Franka expressed her desire to go that very winter to Vienna and take up her residence in her palace. Dr. Fixstern entirely acquiesced, and declared that he and his wife would do everything to aid her; he assured her that she might depend upon him in every way; the long devotion which he had showed to the late count he was ready now to show the granddaughter.
CHAPTER VI
A SECOND ANONYMOUS MESSAGE
Chlodwig Helmer was writing the last act of his drama. He was well satisfied with his work. But he knew how wide and perhaps impossible was the gulf between the finishing of a theatrical piece and its production. Yet even as it was, he felt his heart swell with that comfortable sensation which every creative artist experiences when he succeeds in clothing in definite form that which has hovered in his mind.
Ever since Helmer had left the Sielenburg, he had occupied himself exclusively with literary work. His dismissal had come to him very unexpectedly. One morning Count Sielen had received him with these words:—
“My dear Helmer, I have something to say to you.... During the two years since you have been with me, I have become very fond of you. You are a fine, sensible fellow, you have irreproachable manners—I have no fault, absolutely no fault to find with you and yet—do not be surprised—I am giving you your congé.... Do not ask my reasons, but I give you my word of honor that you are not to blame for my taking this step. As a proof that I feel for you something more than good will, I am going to give you recommendations as hearty as you could desire. You will secure a place ten times better than this; and in order that you may have opportunity to look about and to choose I am handing you a check for a sum sufficient for you to live two years free from anxiety.... No, no! do not protest: you must accept it out of love for me ... in order to console me. It is painful enough for me to lose you.... In fact, I need the services of a physician rather than of a secretary ... but I shall miss you keenly, and I do not want to have the additional sorrow of knowing that you are worried; it is not always easy to find a place and you must not take the first that offers—in short, you dare not refuse to do this favor for your old sick friend.”
Helmer also had not found it easy to leave the count. A few days after this peculiar notice and after a very affectionate leave-taking from the old man, he departed from the castle of Sielenburg. He had no opportunity to say good-bye to Franka: on the day of his departure she had gone for a visit in the neighborhood with the Countess Adele. Better so—the farewell would have been hard for him. And perhaps it was better, on the whole, that he was going away, for he would otherwise have been certain to fall desperately in love with the beautiful girl. Already he felt that he had partly lost his heart to her—so it was best as it was. He settled down in one of the suburbs of Vienna where he proposed to devote himself to literary work for a time. Perhaps, if he should succeed, he might exclusively follow this career.
He took up his abode in a villa situated amid green vegetation. He had easy access to his beloved forest; if he desired to go to the city it was a short and speedy trip by the cars. There he frequently visited his boyhood friend, Baron Franz Bruning—the one to whom he wrote the long letter from the Sielenburg and who now had a Government position. Not that Helmer found any especial enjoyment in this intercourse. The character and nature of his early playmate had developed in a direction which was simply uncongenial to him. But old associations always form a bond not easily broken. He also associated with a few young people in literary and artistic circles. Nevertheless, he rarely, at most only twice a week, went to town; for his work kept him fast in his voluntary isolation.
“Curtain!” Now the last scene of the drama was completed and he wrote the word “Curtain” with a joyful sigh of relief. He was startled from the agreeable relaxation of the moment by a knock at the door. He shouted, “Come in!” and there entered a very elegantly dressed man of medium stature with a highly colored, full-moon face adorned with a tiny black mustache.
“Ah, is it you, Franz?”
“Yes, I had to hunt you down in your den—if for nothing else, to talk with you about the astonishing news.”