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.