"He wants you to write lies!" cried Francis, exasperatingly; "he"ll stick to his million, that"s clear."
"Francis," said the General, with the tone of a supplicant, "if you knew all I know! You are insulting a man who is generosity itself, who has power to ruin us all, and yet who seeks to save us if you will simply take the hand he holds out to you. Remember he can force us to sell the Castle if we do not consent to hand it over to him, however much against our own will."
"It is possible that he has secretly acquired the power to drive us out of the Werve like beggars, but he cannot compel me to marry him."
"We shall see about that," I rejoined, proudly.
"You dare to talk to me of constraint--to me!" she cried, becoming furious, and advancing towards me--"you, Leopold," she added, with an accent of real pain.
"Yes, Francis," I answered, resolved to follow up my advantage, "you shall submit to the constraint of your own conscience, which must tell you that you owe me an apology. I am going away. Farewell. Try to reflect on this in your calmer moments. You have touched me to the quick; you have wounded my feelings of honour and my heart. Do not let me wait too long, or the wound will become incurable."
I gave her a last look of gentle reproach, but her gla.s.sy eyes seemed insensible to all around her. I shook hands with the old Baron, who, with bowed head, was weeping like a child. Rolf followed me to my room, and besought me not to leave the Castle in such haste.
"She is like this," he said, "when anything goes wrong with her. Within an hour she will regret what she has said, I am sure; the storm was too violent to last long."
But my mind was made up. I packed up my luggage, slowly, I must confess, and always listening for a well-known step and a knock, which should announce Francis repentant and seeking a reconciliation. But she did not come.
I was miserable beyond all expression. It was like being shipwrecked in the harbour after a long voyage. To think this was the same woman at whose feet I had kneeled an hour ago, and whose hand I had kissed in a delirium of pleasure. And now she had turned upon me like a fury and declined my offer with contempt! I reflected that I ought to have acted more frankly and straightforwardly with her. For a moment the idea occurred to me to renounce all my rights as to Aunt Sophia"s property; but, after all, what good end could it serve--it would only reduce us both to poverty. I promised myself that, once arrived at Zutphen, I would send her in writing a complete statement of how affairs stood, and enclose aunt"s letter, which, out of delicacy, I had so far kept to myself. I would add a few words of explanation, and I doubted not that, in her calmer moments, she would do me justice.
And thus I acted; but as all the doc.u.ments together made up too large a packet for the post, I confided them to a waiter at the hotel, who was to hand them over to a carrier calling every day at the Werve for orders. I flattered myself I should speedily receive an answer, and all the following day I pa.s.sed in a feverish excitement, only increased in the evening when no answer came. During the night I never slept a moment. Another day pa.s.sed, and still no answer; and now I gave myself up to the most complete despair. There was nothing for me to do but settle my affairs in all haste at Zutphen and return to the Hague.
I kept Overberg in the dark about my rupture with Francis, only telling him pressing business called me back to the Hague. I signed all the papers he put before me, and told him I would return as soon as possible. The fact was I felt seriously unwell, and, as you know, home is the best place under such circ.u.mstances; I thought I could there immerse myself in my favourite studies, but I only remember feeling an unbearable weight of oppression come over me.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII.
Instead of regaining my usual calm in my own "sweet home," I fell seriously ill the first night after my return. I was attacked by a nervous fever, and remained for several days insensible. My landlady now proved herself a faithful and attentive nurse, and she tells me that my life was almost despaired of for some days. I am convalescent at last, and I shall travel. You will ask where? I don"t know yet; nothing is decided.
When I was able to look over the papers which had acc.u.mulated on my table during my illness, I found a card from my uncle the minister, who had called to make inquiries about me. My worthy uncle had heard the report that I was a millionaire. I also found quite a heap of letters from Overberg and Van Beek, which I had not the courage to read; one, however, marked "Important," I broke open. It announced the death of my uncle Von Zwenken, and I was invited to the funeral. The date told me that the letter was three weeks old! What had become of Francis?
Doubtless she was still ill-disposed towards me. She seemed to be unaware of my illness, since she had invited me to the funeral of her grandfather. What must she have thought of my silence? Not a single word of comfort or encouragement from me. What annoyances she might already have suffered from the lawyers. I was expecting my doctor every moment, and I had determined to ask his permission to start immediately for Zutphen, when I heard some one coming up the stairs, whom my landlady was endeavouring to call back, she being very strict about my being kept quiet. But, in spite of all her efforts, Rolf burst into the room--Rolf, whom I had ended by loving almost as much as I detested him the first few days of our acquaintance.
"My General is dead," he said, with tears in his eyes--"died in my arms. Francis is gone----"
"She is not ill, however?" I interrupted quickly.
"Not in the least, she is in excellent health; but--she has turned me out of the Werve."
"What do you say?"
"Oh, it was not done in anger or malice; but because she herself will be forced to leave the Castle very soon. In fact, she has already hired a room at farmer Pauwelsen"s; but she will tell n.o.body what she intends to do."
"But tell me all the particulars of the General"s death."
"Well, the General had not the courage to resist her, and write to Overberg in the sense you advised him. And as everything was vague and uncertain because of your answering n.o.body"s letters, the lawyers lost patience; and Overberg, egged on, I believe, by that quill-driver in Utrecht, wrote to Freule Mordaunt to know for certain whether or not she was engaged to you. You will guess her answer, short and dry, but without a word of reproach as far as you were concerned, I can a.s.sure you. I know she reproaches herself bitterly, and has done so since the day you left, as I told you would be the case."
"Even after she had received the packet from me?"
"She never received anything from you."
"That"s very surprising!"
"No, it"s not at all surprising, for everything was in the utmost confusion with us from the fatal Friday you left----But I see this is sherry, may I help myself?"
"Certainly, Captain; I beg your pardon, I ought to have thought of asking you sooner."
"Well, then, after you were gone she fainted. Such a thing never happened to her before within my knowledge. I felt almost ashamed of her; but she loved you so much, as she later confessed to me weeping! When she came to herself again, and whilst, as we thought, she was reposing in her own room, she had stealthily gone off to the farm, ordered Tancredo to be saddled, and ridden away at full gallop. At dinner we became dreadfully uneasy as she did not put in an appearance, and neither the General nor myself could eat. But it was much worse when, in the evening twilight, young Pauwelsen came to say Tancredo had returned to the stable alone, without saddle and white with foam."
"An accident!" I cried, beside myself. "Do tell me the worst at once. What has happened to her?"
"Oh, it was not so bad after all, Jonker--only a sprained foot; we found her lying on the moss at the foot of an oak, to which she had been able to crawl to rest herself a little."
"I know that oak!" I exclaimed. "I feel what she must have felt there. She loves me still!"
"I believe so, Jonker, for she said we were to leave her there to die, and to tell you where she died. It appears she had ridden towards the town, and then, suddenly changing her course, was returning to the Castle through the wood; but either she must have pressed Tancredo too hard, or dropped the reins--she cannot explain it herself. But certain it is, the n.o.ble animal, no longer recognizing the hand of his mistress, galloped home, and she fell out of the saddle. We carried her home, and laid her on the sofa in the drawing-room. The surgeon declared there was no danger, but said she must not be moved for some days."
"And why did you not send me word immediately?"
"Hum! I wanted to write to you, and she also. I ought not to tell you perhaps, but she wrote a note to you."
"Which I never received."
"No, for young Pauwelsen was charged to deliver it into your own hands at Zutphen; but when he arrived there they told him you had left, and he brought back the letter, which the Freule tore up, with a bitter laugh saying--
""I deserved no better.""
"Oh, if I could have foreseen all this!" I cried, wringing my hands.
"I advised you to stay," replied the Captain; "why need you go off in such a hurry?"
"My dear Captain, I felt I was going to be ill; I was ill already. But how was it she did not receive my packet? I waited until the third day for an answer."
"What could you expect? Everything was turned upside down. Fritz had orders to place all letters on the General"s writing-table, and he had taken such an aversion to anything in the shape of a communication from the lawyers, that he never opened one of them. Miss Francis was scarcely able to move about again when those accursed creatures set to work and threatened to send in the bailiffs, and Heaven only knows what besides. Then she had to attend to everything, for the General had a second attack of paralysis: those people have been the death of him, and I could not prevent it."
The Captain forgot to add here, what I afterwards learnt, that he had himself hastened the General"s end by administering a gla.s.s of old cognac to him under the pretext of strengthening him for the occasion of meeting the bailiffs.
"As soon as his eyes were closed," he continued, "the lawyer from Arnheim, who was in possession of the General"s will, and Overberg advised Francis to arrange matters with you in an amicable manner; but she would not listen to them. You understand, it was in your name these proceedings had been taken against her grandfather."
"Whilst I lay unconscious on a bed of sickness."
"That"s what the Pharisees knew, but they had your power of attorney; and Francis said--