"Does she, Wetter? Who is she?"
He stood looking at me for a moment, then broke into another laugh. I caught him by the arm; now I laughed myself.
"No, no?" I cried. "Fate doesn"t joke, Wetter?"
"Fate jokes," said he. "It is Coralie who will sing your song. To-morrow they reach here, she and Struboff. Yes, sire, Coralie is to sing your song."
We stood looking at one another; we both were laughing. "It"s a great chance in her career," he said.
"It"s rather a curious chance in mine," said I.
"She sings it, she sings it," he cried, and with a last laugh turned and fairly ran away down the street, like a mischievous boy who has thrown his squib and flies from the scene in mirthful fear.
When Fortune jested she found in him quickwitted loving audience.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SECRET OF THE COUNTESS.
Princess Heinrich held a reception of all sorts and conditions of those in Forstadt who were receivable. So comprehensive was the party that to be included conveyed no compliment, to be left out meant a slap in the face. But the scene was gorgeous, and the Princess presided over it with fitting dignity. Elsa and I stood by her for a while, all in our buckram, living monuments of bliss and exaltedness. It was like a prolonged interview with the photographer. Then I slipped away and paid marked and honorific courtesy to Bederhof"s wife and Bederhof"s daughters, tall girls, not over-quick to be married, somehow quite inevitable if one considered Bederhof himself. Rising from my plunge, I looked round for Elsa. She had left my mother and taken a seat in a recess by the window. There she sat, looking, poor soul, rather weary, speaking now and then to those who, in pa.s.sing by, paused to make their respects and compliments to her. She wore my diamonds; all eyes were for her; the streets were splendidly decorated. Was she content? With all my heart I hoped that she was.
People came and buzzed about me, and I buzzed back to them. I had learned to buzz, I believe, with some grace and facility, certainly with an almost entire detachment of my inner mind; it would be intolerable for the real man to be engrossed in such performances. Looking over the head of the President of the Court of Appeal (he was much shorter than his speeches), I saw Elsa suddenly lean forward and sign with her fan to a lady who pa.s.sed by. The lady stopped; she sat down by Elsa; they entered into conversation. For a while I went on buzzing and being buzzed to, but presently curiosity conquered me.
"In the pleasure of your conversation I mustn"t forget what is my first duty just now, gentlemen," I said with a smile.
They dissolved from in front of me with discreet smiles. I sauntered toward the recess where Elsa sat. Glancing at Princess Heinrich, I saw her watching all that went forward, but she was hemmed in by eminent persons. And why should she interpose, if Elsa desired to talk to the Countess von Sempach?
I leaned over the arm of my betrothed"s chair. They were talking of common affairs. From where I was I could not see Elsa"s face, so I moved and stood leaning on a third chair between them. The Countess was gay and brilliant; kind also, with a tenderness that seemed to throw out feelers for friendship. To me she spoke only when I addressed her directly; her attention was all for Elsa. In Elsa"s eyes, not skilled to conceal her heart, there was, overpowering all other expression, a curiosity, a study of something that interested and puzzled her, a desire to understand the woman who talked to her. For Elsa had heard something; not all, but something. She was not hostile or disturbed; she was gracious and eager to please; but she was inquiring and searching.
At her heart"s bidding her wits were on the move. I knew the maze that they explored. She was asking for the Countess" secret. But which secret? For to her it might well seem that there were two. Rumour said that I had loved the Countess. It would be in the way of the natural woman for Elsa to desire to find out why, the trick of the charm that a predecessor (let the word pa.s.s) had wielded. But rumour said also that the Countess had loved me. Was this the deeper harder secret that Elsa sought to probe, this the puzzle to which she asked an answer? Perhaps, could she find an answer that satisfied, there would be new heaven and new earth for her. Here seemed to me the truth, the reason of the longing question in her eyes. Jealousy could not inspire that; certainly not a jealousy of what was long gone by, of a woman who to Elsa"s fresh girlhood must be faded and almost sunk to middle age. "How did you contrive to love him?" That was Elsa"s question, asked beneath my understanding gaze.
There was a little stir by the door, and a man came through the group that loitered round it, hastily shaking hands here, nodding there, as he steered his course toward Princess Heinrich. I knew that Varvilliers would come to the wedding, but had not been aware that he was already in Forstadt. My companions did not notice him, but I watched his interview with my mother. Even she unbent to him, disarmed by a courtesy that overcame the protest of her judgment; she detained him in conversation nearly ten minutes, and then pointed to where we were, directing him to join us.
"Ah, here comes Varvilliers," said I. "I"m delighted to have him back.
You"ve met him, Countess?"
"Oh, yes, sire, in Paris," she answered.
For a few moments I kept my eyes from Elsa"s face and looked toward Varvilliers, smiling and beckoning. When I turned toward her she was bright and composed. He joined us, and she welcomed him with cordiality.
He launched on an account of his doings; then came to our affairs, commiserating us on the trial of our ceremonies. For a while we talked all to all; then I began to tell the Countess a little story.
Varvilliers and Elsa fell into a conversation apart. She had made him sit by her. I bent down over my chair back, to converse more easily with my Countess. All this was right enough, unless the talk were to continue general.
I do not know how long we went on thus; some time I know it was. At last it chanced that the Countess made no answer to what I said, and leaned back in her chair with a thoughtful smile. I sighed, raised my head, and looked across the room. I heard the other two in animated talk and their gay laughter; for the moment my mind was not on them. Suddenly Wetter pa.s.sed in front of me; he had once been President of the Chamber, and Princess Heinrich knew her duty. He was with William Adolphus, who seemed in extremely good spirits. Wetter paused opposite to me and bowed. I returned his salutation, but did not invite him to join us; I hoped to speak to him later. Thus it was for a bare instant that he halted. But what matters time? Its only true measure lies in what a man does in it. Wetter"s momentary halt was long enough for one of those glances of his to play over the group we made. From face to face it ran, a change of expression marking every stage. It rested at last on me. I turned my head sharply toward Elsa; her cheek was flushed; her eyes glistened; her body was bent forward in an eagerness of attention, as though she would not lose a word. Varvilliers was given over to the spirit of his talk, but he watched the sparks that he struck from her eyes. I glanced again at Wetter; William Adolphus had seized his arm and urged him forward. For a second still he stood; he tossed his hair back, laughed, and turned away. Why should he stay? He had said all that the situation suggested to him, and said it with his own merciless lucidity.
I echoed his laugh. Mine was an interruption to their talk. Elsa started and looked up; Varvilliers" face turned to me. He looked at me for a moment, then a strange and most unusual air of embarra.s.sment spread over him. The Countess did not speak, and her eyes were downcast. Varvilliers was himself again directly; he began to speak of indifferent matters; he was not so awkward as to let this incident be the occasion of his leave-taking. A minute or two pa.s.sed. I looked at him and held out my hand. At the same instant the Countess asked a signal from Elsa, and it was given. We all stood together for a moment, then they left us, she accepting his arm to cross the room. Elsa sat down again and did not speak. I found no words either, but leaned again over my chair, regarding the scene in absent moodiness. I was thinking how odd a thing it was, and how perfect, that absolute contentment of the one with the other, that mutual sufficiency, that fitting in of each to each, that ultimate oneness of soul which is the block from which is hewn love"s image. And the block is there, though by fate"s caprice it lie unshaped.
The thing had been between the Countess and myself; its virtue had availed to abolish difference of years, to rout absurdity, to threaten the strongest resolution of my mind. It was between Elsa and Varvilliers. In none other had I found it for myself; in none other would Elsa find it. It was not for her in me. Then in vain had been the questioning of her eyes, in vain the eager longing of her parted lips.
She had not ears to hear the secret of the Countess. At this moment I forgot again that my, or even her, happiness was not a relevant consideration in forming a judgment of the universe. It is, in fact, a difficult thing to remember. My pride was ablaze with hatred of being taken because I could not be refused. I was carried away by a sudden impulse. I threw myself into the chair by Elsa, saying:
"How it would surprise and scatter all these good people if you suddenly announced that you"d changed your mind, Elsa! What a rout! what a scurry! What a putting out of lights, and a pulling down of poles, and a furling up of flags, and a countermanding of orders to the butcher and the baker! Good heavens! Think of my mother"s face, or, indeed, of your mother"s face! Think of Bederhof"s face, of everybody"s face!" And I fell to laughing.
Elsa also laughed, but with a nervous discomfort. Her glance at me was short; her eyes dropped again.
"What made you think of such a thing?" she asked in a hesitating tone.
"I don"t know," said I. Then I turned and asked, "Have you never thought of it?"
"Never," she said. "Indeed, never. How could I?"
It was impossible to doubt the sincerity of her disclaimer. She seemed really shocked and amazed at the notion.
"And now! To do it now! When everything is ready!" She gave a pretty little gasp. "And go back with mother to Bartenstein!" she went on, shaking her head in horror. "How could you imagine it? Fancy Bartenstein again!"
Evidently I was preferable to Bartenstein again, to the narrow humdrum life there. No poles, no flags, no illuminations, no cheers, no dignity!
Diamonds even scarce and rare! I tried to take heart. It was something to be better than Bartenstein again.
"And what would they think of me? Oh, it"s too absurd! But of course you were joking?"
"Oh, not more than usual, Elsa. You might have found me even more tiresome than Bartenstein."
"Nonsense! It would always be better here than at Bartenstein."
Clearly there was no question in her mind on this point. Forstadt and I--let me share, since I may not engross the credit--were much better than going back to Bartenstein.
She was looking at me with an uneasy, almost suspicious air.
"What made you ask that question?" she said abruptly.
I looked round the room. Among the many groups in talk there were faces turned toward us, regarding us with a discreet good-humoured amus.e.m.e.nt.
The King forgot his duties and talked with his lady-love. Every moment b.u.t.tressed the reputation of our love match. Let it be so; it was best.
Yet the sham was curiously unpleasant to me.
"Why did you ask me that question, Augustin? You had a reason?"
"No, none; except that in forty-eight hours it will be too late to ask it."
She leaned toward me in agitated pleading.
"I do love you, Augustin. I love n.o.body so much as you--you and father."
I and father! Poor girl, how she admitted while she thought to deny! But I was full of a pity and a tenderness for her, and forgot my own pride.
"You"re so good to me; and there"s no reason why you should like me."
"Like?" said I. "A gentleman must pretend sometimes, or so it"s thought."
"Yes. What do you mean?" Pleased coquetry gleamed for a moment in her eyes. "Do you mean--love me?"