It certainly was not difficult, and Frau Eleonore was well aware who the fortunate suitor was. In spite of the disappointment which it brought her, she was too clever, and also too well disposed to Franka to betray any dissatisfaction. To be sure, her dream of having the position of a lady-in-waiting at court was dispelled, but she concealed her disappointment:—“Chlodwig Helmer—is it, then?” she said. “Well, if you love him, Franka, I wish you joy with all my heart.”
“Yes, I love him.”
Half an hour later, the two ladies went down to the Toker luncheon. Franka had in the mean time written the letter to Victor Adolph:—a perfectly candid confession that she had already given her heart to another man, and, moreover, her assurance that she perfectly well realized what obstacles would have been put in the way of his life-work and his lofty position if she had accepted his impulsive and far too unpremeditated offer.
Helmer came forward to meet Franka as she entered the dining-room. The separation which had lasted at the most about an hour seemed to them both frightfully long, and the joy of seeing each other again accelerated the beating of their hearts. They sat at table side by side as usual. After the last course, Helmer asked Franka whether they should keep their happiness to themselves for a while, or communicate the news to the Brotherhood of the Rose. “Oh, let them know about it! I should like to have it shouted over the housetops!”
Helmer stood up and tapped on his glass.
“Hear, hear!” cried Toker. “In spite of the regulation forbidding formal toasts at this table, our poet of the pinions seems desirous to offer some one’s health. Well, to-day is our last meeting—give your eloquence full rein, Mr. Helmer.”
“I do not intend to make a speech. What you are going to hear from me, Mr. Toker and Miss Toker, and all of you, brethren and sisters under the token of the Rose, is merely a bit of family news. I have the feeling that we all, during this delectable week, have become a sort of happy family, and therefore I hope for your interest when I tell you that this morning Franka Garlett and I were betrothed.”
Gwendoline rushed to Franka and gave her a tumultuous embrace. After the confusion of the universal congratulations had somewhat subsided, Toker tapped three times on the table with the handle of his knife in order to obtain a hearing:—
“Under such extraordinary circumstances it is not only permitted, but it is obligatory upon us to offer a toast. Let us greet it as a good omen that in our serious community, gathered to enlarge the general realm of High Thinking and thence of human welfare, two such noble hearts have joined to win personal happiness by their love. Let us greet this as an omen for the development of the coming race: if the custom obtain that the champions of the most brilliant ideas, the possessors of the greatest talents, in a word, the most splendid specimens of the human race, come together as here, and fall in love, as our highly honored new couple have done, and if they, as we hope even for this same bridal pair, increase and multiply, then, after a few more generations, even more fortunate results of careful breeding will be seen than our friend Luther Burbank has obtained with his gigantic cabbages. Therefore, proceed, Chlodwig and Franka, and found a home. That is, after all, the most beautiful and most satisfying happiness to be found on earth—however far and high our thoughts may soar and our exploits may be carried, let us provide a warm, safe place of calmness and of love to which we are all entitled.
“We men have in these days imitated the most magnificent prerogative of the birds—the art of flight. But let us never forget that other example which these masters of heights and distances give us—the nest!”