"It is to be hoped he did not keep it."
"Oh, no! he gave it back to me; he presented me with it anew in teaching me to understand it."
"Well, if he has initiated you into the mystery of his art, Fraulein Elsa, oblige us with some of it now. There ought to be all sorts of fledgelings to take out of these nests, and we really would like to have a glimpse of our souls."
"I asked Fraulein von Hartwich just now to let me examine her head, but she would not allow it."
"But we are all ready for it," cried Moritz, bowing his head, as did several of the other gentlemen.
"Pray don"t," Angelika entreated her husband.
"Dear Angelika," said Elsa, determined to be interesting to-day at all risks, "I am not at all afraid of the trial, for I am confident of success. But it must be seriously undertaken. The gentlemen must be disguised so that I cannot recognize them."
"Yes, yes, that"s right! It will be delightful!" cried the gentlemen, to whose gaiety the punch perhaps had lent some a.s.sistance.
"Fraulein Elsa must leave the room while we disguise ourselves."
"I will wait for a while in the garden, where it is far more charming to see the elves sipping the dew than you, gentlemen, drinking your punch. Call me when you are ready, and I will come, and, like a bee among the flower-cups, dip into your heads and find out whether they contain honey or gall."
With this arch threat she was hurrying away, when Ernestine took her hand compa.s.sionately and whispered in her ear, "Do not do it, you will only be laughed at."
Greatly offended, Elsa withdrew her hand. "By you, perhaps, but only by you. My friends here understand me and love me!" The tears rushed to her little eyes, and she hastened out, without hearing Herbert call after her, "You will disgrace yourself."
She hurried down into the garden, to confide her griefs to the elves and fairies. She would endure smilingly, no one should know what she had dared to dream,--to hope. But could her faithful heart at once resign all hope? Patient waiting had before now been crowned with success. She went to the spot where Angelika had left the flowers that she had given her for Johannes. The gla.s.s was overturned, the water spilled and the flowers were scattered about withered. How sorry she was! It was a bad omen. She picked up her favourites and pressed them to her heart. "Thus will it perhaps be one day with me. I shall fade away," she thought, "forgotten and neglected like you, and the only proof of affection that can then be mine will be that some tender soul may lay upon my coffin a wreath of you, sweet flowers of the field!"
She seated herself upon the gra.s.s and sung softly, while her tears dropped upon the flowers,
"Ah, tears will not bring back your beauty like rain.
Or love that is dead, to bloom over again."
"Fraulein Elsa, are you weeping?"
She started and sprang up, Mollner was approaching her across the lawn.
"Oh, no, these are not tears, only the dews of evening," she lisped, drying her eyes.
Mollner looked at her with pity. "Poor creature," he thought, "it is not your fault that nature has proved such a step-mother to you, and that your brother"s distorted views of education have made you ridiculous, and even deprived you of the sympathy that you deserve."
He offered her his arm. "Come, my dear Fraulein Elsa!" he said kindly, "I am sent to bring you in. Thanks to Fraulein von Hartwich, you are spared the mystification that was contemplated for you."
"How so?" asked Elsa, who, upon Mollner"s arm, felt like a vine nailed against the wall.
"Fraulein Ernestine was requested to exchange dresses with Frau Taun, whose hair is also black, and both were to wear masks, in order to deceive you. The younger portion of the company so insisted upon it that I could not prevent it. But Fraulein von Hartwich, convinced that you were not so secure in your art as to be impregnable to deceit, refused so obstinately to do what was asked of her that the a.s.semblage fairly broke up in disappointment."
Elsa was silent from shame. She knew that she could not have come off victorious from such a trial. She had depended upon easily distinguishing individuals by their hair, and it had not occurred to her that Frau Taun"s hair was of the same colour as Ernestine"s. And yet, glad as she was to be thus relieved, she was humiliated at having afforded her enemy an opportunity for such a display of magnanimity in her behalf.
"You will make a trial of your skill some time when we are more alone, will you not?" asked Mollner in the tone one uses to comfort a child.
"Yes, if you desire it, and if you would allow me to subject your own magnificent head----"
Her voice trembled with emotion as she preferred this bold request.
"Why not?" interposed Mollner, "if you think my hard head would prove a profitable subject."
"Your hard head! oh, how can you speak so? I should tremble to touch that head, lest Minerva should spring from it to punish me for my temerity."
Johannes smiled compa.s.sionately. "I cannot persuade you not to embarra.s.s me with your exaggerated compliments. You know I am a blunt man, and cannot repay you in kind."
"How should you repay me? I only ask you to permit me to reverence you.
What can the brook require from the mighty tree whose roots drink of its waters? Let my admiration flow on at your feet, and let your vigorous nature draw thence as much as it needs. There will always be enough for you,--the brook is inexhaustible."
Johannes was most disagreeably affected by this outburst. What could he reply, without either inspiring the unfortunate creature with false hopes or deeply offending her?
Her brother"s voice relieved his embarra.s.sment. They reached the house.
"Here they come!" Herbert cried to the others, who seemed to be waiting for them and were just taking their departure. They ascended the stairs, and Elsa put on her hat and shawl.
"Where have you been so long?" Herbert asked in a tone intentionally loud.
"Heavens! we fairly flew through the garden!" cried Elsa.
"Have you wings, then, Fraulein Elsa?" asked the young tutor.
"Yes," she replied, with an enraptured glance at Johannes. "They have lately budded anew."
"Pray, then," urged her indefatigable tormentor, "soar aloft, that we may see you,--it would be a charming sight!" And he lighted a cigar at the lamp in the hall.
"All human beings are born with wings," said Elsa with pathos,--"only we forget how to use them."
"Come, Elsa dear, there is no use in our arguing with these men,"
Angelika said kindly. "Take leave of my mother, and we will walk along together, as we are going in the same direction."
Elsa did as she was told. In the doorway, behind the Staatsrathin, stood Ernestine, utterly dejected. Elsa went up to her and whispered, "May you rest well, if indeed shy Morpheus dare approach your armed spirit."
Herbert dragged Elsa away, whispering fiercely, "No pretty speeches to her! I will crush her! The "little" man will prove great enough to terrify her!"
"Good-night, sweet mother. Good-night, poor Ernestine!" said Angelika, and then had hardly time to kiss them both before her impatient husband fairly picked her up and carried her down-stairs.
"Good-night, Professor Mollner," whispered Elsa. "The brook ripples onward to the ocean of oblivion."
"Good-night, good-night," resounded, in all variations of tone, from all sides, and Father Heim hummed in his strong ba.s.s voice an old student song, in which the other gentlemen gaily joined, for, with the exception of the disturbance caused by "that crazy Hartwich," the evening had been a pleasant one, and Mollner"s Havanas were delicious on the way home. If only the Hartwich had not spoiled their fun with Fraulein Elsa, it would have been too good. Elsa was by far the better of the two. If she was a fool, they could at least laugh at her, which was impossible with the Hartwich, she was so deuced clever at repartee.
Thus talking, laughing, and singing, the throng sought their several homes through the silent, starry night.
The Staatsrathin had entered the room with Ernestine, Johannes, having locked the street-door after his guests, came and took a chair by Ernestine"s side. "Come, mother dear, sit down by us, and learn to know our guest a little before we separate for the night."
But the Staatsrathin took up her basket of keys. "I am very sorry, but I must see to the arrangement of Fraulein von Hartwich"s bedroom. The servants are all very busy just now."