But, my dear friend, I have not yet received a single line from you. How am I to interpret this long and obstinate silence?
LETTER IV.
BARON VON F——— TO COUNT VON O———. June 12.
I thank you, my dear friend, for the token of your remembrance which young B—hl brought me. But what is it you say about letters I ought to have received? I have received no letter from you; not a single one. What a circuitous route must they have taken. In future, dear O———, when you honor me with an epistle despatch it via Trent, under cover to the prince, my master.
We have at length been compelled, my dear friend, to resort to a measure which till now we had so happily avoided. Our remittances have failed to arrive—failed, for the first time, in this pressing emergency, and we have been obliged to have recourse to a usurer, as the prince is willing to pay handsomely to keep the affair secret. The worst of this disagreeable occurrence is, that it retards our departure. On this affair the prince and I have had an explanation. The whole transaction had been arranged by Biondello, and the son of Israel was there before I had any suspicion of the fact. It grieved me to the heart to see the prince reduced to such an extremity, and revived all my recollections of the past, and fears for the future; and I suppose I may have looked rather sorrowful and gloomy when the usurer left the room. The prince, whom the foregoing scene had left in not the happiest frame of mind, was pacing angrily up and down the room; the rouleaus of gold were still lying on the table; I stood at the window, counting the panes of glass in the procurator’s house opposite. There was a long pause. At length the prince broke silence. “F———!” he began, “I cannot bear to see dismal faces about me.”
I remained silent.
“Why do you not answer me? Do I not perceive that your heart is almost bursting to vent some of its vexation? I insist on your speaking, otherwise you will begin to fancy that you are keeping some terribly momentous secret.”
“If I am gloomy, gracious sir,” replied I, “it is only because I do not see you cheerful.”
“I know,” continued he, “that you have been dissatisfied with me for some time past—that you disapprove of every step I take—that—what does Count O——— say in his letters?”