"Very hard! Although the state of affairs in the house should have made it somewhat easier for me, they have not been of a description lately, on which one could exercise one's love of joking."
The passing gleam of merriment vanished immediately from Ella's face at this allusion; it bore an anxious, beseeching expression, as she turned to her brother-in-law.
"Yes, it is very sad with us," she said, softly, "and it becomes worse from day to day. My parents are so hard, and Reinhold so irritated, so furious at every occurrence. Oh, my God, can you do nothing with him?"
"I?" asked Hugo, seriously, "I might put that question to you, his wife."
Ella shook her head in inconsolable resignation. "No one listens to me, and Reinhold less than any one. He thinks I understand nothing about it all--he would repulse me roughly."
Hugo looked sorrowfully at the young wife, who confessed openly that she was quite wanting in power and influence over her husband, and that she was not permitted to share his longings and strivings in the least.
"And yet something must be done," said he decidedly. "Reinhold irritates himself in this struggle; he suffers tremendously under it, and makes others suffer too. You had been crying, Ella, as I entered, and in the last few weeks not a day has passed without my seeing this red appearance about your eyes. No, do not turn aside so timidly! Surely the brother may be allowed to speak freely, and you shall see that I do more than talk nonsense. I repeat it; something must be done--done by you. Reinhold's artistic career depends upon it, his whole future; and in the struggle his wife must stand at his side, otherwise others might do it instead, and that would be dangerous."
Ella looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and alarm. For the first time in her life she was called upon to take a side openly, and some result was looked for depending upon her interference. What could be meant by "others" who might take her place? Her face showed plainly that she had not the slightest suspicion of anything.
Hugo saw this, and yet had not the courage to go any farther; as going farther meant planting the first suspicion in the mind of the so-far quite unconscious wife--being his brother's betrayer--and unavoidably calling forth a catastrophe, of whose necessity he was nevertheless convinced. But the young Captain's whole nature rebelled against the painful task; he sat there undecided, when chance came to his help. Some one knocked at the door, and immediately Jonas entered, carrying a large bouquet of flowers.
The sailor was surely more prudent when he executed such commissions for his master. He knew from experience, that the latter's offerings of flowers, although received with pleasure by the young ladies, were not always treated the same by their fathers and protectors, and although with possible secret annoyance, he always took care to go to the right address. But this time Hugo's casual remark that the flowers were intended for his sister-in-law, caused the mistake. Jonas never doubted that the Captain's remark, meant merely to shield his brother, was made in earnest; he therefore went straight to the young Frau Almbach, and presented the flowers to her, with the words--