Die Nilbraut. English

  CHAPTER XXII.

  Up to within a few days Katharina had still been a dependent and docilechild, who had made it a point of honor to obey instantly, not only hermother's lightest word, but Dame Neforis, too; and, since her own Greekinstructress had been dismissed, even the acid Eudoxia. She had neverconcealed from her mother, or the worthy teacher whom she had trulyloved, the smallest breach of rules, the least naughtiness or wilful actof which she had been guilty; nay, she had never been able to rest tillshe had poured out a confession, before evening prayer, of all thather little heart told her was not perfectly right, to some one whomshe loved, and obtained full forgiveness. Night after night the"Water-wagtail" had gone to sleep with a conscience as clear and aswhite as the breast of her whitest dove, and the worst sin she had evercommitted during the day was some forbidden scramble, some dainty or,more frequently, some rude and angry word.

  But a change had first come over her after Orion's kiss in theintoxicating perfume of the flowering trees; and almost every hour sincehad roused her to new hopes and new views. It had never before occurredto her to criticise or judge her mother; now she was constantly doingso. The way in which Susannah had cut herself off from her neighbors inthe governor's house, to her daughter seemed perverse and in bad taste;and the bitterly vindictive attacks on her old friends, which wereconstantly on Susannah's lips, aggrieved the girl, and finally set herin opposition to her mother, whose judgment had hitherto seemed to herinfallible. Thus, when the governor's house was closed against her,there was no one in whom she cared to confide, for a barrier stoodbetween her and Paula, and she was painfully conscious of its heighteach time the wish to pass it recurred to her mind. Paula was certainly"that other" of whom Orion had spoken; when she had stolen away to seeher in the evening after the funeral, she had been prompted less by aburning wish to pour out her heart to a sympathizing hearer, than bytorturing curiosity mingled with jealousy. She had crept through thehedge with a strangely-mixed feeling of tender longing and sullenhatred; when they had met in the garden she had at first given herselfup to the full delight of being free to speak, and of finding a listenerin a woman so much her superior; but Paula's reserved replies to herbold questioning had revived her feelings of envy and grudge. Any onewho did not hate Orion must, she was convinced, love him.

  Were they not perhaps already pledged to each other! Very likely Paulahad thought of her as merely a credulous child, and so had concealed thefact!

  This "very likely" was torture to her, and she was determined to try, atany rate, to settle the doubt. She had an ally at her command; thiswas her foster-brother, the son of her deaf old nurse; she knew thathe would blindly obey all her wishes--nay, to please her, would throwhimself to the crocodiles in the Nile. Anubis had been her comrade inall her childish sports, till at the age of fourteen, after learning toread and write, her mother had obtained an appointment for him in thegovernor's household, as an assistant to be further trained by thetreasurer Nilus. Dame Susannah intended to find him employment ata future date on her estates, or at Memphis, the centre of theiradministration, as he might prove himself capable. The lad was stillliving with his mother under the rich widow's roof, and only spent hisworking days at the governor's house, he was industrious and cleverduring office hours, though between whiles he busied himself with thingsaltogether foreign to his future calling. At Katharina's request hehad opened a communication between the two houses by means ofcarrier-pigeons, and many missives were thus despatched with littlegossip, invitations, excuses, and the like, from Katharina to Mary andback again. Anubis took great pleasure in the pretty creatures, and bythe permission of his superiors a dovecote was erected on the roof ofthe treasurer's house. Mary was now lying ill, and their intercoursewas at an end; still, the well-trained messengers need not be idle, andKatharina had begun to use them for a very different purpose.

  Orion's envoy had been detained a long time at Rufinus' door the daybefore; and she had since learnt from Anubis, who was acquainted withall that took place in Nilus' office, that Paula's moneys were to bedelivered over to her very shortly, and in all probability by Orionhimself. They must then have an interview, and perhaps she might succeedin overhearing it. She knew well how this could be managed; the onlything was to be on the spot at the right moment.

  On the morning after the full-moon, at two hours and a half before noon,the little boy whose task it was to feed the feathered messengers intheir dove-cote brought her a written scrap, on which Anubis informedher that Orion was about to set out; but he was not very warmlywelcomed, for the hour did not suit her at all. Early in the morningBishop Plotinus had come to inform Susannah that Benjamin, Patriarch ofAlexandria, was visiting Amru on the opposite shore, and would presentlyhonor Memphis with his presence. He proposed to remain one day; he hadbegged to have no formal reception, and had left it to the bishop tofind suitable quarters for himself and his escort, as he did not wishto put up at the governor's house. The vain widow had at once pressinglyurged her readiness to receive the illustrious guest under her roof: Theprelate's presence must bring a blessing on the house, and she thought,too, that she might turn it to advantage for several ends she just nowhappened to have in view.

  A handsome reception must be prepared; there were but a few hours tospare, and even before the bishop had left her, she had begun to callthe servants together and give them orders. The whole house must beturned upside down; some of the kitchen staff were hurried off into thetown to make purchases, others bustled round the fire; the gardenersplundered the beds and bushes to weave wreaths and nosegays fordecorations; from cellar to roof half a hundred of slaves, white, brownand black, were toiling with all their might, for each believed that,by rendering a service to the Patriarch, he might count on the specialfavor of Heaven, while their unresting mistress never ceased screamingout her orders as to what she wished done.

  Susannah, who as a girl had been the eldest of a numerous and notwealthy family, and had been obliged to put her own hand to things,quite forgot now that she was a woman of position and fortune whom itill-beseemed to do her own household work; she was here, there, andeverywhere, and had an eye on all--excepting indeed her own daughter;but she was the petted darling of the house, brought up to Greekrefinement, whose help in such arduous labors was not to be thought of;indeed, she would only have been in the way.

  When the bishop had taken his leave Katharina was merely desired to beready in her best attire, with a nosegay in her hand, to receive thePatriarch under the awning spread outside the entrance. More than thisthe widow did not require of her, and as the girl flew up the stairsto her room she was thinking: "Orion will be coming directly: it stillwants fully two hours of noon, and if he stays there half an hour thatwill be more than enough. I shall have time then to change my dress, butI will put my new sandals on at once as a precaution; nurse and themaid must wait for me in my room. They must have everything ready for myreturn--perhaps he and Paula may have much to say to each other. Hewill not get off without a lecture, unless she has already found anopportunity elsewhere of expressing her indignation."

  A few minutes later she had sprung to the top of a mound of earthcovered with turf, which she had some time since ordered to be thrown upclose behind the hedge through which she had yesterday made her way. Herlittle feet were shod with handsome gold sandals set with sapphires, andshe seated herself on a low bench with a satisfied smile, as though toassist at a theatrical performance. Some broad-leaved shrubs, placedbehind this place of ambush, screened her to some extent from the heatof the sun, and as she sat watching and listening in this lurking place,which she was not using for the first time, her heart began to beatmore quickly; indeed, in her excitement she quite forgot some sweetmeatswhich she had brought to wile away the time and had poured into a largeleaf in her lap.

  Happily she had not long to wait; Orion arrived in his mother'sfour-wheeled covered chariot. By the side of the driver sat a servant,and a slave was perched on the step to the door on each side of thevehicle. It was followed b
y a few idlers, men and women, and a crowd ofhalf-naked children. But they got nothing by their curiosity, forthe carruca did not draw up in the road, but was driven into Rufinus'garden, and the trees and shrubs hid it from the gaze of the expectantmob, which presently dispersed.

  Orion got out at the principal door of the house, followed by thetreasurer; and while the old man welcomed the son of the Mukaukas, Nilussuperintended the transfer of a considerable number of heavy sacks totheir host's private room.

  Nothing of all this had seemed noteworthy to Katharina but the quantityand size of the bags--full, no doubt, of gold--and the man, whom aloneshe cared to see. Never had she thought Orion so handsome; the long,flowing mourning robe, which he had flung over his shoulder in richfolds, added to the height of his stately form; his abundant hair, notcurled but waving naturally, set off his face which, pale and grave asit was, both touched and attracted her ir resistibly. The thought thatthis splendid creature had once courted her, loved her, kissed her--thathe had once been hers, and that she had lost him to another, was a panglike physical agony, mounting from her heart to her brain.

  After Orion had vanished indoors, she still seemed to see him; and whenshe thrust his image from her fancy, forced to remind herself that hewas now standing face to face with that other, and was looking at Paulaas, a few days since, he had looked at her, the anguish of her soul wasdoubled. And was Paula only half as happy as she had been in that hourof supreme bliss? Ah! how her heart ached! She longed to leap over thehedge--she could have rushed into the house and flung herself betweenPaula and Orion.

  Still, there she sat; restless but without moving; wholly under thedominion of evil thoughts, among which a good one rarely and timidlyintruded, with her eyes fixed on Rufinus' dwelling. It stood in thebroad sunshine as silent as death, as if all were sleeping. In thegarden, too, all was motionless but the thin jet of water, which dancedup from the marble tank with a soft and fitful, but monotonous tinkle,while butterflies, dragonflies, bees, and beetles, whose hum she couldnot hear, seemed to circle round the flowers without a sound. The birdsmust be asleep, for not one was to be seen or broke the oppressivestillness by a chirp or a twitter. The chariot at the door might havebeen spellbound; the driver had dismounted, and he, with the otherslaves, had stretched himself in the narrow strips of shade cast by thepillars of the verandah; their chins buried in their breasts, they spokenot a word. The horses alone were stirring-flicking off the flieswith their flowing tails, or turning to bite the burning stings theyinflicted. This now and then lifted the pole, and as the chariotcrunched backwards a few inches, the charioteer growled out a sleepy"Brrr."

  Katharina had laid a large leaf on her head for protection against thesun; she did not dare use a parasol or a hat for fear of being seen. Theshade cast by the shrubs was but scanty, the noontide heat was torment;still, though minute followed minute and one-quarter of an hour afteranother crept by at a snail's pace, she was far too much excited to besleepy. She needed no dial to tell her the time; she knew exactly howlate it was as one shadow stole to this point and another to that, and,by risking the danger to her eyes of glancing up at the sun, she couldmake doubly sure.

  It was now within three-quarters of an hour of noon, and in that houseall was as still as before; the Patriarch, however, might be expectedto be punctual, and she had done nothing towards dressing but puttingon those gilt sandals. This brought her to swift decision she hurriedto her room, desired the maid not to dress her hair, contenting herselfwith pinning a few roses into its natural curls. Then, in fierce haste,she made her throw on her sea-green dress of bombyx silk edged with fineembroidery, and fasten her peplos with the first pins that came to hand;and when the snap of her bracelet of costly sapphires broke, as sheherself was fastening it, she flung it back among her other trinkets asshe might have tossed an unripe apple back upon a heap. She slippedher little hand into a gold spiral which curled round half her arm, andgathered up the rest of her jewels, to put them on out of doors as shesat watching. The waiting-woman was ordered to come for her at noonwith the flowers for the Patriarch, and, in a quarter of an hour afterleaving her lurking place, she was back there again. Just in time;--forwhile she was putting on the trinkets Nilus came out, followed by someslaves with several leather bags which they replaced in the chariot.Then the treasurer stepped in and with him Philippus, and the vehicledrove away.

  "So Paula has entrusted her property to Orion again," thought Katharina."They are one again; and henceforth there will be endless going andcoming between the governor's house and that of Rufinus. A very prettygame!--But wait, only wait." And she set her little white teeth; but sheretained enough self-possession to mark all that took place.

  During her absence indoors Orion's black horse had been brought into thegarden; a groom on horseback was leading him, and as she watched theirmovements she muttered to herself with a smile of scorn: "At any rate heis not going to carry her home with him at once."

  A few minutes passed in silence, and at last Paula came out, and closebehind her, almost by her side, walked Orion.

  His cheeks were no longer pale, far from it, no more than Katharina'swere; they were crimson! How bright his eyes were, how radiant withsatisfaction and gladness!--She only wished she were a viper to stingthem both in the heel!--At the same time Paula had lost none of herproud and noble dignity--and he? He gazed at his companion like a raptsoul; she fancied she could see the folds of his mourning cloak risingand falling with the beating of his heart. Paula, too, was in mourning.Of course. They were one; his sorrow must be hers, although she had fledfrom his father's house as though it were a prison. And of course thisvirtuous beauty knew full well that nothing became her better than darkcolors! In manner, gait and height this pair looked like two superiorbeings, destined for each other by Fate; Katharina herself could not butconfess it.

  Some spiteful demon--a friendly one, she thought--led them past her,so close that her sharp ears could catch every word they said as theyslowly walked on, or now and then stood still, dogged by the agilewater-wagtail, who stole along parallel with them on the other side ofthe hedge.

  "I have so much to thank you for," were the first words she caught fromOrion, "that I am shy of asking you yet another favor; but this oneindeed concerns yourself. You know how deep a blow was struck me bylittle Mary's childish hand; still, the impulse that prompted her hadits rise in her honest, upright feeling and her idolizing love of you."

  "And you would like me to take charge of her?" asked Paula. "Such a wishis of course granted beforehand--only...."

  "Only?" repeated Orion.

  "Only you must send her here; for you know that I will never enter yourdoors again."

  "Alas that it should be so!--But the child has been very ill and canhardly leave the house at present; and--since I must own it--my motheravoids her in a way which distresses the child, who is over-excited asit is, and fills her with new terrors."

  "How can Neforis treat her little favorite so?"

  "Remember," said Orion, "what my father has been to my poor mother. Sheis now completely crushed: and, when she sees the little girl, that lastscene of her unhappy husband's life is brought back to her, with allthat came upon my father and me, beyond a doubt through Mary. She lookson the poor little thing as the bane of the family?"

  "Then she must come away," said Paula much touched. "Send her to us.Kind and comforting souls dwell under Rufinus' roof."

  "I thank you warmly. I will entreat my mother most urgently...."

  "Do so," interrupted Paula. "Have you ever seen Pulcheria, the daughterof my worthy host?"

  "Yes.--A singularly lovable creature!"

  "She will soon take Mary into her faithful heart--"

  "And our poor little girl needs a friend, now that Susannah hasforbidden her daughter to visit at our house."

  The conversation now turned on the two girls, of whom they spoke assweet children, both much to be pitied; and, when Orion observed thathis niece was old for her tender years, Paula replied with a
slightaccent of reproach: "But Katharina, too, has ripened much during thelast few days; the lively child has become a sober girl; her recentexperience is a heavy burden on her light heart."

  "But, if I know her at all, it will soon be cast off," replied Orion."She is a sweet, happy little creature; and, of all the dreadful thingsI did on that day of horrors, the most dreadful perhaps was the woe Iwrought for her. There is no excuse possible, and yet it was solelyto gratify my mother's darling wish that I consented to marryKatharina.--However, enough of that.--Henceforth I must march throughlife with large strides, and she to whom love gives courage to become mywife, must be able to keep pace with me."

  Katharina could only just hear these last words. The speakers now turneddown the path, sparsely shaded from the midday sun by a few trees, whichled to the tank in the centre of the garden, and they went further andfurther from her.

  She heard no more--still, she knew enough and could supply the rest. Theobject of her ambush was gained: she knew now with perfect certaintywho was "the other." And how they had spoken of her! Not as a desertedbride, whose rights had been trodden in the dust, but as a child who isdismissed from the room as soon as it begins to be in the way. But shethought she could see through that couple and knew why they had spokenof her thus. Paula, of course, must prevent any new tie from beingformed between herself and Orion; and as for Orion, common prudencerequired that he should mention her--her, whom he had but latelyloaded with tenderness--as a mere child, to protect himself against thejealousy of that austere "other" one. That he had loved her, at anyrate that evening under the trees, she obstinately maintained in her ownmind; to that conviction she must cling desperately, or lose her lastfoothold. Her whole being was a prey to a frightful turmoil of feeling.Her hands shook; her mouth was parched as by the midday heat; she knewthat there were withered leaves between her feet and the sandals shewore, that twigs had got caught in her hair; but she could not care andwhen the pair were screened from her by the denser shrubs she flew backto her raised seat-from which she could again discover them. At thismoment she would have given all she held best and dearest, to be thething it vexed her so much to be called: a water-wagtail, or some otherbird.

  It must be very near noon if not already past; she dusted her sandalsand tidied her curly hair, picking out the dry leaves and not noticingthat at the same time a rose fell out on the ground. Only her hands werebusy; her eyes were elsewhere, and suddenly they brightened again,for the couple on which she kept them fixed were coming back, straighttowards the hedge, and she would soon be able again to hear what theywere saying.