Under a Charm.
Vol. II.
by E. Werner.
PART THE SECOND.
(_Continued_.)
UNDER A CHARM.
CHAPTER III.
At an early hour on the following morning the Castle guests, most of whom had spent the night beneath its roof, took their departure; only Count Morynski and his daughter remained at Wilicza. As the young proprietor"s arrival had surprised them there, courtesy required that they should address to him some words of greeting before leaving his house; the Count, however, considered that, in the utter absence of all intimacy between himself and his nephew, he would be acting with propriety in leaving the latter exclusively to his mother for the first few hours succeeding their meeting, and Wanda was even less eager to a.s.sert the claims of relationship.
The Princess was alone with her two sons. She sat in her accustomed place in the green drawing-room, with Waldemar opposite her, and Leo standing by his brother"s chair--to all appearances a peaceful, united family group.
"No, Waldemar, I really cannot forgive you for this," said the lady, in reproachful tones. "To stop at the steward"s! As though your castle were not at your command at any instant of the day! as though it would not have been a pleasure to me to introduce you to my guests! I am almost tempted to look on what you term a mark of consideration for me as something quite the contrary. I really cannot let your fear of causing a disturbance serve you as a pretext."
"Well, let my disinclination to come into a crowd of strangers the moment I arrived serve me as such, then," replied Waldemar. "I really was not in the humour for it."
"Have you still the old antipathy to everything like society? In that case we shall have to narrow our connections here at Wilicza."
"Not on my account, I hope. I beg of you not to think of me in the matter--only you must excuse me if I do not put in a very frequent appearance in your _salon_. I have, it is true, learned to submit to the exigencies of society when there is no avoiding them, but they are still troublesome to me."
The Princess smiled. This tendency, of which she had so long been aware, accorded exactly with her wishes. Indeed, everything in this first meeting went to show that she had not erred in her judgment of Waldemar, that his nature had remained fundamentally the same. There was no marked change even in his personal appearance. His great height was more noticeable now than formerly, because he carried himself more erect, towering far above his tall and slender brother; and the unripeness, the undeveloped lines of youth had given place to a perfect manliness of form and bearing which, however, failed to make him more genial or interesting than of yore. Those plain irregular features could never be attractive, although the pa.s.sion and vehemence, which in the old days so often disfigured them, had yielded to an expression of cold gravity. One decided advantage Waldemar possessed; his light hair, "the enormous yellow mane," as Wanda used satirically to call it, had been cultivated and restrained in its luxuriant wild abundance. Its thick ma.s.ses were brushed back close to his head, leaving the forehead and temples free; and a fine powerful brow it indisputably was, arched over the sombre eyes, the one beauty Nature had vouchsafed to the young man. The rough abruptness of his manner had been in a great measure toned down. It was evident that he was now familiar with the usages of society, and able to comply with them without visible constraint; but there the list of his acquisitions during these years of University life and of travel ended. An ornament to a drawing-room Waldemar Nordeck would never be. There was a stand-off, repellant air about him, a lack of affability; his whole being bore too distinctly the stamp of a close and sombre reserve for any one ever to feel instinctively drawn to him.
The contrast between the brothers was even more striking than in former days. Leo, too, had left far behind him the boy of seventeen; but if, even at that early age, his appearance had extracted from old Witold the admission that his enemy"s son was "a picture of a boy," he now displayed all the beauty of his people--a beauty which, where it exists at all, frequently attains to a rare perfection. Somewhat shorter, but far more slender than Waldemar, he possessed in fullest measure all those advantages which his elder brother lacked: the n.o.bility of feature, bringing into strongest relief his speaking likeness to his mother; the splendid dark eyes, which flashed fire with every pa.s.sing emotion; the dark wavy hair, lying in soft and shining curls about his brow. There was a touch of the romantic about the young Prince"s whole person, happily married to the distinction and refinement of a modern gentleman. Leo Baratowski was a perfect type of beauty and of chivalry.
"So you have actually brought your old tutor with you?" said he, gaily.
"Well, I wonder at your taste, Waldemar. I was glad when my worthy preceptor had nothing more to do with me, and should never have dreamed of taking him as my companion to the University, still less as my fellow-traveller."
The frigid constraint which always characterised young Nordeck"s manner when conversing with his mother, relaxed to a great extent now, as he turned to the last speaker.
"You must not look on Dr. Fabian merely in the light of a tutor, Leo.
He has long ago given up teaching, and now devotes himself solely to his historical studies. It was only his want of means which made him take to his old profession. He has always been a scholar at heart; but has never known how to turn his learning to practical account, so there was nothing left him but to turn "bear-leader.""
"His vocation was evident enough. He had all the pedantry and dry-as-dust manner of a _savant_," said the Princess.
"Were you not satisfied with his reports?" asked Waldemar, coolly.
"With what reports?"
"Those the Doctor used to send you when I first went to the University," returned Waldemar. "He was in some doubt as to what you really wanted to know, so I advised him to keep you thoroughly informed on the subject of my studies. He was explicit enough, I think."
The Princess was startled. "You seem to be acquainted with all the details of our correspondence, and even to have--superintended it to some degree."
"Dr. Fabian has no secrets from me, and I thought it natural you would like to hear about my studies," replied Waldemar, so equably that a sudden suspicion of his having possibly seen through certain plans of hers in former days vanished again from his mother"s mind. She fancied she had detected irony in his first remarks, but a glance at that imperturbable face rea.s.sured her. Impossible! Neither he nor his whilom tutor had the wit to penetrate so deeply below the surface.
"Leo is delighted at the idea of acting as your guide in your shooting expeditions in and about Wilicza," said she, changing the subject. "I must make up my mind to see very little of either of you for the next few weeks."
Waldemar looked up at his brother, who was still leaning against his chair.
"I am only afraid, Leo, that your idea of sport will prove to be very different to mine. Even as a sportsman, you will be anxious to preserve a gentlemanly appearance, so as to be ready in case of need to go straight from the woods into a drawing-room, whereas, with me, you would have to go through the bushes, and often enough through the bogs and fens, after the game. Who knows how that would suit you!"
The young Prince laughed. "I think you will find that sport here in the woods of Poland is rather a more serious thing than on your peaceful old hunting-grounds at Altenhof. You will soon be able to judge whether one finds one"s self always in such irreproachable feather after, say, a chance encounter with the wolves. I have had many an adventure, and as Wanda is also pa.s.sionately fond of hunting ... You know she is here, at Wilicza?"
The question came suddenly, unexpectedly; it was put with a sort of eager anxiety. Waldemar"s tone, on the other hand, was calm and tranquil as he replied--
"Countess Morynska? Yes. I heard so."
"Countess Morynska!" repeated the Princess, reproachfully. "She is your cousin, and will soon stand to you in a closer relationship. Leo, you will tell your brother that which is still a secret as regards the rest of the world?"
"Certainly," answered the young Prince, quickly; "you must be told, of course, Waldemar, that--that Wanda is engaged to me."
His eyes scanned his brother"s face closely as he said the last words, and for one second the Princess"s keen look rested on it also; but not the slightest trace of agitation was to be seen there. Waldemar"s features remained absolutely immovable. His manner, too, was unruffled; he did not even alter his easy, half-negligent att.i.tude.
"Engaged to you? Really?"
"It does not appear to surprise you," said Leo, rather disconcerted at this equanimity.
"No," replied Waldemar, coldly. "I know you were always attached to your cousin, and can imagine that neither my mother nor Count Morynski would place obstacles in the way. I wish you all happiness, Leo."
The young Prince took the offered hand with real and hearty warmth. It had been rather painful to him to touch upon this topic. He felt he had done his brother a wrong, that he and Wanda had trifled with his feelings most thoughtlessly and unkindly; and the calm with which Waldemar received the news afforded him considerable relief. The Princess, who herself attached no importance to these bygone matters, but perceived that the subject should not be treated at any length, hastened to introduce another.
"You will see Wanda and her father no later than to-day," said she, carelessly. "We have, of course, a good deal of communication with Rakowicz. But, in the first place, what do you think of your Wilicza?
You did not keep your word with us. When we were at C---- you promised to pay us a visit in the following spring, and full four years have elapsed before you have really made up your mind to come."
"I have always meant to perform my promise, and never succeeded in doing it."
He got up and walked to the great centre window. "But you are right, Wilicza has grown pretty nearly strange to me. I must go over the whole place in the course of the next few days, so as to get to feel at home here."
The Princess grew attentive. "The whole place? I do not think you will find much to interest you, except the forests, which will have a special charm for so ardent a sportsman as yourself. With regard to Wilicza itself, the steward will give you all the information you require. He has probably told you that he intends giving up his post?"
The question was put incidentally; there was no sign of the suspense with which the answer to it was awaited.
"Yes," said Waldemar, looking through the window absently. "He is going in the spring."
"I am sorry for it for your sake, all the more that I am the indirect cause of your losing a clever and capable _employe_. Frank will, in many respects, be hard to replace. His management, for instance, is generally considered quite a model for imitation. Unfortunately, his activity requires the permanent absenteeism of his princ.i.p.al, for he can suffer no other authority where he is. His people complain bitterly of his want of consideration, and I myself have had proofs of it. I was forced, at last, seriously to remind him that neither the Castle nor the Princess Baratowska was under his sway, and it was one of these scenes which brought about his resignation. Now all depends upon which side you take, Waldemar. I think the steward would not be disinclined to stay on, if you were to accord him permission to play the master as heretofore. I shall, of course, abide by your decision."
Young Nordeck waived the subject. "I only arrived yesterday evening, and cannot possibly understand all the bearings of the case as yet," he replied, with a significant gesture. "If Frank wishes to go, I shall not keep him here; and if differences between himself and the Castle are the cause of his departure, you do not imagine, I hope, that I shall put my mother in a false position by taking part against her and siding with the steward."
The Princess breathed freely. She had not been without uneasiness with regard to Frank. Her son was only to have entered into relations with him when he had learned to see with her eyes, and had become thoroughly prejudiced against his agent. With the latter"s straightforward plain-speaking, and the young proprietor"s violent temper, which could not brook the slightest contradiction, a collision would then have been inevitable; but now this unlooked-for and most unbecoming visit to the manor-farm had marred the whole plan. Waldemar"s manner conveyed, however, that, during the short time he had been there, he had entered into no discussion. He appeared to attach little importance to the steward"s going or staying, and possessed, as it seemed, sufficient sense of decorum to range himself at the outset, and without any preliminary examination, on his mother"s side.
"I knew I could count upon you," she declared, well satisfied with this first meeting. Everything was fitting in to meet her wishes. "But we have fallen at once on this disagreeable business topic, as if we had nothing better to occupy us. I wished ... Oh, you are there, Bronislaus!" She turned to her brother, who at this moment entered the room with his daughter on his arm.
At the last words Waldemar had also turned. For an instant he seemed confounded, so strange to him was the tall proud figure now standing before him. He had only known the maiden of sixteen, with her fresh, youthful graces; the present vision may well have appeared altogether new to him. "She gives promise of beauty," the Princess Baratowska had said of her niece; but that lady herself could hardly have foreseen how fully her prophecy would be justified. Beauty, in this case, did not, it is true, consist in the regularity of outline, for Wanda"s features were not regular. The Slavonic type was too distinctly portrayed in them, and they differed considerably from the Greek or Roman ideal; but, nevertheless, there was an irresistible charm in the still somewhat pale face which none could arm himself against. Her raven hair, dressed very simply in opposition to the reigning fashion, was by this unstudied art displayed in all its rich abundance; but the young Countess"s mightiest seduction lay in her dewy dark eyes, which gazed out, clear and full, from under the long eyelashes. There was more in them now than childish petulance and childish gaiety. Whether those deep dark eyes were veiled in dreamy stillness, or beaming radiant with pa.s.sionate ardour, enigmatic and dangerous were they ever. One glance at them would show how they could fascinate and hold captive without hope of rescue, and the Countess Morynska had too often tested their power not to be thoroughly conscious of its extent.