Gertrude slowly opened the letter. It was in his handwriting--she had expected it. Her heart beat so quickly she could scarcely breathe, and the letters danced before her eyes. It was some time before she could read it:
"GERTRUDE--Wolff died last evening. It is no longer possible to call him to account on earth; it is no longer possible to expose his guilt.
He has gone to his grave without having cleared me from his calumny. I remain before you as a guilty person, and I can do nothing more than declare once more that we--you and I, are the victims of a scoundrel. I have never spoken with Wolff of your fortune nor called in his intervention in any way. I leave the rest to you and to your consideration. I shall never force you to return to me, neither shall I ever consent to a divorce. Come home, Gertrude, come soon and all shall be forgotten. The house is empty, and my heart is still more so--have faith in me again. Your FRANK.""
She had just finished reading these words when Uncle Henry came in.
The little gentleman had evidently dined well--his face shone with good-humor.
"Still here?" he cried. And as she did not reply he looked at her more closely. "Well, you are not angry again?"
But the young wife swayed suddenly and Uncle Henry sprang towards her only just in time to keep her from falling, and called anxiously for Johanna. They laid the slender figure on the sofa and bathed her temples with cold water.
"Speak to me, child!" he cried, "speak to me!" and he repeated it till she opened her eyes.
"I cannot," she said after awhile.
"What?" asked the asthmatic old gentleman.
"Go to him I _can_not! Must I?"
"Merciful Heavens!" groaned Uncle Henry, "do be reasonable! Of course you must unless you want him to be ruined."
"I must?" she repeated, adding as if for her own comfort, "No, I must not! I cannot force myself to have confidence in him, I cannot pretend what I do not feel. No, I must not!"
And she sprang up and ran through the room to the door, trembling with excitement.
"Oh, ta, ta!" The old man ran his hands through his hair. "Then stay here! Let your house and home go to ruin, and the husband to whom you have pledged your faith into the bargain."
"Yes, yes," she murmured, "you are right, but I cannot!"
And she grasped the little purse in her pocket which held that fatal letter.
It seemed as if this brought her back at once to herself. She grew quiet, she lay back on her lounge and rested her head on the cushion.
"Pardon me, uncle--I know what I am doing."
"That is exactly what you don"t know," he muttered.
"Yes, I do," was the pettish reply. "Or do you think I ought to go there and beg him with folded hands to take me back into favor again?"
And something like scorn curved her lips.
"It would be the most sensible thing you could do," replied Uncle Henry, rather angrily.
She bent back her head proudly.
"No!" came from her lips, "not if I were still more miserable than I am! I can forgive him, but--fawn upon him like--like a hound--no!"
"G.o.d forgive me, but it is nothing but the purest arrogance that animates you," cried the old man. "Who gave you the right to set yourself so high above him? He was a poor man who could not marry without money--is it a crime that he should have asked a question as to this matter? It happens to every princess. You are stern and unloving and unjust. Have you never done anything wrong?"
She had started at his first reproachful words like a frightened child, now she sprang up and as she knelt down before him her eyes looked up at him imploringly.
"Uncle, do you know how I loved him? Do you know how a woman can love?
I looked up to him as to the n.o.blest being on earth, so lofty, so great he seemed to me. I have lain at his feet, and at night I folded my hands and thanked G.o.d that he had given me this man for my husband. I thought he was the only one who did not look on me only as a rich girl, and he has told me so a hundred times. Uncle, you have been always alone, you don"t know how people can love! And then to come down and see in him only a common man, a man who does not disdain to tell a lie--O, I would rather have died!" And she hid her face in her trembling hands. "And there, where I have been so happy, shall I satisfy myself with the coldest duty? I must be his wife and know that it was not love that brought me to his side? I shall hear his tender words and not think, "He does not mean them?" He will say something to me and I shall torment myself with doubts whether he really means it?
Oh, h.e.l.l itself could not be more dreadful, for I loved him!"
Tears stood in the old man"s eyes. He stroked Gertrude"s smooth hair in some embarra.s.sment.
"Stand up, Gertrude," he said, gently; and after a pause he added, "The Bible says we shall forgive."
"Yes, with all my heart," she murmured. "And if you see him tell him so. Ah, if he had come and had said--"Forgive me"--but so--"
An idea came into Uncle Henry"s head.
"Then would you give in, child?" he inquired.
"Yes," she stammered, "hard as it would be."
The old egotist knew then what he had to do. He led the weeping Gertrude to her little sofa, asked Johanna for a gla.s.s of wine and then drove to Niendorf. As he went he could see always before him the beautiful tear-stained face, and could hear her sad voice. As he ran up the steps to the garden-hall rather hastily he saw through the gla.s.s door the little brunette Adelaide sitting at the table with the judge, who was just uncorking a wine-bottle. Both were so deeply engaged in gazing at each other and blushing and gazing again that they were not conscious of the presence of the old spy outside.
"Really, this is a pretty time to be carousing in this house," thought Uncle Baumhagen. As he entered he brought the couple back to the bald present with a gruff "Good morning," and the judge began at once a lament over the horrible ill-luck of this Wolff"s dying six months too soon.
"What is going on here?" asked Uncle Henry, inhaling the fragrance of the wood-ruff.
"The parting _mai-trank_ for the judge," replied Miss Adelaide.
"Oh, ta, ta! You are going away?"
"I must," replied the little man with a regretful look at the young girl. "Besides, my dear sir, since this dreadful wifeless time has begun it is melancholy in Niendorf. Linden has been as overwhelmed, since the news of the death came last evening, as if his dearest friend had gone down into the grave with that limb of Satan. Heaven knows he could not have been more anxious about a near relation, and his horses have nearly run their legs off with making inquiries about the fellow"s health. I really believe he would have given the doctor of this distinguished citizen a premium for preserving his precious life."
Uncle Henry grumbled something which sounded almost like a curse.
"Where is Linden?" he inquired.
"Upstairs!" replied Miss Adelaide. "He has been there ever since this morning, at least we--" indicating the judge and herself--"dined alone with auntie, then we went to "Waldruhe" but we did not get in, and now it is out of sheer desperation that we made a bowl of _mai-trank_. But won"t you taste a little of it, Mr. Baumhagen?"
She had filled a gla.s.s and offered it to the old gentleman with laughing eyes.
Uncle Henry cast a half-angry, half-eager glance at the gla.s.s in the small hand.
"Witch!" he growled, and marched out of the room as haughtily as a Spaniard. He was in too serious a mood to enter into their "chatter."
But a clear laugh sounded behind him.
"I wish the judge would pack that little monkey in his trunk and send her off to Frankfort or to Guinea for all I care."
He found the young master of the house at his writing-table. "Linden,"
he began, without sitting down, "the carriage is waiting down-stairs, come with me to your little wife; if you will only beg her forgiveness, everything will be all right again."
Frank Linden looked at him calmly.
"Do you know what I should be doing?" he asked--"I should acknowledge a wrong of which I have never been guilty."