CHAPTER XXVI.

A CONSPIRACY.

What a story was this! To Egon, Storting's narrative seemed like some wild romance. Herr von Osternau and Fritzchen, the bright, intelligent little fellow, dead, Frau von Osternau the victim of a scoundrel's crime, and Lieschen forced to work hard to stave off dest.i.tution! He could hardly trust his ears, and it needed the sight of Storting's sad, earnest face, as he spoke, to confirm his words.

Egon's mind was filled with the eager desire to aid those to whom during the past few years his heart had so often turned,--those who, as he was now painfully aware, had formed part of every vision of his future life. He had resisted all impulse to revisit Castle Osternau; only when his new existence was fairly and honestly begun at Plagnitz could he hope to find there the pardon for which he thirsted for the deceit practised upon its inmates. And now this could never be, and the thought that he was possessed of superfluous wealth, while those dear to him were working for their daily bread, was positively intolerable.

He sprang up, but the instant and intense pain in his head reminded him that the physician had forbidden all exertion for some days, and that he could not hasten as he longed to Lieschen's side, to shield her from all further distress. He sank back wearily in his arm-chair.

"Confound that miserable accident!" he said, angrily. "It keeps me a prisoner here when every moment is precious. Frau von Osternau must not live a day longer in such unsuitable circ.u.mstances. Storting, you must do me a favour to-morrow,--no, to-day. By the night-train you must go to Berlin. I cannot go myself, as you see, and perhaps it is better that you, Frau von Osternau's old friend, should act for me. I will give you an order on our bank. You must draw any sum necessary to provide handsomely for Frau von Osternau, and to prevent Fraulein Lieschen from taking the place of a hired servant. I will not allow it; it shall not be. Make haste, Storting! I will write to our cashier and get the order ready for you while you are preparing to set off. You must be in Berlin to-morrow."

Storting smiled, but shook his head.

"Your kind and generous intention does you honour, Herr von Ernau," he said, cordially, "but I fear it will be of no avail. My journey to Berlin, where, according to her last letter, I should no longer find Frau von Osternau, would be of no use even were the lady still there.

She would thank you for your generosity, but would refuse to accept your money, as she has already refused the offers of help made her by Herr von Sastrow and others of her relatives. 'As long as I can work, we are not objects of charity,' I myself heard Fraulein Lieschen say, while her head was held as haughtily and her eyes sparkled as brightly as in the dear old times. She will work to the last, but she never will suffer her mother to receive aid from outsiders."

What had Egon been thinking of to propose to offer money to Frau von Osternau? Storting's words convinced him that Lieschen would indeed refuse such a gift. It was well that his wound had prevented his immediate departure for Berlin. How mortified he should have been to have his thoughtless gift rejected with fitting pride! And yet he could not endure the thought of Lieschen--in his heart he almost said his Lieschen--forced to labour for her daily bread, to resign her freedom and place herself at the beck and call of strangers. Oh, it was intolerable! What could he do? A happy idea suddenly suggested itself.

"Did you not once tell me, Storting," he asked, "that old Herr von Osternau had lost large sums of money through his careless generosity?

was there not some story of a manufacturer in Breslau whose factory burned down, and to whom Herr von Osternau loaned a very considerable amount of money without sufficient security, and lost it all by the man's absconding?"

"Yes, that did really happen. The swindler was a paper-manufacturer by the name of Simon; he ran off to America ten years ago, and Herr von Osternau lost every penny of the twenty thousand thalers he loaned him."

"Now, perhaps the poor fellow was no swindler at all. Probably only extreme need drove him to America, and so soon as he is aware of the circ.u.mstances in which Frau von Osternau and her daughter are placed he feels it his duty to restore, both princ.i.p.al and interest, the loan so generously made him. As he does not know Frau von Osternau's present place of abode, he naturally makes application to Herr Storting, whom he knew formerly as the admirable Osternau inspector, and to him he sends the owing money, commissioning him to hand it over to the heirs of the late Herr von Osternau. Of course Herr Simon will require from these heirs a receipt for the sum handed them, and a quittance of all further claims. You must not be surprised, Storting, to receive a communication from Herr Simon this very evening, with an order upon the firm of A. C. Ernau & Co., in Berlin, for the sum in question; and of course I shall give you leave of absence for some time that you may arrange the matter satisfactorily. I am sure you will not refuse to undertake the affair, Storting."

"What can I say, Herr von Ernau," cried the delighted Storting, "except that I am honoured in being the instrument of such generosity?"

"After all, there is really not much honour, my dear fellow, in being made accomplice in a forgery. But we must contrive to answer all that to our consciences. Go now and get ready to start. In an hour you shall receive Herr Simon's letter. You will be obliged to suppress the envelope, which may not bear the correct stamp."

"No need even of that, for I received a letter from New Orleans yesterday, and its envelope will serve your purpose admirably. It followed me to Plagnitz from my former place of abode, and will explain my desire to leave here as soon as possible: of course I am in a hurry to hand over her property to Frau von Osternau."

"Bravo! and now to business."

Two hours later Storting was on his way to the nearest railway-station, with a letter from Carl Johann Simon, New Orleans, Louisiana, U. S. A., and an order upon the banking-house of A. C. Ernau & Co., Berlin, in his pocket.

CHAPTER XXVII.

A MISCHIEVOUS COQUETTE.

The morning after Storting's departure, Egon received a visit from the vivacious little Ostrowko doctor, who declared that he could not be responsible for the consequences if his patient persisted in neglecting his instructions. "I distinctly told you, my dear Herr von Ernau, that rest was all that you required, that rest you must have, and what has been your course? Instead of remaining where you certainly were very well off, and with a charming _chatelaine_ to attend to your every wish, you jolt off over here, along an infernal road, a few hours after I leave you, and, I make no doubt, purpose to inspect your estate to-day. Not at all, not at all, my dear Herr von Ernau. You have had a shock to your system. Great as was your escape, 'tis no joke falling from the Dombrowker Pa.s.s, and you must be quiet. You've a fine library here, and a magnificent grand piano: sit still, read some trashy romance, and play Offenbach for the next week, and leave your estate in the hands of your admirable inspector,--Storting is his name? What! he has gone to Berlin for a time? Well, the younger fellow--I forget his name--is quite competent, with old Sieveking to direct. I am going to see that, now we have got you here at Plagnitz, we keep you from any ill effects of your accident, or you'll be saying that the climate does not agree with you, and you'll be running off to Berlin. Aha! I know you young fellows. I was young myself not a hundred years ago."

And he rattled on, until he had indeed fully convinced his patient that rest was an admirable remedy for many ailments.

Egon was doomed, then, to a time of inaction, and this just when he was most eager to enter upon the supervision of his affairs. Still, there might be much to interest him in these first days at home, and he resigned himself with the best grace that he could to refrain from riding, driving, or any long walks for a while, according to the doctor's orders.

The degree of order and method which prevailed everywhere at Plagnitz delighted him, and no less was he pleased, when he sauntered through the fields in the immediate vicinity of the manor-house, with the kindly courtesy of those of his people whom he met, and who greeted the master without a trace of that slavish servility so frequently to be found in the Polish-German provinces, and so odious to Egon.

Day-labourers and grooms took off their hats to him, but did not, half kneeling, offer to kiss his hand, as is the invariable custom elsewhere; nor were they at all embarra.s.sed in the intelligent replies which they made to his inquiries concerning their various occupations.

To the master's great satisfaction, he perceived that there pervaded Plagnitz an air of freshness and freedom beyond what was enjoyed upon most other large estates of the province; the people were treated like human beings, not like slaves, and, in consequence, manifested an interest and vivacity almost unknown to the ordinary imbruted Polish labourer. Here old Sieveking's influence had been admirable, and all that Egon had thought lacking upon his previous visit to Plagnitz had been largely supplied by Storting's diligence and experience.

A young man presented himself as the bailiff, Hensel, and modestly asked permission to show Herr von Ernau through the farm-buildings and to give him any desired information concerning them. When Egon accepted his offer, he showed himself so intelligent and well informed in all matters pertaining to his special province, that the master of Plagnitz was even more than ever impressed with the faithful care taken of his estate during his absence by old Sieveking, who, although he could not entirely fulfil the requirements of a disciple of the modern school of agriculture, had yet prepared an excellent foundation for the new methods which Egon hoped to introduce with Storting's a.s.sistance.

Even the slight inspection which he thus made, on the first day of his residence in his home, was condemned by the little doctor on his next visit. He declared that for a week at least nothing in the way of out-of-door exercise must be attempted. "As much fresh air as you please, my dear Herr von Ernau, but taken by an open window, or seated on your terrace, whence the prospect should surely content you for a while."

This enforced repose was particularly irritating to Egon just at the present time. The delicious weather lured him into the open air; he was feverishly desirous of beginning the work for which he had been preparing for four long years, and to sit quietly gazing abroad over his fields and meadows, at the groups of labourers, among whom he longed to be, was almost intolerable.

If Storting had only been at home he could have conversed with him. But he was entirely alone; old Sieveking was too ill and feeble to be disturbed, and young Hensel, although excellent in his way, was entirely unavailable for purposes of conversation that did not bear upon his vocation.

His only consolation during these wearisome days was the fine grand piano which he had had sent to Plagnitz from Berlin. During his years of study he had rather neglected his music, and he now found in it all the delight it had formerly given him. His feverish restlessness was soothed by giving it musical expression; as of old, he was able to forget himself in the world of harmony.

He was seated thus at his instrument, on the fourth afternoon after his arrival at Plagnitz; the last chords of a wild rhapsody had just died away, and his fingers were wandering over the keys in a dreamy fantasia, half memory, half hope. Lost in his fancies, he did not hear a footman announce an arrival, or the sound of footsteps in the room behind him. He suddenly seemed aware of a soft sigh near him; he turned hastily and gazed into a pair of dark eyes. At first he saw Bertha only; but she was not alone, behind her stood w.a.n.gen and Clara.

"If the mountain will not come to us, we must come to the mountain,"

w.a.n.gen said, with a laugh, holding out his hand. "You must not think us too eager to thrust ourselves upon you, Herr von Ernau, in coming thus soon to see how the patient is faring, since the doctor tells us that he may receive visits, although he can pay none."

Involuntarily Egon pa.s.sed his hand across his eyes, as if to banish the vision of the moment. Yes, this was reality. Here was no Bertha von Ma.s.senburg, but Frau von w.a.n.gen, with her husband, and the charming child with whom he had exchanged a few words at Linau; and he was the lord of Plagnitz, whose duty it was to welcome his guests and pray pardon for having at first been unaware of their entrance.

Hugo von w.a.n.gen laughed in his good-humoured way. "We stood behind you listening for a minute," he said. "I do not think anything short of an earthquake would have aroused you when we first came in, you were so absorbed. We ought to ask pardon for disturbing you. My wife would not let me come alone, as I thought of doing. She was too anxious, she said, to see how the patient was getting on."

What was there for Egon to do but to express his grat.i.tude to madame, and to kiss the fair hand extended to him, while declaring his pleasure in welcoming beneath his roof both Frau and Fraulein von w.a.n.gen?

These formalities concluded, the visitors took seats, and a very lively talk ensued. Bertha was positively charming; she dwelt just long enough upon her anxiety lest the drive from Linau should have proved too much for Herr von Ernau, and was so easy and cordial that she banished all feeling of restraint from the conversation, which soon turned to Herr von w.a.n.gen's favourite theme, agriculture. All the party regretted Egon's inability to act as their guide in an inspection of so famous an estate as Plagnitz, which w.a.n.gen had never before visited. In especial was he desirous to see a certain wonderful breed of sheep. Of course, Egon proposed that his bailiff, Herr Hensel, should act as his guest's cicerone in default of his own companionship, and w.a.n.gen eagerly accepted the proposal, after consulting his wife by a glance.

Herr Hensel was summoned, and was much honoured by the office intrusted to him. He asked whether the ladies also might not perhaps be interested in the sheepstalls, which were constructed upon an entirely new plan. Frau von w.a.n.gen declined to accompany her husband, but Clara gladly arose to go with her brother and Herr Hensel: she took all a country girl's interest in sheep and cows.

w.a.n.gen seemed a little disconcerted by this arrangement; he was in his heart reluctant to leave his wife alone to the fascinations of her old admirer. He could not possibly let this be known, however,--Bertha would have laughed at his foolish jealousy. Nevertheless, he felt far from comfortable when Bertha added her approval of Clara's intention, saying, "Do go, my dear Clara, and take note of all the improvements, which we may be able to introduce at Linau." He could not, without making himself ridiculous, insist upon Clara's staying behind; she was already hanging upon his arm, and he quietly followed Herr Hensel.

For the first time in his life Egon was alone with Bertha. Even at Castle Osternau they had never met except in the presence of some member of the family, and there was a vague sense in his mind of wrong done to his ideal by this _tete-a-tete_, although he had done nothing to bring it about; it was purely accidental. In fact, the young man's mind had been, during the past four days, so continually filled with thoughts of Lieschen, he had so constantly recalled her every look and word of former years, the restlessness that possessed him had been so largely caused by his anxiety to hear from Storting, and had been so much more keenly felt since he was forbidden to allay it by physical exertion or hard mental effort, that he was not as open as it was his wont to be to the impression of the moment; it cost him some pains to prevent his imagination from driving present realities from his mind.

Therefore, for some time after they were thus left alone, the conversation was of a quite indifferent character; and yet how exquisitely lovely she was as she sat opposite him, with a gentle smile hovering upon her charming mouth! How sweet and tender was her voice as, at last, after a pause, she leaned towards him, her eyes seeking and holding his, and asked, softly, "Herr von Ernau, are you still angry with me?"

Honestly, Egon did not understand why she should ever have thought him angry, and honestly he rejoined, "Why should I be angry with you, madame?"

She blushed slightly as she said, sadly, "Ah, yes, I see you are still angry. You persist in dwelling upon the past, although I begged you to forget it. Yet can we forget? I cannot practise what I would enjoin upon you. The consciousness of the wrong I did you has robbed me of rest since I last saw you. I long to hear you say that you forgive me.

I came to-day with Herr von w.a.n.gen, hoping for this opportunity, which accident has given me, to entreat you not to add to all that is hard and cruel in my lot by withholding your forgiveness for the past.

Believe me, I have suffered in listening to the dictates of prudence, rather than to the voice of my heart."

She would have gone on, quite charmed with her own eloquence, absolutely fancying herself thrown away upon her idolizing husband, playing a part which had presented itself as most attractive to the shallow imaginings of her idle hours, but that something in Egon's face arrested the words upon her lips; she paused and waited for his reply.

In truth, while she had been speaking, Egon's thoughts had been hardly such as it would have pleased her to divine. Yes, she was incomparably lovely; he saw it all,--the dark, pleading glance, the wonderful grace of every movement; but how, he was asking himself, had he ever thought it possible to find his other self in this woman? How well he had known her kind in days gone by! Fate had been only too good to her in bringing her the devotion of so honest and single-hearted a man as Hugo von w.a.n.gen. He had surrounded her life with luxury and affection, and she had neither the heart to return his love, nor the mind to appreciate it. How false, how shallow she was! And his memory conjured up another face and another voice. 'There is nothing which I so detest as false words and false seeming.' His mind wandered from the present for an instant; but Bertha was silent, he must answer her, and, little fitted as he felt himself to play the part of a moralist, the thought of w.a.n.gen, so cordial in his kindness to his new neighbour, lent an additional coolness to his words:

"I a.s.sure you, madame, that I never imagined that I had the smallest right to feel myself in any way aggrieved by your conduct. All who know Hugo von w.a.n.gen can well understand how happy a woman she must be upon whom he bestows the treasure of his devotion. Let me repeat your kind advice to me when first I met you at Linau: Forget the past; we have to do with the present and the future."

The expression of Bertha's face as he spoke was not pleasant to see; the pathetic lines about her mouth vanished, her eyes lost their gentle, pleading look. The change was so sudden that it rather disconcerted Egon, who was immensely relieved by hearing footsteps in the corridor and by the rather hurried entrance of Clara, eager to tell her sister-in-law of all she had lost in not joining Hugo and herself.

The girl was followed immediately by her brother, whose first glance, always for his wife, took note of her embarra.s.sment, and then sought Egon's face, where also, he thought, he discerned signs of confusion.

All his jealous suspicions, vague as they were, and therefore all the more tormenting, sprang to life. He tried his best to follow the lead of his host and talk with interest of the Plagnitz cattle and the various improvements in stalls and stables. It was of no use; conversation would no longer run in easy grooves, and all were rather glad than otherwise when the time for the departure of the guests arrived.

When their carriage was announced, Egon would have escorted them to it, but this w.a.n.gen would in no wise permit. The doctor had expressly told him, he said, that Herr von Ernau must avoid all exertion for a while and keep his room. Bertha added her words to his to prevent their host's accompanying them down into the hall, and even Clara sagely observed that if Herr von Ernau were not careful he never would be able to come to Linau shortly as he had promised.