CHAPTER XIII.
[A WISE YOUNG JUDGE].
The spell which Bertha von Massenburg had cast around the inmates of Castle Osternau upon her first appearance within its walls did not fade, but grew stronger, and embraced in its charm every individual of the household, with the exception of Lieschen. Both the inspectors, Herr von Wangen and Herr Storting, and even all the servants succumbed to it. Her sweetness and gaiety were unvarying; she had a word of kindness for all, and knew exactly when to utter it.
She talked with Herr von Osternau of his farming, and displayed a degree of knowledge and judgment in such matters rare indeed in a young girl. Her entire childhood before the sequestration of her father's estates had been spent in the country. She had kept alive all her interest in country pursuits and occupations, and was never weary of introducing a discussion of her uncle's favourite topic. It was a genuine delight to the old man to be able to explain his theories and practice to her, while her large black eyes gazed intelligently into his own; and not less did he enjoy her gay talk of Königsberg and Berlin, and her affectionate, caressing way of leaning her head on his shoulder and stroking the gray hair from his forehead as she called him her dear, dear uncle Fritz.
Nor could Frau von Osternau resist the influence which Bertha exercised upon her also. There was no withstanding the girl's innocent, amiable readiness to assist in any occupation in which her aunt was engaged. She was sure to place the footstool just in the right place for Frau von Osternau's feet, and was always ready to take up dropped stitches in her knitting, or to ring the bell just when the servant was wanted, or to make herself useful and indispensable in the household in a thousand ways. Cultivated and well bred as she was, she disdained no feminine occupation. Indeed, she was a pattern for Lieschen, who had been allowed, her mother thought as she watched Bertha's ways, to run wild altogether too long. And then how perfect was her behaviour towards the gentlemen of the family! She received their homage with genuine pleasure, but never exacted it, and armed herself with a dignified reserve whenever there was the slightest risk of their attentions becoming importunate. This was especially the case with her treatment of the Lieutenant, who paid her decided court, and this often in a way which annoyed Frau von Osternau, although Bertha was never thrown off her guard, but preserved her maidenly dignity intact. On the other hand, she encouraged the shy young inspector, Herr von Wangen, by a charming degree of kindly interest in his labours.
Herr von Wangen was the only son of a wealthy landed proprietor in West Prussia. His father had sent him to Castle Osternau to learn agriculture upon a model estate, and in the hope of conquering his great natural shyness by a stay among strangers. The bashful young fellow, who at table scarcely spoke unless he was spoken to, and who rarely accepted an invitation to join the family at tea, for fear of transgressing some rule of social life, was suddenly metamorphosed by Bertha's arrival. He began to converse at dinner with Bertha, who sat next him, and as she kindly encouraged him he soon took part in the general conversation, and gladly joined the family in the evenings.
Frau von Osternau was grateful to the girl for thus drawing out the young man. She had frequently regretted that the son of one of her husband's oldest friends should spend almost all his leisure time in his own apartment. She observed with great satisfaction the signs in Herr von Wangen of a budding attachment for her charming guest. Bertha grew in favour with her as the good lady began to indulge in such plans for the future as are dearest to the feminine mind. Herr von Wangen was, to be sure, rather young,--only a couple of years older than Bertha,--but he was an excellent match for her, since she had given up all thoughts of Herr von Ernau. It seemed doubtful to Frau von Osternau, however, whether Bertha would smile upon the young fellow's suit; there were signs that her fancy had been suddenly caught by one who, of all the men in the house, paid her the least attention,--Herr Gottlieb Pigglewitch. She must be sure about this, and so she carefully watched them both.
She soon made up her mind that Bertha was greatly interested in the tutor; her tone of voice changed when she addressed him; she never jested with him as she did with Herr Storting and Herr von Wangen, or even with the Lieutenant; she was more reserved with him, although she listened eagerly to everything that he said. When engaged in lively conversation with others she nevertheless heard every word uttered by the Candidate, and she watched him when she thought herself unobserved. She was always present during Lieschen's music-lessons; she had asked permission to be in the room, saying, with a smile, that she could not ask Herr Pigglewitch to give her actual lessons, but that he could do so indirectly if he would allow her to observe his method with Lieschen. And she also joined the afternoon walks and rides which Herr Pigglewitch took with Lieschen and Fritz. She was a bold, fearless horsewoman, and especially enjoyed the rides. She certainly knew how well she looked in her riding-habit, and how the hat upon her black curls' became her.
And it was a significant fact, Frau von Osternau thought, that Bertha was never to be induced either to play on the piano or to sing when the Candidate was present, while in his absence she was always amiably ready to do so. She evidently feared his criticism. When he played she listened in rapt attention.
All these observations confirmed Frau von Osternau in her suspicion that Bertha was in danger of falling in love with the tutor, but she was led to doubt this again by certain observations and remarks of the young girl's, which gave her much food for reflection,--remarks similar to those which had so shocked her uncle Sastrow, and which were exceedingly singular in the mouth of a lovely young girl, since they betokened a perfectly materialistic conception of life and its duties.
Bertha was wont in conversation to play the part of a listener; she was usually reserved in the expression of her own views, and it was only when very much interested that she took a lively part in any discussion, but then she was apt to become eager and to express herself with reckless frankness. Thus at times she advanced opinions which shocked Frau von Osternau no less than they had Herr von Sastrow.
One evening, when the conversation turned upon a distant relative of Herr von Osternau, a beautiful young girl of an ancient noble family, who had just become the wife of a poor young bourgeois councillor, with whom she had long been carrying on a compromising love-affair, a sharp war of words had arisen between Herr von Osternau and the Lieutenant, the former expressing his great satisfaction in the marriage as the only atonement for the past, while Albrecht severely denounced the mésalliance with a poor man from the people. Bertha agreed eagerly with the Lieutenant, declaring that a daughter of an ancient and noble race might be pardoned for yielding, in a moment of weakness, to an impulse of the heart, in bestowing her love upon a man her inferior in rank, but that she acted unpardonably in degrading herself and her family by a marriage with this inferior, especially if he were poor. There was only one thing which could justify such a mésalliance, and that was immense wealth on the part of the inferior in rank,--wealth that could reinstate in splendour an impoverished family of noble descent. The present Frau Councillor had been both unprincipled and foolish: unprincipled in forgetting what was due to her noble descent, and foolish in forgetting what was due to herself. The highest aim of existence was enjoyment, and it was unpardonable folly to resign all the delights which wealth could procure for the sake of indulging in a brief dream of love from which one must soon awake to bitter repentance and misery.
Frau von Osternau listened in dismay; her favourable opinion of Bertha was shaken by her avowal of such sentiments, but the unpleasant impression faded when Bertha immediately afterwards showed herself so sweet-tempered and charming that it was impossible to resist her. Frau von Osternau could not but think that in her interest the young girl had been led to say more than she meant; it was a pity, but excusable; she was sure that Bertha herself would never conform her actions to the opinion which she had asserted, and the girl's evident interest in Herr Pigglewitch seemed to her suspicious.
The good lady could not decide as to the sentiments entertained by the tutor for her guest, indeed the young man was more of a puzzle to her than ever. Immediately after his arrival at the castle he had become quite a different creature, had been transformed from an awkward, uncouth Candidate into a courteous, well-bred gentleman, a restlessness of manner peculiar to him had entirely vanished, and now since Bertha's arrival he had undergone another metamorphosis.
His eyes again showed the same restless gleam that animated them when he was agitated, the scornful smile, so long absent from his lips, again often hovered there, accompanying some sneering remark, and there was a want of repose about him which made itself especially apparent when he improvised upon the piano. Frau von Osternau often seemed to hear the cry of a wounded heart in the strange, wild melodies that echoed beneath his fingers, and anon she would be carried away by the din and strife of a chaos of tones which harassed and troubled her, and from which there was no escape save by a crashing dissonance. His playing was always admirable, but it no longer brought refreshment to the mind, it was bewildering, confusing. Lieschen was profoundly aware of this; her eyes did not fill with tears as she listened, but her cheek paled and her downcast glance would avoid that of the player when he had finished. When he noticed this he would turn away with a shiver, and pass his hand across his eyes as if to brush away some cloud, then, seating himself again at the instrument, he would evoke from it such touching sounds as quickly reconciled Frau von Osternau to the artist.
His conduct towards Bertha grew to be as contradictory as his music. When he gazed at her his eyes would glow darkly, but when they were turned upon Lieschen their fire faded, a happy expression took its place, too often to be banished again by the mere sound of Bertha's voice. He seldom appealed directly to her in conversation; he even avoided all tête-à-têtes with her, but what he said to others was constantly addressed indirectly to her. And this was frequently the case, as Lieschen told her mother, during their rides. The Herr Candidate addressed Fritzchen or herself, but what he said was meant for Bertha.
In short, Pigglewitch had become entirely changed since Bertha's arrival; he was the same only in one respect,--his duties were most scrupulously fulfilled. Over Fritzchen he exercised the same affectionate superintendence, beneath which his little pupil made extraordinary progress, and he acted with the same conscientiousness in his instruction of Lieschen. During the music-lessons he had neither eyes nor words for the lovely Fräulein von Massenburg, he seemed to live only for his pupil, and Lieschen showed her gratitude by giving him her undivided attention.
These lesson-hours had come to be the happiest time of the day for the young girl, who had so lately been little more than a careless, happy child. Since Bertha's coming to the castle there had been a change in the daughter of the house, which filled her mother with anxiety. The girl no longer ran races with Fritzchen when lessons were over, her merry laughter no longer came floating up every day from the lawn, the charming romp, who had deserved and received many a loving reproof from her father, had vanished, and in her stead there was a serious, gentle, sensible maiden, almost too serious, her mother thought, remembering her former playfulness. It did not please Frau von Osternau that Lieschen had suddenly lost all pleasure in her childish games, that she would sit for a long while at times over her embroidery, not always working, sometimes in a profound revery, with hands clasped in her lap. Of what could she be thinking? Her mother would have given much to know; such knowledge might have relieved her of a great dread,--a dread never quite laid to rest in her mind,--lest Lieschen should cherish a warmer affection for her music-teacher than her parents could approve,--an affection now shown, perhaps, by an awakening jealousy of Bertha von Massenburg.
This really seemed the only explanation of the change wrought in the young girl. This might be the reason why Lieschen withstood the charm which Bertha exercised upon all the other members of the household. She alone treated Bertha with a scrupulously courteous reserve, which was not to be overcome by any effort on the part of the guest to win her affection.
"What is your objection to Bertha Massenburg?" Frau von Osternau asked her daughter one morning when they were alone together, Bertha having accompanied her uncle in his walk in the fields. "You treat her with a coldness and reserve that she really does not deserve at your hands. She will surely be offended by your manner some day."
"I think I show her all the courtesy that is her due," Lieschen replied, gravely, looking up from her work. "She has never heard an unkind word from me."
"That is not what I mean. It only seems to me that you might be more cordial and frank to so amiable a girl."
"I cannot feign what I do not feel."
"I do not understand you, Lieschen. Bertha treats you with special sweetness. She is fond of you, and shows that she is so by not being hurt by your coldness."
"I do not believe in the sincerity of her sweetness and cordiality. Now and then when she forgets herself in the heat of conversation she betrays her real thoughts and feelings, and a curtain suddenly seems lifted from before her inner self. Do you not remember how she spoke a while ago of Valerie Laupe?"
Frau von Osternau looked at her daughter in surprise, and, more for something to say than from a desire to defend Bertha, replied, "We ought not to weigh every hasty word with such nicety. One often says more in the heat of argument than reason would justify; you do so sometimes, as every one does. What, for example, should we think of Herr Pigglewitch, if all his words were so harshly criticised?"
Lieschen's cheek flushed slightly, but she looked up at her mother and replied, without embarrassment, "They are both puzzles to me. In a certain way they are alike,--the true self of each seems hidden behind a veil; but when this veil is slightly lifted in his case I seem to see a poor, harassed heart, a spirit longing for the noble and the true. In Bertha's case the veil covers an abyss of selfishness, avarice, and love of pleasure."
"Good heavens, child! what puts such thoughts, such words into your head?" Frau von Osternau exclaimed in dismay.
"I cannot tell, mother. I have been thinking a great deal about these two people, and I have come to this conclusion."
Her mother did not continue the conversation, but at night, when she was alone with her husband, she repeated to him word for word what Lieschen had said. "If that extraordinary man had only never come inside our doors,"--it was thus she concluded her tale. "He, and not Bertha, is to blame for the sad transformation which our child has undergone. For my sake, Fritz, dismiss him. Pay him his salary for an entire year; only let him leave the house."
Herr von Osternau shook his head. "Do you think Lieschen conceals anything from you?" he asked.
"No, assuredly not."
"Did she ever complain that he had spoken to her otherwise than as a teacher should speak to a pupil, or have you ever observed that he has in his lessons or in social intercourse with us transgressed any law of good breeding?"
"I cannot say that he has, but----"
"Has he ever neglected the duties which he undertook to perform when he entered our house? Is he not a conscientious and affectionate tutor for Fritzchen? Has he ever done anything for which he could justly be reproved?"
"No. I do not ask you to dismiss him abruptly. If you would pay him his salary for an entire year----"
"Do you suppose that a man of honour could be compensated by a year's salary for being turned from our door? I think there was a great deal of truth in what Lieschen said of him, and I should never forgive myself for wounding him by injustice. He certainly is not a happy man. So long as he does his duty we must do ours. Good-night, Emma."