CHAPTER XII.
A TRYING INTERVIEW.
Eric rode to Wolfsgarten. He met on the way the Major and FraeuleinMilch, who were walking close together under one large umbrella.
Eric told them that Clodwig was dangerously sick, and the Major said,--
"Don't let him have any other nurse. Fraeulein Milch will come and takecare of him. Herr Captain, one ought to be sick for once, so as to haveFraeulein Milch nurse him."
Fraeulein Milch declared herself ready to come to Clodwig, if she werecalled upon.
Eric rode on, and now sought to put in a right point of view all thathe had experienced, so that he might gain the strength necessary tobear up under coming events. How much had happened to him and to otherssince he rode out from Wolfsgarten to Villa Eden? Every thing passedthrough his soul, and he breathed deep in silent satisfaction as hethought what would have been his condition now, if he had not exertedall his strength to bring himself into right relations with Bella. Howdifferent would it be, were he riding now with a soul torn byconflicting feelings, unable to help wishing for Clodwig's death inorder that he might get possession of Bella, and obliged to stand likethe most abject hypocrite by the bedside of the dying one. No poet yethas ventured to depict the mental state of two people who expect tobase their happiness on the news of another's death; and these, nocriminals but cultivated, and intelligent.
Eric looked upon himself as one rescued from destruction. Never was aman possessed by more pious emotions than Eric was now, as, stopping,he said to himself,--
"I thank thee, thou Eternal and Ineffable Spirit; for it is not I whohave, through my education and inherited tendencies, become what I am.I am now pure; I will not be unworthy of it, but keep myself pure andinnocent."
Wanting to get rid, finally, of his thoughts and speculations, he spoketo the messenger, an old confidential servant of the Wolfsgartenfamily. The messenger related how Clodwig had come home from Villa Edenin company with the Banker, and how they had thought he would have diedat that time.
The servant turned round, and, pointing with his whip to Villa Eden,said, "There's no queerer state of things anywhere than in this world."In the midst of his deep distress, Eric could not help laughing aloudat this odd remark.
"Is any one of the relatives at Wolfsgarten?"
"No: the Jew is the only one there. But he is a friend of our master."
Eric regretted that he had entered into conversation with the servant,for he could not restrain him from talking about what he thought wouldbe done, if the gracious master should die.
At the last hill, Eric dismounted, and walked over the wooded height.It was all still. The hornbeam tree, which first leaves out, was nowthe first to let fall its yellow leaves: there was a rustling and a lowcrackling in the wood, and only the hawk screeched above on the height.
Eric came in front of the manor-house, and entered the courtyard. Hewent to Bella, who looked pale and as if suffering severely. He enteredjust at the moment that Bella was asking her brother of the news atVilla Eden.
Eric was startled to meet Pranken here. Both had to use the strongestself-control in order to stand up under the interview.
Bella thanked Eric for being the first one to come to her.
"He is now asleep," said she: "he talks constantly of you. Be composed:you will hardly know him; give in to him in every thing, he is veryexcitable."
Bella's voice was hoarse; and, covering her eyes with a whitehandkerchief, she asked,--
"Were you present when your father died?"
Eric said that he was.
Bella went to inform Clodwig of Eric's arrival. Pranken and Eric wereby themselves. For a long time neither spoke: at last, Pranken began,--
"I never thought that I should speak again to Herr Dournay; but we arenow at a sick-bed, and for the sake of the invalid"--
"I thank you."
"I beg you to give me no thanks, and to speak to me just as little aspossible,--just enough to excite no remark and nothing more."
He turned round and was about to go.
"Just one word," Eric requested. "We shall soon see an eye closed indeath that has always beamed with gentle and noble feeling; let allbitterness toward me disappear, or, for a time, be suspended. Let usnot, at such an hour as this, stand in hostility to each other."
"You can talk well: I know that."
"And I want to say what it is well for you to listen to. It troubles methat I appear to you ungrateful; but now, in this mysterious presencewhich awaits us all, I repeat"--
Bella returned and said,--
"He is still asleep. O Herr Dournay! Clodwig loves you more than heloves any other person in the world."
She gave Eric her hand, and it was cold as ice. The three werespeechless for some time, until Eric asked,--
"Is there no hope?"
"No. The Doctor says that he has probably only a few hours to live. Doyou hear any thing? The Doctor has promised to come,--to returnimmediately. Oh, if I could only induce Clodwig to call in anotherphysician! Do urge him to do it: I have no confidence in DoctorRichard."
Eric made no reply.
"Ah, my God!" lamented Bella, "how forsaken we are in our need. Youwill remain with us, will you not? You will not abandon us?"
Eric promised to remain.
It had a strange sound, a reminiscence out of the past, with its formsof courtesy, as Bella now asked pardon for not having inquired afterEric's mother, Frau Ceres, and Manna; and, with a peculiar jerking outof the words, she asked,--
"How is Herr Sonnenkamp?"
A servant came, and announced that the Herr Count had waked up, and hadasked immediately, if Herr Captain Dournay had not yet come.
"Go to him," said Bella, laying her hand upon Eric's shoulder. "Go tohim, I beg you; but let it come as if from you, and not from me, thatanother physician should be called in."
Eric went; and, as soon as he had gone, "Bella said hurriedly toPranken,--
"Otto, get rid of the Jew as politely as you can. What does he wanthere?"
Pranken went to the Banker.
Bella was alone, and could not control her feeling of unrest. She hadalready arranged in thought the announcement of the decease, and hadeven written the words,--
"To relatives and friends I make the painful announcement, that mybeloved husband, Count von Wolfsgarten of Wolfsgarten, formerlyambassador of his royal Highness at Rome, Knight of the first rank, hasdied after a short illness, at the age of sixty-five. I beg theirsilent sympathy.
"BELLA COUNTESS VON WOLFSGARTEN (_nee_, Von Pranken)."
A demon continually whispered to her this announcement: she saw itbefore her eyes with a black border, even while Clodwig was stillliving. Why is this? What suggests these words, and brings them soclearly before her eyes? She could not get away from them. She took upthe sheet of paper, tore it up, and threw the pieces out of the windowinto the rain.