Quicksands Part 13

"P.S.--My address is 'Candidate Gottlieb Pigglewitch, Berlin, 52 Ensel Street, care of Frau Wiebe.'"

With a face darkening as he read, Egon perused this precious epistle, tossing it disdainfully aside when he had finished reading it.

"Miserable scoundrel!" he muttered. "What a worthless ma.s.s of hypocritical grat.i.tude, servility, stupidity, and dishonesty the creature must be, thus to threaten me indirectly in hopes of getting more money from me! He talks to me of arrest, and thinks that for fear of it I shall send him another four thousand marks that he may be plucked for the third time by sharpers. No, my worthy Pigglewitch, you have reckoned without your host this time; not a mark will you get!"

He paced his room to and fro, deciding that any further thought of the miserable letter and the rogue who had penned it was foolish, and yet he could not banish it from his mind.

Was the threat so very ridiculous? If the true Pigglewitch had the courage to attempt it he might bring the false one into a deal of trouble, as Egon's sober second thought could not but admit.

The bearing of a feigned name was legally a crime, but that was of no consequence in Egon's mind. If he chose early the next morning to go to Berlin instead of to Breslau, who could succeed in finding the Pigglewitch who had vanished from Osternau? n.o.body would suppose that Egon von Ernau, suddenly appearing in the capital again after a short pleasure-trip, had for a day or two taken it into his head to play the part of a Candidate Gottlieb Pigglewitch. The real Pigglewitch could not betray him, for he knew him only as Fritz Fortune. The false Pigglewitch simply vanished, leaving not a trace behind.

What would the world say if the Egon von Ernau whom it believed dead should suddenly appear safe and sound in Berlin? Egon laughed as he pictured to himself his reception in the paternal mansion, the faces of the servants, and the amazement of his father thus interrupted in his successful performance of the part of a broken-hearted parent. His poor father! But there would be some consolation for him in the sensation caused by his son's return. He could drive about town in his carriage, and, with a beaming countenance, inform all his friends, 'My son lives, I am the happiest of fathers!' Whether in joy or in woe, he could still be the model parent.

Would it not be best perhaps to cut the Gordian knot of his foolish adventure after this fashion? Yes, it would be his wisest course to leave Castle Osternau on the morrow, never to return. And what of the future? He had never formerly thought of the future, he did so now for the first time.

He would doubtless be received with enthusiasm, would be the topic of the gossip of the capital for weeks, all the silly rumours which had been flying about with regard to him would die away of themselves, Bertha von Ma.s.senburg need not leave Berlin, for--here Egon shuddered--the betrothal could take place as agreed upon, the betrothal to which Egon had thoughtlessly consented because it was of no consequence to him what woman was the sharer of his tedious existence.

All women seemed alike calculating, frivolous, insignificant. He had given his consent, it could not be withdrawn.

Why did his pulses suddenly quicken? Why did he feel a positive aversion to the girl who was described as so beautiful and amiable?

"Never, never," he muttered. He could not act wisely, he could not return to fulfil his father's promise, no, he could not.

He would remain in Castle Osternau and carry out to the end the adventure in which he was embarked, if only to test his force of character, his ability to carve out a new life for himself. Was it for this alone? Did not a lovely vision hover before his mental vision, casting its spells upon him, robbing him of freedom of will and forcing him to remain, when to go would be so prudent, so sensible?

He determined to remain. But he must not expose himself to the danger of being driven forth from Castle Osternau by the real Pigglewitch. For should the latter make good his claim, as he could, to the name now borne by Egon, he would doubtless be expelled from the castle pursued by the Lieutenant's scornful laughter.

And he could not possibly explain the matter to Herr von Osternau. No, the real Pigglewitch must be disarmed. But how? There was but one course,--to grant his request. Egon bit his lip; it irritated him to be influenced by the rogue's threats, but he had no choice. He could secure himself from discovery only by sending the fellow four thousand marks. Should he then be secure? Could he trust the man in the slightest degree? No, never. But it was of little consequence, he could at all events be made harmless for a short time. It was, after all, only a matter of a petty four thousand marks.

He sat down at the writing-table and wrote: "I will help you this time, but it is the last. If you allow yourself to be led astray again by your insane love of play you have nothing further to expect from me. I ought now to leave you to your fate, for your folly in allowing yourself to be made a second time the prey of ordinary sharpers deserves punishment, the more as by your threat of breaking your promise you have forfeited all right to my clemency. You owe the money which I herewith send you to my pity for your inconceivable stupidity, not in the least to your threat as to arrest, etc., which, I would remark by the way, is absolutely futile, since your papers were given me voluntarily by yourself, and the only inconvenience to which you could subject me would be the payment of a fine which would be of no importance to me, and the abridgment of a foolish jest which I was silly ever to attempt. Your broken promise would avail you nothing here, since your letter to me would prevent Herr von Osternau from ever receiving into his house, as tutor, a low, dishonest gambler, who, according to his own confession, should be at present within the walls of a jail.

"You know now what you have to expect, and I would advise you in your own interest to keep your word and to sail by the first vessel for America. If in your new home you should ever need money to purchase a farm you may again apply to me. I may perhaps be induced to remember that I saved your life against your will. How far this remembrance will serve you in the fulfilment of a reasonable request from you your own conduct must decide.

"I wish no thanks from you for the enclosed four thousand marks. Any communication made from you to me before your arrival in America will destroy all hope of future a.s.sistance from

"Fritz Fortune."

CHAPTER X.

CONTENT AND PEACE.

The morning after the first night spent by Egon at Castle Osternau dawned so brilliantly that the light of the rising sun shining in at his window awoke him. The storm had raged itself out, and the blue sky was cloudless.

He was quickly dressed and down in the garden, where the delicious air and the dewy flowers filled him with a new delight. Although he had slept but a few hours, he felt more rested and refreshed than when rising in Berlin at noon.

He walked through the garden out into the fields, involuntarily striking into the path leading to the Oster meadows. He had time for a walk, for he was not to be ready for the trip with Herr Storting until seven o'clock, and it was now but a little after five.

He soon reached the eminence whence he had yesterday looked down with Lieschen upon the harvest-fields. The charming view seemed more lovely and peaceful than before, for the busy crowd of harvesters was absent.

Labour in the fields had not yet begun. A single horseman was riding through the valley towards the castle. When he saw Egon he waved his hand, and spurred his horse on to where the young man was standing.

Egon recognized Herr Storting. "Good-morning, Herr Pigglewitch,"

Storting called from afar. "I did not expect to meet you in the Oster meadows at five in the morning. Did you wish to be sure that the storm has done us no harm? Aha! you begin to take an interest in our harvest.

You may be easy, we have come off very well. The rain was only an honest summer thunder-storm. In some places it has indeed beaten down the grain, but the injury is slight, and I can with a clear conscience fulfil my promise and go to Breslau with you this morning."

Storting was so rejoiced at the safety of his harvest that he entirely forgot his yesterday's displeasure at his companion's conduct, and he walked his horse slowly back to the castle at Egon's side, pointing with pride to the luxuriant fields on each side of them, and speaking with enthusiasm of Herr von Osternau and his agricultural foresight and skill.

His talk was most interesting to Egon, who felt an increased respect and esteem for the man of whom an intelligent inspector in his employ could speak in terms of such admiration.

Arrived in the court-yard the pair separated, Storting to superintend the arrangement of the day's labour, since, as he said, with a half-smile, "The chief superintendent will hardly appear before eight o'clock, his usual time of rising," while Egon repaired to his room.

Here he found his breakfast awaiting, and beside his plate a letter addressed to Colonel D. von Sastrow, Berlin. It was the one he had been requested by Herr von Osternau to take charge of on the previous evening, and the sight of it reminded him of his own letter to Pigglewitch, which he had laid away unsealed after he had written it.

He took it out and read it over once more. It did not please him, but he could not resist the longing desire that possessed him to remain for a while at Osternau. He shuddered at the thought of resuming the tedious old Berlin life. Any means were justifiable that should enable him to escape that.

With a sigh he enclosed the notes for the promised money, sealed the letter, and addressed it. Then he took from his pocket-book an additional two hundred marks. Thus much, he reflected, Gottlieb must have possessed before falling into the hands of the sharpers, and so much therefore his subst.i.tute might surely sacrifice to the exigencies of the occasion. He needed some school-books, and also some linen. That contained in the travelling-bag filled him with disgust.

Punctually at seven he started with Storting for Breslau. The travelling-bag containing Pigglewitch's old suits was carried to the station by a servant, and the travellers arrived duly at their destination, where Egon's first care was to post Herr von Osternau's letter and his own. After this he began his expedition in the town with Storting, the first visit naturally being paid to the tailor. Here it would have gone ill with him but for Storting's a.s.sistance. The tailor at first seemed disinclined to grant credit to a stranger, and Candidate Pigglewitch could not possibly pay the two hundred and fifty marks requisite for the furnishing him with two respectable suits of clothes, except by quarterly instalments. Storting, however, came to the rescue. His credit with the tradesman was excellent, and he arranged the matter, while Egon stood by, now and then biting his lip to keep himself from laughing, so ludicrous did the whole situation seem to him. In less than an hour his outfit was complete. The clothes borrowed from Storting and one of his own new suits were packed up to be sent to the railway-station. Egon paid the ready money agreed upon, and the tailor requested him to sign a paper agreeing to pay the rest in quarterly instalments as arranged. The pen was in his hand when he suddenly reflected that he had no right to sign Pigglewitch's name to a due-bill, that to do so was actually a transgression of the law. He hesitated, but when Storting said, "Sign, Herr Pigglewitch, I will write my name as surety below yours," there was nothing for it but to comply. Here was one of the consequences of coming to Castle Osternau under a false name.

His enjoyment of the occasion was disturbed, but only for a moment; when they had left the shop he felt it his duty to make a special acknowledgment to the inspector for his great kindness in so readily becoming surety for an entire stranger. Storting interrupted him with a laugh.

"You must thank Fraulein Lieschen, if you wish to thank anybody--our gracious little lady. 'Pray make Herr Pigglewitch look like a human being,' she said to me yesterday. Not very flattering to you, but for me a command to be obeyed under all circ.u.mstances. I tell you frankly that but for this I should have had some hesitation in going surety for you, for your conduct yesterday provoked me. To-day, however, you are a different person, and I am quite sure that I run no risk in signing your promise to pay."

"Fraulein Lieschen's word is your law, then?"

"Yes, so I told you yesterday, and so I tell you again to-day."

Storting laughed as he spoke, but the seriousness in his eyes contradicted the laughter of his lips. "Fraulein Lieschen rules at Castle Osternau. Just as you controlled Soliman yesterday, Fraulein Lieschen will control you before two days are gone by. Yesterday you tried to withstand the magic of her glance, to-morrow you will obey her implicitly, as I do, as every one in the castle does."

He turned as he finished the sentence into the old-clothes shop, where Pigglewitch's cast-off habiliments were to be disposed of. If Egon had enjoyed the novelty of the transaction with the tailor, here he was infinitely more entertained. Storting defended his interests bravely.

The Jew dealer declared that he should be ruined by the purchase at any price of such antiquated garments, but finally with many lamentations agreed to give twenty-four marks for the two suits. Storting was content; the porter who had carried the bag was paid and dismissed; Egon pocketed his gains with a smile, and took the empty bag under his arm.

The chief business in Breslau was completed, and Egon found that he had still half an hour before the departure of the train for Osternau. This time he employed in the purchase of linen and school-books, and arrived with Storting at the station just in time to pack away his various bundles in the railway-carriage and to take his seat beside his companion before the train started.

The events of this little expedition to Breslau were very unimportant, and yet they exercised an important influence upon Egon's mode of thought, his views of life. For the first time some idea occurred to him of the value of money. The tailor's hesitation to trust him for the insignificant sum of two hundred and fifty marks, the petty haggling for an infinitely less sum in the old-clothes shop, were a lesson to him. And in his purchase of linen and books the impossibility of his buying, as he had been wont to do, everything that he desired, or even everything that he thought necessary, set him thinking in earnest.

He had smiled at the gravity with which Storting, at the tailor's, reckoned up the cost of the clothes, at the eagerness with which he had contested a few marks with the Jew dealer, while his zeal was all in behalf of another, and the same man who was so anxious to save expense for the poor Candidate Pigglewitch did not hesitate to pledge himself to pay a hundred and fifty marks in case the tutor should be unable to do so. And this when the sum in question was of great importance to him, for, as he had frankly told Egon, he was without means except his salary as inspector, out of which he contributed to the support of a sister who was preparing for the governess examinations in Berlin.

Under these circ.u.mstances the kindness shown to Egon by Storting was genuine indeed, and placed the recipient under an obligation which instead of annoying him gave him pleasure. Hitherto Egon had been disposed to regard any favour shown him as due to his wealth and position. Storting's disinterestedness therefore made the greatest impression upon him, and weakened the morbid suspicion with which he had come to look upon all friendly advances made to him.

The elation that he felt upon returning from Breslau to Castle Osternau was not damped by the fulfilment of his duties there. His little pupil's boyish eagerness to learn, his affectionate enthusiasm for his dear Herr Pigglewitch, warmed Egon's heart, while the hours spent in giving Lieschen her music-lessons were the most delightful he had ever pa.s.sed in his life.

After the daily game of billiards, in which, much to the Lieutenant's chagrin, Egon maintained his supremacy, Frau von Osternau accompanied her daughter and the tutor to the sitting-room, where the lesson on the piano was given. Egon began his instruction with an interest which the discovery of his pupil's talent for music heightened to enthusiasm, and the girl's progress was such that Frau von Osternau was charmed, and in the delight which these lessons gave her forgot that she had at first been present at them from a sense of duty. Indeed, her anxiety lest Lieschen's interest in her teacher might transcend the limits of that which a pupil should feel for a master seemed entirely groundless. The girl admired the musician, as did Frau von Osternau. She listened to every word of his, and did her best to obtain his approval. When he praised her her lovely face beamed with smiles, but it was to the teacher as such that she paid her tribute of respectful attention. The lesson once concluded, Lieschen was again the merry, artless, audacious child. She teased Herr Pigglewitch as she was wont to tease Cousin Albrecht, Herr Storting, and Herr von w.a.n.gen, the third inspector. She expressed without reserve her admiration for his skill at billiards and as a horseman, and then, when displeased by some reckless speech of his, she scolded him as unreservedly. She was as frankly familiar with him as with the others, and her conduct in this respect was at times a proof to her mother that her fears for her daughter had been unfounded.

She willingly allowed the daily rides, during which the pair, of course, were never alone, Fritz always forming one of the party.

It was a delight indeed to Egon to make these expeditions through field and forest with the sister and brother. Lieschen a.s.sumed all the gravity of age as she held forth to the Herr Candidate upon the mysteries of agriculture, now and then praising the progress made by her pupil, and she was no less charming when she laughed at him for his ignorance. Herr Storting was right when he prophesied that Egon would, like all the other inmates of the castle, shortly yield Fraulein Lieschen a willing obedience. Egon smiled at his own folly, but none the less did he succ.u.mb to her charm, even putting a bridle upon his tongue when habit would have led him to utter some sneering remark. One word of admonition from Lieschen was enough to put him upon his guard.

The life he led at Castle Osternau, in utter contradiction as it was to everything that he had known hitherto, threw a strange spell around him, made him calm and content, filled him with a satisfaction which forbade for the time all idea of change.

At the noonday meal he no longer listened mutely to the agricultural discourse of the lord of the castle. His awakened interest found utterance in inquiry and discussion which afforded Herr von Osternau genuine pleasure. Frau von Osternau also would give the young man a kindly nod as she marked his growing interest in such topics. The Lieutenant alone was discontent; he never let slip an opportunity for a covert sneer at the Candidate. Egon paid no attention to his insulting words, but they called forth at times a sharp reproof from Herr von Osternau, which but served to embitter Albrecht still further against its cause.

And the evenings around the tea-table, from which Egon would rise to take his seat at the piano, were perhaps the most enjoyed of all this pleasant existence. What matter was it to the young fellow if the Lieutenant hated him? He felt that every other member of the family regarded him with kindness, that Fritz positively worshipped him, that Frau von Osternau had confidence in him, that her husband treated him as his equal in rank, as a friend of the family. And Lieschen? She was as frank and merry as upon their first meeting. She even teased him now and then about his old coat, in which she still insisted he looked like a scarecrow, but at intervals, in the midst of her girlish merriment, her eyes would meet his own with a look which, he could hardly have told why, filled him with intense, unreasoning joy.