Quicksands Part 25

"All the more reason why I should be the one to go out again,--I could not possibly be wetter than I am. I shall bring the doctor back with me."

He was so evidently resolved to go that Elise did not gainsay him, but quietly declared her intention to stay beside the wounded man until the doctor arrived. w.a.n.gen suggested that, since the poor fellow was unconscious, the housekeeper or one of the maids might just as well relieve her of this duty; but Elise was firm, and Bertha supported her in her decision, although in a mocking way that was very irritating.

"Let her do as she wishes," she said to her husband, quite loud enough to be heard by the self-const.i.tuted nurse. "It will be a comfort to her. Do you remember her enthusiasm for her music-teacher when she was but seventeen? She preserved his image faithfully in her heart and recognized him immediately. We ought not to interfere with her."

Elise blushed painfully, but she suppressed the bitter retort that rose to her lips. Clara threw her arms round her and whispered to her, "Don't let her distress you, darling Elise. She grows worse and worse; you must not mind her."

w.a.n.gen, too, was grieved by Bertha's tone and manner, reminding him as it did of his late interview with her, and his voice was not so cordial as usual as he rejoined, "This is no time for jesting, Bertha. Come, let us leave Fraulein Lieschen to her work of mercy. The poor man could not be in better hands."

CHAPTER XXII.

AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.

Egon awakened as from a long, deep slumber. He opened his eyes, and was conscious of a dull pain in his head, and of a burning, p.r.i.c.king sensation in his forehead; he raised his hand to it, and his fingers encountered a wet linen bandage, while he observed that the place in which he was was entirely strange to him. He had never before seen the blue and white draperies of this room, nor had he any recollection of its rather quaint but comfortable furniture.

How had he come here? and why was his head bandaged? He closed his eyes again and tried to collect himself, finding that, in spite of the pain in his head, he was able to think connectedly. He had certainly arrived shortly before at Station R----. He had asked a porter to get him a conveyance to take him to Plagnitz. The man had been eager to serve him; but had not some one warned him against driving along so rough a road in such a storm? Yes; he remembered this quite well, and that he had laughed at the speaker's warning, and had driven off in the pouring rain, and in a pitchy darkness which was illuminated every moment or two by vivid flashes of lightning. The driver had grumbled and sworn in a mixture of Polish and German, and the vehicle had dragged on at a snail's pace, because its one horse scarcely sufficed to pull it through the mud that came up to the hubs of the wheels.

Egon had shivered in his wraps, which did not avail to protect him from the drenching rain, and then--what happened then? He remembered a jolt, a cry, and nothing more. But yet--yes, there were flitting, vague visions still haunting his memory. Had not he been faintly conscious of a light flashing in his eyes? And he had seen a crowd of dark, dim forms about him, not all quite strange to him. Surely, while he had been powerless to move a limb, he had felt rather than seen the compa.s.sionate gaze of two dark blue eyes in an angelic countenance. Was it a dream? Ah! during the last four years that face had often haunted his dreams,--the face of the fairy of Castle Osternau. It was her face, and yet not the same,--even more lovely than ever. Yes, this too was a dream, this touch of her soft, cool hand upon his forehead, and it so absorbed him that he could not rouse himself to a sense of reality; he went on dreaming, and a voice which he had surely heard at Castle Osternau said, at last, "We have been longing for you, doctor."

And another voice, which Egon did not know, replied, "I am very sorry, Herr von w.a.n.gen, but I could not possibly be here before. I trust I am not too late."

"I hope not, indeed." Egon recognized this voice perfectly: it was Herr von w.a.n.gen's. "The poor man's condition is unaltered. His kind nurse has just informed me that during her watch all night beside him he has never awaked to consciousness, although his breathing has been quite regular. The door on your left, doctor; he is in the blue room."

Egon opened his eyes again as the door of the room was opened and the speakers entered. One of them was Herr von w.a.n.gen. Egon recognized him immediately, in spite of the increase of manliness which the past four years had imparted to him. The other was an elderly man, an entire stranger.

This was no dream; here was Herr von w.a.n.gen in the flesh. Egon roused himself. He was on a bed, with a wound in his forehead, in a perfectly strange room; but how he came there, or what had happened, he could not divine.

"Aha! our patient is entirely conscious, a very cheering sign," said the doctor, approaching the bed. "No fever! Why, he'll soon be all right. You have distressed yourself very unnecessarily, Herr von w.a.n.gen."

He proceeded to examine the wound in the young man's forehead, which he p.r.o.nounced of no consequence. "The shock of the fall had stunned him,--had produced unconsciousness. You have had a very lucky escape."

"What happened to me?"

"Herr von w.a.n.gen will tell you all about it. You really do not need my aid; you're a little weak from loss of blood, and I dare say you still have some headache. Be careful for a few days to take no amount of exercise, and you'll be all right. I must bid you good-by immediately and return to Ostrowko, where they really need me."

"May Herr Pigglewitch get up?" asked Herr von w.a.n.gen.

"If he feels like it; he can do as he pleases. Good-by, Herr---- Pigglewitch, I believe?" and a faint smile hovered about the doctor's lips.

"No, my name is Von Ernau," Egon rejoined, simply.

"What the deuce! Herr von Ernau, the long-expected proprietor of Plagnitz?" the doctor exclaimed, evidently much pleased. "Ah, this will delight my old friend Sieveking; and Herr Storting, too, has been very anxious for your arrival. I am doubly glad that you have escaped so well from the Dombrowker Pa.s.s. I'll come to-morrow to see how you are getting along, but I cannot stay another minute now,--I have two patients desperately ill at Ostrowko. Good-morning to you, Herr von Ernau, and to you too, w.a.n.gen. Don't trouble yourself, I know my way perfectly."

And the vivacious little man had bowed himself out of the room before w.a.n.gen had recovered from his surprise. The name Ernau solved a riddle that had often puzzled him. Egon von Ernau, the wealthy young fellow who had been selected for Bertha's husband, had then pa.s.sed some weeks at Castle Osternau under the name of Herr Candidate Pigglewitch. At last he comprehended why young Ernau had, as he had been told by Werner von Ma.s.senburg, laid claim to Bertha's hand immediately upon his return to Berlin, although, as Werner had further declared, his pretensions met with a decided rebuff from himself, since Bertha's heart was no longer her own. Ah, yes! Herr von Ernau had known Bertha at Castle Osternau, and--how could it be otherwise?--had fallen desperately in love with her. When he returned to Berlin and heard that Bertha belonged to another, when his suit was so resolutely rejected by Werner von Ma.s.senburg, as Werner himself had represented, he had left Berlin again in utter despair, and had wandered to and fro on the earth seeking a cure for his wretchedness. w.a.n.gen's kindly heart was filled with compa.s.sion for the unfortunate man whose hopes in life he himself had thus dashed; but at the same time he could not do away with a certain disagreeable sensation. He remembered having been frequently tormented by jealousy at Castle Osternau, when Bertha bestowed too large a share of her attention upon the Candidate, or had listened in rapt admiration to his singing.

All these thoughts pa.s.sed like lightning through w.a.n.gen's mind while recovering from his astonishment. "Are you then Herr Egon von Ernau?"

he said, at last.

"Yes, Herr von w.a.n.gen, you find an old acquaintance under this name. I will explain the metamorphosis to you; but first gratify my burning curiosity, and be kind enough to tell me how I came here and what has happened to me. The past night is a blank in my memory."

Egon's questions restored w.a.n.gen's equanimity; he seated himself by the bed, and told his guest the whole story of his inspector's arrival with the wounded stranger, and of the accident that had occurred, finally depicting his wife's and his own anxiety, now happily dispelled by Egon's return to life.

He found an eager listener; when he alluded to his wife Egon remembered the vision of the past night. Now he knew whose was the gentle hand that had lain so cool and soft upon his forehead. How strange that he should, in his vague semi-consciousness, have taken Bertha for Lieschen! But it had sometimes happened during the past years that the two had been confounded in his dreams, although Bertha's image had gradually faded from his memory, while Lieschen's lovely face still frequently haunted him. He felt something akin to disappointment on learning that Bertha had been his kind attendant, but he banished the feeling as rank ingrat.i.tude; he thanked w.a.n.gen warmly for his kindness and hospitality, adding a short explanation of the manner in which he had come to play the part of Candidate Pigglewitch at Castle Osternau.

"I was a spoiled child of luxury," he said. "I had exhausted all the sources of fashionable amus.e.m.e.nt, and was weary of the existence which I was leading in Berlin, wherefore I left the capital suddenly, and meeting accidentally with the Candidate Pigglewitch, who told me the pitiful story of his life, I conceived the wild idea of finding out by personal experience what the existence of such a man really was. I carried out my insane scheme by buying of the fellow his name, his papers, and his dress, and going as the Candidate to Castle Osternau.

You know, Herr von w.a.n.gen, all the embarra.s.sments into which this foolish freak led me, and you know that I disappeared, as the Candidate, about the time that Egon von Ernau reappeared in Berlin. I had made up my mind to abandon the idle, aimless life which I had hitherto led, and which had always disgusted me. At Castle Osternau I learned the true value of life, the need of action in the line of some duty for all worthy the name of men, and I became much interested in agriculture. There is no necessity to weary you with an account of the means which I took to perfect myself in a knowledge of the management of a landed estate. I travelled much, and availed myself of every opportunity for improvement in this respect. Finally I have returned to Plagnitz, where I intend establishing myself for the future. This is, in brief, my story, Herr von w.a.n.gen. I pray you to tell it to madame your wife, who may, I hope, be induced to pardon the deception practised by the pretended Candidate. And now, with your permission, I will rise and dress,--I see my portmanteau has been brought to my room,--and I shall then have the honour to present myself to Frau von w.a.n.gen to thank her for her kindness and hospitality."

CHAPTER XXIII.

MISCHIEF FOR IDLE HANDS.

Bertha Von w.a.n.gen was seated at breakfast on the balcony. She had risen quite early to enjoy the dewy freshness of the morning which had followed the storm of the night before, and Elise and Clara were her companions. The lady of the mansion was not fond of solitude, and, moreover, she was desirous of knowing how her guest had pa.s.sed the night. For this purpose she had sent her maid to question Fraulein Lieschen in the blue room an hour previously, but Elise was no longer there,--she had resigned her post to a maid so soon as her patient's quiet, regular breathing showed that he was sleeping naturally. Thus, while Elise now poured out the coffee, she replied to Bertha's inquiries as to how the night had been pa.s.sed; w.a.n.gen, meanwhile, pacing the garden-walk below, within hearing, with his cigar. He disappeared, however, when the physician from Ostrowko was announced, and Elise eagerly awaited his return, although from fear of Bertha's spiteful observations she suppressed all show of anxiety in her face or manner.

Nor was Bertha herself so easy and careless as she would fain have appeared while waiting for the verdict of the doctor. As, years before, she had striven at Castle Osternau to manifest none of the interest excited in her mind and heart by the tutor, so now she feigned indifference with regard to his state, and spoke of the obligation of receiving a man of Pigglewitch's condition beneath her roof as a burdensome duty, hoped the "poor creature would soon be able to pursue his journey," and twitted Elise with the eager philanthropy which had led her to transgress the bounds of strict propriety. But here Clara, with her ready championship, interfered, and, embracing her dearest Elise, rather stormily declared that everything that she did was "good, and kind, and perfect."

In fact, the mistress of Hugo von w.a.n.gen's heart and home had by no means forgotten the Candidate of former days, or the interest with which he had inspired her. Her life, so different from any which she had imagined and hoped for in her girlish dreams, bored her from morning until night. No children had appeared to bless her loveless marriage, and, perhaps, to open their mother's heart to n.o.bler aspirations and a higher ideal of duty. She was entirely unable, from the intrinsic shallowness of her nature, to appreciate her husband's n.o.bler qualities or his intense chivalric devotion to herself. She was idle and weary, and her empty mind and heart were ready to welcome any unworthy pa.s.sion that could bring them amus.e.m.e.nt and occupation. The image of the enigmatical tutor of Castle Osternau arose before her invested with a thousand attractions, and she actually felt envious of Elise who had been able to watch beside him. Yes, the girl was always in her way.

The doctor stayed but a few minutes in the blue room. Bertha distinctly heard his footsteps descending the stairs, and his only, so her husband must have remained with the Candidate. Why had the physician left so soon? Had he come too late then? She was possessed by a feverish anxiety, she longed to run out into the corridor and question him; but no, Elise must not suspect her of eagerness to hear his verdict. She was doomed always to be forced to feign before Elise.

At last, after some minutes, which seemed to her hours, w.a.n.gen entered the room; one look at his face was enough to show that he brought no bad news, and she sank back negligently in the arm-chair from which she had half sprung up to meet him.

Hugo advanced with a beaming smile; his first glance was for his wife, but she was evidently so uninterested in what he had to say that he turned to Elise, whose eager eyes showed the depth of her anxiety. He nodded kindly to her:

"Good news, Fraulein Lieschen: your patient is all right. He awoke perfectly conscious, and the doctor says his wound is nothing to signify. He has had a wonderful escape, and is now dressing, in hopes of presenting himself to the ladies in half an hour, with a bandage about his head, to be sure, but scarcely enough of an invalid to make himself interesting on that score."

Elise flushed crimson, and her eyes were suffused for a moment; she said nothing, but her joy and relief were so evident that Clara loudly expressed her sympathy:

"Now all is well once more, darling Elise, and you will not cry, as you were doing this morning when Bertha sent for you."

"No, no need for tears," w.a.n.gen said, gaily; but he grew grave as he turned to his wife with, "I bring you a special message, Bertha, from our guest. He asks permission to present himself to you, to thank you for the hospitality which he has received beneath our roof. He requested me to announce his visit to you."

"I really do not consider a visit from Herr Pigglewitch of such importance as to need a special announcement," Bertha made reply. "The man has evidently not lost the good opinion which he formerly entertained of himself."

"But in this instance there is some reason why you should be prepared for a visit which else might have surprised you not quite agreeably.

Herr Pigglewitch wishes to present himself to you without the mask which he wore at Castle Osternau, as his true self and our future neighbour, Herr Egon von Ernau."

"It is he then? Ah, I knew it, I knew it!" Elise exclaimed, involuntarily.

The effect produced upon Bertha by the name of Ernau was magical. She lost entirely her hardly-won self-control, and, starting up, gazed alternately at her husband and at Elise with eyes aflame.

"You knew it? You were his confidante, and leagued with him against me?" she cried, her voice trembling with anger.

"No, Bertha; how can you even imagine such a thing?" Elise calmly replied. "He never uttered a word to me in confidence; but once, when we were alone, and I had distinctly expressed my low estimation of Herr von Ernau, he reproved me for my harsh judgment, and as he went on to explain how Herr von Ernau might have suffered from evil influences, he spoke so from his heart that I suspected he was defending himself, and not another. Then, when he left us and Herr von Ernau suddenly reappeared in Berlin, I suspected still more strongly who my teacher had been. I never revealed this by a word, not even to my father and mother; I had no right to betray his secret so long as he guarded it himself, but for me it was a secret no longer."