No Surrender

by E. Werner

"I hope so too, but I will not neglect the necessary precautions. One can never know what connections these refugees may have, or how far their secret influence may extend. This was the communication I had to make; now I need not take up your Excellency's time any longer. We shall soon be passing my office. Might I ask to be set down there? I shall, as usual, find a deluge of work awaiting me, no doubt."

A few minutes later, the carriage stopped before the police-bureau, and the head of that department took a most affable leave of the Baron, who then drove on to the Castle. At length the respite of a few minutes' solitude was granted him. So many successive blows had fallen on him since the morning. First the Minister's letter, then the disclosure made by Colonel Wilten, now the news of Brunnow's arrest. More and more menacing were the signs of the times, and Rudolph's prophecy was perhaps nearer its fulfilment than he himself had imagined. The ground beneath the great man's feet began to quake and to give way; and for the first time he looked down from his vertiginous height, measuring how great the fall might perchance be--but Arno Raven was not one to quail before such thoughts. The proud, determined look on his face showed that he was not disposed to yield a step, that he was ready to confront any danger that might rise up before him. Though perils should surround him on all sides, there would be no surrender. Thus, with the undaunted spirit and strong will which had borne him through so many trials, he advanced to meet the approaching storm.

CHAPTER XVII.

There was a lonely, desolate air about the Castle in these days. Baroness Harder and her daughter had left for the capital, and if the elder lady, with her caprices, her requiring temper, and other not very amiable characteristics, was not painfully missed by the household, the absence of the younger, who had won all hearts to herself, was sincerely deplored. With her, sunshine had come into the house. During the few short months of her stay there, she had filled the great sombre spaces with light and animation, quickening and brightening their lifeless splendour. During this period Raven himself had become so much milder of mood, so much more accessible, that at times it was difficult to recognise in him the severe, imperious master who never unbent, and whose slightest words were as law. Now Gabrielle's rooms were closed and darkened, and every one about the place, from the venerable major-domo to the lowest housemaid, felt the void she had left behind.

Baron von Raven alone seemed insensible to the change; at least, he never in any way alluded to it, and it was well known that he had little time to give to his home or family affairs. All about him were accustomed to see their master grave, taciturn, and unmoved by passing events. Thus he still appeared, and yet every soul about the house knew that a tempest was fast gathering over his head. It had long ceased to be a secret.

There had been no renewal of the disturbances in the town during the course of the last few weeks; and the Superintendent, with his staff of police, had easily put down the slight ebullitions of feeling which would now and then occur. The lower classes of the population had been intimidated; to the more enlightened reflection had come. It was felt that nothing would be achieved by violence. The Burgomaster used all his influence to prevent a recurrence of the previous scenes. Experience had taught him that in such a contest the reins would soon slip from his hands, that the rougher, more dangerous elements forcing themselves to the surface, the movement, legitimate in the outset, would degenerate into a mere common rebellion against all law and order. On either side a warning had been received, and it had borne fruit. The struggle was not abandoned; it grew, on the contrary, in force and intensity, though carried on in quieter fashion; and now the city of R---- had the satisfaction of hearing that an echo of its discontent had sounded in the capital, an echo which quickly spread throughout the land. Winterfeld's pamphlet had produced a great sensation, a far greater, indeed, than its author had ever reckoned on, for it found acceptance in influential quarters, where no one, and least of all the Assessor, would have expected it to be tolerated.

In these higher circles Raven was by no means beloved. A man who had raised himself from the more modest ranks of the middle classes to one of the highest offices of the State, he had naturally aroused against himself the envy and ill-will of those whom he had overtaken and left far behind him in the race; and his proud, imperious bearing, the merciless contempt with which he exposed and thrust aside incapacity and meanness, wheresoever placed, did not tend to increase his popularity. Among his competitors there were but too many who viewed the success he had achieved, the high position he now held, as a robbery committed on themselves, an infringement of their own peculiar privileges; who could not brook the haughty composure which never deserted him, even in the presence of the most exalted personages, and who were only waiting their opportunity to inflict on this parvenu the humiliations which, in their opinion, he so richly deserved. Hitherto their shafts had glanced harmlessly from the Baron's armour. The Government had warmly supported him, had loaded him with distinctions and honours, and had kept silence on the subject of his arbitrary encroachments, which were perfectly well known to every man in office. For this post of R----, the Ministers were in want of just such a representative, of one who, like Raven, would with rigid consistency and unsparing energy make his authority felt, and who would keep in check the rebellious discontent which leavened the province. The Governor had been indispensable, and this fact outweighed all other considerations, and counteracted all the influences which were at work against him.

But times had changed. During the last twelve months, especially, a revolution of opinion had come about, which threatened to overturn the present system. Some of its upholders, staunch hitherto, now tried to trim their sails, and to steer with the new current; others prepared to abdicate, and, with all outward honour and dignity, to retire from the stage where their parts were played out. They had one and all, friends and connections, who were of service to them in the crisis. Arno Raven stood perfectly alone; and the dragon of spite he had provoked now reared its head and turned its poisonous fangs against him.

At any other time, a pamphlet such as Winterfeld's would have been instantly suppressed, and its author would have paid for his audacity with the loss of his position; now the work, with its accusatory eloquence, was eagerly turned to account--made to serve as an arm against the object of their hatred; and the young official, who had furnished the welcome opportunity, was raised to hero-rank. George's name, altogether unknown but a little while before, was now in everybody's mouth. He himself was sought, made much of, admired for his courage in boldly speaking out that which, of course, every one had known. People said the brochure was really admirably written, that it evinced unusual knowledge and talent, and bore the stamp of a clear, incorruptible judgment--and, indeed, the book was completely devoid of the acrimony which would have lowered it to the level of a diatribe. The Governor's great qualities were thoroughly recognised; anything like a personal attack was carefully avoided. The entire accusation rested on facts; but these facts were demonstrated with such clearness and precision, and subjected to so incisive a criticism, that some answer to the charges must, it was thought, necessarily follow.

To the R---- province and its chief town, these printed pages had been, as the Burgomaster expressed it, as a spark in a powder-barrel; for they gave form and substance to the universal feeling, setting it forth in the most pointed and striking terms. The crippling fear, the dread of the Governor's omnipotence, was shaken: it was seen that he was assailable, vulnerable, like other mortals; and all the bitterness, so long cherished against him, now broke out with tempestuous violence. No one gave a thought to the benefits the town and province had reaped from the Baron's vigorous administration. Not a voice was raised to recall them to mind. Hatred of the despotic yoke, beneath which the people had so long sighed, spoke loudly and alone; and, as often happens in this world, those who had been bound to the Governor by interest, and had ranked among his partisans, were, now that it could be done with impunity, the first to cast a stone at him.