The Song Of Songs Part 31

Lilly had long desired such a mirror, but had not dared to ask for it.

The room, doubtless, was her "boudoir."

She, Lilly Czepanek, owned a "boudoir!" Was the wonder conceivable?

On the gla.s.s plate lay all sorts of things which you couldn't take in at first glance, yet expanded your eyes and your soul like a divine revelation. There were ivory-backed brushes--three--four--of varying degrees of hardness or softness; an ivory-backed hand-mirror with a charmingly carved handle, a powder puff in an ivory box, a glove b.u.t.toner, a shoe horn, everything of silver and ivory. And many more things, mysterious in their functions, the significance of which would have to be learned gradually. On each shone resplendent the gold monogram L. M. with a seven-pointed coronet above.

It was enough to set one wild.

After having inspected her treasures to her heart's content, Lilly prepared to extend her expedition of conquest to outlying districts.

The room in which she was had only one window, or, rather, a gla.s.s door, leading to a balcony, on which there was a rocking chair, and the high railing of which was partly overgrown with young creepers. Later in the season, when the leaves had unfolded all the way, a person standing on the balcony would be completely screened by walls of green; but now, in early spring, there was still so much s.p.a.ce between the shoots that he might easily be seen from below.

Lilly softly opened the cas.e.m.e.nt door and slipped out into the open air.

To the left, rising above a wall, were the barns and stables, which formed a large quadrangle about the yard. To the right, giant trees, a chaos of mazy, moss-green branches set with the golden-green b.u.t.tons of the leaf buds. Inside the labyrinth the birds kept up a scandalous riot, which deafened one's ears as with a hail-storm of sounds. Straight ahead, about thirty paces away, rose the gable roof of an ancient one-story structure, which also bordered on the park wall and seemed to open in front on the yard.

There at last a few mortals were to be seen. Two gentlemen, one with a round grey beard, the other stout, middle-aged and copper-coloured, were walking up and down the lawn at the back of the house smoking and conversing, while a third--

Who was that?

The slim, sinewy young man with the high collar and light yellow gaiters, sitting at a window, pulling a red dog to his lap by a thin chain, that was--no, impossible!--yes, it was--it actually was--Walter von Prell!

It was her merry friend, who had, so to speak, slunk off around the corner, the little lieutenant, famed as one utterly devoid of moral fibre--the only man that had ever kissed her mouth.

Except the colonel, of course; but the colonel didn't count.

There were the silvery white lids and the clinking bracelet and the mute laugh, which shook him like a storm each time the red dog with the pointed ears fell from his knees. The only change in him was that the close-cropped, velvety head of hair had been replaced by a somewhat unkempt growth shining with pomade.

Lilly laughed aloud and stretched her arms to him.

"Mr. von Prell! Mr. von Prell!" she was about to call out, but checked herself in time.

No matter--now, she knew, she was no longer solitary in that strange world. Her merry friend was here, her comrade, her playmate, the man to whom she owed her good fortune.

She remembered his having said, "The old man has taken a tremendous liking to me and wants me to run about his estate as Fritz Triddelfitz"--Lilly knew her Fritz Reuter well.

Strange that in all these months it should not have occurred to the colonel to mention a word about Von Prell's being at Lischnitz. To be sure, he had seldom spoken of his estate. Even Miss von Schwertfeger cropped up in his mind only when he wished to reprimand his young wife.

Perhaps he suspected it was Von Prell and no other who had discovered Lilly and brought her forth from concealment. However, she would tell the colonel and Miss von Schwertfeger without an hour's delay that she had met an old acquaintance. They need not be informed of the kiss. To what end? It had no more significance than a kiss in a game of forfeits.

She slipped back into the bedroom, and a moment later, while she was drawing aside the window curtains, someone knocked at the door--three short, sharp, rapid taps, which seemed to probe to the marrow of her bones.

It was Miss von Schwertfeger, of course. Who else would have frightened Lilly so?

Lilly received a kiss on her forehead; and her cheeks were patted with every appearance of consideration and fondness. But the great colourless eyes travelled silently up and down her body, and a wry, bitter smile hovered about Miss von Schwertfeger's fleshy yet severely cut mouth, the skin about which was reddened, as often happens when women with a fine skin age before their time.

She carried clothes thrown over her arm, which Lilly recognised as her own.

"I brought you these necessaries, my dear," she said, "so that you can dress this morning. Here in the country we don't go about in matinees.

Besides, directly after you have breakfasted, we will make a little tour of the grounds to give you an opportunity of getting acquainted with the household and the people."

"May I keep house myself?" asked Lilly, hesitatingly.

"If you know how," said Miss von Schwertfeger, and gnawed her lips and squinted.

Lilly vaguely felt that her harmless query suggested the infraction of the housekeeper's rights, and, trying immediately to atone for her thoughtlessness, she added, stammering:

"That is--I am only asking for what I will be--"

She was going to say "permitted," but Miss von Schwertfeger interrupted her and said, drawing herself up:

"My dear child, you are the mistress here; n.o.body is better aware of that than I. But I mean well by you when I advise you to ask for nothing at present. Pay attention to nothing but your deportment. Upon that depends how soon you will really be that which, unfortunately, you are now merely in name."

Lilly, depressed and humiliated, maintained silence.

The disciplinarian was already showing her fangs.

"And I advise you," she continued, "to bear in mind that you must first study the ground you will have to tread in the future. For this you need a guide, who knows a thing or two of which you are ignorant. Otherwise you will find yourself in difficult situations, from which it will be impossible to extract you. And that in view of your relations with the colonel, would be greatly to be deplored."

Lilly felt the tears rising. The old inability to defend herself, which was her gravest weakness, took hold of her again.

"Oh, please," she begged, folding her hands, "don't _you_ feel hostile to me."

Miss von Schwertfeger's extinct eyes, which lay half buried under heavy lids, lighted up--was it with a question, or with amazement, or pity?

For a moment she stared into s.p.a.ce, turning her head aside, and Lilly saw a n.o.ble, bold profile of cameo cut, which appeared to belong to a different person.

Then Lilly felt long arms about her neck. The embrace in which she was held seemed warmer, more genuine than any of the caresses Miss von Schwertfeger had yet bestowed upon her.

"You're a dear child, you _are_ a dear child," said she, and with that left the room.

Half an hour later Lilly, dressed in the garments Miss von Schwertfeger had brought, entered the dining room, where breakfast was being served by old Ferdinand, a dried-up, spindle-legged heirloom of a servant. That smooth, round-faced fellow with the mischievous smile, had been dismissed, thank goodness!

The colonel came in from his early ride, his eyes sparkling with the pride of proprietorship. The little crisscross veins of his gaunt cheeks were filled with blood, and the grey brushes over his ears glistened with dew drops. The heavy jacket he wore was becoming to him, and the O-shaped legs were hidden under the table. He looked like a kingly old warrior, both evil and kind-hearted.

Lilly flew into his arms, and he said with a sweep of his hand about the place:

"Well, do you like--your home?"

She kissed his hand for the "your home."

The dining room was a long chamber, arched at each end and filled with carved pieces of furniture darkened by age. It was only moderately lighted by three large bow-windows giving upon the terrace, from which a flight of railed stone steps led down to the park.

At breakfast they discussed the walk they had planned for showing the young mistress her new realm. The colonel would not hear of such a thing as having the people come to the castle and wait upon Lilly ceremoniously. They were wearing their Sunday-best that day at any rate and with no derogation to themselves could receive her in the spots where they lived and toiled.

The upper employes, the inspectors and bookkeepers, would come to dinner Sundays, as had been the immemorial custom, and take that as the occasion for paying their respects.

"The youngest of them used to be one of my men," remarked the colonel, "a Mr. von Prell--" He stopped short, looked Lilly over thoughtfully, then, as if rea.s.sured, continued: "But he left service some time before I did, and he's to learn farming on my estate."