Tales from the German Volume I Part 19

'I fear you are planning some evil, and shall not suffer you to go out!' cried Rank, dragging the youth entirely up the steps. When they had reached his room he gave him a searching look. From Arwed's pale countenance, wild glaring eyes and disordered dress, it was evident that he had not been in bed the preceding night, and the handles of a pair of pistols were seen projecting from the bosom of his coat.

'Young man, what do you intend?' asked Rank. 'I have become your friend, and cannot allow you to make yourself unhappy.'

'The injustice,' answered Arwed, 'which conducted Goertz to the scaffold, has robbed me of all the happiness of my existence. Georgina has rejected me and bidden an eternal farewell to Sweden. I will now devote the rest of my miserable life to some useful purpose, and a.s.sume the office of Nemesis. The judges who condemned the innocent, shall answer it to me before the mouth of my pistol or the point of my sword, and with their worthy president will I make a beginning!'

'Calm yourself,' said Rank. Count Ribbing cannot be called to account by you.'

'He shall, he must!' cried Arwed, with flashing eyes. 'The wretch, by signing the sentence, has declared that Goertz had lived dishonorably and should therefore die ignominiously! It will be honor enough for him to die as a cavalier by the hands of an honorable man!'

'He can no longer be held answerable to you,' repeated Rank. 'He is dead!'

'Dead!' reiterated Arwed, shuddering.

'Even before the execution of Goertz, was he attacked by apoplexy,'

pursued Rank, 'and instantly expired. His death was for a time kept a secret from the people, who might have drawn various sinister conclusions from the occurrence, but I cannot understand how you could have remained so long ignorant of it.'

'I have paid no attention to the news of the capital during the last week,' answered Arwed in a low tone of voice. 'Dead! The executioner gone before the victim! I am sorry for it. I will then seek the public prosecutor, and thank him for the grat.i.tude he evinced towards his patron.'

'Would you contend with a cripple? Fehmann also has been smitten. He now lies very low, and, if he ever recover, he will, nevertheless, remain a maimed man the remainder of his life. The living body of the wretched Hylten is daily consumed by worms, and doctor Molin has fallen backwards from his seat and broken his neck.'

'And thus all the ringleaders escape me!' cried Arwed, stamping with his foot. 'Stiernkrona is innocent, and the rest were little more than miserable tools.'

'You see, my young friend,' said Rank, seizing Arwed's hand, 'that G.o.d himself will fulfill the duties of judge in this case. a.s.sume not the office of avenger with bold presumption!'

'Only one of them now remains,' cried Arwed fiercely; 'but he shall not escape me!'

'Whom do you mean?' anxiously asked Rank.

'Colonel Baumgardt,' answered Arwed, 'who arrested the martyr, in obedience to the commands of a man who at that time had no authority to issue such an order. Had it not been for his shameful readiness on that occasion, the n.o.ble blood of Goertz would not have flowed.'

'You are right, but I warn you,' said Rank. 'Directly by means of that arrest has Baumgardt acquired great favor with the queen. A challenge upon that ground would not be accepted by him, and would bring you to a prison.'

'I thank you for the warning,' answered Arwed. 'But fortunately the colonel has injured me personally, and is therefore prepared to receive a challenge from me.'

'If that be the case,' said Rank, 'and you are not provided with a second, I offer you my services in that capacity.'

'You, general!' cried Arwed with astonishment.

'I am your friend,' said Rank, 'and will openly prove it, and at the same time abjure my political faith. Let it be considered as settled.

Before the duel, however, I advise you to resign your commission.

Indeed it was for that purpose I came to seek you. You have made many and powerful enemies. Nothing but your father's power and influence has. .h.i.therto preserved you, and even he is angry with you now. If he also should give you up, you would be lost without redemption.'

'Only he who gives himself up, is lost,' said Arwed. 'Yet will I follow your good counsel. Under the present circ.u.mstances there is no longer honor nor pleasure for me in the Swedish service.'

'It is unfortunate for you, Gyllenstierna,' cried Rank dejectedly. You have in you the metal for a Horn or a Torstenson, and it is to be regretted that your talents cannot be devoted to the service of your country. Whenever you need my services in your proposed affair, you know where to find me.'

He took his leave, and Arwed accompanied him to the door. On his return he pa.s.sed a mirror, and the reflection of his disordered figure caught his attention.

'I look as bad,' cried he, 'as a highway robber, going forth in pursuit of his prey. This is not as it should be. Even the just anger of an honorable man should not wear this appearance. Stern business should be sternly executed; but with a due regard to outward appearances, so that the wretch whom I am about to punish may not be able to complain that I have neglected what good manners prescribe.'

He drew the pistols from his bosom, and laid them aside. Then ringing for his servant, he dressed himself with unusual care. The rich gala uniform contrasted strangely and frightfully with the suppressed anger upon his beautiful pale face. He buckled on his sword again, and proceeded to the Ritterholm in search of his antagonist.

The parade before the palace had commenced. The troops were already marched to the square, and the officers were walking to and fro in ma.s.ses, or conversing together in isolated groups. 'Have you heard of it?' asked adjutant Kolbert, slopping up to Arwed; Baumgardt has become a major general, and had conferred upon him the order of the seraphim.

It will be announced to-day in general orders.'

'There he comes already,' scoffingly observed count Posse, who had joined the group; 'and his face shines as did that of Moses when he retired from the presence of the Most Holy.'

'I am glad of it,' said Arwed, 'I shall have an opportunity to congratulate him upon the spot.'

Meanwhile Baumgardt had descended the palace steps with a stately air, and now approached them. Already, at a distance, glistened the star and band upon his breast, and with proud condescension he bowed right and left to the subaltern officers who gathered round for the purpose of congratulating him.

With firm and rapid strides Arwed stepped directly in front of the fortunate man. The latter was somewhat surprised when he recognised him, and turned pale upon observing the frightful earnestness expressed by his features. 'I must most respectfully request a short conversation with you, sir major general,' said Arwed very courteously. 'You will have the goodness to remember that I reserved this claim when we separated at Amal.'

'I know not....' stammered Baumgardt, in the embarra.s.sment of his surprise.

'You allowed yourself,' proceeded Arwed, 'in the parsonage at Tanum and in the camp before Frederickshall, to use certain expressions injurious to my honor, and my situation now for the first time allows me to ask an explanation of them.'

'Whatever I may have said,' answered Baumgardt sullenly, 'was in the discharge of my official duty, and therefore I am not to be called to account for it by any person.'

'According to my view,' said Arwed coolly, 'on that occasion you overstepped the bounds of your duty. You will therefore have the goodness to give me the satisfaction due to a man of honor.'

'I do not know,' answered Baumgardt, 'whether I as a general am bound to fight with a captain.'

'But as a cavalier you dare not refuse satisfaction to the count Gyllenstierna,' cried Arwed warmly. 'If, however, you have any doubts upon that point, the corps of officers at the capitol may decide the matter.'

'I doubt only,' said Baumgardt scornfully, 'whether you can find any one willing to act as your second in so extraordinary an affair, in which I see only the quixotism of youth, which I am willing to pardon.'

'I have consented to act as the count's second,' said Rank, who had just joined them.

'Your excellency!' exclaimed Baumgardt with surprise. 'That is indeed quite another affair. I fight with pistols, and fire advancing,' said he to Arwed, after a moment's reflection.

'The choice was yours,' answered Arwed, bowing. 'I thank you for meeting my wishes in this manner. When shall it be?'

'To-morrow morning at ten o'clock, upon the Peckholm, opposite the park,' answered Baumgardt, gloomily.

'I shall have the honor to await you there,' said Arwed, with a very low bow, and turned upon his heel.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The next morning Arwed was walking silently up and down the banks of the Peckholm with lieutenant general Rank, awaiting the arrival of the boat which was to bring his adversary. Arwed's pistols with their apparatus were lying upon his cloak, which was spread out under a tall pine tree.

'You are so tranquil, my friend!' said Rank, breaking the long silence; 'indeed, the moments pa.s.sed in awaiting a duel are most intolerable. I know it by my own experience. Perhaps you begin to regret your proceeding? It is not to be doubted that the pistol shot which you are about to exchange will be the burial salute of your happiness in this kingdom--for the queen will never pardon you. Therefore, if your resolution has become somewhat weaker, it is yet time. Major general Baumgardt is too happy with his new promotion and his new orders, not to wish to wear his honors some years yet, and will very willingly agree to any other reparation.'

'No, general,' answered Arwed; 'G.o.d forbid that I should meanly convert an honorable combat into a piece of buffoonery. A reconciliation between a challenge and a duel, I have always deemed a contemptible proceeding. It was the firmness, even, of my resolution, that made me still, as it places me near the gates of death, which to me is a consideration of great solemnity, and as I shall contend for the innocence of our friend before the eyes of all Europe.'