"It was very distasteful to me, of course, to lend myself to what was to bring about a connection which I considered so undesirable, but I was forced to consent to what was asked of me. I did so, however, only upon condition that I should be allowed immediately after Bertha's arrival to lay before her the true state of affairs. Should she decline then to accede to her father's schemes, I declared that no force should be put upon her beneath my roof. I would then refuse to receive young Ernau.
"Early yesterday morning (the express train from Königsberg arrives in Berlin at six o'clock) I went to the railway-station to meet Bertha. I did not recognize her when she first stepped out on the platform. I had not seen her for several years, and she had grown from a pretty little school-girl into an elegant young lady. She, however, instantly recognized me, rushed into my arms, calling me 'dearest cousin,' and was so charming and amiable that she won my heart at once. All the more did I hold it to be my duty to warn her against the wretched scheme.
"I did so as we drove home from the station. We were alone, and I had plenty of time to explain matters thoroughly.
"To my exceeding surprise, I found that she showed no distaste whatever for the union forced upon her, she had without hesitation written to her father that she was quite ready to bestow her hand upon Herr von Ernau. Even my unflattering portrait of the young man did not make her waver in her resolve. With a degree of cool equanimity which seemed unnatural in so young a girl, she explained that the faults which I attributed to Herr von Ernau were common to all wealthy young men who had lived fast, and that she was not at all shocked by them. Certainly, from all she could hear, she judged young Ernau to be a man of honour, very clever, and withal extremely rich, wherefore she was quite willing to forgive him some small faults of which he would probably be cured in the course of time. She had lived a life of weary dependence with her aunt Massenburg and longed for freedom. She should not have refused to marry even a less distinguished suitor than Herr von Ernau, to be relieved from the cheerless existence she had been leading.
"After the cordiality and affection with which Bertha had greeted me, I was entirely unprepared to find her so coolly calculating. I told her so, and she replied with a smile that she was too old--she is just nineteen--to be deceived by any illusions as to 'love's young dream,' that the place to seek such was in popular romances; in real life a poor girl of rank must learn to be practical and to take reason for her guide. No better match could be found than the one her father had provided for her, and since she had no fancy for being an old maid, she certainly should not commit the folly of rejecting such good fortune.
"Much disappointed, I dropped the subject; the girl no longer appeared so charming to me. Her wonderful self-possession, her cool calculation, made a very disagreeable impression upon me, but this vanished when I spoke to her of her father. She was so frankly rejoiced to relieve him from his embarrassments, to restore to him the possession of his ancestral estate, and she expressed her joy so warmly and with so much love for her father, that I was quite reconciled to her again. And it was just so with my wife. Bertha took her heart by storm. During breakfast, when the Ernaus were discussed, she was as displeased as I had been by Bertha's cynicism, but her displeasure was only transitory. The girl soon conquered her again by her amiability.
"I really dreaded Egon von Ernau's visit. Werner had informed me that the young man would make his appearance about twelve, but he did not come. Hours passed, and at four o'clock Werner appeared in his stead. Bertha rushed into his arms, she was bewitching in her delight at seeing her father again; indeed, she was like some artless, lovely child in her tender, caressing ways with her father.
"You know Werner, he neither deserves nor appreciates such affection. I really think he cares more for a fine race-horse than for his charming daughter, whose caresses evidently annoyed him. He endured without returning them, only bestowing a cold kiss upon Bertha's cheek, and immediately desiring to see me in private.
"As soon as we were alone in my library the tempest, the signs of which I had already seen in his face, burst forth, he raged and swore, talked of putting a bullet through his brains; and some time elapsed before he was sufficiently calm to explain to me the cause of his anger.
"His affairs certainly looked black enough. The son-in-law of his desires had disappeared, thus destroying the scheme upon which all Werner's hopes had been based.