CHAPTER XII
The event at the border-station, resulting in so serious an incident as the ranger's death, could not long remain unknown at Wilicza, where, as may be supposed, it caused great excitement. Nothing could have been more unwelcome to the Princess than this open and bloody conflict. Doctor Fabian and the steward were seized with consternation, and the subordinates, according as they sided with the master or with the Princess, ranged themselves in two opposite camps, and ardently took part for and against the parties concerned. One person alone was, in spite of its tragic termination, made happy by the startling occurrence. Assessor Hubert, as has already been mentioned, chanced to be staying at the steward's house at the time. He at once rose to the height of the situation. The necessary enquiry which followed brought him to the foreground, took him to the Castle in his official capacity, compelled Herr Nordeck to enter into personal communication with him–all things for which Hubert had long sighed, but for which he had hitherto sighed in vain.
Waldemar had informed him with all brevity that, driven by the necessity of self-defence, he had shot down the forester Osiecki, the latter having made a murderous assault upon his person. He had at the same time begged the official to take suitable measures for a clear notification of these circumstances to the authorities at L–, declaring himself ready to undergo any examination, and the representative of the L– police grew great in the sphere thus opened to his activity. He rushed with overwhelming zeal into the inquiry, the conduct of which devolved on him, and made the most wonderful preparations for its prosecution. Unfortunately, the result of all his efforts was small. He was naturally desirous, in the first place, to interrogate all the foresters employed on the station. As witnesses of the occurrence their evidence was of the greatest value; but next day the house was found empty and deserted. The men had preferred to evade any judicial intricacies by putting into execution a long cherished design and escaping in the night across the frontier. Their thorough knowledge of the country made it easy for them to effect their purpose, in spite of the sharp watch kept up on either side. They had doubtless joined the insurgent troops, with whose position they were well acquainted, and were thus beyond the reach of the law which, as personified in Assessor Hubert, stretched forth its arm so longingly after them. Hubert was inconsolable.
"They have gone!" said he to the steward, in a lamentable voice. "They have every one of them taken to their heels. There is not a single man of them left."
"I could have told you that beforehand," said Frank. "Under the circumstances, it was the best thing the fellows could do. Out yonder they are safe from an enquiry which might possibly have shown them up in their true light as accomplices."
"But I wanted to examine them," cried the Assessor, indignantly; "I wanted to take them all into custody."
"It was just on that account they preferred to make themselves scarce; and to be candid, I am glad it has happened so. It was always a danger to us to have that wild lot out on the frontier; now we are free from them without more disturbance. They will hardly come back again, so let them run. Herr Nordeck does not want much fuss made about the business."
"Herr Nordeck's wishes cannot be consulted in this case," declared Hubert, in his most solemn official tones. "He must incline before the majesty of the law, which demands the strictest enquiry, irrespective of persons. There can, of course, be no doubt as to his conduct on the occasion. He acted in self-defence, and only returned the ranger's fire. His declaration to this effect is corroborated by the coachman's evidence, by the foresters' flight, and by the general aspect of the case. He will merely be subjected to an examination or two, and then be absolved from all blame. But there are very different matters in question here. We have to do with an insurrection, with an undoubted conspiracy …"
The steward sprang to his feet. "For Heaven's sake, don't begin with that again!"
"With a conspiracy," repeated Hubert, paying no heed to the interruption. "Yes, Herr Frank, it was such–all the circumstances of the case tend to prove it."
"Nonsense!" cried the steward, shortly. "It was a revolt against their employer, a personal affair, and nothing else. Deeds of violence were the order of the day with Osiecki and his men, and the Princess closed her eyes to all their misdoings, because she and her orders were held in absolute respect. That rough set owned no authority but hers; and when Herr Nordeck tried to enlighten them and show them _he_ was master, they took to their rifles. Any other man in his place would have been lost, but his energy and presence of mind saved him. He shot down that rascal Osiecki without more ado, and his promptness had such an effect on the others that not one of them dared move a finger. The whole thing is as simple and clear as it can possibly be, and what there is in it to put you on the conspiracy track again, I can't conceive."
"And how do you account for Countess Morynska's presence there?" demanded the Assessor, with as much triumph as though he had convicted an accused person of some crime. "What was the Countess doing at the forester's station, which lies six miles from Rakowicz, and belongs to the Wilicza property? We know the part both she and the Princess have taken in the present movement. In this confounded country the women are the most dangerous of all. They know everything, manage everything; the whole political network of intrigues is woven by their hands, and Countess Morynska is her father's true daughter, her aunt's most proficient pupil. Her presence at the station is proof enough of a conspiracy, proof clear as day! She hates her cousin with all the fanaticism of her people; it was she, and she alone, who planned this murderous surprise. That was why she appeared so suddenly among them, in the midst of the tumult, as though she had risen from the ground; that was why she tried to tear the revolver from Herr Nordeck's hand when he levelled it at Osiecki. She urged and stimulated the ranger and his men on to attack their master. But this Waldemar does not do things by halves! Not only did he subdue the mutiny, but he took the arch-instigator into safe custody, and brought her away with him by force to Wilicza. In spite of her struggles and resistance, he dragged his treacherous cousin out from the midst of her partisans, lifted her into the sledge, and drove off as for the very life. Just imagine, during the whole journey he never once addressed her–not a syllable did they exchange; but he never loosed his hold on her hand for an instant. He was determined to frustrate any attempt at flight. I am fully informed of it all. I have examined the coachman minutely on the subject …"
"Yes, you were examining him for three mortal hours, until the poor fellow lost his head, and said yes to everything," interrupted the steward. "From his post outside the window he could not make out all the details of what was passing. He could only see an angry crowd, in the midst of which stood his master and Countess Morynska. Then came the two shots, and by his own confession he at once rushed off to his horse in the greatest alarm. You put all the rest in his mouth. Herr Nordeck's deposition is the only reliable one."
The Assessor looked greatly offended. He felt very much inclined to assume all the dignity of his office as representative of the L– police, whose proceedings were thus lightly esteemed and criticised in his; but he bethought himself in time that it was his father-in-law elect who was taking the liberty of setting him right, and such things must be tolerated and passed over, in consideration of their future close relationship. It was a sad pity, though, that the steward should not feel a more becoming respect for his son-in-law's infallible instinct in all official matters! Hubert gulped down his annoyance and only replied, in rather an irritated tone–
"Herr Nordeck is giving himself sovereign airs as usual. He vouchsafed me the information in as laconic a manner as possible; he would enter into no particulars, and refused point-blank when I expressed a wish to put some questions to Countess Morynska, alleging as a pretext that his cousin was unwell. Then he takes upon himself to give orders and make arrangements, exactly as if I were not there; and behaves as though no one but he had a word to say in the business. He would hush it up altogether if he could. 'Herr Nordeck,' said I to him, 'you are completely in error in regarding this occurrence merely as an explosion of private hatred. The question lies far deeper. _I_ can see through it. It was a planned and premeditated insurrection, a prematurely developed conspiracy, directed against you, no doubt, in the first instance, but which had far wider aims in view. It was a conspiracy against order, against law, against the Government. We must sift this matter thoroughly; we must take all necessary measures.' What do you think he replied? 'Herr Assessor, you are completely in error in attributing the importance of a State conspiracy to an ill–conditioned fellow's violent assault on me. There is no end to be gained by your enquiry, now that all the men concerned have taken flight; and in the utter failure of traitors and conspirators you would be obliged to fall back on Dr. Fabian and myself, as happened to you on a previous occasion. It is in your own interest, therefore, that I must beg of you to moderate your zeal. I have provided you with the necessary material for your reports to L–. As to any disturbance of law or order here at Wilicza, you need feel no anxiety on that score. I imagine that I alone should be equal to any emergency which might arise.' With that he made me a cold majestic bow, and turned on his heel."
The steward laughed. "He has got that from his mother. I know the style. Princess Baratowska has often nearly driven me wild with it. No just anger, no consciousness of being in the right will avail a man against that grand, calm way of theirs. It is a peculiar form of superiority, which is imposing in spite of everything, and in which Prince Leo, for instance, is altogether deficient. He allows his hasty temper to get the better of him continually. It is only the elder son who has inherited this trait; at such times one might fancy his mother herself was there before one, though he is little enough like her in a general way. But Herr Nordeck is right in this. Moderate your zeal. It has brought you into trouble once already."
"Such is my fate," said the Assessor, resignedly. "With the noblest aims, with unwearying devotion, and the most ardent zeal for the welfare of the State, I earn nothing but ingratitude, misconstruction, and neglect. I persist in my opinion. It was a conspiracy. I had unearthed one at last, and now it slips through my fingers. Osiecki is dead, his men have fled, no confession can be extracted from Countess Morynska. If only I had gone over to the station yesterday! This morning I found it empty. It is my destiny ever to arrive too late!"
The steward cleared his throat in a marked manner. He thought he would take advantage of Hubert's elegiac humour to bring the conversation round to the subject of his wooing, and then and there roundly to declare to him that he must entertain no hopes of winning his daughter's hand. Gretchen had not thought better of it, but had persisted in her refusal; and her father was about to crush the poor lover with this afflicting disclosure, when Waldemar's coachman–the same who had driven his master and Countess Morynska on the preceding day, and who since then had been a victim to the Assessor's constant cross-examinations–entered the room with a message from Herr Nordeck.
It was all over now with Hubert's resignation, all over too with his attention for other things. He forgot past misconstruction and neglect; remembering only that he had several most important questions to put to the coachman, he dragged that unfortunate witness, in spite of all Frank's protests, up with him to his own room, there to proceed with the examination with renewed vigour.
The steward shook his head. He himself began now to incline to the opinion that there was something morbid about the Assessor's mind; it dawned upon him that his daughter might, after all, not be so far wrong in refusing this suitor whose furious official zeal was so hard to moderate, and whose fixed ideas on the subject of general and all-pervading conspiracies were proof against all argument.
Just at this moment, however, Gretchen happened to be following the Assessor's example. She too was cross-questioning, and that in a very thorough and businesslike manner, the person who was closeted with her in the parlour, and who was no other than our old friend, Dr. Fabian. He had been obliged to report in detail all that he had heard from Herr Nordeck of yesterday's event. Unfortunately he had little more news to tell than what was already current in the steward's house. Waldemar had told the Doctor what he had told every one else; confining himself to the bare facts of the case, and maintaining an absolute silence with regard to much that was interesting–with regard, for instance, to the part Countess Morynska had played in the drama. This, however, was precisely the point which Gretchen Frank desired to have cleared up. Hubert's assertion that the young Countess hated her cousin, that she had even planned the surprise at the forester's house, did not quite approve itself to her mind. With true womanly instinct, she divined some far different and secretly existing relation between the two, and she grew very cross on finding that no more accurate information was to be obtained.
"You don't understand how to use your influence, Doctor," said she, reproachfully. "If I were Herr Nordeck's friend and confidant, I should have rather a better knowledge of his affairs. He would have to come and confess the most trifling thing to me. I should have trained him to it from the first."
The Doctor smiled a little. "You would hardly have succeeded in that. It is not so easy to train a nature such as Waldemar's in any particular course, and communicative you certainly never could have made him. He never feels the need of speaking his thoughts, of unburthening his mind to another person. Trouble and gladness alike he keeps to himself. Those about him see nothing of it, and one must know him long and intimately, as I have known him, to find out that he is capable of any deep emotion."
"Naturally enough–he has no heart," said Gretchen, who was always very ready with her judgments. "One can see that at a glance. He chills the room directly he comes into it, and I begin to shiver whenever he speaks to me. All Wilicza has learned to fear, but not a single creature to love him; and in spite of the friendliness and the consideration he has shown us, he is just as great a stranger even to my father as on the day of his arrival. I am convinced he has never loved any human being–certainly no woman. He is perfectly heartless."
"Pardon me, Fräulein,"–Fabian grew quite hot as he answered her–"you do him great injustice there. He has heart enough, more than you fancy; more perhaps than that fiery, passionate young Prince Baratowski. But Waldemar does not know how, perhaps does not wish, to show it. Even as a boy I noticed this trait in him, this close, persistent reserve; for years I strove in vain to overcome it, until a chance occurrence, a danger threatening me, all at once broke the ice between us. From that hour I learned to know Waldemar as he really is."
"Well, amiable he is not, that is certain," decided Gretchen. "I can't understand how you can be so tenderly attached to him. You were almost distracted yesterday when you heard of the peril he had passed through, and something must have happened up at the Castle again to-day, for you are quite cross and excited. I saw it directly you came in. Come, confess to me at once. Is Herr Nordeck menaced by any fresh trouble?"
"No, no," said the Doctor, hastily. "It has nothing to do with Waldemar–this matter concerns myself alone. It has excited me a little, certainly; but as to being cross–oh no, I certainly am not that, Fräulein. I have had news from J– this morning."
"Has that scientific and historic monster, Professor Schwarz, been annoying you again?" asked the young lady, with as warlike a demeanour as though she were ready to throw down the glove and do battle with that celebrated man on the spot.
Fabian shook his head. "I fear it is I who am to bring annoyance on him this time, though I may truly say, in a manner altogether independent of my will. You know that it was my 'History of Teutonism' which was the original ground of contest between him and Professor Weber. This contest has grown hotter and hotter, until at last it has passed all bounds. Schwarz, with his hasty temper, irritated too by the importance they attached to my book, allowed himself to be so far carried away as to stoop to personal invective and to unwarrantable rudeness towards his colleague; and, when the whole University declared itself on Weber's side, he threatened to send in his resignation. He only meant, by so doing, to show them how indispensable he was–he never seriously thought of leaving J–; but his harsh, imperious manners have made him many enemies among the leading personages there. In short, no attempt was made to detain him, and what he merely intended as a threat was accepted as an accomplished fact. He had no choice but to persist in the resolution he had so publicly avowed. It is decided now that he is to leave the University."
"A very good tiling for the University," said Gretchen, drily; "but I do really believe you are capable of worrying yourself with remorse about the business. It would be just like you."
"That is not all," said Fabian, in a low, hesitating voice. "There is some talk of–of my taking his place. Professor Weber writes me word that they intend offering me the chair which has become vacant–offering it to me, a simple private scholar, who can boast of no academic usefulness, whose only merit lies in his book, the first he has published! It is something so unusual, so astounding, that at first I positively could not believe it. I really could not get over my surprise, my utter amazement."
Gretchen showed no amazement; she seemed to think it the most natural thing that could have happened. "Well, they have shown themselves very sensible," said she. "You are a man of much higher mark than Professor Schwarz. Your book is far superior to anything he ever wrote; and when you are once seated in his professorial chair, he will soon find his fame obscured."
"But, Fräulein, you don't know the Professor; you have not read his works," put in the Doctor, timidly.
"Never mind, I know you," declared the girl, rising superior to argument. "Of course you mean to accept the nomination?"
Fabian looked down, and some seconds passed before he answered–
"I hardly think so. Honourable as the distinction is to me, I do not venture to avail myself of it, for I fear I should not be equal to so important and prominent a post. The long years I have spent in retirement, in solitude over my books, have unfitted me for public life, and have made me quite incapable of meeting all those social calls upon me which such a position would entail. Finally–and this is the principal reason of all–I could not leave Waldemar, especially now when troubles are coming in upon him on all sides. I am the only person with whom he can be said to be on intimate terms, whose society he would miss. It would be the height of ingratitude on my part, if for the sake of some outward advantages ...."
"It would be the height of selfishness on Herr Nordeck's part, if he were to accept such a sacrifice," interrupted Gretchen. "Luckily, he is sure not to do so; he will never consent to your abandoning for his sake a career which must seem to you to comprise every earthly happiness."
"To me?" repeated the Doctor, sadly. "No, there you are mistaken. I have ever sought and found all my pleasure in study, and I looked upon it as a special favour from Providence when, in the pupil who at one time stood so coldly aloof from me, a true and faithful friend grew up. That which is called earthly happiness–a home, a family–I have never known, and am not likely now to learn. At this moment, when such undreamt-of success has come to me, it would be sheer presumption to covet that also. I can well afford to be satisfied with that which has fallen to my lot."
In spite of his resignation, the words sounded sorrowful enough; but his young listener was apparently not moved to pity. Her lip curled disdainfully.
"You are of a singular nature, Doctor. I should be in despair if I had to take so gloomy a view of life, to renounce all its bright side."
The Doctor smiled sadly. "All, with you it is very different. One who is young and attractive as you are, who has grown up in free and happy circumstances, has a right to expect–to demand all good things from life. May they be granted you in fullest measure! It is my earnest, my heartfelt wish; but, indeed, there can be no doubt of it. Assessor Hubert loves you."
"What has Assessor Hubert to do with my happiness?" flashed out Gretchen. "You alluded to this once before. What do you mean by it?"
Fabian was seized with dire confusion.
"I beg you to forgive me, if I have been indiscreet," he stammered. "I know that the circumstance is not made generally known at present; but the deep, the sincere interest I take in you must be my excuse, if I …"
"If you what?" cried the girl, vehemently. "I do believe you seriously take me to be engaged to that stupid, tiresome Hubert, who talks of nothing the whole day long, but of conspiracies, and of his future grand Counsellorship."
"But, Fräulein," said Fabian, in utmost perplexity, "the Assessor himself told me last autumn that he had good grounds for his hopes, and that he could reckon with all confidence on your consent."
Gretchen sprang up with a bound which sent her chair flying backwards.
"There, it is out at last! But it is your fault, Doctor Fabian, your fault entirely. Don't look at me with that astonished, frightened face. It was you who misguided me into sending the Assessor to Janowo, where he caught his cold. For fear of his falling ill in earnest, I took charge of the patient myself. Ever since that time the fixed idea has rooted itself in his mind that I am in love with him, and when once he gets a fixed idea there is no curing him of it. You can see that by the nonsense he is always talking about plots."
She was almost crying with vexation; but the Doctor's face grew absolutely radiant at sight of this unfeigned indignation.
"You do not love the Assessor?" he asked. "You do not intend to bestow your hand on him?"
"I will bestow a lesson on him such as he never had before, and send him about his business," the young lady replied energetically, and would have launched out into strong and injurious speech against poor Hubert, had she not just then met the Doctor's gaze. At this she turned crimson and was dumb.
A rather long pause ensued. Fabian was evidently striving to fortify himself in some resolution from which his timidity shrank abashed. Several times he tried to speak, but in vain. His eyes, however, told his tale so plainly that Gretchen could be in no doubt as to what was impending. On this occasion it did not occur to her to beat a retreat, or to fly to the piano and perform on it until the strings snapped, as she had been pleased to do when the Assessor had attempted to give vent to his feelings. She sat down again, and waited for what was coming.
After a while the Doctor drew nearer, but shyly still, and with an anxious face.
"Fräulein," he began, "I did indeed believe–that is, I supposed–the Assessor's strong attachment …"
Here he came to a stop, remembering that it was highly unpractical to talk of the Assessor's strong attachment when it was rather of his own that he wished to speak. Gretchen saw that he was getting hopelessly involved–that it would be necessary for her to come to his assistance, if he were to be extricated from the labyrinth. She merely cast one glance at her timorous suitor; but if his eyes had been explicit previously, it was evident that hers were no less eloquent. The Doctor took courage all at once, and went on with astounding courage.
"The mistake has made me very unhappy. Yesterday I should not have dared to confess it to you, though the trouble has weighed cruelly on my heart. How could I, who was altogether dependent on Waldemar's generosity, dare to approach you with any such words? But this morning has brought about a change. The future which is now offered for my acceptance has in it prosperity enough to enable me, at least, to speak of my feelings without presumption. Fräulein Margaret, you reproached me just now with my too pliant nature, with my tendency to give up weakly, without a struggle. If you knew how renunciation has ever been my lot, you would take back your words. I have gone through life lonely and uncared for. My youth was dreary and joyless. I had to impose upon myself the greatest privations in order to continue my studies, and I gained nothing by them but a weary dependence on other people's caprices, or on their good feeling. Believe me, it is hard, after the most earnest endeavours, with elevated aims and a glowing enthusiasm for science at one's heart, to have to instruct boys day by day in the very rudiments of learning, to descend to the level of their intelligence; and this I had to do long, very long–until Waldemar enabled me to live for study alone, and so opened to me the career which now offers itself. It is true that I meant to make the sacrifice of it. I would have concealed my nomination from him; but at that time I looked on you as the betrothed of another man. Now"–he had taken possession of the girl's hand; shyness and embarrassment were things of the past; now that the floodgates were fairly opened the words came freely enough from his lips–"the future seems to promise me much. Whether it has happiness in store for me as well is for you alone to decide. Say, shall I accept or refuse, Margaret?"
He had now reached the point at which the Assessor had chosen to make his great dramatic pause, preparatory to falling on his knees, but had missed his effect, in consequence of the object of his adoration taking flight at the critical moment. The Doctor did not attempt to kneel; he even skilfully avoided that fatal pause, saying what he had to say without hesitation or difficulty, while Gretchen sat before him with downcast eyes, listening with infinite satisfaction; so that in a very short time the offer was made, accepted, and even ratified by an embrace, all going smoothly as a marriage bell.
Herr Assessor Hubert came downstairs. Having brought to an end his long and minute examination of the coachman, which had left both him and his victim in a state of semi-exhaustion, he determined to seek relaxation from the strain of his official duties by giving free play to the tenderer emotions of his heart. Poor Hubert! He had said that it was his fate always to arrive too late. As yet, however, he little dreamed how thoroughly his words would that day be verified. His departure had been fixed for that afternoon; but, before leaving, he had made up his mind to come to some clear understanding on the subject of his suit. He would not set out on his journey without obtaining a definite and favourable answer. In the glow of this valiant resolve he opened the door of the anteroom so energetically, and with so much noise, that the lovers in the adjoining parlour had time to settle themselves in a perfectly innocent and unsuspicious attitude. Gretchen was discovered sitting quietly at the window, while the Doctor stood near her, close to the piano, which, to the newcomer's great relief, was closed to-day.
Hubert nodded condescendingly to Fabian. There was always something patronising in his manner towards the Doctor, who, in his eyes, was only an old tutor possessed of no importance but such as he borrowed from his connection with Wilicza. To-day, with this business of his love-making on hand, the man was actually in his way, and he gave himself no trouble to hide it.
"I am sorry to disturb you. Practising French, I suppose?"
The tone was so nonchalant, so exactly that which he would have used to a paid teacher, that even the Doctor's good-humour was not proof against it. He had never hitherto found courage to show displeasure at the behaviour Hubert had thought proper to adopt towards him, but to-day it wounded him severely in his new dignity of an accepted lover. He drew himself up, and said with an assured bearing which aroused in Gretchen the liveliest satisfaction–
"No, you are wrong. We were practising a very different science."
The Assessor remarked nothing unusual; he was busy thinking how he could most speedily get rid of this troublesome person.
"Ah, historical, no doubt!" said he, maliciously. "That is your hobby, I think. Unfortunately it is hardly one suited to the taste of young ladies. You will weary Fräulein Margaret, Doctor Fabian."
The Doctor was about to answer, but Gretchen forestalled him. She considered it was high time to put a damper on the Assessor, and set herself to the task with infinite enjoyment.
"You will have to give the Doctor another title soon," said she, with great emphasis. "He is on the point of accepting a professorship at J–, which has been offered him on account of his extraordinary literary and scientific merit."
"What–what?" cried the Assessor, startled, but with an expression of extreme incredulity. He could not believe in this sudden transformation of the neglected Fabian into a University Professor.