Perhaps Athalie knew that this cruel jest was not calculated to enhance her charms, and tried to lessen its effect. "Come, Timea," she said; "I only waited for you. Come and put on my veil."
The bridal veil!
Timea took the veil with stiffened fingers, and went toward Athalie. It was to be fastened to her hair with a golden arrow.
Timea"s hand trembled, and the arrow was heavy: it would not go through the thick hair. At an impatient movement of Athalie"s its blunt point p.r.i.c.ked the lovely bride"s head slightly.
"You are too stupid for anything!" cried Athalie, angrily, and struck Timea on the hand. Her eyebrows contracted. Scolded, struck, on such a day, and in the presence of that man! Two heavy drops formed in her eyes and rolled down her white cheek. I trow those two drops turned the scale held by the Great Judge"s hand, from which happiness and misery are measured out to man.
Athalie tried to excuse her hastiness by her feverish excitement. A bride may be pardoned if she is nervous and irritable at the last moment. The witnesses, the bride-maids, are ready, and the bride"s father has not yet arrived.
Every one was uneasy; only the bridegroom was quite composed.
A message had come from the church that the pope was ready and waiting for the bridal pair. Already the bells are ringing, as is the custom at grand weddings. Athalie"s heart beats high with vexation that her father does not come. One messenger after another is sent for him. At last his gla.s.s coach is seen approaching. Here he is at last!
The bride steps up to the mirror once more, to see if her veil falls in the right folds. She puts her bracelets and necklace straight.
Meanwhile, a curious sound is heard below, as if many people were rushing upstairs together. Mysterious noises and smothered exclamations are heard in the next room; every one presses thither; the bride-maids and friends run out to see what it is; but it is remarkable that none of them return.
Athalie hears her mother scream. Well, she generally screams even when she is talking quietly.
"Do see what has happened," says Athalie to her bridegroom.
The captain goes out, and Athalie remains alone with Timea, the suppressed whispering grows louder. At last even Athalie becomes uneasy.
The bridegroom returns. He remains standing at the open door, and says thence to his bride, "Herr Brazovics is dead."
The bride throws her arms into the air and falls swooning backward. If Timea had not caught her in her arms, she would have struck her head on the marble table behind her. The lovely, haughty face of the bride is whiter even than Timea"s; and Timea, while she holds Athalie"s head on her breast, thinks, "See how the beautiful wedding-dress lies in the dust!"
The bridegroom stands at the door and looks at Timea, then turning away suddenly, he leaves the house amid the universal confusion.
He does not even take the trouble to lift his bride from the ground.
CHAPTER VIII.
TIMeA.
"How the beautiful dress lies in the dust!"
Instead of the wedding feast there followed the funeral banquet, and in the place of the embroidered robe came the mourning garments.
Black! The color which makes rich and poor alike.
Athalie and Timea were dressed alike in black. And if the mourning had consisted only in the wearing of its outward garb! But with the sudden death of Herr Athanas, all the birds of ill omen had collected, as the ravens come and sit in long lines on the roof before a great storm.
The first croak was, that the bridegroom sent back his engagement-ring.
He did not appear at the funeral to lend his bride a supporting arm as she followed the coffin half fainting; for in this little town it was the custom that the mourners, whether gentle or simple, should follow their dead on foot and with bare heads to the burial-ground.
There were some who blamed this course of action in Katschuka, and did not consider it an excuse that, as Herr Brazovics had not kept to the condition of handing over the dowry beforehand, the bridegroom was justified in considering himself freed from his obligations. There are a few narrow-minded people who can find no excuse for such a withdrawal.
Then came the ravens and sat on the roof. One creditor after another appeared and demanded his money. And then the whole house of cards collapsed.
The first who spoke of a suit at law blew the concern into the air. When once the avalanche begins to roll, it never stops till it gets to the foot of the hill.
It was soon ascertained that the fears of the bridegroom, who had got safely away, were only too well founded. In the affairs of Herr Brazovics there figured so many investments apparently sound but really unprofitable, such false calculations, unsecured debts, and imaginary securities, that when order was brought into this chaos, the whole property did not suffice to satisfy the creditors. Besides, it came to light that he had used moneys intrusted to his honor: orphans" capital, church endowments, hospital funds, the deposits of his ship captains.
The floods rose over the roof of the house, and these floods brought mire and dirt with them; and what they left behind was--shame.
Timea too lost her whole property. The orphan"s trust-money had never been invested at all.
Every day lawyers, magistrates" clerks, bailiffs, came to the house.
They sealed each box and closet; they did not ask the ladies for permission to visit them; unannounced they bounced in at any hour of the day, ransacked the rooms, and gave vent to reproaches and curses on the dead man, so loud that the mourning women could not but hear them. All they found in the house was taken out in turn and appraised, down to the pictures, with and without their frames; even the wedding-dress, without a bride, did not escape this fate. And then they decided on the date, and had it posted on the door, on which everything was to be sold by auction--everything, not excepting the embroidered dress. The last lot would be the house itself; and when it was sold the former owners could go their way wheresoever they chose, and the beautiful Athalie might look up to Heaven and ask where she was henceforth to lay her haughty head. Where indeed?--she, the orphaned daughter of a fraudulent bankrupt, to whom not even her good name was left, whom no one wanted, not even herself. Of all the treasures she possessed, only two valuable souvenirs remained which she had hidden from the bailiffs--an onyx box and the returned engagement-ring. The box she had concealed in her pocket; and when alone at night, she drew it out and looked at its precious contents. There were all sorts of poison in it. By some odd freak, Athalie had bought it in one of her Italian journeys, and while it was in her possession she thought she could defy the world. She imagined herself able to destroy her own life at any moment, and this idea made her feel as a despot to her parents and her lover. If they do not do all she wishes, the box is there; she need only choose the swiftest poison, and in the morning they would find her a corpse. Now a great temptation a.s.sailed her; life lay before her as a desolate waste; the father had made his child a beggar, and the bridegroom had forsaken his bride.
Athalie rose from her bed: she looked into the open box, and sought among the various poisons.
Then she suddenly discovered that she was afraid of death! She had not strength to cast life away; she gazed at herself in the gla.s.s--was all that beauty to be annihilated?
She shut the box and put it away. Then she brought out the other jewel, the ring. There is a poison in that too, and of a yet more deadly sort, for it kills the soul. But she has the courage to swallow it--to intoxicate herself with it. She had loved the man who gave her this ring--not only so, but she was still madly in love with him. The poison-box gives bad advice--the ring even worse. Athalie begins to dress; there is no one to help her--the servants have all left the house, Frau Sophie and Timea are sleeping in the maids" room; the official seal has been attached to the doors of the public apartments.
Athalie does not wake the sleepers, but dresses alone. How far the night has pa.s.sed she can not tell; no one winds up the splendid clocks, now that they are to pa.s.s under the hammer. One points to eight o"clock, another to three, but it does not matter. Athalie finds the key of the street-door, and creeps out, leaving all open behind her. Who is likely to be robbed? and besides, who would, like her, venture alone in the dark streets?
At that time the streets of Komorn were decidedly dark at night. One lamp at the Trinity pillar, one at the town-hall, and a third at the main guard--no others anywhere. Athalie takes the road to the Promenade, the so-called Anglia. It is a region of evil reputation. A dark lane between the town and the fort, in which at night fallen women with painted faces and disheveled hair loiter, when they are driven from their haunts on the "little square." Athalie is sure to meet such creatures if she goes by the Anglia. But she is not afraid. The poison she sucked out of the golden ring has taken away from her fear of these impure forms. One only shrinks from the gutter as long as one has kept clear of it.
At the corner stands a sentry: she must try to creep past him without being seen and challenged.
The corner house has a colonnade leading to the square. Here in the day-time the bread-sellers have their stand. Athalie chooses her path through this arcade, as it hides her from the sentry"s eyes.
In walking quickly she stumbled over something. It was a ragged woman, quite drunk, lying across the threshold. The half-human creature whom her foot touched gave vent to filthy curses. Athalie took no notice, but stepped aside from the obstacle; she felt easier when she turned the corner toward the Promenade. The light of the main-guard lamp had now disappeared, and she found herself under the gloom of the trees. Through the juniper-bushes shone a ray from a lighted window. Athalie followed that guiding star. There lay the dwelling of the engineer officer. She seized the lion-headed knocker at the little door, over which was painted the double eagle; her hand trembled as she raised it in order to knock gently, and at the sound the soldier-servant came out and opened to her.
"Is the captain in?" asked Athalie.
The fellow nodded, grinning. Yes--he was at home. He had often seen Athalie, and many a pretty bright coin had rolled into his hand from her delicate fingers, when he carried the beautiful lady flowers or choice fruit from his master.
The captain was up and at work; his room was simply furnished, without any luxury. On the walls hung maps and surveying instruments; the strictest military simplicity surprise the in-comer, as well as a penetrating smell of tobacco, which adhered to the books and furniture, and was perceptible even when no one was smoking. Athalie had never seen the captain"s room. The house to which he was to have taken her on their marriage-day was very different, but it had been taken possession of by the creditors with all its contents on that very morning. She had only looked in at the window when she walked with her mother on the Promenade in the afternoon to hear the band play.
Herr Katschuka started up in alarm. He was not prepared for a lady"s visit; the three top b.u.t.tons of his violet tunic were unb.u.t.toned, contrary to regulations, and he had laid aside his horsehair cravat.
Athalie remained standing at the door with hanging arms and her head down: the captain hastened to her.
"In G.o.d"s name, fraulein, what are you doing here? What are you here for?" She could not speak--she sunk on his breast and sobbed wildly. He did not embrace her. "Sit down, fraulein," said he, leading her to the plain leather sofa, and then his first care was to put on his cravat again. He drew a chair near the divan and sat down opposite Athalie.
"What do you want, fraulein?"
She dried her tears and looked with her radiant eyes long at the captain, as if thus to tell him why she came. Will he not understand?
No, he understood nothing. When she was obliged to break silence, she began to tremble as if with ague.
"Sir," she said, with a quivering voice, "as long as I was prosperous, you were very devoted to me. Is nothing left of that affection?"