"Ah, how happy I was!" repeated Hannah, with a sigh. "But the serpent lurked in my Paradise. I came to know the pangs of jealousy, and I hated Marie Falkenhein--hated her from the bottom of my soul. Ah, beloved! it hurts, hurts deeply, to see the glance of the man one loves pa.s.sing one over for another woman. Do you remember the night of Klare"s birthday, when you sat in the Falkenheins" garden? I did not exist for you. I could have knelt before you, begging and imploring, "Can you not even see me here?" But you had eyes only for Mariechen, and when I went away into the night, you and she were standing together by the railing like a betrothed pair. Happiness shone in your eyes.
Yes! in yours too, dearest."
Reimers kissed the hand of his adored lady. "Forgive me!" he sobbed.
"Forgive me! darling, my poor darling! My eyes were drawn to follow you; but I turned them by force to Mariechen. I know now that I loved you alone even then. In dreams, and when half awake, when I let myself go, it was you only for whom I longed. Dearest, forgive me!"
Hannah shook her head gently, and looked fondly into his pet.i.tioning eyes.
"Be content," she whispered; "it was wrong of me, and I conquered it.
In the night, after I had seen you both like that, I fought it out with myself. I recognised that it was hateful egoism that made me grudge you your happiness, and that my love for you should be quite otherwise--more unselfish. From thenceforth Marie Falkenhein became dear to me; it was as though I were you,--I felt an involuntary yearning towards her, warmer, apparently, than your own. I would have liked to endow her with all that you found clever and charming in my speech or actions; I would have given her all that remained to me of beauty; above all, I longed to pour into her veins the fire of my own great love, that you might be entirely happy and blest. I would have decked your bride with my own hands, and have brought her to you; I would have kept watch, that nothing profane should disturb your bliss."
Tenderly her arms encircled her lover"s neck, and her words flowed faster.
"Suddenly all this was changed, and I was not less so. I could not be sad when I saw Mariechen"s tear-stained eyes. I guessed that something terrible had occurred; but I was groping in the dark till I got the truth out of that good Andreae. Then I wept for grief that your happiness was blighted; and I wept for joy that you were now wholly mine. For you are mine?"
Reimers clasped her to him pa.s.sionately; she nestled quivering in his arms. Their lips met, and she whispered: "If chance had not led you to me to-day--then I should have gone to you. I love you so."
Late in the afternoon Frau von Gropphusen rang for the maid; but the girl had been allowed to go out, and had not yet returned. The groom from the stable came hastening to answer the second ring. He stood still in the doorway, astonished. His mistress had let down her hair and was standing in the sunshine as though wrapped in a golden mantle.
"Is Betty not here yet?" she asked.
"No, madam."
"Well, it does not matter. Saddle Lady G.o.diva for me."
"Very good, madam. But excuse me, madam; you will remember that Lady G.o.diva has not been ridden for three days; she will be very fresh."
Frau von Gropphusen smiled: "Do not be afraid. I shall be able to manage her."
"Shall I go with you, madam?"
"No, I am going alone."
Languidly she put up her hair before the mirror. Her pale cheeks were faintly coloured, and her lips shone moist and red. She slipped on her riding habit and settled her hat firmly. When the hoofs of the mare clattered on the pavement outside she was quite ready.
The maid met her at the garden gate, and was profuse in her apologies.
Frau von Gropphusen replied lightly: "All right, all right."
Lady G.o.diva was fidgeting about impatiently. She whinnied joyfully as her mistress"s hand stroked her delicate nostrils.
The groom helped Frau von Gropphusen to mount, and inquired if he should tighten the curb a little.
His mistress nodded.
The mare resented not being given her head at once; but finally trotted off with a coquettish gait that showed her fine breeding and her graceful proportions. And the beautiful woman on her back was like a bride going forth to meet her beloved.
Hannah Gropphusen chose the road that led to the big exercise-ground of the regiment. Lady G.o.diva neighed with pleasure as she cantered along the well-known path; the gentle ascent which she had to traverse in no way exhausted her long-restrained impatience.
The great level quadrangle of the exercise-ground lay at a high elevation; in the valley below the air had felt hot and stifling, but up here a soft breeze was blowing, and with gentle caressing touch it brushed back the golden tendrils of hair from the rider"s white forehead.
Upon the scantily growing gra.s.s of the plain Hannah Gropphusen gave the mare her head, and the animal bore her at a light even gallop to the far end of the ground. From thence ran a narrow cart-track, by which their sluggish teams drew the loaded harvest-waggons down to the high road. The track led straight on to the edge of the plain, the chalky surface being there broken up by deep quarries. Here a strong rough paling had been erected as a barrier, in case any stubborn horse should prove unmanageable. This was no impediment to an unerring fencer like Lady G.o.diva. She went over it easily at full stretch.
After her landing Hannah Gropphusen gave the mare a touch of the whip.
The animal laid her ears back and increased the pace. At a little distance a second obstacle showed itself, a whitethorn hedge that looked like a hurdle.
Lady G.o.diva scarcely seemed to touch the ground with her hoofs. Her mane and tail gleamed golden as they streamed on the mild evening breeze. A pair of quails started up from amid the ripe corn.
The mare rose on her hind legs for the jump, then made a sudden violent movement as though to avoid it. Behind the whitethorn yawned an abyss.
But the impetus of her motion carried her on, and a firm grip kept her head forwards.
Early next morning when the stone-breakers came to their work they found at the bottom of the precipice a dead woman and a dead horse.
There were no external injuries either to the animal or her rider. The force of the fall must have killed them both. The terrified eyes of the mare were staring into vacancy, but those of the woman--indeed she was but a girl--were closed, and her small delicate hands still gripped the bridle firmly.
The foreman sent a boy to inform the village-elder; the other workmen stood in a silent circle round the unfortunate pair.
"Mates," said the foreman at last, "it"s quite clear there is nothing to be done. We"d better be getting back to work."
A lean, bearded man protested: "We might as well say a prayer first for the poor creature." For the stone-breakers are a pious people; they stand always with one foot in the grave. A loosened ma.s.s of chalk, a collapsing wall, a mine exploding prematurely, may threaten their lives; and the chalk-dust chokes their lungs so that they die early.
The bearded man took off his hat and began to pray. All the others bared their heads.
After the "deliver us from evil" he inserted another pet.i.tion: "And grant to this poor lady, who has met with such a terrible and sudden death, Thy eternal rest, we beseech Thee, O Lord! For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
One only had gone back to his work, an aged man who, with trembling knees, was pushing a loaded wheelbarrow before him. He was himself too near death for the sight of a corpse to strike him as anything out of the common.
When he saw the others praying he set down his burden. His toothless mouth stammered out his words with difficulty.
"What are you praying for?" he said. "That the Lord will grant her eternal rest? Look at her, then! Isn"t eternal rest written on her face?"
Reimers reached the practice-camp again when his brother-officers were at mess.
It was only on alighting from the carriage that he remembered Frommelt"s commission. He was staggered a little at this neglect; but after all what did such trifles matter? He smiled to himself that he should trouble about it now.
In his own room he threw himself upon the hard camp-bed. The bare place felt stifling, although the window was wide open. The white-washed walls seemed narrowing about him, and he felt as if he would be suffocated.
He shut his eyes wearily. Then the troubled vision disappeared, and he had a feeling of freedom and deliverance, a grateful sensation of release from the limitations of matter, as though borne aloft into the unconfined regions of cosmic s.p.a.ce.
The mounted sentry patrolling the forest pa.s.sed by the window. The man had settled himself comfortably on horse-back, and his hanging bugle and accoutrements jingled. As he came near the creaking of the saddle could be heard. By degrees the sounds subsided, though the metallic tinkling was perceptible for a long time.
Perhaps, however, that gentle sound was but the prelude to some illusion of the senses.
Then voices sounded from the mess-room: the high crowing tones of Wegstetten and the mellow ba.s.s of Major Lischke, The little captain was grumbling about the food.