The Sign Of Flame Part 24

She had finally struck the right chord. The young lord started at this thought and bowed his head mutely when Antonie entered, quite unconcerned.

"You have returned already, w.i.l.l.y?" she asked. "I thought--but what is it? Has anything happened?"

"Yes," answered Frau Regine, grasping the reins, as usual, decisively.

"We have just received a communication from Burgsdorf which forces us to depart to-morrow morning. You need not be frightened, my child, it is nothing dangerous--only a foolishness"--she laid sharp emphasis on the word--"a foolishness which has been committed, but which will be removed just as speedily by quick interference. I will tell you all about it later, but for the present nothing can be done but by our departure."

Curiosity was not one of Antonie's faults, and even this quite unexpected news was not able to ruffle her composure. The statement that nothing serious was concerned satisfied her entirely.

"Must w.i.l.l.y leave also?" she asked without particular enthusiasm.

"Cannot he at least remain?"

"Answer your fiancee yourself, w.i.l.l.y," said Frau von Eschenhagen, fixing her sharp, gray eyes upon her son. "You know best what the circ.u.mstances are. Can you really consent to stay here?"

A short pause. Willibald's glance met his mother's; then he turned away and said in a suppressed voice, "No, Toni, I must go home--nothing else is possible."

Toni accepted the decision, which would have pained another girl deeply, with moderate regret, and began to inquire directly where the travelers would dine to-morrow, since the fast train had no stoppage anywhere. This seemed to grieve her as much as the separation, but she finally concluded that it would be best for them to take a lunch along to eat on the train.

Frau von Eschenhagen felt triumphant when she went to her brother-in-law to notify him of their departure, for which she had already found a pretext.

Many a thing could happen on the large estates to afford an explanation.

Naturally, the Chief Forester must not learn the truth any more than his daughter, although he had caused the whole trouble in his blindness.

Regine did not doubt in the least that as soon as she removed her w.i.l.l.y from the fascinating circle of this "witch" he would return to reason.

Had he not shown it just now?

She would not see that honor toward his betrothed alone had conquered, and that it had been a terrible mistake to expose his feelings to another.

"Wait, my boy," she muttered grimly. "I will teach you to commence such things, and to rebel against your mother. When once I have you at Burgsdorf, may G.o.d have mercy on you!"

CHAPTER XX.

On the appointed day the Duke, with the d.u.c.h.ess and a numerous suite, arrived at Furstenstein, and the life full of splendor which had been led in former times began again in the wide, beautiful hunting grounds of the Wald.

The present sovereign was no ardent huntsman, and the hunting lodge of his ancestors had stood deserted for years, or was occupied only at long intervals for a brief visit. Now, when a prolonged stay was antic.i.p.ated, the s.p.a.cious castle scarce afforded room enough for the guests; a part of them were quartered in neighboring Waldhofen, which made the little town, as well as the entire vicinity, very festive in joyful excitement.

The owners of the neighboring castles and villas, who, like Prince Adelsberg, belonged to the best families of the land, were induced by the arrival of the Court to take up their fall quarters there, too.

Nearly everybody had brought numerous guests, and so an unusual life and bustle developed in the silent Wald, the centre of which activity being, of course, Furstenstein.

The castle shone to-night in fullest splendor; every window of the upper floor was lighted, and in the court torches threw their red light upon the walls and towers gray with age.

It was the occasion of the first large fete since the arrival of the princely family, to which were asked all the n.o.bility of the neighborhood, the higher officials of the district, and, in short, everybody who had any claim upon their sovereign's notice.

The castle, which was built in a grand style, contained a number of gorgeous rooms of state, which, with their old-fashioned but costly furnishings, and the brilliant company moving through them, afforded a decidedly splendid spectacle.

The young wife of the Prussian Amba.s.sador was a new star among the ladies present. Mourning for her father, who had died shortly after her marriage, had kept her from all festivities, and she entered to-day for the first time this brilliant circle, where the position of her husband a.s.sured her a prominent place, and where she was being treated by the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess with noticeable distinction.

The rising of this new star was noticed by the ladies, of course, with some displeasure. They found Frau von Wallmoden very haughty in her cool composure, and that she had very little occasion for such bearing; for, of course, they all knew that she was a born burgher, who did not properly belong in this circle, even if her father's wealth and his prominent position with the industries of the country gave her a certain distinction. Nevertheless, she moved upon the foreign soil with a strange ease--the husband must have schooled her well for this first appearance.

The gentlemen were of a different opinion. They found that His Excellency the Amba.s.sador had proved his talent most strikingly in his own cause. He who already stood upon the border of old age had understood how to gain, with the hand of this young, beautiful wife, a fortune extensive enough in itself, but magnified by rumor into the immeasurable. For this he was envied on all sides.

Wallmoden did not seem at all surprised at the impression which the beauty and stateliness of his wife too apparently caused, but accepted it as something natural. He had expected nothing else; the contrary would have surprised him in the highest degree.

At present he was standing in a window recess with his brother-in-law, the Chief Forester, and after exchanging a few indifferent remarks about the fete and the guests, he asked casually: "What sort of person is that whom Prince Adelsberg has introduced? Do you know him?"

"You mean the young Roumanian?" said Schonan. "No; I see him to-day for the first time, but have heard of him before. He is the bosom friend of the Prince, whom he accompanied upon his Eastern travels, and a young man handsome as a picture--his eyes positively sparkle with fire."

"He impresses me as an adventurer," remarked Wallmoden coldly. "How does he happen to have an invitation? Has he been presented to the Duke?"

"Yes, at Rodeck, if I am not mistaken; the Duke was there recently.

Prince Adelsberg loves to throw etiquette aside as much as possible.

But this invitation to-day signifies no acceptance, since everybody has been asked."

The Amba.s.sador shrugged his shoulders.

"Nevertheless, one should hesitate about bringing such elements near one before they come well recommended."

"Everything must be certified to with letter and seal with you diplomats," laughed the Chief. "This Rojanow has certainly something aristocratic about him, and one is never so strict, anyway, with a foreigner. I can well understand that our sovereigns like to hear and see something different from the usual court circle, which presents the same old tiresome face from year to year. The Duke appears to be quite captivated already with the Roumanian."

"Yes, it seems so," muttered Wallmoden, upon whose brow a cloud gathered.

"But why should this concern us?" remarked Schonan. "I will go now and look for Toni, who has to appear now everywhere without her betrothed.

That was another notion of Regine's. She departed from us with her son like a skyrocket. Your sister cannot be detained as soon as the beloved Burgsdorf is brought into question. If she had only left w.i.l.l.y with us!

Everybody wonders that my future son-in-law should take his departure before the fete. I cannot understand it at all."

"A stroke of good fortune that they are gone," thought Wallmoden, as his brother-in-law left him. "If Willibald had met his former friend and playmate here unexpectedly another scene similar to that upon the Hochberg might have occurred. But who would have thought that Hartmut would carry his defiance so far as to appear in a circle where he was sure to meet the Amba.s.sador?"

Prince Adelsberg, who held in this circle one of the highest positions through his name and relationship to the reigning house, had, indeed, succeeded with the presentation of his friend, and the Duke seemed to have had a very favorable opinion of him from the first meeting at Rodeck, for he now himself presented this young stranger to the d.u.c.h.ess.

This Rojanow, with the captivating charm of his personality and the foreign air which surrounded him, was, indeed, an extraordinary person, who had only to appear to cause general observation.

To-day he displayed lavishly all the brilliant attributes which were at his command. His conversation sparkled with life and spirit, his fiery temperament, which betrayed itself involuntarily, gave to everything he said and did a peculiar charm, while he proved himself in every respect master of society forms and customs. In short, the prophecy of the Prince was fulfilled.

Hartmut knew how to conquer everybody here by storm, and had hardly put his foot upon the soil when he reigned there by the power of his magnetism.

This could not pa.s.s unnoticed by the Amba.s.sador, even if he did not come into direct contact with the Roumanian. It was not difficult to evade each other in the throng of guests, and a meeting was not desired on either side.

Wallmoden walked through a side room, where the Duke's sister, the Princess Sophie, had gathered a large circle around her.

The Princess, who had married the younger son of a princely house, had very early become a widow, and had lived since then at the court of her brother, where she was not in the least popular. While the d.u.c.h.ess charmed everybody who came into her presence by her grace and kindness, the older sister was considered haughty and _intriguante_. Everybody stood in fear of the lady's sharp tongue, which had a habit of saying something disagreeable to each and every one.

Herr von Wallmoden did not escape this fate. He was graciously beckoned to and received flatteries on the beauty of his wife, which was not to be denied.

"I offer you my congratulations, Your Excellency. I was quite surprised when your young wife was presented to me, for I had naturally expected to see an elderly lady."