Hartmann was about to answer in an aggressive spirit, but all at once a reflection struck him.
"Well, yes, we are upon your ground; I have forgotten that."
He went back, and let his employer cross over. Arthur stopped when he reached the opposite side.
"Hartmann!"
Ulric, who had already one foot on the plank, turned round at this address.
"I should have sent for you before this, if I had not feared my doing so might be wrongly interpreted. As we have met, I should like to speak to you."
A gleam of triumph shot over the other"s face; but it pa.s.sed quickly, and his features re-a.s.sumed the reserved look which was habitual to them.
"Here in the meadow?"
"The place does not signify; we are alone here."
Ulric approached slowly, and placed himself opposite his employer, who was leaning against one of the willows which bordered the water-course.
The evening mists were beginning to rise, and yonder over the forest, where the sun had lately set, the whole sky was suffused with a deep crimson after-glow.
They were a strange contrast, these two. The slender, almost delicate figure of the high-bred man with his pale face in complete repose, his dark earnest eyes, whence that light had now vanished which gave to them at times so inexplicable a charm, and the giant frame of the miner, carrying his fair curly head so proudly, whose gaze, full of fire and a sort of savage satisfaction, never swerved from his adversary"s pale countenance. The instinct of jealousy taught him to see and mark that which was observed by no one else, and, if all the world maintained that Arthur Berkow had pa.s.sed by his beautiful wife unmoved, that he had never felt the slightest interest in her, Ulric knew well that no man could remain indifferent who called such a woman as Eugenie Windeg his own, knew too all that the loss of such a woman implied, since that morning when he had stood under the pines, watching her carriage as it rolled away.
But, through all the pain of the separation, there rang a note of triumph. A wife who loves her husband does not leave him at a time when all around him is reeling and falling, yet she had gone, gone to the safe protection of her father and brothers, and left him alone exposed to all and everything. That must have struck home to him, to this proud Berkow, whom neither hatred nor menace, neither fear of violence or revolt, or even of ruin itself, could touch, and though he should succeed in deceiving all about him with that calm brow of his, yet he could not deceive his enemy. That blow had surely gone to his heart.
"I need not tell you now of all that has occurred of late," began Arthur; "you must be as well acquainted with it as I am, perhaps even better. The other works have followed your example; we are entering upon a lengthened conflict. Can you answer for your comrades?"
Ulric started at this question.
"How do you mean, Herr Berkow?"
"I mean, shall we be able to settle this business ourselves without foreign interference? On the other works they have found it impossible to do this. Up at the forges they have already sent a request for help from the town. You are no stranger to the tumults there, and you best know whether this were necessary or not. I should a.s.suredly only have recourse to such a measure in a case of extreme need, and in legitimate self-defence. But such a case may arise. Already several of my agents have been insulted, I myself was within an ace of meeting with insult in the woods. Do not build upon my patience or upon my weakness.
However much I may desire to avoid all extreme measures, I warn you I shall oppose force to force."
At the first words Ulric had looked up in surprise. He had expected something other than this declaration, but the quiet manner in which it was made took from it all aggressive action and imposed a moderate tone on him, the adversary. There was but a slight scoff in his voice as he answered,
"That is nothing new to me. Force to force! I knew from the first we should come to that some day."
Arthur looked steadily at him.
"And whose fault is it, if we must come to that? Is it brought about by the resistance of the ma.s.ses or by the obstinacy of one man?"
"By the obstinacy of one man, you are right there, Herr Berkow. You know it needs only one single word from you for us all to be at work again to-morrow."
"And you know that I cannot speak the word, because it involves that which is impossible. It is for you to concede something now. I propose it to you once again."
"Really?" said the miner, with an outburst of scorn. "No doubt, because the whole province is astir, and we have got our mates to help and back us."
Berkow drew himself up quickly, and his eyes flashed.
"Because we shall have to restore by force of arms that order and discipline you are now trampling under foot, and because I wish, if it be possible, to save my people from such a fate. Lay aside your scorn, Hartmann, you do not believe in it yourself. Whatever has happened, or may yet happen between us two, we may, I think, mutually absolve each other of cowardice."
Again there came the look and tone which had struck all dumb with astonishment that day in the committee-room. Ulric looked with mingled wrath and admiration at his employer, who dared so to speak to him at an hour like the present. The scene in the forest must have shown him what the possible consequences of these chance meetings might be, and yet he had himself sought an interview in this solitary place.
The park was quite empty; there was not a soul in sight across the fields, and the houses lay at some considerable distance. Not one of the officials would, under such circ.u.mstances, have stopped to hold converse with the dreaded Hartmann, no, not even the bold chief-engineer. It was only the once despised "milksop" who was ready so to face danger. Truly, his enemy had absolved him of cowardice long ago.
Arthur seemed conscious of the advantage he had gained. He came a step nearer.
"Can you not see, Hartmann, that with such behaviour as this you are making your future stay here quite impossible?" he asked gravely. "You think, perhaps, that when we come to negotiate, your friends will put pressure upon me. I shall yield to no constraint, I give you my word.
Nevertheless, I can and do appreciate your valuable powers, misguided as they are. So far, they have been used to my injury alone, but, for that very reason, I can better estimate the services they might render, should you one day cease to be hostile to me. Listen now to the voice of reason. Be satisfied with the practical concessions you have obtained, and, of my own free will, I offer you to remain on the works with the usual chances of promotion. I know there is a certain risk in retaining an element of discord like yourself among my hands, but I am willing to run the risk, if my trust in you meets with similar confidence."
The offer in itself was somewhat hazardous perhaps, made, as it was, to a man who looked on all moderation as a proof of weakness. Berkow, however, had not altogether miscalculated his aim. Ulric did not answer, but, for a nature like his, it was much that the proposal was not at once repulsed with harsh distrust.
"So far I have asked for confidence in vain," continued Arthur. "Up to this time you have refused to trust me. I came here as a stranger, if not to the place itself, to you at least and to all that concerns the works. You met me with a declaration of war, without even inquiring what alterations and improvements I might be willing to make. You received and treated me as an enemy, and yet you could not know whether I were your enemy at heart or not."
"We are at war," said Ulric curtly. "Everything is fair at such times."
All around them as they stood blazed the reflection of the crimson sunset, and Arthur"s face, as he raised it, was tinted with the bright warm colour.
"Must there be war between us? I do not mean the present strife, which must come to an end sooner or later. I mean that secret embittered warfare which hard treatment and oppression on the one side, and rancour and hatred on the other, feed and foster continually. It has been so all these years, I know, and it will be so again, if you submit only through compulsion. We ought to make peace before there is blood shed on either side. We can still do it. As yet, nothing has happened to make the breach irreparable; in a few days it may be too late."
With all its quietness there was something in the young master"s voice which went home to the hearer"s heart, and the emotion visible in Hartmann"s face showed that he had not been insensible to it.
Accustomed to rule over his equals, he was the more keenly alive to any supercilious treatment on the part of his superiors, and also to any evidence of an ill-concealed fear.
Now he found himself raised to a position which had never yet been a.s.signed him. He knew well that Arthur would not have so spoken to any other of the men employed, perhaps not to any of the officials; he felt it was solely due to his own personal qualities that he was dealt with thus. The owner of the works spoke to him as man to man, on a matter upon which the ill or well being of both depended, and he would surely have carried the day had he been any other than Arthur Berkow. Ulric"s nature was too untrained, too pa.s.sionate, for him to do justice there where his hate was fully roused.
"Our confidence has cost us dearly," said he bitterly. "Your father made such a claim upon it during all those long years that we have none left now for his son. I believe you don"t make the offer out of fear, Herr Berkow, I should not believe it of any one else, but I do of you.
But, as we have set about helping ourselves, I think we had better fight it out to the last. Let it be decided this way or that. One of us must win in the end."
"And your comrades? Will you take upon yourself the responsibility of all the care, the want, the chances of defeat, which this "fighting it out" may bring with it?"
"I can"t help it. It is done for their sake."
"No, it is not done for their sake," said Arthur firmly; "but for the sake of their leader"s ambition. He wishes to get the domination over them into his hands, and, were he to get it, he would prove a worse despot than their former masters ever were. If you still have faith left in your so-called mission, Hartmann, you can no longer impose on me with it; for I see that you throw aside as worthless all that I declare myself ready to do for the improvement of the people"s condition, and you keep steadily the one aim and end in view, the true bearing of which I understand but too well. You wish to make me and my agents powerless for the future, helpless in face of any resolution you may be pleased to adopt, or any insurrection you may stir up. Now that you speak in the name of the ma.s.ses, blindly obedient to your dictates, you wish to arrogate to yourself all the rights of a master, and, with the empty t.i.tle, leave me nothing but the onus of the position. You do not wish for a recognition of your party; you wish for a subjugation of every other. That is why you stake all upon a throw, and, believe me, you will lose it."
This was a bold speech to be addressed to such a man; it stung Ulric to fury.
"Well, as you seem to know so much about it, Herr Berkow, you may know more for all I care! You are right. This is not a question of higher wages or of a trifle more safety in the mines. That may be enough for those who concern themselves only about their wives and children, and think of nothing else all their lives long; the men of spirit among us require more. We want to have the reins in our hands, to have our rights as equals acknowledged and respected. It may be a hard lesson to learn for those who have had unlimited authority up to this time, but they will have now to treat with us. We have begun to understand at last that it is we who toil and you who enjoy the fruits of our labour.
You have made use of our arms for this slavish work long enough, now you shall learn to feel them."
He hurled forth these words with exceeding violence, as though each of them were a weapon with which he would strike down and slay his enemy.
All his outrageous pa.s.sion burst forth anew, and the rage, which included an entire cla.s.s, concentrated itself for the time being on the individual member of it now before him. As he stood there with clenched fists, the veins in his forehead swelling, he seemed ready to follow up his words with deeds.
Arthur, however, did not move a muscle or attempt to retreat by so much as a step from the dangerous neighbourhood. He stood in that att.i.tude of cold, proud repose peculiar to him, and looked his adversary steadfastly in the face, as if by the power of his eyes alone he could fascinate and tame him.
"I think, for the present, you will have to leave the reins in hands which are accustomed and able to hold them. That also must be learnt.
You may rise in rebellion and destroy existing inst.i.tutions by brute force, but you will never create new ones with it. Try to conduct these works by the strength of your arms alone, to the exclusion of that powerful element you hate so much, which directs your labour, gives impulse to the machinery, and lends mind to your work. As yet this guiding faculty belongs to us. Keep to your own sphere and rank in life, and the equality of your rights will no longer be disputed. At present you can only throw into the balance the weight of numbers, and that will not suffice to give you the mastery."
Ulric tried to answer, but his voice was choked by pa.s.sion. Arthur cast one look over at the forest where the red glow grew ever deeper and deeper; then he turned to go.