“Oh, yes, I loved him so!”
“And you were right, for he was very kind—perhaps a little too kind to you. He has not left you unprovided for. His will has not been opened as yet, but I know about it, for he told me before you came that he intended to leave you a legacy of forty or fifty thousand crowns. That is a very neat little fortune. It is enough to cover the bond and you can marry an officer. Besides, that is your natural vocation—to marry. You could not be a canoness because you have bourgeois blood; and since you have bourgeois blood, you can have no claim to marriage in our class. Of course, you will not think of remaining at the Sielenburg. Here you would have no opportunity ... and you do not get along very well with us. I have never referred again to that fatal matter of the books, but the sting remains.... At all events, I would not think of casting you off. After all, you are my beloved brother’s granddaughter—he recognized you as such ... so you are not to sink back into the sphere in which you were brought up. Therefore, Cousin Albertine and I have decided that she—Cousin Albertine—should take charge of you. She lives in Teschen—a little city in Silesia. A very large garrison is quartered there, and no doubt, as soon as it is known that you possess the necessary amount, you will have suitors among the officers, for you are a pretty girl. One should not depend too much on mere physical beauty; still it is a recommendation—especially in matrimonial affairs.... Albertine remained unmarried simply because she was excessively homely ... that is still very evident. You will be very comfortable at her house—she keeps up a very nice establishment—all the officers’ wives attend her ‘At Homes,’ and young men will not stay away as soon as it is known that the pretty niece is not quite without means. But you must take great care not to give utterance to such anti-military views as are preached in another terrible book which we found in your room—‘Das Rote Lachen’—what a title! However, Aunt Albertine will instruct you in the proper rules of behavior. As you know, she is very plain-spoken, for she is extraordinarily frank—but that should never offend you! She means it for your best good.”
Franka let the old lady talk on, and did not make a sign. Formerly she would have rebelled against much that her aunt said, especially against the expressions, “sink back into the sphere in which she had been brought up”; but now, on the day after the count’s burial she would have no quarrel with his sister. She keenly felt that she could not exist in the “sphere” to which they were trying to elevate her; she had decided to depart from the Sielenburg and to refuse Aunt Albertine’s offer. If it was true that her good grandfather had so generously remembered her,—the amount mentioned seemed to her a very considerable sum,—she was protected against poverty, and was her own mistress. And even if there was no legacy for her, she would prefer to go out into the world and obtain some situation. Anything but this state of dependence! Anything but this moral dungeon!
“Well, what do you say to this?” said the aunt in conclusion, after she had gone on in the same tone for some time.
“Excuse me, at present I have nothing to say. I am so affected by the sad occurrences of the last few days—I really cannot answer.”
“Very good; go back to your room again. I certainly appreciate that you are quite unstrung, first from grief at your grandfather’s death and also by joy at the brilliant prospects which I have disclosed to you.... So, then, we will take up the subject another time. There is no hurry—Aunt Albertine will not return to Teschen for six weeks; till then you can remain here.”
Franka stood up. “May I go?”
“Yes, but at three o’clock this afternoon come to the green salon. At that time we are to meet there and Dr. Fixstern, who has Eduard’s will, is to read it. As you are probably mentioned in it, you should attend the meeting.”
At the specified hour all the members of the family present at the castle assembled in the “green salon.” Besides the Countess Adele, Miss Albertine, and Cousin Coriolan, there were a few distant relatives who had come to the Sielenburg for the funeral. Franka entered last and took her place in a chair by the wall near the doorway. The others sat in a semicircle in front of the table where Dr. Fixstern was engaged in taking documents out of a portfolio.
“Are all the persons concerned present?” he asked after he had taken his seat in the armchair.