"If you please, miss, will you come down in the library?"
"What is it, Denning?"
"Mr. Stanton wishes to see you at once, miss," said Denning in a low voice, so that Von Barwig could not hear.
"My father?" repeated Helene. "Please don"t go till I return, Herr Von Barwig," and Helene left the music master alone.
Chapter Twenty-two
Helene found her father awaiting her in the library. His manner was excessively nervous. He seemed to be labouring under a strain.
"Sit down," he said briefly. His voice was harsh, his manner commanding. Helene sat down. In front of Mr. Stanton lay a pile of letters. He pointed to them.
"Here are your letters to this man, and his letters to you. They were withheld by my orders."
"Then Joles," began Helene.
"I am responsible, not Joles," he interrupted.
Helene arose; the blood mounted to her face.
"Why have you done this?" she demanded.
"I wished to bring your a.s.sociation with this man to an end. I ordered him to be turned from the house, his letters kept from you and yours from him."
"But, father, why did you not come to me?" cried Helene.
"Please don"t interrupt me!" thundered Stanton. "I won"t have that man in this house! Please understand that. Send for him, tell him you do not wish to continue your lessons, and dismiss him definitely, finally."
"Father, I cannot." Helene could scarcely go on.
"You must, Helene; you must," insisted Mr. Stanton.
"I cannot!" she repeated.
"You can say you have changed your mind."
"Impossible!"
"But I tell you you must! I won"t have this man in my house again."
"What has he done? Tell me, what has he done?" demanded Helene.
Stanton paused. "He--he is a scoundrel, a disgrace to society--to--to--" Then in sudden fury he went on: "When a man gets down to playing for a mere pittance, as he does, in a disreputable theatre, and dwelling in a squalid neighbourhood, with low companions----"
"Can he help his poverty?" interrupted Helene, now thoroughly aroused.
"The man has pride, he refuses to take money; he is a gentleman! You have no right to insult him because he is poor."
"There are other reasons," said Stanton quickly.
"What are they?"
Stanton was silent.
"What are they?" again demanded Helene.
"It is enough that I know," replied Stanton. "It is enough for you to know that I know."
Helene shook her head. "It is not enough," she said.
"If you don"t tell him to go at once, you will force me to have him ordered from the house!"
"Father," Helene was almost calm now. "Tell me, for G.o.d"s sake, tell me what has he done?"
Stanton bit his lip with anger. The obstinacy of the girl was fast driving him to extremes. "He is not fit to be in this house," he almost shouted, "or to a.s.sociate with gentlefolk."
"But he is so good, so gentle! How can I suddenly tell him to go?
Father, I cannot believe that."
"You don"t believe me? Has it come to a question of my word--your father"s word against a stranger, a beggar! Do you know I can have the man put in prison?"
Helene stopped suddenly; she was very quiet now. "Is it as bad as that?" she asked almost in a whisper. Stanton was silent. "Father, can you--put--him--in prison?"
Stanton felt that it was necessary to convince her.
"I think the situation speaks for itself," he said. He, too, was calm now, for he felt that he had to resort to extreme measures. "The man leaves his own country, where he is successful, and comes here, and lives with the lowest of the low. Would a man do that if he were not--afraid--or in danger?"
Helene"s heart sank.
"Don"t say any more, don"t please!" She felt that her father had good reasons for speaking as he did.
"If you had only told me before," she said plaintively; "if you had only confided in me it would have saved so much suffering. Why didn"t you speak before, father?"
Stanton shook his head.
"Very well, you--you shall be obeyed, father." she said in a low voice. "I"ll tell him that you----"
"No," he interrupted quickly. "No! I don"t wish him to know that I"m in any way cognisant of his presence here. Simply dismiss him and let him go. Above all, make him understand that he is never to come here again."
Helene nodded. "If his coming here is likely to endanger his liberty, he must not come," she thought Stanton thanked her, but she did not hear his words. Silently, sorrowfully, she returned to the music room, where she found Von Barwig awaiting her.
The old man looked up as she entered the room. She came toward him and looked at him a few moments in silence. The same tender, gentle smile that had so endeared him to her from the first was on his face. She could not bear to look at him, so she turned her gaze away and spoke without seeing him.
"Herr Von Barwig," she said, and then she paused. It was so hard, so very hard, to say what she had to say. He stood there expectantly, waiting for her to continue, as a little child looks up at the sound of its mother"s voice.