The Princess bit her lips. "Who told you so? The steward, I suppose."
The young man was silent. His mother went on in a tone of some irritation.
"I do not, of course, wish to influence you in the choice of the persons you employ; but, in your own interest, I must warn you not to place such implicit faith in Frank"s calumnies. The farmer would be an inconvenient successor, that is why he intrigues against him."
"Hardly that," replied Waldemar, as calmly as before, "for he is already aware that I do not intend to give him a successor. The two German inspectors will amply suffice to look after all the details of the concern, and as to the management in chief, I shall take that in hand myself."
The Princess started. His words seemed to take her breath away.
"Yourself? That is new to me!"
"It should not be so. We have always looked forward to a time when I should take possession of my estates. That time has been deferred, owing to my stay at the University and my absence abroad; but the plan has never been given up. I know enough of farming and forestry--my guardian saw to that. I shall doubtless have some trouble in getting used to the local customs and affairs, but Frank will be at hand to help me till the spring."
He made these remarks in a nonchalant tone, as though he were saying the most natural things in the world, and appeared so absorbed in his study of the water-colour sketches that he did not notice his mother"s consternation. She had raised herself from her negligent att.i.tude, and was looking keenly and fixedly at him, but with no better success than her niece had met with on the preceding day--nothing was to be read in that countenance.
"It is strange that you have never let fall a hint of this resolve of yours," she observed. "You led us all to believe that you were only going to pay us a short visit."
"I only intended paying a short visit at first, but I see that the hand of the master is wanted here. More than this," he went on after a pause, "I have something to say to you, mother."
He shut the book, and threw it down on the table. Now for the first time it occurred to the Princess that Wanda"s instinct had, perhaps, after all, seen more clearly in this case than her own penetrating and usually unfailing glance. She felt the storm coming, but she at once prepared to meet it, and the resolved expression of her face showed beyond a doubt that, in any struggle with her, her son would have a hard fight of it.
"Say on, then," she said, coldly. "I am ready to listen."
Waldemar had risen now and fixed his eyes sternly upon her. "When, four years ago, I offered you Wilicza as a home, I felt bound to give my mother a well-defined position as mistress of the Castle. The estates, however, remained my property, I suppose?"
"Has any one ever disputed it?" asked the Princess. "I imagine no one has ever raised a doubt as to your right to your estates."
"No, but I see the consequences now of leaving them for years in Baratowski and Morynski hands."
The Princess rose now in her turn, and faced her son with great dignity of demeanour.
"What is the meaning of this? Do you wish to make me responsible for the administration of your affairs not being such as you would wish?
Blame your guardian, who for a quarter of a century allowed the officials to run riot here in the most incredible manner. The evil effects of their neglect have not escaped my notice; but you must settle such accounts with the persons in your employ, my son, and not with me."
"With the persons in _my_ employ?" cried Waldemar, bitterly. "I think Frank is the only one who acknowledges me as master. The others, one and all, are in your service; and though perhaps they would hardly venture to refuse me obedience, I know well enough that any command of mine would be met by a host of expedients and intrigues, by a secret but active opposition, should you think proper to put your veto on it."
"You are dreaming, Waldemar," said the Princess, with a pitying and superior smile. "I did not think you were so completely under the steward"s influence; but really, I must beg of you to set some bounds to your credulity in matters relating to your mother."
"And I beg of you to give up the old attempt at stinging me into compliance," interrupted her son. "Once, it is true, you were able to mould me as you wished by setting before me fear of a foreign influence which might a.s.sume control over my actions; but since I have really had a will of my own, it has become immaterial to me whether I seem to possess one or not. I have been silent for weeks, precisely because I did not altogether put faith in the steward"s reports. I wanted to see with my own eyes--but now I ask you: Who has delivered over the farms, which, four years ago were all in German hands, to countrymen of yours on absurdly disadvantageous terms, without any guarantee, any security, against the loss they have caused, the damage they have done the land?
Who has introduced into the woods and forests a set of men who may render eminent services to your national interests, but who have cut down my revenues by one half? Who has made the steward"s position here so unbearable that he has no choice but to go? Fortunately, he possessed energy enough to call me to the rescue, or I should, in all probability, have remained away much longer, and it was high time for me to come. You have recklessly sacrificed everything to your family traditions; my officials, my fortune, my position even, for people naturally suppose that it has been done with my consent. The property was badly managed in my guardian"s time; but no permanent harm was done, for the estates possess almost inexhaustible resources in themselves; the last four years, however, under your rule, have brought them to the very verge of ruin. You must have known it. You are acute enough to see whither all this must finally lead, and energetic enough to put a stop to it, if you had really wished to do so; but such considerations could, of course, have no weight. You had only one aim and object in view--to prepare Wilicza for the coming revolution."
The Princess had listened in silence, benumbed, as it were, by amazement which grew with every minute, and was roused even more by her son"s manner than by what he said. It was not the first time such words had been spoken within those walls. The late Herr Nordeck had often enough reproached his wife with recklessly offering up all and everything at the shrine of her family traditions; he had indeed crushed in their birth many such schemes as those which were now ripe for execution, but such a scene as the present could not have taken place without the man"s nature showing itself in all its brutality. He would rage and storm, would pour forth a stream of wild threats and abusive epithets, endeavouring so to a.s.sert his authority, but never evoking from his proud, fearless wife any response other than a smile of contempt. She knew that this "parvenu" possessed neither high intelligence nor strength of character, that his hatred and partisanship were alike based on the lowest motives; and, if anything could equal her disdain of him, it was the indignation she felt that such a husband should have been forced upon her. If Waldemar had conducted himself in the same way, she would not have been in the least surprised--the fact that he did not so conduct himself was what confounded her. He stood before her in a calm, self-possessed att.i.tude, and coldly, but with telling emphasis, flung at her word after word, proof upon proof. Yet she saw that pa.s.sion was hot within him. The vein on his temple stood out ominously swollen, and his hand buried itself convulsively in the cushions of the chair by which he stood,--these were the only symptoms of his inward excitement. His look and voice betrayed nothing of it; they were completely under his control.
Some seconds pa.s.sed before the Princess answered. Her pride would not stoop to a denial or a prevarication; and, indeed, neither would have availed. Waldemar evidently knew too much; she could no longer reckon on his blindness, and was therefore compelled to take up a new position.
"You exaggerate," she replied at last. "Are you so timid that you can see a revolution brewing in your Wilicza, merely because I have sometimes used my influence in favour of my protege"s? I regret it, if some among them have abused my confidence and wrought you injury, instead of doing their duty by you; but these things happen everywhere--you are at liberty to dismiss them. What, after all, is it you reproach me with? When I came here, the estates were, to all intents and purposes, without a master. You took no interest in them, cared nothing for them; so I, as your mother, considered myself justified in taking up the reins which had fallen from your hands. It was certainly safer for me to hold them than to trust them with your paid agents. I have governed in my own fashion, I admit; but you were perfectly aware that I have always sided with my own family and my own people. I have never made a secret of it. My whole life bears witness to the fact, and to you, I should hope, I need offer no justification of my conduct. You are my son, as you are your father"s, and the blood of the Morynskis runs also in your veins."
Waldemar seemed about vehemently to protest against the a.s.sertion; but again his self-command triumphed.
"It is the first time in your life you have acknowledged my share in that n.o.ble blood," he answered, ironically; "hitherto you have only seen--and despised--the Nordeck in me. True, you have not declared so much in words; but do you think I cannot interpret looks? I have seen the expression of your eyes, as they turned from Leo and your brother to me! You have put away from you the memory of your first marriage as of some disgrace. Happy in your position as Prince Baratowski"s wife, satisfied with the love of your youngest-born, you never gave me a thought; when, later on, circ.u.mstances forced you to draw nearer me, it certainly was not I myself whom you sought. I do not reproach you with this. My father may have sinned against you in much--in so much that you can feel no affection for his son; but we must therefore leave altogether out of account sentiments which, once for all, do not exist between us. I shall shortly be obliged to prove to you that no drop of the Morynski blood runs in my veins. You may have transmitted it to Leo, but I am made of other stuff."
"I see it," said the Princess, in a low voice; "of other than I thought. I have never really known you."
He took no notice of her words. "You will understand, then, how it is that I now take the management of my affairs into my own hands," he went on. "One more question. What is the meaning of those conferences which were held in your apartments after supper yesterday evening, and which lasted far on through the night?"
"Waldemar, that concerns me alone," his mother answered in frigid self-a.s.sertion. "In my own rooms, at least, I will be mistress still."
"Absolute mistress in all that relates to your own affairs, but I will no longer give over Wilicza to serve your party aims. You hold your meetings here. Orders are issued from hence across the frontier, and messages are sent from out yonder to you in return. The Castle cellars are full of arms. You have got together a perfect a.r.s.enal below stairs."
The Princess"s face turned deadly pale at the last words, but she held her ground, heavy as was the blow. Not a muscle of her face moved as she replied, "And why do you come to me with all this? Why not rather go to L----, where the account of your discoveries would be most gladly received? You have shown such eminent talent as a spy, it could not be so very repugnant to you to turn informer!"
"Mother!" burst from the young man"s lips in accents of pa.s.sionate anger, and he struck his clenched hand violently on the back of the chair. The old fierce temper was breaking forth again, bearing down before it all the self-control acquired so laboriously during the last few years. His whole frame was shaken with agitation, and he looked so menacing in his wrath that his mother involuntarily laid her hand on the bell to summon help. This movement of hers brought Waldemar to himself. He turned away hastily and went up to the window.
Some minutes elapsed in painful silence. The Princess already felt that she had allowed herself to be carried too far--she, who was coolness, prudence itself! She saw how her son wrestled with his pa.s.sion, and what the struggle cost him; but she also saw that the man who, with such an iron energy, could by sheer force of will subdue his natural violence, that fatal inheritance from his father, was an adversary worthy of her.
When Waldemar again turned towards her, the paroxysm was past. He had crossed his arms on his breast as though, forcibly to still its heavings. His lips still worked nervously, but he had regained full command of his voice when he spoke.
"I did not think, when at that time at C---- you entrusted my brother"s future to my generosity and sense of honour--I did not then think that I should be incurring contumely such as this. Spy! Because I presumed to look into the secrets of my own Castle! I might retort with a word which would have a still worse sound. Which of us enjoys the hospitality of Wilicza, you or I? and which of us has abused it?"
The Princess looked down. Her face was sombre and very stern.
"We will not dispute about it. I have done what right and duty dictated, but it would be useless to endeavour to convince you of it.
What do you intend to do?"
Waldemar was silent for a moment, then he said in a low tone, but emphasising every word: "I shall leave this to-morrow. I have business in P---- which will detain me for a week. In that time Wilicza will be cleared of all the illicit stores it now contains; in that time all existing connections will be broken off, so far as the Castle is concerned. Transport your centre of operations to Rakowicz, or where you will, but my land shall be free of them. Immediately on my return, a second great hunt will take place here, at which the President and the officers in garrison at L---- will be invited to attend. As mistress of the house you will, no doubt, be so good as to put your name with mine to the invitations."
"Never!" declared the Princess, energetically.
"Then I shall sign them alone. In any case the guests will be invited.
It is necessary that I should at last take up a position in this matter which is agitating the whole province. It must be known in L---- on which side I am to be found. You are at liberty to be ill on the day in question, or to drive over to your brother"s--but I leave you to reflect whether it will be well to make the breach between us public, and therefore irreparable. It is still possible for us to forget this hour and this talk. I shall never remind you of it, when once I am persuaded that my demands have been complied with. It is for you to decide what you will do. I have waited until Leo should be absent, because I know that his hot temper would ill brook such a scene, and because I wish to spare him and Count Morynski the mortification of hearing from my mouth that which it had become absolutely necessary for me to say. They will take it better coming from you. It is not I who wish for a rupture."
"And if I decline to comply with the tyrannical commands you think fit to hurl at me," said the Princess, slowly; "if, to your recognised right of inheritance, I oppose my right as your father"s widow, whom an unjust, unprecedented will alone banished from a place which should have been her dower-house? I know that in a court of law I should not be able to make good my claim; but the conviction of its justice makes me feel that here, on this ground, I have no need to yield to you, and yield I will not. The Princess Baratowska, after what she has just heard from your lips, would have gone with her son, gone, never to return; but the former mistress of Wilicza maintains her right. Beware, Waldemar. I may one day place you in such a pa.s.s that you must either recall the arbitrary words you have just spoken, or give up your mother and brother to an evil fate."
"Try," said Waldemar, coldly; "but do not hold me responsible for what may then happen."
They stood face to face, their eyes fixed on each other, and it was strange that a resemblance which had hitherto escaped all those about them, with one single exception, should now have stood out in strong relief. "That brow with the singularly marked vein he has from you,"
Wanda had one day said to her aunt; and there, indeed, was the same high arch, denoting power, the same peculiar line on the temple. In her excitement the blue vein now showed distinctly on the Princess"s forehead; while on Waldemar"s it swelled forth ominously, as though all his blood in revolt were seeking vent that way. On both faces the same expression was stamped, that of an unbending determination, an iron will, prepared to carry through its purposes at any cost. Now that they were declaring war to the death, the fact that these two were mother and son became for the first time palpable, perhaps it now for the first time impressed itself strongly on their minds.
Waldemar went close up to the Princess, and laid his hand firmly on her arm.
"I have left a retreat open for my mother," he said, significantly; "but I forbid the Princess Baratowska to pursue her party machinations on my estates. If, notwithstanding what I have said, you still persist, if you drive me to an extremity, I too shall resort to stronger measures--yes, if I have to give you up, one and all ..."
Suddenly he stopped. His mother felt a thrill run through him, felt that the hand which had held hers with such an iron grasp all at once loosed its hold and fell powerless. In extreme surprise she followed the direction of his eyes, which were fixed, as though spell-bound, on the study doorway. There on the threshold stood Wanda. Unable longer to control herself, she had stepped forward, and the hasty movement had betrayed her presence.
A flash of triumph shot from the Princess"s eyes. At last the vulnerable spot in her son"s heart was found. Although in the next instant he recovered himself, and stood inflexible and unapproachable as before, it was too late; that one unguarded moment had betrayed his secret.
"Well, Waldemar?" she asked, and there was a slight sneer in her voice, "you surely are not hurt to find that Wanda has overheard our conversation? It, in a great measure, concerned her also. At any rate you owe it now both to her and to me to finish your sentence. You would give us up, one and all ..."
Waldemar had retreated a step. He now stood quite in shadow, so that his face escaped all observation.