one, but
+you must learn to look the truth in the face. Hitherto you have
+heedlessly toyed with Edmund's love, and have met with sportive homage
+and mere trifling in return. All the deeper feelings of his nature you
+have left to his mother, who has well known how to pursue her
+advantage. Edmund is capable of something better than superficial,
+playful tenderness. Beneath that gay exterior lie warm affections--I
+might almost say strong passions--but they must be awakened, and so
+far his mother alone has fathomed these depths. Make sure now of that
+which is yours by right. The power of a first and early love is in
+your hands as yet. When that fair glamour has spent itself, it may be
+too late.'
+
+He had spoken with great earnestness, but with his wonted utter
+disregard of any susceptibilities he might wound. Every word fell on
+his listener's ear with strong, unsparing emphasis, and flattering the
+words certainly were not. But a few months previously Hedwig would
+either have resented such a warning as an offence, or have laughed it
+away in happy, lighthearted confidence--now she listened in silence,
+with bowed head. He was right, she felt it; but why must these
+counsels come to her from his lips, why must she hear these cruel
+words from _him?_
+
+'You are silent,' said Oswald, when he had waited in vain for an
+answer. 'You reject my advice, you think my interference uncalled for
+and impertinent.'
+
+'No,' replied Hedwig, drawing a deep breath. 'On the contrary, I thank
+you, for I feel all the importance of such a warning coming from you.'
+
+'And what it costs me to speak it?'
+
+The words rushed to Oswald's lips, but he did not pronounce them.
+Perhaps his thought was divined, nevertheless.
+
+The little terrace on which the two were standing rose out of a group
+of thickly clustering bushes, and offered a fine panoramic view of the
+surrounding country. Over broad meadows and green wooded hills the eye
+could wander away to the lofty mountain-summits which were in reality
+far distant, but which in that clear atmosphere seemed to have
+advanced their posts and to have drawn quite near. The particular spur
+of forest which formed the boundary between the Ettersberg and
+Brunneck domains could plainly be distinguished, and the gaze of both
+Oswald and Hedwig sought this spot. It was the first time they had met
+alone since their memorable interview on yonder hill-side. A whole
+summer-time lay between then and now, and much, how much besides!
+
+Raw and inclement had been that spring-day, void of warmth and
+sunshine. Leaves and blossoms still shrank, hiding in their sealed
+retreat. The landscape was shrouded in fog and raincloud, and those
+happy heralds, the swallows, had pierced their way through masses of
+dense mist, ere they emerged suddenly in the gray distance. Yet those
+winged messengers had borne spring on their swift pinions--none knew
+this better than the two who now stood speechless side by side. They
+had seen how the great transformation scene may be effected in a
+night, how grandly, victoriously Nature works when she rallies to the
+task before her.
+
+Now it was autumn--a beautiful clear day, indeed, with soft mild air
+and bright sunshine, but still autumn. The foliage, still thick on
+bough and branch, had that faint gleam of russet which foretells a
+speedy fall. The gay wealth of flowers had vanished from the meadows,
+all but the pale saffron, which yet glimmered here and there, and the
+swallows, streaking the sky in long flights, were gathering for their
+journey southwards. Farewell was written everywhere on Nature's
+countenance, as on the two sorrowing human hearts--farewell to summer,
+home, and happiness.
+
+Hedwig first broke the oppressive silence which had followed her last
+words.
+
+'The swallows are leaving us too,' she said, pointing upwards. 'They
+are on the wing.'
+
+'I go with them'--Oswald completed her meaning--'but there is this
+difference ... I shall not return.'
+
+'Not return? You will come back to Ettersberg sometimes, will you
+not?'
+
+She put the question with a certain eager anxiety. Oswald looked down.
+
+'I hardly think that will be possible. I shall not have much leisure,
+and besides--when a man cuts himself adrift from old ties, and changes
+his way of life entirely, as I am about to do, it is best for him to
+remain away, and to devote all his energies to the sphere he has just
+entered. Edmund cannot be made to understand this. He hardly
+appreciates, as yet, the claims of duty.'
+
+'And yet he is more anxious about you and your future than you
+believe,' interposed Hedwig.
+
+Oswald smiled half disdainfully.
+
+'He may spare himself any anxiety. I am not one to undertake a task
+beyond my strength, and then to abandon it feebly halfway. What I have
+begun I shall carry through, and, come what may, I shall, at least,
+have shaken off from me the bonds of dependence.'
+
+'Did these bonds weigh so heavily on you?'
+
+'Yes; with a crushing weight.'
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg, you are unjust to your family.'
+
+'And ungrateful,' added Oswald, with a sudden outburst of bitterness.
+'You have heard that frequently from my aunt, no doubt--and she may
+possibly be right from her point of view. Perhaps I ought to have
+submitted myself more docilely to the yoke laid upon me, and patiently
+played out the _rôle_ assigned to me by Fate. But then, you see, I
+_could_ not. You do not know what it is constantly to bend to the will
+of another, when your own judgment has long been formed, to be
+thwarted in every effort, checked in every aspiration, not even to
+have the right of reply and remonstrance. I know that my future is
+uncertain, that it may be thorny, that I shall need all the energy and
+strength of will I possess, in order to succeed; but it will be _my_
+future, my own life, which I may shape and order as I please,
+unfettered by the galling chain of benefits conferred. And if I fail
+in the career I have marked out for myself, I shall, at least, have
+gained the right to fashion my own destiny.'
+
+He drew himself up as he spoke these last words, and his chest heaved
+with a great sigh of satisfaction and relief. It seemed as though in
+this moment the great load he had borne so silently, but with so much
+grievous suffering, fell from the young man's shoulders. He stood bold
+and defiant, ready to accept the world's challenge, and to fight the
+battle before him to the bitter end. It was easy to see that he was
+one fitted to wrestle with Fortune, however hostile and uncompromising
+her attitude towards him might be.
+
+Hedwig now for the first time understood how the iron had entered his
+soul, understood what this proud, unbending nature had endured from a
+position which many were disposed to envy, because it implied a share
+in the Ettersberg greatness and splendour.
+
+'And now I must say good-bye to you,' Oswald began again, but the ring
+had died out of his voice now; it was very low and subdued. 'I came to
+take leave of you.'
+
+'Edmund will expect you in December, if only for a few days,' said
+Hedwig, half hesitatingly. 'He counts on your being present at--at our
+wedding.'
+
+'I know it, and know that he will think me coldhearted and unkind if I
+stay away. He must interpret it as he will. I can but submit.'
+
+'So you will not come?'
+
+'No.'
+
+Oswald added no single word of pretext, for none would have found
+belief; but his eyes, resting full on Hedwig's face, gave the
+explanation of his curt, harsh-sounding answer. His meaning was
+understood. He read this in the look which met his; but fierce and
+poignant as might be the pain of parting in these two young hearts, no
+word was spoken, no outward manifestation of it was made.
+
+'Goodbye, then, Herr von Ettersberg,' said Hedwig, offering him her
+hand.
+
+He stooped, and pressed his hot, quivering lips on the trembling hand
+extended to him. That pressure was the only betrayal of how matters
+stood with Oswald. Next minute he released the little palm, and
+stepped back.
+
+'Do not forget me quite, Fräulein,' he said. 'Good-bye.'
+
+Hedwig was alone again. Involuntarily she grasped the bushes to draw
+them aside, and so once more gain sight of his departing figure, but
+it was too late. As the boughs closed again, the first faded leaves
+fell in a shower on the young girl's head. She shrank beneath them, as
+at some grave warning or reminder. Yes, there could be no mistake;
+autumn had come, though the whole landscape before her lay bathed in
+golden sunshine.
+
+That rough, stormy spring day had been so rich in promise, with all
+its unseen magic movement, with its thousand mysterious voices
+whispering around. Now all these sounds had ceased. Nature's fair life
+had bloomed, and was slowly waning towards dissolution. The world was
+hushed and seemingly deserted.
+
+Hedwig, pale and mute, stood leaning against the terrace railing. She
+did not move, did not weep, but with a sad ineffable longing in her
+eyes gazed over at the distant chain of mountains, and then up at the
+clouds, where the migratory birds swarmed, streaming hither and
+thither in long flights. Today the swallows swept not to the earth
+with loving greetings and pleasant messages of happy days to come.
+They passed high overhead, far, far beyond reach, flitting away into
+the blue distance, and their faint piping was borne down but as a
+vague murmur half lost in the immeasurable space. It was a last low
+echo of the word which here below had been spoken in the keen anguish
+of parting, an echo of the melancholy word Farewell.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The following day, the last Oswald was to spend at Ettersberg, brought
+a somewhat unlooked-for visitor. Count Edmund, though his coming was
+hourly expected, had not returned from his shooting expedition when
+Baron Heideck suddenly arrived in the forenoon, straight from town. He
+had thought fit to absent himself in demonstrative fashion from the
+festivities held to celebrate his nephew's coming of age. The
+announcement of the young gentleman's approaching marriage, then
+publicly to be made, should not, he decided, receive the sanction of
+his presence; but when more than two months had elapsed, he determined
+to pay a brief visit to his relations at the castle. Though the fact
+of the engagement could not now be altered, an animated discussion on
+the subject seemed to have taken place between the brother and sister.
+They had remained more than an hour closeted together, and Heideck's
+reproaches took the more effect that Edmund's mother already secretly
+repented of her precipitate action in the matter, though as yet she
+would not admit it openly.
+
+Finally the Countess, in evident perturbation, retired to her own
+room. Seating herself before her writing-table, she pressed a hidden
+spring, which opened its most secret drawer. The interview she had had
+with her brother must have borne upon, or at least have reawakened,
+memories of the past, for very certainly the article which the
+Countess took from that small compartment was a souvenir of distant,
+bygone days. It was a small leather case, a few inches long,
+containing apparently a portrait which perhaps for years had remained
+in its hiding-place untouched. That it belonged to a remote period was
+proved by its old-fashioned shape and faded exterior. The Countess
+held it open before her, and as she sat gazing fixedly down on the
+features thus exposed to view, her countenance assumed an abstracted
+air most unfamiliar to it.
+
+She was lost in one of those vague, half-unconscious reveries which
+altogether efface the present, and carry the dreamer away to a
+far-distant past. Obliterated memories troop back upon the mind,
+forgotten joys and sorrows revive in all their old intensity, and
+forms that have long lain beneath the sod rise, move, and live again.
+
+The Countess did not notice how the minutes sped by, lengthening into
+hours as she sat there, wrapt in contemplation. She started, half
+frightened, half annoyed, when, without any previous warning, the door
+of the room was suddenly thrown open. Quick as thought, she closed the
+little case and placed her hand upon it, while the angry look in her
+eyes seemed to inquire what the interruption could mean.
+
+The intruder was old Everard, who came in with a haste much at
+variance with his usual formal, solemn demeanour. He was evidently
+agitated, and he began his report at once without waiting to be
+questioned by his mistress.
+
+'The Count has just returned, my lady.'
+
+'Well, where is he?' asked the mother, accustomed always to be her
+son's first thought.
+
+'In his room,' stammered Everard. 'Herr von Ettersberg was at the door
+when the carriage drove up, and he helped the Count to mount the
+stairs.'
+
+'Helped him upstairs?' The Countess's face blanched to a deadly
+pallor. 'What do you mean by that? Has anything happened?'
+
+'I fear so, my lady,' said the old retainer hesitatingly. 'The groom
+said something about an accident out shooting. A gun was accidentally
+discharged, and the Count was wounded.'
+
+He could not tell his tale at length, for the Countess sprang up with
+a cry of alarm. Asking no question, listening to no further word, the
+agonized mother rushed into the antechamber, whence a corridor led
+direct to her son's room.
+
+The old servant, who had completely lost his head and was as terrified
+as his mistress, would have rushed after her; but just at that moment
+Oswald entered the boudoir by an opposite door.
+
+'Where is my aunt?' he asked hastily.
+
+'With the Count by this time, I think,' said Everard, pointing in the
+direction she had taken. 'My lady was so shocked when I told her about
+the accident, she hastened to him at once.'
+
+Oswald frowned. 'How could you be so imprudent!' he said, with an
+impatient gesture. 'The Count's wound is not at all serious. I came
+myself to assure my aunt that there is not the smallest cause for
+anxiety.'
+
+'Thank God, thank God!' breathed Everard, with a great sigh of relief.
+'The groom was saying----'
+
+'The groom has grossly exaggerated the affair,' Oswald interrupted
+him. 'Your master is very slightly injured--wounded in the hand,
+nothing more. It was quite unnecessary to alarm the Countess in this
+way. Go now and let Baron Heideck know the true state of the case,
+that he may not be startled in like manner by the news of some
+dangerous injury.'
+
+Everard withdrew to fulfil his mission, and Oswald was about to leave
+the room, when his eyes, wandering with a casual and indifferent
+glance towards the writing-table, fell on the small case which lay
+thereon.
+
+Curiosity did not rank among Oswald's failings, and he would have
+thought it impertinent to examine even that which lay open to view in
+his aunt's room. But now he was misled by a very pardonable error.
+Only the day before he had begged the Countess to make over to him a
+portrait of his father, which had been in the possession of the late
+Count Ettersberg, and was, no doubt, still to be found among his
+personal belongings. Now that he was leaving the old home, Oswald
+wished to take this souvenir with him, and the Countess had been quite
+willing to accede to his wish, promising to look for the portrait. It
+appeared, so he said to himself, that she had been successful in her
+quest.
+
+In this certain presumption, Oswald took up the picture. He had but a
+dim remembrance of it, and really did not know if it were enclosed in
+a frame or in a case. The faded appearance of the little _étui_ seemed
+to confirm his belief, so he opened it.
+
+The case contained a portrait, certainly--a miniature painted on
+ivory--but it was not the one he sought. At the first glance Oswald
+started, surprised in the highest degree.
+
+'Edmund's likeness!' he murmured, under his breath. 'Strange that I
+should never have seen it before. Besides, he has never worn uniform,
+to my knowledge.'
+
+With ever-increasing astonishment he examined first the miniature,
+which so unmistakably portrayed the young Count's features, and then
+the old-fashioned and discoloured case wherein it had evidently long
+lain enclosed. He had alighted on an enigma.
+
+'What can it mean? The portrait is an old one. That is plain from its
+colouring, and from the shape of the case--yet it represents Edmund as
+he now appears. To be sure, it is not quite like him, it has an
+expression, a look which is not his, and ... Ah!'
+
+This exclamation burst from his lips with sudden vehemence. In an
+instant the young man's eyes were opened. With the vividness of
+lightning, the truth flashed upon him, the perception of all that
+was, and had been. The enigma was solved. Hastily he strode up to a
+life-size portrait of Edmund, an oil-painting which hung in the
+Countess's boudoir, and with the open case in his hand, began
+comparing the two, feature by feature, line by line.
+
+Lines and features proved identical; there were the same dark hair and
+eyes, but with a difference, a marked difference of expression. The
+resemblance to Edmund was so extraordinary that he might have sat for
+the miniature, and yet the face depicted in it was not his, but
+another's. Another's, differing from the young Count's most
+essentially, as a prolonged examination abundantly showed.
+
+'So I was right!' said Oswald, in a low hoarse tone. 'Right in my
+suspicion after all!'
+
+There was neither triumph nor malicious satisfaction in his tone. On
+the contrary, it conveyed a certain unfeigned horror; but as he caught
+sight of the secret compartment now standing open, every other feeling
+was merged in sudden, bitter anger.
+
+'Yes,' he murmured. 'She hid it well--so well, that no eyes but hers
+would ever have beheld it, had not her mortal fear on Edmund's account
+for once robbed her of all prudence and power of reflection. To think
+that it should fall into my hands! This surely is more than a mere
+accident. I think'--here Oswald drew himself up to a proud and
+menacing attitude--'I think I have a right to ask whom this picture
+represents, and I shall retain possession of it until an answer to my
+plain question be given me.'
+
+So saying, he thrust the little case into his breast-pocket, and
+quickly left the room.
+
+The alarming report which Everard had conveyed to the Countess turned
+out to be a most exaggerated one. The accident that had befallen
+Edmund was of no serious importance. While scrambling through, or
+over, a hedge, his gun had been accidentally discharged, but
+fortunately the shot had only grazed his left hand. The injury was
+very slight, hardly deserving to be called a wound, yet the whole
+castle was in commotion about it. Baron Heideck hastened to his
+nephew's room, and the Countess could find neither rest nor peace
+until the doctor, sent for in post-haste, had assured her positively
+there was no cause for uneasiness, and that the lesion would be healed
+in a few days.
+
+Edmund himself took the matter most lightly. He laughed and joked with
+his mother about her anxiety until it yielded beneath his cheery
+influence, protested strongly against being treated as a disabled man,
+and was with difficulty prevailed on to listen to the doctor, who
+prescribed absolute rest and quiet.
+
+Evening closed in. Oswald was alone in his own room, which he had not
+left since his great discovery of the morning. The lamp burning on the
+table threw but a partial light over the apartment, which was large
+and rather sombre at night, with its heavy leather hangings and deep
+bay-window. The furniture was massive and good, as in every room
+throughout the house, but it had not been renewed for years, and was
+in strong contrast to the bright and handsome appointments of the main
+building, and especially of that part of it dedicated to the young
+Count's use. The nephew, the offshoot of a younger branch, had been
+banished to a distant wing. In this, as in all else, his inferiority
+to the heir must be well marked; he must stand back, yielding the
+precedence to the master of the house.
+
+So the Countess had ordered it, and the temper of Oswald's mind was
+such that under no circumstances could he have brought himself to seek
+aid or protection from Edmund, or to complain to him of the constant
+mortifications to which he was subjected.
+
+The side-table was strewn with letters and papers which Oswald had
+intended to set in order before leaving. Now he gave them not a
+thought. With restless steps he paced to and fro in the room, the
+excessive pallor of his countenance and his heaving breast telling of
+the terrible agitation that reigned within him. The dim tormenting
+doubt which had beset his soul for years, the vague presentiment
+which he had driven from him only by the full exercise of his powerful
+will, now stood revealed as truth. Though the actual course events had
+taken and the story of that portrait were as yet unknown to him, the
+always-recurring suspicions had resolved themselves into a certainty,
+calling up within him a perfect storm of contradictory emotions.
+
+Oswald paused before the writing-table, and again took up the fatal
+portrait which lay there among the papers.
+
+'After all, what avails this?' he said bitterly. 'I indeed, for my own
+part, require no further proof, but all corroboration is wanting, and
+the one person who could afford it will certainly keep silence. She
+would die rather than make a confession which would bring ruin on
+herself and on her son, and I cannot compel her to speak--I must not,
+could not, offer up the honour of our name, even though it be a
+question of the heirship of Ettersberg. Yet full and complete
+knowledge I must have--I must, cost what it may.'
+
+He slowly closed the case and laid it down again, still standing
+before it, musing profoundly, moodily.
+
+'Perhaps there might be a way, one single way. If I were to go to
+Edmund with this picture, and were to call upon him to explain, to
+inquire into the facts of the case, he could force the truth from his
+mother if he seriously set himself to the task, and he would so set
+himself if once I introduced the suspicion to his mind. I know him
+well enough to be sure of that. But what a terrible blow it would be
+to him--to him, with his sensitive notions of honour, with his candid,
+open nature, which has never condescended to a lie. To be hurled
+suddenly from a position which, in the fulness of his happiness and
+prosperity, must appear absolutely safe; to be branded as the
+instrument, perhaps the accomplice, of a fraud!--I think the knowledge
+of this would kill him.'
+
+Love for the friend of his youth stirred in his breast, regaining
+all its old force and fervour, but with it awoke other and
+hostile emotions which clamoured to be heard. They recalled to him
+the deep-dyed treachery of which he had been the victim, and as he
+vacillated still, sought to influence him by counsels such as these:
+
+'Will you really keep silence, and eschew the revenge which Fate has
+placed in your hands? Will you go hence with sealed lips, go out to a
+dark uncertain future, submit yourself to strangers, work your way up
+with much toil and weariness of spirit, perhaps perish in the vain
+struggle, while, if you will, you may be master here on the land which
+belongs to you of right? Shall the woman who has been your bitterest
+enemy triumphantly retain her power and endow her son with all the
+good things of this life, while you are oppressed and kept down,
+thrust out from the home of your fathers? Who has thought of your
+feelings, of your inward conflicts? Use the weapons chance has given
+you. You know the joints in the enemy's armour. Strike home!'
+
+These accusatory voices had justice on their side, and they found but
+too responsive an echo in Oswald's breast. All the mortifications, all
+the humiliations he had suffered rose up before him afresh, and stung
+his soul with keen and cruel stabs. That which he had endured for
+years, with inward chafing, it is true, but yet mutely, accepting it
+as a decree of Fate, goaded him to wild rebellion and fury now that he
+recognised the treachery that had been at work. Gradually every other
+feeling was stifled by the bitterness and fierce hate raging within
+him. The Countess would certainly have trembled, could she at this
+moment have beheld her nephew's countenance. He could not meet her
+face to face, but he knew the spot where she was vulnerable.
+
+'There is no other way,' he said resolutely. 'To me she will not yield
+an inch. She will defy me to her last breath. Edmund alone is able to
+extract her secret from her, therefore he must be told. I will no
+longer be the victim of a fraud.'
+
+A light, rapid step in the corridor outside interrupted the young
+man's train of thought. With a quick movement he pushed the miniature
+out of sight beneath the papers on the writing-table, and cast an
+angry, impatient glance towards the door; but he started perceptibly
+as he recognised his visitor.
+
+'Edmund--you here?'
+
+'Well, you need not look scared, as though you had seen a ghost,' said
+the young Count, closing the door. 'I still number among the living,
+and have come expressly to prove to you that, in spite of my so-called
+wound, you have no chance of coming into the property as yet.'
+
+Little did Edmund guess the effect this harmless jest and the fact of
+his appearance at that precise moment had upon his cousin. It was only
+by a violent effort that Oswald regained his self-control. His voice
+was hoarse with emotion as he replied:
+
+'How can you be so imprudent as to come through these long cold
+corridors! You were ordered not to leave your room to-day.'
+
+'Pooh! what do I care for the doctor's orders?' said Edmund
+carelessly. 'Do you think I mean to be treated as an invalid, because
+I have got a scratch on my hand? I have put up with all their nonsense
+a few hours to please my mother, but I have had enough of it now. My
+servant has instructions to say that I am asleep, should anyone
+inquire after me. I came over here to have a chat with you, old
+fellow. I cannot possibly stay away from you on this, the very last
+evening you have to spend at Ettersberg.'
+
+These words were spoken with such heartiness that Oswald involuntarily
+turned away.
+
+'Let us go back to your room, at least,' he said hastily.
+
+'No; we are not so likely to be disturbed here,' persisted Edmund,
+as he threw himself into an armchair. 'I have so many things to
+say to you--for instance, how I came by this famous wound, which has
+set all Ettersberg in an uproar, though it is nothing more than a
+pin-scratch.'
+
+Oswald's eyes wandered uneasily to the papers, beneath which the
+portrait lay concealed.
+
+'How you came by it?' he repeated absently. 'I thought your gun was
+fired accidentally, as you were getting over a hedge.'
+
+'Yes; that is what we told the servants, and my mother and uncle are
+not to hear any other version of the affair. But I need not make a
+secret of it to you. I was out this morning with one of the men who
+joined our shooting-party--with Baron Senden.'
+
+'With Senden?' said Oswald, becoming attentive. 'What was the quarrel
+between you?'
+
+'He made use of an expression which displeased me. I called him to
+account at once; one word led to another, and finally we agreed to
+settle our little difference by meeting this morning. You see no great
+damage has been done. I shall perhaps have to wear my hand in a sling
+for a week or so, and Senden has got off as cheaply, with just a graze
+on the shoulder.'
+
+'So that is why you stayed all night? Why did you not send a message
+over to me? I would have gone to you.'
+
+'To act as second? That was not necessary. Our host offered me his
+services--and as the mourning relative you could always arrive time
+enough.'
+
+'Edmund, do not speak so lightly on grave subjects,' said Oswald
+impatiently. 'A duel always involves the hazard of a life.'
+
+Edmund laughed.
+
+'Good heavens! I ought to have made my will, I suppose, have summoned
+you to my side to take a solemn leave of you, and have left a touching
+message of farewell for Hedwig? Bah! the thing is to keep one's self
+as cool as possible, and just trust to one's luck for the rest.'
+
+'You do not appear to have taken your adversary's words so coolly.
+What was the real ground of offence?'
+
+The young Count's face darkened, and he replied with some warmth of
+tone:
+
+'The subject of our old Dornau lawsuit was broached. They were joking
+me about my very practical idea of uniting the contending parties in
+matrimony. I laughed with them and entered quite freely into the
+spirit of the joke, until Senden remarked very pointedly that as the
+two properties were to be joined together so peaceably at last, the
+great efforts formerly made to this end turned out, after all, to have
+been unnecessary; it was so much trouble wasted.'
+
+'You know that the Baron proposed to your future wife and was
+refused,' said Oswald, with a shrug of the shoulders. 'He naturally
+feels a certain degree of irritation, which he cannot help showing on
+every occasion.'
+
+'His remark was levelled at my mother,' said Edmund warmly. 'It is no
+secret that she opposed the marriage between her cousin and Herr
+Rüstow, and openly declared herself on the side of the angry father.
+She has, as you know, a lofty idea of her class-privileges, and she
+then felt it incumbent on her to uphold the principles she professes.
+This is why I esteem so highly the sacrifice she is now making for me.
+Senden's speech implied that she had been actuated by interested
+motives, and had influenced Uncle Francis in the making of his will,
+in the hope that Dornau might fall to me. Could I submit to that, I
+ask it of you?'
+
+'You go too far. I do not believe that Senden had any such
+_arrière-pensée_.'
+
+'No matter, I understood him in that sense. Why did he not recall his
+words when I asked for an explanation? It may be that I was rather too
+warm, but on that point I can brook no insinuations. You reproach me
+frequently with my heedlessness and frivolity, Oswald, but even they
+have a limit. Once past that boundary, I am apt to take matters even
+more to heart than you.'
+
+'I know,' said Oswald slowly. 'There are two subjects on which you
+feel seriously and deeply--the point of honour and--your mother.'
+
+'The two are one,' retorted Edmund sharply.
+
+'He who offends her by even the shadow of a suspicion rouses all the
+spirit in me, and makes me desperate.'
+
+He sprang up as he spoke, and stood before his cousin, drawn up to his
+full height. The habitual gay, careless expression had vanished from
+his features, giving place to one of set, stern gravity, and his eyes
+flashed in his passionate excitement.
+
+Oswald was silent. He was standing by the writing-table, and had
+already grasped the papers, ready to push them aside and draw forth
+the picture, but as the young Count's last words fell on his ear he
+paused involuntarily. Why must such a discussion have arisen at this
+precise moment?
+
+'It never occurred to me that any such interpretation could be placed
+on that will,' went on Edmund; 'or I should at once, at the time of my
+uncle's death, have refused the bequest, and never should have allowed
+the suit to be instituted. If Hedwig and I had remained strangers, and
+the court had awarded Dornau to me, I believe the calumny would have
+thriven and prospered, until they had made me out to be the accomplice
+of a fraud.'
+
+'It is possible to be the victim of a fraud,' said Oswald in a low
+tone.
+
+'The victim?' repeated the young Count, stepping quickly up to his
+cousin. 'What do you mean by that?'
+
+Oswald's hand rested heavily on the papers which overlay his great
+secret, but there was nothing to indicate the emotion within him. His
+voice was cold and unmoved, as he replied:
+
+'Nothing. I am not alluding to Dornau. We know perfectly well that my
+uncle acted in accordance with his own will and judgment--but the
+instrument was drawn up in favour of a nephew, passing over the
+daughter and her rights. Calumny, of course, takes advantage of the
+scope afforded it, and hints at undue influence. In such a case, it
+would, no doubt, be considered only natural that a mother should lay
+aside any scruples, and act in the interest of her son.'
+
+'But that would have been fortune-hunting of the most flagrant
+description,' cried Edmund, blazing up anew. 'I really do not
+understand you, Oswald. How can you speak so indifferently of such a
+possible view of the case, of the disgrace it would entail? How should
+you qualify a scheme formed to oust the rightful heir that another
+might succeed to his place and property? I should call it a swindle, a
+dishonourable, an infamous action, and the mere thought that such a
+suspicion should be coupled with the name of Ettersberg makes my blood
+boil within me.'
+
+Oswald's hand slid slowly from the table, and he stepped back a little
+into the shadow, beyond the circle irradiated by the lamp.
+
+'Any such suspicion would do you the keenest injustice, truly,' he
+said emphatically; 'but the world is generally prompt to think evil.
+No doubt, it often makes evil discoveries. In our sphere especially
+there are so many dark family histories which lie hidden for years,
+and then suddenly one day spring to light. So many, who hold a
+brilliant position and enjoy great consideration, carry about with
+them the consciousness of guilt which would utterly crush and
+annihilate them, were it to be found out.'
+
+'Well, I could not do it,' said the young Count, turning his frank,
+handsome face full upon his cousin. 'I must bear an unsullied brow
+before the world, must feel myself to be without reproach, that I may
+breathe freely, and boldly meet the slander I despise--there would be
+no living for me else. Dark family histories! They are, no doubt, more
+plentiful than we wot of, but I would suffer no such lurking shadow in
+our annals, not though I myself must set to work to drag it to light.'
+
+'And suppose silence were imposed on you--for the sake of the family
+honour?'
+
+'It would probably kill me; for to live with the knowledge that there
+was a stain on our escutcheon would be, I think, to me a thing
+impossible!'
+
+Oswald passed his hand across his brow, which was covered with a
+cold sweat. In keen and terrible suspense he followed his cousin's
+every movement. Perhaps no interference of his would be necessary;
+perhaps accident might relieve him of the onerous task which he felt
+must be fulfilled in one way or another. Edmund had gone up to the
+writing-table, and as he spoke on, he took up some of the papers
+unthinkingly, and threw them aside without looking at them. One minute
+more and he would probably discover the little case, the shape of
+which must necessarily attract his attention--and then--then would
+come the catastrophe.
+
+'At all events, it will be seen what view I take of such innuendoes,
+and the lesson Senden has had will serve for others. Nothing is sacred
+to calumny, no object, however pure and lofty, not even one which to
+most minds is the ideal of all that is good.'
+
+'Ideals may fade, idols crumble to the dust,' remarked Oswald. 'You
+have had no experience of that at present.'
+
+'I was speaking of my mother,' said the young Count, with deep
+feeling.
+
+Oswald made no reply, but it was well that he was standing in the
+shade; at least the other saw not the torture this interview inflicted
+on him. It happened so rarely that Edmund appeared in serious mood,
+and to-day of all days he was grave and earnest of speech, showing the
+deeper side of his nature. And all the time his right hand was busy,
+mechanically turning over the papers on the table, approaching nearer
+and nearer the fatal spot. Oswald's arm twitched, ready to drag the
+unsuspecting man back from the abyss which yawned before him--but he
+checked the impulse, and remained motionless in his place.
+
+'You can understand now why I desire to keep this meeting from my
+mother's knowledge, notwithstanding its harmless issue.' Edmund
+continued. 'She would inquire, as you do into its origin, and the
+truth might wound her. Whilst I am to the fore not the very shadow of
+offence shall come near her. I would give my life rather than hear her
+aspersed by a calumnious word--give my life, aye, readily, willingly.'
+
+Separately, one by one, he had taken up the papers and thrown them
+aside. Now he had come to the last sheet, that beneath which the
+picture lay, but suddenly Oswald's hand was upon his, grasping it with
+a grasp of iron, and impeding any further movement.
+
+'What is it?' asked Edmund in astonishment. 'What is the matter with
+you?'
+
+For all answer, Oswald threw his arm about him and drew him away.
+
+'Come, Edmund, let us go to the sofa yonder.'
+
+'What, you draw me violently from the table simply for that? One would
+have thought a mine was about to explode. Have you any combustibles,
+any train laid over there?'
+
+'Possibly,' said Oswald, with a strange smile. 'Let those papers be.
+Come.'
+
+'Oh, you need fear no indiscretion on my part,' declared the Count,
+with a sudden outbreak of tetchiness. 'There was no need to place your
+hand on your papers in that prohibitory manner. I did not look at
+them, and if I touched them, I did it mechanically. You appear to have
+secrets, and I, no doubt, am disturbing you when you would wish to be
+sorting your letters and putting them in order. It will be better for
+me to go.' He moved away, as though to leave the room; but Oswald held
+him by the arm, though he tried angrily to free it.
+
+'No, Edmund, you must not leave me so--not to-day, old fellow.'
+
+'Indeed, it is the last evening you have to spend here,' said Edmund,
+half wrathful, half appeased. 'You are doing all you can to show me
+how little that affects you.'
+
+'You do me injustice. The separation is more painful to me than you
+can imagine.'
+
+Oswald's voice shook so audibly that Edmund looked at him in surprise,
+and all his anger vanished.
+
+'Why, what ails you, Oswald? You are as pale as death, and have seemed
+so strange all the evening. But I can guess: you have been searching
+among these letters and papers, which, no doubt, belonged to your
+parents, and they have awakened many sad memories.'
+
+'Yes, much that is very sad,' said Oswald, drawing a deep breath; 'but
+it is over now. You are right, they were old memories which put me out
+of tune. I will drive the troubling thoughts from me, and altogether
+make an end of them now.'
+
+'Then I really will go,' declared Edmund. 'I forgot that you might
+still have much to arrange and set in order. We shall meet to-morrow
+morning. Good-night, Oswald.'
+
+He held out his hand to his cousin, but the latter, assuredly for the
+first time in his life, took him in his arms, and held him for a
+moment in a tight embrace.
+
+'Goodnight, Edmund. I have often seemed harsh and cold in return
+for your warm and hearty friendship, yet you have been very dear to
+me--how dear I hardly knew myself until this hour.'
+
+'The hour of parting,' said Edmund, half reproachfully, as he
+cordially returned the embrace. 'But for that, the confession would
+never have passed your lips. No matter, I have always felt, known how
+you cared for me in your heart of hearts.'
+
+'Not fully, perhaps. I did not know it myself until to-day. But go
+now. With that wound of yours, you really should not stay up longer.
+Go and rest.'
+
+Passing his arm round his cousin's shoulder, he walked with him to the
+door and down the corridor. There they parted; but as the young Count
+retraced his steps to his own room, Oswald stood again before his
+writing-table, holding the portrait in his hand. Once more he
+contemplated it, then closing the case with a firm pressure, he said
+under his breath:
+
+'It would be his death. I will not reign as master of Ettersberg at
+that price.'
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Next morning the three gentlemen breakfasted alone, though Oswald's
+departure had been fixed for the forenoon. Count Edmund paid no
+attention whatever to the medical advice which would have confined him
+to his room. He appeared with a bandaged hand, but in good health and
+spirits, and laughed at the remonstrances of Baron Heideck, who
+recommended more prudence and greater care. The Countess remained
+invisible. She was suffering, it appeared, from a violent nervous
+attack, resulting probably from the fright she had sustained on
+hearing the first exaggerated account of her son's condition.
+
+Edmund, who had paid a visit to his mother's room, had found her in a
+state of intense nervous excitement, and to his inquiry as to whether
+Oswald might take leave of her in person, she had replied decidedly
+that she was far too unwell to admit anyone but her son. The young
+Count was somewhat embarrassed when conveying this message to his
+cousin. He felt that the refusal to say good-bye involved a slight,
+and thought his mother might have exerted herself so far as to receive
+her nephew, if only for a few minutes, before his departure.
+
+Oswald, however, accepted the fiat with great calm, and without the
+smallest show of surprise. He guessed, no doubt, what share the
+disappearance of the miniature and its probable fate had in this
+'nervous attack.' The Countess would certainly have heard from Everard
+that her nephew had entered the room soon after she had left it, and
+had remained there alone.
+
+The conversation at breakfast was rather monosyllabic. Baron Heideck,
+though he had ultimately acquiesced in Oswald's plans, was not
+disposed to show any special heartiness towards the young relative who
+had so resolutely set his will at defiance.
+
+Edmund was disturbed, and unlike himself, being oppressed by the
+thought of the coming separation, the full meaning of which he only
+realized now that it was imminent. Oswald alone maintained his
+accustomed calm and grave demeanour. They were on the point of leaving
+the table, when the young Count was summoned away to see the doctor,
+who had just arrived. Baron Heideck would have followed--he wished to
+impress upon the medical man that greater strictness and vigilance
+would be necessary with so heedless a patient; but a low word from
+Oswald made him turn and pause. When they were alone together, the
+latter drew from his breast-pocket a small and carefully-sealed
+packet.
+
+'I had hoped to see my aunt again before leaving,' he began. 'As
+this will not now be possible, I must beg of you to take charge of a
+last--a last commission for me. It is my express request that this
+packet be delivered into the Countess's own hands, and that it be
+given to her when she is alone.'
+
+'What is this mysterious commission?' asked Heideck, in surprise. 'And
+why do you choose me instead of Edmund?'
+
+'Because it would hardly accord with my aunt's wishes that Edmund
+should hear of the delivery or of the contents of this packet. I must
+repeat my request that it be given her when no third person is
+present.'
+
+The icy tone in which these words were spoken, and the haughty,
+menacing glance which accompanied them, were the only revenge the
+young man permitted to himself. Heideck naturally did not understand
+his meaning, but he perceived that the matter referred to was of no
+ordinary nature, and he accepted the little parcel without more ado.
+
+'I will undertake the commission,' he said.
+
+'I thank you,' replied Oswald, stepping back, and showing by his
+manner that the interview was at an end. There was indeed no time for
+further conversation, as just then Edmund returned, accompanied by the
+doctor, whom he insisted on taking round to see his mother. Her
+condition made him anxious, he said.
+
+The bulletins, however, proved favourable with regard to both
+patients. The Count's wound turned out to be most insignificant, and
+the Countess was merely suffering from a slight nervous attack, a
+natural consequence of yesterday's fright. Rest and a few simple
+remedies would restore them both, and Edmund even forced from the
+doctor the admission that he might safely leave his room and accompany
+his cousin to the carriage now waiting for him below.
+
+Baron Heideck took a brief, cold leave of his nephew, but Edmund
+showed himself greatly affected by the parting. He beset Oswald with
+entreaties to come back to Ettersberg at all events for the wedding,
+and promised in his turn shortly to pay a visit to the capital. Oswald
+accepted it all with rather a sad smile; he knew that neither project
+would hold good. The Countess would certainly find means to prevent
+her son's intended journey. One last hearty embrace--then the carriage
+rolled away, and Edmund, as he reentered the castle alone, felt a
+desolate sense of the void left by his friend's departure.
+
+More than a couple of hours passed by before Baron Heideck betook
+himself to his sister's room to execute the commission which had been
+confided to him. He had been in no special haste; knowing the terms on
+which Oswald and his aunt stood, he thought it probable that this last
+message was of no agreeable import, and that it might increase, rather
+than lessen, the Countess's indisposition. Possessed by this idea, the
+Baron had at first proposed to postpone the business to the following
+day; but Oswald's look and tone, as he gave over the packet, had been
+so peculiar and impressive, that he resolved to have the matter
+cleared up without further delay. At his request, the Countess
+dismissed her maid, with orders to admit no one, and the brother and
+sister remained long closeted together.
+
+The Countess sat on her sofa, looking very pale and worn. It was easy
+to see what she had suffered since the preceding evening, all that she
+was suffering now as she sat passive, allowing the stream of her
+brother's reproaches to flow on without response. He stood before her
+with the open packet in his hand, speaking in a rather subdued voice,
+certainly, but with every evidence of great excitement.
+
+'So you really could not make up your mind to part with that unhappy
+picture! I thought it had been destroyed long ago. How could you be so
+mad as to keep it in your possession?'
+
+'Do not scold me, Armand.' The Countess's voice was stifled as though
+by tears. 'It is the only souvenir I have kept--the only one. It came
+to me with a last message from him, after ... after his death.'
+
+'And for the sake of this sentimental folly you conjure up a frightful
+danger, a danger which threatens ruin both to yourself and your son.
+Do not these features speak clearly enough? Formerly, when Edmund was
+a child, the likeness was not so striking, so extraordinary; but now
+that he is nearly of the same age as ... as the other, it is
+positively damning. Your imprudence has cost you a lesson, however,
+and a hard one. You know into whose hands the picture fell?'
+
+'I have known since yesterday evening. My God, what will come to us
+now?'
+
+'Nothing,' said Heideck coldly. 'The fact of his surrendering it is
+ample proof of that. Oswald is too good a lawyer not to know that a
+mere likeness is no evidence, and that a charge cannot be founded on
+such testimony. Still, it was a generous act to give it back. Another
+man would have held possession of it, if only to harass and torment
+you. That picture must be destroyed.'
+
+'I will destroy it,' said the Countess.
+
+'No, I will do that myself,' retorted her brother, replacing the
+little case carefully in his pocket. 'I rescued you once from a very
+real danger, Constance; now I must stand between you and the
+remembrance of it, which may be almost as fatal. That ghost has been
+buried for years. Do not let it rise up again, or the whole fortune
+and happiness of Ettersberg may be wrecked. This unfortunate souvenir
+must disappear to-day. Edmund must have no more suspicion of the
+secret than his father had before him.'
+
+Involuntarily he raised his voice as he pronounced these last words,
+but he ceased speaking suddenly, for at that very moment the door
+which led into the adjoining room was thrown open, and Edmund appeared
+on the threshold.
+
+'What am I not to suspect?' he asked with quick vehemence.
+
+The young Count had naturally not supposed that his mother's
+prohibition of admittance extended to himself. He had crossed the
+anteroom softly, fearing to disturb her. The closed doors and the
+subdued tone in which the conversation had been carried on made it
+well-nigh impossible that he should have overheard more than his
+uncle's last words. The expression of his face bore proof of this. It
+betokened astonishment, but no fear.
+
+Nevertheless, the Countess bounded from her seat with a terrible
+start, and it required a mute but significant gesture of warning from
+her brother, a pressure of his hand upon her shoulder, to give her
+back her self-control.
+
+'What is it I am not to suspect?' repeated Edmund, as he came quickly
+towards them. He addressed his question to the Baron.
+
+'Is it possible that you can have been listening? asked the latter,
+his breath almost failing him as he thought of such a possibility.
+
+'No, uncle,' said the young Count angrily. 'I am not in the habit of
+playing the spy or the listener. I merely caught your last words as I
+was opening the door. It is natural surely that I should like to know
+their meaning, and to learn what it is that has hitherto been kept
+secret from me as from my father.'
+
+'You heard me beg my sister not to mention the subject to you,'
+replied Heideck, who had now recovered his composure. 'I was alluding
+to a reminiscence of our youth which we shall do well to keep to
+ourselves. You know that our early days were passed amid graver,
+sadder circumstances than yours. We had battles to fight and
+sacrifices to make whereof you can have no conception.'
+
+The explanation was plausible and appeared to find belief, but
+Edmund's tone, though tender, was fraught with deep reproach, as he
+said, turning to the Countess:
+
+'I could not have believed, mother, that you had a secret from me.'
+
+'Do not torment your mother now,' interrupted Heideck. 'You see how
+very unwell she is?'
+
+'You should have spared her then, and not have called up painful
+reminiscences to-day,' replied Edmund, rather warmly. 'I came to tell
+you, mother, that Hedwig and her father are here. May I bring her to
+you? As you felt able to see my uncle, you will, I am sure, not refuse
+to receive us.'
+
+'Certainly,' assented the Countess. 'Indeed, I feel much better now.
+Bring Hedwig to me at once.'
+
+'I will fetch her,' said Edmund, and went; but before leaving the room
+he turned once again, and cast a strange scrutinising glance at his
+mother and uncle. There was no suspicion in his look, but, as it were,
+a vague presentiment of coming trouble.
+
+The young Count had sent a message over to Brunneck on the preceding
+evening, with the news that he had been slightly wounded in the hand
+when out shooting, and therefore would not be able to pay his usual
+visit, adding that there was not the smallest cause for uneasiness.
+This piece of intelligence had brought the Councillor and his daughter
+over to Ettersberg without loss of time. The sight of Edmund, who
+received them with all his wonted gaiety, soon set any remaining fears
+on his account at rest. Almost simultaneously with them came the
+neighbouring squire on whose estate the accident had occurred. He had
+driven over with his son to inquire after the patient.
+
+Under these circumstances Baron Heideck's first meeting with the new
+relations was more easy and unconstrained than it would otherwise have
+been. The young lady's beauty was not without its influence on the
+rigid aristocrat, who, in spite of his prejudices, could not
+altogether withhold approval of his nephew's choice. Towards the
+Councillor, Heideck did indeed preserve a cool and reserved, though a
+polite demeanour. The presence of strangers made the conversation more
+animated and general. Edmund alone appeared unusually silent and
+abstracted. He refused, however, to admit that this had anything to do
+with his wound, attributing the depression he could not disguise to
+his recent parting with Oswald. He would not confess even to himself
+that any other vague trouble was weighing on him.
+
+The two neighbours did not remain very long, and an hour or
+so after their departure, Rüstow and his daughter set out on their
+return-journey to Brunneck. Edmund lifted his betrothed into the
+carriage, and took a tender leave of her. Then he went away back to
+his own room, but he could feel settled nowhere; a strange
+restlessness was upon him which drove him from place to place. At
+length he threw himself upon the sofa, and tried to read, but he could
+not force his mind to follow the words or understand their sense. A
+most unwonted cloud lay on the young Count's brow, usually so clear
+and serene; he had a sombre, harassed look as he sat brooding over the
+words he had heard spoken in his mother's room. With painful
+persistency they recurred to his mind, strive as he might to turn his
+thoughts into another current. What was he not to know? What was it
+they were hiding so carefully from him?
+
+Edmund was so little accustomed to bear the pressure of any care, to
+carry about with him any troublesome problem or doubt, that this
+condition soon became intolerable to him. He threw his book aside,
+sprang to his feet, and walked straight up to his uncle's room.
+
+Baron Heideck was lodged in the visitors' suite, situated in the upper
+story. Hither he had retired as soon as the guests drove off. He was
+standing before the fireplace, busily fanning the flames which had
+recently been kindled on the hearth, when his nephew entered. As the
+door opened, he looked round in surprise, and the surprise hardly
+appeared to be a pleasant one.
+
+'Am I disturbing you?' asked Edmund, who noticed this.
+
+'Oh, certainly not,' said Heideck. 'But it seems to me imprudent of
+you in your present condition to be wandering about the house instead
+of remaining quietly in your own room.'
+
+'I have the doctor's permission to leave it, you know, and I wanted to
+speak to you for a few minutes. You have had a fire lighted, I see. Do
+you not find it too warm this mild weather?'
+
+'I feel it rather chilly up here in these rooms, especially as evening
+draws on,' replied Heideck, dropping into a chair near the fire, and
+motioning to his nephew to be seated opposite. Edmund, however,
+remained standing.
+
+'I want you to give me some explanation of the words I chanced to
+overhear to-day,' he began, without further preface. 'I would not
+press the matter seriously at the time, my mother being present; she
+is really too unwell to be troubled in any way. But now we are alone
+and can speak more freely. I positively have no peace for thinking of
+it. Tell me what that speech of yours meant.'
+
+Heideck frowned. 'I have already said that I was speaking of affairs
+relating to _our_ family. These affairs have long since been settled
+and forgotten, and the mention of them could only affect you
+painfully.'
+
+'But I am no longer a child,' said Edmund, with unusual earnestness;
+'and I may now claim to be initiated into all the family affairs,
+without exception. You spoke of some shadow which might obscure the
+Ettersberg fortunes. At this present time I am Master of Ettersberg.
+The matter therefore concerns me, and I have a right to inquire into
+it. In short, uncle, I am determined to know the meaning of all this.'
+
+The demand was made with an energy quite foreign to the young Count's
+usual manner. Baron Heideck, however, merely shrugged his shoulders,
+and replied impatiently:
+
+'What absurd questions, Edmund! How can you cling so pertinaciously to
+this fancy, or attach such importance to a mere word? It was just one
+of those expressions which escape one sometimes in the heat of
+conversation, but which have no real or deep significance.'
+
+'But you spoke in a very excited tone.'
+
+'And in spite of your protest against being thought a listener, you
+appear to have paused some minutes outside the door.'
+
+'Had I been willing to humiliate myself so far, I should probably have
+heard more, and should not now have to sue for information,' returned
+Edmund angrily.
+
+Heideck pressed his lips together, and for a moment remained silent,
+thinking, no doubt, what would have been the result if his nephew had
+really stooped to play the listener. He saw the necessity, however, of
+warding off any further attack; so he replied, with the coldest
+decision of manner:
+
+'The matter in question affects me principally, and I do not desire to
+discuss it further. I fancy you will accept this answer as final and
+sufficient, and that you will besiege neither your mother nor myself
+with useless inquiries on the subject. If you please, we will say no
+more about it.'
+
+To such a speech, delivered with firmness, and with all the authority
+of the ex-guardian, no reply was possible.
+
+Edmund was silent, but he felt that he had not heard the truth; that,
+on the contrary, an endeavour was made to divert him from his search
+after it. He saw, however, that he should obtain nothing from his
+uncle, and that for the present he must abandon all attempt to solve
+the mystery.
+
+Heideck seemed determined to put an end to the conversation. He seized
+the poker, and plied it in very demonstrative fashion, raking the
+coals vigorously, and repeatedly striking the stove in his efforts to
+quicken the flames. His whole manner testified to extreme impatience,
+and an irritation of spirit he with difficulty controlled.
+
+Presently he bent imprudently forward over the fire, and as the
+blaze he had kindled suddenly burst forth, amid a shower of sparks,
+the Baron started back, hastily withdrawing his hand, and uttering a
+half-suppressed exclamation of pain.
+
+'Have you burnt yourself?' asked Edmund, looking up.
+
+Heideck examined his hand, which certainly showed a small red scar.
+
+'The stoves here are so badly constructed,' he cried petulantly,
+giving vent to his secret vexation, and still with the same nervous
+haste tore a handkerchief from his breast-pocket to apply to the
+little wound. The handkerchief brought with it another article, which
+fell on the floor, and rolled close to Edmund's feet. Heideck stooped
+to pick it up, but it was too late; his nephew had been beforehand
+with him.
+
+Already the miniature-case was in Edmund's hands. The spring, long
+grown slack, had given way in the fall, and the cover had started
+open. A fate must have attached to this unhappy picture. Precisely as
+it was about to be destroyed, it thus fell into the hands of him who
+never should have beheld it!
+
+'My likeness?' cried Edmund, in the greatest amazement. 'How did you
+come by it, uncle?'
+
+Every trace of colour had faded from the Baron's face, but it was only
+for a moment. He felt how much was at stake. By a strenuous effort of
+his will he succeeded in recovering outward calm, and taking advantage
+of the error, replied:
+
+'You seem surprised. Why should I not possess a portrait of you?'
+
+As he spoke, he made an attempt to take the case from the young man's
+hand, but the latter stepped back, and declined to surrender it.
+
+'But I never sat for this portrait, and what is the meaning of this
+uniform, which I have never worn?'
+
+'Edmund, give me back that case,' said Heideck authoritatively,
+stretching out his hand for it again--but in vain. Had it not been for
+that previous occurrence in the Countess's room, Edmund would probably
+have allowed himself to be deceived by any pretext invented on the
+spur of the moment, for suspicion and distrust were far removed from
+his open, ingenuous nature. But now both had been inoculated, now he
+knew that some secret, some baneful secret, was being kept from him.
+His instinct told him that it had some connection with this picture,
+and he obstinately clung to the clue thus obtained, little dreaming as
+yet, it is true, whither it would lead.
+
+'How did you come by the picture, uncle?' he asked again, this time in
+a somewhat louder key.
+
+'That I will tell you when you have restored it to me,' was the sharp
+reply.
+
+For all answer, Edmund stepped from the centre of the room, growing
+dark in the gathering twilight, to the window, where he could still
+see clearly, and began to study the picture, trait by trait, and line
+by line, as Oswald had studied it on the preceding day.
+
+A long and troubled pause ensued.
+
+Heideck convulsively grasped the back of the chair from which he had
+sprung. He had no choice but to look on in silence; for he told
+himself that any false step now, any attempt at forcible interference,
+might be the ruin of them all; but the ordeal of suspense was hard to
+bear.
+
+'Are you satisfied?' he asked, when some minutes had elapsed; 'and do
+you intend to restore to me my property?'
+
+Edmund turned.
+
+'That is not my portrait,' he said slowly, emphasising each word; 'but
+it bears an extraordinary resemblance to myself, one which deceives at
+the first glance. Whom does it represent?'
+
+Baron Heideck had foreseen the question, and was prepared for it. So
+he answered without hesitation:
+
+'A relation of ours who has been dead many years.'
+
+'An Ettersberg?'
+
+'No; a member of my family.'
+
+'Indeed. And why have I never heard of this relative, and of the
+wonderful resemblance existing between him and me?'
+
+'By mere accident, probably. Good heavens, you need not stare at the
+picture so persistently! Such likenesses are frequent enough among
+relations.'
+
+'Frequent?' repeated Edmund mechanically. 'Was this the fatal souvenir
+which must disappear to-day? Had you destined it to be consumed by
+those flames? Was it for this you had the fire lighted?'
+
+The young Count's deadly pallor, the faint accents of his voice,
+showed that he felt himself to be nearing an abyss, though as yet he
+could not fathom its depth. Heideck saw this, and made a last
+desperate effort to drag him from the brink.
+
+'Edmund, my patience is now thoroughly exhausted,' he said, taking
+refuge in simulated anger. 'You cannot seriously suppose that I shall
+make reply to this folly, or try to solve all the mad fancies of your
+brain.'
+
+'I demand that the secret of this portrait be made known to me,' cried
+Edmund, summoning up all his energy. 'You must give me an answer,
+uncle, now--at once, or you will drive me to extreme measures.'
+
+Heideck racked his brain in vain to find a way out of the dilemma. He
+was not skilful in lying, and felt, moreover, that his nephew would no
+longer be deceived. The one chance left him was to gain time.
+
+'You shall hear the story later on,' he said evasively. 'At this
+moment you are too excited, you are still suffering from the effects
+of your wound. This is not a fitting time to discuss such matters.'
+
+'So you refuse to answer me,' Edmund broke out, with sudden fierce
+vehemence. 'You cannot, or will not, reply. So be it. I will apply to
+my mother, she shall give me an account of this.'
+
+He rushed out of the room, and was down the stairs before his uncle
+could check him. The Baron hastened after the young man, but the
+pursuit was fruitless. When he reached his sister's room, Edmund had
+already entered, and closed the door of the boudoir behind him. It was
+impossible even to hear what was going on in the inner apartment.
+Heideck saw that he must abstain from further interference. The matter
+was taking its fated course.
+
+'There will be a catastrophe,' he said to himself hoarsely. 'Poor
+Constance! I fear that your punishment may prove greater than your
+offence.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Next morning brought inclement autumn weather. Fog and drizzling rain
+obscured the landscape, and bushes and flowers bore evidences of the
+first nipping frost.
+
+All the Ettersberg servants had their heads together, and were asking
+each other what could possibly have happened. That something had
+happened was as clear as day.
+
+But the afternoon before, when the visitors from Brunneck had been at
+the castle, perfect union and cheerfulness had reigned; but shortly
+afterwards, from the moment the young master had left his mother's
+apartments, there had been disturbance throughout the house.
+
+Since then the Count had remained invisible, shut up in his own room.
+The Countess was very ill, so her maid reported; but she would see no
+one, and had even forbidden that a doctor should be sent for.
+
+Baron Heideck had made two attempts that morning to gain access to his
+nephew. To him, as to all others, admittance was refused. Family
+scenes being things quite unfamiliar to this household, imagination
+had the greater scope, and supplied various explanations, none of
+which, however, approached the truth.
+
+It was almost noon. Heideck had made a third essay to reach the young
+Count, but once more without avail. Old Everard, dismayed and
+helpless, stood in the presence of the Baron, who was saying, with
+great determination of tone:
+
+'I must see my nephew, cost what it may. It is impossible that he can
+be deaf to all this calling and knocking. Something must have happened
+to him.'
+
+'I heard the Count pacing incessantly up and down all night,' timidly
+remarked Everard. 'He has only been quiet for the last half-hour.'
+
+'No matter,' declared Heideck. 'He may have had a fresh hemorrhage
+from his wound and have fainted. I have no alternative but to force
+open the door.'
+
+'There may, perhaps, be another way,' said Everard hesitatingly. 'The
+small tapestried door, which leads from the Count's dressing-room to
+his bedroom, is generally kept unlocked. If we----'
+
+'Why did you not tell me this before?' Heideck interrupted him, with
+some heat. 'Why did I not hear of this the first thing this morning?
+Show me the door at once.'
+
+The old servant suffered the rebuke in silence. He did not believe in
+the fainting or the hemorrhage, the fear of which was to serve as a
+pretext for a forcible intrusion. He had distinctly heard his young
+master's footsteps all the night through, but had felt that the latter
+desired to be left absolutely alone. Now, however, no choice was left
+him; he must point out the door of which he had spoken. It proved to
+be unlocked, as he had supposed.
+
+Heideck motioned to the old man to remain outside, and went in alone
+to his nephew. The bedchamber was empty, the bed untouched. With rapid
+steps, the Baron passed on into the adjoining sitting-room, and an
+exclamation of relief escaped his lips as he caught sight of Edmund.
+For the last few minutes he had feared the worst.
+
+'Edmund, it is I,' he said, in a low voice.
+
+No answer came. The young Count seemed to have noticed neither his
+words nor his approach. He was lying on the sofa with his face buried
+in the cushions, having, as it seemed, thus thrown himself down from
+sheer fatigue. His attitude betrayed that utter exhaustion which comes
+as a reaction after any great tension of mind or body.
+
+'How could you cause us so much anxiety?' said Heideck reproachfully.
+'Three times to-day have I knocked at your door in vain, and I have
+been compelled almost to force an entrance here.'
+
+Again there was no reply. Edmund remained quite motionless. His uncle
+went nearer, and bent over him.
+
+'Give me a word of answer, Edmund. You rushed away like a madman
+yesterday. There was no holding you back. I trust that you have grown
+calmer by now, and that you can at least listen to what I have to say.
+I have just come from your mother----'
+
+The mention of this name seemed at length to produce some effect.
+Edmund shivered slightly, and sat up.
+
+At sight of his countenance the Baron started back, scared and
+shocked.
+
+'For God's sake, what ails you? How can you allow yourself to be so
+utterly overcome?'
+
+The young man's features were indeed so changed as to be hardly
+recognisable. The misfortune which had befallen him seemed at one dire
+stroke to have taken from him all strength and courage. The dimmed
+look of his eyes and the complete prostration evident in voice and
+bearing told this plainly, as he replied:
+
+'What is there for me yet to hear?'
+
+'You know no details. Have you really no questions to put to me?'
+
+'None.'
+
+Heideck glanced uneasily at his nephew. A passionate outburst of
+feeling would have pleased him better than this numb listlessness. He
+sat down by Edmund and took his hand.
+
+The young man offered no resistance; he seemed hardly to know what was
+going on about him.
+
+'Yesterday I did all in my power to conceal the truth from you,'
+pursued the Baron; 'for I myself am perhaps not blameless in this
+unhappy business. I interfered in a somewhat arbitrary manner with the
+lives of two human beings, and the fault, if fault it were, has been
+cruelly avenged. My intentions were indeed of the best. I knew that
+the young officer to whom my sister was attached, and even secretly
+engaged, was as poor as herself. He had no fortune to offer her, he
+could not have married for years, and I had too sincere an affection
+for Constance to allow her to lose the bloom of her youth, to pine
+away in anxiety and sadness. When I separated her from her first love,
+and persuaded her to accept the hand of Count Ettersberg, I did so in
+the firm persuasion that her attachment had been a mere transient
+romance, a passing fancy, which marriage would cure at once and
+effectually. Could I have guessed what deep root the feeling had
+taken, I would not have interfered. It was only about a year later,
+when I heard that the regiment had been moved and quartered in the
+garrison-town nearest to Ettersberg, that I began to divine a danger,
+and my next visit here transformed the suspicion into a certainty.
+When the two met, their old love sprang up with fresh intensity, and
+developed into a passion which bore down all barriers before it. When
+I discovered this, when I stepped between them and forcibly recalled
+them to a sense of their duty, it ... it was, I grieve to say, too
+late!'
+
+He paused, and seemed to expect an answer. Edmund withdrew his hand
+from his uncle's grasp, and stood up.
+
+'Go on,' he said, in a half-stifled voice.
+
+'I have nothing more to add. With this separation all was over. I told
+you yesterday that the portrait was the portrait of a dead man. He
+fell the very next year, being one of the first victims of the war
+which then broke out. My sister never saw him again. Now you know the
+chain of events, and how it all happened; now try to regain composure.
+I can understand that it has been a terrible blow to you. You must
+accept it as a hard decree of Fate.'
+
+'Yes, a hard decree,' repeated Edmund. 'You see that I succumb to it.'
+
+'A man must not so easily succumb to life's first trouble,' said
+Heideck earnestly. 'You will learn to bear that which must be borne.
+But now exert yourself, and put from you this useless brooding over
+the unalterable, the irreparable. Will you not come with me to your
+mother?'
+
+The young Count negatived the proposal with a hasty gesture.
+
+'No, uncle. Do not ask that of me, not that!'
+
+'Edmund, be reasonable. You cannot remain shut up in your rooms for
+ever.'
+
+'I shall leave them to-day. In a couple of hours I shall start on a
+journey.'
+
+'On a journey? Where do you mean to go?'
+
+'To town, to Oswald.'
+
+'To Oswald!' cried Heideck, bounding from his seat, and staring at his
+nephew as though he had not heard aright. 'Are you out of your
+senses?'
+
+'Did you imagine that I should be the accomplice of this fraud?' burst
+forth Edmund, his unnatural calm suddenly merging into a fierce blaze
+of anger. 'Did you really think it possible that I should be silent
+and continue to play the master here, when the rightful heir is driven
+out, leading a life of privation and almost of poverty? If you two can
+do it, I cannot. How I am to bear the terrible existence before me,
+whether I shall be able to bear it at all, I know not. But this I do
+know. I must go to Oswald, must tell him that he has been cheated,
+defrauded, that Ettersberg is his of right. He shall hear it all;
+then ... then it will matter little what becomes of me.'
+
+Heideck had listened in mortal alarm. Whatever he may have feared, for
+this turn of affairs he certainly was not prepared. Were Edmund to
+learn that his cousin knew, or at least divined, the secret, an
+explanation between the two could no longer be prevented, and so the
+whole edifice would crash to pieces.
+
+The uncle understood all the incalculable consequences of such a
+catastrophe better than his impetuous nephew, and he was resolved to
+prevent it at any price.
+
+'You forget that you are not the only person concerned in this,' he
+said emphatically. 'Have you not thought whom the confession you
+propose making would disgrace and dishonour?'
+
+Edmund recoiled, and the feverish glow which had overspread his
+features gave way to a livid pallor.
+
+'Oswald has always been your mother's enemy,' continued Heideck. 'He
+has always hated her, and she has never deceived herself as to his
+sentiments. Will you really go to him--to him of all people, with a
+tale which will ruin her? What a triumph for him to see at length the
+woman he hates in the dust before him, to hear her own son----'
+
+'Uncle, no more,' broke in Edmund, with a wild cry. 'I cannot bear
+it.'
+
+'I should not have supposed you could hesitate a moment between your
+mother and Oswald,' said the Baron, frowning. 'But here there is
+really no alternative. You must yield to necessity.'
+
+Edmund had thrown himself on to a chair, and hidden his face in his
+hands. A low groan escaped his overcharged breast.
+
+'Do you think it has been a light thing for me to keep silence, and to
+aid and abet that which you call fraud?' asked his uncle, after a
+short pause. 'But I repeat, you have here no choice. The entailed
+estates are not transferable; they cannot be alienated from you. You
+must either remain Master of Ettersberg, or proclaim your secret to
+the world--in which case the honour of two houses, of Heideck as of
+Ettersberg, will be irretrievably lost. There is no other issue. I set
+this distinctly before my sister in years gone by, when she was on the
+point of owning all to her husband; now again I must call upon you to
+recognise it. You must be silent. If Oswald's future is sacrificed
+through our silence, we cannot help that. The family honour stands
+higher than his right.'
+
+He spoke with iron firmness and composure, but this only lent more
+power to his words, and Edmund felt the truth that was in them. A
+desperate struggle was going on in the young man's breast, a struggle
+between his sense of justice and the stern necessity which was so
+forcibly demonstrated to him.
+
+Oswald's query recurred to his mind. 'Suppose silence was imposed on
+you for the sake of the family honour?'
+
+He was, indeed, far from attributing to his cousin's words any deeper
+significance, or from divining his knowledge of the truth. That
+conversation had come about most naturally. The young Count remembered
+in this hour how he had been fired with indignation at the bare notion
+that anyone could impute to his mother interested motives. How proudly
+and disdainfully had he declared that no shadow, no slur should attach
+itself to his life, that he must ever bear himself before the world
+with a clear conscience and unsullied brow! Two days ago he had held
+that language, and now....
+
+Baron Heideck lost not a moment in pursuing his advantage. He had
+recourse to the last and most effectual weapon in his armoury.
+
+'Now come with me to your mother,' he said, in a milder tone. 'You do
+not know how cruelly she has suffered since yesterday evening. She is
+waiting in terrible suspense for news of you, for a word from your
+lips. Come.'
+
+Edmund passively allowed himself to be raised from his seat and led a
+few steps towards the door. There he halted suddenly.
+
+'I cannot,' he said.
+
+Heideck, who had thrown open the door, which had been locked on the
+inside, paid no attention to this protest, but endeavoured to draw his
+nephew from the room. The latter now resisted energetically.
+
+'I cannot see my mother. Do not press me, uncle; do not try
+compulsion, or there will be a repetition of last night's scene.'
+
+He freed himself from Heideck's grasp, and pulled the bell. Everard
+came in at once.
+
+'My horse,' commanded his master. 'Have him saddled immediately.'
+
+'Is this your reply to all that I have been saying to you? Has it all
+been in vain?' cried Heideck, in despair, when the man had withdrawn.
+'Can you really still intend to take that journey?'
+
+'No, I shall remain; but I must be out in the open air, or I shall
+stifle. Let me go, uncle.'
+
+'First give me your word that you will do nothing rash, nothing
+desperate. In your present state, you are capable of any madness. What
+am I to say to your mother?'
+
+'What you will. I have no other intention than to ride about the
+country for a couple of hours. Perhaps I shall be better then.'
+
+With these words Edmund hurried away, his uncle making no further
+effort to stop him. He saw that neither persuasion nor soothing words
+of comfort could avail at present. Perhaps it would be well to let the
+storm spend itself.
+
+Hour after hour passed. Noon came, then gradually dusk drew on, and
+still the young Count did not appear. At the castle the anxiety
+produced by his protracted absence grew with every minute. Baron
+Heideck reproached himself most bitterly for having allowed his nephew
+to leave him in so excited a frame of mind, but he was obliged to
+conceal his fears. He had to be strong, to think and act for his
+sister, whose brain seemed well-nigh to reel beneath the weight of
+dread and suspense. She wandered from room to room, from window to
+window, rejecting all her brother's attempts at encouragement with a
+mute, despairing gesture. Better than he, than anyone, she knew her
+son, and knew therefore what was to be feared.
+
+'It really is useless for us to send messengers, Constance,' said
+Heideck, as he stood near her at the window. 'We have not even an
+approximate idea of the road Edmund took, and it only causes the
+servants to shake their heads and gossip more persistently. The young
+madman must have tired himself out by this time. Now that it is
+growing dark he is sure to turn homewards.'
+
+'If he has not started on his journey after all,' whispered the
+Countess, whose eyes never once swerved from the avenue leading up to
+the castle.
+
+'No,' replied Heideck decidedly. 'I made it evident to him that his
+confession would involve another, and who that other would be; we have
+nothing to fear on that score. He has certainly not gone to Oswald,
+but----'
+
+He forebore to finish his speech, out of consideration to the
+Countess, but a great dread had seized upon him. Might not his nephew,
+by some despairing act, have sought a solution which would be worse,
+more cruel even than the threatened avowal to Oswald?
+
+Another troubled pause ensued, another interval of painful silence,
+such as had frequently occurred that afternoon. Suddenly the Countess
+started up with a cry, and bent forward, far out of the window.
+Heideck, following her example, could discern nothing, but the
+mother's eye had already recognised the figure of her son, in spite of
+mist and gathering darkness. There he was--still distant, however--at
+the farther end of the avenue. The Countess's self-control now utterly
+forsook her. She did not remember that a plea of illness had been
+advanced for her to the servants: did not stay to consider how Edmund
+might receive her. She only wanted to see him; to have him with her
+again, and she rushed to meet him, so swiftly and impetuously that her
+brother could hardly follow her.
+
+Outside in the vestibule they had a few minutes to wait, for the young
+Count, who had set off from home at a furious gallop, was returning at
+a snail's pace. The horse, fairly bathed in sweat, trembled in every
+limb; at length it halted before the door. The animal was evidently
+completely spent, and its rider seemed to be in the same condition.
+He, who usually would swing himself so lightly from the saddle,
+dismounted now slowly, almost laboriously, and it cost him a visible
+effort to ascend the few steps leading up to the entrance-hall.
+
+The Countess stood on the very spot where some months before she had
+received her son on his return from his foreign travels. Then, radiant
+with the happiness of meeting her, he had rushed impetuously into her
+arms. Today he did not even notice that his mother was there. His
+clothes were saturated with rain, his damp hair clung to his brow, and
+he moved slowly forward, never looking round, but walking straight in
+towards the staircase.
+
+'Edmund!'
+
+It was a faint, trembling cry. Edmund turned, and beheld his mother
+standing close before him. She said not another word, but in her eyes
+he could read the misery, the anguish of the last few hours. And as
+she stretched forth her arms to him, he did not recoil, but stooped
+down to her. His lips met her forehead with a damp and icy touch, and
+in a whisper, audible to her alone, he said:
+
+'Be at peace, mother. I will try and bear it for your sake.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+Two months had now passed since Oswald had taken up his abode in the
+capital, where he had met with a most friendly welcome. His friend and
+patron, Councillor Braun, ranked among the first jurisconsults of that
+city, and this gentleman, happy to lend a helping hand to the son of
+his deceased friend, stood warmly by him, advancing his interests, and
+lending him all the assistance in his power. He comprehended and
+sympathized with this young man in the resolution he had taken. It was
+a worthy impulse, the old lawyer felt, which withdrew Oswald from a
+life of dependence, easy and brilliant though it might be in outward
+circumstances--a right feeling which made him prefer to work and
+struggle on alone, rather than to receive constant benefits from his
+relations, and submit, in return, to play a subordinate part through
+life.
+
+Herr Braun and his wife were childless, and their young guest was
+received by them almost on the footing of a son. Oswald threw himself
+zealously into the work before him, and the approaching examination
+left him little leisure to ruminate on all that he had left at
+Ettersberg; still, it surprised him greatly that no news from the
+castle had reached him. Edmund had replied to his first long letter
+full of details by only a few lines, the style of which seemed
+strangely forced.
+
+An excuse was offered for this brief note on the score of a maimed
+hand, the writer's wound being not yet healed. Oswald was still
+looking for a response to his second epistle, though weeks had elapsed
+since it had been despatched.
+
+The young man knew full well that by the return of that picture the
+bridge of communication between himself and the Countess had been
+broken once and for all, that she would now use every effort to loose
+the bonds which bound him to her son; but it seemed impossible that
+Edmund should succumb so quickly and completely to her influence.
+
+Thoughtless as the young Count often showed himself, his friendship
+for his cousin had ever been faithful and true. He could not have
+forgotten the friend of his youth in the course of a few short weeks.
+There must be something else that prevented his writing.
+
+The first days of December had arrived. Oswald's examination was over;
+he had passed it brilliantly, and was desirous of at once entering
+upon his new career. But Councillor Braun declared decidedly that
+after the exertions of the last few weeks the young man stood in need
+of rest, that he must grant himself a respite, and remain on some
+little while longer as a guest in his house.
+
+Half reluctantly Oswald yielded. He felt himself that he required a
+certain breathing-time after the constant study and strain, which had
+lasted since the preceding spring.
+
+In that passionate struggle for independence he had made almost too
+great demands on his strength.
+
+The great lawyer was in his consultation-room, where he had just
+completed the business of the day, when Oswald came in with a letter,
+which he placed on a pile of correspondence prepared for the post. It
+was about the hour when the servant generally collected and despatched
+it.
+
+'Have you been writing to Ettersberg?' asked the old gentleman,
+looking up.
+
+Oswald replied in the affirmative. He had conveyed to Edmund the news
+of his successful examination. An answer must come now at length, he
+thought; this protracted silence began to cause him some uneasiness.
+
+'We were talking of the Ettersberg property here, not long ago,' said
+the lawyer. 'One of my clients intends to purchase timber from the
+estate to a large amount, and he consulted me as to one or two points
+in the bargain.'
+
+Oswald's attention was roused at once. 'Purchase timber to a large
+amount? There must be some mistake. So much wood has been cut down of
+late years in the Ettersberg forests, that they now require great care
+and the nicest handling. My cousin is aware of this; he could not
+possibly have been persuaded into taking such a step.'
+
+The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. 'Nevertheless, I can assure you, it
+is as I say. My client does not treat with the Count himself, but with
+the bailiff. Of course, the man must be empowered to make such
+arrangements.'
+
+'The bailiff will be leaving his situation shortly,' remarked Oswald.
+'He received notice to quit in the summer, having proved himself
+flagrantly incompetent. He cannot, I should suppose, have been left in
+possession of the extended powers Baron Heideck conferred on him years
+ago. I imagined that Edmund would recall those when he took upon
+himself the management of his own affairs. Suppose such not to have
+been the case?'
+
+'It would be an act of unpardonable negligence on the part of the
+young Count,' replied the lawyer. 'To leave for months powers such as
+these in the hands of a person whom he is about to dismiss, with whose
+services he is dissatisfied! Do you really think it possible?'
+
+Oswald was silent. He well knew Edmund's heedlessness and indifference
+to all business matters, and was persuaded that he had left matters
+exactly as he had found them.
+
+'The sum in question is an important one,' went on the lawyer, who
+understood his silence. 'Yet the price to be paid by the purchaser is
+a very low one, immediate payment in cash being demanded.'
+
+'I think there must be something more here than a mere assumption of
+authority on the steward's part,' said Oswald uneasily. 'Hitherto he
+has been looked upon as an honest man, but the fact that he is about
+to lose his situation may tempt him to take fraudulent advantage of
+the means at his command. My cousin has certainly not given his
+consent to this bargain. Why, it would entail the devastation of his
+forests! I am convinced that he knows nothing at all about it.'
+
+'That may be--but if the man's powers are not cancelled, he will have
+to recognise a transaction which is concluded in his name. You had
+better telegraph to Ettersberg, and inquire how the matter stands.
+Perhaps a timely warning may be of some avail.'
+
+'No doubt, if timely it prove. When are the formalities of the sale to
+be settled?'
+
+'In two or three days. Probably the day after to-morrow.'
+
+'Then I must go over to Ettersberg myself,' said the young man
+resolutely. 'A mere telegram will serve us nothing. Immediate and
+active steps must be taken, for as I understand the business, there is
+an act of robbery in contemplation which we have to prevent. Edmund
+unfortunately is too confiding in such matters, and will allow himself
+to be deceived by all sorts of shifts and subterfuges until it is too
+late to think of a remedy. I am at liberty just at present, and in
+three days I can be back. It will certainly be best that I should see
+my cousin and give him the necessary information, that he may act
+without delay.'
+
+Councillor Braun assented. The whole business, and especially the
+hurried manner in which it was transacted, seemed to him suspicious in
+the highest degree, and it pleased him that the young man, who had, so
+to say, broken with his relations, should now so decidedly, and
+without a moment's hesitation, interfere to protect them from loss and
+injury.
+
+In the course of that same evening Oswald made all preparations for
+his improvised journey. Ettersberg was situated within easy reach of
+the city. By taking the morning train he could be there by noon. Some
+pretext could easily be found by which his visit to the castle could
+be limited to a day or two at most, and the wedding, which at all
+costs he was determined to avoid, was not to take place until
+Christmas.
+
+At Ettersberg nothing, of course, was known of this intended visit.
+The dwellers at the castle had enough, and more than enough, to do
+with the preparations for the coming wedding and for the accommodation
+of the young couple in their future home. Many alterations were being
+made on the _bel étage_, which was to be given up altogether to the
+Count and his wife, and the necessary arrangements were as yet by no
+means completed. Besides this, Schönfeld had to be set in readiness
+for the Dowager Countess, who intended to take up her residence there
+directly after the wedding.
+
+The Countess's resolve to leave Ettersberg after her son's marriage
+had taken everyone by surprise. She had, it is true, occasionally
+alluded to such a plan, but never in real earnest, and had always
+submitted with a very good grace to Edmund's vehement protests against
+the idea of a separation. Now both seemed to have altered their views.
+The Countess suddenly announced that in future she should make her
+home at Schönfeld, a smaller dwelling which her husband had expressly
+appointed her for a dower-house, and Edmund raised no objection
+whatsoever. At Brunneck this sudden determination excited much
+amazement and comment, but at the same time it gave entire
+satisfaction. Rüstow had always feared for his daughter a life under
+the same roof with her mother-in-law, and this unexpected turn of
+events was too welcome and acceptable in itself for him to muse or
+ponder much over the cause of it.
+
+The last two months had sped by with wonderful rapidity, leaving
+little or no time for meditation of any sort. First, there was Dornau
+to take possession of, to restore and furnish throughout, before, as
+Hedwig's dowry, it returned to Ettersberg for ever. What with this and
+the preparations for the coming wedding, which was to be a very
+brilliant affair, with the constant flow of visits and invitations
+from all quarters--they had lived in a whirl of occupation and
+excitement. Autumn was always the gay season here in the country.
+Great hunts were held and shooting-parties organized by the landed
+proprietors in the neighbourhood, and to these balls and other
+festivities were naturally superadded. There had been an almost
+uninterrupted series of fêtes and entertainments ever since September.
+If now and then, by some chance, the Brunneck family remained at home
+without visitors, there was so much to talk over and to discuss that
+anything like quiet domestic comfort was out of the question. Rüstow
+had more than once declared that he could not hold out under such
+pressure much longer, and that he wished to heaven the wedding were
+over--then perhaps he might enjoy a little peace once more. The day of
+the great event was already fixed; in three weeks' time the marriage
+was to take place at Brunneck, and the newly-married couple would then
+proceed to Ettersberg, their future home.
+
+In the drawing-room at the castle, where the family generally
+assembled when alone, the Countess sat with a book in her hand,
+reading, or appearing to read. Hedwig, who was paying one of her
+frequent visits to Ettersberg, stood by the window, looking out at the
+snow-clad landscape. Winter had long ago set in, and to-day there was
+a fine continuous fall of drizzling flakes which certainly did not
+induce to outdoor exercise.
+
+'Edmund is not coming back yet,' said the young lady, breaking a
+silence which had lasted some considerable time. 'What an idea to ride
+out in such weather as this!'
+
+'You know that it is his daily habit,' replied the Countess, without
+looking up from her book.
+
+'But he has only taken up the habit of late. He used to be very
+sensitive on the score of the weather, and a shower of rain would send
+him home at once. Now he seems rather to prefer wild and stormy days
+for rushing about the country, and he will stay out in the rain and
+snow for hours together.'
+
+The words, or rather their tone, betrayed a certain unmistakable
+anxiety.
+
+The Countess made no reply. She turned over the pages of her book,
+apparently absorbed by its interest, but a close observer would have
+remarked that she did not read a line.
+
+Hedwig turned from the window, and, coming back into the room,
+approached her hostess.
+
+'Do you not think that Edmund is strangely altered, mamma? I have
+noticed it for the last two months.'
+
+'Altered? How? In what?'
+
+'In everything.'
+
+The Countess leaned her head on her hand, and again remained silent.
+She clearly wished to avoid any discussion on this subject, but the
+young girl held steadily to her point.
+
+'I have been wishing to speak to you about this for some time, mamma.
+I cannot conceal from you that Edmund's behaviour makes me feel very
+uneasy--frightens me, in fact. He is so different from what he used to
+be; so uneven and variable in mood and temper; so strange even in his
+manner towards me. He seems feverishly anxious that all the
+preparations for the wedding should be pushed on as quickly as
+possible, and, on the other hand, there are times when he shows
+himself to be quite indifferent, and so totally unsympathetic that I
+have fancied he may wish the marriage to be deferred.'
+
+'Set your mind at rest, my child,' said the Countess, in a tone which
+was intended to be soothing, but which yet rang with concentrated
+bitterness. '_You_ have not lost his love. His tenderness towards you
+has suffered no change. I think you must feel this yourself. Edmund
+does appear rather excitable just now, I admit. He has been too gay,
+too much into company of late--indeed, we have all of us been involved
+in a perfect whirl of dissipation. Really, these incessant _réunions_,
+these meets, these dinners and evening parties, have hardly left us
+time to breathe. You yourself have been rather overtaxing your
+strength in this way, and it is not surprising if your nerves are a
+little tried by overmuch excitement.'
+
+'I would willingly have refused half the invitations,' said Hedwig,
+with some emotion; 'but Edmund insisted on our accepting them. We have
+had no peace ever since September, but have been fairly driven from
+one fête, from one visit to another; and when we contrive to stay at
+home, meaning to rest a little, Edmund comes with some new proposal,
+or brings some new visitor to the house. It seems really as though he
+could not bear to be quiet an hour either here or at Brunneck, as
+though anything like solitude were a positive torture to him.'
+
+The Countess's lips quivered, and accidentally, as it were, she turned
+her face away, replying, however, with perfect outward composure:
+
+'Nonsense! Why indulge in such silly fancies? Edmund has always been
+fond of society, and you yourself formerly took delight in constant
+gaiety and pleasure. I should not have expected such a complaint from
+you, of all people. What has happened to produce such an alteration in
+your feelings?'
+
+'I am anxious about Edmund,' confessed the young girl; 'and I see
+plainly that he takes no pleasure in all this dissipation, though he
+seems to seek it so eagerly. There is something so unnatural, so
+spasmodic in his mirth, that it gives me quite a pang to witness it.
+Do not try to deny this either to me or to yourself, mamma. It is
+impossible you should not have remarked the change. I fear that in
+secret it troubles you as much as it troubles myself.'
+
+'What avails my trouble or anxiety?' said the Countess, almost
+harshly. 'Edmund cares nothing for either.' Then, with a quick
+diversion, as though feeling that she had said too much, she added,
+with assumed coldness, 'You must learn to understand your husband's
+character and little ways without assistance from anyone else, my
+dear. He is not quite so easy to manage as you perhaps imagined at the
+outset. But he loves you--this is certain, and you will therefore have
+no great difficulty in discovering the proper course to take. I have
+made up my mind never to interfere between you. You see that I have
+even abandoned the idea of living under one roof with my son and his
+wife.'
+
+The rebuff was plain enough. Hedwig felt chilled to the soul, as had
+often been the case when she had attempted to win from her future
+mother-in-law any mark of hearty confidence or affection. That
+interview with Oswald had shown her what a rock lay ahead, and what a
+rival she would have in the Countess; but on this occasion she felt
+that the cool repellent answer had been prompted by some other motive
+than mere jealousy. There was some secret misunderstanding between
+Edmund and his mother.
+
+Hedwig had long remarked this fact, though they strove outwardly to
+preserve their old demeanour. In the first days of the engagement the
+Countess had relinquished none of her claims, had shown herself by no
+means inclined to yield to her successor the first place in her son's
+affections. Why should she suddenly make open renunciation of her
+influence? The step was little in accordance with her character.
+
+In the eagerness of their talk, the two ladies had failed to hear the
+sound of a horse's hoofs without. They turned in some surprise as the
+door opened, and the young Count appeared. He had laid aside his hat
+and overcoat, but a snowflake still hung here and there in his dark
+hair, and his heated face showed how wild had been the ride from which
+he had just returned. He came in quickly, and pressed his lips
+hastily, almost roughly, to Hedwig's brow, as she went forward to meet
+him.
+
+'You have been out two whole hours, Edmund,' said the young girl, with
+an accent of reproach. 'If the snow-storm had set in earlier, I should
+not have let you go.'
+
+'Why, do you want to make me effeminate? This is just the weather that
+suits me.'
+
+'How long has it suited you? Formerly you liked, you were satisfied
+with nothing but sunshine.'
+
+Edmund's face darkened at this remark, and he replied curtly:
+
+'Formerly, perhaps. But we have changed all that.' Then he went up to
+the Countess, and kissed her hand. There was, however, no attempt at
+the affectionate embrace with which in the old days he had always
+greeted her; as though accidentally, he avoided the armchair which
+stood vacant between the ladies, and threw himself on a seat near
+Hedwig. There was a certain nervous haste and restlessness in all his
+movements which had never before characterized them, and a like
+feverish excitableness was to be remarked in his voice and manner, as
+in the course of conversation he passed from one subject to another,
+never pursuing any for more than a few minutes.
+
+'Hedwig was becoming very anxious at your long absence,' remarked the
+Countess.
+
+'Anxious?' repeated Edmund. 'What in the world could make you anxious,
+Hedwig? Were you afraid I might be buried beneath a drift?'
+
+'No; but I do not like these wild rides of yours about the country.
+You have grown so extremely reckless and imprudent of late.'
+
+'Nonsense! you are a dauntless horsewoman yourself, and never show the
+smallest signs of fear when we ride out together.'
+
+'When you are with me you are more careful, but whenever you go out
+alone you rush along at a mad pace which is positively dangerous.'
+
+'Bah, dangerous! No danger will touch me, you may rely upon it.'
+
+The words conveyed none of the old merry, lighthearted confidence
+wherewith the young Count had been wont to boast of his happy star. On
+the contrary, they seemed rather to imply a challenge to Fate, a mute
+impeachment of its hard decrees.
+
+The Countess raised her eyes slowly, and fixed on her son a stern and
+sombre gaze. He, however, seemed not to remark this, but continued
+more lightly:
+
+'It is to be hoped we may have finer weather for our shooting
+to-morrow. I am expecting some gentlemen who will probably be here
+this afternoon.'
+
+'Why, two days ago the whole neighbourhood was gathered together for a
+monster shooting-party here at Ettersberg, and the day after to-morrow
+we are to have exactly the same affair over at Brunneck.'
+
+'Does the invitation displease you?' asked Edmund jestingly, 'I
+certainly ought first to have solicited the gracious permission of you
+ladies, and really the thought of my omission overwhelms me with
+confusion.'
+
+'Hedwig is right,' said the Countess. 'You do exact too much of us all
+just now. We have not had a day to ourselves for weeks, not one quiet
+day without visitors to receive or visits to pay. I shall be glad to
+retire into my nook at Schönfeld and to leave you to continue this
+fatiguing round of dissipation by yourselves.'
+
+But a few months previously, such an allusion to the approaching
+separation would have called forth from Edmund an energetic protest, a
+warm appeal. He had always vowed that he could not live without his
+mother. Now he was silent; by not a syllable did he gainsay her
+resolution, nor did he reproach her for her longing to depart.
+
+'Well, well, you need only see these gentlemen at dinner,' he said,
+completely ignoring the last remark. 'They will be out in the woods
+all day.'
+
+'And you with them, I suppose,' said Hedwig. 'We hoped we might at
+least have you for one day to ourselves.'
+
+Edmund laughed outright. 'How very flattering! But your nature seems
+to have undergone a wonderful change, Hedwig. In former times I never
+remarked in you this romantic fancy for solitude. Have you grown
+misanthropic?'
+
+'No; I am only tired,' said the young girl, in a low voice, which
+certainly bespoke profound weariness.
+
+'How can a girl of eighteen feel tired when there is some pleasure or
+a party in view?' Edmund returned in a tone of banter, and then went
+on in the old vein, alternately teasing and coaxing his betrothed.
+
+It was quite a firework-display of wit and humour, the jests following
+each other in quick rocket-like succession, but the old spirit was
+wanting to them. This was no longer the bright, saucy badinage in
+which the young Count had so excelled of old.
+
+Hedwig was right. There was something wild and spasmodic in his
+gaiety, which was far too loud and tempestuous to be natural. His
+mirth turned to mockery, his satire to a sneer. Then his laughter was
+so shrill and his eyes shone with so feverish a glow that it was
+almost painful to see and hear him.
+
+Old Everard now came in, and announced that the messenger, who was
+going over to Brunneck, was awaiting his orders without. Fräulein
+Rüstow had said there was a letter she desired to send. Hedwig rose
+and left the drawing-room, and almost simultaneously Edmund stood up
+and would have followed her out, but the Countess called him back.
+
+'Have you anything to say to the messenger?'
+
+'Yes, mother. I was going to send word over to Brunneck that they
+might reckon on our coming the day after to-morrow.'
+
+'That is quite understood. Besides, Hedwig has repeated it in her note
+to her father. There is no necessity for you to add a message.'
+
+'I obey orders, mother.'
+
+The young Count, who had already gained the door, closed it rather
+reluctantly, appearing undecided as to whether he should return to his
+former seat or not.
+
+'I give no orders,' said the Countess. 'I only mean that Hedwig will
+in all probability not be absent more than five minutes, and that you
+need not so anxiously seek a pretext for avoiding a _tête-à-tête_ with
+me.'
+
+'I!' exclaimed the Count. 'I have never----'
+
+'You have never openly said as much,' his mother finished the phrase
+for him. 'No, my son, but I see and feel full well how you shun my
+company. And now I should not keep you with me had I not a request to
+make. Give up this wild search after excitement--these furious,
+protracted rides about the country. You will wear yourself out. Of my
+anxiety I will not speak. You have long ceased to heed it; but you can
+no longer deceive Hedwig with this constrained gaiety. She was
+speaking to me on the subject before you came in, saying how uneasy
+and unhappy she felt about you.'
+
+The Countess spoke in a subdued tone. Her voice was low and lacked all
+ring; yet there ran through it a subtle thrill of pain. Edmund had
+drawn nearer slowly, and was now standing by the table before her. He
+did not raise his eyes from the ground as he replied:
+
+'Nothing ails me. You are both troubling yourselves most unnecessarily
+on my account.'
+
+The Countess was silent, but again there came that nervous working of
+the lips which Hedwig's words had previously called forth. It told
+what poor comfort this assurance gave her.
+
+'Our present life is so busy and full of agitation,' went on Edmund.
+'We shall all do better when Hedwig has fairly taken up her abode
+here.'
+
+'And I mine at Schönfeld,' added the Countess, with profound
+bitterness. 'Well, we have but an interval of a few weeks to pass.'
+
+'Mother, you are unjust. Am I the cause of your leaving? This
+separation takes place by your own express wish.'
+
+'I saw that it was necessary for us both. We could not continue to
+live on together, as we have lived during the past two months. You are
+frightfully overwrought, Edmund, and I do not know how it will all
+end, whether your marriage will produce some change in your frame of
+mind. Perhaps Hedwig may succeed in making you calm and happy once
+more. Your love for her is now my one hope ... for I ... my power is
+over!'
+
+Things must indeed have gone far when the proud woman, who had so long
+triumphantly maintained the first place in her son's affections,
+stooped to such an avowal as this. There was no bitterness and no
+reproach in her words, but their tone betrayed such poignant grief
+that Edmund, with quick remorse, went up to her and took her hand.
+
+'Forgive me, mother. I did not mean to hurt you. Indeed, indeed, I
+would not wound your feelings. You must be indulgent to me.'
+
+He spoke with a touch of the old tenderness, and more was not needed
+to make the Countess forget all the estrangement. She moved as though
+she would have drawn her son to her breast, but it was not to be.
+Edmund, yielding, as it were, to an irresistible impulse, recoiled
+involuntarily; then, remembering himself at once, he bent over his
+mother's hand and pressed his lips to it.
+
+The Countess turned very pale, but she had been too long accustomed to
+this shy avoidance, this horror of her embrace, to be offended by it.
+So it had been for months, but the mother could not, or would not,
+understand that her son's love was altogether lost to her.
+
+'Think of my request,' she said, collecting her energies. 'Take some
+care of yourself for Hedwig's sake. Show some prudence and moderation;
+you owe it both to her and to yourself.'
+
+Then she rose from her seat and left the room, hesitating yet a moment
+on the threshold. Perhaps she hoped to be detained; if so, the hope
+was futile. Edmund stood quite motionless, not looking up until she
+had quitted the room.
+
+Left thus alone, the young Count drew himself erect, gazed for some
+minutes fixedly at the door through which his mother had passed, and
+then, going up to the window, pressed his hot brow against the panes.
+Now that he knew himself to be alone, the mask of gaiety with which he
+sought to deceive those about him fell, and in its place came an
+expression so gloomy, so despairing, that the Countess's anxiety
+seemed but too fully justified. Sombre and terrible must have been the
+thoughts which racked the young man's mind as he stood there, looking
+out at the now thickly-falling snow. So completely was he absorbed by
+them, that he did not hear the door open, and was only conscious of
+another presence when the rustling of a dress near him roused him from
+his brooding. Then he started and turned round.
+
+'Ah, you are there, Hedwig. Have you told your father he may expect
+us?'
+
+Hedwig could hardly have caught sight of her lover's face, but from
+the tone of his voice she became aware that for a moment he had given
+up all feigning. Instead of replying to his question, she laid her
+hand on his, and said very quietly:
+
+'What is the matter with you, Edmund?'
+
+'With me? nothing. I was inwardly swearing at the weather, which
+promises us nothing good for to-morrow. I know what this driving snow
+portends when once it fairly sets in among our mountains. Very
+possibly we shall be blockaded to-morrow, and not able to get out into
+the woods at all.'
+
+'Well, give up your sport then. You take no real pleasure in it.'
+
+Edmund frowned.
+
+'Why should I not take pleasure in it?' he asked, in rather an angry
+tone.
+
+'That question I should put to you. Why have you lost pleasure in all
+that you cared for formerly? Am I never to learn the trouble that is
+tormenting you and weighing on your spirits? I have, it seems to me,
+the best right to know it.'
+
+'This is a regular inquisition,' cried Edmund, laughing. 'How can you
+take a momentary caprice, a mere passing bout of ill-humour, so
+seriously to heart? But I notice you have got into the way of striking
+the pathetic chord on every possible occasion. If I would consent to
+do my part, we should be a most sentimental couple; unfortunately, I
+think that to be sentimental is invariably to be ridiculous.'
+
+Hedwig turned away deeply wounded. It was not the first time that
+Edmund had repelled her with harsh derision. He had so met her
+every attempt to solve the strange riddle of his altered manner
+and behaviour. It seemed as though he must defend his secret to the
+death--defend it from her as from the rest of the world.
+
+What a change had come over the youthful radiant pair, who had
+accepted it as a matter of course that Fortune should shower on them
+her best and brightest gifts, who had looked forward with such bright
+assurance to the sunny future before them, and in whose playful mirth
+hardly a shade of earnestness had mingled! They had both made
+acquaintance with life's graver side, and if to the girl trouble were
+as yet but a cold dim shadow, obscuring all the sunlight, in Edmund's
+heart a flame had burst forth which burned with a consuming fire, and
+ofttimes directed its intensity against those who were nearest to him.
+
+Hedwig turned to go. But she had only time to take a few steps; then
+Edmund's arm encircled her and held her fast.
+
+'Have I pained you?' he asked. 'Scold me, Hedwig. Load me with
+reproaches, but do not go from me in this way. That is more than I can
+bear.'
+
+The prayer for pardon was so passionate, so earnest, that the girl's
+just anger gave way before it. She leaned her head on his shoulder,
+and said:
+
+'I think this habit of constant sarcasm is bad for you as well as
+others. You do not know how harsh and cruel your words often sound.'
+
+'I have been intolerably disagreeable of late, have I not?' said
+Edmund, with an attempt at playfulness. 'After the wedding you will
+see I shall be all the more charming. Then we will make our bow to the
+gay world, retire from the hurly-burly, and shut ourselves up in our
+fortress. Just at this present time I cannot bear tranquillity and
+solitude. But I look forward with an intense longing to the day which
+will unite us.'
+
+'Do you really long for it?' asked Hedwig, looking fixedly at him.
+'Sometimes, do you know, I have fancied you rather dreaded that day.'
+
+The scarlet flush which mounted to the young man's brow almost seemed
+to bear out her words; yet the passionate tenderness with which he
+folded his betrothed to his heart gave them contradiction.
+
+'Dread? No, Hedwig! We love each other, do we not? And your love is
+given to me, to me personally, not to the Count Ettersberg, not to
+the heir of these estates? You had so many suitors to choose from, so
+many who could offer you wealth and fortune, and you chose me, because
+... because you liked me best, was it not so?'
+
+'Good heavens, how can such things come into your mind?' cried Hedwig,
+half frightened, half offended. 'How can you imagine that I ever gave
+them a thought?'
+
+'I do not, I do not,' said Edmund, drawing a deep breath. 'And
+therefore I hold fast to that which is mine, mine alone, and will
+maintain it in the face of all. In your love, at least, I may believe.
+That, at least, is no lie. If I were to be deceived here, if I must
+doubt and despair of you--then the sooner I make an end of it, the
+better.'
+
+'Edmund, this wild talk of yours distracts me,' cried Hedwig, starting
+back, scared by his vehemence. 'You are ill, you must be ill, or you
+would not use such language.'
+
+This anxious cry brought Edmund to his senses. He made a great effort
+to regain composure, and even succeeded in forcing a smile as he
+replied:
+
+'Why, are you beginning that tale? A few minutes ago my mother was
+lecturing me, saying I was excited and overwrought. And in fact it is
+nothing more than that. I am nervous and unstrung, but the fit will
+pass. Everything comes to an end, you know, sooner or later. Do not be
+anxious, Hedwig. Now I must go and see if Everard has got all ready
+for my expected guests. I forgot to give him any special orders.
+Excuse me for ten minutes, will you? I shall be with you again
+immediately.'
+
+He released the girl from his arms and left her, once more breaking
+off abruptly, fleeing, as it were, from further explanation or
+discussion. It was impossible to solve the enigma. The Countess and
+Edmund were alike impenetrable.
+
+Hedwig returned to her former place, and sat, absorbed in troubled
+meditation, resting her head on her hand. Edmund was concealing
+something from her, yet his love for her had suffered no change or
+diminution. It needed not the Countess's words to assure her of this;
+her own feelings told her the fact far more convincingly. His
+affection seemed indeed to have gained in intensity. She was more to
+him now than in former days, when his mother stood so prominently in
+the foreground; but the girl involuntarily trembled at meeting an
+outburst of fervid passion there, where she had been wont to look only
+for gay and sportive tenderness. How strange, how fitted to inspire
+uneasiness had been Edmund's manner again to-day! Why did he so
+vehemently demand an assurance that her love was given to him, to him
+personally? And why would he 'make an end of it,' were he to be
+deceived in this belief?
+
+Hedwig felt that she should have thrown herself on her lover's breast,
+and forced from him a frank and open confession.
+
+Obstinately as he might withhold his confidence from her, he would
+surely have given way, if she had prayed him with all the eagerness
+and earnestness of heartfelt love--but this she could not bring
+herself to do. Something like a secret consciousness of guilt
+restrained her from using her full power. Yet she had valiantly fought
+against the dreams which constantly brought before her another figure,
+the figure of one who now was far away, and whom she would probably
+never see again.
+
+Oswald von Ettersberg since his departure had been completely lost
+sight of. He might almost have vanished into space. The Countess never
+voluntarily alluded to her nephew, and to some inquiries of Rüstow's
+she had merely replied curtly and coldly that she believed he was
+well, and satisfied with his new mode of life, but that he rarely
+communicated with his relations. She evidently desired to avoid the
+subject, and it was accordingly not again broached. The fact that
+Edmund never mentioned the name of his cousin, from whom he had
+hitherto been inseparable, that any allusion to the absent one
+appeared unpalatable to him as to his mother, was just one of the many
+eccentricities which now marked his behaviour. They had probably had
+some fresh quarrel shortly before Oswald's departure, and it seemed
+that the rupture between the cousins and old allies was this time
+complete.
+
+Weary of thinking, of pondering over mysteries she could not fathom,
+Hedwig sat leaning back in her chair. She heard the door of the
+anteroom open, heard the approach of footsteps, but, supposing that it
+was Edmund coming back, she did not alter her attitude, and it was
+only as the new-comer entered that she languidly turned her head in
+his direction.
+
+Then suddenly an electric thrill shot through the girl's frame.
+Trembling, blushing to the temples, she sprang from her seat, her eyes
+fixed on the door before her. Was it alarm, or was it joy that seized
+upon her with such paralyzing might? She knew not--she rendered no
+account to herself; but the name which burst from her lips, and the
+tone in which it was uttered, betrayed all that she had long so
+sedulously hidden.
+
+'Oswald!'
+
+Yes, it was Oswald who stood on the threshold. He must have been
+prepared for the possibility of seeing her when he started on his
+journey to Ettersberg, but this sudden meeting was quite unlooked for.
+The flush which dyed his brow on beholding his cousin's promised wife
+was evidence enough of this.
+
+For a moment he waited, irresolute, but when his name struck on his
+ear, pronounced in those accents, all hesitation was over. In an
+instant he was at her side.
+
+'Hedwig! Have I startled you?'
+
+The question was well warranted, for Hedwig's perturbation was still
+visible and extreme.
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg! You appear so suddenly, so unexpectedly.'
+
+'I could not send word of my coming. I am here on pressing business,
+which made it necessary for me to see Edmund at once.'
+
+He spoke, almost without knowing what he said, gazing fixedly the
+while at the girl's face before him. The sight of her did away in a
+moment with the ramparts which for months he had laboriously been
+building up.
+
+Hedwig moved as though to withdraw.
+
+'I ... I will let Edmund know.'
+
+'He has been informed of my arrival. Do not fly from me in this way,
+Hedwig. Will you not grant me one minute?'
+
+Hedwig paused. The sorrowful reproach in his tone chained her to the
+spot, but she did not dare to make reply.
+
+'I do not come voluntarily or in my own interest,' pursued Oswald.
+'Tomorrow I shall leave again; I could not possibly divine that you
+would be here at Ettersberg just at this time, or ... or I would have
+spared us both this meeting.'
+
+Us both! Through all his bitterness there gleamed a ray of
+satisfaction. That unguarded exclamation of hers had changed a dim
+half-knowledge into a certainty, and though he could fasten on it no
+single hope, this certainty had in an instant become to him the one
+all-precious thing in life, a possession he would have surrendered at
+no price.
+
+During their farewell interview, the young man had valiantly
+maintained his self-control, but the joyful shock of this unexpected
+meeting threatened to unseal his lips. The long-hidden passion in his
+breast was fanned to a quick, sudden blaze. Hedwig read this in his
+eyes, and the imminent danger gave her back her self-command, which
+did not again desert her.
+
+'We can, at all events, shorten this interview,' she said, speaking in
+a low, steady tone, and turned to go. But Oswald followed.
+
+'Will you leave me suddenly in this way? May I not say a word to
+you--one word?'
+
+'I fear we have already said too much. Let me go, Herr von Ettersberg.
+Let me go, I entreat of you.'
+
+Oswald obeyed. He stepped back to let her pass. She was right, he
+felt, and it was well that she should be strong and prudent when his
+prudence was on the verge of failing him. He looked after her
+silently, with an expression of infinite sadness, but he would no
+further detain her.
+
+Hardly had Hedwig disappeared in the direction of the Countess's
+apartments when Edmund came in from the other side. His cousin's
+arrival had been notified to him, but his face showed no joyful
+surprise. On the contrary, the young Count appeared disturbed, nay,
+agitated. As Oswald hastened towards him, and held out his hand with
+all the old friendly cordiality, he evaded taking it, and the welcome
+he expressed was strangely forced and formal.
+
+'What a surprise, Oswald! I did not think you intended to pay
+Ettersberg a visit just now.'
+
+'Am I unwelcome?' asked Oswald, astonished at and chilled by this
+unwonted reception, and his outstretched hand fell to his side as he
+spoke.
+
+'No, certainly not!' cried Edmund hastily. 'Quite the contrary. I only
+meant that you might have sent me word previously.'
+
+'It was I who had the right to expect a letter,' said Oswald, with
+some reproach in his tone. 'You only replied to my first by a few
+lines: of my second you took no notice at all. I could understand your
+silence as little as I now understand the manner of your welcome. Have
+you been ill, or has anything happened?'
+
+The young Count laughed--the loud derisive laugh which in these days
+was so frequent with him.'
+
+'What an idea! You see I am as well as I can be. It was only that I
+had no time for writing.'
+
+'No time?' said Oswald, much hurt. 'Well, I have found more leisure
+for you, then, in spite of all the urgent claims my work makes upon
+me. I have come now solely and entirely in your interest, not to pay
+you a visit, but to guard and save you from certain loss. Have you
+cancelled the powers formerly conferred on your land-steward?'
+
+'What powers?' asked Edmund, who was absent and uneasy.'
+
+He persistently avoided meeting his cousin's eye.
+
+'The authority to act in your name, with which Baron Heideck, as your
+guardian, thought fit to invest him, and by means of which the entire
+management of the Ettersberg affairs was left in his hands. Does he
+still hold the document which gave him this authority?'
+
+'Probably. I have never asked him for it back.' Oswald frowned.
+
+'How could you be so imprudent?' he said impatiently. 'How could you
+continue to place confidence in a man whom you know to be unreliable?
+In all probability you will find that he has grossly abused his trust.
+Are you aware that the third part of your forests is doomed--that the
+timber is to be cut down and sold?'
+
+'Oh! Is that in contemplation?' Edmund replied, still absently. The
+news seemed to make little or no impression on him.
+
+'Do reflect,' insisted Oswald. 'If you know nothing of this
+transaction, if it has been entered into without your consent, the
+intent at robbery is as clear as day. The purchase-money, which is
+fixed at an absurdly low figure, is to be paid in cash, and the
+steward, no doubt, hopes to pocket it, and to be clear of the place
+before the affair is found out. I heard of it accidentally. The
+would-be purchaser consulted my friend Braun on the subject, and I
+hurried over here at once, in the hope of saving you and Ettersberg
+from this tremendous injury.'
+
+Edmund passed his hand across his brow, as though it required an
+effort on his part to follow the conversation.
+
+'That was very kind of you! Did you really come expressly for that?
+Well, we can talk it over another time.'
+
+This utter lack of interest still further increased Oswald's
+amazement, but what roused even greater anxiety in his mind was the
+strangely-fixed and half-distraught expression of the young Count's
+face. Evidently his thoughts were busy elsewhere.
+
+'Edmund, have you not heard what I have been saying to you? This
+matter is of the first importance--it will not brook the slightest
+delay. You must at once rescind those powers, and you must make sure
+of the rascal to whom they were committed, or you will be compelled to
+recognise the bargain he has made. This bargain means ruin to your
+forests, and considerable, perhaps irreparable, damage to the entailed
+estates.'
+
+'Ah, the entail,' repeated Edmund, who, of the whole exordium, seemed
+only to have caught this word. 'True, the estates must not be injured.
+I give this matter over into your hands, Oswald. You have taken it
+up--go through with it.'
+
+'I? How can I give orders, make arrangements regarding your property,
+while you yourself are here present? I came merely to warn you, to
+disclose to you the intended fraud. It is for you to take action--for
+you, the master and owner of Ettersberg.'
+
+A spasm passed across the young Count's face, telling of some racking
+pain, dissimulated by an effort, and his eyes fell before Oswald's
+astonished, questioning gaze. He pressed his lips together, and was
+silent.
+
+'Well?' asked Oswald, after a pause. 'Will you send for the steward
+and speak to him?'
+
+'If you think it advisable.'
+
+'Of course I think it advisable. It must be done without delay.'
+
+Edmund went up to the table, and was about to grasp the bell, when
+Oswald, who had followed him, suddenly laid his hand on his shoulder,
+and said, in an earnest, urgent tone:
+
+'Edmund, what is your cause of complaint against me?'
+
+'Against you? I have none. You must excuse me if I seem rather absent.
+I am beset by all sorts of worries just now--disagreeables regarding
+the management, with the people on the place. My head is full of it
+all. You see by this incident with the steward what unpleasant things
+are constantly turning up.'
+
+'It is not that,' said Oswald decidedly. 'I feel that you have some
+grudge against me personally. See how hearty and affectionate you were
+towards me when we parted, and how differently you receive me now.
+What has come between us?'
+
+He grasped the young Count's shoulder as he put the last question, and
+would have looked him scrutinizingly in the face, but Edmund tore
+himself free with some violence.
+
+'Do not tease me with all these absurd fancies and imaginings,' he
+broke out hastily. 'Must I render you account of every word and every
+glance?'
+
+Oswald receded a step, and gazed at his cousin in amazement. He was
+indeed more astonished than offended. This sudden outbreak, so
+entirely unprovoked, as it seemed to him, was absolutely inexplicable.
+At this moment the roll of approaching wheels and the barking of dogs
+were heard outside. Edmund drew a deep breath, as though he had been
+relieved of some unendurable pain.
+
+'Ah, our guests are here! Forgive me, Oswald, if I leave you alone. I
+am expecting some gentlemen who are to join our shooting-party
+to-morrow. You will make one of us, will you not?'
+
+'No,' said Oswald coldly. 'I did not come for my pleasure, and
+to-morrow afternoon I must leave you again.'
+
+'So soon? I am sorry for that, but of course you know best how much
+time you have to spare. I will give orders for your room to be put in
+readiness for you.'
+
+He had already reached the threshold.
+
+'One thing more, Oswald. Take the steward to task for me, will you? I
+have no talent for that sort of thing, and no patience. I shall agree
+to anything you may decide. Your orders will be equivalent to mine.
+Goodbye for the present.'
+
+The last words were spoken rapidly, with a feverish excitement of
+manner which contrasted strangely with his former listless
+indifference. Then he hurried away, as though the ground were
+scorching his feet. Oswald stood there alone, hardly knowing whether
+to be angry or alarmed at such a reception. What could it mean? There
+could be but one explanation. Edmund had entered the drawing-room as
+Hedwig quitted it. Possibly he might have approached some minutes
+before and have partly overheard the short but pregnant conversation
+that had taken place between the girl and himself. Although not a word
+had fallen which could be construed into an understanding, there had
+been enough to show how matters were between Oswald and his own
+promised bride--enough to kindle a blaze of jealousy in the young
+Count's breast. That would explain his shrinking from the hand Oswald
+extended to him, his indifference to the money-loss with which he was
+threatened, his vehement, excited manner. There could be no other
+reading of the problem.
+
+'So it was that,' said Oswald to himself. 'He must have overheard
+something. Well then, he heard how innocent we both were with regard
+to the meeting, and how we parted. I know myself to be free from
+blame, and if we ever come to a discussion on the subject, I will meet
+him and speak out frankly.'
+
+Outside, in the courtyard, loud talk could now be heard, and a lively
+interchange of greetings, Edmund's voice rising above all the others
+as he welcomed his guests with noisy hilarity.
+
+Oswald glanced out of the window. The gentlemen who had just alighted
+were, one and all, old acquaintances of his, but he was not in the
+humour to make polite speeches to them, or to run the gauntlet of
+their questions. So he quickly left the drawing-room, and was on the
+way to his old dwelling in the side-wing before the strangers had set
+foot in the castle.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+The weather on the following day proved more propitious than had been
+expected. Though it did not clear up brightly, there was a cessation
+of the snowfall and the mists had disappeared, so that the morning
+seemed to promise a somewhat overcast, but, on the whole, fine day,
+favourable to sport and sportsmen.
+
+At a very early hour Oswald left his room and turned his steps towards
+the main building, where the Count's apartments were situated. None of
+the guests were visible as yet, but downstairs the servants were busy
+preparing for the departure of the gentlemen, who were to set out
+immediately after breakfast.
+
+Strange to say, Oswald found his cousin's room locked. It had never
+been Edmund's habit to ensure solitude by any such precautions. Not
+until his cousin had knocked repeatedly did he open the door.
+
+'Oh, it is you, Oswald? You are here very early.'
+
+His tone said plainly enough that the surprise was no pleasant one.
+Notwithstanding this, Oswald walked in.
+
+'You are dressed, I see,' he said; 'so I am not disturbing you with
+this morning visit.'
+
+The young Count was, indeed, fully equipped for the day, but he looked
+pale and haggard, and his eyes shone with an unnatural light. The
+traces of a wakeful night were but too visible on his features. He had
+evidently found neither sleep nor rest since the preceding evening.
+
+'You have altered your mind, I suppose, and have come to say you
+will make one of the party,' he said lightly, evading the keen survey
+of the other's eyes by turning away and busying himself at his
+writing-table.
+
+'No,' replied Oswald. 'You know that I must start again this
+afternoon. You may not have returned when I leave, so I wished to say
+good-bye to you now.'
+
+'Must it be said in private?'
+
+'Yes; for there is something else of importance I would speak of. You
+used not of old to avoid me so persistently, Edmund. I tried in vain
+to get hold of you yesterday evening. You were so completely taken up
+with your guests, and you seemed so excited, I had to give up all hope
+of finding a hearing, or of discussing with you any matters of
+business.'
+
+'Matters of business? Ah, you mean that affair of the steward. Have
+you been so good as to speak to him for me?'
+
+'I was compelled to do so, seeing that, in spite of my remonstrances,
+you would not stir a step. It all turned out precisely as I feared.
+When the man discovered that I was acquainted with the whole
+transaction, he desisted from lying. I gave him the choice of leaving
+Ettersberg this very day, or of submitting to a thorough investigation
+before a court of law. He naturally preferred the first alternative.
+Here is the document which empowered him to act in your name. He
+handed it over to me, but you will do well to have it properly
+cancelled. The intending purchaser has had notice already. I took down
+his address, thinking it might prove useful, and I have telegraphed to
+him that the sale of timber will not take place, that all authority is
+withdrawn from your agent, who had treated without your knowledge or
+consent. So this time the loss has been averted.'
+
+He made this statement in a quiet, business-like tone, laying no
+stress on his own services, or on the diligent zeal which had brought
+about this happy result.
+
+Edmund must, however, have felt how much he owed to his cousin's wise
+and thoughtful action. Perhaps the sense of obligation weighed upon
+him, for his answer was very brief.
+
+'I am really most grateful to you. I knew you would understand these
+things far better than I, and would act more energetically.'
+
+'In this instance it was for you to act,' said Oswald reproachfully.
+'I allowed the steward to believe that at present I alone had
+cognizance of the intended fraud, that I called him to account on my
+own responsibility, and that I should not make any communication to
+you until he had taken his departure to-day--otherwise he would have
+thought it extraordinary that you should hold aloof from an affair
+which, after all, concerns yourself alone.'
+
+'As I said to you yesterday, I was not in a mood, a frame of mind----'
+
+'That I could see, and I make every allowance for the frame of mind,
+knowing, as I do, its cause and origin.'
+
+'Its cause and origin? What do you mean? What do you know?'
+
+'The reason of your strange reception, of your almost hostile attitude
+towards myself. This alone it is which brings me here. All
+misunderstandings must be cleared up between us, Edmund. Why this
+silence and concealment? Between true friends such as we are,
+frankness is best.'
+
+The young Count leaned heavily against the table near at hand. He made
+no reply, but stood speechless and pale as death, staring at his
+cousin, who continued calmly:
+
+'You need not withhold any accusation you may have to make. I can face
+it, can meet it without flinching. I love Hedwig, and am not ashamed
+to own it to you, for I have honestly, loyally struggled against the
+passion. When I saw it was not to be overcome, I went. Not a word on
+the subject has passed between us. If yesterday I was so far carried
+away as to allude to the state of my feelings, it was the first, it
+will be the last time. The unexpected meeting for a moment robbed me
+of my self-control, but it was only for a moment. I was myself again
+directly. If this is guilt in your eyes, it is guilt I am not afraid
+to confess, for I feel that in all points I can justify my conduct.'
+
+This open, manly avowal had a most unlooked-for effect. Edmund
+listened as in a dream. The horrible shock of surprise, which quite
+paralyzed him at first, gradually passed away, but he evidently did
+not yet grasp the full purport of the words addressed to him.
+
+'You love Hedwig? You? No, it is impossible. I do not believe it.'
+
+'Had you not found it out?' said Oswald, dismayed in his turn. 'Was it
+not a feeling of jealousy which stood between us and estranged you
+from me?'
+
+Edmund did not heed the question. His glowing eyes rested with an
+expression of terrible, unutterable suspense on Oswald's face, as he
+panted forth, in breathless agitation:
+
+'And Hedwig--does she return the feeling? Does she love you?'
+
+'I have said that no word of explanation has passed between us.'
+
+'Words are not needed. You know, must know, if she cares for you, or
+not. That is felt in every glance, in every pulse. _I_ have felt, I
+have known that she did not give me her whole wealth of love, that
+something stood between us, dividing us. Were you that barrier? Speak;
+I will have certainty, be the cost to me what it may.'
+
+Oswald cast down his eyes.
+
+'Hedwig will hold her promise sacred, as I do,' he replied, in a low
+voice.
+
+The answer was unequivocal, and to it there was no rejoinder. For the
+next few minutes a terrible silence reigned. No sound was heard but
+that of the young Count's short, quick breathing.
+
+'So this drop is added,' he said at length. Oswald looked at him
+anxiously. He had been prepared for a stormy scene, for passionate
+reproach and fierce anger. This stony resignation, so utterly at
+variance with Edmund's character, roused in him amazement and alarm.
+
+'We shall conquer and live it down,' he said, taking up the thread
+again. 'We have never either of us thought of any further possibility.
+Were Hedwig free, I could entertain no hopes. I have always felt a
+contempt for adventurers who owe all to their wives, having themselves
+nothing to offer in return. Such a position would weigh me to the
+ground. I could not accept it, even at the hands of the woman I love.
+And my career is only just beginning. For years I must go on working
+for myself alone, whereas you have it in your power to confer in
+marriage the most brilliant advantages.'
+
+The words were spoken innocently enough. They were intended to soothe,
+but how contrary was the effect produced! Edmund bounded, as it were,
+beneath the lash. His whole manner, his voice even was changed, as he
+burst forth, with scathing bitterness, with fierce, scornful rage:
+
+'You mean to envy me, perhaps, to envy me my brilliant lot in life! I
+am a favourite of Fortune, am I not? All the good things of this world
+fall to my share? You were mistaken in your prophecy, Oswald. Fortune
+is fickle, and we two have changed _rôles_. Hedwig's love, at least, I
+still believed to be mine; of that one possession I thought myself
+sure. That, too, has been taken from me, taken from me by you. Oh, the
+measure is full, full to overflowing!'
+
+'Edmund, you are half distracted,' said Oswald remonstratingly. 'Try
+to regain composure. We will speak of this more quietly----'
+
+'Leave me,' Edmund interrupted. 'I can hear nothing now, endure
+nothing more. Your presence is intolerable to me. Go!'
+
+Oswald drew nearer, seeking to pacify him, but in vain. In a fury,
+which bordered on madness, the Count thrust him back.'
+
+'I will be alone, I tell you. Am I not even master here in my own
+rooms? Must I insult you to drive you from me?'
+
+'That will not be necessary,' said Oswald, now grievously offended,
+and as he spoke, he drew himself up. 'I was not prepared for such a
+reception of my frank and loyal statement, or I should have been
+silent. You will see later on what injustice you have done me, but
+the knowledge will probably come too late to save our friendship.
+Good-bye.'
+
+He went, casting not another glance behind him. Then Edmund sank into
+a chair. The blow which had just fallen was perhaps not the heaviest
+that had struck him in these latter days. Most direful of all had been
+the shock which in a moment had destroyed the son's love for, and
+proud trust in, his mother--not the heaviest, perhaps, but the last;
+and the last felled him to the ground.
+
+An hour later the whole company had gathered in the dining-room, where
+breakfast was laid. The gentlemen were all in high spirits, for the
+weather promised excellent sport.
+
+The Countess did the honours of the house with her accustomed grace.
+Whatever cares might be gnawing at her heart, she was too thorough a
+woman of the world to betray any emotion in the presence of strangers.
+Hedwig also forced herself to appear gay.
+
+The conversation was most animated, and Oswald's grave taciturnity and
+reserve were not specially remarked, as they were considered natural
+to and customary with him.
+
+Count Ettersberg himself appeared late on the scene. He excused
+himself by saying that he had been delayed, giving some necessary
+orders in reference to the day's sport; and he endeavoured to make up
+for his tardy arrival by redoubled efforts to charm and amuse his
+guests.
+
+Edmund no longer looked pale and haggard, as he had looked an
+hour before. On the contrary, a hectic flush glowed in his cheeks,
+and a current of fire seemed to speed through his veins, while he
+exhibited an exuberant gaiety which could only be the product of
+over-excitement. He at once took the lead in the conversation, and his
+brilliant talk soon carried all the others away with it. Jests,
+repartees, and sparkling anecdotes followed quickly one upon the
+other. He seemed bent on convincing everyone about him of his
+cheerfulness and excellent humour, and so far as his guests were
+concerned, he succeeded in his aim.
+
+The elder men, one and all landowners of the neighbourhood, thought
+they had never known the young Count so agreeable as on this occasion:
+the younger, stimulated by the effervescence of his wit, became witty
+in their turn. So the time sped quickly by, until the master of the
+house gave the signal for a general rising.
+
+Oswald still continued very silent, but he kept a constant, anxious
+watch on his cousin. After all that had taken place between them, it
+was no matter of surprise to him that Edmund should seem to shun him
+even more persistently than yesterday, should even avoid addressing
+him directly; but he was not to be deceived by the other's assumed
+flippancy. After the scene of that morning, desperation alone could
+have produced such feverish excitement. Now only, when the first
+stings of wounded pride had passed, did the young man reflect how
+horror-stricken, how half-distraught Edmund had appeared on hearing
+his confession. He had had no suspicion, it seemed. His unaccountable
+behaviour had not been actuated by, was not owing to jealousy. If not
+to jealousy, to what then?
+
+The company had now risen and were preparing to depart. The sportsmen
+took their leave of the ladies of the house, and said good-bye to
+Oswald, who was also to be left behind. Herr von Ettersberg was
+generally condoled with for having to return to the city so speedily,
+and to lose his chance of a day's shooting, and a few more polite
+speeches of a like nature were exchanged in all haste.
+
+Edmund parted from Hedwig with some merry words, still showing the
+extreme and rather reckless gaiety which he seemed unable to put from
+him that morning.
+
+As he passed his cousin, he called to him, 'Adieu, Oswald,' but so
+briefly and hastily as to preclude any reply. He evidently wished to
+avoid any further contact with the man by whom he considered himself
+injured. He went up to the Countess, who was talking to one of the
+gentlemen.
+
+'I have come to say good-bye, mother.'
+
+The words were spoken hurriedly, but something of the old tone was in
+them, of the tone which the mother's ear had so long sought in vain,
+and which now it instantly caught. Her eyes sought her son's; and
+meeting them, she no longer read there that shy avoidance which had so
+tortured her for months.
+
+Today they had a different, an undefinable expression in which,
+however, there was no reproach. The hand the Countess extended to him
+trembled a little. A cold formal kiss imprinted on this hand was the
+only salute Edmund had for her now as he came and went. He stooped
+over it as usual, but suddenly the mother felt his arms close round
+her, felt his hot, quivering lips on her brow. It was their first
+embrace since the day on which he had discovered the fatal secret.
+
+'Edmund?' whispered the Countess, with a half-tender, half-anxious
+inquiry in the murmured word.
+
+Edmund made no reply. He held his mother tightly to him--but for a
+moment, yet enough to show her that the old love had blazed forth
+anew, ardent, mighty as ever. His lips touched hers, then he freed
+himself quickly and resolutely.
+
+'Farewell, mother. I must go; it is more than time.'
+
+He stepped back among his guests, who at once closed in upon him. In
+the general leave-taking, and in the noise and confusion which
+preceded their merry departure, all chance of saying another word to
+her son was lost to the Countess.
+
+The sportsmen were gone at last. No one had noticed the short scene
+between mother and son, no one had seen anything unusual in their
+embrace--with one exception. Oswald's eyes had never quitted them for
+an instant. His strange, keen scrutiny was on the Countess now as she
+left the room.
+
+It was her wish, no doubt, to escape being alone with her nephew.
+Hedwig had accompanied her lover downstairs, and was watching the
+departure from the entrance-door.
+
+In the castle-yard all was life and animation. A number of sledges
+stood ready to receive the gentlemen, and to convey them to the
+neighbourhood of the somewhat distant covers which had been chosen for
+the day's sport. The servants were busily moving to and fro. The
+Count's chasseur, who had charge of the dogs, could hardly check their
+ardour, and even the horses gave signs of impatience at the long delay
+by pawing the ground and champing the bit.
+
+Most restless of all were a pair of handsome black steeds harnessed to
+a small sledge which contained seats for but two persons. They were
+the restive, high-spirited animals which had brought about the
+accident on Stag's Hill. Since then the Countess, having once been
+exposed by them to imminent peril, had constantly used other horses
+for her daily drives. Could she have chosen, the black pair would,
+indeed, long ago have been banished from the stables; but Edmund had a
+strong predilection for the beautiful creatures, which certainly were
+matchless in their symmetry and grace. He had given special orders
+that they should be put to his own sledge to-day. It was his habit to
+drive himself, and he now advanced, ready to take the reins from the
+groom's hands.
+
+All seemed ready for the start, yet some further delay occurred before
+the party actually set out. Some remark of Edmund's had called forth a
+debate, and much lively discussion was going on among the sportsmen.
+Evidently the pros and cons of a disputed question were being argued.
+A sound of loud voices and noisy laughter reached Oswald's ear as he
+stood at his post above, but the closed windows prevented his hearing
+the words used in the parley. The young Count was the most eager
+speaker. Some of the elder men present shook their heads and seemed to
+attempt dissuasion. At length a settlement was arrived at. All was
+made ready for the general departure, and Edmund mounted to his seat
+in the sledge. Strangely enough, he meant to drive alone. The place at
+his side remained unoccupied. At a sign from him the groom in
+attendance fell back, as he gathered up the reins and whip.
+
+One more look from the sportsmen--one farewell salute in the direction
+of the great entrance-door where stood the castle's future mistress.
+Edmund, like the rest, turned and waved her a final adieu, but
+immediately his eyes were raised to the tier of windows above. These
+were his mother's rooms, and the Countess must have appeared at this
+moment, for her son's gaze was riveted on a certain point. He sent her
+a greeting far warmer and more heartfelt than that he had accorded to
+his betrothed. There came a momentary break in the gaiety he had so
+sedulously maintained, a glimpse as of some wild, unutterable sorrow.
+That farewell glance seemed almost to convey a mute, beseeching appeal
+for pardon. Then his lash descended so sharply that the fiery steeds
+reared high in the air, and the snow rose up in a small whirlwind
+about him, as they set off at full gallop. The other sleighs followed,
+and so amid noise and merriment the whole retinue departed.
+
+Oswald turned from the window, struck by a sudden apprehension.
+
+'That seemed like a farewell,' he murmured. 'What can it mean? What
+scheme can Edmund have in his head?'
+
+He left the drawing-room, and was quickly passing through the
+antechamber when he met Everard, the old retainer, who had just left
+the courtyard.
+
+'What caused the delay in starting?' asked Oswald hastily. 'What was
+the discussion about, and why did your master go off in his sledge
+alone?'
+
+'It was about a wager,' said the old man, who looked greatly
+perturbed. 'The Count intends to drive over Stag's Hill.'
+
+'Over that steep hill, just after a heavy downfall of snow? That must
+mean danger.'
+
+'Yes; so most of the other gentlemen declared; but my master laughed
+at their fears. He said he would bet that by taking that road he
+should reach the rendezvous a good quarter of an hour before the rest
+of the party. It was of no use to remonstrate or retreat. Even
+Fräulein Hedwig tried in vain. The wager stands. If only he had any
+other horses to manage than those unruly black beasts....'
+
+'By whose orders were those restive animals put to my cousin's sledge
+to-day? He generally drives the grays.'
+
+'It was done by the Count's own order. He came down before breakfast
+to give the grooms their instructions.'
+
+'And the man? Why was he left behind?'
+
+'Also by the Count's directions. He said he wanted no attendant.'
+
+Oswald said not another word. He left the old man standing where he
+was, and without further consideration or delay hurried across to his
+aunt's apartments. The Countess still watched at the window, though
+the cortége had long disappeared from sight. She knew nothing of the
+scene that had taken place that morning in her son's room; yet she
+seemed to have some foreboding sense, some vague dread upon her, for
+her hands were folded in mute anguish, and the face she turned towards
+the new-comer was perfectly ashy in its extreme pallor.
+
+She started violently as Oswald came in thus, unexpected and
+unannounced. For the first time since he had left his old home at
+Ettersberg they met alone, and face to face.
+
+On the preceding evening and that morning they had seen each other
+only in the presence of strangers, and their intercourse had been
+limited to a few formal words of greeting. The Countess looked for no
+mercy from the man whom she estimated as her bitterest enemy, and who
+certainly had ample cause to be so.
+
+Though by an impulse of generosity he had parted with the weapon which
+would have proved most dangerous, its strength was known to him, and
+the knowledge gave him power enough over his aunt. But it was not this
+lady's habit to show herself weak, save only where her son was
+concerned, and now she at once roused her energies, and assumed a
+resolute attitude of defence. She stood cold and immovable, determined
+not to yield an inch, prepared for anything that might come.
+
+But no syllable of that she feared and expected came from Oswald's
+lips. He only approached her quickly, and said, in a low and eager
+voice:
+
+'What has happened to Edmund?'
+
+'To Edmund? I do not understand you.'
+
+'He is frightfully changed. Something must have occurred since I left.
+There is some trouble on his mind which harasses him, and at times
+seems almost to shake his reason. I thought at first I had guessed the
+cause of it, but I find now I was utterly mistaken. What has happened,
+aunt?'
+
+Not a word passed the mother's set lips. Better than anyone she knew
+the piteous change which had come over her son, but to this man she
+could not, would not, confess it.
+
+'Forgive me if I put a painful question,' went on Oswald. 'We have to
+fear, to guard against the worst; in such a case, all other
+considerations vanish. Before I left, I gave into your brother's
+charge a small packet. I told him expressly that it was to be
+delivered to you alone, that Edmund was not to know its contents. Can
+it be that, in spite of this ... can he have learned----'
+
+He paused, unable to frame his question, and the marked agitation
+displayed by one usually so cold and self-possessed revealed to the
+Countess the true nature of the danger of which hitherto she had had
+but a dim foreboding. She gazed anxiously into Oswald's face, and in
+lieu of making answer, asked:
+
+'Why did Edmund start alone? What was the meaning of that last look,
+that farewell gesture? You know it, Oswald.'
+
+'I know nothing, but I fear the worst after the scene which took place
+between us this morning. Edmund has made a mad wager. He means to
+drive over Stag's Hill on such a day as this. By his express
+directions, the most unmanageable horses in the stables have been put
+to his sledge, and the groom has been left behind. You see, it is a
+question of life or death, and I must know the truth. Is Edmund
+acquainted with the contents of that packet?'
+
+A faintly articulated 'Yes' was the reply wrung from the Countess's
+panting breast. With this one word she confessed all, gave herself
+over completely into the hands of her nephew; but at the moment no
+sense of this occurred to her. Her son's life was at stake. What cared
+the mother for her own ruin or shame?
+
+'Good God! Then he has planned some terrible deed,' exclaimed Oswald.
+'Now I see, I understand it all.'
+
+The Countess uttered a shriek, as a full comprehension of that last
+farewell dawned suddenly on her also.
+
+'I must go after him,' said Oswald, with quick determination, pulling
+the bell as he spoke. 'There is not a moment to lose.'
+
+'I ... I will accompany you,' gasped the Countess, advancing a step;
+but she staggered and would have fallen, had not her nephew caught and
+supported her.
+
+'Impossible, aunt. You could not bear it. Besides, all the sledges
+are out. There is not one at our disposal, and we could not get
+through the snow with a carriage. I will mount a horse and ride after
+him--ride for dear life. That is the one chance left us.'
+
+He turned to Everard, who at that moment entered the room.
+
+'Have the English chestnut saddled. Be as quick as possible. I must
+follow the Count at once.'
+
+The old man withdrew hastily. He saw that an effort was to be made to
+avert some danger from his young master.
+
+Oswald went up to the Countess, who sat trembling and pale as ashes,
+and essayed to reassure her.
+
+'Try to be calm. Nothing is lost as yet. The chestnut is one of the
+swiftest horses in the stables, and if I take the road by Neuenfeld, I
+shall cut off a third of the distance. I must come up with Edmund.'
+
+'And when you do come up with him!' cried the Countess despairingly.
+'He will not listen to you any more than to me or to his affianced
+wife.'
+
+'He will listen to me,' said Oswald, with profound emphasis; 'for I
+alone can put an end to the conflict raging within him. Had I this
+morning known the real situation, things would not have reached this
+pass. We have been friends from our earliest childhood. That must
+count. You will see, we shall win through this trouble yet. Courage,
+aunt. I will bring your son back to you.'
+
+The young man's brave, resolute tone was not without its influence on
+the tortured mother. She clung to the hope held out to her, clung to
+the once dreaded, hated Oswald as to a last anchor of salvation. Not a
+word could she utter, but the look she cast up at him was so
+suppliant, so heart-rending, that Oswald, deeply moved, clasped her
+hand in his. In their anxiety about the one being they loved with
+almost equal fervour, the long-cherished enmity died out, the hatred
+and rancour of years were buried.
+
+Oswald took the half-fainting lady in his arms, and gently placed her
+in an arm-chair--then he hurried out. The hope of achieving a rescue
+gave him courage and confidence; but to the mother who remained
+behind, the weight of anguish, the cruel suspense, proved well-nigh
+crushing. She knew but too well what had driven her son to his death;
+and this terrible consciousness, now brought home to her, put the last
+stroke to the torture of the past few weeks. Baron Heideck was right.
+The unhappy woman's punishment was greater even than her offence had
+been.
+
+Everard had urged the grooms to the utmost alacrity. The horse was
+being led round as Oswald emerged from the castle. He swung himself
+into the saddle and galloped off.
+
+It might safely be assumed that Edmund would choose the highroad. The
+way by Neuenfeld, though considerably shorter, ran for the most part
+through the forest, and was so narrow and uneven that it would have
+been hardly practicable with a sledge. To a horseman it offered no
+great difficulties, and the chestnut was, indeed, incomparably swift
+of pace. Its hoofs hardly touched the ground where the snow lay
+thick, but not so deep as to prove an obstacle. So the good steed
+pressed on through the woods all gaunt and rigid with frost and ice,
+through a village which lay, as it were, still sleeping in its winter
+shroud--onwards, onwards, with the speed of a bird, yet all too slowly
+for the craving impatience of him who rode.
+
+There was not a doubt in Oswald's mind that some desperate deed was in
+contemplation, a deed it might yet be in his power to prevent. There
+must be some issue to this terrible situation. If Oswald raised no
+accusation, asserted no claim, none else had a right to do so. The
+world might be left in ignorance, as it had been heretofore. The two
+most nearly concerned might clasp hands and swear that the house of
+Ettersberg should henceforth boast two sons. Yet through all these
+plans and sanguine meditations came the remembrance of the evening
+which preceded Oswald's departure, the remembrance of Edmund's words
+still vibrating in his cousin's ears:
+
+'I could not live with the knowledge of a secret shame. My conscience
+must be clear, and I must stand before the world with an unsullied
+brow.'
+
+The path now issued into the highroad, where a free open view of the
+country round was to be had. Oswald drew rein a moment, and gazed
+about him searchingly--but in vain. He saw nothing but a broad, white
+expanse of plain, at some distance the dark firs on Stag's Hill
+standing out in sombre relief, and beyond them the lowering mists of
+an overcast winter forenoon.
+
+All around was desolate; not a living creature was to be seen. The
+hope of barring Edmund's passage proved illusory. He must have passed
+long since. The track of his sledge was distinctly visible on the
+freshly-fallen snow.
+
+Now for the first time Oswald's brave assurance threatened to desert
+him--he would not hearken to the sad presentiments which besieged him,
+but gave rein to his horse, and rode fleetly on until he reached the
+foot of the hill, and the ascending path before him brought him to a
+footpace.
+
+Stag's Hill, though not very high, was excessively steep, and was
+esteemed an awkward bit of road, which, as a rule, drivers gladly
+avoided. To climb and descend in safety certainly required prudence.
+It was necessary to have the carriage well under control, to be sure
+of the horses, when this route was chosen. In wintertime the steep
+incline, covered with a sheet of snow and ice, was positively
+perilous, as Oswald soon found. More than once his horse stumbled, and
+but for his vigilance would have fallen. Happily, he was both a
+skilful and a prudent rider, and his accomplishment now stood him in
+good stead; but with every minute that elapsed, with every bend in the
+road which opened out fresh lengths without revealing the object of
+his search, his anxiety increased, waxed keener and keener. He urged
+on his horse with whip and spurs, granting neither to the animal nor
+to himself a moment's respite. One thought alone possessed his mind:
+'I must find him!'
+
+And he found him. With a snort and a last strong pull the horse now
+reached the summit, and trotted on a few minutes over the even ground.
+On the opposite side of this plateau the road declined again sharply.
+The track of the sledge was still visible, but about a hundred paces
+further on, just at the most precipitous part, the snow was ploughed
+up and much betrodden, as by the hoofs of rearing, plunging horses.
+The low hedge which bordered the road was broken through, torn down;
+the young firs on the hill-side  were bent and broken as though a
+hurricane had passed over them, and in the depths below lay a dark,
+inert mass, sledge and horses, all together, borne down to a common
+destruction, dashed to pieces in that dizzy, dreadful fall.
+
+At this sight Oswald forgot his caution. Reckless of the imminent
+peril to himself, he spurred his horse down the road at full speed.
+When he reached the valley below, he sprang from the saddle, and at
+once plunged into the ravine.
+
+There he saw the shattered sledge, the horses lying, one beneath, one
+above--and at a little distance from these--Edmund, stretched
+motionless upon the ground. He had been flung from his seat in the
+fall--this and the snow, which here in the valley had drifted thick
+and deep, had preserved him from being absolutely mangled and
+mutilated; but the rocky ground had nevertheless wrought cruel
+injury, as was abundantly proved by the blood which streamed from a
+scalp-wound, reddening the white snow in a great circle about his
+head.
+
+Oswald threw himself on his knees by his cousin's side, and strove to
+stanch the blood, to recall the unconscious man to life. At first, all
+his efforts were in vain, but after long minutes of weary watching and
+agonized suspense, Edmund opened his eyes. Their dull veiled look
+seemed, however, to lack all recognition. Slowly only, and by degrees,
+at the sound of Oswald's voice, as he put his anxious questions, did
+full consciousness return to the sufferer.
+
+'Oswald,' he said, very softly, and his tone was the old loving tone
+he had ever been wont to use towards the friend of his youth. All the
+bitterness, the wild frenzied agitation of the last few hours, had
+died out from those pain-stricken but calm features.
+
+'Edmund, why had you not confidence in me?' burst forth Oswald. 'Why
+have I only just heard of your trouble--of the trouble which drove you
+to this? I have ridden after you in all mad haste, but I come too
+late, too late perhaps by a very few minutes.'
+
+Edmund's half-dimmed eyes gained life and fire again as he turned them
+towards the speaker.
+
+'You know?'
+
+'All!'
+
+'Then you understand all,' said Edmund faintly. 'To have to lie to
+you, not to be able to meet your eye, that was the hardest trial I
+have had to bear. Now it is past. Today, this very day, you will be
+Master of Ettersberg.'
+
+'At the cost of your life!' cried Oswald, in despair. 'I have known
+the secret long. That fatal picture had passed through my hands before
+you saw it. I kept it from you almost by force, for I knew that the
+sight of it would kill you. And it has been all in vain--the whole
+sacrifice has been in vain! One frank, outspoken word between us, this
+morning, and everything might have been settled and made smooth.'
+
+Edmund replied with a sorrowful negative gesture.
+
+'No, Oswald; that could never have been. I could not have borne the
+perpetual lie of such a life. I have tried for weeks, for months. You
+do not know what I have endured since the fearful hour of that
+discovery. Now all is well. You will enter upon your own, and my
+mother's name will remain unstained. It was the only way, the one
+solution!'
+
+Oswald held the dying man in his arms. He saw that the time for help
+was past. It was impossible to stanch the blood, impossible to stay
+the fleeting life. He could but stoop to catch the last words from the
+lips which were about to close for ever.
+
+'My mother--tell her. I _could_ not have borne it. Farewell!'
+
+Edmund's voice died away. His beautiful dark eyes grew dim with the
+shadow of Death; but a few minutes more, and Oswald was kneeling on
+the snow-clad earth by a dead man's side. He pressed his lips on the
+cold, calm brow, and murmured to now unheeding ears the despairing cry
+of his heart:
+
+'My God! my God! Must this be the end? Was there no other way--no
+other way?'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+Twice the swallows had come and gone since the grave had closed on
+Edmund von Ettersberg. Now for the third time they arrived, bearing
+Spring upon their pinions; and as, after all the icy frost and snow of
+winter, the earth blossomed forth in newborn splendour, so the dark
+shadow of that grave, watered by many tears, was lightened, and from
+it there emerged a fair vision of human hope and happiness.
+
+The death of young Count Ettersberg had caused the greatest
+consternation, and awakened general sympathy in the neighbourhood.
+
+This universal mourning was due as much to Edmund's personal
+characteristics, which had endeared him to all, as to the frightful
+circumstances of his death. So young, so beautiful, rich and
+happy--his wedding-day so near! And for a mere mad frolic's sake, for
+a rash, senseless wager, to perish miserably, to be torn from his
+mother and his betrothed, without even seeing them or hearing their
+last farewell. It was a terrible fate!
+
+How bright, how exuberantly gay the young Count had been the very
+morning on which the catastrophe befell! The darker, more secret
+sequence of events, none suspected. Edmund had gained his end. His
+mother remained spotless as before, and the rightful heir entered into
+possession of his own.
+
+Many changes had been effected on the Ettersberg estates during the
+past two years. The present owner, Count Oswald, who on his cousin's
+death had succeeded to the title and the property took a serious view
+of the duties of his new position. Rarely indeed comes such a change
+in the life of a man as had come to him--a change so precipitate, so
+unexpected. Oswald, who had been bred in dependence and subordination,
+who, even when he shook off the fetters of that dependence, went forth
+to meet a life of care, of grave unflagging work, suddenly found
+himself transformed into the head of the house, the owner of wealthy
+family estates. His legal career was at an end before it had fairly
+begun. There was no failure of gratitude towards the friend in the
+great city who, in his need, had given him fatherly protection and
+assistance. Their relations continued excellent and affectionate as
+before; but, of course, a return to that sphere, to the life
+previously planned out for him, was not now to be thought of.
+
+Other and greater tasks devolved upon Oswald, and he gave himself up
+to them with all the thoroughness and energy pertaining to his
+character. His strong hand grasped the helm in time to rescue the
+long-neglected estates from the ruin which seemed imminent. Gradually
+but surely he raised the value of the property until it reached its
+former zenith.
+
+With but few exceptions, the reigning officials were superseded, and
+the system of administration underwent a complete change, while the
+large sums of money which in the old days had been called in to
+support the castle household on a lordly scale were now devoted to the
+restoration and improvement of the estates.
+
+The new Master of Ettersberg led a solitary and retired life, and
+seemed at present in no way minded to select a companion or bring home
+a bride. This circumstance caused some wonderment in the neighbouring
+circles.
+
+It was freely said that the Count, now in his nine-and-twentieth year,
+might think of marrying, ought to think of it, seeing that he was the
+last and only scion of the Ettersberg race. Plans were laid, and
+efforts were not spared to secure so brilliant a _parti_, but hitherto
+without avail.
+
+Similar schemes and expectations were formed with regard to Brunneck.
+The hand of the young heiress was again disengaged, though at first a
+certain delicacy of feeling forbade would-be suitors to take advantage
+of the fact. Genuine and universal as had been the sympathy felt for
+Hedwig, it was considered inadmissible that this girl of eighteen
+should pass her life in sorrowing for the lover who had been taken
+from her; and many pretensions and desires, which that engagement had
+blighted, came to the front again.
+
+They were, however, again doomed to disappointment, for Hedwig, by a
+decided step, withdrew herself from all possible overtures.
+
+Before the period of mourning was over, she left Brunneck to accompany
+Edmund's mother on a visit to Italy. The Countess's health had quite
+given way beneath the shock of her son's death, and in spite of the
+most skilled advice, her malady made such serious progress that the
+doctors in consultation gave no hope save in a lengthened stay in the
+South.
+
+It was thought an act of self-sacrifice on Fräulein Rüstow's part to
+leave her home, and even her father, that she might accompany the
+invalid--the good neighbours who thus judged being quite ignorant of
+the fact that Hedwig was longing to escape, to place the barrier of
+distance between herself and hopes which seemed to her an offence
+against the dead.
+
+The two ladies had been absent almost a year and a half. In vain had
+the Councillor remonstrated and made impatient supplication for his
+daughter's return; his prayers found no favourable hearing. Hedwig had
+always given as a pretext the Countess's continued illness, declaring
+that she neither could nor would leave her in so piteous a condition.
+But now, at length, the travellers were at home once more. Rüstow, who
+had gone some stages on the road to meet them, brought his daughter
+straight back to Brunneck, whilst the Countess proceeded to Schönfeld,
+where, since Edmund's death, she had taken up her residence.
+
+On the second day after the ladies' return, the Councillor was sitting
+as usual with his cousin in the veranda-parlour. He was full of
+delight at having his daughter with him again, and never weary of
+looking at her after their long separation. He declared that she had
+grown much more lovely, more sensible, more charming in every way, and
+the expression of his fatherly pride culminated in a solemn
+announcement that never again would he part with his darling as long
+as he lived.
+
+For once his cousin actually agreed with him, admitting the
+improvement visible in Hedwig; but at these last words she shook her
+head and replied, with a certain meaning emphasis:
+
+'You should not speak so decidedly, Erich. Who knows how long you will
+enjoy exclusive possession of Hedwig! That may be disputed you even
+here at Brunneck.'
+
+'I shall not allow it,' interrupted Rüstow. 'I have no doubt that the
+Countess would like to have her over at Schönfeld for weeks at a
+stretch, but she will not have her way in this. I have been deprived
+of my child's society long enough, and mean to take a stand on my
+rights at last.'
+
+'Count Ettersberg was at the station, I suppose, when you arrived with
+the travellers the day before yesterday?' said the lady.
+
+'Certainly. It was very considerate, very proper of him to come
+himself to receive his aunt and take her over to Schönfeld. He was
+glad, too, to see Hedwig, and say a word of welcome to her on her
+return; but this, of course, was secondary.'
+
+'Of course, quite secondary!' murmured Aunt Lina softly, but with an
+ironical twitch of the lips.
+
+'The Count was not on particularly good terms with his aunt in the old
+days,' said Rüstow, turning to his cousin; 'but ever since her great
+misfortune he has shown her much kindness and attention. Indeed, I see
+a considerable alteration in that young man. He can even be pleasant
+and affable in his manners now, and as concerns his management of the
+Ettersberg property----'
+
+'Yes, we are aware that he is an agricultural genius,' put in Aunt
+Lina. 'You discovered his talents in that line years ago, you know,
+when no one guessed that he was the future owner and Master of
+Ettersberg.'
+
+'It would have been an unpardonable mistake if Fate had ordained that
+that man should be a lawyer,' said the Councillor solemnly. 'It always
+gratifies me when I remember what a clearance he made directly the
+reins fell into his hands, how quickly he put a stop to the old
+routine of reckless waste and mismanagement. He struck hard and struck
+home. In less than three months all the old worthless lumber had been
+thrown out. The parasites, which for years had clung to the good tree,
+sapping its strength, were destroyed. And how the man set to work when
+it came to ordering a new system! My spirit of enterprise is not
+small, but I believe I must yield the palm to him. I never should have
+imagined that in so short a time the estates could have been so raised
+in value. I ought to feel some annoyance, for hitherto Brunneck has
+passed for the model establishment of this part of the country, and
+now I suppose Ettersberg will be disputing its claim to the first
+rank.'
+
+'And to a good many other things, I fancy. But you will take it all
+very patiently and quietly, Erich, for Count Oswald has always been a
+declared favourite of yours.'
+
+'So he has, but I admit one great fault in him.
+
+He will not marry. The whole neighbourhood is full of it. I shall take
+him to task seriously on the subject.'
+
+'Do nothing of the sort,' said Aunt Lina. 'Interference is quite
+unnecessary, especially from you.'
+
+Rüstow did not catch the hidden meaning of her words. He took them as
+expressing distrust in his skill and diplomacy, and was much offended
+in consequence.
+
+'You think that where marriage is concerned, nobody but a woman has a
+right to speak. I will show you that I know what I am about. Count
+Oswald sets great store by my opinion.'
+
+'I have not a doubt of it, on this subject more than on any other. I
+am convinced even that he will not marry without previously seeking
+your consent and approbation. You need not put yourself in a passion,
+Erich. I mean what I say--and there! why, there is the Count's
+carriage just turning into the courtyard. I knew very well he would be
+over here to-day.'
+
+'How could you know that?' asked Rüstow, still angry at her supposed
+sarcasm. 'You have taken no interest whatever in my new steam-engine.'
+
+'What steam-engine?'
+
+'A new and most practical invention which I had down from town a
+little while ago. You were indifferent as usual. It failed to rouse
+your interest, but the Count, to whom I was explaining all the details
+when we met at the station the other day, is burning with desire to
+examine it.'
+
+The old lady seemed to have her own ideas on the subject of this
+punctuality and burning zeal. She shrugged her shoulders
+significantly, as the Councillor hurried eagerly away to receive his
+visitor, in whose company he returned a few minutes later.
+
+No striking change had taken place in Oswald's outward appearance, yet
+it produced an impression quite different from that of former days.
+With the pressure of untoward circumstances, with the fruitless,
+constant struggle against a galling chain, the bitterness of spirit
+had disappeared which once threatened to gain complete dominion over
+his proud and sensitive nature. Freedom and a new sense of personal
+importance had given him fuller development. The harsh expression had
+vanished from his features, the former coldness and abruptness from
+his speech and demeanour. He was not indeed possessed of that frank
+charm of manner with which Edmund had conquered all hearts, but his
+grave superior calm, his simple and yet imposing mien, showed that the
+present owner of Ettersberg was better fitted to rule and to command
+than his deceased cousin ever could have been. The Count, on this
+occasion, came of course solely and entirely to see the famous
+steam-engine, and to judge by a certain perturbed restlessness which
+he sought in vain to conceal, his interest in the useful invention
+must have been of an intense and all-absorbing character. Yet he
+listened with rather an absent air to the Councillor's florid
+description of his new treasure, and kept his eyes fixed on the door.
+He appeared to be momentarily expecting something, or some one; at
+length his patience gave way, and, turning to Aunt Lina, he observed
+in the most innocent and natural tone in the world:
+
+'Fräulein Hedwig is out in the park, I suppose. I fancied I caught
+sight of her as I drove through.'
+
+The old lady cast at him a glance which plainly said, 'If you had
+fancied that, you would not be herewith us now;' but aloud she
+replied, with an innocent simplicity equal to his own:
+
+'I think you are mistaken. Count. My niece, I regret to say, has gone
+out to take a walk, probably to revisit some of the favourite old
+haunts which she has not yet seen since she came home.'
+
+'Her favourite haunts!' The hint was sufficient for Count Oswald. He
+suddenly discovered that he had very little time at his disposal, and
+was bound to return to Ettersberg with all speed, but this availed him
+little. Rüstow took it as a fresh compliment to the steam-engine that,
+notwithstanding the urgent calls upon his time, his guest had come
+over to inspect and admire it. Inexorably he dragged him forth.
+
+Oswald had to listen long to all the detailed explanations of this
+enthusiastic farmer, though in his impatience the ground on which he
+stood seemed to scorch his feet. At length he succeeded in getting
+free, and leaving the Councillor with a hurried good-bye, jumped into
+the carriage, which was waiting for him, and drove away.
+
+Rüstow returned to the house a little put out at the unusual shortness
+and hasty nature of the visit vouchsafed him.
+
+'There was nothing to be done with the Count to-day,' he said to his
+cousin. 'He seemed quite absent in his manner, and hardly looked at
+the engine, after all. Now he is rushing back to Ettersberg like the
+wind. It really was not worth while to come so far for such a flying
+visit.'
+
+'It was too bad of you to torment him in that way,' remarked Aunt
+Lina, with sly malice. 'A full quarter of an hour you kept him
+standing there by your tiresome old steam-engine! He did not come to
+see that, bless you! and he is not driving back to Ettersberg now--not
+a bit of it, no more than I am!'
+
+'Where in the world is he, then?' asked Rüstow, who was so overcome by
+these assertions that he overlooked the insulting word 'tiresome,'
+applied to his steam-engine.
+
+'Very probably he is not driving at all. I dare say he has sent his
+carriage on into the village, and is taking a walk in the woods, or on
+the hills, or somewhere about. How can I tell in what direction Hedwig
+may be strolling?'
+
+'Hedwig? What do you mean? You don't intend to say----'
+
+'I intend to say that Hedwig is destined to become Countess
+Ettersberg, and that this time nothing can or will prevent it--depend
+upon it, I am right.'
+
+'Lina, I really do believe you are going crazy,' exclaimed Rüstow.
+'Why, they never could endure each other! They have been separated now
+for more than a year. In fact, since Edmund's death, they have only
+met about half a dozen times at the Countess's house at Schönfeld. It
+is impossible, absolutely impossible. This is just another of your
+foolish romantic notions.'
+
+'Well, wait until they both come back,' said Aunt Lina emphatically.
+'But in the meantime you may make up your mind to give the paternal
+benediction, for, rely upon it, it will be required of you. Count
+Oswald will hardly care to lose more time now, and certainly he has
+waited long enough. I think it was an overstrained feeling of delicacy
+on Hedwig's part which made her leave her home and father, just to
+prevent any earlier appeal from that quarter.'
+
+'What? That is why she went to Italy with the Countess?' cried Rüstow,
+falling, as it were, from the clouds, 'You don't mean to pretend that
+this fancy existed during Edmund's lifetime?'
+
+'This is no question of a mere fancy,' replied his cousin
+instructively; 'but of an ardent, unconquerable attachment which has,
+no doubt, cost them both much pain and many struggles. Hedwig, it is
+true, has never alluded to the subject by so much as a word. She has
+obstinately kept her confidence from me, but I could see how she was
+suffering, how hard it was to her to fulfil the promise which, without
+reflection, without full knowledge of her own heart, she had given to
+another. I do not doubt that she would have fulfilled it, but what the
+future consequences might have been both to herself and Oswald--that
+Heaven only knows!'
+
+The Councillor folded his hands and gazed at his cousin with an
+expression of profound respect.
+
+'And you found out all this by your own powers of observation? Lina,
+it strikes me that you are a wonderfully clever woman.'
+
+'Ah, you have discovered that at length, have you?' asked the old
+lady, with gleeful satisfaction. 'It is rather late in the day for you
+to begin to recognise my talents.'
+
+Rüstow made no reply, but his face literally beamed at the thought of
+having for a son-in-law his favourite, his genius--and in the joy of
+his heart he treated the speaker to a vigorous hug.
+
+'I will admit them all, Lina. I will admit anything you like,' he
+cried. 'But this affair can hardly be settled so quickly as you say.
+How can the Count have gone after Hedwig? He does not know where she
+is, any more than we do.'
+
+Aunt Lina escaped from his embrace, laughing.
+
+'Ah, that is his business! We will rack our brains no further. Lovers
+have extraordinary luck in these matters. They are gifted with a
+species of second-sight which is very useful. I do not suppose that
+Count Oswald knows exactly the spot where Hedwig is, or he would
+hardly have come on to Brunneck first; but find her he will, you may
+be sure, be she hidden away in the thickest wood or perched on the top
+of the highest mountain. They will come back together, you may take my
+word for it, Erich.'
+
+This prophecy, delivered with much deliberate confidence, was verified
+almost to the letter.
+
+Oswald had, indeed, driven down to the village, but he had then sent
+on the carriage and had hurried towards the hills on foot. The faculty
+of 'second-sight' must have been well developed in him, for without a
+moment's vacillation, doubt or delay, he struck into a path which led
+direct to a certain wooded hill-side. His pace grew more eager, more
+rapid, as he neared his goal, and when at length he reached it, the
+object of his search was found. He had guessed that Hedwig's first
+ramble after her return home would take her to that spot.
+
+Again the swallows came, in swift flight out of the far distance, back
+to their beloved woods, their old familiar haunts. With easy strokes
+they winged their way through the clear air, circling round tree and
+mountaintop, and then fluttering off in all directions to rejoice the
+whole countryside with their happy greetings, to be welcomed
+everywhere as the first messengers of spring.
+
+But this time the earth was not wrapt in slumber or swathed in mist.
+It had long since wakened from its winter sleep. Through the sunlit
+forest might be seen the delicate green tracery of budding leaves.
+Verdure lay on field and meadow, peeping up, breaking through every
+clod, and over earth and sky streamed a sea of golden light. The
+breath, the pulse of spring was everywhere--on all sides jubilant
+voices sounded, hailing the new life.
+
+So for the two human beings standing on that sunny height a true
+springtime had dawned. They had waited long for it, but now it had
+come to them in all its wealth and splendour. The words of love spoken
+here to-day must have been more ardent, more passionate, than those
+which three years before Hedwig had heard from other lips. Profoundly
+earnest they had certainly been. Oswald's face, as he bent over his
+betrothed, testified to this, as did the tears still glistening on
+Hedwig's lashes. Her dark-blue eyes had grown so deep in meaning, so
+full of soul and expression since they had learned to weep.
+
+'I have had to wait so long,' said Oswald, and a slight accent of
+reproach mingled with the passionate tenderness of his tone. 'So long,
+so long! For more than a year you have held aloof from me, and I was
+not permitted even to write to you. Sometimes I thought I was
+altogether forgotten.'
+
+Hedwig smiled, still through her tears.
+
+'No, Oswald; you have not thought that. You knew surely and well that
+I suffered from the necessary silence and separation to the full as
+much as you--but I felt I owed that time of silence to Edmund's memory
+and to his mother's grief. You saw her when we arrived, and the sight
+will have explained to you why I could not have the courage to be
+happy while living at her side.'
+
+'She is terribly changed, certainly. Her long sojourn in the South has
+brought about no real improvement, I fancy.'
+
+'A postponement, at most. I fear she has returned hither only to die.'
+
+'I knew that she would not survive the blow,' said Oswald. 'I feel so
+deeply what Edmund was to me, and how much more was he to his mother!'
+
+Hedwig shook her head slightly.
+
+'Sorrow one learns to bear, and it moderates with time, but the
+trouble that is gnawing at her heart has so sharp a tooth, it tortures
+and wastes her strength so constantly and cruelly, that I am sometimes
+tempted to think some other feeling must mingle with it--remorse,
+perhaps, or a sense of guilt!'
+
+Oswald was silent, but the cloud which settled on his brow was answer
+enough.
+
+'Before we started on our journey you made me promise that I would not
+distress the poor lady with questions,' the girl went on. 'I have kept
+my promise, and have never alluded to the doubts or the painful
+uncertainty which weigh on my mind. There is so much that is dark and
+enigmatic to me in all the circumstances connected with that terrible
+event. One thing only I divine, namely, that Edmund voluntarily sought
+his death. Why? To this hour the question has been left unanswered. It
+remains to me a mystery. There should be no secrets between us,
+Oswald. You must answer me now when I pray and entreat you to tell me
+the truth. I cannot, will not see that dark cloud upon your brow.'
+
+She could use the language of entreaty now, could beseech with all the
+intensity and power of love; and here she was sure of victory. Oswald
+clasped her more tightly in his arms.
+
+'No, my Hedwig, there must be nothing secret between us. All must be
+clear and open as day. But not now, and not here, can I disclose to
+you that sad story of guilt with all its fatal consequences. I cannot
+tell that story to my betrothed. When you are my wife, you shall hear
+what drove Edmund to his death, what is gradually, irresistibly
+drawing his mother after him to the grave. That dark shadow must not
+intervene to mar the brightness of this hour. So often have I dreamed
+of it, aye, dreamed from the moment your sweet face first dawned on me
+in the midst of that fierce snowstorm. You came to me, a spring-day
+personified, with all its promises of hope and happiness--though then,
+indeed, I could not, dare not hope those promises would ever be
+fulfilled.'
+
+Hedwig looked up at him. She had not quite forgotten her old arch,
+sunny smile. It played about her lips with all its own bewitching
+charm as she replied:
+
+'Why not? We met for the first time in a March storm, and here, on
+this very spot, when you were speaking so gloomily of life in general
+and of your own sad past, I proclaimed to you that Spring, bright
+happy Spring, would come at last.'
+
+As an echo to her words sounded the low murmured greeting of the
+swallows fluttering overhead, as they had fluttered on that former day
+in the thick drizzling mist. But now they winged their airy flight in
+full sunshine. Higher and higher they soared, until they disappeared
+in the illimitable azure of the sky. These small feathered messengers,
+which bring to the earth after its long winter sleep a promise of new
+light and life, came this time charged with a still fairer mission.
+They brought ease to longing hearts, rest after a cruel fight, a whole
+springtime of peace and happiness to two loving human beings.
+
+
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+
+
+
+                 BILLING & SONS. PRINTERS. GUILDFORD
+                                                 _G. C. & Co_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fickle Fortune, by 
+Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FICKLE FORTUNE ***
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fickle Fortune, by 
+Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: Fickle Fortune
+
+Author: Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+Translator: Christina Tyrrell
+
+Release Date: March 18, 2012 [EBook #39194]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FICKLE FORTUNE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br>
+<br>
+1. Page scan source:<br>
+http://www.archive.org/details/3935129<br>
+<br>
+2. Table of Contents added.</p>
+<br>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>FICKLE FORTUNE.</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">CHAPTER I.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">CHAPTER II.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">CHAPTER III.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">CHAPTER IV.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">CHAPTER V.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">CHAPTER VI.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">CHAPTER VII.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">CHAPTER IX.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">CHAPTER X.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">CHAPTER XII.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></p>
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>FICKLE FORTUNE.</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h5>BY</h5>
+<h2>E. WERNER,</h2>
+<h5>AUTHOR OF<br>
+'UNDER A CHARM,' 'NO SURRENDER,' 'SUCCESS,' ETC.</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h5>From the German<br>
+BY</h5>
+<h3>CHRISTINA TYRRELL.</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4><i>A NEW EDITION</i>.</h4>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>LONDON:</h4>
+<h3>RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,</h3>
+<h5>Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.</h5>
+<h4>1888.</h4>
+<h5>[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>.]</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>FICKLE FORTUNE.</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">CHAPTER I.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">'This is what they are pleased to call spring in these parts! The snow
+drifts thicker and thicker every minute, and the delightful north-east
+wind comes in vigorous blasts which threaten to carry us away into
+space, post-chaise and all. It is perfectly maddening.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The carriage, one of the occupants of which thus gave vent to his
+ill-humour, was in truth working its way slowly and with difficulty
+through the accumulated snow on the high-road. Notwithstanding all
+their efforts, the horses could only advance at a foot-pace, so that
+the patience of the two travellers seated in the interior of the
+vehicle was put to a severe test.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of these, the younger, who was attired in an elegant travelling-suit,
+far too light of texture, however, for the occasion, could certainly
+not be more than four-and-twenty years of age. All the hopefulness and
+confidence, or rather the bright audacity of youth beamed in his frank
+handsome face, in the dark eyes, which were bold and clear as though
+no trace of a shadow had ever clouded them. There was something
+peculiarly winning and agreeable about the young man's whole
+appearance, but he seemed highly impatient of the delay which now
+occurred in his journey, and gave expression to his annoyance in every
+possible way.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His companion, on the other hand, appeared altogether calm and
+indifferent, as he sat, wrapped in his cloak, leaning well back in the
+other corner of the carriage. But a few years older than his friend,
+he possessed little of the latter's attractiveness. He was of
+powerful, rather than of graceful, build, and he bore himself with an
+ease which was almost nonchalance. His face would have passed muster
+as being, at least, full of character, though it could lay claim
+neither to beauty nor regularity of outline, but it was spoiled by an
+expression of stern reserve which chilled and repelled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The deeper bitterness of life, its harsher experiences, could hardly
+have come home to one so young, and yet there was a look which spoke
+of these, a something not to be defined or accurately traced, which
+set on the countenance its own distinctive mark, and made the man
+appear much older than he really was. The abundant dark hair
+harmonised with the bushy dark eyebrows, but the eyes themselves were
+of that uncertain hue which is not generally approved. They made,
+indeed, scant appeal to the sympathies, expressing none of the happy
+vivacity, none of those passionate emotions wherein, as a rule, youth
+is so rich. Their cold unmoved survey was hard, and hardness
+characterised the young man's entire appearance and demeanour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The gentleman above described had hitherto sat silent, looking out at
+the hurrying, driving snow; but now he turned, and in answer to his
+companion's impatient exclamation, said:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You forget that we are no longer in Italy, Edmund. In our climate,
+and especially here among the mountains, March counts among the winter
+months.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah me, my beautiful Italy! There we left all bathed in sunshine and
+fragrant with flowers, and here at home we are received by a snowstorm
+imported direct from the North Pole, You seem, however, to find no
+fault with the temperature. The whole journey has been nothing to you
+but just a troublesome task to be got through. Don't deny it, Oswald.
+Could you have chosen, you would rather have stayed at home with your
+books.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What I wished, or did not wish, was not taken into consideration. It
+was decided that you were not to travel without a companion. I
+therefore simply had to obey orders.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, you were given to me as a Mentor,' laughed Edmund; 'charged with
+the high mission of watching over me, and, at need, of applying a
+salutary check.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In which I certainly have not succeeded. You have committed follies
+innumerable.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bah! of what use is it to be young and rich, if one is not to enjoy
+life? I must say this, I have always had to enjoy it by myself. You
+have not been a good comrade to me, Oswald, my friend. What made you
+always draw back into your shell in that obstinate, sombre fashion?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Because I knew, and know, that what is permitted to the heir of
+Ettersberg, or what, at most, will be condoned with a few tender
+reproaches, would be esteemed a crime in me,' was the brusque reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nonsense!' cried Edmund. 'You know very well that I should have taken
+the whole responsibility on myself. As it is, I must take all the
+blame. Well, the judgment on my backslidings will not be over-severe,
+I warrant, whereas, when you on our return publicly announce your
+plans for the future, you may hold yourself prepared for a storm.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know that,' replied Oswald laconically.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But I shall not stand by you this time as I did before, when you so
+decidedly refused to enter the army,' went on the young Count. 'I got
+you through that, for I naturally thought you would go into a
+Government office. We all thought so, looked upon it as a thing
+decided, and now you suddenly come forward with this insane idea of
+yours.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The idea is neither so new nor so insane as you suppose. It had
+germinated and taken root in my mind when I began my University career
+with you. I have directed all my studies with a view to it; but as I
+wished to avoid a useless conflict lasting through years, I have been
+silent until now, when the time for the decision has come.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I warn you, this project of yours will set the whole family in
+commotion. And I must say it is a most extraordinary one. Think of an
+Ettersberg turning barrister, and taking up the defence of any thief
+or forger who comes in his way! My mother will never hear of it, and
+she will be perfectly right. Now, if you were to enter a Government
+office----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Years must elapse before I should have mounted the first grades, and
+during that time I must be altogether dependent on you and your
+mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was said in so harsh and curt a tone that Edmund drew himself up
+quickly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald, have I ever let you feel that?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You--never! But your very generosity makes me feel it more.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So here we are on the old ground again! You are capable of doing the
+most idiotic thing in the world, merely to shake off this so-called
+dependence. But what is the matter, I wonder? Why has the carriage
+stopped? I really believe we are fast in the snow here on the
+main-road.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald had already let down the window, and was looking out.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is up?' he asked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We are stuck,' was the phlegmatic reply of the post-boy, who seemed
+to consider the thing as perfectly natural.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, we are stuck, are we!' repeated Edmund, with an irritated laugh.
+'And the man informs us of it with that sweet philosophic calm. Well,
+granted we are stuck. What is to be done?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald made no reply, but opened the carriage-door and stepped out.
+The situation could be taken in at a glance; agreeable it certainly
+was not. From the spot they had reached, the road descended in a steep
+incline, and the narrow defile through which they must pass was
+completely blocked by an enormous drift. There the snow lay several
+feet high, and presented so compact a mass that to get through it
+seemed impossible. The coachman and horses must have become aware of
+this simultaneously, for the latter ceased all exertion, and the
+former sat with drooping whip and reins, gazing at his two passengers
+as though he expected from them counsel or assistance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'This confounded post-chaise!' burst forth Edmund, who had followed
+his companion's example and alighted in his turn. 'Why the deuce had
+not we our own horses sent out to meet us! We shall not reach
+Ettersberg now before dark. Driver, we must get on!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There is no getting on, sir,' replied the latter, with imperturbable
+serenity. 'You, gentlemen, can see it for yourselves.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count was about to make an angry retort, when Oswald laid
+his hand on his arm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The man is right. It really is not to be done. With these two horses
+only we cannot possibly advance. There is nothing left us but to stop
+here a while in the carriage, and to send the post-boy on to the next
+station to procure us a relay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So that we may be snowed up here meanwhile. Rather than that, I would
+go on to the post-house on foot.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's eyes travelled with a somewhat sarcastic glance over his
+comrade's dress, which was suited only to a railway <i>coupé</i> or a
+carriage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You propose going through the woods on foot in that attire? Along a
+path where one sinks to the knee at every step? But you will take cold
+standing here exposed to this sharp wind. Have my cloak.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, and without more ado, he unfastened his cloak, and placed
+it about the Count's shoulders, the latter protesting violently, but
+in vain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not give it to me; you will have no protection yourself against
+the wind and weather.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing hurts me. I am not delicate.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And, in your opinion, I am?' inquired Edmund tetchily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, only spoilt. But now we must come to some decision. Either we
+must stay here in the carriage and send on the post-boy, or we must
+endeavour to push forwards by the footpath. Decide quickly. What is to
+be done?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What an abominable way you have of summing up things!' said Edmund,
+with a sigh. 'You are constantly setting one an alternative----choose
+this or that. How do I know if the footpath is practicable?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here the discussion was interrupted. The snorting of horses and the
+thud of hoofs on the snow were heard at some little distance, and
+through the mist and falling flakes a second carriage could be seen
+approaching. The powerful animals which drew it overcame with
+tolerable ease the difficulties of the way, until they reached the
+formidable descent. Here they, too, came to a stand. The coachman drew
+rein, contemplated the block before him with an ominous shake of the
+head, and then turned to speak to some one inside the carriage. His
+report was evidently as unsatisfactory as that delivered by the
+post-boy, and was received with a like impatience. The answer, which
+came in a clear, youthful voice, was given sharply and with much
+energy:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is all of no use, Anthony. We must get through.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But, Fräulein, if it can't be done!' objected the coachman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nonsense! it <i>must</i> be done. I will just look for myself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No sooner were the words spoken in a most decided tone than they were
+carried into effect. The carriage-door flew open, and a young lady--a
+lady of whose youth there could be no possible doubt--sprang out.
+She appeared to be familiar with the March temperature of this
+mountainous country, and to have taken the necessary precautionary
+measures, for her costume was one suited to winter. She wore a dark
+travelling-dress, and over it a fur-trimmed jacket well buttoned about
+her slender figure, while securely pinned about her hat was a thick
+veil which covered head and face. The fact that on alighting her foot
+sank into the soft snow almost to the border of her boot seemed in no
+way to affect her. She advanced valiantly a few steps, then stopped on
+beholding another carriage drawn up just before her own.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The attention of the two gentlemen had, of course, also been
+attracted. Oswald, indeed, merely bestowed a cursory glance on the
+new-comer, and then addressed his mind again to the critical situation
+in which they found themselves; but Edmund, on the other hand, at once
+lost all interest in it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He left to his companion any further consideration of the difficulty.
+In an instant he was at the stranger's side, and, executing a bow as
+elaborate as though they had been in a drawing-room, spoke thus:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Pardon me, Fräulein, but I perceive we are not the only persons
+surprised by this incomparable spring weather. It is always
+consolatory to meet with companions in misfortune; and as we are
+exposed to a like danger, that of being completely, hopelessly snowed
+up, you will allow us to offer you our aid and assistance.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In making this chivalrous offer. Count Ettersberg lost sight of the
+fact that he and Oswald were as yet helpless themselves, having found
+no way of overcoming the obstacle in their path. Unfortunately, he was
+at once taken at his word, for the young lady, no whit abashed by a
+stranger's address, replied promptly in her former decided tone:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, have the kindness then to make us a way through the snow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I?' asked Edmund, dismayed. 'You wish me to----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I wish you to make us a road through the snow--most certainly I do,
+sir.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'With the utmost pleasure, Fräulein, if only you will be so good as to
+tell me how I am to set about it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The toe of her little boot tapped the ground vigorously, and there was
+some slight asperity in her reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I fancied you might have found out that already, as you proffered
+your help. Well, we must get through some way, no matter how it is
+managed.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With this, the speaker threw back her veil, and proceeded to inspect
+the situation. The withdrawal of that dark blue gauze revealed
+features of such unwonted loveliness that Edmund, in his surprise,
+forgot to make response. A fairer sight, indeed, could hardly have
+been beheld than the face of this young girl, rose-tinted by the
+action of the keen mountain air. Her brown curly hair peeped and
+struggled rebelliously out of the silken net which sought to confine
+it. Her eyes, of the deepest, deepest blue, were not serene and calm
+as blue eyes are expected to be; on the contrary, they gleamed and
+sparkled with the saucy merriment which youth and happiness alone can
+give. Every smile brought a charming, delicious little dimple into
+either cheek, but there was an expression about the small mouth which
+hinted at waywardness and defiance; and it might well be that in that
+little head, beneath those rebellious locks, there lodged a child's
+caprice, all a child's manifold wilful conceits. Perhaps it was
+precisely this which gave to the face its own peculiar, piquant charm,
+which fascinated irresistibly, and forced those who had once looked to
+look again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young lady was by no means unaware of the impression her
+appearance had created. To the consciousness of it was due, no doubt,
+the involuntary smile which now chased the petulance from her
+features. Edmund's silence was not of long duration. Timidity and a
+want of self-confidence were not among his failings, and he was about
+to renew the attack with a well-turned compliment when Oswald came up
+and spoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The difficulty can be overcome,' he said, bowing slightly to the
+stranger. 'If you, Fräulein, will allow us to harness your horses
+to our team, it will be possible in the first place to get the
+post-chaise through the snow, and then to proceed with your carriage
+in its track.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Uncommonly practical!' said Edmund, who was considerably annoyed at
+being thus interrupted, at the check to his compliment, and to the
+further development of his many delightful qualities. The young lady
+appeared somewhat surprised at the curt dry tone in which the proposal
+was made. The highly unpractical admiration of herself manifested by
+Count Ettersberg was evidently more to her taste than the cold
+commonsense of his companion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She replied, speaking rather shortly in her turn:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Pray do exactly as you think best.' Then she instructed the coachman
+to obey the gentleman's orders, and turning to her carriage, prepared
+to seek a shelter therein from the persistent, thickly-falling snow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund promptly followed. He felt it incumbent on him to help her in,
+after which he took up his station on the carriage-step, in order to
+keep her informed of the progress of the business which Oswald had
+energetically taken in hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Now the procession has started,' he began his report, the
+carriage-window having been lowered to facilitate communication. 'They
+can hardly advance even with the double team. Ah, there, as they go
+downhill, things look serious. The ramshackle old post-chaise cracks
+and shakes at every joint; the two men are as awkward in driving as
+they can possibly be. It is lucky that my companion is commandant of
+the troop. If there is a thing he thoroughly understands, and in which
+he excels, it is the art of commanding! Upon my word, they are making
+a breach in the snow-rampart! They will manage it. Oswald is over
+yonder already, pointing out to them the direction they are to take.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'While you are securely posted on my carriage-step,' remarked the
+young lady, rather caustically.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, Fräulein, you would not require of me to leave you all alone
+here on the highroad,' said Edmund, taking up his defence. 'Some one
+must stay here to protect you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do not think there is any danger of an attack by robbers. Our
+highways are safe, so far as I know. But you seem to have a fancy for
+your point of vantage.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Whence I enjoy so charming a prospect, yes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This too gallant speech was evidently distasteful, for instantaneously
+the dark blue veil was lowered, and the vaunted prospect disappeared
+from view. Count Edmund was a little discomfited. He saw his error,
+and grew more respectful.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A quarter of an hour had well-nigh elapsed before the chaise could be
+got over the difficult ground. At length it stood secure on the other
+side. Oswald retraced his steps, and the coachman followed with the
+horses. Edmund was still on the carriage-step. He had, as it seemed,
+received absolution for the impertinence of which he had been guilty,
+for a most animated conversation was going on between the lady and her
+self-appointed guardian. The former took, however, a certain malicious
+pleasure in concealing her features from view. Her veil was still
+closely drawn when Oswald again approached.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must beg of you to alight, Fräulein,' he said. 'The descent is
+rather precipitous, and the snow is deep. Our post-chaise was several
+times within an ace of being overturned, and your carriage is much
+heavier. It might be a risk for you to remain in it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What an idea, Oswald!' cried Edmund. 'How can this lady pass along
+such a road on foot? It is impossible!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not so, only rather uncomfortable,' was the unmoved reply. 'The
+carriages will have formed some sort of a track; if we follow in that,
+the journey will really not be so difficult as you imagine. Of course,
+if the lady is afraid to venture----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Afraid?' she interrupted, in an angry tone. 'Pray, sir, do not
+attribute any such excessive timidity to me. I shall most certainly
+venture, and that at once.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, she jumped out of the carriage, and next minute was braving
+the elements on the open road. Here the wind caught the veil which had
+been so persistently held down, and it fluttered high in the air.
+True, the little hand clutched quickly at the truant gauze, but it had
+wound itself about the hat, and the attempt to regain control of it
+failed signally; to the great satisfaction of Count Edmund, who was
+now able to enjoy the 'prospect' without let or hindrance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile the horses had been harnessed to the second carriage. Ruts
+having previously been made in the snow, the journey this time was
+more easily performed. Nevertheless, Oswald, who followed closely in
+the wake of the vehicle, was constantly obliged to offer his guidance
+and assistance. The driving snow knew no intermission, and the great
+white flakes whirled round and round, chased by the wind. The high
+dyke-walls on either side of the road were seen but indistinctly as
+through a veil, while all further prospect was completely blotted out,
+hidden in dense mist. It needed the elastic spirits of youth to
+support with philosophy so severe an ordeal, to find in it food for
+mirth. Fortunately, this talismanic quality was possessed by the two
+younger travellers in a high degree. The difficult progress, in the
+course of which they sank at each step ankle-deep into the snow, the
+incessant struggle with the wind, all the difficulties, great and
+small, which had to be overcome, were to them an inexhaustible source
+of merriment. Their lively talk never flagged an instant. Repartees
+flowed backwards and forwards rocketwise. Each joke was caught in its
+passage, and sent back with interest. Neither would allow the other to
+have the last word, and all this badinage went on as unrestrainedly,
+in as frank and natural a manner, as though the two had been
+acquainted for years.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length the journey was performed, and the summit of the opposite
+hill reached in safety. Here the road branched off in two directions,
+and no further obstruction was to be apprehended. The carriages stood
+side by side, and the respective teams were speedily harnessed in
+their proper order.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We shall have to part company now,' said the young lady, pointing to
+the divergent routes. 'You, no doubt, will continue along the
+highroad, while my destination lies in the other direction.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'At no very great distance, I hope,' said Edmund quickly. 'I beg
+pardon, but all the small misadventures of this journey have done away
+with anything like etiquette. We have not even told you our names.
+Under the very exceptional circumstances, you will allow me,
+Fräulein'--here a violent gust of wind blew the cape of his cloak
+about his ears, and dashed a shower of wet flakes in his face--'you
+will allow me to introduce myself, your humble servant. Count Edmund
+von Ettersberg, who at the same time has the honour of presenting his
+cousin, Oswald von Ettersberg. You will excuse the reverence which
+should accompany these words. Our friend Boreas is capable of
+prostrating me at your feet in the snow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young lady started at the mention of his name.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Count Edmund? The heir of Ettersberg?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'At your service.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The stranger's lips twitched as with a strong inclination to laughter
+forcibly restrained.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And you have acted as my protector? We have mutually helped each
+other in need with our horses. Oh, that is admirable!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My name would appear to be familiar to you,' said Edmund. 'May I in
+my turn learn----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Who I am? No, Count, you certainly will not learn that now. But I
+would advise you not to mention this meeting of ours at Ettersberg,
+for, innocent as we are in the matter, the avowal would, I think, at
+once place us both beyond the pale of the law.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here the young lady's self-control gave way, and she broke out into
+such a peal of merry laughter that Oswald looked at her in surprise.
+Not a whit disconcerted, Edmund immediately adopted the same tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It seems that there exists between us a certain secret connection of
+which I had no idea,' he said. 'The secret, however, appears to be of
+a cheerful nature, and though you decline to raise the veil of your
+incognito, you will, I am sure, permit me to enjoy my share of the
+joke,' whereupon he joined in her merriment, laughing as heartily and
+extravagantly as herself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The carriages are ready,' said Oswald, breaking in upon this noisy
+gaiety. 'It is time, I think, for us to be setting out again.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two suddenly ceased laughing, and looked as though they considered
+such an interruption to be most unmannerly. The young lady threw back
+her head with an angry toss, looked at the speaker from head to foot,
+and then without more ado turned her back on him, and walked towards
+the carriage. Edmund naturally accompanied her. He pushed aside the
+coachman, who was standing by the wheel ready to assist, lifted his
+beautiful <i>protégée</i> in, and closed the door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And I really am not to hear whom chance has thrown in my way in this
+kind, but all too transitory, manner?' he asked, with a profound bow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, Count. Possibly some explanation may be given you at home--that
+is, if my <i>signalement</i> be known there. I, most certainly, shall not
+solve the enigma. One question more, however. Is your cousin always as
+polite and as sociable as he has shown himself to-day?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, you would say that he has not opened his lips once during the
+whole of our walk. Yes, that is unfortunately his way with strangers.
+As for any sense of gallantry, of deference towards ladies!' Edmund
+sighed. 'Ah, you little know, Fräulein, what efforts I have to make,
+how often I have to intervene and make amends for his utter deficiency
+in that respect.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, you seem to accept the task with much self-abnegation,' replied
+the young lady mischievously; 'and you have an extraordinary
+predilection for mounting carriage-steps. Why, you are up there
+again!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund certainly was up there, and would probably long have retained
+the position, had not the coachman, who now grasped the reins, given
+visible signs of impatience. The beautiful unknown graciously inclined
+her head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Many thanks for your kindness. Adieu.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Adieu, for the present only, I may hope,' cried Edmund eagerly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'For heaven's sake, hope nothing of the kind. We must forego any such
+wild notion. You will see it yourself before long. Adieu, Count von
+Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These farewell words were followed by the musical, merry laugh. The
+horses pulled with a will, and the young man had only just time to
+jump from his standing-point on the step.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Will you have the kindness to get in at last?'--this in the
+remonstrant tones of Oswald's voice. 'You were in such a great hurry
+to reach home, you know, and we are considerably behind time now.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund cast one more glance at the carriage which was whirling from
+him his charming new acquaintance. Presently it disappeared among the
+trees. Then he obeyed his cousin's summons.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald, who was the lady?' he asked quickly, as the post-chaise in
+its turn began to move onwards.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why on earth ask me? How should I know?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, you were long enough away with the carriage. You might have
+inquired of the coachman.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is not my way to question coachmen. Besides, the matter possesses
+little interest for me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, it possesses a good deal for me,' said Edmund irritably. 'But
+it is just like you. You don't consider it worth while to put a
+question, though of course, as you are full well aware, one would
+like to have the matter cleared up. I really don't quite know what to
+make of the girl. She emits sparks, so to say, at the slightest
+contact--she attracts and repels in a breath. One minute you feel as
+if you may address her with perfect unconstraint, and the next you
+find yourself scared back to the most respectful distance. A most
+seductive little witch!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Exceedingly spoilt and wilful, I should say,' remarked Oswald drily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What an abominable pedant you are!' cried the young Count. 'You have
+always some fault to find. It is precisely her capricious, merry
+wilfulness which makes the girl so irresistible. But who in the world
+can she be? I saw no crest on the carriage-panels. The coachman wore a
+plain livery without any particular badge. Some middle-class family in
+the neighbourhood, evidently; and yet she seemed to know us very well.
+Why refuse to give her name? why that allusion to some connection
+existing between us? In vain I rack my brains to find some
+explanation.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald, who seemed to think such mental exertion on his cousin's part
+most unnecessary, leaned back in his corner in silence, and the
+journey was continued without further obstacle, but with the tedious
+slowness which had characterised it throughout. To the Count's great
+annoyance, instead of the four horses they desired and expected, two
+only could be had at each relay. In consequence of the downfall of
+snow, the available animals at each post-house had been put into
+requisition, so that the travellers had lost fully a couple of hours
+on the road since they started from the railway-station at noon. It
+was growing dark when the carriage at length rolled into the courtyard
+of Castle Ettersberg, where their arrival had evidently long been
+looked for. The portals of the spacious and brilliantly lighted hall
+were thrown open, and at the sound of approaching wheels a goodly band
+of servants hastened to receive their master. One of these, an old
+retainer, who, like the rest, wore the handsome Ettersberg livery,
+came straight up to the carriage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good-evening, Everard,' cried Edmund joyfully. 'Here we are at last,
+in spite of snow and stress of weather. All is well at home, I hope.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Quite well, the Lord be praised. Count! but her ladyship was growing
+very anxious at the delay. She was afraid the young gentlemen had met
+with a mishap.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, Everard opened the carriage-door, and at that moment a
+lady of tall and imposing stature, clad in a dark silk robe, appeared
+at the head of a flight of steps which led from the entrance-hall into
+the interior of the castle. To spring out of the carriage, to rush
+into the hall and bound up the steps, was, for Edmund, the affair of
+an instant. Next minute he was fast in his mother's embrace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Dearest mother, what happiness to see you again at last!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was nothing in the young Count's exclamation of that light, airy
+playfulness which had marked his every utterance hitherto. His tone
+was genuine now, coming from the heart, and a like passionate
+tenderness thrilled the voice and illumined the features of the
+Countess as she folded her son in her arms again, and kissed him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My Edmund!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We are late, are we not? The block on the roads and the detestable
+arrangements at the post-houses are to blame for it. Moreover, we had
+a little adventure by the way.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How could you travel at all in such weather?' said the Countess, in a
+tone of loving reproach. 'I was hourly expecting a telegram to say
+that you would stay the night in B----, and come on here to-morrow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What! Be separated from you four-and-twenty hours longer?' Edmund
+broke in. 'No, mother, I certainly should not have agreed to that, and
+you did not believe it of me either.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The mother smiled. 'No; and for that very reason I have been in
+distress about you for several hours. But come now, you must need some
+refreshment after your long and arduous journey.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She would have taken her son's arm to lead him away, but he stood
+still, and said a little reproachfully:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You do not see Oswald, mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald von Ettersberg had followed his cousin in silence. He stood a
+little aside in the shadow of the great staircase, only emerging from
+it now as the Countess turned towards him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Welcome home, Oswald.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The greeting was very cool--cool and formal as the salute by which the
+young man responded to it. He just touched his aunt's hand with his
+lips, and as he did so, her glance travelled over his attire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, you are wet through!' she exclaimed in surprise. 'How came that
+to be?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, I forgot to tell you!' cried Edmund. 'When we had to alight, he
+gave me his cloak, and braved the storm himself without it. Oswald,'
+he went on, turning to his cousin, 'I might have given it back to you
+in the carriage at least; why did you not remind me of it? Now you
+have been sitting a whole hour in that wet coat. I do trust you will
+take no harm from it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He took off the cloak hastily, and passed his hand inquiringly over
+Oswald's shoulder, which certainly bore evidence of a good wetting.
+The other shook him off.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Don't. It is not worth speaking of.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I really think not,' said the Countess, to whom this kindly concern
+on her son's part was evidently distasteful. 'You know that Oswald is
+not susceptible to the influence of the weather. He must change his
+clothes, that is all. Go, Oswald; but no, one word more,' she added
+carelessly, and, as it were, by an afterthought: 'I have this time
+given you another room, one situated over yonder, in the side-wing.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'For what reason?' asked Edmund, surprised and annoyed. 'You know that
+we have always had our rooms together.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have made some alterations in your apartments, my son,' said the
+Countess, in a tone of much decision; 'and they have obliged me to
+take possession of Oswald's room. He will have no objection, I am
+sure. He will find himself very comfortably lodged over yonder in the
+tower-chamber.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No doubt, aunt.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The reply sounded quiet and indifferent enough, yet there was
+something in its tone which struck on the Count's ear unpleasantly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He frowned, and would have spoken again, but glancing at the servants
+standing round, he suppressed the remark he had been about to make.
+Instead of pursuing the discussion, he went up to his cousin and
+grasped his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, we can talk this over later on. Go now, Oswald, and change your
+clothes at once--at once, do you hear? If you keep those wet things on
+any longer, you will give me cause for serious self-reproach. Do it to
+please me; we will wait dinner for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, you seem to forget that I am waiting for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'One minute, mother. Everard, light Herr von Ettersberg to his room,
+and see that he has dry clothes ready without delay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, he turned to his mother, and offered his arm to lead her
+away. Oswald had responded by no single syllable to all the concern on
+his account so heartily expressed. He stood for a few seconds, looking
+after the two as they departed; then, as the old servant approached,
+he took the candelabrum from his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That will do, Everard; I can find my way alone. Look after my trunk,
+will you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He turned into the faintly illumined corridor which led to the
+side-wing of the castle. The wax tapers he carried threw their clear
+light on the young man's face, from which, now that he was alone, the
+mask of indifference had dropped. The lips were tightly compressed,
+the brows contracted, and an expression of bitterness, almost of hate,
+distorted his features, as he murmured to himself under his breath:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Will the day never come when I shall be free?'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">CHAPTER II.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The house of Ettersberg had originally been great, and had boasted
+many branches; but in the course of years death and the marriage of
+the female descendants had lopped off one good member after another,
+so that at the time of which this story treats there were, besides the
+widowed Countess who lived at the patronymic castle, but two
+representatives of the name, Count Edmund, the heir, and his cousin
+Oswald.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The latter shared the fate common to younger sons in families where
+the property is strictly entailed. Destitute of any personal fortune,
+he was entirely dependent on the head of his house, or must be so, at
+least, until he had carved out for himself a position in life. Things
+had not always worn this aspect; on the contrary, he had at his birth
+been greeted by his parents as the presumptive heir to the family
+lands. The then head of the family, Edmund's father, was childless,
+and already well advanced in years when he became a widower; his only
+brother, a man considerably younger than himself, who held a
+commission in the army, might therefore legitimately count on the
+prospective inheritance. It was esteemed a special piece of good
+fortune for this gentleman when, after many years of wedlock, blessed
+so far only by the advent of daughters early deceased, a son was born
+to him. The uncle himself gladly hailed the event as assuring the
+continuance of his race, and during the first years of infancy, the
+prospects of little Oswald were as brilliant as heart could desire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then occurred a most unlooked-for reversal of fortune. Count
+Ettersberg, a sexagenarian and more, led to the altar as his second
+wife a girl of twenty. The young Countess was very beautiful, but she
+came of a ruined, though of a noble house. It was generally said that
+the family had spared no exertions to bring about so splendid an
+alliance. Splendid the match might certainly be called; but it was
+ill-qualified to satisfy the needs of a youthful heart, especially as,
+so it was whispered, this suit had interfered with, and roughly broken
+asunder, the bonds of a previous attachment. Whether absolute
+constraint, or persuasion only, had been used on the part of the
+relations, no one knew; however prompted, the young lady gave her
+consent to a marriage which insured her a brilliant and most enviable
+position. Old Count Ettersberg succumbed so completely to the
+influence of this tardily kindled passion that he forgot all else in
+it, and when a scarcely hoped-for happiness befell him, when a son and
+heir was placed in his arms, the dominion of his wise and beautiful
+wife became absolute.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was natural that the younger brother should feel somewhat aggrieved
+at the utter destruction of all his prospects, and natural too that
+his sister-in-law should entertain towards him no feelings of special
+friendship. The affectionate relations formerly existing between the
+brothers gave place to a coldness and estrangement which lasted until
+the death of the younger. The Colonel and his wife died within but a
+short interval, and the orphan boy was taken to his uncle's house and
+there brought up on equal terms with the young heir.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But old Count Ettersberg did not survive his brother long. By his will
+he assigned the guardianship of the two boys to Baron Heideck, his
+wife's brother, and the latter justified the confidence placed in him,
+standing by his sister in every circumstance where a man's aid and
+assistance became necessary.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In general, however, the will assured to the Countess perfect freedom
+and independence of action. She it was who, in reality, had control of
+the property, and who directed the education of both son and nephew.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This latter was at length complete. Count Edmund had been absent all
+the winter, travelling through France and Italy in his cousin's
+company. He had now returned to make himself acquainted with the
+management of his estates, which at his approaching majority he was to
+take upon himself, while Oswald had to prepare to enter one of the
+Government bureaux.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the day succeeding the arrival of the two young men, the weather
+cleared a little, though the outer world still presented a most wintry
+aspect. The Countess was sitting with her son in her own boudoir.
+Though she stood midway between forty and fifty, the lady yet in a
+great measure retained the beauty which once had been dazzling. Her
+appearance, albeit majestic, was still so youthful, that it was
+difficult to imagine her the mother of this son of two-and-twenty,
+more especially as there was no single trait of resemblance between
+them. Edmund, with his dark hair and eyes, his sparkling gaiety and
+mobile humour, which manifested itself in every word and gesture, was
+a direct contrast to his grave, beautiful mother. Her fair tresses and
+calm blue eyes harmonised with the cool serenity of mien peculiar to
+her, a serenity which towards her darling alone would occasionally
+yield to a warmer impulse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count had apparently been making an open breast with regard
+to what Oswald termed his 'follies innumerable,' but he could not have
+found it hard to obtain absolution, for his mother, though she shook
+her head as she spoke, addressed him in a tone more tender than
+reproachful.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You madcap! It is time for me to take you in hand again. In the
+perfect unconstraint you have enjoyed abroad, the maternal rein has
+grown slack indeed. Will you bear it again, now that you have come
+back to me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bear control from you?--always!' returned Edmund, pressing his lips
+fervently to her white hand. Then relapsing immediately into his
+former lighthearted, saucy vein, he added: 'I told Oswald beforehand
+that the verdict on my misdeeds would be a merciful one. I know my
+lady mother well.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess's face darkened.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald seems to have altogether neglected his duty,' she replied. 'I
+could discover so much from your letters. As the elder and steadier of
+the two, he should have remained at your side; instead of which he
+left you to yourself, going only where he was absolutely obliged to
+follow. Had your own nature not preserved you from anything worse than
+folly, his counsels certainly would not have done so.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, he preached enough,' said Edmund. 'It was my fault, you know, if
+I did not listen to him. But before we say anything more, mother, let
+me put one question. Why has Oswald been banished to the side-wing?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Banished! What an expression! You have seen the alterations I have
+had made in your rooms. Are you not pleased with the new
+arrangements?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, but----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was necessary for you to have your apartments distinct.' The
+Countess interrupted him quickly. 'Now that you are about to take
+possession of your own house, it would not be seemly for you to share
+your rooms with your cousin. He will see that himself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But it was not necessary to send him over to that old part of the
+castle, which is only used in exceptional cases,' objected Edmund.
+'There are rooms enough and to spare in the main building. Oswald was
+hurt by this arrangement of yours. I could see it plainly. Have it
+altered--I beg of you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I cannot do that without making myself ridiculous in the eyes of all
+the servants.' said the Countess, in a very decided tone. 'If you wish
+to revoke the orders I have expressly given, you are, of course, at
+liberty to do so.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mother!' exclaimed the young Count, impatiently. 'You know very well
+that I never interfere with your proceedings. But this might have
+stood over for a time. Oswald will be leaving us in a few months.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, in the autumn. By then my brother will have taken all necessary
+steps to introduce him into one of the Government offices.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund looked down.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I rather think Oswald has other plans for the future,' he said, with
+some hesitation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Other plans?' repeated the Countess. 'I trust that we shall not
+encounter disobedience from him a second time. Once, when he rebelled
+against entering the army, I yielded, thanks to your persuasion and
+advocacy. You were always on his side. I have not yet forgiven him his
+wilful, defiant conduct on that occasion.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was not defiance,' pleaded Edmund in defence. 'Only the conviction
+he felt that, as an officer and the representative of an old and noble
+name, he would not be able to keep up his position in the army without
+permanent assistance from us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Assistance you would amply have afforded him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But which he would on no account accept. He possesses, as you know,
+indomitable pride.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Say rather unbounded arrogance,' interrupted the Countess. 'I know
+the quality, for I have had to battle with it since the day he first
+came to this house. But for my husband's formally expressed desire
+that this nephew should share your education and opportunities, I
+would never have left you so exclusively to his companionship. I never
+liked him. I cannot endure those cold searching eyes, which are always
+on the alert, which nothing escapes, not even the best-guarded
+secret.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund laughed out loud.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, mother, you are making a regular detective of Oswald. He
+certainly is a particularly keen observer, as may be noted from his
+occasional remarks on men and things which strike no one else as
+peculiar. Here, at Ettersberg, he can, however, hardly put his talents
+to account. We have, thank God, no secrets for him to discover.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess bent over some papers lying on the table, and seemed to
+be seeking for something among them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No matter,' she said. 'I never could understand your blind partiality
+for him. You, with your frank, warm, open nature, and Oswald with his
+icy reserve! You are about as congenial as fire and water.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The very contrast may be the cause of our mutual attraction,' said
+Edmund, jestingly. 'Oswald is not the most amiable person in the
+world, that I must admit; towards me he decidedly is not amiable at
+all. Nevertheless, I feel myself drawn to him, and he in turn is
+attracted to me--I know it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You think so?' said the Countess, coldly. 'You are mistaken, most
+mistaken. Oswald is one of the class who hate those from whom they
+must accept benefits. He has never forgiven me the fact that my
+marriage destroyed his own and his father's prospects, and he cannot
+forgive you for standing between him and the property. I know him
+better than you do.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund was silent. He was aware from experience that any advocacy from
+him only made matters worse; for it surely aroused the maternal
+jealousy, always prompt to ignite when he spoke openly of his
+affection for this cousin, the comrade of his youth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Moreover, the conversation was here brought to a natural end, the
+subject of it at this moment appearing upon the scene.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's greeting was as formal, and the Countess's reply as cool, as
+their manner had been on the preceding evening. Unfavourable as were
+the lady's sentiments towards her nephew, the duty of this morning
+call and of daily inquiries after her health was rigorously imposed
+upon him. On the present occasion the tour so recently concluded
+furnished food for discourse. Edmund related some of their adventures;
+Oswald supplemented his cousin's account, putting in a finishing touch
+here and there, and so it happened that the visit, which in general
+was exceedingly brief, had soon passed the usual quarter of an hour's
+limit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have both altered during the past six months,' said the Countess,
+at length. 'Your bronzed complexion especially, Edmund, gives you
+quite the appearance of a Southerner.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have often been taken for one,' replied Edmund. 'In the matter of
+complexion I have unfortunately inherited nothing from my beautiful
+fair mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess smiled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think you may be satisfied with what Nature has done for you. You
+certainly do not resemble me. There is more likeness to your father.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To my uncle? Hardly,' remarked Oswald.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How can you be a judge of that?' asked the Countess, rather sharply.
+'You and Edmund were mere boys when my husband died.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, mother; don't trouble yourself to try and discover a likeness,'
+interposed Edmund. 'I certainly have but a vague remembrance of my
+father; but, you know, we possess a portrait life-size, which was
+taken when he was in his prime. I have not a single feature of that
+face, and it really is strange, when you come to think of it, for in
+our race the family traits have usually been especially marked. Look
+at Oswald, for instance. He is an Ettersberg from the crown of his
+head to the sole of his foot. He is in every feature an exact copy of
+the old family portraits in the gallery yonder, which from one
+generation to another went on reproducing the same lines and contours.
+Heaven only knows why this historical resemblance should be denied to
+me alone! What are you gazing at me in that way for, Oswald?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man's eyes were, indeed, fixed on his cousin's face with a
+keen and searching scrutiny.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think you are right,' he replied. 'You have not a single Ettersberg
+feature.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is but another of your venturesome assertions,' said the
+Countess, in a tone of sharp rebuke. 'It frequently happens that a
+family likeness, absent in youth, grows striking as the person
+advances in years. That will, no doubt, be the case with Edmund.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count laughed and shook his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I doubt it. I am formed in altogether a different mould. Indeed, I
+often wonder how I, with my hot, excitable blood, my thoughtlessness
+and high spirits, for which I am always being lectured, could come of
+a race so desperately wise and virtuous; in fact, rather slow and
+stupid from overmuch virtue. Oswald, now, would represent the family
+far better than I.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund!' cried the Countess indignantly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was uncertain whether her remonstrance applied to the young man's
+last assertion, or to his irreverent mention of his forefathers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, I ask pardon of the shades of my ancestors,' said Edmund,
+rather abashed. 'You see, mother, I have none of their traditional
+excellences, not even that of sober sense.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My aunt was meaning something else, I fancy,' said Oswald quietly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess pressed her lips together tightly. Her face plainly
+betokened the dislike she had avowed to the cold, searching eyes now
+resting upon her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Enough of this dispute on the subject of family likeness,' she said,
+waiving the point. 'Tradition affords at least as many exceptions as
+rules. Oswald, I wish you would look through these papers. You have
+some legal knowledge. Our solicitor seems to consider the issue of the
+affair as doubtful, but I am sanguine, and Edmund is of my opinion,
+that we must follow out the matter to the end.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, she pushed the papers, which were lying on the table,
+across to her nephew, who glanced at their contents.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, yes. They refer to the lawsuit against Councillor Rüstow of
+Brunneck.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good heavens! is not that business settled yet?' asked Edmund. 'Why,
+the suit was on before we left home six months ago.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald smiled rather ironically.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You appear to have peculiar notions as to the length of our legal
+procedure. It may go on for years. If you will allow me, aunt, I will
+take these papers with me to my own room to look through them, unless
+Edmund would prefer to see them first.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh no, spare me all that!' cried Edmund, parrying the threatened
+infliction. 'I have forgotten pretty nearly all about the business.
+This Rüstow married a daughter of Uncle Francis, I know; and he raises
+a claim to the Dornau estate, which my uncle bequeathed to me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And with perfect justice,' added the Countess; 'for that marriage
+took place against his wish, expressly declared. His daughter, by her
+mésalliance, broke with him and with the entire family. It was
+natural, under such circumstances, that he should disinherit her
+absolutely; and just as natural, there being no nearer relations, that
+he should annex Dornau to the entailed family estates by leaving it to
+you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A slight cloud gathered on Edmund's brow as he listened to this
+statement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It may be so, but the whole subject is painful to me. What do I, the
+owner of Ettersberg, want with the possession of Dornau? I seem to be
+intruding on the rights of others, who, in spite of wills and family
+squabbles, are the direct and proper heirs. What I should prefer would
+be to see a compromise effected.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is impossible,' said the Countess decidedly. 'Rüstow's attitude,
+from the very commencement of the affair, has been such as to preclude
+any idea of an arrangement. The way in which he attacked the will and
+proceeded against you, the acknowledged heir, was downright insulting,
+and would make any show of concession on our part appear as
+unpardonable weakness. Besides which, you have no right to set at
+nought the wishes of your relative as expressed in his will. It was
+his desire to shut out this &quot;Frau Rüstow&quot; from any share in his
+fortune.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But she has been dead for years,' objected Edmund. 'And her husband
+would not in any case be entitled to inherit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; but he advances a claim on behalf of his daughter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two young men looked up simultaneously.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'His daughter? So he has a daughter?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly, a girl of about eighteen, I believe.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And this young lady and I are the hostile claimants?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Just so; but why this sudden interest in the matter?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Eureka, I have it!' cried Edmund. 'Oswald, this is our charming
+acquaintance of yesterday. I see now why the meeting struck her as
+being so indescribably comic--why she refused to give her name. The
+allusion to a certain connection existing between us becomes
+intelligible. It all fits in, word for word. There can be no possible
+doubt about it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Perhaps, when you have time, you will tell me the meaning of all
+this,' said the Countess, who seemed to think such animation on her
+son's part unnecessary and out of place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly, mother; I will explain it to you at once. We yesterday
+made the acquaintance of a young lady, or, it would be more correct to
+say, <i>I</i> made her acquaintance, for Oswald, as usual, vouchsafed her
+little attention--I, however, as you may imagine, was gallant enough
+for both'--and so the young Count set about relating the adventure of
+the preceding day, going into all the details with much sparkling
+humour, and exulting in the fact of having so soon discovered his
+beautiful unknown. Nevertheless, he did not succeed in calling up a
+smile to his mother's face. She listened in silence, and when he wound
+up with an enthusiastic description of his heroine, she said very
+coolly and deliberately:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You seem to look on this meeting in the light of a pleasurable
+occurrence. In your place I should have felt it to be a painful one.
+It is never agreeable to meet face to face persons with whom we are at
+strife.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'At strife?' cried Edmund. 'I can never be at strife with a young lady
+of eighteen--certainly not with this one, though she should lay claim
+to Ettersberg itself. I would with pleasure lay Dornau at her feet,
+could----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I beg you not to treat this matter with so much levity, Edmund,'
+interrupted the Countess. 'I know that you have a leaning to these
+follies, but when serious interests are at stake they must recede into
+the background. This affair is of a serious nature. Our opponents have
+imported into it a degree of bitterness, have acted with a churlish
+insolence, which makes any personal contact a thing absolutely to be
+deprecated. You will, I hope, see this yourself, and avoid any further
+meetings with firmness and consistency.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With these lofty words she rose, and to leave no doubt in her son's
+mind as to the displeasure he had incurred, she left the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Master of Ettersberg, whose authority his mother was
+constantly asserting, seemed still docile to the maternal sceptre. He
+ventured no word of reply to her sharp remonstrance, though he might
+have urged that, after all, the lawsuit concerned no one but himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That was to be expected,' remarked Oswald, as the door closed. 'Why
+did you not keep your supposition to yourself?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How was I to know that it would be so ungraciously received? There
+appears to be a deadly feud between this Rüstow and our family. No
+matter, that will not prevent my going over to Brunneck.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald looked up quickly from the papers he was turning over.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are not thinking of paying the Councillor a visit, are you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly I am. Do you think I mean to give up our charming
+acquaintance because our respective lawyers are wrangling over a cause
+which, in reality, is perfectly indifferent to me? On the contrary, I
+shall seize the opportunity of introducing myself to my lovely
+opponent as her adversary in the strife. I intend to go over very
+shortly, in the course of a few days.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The Councillor will soon show you the door,' said Oswald drily. 'He
+is known all over the country for his surly humour.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, that will only make me the more polite. I can take nothing
+amiss from the father of such a daughter, and I suppose even this bear
+will have some human points about him. What makes you look so solemn,
+Oswald? Are you jealous, old fellow? If so, you are free to ride over
+with me, and put your luck to the test.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not talk such nonsense to me,' said Oswald shortly, rising as he
+spoke, and going up to the window. The rapid movement and something in
+his tone told of a certain irritability with difficulty repressed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'As you like; but I have one word more to say.' The young Count's face
+grew serious, and he cast a meaning glance in the direction of the
+adjoining room. 'Do not put forward your plans for the future just at
+present. We are not just now in a favourable humour to receive them. I
+wanted to take the lead, and make the inevitable disclosure easier to
+you, but I was met by such a hurricane that I wisely resolved not to
+acknowledge complicity in the business.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why should I put off an explanation? The subject must of necessity be
+broached shortly between my aunt and myself. I see no advantage in a
+delay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, you can hold your tongue for a week at least,' cried Edmund
+testily. 'I have other things to think of just now, and no desire to
+be always on guard as a mediating angel between my mother and
+yourself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have I ever asked you to mediate?' said Oswald, in so sharp and
+uncourteous a tone that the young Count was roused to anger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald, this is going a little too far. I am accustomed, it is true,
+to such rudeness on your part, but really I hardly see why I should
+take from my cousin what I would endure from no one else.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Because your cousin is a dependent, one inferior in the social scale,
+and you feel yourself called upon to show generosity towards--the poor
+relation.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words breathed of such infinite bitterness of spirit that Edmund's
+ill-humour vanished instantly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are irritated,' he said kindly; 'and not without reason. But why
+do you visit your anger on me? I am in no way responsible for
+yesterday's incident. You know I cannot put myself in open opposition
+to my mother, even when my views differ decidedly from hers. But in
+this case she will give way, for if your own rooms next to mine are
+not made ready for you to-morrow, I shall remove to the side-wing and
+quarter myself upon you, spite of bats and the accumulated dust of
+ages.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bitter expression vanished from Oswald's face, and he answered in
+a gentler voice:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are capable of it, I believe. But no more of this, Edmund. It
+really signifies little where I spend the few months of my sojourn
+here. The rooms in the tower are very quiet, and admirably suited for
+study. I would far rather be there than here, in this castle of
+yours.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'&quot;This castle of yours,&quot;' repeated Edmund, in a tone of pique. 'As
+though it had not always been as much your home as mine! But I believe
+you are seeking to estrange yourself from us. Oswald, I must say, if
+things are not always pleasant between my mother and you, a great
+share of the blame rests on your shoulders. You have never shown any
+affection for her, or any ready compliance with her wishes. Cannot you
+bring yourself to it, if you try?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I cannot comply where blind subjection is demanded of me, and where
+the whole future fortune of my life is at stake--no!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, then, we may expect another family quarrel at no very distant
+date,' said Edmund, evidently ill-pleased at the prospect. 'So you
+will not have any alteration made in the rooms?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'As you like. Goodbye.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He walked off towards the door, but had not reached it when Oswald
+came quickly forth from the window-recess where he had been standing,
+and followed him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well?' returned the other interrogatively, and halted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I shall remain where I am, in the side-wing, but---- I thank you for
+your kindness.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count smiled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Really? That sounds almost like an apology. I really did not think
+you were capable of such expansiveness, Oswald;' and suddenly, with an
+impulse of frank, hearty affection, he threw his arm round his
+cousin's shoulder. 'Is it true that you cherish a hatred towards me,
+because Fate has willed that I should be heir to the property, because
+I stand between you and the Ettersberg estates?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald looked at him again with one of those strange, penetrating
+glances which seemed to be searching the young heir's features for
+something hidden from him. This time, however, the keen scrutiny soon
+gave place to an expression of warmer, deeper feeling, to a kindlier
+ray which beamed suddenly forth, melting the icy rampart of suspicion
+and reserve.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is not true, Edmund,' was the steady, grave reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I knew it,' cried Edmund. 'And now we will bury all past
+misunderstandings. As regards our travelling acquaintance, however, I
+warn you that I shall summon up all my talent--and you know how justly
+it is esteemed--to produce an effect at Brunneck. This I shall do in
+spite of your frowning visage and of my mother's high displeasure. And
+I shall succeed in my endeavours, you may rely upon it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, he caught hold of his cousin's arm, and drew him laughingly
+from the room.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">CHAPTER III.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Brunneck, the residence of Chief Councillor Rüstow, was situated only
+a few miles distant from Ettersberg, and had been in the hands of its
+present proprietor for a long series of years. It was a property of
+considerable extent and value, comprising various farms, and furnished
+with every improvement which modern science has devised. On all
+agricultural subjects the Councillor was looked upon as a first-class
+authority, and as, in addition to this, he owned one of the finest
+seigneurial manors of the province, his position was one of great
+influence. Brunneck could not, indeed, compare with the vast
+Ettersberg domain, but it was generally asserted that, in point of
+fortune, Rüstow was to the full as good a man as his noble neighbour.
+The numerous reforms he had introduced on his estates, and to the
+number of which he was with indefatigable energy constantly adding,
+had in the course of time become handsomely remunerative, and were now
+a source of wealth to him; whereas over at Ettersberg the management
+of the land was left almost entirely to underlings, and was conducted
+on so lofty and aristocratic a principle, that pecuniary interests
+were overlooked, and any tangible, practical return rendered out of
+the question.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As has already been stated, the two families were connected by
+marriage, but this circumstance was ignored on both sides with equal
+obstinacy and hostile feeling. In the position he now occupied, the
+Councillor might more fitly have ventured to sue for the hand of a
+Fräulein von Ettersberg. Twenty years or more ago, the young
+gentleman-farmer who had come to Dornau to pick up some knowledge of
+his future vocation, and who had but a slender fortune to rely upon,
+was certainly no suitable <i>parti</i> for the daughter of the house. The
+young people fell in love, however, paying little heed either to
+prejudices or obstacles.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When their elders harshly interfered and separated them, when all
+resistance, all entreaties, failed to move them, Rüstow persuaded his
+betrothed, who meanwhile had come of age, to take a decisive step. She
+left her home clandestinely, and the marriage was celebrated, without
+her father's consent, it is true, but with all due formality. The
+young couple hoped that, this step being once irrevocably taken,
+forgiveness would follow, but this hope proved illusive. Neither the
+young wife's oft-repeated overtures, nor the birth of a grandchild,
+not even the rapidly ensuing change in Rüstow's circumstances--he
+achieved wealth and position in a marvellously short time--could
+appease the father's wrath. The old Count was too completely under the
+influence of his relations, who looked on the middle-class connection
+with horror and aversion, and used every means in their power to
+strengthen him in his hard resolve.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Frau Rüstow died without having obtained pardon, and at her death all
+chance of a reconciliation vanished. Her husband had, from the first,
+openly avowed his dislike to a family which had so cruelly wounded his
+pride and self-love. For his wife's sake alone had he tolerated the
+former attempts at peacemaking; now that he had no longer her to
+consider, he assumed towards his father-in-law and the entire clan an
+attitude of hostility and surly defiance which precluded any
+intercourse. As a result of these tactics came the will which passed
+over the granddaughter, and, without even a mention of her or her
+mother assigned Dornau to the heir of the entailed family estates.
+This will was contested by Rüstow, who would not admit of his marriage
+being thus altogether ignored, and was determined to have his daughter
+acknowledged as her grandfather's legitimate successor and heiress.
+The suit had some base to rest upon, for the deceased had not
+disinherited his grandchild in so many words. He had contented himself
+with treating her as nonexistent, and had proceeded to dispose of his
+property in the manner which seemed to him good. This lapsus, and a
+few technical errors subsequently detected, rendered the will
+assailable. The issue was, however, most uncertain, and the lawyers on
+both sides had full opportunity of exercising their sagacity and
+judgment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Brunneck manor-house was neither so vast nor so imposing of aspect
+as Castle Ettersberg, yet it was a stately building, spacious, and
+bearing all the marks of age. The inner arrangements of the house,
+though boasting no pretence at luxury, were ordered on a scale
+suitable to the position and the fortune of the owner.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the large veranda-parlour commonly used by the family, a lady was
+sitting, busy with household accounts. This was an elderly relative of
+Rüstow's, who, on the death of that gentleman's wife, eight years
+previously, had come to preside over her cousin's establishment, and
+to act as a mother to his young daughter. She was bending over her
+books and making some memoranda when the door was hastily thrown open,
+and the Councillor himself appeared on the scene.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I wish all the lawsuits and parchments, the courts and everything
+related to them, lawyers included, were at the deuce!' he cried,
+throwing to the door with a violent bang which made his cousin jump.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, Erich, how can you startle me so! You have been absolutely
+unbearable ever since that wretched suit was instituted. You seem to
+think of nothing else. Cannot you wait patiently until you see what
+the issue will be?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Patiently?' repeated Herr Rüstow, with a bitter laugh. 'I should like
+to see the man who would not lose his patience over it. They go on
+pulling this way and that, protesting against everything we do,
+lodging one appeal after another. Every letter of that blessed will
+has been discussed, evidence has been advanced, proofs have been
+furnished, and yet they are no forwarder than they were six months
+ago, not a whit!' And as he ended his tirade he threw himself into a
+chair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Erich Rüstow was a man still in the prime of life, who, it was plain
+to see, had been handsome in his youth. Now his brow was furrowed and
+his face lined with the cares of a restless, busy life. He was,
+however, a stately, well-built person, whose appearance would have
+been eminently agreeable, but for certain evidences of a hasty temper,
+prompt to break forth on every occasion; but for, so to say, a
+pugnacity of expression which considerably impaired his good looks.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Where is Hedwig?' asked the master of the house, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'She went out riding an hour ago,' replied her cousin, who had taken
+up her memoranda again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Went out riding? I told her not to ride to-day. This sudden thaw has
+made the roads impassable, and upon the hills the snow still lies
+deep.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No doubt, but you are aware that Hedwig generally does the thing she
+ought not to do.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Upon my soul, it is a strange fact, but I believe she does,' assented
+her father, who seemed to consider it merely a 'strange fact,' and not
+one calculated to excite his anger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have let the girl grow up in too great freedom. How often have I
+entreated you to send Hedwig to a boarding-school for a few years; but
+no, nothing would induce you to part with her.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Because I did not want her to be estranged from me and from her home.
+I am sure I have had masters and governesses enough here at Brunneck,
+and she has learned pretty nearly everything under the sun.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'True; one thing she has learned especially, and that is how to
+tyrannise over you and the entire household.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Don't go on preaching in that way, Lina,' said Rüstow angrily. 'You
+are always finding some fault with Hedwig. First she is thoughtless,
+then she is too superficial to please you, not deep, not &quot;feeling&quot;
+enough. I am satisfied with her as she is. I like my girl to be a
+bright, merry young thing, taking some pleasure in life, and not one
+of your sensitive, fashionable ladies with &quot;feelings&quot; and &quot;nerves.&quot;'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke the last words, he cast a rather meaning glance at
+Fräulein Lina, who was quick to take up the gauntlet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'One has to divest one's self of any such appurtenances here at
+Brunneck, I think. You take good care of that.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, I fancy the last eight years have done something for you in the
+way of getting rid of your nerves,' said Rüstow, with much apparent
+satisfaction. 'But the feelings are there still. How you felt for your
+<i>protégé</i>, Baron Senden, the other day, when Hedwig sent him to the
+rightabout!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A pink flush of vexation mounted to the lady's cheek as she replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig, at all events, showed little enough feeling in the matter.
+She merely ridiculed an offer which would, at least, have brought any
+other girl to a serious frame of mind. Poor Senden! He was in
+despair.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He will get over it,' observed Rüstow. 'In the first place, I believe
+that both his passion and his despair had my Brunneck, rather than my
+daughter, for their object. Her dowry would have come in nicely to
+rescue his estates, which are mortgaged over and over again; in the
+second place, it was his own fault that he met with a refusal. A man
+should know how matters stand, before he proposes definitely; and
+thirdly, I should not have given my consent to the match under any
+circumstances, for I won't have Hedwig marrying into the aristocracy.
+I had too good experience of that with my own marriage. Of all the
+grand folk who come bothering us with their visits, not one shall have
+the girl--not one of them, I say. I will find a husband for her myself
+when the proper time comes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And you really suppose that Hedwig will wait for that?' asked the
+lady, with gentle irony. 'Hitherto her suitors have all been
+indifferent to her. When she has an inclination towards anyone, she
+will certainly not stay to consider whether the gentleman belongs to
+the aristocracy, or whether she may not be acting contrary to her
+father's principles--and you, Erich, will submit, and do your
+darling's bidding in this, as in all else.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Lina, do you wish to exasperate me?' shouted Rüstow. 'You seem to
+think that where my daughter is concerned I can exercise no will of my
+own.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'None at all,' she replied emphatically. Then she gathered together
+her papers and left the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Master of Brunneck was furious, perhaps because he could not
+altogether dispute the truth of the assertion. He paced with rapid
+steps up and down the room, and turned wrathfully upon a servant who
+entered, bearing a card.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is it now? Another visit?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow pulled the card out of the man's hand, but nearly let it fall
+in his amazement as the name upon it met his eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, Count von Ettersberg? What can be the meaning of this?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The Count desires the favour of an interview with Councillor Rüstow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The latter looked down at the card again. There, clear and distinct,
+stood the name of Ettersberg, and, inexplicable as the circumstance
+undoubtedly was, he had no choice but to admit the strange visitor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Orders to this effect being given to the servant, the young Count
+promptly made his appearance, and greeted his neighbour, who yet was a
+perfect stranger to him, with as much ease and assurance as though
+this visit had been the most natural thing in the world.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Councillor Rüstow, you will allow me to make the personal
+acquaintance of so near a neighbour as yourself. I should have
+endeavoured to do so long ago, but my studies and subsequent travels
+have kept me so much away from Ettersberg. I have only been home on
+flying visits, and this is my first opportunity of repairing previous
+shortcomings.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the first moment Rüstow was so staggered by this complete ignoring
+of the existing quarrel that he could not work himself up to anger. He
+grumbled something which sounded like an invitation to be seated.
+Edmund accordingly took a chair in the most unconcerned manner
+possible, and as his host showed no desire to open the conversation,
+he assumed the burden of it himself, and launched into praises of the
+admirable system of management obtaining on the Brunneck estates, a
+system with which it had long been his wish to make himself
+acquainted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile Rüstow had minutely examined his visitor from head to foot,
+and had no doubt satisfied himself that the young gentleman's
+appearance did not tally with this pretended zealous interest in
+matters agricultural. He therefore broke in on Edmund's enthusiasm
+with the disconcerting question:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'May I ask. Count, to what I am indebted for the honour of this
+visit?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund saw that he must change his tactics. The mere easy jargon of
+politeness would not help him through. The Councillor's far-famed
+churlishness was already roused. A low growl, betokening a storm,
+might, as it were, be heard in the distance; but the young Count was
+well prepared for this, and was determined to remain master of the
+field.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You will not accept me simply in my quality of neighbour?' he said,
+with an affable smile.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You appear to forget that we are something else besides neighbours,
+namely, opponents in a court of justice,' retorted Rüstow, who began
+now to be angry in right earnest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund examined with attention the riding-whip he held in his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, ah! You are alluding to that tiresome Dornau suit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Tiresome? Wearisome, endless, you mean, for endless it would appear
+to be. You are as well acquainted with the pleadings, I suppose, as I
+am.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know nothing at all about them,' confessed Edmund, with great
+ingenuousness. 'I only know that there is a dispute about my uncle's
+will which assigns Dornau to me, but the validity of which you
+contest. Pleadings? I have had copies of all the documents, certainly,
+whole volumes of them, but I never looked over their contents.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But, Count, it is you who are carrying on this lawsuit!' cried
+Rüstow, to whom this placid indifference was something beyond belief.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Pardon me, my lawyer is carrying it on,' corrected Edmund. 'He is of
+opinion that it is incumbent on me to uphold my uncle's will at any
+cost. I do not attach any such particular value to the possession of
+Dornau myself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you suppose I do?' asked Rüstow sharply. 'My Brunneck is worth
+half a dozen such places, and my daughter has really no need to
+trouble herself about any inheritance from her grandfather.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, what are we fighting for, then? If the matter stands so, some
+compromise might surely be arrived at, some arrangement which would
+satisfy both parties----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will hear of no compromise,' exclaimed the Councillor. 'To me it is
+not a question of money, but of principle, and I will fight it out to
+the last. If my father-in-law had chosen to disinherit us in so many
+words, well and good. We set him at defiance; he had the right to
+retaliate. I don't deny it. It is the fact of his ignoring our
+marriage in that insulting manner, as though it had not been legally
+and duly celebrated--the fact of his passing over the child of the
+marriage, and declining to recognise her as his granddaughter--this is
+what I cannot forgive him, even in his grave, and this is what makes
+me determined to assert my right. The marriage shall be established,
+in the face of those who wish to repudiate it; my daughter shall be
+acknowledged as her grandfather's sole and legitimate heiress. Then,
+when the verdict of the court has once placed this beyond all doubt,
+Dornau and all belonging to it may go to the family estates, or to the
+devil, for what I care.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, now we are getting rude,' thought Count Edmund, who had long been
+expecting some such outbreak, and who was highly amused by the whole
+affair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had come with the settled resolve to take nothing amiss from the
+Master of Brunneck, who was looked on as an original in his way, so he
+chose to view this tirade from its humorous side, and replied, with
+undiminished good-humour:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, Councillor, the association is, I am sure, a very flattering
+one. It does not seem particularly probable that Dornau will lapse to
+the devil--whether it be adjudged to Brunneck or to Ettersberg, we
+must wait to see. But that is the court's business, and not ours. I
+frankly confess that I am curious to hear what all the wisdom of these
+learned counsel will ultimately bring forth.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must say it has not occurred to me to look at the case in that
+light,' admitted Rüstow, whose amazement grew with every minute.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, why not? You are contending, you say yourself, for a principle
+only. I am actuated by a pious regard for my relative's expressed
+wishes. We are most enviably placed, being simply objective in the
+matter. So, for heaven's sake, let the lawyers wrangle on. Their
+squabbles need not prevent our meeting as good neighbours on friendly
+terms.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow was about to protest against the possibility of any friendly
+intercourse when the door opened, and his daughter appeared on the
+threshold. The young lady, whose cheeks were brightly tinted with the
+rapid exercise she had taken, looked even more charming to-day in her
+dark closely-fitting riding-habit than she had looked on a previous
+occasion when wrapped in furs and attired in winter clothing--so, at
+least, thought Count Edmund, who had sprung up with great alacrity,
+with more alacrity, indeed, than politeness called for, to greet her
+on her entrance. Hedwig had, no doubt, already heard from the servants
+who was with her father, for she betrayed no surprise, returning the
+Count's bow as formally as though he had been a complete stranger to
+her. The merry sparkle in her eye, however, told him that she had no
+more forgotten their first meeting than he himself. The Councillor,
+whether he liked it or not, was forced to condescend to an
+introduction; and the manner in which he pronounced the name of
+Ettersberg, a name heretofore prohibited in that house, proved that
+the bearer of it, despite the great prejudice against him, had already
+gained some ground.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Fräulein,' said Edmund, turning to the young lady, 'but the other day
+I learned whom Fate had assigned me as an opponent in the Dornau
+lawsuit. I therefore seize this, the first opportunity, to present
+myself in due form as your adversary in the strife.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And you have come to Brunneck to reconnoitre the enemy's territory, I
+suppose?' replied Hedwig, entering at once into the spirit of the
+joke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly. It was my evident duty, under the circumstances. Your
+father has already pardoned this invasion of the hostile camp. I may
+trust for a like clemency from you, though you once showed yourself
+inexorable, refusing even to disclose your name.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is all this?' broke in Rüstow. 'You have met the Count before
+to-day?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, papa,' said Hedwig serenely. 'You know that when I was returning
+from the town the other day with the carriage and Anthony, we very
+nearly stuck in the snow, and I think I told you of the two gentlemen
+by whose assistance we managed to get home.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A light appeared to dawn on the Councillor, revealing the source of
+this sudden and extreme friendliness on his young neighbour's part. He
+had hitherto racked his brains in vain to find a reason for it, and
+the discovery now made did not seem to afford him any particular
+satisfaction; the tone of his voice was exceedingly sharp as he
+replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So it was Count Ettersberg, was it? Why did you conceal the name from
+me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig laughed: 'Because I knew your prejudice against it, papa. I
+believe if an avalanche had come down upon us and swallowed us up,
+your first feeling would have been one of anger at my being caught and
+buried in company of an Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Avalanches do not occur on our highroads,' growled Rüstow, to whom
+this merry humour did not commend itself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, Councillor, something of the sort seemed really to have taken
+place where the road descends into the valley,' joined in Edmund. 'I
+assure you, the journey was both difficult and dangerous. I esteem
+myself happy to have been able to offer your daughter my assistance.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Now, Count, you remained almost all the time on the carriage-step,'
+laughed Hedwig. 'It was your silent companion who really helped us in
+our need. He'--the question came rather hesitatingly--'he did not come
+over with you to-day, of course?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald was not aware that I intended riding over to Brunneck this
+afternoon,' confessed Edmund. 'He will, I know, reproach me with
+having thus deprived him of the pleasure----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, pray, do not trouble yourself to make pretty speeches,'
+interrupted the young lady, throwing back her head with an angry
+little toss, and looking as ungracious as possible--much as she had
+looked in the carriage on that previous occasion. 'I have had
+experience of your cousin's politeness, and, for my part, I certainly
+have no wish to renew the acquaintance.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund did not notice the pique expressed in these words. He thought
+it natural that the sombre, unsociable Oswald should not be missed
+when he, Count Ettersberg, was present, and, moreover, using his best
+efforts to make himself agreeable. This he did with so much zeal and
+perseverance, that even Rüstow yielded to the charm. True, he
+struggled against it manfully, endeavouring by sundry barbed and
+sardonic remarks to impart a hostile tone to the conversation. But he
+was foiled at all points. His visitor's captivating manners and
+appearance won upon him more and more. The young Count was evidently
+bent on doing away with the prejudice which existed against him. He
+fascinated his hearers with his bright and sparkling talk, seducing
+them by its easy flow, and charming even by his saucy humour. The
+enemy, as personified in the master of the house, was overthrown and
+bound hand and foot before either side was well aware of the fact.
+Rüstow, at length, altogether forgot with whom he was dealing, and
+when after a protracted visit Edmund rose to go, his host actually
+accompanied him to the door, and even shook him cordially by the hand
+on parting.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was only when the Councillor returned to the sitting-room that a
+full consciousness of what had occurred loomed upon him. Then his
+anger revived in full force. As he came in, Hedwig was standing out on
+the balcony, looking after the young Count, who turned and waved her
+an adieu as he galloped away. This gave the signal for the storm to
+break forth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, upon my word, this passes all belief! I don't know that I ever
+heard of such a piece of impudence! Count von Ettersberg to come
+riding over here, doing the agreeable, treating the whole affair of
+the lawsuit as a mere bagatelle. He talked of a compromise, begad! of
+meeting on friendly terms, of the Lord knows what; fairly addling one,
+taking one's breath away with his audacity. But I will not put up with
+it a second time. If he really shows himself here again, I will have
+him told--politely, of course--that I am not at home.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You will do nothing of the kind, papa,' said Hedwig, who had gone up
+to him and laid her arm caressingly about his neck. 'You were too
+pleased with him yourself for that.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, and you still more so, I suppose, my young lady?' said the
+father, with a highly critical, scrutinizing look. 'Do you imagine I
+can't guess what brought the young gentleman over to Brunneck? Do you
+think I did not see him kiss your hand as he took leave of you? But I
+will put a stop to this, once and for all. I will have nothing to
+do with any Ettersberg; I know the set by experience. Arrogance,
+selfishness, stupid obstinacy--those are the characteristics of the
+race. They are all alike, all cut out on the same pattern.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is not true, papa,' said Hedwig decidedly. 'My mother was an
+Ettersberg, and you were very happy with her.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The remark was so telling, that it quite disconcerted Rüstow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That--that was an exception,' he stammered at length.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I believe Count Edmund is an exception too,' declared Hedwig
+confidently.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, you believe that, do you? You seem to have a great knowledge of
+character for a girl of eighteen,' cried the Councillor, and forthwith
+delivered a lecture to his daughter, in which the before-mentioned
+'principles' were much insisted on. Fräulein Hedwig listened with an
+expression of countenance which said plainly enough that the said
+'principles' were highly indifferent to her, and if her father could
+have read her thoughts, he would again have had the 'strange fact'
+forced upon him that, on this occasion as on most others, she proposed
+to adopt a contrary course to that enjoined upon her.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">March and the greater part of April had gone by; snowstorms and sharp
+frosts were things of the past. Nevertheless, spring came but tardily.
+The country, which at this season of the year is usually decked in
+vernal bloom, looked bare and desolate. Warmth and sunshine were
+well-nigh unknown, and for weeks together the weather continued as
+ungenial as it well could be.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To all outward appearance, the hostile relations between Ettersberg
+and Brunneck remained unmodified. The lawsuit dragged its weary length
+along, both parties maintaining their original position, and no
+attempt at a compromise was, or seemed likely to be, made. The
+Countess furnished all instructions in her son's name, that young
+gentleman taking not the smallest interest in the affair; and the
+Councillor represented his daughter, a minor, who naturally could have
+no opinion in the matter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It had been so from the beginning, therefore the delegation of
+authority was accepted as a thing of course.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the principal persons concerned, the real opponents in this legal
+warfare, were by no means so passive as they appeared to be; and the
+parents, while pursuing their own determined course, upholding their
+'principles' with the utmost persistency, little guessed what was
+preparing for them in secret.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow himself had been absent from Brunneck during the last few
+weeks. Some business connected with a great industrial enterprise of
+which he was one of the promoters had called him to the capital. His
+counsel and aid were needed and sought in high quarters; unlooked-for
+delays occurred, and his stay, which was to have been a short one, had
+extended over an entire month.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Count Ettersberg, after an interval of a week, repeated his visit
+to Brunneck, he found the master of the house absent. Fräulein Hedwig
+and her aunt were at home, however, and Edmund naturally made the most
+of his opportunity and ingratiated himself with the two ladies. This
+second visit was promptly succeeded by a third and a fourth; and from
+this time forward, by some remarkable accident, it invariably happened
+that when the ladies drove out, took a walk, or paid a visit in the
+neighbourhood, the young Count would be found at the same hour on the
+same road. By this fortunate chance, greetings were frequently
+exchanged, and meetings of varying duration occurred. In short, the
+friendly intercourse proposed some time before was thriving and
+prospering exceedingly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Councillor knew nothing of all this. His daughter did not consider
+it necessary to mention the matter in her letters, and Edmund pursued
+the same tactics with regard to his mother. To his cousin he had,
+indeed, imparted with triumphant glee the fact of that first invasion
+of the enemy's camp; but as Oswald made some rather sharp observations
+on the subject, describing any intercourse with Brunneck during the
+progress of the lawsuit as improper in the highest degree, no further
+communications were vouchsafed him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On a rather cool and cloudy morning towards the end of April, Count
+Edmund and Oswald sallied out into the woods together. The Ettersberg
+forests were of great extent, stretching away to, and partly clothing,
+the low chain of hills which acted as advanced sentinels to the
+mountain-range beyond. The two gentlemen bent their steps in the
+direction of the rising ground. They had evidently something more than
+a pleasant walk in view, for they carefully surveyed the trees and the
+land as they advanced, and Oswald frequently addressed his cousin in
+terms of urgent appeal.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Now just look at these woods! It really is astounding to see how
+things have been mismanaged here during the last few years. Why, they
+have cut down half your timber for you. I cannot understand how you
+were not at once struck by the fact yourself. You have been riding
+about all over the place nearly every day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, I did not think about it,' said Edmund. 'But you are right, it
+does look rather queer. The steward declares, I believe, that he had
+no other way of covering the deficit in the receipts.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The steward declares just what seems good to him, and as he stands
+high in favour with your mother, she accepts it all and gives him full
+tether, allowing him to act as he sees fit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will talk to my mother about it,' declared the young Count. 'It
+would be a great deal better, though, if you would do it yourself. You
+can explain these matters much more clearly and cogently than I can.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know that I never offer advice to your mother on any subject. She
+would consider it an unjustifiable piece of impertinence on my part,
+and would reject it accordingly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund made no reply to this last observation, the truth of which he
+no doubt recognised.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Are you of opinion that the steward is dealing unfairly by us?' he
+asked, after a short pause.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not that precisely, but I consider him to be incompetent, wholly
+unfitted for the position of trust he occupies. He has no initiative,
+no method or power of keeping things together. As it is with the
+forests, so is it with all under his rule. Each man on the place does
+what seemeth best in his own eyes. If matters are allowed to go on in
+this way, I tell you they will absolutely ruin your property. Look at
+Brunneck; see the order that reigns there. Councillor Rüstow draws as
+much from that one estate as you from the whole Ettersberg domain,
+though the resources here are incomparably greater. Hitherto you have
+had to confide in others. You have been absent for years, first at the
+University, then abroad; but now you are on the spot--you are here
+expressly to look after your property for yourself. Energetic measures
+must at once be taken.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good heavens! what discoveries you have made during the six weeks we
+have spent at home!' said Edmund, in a tone of sincere admiration. 'If
+it is all as you say, I certainly shall have to take some steps; but
+I'll be hanged if I know how I ought to begin!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'First of all, dismiss those employés who have proved themselves
+incapable; put men of more power and intelligence in their place. I
+almost fear that you will have to change the entire staff.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not for the world! Why, that would give rise to perplexities and
+disagreeables without end. It is painful to me to see all new faces
+about me, and it would take months before they settled down into
+harness, and got used to their work. Meanwhile, all the burden would
+fall upon me. I should have to do everything myself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is what you are master for. You can at least command those
+beneath you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund laughed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, if I had your special liking and talent for command! In a month
+you would have metamorphosed Ettersberg, and in three years you would
+make of it a model establishment after the pattern of Brunneck. Now,
+if you were going to stay by me, Oswald, it would be different. I
+should have some one to back and support me then; but you are
+determined to go away in the autumn, and here shall I be all alone
+with unreliable or strange new servants to deal with. Pretty prospect,
+I must say! I have not formally taken possession yet, and the whole
+concern has become a worry to me already.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'As Fate has willed that you should be heir to the estates, you must
+perforce bear the heavy burden laid upon you,' said Oswald
+sarcastically. 'But once more, Edmund, it is high time something
+should be done. Promise me that you will proceed to action without
+delay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly, certainly,' assented the young Count, who had visibly had
+enough of the subject. 'As soon as I can find time--just now I have so
+many other things to think of.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Things of more importance than the welfare of your estates?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Possibly. But I must be off now. Are you going straight back home?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The question was a particularly pointed one. Oswald did not notice
+this; he had turned away in evident displeasure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly. Are not you coming with me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, I am going over to the lodge. The forester has my Diana in
+training, and I must go over and have a look at her.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Must your visit be made now?' asked Oswald, in surprise. 'You know
+that the lawyer is coming over from town at twelve o'clock to-day, to
+hold a conference with you and your mother on the subject of the
+lawsuit, and that you have promised to be punctual?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh! I shall be back long before then,' said Edmund lightly. 'Good
+bye for the present, Oswald. Don't look so black at me. I give you my
+word that I will have a thorough good talk with the steward to-morrow,
+or the day after. Any way, I will have it out with him, you may depend
+upon it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, he struck into a side-path, and soon disappeared among the
+trees.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald looked after him with a frowning brow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Neither to-morrow, nor the next day, nor, in fact, ever, will a
+change be made. He has some fresh folly in his head, and Ettersberg
+may go to the dogs for anything he cares. But, after all'--and an
+expression of profound bitterness flitted like a spasm across the
+young man's face--'after all, what is it to me? I am but a stranger on
+this soil, and shall always remain so. If Edmund will not listen to
+reason, he must take the consequences. I will trouble myself no
+further about the matter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this was more easily said than done; Oswald's gaze constantly
+wandered back to the mutilated forest, where such cruel gaps were to
+be seen. His anger and indignation at the senseless, purposeless work
+of devastation he beheld on all sides grew too strong to be subdued,
+and instead of returning home, as he had intended, he continued on his
+way uphill, to inspect the state of the woods on the higher ground.
+What he there saw was not of a consoling nature. Everywhere the axe
+had been at its work of destruction, and not until he reached the
+summit could a change be noted. Here, on the heights, began the
+Brunneck territory, where a different and a better order of things
+prevailed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A wish to draw a comparison first drew Oswald on to the neighbour's
+land, but his anger swelled high within him as he paced on through the
+noble woods and carefully preserved plantations, with which, in their
+present maimed condition, the Ettersberg forests could certainly not
+compare. What a great work the energy and activity of one man had
+effected here at Brunneck, and how, on the other hand, had Ettersberg
+fallen! Since the old Count's death, the care of the estates had been
+left almost entirely in the hands of employés. The Countess, an
+exalted lady who from the day of her marriage had known nothing, seen
+nothing but wealth and splendour, considered it a matter of course
+that the administration of affairs should be conducted by
+subordinates, and that the family should be troubled on such subjects
+as little as possible. Moreover, the establishment was kept up on a
+costly footing; the sums for its maintenance had to be found, and, of
+course, the estates must be made to provide them--it signified little
+how. The Countess's brother, Edmund's guardian, lived in the capital.
+He filled a high office under the State, and was much taken up by the
+duties and claims of his position. He interfered but rarely; never
+except in special cases when his sister desired his counsel and
+assistance. Her husband's testamentary arrangements had vested all
+real authority in her. There would, of course, be an end to all this
+now that Edmund was of age; but proof had just been forthcoming of
+what might be expected from the young heir's energy and concern for
+the welfare of his estates. Oswald told himself, with bitter vexation
+of spirit, that he should see one of the finest properties of the
+country drift on to certain ruin, owing entirely to the heedlessness
+and indifference of its owner; and the thought was the more galling to
+him that he felt assured a swift and energetic course of action might
+still repair the mischief that had been done. There was yet time. Two
+short years hence it might possibly be too late.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Absorbed by these reflections, the young man had plunged deeper and
+deeper into the woods. Presently he stopped and looked at his watch.
+More than an hour had passed since he had parted with Edmund--the
+young Count must long ere this have turned his face homewards. Oswald
+determined that he also would go back, but for his return he chose
+another and a somewhat longer route. No duty called him home. His
+presence at the conference to be held that day was neither necessary
+nor desired. He was therefore free to extend his walk according to his
+fancy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Those must have been singular meditations which occupied the young
+man's mind as he paced slowly on. The forests and the steward's
+mismanagement had long ago passed from his thoughts. It was some other
+hidden trouble which knit his brow with that menacing frown, and lent
+to his face that harsh, implacable expression--an expression that
+seemed to say he was ready to do battle with the whole world. Dark and
+troubled musings were they, revolving incessantly about one haunting
+subject from which he strove in vain to tear himself free, but which,
+nevertheless, held him more and more captive.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will not think of it any more,' he said at length, half aloud. 'It
+is always the same thing, always the old wretched suspicion which I
+cannot put from me. I have nothing--absolutely nothing to confirm it,
+or to base it upon, and yet it embitters my every hour, poisons every
+thought--away with it!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He passed his hand across his brow, as though to scare away all
+tormenting fancies, and walked on more quickly along the road, which
+now took a sharp turn and suddenly emerged from the forest. Oswald
+stepped out on to an open hill-summit, but stopped suddenly, rooted to
+the ground in astonishment at the unlooked-for spectacle which
+presented itself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Not twenty paces from him, on the grassy slope close to the border of
+the forest, a young lady was seated. She had taken off her hat, so a
+full view of her face could be obtained--and he who had once looked on
+that charming face, with its dark beaming eyes so full of light, could
+not readily forget it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young lady was Hedwig Rüstow, and close by her, in most suggestive
+proximity, lounged Count Edmund, who certainly could not have paid his
+visit to the forester in the interval. The two were engaged in an
+animated conversation, which did not, however, appear to turn on
+serious or very important topics. It was rather the old war of
+repartee which they had waged with so much satisfaction to themselves
+on the occasion of their first meeting, the same exchange of banter,
+of merry jests accompanied by gleeful laughter; but to-day their
+manner told of much familiarity. Presently Edmund took the hat from
+the girl's hand and threw it on to the grass; after which, lifting the
+little palms to his lips, he imprinted on them one fervid kiss after
+the other, Hedwig offering no opposition, but accepting it all as the
+most natural thing in the world.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For some moments the amazed spectator stood motionless, watching the
+pair. Then he turned and would have stepped back among the trees
+unnoticed, but a dry bough crackled beneath his feet and betrayed him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig and Edmund looked up simultaneously, and the latter sprang
+quickly to his feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His cousin saw that a retreat was now impossible. He therefore
+reluctantly left his position and advanced towards the young people.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So it is you, is it?' said Edmund, in a tone which vacillated between
+annoyance and embarrassment. 'Where do you come from?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'From the woods,' was the laconic reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thought you said you were going straight home.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thought you were going over to the forester's lodge, which lies in
+the opposite direction.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count bit his lips. He was, no doubt, conscious that he
+could not pass off this meeting as an accidental one. Moreover, those
+fervent kisses must have been witnessed--so he resolved to put as good
+a face upon it as possible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know Fräulein Rüstow, having been present at our first meeting; I
+therefore need not introduce you,' he said lightly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald bowed to the young lady with all a stranger's frigid courtesy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must apologize for intruding,' he said. 'The interruption was most
+involuntary on my part. I could have no idea that my cousin was here.
+Allow me to take my leave at once, Fräulein.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig had risen in her turn. She evidently was more keenly alive to
+the awkwardness of the situation than Edmund, for her cheeks were
+suffused by a flaming blush, and her eyes sought the ground.
+Something, however, in the tone of this address, which, though polite,
+was icy in its reserve, struck her disagreeably, and she looked up.
+Her glance met Oswald's, and there must have been that in the
+expression of his face which wounded her and called her pride into
+arms; for suddenly the dark blue eyes kindled with indignant fire, and
+the voice, which so lately had rung out in merry jest and silver-clear
+laughter, shook with emotion and anger as she cried:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Herr von Ettersberg, I beg of you to remain.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald, on the point of departure, halted. Hedwig went up to the young
+Count, and laid her hand on his.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, you will not let your cousin go from us in this manner. You
+will give him the necessary explanation--immediately, on the spot. You
+must see that he--that he misunderstands.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald, involuntarily, had drawn back a step, as the familiar 'Edmund'
+met his ears. The Count himself seemed somewhat taken aback by the
+determined, almost authoritative tone which he now heard probably for
+the first time from those lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, Hedwig, it was you yourself who imposed silence on me,' he said.
+'Otherwise I should certainly not have kept the fact of our attachment
+secret from Oswald. You are right. We must take him into our
+confidence now. My severe Mentor is capable else of preaching us both
+a long sermon, setting forth our iniquity. We will therefore go
+through the introduction in due form. Oswald, you see before you my
+affianced wife and your future relation, whom I herewith commend to
+your cousinly esteem and affection.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This introduction, though decidedly meant in earnest, was performed in
+the Count's old light, jesting tone; but the gay humour, which Hedwig
+was usually so prompt to echo, seemed to jar upon her now almost
+painfully. She stood quite silent by her lover's side, watching with
+strange intensity the new relative opposite, who was mute as herself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well?' said Edmund, surprised and rather hurt at this silence. 'Have
+you no congratulations to offer us?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must in the first place sue for pardon,' said Oswald, turning to
+the young girl. 'For such a piece of news, I certainly was not
+prepared.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is entirely your own fault,' laughed Edmund. 'Why did you
+receive my communication so ungraciously when I told you about my
+first visit to Brunneck? There was every prospect for you then of
+filling the post of confidant. But I must say, Hedwig, we are not
+lucky as regards our rendezvous. This is the first time we have met
+alone, unsheltered by Aunt Lina's protecting wing--and behold, we are
+overtaken by this Cato! The philosopher's face is so eloquent of
+horror at witnessing an act of homage on my part that we are obliged
+at once to soothe him back into calm by notifying to him our
+engagement. You may recall your little pleasantry about the
+&quot;intrusion,&quot; my dear fellow, and proceed to express--rather
+tardily--your wishes for our happiness.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I congratulate you,' said Oswald, taking his cousin's proffered hand;
+'and you too, Fräulein.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How very monosyllabic! Can it be that we are to have a foe in you?
+That would be the drop too much. It will be quite enough for us to
+meet the opposition which our beloved parents will in all probability
+offer to our plans. We shall be between two fires, and I hope, at
+least, to be able to count on you as an ally.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are aware that I have no influence with my aunt,' said Oswald
+quietly. 'In that quarter you must trust to your own powers of
+persuasion alone. But precisely for this reason you should avoid
+giving your mother any extra cause for offence, and offend her you
+certainly will, if you are not present at to-day's conference. Your
+lawyer must be waiting at Ettersberg at the present moment, and you
+have a good hour's walk before you. Excuse me, Fräulein, but I am
+forced to remind my cousin of a duty which he appears to have entirely
+lost sight of.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is there a conference at the castle to-day?' asked Hedwig, who had
+remained wonderfully quiet during the last few minutes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, about the Dornau business,' said Edmund, laughing. 'We are still
+at open feud--irreconcilable enemies, you know. In your company I had
+certainly forgotten all about lawsuits and appointments. It is
+fortunate that Oswald has reminded me of them. I must perforce be
+present to-day, and concoct plans with my mother and the lawyer for
+snatching Dornau from the enemy. They little dream that we settled the
+matter in dispute long ago by the unusual, but highly practical,
+compromise of a betrothal.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And when will they hear this?' inquired Oswald.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'As soon as I know how Hedwig's father takes the affair. He came back
+yesterday, and that is why we wanted some quiet talk together, to draw
+up the plan of the campaign. Ettersberg and Brunneck will thrill with
+horror at the news, no doubt, and do the Montague and Capulet business
+yet a little longer; but we shall take care there is no tragic ending
+to the drama. It will wind up to the tune of wedding-bells.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke with such gay confidence, and the smile with which Hedwig
+answered him was so superb and assured of victory, that it was evident
+the parents' opposition was not looked upon by the young people as a
+real obstacle, likely to involve any serious conflict. They were fully
+conscious of their power and influence where father and mother were
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But now I really must go home,' cried Edmund, making a start. 'It is
+true that I should not rouse my lady-mother's displeasure just now,
+and nothing displeases her more than to be kept waiting. Excuse me,
+Hedwig, if I leave you here. Oswald will replace me, and will
+accompany you back through the wood. As you are so soon to be related,
+you must become better acquainted with him. He is not always so
+taciturn as he appears at a first meeting. Oswald, I solemnly entrust
+my affianced wife to your protection and knightly conduct. So
+farewell, my charming Hedwig!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He carried the girl's hand tenderly to his lips, waved an adieu to his
+cousin, and hurried away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two who were left were, it seemed, not agreeably surprised by the
+Count's sudden arrangement. They certainly did not fall into the tone
+of cousinly familiarity so promptly as he had wished. A cloud rested
+on the young girl's brow, and Oswald's manner showed as yet little of
+the chivalrous gallantry which had been enjoined upon him. At length
+he spoke:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My cousin has kept his acquaintance with you so secret, that the
+disclosure he has just made took me altogether by surprise.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You made that sufficiently evident, Herr von Ettersberg,' replied
+Hedwig. It was strange how lofty and decided a tone she could adopt
+when really serious and in earnest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald approached slowly. 'You are offended Fräulein, and justly
+offended, but the greater blame rests with Edmund. He ought never to
+have exposed his betrothed, his future wife, to such misconceptions as
+that of which I was guilty.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this allusion a crimson flush again mounted to Hedwig's cheek.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The reproach you address in words to Edmund is in reality aimed at
+me, for I was a consenting party. My imprudence was only made manifest
+to me just now by your look and tone.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have already apologized, and now once more I pray to be forgiven,'
+said Oswald earnestly. 'But ask yourself, Fräulein, what a stranger,
+to whom a frank, straightforward explanation could not have been
+given, would have thought of this meeting? I say again, my cousin
+should not have induced you to agree to it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund always speaks of you as his Mentor,' exclaimed Hedwig, with
+unmistakable annoyance. 'It seems that, as I am engaged to be married
+to him, I also am to enjoy the privilege of being ... educated by
+you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I merely wished to warn, and by no means to offend you. It is for you
+to judge in what spirit you should take the warning.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She made no reply. The grave earnestness of his words was not without
+effect upon her, though it did not altogether calm her ruffled spirit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig picked up her hat, which lay neglected on the ground, and sat
+down in her former place to rearrange the crushed flowers. The fresh
+and dainty spring headgear had suffered a little from its contact with
+the grass, still damp with mist and rime; such a hat was, indeed,
+hardly suited to the inclement April day. Spring comes tardily among
+the mountains, and this year especially she showed no smiling
+countenance. Her advent was heralded by rain and tempest. To frosty
+nights succeeded days of mist, through which the pale sunshine gleamed
+but fitfully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On this day the sky was as usual shrouded in masses of gray cloud. A
+wall of fog shut out the distant horizon, and the air was close and
+laden with moisture. The woods were still bare and leafless; in the
+undergrowth alone signs of the first tender green could be seen
+sprouting timidly forth. Each leaflet, each bud, had to struggle for
+existence, with difficulty holding its own in that raw, keen
+temperature. The scene altogether was cheerless and desolate.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald made no attempt to renew the conversation, and Hedwig, for her
+part, showed but little inclination to pursue it. After a while,
+however, the silence became oppressive to her, and she ventured the
+first remark that suggested itself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What a miserable April! Anyone would think we were in cold, foggy
+autumn, with winter closing in upon us. We are to be cheated this year
+of all our spring delights.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Are you so fond of spring?' asked Oswald.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I should like to know who is not fond of it? When one is young,
+flowers and sunshine seem necessary as the air we breathe. One cannot
+do without them. But perhaps you are of a different opinion.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It all depends. Flowers and sunshine do not come with every spring;
+nor are they given to everyone in their youth.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Were they not given to you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The negative was very harsh and decided. Hedwig glanced up at the
+speaker; it occurred to her, perhaps, that he was austere and
+undelightful as the spring day which excited her displeasure. What a
+contrast was there between this conversation and the sparkling,
+playful babble in which the young engaged pair had so recently
+indulged here, on the self-same spot! Even the 'plan of campaign' to
+be undertaken against their parents had been sketched out in a spirit
+of drollery, amid endless pleasantries, and any lurking anxiety as to
+the issue had been chased away by jests and laughter. But now, with
+Oswald von Ettersberg standing before her in his cold unyielding
+attitude, not only all the merriment, but all desire for it, had
+vanished as by enchantment. This solemn strain of talk seemed to come
+as a matter of course, and the young girl even experienced a certain
+attraction in it and desire to pursue it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You lost your parents early? Edmund has told me so; but at Ettersberg
+you found a second home and a second mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The stern, aggressive look, which for a while had disappeared, showed
+itself again in the young man's face, and his lips twitched almost
+imperceptibly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You mean my aunt, the Countess?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes. Has she not been a mother to you?' Again there came that slight
+spasmodic working about the corners of the mouth, which was anything
+rather than a smile, but his voice was perfectly calm, as he replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, certainly. Still, there is a difference between being the only
+child of the house--beloved as you and Edmund have been--and a
+stranger admitted by favour.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund looks on you exactly as a brother,' interrupted the young
+girl. 'It is a great grief to him that you are meaning to leave him so
+soon.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund appears to have been very communicative with regard to me,'
+said Oswald coldly. 'So he has told you of that already, has he?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig flushed a little at this remark.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is natural, I think, that he should make me acquainted with the
+affairs of the family I am likely to enter. He mentioned this fact to
+me, lamenting that all his efforts to induce you to remain at
+Ettersberg had failed.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To remain at Ettersberg?' repeated Oswald, with unfeigned
+astonishment. 'My cousin could not possibly have been in earnest. In
+what capacity would he have me remain there?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In your present capacity of a friend and near relation, I suppose.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man smiled bitterly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Fräulein, you have probably no idea of the position occupied by so
+superfluous a member of a family, or you would not expect me to hold
+out in it longer than necessity compels. There may be men who,
+accepting the convenient and pleasant side of such a life, could shut
+their eyes to its true significance; I have been absolutely unable to
+do so. Truly, it never was my intention to remain at Ettersberg and
+now I would not stay, no, not for the whole world!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke the last words with fire. His eyes kindled with a strange
+lightning-like gleam, of which one would not have supposed those cold
+orbs capable. It flashed on the young girl and was gone, and who
+should determine the true meaning of it?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To Hedwig, accustomed to read in other glances a tender homage and
+admiration, which this certainly did not convey, the look remained
+problematical.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why not now?' she asked in surprise. 'What do you mean by that?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, nothing, nothing! I was alluding to family affairs which are
+unknown to you as yet.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Evidently he repented his hasty error; as though in anger at himself,
+he fiercely snapped to pieces a branch which he had torn from a
+neighbouring bush.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig was silent, but the explanation did not suffice her. She felt
+there must have been other grounds for the sudden vehemence and bitter
+emphasis with which he had spoken those words. Was it the thought of
+her entering the family which had roused him thus? Did this new
+relation intend to take up a hostile attitude towards her from the
+very first? And what did that strange, that enigmatic glance portend?
+She sat thinking over all this, while Oswald, who had turned away,
+looked persistently over in the opposite direction.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Suddenly, from the higher ground, a low, far-off sound was wafted
+down. It was like the chirping of many birds, and yet consisted in a
+single note, long drawn out.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig and Oswald looked up simultaneously. High in the air above them
+hovered a swallow. As they looked, it directed its course downwards,
+shooting by them so close that it almost brushed their foreheads in
+its arrow-like swiftness. Quickly following the first came a second
+and a third, and presently out of the misty distance a whole flight
+was seen emerging. On they came, nearer and still nearer, winging
+their way rapidly through the moist, heavy air. Then, circling above
+the woods and hilltops, they dispersed fluttering about in all
+directions, joyfully greeting, as it were, the old home they had found
+again. Here, with their gracious, hopeful message, were the first
+harbingers of spring.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The lonely hill-side had suddenly grown animated, a scene of movement
+and of life. Restlessly, incessantly, the swallows darted hither and
+thither, sometimes high overhead at an unattainable distance, then
+quite low to the ground, almost touching the soil. Backwards and
+forwards shot the pretty slender creatures on facile wings, so swiftly
+that the eye could hardly follow them; and all the while the air was
+resonant with that low happy piping which has nothing in common with
+the nightingale's trill or the lark's ecstasy of song, and which yet
+is sweeter to man's ears than either, because it is the herald's note,
+proclaiming the approach of Spring, and bearing her first message to
+fair nature, fresh from the long winter trance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig had started from her reverie. All else was suddenly forgotten.
+Bending eagerly forwards, with a glad radiance in her eyes, she
+watched the tiny newcomers; then, with all the delight, the joyful
+excitement of a child, she cried:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, the swallows, the swallows!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Truly, they are here,' assented her companion, 'and fortunate they
+may consider themselves in receiving so hearty a welcome.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The cool observation fell like a chilling hoarfrost on the girl's
+innocent joy. She turned and measured the sober spectator at her side
+with an indignant glance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To you, Herr von Ettersberg, it appears inconceivable how one can
+rejoice over anything. It is not one of your failings, and I dare say
+the poor swallows to you signify nothing--you have never bestowed the
+smallest attention on them.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, pardon me! I have always envied them for their distant
+journeyings, their free powers of flight, which nothing shackles or
+restrains. Ah, liberty! there is nothing better, no higher good in
+life than liberty!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No higher good?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The question was put in a tone of anger and indignation, making the
+answer seem all the colder and more decided.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'None, in my estimation, at least.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Really, one would think you had hitherto been languishing in chains,'
+said Hedwig, with unconcealed irony.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Must one breathe dungeon-air in order to long for freedom?' asked
+Oswald in the same tone, only that his irony amounted to scathing
+sarcasm. 'The accidents of life often forge fetters which weigh more
+heavily than the real iron chains of a captive.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then the fetters must be shaken off.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Quite true, they must be shaken off. Only that is much more easily
+said than done. They who have never been otherwise than free, hardly
+prize their liberty, looking upon it as a thing of course. They cannot
+understand how others will strive and struggle for years, will stake
+life itself to secure that precious guerdon. But, after all, the
+efforts matter little, if the end be but attained.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He turned away, and seemed to be attentively watching the swallows in
+their rapid flittings to and fro. A fresh silence ensued, lasting
+longer, and putting Hedwig's patience to a still severer test than
+those which had previously occurred. These lapses in the conversation
+were strange and intolerable to her. Really, this Oswald von
+Ettersberg was an audacious personage. In the first place he presumed
+to reprimand her with regard to her meeting with Edmund; then he
+declared sharply, and with an emphasis which was almost insulting,
+that nothing should now induce him to remain on in his cousin's house;
+then he began to talk of dungeons and all sorts of disagreeable
+things, and finally lapsed into absolute silence, giving himself up to
+his meditations as completely as though a young lady, his cousin's
+promised wife, were not in his company. Hedwig thought the measure of
+his rudeness was filled, and she rose to go.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is time for me to be returning,' she remarked shortly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am at your service.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald moved forward, intending to escort her, but she waved him back
+with an ungracious gesture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Thank you, Herr von Ettersberg. I know the way perfectly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund expressly charged me to see you home,' objected Oswald.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And I release you from the obligation,' rejoined the young lady, in a
+tone which plainly said the young Count's wishes were not as law to
+her when opposed to her own will. 'I came alone, and will go back
+alone.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald retreated at once.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then you must make haste to reach Brunneck,' he said coolly. 'The
+clouds are gathering yonder, and in half an hour we shall have rain.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig looked inquiringly at the threatening clouds. 'I shall be home
+long before then; and if it comes to the worst, I think nothing of
+being caught in a spring shower. The swallows have reappeared, you
+know--have told us that spring is coming at last.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words were spoken almost in a tone of challenge, but the gauntlet
+was not taken up. Oswald merely bowed with an air of constrained
+politeness, thereby forfeiting the young lady's last remnant of
+indulgence. She, in return, strove to infuse the utmost chilliness
+into her parting salutation, after which she hastened away, light and
+swift of foot as a roe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This haste was not induced by fear of rain, for when she had left the
+hill-side well behind her, Hedwig slackened her pace. She only wished
+to get out of the neighbourhood of this unbearable 'Mentor,' who had
+tried to extend his system of education to her, and had been guilty of
+considerable rudeness in the attempt. He had not even raised any
+serious objection when she declined his escort. She had fully meant
+it, but the merest politeness demanded some words of regret at her
+decision. Yet there had been nothing of this; he was visibly delighted
+at being relieved of a troublesome office. This spoilt young lady,
+whose beauty, and perhaps also whose wealth, had won for her on all
+sides attention and lavish homage, looked on such indifference almost
+in the light of an insult, and she had not fully recovered from the
+vexation it caused her when she issued from the forest and saw
+Brunneck lying before her in close vicinity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald, remaining behind alone, seemed altogether to forget the rain
+he had prophesied. He stood motionless, with folded arms, leaning
+against the trunk of a tree, and made no sign of setting out
+homewards.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The clouds grew heavier and more lowering; the whole forest was now
+shrouded in mist, and the swallows almost swept the ground with their
+wings as they shot by to and fro. Patches of white might here and
+there be seen bearing witness still to the night's hoarfrost; but
+beneath, amidst all this mist and rime, a great work was going on. The
+life-germs hidden away in a thousand unsuspected buds and leafless
+branches were secretly, silently stirring; it wanted but the first
+balmy breath, the first glow of sunshine, to awaken all Nature from
+her long slumber. Ungenial as the air might be, there was in it just a
+touch, a faint suggestion of spring, and a whisper of spring ran
+through the bare forest. All around mysterious powers were active,
+weaving their chains, arraying their forces, unseen, unheard, yet felt
+and understood even by the lonely self-absorbed man who stood gazing
+dreamily out into the cloudy distance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A while ago, as he pursued his solitary way through the woods, all had
+been void and desolate. Not a sound had reached his ears of the
+language which was now so distinct and eloquent to him. He knew not,
+or would not know, what had so suddenly opened his understanding; but
+the harsh, aggressive look died out of his face, and with it faded
+away the remembrance of a dreary, joyless youth--faded away the
+rancour and bitterness of spirit which dependence and neglect had
+engendered in a proud, strong nature. The soft, half-unconscious
+dreams, which visit others so frequently, had spun their magic web
+around the cold, impenetrable Oswald. It was, perhaps, his first
+experience of them, but the spell was therefore the more irresistible.
+Overhead the swallows were still busy, flitting incessantly to and fro
+through the heavy, rain-charged air. The happy chirping of their tiny
+throats, the wonderful whisperings about him, the low voice in his own
+breast, all repeated in constant refrain that message which other lips
+had so triumphantly proclaimed: 'Spring is coming, really coming to us
+at last.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">CHAPTER V.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">In the course of a few days the plan of campaign devised by Edmund and
+Hedwig was carried into execution. The young people made their
+important disclosure, declaring their sentiments in most unambiguous
+terms, and the effects produced were precisely those expected. First
+came a simultaneous outburst of indignation at Brunneck and at
+Ettersberg; then followed reproaches, prayers, threats; finally an
+irrevocable fiat was issued on either side. The Countess solemnly
+announced to her son, the heir, that she once for all refused her
+consent to such a marriage; and Fräulein Hedwig Rüstow, on making her
+avowal, encountered a small hurricane, before which she was fain for a
+while to bow her head. The Councillor grew fairly distracted with
+wrath when he heard that an Ettersberg, a member of the family he
+hated, and his adversary in the Dornau suit, was to be presented to
+him as a son-in-law.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The parental displeasure, though most pointedly expressed,
+unfortunately made but small impression on the young people.
+Prohibited, as a matter of course, from holding any further
+communication, they calmly within the hour sat down to write to each
+other, having, with a wise prevision of coming events, already fixed
+on a plan for the safe conveyance of their letters.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Councillor Rüstow was striding angrily up and down the family
+sitting-room at the Brunneck manor-house. Hedwig had thought it wise
+to retire and leave her infuriated parent to himself for a while. The
+worthy gentleman, finding his daughter beyond his reach, turned
+fiercely upon his unhappy cousin, whom he bitterly accused of having,
+by her unpardonable weakness and folly in favouring the acquaintance,
+paved the way for all that had occurred.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Fräulein Lina Rüstow sat in her accustomed place by the window and
+listened, going on steadily with the needlework she had in hand. She
+waited patiently for a pause to supervene. When at length her
+exasperated cousin was compelled to stop and take breath, she
+inquired, with perfect imperturbability:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Tell me, in the first place, Erich, what objection you really have to
+offer to this marriage?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The master of the house came to a sudden stand. This was a little too
+much! For the last half-hour he had been giving expression in every
+possible way to his anger, his fury, his indignation, and now he was
+coolly asked what objection he really had to offer to the marriage.
+The question so amazed and upset him that for a moment he could find
+no fitting answer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Upon my word, I do not understand why you should be so angry,' went
+on the lady, in the same tone. 'There is evidently a sincere and
+mutual attachment. Count Ettersberg, in himself, is a most charming
+person. That unhappy lawsuit, which has so tried your temper during
+the whole of the winter, will be brought to the simplest conclusion;
+while, in a worldly point of view, the match is in every respect a
+brilliant one for Hedwig. Why do you set yourself so strongly against
+it?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why--why?' cried Rüstow, more and more incensed by this calm,
+argumentative tone of hers. 'Because I will not suffer my daughter to
+marry an Ettersberg. Because, once for all, I forbid it--that is why!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do not think Hedwig will surrender to such reasons as those. She
+will simply appeal to the example of her parents, who married without
+the father's consent----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That was a very different matter,' interrupted Rüstow hotly. 'A very
+different matter indeed.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was a precisely similar case, only that in that instance all the
+circumstances were far more unfavourable than they are now, when
+really prejudice and obstinacy alone stand in the way of the young
+people's happiness.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, these are nice compliments you are heaping upon me, I must
+say,' cried the Councillor, breaking forth anew. 'Prejudice!
+obstinacy! Have you any more flattering epithets to bestow on me?
+Don't hesitate, pray. I am waiting to hear.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There is no speaking sensibly to you to-day, I see,' observed the
+lady, tranquilly resuming the work which for a few minutes had been
+discontinued. 'We will talk of this another time, when you have grown
+calmer.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Lina, you will drive me mad with that abominable composure of yours,
+which is nothing but affectation. Put that confounded sewing stuff
+away, do. I can't endure to see you drawing your thread in and out as
+primly as though there were nothing amiss, while I--I----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Feel inclined to pull the whole house about our ears. Don't take the
+trouble; it will stand after all, you know, just as firm on its
+foundations as ever.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, it will stand, though everyone prove rebellious, though even you
+set yourself in open opposition to me, the master. Thank God, I have
+an ally, and a strong one, in the Countess-mother over at Ettersberg.
+She will show more obstinacy even than I, you may depend upon it. We
+can't endure each other; we are doing our very best to harass and
+torment each other by raising fresh quibbles in the lawsuit; but on
+this point we shall, for once, be agreed. She will soon bring her son
+to reason, and I am glad of it. It meets my views exactly. I shall act
+in the same way by my daughter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do not suppose that the Countess will give her consent very
+readily,' said Aunt Lina, in a pensive tone. 'To obtain that from her
+must be Edmund's business.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund!' repeated Rüstow, whose indignation was constantly being
+roused afresh. 'Dear, dear! how very familiar we are, quite like
+relations already! You regard him altogether in the light of a nephew,
+I suppose. But you will find yourself mistaken. I say no, and I mean
+no, so that is all about it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With these words he stormed out of the room, banging the door to
+behind him with a crash which set all the windows jarring. Aunt Lina
+must indeed have conquered 'her nerves,' for she did not start at the
+noise, but merely looked after the angry man with a shake of the head,
+and murmured to herself:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I wonder how long it will be before he gives in!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was certainly less noise and bluster at Ettersberg, but the
+prospects of the young pair were not on that account more hopeful. The
+Countess thought the matter serious enough to warrant her in sending
+for her brother, Baron Heideck, who, in all cases of difficulty, was
+her stay and counsellor. He answered her summons in person, so Count
+Edmund had now to contend with the allied forces of mother and
+guardian.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The latter, who had arrived from the capital a few hours previously,
+was closeted with the Countess in her own boudoir. He was several
+years older than his sister, and while she had preserved an almost
+youthful appearance, a premature look of age, on the contrary, was to
+be remarked in him. Cold, grave, and methodical in speech and bearing,
+his outward man at once denoted the bureaucrat of high standing. He
+listened attentively and in silence to the Countess as she made her
+report, which concluded in rather desponding terms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'As I told you in my letter, there is nothing whatever to be done with
+Edmund. He persists stubbornly in this marriage-scheme, and is
+constantly urging me to give my consent to it. I really did not know
+what better course to take than to send for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You did quite right,' said the Baron; 'for I fear that, left to
+yourself, you would not have the necessary firmness to resist your
+darling, and refuse him his heart's desire. I think, however, we are
+agreed in this--the alliance in question must be prevented at any
+pains or any cost.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly we are,' assented the Countess. 'The only point to be
+discussed is <i>how</i> we are to prevent it. Edmund will shortly come of
+age, and he will then be absolute master, free to follow his own
+will.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hitherto he has submitted to yours,' remarked the Count. 'His love
+for you is paramount.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Has been hitherto!' said the Countess, with a rush of bitter feeling.
+'But now another shares his love. It remains to be seen whether his
+mother will retain her old place in his affections.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, this maternal sensitiveness of yours has been the cause of all
+the trouble, Constance,' remonstrated her brother. 'You have loved
+your son with a jealous exclusiveness which has made you shrink from
+the thought of his marriage. That was why you refused to entertain the
+proposal I made to you last year. An alliance suitable in point of
+rank and in every other respect could then easily have been secured.
+You see the result of your conduct on that occasion. But let us to the
+matter in hand. This Rüstow is wealthy?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He passes, at least, for wealthy in this part of the country.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And in town also. Not long ago he contributed funds towards one of
+our great industrial undertakings to a surprisingly large amount.
+Moreover, he is looked upon as an authority in his own particular
+line. Even at the Ministry his opinion on all subjects connected with
+agriculture carries weight with it. Add to this his connection by
+marriage with the Ettersberg family, which, say what you will, exists,
+and must be taken into account, and it becomes evident that we cannot
+treat this intended marriage as we would an unworthy mésalliance.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, and I think Edmund builds on that fact.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He builds simply on your unbounded affection for him, from which he
+hopes to obtain all he desires--perhaps would have obtained it, had I
+not stepped in in time. You owe it to your husband's memory and to the
+name you bear to resist this marriage, which, as you know, he never
+would have allowed. Remember how he condemned his cousin for
+contracting a union with Rüstow. You are bound to act according to his
+wishes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have done so in all respects,' said the Countess, a little piqued;
+'but if Edmund will not listen----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is for you to exact obedience from him, no matter by what means.
+This plebeian blood must not again be infused into the Ettersberg
+race. One such taint was sufficient.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke slowly and meaningly, and the Countess grew pale beneath the
+menace of his look.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Armand, what do you mean? I----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am alluding to Rüstow's marriage with your husband's cousin,' the
+Baron interrupted coldly. 'The reminder was, I think, necessary to
+warn you that there must be no weakness now. You are not wanting in
+energy generally, but to Edmund you have always been far too indulgent
+a mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Possibly,' said the Countess, with sad and bitter emphasis. 'I have
+had no one but him to love since you compelled me to accept the Count
+as my husband.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was not I, but circumstances, that compelled you. I should have
+thought you had in your youth sufficient experience of poverty and
+privations to make you bless your brother's hand, which delivered you
+from that wretched life and placed you in a high position.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bless?' repeated the Countess, in a low, half-stifled voice. 'No,
+Armand, I have never blessed your action in the matter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck frowned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I acted according to my conscience and sense of duty. It was my
+desire to procure for my father one last satisfaction on this side the
+grave, to free my mother from anxiety as to the future, and to secure
+for yourself a brilliant and much-envied position. If I used some
+pressure--some force to deliver you from the trammels of a first and
+foolish attachment, I did so with the firm conviction that for the
+Countess Ettersberg the past would be as though it had not been. I
+could not possibly foresee that my sister would not justify the
+confidence I placed in her.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess shuddered as he spoke these words, and turned away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Enough of these reminiscences, Armand; I cannot bear them.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are right,' said Heideck, changing his tone. 'We will leave the
+past, and turn our attention to the present. Edmund must not be
+allowed to commit this act of youthful folly. I hardly touched on the
+subject as we drove here from the station--I purposely avoided any
+discussion of it until I had spoken to you; but a very decided
+impression was left on my mind that we have not to do with a very deep
+or serious passion, capable of breaking down all barriers and setting
+all at defiance in order to obtain its end. He has merely fallen in
+love with a young and, as I hear, beautiful girl, and is naturally in
+a great hurry to be married at once. We must take care that this does
+not occur. We have weapons enough in our armoury to combat any such
+juvenile sentiment.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I hope so,' said the Countess, making a visible effort to regain her
+composure, and speak in an ordinary conversational tone. 'That is why
+I asked you to come. You are his guardian, you know.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck shook his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My guardianship has never been more than a barren legal fact, and in
+a few months it will lapse altogether. Edmund will hardly bow to its
+authority but to you he will yield, for he is accustomed to be guided
+by you. Place before him the choice between this new fancy of his and
+yourself. Threaten that you will leave Ettersberg if he brings this
+bride home to the castle. He worships you, and will take no step which
+would estrange his mother from him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; he would not do that,' said the Countess in a tone of absolute
+conviction; 'I am still sure of his love.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And you may continue to feel sure of it, if you know how to use your
+influence over him, as I doubt not you will, to the fullest extent.
+You are well aware, Constance, that in your son's case, in his case
+especially, the traditions of the family must be maintained. Remember
+this, I beg of you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know it,' said the Countess, drawing a deep breath. 'You may set
+your mind at rest.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A long pause ensued. Then Baron Heideck spoke again:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And now to the other disagreeable matter! Will you send for Oswald? I
+should like to have some talk with him about this wonderful new
+project of his.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess rang the bell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Let Herr von Ettersberg know that Baron Heideck wishes to speak to
+him, and is waiting for him here,' she said to the servant who
+answered the summons.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man withdrew with his instructions, and Heideck continued, in a
+sarcastic vein:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It must be admitted that Edmund and Oswald are outvying each other
+just now in their endeavours to add lustre to the family name. One is
+bent on marrying the daughter of a ci-devant farmer, and the other
+means to set up as a lawyer. Oswald cannot, I fancy, have conceived
+this idea quite suddenly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think he has cherished the project for years, but he has never
+committed himself by a word,' said the Countess. 'It is only now, just
+when he is on the point of passing his examination, that he thinks fit
+to publish his plan. I have declared to him, however, in the most
+decided manner, that he must give up all notion of the law, and
+prepare to enter a Government office.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And what reply did he make to you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He made none--as usual. You know the moody, obstinate silence with
+which, even as a boy, he received reproof and punishment, the look of
+insufferable defiance which he always has in readiness, though his
+lips remain closed. I am persuaded that my opposition only makes him
+cling the more pertinaciously to his absurd plan.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Precisely what I should expect from him, but in this case he will
+have to give way. A young man who, like Oswald, is absolutely without
+resources of his own, must, no matter in what position, be for a time
+dependent on his relations. Disobedience would cost him too dearly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The conversation had undergone a marked change. Previously, when
+Edmund's conduct had been under debate, the Countess and her brother
+had spoken gravely and with a certain anxiety, but every word
+testified to the consideration in which the wilful young son and
+nephew was held. They merely wished to lead, to guide him back into
+the paths of prudence, and the love he bore his mother was the only
+constraining influence suggested. But from the moment Oswald's name
+was mentioned, another and a very different tone prevailed. His sins
+were reported with harshness, and condemned with great severity;
+measures of compulsion were at once discussed. Baron Heideck evidently
+shared in an eminent degree his sister's dislike to this young
+relation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The offender now came in. He greeted his aunt and his guardian, whom
+he had seen only for a few minutes on arrival, with his accustomed
+calm composure; but a keen observer might have detected the fact that
+he had armed himself for the coming scene. He stood before them in the
+'sombre, obstinate silence' to which allusion had been made, with his
+ever-ready look of 'insufferable defiance,' and waited for what should
+be made known to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have prepared a singular surprise for us,' began Baron Heideck,
+addressing Oswald. 'For me especially, as I was just about to move in
+your interest. What are these absurd ideas you are so suddenly
+disclosing? You refused formerly to enter the army, and now you object
+to a Government office. Let me tell you that, situated as you are, you
+have no right to vacillate thus between the only professions which are
+open to you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have never vacillated, for no choice has ever been offered me,'
+replied Oswald quietly. 'I was destined first for the army and then
+for a Government clerkship, but my inclination was never consulted.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And why did you never inform us by a single word that it would please
+you in the last instance to set yourself against this second plan?'
+asked the Countess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is easily divined,' interposed Heideck. 'He wished to avoid a
+long struggle against you and myself, a struggle in which he was sure
+to succumb, and hoped that by taking us unawares he might paralyse our
+resistance. But you are mistaken, Oswald. My sister has already
+informed you that we consider the name and rank of a Count von
+Ettersberg to be incompatible with the calling of the law, and I
+repeat to you that you will never receive our consent to your present
+scheme.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am sorry for that,' was the steady reply. 'For I shall thus be
+obliged to pursue the course I have determined on without the approval
+of my nearest relatives.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess would have started up in anger, but her brother signed to
+her to be calm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Say nothing, Constance. We shall see if he can carry out this famous
+plan. I really do not understand you, Oswald,' he continued, with
+withering sarcasm. 'You have been long enough away from home to form
+some idea of the world and its ways. Have you never said to yourself
+that without some assured means of existence you can neither pass the
+examination in the capital, nor live on for years until an income of
+your own be forthcoming? Have you not reflected that these means may
+be withdrawn, if you push matters so far as to provoke a rupture with
+your family? You probably rely on Edmund's good-nature and on his
+affection for yourself, but in this case my sister will take care that
+he does not second and support you in your wilful obstinacy.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I rely on no one but myself,' declared Oswald. 'Edmund knows that I
+shall make no claim on him for assistance.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, perhaps you will allow me, as your ex-guardian, to inquire how
+you propose to live during the next few years?' said Heideck, in his
+former scornful tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think of going to town to stay with Councillor Braun, a lawyer of
+eminence, whose name is probably known to you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly I know him. He has a considerable reputation at the bar.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He was my father's legal adviser, and the intimate friend of our
+house. I called on him and renewed our acquaintance when Edmund and I
+were in town together, and he has been good enough to transfer the old
+friendship from the father to the son. During the time I was at the
+university, he gave me many hints how best to direct my studies with a
+view to the career I had already chosen, and since then we have
+remained in constant correspondence. He wishes now for some assistance
+in his really overgrown practice, and the assistant of to-day may,
+very probably will, be his successor in the future. The berth will be
+held open for me until I shall have passed my examination. He has
+asked me to stay at his house during the period of that examination,
+and this offer I have thankfully accepted.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald delivered this speech with imperturbable calm, but the
+astonishment of his hearers knew no bounds. They had supposed that a
+simple assertion of authority on their part would extinguish all
+'absurd ideas,' and quell the rebellious nephew whose dependent
+position placed him so completely at their mercy. Instead of this,
+they were met by a steady resolve, a practical, matured plan, every
+detail of which had been considered and provided for, and which
+withdrew the young man altogether from their influence and control.
+The disagreeable surprise this discovery caused them was expressed in
+the look they now exchanged.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Really, this is remarkable news,' said the Countess, who could no
+longer suppress her anger. 'So you have been conspiring against us
+with a stranger in secret--and this conspiracy has been going on for
+years!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And with what an aim in view!' added Heideck. 'Either in the army or
+in a Government office your ancient and noble name would have been of
+service to you; it would have assured you a career. But the advantages
+you possess you deliberately put from you in order to embrace the law
+as a profession. I really thought your ambition would soar higher. Are
+you so wedded--so enthusiastically attached to this new vocation of
+yours?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No,' said Oswald coldly; 'not in the least. But in any other
+profession I should have been compelled to go on for years
+accepting--accepting benefits I have hitherto enjoyed; and to this I
+will not consent. The path I have chosen is the only one that leads to
+freedom and independence, and to gain these I willingly sacrifice all
+else.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words told of a resolve which was not to be shaken, but at the
+same time they were barbed with a reproach which the Countess
+understood but too well.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have accepted these benefits so long that you can now
+conveniently do without them,' she remarked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The tone of this observation was even more insulting than the words.
+Oswald's composure seemed to be giving way at length. His quick, short
+breathing betrayed his emotion, as he replied in accents to the full
+as biting as hers had been:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If I have hitherto been held fettered by the chain of my dependence,
+that assuredly has not been my fault. It was not considered fitting
+for an Ettersberg to go out into the world and seek his fortune, as a
+man of humbler origin might have done. I could but yield to the
+traditional prejudices of my family. I have had to wait on and on for
+this hour when at length--at length I can take my future into my own
+hands!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Which you seem inclined to do in the most offensive manner possible,'
+said the Countess, with increasing warmth. 'With the utmost
+indifference to those family traditions of which you speak, in open
+opposition to the friends to whom you owe everything. Could my husband
+have foreseen this, he never would have directed that you should be
+brought up with his own son, and treated as a child of the house you
+now disown in this manner. But, indeed, gratitude is a word which
+seems to have no meaning for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A dangerous light kindled in Oswald's eyes, and they flashed upon the
+speaker a glance of menace and evil portent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know, aunt, what a heavy burden my uncle laid on you by those
+directions, but, believe me, I have suffered beneath it even more
+severely than yourself. It would have been better for me to have been
+driven out into the world and brought up among strangers, than to pass
+my life amid splendid surroundings, in a sphere where I have daily,
+hourly been reminded of my nothingness, where the proud Ettersberg
+blood in my veins had but to show itself to be instantly repressed. My
+uncle carried his point, and had me received into this house; beyond
+that, he made no attempt to shield or protect me. To you I was, from
+the first, simply a troublesome legacy left by an unfriendly and
+detested brother-in-law. I was accepted with disinclination, and
+endured with absolute dislike, and the consciousness of this has
+sometimes well-nigh driven me desperate. But for Edmund, the one
+person who showed me any affection, the one who held faithfully by me,
+in spite of all that was done to estrange us, I could not have borne
+the life. Gratitude! You require gratitude at my hands? I have never
+felt any, I never shall feel any towards you; for there is a voice
+within me which says I am not benefited, but injured. I need not
+thank, but might ... accuse!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He flung the last word at her with loud and threatening emphasis. The
+dykes were broken down, and all the hatred, the bitterness he had
+secretly borne within him for years flowed out in a stream of fierce
+rebellion against this woman who, outwardly at least, had been as a
+mother to him. She had risen in her turn, and they now stood face to
+face. So might two deadly enemies have measured each other's strength
+before the fray; the next word would perhaps have led to an
+irreparable breach, had not Heideck intervened.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald, you forget yourself!' he cried. 'How can you venture to
+address such language to your aunt?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The keen, cold tones of his voice brought reflection to both at the
+same moment. The Countess sank slowly back into her seat, and her
+nephew retreated a step. For a few seconds a painful silence reigned.
+Then Oswald spoke in a changed voice, in a tone freezing as ice:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are right; I have to apologize. But at the same time I must beg
+of you to allow me henceforth to go my own way unhindered. The path I
+shall follow will, in all probability, take me from Ettersberg for
+ever, and all further connection may cease between us. I think this is
+what we all should wish, and it will certainly be best for the family,
+collectively and individually.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, without waiting for an answer, or any sign of dismissal, he
+turned and left the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What did that mean?' asked the Countess in a low voice, when the door
+had closed upon him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It meant a threat,' said Heideck. 'Could you not understand it,
+Constance? It was, I think, plainly enough expressed.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He sprang up, and paced several times uneasily up and down the room.
+Even the bureaucrat's cold and measured calm was not proof against
+such a scene as this. Presently he halted before his sister.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We must give way. The matter has now assumed a different aspect--a
+very different aspect. Active resistance on our part might lead to
+serious trouble--the last few moments have made that evident to me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You really think so?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess spoke these words almost mechanically. She was still
+gazing fixedly over at the door through which Oswald had departed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Decidedly I think so,' said Heideck, in a determined tone. 'The
+fellow suspects more than is good for any of us. It would be dangerous
+to irritate him--besides which, we have no longer any power to control
+his acts. By this masterly scheme of his, he has secured for himself
+an unassailable position. I certainly was not prepared for it, but at
+least we now know what lies hidden beneath that calm, indifferent
+exterior.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have long known it,' declared the Countess, who seemed only now to
+be recovering the full use of her faculties. 'Not without reason have
+I feared those cold, searching eyes. From the very first time I saw
+that boy's face and met his look, a sort of presentiment awoke within
+me that he would work ruin to me and to my son.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Folly!' said Heideck. 'Whatever Oswald may suspect, it never can or
+will be more than a suspicion; and he will take good care not to put
+it into words. It was only in the great excitement of the moment that
+he allowed that hint to escape him; but no matter, there must not be a
+renewal of this scene. He is right in one thing at least--it will be
+better for him in future to avoid Ettersberg; thus the connection with
+Edmund will cease. In our own interest, we must let him pursue the
+career he has chosen.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile Oswald had passed rapidly through the Countess's apartments,
+and was about to turn from them into the corridor, where he met Edmund
+on his way to his mother. Gay, lighthearted, and careless as usual,
+the young Count stopped at once, caught his cousin by the arm, and
+proceeded to interrogate him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, Oswald, how did the judgment-scene in there go off? We must
+hold firmly together now, you know, for we are both in the same
+boat--only my case smacks of romance, whereas yours has a dry legal
+savour. I underwent a sort of preliminary examination in the carriage
+just now, and am about to appear before the high tribunal of justice.
+Is my uncle in a very ungracious humour?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He will hardly be ungracious to you,' was the laconic reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, I am not in the least afraid!' cried Edmund, laughing. 'I should
+have won my mother over long ago, if I had had her alone. She knows
+it, and that is why she summoned my uncle to her aid. He is just a
+trifle more difficult to manage, though I don't suppose even he will
+bear too hardly on me. But you, Oswald'--he came close up to his
+cousin, and looked him searchingly in the face--'you have that frown
+on your brow again, that bitter expression of countenance I dislike so
+much. They have been tormenting you, I am afraid.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know these things cannot be settled without some rather warm
+discussion,' replied Oswald evasively. 'But I have gained my end,
+notwithstanding. One word more, Edmund. I shall probably leave
+Ettersberg sooner than I at first intended--perhaps in the course of a
+few days.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why?' exclaimed the young Count. 'What has happened? You had
+determined to stay until the autumn. Has my uncle offended you, that
+you now talk of leaving at once? I shall stand no nonsense of that
+sort, as I shall let him know on the spot----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I tell you everything is arranged and settled,' Oswald interrupted.
+'Nothing whatever has happened. My aunt and her brother are naturally
+rather incensed against me, but they will place no further obstacles
+in my way.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you mean it in earnest?' asked Edmund in surprise. He evidently
+could not understand this sudden strange compliance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In right good earnest. You will hear it from themselves by-and-by.
+Now go and stand your trial. They will not be too hard on you. You
+have only to appeal to your mother's love--whereas I had to invoke
+fear to my aid.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund stared at him in amazement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Fear? Fear of what--of whom? You really do sometimes use the most
+extraordinary expressions.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Never mind, go now,' insisted Oswald. 'I can give you an account of
+our interview later on.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'All right.' Edmund turned to the door, but paused again on the
+threshold. 'I must say one thing more, though, Oswald. I will not hear
+of this sudden departure of yours. You promised to stay until the
+autumn, and nothing shall induce me to let you go before. It will be
+bad enough for me to have to do without you then for months--for you
+will hardly get to Ettersberg before that abominable examination is
+over. I know that beforehand.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With these words he departed. Oswald looked after him moodily. 'For
+months? Ah, we must learn to do without each other for good and for
+all,' he said. Then in a lower voice he added, 'I did not think I
+should have felt it so keenly.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">More than two months had elapsed. Midsummer had arrived, but the
+houses of Ettersberg and Brunneck were still, as Count Edmund
+expressed it, playing the Montague and Capulet game. Neither the
+Countess nor Rüstow had yielded an inch. They were vigorous as ever in
+their opposition to the projected marriage between their children, but
+these latter only clung the more tenaciously to their plan. In spite
+of prohibitions they met often, and wrote to each other still more
+frequently. To manage the first, it had been found necessary to
+include Aunt Lina in the plot, and that good lady thought it better
+that the meetings, which certainly would have taken place under any
+circumstances, should be held with her sanction and in her presence.
+She had long ago been won over to the young people's side, and the
+lovers themselves took matters very easily. It was not in the nature
+of either Hedwig or Edmund to take a sentimental or tragic view of
+their temporary separation. A love affair, the course of which had
+constantly run smooth, would no doubt have appeared to them
+excessively tame and wearisome. Parental opposition gave to this
+courtship the necessary spice of romance. They revelled in the
+situation with all the eagerness of their youthful years, and looked
+on themselves and their true love as intensely poetical and
+interesting. Neither felt any uneasiness as to the final issue; they
+knew too well that they, their parents' spoilt and petted darlings,
+would ultimately carry their point. Meanwhile the Countess posed as
+the inexorable mother, and the Councillor was fiercer and more prone
+to ire than ever. Signs, however, were not wanting that the fortresses
+were not quite as impregnable as they pretended to be, that they would
+finally succumb to the daily assaults to which they were subjected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The <i>dénoûment</i> came more speedily than any of the parties concerned
+had expected. Fräulein Lina Rüstow had been absent for a few days
+staying in town, where she had purchases to make. She came back to
+Brunneck suspecting nothing, and prepared to find the old feud with
+Ettersberg raging fiercely as when she left. Rather surprised at being
+received on her arrival by her cousin alone, she made inquiries after
+Hedwig, who was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig?' stammered Rüstow, looking half embarrassed, half wrathful.
+'She is not here just now; you will see her by-and-by.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina inquired no further. There had probably been some fresh
+discussion on the subject of the projected marriage, a circumstance
+which never promoted the comfort of any member of the household, for
+the Councillor was in the habit of venting his anger on all about him,
+his daughter only excepted. On this occasion, however, the traveller
+felt herself to be in possession of a piece of intelligence which
+would scare away ill-humour. They had hardly got into the parlour when
+she burst forth with it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have brought you some news, Erich. Your solicitor wanted to send
+you a telegram, but I begged him to let me convey the pleasant
+tidings. You have won your suit in the first instance. Dornau has been
+adjudged to Hedwig.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am glad of it, glad of it, in spite of all that has come and gone.
+But I wish the judgment had been given a few weeks back; now my
+pleasure in it is spoiled, completely spoiled! So we have won the
+suit?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Subject to appeal, of course--though our solicitor seems confident
+about the final issue. No doubt the opposite party will do everything
+in their power to contest the victory with us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'They will do nothing of the kind,' grumbled Rüstow, still with the
+same queer, embarrassed look.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Of course they will; there can be no doubt of that. The lawyer has
+already taken his measures in view of an appeal to a higher court.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He may save himself the trouble,' Rüstow broke forth. 'Nobody is
+thinking of appealing. The lawsuit is over and done with, and the end
+of the story is that Dornau will go to Ettersberg after all.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To Ettersberg? Why, don't I tell you ... But, good heavens, Erich,
+what makes you look so black and miserable, and why is Hedwig out of
+the way? What has happened? Is she ill, or----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Now, don't get excited,' said Rüstow, interrupting the flow of
+questions. 'Hedwig is quite well and in excellent spirits, and at
+the present moment is staying over at Ettersberg with her future
+mother-in-law. That is right, Lina, sit down. I shan't take it amiss
+if you show some surprise. I showed and felt not a little myself at
+first.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina had indeed dropped on to a seat, and was staring at her
+cousin in speechless, petrified amazement. He went on again:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'These young people have really had the most wonderful luck! You were
+within a hair's-breadth of finding us all dead and gone, Lina. The
+Countess was as nearly drowned as could be, and we were within an ace
+of having our necks broken.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Merciful powers! And you call that luck?' exclaimed the old lady, in
+a tone expressive of horror.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I said &quot;nearly&quot; and &quot;within an ace,&quot; did not I? Well, the upshot of
+it all was a betrothal on the spot. The whole business went upon
+wheels; deadly peril, consequent emotion, embracing of the lovers! We
+were in the midst of it all, and found ourselves giving our parental
+benediction almost before we knew what had happened. Oh, those
+confounded black Ettersberg beasts! Why do my horses never run away, I
+wonder?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What in the world are your horses to me at this moment?' broke in his
+cousin, half desperate with the prolonged suspense. 'If you go on in
+this way, I shall never hear what has happened. Do try and tell the
+story rationally.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, yes, you are right. I must tell you all about it calmly and
+quietly,' said the Councillor, inaugurating the promised calm by
+pacing violently up and down the room, as was his wont when much
+excited. 'Well, then, the day before yesterday I drove over with
+Hedwig to pay a visit to Neuenfeld. You will remember that the road
+lies over that steep Stag's Hill, where just at the summit the path is
+so narrow that great caution is required for two vehicles to pass side
+by side. Precisely at this spot, what should we meet but the
+Ettersberg carriage with the Countess in it! We, of course, took no
+notice, pretended not to know each other; but our coachmen, instead of
+not noticing, rushed together like mad. I shouted to Anthony to stop,
+but the other idiot came tearing on, until the animals brushed against
+each other. The high-spirited Ettersberg steeds took this amiss. They
+reared and plunged and kicked, and finally set off at furious speed,
+almost smashing our wheels for us as they passed. The coachman tried
+all sorts of foolish man&#339;uvres in the hope of checking them, upon
+which they took to their heels and ran away with him in good earnest.
+Springing out of the carriage, I saw at a glance that it was too
+late--they were spinning down the hill as fast as a top. The coachman
+flew off the box; the footman, instead of seizing the reins, clung to
+his seat with might and main. The Countess screamed for help, and so
+they went on, straight down towards the pond which lies at the foot of
+the hill, and is so admirably situated for drowning purposes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina was listening in breathless suspense.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Frightful! Horrible! Was there no help at hand?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly; I was at hand,' said Rüstow drily; 'and at need I can play
+the angel of rescue, though it is not my habitual occupation. There
+was not time for much reflection, and I soon gave up running after the
+carriage. Happily we had halted close to that steep footpath which
+shortens the way down by one half. How I got to the bottom I don't
+know. Anyhow, I was there as soon as the carriage, and just contrived
+to stop it as it reached the pond.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Thank God!' cried the old lady, with a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So said I, a little later on--just at that moment I was furious.
+There I stood with the Countess in my arms, and no one to give me any
+assistance. She had gone off into a swoon, and that fool of a man was
+so bewildered and scared, that he was nearly as unconscious as his
+mistress. Now, a pair of restive horses I can manage at a pinch, but
+fainting ladies are altogether out of my line. Presently, however,
+Hedwig came flying down the footpath, and then Anthony, and then the
+man who had been thrown--he was limping terribly, and had a famous
+bump on his forehead, but that served him right. It was his folly and
+reckless driving which had caused all the mischief.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And the Countess?' interposed his listener eagerly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, happily the Countess had escaped uninjured. We carried her into
+a neighbouring house belonging to one of the rural police, and here
+she partly recovered from her fright. The gentle, well-mannered
+horses, besides running away, had accorded to themselves the special
+pleasure of breaking their carriage-pole and of so injuring our wheels
+in the rencontre, that we could not move the landau from the spot. So
+I sent the footman over to Ettersberg to fetch another vehicle,
+despatched Anthony and the policeman, who happened to be at home,
+to the scene of the disaster, and dismissed the coachman with his
+black monsters, which he conducted home in safety. We three remained
+alone--it was a pleasing moment, as you may suppose.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do hope and trust, Erich, that you did not behave with rudeness,'
+said Aunt Lina reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, rudeness was out of the question--unfortunately!' replied Rüstow,
+in a tone of sincere regret. 'The Countess was still as pale as death
+and half fainting. I had received a slight memorial of the affair
+myself, a mere scratch on the arm, which, however, bled rather
+profusely; and the poor child, Hedwig, ran from one to the other, not
+knowing whom she should help first. In such a situation politeness
+comes as a thing of course. We were therefore intensely polite to each
+other, and intensely anxious about each other's welfare. I hoped the
+matter would blow over with an expression of thanks and a courteous
+farewell, and I was looking out, longing for the arrival of the
+Ettersberg carriage, when suddenly, instead of it. Count Edmund came
+up at a tearing gallop. From the footman's confused report he had
+thought that his mother was injured or half dead, and he had not
+waited for the carriage to be got ready, but had jumped on the first
+horse that came to hand and had ridden over as though his own life had
+been at stake. I should not have believed the young jackanapes had so
+much heart. He rushed into the house and into his mother's arms like a
+madman, and for the first moment or so he evidently saw and thought of
+no one but her. I must say that pleased me--pleased me much. He seems
+to be passionately attached to his mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this point the narrator's voice softened a little. Unfortunately
+his cousin took it into her head to produce her handkerchief and press
+it to her eyes, which at once roused the Councillor to a contrary
+humour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do believe you are going to cry,' he said, turning upon her
+sharply. 'Let us have no nonsense of that sort, pray. There has been
+emotion enough and to spare. Well, of course there now ensued a string
+of questions and explanations,' he went on, taking up again the thread
+of his narrative; 'a lively description, in which, in spite of my
+protests, I was made to figure as a sort of hero and knight-errant.
+The Countess overflowed with gratitude, and all at once Edmund threw
+his arms round my neck, declaring I had saved his mother's life, and
+that he would rather owe such a debt to me, the father of his Hedwig,
+than to anyone in the world.' Here Rüstow's strides grew longer and
+his countenance more wrathful. 'Yes, that is what he had the coolness
+to say, &quot;the father of his Hedwig&quot;! I tried to shake him off; then
+Hedwig got the other side of me, and began the same story about the
+mother of her Edmund. Presently the Countess stepped up, and held out
+her hand to me--well, you can imagine the rest. As I said before, a
+general embracing and reconciliation went on, and we only came to our
+senses when the carriage, which had followed the Count, drove up to
+the door. As it further appeared that ours was totally disabled, we
+had no alternative but to mount all together and drive over to
+Ettersberg. It was agreed ultimately that Hedwig should remain with
+the Countess, who was really much upset by the fright she had had, and
+I ... well, here I am, left by myself in my own house, without a soul
+to keep me company.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Please to remember I count as somebody,' said Aunt Lina, a little
+piqued. 'You don't seem to reckon me at all.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow grumbled something that was unintelligible. At this moment a
+servant came in, and announced the pastor of Brunneck, who was a
+friend of the house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There!' cried the master, in a tone of desperation. 'There! he has
+come over to congratulate us on the approaching marriage--he has, as
+sure as I stand here. The story is going the round of the
+neighbourhood already. Each time I have shown my nose outside the door
+to-day, somebody has come up to me with a smirk and a smile, and some
+hint about the &quot;happy event.&quot; But I can't stand it yet. I must collect
+my thoughts and get used to the idea first. Lina, you'll do me the
+favour to receive the parson. In my present frame of mind, I tell you,
+I am capable of chucking anyone out of the window who should come to
+me with his congratulations!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, the Councillor ran out of one door just as the pastor was
+admitted by the other. This was fortunate, for the worthy man had no
+sooner entered than he proceeded solemnly and with much unction to
+offer to the old lady his heartfelt congratulations on the coming
+'happy event,' the news of which had, he said, filled him with genuine
+delight.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The day on which the young Lord of Ettersberg attained his majority
+had come and gone, being celebrated with much splendour. The Countess
+judged this a fitting occasion for the display of all the grandeur of
+which Ettersberg was capable, and displayed it accordingly was in
+fullest measure. In the spacious, brilliantly lighted apartments of
+the castle there gathered a gay and numerous throng, for whom the
+fête, besides its more immediate cause, had yet another and a special
+interest. The young couple, who had been quietly betrothed at Brunneck
+some weeks previously, in the presence only of members of the two
+families, now made their first appearance together in public, and were
+accordingly overwhelmed by the congratulations of their friends. The
+news of the engagement had, as may be supposed, created a considerable
+stir in the neighbourhood; but the astounding fact was in some small
+degree explained by a report of the incident which had brought it
+about. It was easy to understand how the Countess, carried away by her
+gratitude, had held out the hand of reconciliation to a man whose
+courage and presence of mind had saved her life, how in such a moment
+her class-prejudices had given way, and she had consented to an
+alliance which, so it was said, she had at first vehemently opposed.
+Equally intelligible was it that after such an episode the Councillor
+should have yielded up his long-cherished grudge against the
+Ettersberg family; especially as the Dornau lawsuit had been decided
+in his favour, and his stubborn pride had thus received satisfaction.
+On the whole, Count Edmund's choice provoked envy rather than hostile
+attack, particularly among his younger compeers. The heiress of
+Brunneck and Dornau was no unfitting consort, even for a Count von
+Ettersberg. Similar marriages were constantly arranged where no such
+romantic inclination prevailed, where the rich heiress was not, as in
+this case, a youthful, beautiful, and accomplished lady.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But whatever might be the judgment passed on them in private, the
+young engaged couple were, of course, met on all sides by flattering
+speeches and the most amiable expressions of interest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck did not honour the castle with his presence on the
+occasion, though, in his quality of guardian to the heir, he had been
+confidently expected. He did not surrender his point so easily as the
+Countess, but persisted in his exclusive views. Fortunately, Edmund
+had wisely arranged that the news of his engagement should reach his
+uncle in the capital precisely at the time it was made generally
+public. The Countess could not possibly recede now, and any
+interference on her brother's part would come too late. Nevertheless,
+the Baron wrote a stern letter, reproaching his sister with her weak
+and foolish compliance, and would not understand how anyone could be
+so carried away by the emotion of the moment as to offer up their
+'principles.' He did not know how the mother's love had secretly been
+at work, undermining her stern resolve, and paving the way for the
+sudden concession. It so angered him that he went the length of
+refusing to be present at the coming festivities. By his mother's
+express wish, Edmund wrote to him, begging him to reconsider this
+decision, but he merely sent a short cool note in reply, declaring
+that his official duties would not permit him to leave town just then;
+all the formalities attendant on the coming of age should be settled
+by writing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund bore the blow with much philosophy, but the Countess was
+greatly annoyed. She had always been guided by her brother's opinion,
+and now felt his displeasure the more keenly that in her heart she
+shared his way of thinking. She saw, however, that having gone so far,
+the position she had taken up must be maintained before the world. So
+she set herself to the task before her, and with much tact and
+charming affability of manner convinced everyone that the consent,
+which in truth circumstances had wrung from her, had been
+spontaneously and freely given.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Supported by her son and his promised bride, the Countess received the
+guests as they arrived. Her toilette was sumptuous and in finest
+taste, and the fact that she was still a very beautiful woman had
+never made itself so triumphantly manifest as on this occasion. At her
+side stood her future daughter-in-law, radiant in all the bloom and
+grace of early youth; yet the elder lady's beauty shone undimmed by
+the contrast. Edmund's eyes rested now and again with loving
+admiration on his handsome, proud mother, who seemed to claim his
+attention in almost equal degree with his affianced bride.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The Countess looks magnificent to-day,' said the Councillor, going up
+to his cousin. 'Magnificent, upon my word! and she knows how to do
+this sort of thing--that, one must admit. It is all proportionate and
+on a grand scale, and the lady has a wonderful talent of making
+herself the life and centre of the whole affair. She sees everything,
+has something pleasant to say to everyone. Hedwig may learn much from
+her in this respect.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You seem fond of extremes,' remarked Aunt Lina, who had retired to a
+quiet corner seat, whence she could observe at ease all that was going
+on. 'From a most unreasonable dislike you have gone over to boundless
+admiration of the Countess. Why, I noticed you even kissed her hand
+just now.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What, don't I please you even yet?' asked Rüstow, in a tone of
+offence. 'You wrung from me a solemn promise that I would make myself
+agreeable tonight, and now that I am doing everything in my power to
+keep my word--making extraordinary efforts, in fact--you won't even
+acknowledge it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina smiled rather mischievously.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, but indeed I do! I admire the &quot;extraordinary efforts&quot; quite as
+much as the rest of the company, who really do not know what to make
+of it. People are accustomed to see you shrouded in a sort of
+thundercloud, and this sudden sunshine puzzles them. But I have one
+question to ask, Erich. What has gone wrong between Hedwig and Oswald
+von Ettersberg? They avoid each other openly in a manner which almost
+courts attention.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Gone wrong? Nothing, so far as I know. Hedwig cannot endure this
+cousin, and I fancy he does not care much for her.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The last words betrayed some little pique. Evidently the Councillor
+could not understand anyone not caring much for his daughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But there must be some grounds for this mutual dislike. Young
+Ettersberg's manners are not particularly agreeable, I must say.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, but he has a real genius for farming and agriculture generally.
+Now, if <i>he</i> were the heir coming into his own, things would wear a
+very different aspect here. He sees clearly how the estates are being
+mismanaged; and the other day, when he was over at Brunneck, he gave
+me some hints and information which will lead me to take serious steps
+myself, if Edmund will not act. We talked the matter over thoroughly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, and at great length,' rejoined the lady. 'It almost seemed to me
+as if Herr von Ettersberg held you to the conversation purposely, that
+he might not have to listen to all Edmund's tender speeches to his
+beloved.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am afraid he has some nonsensical high-flying notions in his head,'
+said Rüstow. 'The marriage does not meet with his high approval. I saw
+that the very day of the accident. He received us here at Ettersberg,
+and when Edmund lifted his future wife out of the carriage, my young
+gentleman looked as if the skies had fallen upon him; he darted a
+glance at the pair which by no means pleased me. However, he recovered
+himself in a minute, and was very polite, expressing regret at his
+aunt's accident, and wishes for his cousin's happiness, but in a cool,
+half-hearted sort of way which showed that both were forced. He does
+not appear to possess much heart, but a genius for farming he has, and
+no mistake.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Did that flattering compliment refer to me?' asked Edmund, who just
+then drew near with Hedwig, and overheard the last words.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow turned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To you, no! We were talking of your cousin. You, I am sorry to say,
+have no practical gifts that I have been able to discover.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'None in the world,' Edmund laughingly assured him. 'That was made
+plain to me the other day when I was over at Brunneck, and you were
+engrossed in one of your endless debates about forest-culture and
+drainage. Hedwig and I only caught a word here and there, but that was
+enough to make us yawn.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'These are views which promise well for a landed proprietor, I must
+say,' remarked the Councillor tartly. 'So our conversation made you
+yawn, did it? Why, you and Hedwig had not a sensible word to say to
+each other. I heard nothing but jokes and laughter. Yet you had every
+cause to listen with attention. The state of the timber on your----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, for Heaven's sake, spare me all that to-day,' broke in Edmund.
+'If you really must talk on these subjects, I will bring you over the
+genius you admire so much. Oswald is capable of discussing timber all
+the evening. But where is he, I wonder? I have missed him for the last
+quarter of an hour or so. Everard, have you seen Herr von Ettersberg?
+Perhaps he is over in the ballroom.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, Count, I have just come from there,' replied the old servant, who
+was passing with a tray.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, I shall have to go and look him up myself. One can never reckon
+on Oswald on such occasions as this. He leaves the entire burden on
+me. Come, Hedwig, dancing will begin soon; we ought to go and see that
+all the necessary arrangements are made.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, the young Count placed Hedwig's hand within his arm, and
+led her away to the ballroom, which lay at the other extremity of the
+long and glittering suite of apartments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The spacious ballroom was for the moment quite empty, as also was the
+adjoining conservatory, and this fact probably had beguiled Oswald
+into seeking a refuge there. The intention he had expressed of leaving
+Ettersberg at once had been combated on all sides, and especially by
+Edmund, who warmly insisted on his cousin remaining at the castle, and
+besieged him perpetually with entreaties and reproaches. The Countess
+even, and Baron Heideck, after due reflection, had decided that it
+might be a serious matter to provoke an open rupture with this
+rebellious nephew, and to launch him forth into the world in hostile
+mood. They therefore also opposed his departure. The family
+differences, which could not be healed, must at least be hidden from
+others. No further opposition should thwart the young man's plans.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was agreed that his future should be left altogether in his own
+hands; so he had yielded to the pressure put upon him, and consented
+to stay on until the autumn, according to his original intention.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald was standing before a group of camellias, apparently absorbed
+in the contemplation of their wealth of bloom. In reality he was
+insensible to it, as to all else around him. The expression of his
+countenance had little in common with the general rejoicing of the
+day, which placed the young Lord of Ettersberg in full possession of
+his own. An ominous frown contracted his brow, which had been smooth
+enough as he mixed in the ranks of the company. It was one of those
+moments when the mask of calm, imperturbable indifference was dropped.
+This mask the habit of years and the young man's self-control had
+enabled him to assume, but how foreign to his real nature was the
+indifference he feigned might be seen from his heaving breast and
+clenched teeth as he now stood alone, battling with himself. It had
+been impossible to him to remain amid the brilliant throng. He felt he
+must seek solitude, that he might draw breath freely, that he might
+not stifle beneath the crowd of thoughts which surged wildly through
+his mind. Was this really but the mean, bitter envy of an ingrate, who
+repaid benefits received with hate, and could not forgive the Fortune
+which favoured his cousin more highly than himself? Oswald's attitude
+implied more than this. There was in it something of the proud
+defiance with which a subdued and downtrodden right may at times
+assert itself, something of unspoken yet menacing protest against all
+the gay, splendid doings of the day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So here you are!' Edmund's voice broke in upon the stillness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald started and turned round, to behold the young Count standing in
+the doorway. Edmund went up to him now quickly, and continued, in a
+reproachful tone:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You seem to look upon yourself quite in the light of a guest to-day!
+You turn your back on the company and devote yourself to a quiet
+inspection of these camellias, instead of helping me to do the honours
+of the house.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A moment had sufficed to restore to Oswald his wonted calm, but there
+was a lurking bitterness in his tone as he replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That, I imagine, is your business exclusively. Are you not the hero
+of the day?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No doubt, in a double capacity,' replied Edmund lightly. 'As a man
+coming into his property, and a man about to be married. In this last
+quality, I have to read you a lecture. You have omitted to ask Hedwig
+for a dance; yet you might have foreseen that she would be besieged by
+petitions on all sides. Luckily, I interfered in your behalf, and have
+secured for you the only waltz that was left at her disposal. I hope
+you will duly appreciate my self-abnegation.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It hardly seemed to be appreciated, or at least not in the measure
+expected. Oswald's answer betrayed a marked coldness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are very kind. To tell you the truth, it had been my intention
+not to dance this evening.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Now this is too bad!' exclaimed his cousin angrily. 'It would be
+shameful if you were to refuse now. Why should you? you used to dance
+formerly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Because my aunt would not excuse me. The duty was always an onerous
+one. You know how little taste I have for dancing.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No matter; this waltz you will have to undertake, whether you like it
+or not. I have expressly retained it for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If Fräulein Rüstow has consented----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'&quot;Fräulein Rüstow&quot;! Just the tone in which Hedwig said, &quot;If Herr von
+Ettersberg desires it&quot;! How often have I asked you both to give up
+this stiff form of address, and to behave towards each other as
+relations should? But it seems to me that every time you meet you grow
+more formal and freezing. This is getting quite unbearable.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I was not aware that I had been wanting in proper respect towards the
+lady of your choice.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh no, certainly not. You are, on the contrary, so exceedingly
+reverential to each other, that it chills the very blood in my veins
+to listen to you. I really do not understand you, Oswald. The reserve
+you affect towards Hedwig is so patent, so obvious, you positively
+cannot complain if she is occasionally a little ... a little brusque
+in her manner towards you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald accepted the rebuke with perfect equanimity. His hand toyed,
+absently as it were, with one of the flowering branches as he
+replied:'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Say no more about it, Edmund--be very sure that this reserve of mine
+meets the lady's wishes exactly. As you have asked for a waltz in my
+name, I shall claim it, of course, but you must not force me to take
+any further part in the ball. It really was my intention not to dance
+tonight at all.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'All right,' said Edmund, who was as easily appeased as ruffled, and
+whose anger never lasted long. 'If you are bent on depriving the
+ladies of a partner, I cannot compel you to favour them, and nothing
+shall induce me to put myself out of temper tonight. It really would
+be thankless of me on such a day as this, a day which fulfils my
+every wish. You see, Hedwig and I were right not to take a tragic
+view of the situation, though Rüstow's deed of heroism settled the
+matter more quickly than we had ventured to hope. The feud between the
+houses is at an end, and our romance winds up to the merry tune of
+wedding-bells. I knew it would be so!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The fearless, happy confidence which marked the young Count's bearing,
+and was to-day more strikingly expressed than ever, formed a strong
+contrast to his cousin's almost gloomy gravity. Oswald's eyes rested
+with a dark and moody gaze on the other's bright face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are Fortune's favoured child,' he said slowly. 'All the good
+things of this life fall to your share.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'All?' repeated Edmund jestingly. 'No; you are in error there. My
+future father-in-law's genuine admiration, for instance, is given to
+you. He declares you are a heaven-born genius, extols your practical
+notions, and no doubt in his heart regrets that you are not destined
+to be his son-in-law in my stead.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Harmless as was the jest, and lightly as the words were spoken, they
+produced a visible and painful effect. Oswald's brow contracted
+darkly, and he replied with much irritation:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How often have I begged you to spare me this perpetual banter? Cannot
+you desist from it for once, if it be only for a moment?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Count Edmund, who greatly enjoyed the spectacle of his cousin's wrath,
+broke into a fit of laughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Make your mind easy,' he said. 'I should be the first to protest
+against an exchange, and I hardly think Hedwig would be disposed to
+agree to it. I have no intention of abdicating in your favour. But now
+come. It is high time for us to return to the guests.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald, who had no further pretext for lingering behind,
+obeyed the summons, and the two young men returned together to the
+reception-rooms. Here the heir's absence had already been remarked.
+The Countess's eyes were roving in impatient quest of her son, for she
+was waiting to give the signal for the dancing to begin, and a cloud
+lay on fair Hedwig's brow as the two gentlemen entered. The young lady
+thought it most unnecessary that Edmund should go off in search of his
+unsociable cousin, and could not excuse him for deserting her side for
+such an object. She did not like this particular new relation, with
+his icy hauteur and reserve, which never condescended to a word of
+flattery or admiration, and therefore gave herself little trouble to
+conceal from him the fact that the promise of a waltz had been almost
+wrested from her. Oswald was constrained to utter some words of
+thanks, but even in so doing he let it be seen that he was in reality
+little moved by the high distinction conferred on him. No special
+attention was vouchsafed his speech. Hedwig made a brief reply, cold
+as the address had been, diligently studying the design of her fan as
+she spoke, and then turned at once to her affianced husband. Poor
+Edmund saw that his efforts to establish a friendship between his
+cousin and future wife were worse than useless; they invariably
+produced an effect contrary to that desired. He had to confess to
+himself that this, his latest half-playful, half-serious attempt to
+bring the two together, had resulted in a complete fiasco.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The ball now began in earnest, and soon all the younger members of the
+company were taking part in its revels. Oswald von Ettersberg was the
+one exception. He remained true to his resolution, and abstained from
+dancing, to the great displeasure of the Countess. Since their last
+interview, however, that lady had refrained from any attempt to
+control her nephew, and she now allowed him to have his way in
+silence. Edmund and Hedwig, on the other hand, gave themselves up
+heart and soul to the pleasure of the hour. They both danced well, and
+were passionately fond of the exercise. It would have been difficult
+to find a handsomer couple than the young heir and his promised bride
+as they floated through the room, radiant with youth, happiness, and
+beauty, surrounded by the aureole of wealth and Fortune's fairest
+gifts. Not a cloud dimmed the broad, sunshiny horizon of their future.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck himself must that evening have given in his adhesion,
+have become reconciled to his nephew's choice, so charming did the
+young girl appear in her dress of pale pink silk adorned with airy
+white laces and roses strewn, as it seemed, with a random hand. Her
+luxuriant curly hair, restrained by no net, but held together simply
+by a flowering spray, waved over her shoulders in all its rich
+abundance. A happy light shone in the dark-blue eyes, and the
+beautiful face, slightly flushed by the rapid movement of the dance,
+beamed with youthful excitement and delight--perhaps a little also
+with gratified vanity, for it could not be doubtful that the young
+lady was conscious of her all-conquering charms and of the triumph she
+had that evening achieved.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To this triumph Edmund was by no means insensible. The evident
+admiration which his betrothed excited on all sides flattered him most
+agreeably. He was unremitting in his attentions to Hedwig, and
+perfectly captivating in his general efforts to please. Oswald was
+right. The Count was indeed the favoured child of Fortune--of Fortune,
+which, in addition to all that had been his from birth, now set him
+free to follow the dictates of his heart. Truly, all the good things
+of this life fell to his share.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Three or four dances had gone by, and now came the waltz which Edmund
+had solicited in his cousin's name. Oswald approached his fair
+partner, and offered his arm with his accustomed cold politeness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have not danced at all this evening, Herr von Ettersberg,' said
+Hedwig, a little ironically. 'It seems that an exception is to be made
+in my honour alone. Is it really true, as I heard a lady asserting
+just now, that you positively detest dancing?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I may say, at least, that I am not fond of it,' he replied.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, then I am sincerely sorry that you should impose such a penance
+on yourself on my account. It was Edmund's wish, I imagine, that we
+should fulfil the demands of etiquette by going through this waltz
+together?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sarcasm failed in its effect, for Oswald remained perfectly cool.
+He evaded any direct reply to her rather captious remark, and answered
+ambiguously:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I hardly knew whether I was to accept Edmund's promise as sufficient.
+I thought it advisable to assure myself personally of your consent,
+Fräulein.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig bit her lip. Her supposition was confirmed. This most ungallant
+new relation made no attempt to disguise from her that the arrangement
+had been a master-stroke of Edmund's diplomacy, but coolly allowed her
+to divine the fact. It almost seemed as though the young Count might
+have to pay some penalty for this, for the young lady's lip curled
+with a defiance of which he had already had some slight experience.
+The promise she had given could not, however, be recalled without
+absolute offence, especially as the dance had already commenced.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I await your bidding,' said Oswald, pointing to the couples flying
+past.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig made no reply, but placed her hand on his arm with an air of
+resignation, and next moment they, too, were whirling through the
+room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That was a strange waltz, danced merely in satisfaction of
+'etiquette.' Hedwig had purposed to make it as short and as formal as
+possible, and yet something like confusion overcame her when her
+partner placed his arm about her waist. Hitherto they had not even
+shaken hands, but had restricted themselves to the severest outward
+forms of politeness, and now suddenly they were so near, so near each
+other! Up to this time Oswald had hardly noticed the girl's loveliness
+by a glance. He had, almost purposely, abstained from looking at her,
+and she had resented this as a sort of affront. But now his eyes were
+riveted on her face, fascinated, as it seemed, by some spell he could
+not break, and those eyes spoke quite another language from the
+sternly-set lips. His breast heaved with a quick tempestuous movement,
+and the arm which encircled the girl's slender figure trembled
+perceptibly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig felt this. She raised her eyes in surprised inquiry to his
+face, and there met again that enigmatic expression which had so
+startled her on a previous occasion when they had been left together
+alone on the hill-side. She had not understood then the sudden, ardent
+flash, the kindling gaze--often had she pondered over it, wondering
+what it could purport--oftener than she cared to confess to herself;
+now some notion of its meaning dawned upon her. No clear recognition
+of the truth as yet, only a dim vague foreshadowing, which gradually,
+very gradually, took form and substance. Vague as was the feeling, it
+harassed and agitated her. Though the danger it seemed to imply as yet
+menaced only from afar, it already exercised a magnetic influence,
+which slowly, irresistibly drew her on and on towards the fatal orbit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mechanically, half as in a dream, the girl followed the windings of
+the dance. The brightly lighted ballroom, the sparkling music, the gay
+couples revolving round her--this all grew misty and unreal to her
+dulled senses, receding, as it were, to an illimitable distance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It seemed to Hedwig that a great gap separated her from these
+surroundings, that she was alone with the man who held her in
+his arms, alone beneath the spell of those eyes, from which she
+strove to escape, but which held her ever inexorably fast. Suddenly,
+in the midst of all these surging emotions, indefinite and most
+unintelligible, a clear, strong ray of light streamed in upon her, a
+prescience, as it were, of some hitherto unknown, but infinite,
+amazing bliss.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The dance came to an end. It had hardly lasted ten minutes, and
+yet had been too long for either of them. Once again their eyes
+met--resting for a second or more, then Oswald bowed and stepped back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thank you, Fräulein,' he murmured.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig replied not a syllable. She merely inclined her head in
+acknowledgment. No time could she have found, indeed, to answer, for
+Edmund was already at her side, triumphing in the thought that he had
+successfully carried out his plan, and much disposed to venture some
+bantering remarks in consequence. But for once his mirth-loving humour
+had to be restrained; for at the conclusion of the dance the couples
+dispersed, and many ladies and gentlemen drew near their host. The
+Count and his betrothed were quickly surrounded; their attention was
+claimed on all sides, and a lively chatter soon set in about them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund was in brilliant vein, and soon became the soul and centre of
+the group. Hedwig smiled too, and made reply when appealed to, but her
+replies were faint, her smiles strangely forced. The radiant gaiety
+she had shown throughout the evening had suddenly faded away, died
+out. But a little while ago she had entered with the heartiest spirit
+into all the animation and the pleasure, luxuriating in it as in her
+true element; had moved through the bright and merry throng,
+brightest, merriest of all; but now it had all grown strange and
+indifferent to her. The light jests and flattering speeches that
+buzzed about her ears seemed to her quite meaningless and inane. A
+veil had fallen upon her soul, as it were, obscuring all the
+brightness and splendour of the scene. It was only by a great effort
+that she forced herself to play her part in it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald had taken advantage of the approach of strangers to beat a
+retreat unnoticed, and to leave the ballroom. Count Edmund would have
+been wiser not so pertinaciously to have insisted on having his own
+way. He little guessed, indeed, that his cousin had refrained from
+dancing simply and solely to avoid the duty which 'etiquette' marked
+out for him, and which he could hope to escape in no other manner. And
+now, after all, it had been forced upon him! Oswald could not but feel
+that he had in some measure betrayed himself, and it availed little
+that anger and self-reproach burned hot and fierce within him. That
+which he had denied to his own thoughts, which nothing would induce
+him to admit even to himself, had through that unhappy waltz become
+clear to him as the noonday. He knew now how matters stood with him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The solitude the young man so longed for was not yet to be accorded
+him; for in one of the adjacent rooms he came upon Councillor Rüstow,
+who was resting there, seeking to recruit, after his unusual and
+amazing efforts at urbanity. He had surpassed himself this evening,
+and had been almost knightly in his behaviour towards the Countess;
+but the duty had become irksome to him after awhile, and he now
+joyfully seized the opportunity which offered of having a little
+sensible conversation. In an instant he had buttonholed Oswald, who
+was of necessity compelled to stand and surrender.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You were right, I am sorry to say,' remarked Rüstow, in the course of
+their talk. 'In consequence of what you said to me, I have been
+looking into the state of affairs here on the Ettersberg estates.
+Things are, indeed, in a deplorable condition. I don't see one person
+employed on the place who is worth his salt. The bailiff is totally
+inefficient, and my lady, the Countess, has trusted to him entirely
+for years. Well, I suppose one could not expect her to exercise much
+supervision, but I shall take my son-in-law to task, I can tell you.
+There has been no doing anything with him at present--his head is so
+full of his marriage and all sorts of nonsense--but there must be an
+end to this at last. He has to-day become the actual and sole master
+here. With the possession comes the responsibility, and it is for him
+now to see that all is set in order.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund will not move a finger in the matter,' said Oswald. 'He will
+promise anything you like, and will seriously intend to do as he
+promises, but nothing will come of it. You may rely on what I say.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow started at this strong assertion, which was made with much
+decision of manner.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You mean that Edmund is not equal to the task before him?' he asked
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; his nature is excellent, most amiable, but he lacks energy, and
+energy is here imperatively needed. You will have to take steps
+yourself, Councillor, if you wish to save the property.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And how is it you have not done so before this? You must have seen on
+your return how matters were going.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have no right to interfere with other people's concerns.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Other people's concerns? Have not you been treated in all respects as
+the son of the house whose name you bear?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald was silent. He could not explain to this gentleman the terms on
+which he stood towards his aunt, or how little she would have brooked
+any interference on his part; so after a moment he replied evasively:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Early in the spring I spoke to my cousin about the mismanagement
+reigning here, told him without any reticence whatever all I had
+observed, and called upon him to take some active steps. I met with no
+success. You can summon your paternal authority to your aid; and
+Edmund will willingly agree to all you advise, if only you dispense
+him from the obligation of doing anything himself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow looked concerned and thoughtful. He did not seem particularly
+edified by the view of his son-in-law's character which Oswald's
+words, perhaps unintentionally, afforded him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund is still so young,' he said at length, half apologetically;
+'and he has hitherto resided little on the estate. With possession,
+pride and pleasure in his home will come to him, and interest in its
+welfare will spring up. In the first place, however, the senseless
+doings in the forests must be put a stop to.' Hereupon the Councillor
+began to develop his plans and ideas with regard to the new system to
+be pursued, and soon grew so absorbed by his subject that he failed to
+remark how completely he had the conversation to himself. Only when
+Oswald's answers, from being brief, became monosyllabic, when his
+assent to the propositions advanced came fainter and fainter, was
+Rüstow's attention aroused.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Does anything ail you, Herr von Ettersberg?' he asked. 'You are
+looking so pale.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald forced a smile, and passed his hand across his brow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing of any importance. Merely a headache, which has been
+tormenting me all day. If I could have chosen, I should not have
+appeared at all this evening.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In that case you were wrong to dance,' said Rüstow. 'It was sure to
+increase an ailment of that sort.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man's lips quivered. 'You are right; I should not have
+danced. But it will not happen again.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His voice was so low and agitated that Rüstow grew really anxious, and
+advised him to go out upon the terrace--he would get rid of his
+headache sooner in the open air. Oswald hastily seized the proffered
+pretext and went. The Councillor looked after him with a shake of the
+head, a little regretful that the pleasant chat was over already.
+Young Ettersberg's 'genius' had not displayed itself so obviously as
+usual on this occasion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So the ball spent its course, noisy and brilliant as a ball should be,
+fully sustaining the castle's ancient renown for successful
+hospitality. No doubt, the Countess was a past mistress in the art of
+entertaining and in the ordering and arrangement of such festivities.
+The night was far advanced when the carriages containing the last
+departing guests rolled from the door, and the members of the family
+separated almost immediately. Edmund went down to see the Councillor
+and Fräulein Lina off on their return-journey to Brunneck, and Hedwig,
+who was to remain a few days longer with the Countess at Ettersberg,
+said good-night at once and retired to her own room.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The splendid apartments, lately the scene of so much animation, were
+now empty and deserted, though still radiant with light and bright
+with festive ornament. The Countess alone remained in them. She stood
+before her husband's picture, absorbed, as it were, in thought. This
+portrait had been a present to her on her marriage, and now filled a
+prominent position in the great drawing-room. The face which looked
+forth from that richly-gilt frame was mild and kindly in its
+expression, but it was the face of an old man, and she who now stood
+gazing upon it could yet lay claim to beauty. This proud and almost
+royal woman, robed in rich satin, with diamonds of purest water
+gleaming on neck and arms, would have been no fitting consort for an
+old man even now, and five-and-twenty years had passed since this pair
+had been affianced. The story, perhaps the sorrow, of a life lay in
+that strange disparity between the lady and the picture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A sense of this seemed to impress itself on the Countess in the
+present hour. The look she fixed on the portrait before her grew more
+absorbed, more gloomy, and when at length she turned from it and
+surveyed the glittering vista of rooms, a very bitter expression
+played about her lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The splendid surroundings testified so amply to the high position
+attained by the Countess Ettersberg, a position in which she for years
+had reigned alone and supreme. Perhaps some of the bitterness was due
+to the thought that this sole supremacy was over now, that a new, a
+younger mistress was to be introduced to the home; perhaps it was
+awakened by other, sadder reminiscences. There were moments when this
+haughty and self-confident woman, despite the brilliant <i>rôle</i> which,
+had been hers through life, could not forgive her Fate, or forget that
+she had been--offered up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund's voice, addressing her on his return, roused the Countess from
+her reverie.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The worthy Councillor desires his compliments once more,' he
+said gaily. 'You have made a conquest there, mother. He became
+perfectly chivalrous in his homage to you, and was so extraordinarily
+good-tempered throughout the evening, that I really hardly recognised
+him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is less difficult to get on with him than I had expected,' replied
+the Countess. 'He is rather rough and unpolished, certainly, but his
+is a frank and vigorous nature, which one must just take with all its
+peculiarities. Your future wife enjoyed one long triumph this evening,
+Edmund. I must admit that her appearance acts as the best advocate for
+your choice.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund smiled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, Hedwig looked charming. In the whole assembly there was but one
+lady who could compare with her--and that lady was my mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His eyes rested with a look of affectionate admiration on the
+beautiful face before him, saying plainly that his words were spoken
+in no spirit of mere flattery. The Countess smiled in her turn. She
+knew full well that she could yet outrival younger women, that even
+her much-admired daughter-in-law would not place her in the shade. But
+the transient satisfaction soon yielded to a deeper emotion, as she
+held out her hand to her son and asked:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Are you satisfied with your mother now?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count carried the hand to his lips, and kissed it fervently.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Can you ask me that to-day, a day which has seen my every wish
+fulfilled? I know that you made a great sacrifice in giving your
+consent, and that you have had to fight many a battle with my uncle on
+my behalf.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess repressed a sigh at this mention of her brother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Armand will never forgive me for yielding. Perhaps he is right! It
+would have been my duty, no doubt, to maintain the traditions of our
+house. And yet I could not resist your entreaties. I desired, at
+least, to see <i>you</i> happy.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As she spoke, she glanced involuntarily at the old Count's portrait
+hanging opposite. Edmund caught the look, and understood the thought
+underlying the words.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You were not happy?' he asked in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My husband never once in the whole course of my married life gave me
+ground for complaint. He was always most kind and indulgent towards
+me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But he was an old man,' said Edmund, gazing up at his father's kindly
+but withered features; 'and you were young and beautiful, like Hedwig,
+and had a right to expect all happiness in life. My poor dear!' his
+voice shook with suppressed emotion. 'It is only since I have been so
+happy myself that I have understood how dreary and desolate your life
+must have been, notwithstanding all my father's goodness. He could not
+love you with the ardour of youth. You bore your lot bravely always,
+but it must be a hard lot, nevertheless, to have constantly to listen
+to the dictates of duty, and to stifle the voice which calls for a
+fuller life and fuller happiness.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He paused, for the Countess sharply withdrew her hand from his, and
+turned away from him and the picture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Enough, Edmund!' she said, with a hasty gesture. 'You distress me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The son stood silent and confused. It was the first time he had
+permitted to himself such an allusion, but he had not dreamed his
+mother would be wounded by it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Forgive me,' he said, after a pause. 'I did not intend any reproach
+to my father's memory. It assuredly was no fault of his if anything
+were wanting to your contentment.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing was wanting,' exclaimed the Countess, with a rush of genuine
+feeling. 'Nothing, for I had you, my Edmund. You have been all in all
+to me; you have made up to me for everything. I have desired no other
+happiness since I have had my son's love. So far indeed'--here her
+voice sank--'so far his love has been mine alone; now I must share it
+with another, who henceforth will take the first place in his heart.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mother!' broke in the young Count, half pleading, half reproachful.
+'You will be to me still what you have ever been.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess shook her head gently.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have, of course, long known that the time would come when the
+mother must make way for the wife; but now that it is here, it seems
+hard--so hard to bear, that I sometimes seriously think of leaving
+Ettersberg when you are married, and of going to live at Schönfeld,
+which you know was appointed me as a dower-house.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Never!' exclaimed Edmund, with vehemence. 'You cannot, will not, act
+so unkindly by me. You must not leave me, mother. You know that I
+cannot do without you, even though I have Hedwig. Much as I love her,
+she would not make up to me for all that I should lose in you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess heard these words with secret triumph. She knew that
+Edmund was sincere in his speech; the present moment convinced her of
+her power afresh. For his promised wife he had never anything but
+light talk and merry jests; Hedwig knew only the pleasant but
+superficial side of his character, which he showed to the world
+generally. All the deeper, intenser feelings of his nature belonged
+exclusively to his mother. As they flowed out towards her in all their
+warmth and fulness, she triumphantly recognised the fact that the
+first place in her son's heart was still hers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She had indeed known it, felt sure of it all along, and perhaps to
+this conviction Hedwig owed much of the friendly consideration which
+the Countess had always shown her. A bride more ardently, more
+passionately beloved would have found a redoubtable adversary in the
+jealous mother; this young girl, who neither gave nor required any
+great depth of affection, was endured because she did not endanger the
+maternal sway.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hush, hush! do not let anyone hear you,' said the Countess playfully,
+yet with a swift deep undercurrent of tenderness. 'It is not becoming
+in an engaged man, and the lord of many broad acres, to declare that
+he cannot do without his mother. Do you think, my dear, that it would
+be easy for me to leave you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you think I would let you go? The mere formal recognition of my
+majority will not make a straw's difference in our position one
+towards the other.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It will, Edmund,' said the Countess gravely. 'This day signifies to
+you more than a mere form. Hitherto you have been my son, the heir,
+over whom I exercised a guardian's authority. Henceforth you will be
+the leading person, the head of the house. It now devolves on you to
+represent the name and family of Ettersberg. May you sustain your rank
+brilliantly and well, in all happiness and honour! Then no sacrifice
+will have been too great. All that I have borne and suffered will seem
+to me a light thing--for your sake.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words breathed of a great secret satisfaction. Perhaps they had
+another and a deeper meaning than any Edmund attached to them. He
+thought only of the sacrifice she had made in consenting to his
+marriage, and, stooping, he kissed her brow, thereby expressing his
+mute thanks.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess warmly returned his embrace, but in the very act of doing
+so she started, and clasped her arms tightly, eagerly about her son,
+as though she would shield him from some danger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, what ails you?' asked Edmund calmly, following the direction of
+her eyes. 'It is only Oswald.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald! Yes, indeed,' murmured the Countess. 'He, and always he!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The interruption was indeed caused by Oswald, who had opened the
+glass-door leading from the terrace, and now, as he came in, appeared
+much surprised at beholding his aunt and cousin.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thought these rooms were quite empty,' he said, going up to them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And I thought you had long ago retired to rest,' replied the
+Countess. 'Where have you been?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In the park,' answered the young man laconically, not noticing the
+sharpness of her tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What, at this hour of the night?' cried Edmund. 'If it were not an
+offence to attribute anything like mooning or romance to you, I should
+believe that one of our fair ladies this evening had touched your
+rebel heart. At such a time one feels instinctively a desire to sigh
+out to the stars alone one's bliss or misery. Do my words displease
+you again? Oswald, my mother has just solemnly proclaimed me head of
+the house and representative-in-chief of the family. In this exalted
+capacity, I now forbid me those black looks of yours, and call on you
+to show a smiling countenance. I will have no clouds, nothing but
+sunshine, in this my Castle of Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He would have thrown his arms about his cousin's shoulder in the old
+familiar fashion, but the Countess suddenly stepped between the two.
+So energetic was this dumb protest against the young men's close
+intimacy that Edmund involuntarily receded. Oswald coldly scanned his
+aunt's face, and she returned the gaze. Neither of them spoke, but the
+expression of undying, irreconcilable hatred which gleamed in their
+eyes was eloquent enough.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Sunshine alone?' repeated Oswald drily. 'I fear that you are
+stretching the supremacy you enjoy under your own roof too far. To
+command that is hardly possible even to the &quot;head of the house,&quot; or to
+the &quot;representative-in-chief of the family.&quot; Goodnight, Edmund. I
+will not intrude on you and my aunt any longer.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He bowed to the Countess, without offering to kiss her hand, as usual,
+and left the room. Edmund looked after him, half angry, half
+surprised.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald grows harder in his manner and more unsociable day by day. Do
+you not think so?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why did you force him to remain on here?' said the Countess, curtly
+and bitterly. 'You see how he repays your affection.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count shook his head. 'That is not it. This singular
+behaviour of his has nothing to do with me. There is some trouble
+weighing on Oswald. I can see it plainly, though he will not admit or
+speak of it. To you he always shows the more unpleasant side of his
+character, from some spirit of perversity, I suppose. I know him as he
+really is, and that is why I am so fond of him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And I hate him!' exclaimed the Countess. 'I know that he is secretly
+hatching something against us at the present moment. Just as I was
+about to give you my blessing, and wish you all happiness and joy in
+the future, he rose up like a shadow, and stepped between us like a
+messenger of evil tidings. Why did you keep him here when he wanted to
+go? I shall not breathe freely until he has left Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund looked at his mother in real alarm. Passionate outbreaks were
+so foreign to her nature that he positively hardly recognised her in
+this mood. Her dislike to Oswald was no secret from him, but this
+exceeding irritation he could in no way explain to himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The entrance of Everard and another servant here put an end to the
+conversation. They had extinguished the lights in the ballroom, and
+wished to continue and finish their work elsewhere. The Countess,
+accustomed to control herself in the presence of her servants,
+speedily recovered her usual composure of manner. After giving some
+few orders, she took Edmund's arm and begged him to take her to her
+room. Already she repented the vehemence of her speech to her son, and
+to him as to herself the interruption came opportunely. They never
+could, never would agree in their judgment of Oswald.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All grew quiet and dark in the state apartments. The doors were
+closed, and the domestics had withdrawn. In Edmund's room and in his
+mother's the lights were soon put out. Down the whole castle façade
+two windows only gleamed brightly: that of the turret-chamber in the
+side-wing where Oswald von Ettersberg had his lodging, and another in
+the main building, situated very near the Countess's own bedroom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young affianced bride, the heroine of the evening, had not yet
+retired to rest. She sat leaning back in a great armchair, her head
+half buried in its cushions, unmindful of the fact that the laces
+and roses adorning her dress were being unmercifully, irreparably
+crushed. Before her on a table lay her lover's latest offering, a
+costly pearl-necklace, which she had worn that day for the first time.
+To these jewels, however, she vouchsafed not a glance, though but a
+few days ago they had been received by her with great manifestations
+of delight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The evening had been plentiful in pleasure. Hedwig had made her
+entrance into society as Edmund's promised wife, had appeared amid the
+brilliant surroundings among which her future life would be passed. To
+be mistress of Ettersberg was assuredly no unenviable lot, even for so
+rich an heiress, so spoilt a child of Fortune, as Hedwig Rüstow. She
+had never enjoyed such triumphs, never received so much homage, as had
+been lavished on her tonight in her quality of the future Countess
+Ettersberg.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yet no happy smile, no sparkle of satisfied vanity, brightened the
+girl's face. Motionless, with her hands folded in her lap, she sat
+looking vaguely, dreamily before her into space. The veil still
+shrouded her soul; the dream still held her enchained. It led her away
+from the gaiety and glamour of the fête to a lonely wooded hill-side,
+where, beneath a gray and cloudy sky, the swallows flitted through the
+rain-charged air, piping their shrill greetings.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They really had brought spring upon their wings, those small, joyful
+messengers. Beneath all the frost and rime the mighty work of
+germination had been progressing, and everywhere around, noiselessly,
+invisibly, mysterious forces had been active, weaving their wondrous
+tissues. Yes; springtime, though tardy, surely comes to Mother Earth
+and to her wearying, longing sons. Sad is it when the bright season is
+too long delayed, when from despairing hearts the cry goes up, 'Too
+late! too late!'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The Ettersberg festivities had taken place at midsummer, and now a
+September sun shone over the land. The young master had taken the
+reins, but it could not be said that any material change for the
+better was noticeable in the management of his estates. On the
+contrary, all remained <i>in statu quo</i>. Rüstow's urgent persuasion so
+far prevailed that the land-steward received notice to leave; but it
+was arranged that he should continue in office until after the new
+year, and though some restraint had become so necessary, none was
+laid either on him or any of the other officials. Count Edmund
+judged it superfluous--he knew it was most inconvenient--to trouble
+himself about such matters. He always lent a willing ear to his
+father-in-law's plans and projects, agreed with him on all points,
+and regularly gave him an assurance that he would see about it all
+'to-morrow'; but that morrow never came. Oswald's prediction was
+verified. The Councillor soon found out that he must intervene
+himself, if any good were to be effected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund, for his part, would have been quite satisfied to let Rüstow
+act for him, but the latter encountered unexpected resistance from the
+Countess, who thought it highly unnecessary that anyone should now
+attempt to tutor her son, and was not disposed to yield up to the
+future father-in-law an authority she had hitherto exercised herself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Besides this, the changes the Councillor proposed making were by no
+means to the lady's taste. Rules and arrangements which might be
+suitable for plain Brunneck would not fittingly serve aristocratic
+Ettersberg. The number of persons employed on the estates might be
+greater than was required, the system prevailing might be a costly and
+a comparatively unproductive one, but so it had been for long years.
+It was all part of the large and liberal style in which they were
+accustomed to live. Any limitation of the staff, that fretting and
+minute attention to all the details of management which Rüstow
+advocated, appeared to the Countess as a species of degradation; and
+hers being still the casting-vote at the castle, the opposition
+carried the day. Already there had been some lively skirmishes of
+debate between the reigning mistress and the Councillor, and though
+Edmund promptly interfered on these occasions and made peace, a
+certain amount of acrimonious feeling lingered on both sides.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow's admiration for the grand and haughty dame had considerably
+diminished since he had discovered how grandly she could assert and
+defend her own privileges; and the Countess, for her part, now
+declared that the Councillor was really too peculiar, and that it was
+impossible to accept all his whims without remark. In short, the
+harmony of their relations was disturbed, and there were clouds on the
+hitherto clear sky, clouds which seemed to menace the family peace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald had consistently held himself aloof from all these discussions.
+He seemed to look on himself as a stranger in the house he was so soon
+to leave. Moreover, his legal studies absorbed all his time, and
+afforded him a pretext for withdrawing from society, and declining
+most of the invitations with which the young engaged couple and their
+families were overwhelmed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The end of September had now arrived, and with it the date appointed
+for his departure. All his preparations were made, the necessary
+farewell visits had been duly rendered, and his journey was fixed for
+the day after the morrow. One thing alone had been left undone. He
+must still pay his respects at the Brunneck manor-house, and take
+leave of the family there. In view of the connection now existing
+between the houses, this duty could not be avoided, though Oswald had
+postponed its fulfilment to the last moment. He had intended to drive
+over in Edmund's company, but the Count, it appeared, had agreed to
+join a shooting-party on that very day, so his cousin had no
+alternative but to proceed on his expedition alone. Despite the
+Councillor's friendly and oft-repeated invitations, Oswald had not set
+foot in the house since the day of the betrothal, at which ceremony he
+had been compelled to assist. Nevertheless, he had met his cousin's
+affianced wife on several occasions, for Hedwig now frequently came
+over to Ettersberg with her father. Part of the castle was already
+being put in readiness for the accommodation of the young married
+couple.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Master of Brunneck was sitting in the veranda-parlour, reading his
+newspapers, while his cousin, stationed before a side-table, took up
+and carefully examined first one and then another of several elegant
+articles of toilette which lay spread out before her. They were
+patterns of new fashions, which had just arrived from town, and were
+destined to form part of Hedwig's trousseau, now in active course of
+preparation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Councillor did not appear to be much interested in his reading. He
+turned over the pages absently, and at length looked up from his
+paper, and said in an impatient tone:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have not you made your choice, or done looking over those things yet,
+Lina? Why don't you get Hedwig to help you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig has declared, as usual, that she intends to leave it all to
+me. I must make a selection by the light of my own unaided judgment.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I don't understand how it is the girl shows so little interest in
+these matters. They all relate to her own trousseau, and formerly
+dress was to her an affair of state.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Formerly--yes,' said Aunt Lina emphatically.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A pause ensued. The Councillor seemed to have something on his mind.
+Presently he laid aside his newspaper, and stood up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Lina, I have something to say to you--Hedwig does not quite please
+me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nor me either,' murmured the old lady; but she avoided looking at her
+cousin, and kept her eyes fixed on a lace-pattern she had taken up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not?' cried Rüstow, who always grew quarrelsome when he was at all
+worried. 'Now I should have thought her present manner would have been
+exactly what you would like. According to you, Hedwig was always too
+superficial and light-minded; now she is growing so wonderfully
+profound in her feelings that she is forgetting how to laugh. Why, she
+is never contradictious, never up to tricks of any sort! Upon my word,
+it is enough to drive one mad!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What, that she has given up contradiction, and all her foolish
+tricks?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow took no notice of this ironical interruption. He went up to his
+cousin, and posted himself before her in a menacing attitude.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What has happened to the girl? What has become of my merry, saucy
+Hedwig, my madcap who was never weary of frolic and fun? I must and
+will know.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You need not look at me so fiercely, Erich,' said Aunt Lina calmly.
+'I have not injured your child in any way.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But you know what has brought about the change,' cried the anxious
+father, in a dictatorial tone. 'You can, at least, explain to me what
+it all means.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I cannot do that, for your daughter has not made me her confidante.
+Don't take the matter so much to heart. Hedwig has certainly grown
+grave and pensive of late, but you must remember she is about to take
+a most important step, to leave her father's house and enter upon new
+relationships and new surroundings. She may have much to fight through
+and to overcome, but when once she is married, a sense of duty will
+sustain her.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A sense of duty?' repeated the Councillor, petrified with amazement.
+'Why, has not this love-affair of hers been a perfect romance? Have
+not they got their own way in spite of the Countess and of me? Is not
+Edmund the most tender, the most attentive lover the world ever saw?
+And you talk about a sense of duty! It is a very excellent thing in
+its way, no doubt, but when a young woman of eighteen has nothing
+warmer than that to offer her husband, you may reckon with certainty
+on a miserable marriage. Take my word for it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You misunderstand me,' said his cousin soothingly. 'I only meant that
+Hedwig would be brought face to face with life's graver side and with
+its duties when she goes to live at Ettersberg. The situation does not
+appear to me so simple, the future so smooth and thornless, as we at
+first supposed.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow did not observe that a trap was laid for him, a palpable effort
+made to lead him from the topic under discussion. He followed up the
+seemingly careless remark at once, and with some warmth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, truly not. If things go on in this way, the Countess and I will
+come to words again. Whatever I do, or propose doing, I am met and
+stopped by those confounded uppish notions of hers, to which
+everything else must be kept subordinate. There is no making the woman
+understand that the ruin impending over the property can only be
+averted by strong and timely measures. No, all must go on in the old
+routine! The most necessary reforms are rejected if they, as she
+thinks, in any way diminish the glory of the house, or impair the halo
+surrounding it. The actual owner and master does just nothing at all.
+He thinks he has made the greatest effort that can be demanded of him,
+if he holds half-an-hour's interview with his steward. Beyond this he
+ventures not, but simply kneels and adores his wonderful mamma, whom
+he looks on as the embodiment of all wisdom and perfection. Hedwig
+will have to make very sure of her husband, if she does not mean to be
+altogether thrust into the background by her mother-in-law.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Councillor would probably have continued in this strain,
+disburdening his heart of its pent-up fears and anxieties, but he was
+interrupted by the sound of approaching wheels.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina, who was standing by the window, looked out.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is Herr von Ettersberg,' said she, returning that gentleman's
+salutation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald?' inquired Rüstow in surprise. 'Ah, he has come to say
+good-bye, no doubt. I know he was to leave one of these days. Let
+Hedwig be sent for. She is somewhere out in the park.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old lady hesitated. 'I don't know--I rather think Hedwig intended
+going for a walk. It will not be so easy to find her; besides, you and
+I are both here to receive him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must say it would be more than impolite if Hedwig failed to appear
+when a near relation of her future husband comes to take leave of us,'
+said Rüstow angrily. 'The man shall go out, at least, and see if she
+is in the park. If he finds her, he can let her know who is here.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He stretched out his hand to the bell, but Aunt Lina was too quick for
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will send out after her. You stay and receive Herr von Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, she left the room, returning after the lapse of a few
+minutes. She knew very well that Hedwig was in the park, yet no order
+to seek her out was given, no summons was sent her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile Oswald had entered the house. He came, as had been rightly
+guessed, to take leave, but much pressing business awaited him at
+home. Some preparations for his journey were yet unmade, which must be
+completed that day; he could therefore only pay a flying visit. A
+little commonplace chat ensued. The Councillor regretted much that his
+daughter had gone out for a walk. He had sent into the park after the
+truant, but presumably the man had failed to find her. Oswald, in
+return, expressed polite regret, begged that her father would present
+his kind regard to the young lady and say good-bye for him. In a brief
+quarter of an hour the visit was concluded. Rüstow looked on with a
+heavy heart at his favourite's departure, but Aunt Lina, on the other
+hand, drew a deep breath of relief when the carriage rolled out of the
+courtyard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald leaned back in the corner of the barouche. He was glad that
+this leave-taking was over, immensely glad--or so, at least, he told
+himself. He had long feared this hour--feared and yet longed for it.
+No matter, it was best so. The farewell, which accident had denied
+him, would have been but one pang more, and a useless one. Now the
+struggle of many days and weeks was at an end; a struggle which none
+had witnessed, but which had shaken the young man's being to its very
+centre, and had threatened completely to unhinge him. It was high time
+he should go. Distance would enfeeble, and perhaps ultimately break,
+the spell; and even were it not broken, a partition-wall of defence
+would be erected. Now he must throw all his energy into the new life
+before him, must zealously work, wrestle, and, if possible, forget.
+While Oswald thus reasoned with himself, his heart beat wildly,
+despairingly, in his breast, reminding him that he had looked forward
+to this one last pang as to a last gleam of happiness. Was he not
+going--going never to return?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The carriage passed the corner of the park. Oswald turned and looked
+back once more. There at some little distance above him, on a small
+wooded eminence, he caught sight of a slender girlish figure--and in a
+trice all the wise comfort he had been administering to himself, all
+his fine resolutions for the future, melted away, fell to pieces. Once
+more--just once! Reflection, prudence vanished at the thought. In a
+second Oswald had called to the coachman to stop, and had sprung out
+of the carriage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man drove on to the village, with instructions to wait there.
+Oswald entered the park by a side-gate, and proceeded towards the
+raised terrace; but as he approached the goal before him, his pace
+slackened, and when at length he mounted the steps, and Hedwig came
+forward to meet him, he had fully recovered his usual calmness of
+demeanour. He was, as it seemed, simply obeying the dictates of
+courtesy which called on him to stop and say a word of leave-taking to
+his cousin's future wife.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have just paid my farewell visit to your father,' he began; 'and I
+could not omit saying good-bye to you in person, Fräulein.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are leaving shortly?' inquired Hedwig.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The day after to-morrow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund told me that your departure was imminent. He will miss you
+sadly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And I him; but in this life we cannot stay to consult our feelings.
+When Fate decrees a separation, we must perforce submit and obey.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The remark was intended to be playful, but the young man's voice
+thrilled with a certain sadness. His gaze rested on Hedwig as she
+stood before him, leaning slightly against the wooden railing. The
+Councillor's anxiety must have been exaggerated. His daughter appeared
+rosy and blooming, full of grace and charm as ever.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No tittle of change could be detected in her outward appearance, and
+yet she seemed quite other than the merry capricious fairy who had
+emerged so unexpectedly before two travellers from the clouds of
+drifting, driving snow. The flower which has blossomed in the full
+sunshine, but on which suddenly a shadow falls, remains in form and
+hue the same; it sends forth the same fragrance, only the sunlight has
+gone from it. Such a shadow now lay on the face of Count Ettersberg's
+happy, much-envied chosen bride, and the dark blue eyes had a dewy
+shimmer, as though they had learned a trick which so long had been
+unknown to them--the trick of tears.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The separation will be painful to you, then?' Hedwig said, continuing
+the conversation.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly. In the great city, a longing will often come over me, a
+longing for Edmund and ... for the dear old mountains.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And none for Ettersberg?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'None.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The answer was so brief and decided that the girl looked up in
+surprise. Oswald noticed this, and added, by way of amendment:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Forgive me. I forgot that Ettersberg will shortly be your home. I was
+thinking only of the circumstances which have made my sojourn there a
+painful one, and which no doubt have long been known to you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But surely the circumstances you speak of have been modified. The
+family now place no obstacle in the way of your future career.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; I have forcibly secured for myself freedom of action; but it cost
+a conflict, and to contend with my aunt is no light task, as you will
+one day find out for yourself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I?' asked Hedwig, in surprise. 'I trust no contention may ever arise
+between me and my mother-in-law!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She drew herself up as she spoke, and measured her companion with a
+half-proud, half-angry glance. He replied firmly and quietly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It may perhaps seem indelicate in me to touch on this subject, and it
+may be that you will altogether reject my interference as unwarranted,
+but I cannot go without uttering at least one word of warning. My aunt
+often speaks of leaving Ettersberg after her son's marriage--of
+retiring to her house of Schönfeld. Edmund opposes this plan
+vehemently, and hitherto you have lent him your support. Do so no
+longer; on the contrary, persuade him, if possible, to let his mother
+go. You owe it to him and to yourself, for both his happiness and
+yours are at stake. There will be no room at Ettersberg for a young
+mistress, so long as the Countess retains her position there--and in
+your case, grafted on an old enmity is a new and strong prejudice
+which you will find it hard to encounter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I really do not understand you, Herr von Ettersberg,' said Hedwig,
+not a little agitated. 'Prejudice? Enmity? You cannot possibly be
+alluding to that foolish lawsuit about Dornau?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not to the suit itself, but to the hostile feeling which gave rise to
+it. You probably do not know who strengthened and confirmed your
+grandfather in his harsh obduracy, and induced him finally altogether
+to ignore his daughter's marriage with a commoner. But your father
+knows, and he is mistaken if he thinks that the Countess has outlived
+her prejudices. She gave her consent to this union in a moment of
+surprise, moved by a sudden burst of gratitude towards the man who had
+saved her life, moved, above all, by her great love for her son. What
+would she not do or surrender for his sake? But sooner or later she
+will repent the concession, if she does not repent already, and it is
+not Edmund, but you, who will be made to suffer for it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig listened with increasing agitation. The difficulties now so
+boldly and mercilessly set before her had become dimly apparent to
+herself, especially in these later days--but dimly only; she had as
+yet formed no clear idea of the situation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So far, I have had no reason to complain of Edmund's mother,' she
+said hesitatingly. 'She has always been most courteous and kind to
+me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And heartily affectionate?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young girl was silent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not think I am influenced in my judgment by my own personal
+relations towards my aunt,' pursued Oswald. 'I assuredly would not
+take upon me to sow distrust, did I not know how misleading too
+guileless a confidence may here prove. You are entering on a difficult
+position. The ground at Ettersberg is perilous ground for you, and it
+is right you should be warned before you set foot on it. Your mother
+fought a hard fight for her wedded happiness, but at least she had in
+her husband a firm stay and valiant defender. In your case the
+struggle will begin only after the marriage, but I fear it will not be
+spared you; for you are entering the bigoted and narrow-minded circle
+from which she escaped, and it remains to be seen whether Edmund will
+afford you the support of which you will stand in need. At all events,
+it is best to rely on one's self. Again I entreat of you on no
+consideration to consent to the plan of a joint household. You and
+your mother-in-law cannot live under one roof--Edmund must give up the
+idea.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig shook her head slightly. 'That will be difficult, if not
+impossible. He loves his mother so well----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'More than his affianced wife!' concluded Oswald emphatically.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Herr von Ettersberg!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My words hurt you, Fräulein? No doubt the fact is a painful one, but
+you must learn to look the truth in the face. Hitherto you have
+heedlessly toyed with Edmund's love, and have met with sportive homage
+and mere trifling in return. All the deeper feelings of his nature you
+have left to his mother, who has well known how to pursue her
+advantage. Edmund is capable of something better than superficial,
+playful tenderness. Beneath that gay exterior lie warm affections--I
+might almost say strong passions--but they must be awakened, and so
+far his mother alone has fathomed these depths. Make sure now of that
+which is yours by right. The power of a first and early love is in
+your hands as yet. When that fair glamour has spent itself, it may be
+too late.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had spoken with great earnestness, but with his wonted utter
+disregard of any susceptibilities he might wound. Every word fell on
+his listener's ear with strong, unsparing emphasis, and flattering the
+words certainly were not. But a few months previously Hedwig would
+either have resented such a warning as an offence, or have laughed it
+away in happy, lighthearted confidence--now she listened in silence,
+with bowed head. He was right, she felt it; but why must these
+counsels come to her from his lips, why must she hear these cruel
+words from <i>him?</i></p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are silent,' said Oswald, when he had waited in vain for an
+answer. 'You reject my advice, you think my interference uncalled for
+and impertinent.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No,' replied Hedwig, drawing a deep breath. 'On the contrary, I thank
+you, for I feel all the importance of such a warning coming from you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And what it costs me to speak it?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words rushed to Oswald's lips, but he did not pronounce them.
+Perhaps his thought was divined, nevertheless.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The little terrace on which the two were standing rose out of a group
+of thickly clustering bushes, and offered a fine panoramic view of the
+surrounding country. Over broad meadows and green wooded hills the eye
+could wander away to the lofty mountain-summits which were in reality
+far distant, but which in that clear atmosphere seemed to have
+advanced their posts and to have drawn quite near. The particular spur
+of forest which formed the boundary between the Ettersberg and
+Brunneck domains could plainly be distinguished, and the gaze of both
+Oswald and Hedwig sought this spot. It was the first time they had met
+alone since their memorable interview on yonder hill-side. A whole
+summer-time lay between then and now, and much, how much besides!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Raw and inclement had been that spring-day, void of warmth and
+sunshine. Leaves and blossoms still shrank, hiding in their sealed
+retreat. The landscape was shrouded in fog and raincloud, and those
+happy heralds, the swallows, had pierced their way through masses of
+dense mist, ere they emerged suddenly in the gray distance. Yet those
+winged messengers had borne spring on their swift pinions--none knew
+this better than the two who now stood speechless side by side. They
+had seen how the great transformation scene may be effected in a
+night, how grandly, victoriously Nature works when she rallies to the
+task before her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now it was autumn--a beautiful clear day, indeed, with soft mild air
+and bright sunshine, but still autumn. The foliage, still thick on
+bough and branch, had that faint gleam of russet which foretells a
+speedy fall. The gay wealth of flowers had vanished from the meadows,
+all but the pale saffron, which yet glimmered here and there, and the
+swallows, streaking the sky in long flights, were gathering for their
+journey southwards. Farewell was written everywhere on Nature's
+countenance, as on the two sorrowing human hearts--farewell to summer,
+home, and happiness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig first broke the oppressive silence which had followed her last
+words.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The swallows are leaving us too,' she said, pointing upwards. 'They
+are on the wing.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I go with them'--Oswald completed her meaning--'but there is this
+difference ... I shall not return.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not return? You will come back to Ettersberg sometimes, will you
+not?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She put the question with a certain eager anxiety. Oswald looked down.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I hardly think that will be possible. I shall not have much leisure,
+and besides--when a man cuts himself adrift from old ties, and changes
+his way of life entirely, as I am about to do, it is best for him to
+remain away, and to devote all his energies to the sphere he has just
+entered. Edmund cannot be made to understand this. He hardly
+appreciates, as yet, the claims of duty.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And yet he is more anxious about you and your future than you
+believe,' interposed Hedwig.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald smiled half disdainfully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He may spare himself any anxiety. I am not one to undertake a task
+beyond my strength, and then to abandon it feebly halfway. What I have
+begun I shall carry through, and, come what may, I shall, at least,
+have shaken off from me the bonds of dependence.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Did these bonds weigh so heavily on you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes; with a crushing weight.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Herr von Ettersberg, you are unjust to your family.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And ungrateful,' added Oswald, with a sudden outburst of bitterness.
+'You have heard that frequently from my aunt, no doubt--and she may
+possibly be right from her point of view. Perhaps I ought to have
+submitted myself more docilely to the yoke laid upon me, and patiently
+played out the <i>rôle</i> assigned to me by Fate. But then, you see, I
+<i>could</i> not. You do not know what it is constantly to bend to the will
+of another, when your own judgment has long been formed, to be
+thwarted in every effort, checked in every aspiration, not even to
+have the right of reply and remonstrance. I know that my future is
+uncertain, that it may be thorny, that I shall need all the energy and
+strength of will I possess, in order to succeed; but it will be <i>my</i>
+future, my own life, which I may shape and order as I please,
+unfettered by the galling chain of benefits conferred. And if I fail
+in the career I have marked out for myself, I shall, at least, have
+gained the right to fashion my own destiny.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He drew himself up as he spoke these last words, and his chest heaved
+with a great sigh of satisfaction and relief. It seemed as though in
+this moment the great load he had borne so silently, but with so much
+grievous suffering, fell from the young man's shoulders. He stood bold
+and defiant, ready to accept the world's challenge, and to fight the
+battle before him to the bitter end. It was easy to see that he was
+one fitted to wrestle with Fortune, however hostile and uncompromising
+her attitude towards him might be.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig now for the first time understood how the iron had entered his
+soul, understood what this proud, unbending nature had endured from a
+position which many were disposed to envy, because it implied a share
+in the Ettersberg greatness and splendour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And now I must say good-bye to you,' Oswald began again, but the ring
+had died out of his voice now; it was very low and subdued. 'I came to
+take leave of you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund will expect you in December, if only for a few days,' said
+Hedwig, half hesitatingly. 'He counts on your being present at--at our
+wedding.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know it, and know that he will think me coldhearted and unkind if I
+stay away. He must interpret it as he will. I can but submit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So you will not come?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald added no single word of pretext, for none would have found
+belief; but his eyes, resting full on Hedwig's face, gave the
+explanation of his curt, harsh-sounding answer. His meaning was
+understood. He read this in the look which met his; but fierce and
+poignant as might be the pain of parting in these two young hearts, no
+word was spoken, no outward manifestation of it was made.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Goodbye, then, Herr von Ettersberg,' said Hedwig, offering him her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He stooped, and pressed his hot, quivering lips on the trembling hand
+extended to him. That pressure was the only betrayal of how matters
+stood with Oswald. Next minute he released the little palm, and
+stepped back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not forget me quite, Fräulein,' he said. 'Good-bye.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig was alone again. Involuntarily she grasped the bushes to draw
+them aside, and so once more gain sight of his departing figure, but
+it was too late. As the boughs closed again, the first faded leaves
+fell in a shower on the young girl's head. She shrank beneath them, as
+at some grave warning or reminder. Yes, there could be no mistake;
+autumn had come, though the whole landscape before her lay bathed in
+golden sunshine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That rough, stormy spring day had been so rich in promise, with all
+its unseen magic movement, with its thousand mysterious voices
+whispering around. Now all these sounds had ceased. Nature's fair life
+had bloomed, and was slowly waning towards dissolution. The world was
+hushed and seemingly deserted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig, pale and mute, stood leaning against the terrace railing. She
+did not move, did not weep, but with a sad ineffable longing in her
+eyes gazed over at the distant chain of mountains, and then up at the
+clouds, where the migratory birds swarmed, streaming hither and
+thither in long flights. Today the swallows swept not to the earth
+with loving greetings and pleasant messages of happy days to come.
+They passed high overhead, far, far beyond reach, flitting away into
+the blue distance, and their faint piping was borne down but as a
+vague murmur half lost in the immeasurable space. It was a last low
+echo of the word which here below had been spoken in the keen anguish
+of parting, an echo of the melancholy word Farewell.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The following day, the last Oswald was to spend at Ettersberg, brought
+a somewhat unlooked-for visitor. Count Edmund, though his coming was
+hourly expected, had not returned from his shooting expedition when
+Baron Heideck suddenly arrived in the forenoon, straight from town. He
+had thought fit to absent himself in demonstrative fashion from the
+festivities held to celebrate his nephew's coming of age. The
+announcement of the young gentleman's approaching marriage, then
+publicly to be made, should not, he decided, receive the sanction of
+his presence; but when more than two months had elapsed, he determined
+to pay a brief visit to his relations at the castle. Though the fact
+of the engagement could not now be altered, an animated discussion on
+the subject seemed to have taken place between the brother and sister.
+They had remained more than an hour closeted together, and Heideck's
+reproaches took the more effect that Edmund's mother already secretly
+repented of her precipitate action in the matter, though as yet she
+would not admit it openly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Finally the Countess, in evident perturbation, retired to her own
+room. Seating herself before her writing-table, she pressed a hidden
+spring, which opened its most secret drawer. The interview she had had
+with her brother must have borne upon, or at least have reawakened,
+memories of the past, for very certainly the article which the
+Countess took from that small compartment was a souvenir of distant,
+bygone days. It was a small leather case, a few inches long,
+containing apparently a portrait which perhaps for years had remained
+in its hiding-place untouched. That it belonged to a remote period was
+proved by its old-fashioned shape and faded exterior. The Countess
+held it open before her, and as she sat gazing fixedly down on the
+features thus exposed to view, her countenance assumed an abstracted
+air most unfamiliar to it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She was lost in one of those vague, half-unconscious reveries which
+altogether efface the present, and carry the dreamer away to a
+far-distant past. Obliterated memories troop back upon the mind,
+forgotten joys and sorrows revive in all their old intensity, and
+forms that have long lain beneath the sod rise, move, and live again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess did not notice how the minutes sped by, lengthening into
+hours as she sat there, wrapt in contemplation. She started, half
+frightened, half annoyed, when, without any previous warning, the door
+of the room was suddenly thrown open. Quick as thought, she closed the
+little case and placed her hand upon it, while the angry look in her
+eyes seemed to inquire what the interruption could mean.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The intruder was old Everard, who came in with a haste much at
+variance with his usual formal, solemn demeanour. He was evidently
+agitated, and he began his report at once without waiting to be
+questioned by his mistress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The Count has just returned, my lady.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, where is he?' asked the mother, accustomed always to be her
+son's first thought.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In his room,' stammered Everard. 'Herr von Ettersberg was at the door
+when the carriage drove up, and he helped the Count to mount the
+stairs.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Helped him upstairs?' The Countess's face blanched to a deadly
+pallor. 'What do you mean by that? Has anything happened?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I fear so, my lady,' said the old retainer hesitatingly. 'The groom
+said something about an accident out shooting. A gun was accidentally
+discharged, and the Count was wounded.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He could not tell his tale at length, for the Countess sprang up with
+a cry of alarm. Asking no question, listening to no further word, the
+agonized mother rushed into the antechamber, whence a corridor led
+direct to her son's room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old servant, who had completely lost his head and was as terrified
+as his mistress, would have rushed after her; but just at that moment
+Oswald entered the boudoir by an opposite door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Where is my aunt?' he asked hastily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'With the Count by this time, I think,' said Everard, pointing in the
+direction she had taken. 'My lady was so shocked when I told her about
+the accident, she hastened to him at once.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald frowned. 'How could you be so imprudent!' he said, with an
+impatient gesture. 'The Count's wound is not at all serious. I came
+myself to assure my aunt that there is not the smallest cause for
+anxiety.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Thank God, thank God!' breathed Everard, with a great sigh of relief.
+'The groom was saying----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The groom has grossly exaggerated the affair,' Oswald interrupted
+him. 'Your master is very slightly injured--wounded in the hand,
+nothing more. It was quite unnecessary to alarm the Countess in this
+way. Go now and let Baron Heideck know the true state of the case,
+that he may not be startled in like manner by the news of some
+dangerous injury.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Everard withdrew to fulfil his mission, and Oswald was about to leave
+the room, when his eyes, wandering with a casual and indifferent
+glance towards the writing-table, fell on the small case which lay
+thereon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curiosity did not rank among Oswald's failings, and he would have
+thought it impertinent to examine even that which lay open to view in
+his aunt's room. But now he was misled by a very pardonable error.
+Only the day before he had begged the Countess to make over to him a
+portrait of his father, which had been in the possession of the late
+Count Ettersberg, and was, no doubt, still to be found among his
+personal belongings. Now that he was leaving the old home, Oswald
+wished to take this souvenir with him, and the Countess had been quite
+willing to accede to his wish, promising to look for the portrait. It
+appeared, so he said to himself, that she had been successful in her
+quest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In this certain presumption, Oswald took up the picture. He had but a
+dim remembrance of it, and really did not know if it were enclosed in
+a frame or in a case. The faded appearance of the little <i>étui</i> seemed
+to confirm his belief, so he opened it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The case contained a portrait, certainly--a miniature painted on
+ivory--but it was not the one he sought. At the first glance Oswald
+started, surprised in the highest degree.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund's likeness!' he murmured, under his breath. 'Strange that I
+should never have seen it before. Besides, he has never worn uniform,
+to my knowledge.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With ever-increasing astonishment he examined first the miniature,
+which so unmistakably portrayed the young Count's features, and then
+the old-fashioned and discoloured case wherein it had evidently long
+lain enclosed. He had alighted on an enigma.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What can it mean? The portrait is an old one. That is plain from its
+colouring, and from the shape of the case--yet it represents Edmund as
+he now appears. To be sure, it is not quite like him, it has an
+expression, a look which is not his, and ... Ah!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This exclamation burst from his lips with sudden vehemence. In an
+instant the young man's eyes were opened. With the vividness of
+lightning, the truth flashed upon him, the perception of all that
+was, and had been. The enigma was solved. Hastily he strode up to a
+life-size portrait of Edmund, an oil-painting which hung in the
+Countess's boudoir, and with the open case in his hand, began
+comparing the two, feature by feature, line by line.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lines and features proved identical; there were the same dark hair and
+eyes, but with a difference, a marked difference of expression. The
+resemblance to Edmund was so extraordinary that he might have sat for
+the miniature, and yet the face depicted in it was not his, but
+another's. Another's, differing from the young Count's most
+essentially, as a prolonged examination abundantly showed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So I was right!' said Oswald, in a low hoarse tone. 'Right in my
+suspicion after all!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was neither triumph nor malicious satisfaction in his tone. On
+the contrary, it conveyed a certain unfeigned horror; but as he caught
+sight of the secret compartment now standing open, every other feeling
+was merged in sudden, bitter anger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes,' he murmured. 'She hid it well--so well, that no eyes but hers
+would ever have beheld it, had not her mortal fear on Edmund's account
+for once robbed her of all prudence and power of reflection. To think
+that it should fall into my hands! This surely is more than a mere
+accident. I think'--here Oswald drew himself up to a proud and
+menacing attitude--'I think I have a right to ask whom this picture
+represents, and I shall retain possession of it until an answer to my
+plain question be given me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So saying, he thrust the little case into his breast-pocket, and
+quickly left the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The alarming report which Everard had conveyed to the Countess turned
+out to be a most exaggerated one. The accident that had befallen
+Edmund was of no serious importance. While scrambling through, or
+over, a hedge, his gun had been accidentally discharged, but
+fortunately the shot had only grazed his left hand. The injury was
+very slight, hardly deserving to be called a wound, yet the whole
+castle was in commotion about it. Baron Heideck hastened to his
+nephew's room, and the Countess could find neither rest nor peace
+until the doctor, sent for in post-haste, had assured her positively
+there was no cause for uneasiness, and that the lesion would be healed
+in a few days.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund himself took the matter most lightly. He laughed and joked with
+his mother about her anxiety until it yielded beneath his cheery
+influence, protested strongly against being treated as a disabled man,
+and was with difficulty prevailed on to listen to the doctor, who
+prescribed absolute rest and quiet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Evening closed in. Oswald was alone in his own room, which he had not
+left since his great discovery of the morning. The lamp burning on the
+table threw but a partial light over the apartment, which was large
+and rather sombre at night, with its heavy leather hangings and deep
+bay-window. The furniture was massive and good, as in every room
+throughout the house, but it had not been renewed for years, and was
+in strong contrast to the bright and handsome appointments of the main
+building, and especially of that part of it dedicated to the young
+Count's use. The nephew, the offshoot of a younger branch, had been
+banished to a distant wing. In this, as in all else, his inferiority
+to the heir must be well marked; he must stand back, yielding the
+precedence to the master of the house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So the Countess had ordered it, and the temper of Oswald's mind was
+such that under no circumstances could he have brought himself to seek
+aid or protection from Edmund, or to complain to him of the constant
+mortifications to which he was subjected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The side-table was strewn with letters and papers which Oswald had
+intended to set in order before leaving. Now he gave them not a
+thought. With restless steps he paced to and fro in the room, the
+excessive pallor of his countenance and his heaving breast telling of
+the terrible agitation that reigned within him. The dim tormenting
+doubt which had beset his soul for years, the vague presentiment
+which he had driven from him only by the full exercise of his powerful
+will, now stood revealed as truth. Though the actual course events had
+taken and the story of that portrait were as yet unknown to him, the
+always-recurring suspicions had resolved themselves into a certainty,
+calling up within him a perfect storm of contradictory emotions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald paused before the writing-table, and again took up the fatal
+portrait which lay there among the papers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'After all, what avails this?' he said bitterly. 'I indeed, for my own
+part, require no further proof, but all corroboration is wanting, and
+the one person who could afford it will certainly keep silence. She
+would die rather than make a confession which would bring ruin on
+herself and on her son, and I cannot compel her to speak--I must not,
+could not, offer up the honour of our name, even though it be a
+question of the heirship of Ettersberg. Yet full and complete
+knowledge I must have--I must, cost what it may.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He slowly closed the case and laid it down again, still standing
+before it, musing profoundly, moodily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Perhaps there might be a way, one single way. If I were to go to
+Edmund with this picture, and were to call upon him to explain, to
+inquire into the facts of the case, he could force the truth from his
+mother if he seriously set himself to the task, and he would so set
+himself if once I introduced the suspicion to his mind. I know him
+well enough to be sure of that. But what a terrible blow it would be
+to him--to him, with his sensitive notions of honour, with his candid,
+open nature, which has never condescended to a lie. To be hurled
+suddenly from a position which, in the fulness of his happiness and
+prosperity, must appear absolutely safe; to be branded as the
+instrument, perhaps the accomplice, of a fraud!--I think the knowledge
+of this would kill him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Love for the friend of his youth stirred in his breast, regaining
+all its old force and fervour, but with it awoke other and
+hostile emotions which clamoured to be heard. They recalled to him
+the deep-dyed treachery of which he had been the victim, and as he
+vacillated still, sought to influence him by counsels such as these:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Will you really keep silence, and eschew the revenge which Fate has
+placed in your hands? Will you go hence with sealed lips, go out to a
+dark uncertain future, submit yourself to strangers, work your way up
+with much toil and weariness of spirit, perhaps perish in the vain
+struggle, while, if you will, you may be master here on the land which
+belongs to you of right? Shall the woman who has been your bitterest
+enemy triumphantly retain her power and endow her son with all the
+good things of this life, while you are oppressed and kept down,
+thrust out from the home of your fathers? Who has thought of your
+feelings, of your inward conflicts? Use the weapons chance has given
+you. You know the joints in the enemy's armour. Strike home!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These accusatory voices had justice on their side, and they found but
+too responsive an echo in Oswald's breast. All the mortifications, all
+the humiliations he had suffered rose up before him afresh, and stung
+his soul with keen and cruel stabs. That which he had endured for
+years, with inward chafing, it is true, but yet mutely, accepting it
+as a decree of Fate, goaded him to wild rebellion and fury now that he
+recognised the treachery that had been at work. Gradually every other
+feeling was stifled by the bitterness and fierce hate raging within
+him. The Countess would certainly have trembled, could she at this
+moment have beheld her nephew's countenance. He could not meet her
+face to face, but he knew the spot where she was vulnerable.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There is no other way,' he said resolutely. 'To me she will not yield
+an inch. She will defy me to her last breath. Edmund alone is able to
+extract her secret from her, therefore he must be told. I will no
+longer be the victim of a fraud.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A light, rapid step in the corridor outside interrupted the young
+man's train of thought. With a quick movement he pushed the miniature
+out of sight beneath the papers on the writing-table, and cast an
+angry, impatient glance towards the door; but he started perceptibly
+as he recognised his visitor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund--you here?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, you need not look scared, as though you had seen a ghost,' said
+the young Count, closing the door. 'I still number among the living,
+and have come expressly to prove to you that, in spite of my so-called
+wound, you have no chance of coming into the property as yet.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Little did Edmund guess the effect this harmless jest and the fact of
+his appearance at that precise moment had upon his cousin. It was only
+by a violent effort that Oswald regained his self-control. His voice
+was hoarse with emotion as he replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How can you be so imprudent as to come through these long cold
+corridors! You were ordered not to leave your room to-day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Pooh! what do I care for the doctor's orders?' said Edmund
+carelessly. 'Do you think I mean to be treated as an invalid, because
+I have got a scratch on my hand? I have put up with all their nonsense
+a few hours to please my mother, but I have had enough of it now. My
+servant has instructions to say that I am asleep, should anyone
+inquire after me. I came over here to have a chat with you, old
+fellow. I cannot possibly stay away from you on this, the very last
+evening you have to spend at Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These words were spoken with such heartiness that Oswald involuntarily
+turned away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Let us go back to your room, at least,' he said hastily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; we are not so likely to be disturbed here,' persisted Edmund,
+as he threw himself into an armchair. 'I have so many things to
+say to you--for instance, how I came by this famous wound, which has
+set all Ettersberg in an uproar, though it is nothing more than a
+pin-scratch.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's eyes wandered uneasily to the papers, beneath which the
+portrait lay concealed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How you came by it?' he repeated absently. 'I thought your gun was
+fired accidentally, as you were getting over a hedge.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes; that is what we told the servants, and my mother and uncle are
+not to hear any other version of the affair. But I need not make a
+secret of it to you. I was out this morning with one of the men who
+joined our shooting-party--with Baron Senden.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'With Senden?' said Oswald, becoming attentive. 'What was the quarrel
+between you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He made use of an expression which displeased me. I called him to
+account at once; one word led to another, and finally we agreed to
+settle our little difference by meeting this morning. You see no great
+damage has been done. I shall perhaps have to wear my hand in a sling
+for a week or so, and Senden has got off as cheaply, with just a graze
+on the shoulder.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So that is why you stayed all night? Why did you not send a message
+over to me? I would have gone to you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To act as second? That was not necessary. Our host offered me his
+services--and as the mourning relative you could always arrive time
+enough.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, do not speak so lightly on grave subjects,' said Oswald
+impatiently. 'A duel always involves the hazard of a life.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund laughed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good heavens! I ought to have made my will, I suppose, have summoned
+you to my side to take a solemn leave of you, and have left a touching
+message of farewell for Hedwig? Bah! the thing is to keep one's self
+as cool as possible, and just trust to one's luck for the rest.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You do not appear to have taken your adversary's words so coolly.
+What was the real ground of offence?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count's face darkened, and he replied with some warmth of
+tone:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The subject of our old Dornau lawsuit was broached. They were joking
+me about my very practical idea of uniting the contending parties in
+matrimony. I laughed with them and entered quite freely into the
+spirit of the joke, until Senden remarked very pointedly that as the
+two properties were to be joined together so peaceably at last, the
+great efforts formerly made to this end turned out, after all, to have
+been unnecessary; it was so much trouble wasted.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know that the Baron proposed to your future wife and was
+refused,' said Oswald, with a shrug of the shoulders. 'He naturally
+feels a certain degree of irritation, which he cannot help showing on
+every occasion.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'His remark was levelled at my mother,' said Edmund warmly. 'It is no
+secret that she opposed the marriage between her cousin and Herr
+Rüstow, and openly declared herself on the side of the angry father.
+She has, as you know, a lofty idea of her class-privileges, and she
+then felt it incumbent on her to uphold the principles she professes.
+This is why I esteem so highly the sacrifice she is now making for me.
+Senden's speech implied that she had been actuated by interested
+motives, and had influenced Uncle Francis in the making of his will,
+in the hope that Dornau might fall to me. Could I submit to that, I
+ask it of you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You go too far. I do not believe that Senden had any such
+<i>arrière-pensée</i>.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No matter, I understood him in that sense. Why did he not recall his
+words when I asked for an explanation? It may be that I was rather too
+warm, but on that point I can brook no insinuations. You reproach me
+frequently with my heedlessness and frivolity, Oswald, but even they
+have a limit. Once past that boundary, I am apt to take matters even
+more to heart than you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know,' said Oswald slowly. 'There are two subjects on which you
+feel seriously and deeply--the point of honour and--your mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The two are one,' retorted Edmund sharply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He who offends her by even the shadow of a suspicion rouses all the
+spirit in me, and makes me desperate.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He sprang up as he spoke, and stood before his cousin, drawn up to his
+full height. The habitual gay, careless expression had vanished from
+his features, giving place to one of set, stern gravity, and his eyes
+flashed in his passionate excitement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald was silent. He was standing by the writing-table, and had
+already grasped the papers, ready to push them aside and draw forth
+the picture, but as the young Count's last words fell on his ear he
+paused involuntarily. Why must such a discussion have arisen at this
+precise moment?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It never occurred to me that any such interpretation could be placed
+on that will,' went on Edmund; 'or I should at once, at the time of my
+uncle's death, have refused the bequest, and never should have allowed
+the suit to be instituted. If Hedwig and I had remained strangers, and
+the court had awarded Dornau to me, I believe the calumny would have
+thriven and prospered, until they had made me out to be the accomplice
+of a fraud.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is possible to be the victim of a fraud,' said Oswald in a low
+tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The victim?' repeated the young Count, stepping quickly up to his
+cousin. 'What do you mean by that?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's hand rested heavily on the papers which overlay his great
+secret, but there was nothing to indicate the emotion within him. His
+voice was cold and unmoved, as he replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing. I am not alluding to Dornau. We know perfectly well that my
+uncle acted in accordance with his own will and judgment--but the
+instrument was drawn up in favour of a nephew, passing over the
+daughter and her rights. Calumny, of course, takes advantage of the
+scope afforded it, and hints at undue influence. In such a case, it
+would, no doubt, be considered only natural that a mother should lay
+aside any scruples, and act in the interest of her son.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But that would have been fortune-hunting of the most flagrant
+description,' cried Edmund, blazing up anew. 'I really do not
+understand you, Oswald. How can you speak so indifferently of such a
+possible view of the case, of the disgrace it would entail? How should
+you qualify a scheme formed to oust the rightful heir that another
+might succeed to his place and property? I should call it a swindle, a
+dishonourable, an infamous action, and the mere thought that such a
+suspicion should be coupled with the name of Ettersberg makes my blood
+boil within me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's hand slid slowly from the table, and he stepped back a little
+into the shadow, beyond the circle irradiated by the lamp.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Any such suspicion would do you the keenest injustice, truly,' he
+said emphatically; 'but the world is generally prompt to think evil.
+No doubt, it often makes evil discoveries. In our sphere especially
+there are so many dark family histories which lie hidden for years,
+and then suddenly one day spring to light. So many, who hold a
+brilliant position and enjoy great consideration, carry about with
+them the consciousness of guilt which would utterly crush and
+annihilate them, were it to be found out.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, I could not do it,' said the young Count, turning his frank,
+handsome face full upon his cousin. 'I must bear an unsullied brow
+before the world, must feel myself to be without reproach, that I may
+breathe freely, and boldly meet the slander I despise--there would be
+no living for me else. Dark family histories! They are, no doubt, more
+plentiful than we wot of, but I would suffer no such lurking shadow in
+our annals, not though I myself must set to work to drag it to light.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And suppose silence were imposed on you--for the sake of the family
+honour?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It would probably kill me; for to live with the knowledge that there
+was a stain on our escutcheon would be, I think, to me a thing
+impossible!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald passed his hand across his brow, which was covered with a
+cold sweat. In keen and terrible suspense he followed his cousin's
+every movement. Perhaps no interference of his would be necessary;
+perhaps accident might relieve him of the onerous task which he felt
+must be fulfilled in one way or another. Edmund had gone up to the
+writing-table, and as he spoke on, he took up some of the papers
+unthinkingly, and threw them aside without looking at them. One minute
+more and he would probably discover the little case, the shape of
+which must necessarily attract his attention--and then--then would
+come the catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'At all events, it will be seen what view I take of such innuendoes,
+and the lesson Senden has had will serve for others. Nothing is sacred
+to calumny, no object, however pure and lofty, not even one which to
+most minds is the ideal of all that is good.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ideals may fade, idols crumble to the dust,' remarked Oswald. 'You
+have had no experience of that at present.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I was speaking of my mother,' said the young Count, with deep
+feeling.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald made no reply, but it was well that he was standing in the
+shade; at least the other saw not the torture this interview inflicted
+on him. It happened so rarely that Edmund appeared in serious mood,
+and to-day of all days he was grave and earnest of speech, showing the
+deeper side of his nature. And all the time his right hand was busy,
+mechanically turning over the papers on the table, approaching nearer
+and nearer the fatal spot. Oswald's arm twitched, ready to drag the
+unsuspecting man back from the abyss which yawned before him--but he
+checked the impulse, and remained motionless in his place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You can understand now why I desire to keep this meeting from my
+mother's knowledge, notwithstanding its harmless issue.' Edmund
+continued. 'She would inquire, as you do into its origin, and the
+truth might wound her. Whilst I am to the fore not the very shadow of
+offence shall come near her. I would give my life rather than hear her
+aspersed by a calumnious word--give my life, aye, readily, willingly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Separately, one by one, he had taken up the papers and thrown them
+aside. Now he had come to the last sheet, that beneath which the
+picture lay, but suddenly Oswald's hand was upon his, grasping it with
+a grasp of iron, and impeding any further movement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is it?' asked Edmund in astonishment. 'What is the matter with
+you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For all answer, Oswald threw his arm about him and drew him away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Come, Edmund, let us go to the sofa yonder.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What, you draw me violently from the table simply for that? One would
+have thought a mine was about to explode. Have you any combustibles,
+any train laid over there?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Possibly,' said Oswald, with a strange smile. 'Let those papers be.
+Come.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, you need fear no indiscretion on my part,' declared the Count,
+with a sudden outbreak of tetchiness. 'There was no need to place your
+hand on your papers in that prohibitory manner. I did not look at
+them, and if I touched them, I did it mechanically. You appear to have
+secrets, and I, no doubt, am disturbing you when you would wish to be
+sorting your letters and putting them in order. It will be better for
+me to go.' He moved away, as though to leave the room; but Oswald held
+him by the arm, though he tried angrily to free it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, Edmund, you must not leave me so--not to-day, old fellow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Indeed, it is the last evening you have to spend here,' said Edmund,
+half wrathful, half appeased. 'You are doing all you can to show me
+how little that affects you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You do me injustice. The separation is more painful to me than you
+can imagine.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's voice shook so audibly that Edmund looked at him in surprise,
+and all his anger vanished.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, what ails you, Oswald? You are as pale as death, and have seemed
+so strange all the evening. But I can guess: you have been searching
+among these letters and papers, which, no doubt, belonged to your
+parents, and they have awakened many sad memories.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, much that is very sad,' said Oswald, drawing a deep breath; 'but
+it is over now. You are right, they were old memories which put me out
+of tune. I will drive the troubling thoughts from me, and altogether
+make an end of them now.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then I really will go,' declared Edmund. 'I forgot that you might
+still have much to arrange and set in order. We shall meet to-morrow
+morning. Good-night, Oswald.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He held out his hand to his cousin, but the latter, assuredly for the
+first time in his life, took him in his arms, and held him for a
+moment in a tight embrace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Goodnight, Edmund. I have often seemed harsh and cold in return
+for your warm and hearty friendship, yet you have been very dear to
+me--how dear I hardly knew myself until this hour.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The hour of parting,' said Edmund, half reproachfully, as he
+cordially returned the embrace. 'But for that, the confession would
+never have passed your lips. No matter, I have always felt, known how
+you cared for me in your heart of hearts.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Not fully, perhaps. I did not know it myself until to-day. But go
+now. With that wound of yours, you really should not stay up longer.
+Go and rest.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Passing his arm round his cousin's shoulder, he walked with him to the
+door and down the corridor. There they parted; but as the young Count
+retraced his steps to his own room, Oswald stood again before his
+writing-table, holding the portrait in his hand. Once more he
+contemplated it, then closing the case with a firm pressure, he said
+under his breath:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It would be his death. I will not reign as master of Ettersberg at
+that price.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Next morning the three gentlemen breakfasted alone, though Oswald's
+departure had been fixed for the forenoon. Count Edmund paid no
+attention whatever to the medical advice which would have confined him
+to his room. He appeared with a bandaged hand, but in good health and
+spirits, and laughed at the remonstrances of Baron Heideck, who
+recommended more prudence and greater care. The Countess remained
+invisible. She was suffering, it appeared, from a violent nervous
+attack, resulting probably from the fright she had sustained on
+hearing the first exaggerated account of her son's condition.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund, who had paid a visit to his mother's room, had found her in a
+state of intense nervous excitement, and to his inquiry as to whether
+Oswald might take leave of her in person, she had replied decidedly
+that she was far too unwell to admit anyone but her son. The young
+Count was somewhat embarrassed when conveying this message to his
+cousin. He felt that the refusal to say good-bye involved a slight,
+and thought his mother might have exerted herself so far as to receive
+her nephew, if only for a few minutes, before his departure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald, however, accepted the fiat with great calm, and without the
+smallest show of surprise. He guessed, no doubt, what share the
+disappearance of the miniature and its probable fate had in this
+'nervous attack.' The Countess would certainly have heard from Everard
+that her nephew had entered the room soon after she had left it, and
+had remained there alone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The conversation at breakfast was rather monosyllabic. Baron Heideck,
+though he had ultimately acquiesced in Oswald's plans, was not
+disposed to show any special heartiness towards the young relative who
+had so resolutely set his will at defiance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund was disturbed, and unlike himself, being oppressed by the
+thought of the coming separation, the full meaning of which he only
+realized now that it was imminent. Oswald alone maintained his
+accustomed calm and grave demeanour. They were on the point of leaving
+the table, when the young Count was summoned away to see the doctor,
+who had just arrived. Baron Heideck would have followed--he wished to
+impress upon the medical man that greater strictness and vigilance
+would be necessary with so heedless a patient; but a low word from
+Oswald made him turn and pause. When they were alone together, the
+latter drew from his breast-pocket a small and carefully-sealed
+packet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I had hoped to see my aunt again before leaving,' he began. 'As
+this will not now be possible, I must beg of you to take charge of a
+last--a last commission for me. It is my express request that this
+packet be delivered into the Countess's own hands, and that it be
+given to her when she is alone.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is this mysterious commission?' asked Heideck, in surprise. 'And
+why do you choose me instead of Edmund?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Because it would hardly accord with my aunt's wishes that Edmund
+should hear of the delivery or of the contents of this packet. I must
+repeat my request that it be given her when no third person is
+present.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The icy tone in which these words were spoken, and the haughty,
+menacing glance which accompanied them, were the only revenge the
+young man permitted to himself. Heideck naturally did not understand
+his meaning, but he perceived that the matter referred to was of no
+ordinary nature, and he accepted the little parcel without more ado.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will undertake the commission,' he said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I thank you,' replied Oswald, stepping back, and showing by his
+manner that the interview was at an end. There was indeed no time for
+further conversation, as just then Edmund returned, accompanied by the
+doctor, whom he insisted on taking round to see his mother. Her
+condition made him anxious, he said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bulletins, however, proved favourable with regard to both
+patients. The Count's wound turned out to be most insignificant, and
+the Countess was merely suffering from a slight nervous attack, a
+natural consequence of yesterday's fright. Rest and a few simple
+remedies would restore them both, and Edmund even forced from the
+doctor the admission that he might safely leave his room and accompany
+his cousin to the carriage now waiting for him below.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck took a brief, cold leave of his nephew, but Edmund
+showed himself greatly affected by the parting. He beset Oswald with
+entreaties to come back to Ettersberg at all events for the wedding,
+and promised in his turn shortly to pay a visit to the capital. Oswald
+accepted it all with rather a sad smile; he knew that neither project
+would hold good. The Countess would certainly find means to prevent
+her son's intended journey. One last hearty embrace--then the carriage
+rolled away, and Edmund, as he reentered the castle alone, felt a
+desolate sense of the void left by his friend's departure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">More than a couple of hours passed by before Baron Heideck betook
+himself to his sister's room to execute the commission which had been
+confided to him. He had been in no special haste; knowing the terms on
+which Oswald and his aunt stood, he thought it probable that this last
+message was of no agreeable import, and that it might increase, rather
+than lessen, the Countess's indisposition. Possessed by this idea, the
+Baron had at first proposed to postpone the business to the following
+day; but Oswald's look and tone, as he gave over the packet, had been
+so peculiar and impressive, that he resolved to have the matter
+cleared up without further delay. At his request, the Countess
+dismissed her maid, with orders to admit no one, and the brother and
+sister remained long closeted together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess sat on her sofa, looking very pale and worn. It was easy
+to see what she had suffered since the preceding evening, all that she
+was suffering now as she sat passive, allowing the stream of her
+brother's reproaches to flow on without response. He stood before her
+with the open packet in his hand, speaking in a rather subdued voice,
+certainly, but with every evidence of great excitement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So you really could not make up your mind to part with that unhappy
+picture! I thought it had been destroyed long ago. How could you be so
+mad as to keep it in your possession?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not scold me, Armand.' The Countess's voice was stifled as though
+by tears. 'It is the only souvenir I have kept--the only one. It came
+to me with a last message from him, after ... after his death.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And for the sake of this sentimental folly you conjure up a frightful
+danger, a danger which threatens ruin both to yourself and your son.
+Do not these features speak clearly enough? Formerly, when Edmund was
+a child, the likeness was not so striking, so extraordinary; but now
+that he is nearly of the same age as ... as the other, it is
+positively damning. Your imprudence has cost you a lesson, however,
+and a hard one. You know into whose hands the picture fell?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have known since yesterday evening. My God, what will come to us
+now?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing,' said Heideck coldly. 'The fact of his surrendering it is
+ample proof of that. Oswald is too good a lawyer not to know that a
+mere likeness is no evidence, and that a charge cannot be founded on
+such testimony. Still, it was a generous act to give it back. Another
+man would have held possession of it, if only to harass and torment
+you. That picture must be destroyed.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will destroy it,' said the Countess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, I will do that myself,' retorted her brother, replacing the
+little case carefully in his pocket. 'I rescued you once from a very
+real danger, Constance; now I must stand between you and the
+remembrance of it, which may be almost as fatal. That ghost has been
+buried for years. Do not let it rise up again, or the whole fortune
+and happiness of Ettersberg may be wrecked. This unfortunate souvenir
+must disappear to-day. Edmund must have no more suspicion of the
+secret than his father had before him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Involuntarily he raised his voice as he pronounced these last words,
+but he ceased speaking suddenly, for at that very moment the door
+which led into the adjoining room was thrown open, and Edmund appeared
+on the threshold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What am I not to suspect?' he asked with quick vehemence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count had naturally not supposed that his mother's
+prohibition of admittance extended to himself. He had crossed the
+anteroom softly, fearing to disturb her. The closed doors and the
+subdued tone in which the conversation had been carried on made it
+well-nigh impossible that he should have overheard more than his
+uncle's last words. The expression of his face bore proof of this. It
+betokened astonishment, but no fear.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nevertheless, the Countess bounded from her seat with a terrible
+start, and it required a mute but significant gesture of warning from
+her brother, a pressure of his hand upon her shoulder, to give her
+back her self-control.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is it I am not to suspect?' repeated Edmund, as he came quickly
+towards them. He addressed his question to the Baron.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is it possible that you can have been listening? asked the latter,
+his breath almost failing him as he thought of such a possibility.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, uncle,' said the young Count angrily. 'I am not in the habit of
+playing the spy or the listener. I merely caught your last words as I
+was opening the door. It is natural surely that I should like to know
+their meaning, and to learn what it is that has hitherto been kept
+secret from me as from my father.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You heard me beg my sister not to mention the subject to you,'
+replied Heideck, who had now recovered his composure. 'I was alluding
+to a reminiscence of our youth which we shall do well to keep to
+ourselves. You know that our early days were passed amid graver,
+sadder circumstances than yours. We had battles to fight and
+sacrifices to make whereof you can have no conception.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The explanation was plausible and appeared to find belief, but
+Edmund's tone, though tender, was fraught with deep reproach, as he
+said, turning to the Countess:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I could not have believed, mother, that you had a secret from me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not torment your mother now,' interrupted Heideck. 'You see how
+very unwell she is?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You should have spared her then, and not have called up painful
+reminiscences to-day,' replied Edmund, rather warmly. 'I came to tell
+you, mother, that Hedwig and her father are here. May I bring her to
+you? As you felt able to see my uncle, you will, I am sure, not refuse
+to receive us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly,' assented the Countess. 'Indeed, I feel much better now.
+Bring Hedwig to me at once.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will fetch her,' said Edmund, and went; but before leaving the room
+he turned once again, and cast a strange scrutinising glance at his
+mother and uncle. There was no suspicion in his look, but, as it were,
+a vague presentiment of coming trouble.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count had sent a message over to Brunneck on the preceding
+evening, with the news that he had been slightly wounded in the hand
+when out shooting, and therefore would not be able to pay his usual
+visit, adding that there was not the smallest cause for uneasiness.
+This piece of intelligence had brought the Councillor and his daughter
+over to Ettersberg without loss of time. The sight of Edmund, who
+received them with all his wonted gaiety, soon set any remaining fears
+on his account at rest. Almost simultaneously with them came the
+neighbouring squire on whose estate the accident had occurred. He had
+driven over with his son to inquire after the patient.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Under these circumstances Baron Heideck's first meeting with the new
+relations was more easy and unconstrained than it would otherwise have
+been. The young lady's beauty was not without its influence on the
+rigid aristocrat, who, in spite of his prejudices, could not
+altogether withhold approval of his nephew's choice. Towards the
+Councillor, Heideck did indeed preserve a cool and reserved, though a
+polite demeanour. The presence of strangers made the conversation more
+animated and general. Edmund alone appeared unusually silent and
+abstracted. He refused, however, to admit that this had anything to do
+with his wound, attributing the depression he could not disguise to
+his recent parting with Oswald. He would not confess even to himself
+that any other vague trouble was weighing on him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two neighbours did not remain very long, and an hour or
+so after their departure, Rüstow and his daughter set out on their
+return-journey to Brunneck. Edmund lifted his betrothed into the
+carriage, and took a tender leave of her. Then he went away back to
+his own room, but he could feel settled nowhere; a strange
+restlessness was upon him which drove him from place to place. At
+length he threw himself upon the sofa, and tried to read, but he could
+not force his mind to follow the words or understand their sense. A
+most unwonted cloud lay on the young Count's brow, usually so clear
+and serene; he had a sombre, harassed look as he sat brooding over the
+words he had heard spoken in his mother's room. With painful
+persistency they recurred to his mind, strive as he might to turn his
+thoughts into another current. What was he not to know? What was it
+they were hiding so carefully from him?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund was so little accustomed to bear the pressure of any care, to
+carry about with him any troublesome problem or doubt, that this
+condition soon became intolerable to him. He threw his book aside,
+sprang to his feet, and walked straight up to his uncle's room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck was lodged in the visitors' suite, situated in the upper
+story. Hither he had retired as soon as the guests drove off. He was
+standing before the fireplace, busily fanning the flames which had
+recently been kindled on the hearth, when his nephew entered. As the
+door opened, he looked round in surprise, and the surprise hardly
+appeared to be a pleasant one.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Am I disturbing you?' asked Edmund, who noticed this.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, certainly not,' said Heideck. 'But it seems to me imprudent of
+you in your present condition to be wandering about the house instead
+of remaining quietly in your own room.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have the doctor's permission to leave it, you know, and I wanted to
+speak to you for a few minutes. You have had a fire lighted, I see. Do
+you not find it too warm this mild weather?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I feel it rather chilly up here in these rooms, especially as evening
+draws on,' replied Heideck, dropping into a chair near the fire, and
+motioning to his nephew to be seated opposite. Edmund, however,
+remained standing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I want you to give me some explanation of the words I chanced to
+overhear to-day,' he began, without further preface. 'I would not
+press the matter seriously at the time, my mother being present; she
+is really too unwell to be troubled in any way. But now we are alone
+and can speak more freely. I positively have no peace for thinking of
+it. Tell me what that speech of yours meant.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck frowned. 'I have already said that I was speaking of affairs
+relating to <i>our</i> family. These affairs have long since been settled
+and forgotten, and the mention of them could only affect you
+painfully.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But I am no longer a child,' said Edmund, with unusual earnestness;
+'and I may now claim to be initiated into all the family affairs,
+without exception. You spoke of some shadow which might obscure the
+Ettersberg fortunes. At this present time I am Master of Ettersberg.
+The matter therefore concerns me, and I have a right to inquire into
+it. In short, uncle, I am determined to know the meaning of all this.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The demand was made with an energy quite foreign to the young Count's
+usual manner. Baron Heideck, however, merely shrugged his shoulders,
+and replied impatiently:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What absurd questions, Edmund! How can you cling so pertinaciously to
+this fancy, or attach such importance to a mere word? It was just one
+of those expressions which escape one sometimes in the heat of
+conversation, but which have no real or deep significance.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But you spoke in a very excited tone.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And in spite of your protest against being thought a listener, you
+appear to have paused some minutes outside the door.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Had I been willing to humiliate myself so far, I should probably have
+heard more, and should not now have to sue for information,' returned
+Edmund angrily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck pressed his lips together, and for a moment remained silent,
+thinking, no doubt, what would have been the result if his nephew had
+really stooped to play the listener. He saw the necessity, however, of
+warding off any further attack; so he replied, with the coldest
+decision of manner:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The matter in question affects me principally, and I do not desire to
+discuss it further. I fancy you will accept this answer as final and
+sufficient, and that you will besiege neither your mother nor myself
+with useless inquiries on the subject. If you please, we will say no
+more about it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To such a speech, delivered with firmness, and with all the authority
+of the ex-guardian, no reply was possible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund was silent, but he felt that he had not heard the truth; that,
+on the contrary, an endeavour was made to divert him from his search
+after it. He saw, however, that he should obtain nothing from his
+uncle, and that for the present he must abandon all attempt to solve
+the mystery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck seemed determined to put an end to the conversation. He seized
+the poker, and plied it in very demonstrative fashion, raking the
+coals vigorously, and repeatedly striking the stove in his efforts to
+quicken the flames. His whole manner testified to extreme impatience,
+and an irritation of spirit he with difficulty controlled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Presently he bent imprudently forward over the fire, and as the
+blaze he had kindled suddenly burst forth, amid a shower of sparks,
+the Baron started back, hastily withdrawing his hand, and uttering a
+half-suppressed exclamation of pain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have you burnt yourself?' asked Edmund, looking up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck examined his hand, which certainly showed a small red scar.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The stoves here are so badly constructed,' he cried petulantly,
+giving vent to his secret vexation, and still with the same nervous
+haste tore a handkerchief from his breast-pocket to apply to the
+little wound. The handkerchief brought with it another article, which
+fell on the floor, and rolled close to Edmund's feet. Heideck stooped
+to pick it up, but it was too late; his nephew had been beforehand
+with him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Already the miniature-case was in Edmund's hands. The spring, long
+grown slack, had given way in the fall, and the cover had started
+open. A fate must have attached to this unhappy picture. Precisely as
+it was about to be destroyed, it thus fell into the hands of him who
+never should have beheld it!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My likeness?' cried Edmund, in the greatest amazement. 'How did you
+come by it, uncle?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Every trace of colour had faded from the Baron's face, but it was only
+for a moment. He felt how much was at stake. By a strenuous effort of
+his will he succeeded in recovering outward calm, and taking advantage
+of the error, replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You seem surprised. Why should I not possess a portrait of you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, he made an attempt to take the case from the young man's
+hand, but the latter stepped back, and declined to surrender it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But I never sat for this portrait, and what is the meaning of this
+uniform, which I have never worn?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, give me back that case,' said Heideck authoritatively,
+stretching out his hand for it again--but in vain. Had it not been for
+that previous occurrence in the Countess's room, Edmund would probably
+have allowed himself to be deceived by any pretext invented on the
+spur of the moment, for suspicion and distrust were far removed from
+his open, ingenuous nature. But now both had been inoculated, now he
+knew that some secret, some baneful secret, was being kept from him.
+His instinct told him that it had some connection with this picture,
+and he obstinately clung to the clue thus obtained, little dreaming as
+yet, it is true, whither it would lead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How did you come by the picture, uncle?' he asked again, this time in
+a somewhat louder key.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That I will tell you when you have restored it to me,' was the sharp
+reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For all answer, Edmund stepped from the centre of the room, growing
+dark in the gathering twilight, to the window, where he could still
+see clearly, and began to study the picture, trait by trait, and line
+by line, as Oswald had studied it on the preceding day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A long and troubled pause ensued.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck convulsively grasped the back of the chair from which he had
+sprung. He had no choice but to look on in silence; for he told
+himself that any false step now, any attempt at forcible interference,
+might be the ruin of them all; but the ordeal of suspense was hard to
+bear.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Are you satisfied?' he asked, when some minutes had elapsed; 'and do
+you intend to restore to me my property?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund turned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is not my portrait,' he said slowly, emphasising each word; 'but
+it bears an extraordinary resemblance to myself, one which deceives at
+the first glance. Whom does it represent?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck had foreseen the question, and was prepared for it. So
+he answered without hesitation:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A relation of ours who has been dead many years.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'An Ettersberg?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; a member of my family.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Indeed. And why have I never heard of this relative, and of the
+wonderful resemblance existing between him and me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'By mere accident, probably. Good heavens, you need not stare at the
+picture so persistently! Such likenesses are frequent enough among
+relations.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Frequent?' repeated Edmund mechanically. 'Was this the fatal souvenir
+which must disappear to-day? Had you destined it to be consumed by
+those flames? Was it for this you had the fire lighted?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count's deadly pallor, the faint accents of his voice,
+showed that he felt himself to be nearing an abyss, though as yet he
+could not fathom its depth. Heideck saw this, and made a last
+desperate effort to drag him from the brink.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, my patience is now thoroughly exhausted,' he said, taking
+refuge in simulated anger. 'You cannot seriously suppose that I shall
+make reply to this folly, or try to solve all the mad fancies of your
+brain.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I demand that the secret of this portrait be made known to me,' cried
+Edmund, summoning up all his energy. 'You must give me an answer,
+uncle, now--at once, or you will drive me to extreme measures.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck racked his brain in vain to find a way out of the dilemma. He
+was not skilful in lying, and felt, moreover, that his nephew would no
+longer be deceived. The one chance left him was to gain time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You shall hear the story later on,' he said evasively. 'At this
+moment you are too excited, you are still suffering from the effects
+of your wound. This is not a fitting time to discuss such matters.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So you refuse to answer me,' Edmund broke out, with sudden fierce
+vehemence. 'You cannot, or will not, reply. So be it. I will apply to
+my mother, she shall give me an account of this.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He rushed out of the room, and was down the stairs before his uncle
+could check him. The Baron hastened after the young man, but the
+pursuit was fruitless. When he reached his sister's room, Edmund had
+already entered, and closed the door of the boudoir behind him. It was
+impossible even to hear what was going on in the inner apartment.
+Heideck saw that he must abstain from further interference. The matter
+was taking its fated course.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There will be a catastrophe,' he said to himself hoarsely. 'Poor
+Constance! I fear that your punishment may prove greater than your
+offence.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Next morning brought inclement autumn weather. Fog and drizzling rain
+obscured the landscape, and bushes and flowers bore evidences of the
+first nipping frost.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All the Ettersberg servants had their heads together, and were asking
+each other what could possibly have happened. That something had
+happened was as clear as day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the afternoon before, when the visitors from Brunneck had been at
+the castle, perfect union and cheerfulness had reigned; but shortly
+afterwards, from the moment the young master had left his mother's
+apartments, there had been disturbance throughout the house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Since then the Count had remained invisible, shut up in his own room.
+The Countess was very ill, so her maid reported; but she would see no
+one, and had even forbidden that a doctor should be sent for.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck had made two attempts that morning to gain access to his
+nephew. To him, as to all others, admittance was refused. Family
+scenes being things quite unfamiliar to this household, imagination
+had the greater scope, and supplied various explanations, none of
+which, however, approached the truth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was almost noon. Heideck had made a third essay to reach the young
+Count, but once more without avail. Old Everard, dismayed and
+helpless, stood in the presence of the Baron, who was saying, with
+great determination of tone:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must see my nephew, cost what it may. It is impossible that he can
+be deaf to all this calling and knocking. Something must have happened
+to him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I heard the Count pacing incessantly up and down all night,' timidly
+remarked Everard. 'He has only been quiet for the last half-hour.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No matter,' declared Heideck. 'He may have had a fresh hemorrhage
+from his wound and have fainted. I have no alternative but to force
+open the door.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There may, perhaps, be another way,' said Everard hesitatingly. 'The
+small tapestried door, which leads from the Count's dressing-room to
+his bedroom, is generally kept unlocked. If we----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why did you not tell me this before?' Heideck interrupted him, with
+some heat. 'Why did I not hear of this the first thing this morning?
+Show me the door at once.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old servant suffered the rebuke in silence. He did not believe in
+the fainting or the hemorrhage, the fear of which was to serve as a
+pretext for a forcible intrusion. He had distinctly heard his young
+master's footsteps all the night through, but had felt that the latter
+desired to be left absolutely alone. Now, however, no choice was left
+him; he must point out the door of which he had spoken. It proved to
+be unlocked, as he had supposed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck motioned to the old man to remain outside, and went in alone
+to his nephew. The bedchamber was empty, the bed untouched. With rapid
+steps, the Baron passed on into the adjoining sitting-room, and an
+exclamation of relief escaped his lips as he caught sight of Edmund.
+For the last few minutes he had feared the worst.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, it is I,' he said, in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No answer came. The young Count seemed to have noticed neither his
+words nor his approach. He was lying on the sofa with his face buried
+in the cushions, having, as it seemed, thus thrown himself down from
+sheer fatigue. His attitude betrayed that utter exhaustion which comes
+as a reaction after any great tension of mind or body.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How could you cause us so much anxiety?' said Heideck reproachfully.
+'Three times to-day have I knocked at your door in vain, and I have
+been compelled almost to force an entrance here.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Again there was no reply. Edmund remained quite motionless. His uncle
+went nearer, and bent over him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Give me a word of answer, Edmund. You rushed away like a madman
+yesterday. There was no holding you back. I trust that you have grown
+calmer by now, and that you can at least listen to what I have to say.
+I have just come from your mother----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The mention of this name seemed at length to produce some effect.
+Edmund shivered slightly, and sat up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At sight of his countenance the Baron started back, scared and
+shocked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'For God's sake, what ails you? How can you allow yourself to be so
+utterly overcome?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man's features were indeed so changed as to be hardly
+recognisable. The misfortune which had befallen him seemed at one dire
+stroke to have taken from him all strength and courage. The dimmed
+look of his eyes and the complete prostration evident in voice and
+bearing told this plainly, as he replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is there for me yet to hear?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know no details. Have you really no questions to put to me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'None.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck glanced uneasily at his nephew. A passionate outburst of
+feeling would have pleased him better than this numb listlessness. He
+sat down by Edmund and took his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man offered no resistance; he seemed hardly to know what was
+going on about him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yesterday I did all in my power to conceal the truth from you,'
+pursued the Baron; 'for I myself am perhaps not blameless in this
+unhappy business. I interfered in a somewhat arbitrary manner with the
+lives of two human beings, and the fault, if fault it were, has been
+cruelly avenged. My intentions were indeed of the best. I knew that
+the young officer to whom my sister was attached, and even secretly
+engaged, was as poor as herself. He had no fortune to offer her, he
+could not have married for years, and I had too sincere an affection
+for Constance to allow her to lose the bloom of her youth, to pine
+away in anxiety and sadness. When I separated her from her first love,
+and persuaded her to accept the hand of Count Ettersberg, I did so in
+the firm persuasion that her attachment had been a mere transient
+romance, a passing fancy, which marriage would cure at once and
+effectually. Could I have guessed what deep root the feeling had
+taken, I would not have interfered. It was only about a year later,
+when I heard that the regiment had been moved and quartered in the
+garrison-town nearest to Ettersberg, that I began to divine a danger,
+and my next visit here transformed the suspicion into a certainty.
+When the two met, their old love sprang up with fresh intensity, and
+developed into a passion which bore down all barriers before it. When
+I discovered this, when I stepped between them and forcibly recalled
+them to a sense of their duty, it ... it was, I grieve to say, too
+late!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He paused, and seemed to expect an answer. Edmund withdrew his hand
+from his uncle's grasp, and stood up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Go on,' he said, in a half-stifled voice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have nothing more to add. With this separation all was over. I told
+you yesterday that the portrait was the portrait of a dead man. He
+fell the very next year, being one of the first victims of the war
+which then broke out. My sister never saw him again. Now you know the
+chain of events, and how it all happened; now try to regain composure.
+I can understand that it has been a terrible blow to you. You must
+accept it as a hard decree of Fate.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, a hard decree,' repeated Edmund. 'You see that I succumb to it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A man must not so easily succumb to life's first trouble,' said
+Heideck earnestly. 'You will learn to bear that which must be borne.
+But now exert yourself, and put from you this useless brooding over
+the unalterable, the irreparable. Will you not come with me to your
+mother?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count negatived the proposal with a hasty gesture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, uncle. Do not ask that of me, not that!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, be reasonable. You cannot remain shut up in your rooms for
+ever.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I shall leave them to-day. In a couple of hours I shall start on a
+journey.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'On a journey? Where do you mean to go?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To town, to Oswald.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To Oswald!' cried Heideck, bounding from his seat, and staring at his
+nephew as though he had not heard aright. 'Are you out of your
+senses?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Did you imagine that I should be the accomplice of this fraud?' burst
+forth Edmund, his unnatural calm suddenly merging into a fierce blaze
+of anger. 'Did you really think it possible that I should be silent
+and continue to play the master here, when the rightful heir is driven
+out, leading a life of privation and almost of poverty? If you two can
+do it, I cannot. How I am to bear the terrible existence before me,
+whether I shall be able to bear it at all, I know not. But this I do
+know. I must go to Oswald, must tell him that he has been cheated,
+defrauded, that Ettersberg is his of right. He shall hear it all;
+then ... then it will matter little what becomes of me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck had listened in mortal alarm. Whatever he may have feared, for
+this turn of affairs he certainly was not prepared. Were Edmund to
+learn that his cousin knew, or at least divined, the secret, an
+explanation between the two could no longer be prevented, and so the
+whole edifice would crash to pieces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The uncle understood all the incalculable consequences of such a
+catastrophe better than his impetuous nephew, and he was resolved to
+prevent it at any price.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You forget that you are not the only person concerned in this,' he
+said emphatically. 'Have you not thought whom the confession you
+propose making would disgrace and dishonour?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund recoiled, and the feverish glow which had overspread his
+features gave way to a livid pallor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald has always been your mother's enemy,' continued Heideck. 'He
+has always hated her, and she has never deceived herself as to his
+sentiments. Will you really go to him--to him of all people, with a
+tale which will ruin her? What a triumph for him to see at length the
+woman he hates in the dust before him, to hear her own son----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Uncle, no more,' broke in Edmund, with a wild cry. 'I cannot bear
+it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I should not have supposed you could hesitate a moment between your
+mother and Oswald,' said the Baron, frowning. 'But here there is
+really no alternative. You must yield to necessity.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund had thrown himself on to a chair, and hidden his face in his
+hands. A low groan escaped his overcharged breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you think it has been a light thing for me to keep silence, and to
+aid and abet that which you call fraud?' asked his uncle, after a
+short pause. 'But I repeat, you have here no choice. The entailed
+estates are not transferable; they cannot be alienated from you. You
+must either remain Master of Ettersberg, or proclaim your secret to
+the world--in which case the honour of two houses, of Heideck as of
+Ettersberg, will be irretrievably lost. There is no other issue. I set
+this distinctly before my sister in years gone by, when she was on the
+point of owning all to her husband; now again I must call upon you to
+recognise it. You must be silent. If Oswald's future is sacrificed
+through our silence, we cannot help that. The family honour stands
+higher than his right.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke with iron firmness and composure, but this only lent more
+power to his words, and Edmund felt the truth that was in them. A
+desperate struggle was going on in the young man's breast, a struggle
+between his sense of justice and the stern necessity which was so
+forcibly demonstrated to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's query recurred to his mind. 'Suppose silence was imposed on
+you for the sake of the family honour?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was, indeed, far from attributing to his cousin's words any deeper
+significance, or from divining his knowledge of the truth. That
+conversation had come about most naturally. The young Count remembered
+in this hour how he had been fired with indignation at the bare notion
+that anyone could impute to his mother interested motives. How proudly
+and disdainfully had he declared that no shadow, no slur should attach
+itself to his life, that he must ever bear himself before the world
+with a clear conscience and unsullied brow! Two days ago he had held
+that language, and now....</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Baron Heideck lost not a moment in pursuing his advantage. He had
+recourse to the last and most effectual weapon in his armoury.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Now come with me to your mother,' he said, in a milder tone. 'You do
+not know how cruelly she has suffered since yesterday evening. She is
+waiting in terrible suspense for news of you, for a word from your
+lips. Come.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund passively allowed himself to be raised from his seat and led a
+few steps towards the door. There he halted suddenly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I cannot,' he said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Heideck, who had thrown open the door, which had been locked on the
+inside, paid no attention to this protest, but endeavoured to draw his
+nephew from the room. The latter now resisted energetically.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I cannot see my mother. Do not press me, uncle; do not try
+compulsion, or there will be a repetition of last night's scene.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He freed himself from Heideck's grasp, and pulled the bell. Everard
+came in at once.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My horse,' commanded his master. 'Have him saddled immediately.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Is this your reply to all that I have been saying to you? Has it all
+been in vain?' cried Heideck, in despair, when the man had withdrawn.
+'Can you really still intend to take that journey?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, I shall remain; but I must be out in the open air, or I shall
+stifle. Let me go, uncle.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'First give me your word that you will do nothing rash, nothing
+desperate. In your present state, you are capable of any madness. What
+am I to say to your mother?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What you will. I have no other intention than to ride about the
+country for a couple of hours. Perhaps I shall be better then.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With these words Edmund hurried away, his uncle making no further
+effort to stop him. He saw that neither persuasion nor soothing words
+of comfort could avail at present. Perhaps it would be well to let the
+storm spend itself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hour after hour passed. Noon came, then gradually dusk drew on, and
+still the young Count did not appear. At the castle the anxiety
+produced by his protracted absence grew with every minute. Baron
+Heideck reproached himself most bitterly for having allowed his nephew
+to leave him in so excited a frame of mind, but he was obliged to
+conceal his fears. He had to be strong, to think and act for his
+sister, whose brain seemed well-nigh to reel beneath the weight of
+dread and suspense. She wandered from room to room, from window to
+window, rejecting all her brother's attempts at encouragement with a
+mute, despairing gesture. Better than he, than anyone, she knew her
+son, and knew therefore what was to be feared.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It really is useless for us to send messengers, Constance,' said
+Heideck, as he stood near her at the window. 'We have not even an
+approximate idea of the road Edmund took, and it only causes the
+servants to shake their heads and gossip more persistently. The young
+madman must have tired himself out by this time. Now that it is
+growing dark he is sure to turn homewards.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If he has not started on his journey after all,' whispered the
+Countess, whose eyes never once swerved from the avenue leading up to
+the castle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No,' replied Heideck decidedly. 'I made it evident to him that his
+confession would involve another, and who that other would be; we have
+nothing to fear on that score. He has certainly not gone to Oswald,
+but----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He forebore to finish his speech, out of consideration to the
+Countess, but a great dread had seized upon him. Might not his nephew,
+by some despairing act, have sought a solution which would be worse,
+more cruel even than the threatened avowal to Oswald?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Another troubled pause ensued, another interval of painful silence,
+such as had frequently occurred that afternoon. Suddenly the Countess
+started up with a cry, and bent forward, far out of the window.
+Heideck, following her example, could discern nothing, but the
+mother's eye had already recognised the figure of her son, in spite of
+mist and gathering darkness. There he was--still distant, however--at
+the farther end of the avenue. The Countess's self-control now utterly
+forsook her. She did not remember that a plea of illness had been
+advanced for her to the servants: did not stay to consider how Edmund
+might receive her. She only wanted to see him; to have him with her
+again, and she rushed to meet him, so swiftly and impetuously that her
+brother could hardly follow her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Outside in the vestibule they had a few minutes to wait, for the young
+Count, who had set off from home at a furious gallop, was returning at
+a snail's pace. The horse, fairly bathed in sweat, trembled in every
+limb; at length it halted before the door. The animal was evidently
+completely spent, and its rider seemed to be in the same condition.
+He, who usually would swing himself so lightly from the saddle,
+dismounted now slowly, almost laboriously, and it cost him a visible
+effort to ascend the few steps leading up to the entrance-hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess stood on the very spot where some months before she had
+received her son on his return from his foreign travels. Then, radiant
+with the happiness of meeting her, he had rushed impetuously into her
+arms. Today he did not even notice that his mother was there. His
+clothes were saturated with rain, his damp hair clung to his brow, and
+he moved slowly forward, never looking round, but walking straight in
+towards the staircase.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a faint, trembling cry. Edmund turned, and beheld his mother
+standing close before him. She said not another word, but in her eyes
+he could read the misery, the anguish of the last few hours. And as
+she stretched forth her arms to him, he did not recoil, but stooped
+down to her. His lips met her forehead with a damp and icy touch, and
+in a whisper, audible to her alone, he said:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Be at peace, mother. I will try and bear it for your sake.'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Two months had now passed since Oswald had taken up his abode in the
+capital, where he had met with a most friendly welcome. His friend and
+patron, Councillor Braun, ranked among the first jurisconsults of that
+city, and this gentleman, happy to lend a helping hand to the son of
+his deceased friend, stood warmly by him, advancing his interests, and
+lending him all the assistance in his power. He comprehended and
+sympathized with this young man in the resolution he had taken. It was
+a worthy impulse, the old lawyer felt, which withdrew Oswald from a
+life of dependence, easy and brilliant though it might be in outward
+circumstances--a right feeling which made him prefer to work and
+struggle on alone, rather than to receive constant benefits from his
+relations, and submit, in return, to play a subordinate part through
+life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Herr Braun and his wife were childless, and their young guest was
+received by them almost on the footing of a son. Oswald threw himself
+zealously into the work before him, and the approaching examination
+left him little leisure to ruminate on all that he had left at
+Ettersberg; still, it surprised him greatly that no news from the
+castle had reached him. Edmund had replied to his first long letter
+full of details by only a few lines, the style of which seemed
+strangely forced.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">An excuse was offered for this brief note on the score of a maimed
+hand, the writer's wound being not yet healed. Oswald was still
+looking for a response to his second epistle, though weeks had elapsed
+since it had been despatched.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man knew full well that by the return of that picture the
+bridge of communication between himself and the Countess had been
+broken once and for all, that she would now use every effort to loose
+the bonds which bound him to her son; but it seemed impossible that
+Edmund should succumb so quickly and completely to her influence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thoughtless as the young Count often showed himself, his friendship
+for his cousin had ever been faithful and true. He could not have
+forgotten the friend of his youth in the course of a few short weeks.
+There must be something else that prevented his writing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The first days of December had arrived. Oswald's examination was over;
+he had passed it brilliantly, and was desirous of at once entering
+upon his new career. But Councillor Braun declared decidedly that
+after the exertions of the last few weeks the young man stood in need
+of rest, that he must grant himself a respite, and remain on some
+little while longer as a guest in his house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Half reluctantly Oswald yielded. He felt himself that he required a
+certain breathing-time after the constant study and strain, which had
+lasted since the preceding spring.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In that passionate struggle for independence he had made almost too
+great demands on his strength.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The great lawyer was in his consultation-room, where he had just
+completed the business of the day, when Oswald came in with a letter,
+which he placed on a pile of correspondence prepared for the post. It
+was about the hour when the servant generally collected and despatched
+it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have you been writing to Ettersberg?' asked the old gentleman,
+looking up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald replied in the affirmative. He had conveyed to Edmund the news
+of his successful examination. An answer must come now at length, he
+thought; this protracted silence began to cause him some uneasiness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We were talking of the Ettersberg property here, not long ago,' said
+the lawyer. 'One of my clients intends to purchase timber from the
+estate to a large amount, and he consulted me as to one or two points
+in the bargain.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald's attention was roused at once. 'Purchase timber to a large
+amount? There must be some mistake. So much wood has been cut down of
+late years in the Ettersberg forests, that they now require great care
+and the nicest handling. My cousin is aware of this; he could not
+possibly have been persuaded into taking such a step.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. 'Nevertheless, I can assure you, it
+is as I say. My client does not treat with the Count himself, but with
+the bailiff. Of course, the man must be empowered to make such
+arrangements.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The bailiff will be leaving his situation shortly,' remarked Oswald.
+'He received notice to quit in the summer, having proved himself
+flagrantly incompetent. He cannot, I should suppose, have been left in
+possession of the extended powers Baron Heideck conferred on him years
+ago. I imagined that Edmund would recall those when he took upon
+himself the management of his own affairs. Suppose such not to have
+been the case?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It would be an act of unpardonable negligence on the part of the
+young Count,' replied the lawyer. 'To leave for months powers such as
+these in the hands of a person whom he is about to dismiss, with whose
+services he is dissatisfied! Do you really think it possible?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald was silent. He well knew Edmund's heedlessness and indifference
+to all business matters, and was persuaded that he had left matters
+exactly as he had found them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The sum in question is an important one,' went on the lawyer, who
+understood his silence. 'Yet the price to be paid by the purchaser is
+a very low one, immediate payment in cash being demanded.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think there must be something more here than a mere assumption of
+authority on the steward's part,' said Oswald uneasily. 'Hitherto he
+has been looked upon as an honest man, but the fact that he is about
+to lose his situation may tempt him to take fraudulent advantage of
+the means at his command. My cousin has certainly not given his
+consent to this bargain. Why, it would entail the devastation of his
+forests! I am convinced that he knows nothing at all about it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That may be--but if the man's powers are not cancelled, he will have
+to recognise a transaction which is concluded in his name. You had
+better telegraph to Ettersberg, and inquire how the matter stands.
+Perhaps a timely warning may be of some avail.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No doubt, if timely it prove. When are the formalities of the sale to
+be settled?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In two or three days. Probably the day after to-morrow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then I must go over to Ettersberg myself,' said the young man
+resolutely. 'A mere telegram will serve us nothing. Immediate and
+active steps must be taken, for as I understand the business, there is
+an act of robbery in contemplation which we have to prevent. Edmund
+unfortunately is too confiding in such matters, and will allow himself
+to be deceived by all sorts of shifts and subterfuges until it is too
+late to think of a remedy. I am at liberty just at present, and in
+three days I can be back. It will certainly be best that I should see
+my cousin and give him the necessary information, that he may act
+without delay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Councillor Braun assented. The whole business, and especially the
+hurried manner in which it was transacted, seemed to him suspicious in
+the highest degree, and it pleased him that the young man, who had, so
+to say, broken with his relations, should now so decidedly, and
+without a moment's hesitation, interfere to protect them from loss and
+injury.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the course of that same evening Oswald made all preparations for
+his improvised journey. Ettersberg was situated within easy reach of
+the city. By taking the morning train he could be there by noon. Some
+pretext could easily be found by which his visit to the castle could
+be limited to a day or two at most, and the wedding, which at all
+costs he was determined to avoid, was not to take place until
+Christmas.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At Ettersberg nothing, of course, was known of this intended visit.
+The dwellers at the castle had enough, and more than enough, to do
+with the preparations for the coming wedding and for the accommodation
+of the young couple in their future home. Many alterations were being
+made on the <i>bel étage</i>, which was to be given up altogether to the
+Count and his wife, and the necessary arrangements were as yet by no
+means completed. Besides this, Schönfeld had to be set in readiness
+for the Dowager Countess, who intended to take up her residence there
+directly after the wedding.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess's resolve to leave Ettersberg after her son's marriage
+had taken everyone by surprise. She had, it is true, occasionally
+alluded to such a plan, but never in real earnest, and had always
+submitted with a very good grace to Edmund's vehement protests against
+the idea of a separation. Now both seemed to have altered their views.
+The Countess suddenly announced that in future she should make her
+home at Schönfeld, a smaller dwelling which her husband had expressly
+appointed her for a dower-house, and Edmund raised no objection
+whatsoever. At Brunneck this sudden determination excited much
+amazement and comment, but at the same time it gave entire
+satisfaction. Rüstow had always feared for his daughter a life under
+the same roof with her mother-in-law, and this unexpected turn of
+events was too welcome and acceptable in itself for him to muse or
+ponder much over the cause of it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The last two months had sped by with wonderful rapidity, leaving
+little or no time for meditation of any sort. First, there was Dornau
+to take possession of, to restore and furnish throughout, before, as
+Hedwig's dowry, it returned to Ettersberg for ever. What with this and
+the preparations for the coming wedding, which was to be a very
+brilliant affair, with the constant flow of visits and invitations
+from all quarters--they had lived in a whirl of occupation and
+excitement. Autumn was always the gay season here in the country.
+Great hunts were held and shooting-parties organized by the landed
+proprietors in the neighbourhood, and to these balls and other
+festivities were naturally superadded. There had been an almost
+uninterrupted series of fêtes and entertainments ever since September.
+If now and then, by some chance, the Brunneck family remained at home
+without visitors, there was so much to talk over and to discuss that
+anything like quiet domestic comfort was out of the question. Rüstow
+had more than once declared that he could not hold out under such
+pressure much longer, and that he wished to heaven the wedding were
+over--then perhaps he might enjoy a little peace once more. The day of
+the great event was already fixed; in three weeks' time the marriage
+was to take place at Brunneck, and the newly-married couple would then
+proceed to Ettersberg, their future home.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the drawing-room at the castle, where the family generally
+assembled when alone, the Countess sat with a book in her hand,
+reading, or appearing to read. Hedwig, who was paying one of her
+frequent visits to Ettersberg, stood by the window, looking out at the
+snow-clad landscape. Winter had long ago set in, and to-day there was
+a fine continuous fall of drizzling flakes which certainly did not
+induce to outdoor exercise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund is not coming back yet,' said the young lady, breaking a
+silence which had lasted some considerable time. 'What an idea to ride
+out in such weather as this!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know that it is his daily habit,' replied the Countess, without
+looking up from her book.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'But he has only taken up the habit of late. He used to be very
+sensitive on the score of the weather, and a shower of rain would send
+him home at once. Now he seems rather to prefer wild and stormy days
+for rushing about the country, and he will stay out in the rain and
+snow for hours together.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words, or rather their tone, betrayed a certain unmistakable
+anxiety.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess made no reply. She turned over the pages of her book,
+apparently absorbed by its interest, but a close observer would have
+remarked that she did not read a line.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig turned from the window, and, coming back into the room,
+approached her hostess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you not think that Edmund is strangely altered, mamma? I have
+noticed it for the last two months.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Altered? How? In what?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In everything.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess leaned her head on her hand, and again remained silent.
+She clearly wished to avoid any discussion on this subject, but the
+young girl held steadily to her point.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have been wishing to speak to you about this for some time, mamma.
+I cannot conceal from you that Edmund's behaviour makes me feel very
+uneasy--frightens me, in fact. He is so different from what he used to
+be; so uneven and variable in mood and temper; so strange even in his
+manner towards me. He seems feverishly anxious that all the
+preparations for the wedding should be pushed on as quickly as
+possible, and, on the other hand, there are times when he shows
+himself to be quite indifferent, and so totally unsympathetic that I
+have fancied he may wish the marriage to be deferred.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Set your mind at rest, my child,' said the Countess, in a tone which
+was intended to be soothing, but which yet rang with concentrated
+bitterness. '<i>You</i> have not lost his love. His tenderness towards you
+has suffered no change. I think you must feel this yourself. Edmund
+does appear rather excitable just now, I admit. He has been too gay,
+too much into company of late--indeed, we have all of us been involved
+in a perfect whirl of dissipation. Really, these incessant <i>réunions</i>,
+these meets, these dinners and evening parties, have hardly left us
+time to breathe. You yourself have been rather overtaxing your
+strength in this way, and it is not surprising if your nerves are a
+little tried by overmuch excitement.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I would willingly have refused half the invitations,' said Hedwig,
+with some emotion; 'but Edmund insisted on our accepting them. We have
+had no peace ever since September, but have been fairly driven from
+one fête, from one visit to another; and when we contrive to stay at
+home, meaning to rest a little, Edmund comes with some new proposal,
+or brings some new visitor to the house. It seems really as though he
+could not bear to be quiet an hour either here or at Brunneck, as
+though anything like solitude were a positive torture to him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess's lips quivered, and accidentally, as it were, she turned
+her face away, replying, however, with perfect outward composure:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nonsense! Why indulge in such silly fancies? Edmund has always been
+fond of society, and you yourself formerly took delight in constant
+gaiety and pleasure. I should not have expected such a complaint from
+you, of all people. What has happened to produce such an alteration in
+your feelings?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am anxious about Edmund,' confessed the young girl; 'and I see
+plainly that he takes no pleasure in all this dissipation, though he
+seems to seek it so eagerly. There is something so unnatural, so
+spasmodic in his mirth, that it gives me quite a pang to witness it.
+Do not try to deny this either to me or to yourself, mamma. It is
+impossible you should not have remarked the change. I fear that in
+secret it troubles you as much as it troubles myself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What avails my trouble or anxiety?' said the Countess, almost
+harshly. 'Edmund cares nothing for either.' Then, with a quick
+diversion, as though feeling that she had said too much, she added,
+with assumed coldness, 'You must learn to understand your husband's
+character and little ways without assistance from anyone else, my
+dear. He is not quite so easy to manage as you perhaps imagined at the
+outset. But he loves you--this is certain, and you will therefore have
+no great difficulty in discovering the proper course to take. I have
+made up my mind never to interfere between you. You see that I have
+even abandoned the idea of living under one roof with my son and his
+wife.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The rebuff was plain enough. Hedwig felt chilled to the soul, as had
+often been the case when she had attempted to win from her future
+mother-in-law any mark of hearty confidence or affection. That
+interview with Oswald had shown her what a rock lay ahead, and what a
+rival she would have in the Countess; but on this occasion she felt
+that the cool repellent answer had been prompted by some other motive
+than mere jealousy. There was some secret misunderstanding between
+Edmund and his mother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig had long remarked this fact, though they strove outwardly to
+preserve their old demeanour. In the first days of the engagement the
+Countess had relinquished none of her claims, had shown herself by no
+means inclined to yield to her successor the first place in her son's
+affections. Why should she suddenly make open renunciation of her
+influence? The step was little in accordance with her character.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the eagerness of their talk, the two ladies had failed to hear the
+sound of a horse's hoofs without. They turned in some surprise as the
+door opened, and the young Count appeared. He had laid aside his hat
+and overcoat, but a snowflake still hung here and there in his dark
+hair, and his heated face showed how wild had been the ride from which
+he had just returned. He came in quickly, and pressed his lips
+hastily, almost roughly, to Hedwig's brow, as she went forward to meet
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have been out two whole hours, Edmund,' said the young girl, with
+an accent of reproach. 'If the snow-storm had set in earlier, I should
+not have let you go.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, do you want to make me effeminate? This is just the weather that
+suits me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How long has it suited you? Formerly you liked, you were satisfied
+with nothing but sunshine.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund's face darkened at this remark, and he replied curtly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Formerly, perhaps. But we have changed all that.' Then he went up to
+the Countess, and kissed her hand. There was, however, no attempt at
+the affectionate embrace with which in the old days he had always
+greeted her; as though accidentally, he avoided the armchair which
+stood vacant between the ladies, and threw himself on a seat near
+Hedwig. There was a certain nervous haste and restlessness in all his
+movements which had never before characterized them, and a like
+feverish excitableness was to be remarked in his voice and manner, as
+in the course of conversation he passed from one subject to another,
+never pursuing any for more than a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig was becoming very anxious at your long absence,' remarked the
+Countess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Anxious?' repeated Edmund. 'What in the world could make you anxious,
+Hedwig? Were you afraid I might be buried beneath a drift?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; but I do not like these wild rides of yours about the country.
+You have grown so extremely reckless and imprudent of late.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nonsense! you are a dauntless horsewoman yourself, and never show the
+smallest signs of fear when we ride out together.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'When you are with me you are more careful, but whenever you go out
+alone you rush along at a mad pace which is positively dangerous.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Bah, dangerous! No danger will touch me, you may rely upon it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words conveyed none of the old merry, lighthearted confidence
+wherewith the young Count had been wont to boast of his happy star. On
+the contrary, they seemed rather to imply a challenge to Fate, a mute
+impeachment of its hard decrees.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess raised her eyes slowly, and fixed on her son a stern and
+sombre gaze. He, however, seemed not to remark this, but continued
+more lightly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is to be hoped we may have finer weather for our shooting
+to-morrow. I am expecting some gentlemen who will probably be here
+this afternoon.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, two days ago the whole neighbourhood was gathered together for a
+monster shooting-party here at Ettersberg, and the day after to-morrow
+we are to have exactly the same affair over at Brunneck.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Does the invitation displease you?' asked Edmund jestingly, 'I
+certainly ought first to have solicited the gracious permission of you
+ladies, and really the thought of my omission overwhelms me with
+confusion.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig is right,' said the Countess. 'You do exact too much of us all
+just now. We have not had a day to ourselves for weeks, not one quiet
+day without visitors to receive or visits to pay. I shall be glad to
+retire into my nook at Schönfeld and to leave you to continue this
+fatiguing round of dissipation by yourselves.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But a few months previously, such an allusion to the approaching
+separation would have called forth from Edmund an energetic protest, a
+warm appeal. He had always vowed that he could not live without his
+mother. Now he was silent; by not a syllable did he gainsay her
+resolution, nor did he reproach her for her longing to depart.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, well, you need only see these gentlemen at dinner,' he said,
+completely ignoring the last remark. 'They will be out in the woods
+all day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And you with them, I suppose,' said Hedwig. 'We hoped we might at
+least have you for one day to ourselves.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund laughed outright. 'How very flattering! But your nature seems
+to have undergone a wonderful change, Hedwig. In former times I never
+remarked in you this romantic fancy for solitude. Have you grown
+misanthropic?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No; I am only tired,' said the young girl, in a low voice, which
+certainly bespoke profound weariness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How can a girl of eighteen feel tired when there is some pleasure or
+a party in view?' Edmund returned in a tone of banter, and then went
+on in the old vein, alternately teasing and coaxing his betrothed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was quite a firework-display of wit and humour, the jests following
+each other in quick rocket-like succession, but the old spirit was
+wanting to them. This was no longer the bright, saucy badinage in
+which the young Count had so excelled of old.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig was right. There was something wild and spasmodic in his
+gaiety, which was far too loud and tempestuous to be natural. His
+mirth turned to mockery, his satire to a sneer. Then his laughter was
+so shrill and his eyes shone with so feverish a glow that it was
+almost painful to see and hear him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Old Everard now came in, and announced that the messenger, who was
+going over to Brunneck, was awaiting his orders without. Fräulein
+Rüstow had said there was a letter she desired to send. Hedwig rose
+and left the drawing-room, and almost simultaneously Edmund stood up
+and would have followed her out, but the Countess called him back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have you anything to say to the messenger?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, mother. I was going to send word over to Brunneck that they
+might reckon on our coming the day after to-morrow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That is quite understood. Besides, Hedwig has repeated it in her note
+to her father. There is no necessity for you to add a message.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I obey orders, mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count, who had already gained the door, closed it rather
+reluctantly, appearing undecided as to whether he should return to his
+former seat or not.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I give no orders,' said the Countess. 'I only mean that Hedwig will
+in all probability not be absent more than five minutes, and that you
+need not so anxiously seek a pretext for avoiding a <i>tête-à-tête</i> with
+me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I!' exclaimed the Count. 'I have never----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have never openly said as much,' his mother finished the phrase
+for him. 'No, my son, but I see and feel full well how you shun my
+company. And now I should not keep you with me had I not a request to
+make. Give up this wild search after excitement--these furious,
+protracted rides about the country. You will wear yourself out. Of my
+anxiety I will not speak. You have long ceased to heed it; but you can
+no longer deceive Hedwig with this constrained gaiety. She was
+speaking to me on the subject before you came in, saying how uneasy
+and unhappy she felt about you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess spoke in a subdued tone. Her voice was low and lacked all
+ring; yet there ran through it a subtle thrill of pain. Edmund had
+drawn nearer slowly, and was now standing by the table before her. He
+did not raise his eyes from the ground as he replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Nothing ails me. You are both troubling yourselves most unnecessarily
+on my account.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess was silent, but again there came that nervous working of
+the lips which Hedwig's words had previously called forth. It told
+what poor comfort this assurance gave her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Our present life is so busy and full of agitation,' went on Edmund.
+'We shall all do better when Hedwig has fairly taken up her abode
+here.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And I mine at Schönfeld,' added the Countess, with profound
+bitterness. 'Well, we have but an interval of a few weeks to pass.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Mother, you are unjust. Am I the cause of your leaving? This
+separation takes place by your own express wish.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I saw that it was necessary for us both. We could not continue to
+live on together, as we have lived during the past two months. You are
+frightfully overwrought, Edmund, and I do not know how it will all
+end, whether your marriage will produce some change in your frame of
+mind. Perhaps Hedwig may succeed in making you calm and happy once
+more. Your love for her is now my one hope ... for I ... my power is
+over!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Things must indeed have gone far when the proud woman, who had so long
+triumphantly maintained the first place in her son's affections,
+stooped to such an avowal as this. There was no bitterness and no
+reproach in her words, but their tone betrayed such poignant grief
+that Edmund, with quick remorse, went up to her and took her hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Forgive me, mother. I did not mean to hurt you. Indeed, indeed, I
+would not wound your feelings. You must be indulgent to me.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke with a touch of the old tenderness, and more was not needed
+to make the Countess forget all the estrangement. She moved as though
+she would have drawn her son to her breast, but it was not to be.
+Edmund, yielding, as it were, to an irresistible impulse, recoiled
+involuntarily; then, remembering himself at once, he bent over his
+mother's hand and pressed his lips to it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess turned very pale, but she had been too long accustomed to
+this shy avoidance, this horror of her embrace, to be offended by it.
+So it had been for months, but the mother could not, or would not,
+understand that her son's love was altogether lost to her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Think of my request,' she said, collecting her energies. 'Take some
+care of yourself for Hedwig's sake. Show some prudence and moderation;
+you owe it both to her and to yourself.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then she rose from her seat and left the room, hesitating yet a moment
+on the threshold. Perhaps she hoped to be detained; if so, the hope
+was futile. Edmund stood quite motionless, not looking up until she
+had quitted the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Left thus alone, the young Count drew himself erect, gazed for some
+minutes fixedly at the door through which his mother had passed, and
+then, going up to the window, pressed his hot brow against the panes.
+Now that he knew himself to be alone, the mask of gaiety with which he
+sought to deceive those about him fell, and in its place came an
+expression so gloomy, so despairing, that the Countess's anxiety
+seemed but too fully justified. Sombre and terrible must have been the
+thoughts which racked the young man's mind as he stood there, looking
+out at the now thickly-falling snow. So completely was he absorbed by
+them, that he did not hear the door open, and was only conscious of
+another presence when the rustling of a dress near him roused him from
+his brooding. Then he started and turned round.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, you are there, Hedwig. Have you told your father he may expect
+us?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig could hardly have caught sight of her lover's face, but from
+the tone of his voice she became aware that for a moment he had given
+up all feigning. Instead of replying to his question, she laid her
+hand on his, and said very quietly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What is the matter with you, Edmund?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'With me? nothing. I was inwardly swearing at the weather, which
+promises us nothing good for to-morrow. I know what this driving snow
+portends when once it fairly sets in among our mountains. Very
+possibly we shall be blockaded to-morrow, and not able to get out into
+the woods at all.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, give up your sport then. You take no real pleasure in it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund frowned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why should I not take pleasure in it?' he asked, in rather an angry
+tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That question I should put to you. Why have you lost pleasure in all
+that you cared for formerly? Am I never to learn the trouble that is
+tormenting you and weighing on your spirits? I have, it seems to me,
+the best right to know it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'This is a regular inquisition,' cried Edmund, laughing. 'How can you
+take a momentary caprice, a mere passing bout of ill-humour, so
+seriously to heart? But I notice you have got into the way of striking
+the pathetic chord on every possible occasion. If I would consent to
+do my part, we should be a most sentimental couple; unfortunately, I
+think that to be sentimental is invariably to be ridiculous.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig turned away deeply wounded. It was not the first time that
+Edmund had repelled her with harsh derision. He had so met her
+every attempt to solve the strange riddle of his altered manner
+and behaviour. It seemed as though he must defend his secret to the
+death--defend it from her as from the rest of the world.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What a change had come over the youthful radiant pair, who had
+accepted it as a matter of course that Fortune should shower on them
+her best and brightest gifts, who had looked forward with such bright
+assurance to the sunny future before them, and in whose playful mirth
+hardly a shade of earnestness had mingled! They had both made
+acquaintance with life's graver side, and if to the girl trouble were
+as yet but a cold dim shadow, obscuring all the sunlight, in Edmund's
+heart a flame had burst forth which burned with a consuming fire, and
+ofttimes directed its intensity against those who were nearest to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig turned to go. But she had only time to take a few steps; then
+Edmund's arm encircled her and held her fast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have I pained you?' he asked. 'Scold me, Hedwig. Load me with
+reproaches, but do not go from me in this way. That is more than I can
+bear.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The prayer for pardon was so passionate, so earnest, that the girl's
+just anger gave way before it. She leaned her head on his shoulder,
+and said:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think this habit of constant sarcasm is bad for you as well as
+others. You do not know how harsh and cruel your words often sound.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have been intolerably disagreeable of late, have I not?' said
+Edmund, with an attempt at playfulness. 'After the wedding you will
+see I shall be all the more charming. Then we will make our bow to the
+gay world, retire from the hurly-burly, and shut ourselves up in our
+fortress. Just at this present time I cannot bear tranquillity and
+solitude. But I look forward with an intense longing to the day which
+will unite us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do you really long for it?' asked Hedwig, looking fixedly at him.
+'Sometimes, do you know, I have fancied you rather dreaded that day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The scarlet flush which mounted to the young man's brow almost seemed
+to bear out her words; yet the passionate tenderness with which he
+folded his betrothed to his heart gave them contradiction.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Dread? No, Hedwig! We love each other, do we not? And your love is
+given to me, to me personally, not to the Count Ettersberg, not to
+the heir of these estates? You had so many suitors to choose from, so
+many who could offer you wealth and fortune, and you chose me, because
+... because you liked me best, was it not so?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good heavens, how can such things come into your mind?' cried Hedwig,
+half frightened, half offended. 'How can you imagine that I ever gave
+them a thought?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do not, I do not,' said Edmund, drawing a deep breath. 'And
+therefore I hold fast to that which is mine, mine alone, and will
+maintain it in the face of all. In your love, at least, I may believe.
+That, at least, is no lie. If I were to be deceived here, if I must
+doubt and despair of you--then the sooner I make an end of it, the
+better.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, this wild talk of yours distracts me,' cried Hedwig, starting
+back, scared by his vehemence. 'You are ill, you must be ill, or you
+would not use such language.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This anxious cry brought Edmund to his senses. He made a great effort
+to regain composure, and even succeeded in forcing a smile as he
+replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why, are you beginning that tale? A few minutes ago my mother was
+lecturing me, saying I was excited and overwrought. And in fact it is
+nothing more than that. I am nervous and unstrung, but the fit will
+pass. Everything comes to an end, you know, sooner or later. Do not be
+anxious, Hedwig. Now I must go and see if Everard has got all ready
+for my expected guests. I forgot to give him any special orders.
+Excuse me for ten minutes, will you? I shall be with you again
+immediately.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He released the girl from his arms and left her, once more breaking
+off abruptly, fleeing, as it were, from further explanation or
+discussion. It was impossible to solve the enigma. The Countess and
+Edmund were alike impenetrable.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig returned to her former place, and sat, absorbed in troubled
+meditation, resting her head on her hand. Edmund was concealing
+something from her, yet his love for her had suffered no change or
+diminution. It needed not the Countess's words to assure her of this;
+her own feelings told her the fact far more convincingly. His
+affection seemed indeed to have gained in intensity. She was more to
+him now than in former days, when his mother stood so prominently in
+the foreground; but the girl involuntarily trembled at meeting an
+outburst of fervid passion there, where she had been wont to look only
+for gay and sportive tenderness. How strange, how fitted to inspire
+uneasiness had been Edmund's manner again to-day! Why did he so
+vehemently demand an assurance that her love was given to him, to him
+personally? And why would he 'make an end of it,' were he to be
+deceived in this belief?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig felt that she should have thrown herself on her lover's breast,
+and forced from him a frank and open confession.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Obstinately as he might withhold his confidence from her, he would
+surely have given way, if she had prayed him with all the eagerness
+and earnestness of heartfelt love--but this she could not bring
+herself to do. Something like a secret consciousness of guilt
+restrained her from using her full power. Yet she had valiantly fought
+against the dreams which constantly brought before her another figure,
+the figure of one who now was far away, and whom she would probably
+never see again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald von Ettersberg since his departure had been completely lost
+sight of. He might almost have vanished into space. The Countess never
+voluntarily alluded to her nephew, and to some inquiries of Rüstow's
+she had merely replied curtly and coldly that she believed he was
+well, and satisfied with his new mode of life, but that he rarely
+communicated with his relations. She evidently desired to avoid the
+subject, and it was accordingly not again broached. The fact that
+Edmund never mentioned the name of his cousin, from whom he had
+hitherto been inseparable, that any allusion to the absent one
+appeared unpalatable to him as to his mother, was just one of the many
+eccentricities which now marked his behaviour. They had probably had
+some fresh quarrel shortly before Oswald's departure, and it seemed
+that the rupture between the cousins and old allies was this time
+complete.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Weary of thinking, of pondering over mysteries she could not fathom,
+Hedwig sat leaning back in her chair. She heard the door of the
+anteroom open, heard the approach of footsteps, but, supposing that it
+was Edmund coming back, she did not alter her attitude, and it was
+only as the new-comer entered that she languidly turned her head in
+his direction.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then suddenly an electric thrill shot through the girl's frame.
+Trembling, blushing to the temples, she sprang from her seat, her eyes
+fixed on the door before her. Was it alarm, or was it joy that seized
+upon her with such paralyzing might? She knew not--she rendered no
+account to herself; but the name which burst from her lips, and the
+tone in which it was uttered, betrayed all that she had long so
+sedulously hidden.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yes, it was Oswald who stood on the threshold. He must have been
+prepared for the possibility of seeing her when he started on his
+journey to Ettersberg, but this sudden meeting was quite unlooked for.
+The flush which dyed his brow on beholding his cousin's promised wife
+was evidence enough of this.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For a moment he waited, irresolute, but when his name struck on his
+ear, pronounced in those accents, all hesitation was over. In an
+instant he was at her side.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig! Have I startled you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The question was well warranted, for Hedwig's perturbation was still
+visible and extreme.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Herr von Ettersberg! You appear so suddenly, so unexpectedly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I could not send word of my coming. I am here on pressing business,
+which made it necessary for me to see Edmund at once.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke, almost without knowing what he said, gazing fixedly the
+while at the girl's face before him. The sight of her did away in a
+moment with the ramparts which for months he had laboriously been
+building up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig moved as though to withdraw.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I ... I will let Edmund know.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He has been informed of my arrival. Do not fly from me in this way,
+Hedwig. Will you not grant me one minute?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig paused. The sorrowful reproach in his tone chained her to the
+spot, but she did not dare to make reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I do not come voluntarily or in my own interest,' pursued Oswald.
+'Tomorrow I shall leave again; I could not possibly divine that you
+would be here at Ettersberg just at this time, or ... or I would have
+spared us both this meeting.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Us both! Through all his bitterness there gleamed a ray of
+satisfaction. That unguarded exclamation of hers had changed a dim
+half-knowledge into a certainty, and though he could fasten on it no
+single hope, this certainty had in an instant become to him the one
+all-precious thing in life, a possession he would have surrendered at
+no price.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">During their farewell interview, the young man had valiantly
+maintained his self-control, but the joyful shock of this unexpected
+meeting threatened to unseal his lips. The long-hidden passion in his
+breast was fanned to a quick, sudden blaze. Hedwig read this in his
+eyes, and the imminent danger gave her back her self-command, which
+did not again desert her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We can, at all events, shorten this interview,' she said, speaking in
+a low, steady tone, and turned to go. But Oswald followed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Will you leave me suddenly in this way? May I not say a word to
+you--one word?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I fear we have already said too much. Let me go, Herr von Ettersberg.
+Let me go, I entreat of you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald obeyed. He stepped back to let her pass. She was right, he
+felt, and it was well that she should be strong and prudent when his
+prudence was on the verge of failing him. He looked after her
+silently, with an expression of infinite sadness, but he would no
+further detain her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hardly had Hedwig disappeared in the direction of the Countess's
+apartments when Edmund came in from the other side. His cousin's
+arrival had been notified to him, but his face showed no joyful
+surprise. On the contrary, the young Count appeared disturbed, nay,
+agitated. As Oswald hastened towards him, and held out his hand with
+all the old friendly cordiality, he evaded taking it, and the welcome
+he expressed was strangely forced and formal.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What a surprise, Oswald! I did not think you intended to pay
+Ettersberg a visit just now.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Am I unwelcome?' asked Oswald, astonished at and chilled by this
+unwonted reception, and his outstretched hand fell to his side as he
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, certainly not!' cried Edmund hastily. 'Quite the contrary. I only
+meant that you might have sent me word previously.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was I who had the right to expect a letter,' said Oswald, with
+some reproach in his tone. 'You only replied to my first by a few
+lines: of my second you took no notice at all. I could understand your
+silence as little as I now understand the manner of your welcome. Have
+you been ill, or has anything happened?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count laughed--the loud derisive laugh which in these days
+was so frequent with him.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What an idea! You see I am as well as I can be. It was only that I
+had no time for writing.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No time?' said Oswald, much hurt. 'Well, I have found more leisure
+for you, then, in spite of all the urgent claims my work makes upon
+me. I have come now solely and entirely in your interest, not to pay
+you a visit, but to guard and save you from certain loss. Have you
+cancelled the powers formerly conferred on your land-steward?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What powers?' asked Edmund, who was absent and uneasy.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He persistently avoided meeting his cousin's eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The authority to act in your name, with which Baron Heideck, as your
+guardian, thought fit to invest him, and by means of which the entire
+management of the Ettersberg affairs was left in his hands. Does he
+still hold the document which gave him this authority?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Probably. I have never asked him for it back.' Oswald frowned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How could you be so imprudent?' he said impatiently. 'How could you
+continue to place confidence in a man whom you know to be unreliable?
+In all probability you will find that he has grossly abused his trust.
+Are you aware that the third part of your forests is doomed--that the
+timber is to be cut down and sold?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh! Is that in contemplation?' Edmund replied, still absently. The
+news seemed to make little or no impression on him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do reflect,' insisted Oswald. 'If you know nothing of this
+transaction, if it has been entered into without your consent, the
+intent at robbery is as clear as day. The purchase-money, which is
+fixed at an absurdly low figure, is to be paid in cash, and the
+steward, no doubt, hopes to pocket it, and to be clear of the place
+before the affair is found out. I heard of it accidentally. The
+would-be purchaser consulted my friend Braun on the subject, and I
+hurried over here at once, in the hope of saving you and Ettersberg
+from this tremendous injury.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund passed his hand across his brow, as though it required an
+effort on his part to follow the conversation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That was very kind of you! Did you really come expressly for that?
+Well, we can talk it over another time.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This utter lack of interest still further increased Oswald's
+amazement, but what roused even greater anxiety in his mind was the
+strangely-fixed and half-distraught expression of the young Count's
+face. Evidently his thoughts were busy elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, have you not heard what I have been saying to you? This
+matter is of the first importance--it will not brook the slightest
+delay. You must at once rescind those powers, and you must make sure
+of the rascal to whom they were committed, or you will be compelled to
+recognise the bargain he has made. This bargain means ruin to your
+forests, and considerable, perhaps irreparable, damage to the entailed
+estates.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, the entail,' repeated Edmund, who, of the whole exordium, seemed
+only to have caught this word. 'True, the estates must not be injured.
+I give this matter over into your hands, Oswald. You have taken it
+up--go through with it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I? How can I give orders, make arrangements regarding your property,
+while you yourself are here present? I came merely to warn you, to
+disclose to you the intended fraud. It is for you to take action--for
+you, the master and owner of Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A spasm passed across the young Count's face, telling of some racking
+pain, dissimulated by an effort, and his eyes fell before Oswald's
+astonished, questioning gaze. He pressed his lips together, and was
+silent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well?' asked Oswald, after a pause. 'Will you send for the steward
+and speak to him?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'If you think it advisable.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Of course I think it advisable. It must be done without delay.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund went up to the table, and was about to grasp the bell, when
+Oswald, who had followed him, suddenly laid his hand on his shoulder,
+and said, in an earnest, urgent tone:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, what is your cause of complaint against me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Against you? I have none. You must excuse me if I seem rather absent.
+I am beset by all sorts of worries just now--disagreeables regarding
+the management, with the people on the place. My head is full of it
+all. You see by this incident with the steward what unpleasant things
+are constantly turning up.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It is not that,' said Oswald decidedly. 'I feel that you have some
+grudge against me personally. See how hearty and affectionate you were
+towards me when we parted, and how differently you receive me now.
+What has come between us?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He grasped the young Count's shoulder as he put the last question, and
+would have looked him scrutinizingly in the face, but Edmund tore
+himself free with some violence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do not tease me with all these absurd fancies and imaginings,' he
+broke out hastily. 'Must I render you account of every word and every
+glance?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald receded a step, and gazed at his cousin in amazement. He was
+indeed more astonished than offended. This sudden outbreak, so
+entirely unprovoked, as it seemed to him, was absolutely inexplicable.
+At this moment the roll of approaching wheels and the barking of dogs
+were heard outside. Edmund drew a deep breath, as though he had been
+relieved of some unendurable pain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, our guests are here! Forgive me, Oswald, if I leave you alone. I
+am expecting some gentlemen who are to join our shooting-party
+to-morrow. You will make one of us, will you not?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No,' said Oswald coldly. 'I did not come for my pleasure, and
+to-morrow afternoon I must leave you again.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So soon? I am sorry for that, but of course you know best how much
+time you have to spare. I will give orders for your room to be put in
+readiness for you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had already reached the threshold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'One thing more, Oswald. Take the steward to task for me, will you? I
+have no talent for that sort of thing, and no patience. I shall agree
+to anything you may decide. Your orders will be equivalent to mine.
+Goodbye for the present.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The last words were spoken rapidly, with a feverish excitement of
+manner which contrasted strangely with his former listless
+indifference. Then he hurried away, as though the ground were
+scorching his feet. Oswald stood there alone, hardly knowing whether
+to be angry or alarmed at such a reception. What could it mean? There
+could be but one explanation. Edmund had entered the drawing-room as
+Hedwig quitted it. Possibly he might have approached some minutes
+before and have partly overheard the short but pregnant conversation
+that had taken place between the girl and himself. Although not a word
+had fallen which could be construed into an understanding, there had
+been enough to show how matters were between Oswald and his own
+promised bride--enough to kindle a blaze of jealousy in the young
+Count's breast. That would explain his shrinking from the hand Oswald
+extended to him, his indifference to the money-loss with which he was
+threatened, his vehement, excited manner. There could be no other
+reading of the problem.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So it was that,' said Oswald to himself. 'He must have overheard
+something. Well then, he heard how innocent we both were with regard
+to the meeting, and how we parted. I know myself to be free from
+blame, and if we ever come to a discussion on the subject, I will meet
+him and speak out frankly.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Outside, in the courtyard, loud talk could now be heard, and a lively
+interchange of greetings, Edmund's voice rising above all the others
+as he welcomed his guests with noisy hilarity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald glanced out of the window. The gentlemen who had just alighted
+were, one and all, old acquaintances of his, but he was not in the
+humour to make polite speeches to them, or to run the gauntlet of
+their questions. So he quickly left the drawing-room, and was on the
+way to his old dwelling in the side-wing before the strangers had set
+foot in the castle.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The weather on the following day proved more propitious than had been
+expected. Though it did not clear up brightly, there was a cessation
+of the snowfall and the mists had disappeared, so that the morning
+seemed to promise a somewhat overcast, but, on the whole, fine day,
+favourable to sport and sportsmen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At a very early hour Oswald left his room and turned his steps towards
+the main building, where the Count's apartments were situated. None of
+the guests were visible as yet, but downstairs the servants were busy
+preparing for the departure of the gentlemen, who were to set out
+immediately after breakfast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Strange to say, Oswald found his cousin's room locked. It had never
+been Edmund's habit to ensure solitude by any such precautions. Not
+until his cousin had knocked repeatedly did he open the door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oh, it is you, Oswald? You are here very early.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His tone said plainly enough that the surprise was no pleasant one.
+Notwithstanding this, Oswald walked in.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You are dressed, I see,' he said; 'so I am not disturbing you with
+this morning visit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count was, indeed, fully equipped for the day, but he looked
+pale and haggard, and his eyes shone with an unnatural light. The
+traces of a wakeful night were but too visible on his features. He had
+evidently found neither sleep nor rest since the preceding evening.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You have altered your mind, I suppose, and have come to say you
+will make one of the party,' he said lightly, evading the keen survey
+of the other's eyes by turning away and busying himself at his
+writing-table.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No,' replied Oswald. 'You know that I must start again this
+afternoon. You may not have returned when I leave, so I wished to say
+good-bye to you now.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Must it be said in private?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes; for there is something else of importance I would speak of. You
+used not of old to avoid me so persistently, Edmund. I tried in vain
+to get hold of you yesterday evening. You were so completely taken up
+with your guests, and you seemed so excited, I had to give up all hope
+of finding a hearing, or of discussing with you any matters of
+business.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Matters of business? Ah, you mean that affair of the steward. Have
+you been so good as to speak to him for me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I was compelled to do so, seeing that, in spite of my remonstrances,
+you would not stir a step. It all turned out precisely as I feared.
+When the man discovered that I was acquainted with the whole
+transaction, he desisted from lying. I gave him the choice of leaving
+Ettersberg this very day, or of submitting to a thorough investigation
+before a court of law. He naturally preferred the first alternative.
+Here is the document which empowered him to act in your name. He
+handed it over to me, but you will do well to have it properly
+cancelled. The intending purchaser has had notice already. I took down
+his address, thinking it might prove useful, and I have telegraphed to
+him that the sale of timber will not take place, that all authority is
+withdrawn from your agent, who had treated without your knowledge or
+consent. So this time the loss has been averted.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He made this statement in a quiet, business-like tone, laying no
+stress on his own services, or on the diligent zeal which had brought
+about this happy result.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund must, however, have felt how much he owed to his cousin's wise
+and thoughtful action. Perhaps the sense of obligation weighed upon
+him, for his answer was very brief.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I am really most grateful to you. I knew you would understand these
+things far better than I, and would act more energetically.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'In this instance it was for you to act,' said Oswald reproachfully.
+'I allowed the steward to believe that at present I alone had
+cognizance of the intended fraud, that I called him to account on my
+own responsibility, and that I should not make any communication to
+you until he had taken his departure to-day--otherwise he would have
+thought it extraordinary that you should hold aloof from an affair
+which, after all, concerns yourself alone.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'As I said to you yesterday, I was not in a mood, a frame of mind----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That I could see, and I make every allowance for the frame of mind,
+knowing, as I do, its cause and origin.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Its cause and origin? What do you mean? What do you know?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The reason of your strange reception, of your almost hostile attitude
+towards myself. This alone it is which brings me here. All
+misunderstandings must be cleared up between us, Edmund. Why this
+silence and concealment? Between true friends such as we are,
+frankness is best.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count leaned heavily against the table near at hand. He made
+no reply, but stood speechless and pale as death, staring at his
+cousin, who continued calmly:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You need not withhold any accusation you may have to make. I can face
+it, can meet it without flinching. I love Hedwig, and am not ashamed
+to own it to you, for I have honestly, loyally struggled against the
+passion. When I saw it was not to be overcome, I went. Not a word on
+the subject has passed between us. If yesterday I was so far carried
+away as to allude to the state of my feelings, it was the first, it
+will be the last time. The unexpected meeting for a moment robbed me
+of my self-control, but it was only for a moment. I was myself again
+directly. If this is guilt in your eyes, it is guilt I am not afraid
+to confess, for I feel that in all points I can justify my conduct.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This open, manly avowal had a most unlooked-for effect. Edmund
+listened as in a dream. The horrible shock of surprise, which quite
+paralyzed him at first, gradually passed away, but he evidently did
+not yet grasp the full purport of the words addressed to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You love Hedwig? You? No, it is impossible. I do not believe it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Had you not found it out?' said Oswald, dismayed in his turn. 'Was it
+not a feeling of jealousy which stood between us and estranged you
+from me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund did not heed the question. His glowing eyes rested with an
+expression of terrible, unutterable suspense on Oswald's face, as he
+panted forth, in breathless agitation:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And Hedwig--does she return the feeling? Does she love you?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have said that no word of explanation has passed between us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Words are not needed. You know, must know, if she cares for you, or
+not. That is felt in every glance, in every pulse. <i>I</i> have felt, I
+have known that she did not give me her whole wealth of love, that
+something stood between us, dividing us. Were you that barrier? Speak;
+I will have certainty, be the cost to me what it may.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald cast down his eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig will hold her promise sacred, as I do,' he replied, in a low
+voice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The answer was unequivocal, and to it there was no rejoinder. For the
+next few minutes a terrible silence reigned. No sound was heard but
+that of the young Count's short, quick breathing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So this drop is added,' he said at length. Oswald looked at him
+anxiously. He had been prepared for a stormy scene, for passionate
+reproach and fierce anger. This stony resignation, so utterly at
+variance with Edmund's character, roused in him amazement and alarm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'We shall conquer and live it down,' he said, taking up the thread
+again. 'We have never either of us thought of any further possibility.
+Were Hedwig free, I could entertain no hopes. I have always felt a
+contempt for adventurers who owe all to their wives, having themselves
+nothing to offer in return. Such a position would weigh me to the
+ground. I could not accept it, even at the hands of the woman I love.
+And my career is only just beginning. For years I must go on working
+for myself alone, whereas you have it in your power to confer in
+marriage the most brilliant advantages.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words were spoken innocently enough. They were intended to soothe,
+but how contrary was the effect produced! Edmund bounded, as it were,
+beneath the lash. His whole manner, his voice even was changed, as he
+burst forth, with scathing bitterness, with fierce, scornful rage:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You mean to envy me, perhaps, to envy me my brilliant lot in life! I
+am a favourite of Fortune, am I not? All the good things of this world
+fall to my share? You were mistaken in your prophecy, Oswald. Fortune
+is fickle, and we two have changed <i>rôles</i>. Hedwig's love, at least, I
+still believed to be mine; of that one possession I thought myself
+sure. That, too, has been taken from me, taken from me by you. Oh, the
+measure is full, full to overflowing!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, you are half distracted,' said Oswald remonstratingly. 'Try
+to regain composure. We will speak of this more quietly----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Leave me,' Edmund interrupted. 'I can hear nothing now, endure
+nothing more. Your presence is intolerable to me. Go!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald drew nearer, seeking to pacify him, but in vain. In a fury,
+which bordered on madness, the Count thrust him back.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will be alone, I tell you. Am I not even master here in my own
+rooms? Must I insult you to drive you from me?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That will not be necessary,' said Oswald, now grievously offended,
+and as he spoke, he drew himself up. 'I was not prepared for such a
+reception of my frank and loyal statement, or I should have been
+silent. You will see later on what injustice you have done me, but
+the knowledge will probably come too late to save our friendship.
+Good-bye.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He went, casting not another glance behind him. Then Edmund sank into
+a chair. The blow which had just fallen was perhaps not the heaviest
+that had struck him in these latter days. Most direful of all had been
+the shock which in a moment had destroyed the son's love for, and
+proud trust in, his mother--not the heaviest, perhaps, but the last;
+and the last felled him to the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">An hour later the whole company had gathered in the dining-room, where
+breakfast was laid. The gentlemen were all in high spirits, for the
+weather promised excellent sport.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess did the honours of the house with her accustomed grace.
+Whatever cares might be gnawing at her heart, she was too thorough a
+woman of the world to betray any emotion in the presence of strangers.
+Hedwig also forced herself to appear gay.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The conversation was most animated, and Oswald's grave taciturnity and
+reserve were not specially remarked, as they were considered natural
+to and customary with him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Count Ettersberg himself appeared late on the scene. He excused
+himself by saying that he had been delayed, giving some necessary
+orders in reference to the day's sport; and he endeavoured to make up
+for his tardy arrival by redoubled efforts to charm and amuse his
+guests.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund no longer looked pale and haggard, as he had looked an
+hour before. On the contrary, a hectic flush glowed in his cheeks,
+and a current of fire seemed to speed through his veins, while he
+exhibited an exuberant gaiety which could only be the product of
+over-excitement. He at once took the lead in the conversation, and his
+brilliant talk soon carried all the others away with it. Jests,
+repartees, and sparkling anecdotes followed quickly one upon the
+other. He seemed bent on convincing everyone about him of his
+cheerfulness and excellent humour, and so far as his guests were
+concerned, he succeeded in his aim.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The elder men, one and all landowners of the neighbourhood, thought
+they had never known the young Count so agreeable as on this occasion:
+the younger, stimulated by the effervescence of his wit, became witty
+in their turn. So the time sped quickly by, until the master of the
+house gave the signal for a general rising.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald still continued very silent, but he kept a constant, anxious
+watch on his cousin. After all that had taken place between them, it
+was no matter of surprise to him that Edmund should seem to shun him
+even more persistently than yesterday, should even avoid addressing
+him directly; but he was not to be deceived by the other's assumed
+flippancy. After the scene of that morning, desperation alone could
+have produced such feverish excitement. Now only, when the first
+stings of wounded pride had passed, did the young man reflect how
+horror-stricken, how half-distraught Edmund had appeared on hearing
+his confession. He had had no suspicion, it seemed. His unaccountable
+behaviour had not been actuated by, was not owing to jealousy. If not
+to jealousy, to what then?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The company had now risen and were preparing to depart. The sportsmen
+took their leave of the ladies of the house, and said good-bye to
+Oswald, who was also to be left behind. Herr von Ettersberg was
+generally condoled with for having to return to the city so speedily,
+and to lose his chance of a day's shooting, and a few more polite
+speeches of a like nature were exchanged in all haste.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund parted from Hedwig with some merry words, still showing the
+extreme and rather reckless gaiety which he seemed unable to put from
+him that morning.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he passed his cousin, he called to him, 'Adieu, Oswald,' but so
+briefly and hastily as to preclude any reply. He evidently wished to
+avoid any further contact with the man by whom he considered himself
+injured. He went up to the Countess, who was talking to one of the
+gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have come to say good-bye, mother.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words were spoken hurriedly, but something of the old tone was in
+them, of the tone which the mother's ear had so long sought in vain,
+and which now it instantly caught. Her eyes sought her son's; and
+meeting them, she no longer read there that shy avoidance which had so
+tortured her for months.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Today they had a different, an undefinable expression in which,
+however, there was no reproach. The hand the Countess extended to him
+trembled a little. A cold formal kiss imprinted on this hand was the
+only salute Edmund had for her now as he came and went. He stooped
+over it as usual, but suddenly the mother felt his arms close round
+her, felt his hot, quivering lips on her brow. It was their first
+embrace since the day on which he had discovered the fatal secret.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund?' whispered the Countess, with a half-tender, half-anxious
+inquiry in the murmured word.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund made no reply. He held his mother tightly to him--but for a
+moment, yet enough to show her that the old love had blazed forth
+anew, ardent, mighty as ever. His lips touched hers, then he freed
+himself quickly and resolutely.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Farewell, mother. I must go; it is more than time.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He stepped back among his guests, who at once closed in upon him. In
+the general leave-taking, and in the noise and confusion which
+preceded their merry departure, all chance of saying another word to
+her son was lost to the Countess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sportsmen were gone at last. No one had noticed the short scene
+between mother and son, no one had seen anything unusual in their
+embrace--with one exception. Oswald's eyes had never quitted them for
+an instant. His strange, keen scrutiny was on the Countess now as she
+left the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was her wish, no doubt, to escape being alone with her nephew.
+Hedwig had accompanied her lover downstairs, and was watching the
+departure from the entrance-door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the castle-yard all was life and animation. A number of sledges
+stood ready to receive the gentlemen, and to convey them to the
+neighbourhood of the somewhat distant covers which had been chosen for
+the day's sport. The servants were busily moving to and fro. The
+Count's chasseur, who had charge of the dogs, could hardly check their
+ardour, and even the horses gave signs of impatience at the long delay
+by pawing the ground and champing the bit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Most restless of all were a pair of handsome black steeds harnessed to
+a small sledge which contained seats for but two persons. They were
+the restive, high-spirited animals which had brought about the
+accident on Stag's Hill. Since then the Countess, having once been
+exposed by them to imminent peril, had constantly used other horses
+for her daily drives. Could she have chosen, the black pair would,
+indeed, long ago have been banished from the stables; but Edmund had a
+strong predilection for the beautiful creatures, which certainly were
+matchless in their symmetry and grace. He had given special orders
+that they should be put to his own sledge to-day. It was his habit to
+drive himself, and he now advanced, ready to take the reins from the
+groom's hands.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All seemed ready for the start, yet some further delay occurred before
+the party actually set out. Some remark of Edmund's had called forth a
+debate, and much lively discussion was going on among the sportsmen.
+Evidently the pros and cons of a disputed question were being argued.
+A sound of loud voices and noisy laughter reached Oswald's ear as he
+stood at his post above, but the closed windows prevented his hearing
+the words used in the parley. The young Count was the most eager
+speaker. Some of the elder men present shook their heads and seemed to
+attempt dissuasion. At length a settlement was arrived at. All was
+made ready for the general departure, and Edmund mounted to his seat
+in the sledge. Strangely enough, he meant to drive alone. The place at
+his side remained unoccupied. At a sign from him the groom in
+attendance fell back, as he gathered up the reins and whip.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One more look from the sportsmen--one farewell salute in the direction
+of the great entrance-door where stood the castle's future mistress.
+Edmund, like the rest, turned and waved her a final adieu, but
+immediately his eyes were raised to the tier of windows above. These
+were his mother's rooms, and the Countess must have appeared at this
+moment, for her son's gaze was riveted on a certain point. He sent her
+a greeting far warmer and more heartfelt than that he had accorded to
+his betrothed. There came a momentary break in the gaiety he had so
+sedulously maintained, a glimpse as of some wild, unutterable sorrow.
+That farewell glance seemed almost to convey a mute, beseeching appeal
+for pardon. Then his lash descended so sharply that the fiery steeds
+reared high in the air, and the snow rose up in a small whirlwind
+about him, as they set off at full gallop. The other sleighs followed,
+and so amid noise and merriment the whole retinue departed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald turned from the window, struck by a sudden apprehension.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'That seemed like a farewell,' he murmured. 'What can it mean? What
+scheme can Edmund have in his head?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He left the drawing-room, and was quickly passing through the
+antechamber when he met Everard, the old retainer, who had just left
+the courtyard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What caused the delay in starting?' asked Oswald hastily. 'What was
+the discussion about, and why did your master go off in his sledge
+alone?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was about a wager,' said the old man, who looked greatly
+perturbed. 'The Count intends to drive over Stag's Hill.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Over that steep hill, just after a heavy downfall of snow? That must
+mean danger.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes; so most of the other gentlemen declared; but my master laughed
+at their fears. He said he would bet that by taking that road he
+should reach the rendezvous a good quarter of an hour before the rest
+of the party. It was of no use to remonstrate or retreat. Even
+Fräulein Hedwig tried in vain. The wager stands. If only he had any
+other horses to manage than those unruly black beasts....'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'By whose orders were those restive animals put to my cousin's sledge
+to-day? He generally drives the grays.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was done by the Count's own order. He came down before breakfast
+to give the grooms their instructions.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And the man? Why was he left behind?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Also by the Count's directions. He said he wanted no attendant.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald said not another word. He left the old man standing where he
+was, and without further consideration or delay hurried across to his
+aunt's apartments. The Countess still watched at the window, though
+the cortége had long disappeared from sight. She knew nothing of the
+scene that had taken place that morning in her son's room; yet she
+seemed to have some foreboding sense, some vague dread upon her, for
+her hands were folded in mute anguish, and the face she turned towards
+the new-comer was perfectly ashy in its extreme pallor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She started violently as Oswald came in thus, unexpected and
+unannounced. For the first time since he had left his old home at
+Ettersberg they met alone, and face to face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the preceding evening and that morning they had seen each other
+only in the presence of strangers, and their intercourse had been
+limited to a few formal words of greeting. The Countess looked for no
+mercy from the man whom she estimated as her bitterest enemy, and who
+certainly had ample cause to be so.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Though by an impulse of generosity he had parted with the weapon which
+would have proved most dangerous, its strength was known to him, and
+the knowledge gave him power enough over his aunt. But it was not this
+lady's habit to show herself weak, save only where her son was
+concerned, and now she at once roused her energies, and assumed a
+resolute attitude of defence. She stood cold and immovable, determined
+not to yield an inch, prepared for anything that might come.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But no syllable of that she feared and expected came from Oswald's
+lips. He only approached her quickly, and said, in a low and eager
+voice:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What has happened to Edmund?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'To Edmund? I do not understand you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He is frightfully changed. Something must have occurred since I left.
+There is some trouble on his mind which harasses him, and at times
+seems almost to shake his reason. I thought at first I had guessed the
+cause of it, but I find now I was utterly mistaken. What has happened,
+aunt?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Not a word passed the mother's set lips. Better than anyone she knew
+the piteous change which had come over her son, but to this man she
+could not, would not, confess it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Forgive me if I put a painful question,' went on Oswald. 'We have to
+fear, to guard against the worst; in such a case, all other
+considerations vanish. Before I left, I gave into your brother's
+charge a small packet. I told him expressly that it was to be
+delivered to you alone, that Edmund was not to know its contents. Can
+it be that, in spite of this ... can he have learned----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He paused, unable to frame his question, and the marked agitation
+displayed by one usually so cold and self-possessed revealed to the
+Countess the true nature of the danger of which hitherto she had had
+but a dim foreboding. She gazed anxiously into Oswald's face, and in
+lieu of making answer, asked:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why did Edmund start alone? What was the meaning of that last look,
+that farewell gesture? You know it, Oswald.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I know nothing, but I fear the worst after the scene which took place
+between us this morning. Edmund has made a mad wager. He means to
+drive over Stag's Hill on such a day as this. By his express
+directions, the most unmanageable horses in the stables have been put
+to his sledge, and the groom has been left behind. You see, it is a
+question of life or death, and I must know the truth. Is Edmund
+acquainted with the contents of that packet?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A faintly articulated 'Yes' was the reply wrung from the Countess's
+panting breast. With this one word she confessed all, gave herself
+over completely into the hands of her nephew; but at the moment no
+sense of this occurred to her. Her son's life was at stake. What cared
+the mother for her own ruin or shame?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Good God! Then he has planned some terrible deed,' exclaimed Oswald.
+'Now I see, I understand it all.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Countess uttered a shriek, as a full comprehension of that last
+farewell dawned suddenly on her also.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I must go after him,' said Oswald, with quick determination, pulling
+the bell as he spoke. 'There is not a moment to lose.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I ... I will accompany you,' gasped the Countess, advancing a step;
+but she staggered and would have fallen, had not her nephew caught and
+supported her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Impossible, aunt. You could not bear it. Besides, all the sledges
+are out. There is not one at our disposal, and we could not get
+through the snow with a carriage. I will mount a horse and ride after
+him--ride for dear life. That is the one chance left us.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He turned to Everard, who at that moment entered the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Have the English chestnut saddled. Be as quick as possible. I must
+follow the Count at once.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old man withdrew hastily. He saw that an effort was to be made to
+avert some danger from his young master.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald went up to the Countess, who sat trembling and pale as ashes,
+and essayed to reassure her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Try to be calm. Nothing is lost as yet. The chestnut is one of the
+swiftest horses in the stables, and if I take the road by Neuenfeld, I
+shall cut off a third of the distance. I must come up with Edmund.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And when you do come up with him!' cried the Countess despairingly.
+'He will not listen to you any more than to me or to his affianced
+wife.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'He will listen to me,' said Oswald, with profound emphasis; 'for I
+alone can put an end to the conflict raging within him. Had I this
+morning known the real situation, things would not have reached this
+pass. We have been friends from our earliest childhood. That must
+count. You will see, we shall win through this trouble yet. Courage,
+aunt. I will bring your son back to you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man's brave, resolute tone was not without its influence on
+the tortured mother. She clung to the hope held out to her, clung to
+the once dreaded, hated Oswald as to a last anchor of salvation. Not a
+word could she utter, but the look she cast up at him was so
+suppliant, so heart-rending, that Oswald, deeply moved, clasped her
+hand in his. In their anxiety about the one being they loved with
+almost equal fervour, the long-cherished enmity died out, the hatred
+and rancour of years were buried.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald took the half-fainting lady in his arms, and gently placed her
+in an arm-chair--then he hurried out. The hope of achieving a rescue
+gave him courage and confidence; but to the mother who remained
+behind, the weight of anguish, the cruel suspense, proved well-nigh
+crushing. She knew but too well what had driven her son to his death;
+and this terrible consciousness, now brought home to her, put the last
+stroke to the torture of the past few weeks. Baron Heideck was right.
+The unhappy woman's punishment was greater even than her offence had
+been.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Everard had urged the grooms to the utmost alacrity. The horse was
+being led round as Oswald emerged from the castle. He swung himself
+into the saddle and galloped off.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It might safely be assumed that Edmund would choose the highroad. The
+way by Neuenfeld, though considerably shorter, ran for the most part
+through the forest, and was so narrow and uneven that it would have
+been hardly practicable with a sledge. To a horseman it offered no
+great difficulties, and the chestnut was, indeed, incomparably swift
+of pace. Its hoofs hardly touched the ground where the snow lay
+thick, but not so deep as to prove an obstacle. So the good steed
+pressed on through the woods all gaunt and rigid with frost and ice,
+through a village which lay, as it were, still sleeping in its winter
+shroud--onwards, onwards, with the speed of a bird, yet all too slowly
+for the craving impatience of him who rode.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was not a doubt in Oswald's mind that some desperate deed was in
+contemplation, a deed it might yet be in his power to prevent. There
+must be some issue to this terrible situation. If Oswald raised no
+accusation, asserted no claim, none else had a right to do so. The
+world might be left in ignorance, as it had been heretofore. The two
+most nearly concerned might clasp hands and swear that the house of
+Ettersberg should henceforth boast two sons. Yet through all these
+plans and sanguine meditations came the remembrance of the evening
+which preceded Oswald's departure, the remembrance of Edmund's words
+still vibrating in his cousin's ears:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I could not live with the knowledge of a secret shame. My conscience
+must be clear, and I must stand before the world with an unsullied
+brow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The path now issued into the highroad, where a free open view of the
+country round was to be had. Oswald drew rein a moment, and gazed
+about him searchingly--but in vain. He saw nothing but a broad, white
+expanse of plain, at some distance the dark firs on Stag's Hill
+standing out in sombre relief, and beyond them the lowering mists of
+an overcast winter forenoon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All around was desolate; not a living creature was to be seen. The
+hope of barring Edmund's passage proved illusory. He must have passed
+long since. The track of his sledge was distinctly visible on the
+freshly-fallen snow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now for the first time Oswald's brave assurance threatened to desert
+him--he would not hearken to the sad presentiments which besieged him,
+but gave rein to his horse, and rode fleetly on until he reached the
+foot of the hill, and the ascending path before him brought him to a
+footpace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Stag's Hill, though not very high, was excessively steep, and was
+esteemed an awkward bit of road, which, as a rule, drivers gladly
+avoided. To climb and descend in safety certainly required prudence.
+It was necessary to have the carriage well under control, to be sure
+of the horses, when this route was chosen. In wintertime the steep
+incline, covered with a sheet of snow and ice, was positively
+perilous, as Oswald soon found. More than once his horse stumbled, and
+but for his vigilance would have fallen. Happily, he was both a
+skilful and a prudent rider, and his accomplishment now stood him in
+good stead; but with every minute that elapsed, with every bend in the
+road which opened out fresh lengths without revealing the object of
+his search, his anxiety increased, waxed keener and keener. He urged
+on his horse with whip and spurs, granting neither to the animal nor
+to himself a moment's respite. One thought alone possessed his mind:
+'I must find him!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he found him. With a snort and a last strong pull the horse now
+reached the summit, and trotted on a few minutes over the even ground.
+On the opposite side of this plateau the road declined again sharply.
+The track of the sledge was still visible, but about a hundred paces
+further on, just at the most precipitous part, the snow was ploughed
+up and much betrodden, as by the hoofs of rearing, plunging horses.
+The low hedge which bordered the road was broken through, torn down;
+the young firs on the hill-side were bent and broken as though a
+hurricane had passed over them, and in the depths below lay a dark,
+inert mass, sledge and horses, all together, borne down to a common
+destruction, dashed to pieces in that dizzy, dreadful fall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this sight Oswald forgot his caution. Reckless of the imminent
+peril to himself, he spurred his horse down the road at full speed.
+When he reached the valley below, he sprang from the saddle, and at
+once plunged into the ravine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There he saw the shattered sledge, the horses lying, one beneath, one
+above--and at a little distance from these--Edmund, stretched
+motionless upon the ground. He had been flung from his seat in the
+fall--this and the snow, which here in the valley had drifted thick
+and deep, had preserved him from being absolutely mangled and
+mutilated; but the rocky ground had nevertheless wrought cruel
+injury, as was abundantly proved by the blood which streamed from a
+scalp-wound, reddening the white snow in a great circle about his
+head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald threw himself on his knees by his cousin's side, and strove to
+stanch the blood, to recall the unconscious man to life. At first, all
+his efforts were in vain, but after long minutes of weary watching and
+agonized suspense, Edmund opened his eyes. Their dull veiled look
+seemed, however, to lack all recognition. Slowly only, and by degrees,
+at the sound of Oswald's voice, as he put his anxious questions, did
+full consciousness return to the sufferer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Oswald,' he said, very softly, and his tone was the old loving tone
+he had ever been wont to use towards the friend of his youth. All the
+bitterness, the wild frenzied agitation of the last few hours, had
+died out from those pain-stricken but calm features.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Edmund, why had you not confidence in me?' burst forth Oswald. 'Why
+have I only just heard of your trouble--of the trouble which drove you
+to this? I have ridden after you in all mad haste, but I come too
+late, too late perhaps by a very few minutes.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund's half-dimmed eyes gained life and fire again as he turned them
+towards the speaker.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You know?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'All!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Then you understand all,' said Edmund faintly. 'To have to lie to
+you, not to be able to meet your eye, that was the hardest trial I
+have had to bear. Now it is past. Today, this very day, you will be
+Master of Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'At the cost of your life!' cried Oswald, in despair. 'I have known
+the secret long. That fatal picture had passed through my hands before
+you saw it. I kept it from you almost by force, for I knew that the
+sight of it would kill you. And it has been all in vain--the whole
+sacrifice has been in vain! One frank, outspoken word between us, this
+morning, and everything might have been settled and made smooth.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund replied with a sorrowful negative gesture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, Oswald; that could never have been. I could not have borne the
+perpetual lie of such a life. I have tried for weeks, for months. You
+do not know what I have endured since the fearful hour of that
+discovery. Now all is well. You will enter upon your own, and my
+mother's name will remain unstained. It was the only way, the one
+solution!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald held the dying man in his arms. He saw that the time for help
+was past. It was impossible to stanch the blood, impossible to stay
+the fleeting life. He could but stoop to catch the last words from the
+lips which were about to close for ever.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My mother--tell her. I <i>could</i> not have borne it. Farewell!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Edmund's voice died away. His beautiful dark eyes grew dim with the
+shadow of Death; but a few minutes more, and Oswald was kneeling on
+the snow-clad earth by a dead man's side. He pressed his lips on the
+cold, calm brow, and murmured to now unheeding ears the despairing cry
+of his heart:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'My God! my God! Must this be the end? Was there no other way--no
+other way?'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Twice the swallows had come and gone since the grave had closed on
+Edmund von Ettersberg. Now for the third time they arrived, bearing
+Spring upon their pinions; and as, after all the icy frost and snow of
+winter, the earth blossomed forth in newborn splendour, so the dark
+shadow of that grave, watered by many tears, was lightened, and from
+it there emerged a fair vision of human hope and happiness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The death of young Count Ettersberg had caused the greatest
+consternation, and awakened general sympathy in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This universal mourning was due as much to Edmund's personal
+characteristics, which had endeared him to all, as to the frightful
+circumstances of his death. So young, so beautiful, rich and
+happy--his wedding-day so near! And for a mere mad frolic's sake, for
+a rash, senseless wager, to perish miserably, to be torn from his
+mother and his betrothed, without even seeing them or hearing their
+last farewell. It was a terrible fate!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How bright, how exuberantly gay the young Count had been the very
+morning on which the catastrophe befell! The darker, more secret
+sequence of events, none suspected. Edmund had gained his end. His
+mother remained spotless as before, and the rightful heir entered into
+possession of his own.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Many changes had been effected on the Ettersberg estates during the
+past two years. The present owner, Count Oswald, who on his cousin's
+death had succeeded to the title and the property took a serious view
+of the duties of his new position. Rarely indeed comes such a change
+in the life of a man as had come to him--a change so precipitate, so
+unexpected. Oswald, who had been bred in dependence and subordination,
+who, even when he shook off the fetters of that dependence, went forth
+to meet a life of care, of grave unflagging work, suddenly found
+himself transformed into the head of the house, the owner of wealthy
+family estates. His legal career was at an end before it had fairly
+begun. There was no failure of gratitude towards the friend in the
+great city who, in his need, had given him fatherly protection and
+assistance. Their relations continued excellent and affectionate as
+before; but, of course, a return to that sphere, to the life
+previously planned out for him, was not now to be thought of.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Other and greater tasks devolved upon Oswald, and he gave himself up
+to them with all the thoroughness and energy pertaining to his
+character. His strong hand grasped the helm in time to rescue the
+long-neglected estates from the ruin which seemed imminent. Gradually
+but surely he raised the value of the property until it reached its
+former zenith.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With but few exceptions, the reigning officials were superseded, and
+the system of administration underwent a complete change, while the
+large sums of money which in the old days had been called in to
+support the castle household on a lordly scale were now devoted to the
+restoration and improvement of the estates.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The new Master of Ettersberg led a solitary and retired life, and
+seemed at present in no way minded to select a companion or bring home
+a bride. This circumstance caused some wonderment in the neighbouring
+circles.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was freely said that the Count, now in his nine-and-twentieth year,
+might think of marrying, ought to think of it, seeing that he was the
+last and only scion of the Ettersberg race. Plans were laid, and
+efforts were not spared to secure so brilliant a <i>parti</i>, but hitherto
+without avail.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Similar schemes and expectations were formed with regard to Brunneck.
+The hand of the young heiress was again disengaged, though at first a
+certain delicacy of feeling forbade would-be suitors to take advantage
+of the fact. Genuine and universal as had been the sympathy felt for
+Hedwig, it was considered inadmissible that this girl of eighteen
+should pass her life in sorrowing for the lover who had been taken
+from her; and many pretensions and desires, which that engagement had
+blighted, came to the front again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They were, however, again doomed to disappointment, for Hedwig, by a
+decided step, withdrew herself from all possible overtures.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Before the period of mourning was over, she left Brunneck to accompany
+Edmund's mother on a visit to Italy. The Countess's health had quite
+given way beneath the shock of her son's death, and in spite of the
+most skilled advice, her malady made such serious progress that the
+doctors in consultation gave no hope save in a lengthened stay in the
+South.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was thought an act of self-sacrifice on Fräulein Rüstow's part to
+leave her home, and even her father, that she might accompany the
+invalid--the good neighbours who thus judged being quite ignorant of
+the fact that Hedwig was longing to escape, to place the barrier of
+distance between herself and hopes which seemed to her an offence
+against the dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two ladies had been absent almost a year and a half. In vain had
+the Councillor remonstrated and made impatient supplication for his
+daughter's return; his prayers found no favourable hearing. Hedwig had
+always given as a pretext the Countess's continued illness, declaring
+that she neither could nor would leave her in so piteous a condition.
+But now, at length, the travellers were at home once more. Rüstow, who
+had gone some stages on the road to meet them, brought his daughter
+straight back to Brunneck, whilst the Countess proceeded to Schönfeld,
+where, since Edmund's death, she had taken up her residence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the second day after the ladies' return, the Councillor was sitting
+as usual with his cousin in the veranda-parlour. He was full of
+delight at having his daughter with him again, and never weary of
+looking at her after their long separation. He declared that she had
+grown much more lovely, more sensible, more charming in every way, and
+the expression of his fatherly pride culminated in a solemn
+announcement that never again would he part with his darling as long
+as he lived.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For once his cousin actually agreed with him, admitting the
+improvement visible in Hedwig; but at these last words she shook her
+head and replied, with a certain meaning emphasis:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You should not speak so decidedly, Erich. Who knows how long you will
+enjoy exclusive possession of Hedwig! That may be disputed you even
+here at Brunneck.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I shall not allow it,' interrupted Rüstow. 'I have no doubt that the
+Countess would like to have her over at Schönfeld for weeks at a
+stretch, but she will not have her way in this. I have been deprived
+of my child's society long enough, and mean to take a stand on my
+rights at last.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Count Ettersberg was at the station, I suppose, when you arrived with
+the travellers the day before yesterday?' said the lady.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Certainly. It was very considerate, very proper of him to come
+himself to receive his aunt and take her over to Schönfeld. He was
+glad, too, to see Hedwig, and say a word of welcome to her on her
+return; but this, of course, was secondary.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Of course, quite secondary!' murmured Aunt Lina softly, but with an
+ironical twitch of the lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'The Count was not on particularly good terms with his aunt in the old
+days,' said Rüstow, turning to his cousin; 'but ever since her great
+misfortune he has shown her much kindness and attention. Indeed, I see
+a considerable alteration in that young man. He can even be pleasant
+and affable in his manners now, and as concerns his management of the
+Ettersberg property----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Yes, we are aware that he is an agricultural genius,' put in Aunt
+Lina. 'You discovered his talents in that line years ago, you know,
+when no one guessed that he was the future owner and Master of
+Ettersberg.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It would have been an unpardonable mistake if Fate had ordained that
+that man should be a lawyer,' said the Councillor solemnly. 'It always
+gratifies me when I remember what a clearance he made directly the
+reins fell into his hands, how quickly he put a stop to the old
+routine of reckless waste and mismanagement. He struck hard and struck
+home. In less than three months all the old worthless lumber had been
+thrown out. The parasites, which for years had clung to the good tree,
+sapping its strength, were destroyed. And how the man set to work when
+it came to ordering a new system! My spirit of enterprise is not
+small, but I believe I must yield the palm to him. I never should have
+imagined that in so short a time the estates could have been so raised
+in value. I ought to feel some annoyance, for hitherto Brunneck has
+passed for the model establishment of this part of the country, and
+now I suppose Ettersberg will be disputing its claim to the first
+rank.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And to a good many other things, I fancy. But you will take it all
+very patiently and quietly, Erich, for Count Oswald has always been a
+declared favourite of yours.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'So he has, but I admit one great fault in him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He will not marry. The whole neighbourhood is full of it. I shall take
+him to task seriously on the subject.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Do nothing of the sort,' said Aunt Lina. 'Interference is quite
+unnecessary, especially from you.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow did not catch the hidden meaning of her words. He took them as
+expressing distrust in his skill and diplomacy, and was much offended
+in consequence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'You think that where marriage is concerned, nobody but a woman has a
+right to speak. I will show you that I know what I am about. Count
+Oswald sets great store by my opinion.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have not a doubt of it, on this subject more than on any other. I
+am convinced even that he will not marry without previously seeking
+your consent and approbation. You need not put yourself in a passion,
+Erich. I mean what I say--and there! why, there is the Count's
+carriage just turning into the courtyard. I knew very well he would be
+over here to-day.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'How could you know that?' asked Rüstow, still angry at her supposed
+sarcasm. 'You have taken no interest whatever in my new steam-engine.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What steam-engine?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A new and most practical invention which I had down from town a
+little while ago. You were indifferent as usual. It failed to rouse
+your interest, but the Count, to whom I was explaining all the details
+when we met at the station the other day, is burning with desire to
+examine it.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old lady seemed to have her own ideas on the subject of this
+punctuality and burning zeal. She shrugged her shoulders
+significantly, as the Councillor hurried eagerly away to receive his
+visitor, in whose company he returned a few minutes later.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No striking change had taken place in Oswald's outward appearance, yet
+it produced an impression quite different from that of former days.
+With the pressure of untoward circumstances, with the fruitless,
+constant struggle against a galling chain, the bitterness of spirit
+had disappeared which once threatened to gain complete dominion over
+his proud and sensitive nature. Freedom and a new sense of personal
+importance had given him fuller development. The harsh expression had
+vanished from his features, the former coldness and abruptness from
+his speech and demeanour. He was not indeed possessed of that frank
+charm of manner with which Edmund had conquered all hearts, but his
+grave superior calm, his simple and yet imposing mien, showed that the
+present owner of Ettersberg was better fitted to rule and to command
+than his deceased cousin ever could have been. The Count, on this
+occasion, came of course solely and entirely to see the famous
+steam-engine, and to judge by a certain perturbed restlessness which
+he sought in vain to conceal, his interest in the useful invention
+must have been of an intense and all-absorbing character. Yet he
+listened with rather an absent air to the Councillor's florid
+description of his new treasure, and kept his eyes fixed on the door.
+He appeared to be momentarily expecting something, or some one; at
+length his patience gave way, and, turning to Aunt Lina, he observed
+in the most innocent and natural tone in the world:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Fräulein Hedwig is out in the park, I suppose. I fancied I caught
+sight of her as I drove through.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old lady cast at him a glance which plainly said, 'If you had
+fancied that, you would not be herewith us now;' but aloud she
+replied, with an innocent simplicity equal to his own:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I think you are mistaken. Count. My niece, I regret to say, has gone
+out to take a walk, probably to revisit some of the favourite old
+haunts which she has not yet seen since she came home.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Her favourite haunts!' The hint was sufficient for Count Oswald. He
+suddenly discovered that he had very little time at his disposal, and
+was bound to return to Ettersberg with all speed, but this availed him
+little. Rüstow took it as a fresh compliment to the steam-engine that,
+notwithstanding the urgent calls upon his time, his guest had come
+over to inspect and admire it. Inexorably he dragged him forth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald had to listen long to all the detailed explanations of this
+enthusiastic farmer, though in his impatience the ground on which he
+stood seemed to scorch his feet. At length he succeeded in getting
+free, and leaving the Councillor with a hurried good-bye, jumped into
+the carriage, which was waiting for him, and drove away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow returned to the house a little put out at the unusual shortness
+and hasty nature of the visit vouchsafed him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'There was nothing to be done with the Count to-day,' he said to his
+cousin. 'He seemed quite absent in his manner, and hardly looked at
+the engine, after all. Now he is rushing back to Ettersberg like the
+wind. It really was not worth while to come so far for such a flying
+visit.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'It was too bad of you to torment him in that way,' remarked Aunt
+Lina, with sly malice. 'A full quarter of an hour you kept him
+standing there by your tiresome old steam-engine! He did not come to
+see that, bless you! and he is not driving back to Ettersberg now--not
+a bit of it, no more than I am!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Where in the world is he, then?' asked Rüstow, who was so overcome by
+these assertions that he overlooked the insulting word 'tiresome,'
+applied to his steam-engine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Very probably he is not driving at all. I dare say he has sent his
+carriage on into the village, and is taking a walk in the woods, or on
+the hills, or somewhere about. How can I tell in what direction Hedwig
+may be strolling?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Hedwig? What do you mean? You don't intend to say----'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I intend to say that Hedwig is destined to become Countess
+Ettersberg, and that this time nothing can or will prevent it--depend
+upon it, I am right.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Lina, I really do believe you are going crazy,' exclaimed Rüstow.
+'Why, they never could endure each other! They have been separated now
+for more than a year. In fact, since Edmund's death, they have only
+met about half a dozen times at the Countess's house at Schönfeld. It
+is impossible, absolutely impossible. This is just another of your
+foolish romantic notions.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Well, wait until they both come back,' said Aunt Lina emphatically.
+'But in the meantime you may make up your mind to give the paternal
+benediction, for, rely upon it, it will be required of you. Count
+Oswald will hardly care to lose more time now, and certainly he has
+waited long enough. I think it was an overstrained feeling of delicacy
+on Hedwig's part which made her leave her home and father, just to
+prevent any earlier appeal from that quarter.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'What? That is why she went to Italy with the Countess?' cried Rüstow,
+falling, as it were, from the clouds, 'You don't mean to pretend that
+this fancy existed during Edmund's lifetime?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'This is no question of a mere fancy,' replied his cousin
+instructively; 'but of an ardent, unconquerable attachment which has,
+no doubt, cost them both much pain and many struggles. Hedwig, it is
+true, has never alluded to the subject by so much as a word. She has
+obstinately kept her confidence from me, but I could see how she was
+suffering, how hard it was to her to fulfil the promise which, without
+reflection, without full knowledge of her own heart, she had given to
+another. I do not doubt that she would have fulfilled it, but what the
+future consequences might have been both to herself and Oswald--that
+Heaven only knows!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Councillor folded his hands and gazed at his cousin with an
+expression of profound respect.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'And you found out all this by your own powers of observation? Lina,
+it strikes me that you are a wonderfully clever woman.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, you have discovered that at length, have you?' asked the old
+lady, with gleeful satisfaction. 'It is rather late in the day for you
+to begin to recognise my talents.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rüstow made no reply, but his face literally beamed at the thought of
+having for a son-in-law his favourite, his genius--and in the joy of
+his heart he treated the speaker to a vigorous hug.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I will admit them all, Lina. I will admit anything you like,' he
+cried. 'But this affair can hardly be settled so quickly as you say.
+How can the Count have gone after Hedwig? He does not know where she
+is, any more than we do.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Aunt Lina escaped from his embrace, laughing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Ah, that is his business! We will rack our brains no further. Lovers
+have extraordinary luck in these matters. They are gifted with a
+species of second-sight which is very useful. I do not suppose that
+Count Oswald knows exactly the spot where Hedwig is, or he would
+hardly have come on to Brunneck first; but find her he will, you may
+be sure, be she hidden away in the thickest wood or perched on the top
+of the highest mountain. They will come back together, you may take my
+word for it, Erich.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This prophecy, delivered with much deliberate confidence, was verified
+almost to the letter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald had, indeed, driven down to the village, but he had then sent
+on the carriage and had hurried towards the hills on foot. The faculty
+of 'second-sight' must have been well developed in him, for without a
+moment's vacillation, doubt or delay, he struck into a path which led
+direct to a certain wooded hill-side. His pace grew more eager, more
+rapid, as he neared his goal, and when at length he reached it, the
+object of his search was found. He had guessed that Hedwig's first
+ramble after her return home would take her to that spot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Again the swallows came, in swift flight out of the far distance, back
+to their beloved woods, their old familiar haunts. With easy strokes
+they winged their way through the clear air, circling round tree and
+mountaintop, and then fluttering off in all directions to rejoice the
+whole countryside with their happy greetings, to be welcomed
+everywhere as the first messengers of spring.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But this time the earth was not wrapt in slumber or swathed in mist.
+It had long since wakened from its winter sleep. Through the sunlit
+forest might be seen the delicate green tracery of budding leaves.
+Verdure lay on field and meadow, peeping up, breaking through every
+clod, and over earth and sky streamed a sea of golden light. The
+breath, the pulse of spring was everywhere--on all sides jubilant
+voices sounded, hailing the new life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So for the two human beings standing on that sunny height a true
+springtime had dawned. They had waited long for it, but now it had
+come to them in all its wealth and splendour. The words of love spoken
+here to-day must have been more ardent, more passionate, than those
+which three years before Hedwig had heard from other lips. Profoundly
+earnest they had certainly been. Oswald's face, as he bent over his
+betrothed, testified to this, as did the tears still glistening on
+Hedwig's lashes. Her dark-blue eyes had grown so deep in meaning, so
+full of soul and expression since they had learned to weep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I have had to wait so long,' said Oswald, and a slight accent of
+reproach mingled with the passionate tenderness of his tone. 'So long,
+so long! For more than a year you have held aloof from me, and I was
+not permitted even to write to you. Sometimes I thought I was
+altogether forgotten.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig smiled, still through her tears.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, Oswald; you have not thought that. You knew surely and well that
+I suffered from the necessary silence and separation to the full as
+much as you--but I felt I owed that time of silence to Edmund's memory
+and to his mother's grief. You saw her when we arrived, and the sight
+will have explained to you why I could not have the courage to be
+happy while living at her side.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'She is terribly changed, certainly. Her long sojourn in the South has
+brought about no real improvement, I fancy.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'A postponement, at most. I fear she has returned hither only to die.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'I knew that she would not survive the blow,' said Oswald. 'I feel so
+deeply what Edmund was to me, and how much more was he to his mother!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig shook her head slightly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Sorrow one learns to bear, and it moderates with time, but the
+trouble that is gnawing at her heart has so sharp a tooth, it tortures
+and wastes her strength so constantly and cruelly, that I am sometimes
+tempted to think some other feeling must mingle with it--remorse,
+perhaps, or a sense of guilt!'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oswald was silent, but the cloud which settled on his brow was answer
+enough.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Before we started on our journey you made me promise that I would not
+distress the poor lady with questions,' the girl went on. 'I have kept
+my promise, and have never alluded to the doubts or the painful
+uncertainty which weigh on my mind. There is so much that is dark and
+enigmatic to me in all the circumstances connected with that terrible
+event. One thing only I divine, namely, that Edmund voluntarily sought
+his death. Why? To this hour the question has been left unanswered. It
+remains to me a mystery. There should be no secrets between us,
+Oswald. You must answer me now when I pray and entreat you to tell me
+the truth. I cannot, will not see that dark cloud upon your brow.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She could use the language of entreaty now, could beseech with all the
+intensity and power of love; and here she was sure of victory. Oswald
+clasped her more tightly in his arms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'No, my Hedwig, there must be nothing secret between us. All must be
+clear and open as day. But not now, and not here, can I disclose to
+you that sad story of guilt with all its fatal consequences. I cannot
+tell that story to my betrothed. When you are my wife, you shall hear
+what drove Edmund to his death, what is gradually, irresistibly
+drawing his mother after him to the grave. That dark shadow must not
+intervene to mar the brightness of this hour. So often have I dreamed
+of it, aye, dreamed from the moment your sweet face first dawned on me
+in the midst of that fierce snowstorm. You came to me, a spring-day
+personified, with all its promises of hope and happiness--though then,
+indeed, I could not, dare not hope those promises would ever be
+fulfilled.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hedwig looked up at him. She had not quite forgotten her old arch,
+sunny smile. It played about her lips with all its own bewitching
+charm as she replied:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">'Why not? We met for the first time in a March storm, and here, on
+this very spot, when you were speaking so gloomily of life in general
+and of your own sad past, I proclaimed to you that Spring, bright
+happy Spring, would come at last.'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As an echo to her words sounded the low murmured greeting of the
+swallows fluttering overhead, as they had fluttered on that former day
+in the thick drizzling mist. But now they winged their airy flight in
+full sunshine. Higher and higher they soared, until they disappeared
+in the illimitable azure of the sky. These small feathered messengers,
+which bring to the earth after its long winter sleep a promise of new
+light and life, came this time charged with a still fairer mission.
+They brought ease to longing hearts, rest after a cruel fight, a whole
+springtime of peace and happiness to two loving human beings.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h5>BILLING &amp; SONS. PRINTERS. GUILDFORD</h5>
+<p style="text-indent:50%"><i>G. C. &amp; Co</i>.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fickle Fortune, by 
+Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
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diff --git a/39194.txt b/39194.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e0c8a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39194.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8976 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fickle Fortune, by
+Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: Fickle Fortune
+
+Author: Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
+
+Translator: Christina Tyrrell
+
+Release Date: March 18, 2012 [EBook #39194]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FICKLE FORTUNE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+no gutcheck/jeebies/gutspell
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://www.archive.org/details/3935129
+
+   2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+                           FICKLE FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           FICKLE FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+                              E. WERNER,
+                              AUTHOR OF
+           'UNDER A CHARM,' 'NO SURRENDER,' 'SUCCESS,' ETC.
+
+
+
+                           From the German
+                                  BY
+                          CHRISTINA TYRRELL.
+
+
+
+
+
+                           _A NEW EDITION_.
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                       RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
+           Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
+                                1888.
+                       [_All Rights Reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           FICKLE FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+
+'This is what they are pleased to call spring in these parts! The snow
+drifts thicker and thicker every minute, and the delightful north-east
+wind comes in vigorous blasts which threaten to carry us away into
+space, post-chaise and all. It is perfectly maddening.'
+
+The carriage, one of the occupants of which thus gave vent to his
+ill-humour, was in truth working its way slowly and with difficulty
+through the accumulated snow on the high-road. Notwithstanding all
+their efforts, the horses could only advance at a foot-pace, so that
+the patience of the two travellers seated in the interior of the
+vehicle was put to a severe test.
+
+Of these, the younger, who was attired in an elegant travelling-suit,
+far too light of texture, however, for the occasion, could certainly
+not be more than four-and-twenty years of age. All the hopefulness and
+confidence, or rather the bright audacity of youth beamed in his frank
+handsome face, in the dark eyes, which were bold and clear as though
+no trace of a shadow had ever clouded them. There was something
+peculiarly winning and agreeable about the young man's whole
+appearance, but he seemed highly impatient of the delay which now
+occurred in his journey, and gave expression to his annoyance in every
+possible way.
+
+His companion, on the other hand, appeared altogether calm and
+indifferent, as he sat, wrapped in his cloak, leaning well back in the
+other corner of the carriage. But a few years older than his friend,
+he possessed little of the latter's attractiveness. He was of
+powerful, rather than of graceful, build, and he bore himself with an
+ease which was almost nonchalance. His face would have passed muster
+as being, at least, full of character, though it could lay claim
+neither to beauty nor regularity of outline, but it was spoiled by an
+expression of stern reserve which chilled and repelled.
+
+The deeper bitterness of life, its harsher experiences, could hardly
+have come home to one so young, and yet there was a look which spoke
+of these, a something not to be defined or accurately traced, which
+set on the countenance its own distinctive mark, and made the man
+appear much older than he really was. The abundant dark hair
+harmonised with the bushy dark eyebrows, but the eyes themselves were
+of that uncertain hue which is not generally approved. They made,
+indeed, scant appeal to the sympathies, expressing none of the happy
+vivacity, none of those passionate emotions wherein, as a rule, youth
+is so rich. Their cold unmoved survey was hard, and hardness
+characterised the young man's entire appearance and demeanour.
+
+The gentleman above described had hitherto sat silent, looking out at
+the hurrying, driving snow; but now he turned, and in answer to his
+companion's impatient exclamation, said:
+
+'You forget that we are no longer in Italy, Edmund. In our climate,
+and especially here among the mountains, March counts among the winter
+months.'
+
+'Ah me, my beautiful Italy! There we left all bathed in sunshine and
+fragrant with flowers, and here at home we are received by a snowstorm
+imported direct from the North Pole, You seem, however, to find no
+fault with the temperature. The whole journey has been nothing to you
+but just a troublesome task to be got through. Don't deny it, Oswald.
+Could you have chosen, you would rather have stayed at home with your
+books.'
+
+Oswald shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'What I wished, or did not wish, was not taken into consideration. It
+was decided that you were not to travel without a companion. I
+therefore simply had to obey orders.'
+
+'Yes, you were given to me as a Mentor,' laughed Edmund; 'charged with
+the high mission of watching over me, and, at need, of applying a
+salutary check.'
+
+'In which I certainly have not succeeded. You have committed follies
+innumerable.'
+
+'Bah! of what use is it to be young and rich, if one is not to enjoy
+life? I must say this, I have always had to enjoy it by myself. You
+have not been a good comrade to me, Oswald, my friend. What made you
+always draw back into your shell in that obstinate, sombre fashion?'
+
+'Because I knew, and know, that what is permitted to the heir of
+Ettersberg, or what, at most, will be condoned with a few tender
+reproaches, would be esteemed a crime in me,' was the brusque reply.
+
+'Nonsense!' cried Edmund. 'You know very well that I should have taken
+the whole responsibility on myself. As it is, I must take all the
+blame. Well, the judgment on my backslidings will not be over-severe,
+I warrant, whereas, when you on our return publicly announce your
+plans for the future, you may hold yourself prepared for a storm.'
+
+'I know that,' replied Oswald laconically.
+
+'But I shall not stand by you this time as I did before, when you so
+decidedly refused to enter the army,' went on the young Count. 'I got
+you through that, for I naturally thought you would go into a
+Government office. We all thought so, looked upon it as a thing
+decided, and now you suddenly come forward with this insane idea of
+yours.'
+
+'The idea is neither so new nor so insane as you suppose. It had
+germinated and taken root in my mind when I began my University career
+with you. I have directed all my studies with a view to it; but as I
+wished to avoid a useless conflict lasting through years, I have been
+silent until now, when the time for the decision has come.'
+
+'I warn you, this project of yours will set the whole family in
+commotion. And I must say it is a most extraordinary one. Think of an
+Ettersberg turning barrister, and taking up the defence of any thief
+or forger who comes in his way! My mother will never hear of it, and
+she will be perfectly right. Now, if you were to enter a Government
+office----'
+
+'Years must elapse before I should have mounted the first grades, and
+during that time I must be altogether dependent on you and your
+mother.'
+
+This was said in so harsh and curt a tone that Edmund drew himself up
+quickly.
+
+'Oswald, have I ever let you feel that?'
+
+'You--never! But your very generosity makes me feel it more.'
+
+'So here we are on the old ground again! You are capable of doing the
+most idiotic thing in the world, merely to shake off this so-called
+dependence. But what is the matter, I wonder? Why has the carriage
+stopped? I really believe we are fast in the snow here on the
+main-road.'
+
+Oswald had already let down the window, and was looking out.
+
+'What is up?' he asked.
+
+'We are stuck,' was the phlegmatic reply of the post-boy, who seemed
+to consider the thing as perfectly natural.
+
+'Oh, we are stuck, are we!' repeated Edmund, with an irritated laugh.
+'And the man informs us of it with that sweet philosophic calm. Well,
+granted we are stuck. What is to be done?'
+
+Oswald made no reply, but opened the carriage-door and stepped out.
+The situation could be taken in at a glance; agreeable it certainly
+was not. From the spot they had reached, the road descended in a steep
+incline, and the narrow defile through which they must pass was
+completely blocked by an enormous drift. There the snow lay several
+feet high, and presented so compact a mass that to get through it
+seemed impossible. The coachman and horses must have become aware of
+this simultaneously, for the latter ceased all exertion, and the
+former sat with drooping whip and reins, gazing at his two passengers
+as though he expected from them counsel or assistance.
+
+'This confounded post-chaise!' burst forth Edmund, who had followed
+his companion's example and alighted in his turn. 'Why the deuce had
+not we our own horses sent out to meet us! We shall not reach
+Ettersberg now before dark. Driver, we must get on!'
+
+'There is no getting on, sir,' replied the latter, with imperturbable
+serenity. 'You, gentlemen, can see it for yourselves.'
+
+The young Count was about to make an angry retort, when Oswald laid
+his hand on his arm.
+
+'The man is right. It really is not to be done. With these two horses
+only we cannot possibly advance. There is nothing left us but to stop
+here a while in the carriage, and to send the post-boy on to the next
+station to procure us a relay.'
+
+'So that we may be snowed up here meanwhile. Rather than that, I would
+go on to the post-house  on foot.'
+
+Oswald's eyes travelled with a somewhat sarcastic glance over his
+comrade's dress, which was suited only to a railway _coupe_ or a
+carriage.
+
+'You propose going through the woods on foot in that attire? Along a
+path where one sinks to the knee at every step? But you will take cold
+standing here exposed to this sharp wind. Have my cloak.'
+
+So saying, and without more ado, he unfastened his cloak, and placed
+it about the Count's shoulders, the latter protesting violently, but
+in vain.
+
+'Do not give it to me; you will have no protection yourself against
+the wind and weather.'
+
+'Nothing hurts me. I am not delicate.'
+
+'And, in your opinion, I am?' inquired Edmund tetchily.
+
+'No, only spoilt. But now we must come to some decision. Either we
+must stay here in the carriage and send on the post-boy, or we must
+endeavour to push forwards by the footpath. Decide quickly. What is to
+be done?'
+
+'What an abominable way you have of summing up things!' said Edmund,
+with a sigh. 'You are constantly setting one an alternative----choose
+this or that. How do I know if the footpath is practicable?'
+
+Here the discussion was interrupted. The snorting of horses and the
+thud of hoofs on the snow were heard at some little distance, and
+through the mist and falling flakes a second carriage could be seen
+approaching. The powerful animals which drew it overcame with
+tolerable ease the difficulties of the way, until they reached the
+formidable descent. Here they, too, came to a stand. The coachman drew
+rein, contemplated the block before him with an ominous shake of the
+head, and then turned to speak to some one inside the carriage. His
+report was evidently as unsatisfactory as that delivered by the
+post-boy, and was received with a like impatience. The answer, which
+came in a clear, youthful voice, was given sharply and with much
+energy:
+
+'It is all of no use, Anthony. We must get through.'
+
+'But, Fraeulein, if it can't be done!' objected the coachman.
+
+'Nonsense! it _must_ be done. I will just look for myself.'
+
+No sooner were the words spoken in a most decided tone than they were
+carried into effect. The carriage-door flew open, and a young lady--a
+lady of whose youth there could be no possible doubt--sprang out.
+She appeared to be familiar with the March temperature of this
+mountainous country, and to have taken the necessary precautionary
+measures, for her costume was one suited to winter. She wore a dark
+travelling-dress, and over it a fur-trimmed jacket well buttoned about
+her slender figure, while securely pinned about her hat was a thick
+veil which covered head and face. The fact that on alighting her foot
+sank into the soft snow almost to the border of her boot seemed in no
+way to affect her. She advanced valiantly a few steps, then stopped on
+beholding another carriage drawn up just before her own.
+
+The attention of the two gentlemen had, of course, also been
+attracted. Oswald, indeed, merely bestowed a cursory glance on the
+new-comer, and then addressed his mind again to the critical situation
+in which they found themselves; but Edmund, on the other hand, at once
+lost all interest in it.
+
+He left to his companion any further consideration of the difficulty.
+In an instant he was at the stranger's side, and, executing a bow as
+elaborate as though they had been in a drawing-room, spoke thus:
+
+'Pardon me, Fraeulein, but I perceive we are not the only persons
+surprised by this incomparable spring weather. It is always
+consolatory to meet with companions in misfortune; and as we are
+exposed to a like danger, that of being completely, hopelessly snowed
+up, you will allow us to offer you our aid and assistance.'
+
+In making this chivalrous offer. Count Ettersberg lost sight of the
+fact that he and Oswald were as yet helpless themselves, having found
+no way of overcoming the obstacle in their path. Unfortunately, he was
+at once taken at his word, for the young lady, no whit abashed by a
+stranger's address, replied promptly in her former decided tone:
+
+'Well, have the kindness then to make us a way through the snow.'
+
+'I?' asked Edmund, dismayed. 'You wish me to----'
+
+'I wish you to make us a road through the snow--most certainly I do,
+sir.'
+
+'With the utmost pleasure, Fraeulein, if only you will be so good as to
+tell me how I am to set about it.'
+
+The toe of her little boot tapped the ground vigorously, and there was
+some slight asperity in her reply.
+
+'I fancied you might have found out that already, as you proffered
+your help. Well, we must get through some way, no matter how it is
+managed.'
+
+With this, the speaker threw back her veil, and proceeded to inspect
+the situation. The withdrawal of that dark blue gauze revealed
+features of such unwonted loveliness that Edmund, in his surprise,
+forgot to make response. A fairer sight, indeed, could hardly have
+been beheld than the face of this young girl, rose-tinted by the
+action of the keen mountain air. Her brown curly hair peeped and
+struggled rebelliously out of the silken net which sought to confine
+it. Her eyes, of the deepest, deepest blue, were not serene and calm
+as blue eyes are expected to be; on the contrary, they gleamed and
+sparkled with the saucy merriment which youth and happiness alone can
+give. Every smile brought a charming, delicious little dimple into
+either cheek, but there was an expression about the small mouth which
+hinted at waywardness and defiance; and it might well be that in that
+little head, beneath those rebellious locks, there lodged a child's
+caprice, all a child's manifold wilful conceits. Perhaps it was
+precisely this which gave to the face its own peculiar, piquant charm,
+which fascinated irresistibly, and forced those who had once looked to
+look again.
+
+The young lady was by no means unaware of the impression her
+appearance had created. To the consciousness of it was due, no doubt,
+the involuntary smile which now chased the petulance from her
+features. Edmund's silence was not of long duration. Timidity and a
+want of self-confidence  were not among his failings, and he was about
+to renew the attack with a well-turned compliment when Oswald came up
+and spoke.
+
+'The difficulty can be overcome,' he said, bowing slightly to the
+stranger. 'If you, Fraeulein, will allow us to harness your horses
+to our team, it will be possible in the first place to get the
+post-chaise through the snow, and then to proceed with your carriage
+in its track.'
+
+'Uncommonly practical!' said Edmund, who was considerably annoyed at
+being thus interrupted, at the check to his compliment, and to the
+further development of his many delightful qualities. The young lady
+appeared somewhat surprised at the curt dry tone in which the proposal
+was made. The highly unpractical admiration of herself manifested by
+Count Ettersberg was evidently more to her taste than the cold
+commonsense of his companion.
+
+She replied, speaking rather shortly in her turn:
+
+'Pray do exactly as you think best.' Then she instructed the coachman
+to obey the gentleman's orders, and turning to her carriage, prepared
+to seek a shelter therein from the persistent, thickly-falling snow.
+
+Edmund promptly followed. He felt it incumbent on him to help her in,
+after which he took up his station on the carriage-step, in order to
+keep her informed of the progress of the business which Oswald had
+energetically taken in hand.
+
+'Now the procession has started,' he began his report, the
+carriage-window having been lowered to facilitate communication. 'They
+can hardly advance even with the double team. Ah, there, as they go
+downhill, things look serious. The ramshackle old post-chaise cracks
+and shakes at every joint; the two men are as awkward in driving as
+they can possibly be. It is lucky that my companion is commandant of
+the troop. If there is a thing he thoroughly understands, and in which
+he excels, it is the art of commanding! Upon my word, they are making
+a breach in the snow-rampart! They will manage it. Oswald is over
+yonder already, pointing out to them the direction they are to take.'
+
+'While you are securely posted on my carriage-step,' remarked the
+young lady, rather caustically.
+
+'Why, Fraeulein, you would not require of me to leave you all alone
+here on the highroad,' said Edmund, taking up his defence. 'Some one
+must stay here to protect you.'
+
+'I do not think there is any danger of an attack by robbers. Our
+highways are safe, so far as I know. But you seem to have a fancy for
+your point of vantage.'
+
+'Whence I enjoy so charming a prospect, yes.'
+
+This too gallant speech was evidently distasteful, for instantaneously
+the dark blue veil was lowered, and the vaunted prospect disappeared
+from view. Count Edmund was a little discomfited. He saw his error,
+and grew more respectful.
+
+A quarter of an hour had well-nigh elapsed before the chaise could be
+got over the difficult ground. At length it stood secure on the other
+side. Oswald retraced his steps, and the coachman followed with the
+horses. Edmund was still on the carriage-step. He had, as it seemed,
+received absolution for the impertinence of which he had been guilty,
+for a most animated conversation was going on between the lady and her
+self-appointed guardian. The former took, however, a certain malicious
+pleasure in concealing her features from view. Her veil was still
+closely drawn when Oswald again approached.
+
+'I must beg of you to alight, Fraeulein,' he said. 'The descent is
+rather precipitous, and the snow is deep. Our post-chaise was several
+times within an ace of being overturned, and your carriage is much
+heavier. It might be a risk for you to remain in it.'
+
+'What an idea, Oswald!' cried Edmund. 'How can this lady pass along
+such a road on foot? It is impossible!'
+
+'Not so, only rather uncomfortable,' was the unmoved reply. 'The
+carriages will have formed some sort of a track; if we follow in that,
+the journey will really not be so difficult as you imagine. Of course,
+if the lady is afraid to venture----'
+
+'Afraid?' she interrupted, in an angry tone. 'Pray, sir, do not
+attribute any such excessive timidity to me. I shall most certainly
+venture, and that at once.'
+
+So saying, she jumped out of the carriage, and next minute was braving
+the elements on the open road. Here the wind caught the veil which had
+been so persistently held down, and it fluttered high in the air.
+True, the little hand clutched quickly at the truant gauze, but it had
+wound itself about the hat, and the attempt to regain control of it
+failed signally; to the great satisfaction of Count Edmund, who was
+now able to enjoy the 'prospect' without let or hindrance.
+
+Meanwhile the horses had been harnessed to the second carriage. Ruts
+having previously been made in the snow, the journey this time was
+more easily performed. Nevertheless, Oswald, who followed closely in
+the wake of the vehicle, was constantly obliged to offer his guidance
+and assistance. The driving snow knew no intermission, and the great
+white flakes whirled round and round, chased by the wind. The high
+dyke-walls on either side of the road were seen but indistinctly as
+through a veil, while all further prospect was completely blotted out,
+hidden in dense mist. It needed the elastic spirits of youth to
+support with philosophy so severe an ordeal, to find in it food for
+mirth. Fortunately, this talismanic quality was possessed by the two
+younger travellers in a high degree. The difficult progress, in the
+course of which they sank at each step ankle-deep into the snow, the
+incessant struggle with the wind, all the difficulties, great and
+small, which had to be overcome, were to them an inexhaustible source
+of merriment. Their lively talk never flagged an instant. Repartees
+flowed backwards and forwards rocketwise. Each joke was caught in its
+passage, and sent back with interest. Neither would allow the other to
+have the last word, and all this badinage went on as unrestrainedly,
+in as frank and natural a manner, as though the two had been
+acquainted for years.
+
+At length the journey was performed, and the summit of the opposite
+hill reached in safety. Here the road branched off in two directions,
+and no further obstruction was to be apprehended. The carriages stood
+side by side, and the respective teams were speedily harnessed in
+their proper order.
+
+'We shall have to part company now,' said the young lady, pointing to
+the divergent routes. 'You, no doubt, will continue along the
+highroad, while my destination lies in the other direction.'
+
+'At no very great distance, I hope,' said Edmund quickly. 'I beg
+pardon, but all the small misadventures of this journey have done away
+with anything like etiquette. We have not even told you our names.
+Under the very exceptional circumstances, you will allow me,
+Fraeulein'--here a violent gust of wind blew the cape of his cloak
+about his ears, and dashed a shower of wet flakes in his face--'you
+will allow me to introduce myself, your humble servant. Count Edmund
+von Ettersberg, who at the same time has the honour of presenting his
+cousin, Oswald von Ettersberg. You will excuse the reverence which
+should accompany these words. Our friend Boreas is capable of
+prostrating me at your feet in the snow.'
+
+The young lady started at the mention of his name.
+
+'Count Edmund? The heir of Ettersberg?'
+
+'At your service.'
+
+The stranger's lips twitched as with a strong inclination to laughter
+forcibly restrained.
+
+'And you have acted as my protector? We have mutually helped each
+other in need with our horses. Oh, that is admirable!'
+
+'My name would appear to be familiar to you,' said Edmund. 'May I in
+my turn learn----'
+
+'Who I am? No, Count, you certainly will not learn that now. But I
+would advise you not to mention this meeting of ours at Ettersberg,
+for, innocent as we are in the matter, the avowal would, I think, at
+once place us both beyond the pale of the law.'
+
+Here the young lady's self-control gave way, and she broke out into
+such a peal of merry laughter that Oswald looked at her in surprise.
+Not a whit disconcerted, Edmund immediately adopted the same tone.
+
+'It seems that there exists between us a certain secret connection of
+which I had no idea,' he said. 'The secret, however, appears to be of
+a cheerful nature, and though you decline to raise the veil of your
+incognito, you will, I am sure, permit me to enjoy my share of the
+joke,' whereupon he joined in her merriment, laughing as heartily and
+extravagantly as herself.
+
+'The carriages are ready,' said Oswald, breaking in upon this noisy
+gaiety. 'It is time, I think, for us to be setting out again.'
+
+The two suddenly ceased laughing, and looked as though they considered
+such an interruption to be most unmannerly. The young lady threw back
+her head with an angry toss, looked at the speaker from head to foot,
+and then without more ado turned her back on him, and walked towards
+the carriage. Edmund naturally accompanied her. He pushed aside the
+coachman, who was standing by the wheel ready to assist, lifted his
+beautiful _protegee_ in, and closed the door.
+
+'And I really am not to hear whom chance has thrown in my way in this
+kind, but all too transitory, manner?' he asked, with a profound bow.
+
+'No, Count. Possibly some explanation may be given you at home--that
+is, if my _signalement_ be known there. I, most certainly, shall not
+solve the enigma. One question more, however. Is your cousin always as
+polite and as sociable as he has shown himself to-day?
+
+'Ah, you would say that he has not opened his lips once during the
+whole of our walk. Yes, that is unfortunately his way with strangers.
+As for any sense of gallantry, of deference towards ladies!' Edmund
+sighed. 'Ah, you little know, Fraeulein, what efforts I have to make,
+how often I have to intervene and make amends for his utter deficiency
+in that respect.'
+
+'Well, you seem to accept the task with much self-abnegation,' replied
+the young lady mischievously; 'and you have an extraordinary
+predilection for mounting carriage-steps. Why, you are up there
+again!'
+
+Edmund certainly was up there, and would probably long have retained
+the position, had not the coachman, who now grasped the reins, given
+visible signs of impatience. The beautiful unknown graciously inclined
+her head.
+
+'Many thanks for your kindness. Adieu.'
+
+'Adieu, for the present only, I may hope,' cried Edmund eagerly.
+
+'For heaven's sake, hope nothing of the kind. We must forego any such
+wild notion. You will see it yourself before long. Adieu, Count von
+Ettersberg.'
+
+These farewell words were followed by the musical, merry laugh. The
+horses pulled with a will, and the young man had only just time to
+jump from his standing-point on the step.
+
+'Will you have the kindness to get in at last?'--this in the
+remonstrant tones of Oswald's voice. 'You were in such a great hurry
+to reach home, you know, and we are considerably behind time now.'
+
+Edmund cast one more glance at the carriage which was whirling from
+him his charming new acquaintance. Presently it disappeared among the
+trees. Then he obeyed his cousin's summons.
+
+'Oswald, who was the lady?' he asked quickly, as the post-chaise in
+its turn began to move onwards.
+
+'Why on earth ask me? How should I know?'
+
+'Well, you were long enough away with the carriage. You might have
+inquired of the coachman.'
+
+'It is not my way to question coachmen. Besides, the matter possesses
+little interest for me.'
+
+'Well, it possesses a good deal for me,' said Edmund irritably. 'But
+it is just like you. You don't consider it worth while to put a
+question, though of course, as you are full well aware, one would
+like to have the matter cleared up. I really don't quite know what to
+make of the girl. She emits sparks, so to say, at the slightest
+contact--she attracts and repels in a breath. One minute you feel as
+if you may address her with perfect unconstraint, and the next you
+find yourself scared back to the most respectful distance. A most
+seductive little witch!'
+
+'Exceedingly spoilt and wilful, I should say,' remarked Oswald drily.
+
+'What an abominable pedant you are!' cried the young Count. 'You have
+always some fault to find. It is precisely her capricious, merry
+wilfulness which makes the girl so irresistible. But who in the world
+can she be? I saw no crest on the carriage-panels. The coachman wore a
+plain livery without any particular badge. Some middle-class family in
+the neighbourhood, evidently; and yet she seemed to know us very well.
+Why refuse to give her name? why that allusion to some connection
+existing between us? In vain I rack my brains to find some
+explanation.'
+
+Oswald, who seemed to think such mental exertion on his cousin's part
+most unnecessary, leaned back in his corner in silence, and the
+journey was continued without further obstacle, but with the tedious
+slowness which had characterised it throughout. To the Count's great
+annoyance, instead of the four horses they desired and expected, two
+only could be had at each relay. In consequence of the downfall of
+snow, the available animals at each post-house  had been put into
+requisition, so that the travellers had lost fully a couple of hours
+on the road since they started from the railway-station at noon. It
+was growing dark when the carriage at length rolled into the courtyard
+of Castle Ettersberg, where their arrival had evidently long been
+looked for. The portals of the spacious and brilliantly lighted hall
+were thrown open, and at the sound of approaching wheels a goodly band
+of servants hastened to receive their master. One of these, an old
+retainer, who, like the rest, wore the handsome Ettersberg livery,
+came straight up to the carriage.
+
+'Good-evening, Everard,' cried Edmund joyfully. 'Here we are at last,
+in spite of snow and stress of weather. All is well at home, I hope.'
+
+'Quite well, the Lord be praised. Count! but her ladyship was growing
+very anxious at the delay. She was afraid the young gentlemen had met
+with a mishap.'
+
+As he spoke, Everard opened the carriage-door, and at that moment a
+lady of tall and imposing stature, clad in a dark silk robe, appeared
+at the head of a flight of steps which led from the entrance-hall into
+the interior of the castle. To spring out of the carriage, to rush
+into the hall and bound up the steps, was, for Edmund, the affair of
+an instant. Next minute he was fast in his mother's embrace.
+
+'Dearest mother, what happiness to see you again at last!'
+
+There was nothing in the young Count's exclamation of that light, airy
+playfulness which had marked his every utterance hitherto. His tone
+was genuine now, coming from the heart, and a like passionate
+tenderness thrilled the voice and illumined the features of the
+Countess as she folded her son in her arms again, and kissed him.
+
+'My Edmund!'
+
+'We are late, are we not? The block on the roads and the detestable
+arrangements at the post-houses are to blame for it. Moreover, we had
+a little adventure by the way.'
+
+'How could you travel at all in such weather?' said the Countess, in a
+tone of loving reproach. 'I was hourly expecting a telegram to say
+that you would stay the night in B----, and come on here to-morrow.'
+
+'What! Be separated from you four-and-twenty hours longer?' Edmund
+broke in. 'No, mother, I certainly should not have agreed to that, and
+you did not believe it of me either.'
+
+The mother smiled. 'No; and for that very reason I have been in
+distress about you for several hours. But come now, you must need some
+refreshment after your long and arduous journey.'
+
+She would have taken her son's arm to lead him away, but he stood
+still, and said a little reproachfully:
+
+'You do not see Oswald, mother.'
+
+Oswald von Ettersberg had followed his cousin in silence. He stood a
+little aside in the shadow of the great staircase, only emerging from
+it now as the Countess turned towards him.
+
+'Welcome home, Oswald.'
+
+The greeting was very cool--cool and formal as the salute by which the
+young man responded to it. He just touched his aunt's hand with his
+lips, and as he did so, her glance travelled over his attire.
+
+'Why, you are wet through!' she exclaimed in surprise. 'How came that
+to be?'
+
+'Oh, I forgot to tell you!' cried Edmund. 'When we had to alight, he
+gave me his cloak, and braved the storm himself without it. Oswald,'
+he went on, turning to his cousin, 'I might have given it back to you
+in the carriage at least; why did you not remind me of it? Now you
+have been sitting a whole hour in that wet coat. I do trust you will
+take no harm from it.'
+
+He took off the cloak hastily, and passed his hand inquiringly over
+Oswald's shoulder, which certainly bore evidence of a good wetting.
+The other shook him off.
+
+'Don't. It is not worth speaking of.'
+
+'I really think not,' said the Countess, to whom this kindly concern
+on her son's part was evidently distasteful. 'You know that Oswald is
+not susceptible to the influence of the weather. He must change his
+clothes, that is all. Go, Oswald; but no, one word more,' she added
+carelessly, and, as it were, by an afterthought: 'I have this time
+given you another room, one situated over yonder, in the side-wing.'
+
+'For what reason?' asked Edmund, surprised and annoyed. 'You know that
+we have always had our rooms together.'
+
+'I have made some alterations in your apartments, my son,' said the
+Countess, in a tone of much decision; 'and they have obliged me to
+take possession of Oswald's room. He will have no objection, I am
+sure. He will find himself very comfortably lodged over yonder in the
+tower-chamber.'
+
+'No doubt, aunt.'
+
+The reply sounded quiet and indifferent enough, yet there was
+something in its tone which struck on the Count's ear unpleasantly.
+
+He frowned, and would have spoken again, but glancing at the servants
+standing round, he suppressed the remark he had been about to make.
+Instead of pursuing the discussion, he went up to his cousin and
+grasped his hand.
+
+'Well, we can talk this over later on. Go now, Oswald, and change your
+clothes at once--at once, do you hear? If you keep those wet things on
+any longer, you will give me cause for serious self-reproach. Do it to
+please me; we will wait dinner for you.'
+
+'Edmund, you seem to forget that I am waiting for you.'
+
+'One minute, mother. Everard, light Herr von Ettersberg to his room,
+and see that he has dry clothes ready without delay.'
+
+So saying, he turned to his mother, and offered his arm to lead her
+away. Oswald had responded by no single syllable to all the concern on
+his account so heartily expressed. He stood for a few seconds, looking
+after the two as they departed; then, as the old servant approached,
+he took the candelabrum from his hand.
+
+'That will do, Everard; I can find my way alone. Look after my trunk,
+will you?'
+
+He turned into the faintly  illumined corridor which led to the
+side-wing of the castle. The wax tapers he carried threw their clear
+light on the young man's face, from which, now that he was alone, the
+mask of indifference had dropped. The lips were tightly compressed,
+the brows contracted, and an expression of bitterness, almost of hate,
+distorted his features, as he murmured to himself under his breath:
+
+'Will the day never come when I shall be free?'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The house of Ettersberg had originally been great, and had boasted
+many branches; but in the course of years death and the marriage of
+the female descendants had lopped off one good member after another,
+so that at the time of which this story treats there were, besides the
+widowed Countess who lived at the patronymic castle, but two
+representatives of the name, Count Edmund, the heir, and his cousin
+Oswald.
+
+The latter shared the fate common to younger sons in families where
+the property is strictly entailed. Destitute of any personal fortune,
+he was entirely dependent on the head of his house, or must be so, at
+least, until he had carved out for himself a position in life. Things
+had not always worn this aspect; on the contrary, he had at his birth
+been greeted by his parents as the presumptive heir to the family
+lands. The then head of the family, Edmund's father, was childless,
+and already well advanced in years when he became a widower; his only
+brother, a man considerably younger than himself, who held a
+commission in the army, might therefore legitimately count on the
+prospective inheritance. It was esteemed a special piece of good
+fortune for this gentleman when, after many years of wedlock, blessed
+so far only by the advent of daughters early deceased, a son was born
+to him. The uncle himself gladly hailed the event as assuring the
+continuance of his race, and during the first years of infancy, the
+prospects of little Oswald were as brilliant as heart could desire.
+
+Then occurred a most unlooked-for reversal of fortune. Count
+Ettersberg, a sexagenarian and more, led to the altar as his second
+wife a girl of twenty. The young Countess was very beautiful, but she
+came of a ruined, though of a noble house. It was generally said that
+the family had spared no exertions to bring about so splendid an
+alliance. Splendid the match might certainly be called; but it was
+ill-qualified to satisfy the needs of a youthful heart, especially as,
+so it was whispered, this suit had interfered with, and roughly broken
+asunder, the bonds of a previous attachment. Whether absolute
+constraint, or persuasion only, had been used on the part of the
+relations, no one knew; however prompted, the young lady gave her
+consent to a marriage which insured her a brilliant and most enviable
+position. Old Count Ettersberg succumbed so completely to the
+influence of this tardily kindled passion that he forgot all else in
+it, and when a scarcely hoped-for happiness befell him, when a son and
+heir was placed in his arms, the dominion of his wise and beautiful
+wife became absolute.
+
+It was natural that the younger brother should feel somewhat aggrieved
+at the utter destruction of all his prospects, and natural too that
+his sister-in-law should entertain towards him no feelings of special
+friendship. The affectionate relations formerly existing between the
+brothers gave place to a coldness and estrangement which lasted until
+the death of the younger. The Colonel and his wife died within but a
+short interval, and the orphan boy was taken to his uncle's house and
+there brought up on equal terms with the young heir.
+
+But old Count Ettersberg did not survive his brother long. By his will
+he assigned the guardianship of the two boys to Baron Heideck, his
+wife's brother, and the latter justified the confidence placed in him,
+standing by his sister in every circumstance where a man's aid and
+assistance became necessary.
+
+In general, however, the will assured to the Countess perfect freedom
+and independence of action. She it was who, in reality, had control of
+the property, and who directed the education of both son and nephew.
+
+This latter was at length complete. Count Edmund had been absent all
+the winter, travelling through France and Italy in his cousin's
+company. He had now returned to make himself acquainted with the
+management of his estates, which at his approaching majority he was to
+take upon himself, while Oswald had to prepare to enter one of the
+Government bureaux.
+
+On the day succeeding the arrival of the two young men, the weather
+cleared a little, though the outer world still presented a most wintry
+aspect. The Countess was sitting with her son in her own boudoir.
+Though she stood midway between forty and fifty, the lady yet in a
+great measure retained the beauty which once had been dazzling. Her
+appearance, albeit majestic, was still so youthful, that it was
+difficult to imagine her the mother of this son of two-and-twenty,
+more especially as there was no single trait of resemblance between
+them. Edmund, with his dark hair and eyes, his sparkling gaiety and
+mobile humour, which manifested itself in every word and gesture, was
+a direct contrast to his grave, beautiful mother. Her fair tresses and
+calm blue eyes harmonised with the cool serenity of mien peculiar to
+her, a serenity which towards her darling alone would occasionally
+yield to a warmer impulse.
+
+The young Count had apparently been making an open breast with regard
+to what Oswald termed his 'follies innumerable,' but he could not have
+found it hard to obtain absolution, for his mother, though she shook
+her head as she spoke, addressed him in a tone more tender than
+reproachful.
+
+'You madcap! It is time for me to take you in hand again. In the
+perfect unconstraint you have enjoyed abroad, the maternal rein has
+grown slack indeed. Will you bear it again, now that you have come
+back to me?'
+
+'Bear control from you?--always!' returned Edmund, pressing his lips
+fervently to her white hand. Then relapsing immediately into his
+former lighthearted, saucy vein, he added: 'I told Oswald beforehand
+that the verdict on my misdeeds would be a merciful one. I know my
+lady mother well.'
+
+The Countess's face darkened.
+
+'Oswald seems to have altogether neglected his duty,' she replied. 'I
+could discover so much from your letters. As the elder and steadier of
+the two, he should have remained at your side; instead of which he
+left you to yourself, going only where he was absolutely obliged to
+follow. Had your own nature not preserved you from anything worse than
+folly, his counsels certainly would not have done so.'
+
+'Oh, he preached enough,' said Edmund. 'It was my fault, you know, if
+I did not listen to him. But before we say anything more, mother, let
+me put one question. Why has Oswald been banished to the side-wing?'
+
+'Banished! What an expression! You have seen the alterations I have
+had made in your rooms. Are you not pleased with the new
+arrangements?'
+
+'Yes, but----'
+
+'It was necessary for you to have your apartments distinct.' The
+Countess interrupted him quickly. 'Now that you are about to take
+possession of your own house, it would not be seemly for you to share
+your rooms with your cousin. He will see that himself.'
+
+'But it was not necessary to send him over to that old part of the
+castle, which is only used in exceptional cases,' objected Edmund.
+'There are rooms enough and to spare in the main building. Oswald was
+hurt by this arrangement of yours. I could see it plainly. Have it
+altered--I beg of you.'
+
+'I cannot do that without making myself ridiculous in the eyes of all
+the servants.' said the Countess, in a very decided tone. 'If you wish
+to revoke the orders I have expressly given, you are, of course, at
+liberty to do so.'
+
+'Mother!' exclaimed the young Count, impatiently. 'You know very well
+that I never interfere with your proceedings. But this might have
+stood over for a time. Oswald will be leaving us in a few months.'
+
+'Yes, in the autumn. By then my brother will have taken all necessary
+steps to introduce him into one of the Government offices.'
+
+Edmund looked down.
+
+'I rather think Oswald has other plans for the future,' he said, with
+some hesitation.
+
+'Other plans?' repeated the Countess. 'I trust that we shall not
+encounter disobedience from him a second time. Once, when he rebelled
+against entering the army, I yielded, thanks to your persuasion and
+advocacy. You were always on his side. I have not yet forgiven him his
+wilful, defiant conduct on that occasion.'
+
+'It was not defiance,' pleaded Edmund in defence. 'Only the conviction
+he felt that, as an officer and the representative of an old and noble
+name, he would not be able to keep up his position in the army without
+permanent assistance from us.'
+
+'Assistance you would amply have afforded him.'
+
+'But which he would on no account accept. He possesses, as you know,
+indomitable pride.'
+
+'Say rather unbounded arrogance,' interrupted the Countess. 'I know
+the quality, for I have had to battle with it since the day he first
+came to this house. But for my husband's formally expressed desire
+that this nephew should share your education and opportunities, I
+would never have left you so exclusively to his companionship. I never
+liked him. I cannot endure those cold searching eyes, which are always
+on the alert, which nothing escapes, not even the best-guarded
+secret.'
+
+Edmund laughed out loud.
+
+'Why, mother, you are making a regular detective of Oswald. He
+certainly is a particularly keen observer, as may be noted from his
+occasional remarks on men and things which strike no one else as
+peculiar. Here, at Ettersberg, he can, however, hardly put his talents
+to account. We have, thank God, no secrets for him to discover.'
+
+The Countess bent over some papers lying on the table, and seemed to
+be seeking for something among them.
+
+'No matter,' she said. 'I never could understand your blind partiality
+for him. You, with your frank, warm, open nature, and Oswald with his
+icy reserve! You are about as congenial as fire and water.'
+
+'The very contrast may be the cause of our mutual attraction,' said
+Edmund, jestingly. 'Oswald is not the most amiable person in the
+world, that I must admit; towards me he decidedly is not amiable at
+all. Nevertheless, I feel myself drawn to him, and he in turn is
+attracted to me--I know it.'
+
+'You think so?' said the Countess, coldly. 'You are mistaken, most
+mistaken. Oswald is one of the class who hate those from whom they
+must accept benefits. He has never forgiven me the fact that my
+marriage destroyed his own and his father's prospects, and he cannot
+forgive you for standing between him and the property. I know him
+better than you do.'
+
+Edmund was silent. He was aware from experience that any advocacy from
+him only made matters worse; for it surely aroused the maternal
+jealousy, always prompt to ignite when he spoke openly of his
+affection for this cousin, the comrade of his youth.
+
+Moreover, the conversation was here brought to a natural end, the
+subject of it at this moment appearing upon the scene.
+
+Oswald's greeting was as formal, and the Countess's reply as cool, as
+their manner had been on the preceding evening. Unfavourable as were
+the lady's sentiments towards her nephew, the duty of this morning
+call and of daily inquiries after her health was rigorously imposed
+upon him. On the present occasion the tour so recently concluded
+furnished food for discourse. Edmund related some of their adventures;
+Oswald supplemented his cousin's account, putting in a finishing touch
+here and there, and so it happened that the visit, which in general
+was exceedingly brief, had soon passed the usual quarter of an hour's
+limit.
+
+'You have both altered during the past six months,' said the Countess,
+at length. 'Your bronzed complexion especially, Edmund, gives you
+quite the appearance of a Southerner.'
+
+'I have often been taken for one,' replied Edmund. 'In the matter of
+complexion I have unfortunately inherited nothing from my beautiful
+fair mother.'
+
+The Countess smiled.
+
+'I think you may be satisfied with what Nature has done for you. You
+certainly do not resemble me. There is more likeness to your father.'
+
+'To my uncle? Hardly,' remarked Oswald.
+
+'How can you be a judge of that?' asked the Countess, rather sharply.
+'You and Edmund were mere boys when my husband died.'
+
+'No, mother; don't trouble yourself to try and discover a likeness,'
+interposed Edmund. 'I certainly have but a vague remembrance of my
+father; but, you know, we possess a portrait life-size, which was
+taken when he was in his prime. I have not a single feature of that
+face, and it really is strange, when you come to think of it, for in
+our race the family traits have usually been especially marked. Look
+at Oswald, for instance. He is an Ettersberg from the crown of his
+head to the sole of his foot. He is in every feature an exact copy of
+the old family portraits in the gallery yonder, which from one
+generation to another went on reproducing the same lines and contours.
+Heaven only knows why this historical resemblance should be denied to
+me alone! What are you gazing at me in that way for, Oswald?'
+
+The young man's eyes were, indeed, fixed on his cousin's face with a
+keen and searching scrutiny.
+
+'I think you are right,' he replied. 'You have not a single Ettersberg
+feature.'
+
+'That is but another of your venturesome assertions,' said the
+Countess, in a tone of sharp rebuke. 'It frequently happens that a
+family likeness, absent in youth, grows striking as the person
+advances in years. That will, no doubt, be the case with Edmund.'
+
+The young Count laughed and shook his head.
+
+'I doubt it. I am formed in altogether a different mould. Indeed, I
+often wonder how I, with my hot, excitable blood, my thoughtlessness
+and high spirits, for which I am always being lectured, could come of
+a race so desperately wise and virtuous; in fact, rather slow and
+stupid from overmuch virtue. Oswald, now, would represent the family
+far better than I.'
+
+'Edmund!' cried the Countess indignantly.
+
+It was uncertain whether her remonstrance applied to the young man's
+last assertion, or to his irreverent mention of his forefathers.
+
+'Well, I ask pardon of the shades of my ancestors,' said Edmund,
+rather abashed. 'You see, mother, I have none of their traditional
+excellences, not even that of sober sense.'
+
+'My aunt was meaning something else, I fancy,' said Oswald quietly.
+
+The Countess pressed her lips together tightly. Her face plainly
+betokened the dislike she had avowed to the cold, searching eyes now
+resting upon her.
+
+'Enough of this dispute on the subject of family likeness,' she said,
+waiving the point. 'Tradition affords at least as many exceptions as
+rules. Oswald, I wish you would look through these papers. You have
+some legal knowledge. Our solicitor seems to consider the issue of the
+affair as doubtful, but I am sanguine, and Edmund is of my opinion,
+that we must follow out the matter to the end.'
+
+So saying, she pushed the papers, which were lying on the table,
+across to her nephew, who glanced at their contents.
+
+'Ah, yes. They refer to the lawsuit against Councillor Ruestow of
+Brunneck.'
+
+'Good heavens! is not that business settled yet?' asked Edmund. 'Why,
+the suit was on before we left home six months ago.'
+
+Oswald smiled rather ironically.
+
+'You appear to have peculiar notions as to the length of our legal
+procedure. It may go on for years. If you will allow me, aunt, I will
+take these papers with me to my own room to look through them, unless
+Edmund would prefer to see them first.'
+
+'Oh no, spare me all that!' cried Edmund, parrying the threatened
+infliction. 'I have forgotten pretty nearly all about the business.
+This Ruestow married a daughter of Uncle Francis, I know; and he raises
+a claim to the Dornau estate, which my uncle bequeathed to me.'
+
+'And with perfect justice,' added the Countess; 'for that marriage
+took place against his wish, expressly declared. His daughter, by her
+mesalliance, broke with him and with the entire family. It was
+natural, under such circumstances, that he should disinherit her
+absolutely; and just as natural, there being no nearer relations, that
+he should annex Dornau to the entailed family estates by leaving it to
+you.'
+
+A slight cloud gathered on Edmund's brow as he listened to this
+statement.
+
+'It may be so, but the whole subject is painful to me. What do I, the
+owner of Ettersberg, want with the possession of Dornau? I seem to be
+intruding on the rights of others, who, in spite of wills and family
+squabbles, are the direct and proper heirs. What I should prefer would
+be to see a compromise effected.'
+
+'That is impossible,' said the Countess decidedly. 'Ruestow's attitude,
+from the very commencement of the affair, has been such as to preclude
+any idea of an arrangement. The way in which he attacked the will and
+proceeded against you, the acknowledged heir, was downright insulting,
+and would make any show of concession on our part appear as
+unpardonable weakness. Besides which, you have no right to set at
+nought the wishes of your relative as expressed in his will. It was
+his desire to shut out this "Frau Ruestow" from any share in his
+fortune.'
+
+'But she has been dead for years,' objected Edmund. 'And her husband
+would not in any case be entitled to inherit.'
+
+'No; but he advances a claim on behalf of his daughter.'
+
+The two young men looked up simultaneously.
+
+'His daughter? So he has a daughter?'
+
+'Certainly, a girl of about eighteen, I believe.'
+
+'And this young lady and I are the hostile claimants?'
+
+'Just so; but why this sudden interest in the matter?'
+
+'Eureka, I have it!' cried Edmund. 'Oswald, this is our charming
+acquaintance of yesterday. I see now why the meeting struck her as
+being so indescribably comic--why she refused to give her name. The
+allusion to a certain connection existing between us becomes
+intelligible. It all fits in, word for word. There can be no possible
+doubt about it.'
+
+'Perhaps, when you have time, you will tell me the meaning of all
+this,' said the Countess, who seemed to think such animation on her
+son's part unnecessary and out of place.
+
+'Certainly, mother; I will explain it to you at once. We yesterday
+made the acquaintance of a young lady, or, it would be more correct to
+say, _I_ made her acquaintance, for Oswald, as usual, vouchsafed her
+little attention--I, however, as you may imagine, was gallant enough
+for both'--and so the young Count set about relating the adventure of
+the preceding day, going into all the details with much sparkling
+humour, and exulting in the fact of having so soon discovered his
+beautiful unknown. Nevertheless, he did not succeed in calling up a
+smile to his mother's face. She listened in silence, and when he wound
+up with an enthusiastic description of his heroine, she said very
+coolly and deliberately:
+
+'You seem to look on this meeting in the light of a pleasurable
+occurrence. In your place I should have felt it to be a painful one.
+It is never agreeable to meet face to face persons with whom we are at
+strife.'
+
+'At strife?' cried Edmund. 'I can never be at strife with a young lady
+of eighteen--certainly not with this one, though she should lay claim
+to Ettersberg itself. I would with pleasure lay Dornau at her feet,
+could----'
+
+'I beg you not to treat this matter with so much levity, Edmund,'
+interrupted the Countess. 'I know that you have a leaning to these
+follies, but when serious interests are at stake they must recede into
+the background. This affair is of a serious nature. Our opponents have
+imported into it a degree of bitterness, have acted with a churlish
+insolence, which makes any personal contact a thing absolutely to be
+deprecated. You will, I hope, see this yourself, and avoid any further
+meetings with firmness and consistency.'
+
+With these lofty words she rose, and to leave no doubt in her son's
+mind as to the displeasure he had incurred, she left the room.
+
+The young Master of Ettersberg, whose authority his mother was
+constantly asserting, seemed still docile to the maternal sceptre. He
+ventured no word of reply to her sharp remonstrance, though he might
+have urged that, after all, the lawsuit concerned no one but himself.
+
+'That was to be expected,' remarked Oswald, as the door closed. 'Why
+did you not keep your supposition to yourself?'
+
+'How was I to know that it would be so ungraciously received? There
+appears to be a deadly feud between this Ruestow and our family. No
+matter, that will not prevent my going over to Brunneck.'
+
+Oswald looked up quickly from the papers he was turning over.
+
+'You are not thinking of paying the Councillor a visit, are you?'
+
+'Certainly I am. Do you think I mean to give up our charming
+acquaintance because our respective lawyers are wrangling over a cause
+which, in reality, is perfectly indifferent to me? On the contrary, I
+shall seize the opportunity of introducing myself to my lovely
+opponent as her adversary in the strife. I intend to go over very
+shortly, in the course of a few days.'
+
+'The Councillor will soon show you the door,' said Oswald drily. 'He
+is known all over the country for his surly humour.'
+
+'Well, that will only make me the more polite. I can take nothing
+amiss from the father of such a daughter, and I suppose even this bear
+will have some human points about him. What makes you look so solemn,
+Oswald? Are you jealous, old fellow? If so, you are free to ride over
+with me, and put your luck to the test.'
+
+'Do not talk such nonsense to me,' said Oswald shortly, rising as he
+spoke, and going up to the window. The rapid movement and something in
+his tone told of a certain irritability with difficulty repressed.
+
+'As you like; but I have one word more to say.' The young Count's face
+grew serious, and he cast a meaning glance in the direction of the
+adjoining room. 'Do not put forward your plans for the future just at
+present. We are not just now in a favourable humour to receive them. I
+wanted to take the lead, and make the inevitable disclosure easier to
+you, but I was met by such a hurricane that I wisely resolved not to
+acknowledge complicity in the business.'
+
+'Why should I put off an explanation? The subject must of necessity be
+broached shortly between my aunt and myself. I see no advantage in a
+delay.'
+
+'Well, you can hold your tongue for a week at least,' cried Edmund
+testily. 'I have other things to think of just now, and no desire to
+be always on guard as a mediating angel between my mother and
+yourself.'
+
+'Have I ever asked you to mediate?' said Oswald, in so sharp and
+uncourteous a tone that the young Count was roused to anger.
+
+'Oswald, this is going a little too far. I am accustomed, it is true,
+to such rudeness on your part, but really I hardly see why I should
+take from my cousin what I would endure from no one else.'
+
+'Because your cousin is a dependent, one inferior in the social scale,
+and you feel yourself called upon to show generosity towards--the poor
+relation.'
+
+The words breathed of such infinite bitterness of spirit that Edmund's
+ill-humour vanished instantly.
+
+'You are irritated,' he said kindly; 'and not without reason. But why
+do you visit your anger on me? I am in no way responsible for
+yesterday's incident. You know I cannot put myself in open opposition
+to my mother, even when my views differ decidedly from hers. But in
+this case she will give way, for if your own rooms next to mine are
+not made ready for you to-morrow, I shall remove to the side-wing and
+quarter myself upon you, spite of bats and the accumulated dust of
+ages.'
+
+The bitter expression vanished from Oswald's face, and he answered in
+a gentler voice:
+
+'You are capable of it, I believe. But no more of this, Edmund. It
+really signifies little where I spend the few months of my sojourn
+here. The rooms in the tower are very quiet, and admirably suited for
+study. I would far rather be there than here, in this castle of
+yours.'
+
+'"This castle of yours,"' repeated Edmund, in a tone of pique. 'As
+though it had not always been as much your home as mine! But I believe
+you are seeking to estrange yourself from us. Oswald, I must say, if
+things are not always pleasant between my mother and you, a great
+share of the blame rests on your shoulders. You have never shown any
+affection for her, or any ready compliance with her wishes. Cannot you
+bring yourself to it, if you try?'
+
+'I cannot comply where blind subjection is demanded of me, and where
+the whole future fortune of my life is at stake--no!'
+
+'Well, then, we may expect another family quarrel at no very distant
+date,' said Edmund, evidently ill-pleased at the prospect. 'So you
+will not have any alteration made in the rooms?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'As you like. Goodbye.'
+
+He walked off towards the door, but had not reached it when Oswald
+came quickly forth from the window-recess where he had been standing,
+and followed him.
+
+'Edmund!'
+
+'Well?' returned the other interrogatively, and halted.
+
+'I shall remain where I am, in the side-wing, but---- I thank you for
+your kindness.'
+
+The young Count smiled.
+
+'Really? That sounds almost like an apology. I really did not think
+you were capable of such expansiveness, Oswald;' and suddenly, with an
+impulse of frank, hearty affection, he threw his arm round his
+cousin's shoulder. 'Is it true that you cherish a hatred towards me,
+because Fate has willed that I should be heir to the property, because
+I stand between you and the Ettersberg estates?'
+
+Oswald looked at him again with one of those strange, penetrating
+glances which seemed to be searching the young heir's features for
+something hidden from him. This time, however, the keen scrutiny soon
+gave place to an expression of warmer, deeper feeling, to a kindlier
+ray which beamed suddenly forth, melting the icy rampart of suspicion
+and reserve.
+
+'It is not true, Edmund,' was the steady, grave reply.
+
+'I knew it,' cried Edmund. 'And now we will bury all past
+misunderstandings. As regards our travelling acquaintance, however, I
+warn you that I shall summon up all my talent--and you know how justly
+it is esteemed--to produce an effect at Brunneck. This I shall do in
+spite of your frowning visage and of my mother's high displeasure. And
+I shall succeed in my endeavours, you may rely upon it.'
+
+So saying, he caught hold of his cousin's arm, and drew him laughingly
+from the room.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Brunneck, the residence of Chief Councillor Ruestow, was situated only
+a few miles distant from Ettersberg, and had been in the hands of its
+present proprietor for a long series of years. It was a property of
+considerable extent and value, comprising various farms, and furnished
+with every improvement which modern science has devised. On all
+agricultural subjects the Councillor was looked upon as a first-class
+authority, and as, in addition to this, he owned one of the finest
+seigneurial manors of the province, his position was one of great
+influence. Brunneck could not, indeed, compare with the vast
+Ettersberg domain, but it was generally asserted that, in point of
+fortune, Ruestow was to the full as good a man as his noble neighbour.
+The numerous reforms he had introduced on his estates, and to the
+number of which he was with indefatigable energy constantly adding,
+had in the course of time become handsomely remunerative, and were now
+a source of wealth to him; whereas over at Ettersberg the management
+of the land was left almost entirely to underlings, and was conducted
+on so lofty and aristocratic a principle, that pecuniary interests
+were overlooked, and any tangible, practical return rendered out of
+the question.
+
+As has already been stated, the two families were connected by
+marriage, but this circumstance was ignored on both sides with equal
+obstinacy and hostile feeling. In the position he now occupied, the
+Councillor might more fitly have ventured to sue for the hand of a
+Fraeulein von Ettersberg. Twenty years or more ago, the young
+gentleman-farmer who had come to Dornau to pick up some knowledge of
+his future vocation, and who had but a slender fortune to rely upon,
+was certainly no suitable _parti_ for the daughter of the house. The
+young people fell in love, however, paying little heed either to
+prejudices or obstacles.
+
+When their elders harshly interfered and separated them, when all
+resistance, all entreaties, failed to move them, Ruestow persuaded his
+betrothed, who meanwhile had come of age, to take a decisive step. She
+left her home clandestinely, and the marriage was celebrated, without
+her father's consent, it is true, but with all due formality. The
+young couple hoped that, this step being once irrevocably taken,
+forgiveness would follow, but this hope proved illusive. Neither the
+young wife's oft-repeated overtures, nor the birth of a grandchild,
+not even the rapidly ensuing change in Ruestow's circumstances--he
+achieved wealth and position in a marvellously short time--could
+appease the father's wrath. The old Count was too completely under the
+influence of his relations, who looked on the middle-class connection
+with horror and aversion, and used every means in their power to
+strengthen him in his hard resolve.
+
+Frau Ruestow died without having obtained pardon, and at her death all
+chance of a reconciliation vanished. Her husband had, from the first,
+openly avowed his dislike to a family which had so cruelly wounded his
+pride and self-love. For his wife's sake alone had he tolerated the
+former attempts at peacemaking; now that he had no longer her to
+consider, he assumed towards his father-in-law and the entire clan an
+attitude of hostility and surly defiance which precluded any
+intercourse. As a result of these tactics came the will which passed
+over the granddaughter, and, without even a mention of her or her
+mother assigned Dornau to the heir of the entailed family estates.
+This will was contested by Ruestow, who would not admit of his marriage
+being thus altogether ignored, and was determined to have his daughter
+acknowledged as her grandfather's legitimate successor and heiress.
+The suit had some base to rest upon, for the deceased had not
+disinherited his grandchild in so many words. He had contented himself
+with treating her as nonexistent, and had proceeded to dispose of his
+property in the manner which seemed to him good. This lapsus, and a
+few technical errors subsequently detected, rendered the will
+assailable. The issue was, however, most uncertain, and the lawyers on
+both sides had full opportunity of exercising their sagacity and
+judgment.
+
+The Brunneck manor-house was neither so vast nor so imposing of aspect
+as Castle Ettersberg, yet it was a stately building, spacious, and
+bearing all the marks of age. The inner arrangements of the house,
+though boasting no pretence at luxury, were ordered on a scale
+suitable to the position and the fortune of the owner.
+
+In the large veranda-parlour commonly used by the family, a lady was
+sitting, busy with household accounts. This was an elderly relative of
+Ruestow's, who, on the death of that gentleman's wife, eight years
+previously, had come to preside over her cousin's establishment, and
+to act as a mother to his young daughter. She was bending over her
+books and making some memoranda when the door was hastily thrown open,
+and the Councillor himself appeared on the scene.
+
+'I wish all the lawsuits and parchments, the courts and everything
+related to them, lawyers included, were at the deuce!' he cried,
+throwing to the door with a violent bang which made his cousin jump.
+
+'Oh, Erich, how can you startle me so! You have been absolutely
+unbearable ever since that wretched suit was instituted. You seem to
+think of nothing else. Cannot you wait patiently until you see what
+the issue will be?'
+
+'Patiently?' repeated Herr Ruestow, with a bitter laugh. 'I should like
+to see the man who would not lose his patience over it. They go on
+pulling this way and that, protesting against everything we do,
+lodging one appeal after another. Every letter of that blessed will
+has been discussed, evidence has been advanced, proofs have been
+furnished, and yet they are no forwarder than they were six months
+ago, not a whit!' And as he ended his tirade he threw himself into a
+chair.
+
+Erich Ruestow was a man still in the prime of life, who, it was plain
+to see, had been handsome in his youth. Now his brow was furrowed and
+his face lined with the cares of a restless, busy life. He was,
+however, a stately, well-built person, whose appearance would have
+been eminently agreeable, but for certain evidences of a hasty temper,
+prompt to break forth on every occasion; but for, so to say, a
+pugnacity of expression which considerably impaired his good looks.
+
+'Where is Hedwig?' asked the master of the house, after a pause.
+
+'She went out riding an hour ago,' replied her cousin, who had taken
+up her memoranda again.
+
+'Went out riding? I told her not to ride to-day. This sudden thaw has
+made the roads impassable, and upon the hills the snow still lies
+deep.'
+
+'No doubt, but you are aware that Hedwig generally does the thing she
+ought not to do.'
+
+'Upon my soul, it is a strange fact, but I believe she does,' assented
+her father, who seemed to consider it merely a 'strange fact,' and not
+one calculated to excite his anger.
+
+'You have let the girl grow up in too great freedom. How often have I
+entreated you to send Hedwig to a boarding-school for a few years; but
+no, nothing would induce you to part with her.'
+
+'Because I did not want her to be estranged from me and from her home.
+I am sure I have had masters and governesses enough here at Brunneck,
+and she has learned pretty nearly everything under the sun.'
+
+'True; one thing she has learned especially, and that is how to
+tyrannise over you and the entire household.'
+
+'Don't go on preaching in that way, Lina,' said Ruestow angrily. 'You
+are always finding some fault with Hedwig. First she is thoughtless,
+then she is too superficial to please you, not deep, not "feeling"
+enough. I am satisfied with her as she is. I like my girl to be a
+bright, merry young thing, taking some pleasure in life, and not one
+of your sensitive, fashionable ladies with "feelings" and "nerves."'
+
+As he spoke the last words, he cast a rather meaning glance at
+Fraeulein Lina, who was quick to take up the gauntlet.
+
+'One has to divest one's self of any such appurtenances here at
+Brunneck, I think. You take good care of that.'
+
+'Well, I fancy the last eight years have done something for you in the
+way of getting rid of your nerves,' said Ruestow, with much apparent
+satisfaction. 'But the feelings are there still. How you felt for your
+_protege_, Baron Senden, the other day, when Hedwig sent him to the
+rightabout!'
+
+A pink flush of vexation mounted to the lady's cheek as she replied:
+
+'Hedwig, at all events, showed little enough feeling in the matter.
+She merely ridiculed an offer which would, at least, have brought any
+other girl to a serious frame of mind. Poor Senden! He was in
+despair.'
+
+'He will get over it,' observed Ruestow. 'In the first place, I believe
+that both his passion and his despair had my Brunneck, rather than my
+daughter, for their object. Her dowry would have come in nicely to
+rescue his estates, which are mortgaged over and over again; in the
+second place, it was his own fault that he met with a refusal. A man
+should know how matters stand, before he proposes definitely; and
+thirdly, I should not have given my consent to the match under any
+circumstances, for I won't have Hedwig marrying into the aristocracy.
+I had too good experience of that with my own marriage. Of all the
+grand folk who come bothering us with their visits, not one shall have
+the girl--not one of them, I say. I will find a husband for her myself
+when the proper time comes.'
+
+'And you really suppose that Hedwig will wait for that?' asked the
+lady, with gentle irony. 'Hitherto her suitors have all been
+indifferent to her. When she has an inclination towards anyone, she
+will certainly not stay to consider whether the gentleman belongs to
+the aristocracy, or whether she may not be acting contrary to her
+father's principles--and you, Erich, will submit, and do your
+darling's bidding in this, as in all else.'
+
+'Lina, do you wish to exasperate me?' shouted Ruestow. 'You seem to
+think that where my daughter is concerned I can exercise no will of my
+own.'
+
+'None at all,' she replied emphatically. Then she gathered together
+her papers and left the room.
+
+The Master of Brunneck was furious, perhaps because he could not
+altogether dispute the truth of the assertion. He paced with rapid
+steps up and down the room, and turned wrathfully upon a servant who
+entered, bearing a card.
+
+'What is it now? Another visit?'
+
+Ruestow pulled the card out of the man's hand, but nearly let it fall
+in his amazement as the name upon it met his eye.
+
+'Edmund, Count von Ettersberg? What can be the meaning of this?'
+
+'The Count desires the favour of an interview with Councillor Ruestow.'
+
+The latter looked down at the card again. There, clear and distinct,
+stood the name of Ettersberg, and, inexplicable as the circumstance
+undoubtedly was, he had no choice but to admit the strange visitor.
+
+Orders to this effect being given to the servant, the young Count
+promptly made his appearance, and greeted his neighbour, who yet was a
+perfect stranger to him, with as much ease and assurance as though
+this visit had been the most natural thing in the world.
+
+'Councillor Ruestow, you will allow me to make the personal
+acquaintance of so near a neighbour as yourself. I should have
+endeavoured to do so long ago, but my studies and subsequent travels
+have kept me so much away from Ettersberg. I have only been home on
+flying visits, and this is my first opportunity of repairing previous
+shortcomings.'
+
+At the first moment Ruestow was so staggered by this complete ignoring
+of the existing quarrel that he could not work himself up to anger. He
+grumbled something which sounded like an invitation to be seated.
+Edmund accordingly took a chair in the most unconcerned manner
+possible, and as his host showed no desire to open the conversation,
+he assumed the burden of it himself, and launched into praises of the
+admirable system of management obtaining on the Brunneck estates, a
+system with which it had long been his wish to make himself
+acquainted.
+
+Meanwhile Ruestow had minutely examined his visitor from head to foot,
+and had no doubt satisfied himself that the young gentleman's
+appearance did not tally with this pretended zealous interest in
+matters agricultural. He therefore broke in on Edmund's enthusiasm
+with the disconcerting question:
+
+'May I ask. Count, to what I am indebted for the honour of this
+visit?'
+
+Edmund saw that he must change his tactics. The mere easy jargon of
+politeness would not help him through. The Councillor's far-famed
+churlishness was already roused. A low growl, betokening a storm,
+might, as it were, be heard in the distance; but the young Count was
+well prepared for this, and was determined to remain master of the
+field.
+
+'You will not accept me simply in my quality of neighbour?' he said,
+with an affable smile.
+
+'You appear to forget that we are something else besides neighbours,
+namely, opponents in a court of justice,' retorted Ruestow, who began
+now to be angry in right earnest.
+
+Edmund examined with attention the riding-whip he held in his hand.
+
+'Oh, ah! You are alluding to that tiresome Dornau suit.'
+
+'Tiresome? Wearisome, endless, you mean, for endless it would appear
+to be. You are as well acquainted with the pleadings, I suppose, as I
+am.'
+
+'I know nothing at all about them,' confessed Edmund, with great
+ingenuousness. 'I only know that there is a dispute about my uncle's
+will which assigns Dornau to me, but the validity of which you
+contest. Pleadings? I have had copies of all the documents, certainly,
+whole volumes of them, but I never looked over their contents.'
+
+'But, Count, it is you who are carrying on this lawsuit!' cried
+Ruestow, to whom this placid indifference was something beyond belief.
+
+'Pardon me, my lawyer is carrying it on,' corrected Edmund. 'He is of
+opinion that it is incumbent on me to uphold my uncle's will at any
+cost. I do not attach any such particular value to the possession of
+Dornau myself.'
+
+'Do you suppose I do?' asked Ruestow sharply. 'My Brunneck is worth
+half a dozen such places, and my daughter has really no need to
+trouble herself about any inheritance from her grandfather.'
+
+'Well, what are we fighting for, then? If the matter stands so, some
+compromise might surely be arrived at, some arrangement which would
+satisfy both parties----'
+
+'I will hear of no compromise,' exclaimed the Councillor. 'To me it is
+not a question of money, but of principle, and I will fight it out to
+the last. If my father-in-law had chosen to disinherit us in so many
+words, well and good. We set him at defiance; he had the right to
+retaliate. I don't deny it. It is the fact of his ignoring our
+marriage in that insulting manner, as though it had not been legally
+and duly celebrated--the fact of his passing over the child of the
+marriage, and declining to recognise her as his granddaughter--this is
+what I cannot forgive him, even in his grave, and this is what makes
+me determined to assert my right. The marriage shall be established,
+in the face of those who wish to repudiate it; my daughter shall be
+acknowledged as her grandfather's sole and legitimate heiress. Then,
+when the verdict of the court has once placed this beyond all doubt,
+Dornau and all belonging to it may go to the family estates, or to the
+devil, for what I care.'
+
+'Ah, now we are getting rude,' thought Count Edmund, who had long been
+expecting some such outbreak, and who was highly amused by the whole
+affair.
+
+He had come with the settled resolve to take nothing amiss from the
+Master of Brunneck, who was looked on as an original in his way, so he
+chose to view this tirade from its humorous side, and replied, with
+undiminished good-humour:
+
+'Well, Councillor, the association is, I am sure, a very flattering
+one. It does not seem particularly probable that Dornau will lapse to
+the devil--whether it be adjudged to Brunneck or to Ettersberg, we
+must wait to see. But that is the court's business, and not ours. I
+frankly confess that I am curious to hear what all the wisdom of these
+learned counsel will ultimately bring forth.'
+
+'I must say it has not occurred to me to look at the case in that
+light,' admitted Ruestow, whose amazement grew with every minute.
+
+'No, why not? You are contending, you say yourself, for a principle
+only. I am actuated by a pious regard for my relative's expressed
+wishes. We are most enviably placed, being simply objective in the
+matter. So, for heaven's sake, let the lawyers wrangle on. Their
+squabbles need not prevent our meeting as good neighbours on friendly
+terms.'
+
+Ruestow was about to protest against the possibility of any friendly
+intercourse when the door opened, and his daughter appeared on the
+threshold. The young lady, whose cheeks were brightly tinted with the
+rapid exercise she had taken, looked even more charming to-day in her
+dark closely-fitting riding-habit than she had looked on a previous
+occasion when wrapped in furs and attired in winter clothing--so, at
+least, thought Count Edmund, who had sprung up with great alacrity,
+with more alacrity, indeed, than politeness called for, to greet her
+on her entrance. Hedwig had, no doubt, already heard from the servants
+who was with her father, for she betrayed no surprise, returning the
+Count's bow as formally as though he had been a complete stranger to
+her. The merry sparkle in her eye, however, told him that she had no
+more forgotten their first meeting than he himself. The Councillor,
+whether he liked it or not, was forced to condescend to an
+introduction; and the manner in which he pronounced the name of
+Ettersberg, a name heretofore prohibited in that house, proved that
+the bearer of it, despite the great prejudice against him, had already
+gained some ground.'
+
+'Fraeulein,' said Edmund, turning to the young lady, 'but the other day
+I learned whom Fate had assigned me as an opponent in the Dornau
+lawsuit. I therefore seize this, the first opportunity, to present
+myself in due form as your adversary in the strife.'
+
+'And you have come to Brunneck to reconnoitre the enemy's territory, I
+suppose?' replied Hedwig, entering at once into the spirit of the
+joke.
+
+'Certainly. It was my evident duty, under the circumstances. Your
+father has already pardoned this invasion of the hostile camp. I may
+trust for a like clemency from you, though you once showed yourself
+inexorable, refusing even to disclose your name.'
+
+'What is all this?' broke in Ruestow. 'You have met the Count before
+to-day?'
+
+'Yes, papa,' said Hedwig serenely. 'You know that when I was returning
+from the town the other day with the carriage and Anthony, we very
+nearly stuck in the snow, and I think I told you of the two gentlemen
+by whose assistance we managed to get home.'
+
+A light appeared to dawn on the Councillor, revealing the source of
+this sudden and extreme friendliness on his young neighbour's part. He
+had hitherto racked his brains in vain to find a reason for it, and
+the discovery now made did not seem to afford him any particular
+satisfaction; the tone of his voice was exceedingly sharp as he
+replied:
+
+'So it was Count Ettersberg, was it? Why did you conceal the name from
+me?'
+
+Hedwig laughed: 'Because I knew your prejudice against it, papa. I
+believe if an avalanche had come down upon us and swallowed us up,
+your first feeling would have been one of anger at my being caught and
+buried in company of an Ettersberg.'
+
+'Avalanches do not occur on our highroads,' growled Ruestow, to whom
+this merry humour did not commend itself.
+
+'Well, Councillor, something of the sort seemed really to have taken
+place where the road descends into the valley,' joined in Edmund. 'I
+assure you, the journey was both difficult and dangerous. I esteem
+myself happy to have been able to offer your daughter my assistance.'
+
+'Now, Count, you remained almost all the time on the carriage-step,'
+laughed Hedwig. 'It was your silent companion who really helped us in
+our need. He'--the question came rather hesitatingly--'he did not come
+over with you to-day, of course?'
+
+'Oswald was not aware that I intended riding over to Brunneck this
+afternoon,' confessed Edmund. 'He will, I know, reproach me with
+having thus deprived him of the pleasure----'
+
+'Oh, pray, do not trouble yourself to make pretty speeches,'
+interrupted the young lady, throwing back her head with an angry
+little toss, and looking as ungracious as possible--much as she had
+looked in the carriage on that previous occasion. 'I have had
+experience of your cousin's politeness, and, for my part, I certainly
+have no wish to renew the acquaintance.'
+
+Edmund did not notice the pique expressed in these words. He thought
+it natural that the sombre, unsociable Oswald should not be missed
+when he, Count Ettersberg, was present, and, moreover, using his best
+efforts to make himself agreeable. This he did with so much zeal and
+perseverance, that even Ruestow yielded to the charm. True, he
+struggled against it manfully, endeavouring by sundry barbed and
+sardonic remarks to impart a hostile tone to the conversation. But he
+was foiled at all points. His visitor's captivating manners and
+appearance won upon him more and more. The young Count was evidently
+bent on doing away with the prejudice which existed against him. He
+fascinated his hearers with his bright and sparkling talk, seducing
+them by its easy flow, and charming even by his saucy humour. The
+enemy, as personified in the master of the house, was overthrown and
+bound hand and foot before either side was well aware of the fact.
+Ruestow, at length, altogether forgot with whom he was dealing, and
+when after a protracted visit Edmund rose to go, his host actually
+accompanied him to the door, and even shook him cordially by the hand
+on parting.
+
+It was only when the Councillor returned to the sitting-room that a
+full consciousness of what had occurred loomed upon him. Then his
+anger revived in full force. As he came in, Hedwig was standing out on
+the balcony, looking after the young Count, who turned and waved her
+an adieu as he galloped away. This gave the signal for the storm to
+break forth.
+
+'Well, upon my word, this passes all belief! I don't know that I ever
+heard of such a piece of impudence! Count von Ettersberg to come
+riding over here, doing the agreeable, treating the whole affair of
+the lawsuit as a mere bagatelle. He talked of a compromise, begad! of
+meeting on friendly terms, of the Lord knows what; fairly addling one,
+taking one's breath away with his audacity. But I will not put up with
+it a second time. If he really shows himself here again, I will have
+him told--politely, of course--that I am not at home.'
+
+'You will do nothing of the kind, papa,' said Hedwig, who had gone up
+to him and laid her arm caressingly about his neck. 'You were too
+pleased with him yourself for that.'
+
+'Ah, and you still more so, I suppose, my young lady?' said the
+father, with a highly critical, scrutinizing look. 'Do you imagine I
+can't guess what brought the young gentleman over to Brunneck? Do you
+think I did not see him kiss your hand as he took leave of you? But I
+will put a stop to this, once and for all. I will have nothing to
+do with any Ettersberg; I know the set by experience. Arrogance,
+selfishness, stupid obstinacy--those are the characteristics of the
+race. They are all alike, all cut out on the same pattern.'
+
+'That is not true, papa,' said Hedwig decidedly. 'My mother was an
+Ettersberg, and you were very happy with her.'
+
+The remark was so telling, that it quite disconcerted Ruestow.
+
+'That--that was an exception,' he stammered at length.
+
+'I believe Count Edmund is an exception too,' declared Hedwig
+confidently.
+
+'Oh, you believe that, do you? You seem to have a great knowledge of
+character for a girl of eighteen,' cried the Councillor, and forthwith
+delivered a lecture to his daughter, in which the before-mentioned
+'principles' were much insisted on. Fraeulein Hedwig listened with an
+expression of countenance which said plainly enough that the said
+'principles' were highly indifferent to her, and if her father could
+have read her thoughts, he would again have had the 'strange fact'
+forced upon him that, on this occasion as on most others, she proposed
+to adopt a contrary course to that enjoined upon her.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+March and the greater part of April had gone by; snowstorms and sharp
+frosts were things of the past. Nevertheless, spring came but tardily.
+The country, which at this season of the year is usually decked in
+vernal bloom, looked bare and desolate. Warmth and sunshine were
+well-nigh unknown, and for weeks together the weather continued as
+ungenial as it well could be.
+
+To all outward appearance, the hostile relations between Ettersberg
+and Brunneck remained unmodified. The lawsuit dragged its weary length
+along, both parties maintaining their original position, and no
+attempt at a compromise was, or seemed likely to be, made. The
+Countess furnished all instructions in her son's name, that young
+gentleman taking not the smallest interest in the affair; and the
+Councillor represented his daughter, a minor, who naturally could have
+no opinion in the matter.
+
+It had been so from the beginning, therefore the delegation of
+authority was accepted as a thing of course.
+
+But the principal persons concerned, the real opponents in this legal
+warfare, were by no means so passive as they appeared to be; and the
+parents, while pursuing their own determined course, upholding their
+'principles' with the utmost persistency, little guessed what was
+preparing for them in secret.
+
+Ruestow himself had been absent from Brunneck during the last few
+weeks. Some business connected with a great industrial enterprise of
+which he was one of the promoters had called him to the capital. His
+counsel and aid were needed and sought in high quarters; unlooked-for
+delays occurred, and his stay, which was to have been a short one, had
+extended over an entire month.
+
+When Count Ettersberg, after an interval of a week, repeated his visit
+to Brunneck, he found the master of the house absent. Fraeulein Hedwig
+and her aunt were at home, however, and Edmund naturally made the most
+of his opportunity and ingratiated himself with the two ladies. This
+second visit was promptly succeeded by a third and a fourth; and from
+this time forward, by some remarkable accident, it invariably happened
+that when the ladies drove out, took a walk, or paid a visit in the
+neighbourhood, the young Count would be found at the same hour on the
+same road. By this fortunate chance, greetings were frequently
+exchanged, and meetings of varying duration occurred. In short, the
+friendly intercourse proposed some time before was thriving and
+prospering exceedingly.
+
+The Councillor knew nothing of all this. His daughter did not consider
+it necessary to mention the matter in her letters, and Edmund pursued
+the same tactics with regard to his mother. To his cousin he had,
+indeed, imparted with triumphant glee the fact of that first invasion
+of the enemy's camp; but as Oswald made some rather sharp observations
+on the subject, describing any intercourse with Brunneck during the
+progress of the lawsuit as improper in the highest degree, no further
+communications were vouchsafed him.
+
+On a rather cool and cloudy morning towards the end of April, Count
+Edmund and Oswald sallied out into the woods together. The Ettersberg
+forests were of great extent, stretching away to, and partly clothing,
+the low chain of hills which acted as advanced sentinels to the
+mountain-range beyond. The two gentlemen bent their steps in the
+direction of the rising ground. They had evidently something more than
+a pleasant walk in view, for they carefully surveyed the trees and the
+land as they advanced, and Oswald frequently addressed his cousin in
+terms of urgent appeal.
+
+'Now just look at these woods! It really is astounding to see how
+things have been mismanaged here during the last few years. Why, they
+have cut down half your timber for you. I cannot understand how you
+were not at once struck by the fact yourself. You have been riding
+about all over the place nearly every day.'
+
+'Oh, I did not think about it,' said Edmund. 'But you are right, it
+does look rather queer. The steward declares, I believe, that he had
+no other way of covering the deficit in the receipts.'
+
+'The steward declares just what seems good to him, and as he stands
+high in favour with your mother, she accepts it all and gives him full
+tether, allowing him to act as he sees fit.'
+
+'I will talk to my mother about it,' declared the young Count. 'It
+would be a great deal better, though, if you would do it yourself. You
+can explain these matters much more clearly and cogently than I can.'
+
+'You know that I never offer advice to your mother on any subject. She
+would consider it an unjustifiable piece of impertinence on my part,
+and would reject it accordingly.'
+
+Edmund made no reply to this last observation, the truth of which he
+no doubt recognised.
+
+'Are you of opinion that the steward is dealing unfairly by us?' he
+asked, after a short pause.
+
+'Not that precisely, but I consider him to be incompetent, wholly
+unfitted for the position of trust he occupies. He has no initiative,
+no method or power of keeping things together. As it is with the
+forests, so is it with all under his rule. Each man on the place does
+what seemeth best in his own eyes. If matters are allowed to go on in
+this way, I tell you they will absolutely ruin your property. Look at
+Brunneck; see the order that reigns there. Councillor Ruestow draws as
+much from that one estate as you from the whole Ettersberg domain,
+though the resources here are incomparably greater. Hitherto you have
+had to confide in others. You have been absent for years, first at the
+University, then abroad; but now you are on the spot--you are here
+expressly to look after your property for yourself. Energetic measures
+must at once be taken.'
+
+'Good heavens! what discoveries you have made during the six weeks we
+have spent at home!' said Edmund, in a tone of sincere admiration. 'If
+it is all as you say, I certainly shall have to take some steps; but
+I'll be hanged if I know how I ought to begin!'
+
+'First of all, dismiss those employes who have proved themselves
+incapable; put men of more power and intelligence in their place. I
+almost fear that you will have to change the entire staff.'
+
+'Not for the world! Why, that would give rise to perplexities and
+disagreeables without end. It is painful to me to see all new faces
+about me, and it would take months before they settled down into
+harness, and got used to their work. Meanwhile, all the burden would
+fall upon me. I should have to do everything myself.'
+
+'That is what you are master for. You can at least command those
+beneath you.'
+
+Edmund laughed.
+
+'Ah, if I had your special liking and talent for command! In a month
+you would have metamorphosed Ettersberg, and in three years you would
+make of it a model establishment after the pattern of Brunneck. Now,
+if you were going to stay by me, Oswald, it would be different. I
+should have some one to back and support me then; but you are
+determined to go away in the autumn, and here shall I be all alone
+with unreliable or strange new servants to deal with. Pretty prospect,
+I must say! I have not formally taken possession yet, and the whole
+concern has become a worry to me already.'
+
+'As Fate has willed that you should be heir to the estates, you must
+perforce bear the heavy burden laid upon you,' said Oswald
+sarcastically. 'But once more, Edmund, it is high time something
+should be done. Promise me that you will proceed to action without
+delay.'
+
+'Certainly, certainly,' assented the young Count, who had visibly had
+enough of the subject. 'As soon as I can find time--just now I have so
+many other things to think of.'
+
+'Things of more importance than the welfare of your estates?'
+
+'Possibly. But I must be off now. Are you going straight back home?'
+
+The question was a particularly pointed one. Oswald did not notice
+this; he had turned away in evident displeasure.
+
+'Certainly. Are not you coming with me?'
+
+'No, I am going over to the lodge. The forester has my Diana in
+training, and I must go over and have a look at her.'
+
+'Must your visit be made now?' asked Oswald, in surprise. 'You know
+that the lawyer is coming over from town at twelve o'clock to-day, to
+hold a conference with you and your mother on the subject of the
+lawsuit, and that you have promised to be punctual?'
+
+'Oh! I shall be back long before then,' said Edmund lightly. 'Good
+bye for the present, Oswald. Don't look so black at me. I give you my
+word that I will have a thorough good talk with the steward to-morrow,
+or the day after. Any way, I will have it out with him, you may depend
+upon it.'
+
+So saying, he struck into a side-path, and soon disappeared among the
+trees.
+
+Oswald looked after him with a frowning brow.
+
+'Neither to-morrow, nor the next day, nor, in fact, ever, will a
+change be made. He has some fresh folly in his head, and Ettersberg
+may go to the dogs for anything he cares. But, after all'--and an
+expression of profound bitterness flitted like a spasm across the
+young man's face--'after all, what is it to me? I am but a stranger on
+this soil, and shall always remain so. If Edmund will not listen to
+reason, he must take the consequences. I will trouble myself no
+further about the matter.'
+
+But this was more easily said than done; Oswald's gaze constantly
+wandered back to the mutilated forest, where such cruel gaps were to
+be seen. His anger and indignation at the senseless, purposeless work
+of devastation he beheld on all sides grew too strong to be subdued,
+and instead of returning home, as he had intended, he continued on his
+way uphill, to inspect the state of the woods on the higher ground.
+What he there saw was not of a consoling nature. Everywhere the axe
+had been at its work of destruction, and not until he reached the
+summit could a change be noted. Here, on the heights, began the
+Brunneck territory, where a different and a better order of things
+prevailed.
+
+A wish to draw a comparison first drew Oswald on to the neighbour's
+land, but his anger swelled high within him as he paced on through the
+noble woods and carefully preserved plantations, with which, in their
+present maimed condition, the Ettersberg forests could certainly not
+compare. What a great work the energy and activity of one man had
+effected here at Brunneck, and how, on the other hand, had Ettersberg
+fallen! Since the old Count's death, the care of the estates had been
+left almost entirely in the hands of employes. The Countess, an
+exalted lady who from the day of her marriage had known nothing, seen
+nothing but wealth and splendour, considered it a matter of course
+that the administration of affairs should be conducted by
+subordinates, and that the family should be troubled on such subjects
+as little as possible. Moreover, the establishment was kept up on a
+costly footing; the sums for its maintenance had to be found, and, of
+course, the estates must be made to provide them--it signified little
+how. The Countess's brother, Edmund's guardian, lived in the capital.
+He filled a high office under the State, and was much taken up by the
+duties and claims of his position. He interfered but rarely; never
+except in special cases when his sister desired his counsel and
+assistance. Her husband's testamentary arrangements had vested all
+real authority in her. There would, of course, be an end to all this
+now that Edmund was of age; but proof had just been forthcoming of
+what might be expected from the young heir's energy and concern for
+the welfare of his estates. Oswald told himself, with bitter vexation
+of spirit, that he should see one of the finest properties of the
+country drift on to certain ruin, owing entirely to the heedlessness
+and indifference of its owner; and the thought was the more galling to
+him that he felt assured a swift and energetic course of action might
+still repair the mischief that had been done. There was yet time. Two
+short years hence it might possibly be too late.
+
+Absorbed by these reflections, the young man had plunged deeper and
+deeper into the woods. Presently he stopped and looked at his watch.
+More than an hour had passed since he had parted with Edmund--the
+young Count must long ere this have turned his face homewards. Oswald
+determined that he also would go back, but for his return he chose
+another and a somewhat longer route. No duty called him home. His
+presence at the conference to be held that day was neither necessary
+nor desired. He was therefore free to extend his walk according to his
+fancy.
+
+Those must have been singular meditations which occupied the young
+man's mind as he paced slowly on. The forests and the steward's
+mismanagement had long ago passed from his thoughts. It was some other
+hidden trouble which knit his brow with that menacing frown, and lent
+to his face that harsh, implacable expression--an expression that
+seemed to say he was ready to do battle with the whole world. Dark and
+troubled musings were they, revolving incessantly about one haunting
+subject from which he strove in vain to tear himself free, but which,
+nevertheless, held him more and more captive.
+
+'I will not think of it any more,' he said at length, half aloud. 'It
+is always the same thing, always the old wretched suspicion which I
+cannot put from me. I have nothing--absolutely nothing to confirm it,
+or to base it upon, and yet it embitters my every hour, poisons every
+thought--away with it!'
+
+He passed his hand across his brow, as though to scare away all
+tormenting fancies, and walked on more quickly along the road, which
+now took a sharp turn and suddenly emerged from the forest. Oswald
+stepped out on to an open hill-summit, but stopped suddenly, rooted to
+the ground in astonishment at the unlooked-for spectacle which
+presented itself.
+
+Not twenty paces from him, on the grassy slope close to the border of
+the forest, a young lady was seated. She had taken off her hat, so a
+full view of her face could be obtained--and he who had once looked on
+that charming face, with its dark beaming eyes so full of light, could
+not readily forget it.
+
+The young lady was Hedwig Ruestow, and close by her, in most suggestive
+proximity, lounged Count Edmund, who certainly could not have paid his
+visit to the forester in the interval. The two were engaged in an
+animated conversation, which did not, however, appear to turn on
+serious or very important topics. It was rather the old war of
+repartee which they had waged with so much satisfaction to themselves
+on the occasion of their first meeting, the same exchange of banter,
+of merry jests accompanied by gleeful laughter; but to-day their
+manner told of much familiarity. Presently Edmund took the hat from
+the girl's hand and threw it on to the grass; after which, lifting the
+little palms to his lips, he imprinted on them one fervid kiss after
+the other, Hedwig offering no opposition, but accepting it all as the
+most natural thing in the world.
+
+For some moments the amazed spectator stood motionless, watching the
+pair. Then he turned and would have stepped back among the trees
+unnoticed, but a dry bough crackled beneath his feet and betrayed him.
+
+Hedwig and Edmund looked up simultaneously, and the latter sprang
+quickly to his feet.
+
+'Oswald!'
+
+His cousin saw that a retreat was now impossible. He therefore
+reluctantly left his position and advanced towards the young people.
+
+'So it is you, is it?' said Edmund, in a tone which vacillated between
+annoyance and embarrassment. 'Where do you come from?'
+
+'From the woods,' was the laconic reply.
+
+'I thought you said you were going straight home.'
+
+'I thought you were going over to the forester's lodge, which lies in
+the opposite direction.'
+
+The young Count bit his lips. He was, no doubt, conscious that he
+could not pass off this meeting as an accidental one. Moreover, those
+fervent kisses must have been witnessed--so he resolved to put as good
+a face upon it as possible.
+
+'You know Fraeulein Ruestow, having been present at our first meeting; I
+therefore need not introduce you,' he said lightly.
+
+Oswald bowed to the young lady with all a stranger's frigid courtesy.
+
+'I must apologize for intruding,' he said. 'The interruption was most
+involuntary on my part. I could have no idea that my cousin was here.
+Allow me to take my leave at once, Fraeulein.'
+
+Hedwig had risen in her turn. She evidently was more keenly alive to
+the awkwardness of the situation than Edmund, for her cheeks were
+suffused by a flaming blush, and her eyes sought the ground.
+Something, however, in the tone of this address, which, though polite,
+was icy in its reserve, struck her disagreeably, and she looked up.
+Her glance met Oswald's, and there must have been that in the
+expression of his face which wounded her and called her pride into
+arms; for suddenly the dark blue eyes kindled with indignant fire, and
+the voice, which so lately had rung out in merry jest and silver-clear
+laughter, shook with emotion and anger as she cried:
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg, I beg of you to remain.'
+
+Oswald, on the point of departure, halted. Hedwig went up to the young
+Count, and laid her hand on his.
+
+'Edmund, you will not let your cousin go from us in this manner. You
+will give him the necessary explanation--immediately, on the spot. You
+must see that he--that he misunderstands.'
+
+Oswald, involuntarily, had drawn back a step, as the familiar 'Edmund'
+met his ears. The Count himself seemed somewhat taken aback by the
+determined, almost authoritative tone which he now heard probably for
+the first time from those lips.
+
+'Why, Hedwig, it was you yourself who imposed silence on me,' he said.
+'Otherwise I should certainly not have kept the fact of our attachment
+secret from Oswald. You are right. We must take him into our
+confidence now. My severe Mentor is capable else of preaching us both
+a long sermon, setting forth our iniquity. We will therefore go
+through the introduction in due form. Oswald, you see before you my
+affianced wife and your future relation, whom I herewith commend to
+your cousinly esteem and affection.'
+
+This introduction, though decidedly meant in earnest, was performed in
+the Count's old light, jesting tone; but the gay humour, which Hedwig
+was usually so prompt to echo, seemed to jar upon her now almost
+painfully. She stood quite silent by her lover's side, watching with
+strange intensity the new relative opposite, who was mute as herself.
+
+'Well?' said Edmund, surprised and rather hurt at this silence. 'Have
+you no congratulations to offer us?'
+
+'I must in the first place sue for pardon,' said Oswald, turning to
+the young girl. 'For such a piece of news, I certainly was not
+prepared.'
+
+'That is entirely your own fault,' laughed Edmund. 'Why did you
+receive my communication so ungraciously when I told you about my
+first visit to Brunneck? There was every prospect for you then of
+filling the post of confidant. But I must say, Hedwig, we are not
+lucky as regards our rendezvous. This is the first time we have met
+alone, unsheltered by Aunt Lina's protecting wing--and behold, we are
+overtaken by this Cato! The philosopher's face is so eloquent of
+horror at witnessing an act of homage on my part that we are obliged
+at once to soothe him back into calm by notifying to him our
+engagement. You may recall your little pleasantry about the
+"intrusion," my dear fellow, and proceed to express--rather
+tardily--your wishes for our happiness.'
+
+'I congratulate you,' said Oswald, taking his cousin's proffered hand;
+'and you too, Fraeulein.'
+
+'How very monosyllabic! Can it be that we are to have a foe in you?
+That would be the drop too much. It will be quite enough for us to
+meet the opposition which our beloved parents will in all probability
+offer to our plans. We shall be between two fires, and I hope, at
+least, to be able to count on you as an ally.'
+
+'You are aware that I have no influence with my aunt,' said Oswald
+quietly. 'In that quarter you must trust to your own powers of
+persuasion alone. But precisely for this reason you should avoid
+giving your mother any extra cause for offence, and offend her you
+certainly will, if you are not present at to-day's conference. Your
+lawyer must be waiting at Ettersberg at the present moment, and you
+have a good hour's walk before you. Excuse me, Fraeulein, but I am
+forced to remind my cousin of a duty which he appears to have entirely
+lost sight of.'
+
+'Is there a conference at the castle to-day?' asked Hedwig, who had
+remained wonderfully quiet during the last few minutes.
+
+'Yes, about the Dornau business,' said Edmund, laughing. 'We are still
+at open feud--irreconcilable enemies, you know. In your company I had
+certainly forgotten all about lawsuits and appointments. It is
+fortunate that Oswald has reminded me of them. I must perforce be
+present to-day, and concoct plans with my mother and the lawyer for
+snatching Dornau from the enemy. They little dream that we settled the
+matter in dispute long ago by the unusual, but highly practical,
+compromise of a betrothal.'
+
+'And when will they hear this?' inquired Oswald.
+
+'As soon as I know how Hedwig's father takes the affair. He came back
+yesterday, and that is why we wanted some quiet talk together, to draw
+up the plan of the campaign. Ettersberg and Brunneck will thrill with
+horror at the news, no doubt, and do the Montague and Capulet business
+yet a little longer; but we shall take care there is no tragic ending
+to the drama. It will wind up to the tune of wedding-bells.'
+
+He spoke with such gay confidence, and the smile with which Hedwig
+answered him was so superb and assured of victory, that it was evident
+the parents' opposition was not looked upon by the young people as a
+real obstacle, likely to involve any serious conflict. They were fully
+conscious of their power and influence where father and mother were
+concerned.
+
+'But now I really must go home,' cried Edmund, making a start. 'It is
+true that I should not rouse my lady-mother's displeasure just now,
+and nothing displeases her more than to be kept waiting. Excuse me,
+Hedwig, if I leave you here. Oswald will replace me, and will
+accompany you back through the wood. As you are so soon to be related,
+you must become better acquainted with him. He is not always so
+taciturn as he appears at a first meeting. Oswald, I solemnly entrust
+my affianced wife to your protection and knightly conduct. So
+farewell, my charming Hedwig!'
+
+He carried the girl's hand tenderly to his lips, waved an adieu to his
+cousin, and hurried away.
+
+The two who were left were, it seemed, not agreeably surprised by the
+Count's sudden arrangement. They certainly did not fall into the tone
+of cousinly familiarity so promptly as he had wished. A cloud rested
+on the young girl's brow, and Oswald's manner showed as yet little of
+the chivalrous gallantry which had been enjoined upon him. At length
+he spoke:
+
+'My cousin has kept his acquaintance with you so secret, that the
+disclosure he has just made took me altogether by surprise.'
+
+'You made that sufficiently evident, Herr von Ettersberg,' replied
+Hedwig. It was strange how lofty and decided a tone she could adopt
+when really serious and in earnest.
+
+Oswald approached slowly. 'You are offended Fraeulein, and justly
+offended, but the greater blame rests with Edmund. He ought never to
+have exposed his betrothed, his future wife, to such misconceptions as
+that of which I was guilty.'
+
+At this allusion a crimson flush again mounted to Hedwig's cheek.
+
+'The reproach you address in words to Edmund is in reality aimed at
+me, for I was a consenting party. My imprudence was only made manifest
+to me just now by your look and tone.'
+
+'I have already apologized, and now once more I pray to be forgiven,'
+said Oswald earnestly. 'But ask yourself, Fraeulein, what a stranger,
+to whom a frank, straightforward explanation could not have been
+given, would have thought of this meeting? I say again, my cousin
+should not have induced you to agree to it.'
+
+'Edmund always speaks of you as his Mentor,' exclaimed Hedwig, with
+unmistakable annoyance. 'It seems that, as I am engaged to be married
+to him, I also am to enjoy the privilege of being ... educated by
+you.'
+
+'I merely wished to warn, and by no means to offend you. It is for you
+to judge in what spirit you should take the warning.'
+
+She made no reply. The grave earnestness of his words was not without
+effect upon her, though it did not altogether calm her ruffled spirit.
+
+Hedwig picked up her hat, which lay neglected on the ground, and sat
+down in her former place to rearrange the crushed flowers. The fresh
+and dainty spring headgear had suffered a little from its contact with
+the grass, still damp with mist and rime; such a hat was, indeed,
+hardly suited to the inclement April day. Spring comes tardily among
+the mountains, and this year especially she showed no smiling
+countenance. Her advent was heralded by rain and tempest. To frosty
+nights succeeded days of mist, through which the pale sunshine gleamed
+but fitfully.
+
+On this day the sky was as usual shrouded in masses of gray cloud. A
+wall of fog shut out the distant horizon, and the air was close and
+laden with moisture. The woods were still bare and leafless; in the
+undergrowth alone signs of the first tender green could be seen
+sprouting timidly forth. Each leaflet, each bud, had to struggle for
+existence, with difficulty holding its own in that raw, keen
+temperature. The scene altogether was cheerless and desolate.
+
+Oswald made no attempt to renew the conversation, and Hedwig, for her
+part, showed but little inclination to pursue it. After a while,
+however, the silence became oppressive to her, and she ventured the
+first remark that suggested itself.
+
+'What a miserable April! Anyone would think we were in cold, foggy
+autumn, with winter closing in upon us. We are to be cheated this year
+of all our spring delights.'
+
+'Are you so fond of spring?' asked Oswald.
+
+'I should like to know who is not fond of it? When one is young,
+flowers and sunshine seem necessary as the air we breathe. One cannot
+do without them. But perhaps you are of a different opinion.'
+
+'It all depends. Flowers and sunshine do not come with every spring;
+nor are they given to everyone in their youth.'
+
+'Were they not given to you?'
+
+'No.'
+
+The negative was very harsh and decided. Hedwig glanced up at the
+speaker; it occurred to her, perhaps, that he was austere and
+undelightful as the spring day which excited her displeasure. What a
+contrast was there between this conversation and the sparkling,
+playful babble in which the young engaged pair had so recently
+indulged here, on the self-same spot! Even the 'plan of campaign' to
+be undertaken against their parents had been sketched out in a spirit
+of drollery, amid endless pleasantries, and any lurking anxiety as to
+the issue had been chased away by jests and laughter. But now, with
+Oswald von Ettersberg standing before her in his cold unyielding
+attitude, not only all the merriment, but all desire for it, had
+vanished as by enchantment. This solemn strain of talk seemed to come
+as a matter of course, and the young girl even experienced a certain
+attraction in it and desire to pursue it.
+
+'You lost your parents early? Edmund has told me so; but at Ettersberg
+you found a second home and a second mother.'
+
+The stern, aggressive look, which for a while had disappeared, showed
+itself again in the young man's face, and his lips twitched almost
+imperceptibly.
+
+'You mean my aunt, the Countess?'
+
+'Yes. Has she not been a mother to you?' Again there came that slight
+spasmodic working about the corners of the mouth, which was anything
+rather than a smile, but his voice was perfectly calm, as he replied:
+
+'Oh, certainly. Still, there is a difference between being the only
+child of the house--beloved as you and Edmund have been--and a
+stranger admitted by favour.'
+
+'Edmund looks on you exactly as a brother,' interrupted the young
+girl. 'It is a great grief to him that you are meaning to leave him so
+soon.'
+
+'Edmund appears to have been very communicative with regard to me,'
+said Oswald coldly. 'So he has told you of that already, has he?'
+
+Hedwig flushed a little at this remark.
+
+'It is natural, I think, that he should make me acquainted with the
+affairs of the family I am likely to enter. He mentioned this fact to
+me, lamenting that all his efforts to induce you to remain at
+Ettersberg had failed.'
+
+'To remain at Ettersberg?' repeated Oswald, with unfeigned
+astonishment. 'My cousin could not possibly have been in earnest. In
+what capacity would he have me remain there?'
+
+'In your present capacity of a friend and near relation, I suppose.'
+
+The young man smiled bitterly.
+
+'Fraeulein, you have probably no idea of the position occupied by so
+superfluous a member of a family, or you would not expect me to hold
+out in it longer than necessity compels. There may be men who,
+accepting the convenient and pleasant side of such a life, could shut
+their eyes to its true significance; I have been absolutely unable to
+do so. Truly, it never was my intention to remain at Ettersberg and
+now I would not stay, no, not for the whole world!'
+
+He spoke the last words with fire. His eyes kindled with a strange
+lightning-like gleam, of which one would not have supposed those cold
+orbs capable. It flashed on the young girl and was gone, and who
+should determine the true meaning of it?
+
+To Hedwig, accustomed to read in other glances a tender homage and
+admiration, which this certainly did not convey, the look remained
+problematical.
+
+'Why not now?' she asked in surprise. 'What do you mean by that?'
+
+'Oh, nothing, nothing! I was alluding to family affairs which are
+unknown to you as yet.'
+
+Evidently he repented his hasty error; as though in anger at himself,
+he fiercely snapped to pieces a branch which he had torn from a
+neighbouring bush.
+
+Hedwig was silent, but the explanation did not suffice her. She felt
+there must have been other grounds for the sudden vehemence and bitter
+emphasis with which he had spoken those words. Was it the thought of
+her entering the family which had roused him thus? Did this new
+relation intend to take up a hostile attitude towards her from the
+very first? And what did that strange, that enigmatic glance portend?
+She sat thinking over all this, while Oswald, who had turned away,
+looked persistently over in the opposite direction.
+
+Suddenly, from the higher ground, a low, far-off sound was wafted
+down. It was like the chirping of many birds, and yet consisted in a
+single note, long drawn out.
+
+Hedwig and Oswald looked up simultaneously. High in the air above them
+hovered a swallow. As they looked, it directed its course downwards,
+shooting by them so close that it almost brushed their foreheads in
+its arrow-like swiftness. Quickly following the first came a second
+and a third, and presently out of the misty distance a whole flight
+was seen emerging. On they came, nearer and still nearer, winging
+their way rapidly through the moist, heavy air. Then, circling above
+the woods and hilltops, they dispersed fluttering about in all
+directions, joyfully greeting, as it were, the old home they had found
+again. Here, with their gracious, hopeful message, were the first
+harbingers of spring.
+
+The lonely hill-side  had suddenly grown animated, a scene of movement
+and of life. Restlessly, incessantly, the swallows darted hither and
+thither, sometimes high overhead at an unattainable distance, then
+quite low to the ground, almost touching the soil. Backwards and
+forwards shot the pretty slender creatures on facile wings, so swiftly
+that the eye could hardly follow them; and all the while the air was
+resonant with that low happy piping which has nothing in common with
+the nightingale's trill or the lark's ecstasy of song, and which yet
+is sweeter to man's ears than either, because it is the herald's note,
+proclaiming the approach of Spring, and bearing her first message to
+fair nature, fresh from the long winter trance.
+
+Hedwig had started from her reverie. All else was suddenly forgotten.
+Bending eagerly forwards, with a glad radiance in her eyes, she
+watched the tiny newcomers; then, with all the delight, the joyful
+excitement of a child, she cried:
+
+'Oh, the swallows, the swallows!'
+
+'Truly, they are here,' assented her companion, 'and fortunate they
+may consider themselves in receiving so hearty a welcome.'
+
+The cool observation fell like a chilling hoarfrost on the girl's
+innocent joy. She turned and measured the sober spectator at her side
+with an indignant glance.
+
+'To you, Herr von Ettersberg, it appears inconceivable how one can
+rejoice over anything. It is not one of your failings, and I dare say
+the poor swallows to you signify nothing--you have never bestowed the
+smallest attention on them.'
+
+'Oh, pardon me! I have always envied them for their distant
+journeyings, their free powers of flight, which nothing shackles or
+restrains. Ah, liberty! there is nothing better, no higher good in
+life than liberty!'
+
+'No higher good?'
+
+The question was put in a tone of anger and indignation, making the
+answer seem all the colder and more decided.
+
+'None, in my estimation, at least.'
+
+'Really, one would think you had hitherto been languishing in chains,'
+said Hedwig, with unconcealed irony.
+
+'Must one breathe dungeon-air in order to long for freedom?' asked
+Oswald in the same tone, only that his irony amounted to scathing
+sarcasm. 'The accidents of life often forge fetters which weigh more
+heavily than the real iron chains of a captive.'
+
+'Then the fetters must be shaken off.'
+
+'Quite true, they must be shaken off. Only that is much more easily
+said than done. They who have never been otherwise than free, hardly
+prize their liberty, looking upon it as a thing of course. They cannot
+understand how others will strive and struggle for years, will stake
+life itself to secure that precious guerdon. But, after all, the
+efforts matter little, if the end be but attained.'
+
+He turned away, and seemed to be attentively watching the swallows in
+their rapid flittings to and fro. A fresh silence ensued, lasting
+longer, and putting Hedwig's patience to a still severer test than
+those which had previously occurred. These lapses in the conversation
+were strange and intolerable to her. Really, this Oswald von
+Ettersberg was an audacious personage. In the first place he presumed
+to reprimand her with regard to her meeting with Edmund; then he
+declared sharply, and with an emphasis which was almost insulting,
+that nothing should now induce him to remain on in his cousin's house;
+then he began to talk of dungeons and all sorts of disagreeable
+things, and finally lapsed into absolute silence, giving himself up to
+his meditations as completely as though a young lady, his cousin's
+promised wife, were not in his company. Hedwig thought the measure of
+his rudeness was filled, and she rose to go.
+
+'It is time for me to be returning,' she remarked shortly.
+
+'I am at your service.'
+
+Oswald moved forward, intending to escort her, but she waved him back
+with an ungracious gesture.
+
+'Thank you, Herr von Ettersberg. I know the way perfectly.'
+
+'Edmund expressly charged me to see you home,' objected Oswald.
+
+'And I release you from the obligation,' rejoined the young lady, in a
+tone which plainly said the young Count's wishes were not as law to
+her when opposed to her own will. 'I came alone, and will go back
+alone.'
+
+Oswald retreated at once.
+
+'Then you must make haste to reach Brunneck,' he said coolly. 'The
+clouds are gathering yonder, and in half an hour we shall have rain.'
+
+Hedwig looked inquiringly at the threatening clouds. 'I shall be home
+long before then; and if it comes to the worst, I think nothing of
+being caught in a spring shower. The swallows have reappeared, you
+know--have told us that spring is coming at last.'
+
+The words were spoken almost in a tone of challenge, but the gauntlet
+was not taken up. Oswald merely bowed with an air of constrained
+politeness, thereby forfeiting the young lady's last remnant of
+indulgence. She, in return, strove to infuse the utmost chilliness
+into her parting salutation, after which she hastened away, light and
+swift of foot as a roe.
+
+This haste was not induced by fear of rain, for when she had left the
+hill-side  well behind her, Hedwig slackened her pace. She only wished
+to get out of the neighbourhood of this unbearable 'Mentor,' who had
+tried to extend his system of education to her, and had been guilty of
+considerable rudeness in the attempt. He had not even raised any
+serious objection when she declined his escort. She had fully meant
+it, but the merest politeness demanded some words of regret at her
+decision. Yet there had been nothing of this; he was visibly delighted
+at being relieved of a troublesome office. This spoilt young lady,
+whose beauty, and perhaps also whose wealth, had won for her on all
+sides attention and lavish homage, looked on such indifference almost
+in the light of an insult, and she had not fully recovered from the
+vexation it caused her when she issued from the forest and saw
+Brunneck lying before her in close vicinity.
+
+Oswald, remaining behind alone, seemed altogether to forget the rain
+he had prophesied. He stood motionless, with folded arms, leaning
+against the trunk of a tree, and made no sign of setting out
+homewards.
+
+The clouds grew heavier and more lowering; the whole forest was now
+shrouded in mist, and the swallows almost swept the ground with their
+wings as they shot by to and fro. Patches of white might here and
+there be seen bearing witness still to the night's hoarfrost; but
+beneath, amidst all this mist and rime, a great work was going on. The
+life-germs hidden away in a thousand unsuspected buds and leafless
+branches were secretly, silently stirring; it wanted but the first
+balmy breath, the first glow of sunshine, to awaken all Nature from
+her long slumber. Ungenial as the air might be, there was in it just a
+touch, a faint suggestion of spring, and a whisper of spring ran
+through the bare forest. All around mysterious powers were active,
+weaving their chains, arraying their forces, unseen, unheard, yet felt
+and understood even by the lonely self-absorbed man who stood gazing
+dreamily out into the cloudy distance.
+
+A while ago, as he pursued his solitary way through the woods, all had
+been void and desolate. Not a sound had reached his ears of the
+language which was now so distinct and eloquent to him. He knew not,
+or would not know, what had so suddenly opened his understanding; but
+the harsh, aggressive look died out of his face, and with it faded
+away the remembrance of a dreary, joyless youth--faded away the
+rancour and bitterness of spirit which dependence and neglect had
+engendered in a proud, strong nature. The soft, half-unconscious
+dreams, which visit others so frequently, had spun their magic web
+around the cold, impenetrable Oswald. It was, perhaps, his first
+experience of them, but the spell was therefore the more irresistible.
+Overhead the swallows were still busy, flitting incessantly to and fro
+through the heavy, rain-charged air. The happy chirping of their tiny
+throats, the wonderful whisperings about him, the low voice in his own
+breast, all repeated in constant refrain that message which other lips
+had so triumphantly proclaimed: 'Spring is coming, really coming to us
+at last.'
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+
+In the course of a few days the plan of campaign devised by Edmund and
+Hedwig was carried into execution. The young people made their
+important disclosure, declaring their sentiments in most unambiguous
+terms, and the effects produced were precisely those expected. First
+came a simultaneous outburst of indignation at Brunneck and at
+Ettersberg; then followed reproaches, prayers, threats; finally an
+irrevocable fiat was issued on either side. The Countess solemnly
+announced to her son, the heir, that she once for all refused her
+consent to such a marriage; and Fraeulein Hedwig Ruestow, on making her
+avowal, encountered a small hurricane, before which she was fain for a
+while to bow her head. The Councillor grew fairly distracted with
+wrath when he heard that an Ettersberg, a member of the family he
+hated, and his adversary in the Dornau suit, was to be presented to
+him as a son-in-law.
+
+The parental displeasure, though most pointedly expressed,
+unfortunately made but small impression on the young people.
+Prohibited, as a matter of course, from holding any further
+communication, they calmly within the hour sat down to write to each
+other, having, with a wise prevision of coming events, already fixed
+on a plan for the safe conveyance of their letters.
+
+Councillor Ruestow was striding angrily up and down the family
+sitting-room at the Brunneck manor-house. Hedwig had thought it wise
+to retire and leave her infuriated parent to himself for a while. The
+worthy gentleman, finding his daughter beyond his reach, turned
+fiercely upon his unhappy cousin, whom he bitterly accused of having,
+by her unpardonable weakness and folly in favouring the acquaintance,
+paved the way for all that had occurred.
+
+Fraeulein Lina Ruestow sat in her accustomed place by the window and
+listened, going on steadily with the needlework she had in hand. She
+waited patiently for a pause to supervene. When at length her
+exasperated cousin was compelled to stop and take breath, she
+inquired, with perfect imperturbability:
+
+'Tell me, in the first place, Erich, what objection you really have to
+offer to this marriage?'
+
+The master of the house came to a sudden stand. This was a little too
+much! For the last half-hour he had been giving expression in every
+possible way to his anger, his fury, his indignation, and now he was
+coolly asked what objection he really had to offer to the marriage.
+The question so amazed and upset him that for a moment he could find
+no fitting answer.
+
+'Upon my word, I do not understand why you should be so angry,' went
+on the lady, in the same tone. 'There is evidently a sincere and
+mutual attachment. Count Ettersberg, in himself, is a most charming
+person. That unhappy lawsuit, which has so tried your temper during
+the whole of the winter, will be brought to the simplest conclusion;
+while, in a worldly point of view, the match is in every respect a
+brilliant one for Hedwig. Why do you set yourself so strongly against
+it?'
+
+'Why--why?' cried Ruestow, more and more incensed by this calm,
+argumentative tone of hers. 'Because I will not suffer my daughter to
+marry an Ettersberg. Because, once for all, I forbid it--that is why!'
+
+Aunt Lina shrugged her shoulders.
+
+'I do not think Hedwig will surrender to such reasons as those. She
+will simply appeal to the example of her parents, who married without
+the father's consent----'
+
+'That was a very different matter,' interrupted Ruestow hotly. 'A very
+different matter indeed.'
+
+'It was a precisely similar case, only that in that instance all the
+circumstances were far more unfavourable than they are now, when
+really prejudice and obstinacy alone stand in the way of the young
+people's happiness.'
+
+'Well, these are nice compliments you are heaping upon me, I must
+say,' cried the Councillor, breaking forth anew. 'Prejudice!
+obstinacy! Have you any more flattering epithets to bestow on me?
+Don't hesitate, pray. I am waiting to hear.'
+
+'There is no speaking sensibly to you to-day, I see,' observed the
+lady, tranquilly resuming the work which for a few minutes had been
+discontinued. 'We will talk of this another time, when you have grown
+calmer.'
+
+'Lina, you will drive me mad with that abominable composure of yours,
+which is nothing but affectation. Put that confounded sewing stuff
+away, do. I can't endure to see you drawing your thread in and out as
+primly as though there were nothing amiss, while I--I----'
+
+'Feel inclined to pull the whole house about our ears. Don't take the
+trouble; it will stand after all, you know, just as firm on its
+foundations as ever.'
+
+'Yes, it will stand, though everyone prove rebellious, though even you
+set yourself in open opposition to me, the master. Thank God, I have
+an ally, and a strong one, in the Countess-mother over at Ettersberg.
+She will show more obstinacy even than I, you may depend upon it. We
+can't endure each other; we are doing our very best to harass and
+torment each other by raising fresh quibbles in the lawsuit; but on
+this point we shall, for once, be agreed. She will soon bring her son
+to reason, and I am glad of it. It meets my views exactly. I shall act
+in the same way by my daughter.'
+
+'I do not suppose that the Countess will give her consent very
+readily,' said Aunt Lina, in a pensive tone. 'To obtain that from her
+must be Edmund's business.'
+
+'Edmund!' repeated Ruestow, whose indignation was constantly being
+roused afresh. 'Dear, dear! how very familiar we are, quite like
+relations already! You regard him altogether in the light of a nephew,
+I suppose. But you will find yourself mistaken. I say no, and I mean
+no, so that is all about it.'
+
+With these words he stormed out of the room, banging the door to
+behind him with a crash which set all the windows jarring. Aunt Lina
+must indeed have conquered 'her nerves,' for she did not start at the
+noise, but merely looked after the angry man with a shake of the head,
+and murmured to herself:
+
+'I wonder how long it will be before he gives in!'
+
+There was certainly less noise and bluster at Ettersberg, but the
+prospects of the young pair were not on that account more hopeful. The
+Countess thought the matter serious enough to warrant her in sending
+for her brother, Baron Heideck, who, in all cases of difficulty, was
+her stay and counsellor. He answered her summons in person, so Count
+Edmund had now to contend with the allied forces of mother and
+guardian.
+
+The latter, who had arrived from the capital a few hours previously,
+was closeted with the Countess in her own boudoir. He was several
+years older than his sister, and while she had preserved an almost
+youthful appearance, a premature look of age, on the contrary, was to
+be remarked in him. Cold, grave, and methodical in speech and bearing,
+his outward man at once denoted the bureaucrat of high standing. He
+listened attentively and in silence to the Countess as she made her
+report, which concluded in rather desponding terms.
+
+'As I told you in my letter, there is nothing whatever to be done with
+Edmund. He persists stubbornly in this marriage-scheme, and is
+constantly urging me to give my consent to it. I really did not know
+what better course to take than to send for you.'
+
+'You did quite right,' said the Baron; 'for I fear that, left to
+yourself, you would not have the necessary firmness to resist your
+darling, and refuse him his heart's desire. I think, however, we are
+agreed in this--the alliance in question must be prevented at any
+pains or any cost.'
+
+'Certainly we are,' assented the Countess. 'The only point to be
+discussed is _how_ we are to prevent it. Edmund will shortly come of
+age, and he will then be absolute master, free to follow his own
+will.'
+
+'Hitherto he has submitted to yours,' remarked the Count. 'His love
+for you is paramount.'
+
+'Has been hitherto!' said the Countess, with a rush of bitter feeling.
+'But now another shares his love. It remains to be seen whether his
+mother will retain her old place in his affections.'
+
+'Ah, this maternal sensitiveness of yours has been the cause of all
+the trouble, Constance,' remonstrated her brother. 'You have loved
+your son with a jealous exclusiveness which has made you shrink from
+the thought of his marriage. That was why you refused to entertain the
+proposal I made to you last year. An alliance suitable in point of
+rank and in every other respect could then easily have been secured.
+You see the result of your conduct on that occasion. But let us to the
+matter in hand. This Ruestow is wealthy?'
+
+'He passes, at least, for wealthy in this part of the country.'
+
+'And in town also. Not long ago he contributed funds towards one of
+our great industrial undertakings to a surprisingly large amount.
+Moreover, he is looked upon as an authority in his own particular
+line. Even at the Ministry his opinion on all subjects connected with
+agriculture carries weight with it. Add to this his connection by
+marriage with the Ettersberg family, which, say what you will, exists,
+and must be taken into account, and it becomes evident that we cannot
+treat this intended marriage as we would an unworthy mesalliance.'
+
+'No, and I think Edmund builds on that fact.'
+
+'He builds simply on your unbounded affection for him, from which he
+hopes to obtain all he desires--perhaps would have obtained it, had I
+not stepped in in time. You owe it to your husband's memory and to the
+name you bear to resist this marriage, which, as you know, he never
+would have allowed. Remember how he condemned his cousin for
+contracting a union with Ruestow. You are bound to act according to his
+wishes.'
+
+'I have done so in all respects,' said the Countess, a little piqued;
+'but if Edmund will not listen----'
+
+'It is for you to exact obedience from him, no matter by what means.
+This plebeian blood must not again be infused into the Ettersberg
+race. One such taint was sufficient.'
+
+He spoke slowly and meaningly, and the Countess grew pale beneath the
+menace of his look.
+
+'Armand, what do you mean? I----'
+
+'I am alluding to Ruestow's marriage with your husband's cousin,' the
+Baron interrupted coldly. 'The reminder was, I think, necessary to
+warn you that there must be no weakness now. You are not wanting in
+energy generally, but to Edmund you have always been far too indulgent
+a mother.'
+
+'Possibly,' said the Countess, with sad and bitter emphasis. 'I have
+had no one but him to love since you compelled me to accept the Count
+as my husband.'
+
+'It was not I, but circumstances, that compelled you. I should have
+thought you had in your youth sufficient experience of poverty and
+privations to make you bless your brother's hand, which delivered you
+from that wretched life and placed you in a high position.'
+
+'Bless?' repeated the Countess, in a low, half-stifled voice. 'No,
+Armand, I have never blessed your action in the matter.'
+
+Baron Heideck frowned.
+
+'I acted according to my conscience and sense of duty. It was my
+desire to procure for my father one last satisfaction on this side the
+grave, to free my mother from anxiety as to the future, and to secure
+for yourself a brilliant and much-envied position. If I used some
+pressure--some force to deliver you from the trammels of a first and
+foolish attachment, I did so with the firm conviction that for the
+Countess Ettersberg the past would be as though it had not been. I
+could not possibly foresee that my sister would not justify the
+confidence I placed in her.'
+
+The Countess shuddered as he spoke these words, and turned away.
+
+'Enough of these reminiscences, Armand; I cannot bear them.'
+
+'You are right,' said Heideck, changing his tone. 'We will leave the
+past, and turn our attention to the present. Edmund must not be
+allowed to commit this act of youthful folly. I hardly touched on the
+subject as we drove here from the station--I purposely avoided any
+discussion of it until I had spoken to you; but a very decided
+impression was left on my mind that we have not to do with a very deep
+or serious passion, capable of breaking down all barriers and setting
+all at defiance in order to obtain its end. He has merely fallen in
+love with a young and, as I hear, beautiful girl, and is naturally in
+a great hurry to be married at once. We must take care that this does
+not occur. We have weapons enough in our armoury to combat any such
+juvenile sentiment.'
+
+'I hope so,' said the Countess, making a visible effort to regain her
+composure, and speak in an ordinary conversational tone. 'That is why
+I asked you to come. You are his guardian, you know.'
+
+Heideck shook his head.
+
+'My guardianship has never been more than a barren legal fact, and in
+a few months it will lapse altogether. Edmund will hardly bow to its
+authority but to you he will yield, for he is accustomed to be guided
+by you. Place before him the choice between this new fancy of his and
+yourself. Threaten that you will leave Ettersberg if he brings this
+bride home to the castle. He worships you, and will take no step which
+would estrange his mother from him.'
+
+'No; he would not do that,' said the Countess in a tone of absolute
+conviction; 'I am still sure of his love.'
+
+'And you may continue to feel sure of it, if you know how to use your
+influence over him, as I doubt not you will, to the fullest extent.
+You are well aware, Constance, that in your son's case, in his case
+especially, the traditions of the family must be maintained. Remember
+this, I beg of you.'
+
+'I know it,' said the Countess, drawing a deep breath. 'You may set
+your mind at rest.'
+
+A long pause ensued. Then Baron Heideck spoke again:
+
+'And now to the other disagreeable matter! Will you send for Oswald? I
+should like to have some talk with him about this wonderful new
+project of his.'
+
+The Countess rang the bell.
+
+'Let Herr von Ettersberg know that Baron Heideck wishes to speak to
+him, and is waiting for him here,' she said to the servant who
+answered the summons.
+
+The man withdrew with his instructions, and Heideck continued, in a
+sarcastic vein:
+
+'It must be admitted that Edmund and Oswald are outvying each other
+just now in their endeavours to add lustre to the family name. One is
+bent on marrying the daughter of a ci-devant farmer, and the other
+means to set up as a lawyer. Oswald cannot, I fancy, have conceived
+this idea quite suddenly.'
+
+'I think he has cherished the project for years, but he has never
+committed himself by a word,' said the Countess. 'It is only now, just
+when he is on the point of passing his examination, that he thinks fit
+to publish his plan. I have declared to him, however, in the most
+decided manner, that he must give up all notion of the law, and
+prepare to enter a Government office.'
+
+'And what reply did he make to you?'
+
+'He made none--as usual. You know the moody, obstinate silence with
+which, even as a boy, he received reproof and punishment, the look of
+insufferable defiance which he always has in readiness, though his
+lips remain closed. I am persuaded that my opposition only makes him
+cling the more pertinaciously to his absurd plan.'
+
+'Precisely what I should expect from him, but in this case he will
+have to give way. A young man who, like Oswald, is absolutely without
+resources of his own, must, no matter in what position, be for a time
+dependent on his relations. Disobedience would cost him too dearly.'
+
+The conversation had undergone a marked change. Previously, when
+Edmund's conduct had been under debate, the Countess and her brother
+had spoken gravely and with a certain anxiety, but every word
+testified to the consideration in which the wilful young son and
+nephew was held. They merely wished to lead, to guide him back into
+the paths of prudence, and the love he bore his mother was the only
+constraining influence suggested. But from the moment Oswald's name
+was mentioned, another and a very different tone prevailed. His sins
+were reported with harshness, and condemned with great severity;
+measures of compulsion were at once discussed. Baron Heideck evidently
+shared in an eminent degree his sister's dislike to this young
+relation.
+
+The offender now came in. He greeted his aunt and his guardian, whom
+he had seen only for a few minutes on arrival, with his accustomed
+calm composure; but a keen observer might have detected the fact that
+he had armed himself for the coming scene. He stood before them in the
+'sombre, obstinate silence' to which allusion had been made, with his
+ever-ready look of 'insufferable defiance,' and waited for what should
+be made known to him.
+
+'You have prepared a singular surprise for us,' began Baron Heideck,
+addressing Oswald. 'For me especially, as I was just about to move in
+your interest. What are these absurd ideas you are so suddenly
+disclosing? You refused formerly to enter the army, and now you object
+to a Government office. Let me tell you that, situated as you are, you
+have no right to vacillate thus between the only professions which are
+open to you.'
+
+'I have never vacillated, for no choice has ever been offered me,'
+replied Oswald quietly. 'I was destined first for the army and then
+for a Government clerkship, but my inclination was never consulted.'
+
+'And why did you never inform us by a single word that it would please
+you in the last instance to set yourself against this second plan?'
+asked the Countess.
+
+'That is easily divined,' interposed Heideck. 'He wished to avoid a
+long struggle against you and myself, a struggle in which he was sure
+to succumb, and hoped that by taking us unawares he might paralyse our
+resistance. But you are mistaken, Oswald. My sister has already
+informed you that we consider the name and rank of a Count von
+Ettersberg to be incompatible with the calling of the law, and I
+repeat to you that you will never receive our consent to your present
+scheme.'
+
+'I am sorry for that,' was the steady reply. 'For I shall thus be
+obliged to pursue the course I have determined on without the approval
+of my nearest relatives.'
+
+The Countess would have started up in anger, but her brother signed to
+her to be calm.
+
+'Say nothing, Constance. We shall see if he can carry out this famous
+plan. I really do not understand you, Oswald,' he continued, with
+withering sarcasm. 'You have been long enough away from home to form
+some idea of the world and its ways. Have you never said to yourself
+that without some assured means of existence you can neither pass the
+examination in the capital, nor live on for years until an income of
+your own be forthcoming? Have you not reflected that these means may
+be withdrawn, if you push matters so far as to provoke a rupture with
+your family? You probably rely on Edmund's good-nature and on his
+affection for yourself, but in this case my sister will take care that
+he does not second and support you in your wilful obstinacy.'
+
+'I rely on no one but myself,' declared Oswald. 'Edmund knows that I
+shall make no claim on him for assistance.'
+
+'Well, perhaps you will allow me, as your ex-guardian, to inquire how
+you propose to live during the next few years?' said Heideck, in his
+former scornful tone.
+
+'I think of going to town to stay with Councillor Braun, a lawyer of
+eminence, whose name is probably known to you.'
+
+'Certainly I know him. He has a considerable reputation at the bar.'
+
+'He was my father's legal adviser, and the intimate friend of our
+house. I called on him and renewed our acquaintance when Edmund and I
+were in town together, and he has been good enough to transfer the old
+friendship from the father to the son. During the time I was at the
+university, he gave me many hints how best to direct my studies with a
+view to the career I had already chosen, and since then we have
+remained in constant correspondence. He wishes now for some assistance
+in his really overgrown practice, and the assistant of to-day may,
+very probably will, be his successor in the future. The berth will be
+held open for me until I shall have passed my examination. He has
+asked me to stay at his house during the period of that examination,
+and this offer I have thankfully accepted.'
+
+Oswald delivered this speech with imperturbable calm, but the
+astonishment of his hearers knew no bounds. They had supposed that a
+simple assertion of authority on their part would extinguish all
+'absurd ideas,' and quell the rebellious nephew whose dependent
+position placed him so completely at their mercy. Instead of this,
+they were met by a steady resolve, a practical, matured plan, every
+detail of which had been considered and provided for, and which
+withdrew the young man altogether from their influence and control.
+The disagreeable surprise this discovery caused them was expressed in
+the look they now exchanged.
+
+'Really, this is remarkable news,' said the Countess, who could no
+longer suppress her anger. 'So you have been conspiring against us
+with a stranger in secret--and this conspiracy has been going on for
+years!'
+
+'And with what an aim in view!' added Heideck. 'Either in the army or
+in a Government office your ancient and noble name would have been of
+service to you; it would have assured you a career. But the advantages
+you possess you deliberately put from you in order to embrace the law
+as a profession. I really thought your ambition would soar higher. Are
+you so wedded--so enthusiastically attached to this new vocation of
+yours?'
+
+'No,' said Oswald coldly; 'not in the least. But in any other
+profession I should have been compelled to go on for years
+accepting--accepting benefits I have hitherto enjoyed; and to this I
+will not consent. The path I have chosen is the only one that leads to
+freedom and independence, and to gain these I willingly sacrifice all
+else.'
+
+The words told of a resolve which was not to be shaken, but at the
+same time they were barbed with a reproach which the Countess
+understood but too well.
+
+'You have accepted these benefits so long that you can now
+conveniently do without them,' she remarked.
+
+The tone of this observation was even more insulting than the words.
+Oswald's composure seemed to be giving way at length. His quick, short
+breathing betrayed his emotion, as he replied in accents to the full
+as biting as hers had been:
+
+'If I have hitherto been held fettered by the chain of my dependence,
+that assuredly has not been my fault. It was not considered fitting
+for an Ettersberg to go out into the world and seek his fortune, as a
+man of humbler origin might have done. I could but yield to the
+traditional prejudices of my family. I have had to wait on and on for
+this hour when at length--at length I can take my future into my own
+hands!'
+
+'Which you seem inclined to do in the most offensive manner possible,'
+said the Countess, with increasing warmth. 'With the utmost
+indifference to those family traditions of which you speak, in open
+opposition to the friends to whom you owe everything. Could my husband
+have foreseen this, he never would have directed that you should be
+brought up with his own son, and treated as a child of the house you
+now disown in this manner. But, indeed, gratitude is a word which
+seems to have no meaning for you.'
+
+A dangerous light kindled in Oswald's eyes, and they flashed upon the
+speaker a glance of menace and evil portent.
+
+'I know, aunt, what a heavy burden my uncle laid on you by those
+directions, but, believe me, I have suffered beneath it even more
+severely than yourself. It would have been better for me to have been
+driven out into the world and brought up among strangers, than to pass
+my life amid splendid surroundings, in a sphere where I have daily,
+hourly been reminded of my nothingness, where the proud Ettersberg
+blood in my veins had but to show itself to be instantly repressed. My
+uncle carried his point, and had me received into this house; beyond
+that, he made no attempt to shield or protect me. To you I was, from
+the first, simply a troublesome legacy left by an unfriendly and
+detested brother-in-law. I was accepted with disinclination, and
+endured with absolute dislike, and the consciousness of this has
+sometimes well-nigh driven me desperate. But for Edmund, the one
+person who showed me any affection, the one who held faithfully by me,
+in spite of all that was done to estrange us, I could not have borne
+the life. Gratitude! You require gratitude at my hands? I have never
+felt any, I never shall feel any towards you; for there is a voice
+within me which says I am not benefited, but injured. I need not
+thank, but might ... accuse!'
+
+He flung the last word at her with loud and threatening emphasis. The
+dykes were broken down, and all the hatred, the bitterness he had
+secretly borne within him for years flowed out in a stream of fierce
+rebellion against this woman who, outwardly at least, had been as a
+mother to him. She had risen in her turn, and they now stood face to
+face. So might two deadly enemies have measured each other's strength
+before the fray; the next word would perhaps have led to an
+irreparable breach, had not Heideck intervened.
+
+'Oswald, you forget yourself!' he cried. 'How can you venture to
+address such language to your aunt?'
+
+The keen, cold tones of his voice brought reflection to both at the
+same moment. The Countess sank slowly back into her seat, and her
+nephew retreated a step. For a few seconds a painful silence reigned.
+Then Oswald spoke in a changed voice, in a tone freezing as ice:
+
+'You are right; I have to apologize. But at the same time I must beg
+of you to allow me henceforth to go my own way unhindered. The path I
+shall follow will, in all probability, take me from Ettersberg for
+ever, and all further connection may cease between us. I think this is
+what we all should wish, and it will certainly be best for the family,
+collectively and individually.'
+
+Then, without waiting for an answer, or any sign of dismissal, he
+turned and left the room.
+
+'What did that mean?' asked the Countess in a low voice, when the door
+had closed upon him.
+
+'It meant a threat,' said Heideck. 'Could you not understand it,
+Constance? It was, I think, plainly enough expressed.'
+
+He sprang up, and paced several times uneasily up and down the room.
+Even the bureaucrat's cold and measured calm was not proof against
+such a scene as this. Presently he halted before his sister.
+
+'We must give way. The matter has now assumed a different aspect--a
+very different aspect. Active resistance on our part might lead to
+serious trouble--the last few moments have made that evident to me.'
+
+'You really think so?'
+
+The Countess spoke these words almost mechanically. She was still
+gazing fixedly over at the door through which Oswald had departed.
+
+'Decidedly I think so,' said Heideck, in a determined tone. 'The
+fellow suspects more than is good for any of us. It would be dangerous
+to irritate him--besides which, we have no longer any power to control
+his acts. By this masterly scheme of his, he has secured for himself
+an unassailable position. I certainly was not prepared for it, but at
+least we now know what lies hidden beneath that calm, indifferent
+exterior.'
+
+'I have long known it,' declared the Countess, who seemed only now to
+be recovering the full use of her faculties. 'Not without reason have
+I feared those cold, searching eyes. From the very first time I saw
+that boy's face and met his look, a sort of presentiment awoke within
+me that he would work ruin to me and to my son.'
+
+'Folly!' said Heideck. 'Whatever Oswald may suspect, it never can or
+will be more than a suspicion; and he will take good care not to put
+it into words. It was only in the great excitement of the moment that
+he allowed that hint to escape him; but no matter, there must not be a
+renewal of this scene. He is right in one thing at least--it will be
+better for him in future to avoid Ettersberg; thus the connection with
+Edmund will cease. In our own interest, we must let him pursue the
+career he has chosen.'
+
+Meanwhile Oswald had passed rapidly through the Countess's apartments,
+and was about to turn from them into the corridor, where he met Edmund
+on his way to his mother. Gay, lighthearted, and careless as usual,
+the young Count stopped at once, caught his cousin by the arm, and
+proceeded to interrogate him.
+
+'Well, Oswald, how did the judgment-scene in there go off? We must
+hold firmly together now, you know, for we are both in the same
+boat--only my case smacks of romance, whereas yours has a dry legal
+savour. I underwent a sort of preliminary examination in the carriage
+just now, and am about to appear before the high tribunal of justice.
+Is my uncle in a very ungracious humour?'
+
+'He will hardly be ungracious to you,' was the laconic reply.
+
+'Oh, I am not in the least afraid!' cried Edmund, laughing. 'I should
+have won my mother over long ago, if I had had her alone. She knows
+it, and that is why she summoned my uncle to her aid. He is just a
+trifle more difficult to manage, though I don't suppose even he will
+bear too hardly on me. But you, Oswald'--he came close up to his
+cousin, and looked him searchingly in the face--'you have that frown
+on your brow again, that bitter expression of countenance I dislike so
+much. They have been tormenting you, I am afraid.'
+
+'You know these things cannot be settled without some rather warm
+discussion,' replied Oswald evasively. 'But I have gained my end,
+notwithstanding. One word more, Edmund. I shall probably leave
+Ettersberg sooner than I at first intended--perhaps in the course of a
+few days.'
+
+'Why?' exclaimed the young Count. 'What has happened? You had
+determined to stay until the autumn. Has my uncle offended you, that
+you now talk of leaving at once? I shall stand no nonsense of that
+sort, as I shall let him know on the spot----'
+
+'I tell you everything is arranged and settled,' Oswald interrupted.
+'Nothing whatever has happened. My aunt and her brother are naturally
+rather incensed against me, but they will place no further obstacles
+in my way.'
+
+'Do you mean it in earnest?' asked Edmund in surprise. He evidently
+could not understand this sudden strange compliance.
+
+'In right good earnest. You will hear it from themselves by-and-by.
+Now go and stand your trial. They will not be too hard on you. You
+have only to appeal to your mother's love--whereas I had to invoke
+fear to my aid.'
+
+Edmund stared at him in amazement.
+
+'Fear? Fear of what--of whom? You really do sometimes use the most
+extraordinary expressions.'
+
+'Never mind, go now,' insisted Oswald. 'I can give you an account of
+our interview later on.'
+
+'All right.' Edmund turned to the door, but paused again on the
+threshold. 'I must say one thing more, though, Oswald. I will not hear
+of this sudden departure of yours. You promised to stay until the
+autumn, and nothing shall induce me to let you go before. It will be
+bad enough for me to have to do without you then for months--for you
+will hardly get to Ettersberg before that abominable examination is
+over. I know that beforehand.'
+
+With these words he departed. Oswald looked after him moodily. 'For
+months? Ah, we must learn to do without each other for good and for
+all,' he said. Then in a lower voice he added, 'I did not think I
+should have felt it so keenly.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+More than two months had elapsed. Midsummer had arrived, but the
+houses of Ettersberg and Brunneck were still, as Count Edmund
+expressed it, playing the Montague and Capulet game. Neither the
+Countess nor Ruestow had yielded an inch. They were vigorous as ever in
+their opposition to the projected marriage between their children, but
+these latter only clung the more tenaciously to their plan. In spite
+of prohibitions they met often, and wrote to each other still more
+frequently. To manage the first, it had been found necessary to
+include Aunt Lina in the plot, and that good lady thought it better
+that the meetings, which certainly would have taken place under any
+circumstances, should be held with her sanction and in her presence.
+She had long ago been won over to the young people's side, and the
+lovers themselves took matters very easily. It was not in the nature
+of either Hedwig or Edmund to take a sentimental or tragic view of
+their temporary separation. A love affair, the course of which had
+constantly run smooth, would no doubt have appeared to them
+excessively tame and wearisome. Parental opposition gave to this
+courtship the necessary spice of romance. They revelled in the
+situation with all the eagerness of their youthful years, and looked
+on themselves and their true love as intensely poetical and
+interesting. Neither felt any uneasiness as to the final issue; they
+knew too well that they, their parents' spoilt and petted darlings,
+would ultimately carry their point. Meanwhile the Countess posed as
+the inexorable mother, and the Councillor was fiercer and more prone
+to ire than ever. Signs, however, were not wanting that the fortresses
+were not quite as impregnable as they pretended to be, that they would
+finally succumb to the daily assaults to which they were subjected.
+
+The _denoument_ came more speedily than any of the parties concerned
+had expected. Fraeulein Lina Ruestow had been absent for a few days
+staying in town, where she had purchases to make. She came back to
+Brunneck suspecting nothing, and prepared to find the old feud with
+Ettersberg raging fiercely as when she left. Rather surprised at being
+received on her arrival by her cousin alone, she made inquiries after
+Hedwig, who was nowhere to be seen.
+
+'Hedwig?' stammered Ruestow, looking half embarrassed, half wrathful.
+'She is not here just now; you will see her by-and-by.'
+
+Aunt Lina inquired no further. There had probably been some fresh
+discussion on the subject of the projected marriage, a circumstance
+which never promoted the comfort of any member of the household, for
+the Councillor was in the habit of venting his anger on all about him,
+his daughter only excepted. On this occasion, however, the traveller
+felt herself to be in possession of a piece of intelligence which
+would scare away ill-humour. They had hardly got into the parlour when
+she burst forth with it.
+
+'I have brought you some news, Erich. Your solicitor wanted to send
+you a telegram, but I begged him to let me convey the pleasant
+tidings. You have won your suit in the first instance. Dornau has been
+adjudged to Hedwig.'
+
+'I am glad of it, glad of it, in spite of all that has come and gone.
+But I wish the judgment had been given a few weeks back; now my
+pleasure in it is spoiled, completely spoiled! So we have won the
+suit?'
+
+'Subject to appeal, of course--though our solicitor seems confident
+about the final issue. No doubt the opposite party will do everything
+in their power to contest the victory with us.'
+
+'They will do nothing of the kind,' grumbled Ruestow, still with the
+same queer, embarrassed look.
+
+'Of course they will; there can be no doubt of that. The lawyer has
+already taken his measures in view of an appeal to a higher court.'
+
+'He may save himself the trouble,' Ruestow broke forth. 'Nobody is
+thinking of appealing. The lawsuit is over and done with, and the end
+of the story is that Dornau will go to Ettersberg after all.'
+
+'To Ettersberg? Why, don't I tell you ... But, good heavens, Erich,
+what makes you look so black and miserable, and why is Hedwig out of
+the way? What has happened? Is she ill, or----'
+
+'Now, don't get excited,' said Ruestow, interrupting the flow of
+questions. 'Hedwig is quite well and in excellent spirits, and at
+the present moment is staying over at Ettersberg with her future
+mother-in-law. That is right, Lina, sit down. I shan't take it amiss
+if you show some surprise. I showed and felt not a little myself at
+first.'
+
+Aunt Lina had indeed dropped on to a seat, and was staring at her
+cousin in speechless, petrified amazement. He went on again:
+
+'These young people have really had the most wonderful luck! You were
+within a hair's-breadth of finding us all dead and gone, Lina. The
+Countess was as nearly drowned as could be, and we were within an ace
+of having our necks broken.'
+
+'Merciful powers! And you call that luck?' exclaimed the old lady, in
+a tone expressive of horror.
+
+'I said "nearly" and "within an ace," did not I? Well, the upshot of
+it all was a betrothal on the spot. The whole business went upon
+wheels; deadly peril, consequent emotion, embracing of the lovers! We
+were in the midst of it all, and found ourselves giving our parental
+benediction almost before we knew what had happened. Oh, those
+confounded black Ettersberg beasts! Why do my horses never run away, I
+wonder?'
+
+'What in the world are your horses to me at this moment?' broke in his
+cousin, half desperate with the prolonged suspense. 'If you go on in
+this way, I shall never hear what has happened. Do try and tell the
+story rationally.'
+
+'Yes, yes, you are right. I must tell you all about it calmly and
+quietly,' said the Councillor, inaugurating the promised calm by
+pacing violently up and down the room, as was his wont when much
+excited. 'Well, then, the day before yesterday I drove over with
+Hedwig to pay a visit to Neuenfeld. You will remember that the road
+lies over that steep Stag's Hill, where just at the summit the path is
+so narrow that great caution is required for two vehicles to pass side
+by side. Precisely at this spot, what should we meet but the
+Ettersberg carriage with the Countess in it! We, of course, took no
+notice, pretended not to know each other; but our coachmen, instead of
+not noticing, rushed together like mad. I shouted to Anthony to stop,
+but the other idiot came tearing on, until the animals brushed against
+each other. The high-spirited Ettersberg steeds took this amiss. They
+reared and plunged and kicked, and finally set off at furious speed,
+almost smashing our wheels for us as they passed. The coachman tried
+all sorts of foolish man[oe]uvres in the hope of checking them, upon
+which they took to their heels and ran away with him in good earnest.
+Springing out of the carriage, I saw at a glance that it was too
+late--they were spinning down the hill as fast as a top. The coachman
+flew off the box; the footman, instead of seizing the reins, clung to
+his seat with might and main. The Countess screamed for help, and so
+they went on, straight down towards the pond which lies at the foot of
+the hill, and is so admirably situated for drowning purposes.'
+
+Aunt Lina was listening in breathless suspense.
+
+'Frightful! Horrible! Was there no help at hand?'
+
+'Certainly; I was at hand,' said Ruestow drily; 'and at need I can play
+the angel of rescue, though it is not my habitual occupation. There
+was not time for much reflection, and I soon gave up running after the
+carriage. Happily we had halted close to that steep footpath which
+shortens the way down by one half. How I got to the bottom I don't
+know. Anyhow, I was there as soon as the carriage, and just contrived
+to stop it as it reached the pond.'
+
+'Thank God!' cried the old lady, with a sigh of relief.
+
+'So said I, a little later on--just at that moment I was furious.
+There I stood with the Countess in my arms, and no one to give me any
+assistance. She had gone off into a swoon, and that fool of a man was
+so bewildered and scared, that he was nearly as unconscious as his
+mistress. Now, a pair of restive horses I can manage at a pinch, but
+fainting ladies are altogether out of my line. Presently, however,
+Hedwig came flying down the footpath, and then Anthony, and then the
+man who had been thrown--he was limping terribly, and had a famous
+bump on his forehead, but that served him right. It was his folly and
+reckless driving which had caused all the mischief.'
+
+'And the Countess?' interposed his listener eagerly.
+
+'Well, happily the Countess had escaped uninjured. We carried her into
+a neighbouring house belonging to one of the rural police, and here
+she partly recovered from her fright. The gentle, well-mannered
+horses, besides running away, had accorded to themselves the special
+pleasure of breaking their carriage-pole and of so injuring our wheels
+in the rencontre, that we could not move the landau from the spot. So
+I sent the footman over to Ettersberg to fetch another vehicle,
+despatched Anthony and the policeman, who happened to be at home,
+to the scene of the disaster, and dismissed the coachman with his
+black monsters, which he conducted home in safety. We three remained
+alone--it was a pleasing moment, as you may suppose.'
+
+'I do hope and trust, Erich, that you did not behave with rudeness,'
+said Aunt Lina reproachfully.
+
+'No, rudeness was out of the question--unfortunately!' replied Ruestow,
+in a tone of sincere regret. 'The Countess was still as pale as death
+and half fainting. I had received a slight memorial of the affair
+myself, a mere scratch on the arm, which, however, bled rather
+profusely; and the poor child, Hedwig, ran from one to the other, not
+knowing whom she should help first. In such a situation politeness
+comes as a thing of course. We were therefore intensely polite to each
+other, and intensely anxious about each other's welfare. I hoped the
+matter would blow over with an expression of thanks and a courteous
+farewell, and I was looking out, longing for the arrival of the
+Ettersberg carriage, when suddenly, instead of it. Count Edmund came
+up at a tearing gallop. From the footman's confused report he had
+thought that his mother was injured or half dead, and he had not
+waited for the carriage to be got ready, but had jumped on the first
+horse that came to hand and had ridden over as though his own life had
+been at stake. I should not have believed the young jackanapes had so
+much heart. He rushed into the house and into his mother's arms like a
+madman, and for the first moment or so he evidently saw and thought of
+no one but her. I must say that pleased me--pleased me much. He seems
+to be passionately attached to his mother.'
+
+At this point the narrator's voice softened a little. Unfortunately
+his cousin took it into her head to produce her handkerchief and press
+it to her eyes, which at once roused the Councillor to a contrary
+humour.
+
+'I do believe you are going to cry,' he said, turning upon her
+sharply. 'Let us have no nonsense of that sort, pray. There has been
+emotion enough and to spare. Well, of course there now ensued a string
+of questions and explanations,' he went on, taking up again the thread
+of his narrative; 'a lively description, in which, in spite of my
+protests, I was made to figure as a sort of hero and knight-errant.
+The Countess overflowed with gratitude, and all at once Edmund threw
+his arms round my neck, declaring I had saved his mother's life, and
+that he would rather owe such a debt to me, the father of his Hedwig,
+than to anyone in the world.' Here Ruestow's strides grew longer and
+his countenance more wrathful. 'Yes, that is what he had the coolness
+to say, "the father of his Hedwig"! I tried to shake him off; then
+Hedwig got the other side of me, and began the same story about the
+mother of her Edmund. Presently the Countess stepped up, and held out
+her hand to me--well, you can imagine the rest. As I said before, a
+general embracing and reconciliation went on, and we only came to our
+senses when the carriage, which had followed the Count, drove up to
+the door. As it further appeared that ours was totally disabled, we
+had no alternative but to mount all together and drive over to
+Ettersberg. It was agreed ultimately that Hedwig should remain with
+the Countess, who was really much upset by the fright she had had, and
+I ... well, here I am, left by myself in my own house, without a soul
+to keep me company.'
+
+'Please to remember I count as somebody,' said Aunt Lina, a little
+piqued. 'You don't seem to reckon me at all.'
+
+Ruestow grumbled something that was unintelligible. At this moment a
+servant came in, and announced the pastor of Brunneck, who was a
+friend of the house.
+
+'There!' cried the master, in a tone of desperation. 'There! he has
+come over to congratulate us on the approaching marriage--he has, as
+sure as I stand here. The story is going the round of the
+neighbourhood already. Each time I have shown my nose outside the door
+to-day, somebody has come up to me with a smirk and a smile, and some
+hint about the "happy event." But I can't stand it yet. I must collect
+my thoughts and get used to the idea first. Lina, you'll do me the
+favour to receive the parson. In my present frame of mind, I tell you,
+I am capable of chucking anyone out of the window who should come to
+me with his congratulations!'
+
+So saying, the Councillor ran out of one door just as the pastor was
+admitted by the other. This was fortunate, for the worthy man had no
+sooner entered than he proceeded solemnly and with much unction to
+offer to the old lady his heartfelt congratulations on the coming
+'happy event,' the news of which had, he said, filled him with genuine
+delight.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The day on which the young Lord of Ettersberg attained his majority
+had come and gone, being celebrated with much splendour. The Countess
+judged this a fitting occasion for the display of all the grandeur of
+which Ettersberg was capable, and displayed it accordingly was in
+fullest measure. In the spacious, brilliantly lighted apartments of
+the castle there gathered a gay and numerous throng, for whom the
+fete, besides its more immediate cause, had yet another and a special
+interest. The young couple, who had been quietly betrothed at Brunneck
+some weeks previously, in the presence only of members of the two
+families, now made their first appearance together in public, and were
+accordingly overwhelmed by the congratulations of their friends. The
+news of the engagement had, as may be supposed, created a considerable
+stir in the neighbourhood; but the astounding fact was in some small
+degree explained by a report of the incident which had brought it
+about. It was easy to understand how the Countess, carried away by her
+gratitude, had held out the hand of reconciliation to a man whose
+courage and presence of mind had saved her life, how in such a moment
+her class-prejudices had given way, and she had consented to an
+alliance which, so it was said, she had at first vehemently opposed.
+Equally intelligible was it that after such an episode the Councillor
+should have yielded up his long-cherished grudge against the
+Ettersberg family; especially as the Dornau lawsuit had been decided
+in his favour, and his stubborn pride had thus received satisfaction.
+On the whole, Count Edmund's choice provoked envy rather than hostile
+attack, particularly among his younger compeers. The heiress of
+Brunneck and Dornau was no unfitting consort, even for a Count von
+Ettersberg. Similar marriages were constantly arranged where no such
+romantic inclination prevailed, where the rich heiress was not, as in
+this case, a youthful, beautiful, and accomplished lady.
+
+But whatever might be the judgment passed on them in private, the
+young engaged couple were, of course, met on all sides by flattering
+speeches and the most amiable expressions of interest.
+
+Baron Heideck did not honour the castle with his presence on the
+occasion, though, in his quality of guardian to the heir, he had been
+confidently expected. He did not surrender his point so easily as the
+Countess, but persisted in his exclusive views. Fortunately, Edmund
+had wisely arranged that the news of his engagement should reach his
+uncle in the capital precisely at the time it was made generally
+public. The Countess could not possibly recede now, and any
+interference on her brother's part would come too late. Nevertheless,
+the Baron wrote a stern letter, reproaching his sister with her weak
+and foolish compliance, and would not understand how anyone could be
+so carried away by the emotion of the moment as to offer up their
+'principles.' He did not know how the mother's love had secretly been
+at work, undermining her stern resolve, and paving the way for the
+sudden concession. It so angered him that he went the length of
+refusing to be present at the coming festivities. By his mother's
+express wish, Edmund wrote to him, begging him to reconsider this
+decision, but he merely sent a short cool note in reply, declaring
+that his official duties would not permit him to leave town just then;
+all the formalities attendant on the coming of age should be settled
+by writing.
+
+Edmund bore the blow with much philosophy, but the Countess was
+greatly annoyed. She had always been guided by her brother's opinion,
+and now felt his displeasure the more keenly that in her heart she
+shared his way of thinking. She saw, however, that having gone so far,
+the position she had taken up must be maintained before the world. So
+she set herself to the task before her, and with much tact and
+charming affability of manner convinced everyone that the consent,
+which in truth circumstances had wrung from her, had been
+spontaneously and freely given.
+
+Supported by her son and his promised bride, the Countess received the
+guests as they arrived. Her toilette was sumptuous and in finest
+taste, and the fact that she was still a very beautiful woman had
+never made itself so triumphantly manifest as on this occasion. At her
+side stood her future daughter-in-law, radiant in all the bloom and
+grace of early youth; yet the elder lady's beauty shone undimmed by
+the contrast. Edmund's eyes rested now and again with loving
+admiration on his handsome, proud mother, who seemed to claim his
+attention in almost equal degree with his affianced bride.
+
+'The Countess looks magnificent to-day,' said the Councillor, going up
+to his cousin. 'Magnificent, upon my word! and she knows how to do
+this sort of thing--that, one must admit. It is all proportionate and
+on a grand scale, and the lady has a wonderful talent of making
+herself the life and centre of the whole affair. She sees everything,
+has something pleasant to say to everyone. Hedwig may learn much from
+her in this respect.'
+
+'You seem fond of extremes,' remarked Aunt Lina, who had retired to a
+quiet corner seat, whence she could observe at ease all that was going
+on. 'From a most unreasonable dislike you have gone over to boundless
+admiration of the Countess. Why, I noticed you even kissed her hand
+just now.'
+
+'What, don't I please you even yet?' asked Ruestow, in a tone of
+offence. 'You wrung from me a solemn promise that I would make myself
+agreeable tonight, and now that I am doing everything in my power to
+keep my word--making extraordinary efforts, in fact--you won't even
+acknowledge it.'
+
+Aunt Lina smiled rather mischievously.
+
+'Oh, but indeed I do! I admire the "extraordinary efforts" quite as
+much as the rest of the company, who really do not know what to make
+of it. People are accustomed to see you shrouded in a sort of
+thundercloud, and this sudden sunshine puzzles them. But I have one
+question to ask, Erich. What has gone wrong between Hedwig and Oswald
+von Ettersberg? They avoid each other openly in a manner which almost
+courts attention.'
+
+'Gone wrong? Nothing, so far as I know. Hedwig cannot endure this
+cousin, and I fancy he does not care much for her.'
+
+The last words betrayed some little pique. Evidently the Councillor
+could not understand anyone not caring much for his daughter.
+
+'But there must be some grounds for this mutual dislike. Young
+Ettersberg's manners are not particularly agreeable, I must say.'
+
+'Ah, but he has a real genius for farming and agriculture generally.
+Now, if _he_ were the heir coming into his own, things would wear a
+very different aspect here. He sees clearly how the estates are being
+mismanaged; and the other day, when he was over at Brunneck, he gave
+me some hints and information which will lead me to take serious steps
+myself, if Edmund will not act. We talked the matter over thoroughly.'
+
+'Yes, and at great length,' rejoined the lady. 'It almost seemed to me
+as if Herr von Ettersberg held you to the conversation purposely, that
+he might not have to listen to all Edmund's tender speeches to his
+beloved.'
+
+'I am afraid he has some nonsensical high-flying notions in his head,'
+said Ruestow. 'The marriage does not meet with his high approval. I saw
+that the very day of the accident. He received us here at Ettersberg,
+and when Edmund lifted his future wife out of the carriage, my young
+gentleman looked as if the skies had fallen upon him; he darted a
+glance at the pair which by no means pleased me. However, he recovered
+himself in a minute, and was very polite, expressing regret at his
+aunt's accident, and wishes for his cousin's happiness, but in a cool,
+half-hearted sort of way which showed that both were forced. He does
+not appear to possess much heart, but a genius for farming he has, and
+no mistake.'
+
+'Did that flattering compliment refer to me?' asked Edmund, who just
+then drew near with Hedwig, and overheard the last words.
+
+Ruestow turned.
+
+'To you, no! We were talking of your cousin. You, I am sorry to say,
+have no practical gifts that I have been able to discover.'
+
+'None in the world,' Edmund laughingly assured him. 'That was made
+plain to me the other day when I was over at Brunneck, and you were
+engrossed in one of your endless debates about forest-culture and
+drainage. Hedwig and I only caught a word here and there, but that was
+enough to make us yawn.'
+
+'These are views which promise well for a landed proprietor, I must
+say,' remarked the Councillor tartly. 'So our conversation made you
+yawn, did it? Why, you and Hedwig had not a sensible word to say to
+each other. I heard nothing but jokes and laughter. Yet you had every
+cause to listen with attention. The state of the timber on your----'
+
+'Oh, for Heaven's sake, spare me all that to-day,' broke in Edmund.
+'If you really must talk on these subjects, I will bring you over the
+genius you admire so much. Oswald is capable of discussing timber all
+the evening. But where is he, I wonder? I have missed him for the last
+quarter of an hour or so. Everard, have you seen Herr von Ettersberg?
+Perhaps he is over in the ballroom.'
+
+'No, Count, I have just come from there,' replied the old servant, who
+was passing with a tray.
+
+'Well, I shall have to go and look him up myself. One can never reckon
+on Oswald on such occasions as this. He leaves the entire burden on
+me. Come, Hedwig, dancing will begin soon; we ought to go and see that
+all the necessary arrangements are made.'
+
+So saying, the young Count placed Hedwig's hand within his arm, and
+led her away to the ballroom, which lay at the other extremity of the
+long and glittering suite of apartments.
+
+The spacious ballroom was for the moment quite empty, as also was the
+adjoining conservatory, and this fact probably had beguiled Oswald
+into seeking a refuge there. The intention he had expressed of leaving
+Ettersberg at once had been combated on all sides, and especially by
+Edmund, who warmly insisted on his cousin remaining at the castle, and
+besieged him perpetually with entreaties and reproaches. The Countess
+even, and Baron Heideck, after due reflection, had decided that it
+might be a serious matter to provoke an open rupture with this
+rebellious nephew, and to launch him forth into the world in hostile
+mood. They therefore also opposed his departure. The family
+differences, which could not be healed, must at least be hidden from
+others. No further opposition should thwart the young man's plans.
+
+It was agreed that his future should be left altogether in his own
+hands; so he had yielded to the pressure put upon him, and consented
+to stay on until the autumn, according to his original intention.
+
+Oswald was standing before a group of camellias, apparently absorbed
+in the contemplation of their wealth of bloom. In reality he was
+insensible to it, as to all else around him. The expression of his
+countenance had little in common with the general rejoicing of the
+day, which placed the young Lord of Ettersberg in full possession of
+his own. An ominous frown contracted his brow, which had been smooth
+enough as he mixed in the ranks of the company. It was one of those
+moments when the mask of calm, imperturbable indifference was dropped.
+This mask the habit of years and the young man's self-control had
+enabled him to assume, but how foreign to his real nature was the
+indifference he feigned might be seen from his heaving breast and
+clenched teeth as he now stood alone, battling with himself. It had
+been impossible to him to remain amid the brilliant throng. He felt he
+must seek solitude, that he might draw breath freely, that he might
+not stifle beneath the crowd of thoughts which surged wildly through
+his mind. Was this really but the mean, bitter envy of an ingrate, who
+repaid benefits received with hate, and could not forgive the Fortune
+which favoured his cousin more highly than himself? Oswald's attitude
+implied more than this. There was in it something of the proud
+defiance with which a subdued and downtrodden right may at times
+assert itself, something of unspoken yet menacing protest against all
+the gay, splendid doings of the day.
+
+'So here you are!' Edmund's voice broke in upon the stillness.
+
+Oswald started and turned round, to behold the young Count standing in
+the doorway. Edmund went up to him now quickly, and continued, in a
+reproachful tone:
+
+'You seem to look upon yourself quite in the light of a guest to-day!
+You turn your back on the company and devote yourself to a quiet
+inspection of these camellias, instead of helping me to do the honours
+of the house.'
+
+A moment had sufficed to restore to Oswald his wonted calm, but there
+was a lurking bitterness in his tone as he replied:
+
+'That, I imagine, is your business exclusively. Are you not the hero
+of the day?'
+
+'No doubt, in a double capacity,' replied Edmund lightly. 'As a man
+coming into his property, and a man about to be married. In this last
+quality, I have to read you a lecture. You have omitted to ask Hedwig
+for a dance; yet you might have foreseen that she would be besieged by
+petitions on all sides. Luckily, I interfered in your behalf, and have
+secured for you the only waltz that was left at her disposal. I hope
+you will duly appreciate my self-abnegation.'
+
+It hardly seemed to be appreciated, or at least not in the measure
+expected. Oswald's answer betrayed a marked coldness.
+
+'You are very kind. To tell you the truth, it had been my intention
+not to dance this evening.'
+
+'Now this is too bad!' exclaimed his cousin angrily. 'It would be
+shameful if you were to refuse now. Why should you? you used to dance
+formerly.'
+
+'Because my aunt would not excuse me. The duty was always an onerous
+one. You know how little taste I have for dancing.'
+
+Edmund shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'No matter; this waltz you will have to undertake, whether you like it
+or not. I have expressly retained it for you.'
+
+'If Fraeulein Ruestow has consented----'
+
+'"Fraeulein Ruestow"! Just the tone in which Hedwig said, "If Herr von
+Ettersberg desires it"! How often have I asked you both to give up
+this stiff form of address, and to behave towards each other as
+relations should? But it seems to me that every time you meet you grow
+more formal and freezing. This is getting quite unbearable.'
+
+'I was not aware that I had been wanting in proper respect towards the
+lady of your choice.'
+
+'Oh no, certainly not. You are, on the contrary, so exceedingly
+reverential to each other, that it chills the very blood in my veins
+to listen to you. I really do not understand you, Oswald. The reserve
+you affect towards Hedwig is so patent, so obvious, you positively
+cannot complain if she is occasionally a little ... a little brusque
+in her manner towards you.'
+
+Oswald accepted the rebuke with perfect equanimity. His hand toyed,
+absently as it were, with one of the flowering branches as he
+replied:'
+
+'Say no more about it, Edmund--be very sure that this reserve of mine
+meets the lady's wishes exactly. As you have asked for a waltz in my
+name, I shall claim it, of course, but you must not force me to take
+any further part in the ball. It really was my intention not to dance
+tonight at all.'
+
+'All right,' said Edmund, who was as easily appeased as ruffled, and
+whose anger never lasted long. 'If you are bent on depriving the
+ladies of a partner, I cannot compel you to favour them, and nothing
+shall induce me to put myself out of temper tonight. It really would
+be thankless of me on such a day as this, a day which fulfils my
+every wish. You see, Hedwig and I were right not to take a tragic
+view of the situation, though Ruestow's deed of heroism settled the
+matter more quickly than we had ventured to hope. The feud between the
+houses is at an end, and our romance winds up to the merry tune of
+wedding-bells. I knew it would be so!'
+
+The fearless, happy confidence which marked the young Count's bearing,
+and was to-day more strikingly expressed than ever, formed a strong
+contrast to his cousin's almost gloomy gravity. Oswald's eyes rested
+with a dark and moody gaze on the other's bright face.
+
+'You are Fortune's favoured child,' he said slowly. 'All the good
+things of this life fall to your share.'
+
+'All?' repeated Edmund jestingly. 'No; you are in error there. My
+future father-in-law's genuine admiration, for instance, is given to
+you. He declares you are a heaven-born genius, extols your practical
+notions, and no doubt in his heart regrets that you are not destined
+to be his son-in-law in my stead.'
+
+Harmless as was the jest, and lightly as the words were spoken, they
+produced a visible and painful effect. Oswald's brow contracted
+darkly, and he replied with much irritation:
+
+'How often have I begged you to spare me this perpetual banter? Cannot
+you desist from it for once, if it be only for a moment?'
+
+Count Edmund, who greatly enjoyed the spectacle of his cousin's wrath,
+broke into a fit of laughter.
+
+'Make your mind easy,' he said. 'I should be the first to protest
+against an exchange, and I hardly think Hedwig would be disposed to
+agree to it. I have no intention of abdicating in your favour. But now
+come. It is high time for us to return to the guests.'
+
+Oswald, who had no further pretext for lingering behind,
+obeyed the summons, and the two young men returned together to the
+reception-rooms. Here the heir's absence had already been remarked.
+The Countess's eyes were roving in impatient quest of her son, for she
+was waiting to give the signal for the dancing to begin, and a cloud
+lay on fair Hedwig's brow as the two gentlemen entered. The young lady
+thought it most unnecessary that Edmund should go off in search of his
+unsociable cousin, and could not excuse him for deserting her side for
+such an object. She did not like this particular new relation, with
+his icy hauteur and reserve, which never condescended to a word of
+flattery or admiration, and therefore gave herself little trouble to
+conceal from him the fact that the promise of a waltz had been almost
+wrested from her. Oswald was constrained to utter some words of
+thanks, but even in so doing he let it be seen that he was in reality
+little moved by the high distinction conferred on him. No special
+attention was vouchsafed his speech. Hedwig made a brief reply, cold
+as the address had been, diligently studying the design of her fan as
+she spoke, and then turned at once to her affianced husband. Poor
+Edmund saw that his efforts to establish a friendship between his
+cousin and future wife were worse than useless; they invariably
+produced an effect contrary to that desired. He had to confess to
+himself that this, his latest half-playful, half-serious attempt to
+bring the two together, had resulted in a complete fiasco.
+
+The ball now began in earnest, and soon all the younger members of the
+company were taking part in its revels. Oswald von Ettersberg was the
+one exception. He remained true to his resolution, and abstained from
+dancing, to the great displeasure of the Countess. Since their last
+interview, however, that lady had refrained from any attempt to
+control her nephew, and she now allowed him to have his way in
+silence. Edmund and Hedwig, on the other hand, gave themselves up
+heart and soul to the pleasure of the hour. They both danced well, and
+were passionately fond of the exercise. It would have been difficult
+to find a handsomer couple than the young heir and his promised bride
+as they floated through the room, radiant with youth, happiness, and
+beauty, surrounded by the aureole of wealth and Fortune's fairest
+gifts. Not a cloud dimmed the broad, sunshiny horizon of their future.
+
+Baron Heideck himself must that evening have given in his adhesion,
+have become reconciled to his nephew's choice, so charming did the
+young girl appear in her dress of pale pink silk adorned with airy
+white laces and roses strewn, as it seemed, with a random hand. Her
+luxuriant curly hair, restrained by no net, but held together simply
+by a flowering spray, waved over her shoulders in all its rich
+abundance. A happy light shone in the dark-blue eyes, and the
+beautiful face, slightly flushed by the rapid movement of the dance,
+beamed with youthful excitement and delight--perhaps a little also
+with gratified vanity, for it could not be doubtful that the young
+lady was conscious of her all-conquering charms and of the triumph she
+had that evening achieved.
+
+To this triumph Edmund was by no means insensible. The evident
+admiration which his betrothed excited on all sides flattered him most
+agreeably. He was unremitting in his attentions to Hedwig, and
+perfectly captivating in his general efforts to please. Oswald was
+right. The Count was indeed the favoured child of Fortune--of Fortune,
+which, in addition to all that had been his from birth, now set him
+free to follow the dictates of his heart. Truly, all the good things
+of this life fell to his share.
+
+Three or four dances had gone by, and now came the waltz which Edmund
+had solicited in his cousin's name. Oswald approached his fair
+partner, and offered his arm with his accustomed cold politeness.
+
+'You have not danced at all this evening, Herr von Ettersberg,' said
+Hedwig, a little ironically. 'It seems that an exception is to be made
+in my honour alone. Is it really true, as I heard a lady asserting
+just now, that you positively detest dancing?'
+
+'I may say, at least, that I am not fond of it,' he replied.
+
+'Oh, then I am sincerely sorry that you should impose such a penance
+on yourself on my account. It was Edmund's wish, I imagine, that we
+should fulfil the demands of etiquette by going through this waltz
+together?'
+
+The sarcasm failed in its effect, for Oswald remained perfectly cool.
+He evaded any direct reply to her rather captious remark, and answered
+ambiguously:
+
+'I hardly knew whether I was to accept Edmund's promise as sufficient.
+I thought it advisable to assure myself personally of your consent,
+Fraeulein.'
+
+Hedwig bit her lip. Her supposition was confirmed. This most ungallant
+new relation made no attempt to disguise from her that the arrangement
+had been a master-stroke of Edmund's diplomacy, but coolly allowed her
+to divine the fact. It almost seemed as though the young Count might
+have to pay some penalty for this, for the young lady's lip curled
+with a defiance of which he had already had some slight experience.
+The promise she had given could not, however, be recalled without
+absolute offence, especially as the dance had already commenced.
+
+'I await your bidding,' said Oswald, pointing to the couples flying
+past.
+
+Hedwig made no reply, but placed her hand on his arm with an air of
+resignation, and next moment they, too, were whirling through the
+room.
+
+That was a strange waltz, danced merely in satisfaction of
+'etiquette.' Hedwig had purposed to make it as short and as formal as
+possible, and yet something like confusion overcame her when her
+partner placed his arm about her waist. Hitherto they had not even
+shaken hands, but had restricted themselves to the severest outward
+forms of politeness, and now suddenly they were so near, so near each
+other! Up to this time Oswald had hardly noticed the girl's loveliness
+by a glance. He had, almost purposely, abstained from looking at her,
+and she had resented this as a sort of affront. But now his eyes were
+riveted on her face, fascinated, as it seemed, by some spell he could
+not break, and those eyes spoke quite another language from the
+sternly-set lips. His breast heaved with a quick tempestuous movement,
+and the arm which encircled the girl's slender figure trembled
+perceptibly.
+
+Hedwig felt this. She raised her eyes in surprised inquiry to his
+face, and there met again that enigmatic expression which had so
+startled her on a previous occasion when they had been left together
+alone on the hill-side. She had not understood then the sudden, ardent
+flash, the kindling gaze--often had she pondered over it, wondering
+what it could purport--oftener than she cared to confess to herself;
+now some notion of its meaning dawned upon her. No clear recognition
+of the truth as yet, only a dim vague foreshadowing, which gradually,
+very gradually, took form and substance. Vague as was the feeling, it
+harassed and agitated her. Though the danger it seemed to imply as yet
+menaced only from afar, it already exercised a magnetic influence,
+which slowly, irresistibly drew her on and on towards the fatal orbit.
+
+Mechanically, half as in a dream, the girl followed the windings of
+the dance. The brightly lighted ballroom, the sparkling music, the gay
+couples revolving round her--this all grew misty and unreal to her
+dulled senses, receding, as it were, to an illimitable distance.
+
+It seemed to Hedwig that a great gap separated her from these
+surroundings, that she was alone with the man who held her in
+his arms, alone beneath the spell of those eyes, from which she
+strove to escape, but which held her ever inexorably fast. Suddenly,
+in the midst of all these surging emotions, indefinite and most
+unintelligible, a clear, strong ray of light streamed in upon her, a
+prescience, as it were, of some hitherto unknown, but infinite,
+amazing bliss.
+
+The dance came to an end. It had hardly lasted ten minutes, and
+yet had been too long for either of them. Once again their eyes
+met--resting for a second or more, then Oswald bowed and stepped back.
+
+'I thank you, Fraeulein,' he murmured.
+
+Hedwig replied not a syllable. She merely inclined her head in
+acknowledgment. No time could she have found, indeed, to answer, for
+Edmund was already at her side, triumphing in the thought that he had
+successfully carried out his plan, and much disposed to venture some
+bantering remarks in consequence. But for once his mirth-loving humour
+had to be restrained; for at the conclusion of the dance the couples
+dispersed, and many ladies and gentlemen drew near their host. The
+Count and his betrothed were quickly surrounded; their attention was
+claimed on all sides, and a lively chatter soon set in about them.
+
+Edmund was in brilliant vein, and soon became the soul and centre of
+the group. Hedwig smiled too, and made reply when appealed to, but her
+replies were faint, her smiles strangely forced. The radiant gaiety
+she had shown throughout the evening had suddenly faded away, died
+out. But a little while ago she had entered with the heartiest spirit
+into all the animation and the pleasure, luxuriating in it as in her
+true element; had moved through the bright and merry throng,
+brightest, merriest of all; but now it had all grown strange and
+indifferent to her. The light jests and flattering speeches that
+buzzed about her ears seemed to her quite meaningless and inane. A
+veil had fallen upon her soul, as it were, obscuring all the
+brightness and splendour of the scene. It was only by a great effort
+that she forced herself to play her part in it.
+
+Oswald had taken advantage of the approach of strangers to beat a
+retreat unnoticed, and to leave the ballroom. Count Edmund would have
+been wiser not so pertinaciously to have insisted on having his own
+way. He little guessed, indeed, that his cousin had refrained from
+dancing simply and solely to avoid the duty which 'etiquette' marked
+out for him, and which he could hope to escape in no other manner. And
+now, after all, it had been forced upon him! Oswald could not but feel
+that he had in some measure betrayed himself, and it availed little
+that anger and self-reproach burned hot and fierce within him. That
+which he had denied to his own thoughts, which nothing would induce
+him to admit even to himself, had through that unhappy waltz become
+clear to him as the noonday. He knew now how matters stood with him.
+
+The solitude the young man so longed for was not yet to be accorded
+him; for in one of the adjacent rooms he came upon Councillor Ruestow,
+who was resting there, seeking to recruit, after his unusual and
+amazing efforts at urbanity. He had surpassed himself this evening,
+and had been almost knightly in his behaviour towards the Countess;
+but the duty had become irksome to him after awhile, and he now
+joyfully seized the opportunity which offered of having a little
+sensible conversation. In an instant he had buttonholed Oswald, who
+was of necessity compelled to stand and surrender.
+
+'You were right, I am sorry to say,' remarked Ruestow, in the course of
+their talk. 'In consequence of what you said to me, I have been
+looking into the state of affairs here on the Ettersberg estates.
+Things are, indeed, in a deplorable condition. I don't see one person
+employed on the place who is worth his salt. The bailiff is totally
+inefficient, and my lady, the Countess, has trusted to him entirely
+for years. Well, I suppose one could not expect her to exercise much
+supervision, but I shall take my son-in-law to task, I can tell you.
+There has been no doing anything with him at present--his head is so
+full of his marriage and all sorts of nonsense--but there must be an
+end to this at last. He has to-day become the actual and sole master
+here. With the possession comes the responsibility, and it is for him
+now to see that all is set in order.'
+
+'Edmund will not move a finger in the matter,' said Oswald. 'He will
+promise anything you like, and will seriously intend to do as he
+promises, but nothing will come of it. You may rely on what I say.'
+
+Ruestow started at this strong assertion, which was made with much
+decision of manner.
+
+'You mean that Edmund is not equal to the task before him?' he asked
+anxiously.
+
+'No; his nature is excellent, most amiable, but he lacks energy, and
+energy is here imperatively needed. You will have to take steps
+yourself, Councillor, if you wish to save the property.'
+
+'And how is it you have not done so before this? You must have seen on
+your return how matters were going.'
+
+'I have no right to interfere with other people's concerns.'
+
+'Other people's concerns? Have not you been treated in all respects as
+the son of the house whose name you bear?'
+
+Oswald was silent. He could not explain to this gentleman the terms on
+which he stood towards his aunt, or how little she would have brooked
+any interference on his part; so after a moment he replied evasively:
+
+'Early in the spring I spoke to my cousin about the mismanagement
+reigning here, told him without any reticence whatever all I had
+observed, and called upon him to take some active steps. I met with no
+success. You can summon your paternal authority to your aid; and
+Edmund will willingly agree to all you advise, if only you dispense
+him from the obligation of doing anything himself.'
+
+Ruestow looked concerned and thoughtful. He did not seem particularly
+edified by the view of his son-in-law's character which Oswald's
+words, perhaps unintentionally, afforded him.
+
+'Edmund is still so young,' he said at length, half apologetically;
+'and he has hitherto resided little on the estate. With possession,
+pride and pleasure in his home will come to him, and interest in its
+welfare will spring up. In the first place, however, the senseless
+doings in the forests must be put a stop to.' Hereupon the Councillor
+began to develop his plans and ideas with regard to the new system to
+be pursued, and soon grew so absorbed by his subject that he failed to
+remark how completely he had the conversation to himself. Only when
+Oswald's answers, from being brief, became monosyllabic, when his
+assent to the propositions advanced came fainter and fainter, was
+Ruestow's attention aroused.
+
+'Does anything ail you, Herr von Ettersberg?' he asked. 'You are
+looking so pale.'
+
+Oswald forced a smile, and passed his hand across his brow.
+
+'Nothing of any importance. Merely a headache, which has been
+tormenting me all day. If I could have chosen, I should not have
+appeared at all this evening.'
+
+'In that case you were wrong to dance,' said Ruestow. 'It was sure to
+increase an ailment of that sort.'
+
+The young man's lips quivered. 'You are right; I should not have
+danced. But it will not happen again.'
+
+His voice was so low and agitated that Ruestow grew really anxious, and
+advised him to go out upon the terrace--he would get rid of his
+headache sooner in the open air. Oswald hastily seized the proffered
+pretext and went. The Councillor looked after him with a shake of the
+head, a little regretful that the pleasant chat was over already.
+Young Ettersberg's 'genius' had not displayed itself so obviously as
+usual on this occasion.
+
+So the ball spent its course, noisy and brilliant as a ball should be,
+fully sustaining the castle's ancient renown for successful
+hospitality. No doubt, the Countess was a past mistress in the art of
+entertaining and in the ordering and arrangement of such festivities.
+The night was far advanced when the carriages containing the last
+departing guests rolled from the door, and the members of the family
+separated almost immediately. Edmund went down to see the Councillor
+and Fraeulein Lina off on their return-journey to Brunneck, and Hedwig,
+who was to remain a few days longer with the Countess at Ettersberg,
+said good-night  at once and retired to her own room.'
+
+The splendid apartments, lately the scene of so much animation, were
+now empty and deserted, though still radiant with light and bright
+with festive ornament. The Countess alone remained in them. She stood
+before her husband's picture, absorbed, as it were, in thought. This
+portrait had been a present to her on her marriage, and now filled a
+prominent position in the great drawing-room. The face which looked
+forth from that richly-gilt frame was mild and kindly in its
+expression, but it was the face of an old man, and she who now stood
+gazing upon it could yet lay claim to beauty. This proud and almost
+royal woman, robed in rich satin, with diamonds of purest water
+gleaming on neck and arms, would have been no fitting consort for an
+old man even now, and five-and-twenty years had passed since this pair
+had been affianced. The story, perhaps the sorrow, of a life lay in
+that strange disparity between the lady and the picture.
+
+A sense of this seemed to impress itself on the Countess in the
+present hour. The look she fixed on the portrait before her grew more
+absorbed, more gloomy, and when at length she turned from it and
+surveyed the glittering vista of rooms, a very bitter expression
+played about her lips.
+
+The splendid surroundings testified so amply to the high position
+attained by the Countess Ettersberg, a position in which she for years
+had reigned alone and supreme. Perhaps some of the bitterness was due
+to the thought that this sole supremacy was over now, that a new, a
+younger mistress was to be introduced to the home; perhaps it was
+awakened by other, sadder reminiscences. There were moments when this
+haughty and self-confident woman, despite the brilliant _role_ which,
+had been hers through life, could not forgive her Fate, or forget that
+she had been--offered up.
+
+Edmund's voice, addressing her on his return, roused the Countess from
+her reverie.
+
+'The worthy Councillor desires his compliments once more,' he
+said gaily. 'You have made a conquest there, mother. He became
+perfectly chivalrous in his homage to you, and was so extraordinarily
+good-tempered throughout the evening, that I really hardly recognised
+him.'
+
+'It is less difficult to get on with him than I had expected,' replied
+the Countess. 'He is rather rough and unpolished, certainly, but his
+is a frank and vigorous nature, which one must just take with all its
+peculiarities. Your future wife enjoyed one long triumph this evening,
+Edmund. I must admit that her appearance acts as the best advocate for
+your choice.'
+
+Edmund smiled.
+
+'Yes, Hedwig looked charming. In the whole assembly there was but one
+lady who could compare with her--and that lady was my mother.'
+
+His eyes rested with a look of affectionate admiration on the
+beautiful face before him, saying plainly that his words were spoken
+in no spirit of mere flattery. The Countess smiled in her turn. She
+knew full well that she could yet outrival younger women, that even
+her much-admired daughter-in-law would not place her in the shade. But
+the transient satisfaction soon yielded to a deeper emotion, as she
+held out her hand to her son and asked:
+
+'Are you satisfied with your mother now?'
+
+The young Count carried the hand to his lips, and kissed it fervently.
+
+'Can you ask me that to-day, a day which has seen my every wish
+fulfilled? I know that you made a great sacrifice in giving your
+consent, and that you have had to fight many a battle with my uncle on
+my behalf.'
+
+The Countess repressed a sigh at this mention of her brother.
+
+'Armand will never forgive me for yielding. Perhaps he is right! It
+would have been my duty, no doubt, to maintain the traditions of our
+house. And yet I could not resist your entreaties. I desired, at
+least, to see _you_ happy.'
+
+As she spoke, she glanced involuntarily at the old Count's portrait
+hanging opposite. Edmund caught the look, and understood the thought
+underlying the words.
+
+'You were not happy?' he asked in a low tone.
+
+'My husband never once in the whole course of my married life gave me
+ground for complaint. He was always most kind and indulgent towards
+me.'
+
+'But he was an old man,' said Edmund, gazing up at his father's kindly
+but withered features; 'and you were young and beautiful, like Hedwig,
+and had a right to expect all happiness in life. My poor dear!' his
+voice shook with suppressed emotion. 'It is only since I have been so
+happy myself that I have understood how dreary and desolate your life
+must have been, notwithstanding all my father's goodness. He could not
+love you with the ardour of youth. You bore your lot bravely always,
+but it must be a hard lot, nevertheless, to have constantly to listen
+to the dictates of duty, and to stifle the voice which calls for a
+fuller life and fuller happiness.'
+
+He paused, for the Countess sharply withdrew her hand from his, and
+turned away from him and the picture.
+
+'Enough, Edmund!' she said, with a hasty gesture. 'You distress me.'
+
+The son stood silent and confused. It was the first time he had
+permitted to himself such an allusion, but he had not dreamed his
+mother would be wounded by it.
+
+'Forgive me,' he said, after a pause. 'I did not intend any reproach
+to my father's memory. It assuredly was no fault of his if anything
+were wanting to your contentment.'
+
+'Nothing was wanting,' exclaimed the Countess, with a rush of genuine
+feeling. 'Nothing, for I had you, my Edmund. You have been all in all
+to me; you have made up to me for everything. I have desired no other
+happiness since I have had my son's love. So far indeed'--here her
+voice sank--'so far his love has been mine alone; now I must share it
+with another, who henceforth will take the first place in his heart.'
+
+'Mother!' broke in the young Count, half pleading, half reproachful.
+'You will be to me still what you have ever been.'
+
+The Countess shook her head gently.
+
+'I have, of course, long known that the time would come when the
+mother must make way for the wife; but now that it is here, it seems
+hard--so hard to bear, that I sometimes seriously think of leaving
+Ettersberg when you are married, and of going to live at Schoenfeld,
+which you know was appointed me as a dower-house.'
+
+'Never!' exclaimed Edmund, with vehemence. 'You cannot, will not, act
+so unkindly by me. You must not leave me, mother. You know that I
+cannot do without you, even though I have Hedwig. Much as I love her,
+she would not make up to me for all that I should lose in you.'
+
+The Countess heard these words with secret triumph. She knew that
+Edmund was sincere in his speech; the present moment convinced her of
+her power afresh. For his promised wife he had never anything but
+light talk and merry jests; Hedwig knew only the pleasant but
+superficial side of his character, which he showed to the world
+generally. All the deeper, intenser feelings of his nature belonged
+exclusively to his mother. As they flowed out towards her in all their
+warmth and fulness, she triumphantly recognised the fact that the
+first place in her son's heart was still hers.
+
+She had indeed known it, felt sure of it all along, and perhaps to
+this conviction Hedwig owed much of the friendly consideration which
+the Countess had always shown her. A bride more ardently, more
+passionately beloved would have found a redoubtable adversary in the
+jealous mother; this young girl, who neither gave nor required any
+great depth of affection, was endured because she did not endanger the
+maternal sway.
+
+'Hush, hush! do not let anyone hear you,' said the Countess playfully,
+yet with a swift deep undercurrent of tenderness. 'It is not becoming
+in an engaged man, and the lord of many broad acres, to declare that
+he cannot do without his mother. Do you think, my dear, that it would
+be easy for me to leave you?'
+
+'Do you think I would let you go? The mere formal recognition of my
+majority will not make a straw's difference in our position one
+towards the other.'
+
+'It will, Edmund,' said the Countess gravely. 'This day signifies to
+you more than a mere form. Hitherto you have been my son, the heir,
+over whom I exercised a guardian's authority. Henceforth you will be
+the leading person, the head of the house. It now devolves on you to
+represent the name and family of Ettersberg. May you sustain your rank
+brilliantly and well, in all happiness and honour! Then no sacrifice
+will have been too great. All that I have borne and suffered will seem
+to me a light thing--for your sake.'
+
+The words breathed of a great secret satisfaction. Perhaps they had
+another and a deeper meaning than any Edmund attached to them. He
+thought only of the sacrifice she had made in consenting to his
+marriage, and, stooping, he kissed her brow, thereby expressing his
+mute thanks.
+
+The Countess warmly returned his embrace, but in the very act of doing
+so she started, and clasped her arms tightly, eagerly about her son,
+as though she would shield him from some danger.
+
+'Why, what ails you?' asked Edmund calmly, following the direction of
+her eyes. 'It is only Oswald.'
+
+'Oswald! Yes, indeed,' murmured the Countess. 'He, and always he!'
+
+The interruption was indeed caused by Oswald, who had opened the
+glass-door leading from the terrace, and now, as he came in, appeared
+much surprised at beholding his aunt and cousin.
+
+'I thought these rooms were quite empty,' he said, going up to them.
+
+'And I thought you had long ago retired to rest,' replied the
+Countess. 'Where have you been?'
+
+'In the park,' answered the young man laconically, not noticing the
+sharpness of her tone.
+
+'What, at this hour of the night?' cried Edmund. 'If it were not an
+offence to attribute anything like mooning or romance to you, I should
+believe that one of our fair ladies this evening had touched your
+rebel heart. At such a time one feels instinctively a desire to sigh
+out to the stars alone one's bliss or misery. Do my words displease
+you again? Oswald, my mother has just solemnly proclaimed me head of
+the house and representative-in-chief of the family. In this exalted
+capacity, I now forbid me those black looks of yours, and call on you
+to show a smiling countenance. I will have no clouds, nothing but
+sunshine, in this my Castle of Ettersberg.'
+
+He would have thrown his arms about his cousin's shoulder in the old
+familiar fashion, but the Countess suddenly stepped between the two.
+So energetic was this dumb protest against the young men's close
+intimacy that Edmund involuntarily receded. Oswald coldly scanned his
+aunt's face, and she returned the gaze. Neither of them spoke, but the
+expression of undying, irreconcilable hatred which gleamed in their
+eyes was eloquent enough.
+
+'Sunshine alone?' repeated Oswald drily. 'I fear that you are
+stretching the supremacy you enjoy under your own roof too far. To
+command that is hardly possible even to the "head of the house," or to
+the "representative-in-chief of the family." Goodnight, Edmund. I
+will not intrude on you and my aunt any longer.'
+
+He bowed to the Countess, without offering to kiss her hand, as usual,
+and left the room. Edmund looked after him, half angry, half
+surprised.
+
+'Oswald grows harder in his manner and more unsociable day by day. Do
+you not think so?'
+
+'Why did you force him to remain on here?' said the Countess, curtly
+and bitterly. 'You see how he repays your affection.'
+
+The young Count shook his head. 'That is not it. This singular
+behaviour of his has nothing to do with me. There is some trouble
+weighing on Oswald. I can see it plainly, though he will not admit or
+speak of it. To you he always shows the more unpleasant side of his
+character, from some spirit of perversity, I suppose. I know him as he
+really is, and that is why I am so fond of him.'
+
+'And I hate him!' exclaimed the Countess. 'I know that he is secretly
+hatching something against us at the present moment. Just as I was
+about to give you my blessing, and wish you all happiness and joy in
+the future, he rose up like a shadow, and stepped between us like a
+messenger of evil tidings. Why did you keep him here when he wanted to
+go? I shall not breathe freely until he has left Ettersberg.'
+
+Edmund looked at his mother in real alarm. Passionate outbreaks were
+so foreign to her nature that he positively hardly recognised her in
+this mood. Her dislike to Oswald was no secret from him, but this
+exceeding irritation he could in no way explain to himself.
+
+The entrance of Everard and another servant here put an end to the
+conversation. They had extinguished the lights in the ballroom, and
+wished to continue and finish their work elsewhere. The Countess,
+accustomed to control herself in the presence of her servants,
+speedily recovered her usual composure of manner. After giving some
+few orders, she took Edmund's arm and begged him to take her to her
+room. Already she repented the vehemence of her speech to her son, and
+to him as to herself the interruption came opportunely. They never
+could, never would agree in their judgment of Oswald.
+
+All grew quiet and dark in the state apartments. The doors were
+closed, and the domestics had withdrawn. In Edmund's room and in his
+mother's the lights were soon put out. Down the whole castle facade
+two windows only gleamed brightly: that of the turret-chamber in the
+side-wing where Oswald von Ettersberg had his lodging, and another in
+the main building, situated very near the Countess's own bedroom.
+
+The young affianced bride, the heroine of the evening, had not yet
+retired to rest. She sat leaning back in a great armchair, her head
+half buried in its cushions, unmindful of the fact that the laces
+and roses adorning her dress were being unmercifully, irreparably
+crushed. Before her on a table lay her lover's latest offering, a
+costly pearl-necklace, which she had worn that day for the first time.
+To these jewels, however, she vouchsafed not a glance, though but a
+few days ago they had been received by her with great manifestations
+of delight.
+
+The evening had been plentiful in pleasure. Hedwig had made her
+entrance into society as Edmund's promised wife, had appeared amid the
+brilliant surroundings among which her future life would be passed. To
+be mistress of Ettersberg was assuredly no unenviable lot, even for so
+rich an heiress, so spoilt a child of Fortune, as Hedwig Ruestow. She
+had never enjoyed such triumphs, never received so much homage, as had
+been lavished on her tonight in her quality of the future Countess
+Ettersberg.
+
+Yet no happy smile, no sparkle of satisfied vanity, brightened the
+girl's face. Motionless, with her hands folded in her lap, she sat
+looking vaguely, dreamily before her into space. The veil still
+shrouded her soul; the dream still held her enchained. It led her away
+from the gaiety and glamour of the fete to a lonely wooded hill-side,
+where, beneath a gray and cloudy sky, the swallows flitted through the
+rain-charged air, piping their shrill greetings.
+
+They really had brought spring upon their wings, those small, joyful
+messengers. Beneath all the frost and rime the mighty work of
+germination had been progressing, and everywhere around, noiselessly,
+invisibly, mysterious forces had been active, weaving their wondrous
+tissues. Yes; springtime, though tardy, surely comes to Mother Earth
+and to her wearying, longing sons. Sad is it when the bright season is
+too long delayed, when from despairing hearts the cry goes up, 'Too
+late! too late!'
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+The Ettersberg festivities had taken place at midsummer, and now a
+September sun shone over the land. The young master had taken the
+reins, but it could not be said that any material change for the
+better was noticeable in the management of his estates. On the
+contrary, all remained _in statu quo_. Ruestow's urgent persuasion so
+far prevailed that the land-steward received notice to leave; but it
+was arranged that he should continue in office until after the new
+year, and though some restraint had become so necessary, none was
+laid either on him or any of the other officials. Count Edmund
+judged it superfluous--he knew it was most inconvenient--to trouble
+himself about such matters. He always lent a willing ear to his
+father-in-law's plans and projects, agreed with him on all points,
+and regularly gave him an assurance that he would see about it all
+'to-morrow'; but that morrow never came. Oswald's prediction was
+verified. The Councillor soon found out that he must intervene
+himself, if any good were to be effected.
+
+Edmund, for his part, would have been quite satisfied to let Ruestow
+act for him, but the latter encountered unexpected resistance from the
+Countess, who thought it highly unnecessary that anyone should now
+attempt to tutor her son, and was not disposed to yield up to the
+future father-in-law an authority she had hitherto exercised herself.
+
+Besides this, the changes the Councillor proposed making were by no
+means to the lady's taste. Rules and arrangements which might be
+suitable for plain Brunneck would not fittingly serve aristocratic
+Ettersberg. The number of persons employed on the estates might be
+greater than was required, the system prevailing might be a costly and
+a comparatively unproductive one, but so it had been for long years.
+It was all part of the large and liberal style in which they were
+accustomed to live. Any limitation of the staff, that fretting and
+minute attention to all the details of management which Ruestow
+advocated, appeared to the Countess as a species of degradation; and
+hers being still the casting-vote at the castle, the opposition
+carried the day. Already there had been some lively skirmishes of
+debate between the reigning mistress and the Councillor, and though
+Edmund promptly interfered on these occasions and made peace, a
+certain amount of acrimonious feeling lingered on both sides.
+
+Ruestow's admiration for the grand and haughty dame had considerably
+diminished since he had discovered how grandly she could assert and
+defend her own privileges; and the Countess, for her part, now
+declared that the Councillor was really too peculiar, and that it was
+impossible to accept all his whims without remark. In short, the
+harmony of their relations was disturbed, and there were clouds on the
+hitherto clear sky, clouds which seemed to menace the family peace.
+
+Oswald had consistently held himself aloof from all these discussions.
+He seemed to look on himself as a stranger in the house he was so soon
+to leave. Moreover, his legal studies absorbed all his time, and
+afforded him a pretext for withdrawing from society, and declining
+most of the invitations with which the young engaged couple and their
+families were overwhelmed.
+
+The end of September had now arrived, and with it the date appointed
+for his departure. All his preparations were made, the necessary
+farewell visits had been duly rendered, and his journey was fixed for
+the day after the morrow. One thing alone had been left undone. He
+must still pay his respects at the Brunneck manor-house, and take
+leave of the family there. In view of the connection now existing
+between the houses, this duty could not be avoided, though Oswald had
+postponed its fulfilment to the last moment. He had intended to drive
+over in Edmund's company, but the Count, it appeared, had agreed to
+join a shooting-party on that very day, so his cousin had no
+alternative but to proceed on his expedition alone. Despite the
+Councillor's friendly and oft-repeated invitations, Oswald had not set
+foot in the house since the day of the betrothal, at which ceremony he
+had been compelled to assist. Nevertheless, he had met his cousin's
+affianced wife on several occasions, for Hedwig now frequently came
+over to Ettersberg with her father. Part of the castle was already
+being put in readiness for the accommodation of the young married
+couple.
+
+The Master of Brunneck was sitting in the veranda-parlour, reading his
+newspapers, while his cousin, stationed before a side-table, took up
+and carefully examined first one and then another of several elegant
+articles of toilette which lay spread out before her. They were
+patterns of new fashions, which had just arrived from town, and were
+destined to form part of Hedwig's trousseau, now in active course of
+preparation.
+
+The Councillor did not appear to be much interested in his reading. He
+turned over the pages absently, and at length looked up from his
+paper, and said in an impatient tone:
+
+'Have not you made your choice, or done looking over those things yet,
+Lina? Why don't you get Hedwig to help you?'
+
+Aunt Lina shrugged her shoulders.
+
+'Hedwig has declared, as usual, that she intends to leave it all to
+me. I must make a selection by the light of my own unaided judgment.'
+
+'I don't understand how it is the girl shows so little interest in
+these matters. They all relate to her own trousseau, and formerly
+dress was to her an affair of state.'
+
+'Formerly--yes,' said Aunt Lina emphatically.
+
+A pause ensued. The Councillor seemed to have something on his mind.
+Presently he laid aside his newspaper, and stood up.
+
+'Lina, I have something to say to you--Hedwig does not quite please
+me.'
+
+'Nor me either,' murmured the old lady; but she avoided looking at her
+cousin, and kept her eyes fixed on a lace-pattern she had taken up.
+
+'Not?' cried Ruestow, who always grew quarrelsome when he was at all
+worried. 'Now I should have thought her present manner would have been
+exactly what you would like. According to you, Hedwig was always too
+superficial and light-minded; now she is growing so wonderfully
+profound in her feelings that she is forgetting how to laugh. Why, she
+is never contradictious, never up to tricks of any sort! Upon my word,
+it is enough to drive one mad!'
+
+'What, that she has given up contradiction, and all her foolish
+tricks?'
+
+Ruestow took no notice of this ironical interruption. He went up to his
+cousin, and posted himself before her in a menacing attitude.
+
+'What has happened to the girl? What has become of my merry, saucy
+Hedwig, my madcap who was never weary of frolic and fun? I must and
+will know.'
+
+'You need not look at me so fiercely, Erich,' said Aunt Lina calmly.
+'I have not injured your child in any way.'
+
+'But you know what has brought about the change,' cried the anxious
+father, in a dictatorial tone. 'You can, at least, explain to me what
+it all means.'
+
+'I cannot do that, for your daughter has not made me her confidante.
+Don't take the matter so much to heart. Hedwig has certainly grown
+grave and pensive of late, but you must remember she is about to take
+a most important step, to leave her father's house and enter upon new
+relationships and new surroundings. She may have much to fight through
+and to overcome, but when once she is married, a sense of duty will
+sustain her.'
+
+'A sense of duty?' repeated the Councillor, petrified with amazement.
+'Why, has not this love-affair of hers been a perfect romance? Have
+not they got their own way in spite of the Countess and of me? Is not
+Edmund the most tender, the most attentive lover the world ever saw?
+And you talk about a sense of duty! It is a very excellent thing in
+its way, no doubt, but when a young woman of eighteen has nothing
+warmer than that to offer her husband, you may reckon with certainty
+on a miserable marriage. Take my word for it.'
+
+'You misunderstand me,' said his cousin soothingly. 'I only meant that
+Hedwig would be brought face to face with life's graver side and with
+its duties when she goes to live at Ettersberg. The situation does not
+appear to me so simple, the future so smooth and thornless, as we at
+first supposed.'
+
+Ruestow did not observe that a trap was laid for him, a palpable effort
+made to lead him from the topic under discussion. He followed up the
+seemingly careless remark at once, and with some warmth.
+
+'No, truly not. If things go on in this way, the Countess and I will
+come to words again. Whatever I do, or propose doing, I am met and
+stopped by those confounded uppish notions of hers, to which
+everything else must be kept subordinate. There is no making the woman
+understand that the ruin impending over the property can only be
+averted by strong and timely measures. No, all must go on in the old
+routine! The most necessary reforms are rejected if they, as she
+thinks, in any way diminish the glory of the house, or impair the halo
+surrounding it. The actual owner and master does just nothing at all.
+He thinks he has made the greatest effort that can be demanded of him,
+if he holds half-an-hour's interview with his steward. Beyond this he
+ventures not, but simply kneels and adores his wonderful mamma, whom
+he looks on as the embodiment of all wisdom and perfection. Hedwig
+will have to make very sure of her husband, if she does not mean to be
+altogether thrust into the background by her mother-in-law.'
+
+The Councillor would probably have continued in this strain,
+disburdening his heart of its pent-up fears and anxieties, but he was
+interrupted by the sound of approaching wheels.
+
+Aunt Lina, who was standing by the window, looked out.
+
+'It is Herr von Ettersberg,' said she, returning that gentleman's
+salutation.
+
+'Oswald?' inquired Ruestow in surprise. 'Ah, he has come to say
+good-bye, no doubt. I know he was to leave one of these days. Let
+Hedwig be sent for. She is somewhere out in the park.'
+
+The old lady hesitated. 'I don't know--I rather think Hedwig intended
+going for a walk. It will not be so easy to find her; besides, you and
+I are both here to receive him.'
+
+'I must say it would be more than impolite if Hedwig failed to appear
+when a near relation of her future husband comes to take leave of us,'
+said Ruestow angrily. 'The man shall go out, at least, and see if she
+is in the park. If he finds her, he can let her know who is here.'
+
+He stretched out his hand to the bell, but Aunt Lina was too quick for
+him.
+
+'I will send out after her. You stay and receive Herr von Ettersberg.'
+
+So saying, she left the room, returning after the lapse of a few
+minutes. She knew very well that Hedwig was in the park, yet no order
+to seek her out was given, no summons was sent her.
+
+Meanwhile Oswald had entered the house. He came, as had been rightly
+guessed, to take leave, but much pressing business awaited him at
+home. Some preparations for his journey were yet unmade, which must be
+completed that day; he could therefore only pay a flying visit. A
+little commonplace chat ensued. The Councillor regretted much that his
+daughter had gone out for a walk. He had sent into the park after the
+truant, but presumably the man had failed to find her. Oswald, in
+return, expressed polite regret, begged that her father would present
+his kind regard to the young lady and say good-bye for him. In a brief
+quarter of an hour the visit was concluded. Ruestow looked on with a
+heavy heart at his favourite's departure, but Aunt Lina, on the other
+hand, drew a deep breath of relief when the carriage rolled out of the
+courtyard.
+
+Oswald leaned back in the corner of the barouche. He was glad that
+this leave-taking was over, immensely glad--or so, at least, he told
+himself. He had long feared this hour--feared and yet longed for it.
+No matter, it was best so. The farewell, which accident had denied
+him, would have been but one pang more, and a useless one. Now the
+struggle of many days and weeks was at an end; a struggle which none
+had witnessed, but which had shaken the young man's being to its very
+centre, and had threatened completely to unhinge him. It was high time
+he should go. Distance would enfeeble, and perhaps ultimately break,
+the spell; and even were it not broken, a partition-wall of defence
+would be erected. Now he must throw all his energy into the new life
+before him, must zealously work, wrestle, and, if possible, forget.
+While Oswald thus reasoned with himself, his heart beat wildly,
+despairingly, in his breast, reminding him that he had looked forward
+to this one last pang as to a last gleam of happiness. Was he not
+going--going never to return?
+
+The carriage passed the corner of the park. Oswald turned and looked
+back once more. There at some little distance above him, on a small
+wooded eminence, he caught sight of a slender girlish figure--and in a
+trice all the wise comfort he had been administering to himself, all
+his fine resolutions for the future, melted away, fell to pieces. Once
+more--just once! Reflection, prudence vanished at the thought. In a
+second Oswald had called to the coachman to stop, and had sprung out
+of the carriage.
+
+The man drove on to the village, with instructions to wait there.
+Oswald entered the park by a side-gate, and proceeded towards the
+raised terrace; but as he approached the goal before him, his pace
+slackened, and when at length he mounted the steps, and Hedwig came
+forward to meet him, he had fully recovered his usual calmness of
+demeanour. He was, as it seemed, simply obeying the dictates of
+courtesy which called on him to stop and say a word of leave-taking to
+his cousin's future wife.
+
+'I have just paid my farewell visit to your father,' he began; 'and I
+could not omit saying good-bye to you in person, Fraeulein.'
+
+'You are leaving shortly?' inquired Hedwig.
+
+'The day after to-morrow.'
+
+'Edmund told me that your departure was imminent. He will miss you
+sadly.'
+
+'And I him; but in this life we cannot stay to consult our feelings.
+When Fate decrees a separation, we must perforce submit and obey.'
+
+The remark was intended to be playful, but the young man's voice
+thrilled with a certain sadness. His gaze rested on Hedwig as she
+stood before him, leaning slightly against the wooden railing. The
+Councillor's anxiety must have been exaggerated. His daughter appeared
+rosy and blooming, full of grace and charm as ever.
+
+No tittle of change could be detected in her outward appearance, and
+yet she seemed quite other than the merry capricious fairy who had
+emerged so unexpectedly before two travellers from the clouds of
+drifting, driving snow. The flower which has blossomed in the full
+sunshine, but on which suddenly a shadow falls, remains in form and
+hue the same; it sends forth the same fragrance, only the sunlight has
+gone from it. Such a shadow now lay on the face of Count Ettersberg's
+happy, much-envied chosen bride, and the dark blue eyes had a dewy
+shimmer, as though they had learned a trick which so long had been
+unknown to them--the trick of tears.'
+
+'The separation will be painful to you, then?' Hedwig said, continuing
+the conversation.'
+
+'Certainly. In the great city, a longing will often come over me, a
+longing for Edmund and ... for the dear old mountains.'
+
+'And none for Ettersberg?'
+
+'None.'
+
+The answer was so brief and decided that the girl looked up in
+surprise. Oswald noticed this, and added, by way of amendment:
+
+'Forgive me. I forgot that Ettersberg will shortly be your home. I was
+thinking only of the circumstances which have made my sojourn there a
+painful one, and which no doubt have long been known to you.'
+
+'But surely the circumstances you speak of have been modified. The
+family now place no obstacle in the way of your future career.'
+
+'No; I have forcibly secured for myself freedom of action; but it cost
+a conflict, and to contend with my aunt is no light task, as you will
+one day find out for yourself.'
+
+'I?' asked Hedwig, in surprise. 'I trust no contention may ever arise
+between me and my mother-in-law!'
+
+She drew herself up as she spoke, and measured her companion with a
+half-proud, half-angry glance. He replied firmly and quietly:
+
+'It may perhaps seem indelicate in me to touch on this subject, and it
+may be that you will altogether reject my interference as unwarranted,
+but I cannot go without uttering at least one word of warning. My aunt
+often speaks of leaving Ettersberg after her son's marriage--of
+retiring to her house of Schoenfeld. Edmund opposes this plan
+vehemently, and hitherto you have lent him your support. Do so no
+longer; on the contrary, persuade him, if possible, to let his mother
+go. You owe it to him and to yourself, for both his happiness and
+yours are at stake. There will be no room at Ettersberg for a young
+mistress, so long as the Countess retains her position there--and in
+your case, grafted on an old enmity is a new and strong prejudice
+which you will find it hard to encounter.'
+
+'I really do not understand you, Herr von Ettersberg,' said Hedwig,
+not a little agitated. 'Prejudice? Enmity? You cannot possibly be
+alluding to that foolish lawsuit about Dornau?'
+
+'Not to the suit itself, but to the hostile feeling which gave rise to
+it. You probably do not know who strengthened and confirmed your
+grandfather in his harsh obduracy, and induced him finally altogether
+to ignore his daughter's marriage with a commoner. But your father
+knows, and he is mistaken if he thinks that the Countess has outlived
+her prejudices. She gave her consent to this union in a moment of
+surprise, moved by a sudden burst of gratitude towards the man who had
+saved her life, moved, above all, by her great love for her son. What
+would she not do or surrender for his sake? But sooner or later she
+will repent the concession, if she does not repent already, and it is
+not Edmund, but you, who will be made to suffer for it.'
+
+Hedwig listened with increasing agitation. The difficulties now so
+boldly and mercilessly set before her had become dimly apparent to
+herself, especially in these later days--but dimly only; she had as
+yet formed no clear idea of the situation.
+
+'So far, I have had no reason to complain of Edmund's mother,' she
+said hesitatingly. 'She has always been most courteous and kind to
+me.'
+
+'And heartily affectionate?'
+
+The young girl was silent.
+
+'Do not think I am influenced in my judgment by my own personal
+relations towards my aunt,' pursued Oswald. 'I assuredly would not
+take upon me to sow distrust, did I not know how misleading too
+guileless a confidence may here prove. You are entering on a difficult
+position. The ground at Ettersberg is perilous ground for you, and it
+is right you should be warned before you set foot on it. Your mother
+fought a hard fight for her wedded happiness, but at least she had in
+her husband a firm stay and valiant defender. In your case the
+struggle will begin only after the marriage, but I fear it will not be
+spared you; for you are entering the bigoted and narrow-minded circle
+from which she escaped, and it remains to be seen whether Edmund will
+afford you the support of which you will stand in need. At all events,
+it is best to rely on one's self. Again I entreat of you on no
+consideration to consent to the plan of a joint household. You and
+your mother-in-law cannot live under one roof--Edmund must give up the
+idea.'
+
+Hedwig shook her head slightly. 'That will be difficult, if not
+impossible. He loves his mother so well----'
+
+'More than his affianced wife!' concluded Oswald emphatically.
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg!'
+
+'My words hurt you, Fraeulein? No doubt the fact is a painful one, but
+you must learn to look the truth in the face. Hitherto you have
+heedlessly toyed with Edmund's love, and have met with sportive homage
+and mere trifling in return. All the deeper feelings of his nature you
+have left to his mother, who has well known how to pursue her
+advantage. Edmund is capable of something better than superficial,
+playful tenderness. Beneath that gay exterior lie warm affections--I
+might almost say strong passions--but they must be awakened, and so
+far his mother alone has fathomed these depths. Make sure now of that
+which is yours by right. The power of a first and early love is in
+your hands as yet. When that fair glamour has spent itself, it may be
+too late.'
+
+He had spoken with great earnestness, but with his wonted utter
+disregard of any susceptibilities he might wound. Every word fell on
+his listener's ear with strong, unsparing emphasis, and flattering the
+words certainly were not. But a few months previously Hedwig would
+either have resented such a warning as an offence, or have laughed it
+away in happy, lighthearted confidence--now she listened in silence,
+with bowed head. He was right, she felt it; but why must these
+counsels come to her from his lips, why must she hear these cruel
+words from _him?_
+
+'You are silent,' said Oswald, when he had waited in vain for an
+answer. 'You reject my advice, you think my interference uncalled for
+and impertinent.'
+
+'No,' replied Hedwig, drawing a deep breath. 'On the contrary, I thank
+you, for I feel all the importance of such a warning coming from you.'
+
+'And what it costs me to speak it?'
+
+The words rushed to Oswald's lips, but he did not pronounce them.
+Perhaps his thought was divined, nevertheless.
+
+The little terrace on which the two were standing rose out of a group
+of thickly clustering bushes, and offered a fine panoramic view of the
+surrounding country. Over broad meadows and green wooded hills the eye
+could wander away to the lofty mountain-summits which were in reality
+far distant, but which in that clear atmosphere seemed to have
+advanced their posts and to have drawn quite near. The particular spur
+of forest which formed the boundary between the Ettersberg and
+Brunneck domains could plainly be distinguished, and the gaze of both
+Oswald and Hedwig sought this spot. It was the first time they had met
+alone since their memorable interview on yonder hill-side. A whole
+summer-time lay between then and now, and much, how much besides!
+
+Raw and inclement had been that spring-day, void of warmth and
+sunshine. Leaves and blossoms still shrank, hiding in their sealed
+retreat. The landscape was shrouded in fog and raincloud, and those
+happy heralds, the swallows, had pierced their way through masses of
+dense mist, ere they emerged suddenly in the gray distance. Yet those
+winged messengers had borne spring on their swift pinions--none knew
+this better than the two who now stood speechless side by side. They
+had seen how the great transformation scene may be effected in a
+night, how grandly, victoriously Nature works when she rallies to the
+task before her.
+
+Now it was autumn--a beautiful clear day, indeed, with soft mild air
+and bright sunshine, but still autumn. The foliage, still thick on
+bough and branch, had that faint gleam of russet which foretells a
+speedy fall. The gay wealth of flowers had vanished from the meadows,
+all but the pale saffron, which yet glimmered here and there, and the
+swallows, streaking the sky in long flights, were gathering for their
+journey southwards. Farewell was written everywhere on Nature's
+countenance, as on the two sorrowing human hearts--farewell to summer,
+home, and happiness.
+
+Hedwig first broke the oppressive silence which had followed her last
+words.
+
+'The swallows are leaving us too,' she said, pointing upwards. 'They
+are on the wing.'
+
+'I go with them'--Oswald completed her meaning--'but there is this
+difference ... I shall not return.'
+
+'Not return? You will come back to Ettersberg sometimes, will you
+not?'
+
+She put the question with a certain eager anxiety. Oswald looked down.
+
+'I hardly think that will be possible. I shall not have much leisure,
+and besides--when a man cuts himself adrift from old ties, and changes
+his way of life entirely, as I am about to do, it is best for him to
+remain away, and to devote all his energies to the sphere he has just
+entered. Edmund cannot be made to understand this. He hardly
+appreciates, as yet, the claims of duty.'
+
+'And yet he is more anxious about you and your future than you
+believe,' interposed Hedwig.
+
+Oswald smiled half disdainfully.
+
+'He may spare himself any anxiety. I am not one to undertake a task
+beyond my strength, and then to abandon it feebly halfway. What I have
+begun I shall carry through, and, come what may, I shall, at least,
+have shaken off from me the bonds of dependence.'
+
+'Did these bonds weigh so heavily on you?'
+
+'Yes; with a crushing weight.'
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg, you are unjust to your family.'
+
+'And ungrateful,' added Oswald, with a sudden outburst of bitterness.
+'You have heard that frequently from my aunt, no doubt--and she may
+possibly be right from her point of view. Perhaps I ought to have
+submitted myself more docilely to the yoke laid upon me, and patiently
+played out the _role_ assigned to me by Fate. But then, you see, I
+_could_ not. You do not know what it is constantly to bend to the will
+of another, when your own judgment has long been formed, to be
+thwarted in every effort, checked in every aspiration, not even to
+have the right of reply and remonstrance. I know that my future is
+uncertain, that it may be thorny, that I shall need all the energy and
+strength of will I possess, in order to succeed; but it will be _my_
+future, my own life, which I may shape and order as I please,
+unfettered by the galling chain of benefits conferred. And if I fail
+in the career I have marked out for myself, I shall, at least, have
+gained the right to fashion my own destiny.'
+
+He drew himself up as he spoke these last words, and his chest heaved
+with a great sigh of satisfaction and relief. It seemed as though in
+this moment the great load he had borne so silently, but with so much
+grievous suffering, fell from the young man's shoulders. He stood bold
+and defiant, ready to accept the world's challenge, and to fight the
+battle before him to the bitter end. It was easy to see that he was
+one fitted to wrestle with Fortune, however hostile and uncompromising
+her attitude towards him might be.
+
+Hedwig now for the first time understood how the iron had entered his
+soul, understood what this proud, unbending nature had endured from a
+position which many were disposed to envy, because it implied a share
+in the Ettersberg greatness and splendour.
+
+'And now I must say good-bye to you,' Oswald began again, but the ring
+had died out of his voice now; it was very low and subdued. 'I came to
+take leave of you.'
+
+'Edmund will expect you in December, if only for a few days,' said
+Hedwig, half hesitatingly. 'He counts on your being present at--at our
+wedding.'
+
+'I know it, and know that he will think me coldhearted and unkind if I
+stay away. He must interpret it as he will. I can but submit.'
+
+'So you will not come?'
+
+'No.'
+
+Oswald added no single word of pretext, for none would have found
+belief; but his eyes, resting full on Hedwig's face, gave the
+explanation of his curt, harsh-sounding answer. His meaning was
+understood. He read this in the look which met his; but fierce and
+poignant as might be the pain of parting in these two young hearts, no
+word was spoken, no outward manifestation of it was made.
+
+'Goodbye, then, Herr von Ettersberg,' said Hedwig, offering him her
+hand.
+
+He stooped, and pressed his hot, quivering lips on the trembling hand
+extended to him. That pressure was the only betrayal of how matters
+stood with Oswald. Next minute he released the little palm, and
+stepped back.
+
+'Do not forget me quite, Fraeulein,' he said. 'Good-bye.'
+
+Hedwig was alone again. Involuntarily she grasped the bushes to draw
+them aside, and so once more gain sight of his departing figure, but
+it was too late. As the boughs closed again, the first faded leaves
+fell in a shower on the young girl's head. She shrank beneath them, as
+at some grave warning or reminder. Yes, there could be no mistake;
+autumn had come, though the whole landscape before her lay bathed in
+golden sunshine.
+
+That rough, stormy spring day had been so rich in promise, with all
+its unseen magic movement, with its thousand mysterious voices
+whispering around. Now all these sounds had ceased. Nature's fair life
+had bloomed, and was slowly waning towards dissolution. The world was
+hushed and seemingly deserted.
+
+Hedwig, pale and mute, stood leaning against the terrace railing. She
+did not move, did not weep, but with a sad ineffable longing in her
+eyes gazed over at the distant chain of mountains, and then up at the
+clouds, where the migratory birds swarmed, streaming hither and
+thither in long flights. Today the swallows swept not to the earth
+with loving greetings and pleasant messages of happy days to come.
+They passed high overhead, far, far beyond reach, flitting away into
+the blue distance, and their faint piping was borne down but as a
+vague murmur half lost in the immeasurable space. It was a last low
+echo of the word which here below had been spoken in the keen anguish
+of parting, an echo of the melancholy word Farewell.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The following day, the last Oswald was to spend at Ettersberg, brought
+a somewhat unlooked-for visitor. Count Edmund, though his coming was
+hourly expected, had not returned from his shooting expedition when
+Baron Heideck suddenly arrived in the forenoon, straight from town. He
+had thought fit to absent himself in demonstrative fashion from the
+festivities held to celebrate his nephew's coming of age. The
+announcement of the young gentleman's approaching marriage, then
+publicly to be made, should not, he decided, receive the sanction of
+his presence; but when more than two months had elapsed, he determined
+to pay a brief visit to his relations at the castle. Though the fact
+of the engagement could not now be altered, an animated discussion on
+the subject seemed to have taken place between the brother and sister.
+They had remained more than an hour closeted together, and Heideck's
+reproaches took the more effect that Edmund's mother already secretly
+repented of her precipitate action in the matter, though as yet she
+would not admit it openly.
+
+Finally the Countess, in evident perturbation, retired to her own
+room. Seating herself before her writing-table, she pressed a hidden
+spring, which opened its most secret drawer. The interview she had had
+with her brother must have borne upon, or at least have reawakened,
+memories of the past, for very certainly the article which the
+Countess took from that small compartment was a souvenir of distant,
+bygone days. It was a small leather case, a few inches long,
+containing apparently a portrait which perhaps for years had remained
+in its hiding-place untouched. That it belonged to a remote period was
+proved by its old-fashioned shape and faded exterior. The Countess
+held it open before her, and as she sat gazing fixedly down on the
+features thus exposed to view, her countenance assumed an abstracted
+air most unfamiliar to it.
+
+She was lost in one of those vague, half-unconscious reveries which
+altogether efface the present, and carry the dreamer away to a
+far-distant past. Obliterated memories troop back upon the mind,
+forgotten joys and sorrows revive in all their old intensity, and
+forms that have long lain beneath the sod rise, move, and live again.
+
+The Countess did not notice how the minutes sped by, lengthening into
+hours as she sat there, wrapt in contemplation. She started, half
+frightened, half annoyed, when, without any previous warning, the door
+of the room was suddenly thrown open. Quick as thought, she closed the
+little case and placed her hand upon it, while the angry look in her
+eyes seemed to inquire what the interruption could mean.
+
+The intruder was old Everard, who came in with a haste much at
+variance with his usual formal, solemn demeanour. He was evidently
+agitated, and he began his report at once without waiting to be
+questioned by his mistress.
+
+'The Count has just returned, my lady.'
+
+'Well, where is he?' asked the mother, accustomed always to be her
+son's first thought.
+
+'In his room,' stammered Everard. 'Herr von Ettersberg was at the door
+when the carriage drove up, and he helped the Count to mount the
+stairs.'
+
+'Helped him upstairs?' The Countess's face blanched to a deadly
+pallor. 'What do you mean by that? Has anything happened?'
+
+'I fear so, my lady,' said the old retainer hesitatingly. 'The groom
+said something about an accident out shooting. A gun was accidentally
+discharged, and the Count was wounded.'
+
+He could not tell his tale at length, for the Countess sprang up with
+a cry of alarm. Asking no question, listening to no further word, the
+agonized mother rushed into the antechamber, whence a corridor led
+direct to her son's room.
+
+The old servant, who had completely lost his head and was as terrified
+as his mistress, would have rushed after her; but just at that moment
+Oswald entered the boudoir by an opposite door.
+
+'Where is my aunt?' he asked hastily.
+
+'With the Count by this time, I think,' said Everard, pointing in the
+direction she had taken. 'My lady was so shocked when I told her about
+the accident, she hastened to him at once.'
+
+Oswald frowned. 'How could you be so imprudent!' he said, with an
+impatient gesture. 'The Count's wound is not at all serious. I came
+myself to assure my aunt that there is not the smallest cause for
+anxiety.'
+
+'Thank God, thank God!' breathed Everard, with a great sigh of relief.
+'The groom was saying----'
+
+'The groom has grossly exaggerated the affair,' Oswald interrupted
+him. 'Your master is very slightly injured--wounded in the hand,
+nothing more. It was quite unnecessary to alarm the Countess in this
+way. Go now and let Baron Heideck know the true state of the case,
+that he may not be startled in like manner by the news of some
+dangerous injury.'
+
+Everard withdrew to fulfil his mission, and Oswald was about to leave
+the room, when his eyes, wandering with a casual and indifferent
+glance towards the writing-table, fell on the small case which lay
+thereon.
+
+Curiosity did not rank among Oswald's failings, and he would have
+thought it impertinent to examine even that which lay open to view in
+his aunt's room. But now he was misled by a very pardonable error.
+Only the day before he had begged the Countess to make over to him a
+portrait of his father, which had been in the possession of the late
+Count Ettersberg, and was, no doubt, still to be found among his
+personal belongings. Now that he was leaving the old home, Oswald
+wished to take this souvenir with him, and the Countess had been quite
+willing to accede to his wish, promising to look for the portrait. It
+appeared, so he said to himself, that she had been successful in her
+quest.
+
+In this certain presumption, Oswald took up the picture. He had but a
+dim remembrance of it, and really did not know if it were enclosed in
+a frame or in a case. The faded appearance of the little _etui_ seemed
+to confirm his belief, so he opened it.
+
+The case contained a portrait, certainly--a miniature painted on
+ivory--but it was not the one he sought. At the first glance Oswald
+started, surprised in the highest degree.
+
+'Edmund's likeness!' he murmured, under his breath. 'Strange that I
+should never have seen it before. Besides, he has never worn uniform,
+to my knowledge.'
+
+With ever-increasing astonishment he examined first the miniature,
+which so unmistakably portrayed the young Count's features, and then
+the old-fashioned and discoloured case wherein it had evidently long
+lain enclosed. He had alighted on an enigma.
+
+'What can it mean? The portrait is an old one. That is plain from its
+colouring, and from the shape of the case--yet it represents Edmund as
+he now appears. To be sure, it is not quite like him, it has an
+expression, a look which is not his, and ... Ah!'
+
+This exclamation burst from his lips with sudden vehemence. In an
+instant the young man's eyes were opened. With the vividness of
+lightning, the truth flashed upon him, the perception of all that
+was, and had been. The enigma was solved. Hastily he strode up to a
+life-size portrait of Edmund, an oil-painting which hung in the
+Countess's boudoir, and with the open case in his hand, began
+comparing the two, feature by feature, line by line.
+
+Lines and features proved identical; there were the same dark hair and
+eyes, but with a difference, a marked difference of expression. The
+resemblance to Edmund was so extraordinary that he might have sat for
+the miniature, and yet the face depicted in it was not his, but
+another's. Another's, differing from the young Count's most
+essentially, as a prolonged examination abundantly showed.
+
+'So I was right!' said Oswald, in a low hoarse tone. 'Right in my
+suspicion after all!'
+
+There was neither triumph nor malicious satisfaction in his tone. On
+the contrary, it conveyed a certain unfeigned horror; but as he caught
+sight of the secret compartment now standing open, every other feeling
+was merged in sudden, bitter anger.
+
+'Yes,' he murmured. 'She hid it well--so well, that no eyes but hers
+would ever have beheld it, had not her mortal fear on Edmund's account
+for once robbed her of all prudence and power of reflection. To think
+that it should fall into my hands! This surely is more than a mere
+accident. I think'--here Oswald drew himself up to a proud and
+menacing attitude--'I think I have a right to ask whom this picture
+represents, and I shall retain possession of it until an answer to my
+plain question be given me.'
+
+So saying, he thrust the little case into his breast-pocket, and
+quickly left the room.
+
+The alarming report which Everard had conveyed to the Countess turned
+out to be a most exaggerated one. The accident that had befallen
+Edmund was of no serious importance. While scrambling through, or
+over, a hedge, his gun had been accidentally discharged, but
+fortunately the shot had only grazed his left hand. The injury was
+very slight, hardly deserving to be called a wound, yet the whole
+castle was in commotion about it. Baron Heideck hastened to his
+nephew's room, and the Countess could find neither rest nor peace
+until the doctor, sent for in post-haste, had assured her positively
+there was no cause for uneasiness, and that the lesion would be healed
+in a few days.
+
+Edmund himself took the matter most lightly. He laughed and joked with
+his mother about her anxiety until it yielded beneath his cheery
+influence, protested strongly against being treated as a disabled man,
+and was with difficulty prevailed on to listen to the doctor, who
+prescribed absolute rest and quiet.
+
+Evening closed in. Oswald was alone in his own room, which he had not
+left since his great discovery of the morning. The lamp burning on the
+table threw but a partial light over the apartment, which was large
+and rather sombre at night, with its heavy leather hangings and deep
+bay-window. The furniture was massive and good, as in every room
+throughout the house, but it had not been renewed for years, and was
+in strong contrast to the bright and handsome appointments of the main
+building, and especially of that part of it dedicated to the young
+Count's use. The nephew, the offshoot of a younger branch, had been
+banished to a distant wing. In this, as in all else, his inferiority
+to the heir must be well marked; he must stand back, yielding the
+precedence to the master of the house.
+
+So the Countess had ordered it, and the temper of Oswald's mind was
+such that under no circumstances could he have brought himself to seek
+aid or protection from Edmund, or to complain to him of the constant
+mortifications to which he was subjected.
+
+The side-table was strewn with letters and papers which Oswald had
+intended to set in order before leaving. Now he gave them not a
+thought. With restless steps he paced to and fro in the room, the
+excessive pallor of his countenance and his heaving breast telling of
+the terrible agitation that reigned within him. The dim tormenting
+doubt which had beset his soul for years, the vague presentiment
+which he had driven from him only by the full exercise of his powerful
+will, now stood revealed as truth. Though the actual course events had
+taken and the story of that portrait were as yet unknown to him, the
+always-recurring suspicions had resolved themselves into a certainty,
+calling up within him a perfect storm of contradictory emotions.
+
+Oswald paused before the writing-table, and again took up the fatal
+portrait which lay there among the papers.
+
+'After all, what avails this?' he said bitterly. 'I indeed, for my own
+part, require no further proof, but all corroboration is wanting, and
+the one person who could afford it will certainly keep silence. She
+would die rather than make a confession which would bring ruin on
+herself and on her son, and I cannot compel her to speak--I must not,
+could not, offer up the honour of our name, even though it be a
+question of the heirship of Ettersberg. Yet full and complete
+knowledge I must have--I must, cost what it may.'
+
+He slowly closed the case and laid it down again, still standing
+before it, musing profoundly, moodily.
+
+'Perhaps there might be a way, one single way. If I were to go to
+Edmund with this picture, and were to call upon him to explain, to
+inquire into the facts of the case, he could force the truth from his
+mother if he seriously set himself to the task, and he would so set
+himself if once I introduced the suspicion to his mind. I know him
+well enough to be sure of that. But what a terrible blow it would be
+to him--to him, with his sensitive notions of honour, with his candid,
+open nature, which has never condescended to a lie. To be hurled
+suddenly from a position which, in the fulness of his happiness and
+prosperity, must appear absolutely safe; to be branded as the
+instrument, perhaps the accomplice, of a fraud!--I think the knowledge
+of this would kill him.'
+
+Love for the friend of his youth stirred in his breast, regaining
+all its old force and fervour, but with it awoke other and
+hostile emotions which clamoured to be heard. They recalled to him
+the deep-dyed treachery of which he had been the victim, and as he
+vacillated still, sought to influence him by counsels such as these:
+
+'Will you really keep silence, and eschew the revenge which Fate has
+placed in your hands? Will you go hence with sealed lips, go out to a
+dark uncertain future, submit yourself to strangers, work your way up
+with much toil and weariness of spirit, perhaps perish in the vain
+struggle, while, if you will, you may be master here on the land which
+belongs to you of right? Shall the woman who has been your bitterest
+enemy triumphantly retain her power and endow her son with all the
+good things of this life, while you are oppressed and kept down,
+thrust out from the home of your fathers? Who has thought of your
+feelings, of your inward conflicts? Use the weapons chance has given
+you. You know the joints in the enemy's armour. Strike home!'
+
+These accusatory voices had justice on their side, and they found but
+too responsive an echo in Oswald's breast. All the mortifications, all
+the humiliations he had suffered rose up before him afresh, and stung
+his soul with keen and cruel stabs. That which he had endured for
+years, with inward chafing, it is true, but yet mutely, accepting it
+as a decree of Fate, goaded him to wild rebellion and fury now that he
+recognised the treachery that had been at work. Gradually every other
+feeling was stifled by the bitterness and fierce hate raging within
+him. The Countess would certainly have trembled, could she at this
+moment have beheld her nephew's countenance. He could not meet her
+face to face, but he knew the spot where she was vulnerable.
+
+'There is no other way,' he said resolutely. 'To me she will not yield
+an inch. She will defy me to her last breath. Edmund alone is able to
+extract her secret from her, therefore he must be told. I will no
+longer be the victim of a fraud.'
+
+A light, rapid step in the corridor outside interrupted the young
+man's train of thought. With a quick movement he pushed the miniature
+out of sight beneath the papers on the writing-table, and cast an
+angry, impatient glance towards the door; but he started perceptibly
+as he recognised his visitor.
+
+'Edmund--you here?'
+
+'Well, you need not look scared, as though you had seen a ghost,' said
+the young Count, closing the door. 'I still number among the living,
+and have come expressly to prove to you that, in spite of my so-called
+wound, you have no chance of coming into the property as yet.'
+
+Little did Edmund guess the effect this harmless jest and the fact of
+his appearance at that precise moment had upon his cousin. It was only
+by a violent effort that Oswald regained his self-control. His voice
+was hoarse with emotion as he replied:
+
+'How can you be so imprudent as to come through these long cold
+corridors! You were ordered not to leave your room to-day.'
+
+'Pooh! what do I care for the doctor's orders?' said Edmund
+carelessly. 'Do you think I mean to be treated as an invalid, because
+I have got a scratch on my hand? I have put up with all their nonsense
+a few hours to please my mother, but I have had enough of it now. My
+servant has instructions to say that I am asleep, should anyone
+inquire after me. I came over here to have a chat with you, old
+fellow. I cannot possibly stay away from you on this, the very last
+evening you have to spend at Ettersberg.'
+
+These words were spoken with such heartiness that Oswald involuntarily
+turned away.
+
+'Let us go back to your room, at least,' he said hastily.
+
+'No; we are not so likely to be disturbed here,' persisted Edmund,
+as he threw himself into an armchair. 'I have so many things to
+say to you--for instance, how I came by this famous wound, which has
+set all Ettersberg in an uproar, though it is nothing more than a
+pin-scratch.'
+
+Oswald's eyes wandered uneasily to the papers, beneath which the
+portrait lay concealed.
+
+'How you came by it?' he repeated absently. 'I thought your gun was
+fired accidentally, as you were getting over a hedge.'
+
+'Yes; that is what we told the servants, and my mother and uncle are
+not to hear any other version of the affair. But I need not make a
+secret of it to you. I was out this morning with one of the men who
+joined our shooting-party--with Baron Senden.'
+
+'With Senden?' said Oswald, becoming attentive. 'What was the quarrel
+between you?'
+
+'He made use of an expression which displeased me. I called him to
+account at once; one word led to another, and finally we agreed to
+settle our little difference by meeting this morning. You see no great
+damage has been done. I shall perhaps have to wear my hand in a sling
+for a week or so, and Senden has got off as cheaply, with just a graze
+on the shoulder.'
+
+'So that is why you stayed all night? Why did you not send a message
+over to me? I would have gone to you.'
+
+'To act as second? That was not necessary. Our host offered me his
+services--and as the mourning relative you could always arrive time
+enough.'
+
+'Edmund, do not speak so lightly on grave subjects,' said Oswald
+impatiently. 'A duel always involves the hazard of a life.'
+
+Edmund laughed.
+
+'Good heavens! I ought to have made my will, I suppose, have summoned
+you to my side to take a solemn leave of you, and have left a touching
+message of farewell for Hedwig? Bah! the thing is to keep one's self
+as cool as possible, and just trust to one's luck for the rest.'
+
+'You do not appear to have taken your adversary's words so coolly.
+What was the real ground of offence?'
+
+The young Count's face darkened, and he replied with some warmth of
+tone:
+
+'The subject of our old Dornau lawsuit was broached. They were joking
+me about my very practical idea of uniting the contending parties in
+matrimony. I laughed with them and entered quite freely into the
+spirit of the joke, until Senden remarked very pointedly that as the
+two properties were to be joined together so peaceably at last, the
+great efforts formerly made to this end turned out, after all, to have
+been unnecessary; it was so much trouble wasted.'
+
+'You know that the Baron proposed to your future wife and was
+refused,' said Oswald, with a shrug of the shoulders. 'He naturally
+feels a certain degree of irritation, which he cannot help showing on
+every occasion.'
+
+'His remark was levelled at my mother,' said Edmund warmly. 'It is no
+secret that she opposed the marriage between her cousin and Herr
+Ruestow, and openly declared herself on the side of the angry father.
+She has, as you know, a lofty idea of her class-privileges, and she
+then felt it incumbent on her to uphold the principles she professes.
+This is why I esteem so highly the sacrifice she is now making for me.
+Senden's speech implied that she had been actuated by interested
+motives, and had influenced Uncle Francis in the making of his will,
+in the hope that Dornau might fall to me. Could I submit to that, I
+ask it of you?'
+
+'You go too far. I do not believe that Senden had any such
+_arriere-pensee_.'
+
+'No matter, I understood him in that sense. Why did he not recall his
+words when I asked for an explanation? It may be that I was rather too
+warm, but on that point I can brook no insinuations. You reproach me
+frequently with my heedlessness and frivolity, Oswald, but even they
+have a limit. Once past that boundary, I am apt to take matters even
+more to heart than you.'
+
+'I know,' said Oswald slowly. 'There are two subjects on which you
+feel seriously and deeply--the point of honour and--your mother.'
+
+'The two are one,' retorted Edmund sharply.
+
+'He who offends her by even the shadow of a suspicion rouses all the
+spirit in me, and makes me desperate.'
+
+He sprang up as he spoke, and stood before his cousin, drawn up to his
+full height. The habitual gay, careless expression had vanished from
+his features, giving place to one of set, stern gravity, and his eyes
+flashed in his passionate excitement.
+
+Oswald was silent. He was standing by the writing-table, and had
+already grasped the papers, ready to push them aside and draw forth
+the picture, but as the young Count's last words fell on his ear he
+paused involuntarily. Why must such a discussion have arisen at this
+precise moment?
+
+'It never occurred to me that any such interpretation could be placed
+on that will,' went on Edmund; 'or I should at once, at the time of my
+uncle's death, have refused the bequest, and never should have allowed
+the suit to be instituted. If Hedwig and I had remained strangers, and
+the court had awarded Dornau to me, I believe the calumny would have
+thriven and prospered, until they had made me out to be the accomplice
+of a fraud.'
+
+'It is possible to be the victim of a fraud,' said Oswald in a low
+tone.
+
+'The victim?' repeated the young Count, stepping quickly up to his
+cousin. 'What do you mean by that?'
+
+Oswald's hand rested heavily on the papers which overlay his great
+secret, but there was nothing to indicate the emotion within him. His
+voice was cold and unmoved, as he replied:
+
+'Nothing. I am not alluding to Dornau. We know perfectly well that my
+uncle acted in accordance with his own will and judgment--but the
+instrument was drawn up in favour of a nephew, passing over the
+daughter and her rights. Calumny, of course, takes advantage of the
+scope afforded it, and hints at undue influence. In such a case, it
+would, no doubt, be considered only natural that a mother should lay
+aside any scruples, and act in the interest of her son.'
+
+'But that would have been fortune-hunting of the most flagrant
+description,' cried Edmund, blazing up anew. 'I really do not
+understand you, Oswald. How can you speak so indifferently of such a
+possible view of the case, of the disgrace it would entail? How should
+you qualify a scheme formed to oust the rightful heir that another
+might succeed to his place and property? I should call it a swindle, a
+dishonourable, an infamous action, and the mere thought that such a
+suspicion should be coupled with the name of Ettersberg makes my blood
+boil within me.'
+
+Oswald's hand slid slowly from the table, and he stepped back a little
+into the shadow, beyond the circle irradiated by the lamp.
+
+'Any such suspicion would do you the keenest injustice, truly,' he
+said emphatically; 'but the world is generally prompt to think evil.
+No doubt, it often makes evil discoveries. In our sphere especially
+there are so many dark family histories which lie hidden for years,
+and then suddenly one day spring to light. So many, who hold a
+brilliant position and enjoy great consideration, carry about with
+them the consciousness of guilt which would utterly crush and
+annihilate them, were it to be found out.'
+
+'Well, I could not do it,' said the young Count, turning his frank,
+handsome face full upon his cousin. 'I must bear an unsullied brow
+before the world, must feel myself to be without reproach, that I may
+breathe freely, and boldly meet the slander I despise--there would be
+no living for me else. Dark family histories! They are, no doubt, more
+plentiful than we wot of, but I would suffer no such lurking shadow in
+our annals, not though I myself must set to work to drag it to light.'
+
+'And suppose silence were imposed on you--for the sake of the family
+honour?'
+
+'It would probably kill me; for to live with the knowledge that there
+was a stain on our escutcheon would be, I think, to me a thing
+impossible!'
+
+Oswald passed his hand across his brow, which was covered with a
+cold sweat. In keen and terrible suspense he followed his cousin's
+every movement. Perhaps no interference of his would be necessary;
+perhaps accident might relieve him of the onerous task which he felt
+must be fulfilled in one way or another. Edmund had gone up to the
+writing-table, and as he spoke on, he took up some of the papers
+unthinkingly, and threw them aside without looking at them. One minute
+more and he would probably discover the little case, the shape of
+which must necessarily attract his attention--and then--then would
+come the catastrophe.
+
+'At all events, it will be seen what view I take of such innuendoes,
+and the lesson Senden has had will serve for others. Nothing is sacred
+to calumny, no object, however pure and lofty, not even one which to
+most minds is the ideal of all that is good.'
+
+'Ideals may fade, idols crumble to the dust,' remarked Oswald. 'You
+have had no experience of that at present.'
+
+'I was speaking of my mother,' said the young Count, with deep
+feeling.
+
+Oswald made no reply, but it was well that he was standing in the
+shade; at least the other saw not the torture this interview inflicted
+on him. It happened so rarely that Edmund appeared in serious mood,
+and to-day of all days he was grave and earnest of speech, showing the
+deeper side of his nature. And all the time his right hand was busy,
+mechanically turning over the papers on the table, approaching nearer
+and nearer the fatal spot. Oswald's arm twitched, ready to drag the
+unsuspecting man back from the abyss which yawned before him--but he
+checked the impulse, and remained motionless in his place.
+
+'You can understand now why I desire to keep this meeting from my
+mother's knowledge, notwithstanding its harmless issue.' Edmund
+continued. 'She would inquire, as you do into its origin, and the
+truth might wound her. Whilst I am to the fore not the very shadow of
+offence shall come near her. I would give my life rather than hear her
+aspersed by a calumnious word--give my life, aye, readily, willingly.'
+
+Separately, one by one, he had taken up the papers and thrown them
+aside. Now he had come to the last sheet, that beneath which the
+picture lay, but suddenly Oswald's hand was upon his, grasping it with
+a grasp of iron, and impeding any further movement.
+
+'What is it?' asked Edmund in astonishment. 'What is the matter with
+you?'
+
+For all answer, Oswald threw his arm about him and drew him away.
+
+'Come, Edmund, let us go to the sofa yonder.'
+
+'What, you draw me violently from the table simply for that? One would
+have thought a mine was about to explode. Have you any combustibles,
+any train laid over there?'
+
+'Possibly,' said Oswald, with a strange smile. 'Let those papers be.
+Come.'
+
+'Oh, you need fear no indiscretion on my part,' declared the Count,
+with a sudden outbreak of tetchiness. 'There was no need to place your
+hand on your papers in that prohibitory manner. I did not look at
+them, and if I touched them, I did it mechanically. You appear to have
+secrets, and I, no doubt, am disturbing you when you would wish to be
+sorting your letters and putting them in order. It will be better for
+me to go.' He moved away, as though to leave the room; but Oswald held
+him by the arm, though he tried angrily to free it.
+
+'No, Edmund, you must not leave me so--not to-day, old fellow.'
+
+'Indeed, it is the last evening you have to spend here,' said Edmund,
+half wrathful, half appeased. 'You are doing all you can to show me
+how little that affects you.'
+
+'You do me injustice. The separation is more painful to me than you
+can imagine.'
+
+Oswald's voice shook so audibly that Edmund looked at him in surprise,
+and all his anger vanished.
+
+'Why, what ails you, Oswald? You are as pale as death, and have seemed
+so strange all the evening. But I can guess: you have been searching
+among these letters and papers, which, no doubt, belonged to your
+parents, and they have awakened many sad memories.'
+
+'Yes, much that is very sad,' said Oswald, drawing a deep breath; 'but
+it is over now. You are right, they were old memories which put me out
+of tune. I will drive the troubling thoughts from me, and altogether
+make an end of them now.'
+
+'Then I really will go,' declared Edmund. 'I forgot that you might
+still have much to arrange and set in order. We shall meet to-morrow
+morning. Good-night, Oswald.'
+
+He held out his hand to his cousin, but the latter, assuredly for the
+first time in his life, took him in his arms, and held him for a
+moment in a tight embrace.
+
+'Goodnight, Edmund. I have often seemed harsh and cold in return
+for your warm and hearty friendship, yet you have been very dear to
+me--how dear I hardly knew myself until this hour.'
+
+'The hour of parting,' said Edmund, half reproachfully, as he
+cordially returned the embrace. 'But for that, the confession would
+never have passed your lips. No matter, I have always felt, known how
+you cared for me in your heart of hearts.'
+
+'Not fully, perhaps. I did not know it myself until to-day. But go
+now. With that wound of yours, you really should not stay up longer.
+Go and rest.'
+
+Passing his arm round his cousin's shoulder, he walked with him to the
+door and down the corridor. There they parted; but as the young Count
+retraced his steps to his own room, Oswald stood again before his
+writing-table, holding the portrait in his hand. Once more he
+contemplated it, then closing the case with a firm pressure, he said
+under his breath:
+
+'It would be his death. I will not reign as master of Ettersberg at
+that price.'
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Next morning the three gentlemen breakfasted alone, though Oswald's
+departure had been fixed for the forenoon. Count Edmund paid no
+attention whatever to the medical advice which would have confined him
+to his room. He appeared with a bandaged hand, but in good health and
+spirits, and laughed at the remonstrances of Baron Heideck, who
+recommended more prudence and greater care. The Countess remained
+invisible. She was suffering, it appeared, from a violent nervous
+attack, resulting probably from the fright she had sustained on
+hearing the first exaggerated account of her son's condition.
+
+Edmund, who had paid a visit to his mother's room, had found her in a
+state of intense nervous excitement, and to his inquiry as to whether
+Oswald might take leave of her in person, she had replied decidedly
+that she was far too unwell to admit anyone but her son. The young
+Count was somewhat embarrassed when conveying this message to his
+cousin. He felt that the refusal to say good-bye involved a slight,
+and thought his mother might have exerted herself so far as to receive
+her nephew, if only for a few minutes, before his departure.
+
+Oswald, however, accepted the fiat with great calm, and without the
+smallest show of surprise. He guessed, no doubt, what share the
+disappearance of the miniature and its probable fate had in this
+'nervous attack.' The Countess would certainly have heard from Everard
+that her nephew had entered the room soon after she had left it, and
+had remained there alone.
+
+The conversation at breakfast was rather monosyllabic. Baron Heideck,
+though he had ultimately acquiesced in Oswald's plans, was not
+disposed to show any special heartiness towards the young relative who
+had so resolutely set his will at defiance.
+
+Edmund was disturbed, and unlike himself, being oppressed by the
+thought of the coming separation, the full meaning of which he only
+realized now that it was imminent. Oswald alone maintained his
+accustomed calm and grave demeanour. They were on the point of leaving
+the table, when the young Count was summoned away to see the doctor,
+who had just arrived. Baron Heideck would have followed--he wished to
+impress upon the medical man that greater strictness and vigilance
+would be necessary with so heedless a patient; but a low word from
+Oswald made him turn and pause. When they were alone together, the
+latter drew from his breast-pocket a small and carefully-sealed
+packet.
+
+'I had hoped to see my aunt again before leaving,' he began. 'As
+this will not now be possible, I must beg of you to take charge of a
+last--a last commission for me. It is my express request that this
+packet be delivered into the Countess's own hands, and that it be
+given to her when she is alone.'
+
+'What is this mysterious commission?' asked Heideck, in surprise. 'And
+why do you choose me instead of Edmund?'
+
+'Because it would hardly accord with my aunt's wishes that Edmund
+should hear of the delivery or of the contents of this packet. I must
+repeat my request that it be given her when no third person is
+present.'
+
+The icy tone in which these words were spoken, and the haughty,
+menacing glance which accompanied them, were the only revenge the
+young man permitted to himself. Heideck naturally did not understand
+his meaning, but he perceived that the matter referred to was of no
+ordinary nature, and he accepted the little parcel without more ado.
+
+'I will undertake the commission,' he said.
+
+'I thank you,' replied Oswald, stepping back, and showing by his
+manner that the interview was at an end. There was indeed no time for
+further conversation, as just then Edmund returned, accompanied by the
+doctor, whom he insisted on taking round to see his mother. Her
+condition made him anxious, he said.
+
+The bulletins, however, proved favourable with regard to both
+patients. The Count's wound turned out to be most insignificant, and
+the Countess was merely suffering from a slight nervous attack, a
+natural consequence of yesterday's fright. Rest and a few simple
+remedies would restore them both, and Edmund even forced from the
+doctor the admission that he might safely leave his room and accompany
+his cousin to the carriage now waiting for him below.
+
+Baron Heideck took a brief, cold leave of his nephew, but Edmund
+showed himself greatly affected by the parting. He beset Oswald with
+entreaties to come back to Ettersberg at all events for the wedding,
+and promised in his turn shortly to pay a visit to the capital. Oswald
+accepted it all with rather a sad smile; he knew that neither project
+would hold good. The Countess would certainly find means to prevent
+her son's intended journey. One last hearty embrace--then the carriage
+rolled away, and Edmund, as he reentered the castle alone, felt a
+desolate sense of the void left by his friend's departure.
+
+More than a couple of hours passed by before Baron Heideck betook
+himself to his sister's room to execute the commission which had been
+confided to him. He had been in no special haste; knowing the terms on
+which Oswald and his aunt stood, he thought it probable that this last
+message was of no agreeable import, and that it might increase, rather
+than lessen, the Countess's indisposition. Possessed by this idea, the
+Baron had at first proposed to postpone the business to the following
+day; but Oswald's look and tone, as he gave over the packet, had been
+so peculiar and impressive, that he resolved to have the matter
+cleared up without further delay. At his request, the Countess
+dismissed her maid, with orders to admit no one, and the brother and
+sister remained long closeted together.
+
+The Countess sat on her sofa, looking very pale and worn. It was easy
+to see what she had suffered since the preceding evening, all that she
+was suffering now as she sat passive, allowing the stream of her
+brother's reproaches to flow on without response. He stood before her
+with the open packet in his hand, speaking in a rather subdued voice,
+certainly, but with every evidence of great excitement.
+
+'So you really could not make up your mind to part with that unhappy
+picture! I thought it had been destroyed long ago. How could you be so
+mad as to keep it in your possession?'
+
+'Do not scold me, Armand.' The Countess's voice was stifled as though
+by tears. 'It is the only souvenir I have kept--the only one. It came
+to me with a last message from him, after ... after his death.'
+
+'And for the sake of this sentimental folly you conjure up a frightful
+danger, a danger which threatens ruin both to yourself and your son.
+Do not these features speak clearly enough? Formerly, when Edmund was
+a child, the likeness was not so striking, so extraordinary; but now
+that he is nearly of the same age as ... as the other, it is
+positively damning. Your imprudence has cost you a lesson, however,
+and a hard one. You know into whose hands the picture fell?'
+
+'I have known since yesterday evening. My God, what will come to us
+now?'
+
+'Nothing,' said Heideck coldly. 'The fact of his surrendering it is
+ample proof of that. Oswald is too good a lawyer not to know that a
+mere likeness is no evidence, and that a charge cannot be founded on
+such testimony. Still, it was a generous act to give it back. Another
+man would have held possession of it, if only to harass and torment
+you. That picture must be destroyed.'
+
+'I will destroy it,' said the Countess.
+
+'No, I will do that myself,' retorted her brother, replacing the
+little case carefully in his pocket. 'I rescued you once from a very
+real danger, Constance; now I must stand between you and the
+remembrance of it, which may be almost as fatal. That ghost has been
+buried for years. Do not let it rise up again, or the whole fortune
+and happiness of Ettersberg may be wrecked. This unfortunate souvenir
+must disappear to-day. Edmund must have no more suspicion of the
+secret than his father had before him.'
+
+Involuntarily he raised his voice as he pronounced these last words,
+but he ceased speaking suddenly, for at that very moment the door
+which led into the adjoining room was thrown open, and Edmund appeared
+on the threshold.
+
+'What am I not to suspect?' he asked with quick vehemence.
+
+The young Count had naturally not supposed that his mother's
+prohibition of admittance extended to himself. He had crossed the
+anteroom softly, fearing to disturb her. The closed doors and the
+subdued tone in which the conversation had been carried on made it
+well-nigh impossible that he should have overheard more than his
+uncle's last words. The expression of his face bore proof of this. It
+betokened astonishment, but no fear.
+
+Nevertheless, the Countess bounded from her seat with a terrible
+start, and it required a mute but significant gesture of warning from
+her brother, a pressure of his hand upon her shoulder, to give her
+back her self-control.
+
+'What is it I am not to suspect?' repeated Edmund, as he came quickly
+towards them. He addressed his question to the Baron.
+
+'Is it possible that you can have been listening? asked the latter,
+his breath almost failing him as he thought of such a possibility.
+
+'No, uncle,' said the young Count angrily. 'I am not in the habit of
+playing the spy or the listener. I merely caught your last words as I
+was opening the door. It is natural surely that I should like to know
+their meaning, and to learn what it is that has hitherto been kept
+secret from me as from my father.'
+
+'You heard me beg my sister not to mention the subject to you,'
+replied Heideck, who had now recovered his composure. 'I was alluding
+to a reminiscence of our youth which we shall do well to keep to
+ourselves. You know that our early days were passed amid graver,
+sadder circumstances than yours. We had battles to fight and
+sacrifices to make whereof you can have no conception.'
+
+The explanation was plausible and appeared to find belief, but
+Edmund's tone, though tender, was fraught with deep reproach, as he
+said, turning to the Countess:
+
+'I could not have believed, mother, that you had a secret from me.'
+
+'Do not torment your mother now,' interrupted Heideck. 'You see how
+very unwell she is?'
+
+'You should have spared her then, and not have called up painful
+reminiscences to-day,' replied Edmund, rather warmly. 'I came to tell
+you, mother, that Hedwig and her father are here. May I bring her to
+you? As you felt able to see my uncle, you will, I am sure, not refuse
+to receive us.'
+
+'Certainly,' assented the Countess. 'Indeed, I feel much better now.
+Bring Hedwig to me at once.'
+
+'I will fetch her,' said Edmund, and went; but before leaving the room
+he turned once again, and cast a strange scrutinising glance at his
+mother and uncle. There was no suspicion in his look, but, as it were,
+a vague presentiment of coming trouble.
+
+The young Count had sent a message over to Brunneck on the preceding
+evening, with the news that he had been slightly wounded in the hand
+when out shooting, and therefore would not be able to pay his usual
+visit, adding that there was not the smallest cause for uneasiness.
+This piece of intelligence had brought the Councillor and his daughter
+over to Ettersberg without loss of time. The sight of Edmund, who
+received them with all his wonted gaiety, soon set any remaining fears
+on his account at rest. Almost simultaneously with them came the
+neighbouring squire on whose estate the accident had occurred. He had
+driven over with his son to inquire after the patient.
+
+Under these circumstances Baron Heideck's first meeting with the new
+relations was more easy and unconstrained than it would otherwise have
+been. The young lady's beauty was not without its influence on the
+rigid aristocrat, who, in spite of his prejudices, could not
+altogether withhold approval of his nephew's choice. Towards the
+Councillor, Heideck did indeed preserve a cool and reserved, though a
+polite demeanour. The presence of strangers made the conversation more
+animated and general. Edmund alone appeared unusually silent and
+abstracted. He refused, however, to admit that this had anything to do
+with his wound, attributing the depression he could not disguise to
+his recent parting with Oswald. He would not confess even to himself
+that any other vague trouble was weighing on him.
+
+The two neighbours did not remain very long, and an hour or
+so after their departure, Ruestow and his daughter set out on their
+return-journey to Brunneck. Edmund lifted his betrothed into the
+carriage, and took a tender leave of her. Then he went away back to
+his own room, but he could feel settled nowhere; a strange
+restlessness was upon him which drove him from place to place. At
+length he threw himself upon the sofa, and tried to read, but he could
+not force his mind to follow the words or understand their sense. A
+most unwonted cloud lay on the young Count's brow, usually so clear
+and serene; he had a sombre, harassed look as he sat brooding over the
+words he had heard spoken in his mother's room. With painful
+persistency they recurred to his mind, strive as he might to turn his
+thoughts into another current. What was he not to know? What was it
+they were hiding so carefully from him?
+
+Edmund was so little accustomed to bear the pressure of any care, to
+carry about with him any troublesome problem or doubt, that this
+condition soon became intolerable to him. He threw his book aside,
+sprang to his feet, and walked straight up to his uncle's room.
+
+Baron Heideck was lodged in the visitors' suite, situated in the upper
+story. Hither he had retired as soon as the guests drove off. He was
+standing before the fireplace, busily fanning the flames which had
+recently been kindled on the hearth, when his nephew entered. As the
+door opened, he looked round in surprise, and the surprise hardly
+appeared to be a pleasant one.
+
+'Am I disturbing you?' asked Edmund, who noticed this.
+
+'Oh, certainly not,' said Heideck. 'But it seems to me imprudent of
+you in your present condition to be wandering about the house instead
+of remaining quietly in your own room.'
+
+'I have the doctor's permission to leave it, you know, and I wanted to
+speak to you for a few minutes. You have had a fire lighted, I see. Do
+you not find it too warm this mild weather?'
+
+'I feel it rather chilly up here in these rooms, especially as evening
+draws on,' replied Heideck, dropping into a chair near the fire, and
+motioning to his nephew to be seated opposite. Edmund, however,
+remained standing.
+
+'I want you to give me some explanation of the words I chanced to
+overhear to-day,' he began, without further preface. 'I would not
+press the matter seriously at the time, my mother being present; she
+is really too unwell to be troubled in any way. But now we are alone
+and can speak more freely. I positively have no peace for thinking of
+it. Tell me what that speech of yours meant.'
+
+Heideck frowned. 'I have already said that I was speaking of affairs
+relating to _our_ family. These affairs have long since been settled
+and forgotten, and the mention of them could only affect you
+painfully.'
+
+'But I am no longer a child,' said Edmund, with unusual earnestness;
+'and I may now claim to be initiated into all the family affairs,
+without exception. You spoke of some shadow which might obscure the
+Ettersberg fortunes. At this present time I am Master of Ettersberg.
+The matter therefore concerns me, and I have a right to inquire into
+it. In short, uncle, I am determined to know the meaning of all this.'
+
+The demand was made with an energy quite foreign to the young Count's
+usual manner. Baron Heideck, however, merely shrugged his shoulders,
+and replied impatiently:
+
+'What absurd questions, Edmund! How can you cling so pertinaciously to
+this fancy, or attach such importance to a mere word? It was just one
+of those expressions which escape one sometimes in the heat of
+conversation, but which have no real or deep significance.'
+
+'But you spoke in a very excited tone.'
+
+'And in spite of your protest against being thought a listener, you
+appear to have paused some minutes outside the door.'
+
+'Had I been willing to humiliate myself so far, I should probably have
+heard more, and should not now have to sue for information,' returned
+Edmund angrily.
+
+Heideck pressed his lips together, and for a moment remained silent,
+thinking, no doubt, what would have been the result if his nephew had
+really stooped to play the listener. He saw the necessity, however, of
+warding off any further attack; so he replied, with the coldest
+decision of manner:
+
+'The matter in question affects me principally, and I do not desire to
+discuss it further. I fancy you will accept this answer as final and
+sufficient, and that you will besiege neither your mother nor myself
+with useless inquiries on the subject. If you please, we will say no
+more about it.'
+
+To such a speech, delivered with firmness, and with all the authority
+of the ex-guardian, no reply was possible.
+
+Edmund was silent, but he felt that he had not heard the truth; that,
+on the contrary, an endeavour was made to divert him from his search
+after it. He saw, however, that he should obtain nothing from his
+uncle, and that for the present he must abandon all attempt to solve
+the mystery.
+
+Heideck seemed determined to put an end to the conversation. He seized
+the poker, and plied it in very demonstrative fashion, raking the
+coals vigorously, and repeatedly striking the stove in his efforts to
+quicken the flames. His whole manner testified to extreme impatience,
+and an irritation of spirit he with difficulty controlled.
+
+Presently he bent imprudently forward over the fire, and as the
+blaze he had kindled suddenly burst forth, amid a shower of sparks,
+the Baron started back, hastily withdrawing his hand, and uttering a
+half-suppressed exclamation of pain.
+
+'Have you burnt yourself?' asked Edmund, looking up.
+
+Heideck examined his hand, which certainly showed a small red scar.
+
+'The stoves here are so badly constructed,' he cried petulantly,
+giving vent to his secret vexation, and still with the same nervous
+haste tore a handkerchief from his breast-pocket to apply to the
+little wound. The handkerchief brought with it another article, which
+fell on the floor, and rolled close to Edmund's feet. Heideck stooped
+to pick it up, but it was too late; his nephew had been beforehand
+with him.
+
+Already the miniature-case was in Edmund's hands. The spring, long
+grown slack, had given way in the fall, and the cover had started
+open. A fate must have attached to this unhappy picture. Precisely as
+it was about to be destroyed, it thus fell into the hands of him who
+never should have beheld it!
+
+'My likeness?' cried Edmund, in the greatest amazement. 'How did you
+come by it, uncle?'
+
+Every trace of colour had faded from the Baron's face, but it was only
+for a moment. He felt how much was at stake. By a strenuous effort of
+his will he succeeded in recovering outward calm, and taking advantage
+of the error, replied:
+
+'You seem surprised. Why should I not possess a portrait of you?'
+
+As he spoke, he made an attempt to take the case from the young man's
+hand, but the latter stepped back, and declined to surrender it.
+
+'But I never sat for this portrait, and what is the meaning of this
+uniform, which I have never worn?'
+
+'Edmund, give me back that case,' said Heideck authoritatively,
+stretching out his hand for it again--but in vain. Had it not been for
+that previous occurrence in the Countess's room, Edmund would probably
+have allowed himself to be deceived by any pretext invented on the
+spur of the moment, for suspicion and distrust were far removed from
+his open, ingenuous nature. But now both had been inoculated, now he
+knew that some secret, some baneful secret, was being kept from him.
+His instinct told him that it had some connection with this picture,
+and he obstinately clung to the clue thus obtained, little dreaming as
+yet, it is true, whither it would lead.
+
+'How did you come by the picture, uncle?' he asked again, this time in
+a somewhat louder key.
+
+'That I will tell you when you have restored it to me,' was the sharp
+reply.
+
+For all answer, Edmund stepped from the centre of the room, growing
+dark in the gathering twilight, to the window, where he could still
+see clearly, and began to study the picture, trait by trait, and line
+by line, as Oswald had studied it on the preceding day.
+
+A long and troubled pause ensued.
+
+Heideck convulsively grasped the back of the chair from which he had
+sprung. He had no choice but to look on in silence; for he told
+himself that any false step now, any attempt at forcible interference,
+might be the ruin of them all; but the ordeal of suspense was hard to
+bear.
+
+'Are you satisfied?' he asked, when some minutes had elapsed; 'and do
+you intend to restore to me my property?'
+
+Edmund turned.
+
+'That is not my portrait,' he said slowly, emphasising each word; 'but
+it bears an extraordinary resemblance to myself, one which deceives at
+the first glance. Whom does it represent?'
+
+Baron Heideck had foreseen the question, and was prepared for it. So
+he answered without hesitation:
+
+'A relation of ours who has been dead many years.'
+
+'An Ettersberg?'
+
+'No; a member of my family.'
+
+'Indeed. And why have I never heard of this relative, and of the
+wonderful resemblance existing between him and me?'
+
+'By mere accident, probably. Good heavens, you need not stare at the
+picture so persistently! Such likenesses are frequent enough among
+relations.'
+
+'Frequent?' repeated Edmund mechanically. 'Was this the fatal souvenir
+which must disappear to-day? Had you destined it to be consumed by
+those flames? Was it for this you had the fire lighted?'
+
+The young Count's deadly pallor, the faint accents of his voice,
+showed that he felt himself to be nearing an abyss, though as yet he
+could not fathom its depth. Heideck saw this, and made a last
+desperate effort to drag him from the brink.
+
+'Edmund, my patience is now thoroughly exhausted,' he said, taking
+refuge in simulated anger. 'You cannot seriously suppose that I shall
+make reply to this folly, or try to solve all the mad fancies of your
+brain.'
+
+'I demand that the secret of this portrait be made known to me,' cried
+Edmund, summoning up all his energy. 'You must give me an answer,
+uncle, now--at once, or you will drive me to extreme measures.'
+
+Heideck racked his brain in vain to find a way out of the dilemma. He
+was not skilful in lying, and felt, moreover, that his nephew would no
+longer be deceived. The one chance left him was to gain time.
+
+'You shall hear the story later on,' he said evasively. 'At this
+moment you are too excited, you are still suffering from the effects
+of your wound. This is not a fitting time to discuss such matters.'
+
+'So you refuse to answer me,' Edmund broke out, with sudden fierce
+vehemence. 'You cannot, or will not, reply. So be it. I will apply to
+my mother, she shall give me an account of this.'
+
+He rushed out of the room, and was down the stairs before his uncle
+could check him. The Baron hastened after the young man, but the
+pursuit was fruitless. When he reached his sister's room, Edmund had
+already entered, and closed the door of the boudoir behind him. It was
+impossible even to hear what was going on in the inner apartment.
+Heideck saw that he must abstain from further interference. The matter
+was taking its fated course.
+
+'There will be a catastrophe,' he said to himself hoarsely. 'Poor
+Constance! I fear that your punishment may prove greater than your
+offence.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Next morning brought inclement autumn weather. Fog and drizzling rain
+obscured the landscape, and bushes and flowers bore evidences of the
+first nipping frost.
+
+All the Ettersberg servants had their heads together, and were asking
+each other what could possibly have happened. That something had
+happened was as clear as day.
+
+But the afternoon before, when the visitors from Brunneck had been at
+the castle, perfect union and cheerfulness had reigned; but shortly
+afterwards, from the moment the young master had left his mother's
+apartments, there had been disturbance throughout the house.
+
+Since then the Count had remained invisible, shut up in his own room.
+The Countess was very ill, so her maid reported; but she would see no
+one, and had even forbidden that a doctor should be sent for.
+
+Baron Heideck had made two attempts that morning to gain access to his
+nephew. To him, as to all others, admittance was refused. Family
+scenes being things quite unfamiliar to this household, imagination
+had the greater scope, and supplied various explanations, none of
+which, however, approached the truth.
+
+It was almost noon. Heideck had made a third essay to reach the young
+Count, but once more without avail. Old Everard, dismayed and
+helpless, stood in the presence of the Baron, who was saying, with
+great determination of tone:
+
+'I must see my nephew, cost what it may. It is impossible that he can
+be deaf to all this calling and knocking. Something must have happened
+to him.'
+
+'I heard the Count pacing incessantly up and down all night,' timidly
+remarked Everard. 'He has only been quiet for the last half-hour.'
+
+'No matter,' declared Heideck. 'He may have had a fresh hemorrhage
+from his wound and have fainted. I have no alternative but to force
+open the door.'
+
+'There may, perhaps, be another way,' said Everard hesitatingly. 'The
+small tapestried door, which leads from the Count's dressing-room to
+his bedroom, is generally kept unlocked. If we----'
+
+'Why did you not tell me this before?' Heideck interrupted him, with
+some heat. 'Why did I not hear of this the first thing this morning?
+Show me the door at once.'
+
+The old servant suffered the rebuke in silence. He did not believe in
+the fainting or the hemorrhage, the fear of which was to serve as a
+pretext for a forcible intrusion. He had distinctly heard his young
+master's footsteps all the night through, but had felt that the latter
+desired to be left absolutely alone. Now, however, no choice was left
+him; he must point out the door of which he had spoken. It proved to
+be unlocked, as he had supposed.
+
+Heideck motioned to the old man to remain outside, and went in alone
+to his nephew. The bedchamber was empty, the bed untouched. With rapid
+steps, the Baron passed on into the adjoining sitting-room, and an
+exclamation of relief escaped his lips as he caught sight of Edmund.
+For the last few minutes he had feared the worst.
+
+'Edmund, it is I,' he said, in a low voice.
+
+No answer came. The young Count seemed to have noticed neither his
+words nor his approach. He was lying on the sofa with his face buried
+in the cushions, having, as it seemed, thus thrown himself down from
+sheer fatigue. His attitude betrayed that utter exhaustion which comes
+as a reaction after any great tension of mind or body.
+
+'How could you cause us so much anxiety?' said Heideck reproachfully.
+'Three times to-day have I knocked at your door in vain, and I have
+been compelled almost to force an entrance here.'
+
+Again there was no reply. Edmund remained quite motionless. His uncle
+went nearer, and bent over him.
+
+'Give me a word of answer, Edmund. You rushed away like a madman
+yesterday. There was no holding you back. I trust that you have grown
+calmer by now, and that you can at least listen to what I have to say.
+I have just come from your mother----'
+
+The mention of this name seemed at length to produce some effect.
+Edmund shivered slightly, and sat up.
+
+At sight of his countenance the Baron started back, scared and
+shocked.
+
+'For God's sake, what ails you? How can you allow yourself to be so
+utterly overcome?'
+
+The young man's features were indeed so changed as to be hardly
+recognisable. The misfortune which had befallen him seemed at one dire
+stroke to have taken from him all strength and courage. The dimmed
+look of his eyes and the complete prostration evident in voice and
+bearing told this plainly, as he replied:
+
+'What is there for me yet to hear?'
+
+'You know no details. Have you really no questions to put to me?'
+
+'None.'
+
+Heideck glanced uneasily at his nephew. A passionate outburst of
+feeling would have pleased him better than this numb listlessness. He
+sat down by Edmund and took his hand.
+
+The young man offered no resistance; he seemed hardly to know what was
+going on about him.
+
+'Yesterday I did all in my power to conceal the truth from you,'
+pursued the Baron; 'for I myself am perhaps not blameless in this
+unhappy business. I interfered in a somewhat arbitrary manner with the
+lives of two human beings, and the fault, if fault it were, has been
+cruelly avenged. My intentions were indeed of the best. I knew that
+the young officer to whom my sister was attached, and even secretly
+engaged, was as poor as herself. He had no fortune to offer her, he
+could not have married for years, and I had too sincere an affection
+for Constance to allow her to lose the bloom of her youth, to pine
+away in anxiety and sadness. When I separated her from her first love,
+and persuaded her to accept the hand of Count Ettersberg, I did so in
+the firm persuasion that her attachment had been a mere transient
+romance, a passing fancy, which marriage would cure at once and
+effectually. Could I have guessed what deep root the feeling had
+taken, I would not have interfered. It was only about a year later,
+when I heard that the regiment had been moved and quartered in the
+garrison-town nearest to Ettersberg, that I began to divine a danger,
+and my next visit here transformed the suspicion into a certainty.
+When the two met, their old love sprang up with fresh intensity, and
+developed into a passion which bore down all barriers before it. When
+I discovered this, when I stepped between them and forcibly recalled
+them to a sense of their duty, it ... it was, I grieve to say, too
+late!'
+
+He paused, and seemed to expect an answer. Edmund withdrew his hand
+from his uncle's grasp, and stood up.
+
+'Go on,' he said, in a half-stifled voice.
+
+'I have nothing more to add. With this separation all was over. I told
+you yesterday that the portrait was the portrait of a dead man. He
+fell the very next year, being one of the first victims of the war
+which then broke out. My sister never saw him again. Now you know the
+chain of events, and how it all happened; now try to regain composure.
+I can understand that it has been a terrible blow to you. You must
+accept it as a hard decree of Fate.'
+
+'Yes, a hard decree,' repeated Edmund. 'You see that I succumb to it.'
+
+'A man must not so easily succumb to life's first trouble,' said
+Heideck earnestly. 'You will learn to bear that which must be borne.
+But now exert yourself, and put from you this useless brooding over
+the unalterable, the irreparable. Will you not come with me to your
+mother?'
+
+The young Count negatived the proposal with a hasty gesture.
+
+'No, uncle. Do not ask that of me, not that!'
+
+'Edmund, be reasonable. You cannot remain shut up in your rooms for
+ever.'
+
+'I shall leave them to-day. In a couple of hours I shall start on a
+journey.'
+
+'On a journey? Where do you mean to go?'
+
+'To town, to Oswald.'
+
+'To Oswald!' cried Heideck, bounding from his seat, and staring at his
+nephew as though he had not heard aright. 'Are you out of your
+senses?'
+
+'Did you imagine that I should be the accomplice of this fraud?' burst
+forth Edmund, his unnatural calm suddenly merging into a fierce blaze
+of anger. 'Did you really think it possible that I should be silent
+and continue to play the master here, when the rightful heir is driven
+out, leading a life of privation and almost of poverty? If you two can
+do it, I cannot. How I am to bear the terrible existence before me,
+whether I shall be able to bear it at all, I know not. But this I do
+know. I must go to Oswald, must tell him that he has been cheated,
+defrauded, that Ettersberg is his of right. He shall hear it all;
+then ... then it will matter little what becomes of me.'
+
+Heideck had listened in mortal alarm. Whatever he may have feared, for
+this turn of affairs he certainly was not prepared. Were Edmund to
+learn that his cousin knew, or at least divined, the secret, an
+explanation between the two could no longer be prevented, and so the
+whole edifice would crash to pieces.
+
+The uncle understood all the incalculable consequences of such a
+catastrophe better than his impetuous nephew, and he was resolved to
+prevent it at any price.
+
+'You forget that you are not the only person concerned in this,' he
+said emphatically. 'Have you not thought whom the confession you
+propose making would disgrace and dishonour?'
+
+Edmund recoiled, and the feverish glow which had overspread his
+features gave way to a livid pallor.
+
+'Oswald has always been your mother's enemy,' continued Heideck. 'He
+has always hated her, and she has never deceived herself as to his
+sentiments. Will you really go to him--to him of all people, with a
+tale which will ruin her? What a triumph for him to see at length the
+woman he hates in the dust before him, to hear her own son----'
+
+'Uncle, no more,' broke in Edmund, with a wild cry. 'I cannot bear
+it.'
+
+'I should not have supposed you could hesitate a moment between your
+mother and Oswald,' said the Baron, frowning. 'But here there is
+really no alternative. You must yield to necessity.'
+
+Edmund had thrown himself on to a chair, and hidden his face in his
+hands. A low groan escaped his overcharged breast.
+
+'Do you think it has been a light thing for me to keep silence, and to
+aid and abet that which you call fraud?' asked his uncle, after a
+short pause. 'But I repeat, you have here no choice. The entailed
+estates are not transferable; they cannot be alienated from you. You
+must either remain Master of Ettersberg, or proclaim your secret to
+the world--in which case the honour of two houses, of Heideck as of
+Ettersberg, will be irretrievably lost. There is no other issue. I set
+this distinctly before my sister in years gone by, when she was on the
+point of owning all to her husband; now again I must call upon you to
+recognise it. You must be silent. If Oswald's future is sacrificed
+through our silence, we cannot help that. The family honour stands
+higher than his right.'
+
+He spoke with iron firmness and composure, but this only lent more
+power to his words, and Edmund felt the truth that was in them. A
+desperate struggle was going on in the young man's breast, a struggle
+between his sense of justice and the stern necessity which was so
+forcibly demonstrated to him.
+
+Oswald's query recurred to his mind. 'Suppose silence was imposed on
+you for the sake of the family honour?'
+
+He was, indeed, far from attributing to his cousin's words any deeper
+significance, or from divining his knowledge of the truth. That
+conversation had come about most naturally. The young Count remembered
+in this hour how he had been fired with indignation at the bare notion
+that anyone could impute to his mother interested motives. How proudly
+and disdainfully had he declared that no shadow, no slur should attach
+itself to his life, that he must ever bear himself before the world
+with a clear conscience and unsullied brow! Two days ago he had held
+that language, and now....
+
+Baron Heideck lost not a moment in pursuing his advantage. He had
+recourse to the last and most effectual weapon in his armoury.
+
+'Now come with me to your mother,' he said, in a milder tone. 'You do
+not know how cruelly she has suffered since yesterday evening. She is
+waiting in terrible suspense for news of you, for a word from your
+lips. Come.'
+
+Edmund passively allowed himself to be raised from his seat and led a
+few steps towards the door. There he halted suddenly.
+
+'I cannot,' he said.
+
+Heideck, who had thrown open the door, which had been locked on the
+inside, paid no attention to this protest, but endeavoured to draw his
+nephew from the room. The latter now resisted energetically.
+
+'I cannot see my mother. Do not press me, uncle; do not try
+compulsion, or there will be a repetition of last night's scene.'
+
+He freed himself from Heideck's grasp, and pulled the bell. Everard
+came in at once.
+
+'My horse,' commanded his master. 'Have him saddled immediately.'
+
+'Is this your reply to all that I have been saying to you? Has it all
+been in vain?' cried Heideck, in despair, when the man had withdrawn.
+'Can you really still intend to take that journey?'
+
+'No, I shall remain; but I must be out in the open air, or I shall
+stifle. Let me go, uncle.'
+
+'First give me your word that you will do nothing rash, nothing
+desperate. In your present state, you are capable of any madness. What
+am I to say to your mother?'
+
+'What you will. I have no other intention than to ride about the
+country for a couple of hours. Perhaps I shall be better then.'
+
+With these words Edmund hurried away, his uncle making no further
+effort to stop him. He saw that neither persuasion nor soothing words
+of comfort could avail at present. Perhaps it would be well to let the
+storm spend itself.
+
+Hour after hour passed. Noon came, then gradually dusk drew on, and
+still the young Count did not appear. At the castle the anxiety
+produced by his protracted absence grew with every minute. Baron
+Heideck reproached himself most bitterly for having allowed his nephew
+to leave him in so excited a frame of mind, but he was obliged to
+conceal his fears. He had to be strong, to think and act for his
+sister, whose brain seemed well-nigh to reel beneath the weight of
+dread and suspense. She wandered from room to room, from window to
+window, rejecting all her brother's attempts at encouragement with a
+mute, despairing gesture. Better than he, than anyone, she knew her
+son, and knew therefore what was to be feared.
+
+'It really is useless for us to send messengers, Constance,' said
+Heideck, as he stood near her at the window. 'We have not even an
+approximate idea of the road Edmund took, and it only causes the
+servants to shake their heads and gossip more persistently. The young
+madman must have tired himself out by this time. Now that it is
+growing dark he is sure to turn homewards.'
+
+'If he has not started on his journey after all,' whispered the
+Countess, whose eyes never once swerved from the avenue leading up to
+the castle.
+
+'No,' replied Heideck decidedly. 'I made it evident to him that his
+confession would involve another, and who that other would be; we have
+nothing to fear on that score. He has certainly not gone to Oswald,
+but----'
+
+He forebore to finish his speech, out of consideration to the
+Countess, but a great dread had seized upon him. Might not his nephew,
+by some despairing act, have sought a solution which would be worse,
+more cruel even than the threatened avowal to Oswald?
+
+Another troubled pause ensued, another interval of painful silence,
+such as had frequently occurred that afternoon. Suddenly the Countess
+started up with a cry, and bent forward, far out of the window.
+Heideck, following her example, could discern nothing, but the
+mother's eye had already recognised the figure of her son, in spite of
+mist and gathering darkness. There he was--still distant, however--at
+the farther end of the avenue. The Countess's self-control now utterly
+forsook her. She did not remember that a plea of illness had been
+advanced for her to the servants: did not stay to consider how Edmund
+might receive her. She only wanted to see him; to have him with her
+again, and she rushed to meet him, so swiftly and impetuously that her
+brother could hardly follow her.
+
+Outside in the vestibule they had a few minutes to wait, for the young
+Count, who had set off from home at a furious gallop, was returning at
+a snail's pace. The horse, fairly bathed in sweat, trembled in every
+limb; at length it halted before the door. The animal was evidently
+completely spent, and its rider seemed to be in the same condition.
+He, who usually would swing himself so lightly from the saddle,
+dismounted now slowly, almost laboriously, and it cost him a visible
+effort to ascend the few steps leading up to the entrance-hall.
+
+The Countess stood on the very spot where some months before she had
+received her son on his return from his foreign travels. Then, radiant
+with the happiness of meeting her, he had rushed impetuously into her
+arms. Today he did not even notice that his mother was there. His
+clothes were saturated with rain, his damp hair clung to his brow, and
+he moved slowly forward, never looking round, but walking straight in
+towards the staircase.
+
+'Edmund!'
+
+It was a faint, trembling cry. Edmund turned, and beheld his mother
+standing close before him. She said not another word, but in her eyes
+he could read the misery, the anguish of the last few hours. And as
+she stretched forth her arms to him, he did not recoil, but stooped
+down to her. His lips met her forehead with a damp and icy touch, and
+in a whisper, audible to her alone, he said:
+
+'Be at peace, mother. I will try and bear it for your sake.'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+Two months had now passed since Oswald had taken up his abode in the
+capital, where he had met with a most friendly welcome. His friend and
+patron, Councillor Braun, ranked among the first jurisconsults of that
+city, and this gentleman, happy to lend a helping hand to the son of
+his deceased friend, stood warmly by him, advancing his interests, and
+lending him all the assistance in his power. He comprehended and
+sympathized with this young man in the resolution he had taken. It was
+a worthy impulse, the old lawyer felt, which withdrew Oswald from a
+life of dependence, easy and brilliant though it might be in outward
+circumstances--a right feeling which made him prefer to work and
+struggle on alone, rather than to receive constant benefits from his
+relations, and submit, in return, to play a subordinate part through
+life.
+
+Herr Braun and his wife were childless, and their young guest was
+received by them almost on the footing of a son. Oswald threw himself
+zealously into the work before him, and the approaching examination
+left him little leisure to ruminate on all that he had left at
+Ettersberg; still, it surprised him greatly that no news from the
+castle had reached him. Edmund had replied to his first long letter
+full of details by only a few lines, the style of which seemed
+strangely forced.
+
+An excuse was offered for this brief note on the score of a maimed
+hand, the writer's wound being not yet healed. Oswald was still
+looking for a response to his second epistle, though weeks had elapsed
+since it had been despatched.
+
+The young man knew full well that by the return of that picture the
+bridge of communication between himself and the Countess had been
+broken once and for all, that she would now use every effort to loose
+the bonds which bound him to her son; but it seemed impossible that
+Edmund should succumb so quickly and completely to her influence.
+
+Thoughtless as the young Count often showed himself, his friendship
+for his cousin had ever been faithful and true. He could not have
+forgotten the friend of his youth in the course of a few short weeks.
+There must be something else that prevented his writing.
+
+The first days of December had arrived. Oswald's examination was over;
+he had passed it brilliantly, and was desirous of at once entering
+upon his new career. But Councillor Braun declared decidedly that
+after the exertions of the last few weeks the young man stood in need
+of rest, that he must grant himself a respite, and remain on some
+little while longer as a guest in his house.
+
+Half reluctantly Oswald yielded. He felt himself that he required a
+certain breathing-time after the constant study and strain, which had
+lasted since the preceding spring.
+
+In that passionate struggle for independence he had made almost too
+great demands on his strength.
+
+The great lawyer was in his consultation-room, where he had just
+completed the business of the day, when Oswald came in with a letter,
+which he placed on a pile of correspondence prepared for the post. It
+was about the hour when the servant generally collected and despatched
+it.
+
+'Have you been writing to Ettersberg?' asked the old gentleman,
+looking up.
+
+Oswald replied in the affirmative. He had conveyed to Edmund the news
+of his successful examination. An answer must come now at length, he
+thought; this protracted silence began to cause him some uneasiness.
+
+'We were talking of the Ettersberg property here, not long ago,' said
+the lawyer. 'One of my clients intends to purchase timber from the
+estate to a large amount, and he consulted me as to one or two points
+in the bargain.'
+
+Oswald's attention was roused at once. 'Purchase timber to a large
+amount? There must be some mistake. So much wood has been cut down of
+late years in the Ettersberg forests, that they now require great care
+and the nicest handling. My cousin is aware of this; he could not
+possibly have been persuaded into taking such a step.'
+
+The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. 'Nevertheless, I can assure you, it
+is as I say. My client does not treat with the Count himself, but with
+the bailiff. Of course, the man must be empowered to make such
+arrangements.'
+
+'The bailiff will be leaving his situation shortly,' remarked Oswald.
+'He received notice to quit in the summer, having proved himself
+flagrantly incompetent. He cannot, I should suppose, have been left in
+possession of the extended powers Baron Heideck conferred on him years
+ago. I imagined that Edmund would recall those when he took upon
+himself the management of his own affairs. Suppose such not to have
+been the case?'
+
+'It would be an act of unpardonable negligence on the part of the
+young Count,' replied the lawyer. 'To leave for months powers such as
+these in the hands of a person whom he is about to dismiss, with whose
+services he is dissatisfied! Do you really think it possible?'
+
+Oswald was silent. He well knew Edmund's heedlessness and indifference
+to all business matters, and was persuaded that he had left matters
+exactly as he had found them.
+
+'The sum in question is an important one,' went on the lawyer, who
+understood his silence. 'Yet the price to be paid by the purchaser is
+a very low one, immediate payment in cash being demanded.'
+
+'I think there must be something more here than a mere assumption of
+authority on the steward's part,' said Oswald uneasily. 'Hitherto he
+has been looked upon as an honest man, but the fact that he is about
+to lose his situation may tempt him to take fraudulent advantage of
+the means at his command. My cousin has certainly not given his
+consent to this bargain. Why, it would entail the devastation of his
+forests! I am convinced that he knows nothing at all about it.'
+
+'That may be--but if the man's powers are not cancelled, he will have
+to recognise a transaction which is concluded in his name. You had
+better telegraph to Ettersberg, and inquire how the matter stands.
+Perhaps a timely warning may be of some avail.'
+
+'No doubt, if timely it prove. When are the formalities of the sale to
+be settled?'
+
+'In two or three days. Probably the day after to-morrow.'
+
+'Then I must go over to Ettersberg myself,' said the young man
+resolutely. 'A mere telegram will serve us nothing. Immediate and
+active steps must be taken, for as I understand the business, there is
+an act of robbery in contemplation which we have to prevent. Edmund
+unfortunately is too confiding in such matters, and will allow himself
+to be deceived by all sorts of shifts and subterfuges until it is too
+late to think of a remedy. I am at liberty just at present, and in
+three days I can be back. It will certainly be best that I should see
+my cousin and give him the necessary information, that he may act
+without delay.'
+
+Councillor Braun assented. The whole business, and especially the
+hurried manner in which it was transacted, seemed to him suspicious in
+the highest degree, and it pleased him that the young man, who had, so
+to say, broken with his relations, should now so decidedly, and
+without a moment's hesitation, interfere to protect them from loss and
+injury.
+
+In the course of that same evening Oswald made all preparations for
+his improvised journey. Ettersberg was situated within easy reach of
+the city. By taking the morning train he could be there by noon. Some
+pretext could easily be found by which his visit to the castle could
+be limited to a day or two at most, and the wedding, which at all
+costs he was determined to avoid, was not to take place until
+Christmas.
+
+At Ettersberg nothing, of course, was known of this intended visit.
+The dwellers at the castle had enough, and more than enough, to do
+with the preparations for the coming wedding and for the accommodation
+of the young couple in their future home. Many alterations were being
+made on the _bel etage_, which was to be given up altogether to the
+Count and his wife, and the necessary arrangements were as yet by no
+means completed. Besides this, Schoenfeld had to be set in readiness
+for the Dowager Countess, who intended to take up her residence there
+directly after the wedding.
+
+The Countess's resolve to leave Ettersberg after her son's marriage
+had taken everyone by surprise. She had, it is true, occasionally
+alluded to such a plan, but never in real earnest, and had always
+submitted with a very good grace to Edmund's vehement protests against
+the idea of a separation. Now both seemed to have altered their views.
+The Countess suddenly announced that in future she should make her
+home at Schoenfeld, a smaller dwelling which her husband had expressly
+appointed her for a dower-house, and Edmund raised no objection
+whatsoever. At Brunneck this sudden determination excited much
+amazement and comment, but at the same time it gave entire
+satisfaction. Ruestow had always feared for his daughter a life under
+the same roof with her mother-in-law, and this unexpected turn of
+events was too welcome and acceptable in itself for him to muse or
+ponder much over the cause of it.
+
+The last two months had sped by with wonderful rapidity, leaving
+little or no time for meditation of any sort. First, there was Dornau
+to take possession of, to restore and furnish throughout, before, as
+Hedwig's dowry, it returned to Ettersberg for ever. What with this and
+the preparations for the coming wedding, which was to be a very
+brilliant affair, with the constant flow of visits and invitations
+from all quarters--they had lived in a whirl of occupation and
+excitement. Autumn was always the gay season here in the country.
+Great hunts were held and shooting-parties organized by the landed
+proprietors in the neighbourhood, and to these balls and other
+festivities were naturally superadded. There had been an almost
+uninterrupted series of fetes and entertainments ever since September.
+If now and then, by some chance, the Brunneck family remained at home
+without visitors, there was so much to talk over and to discuss that
+anything like quiet domestic comfort was out of the question. Ruestow
+had more than once declared that he could not hold out under such
+pressure much longer, and that he wished to heaven the wedding were
+over--then perhaps he might enjoy a little peace once more. The day of
+the great event was already fixed; in three weeks' time the marriage
+was to take place at Brunneck, and the newly-married couple would then
+proceed to Ettersberg, their future home.
+
+In the drawing-room at the castle, where the family generally
+assembled when alone, the Countess sat with a book in her hand,
+reading, or appearing to read. Hedwig, who was paying one of her
+frequent visits to Ettersberg, stood by the window, looking out at the
+snow-clad landscape. Winter had long ago set in, and to-day there was
+a fine continuous fall of drizzling flakes which certainly did not
+induce to outdoor exercise.
+
+'Edmund is not coming back yet,' said the young lady, breaking a
+silence which had lasted some considerable time. 'What an idea to ride
+out in such weather as this!'
+
+'You know that it is his daily habit,' replied the Countess, without
+looking up from her book.
+
+'But he has only taken up the habit of late. He used to be very
+sensitive on the score of the weather, and a shower of rain would send
+him home at once. Now he seems rather to prefer wild and stormy days
+for rushing about the country, and he will stay out in the rain and
+snow for hours together.'
+
+The words, or rather their tone, betrayed a certain unmistakable
+anxiety.
+
+The Countess made no reply. She turned over the pages of her book,
+apparently absorbed by its interest, but a close observer would have
+remarked that she did not read a line.
+
+Hedwig turned from the window, and, coming back into the room,
+approached her hostess.
+
+'Do you not think that Edmund is strangely altered, mamma? I have
+noticed it for the last two months.'
+
+'Altered? How? In what?'
+
+'In everything.'
+
+The Countess leaned her head on her hand, and again remained silent.
+She clearly wished to avoid any discussion on this subject, but the
+young girl held steadily to her point.
+
+'I have been wishing to speak to you about this for some time, mamma.
+I cannot conceal from you that Edmund's behaviour makes me feel very
+uneasy--frightens me, in fact. He is so different from what he used to
+be; so uneven and variable in mood and temper; so strange even in his
+manner towards me. He seems feverishly anxious that all the
+preparations for the wedding should be pushed on as quickly as
+possible, and, on the other hand, there are times when he shows
+himself to be quite indifferent, and so totally unsympathetic that I
+have fancied he may wish the marriage to be deferred.'
+
+'Set your mind at rest, my child,' said the Countess, in a tone which
+was intended to be soothing, but which yet rang with concentrated
+bitterness. '_You_ have not lost his love. His tenderness towards you
+has suffered no change. I think you must feel this yourself. Edmund
+does appear rather excitable just now, I admit. He has been too gay,
+too much into company of late--indeed, we have all of us been involved
+in a perfect whirl of dissipation. Really, these incessant _reunions_,
+these meets, these dinners and evening parties, have hardly left us
+time to breathe. You yourself have been rather overtaxing your
+strength in this way, and it is not surprising if your nerves are a
+little tried by overmuch excitement.'
+
+'I would willingly have refused half the invitations,' said Hedwig,
+with some emotion; 'but Edmund insisted on our accepting them. We have
+had no peace ever since September, but have been fairly driven from
+one fete, from one visit to another; and when we contrive to stay at
+home, meaning to rest a little, Edmund comes with some new proposal,
+or brings some new visitor to the house. It seems really as though he
+could not bear to be quiet an hour either here or at Brunneck, as
+though anything like solitude were a positive torture to him.'
+
+The Countess's lips quivered, and accidentally, as it were, she turned
+her face away, replying, however, with perfect outward composure:
+
+'Nonsense! Why indulge in such silly fancies? Edmund has always been
+fond of society, and you yourself formerly took delight in constant
+gaiety and pleasure. I should not have expected such a complaint from
+you, of all people. What has happened to produce such an alteration in
+your feelings?'
+
+'I am anxious about Edmund,' confessed the young girl; 'and I see
+plainly that he takes no pleasure in all this dissipation, though he
+seems to seek it so eagerly. There is something so unnatural, so
+spasmodic in his mirth, that it gives me quite a pang to witness it.
+Do not try to deny this either to me or to yourself, mamma. It is
+impossible you should not have remarked the change. I fear that in
+secret it troubles you as much as it troubles myself.'
+
+'What avails my trouble or anxiety?' said the Countess, almost
+harshly. 'Edmund cares nothing for either.' Then, with a quick
+diversion, as though feeling that she had said too much, she added,
+with assumed coldness, 'You must learn to understand your husband's
+character and little ways without assistance from anyone else, my
+dear. He is not quite so easy to manage as you perhaps imagined at the
+outset. But he loves you--this is certain, and you will therefore have
+no great difficulty in discovering the proper course to take. I have
+made up my mind never to interfere between you. You see that I have
+even abandoned the idea of living under one roof with my son and his
+wife.'
+
+The rebuff was plain enough. Hedwig felt chilled to the soul, as had
+often been the case when she had attempted to win from her future
+mother-in-law any mark of hearty confidence or affection. That
+interview with Oswald had shown her what a rock lay ahead, and what a
+rival she would have in the Countess; but on this occasion she felt
+that the cool repellent answer had been prompted by some other motive
+than mere jealousy. There was some secret misunderstanding between
+Edmund and his mother.
+
+Hedwig had long remarked this fact, though they strove outwardly to
+preserve their old demeanour. In the first days of the engagement the
+Countess had relinquished none of her claims, had shown herself by no
+means inclined to yield to her successor the first place in her son's
+affections. Why should she suddenly make open renunciation of her
+influence? The step was little in accordance with her character.
+
+In the eagerness of their talk, the two ladies had failed to hear the
+sound of a horse's hoofs without. They turned in some surprise as the
+door opened, and the young Count appeared. He had laid aside his hat
+and overcoat, but a snowflake still hung here and there in his dark
+hair, and his heated face showed how wild had been the ride from which
+he had just returned. He came in quickly, and pressed his lips
+hastily, almost roughly, to Hedwig's brow, as she went forward to meet
+him.
+
+'You have been out two whole hours, Edmund,' said the young girl, with
+an accent of reproach. 'If the snow-storm had set in earlier, I should
+not have let you go.'
+
+'Why, do you want to make me effeminate? This is just the weather that
+suits me.'
+
+'How long has it suited you? Formerly you liked, you were satisfied
+with nothing but sunshine.'
+
+Edmund's face darkened at this remark, and he replied curtly:
+
+'Formerly, perhaps. But we have changed all that.' Then he went up to
+the Countess, and kissed her hand. There was, however, no attempt at
+the affectionate embrace with which in the old days he had always
+greeted her; as though accidentally, he avoided the armchair which
+stood vacant between the ladies, and threw himself on a seat near
+Hedwig. There was a certain nervous haste and restlessness in all his
+movements which had never before characterized them, and a like
+feverish excitableness was to be remarked in his voice and manner, as
+in the course of conversation he passed from one subject to another,
+never pursuing any for more than a few minutes.
+
+'Hedwig was becoming very anxious at your long absence,' remarked the
+Countess.
+
+'Anxious?' repeated Edmund. 'What in the world could make you anxious,
+Hedwig? Were you afraid I might be buried beneath a drift?'
+
+'No; but I do not like these wild rides of yours about the country.
+You have grown so extremely reckless and imprudent of late.'
+
+'Nonsense! you are a dauntless horsewoman yourself, and never show the
+smallest signs of fear when we ride out together.'
+
+'When you are with me you are more careful, but whenever you go out
+alone you rush along at a mad pace which is positively dangerous.'
+
+'Bah, dangerous! No danger will touch me, you may rely upon it.'
+
+The words conveyed none of the old merry, lighthearted confidence
+wherewith the young Count had been wont to boast of his happy star. On
+the contrary, they seemed rather to imply a challenge to Fate, a mute
+impeachment of its hard decrees.
+
+The Countess raised her eyes slowly, and fixed on her son a stern and
+sombre gaze. He, however, seemed not to remark this, but continued
+more lightly:
+
+'It is to be hoped we may have finer weather for our shooting
+to-morrow. I am expecting some gentlemen who will probably be here
+this afternoon.'
+
+'Why, two days ago the whole neighbourhood was gathered together for a
+monster shooting-party here at Ettersberg, and the day after to-morrow
+we are to have exactly the same affair over at Brunneck.'
+
+'Does the invitation displease you?' asked Edmund jestingly, 'I
+certainly ought first to have solicited the gracious permission of you
+ladies, and really the thought of my omission overwhelms me with
+confusion.'
+
+'Hedwig is right,' said the Countess. 'You do exact too much of us all
+just now. We have not had a day to ourselves for weeks, not one quiet
+day without visitors to receive or visits to pay. I shall be glad to
+retire into my nook at Schoenfeld and to leave you to continue this
+fatiguing round of dissipation by yourselves.'
+
+But a few months previously, such an allusion to the approaching
+separation would have called forth from Edmund an energetic protest, a
+warm appeal. He had always vowed that he could not live without his
+mother. Now he was silent; by not a syllable did he gainsay her
+resolution, nor did he reproach her for her longing to depart.
+
+'Well, well, you need only see these gentlemen at dinner,' he said,
+completely ignoring the last remark. 'They will be out in the woods
+all day.'
+
+'And you with them, I suppose,' said Hedwig. 'We hoped we might at
+least have you for one day to ourselves.'
+
+Edmund laughed outright. 'How very flattering! But your nature seems
+to have undergone a wonderful change, Hedwig. In former times I never
+remarked in you this romantic fancy for solitude. Have you grown
+misanthropic?'
+
+'No; I am only tired,' said the young girl, in a low voice, which
+certainly bespoke profound weariness.
+
+'How can a girl of eighteen feel tired when there is some pleasure or
+a party in view?' Edmund returned in a tone of banter, and then went
+on in the old vein, alternately teasing and coaxing his betrothed.
+
+It was quite a firework-display of wit and humour, the jests following
+each other in quick rocket-like succession, but the old spirit was
+wanting to them. This was no longer the bright, saucy badinage in
+which the young Count had so excelled of old.
+
+Hedwig was right. There was something wild and spasmodic in his
+gaiety, which was far too loud and tempestuous to be natural. His
+mirth turned to mockery, his satire to a sneer. Then his laughter was
+so shrill and his eyes shone with so feverish a glow that it was
+almost painful to see and hear him.
+
+Old Everard now came in, and announced that the messenger, who was
+going over to Brunneck, was awaiting his orders without. Fraeulein
+Ruestow had said there was a letter she desired to send. Hedwig rose
+and left the drawing-room, and almost simultaneously Edmund stood up
+and would have followed her out, but the Countess called him back.
+
+'Have you anything to say to the messenger?'
+
+'Yes, mother. I was going to send word over to Brunneck that they
+might reckon on our coming the day after to-morrow.'
+
+'That is quite understood. Besides, Hedwig has repeated it in her note
+to her father. There is no necessity for you to add a message.'
+
+'I obey orders, mother.'
+
+The young Count, who had already gained the door, closed it rather
+reluctantly, appearing undecided as to whether he should return to his
+former seat or not.
+
+'I give no orders,' said the Countess. 'I only mean that Hedwig will
+in all probability not be absent more than five minutes, and that you
+need not so anxiously seek a pretext for avoiding a _tete-a-tete_ with
+me.'
+
+'I!' exclaimed the Count. 'I have never----'
+
+'You have never openly said as much,' his mother finished the phrase
+for him. 'No, my son, but I see and feel full well how you shun my
+company. And now I should not keep you with me had I not a request to
+make. Give up this wild search after excitement--these furious,
+protracted rides about the country. You will wear yourself out. Of my
+anxiety I will not speak. You have long ceased to heed it; but you can
+no longer deceive Hedwig with this constrained gaiety. She was
+speaking to me on the subject before you came in, saying how uneasy
+and unhappy she felt about you.'
+
+The Countess spoke in a subdued tone. Her voice was low and lacked all
+ring; yet there ran through it a subtle thrill of pain. Edmund had
+drawn nearer slowly, and was now standing by the table before her. He
+did not raise his eyes from the ground as he replied:
+
+'Nothing ails me. You are both troubling yourselves most unnecessarily
+on my account.'
+
+The Countess was silent, but again there came that nervous working of
+the lips which Hedwig's words had previously called forth. It told
+what poor comfort this assurance gave her.
+
+'Our present life is so busy and full of agitation,' went on Edmund.
+'We shall all do better when Hedwig has fairly taken up her abode
+here.'
+
+'And I mine at Schoenfeld,' added the Countess, with profound
+bitterness. 'Well, we have but an interval of a few weeks to pass.'
+
+'Mother, you are unjust. Am I the cause of your leaving? This
+separation takes place by your own express wish.'
+
+'I saw that it was necessary for us both. We could not continue to
+live on together, as we have lived during the past two months. You are
+frightfully overwrought, Edmund, and I do not know how it will all
+end, whether your marriage will produce some change in your frame of
+mind. Perhaps Hedwig may succeed in making you calm and happy once
+more. Your love for her is now my one hope ... for I ... my power is
+over!'
+
+Things must indeed have gone far when the proud woman, who had so long
+triumphantly maintained the first place in her son's affections,
+stooped to such an avowal as this. There was no bitterness and no
+reproach in her words, but their tone betrayed such poignant grief
+that Edmund, with quick remorse, went up to her and took her hand.
+
+'Forgive me, mother. I did not mean to hurt you. Indeed, indeed, I
+would not wound your feelings. You must be indulgent to me.'
+
+He spoke with a touch of the old tenderness, and more was not needed
+to make the Countess forget all the estrangement. She moved as though
+she would have drawn her son to her breast, but it was not to be.
+Edmund, yielding, as it were, to an irresistible impulse, recoiled
+involuntarily; then, remembering himself at once, he bent over his
+mother's hand and pressed his lips to it.
+
+The Countess turned very pale, but she had been too long accustomed to
+this shy avoidance, this horror of her embrace, to be offended by it.
+So it had been for months, but the mother could not, or would not,
+understand that her son's love was altogether lost to her.
+
+'Think of my request,' she said, collecting her energies. 'Take some
+care of yourself for Hedwig's sake. Show some prudence and moderation;
+you owe it both to her and to yourself.'
+
+Then she rose from her seat and left the room, hesitating yet a moment
+on the threshold. Perhaps she hoped to be detained; if so, the hope
+was futile. Edmund stood quite motionless, not looking up until she
+had quitted the room.
+
+Left thus alone, the young Count drew himself erect, gazed for some
+minutes fixedly at the door through which his mother had passed, and
+then, going up to the window, pressed his hot brow against the panes.
+Now that he knew himself to be alone, the mask of gaiety with which he
+sought to deceive those about him fell, and in its place came an
+expression so gloomy, so despairing, that the Countess's anxiety
+seemed but too fully justified. Sombre and terrible must have been the
+thoughts which racked the young man's mind as he stood there, looking
+out at the now thickly-falling snow. So completely was he absorbed by
+them, that he did not hear the door open, and was only conscious of
+another presence when the rustling of a dress near him roused him from
+his brooding. Then he started and turned round.
+
+'Ah, you are there, Hedwig. Have you told your father he may expect
+us?'
+
+Hedwig could hardly have caught sight of her lover's face, but from
+the tone of his voice she became aware that for a moment he had given
+up all feigning. Instead of replying to his question, she laid her
+hand on his, and said very quietly:
+
+'What is the matter with you, Edmund?'
+
+'With me? nothing. I was inwardly swearing at the weather, which
+promises us nothing good for to-morrow. I know what this driving snow
+portends when once it fairly sets in among our mountains. Very
+possibly we shall be blockaded to-morrow, and not able to get out into
+the woods at all.'
+
+'Well, give up your sport then. You take no real pleasure in it.'
+
+Edmund frowned.
+
+'Why should I not take pleasure in it?' he asked, in rather an angry
+tone.
+
+'That question I should put to you. Why have you lost pleasure in all
+that you cared for formerly? Am I never to learn the trouble that is
+tormenting you and weighing on your spirits? I have, it seems to me,
+the best right to know it.'
+
+'This is a regular inquisition,' cried Edmund, laughing. 'How can you
+take a momentary caprice, a mere passing bout of ill-humour, so
+seriously to heart? But I notice you have got into the way of striking
+the pathetic chord on every possible occasion. If I would consent to
+do my part, we should be a most sentimental couple; unfortunately, I
+think that to be sentimental is invariably to be ridiculous.'
+
+Hedwig turned away deeply wounded. It was not the first time that
+Edmund had repelled her with harsh derision. He had so met her
+every attempt to solve the strange riddle of his altered manner
+and behaviour. It seemed as though he must defend his secret to the
+death--defend it from her as from the rest of the world.
+
+What a change had come over the youthful radiant pair, who had
+accepted it as a matter of course that Fortune should shower on them
+her best and brightest gifts, who had looked forward with such bright
+assurance to the sunny future before them, and in whose playful mirth
+hardly a shade of earnestness had mingled! They had both made
+acquaintance with life's graver side, and if to the girl trouble were
+as yet but a cold dim shadow, obscuring all the sunlight, in Edmund's
+heart a flame had burst forth which burned with a consuming fire, and
+ofttimes directed its intensity against those who were nearest to him.
+
+Hedwig turned to go. But she had only time to take a few steps; then
+Edmund's arm encircled her and held her fast.
+
+'Have I pained you?' he asked. 'Scold me, Hedwig. Load me with
+reproaches, but do not go from me in this way. That is more than I can
+bear.'
+
+The prayer for pardon was so passionate, so earnest, that the girl's
+just anger gave way before it. She leaned her head on his shoulder,
+and said:
+
+'I think this habit of constant sarcasm is bad for you as well as
+others. You do not know how harsh and cruel your words often sound.'
+
+'I have been intolerably disagreeable of late, have I not?' said
+Edmund, with an attempt at playfulness. 'After the wedding you will
+see I shall be all the more charming. Then we will make our bow to the
+gay world, retire from the hurly-burly, and shut ourselves up in our
+fortress. Just at this present time I cannot bear tranquillity and
+solitude. But I look forward with an intense longing to the day which
+will unite us.'
+
+'Do you really long for it?' asked Hedwig, looking fixedly at him.
+'Sometimes, do you know, I have fancied you rather dreaded that day.'
+
+The scarlet flush which mounted to the young man's brow almost seemed
+to bear out her words; yet the passionate tenderness with which he
+folded his betrothed to his heart gave them contradiction.
+
+'Dread? No, Hedwig! We love each other, do we not? And your love is
+given to me, to me personally, not to the Count Ettersberg, not to
+the heir of these estates? You had so many suitors to choose from, so
+many who could offer you wealth and fortune, and you chose me, because
+... because you liked me best, was it not so?'
+
+'Good heavens, how can such things come into your mind?' cried Hedwig,
+half frightened, half offended. 'How can you imagine that I ever gave
+them a thought?'
+
+'I do not, I do not,' said Edmund, drawing a deep breath. 'And
+therefore I hold fast to that which is mine, mine alone, and will
+maintain it in the face of all. In your love, at least, I may believe.
+That, at least, is no lie. If I were to be deceived here, if I must
+doubt and despair of you--then the sooner I make an end of it, the
+better.'
+
+'Edmund, this wild talk of yours distracts me,' cried Hedwig, starting
+back, scared by his vehemence. 'You are ill, you must be ill, or you
+would not use such language.'
+
+This anxious cry brought Edmund to his senses. He made a great effort
+to regain composure, and even succeeded in forcing a smile as he
+replied:
+
+'Why, are you beginning that tale? A few minutes ago my mother was
+lecturing me, saying I was excited and overwrought. And in fact it is
+nothing more than that. I am nervous and unstrung, but the fit will
+pass. Everything comes to an end, you know, sooner or later. Do not be
+anxious, Hedwig. Now I must go and see if Everard has got all ready
+for my expected guests. I forgot to give him any special orders.
+Excuse me for ten minutes, will you? I shall be with you again
+immediately.'
+
+He released the girl from his arms and left her, once more breaking
+off abruptly, fleeing, as it were, from further explanation or
+discussion. It was impossible to solve the enigma. The Countess and
+Edmund were alike impenetrable.
+
+Hedwig returned to her former place, and sat, absorbed in troubled
+meditation, resting her head on her hand. Edmund was concealing
+something from her, yet his love for her had suffered no change or
+diminution. It needed not the Countess's words to assure her of this;
+her own feelings told her the fact far more convincingly. His
+affection seemed indeed to have gained in intensity. She was more to
+him now than in former days, when his mother stood so prominently in
+the foreground; but the girl involuntarily trembled at meeting an
+outburst of fervid passion there, where she had been wont to look only
+for gay and sportive tenderness. How strange, how fitted to inspire
+uneasiness had been Edmund's manner again to-day! Why did he so
+vehemently demand an assurance that her love was given to him, to him
+personally? And why would he 'make an end of it,' were he to be
+deceived in this belief?
+
+Hedwig felt that she should have thrown herself on her lover's breast,
+and forced from him a frank and open confession.
+
+Obstinately as he might withhold his confidence from her, he would
+surely have given way, if she had prayed him with all the eagerness
+and earnestness of heartfelt love--but this she could not bring
+herself to do. Something like a secret consciousness of guilt
+restrained her from using her full power. Yet she had valiantly fought
+against the dreams which constantly brought before her another figure,
+the figure of one who now was far away, and whom she would probably
+never see again.
+
+Oswald von Ettersberg since his departure had been completely lost
+sight of. He might almost have vanished into space. The Countess never
+voluntarily alluded to her nephew, and to some inquiries of Ruestow's
+she had merely replied curtly and coldly that she believed he was
+well, and satisfied with his new mode of life, but that he rarely
+communicated with his relations. She evidently desired to avoid the
+subject, and it was accordingly not again broached. The fact that
+Edmund never mentioned the name of his cousin, from whom he had
+hitherto been inseparable, that any allusion to the absent one
+appeared unpalatable to him as to his mother, was just one of the many
+eccentricities which now marked his behaviour. They had probably had
+some fresh quarrel shortly before Oswald's departure, and it seemed
+that the rupture between the cousins and old allies was this time
+complete.
+
+Weary of thinking, of pondering over mysteries she could not fathom,
+Hedwig sat leaning back in her chair. She heard the door of the
+anteroom open, heard the approach of footsteps, but, supposing that it
+was Edmund coming back, she did not alter her attitude, and it was
+only as the new-comer entered that she languidly turned her head in
+his direction.
+
+Then suddenly an electric thrill shot through the girl's frame.
+Trembling, blushing to the temples, she sprang from her seat, her eyes
+fixed on the door before her. Was it alarm, or was it joy that seized
+upon her with such paralyzing might? She knew not--she rendered no
+account to herself; but the name which burst from her lips, and the
+tone in which it was uttered, betrayed all that she had long so
+sedulously hidden.
+
+'Oswald!'
+
+Yes, it was Oswald who stood on the threshold. He must have been
+prepared for the possibility of seeing her when he started on his
+journey to Ettersberg, but this sudden meeting was quite unlooked for.
+The flush which dyed his brow on beholding his cousin's promised wife
+was evidence enough of this.
+
+For a moment he waited, irresolute, but when his name struck on his
+ear, pronounced in those accents, all hesitation was over. In an
+instant he was at her side.
+
+'Hedwig! Have I startled you?'
+
+The question was well warranted, for Hedwig's perturbation was still
+visible and extreme.
+
+'Herr von Ettersberg! You appear so suddenly, so unexpectedly.'
+
+'I could not send word of my coming. I am here on pressing business,
+which made it necessary for me to see Edmund at once.'
+
+He spoke, almost without knowing what he said, gazing fixedly the
+while at the girl's face before him. The sight of her did away in a
+moment with the ramparts which for months he had laboriously been
+building up.
+
+Hedwig moved as though to withdraw.
+
+'I ... I will let Edmund know.'
+
+'He has been informed of my arrival. Do not fly from me in this way,
+Hedwig. Will you not grant me one minute?'
+
+Hedwig paused. The sorrowful reproach in his tone chained her to the
+spot, but she did not dare to make reply.
+
+'I do not come voluntarily or in my own interest,' pursued Oswald.
+'Tomorrow I shall leave again; I could not possibly divine that you
+would be here at Ettersberg just at this time, or ... or I would have
+spared us both this meeting.'
+
+Us both! Through all his bitterness there gleamed a ray of
+satisfaction. That unguarded exclamation of hers had changed a dim
+half-knowledge into a certainty, and though he could fasten on it no
+single hope, this certainty had in an instant become to him the one
+all-precious thing in life, a possession he would have surrendered at
+no price.
+
+During their farewell interview, the young man had valiantly
+maintained his self-control, but the joyful shock of this unexpected
+meeting threatened to unseal his lips. The long-hidden passion in his
+breast was fanned to a quick, sudden blaze. Hedwig read this in his
+eyes, and the imminent danger gave her back her self-command, which
+did not again desert her.
+
+'We can, at all events, shorten this interview,' she said, speaking in
+a low, steady tone, and turned to go. But Oswald followed.
+
+'Will you leave me suddenly in this way? May I not say a word to
+you--one word?'
+
+'I fear we have already said too much. Let me go, Herr von Ettersberg.
+Let me go, I entreat of you.'
+
+Oswald obeyed. He stepped back to let her pass. She was right, he
+felt, and it was well that she should be strong and prudent when his
+prudence was on the verge of failing him. He looked after her
+silently, with an expression of infinite sadness, but he would no
+further detain her.
+
+Hardly had Hedwig disappeared in the direction of the Countess's
+apartments when Edmund came in from the other side. His cousin's
+arrival had been notified to him, but his face showed no joyful
+surprise. On the contrary, the young Count appeared disturbed, nay,
+agitated. As Oswald hastened towards him, and held out his hand with
+all the old friendly cordiality, he evaded taking it, and the welcome
+he expressed was strangely forced and formal.
+
+'What a surprise, Oswald! I did not think you intended to pay
+Ettersberg a visit just now.'
+
+'Am I unwelcome?' asked Oswald, astonished at and chilled by this
+unwonted reception, and his outstretched hand fell to his side as he
+spoke.
+
+'No, certainly not!' cried Edmund hastily. 'Quite the contrary. I only
+meant that you might have sent me word previously.'
+
+'It was I who had the right to expect a letter,' said Oswald, with
+some reproach in his tone. 'You only replied to my first by a few
+lines: of my second you took no notice at all. I could understand your
+silence as little as I now understand the manner of your welcome. Have
+you been ill, or has anything happened?'
+
+The young Count laughed--the loud derisive laugh which in these days
+was so frequent with him.'
+
+'What an idea! You see I am as well as I can be. It was only that I
+had no time for writing.'
+
+'No time?' said Oswald, much hurt. 'Well, I have found more leisure
+for you, then, in spite of all the urgent claims my work makes upon
+me. I have come now solely and entirely in your interest, not to pay
+you a visit, but to guard and save you from certain loss. Have you
+cancelled the powers formerly conferred on your land-steward?'
+
+'What powers?' asked Edmund, who was absent and uneasy.'
+
+He persistently avoided meeting his cousin's eye.
+
+'The authority to act in your name, with which Baron Heideck, as your
+guardian, thought fit to invest him, and by means of which the entire
+management of the Ettersberg affairs was left in his hands. Does he
+still hold the document which gave him this authority?'
+
+'Probably. I have never asked him for it back.' Oswald frowned.
+
+'How could you be so imprudent?' he said impatiently. 'How could you
+continue to place confidence in a man whom you know to be unreliable?
+In all probability you will find that he has grossly abused his trust.
+Are you aware that the third part of your forests is doomed--that the
+timber is to be cut down and sold?'
+
+'Oh! Is that in contemplation?' Edmund replied, still absently. The
+news seemed to make little or no impression on him.
+
+'Do reflect,' insisted Oswald. 'If you know nothing of this
+transaction, if it has been entered into without your consent, the
+intent at robbery is as clear as day. The purchase-money, which is
+fixed at an absurdly low figure, is to be paid in cash, and the
+steward, no doubt, hopes to pocket it, and to be clear of the place
+before the affair is found out. I heard of it accidentally. The
+would-be purchaser consulted my friend Braun on the subject, and I
+hurried over here at once, in the hope of saving you and Ettersberg
+from this tremendous injury.'
+
+Edmund passed his hand across his brow, as though it required an
+effort on his part to follow the conversation.
+
+'That was very kind of you! Did you really come expressly for that?
+Well, we can talk it over another time.'
+
+This utter lack of interest still further increased Oswald's
+amazement, but what roused even greater anxiety in his mind was the
+strangely-fixed and half-distraught expression of the young Count's
+face. Evidently his thoughts were busy elsewhere.
+
+'Edmund, have you not heard what I have been saying to you? This
+matter is of the first importance--it will not brook the slightest
+delay. You must at once rescind those powers, and you must make sure
+of the rascal to whom they were committed, or you will be compelled to
+recognise the bargain he has made. This bargain means ruin to your
+forests, and considerable, perhaps irreparable, damage to the entailed
+estates.'
+
+'Ah, the entail,' repeated Edmund, who, of the whole exordium, seemed
+only to have caught this word. 'True, the estates must not be injured.
+I give this matter over into your hands, Oswald. You have taken it
+up--go through with it.'
+
+'I? How can I give orders, make arrangements regarding your property,
+while you yourself are here present? I came merely to warn you, to
+disclose to you the intended fraud. It is for you to take action--for
+you, the master and owner of Ettersberg.'
+
+A spasm passed across the young Count's face, telling of some racking
+pain, dissimulated by an effort, and his eyes fell before Oswald's
+astonished, questioning gaze. He pressed his lips together, and was
+silent.
+
+'Well?' asked Oswald, after a pause. 'Will you send for the steward
+and speak to him?'
+
+'If you think it advisable.'
+
+'Of course I think it advisable. It must be done without delay.'
+
+Edmund went up to the table, and was about to grasp the bell, when
+Oswald, who had followed him, suddenly laid his hand on his shoulder,
+and said, in an earnest, urgent tone:
+
+'Edmund, what is your cause of complaint against me?'
+
+'Against you? I have none. You must excuse me if I seem rather absent.
+I am beset by all sorts of worries just now--disagreeables regarding
+the management, with the people on the place. My head is full of it
+all. You see by this incident with the steward what unpleasant things
+are constantly turning up.'
+
+'It is not that,' said Oswald decidedly. 'I feel that you have some
+grudge against me personally. See how hearty and affectionate you were
+towards me when we parted, and how differently you receive me now.
+What has come between us?'
+
+He grasped the young Count's shoulder as he put the last question, and
+would have looked him scrutinizingly in the face, but Edmund tore
+himself free with some violence.
+
+'Do not tease me with all these absurd fancies and imaginings,' he
+broke out hastily. 'Must I render you account of every word and every
+glance?'
+
+Oswald receded a step, and gazed at his cousin in amazement. He was
+indeed more astonished than offended. This sudden outbreak, so
+entirely unprovoked, as it seemed to him, was absolutely inexplicable.
+At this moment the roll of approaching wheels and the barking of dogs
+were heard outside. Edmund drew a deep breath, as though he had been
+relieved of some unendurable pain.
+
+'Ah, our guests are here! Forgive me, Oswald, if I leave you alone. I
+am expecting some gentlemen who are to join our shooting-party
+to-morrow. You will make one of us, will you not?'
+
+'No,' said Oswald coldly. 'I did not come for my pleasure, and
+to-morrow afternoon I must leave you again.'
+
+'So soon? I am sorry for that, but of course you know best how much
+time you have to spare. I will give orders for your room to be put in
+readiness for you.'
+
+He had already reached the threshold.
+
+'One thing more, Oswald. Take the steward to task for me, will you? I
+have no talent for that sort of thing, and no patience. I shall agree
+to anything you may decide. Your orders will be equivalent to mine.
+Goodbye for the present.'
+
+The last words were spoken rapidly, with a feverish excitement of
+manner which contrasted strangely with his former listless
+indifference. Then he hurried away, as though the ground were
+scorching his feet. Oswald stood there alone, hardly knowing whether
+to be angry or alarmed at such a reception. What could it mean? There
+could be but one explanation. Edmund had entered the drawing-room as
+Hedwig quitted it. Possibly he might have approached some minutes
+before and have partly overheard the short but pregnant conversation
+that had taken place between the girl and himself. Although not a word
+had fallen which could be construed into an understanding, there had
+been enough to show how matters were between Oswald and his own
+promised bride--enough to kindle a blaze of jealousy in the young
+Count's breast. That would explain his shrinking from the hand Oswald
+extended to him, his indifference to the money-loss with which he was
+threatened, his vehement, excited manner. There could be no other
+reading of the problem.
+
+'So it was that,' said Oswald to himself. 'He must have overheard
+something. Well then, he heard how innocent we both were with regard
+to the meeting, and how we parted. I know myself to be free from
+blame, and if we ever come to a discussion on the subject, I will meet
+him and speak out frankly.'
+
+Outside, in the courtyard, loud talk could now be heard, and a lively
+interchange of greetings, Edmund's voice rising above all the others
+as he welcomed his guests with noisy hilarity.
+
+Oswald glanced out of the window. The gentlemen who had just alighted
+were, one and all, old acquaintances of his, but he was not in the
+humour to make polite speeches to them, or to run the gauntlet of
+their questions. So he quickly left the drawing-room, and was on the
+way to his old dwelling in the side-wing before the strangers had set
+foot in the castle.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+The weather on the following day proved more propitious than had been
+expected. Though it did not clear up brightly, there was a cessation
+of the snowfall and the mists had disappeared, so that the morning
+seemed to promise a somewhat overcast, but, on the whole, fine day,
+favourable to sport and sportsmen.
+
+At a very early hour Oswald left his room and turned his steps towards
+the main building, where the Count's apartments were situated. None of
+the guests were visible as yet, but downstairs the servants were busy
+preparing for the departure of the gentlemen, who were to set out
+immediately after breakfast.
+
+Strange to say, Oswald found his cousin's room locked. It had never
+been Edmund's habit to ensure solitude by any such precautions. Not
+until his cousin had knocked repeatedly did he open the door.
+
+'Oh, it is you, Oswald? You are here very early.'
+
+His tone said plainly enough that the surprise was no pleasant one.
+Notwithstanding this, Oswald walked in.
+
+'You are dressed, I see,' he said; 'so I am not disturbing you with
+this morning visit.'
+
+The young Count was, indeed, fully equipped for the day, but he looked
+pale and haggard, and his eyes shone with an unnatural light. The
+traces of a wakeful night were but too visible on his features. He had
+evidently found neither sleep nor rest since the preceding evening.
+
+'You have altered your mind, I suppose, and have come to say you
+will make one of the party,' he said lightly, evading the keen survey
+of the other's eyes by turning away and busying himself at his
+writing-table.
+
+'No,' replied Oswald. 'You know that I must start again this
+afternoon. You may not have returned when I leave, so I wished to say
+good-bye to you now.'
+
+'Must it be said in private?'
+
+'Yes; for there is something else of importance I would speak of. You
+used not of old to avoid me so persistently, Edmund. I tried in vain
+to get hold of you yesterday evening. You were so completely taken up
+with your guests, and you seemed so excited, I had to give up all hope
+of finding a hearing, or of discussing with you any matters of
+business.'
+
+'Matters of business? Ah, you mean that affair of the steward. Have
+you been so good as to speak to him for me?'
+
+'I was compelled to do so, seeing that, in spite of my remonstrances,
+you would not stir a step. It all turned out precisely as I feared.
+When the man discovered that I was acquainted with the whole
+transaction, he desisted from lying. I gave him the choice of leaving
+Ettersberg this very day, or of submitting to a thorough investigation
+before a court of law. He naturally preferred the first alternative.
+Here is the document which empowered him to act in your name. He
+handed it over to me, but you will do well to have it properly
+cancelled. The intending purchaser has had notice already. I took down
+his address, thinking it might prove useful, and I have telegraphed to
+him that the sale of timber will not take place, that all authority is
+withdrawn from your agent, who had treated without your knowledge or
+consent. So this time the loss has been averted.'
+
+He made this statement in a quiet, business-like tone, laying no
+stress on his own services, or on the diligent zeal which had brought
+about this happy result.
+
+Edmund must, however, have felt how much he owed to his cousin's wise
+and thoughtful action. Perhaps the sense of obligation weighed upon
+him, for his answer was very brief.
+
+'I am really most grateful to you. I knew you would understand these
+things far better than I, and would act more energetically.'
+
+'In this instance it was for you to act,' said Oswald reproachfully.
+'I allowed the steward to believe that at present I alone had
+cognizance of the intended fraud, that I called him to account on my
+own responsibility, and that I should not make any communication to
+you until he had taken his departure to-day--otherwise he would have
+thought it extraordinary that you should hold aloof from an affair
+which, after all, concerns yourself alone.'
+
+'As I said to you yesterday, I was not in a mood, a frame of mind----'
+
+'That I could see, and I make every allowance for the frame of mind,
+knowing, as I do, its cause and origin.'
+
+'Its cause and origin? What do you mean? What do you know?'
+
+'The reason of your strange reception, of your almost hostile attitude
+towards myself. This alone it is which brings me here. All
+misunderstandings must be cleared up between us, Edmund. Why this
+silence and concealment? Between true friends such as we are,
+frankness is best.'
+
+The young Count leaned heavily against the table near at hand. He made
+no reply, but stood speechless and pale as death, staring at his
+cousin, who continued calmly:
+
+'You need not withhold any accusation you may have to make. I can face
+it, can meet it without flinching. I love Hedwig, and am not ashamed
+to own it to you, for I have honestly, loyally struggled against the
+passion. When I saw it was not to be overcome, I went. Not a word on
+the subject has passed between us. If yesterday I was so far carried
+away as to allude to the state of my feelings, it was the first, it
+will be the last time. The unexpected meeting for a moment robbed me
+of my self-control, but it was only for a moment. I was myself again
+directly. If this is guilt in your eyes, it is guilt I am not afraid
+to confess, for I feel that in all points I can justify my conduct.'
+
+This open, manly avowal had a most unlooked-for effect. Edmund
+listened as in a dream. The horrible shock of surprise, which quite
+paralyzed him at first, gradually passed away, but he evidently did
+not yet grasp the full purport of the words addressed to him.
+
+'You love Hedwig? You? No, it is impossible. I do not believe it.'
+
+'Had you not found it out?' said Oswald, dismayed in his turn. 'Was it
+not a feeling of jealousy which stood between us and estranged you
+from me?'
+
+Edmund did not heed the question. His glowing eyes rested with an
+expression of terrible, unutterable suspense on Oswald's face, as he
+panted forth, in breathless agitation:
+
+'And Hedwig--does she return the feeling? Does she love you?'
+
+'I have said that no word of explanation has passed between us.'
+
+'Words are not needed. You know, must know, if she cares for you, or
+not. That is felt in every glance, in every pulse. _I_ have felt, I
+have known that she did not give me her whole wealth of love, that
+something stood between us, dividing us. Were you that barrier? Speak;
+I will have certainty, be the cost to me what it may.'
+
+Oswald cast down his eyes.
+
+'Hedwig will hold her promise sacred, as I do,' he replied, in a low
+voice.
+
+The answer was unequivocal, and to it there was no rejoinder. For the
+next few minutes a terrible silence reigned. No sound was heard but
+that of the young Count's short, quick breathing.
+
+'So this drop is added,' he said at length. Oswald looked at him
+anxiously. He had been prepared for a stormy scene, for passionate
+reproach and fierce anger. This stony resignation, so utterly at
+variance with Edmund's character, roused in him amazement and alarm.
+
+'We shall conquer and live it down,' he said, taking up the thread
+again. 'We have never either of us thought of any further possibility.
+Were Hedwig free, I could entertain no hopes. I have always felt a
+contempt for adventurers who owe all to their wives, having themselves
+nothing to offer in return. Such a position would weigh me to the
+ground. I could not accept it, even at the hands of the woman I love.
+And my career is only just beginning. For years I must go on working
+for myself alone, whereas you have it in your power to confer in
+marriage the most brilliant advantages.'
+
+The words were spoken innocently enough. They were intended to soothe,
+but how contrary was the effect produced! Edmund bounded, as it were,
+beneath the lash. His whole manner, his voice even was changed, as he
+burst forth, with scathing bitterness, with fierce, scornful rage:
+
+'You mean to envy me, perhaps, to envy me my brilliant lot in life! I
+am a favourite of Fortune, am I not? All the good things of this world
+fall to my share? You were mistaken in your prophecy, Oswald. Fortune
+is fickle, and we two have changed _roles_. Hedwig's love, at least, I
+still believed to be mine; of that one possession I thought myself
+sure. That, too, has been taken from me, taken from me by you. Oh, the
+measure is full, full to overflowing!'
+
+'Edmund, you are half distracted,' said Oswald remonstratingly. 'Try
+to regain composure. We will speak of this more quietly----'
+
+'Leave me,' Edmund interrupted. 'I can hear nothing now, endure
+nothing more. Your presence is intolerable to me. Go!'
+
+Oswald drew nearer, seeking to pacify him, but in vain. In a fury,
+which bordered on madness, the Count thrust him back.'
+
+'I will be alone, I tell you. Am I not even master here in my own
+rooms? Must I insult you to drive you from me?'
+
+'That will not be necessary,' said Oswald, now grievously offended,
+and as he spoke, he drew himself up. 'I was not prepared for such a
+reception of my frank and loyal statement, or I should have been
+silent. You will see later on what injustice you have done me, but
+the knowledge will probably come too late to save our friendship.
+Good-bye.'
+
+He went, casting not another glance behind him. Then Edmund sank into
+a chair. The blow which had just fallen was perhaps not the heaviest
+that had struck him in these latter days. Most direful of all had been
+the shock which in a moment had destroyed the son's love for, and
+proud trust in, his mother--not the heaviest, perhaps, but the last;
+and the last felled him to the ground.
+
+An hour later the whole company had gathered in the dining-room, where
+breakfast was laid. The gentlemen were all in high spirits, for the
+weather promised excellent sport.
+
+The Countess did the honours of the house with her accustomed grace.
+Whatever cares might be gnawing at her heart, she was too thorough a
+woman of the world to betray any emotion in the presence of strangers.
+Hedwig also forced herself to appear gay.
+
+The conversation was most animated, and Oswald's grave taciturnity and
+reserve were not specially remarked, as they were considered natural
+to and customary with him.
+
+Count Ettersberg himself appeared late on the scene. He excused
+himself by saying that he had been delayed, giving some necessary
+orders in reference to the day's sport; and he endeavoured to make up
+for his tardy arrival by redoubled efforts to charm and amuse his
+guests.
+
+Edmund no longer looked pale and haggard, as he had looked an
+hour before. On the contrary, a hectic flush glowed in his cheeks,
+and a current of fire seemed to speed through his veins, while he
+exhibited an exuberant gaiety which could only be the product of
+over-excitement. He at once took the lead in the conversation, and his
+brilliant talk soon carried all the others away with it. Jests,
+repartees, and sparkling anecdotes followed quickly one upon the
+other. He seemed bent on convincing everyone about him of his
+cheerfulness and excellent humour, and so far as his guests were
+concerned, he succeeded in his aim.
+
+The elder men, one and all landowners of the neighbourhood, thought
+they had never known the young Count so agreeable as on this occasion:
+the younger, stimulated by the effervescence of his wit, became witty
+in their turn. So the time sped quickly by, until the master of the
+house gave the signal for a general rising.
+
+Oswald still continued very silent, but he kept a constant, anxious
+watch on his cousin. After all that had taken place between them, it
+was no matter of surprise to him that Edmund should seem to shun him
+even more persistently than yesterday, should even avoid addressing
+him directly; but he was not to be deceived by the other's assumed
+flippancy. After the scene of that morning, desperation alone could
+have produced such feverish excitement. Now only, when the first
+stings of wounded pride had passed, did the young man reflect how
+horror-stricken, how half-distraught Edmund had appeared on hearing
+his confession. He had had no suspicion, it seemed. His unaccountable
+behaviour had not been actuated by, was not owing to jealousy. If not
+to jealousy, to what then?
+
+The company had now risen and were preparing to depart. The sportsmen
+took their leave of the ladies of the house, and said good-bye to
+Oswald, who was also to be left behind. Herr von Ettersberg was
+generally condoled with for having to return to the city so speedily,
+and to lose his chance of a day's shooting, and a few more polite
+speeches of a like nature were exchanged in all haste.
+
+Edmund parted from Hedwig with some merry words, still showing the
+extreme and rather reckless gaiety which he seemed unable to put from
+him that morning.
+
+As he passed his cousin, he called to him, 'Adieu, Oswald,' but so
+briefly and hastily as to preclude any reply. He evidently wished to
+avoid any further contact with the man by whom he considered himself
+injured. He went up to the Countess, who was talking to one of the
+gentlemen.
+
+'I have come to say good-bye, mother.'
+
+The words were spoken hurriedly, but something of the old tone was in
+them, of the tone which the mother's ear had so long sought in vain,
+and which now it instantly caught. Her eyes sought her son's; and
+meeting them, she no longer read there that shy avoidance which had so
+tortured her for months.
+
+Today they had a different, an undefinable expression in which,
+however, there was no reproach. The hand the Countess extended to him
+trembled a little. A cold formal kiss imprinted on this hand was the
+only salute Edmund had for her now as he came and went. He stooped
+over it as usual, but suddenly the mother felt his arms close round
+her, felt his hot, quivering lips on her brow. It was their first
+embrace since the day on which he had discovered the fatal secret.
+
+'Edmund?' whispered the Countess, with a half-tender, half-anxious
+inquiry in the murmured word.
+
+Edmund made no reply. He held his mother tightly to him--but for a
+moment, yet enough to show her that the old love had blazed forth
+anew, ardent, mighty as ever. His lips touched hers, then he freed
+himself quickly and resolutely.
+
+'Farewell, mother. I must go; it is more than time.'
+
+He stepped back among his guests, who at once closed in upon him. In
+the general leave-taking, and in the noise and confusion which
+preceded their merry departure, all chance of saying another word to
+her son was lost to the Countess.
+
+The sportsmen were gone at last. No one had noticed the short scene
+between mother and son, no one had seen anything unusual in their
+embrace--with one exception. Oswald's eyes had never quitted them for
+an instant. His strange, keen scrutiny was on the Countess now as she
+left the room.
+
+It was her wish, no doubt, to escape being alone with her nephew.
+Hedwig had accompanied her lover downstairs, and was watching the
+departure from the entrance-door.
+
+In the castle-yard all was life and animation. A number of sledges
+stood ready to receive the gentlemen, and to convey them to the
+neighbourhood of the somewhat distant covers which had been chosen for
+the day's sport. The servants were busily moving to and fro. The
+Count's chasseur, who had charge of the dogs, could hardly check their
+ardour, and even the horses gave signs of impatience at the long delay
+by pawing the ground and champing the bit.
+
+Most restless of all were a pair of handsome black steeds harnessed to
+a small sledge which contained seats for but two persons. They were
+the restive, high-spirited animals which had brought about the
+accident on Stag's Hill. Since then the Countess, having once been
+exposed by them to imminent peril, had constantly used other horses
+for her daily drives. Could she have chosen, the black pair would,
+indeed, long ago have been banished from the stables; but Edmund had a
+strong predilection for the beautiful creatures, which certainly were
+matchless in their symmetry and grace. He had given special orders
+that they should be put to his own sledge to-day. It was his habit to
+drive himself, and he now advanced, ready to take the reins from the
+groom's hands.
+
+All seemed ready for the start, yet some further delay occurred before
+the party actually set out. Some remark of Edmund's had called forth a
+debate, and much lively discussion was going on among the sportsmen.
+Evidently the pros and cons of a disputed question were being argued.
+A sound of loud voices and noisy laughter reached Oswald's ear as he
+stood at his post above, but the closed windows prevented his hearing
+the words used in the parley. The young Count was the most eager
+speaker. Some of the elder men present shook their heads and seemed to
+attempt dissuasion. At length a settlement was arrived at. All was
+made ready for the general departure, and Edmund mounted to his seat
+in the sledge. Strangely enough, he meant to drive alone. The place at
+his side remained unoccupied. At a sign from him the groom in
+attendance fell back, as he gathered up the reins and whip.
+
+One more look from the sportsmen--one farewell salute in the direction
+of the great entrance-door where stood the castle's future mistress.
+Edmund, like the rest, turned and waved her a final adieu, but
+immediately his eyes were raised to the tier of windows above. These
+were his mother's rooms, and the Countess must have appeared at this
+moment, for her son's gaze was riveted on a certain point. He sent her
+a greeting far warmer and more heartfelt than that he had accorded to
+his betrothed. There came a momentary break in the gaiety he had so
+sedulously maintained, a glimpse as of some wild, unutterable sorrow.
+That farewell glance seemed almost to convey a mute, beseeching appeal
+for pardon. Then his lash descended so sharply that the fiery steeds
+reared high in the air, and the snow rose up in a small whirlwind
+about him, as they set off at full gallop. The other sleighs followed,
+and so amid noise and merriment the whole retinue departed.
+
+Oswald turned from the window, struck by a sudden apprehension.
+
+'That seemed like a farewell,' he murmured. 'What can it mean? What
+scheme can Edmund have in his head?'
+
+He left the drawing-room, and was quickly passing through the
+antechamber when he met Everard, the old retainer, who had just left
+the courtyard.
+
+'What caused the delay in starting?' asked Oswald hastily. 'What was
+the discussion about, and why did your master go off in his sledge
+alone?'
+
+'It was about a wager,' said the old man, who looked greatly
+perturbed. 'The Count intends to drive over Stag's Hill.'
+
+'Over that steep hill, just after a heavy downfall of snow? That must
+mean danger.'
+
+'Yes; so most of the other gentlemen declared; but my master laughed
+at their fears. He said he would bet that by taking that road he
+should reach the rendezvous a good quarter of an hour before the rest
+of the party. It was of no use to remonstrate or retreat. Even
+Fraeulein Hedwig tried in vain. The wager stands. If only he had any
+other horses to manage than those unruly black beasts....'
+
+'By whose orders were those restive animals put to my cousin's sledge
+to-day? He generally drives the grays.'
+
+'It was done by the Count's own order. He came down before breakfast
+to give the grooms their instructions.'
+
+'And the man? Why was he left behind?'
+
+'Also by the Count's directions. He said he wanted no attendant.'
+
+Oswald said not another word. He left the old man standing where he
+was, and without further consideration or delay hurried across to his
+aunt's apartments. The Countess still watched at the window, though
+the cortege had long disappeared from sight. She knew nothing of the
+scene that had taken place that morning in her son's room; yet she
+seemed to have some foreboding sense, some vague dread upon her, for
+her hands were folded in mute anguish, and the face she turned towards
+the new-comer was perfectly ashy in its extreme pallor.
+
+She started violently as Oswald came in thus, unexpected and
+unannounced. For the first time since he had left his old home at
+Ettersberg they met alone, and face to face.
+
+On the preceding evening and that morning they had seen each other
+only in the presence of strangers, and their intercourse had been
+limited to a few formal words of greeting. The Countess looked for no
+mercy from the man whom she estimated as her bitterest enemy, and who
+certainly had ample cause to be so.
+
+Though by an impulse of generosity he had parted with the weapon which
+would have proved most dangerous, its strength was known to him, and
+the knowledge gave him power enough over his aunt. But it was not this
+lady's habit to show herself weak, save only where her son was
+concerned, and now she at once roused her energies, and assumed a
+resolute attitude of defence. She stood cold and immovable, determined
+not to yield an inch, prepared for anything that might come.
+
+But no syllable of that she feared and expected came from Oswald's
+lips. He only approached her quickly, and said, in a low and eager
+voice:
+
+'What has happened to Edmund?'
+
+'To Edmund? I do not understand you.'
+
+'He is frightfully changed. Something must have occurred since I left.
+There is some trouble on his mind which harasses him, and at times
+seems almost to shake his reason. I thought at first I had guessed the
+cause of it, but I find now I was utterly mistaken. What has happened,
+aunt?'
+
+Not a word passed the mother's set lips. Better than anyone she knew
+the piteous change which had come over her son, but to this man she
+could not, would not, confess it.
+
+'Forgive me if I put a painful question,' went on Oswald. 'We have to
+fear, to guard against the worst; in such a case, all other
+considerations vanish. Before I left, I gave into your brother's
+charge a small packet. I told him expressly that it was to be
+delivered to you alone, that Edmund was not to know its contents. Can
+it be that, in spite of this ... can he have learned----'
+
+He paused, unable to frame his question, and the marked agitation
+displayed by one usually so cold and self-possessed revealed to the
+Countess the true nature of the danger of which hitherto she had had
+but a dim foreboding. She gazed anxiously into Oswald's face, and in
+lieu of making answer, asked:
+
+'Why did Edmund start alone? What was the meaning of that last look,
+that farewell gesture? You know it, Oswald.'
+
+'I know nothing, but I fear the worst after the scene which took place
+between us this morning. Edmund has made a mad wager. He means to
+drive over Stag's Hill on such a day as this. By his express
+directions, the most unmanageable horses in the stables have been put
+to his sledge, and the groom has been left behind. You see, it is a
+question of life or death, and I must know the truth. Is Edmund
+acquainted with the contents of that packet?'
+
+A faintly articulated 'Yes' was the reply wrung from the Countess's
+panting breast. With this one word she confessed all, gave herself
+over completely into the hands of her nephew; but at the moment no
+sense of this occurred to her. Her son's life was at stake. What cared
+the mother for her own ruin or shame?
+
+'Good God! Then he has planned some terrible deed,' exclaimed Oswald.
+'Now I see, I understand it all.'
+
+The Countess uttered a shriek, as a full comprehension of that last
+farewell dawned suddenly on her also.
+
+'I must go after him,' said Oswald, with quick determination, pulling
+the bell as he spoke. 'There is not a moment to lose.'
+
+'I ... I will accompany you,' gasped the Countess, advancing a step;
+but she staggered and would have fallen, had not her nephew caught and
+supported her.
+
+'Impossible, aunt. You could not bear it. Besides, all the sledges
+are out. There is not one at our disposal, and we could not get
+through the snow with a carriage. I will mount a horse and ride after
+him--ride for dear life. That is the one chance left us.'
+
+He turned to Everard, who at that moment entered the room.
+
+'Have the English chestnut saddled. Be as quick as possible. I must
+follow the Count at once.'
+
+The old man withdrew hastily. He saw that an effort was to be made to
+avert some danger from his young master.
+
+Oswald went up to the Countess, who sat trembling and pale as ashes,
+and essayed to reassure her.
+
+'Try to be calm. Nothing is lost as yet. The chestnut is one of the
+swiftest horses in the stables, and if I take the road by Neuenfeld, I
+shall cut off a third of the distance. I must come up with Edmund.'
+
+'And when you do come up with him!' cried the Countess despairingly.
+'He will not listen to you any more than to me or to his affianced
+wife.'
+
+'He will listen to me,' said Oswald, with profound emphasis; 'for I
+alone can put an end to the conflict raging within him. Had I this
+morning known the real situation, things would not have reached this
+pass. We have been friends from our earliest childhood. That must
+count. You will see, we shall win through this trouble yet. Courage,
+aunt. I will bring your son back to you.'
+
+The young man's brave, resolute tone was not without its influence on
+the tortured mother. She clung to the hope held out to her, clung to
+the once dreaded, hated Oswald as to a last anchor of salvation. Not a
+word could she utter, but the look she cast up at him was so
+suppliant, so heart-rending, that Oswald, deeply moved, clasped her
+hand in his. In their anxiety about the one being they loved with
+almost equal fervour, the long-cherished enmity died out, the hatred
+and rancour of years were buried.
+
+Oswald took the half-fainting lady in his arms, and gently placed her
+in an arm-chair--then he hurried out. The hope of achieving a rescue
+gave him courage and confidence; but to the mother who remained
+behind, the weight of anguish, the cruel suspense, proved well-nigh
+crushing. She knew but too well what had driven her son to his death;
+and this terrible consciousness, now brought home to her, put the last
+stroke to the torture of the past few weeks. Baron Heideck was right.
+The unhappy woman's punishment was greater even than her offence had
+been.
+
+Everard had urged the grooms to the utmost alacrity. The horse was
+being led round as Oswald emerged from the castle. He swung himself
+into the saddle and galloped off.
+
+It might safely be assumed that Edmund would choose the highroad. The
+way by Neuenfeld, though considerably shorter, ran for the most part
+through the forest, and was so narrow and uneven that it would have
+been hardly practicable with a sledge. To a horseman it offered no
+great difficulties, and the chestnut was, indeed, incomparably swift
+of pace. Its hoofs hardly touched the ground where the snow lay
+thick, but not so deep as to prove an obstacle. So the good steed
+pressed on through the woods all gaunt and rigid with frost and ice,
+through a village which lay, as it were, still sleeping in its winter
+shroud--onwards, onwards, with the speed of a bird, yet all too slowly
+for the craving impatience of him who rode.
+
+There was not a doubt in Oswald's mind that some desperate deed was in
+contemplation, a deed it might yet be in his power to prevent. There
+must be some issue to this terrible situation. If Oswald raised no
+accusation, asserted no claim, none else had a right to do so. The
+world might be left in ignorance, as it had been heretofore. The two
+most nearly concerned might clasp hands and swear that the house of
+Ettersberg should henceforth boast two sons. Yet through all these
+plans and sanguine meditations came the remembrance of the evening
+which preceded Oswald's departure, the remembrance of Edmund's words
+still vibrating in his cousin's ears:
+
+'I could not live with the knowledge of a secret shame. My conscience
+must be clear, and I must stand before the world with an unsullied
+brow.'
+
+The path now issued into the highroad, where a free open view of the
+country round was to be had. Oswald drew rein a moment, and gazed
+about him searchingly--but in vain. He saw nothing but a broad, white
+expanse of plain, at some distance the dark firs on Stag's Hill
+standing out in sombre relief, and beyond them the lowering mists of
+an overcast winter forenoon.
+
+All around was desolate; not a living creature was to be seen. The
+hope of barring Edmund's passage proved illusory. He must have passed
+long since. The track of his sledge was distinctly visible on the
+freshly-fallen snow.
+
+Now for the first time Oswald's brave assurance threatened to desert
+him--he would not hearken to the sad presentiments which besieged him,
+but gave rein to his horse, and rode fleetly on until he reached the
+foot of the hill, and the ascending path before him brought him to a
+footpace.
+
+Stag's Hill, though not very high, was excessively steep, and was
+esteemed an awkward bit of road, which, as a rule, drivers gladly
+avoided. To climb and descend in safety certainly required prudence.
+It was necessary to have the carriage well under control, to be sure
+of the horses, when this route was chosen. In wintertime the steep
+incline, covered with a sheet of snow and ice, was positively
+perilous, as Oswald soon found. More than once his horse stumbled, and
+but for his vigilance would have fallen. Happily, he was both a
+skilful and a prudent rider, and his accomplishment now stood him in
+good stead; but with every minute that elapsed, with every bend in the
+road which opened out fresh lengths without revealing the object of
+his search, his anxiety increased, waxed keener and keener. He urged
+on his horse with whip and spurs, granting neither to the animal nor
+to himself a moment's respite. One thought alone possessed his mind:
+'I must find him!'
+
+And he found him. With a snort and a last strong pull the horse now
+reached the summit, and trotted on a few minutes over the even ground.
+On the opposite side of this plateau the road declined again sharply.
+The track of the sledge was still visible, but about a hundred paces
+further on, just at the most precipitous part, the snow was ploughed
+up and much betrodden, as by the hoofs of rearing, plunging horses.
+The low hedge which bordered the road was broken through, torn down;
+the young firs on the hill-side  were bent and broken as though a
+hurricane had passed over them, and in the depths below lay a dark,
+inert mass, sledge and horses, all together, borne down to a common
+destruction, dashed to pieces in that dizzy, dreadful fall.
+
+At this sight Oswald forgot his caution. Reckless of the imminent
+peril to himself, he spurred his horse down the road at full speed.
+When he reached the valley below, he sprang from the saddle, and at
+once plunged into the ravine.
+
+There he saw the shattered sledge, the horses lying, one beneath, one
+above--and at a little distance from these--Edmund, stretched
+motionless upon the ground. He had been flung from his seat in the
+fall--this and the snow, which here in the valley had drifted thick
+and deep, had preserved him from being absolutely mangled and
+mutilated; but the rocky ground had nevertheless wrought cruel
+injury, as was abundantly proved by the blood which streamed from a
+scalp-wound, reddening the white snow in a great circle about his
+head.
+
+Oswald threw himself on his knees by his cousin's side, and strove to
+stanch the blood, to recall the unconscious man to life. At first, all
+his efforts were in vain, but after long minutes of weary watching and
+agonized suspense, Edmund opened his eyes. Their dull veiled look
+seemed, however, to lack all recognition. Slowly only, and by degrees,
+at the sound of Oswald's voice, as he put his anxious questions, did
+full consciousness return to the sufferer.
+
+'Oswald,' he said, very softly, and his tone was the old loving tone
+he had ever been wont to use towards the friend of his youth. All the
+bitterness, the wild frenzied agitation of the last few hours, had
+died out from those pain-stricken but calm features.
+
+'Edmund, why had you not confidence in me?' burst forth Oswald. 'Why
+have I only just heard of your trouble--of the trouble which drove you
+to this? I have ridden after you in all mad haste, but I come too
+late, too late perhaps by a very few minutes.'
+
+Edmund's half-dimmed eyes gained life and fire again as he turned them
+towards the speaker.
+
+'You know?'
+
+'All!'
+
+'Then you understand all,' said Edmund faintly. 'To have to lie to
+you, not to be able to meet your eye, that was the hardest trial I
+have had to bear. Now it is past. Today, this very day, you will be
+Master of Ettersberg.'
+
+'At the cost of your life!' cried Oswald, in despair. 'I have known
+the secret long. That fatal picture had passed through my hands before
+you saw it. I kept it from you almost by force, for I knew that the
+sight of it would kill you. And it has been all in vain--the whole
+sacrifice has been in vain! One frank, outspoken word between us, this
+morning, and everything might have been settled and made smooth.'
+
+Edmund replied with a sorrowful negative gesture.
+
+'No, Oswald; that could never have been. I could not have borne the
+perpetual lie of such a life. I have tried for weeks, for months. You
+do not know what I have endured since the fearful hour of that
+discovery. Now all is well. You will enter upon your own, and my
+mother's name will remain unstained. It was the only way, the one
+solution!'
+
+Oswald held the dying man in his arms. He saw that the time for help
+was past. It was impossible to stanch the blood, impossible to stay
+the fleeting life. He could but stoop to catch the last words from the
+lips which were about to close for ever.
+
+'My mother--tell her. I _could_ not have borne it. Farewell!'
+
+Edmund's voice died away. His beautiful dark eyes grew dim with the
+shadow of Death; but a few minutes more, and Oswald was kneeling on
+the snow-clad earth by a dead man's side. He pressed his lips on the
+cold, calm brow, and murmured to now unheeding ears the despairing cry
+of his heart:
+
+'My God! my God! Must this be the end? Was there no other way--no
+other way?'
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+Twice the swallows had come and gone since the grave had closed on
+Edmund von Ettersberg. Now for the third time they arrived, bearing
+Spring upon their pinions; and as, after all the icy frost and snow of
+winter, the earth blossomed forth in newborn splendour, so the dark
+shadow of that grave, watered by many tears, was lightened, and from
+it there emerged a fair vision of human hope and happiness.
+
+The death of young Count Ettersberg had caused the greatest
+consternation, and awakened general sympathy in the neighbourhood.
+
+This universal mourning was due as much to Edmund's personal
+characteristics, which had endeared him to all, as to the frightful
+circumstances of his death. So young, so beautiful, rich and
+happy--his wedding-day so near! And for a mere mad frolic's sake, for
+a rash, senseless wager, to perish miserably, to be torn from his
+mother and his betrothed, without even seeing them or hearing their
+last farewell. It was a terrible fate!
+
+How bright, how exuberantly gay the young Count had been the very
+morning on which the catastrophe befell! The darker, more secret
+sequence of events, none suspected. Edmund had gained his end. His
+mother remained spotless as before, and the rightful heir entered into
+possession of his own.
+
+Many changes had been effected on the Ettersberg estates during the
+past two years. The present owner, Count Oswald, who on his cousin's
+death had succeeded to the title and the property took a serious view
+of the duties of his new position. Rarely indeed comes such a change
+in the life of a man as had come to him--a change so precipitate, so
+unexpected. Oswald, who had been bred in dependence and subordination,
+who, even when he shook off the fetters of that dependence, went forth
+to meet a life of care, of grave unflagging work, suddenly found
+himself transformed into the head of the house, the owner of wealthy
+family estates. His legal career was at an end before it had fairly
+begun. There was no failure of gratitude towards the friend in the
+great city who, in his need, had given him fatherly protection and
+assistance. Their relations continued excellent and affectionate as
+before; but, of course, a return to that sphere, to the life
+previously planned out for him, was not now to be thought of.
+
+Other and greater tasks devolved upon Oswald, and he gave himself up
+to them with all the thoroughness and energy pertaining to his
+character. His strong hand grasped the helm in time to rescue the
+long-neglected estates from the ruin which seemed imminent. Gradually
+but surely he raised the value of the property until it reached its
+former zenith.
+
+With but few exceptions, the reigning officials were superseded, and
+the system of administration underwent a complete change, while the
+large sums of money which in the old days had been called in to
+support the castle household on a lordly scale were now devoted to the
+restoration and improvement of the estates.
+
+The new Master of Ettersberg led a solitary and retired life, and
+seemed at present in no way minded to select a companion or bring home
+a bride. This circumstance caused some wonderment in the neighbouring
+circles.
+
+It was freely said that the Count, now in his nine-and-twentieth year,
+might think of marrying, ought to think of it, seeing that he was the
+last and only scion of the Ettersberg race. Plans were laid, and
+efforts were not spared to secure so brilliant a _parti_, but hitherto
+without avail.
+
+Similar schemes and expectations were formed with regard to Brunneck.
+The hand of the young heiress was again disengaged, though at first a
+certain delicacy of feeling forbade would-be suitors to take advantage
+of the fact. Genuine and universal as had been the sympathy felt for
+Hedwig, it was considered inadmissible that this girl of eighteen
+should pass her life in sorrowing for the lover who had been taken
+from her; and many pretensions and desires, which that engagement had
+blighted, came to the front again.
+
+They were, however, again doomed to disappointment, for Hedwig, by a
+decided step, withdrew herself from all possible overtures.
+
+Before the period of mourning was over, she left Brunneck to accompany
+Edmund's mother on a visit to Italy. The Countess's health had quite
+given way beneath the shock of her son's death, and in spite of the
+most skilled advice, her malady made such serious progress that the
+doctors in consultation gave no hope save in a lengthened stay in the
+South.
+
+It was thought an act of self-sacrifice on Fraeulein Ruestow's part to
+leave her home, and even her father, that she might accompany the
+invalid--the good neighbours who thus judged being quite ignorant of
+the fact that Hedwig was longing to escape, to place the barrier of
+distance between herself and hopes which seemed to her an offence
+against the dead.
+
+The two ladies had been absent almost a year and a half. In vain had
+the Councillor remonstrated and made impatient supplication for his
+daughter's return; his prayers found no favourable hearing. Hedwig had
+always given as a pretext the Countess's continued illness, declaring
+that she neither could nor would leave her in so piteous a condition.
+But now, at length, the travellers were at home once more. Ruestow, who
+had gone some stages on the road to meet them, brought his daughter
+straight back to Brunneck, whilst the Countess proceeded to Schoenfeld,
+where, since Edmund's death, she had taken up her residence.
+
+On the second day after the ladies' return, the Councillor was sitting
+as usual with his cousin in the veranda-parlour. He was full of
+delight at having his daughter with him again, and never weary of
+looking at her after their long separation. He declared that she had
+grown much more lovely, more sensible, more charming in every way, and
+the expression of his fatherly pride culminated in a solemn
+announcement that never again would he part with his darling as long
+as he lived.
+
+For once his cousin actually agreed with him, admitting the
+improvement visible in Hedwig; but at these last words she shook her
+head and replied, with a certain meaning emphasis:
+
+'You should not speak so decidedly, Erich. Who knows how long you will
+enjoy exclusive possession of Hedwig! That may be disputed you even
+here at Brunneck.'
+
+'I shall not allow it,' interrupted Ruestow. 'I have no doubt that the
+Countess would like to have her over at Schoenfeld for weeks at a
+stretch, but she will not have her way in this. I have been deprived
+of my child's society long enough, and mean to take a stand on my
+rights at last.'
+
+'Count Ettersberg was at the station, I suppose, when you arrived with
+the travellers the day before yesterday?' said the lady.
+
+'Certainly. It was very considerate, very proper of him to come
+himself to receive his aunt and take her over to Schoenfeld. He was
+glad, too, to see Hedwig, and say a word of welcome to her on her
+return; but this, of course, was secondary.'
+
+'Of course, quite secondary!' murmured Aunt Lina softly, but with an
+ironical twitch of the lips.
+
+'The Count was not on particularly good terms with his aunt in the old
+days,' said Ruestow, turning to his cousin; 'but ever since her great
+misfortune he has shown her much kindness and attention. Indeed, I see
+a considerable alteration in that young man. He can even be pleasant
+and affable in his manners now, and as concerns his management of the
+Ettersberg property----'
+
+'Yes, we are aware that he is an agricultural genius,' put in Aunt
+Lina. 'You discovered his talents in that line years ago, you know,
+when no one guessed that he was the future owner and Master of
+Ettersberg.'
+
+'It would have been an unpardonable mistake if Fate had ordained that
+that man should be a lawyer,' said the Councillor solemnly. 'It always
+gratifies me when I remember what a clearance he made directly the
+reins fell into his hands, how quickly he put a stop to the old
+routine of reckless waste and mismanagement. He struck hard and struck
+home. In less than three months all the old worthless lumber had been
+thrown out. The parasites, which for years had clung to the good tree,
+sapping its strength, were destroyed. And how the man set to work when
+it came to ordering a new system! My spirit of enterprise is not
+small, but I believe I must yield the palm to him. I never should have
+imagined that in so short a time the estates could have been so raised
+in value. I ought to feel some annoyance, for hitherto Brunneck has
+passed for the model establishment of this part of the country, and
+now I suppose Ettersberg will be disputing its claim to the first
+rank.'
+
+'And to a good many other things, I fancy. But you will take it all
+very patiently and quietly, Erich, for Count Oswald has always been a
+declared favourite of yours.'
+
+'So he has, but I admit one great fault in him.
+
+He will not marry. The whole neighbourhood is full of it. I shall take
+him to task seriously on the subject.'
+
+'Do nothing of the sort,' said Aunt Lina. 'Interference is quite
+unnecessary, especially from you.'
+
+Ruestow did not catch the hidden meaning of her words. He took them as
+expressing distrust in his skill and diplomacy, and was much offended
+in consequence.
+
+'You think that where marriage is concerned, nobody but a woman has a
+right to speak. I will show you that I know what I am about. Count
+Oswald sets great store by my opinion.'
+
+'I have not a doubt of it, on this subject more than on any other. I
+am convinced even that he will not marry without previously seeking
+your consent and approbation. You need not put yourself in a passion,
+Erich. I mean what I say--and there! why, there is the Count's
+carriage just turning into the courtyard. I knew very well he would be
+over here to-day.'
+
+'How could you know that?' asked Ruestow, still angry at her supposed
+sarcasm. 'You have taken no interest whatever in my new steam-engine.'
+
+'What steam-engine?'
+
+'A new and most practical invention which I had down from town a
+little while ago. You were indifferent as usual. It failed to rouse
+your interest, but the Count, to whom I was explaining all the details
+when we met at the station the other day, is burning with desire to
+examine it.'
+
+The old lady seemed to have her own ideas on the subject of this
+punctuality and burning zeal. She shrugged her shoulders
+significantly, as the Councillor hurried eagerly away to receive his
+visitor, in whose company he returned a few minutes later.
+
+No striking change had taken place in Oswald's outward appearance, yet
+it produced an impression quite different from that of former days.
+With the pressure of untoward circumstances, with the fruitless,
+constant struggle against a galling chain, the bitterness of spirit
+had disappeared which once threatened to gain complete dominion over
+his proud and sensitive nature. Freedom and a new sense of personal
+importance had given him fuller development. The harsh expression had
+vanished from his features, the former coldness and abruptness from
+his speech and demeanour. He was not indeed possessed of that frank
+charm of manner with which Edmund had conquered all hearts, but his
+grave superior calm, his simple and yet imposing mien, showed that the
+present owner of Ettersberg was better fitted to rule and to command
+than his deceased cousin ever could have been. The Count, on this
+occasion, came of course solely and entirely to see the famous
+steam-engine, and to judge by a certain perturbed restlessness which
+he sought in vain to conceal, his interest in the useful invention
+must have been of an intense and all-absorbing character. Yet he
+listened with rather an absent air to the Councillor's florid
+description of his new treasure, and kept his eyes fixed on the door.
+He appeared to be momentarily expecting something, or some one; at
+length his patience gave way, and, turning to Aunt Lina, he observed
+in the most innocent and natural tone in the world:
+
+'Fraeulein Hedwig is out in the park, I suppose. I fancied I caught
+sight of her as I drove through.'
+
+The old lady cast at him a glance which plainly said, 'If you had
+fancied that, you would not be herewith us now;' but aloud she
+replied, with an innocent simplicity equal to his own:
+
+'I think you are mistaken. Count. My niece, I regret to say, has gone
+out to take a walk, probably to revisit some of the favourite old
+haunts which she has not yet seen since she came home.'
+
+'Her favourite haunts!' The hint was sufficient for Count Oswald. He
+suddenly discovered that he had very little time at his disposal, and
+was bound to return to Ettersberg with all speed, but this availed him
+little. Ruestow took it as a fresh compliment to the steam-engine that,
+notwithstanding the urgent calls upon his time, his guest had come
+over to inspect and admire it. Inexorably he dragged him forth.
+
+Oswald had to listen long to all the detailed explanations of this
+enthusiastic farmer, though in his impatience the ground on which he
+stood seemed to scorch his feet. At length he succeeded in getting
+free, and leaving the Councillor with a hurried good-bye, jumped into
+the carriage, which was waiting for him, and drove away.
+
+Ruestow returned to the house a little put out at the unusual shortness
+and hasty nature of the visit vouchsafed him.
+
+'There was nothing to be done with the Count to-day,' he said to his
+cousin. 'He seemed quite absent in his manner, and hardly looked at
+the engine, after all. Now he is rushing back to Ettersberg like the
+wind. It really was not worth while to come so far for such a flying
+visit.'
+
+'It was too bad of you to torment him in that way,' remarked Aunt
+Lina, with sly malice. 'A full quarter of an hour you kept him
+standing there by your tiresome old steam-engine! He did not come to
+see that, bless you! and he is not driving back to Ettersberg now--not
+a bit of it, no more than I am!'
+
+'Where in the world is he, then?' asked Ruestow, who was so overcome by
+these assertions that he overlooked the insulting word 'tiresome,'
+applied to his steam-engine.
+
+'Very probably he is not driving at all. I dare say he has sent his
+carriage on into the village, and is taking a walk in the woods, or on
+the hills, or somewhere about. How can I tell in what direction Hedwig
+may be strolling?'
+
+'Hedwig? What do you mean? You don't intend to say----'
+
+'I intend to say that Hedwig is destined to become Countess
+Ettersberg, and that this time nothing can or will prevent it--depend
+upon it, I am right.'
+
+'Lina, I really do believe you are going crazy,' exclaimed Ruestow.
+'Why, they never could endure each other! They have been separated now
+for more than a year. In fact, since Edmund's death, they have only
+met about half a dozen times at the Countess's house at Schoenfeld. It
+is impossible, absolutely impossible. This is just another of your
+foolish romantic notions.'
+
+'Well, wait until they both come back,' said Aunt Lina emphatically.
+'But in the meantime you may make up your mind to give the paternal
+benediction, for, rely upon it, it will be required of you. Count
+Oswald will hardly care to lose more time now, and certainly he has
+waited long enough. I think it was an overstrained feeling of delicacy
+on Hedwig's part which made her leave her home and father, just to
+prevent any earlier appeal from that quarter.'
+
+'What? That is why she went to Italy with the Countess?' cried Ruestow,
+falling, as it were, from the clouds, 'You don't mean to pretend that
+this fancy existed during Edmund's lifetime?'
+
+'This is no question of a mere fancy,' replied his cousin
+instructively; 'but of an ardent, unconquerable attachment which has,
+no doubt, cost them both much pain and many struggles. Hedwig, it is
+true, has never alluded to the subject by so much as a word. She has
+obstinately kept her confidence from me, but I could see how she was
+suffering, how hard it was to her to fulfil the promise which, without
+reflection, without full knowledge of her own heart, she had given to
+another. I do not doubt that she would have fulfilled it, but what the
+future consequences might have been both to herself and Oswald--that
+Heaven only knows!'
+
+The Councillor folded his hands and gazed at his cousin with an
+expression of profound respect.
+
+'And you found out all this by your own powers of observation? Lina,
+it strikes me that you are a wonderfully clever woman.'
+
+'Ah, you have discovered that at length, have you?' asked the old
+lady, with gleeful satisfaction. 'It is rather late in the day for you
+to begin to recognise my talents.'
+
+Ruestow made no reply, but his face literally beamed at the thought of
+having for a son-in-law his favourite, his genius--and in the joy of
+his heart he treated the speaker to a vigorous hug.
+
+'I will admit them all, Lina. I will admit anything you like,' he
+cried. 'But this affair can hardly be settled so quickly as you say.
+How can the Count have gone after Hedwig? He does not know where she
+is, any more than we do.'
+
+Aunt Lina escaped from his embrace, laughing.
+
+'Ah, that is his business! We will rack our brains no further. Lovers
+have extraordinary luck in these matters. They are gifted with a
+species of second-sight which is very useful. I do not suppose that
+Count Oswald knows exactly the spot where Hedwig is, or he would
+hardly have come on to Brunneck first; but find her he will, you may
+be sure, be she hidden away in the thickest wood or perched on the top
+of the highest mountain. They will come back together, you may take my
+word for it, Erich.'
+
+This prophecy, delivered with much deliberate confidence, was verified
+almost to the letter.
+
+Oswald had, indeed, driven down to the village, but he had then sent
+on the carriage and had hurried towards the hills on foot. The faculty
+of 'second-sight' must have been well developed in him, for without a
+moment's vacillation, doubt or delay, he struck into a path which led
+direct to a certain wooded hill-side. His pace grew more eager, more
+rapid, as he neared his goal, and when at length he reached it, the
+object of his search was found. He had guessed that Hedwig's first
+ramble after her return home would take her to that spot.
+
+Again the swallows came, in swift flight out of the far distance, back
+to their beloved woods, their old familiar haunts. With easy strokes
+they winged their way through the clear air, circling round tree and
+mountaintop, and then fluttering off in all directions to rejoice the
+whole countryside with their happy greetings, to be welcomed
+everywhere as the first messengers of spring.
+
+But this time the earth was not wrapt in slumber or swathed in mist.
+It had long since wakened from its winter sleep. Through the sunlit
+forest might be seen the delicate green tracery of budding leaves.
+Verdure lay on field and meadow, peeping up, breaking through every
+clod, and over earth and sky streamed a sea of golden light. The
+breath, the pulse of spring was everywhere--on all sides jubilant
+voices sounded, hailing the new life.
+
+So for the two human beings standing on that sunny height a true
+springtime had dawned. They had waited long for it, but now it had
+come to them in all its wealth and splendour. The words of love spoken
+here to-day must have been more ardent, more passionate, than those
+which three years before Hedwig had heard from other lips. Profoundly
+earnest they had certainly been. Oswald's face, as he bent over his
+betrothed, testified to this, as did the tears still glistening on
+Hedwig's lashes. Her dark-blue eyes had grown so deep in meaning, so
+full of soul and expression since they had learned to weep.
+
+'I have had to wait so long,' said Oswald, and a slight accent of
+reproach mingled with the passionate tenderness of his tone. 'So long,
+so long! For more than a year you have held aloof from me, and I was
+not permitted even to write to you. Sometimes I thought I was
+altogether forgotten.'
+
+Hedwig smiled, still through her tears.
+
+'No, Oswald; you have not thought that. You knew surely and well that
+I suffered from the necessary silence and separation to the full as
+much as you--but I felt I owed that time of silence to Edmund's memory
+and to his mother's grief. You saw her when we arrived, and the sight
+will have explained to you why I could not have the courage to be
+happy while living at her side.'
+
+'She is terribly changed, certainly. Her long sojourn in the South has
+brought about no real improvement, I fancy.'
+
+'A postponement, at most. I fear she has returned hither only to die.'
+
+'I knew that she would not survive the blow,' said Oswald. 'I feel so
+deeply what Edmund was to me, and how much more was he to his mother!'
+
+Hedwig shook her head slightly.
+
+'Sorrow one learns to bear, and it moderates with time, but the
+trouble that is gnawing at her heart has so sharp a tooth, it tortures
+and wastes her strength so constantly and cruelly, that I am sometimes
+tempted to think some other feeling must mingle with it--remorse,
+perhaps, or a sense of guilt!'
+
+Oswald was silent, but the cloud which settled on his brow was answer
+enough.
+
+'Before we started on our journey you made me promise that I would not
+distress the poor lady with questions,' the girl went on. 'I have kept
+my promise, and have never alluded to the doubts or the painful
+uncertainty which weigh on my mind. There is so much that is dark and
+enigmatic to me in all the circumstances connected with that terrible
+event. One thing only I divine, namely, that Edmund voluntarily sought
+his death. Why? To this hour the question has been left unanswered. It
+remains to me a mystery. There should be no secrets between us,
+Oswald. You must answer me now when I pray and entreat you to tell me
+the truth. I cannot, will not see that dark cloud upon your brow.'
+
+She could use the language of entreaty now, could beseech with all the
+intensity and power of love; and here she was sure of victory. Oswald
+clasped her more tightly in his arms.
+
+'No, my Hedwig, there must be nothing secret between us. All must be
+clear and open as day. But not now, and not here, can I disclose to
+you that sad story of guilt with all its fatal consequences. I cannot
+tell that story to my betrothed. When you are my wife, you shall hear
+what drove Edmund to his death, what is gradually, irresistibly
+drawing his mother after him to the grave. That dark shadow must not
+intervene to mar the brightness of this hour. So often have I dreamed
+of it, aye, dreamed from the moment your sweet face first dawned on me
+in the midst of that fierce snowstorm. You came to me, a spring-day
+personified, with all its promises of hope and happiness--though then,
+indeed, I could not, dare not hope those promises would ever be
+fulfilled.'
+
+Hedwig looked up at him. She had not quite forgotten her old arch,
+sunny smile. It played about her lips with all its own bewitching
+charm as she replied:
+
+'Why not? We met for the first time in a March storm, and here, on
+this very spot, when you were speaking so gloomily of life in general
+and of your own sad past, I proclaimed to you that Spring, bright
+happy Spring, would come at last.'
+
+As an echo to her words sounded the low murmured greeting of the
+swallows fluttering overhead, as they had fluttered on that former day
+in the thick drizzling mist. But now they winged their airy flight in
+full sunshine. Higher and higher they soared, until they disappeared
+in the illimitable azure of the sky. These small feathered messengers,
+which bring to the earth after its long winter sleep a promise of new
+light and life, came this time charged with a still fairer mission.
+They brought ease to longing hearts, rest after a cruel fight, a whole
+springtime of peace and happiness to two loving human beings.
+
+
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+
+
+
+                 BILLING & SONS. PRINTERS. GUILDFORD
+                                                 _G. C. & Co_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fickle Fortune, by
+Elisabeth Burstenbinder (AKA E. Werner)
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