"That we should be going to Vienna together?"
"No, no, I mean that we shall both--how shall I express it?--pa.s.s or end our lives yonder"--she gave a slight nod in the direction of the place from which they came.
"Very true, indeed!" answered Bertha, who had not yet considered whether there was anything really strange in the fact or not.
"Well, you, of course, knew it the moment you were married, but I--"
Frau Rupius gazed straight before her.
"So then your move to the little town," said Bertha, "did not take place until--until--"
She broke off in confusion.
"Yes, you know that, of course."
In saying this Frau Rupius looked Bertha full in the face as if reproaching her for her question. But when she continued to speak she smiled gently, as though her thoughts were not occupied by anything so sad.
"Yes, I never imagined that I should leave Vienna; my husband had his position as a government official, and indeed he would certainly have been able to remain longer there, in spite of his infirmity, had he not wanted to go away at once."
"He thought, perhaps, that the fresh air, the quiet--" began Bertha, and she at once perceived that she was not saying anything very sensible.
Nevertheless Anna answered her quite affably.
"Oh, no, neither rest nor climate could do him any good, but he thought that it would be better for both of us in every way. He was right, too--what should we have been able to do if we had remained in the city?"
Bertha felt that Anna was not telling her the whole story and she would have liked to beg her not to hesitate, but to open her whole heart to her. She knew, however, that she was not clever enough to express such a request in the right words. Then, as though Frau Rupius had guessed that Bertha was anxious to learn more, she quickly changed the subject of their conversation. She asked Bertha about her brother-in-law, the musical talent of her pupils, and her method of teaching; then she took up the novel again and left Bertha to herself.
Once she looked up from the book and said:
"You haven"t brought anything with you to read, then?"
"Oh, yes," answered Bertha.
She suddenly remembered that she had bought a newspaper; she took it up and turned over the pages a.s.siduously. The train drew near to Vienna.
Frau Rupius closed her book and put it in the travelling-bag. She looked at Bertha with a certain tenderness, as at a child who must soon be sent away alone to meet an uncertain destiny.
"Another quarter of an hour," she remarked; "and we shall be--well, I very nearly said, home."
Before them lay the town. On the far side of the river chimneys towered up aloft, rows of tall yellow painted houses stretched away into the distance, and steeples ascended skywards. Everything lay basking in the gentle sunlight of May.
Bertha"s heart throbbed. She experienced a sensation such as might come over a traveller returning after a long absence to a longed-for home, which had probably altered greatly in the meantime, and where surprises and mysteries of all kinds awaited him. At the moment when the train rolled into the station she seemed almost courageous in her own eyes.
Frau Rupius took a carriage, and they drove into the town. As they pa.s.sed the Ring, Bertha suddenly leaned out of the window and gazed after a young man whose figure and walk reminded her of Emil Lindbach. She wished that the young man would turn round, but she lost sight of him without his having done so.
The carriage stopped before a house in the Kohlmarkt. The two ladies got out and made their way to the third floor, where the dressmaker"s workroom was situated. While Frau Rupius tried on her new costume, Bertha had various materials displayed to her from which she made a choice. The a.s.sistant took her measure, and it was arranged that Bertha should call in a week"s time to be fitted. Frau Rupius came out from the adjoining room and recommended that particular care should be given to her friend"s order.
It seemed to Bertha that everybody was looking at her in a rather disparaging, almost compa.s.sionate manner, and, on looking at herself in the large pier gla.s.s she suddenly perceived that she was very tastelessly dressed. What on earth had put it into her head to attire herself on this occasion in the provincial Sunday-best, instead of in one of the simple plain dresses she usually wore? She grew crimson with shame. She had on a black and white striped foulard costume, which was three years out of date, so far as its cut was concerned, and a bright-coloured hat, trimmed with roses and turned up at an extravagant angle in front, which seemed to weigh heavily upon her dainty figure and made her appear almost ridiculous.
Then, as if her own conviction needed further confirmation by some word of consolation, Frau Rupius said, as they went down the stairs:
"You are looking lovely!"
They stood in the doorway.
"What shall be done now?" asked Frau Rupius. "What do you propose?"
"Will you then ... I ... I mean ..."
Bertha was quite frightened; she felt as though she was being turned adrift.
Frau Rupius looked at her with kindly commiseration.
"I think," she said, "that you are going to pay a visit to your cousin now, are you not? I suppose that you will be asked to stay to dinner."
"Agatha will be sure to invite me to dine with her."
"I will accompany you as far as your cousin"s, if you would like me to; then I will go to my brother and, if possible, I will call for you at three in the afternoon."
Together they walked through the most crowded streets of the central part of the town and looked at the shop windows. At first Bertha found the din somewhat confusing; afterwards, however, she found it more pleasant than otherwise. She gazed at the pa.s.sers-by and took great pleasure in watching the well-groomed men and smartly-attired ladies. Almost all the people seemed to be wearing new clothes, and it seemed to her they all looked much happier than the people at home.
Presently she stopped before the window of a picture-dealer"s shop and immediately her eyes fell on a familiar portrait; it was the same one of Emil Lindbach as had appeared in the ill.u.s.trated paper, Bertha was as delighted as if she had met an acquaintance.
"I know that man," she said to Frau Rupius.
"Whom?"
"That man there"--she pointed with her finger at the photograph--"what do you think? I used to attend the conservatoire at the same time he did!"
"Really?" said Frau Rupius.
Bertha looked at her and observed that she had not paid the slightest attention to the portrait, but was thinking of something else. Bertha, however, was glad of that, for it seemed to her that there had been too much warmth lurking in her voice.
All at once a gentle thrill of pride stirred within her at the thought that the man whose portrait hung there in the shop window had been in love with her in the days of his youth, and had kissed her. She walked on with a sensation of inward contentment. After a short time they reached her cousin"s house on the Riemerstra.s.se.
"So it"s settled then," she said; "you will call for me at three o"clock, won"t you?"
"Yes," replied Frau Rupius; "that is to say--but if I should be a little late, do not on any account wait for me at your cousin"s any longer than you want to. In any case, this much is settled: we will both be at the railway station at seven o"clock this evening. Good-bye for the present."
She shook hands with Bertha and hurried away.
Bertha gazed after her in surprise. Once more she felt forlorn, just as she had done in the train when Frau Rupius had read the novel.
Then she went up the two flights of stairs. She had not sent her cousin word as to her visit, and she was a little afraid that her arrival might be somewhat inopportune. She had not seen Agatha for many years, and they had exchanged letters only at very rare intervals.
Agatha received her without either surprise or cordiality, as though it was only the day before that they had seen each other for the last time.
A smile had been playing around Bertha"s lips--the smile of those who think that they are about to give some one else a surprise--she repressed it immediately.
"Well, you are not a very frequent visitor, I must say!" said Agatha, "and you never let us have a word from you."