A strange, and, in the Baron's sight, highly untoward chance had willed that the regiment to which his eldest son belonged should be quartered in the town nearest to the Berkow estates. Now, of all times, when the connection had so entirely ceased! An extension of leave for the young officer could not be thought of, as the rising of the miners throughout the neighbourhood had produced much agitation in the province, and riots were expected which might call for an intervention of the military, so Conrad must return very shortly to the garrison-town, where Berkow had, of course, many intimate acquaintances.
He had already received strict injunctions from his father not to mention the intended separation just at present. The Baron kept to his original tactics; he would present the world with an accomplished fact. For the rest, he fondly imagined, though he did not say so, that his son would avoid all personal contact with his whilom relative.
This supposition appeared to be correct; at least Arthur's name was never mentioned in the young officer's letters, and the existing state of things on his works only casually alluded to. Conrad had been sent to the capital on some matter relating to his service. There had been no opportunity as yet of talking freely; he had only been at home a few hours, and, at dinner, the presence of guests had imposed some restraint upon the family.
Now, however, the objectionable subject having once been introduced in reference to Eugénie's signature, the Baron inquired in a tone of the utmost indifference, as if asking for news of a very slight and distant acquaintance, how things were going on the Berkow estates.
"Badly, sir, very badly," said Conrad, turning to his father, but keeping his place at his sister's side. "Arthur fights like a man against the misfortunes which are assailing him on all sides, but I am afraid he will succumb to them at last. He has ten times more to battle against than the proprietors of the other works. All his father's sins, during twenty years of tyranny and oppression, are visited now upon him, and he has to suffer, too, for all the reckless speculations of later times. I cannot make out how he manages to struggle on. Any one else would have given way long ago."
"If the movement is growing too strong for him, I am surprised he does not call in military aid," said the Baron coldly.
"That is just it, but on this subject he won't listen to reason. For my part," cried the young heir of the Windegs, with the characteristic inconsiderateness of his class, "for my part, I would have shot down the fellows long ago, and have forced them to leave me in peace. They have given him cause enough, and if their ringleader goes on exciting them, as he is now doing day by day, they will be burning his house over his head soon. But it is all of no use, you may argue and pray. 'No, and once again no; so long as I can defend myself, no stranger shall set his foot on my works!'
"And to be frank with you, sir, they will be very pleased in the regiment if our help is not required; we have had to give it too often already during the last few weeks. At the other places round, things were not half so bad as at the Berkow mines, yet the first thing the owners did was to cry out for troops to protect them, and thereby place themselves on a war-footing with their own people.
"There have been some ugly scenes, and at such times, it is we who always have to bear the brunt. We are not to proceed with harshness, if it can be avoided, yet we are to make our authority respected, and the whole responsibility of whatever may happen falls upon us. So the Colonel and all the officers take it very kindly of Arthur that he has held out, and still persists in holding out, against his rebels by himself."
Eugénie listened to her brother with breathless attention. He seemed to look upon her as quite uninterested in the matter, and addressed himself solely to his father. The Baron, who had noticed with rising displeasure the constant recurrence of the word "Arthur," now said in a tone of chilling reproof: