Certainly, only a singer! It was, indeed, an unsuitable choice! Several ladies pretended to be ill, and only allowed their husbands to look on at the phenomenon so as to be able to bring back an account of the doings.
"I do not like such extremes," said Frau Baronin Fuchs to her husband, "is it necessary to jump from the sanctimonious to the most impudent children of this world? Certainly, in reality, the other was the same kind, only a different colour. No power in the world would take me to this wedding; you, of course, will drive over because everything connected with rouge pots and stage tinsel has a certain charm for you now. Well, look from a close point of view at the Circe who has enchanted this knight of the rueful countenance."
CHAPTER IX.
[THE BRIDAL JEWELS.]
Two sitting-rooms and bedrooms were prepared for Giulia and Beate in the old wing of the Castle. Blanden had ridden over to the nearest town to meet her, and sent on his carriage and four in advance.
He drove back with her. When they arrived at the boundary of his possessions, they were greeted by the peasants and tenants with loud acclamations. A handsomely decorated triumphal arch was erected; canon resounded far and near, and genuine, indeed, were the rejoicings of the people, who idolised Blanden. None of the proprietors on the lakes of Masuren were so gentle and kind as he, certainly none others had studied Buddha's teachings, or recognised pity for every being of creation as the original spring of all wisdom and morality.
The school girl who presented a huge nosegay to Giulia at the gate of honour, had learned a very long and very profound address, which was listened to with intense weariness by all but the bride-elect, for whom an accusation lay in every one of those moral sentiments. Cold water seemed to be running down her, when the little girl, with devout dove-like eyes, looked lovingly into her face.
And when old Olkewicz acted as spokesman for the officials and those belonging to the estate, and spoke of the old family possession, of the worthy heir, of his forefathers, then she suddenly felt what, until now, had been quite unknown to her: that here she was entering into the sacred circle of a family, into a well-regulated world governed by moral laws, into touching familiarity amongst equals, into a beautiful blending together of past and future; and to herself she appeared in the light of an intruder, who deserved to be cursed, who tore down the old saintly household gods from the domestic hearth, and with a guilty hand polluted a stainless roll of ancestors. She shuddered as if seized with cold; while Olkewicz also stammered in his honest speech and lost himself--he had suddenly recognised Giulia; it was actually the same white fairy who had stood on high in the moonlight on the gallery of the belfry tower.
The carriage drove on through the park. The Castle was decked with flags and banners, fluttering merrily in the breeze; all the doors were wreathed; here a dense crowd--part of which had hastened by a short cut from the triumphal arch, and were thus in advance--received them with renewed cheers.
Blanden was deeply moved, and pressed his betrothed's hand; he knew that it was true hearty love which bade them welcome. He thought of his father, of the old lords of the Castle--they blessed his entry. His feelings were solemn as he lifted his future bride out of the carriage and led her into the Castle, where he delivered her into the hands of the guardian spirits of his home.