The Lost Manuscript Part 63

Irritated by this cowardly attempt to draw back, the Sovereign asked with emphasis, "Would he undertake such a charge?"

"He has a very distinguished position at the University, and is happily married; and he would, undoubtedly, not like to leave his present position for any length of time."

"Perhaps that may be arranged," rejoined the Sovereign. "Werner, then, is the man. At a short interview I accidentally had with him he made a good impression on me. Do not forget to remind me this evening that the archives at Bielstein are to be searched."

Thus did a father exert himself for the benefit of his son.

The Chamberlain reminded his lord that evening that there had been a question of an investigation in the archives of Bielstein, and the sovereign thanked him for it. The following morning orders were given through the Council to the keepers of the records and members of other branches of the Court and State administration, to seek out and send all records of a certain age that had reference to the castle of Bielstein and monastery of Rossau. This order occasioned a great raising of dust, and five large leather sacks were filled with records and old papers. The collection was sent to the Professor; and in a letter the Sovereign expressed his thanks for the attentions which the Professor had shown the Hereditary Prince. He added that, remembering a former conversation, he sent for his inspection all that, in a cursory search, could be found concerning a place in which he took an interest.

This letter gave cause for serious consideration to two inquiring minds. When the dubious report of the student concerning an existing chest had disturbed the peace of the house, the friends had again turned their attention to the inventory of the deceased Bachhuber, and had once more pondered over every word of it: "In a hollow and dry place, LOCO CAVO ET SICCO." The word place, _locus_, occasioned much thought; but they could come to no certainty about it. "Of the house of Bielstein, domus Bielsteyn!"--here the expression house, _domus_, was very remarkable. Did it mean that the ma.n.u.script lay concealed in the dwelling house itself, or was the word house used in the obsolete meaning of estate or property? The Doctor contended for the dwelling-house, the Professor for the estate. Much depended upon this; for if _domus_ signified estate, the ma.n.u.script might be concealed in any part of the property. "I have deposited it all, _haec omnia deposui_!" The word all, _omnia_, was very comforting; for it gave the certainty that the deceased Bachhuber had not left the ma.n.u.script behind. But the depositing was a matter of some doubt. Did the word betoken that the ma.n.u.script was deposited only in Bielstein, and thus given over and entrusted, so to speak, to the inhabitants?--or had the writer chosen the expression because he wished to signify the interring and blocking it up in some deep place? To us laymen in the Latin tongue, it appears clear indeed that Bachhuber was very glad to have a Latin vocabulary in which to signify the concealment of his treasure; however, the feeling of the learned men was otherwise. Finally, the friends agreed in taking the view, that, in spite of this account, the walls of the house were worthy of future attention. The hollow places which the Doctor had registered might be examined; the cupboard in the wall in Ilse's bedroom appeared a place not to be despised. The Professor, therefore, determined to obtain some certainty on that point during the next vacation. The business of the Rector had only allowed a short visit to the castle this time; but the Professor would be aided by his position in the family, which opened Ilse's room and cupboard to him.

It was a fine August day; the father was riding about in his fields, and Ilse sitting with Clara in household consultation, when an uproar was raised in the kitchen, and the housekeeper, quite beside herself, rushed into the sitting-room, exclaiming: "There are ghosts around again!" There was, in fact, a loud knocking in the house, and the maids congregated in the hall. The noise came from the upper story; so Ilse hastened upstairs, and, on opening the door to her room, found the Professor, in his shirt sleeves, working in the cupboard with various tools he had obtained from the carpenter. He received her, laughing, and called out, to tranquilize her, that he was nailing the cupboard boards tighter. This was right, but he had first broken through them.

The ma.n.u.script was not there, and nothing was to be seen but an empty s.p.a.ce and a few bits of mortar. There was, however, one inexplicable thing, which might be a trace of the ma.n.u.script--a small bit of blue cloth rag; how that had come into the wall was a riddle. On further examination, it appeared that it was not colored with indigo; therefore, probably, it had existed previous to the introduction of that color into civilization. Whether a mouse, in her motherly care, had deposited it there as an ornament to her bed, and at the same time for food in a desperate case of necessity, could not be ascertained, as at present these folk seem to have no traditions of the past, and the individual had probably been eaten some centuries ago by an ancestor of one of our cats.

This discovery might have given confidence to the friends, for there were now two places where the treasure was not. But there is much that is illogical in the nature of men. Even the Doctor inclined now to the Professor's opinion, that the ma.n.u.script was perhaps not concealed in the house; nay, that it might even be at a distance from the place.

Such was the state of the matter when the Sovereign's packet arrived.

The friends were occupied many hours with the trunks, and examined the records carefully. They found much that would be valuable for the history of the district, but nothing that led to the ma.n.u.script. At last, the Professor raised from the bottom of one of the trunks a thick bundle of reports, on sheets sewed together, which had been sent by the officials of Bielstein to the Government. Among them was the writing of a deputy-bailiff of the last century, in which he notified that he was hastening, in those times of suspense and danger, commanded by high authority, to convey to the royal country residence, Solitude, the chestful of hunting implements and old books which had up to that time been in his custody.

The writer of the letter had undoubtedly not foreseen what an excitement his faded scroll would produce in a later generation.

"This is the student's chest," cried the Professor, the color rising to his cheeks, while he held out the doc.u.ment to his friend.

"Remarkable!" said the Doctor. "It is impossible that this coincidence can be accidental."

"The student's chest was no will o' the wisp," cried the Professor to his wife, in her room; "here is the confirmation."

"Where is the chest?" inquired Ilse, skeptically.

"That is just what we do not know," replied the Professor, laughing.

"Here is a new scent, indistinct, and in a new direction; but it may lead shortly to the vanished parchment." The friends hastened back eagerly to the bundle of records. "Old books!" exclaimed the Doctor; "the house was a hunting castle; a generation before this letter was written, the estate came first into the possession of this princely family; it is not probable that they themselves, in their short hunting visits, should have collected books there."

"Old books!" exclaimed also the Professor; "it is possible that hunting journals and accounts may be meant; but it is not impossible that the chest may also contain some few things of the property of the monastery. Ilse, where is the old castle belonging to your Sovereign called Solitude?"

Ilse knew nothing of such a castle.

"It is a fortunate coincidence that the Sovereign himself may give us an opportunity of obtaining more accurate information."

"Ah, you poor men!" said Ilse, through the door, pityingly. "Now you are far worse than before; as long as the treasure was still supposed to be in our house, my father at least could keep a good look out; but now, it is in a chest far away in the wide world, and no one knows anything even of the house to which it may have been carried."

The friends laughed again. "Your father's house is not on that account less under suspicion," said her husband, consolingly.

The Professor sent back the contents of the chest to the Royal Council, expressed in his letter his warm thanks to the Sovereign, and mentioned that an uncertain trace made him very desirous of obtaining permission to make personal investigations.

The letter had the desired result for both parties. The Sovereign had the satisfaction, which is pleasing to earthly masters, of appearing to confer a favor while he was seeking one.

The Professor was joyfully surprised when he received from the Council in the name of the Sovereign a letter promising to promote his investigations in every way, and making the following proposal: The Sovereign wished his cabinet of antiquities to be examined by a scientific authority, and there was no one to whom he would more willingly trust this task than to the Professor. He knew well how valuable to others was the work of so learned a man, but he hoped that his collection might appear of sufficient importance to him to spend a few weeks upon it.

At the same time the Chamberlain wrote, by desire of his gracious master, that the Sovereign would be delighted if the Professor would accept the hospitality of the Palace during the time of his stay. A garden pavilion, which was a pleasant spring-residence, would be at his disposition. The dwelling was large enough to receive his family also, and he was commanded to suggest that there would be plenty of room if the Professor would bring his wife and servants, as the Sovereign did not wish that the learned man should be deprived of his domestic comforts during his stay. The beginning of the spring would be the best time for both parties; and the Chamberlain would be delighted to do the honors of the capital to his countrywoman.

The Professor hastened with flying steps to his wife, and laid the letter in her lap. "Here, read what endangers our journey into foreign lands. It will engross the greatest part of our traveling time. But I must accept the invitation; for any prospect, even the most distant, of obtaining the ma.n.u.script compels me to stake much that a man will only sacrifice for a great hope. Will you accompany me on this chase? You see, the kind people have thought of everything."

"I a guest of our Sovereign!" exclaimed Ilse, reading the letter.

"Never should I have dreamt of such an honor. What will my father say of it! It is a very honorable invitation for you," she continued, seriously; "and you must at all events accept it. As for me, I think it may be best for me to remain here."

"Why should we be separated for weeks?--it would be the first time."

"Send me to my father meanwhile."

"Does not that come to the same thing?" asked the Professor.

"What shall I do among these strangers?" continued Ilse, anxiously.

"Nonsense," replied the Professor. "Have you any reason to give?" and he looked at her, discomposed.

"I cannot say that I have," replied Ilse.

"Then decide at once, and come. We should probably feel more free if we could live as we liked; but I should not wish to reside for weeks at a hotel in a foreign city; and, from another point of view, this reception will save both parties the difficulty of offering and refusing compensation. We shall remain there as long as is indispensably necessary; then we shall go south, as far as we can. It is, after all, only putting off the journey a few weeks."

When the Professor's letter of acceptance arrived, the Chamberlain informed the Sovereign of it in presence of the Marshal: "See to it that the pavilion is arranged as comfortably as possible. Dinner will be served at the pavilion at whatever hour the Professor wishes."

"And what position does your Highness intend the strangers shall occupy at Court?" inquired the Marshal.

"That is understood," said the Sovereign; "he has the privilege of a stranger, and will occasionally be invited to small dinners."

"But the Professor's wife?" asked the Marshal.

"Ah!" said the Sovereign, "the wife. It is true, she comes with him."

"Then," continued the Marshal, "there is to be dinner for two at the pavilion; apartments for two, and a room for a lackey without livery."

"That is enough," said the Sovereign; "for the rest, we shall see. If the Professor's wife visits our ladies, I a.s.sume they will return the civility. We will leave the rest to the Princess."

"What is the history of these strangers?" asked the Marshal of the Chamberlain. "You know the people."

"As one knows people in a strange city," replied the Chamberlain.

"But you arranged their coming?"

"I only wrote according to the Sovereign's orders. The Professor is a learned man of reputation, and a thorough gentleman."

"But what has his wife to do here."

The Chamberlain shrugged his shoulders. "He could not be got without his wife," he replied, cautiously.

"Yet the Sovereign made a point of her coming."

"Did that strike you?" asked the Chamberlain. "I, for my part, did not remark it. He made it appear as if it were a matter of indifference to him; and, furthermore, she is a country-woman of his."