She had disappeared long ago, but Hartmut still stood as if rooted to the ground. He had not replied with one word--had made no motion; he only looked with hot, fixed eyes to where now one flash of lightning after another tore the clouds asunder, shrouding the whole country with a fiery cloak, and then he looked at the little forest lake which resembled so closely that one at Burgsdorf, with its waving reed and the deceiving, foggy meadow, which here also pressed so close to the water.
The boy had once dreamed among such whispering rushes of soaring up like the falcon of which his race bore the name, in boundless freedom--ever higher toward the sun--and at the same place the decision over his fate had been made on that dark autumn night, when the will-o'-the-wisp led its ghostly dance.
But the deserter had not risen to the sun--the earth had held him fast; the rich, green meadow had drawn him down deeper and deeper. He had felt at times that the intoxicating cup of freedom and life which the hand of his mother gave him was poisoned, but no precious memory shielded him; he did not dare to think of his father.
Over there in the distance the forms of cloud struggled and wrestled wilder and wilder; closer and closer together they drew, and in the midst of this struggle and this darkness the flames again burst victoriously--the powerful flames from on high.
CHAPTER XXX.
The winter social life had commenced at the Residenz, where the professional element played a conspicuous rôle. The Duke, who loved and encouraged art, took great pride in gathering renowned members of it into his presence, seeking to retain them in his capitol, and, of course, society followed largely in the same direction.
The young poet who was being so highly favored by the Court, and whose first large work was to appear on the court stage, was from the first an interesting person to everybody, and the tales which were told about him served to increase this interest.
It was very unusual for a Roumanian to compose his work in the German language, even when it was whispered that he had received his education in Germany. Besides that, he was the bosom friend, and the guest here in town also, of Prince Adelsberg, and all sorts of touching and wonderful stories were narrated about this friendship.
Above all, Hartmut's personality gave him a favored position wherever he went. The young, handsome, highly-gifted stranger, whom a half-romantic, half-mysterious air surrounded, had only to make his appearance even here to draw all eyes upon him.
The rehearsal of Arivana had commenced immediately after the return of the ducal party to the Residenz, under the personal supervision of the poet; while Prince Adelsberg, who in his enthusiasm for the work of his friend, had changed into a kind of manager, made life hard to the performers by all sorts of requests in regard to the filling of characters and the setting of the play.