The Alpine Fay: A Romance

by E. Werner

The boldly-conceived plan, the success of which was to gain him millions, was shattered, and its ruin came from a quarter whence he had never looked for it. The man whom he thought indissolubly bound to himself and to his interests withdrew from his plans at the decisive moment, and made their execution impossible. Nordheim knew perfectly well that if the engineer-in-chief, his future son-in-law, refused to approve the estimates as they had been made out, it would be impossible to present them to the company. The scheme was naught since Elmhorst refused his aid, opposing a frigid refusal to all efforts to persuade him. There had been a brief, stern interview between the two men, and it had set the seal upon their estrangement.

Then Wolfgang had spent an hour with his betrothed. What had passed at this interview no one was told, not even the girl's father. Alice, with unwonted decision, refused to speak of it, but the parting had surely not been unkindly, for when Elmhorst left the house, not to enter it again, Alice had waved him a farewell from the window more cordial than any she had ever vouchsafed him while they were betrothed, and he had responded with equal cordiality.

Nordheim was not a man to bear with equanimity the ruin of schemes which he had spent years in developing, and to his vexation on that score was added annoyance at Gronau's threats, which he had at first underestimated. He regretted that he had not attempted at least to conciliate the former friend, whose restless energy he had been familiar with of old. It had been a mistake to make an enemy of him, a mistake which might have serious consequences.

For the moment it was, however, all thrown into the background in view of a threatened loss which dwarfed all other anxiety in the president's mind. The mountain-railway, which should have been completed in a few days, was in great peril from the freshets. From all quarters came terrifying reports,--one piece of bad news followed another. The injury done was already serious; if the storm should continue and the water mount higher it might be incalculable, and Nordheim was implicated pecuniarily to an extent which could not but be very grave even to a man of his vast wealth.

Erna and Molly, whose departure had been perforce postponed, were in the drawing-room. The lawsuit which had brought Gersdorf to Heilborn had been decided by a compromise, the arrangement of which detained the lawyer a few days longer. His wife was at first delighted, for in her capacity of guardian angel she considered her presence in the Nordheim household as absolutely necessary, although, to her great disappointment, she was obliged to admit that she had nothing here to protect.

The engineer-in-chief had retired; his betrothal with Alice was dissolved, as all the family now knew, and Alice obstinately refused to open her heart to her friend. Benno was just as impracticable, seeming to persist in his idea of a separation, and, worse than all, no human being required any advice or counsel from Frau Doctor Gersdorf, who was naturally indignant at such base insensibility.

"That is my reward for my philanthropy," she said, very much out of humour. "Here I sit, as upon a desert island in the midst of the ocean, cut off from all the world, separated from my husband, in danger of being swept away at any moment by a deluge. Albert may be obliged to rescue my corpse from the raging element and return to town an inconsolable widower. I wonder if he will marry again? It would be horrible. I should turn in my grave. But then men are capable of anything."

Erna, standing at the window looking out at the storm and rain, hardly heard this chatter; her thoughts were elsewhere.

"We are not in any peril here, Molly," she said at last. "The house is perfectly safe, standing as high as it does, but I am afraid matters look serious in Oberstein and on the railway."

"Oh, the engineer-in-chief will take care of that," Molly declared, confidently. "We hear from all sides of his heroic conduct, how he accomplishes the impossible. We never did this Elmhorst justice. He released Alice although he resigned millions by so doing, and now he is exerting himself to the utmost to preserve the railway for your uncle, although they separated in anger. Confess, Erna, that you were prejudiced against him."