CHAPTER LI.
"I beg of Your Highness," Adelaide commenced again, "to tell me the truth--the whole truth. You said that Herr Rojanow had returned to join the army. I had thought he would--had expected it--for it is the only thing by which he can atone for his old guilt. Has he joined the standard already?"
"Happily it has not gone so far, and that has spared me a heavy responsibility," said Egon, with supreme bitterness. "He reported to several regiments, but was refused everywhere."
"Refused! But why?"
"Because he did not dare to confess himself a German, and because a very just suspicion was raised toward the strange Roumanian. One has to be cautious at the present time that no--spies may force their way into the ranks of our armies."
"For God's sake, what do you mean?" cried Adelaide, who began now to comprehend the situation.
Egon sprang up in great excitement and drew nearer.
"If you wish, then, to know it, gracious lady--listen. Hartmut came to me and requested me to use my influence to make the entrance into one of our regiments possible to him. I refused at first, but he forced me to consent by a threat which was hardly meant seriously. I kept my word and asked one of our higher officers, whose brother was secretary to our embassy at Paris and who had just returned from there with him. This gentleman was present at our interview. He heard the name, Rojanow--inquired further into the matter and gave me disclosures; I cannot repeat them. I have loved Hartmut as I have nothing else upon this earth--have almost idolized him. I let myself be carried away by the force of his genius, and now I learn that the friend who was everything to me is a monster; that he and his mother did service as spies at Paris. Perhaps he wished to do the same in our army!"
He covered his eyes with his hand, and there was something awful in the agony of the young man whose idol had been so ruthlessly shattered.
Adelaide had risen, and the hand with which she leaned upon the back of the chair trembled.
"And what have you--has he--answered to that?"
"Do you mean Rojanow? I have not seen him since and shall not see him again. I shall spare myself and him that much. He is now at the forestry at Rodeck and awaits my answer there. I have notified him in three lines of what I learned, without adding a remark or a word. He has probably received the letter and will understand it sufficiently."
"Good God! that will drive him to his death," Adelaide burst forth. "How could you do it! How could you judge the unfortunate one without hearing him!"
"The unfortunate one!" repeated the Prince cuttingly. "Do you really consider him that?"
"Yes, for I do not hear these awful accusations for the first time. His father cast them in his face at that meeting."
"Well, if even his own father accuses him----"
"The deeply offended, deeply embittered man! He cannot have an unbiased judgment, but you--the friend of Hartmut--you, who stood so near him--you ought to have stepped in and defended him."
Egon looked with questioning surprise upon the excited lady.
"You appear to wish to do so now, Your Excellency," he said slowly. "I cannot do it, for there is too much in Hartmut's life which confirms the suspicion. It explains everything to me that has hitherto seemed mysterious. These are quite decided facts upon which the accusation is based----"
"Against the mother! She has ever been the doom--the ruin--of her son; but he did not know the shameful work to which she had fallen; he lived at her side ignorant of it. I saw how he broke down when his father uttered the awful words--how he struggled against it as in a death struggle. That was truth--that was the despair of a man who is being punished more deeply than he has transgressed. That flight--that breaking of his word--robs him now of the faith of those who stand nearest to him. But if his father and his friend both so judge him--I believe in him! It is not true! He is not guilty!"
She had drawn herself fully erect in her stormy excitement. Her cheeks glowed; her eyes sparkled, and her tone and words contained that convincing passion which only love knows when defending the loved one.
Egon stood there transfixed and looked at her. There it was--the awakening, of which he had often dreamed, Fire and life glowed there now--a blooming world arose from the ice; but it was another who had called it forth.
"I do not dare to decide as to whether you are right, gracious lady," said the Prince in a toneless voice, after a brief silence. "I only know one thing. Whether Hartmut be guilty or not, he is enviable in this hour."
Adelaide shrank back; she understood the hint and lowered her head mutely before the reproachful glance.
"I came to say farewell," continued Egon. "I intended to add a question--a prayer--to this leave-taking, but that is over now. I have only to bid you farewell."
Adelaide raised her eyes, in which hot tears glistened, and offered her hand.
"Farewell, and may God take you in His care and keeping during the campaign!"
But Prince Adelsberg shook his head silently.
"What shall I do with life?" he finally cried in overwhelming sorrow. "I should like best--no, do not look at me so entreatingly! I know now that I made a fatal mistake, and I will not torture you with a confession; but, Adelaide, I would gladly die could I buy with death the look and tone you had just now for another. Farewell!"
Once more he pressed her hand to his lips, then hastened away.