Only a Girl Part 61

Leuthold stood by the door, and held his breath while he listened to hear Johannes depart; but, to his immense discomfiture, Frau Willmers reappeared.

"The gentleman will not go," she said with secret exultation. "He says he came to see the Fraulein, and will take no dismissal from her uncle, for, as the Fraulein has been of age for several years, it is for her to say whom she does or does not wish to see."

Ernestine listened eagerly. "What--what does that mean?" She turned with a look of inquiry to her uncle, and was shocked at the great and evident alarm expressed in his countenance. "Uncle," she asked again, "what does this mean? Answer me!"

"Do not heed such stupid gossip. The fellow is a liar--or----"

"Tell him so yourself, if you have the courage," Ernestine interrupted him in rising wrath. "Ask the gentleman to walk in," she said authoritatively.

Willmers hurried out.

"Ernestine!" cried Leuthold in despair,--"this to me?"

"I will understand what this means about my being of age," cried the girl, with a glance at Leuthold before which his eyes sought the ground.

Mollner entered. He regarded Leuthold with entire composure and profound contempt, then bowed to Ernestine without looking at her. He wished to spare her, to give her time to collect herself. She misunderstood him. She thought he was cold, and met him with coldness.

A long pause ensued.

Leuthold, wishing to appear quite at his ease, broke the silence.

"Allow me to ask, sir, what, after all that has pa.s.sed between my niece and yourself, procures us the honour of a visit from you."

"I am about to inform Fraulein von Hartwich upon that head, and you will greatly oblige me by remaining present at this interview."

"Be pleased, then, to be seated," said Leuthold, motioning Johannes to a chair, "and let me request you to be brief, since we are just on the eve of departure."

"You will not go, Doctor Gleissert."

"Sir! Are you better instructed than ourselves concerning our plans?"

Johannes waited until Ernestine was seated, and then, taking a chair, replied with decision, "Not concerning your plans, but their fulfilment,--which I shall, in case of necessity, prevent by your arrest."

Leuthold was stunned for one moment, but, recovering himself, smiled at Ernestine, who looked astounded, and said, "Ah, here we have the genuine knight of the oak! It is a pity that we do not live in feudal times, when an honest man could be seized upon the highway and flung into a dungeon."

"Oh, no. Doctor Gleissert. A quiet scholar like myself has no taste for such adventures. I prefer safer and legal means. I shall simply, in case you attempt to depart from this place, have you detained by the gens-d'armes stationed here, until your business relations with Fraulein von Hartwich are satisfactorily explained. Then you will be perfectly free to go whithersoever you may please. My interest in you will be at an end."

"Herr Professor," cried Leuthold, "I can only suppose that some one has shamefully calumniated me to you. Let me beg you to come with me to my study, that we may not distress my niece by these representations. She needs the utmost consideration at present."

"If Fraulein von Hartwich is strong enough to undertake the voyage to New York, of which Frau Willmers tells me, she can certainly support this conversation. But, first of all, let me ask you, Ernestine, whether you are leaving your home of your own free will."

"Yes," she breathed scarcely audibly.

"Of course you are your own mistress. But, before you carry out your intentions, you must know what you are doing. This you do not know at present, and I am here to inform you. If you depart with Herr Gleissert, you link your destiny to a villain's!"

Ernestine and Leuthold started up. Johannes arose at the same time, and, leaning one hand upon the table, regarded them steadily without a word.

Leuthold found it impossible to speak. Ernestine was lost in gazing at the n.o.ble form of his adversary.

Johannes continued, "You will require the proofs of such an accusation.

I have had them in my possession only since early this morning,--here they are." He took several papers from his breast-pocket, and unfolded one of them. Leuthold glanced at it, staggered back, and sank upon a seat.

"Did you write that?" asked Johannes, handing the sheet to Ernestine.

"Pray read it."

"No!" she said in evident surprise, as she ran over its contents.

"Or did you affix your name to a deed, ignorant of its contents, in presence of a notary?"

"Never!" was the decided reply.

Mollner breathed freely. "This, then, is the proof that could send your uncle to jail, if I made use of it, for it is a forgery!"

Ernestine made a gesture of dissent, as if she could and would hear no more. But Johannes was not to be deterred. "From your first letter to Helm, and from your conversation with my mother, it is evident, Ernestine, that you consider yourself still a minor. It is true that you are so by the laws of your country, which make the period of minority terminate at the age of twenty-four,--and you are only twenty-two years old. But through Dr. Heim, who was present at the drawing up of your father's will, I know that you are by it declared legally of age at eighteen. This your uncle has concealed from you. We will speak by-and-by of his reasons for this concealment."

"Then I have been my own mistress now for four years?" cried Ernestine in inconceivable amazement,--"and you, uncle, have treated me as if I were a child?"

"More than that,--he has withheld your property from you. Here is a copy of your father's will. You will see that it accords you the right, at eighteen years of age, to take possession of the estate, put in trust for you in the guardians' court, and dispose of it as you please.

Of course you could not avail yourself of this right, as you were kept in utter ignorance of it, as well as of the fact that you had attained your majority. But your uncle has availed himself of it in your stead. He has contrived--Heaven only knows how--to imitate your handwriting--and forge the signature to the doc.u.ment by which the guardians' court delivered over to you--that is, to your uncle--the property in its charge for you. There was no doubt cast upon the authenticity of the doc.u.ment, for it was drawn up in due form by an Italian notary and accredited by two witnesses to your personal ident.i.ty. When I suspected that your uncle had purposely kept you in ignorance of your affairs, I acquainted the court with my suspicions, and they delivered to me this copy of the doc.u.ment which I have just handed you for identification. You have declared it a forgery. Whether I now spare or destroy this man will depend upon the result of what we have to say to each other. That I allow him one word of explanation is due to my regard, not for him, but for your sense of delicacy, Ernestine, which would suffer deeply in your uncle's disgrace."

Having thus spoken, while Ernestine had listened in mute amazement, Johannes turned to Leuthold. "I ask you, Doctor Gleissert, what you have done with the money that you have hitherto withheld from your niece."

"Before I answer you, sir," replied Leuthold, who had regained his composure, "allow me to ask you when you exchanged the pursuit of physiology, wherein you have rendered such important service to science, for the study of the law, in which, I fear, you will hardly prove so great a proficient."

"I did so," said Johannes calmly, "when I felt it my duty to protect with the shield of law a young creature most grossly defrauded. And I think, sir, that I am already sufficiently versed in my newly-espoused science thoroughly to expose your frauds. But let me ask you again to account, without further circ.u.mlocution, for the property we have spoken of."

"And I demand of you, Herr Professor, what legal right you possess to subject me to such an inquiry."

Johannes looked at him composedly. "So be it. If you prefer to answer my question to a court of justice, I will withdraw my request for an explanation between ourselves. Take time to consider which you prefer in this matter."

"I should, at all events, have less to fear from a legal investigation than from a madman, who, in defiance of custom and decorum, and regardless of domestic privacy, invades a home, and, with a knife at the throats of its inmates, demands 'your money or your life,' like any highway robber."

"Uncle," interposed Ernestine, "I forbid you, in my presence, to insult my friend. If you can clear yourself of the terrible suspicion that he has cast upon you, do so with dignity. Useless insults cannot convince us."

"And you, Ernestine,--do you take part against me?" cried Leuthold pathetically.

"I take part with no one; on the contrary, I tremble to think that the man who has brought me up may be a criminal. But I will not and cannot shield you from the discovery of the troth. You yourself have taught me to subject every duty, every impulse of the heart, to cool investigation,--to search everything to the foundation,--even at the price of the most sacred illusions. Now, cruel preceptor, reap what you have sown!"

"Well, then, I am ready to answer you, since you desire it. There is one point upon which I owe you an explanation.--the minority in which I have kept you in spite of your father's weak will. My course in this respect I think entirely justifiable, for every right-minded person who knows you must agree with me that it would have been unprincipled in the extreme to leave you to yourself at eighteen, inexperienced and immature as you were. It was an arbitrary measure on my part, but it was well meant, and was the result of an exaggerated affection and anxiety for you. The thought that you were to live without me, and I without you, was unendurable to me. This is my crime,--this is all that I can say. To this gentleman's charges I answer nothing. My life is open to the scrutiny of all, it has been pa.s.sed in unpretending repose,--in the calm pursuit of science, and in the delight--now, alas!

disturbed indeed--of educating you. I regard all your machinations, sir, with indifference. Your heated fancy would fail to see the truth in my defence of my actions. Only a legal investigation can satisfy you of my innocence. Why should I waste further words upon you?"

Johannes smiled. "I reserve my answer to the first part of your remarks, but with regard to the last I cannot refrain from asking you how you can venture to speak of innocence after your niece has denied, in my presence, the signature of this doc.u.ment to be hers, thus proving that it is a forgery?"

"Yes, sir, it is certainly a forgery,--no one can deny that. But does it follow that I executed it? I had a friend in Italy to whom unfortunately I intrusted every fact in relation to our family affairs, placing in him a confidence that prudence could not warrant, and, in view of this present revelation, I cannot but fear that he has played the traitor, and, a.s.sisted by some unprincipled notary----" He shrugged his shoulders, as if unwilling to complete so grave a charge.

Johannes smiled again, almost compa.s.sionately. "Will you attempt to support your defence upon such a foundation? and do you venture to meet me upon this plea alone?"

"I do, sir; for the law will, I trust, shortly discover the witnesses of the crime who can testify as to whether I or my false friend committed the forgery."

Johannes bethought himself for an instant, and then said, looking Leuthold directly in the eye, "Is this same false friend the purchaser of the factory at Unkenheim? Or did you find in Italy what you certainly failed to find here,--such wealth of friends?"