"Ask your son, Herr Baron," Sorr replied; "he will confirm my words."
"Herr von Sorr speaks but the truth, father; it is my duty to attest this. Frau von Sorr has seen fit to undertake to fill the position of Celia"s governess under a feigned name. I had, of course, no idea of this when I engaged her through Frau von Adelung. I learned her true name only lately and by chance, and I felt it my duty to acquaint Herr von Sorr with her place of abode."
When the first shock of his surprise had pa.s.sed, the old Freiherr looked from Werner to Sorr and from Sorr to Werner in a kind of fury.
He had no suspicion as to the truth of Sorr"s story; he remembered that, by Count Styrum"s desire, no allusion was ever made to Fraulein Muller"s past; there could be no doubt that Anna was Sorr"s unfortunate wife, forced by a sad fate to fly from her husband. What the Freiherr did doubt, what, indeed, utterly discredited, was the man"s a.s.sertion of an altered course of life. One glance at his bloated features, at his watery, crimson-lidded eyes, proclaimed the fact that Sorr was deeply plunged in debauchery and drunkenness. This man had never aroused himself to a life of honest toil. It was no affection for his wife that impelled him to seek her out.
The Freiherr"s mind was filled with vague suspicion as to the man"s motives, suspicion that attached in a degree also to Werner, to whose last words he sharply rejoined, saying,--
"So you have been playing the spy here that you might betray the poor thing"s confidence?"
"As Frau von Sorr never honoured me with her confidence I could not possibly betray it," Werner replied coolly to his father"s reproach.
"When I saw how great was her husband"s misery, and how sincere his resolution to amend, I judged it my duty to acquaint him with his wife"s retreat."
"I owe the Finanzrath an eternal debt of grat.i.tude for bringing me hither," Sorr interposed, "and for promising to set the crown upon his kindness by doing all that lies in his power to induce my beloved Lucie to fulfil the duty that she owes to an unfortunate husband."
The Finanzrath bit his lip. Sorr"s words reminded him, as they were meant to do, of the promise he had made the Russian to do all that lay in his power to further his schemes. The part a.s.signed him here was odious enough, but the fear inspired by the Russian"s threats conquered his distaste for it. He had gone too far to retrace his steps, and he therefore replied to Sorr, "I will certainly keep my word, although I think there will be little need of any influence of mine. Frau von Sorr, I feel a.s.sured, will willingly follow you; but should she refuse to do so, my father will surely not sustain her in such a departure from her duty. Castle Hohenwald cannot possibly be an asylum for a wife who has deserted her husband in misfortune and refuses to return to him."
As Werner spoke these words he did not look up; he did not dare to meet his father"s eyes, and therefore he did not see the contempt that shone in them as the Freiherr turned from his son to Sorr and said, sharply, "What you ask of me, then, Herr von Sorr, is that I shall force this unhappy woman to return to you. Is this so? Speak out, sir; I want a candid reply."
"Your words sound harsh, Herr Baron," was Sorr"s humble reply. "I never thought of force, but only that you would place no obstacle in the way of an unfortunate man who only seeks to maintain his rights. I have made an expensive journey hither from Munich in the confident hope that it needed only an interview with my dear Lucie to induce her to take her place once more beside me as my faithful wife whom I dearly love and will never forsake. Surely the last sad months have atoned for my wrong-doing. I have a right to demand that she should follow me when I solemnly a.s.sure her that I have broken off all connection with Repuin.
She is my wife before G.o.d and man, and what G.o.d hath joined let not man put asunder. You certainly, Herr Baron, would never protect a wife against the claims of a husband."
The Freiherr did not immediately reply. This Herr von Sorr inspired him with a disgust which his evident and nauseous hypocrisy only served to increase, and yet he could not but admit to himself that the man"s claim, as he represented it, was a just one.
He rang the silver hand-bell upon his table and said to Franz, who immediately made his appearance, "Beg Fraulein Muller kindly to come to me as soon as she can."
Then, turning to Sorr, he said, "I will not listen to another word from you until I hear the other side of the question. I reserve my decision until then. Not until I have spoken to Fraulein Anna,--I always call her so, and I have grown very fond of her under this name,--and until she has confirmed your statement, will I accord it full belief."
"I am convinced, Herr Baron----"
"Not another word, Herr von Sorr! I will keep my judgment unbia.s.sed.
You shall be confronted with the accused after I have first spoken with her alone."
"I have accused no one but myself, Herr Baron."
"I attach no importance to that; it shall be as I say. I will hear what Fraulein Anna has to say; I will talk with her alone,--she shall not be influenced by the presence of any one. I am sure that she will tell me the whole truth."
This arrangement was not at all satisfactory to Sorr. He feared that Lucie might tell the Freiherr of his conversation with her on the evening preceding her flight, and so destroy his web of specious falsehood. He would at least make an attempt to prevent this. "I entreat you, Herr Baron, to permit me to repeat in Lucie"s presence what I have told you. It wounds me that you should doubt my words.
Lucie"s testimony shall prove to you that I----"
The Freiherr harshly interrupted him, "I will not hear another word. It shall be as I say! Werner, take Herr von Sorr out upon the terrace; you can walk up and down there until I call you; I wish to be alone."
"But, Herr Baron----"
"What the devil, sir,--will you do as I say or not? I am still master in my own castle, I believe, and I will not be contradicted; I wish to be alone. Your place for the present is out there on the terrace. If you refuse to obey my orders, the servants will show you the shortest way out of the castle."
When the old Baron fell into a downright rage there was nothing to be done with him, as Werner knew, and as Sorr perceived; he did not dare further to gainsay his will, and, with a low bow, he followed the Finanzrath out upon the terrace.
The Freiherr sat alone, awaiting with the greatest impatience Anna"s appearance; but the minutes pa.s.sed and she did not come, nor did old Franz return to explain the reason why. The Freiherr rang his bell again, and Werner and Sorr, who had been awaiting this summons, instantly entered from the terrace.
The Freiherr received them with a good round oath. "I was ringing for that old a.s.s Franz!" he roared out to Werner. "Stay outside on the terrace with your Herr von Sorr until I call you by name!"
The two men were obliged to withdraw. The Freiherr rang his bell a second and a third time without any result, until at the end of a good half-hour Franz appeared, with the intelligence that Fraulein Muller was nowhere to be found. She was not in her room; Fraulein Celia said that the Fraulein had gone for a walk in the garden or park; but he had searched for her there in vain, and the gardener had helped him, and was sure she could not be either in the park or in the garden.
CHAPTER XVIII.
"Oh, my darling, darling Anna, how can I thank you?" Celia laughed and cried and kissed her friend amid tears and smiles, dancing about her room like some wild sprite.
"Come, Celia; pray be reasonable, child!" Lucie at last admonished her.
"Anything but that, dearest Anna, you must not ask that; I am half mad with delight. My dear, good old father! How unjust I have been to him!
How could I keep anything from him? It was shameful! oh, if I only had told him all about it the very first day when I met Kurt!"
Lucie said nothing; but she had her own opinion as to whether the result would have been a very happy one for Celia if she had told her father of her first meeting with Kurt. The girl went on pouring her innocent delight into Lucie"s ears, and repeating that she owed it all to her darling Anna.
The castle clock struck four.
"At last!" Celia exclaimed, and begged Lucie to make the greatest haste, lest Kurt should have to wait. Her friend complied; it would have been cruel to detain the girl longer than was necessary to hasten along the broad road, down which Celia had so often galloped upon Pluto to the appointed spot.
They soon espied the light straw hat, and an instant afterward Kurt hurried towards them.
"I have fulfilled your wish, Herr von Poseneck," Lucie said, offering her hand to the young man.
"How can I thank you sufficiently for so doing! for relinquishing your purpose of referring my request to the Freiherr von Hohenwald----"
"No, no, dearest Kurt!" exclaimed Celia. "She did not relinquish it.
Yes, you may well be surprised, you unprincipled fellow, who would have persuaded me to meet you again without the knowledge of my darling, kind old father. But, oh, Kurt, we are so happy, and Anna has done it all!" And the girl, amid tears and laughter, told her amazed lover of the success of Anna"s exertions in his favour.
In his joy that there was no longer an insurmountable barrier between himself and his love, Kurt gladly promised to obey every condition imposed upon him by the Freiherr, declaring that never would he write so much as one word to his darling except under cover to her father.
When Lucie had explained to him all that she had promised in this way on his behalf she took no further part in the conversation, wandering along the gra.s.sy path a little in advance of the lovers, anxious that Celia should enjoy to the full every moment of this short hour of bliss, and lost in sad reflections as to her own future.
"I beg ten thousand pardons!"
Kurt and Celia, who had forgotten all the actual world, and Lucie, in the midst of her sad dreaming, looked up startled. They had just reached the spot where the footpath from Grunhagen crossed the broad road, and confronting them stood the a.s.sessor von Hahn. He took off his hat with an exceedingly low bow to Celia in particular.
"I beg ten thousand pardons, Fraulein von Hohenwald, for intruding again, but I am discreet; I make no boast----"
"There you are quite right, Herr a.s.sessor, for surely there is not much discretion in appearing where you have once been told that your presence is an intrusion."
The a.s.sessor grew crimson at Kurt"s words; he retreated a few steps and said, in great confusion, "You wrong me deeply, Herr von Poseneck; you will, I am sure, retract your hasty words when I tell you that my presence here has nothing to do with you or with my respected cousin, but with Madame--that is--I mean, I wish the honour of a few words with Fraulein Muller. I learned in Grunhagen, where I arrived half an hour ago, that Herr von Poseneck had gone to the forest, and I suspected that the two ladies would take their afternoon walk in the same direction. Therefore, as it was highly important that I should speak with Madame--that is, Fraulein Muller, I ventured to come hither."
Lucie bestowed upon the a.s.sessor a glance of anything but welcome, but she could not refuse to respond to his look of appeal. "You have attained your purpose, Herr a.s.sessor," she said. "You probably bring me a message from my friend Adele. The a.s.sessor is an old acquaintance of mine," she added to Kurt and Celia, who looked rather surprised, "and is a constant visitor at the President von Guntram"s."
The a.s.sessor"s courage returned upon hearing Lucie acknowledge his acquaintance, and he went on with much more confidence than before: "Certainly, Madame--that is, Fraulein Muller, I bring you a message from Fraulein Adele, and not merely a message. I am not alone; there is a gentleman in the shrubbery who wishes to speak with you. I brought him at Fraulein Adele"s express desire."