\B^
 
 yi O L E T T A 
 
 A EOMAI^OE 
 
 J^DFTEH THE O- E li, Oyn .A. IT 
 
 OP 
 
 URSULA ZÖGE VON MANTEUFFEL 
 
 MES. A. L. WISTER 
 
 rnanslatob of "the lady with the rubies" " vain forebodings" 
 " quicksands" etc 
 
 P H I L, A D E L P H I A 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 189 7.
 
 Copyright, 1886, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 
 
 <^ 
 
 STEPEOrt'PbRSwnrRINTERSIII
 
 00]^TE]N^TS 
 
 OHAPTEB PAO« 
 
 I. — Velzin's Gentle Mistress .... 7 
 
 II. — Marie Louise 22 
 
 III. — In the Season 29 
 
 IV. — Student and Friend 40 
 
 V. — A Betrothal 52 
 
 VI. — An Actress in Society 02 
 
 VII. — ViOLETTA FOUQUET C8 
 
 VIII. — Sir George O'Halloran .... 80 
 
 IX. — Sages and Elves 89 
 
 X. — General Montresor 98 
 
 XI. — 'Love is Lord of all' 112 
 
 XII. — A Kevelation 121 
 
 XIII.— Severed 131 
 
 XIV. — ' Back to Busy Life again' .... 144 
 
 XV.— Two Years Later 151 
 
 XVI.— Teplitz 163 
 
 XVII.— Gamaliel 180 
 
 XVIII. — Bright Skies in spite of Clouds . . . 192 
 
 XIX.— A Betrothal 204 
 
 XX. — Awakening 217 
 
 XXI. — Kavenhorst'8 «Young Master' . . . 227 
 XXII. — A New Era at Kavenhorst . . . .240 
 
 XXIII.— The Count Wins 253 
 
 XXIV. — The Countess Loses 267 
 
 1* 5
 
 6 CONTENTS. 
 
 OBAPTEB PA 08 
 
 XXV.— CoMO 278 
 
 XXVI. MUTTERINQS OF THUNDER .... 292 
 
 XXVII.— A Departurk 301 
 
 XXVIII.— A Birthday Gift 809 
 
 XXIX. — Gone Forever 318 
 
 XXX. — An Idyl and an Exile .... 327 
 XXXI.—' The Wounds of a Friend' . . .337 
 
 XXXII. — II Palazzo Belloni 345 
 
 XXXIII.— The 'Soubrette' 352 
 
 XXXIV.— Conclusion 3G1
 
 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 velzin's gentle mistress 
 
 " Once upon a time there was a king who lived in a 
 very " 
 
 " Oh, Hanna, you're not telling it the right way at 
 all. * A king who had ' " 
 
 "To be sure; I forgot. Who had on this very 
 spot " 
 
 " On this very spot ! Only think !" with a shudder 
 of delicious dread, — "just here, where the water is!" 
 
 " But if you interrupt me so, you silly children, I 
 shall never get to the end of the story. This king 
 had here on this very spot, where the ' King's Lake' 
 now is, a magnificent castle, built of pure gold, and 
 marble, and ebony, and ivory, all set with rubies and 
 emeralds. The windows were of diamonds, and the 
 pavement of solid silver " 
 
 "We will avail ourselves of the pause which the 
 wonder and delight of the youthful audience made 
 necessary here, to take a look at the place which was 
 the scene of the legend. 
 
 The ' King's Lake !' 
 
 Does not the name instantly suggest majestic moun- 
 tain-chains, wooded banks, and charming villas ? All 
 
 7
 
 8 VIOLETTA 
 
 such imaginings arc doomed, however, to disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 ' The King's Lake' is no geographical celebrity. 
 The young story-teller, with her very youthful lis- 
 teners, is seated ujjon the broad breast of a dam, 
 and before them lies one of those placid inland lakes 
 which abound in what was once the Electorate. Upon 
 the smooth surface of the water, among the broad 
 leaves and white flowers of the water-lilies, are myr- 
 iads of pinkish blossoms ; the shrill cry of the bittern 
 is heard among the reeds near the shore, and a gray 
 curlew screams overhead as he wings his way across 
 the lake. 
 
 " And this king was very good," Hanna began 
 again. " But once, as he was walking in the forest, 
 he met a beautiful lady with long black hair all 
 wreathed with water-lilies. She was wrapped fi-om 
 head to foot in a silvery veil. The king took her home 
 to his castle and made her queen over all the land. The 
 marriage was celebrated with the greatest pomp and 
 splendor ; but when the king looked out of his window 
 
 the next morning, he Look ! there comes our 
 
 father across the moor!" 
 
 " Then, hurry, hurry, Hanna ; tell us the end I" 
 
 " Oh, you all know it." 
 
 " No matter for that. Who would tell a story and 
 leave off the end ?" 
 
 "Well, then, — All the air was turned into clear 
 green water, and strange creatures, half fish, half man, 
 were sailing about in pink shells, and red coral was 
 growing like flowers out of the crevices of the rocks. 
 The queen was a water-witch ; and as she could not 
 live out of the water, she had changed the kingdom 
 into a lake. And even now sometimes in the night
 
 VELZIN'S GENTLE MISTRESS Q 
 
 there oan be heard the wailing of the poor captive 
 king, who was once so good, and who was beguiled by 
 a water-witch with no soul." 
 
 There was a sigh of profound satisfaction, and then 
 speaker and listeners slipped down from their favorite 
 post of observation and raced across the moor towards 
 a dignified man in the dress of a clergyman who had 
 lately appeared in sight. His fine, strongly-marked 
 features were tanned brown, showing that his days 
 were passed more in the opcji air than within the walla 
 of a study. 
 
 " Have you been to Velzin village, father ?" Hauna 
 asked, taking his hand. 
 
 " Yes; I have been looking after Michel, who is ill ; 
 and now I'm going for a few moments to the manor- 
 house. And so you waited for me here? How did 
 your little legs bring you so far, Ella ?" he asked, ten- 
 derly, stroking the curly head of the youngest child. 
 
 " Oh, Hanna told us the story of the water-king," 
 the child replied, eagerly, — " all pure gold and silver — 
 and — and — ebonry " 
 
 " Ah, probably a newly-discovered and particularly 
 precious metal," the pastor said, with a smile ; while 
 little Hanna took her sister's hand after a motherly 
 fashion and led her onwards. 
 
 The purple moor of Velzin was an extensive plain 
 covered with a luxuriant growth of heather, broom, 
 and juniper, full of charm for those who have eyes for 
 delicious colour, and for the naturalist, delighting in 
 the busy life of the insect-world. 
 
 The Velzin pastor was evidently one to feel this 
 charm, for as he walked he paused frequently and 
 looked about him, drinking in the beauty of the clear 
 autumn day.
 
 10 VIOLETTA 
 
 Here and there lofty firs stood out sharply against 
 the blue sky like the pines on the Campagna ; the air 
 was filled with the sweet breath of the heather, and 
 countless blue butterflies hovered above the purple 
 blossoms, while crickets hidden in the grass rang out 
 their shrill chirp as if myriads of tiny fiddles were 
 being scraped merrily. 
 
 The road, furrowed by the broad wheels of wagons, 
 wound around the lake, and from time to time the 
 shore advanced into the water, forming narrow tongues 
 of land, whereon grew slender birches and willows, 
 while in the little bays thus produced the shallow 
 water rippled over silvery gleaming sand. 
 
 Upon one spot on the shore stands a noble group 
 of ancient hemlocks which strike the eye even from a 
 great distance. There lies the manor-house of Yelzin, 
 an old structure, many-gabled, and provided with nu- 
 merous pointed towers, all of one uniform gray, walls, 
 towers, gables, and high roofs, from the topmost peak 
 of which the weathercock creaks and moans. The 
 house looks as if it were built of glistening silver-gray 
 shingles and rafters. On clear days the lake mirrors 
 it peacefully, standing in the midst of its ancient trees, 
 with the ivy-grown tower that flanks it; and the 
 climbing roses that clothe the low ramparts on the 
 lake's edge scatter their pink petals upon the surface 
 of the water below. But when a November storm 
 rages, driving the clouds before it, lashing the waters 
 of the lake, and shaking the old trees so that the 
 crows and ravens circle restlessly about the towers, 
 you might dream that you saw before you an en- 
 chanted castle about which evil spirits were holding 
 revel. 
 
 The manor-house is seldom inhabited, and this
 
 VELZIN'S GENTLE MISTRESS H 
 
 heightens its mysterious charm for the children, 
 whose imagination peoples it with spell-bound princes, 
 fairies, and dwarfs. 
 
 Farther down the lake lies the little fishing- village 
 of Yelzin, its church tower rising like a black arrow 
 against the sky. Thither the children turned their 
 steps, followed by their father's loving eyes as they 
 vanished among the reeds and high grass. Then he 
 walked on towards the manor-house. 
 
 Velzin was a strange, lonely old place, absolutely 
 secluded from the world, and yet it was said that 
 those who, having been born here, had grown to love 
 it, would surely always look back to it with longing, 
 wistfully remembering its repose, its romance, the 
 rustling of the ancient hemlocks by the lake, the sigh- 
 ing of the wind in the juniper-trees on the purple 
 moor, its roadside flowers, and its meadows of waving 
 grain, meadows wi'ested from the sandy soil by patient 
 labour. 
 
 The immediate vicinity of the manor-house was pic- 
 turesquely wild. Eoses were climbing everywhere, 
 over walls, windows, and trunks of trees, — not the 
 roses of modem horticulture, each giant blossom of 
 which would be a wonder if there were no such things 
 as tempests, drought, or spiders, all hostile to the 
 beauty of such petted darlings. The Velzin roses 
 grew luxuriantly wherever they found space, trailing 
 their branches even across the moat. Here and there 
 on the grass-grown paths might be seen a blossom of 
 wild thyme, and why not ? In contrast, however, to 
 this lawlessness, there stood right and left on the 
 broad terrace steps a row of green tubs, in which 
 were huge flowering hydrangeas. 
 
 The pastor walked up these steps, and, as the hall
 
 12 VIOLETTA 
 
 door was half open, passed directly into the house, 
 where reigned the dignified repose which so well be- 
 comes old houses and old people. 
 
 The hall was empty ; a subdued light came through 
 a huge bow- window of stained glass, illuminating the 
 old portraits in dai'k frames hanging on the walls. 
 The pastor looked around him undecided as to whether 
 he should pass on still farther into the house, when 
 one of the doors in the half-circle of the hall opecod, 
 and a middle-aged Fräulein made her appearance; her 
 sympathetic face was a little swollen, and therefore 
 bound about with a lace kerchief; she was followed 
 by a footman in a blue and silver livery. 
 
 " Ah, here is our good pastor," she sighed. " She 
 asked for you half an hour ago, but she is sleeping 
 now." 
 
 " No matter ; I can wait. I have a leisure evening 
 to-night. Has the doctor been to-day ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes ; she is so weak, so very weak. The doc- 
 tor says we must telegraph ; in fact, I did telegraph 
 yesterday evening. She would not let me do it be- 
 fore ; you know just what she is, Herr Pastor. ' I 
 shall be better, Emma,' she said to me constantly; 
 * we must not disturb his Excellency.' But she never 
 will be better, although she relished the drink your 
 kind wife sent her very much, — pray tell her so, 
 — and the wild flowers that little Hanna brought 
 her yesterday delighted her. But you must excuse 
 me, HeiT Pastor; I am just going with Friedrich 
 to see that his Excellency's room is in order. The 
 yellow room must be arranged to-morrow for the 
 young master, — but, good heavens! when can he get 
 here ?" 
 
 " Do not let me detain you, Fräulein Emma. I will
 
 VELZIJSPS GENTLE MISTRESS 13 
 
 go into the garden for a while, and Friedrich can call 
 me when she asks for me." 
 
 He turned as he spoke and descended the broad 
 flight of steps leading into the garden, through which 
 he walked to the low wall or rampart upon the edge 
 of the water, where he paused and gazed over the 
 lake. A peaceful picture lay before him. The woods 
 crept down to the water's edge along almost the en- 
 tire shore. Just below him, at the foot of the wall, 
 rocked an old boat fastened by a chain. Inside it 
 green blades of grass were sprouting, so drenched 
 with rain were its mouldering planks. It should have 
 sunk, but it did not. Like everything else here, it 
 seemed to be stayed by a spell just where it was when 
 the enchanter's wand had waved above it. 
 
 On the morrow this house might be a house of 
 mourning, for within it its gracious mistress had been 
 lying ill and suffering for weeks, so patient and so 
 uncomplaining that those around her had hardly sus- 
 pected the approach of the inexorable foe. 
 
 She had been wont to pay a yearly visit to Yelzin 
 for her health, and she had always grown stronger in 
 the peaceful air of the place. Perhaps this was be- 
 cause she loved it so; she had been born and had 
 grown up here, an only daughter, an only child. 
 From here she had married and had gone out into 
 the world, but she had never forgotten her Yelzin, 
 and when her parents died she had insisted with filial 
 devotion that nothing about the dear old place should 
 be changed, — not a tree cut down, not a new path laid 
 out. Master Andreas, who was gardener, castellan, 
 and steward all in one, cultivated his tulips and lilies 
 as he had done in the time of Madame's honoured 
 grandfather, the deceased Herr Wilhelm von Plattow, 
 
 2
 
 14 VIOLETTA 
 
 and the hydrangeas in their tubs were still the * new- 
 fashioned flowers from France,' and the most imposing 
 objects in the garden. 
 
 And in the house the stiff, high-backed old furniture 
 stood in the place where it had stood for a century, 
 the old pictures hung on the walls, and in the yellow 
 corner room was the little spinet upon which Madame'a 
 grandfather had learned to play when he studied there 
 with his tutor. Its keys still squeaked shrilly when 
 touched, and it looked like a grisly little musical ghost. 
 
 And just as she dearly loved all these ancient mem- 
 ories, so did she carry in her faithful heart her Velzin 
 peasants. "Well or ill, she never refused to see them. 
 Sometimes for days she was confined to her room with 
 an incessant cough. There she lay upon her lounge, 
 always kind, always ready to give advice, to soothe 
 anger, and to render aid where aid was required. 
 
 Suddenly steps were heard approaching the marble 
 rampart, and the pastor started from the revery in 
 which he had been plunged. 
 
 " Ah, it is you, Herr Pastor. How is my mother ?" 
 A young man of very distinguished air uttered these 
 words as he came down the garden path. He spoke 
 calmly and deliberately, a slight flush on his cheek 
 was all the token of emotion to be observed in him. 
 His features, almost too severely regular, were stamped 
 with decision of character and strength of intellect, 
 but it seemed hardly possible that the grave, dark eyes 
 could ever flash with merriment, or their glance ever 
 melt with tenderness. 
 
 " Ah, Baron Treffenbach, what a surprise this will 
 be for your mother, who, I do not conceal from you, 
 is very ill, far more seriously so than we suspected." 
 
 " Why was I not telegraphed for immediately ?"
 
 VELZIN'S GENTLE MISTRESS 15 
 
 " She would not allow it ; she always hoped to be 
 better. "We did telegraph yesterday, but it is fortu- 
 nate that you did not wait for it." 
 
 " Yes, a letter received a week ago made me anxious. 
 Without mentioning her illness, the directions she gave 
 me in it seemed like those of a dying woman. I left 
 St. Petersburg with as little delay as possible." 
 
 Meanwhile, they had walked back to the house. As 
 no one came to meet them, Baron Treffenbach turned 
 without hesitation towards the sleeping-apartments. 
 He always felt something like awe in visiting this 
 ancient mansion, wherein reigned, it seemed to him, 
 an indescribable atmosphere of romantic mystery. 
 "Was it not his mother's early home ? 
 
 Treffenbach had reached the age of twenty-six, 
 but as yet no woman had rivalled his mother in his 
 heart. To her he rendered the homage of a lover and 
 the devotion due to a saint. All, all had been hers from 
 the time when, long ago, his hand clasped in that of 
 the delicate lady dressed in white, with a rose in her 
 bosom, he had gone to the Velzin village church to 
 learn betimes how a youth can tread the path of life 
 blamelessly. 
 
 With his mind filled with such memories he entered 
 his mother's darkened room. When his eyes became 
 accustomed to the dim light he could distinguish the 
 bed against the wall, the curtains looped aside, and 
 the weary head upon the pillow. There she lay, 
 the guide of his childhood, the guardian angel of his 
 youth ; she whom he had loved with an ardent, inex- 
 tinguishable affection to which he had never known 
 how to give expression. There she lay, weaiy unto 
 death, her eyes closed, her breathing laboured. 
 
 He paused for a moment, as if paralyzed with grief.
 
 16 VIOLETTA 
 
 The change in the pale, emaciated features was greater 
 than ho had expected to see, and the foreboding of an 
 ii-reparable loss fell heavily upon his heart. 
 
 In a few moments she opened her eyes, looked at 
 him, and smiled, as if his presence were a delightful 
 dream. He approached her, and as she heard his foot- 
 step her gaze grew intent ; she half raised her head 
 and whispered incredulously, " Magnus, my darling, 
 is it really you ?" 
 
 He bent over her and kissed her pale brow in a kind 
 of sacred awe. " Oh, mother, you should have let me 
 know!" 
 
 " It came so gradually, dear ; I did not wish your 
 father to be told ; it is so hard for him to leave just 
 now when he is on duty ; and I knew, too, that he 
 wanted to go to Galicia with a hunting-party, and I 
 should be so sorry, — but now they have telegraphed 
 him ; for to leave him without one word of farewell — 
 without even seeing him — ah, Magnus, I could not 
 doit!" 
 
 Her voice had grown weaker, and as she sank back 
 among the pillows he held to her lips a glass of ma- 
 deira that stood ready to his hand, — a hand that trem- 
 bled, although he asked, in a clear, low tone, " Does it 
 give you strength, mother ?" 
 
 " Yes, yes, dearest ; but the sight of you is more 
 refreshing still. What a long, weary journey you 
 have had I But I am so happy to have you with me, I 
 had so much to say to you before I — go. My life has 
 been most rich, — you have made it so. Always be 
 what you are now, — ^staunch, true, honest. Never be 
 ashamed to flee from a temptation. Ah, I am talking 
 to the man as if he were still the boy j but you under- 
 stand me, my darling."
 
 VELZIN'S GENTLE MISTRESS 17 
 
 She passed her hand caressingly through his hair as 
 he bent down his head to hide his agitation, his an- 
 guish, his tears. 
 
 "Do not look so grieved, dear. "We must all die, 
 and I am — glad to go ; I have often been so weary. 
 I was not fit for the turmoil of life, and I have longed 
 to have the Father of all summon me to my true 
 home ; now he is doing it so gently, so kindly. He 
 lays no heavy burdens upon me, but has led me slowly, 
 slowly to his Paradise, and my heart is at rest. 
 AVhat is there to distress me ? Our parting ? Yes, 
 that is hard, but it will not be for long. My faith is 
 firm, Magnus, that we shall all be together again." 
 
 Her strength did not fail her now ; she lay still, with 
 shining eyes resting upon him in inexpressible love. 
 
 " I would gladly have lived to see one thing, Mag- 
 nus, — your marriage. But it causes me no anxiety. 
 She whom you will one day choose for your wife can- 
 not but be one whom I could joyfully call my daugh- 
 ter. For you never will be dazzled by mere beauty, 
 — you will test the glittering gold and be sure that 
 it is pure metal; your wife will be good and true, 
 worthy to be the mistress of Velzin. Am I not right, 
 Magnus?" 
 
 He passed his hand over his forehead, and tuen 
 looked at her. She must have understood the language 
 of his eyes, for she added, half pleased, half in doubt, 
 " Marie Louise ?" 
 
 " Yes, mother ; she alone is like you." 
 
 " It was the dream of your boyhood, Magnus, ana 
 you have been constant to it ; your happiness will be 
 assured. She is a very pearl of truth, honour, and 
 
 feminine nobility of character. Her heart " she 
 
 hesitated, but, as if some consoling suggestion had oc- 
 b 2*
 
 18 VIOLETTA 
 
 curred to her, she added, " Iler heart you will surelj 
 awaken. For your sake I trust this will be so. Marie 
 Louise is as pure and brilliant as a diamond, and now 
 as cold and hard. Still, it becomes her ; we would not 
 wish her to be less sternly honest, but " 
 
 "Do not be troubled, mother. She is dear to me 
 as she is. I would not have her otherwise. We are 
 in thorough accord. I understand her words and 
 her acts as if they were my own ; and I think it is 
 the same on her part. I know she prefers me to 
 others, and for me she is the one woman who can 
 make me happy. If I cannot win her, I shall hardly 
 marry, — you know what I think of the women of 
 to-day." 
 
 " Marie Louise will not say you nay, and her grand- 
 parents will gladly know you the heir of Eavenhorst. 
 Ah, Magnus, it will be the second time that a Treffen- 
 bach wooes and wins a Louise von Plattow! My 
 dearest, may you be blest, as I have been, in richest 
 measure " 
 
 The last words were scarcely audible, and the 
 mother's eyes, now weary again, slowly closed. Her 
 hand rested in her son's, and he sat motionless beside 
 her, watching the slumber that might bring some re- 
 newal of strength. 
 
 The sun set ; Fräulein Emma brought in a shaded 
 lamp, and with much gesticulation signed to Baron 
 Treffenbach to leave his post, since his supper waited ; 
 but he disregarded her request, and eat still until his 
 mother opened her ej^es again, and went on in a weak 
 voice, as if no interruption had occurred, "He was 
 coming too — my good Paster Ehrhardt ; tell him that 
 the money is all ready for the sewing-school ; he has 
 the papers. His wife, my dear, faithful Serena, will see
 
 VELZIN'S GENTLE MISTRESS 19 
 
 that it is what I hoped to make it. And you, Magnus, 
 will not forget my people : I know that." 
 
 Again her mind seemed to wander, and she mut- 
 tered disconnected sentences, while her son listened 
 eagerly for every word that might tell him of some 
 duty to perform for her. So the long night wore on. 
 The fading life still fluttered its wings on the borders 
 of the dark valley, and the tired eyes seemed to say 
 each time that they opened, " What ! still alive ?" 
 
 The soul could not forsake the body while one in- 
 tense desire was still unfulfilled, one farewell un- 
 spoken ; a longing to speak this word prolonged the 
 final struggle. 
 
 The morning brought no decided change. She slept 
 quietly ; but as each breath might be the last, Baron 
 Treffenbach could not consent to leave her for more 
 than a few moments at a time. 
 
 Towards noon she seemed to be stronger, and re- 
 ceived Pastor Ehrhardt with a smile. He came, not 
 with any presumptuous idea of preparing her for 
 death, — ah, she had long been prepared for the great 
 change, — but rather to strengthen his own faith by be- 
 holding her perfect trust and resignation. She gave 
 him kind words of farewell for his wife and little ones, 
 who had been her special fi-iends in the village, and 
 after he had taken his leave the day passed quietly, 
 until just as night was falling the wheels of a carriage 
 were heard, and the sick woman raised her head. 
 "He has come, Magnus," she said, with a smile of 
 content. 
 
 TrefFenbach arose and left the room. As he did so 
 he heard in the distance the rattle of a sabre, and a 
 loud, clear voice saying, in surprise, " What ? Is my 
 son here too ?"
 
 20 VIOLETTA 
 
 "Yes, father," tlio young man replied, as he entered 
 the hall. 
 
 " God bless you, my boy I But tell me, for heaven's 
 sake, is it anything serious ?" 
 
 His Excellency General von Treffenbach was a man 
 of a very distinguished appearance. Judging from his 
 rank and preferment, he should have been between sixty 
 and seventy years old, but no one seeing him for the 
 first time would have thought him much past fifty. A 
 brilliant military career, which he owed to his personal 
 qualifications and his mental superiority, had borne 
 him victoriously over the crest of this world's wave. 
 If, as his detractors avowed, he were in reality a cold- 
 hearted, ambitious man of the world, a thorough egotist, 
 he certainly possessed a personal charm to which much 
 is forgiven and in which his son was totally lacking. 
 
 " I am afraid, sir," said Treffenbach, looking his 
 father heroically in the face, " that you must prepare 
 for the worst." 
 
 " What, what ? Good heavens 1 Magnus I is she 
 dead?" 
 
 " Not yet." 
 
 His father threw aside his cloak. " I must see her 
 immediately," he said, in great agitation. " Not the 
 least idea of this. The despatch bade me come to her, 
 for she was ill. Of course I came as soon as possible. 
 What is it ? The old trouble ?" 
 
 " So it seems. The lungs are terribly affected." 
 
 " I am shocked, — horribly shocked ! But we must 
 not give up hope, ray boy. Your poor mother was 
 always delicate, always ailing. Perhaps she may re- 
 cover from this attack." 
 
 Magnus, who had preceded his father, silently 
 opened the door of his mother's room.
 
 VELZIirS GENTLE MISTRESS 21 
 
 At the first glance at his wife General Treffenbach 
 grew very pale : he could not but perceive that there 
 was no hope; and he suddenly became vividly con- 
 scious that for more than twenty-seven long years the 
 gentle woman dying there had been to him the most 
 faithful, affectionate, and considerate of wives. 
 
 Touched to the soul, he pressed fervently to his lips 
 the hand which she held towards him, and said in a 
 low voice, " Ah, Louise, I never dreamed " 
 
 He could not go on, and for a moment there was 
 silence, her gaze resting upon him with intense affec- 
 tion, and yet she seemed to be looking not at him, but 
 back in thought over the long years passed together. 
 " Thanks, Constantin," she whispered at last, carrying 
 his hand to her lips. 
 
 "You! — to me !" he exclaimed, deeply moved. 
 
 " Twenty-seven years !" she went on, and again a 
 happy smile stole over her face, " and always — so 
 happy. Thanks! thanks!" 
 
 Her son had softly left the room. The moment was 
 too sacred even for his presence. 
 
 He stood in the anteroom, looking out of the win- 
 dow, without really seeing anything. Those two 
 human beings, of whom he had always thought to- 
 gether as his parents, must part. It was a double 
 death, for were not their souls knit together in indis- 
 soluble union ? 
 
 Oh, it was cruel I What agonies were being endured 
 in that room, — agonies of which even he in his distress 
 could have no idea! Would the husband, who was 
 thus resigning the best part of himself, ever recover ? 
 Ah ! such a wound could never close. The son was 
 possessed by a feeling of intense compassion ; for 
 what was his loss compared with his father's? How
 
 22 VIOLETTA 
 
 could that father live through the wretched solitude 
 of his approaching old age, bereft of his other self, his 
 gentle consoler? 
 
 General Treffenbach opened the door. " Come in, 
 Magnus," he said, brokenly ; " I would not rob you of 
 these precious minutes. They are numbered." 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 MARIE LOUISE 
 
 The day had dawned when the mortal remains of 
 Frau Louise von Treffenbaeh were to be consigned to 
 the Plattow famil}^ tomb. 
 
 Early in the morning, while the sun was rising like 
 a fiery crimson ball above the moor, Magnus Treffen- 
 baeh stood on the shore of the lake, gazing across it, 
 and then walked slowly towards the forest, as if drawn 
 thither by some invisible force. He had kept watch 
 beside the coffin all night long, until the sun's first rays 
 streamed into the silent flower-decked apartment, and 
 then he had come hither to visit, for the last time be- 
 fore he bade that dear face farewell, the paths where 
 as a boy he had so loved to walk with his mother. 
 He recalled words spoken by her at each familiar spot, 
 and he asked himself whether his life had been worthy 
 of such a mother. 
 
 The lake lay before him, so placid that there was 
 scarcely the sound of a ripple among the reeds. The 
 rising sun tinged the tips of the long grasses crimson.
 
 MARIE LOUISE 23 
 
 and on the expanse of tlie moor thousands of dcli(;ate 
 gossamers were sparkling in its early rays. 
 
 Magnus stood on the bi'east of the dam, and thought 
 of the legend of the king and the water-witch, which 
 had often been told him also. Of all the legends and 
 tales connected with the moor, none had made so deep 
 an impression upon him as had the ancient story of 
 the vanished palace ; perhaps because the comprehen- 
 sion of this myth had required of him a greater effort 
 of mind than had been needed for an appreciation of 
 the ordinary fairy-tales of his childhood. 
 
 However that might be, this legend had fallen 
 like a seed into the mind of the boy, and from it 
 had sprung a positive horror of self-indulgence and 
 deceit. Without clearly understanding why, the water- 
 witch who had dragged the king down into eternal 
 captivity had come to be identical in his mind with 
 all that was frivolous and light-minded. Most women, 
 and almost all amusements, he placed in this category. 
 Living in the midst of social distractions, made keen 
 in his judgment by daily contact with the world of 
 'society,' no one could more thoroughly despise the 
 shallowness, the superficiality, the falsehood of a so- 
 ciety life. The perpetual pursuit of amusement, the 
 coxcombry of men of fashion, disgusted him, but he 
 Buffered in silence, because ho had early learned to find 
 interest and enjoyment in a very different manner of 
 living, — in the world of science and of study. 
 
 His career as a student had been brilliant. Such 
 examinations as his might well fill a father's heart 
 with pride, and his Excellencj^ exulted in his son. 
 His university bestowed a doctor's diploma upon him 
 in two branches of study. In addition to practical 
 jurisprudence he interested himself in philosophy and
 
 24 VIOLKTTA 
 
 theology. This last impressed him with its vast im- 
 portance ; its study, he was convinced, must be pur- 
 sued scientifically, and he was determined to do his 
 duty in this respect. 
 
 His Excellency began to be afraid that his son 
 would turn out a prig. To guard against so undesira- 
 ble a result, he plunged him into the great world, — 
 that is, he chose for him a diplomatic career. TreflFen- 
 bach was easily persuaded to embrace it, since he 
 knew that as attache of the German embassy at St. 
 Petersburg his time would be almost entirely at his 
 own disposal. He published two or three very inter- 
 esting brochures that established his reputation as a 
 man of decided ability ; he attracted the attention of 
 his government, and there would be no difficulty in 
 procuring him a high oflicial appointment should he 
 desire one. 
 
 " Yes," he said to himself as he entered the forest 
 and paced the path beneath the ancient firs, — "yes, 
 mother, errors and mistakes I have often made, but 
 I know of nothing in my life that I would hide from 
 your pure gaze. I have honestly tried to do the 
 right, and with her in your place beside me I shall 
 never relax my efforts !" 
 
 The muflfled tones of the church bell roused him 
 from his reflections. The sound came wafted across 
 the lake like a ghostly plaint of the captive king from 
 his submerged palace. 
 
 Treffenbach retraced his steps with a heavy heart, 
 for he knew to what the bell was summoning him. 
 The darkest hour of the day was yet to come. 
 
 The funeral guests were numerous. The long rail- 
 way journey, the rough country roads, had not discour- 
 aged those who were eager to pay the last token of
 
 MARIE LOUISE 25 
 
 respect to the general's wife. The hall where the 
 coffin stood was crowded with officers, and all the 
 Plattow connection, which was extensive, was present. 
 
 In the church-yard, before the opened grating of the 
 family tomb. Pastor Ehrhardt, in addition to the funeral 
 service, spoke a few words that told of the saintly life 
 of the dead, of her gentleness and unselfishness, her 
 truth and nobility of character. There was much, in- 
 deed, that he could not tell : of how willingly she had 
 sacrificed her health, which the whirl of city life had 
 destroyed, — of how she had trained her son to feel that 
 his father was in all things the noblest and most mag- 
 nanimous of men, — of her calm acquiescence in her 
 lot of mental isolation, never complaining, but always 
 finding occasion for gratitude in her daily life, — of all 
 this he could not speak ; but there was enough to praise 
 without it. 
 
 Treffenbach stood on one side, motionless, as in a 
 dream, noting various trifles with exact observation, 
 while his power to suffer seemed dulled. In his mem- 
 ory of this day a large part was borne by a tuft of 
 nodding asters on a grave near by ; they filled him 
 with a vague wonder why the frail flowers had out- 
 lived what was so much more precious. 
 
 And then all was over, and the funeral train had 
 departed without her whom they had brought hither. 
 No one disturbed him as he lingered to superintend 
 the locking of the heavy iron grating ; then the men 
 whose business this was also left, and he stood alone 
 with the large rusty key in his hand, gazing at the 
 scutcheon and inscriptions and at the bronze knight 
 lying with folded hands on the stone at his feet. 
 
 Gone, gone from his life forever ! He started, not 
 because of this sad reflection, but because he seemed 
 
 B 3
 
 26 VIOLETTA 
 
 suddenly to seo her before liim, there at the head of 
 the broad stone before the tomb, clad in black, tall 
 and slender as if ascended from the earth in renewed 
 youth and wondrous beauty, arisen from darkness and 
 death with the face she used to wear when, with a 
 rose in her bosom, she led him by the hand. There 
 she stood, with the waving golden hair wound like an 
 antique crown about her small head, with the calm 
 pure brow, the large blue eyes, the delicately modelled 
 features, but cold and lifeless as a marble statue, as 
 if, like a butterfly just emerged from the chrysalis 
 into light and air, she had not yet wakened to per- 
 fect life. If the resemblance to the dead had not been 
 so great, this apparition would merely have produced 
 an impression of severe gravity and intellectual supe- 
 riority ; but as it was, it suggested the face of the de- 
 parted, with all the loving ardour, which was its chief 
 charm, vanished. 
 
 " Marie Louise," he said at last. 
 
 She turned and offered him her hand. " Dear 
 Magnus, you have my entire sympathy," she said, 
 frankly. " The noblest, the most unselfish of spirits 
 has gone home. "We all know what we have lost." 
 
 He gazed into her eyes, and could not turn away his 
 own. It seemed to hira that she must be his, — his by 
 an irreversible decree. 
 
 " I thank you for your words, Marie," he said, " and 
 still more for coming hither to-day to console me by 
 your presence. It seems as if I had not wholly lost 
 her while I see you before me." 
 
 She returned his gaze without embarrassment. " It 
 pleases me to hear you say so, Magnus. You ought 
 to come to Eavenhorst now; it would do you good. 
 You are looking very ill."
 
 MARIE LOUISE 27 
 
 "Yes, I sliould like to come. I have pleasant mem- 
 ories of my visits to you, of your grandmother's kind- 
 ness, of the patriarchal life in the old house, of our 
 studying together on the terrace, of the motto over 
 your door, which you chose for your own when you 
 were a girl of thirteen, ' With all thy might, Do thou 
 the right.' See here, Marie." He took a heavy gold 
 ring from his finger and handed it to her. She took 
 it, and read the words engraved within it, 'With all 
 thy might, Do thou the right.' 
 
 Thus they stood beside each other, death below 
 them and blooming life around them. A slender 
 branch of juniper drooping over the wall touched 
 the girl's cheek caressingly as she handed the ring 
 back. He hesitated to take it. " Why not keep it, 
 Marie ?" 
 
 " Why should I ?" she asked, quietly. " I carry my 
 motto in my heart. I have no need to wear it written 
 in gold." 
 
 " I would not have the ring remind you of it, but of 
 me." 
 
 " I think of you often. There is no need of such a 
 memento." 
 
 " You do not think of me in the sense Can you 
 
 not see, Marie, how hard it would be for me to go 
 from you now, leaving you free, unbound, without a 
 word to tell me that I am more to you than others ? 
 And you must know what was her last wish, what she 
 would so gladly have lived to see." 
 
 Her cheek flushed slightly. " Oh, Magnus ! to-day, 
 — here and now I" she said, looking at him almost 
 angrily. 
 
 "Precisely, — here and now I When I saw you 
 standing there, it seemed to me that she must have
 
 28 VIOLETTA 
 
 sent you, — a ray of light in darkness. Marie, I ask 
 for no promise, no word that can fetter you: all I 
 would know is whether I must resign all hope, or 
 whether I may not at some future time tell you all 
 that is in my heart." 
 
 She gazed thoughtfully at him. " I cannot, Magnus, 
 reply at once to so important a question. I need 
 not tell you — you know how highly I esteem you. I 
 can look up to you, while I cannot but look down upon 
 other young men. I know you my superior, and that 
 gives me confidence in you. But before I give you an 
 answer I must probe myself and reflect. The happi- 
 ness of two lives is at stake. You know how ardently 
 I desire to do my duty. One subject for grave consid- 
 eration suggests itself immediately; it will doubtless 
 be followed by many others. I never can consent to 
 live in a whirl of society. You have likened me to 
 your mother, but I think I am made of sterner stuff. 
 She patiently acquiesced in her husband's require- 
 ments, although she found no satisfaction in the friv- 
 olous round of so-called duties which her position 
 involved. I could never act contrary to my princi- 
 ples ; and since I hold such a life a great wrong done 
 to ourselves, to precious time, to our purest ideals, 
 neither the fear nor the love of man could tempt 
 me to consent to this wrong. My place is in Eaven- 
 horst, and I shall never leave my old grandparents. 
 I owe them this for their tender care of me. They 
 need my youthful strength to help them to bear the 
 burden of their years. Whoever marries me must 
 be to them a son in the true sense of the word. 
 XTpon this condition only could I consent to marry. 
 You see, I have spoken frankly; and now perhapa 
 you would fain take time to consider. For you would
 
 IN THE SEASON 29 
 
 have to sacrifice much, — your ambition and your 
 freedom." 
 
 There was a pause. Together they walked slowly 
 across the church-yard. At last Magnus said, " If I 
 hesitated a moment, it was because I thought first of 
 my father. For myself, Marie," — he took her hand 
 and carried it to his lips, — " every word of yours finds 
 an echo in my own soul. I would that even now all 
 were as you would have it. I know no ambition save 
 that which will lead me to do my best, wherever I 
 may be. I shall go back now to St. Petersburg, but 
 in six months I shall return to you to ask the happi- 
 ness of my life at your hands." 
 
 CHAPTEE III 
 
 IN THE SEASON 
 
 The season was at its height. Every evening pal- 
 aces and theatres, ball-rooms, and places of amusement 
 of all ranks and descriptions in the German capital 
 were brilliantly illuminated. Loud music resounded 
 from the concert-halls, languishing waltzes from many 
 a distinguished private mansion, in front of which 
 carriages were standing in long files. The snow 
 crackled, the air was as sharp as a keen knife, and in 
 the canopy of night the stars flashed and sparkled as 
 if shaking their golden heads at the behaviour of the 
 mad world below, dancing and shouting and quaffing 
 champagne, just at the time when the poor are suf- 
 fering most, and which Christendom is supposed to 
 
 3*
 
 30 VIOLETTA 
 
 spend in calm meditation, — the time between the two 
 great festivals of the church. " It is surely either 
 thoughtlessness or a spirit of contradiction that leads 
 us to turn night into day, and our winter into flowery 
 spring." 
 
 " Good heavens, Hess, you philosophize quite a la 
 Treffenbach," said a short, olive-complexioned Uhlan 
 officer, as he walked beside a tall, distinguished-look- 
 ing man in civilian's dress along a brilliantly lighted 
 street, casting a glance from time to time into the 
 goi'geous shop-windows ; " but I must confess I have 
 not been paying much attention to your grumbling. 
 I have been excusing myself to my stomach for the 
 bad dinner I forced upon it at Reckau's. It was abom- 
 inable, was it not ? Poor oysters and miserable cham- 
 pagne !" 
 
 " Don't interrupt my profound reflections with such 
 trivial stuff," said the other, solemnly pulling at the 
 long drooping moustache, which gave a certain air of 
 melancholy to his face, quite belied by his 'glance and 
 voice. " I am not in the mood to be irritated by in- 
 digestible viands. Look at those starry skies, young 
 man, and then talk of oysters ! We never had a more 
 brilliant winter's evening in St. Petersburg, where we 
 used on such a night to skate upon the illuminated 
 Neva, and Treffenbach corrected my crude ideas with 
 regard to pretty women by allusions to a certain 
 Marie Louise von Plattow." 
 
 The little lieutenant pretended to shiver. "BrrI 
 Have you seen her ?" 
 
 " Not yet. I'm tremendously curious. Is she hand- 
 gome ? Treffenbach said nothing about that. It was 
 an entirely secondary consideration in his opinion. 
 Ah, ye stars, — a secondary consideration I"
 
 IN THE SEASON 31 
 
 The lieutenant evidently found cause for self-gratu- 
 lation in the fact that he had seen something which 
 his companion had not. 
 
 " I saw her yesterday," he said, with an air of im- 
 nortance. " Handsome ? Well, you know, Hess, in 
 ihat respect I'm — a confoundedly severe critic." 
 
 Hess looked down sideways at the speaker with 
 gentle contempt in his eyes. 
 
 " I know it, my dear Schlacken, and therefore beg 
 you to honour me with your valuable verdict." 
 
 " Well, then, — handsome, yes, I suppose she is, but 
 all ice." 
 
 " Where did you see her ?" 
 
 "At President Bellwitz's. To be frank, it was 
 for only a moment. You know Frau von Bellwitz 
 is her cousin or something. I was calling there when 
 she came in. They have been in town two days on 
 account of an affection of old Herr von Plattow's ej^es. 
 He is, I believe, threatened with blindness, and is 
 perhaps to undergo an operation. Fräulein Ehona 
 explained it all to me, but I never can be made to un- 
 derstand relationships. But where is Treffenbach? 
 I've not seen him since you came back fi-om St. Peters- 
 burg." 
 
 " Studjnng in his rooms, I suppose, while I saunter 
 about and look up old friends. Three years are an 
 age. Little girls grow into ball-room belles in that 
 time. The little Bellwitz must be very pretty." 
 
 '- Charming !" Schlacken assented, his hand on his 
 heart. 
 
 " Edmund, Edmund, that sounds quite sentimental. 
 And how is my old friend the Princess Menardi?" 
 
 " Good heavens ! where did you become acquainted 
 vvith her?"
 
 32 VIOL ETTA 
 
 " I first knew licr some years ago in Venice, where 
 she was living in great splendour, and making a pet 
 of La Beatrice, because, as she declared, an actress of 
 so unsullied a reputation was more to be honoured 
 than a Carmelite nun. What is she about here ?" 
 
 " Ah, you must go there. Her evenings are most 
 entertaining, but you must make up your mind to 
 meet some very queer people. Not long ago an engi- 
 neer of the Pacific Eailway, who had heroically pre- 
 vented a collision between two trains, figured in her 
 drawing-rooms, and only last week she introduced 
 a certain Augustus Stark, a carpenter, who had been 
 lauded in all the papers for saving from drowning 
 five men who broke through the ice. But here we 
 are at the opera-house." 
 
 " True, I had quite forgotten where we were going. 
 And so she is here. For how long ?" 
 
 Schlacken shrugged his shoulders. " Who can tell 
 for how long the management can contrive to secure 
 her? They say she is fearfully exacting." 
 
 " The queens of art have a right to be so. Allons .'" 
 
 They entered the vestibule. While Hess was look- 
 ing for his ticket Schlacken stared through his eye- 
 glass at the crowd that was besieging the ticket-office 
 in hopes of finding places in the auditorium, although 
 the ticket-seller continued to repeat courteously and 
 distinctly, " All gone, gentlemen, all sold." 
 
 Hess paused before a mirror to arrange his cravat, 
 and the glass reflected a head with close blond curls, 
 bright keen eyes, and a genial exj^ression. Unfortu- 
 nately, the large drooping moustache concealed the 
 good-humoured smile, and there were people who con- 
 sidered Count Armin von Hess a grave, melancholy 
 man.
 
 IN THE SEASON 33 
 
 As they entered the brilliantly-lighted crowded 
 house the overture had just ended with a loud crash. 
 There was a pause of expectation ; the curtain shook 
 as if uncertain whether to rise ; here and there some 
 of the audience began to applaud, others joined in, 
 and the noise grew louder every moment. "When the 
 curtain at last rose, it was amid a thunder of applause 
 that seemed to shake the house to its foundations. 
 
 And she who was thus enthusiastically welcomed 
 stood in the midst of fairy-like scenery like some 
 magic flower of beauty, inclining her head and slightly 
 smiling in acknowledgment of this greeting. 
 
 La Beatrice ! 
 
 The fame of her beauty, of her genius, of her ex- 
 quisite voice, and of her personal grace and charm 
 had preceded her, but she exceeded all expectations. 
 
 Little Schlacken ruined his gloves in the ecstasy of 
 his applause. But the first tone of that wondrous 
 voice broke its way through the uproar, and in an in- 
 stant the house was as silent as the grave. The rustle 
 of a programme could have been plainly heard. Ladies 
 leaned far beyond the front of their boxes to see more 
 clearly, and every face expressed intense delight. 
 
 When the prima donna had finished, the storm broke 
 forth afresh. 
 
 " Desperately fine !" Schlacken declared. " One 
 could listen forever." 
 
 ^^ Look forever, you mean, you young hypocrite," 
 Hess rejoined. "Let us, between ourselves, confess 
 that we know nothing of music. But her eyes, — 
 her eyes !" 
 
 "As you please. Look, there are the Bellwitzes in 
 their box; now you can see Fi'äulein Ehona! There 
 is his Excellency von Treffenbach just opposite."
 
 34 VIOL ETTA 
 
 " True," said Hess, leaning forward ; " a magnificent 
 figure of a man, and he looks well this evening, 
 although they say that in consequence of^ — what was 
 it? — increasing age, he is thinking of resigning." 
 
 " Not so loud, for heaven's sake, Armin," Schlacken 
 whispered in great agitation. 
 
 Count Hess looked at him with a pitying smile. 
 
 " We know nothing of it yet," Schlacken insisted. 
 "Why spread such reports? And there is Colonel 
 Schlettau just in front of us! What if he should 
 hear you ?" 
 
 " Don't be uneasy ; he is stone deaf" 
 
 " To hint that his Excellency could have declined 
 from favour ! Not a word of truth in it, I swear." 
 
 " Why feel yourself called upon to do that ?" said 
 Count Hess, good-humouredly. " But enough I Reve- 
 nons ä nos moutons." 
 
 " La Beatrice w^ould be greatly indebted to you if 
 you mean by that to refer to her," Schlacken muttered, 
 crossly. 
 
 "We'll not quarrel, my young cousin," said Hess, 
 paternally. " I did not bring you up for that." And 
 the good-natured little Schlacken smiled in spite of his 
 vexation. 
 
 After the first act the two men went to pay their 
 respects to the Bellwitzes. The father, who held a 
 distinguished ofiice under the government, was a little 
 man, who concealed a somewhat commonplace capacity 
 beneath a pompous manner. He left the conversation 
 entirely to his stout, good-humoured wife. The daugh- 
 ter was one of the belles of the season, — a pretty little 
 rosy brunette. She rattled ®n to Schlacken about 
 balls, quadrilles on horseback, and the fine skating, 
 and promised him a dozen dances within the next two
 
 IN THE SEASON 35 
 
 weeks, which he carefully jotted down in his note- 
 book, asking her as he did so whether Fräulein von 
 Plattow was going into society. 
 
 " My cousin ? I doubt it. She calls halls and sleigh- 
 ing-parties the nonsense of childish fools." 
 
 " What do you mean, Fräulein Bellwitz ?" asked 
 Count Hess. 
 
 " Just what I say. I merely quote her own words." 
 
 "Rhona is quite afraid of her strict cousin," the 
 President's wife said, with a laugh. 
 
 " How could I be otherwise ? she is as learned as 
 Magnus Treffenbach." 
 
 " Oh, Count Hess, you are his friend and confidant, 
 and can tell us whether Magnus Treffenbach is going 
 to Brussels as Secretary of Legation." 
 
 " I suppose so." 
 
 "But my niece, Marie Louise, maintains that he is 
 going to give up his diplomatic career and retire to 
 his estates in the Margraviate. What could induce 
 him to do so ? With his intelligence, his force ! They 
 say the general, too, — it would be odd if both father 
 and son " 
 
 " Hush !" said the President. This, by the way, was 
 the only word he had yet spoken, but it was an effec- 
 tive one. His wife instantly suppressed her love of 
 gossip and began to talk of Wagner's music. 
 
 When the curtain rose again the two gentlemen took 
 their leave. 
 
 " That Count Hess is quite charming," said Ehona, 
 directing her opera-glass to the stage again ; " so 
 comme ilfaut, and so merry withal." 
 
 " Yes, yes," her mother replied, absently. 
 
 Meanwhile, the object of this admiration had sepa- 
 rated from his younger companion, and leaving the
 
 36 VIOL ETTA 
 
 theatre, had gone to the nearest large hotel to gup. 
 The dining-hall was brilliantly lighted, but almost 
 empty. In one corner, however, there sat at a table 
 three people, conversing in undertones. Hess occupied 
 himself with the menu, and would bardly have no- 
 ticed them had not the name of Treffenbach, repeated 
 frequentl}', attracted his attention. Involuntarily he 
 looked towards them. One of the two ladies sat with 
 her back to him, and she was the principal speaker. 
 The old gentleman and lady, who, in spite of their 
 distinguished air, had an indescribable something 
 about them that proclaimed them from the provinces, 
 were for the most part listening. 
 
 " If that is the doctor's verdict," the speaker said, in 
 clear sonorous tones, " there is nothing for us but to 
 stay in town until March." 
 
 The old lady made some inaudible reply, and again 
 the subdued but distinct voice spoke : " You are per- 
 fectly right, grandmamma. For your sake I will 
 prove those wrong who think that I have not suffi- 
 cient self-possession to face the world of society. For 
 myself I care not what they say. I will go to those 
 entertainments which I could not avoid except by 
 pleading that I am still in mourning for Aunt Louise, 
 which would be a prevarication to which I will not 
 descend. The fact is that I laid aside my mourn- 
 ing a week before we resolved to take this journey. 
 Now I am sorry that I did so, but it cannot be 
 helped." 
 
 Again the old people made some remarks, that fell 
 only as an indistinct murmur upon the Count's ear. 
 She replied rather impatiently, " I shall never be great 
 friends with Ehona. She is superficial and frivolous, 
 with no higher interests than a ball. I grant that she
 
 IN THE SEASON 37 
 
 is one of the best of them, for she is good-humoured, 
 and not at all envious nor given to deceit." 
 
 At this moment a gentleman entered the dining- 
 hall, and, passing close to Hess, turned to speak to 
 him. 
 
 "Ah, good-evening, Treffenbach," said the Count, 
 springing up ; " at last I see you." 
 
 " I want to ascertain the result of the first examina- 
 tion of my uncle's eyes." 
 
 " And then will you present me ?" 
 
 " With pleasure. Come with me." 
 
 They walked across the room, and Count Hess found 
 himself confronting the young lady whose face he had 
 been so curious to see. She was seated in the full light 
 of the gas-lamps. Her clear, well-opened eyes scanned 
 him with a cool scrutiny to which, from a beautiful 
 woman, the spoiled man of fashion was quite unaccus- 
 tomed. 
 
 " Dear Marie," said Treffenbach, " this is my best 
 friend." 
 
 " No more is needed," she said, and offered him her 
 hand with calm dignity. Count Hess kissed the hand 
 thus extended to him, an action which she seemed to 
 find quite natural. 
 
 " His friend, his pupil, his shadow," the Count said ; 
 "I beg to be graciously regarded as such." 
 
 If there were irony in his words she did not per- 
 ceive it. She was inclined to think the best of a friend 
 of Magnus. 
 
 The conversation soon became general and very 
 animated. Fräulein von Plattow talked well, and with 
 a frankness that amused Hess intensely. She regarded 
 any evasion, not to say any untruth, as a sin, and 
 when opportunity offered made no secret of her viewa 
 
 4
 
 38 VIOLETTA 
 
 with regard to the deceit and falsehood of ' society,' 
 the silly talk of the young men, the levity of the 
 women. On the other hand, she expressed enthusi- 
 astic approval of all that had been done lately for the 
 relief of want and misery. Count Hess had never in 
 his life talked as much about charitable institutions 
 as he did upon this evening. But he could talk tol- 
 erably well about everything, and he considered this 
 girl a very interesting study, being perfectly aware 
 when and how to throw out a word of assent or dissent 
 that would be sure to draw from her the exj^ression 
 of her opinion. 
 
 The Plattows had taken up their abode in this hotel, 
 although the Bellwitzes had been pressing in their in- 
 vitation to stay with them. Old Herr von Plattow's 
 affection of the eyes and the treatment he was to un- 
 dergo made entire repose necessary, and this it was 
 impossible to have in the house of President von 
 Bellwitz. 
 
 Count Hess insisted upon conducting the half-blind 
 old man up-stairs to his rooms, — an act of courtesy 
 which won the heart of Grandmamma von Plattow, 
 and which was also acknowledged by Marie. 
 
 The two gentlemen then took their leave, and Hess 
 accompanied his friend towards the Treffenbach man- 
 sion. 
 
 " What are your plans, Armin ?" Treffenbach asked 
 on the way, after they had walked along together in 
 silence for a while, each occupied with his own thoughts. 
 
 " I am waiting for letters from my father, who is de- 
 liberating whether or not to allow his dear boy to follow 
 the rather expensive profession of elegant idleness." 
 
 " What if I proposed you for the Brussels secretary- 
 ship ?"
 
 IN THE SEASON 39 
 
 "What? you are not going to take it? You posi- 
 tively mean to retire?" 
 
 " In all probability." 
 
 " Treffenbach, you've been tremendously reticent 
 with me of late. You tell me absolutely nothing, and 
 yet you have the effrontery to present me as your 
 ' best friend.' " 
 
 " To-morrow you shall hear everything." 
 
 " Very good. To-morrow I shall invade your study 
 and carry you off for a long ride. I suppose his Excel- 
 lency's horses are at your disposal. That dark brown 
 mare is a beauty." 
 
 " Montresor ? She is my sjieeial property, — my 
 mother's last gift to me. I had thought of taking her 
 to Brussels. She has a very fine gait." 
 
 "Magnificent. Yesterday I saw " Count Hess 
 
 paused suddenly. "The deuce!" And he laughed. 
 " It is slippery here. I was nearly down. But here 
 we are in Wilhelms-strasse, and I must say good-night." 
 
 They shook hands, and he turned and retraced his 
 steps alone. 
 
 A stream of carriages coming from the theatres 
 rolled past him. Again in the gray light of dawn the 
 same stream would pour through the streets when the 
 lights in the ball-rooms were extinguished and the 
 world had danced itself weary. Then the repose of 
 night would first begin for these votaries of fashion. 
 
 Count Hess walked on, his hands in the pockets of 
 his fur-lined overcoat, lost in thought. " ' The nonsense 
 of childish fools ! ' I think that was it. She is worth 
 more than a broad farce. 'The nonsense of childish 
 fools !' "
 
 40 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEE ly 
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 
 
 Since the death of its mistress nothing had been 
 changed in the brilliant mansion of General von Tref- 
 fenbaeh. In her drawing-rooms everything was just 
 as she had left it. The folding-doors were wide open, 
 and his Excellency daily frequented these rooms, filled 
 with luxurious blue damask furniture and costly oil- 
 paintings. Sometimes, in conversation with a friend, 
 he would linger near the middle window, looking 
 down into the street and resting his hand upon the 
 pretty little work-table at which his wife had been 
 wont to sit so constantly, her busy fingers completing 
 hundreds of warm little garments, that vanished duly, 
 — whither ? No one knew, for no one asked. And 
 whoever spent an hour beside her here was sure to 
 depart richer in mind and heart. 
 
 The direction of the household was now given over 
 entirely to Fräulein Emma. The Fräulein was a dis- 
 tant relative of the general's deceased wife. Her 
 mother, a Yon Plattow, had made a foolish marriage, 
 which ended in destitution and misery. She had fallen 
 in love at some watering-place with a ' Russian 
 Count,' and had discovered too late that he was nei- 
 ther Eussian nor Count, but a clerk in a large bank- 
 ing-house, who had been dismissed from his position 
 on suspicion of embezzlement. He ran off with her 
 dowry to America, leaving her to j^overty and disgrace, 
 which she did' not long survive. Her child was a poor
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 41 
 
 little creature but scantily gifted by nature. No one 
 would assume the care of her, least of all the Plattows, 
 who could not forgive one of their name for throw- 
 ing herself away upon a swindler. At last Frau von 
 Treffenbach heard of this relative who was condemned 
 to play Cinderella among strangers, and she sent for 
 her, was impressed by her simplicity and gentle na- 
 ture, and had kept her with her for twenty years. It 
 was impossible now to imagine the household without 
 her. Her small, slender figure, her sympathetic face, 
 almost always swollen and framed in a black silk ker- 
 chief, was part and parcel of the whole. Although 
 apparently yielding as wax, she knew admirably well 
 how to preserve discipline and order among the ser- 
 vants. She understood that the elegance of an estab- 
 lishment depends far less upon the coat of the master 
 than upon that of the footman. The trifling domestic 
 duties which the general's wife had performed now fell 
 to Fräulein Emma's lot ; and as this fact was one that 
 affected her deeply, the general for some weeks after 
 his wife's death sipped his coffee and took his soup to 
 an accompaniment of streaming tears from the Fräu- 
 lein, — an infliction which, howevei', he bore with praise- 
 worthy equanimity. 
 
 The worthy Fräulein's grief now had with it some 
 admixture of joy, in once more having her dear young 
 attache beneath his father's roof. She could talk with 
 him of the beloved old times, and could understand 
 his emotion in being for the first time in these familiar 
 rooms after their very soul had left them. 
 
 Baron Magnus had his OAvn special rooms beneath 
 this roof, and thus made his father's house really his 
 home. His apartments wei-e small, but just as he 
 liked them. Adjoining his bedroom was a delightful 
 
 4*
 
 42 VIOLETTA 
 
 Btudy, — the walls lined with book-shelves. The books 
 upon his large writing-table were arranged by him in 
 what to him was convenient order, but to the unin- 
 itiated chaotic confusion, and here he sat for days, 
 blind and deaf to the world outside, never dreaming 
 of what was said and discussed there. 
 
 " My dear boy," said the general, entering this quiet 
 sanctuary like a god of war in full panoply, all clank 
 and glitter, " I must tear you from your studies, for I 
 have contrived to have an hour free for you. Let us 
 say a word with regard to your future. I am entirely 
 satisfied with your choice, and have come to offer to 
 pay my respects to the old people to-day and to bring 
 affairs to a final settlement." 
 
 Treffenbach had sprung up to offer his father a chair. 
 " Thank you, sir," he said ; " I had intended to have 
 matters definitively arranged to-day." 
 
 The general sat down, and drummed a march upon 
 the table. " You take the matter very coolly, my dear 
 Magnus, almost too coolly. Confess, have you per- 
 haps changed your mind in the course of the last six 
 months ?" 
 
 "I? With regard to Marie Louise?" Treffenbach 
 asked in such unfeigned surprise that his father ex- 
 claimed, — 
 
 "All right! all right! I see that I was mistaken. 
 Now for the next question. Are you or are you not 
 going to Brussels ?" 
 
 " I must inform you that it is my intention entirely 
 to abandon a diplomatic career." He spoke with some 
 effort, for he knew that his father would dislike to 
 hear this. 
 
 *' Indeed ? And instead ?" the general asked, amazed. 
 
 " I have inherited Velzin, and by my marriage come
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 43 
 
 into possession of Eavenhorst, an extensive and very 
 carefully administered estate. Marie Louise wishes 
 that I should relieve her grandparents of this care, 
 and it is to my interest to become familiar betimes 
 with my future occupation." 
 
 " But, my dear fellow, with the assistance of well- 
 trained subordinates you could administer the affairs 
 of Eavenhorst and live in Pekin if you chose ! Is this 
 your sole reason for abandoning a brilliant career?" 
 
 " I have no talent for diplomacy." 
 
 " Nonsense ! you with your admirable capacity can 
 do whatever you undertake." 
 
 " My dear father," Treffenbach said, after a little re- 
 flection, " our arguing this point can lead to nothing 
 I am resolved to marry Marie Louise, and she will bo 
 mine only upon this condition." 
 
 " Ah ! that alters the case entirely." 
 
 " Can you blame her," Treffenbach calmly went on, 
 " for not wishing to forsake her old grandparents, and 
 for consenting to a marriage only upon condition that 
 her husband shall be as a son to them, lightening for 
 them the burden of existence ? Is not this perfectly 
 natural ?" 
 
 " My dear boy," the general laughed, " the question 
 is not whether I blame her or not. It is enough that 
 she bestows her hand only at this price. You are in 
 love with her, and are determined to win her hand. 
 Here, my son, all discussion ends, all paternal authority 
 and cold-blooded calculation cease. I shall not waste 
 another word upon the subject ; where love is lord, 
 words are superfluous. This afternoon you shall have 
 her consent, and so — hasta !" 
 
 *' I thank you for making matters so easy for me, sir." 
 
 "I resign myself to the inevitable," the general re-
 
 44 VIOLETTA 
 
 plied, smiling, "but none the less do I mourn over 
 your rejected laurels. You might have made a name 
 for yourself." 
 
 " Perhaps," Treffenbach said, with some hesitation, 
 "this ■will make me a better name than could have 
 resulted from successful diplomacy." And he laid his 
 slender white hand upon his manuscript. 
 
 "What have you here?" asked the general, taking 
 up at random one after another of the books that 
 were piled up on the table. "What? the Koran? 
 Man, are you going to turn Turk ? And the Talmud ? 
 And the Yedas? Humboldt, Plato, and Homer have 
 vanished from your table. What does this mean ?" 
 
 " That I am devoting my leisure to the pursuit of 
 higher aims than the investigation of nature or of 
 classical antiquity." 
 
 " Indeed ; pray tell me what they are." 
 
 " I am collecting evidence that the Christian relig- 
 ion is not only the perfect revelation of Supreme Will, 
 but the absolute truth, from which all other doctrines 
 diverge like the rays of a star! All heathen relig- 
 ions are but attempts to discover God. In all the 
 bloody ceremonials of savages there is evidently the 
 attempt to reconcile a creator with a renegade crea- 
 tion. We have in Moses one of the greatest represen- 
 tatives of this doctrine. Nations have fallen to decay 
 in vain strivings after this end, and from their ashes 
 have sprung new races, attempting with novel ideas 
 and novel wisdom to solve the eternal problem. You 
 can easily imagine the intense interest that these 
 studies have always had for me. I began them at the 
 university. Step by step I have made my way through 
 the gloom of centuries, here and there seeing a feeble 
 ray of light, and always with fresh wonder at human
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 45 
 
 wisdom and human blindness. I have stood expec- 
 tant before the closed doors of the mystery, whether 
 in the temj^le of Isis or in Greek schools of philoso- 
 phy, and when the doors opened I found only erroi-, 
 for with increase of knowledge what was believed to 
 be a revelation of the Highest faded. Thus, slowly 
 advancing, always testing, always comparing, I have 
 come to the conviction that every thread of truth is 
 gathered up in the Christian religion, that its founder 
 is the personification of Divine truth; He is the recon- 
 ciliation so long desired, the immortality so ardently 
 hoped fori And now," the speaker concluded, after a 
 pause, " I am comparing the ancient Jewish and Mo- 
 hammedan writers, and proving from them the abso- 
 lute truth of Him who is thought to be their greatest 
 opponent." 
 
 While his son was speaking, his Excellency sat lis- 
 tening attentively ; the smile of derision behind which 
 ignorance so often takes shelter was not seen on his 
 face. He was a man whose manifold interests and 
 grave studies of all kinds had raised him to the lofty 
 position which he occupied. "Without being a learned 
 man, except in his own profession of arms, the gen- 
 eral had always taken pains to widen his stock of 
 knowledge; he had read and thought much, and could 
 understand the satisfaction felt by his son in his work, 
 although such studies seemed to him nothing better 
 than an intellectual amusement. 
 
 But he took care not to say so. Between the father 
 and the son there existed that tender affection which 
 avoids all offence ; neither could endure the thought 
 of hurting the other. The general's smile, therefore, 
 had nothing of compassion in it, and he was soon 
 engaged in an earnest discussion. Magnus was quite
 
 46 VIOL ETTA 
 
 prepared, for he liked to sharpen his wits in argu- 
 ment, and he argued with no one so eagerly as with 
 this man, whose mental vigour he acknowledged. 
 And the general was proud of his son's ready wit, 
 his extensive acquirements. He sometimes grew 
 angry, which his son never did. Magnus never lost 
 the calm self-possession which his father reflected 
 with a pang would have made him so distinguished a 
 military man. While the two were enjoying their 
 argument, a young man in riding-dress came up the 
 broad entrance steps, rung, and stood tapping his high 
 boots impatiently Avith his whip. 
 
 An orderly opened the door, and Friedrich appeared 
 instantly at the sound of the visitor's voice. " 'Tis 
 the Herr Count !" he said, his broad, honest face beam- 
 ing, for Friedrich was from Velzin, and was still an 
 uncut diamond. 
 
 "Friedrich!" a reproachful voice called from the 
 background ; " what do you mean by running to 
 meet gentlemen with your arm full of soiled nap- 
 kins ?''' 
 
 " It is the Herr Count Hess," Friedrich stammered, 
 in self-justification. 
 
 " Yes, here he is," the new-comer said gayly. " That 
 ought to suflSce ; you are a little too sti'ict with Fried- 
 rich !" 
 
 Fräulein Emma sighed audibly in the background. 
 
 " Pray show yourself, Fräulein Emma. Where in 
 the world are you ?" 
 
 " I really am not fit to be seen. Count ; my face is 
 too much swollen." And the crack in a side door grew 
 narrower still. 
 
 " But, good heavens, how, then, am I ever to have 
 the photograph you promised me three years ago ?"
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 47 
 
 "Ah, Count, your joking ways remind me of the 
 dear old times." And the poor Fräulein sobbed behind 
 her door. 
 
 Hess went his way as if he were a son of the house. 
 Treffenbach's rooms were separated by a long corridor 
 from the rest of the mansion, and his visitor did not 
 wait to be announced. 
 
 His entrance interrupted the Avarm debate. The 
 general laughed, rose, and shook himself as if rather 
 relieved. 
 
 " Yes, it is high time to stop, for this young fellow 
 is playing the deuce with me." And his eyes sparkled 
 with paternal pride. " How are you, Armin ? Glad 
 to see you." 
 
 " Thanks, your Excellency. I follow, as ever, with 
 modest blushes, in the footsteps of my friend, as the 
 moon waits upon the earth. It is the effect of a mj^s- 
 terious law of nature whose origin I leave him to in- 
 vestigate. I am now here to inform him that the snow 
 is glittering and the sun is shining outside, and that it 
 is a sin to sit poring over a study-table. I have bor- 
 rowed a horse of my cousin Schlacken, and I want 
 Magnus to ride with me." 
 
 " Bravo !" said the general. " That's what I call a 
 true friend." 
 
 " "Well, if it must be," Magnus said, resignedly, " 1 
 will order them to saddle Montresor for me." 
 
 The general winced a little, but said, hastily, " I'll 
 see to that, my boy. You must change your dress, 
 which will take time;" 
 
 He left the room, and Treffenbach locked his desk 
 and made haste to don his riding-dress. Count Hess 
 leaned against a window-frame, whistling a waltz. 
 
 " I come from your relatives," he broke off his
 
 48 VIOLETTA 
 
 whistling to say. " It was rather early, but I made a 
 pretext of inquiring the result of the doctor's visit 
 to-day." 
 
 "A pretext? And your real reason?" TrefFenbach 
 asked, surprised. 
 
 " Well, in compliance with your persistent advice, I 
 have instantly fallen in love with Fräulein von Plat- 
 tow." 
 
 Magnus bit his lip. " I cannot remember giving you 
 any such advice." 
 
 " But you always held her up to me as an ideal 
 woman when I was so desperately in love with the 
 fair Mascha. Man is but a broken reed; but I at least 
 always try to profit by your sage utterances. I im- 
 pressed it upon myself that a Marie Louise von Plat- 
 tow was alone worthy to be loved. And now I have 
 seen her, and I confess her to be an ideal, — an ideal of 
 truthfulness. There is something in that nature which 
 compels my veneration. If the world were so ordered 
 that we were all forced to utter our thoughts aloud, 
 what would become of you and me, for instance? 
 With Fräulein von Plattow, on the contrary, such an 
 arrangement would not make the slightest differ- 
 ence." 
 
 Magnus frowned. On the morrow there could be no 
 talk of this kind. 
 
 "Have I your joermission to woo her, Magnus ?" his 
 friend asked, in an insinuating tone, with a sidelong 
 glance at him. 
 
 " No," said Treffenbach, curtly : " for I intend to do 
 80 myself." 
 
 " Just what I expected to hear," the other said, with 
 exaggerated melancholy. 
 
 " Come, Armin, no nonsense. Let us go, and, as I
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 49 
 
 promised yesterday, I will tell you of my plans for tlio 
 future." 
 
 They left the room, and Iless ran down the stair- 
 case two steps at a time, rattling his whip against the 
 balustrade like any school-boy. 
 
 A gay throng of vehicles, horsemen, and pedestrians 
 enlivened all the avenues in the Thiergarten. The 
 bright winter sunshine had tempted every one out of 
 doors. The frost glittered on the trees, and the snow 
 crunched beneath the horses' hoofs. 
 
 " Ah ! there is TrefFcnbach," exclaimed an officer on a 
 prancing steed to Schlacken, riding beside him. " Hess 
 has succeeded in getting him out. I must speak to him." 
 
 Ti-efFenbach, who had just fulfilled his promise, 
 looked grave and absent. His Excellency's son was 
 greeted with great courtesy, Count Hess with warm 
 cordiality. Little Schlacken asked a hundred ques- 
 tions, while his eyes glanced rapidly about him in 
 Bearch of food for gossip. 
 
 " There goes old Drachenstein with his pretty 
 daughters, and there are the Hohnaus. Mamma 
 Hohnau must have had a legacy, for the Fräuleins 
 have brand-new sets of furs. Have you heard, Hess, 
 that the Mettows have lost a heap of money ? I warrant 
 me Fräulein Jetta will not be so very fastidious now. 
 That blond, pock-marked Adonis is Prince Savitzki, 
 who has saved himself twice by marrying the daugh- 
 ter of his principal creditor." 
 
 " Schlacken is growing malicious," said Hess. " Tell 
 me whether she is out to-day." 
 
 " Oh, certainly. In an open landau with a pair of 
 grays. Very chic /" 
 
 " Hess, you have fallen in love again," said Schlack- 
 en's comrade. 
 
 cd 6
 
 50 VIOLETTA 
 
 " I know what good breeding requires," was the 
 reply, given with dignity. 
 
 " Yes," Schlacken assented, " it is incumbent upon 
 one, on my honour, if one would not be a thorough 
 savage. The whole city is at her feet. I should be 
 too if I were not under bonds elsewhere. But Hess 
 is taking holiday." 
 
 " Thank your stars, Edmund, that I have a gentle 
 spirit," Hess remarked with great solemnity. 
 
 " Of whom are you all talking?" Treffenbach asked, 
 with a suspicious glance at his friend. The talk re- 
 minded him unpleasantly of the Count's confessions 
 before they came out. 
 
 " They are talking of the Beatrice," Schlacken's 
 comrade explained. 
 
 "Who is the Beatrice?" 
 
 •' Ah 9a, Treffenbach. I don't blame you," murmured 
 Hess. " Excuse his ignorance, gentlemen ; he stayed 
 too long among the Esquimaux." 
 
 " There she comes !" said Schlacken, turning his 
 horse aside. 
 
 A carriage rolled swiftly past, from which two ladies 
 acknowledged the officers' bows. Nothing could be 
 seen but fluttering veils and nodding ostrich plumes, 
 but there was a sound of silvery laughter, clear and 
 musical as if from the lips of a child. 
 
 " The beauty of a goddess," said Hess. 
 
 "A superb creature," Schlacken declared, with an 
 oath. " Sjianish or Algerian descent. So much 
 race." 
 
 " I think you are mistaken," Treffenbach said, pat- 
 ting his mare's neck. " We bought her for full-blooded 
 British." 
 
 " You are talking of the mare, and we of the lady,"
 
 STUDENT AND FRIEND 51 
 
 Hess said, "but your remark is accidentally correct. 
 The Beatrice comes, they say, from Ireland." 
 
 So great was the respect that Treffenbach had con- 
 trived to inspire, that neither Schlacken nor Captain 
 Schwertau dared to give vent to the laughter with 
 which they were choking. 
 
 Treffenbach shrugged his shoulders. " It is, after 
 all, much the same thing, I should think," he said, 
 coldly. " Let us ride on." 
 
 " Unfortunately, we must turn back," said Herr von 
 Schwertau, seizing upon the 02:)portunity to indulge 
 his merriment unrestrained. 
 
 Treffenbach gave his horse the spur and rode on. 
 He was glad to be rid of the company of these ' idle 
 coxcombs.' Count Hess accompanied him. 
 
 Once more the landau with the grays passed them, 
 and once again that birdlike laugh resounded on the 
 air. 
 
 At the moment, Treffenbach heeded it as little as ho 
 had done the talk of his companions. His thoughts 
 lingered where he was happiest, — in his study. But 
 in after-years, every thoughtless word just sj^oken arose 
 sharp and distinct in his memory, and again he seemed 
 to see the blue winter sky arching above him through 
 the delicate tracery of leafless boughs, and again that 
 low, careless laugh rang in his ear.
 
 52 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEE Y 
 
 A BETROTHAL 
 
 The Plattows' rooms at their hotel were very com- 
 fortable, and consisted of two drawing-rooms and the 
 necessary number of sleeping-apartments. The draw- 
 ing-room which belonged specially to Fräulein von 
 Plattow was arranged by her own careful hand just 
 as she liked it. Upon a writing-table near the window 
 were ranged rows of books. A large work-basket 
 stood on the table in front of the sofa. When all was 
 finished, she stood still and looked around her with a 
 scrutinizing gaze. 
 
 In a comfortable low arm-chair sat Ehona Bellwitz, 
 her plump little figure clad in dark blue velvet, a soft 
 hat resting uf)on her curls. From this post of obser- 
 vation she was watching her cousin curiously. " How 
 many books you have, Marie Louise I Are you a blue- 
 stocking ?" 
 
 " You would probably call me one," the other replied, 
 calmly, brushing the dust from the back of a chair 
 with a little feather duster. 
 
 " Are many of them novels ?" 
 
 " Take the trouble to read the titles ; your eyes aro 
 good." 
 
 " I'm afraid of learned titles ; they might give me 
 the nightmare. "What is your opinion of love, Marie 
 Louise?" 
 
 " I think that sacred name is too often taken in 
 vain. You do not know what you ask."
 
 A BETROTHAL 53 
 
 "How do you like Count Hess? Treraendouwly 
 handsome, isn't he ? I'll tell you a secret : little 
 Schlacken is wild about me." 
 
 "I congratulate you; you will chatter each other 
 to death." 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean to have him. I've no idea of 
 that. My aims are higher. In fact, I must begin by 
 telling you, cousin, that I am very much admired." 
 And Rhona began to laugh. " Come to us this evening 
 and you can see for yourself I have at present five 
 adorers, and I don't care in the least for any one of 
 them. Won't you come ? I beg you to, and you can- 
 not refuse. It is mamma's birthday, and we are to 
 have our most intimate friends ; only the most inti- 
 mate, I assure you. There is to be neither dancing nor 
 cards ; between ourselves, it will be horribly tedious, 
 but I thought you would like that." 
 
 " "When my grandparents come back from the doc- 
 tor's I will give you my answer," said Marie, looking 
 around the room once more. As she did so her «-lance 
 fell upon a picture hanging on the wall above the sofa, 
 a rococo pastoral scene ; various fantastically-dressed 
 couples were wandering about a brilliantly-coloured 
 garden, and in the immediate foreground a shepherd 
 had caught his coat upon a thorn while in the act of 
 trying to kiss a roguish shepherdess in hiding behind a 
 rose-bush. Marie frowned as she noticed this picture, 
 and she rang the bell twice. A waiting-maid appeared. 
 
 " I wish that picture removed from my room," the 
 lady said in a quiet tone of command. The girl looked 
 first at the picture and then at the speaker, as if un- 
 able to comprehend. 
 
 " Do you not understand me ? Send somebody who 
 can take the picture down and carry it away." . 
 
 6*
 
 54 VIOL ETTA 
 
 " But why, my lady ?" asked the maid. 
 
 " Because I desire it." 
 
 Before any further question could be asked, a voice 
 was heard in the corridor, at the sound of which 
 Rhona sprang up and ran to the door to listen. 
 
 " It really is his Excellency von Treflfenbach, and 
 he is asking for you, — only for you! Marie Louise, 
 you begin to inspire me with awe ! I am going. I 
 would not for the world call down his Excellency's 
 wrath upon me by interfering with this tete-a-tete. 
 You know I have two brothers in his command, and 
 the poor boys long for promotion. Between ourselves, 
 however, his Excellency is not in such favour with 
 the powers that be as he was, and no one can imagine 
 why. Adieu !" 
 
 And Ehona slipped into the anteroom, followed by 
 the maid, who had been meanwhile staring in utter 
 bewilderment at the condemned picture. 
 
 The general entered in full uniform, festally, sol- 
 emnly, and yet with a paternally benevolent smile that 
 betrayed his errand. He kissed Marie's hand, and she 
 calmly requested him to be seated, telling him that 
 her grandparents were at the physician's, but that she 
 expected them to return at any moment. Then she 
 asked after Magnus. 
 
 " The poor fellow is at home in a terrible state of 
 suspense," said the general. (In fact, Treffenbach's 
 perfect composure had been exceedingly irritating to 
 his father.) " For he is awaiting the decision that I 
 am to bring him. Do you guess what I mean ?" 
 
 " I understand you perfectly, general," she replied, 
 " and I am grateful to Magnus for leaving me the time 
 that I asked for reflection. Believe me, I have em- 
 ployed it conscientiously. I have examined myself
 
 A BETROTHAL 55 
 
 thoroughly, and have found that he possesses my en- 
 tire confidence. I shall always look up to him, and 
 I am proud to know that I have been chosen by 
 him for his companion and helpmeet. Together we 
 will strive after the highest good. But above all 
 else do I rejoice that in him my grandparents will 
 find a son who will smooth for them the declining 
 path of life." 
 
 When she had finished she held out her hand to the 
 general, who gazed curiously into the cold refined face, 
 which was as an open page, wherein was to be read 
 no embarrassment, none of the maidenly confusion, sup- 
 posed to be natural under the circumstances. There 
 were no changing lights in the blue eyes, which yet 
 seemed created to mirror the changeful skies, no quiver 
 of the rosy lips, but the face expressed a calm, self- 
 conscious regard for duty, and the measurable degree 
 of happiness that comes from the conviction of a lofty 
 calling. 
 
 As the general rose to go, voices were heard in the 
 antechamber, and Frau von Plattow entered, followed 
 by her husband. A half-solemn, half-pathetic scene 
 ensued, at the end of which his Excellency kissed his 
 future daughter-in-law on the forehead, and then 
 hurried away to carry to his son the tidings of his 
 good fortune. 
 
 It was not long before Magnus made his appearance, 
 not exactly jubilant, but with a very happy face. The 
 old people received him with tears, which could not 
 be good for Herr von Plattow's eyes. They called 
 him son, and declared that they never could have so 
 welcomed any other. Now Velzin and Eavenhorst 
 could be united under the name of Treffenbach- Vel-
 
 56 VIOLETTA 
 
 Marie Louise stood by, sinilinü^, waitin;:^, as one does 
 in receiving a friend, until it sliould be licr turn. At 
 last, after having repeatedly patted his cheel<, Frau 
 von Plattow released the young lover, and he turned 
 to his love. What now? Should he kiss her? The 
 indescribable chill that seemed to breathe fiom her 
 whole personality was as far from inviting him to do 
 so as was his own heart from any impulse to such 
 demonstrative tenderness. He contented himself, 
 therefore, with pressing her hands to his lips. Mario 
 Louise seemed created for homage of this sort. Every 
 man kissed her hand, and she saw in the act only a 
 tribute of respectful courtesy which was her due. The 
 lovers then took their place side b}^ side on the sofa, 
 and the shepherd and his roguish shepherdess above 
 their heads might have learned from them how to 
 behave themselves. 
 
 They talked together long and earnestly of their 
 future life. They made plans for filling this life with 
 work, convinced that together they could achieve im- 
 portant results. The period of betrothal, that poetic 
 Elysium of usual lovers, appeared to them only a 
 time of enforced idleness. Still, the marriage could 
 not take place before the end of the 3'ear of mourning. 
 " Although I know," said Trelfenbach, " how gladly 
 my mother would have seen her dearest wish thus 
 fulfilled before her death." 
 
 "But it would not be fitting," Marie Louise said, 
 calmly. 
 
 " You are right. I agree with you entirely, but I 
 experience a kind of self-reproach when I say to my- 
 self that I might have given her this pleasure while 
 she lived." 
 
 " How could you foresee that she was to be taken
 
 A BETROTHAL 57 
 
 from you so soon and so suddenly ?" was the consola- 
 tory rejoinder. 
 
 As the general had declared himself in fovour of a 
 speedy announcement of the betrothal, it was arranged 
 before Magnus took his leave that they should go to 
 the gathering of intimate friends at President Bell- 
 witz's, and that the announcement should be made 
 there. Mai'ie Louise had already made up her inind 
 to join in some social entertainments. She was re- 
 solved to occupy the position that was hers of right, 
 and to study to increase its influence, to battle for 
 her convictions, to let her light shine, to do the duties 
 that lay before hei-, — duties of charity, of warning, 
 of resistance, if need bo, and of a brilliant example. 
 She was prepared to find life here hard, to be repaid 
 by scorn and ingratitude for well-meant effort, and she 
 saw in what was called society her natural enemy. 
 But she felt that such a period of conflict was neces- 
 sary to purify and strengthen her powers of mind. 
 In the cloistral solitude of Eavenhorst it was easy to 
 be true to her motto, but to be loyal to her strict 
 principles in the great world, and, if necessary, to 
 suffer martyrdom for her convictions, must be far 
 more difficult ! 
 
 And so they drove to the Bellwitz's. Herr von 
 Plattow declined accompanying them in view of his 
 state of health, and found entertainment at home in 
 the visit of an early friend ; but Grandmamma Plattow 
 donned her richest violet silk, and crowned her calm, 
 pale face and snowy hair with a wonderful cap, all 
 ribbons and blond lace, and went with her grand- 
 daughter. 
 
 The President's rooms were brilliant with lights and 
 flowers, and the stout, good-humoured hostess received
 
 58 VIOLETTA 
 
 her birthday guests with genial smiles of welcome. 
 Her husband, his chin freshly shaven, and a huge 
 golden brcloque dangling from the buttonhole of his 
 snow-white waistcoat, looked as if he were cognizant 
 of a piece of important political news, — the downfall 
 of the French ministry at least, — but judged it pru- 
 dent not to mention it. Fräulein Ehona, in dark 
 crimson and camellias, flitted fi'om group to group, 
 laughing and exchanging small confidences with her 
 intimate friends, whispering as if it were something 
 astounding, " Marie Louise is coming." 
 
 The intimate circle of the friends of the family, not 
 reckoning the Bellwitzes and Plattows, assembled in 
 honour of the birthday, consisted of about sixty per- 
 sons, among whom Marie Louise presented herself 
 upon the arm of General von Treffenbaeh, looking 
 somewhat perplexed perhaps, but nowise daunted. 
 Thus with head erect and deliberate step does a young 
 stag first invade a tract of country new to him. 
 
 She was dressed entirely in white, which became 
 her well. The intentional simplicity of her toilet 
 was evident. She had followed her own taste, in no 
 ignorance of what was usually worn. There is no dis- 
 puting tastes. Flowers in the hair she despised. Her 
 hair, in its glossy abundance, was indeed adornment 
 sufiicient. Whether this particular winter it ought to 
 have been worn in braids wound about the head like 
 a diadem was a question which might occupy others, 
 but did not occur to her. She wore it so, and there 
 were none who in their hearts thought it unbecom- 
 ing, whatever they might find it their duty to say 
 with regard to such a downright transgression of the 
 prevailing fashion. 
 
 A large diamond cross hanging from a chain around
 
 A BETROTHAL 59 
 
 her neck was her only ornament, and this she woro at 
 the request of Treffenbach, who had sent it to her an 
 hour before. 
 
 Thus, * a daughter of the gods, divinely tall, and 
 most divinely fair,' she appeared among the guests, 
 and wherever she turned they involuntarily made 
 way for her. There were many young girls this even- 
 ing who fell head over ears in love with Marie Louise 
 von Plattow, as enthusiastic artists become enamoured 
 of a marble statue. 
 
 His Excellency discharged with much majesty his 
 duty of announcing the betrothal, and the President's 
 satisfaction was unbounded in this revelation to all of 
 the reason for his important air, and in being able to 
 whisper in every one's ear, ' I knew it.' 
 
 The young couple received with great composure 
 the good wishes and congi-atulatious showered upon 
 them. Fräulein Ehona counted up the various enter- 
 tainments that would be given by intimate friends in 
 honour of this betrothal, and promised Schlacken sev- 
 eral fresh dances. 
 
 Count Hess was among the first to offer his con- 
 gratulations, and was thanked by Marie with rather 
 more condescension than she displayed to others. She 
 naturally considered him as ' one of ourselves,' and 
 that disposed her favourably towards him, while she 
 scarcely vouchsafed a word in answer to Schlaoken's 
 fluent speech. 
 
 " Infernally haughty," Schlacken whispered to a 
 comrade. " I thought Treffenbach great in that line, 
 but she exceeds him. Just see them now! They 
 look like a young prince and his spouse giving audi- 
 ence ! She never even looked at me, — never looked at 
 me!"
 
 60 VIOLETTA 
 
 "Poor Marie; slic is tbo only one to be pitied," 
 Fräulein Rhona murmured, as she flitted past him. 
 " How could she be so self-denying as not to look at 
 Lieutenant Sehlacken ?" 
 
 " What was that ?" the indignant lieutenant asked, 
 turning hastily, but she was gone. 
 
 Meanwhile, General Treftenbach approached the pair. 
 " My dear Marie," he said, " I want to present you to 
 the Princess Menardi." And giving her his arm ho 
 led her to a divan, where sat a veiy diminutive lady 
 with a sharp, orange-coloured face and very bright 
 black eyes. Her person was bird-like in its tiny pro- 
 portions ; in her dress everything was large, and 
 puffed in all directions. She wore a gorgeous gown 
 of yellow silk, and on her head, surmounting all sorts 
 of curls and puffs, two humming-birds vibrated upon 
 slender wires. This merry little lady fidgeted and 
 laughed shrilly as she persistently fanned herself. 
 *' Oh, my lovely young friend, I wish you every hap- 
 piness. See how proud your father-in-law looks, — eh, 
 your Excellency ? And do you know that he has 
 promised me the pleasure of seeing you at my house 
 to-morrow? unetoute petite soiree? You shall be enter- 
 tained, that I promise you. Hey, Count Hess, — Conte 
 Arminio ! tell this young lady if it is ever dull at the 
 old Princess's." And she tapped the Count on the arm 
 with her fan. 
 
 He turned instantly : "What a question !" bowing, 
 with his hand on his heart. " One always meets celeb- 
 rities at the Princess Menardi's. The loftiest and 
 most distinguished of mankind may there be seen 
 eating oysters and salad like other mortals. Whom 
 did we have last? A missionary" — here he glanced 
 towards Marie Louise — " who had been snapped up
 
 A BETROTHAL 61 
 
 by the savages ; his report was intensely interesting. 
 I should not bo surj^rised to hear that the incompara- 
 ble Beatrice is to be there to-morrow evening, and 
 bring her notes with her." 
 
 " You've guessed it !" the little lady exclaimed, in 
 high glee. " I knew this charming person in Venice, 
 and I said to myself, ' I'll try a little note. The Bea- 
 trice is the most good-natured creature in the world.' 
 And I was right, — she accepted." 
 
 " We shall all owe the Princess many thanks for so 
 charming an entertainment," Count Hess said, bowing. 
 But General Treffenbach led his comj^anion away. 
 
 " Is it incumbent upon us to go to that lady's 
 soiree ?" she asked, 
 
 " I do not see how it can he avoided," he replied, 
 quietly ; adding, somewhat didactically, " Society is 
 like a hydra. The more heads we cut off, — that is, 
 the more social duties we discharge, — the more grow 
 afresh. If it were your intention to have nothing to 
 do with it, 3'ou should have told us, and your wish 
 would have been our law. Now it is too late, and 
 without incurring the reproach of discourtesy you can- 
 not withdraw from a certain round of visits and enter- 
 tainments, still less can you select from among them 
 those congenial to j'ou and ignore the rest. The 
 Princess Menardi is, I admit, a very odd person in 
 German eyes ; hut what of that ? She is of distin- 
 guished rank; her husband was ambassador at sev- 
 eral European courts ; she is a woman of mind and of 
 influence ; she is, in short, one of us. Upon a nearer 
 acquaintance you will find her extremely good-natured, 
 universally benevolent, and quick to aid, where aid is 
 needed." 
 
 "I admit the justice of what you say," she replied. 
 6
 
 62 VIOLETTA 
 
 " No one shall reproach me with discourtesy. I will 
 do whatever you think necessary ; only you must per- 
 mit me to regard time thus s^ient as affording not 
 pleasure, but discipline." 
 
 CHAPTEE yi 
 
 AN ACTRESS IN SOCIETY 
 
 Count Hess was quite sure that it would be useless 
 to try to find his friend at home the next day ; never- 
 theless he called upon the chance of seeing him, expect- 
 ing to hear from Fräulein Emma that the happy lover 
 had gone to carry his love the usual bouquet of violets. 
 Instead of this, however, the Fräulein rej)orted that 
 the Herr Attache had been studying since six in the 
 morning ; it I'eally was not healthy. 
 
 In fact, Treffenbach had almost forgotten his be- 
 trothal, so absorbed was he in his work. "When he 
 looked up from it and was recalled for a moment to 
 the present, the knowledge of his new relations was 
 to him merely a happy consciousness, a calm delight, 
 awakening neither impatience nor desire; nor was 
 there any sense of neglect of chivalric duty, for Marie 
 Louise knew where he was and what he was doing, 
 and would have esteemed him less had he passed these 
 precious morning hours in idle talk instead of in honest 
 work. 
 
 So he went on thinking and writing, striving to 
 elucidate the profoundest mysteries as if they were 
 mathematical problems, until 
 
 " Good heavens, Treffenbach ! I could not believe
 
 AN ACTRESS IN SOCIETY 63 
 
 the gentle Emma, but here you actuallj^ are. Is it 
 true, as slanderous tongues will have it, that Barou 
 Magnus Treffenbach is at work upon a new translation 
 of the Bible into German which shall prove our worthy 
 Father Luther a mere bungler? The report seemed to 
 me malicious, and I came here to be able to tell every- 
 body that I had found nothing upon your neglected 
 writing-table save a sonnet ' to Phyllis.' I pray you 
 come with me." 
 
 " My dear friend, I have no time," Treffenbach said, 
 impatiently. 
 
 Count Hess, a rose-bud in his buttonhole, his riding- 
 whip under his arm, the personification of elegant 
 ease, stood leaning against the writing-table, and now 
 picked up the first book upon it that came to hand. 
 " Well, let us see at least what makes such demands 
 upon your precious time." And he began to read 
 aloud : " Speculative Christian theology can derive as 
 little advantage from this negativity as from the im- 
 mediate relation of categories, according to the Pla- 
 tonic method, since the former cannot be separated 
 from an hypothesis prevailing for centuries concern- 
 ing dualism in the absolute (as primeval mind and 
 primeval matter, which last Aristotle declared to be 
 an immovable motor, but which Plato understood as 
 
 a motor by its own force), and " Count Hess 
 
 paused, and cast a melancholy glance across the book 
 at his friend. 
 
 " Go on," Treffenbach said, eagerly ; " it soon grows 
 very interesting." 
 
 " Take pity upon him, ye gods !" said the Count, let- 
 ting the book drop : " he is losing his wits." 
 
 Treffenbach smiled. " I did not think that a few 
 involved sentences could so puzzle you, Armin. Why
 
 64 VIOLETTA 
 
 do you not study more ? How are you spending your 
 time here ?" 
 
 " In lounging," Hess replied, with solemnity. " I 
 am very sorry that my ignorance does not allow of my 
 clothing this disgracefully naked fact in yards of inex- 
 tricable tissue." 
 
 Magnus looked at him with grave anxietj^. " In- 
 deed, this is not well, Armin, especially for so ener- 
 getic a temperament as yours. Take my advice. 
 Adopt some occupation, some study " 
 
 " Alone ? Without you ? It would have been easy 
 in St. Petersburg, where we lodged together. But I 
 have my worries, about which you seem to care little." 
 
 *' Pray do not think me unsympathetic." 
 
 " My father has just written to me that my mother 
 has devised a brilliant match for me. I am to go home 
 to make the acquaintance of an heiress, — an amiable 
 little chit of sixteen, who has not yet been out in so- 
 ciety." 
 
 " AVhy an heiress ?" Treffenbach asked, gravely. 
 
 " Can you not see why for j^ourself ? Because I am 
 no heir." 
 
 " Armin, do not sell your life, your pride, for money. 
 If you are not in a condition to maintain a wife suit- 
 ably, go to work to improve your affairs before you 
 marry." 
 
 " Quite right. I will write to my father that I am 
 not going home, but that I mean to stay here until I 
 go to Brussels. And now may I say a word to you ?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " You are very little with your father. Why do you 
 not devote more time to him? He might at times 
 almost forget the existence of a son, and that would 
 not be well."
 
 AN ACTRESS IN SOCIETY 65 
 
 "At least not very flattering to me. But indeed 
 your admonition is superfluous. You know how I re- 
 spect and admire my fatlier and enjoy intercourse 
 with him. But at present that pleasure must be de- 
 nied me. This work claims me. As soon, however, 
 as the first part is ready for the press I will atone for 
 my shortcomings." 
 
 Count Hess looked as if he would fain have indulged 
 in further remonstrances, but he suppressed them and 
 tui-ned to go. " Well, I give up trying to lure you 
 forth to-day. Do not forget the old Princess's soiree 
 this evening. You ought in courtesy to call there be- 
 fore it, but she is very forgiving in such matters." 
 
 lie left the room, and Magnus picked up the pon- 
 derous tome that had fallen under the table, sighed, 
 and applied himself afresh to his work. 
 
 At the appointed hour he drove with his father to 
 the Princess Menardi's. His Excellency was in the 
 best of spirits, and twitted his son with being con- 
 verted to frivolity by Marie Louise. 
 
 The rooms of the popular old Princess were sure to 
 be crowded, for she scattered her cards of invitation 
 with lavish hospitality, and at the last moment invited 
 every one whom she chanced to meet. She was fond 
 of patronizing unappreciated genius, or people who 
 had suff'ered for their convictions, — what those con- 
 victions might be she never troubled herself to inquire. 
 
 Treff'enbach made his way through the throng until 
 he encountered Ehona Bellwitz, and could ask where 
 Marie Louise was, or whether she had decided not to 
 come at all. 
 
 " Oh, she came with us, of course ; but where can 
 she be ? She was talking with old Frau von Schweid- 
 nitz, and went with her into that room. I am now 
 e G*
 
 66 VIOLETTA 
 
 looking about for Moors or Tartars, but I bave seen 
 notbing extraordinary." 
 
 " Wby, tbe Beatrice is in tbere ; surely tbat is 
 enougb," a pretty young married woman observed, 
 gayly. " Ab, good-evening. Baron Trcffcnbacb ; bow 
 noble of you to come bere to us, wbcn all tbe otber 
 men are crowding into tbe room wbere tbe beautiful 
 Beatrice is." 
 
 " An actress bere ?" Treffenbacb asked, in a tone in 
 wbicb tbere was a fine admixture of surprise, disap- 
 proval, and annoyance. 
 
 " As you see, — tbe Princess is introducing ber into 
 society." Sbe gazed curiously into bis face, tben 
 laugbed and turned away. 
 
 He too walked on. It was annoying tbat Ebona 
 sbould bave told bim tbat bis betrotbed bad gone into 
 tbat room. He felt a strong desire to take ber out of 
 it as soon as possible, and be tried to get to ber. But 
 tbis was no easy task, for tbe entire assemblage seemed 
 tbronging in tbe same direction. At last be found 
 bimself in a small room bung witb yellow damask, glit- 
 tering like a topaz in tbe ligbt of a large cbandelier. It 
 was filled witb ladies and gentlemen, all pressing about 
 a centre of interest, and all apparently bent upon being 
 especially amiable. 
 
 In tbe middle of tbe room was a round divan witb 
 a yellow silken obelisk in its centre. Seated on tbe 
 down cusbion, ber bead leaning against tbis svip- 
 port, was an exquisitely beautiful woman, wbose large 
 dark eyes were like stars of fire. Her perfectly mod- 
 elled neck and sboulders gleamed snowy wbito above 
 tbe dark crimson of ber satin bodice. Sbe wore a 
 necklace of pearls, and single pearls were scattered 
 like beavy drops of silver bere and tbere in ber braided
 
 AN ACTRESS IN SOCIETY 67 
 
 hair, the arrangement of which gave a striking air of 
 distinction to the finely-shaped head. 
 
 At the moment when Treffenbach perceived her she 
 was saying in a gentle voice to the Princess Menardi, 
 sitting beside her, " Caprices ? Ah ga I I never have 
 caprices. Ask any impresario in Europe. I am ready 
 to keep my promise at any moment!" 
 
 " Peppino I" the old Princess called in her gay shrill 
 tones, " La Beatrice is going to be so kind as to sing 
 to us. Peppino I" 
 
 At the call there appeared, not a lap-dog, but a tall, 
 stout young fellow, with an olive complexion, a rather 
 fat face, and a close-cut black beard. This was Prince 
 Joseph Menardi, the son of the old Princess, and a 
 very good fellow; but Treffenbaeh could not know this, 
 for he did not remember ever seeing him before. He 
 was inclined to believe him the buffo of some Italian 
 opera company, and his indignation was great. 
 
 After the son of the house had led the singer 
 to the piano, Treffenbaeh had the satisfaction of dis- 
 covering that Marie Louise was not in this room. As 
 he turned towards the door he started. Amid the 
 hubbub of voices he heard again that silvery laugh 
 which had so unaccountably rung in his ears since 
 yesterday. He paused to listen, and then and there 
 sank into a strange dreamy revery, in which he was 
 a small boy once more, and was chasing a little blue 
 butterfly over the Velzin moor, tumbling through the 
 sand and over the roots of the fir-trees, now shouting 
 for joy, now swallowing salt, impatient tears, and still 
 the little blue butterfly eluded him and fluttered on 
 and on into the dim distance I * 
 
 The voice of his friend Hess close beside him aroused 
 him from his dream. " The child is bowitchinc;. I
 
 Ö8 VIOLETTA 
 
 only fear that the public will soon turn her head. 
 Without seeing her, only to hear her laugh is a greater 
 musical delight to my ear than any I gain from a 
 finely-sung aria." 
 
 " Yes," Treffenbach replied mechanically, without 
 the slightest idea of whom his friend was speaking. 
 
 " I am tremendously curious to see her," said the 
 voice of Ehona Bellwitz. " Is she really here ? A 
 perfect fairy, they say. Is it true ?" 
 
 " A very fairy, — she is but fifteen." 
 
 " Oh, a mere child 1" And Rhona turned away dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 Meanwhile, Treffenbach had collected himself suffi- 
 ciently to ask, " Of whom are you talking ?" 
 
 " Of Violetta Fouquet." 
 
 Meanwhile, in the quietest corner, Marie Louise was 
 eating an ice and discussing ' the evils of the age ' 
 with an old Consistorial-rath. 
 
 CHAPTEE YII 
 
 VIOLETTA FOUQUET 
 
 " Opera or ballet ?" 
 
 Madame Beatrice Fouquet spoke these words with 
 a thoughtful nod of her beautiful head, unfolding as 
 she did so a fan of peacock's feathers, with which she 
 wafted towards her the fragrance of a huge bouquet 
 of violets in an Indian bowi that stood on a table be- 
 side her divan. 
 
 8he reclined there with the haughty grace of a
 
 VIOLETTA FOUqUET 69 
 
 princess in an Eastern fairy-tale ; her head, resting 
 on her hand, was circled by the classic band of gold, 
 the long dark fringe of her eyelashes showed against 
 her soft cheek as, with downcast eyes, she seemed 
 to be seeking an answer to her question in the in- 
 tricate pattern of the Turkey carj)et. " Opera or 
 ballet ?" 
 
 At the window of the richly-furnished apartment 
 sat a lady, erect and stiff, busied with some crochet- 
 work. Beside the divan, upon a piano-stool, was 
 seated a very boyish, unpretending, fair-comjilexioned 
 man, who, out of respect or timidity, occupied only 
 half of the seat. He sighed from time to time, but 
 did not speak. His look at times rested upon the 
 countenance of the lovely lady on the divan with 
 what was admiration bordering on adoration. Indeed 
 she was beautiful, and radiant with life and gayety. 
 No wonder. She was aware that at this moment the 
 imperial capital was at her feet, that in the course 
 of the past week she had reaped more laurels than 
 fall to the lot of many a man of high descent during 
 a lifetime. There lay her last trophy in proud hu- 
 mility upon a yellow silk cushion. Tom, the gaudy 
 parrot, had left his gilded perch to pay his respects to 
 the wreath, and was pecking at the firm shining leaves, 
 while Charlie, Madamo's pet lap-dog, was tearing at 
 the fluttering ribbons that bound it as they hung 
 down upon the floor. 
 
 "Pray chase those creatures away, Contelli," the 
 Fouquet exclaimed, irritably. 
 
 The little man hastened to do her behest. Charlie 
 crept snarling under a sofa, Tom fluttered angrily 
 back to his perch, where ho performed several gym- 
 nastic feats, and shrieked loudly, ' Opera or ballet ?'
 
 70 VIOLETT A 
 
 "Whereat Madame Fouquet, like an April day, began 
 to laugh, her white teeth shining between her rosy 
 lips. " There's some sense in the screaming creature. 
 Come, Tonino, tell me what you think." 
 
 " It is a difficult matter to decide," he murmured. 
 
 " It is well that it is not for you to decide it," she 
 said, drawing up beneath the hem of her morning- 
 gown her little feet shod with gold-embroidered slip- 
 pers. " All I ask you is. What do you think of her 
 voice ? Does she improve ? In a word, do you think 
 she can take first rank as a singer?" 
 
 "Ah, ah! Che dire? The Signorina has a charm- 
 ing voice " 
 
 " Enough, my friend. A charming voice is a toler- 
 able voice, and a tolerable voice is worse than none 
 at all ! The world shall never say that Beatrice Fou- 
 quet's daughter is a tolerable singer." 
 
 " Ah, Signora, I fear " 
 
 " Indeed, I always thought so !" Madame said, with 
 an air of satisfaction. " Violetta begged so for sing- 
 ing-lessons that I let her take them of you. But I 
 have never heard her sing so as to impress me with 
 the idea that a brilliant future lay before her. Toler- 
 able, I always said to myself, pretty, sweet, but — in- 
 significant. Charming in a drawing-room, nothing on 
 the stage. On the other hand, it is only necessary to 
 see her cross a room to be sure of what is her true 
 vocation. There is no doubt, — there need be no hesi- 
 tation, — it is as clear as daylight ! I am sorry to give 
 up the singing-lessons, for you have taken so much 
 pains, my good Tonino ; but Yioletta must henceforth 
 pay more attention to her dancing-lessons. She has 
 the capacity, but not the training ; she must appear in 
 public frequently, to conquer her timidity. Au revoir,
 
 VIOLETTA FOUqUET 71 
 
 my dear Contelli. When you write to your mother 
 give her my love," 
 
 Contelli arose hastily, howed, and left the room. 
 
 Then there was silence, except for Tom, who rattled 
 his chain and now and then uttered a short shrill 
 Bcream. The stiff old lady at the window went on 
 with her work without raising her head. She might 
 have been an automaton. 
 
 Madame leaned her head upon her hand and yawned 
 slightly. Then she picked up a hand-glass, and care- 
 fully examined her face in it. "When she was alone 
 and not speaking, when she allowed herself to be en- 
 tirely at rest, she looked older, but she was always 
 beautiful. Smoothing aside a rebellious curl, she shook 
 her head thoughtfully. " I am growing old," she said ; 
 *' it is time I married." 
 
 The gray lady at the window did not stir at the 
 utterance of this original remark ; she did not even 
 look round. 
 
 " Madame Morton," said the Fouquct. 
 
 A long face turned towards her. "What does 
 Madame wish ?" 
 
 " Pray be so kind as to call Yioletta." 
 
 Madame Morton left the room. Her figure was tall 
 and bony ; she always wore rustling gray gowns, with 
 her hair in large gray puffs beneath a majestic cap of 
 gray and white tulle. She was, as her employer was 
 wont to declare, a priceless treasure, — one who wore 
 virtue and respectability stamped upon her brow, the 
 very model of a ' companion.' 
 
 Madame Beatrice had never succeeded in discover- 
 ing whether Madame Morton could think or feel. No 
 one had ever heard her exjjress an independent opin- 
 ion, or had seen her at all excited, not oven Violctta,
 
 72 VIOLETTA 
 
 who was daily instructed by her in literature and 
 other advanced studies and was held to be a favourite 
 with her. 
 
 She was well born, and might indeed have wondered 
 at the caprice of fate that had raised a Beatrice Fou- 
 quet to the crimson divan, and that had made herself, 
 the grand-daughter of a minister of state, the servant 
 of this creature who had formerly, as every one knew, 
 run barefooted along the roads in Ireland, only too 
 glad to beg a sixpence in exchange for a bunch of wild 
 flowers and a song. 
 
 But she never hinted at any such thoughts, or ex- 
 pressed indignation even by a look. 
 
 In five minutes she re-entered the room, took her 
 seat with dignity, and began to crochet again, saying, 
 " Fräulein, Yioletta will be here presently." 
 
 " Thanks," said the Fouquet, without looking up 
 from the book she was reading. 
 
 Soon the door opened gently, and a creature dressed 
 in white came flying across the room with a foot- 
 fall so light as to be inaudible. As she flitted j^ast 
 the bowl of violets this sylph buried her face for an 
 instant among the fragrant mass, then stooj)ed over 
 the singer's hand and took her seat on a low ottoman 
 beside the divan. " Here I am, mamma," she said in 
 Italian. 
 
 " I only wanted to tell you that I have stopped your 
 singing-lessons with Contelli ; it is labour in vain. You 
 must take more lessons with the ballet-master." 
 
 The girl's lovely face flushed slightly. " I like to 
 dance," she said, with a little sigh, " but — but " 
 
 "But what?" 
 
 "Ah, you know what, mammal" 
 
 " Nonsense, Yioletta ! You must conquer your fool-
 
 VIOLETT A FOUqUET »73 
 
 ish timidity. The public will think it affectation, for 
 you ai'e anything but timid in society." 
 
 "Ah, there is no public to confront there." 
 
 " Don't be so childish. There are the very same 
 people who look at you from their boxes in the even- 
 ing." 
 
 " But, oh, mamma, it is not at all the same thing. 
 There are no lights, and no music, and no opera-glasses, 
 — I hate opera-glasses, — and they all sit there so still, 
 so still, and stare at you, and never speak, — hundreds, 
 thousands of heads, and all kinds of colours, and with 
 eyes, and glasses in their hands, and you — you must 
 keep quiet, and, whether you turn red or pale, you 
 dare not turn away, you must bear it all, — distress 
 and terror, — and you must swallow down your tears j 
 and although you long to sink into the earth, you 
 must dance and spring about. Ah !" 
 
 Madame Fouquet must have been accustomed to 
 such outbreaks, for she only shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 "Now, in a drawing-room or riding in the Thier- 
 garten," Yioletta went on eagerly, " what is there to 
 be afraid of? No one looks at me as if they meant to 
 dev^our me. They are all kind, and talk and laugh, 
 and I can say what I choose, and laugh as much as I 
 like, and can go or stay as I please. Don't you see, 
 mamma?" 
 
 " I see that you must take more pains to overcome 
 your timidity, for it must bo done. True, I might 
 say, 'Very well! my circumstances are such as to 
 allow me to educate my daughter as I please. I will 
 train her up for private life. I will marry her to a 
 count, and she shall be a charming countess.' But I 
 am not so egotistic, so short-sighted. You possess a 
 talent which will exalt you above your fellows. Learn 
 D 7
 
 74 VIOLETT A 
 
 to use tbc wings tliat Lave been given you, and you 
 can make yourself an immortal name ; you can see 
 the world at your feet. Would it not be a pity — yes, 
 a sin — to throw away these laurels ? As for marrying 
 a count, there is time enough for that" — she smiled — 
 " when one is as old — as mamma." 
 
 There was a pause. Yioletta looked as if she were 
 taking it all into consideration. 
 
 " At all events," her mother said at last, " you will 
 accept the kind offer of the manager to afford you an 
 opportunity shortly of appearing in a fairy pantomime 
 as an elf in a flower." 
 
 " I can play a sleeping elf, certainly." 
 
 "You will be good and do whatever is required of 
 you. And now go, child, and ring for Carolina. It is 
 time to dress." 
 
 Yioletta arose, kissed a curl of her mother's raven 
 hair which had escaped from the gold band, and left 
 the room, carelessly humming a French song. 
 
 For Yioletta Fouquet was as happy and gay as a 
 bird that trills its song without thinking why. Living 
 only in the present, shielded by her mother from all 
 annoyance, she knew nothing of the dark side of the 
 sphere of life in which she had been born, — she saw 
 only the brilliant exterior of this gay existence. She 
 had experienced nothing but kindness and good will 
 ever since she could remember, since she had first 
 opened her violet eyes upon the world where she had 
 been greeted with the clinking of champagne-glasses. 
 For Albert Fouquet, the light-hearted tenor of La 
 Scala at Milan, had celebrated his daughter's birth by 
 a champagne-supper, at which he declared that the 
 child's name was written in her ej'es, and that she 
 ßhould be called Yioletta.
 
 VIOLKTTA FOUqUET 75 
 
 He had been a good, kind, innocent fool, — Albert 
 Fouquet ! It was thus that his widow still character- 
 ized him in her memory. Champagne had been his 
 elixir of life, and he had died of heart-disease on the 
 etage, a champagne-glass in his hand, leaving a widow 
 but eighteen years old, with an infant of but a few 
 months. 
 
 From Yioletta's point of view this was a world 
 where every one was good and kind. Why, even the 
 cross old prompter smiled and nodded kindly at her 
 whenever she appeared upon the stage. Why was he 
 so good to her and so cross to every one else ? She 
 did not know. She never knew the power that lay in 
 her sparkling eyes, in her look of innocent trust that 
 disarmed all malice and shamed all violence. In 
 happy unconsciousness she had lived hitherto like the 
 flowers, like the butterflies in the sunshine. She had 
 known no wish unfulfilled, her loving spirit had never 
 Buff'ered a repulse, her gayety had never been misun- 
 derstood. 
 
 She had been accustomed from infancy to the pub- 
 lic's adoration of her mother. From her earliest 
 childhood she had been used to the frank speech 
 and manners of the world in which she lived. She 
 had been taught that her instinctive aversion to the 
 stage was a fault which she must try to amend, and 
 ehe sincerely hoped to be able to do so. Madame 
 Fouquet lodged in a very fine suite of rooms in the 
 game hotel in which the Plattows were established. 
 As was the case with Marie Louise, Beatrice Fouquet 
 had given a characteristic colouring to her room. 
 She had not placed her furniture squarely against the 
 wall, but chairs and tables were scattered here and 
 there in artistic confusion, and in lieu of well-bound,
 
 76 VIOLETT A 
 
 useful books there were graceful vases and bowls filled 
 with flowers. 
 
 Yioletta's room was in the back of the hotel, oppo 
 site her mother's apartments, and looked out upon a 
 narrow street, while the drawing-room windows opened 
 upon one of the widest and most frequented thorough- 
 fares of the capital. Nevertheless, Violetta was very- 
 fond of her small domain, and liked to retire thither 
 alone and give herself up to reflection when wearied 
 with Carolina's chatter and Madame Morton's taci- 
 turnity. 
 
 At twelve o'clock Madame Fouquet generally drove 
 out with her daughter. This was always refreshing ; 
 the air here was so wonderfully clear and cold, and 
 everything in the streets was so diff'erent from what 
 they had seen in Italy or France, that Beatrice as 
 well as her young daughter was always entertained. 
 The Fouquet often invited her ' companion' to accom- 
 pany them. Madame Morton was then enthroned be- 
 side her in mute but ostentatious respectability, and 
 there was an air of great dignity imparted to the 
 whole group. Violetta often begged that she might 
 have her own little pony-wagon, which she always 
 had in Milan, drawn by a pair of the tiniest Shetland 
 ponies in blue and silver harness. But her mother 
 declared that it looked too frivolously gay, not suffi- 
 ciently distinguished, and that she had reasons for 
 wishing to avoid such a display. So the elegant lan- 
 dau rolled noiselessly along, and the sunshine and 
 blue sky tempted all the world forth to celebrate 
 the triumph of gorgeous toilets and full-blooded Eng- 
 lish racers, while seeming only to enjoy the lovely 
 weather. 
 
 Soon after their return home dinner was served, at
 
 VIOLETTA FOUqUET 77 
 
 which guests were never lacking, for Madame Fouquet 
 had many friends of both sexes among the members 
 of her profession, and her hospitality was princely. 
 It is true that she always exacted the courtesy shown 
 to one whose endowments placed her far above all 
 possibility of envy and jealousy. And as the charm 
 of her manner and beauty was very great, she usually 
 was granted all that she claimed. The management 
 as well as her fellow-artists were well inclined to do 
 all in their power for this guest, and there was no end 
 to the dinners, suppers, and entertainments given in 
 her honour, for they hoped to induce her to remain 
 with them, cost what it might. But she skilfully 
 evaded all proposals and engagements, although she 
 seemed to have no desire to leave the city, but con- 
 tinued to enrapture the public nightly either as Elsa, 
 Kegia, Norma, Leonore, or Valentin, speaking per- 
 fectly various tongues and trained to a high degree of 
 artistic perfection in all respects. Her voice accommo- 
 dated itself to "Wagner's music as well as to Eossini's, 
 and in contrast to her daughter, the stage was her 
 home, where her many-sided nature found free j)lay. 
 
 Antonio Contelli had his place below the salt at 
 Madame Fouquet's table. At home the shy youth 
 was valued as an admirable tenor, but he was taking 
 holiday at present, and Madame Fouquet, who felt 
 herself under certain obligations to his parents, had 
 offered him a temporary position as her secretary. 
 He was as devoted as Fridolin, and contented with 
 any treatment. To adore Madame at a distance, and 
 to obey every word and look of Yioletta's, was all the 
 enjoyment that ho required of life. 
 
 When the dinner-guests departed, Violctta would 
 throw herself on a lounge in a bewitching state of 
 
 7*
 
 78 VIOLETTA 
 
 exhaustion, nestle her dark, curly head among the 
 pillows, and take up some book of poems, for she de- 
 lighted in poems, and thought Tonino Contelli's verses 
 charming, — a fact which incited the devoted young 
 fellow to fill whole volumes with delicate stanzas. 
 ' They put one to sleep so deliciously,' the sylph 
 would remark, with unconscious malice. 
 
 Madame Fouquet, too, was wont to rest after din- 
 ner until the time came to go to the opera. Some- 
 times Yioletta accompanied her mother. She liked to 
 do so, for the girl had friends everywhere, whose weal 
 and woe were very near her heart. A thorough 
 coward before the curtain, she was a heroine in cour- 
 age behind the scenes, whenever sympathy was needed 
 or a word of blame was required. Familiar with the 
 theatre from early childhood, and endowed with quick 
 sensibilities and a warm heart, she was far more 
 deeply interested in the people who occupied subor- 
 dinate positions — those who attended to the me- 
 chanical part of the nightly display — than in the 
 actors. The latter played, the others worked. There 
 were the workmen, the machinists, the mechanics, 
 the servants, the box-openers, who laboured dili- 
 gently unseen and uncared for, receiving but paltry 
 wages, and reaping no thanks, to say nothing of ap- 
 plause. 
 
 As there was for Violetta but one theatre, the thea- 
 tre, she was at home everywhere in every temple of 
 her mother's art, and found the same tyj^es repeated 
 everywhere. Thus, upon this evening she told her 
 mother, with eager, evei'-ready sympathy, " Only 
 think, mamma, the box-opener in the second tier has 
 six children, and he has just broken his leg." 
 
 « Ah, Violetta !"
 
 VIOLETTA FOUqUET 79 
 
 "And ho only recovered from the varioloid last 
 JSTovember." 
 
 " The man in Florence had the varioloid too !" Bea- 
 trice rejoined, irritably. " Do stop your eternal chat- 
 t.er about these people, Violetta." 
 
 " But, mamma, I really have something " And, 
 
 interrupting herself, she ran off, to return shortly, lead- 
 ing by the hand a little old gentleman, who found 
 some difficulty in following her light footsteps. 
 
 "He says, mamma," she exclaimed, breathless, "the 
 Herr Musikdirektor says that my voice is an unap- 
 preciated jewel. Was not that it? Ah, Herr Musik- 
 direktor, pray speak !" 
 
 " Pardon, my dear Herr Buchwald," said Beatrice, 
 before the old man could say a word ; " there are 
 third- and fourth- rate jewels. You probably mean a 
 rock-crystal." 
 
 "Excuse me, madame, I mean a diamond. Con- 
 telli" — he smiled ironically — " is hardly the one to 
 perfect it." 
 
 " The first tenor of our opera, Herr Direktor," the 
 Fouquet I'ejoined in a haughty tone ; " allow us some 
 capacity to judge, I pray." 
 
 Another man, Yioletta's dancing-master, at this in- 
 stant made his appearance. " No, no," he said. " The 
 child must remain faithful to the ballot. All doubtful 
 talent must give place to that which is indubitable. 
 There was once a Taglioni, but Yiolotta Fouquet will 
 eclipse her." 
 
 " Bravo !" Beatrice laughed. " Precisely my opin-
 
 80 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII 
 
 SIR GEORGE O'HALLORAN 
 
 "It is very hard," Yiolotta murmured the next 
 morning early, as she sat in her dressing-gown wait- 
 ing for Carolina to bring her her breakfast ; and as she 
 leaned back in her arm-chair the tears glittered in her 
 eyes, and she sighed profoundly. 
 
 Sighs and tears were both called forth by the mem- 
 ory of the previous evening. How could she ever 
 submit to the ordeal of that horrible public ? Life be- 
 gan to wear a cloudy aspect to the eyes which had 
 hitherto seen only clear skies above them. But she 
 forgot her gloomy reflections when Carolina appeared 
 with the tray that held her dainty repast, — a steaming 
 cup of chocolate and a basket of tempting sugar-cakes. 
 When the maid left the room, Yioletta sipped her 
 chocolate leisurely and ate one of the cakes, then 
 going to the window she lightly drummed on the 
 glass, and stood expectant, looking down into the 
 narrow, dim street. Tall houses of gloomy aspect 
 seemed to turn their backs upon it in disdain. Thb 
 noise and hubbub of the wider, more frequented thor- 
 oughfares floated hither muffled by distance, and the 
 dwellers there below could see but a narrow strip of 
 blue sky above their heads. And yet, strangely 
 enough, the life led in this narrow street interested 
 Violetta far more than the humy and bustle of the 
 principal streets and squares. This was not the first 
 time that she had stood lookinc: down to see what
 
 SIR GEORGE O'HALLORAN 81 
 
 was going on below. Little children were always at 
 play there with tops and marbles, and they almost all 
 looked pale and sickly. Yioletta had once seen a 
 cross-looking woman come out of the cellar where she 
 lived and give one of the children a crust of bread. 
 A little girl standing by had nothing, and she sat 
 down on a step and cried bitterly. Madame Fouquet's 
 daughter instantly was inspired bj^ a happy thought. 
 Beside her was a basket of sugar-cakes. She ran for 
 a ball of worsted from her work-basket, tied one end 
 of it to a cake, and lowered it down in front of the 
 very eyes of the amazed child. 
 
 Since that day the same thing had been done 
 every morning, and the only wonder was that it had 
 not resulted in a severe cold for the young bene- 
 factress. Gradually between the youngest dwellers 
 in the narrow street and the 'pretty lady' overhead 
 an understanding was established by means of signs 
 that left nothing to be desired in the way of an un- 
 written language. As soon as Violetta tapped upon 
 the window a band marshalled itself below, and gave 
 her to understand by unmistakable gestures that all 
 the bigger brothers and sisters, whose rapacity and 
 superior strength were to be feared, had marched off 
 to school. Every face broadened into a smile, and the 
 eyes directed to the upper story sparkled as they 
 watched the descent of so many delicious morsels. 
 Ah, this was a ' public' after Violetta's own heart. 
 
 The cakes were scarcely gone when Carolina reap- 
 peared to dress her young mistress's hair, and Madame 
 Morton entered to say that Madame Fouquet wished 
 to see her daughter immediately. 
 
 Violetta flow to the drawing-room, but had no 
 sooner opened the door than she paused in dismay, 
 /
 
 82 VIOLETTA 
 
 for, oll, heavens ! there sat an elderly, smooth-shaven 
 gentleman, the sight of whom recalled all her distress 
 of the previous evening. He now settled his specta- 
 cles on his nose, and examined her with the air of a 
 gardener hesitating whether or not to purchase a new 
 species of rose for his parterre. 
 
 " Come, Yioletta," said Madame Beatrice, " and 
 thank Herr Steinach. He will allow you to take part 
 in the fairy pantomime next Tuesday." 
 
 " He is very kind," the girl said obediently, but with 
 a little sigh ; " only I am so very stupid." 
 
 She looked so lovely in her confusion that, as Herr 
 Steinach rose to go, he said, with a smile, ""VVe are 
 quite ready to forgive some awkwardness in so young 
 an artist." 
 
 "When he had gone, Madame Fouquet said calmly, 
 " That is settled, then. Why are you in your morn- 
 ing-dress so late, Yioletta ? Tell Carolina to put on 
 your gray suit. I want you to call with me upon the 
 Princess Menardi." 
 
 "Ah," said Violetta, in a melancholy tone, "that 
 too, mamma? Do you like her? She is so very 
 yellow." 
 
 Beatrice laughed. " She is the golden key to the 
 most aristocratic drawing-rooms in town. Such a 
 one is not easy to find. Do not stand there looking 
 so foolish, my child. What is it?" The last three 
 words were spoken to a servant, who handed her a 
 cai'd. 
 
 ' George,' Yioletta read over her mother's shoulder. 
 The card was written in pencil. 
 
 ' George !' screamed the parrot, ruffling his feathers. 
 
 " Where is he?" exclaimed Madame Fouquet, eagerly. 
 " Why does he not come up ?"
 
 SIR GEORGE O'HALLORAN 83 
 
 "Madame," the servant stammered, "lias ordered 
 the carriage." 
 
 "Idiot!" Beatrice exclaimed, stamping her foot. 
 "Eun after him; bring him up fi-om the street if 
 need be." 
 
 " No need, madame j here I am. I am not so easily 
 turned away." 
 
 At the open door stood a man who, once seen, 
 was not easily forgotten. An Adonis? An Apollo? 
 Good heavens, no ! Eather a Cyclops, on leave of 
 absence from Father Yulcan. 
 
 And yet there were people who maintained that Sir 
 George O'Halloran was a handsome man. 
 
 He was scarcely an elegant figure for a fashionable 
 drawing-room. Shoi-t, broad, muscularly built, his 
 rough coat and leather leggings suggested an English 
 squire, which suggestion was contradicted, however, 
 by a crimson kerchief artistically knotted about his 
 throat, and a soft black felt Eembrandt hat, which 
 gave him rather a theatric air. His head, which re- 
 minded one of the busts of Beethoven, was carried 
 high, and the black eyes in the tanned face seemed 
 positively to burn with the intense fire of their glance. 
 His thick, bushy hair was sprinkled with gray, and 
 lay in disordered, tangled masses above his broad 
 forehead. If he would have kept quiet, one would 
 have found — with surprise, perhaps — the impress of 
 manly beauty and force on his strongly-marked coun- 
 tenance, but he was never quiet. His features wei-e 
 always in motion, the oddest changes of expression 
 flashed across them continually, like lightning over a 
 rugged landscape, lending them at times a grotesque- 
 ness, heigh'tened by the tanned and wrinkled texture 
 of his skin.
 
 84 VIOLETTA 
 
 Swift as a deer Beatrice ran to this man as he stood 
 broad, sturdy, and frowning, her face beaming with 
 delight. She buried her white hands in his shock 
 of hair, drew the unlovely head down to her lips and 
 kissed it on the forehead. Then, before he could pre- 
 vent her, she stooped, took his hand, and imprinted a 
 kiss upon that also. 
 
 " Dear old friend I" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Nonsense!" he cried, both touched and vexed. 
 "Would you make me out a Methuselah, madame? 
 Come, come, let's have a look at you! And that is 
 little Yioletta? Little? Confound it! the butterfly 
 has burst the chrysalis, and that's the truth. Well ? 
 The chit does not know me. Is this the way you 
 keep your vows. Miss Humming-bird ? Who promised 
 seven years ago, by all that was sacred, to be my wife ?" 
 
 Violetta was startled at first, and then, with an irre- 
 sistible impulse to laugh, turned and ran out of the 
 room. 
 
 " Brava !" he said. " My attempt at enlightenment 
 is hardly successful, eh? You're a little frightened 
 too, Beatrice?" 
 
 " I frightened ? And at you ? Ah I" 
 
 " Well, then, tell me what you have been doing for 
 these seven years." 
 
 "Yes, seven years, sir!" she said, reproachfully. 
 " What have you been doing all this time ?" 
 
 " Most of it playing the hermit in G . I have 
 
 composed several new operas, which I trust you will 
 make popular." 
 
 " Excuse me, no ! I have not forgotten the repre- 
 sentation of your first opera, * Der Fiederfittich,' when 
 the audience in the little theatre kept calling out 
 'false! false!'"
 
 SIR GEORGE O'HALLORAN 85 
 
 " Nonsense !" he growled. " Why false ?" 
 
 " Because it was not exactly Strauss's ' Fledei-maus.' " 
 
 " That's all your fancj'', Beatrice," he said, wrink- 
 ling his forehead, while he smiled good-humouredly. 
 " You are positively the most malicious woman in the 
 world." 
 
 "And yet," she added, gently, and her eyes filled 
 with tears, " it seems to me as if I had heard no real 
 music since I last heard you." 
 
 " Ah, flatterer. iNow tell me all about yourself" 
 
 She did so with a conscientious exactitude quite 
 foreign to her mercurial temperament. And in turn 
 he unrolled before her the picture of a strange exist- 
 ence, that of a man who had turned his back upon 
 the I'ank of life to which he was entitled by wealth 
 and birth, and who had found his friends, his inter- 
 ests, his amusements, among the lower class of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 From time to time as he was talking he arose and 
 walked to and fro in the room, looking about him ab- 
 sently, as if seeking something. At last Madame 
 Fouquet arose also, and, taking his arm, led him into 
 the adjoining apartment and up to the grand j)iano. 
 " Here, my friend," she said, gently. 
 
 He ran his hand through his hair and groaned. 
 " Of course," he said, "she knows me well, does Betty. 
 Have patience now for a while. I haven't touched a 
 note for twenty-four hours, and the thirsty soul needs 
 refreshment." 
 
 He ran his fingers over the keys, and then struck 
 the first chords of one of Beethoven's sonatas. 
 
 The Fouquet threw herself into an arm-chair, folded 
 her hands, and listened. Ah, he played wondrously 1 
 One began to understand and to admire him as sooq
 
 86 VIOLETTA 
 
 as he sat down at the piano. Yes, one even began 
 to think him handsome, for then his face was ma- 
 jestic, inspired. He played with force, and yet with 
 gentleness, as the sea rolls, as the wind moans among 
 old trees. 
 
 "When he had finished, the Fouquet arose, went up 
 to him, and laid her hand ujDon his shoulder. She 
 looked restless and disturbed ; he seemed hardly to see 
 her. 
 
 " Ah, Sir George, when I hear you play once more, 
 I grow undecided. I seem to hear a menacing voice 
 warning me." 
 
 " What in the name of all the saints do you mean, 
 madame? You look as though conscience were at 
 work. What is it ?" 
 
 "You know whose hand lifted me up out of the 
 dust, — to whom I owe my laurels, and " 
 
 " Do you mean me ?" he asked, a thousand wrinkles 
 suddenly appearing in his forehead. " If you do, then 
 drop your metaphors." 
 
 " I owe them all to you," she went on ; " and there- 
 fore to you first I owe the confession that I am about 
 to cast away these laurels." 
 
 " Which means ?" 
 
 " That I think of marrying." 
 
 *' You ? And who is the unhappy man ?" 
 
 " You flatter me indeed." And the singer laughed 
 good-humouredly. " Do you suppose that no man can 
 find it possible to bear with Beatrice Fouquet's whims ? 
 Surely another might venture upon what Albert Fou- 
 quet undertook." 
 
 " Yery well ; who is it ?" 
 
 " Perhaps no one ; perhaps only an idea. Who 
 knows ? As I listened to your music I was attacked
 
 SIR GEORGE O'HALLORAN 81 
 
 by strange misgivings. What if I should be about to 
 exchange life for mere vegetation ? the ideal for the 
 commonplace ? Parnassus for the kitchen ?" 
 
 " Crescendo !" he exclaimed, clapping his hands. 
 " One of Eossini's first-class arias. And now, Madame 
 Beatrice, descend, I pray you, from your mountain-tops, 
 and deign, as you are compassionate, to give me a glass 
 of claret." 
 
 " I wish you did not di-ink quite so much," she said, 
 gravely. 
 
 " Don't be stingy, Beatrice." 
 
 They returned to the other room, where Madame 
 Morton was crocheting in immovable majesty. The 
 Fouquet rang the bell ; Sir George drank a tumbler of 
 claret, and held out his glass to have it refilled. But 
 she put aside the decanter, and, laying her hand upon 
 his arm, looked searchingly into his eyes. " There 
 must be something wrong with you. Sir George, — you 
 are not easy in your mind. What is it ?" 
 
 " Nothing, you most inquisitive of women ; nothing 
 more than usual." 
 
 " How did you happen to come to Berlin just at this 
 time ?" she asked, quickly. *' If it were to see me, why 
 have you left me to myself for so long ? Our friend- 
 Bhip — or should I say my friendship ? — I do not know 
 whether I am anything to you " 
 
 " Good heavens I" he interrupted her, sinking into an 
 arm-chair with an air of resignation ; "she is evidently 
 expecting me to make love to her." 
 
 " Oh, don't be alarmed ; nothing of the kind. On 
 the contrary, I was going to say that my friendship 
 for you is quite independent of frequent personal 
 intercourse; it must always be the same cordial, 
 grateful "
 
 88 VIOL ETTA 
 
 " Nonsense !" ho again interrupted her. " Is this 
 hotel a good one ?" 
 
 " Excellent." 
 
 " Of course, since the Fouquet patronizes it. How 
 much money do you throw out of the window every 
 year for the gilded frame of your existence ?" 
 
 " Why do you ask such a question ?" 
 
 " Will your future husband pay your debts ?" 
 
 " Certainly, if he is a gentleman, — which I have no 
 reason to doubt." 
 
 Sir George arose and took his hat. " I am going, 
 Beatrice. I shall probably engage a room here. Au 
 revoir." And he left the room without further cere- 
 mony, save a bow towards the lay figure at the win- 
 dow. 
 
 It was Sir George O'Halloran who years before had 
 discovered that the little Beatrice — or Betty, as she 
 
 was commonly called, a child in the village of G , 
 
 in Ireland — had a wonderful voice. 
 
 Who was Betty ? No one knew. She had been 
 charitably received into the household of the priest of 
 the poor little village of G . She played a Cinde- 
 rella part in life, tending the goats and geese and run- 
 ning about barefoot all day long. The peasantry of 
 that district were among the poorest in Ireland : they 
 often lacked the barest necessaries of existence ; their 
 priest was not much better off than his parishioners, 
 and little Betty was often hungry. Sir George easily 
 persuaded the priest to give up the orphan child to 
 his guardianship, and he sent her directly to Italy, to 
 a family of his acquaintance in Milan. These good 
 people trained and educated her for the stage, and 
 they were the parents of Antonio Contelli. 
 
 When Sir George saw his protegee again she was
 
 SAGES AND ELVES 89 
 
 a singer of repute, the wife of Albert Fouquet, and 
 the mother of a child. The drama of his life had 
 been played : the sudden death, after but a few days' 
 illness, of his betrothed, the very idol of his strong, 
 ardent heart, had made of him the restless, eccen- 
 tric being whom we have just seen, — his intense en- 
 joyment of music seeming to be the only relic left 
 him of other days, when life had been filled for him 
 with harmonies, now shattered into discord. His in- 
 terest in Beatrice and her fortunes was still keen, how- 
 ever ; he kept up a constant correspondence with her, 
 and she never ceased to feel for him the most enthusi- 
 astic gratitude, — a gratitude which enabled her to over- 
 look his eccentricities and to bear with his changeful 
 moods. She often disputed with him, mourning over 
 his wasted existence ; she sometimes laughed at him ; 
 but she never forgot that it was his hand that had 
 raised her from the dust of manual labour and opened 
 for her the way to fame and freedom. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX 
 
 SAGES AND ELVES 
 
 The Plattows' drawing-room was brilliantly illu- 
 minated, and around the table, with its two tall can- 
 delabra, was seated a small company of people, to 
 whom a footman was handing tea, while Marie Louise 
 in violet cachemire that admirably became her bril- 
 liant complexion, and her golden diadem of braids, 
 was enacting with great dignity and self-possession 
 the part of hostess. 
 
 8*
 
 90 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Marie Louise has an aesthetic tea for her admirers 
 this evening," little Ehona Bellwitz had whispered to 
 Count Hess in the morning, and, curious to see what 
 she meant, he had accejjted an informal invitation 
 from Frau von Plattow, and now made his api)earance 
 with TrefFenbach. 
 
 It was true, Marie Louise was giving a tea to her 
 admirers, but they were not personages of whom Mag- 
 nus Treffenbach need feel jealous. Around the table 
 Bat four or five church dignitaries, men of venerable 
 appearance, with whom she discoursed about missions, 
 orphan asylums, and charitable institutions, with such 
 thorough knowledge of her subject, and with such 
 excellent judgment, that it was impossible not to 
 admire hei*. These matters formed the chief interest 
 of her life. To convert Eavenhorst into an Eden of 
 order, virtue, and fear of the Lord, had always been 
 her dream. There was no doubt that she already 
 seemed to herself the mistress of the estate, already 
 felt the resj)onsibilities of the position, and had al- 
 ready formed plans for the physical, mental, and moral 
 amelioration of her people. 
 
 Such a mind, clear, bright, and strong, inspired by 
 philanthropic ideas, could not fail to arouse the inter- 
 est of those whose task in life was that of minister- 
 ing to the wants of the souls of their fellow-men. 
 Much might be looked for in the future from a woman 
 who possessed not only the desire, but also the means, 
 to aid in the great work of the regeneration of man- 
 kind. She certainly would exercise a positive and ex- 
 tensive influence in the circle of which she must be 
 a centre. Such women, distinguished by birth and 
 wealth, and animated by an intense desire to do good 
 as far as in them lies, are greatly needed in the church.
 
 SAGES AND ELVES 91 
 
 They are like genuine jewels among bits of paste and 
 glass, and what shepherd of souls would neglect an 
 opportunity for encouraging and inciting such powei'- 
 ful assistants ? 
 
 Old Herr and Frau von Plattow had withdrawn 
 to the adjoining ajiartment, which was more dimly 
 lighted, and where Count Hess joined Herr von Plat- 
 tow in a game of chess by the light of a shaded lamp. 
 The doors into the next room were wide open, and 
 from the half-light of the apartment where he sat, the 
 Count could see Fräulein von Plattow's tall, slender 
 figure sitting in an arm-chair, as she looked up with 
 gi'ave interest into the face of the Herr Consistorial- 
 rath, who had lately held forth to her upon the evils 
 of the age, and who had now entered upon the second 
 part of his discourse, — namely, their cure. The rest 
 joined in the conversation from time to time, and the 
 large light blue eyes were turned upon whoever was 
 Bpeaking with the same cold, calm expression, which 
 nevertheless revealed a thorough honesty of purpose. 
 Magnus, too, seemed deeply interested in the talk, and 
 sometimes ventured to oppose the views of the clerical 
 dignitaries, who would gravely shake their heads over 
 his remarks and proceed to controvert them with the 
 sage arguments of ripened age. From time to time 
 Marie Louise put some direct question to her be- 
 trothed, looking at him as she did so with precisely 
 the same gaze with which she turned to the venerable 
 men, — a look full of intense but purely objective in- 
 terest. 
 
 " She would drive me mad," thought Armin Hess, 
 mechanically making a move on the chess-board which 
 provoked a slightly triumphant smile on the j)art of 
 his antagonist, and caused the good old Frau to exult
 
 92 VIOLETTA 
 
 inwardly, for Count Hess was thought to play an 
 admirable game. 
 
 " She is all snow. Pshaw, no ! for snow would melt 
 finally," he thought, as he stroked his long silky 
 moustache, and the old people opposite held a short 
 council of war over the next move to be made. 
 
 He was possessed by a strange impatience. For the 
 last hour he had been closely watching the beautiful 
 woman enthroned in the next room, and in all that 
 time her face had never changed. Still the same look 
 of calm attention, never brightened by a smile or in- 
 terrupted by a blush. No emotion had disturbed the 
 dignified repose of her features. 
 
 " Good heavens 1" he thought to himself, " I ought 
 to be her lover. "Well, and what then ? I never would 
 rest until " 
 
 " Eh, eh, my dear Count, what do you say to matters 
 now ?" the old gentleman asked, rubbing his hands. 
 
 " I am lost." 
 
 " So it seems to me." 
 
 ** Unless " and he smiled as he made a move 
 
 which no one had foreseen, and by which he became 
 once more master of the situation. For an instant his 
 attention was riveted on the game, but when he raised 
 his eyes he saw nothing save that enigmatical face, felt 
 nothing save a growing desire to disturb that icy calm, 
 to touch that marble heart with a conjurer's wand. 
 "Magnus is a fool I Instead of puzzling his brains 
 over theological problems, he had better apply him- 
 self to investigating his goddess's capacity to smile. 
 It would be a most interesting study." 
 
 His own thoughts startled him. It is not well to 
 indulge in such fancies. He turned to the game again, 
 but it was too late. He had lost the advantage so
 
 SAGES AND ELVES 93 
 
 skilfully gained. The old gentleman was triumphant, 
 and exulted loudly. His wife laid her hand gently 
 upon the Count's shoulder. " You are very kind, Count 
 Hess, to spend this time in giving pleasure to us old 
 people, instead of taking part in the interesting con- 
 versation going on in the next room." 
 
 She spoke with some emotion, and Iless took her 
 hand and carried it reverently to his lips, moved by 
 a sudden impulse of filial tenderness towards the kindly 
 old couple. 
 
 " Your mother has a very good son in you, Count 
 Hess." 
 
 " Not a very good one, I am afraid." 
 
 He thought of his home, — of his father, whose rank 
 and position forced him to maintain a style of living 
 with which his income did not correspond; of his 
 mother, a cold, calculating woman of the world, who 
 was always on the lookout for a wealthy wife for him, 
 — and he suddenly seemed to himself lonely and or- 
 phaned ; a vague longing for domestic peace, domestic 
 happiness, possessed him. 
 
 "Have you any brothers?" the old lady asked, 
 kindly. 
 
 « No." 
 
 " Or sisters ?" 
 
 " I had a foster-sister. She was the daughter ot a 
 distant relative of my father's." 
 
 *' What has become of her ?" 
 
 «'She died." 
 
 He spoke in a tone which led Frau von Plattow lo 
 look up at him. " Ah, that was a great grief to you." 
 
 " Perhaps it was best. It decided a question which 
 had caused discord between myself and my parents, 
 who were unwilling to accede to my wishes."
 
 94 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Ah, I am sorry. I am sure she was gentle *nd 
 good." 
 
 " Too good for me." 
 
 There was a pause, interrupted by the moving of 
 the chairs in the adjoining room. 
 
 " The gentlemen are going," said Count Hess, rising. 
 " I must bid you good-evening." 
 
 But Treffenbach did not seem ready to go yet, and 
 after he had bidden farewell to his betrothed's ad- 
 mirers, lingered a moment to discuss some messages 
 to be sent to the pastor's wife at Yelzin. Hess waited 
 for his friend, and together they left the hotel. On 
 the street the Count said, " These six-o'clock teas have 
 one advantage : they give one time to look in at the 
 theatre. I have two tickets here, and, as Schlacken 
 is on duty, I will solemnly endow you with one. Come." 
 
 "lionsense! I have some work to do." 
 
 " That is an excuse which can be valid only in the 
 morning. In the evening man needs relaxation." 
 
 " If that is your opinion you must keep me away 
 from the theatre. I have no taste for such amuse- 
 ments, and the heat, the close perfumed air " 
 
 " Hush I" the Count said, peremptorily. " If I, for 
 your sake, have endured the sight of those five high- 
 priests, you can do something for mine. The little 
 Fouquet is to appear in public to-night for the first 
 time, and I am going to enjoy her bewitching timidity." 
 
 Magnus yielded reluctantly after some further re- 
 monstrance. Count Hess assured him that he need 
 not stay longer than half an hour in the theatre ; no 
 one was so plebeian as to sit out the whole thing. 
 
 The house was full, the insignificant play well 
 begun. Treffenbach glanced towards the stage, and 
 then turned his attention to the audience, among
 
 SAGES AND ELVES 95 
 
 whom he soon discovered his father. The general 
 recognized his son and looked greatly pleased. 
 
 " "We might go over to him," said Count Hess ; " this 
 thing is wretchedly stupid. I thought we should 
 have come just in time for the scene in which I am 
 interested." 
 
 " Bravo, Magnus !" said his Excellency, as the two 
 young men appeared in his box. " I repeat, my dear 
 Armin, you are a priceless friend." 
 
 The curtain, which had fallen, was just rising again, 
 disclosing a garden filled with flowers of every hue. 
 In the background were tropical trees and gigantic 
 plants woven together by a tracery of trailing vines. 
 Silvery fountains tossed their spray over the steps of 
 a large white marble basin, upon the clear waters of 
 which lotos-flowers were floating. Gorgeous butter- 
 flies and steel-blue dragon-flies hovered in the air, 
 and in every flower-cup an elf was sleeping. Low, 
 melodious music in the distance announced the ap- 
 proach of the God of Love, and at the sound all these 
 airy creatures in gauzy garments and with glitter- 
 ing wings fluttered aloft. The confusion thus caused 
 was about to resolve itself into a dance, when one of 
 the elves was suddenly seen to fall from her airy 
 height. There was a low cry, a dull thud, a momen- 
 tary silence, a brief word of command, and the curtain 
 fell. The stir this occasioned in the audience was 
 quieted by the speedy rise of the curtain again, and 
 the fairy spectacle proceeded as if nothing had hap- 
 pened. 
 
 But a whisper ran from mouth to mouth, " It must 
 have been the little Fouquet. She is not there now. 
 Can you see her ?" 
 
 " I am sure it was she," Count Hess exclaimed, in-
 
 96 VIOLETTA 
 
 dignantly. "It is a horrible pity. If there he one 
 delicate flower among the weeds it is sure to be de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 General TrefFenbach arose, and stood, tall and dig- 
 nified, as he remarked, quietly, " I think the Princess 
 Menai'di would be glad to have me find out the state 
 of the case. I see she is much agitated." 
 
 His son looked at him in surprise, but rather ab- 
 sently. Count Hess offered to make inquiries for him, 
 but his Excellency had already left the box. 
 
 " We must go back to our places," said Hess, and 
 his friend assented. In the corridor it seemed as if 
 Hess would fain follow the general. " It would be 
 terrible if it really were she !" he said ; " that cry 
 went to my very heart. Such a lovely little creature 
 
 to be Treffenbach, you are positively made of 
 
 marble !" 
 
 " Excuse me," Magnus replied, ironically. " I cannot 
 conceive how you can waste such an amount of emo- 
 tion upon a ballet-girl's sprained ankle. Well, what 
 shall we do ? You do not seem disposed to go back 
 to your place. In that case, I will go home." 
 
 " Good-night," Hess said, coldly. 
 
 Treffenbach did not notice the coldness, and took 
 his departure. His friend hurried to Madame Fou- 
 quet's dressing-room. A throng of workmen barred 
 the way thither. They were all greatly excited. 
 
 "What has happened to Yioletta Fouquet?" he 
 asked, as he forced his way through them. 
 
 "What? She fell!" a man rejolied in a tone which 
 he evidently tried to make rough to conceal emotion. 
 " Go into the room. She is lying there with a broken 
 leg. Why should it happen to just her? She never 
 did harm to any one."
 
 SAGES AND ELVES 97 
 
 Count Hess entered the open door. There was a 
 crowd of people in the room, but the profound silence 
 was broken only by a woman's low sobs. Upon a 
 mattress on the floor lay a delicate, quivering form in 
 a crushed gauze dress, the glittering wings broken, 
 the flowers in the hair disordered, and with a waxen, 
 lifeless little face. 
 
 Beside this couch a surgeon was kneeling, carefully 
 bandaging the broken ankle. At his side stood 
 Madame Fouquet, benumbed by terror, her face hidden 
 in her handkerchief. But Violetta's head rested on 
 the arm of the man who had hurried to relieve the 
 Princess Menardi's anxiety. His hand was stroking 
 the soft dark curls from the pale brow with paternal 
 tenderness. 
 
 " Have you finished ?" he asked the surgeon. 
 
 "In an instant, your Excellency. Now bring the 
 litter, Herr Assistant, that the mattress may be lifted 
 on it. It is of the first importance that not a moment 
 be lost. The limb cannot be bandaged as it should be 
 until the patient is at home." 
 
 " Can I do anything to help ?" asked Count Hess, — 
 " bring people to carry the litter ?" 
 
 " Thanks," the surgeon replied, with a smile ; " there 
 are a dozen workmen outside the door who are ready 
 to fight for that honour," 
 
 General von Trefl^onbach arose, offered his arm to 
 Beatrice Fouquet, and conducted her in silence through 
 the increasing crowd, following the litter, upon which 
 lay the motionless figure, covered with a mantle, as if 
 it were dead. There was something in the mute pro- 
 cession that seemed to suggest the texTor of the grave, 
 and that filled the singer's emotional soul with fear 
 and dread. As she took the arm offered her she looked 
 ^ g 9
 
 98 VIOLETT A 
 
 up at the general with imploring eyes, as if beseech- 
 ing aid, — as if he could protect her and banish tho 
 terrible visions of this hour. 
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 GENERAL MONTRfiSOB 
 
 The next morning the accident that had befallen 
 Madame Fouquet's daughter was known throughout 
 the capital, and the universal sympathy was perhaps 
 even more warm and genuine than it would have been 
 had the singer been the victim. Beatrice Fouquet, 
 wherever she went, reaped fame and laurels. Violetta 
 was more loved than praised. All who had once seen 
 her in her fresh young beauty preserved a tender recol- 
 lection of her. Her timidity upon the stage, and her 
 gentle self-possession in society, formed a contrast 
 that touched even the indifferent. Many a friendly 
 eye had been turned upon her with a certain compas- 
 sion. What would the life upon the threshold of which 
 stood this joyous and confiding child bring her with 
 the coming years ? Some, seeing the admiration and 
 praise which were showered upon her, at first shook 
 their heads in disapproval, prophesying that her char- 
 acter would be ruined, her vanity only nourished ; but 
 when brought into contact with her innocence and 
 purity, her constant thought of others, they too had 
 nothing for her but praise. 
 
 Hence there was a constant stream of carriages 
 rolling to the door of the hotel, and the inquiries
 
 GENERAL MO N TRESOR 99 
 
 after the young sufferer were endless. Sir George 
 was one of the earliest visitors. In the ante-room 
 he found Contelli, who had been stationed there by 
 Madame Fouquet to answer all inquiries. The poor 
 fellow looked as if the world had suddenly come to 
 an end for him ; but Sir George paid no attention to 
 his timid declaration that the Signora could receive 
 no one : he passed directly into the music-room adjoin- 
 ing Madame Beatrice's private di-awing-room. In the 
 cold, comparatively bare music-room the feted singer 
 was wont to receive callers, — the inner room, always 
 filled with flowers, she reserved for her intimate 
 friends. No barriers existed for Sir George, who, 
 in the few days that had elapsed since his arrival in 
 the capital, had won his way to Violetta's heart by 
 his exquisite music, and still more by the thorough 
 kindness of nature that shone through his rough ex- 
 terior, and by the warm interest he had shown in her 
 poor little proteges in the back street. He, on his part, 
 had been roused to unwonted interest in ' Betty's 
 child,' mistrusting her mother's power to develop this 
 delicate flower, who seemed born to breathe about 
 her, and over all who came within her influence, the 
 fragrance of natural purity and unselfishness. He had 
 been much opposed to Violetta's appearance in the 
 fairy spectacle, and had made this known in his 
 own rough way, that, antagonistic though it were to 
 Violetta's delicate gentleness of temperament, had yet 
 been so welcome a support to her own reluctance that 
 he seemed to her the truest of friends. 
 
 He now passed hastily through the music-room into 
 the smaller room beyond, where in place of the divan 
 he found a large reclining-chair, upon which Violetta 
 lay with closed eyes. From the window Madamo
 
 100 VIOLETTA 
 
 Morton, still crocheting, cast a forbidding glance at the 
 intruder. 
 
 " Oh, Sir George !" Violetta said, suddenly opening 
 her eyes. 
 
 " Well, little one, what is all this that I hear about 
 you ?" He sjjoke rather roughly, for he was not quite 
 sure of steadying his voice at sight of the little face 
 bereft of every trace of colour and with dark bluish 
 rings encircling the beautiful childlike eyes. She 
 smiled at him heroically, however, and whispered, — 
 
 " Ah, you know how glad, how thankful I am I And 
 you know why " 
 
 Then came a deep sigh, and she closed her eyes 
 again. 
 
 " Where is your mother?" he asked. 
 
 "Ah, poor mamma has been watching and crying 
 all night long. She was so tii'cd, but she would not 
 lie down ; she has gone to dress, for she said some one 
 might come whom she should be obliged to see. Ah, 
 Sir George, be kind to poor mamma. She will be so 
 disappointed," 
 
 " She has no cause for disappointment that I can see, 
 but much for distress." 
 
 " But, Sir George, she is distressed too ; be good to 
 her." 
 
 The whispering came to an end, for Beatrice Fou- 
 quet entered the I'oom. In spite of the weariness and 
 anxiety of a night spent in watching, she had dressed 
 with great care, and had evidently endeavoured to 
 banish from her face all trace of tears. 
 
 " Well, madame," Sir George said, " it was hardly 
 fair of you not to send for me when you were in such 
 trouble. What are old friends good for if they cannot 
 be made use of at such times ?"
 
 GENERAL MONTRESOR 101 
 
 " Thank you," — and she held out her hand to him, — • 
 " but you could have done no good. The surgeon was 
 very skilful, but he would not give her chloroform ; he 
 said she was too delicate. And so she had to bear the 
 pain." 
 
 "Ah, mamma, I did not mind the pain," said 
 Violetta. 
 
 " See here," — and as she spoke Beatrice emptied a 
 mother-of-pearl shell filled with cards, — " would you 
 not like to see who has already been to ask after 
 you ?" 
 
 "Ah, every one is so kind," the girl said, with a sigh. 
 " I do not deserve it all. You will not forget, mamma, 
 to say that I am convinced that the machinist was not 
 to blame ; it was all my own awkwardness. Please re- 
 member that he is not to be scolded." 
 
 "His Excellency General von Treffenbach," the 
 servant announced at the door. 
 
 The beautiful woman's face flushed slightly, and 
 there were traces of embarrassment in her air. She 
 arose and went into the music-room, whei'e in the 
 midst of the chill surroundings the general stood 
 erect and tall, like a soldier in the antechamber of his 
 queen. 
 
 He did not raise her hand to his lips, he bowed very, 
 very low over it, and his deep voice was not perfectly 
 steady as he asked, in words that were perhaps too 
 measured, for tidings of Fräulein Fouquet. 
 
 " The poor child has suffered much," was the reply, 
 " but now she is more comfortable. She slept towards 
 morning, and has but little fever. She would surely 
 be glad, your Excellency " 
 
 "Can I see her?" 
 
 Madame Fouquet led the way into the next room. 
 9*
 
 102 VIOLETTA 
 
 He entered, bowed to Madame Morton, and to Sir 
 George with courteous ease, but in the latter case with 
 the air of a superior to an inferior ; then went to Vio- 
 letta's side, and took her hand in both his. " My poor 
 little child !" he said. 
 
 "Ah, my General Montresor!" Yioletta exclaimed, 
 eagerly. " I always forget the other name, and that 
 is ungrateful when you are so kind. How is Mon- 
 tresor ? And why have you not come for me to ride 
 lately ?" 
 
 " Never mind, my child : when you are well we will 
 make up for lost time." 
 
 " General von Treffenbach," said Madame Fouquet, 
 " I pray you to allow me to make you acquainted with 
 my oldest and kindest friend, Sir George O'Halloran." 
 
 His Excellency bowed rather coldly. The conver- 
 sation turned for ten minutes ujion accidents of various 
 kinds, and then he rose to go. Beatrice accompanied 
 him to the outer door of the music-room. " I have 
 not yet thanked you," she said, smiling, and with be- 
 witching confusion ; " you were so kind yesterday 
 evening." 
 
 " I regret most deeply that the first occasion upon 
 which I have been able to be of some slight service to 
 you should have been so sad a one." 
 
 As he followed these formal phrases with a chivalric 
 pressure of his lips upon her hand, his eyes, those eyes 
 before which so many trembled, spoke an ardent lan- 
 guage of their own. 
 
 " This accident will prolong your stay in our capi- 
 tal?" he said, inquiringly. 
 
 " Of course ; for six weeks at least." 
 
 " I condole with you, madame, but I must congratu- 
 late ourselves."
 
 GENERAL MONTRESOR 103 
 
 When the door closed after him, she stood beside it 
 liritening for a few minutes, and then, seating herself 
 at the piano, she sang a low, sweet gondola-song. 
 
 Sir George came into the room with his hands 
 clasped behind him, stationed himself at the back of 
 the music-stool, beat time with the tips of his boots, 
 and wagged his bushy head from side to side. She 
 interrupted her song, let her hands rest upon the keys, 
 and turned round to him, her large eyes sparkling, 
 one could not tell whether with tears or with merri- 
 ment. 
 
 " Do you like him ?" she asked. « Eh ?" 
 " Not at all, madame, if it pleases you to hear it." 
 " Oh, I do not care very much either way, since you 
 cannot marry him." She laughed. 
 
 " I wish the devil had flown away with him before 
 you had contemplated such folly, Beatrice !" he burst 
 out, angrily. " What are you thinking of? Was it for 
 this that I dragged you forth from darkness into the 
 light, and placed the crown of genius on your head ? Is 
 it for this that you have mounted from step to step on 
 your victorious way, — to grasp at last, as the final prize, 
 the greatest jewel — a title? Pitiable, Madame Fou- 
 quet ; degrading, despicable ! Her Excellency Betty ! 
 — admirable indeed ! For such a gewgaw Beatrice 
 Fouquet lays down her sceptre. For you are a queen. 
 You reign over thousands. You can inspire, delight, 
 refine, touch, convulse — where shall I find more 
 words ? — thousands. You can scatter blessings every- 
 where if you will but rightly understand your mis- 
 sion, and allow the loftiest, noblest ideas to be re- 
 vealed through you ! And she turns her back upon 
 all these to be — an Excellency! But it is no busi- 
 ness of mine. Why should I excite myself ? Pshaw I
 
 104 VIOLETTA 
 
 Do it! Go on! Forswear yourself ! Deny your vo- 
 cation 1 Exchange Parnassus for the kitchen I Have 
 yourself called Tour Excellency a hundred times daily 
 by servile fools ! The punishment will surely come 
 some day, and you will moan with Esau. Then think 
 of me and of my warning." 
 
 She had thus far sat perfectly motionless, her hands 
 still resting on the keys. She now looked over her 
 shoulder at him and smiled. " I like too well to hear 
 you talk thus to interrupt you," she said at last. 
 " Now, while you take breath, let me tell you that if 
 my aims had been as despicable as you suppose, I 
 might long since have had the pleasure of hanging 
 that jingling bell about my neck, for there are many 
 who have thought to win Beatrice Fouquet by the 
 glitter of a title." 
 
 " And if it be not rank and title that can tempt you 
 to descend from your Olympus," he asked, mistrust- 
 fully, " tell me what you hope to gain, — wealth, power, 
 influence ?" 
 
 " None of these. The reason why I wish to become 
 this man's wife is an astounding one. You can never 
 guess it." 
 
 " So it seems. Be brief, then, I beg of you, and en- 
 lighten me." 
 
 She arose now, and looked calmly at her eccentric 
 friend. " I love him," she said with a simple grace 
 that certainly had a surprising effect. 
 
 Sir George said nothing at first, but his features 
 worked more strangely than ever. Suddenly he passed 
 his hand across his eyes, and then held it out to her. 
 " Forgive me," he said. 
 
 "Ah," she laughed, "at every word you spoke I 
 said to myself, 'I forgive him I' "
 
 GENERAL MONTRESOR 105 
 
 Meanwhile, General Treffenbaeh returned to his 
 home, where he found his son at luncheon. 
 
 " So it always is," said Magnus, helping himself to 
 a sardine. " After Arrain's reproaching me so bitterly 
 of late for my hermit-like seclusion, I wanted to en- 
 joy your society, sir, in a I'ide to-day, but just on this 
 special morning you had vanished without a trace. I 
 rode nearly to Charlottenburg in the hope of finding 
 you somewhere, for Friedrich told me you had walked 
 out." 
 
 The general devoted all his energies to the cutting 
 of a delicate slice of the cold chicken before him. 
 " Have a slice of this, Magnus ? It is very good. And 
 what kind of a ride did you have ? Did you meet any 
 one whom you knew ?" 
 
 " Only that sallow little Princess, who was driving 
 with her son. When she saw me she beckoned to 
 me to stop, and asked after you ; whereupon her son 
 ventured vipon the witty remark that you were his 
 mother's ' chartered' adorer. They both said a great 
 deal that was flattering about Montresor, declaring, 
 however, that it was a lady's horse. Of course I 
 placed her at her Highness's disposal." 
 
 " Your evening at the theatre last night seems to 
 have put you into a very cheerful humour, my dear 
 Magnus, although there was very little reason for its 
 doing so." 
 
 Treffenbaeh looked as if he were wondering what 
 his father's meaning could be. At last he said, " I 
 think it always makes us more satisfied to acknowledge 
 where we have been wrong. I have reflected upon 
 Arrain's reproof, and have admitted to myself that 
 you had good reason to complain of me. You shall 
 not have to coax me forth from my study again. I
 
 106 VIOLETT A 
 
 will gladly go with you wherever you desire. For 
 who knows when we shall have aniothcr chance of 
 being together quietly for so long a time ?" 
 
 His Excellency cast a searching glance at his son. 
 " I hope, my dear boy, that whatever the future may 
 bring forth, nothing will shake your confidence in me. 
 or alter our relations towards each other." 
 
 " That you surely cannot doubt, sir," his son re- 
 joined in some surprise. 
 
 Late one afternoon, about a week after this, it oc- 
 curred to Magnus that his father had spoken of pay- 
 ing a visit at the Plattows'. Perhaps they might go 
 together, and he went immediately to search for 
 him. He was not in the library or the dining-room, 
 but through the open door of the drawing-room his 
 son saw him standing by his wife's favourite window. 
 Lost in thought, but with a strange intensity in his 
 look, as if watching some object in the sky, he was 
 gazing out ; one hand rested upon the table, — that table 
 which was indissolubly connected in Magnus's mind 
 with his mother's presence, — and as he watched his 
 father's motionless figure he too stood still. He could 
 not take his eyes from that face, so full of manly en- 
 ero-y and resolution. 
 
 "Father!" he said at last, with some hesitaxion. 
 
 As if startled by a thunder-clap, the general turned, 
 passing his hand as he did so over the surface of the 
 table, whence several photographs fell to the floor. 
 Before Magnus could reach them his father had picked 
 them up and thrust them into his breast-pocket, say- 
 ing, "You positively startled me. What is the mat- 
 ter?" 
 
 " Excuse my abruptness. I only wanted to ask you 
 whether you meant to go to the Plattows' to-day."
 
 GENERAL MONTRESOR 107 
 
 "Ah, yes, of course. Let us go now; you are quite 
 right, my dear boy." 
 
 They walked along together, the general seeming 
 rather silent. Once he paused before the window of 
 a picture-shop, and Magnus naturally followed his ex- 
 ample. In the midst of many pictures and photo- 
 graphs was the likeness of a young girl in an oval 
 frame. From beneath the broad brim of a felt hat a 
 face looked out at the beholder with an expression of 
 innocent gayety. The large eyes, the delicate nose, 
 the arch mouth, the indescribably refined outline of 
 the head, made a very lovely picture. 
 
 A crowd was constantly before this window. Tref- 
 fenbach had noticed it in the morning without caring 
 to discover the reason why. 
 
 His Excellency, however, who was usually wont to 
 hold himself aloof from all contact with Hodge and 
 Hans, stood here shoulder to shoulder with a man in 
 a blouse, and endured with great equanimity the shov- 
 ing and pushing of a fat huckster-woman, while he 
 seemed to take a certain interest in the comments of 
 the throng. 
 
 " Poor young lassie," the huckster remarked ; " it's 
 no business of ours, and it all comes of being one 
 of those playerfolk, but indeed I can't help a pityin' 
 of her. Why, she bought a apple of me once, and she 
 asked me about the kids at home, and how old they 
 were, and laughed so gay. Ah, she's no more than a 
 child herself." 
 
 Treffenbach grew rather impatient, but he said noth- 
 ing. That face might have been seen for some time 
 past, taken from various points of view, in photogra- 
 phers' cases and picture-dealers' shops. He had noticed 
 it now and then, without ever troubling himself to
 
 108 VIOLETTA 
 
 inquire whom it represented. An actress probably, or 
 one of a circus troupe. As he could not possibly sup- 
 pose that it was this picture that so engaged his father's 
 attention, he looked about for some military or hunt,- 
 ing piece, but could see nothing of the kind. 
 
 " Come," said the general at last. " The people 
 crowd so. The picture is very like, is it not ?" 
 
 " What picture ?" 
 
 " The little Fouquet. Good heavens, Magnus I you 
 saw her at the Princess Menardi's." 
 
 " I think not. I remember now that I only heard 
 her mentioned. In fact, I do not know who she is. 
 Armin sometimes has very questionable enthusiasms. 
 There was a certain Mascha at St. Petersburg who 
 pretended to be a countess, but who was in reality an 
 adventuress and was finally prosecuted by law. I was 
 obliged to use all the eloquence of which I was master 
 to prevent him from losing his head entirely. I should 
 be very sorry if this were an affair of the same kind. 
 Fouquet, — Fouquet? The name has rather a disre- 
 putable sound, and I have heard it continually of late. 
 There's something wrong ; that fellow never will learn 
 wisdom." 
 
 Absorbed in his annoyance, Magnus had not even 
 looked at his father. The general walked on beside 
 him, carrying himself as proudly and with features 
 as composed as ever, but his colour changed : he grew 
 rather pale. 
 
 In a few minutes, however, he began to converse 
 again, and, as if he had already forgotten the subject 
 last mentioned, replied to some indifferent remark of 
 his son's, and led the talk to topics of general interest. 
 Before Magnus was aware of it he found himself listen- 
 ing to a long lecture from his father, upon the tru©
 
 GENERAL MONTRESOR 109 
 
 chivalric spirit, upon boasted virtue, prejudice, and 
 obstinate adherence to old predilections with regard 
 to rank and birth. 
 
 He spoke objectively, and yet Treffenbach could 
 almost have believed that his father intended to read 
 him a sharp lesson. But of course this could not be 
 so, for where, pray, was the need ? 
 
 As they ascended the broad steps of the hotel, two 
 ladies clad in black were coming down, one of whom, 
 whose face was thickly veiled, was of a notable ele- 
 gance of figure and gait. The general bowed courte- 
 ously, and they acknowledged his greeting without 
 pausing. 
 
 "Who was that?" asked Treffenbach, when they 
 had passed out of hearing. " I did not know that we 
 had other acquaintances here in the hotel." 
 
 " That was — and I must beg you to excuse me for 
 mentioning the name again — that was Madame Fou- 
 quet and her companion." With these words he gave 
 his card to the servant who stood waiting for it. 
 
 The Plattows were not alone. The Bellwitzes were 
 there, and Lieutenant Schlacken and Count Hess, 
 also the old Consistorial-rath, who seemed to take 
 a paternal interest in Marie Louise. While Rhona 
 and Schlacken vied with each other in descriptions 
 of the latest balls, Fräulein von Plattow conversed 
 with the clerical gentlemen about serious matters, 
 and Count Hess sat beside them, a silent but at- 
 tentive listener, his handsome face, with the drooping 
 moustache, fully shown in the light of a lamp. And 
 while Fräulein von Plattow thought within herself 
 that next to Magnus this young man had more inter- 
 est in spiritual affairs than any other whom she had 
 ever met, he on his part was delighting in her honest 
 
 10
 
 110 VIOL ETTA 
 
 devotion to truth, in the gi-ave sincerity with which 
 she spoke of her faults, in the conscientiousness with 
 which she was trying to do her duty. He had divined 
 her aright : whatever she thought she said. She would 
 have thought it wrong to conceal or to colour an opin- 
 ion. She was transparent as crystal, and this made 
 the problem of her nature all the more inscrutable, 
 and all the more did the question besiege him, ' Is she 
 utterly incapable of one throb of feeling ?' 
 
 Oh, yes ! Mario Louise was capable of indignation. 
 Only toll her of some dishonest transaction, of odious 
 falsehood, of the triumph of evil over Christian prin- 
 ciple, and for a moment her check would flush crimson, 
 her delicate brows would contract, and she would ex- 
 haust herself in indignant protest. Such an outburst 
 of righteous anger became her well, but would not 
 exclamations of joy and delight have become her 
 much better? 
 
 He j)^izzled his brain with these fruitless specula- 
 tions as by turns she amused, irritated, and surprised 
 him, still always irresistibly attracting him by her 
 cold repose. 
 
 Madame Fouquet had been obliged to leave her 
 daughter, as this evening she sang Margarethe, with 
 which part she closed her present engagement in the 
 capital, and Sir George stationed himself beside the 
 girl's couch for a couple of hours. All the tenderness 
 of his nature was called forth by the sight of this pa- 
 tient sufferer, who had so lately seemed to him the 
 very embodiment of grace, of joy in existence. He 
 exhausted himself in devices for her amusement, hor 
 entertainment, and of his music she never wearied. 
 On this special evening it appeared that the immova-
 
 GENERAL MONTRESOR 111 
 
 ble Madame Morton had shown herself but mortal 
 after all, since she had boldly transgressed her rule of 
 silence, and, left in charge of the invalid, had employed 
 the afternoon in detailing wonderful stories of the 
 most distinguished personages of the capital, where, as 
 it now turned out, she had spent some time many 
 years previously, as companion to an old countess, 
 Yioletta had been intensely interested in learning 
 that her General Montresor, as she called him, " had a 
 wife. Sir George, a wife who was so good, so kind to 
 the poor. Madame Morton says she was too good to 
 live, and her son loved her so ; the son is living now, 
 but the dear lady is dead. Ah ! why do such good 
 people always die ?" 
 
 " That, little one, is a question with which I advise 
 you to have as little to do as possible. Your general 
 does not look as if it troubled him much." 
 
 " And Baron TrefFenbach — that is the son's name — 
 is sure to be a famous man : he knows so much al- 
 ready, and studies all the time; and he owes all that 
 he is to his mother, whom I am sure he never can 
 forget. I hope I shall see him some day, — when I can 
 di'ive out once more. Madame Morton says he is very 
 handsome, and I think he must be like the Chevalier 
 Bayard. And oh. Sir George, — how could I forget to 
 tell you at once ? — I have so good a piece of news for 
 you, — it makes me forget all the pain I have had. The 
 doctor says I can never be a dancer now. Some weak- 
 ness — I can't understand what — there will always be in 
 the ankle, and so there is an end of that horrible pub- 
 lic. Ah, you can't tell how happy and grateful I am !" 
 
 " Your tongue trij)s fast enough, little one. It will 
 make up for your feet. God bless you, child ! I'm 
 grateful too !"
 
 112 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 'love is lord op all' 
 
 Two full months — March and April — are gone, and 
 a few days ago May celebrated its birthday with 
 wreaths of feathery green and a concert from tho 
 throats of hundreds of birds. 
 
 Madame Fouquet had many weeks previously ex- 
 changed the hotel in town for a charming little villa 
 among blooming gardens and shady, frequented roads. 
 She had done this as soon as Violetta's ankle was in a 
 condition to allow of her being moved. Then several 
 weeks had elapsed of patient lying on the couch until 
 the first attempts at walking could be made ; but on 
 this delicious May day, when all nature was bathed in 
 glittering splendour, refreshed by the warm rain that 
 had fallen in the night, the girl was sauntering lightly, 
 although still carefully, through the garden and up 
 the steps of the veranda, her arms filled with narcis- 
 sus flowers. She wore a soft white gown with pink 
 ribbons. Her broad white hat hung upon her arm ; 
 her curls were tossed about her forehead and glo"wing 
 cheeks, and her eyes were sparkling. 
 
 Madame Fouquet, a book in her hand, was leaning 
 back in a low arm-chair in the shadiest corner of the 
 hall, which was closed in with glass and wreathed all 
 about with trailing plants and vines. Beside her was 
 her table with its vase of flowers and a basket of 
 fancy-work, and Tom was on his gilded perch near by, 
 muttering his displeasure at the flitting swallows out-
 
 'LOVE IS LORD OF ALL' 113 
 
 side as they noAV and then alighted on the window- 
 sills. 
 
 " How warm you are, Violetta!" said Madame Fou- 
 quet, looking up. " Don't you know that you ought 
 to avoid any unusual exertion ?" 
 
 " But not unusual enjoj^ment, mamma. Look at 
 these lovely flowers. The woman whose children I 
 sent the apples to last winter gave them to me. She 
 was going by the grated gate at the bottom of the 
 garden with a huge basket of flowers, and when she 
 saw me she clapped her hands and laughed. Unfor- 
 tunately, I could not understand all she said, but she 
 was very kind, and gave me all these. Oh, dear ! my 
 German lessons do not seem to have taught me all 
 they should have done. I must look in the dictionary 
 for ' hopping,' — she said there must be an end of that. 
 It's another word I never have seen or heard before." 
 And "Violetta sat down in a low chair and began to 
 arrange her flowers. 
 
 Madame Beatrice was apparently absorbed in her 
 novel, but any one observing her closely might have 
 noticed that her eyes frequently wandered from its 
 pages and were fixed on space, with what looked 
 something like expectation. Beatrice was not of 
 those who, on a day like the present, dreamily gaze 
 up into the budding chestnuts or the blue skies with 
 vague emotions of delight. When she lost herself 
 in musing she looked out into the shady road, for hu- 
 man beings are surely more interesting than chestnut- 
 buds. 
 
 " What day of the month is it, Violetta ?" 
 
 " The ninth of May, mamma." 
 
 "Ah, I thought so." 
 
 "What a long, long time wo have been here in Bor- 
 h 10*
 
 114 VIOL ETTA 
 
 lin !" said the girl ; " to me it seems years. Are wo 
 going from here to Milan, or to Vienna?" 
 
 " Do you want to go away from here ?" 
 
 " No, mamma ; I should not like to leave my poor 
 little children whom Sir George has done so much for, 
 and then every one has been kind to us, although lately 
 we have lived here so quietly. One thing surprises me. 
 At first General von TreflPenbach was the kindest to 
 me of all. He came every day, and sent me flowers 
 and bonbons, and even toys, as if I were a little child. 
 I cared a great deal for him. And then suddenly he 
 stopped coming. Why was it, mamma? Do you 
 know ?" 
 
 Beatrice smiled and fanned herself. " Perhaps I 
 sent him away, my child." 
 
 " Oh !" Violetta whispered, looking reflectively at 
 her mother. " I once overheard Carolina say that 
 you were going to marry him." 
 
 " Marriage is a serious matter, little one, and needs 
 grave consideration." This she said in a motherly 
 tone, and then she began to laugh. " This is the ninth 
 of May, child. Should you like to drive to town to see 
 your little protegees with Madame Morton ?" 
 
 "Oh, mamma!" Violetta exclaimed, delighted, for 
 such an indulgence was rare. Beatrice Fouquet did 
 not regard her daughter's philanthropic tastes with 
 much favour, but since Sir George had interested him- 
 self in having the poorest and most neglected of Vio- 
 letta's beneficiaries — some small orphans — well clothed 
 and placed under the care of a worthy woman, — a Frau 
 Forstmann, the widow of a former business agent of 
 Sir George's, — Madame Fouquet had consented that 
 Violetta should visit them from time to time. 
 
 Violetta was supremely happy. She hurried into
 
 'LOVE IS LORD OF ALL' 115 
 
 the drawing-room, — an attractive little retreat, with 
 flowered chintz hangings and furniture that gave it a 
 very summer-like air. Here Madame Morton was en- 
 sconced with her crochet, and to her the charming 
 plan was immediately unfolded. The carriage was 
 ordered, and as soon as lunch was over they started 
 upon their expedition. 
 
 Fortunately, as Violetta thought, her sedate com- 
 panion had so many commissions to fulfil for Madame 
 Fouquet, that when the carriage drove off, leaving the 
 girl at the neat little dwelling where Sir George had 
 established her favourites, a long, undisturbed after- 
 noon was in prospect. But after her gifts had been 
 distributed, and a small Hans had displayed his new 
 accomplishments in the way of reading and writing, 
 and the little girls had shown their patchwork, and all 
 had listened entranced to their pretty lady's beautiful 
 stories, Violetta was seized with a sudden desire to 
 carry some flowers she had brought with her to an 
 invalid niece of Carolina's to whom she had shown 
 many an act of kindness. She silenced Frau Forst- 
 mann's remonstrances by assuring her that the girl's 
 home was but a very short distance away, and that 
 she would return immediately, after which she set off, 
 nothing doubting. She had forgotten the intricate 
 plan of the streets in this portion of the capital, and, to 
 her dismay, soon became confused and finally utterly 
 bewildered. She grew anxious and tried to ask her 
 way, but whether she was misunderstood, or whether 
 she did not rightly comprehend the directions given to 
 her, each step that she took seemed but to carry her 
 to regions more and more unfamiliar to her. In her 
 anxiety she hardly noticed at first that her foot, still 
 unused to such exertion, began to pain her. Sho
 
 116 VIOL ETTA 
 
 had reached a rather dim street, where there were few 
 passers-by and still fewer vehieles. Strugi^^üng with 
 the pain and a strong desire to cry, she drew her veil 
 more tightly across her burning cheeks, and was look- 
 ing for the name of the street, when her ankle sud- 
 denly gave way. Supporting herself against a railing, 
 she gazed around her in despair, and saw directly op- 
 posite, on the other side of the street, the open door of 
 a church. If she could enter there and rest awhile, 
 the pain and weakness might pass away. She crossed 
 the street, leaning upon her parasol, dragged herself 
 up the steps, and sought shelter within the vener- 
 able gray walls, as a wounded bird flies to a protecting 
 hedge. How cool and quiet it was hei-e ! Through 
 the tall, narrow windows a dim light penetrated the 
 interior, showing the majestic pillars that sustained 
 the vaulted roof. Yioletta gazed dreamily about her. 
 She had never before been inside of a Protestant place 
 of worship, and there was something inexpressibly 
 soothing and awe-inspiring in the quiet, unadorned 
 grandeur of the gray old pile. Suddenly the entire 
 church began slowly to turn about her, the outlines 
 of pillar, arch, and vaulted roof grew vague and in- 
 distinct, lovely, gentle tones were wafted down from 
 the mighty organ, seeming to wrap her round as in a 
 soft veil, and she fainted. 
 
 A sharp pang restored her to consciousness. She 
 opened her eyes and tried to collect her thoughts. 
 Good heavens, where was she? In the glimmering 
 twilight of a church ! Some one bending over her 
 had tried to lift her up, and had caused the pain that 
 had roused her. Yioletta had no fear of strangers, 
 least of all of one offering aid in her forlorn con- 
 dition.
 
 >L,OVE IS LORD OF ALL' 117 
 
 " Are you ill, my child ?" the stranger asked. Sho 
 could not answer immediately, her brain was still con- 
 fused, but at last she arrived at a clear consciousness 
 that Madame Morton would be waiting. 
 
 " Oh, what o'clock is it ?" she exclaimed. 
 
 The stranger took out his watch and made it repeat, 
 for it had grown too dark in the church to see the 
 time by it. The watch struck half-past six. He re- 
 peated his question, " Are you ill ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, not ill," Violetta murmured, still confused. 
 " But my foot " 
 
 " Try to stand. I will lift you up. So ! Ah, it 
 was a fortunate thing that I happened to come into 
 the church. You might otherwise have been locked 
 up here." 
 
 She scarcely heard what he said. She stood leaning 
 against him, dizz}^, trembling, and entirely unable to 
 use her foot. " Oh, I cannot !" she said, looking up 
 into a grave, manly face and thoughtful eyes bent upon 
 her in serious deliberation. 
 
 "What is to be done?" he said, more to himself 
 than to her. " Can I get a carriage?" 
 
 " Oh, do not go away!" Violetta entreated. " I will 
 do whatever you say, only do not leave me alone." 
 
 « What shall I do, my poor little child ?" 
 
 " Carry me. They say I am as light as a feather." 
 
 He silently lifted her in his arms, with just the 
 shadow of a smile on the grave face, now so near her 
 own. 
 
 " They are quite right," he said, as he walked 
 through the church with his light burden. " You do 
 not weigh more than a little fawn. And whither 
 now ?" as they emerged into the darkening streets. 
 
 " Madame Mcrton and the carriage were to be at
 
 118 VIOLETTA 
 
 36 Johanns-strasse. Oh, what will she say, and will 
 she be there still ?" 
 
 " It is not far, and I can get there in a few moments 
 by side-streets. Put your arm about my neck ; it will 
 be easier for you." 
 
 He gave this direction in so business-like a tone that 
 she obeyed him as she would have obeyed a doctor's 
 command, saying, with a sigh, " Thank you, you are 
 very kind." 
 
 In her first terror, on recovering her consciousness, 
 she had pushed aside her veil, but now it had fallen 
 over her face again. Her protector, however, seemed 
 not at all curious to scan the features of this pretty 
 child. He looked like a man anxious to fulfil an evi- 
 dent duty, but feeling no further interest in the matter. 
 He asked no more questions. He knew where to take 
 her, and that was enough. 
 
 A crowd of workmen coming along one of the 
 narrowest streets barred the way for a moment, and 
 seemed inclined to be insolent. The face of her pro- 
 tector grew stern and haughty, but as he turned to 
 reassure the child in his arms, thinking she would be 
 terrified, to his surprise she raised her head, and in a 
 fearless and indignant tone exclaimed, " For shame ! 
 for shame I Let this kind gentleman pass. He has 
 trouble enough with carrying me !" And the men 
 silently made way. 
 
 This seemed to arouse her new friend's interest. 
 " You are a brave little girl," he said, kindly. 
 
 "Brave? Ah, no one calls me that. I surely have no 
 need for bravery so long as you are taking care of me." 
 
 " I ? Who am I ? For you I am no one. How do 
 you know that I mean well by you and will carry 
 you where you wish to go ?"
 
 'LOVE IS LORD OF ALL' 119 
 
 " Oh, I am quite sure." 
 
 " But why ?" 
 
 "You were in the church," Violetta replied, 8implj\ 
 
 "You are right!" he rejoined, evidently impressed, 
 and he walked on in silence, until, upon turning a 
 corner, Violetta exclaimed, with a sigh of unspeakable 
 relief, "Ah, there is the carriage!" 
 
 All honour to Madame Morton's inflexible calm. In 
 spite of the anxiety and uncertainty of the last hour, 
 there she sat, grave disapproval, to be sure, on her 
 features, but determined to wait until Yioletta should 
 appear. They should have been at home at seven ; it 
 was past that hour now, but excitement and agitation 
 would have been useless, and consequently they were 
 not brought into play. 
 
 Her noble composure was richly rewarded, for there 
 came the truant, not upon her own feet, but, to the 
 astonishment of the passers-by, carried in the arms of 
 a distinguished-looking stranger. Madame Morton in- 
 stantly divined whj^ this was so : the child had over- 
 exerted herself, and her ankle had refused its support. 
 Madame Fouquet's daughter would never be prudent, 
 but that Madame's companion could not help. 
 
 The stranger placed Yioletta in the carriage, and 
 bowed to the other lady. " I am very sorry," he said, 
 " but this poor child has met with an accident." 
 
 "So I see," the lady remarked. "Her foot, I sup- 
 pose. We are greatly indebted to you, sir." 
 
 " Yes, yes !" exclaimed Yioletta. " Oh, sir, how can 
 I thank you?" 
 
 The stranger did not respond to her warm expression 
 of gratitude ; he only bowed, uttered a few courteous 
 words of farewell, lifted his hat, and was gone, as the 
 impatient horses trotted swiftly towards home.
 
 120 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Oh," siglicd Violctta, " how anxious mamma will 
 be!" 
 
 Had Beatrice Fouquct been anxious ? 
 
 After Violetta had left her, she went out on the 
 veranda again and took up her book, but she could 
 not fix her attention ; her eyes wandered towards the 
 road ; she became possessed by a nervous impatience. 
 The afternoon shadows lengthened on the little lawn. 
 The birds ceased to flit restlessly hither and thither, 
 and sang softly among the trees. 
 
 Beatrice looked at her watch, and her eyes flashed 
 angrily. " It was a pretence, then," she murmured. 
 *' This they call persistence ! Ah, put them to the 
 test, ask for patience, endurance, fidelity. "What 
 other would have submitted to such banishment? 
 And yet I was so proud that he went and did not 
 return. I felt sure then that my heart would triumph 
 over what Sir George calls my mission. Folly ! folly ! 
 I will leave to-morrow; this city shall know me no 
 more !" 
 
 She started up, hurried into the drawing-room, and 
 rang the bell. Carolina must begin packing instantly. 
 
 Suddenly she hesitated and listened ; then, going 
 to the window, she looked out at all of the garden- 
 path that could be seen through the vines of the ve- 
 randa. 
 
 A burning blush dyed her cheeks ; she held back 
 the curtain with one hand and laughed, — anger, scorn, 
 disappointment, all forgotten. 
 
 A tall, distinguished-looking man in uniform ascended 
 the veranda steps. He looked about him, uncertain 
 whether to pass into the house through the open door 
 or to search for a bell. His face was pale, and showed 
 signs of agitation ; the large, keen eyes sparkled with
 
 A RF.VELATION 121 
 
 expectation, while the lips were compressed, as if in 
 memory of struggle and resolve. 
 
 And Beatrice Fouquet loved this man with the en- 
 tire energy of her mercurial nature. Eight weeks of 
 reflection, of separation, had only served to make her 
 blind and deaf to the promptings of reason. 
 
 He stood in the door-way looking at her, and she 
 came towards him, joy and triumph beaming in her 
 eyes. She placed both her hands in his, looked up at 
 him with an enchanting smile, and said, " Poor man I 
 your reprieve is at an end, and you come with heroic 
 promptitude to enter upon a lifelong servitude." 
 
 He carried her hands to his lips, and whispered with 
 a profound sigh, " Ah, enchantress, you knew that I 
 counted the days !" 
 
 She looked at him, smiled, and rejoined, "And I 
 counted them too." 
 
 And thus it happened that a proud, ambitious, ex- 
 perienced man of the world laid his name, his title, 
 his ambition, his career, at the feet of a Beatrice 
 Fouquet 1 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 A REVELATION 
 
 Fräulein Emma had just had the coffee-urn placed 
 upon the breakfast-table ; she looked at the clock, — 
 eight o'clock all but five minutes. She knew very 
 well that as the hour was striking the Herr Attache 
 would enter, and about ten minutes later his Excellency 
 would make his appearance. 
 F 11
 
 122 VIOLETTA 
 
 The brilliant morning sunshine lay broad on the 
 floor of the pleasant apartment, and gilded the coat 
 of arms carved above the mantel-piece. Through the 
 open folding-doors could be seen the drawing-room, 
 where, upon the little table of the general's late wife, 
 near the window, stood a large dish filled with fresh 
 monthly roses, and wreaths of evergreen were twined 
 about the two portraits on the wall of the mastei 
 of the house and its gentle mistress, taken many 
 years ago. 
 
 Fräulein Emma sighed as she contemplated her 
 thoughtful memorials of the day, and knotted beneath 
 her chin a new black lace kerchief. 
 
 The clock struck eight, and at the same instant the 
 son of the house entered the room. He and Fräulein 
 Emma were wont simply to exchange a ' good-morn- 
 ing,' but to-day he held out his hand to her. His 
 glance had fallen upon the pictures in the drawing- 
 room. 
 
 " Ah, Baron Magnus," sighed the Fräulein, " if she 
 had but lived until to-day what a happy celebration 
 there would have been ! How she would have enjoyed 
 passing her wedding-day in the midst of her nearest 
 and dearest! And Fräulein Marie Louise would have 
 brought her a basket of roses, and you might have 
 been married on this very day. Baron Magnus." 
 
 " Perhaps so," he said, with a sigh. 
 
 " Ah, how melancholy it is to reflect that it is the 
 best among us who are called away, — those who might 
 bestow such blessings by living !" 
 
 " Such women as my mother," he replied, gravely, 
 *' continue to bestow blessings even after they have 
 left us ; their works survive them, their memory lives 
 on. Even here in this house," — he looked around him,
 
 A REVELATION 123 
 
 and a tender expression crept over Lis stern dark face, 
 — " even here it is as if her spirit were still present. 
 At first the house seemed utterly desolate to me, but 
 now I have learned to look for her here, and to find 
 her. Often when I sit at my books I fancy I feel 
 her hand uj)on my shoulder and can hear her gentle 
 voice." 
 
 " Ah, yes ; how gently she always came in with 
 that sweet smile. Baron Magnus, and would arrange 
 a flower here and there, and change the place of a 
 book ! When she left the room she seemed to have 
 made it look pleasanter. Oh, dear! and on this, her 
 wedding-day, she was always kinder than ever." 
 
 The door opened, and his Excellency appeared upon 
 the threshold. " Good-morning, Magnus. "Well, my 
 dear Emma, what has happened to bring tears again 
 to your eyes ? Have you been quarrelling with my 
 son?" 
 
 " Ah, your Excellency, forgive me. I took the 
 liberty on this special day " 
 
 " Special day ?" he asked, surprised. A proud smile 
 lit up his features. "Upon this special day I see 
 no cause for tears, and I beg for cheerful faces and 
 cordial good wishes. But, first of all, a cup of 
 coffee." 
 
 The other two looked at each other as if trying 
 to discover the reason for this cheerful mood upon a 
 day which might well have been for the general one 
 of the saddest of the year. "Was it possible that he 
 had forgotten what day it was ? 
 
 A keen pang, the foreboding of coming pain, shot 
 through his son's soul as he glanced at his father's 
 soldierly, untroubled face. He did not look like a 
 mourning widower on the first lonely anniversary
 
 ] 24 VIOLETTA 
 
 of his marriage, but rather like the crowned victor in 
 some martial game. 
 
 The conversation turned upon various subjects. 
 The general asked if Magnus had heard lately from 
 Marie Louise, who had returned several weeks before 
 with her grandparents to Ravenhorst, the doctors 
 having pronounced the old Herr's eyes to be in a fair 
 way of recovery. Marie Louise kept up a regular 
 correspondence with her betrothed. Unwilling as 
 she had been to come to Berlin, she had left it quite 
 as unwillingly, for she had found there much that in- 
 terested her extremely. Constant intellectual inter- 
 course with learned, clever men, the variety of human 
 interests brought into daily play, the struggle of light 
 with darkness in the higher regions of civilization, all 
 these she missed in the monotonous repose of rural 
 seclusion. 
 
 Count Hess also had left Berlin for Brussels some 
 time previously. He had never been much of a cor- 
 respondent, but Magnus thought that he had never 
 known him so disinclined to write as at present. He 
 had in fact received but one letter from him, that in 
 which he announced his safe arrival. 
 
 These matters were discussed, and yet none of the 
 three persons at table were really interested. Fräu- 
 lein Emma had given up all hope that her revered 
 general would of himself remember that twenty-eight 
 years ago he had stood before the marriage altar. 
 She did so in his stead, and gave herself up to memo- 
 ries of the departed. Magnus was unaccountably an- 
 noyed by his father's calm cheerfulness, and, ah, she 
 was no longer here to play the part of mediator, to put 
 the best construction upon everything, ready always 
 to explain to the son why the father acted thus and so I
 
 A REVELATION 125 
 
 Breakfast was over much more quickly than usual. 
 The servant entered, cleared the table, and laid the 
 morning's mail before his master. Fräulein Emma 
 took up her basket of keys and left the room, for the 
 general was wont to indulge in a cigar while he read 
 the morning papers. But on this morning they were 
 not unfolded. His Excellency drummed a march with 
 his fingers on the table, and gazed absently out of the 
 window. 
 
 " Cast a glance at those flowers and wreaths, my 
 dear father," Magnus said at last, pointing through 
 the drawing-room door. " Emma has taken so much 
 pains to show you her regard." 
 
 The look which his Excellency now cast upon the 
 flowers and the portraits was so puzzled, that it would 
 evidently have been as well to enlighten him by hang- 
 ing up a curtain of crape. 
 
 " Ah, indeed ? indeed ? Magnus, my boy, what I 
 
 wanted to say was Friedrich has gone, I believe ? 
 
 You will be surprised ; you will be astounded " 
 
 " Hardly, after this introduction," the young man 
 rejoined, with a smile. " Have you obtained for me a 
 special mission to Pekin ? or have you been made gen- 
 eral field-marshal ?" 
 
 The general's laugh sounded forced. " No, no, noth- 
 ing in that line. But can you not guess, my boy? 
 Have you observed nothing ?" 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 " Dear me ; you certainly would have made but a 
 poor affair of diplomacy ; it is well you relinquished 
 that career. "Well, then, Magnus, have you never con- 
 templated the possibility of my — marrying again ?" 
 
 Magnus started up as if he had been shot. His 
 Excellency also arose. They confronted each other 
 
 11*
 
 126 VIOLETT A 
 
 mute and pale. The general passed his handkerchief 
 across his forehead ; it had cost him an heroic effort to 
 pronounce these last words. For his son's face wore 
 an expression of horror, not very encouraging in a 
 position which at the best is rather unnatural, — con- 
 fessions of this sort being usually made by sons to 
 fathers. 
 
 " Forgive me, sir, I did not quite understand," Tref- 
 fenbach said at last, in a low voice, trying to collect 
 himself, as his look wandered to the gentle face of the 
 wreathed portrait hanging beside his father's. 
 
 "My dear boy, what is there so extraordinary in 
 the matter ? Am I so aged as to have done with life ?" 
 And as the general spoke, he glanced towards a mirror 
 that reflected his athletic figure, his resolute soldierly 
 features, and smiled. Then he looked again at his son, 
 and was startled by the intense pallor of the cold, grave 
 face. " Good heavens, Magnus ! You're not going to 
 faint ?" 
 
 " Do not be afraid ; I shall not faint. A slight ver- 
 tigo, — nothing more. And is it to be wondered at ? It 
 cannot be true, — no, it cannot. And on this day of all 
 others !" 
 
 " I cannot understand why you dwell so persistently 
 upon this special day," his Excellency interrupted him, 
 impatiently. 
 
 Again Magnus looked towards the picture of the 
 mother who had been little more than eight months 
 in the grave. "And who is it?" he asked, mechani- 
 cally. 
 
 At last the general seemed to comprehend. He 
 changed colour, and his eyes grew haughty and defi- 
 ant. " Who is it ? Magnus, you aggravate the diffi- 
 culties of ray position in a way I had not anticipated.
 
 A REVELATION 127 
 
 I cannot tell you all on the instant. Heaven knows 
 what might be the consequences for you. You had 
 better come with me, and I will conduct you to her, — 
 let her speak for hei'self A ride will refresh your 
 overwrought nerves." And his Excellency rang and 
 ordered the horses. Then, without another word to 
 his son, he went to his own room. 
 
 Here he laid his gloves and riding-whip on the table, 
 and then went to his desk, opened a drawer, and took 
 therefrom two photographs in standing frames. One 
 was a picture of Beatrice Fouquct in a street costume ; 
 in the other her head alone had been taken. The pic- 
 tures had a right now to stand here, and they looked 
 quite in place between the bronze statuettes of the 
 great Frederick and of Marshal Blücher, which adorned 
 the top of the desk. His Excellency stood rapt in con- 
 templation of them, until the servant announced that 
 the horses were ready, and then he sent to tell his son 
 that he was waiting for him. 
 
 Treffenbach obeyed the summons like a man in a 
 dream. The announcement had stunned him. He 
 could not grasj) its meaning. In vain he tried to con- 
 vince himself that his father was justified in taking 
 such a step. It seemed to him that the peace of this 
 household, the sacred memory of the departed, was 
 being desecrated, brutally desecrated. 
 
 They rode along side by side, and Montresor cur- 
 vetted and pranced beneath her rider, friends bowed, 
 and carriages rolled past, but Magnus felt as if his 
 veins were filled with lead. 
 
 "Let me say one word in explanation," the gen- 
 eral said, quietly, at last. " Since you have observed 
 nothing, the intelligence must of course have sur- 
 prised you, and very naturally. You have also heard
 
 128 VIOLETTA 
 
 nothing of the idle gossip that has been current 
 in the town. There are many ill-natured people, 
 who are only too glad to drag what is noble in the 
 dust just because it stands high, and to destroy what 
 is beautiful just because it is beautiful, and their ma- 
 licious talk is sure to produce some effect. Therefore 
 I am glad to have you see her first with an entirely 
 unprejudiced mind, which will acknowledge that she 
 upon whom your father proposes to bestow his name 
 is worthy of a still higher position." 
 
 " Of course," said Magnus ; " can there be any 
 question in the matter?" 
 
 " In some minds there is. She brings no coronet, no 
 heraldic device to quarter with our scutcheon, and her 
 
 social position I have received intimations that 
 
 this mai'riage would not be regarded favourably by 
 those in authority. My enemies would gladly do me 
 harm. Pshaw ! I will forestall them. I had, besides, 
 intended to resign." He said this in a careless tone 
 that was not quite natural. " It will be the easiest 
 way of arranging matters and of putting an end to 
 all manner of diflSculties. Ah, here we are in the open 
 country. Let us ride more quickly." 
 
 They put spurs to their horses, and rode on under 
 the trees until they drew up before a grated gate, 
 above which a laburnum had been trained into an 
 archway. A short distance behind it was the pretty 
 little villa, half hidden among trees and shrubbery. 
 
 The general sprang from the saddle with youthful 
 agility, and a servant made his appearance, opened the 
 grated gate, and took charge of the horses. " Madame 
 is in the drawing-room," he said. 
 
 They went into the house. In his intense agita- 
 tion Treffenbach hardly saw where they were going.
 
 A REVELATION 129 
 
 — the house might as well have been a mosque or a 
 mausoleum ; but afterwards, in memory, every trifling 
 object was as if burned in upon his mind, — the idyl- 
 lic little veranda, tbe pale blue flowers of the climb- 
 ing vine, the bright glass in the tall window, the 
 cool, dim hall paved with red and black tiles. They 
 passed on and entered the little drawing-room, where 
 he turned giddy. All the forebodings, all the fears 
 which had sprung to life in his soul, were instantly 
 personified in the woman glowing with Oriental 
 beauty, who rose from her divan with grace and 
 dignity and came towards her visitors, while a strange, 
 harsh voice shrieked from above, ' Welcome, Constan- 
 tin!' 
 
 "Hush, Tom, you chatterer," the beautiful woman 
 said, with a laugh ; " it will perhaps sound better if I 
 say, ' Welcome, Constantin.' " And she off'ered her loft 
 hand to the son, while the general bowed low over 
 her right. 
 
 "Yes, Beatrice, my son has come with me. I am 
 Bui'e you will receive him kindly." 
 
 It is impossible fitly to describe the tumult in Trcf- 
 fenbach's soul. One should know how proud, how stern 
 was that heart, to understand its emotion. One should 
 be aware of all his mother had been to him, to fathom 
 the depth of his misery. 
 
 He grew veiy pale, and in his eyes there flashed 
 such indignant incredulity that Beatrice Fouquet in- 
 stinctively withdrew her proff'ered hand. Without a 
 word, he bowed mechanically, then turned and left 
 the room. 
 
 "Magnus!" his father called in tones of thunder. 
 But he did not hear him. He paused on the little 
 veranda and struggled for composure. 
 J
 
 130 VIOLETTA 
 
 Was that the woman who was to reign in future in 
 those apartments where the echo of his mother's soft 
 footfall had hardly died away? Was she his father's 
 ideal, to whom ho was about to sacrifice his profes- 
 sion? 
 
 Great drops of moisture stood on his forehead ; he 
 leaned against a pillar for sujiport. Only one idea 
 was clear in his mind. He must away, away on the 
 instant from his father's presence, or he should lose 
 all self-control, all sense of what was due to a parent. 
 For a faint, ghostly voice seemed to be calling to him, 
 'Avenge me!' 
 
 His temples throbbed, a red cloud seemed to en- 
 velop all around him, when suddenly his agitation gave 
 place to a wonderfully soothing sensation. He dimly 
 perceived an airy apparition standing beside him ; he 
 made a mighty effort to collect himself, and he suc- 
 ceeded. The vertigo passed oflF, he saw everything 
 clearly again, and knew that he was not alone, but 
 that at his side there stood no apparition, but a living 
 being, a lovely, delicate child, slender as a fairy, white 
 and shining as an angel ; and as two soft arms were 
 thrown about him, he looked down into eyes spark- 
 ling with delight. 
 
 " Ah, my brother I" And Yioletta Fouquet threw 
 into the words all the enthusiastic tenderness with 
 which an affectionate sister pronounces that name. 
 
 Ye heavens above I This too ! As if all the powers 
 of hell were combining against him to entangle him 
 in their spells ! He thrust away the soft arms, and 
 hurried down the veranda steps and through the little 
 garden. Outside, he swung himself upon his horse 
 and galloped off, he recked not whither. Black care 
 and pain sat in the saddle with him, clutching him
 
 SEVERED 131 
 
 like fierce birds of prey. He could not shake them off, 
 neither could he rid himself of the memory of those 
 clasping arms. 
 
 When General von Treffenbach came home that 
 night he learned that his son had been there, and had 
 given directions to Fräulein Emma to send all his 
 books and other effects after him to Velzin. 
 
 " Very well," his Excellency said, indifferently. 
 Then he sat down, and in a firm hand wrote his resig- 
 nation from the army. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII 
 
 SEVERED 
 
 Eavenhorst was a stately structure ; in front of the 
 castle there was a spacious terrace forming a half- 
 circle, shaded by fine old lindens, and surrounded by 
 a low wall, beyond which was a view of extensive 
 meadows set in a frame of woodland. The castle 
 itself laid no claim to architectural beauty, but there 
 was something dignified and venerable in its appear- 
 ance, like that of some old monastery. 
 
 The soil here was more fertile, the landscape lovelier, 
 than at Velzin. True, the eye wandered over limit- 
 less plains, but they were cultivated. Fields of waving 
 grain alternated with grassy meadows. Here and 
 there lay a thriving farm. Eavenhorst was noted for 
 the wealth and intelligence of its tenantry. 
 
 Upon the terrace in front of the castle Marie Louise
 
 132 VIOLETTA 
 
 was standing on a morning in May reading a letter, a 
 flush upon her cheelc and a frown upon her brow. 
 
 The old lindens on this terrace had witnessed the 
 entire life of the young girl ; she had grown up be- 
 neath their shade. Here as an infant she had been 
 dragged about in her basket- wagon by her nurse, and 
 the baby's large blue eyes had gazed gravely out upon 
 the world. Here she had played with her dolls and 
 learned her lessons ; and here she had written Greek 
 and Latin exercises for the Herr Pastor, when in later 
 years she was not content to be taught ' only what 
 girls knew.' 
 
 " My dear child," her grandmother called, " what is 
 the matter ? You look annoyed." 
 
 The old couple were returning from their morning 
 walk about the meadows, where they had been specu- 
 lating upon the prospects of the approaching hay har- 
 vest. It was rarely that Marie Louise seemed ruffled, 
 but here she was with flushed cheeks and an angry 
 look in her eyes. 
 
 " If it should be true ! It is impossible to know 
 how much importance to attach to Rhona's thought- 
 less gossip, but she could hardly dare to invent such 
 things." 
 
 " My dear, remember I have no idea of what you 
 are talking." 
 
 " Why, General Treffenbach is about to marry a 
 dancer!" Marie Louise's eyes flashed. "It is hardly 
 nine months since his wife was buried. He stood by 
 her grave fairly crushed to the earth. He " 
 
 " Good heavens !" the old lady exclaimed in dismay. 
 " It is one of Rhona's ill-timed jests, nothing more, 
 depend upon it." 
 
 But Herr von Plattow shook his head. "Let mo
 
 SEVERED 133 
 
 toll you," he began, " that the thing does not seem to 
 me 80 impossible. I have known Constantin Treffen- 
 bach now for thirty years, and it would not surprise 
 me. I heard some whisper of his intending to marry 
 when we were in Bei'lin, but there was no mention of 
 any dancer. The name spoken of was — stop, let me 
 see, — I cannot remember." 
 
 " Eead the letter," said his wife : " it will explain 
 matters. It cannot be." 
 
 " Let me be exact," said the young lady. " Did I 
 say dancer? It is the same thing in my opinion, — 
 an actress is an actress. The person in question is a 
 singer from La Scala, in Milan ; that Madame Beatrice 
 Fouquet about whom Ehona raved, and whom we met 
 several times, to my great annoyance. She sang for 
 a season in opera, and her daughter was in the ballet. 
 I confounded the two. A fine kind of ste]3-mother for 
 poor Magnus. It is outrageous, abominable, a burning 
 disgrace !" 
 
 " Do not be so agitated. Read your letter to us," 
 her grandmother said, soothingly. " You may have 
 misunderstood it." 
 
 " Here is the letter. Pray do not ask me to read it 
 again; I have had more than enough of itl" 
 
 She turned away, and gazed abroad over the 
 meadows and woodland basking in the magic light 
 of a May morning. Dew-drops glittered on every 
 blade of grass, and birds twittered in every bush. 
 She had no eyes for all this beauty. Her ftice was 
 stern and her look gloomy, for there were dark, threat- 
 ening clouds rising in the clear sky above her future, 
 and they dimmed and shadowed the lovely spring laud- 
 scape, and filled her with anger and dread. 
 
 Meanwhile, her grandmother had sat down on one 
 12
 
 134 VIOLETTA 
 
 of the garden chairs, had put on her spectacles, and 
 unfolding the letter, read it aloud : 
 
 " I have a tremendous piece of news for you, my 
 dear Marie Louise, and am only afraid lest your be- 
 trothed has forestalled me. It may be, however, that 
 the composition of a letter which is to impart such 
 tidings to you may cost him more time than it ever 
 takes me to write my nonsense. I shall therefore 
 take your ignorance for granted. Let me tell you, 
 then, that we were yesterday at a garden-party of 
 the Princess Menardi's. She has lately taken a villa 
 at Potsdam, and is more extraordinary than ever. 
 She had another curiosity there, a crazy Irish bar- 
 onet, dressed like Cooper's Leatherstocking, who 
 makes the oddest faces, plays the piano divinely, 
 founds orphan-asylums in secret wherever he goes, 
 and has, she says, a heart of gold, ' un cuore d'oro.' 
 Either the gold or the heart enables him to do a deal 
 of good in the world, so runs the gossip of the day. 
 "Well, the old Princess snuffed out this noble creature 
 in Berlin as a well-trained poodle snuffs out truffles 
 among the moss. That graceful simile belongs to my 
 witty friend Lieutenant Schlacken. Now, among 
 other noble acts, this baronet made the fortune of 
 the Beatrice by sending her, when she was a very 
 little girl, to Italy and having her educated for the 
 stage. 'What do I care for Beatrice?' I hear you 
 ask. My dear, you must accustom yourself to the 
 sound of this name, for you will have to hear it very 
 frequently. The Beatrice was at the garden-party, 
 of course. I repeat what I have told you a hundred 
 times, that if I were a man I should be desperately in 
 love with her. She was more enchanting than ever, 
 and his Excellency your papa-in-law never stirred
 
 SEVERED 135 
 
 from her side. Now, it has been whispered about that 
 ho was among her admirers, in fact that he had serious 
 intentions, but on this afternoon every one was as- 
 tounded. She behaved with distinguished grace, with 
 calm dignity, as if entitled to all that she could receive. 
 That no one can deny. And why should she not? 
 Her reputation is unsullied. She has played her part 
 well. It is, of course, a piece of acting when she 
 undertakes the role of a grave, dignified matron, but 
 she does it so charmingly. 'Ah, she is at home every- 
 where,' Peppino (I beg his pardon, Prince Joseph), 
 that enfant terrible of forty, said to me. ' I saw her at 
 Eome during the Carnival, and she was somewhat 
 merrier than she is to-day.' 
 
 "Well, after a couple of hours she drove off with 
 her companion. His Excellency handed her to her 
 carriage, and meanwhile everybody looked at every- 
 body else, not knowing what to think. Is there any- 
 thing more comical than the faces of people who are 
 puzzled what to make of an affair of this kind ? I was 
 immensely diverted, and, indeed, it was more than I 
 expected to be, for you know whose absence I deplore ! 
 (Little Schlacken was more of a bore than ever, be- 
 tween ourselves. You are right, he is a tiresome 
 chatterer. Is not that what you called him?) 
 
 "Well, early this morning we had a visit from 
 papa's friend, Privy Councillor Finkenberg. 'Have 
 you heard the news ?' he asked mamma. ' Gen- 
 eral Treffenbach is going to marry the Fouquct, and 
 has resigned from the army.' Of course mamma 
 seemed immensely sui-prised, although these two pos- 
 sibilities have been talked of for months. At twelve 
 we wore honoured by a short visit from the hero of 
 the day himself He looked superb, but mamma's
 
 136 VIOLETTA 
 
 face was quite purple with indignation. He plunged 
 instantly into the midst of affairs, saying that we must 
 be the first to whom he announced his betrothal to 
 Madame Fouquet. In view of the fact that mamma 
 was a Plattow, I vastly admired his touching consid- 
 eration for her feelings, in informing her before all 
 others that he had quite forgotten his first wife. But 
 I beg a thousand pardons ! I always forget that he is 
 your father-in-law. How odd it will seem, dear, to 
 have you here superintending all the benevolent insti- 
 tutions founded by the Consistorial-rath, and making 
 little flannel shirts for the brown Hindoo babies, while 
 your mamma-in-law is singing in ' The Merry Wives' ! 
 You two ranged side by side, — the idea is delicious ! 
 You must take her in hand, Marie Louise. I am sure 
 she is very imjoressionable for good influences. You 
 must induce her to brush her hair smooth, and to wear 
 shoes without heels. 
 
 " My father is outraged by the affair, and many others 
 share his views. But I must say I think it all delight- 
 ful. At all events, I want to be the first to tell you 
 of it. 
 
 "Always devotedly yours, 
 
 " Ehona. 
 
 " P.S. — If you should hear that I am betrothed to 
 Schlacken, you will know that it is the result of my 
 despair at the departure of A. v. H. 
 
 " Your wretched Ehona." 
 
 When Frau von Plattow ended, a long silence en- 
 sued. Marie Louise was still standing by the low ter- 
 race wall, her hand resting on the marble, her lips 
 compressed, her gaze fixed on space. Her clear-cut
 
 SEVERED 137 
 
 profile stood out like ivory against the blue sky. 
 Frau von Plattow watched her with an anxious air. 
 The old Herr was the first to speak. Clearing his 
 throat, and with a grave shalve of the head, he began : 
 "A wretched business! A most undesirable family 
 connection ; but there is nothing to be done !" 
 
 Marie Louise turned sharply : " And why not ?" 
 
 " Good heavens ! You are betrothed to young Tref- 
 fenbach. You are bound both by heart and conscience." 
 
 " Conscience ?" she asked. " My conscience binds mo 
 to do what is right. We should cut off the hand that 
 offends us ; and if it hurts us," — she sighed heavily, — 
 " what of that ? The greater the pain, the more the 
 necessity, perhaps, for enduring it." 
 
 " My dear child," the gentle old Frau began, " you 
 must give the matter the most earnest consideration. 
 I confess that General Treffenbach's conduct offends 
 me deeply, but I admit that we are old-fashioned 
 people and have brought you up with old-fashioned 
 ideas." 
 
 " Not so, it seems to me," the old Herr rejoined, with 
 a keen glance towards his grand-daughter ; " it cer- 
 tainly was not the fashion in old times to dissolve a 
 betrothal as if it were a dancing engagement." 
 
 Marie Louise smiled ironically : " No one has ever 
 yet accused me of levity ; you may rest assured that 
 I never act without due consideration. I shall cer- 
 tainly not do so in this case, nor shall I destroy the 
 happiness of my life for my present gratification, or 
 in a moment of temporary excitement." 
 
 She turned away, and walked slowly, with head 
 erect, towards the house. " My dear, she is right 
 there," said the old lady, looking up at her husband. 
 
 " Let me tell you frankly, my dear Charlotte, what 
 12*
 
 138 VIOLETTA 
 
 has been borne in upon mo since her betrothal. It was 
 not the result of inclination, but of prudent consider- 
 ation ; perhaps it was a sacrifice made for our sakes. 
 She believed it to be her duty to provide us with a 
 son, and Eavenhorst with an energetic, capable mas- 
 ter. Treffenbach was congenial to her, and after due 
 deliberation she accepted his proposal ; but she would 
 dissolve the engagement with the same calm com- 
 posure in view of the slightest obstacle to what she 
 imagines the happiness of her future life, instead of 
 reflecting that it is her duty to share the sorrow and 
 anxiety of the man to whom she has pledged herself" 
 
 "I wish you had said all this to her before!" Frau 
 von Plattow exclaimed. 
 
 " I fear, my dear Charlotte, that Marie Louise will 
 listen to nothing. She would adduce the most ad- 
 mirable arguments to prove precisely the contrary of 
 my words. She has thought and read and learned so 
 much that she feels herself superior to those about 
 her." 
 
 Marie Louise remained shut up in her rooms until 
 noon. When she made her appearance her eyes were 
 red and her cheeks were pale, but she calmly took 
 part in the conversation, and made several inquiries 
 of the secretary and inspector as to matters of business. 
 The housekeeper, too, was glad to accept some advice 
 from her clear-headed young mistress. 
 
 And why not ? She always knew best. Although 
 she did not attach much importance to such things, 
 and placed her chief interest in matters of spiritual 
 import, she had taken pains to appreciate the practical 
 side of life. Modern views and systems were as famil- 
 iar to her as to any man, and since she had as yet had 
 no opportunity to j)ut in practice here in Eavenhorst
 
 SEVERED 139 
 
 tier own peculiar schemes for the "welfare of mankind, 
 ehe performed conscientiously the duty that lay next 
 her, and relieved her aged relatives as far as she could 
 of all necessity for exertion. 
 
 After dinner Herr von Plattow and his wife always 
 retired to their rooms for an hour's rej^ose. This time 
 Marie Louise was wont to spend in writing letters, for 
 which she had no leisure in the mornings. 
 
 In summer her writing-table had its place in the 
 garden hall, — a large arched apartment on the ground- 
 floor, adjoining the dining-room, which served in winter 
 as a conservatory, but was a cool, shady hall in summer. 
 Only a few palms and aloes were left standing here and 
 there in large tubs, and the walls were thickly draped 
 with ivy. The centre of the tiled floor was covered 
 with a rug, where chairs and couches were grouped 
 about a large round table. On pleasant evenings the 
 family collected here about a lamp, and Marie Louise 
 busied herself with ecclesiastical embroidery. 
 
 To-day she sat down at her writing-table, but she 
 hesitated long before beginning her letter. From time 
 to time she looked up, as if expecting aid or some in- 
 terruption. And she was not disappointed. She had 
 not finished her first page before she heard the sound 
 of approaching wheels. She dropped her pen and arose, 
 but she did not go to meet the visitor. If it were he, 
 he would know where to find her at this hour. 
 
 After some time footsteps slowly coming towards 
 the house were heard upon the gravelled pathway. 
 Magnus Treff'enbach walked into the hall, and greeted 
 her with a mute pressure of her hand. His appear- 
 ance shocked her at first, until she reflected that it 
 was natural that he should look as he did, — distressed, 
 ashy pale, with a feverish glow in his eyes. She
 
 140 VIOLETTA 
 
 found in his looks only the confirmation of Rhona's 
 intelligence. How could he look well and happy ? 
 
 " I was just writing to you, my dear Magnus, but 
 it is unnecessary now," she said, with some emotion. 
 " You come from Berlin ?" 
 
 He tossed his hat upon the table and passed hia 
 hand over his forehead. " No, no ; let me think. I 
 come from Yelzin. My head has grown perfectly 
 worthless. I finally called in a physician, who says I 
 have overtasked my brain, and that I must have rest 
 — rest. Yes, a glorious remedy, — easily prescribed, 
 and not to be procured for millions !" 
 
 He sat down, and leaned his head upon his hand. 
 Marie Louise looked at him with deep compassion, 
 but it never occurred to her that it might perhaps be 
 her duty to alleviate his suffering by gentle, consoling 
 words. She would have regarded any such as mere 
 idle phrases. 
 
 After a pause he looked up and said with effort, but 
 with resolution, " Of course you know everything." 
 
 " Yes ; I learned it to-day from a letter." Her face 
 flushed. " Be assured, Magnus, that for your poor 
 mother's sake I am beyond measure astounded and 
 indignant. I have no words in which to express my 
 astonishment." 
 
 Every one of these well-meant words was like a 
 stab to his morbid consciousness, but he exerted his 
 self-control to the utmost, and began : " Pray let that 
 rest ; I cannot yet speak of it. Admit the fact as it 
 is, and let us talk of it only with reference to our- 
 selves. The honour of the Treffonbach name is in- 
 trusted for the future to the hands of a frivolous 
 woman. What will she do with it ? I do not know, 
 but I am prepared for the worst. Can I expect you
 
 SEVERED 141 
 
 now to assume this name ? It may one day receive a 
 ßtain that nothing can obliterate." 
 
 This view of the matter seemed new to her. She 
 had not taken this into consideration, but after some 
 reflection she said, " You are right." 
 
 What else could she say? She paid no heed to the 
 fact that he was in a state of morbid nervous tension. 
 
 " I expected to hear you say so," he said, and sank 
 into a revery. 
 
 " Yes, Magnus ; but I must confess that my thoughts 
 had not yet entered upon that view, long and earnestly 
 as I have reflected. I have had a hard struggle. Let 
 me tell you at what conclusions I have arrived. I 
 never, never could recognize that woman, to say noth 
 ing of receiving her beneath my roof. You must be 
 conscious that this would be contrary to my principles, 
 to my whole nature, I never could forget whence 
 she came, — from the boards of a theatre. I should 
 always remember that she had once stood painted on 
 the stage. My resolves once taken are unalterable ; I 
 contract no friendship with frivolity, let the world 
 call it by ever so fine a name, let Madame Fouquct 
 be pronounced a queen of art, a divinely gifted crea- 
 ture, and what not besides. I grant that I have no 
 appreciation of art; if I were capable of it I should 
 flee from it as from temptation. Between that woman 
 and myself there must always stand the image of your 
 mother, whose place she exultingly usurps. If I were 
 not your betrothed I should, as a Plattow, feel myself 
 outraged." 
 
 He had listened with a strange expression of apath}»-. 
 Now he said, with evident effort, " But hoAv can you 
 imagine that I should ever allow that woman to cross 
 your path ?"
 
 142 VIOLETTA 
 
 She smiled with some embarrassment : " This is 
 what I wished to tell you. I prophesy that the time 
 will come when, either induced by her arts or by your 
 own heart, you will return to your father's house. Do 
 not deceive yourself. You cannot separate yourself 
 for life from your father. You cannot live at enmity 
 with each other ; I have seen that. You are neither 
 of you demonstrative ; you are often separated for 
 months at a time, but each must always know of the 
 other's interests, and any continued estrangement be- 
 tween you is impossible. I foresee that you will be 
 reconciled to each other, — nay, do not look so incred- 
 ulous, — and then what part shall I play ? I will tell 
 you frankly: I should then be the obstacle in the 
 way of your reconciliation with your family. Endless 
 misery would be the result. No, Magnus, it could 
 never be. The fair image of my future is blurred and 
 destroyed, and I have suffered profoundly; but ask 
 yourself, what should I do in a family the members 
 of which belonged to the opera and the ballet ?" 
 
 He groaned as if with physical pain, arose, and 
 paced the hall to and fro. 
 
 " Yes, yes, of course," he said. " What could you 
 do there ? But what am I saying ? Were we not to 
 live here ? She never could come here ; the thought 
 is misery." 
 
 "I know that well," she rejoined. "I know what 
 you feel. But the one consoling thought is that you 
 can now return to your vocation, and still do a great 
 work in the world. I learned much during my stay 
 in Berlin, Magnus. My horizon is broader. As the 
 master of Kavenhorst you might be a very good man, 
 but you could not be a great one. You can do better 
 things than merely relieve my gi'andparents from care.
 
 SEVERED 143 
 
 I can do that, and what a woman can do is too mean a 
 task for you." 
 
 " Possibly," he said, with a sigh. " But you seem so 
 strong and vigorous, Mario. You talli of work as if 
 it were a matter of course. You can hardly under- 
 stand me when I tell you that I am paralyzed physi- 
 cally and mentally. My very soul cries out for repose " 
 
 " Work," she said, calmly ; " it is the only cure for 
 misery. Forget yourself in your studies." 
 
 " The power of study seems gone." 
 
 " But, Magnus, I cannot help you. You must con- 
 quer yourself like a man." 
 
 " Well, then, let me take the first step now towards 
 self-conquest. Farewell, Marie Louise. It is farewell 
 indeed." 
 
 She held out her hand to him, surprised at the in- 
 difference of his tone, although intense suffering was 
 stamped in every feature of his pale face. 
 
 " Once more, farewell, Marie Louise. I wish you 
 in your future life all the happiness that I am unable 
 to offer you. Tell your grandparents all. Do not ask 
 me to stay. What have I to do among you here? 
 But let us part friends." 
 
 She did not ask him to stay. She bade him fare- 
 well with a firm voice, and gave him back his troth 
 forever. Forever !
 
 144 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV 
 'back to busy life again' 
 
 The harvest sun lay broad upon the Yelzin meadows. 
 It "was one of those warm days that come when summer 
 and autumn are striving with each other for the mas- 
 tery. Millions of purple blossoms on the moor were 
 offering their sweet contents to the bees, that filled 
 the air with their drowsy hum. The old firs bathed 
 their tops in the sunshine and stretched their knotty 
 arms abroad, as if in token of content. The tap of the 
 woodpecker came clear and distinct from the woodland, 
 and the cry of the curlew rang out from above the 
 lake. And here in this solitude, so filled with life, we 
 find Treffenbach again, halting beneath an ancient fir, 
 after a long, warm ride, and dismounting from his 
 horse. This was a level spot, slightly elevated above 
 the surrounding moor, and, casting himself down 
 upon the soft grass, he could, while lying here at full 
 length, overlook a large part of the quiet, wild land- 
 scape, and a long stretch of the road running through 
 it towards the west. Judging by his looks continu- 
 ally cast in that direction, he was expecting some 
 arrival. 
 
 His horse, the same noble creature which we have 
 seen under the lindens and in the Thiergarten, stood 
 near him, heated and fatigued, with drooping head. 
 From time to time it turned towards its master and 
 licked the hand extended to it. Treffenbach looked 
 hot and tired, but a very different man from the one
 
 'BACK TO BUSY LIFE AGAIN' 145 
 
 who months ago bade Marie Louise farewell. His 
 face, which had then worn the pallor of confinement 
 in a study, was now tanned brown, the features were 
 more strongly marked, the eyes clearer. There were 
 still traces of suffering in his expression, but through 
 them shone the calm that comes after a battle won. 
 
 And to-day he could look back upon the summer 
 and review its course comparatively without pain. 
 
 Weeks had passed before he had so far recovered as 
 to take interest in life, or to allow his fancy to busy 
 itself with plans for the future. But during this time 
 there was at hand to soothe and aid him a woman 
 whose almost maternal sympathy was always ready, 
 and whose gentle wisdom was intuitive. This was 
 the pastor's wife, Frau Ehrhardt, she whose fine men- 
 tal qualities and cheerful Christian nature had brought 
 her so near to his mother that the difference in 
 worldly station had been obliterated in their case, and 
 the pastor's wife, with her myriad daily cares, her 
 humble duties, had been the trusted friend of the mis- 
 tress of Yelzin. The knowledge of this friendshij) 
 made her hand held out to Magnus in his misery a 
 welcome aid. 
 
 And she had with rare tact discharged the self- 
 imposed duties of ministering to his physical and 
 mental needs. She had insisted upon his calling in a 
 physician, and had then seen that the doctor's pre- 
 scriptions were strictly followed. When Treffenbach 
 gradually came to repose such confidence in her as led 
 him to speak to her openly of what distressed him, she 
 wisely tried to turn his thoughts in another direction. 
 As all mental exertion was forbidden him, she inter- 
 ested him in practical matters, and here her husband 
 lent his powerful assistance. Pastor Ehrhardt could 
 Q k 13
 
 146 VIOLETTA 
 
 always lure him away from a dull brooding ovei his 
 wretchodnesa by interesting talk concerning Yelzin 
 affairs. As Treffenbach needed constant exercise, and 
 disliked going out alone, the pastor at first accompanied 
 him in long daily walks through field and forest. Grad- 
 ually the ' young master' began to be annoyed at their 
 neglected condition, and this annoyance the pastor 
 and his wife hailed as a sign of recovery. 
 
 An old forester, living like a mediaeval hermit, 
 morose and gray-bearded, in a hut in the forest, now 
 became Treff enbach's daily companion. The good 
 pastor's time would hardly have sufiiced to fill that 
 office, for the walks had grown to be long tramps, 
 lasting more than half the day. Magnus returned 
 from them in a state of healthy fatigue, and the sound 
 sleep sure to ensue, and to which he had lately been a 
 stranger, renewed his strength in double measure. 
 He was soon able to study without pain in his head 
 the books which he sent for upon the scientific man- 
 agement of estates, and with a flask of wine and a 
 crust of bread in his wallet, he would sometimes con- 
 tinue abroad in the fields from morning until night. 
 
 •' You ought to have a riding-horse, Baron Treffen- 
 bach," the physician said to him. 
 
 He bit his lip, for this suggestion instantly sent his 
 thoughts wandering to what he persistently avoided 
 contemplating. But in a moment he saw the wisdom 
 of the doctor's words, and that very night he wrote 
 to the groom of his father's stables to send him JMon- 
 tresor with a trusty attendant. 
 
 He had then been three months at Velzin, and in all 
 that time had heard nothing from Berlin. He never 
 read the papers, ho received no letters, and all commu- 
 nication with Eavenhorst was at an end.
 
 'BACK TO BUSY LIFE AGAIN' I47 
 
 It was, therefore, with some agitation that he sent 
 off this business note, ignorant as he was whether the 
 house in the capital were not closed and the family- 
 gone elsewhere. He would have been almost glad to 
 hear that this was so, for it was still torture to him to 
 fancy a Beatrice Fouquet presiding in the rooms which 
 he had once thought were to be always consecrated to 
 the memory of his mother. 
 
 Three days later the beautiful brown mare arrived. 
 Treffenbach went to the stables himself while the 
 groom who had brought it was removing the blanket 
 in which it had been carefully wrapped for the excit- 
 ing journey by railway. The man bowed to the young 
 Baron and delivered his message from the chief groom. 
 Treffenbach was hesitating whether to ask any ques- 
 tion that should betray his utter ignorance of his 
 father's whereabouts, when Montresor recognized him, 
 whinnied, and poked its delicate nose in his pocket as 
 if for sugar. 
 
 " Who taught you that accomplishment ?" he asked, 
 patting the creature's slender neck. "You did not 
 use to do so." 
 
 " He learned that of the young Fräulein," the groom 
 said. " Since the family returned she has ridden the 
 mare every day." 
 
 The blood rushed to Treffenbach's face, and the 
 groom, noting his change of expression, added, in a 
 tone which might as well have been the result of sim 
 plicity as of malice, " But the Herr Baron need not be 
 afraid that the mare is injured. The Fr<äulein rides, 
 the chief groom saj'S, like a professional horsewoman." 
 
 Treffenbach left the stable with a clouded brow and 
 throbbing temples. It needed a long pacing to and 
 fro in the avenue before he "-rew calm again. The
 
 148 VIOLETTA 
 
 twittering of the birds in the boughs overhead sounded 
 in his ears like a silvery ripple of laughter, and the 
 warm wooing wind that breathed about him recalled 
 the clasp of the soft childish arms of her whose exist- 
 ence he had not deemed worth a thought, and who 
 had been so bitterly avenged. 
 
 Still in a gloomy mood, he walked to the parsonage, 
 where, in the summer-house beneath the walnut at 
 the foot of the garden, he found Frau Ehrhardt busy 
 with a heaped-up work-basket on the table before her, 
 superintending Hanna's knitting and hearing the les- 
 sons of the little ones. They were sent to play for a 
 while when the mother saw the Herr Baron approach- 
 ing with a cloud upon his brow ; and after he had taken 
 his seat upon a bench opposite her she asked, anx- 
 iously, " What is the matter ?" 
 
 " Nothing. My horse has arrived." 
 
 " And — you have news ?" 
 
 " No ; only that that ballet-girl has ridden my maro 
 every day, — and as skilfully," he added, bitterly, " as 
 a professional horsewoman. Very pleasant for me." 
 
 " I should like, my dear Herr Baron," Frau Ehrhardt 
 said, after some reflection, " to speak a word to you 
 on this subject. I have hitherto avoided doing so, 
 because I shrank from touching an open wound. You 
 know how deeply I deplore this marriage ; you know 
 that I share your opinion with regard to it, and it may 
 surprise you that I can find one word to say in that 
 young girl's behalf, but we must not utterly condemn 
 her without some knowledge of her." 
 
 " That knowledge I have. I saw her upon the stage ; 
 I saw her picture in every shop- window ; I heard her 
 name upon every idle coxcomb's lips. Pah !" 
 
 " Poor child ; only fifteen years old, and absolutely
 
 *BACK TO BUSY LIFE AGAIN' 149 
 
 governed by a mother who saw no better career foi* 
 her daughter than one similar to her own !" 
 
 " A child already skilled in the arts by which men's 
 heads are turned." 
 
 " Perhaps ; but let me tell you what I know of Yio- 
 letta Fouquet. Ah, Herr Baron, you ai-e surprised, 
 and no wonder, that the wife of the pastor of a village 
 so remote from the capital as Velzin should have any 
 knowledge of one who is in your mind a creature ex- 
 isting only for the dazzle and glitter of a frivolous 
 society. But in the quietest part of Berlin there is a 
 modest little dwelling, where an old friend of mine — a 
 poor widow now — has been placed in charge of some lit- 
 tle orphan children from the lowest classes of the people. 
 An eccentric Irish baronet, the early benefactor of the 
 ginger who is Violetta's mother, has done this thing, 
 for what ? To gratify not only his own kind heart, 
 but also the child of whom we are talking. I have 
 always kept up my correspondence with Frau Forst- 
 mann, and from her I hear of Yioletta Fouquet, — not 
 of her art in turning men's heads, but of her tender 
 thought of others, of her symjjathy with the lowest 
 of God's creatures. Ah, I assure you, my poor friend 
 grows eloquent in her praise, and therefore I have a 
 request to make of you, — one that I have deeply at 
 heart." 
 
 " What is it ?" he said, the sarcastic expression on 
 his face giving place to surprise and a half-incredulous 
 sympathy. 
 
 " If at any future time you should meet this young 
 creature, do not be hard upon her, do not judge her 
 without knowing her; try to be, I do not say a 
 brother to her, but a friend. Forgive me for speaking 
 thus to you, but I am older than you, and I have had 
 
 13*
 
 150 VIOLETTA 
 
 many trials and have thought much. God make us all 
 merciful as we hoj^e for mercy ! Have patience with 
 Violetta if you ever see her again." 
 
 " I promise you," he said, much moved by her ear- 
 nest words. " I thank you for appealing to my better 
 self. If this child is what you describe, and if fate 
 ever brings us together, I will do my duty ; and how- 
 ever strict I may be, I will not be harsh, and will try 
 to keep only her good in view." 
 
 From that day Treffenbach's thoughts of his un^ 
 welcome young step-sister grew more kindly, and al- 
 though his pain in thinking of the home that he had 
 lost was no less, and his opinion of Beatrice Fouquet 
 unchanged, he could contemplate more calmly the ex- 
 isting state of affairs. A longing to see his father again, 
 to know that there was peace between them, began to 
 stir within him, although this took no shape in any 
 resolve. 
 
 He wondered now at the indifference with which he 
 had resigned his claim to the hand of Marie Louise. 
 How could it be ? He could not so easily relinquish 
 the idea that had grown with his growth and strength- 
 ened with his strength. Therefore he had wi'itten 
 her a long explanatory letter, which he had des- 
 patched by a special messenger to Eavenhorst, and 
 watching for the return of this messenger, he lay 
 here on this autumn day on the heather beneath the 
 old fir. 
 
 Yes, there he came. Treffenbach arose and walked 
 towards the man, leading his horse by the bridle. 
 
 The letter that he should thus receive would decide 
 his future life. If it contained a ' no' he should in a 
 few weeks either return to St. Petersburg or depart for 
 some foreign country.
 
 TWO YEARS LATER 151 
 
 The letter was very brief, and ran thus : "I am 
 amazed at the speedy fulfihnent of my prophecy, for 
 from your letter I gather that your sentiments with 
 regard to that person are already undergoing some 
 modification. I do not change. Have you forgotten 
 your mother ? I have not I I never, never can be 
 yours, 
 
 "Marie Louise." 
 
 A few weeks afterwards the Velzin manor-house was 
 again untenanted. The young Baron was travelling. 
 The government had given him a position in an Asi- 
 atic expedition which had just been fitted out, and his 
 scientific researches would probably be very inter- 
 esting. Science must console him for all that he had 
 lost. 
 
 CHAPTEE XV 
 
 TWO YEARS LATER 
 
 Just two years had passed since that morning when 
 Fräulein Emma had wreathed the portraits in the 
 drawing-room with garlands because it was the ' wed- 
 ding-day.' 
 
 In spite of the changes that had taken place, Fräu- 
 lein Emma had remained faithfully at her post, like a 
 devoted cat. She had witnessed with sighs and tears 
 the instalment of the new mistress, and had been re- 
 tained like some indispensable article of furniture.
 
 152 VIOL ETTA 
 
 Thus she sat this morning in the hreakfast-room, 
 behind the same coffee-urn, and the sun shone on the 
 old coat of arms on the wall, and upon the tawny hide 
 of a huge mastiff stretched in lazy length upon the 
 floor. But the doors into the drawing-room were 
 closed, for Madame did not like to have the aroma of 
 the coffee, or perchance the odour of a fine Havana, 
 interfere with the perfumed atmosphere of her special 
 room. The round clock in the wainscoting struck 
 eight; Fräulein Emma cleared her throat, sighed, 
 and laid aside her knitting : the general would enter 
 shortly. 
 
 " Thirty years !" She reckoned them up to herself, 
 but she had put no wreaths around the old portraits, 
 nor had she tied a new lace kerchief about her still 
 swollen face. She had contented herself with ex- 
 changing a significant glance with Friedrich, now 
 become a finely-polished jewel. 
 
 The door opened, and the general appeared, as erect 
 and imposing in damage as ever, it seemed at the first 
 glance, — and yet he was changed. 
 
 The commander had become an idle looker-on, — a 
 great change, and one that affects the deepest springs 
 of life. Energy, action, cajjacity, and the armed hand, 
 all lying unused, like dead capital. Daily occupation 
 is lacking, — the one great interest that fills up exist- 
 ence and lends it a value, urging on to new goals as 
 soon as the old ones are attained. 
 
 What is he now ? Merely the bearer of a title, a 
 man whose life is already only a memory. Ah, this 
 makes the hair gray, and brings on that nervous irri- 
 tability which, in default of greater annoyances, will 
 fret at the motes in the sunbeam. Formerly the gen- 
 eral had given no thought to his health ; he had had
 
 TWO FEARS LATER . 153 
 
 neither time nor interest for little ailments that wore 
 now thought of importance, and brought forward to a 
 degree that caused people to remark that since General 
 Treffenbach had resigned from the army he had 
 grown old and ailing. 
 
 As he sat down at the breakfast-table and spread 
 his napkin on his knees, he looked rather ill-humoured. 
 *' My step-daughter not yet down ?" he asked, glancing 
 at the clock. " Only half a cup, Emma, if you please. 
 The gout is flying about me everywhere this morning. 
 My right arm is absolutely stiff. Which way is the 
 wind? East? I thought so. Ah, mouse, here you 
 are. I have been waiting half an hour for the Princess 
 Sleepy-head." 
 
 For Yioletta Fouquet had tripped into the room, 
 bright and lovely, a very embodiment of the sunny 
 morning. 
 
 " No, no, papa dear," she said, stooping to kiss his 
 hand ; " not more than five minutes at most. Eh, 
 Fräulein Emma ? But I am charmed to know that it 
 seemed so long to you." 
 
 He smiled, and she pushed her chair nearer to his, 
 so that while with her right hand she heaped her cup 
 of coffee with sugar, she leaned her left elbow upon 
 the arm of his chair and looked up at him inquiringly. 
 "More pain, papa?" she asked, gently. 
 
 " Oh, I feel like a beaten dog this morning." 
 
 She took his hand in both hers : " What did the 
 doctor say last evening?" 
 
 " What they all say,— Teplitz." 
 
 " Then we are going to Tef)litz, are we not ?" 
 
 " Drink your coffee, mouse, and don't tease me with 
 questions." 
 
 "You are going to Teplitz, and I am going with
 
 154 VIOLETTA 
 
 you, and mamma will go to Ycnico with the Menardis," 
 Violetta insisted. 
 
 " We'll see, we'll see. Both might be too much for 
 the purse." 
 
 He tried to speak jestingly, but the attempt was 
 hardly successful. 
 
 " Then mamma must really give up her journey, eh ? 
 It must not be like last summer." 
 
 " How was it last summer ?" 
 
 " When we were in Scotland, and mamma fell into 
 the lake as we were landing, and you pulled her 
 out " 
 
 " What ? Ought I to have let her drown ?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean that ; but when you had so 
 much pain in consequence, and the doctors all ordered 
 the baths, my mother would not give up Paris, aiid 
 you laughed at the doctors. Ah !" — and the girl 
 clasped her hands, — " it is terrible to have such wilful 
 parents; is it not, Fräulein Emma? This year the 
 doctor's prescription must be followed." 
 
 "Drink your coffee, mouse, and then come and 
 write a couple of letters for me, — my right hand is 
 good for nothing, — and after that we will have a ride." 
 
 He took up the daily paper and began to read it, 
 but soon tossed the large sheet aside with an impa- 
 tient exclamation. " Where is the ' Weekly G-azette' ? 
 It must have come to-day !" 
 
 Violetta sprang »p and brought him a tiny sheet 
 from a table near the door. " Here it is. Friedrich 
 has been reading it again on the sly, and has left it 
 there. Now let us see !" 
 
 And General Treffenbach's lovely step-daughter un- 
 folded the modest journal, the organ of a remote, 
 secluded quarter of the Margraviate.
 
 TWO YEARS LATER 155 
 
 Since January the general had been taking this 
 journal, of the existence of which he had not pre- 
 viously been aware, and had read it with the greatest 
 eagerness from beginning to end, although always 
 laying it aside with a disappointed air. To-day, how- 
 ever, Fräulein Emma, who was naturally timid, was 
 startled by a loud exclamation of surprise from the 
 pair, and then Violetta read out in an undertone, " TVe 
 hear that Baron Magnus Treffen bach, who returned to 
 us last January from St. Petersburg, takes his depart- 
 ure this month for Rio do Janeiro, where he is to 
 be Secretary of Legation. We regret this extremely. 
 Such a man should remain in our country. The lec- 
 ture delivered by him lately in our Town Hall upon 
 Indian Missions showed him to be a finished orator. 
 His political views, his ready benevolence, and his 
 force of character are well known. He certainly will 
 not lack votes at our next election." 
 
 There was a pause. The general rubbed his fore- 
 head. " In the course of this month ? What month 
 is this?" 
 
 "It is May, papa." 
 
 " Ah, of course, of course. Well, never mind that, 
 Yioletta ; I must go to my letters." 
 
 She ran with him, hanging on his arm and looking 
 up in his face, " Brazil, Brazil ! Is not that very far, 
 j^nd rather unhealthy ?" 
 
 " Yes, yes." His face had grown gray and gloomy. 
 They went to his study ; the young girl sat down at 
 the writing-table and dipped her pen in the ink, while 
 the general walked to and fro. 
 
 " There was a letter to be written to a horse-dealer," 
 Violetta said at last, timidly, as if to remind him of 
 their pui-pose in coming here. Then she drew a mul-
 
 156 VIOLETTA 
 
 titude of cherubs' heads upon her blotter. Still the 
 general continued to pace to and fro and said nothing. 
 Suddenly he sank heavily into an arm-chair and cov- 
 ered his eyes with his hand. In an instant the girl 
 was on her knees beside him, with her arm about his 
 neck. " We will write to him, papa," she whispered 
 in his ear. 
 
 He sighed, with an expression of intense melancholy. 
 " Shall we write to him ? But what shall we say ?" 
 
 " That he must come to you. Yes, before he goes 
 to Brazil." 
 
 " Go and write, then." 
 
 " Oh, no ; not I, not I. You must do that." She 
 pushed paper and pen towards him, and he began the 
 letter, but his hand trembled, and the writing was 
 illegible. 
 
 " You see, child, it will not do." 
 
 " Oh, it must ; only try. There, that is beautiful ! 
 * My dear son.' Now go on." 
 
 " But what shall I say ?" 
 
 Violetta propped her chiu upon her clasped hands 
 and gazed up at the ceiling. " Oh, I know. He must 
 come to Teplitz. There you will be alone, — that is, I 
 shall be there, — but I am the same as no one to him." 
 She spoke the last words with a somewhat disdainful 
 air of pique and with head erect. 
 
 If there were a person in the world whom Violetta 
 Fouquet hoped never to see again, it was Magnus Tref- 
 fenbach. He was the only human being who had ever 
 rudely repulsed her, the only man of whom she was 
 afraid. But all that was of no consequence now. 
 
 The general wrote on with difficulty, but without 
 pause. When he had finished he looked up : "I hope 
 he'll come."
 
 TWO YEARS LATER 157 
 
 " He must come." 
 
 " Now, then, I "will go to mamma. No more letters 
 to-day, little one. Does not your singing-master 
 come ? When he goes we'll have our ride." 
 
 And, as if invigorated, he arose and left the room 
 with a more elastic step and more of his old martial 
 bearing. His beautiful wife must not see that grief 
 for the loss of his son was gnawing at his heart, and 
 that care, care of the most prosaic kind, was making 
 an old man of him. 
 
 The Baroness Treffenbach was still in her boudoir, 
 reclining upon her divan, occupied jDartly with a cup 
 of chocolate, partly with a huge box filled with pat- 
 terns of rich stutfs. Charlie was growling under a 
 chair, and Tom was fidgeting on his perch, but Ma- 
 dame Morton's gray-clad form was no longer to be seen. 
 There is no longer any necessity for her ministrations, 
 and she has vanished, has departed to keep house for 
 an invalid old Graf 
 
 Beatrice looked up as her husband entered, and held 
 out to him her hand, which he pressed to his lips after 
 true knightly fashion. She looked rather weary, per- 
 haps only bored, but always beautiful. 
 
 " Good-morning, mon ami. You have finished your 
 correspondence early, and so find me still in my morn- 
 ing-wrapper. Look here, only the other day some one 
 said that gold, shot with blue, would be very becoming 
 to me, and here I have just received it as a novelty 
 from Paris." She yawned. " Beautiful weather. I am 
 going to drive out. And you ?" 
 
 " I am at your disposal. But you do not look well, 
 Beatrice. What is it?" 
 
 " Ennui," was the prompt, smiling reply ; " and in- 
 deed I might return the compliment. We are both 
 
 14
 
 158 VIOLETTA 
 
 growing old, it seems to me. They grow old fearfully 
 early in your country." 
 
 " Not so early as in Italy, I think." 
 
 " Oh, I did not mean that. I meant you of the aris- 
 tocracy. It is the dull life you lead. Do you not think 
 so ?" She looked at him thoughtfully. " I have been 
 puzzling myself over it for the last half-hour. What 
 is our life ? Eise in the morning, write notes, have a 
 consultation with the housekeeper, a visit from one's 
 milliner, then lunch, calls, dinner, a little music, tea, 
 and the day is over." 
 
 "And what else would you have ?" 
 
 " Can you ask ? Change of scene, new faces, new 
 scores, new stages ; in short, never to know one day 
 what the next will be like. That is life ! But here 
 we know exactly — good heavens ! — twenty years be- 
 forehand. Death and birth are the only changes in 
 this existence." 
 
 She did not speak complainingly, but with a certain 
 amount of humour. Then she clasped her hands like 
 a pleading child. " Grant a grace, dear friend. Let 
 us go to Naples." 
 
 " Now, in spring ?" 
 
 " What of that ? The Menardis have a villa at Sor- 
 rento." 
 
 " The Hofrath insists that I must go to Teplitz." 
 
 " In— deed ? Well ?" 
 
 " Well ?" 
 
 " Do you expect me to play the good wife and go to 
 Teplitz and wrap you in flannel when you come out 
 of the baths ?" 
 
 " Suppose I were to say * yes' ?" 
 
 " Heavens above !" The Beatrice sank back among 
 her cushions as if annihilated. The general looked 
 
 m
 
 TWO YEARS LATER 159 
 
 away, but she saw that he was hurt. * Constantin !" 
 she said, gently, and the parrot repeated after her, 
 * Constantin !' 
 
 The general made a motion as if to sweep the inso- 
 lent creature from its perch ; Beatrice put out her hand 
 as if to prevent the attack, and laughed archly. " Tell 
 the truth, Constantin ; you turn to the bird, but 
 you mean me. Now let me tell you frankly, you 
 ask too little of me ; that is it, I cannot condescend 
 to such trifles. Demand of me something grand and 
 unusual, and you shall be gratified. Tell me that cir- 
 cumstances compel you to go among wild Indians, and 
 I will share your wigwam. Reveal to me that you are 
 condemned to the galleys, and I will be chained to the 
 oar beside you. If your life depended upon my death, 
 I could plunge the dagger into my heart in the fervour 
 of my devotion. Ah, you do not know me yet. I am 
 capable of an heroic act, believe me ; but to regulate 
 the temperature of a bath with a thermometer for eight 
 long weeks, and to keep a record of the progress of 
 the cure of my husband's rheumatism, — where is there 
 room for heroism in that ? Besides, I always become ill 
 myself when I see sick people, and that wretched Tep- 
 litz is swarming with miserable objects, pushed about 
 in invalid-chairs or hobbling along on crutches. Ah, 
 my dear husband, have pity upon the nerves of a 
 woman who suffers more than she ever confesses !" 
 
 " I see that you are not well and need some change," 
 he said, half conquered, for those eyes and that smile 
 had not yet lost their charm for him. 
 
 " Now you are delightful. In two weeks the Mc- 
 nardis are going. Let us all go to Teplltz together, 
 and I will gladly pass a few days there with you. Then 
 I will take Violetta and go on to Vienna and Yenicc."
 
 160 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Violetta says she wishes to stay with me." 
 
 " The little goose tells a fib. She is wild to go tc 
 Venice ; she told rae so a day or two ago." 
 
 " Well, we will see." He rose, and then said, with 
 hesitation, " It will be an expensive summer, — Teplitz, 
 Venice, probably Milan ?" 
 
 " No, Naples," she said, quietly. 
 
 " But, Beatrice, our income " 
 
 "Now you are talking just as the husbands do in 
 novels," she laughed. " Go and grumble elsewhere ; 
 I 'am going to have my hair dressed." 
 
 He went with a profound sigh, and all the wrinkles 
 that the sight of his beautiful wife had smoothed away 
 from his face appeared there again. 
 
 Violetta was seated at the piano in the drawing- 
 room, singing. She took daily lessons now of the 
 best masters, and, as there was no fear of the stage 
 an}'' longer, these lessons were her greatest delight, 
 for song was as native to her as to a bird. It was 
 strange, and a great pity, that her mother since she 
 had left the stage could not bear to hear any music. 
 It was sure to give her headache. Violetta had, how- 
 ever, an enthusiastic auditor in the general, who, when 
 he heard the sweet, long-drawn notes, was sure to come 
 into the next room with his papers. He understood 
 little of music, but he delighted in the growing force 
 and volume of this fresh young voice, and was never 
 tired of expressing this delight. Listening to the joy- 
 ous notes he forgot his anxieties. And his Excellency 
 had anxieties, anxieties of the most prosaic kind, and 
 heart-troubles besides. 
 
 What ? Had the Beatrice disappointed him ? Had 
 the woman for whom he had sacrificed everything 
 proved to be only a beautiful mask ? Oh, no ! oh, no !
 
 TWO YEARS LATER 161 
 
 She was still the same, and his pride in her was as 
 great as ever. With what perfect self-poise she had 
 taken her place as mistress of his house, and how thor- 
 oughly she had asserted her position in society ! Her 
 little dinners, suppers, and assemblies were famous. To 
 be sure, she needed a French cook for these entertain- 
 ments, and a new toilette for every evening. But he 
 liked to keep open house, and to fill his life with social 
 engagements which indemnified him somewhat for the 
 position he had resigned. The former gentle mistress 
 of his household had scarcely been of sufficient per- 
 sonal distinction, at least thus the general was ungrate- 
 ful enough to think, now that there stood beside him 
 a woman whose personal endowments matched his 
 own, — a woman formed to lead in society. 
 
 Malicious people hinted that the pi'esent married 
 life of General Trefi'enbach was full of stormy scenes, 
 and that he had long since repented his hasty step. 
 But these kind friends, among whom were the Bell- 
 witzes, were mistaken. There were no scenes in the 
 Treffenbach household. The relations of his Excel- 
 lency with his lovely wife were unchanged. She 
 knew now as well as ever how to enchain and bewitch 
 him, and she was almost always amiable. She some- 
 times yawned a little, but she could yawn gracefully. 
 She might often be tired, but she was never tiresome. 
 She was now and then capricious and exacting, but 
 with a certain waywardness that charmed him while 
 he remonstrated. She was sometimes refractor}^, but 
 she had a way of begging for forgiveness and of bow- 
 ing beneath his displeasure that disarmed him. She 
 never told him that she loved him, but she always 
 made him believe that she did. She never forgot her- 
 self before the world. Magnus Treffenbach would 
 I 14*
 
 1G2 VIOLETTA 
 
 have felt less harshly towards her could he have 
 known with what absolute self-possession she played 
 *her Excellency.' That the part began to bore her 
 intensely had no effect upon her resolve to carry it 
 through brilliantly, for whatever character Beatrice 
 Fouquet undertook to perform, she played consci- 
 entiously, identifying herself with it in a fashion that 
 had exalted her above other artists of her day, and 
 had enabled her always to produce a harmonious 
 whole. 
 
 No, she had not disappointed his expectations ; she 
 had even exceeded them in certain regards, and hero 
 we come to the ti"uth of the matter, to the cause of his 
 grizzling hair and his anxious look. He had foreseen 
 that to marry Madame Fouquet would be an expen- 
 sive pleasure. He had even been prepared to pay her 
 debts, for it was notorious that, in spite of her princely 
 income, her finances were always in disorder. He was 
 also aware that it would require his entire yearly in- 
 come to live in a manner suitable to his rank. But he 
 had no conception of the claims that could be made 
 upon life by a woman accustomed to a degree of luxury 
 which might be termed regal. 
 
 How could he know this ? Frau Louise, the wealthy 
 heiress, had not taught him, and he had formed hia 
 ideas of such claims upon the sum required by her for 
 her dress and her summer excursions. 
 
 Now he knew better, and it was this knowledge that 
 was turning his hair gray, for he saw himself upon the 
 brink of an abyss.
 
 TEPLITZ 163 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI 
 
 TEPLITZ 
 
 " It is a Eussian prince with his family," said the 
 loungers on the road between Schönau and Teplitz, 
 as they sauntered along after the bathing-hour, to 
 amuse themselves with a sight of the passing equipages 
 and the toilettes of their fair occupants. 
 
 " Oh, no ; you will see in the hotel books to-morrow 
 that it is a millionaire from Paris, with a wife from 
 California who owns an inexhaustible gold-mine." And 
 the speaker turned to greet a friend who was approach- 
 ing. " Yes, my dear Count, you will see that those two 
 ladies will be the reigning beauties of the season." 
 
 An oj^en carriage rolled by, and the Count, with an 
 exclamation of surprise, pulled off his hat. " The Tref- 
 fenbachs 1" he said. 
 
 " What ? you know them ? Come, this is interest- 
 ing. "Who are they, Count Hess ?" 
 
 " General Treffenbach, with his wife and step-daugh- 
 ter. Of course I know them. I must go immediately 
 and see where they are staying." 
 
 He took leave of the others and walked off rapidly. 
 
 Treffenbach ! He had heard the name seldom enough 
 during the last two years. His correspondence with 
 Magnus Treffenbach had ceased long since ; he only 
 knew that Magnus had been travelling and had then 
 returned to St. Petersburg. And was he married ? No 
 intelligence to that effect had reached Brussels, but it 
 would have cost Hess very little trouble to find out if it.
 
 164 VIOLETTA 
 
 were so. He had not tried to find out. He took for 
 granted that the mari-iage had taken place ; it was the 
 most sensible thing to be done, — oh, yes, desperately 
 sensible. Of course he had heard of General Treffen- 
 bach's maiTiage. That was an affair discussed, con- 
 demned, excused, justified, far and wide. Hess him- 
 self had wasted but few words upon it; it did not 
 interest him much. 
 
 At last he discovered the villa in which the guests 
 in question from Berlin had been established for three 
 days. It was rather secluded, nestling picturesquely 
 among green trees, and behind it rose the wooded slope 
 of the mountains. The first thing that he saw was 
 Fräulein Emma's face at the window. It looked mel- 
 ancholy, and the ends of the kerchief knotted above 
 her head stood out like two ears. She recognized him, 
 and her air grew more cheerful as she opened the door 
 for him herself. 
 
 " Ah, who would have thought of seeing you, Herr 
 Count ! Pray come in. No one is at home at present, 
 but they will soon return. Ah, Herr Count, they 
 ought to have left me in Berlin ; this is no place for 
 me, and what is to become of the household at home, 
 and that cook, there's no knowing." 
 
 " You must tell me all about everything," he said. 
 " So the general is here with the ladies ?" 
 
 " Yes, yes ; her Excellency is going to Yenice from 
 here, but Fräulein Yioletta wants to stay with her 
 papa, and I am to stay with her. This is a horrible 
 place, — very different from Berlin. That I call a city 
 indeed ; but this hole ! I cannot admire it, for all that 
 Prince Barancovich praises uj) Teplitz so." 
 
 " Stay ; who is Prince Barancovich ?" 
 
 "Oh, good heavens, Herr Count! he's what you
 
 TE PLITZ 165 
 
 might call a Croatian magnate. He always drives 
 four-in-hand, and behaves as if he had seen all the 
 world ; but he's seen it to no purpose if he thinks so 
 much of Teplitz. To compare it with Berlin ! And 
 they know nothing whatever of cooking here, either I" 
 
 Fräulein Emma's tone of voice grew more and more 
 pathetic, and Hess looked around the room to conceal 
 a smile. It was a pretty little drawing-room. Near 
 a window stood a writing-table, and upon it lay a pink 
 muslin hat. " Has Fräulein Yioletta turned author ?" 
 he asked, to divert the current of her doleful reflec- 
 tions. 
 
 " Oh, no, but she writes everything for the general, 
 who cannot use his right hand very well. Indeed, Herr 
 Count, she is a good child ; a little flighty perhaps, but 
 a heart of gold, and to his Excellency she is devoted. 
 Ah, in the old times " 
 
 " Are the Menardis here ?" he interrupted. 
 
 " Oh, yes. Her Excellency leaves with them this 
 evening. There is a whole party ; a daughter of the 
 Princess, a Countess Sala Selvaggio, with her husband, 
 is with them too. He lives in Venice. Ah, all new 
 names, new times ! In old times" — Fräulein Emma 
 here put her handkerchief to her eyes — " no one 
 would have dared to compare Teplitz with Berlin." 
 
 " Fräulein Emma, you never sent me the picture 
 you promised me." Something must be done to dis- 
 pel the good soul's melancholy, and this had the de- 
 sired effect. 
 
 "Ah, Herr Count, my face is still a little swollen, 
 but the doctor says it will soon be all right, and then 
 I am certainly going to the photographer's." 
 
 "Eemember, I am to have the first likeness that is 
 taken. I have waited patiently now for years, and I
 
 166 VIOLETTA 
 
 deserve a reward. One more question. "What d», you 
 hear from Baron Magnus ?" 
 
 " Almost nothing. Ah, he has not been near us for 
 two years ; but that's no wonder. How can he come 
 when he thinks of her who is gone? Oh, it was 
 enough to break one's heart when his Excellency an- 
 nounced that he was going to marry again I Those 
 were the darkest days of my life." 
 " Yes, yes ; but where is he now ?" 
 " In Velzin. We saw that in the ' Gazette.' " 
 " Have they — have they any children ?" 
 " Who ?" exclaimed the Fräulein, her long face grow- 
 ing longer than ever. 
 
 " Why, Magnus and the Baroness Marie Louise." 
 "Good heavens, no! But if they had been married 
 they might have had some." 
 
 " Then they are not mai*ried ?" He asked no more 
 questions, but became silent and thoughtful. In 
 fancy, surrounded as it were by a halo, he saw a 
 proud, delicate face, crowned by a diadem of gleaming 
 gold, white as a lily and cold as marble ; a face which 
 had puzzled, attracted, and repelled him ; a face which 
 he had tried to banish from his dreams, which, with 
 its crystal clear blue eyes, had made his heart beat 
 wildly more than once, and which he remembered 
 with mingled indignation and longing. 
 
 Fräulein Emma went on to explain : " Fräulein 
 Marie Louise could not make up her mind to marry 
 our Baron because of Madame Fouquet, you see." 
 
 " Of course," he exclaimed, rousing as if from a 
 dream. " I might have known that ; it was perfectly 
 logical. Just like her. And now, Fräulein Emma, 1 
 must go. My regards to their Excellencies and to 
 Fräulein Yioletta, and tell them that I am on a visit
 
 TEPLITZ 167 
 
 to vaj parents, who have come here for my mother's 
 health. I shall call again." 
 
 He went out, and on the road before the house 
 joined a lady who was being pushed in a rolling-chair, 
 beside which walked an elderly gentleman of military 
 carnage. " Who lives in that villa that you came froni 
 just now, Armin ?" asked the lady. 
 
 " The retired General Treffenbach." 
 
 " The one who married the singer ? Is she comme il 
 faut f " 
 
 " As any princess." 
 
 "A very disagreeable affair, however. I really do 
 not know whether to know these people or not." 
 
 " Dear mother," he said, smiling, " Madame Beatrice 
 has probably considered the same question with re- 
 gard to us, and decided it, too, against us, for she 
 leaves for Venice this evening." 
 
 " That's well," the invalid lady rejoined, fanning 
 herself. 
 
 The next day Hess met the general going from the 
 baths towards his home. It struck the Count that 
 he was changed, and did not carry himself quite so 
 proudly as formerly. He shook Hess warmly by the 
 hand, and instantly asked if he had heard lately from 
 Magnus, adding with assumed ease, "We are expecting 
 the fellow daily. Heaven knows what is keeping him." 
 
 " What does he write ?" 
 
 " Oh, he has not written exactlj^, and that is why 
 we cannot help thinking he is coming." 
 
 They had reached the villa, where a window was 
 opened, and a lovely face, with beaming eyes, looked 
 out. "No letter 1 Poor papa! But who is with 
 you ? It is Count Hess ! See what a good memory I 
 have 1"
 
 168 VIOLETTA 
 
 In a few days * the little Fouquet' was the acknowl- 
 edged queen of the youthful society of the watering- 
 place. Various merry young lieutenants on leave 
 were at her feet, as was also Prince Branco Baran- 
 covich, an amiable bachelor, who made all the roads 
 unsafe with his four-in-hand, and placed all his horses 
 at the young lady's disposal. So, as a certain Count- 
 ess Doris, a very lovely woman, and an enthusiastic 
 horsewoman, had taken Yioletta under her special 
 protection, there were many riding-parties, at which 
 Count Hess made one, to the great anxiety of his 
 mother, who was always in dread lest Armin should 
 make ' some stupid marriage.' 
 
 One day when the general, whose use of the waters 
 was conscientious to a fault, came home from the baths, 
 to find his step-daughter watching for him as usual 
 at the window, she called out to him, " Oh, papa, just 
 think ! the Countess Doris has sent jou a magnificent 
 rose-bush !" 
 
 At first he started ; involuntarily his step grew 
 quicker, his face brighter, but at her closing words a 
 shade of disappointment passed over his features. 
 " Oh ! I thought you had a letter." 
 
 Yioletta came flying like a fawn out of the house, 
 and threw herself into his arms. " You thought, 
 papa? Oh, I am so sorry I disappointed you !" And 
 the tears rushed to her eyes. 
 
 " Never mind, mouse," he said, as they entered the 
 drawing-room. " What if we were to write again ?" 
 
 She looked at him with unutterable compassion in 
 her eyes. How much those words must have cost the 
 proud man who, two years before, when his wrath 
 was hot and his bliss at its height, had replied to a 
 letter from his son by a haughty repulse !
 
 TEPLITZ 169 
 
 " Your letter must have been lost, papa !" She did 
 not believe this any more than did he, but there waa 
 consolation in the supposition. 
 
 " Come," said the girl, closing the window and 
 placing an arm-chair for him. " Make yourself com- 
 fortable, papa, and I will order breakfast, and then we 
 will write." 
 
 The sunshine stole into the room through the green 
 Venetian blinds, filling it with a peculiar refulgence. 
 A ray hovered among Violetta's dark curls, tinging 
 them with rich, golden hues. Her lovely face spoke 
 comfort even when her lips uttered no words, and as 
 be looked at her with a sigh, his Excellency's eyes 
 grew moist. "My child!" he said, holding out his 
 hand to her. The airy figure bent over him, — the 
 girl took his hand and carried it to her lips with a 
 mixture of respect and tenderness. 
 
 There were times when he entirely forgot that Yio- 
 letta was not his own daughter. He had once had a 
 daughter, long years ago, who had died a very little 
 child, and the pain of whose loss he had never forgotten, 
 for his tenderness for her had been great. She had 
 been permitted to do many things denied to her 
 brother, — she could come to her father's room at any 
 time, however occupied he might be, and claim her 
 place upon his knee. She had been christened Louise, 
 after her mother, but he had nicknamed her mouse, 
 she was so tiny, so quiet. For five years this little 
 creature was ' papa's mouse,' and then the chill No- 
 vember wind, bringing diphtheria on its wings, nipped 
 the tender blossom. 
 
 The void left by her death was never filled for him. 
 For years he never sat at his writing-table or di'ank 
 his early cup of cofPee without a sense of loss, which 
 
 H 15
 
 170 VIOLETT A 
 
 he hardly understood until Yioletta Fouquet came to 
 show him what he had lacked. She had gradually 
 taken the vacant place in his heart, and he had begun 
 to mingle the two individualities, and to fancy at 
 times that his daughter had grown up. He might 
 hide his anxieties from the world and from his idol- 
 ized wife, but Violetta read them all in his eyes. 
 
 Suddenly Fräulein Emma appeared at the door, her 
 face bathed in tears. " The Herr Secretary is come !" 
 ßhe said, with a sob. 
 
 "What?" shouted his Excellency, springing up. 
 Yioletta threw down the pen, her face filled with 
 terror. " Papa," she whispered hurriedly, " I — I am 
 going to the Countess Doris !" And instantly she dis- 
 appeared through a door at the back of the room. The 
 general scarcely heard her words, for his son stood be- 
 fore him. It was hard work for him to master his agi- 
 tation, as he tried in vain to say in the old tone, " At 
 last, old fellow ! God bless you ! I have been really 
 anxious about you !" Then they clasped hands, and as 
 they looked in each other's eyes the father felt young 
 again. 
 
 "I only got 3'our letter, sir, the day before yester- 
 day," Magnus said at last, " for I was in Berlin, where 
 I went to our house," he hastened to say, " but missed 
 you by an hour only." 
 
 " Indeed ! And you found my letter when you got 
 back to Velzin ? What were you doing in Berlin ?" 
 
 *' They have offered me a position in the embassy to 
 Eio." 
 
 " That report is true, then !" And a cloud passed 
 over the general's face. " A terrible distance, my boy, 
 after not having seen each other for two years. 'Tis 
 not pleasant to think of"
 
 TE PLITZ 171 
 
 " There is plenty of time given me for consideration, 
 sir. We'll not think of it at present." 
 
 And then they sat and talked as they had done 
 in the old times, and the hour glided by the}^ knew 
 not how. The general was gay and animated, Magnus 
 quiet and grave. The event that had so disturbed 
 the peace of his existence still cast its shadow over 
 him; his views were, as his father soon perceived, 
 scarcely modified, but the irrepressible longing to be 
 once more with the father who had been everj^thing to 
 him had for the time thrust all other considerations 
 into the background. He meant to enjoy this meeting 
 let the consequences be what they might. They both 
 avoided as far as possible any reference to painful sub- 
 jects, until the general saw fit at the close of their 
 long talk to say, "And now, Magnus, before she re- 
 turns, I should like to know what reception you mean 
 to give to your step-sister?" 
 
 " I think you will be satisfied with me, sir," his son 
 replied, after an instant's reflection. 
 
 "That's right!" the general exclaimed, greatly re- 
 lieved. " Wherever she may be gone, she cannot bo 
 long away. We have an engagement at one, to lunch 
 with some acquaintances at fresco. 'Tis a great bore 
 on this special day. What is to be done ?" 
 
 " I will go with you, of course ; but I must first go 
 to the hotel and change my travelling-dress." 
 
 "Be here again at one," his father called after him 
 as he left the house. 
 
 When Earon Magnus returned, punctually at the ap- 
 pointed time, there was no one in the drawing-room. 
 His Excellency, so said Friedrich, was dressing. He sat 
 down, and was turning over the leaves of some books, 
 ••"^len suddenly the door opened, and he saw upon the
 
 172 VIOLETTA 
 
 threshold the childlike form of the young girl with 
 whom he had promised to have patience. 
 
 She hesitated to advance, and curtsied with a ming- 
 ling of timidity and dignity. 
 
 " Good-morning, Yioletta," he said, holding out his 
 hand with somewhat stiff courtesy. 
 
 " Good-morning," she rejoined, in a low voice. Then, 
 as he approached her, she stammered something about 
 having forgotten her gloves, and left him alone again. 
 
 Immediately afterwards the general appeared, hav- 
 ing made his toilette with all his wonted elegance. 
 " Well ? "Where is mouse ?" he asked. " Have you 
 seen her?" 
 
 " Only for a moment. She left the room immedi- 
 ately." 
 
 She soon returned with Fräulein Emma, and the 
 party set out. Magnus tried several times during 
 their walk to engage Yioletta in conversation, but she 
 evidently avoided him ; her large eyes gazed at him 
 with fear and dislike. She was silent, and he could 
 extort from her only monosyllabic replies. 
 
 The appointed place of meeting was a charming 
 garden beneath the shade of huge lindens, where there 
 were set out two tables, — one for the elder members 
 of the party and the other for the young people. 
 Here Treffenbach was greeted with enthusiasm by his 
 friend Armin, and was presented to the other members 
 of the gay circle, among whom Yioletta moved with 
 the careless ease of a bird. He could now begin his 
 study of her character, and he did so with earnest 
 gravity. She had scarcely replied to his remarks, but 
 here she was the centre of admiration. Her silvery 
 laughter harmonized with the distant music, except 
 that it was more bewitching than Strauss's waltzes.
 
 TEPLITZ 173 
 
 She had contrived, he saw clearly, to have her scat as 
 far from him as possible, but it was not on the same 
 side of the table. They sat opposite each other at 
 either end, and on her right and left glittered the gay 
 uniforms of a couple of cavalry officers. The other 
 ladies were two genial Countesses from Vienna, and 
 two fiery little Parisians, the daughters of a French 
 colonel whom wounds received in the last war had 
 sent hither for several seasons, and who, laying aside 
 all national hostility, had made friends with General 
 von Treffenbach. The two men, deeply interested in 
 the leading scientific tojDics of the day, avoided poli- 
 tics, but after lunch discussed various battles with the 
 aid of toothpicks placed in position on the table-cloth. 
 Violetta seemed greatly pleased with the little bru- 
 nettes Aimee and Hortense. Then there was the 
 Countess Doris, with her husband, the latter a rather 
 insignificant scion of the aristocracy. 
 
 Among all these people Violetta's pre-eminence 
 seemed established without any effort, almost without 
 any consciousness, of her own. Various plans for fu- 
 ture excursions were discussed; the question to be 
 settled seeming always to be whether Fräulein Fou- 
 quet had seen this or that point of interest, whether 
 she approved, and whether she preferred to drive, to 
 ride, or to walk. 
 
 " Let us ride !" she exclaimed, eagerly. " Oh, where 
 is Prince Barancovich ? Why is he not here ? Ah, there 
 he is at the other table, Lieutenant Cserny. Can you 
 not make him just the slightest sign to come to us? 
 He must hear this plan. He is so kind and will give 
 us the horses." 
 
 " The slightest sign ! Not needed, Fräulein Violetta. 
 There he comes. He has only been waiting to have 
 
 15*
 
 174 VIOL ETTA 
 
 you deign to glance towards him. You are insati- 
 able !" Count Hess spoke with great gravity, and 
 by the help of his melancholy moustache contrived 
 to gaze reproachfully at her, before glancing, his blue 
 eyes sparkling with merriment, at Magnus, whose air 
 was gravely judicial. "Here," he went on, — "here is 
 Prince Branco. Was it not enough to have us all at 
 your feet, and must you deprive that fair widow, Frau 
 von Kormany, at the other table, of the consolation of 
 her old age ?" 
 
 But Violetta replied only by a preoccupied smile. 
 Her whole attention was given to the pi-oposed excur- 
 sion, and nothing could be more joyous and free from 
 all affectation than her thanks to Prince Branco for 
 his ready concurrence in the proposed plan. 
 
 At last the assemblage broke up ; the general 
 was impatient to go home to be alone with his son, 
 and Violetta readily accepted an invitation from 
 the colonel's daughters to spend the afternoon with 
 them. 
 
 When she came home with Fräulein Emma at six 
 o'clock, she slipped noiselessly into the drawing-room, 
 where the general sat smoking a cigar and drumming 
 a march with his fingers on the arm of his chair. She 
 did not perceive his son, who stood at a window, look- 
 ing out. Supposing his Excellency to be alone, she 
 ran up to him and threw her arms about him, exclaim- 
 ing, " Oh, papa, I am so happy for you ! It will do 
 you more good than all the baths in the world !" 
 
 Magnus turned from the window, and could see the 
 crimson that flushed her cheek as, becoming aware of 
 his presence, she hurried out of the room. This little 
 intei'lude reconciled him to her again. He had watched 
 her with scarcely-concealed contempt during the lunch ;
 
 TEPLITZ 175 
 
 but she seemed to be tender and kind to bis father. 
 It was a good trait, something upon which to found 
 the training which he was now quite resolved to undei*- 
 take. Yes, she was a butterfly, a will-o'-the-wisp, but 
 the wandering gleam might in time become a pure, 
 steady flame. 
 
 Fine schemes, but very difficult to carry out, for 
 Violetta, cheerful and easy with every one else, could 
 not conquer her dread of him. He must tame her 
 as one tames a shy bird, — not an easy task. This 
 week was a whirl of entertainments. Even the gen- 
 eral, roused to new energy, took part in them, forget- 
 ting his i)ains. The usual excursions were soon ex- 
 hausted ; more distant estates were visited, and new 
 acquaintances were formed ; there were dinners, sup- 
 pers, and dances. When Magnus addressed Yioletta, 
 she would look round with an anxious air as if for 
 release, and once she greeted the approach of Count 
 Hess with such joy, that if Armin had been a cox- 
 comb he might have drawn inferences very flattering 
 to his vanity. She managed to have appointments 
 with friends when Magnus came to his father. He was 
 obliged, indeed, to have patience with her, but in a 
 difi^erent way from any that he had imagined. He 
 knew now that she could not forget his repulse of her, 
 and that it would cost him infinite pains to obliterate 
 that impression. But he remembered his promise and 
 bided his time. 
 
 One Sunday morning Prince Barancovich and the 
 Countess Doris, the two leaders in all plans for amuse- 
 ment, had invited Violetta to ride with them in the 
 early morning. Count Hess was to make a fourth in 
 the little cavalcade. The day was glorious ; the gen- 
 eral, before going to the baths, was standing with his
 
 176 VIOLETTA 
 
 son on the veranda, and Yioletta, in a steel-gray habit, 
 her little black hat well over her eyes, leaned against 
 the balustrade of the steps. The Countess had prom- 
 ised to call for her. 
 
 " AVell, I can wait no longer," the general said at 
 last. " I must go. What are you going to do, Magnus ?" 
 
 " I am going to church, sir," his son replied, looking 
 at his watch. 
 
 Violetta, who had hitherto been standing motionless, 
 turned suddenly as if to ask a question, but paused at 
 sight of Treffenbach's grave face. She blushed and 
 looked away. 
 
 " Au revoir, mouse," said her step-father. " Commend 
 me to the Countess, and tell her to take good care of 
 you." 
 
 With that he took his departure, and Yioletta glanced 
 shyl}'- at the terrible young man who now approached 
 her, but she did not run away. 
 
 *' Are you going to church this minute ?" she asked, 
 timidly. 
 
 " Oh, no ; it does not begin so early," he replied, 
 having observed both her glance and her blush. 
 
 " I did not know that there was that kind of a 
 church here," Violetta stammered. " Could I go ?" 
 
 " Certainly," he replied. " If you were not going 
 on this riding-party I would invite you to go with 
 me." 
 
 She hesitated a moment, then said, with a sigh, " 1 
 was in one of your churches once in Berlin, — that time 
 when — when you — you know " 
 
 "When what? I know nothing." 
 
 Hie tone was stern and cold, and the effort which 
 it cost him to talk with her aggravated this stern- 
 ness. Violetta made no reply, but he was determined
 
 TEPLITZ 177 
 
 not to let this opportunity slip, and he repeated his 
 question in a gentler tone. 
 
 "When you carried me out of the church," she 
 answered. 
 
 "Was that you?" he asked, amazed. "I had no 
 idea of it." 
 
 " Am I so changed ?" 
 
 " I do not know. I did not really see you then. I 
 think you had on a veil." 
 
 Violetta was silent again. His thoughts wandered 
 back to the details of that little adventure, and he 
 gathered from them hope for the future. " Violetta," 
 he began, after a pause, " can you not tell me why you 
 are so afraid of me ?" 
 
 She turned away ; even the little ear that showed 
 beneath her dark curls was crimson. 
 
 " Well ?" he asked, gravely, but gently, as he ap- 
 proached her. " I mean kindly by you ; far more 
 kindly than the others who would fain ruin you with 
 flattery." 
 
 " But you are so hard ! And I cannot forget how 
 you repulsed me two j^ears ago. I had done you no 
 harm." 
 
 " No harm !" he repeated, slowly. " Child, you do 
 not know what 3''ou are saying. We had better not 
 talk of that matter. Perhaps a time may come when 
 you will understand. Now let us begin afresh, — shall 
 we not ? Give me your hand, Violetta ; I wish to 
 befriend you like a brother." 
 
 Timidly, and with hesitation, she placed her hand 
 in his, but she did not look at him ; her eyes sought 
 the road beneath the trees, as if in hopes of the arrival 
 of her friends. 
 
 "You are a spoiled child, Violetta," ho said, with 
 m
 
 IVB VIOLETTA 
 
 Bome bitterness. " You stand in need of a friend to 
 tell you the truth, to warn you, to guard you from 
 harm ; but I am almost afraid it will be labour in 
 vain. You shrink from those who do not flatter 3'ou 
 and say smooth things to you." 
 
 Tears rushed to her eyes, but through their veil she 
 suddenly looked up at him and clasped her hands. 
 " Oh, I know, I know ! I am thoughtless and foolish, 
 and there is no one to tell me when I do wrong. But 
 indeed I will do my best, and listen to what you say, 
 however bitter it may be. Tell me my faults, and I 
 will be grateful to you." 
 
 " Come, that sounds well, and I am glad to hear it. 
 Answer me one question, pray. How would you feel 
 if all those who now flatter you were suddenly to 
 blame you ; if no one took any more notice of you ; if 
 no one petted you, or hastened to fulfil your desires ?" 
 
 Her eyes opened wide. " It would be dreadful," she 
 said, " I like to hear pleasant things, and I cannot 
 hear enough of them. Is that wrong '?" 
 
 " Yes," he said, curtly ; " and it may lead to worse. 
 Now you are but a child, Yioletta, and have no aim 
 save amusement, but in a few years, if you go on feed- 
 ing this frivolous desire for admiration, you will not 
 care how many hearts you crush beneath the chariot- 
 wheels of your vanity." 
 
 She looked at him speechless. Suddenly the tramp 
 of horses' feet was heard. Prince Barancovich, lead- 
 ing Violetta's saddled steed by the bridle, came first, 
 and halted before the villa. The girl hurried down 
 the steps, looking as if stunned b}'" a blow, was lifted 
 by the Prince into her saddle, and the whole caval- 
 cade galloped off. Treffenbach stood still and listened. 
 He heard Armin's loud, jovial tones and the pleasant
 
 TEI'LITZ 179 
 
 voice of the Countess Doris, but not that soft, silvery 
 laughter. With an indescribably uncomfortable sen- 
 sation he went into the house. He seemed to himself 
 almost like a murderer. He was restless and discon- 
 tented. He went to his hotel and tried to read, but 
 could not fix his attention. He went to church, and 
 here it wandered also. 
 
 After the service was over he again repaired to the 
 villa to see his father, arriving just in time to witness 
 the return of the riding-party. Violetta glided past 
 him like a shadow. The Countess Doris called from 
 her horse to the general through the open window, 
 " What has your Excellency been doing with your 
 daughter? She has looked as if she were just ready 
 to burst into tears all through our ride." 
 
 With that they rode off. The general had not 
 heard her words, but Magnus had, and he paced the 
 room restlessly. At last he could endure his suspense 
 no longer. He knocked at the door of Frcäulein 
 Emma's sitting-room, and entering, found Violetta sit- 
 ting in the window-seat, still in her riding-habit. She 
 had only taken off her hat. Her eyes showed that 
 she had been crying, and she looked at him from be- 
 neath her dishevelled curls with positive terror, — for 
 what was coming now ? 
 
 But, to her surprise, nothing came but soothing, 
 gentle words. He almost begged for forgiveness. He 
 told her she must not be angry with him if he had 
 been too harsh. He did not know her yet, that was 
 the reason. He had not thought she would take his 
 words so deeply to heart, and in future he would tell 
 her of her faults in the very kindest manner. 
 
 Her face cleared up like a day in spring. This 
 voice, this tone, were a change indeed.
 
 180 VIOLETT A 
 
 At last the general opened the door. " What con- 
 fidential discourse is ffoins; on here ?" he cried. 
 
 " We have contracted a friendship," said Treffen- 
 bach. 
 
 "Ah!" exclaimed the general, delighted. 
 
 " And, papa, he is going to tell me all my faults," 
 
 The general burst into a fit of laughter, and looked 
 at his son with a curious expression. " You're a good 
 fellow, Magnus, but you're a terrible Philistine," he 
 said in high good humour. 
 
 Treffenbach found it beneath his dignity to reply. 
 During the remainder of the day he pondered over 
 educational schemes that would have done honour to a 
 Pestalozzi. 
 
 CHAPTEE XYII 
 
 GAMALIEL 
 
 The rain was pouring down in torrents. Count 
 Hess, coming out of the door of his hotel with a 
 gigantic umbrella, ran against another umbrella. 
 " Oho, Treffenbach I Whither so early and in such a 
 hurry ?" 
 
 *• To my father," replied this excellent son. 
 
 " How is it that in spite of this detestable weather 
 you are so much more amiable— what shall I say ? — 
 so much more docile than usual ? But I forgot. You 
 always behave exactly as other people do not. While 
 we commonplace souls fluttered gayly in the sunshine, 
 you walked about like a gloomy Alva. To-day, when
 
 GAMALIEL 181 
 
 everybody is crawling about in a bad temper, you are 
 marching through the rain with elastic step and head 
 held proudly erect. By the way, has Fräulein Yio- 
 letta recovered her spirits, and what was the reason 
 for her riding beside me yesterday like a ' rose freshly 
 washed in a shower' ?" 
 
 " Beside you ?" Treffenbach inquired, sharply. " I 
 thought that old Prince was her escort?" 
 
 " A very graphic description of a hopeful suitor. 
 "No, he devoted himself on this occasion to the Count- 
 ess Doris, for I was there I" And the Count tapped 
 his breast as he spoke. 
 
 A pause ensued. They walked on through the rain, 
 which poured in streams from their umbrellas. 
 
 " Magnus," Hess began at last, " to leave jest for 
 earnest, pray answer me one question. You were 
 once betrothed. I hear that you are so no longer. 
 Is this so ?" 
 
 " Yes, it is so." 
 
 " And has been so for two years ?" 
 
 *' For two years." 
 
 " And Fräulein von Plattow is still unmarried ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Will you allow me to woo her?" Count Hess 
 asked, looking askance at his friend, as he had done 
 formerly when he asked the same question. 
 
 Treffenbach started. " It is not for me to allow," 
 he replied at last. " I have no further relations with 
 my cousin." 
 
 Count Hess bowed, as if in thanks. 
 
 "But have you any hope that she will listen to 
 you?" Magnus asked, still more amazed. 
 
 " No. I anticipate a refusal. Nevertheless, I mean 
 to try." 
 
 16
 
 182 VIOLETTA 
 
 " You do not lack courage, I must say. I hear she 
 has declined numerous proposals, and J^ou, — you are 
 the last man whom she would accept. Besides, they 
 told me at Yelzin that my uncle is out of health, and 
 they are probably going to some watering-place. So 
 you must hurry." 
 
 Count Hess said nothing. lie seemed lost in 
 thought. 
 
 "You really must make haste," Trcifenbach begau 
 again. It had suddenly occurred to him that it would 
 be an essential aid in Yioletta's education to have this 
 dangerous fellow removed. He had a way of flatter- 
 ing her which certainly would turn her head. 
 
 Ho forgot that Yioletta had been surrounded by 
 flatterers ever since she could walk and talk, and that 
 she was too accustomed to such homage as the Count's 
 for it to make any impression upon her. 
 
 " I think," Count Hess said, slowly, " that I shall 
 write first, but not to-day." 
 
 Treff'enbach was not greatly edified, and Hess bade 
 him good-morning, leaving him to pursue his peda- 
 gogue train of thought. Yes, she was worldly, her 
 mind was filled with the germs of evil, but he could 
 not but admit that circumstances had been most to 
 blame. She had been systematically spoiled, but her 
 impulses were good. Frau Ehrhardt was right. Well, 
 his patience should not fail. 
 
 Never did a shej)herd climb a mountain to rescue a 
 sheep from among thorns with more eager resolution, 
 forgetting that the higher he climbed the deeper grew 
 the abyss at his feet. 
 
 The general was at the baths ; Fräulein Emma and 
 Violetta were in the drawing-room, weary of the rain. 
 The young girl looked up timidly at the visitor, and
 
 GAMALIEL 183 
 
 yet in her eyes there was somethin<^ of the expec- 
 tation with which a child looks forward to a visit 
 from Santa Claus, — he is terrible for naughty little 
 ones, but he is sure to have something pretty for the 
 good. 
 
 To-day, however, the general's return put a speedy 
 stop to educational schemes, and again Magnus was 
 forced to admit that his step-sister's gentle care of his 
 father, her quiet womanly way of anticipating all his 
 wants, were strangely inconsistent with the worldly 
 character which he had attributed to her. The rain 
 was forgotten. Treffenbach found the morning won- 
 derfully short, and not until he set out again for his 
 hotel did he notice how dai-k and gloomy were the 
 skies. 
 
 The family from the villa dined daily, when not 
 absent upon parties of pleasure, at the table-d'hote of 
 the house where Magnus, and his friend Hess with 
 his parents, were staying ; and the sight of the Count 
 opposite him at table recalled to his mind the fact 
 that he was now his rival ; that he was about to be 
 Marie Louise's suitor, an aspirant for that harmonious 
 happiness which had once been the dream of his own 
 life. 
 
 He had really forgotten all about it until now, and 
 when he saw his friend leaning towards Violetta, and 
 heard her gay replies to him, his only sensation was 
 that of impatience. What was Hess waiting for? Why 
 did he not go to Eavenhorst immediately ? It would 
 be much better for Violetta's peace of mind. 
 
 He soon discovered that he was not the only one who 
 noticed the disturbing element. The invalid Countess 
 Hess was watching her son narrowly. After dinner, 
 while the general, the old Count Hess, and Colonel
 
 184 VI OLE TT A 
 
 Dubois were playing a game of cards, and the young 
 people, standing in a window-recess with their backs 
 to the rain, were chatting together, the invalid called 
 Baron TreflPenbach to her where she was seated by 
 another window in her wheeled chair. " A charming 
 girl, your — step-sister," she said, looking steadily at 
 him ; " really charming." 
 
 " She certainly is," he replied, coldly. 
 
 " Eather dangerous for your sex, eh ? Armin raves 
 about her. I am fully prepared to hear of his laying 
 his freedom at her feet." 
 
 "Hardl}^," Magnus replied, hastily. "You forget 
 that she was trained for the ballet." 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! But she never appeared in public ?" 
 
 " She did appear." 
 
 " Ah ! that troubles me !" 
 
 Treffenbach said to himself, "And me too!" but he 
 bit his lip and was silent. As the Countess perceived 
 that she had here an all}^, she went on more confiden- 
 tially : " Armin is always so thoughtless. I wish he 
 would take example by you. I greatly fear that while 
 he is thinking only of amusing himself, that little sor- 
 ceress will turn his head." 
 
 The result of this was that Treffenbach resolved to 
 write to his uncle Plattow on the morrow and set 
 forth the excellencies of his friend. He reflected that 
 there was something grand and noble in this resolve. 
 He, the rejected lover, would woo for his friend. Such 
 conduct it would be difficult to parallel. 
 
 Instead of waiting until the morrow, that very even- 
 ing he carried to his friend a carefully-written letter. 
 The Count had a small room at the end of the corridor 
 where his parents were lodged. This room was now 
 filled with tobacco-smoke, and its occupant, in his
 
 GAMALIEL 185 
 
 shirt-sleeves, lay stretclied out on the sofa, with his 
 feet on the small table before it. 
 
 " What are you about, Iless ?" Magnus asked, with 
 some irritation, for this picture did not exactly har- 
 monize with the one he had just drawn of his friend 
 in his letter to his uncle. 
 
 Hess sprang up, and blew away the smoke that he 
 might see who was coming. 
 
 " I have been trying to smooth the way for you at 
 Eavenhorst," said Magnus, laying the letter on the 
 table. 
 
 "What? Have you been writing? You are a 
 splendid fellow !" the Count said, opening the window 
 that the smoke might escape. " There's a classic 
 touch about you, Magnus. You behave like a citizen 
 of the old Eoman Eepublic. May I read it ?" 
 
 " Of course. I will send this letter to-night, and 
 yours can follow to-morrow." 
 
 Hess read, and began to laugh. " Superb ! old fel- 
 low. But I really cannot go on without blushing. 
 There, take it ; I will not read any more." 
 
 " There is not an exaggerated expression in it. If 
 it were not fundamentally true you would not be my 
 friend." 
 
 " Oh, I'm a splendid fellow, no doubt of that. I'm 
 glad you've come to see it at last." 
 
 The next morning, when Trelfenbach went to the 
 villa, Violetta was standing on the door-steps, looking 
 impatiently down the road. The leaves were still 
 dripping, for it had rained during the night, and there 
 were still clouds here and there in the skies. 
 
 " The weather is doubtful," she said, " and I do not 
 know whether the Countess will come for me or not. 
 I wish she did not mind the clouds." 
 
 16*
 
 186 VIOLETTA 
 
 " It would be far healthier to take a pleasant walk," 
 Treffenbach said. "And besides, Violetta, to speak 
 frankly, these riding-parties are not to my taste. 
 Apparently you are under the care of the Countess 
 Doris, who I have no doubt is an excellent person, but 
 in reality you are left entirely to the not very edifying 
 conversation of my friend Armin." 
 
 " Is that wrong ?" she asked, with an evident desire 
 to learn, looking him full in the face. 
 
 " It is — hm ! — superfluous." 
 
 " I like him so much ; he is so kind and genial ; 
 always merry and always courteous." 
 
 " My child, what exaggerated expressions ! Come, 
 get your hat, and ask Fräulein Emma to go to walk 
 with you." 
 
 " It is very damp, and I do not want to go very 
 much." 
 
 " An excellent opportunity for self-discipline." 
 
 She looked at him thoughtfully. " Well, then, I 
 will go. "Will you come too ?" she added, timidly. 
 
 " With pleasure." 
 
 She looked uncertain whether to be glad or not. 
 He instantly observed it. " Violetta, I thought we 
 were to be friends ; and you are still afraid of me." 
 
 " No, no ; I am sure you are kind. I will go and 
 get Emma, and — we shall be at home again by the 
 time papa comes fi'om his bath, shall we not ?" 
 
 " Assuredly." 
 
 Fräulein Emma sighed in secret, but she consented 
 to go. Treffenbach took them a very pretty walk 
 up the mountain-side. When a breeze stirred the 
 branches the drops showered down upon them, and 
 Violetta laughed. They reached a charming point of 
 view, from which they could see far doAvn the valley,
 
 GAMALIEL 187 
 
 and here all three stood still, as silent as they had 
 been on the way hither. At last Violetta said, half 
 in play, half in entreaty, " And now we can go back !" 
 
 " ISTo indeed," said Treffenbach, gravely. " You 
 must have a fine idea of a sensible walk." 
 
 " I am a little tired ; this last gay, crowded week 
 has tired me." 
 
 "A walk is the best remedy for fatigue of that 
 kind." 
 
 And on they went. Fi-äulein Emma groaned. Her 
 loose galoshes slipped about among the damp roots of 
 the trees that were interlaced on the pathway. Tref- 
 fenbach strode on in front. Violetta was silent, and 
 looked a little pale. As she did not say anything, he 
 turned to her at last : " Will you go to church with 
 me next Sunday, — to my church ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," she said quickly. " You know my 
 father's mother was a Protestant, and ever since that 
 time in Berlin I have wanted to go to a church like 
 that." 
 
 " But that is not exactly'' my church." 
 
 " What is the difference ? I am so very ignorant." 
 
 "The difference? Well, the difference cannot be 
 explained in a few words. But I could teach you 
 about it." 
 
 " I would much rather have you tell me the right, 
 and what I ought to do." 
 
 " Impossible ! In such matters all must reflect, 
 study, compai'e, and choose for themselves." 
 
 " Ah, good heavens !" sighed the child of the Milan 
 La Scala and of Italy's sunny skies. 
 
 Treffenbach could not help smiling. " Study would 
 be hard for you, would it not?" he asked. 
 
 " I am afi-aid it would."
 
 188 VI OLE TT A 
 
 " Well, we will see. You may come to like it." 
 
 They paused and waited for Fräulein Emma, who 
 came on panting. The sun had scattered the clouds 
 for a time at least, and the valley at their feet lay glit- 
 tering as if bathed in dew. Every leaf was sprinkled 
 with jewels. Violetta gazed, lost in the beauty before 
 her, and then looked \ip at her companion with a con- 
 fiding smile. The distant toll of a bell broke the spell 
 of her happy silence. " Some one is dead," she said. 
 "Ah, how unhappy to have to die!" 
 
 Here was a fine opportunity for some edifying re 
 marks, but none occurred to Treffenbach. 
 
 " Shall we turn back now ?" Violetta asked, at last. 
 
 "No, we must reach that point up there if you 
 mean to take what can be called a walk." 
 
 She obeyed silently, and trudged on bravely for a 
 while ; but when Magnus, arrived at the goal, looked 
 round, he saw that Violetta instead of Emma was now 
 the last. It vexed him. Was she still regretting the 
 riding-party ? She was obstinate, then. 
 
 " Violetta !" he called, sternly. 
 
 She looked up, trying to smile, but her face was 
 colourless and her eyes were dull. Suddenly she 
 clasped her arms about the slender trunk of a tree, 
 trying to hold herself upright by it, but she slipped 
 down, her hands lost their hold, and the next instant 
 she was lying motionless upon the thick moss. 
 
 He was startled, and hurrying down, kneeled beside 
 her. " What is the matter ?" he asked, looking up for 
 aid to Fräulein Emma. 
 
 "It is only my foot," Violetta murmured, bravely 
 fighting against the fainting-fit that made the day 
 grow dark about her. " It is of no consequence ; it 
 will soon be better."
 
 GAMALIEL 189 
 
 "Poor child! Lean your head upon my shoulder; 
 80. Wait a moment. Where is your handkerchief?" 
 He took it and pressed it down into the wet moss, 
 which soon drenched the delicate cambric, and he then 
 bound it about her forehead. It was the only thing to 
 do that he (iould think of, and it was eifectual. 
 
 " Thanks, thanks," said Violetta. " I can see now. 
 You are very kind. " 
 
 " When I was young," Fräulein Emma remarked, 
 with tears in her eyes, "the cousin of one of my 
 friends dropped down dead when she was taking a 
 walk one day." 
 
 This enlivening anecdote called forth a faint smile 
 from Violetta, but Treffenbach shuddered. That pale 
 little face, with half-closed eyes, suggested death and 
 dying. " And you walked on so obediently, and never 
 said a word about the pain." 
 
 " It came so gradually. It always comes when I 
 have that tired feeling. It is all the fault of the gay 
 week ; it really is of no consequence. It is better 
 already." 
 
 " But you cannot get up." 
 
 " Not yet, I am afraid." 
 
 "What is to be done? You cannot have grown 
 much heavier in these two years, Violetta. I will 
 carry you down the mountain." 
 
 " Oh, no, no ! I am far too heavy now. Send up 
 some men with a litter ; that can easily be done." 
 
 " But the moss and the grass are drijDping wet, ana 
 that cloud looks like rain." 
 
 "In Pinczow, where I was born," Fräulein Emma, 
 remarked, wiping her eyes, " a girl once died of sitting 
 out on the wet grass." 
 
 " There, you hear," said Treffenbach ; and without
 
 190 VIOLETT A 
 
 more ado he lifted her in his arms and carried her 
 down the mountain-side. But he did not propose to 
 her to clasp her arms about his neck, and when the 
 wind blew one of her dark curls against his cheek, his 
 face flushed so that Violetta said, reproachfully, "You 
 see now, I am too heavy for you." 
 
 " Nonsense !" he replied. 
 
 Thus they reached the villa, where Treffenbach re- 
 ceived his father's reproof with exemplar}^' meekness. 
 In consequence of this expedition Violetta was obliged 
 to lie on the lounge and take care of her foot for sev- 
 eral days. 
 
 Magnus blamed himself, and accused himself of 
 heartlessness for being so satisfied as he was with this 
 arrangement. He now had an excellent opportunity 
 for explaining to Yioletta, as he had promised, the dif- 
 ferences between the various Protestant doctrines. 
 The first day, to be sure, this was impossible, for sym- 
 pathizing visitors were perpetually appearing, and the 
 Countess Doris took up her post, in true maternal 
 fashion, by the side of the lounge, and made herself as 
 odious, Treifenbach thought, as she was useful. 
 
 The next day, however, he seated himself, fortified 
 with several learned-looking books, by the window, 
 and began his lesson as the general left for the bath. 
 When his Excellency returned he heard the murmur 
 of a reading voice through the open window, and 
 entering the room, he saw his son still seated at 
 the window, his right hand slightly raised as if to 
 give emphasis to his words, a book in his left hand 
 and another on his knee. He was reading aloud, 
 slowly and distinctly, while Fräulein Emma, kneel- 
 ing on the floor, was gathering up the contents of 
 her work-basket, which had upset. On the sofa lay
 
 GAMALIEL 191 
 
 Violetta, her head resting on the cushion, sleeping 
 sweetly. 
 
 His Excellency began to laugh. Magnus put doAvn 
 his book and looked about him with a surprised air. 
 Violetta opened her eyes, and seemed as ashamed and 
 terrified as a naughty child. "Oh, dear!" she mur- 
 mured, glancing towards the clock. " I — I have slept 
 an hour! Ah, don't be vexed! I had such a lovely 
 dream about heaven and my guardian angel. Was 
 there not something about that in the book ?" 
 
 " No," said Magnus. 
 
 " Ah, don't be vexed !" she begged again. 
 
 And Magnus was not vexed. He had promised to 
 be patient ; it was thus that he excused to himself his 
 forbearance in view of such levity. He had been 
 reading aloud for an hour to the chairs and tables, and 
 to — what was much the same thing — Fräulein Emma ; 
 his carefully emphasized theological definitions had 
 been lost on the air; but how could he expect that this 
 fluttering butterfly could be transformed in a day into 
 a grave, thoughtful girl ä la Marie Louise ? 
 
 He should have to read to-day's discourse all over 
 again on the morrow ; but, after all, that was hardly 
 to be regretted. 
 
 In short, he felt himself possessed of the long-suffex- 
 ing of a genuine pedagogue, as he followed his father 
 to his room. 
 
 " What amusing book have you found, my dear boy, 
 to keep Violetta so brisk and wide awake ?" his Ex- 
 cellency asked, in high good humor, — " a ghost-stoiy 
 from the circulating library ?" 
 
 "She herself begged me to explain to her the differ- 
 ences between the various Protestant sects," Troffen- 
 bach replied, gravely. " She is, as you know, a Catho-
 
 192 VIOLETTA 
 
 lie, but hev father's inothei* was a Calvinist, slic tells 
 me, which gives her an interest in Protestantism, and 
 she asked me, since Fräulein Emma is also a Catholic, 
 to take her on Sunday to oxir church." 
 
 " You mean the Lutheran ? Will that not be rather 
 confusing?" And the general lighted a cigar. "But 
 do not let me interfere with your system of instruction. 
 The kind of mathematical theology to which you are 
 treating her can do her no harm, for she does not un- 
 derstand one word of it." 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII 
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 
 
 " Come out here, mouse ; here is a surprise for you !" 
 the general called in at the open drawing-room window. 
 
 It was a surprise indeed ! There stood a dear old 
 friend, — a lovely creature that two years previously 
 had been fed by Yioletta on sugar and bonbons, and 
 that had in return carried her swiftly and safely on 
 its back. 
 
 " Montresor !" the girl exclaimed in high glee, as 
 with a light spring from the hall steps she sat on the 
 brown, shining back and clasped her arms about the 
 favourite's slender neck. 
 
 Now it would have been quite reasonable for Tref- 
 fenbach to be annoyed by this feat, — this reminiscence 
 of pink gauze petticoats ; but he only smiled. 
 
 "May I ride him?" Yioletta asked, eagerly. "Did 
 you send for him for that, eh ?"
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 193 
 
 "jffe is a mare," said the general. 
 
 " Why, then, did you give her that masculine-sound- 
 ing name ?" 
 
 " I did not give it to her," Magnus replied, hastily. 
 " But why should it sound masculine ? My treasure 
 is — well, it does not sound to me as if it meant a man." 
 
 " Bravo !" laughed his Excellency. 
 
 From this time on all the excursions Yioletta rode 
 the brown mare, and since, as Magnus discovered, the 
 creature had a trick of shying, he usually rode beside 
 her. From this point of view matters wore a very 
 different aspect from that which they had presented 
 to him before. "When those beaming looks, that gay 
 talk, were all for him, he could not find it in his heart 
 to remind her that it was wrong to allow her heart to 
 cleave to the worthless gauds of this world. And what 
 would have become of the charm of these bright morn- 
 ings if he could not have heard that delicious laughter 
 in which her whole individuality seemed to be trans- 
 lated into music ? 
 
 The general was infinitely amused by all this, but 
 he took good care not to make his amusement too 
 apparent to his son. Violetta once heard him laugh 
 aloud in his room, and she ran in to him, put her 
 hands upon his shoulders, and said, "Are we not 
 haj)py, papa ?" 
 
 *' I think we are, mouse." 
 
 " We have even forgotten our cares, papa." 
 
 " We'll not mention those old monsters, child. All 
 I think of now is that I have both my children with 
 me, and that when mamma comes back our happiness 
 promises to be perfect." 
 
 *' Oh !" ci-ied Yioletta, solemnly raising both hands. 
 "Happiness! happiness!" 
 in 17
 
 194 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Ah, you gypsy, what do you know ahout it ?" 
 
 "Happiness is love!" she answered with dignity, 
 and there was an indescribable glow upon the child- 
 like features. " Why do you laugh, papa ?" 
 
 " I should really like to know whom you love." 
 
 She confronted him with extended arms and spark- 
 ling eyes. " The whole world !" 
 
 « Aha, indeed ?" 
 
 " Now you are laughing at me, papa." 
 
 "No, no. Heaven keep you just as you are! And 
 now let us take a drive." 
 
 She ran away singing, and was just passing through 
 the drawing-room, when she saw her young teacher 
 seated by the window with a book in his hand. The 
 sight of him had the effect of instantly transform- 
 ing her exuberant gayety into a rather shamefaced 
 silence. 
 
 " Violetta !" he said, and his tone betrayed his dis- 
 pleasure. She had the door-handle in her grasp, — she 
 stool still, hesitated, and sighed. 
 
 " You are angry with me. I — I have been laughing 
 in that silly way again, and then — then " 
 
 " Then what ?" he asked, rising and approaching 
 her. One can look into the eyes of a repentant child 
 so much better when one stands beside her than from 
 the other side of the room. " Then what, Violetta ?" 
 
 " I am sure you heard what I said to papa when he 
 asked me whom I loved." 
 
 There was a strange, cold look in his eyes as he re- 
 joined, " JSTo ; but I should really like " 
 
 " I said ' the whole world,' " she replied, dejectedly. 
 " I felt a little sting in my heart as I said it, for I re- 
 membered how often you have told me that we ought 
 not to love the world. I instantly begged God to for-
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 195 
 
 give me, but I am afraid it is all in vain. I shall 
 always be thoughtless !" 
 
 The clouds on his brow vanished, and the smile that 
 succeeded them was very becoming to his stern feat- 
 ures. " There can be no great wrong in loving ' the 
 whole world,' Violetta, in the sense in which you used 
 the words, and I was not displeased with you for 
 laughing, but because you stopped laughing as soon 
 as you saw me. Why was it, Violetta? Am I so 
 terrible, so disagreeable? I must go away if my 
 presence spoils your enjoyment." 
 
 Quick as lightning she clasped her hands about his 
 arm, as if she feared he would vanish on the instant. 
 "No, no; you must never go away, never!" 
 
 "And why not?" 
 
 " Because it would break your father's heart." 
 
 This was not exactly what ho had hoped to hear. 
 
 " Oh, he is so happy now," she went on, eagerly. 
 " He is another man, — young and gay again. Ah, 
 how — how he loves you ! More than both of us to- 
 gether, — mamma and me. And he shall have you. I 
 say it must be !" 
 
 The carriage for the drive stopped before the house, 
 and Violetta waited for no rej^ly. She was gone. 
 
 The general drove off with the air o;£ a cheerful 
 Jove, but he returned with a clouded brow. The 
 cause of this was a letter from his lovely wife, which 
 he had taken from the post on the way home. It was 
 from Milan, and was as follows : 
 
 " Dear Constantin, — I have now nibbled at every 
 corner of Italy like a mouse at a sugar-plum. I have 
 celebrated a hundred revivals of old associations, and 
 refreshed as many memories, for it seems to mo that
 
 196 VIOLETTA 
 
 1 was here in my youth a century ago, and that since 
 then I have grown old and gray. A lifetime has rolled 
 by to eternity in the two years during which I have 
 had the honour and the joy of being your wife. My 
 dearest friend, it is both an honour and a joy to me, 
 and yet — let me frankly acknowledge — these years 
 have been leaden-winged. Thirty such years succeed- 
 ing one another would make me a thousand years old. 
 I find here that the same time that marched so slowly 
 and so gravely in Wilhelms-strasse can be laden with 
 delight, gliding past on feet of quicksilver. 
 
 " What a pity it is that you are not here ! The first 
 day my arrival was made known, the people of Milan 
 sui-rounded the hotel, clamouring to see me. For here, 
 amico mio, it is not only from princes and citizens that 
 we receive applause and laurels, — here an entire people 
 claims us. 
 
 "I went out upon my balcony, and was received 
 like a queen. Such moments always moved me deeply. 
 I burst into tears, and looked round for some sympa- 
 thetic friend upon whose breast to shed them. Ah! 
 there was no one behind me but fat Peppino Menardi. 
 General, you should have been there, — not behind me ; 
 no, beside me ; and the people, seeing you, would have 
 forgiven me ! 
 
 " Does this sound positively crazy to you ? — as if 
 from another world? Ah, Constantin, do not forget 
 that my world was the stage ! 
 
 " But now about our daughter. You write me very 
 gaily of the conquests that she makes ; she has the 
 world at her feet. I am sure of that. She was born 
 under a lucky star, and attracts all hearts. But who 
 would have thought that your son — that woman- 
 hater — and my daughter ! — I must confess that what
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 197 
 
 yoii say fills me with delight and exultation. When 
 will he ask to kiss the hand of his mamma-in-law ? 
 I am not malicious, but my satisfaction is gi'eat, 
 and I congratulate the little witch. And so, 'since 
 then,' Count Hess and Prince Branco have retired? 
 This does not please me. Prince Branco was in 
 earnest, and we must not trifle away Yioletta's true 
 happiness. He is immensely wealthy, amiable, and 
 good-natured, — a sufficient guarantee for a happy mar- 
 riage. That he is old enough to be her father is of 
 no consequence. Let Violetta marry whomsoever 
 she will, she will love her husband, even though he 
 be a scoundrel. She is the dearest creature in the 
 world. 
 
 " So do your best to encourage Branco. Violetta 
 must marry early, or what will become of her? You 
 have refused to allow her to go upon the stage, and 
 she has no vocation for the cloister. 
 
 " Or do you really think that your son could be so 
 absolutely faithless to his principles ? No, my friend, I 
 cannot believe it ; but I ought to have a hand in bring- 
 ing matters to a climax : it is woman's work. I ought 
 to discover whether I have any talent as a match- 
 maker. 
 
 " "We go next to ^Naples, whence I have received the 
 most delightful letters. The day before yesterday I 
 came quite unexpectedly upon Sir George O'Hallorau. 
 He has just arrived in Italy after two years in his 
 Irish home, and seems to be mending his ways and 
 frequenting the best society here. Of course ho can 
 always do so if he chooses, and it can never make any 
 difference to me, who must always be proud to call 
 him friend. The feeling that I entertain for this 
 strange, eccentric man would seem to the world at 
 
 17*
 
 198 VIOLETTA 
 
 large quixotic. It is the love that the creature has 
 for its creator, — the work for the master. I know he 
 is ugly and nonsensical, but I do not care. He is sar- 
 castic and insulting, but I forgive him. Between us 
 there reigns that absolute frankness which often drags 
 a friend ruthlessly over stones and thorns, — very hard 
 to bear at the time, but beneficial in memory, like a 
 fresh salt sea-breeze scattering unhealthy mists. 
 
 " But I will not bore you any longer with my lucu- 
 brations. Please send me a few thousand lire to 
 Sorrento, to the address of the Countess Sala Sel- 
 vaggio. I shall be much obliged to you, for the series 
 of entertainments given me in Yenice, Florence, and 
 Milan have fairly ruined me. 
 
 " A thousand kisses to Yioletta. 
 
 " Beatrice." 
 
 The general paced his room to and fro with this 
 letter in his hand, frowning gloomily. Where was it 
 to end ? She would ruin him with a smile on her lips, 
 and what then ? A few thousand lire were in her eyes 
 a mere bagatelle, to be scattered from a balcony among 
 a crowd for the sake of some dozen vivats. Two years 
 ago the few thousand lire would have mattered nothing 
 in view of the charming frankness of this letter ; but 
 it is not now ' two years ago.' 
 
 On one occasion formerly he had told her that she 
 must set bounds to her extravagance. For the first 
 time there was a tone of menace in his voice like the 
 roll of distant thunder. The beautiful woman had 
 gazed at him in dismay. She had not excused her- 
 self, she had made no lament, but the large eyes filled 
 with tears, and seemed to say, reproachfully, ' Are you 
 beginning to play the domestic tyrant already ?' The
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 199 
 
 consequence was that he went out and bought her a 
 costly trinket to obliterate the memory of the shock 
 he had caused her. He would gladly have bought her 
 a trinket upon every such occasion, but he could do so 
 no longer. And the worst of it was that at the least 
 hint from him of impending ruin she would laugh 
 gaily, and declare, " We poor ? We beggars ? Do you 
 dare to mention such a thing to Beatrice Fouquet ? It 
 is like crying over a swan that has tumbled into the 
 water, 'Help, help, it will drown!' Let me tell you 
 that as long as a clear note is left in my throat, the 
 Beatrice can gain more in a single evening than she 
 spends in a year." 
 
 And what could he do ? This was her way of con- 
 soling him. 
 
 But, after all, there was no good in brooding over it. 
 He heard Violetta singing in the next room, and laugh- 
 ing merrily, and he thrust his cares from him into 
 the most hidden corner of his memory, and joined his 
 ' two children' with a cheerful face. 
 
 He found Fräulein Emma with them, standing be- 
 fore the mirror, dressed in a gorgeous plum-coloured 
 silk gown. She wore no kerchief tied about her face, 
 and was scrutinizing her features in the glass closely, 
 with a self-satisfied air. 
 
 " Excellency-papa," exclaimed Violetta, " we are 
 going to the photographer's. Emma is to be photo- 
 graphed." 
 
 " Yes, your Excellency," said the Fräulein, blushing; 
 " only I am almost ashamed to go through the streets 
 without a kerchief tied around my face. I feel quite 
 undressed." 
 
 " We'll send for a close carriage," the general said, 
 lauffhiniT.
 
 200 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Your Excellency is always making game of me." 
 
 "Not at all; on the contrary, I beg for a photo- 
 graph." 
 
 This mollified the Fräulein, and Yioletta called mer- 
 rily, " Come, do not let us wait any longer." 
 
 " What ! are you going too, mouse ?" 
 
 "Indeed I must go," she declared; "the Countess 
 Doris, and Fräulein von Andral, and a hundred others, 
 have asked me for my picture." 
 
 Treffenbach, who had been reading by the window, 
 now looked up. "But not in that gown?" he said, 
 scanning Violetta gravely. 
 
 " And why not ? It makes no difference." 
 
 " I think it does. Put on a white muslin, or, better 
 still, that thing you wore the other evening at the con- 
 cert. It was pale pink, with a great deal of white lace 
 about it and j)ink silk rose-buds, and you had a neck- 
 lace of pearls. That dress suits you better, Yioletta, 
 because — well, because it harmonizes with your figure 
 better than that close-fitting, stiff walking-dress." 
 
 " Then I must go and change it," Yioletta said, with 
 a sigh. 
 
 "Don't forget the pearl necklace," Magnus called 
 after her. 
 
 Scarcely was she gone when the general asked, with 
 lifted brows, " Is this the modern method of rooting 
 out vanity from the feminine mind, Magnus ?" 
 
 His son bit his lip and coloured : " Oh, this is only 
 a question of taste, of aesthetics." 
 
 "H'm! Nevertheless, I believe the other effect 
 can be produced also. For if there is in Yioletta's 
 soul any trace of vanity, I am convinced that the 
 weed is of so microscopic a kind that it must first be 
 cultivated in order to bo found and rooted out."
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 201 
 
 Soon afterward Fräulein Emma and Yioletta, in 
 long gray cloaks, passed beneath the windows outside, 
 and looked up and nodded. Treffenbach grew restless : 
 he could not keep his attention upon his book. 
 
 " I really had better go with them, — to see that they 
 make a success of it." 
 
 " Oh," the general said, not without a spice of 
 malice, "you need not be afraid; Violetta has had 
 a deal of experience in the art of sitting for her pho- 
 tograj)h." 
 
 " Yes, but Fräulein Emma ? It will be frightful, if 
 some one does not prevent her from holding a basket 
 of flowers or something of the kind in her hand." 
 
 " You are right. Go, then, and take care of poor 
 Emma." 
 
 Magnus took his hat and hurried out. Heavens, 
 how they must have walked ! There was nothing to 
 be seen of them, and the noonday sun was scorching. 
 In his haste he almost ran against several people 
 sauntering slowly along. At last some one came hur- 
 rying after him. " Treffenbach ! halloo, Treffenbach !" 
 
 " Good-morning, Armin. Excuse me, I am in a 
 hurry." 
 
 " But stop, stop ! I am out of breath, and I must 
 Bpeak with you !" 
 
 " What is the matter ?" 
 
 Count Hess stood breathless beside him, holding him 
 tight by the sleeve that he might not escape him. 
 "Listen, Magnus. I am betrothed!" 
 
 "To whom?" 
 
 " You know." 
 
 " I congratulate you with all my heart," said Tref- 
 fenbach, peering into the distance ; " but will you 
 please excuse me for a moment? I am in a great
 
 202 VIOLETTA 
 
 hurry ; the ladies are waiting, 1 will come to j'^ou to- 
 day after dinner." And he brolce away and hurried on. 
 
 " The deuce !" said Hess ; and he walked away, 
 laughing, and whistling a waltz. 
 
 Meanwhile, Treffenbach had reached the photogra- 
 pher's atelier, just at the moment when the prepared 
 plate was being adjusted. 
 
 Fräulein Emma was trying all kinds of graceful at- 
 titudes at the end of the room, while Violetta's light 
 figure stood out against the gray background of the 
 screen. Treffenbach advanced hastily. " Why have 
 you made your hair so smooth, Yioletta ?" he asked ; 
 " and I do not like that position. There, that's better ; 
 and let your hair curl upon your forehead, so ; that is 
 more natural." 
 
 " Will the lady kindly look upwards ?" said the pho- 
 tographer. 
 
 " Nonsense !" Magnus exclaimed, eagerly ; " not such 
 a heaven-appealing glance as that. Now clasp your 
 hands, naturally, as you are apt to stand. That is just 
 right." 
 
 " And where shall I look?" she asked. 
 
 " Look at me. That is quite natural." And he stood 
 beside the photographer. Violetta obeyed, but she 
 began to smile. 
 
 " Now, if you please !" said the man, taking off the 
 cover. " One, two, three." 
 
 Treffenbach had made himself the target of a look 
 which he found it hard to meet calmly. It rested upon 
 him full and warm as the sunshine, steadfast, without 
 a quiver. A delicate flush rose to Yioletta's cheek ; a 
 sweet, arch smile hovered upon her lips. Magnus felt 
 his heart suddenly begin to beat wildly, and yet it 
 was as if the sunshine of that glance aroused that
 
 BRIGHT SKIES IN SPITE OF CLOUDS 203 
 
 heart from its wintry sleep, flung wide locked doors, 
 and let in the fresh breath of spring, to wake to life 
 what had hitherto been cold and dead. 
 
 *' Thanks !" said the impassible photographer, putting 
 on the cover again. " This picture ought to be perfect." 
 
 " Now for the other lady !" said Yioletta ; " her pic- 
 ture is by far the more important." 
 
 Fräulein Emma's sitting was an affair of time ; she 
 could not soon decide upon a position, but Treffen- 
 bach's patience was' inexhaustible. Meanwhile, he 
 stood beside Violetta, watching her fasten the long 
 row of buttons on her gloves. 
 
 " Why did you make so strange a face when I looked 
 at you, Baron Treffenbach ?" his pupil asked him, cu- 
 riously. 
 
 «' What kind of a face ?" 
 
 " Oh, an entirely indescribable face." 
 
 " Indeed ! But why do you call me Baron Treffen- 
 bach? Why not say Magnus ?" 
 
 " I will. Magnus, did you ever button a lady's 
 gloves ?" she asked. " Little Lieutenant Cserny does 
 it so beautifully ; buttons one button, and then looks 
 up so sweetly and asks, ' Is that right ?' and then 
 another " 
 
 He turned away, and the stern expression came into 
 his eyes again. 
 
 " One, two, three," the patient photographer counted, 
 and Fräulein Emma sat bolt upright with immense 
 solemnity in a richly-carved arm-chair. 
 
 "Dear Magnus," Violetta whispered at last, half 
 timidly, half smiling, " if I do wrong it is your duty 
 to tell me so, but not to be silent." And her SAveet face, 
 framed in soft curls, looked entreatingly at him from 
 beneath her white hat.
 
 204 VIOL ETTA 
 
 "You are right; but I always forget with whom I 
 have to deal. It is not the thing, Violetta, to allow 
 every silly lieutenant who comes along to button 
 your gloves for you. There is no harm in the act 
 in itself, but it shows such a desire foi admiration, so 
 frivolous a " 
 
 " But I never told you that he buttoned my gloves. 
 It was Aimee Dubois. I only looked on." 
 
 Treffenbach said nothing, but he began to smile. 
 
 " You are very strict," sighed Violetta. 
 
 " I am afraid, my poor child, that I am too harsh 
 with you. Forgive me, Violetta." 
 
 "All through 1" the photographer called out. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX 
 
 A BETROTHAL 
 
 An accidental glimpse of the Countess Hess's 
 wheeled chair reminded Magnus of his promise to go 
 to his friend after dinner. He found him in his room 
 writing. 
 
 "Ah, here you are, Magnus I "Well, you find me 
 writing my first letter to my betrothed. My be- 
 trothed I My brain reels at the thought. Can you 
 understand it ? One thing is clear, and very delight- 
 ful, — nothing can disturb our friendship, old fellow. 
 Give me your hand. Even this affair changes nothing 
 between us." 
 
 " Certainly not," Treffenbach said, sincerely. " And 
 let me tell you frankly, Marie Louise is just the wife 
 whom you need."
 
 A BETROTHAL 205 
 
 " Not a doubt of it ; but it seems incredible to me 
 that I should be the husband whom she needs. That 
 I never ventured to hope. Now I wish I had read 
 your letter!" 
 
 Treffenbach hardly relished this allusion to his influ- 
 ential epistle. " You can read it at Eavenhorst, Ar- 
 min, and then tell me if I said one word too much. 
 Now tell me all your plans." 
 
 " They are precisely what yours would have been 
 if " And Count Hess could not refrain from laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 " You intend, then," Treff'enbach said, taking no 
 notice of his friend's merriment, "to give up your 
 position in Brussels and live at Eavenhorst." 
 
 " Of course. Marie Louise will not leave her old 
 grandparents alone there, and the estate needs atten- 
 tion, etc. I have written to her that the lot of the 
 country aristocracy has always seemed to me very en- 
 viable, particularly in the summer. Immense agricul- 
 tural activity, combined with immense loitering. "VYe 
 may indulge in the pleasure of having our hands kissed 
 by the sun." And he laid his snow-white hand upon 
 the table. Only one costly seal ring adorned this hand, 
 the beauty of which was well known in many a draw- 
 ing-room, and the possession of which was coveted 
 by many a fair dame. " Yes, look, Treffenbach ; see 
 what the toilette of this spoiled creature costs me in 
 time, soap, perfume, and gloves ! What a whimsical, 
 capricious carpet-knight it is ! What a positive cult 
 it requires ! I take malicious delight in the thought 
 that its tyranny is wellnigh ended, that I shall bring 
 it home in the evenings scratched, brown, scarred, 
 and can say to it, Ha, lazybones, are you learning to 
 work at last ?" 
 
 18
 
 206 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Admirable ! With such ideas, Armin, you will bo 
 thoroughly contented at Eavenhorst." 
 
 "Contented? Well, we shall seel But I tell you, 
 my dear Magnus, you know nothing about it. I tell 
 you, Daniel in the den of lions needed less courage 
 than 1 1 And when I say this, understand that I make 
 no allusion to your two amiable old relatives. Would 
 you like to read your aunt Plattow's letter ? I must 
 say it delighted me." 
 
 From the letter Treffenbach learned all the changes 
 that had taken place in the last two years in the 
 monotonous life at Eavenhorst. They were not many. 
 Instead of recovering his eyesight, the old Herr had 
 lost it almost entirely. He could still go about the 
 house and garden, where every step was familiar to 
 him, but his life was darkened and saddened. His 
 wife devoted herself entirely to tending and entertain- 
 ing him, while Marie Louise conducted the affairs of 
 the household and of the estate in a masterly manner, 
 overseeing the schools and providing for the comfort 
 and good of all. The letter did not say, but never- 
 theless one gathered from it, that she was not per- 
 fectly content, perfectly happy, — that she had ex- 
 pected more of life. But what ? Marriage ? She had 
 had opportunities enough to marry in these two years, 
 but she had rejected all proposals. 
 
 " What is it, then ?" Count Hess asked, dubiously. 
 *' She will not repent this step ? No ; if that were jsos- 
 sible she would not have accepted me." 
 
 "Marie Louise always acts so prudently," Treffen- 
 bach rejoined, warmly defending his cousin, "that there 
 is no need for repentance. She may regret, but she 
 never reproaches herself Eest assured that what has 
 perhaps irritated her is the desire for a wider field of
 
 A BETROTHAL 207 
 
 action. Hers is an extraordinary character, Armin, 
 perspicuous, clear, strong. She strives to attain the 
 highest aims of universal philanthropy. And even if a 
 larger field of action were to open before her, she never 
 would neglect minor duties, for she is conscientious in 
 small matters as well as in great. Eavenhorst, which 
 it was once her dream to make a model estate, has 
 become too narrow for her; her capacity has grown 
 with exercise. She could do more now, and she feels 
 it. Still, she is bound to Eavenhorst, because she is 
 indispensable to her grandparents. And she suffers 
 mentally, thirsting for action as she does. I have not 
 seen her since we parted, but I know all this, for I 
 know her as I know myself." 
 
 "Whilst his friend was speaking. Count Hess had 
 suppressed several yawns. He now looked at him 
 and smiled : " And I tell you, my dear Magnus, that 
 she is far more exti^aordinary than you suspect. You 
 think you know her. You know nothing of her. 
 You never had any curiosity to find out whether this 
 beautiful marble statue has a heart or not. I am 
 going to study her, and if I find her capable of 
 human emotion I will forgive her for her superhuman 
 excellence." 
 
 " That is a rather surprising conclusion," said Tref- 
 fenbach, smiling. 
 
 " You and Fräulein von Plattow are spiritual twins," 
 Hess concluded, as he folded up the letter. " And 
 this explains the possibility of the calm continuance 
 of our friendship under these peculiar circumstances. 
 There I And now let us go and make my mother 
 happy. Quick, quick, instruct me somewhat as to 
 the worldly circumstances of my future wife, that I 
 may not absolutely fail in the examination I am about
 
 208 VIOLETTA 
 
 to undergo. Is she poor? Is she rich ? Is she inde- 
 pendent ? Has she any brothers or sisters of whom 
 there is no intimation in the depths of my conscious- 
 ness ? It occurs to me that Frau von Bellwitz once 
 exclaimed, with clasped hands, in my presence, ' How 
 absurd for Magnus Treffenbach, with all his money, 
 to marry a wealthy girl like Marie Louise! Why 
 couldn't he make some poor girl happy?' This is 
 well. My mother will be very glad, for she is as prac- 
 tical in her views as Frau Bellwitz." 
 
 Hess was not disappointed. His mother was de- 
 lighted. She declared that such joy would certainly 
 restore her to health. In the evening they supped 
 with the Treffenbachs, and toasted the newly-be- 
 trothed couple. Magnus was heroically cheerful. 
 One could not but admire him, his wicked father 
 whispered to the old Countess. He was immensely 
 supported in his unselfish cheerfulness by seeing how 
 gaily Yioletta received the news that this delight- 
 ful Count Armin was betrothed. She took great 
 delight in it. She asked many questions, and drank 
 his special health, declaring that she had suspected 
 something of the kind all along, — he had seemed so 
 happy and so attentive to every one. And then she 
 had a little dispute with old Count Hess, who con- 
 tended that love makes people absent-minded and 
 unamiable. 
 
 On this evening, however, Armin received a letter 
 that necessitated his immediate return to Brussels. 
 He had to depart the next day, instead of going to 
 Eavenhorst, as he had hoped, and it was very doubtful 
 when he should be able to go thither. Yioletta had 
 no cause to compliment him again upon his amiability 
 before he left.
 
 A BETROTHAL 209 
 
 The ensuing days brought a renewal of gayeties, 
 although the circle of acquaintance was not precisely 
 the same. The Countess Doris had left, as had also the 
 French colonel with his daughters. Prince Baranco- 
 vich, with his four-in-hand and his huge dogs, was 
 still constant to his post, playing piquet with the 
 general, and upon every conceivable and inconceiv- 
 able occasion sending a bouquet of roses to Violetta, 
 who always received them with the same happy 
 laugh. 
 
 " Mouse," her stepfather ~jaid, warningly, " if you 
 are not careful the Croat will swing you up on the 
 saddle before him some fine day and bear you off to 
 his castle at Agram, and papa and mamma will be left 
 in the lurch." 
 
 " Oh, no ! oh, no !" said Yioletta, shaking her head 
 and smiling. 
 
 " Then do not seem so frankly delighted with his 
 flowers. Tell him their fragrance gives you the 
 headache." 
 
 " * Oh, no ! oh, no ! I cannot lie I' " the girl sang, care- 
 lessly. 
 
 " Indeed ? You like him, then ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! oh, yes !" 
 
 "Very well. Madame the Princess Barancovich. 
 come here and receive my paternal blessing." 
 
 " Oh, no ! oh, no !" 
 
 " She's a terrible child, eh, Magnus ?" the general 
 said, in mock despair. 
 
 " I like the old Prince very much," Yioletta declared, 
 with dignity. " But liking very much and marrying 
 are two very different affairs." 
 
 " Magnus, what shall we do with her ?" 
 
 His son looked up from his book. Yioletta closed 
 18*
 
 210 VJOLETTA 
 
 hei' eyes and murmured, "l!^ow for my death-war- 
 rant" 
 
 " How old are you ?" Magnus asked, vainly endeav- 
 ouring to make bis voice sound stern. 
 
 " I am seventeen." 
 
 " Then you really ought to be more sensible." And 
 he became apparently absorbed in his book again, but 
 only apparently. 
 
 This morning the photographs came home. While 
 Eriiulein Emma retired blushing to her room with 
 her packet, Magnus arranged the twelve cabinet pic- 
 tures of his pupil, like a game of patience, on the table 
 before him, and then sat gazing at them, his head 
 propped on both hands, like a — an art-connoisseur. 
 
 " Heyday, mouse I" said the general, approaching the 
 table, " of whom were you thinking while these were 
 taking ?" 
 
 It was, in fact, a bewitching picture that lay in 
 twelve-fold reduplication on the table, bewitching be- 
 cause of the entire lack of self-consciousness in the 
 expression. Smile and glance did not belong to the 
 occupation of the moment. 
 
 Treffenbach sat as if spell-bound. She gazed at him 
 from the picture just as she had done in reality. 
 Colour alone was wanting. Again his heart beat fast, 
 and he felt a little dizzy. Suddenly, as if awaking 
 from a dream, he gathered up all the pictures, put 
 them in the envelope, and left the room, taking them 
 with him. Yioletta did not observe this, for Fräulein 
 Emma had returned, extremely discontented with her 
 counterfeit presentment. It was 'a horrid picture,' 
 she never had ' such a long nose as that,' nor did she 
 ever ' sit up so stiff and straight.' Yioletta tried to 
 soothe the poor Fräulein's disappointment by all kinds
 
 A BETROTHAL 211 
 
 of consoling suggestions, and only remembered an 
 hour afterward, at dinner, to ask Magnus where her 
 pictures were. 
 
 " "Where they belong." 
 
 " That must be a terrible place," the girl whispered, 
 shyly, " for I believe you disapprove of having photo- 
 graphs taken of one's self." 
 
 " Take a few more strawberries, Violetta," was his 
 reply. 
 
 " No, thank you. And you are quite right, Magnus. 
 It is a very foolish thing to do, and costs so much 
 money ;" she sighed. She had ' cares' too. 
 
 "Are your finances so low?" Treffenbach asked, 
 gaily. "Well, then, I have been to the photogra- 
 pher's, and have paid both for your and poor Emma's 
 pictures." 
 
 " Oh, how delightful I I will take a few more straw- 
 berries." 
 
 "Yioletta," one of the Vienna Countesses called 
 out, " I am to have one of your photographs, am I 
 not?" 
 
 " And I ?" Prince Barancovich begged. 
 
 Violetta, besieged by petitioners, began to reckon 
 on her fingers, and in five minutes the whole dozen 
 were given away. 
 
 As they were going home, the general met an old 
 friend, with whom he walked on before, while Magnus 
 and Violetta loitered a little behind. She looked up 
 at him with her sunny, unconscious smile, and said, 
 "My pictures, Magnus I" 
 
 " They all belong to me. I paid for them." 
 
 " Papa will give you the money again. Don't be so 
 stingy, my dear Magnus. Where have you put them ? 
 You heard them all given away."
 
 212 violetta 
 
 " Yes, jou can go to the photographer's and sit lor 
 some more." 
 
 " Oh, but that is absurd!" exclaimed Violetta. "Why- 
 must not these pictures be given away ?" 
 
 " Because they belong to me alone ; or should you be 
 willing to look at Prince Barancovich as you looked 
 at me ?" 
 
 " I do not understand you. I am so sorry about 
 those pictures! Have you torn them all up?" she 
 added, dejectedly. " Was there something wrong in 
 them, Magnus?" 
 
 She asked this in a low voice, and looked up at him 
 with tears in her eyes. 
 
 " No," he replied in a tone as low, and there was the 
 unmistakable ring of passion in his voice, " nothing 
 wrong, Violetta. And where have I put them ? I am 
 wearing them next my heart." 
 
 She looked up at him surprised. She had often 
 during her young life had such things said to her. 
 When she was ten years old, she had with lavish gen- 
 erosity cut off curls for those who petted and spoiled 
 her, and had frequently been assured that souvenirs so 
 precious should be worn * next the heart.' Only a day 
 or two before. Prince Branco had picked up a rose-bud 
 that had fallen from her hair, and had begged her 
 leave to wear it next his heart. All this did not sur- 
 prise her. It was jest and courtesy, in return for 
 which one laughs and forgets. But such words from 
 the lips of her grave instructor, — a man who read aloud 
 to her every morning such serious, dry, incomprehen- 
 sible things, in order to ' form her mind' ! She was mute 
 with astonishment for a moment. Then she began to 
 laugh roguishly. " Twelve cabinet photographs next 
 your heart ? They must make you rather warm."
 
 A BETROTHAL 213 
 
 «Yes; they burn." 
 
 The girl at once became thoughtful, and there 
 were traces of disappointment and uneasiness on her 
 lovely face. Treflfenbach instantly perceived this, but 
 he waited to hear what she would say. As she did 
 not speak, he asked, " What is the matter ? Are you 
 displeased, Violetta ?" 
 
 " I do not know," she said, with a sigh. " I am as- 
 tonished. I do not like to hear you talk like — all the 
 rest ! It is not like yourself." 
 
 "Well, Yioletta, you shall not have cause to com- 
 plain of me again. I — I hardly know what I said." 
 
 They walked on in silence. The day was rarely 
 lovely, even for fine summer weather. At least so 
 Magnus thought. The air was clear and full of sun- 
 shine, with a rustle and whisper among all the leaves. 
 Music and glad voices resounded far and near. On 
 such a day we feel that the world lives and moves and 
 breathes, and its breath comes life-giving and fragrant, 
 wafted across the meadows where the hay lies dry- 
 ing. 
 
 In the afternoon Treffenbach had letters to write, 
 and did not go to the villa until tea-time. He found 
 Fräulein Emma sitting at the little tea-table on the 
 veranda. His Excellency and Violetta, she said, were 
 in the drawing-room. Prince Barancovich had been 
 there to get his picture, and it had not been given him, 
 and this had been the occasion for a declaration. " A 
 declaration," Fräulein Emma concluded, wiping her 
 eyes, " which every one has foreseen except Violetta, 
 who is bathed in tears. Poor child 1" 
 
 Treffenbach walked to and fro in great agitation. 
 His father appeared soon, rubbing his hands, and 
 seeming not at all as if there had been any unpleasant
 
 214 VIOLETT A 
 
 scone. " Emma has told you, I suppose, Barancovich 
 came, and there was a positive explosion. I've made 
 it rather hot for the little one. A splendid fellow! 
 She must not reject him. To-morrow evening he is 
 coming for her consent. It will be a fine surprise for 
 her mother!" And his Excellency looked keenly into 
 his son's face. Treffenbach was ashy pale, and did not 
 say one word. Nor did he see how his father rubbed 
 his hands beneath the table. At last Violetta ap- 
 peared, looking rather frightened, and it was easy to 
 see that she had been crying. Tea was drunk in 
 silence. After it was over, the general complained 
 that the air was cool, and went within-doors. Fräu- 
 lein Emma followed the servant with the tea-equipage. 
 Treffenbach started up, and went to the vine- wreathed 
 balustrade to scan the evening sky. 
 
 " It will certainly storm to-morrow," he said at last, 
 merely for the sake of saying something. 
 
 *' Ah, I should be so glad ! There would then be an 
 end of the enormous picnic that they have all been 
 talking about for two weeks," Violetta murmured, de- 
 jectedly, from where she was sitting. 
 
 " Pray come here, Yioletta. You must tell me what 
 is the matter with you." 
 
 She obeyed, but with a downcast air, and stood 
 beside him at the balustrade, looking up at him as if 
 for aid. " Oh, I am so wicked, Magnus ! so wicked ! 
 You both warned me, but I did not believe you. I 
 never knew how unhappy we could make people 
 through our wrong-doing. Oh, Magnus, help me ; try 
 to make me better!" 
 
 " Do not cry so, Violetta. Poor child ! how you 
 tremble ! Do not take it so to heart. Prince Baran- 
 covich will go away. You must forget him."
 
 A BETROTHAL 215 
 
 " Papa says I am a naughty child, and that I must 
 marry him." 
 
 He put his arm around her waist, and gently and 
 caressingly stroked back her curls. There was unutter- 
 able tenderness in his voice as he said, " Be comforted, 
 darling ; I will not allow it." 
 
 And then he saw those large eyes beam again, saw 
 the happy smile return to her li2:)S, and he stood there 
 like one who does not know whether he is awake or is 
 dreaming a fairy-tale. His gaze wandered away to 
 the rustling tree-tops, down to the sparkling fountain, 
 and then back again to those unfathomable violet eyes 
 that were looking into his own shyly, archly, aud — 
 " Thanks, oh, thanks !" the girl suddenly whispered, 
 and, with a smile, she was gone, — vanished, like an un- 
 substantial vision, a wreath of mist. 
 
 He roused himself, passed his hand across his brow, 
 and began slowly to descend the steps. 
 
 " Halloo, old fellow !" his father's voice called to him. 
 His Excellency was smoking his evening cigar at the 
 drawing-room window. " Are you going already ?" 
 
 " Yes ; good-night," his son replied, without looking 
 up. The general, however, had a fancy to see his face. 
 It occurred to him that he had that day received a 
 letter which he wished to show to his son. He felt in 
 
 his pockets. " Wait, Magnus, wait ; I have here a 
 
 Where did I put it? Ah, here it is. Eead that, and 
 tell me to-morrow what you think of it." 
 
 He handed him the letter, but he was foiled in his 
 purpose. His son contrived to take it without looking 
 up. The general turned from the window with a laugh, 
 while Magnus went his way. AVhat were his thoughts ? 
 "Unfortunately, it must bo confessed that to-night, pro- 
 found thinker though he was, he had none worthy the
 
 216 VIOLETT A 
 
 name. He wandered through the summer evening 
 possessed by delicious, dreamy sensations. He might 
 have been the son of a caliph ; were these vine- 
 wreathed balconies and balustrades the minarets of 
 Bagdad? these dark roses the pomegranates of the 
 East ? Who could tell ? 
 
 At times he paused and looked up, following the 
 lines and angles of the roof of a house, as if he had 
 nothing in the world to do save to study the laws of 
 geometry. 
 
 When at last he reached his room, and the servant 
 brought the light, he found on his table several letters, 
 which he opened and read mechanically. One was a 
 letter from the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He read 
 the names Brazil, Bio de Janeiro, and he smiled. All 
 that was now a secondary consideration. The matter 
 of chief importance was whether the twelve photo- 
 graphs were still in his breast-pocket. Good heavens ! 
 what if the packet had been stolen from him ? Or his 
 pocket might have been torn and the pictures now be 
 lying in the dust of the highway, to be trampled by 
 the feet of men and horses I He hastily felt for them ; 
 ah ! there they were all safe. He took them out and 
 drew forth one from the envelope, looked at it a little 
 while, and then bent down and kissed it.
 
 AWAKENING 2l7 
 
 CHAPTEE XX 
 
 AWAKENING 
 
 The day of the ' enormous picnic' dawned festally. 
 It was clear that something grand and beautiful was 
 to take place. The sun rose in cloudless skies, and, 
 as if at a given signal, a chorus from hundreds of 
 birds rang out clear and full, while invisible hands 
 decked meadow, hill, and glen with millions of diamond 
 dew-drops. 
 
 Treffenbach, in the hotel garden, was, with the gar- 
 dener's permission, cutting a bouquet of magnificent 
 roses. The man asked whether they were not for the 
 lovely daughter of the Prussian Excellency, and upon 
 Magnus's nod of assent, refused to accept j)ayment for 
 them ; the Fräulein was an angel, — an assertion which 
 the young man did not gainsay. 
 
 Those engaged for the picnic were already astir. 
 There rolled the four-in-hand of the Croatian magnate, 
 driven by himself, and here were two merry officers 
 in blue uniform coming down the steps with rattling 
 sabres. 
 
 A groom led up the brown mare. There was a lady's 
 saddle upon Montresor's back, which, with bit and 
 bridle, had been carefully selected by Baron Treffen- 
 bach himself. He now tested the girths, saw that 
 everything was in order, had the horse which he rode 
 himself brought out, and bidding the groom follow 
 him with both steeds, set out for the villa, walking 
 quickly, impatiently. 
 
 K 19
 
 218 VIOLETT A 
 
 "When he reached it, he saw Violetta's head at the 
 window where on the previous evening the general 
 had been smoking his cigar. She pushed up the veil of 
 her black riding-hat and tossed a flower down to him. 
 
 " How late you are, loiterer ! It is half a minute 
 past the time, and in that half-minute we have had a 
 great, a very great surprise. Do you hear nothing ?" 
 
 " I certainly do hear something inexplicable. I hear 
 your voice here and in the drawing-room too !" 
 
 " Come in!" the girl cried, merrily. 
 
 A sudden anxiety oppressed him. He was filled 
 with a vague foreboding, but before he could analyze 
 its cause he stood on the threshold of the little draw- 
 ing-room, and he seemed to be rehearsing a scene 
 that he had gone through before. The room was 
 not light, the sun shone into it through half-closed 
 blinds, and it was filled with the fragrance of flowers. 
 Again he saw beside him his father's tall, military 
 figure, and from the lounge arose a form of won- 
 drous grace and dignity, gorgeously attired, with 
 golden chains about her neck and wrists, from which 
 last tinkled a profusion of little sparkling golden 
 crescents. Her black curling hair was dressed low 
 upon her forehead, her large, liquid eyes drew his 
 own shrinking glance to meet them, and held it fast, 
 forcing him to stand firm. 
 
 " Magnus," his father said, gravely, " you know who 
 this is, — Violetta's mother." 
 
 There was a ringing and humming in his ears, and 
 then suddenly he felt quite calm, possessed by a bitter, 
 hopeless melancholy. He seemed to have forced his 
 way slowly, step by step, into an enchanted garden, 
 and all at once the gates were closed behind him, — he 
 was a prisoner !
 
 AWAKENING 219 
 
 Violetta's mother! Oh, yes; no need to tell him 
 that. They both stood before him, the full-blown rose 
 and the opening bud which a day of sunshine miglit 
 unfold to a like splendour. The voice, whose tone 
 thrilled his every nerve ; the smile, the captivating 
 charm of which had infatuated him ; the eyes, which 
 in their blue, fathomless depths beneath the long dark 
 lashes revealed the Irish descent, — all, all the same. 
 Oh that he could escape, as on that other day 1 but 
 he cannot. Oh that he could repulse, as on that 
 other day, the fair hand extended in welcome ! but he 
 cannot. Oh, that he could hate this woman, as on 
 that other day ! but he cannot. He loves her eveiy 
 charm in her daughter! He feels that he is lost 
 without hoj5e of rescue, entangled and held in slaver}^, 
 and he is a prey to wild desjiair. He is conscious that 
 he is holding Beatrice's small, warm hand in his own 
 and covering it with kisses, for that little hand is 
 stronger than his scorn and his indignation. 
 
 And then he sees his father pacing the room ex 
 citedly, and hears him say, "Ah, mouse, to-day is the 
 happiest of my life ! She is here, and I have both my 
 children besides ! No more separations as long as we 
 live, eh ?" 
 
 But 
 
 Stay! many will exclaim here. What does that 
 'but' mean? Where is the use of it? The story is 
 really ended. What more can there possibly be to 
 say except, 'And they lived happy 9« birds ever after, 
 and if they are not dead arc living so still. Basta /' 
 
 Yes, it would be charming if it could all turn out as 
 it does for good children in the story-books, — delight- 
 ful if at such moments we could cry stay, close our 
 eyes, and leave the future to the imagination.
 
 220 VIOLETTA 
 
 But lifo strides onward ; the * impracticable liours' 
 pass unceasingly, inexorably. There are no pauses ; 
 least of all can we close the book of events when it 
 pleases us, and say, Henceforward there shall be noth- 
 ing but sunshine and joy. 
 
 Magnus TrefFenbach was not the man to yield with- 
 out a struggle to a temptation for which he had sud- 
 denly found the name. Was anything changed since 
 that day when he had fii'st met Beatrice Fouquet? 
 Nothing at all. She was the same person, only since 
 then she had usurped his mother's title, honours, and 
 position. And Violetta was her daughter. 
 
 Had he not known all this before? Had he not 
 said it to himself? Oh, yes, a hundred times. What 
 he had never yet said frankly to himself was, that he 
 loved this daughter. 
 
 Oh, this was a strange day ! He could not escape ; 
 he was bound magnetically by double chains. His 
 heart was sore with the vain struggle to throw off 
 these fetters, and meanwhile he played his part, talked, 
 made answer, and was, as her beautiful Excellency 
 expressed it, ' extremely sympathetic' 
 
 First two high hunting-wagons full of chatting, 
 laughing, beckoning dames and cavaliers drew up 
 before the villa. 
 
 They went out. Her Excellency Beatrice was 
 greeted with enthusiasm. They begged her to join 
 the party, and she was ready. The general lifted her 
 into the first vehicle, and sprang up beside her. Then 
 Prince Branco's four-in-hand came rushing up, and a 
 whole cavalcade of ladies and gentlemen. Treffen- 
 bach knew that he with his protegee was to join 
 this. Montresor was led up. Magnus himself lifted 
 Violetta into the saddle, and advised her to ride on the
 
 A WAKENING 221 
 
 left side of the road, on account of the dust. "Whither 
 they were to ride he had forgotten, nor did he care. 
 Violetta was very gay and joyous, but her jests 
 and laughter pained him. They reminded him of 
 her mother. Her sprightly nonsense filled him with 
 horror to-day. 
 
 The entire party assembled upon a wooded height. 
 Carriages and horses remained below. The servants 
 carried up in hampers all that was requisite for a 
 correct dejeuner ä la fourchette. They sat beneath 
 the trees. Some admired the view ; others insisted 
 that there was a ruin in the neighborhood, and that 
 it was a duty to explore it. Of course her Excel- 
 lency von Treflenbach was soon the ruling spirit of 
 the assembly. Prince Branco built her a kind of 
 throne of cushions and rugs, whereon she sat in 
 state, a glass of champagne in one hand, a biscuit 
 in the other. Her attention was given chiefly to the 
 Prince, who was positively revivified, and took fresh 
 courage. 
 
 There was no end to the talk, song, and laughter. 
 Music added its strains, and a band of gypsies ap- 
 peared, and sent their ambassador to ask whether 
 they should not tell the fortunes of the lords and 
 ladies. Amid shouts of laughter it was discovered 
 that these gypsies were a part of the company dis- 
 guised. The youngest lieutenant made a charming 
 gjrpsy queen in a red petticoat and a large turban. 
 The mirth and jollity reached their height when, with 
 his eyes bound, he was compelled to unveil the future 
 for each of the party. Wonderful things wore fore- 
 told, and at every fresh revelation the laughter in- 
 creased. At last Violetta could laugh no longer; 
 Bhe was tired out with gaj^ety. She came and sat 
 
 19*
 
 222 VIOLETTÄ 
 
 down beside Treffenbach upon a foiled tree. It was 
 a refreshment to look at his grave face, and she 
 whispered to him, "Ah, my dear Magnus, this has 
 been too gay and merry; I do not know where I 
 shall find the strength to ride home." 
 
 " Then drive home." 
 
 " Oh, no," she whispered, with a startled look ; 
 " there is no room except in the Prince's carriage." 
 
 The heat of the day had subsided when all made 
 ready for the homeward way. The day had been a 
 vari-coloured chaos for Magnus ; and this homeward 
 ride was spectral, unreal. Violetta could not ride 
 very quickly, and every one seemed to think it quite 
 natural that Baron Treffenbach should stay beside her. 
 Twilight was approaching, and all the voices, the 
 rumble of carriage-wheels, the whinnying of horses, 
 passed them by and died away in the distance, and 
 the evening light brooded calm and tinged with gold 
 over the meadows. The larks that had trilled high 
 overhead in the morning were mute ; a thrush piped 
 softly in the bushes by the wayside, and in the dis- 
 tance a nightingale was beginning to sing. Yioletta 
 sat quiet, as if lost in dreams ; she was not troubled 
 by the persistent silence of her companion. Like her- 
 self, he doubtless sought repose after the bustle of the 
 day. She did not surmise the unrest of his soul, — how 
 his head ached and throbbed, and his thoughts pursued 
 the same unvarying round. 
 
 When she turned her clear glance towards him, he 
 felt the force of the sweet, subtle charm assert itself 
 irresistibly, — his heart pleaded wildly for its rights: 
 ' Eesign yourself utterly. Forget all other consider- 
 ations. It is too late for any such !' But he turned 
 deaf ears to this voice as to a beguiling temptation,
 
 A WAKENING 223 
 
 and called to his aid the memory of a dim, quiet room, 
 and of another voice that had once told him the story 
 of the captive king beneath the waters of the lake, 
 and that had whispered with its last failing strength, 
 'Always be what you are now. Never be afraid to 
 flee from temptation. You will test the glittering 
 gold and be sure that it is pure refined metal; that 
 she is good and true, and worthy to be the mistress of 
 Vclzin.' 
 
 Ever more and more distinctly these words, at first 
 faint and shadowy, rang in his ears. His mother's 
 image arose before his mental vision. Ho shuddered, 
 and as he looked abi'oad over field and fell, all nature 
 seemed to take on a gray ghostly hue. 
 
 Magnus Treffenbach could never carry homo a Vio- 
 lotta Fouquet to the old house where his mother had 
 lived. Impossible I 
 
 This thought had been so foreign to his mind that 
 it had not occurred to him before. He loved her — 
 ah, now first he knew how truly, how passionately, 
 with what delicious pain ! But there was that within 
 him that was stronger than this flame : his pride, his 
 egotism. These were not the names he gave it. Even 
 supposing that he could be insane enough to offer her 
 his name, what place was there for her in his home ? 
 She was not made for an idyl upon the shore of that 
 calm, flower-strewn lake. She would perish in that 
 solitude like a rose in the desert. 
 
 Thus pt'ide excused its cruelty. And still the tor- 
 tured heart pleaded, ' Oh, grant me my rights I She 
 is so young, so gentle ; she will adapt herself to every- 
 thing!' 
 
 She ? Never ! True, she is still young and gentle, but 
 what will she bo in the future ? She has her mother's
 
 224 VIOLETT A 
 
 voice, her eyes, her nature ; fancy presenting yourself 
 beside that calm death-bed with Yioletta Fouquet, the 
 trained ballet-girl, the daughter of an actress, and 
 saying to your mother, ' Here is the future mistress 
 of Velzin, my wife.' 
 
 The struggle ended. Treffenbach passed his hand 
 across his brow and turned to his companion. As their 
 eyes met, something that had lived and shone in his 
 seemed extinguished. 
 
 " How silent you are !" Violetta said, smiling, touch- 
 ing her horse with her whip, so that it paced close 
 beside her companion's. " Are you thinking of this 
 lovely, peaceful summer evening ?" 
 
 "No," he replied, with an effort. "I was think- 
 ing of the future." 
 
 " Ah ? "What are you going to do in the future ?" 
 she asked, curiously. 
 
 Every word that he now uttered cost him a struggle, 
 and yet it must be said. It would be like signing and 
 sealing a document. " I have received a notice to re- 
 port myself as Secretary of Legation in Rio de Ja- 
 neiro, — that is what I must do." 
 
 At first she looked puzzled, then she asked, in dis- 
 may, " Go to America ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Oh, that is nonsense I You are only jesting," she 
 said, confidently. 
 
 " Most certainly not. Before I came to Teplitz I 
 had determined to go." 
 
 " That is not true ! That is not true !" 
 
 " It is true !" 
 
 She looked at him, and her eyes filled with tears. 
 " You will not so grieve your father ; oh, no, you can- 
 not ?" she pleaded, in a trembling voice.
 
 A WAKENING 225 
 
 " I am afraid I must. Yioletta, we must not yield 
 to such considerations when real interests are at stake. 
 My father knows this. The six weeks that we have 
 passed together have been — very pleasant, but they 
 were holidays. The declaration, ' no more separations 
 as long as we live,' cannot really be fulfilled. Oh, my 
 child, do not cry so !" he interrupted himself, passion- 
 ately ; " do not use this means to — turn me from my 
 duty. I must go back to my work, and you — when I 
 see you again you will be married, and my father — 
 believe me — he does not need us both I" 
 
 He forced his horse up close beside her so that ho 
 could take from her eyes the hand that covered them 
 and search their depths to see whether those hot tears 
 were shed for him. Had they been so shed, perhaps his 
 resolution would have yielded, and the bulwai'k of his 
 arrogance and Pharisaic pride would have crumbled 
 beneath the omnipotence of love ; but no ! These 
 were the tears of a child, and her grief was that of 
 an unselfish child, as she sobbed forth reproachfully, 
 "Oh, it is wrong, very, very wrong! It will bi'eak 
 his heart. Oh, what shall I do? I dread the fu- 
 ture !" 
 
 " And so do I, Yioletta. A desolate future lies be- 
 fore me, but I must be strong to go forth to meet it, — 
 to labour and to struggle, resisting the allurements 
 and temptations of the world." 
 
 She dined her tears, still murmuring, "Your poor 
 father ; it is not right, Magnus, it is not right." 
 
 He talked seriously and conclusively to her, speak- 
 ing like a man instructing a child. Ho talked of duty, 
 of labour, of what life requires of us. She listened in 
 silence. From time to time a sob shook her delicate 
 frame, and once she dropped the bridle and clasped 
 P
 
 226 VIOLETTA 
 
 her arms about the horse's neck, murmuring, " Oh, I 
 am afraid ! I am afraid !" 
 
 Of what ? She did not herself know. It seemed to 
 her that if he went away a heavy burden must fall 
 upon her, — a burden not too heavy for his strong shoul- 
 ders, but beneath which she should be crushed. And 
 this burden was life. 
 
 Thus they rode through the darkening shadows, 
 and to both the lovely landscape around them looked 
 changed, grimly distorted. 
 
 "When they reached the villa, they heard from 
 within the laughing voices of those who had arrived 
 before them. Treifenbach dismounted in silence to 
 lift his companion from her horse. " Good-night, Vio- 
 letta," he said, in a low tone. 
 
 She was standing on the veranda steps. For a mo- 
 ment she hesitated, and then she threw her arms about 
 him as once before, and whispered, with a world of 
 caressing entreaty in her voice, " Oh, stay, stay, stay ! 
 Do not leave us I I beg, I implore you as my brother !" 
 
 He did not now thrust her from him. Trembling 
 with agitation, he gently loosened her clasping arms 
 and put them from him ; his voice was not harsh, out 
 full of pain, as he said, almost inaudibly, " Violetta, 
 Violetta ! do not tempt me beyond my strength. You 
 beg me to stay, but it is from you, you that I must flee, 
 — you who make my father's home mine no more 
 forever. Can you understand this, child? No, no, 
 you cannot!" 
 
 With a profound sigh, he turned, took both horses 
 by their bridles, and slowly walked away. 
 
 At some distance from the villa he looked back, and 
 through the darkness could still perceive a dark figure 
 leaning against the balustrade of the veranda. Yes,
 
 RA VENHORST' S 'YOUNG MÄSTER' 227 
 
 he even fancied that he could see the pale, reproachful 
 little face, which he felt must haunt his memory all 
 throui{h his future life. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXI 
 
 ravenhorst's 'tounq master' 
 
 "Oh, yes, it was to be. I always said my Fräulein 
 would be sure to marry a Count and be a Countess 
 like her blessed mother. I am sure ever}'^ one could 
 see it just to look at her." 
 
 Thus spoke Doris, the old housekeeper at Eaven- 
 horst, as she was walking through the suite of rooms 
 in the second story of the old mansion, feather-duster 
 in hand, making sure that everything was in readi- 
 ness for the young couple to be installed here. The 
 windows were wide open everywhere, and a soft, deli- 
 cious air was wafted through the rooms, whence there 
 was a charming view, over and beyond the trees on 
 the tei-race, of a wide stretch of country. This story 
 had been occupied by Marie Louise's parents during 
 their brief married life, and everything had remained 
 in its old order, — the pictui'es on the walls, the furni- 
 ture, the bi'ic-a-brac on tables and shelves, which 
 Fran Doris had dusted so carefully, — nothing had been 
 changed. The housekeeper passed into the next room, 
 the one devoted specially to the 'young master.' Hero 
 the fine collection of weapons, the stuffed eagle over 
 the book-case, the turning-lathe, and a cabinet of min- 
 erals, all bore witness to the tastes of its former owner,
 
 228 VIOLETTA 
 
 the young Herr von Plattow. In the adjoining study 
 and smoking-room the walls were lined with books. 
 An oaken writing-table, a reclining-chair covered with 
 a panther-skin, a large fireplace, and a pipe-rack, about 
 which Frau Doris's feather-brush fluttered persistently, 
 made this room look very comfortable. Here the future 
 master might smoke his dozen Havanas daily without 
 fearing to spoil the curtains, for the hangings had been 
 chosen by Grandmamma Plattow with magnanimous 
 consideration, and were covered with a tracery of 
 brown that looked like wreaths of smoke. 
 
 Frau Doris wiped away a tear as she gazed around 
 her. Twenty-five years ago she had aired these rooms, 
 when everything was fresh and new, and when she 
 was expecting a young couj)le for whom she prayed 
 for health, happiness, and a long life. 
 
 The old woman became aware that she was no 
 longer alone. Frau von Plattow had come up, and 
 was standing in the door-way, lost in memories of her 
 son so early lost, and of her lovely daughter-in-law. 
 
 " Everything looks as it should, Doris. Marie Louise 
 will be glad to find nothing changed. Her mother's 
 papers and books are still on the writing-table just as 
 she left them. I have been thinking whether we 
 might not put some flowers in the rooms. You know, 
 Doris, my daughter-in-law, the dear child, always had 
 her drawing-room filled with flowers, and every morn- 
 ing she put one in my son's buttonhole." 
 
 " Yes ; and the young master wore it all day long, 
 and thought it a great grief to lose it." 
 
 " They were so young and happy." And the old 
 lady sighed. 
 
 " Madame will allow me to say that I like the young 
 Count, too, very much. He has such a kindly look in
 
 RAVENHORSTS ' VOUNO MASTER' 229 
 
 his eyes. Noav, Baron Magnus has known ine since 
 ho was a boy, and he was always very polite to me, 
 but very formal. But the Herr Count took my hand 
 in both his, and called me ' my dear Doris.' Oh, he is 
 a pleasant gentleman ! And our Fräulein, — she suits 
 him. Yes, yes! But flowers? No, I would not put 
 them in her room. She is not used to them. She 
 isn't like other girls, who think of nothing but their 
 birds and rose-bushes. Our Fräulein has better things 
 to think of, and we must remember it. It is not given 
 to every one to remain a child while life lasts, like our 
 blessed young mistress now above." 
 
 Doris was privileged, and always had a word to say 
 in defence of her young mistress when her grand- 
 mother looked so anxious, and Frau von Plattow lis- 
 tened gladl}'. She would hope for the best. So she 
 nodded to the old woman standing there smoothing 
 down her white apron and eager to praise her young 
 mistress, and went down-stairs to join her husband on 
 the terrace, where he was waiting impatiently for the 
 arrivals. They might come now at any moment. 
 
 A week before, a very quiet Avedding had bestowed 
 upon Count Armin Hess the beautiful and much-cov- 
 eted hand of Marie Louise von Plattow, a fact that 
 surprised no one so much as it did himself. During 
 the period of his betrothal he had paid but one visit 
 to Eavenhorst, having been intrusted with some im- 
 portant diplomatic business which could not be neg- 
 lected. At last, in Sei^tember, he was free, — free for- 
 ever, — and was determined to see his betrothed, to 
 solve the problem in which ho was so interested. It 
 was not enough for him to possess her hand, he must 
 win her heart. But she wrote to him with a com- 
 posure that looked almost business-like, 'My grand- 
 
 20
 
 230 VlöLETTA 
 
 parents Lave fixed upon the 18th for our marriage, be- 
 cause it is the anniversary of the wedding-day of my 
 parents. This is perfectly agreeable to me, if you 
 have no objection to suggest.' 
 
 Of course he had no objection, but he could not 
 reach Eavenhorst until the 17th. 
 
 They had exchanged but few letters. Hess was a 
 miserable correspondent, as Marie Louise knew from 
 her cousin Magnus, who had frequently complained 
 of the impossibility of any written intercourse with 
 his best friend. She was reasonable and not exacting, 
 and he, — with the best will in the world he really 
 would hardly have known what to write to a betrothed 
 whom he scarcely knew, and whose acceptance of his 
 proposal had been won he scarcely knew how. 
 
 And yet the thought of her had an inexpressible 
 charm for him, — the charm of mystery, of inscruta- 
 bility. From the first moment he had felt that she 
 was his destiny, from which he could not escape, and 
 did not w^ish to escape. He calmly waited for its 
 fulfilment. 
 
 And so he came to Eavenhorst, and the marriage 
 was celebrated. The aged pastor performed the cere- 
 mony in the beautiful Eavenhorst church which Marie 
 Louise, upon coming of age, had had restored. The 
 old pastor had baptized her father fifty years before, 
 and his voice was choked with emotion as he thought 
 of the trials that the family had undergone since then. 
 Armin Hess was very tender-hearted. His own eyes 
 grew moist at sight of the old man's agitation, and 
 this won him old Frau von Plattow's heart forever. 
 Marie Louise was less charmed by this evidence of 
 feeling upon the part of her betrothed. It is always 
 incongruous when bride and bridegroom exchange
 
 RAVENHORST'S ' YOUNO MASTER' 231 
 
 characteristics. She felt that she ought to atone for 
 his weakness, and she stood before the altar a perfect 
 statue of marble, glittering like ice from head to foot 
 in stiff, shining silk, her gold-gleaming hair hidden be- 
 neath her white veil, her lovely Greek face as white 
 as alabaster, — indeed, its pallor was almost terrifying. 
 For to Marie Louise this step in her life was gravely 
 important. All the struggles, all the decisive moments 
 that had preceded this day, passed in review before her 
 mind. She examined herself seriously, to be sure that 
 she had nothing with which to reproach herself, — that 
 she had acted conscientiously for the best. Her con- 
 science was easy. Even an enemy could not accuse her 
 of giving her consent with giddy haste or blinded by 
 passion. No indeed. She had rejected many suitors 
 because she really did not wish to marry. She 
 thought she owed this to Ti-effenbach. When his 
 friend appeared, recommended by Magnus himself. 
 Count Hess could not have been more surjirised by her 
 consent than she was by his proposal. But it came 
 as if providentially, just at a time when she was more 
 than ever conscious that Ravenhorst needed a master. 
 There had remained with her a dim remembrance of a 
 handsome, taciturn man who would sit and listen for 
 an hour at a time when she was talking with Magnus, 
 who was kindly attentive to her grandparents, whoso 
 face wore in her memorj^ an inquiring, investigating 
 expression, and whose dark blue eyes rested search- 
 ingly upon her. Marie Louise was so entirely free 
 from vanity that it never occurred to her that her 
 rare beauty could be the object of this study. She 
 supposed, 'He is one of those who do not find the 
 world content them, who long for repose and seclusion, 
 who ponder the serious problems of the age and feel
 
 232 VIOLETTA 
 
 themselves drawn to us who have learned to discuss 
 them.' The man had interested her formerly, and this 
 interest was roused afresh. She pondered, considered, 
 struggled with her pride that was loath to sacrifice 
 her freedom, and gave her consent upon the same con- 
 ditions that she had formerly proposed to Treffenbach. 
 
 And now she trembled as the old pastor pronounced 
 the words of the Lutheran service : ' And ho shall be 
 thy master!' 
 
 Her master? Never! Marie Louise von Plattow 
 recognizes no earthly master. Could not that feeble 
 old man find words in Holy Writ that signified ' I give 
 thee a helpmeet' ? 
 
 For let him be what he might, in the end he would 
 be what she who ruled every one chose to make 
 him. But how if he should not be the right one? 
 The thought brought with it a shock of terror, A 
 silly phrase which she had once heard from Ehona 
 Bellwitz occurred to her: 'Marriage is a lottery,' 
 When she heard it she had turned away indignantly ; 
 now it fell heavy on her heart. She had staked her 
 all upon a single number. Even now the fateful wheel 
 was turning. What would her prize be ? Or should 
 she draw a blank ? 
 
 When this sudden doubt assailed her she grew not 
 only as white but as cold as marble. Her heart 
 seemed to stand still. But this did not last. The 
 man whom Magnus Treffenbach called friend could 
 not but be her friend also. 
 
 It was arranged that the j^oung couple should go to 
 the Ehine, Count Armin wished to pi-esent his wife 
 to his mother, whose state of health had prevented 
 her presence at his marriage, and Marie Louise had 
 agreed that it should be so.
 
 RAVENHORSrS 'YOUNG MASTER' 233 
 
 Coldly and calmly she liad entered the travelling- 
 carriage, and as coldly and calmly she descended from 
 it to-day when it drew up before the house. 
 
 " Welcome, dear children !" cried Frau von Plattow, 
 going with outstretched arms to meet the pair. 
 
 Count Hess subniitted quietly to the old lady's ma- 
 ternal embrace. He even stooped down that he might 
 be patted on the shoulder and kissed on the cheek, 
 remarking to his young wife as he did so, "Look, 
 Molly ; this is the way to do it." 
 
 She passed him with a proud glance and a shrug, 
 and went up to present her cheek to be kissed by her 
 grandfather. 
 
 All the old servants were assembled, Frau Doris at 
 their head in a high muslin cap and armed with a 
 formal congratulatory speech. Between their ranks 
 the bride mounted the steps. Marie Louise von Plat- 
 tow had always presented a distinguished appearance 
 in her delicate, proud beauty, but as Countess Hess, 
 on the arm of her handsome husband, she looked posi- 
 tively queen-like. 
 
 The young people were led to their suite of rooms 
 by the grandparents and Frau Doris. Here the old 
 lady turned to her grandson-in-law, and again wel- 
 comed him, her voice trembling with emotion. Ho 
 took her hand and carried it to his lips : " You are too 
 kind to me, mamma dear; all I ask is your forbear- 
 ance, for I am no Magnus Treffenbach, only a very 
 commonplace fellow, and the honour done me by Mario 
 Louise in accepting me will forever be inexplicable to 
 me. Still, she has done it, and my love must atone for 
 what I lack otherwise." 
 
 As ho spoke ho looked at the young Countess. She 
 was standing at her writing-table, examining the 
 
 20*
 
 234 VIOLETTA 
 
 addresses of the letters that had arrived during her 
 absence. Her brows were contracted, her lips com- 
 pressed ; the expi-ession of her face was not encourag- 
 ing. She stayed where she was, whilst her husband 
 walked on through the rooms with Frau von Plattow 
 and admired and praised everything to please the old 
 lady. Truth to tell, he cared very little about the 
 rooms. In front of the endless array of books in his 
 study he paused, and with lifted brows began, as he 
 twisted his long moustache, to read over some of the 
 titles, — 'Culture of the Soil,' 'Cattle-breeding,' 'Forest- 
 laws,' ' Eotation of Crops,' ' Turnip-culture,' ' The Ap- 
 plication of Guano,' ' Our Breed of Sheep.' At last he 
 began to laugh. " Good heavens, is the learning of 
 an entire university necessary to keep a single estate 
 in order? And Marie Louise attends to it all en pas- 
 sant ! Admirable indeed !" 
 
 " "We have very excellent and experienced in- 
 spectors." 
 
 " Ah, indeed ? that is well. I am an abominably 
 lazy dog, and it would be terrible to have to read all 
 these books." 
 
 " Oh, all that will come of itself, I am certain," the 
 old lady said, kindly ; " the principal consideration 
 is that you should learn to love us a little, and be 
 contented with us old people. My dear Armin, my 
 husband and I took a fancy to j'ou when we first 
 Icnew you, and I have always had a presentiment 
 that some day you would be very near to us. Now 
 the time has come when I can call you my dear son, 
 and I pray you to drop all formal modes of speech 
 and address us as you would your own father and 
 mother." 
 
 As she spoke she was deeply moved, and her emotion
 
 RAVENHORSTS ' YOUNG MASTER' 235 
 
 was shared by the tender-hearted man, who kissed her 
 hand with, " A thousand thanks, mamma." The old 
 lady then rejoined her husband, and they went down- 
 stairs together. 
 
 As the glass door closed behind them, Count Hess 
 was seized with an irresistible desire to laugh. The 
 young husband had been exchanging assurances of 
 affection with the grandmother, whilst his lovely 
 bride, seated at her writing-table, was conning a stat- 
 istical report as to the victims of brandy every year 
 in Germany and England. 
 
 His outburst of merriment caused the Countess 
 Marie Louise to lay aside her pamphlet a-nd to inquire, 
 in a tone of some annoyance, why he was laughing. 
 She saw nothing to provoke laughter. Did the house 
 seem to him old-fashioned and ridiculous ? 
 
 " Oh, dear heart (forgive the familiar appellation), 
 this house is charming, and your old people are most 
 venerable. No, I took the liberty of laughing at you." 
 
 " At me ?" she asked, opening wide her eyes ; " and 
 pray will you kindly tell me what you find to laugh 
 at in me ?" 
 
 " Your objectivity diverts me immensely." 
 
 She looked puzzled, and then slowly averted her 
 glance, as if it were really not worth while to find out 
 what he meant. She went on opening the drawers of 
 her writing-table and arranging her books and papers, 
 for it had been her mother's and she was now to take 
 possession of it. Frau Doris presented herself with 
 an amnful of account-books. 
 
 "Ah, the house-books," Marie Louise said, calmly 
 *' they must be put in this drawer. These old papers 
 must be taken away : they are letters and diaries of 
 my mother's."
 
 236 VIOLETTA 
 
 A little portfolio, tied together with ribbon, fell upon 
 the floor; the silken string broke, and a number of 
 small manuscript sheets were scattered here and there. 
 Count Hess instantly stooped, as did Doris, to pick 
 them up. Upon most of them were written simply a 
 few caressing words. Armin saw the old housekeeper's 
 face change, and he asked what this miniature corre- 
 spondence was. 
 
 "Ah, dear me!" sighed Doris, "she was such a 
 child, — the Countess's mother, I mean. She was al- 
 ways writing notes to her husband in the next room. 
 Twenty-five years ago I was brisk enough, and I used 
 to carry them from one room to the other and bring 
 back the answers. There they all are together. And 
 when he was sometimes absent in the forest or on 
 the farms all day, she had a boy for a messenger, 
 who used to carry him little notes written in French. 
 Ah, I can see her now as she sat there in that window 
 while my master was busy in his study; she would 
 not disturb him, but would write on her little scraps 
 of paper, and her fair curls would hang about her 
 lovely face, and then I must come and carry the bit 
 of paper to him and lay it on his desk just where he 
 could see it." 
 
 Count Hess put all the sheets carefully back into 
 the portfolio. " That's a delightful idea," he said. 
 " Why should not we do just so, Marie Louise ? What 
 isthat? Let me see!" 
 
 " I beg you, Armin, not to shake it ; it seems to be a 
 package of dried flowers," she said, impatiently. His 
 presence worried her, as one is worried by a great boy 
 lounging about a room meddling with this and that 
 and interrupting one by continual questions. 
 
 " Should you not like to make the tour of the stables,
 
 RAVENHORSTS 'YOUNG MASTER' 237 
 
 Armin ? You will hear the bell ring when it is dinner- 
 time. And would you kindly tell the inspector that I 
 wish to see him immediately ?" 
 
 " Is the inspector a young man ?" he asked, gravely. 
 " Yes ? No, you must not demand such self-sacrifice 
 of me. Allow me to take a seat in this arm-chair, 
 and give me a paper-knife to play with, — there. Now 
 listen, my angel: your grandmother is a charming 
 woman ; you might learn several things of her." 
 
 " What, for example ?" she asked, in a resigned 
 tone. 
 
 " How inquisitive you are ! Why, for example, how 
 to give a gracious kiss." 
 
 She looked angrily at him ; a flush mantled her 
 cheek, and she murmured, " Childish !" 
 
 " What did you say ? It sounded like ' the nonsense 
 of childish fools.' So you do not agree with me? 
 Marie Louise," — he looked round, but Frau Doris had 
 left the room, — " I do not wish to seem exacting, but 
 since your venerable shepherd of souls joined our 
 hands in holy matrimony, you have not deigned to 
 bestow upon me a single kind look. This is a little 
 depressing. What have I done?" 
 
 Yes, what? She leaned her head upon her hand, 
 and gazed with blank, tearless eyes out of the window. 
 
 Good heavens ! what was she to do with this blank 
 that the wheel of fortune had cast at her feet? For 
 she had long since confessed to herself, with paralyz- 
 ing terror, that she had made a fearful mistake, — she 
 had become the companion for life of a man with 
 whom she could do absolutely nothing, — a man who 
 spent all his time from morning until night in laugh- 
 ing and talking of his love. It was enough to make one 
 shed tears of blood !
 
 238 VIOLETTA 
 
 " My child," he began again, after a pause, " kindly 
 give me the letter to read which my friend Magnus 
 wrote to you about me. I have always had a suspi- 
 cion that he portrayed me to you as a weeping-willow, 
 and that this portrait had a certain attraction for you. 
 Confess, now, that you accepted me only because of his 
 recommendation." 
 
 She looked steadily at him : " I accepted you be- 
 cause I knew that you were his friend, and because I 
 supposed that your views coincided." 
 
 " They run precisely counter to each other." 
 
 Marie Louise jiressed her hands upon her temples, 
 and then held her head erect, — a gesture of de- 
 spair. 
 
 " But, my angel, it is a fact that my views, so to 
 speak, inconvenience no one, which is more than can 
 be said of his." 
 
 "That means," she interrupted him, with flashing 
 eyes, " that you have no pi-inciples ; you believe 
 nothing, you aspire to nothing, you contend for 
 nothing." 
 
 " Granting all that you say, do you suppose that I 
 would make horse-cloths out of your ecclesiastical 
 embroidery, or turn your infant schools into liquor- 
 shops ?" 
 
 She looked at him contemptuously, and turned away 
 with, "You would find such a course attended with 
 some difficulty." 
 
 A pause ensued. If she thought she had impressed 
 him she was disappointed. His thoughts had wan- 
 dered elsewhere, and he asked very amiably, " Tell 
 me, do you never have flowers in your rooms?" 
 
 "No, never." 
 
 " And why not ?"
 
 RAVENHORSTS 'YOUNG MASTER' 239 
 
 " I see no use in keeping plants in a room when 
 they grow much better out of doors." 
 
 " It is a pity you should not perceive the use of it," 
 he rejoined, dryly. "Your mother certainly had 
 flowers here, and as certainly could now and then 
 stick one in her husband's buttonhole or hat." 
 
 " Probably. Her youth excused her for wasting 
 her time in such a way. But I really must beg you, 
 Armin, to go away now, for it is time for me to dress 
 for dinner." 
 
 He obeyed with a protest. On the threshold ho 
 turned and kissed his hand to her. A gloomy look 
 was his only reward. 
 
 When she was alone, she stood motionless for a 
 while in the middle of her room, and covered her eyes 
 with her hand, conscious of a dull, weary pain. She 
 seemed to herself betrayed, sold. Her mind was chafed 
 by the constantly recurring question, * What shall I 
 do with him ?' 
 
 As if by the touch of a sorcerer's wand her entire 
 position has been changed. She has been taken from 
 her own old rooms and brought up here, where her 
 repose is destroyed by an insufferable intruder. She 
 never can be rid of him. Where she is, there he 
 is. He watches her, annoys her, questions her ; he 
 smokes, he laughs, he chatters stupid nonsense. And 
 he is the husband who, she had once hoped, would 
 bo her friend, her co-labourer, her sensible adviser I 
 Instead of this she looks down upon him. What he 
 says seems to her puerile. She cannot feel the slight- 
 est respect for his attainments. He surely never 
 learned anything, or took interest in anything; ho 
 must have been one of those idlers who play so piti- 
 able a part in the schools, but shine all the more bril-
 
 240 VIOLETT A 
 
 liantly in society because women rave over such 
 amiable, easy coxcombs, while a Treffenbach is passed 
 by unheeded. 
 
 Her heart grew cold and hard, and her face wore a 
 look of icy disdain when, half an hour afterwards, he 
 came to take her down to dinner. 
 
 " How beautiful you are !" he said, with ardent ad- 
 miration, entirely ignoring her air of tragic suffering, 
 as he offered her his arm and conducted her down the 
 stairs. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII 
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENHORST 
 
 The worst of it was that the man was so incorrigibly 
 merry. The old people smiled and laughed all through 
 dinner. The inspector, too, began to laugh behind 
 his napkin, and the housekeeper giggled audibly. The 
 vaulted dining-hall, with its high, grated, arched win- 
 dows and its carved oaken sideboards, black with 
 age, had seen no such joyous meal for many a long 
 year. The young Countess alone looked darkly grave. 
 But, then, no one expected her to join in the laughter. 
 
 After dinner, the two ladies, with the Count, went 
 out on the terrace, while the old Herr retired to the 
 garden-hall for his siesta. Grandmamma sacrificed 
 hers on this one day. They drank their coffee, and 
 Marie Louise sewed, and Count Hess told of the time 
 he had spent in Teplitz. He spoke of her beautiful 
 Excellency, of Fräulein Violetta, of Treffenbach's
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENHORST 241 
 
 noble placability, with an ease and assurance that 
 eeemed levity to his wife. She did not wish to hear 
 anything of those women, and yet she had to listen, 
 for she was interested to learn how soon her prophecy 
 had been fulfilled and Magnus had been gained over 
 by them. She would have liked to know whether 
 the reason for his going to South America really 
 were to be found in his fear lest he should lose his 
 heart entirely? Impossible! Had he not known a 
 Marie Louise ? 
 
 At last Count Hess arose, remarking that he would 
 now inspect his future sphere of action, beginning 
 with the stables. 
 
 They both looked after him as he walked off briskly, 
 swinging his light cane in the air and whistling the 
 same waltz which had so irritated Marie Louise all 
 through their journey. His ' sjjhere of action' ! She 
 smiled sarcastically. He had evidently charmed her 
 good, weak grandmother with that ridiculous phrase. 
 
 "Marie Louise," said the old lady, highly gratified, 
 " that is a delightful fellow. Now tell me about his 
 mother. You did not write, and you have told mo 
 nothing." 
 
 " Because there is nothing to tell. His parents live 
 in a small villa near Cologne. His father played a 
 rubber of whist every evening with his son and a 
 couple of pensioned comrades, and discussed army mat- 
 ters. The mother is a paralytic, but she dressed very 
 elegantly, overwhelmed me with fine phrases and 
 flattery, and talked of the balls she had been to when 
 she was young, and of her dear Armin's distinguished 
 air and beautiful hands. Oh, they were three very 
 edifying and instructive days, and just now in our 
 busiest harvest-time ! And that reminds mo that I 
 L q 21
 
 242 VIOLETTA 
 
 must go and look over the books and write several let- 
 ters to Berlin. There is a prosj)ect of my being unin- 
 terrupted for an hour or two." 
 
 She was mistaken. Scarcely had she seated herself 
 at her writing-table and begun, — 
 
 "My dear Herr Consistorial-rath, — Your in- 
 
 quiiy with regard to the contribution to " when 
 
 she heard the waltz whistled on the stairs again, 
 and immediately the monster in human form en- 
 tered. "Molly," he said to this young queen, just as 
 if she were a scullery-maid, " have you any old linen 
 here ?" 
 
 She arose silently, and, going to a wardrobe, opened 
 a drawer filled with pieces. Count Armin followed 
 her. She unrolled a bundle, and asked how much he 
 wanted. 
 
 " Oh, a good deal. And have you any grease ?" 
 
 " For cleaning guns, or for what ? You must go to 
 Doris," she replied, desirous only of being rid of this 
 * big boy' as soon as possible. 
 
 " Not for cleaning guns, but for bandaging an old 
 woman's leg," he said, taking his cane between his teeth 
 and tearing the linen into strips. " They have just 
 brought an old woman into the stable whom they 
 picked up in the forest, where she had cut her foot 
 badly with her axe." 
 
 " Who told her to go into the forest with an axe ? 
 She was stealing wood. Did you hear her name ?" 
 
 " Mother Schindler is her noble patronymic." 
 
 " Of course. She is a notorious vagabond and thief, 
 who does not belong hereabouts at all, but over near 
 Dreesberg. She must be taken there." 
 
 " After a while."
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENHORST 243 
 
 "Let me entreat you, Armin. You will give the 
 people very strange ideas of your respect for the law 
 if you befriend such a person." 
 
 " But I am sorry for the old hag. It is a terrible 
 wound, and she has been lying in the forest twent}'- 
 four hours, and is half starved. Another time, I 
 promise you, I will vindicate my respect for the law." 
 And he left the room. 
 
 She was in so depressed a mood that even this little 
 incident irritated her. "Without being aware of what 
 she was doing, and following her train of thought, 
 she inserted in her letter to the Consistorial-rath re- 
 marks upon the '"foolish weakness and good humour 
 which is in reality nothing but cowardice and want of 
 resolution to suppress and condemn sin and vice. It 
 makes life easier, of course, but such forbearance will 
 soon increase falsehood, deceit, and thievery here." 
 Suddenly she became conscious that all this was very 
 much out of place in this letter, and she tore up the 
 sheet. She was possessed by a restlessness that she 
 did not herself understand. How could that trifling 
 occurrence so agitate her that she was unable to 
 carry on her correspondence correctly? It would 
 not do. She arose and determined to open her trunk 
 and take out some books which she had bought in 
 Cologne. She searched for them in vain, till sud- 
 denly she remembered that Count Hess had put the 
 package into his trunk. She went into his room, where 
 the trunk stood, but it was still locked, although the key 
 lay on the table. In doubt whether she should take a 
 liberty with him which she certainly would not have al- 
 lowed him to take with her, she hesitated, and her eye 
 fell upon an old book that lay open upon the table. 
 He had perhaps been interrupted in reading it by the
 
 244 VIOLETT A 
 
 sound of the dinner-bell. She cast a half-startled 
 glance at the yellow leaves. It was a New Testa- 
 ment, and her eyes fell upon the parable of the good 
 Samaritan. She closed the book hastily, seized with 
 a sudden dread that speedily gave place to shame. 
 What cause was there for fear ? Why should she not 
 read those words ? It really looked like an accusing 
 conscience. 
 
 And yet her hand trembled as she tried to find the 
 place again. As she turned over the leaves she read 
 on the fly-leaf, " My dear, dear Armin, you will not 
 refuse to grant your Stefanie's last request to you, — 
 read a few verses in this book every day." 
 
 Marie Louise walked to the window, conscious of a 
 strange oppression. She had undergone a humiliation 
 against which her whole nature revolted, but she was 
 too true, too honourable not to say to herself, ' You 
 have done him wrong.' 
 
 She heard his step on the stairs, but he did not enter 
 the study ; he went to his dressing-room and rang for 
 his servant. She would have had time enough to run 
 away, but she stood still, struggling with her proud, 
 hard heart, which would not submit, and yet which 
 must submit, cost what it might ; for a Marie Louise 
 could not endure the sting of conscience. At last she 
 heard the servant sent away, and the curtained door 
 between the dressing-i'oom and the study was flung 
 open, as, whistling and with jingling spurs. Count 
 Armin, in riding-dress and high boots, entered the 
 room, apparently equipped for a long ride. 
 
 " Were you looking for me ?" he asked, quickly, as 
 he saw her standing by the window. 
 
 " No ; but I was waiting for you. I — only — wanted 
 to say "
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENHORST 215 
 
 Count Armin tossed his whip, gloves, and cigar-case 
 upon the table and came up to her, then stooped and 
 looked into her pale face, asking, anxiously, " Are you 
 ill ?" 
 
 " No," she said, avoiding his hand ; " but I am vexed, 
 dissatisfied with myself. I have done you wrong, and 
 I must tell you so, I could not know that " 
 
 " But what, — what wrong have you done me ?" 
 
 With a gesture she pointed to his writing-table ; he 
 looked at her inquiringly. 
 
 " You were reading, Armin, and were perhaps think- 
 ing of it when you saw the old woman. You did right ; 
 and besides, you read " 
 
 He closed the book hastily and locked it in a drawer. 
 *' Well, yes," he said, with some embarrassment, " I 
 once made a promise to do so ; but, for heaven's sake, 
 don't take me for a saint I" 
 
 " But you said you believed in nothing." 
 
 " Did I say that ? Oh, no, my love, you said that. 
 I only took the liberty of adding to your remark that 
 at all events my views annoyed no one. No, Marie, I 
 am far from being clever enough to take up with a 
 philosophy invented by a Voltaire. I never could 
 understand why people were not glad to have their 
 catechism spare them a deal of fatiguing investiga- 
 tion." 
 
 A pause ensued. Marie Louise sighed. She felt 
 ashamed, and the sensation was insufferable. 
 
 " Then you forgive me my injustice," she said, offer- 
 ing him her hand. " I will be careful in future." 
 
 " Ah, don't I I am so fond of forgiving," he said, 
 kissing her on her forehead. She endured it in silence, 
 as one submits to a deserved chastisement, — which was 
 hardly encouraging. 
 
 21*
 
 246 VIOLETTA 
 
 "Who was the Stefanie who gave you the Testa- 
 ment ?" she asked, after a pause. 
 
 " A young girl who grew up with me. She was al- 
 most always an invalid. You cannot imagine a more 
 gentle spirit ; and then her constant touching anxiety 
 for the welfare of my soul ! I promised her to fulfil 
 her last request, and I have tried to keep my promise, 
 for I should be sorry to disturb her rest in the grave. 
 Poor little angel ! She had the most beautiful eyes ; 
 otherwise she was not pretty, although attractive. Her 
 face was thin and pale, and that set at rest my good 
 Bhort-sighted mother's fears. As if one could love a 
 beautiful face if the soul informing it were not lovable !" 
 
 He looked at her musingly while he was speaking, 
 and he came very near adding, " Yes, it is soul for 
 which I am searching in you ! You have mind, and 
 conscience which leads you aright, and beauty in 
 abundance, but the soul that should look out at us, 
 warm, vital, eloquent, from those starry eyes, like the 
 glow of an inward flame, — is that there?" 
 
 He might have said something like this, but the 
 servant came to tell him that his horse was waiting 
 before the door. 
 
 Count Armin returned from his ride at supper-time, 
 and when asked where he had been, replied, with the 
 easiest and most cheerful air possible, " Everywhere I" 
 
 For many ensuing days Marie Louise scarcely saw 
 him. She had an abundance of time to write her let- 
 ters. She frequently heard him go to his study, but 
 he never came to her, for he was always in a hurry. 
 Now he was out in the meadows with the labourers, 
 now in the forest, now on the farm, and now in the 
 sheepfold, always accompanied by the inspector. He 
 seemed to think this all a matter of course. He had
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENHORST 247 
 
 very little to do with books. He preferred to go in 
 the evenings and make inquiries of Herr von Plat- 
 tow, and the half-blind old man fairly grew young 
 again. He had the opportunity of imparting the val- 
 uable results of his life-long experience to a younger 
 man, to give him counsel, and to tell him of what he 
 had passed through. The chessmen rested quietly in 
 their box. The two men often sat talking together 
 far into the night, and the old Frau blessed Marie 
 Louise's choice. As for the young Countess, she had 
 a hard battle to fight with her pride. She was so ac- 
 customed to rule here, that it offended her to be so com- 
 pletely ignored at these consultations. She sometimes 
 heard, with amazement, of buildings to be erected and 
 improvements to be made, but no one asked her permis- 
 sion. And then, to be sure, it occurred to her that Count 
 Hess's proposal had been accepted upon condition that 
 he should undertake the management of the estate. 
 
 She still kept the books and received the inspector 
 daily, but some day the Count would probably come 
 and, in his nonchalant way, relieve her of this duty 
 also. ' 
 
 He did come into her drawing-room one day, warm 
 with walking and very dusty. He had with him a 
 roll of paper, which he unrolled upon the table, and, 
 after fastening it down at the coi-ners, said, " Will 3'ou 
 please to look here a moment ?" 
 
 She came and leaned over the paper, across which 
 he had drawn a lino in red ink. " Why is there no 
 straight road from the rye meadow to the farm ?" he 
 asked, looking up at her. 
 
 Marie Louise tried in vain to conceal the astonish- 
 ment caused her by this simple question. She looked 
 at him and made no reply.
 
 248 VIOLETTA 
 
 "For you see, my love, thanks to the inventive 
 faculty of your forbears, the only road by which the 
 harvest can be gathered in passes directly over the 
 only mountain on the estate. And in order to accom- 
 plish this the wagons must turn aside by a round- 
 about way half a mile long." 
 
 " We are perfectly awai-e of this inconvenience, but 
 the bog there " 
 
 " But why not come in a straight line through the 
 rye meadow ?" 
 
 " Of course. How did you happen to think of it, 
 Armin ?" 
 
 " Is that surprising ? Did you suppose me a candi- 
 date for the idiot-asylum ? By the way, Marie Louise, 
 I was at your school to-day." 
 
 "You? What did you want there?" she asked, 
 coldly. 
 
 " Excuse me. After all, I am your husband. At any 
 rate, what I found was that all those children have a 
 hang-dog look. I seemed to be in the work-room of a 
 flock of miniature criminals. Military discipline must 
 not degenerate into dead mechanism. Can they not 
 look as happy and merry as the children do at Yel- 
 zin?" 
 
 Marie Louise was absolutely confused. This attack 
 was so astounding that at first all she could find to 
 say was, " Have you been in Velzin ?" 
 
 " Yes ; I rode over there the day before yesterday to 
 see a setter that the farmer wants to sell, and I took 
 occasion to visit the empty manor-house and the little 
 colony in the park." 
 
 " I founded that school I" the young Countess said, 
 hastily. 
 
 "It must have been long ago. It is under the
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENH0RS7 249 
 
 supervision of the pastor's wife, a Frau Ehrhardt, — an 
 excellent woman, it seemed to me." 
 
 She was mute with indignation. He ventured to 
 find fault with her arrangements, to doubt their per- 
 fection! Certainly a remai'kable man. He dared 
 what no one else dared. What if he should under- 
 take to rule her ? She looked at him with a frown as 
 he pored anew over the plan on the table. At last he 
 looked up and sighed : " I do not believe, however, that 
 my plan could be carried out without more knowledge 
 than I possess. I can see that. What do you say to 
 m}^ taking an agricultural course at a university?" 
 
 " It would be an excellent plan," she assented. 
 
 "Afterwards," he went on, reflectively, "I could 
 take the matter in hand. Hm ! I must consult with 
 the old Herr." And he arose and left the room. 
 
 "He has aspirations, it is not to be denied," his just 
 wife said to herself. " But I must be upon my guard; 
 he would fain be an autocrat, and he has a skilful way 
 of taking an adversary by surprise." 
 
 The very next day there was another surprise in 
 the shape of a fine brown-and- white setter, which ran 
 up-stairs beside the Count just as the young Countess 
 was going down. " Is that your new dog ?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " You »re not bringing him into our rooms ?" 
 
 "Yes, I am. He is going to my study, where, in 
 future, he will lie under my writing-table." 
 
 "I cannot allow that. I cannot have a dog in my 
 rooms." 
 
 " Then he shall not go into your rooms," he rejoined, 
 composedly, and opened the glass door. "And he 
 cannot annoy you in mine, for you never enter them." 
 
 And thus the matter was quietly disposed of and
 
 250 VIOLETTA 
 
 her commands ignored, as if they had been the result 
 of mere girlish caprice. 
 
 She now frequently expressed her opinion that it 
 would certainly be an advantage for him to attend 
 Boon the university course of which he had spoken. 
 
 " Yes, dearest," he rejoined on one occasion, seating 
 himself at her writing-table, " I must go, but not until 
 the beginning of the winter. However, you will soon 
 be rid of me for a week, for I am going to ride to 
 Velzin to examine there the construction and working 
 of a steam threshing-machine that the farmer has in 
 operation." 
 
 " When do you mean to go ?" 
 
 " iJ^ext Monday." 
 
 " That is the day of the conference in Berlin, which 
 I wish to attend." 
 
 " What conference ?" 
 
 " To discuss the establishment of an asylum for the 
 homeless poor ; the Consistorial-rath A and Pas- 
 tor E have both sought my h " 
 
 " Hand ?" her incorrigible husband asked, with lifted 
 brows. 
 
 " M}^ help," she said, i-esignedly. " They wish to 
 make me president of this institution." 
 
 " The first step towards a reputation that culminateh 
 in an encyclopa3dia. It will read \qyj well, — ' Marie 
 Louise von Plattow, by marriage Countess Hess, a 
 famous philanthropist, distinguished for founding nu- 
 merous orphan-asylums." 
 
 "Why cast ridicule upon a good cause?" she asked, 
 coldly ; " it requires no great capacity to do so." 
 
 " Because I should like to warn you not to confound 
 ambition and vanity with Christian charity," 
 
 She made no replj'. He was not worth it.
 
 A NEW ERA AT RAVENHORST 251 
 
 " For you will not be contented to go one« a year to 
 a ' conference' in Berlin, but " 
 
 " Probably not," she interrupted him. " I should 
 like to rent a house in Berlin for the future, that I 
 may not trespass upon the hospitality of the Bellwitzes 
 every time that I go there." 
 
 " Well, we will take the matter into consideration, 
 my angel," he said, very amiably ; " but now we had 
 better go down to the old people." 
 
 "First, I should like to know whether or not you 
 are going to Velzin on Monday ?" 
 
 "Oh, yes; that arrangement cannot be altered." 
 
 " Then please let me come to my writing-table ; I 
 must inform the Consistorial-rath that the conference 
 must be postponed." 
 
 " Have 3'ou such influence already ? My child, my 
 child, be warned. Character, personal presence, and 
 wealth all combine to fit you to play the part of a 
 queen among those people, — very pleasant and sat- 
 isfactory. But go with me instead to Velzin, and 
 learn from Frau Ehrhardt the magic word by which 
 she makes a crowd of children happy." 
 
 " Perhaps you can tell me this word," she said, 
 rather haughtily. 
 
 " Oh, yes, — it is charity" 
 
 " Do you think my schools were founded upon 
 hatred f" she asked. 
 
 " No ; upon principle." 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders and left him. 
 
 Marie Louise felt greatly relieved when she reflected 
 that she should be rid of ' this man' for a week. Ho 
 had come to be irritating to her beyond measure. On 
 Monday he got into his little hunting-cart in the best 
 of humours, with his dog beside him, and waved his
 
 252 VIOLETTA 
 
 hand to the young Countess as he drove off, calling 
 out to her, " A week from to-day, Molly, you can come 
 for me." 
 
 She looked after him angrily. Then she went up 
 to her apartments, and drew a long, long breath. 
 
 It was perfectly quiet up here. No whistling in the 
 corridor, no jingling of spurs on the stairs, no dog's 
 paw scratching at the doors, and more than all, no 
 danger of being interrupted in her work. She said to 
 herself that it would be delightful ; but still it seemed 
 strange and unusual. She sat and embroidered, or 
 read, or wrote, and all the while she was listening to 
 hear if somebody were not coming. But no one 
 came. Who of the household would venture to dis- 
 tvirb the young Countess without urgent cause ? Even 
 Frau von Plattow knew that Marie Louise liked best 
 to be alone. 
 
 At last the silence grew oppressive. She seemed to 
 have forgotten something down-stairs. She took her 
 writing-materials and went down into the garden- 
 hall. But it was already quite cool here: the wind 
 was whirling the yellow leaves about. She shivered, 
 put her paper and pen away, and went into the lower 
 drawing-room, where her grandmother was sorting 
 wools for stockings for the poor. " What is it, dear 
 child?" she asked, kindly. 
 
 Marie Louise looked confused. She did not know 
 what to say. " I thought I had forgotten something 
 I am looking for." 
 
 " You might read the newspaper to your grand- 
 father if you have time." 
 
 She was quite willing, and she read aloud to the old 
 Herr for an hour. At last she had finished, and with 
 a certain expectant impatience she hurried up-staira
 
 TEE COUNT WINS 253 
 
 as if to find there what she was searching for, and 
 walked through the empty rooms until she stood in 
 Count Armin's study. Here she paused, looked round, 
 and suddenly blushed. The nameless something that 
 she was looking for was — her husband. 
 
 She missed him. Whatever he might choose to be, 
 now she was accustomed to him, and her life was in- 
 complete without him. 
 
 A prey to positive terror, Marie Louise sat down in 
 the arm-chair and covered her face with her hands. 
 This would be despicable. But it was not true, not a 
 word of it ! She had suffered humiliation enough at 
 his hands, but this triumph should never be his. It 
 would, indeed, be a fine affair for a Marie Louise to 
 miss ' this man,' or his boyish gayety. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII 
 
 THE COUNT WINS 
 
 Four days had passed. This week seemed endless. 
 The old Plattows observed this with many sighs, and 
 Marie Louise thought it, but would not for worlds 
 have uttered her thought. She was ashamed, but 
 she could not prevent the time in her room from pass- 
 ing more slowly than it had ever passed before. If she 
 took a book and tried to read, her mind wandered. 
 She struggled against this with all the energy of her 
 proud heart, but in vain. 
 
 One evening, as she passed through the lower hall, 
 she noticed Frau Doris with some of the servants col- 
 lected in a group and whispering together. She asked 
 
 22
 
 254 VIOLETTA 
 
 what was the matter, and one of the sei-vants with 
 some hesitation replied that a carter had said that 
 * some one in Yelzin had met with an accident in the 
 steam-thresher.' 
 
 " A labourer !" Frau Doris interrupted the speaker 
 hastily, with a glance of reproval. 
 
 Marie Louise mounted the staircase as erect and 
 dignified as ever. But in her own room she grew 
 restless. " Why had old Doris glanced in that way at 
 the man ? Suppose it were not a labourer. What if 
 it were an inspector, or a " 
 
 Still, she was far too proud to betray her anxiety by 
 a second question. She allowed Doris to undress her 
 without a word, though hoping that the old woman 
 would speak of the accident again. But Doris said 
 nothing. Consequently the young Countess did not 
 close her eyes that night. Her imagination was not 
 usually very lively, but all night long she was beset 
 by images of terror, people with maimed, bleeding 
 limbs, and dying eyes turned reproachfully upon her. 
 
 The next morning she felt wretchedly weak, — nat- 
 urally, with so little sleep. She determined to eat a 
 hearty breakfast and to drink a glass of Madeira. 
 She rang for the servant, but when he came, instead 
 of ordering breakfast, she asked, " Has anything fur- 
 ther been heard about the accident at Yelzin ?" 
 
 " Nothing, my lady." 
 
 " Very well ; you can go." 
 
 This day threatened to stretch out to twice its 
 actual length. In the afternoon, seated at her writing- 
 table, she came to a sudden determination. She would 
 write a few words to him and ask him for news. But 
 the 'few words.' There was the difficulty. An ir- 
 resistible force guided her hand to write upon the
 
 THE COUNT WINS 255 
 
 paper before her, 'My dear Armin.' She laid the 
 sheet aside and began upon another, ' I am anxious, 
 dearest Armin,' — no, that would not do. But heavens ! 
 there was paper enough. Why not write on another 
 sheet, just to see how it looked ? ' My dearest love !' 
 She was a little nervous. This was nothing more than 
 trying a pen. 
 
 At that moment the door was flung open, and Count 
 Hess, in vigorous health, entered. 
 
 Marie Louise started up, pale with fright, and gazed 
 at him. Her first impulse was to conceal the treach- 
 erous sheets of paper. She gathered them all to- 
 gether and thrust them into a drawer; then stood 
 like a criminal caught in the act. 
 
 He stared, amazed, and suddenly his face grew 
 dark. " An extraordinary reception," he said, slowly. 
 " And a Marie Louise cannot look me in the eyes. I 
 jseem to have taken you by surprise." 
 
 She did not speak, but turned away. 
 
 "Without another word he went to the table, and, 
 opening the drawer, took out the sheets. She shyly 
 watched him, and noticed that his hand trembled. 
 
 For a while he examined the papers one after the 
 other, seeming not to comprehend. Suddenly he 
 dropped them all ; a flush mounted to his forehead. He 
 came to her, took her head between his hands, gazed 
 long into her eyes, where pride and love strove for 
 the mastery, and asked, in a tone of gentle reproach, 
 " What ? So proud ? As if it were a crime to write 
 those words ! Marie Louise, have you missed me ?" 
 
 She could make no reply, but her cheek flushed 
 crimson, and her eyes filled with tears. 
 
 " She is sorry for it, — sorry to have wasted so much 
 feeling upon one so unworthy. Confess it. Do you
 
 256 VIOLETTA 
 
 not bee that I want to forgive again?" And he 
 clasped her in his arras and kissed away her tears. 
 
 •' It was only," she murmured, as if by w^ay of ex- 
 cuse, " that a report frightened me. We heard that 
 some one in Yelzin had been injured by the engine, 
 and I thought it might be you ; and of course it was 
 
 natural that I " She blushed again, and extricated 
 
 herself from his embrace. Steps were heard in the cor- 
 ridor, and Frau von Plattow entered with open arms. 
 " He has come back ! What a surprise !" she ex- 
 claimed, and nothing would do but that he must 
 explain and narrate, and finally come down-stairs. 
 There the tea-table stood ready, and the old people 
 were full of joy at having their vice-son at home 
 again. They had missed him so. The house had 
 been as quiet as the grave. 
 
 " I can easily believe it," he said, laughing. " No 
 one else wears such creaking boots." 
 
 " The idea of his going to the university ! Non- 
 sense !" cried the old lady. 
 
 " Nonsense or not," he rejoined, " I have written to 
 make arrangements. Marie Louise wishes it, and her 
 wish is my law." 
 
 Marie Louise blushed to the roots of her hair ; and 
 the more terrible it was to her to do this, the more 
 provoked she was with ' this man,' whose fault it was. 
 
 Her grandmother sighed. If Marie Louise desired 
 anything there was nothing to be said, for she always 
 desired what was most sensible. But to her surprise 
 the young Countess observed, " Perhaps, after all, it is 
 not necessary, you have made such rapid progress in 
 your new vocation." Count Hess bowed to the ground. 
 " You could perhaps learn from books, — could study by 
 yourself "
 
 THE COUNT WINS 257 
 
 " Ah, you ought to have said that before ; now it is 
 too late." 
 
 She was silent, and went for the chess-board. Count 
 Hess declared himself quite ready for a game if Marie 
 Louise would help him ; he had really forgotten the 
 moves. 
 
 "That can hardly be," she replied, almost as coldly 
 as usual. " I must go up-stairs for some worsted." 
 
 " And I must go up for a handkerchief. Let us go 
 together." 
 
 She said nothing, and left the room. He caught up 
 with her upon the stairs, directly beneath the large 
 hanging-lamp, looked into her eyes, and again saw 
 tears in them. 
 
 " Armin." 
 
 " Well ?" 
 
 " Is — is it really settled about the university ? To 
 be alone the whole winter long. My grandparents 
 depend so upon you." 
 
 " After all, you are right. I will give up going, out 
 of consideration for your grandmother !" 
 
 In the hall below a shadow glided past. It was 
 Pauline, the maid, who slipped straightway into 
 Frau Doris's room, and whispered, eagerly, " Good 
 gracious, Frau Doris, what do you think I saw just 
 now ? The Herr Count kissing Madame 1 on the 
 stairs, too ! and not once, but six times at least ! I 
 felt quite ashamed !" 
 
 " Hold your silly tongue," was all that Doris had to 
 say in reply. 
 
 Meanwhile, Herr von Plattow was thinking that it 
 took a long time to find a handkerchief and some 
 worsted, when Count Armin and his wife appeared 
 without either. 
 
 r 22*
 
 258 VIOLETTA 
 
 The game of chess took place, however, and the old 
 Herr won a brilliant victory. 
 
 Frau von Plattow smiled as she watched her grand- 
 daughter. Marie Louise's restlessness and pallor dur- 
 ing her husband's absence had not escaped her, and 
 of course she now noticed her sudden blushes, her 
 confused smile. The old lady exulted. Everything 
 seemed to be turning out happily ; she loved him at 
 last, and peace and harmony would reign in future. 
 
 But so hard a diamond is not easil^^ cut. For her 
 husband's sake Marie Louise will yield in trifles, sub- 
 mit to annoyances ; she will confide to him her 
 thoughts, their life shall be lived in common, and peace 
 shall reign, so far as peace is possible. But surely no 
 one ought to require that she should model her views 
 upon his, or sacrifice her principles to him. And the 
 dearer he becomes to her, the more on the watch must 
 she be to keep her conscience clear of the blame of 
 being false to her most sacred convictions for the sake 
 of mere human afi'ection. 
 
 He cares nothing for such things ; they annoy him, 
 and therefore he tries to estrange her from her mis- 
 sionary-work and her philanthropic schemes. What 
 'f every one should become convinced that work in 
 Christian Associations was a source of vain ambition ? 
 Thus contests again arose, but with this difi^erence, — 
 she no longer talked with icy indifi^erence and a con- 
 temptuous shrug, but with warmth, eagerly. She 
 longed to win him over to her views. When he shared 
 them he could really be her best and dearest friend, 
 the helpmeet of whom, unfortunately, the Bible makes 
 no mention. 
 
 Some weeks had passed, and Marie Louise had 
 learned several thinjrs of which she had been ignorant
 
 THE COUNT WINS 259 
 
 before, and which, indeed, she still regarded as weak- 
 nesses, although they became her well ; how to smile, 
 for example, and how to blush, and the art of bestow- 
 ing ' a gracious kiss.' And in this last accomplishment, 
 by the way, her grandmother had not been her pre- 
 ceptor. 
 
 One day, while the family were at dinner, the ser- 
 vant announced that a troupe of strolling players had 
 arrived at the inn, and would like to give a repre- 
 sentation that evening at Ravenhorst itself, if the 
 gentlefolk would allow it. 
 
 " JSTo !" said Marie Louise, peremptorily. 
 
 Count Hess turned to the old Herr. " What answer 
 will you send these people?" he asked, just as if 
 Marie Louise had not spoken. She bit her lip. Herr 
 von Plattow said he did not wish to have any repre- 
 sentation in the castle. 
 
 " I agree with you," said Count Armin ; " but, that 
 the people may not be disaj^pointed entirely, I will 
 bestow the splendour of my presence upon their per- 
 formance at the inn." 
 
 " Why should you do that ?" his wife asked ; " this 
 rabble has been going about the country for some days 
 now, and such strolling players are always thievish." 
 
 " Very possibly, my darling. We all have our 
 faults." 
 
 "Well, I must say!" Marie Louise exclaimed, in- 
 dignantly. 
 
 This incident was quite forgotten, when, on a cold 
 November morning. Count Hess looked into his wife's 
 room to say, " Please come down, dear heart. The 
 men have just brought a poor woman into the castle 
 whom they found in the horse-pond, and I do not know 
 whether she is alive or dead."
 
 260 VIOLETTA 
 
 The young Countess hurried down instantly. The 
 lower hall was filled with people talking in low tones, 
 their voices drowned by the loud crying of a child. 
 All made way for the 3"oung mistress, and Marie 
 Louise saw on the floor a litter, whereon lay the un- 
 conscious form of a woman with dripping hair and 
 drenched garments. A little boy about eight years 
 old sat on the floor beside her, crying bitterly. 
 
 Every circumstance of the discovery was related. 
 No one knew the woman. The boy had come running 
 to some men at work in a barn, and had called out to 
 them that his mamma had fallen into the water. 
 
 " The case must be advertised if she does not recover 
 consciousness," said the Count. 
 
 Meanwhile, the woman was carried to the kitchen, 
 where every means were employed for her recovery, 
 but in vain. After two hours of fruitless effort it was 
 given up, and then the question arose. Who was she? 
 
 " A stray member of that company of players," said 
 the Countess, calmly ; " her appearance and her dress 
 all suggest it. Perhaps she had stayed behind and 
 was hurrying after the others." 
 
 The poor creature was young, with black hair and 
 thin features. Her hands were soft and delicate ; she 
 was evidently unused to hard work. Her gown, when 
 it was dried, proved to be shabby and worn. Her linen 
 was fine, but the name marked upon it had been cut 
 out everywhere. Her shoes and stockings were woi'n 
 out, and her feet were blistered. In her pocket was 
 a handkerchief tied up containing a few trinkets, 
 most of them of little value, because the jewels that 
 belonged to them had been picked out of the setting 
 and were gone, but upon further search these stones 
 were found wrapped in a paper in another pocket.
 
 THE COUNT WINS 261 
 
 There was nothing about her that could give any clue 
 to her identity. 
 
 All this while the boy sat on a bench by the store 
 and cried, cried until he fairly fell over from weariness. 
 He made no answer when questioned ; he seemed to 
 be utterly confused. His shoes were in holes, and his 
 feet were bleeding; but his dress showed a certain 
 degree of elegance. His velvet jacket, which exposure 
 to the weather had turned of a greenish hue, had 
 once been black. He was frightfully dirty ; but when 
 Frau Doris had given him a warm bath and combed 
 his tangled curls and put him to bed. Count Armin 
 came to look at him, and was surprised. " What a 
 splendid boy I" he said. 
 
 "He looks like a Jewish child," said the Countess, 
 bending over the little sleeper. " Well, to-morrow we 
 shall learn something about him. The affair must be 
 investigated. These trinkets are a mournful confirma- 
 tion of my assertion that all these players are thievish." 
 
 The next morning, as the Count and Countess were 
 breakfasting quite early in their apartments, the door 
 opened, and Doris appeared, leading the boy by the 
 hand. Frau von Plattow, who always had a plentiful 
 supply of clothes for the poor, had provided him with 
 a brown linen suit. Doris had tied a red ribbon 
 around his neck under his white collar; he looked 
 very bright, and not at all shy. He seemed used to 
 be among many people. There was something unusu- 
 ally alert and intelligent in his look. He ran about 
 the room, attracted by everything that was pretty in 
 it, but delighting especially in the large bright win- 
 dows. " Oh," he exclaimed, " j^ou can get out of those !" 
 
 "Out of the windows? You would come to grief, 
 my boy."
 
 262 VIOLETTA 
 
 "But there are no iron bars," he said. "Oh, how 
 pretty they are !" 
 
 " Had you iron bars before your windows ?" asked 
 the Count. 
 
 " Oh, such thick ones ! Mamma cried all the time." 
 
 " That must have been an uncomfortable house," 
 the Count said, exchanging glances with his wife. 
 At these words the child became confused, looked 
 timidly around, and blushed scarlet. 
 
 Marie Louise tried to entice him to the table to give 
 him some breakfast, but he seemed suddenly to be 
 worried, climbed up into the window-seat, and, press- 
 ing his face against the window-panes, looked down 
 upon the terrace. After a little he said, " The gentle- 
 men and ladies are all gone." Then he seemed to 
 reflect again, and was silent. 
 
 " Come here, my boy ; you must be hungry," said 
 the Count. " Come and have something to eat." 
 
 The lad looked distrustful, but approached the table 
 elowly, with a hungry glance at the basket of biscuit, 
 and ended by quietly eating his breakfast, only in- 
 terrupting it once to say, " Will mamma stay away 
 long r 
 
 " Yery long, my poor fellow." 
 
 His eyes filled with tears. " When did she go 
 away? I dreamed last night that she was lying in 
 the water, and I was cold and hungry. Have they 
 shut her up again ?" 
 
 " No, no ; she is free now, and you must be good 
 and obedient." 
 
 The boy glanced quickly from one to the other. 
 " Come here," said Count Hess, taking him on his 
 knee. " There will be some gentlemen here who will 
 ask you questions, and you must answer them bravely."
 
 THE COUNT WINS 263 
 
 " What will they ask ?" the child said, and his look 
 grew strangely suspicious. 
 
 "First, what is your name?" 
 
 Count Hess felt the little hand struggle to release 
 itself from his firm grasp. After a long delay and 
 much reflection, the boy said at last, " Hugo." 
 
 " That's right, Hugo. What's your other name?" 
 
 The merry childish face seemed all at once to grow 
 old and hard. He compressed his lips. " I don't 
 know." And this ' don't know' was all that he would 
 say. He had no other answer for every question put 
 to him. The more persistently he was interrogated, 
 the more obstinately he refused to say anything save 
 ' I don't know.' 
 
 The next day Count Hess took him to town to the 
 police-office, where notices of what had happened had 
 been posted. Here the boy refused to sj^eak at all. 
 He closed his lips, and stared vacantly before him. 
 When his mother's clothes were shown him he looked 
 amazed, and gazed anxiousl}' around. When he was 
 shown one of the trinkets, and was asked if it were 
 his mother's, he glanced at it with dull indifference and 
 was silent. It was impossible to tell whether he were 
 weak-witted or cunning. He was threatened with 
 punishment, — he was silent. They promised him toys, 
 — he was silent. What was to be done ? The simplest 
 way was to discover the present sojourn of the stroll- 
 ing players. A brooch that had been found upon the 
 woman was marked with the name of a firm of jew- 
 ellers in Frankfort-on-thc-Main. They were written 
 to. Count Hess carried the boy back to Eavenhorst 
 with him, and on the way thither tried to explain to 
 him that his mother was dead ; but either the child 
 did not understand him, or he was stupefied from
 
 264 VIOLETTA 
 
 the police examination. He seemed quite unintei- 
 ested. 
 
 " Poor, unfortunate child !" said Marie Louise. " So 
 young, and so corrupt. We will keep him here, and 
 I will prove to you, Armin, that I have patience and 
 Christian charity. Of course great care will be neces- 
 sary, but if we wish to show ourselves in earnest with 
 the duties we undertake, we must not expect that they 
 will be either easy or agreeable." 
 
 She made this little speech in a somewhat dictato- 
 rial, defiant tone. She had not forgotten that he had 
 once held up to her — to her! — as an example, Frau 
 Ehrhardt. 
 
 Count Hess laughed, and ciirsorily observed that it 
 depended upon the old people whether the boy stayed 
 there or not. Various consultations ensued. 
 
 " I never do things by halves," said Marie Louise. 
 " This child needs the most careful training ; some one 
 must be with him all the time. In an institution he 
 would be ruined, but he may yet be saved. If those 
 players are found, and it should be shown that he has 
 no father, I will keep him here and bring him up as 
 my son." 
 
 " I will keep him with me for a few days," Count 
 Hess said, calmlj", " and then tell you whether you may 
 do so or not." And he patted his wife caressingly on 
 the shoulder. She blushed, and turned away with an 
 indignant look. 
 
 For some days afterward Count Hess had the child 
 with him early and late. They came to be great 
 friends. When Hess passed the boy's door in the 
 morning the little fellow came running to meet him, 
 hat in hand, his eyes sparkling. He would run down- 
 stairs before his friend, call the dog, rush with him 
 
 I
 
 THE COUNT WINS 205 
 
 through the lower hall, and bound along in advance 
 of the Count, always returning to his side from time 
 to time like a faithful puppy. 
 
 Sometimes the horse stood saddled in front of the 
 door, and then the Count would lift the boy to the 
 saddle before him and ride off to the farm. There 
 they would stay until dinner-time, the boy plaj'ing the 
 while, apparently unobserved, in court-yard and barns. 
 He was as agile as a squirrel ; no tree, no hay-loft was 
 too high for him, but he was very much afraid of 
 cows and horses, and was at first with difficulty per- 
 suaded to allow himself to be lifted into the saddle. 
 Once there, however, he chattered merrily, noticed 
 everything, and asked very intelligent questions. Then 
 he was a child like other children, frank, mischievous, 
 true-hearted. From time to time he asked after his 
 mother, and whether she would soon come and live 
 too in this beautiful house. If money were given 
 him he put it in his pocket, and Count Hess once 
 heard him murmur as he did so, ' For mamma !' He 
 often took it out, counted it, weighed it in his hand, 
 and evidently took satisfaction in the glitter of the 
 bright coins. 
 
 " Well, dear heart," Count Hess said at last, " I give 
 you permission to keep the boy, and, if you choose, to 
 adopt him. If he is a gypsy vagabond, I am the son 
 of a bandit chief" 
 
 " I shall not be led astray by an attractive exterior," 
 Marie Louise rejoined. " Believe me, I know the 
 dark side of life better than you do. My time in Ber- 
 lin among the poor and wretched M'^as not spent in 
 vain. In such work one learns much that is distress- 
 ing. A city missionary told me of youthful criminals, 
 convicted of theft, who, nevertheless, when they were 
 M 23
 
 'ZGG VIOLETTA 
 
 examined looked the very picture of innocence, which 
 they counterfeited so as to deceive gray-headed magis- 
 trates. He told me of a lady who, in appearance be- 
 longing to the upjDer ranks of society, used to walk 
 the streets with two elegantly-dressed little boys. 
 These children were little wretches with cherub faces. 
 They always ran on before, and used now and then to 
 stop those whom they met to ask if they had seen 
 their ball. The beauty and grace of the children 
 made many a lady pause to caress them, and ask, 
 * What is your name ?' and if afterward she missed her 
 watch or her pocket-handkerchief she never connected 
 the loss with those pretty children. Yes, Armin, 
 when I think of all this I shudder at the depravity of 
 man, and I constantly say to myself that it is wrong 
 to sit idle when we might succour and save. Admit 
 that I am right, Armin, in believing that true Chris- 
 tianity does not consist in putting away from us this 
 evil element, but in keeping such a child with us, just 
 because it is a lost soul and should be saved." 
 
 " Certainly, my darling ; but in this case all this 
 effort is superfluous. Have some confidence in your 
 husband's judgment. I do not know who or what the 
 boy's parents were ; he is a strange child, I admit ; 
 but depraved he is not." 
 
 She made no reply, but looked down at her em- 
 broidery. Count Armin sat down beside her, and put 
 his arm about her waist. " Don't look so grave," he 
 said, kindly. 
 
 She looked at him and sighed: "Armin, I am try- 
 ing my best to do what is right." 
 
 " I am sure of that, but to err is human, and 1 
 should like to keej) you from harshness and injustice."
 
 TUE COUNTESS LOSES 2G7 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIY 
 
 THE COUNTESS LOSES 
 
 Two weeks passed, and all the advertisements and 
 investigations on the part of the police had produced 
 no result. Even the company of players had not been 
 found. They were thought by some to be gone to 
 Hanover, by others to be in Poland. Telegraphs were 
 sent hither and thither, but all to no purpose. 
 
 Meanwhile, there appeared every likelihood that 
 little Hugo would afford the young Countess an oppor- 
 tunity of carrying out her noble intentions. Hitherto 
 the boy had given no cause for complaint, except in 
 the fact that to all questions concerning the past he 
 returned the same obstinate ' Don't know,' if indeed 
 he answered at all. Usually he put on a sullen look 
 and was mute, and the more the Countess insisted, the 
 more sternly she spoke, the more she threatened him 
 with punishment, the more stubborn he became. Then 
 ehe tried the other method, and spoke kindly to him, 
 telling him that he should not be punished, he should 
 be rewarded if he replied. All in vain. 
 
 One strange incident occurred. She was one day 
 looking out into the garden, where the boy w^as play- 
 ing. The gardener in the distance called loudly to 
 one of his underlings, ' Adolph, Adolph !' 
 
 The boy hurriedly threw aside what he was playing 
 with and ran in the direction of the call, then suddenly 
 stopped short, seemed to reflect, and returned to his 
 play again. Marie Louise called down to him to come
 
 268 VIOL ETTA 
 
 to her. He obeyed. When he appeared she said 
 quietly, but gravely, " You have told us a falsehood ; 
 your name is not Hugo." The little fellow looked at 
 her in dismay, and became much confused. 
 
 " Your name is Adolph," she went on, looking fixedly 
 at hrm. 
 
 In his first surprise the words escaped him, "Ah, 
 how did you find out that?" 
 
 " It is enough that I know it. Now tell me why 
 you lied to us." 
 
 Instantly the stubborn look appeared upon his face. 
 "Don't know." 
 
 Marie Louise knew from experience that she could 
 not get beyond those words. 
 
 She told her husband of her discovery when next 
 she saw him, and hoped that he would now admit that 
 she had been right. He only shrugged his shoulders. 
 " My darling, we cannot draw any conclusions. It is 
 true that this is the first falsehood we have detected 
 him in, but the circumstances are so extraordinary 
 that I would rather await further developments, and 
 some explanation of them." 
 
 " A strange method of bringing up children ! I 
 Jo not understand you! Are you blind, Armin, or 
 are you determined not to perceive the truth ? Do 
 you not see how attentive, how intelligent, how clever 
 this child is ? Just watch him stand before the old cup- 
 board down-stairs, where the silver dishes and antique 
 heirlooms are ranged on the shelves ; how he looks at 
 everything ; how he admires everything, and wishes 
 to know exactly the cost of each." 
 
 " His grandfather was probably a Jew peddler, my 
 love, and has bequeathed to his grandson a little of his 
 nose and a great deal of his preference for everything
 
 THE COUNTESS LOSES 269 
 
 that glitters. But both are perfectly consistent with 
 an honourable existence, eh ?" 
 
 " You cannot refrain from jesting," she said, of- 
 fended. " I can only hope that my prudence and 
 severity may prove superfluous." 
 
 But it looked as if this hope were to be disappointed, 
 when, the next day, Count Hess returned from a long 
 ride he noticed a stir and bustle among the ser\^ants. 
 The gardener and his assistants were running to and 
 fro beneath the windows of a room that looked out 
 upon the garden, poking with long poles among the 
 few remaining leaves of the wild vine that grew here 
 luxuriantly against the wall. In the house the maid- 
 servants were hurrying hither and thither. 
 
 When asked what was the matter, one of them 
 stammered out that the old Madame had lost her 
 watch. 
 
 The Count was startled, more by their embarrassed 
 faces than by this information. He went directly to 
 Frau von Plattow's room, and found the good lady in 
 some distress. Her watch, which, as it had stopped, 
 had been lying with the chain in an open china tray 
 on her dressing-table, had vanished. The whole house 
 had been searched, and in her room everything had 
 been rummaged, because — because no one could bear 
 to believe what the gardener and his assistants main- 
 tained. And what was this incredible assertion? 
 The old lady sighed. They said that yesterday even- 
 ing — that is in the twilight of the short autumn day — 
 they had seen little Hugo climb into the open window, 
 and after a little while climb out again, and then run 
 away quickly. 
 
 Count Hess was startled : " I shall investigate this 
 matter thoroughly. Whore is the boy ?" 
 
 23*
 
 270 VIOL ETTA 
 
 '•' Up-stairs with Marie Louise. She has been ques- 
 tioning him." 
 
 He hurried up-stairs and into his wife's drawing- 
 room, where he found what he had expected to see. 
 The boy was leaning against the window-frame, and 
 his young foster-mother was kneeling before him, so 
 that she could look into his eyes. It would have been 
 hard to say which of the two looked the more ex 
 hausted. The child was pale as death ; her face wa» 
 white as marble. 
 
 " Hugo, I entreat you now for the last time to con- 
 fess the truth," she was saying, in a weary tone of 
 resignation. " You took the watch ; confess it, and 
 you shall not be punished." The boy said not a word, 
 but looked past her straight before him, when sud- 
 denly he perceived his friend, made a hasty movement 
 as if to rush towards him, and fell on his face, — hia 
 hands were tied behind his back, — but he uttered no 
 cry. Marie Louise raised him up, and stood him 
 against the wall again. "Let him stand there, Ar- 
 min. He must confess. Of course you have heard 
 it all." 
 
 " But has it been proved ?" 
 
 " As good as proved. Hear what the gardener haa 
 to say. There can be no doubt." 
 
 The boy's pale, tearless face never changed as she 
 spoke. He gazed apathetically into space. 
 
 "Do not think that I have been harsh with him, 
 Armin ; I have only been patient." 
 
 The child now looked up, and in his eyes, there was 
 the mute anguish caused him by this patience, and 
 with it a hopeless, dull expression that seemed to say, 
 I give up all attempt to make you understand that I 
 have done no wrong.
 
 THE COUNTESS LOSES 273 
 
 Count Hess felt a compassion for the boy which his 
 wife would have called weakness, for the little thief 
 perhaps found Marie Louise's mercy harder to en- 
 dure than a sound thrashing from a hot-tempered 
 mother. 
 
 He wanted to put an end to the matter as soon as 
 possible, and as he knew that the boy, with the stub- 
 born persistence of his race, would refuse to answer 
 inquisitorial questions, he went into his own room, 
 rang for the servants, and examined them one by one. 
 The maid, Pauline, had seen the watch yesterday 
 lying in the china tray, and that was all she knew 
 about it. The gardener and his assistant had been 
 busy trimming a hedge, when they had noticed the 
 boy among the branches of a walnut-tree opposite 
 the open window, and had seen him jump from the 
 tree into it. He had remained in the room some 
 time, and had reappeared with something in his hand, 
 which he had tried to put into his pocket, and as he 
 did so the glitter of some bright metal had been plainly 
 visible. But they had had no suspicions, and the boy 
 had run away. 
 
 The absence of the watch had been first observed by 
 Frau von Plattow herself, and upon her dressing-table 
 beside the little china tray there had been found a 
 small whip which Hugo generally wore stuck in his 
 belt. 
 
 All these facts seemed proof enough. Count Hess 
 returned to the little delinquent, after making sure 
 that the old lady's room had been thoroughly searched. 
 The boy was still standing against the wall, and Mario 
 Louise was still entreating him to confess where he 
 had put the watch. There was dead silence on his 
 part.
 
 272 VIOLETTA 
 
 " "Well, have j^ou eifected anything ?" the Count 
 asked in English. 
 
 " At first he denied stoutly having taken it." 
 
 " Come, that is something. Did he deny having 
 been in the room ?" 
 
 "No. But he said he went there to get Nero's 
 collar. Since then he has refused to speak another 
 word." 
 
 "Did he explain how the dog's collar could have 
 got into that room, where neither he nor the dog ever 
 went ?" 
 
 " He said ho had thrown it in through the window, 
 and after that would say nothing more. There is the 
 dinner-bell, Armin ; I pray you go down without me. 
 I could not eat a mouthful." 
 
 Of course the boy was to have no dinner. When 
 Count Hess came up to the room after it was over, 
 leaving the servants still searching the house and gar- 
 den, he found matters just as he had left them. 
 
 " For heaven's sake let the boy go !" he cried, im- 
 patiently. " You look like a corpse, and he like an 
 idiot. I cannot bear to look at you. Let him have a 
 flogging, if it must be, but don't kill him by slow tor- 
 ture, and yourself too." 
 
 " As for me," she said, quietly, " he is torturing me 
 by his obstinacy, and if he suffers, he knows that he 
 can be relieved by a single word." 
 
 Count Hess could not look on. He left the room. 
 The boy's eyes followed him in silent resignation. 
 
 "Now, Hugo, I give you your choice," said the 
 Countess, trembling so that she had to lean against 
 the table for support. " I have wasted upon you pa- 
 tience, kindness, and threats. Now I give you five 
 minutes more. If in that time you confess where you
 
 THE COUNTESS LOSES 273 
 
 have put the watch and chain, everything shall be 
 forgiven and you shall not be punished. If you per- 
 sist in this silence, you shall be tied, with your hands 
 ßtill bound together, at the foot of the staircase, where 
 every one will see you, but no one will speak to you, 
 and you can no longer come to our table. Do you 
 understand me?" And she looked at the clock, her 
 heart beating so that she could hardly pronounce the 
 words. 
 
 Profound silence. The boy's face seemed to have 
 lost all look of intelligence. He stared apathetically 
 before him. All that he knew was, that when his 
 hands were tied and he was stood here the sun shone 
 through the window into his face; and now it was 
 shining upon his back. 
 
 Countess Marie Louise waited, not five, but ten, fif- 
 teen minutes, and when they had passed without a 
 word from the child, she kneeled once more before him, 
 and implored him in a failing voice, " Only one word, 
 Hugo, I entreat you. Tell me where you put the 
 watch." 
 
 " Don't know," the boy said, hoarsely, looking dully 
 at her. 
 
 Then a sacred indignation took possession of her. 
 She lifted him in her arms and carried him down-stairs. 
 
 Meanwhile, Count Armin had questioned the servants 
 as to whether any of them had observed the dog with- 
 out his collar, but none could call to mind having 
 missed it. At all events it was on his neck now, — a 
 leather strap with a metal buckle and plate. Hugo 
 had often polished this last with a woollen rag, 'to 
 make it shine,' but the buckle was so clumsy and stiff 
 that the boy had never before been able to take the 
 collar off.
 
 27-i VIOLETTA 
 
 "When the Count returned from the (garden to the 
 house, he paused in the hall. There, tied to the lower 
 post of the balustrade of the staircase, stood the little 
 sinner, his pale face cast down, the picture of grief and 
 humiliation. 
 
 Every member of the household was obliged to pass 
 by him; he was exposed to the unfeeling remarks of 
 the servants ; he was thoroughly disgraced. 
 
 Count Hess went to him, his face dark, and loosened 
 his bonds. The boy fell on the floor scarcely con- 
 scious. Armin carried him up-stairs. In his own 
 room he laid him on the lounge, and, pouring out a 
 few drops of brandy from his hunting-flask, he made 
 him drink them, soon after which the tortured child 
 fell into a profound, heavy slumber. 
 
 Then the Count went to his wife's drawing-room, 
 expecting to find Marie Louise exhausted on the sofa, 
 but, although she looked ready to drop, she was stand- 
 ing erect by the window. 
 
 " You are ill," he said, in a cold tone. " Why do you 
 not lie down ?" 
 
 " I cannot lie down so long as that unhappy child is 
 standing there." 
 
 " Calm yourself; I have brought him up-stairs. You 
 have no right to subject him to punishment before his 
 guilt is proved." 
 
 " What I can you doubt his guilt ? Unfortunately, 
 there is no room for doubt." 
 
 " Has he confessed, then ? Have you the watch ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then wait until you have it. In the first place, 
 Doris must undress the boy, and give him a cup of 
 strong bouillon, when she has put him to bed, or he 
 will be really ill."
 
 TUE COUNTESS LOSES 275 
 
 " Doris Las gone to town to see her daughter, so I 
 will put him to bed myself." 
 
 "You? No, thank j^ou. That might be anything 
 but good for the boy." 
 
 His cold tone seemed to her the bitterest injustice. 
 She had suffered intensely, she felt miserable, and 
 had expected to be consoled by his full, approving 
 sympathy. How had she deserved this coldness, after 
 having exerted the utmost patience with that obsti- 
 nate child for twelve long houi's ? She turned away, 
 deeply grieved, struggling with her tears. 
 
 At this moment the servant announced a visitor 
 whose name was entirely unfamiliar to the Count. 
 He handed the card to Marie Louise with, " Do you 
 know this person ?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "Ask the gentleman his business." 
 
 " He says, Herr Count, that he has come on account 
 — on account of Hugo, and is very anxious to see 
 either the Count or the Countess." 
 
 " Then show him in immediately." 
 
 A few minutes later a very well-dressed gentleman 
 with a black moustache, his hat held under his arm, 
 entered the drawing-room. " Pray excuse me," he 
 said ; " I come directly from Frankfox't-on-the-Main. 
 where I am in business. I come in hopes of finding 
 my nephew here. I have discovered a clue to a very 
 sad story through a jeweller who is known to me." 
 
 Count Hess glanced at his wife. She was ashy pale, 
 but preserved a semblance of composure. 
 
 " A boy, calling himself Hugo, is here with us," said 
 Hess, " and we have vainly tried to learn from him 
 anything about his unhappy mother, who was drowned 
 here. His persistent silence has given rise to the
 
 276 VIOLETTA 
 
 suspicion that no explanation of the matter is pos- 
 sible." 
 
 "I learned all this in the neighbourhood," said the 
 stranger, "and I am here to explain everything. It 
 can be done in a few words. Adolph's mother was my 
 sister, and she had escaped from an insane asylum." 
 
 A painful pause ensued. Marie Louise stood with 
 downcast eyes. 
 
 " After the death of her husband," the visitor con- 
 tinued, " she became insane, and was taken to an insti- 
 tution out of town. As her malady was always ag- 
 gravated by the absence of her child, the boy was 
 allowed to be with her. She taught him to read and 
 write, and he spent much time in the large garden of 
 the asylum. She enjoyed a great degree of freedom, 
 for there seemed no reason for confining her closely. 
 But the day before her disappeai'ance she confided to 
 another patient in the institution that her enemies 
 had discovered her retreat and were coming to kill 
 her. Therefore she begged this friend not to betray 
 who she was or where she lived. Her boy had been 
 instructed also to keep utter silence with regard to 
 her; henceforth she was to be called the Marquise 
 Pompadour, and his name was to be Hugo. When 
 her flight was discovered, every means was eraploj'ed 
 to find her, but in vain. Now I see that she must 
 have taken the express train to Berlin, whence, her 
 money being all gone, she wandered hither on foot, — 
 a prey to such misery as one shrinks from imagining ! 
 I beg you to let me see my nephew." 
 
 This was a distressing moment. Marie Louise could 
 not speak, but she still held herself proudly erect. 
 
 " The boy," said Count Hess, " is not very well, and 
 is just now sleeping. I frankly confess to you, sir,
 
 THE COUNTESS LOSES 27 T 
 
 that I wish from my heart you had not come to-day, 
 80 that we might have had time to atone for possible 
 injustice. It is my painlul duty to acquaint you with 
 what has occurred, and if I can, to excuse it." 
 
 The stranger looked at him inquiringly, but before 
 any explanation could be made Frau Doris entered. 
 She had just returned from town, and was still in her 
 bonnet and shawl, having come directly to her young 
 mistress in evident ignorance of the occurrences of 
 the day. She did not perceive the stranger, and began 
 instantly, " I came up as soon as possible, madame, to 
 give you these patterns, and my daughter sends her 
 respectful duty." 
 
 " Thank you, Doris. Put them down ; we will settle 
 accounts by and by. You see we have a visitor." 
 
 "But I must not leave this little box; that belongs 
 to Frau von Plattow." 
 
 " That " 
 
 "Yes, yes. My old head is still good for something," 
 the housekeeper said, with a self-satisfied smile. "Just 
 as I was going this morning, I bethought me of Frau 
 von Plattow's watch, the key of which was lost last 
 week. So I took it with me, and got a new key for it. 
 I knew that if she missed it she would guess that 1 
 had taken care of it." 
 
 Countess Marie Louise tottered, and then fell on the 
 floor in a dead faint. 
 
 24
 
 278 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV 
 
 CO MO 
 
 His Excellency had been ordered to spend a wintei 
 in the South. No one knew exactlj'' which famous 
 physician, as he adjusted his gold spectacles, had pre- 
 ßcribed this remedy, but the fact was known, and also 
 that his fine, costly mansion had been sold, and his 
 servants, with the exception of Friedrich and Carolina, 
 dismissed. All this was discussed, criticised, bewailed 
 for several weeks, and then forgotten. The world 
 forgets quickly. Possibly General Treffenbach had 
 reckoned upon its doing so. 
 
 The truth — known only to himself and to Violetta 
 — was that he preferred to await his utter financial 
 ruin in a strange land; for since his pension barely 
 sufiiced to provide ber Excellency's toilettes, and his 
 capital had been largely invaded by the payment of 
 Madame Fouquet's debts (a chivalrous act, for which 
 he was ridiculed by that enchanting creature), the 
 addition to his funds resulting from the sale of his 
 Berlin estate would of course soon be gone. 
 
 Beatrice was delighted with the journey to the 
 South. Since her return from Teplitz she had de- 
 clared herself unable to endure the air of Berlin, and 
 undoubtedly she was far from well. Some physi- 
 cians pronounced her malady intermittent fever, others 
 nervous disarrangement ; and so she dragged out 
 her days for the most part upon the lounge. She 
 had a preference for Como because of its vicinity to
 
 COMO 279 
 
 Milan and its picturesque environs, therefore Como 
 was selected for the winter residence ; and Fräulein 
 Emma, with many tears, set in order a pretty villa on 
 the shores of the lake, confiding to her faithful Fried- 
 rich that this was ' a wretched nest in comparison 
 with Berlin.' 
 
 " I have been inquiring, Friedrich, and I find that 
 the jilace has only twenty-four thousand inhabitants, — 
 quite insignificant. And what is the use of all this 
 water? None at all. And these brown ragamuffins 
 who are lounging about the lake all day ! And her 
 Excellency says Como is her ideal ! She's forgotten 
 what it is. She'll be surprised when she comes. Ah, 
 if your old mistress had lived to see this !" 
 
 A few days later, when everything was in order, the 
 family arrived. The general looked old and changed ; 
 his wife seemed to revive again. She sat in her draw- 
 ing-room looking out upon the lake, and let the warm, 
 delicious air breathe in at the open windows. 
 
 But when the first excitement was over her feverish 
 attacks recurred, and the view of the shining mirror 
 of the lake made her melancholy. " Call it what you 
 please, Constantin, caprice, nerves, headache, disease 
 of the heart, anything that you like, but find some 
 remedy for it." 
 
 She was reclining on the lounge as she spoke, and 
 he clasped her hand in his and sighed profoundly, 
 " It is the reaction after all your summer gayety," he 
 said. "After Pi-ince Joseph's betrothal to that merry 
 little Schönburg-Gravenstein there was no end to the 
 Menardi festivities." 
 
 "Reaction? Oh, my dearest Constantin, could I 
 possibly be so weak as to suffer a reaction after a few 
 picnic-parties? No, no! You do not understand me.
 
 280 VIOLETT A 
 
 The evil lies Ziere." She put her hand to her forthead. 
 " Here there is a void, a porj:)etual torturing pam, 
 which affects everything, — my thoughts, my wholo 
 physical frame. I have become so indolent, so indiffer- 
 ent, that I should not be affected by any tidings, how- 
 ever frightful ; and yet a buzzing fly can drive me 
 insane. There is a fire within that demands fuel, and, 
 finding none, searches every vein and pulse ; and yet 
 I am so weary, so dull, that it costs me a struggle to 
 take interest in anj^thing. Once befoi-e in my life I 
 was affected in the same way. It was when Sir 
 George sent me to Italy to have my voice cultivated. 
 I was but twelve years old. The world looked glo- 
 rious to me, and I was going out into it with a joyful 
 heart. They had given me into the charge of the 
 captain of the vessel, and in Genoa I was received by 
 the Contellis, who were connected with the opera in 
 Milan, and to whom Sir George had intrusted ni}' 
 education. As long as Italy was a vision of my im- 
 agination I was happy and healthy, but as soon as it 
 became reality I began to sicken. I cried perpetually. 
 I was wretched bodily and mentall}'', and I had this 
 same miserable sensation of lassitude, of disappoint- 
 ment. What name would you give it ?" 
 " There is a malady called homesickness." 
 She looked thoughtfully at him, anxious and uncer- 
 tain, then suddenly began to laugh, and although it 
 was but a shadow of her old laughter, it filled him 
 with hope, 
 
 " But, after all, what's in a name ? We will not 
 think of it any more. Do you know what I have 
 done to-day? I have invited some old friends here, — 
 Mamma and Papa Contelli from Milan. T^-^ey will 
 amuse and cheer me. I long to talk of old times, and
 
 (:o^ro 281 
 
 these people are really veiy much attached to me. 
 Do you remember the little fair-haired Contelli who 
 was in Berlin with me as Violetta's singing-master 
 and my secretary? He is a famous tenor now, and 
 has gone to Vienna with an opera company. When I 
 first went to the Contellis the little Tonino was in his 
 cradle, and I used to sing him to sleep with my Italian 
 verbs strung together in a cradle-song. Constantin, 
 time flies fearfully fast; it sometimes fills me with 
 horror. Life flits past us, and what does it leave? 
 The less trouble we have, the pleasanter it is, the 
 more swiftly it flies." 
 
 "A year ago you Avere complaining that it had 
 leaden wings." 
 
 The Beatrice suddenly began to cry bitterly. Her 
 nerves were too weak to bear even this mild contra- 
 diction. 
 
 General Treff^nbach treated the sufferings as well 
 as the whims of his beautiful wife with unvarying 
 tenderness. He still considered it a distinguished 
 privilege to be allowed to dry these tears. 
 
 " Do not look at me so sadly, Constantin ; I do not 
 deserve so much love. It vexes me to distress you, 
 and yet I cannot help it!" 
 
 She dried her tears, and lay back among the cush- 
 ions with closed eyes, while he sat beside her, anxious 
 cares besieging him as he passed his hand caressingly 
 over her loosened curls. 
 
 With what could he reproach her? Perhaps with 
 too great love of pleasure and with waywardness, — but 
 with nothing else. The sweetness of her disposition 
 was exceeded only by that of her daughter, for Vio- 
 letta never pouted, was never refractory. And even 
 these defects Beatrice invested with a certain charm. 
 
 24*
 
 282 VIOLETTA 
 
 Slio had a •warm heart, with all her apparent heart 
 lessness. He could not ask her to be sentimental ovei 
 his rheumatism, or for love of him to go into the kit- 
 chen. He was abundantly content with the bewitch 
 ing smile with which she would say, ' My dearest 
 Constantin,' 
 
 And yet he was not happy. She was extravagant, 
 and in this respect entirely without reason or con- 
 science. She had drawn erroneous conclusions as to 
 his wealth from his style of living. She did not know 
 that he had married an heiress, but that he had had 
 far too much delicacy, too much chivalric sentiment, 
 ever to hint to his wife the propriety of making a 
 will. Frau Louise had been as ignorant and inno- 
 cent as a child in such matters, and dying intestate, 
 her son had inherited all that was hers. 
 
 It was of no use to acquaint Beatrice with these 
 circumstances and their consequences. She only 
 smiled. 
 
 Was it these cares that embittered the happiness of 
 his life like poison distilled drop b}^ drop into a full 
 glass ? Ah, as he looked down at her now, and saw 
 how pale and thin the face once so blooming had be- 
 come, he had but one wish, — for the wealth of a 
 Croesus, that he might lay it all at her feet. 
 
 He could have borne it all, however, the loss of his 
 lofty position, the gradual withdrawal of his former 
 friends, the vanishing of his property, but among the 
 many sacrifices that he had made to this woman one 
 had been too great, — his son ! This sacrifice he could 
 not bear, and it was all the more unendurable since 
 he had once hoped that the breach was entirely healed. 
 "When he perceived that he had been mistaken, bitter 
 grief took up its abode in his heart.
 
 COMO 28S 
 
 A little hand was suddenly joassed lightly over his 
 grizzling hair. Yioletta had glided noiselessly into 
 the room to smile at him, and then to flit out again. 
 On the threshold she beckoned to him. He rose cau- 
 tiously and followed her. 
 
 "A letter?" he asked, in an eager whisper. 
 
 " No, no, not to-day ; but something like it. The 
 bookseller has sent us his work, — and what a work ! 
 Santa Maria! there are five volumes!" 
 
 The general sighed profoundly, and then went slowly 
 to his study. The rooms in the villa were spacious 
 and bright, and had been made to look wonderfully 
 comfortable with the furniture and articles brought 
 from Berlin. All the front windows looked out upon 
 the lake and its encircling mountains, their purple 
 peaks bathed in the sunshine of a southei'n winter. 
 
 Violetta and Fräulein Emma had taken care that 
 the general should find in his room everything to 
 which he had been accustomed. Upon a table lay a map 
 of South America, upon which he was wont to travel 
 with a pair of compasses. Travels in Brazil formed 
 his favourite reading at present, after the letters which 
 came thence from time to time, and furnished the gen- 
 eral and his step-daughter with food for endless conver- 
 sation. For Magnus wrote interestingly and in detail ; 
 he travelled much, and knew how to tell of his travels 
 and studies. That he never mentioned either Violetta 
 or Beatrice, and yet felt it necessaiy to assure his 
 father at the close of every letter of his unalterable 
 aflFection and devotion, pained the general more than 
 a studied insult could have done. He now cut the 
 string of the package, — yes, Violetta had guessed cor- 
 rectly. There lay the five volumes of a work which 
 merely to look into would cause the uninitiated a
 
 284 VIOLETTA 
 
 vertigo. "What leai*ning, what study, what industry 
 wore here expended ! what a mass of material gath- 
 ered together in the history of all the religions of the 
 world, culminating in Christianity I 
 
 The pity was that the book was quite too learned to 
 be read, if only because of the mingling of languages 
 in it. Every two words of German were followed by 
 at least three of Greek or Latin, the author appearing 
 to consider it a matter of course that these two lan- 
 guages should be understood by every cultivated per- 
 son. It was surely enough now and then to translate 
 a sentence or two of Turkish or Sanskrit. The leaders 
 of the schools would pore, spectacles on nose, over this 
 work sentence by sentence, and with the help of vari- 
 ous other books would perhaps understand it. 
 
 " Paj^a," said Yioletta, timidly, " must — must we read 
 all that ?" 
 
 " God forbid !" 
 
 " Oh, I ought to be ashamed, but I can't help being 
 glad." 
 
 Fräulein Emma appeared at the door at this mo- 
 ment to say that there were visitors in the drawing- 
 room, and her Excellency wished Yioletta to come 
 immediately. 
 
 When the young girl entered the drawing-room there 
 rose from the sofa a little gentleman and a little lady, 
 — genuine miniature editions of humanity, — and the 
 little lady clasped her hands over her head, " The 
 Bimbina! Santa Lucia! The Bimbina is grown up !" 
 And then ensued kisses, huggings, laughter, and chat- 
 ter without end. 
 
 " Look, look, Pietro, I pray 1 The fairy has outgrown 
 us both ! She must be taller than Tonino," The little 
 lady laughed and clapped her hands, then embraced
 
 COMO 2S5 
 
 "Violetta again, patted hci* cheeks, clasped her to her 
 heart, and stood on tiptoe. " Outgrown us both ! What 
 an impertinent fairy ! And has forgotten us ? Doesn't 
 know Papa and Mamma Contelli ? Has forgotten poor 
 Tonino ? Oh, no, no, she has not forgotten us. I com- 
 pliment you upon your lovely daughter, Excellency 
 Beatrice. The darling ! the kitten!" 
 
 Her Excellency heard it all with a weary smile, and 
 when the worthy couple had somewhat recovered from 
 their delight, questions and answers followed one 
 another in rapid succession. 
 
 The lively little Signora had once been a singer of 
 some reputation, but that was long ago. She had 
 always been an admirable little soul. She had re- 
 tired from the stage many years since ; hers was 
 a domestic nature, with small care for fame or ap- 
 plause, and she had preferred to exercise her sweet 
 voice in singing lullabies to eight little Contellis one 
 after another. Heaven had bestowed upon her a hus- 
 band in harmony with her in every respect, even in 
 being* a head shorter than is usual with the sons of 
 men. But what a head there was on that small body ! 
 So gi-and and Jove-like that all the rest of the man 
 looked like a mere appendage. By virtue of this head 
 he had been incomparable upon the stage in former 
 times in old Greek tragedies. Now he had relin- 
 quished art, and held a lucrative office under govern- 
 ment, leaving the family laurels to be worn by his 
 youngest son, Tonino. 
 
 These faithful souls retained all their old affection 
 for their former foster-daughter, loving her as if she had 
 been their own child. Signora Lucia boasted that she 
 had made Beatrice's first marriage. Not that Bettina 
 might not have made even then a grander match, but
 
 286 VIOLETTA 
 
 that she accepted simple, hoocst Albert Foiiquet in- 
 stead of some sprig of nobility was owing to Signora 
 Contelli's influence. " And whom is the Bimbina going 
 to marry ? lias she many adorers ? Has she lost her 
 heart yet ?" 
 
 Yioletta laughed, blushed, and shook her head, as 
 her mother said, " The Bimbina is terribly fastidi- 
 ous. She might have married a prince, but she would 
 not." 
 
 Frau Lucia clapped her hands again : " Pietro, 
 Pietro, hearken, my soul ! The child might have mar- 
 ried a prince, and it is but a moment since she was in 
 her cradle ! And what will she do if she does not 
 marry? Sing? Has she a beavitiful voice? Three 
 years ago, when Tonino came home from Berlin, the 
 lad was very sad ; he said Violetta was to be in the 
 ballet ; that her voice was sweet but too weak. Sing 
 us a song, my child. I told Antonio then, ' Tonino, 
 thou art an ass 1' but he did not believe me, although, 
 in truth, he is a modest lad. Come, Bimba !" 
 
 Violetta hesitated, and looked towards her mother. 
 Beatrice's eyes were sparkling, her cheeks glowing. 
 " Mamma cannot listen to music now," she whispered 
 to Herr Contelli. " I have had lessons every day, but 
 she never heard them. It makes her tremble. Poor 
 mamma ! Her nerves are so weak." 
 
 " Nonsense !" Beatrice called from her sofa. " Sing, 
 Violetta! It will please them. Your voice" — she 
 smiled ironically — " can hardly be so overwhelming as 
 to prevent my listening to it for once ; it is those eter- 
 nal scales and trills that make me nervous." 
 
 The grand piano was in the adjoining room, which 
 was appropi'iated specially to Violetta. Herr Contelli 
 opened the instrument, and Violetta looked through
 
 CüMO 287 
 
 her notes, — all scores of operas. " She must be per- 
 fectly trained !" Frau Lucia exclaimed, looking over 
 the girl's shoulder. 
 
 "Ah, there is still much to be done. But it is my 
 chief delight, and I had such a magnificent teacher. 
 He belonged to the opera. I alwaj^s called him Herr 
 Meistersinger, and we had many a dispute. He is a 
 "Wagnerite, but I," the girl concluded, with dignity, 
 " never forgot that I was born in Milan." 
 
 Herr Contelli was already strumming impatiently 
 upon the piano, looking like a little lion whose prey 
 has been offered him and then withdrawn. Yioletta 
 made haste to take her place beside him, and began 
 to sing what he had selected. 
 
 And, in fact, if Antonio Contelli had been here, he 
 would have hung his blond head in shame. Frau 
 Contelli listened, entranced, to the clear liquid tones. 
 
 At this moment the door on the other side of the 
 room leading into the passage was opened, and a mus- 
 cular, broad-shouldered figure advanced cautiously on 
 tiptoe into the room, his brown, grotesque face lit up 
 by flashes of surprise, approval, rapture. Then he and 
 the Signora began to nod to each other, to gesticulate, 
 to keep time by swaying movements of their bodies, 
 while the little woman laughed and cried, and with 
 finger on lif» said, " Sh — sh !" 
 
 Violetta saw nothing of all this. Her face turned 
 towards the open window, she was singing with all 
 the freshness and abandon of a young bird ; but scarcely 
 had the last note died away when there ensued one of 
 those rapturous outbursts of applause which are pos- 
 sible only among enthusiastic artists. All three of her 
 listeners shouted, wept, and fell into one another's arms, 
 in an ecstasy, —
 
 288 VIOL ETTA 
 
 " Brava I Brava ! Bravissima !" 
 " A — h I She has the soprano of an angel !'* 
 The little Herr Contclli outdid them all in his dem- 
 onstrations ; he fairl}^ stamped upon the floor with 
 pleasure. Yioletta thought only of her delight in 
 seeing again her kind old friend Sir George, and all 
 were so occupied with their own emotions that no one 
 noticed that the portiere of the door leading into her 
 Excellency's room was drawn aside, and that Beatrice's 
 lovel}'' figure was standing in the opening, shivering 
 slightly as with fever. Her face was pale, with the 
 clear pallor possible only to brunette complexions, and 
 her large eyes, their depths glowing with a strange, 
 feverish yearning, were gazing at the group, who in 
 their tumultuous delight seemed to have forgotten 
 her existence. "Was it a sob, was it a low cry of pain, 
 that sounded a discord amid the rapturous exclama- 
 tions of these foolish people ? No one heeded it ; and 
 Beatrice stood there thinking of a day — oh, heavens ! 
 of all the hundred days in which she too had taken 
 part in just such moments of illimitable joy; when 
 just such old and young fools had kissed her feet, 
 and borne the gifted child upon their shoulders to 
 show her to the people. Incredible moments those 
 had been, when, in a small circle of three or four, or 
 even six, brothers and sisters in art, little Irish Betty 
 had sung and shamed her Italian sisters. But envy 
 there had been none. Homage had been rendered to 
 the beautiful, and it had evoked an insj)ired enthu- 
 siasm which to sober people looked like the folly of 
 intoxication. 
 
 She stood there now feeling herself for the first 
 time, an outcast, a captive, a fine lady, whose path in 
 life could never atrain be the same as that of these
 
 COMO 289 
 
 ' singer-folk.' She grew dizzy with a sensation of de- 
 spair. Ah, now she knew the name of her malady! 
 
 " Good heavens, Beatrice !" her husband's deep, com- 
 manding voice suddenly spoke behind her, " you com- 
 plain of your nerves, and yet you can endure that 
 barbarous racket in your rooms ! What in the world 
 is the meaning of it? How you look!" he added, in 
 dismay, as she shrank from him with eyes that were 
 positively wild. 
 
 " Let me — let me go in !" she stammered, half un- 
 consciously, but while he spoke he had drawn the 
 portiere close, and he now gently forced her to go 
 back to her sofa and to lie down, bending over her in 
 great distress. She soon recovered herself, and when 
 he would have left her to go into the next room, she 
 detained him. " Oh, no, Constantin, do not interrupt 
 that innocent tumult. It is balm to my nerves." 
 
 "But who is it? Have they quite forgotten in 
 whose house they are ?" he asked, sternly. 
 
 " Ah !" she replied, smiling, " her Excellency von 
 Treffenbach is of small account with those people at 
 such a moment. Violetta has been singing, that is 
 all. Do you understand ?" 
 
 «Not at all." 
 
 Beatrice turned aside her face, and the tears rolled 
 from beneath her closed eyelids. 
 
 All had become quiet in the other room. Violetta 
 had probably alluded to 'poor mamma.' Ah, the 
 former worshipped queen was now only 'poor mamma!' 
 The beautiful woman bit her lip and murmured, " I 
 will be well again ; I will ! I will !" 
 
 Yioletta huri'ied into the room and kneeled beside 
 her mother. " Oh, mamma," she whispered, " I am 
 BO sorry. You have been suffering. I sent those poo- 
 N t 25
 
 290 VIOLETTA 
 
 pie away; even our dear Sir George, who will como 
 back when you are better. I told them you must 
 have rest." 
 
 And she brought another cushion and a soft cover- 
 ing, placed a little screen before the sofa, and put her 
 arm around her mother's neck, as Beatrice burst into 
 a fit of sobbing. 
 
 Meanwhile, the general stood at the window looking 
 after the disturbers of the peace. The three were 
 walking together, Sir George in the middle, with a 
 little figure on each side of him. Signor Contelli pre- 
 sented a sufficiently odd appearance, with his shiny 
 tall hat on his large head, to which the delicate little 
 body seemed a mere appurtenance, but Sir George 
 looked exactly like one of Gavarni's caricatures. 
 
 General Trefi^enbach gazed after them as they walked 
 on, gesticulating, laughing, shrugging, and muttered 
 beneath his gray moustache, " Play-actors !" Unfor- 
 tunately, the word did not escape his wife's sharp 
 ears. 
 
 The next day, when the general and Violetta had 
 gone to town to visit the Cathedral, Sir George 
 marched into her Excellency's drawing-room with all 
 the assurance so peculiarly his own. 
 
 This time Beatrice did not run to meet him. She 
 avoided his glance, and could not conceal that his 
 presence was not perfectly welcome to her, for he 
 looked keenly at her with what seemed to her a mali- 
 cious air. However, he sat down, and ran both hands 
 through his thick, dishevelled hair. " I am growing 
 very gray, Beatrice," he said, with a sigh. 
 
 " So am I." 
 
 " And life seems to me but a poor, worthless affair." 
 ' " And to me too."
 
 COMO 291 
 
 " Hush, you mocking-bird !" he rejoined, irritably. 
 
 Beatrice buried her face among the sofa-cushions, 
 and suddenly burst into a flood of tears. 
 
 " Aha !" said Sir George, rising and leaning over 
 her. "Aha! sets the wind in that quarter?" 
 
 " My nerves, — nothing more," she sobbed, angrily. 
 
 " Then everything is coming to an end when Bea- 
 trice would fain persuade me that she has nerves I 
 Give it up. I know better. These are tears of re- 
 morse, child ! I must have a place among the proph- 
 ets, for I foretold this, — that an hour would como 
 when you would seem to yourself an outcast, a pariah. 
 You are standing before the closed doors of the tem- 
 ple; within are your life, your happiness, your friends, 
 your art, and you can never enter there again. Your 
 tears and sighs are in vain. You are nothing, your 
 existence is a mere empty shell, splendour without 
 reality. The business of j^^our life is to be a man's 
 idle toy. Beatrice, Beatrice, such a woman as you 
 was not created for this. But where is the use of 
 talking? It is too late. Terrible words, Beatrice, — 
 too late." 
 
 "And why?" she exclaimed, suddenly standing 
 erect before him in all the brilliancy of her former 
 beauty, with sparkling eyes and glowing cheeks, her 
 small hand clinched and pressed to her heart. "Do 
 not provoke me. Sir George, by doubting my power 
 and dubbing me a feeble slave. If I would I could, but 
 I will not." 
 
 " My dear Betty, you know your husband but little, 
 and undei'value him much. He will gladly sacrifice 
 to you all that he possesses, but to ask of him that her 
 Excellency von Treffenbach should tread the boards 
 of a theatre would be too much." He arose, went to
 
 292 VIOLETTA 
 
 the door into the next room, drew aside the portiere, 
 and sat down at the piano. 
 
 At this moment Yioletta entered, and whispered in 
 terror, " Ah, there he is again ; he must not play. 
 Your poor head, dear mamma." 
 
 " Let him, let him !" her mother rejoined, lying back 
 among her cushions again. 
 
 Sir George seemed to have forgotten that any one 
 could hear him ; he struck several mighty chords, and 
 then broke forth with majestic force into the grand 
 old choral, 'A mighty fortress is our God,' the old 
 battle-song of the Lutheran Church. Involuntarily 
 Yioletta's angel tones joined in, and floated clearly 
 above the deep accompaniment. Beatrice fled from 
 the room. She could not bear it; that melody re- 
 minded her of some of her most glorious triumphs. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI 
 
 MUTTERINGS OF THUNDER 
 
 The day was waning, twilight was struggling with 
 darkness, and lamps were needed in the apartments to 
 reveal all the comforts that reigned there. Fried- 
 rich had just lighted those in her Excellency's draw- 
 ing-room, and then, drawing aside the portiere, he 
 lighted the sconces against the wall above the piano 
 in the next apartment. This last was done every 
 evening, but it was generally a useless illumination. 
 
 Yioletta was seated beside her mother's sofa, with
 
 MUTTERINGS OF THUNDER 293 
 
 sorao embroidery in her lap, discussing "with Beatrice 
 the previous day, which they had passed together in 
 Milan, where her Excellency had visited all her former 
 acquaintances and had presented her daughter to them. 
 A supper in the evening in a circle of brilliant men 
 and women had ended the excursion, and had restored 
 for the while elasticity of spirit to Beatrice's mobile 
 temperament, — a result which was still evident as she 
 talked the visit over with her daughter. 
 
 " Mamma, you look as fresh and lovely as you used 
 to do," the girl said with affectionate pride. " I think 
 you will recover entii'ely here. The doctor is right : it 
 is only your nerves." 
 
 " I had a dose of admirable medicine yesterday, and 
 to-day I am just in the mood to say to the general 
 what I have long had on my mind ; but in his ailing 
 and irritable condition he shrinks from all mental dis- 
 turbance, and never knows how to give an easy turn 
 to a conversation." 
 
 " Oh, mamma, what do you mean ?" Violetta asked, 
 gravely. " I hope you are not going to ask for money 
 to go to Dresden to the Menardi marriage." 
 
 " I had no intention of accepting that invitation. 
 Who would willingly go North in January ? No ; I 
 want to discuss another matter with him." And the 
 beautiful woman rose hastily. She wanted to speak 
 while the cheerful humour possessed her that lent 
 such a charm to all that she said. Violetta did not 
 follow her mother from the room, but her anxious 
 eyes pursued her. " I am afraid," she whispered, but 
 her mother did not hear her. 
 
 The general was sitting in his room at the table, 
 upon which was spread out the map of South America. 
 A coverlet lay over his knees, and his stiff arm was 
 
 25*
 
 294 VIOLETTA 
 
 ■well wrapped up, for a wind that had been blowing 
 across the lake for a coui^le of days had brought back 
 his old malady. 
 
 Two candles were burning on the table before him. 
 Beatrice opened the door noiselessly, and then hesi- 
 tated. He did not see her, for his face was turned 
 from her towards the wall, where hung the portrait 
 of his first wife, and one of his son when a boy, in 
 hunting costume, his gun upon his shoulder. In the 
 background the lake, the moor, and the village of 
 Velzin showed indistinctly, as in a gray mist. 
 
 Her Excellency could see but little of her husband's 
 face, and this little looked to her gray, thin, and old. 
 He turned round and pei-ceived her. His first impulse 
 was to spring up and receive her with his usual chi- 
 valric courtesy. This was the first time she had paid 
 him a visit in his sick-room. But she prevented his 
 rising by hastening to his side and laying one hand 
 upon his shoulder, while with the other she drew up 
 a low chair, in which she placed herself opposite him, 
 looking at him with mingled archness and melancholy. 
 " My dear Constantin, forgive me for interrupting 
 your sad reflections. While you are pondering upon 
 the problem of existence here in your room I am 
 doing the same thing in mine. Perhaps together we 
 can discover some solution." 
 
 As she spoke she tapped the floor lightly with the 
 heel of her little blue slipper. The general sighed, 
 and passed his hand over his forehead. 
 
 " Do not let us be sentimental, Constantin. I must 
 tell you frankly I cannot bear this any longer. I 
 am ill, and there is but one cure for me, and that ia 
 freedom I" 
 
 He started, and gazed at her speechless for a mo-
 
 MÜTTERINQS OF THUNDER 295 
 
 nieut; then his blood began to course wildly in his 
 veins and his face flushed. "Did I understand you 
 aright, Beatrice? Such a jest " 
 
 " I am not jesting. It is ' to be or not to be' for us 
 both. Stay ! Please let me speak. I have cost you 
 too dear, Constantin, for I have cost you your son. 
 Why do jou start? Do you suppose that I am so 
 blind or so unsympathetic as not to know this ? Gen- 
 eral, this grief has made you old ; it eats at your 
 very heart and undermines your health. But, dearest 
 friend, we are quits, for I sacrificed to you what was 
 dearest to me, — my laurels. Let mo comprise in that 
 word everything that I lost, — freedom, art, dominion, 
 ideal aims." She leaned back and looked upward, as 
 if the room were too confined for her. 
 
 General Treffenbach had pushed back his arm-chair 
 and was gazing at hei\ She must have felt this look, 
 calling back her rebellious spirit to his side, to duty 
 and wifely submission. She gave a little sigh, and 
 after a pause went on : " Can you deny what I say ?" 
 Then, when he did not answer, for pain and indig- 
 nation paralyzed his tongue, she continued in a tone 
 of good-tempered argument : " No, you cannot deny 
 it, — it is just as I say. Well then, let me ask you if 
 it is just or reasonable that husband and wife should 
 so torture each other. Would it not be fiir better in 
 such a case, quietly and in all kindness, to sever the 
 tie that has come to be a galling chain ? — to let mo 
 return to the stage, and to let your son return to 
 you?" 
 
 Then he sprang to his feet, his bodily ailments all 
 forgotten. " Beatrice ! you dare to propose this to 
 me ? Do you forget that you bear my name ?" 
 
 "Ah ^a! How could I forgot it? I have worn it
 
 296 VIOLETTA 
 
 like the family diamonds, and I return it with them. 
 Do not take so tragic a view of the matter, mon 
 ami" 
 
 " Pardon me, but I am horrified at your proposal. 
 Do you suppose for an instant that I could allow her 
 Excellency the wife of General von Treffenbach to go 
 upon the stage? You must entertain very extraor- 
 dinary views with regard to your husband." 
 
 Then the Beatrice began to laugh, and ah ! she was 
 so bewitching, with her eyes sparkling with wayward- 
 ness and good-humoured ridicule ! " How unique you 
 are, my dear Constantin! Do you imagine that I 
 have any temptation to run off with your precious 
 name as with a prize ? Ah, I could do nothing at all 
 with your ancient scutcheon. For who is her Excel- 
 lency von Treffenbach ? Nobody. But ask all Europe, 
 * Who is Madame Fouquet ?' " She had never, perhaps, 
 been more beautiful than as she said this with a superb 
 toss of her head, sweeping past him towards the win- 
 dow, whence after a while she asked, " "Well, what do 
 you think ?" 
 
 " I think," he replied, in a voice before the thunder 
 of which she shrank, " that I am not in the mood to 
 continue this conversation, and that I now declare 
 once for all that I will neither consent to a separation, 
 nor allow my wife to appear on a public stage. Have 
 I made my meaning clear?" 
 
 He stood beside the table, his clinched fist resting 
 upon it, the impersonation of indignant surprise, of 
 inflexible resolve. Beatrice looked up at him ad- 
 miringly : " Then I can only pity you and myself, both 
 victims of German dulness." And, with a low courtesy, 
 she left the room. 
 
 He sank into an arm-chair and leaned his head
 
 MUTTERINGS OF THUNDER 297 
 
 upon his hands. This, then, was the end, the end of 
 his happiness ; he had sacrificed everything, every- 
 thing to her, and she gave him nothing. 
 
 Violetta came running into the room : " Papa dear, 
 it is five o'clock ; dinner will soon be served, and you 
 are neither of you dressed." She fluttered about him 
 like a butterfly, picked up his coverlet from the floor, 
 smoothed his hair, kissed his hand, and asked how 
 long she should have to wait. 
 
 " Go ! go I Leave mo alone, all of you I You are 
 all alike." 
 
 "Ah, you are angry with poor mamma, and she 
 suff'ers so. Have patience with her." 
 
 He smiled bitterly and thrust her hand aside. 
 
 An hour afterward the little family assembled for 
 the most silent, the most formal meal they had ever 
 partaken of together. The general was absolutely 
 mute. "Violetta asked a timid question now and then, 
 which remained unanswered. And her Excellency's 
 wayward mood had given place to profound lassi- 
 tude. 
 
 There had been frequent discussions as to whether 
 or not she should accept the invitation to the marriage 
 of Prince Joseph. The physicians were of opinion 
 that constant amusement was the best remedy for her 
 nervous ailments, and therefore the general had advised 
 her acceptance of it, although every additional ex- 
 pense filled him with dismay. But her Excellency 
 had hitherto found it impossible to make up her mind. 
 Like all nervous invalids, exertion like that which 
 must be made in going to Dresden seemed to-day 
 impossible, and to-morrow a matter of course. Her 
 husband's advice had roused her antagonism, and Vio- 
 letta's adverse counsel had instigated her to take the
 
 298 VIOLETTA 
 
 journey. In the morning she had declared that 
 nothing should induce her to go North at this season 
 of the year, and now as they rose from table she 
 announced her determination to go ; it would be a 
 change, a distraction. 
 
 The general said not a word, but went to his room. 
 The ready tears appeared in Fräulein Emma's eyes, 
 and Yioletta followed her father ; for the first time in 
 these three years the office of mediator devolved upon 
 her. 
 
 Beatrice, in her drawing-room, paced restlessly to 
 and fro. At last she went into the next apartment, 
 where the lights were still burning above the piano. 
 She drew near the instrument hesitatingly, seated her- 
 self upon the piano-stool, and gently touched the keys ; 
 a low mellow chord rang out and died away. She 
 withdrew her hands, folded her arms upon the piano, 
 and laid her head upon them as if utterly exhausted. 
 
 Suddenly she heard a man's step in her drawing- 
 room : it was the general. She started up, shook off 
 her weariness, and a ray of hope lit up her eyes. Had 
 he come to agree to her scheme ? had he perceived at 
 last that it was but reasonable ? 
 
 " Beatrice ?" he said inquiringly, drawing aside tho 
 portiere. 
 
 " Here I am !" And she came forward graciously 
 to meet him, adding, eagerly, " What have you to say 
 to me ?" 
 
 " Only to ask you," he replied, coldly, " how long 
 you intend to stay in Dresden." 
 
 She turned away disappointed : " That depends ; a 
 few weeks perhaps." 
 
 " I do not wish you to prolong your stay beyond a 
 week."
 
 MUTTERINGS OF THUNDER 299 
 
 "My lord commands," she replied, bowing after the 
 Oriental fashion. 
 
 He seemed not to notice her sarcasm. " I cannot 
 go with you. Shall you take Yioletta ?" 
 
 " If she wishes to go. But I think she would prefer 
 to take this time for practising her singing." 
 
 " Then Carolina can go with you." 
 
 " Certainly. Is that all ?" 
 
 He looked at her as if surprised, and turned away. 
 Ho had spoken quietly and dictatorially. General 
 Treffenbach had at last recovered his dignity as master 
 of his household, in dealing with this capricious crea- 
 ture. Unfortunately, it was too late. 
 
 He left the room ; his firm tread resounded in the 
 corridor. What did the echo of that step speak of to 
 the ear to which all sound had a language? Determi- 
 nation, contempt, wounded pride. The lion in him was 
 aroused, and it was her fault. 
 
 Her head sank on her breast, her smile faded. This 
 was the first time that the sun had gone down w^on 
 their wrath. 
 
 She opened the door and followed him, at first un- 
 certainly, and then more hastily. He had just closed 
 the door of his room after him, when she opened it 
 again. The room was dark, and she heard him fumb- 
 ling for the matches. " Who's there ?" he asked. 
 
 " It is I." 
 
 " Go away, mouse ; you can do no good." 
 
 " But I can bid you good-night." 
 
 " Go, go ; it hurts me to hear your voice to-night. 
 Good-night." 
 
 A small hand took the matches from him, and two 
 arms were thrown about his neck, arms upon which 
 chains and bracelets jingled softly, while a delicate
 
 300 VIOLETTA 
 
 fragrance of orange-blossoms was wafted on the air. 
 This was not Violetta. 
 
 "Beatrice!" he exclaimed; " what does this mean?" 
 
 "Mean?" she cried, passionately. "It means that 
 your wife humbles herself before you, because she suf- 
 fers wretchedly beneath your anger. She comes to beg 
 for forgiveness and reconciliation, and you ask what it 
 means." 
 
 "How was I to know? You pained and offended 
 me to-day with laughing lips." 
 
 " Be kind, Constantin. Forgive me. I cannot live 
 in discord and strife, least of all with you." 
 
 Could he only have maintained his calm self-posses- 
 sion, had he only known how to deal with this strange 
 character, he would have gone from her and have left 
 her standing there, after assuring her with grave kind- 
 liness of his forgiveness. 
 
 But who could find it in his heart to act thus? 
 His Excellency could not. He descended immediately 
 from his respect-compelling heights and was again a 
 slave. 
 
 When tea was announced, and Fräulein Emma had 
 got a fresh pocket-handkerchief ready for probable 
 tears, while Yioletta looked quite melancholy, his Ex- 
 cellency appeared with his wife on his arm as usual, 
 smiling like a radiant, beneficent Jove, — poor captive 
 man! 
 
 He atoned for his taciturnity at dinner, talking 
 much and in the best of humours, paying her Excel- 
 lency no end of little attentions. It was like a new 
 honeymoon. The brightest sunshine had followed the 
 tempest. 
 
 And Beatrice ? She smiled a great deal and yawned 
 a little. This capricious creature really did not know
 
 A DEPARTURE 301 
 
 what she wanted. Of course it was pleasanter and 
 more peaceful to be reconciled to him ; but he was 
 decidedly more interesting in his anger. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXYII 
 
 A DEPARTURE 
 
 About a week later, Sir George, who had been absent 
 for some days, arranging for one of his restless wan- 
 derings across the sea, appeared, unannounced as usual, 
 in her Excellency's drawing-room one evening when 
 a lively company was grouped about the mistress of 
 the mansion. The apartment was brilliantly illumi- 
 nated. He retreated, and would have retired, but it 
 was too late ; he had been recognized, and was greeted 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 Her Excellency von Treffenbach was this evening 
 entertaining, at tea in her villa, her Milan friends 
 who had given her so cordial a reception. His Excel- 
 lency was not present : he was indisposed. 
 
 Sir George, finding retreat impossible, submitted to 
 be placed in the easiest of arm-chairs, and to have 
 Yioletta hand him a cup of tea from Fräulein Emma's 
 tea-table. He looked haggard and worn, even more 
 so than usual ; but he plunged instantly into the con- 
 versation, which was, of course, regarding matters of 
 art, — histrionic, operatic, and otherwise. 
 
 This evening was like one in * the old times ;' that 
 is, when five years previously an animated circle of 
 friends were wont to assemble in Madame Fouquet's 
 
 20
 
 302 VIOLETTA 
 
 rooms and pass an hour or two in lively talk. The 
 freedom that had reigned there then had never de- 
 generated to license ; the Beatrice had always held 
 the reins in a firm grasp. She ruled the hour, and 
 what hours they were ! Learned men from abroad, 
 poets, actors, singers, were welcomed as brothers. 
 There were always adventures to relate, food for 
 laughter, and sometimes for tears. For where is there 
 such light and shade, such change from loftiest splen- 
 dour to deepest misery, such close contrast of lofty 
 aspirations and careless frivolity, as in lives devoted 
 to art ? 
 
 And to-night was an echo of those old days, only 
 the gayety of the mistress of the mansion seemed 
 somewhat forced and feverish. Her eyes shone with 
 an unnatural brightness, her cheeks were burning; 
 still, she was gracious as ever, and none noticed any 
 change in her save Sir George, who, while she talked, 
 watched her narrowly without seeming to do so, and 
 who suspected in her laughter the despair which 
 would rather laugh than weep. 
 
 This mood of hers touched a sympathetic chord in 
 his own nature. Nevertheless, he turned with a sense 
 of relief to Yioletta, who, dressed in white, with roses 
 in her hair, looked the lovely personification of a 
 morning in May. She sang, and every one fell into 
 an ecstasy ; the ladies kissed her and petted her like 
 a child, while the men did homage to her as to a future 
 queen. 
 
 "It is a sin to bury that voice," said Carlo Ferrati, 
 a relative of Herr Contelli's. " Must we lose Violetta 
 Fouquet as well as Madame Fouquet ? How have we 
 merited this double death-blow ? It is cruelty to your 
 native country, Signorina Violetta."
 
 A DEPARTURE 303 
 
 He spoke with the exaggerated expression, the pas- 
 ßioBato eagerness of a genuine Italian. Violetta's gay 
 glance passed him by to rest upon the pictures, the 
 bronzes, the myriad objects of value and luxury brought 
 from Berlin, all so familiar to her for the last three 
 years, all helping to make a home about her, and she 
 was aware of a sensation of triumphant enjoyTnent. 
 She became suddenly conscious of how safe and how 
 sheltered she was, of the protection of a father's house, 
 and of the difference between the world and the pub- 
 lic seen from the windows of this home and those be- 
 held from that gilded pillory called the stage. 
 
 "Ah, my good Signor Ferrati," she exclaimed, and 
 there was an exultant ring in her voice, " of all imagin- 
 able impossibilities, there is none, thank heaven ! so 
 great as the appearance of Violotta Fouquet on the 
 boards of a theatre." 
 
 Gradually the guests departed, and only two people 
 were left at last in the brilliantly lighted room, — the 
 hostess and Sir George. As the door closed after 
 the last of the guests, her Excellency sank as if ex- 
 hausted into an arm-chair, and leaned her head upon 
 her hand. The light in her eyes faded, the colour on 
 her cheek vanished, giving place to an ashy pallor, 
 and utter weariness seemed to overpower body and 
 soul alike. 
 
 "Well, Madame Beatrice," said Sir George, planting 
 himself in front of her, " the comedy of Life seems ir- 
 revocably ended for you, too. What does this mean ?" 
 
 She sat erect and looked at him half angrily, half 
 in entreaty. " Ah, Sir George, for God's sake do not 
 stand there so unfeeling, so ready to laugh at my 
 misery !" 
 
 "And what better do you deserve ?" he said, roughly.
 
 304 VIOLETTA 
 
 She did not resent even this. " Ah, help me ! Do you 
 see any way of rescue for me ? Eveiy fibre of me rebels 
 against the lingering death to which I am condemned. 
 A thousand voices," she went on, passionately, "are 
 calling me home, — to the home of my mind, my soul. 
 Yes, Sir George, I am homesick. I am dying of home- 
 sickness, and no one — no one can comprehend it. My 
 own daughter, a child of the stage, has no conception 
 of my nature. My husband sacrifices the happiness 
 of my life to the phantom that he calls the honour 
 of his name, my friends stand aloof from me, and 
 with this burning heart and brain I am alone, alone 1 
 Is what I ask a sin, a crime ? Do we not pray for 
 
 * daily bread' ? What does that mean ? It means that 
 which is necessary for our existence, and that is 
 what I ask. Ah, old friend, you once rescued me 
 from the wretched slavery of my childhood and placed 
 me in my element. I can never forget it. My grati- 
 tude, my devotion to you for your goodness to me can 
 end only with my life. Break the chains for me which 
 in a moment of delusion I forged for myself. You see 
 my pride is broken. I am weak, ill, spiritless. I can 
 no more, — all I ask is to live !" 
 
 " Oh, shame !" he said, sternly. " Is this your love ? 
 Who once annihilated my remonstrances by the words, 
 
 * I love him' ? Was that Beatrice? Did she lie then, 
 or has her love grown cold ? Grown cold 1 Pitiable, 
 wretched, disgraceful !" 
 
 Her eyes flashed again : " No, no. Sir George ; do 
 not insult me. I love him now as on the day when 
 I sacrificed my career to him. Does not every day 
 renew the memory of that sacrifice? But love alone 
 does not sufiice me, cannot fill my heart, or my life. 
 I answer you from your own lips, — a Beatrice was
 
 A DEPARTURE 305 
 
 not made for a man's plaything. Ah, you were right, 
 Sir George. I thirst for other joys, after higher aims 
 than any love can offer. Ah, pity me, help me !" 
 
 And she sank on her knees before him and seized 
 his hand. 
 
 " Take care, Beatrice, take care ; there is such a 
 soft spot in this old heart of mine for the little Betty 
 of long years ago that you might perhaps prevail with 
 me to carry you across the seas with me now as I sent 
 you across them then; and it would be your ruin, 
 child. You have renounced the world where you 
 could have reigned a queen, learn now to renounce 
 yourself; it is your only hope. This life, thank God, 
 cannot last forever. If I stay in Como over the mor- 
 row I will see you again, but perhaps it would be best 
 not. If I seem harsh, Betty, it is because I think you 
 need a sharp remedy. Good-night, and go to your 
 husband, child." He gently raised her and led her 
 to her couch, then turned and left her. Was this to 
 be the end of the life he had thought to save ? 
 
 She sat motionless, her hands folded in her lap, her 
 gaze riveted on the polished floor, and a fierce conflict 
 going on within her. 
 
 At last the servants came in to extinguish the 
 lights. Beatrice arose slowly and went to her writing- 
 table. " I have a note to write, Carolina," she said. 
 " Are the trunks packed ?" 
 
 " Yes, your Excellency." 
 
 "We shall start to-morrow evening, Carolina; do 
 not forget my furs. It will be cold in — Dresden." 
 
 And then she wrote to the Princess Menardi : 
 
 "Forgive me, dear friend, if after all these weeks of 
 uncertainty I do not come to you. There are a thou- 
 u 26*
 
 306 VIOLETTA 
 
 sand reasons why I cannot. Please do not scold me 
 until you hear my defence, which you shall most as- 
 suredly before long. 
 
 " Yours, Beatrice." 
 
 She addressed and sealed this note carefully, and 
 then began to write again with feverish haste, often 
 stopping to wipe away her tears. This letter she en- 
 closed in such thick paper that it made a small packet, 
 which she sealed but did not address. Then she arose 
 and went very softly to the general's room ; she wished 
 to see whether he were really suffering, or whether he 
 had only pleaded indisposition to avoid meeting her 
 guests. 
 
 He was still up, although the clock had just struck 
 one. There he sat at the table upon which was tho 
 map of Brazil, his head leaning on his left hand and 
 a pair of compasses in his right. He was very pale ; 
 the fine features looked drawn, his hand moved wea- 
 rily, and he was so absorbed in thought that at first he 
 did not hear her. When he did he rose hastily. " So 
 ,late ?" he asked, glancing at the clock. 
 
 '* Are you angry with me ?" she asked. 
 
 " That can never be again." 
 
 "Never?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 This word sufficed to make her forget in an instant 
 all that she had just suffered. Eemorse and self- 
 abasement overpowered her; she threw herself upon 
 his breast and wept; she seized his hand, and, be- 
 fore he could prevent it, covered it with kisses, and 
 then looking up to him, whispered, "Ah, Constantin, 
 how great, how good, how strong you are I You suffer 
 without a moan ; you euduro silently the consequences
 
 A DEPARTURE 307 
 
 of your deeds. Your hair grows gray, your hand loses 
 its power, but you utter no word; you never think 
 of coward flight ; you bear your fate like a hero ; it 
 never even occurs to you to shake off the creature who 
 has caused you all this misery." 
 
 She spoke so quickly, so low, so passionately, that 
 he only half understood her. " You know, Beatrice," 
 he said, passing his hand caressingly over her dark 
 curls, " that your love compensates me for all that I 
 may have lost. But, my darling, you are feverish : 
 your hands burn; you have over-exerted yourself; 
 and you begin your journey to-morrow ?" 
 
 " No !" she said, and hurried back to her room, where 
 she burned everything she had written. 
 
 It was then half-past one. Her repentant mood 
 lasted precisely twelve hours. At half-past one the 
 next day she wrote both letters again, and when she 
 had finished them she went to her husband, and said, 
 in a firm voice, " Constantin, I am going to start this 
 evening, after all. You know how vacillating I am, 
 but now my mind is made up." 
 
 What had given firmness to her resolution was the 
 thought, conceived during this sleepless night, that 
 she desired only her husband's best good. It was a 
 very happy idea, and sti-engthened her nerves wondei-- 
 fully, for it lent to her wrong-doing the halo of a gener- 
 ous self-sacrifice. 
 
 And so while Friedrich was superintending the 
 transportation of her Excellency's trunks to the rail- 
 way station, and Violetta was loading her mother 
 with loving attentions, she was going hither and 
 thither in her rooms, arranging, shutting up, oversee- 
 ing. Tom, on his gilded perch, watched his mistress 
 for some time in silence, then burst into shrill laughter,
 
 308 VIOLETTA 
 
 and, suspending himself head downward, screamed, 
 ' Pity me ; help me 1' 
 
 The Beatrice, startled, threw a handkerchief at the 
 bird to silence him. 
 
 Fräulein Emma entered the room to ask if she could 
 in any way assist her Excellency. 
 
 Beatrice took from her pocket a little parcel, which 
 she handed to her with a trembling hand : " Yioletta 
 is apt to forget, Emma, but I can depend upon you. 
 In a week my husband's birthday occurs ; I shall not 
 be back by that time, but I wish him to have a little 
 present from me on that day. Please give him this 
 parcel, sealed just as it is." 
 
 " Your Excellency may rely upon me," said the old 
 Fräulein, and she hurried away to place this charming 
 little gift in security. What could it be? A cigar- 
 case ? A photograph ? 
 
 In the evening the general himself, although this 
 had been one of his bad days and he could hardly 
 walk, accompanied his wife to the railway station. 
 The route she was to take lay through Verona, 
 Innsbruck, and Munich. While her husband was pur- 
 chasing her tickets, Beatrice slipped a note into the 
 post-box ; it was the one she had written to the 
 Princess Menardi telling her that she could not come 
 to her. There were many friends and acquaintances 
 to stand about the carriage door at the last moment ; 
 Carolina took charge of a large number of bouquets. 
 The bell rang for departure, and every one took leave 
 of the traveller. She had a kind and merry word for 
 all ; she embraced Violetta tenderly, still smiling ; 
 last of all came the general. He kissed her hands 
 and wished her a happy trip. Beatrice rarely sinned 
 against good taste, but now her principles in this re-
 
 A BIRTHDAY GIFT 309 
 
 spect seemed utterly to forsake her. Trembling from 
 head to foot, scarcely mistress of herself, she clasped 
 her arms about her husband's neck as he was about to 
 leave her, and had he not himself unclasped them the 
 train would have gone without her. But it bore her 
 away, and went steaming out into the dark night, puf- 
 fing like some scaly prehistoric monster ; while from 
 the window of one of the brightly-lighted coupes 
 leaned a woman, who had unwrapped the white veil 
 from her head to wave it — wave it until the long train 
 vanished beneath the stars. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII 
 
 A BIRTHDAY GIFT 
 
 " To be given to my husband on his birthday. 
 
 "First of all, Constantin, grant me your forgiveness, 
 and accept from me the assurance of my unalterable 
 affection. 
 
 " Your forgiveness, because I take forcible possession 
 of the freedom which you deny me. I know by what 
 name this act of mine will be called, I know that the 
 vow taken at the altar enforces slavish obedience, but, 
 ah ! a Beatrice Fouquet is not as other women are ! 
 Heartless, do you say? Oh, no, Constantin. Did you 
 not divine the pain that tortured me when last I laid 
 my head upon your breast and whispered farewell ? 
 It came from the conflict between my love and that
 
 310 VIOLETT A 
 
 mysterious force which drags me back to the sphere 
 to which I belong, and outside of which I cannot 
 live. 
 
 " Love is strong, but life is stronger j I can find no 
 other name for this force. I am incapable of the heroic 
 endurance which alone could enable me slowly to fade 
 away without an effort. I must save myself, and you I 
 Yes, this act of mine will bring you, too, relief, and 
 hereafter joy, and this thought consoles me. 
 
 " If Violetta should wish to follow me, tell her that 
 I expect her, and that my longing for her is scarcely 
 less than my pain for you. 
 
 " Your name I give back to you. It is Beatrice Fou- 
 quet who, when you read these lines, is on her way to 
 New York. Do not be shocked, but rather rejoice 
 that she has enough consideration for your family to 
 prevent her from making Europe the theatre of her 
 triumphs. New York! It still looks foreign, cold, 
 and dark in my thoughts, but, as I told you, I am capa- 
 ble of a lofty resolve. And I do not wish to veil in 
 mystery either the place of my destination or my 
 manner of reaching it. 
 
 " I learned that the steamer ' Yalparaiso' was the 
 vessel chosen by Sir George O'Halloran for his voyage 
 to America, and although he knows nothing as yet of 
 my plans, he will find me among his fellow-i^assengers 
 when the ' Valparaiso' has left the harbour. 
 
 " What will you do ? Pursue me with the terror of 
 the law ? Shall I be received by the police in New 
 York ? I am not afraid. The worst that can happen 
 to me is to be brought directly back to you, and that 
 is not terrible. 
 
 " But I conjure you, Constantin, to let me go, and I 
 swear to you that I never will disgrace you. Good
 
 A BIRTHDAY GIFT 311 
 
 heavens I that a Beatrice Fouquet should have to 
 write such words ! 
 
 " With regard to Sir George I have nothing to say 
 either in explanation or excuse. You know what he 
 is to me, and the world has long known it. 
 
 " Beatrice." 
 
 General Treffenbach was alone in his room when he 
 opened and read this letter, his charming wife's birth- 
 day gift, slowly, slowly, with failing breath and swim- 
 ming brain, filled with horrible forebodings, which 
 every word transformed to dreadful certainties, until 
 they overpowered, overwhelmed him. 
 
 For one moment he started up and stood erect, in- 
 dignant, every vein flushed with the vigour of youth, 
 every muscle seeming of steel, and then, — then he 
 Bank down crushed ; an icy coldness, a weight as of 
 lead, disabled him ; his foot refused its aid, his hand 
 hung powerless. 
 
 Thus the double misfortune had overtaken him, 
 leaving him nothing save the keen consciousness of 
 his disgrace and of his ruined existence. Ah, why 
 bad not the wretched letter paralyzed his brain, bury- 
 ing the mind in kindly night, instead of striking down 
 the physical frame and adding intensity to the mental 
 apprehension ? 
 
 He lay there in his arm-chair motionless, wellnigh 
 forgetting that paralysis fettered him thus, so ab- 
 sorbed was his imagination by the image of his tar- 
 nished honour. The contemptuous smile of envious 
 acquaintances, the Pharisaical pity of his friends, 
 he could endure, but how could he survive his son's 
 knowledge of what had taken place ? A deadly horror 
 came over him. He tried to call, but the words issued
 
 312 VIOLETTA 
 
 from his lips indistinctly and with difficulty. At last 
 he succeeded in reaching with his left hand the bell 
 upon the table, but his arm shook and it rang but 
 feebly, — loudly enough, however, to reach Violetta's 
 ear; she came running into the room, but, as she 
 approached him, stopped short in terror. Something 
 terrible had happened here. 
 
 " Eead !" he gasped forth at last. She saw the let- 
 ter lying on the floor, picked it up, and read it. For 
 some moments she stood like one stunned, then she 
 threw herself on her knees before him and hid her 
 face in her hands. " Oh, my father ! my poor, poor 
 father!" she cried, beside herself. 
 
 "Burn !" he said, slowly, and by a fearful effort. 
 
 She instantly threw the letter into the fire burning 
 on the hearth, and then seized the bell and rang it 
 loudly. Friedrich appeared immediately. " The doc- 
 tor!" she exclaimed, "and quickly as you can." 
 
 The faithful fellow cast one glance at his master 
 and rushed away for help. But Violetta kneeled be- 
 side the tortured man, and, suppressing her tears and 
 forcing herself to speak encouragingly, whispered, " It 
 is an attack, papa dear, that will surely pass away, — 
 surely, surely." 
 
 He made another superhuman effort to speak. 
 "Nothing— Brazil!" 
 
 " Oh, do not try to talk. I know what you would say. 
 Your son shall not be written to. He would only be 
 anxious, and in the mean while you would be so much 
 better. No, no, we will not write. You must soon be 
 better. Oh, why does not Friedrich come with the 
 doctor!" 
 
 At last they came, — the physician, the servant, and 
 Fräulein Emma, the last half dead with fright. But
 
 A BIRTHDAY GIFT 313 
 
 what could they do ? The physician could merely say 
 "what Violetta already knew, — that a stroke had par- 
 alyzed the right side ; but he declared himself quite 
 confident that the general would in time recover his 
 power of speech. " As soon as the weather permits, 
 he must go to Teplitz. Perhaps that will be of ser- 
 vice." The words came so hesitatingly that hope 
 faded in the minds of all. The doctor also advised 
 telegraphing for his Excellency's wife. 
 
 At these words the hand of the patient twitched 
 and his features worked spasmodically. " First of all, 
 I will get you a competent nurse," the doctor said, as 
 he took his leave ; " a man who understands such 
 cases, and who will bring you a wheeled chair and 
 a galvanic battery." 
 
 He went, and Yioletta was left alone with poor, 
 helpless Fräulein Emma and the simple, inexperienced 
 Friedrich, who could not restrain his sobs. The bur- 
 den of life was weighing more and more heavily upon 
 the delicate shoulders ; ah, where should she find 
 help? When the doctor came again with the nurse, 
 she ran to her own little bedroom and locked herself 
 in. 
 
 An hour afterwards she appeared again in the gen- 
 eral's study. The doctor and nurse had done all that 
 they could to alleviate his Excellency's condition, but 
 in vain. He was now seated in the wheeled chair by 
 the window, his body absolutely motionless, his mind 
 filled with torturing thoughts. 
 
 Violetta took her place beside him, kissed his brow, 
 and stroked back his gray hair. " Whore were you ?" 
 he asked slowly, but more distinctly than before. 
 
 "Ah, papa dear, I have been praying. Forgive me 
 for selfishly leaving you for so long, but — but I felt as 
 o 27
 
 314 VIOLETT A 
 
 if I must die else. I will not do it a<:^ain. You shall 
 not miss me. I can pray here as well." 
 
 "My poor child I" 
 
 " Oh, do not say that! How could I complain ? I 
 am strong and well, and I may stay with you." 
 
 " But the future ?" 
 
 " We will not think of that, papa. It will be a great 
 deal better than you think." 
 
 " Violotta, I have — nothing left." 
 
 Ah, to be besieged by such cai'es at such a moment I 
 Were illness and misery not enough ? 
 
 In the course of the next few days ' such cares' 
 pressed closely and persistently upon her young life. 
 She learned to know them well. The first of the 
 month was at hand. Innumerable bills were sent in ; 
 butcher, baker, tradespeople, all presented their claims ; 
 the landlord demanded the month's rent for the villa. 
 Violetta was shocked and distressed. Should she ap- 
 ply to the general ? There was, alas ! nothing else to 
 be done. When she entered his room he was sitting 
 in his wheeled chair at his writing-table. "With his 
 left hand he was taking various papers out of a drawer. 
 A little man of Jewish appearance stood beside him 
 deliberately counting a pile of bank-notes upon the 
 table. He received from the general a paper with a 
 few written lines upon it, which he examined care- 
 fully and then folded and put into an old leathern 
 pocket-book ; after which, with many low bows, he 
 withdrew. Violetta approached her father's table 
 and laid the tradesmen's bills upon it. 
 
 " Take those," said the invalid, with a motion of hi& 
 left hand towards the bank-notes. 
 
 " Oh, papa ! who was that man ?" 
 
 " A money-lender."
 
 A BIRTHDAY GIFT 315 
 
 She had a vague fancy that such people were the 
 harbingers of misfortune. , " Must it be ? But your 
 pension ?" 
 
 " It is gone already, — for this year." 
 
 Violetta sat down and gazed at the bank-notes. It 
 cost her a struggle to touch the money, but what else 
 could she do? "What was to be done in the future? 
 That same little man would come one day to demand 
 everything and to receive nothing. Then all the pic- 
 tures and articles of value would have to be sold, and 
 there might be an interval of calm. But he would 
 come again, and the furniture would have to go too. 
 And the physician had said that he must go to 
 Teplitz ! 
 
 Meanwhile, she could see but one way out of all this 
 misery. Involuntainly her lips formed the words, 
 " Ah, if Magnus only knew I'* But the sick man's eyes 
 fairly flashed, and there was the old ring of command 
 in his voice as he said, " What ! go begging to my son 
 after what — your mother has done? Never! never! 
 Not a word to him of all this." 
 
 That night Yioletta never closed her eyes, so tor- 
 tured was she by distressing thoughts. Slowly ad- 
 vancing upon her she saw in imagination a grim 
 inexorable necessity. Step by step it drew near, 
 gaining force as it came, and filling her with dread. 
 But when she arose the next morning and made her 
 appearance in the general's room, having vainly tried 
 to recall the roses to her pale cheeks, her sweet face 
 wore an expression of gentle resolve that became it 
 well. She devoted to him the long day which no bril- 
 liancy of skies, no ripj)ling beauty of the lake, could 
 ÜOW brighten. 
 
 Fräulein Emma and Friedrich had hitherto been
 
 316 VIOL ETTA 
 
 ignorant why her Excellency, the general's wife, in 
 spite of the illness of her husband, had given no sign 
 of returning to her home. Every day made inform- 
 ing them of the truth more difScult, and at the same 
 time more necessary. Violetta was to perform this 
 task, and she shrank from it. 
 
 One day she received a sympathetic little note from 
 Frau Contelli. The good little lady wrote that she 
 had long had it in contemplation to write to the Bira- 
 bina in her mother's absence and to ask her if she 
 would not bestow a day upon her old friend. His Ex- 
 cellency would surely allow her to do so. If a ser- 
 vant would see her put into the railway-coupe, Papa 
 Contelli would receive her in Milan, and the entire 
 household would keep high holiday on that day. 
 
 The general was somewhat surprised when Yioletta 
 declared that she would like to accept the invita- 
 tion, but he consented. ' The child really needs some 
 recreation. She looks like transparent wax,' he 
 thought. 
 
 It was a strange 'recreation,' however, that Vio- 
 letta was minded to take. She went to Milan the 
 next morning by the earliest train, without sending 
 the previous telegraph for which the Contellis had 
 asked. She feared their inviting guests to meet her, 
 and she wished to be alone with them. So she arrived 
 unnoticed, and took her way on foot to their house, 
 along the streets of the town where she had passed 
 the happiest years of her childhood. 
 
 The Contellis inhabited a modest but very pleasant 
 dwelling, and Frau Lucia had just said to her hus- 
 band, "And no despatch from the Bimbina?" when 
 the door opened and Violetta entered the pretty 
 drawing-room.
 
 A BIRTHDAY GIFT 317 
 
 There was no end to the exclamations and rejoicings. 
 What a surprise ! " Oh, heavens ! Has the fairy run 
 away from her step-father ? But, holy saints above, 
 how pale she looks ! Is she ill ? Does she feel faint ? 
 "What has happened ?" 
 
 For Yioletta, overpowered by the exuberance of the 
 welcome she received, had sunk into a chair, and could 
 only stammer, " Oh, do not ask me to-day ! I have a 
 great favour to beg of you, and that is why I came. 
 You will be so surprised; but I have changed my 
 mind. I — I — want to sing in opera." 
 
 Signora Lucia clasped her plumj) little hands above 
 her head in speechless amazement. 
 
 "You see," Violetta went on, recovering her self- 
 possession, " I was very, very silly, but now I have 
 become sensible. It would be a great pity not to use 
 my voice. And Papa Contelli has so much influence, 
 eh?" The last words were spoken with almost her 
 old gayety. 
 
 " Santa Madonna !" Signora Lucia burst forth. 
 " What does this mean ? Beatrice's daughter comes 
 to us for our influence. Beatrice's daughter ! What 
 has happened? Oh, tell us! — quick! quick!" 
 
 " I cannot," sighed Yioletta, " I am so tired, so 
 tired." 
 
 The pair looked at each other, completely puzzled. 
 What did it mean ? How had the child come to this 
 determination in her mother's absence? Signora 
 Lucia whispered at last, " Pietro, she has an unhappy 
 love-affair. Girls always want to do something des- 
 perate when they have that." 
 
 The shadow of a smile appeared upon Violetta'a 
 pale face, to fade instantly. " Oh, do not bo surprised, 
 ■ — liclpmc!" she bogged.
 
 318 VIOLETTA 
 
 " But what shall wo do ?" both cried in a breath, — 
 " we, we ? As if it were necessary for Violetta Fou- 
 quet to do anything except to go to the management 
 and say, 'Here I am!' " 
 
 " But there is a greater obstacle." 
 
 " What ? What is it ?" 
 
 " My father." 
 
 Again the little couple gazed helplessly at each 
 other. 
 
 "You see, he never would give his consent if I 
 should ask him. But I came to tell you that you 
 must come, and must tell him that it is my calling, 
 my vocation, — that my voice is fine, that my whole 
 future will be brilliant and luxurious if I sing in 
 opera. You must say this over and over again. You 
 must tell him that you will be my parents, that you 
 will take care of me as you once took care of mamma. 
 Oh," she implored, raising her clasped hands, " God 
 will reward you if you do this for me !" 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX 
 
 GONE FOREVER 
 
 Violetta had long been accustomed to read the 
 daily papers to her step-father. This was now the 
 only bridge between his present existence and his 
 former interests and acquaintances. If he wished to 
 be forgotten, he did not wish to forget, although he 
 was now in a state of such utter despair that noth 
 ing really interested him — not oven the map of South
 
 GONE FOREVER 319 
 
 America, upon which a thin layer of dust had col- 
 lected. He had but one desire, — that death might 
 release him before his son should learn through others 
 what had happened; before that name which would 
 reveal all should appear in the American newspapers. 
 A kind of rage possessed him each morning as he 
 woke to the consciousness of the tenacious vitality 
 of his physical frame, to the conviction that he waa 
 doomed to live on with one foot in the grave. 
 
 But if a repetition of the stroke — and such repe- 
 titions are frequent — should put a sudden end to his 
 life, what would become of Yioletta? He must pro- 
 vide for having the notice of his death inserted in the 
 New York papers, that Beatrice might not delay an 
 instant in communicating with her daughter. 
 
 To be compelled to think of all these things was 
 like plunging the knife afresh into an oj)en wound, 
 and yet for the child's sake he did it. But Death, 
 80 ardently invoked, would not come to put an end to 
 this ruined existence. He chooses his victims with 
 wanton waywardness, turning aside fi"om those who 
 implore his kindly touch, and calling away those who 
 in joyous exuberance of life and happiness have quite 
 forgotten him. 
 
 On the day of Violetta's expedition to Milan his 
 Excellency, with difficulty, contrived to read the paper 
 himself He did not wish to ask Emma to do it for 
 him, and he doubted Friedrich's capacity, admirable 
 nurse though he had shown himself to be. Holdinc: 
 the sheet in his left hand, he began slowly to study the 
 columns until his eye fell upon the words, " Loss of the 
 Steamship ^ Valparaiso.^ AVe would mention in con- 
 nection with the catastrophe of the 17th announced 
 in our columns to-day, by which so many lives wore
 
 320 VIOLETTA 
 
 lost, a very improbable report that the famous can« 
 tatrice, Beatrice Fouquet, was among the passengers, 
 and shared the unhappy fate of almost all on board." 
 
 Dead I Dead ! He repeated the word mechanically, 
 but it was only an empty sound. That blooming life ex- 
 tinguished, that lovely form sunk in the depths of th<» 
 ocean I She had been but now here beside him ; he 
 seemed still to feel the touch of the white hand ! The 
 voice whose melody had so enchanted him — which 
 had whispered but a few weeks ago that tearful ' fare- 
 well' — was now hushed forever ! 
 
 Well, she had been dead for him from that moment. 
 For him there was no Beatrice Treifenbach. He had 
 been a widower since she left him. But that first 
 death had brought with it intense bitterness, — this 
 one held concealed a blessed balm, oblivion! The 
 misery she had caused him was expiated. He remem- 
 bered only what she had been to him. He recalled 
 her image to his side, looked into its face, and said to 
 it, ' Eemain !' 
 
 When Yioletta came home, he called her to him, 
 stretched out his left arm, drew her to his heart, and 
 said, gently, " My darling, lay your head here ; tears 
 will come, but they shall be shed on your father's 
 breast. I have something very sad to tell you, and 
 yet it is best so. God has called away your poor 
 mother. Together we will pray for her soul's rest." 
 
 Poor child ! She could hardly grow any paler, and 
 she uttered no cry. She would not distress him by 
 passionate lamentations. He was still her first 
 thought. Her first words were, " Oh, my father, 
 now you will forgive her, and that will do you 
 good."
 
 GONE FOREVER 321 
 
 Henceforth she devoted herself to him more stead- 
 fastly than ever, but her smile had faded, and her merry- 
 talk was hushed, and when, alone in her room at night, 
 kneeling at her bedside, she said the prayers with 
 which from her earliest childhood she had begun and 
 ended every day, she added to the prescribed words fer- 
 vent entreaties for help and strength, or she leaned her 
 head upon the hard frame of the bed, murmuring amid 
 her tears, " Oh, mamma ! my poor, beautiful mamma !" 
 Still, even these tears she would brush from her eyes, 
 whispering amidst her sobs, " But he is so much calmer, 
 and he speaks of her so kindly now.'' 
 
 The world soon learned of the death of the beauti- 
 ful woman ; where and how it had taken place re- 
 mained for a time shrouded in beneficent uncertainty ; 
 it was supposed b}'- many that she had died in Ger- 
 many. As soon as the Contellis heard of it they has- 
 tened to the villa, to kiss ' the poor Bimbina' and to 
 prove their devotion by floods of tears. 
 
 At first the general refused to see ' those peoj^le,' 
 but Violetta begged so earnestly, that for her sake he 
 consented to allow them to be shown into his study. 
 The conversation, carried on in French, was at first 
 somewhat monosyllabic, but Signora Contelli soon 
 began to tell of Beatrice's youth, now drying her tears, 
 then laughing, and anon embracing Violetta. 
 
 " Ah, we all loved her so. You should see how in- 
 consolable all her friends are. No one would believe 
 it at first." 
 
 When the guests had left the room, the general 
 remarked, " Queer little people !" 
 
 " But so faithful, so devoted." 
 
 He looked at the girl anxiously, and reflected that 
 these Contellis might soon be Violctta's only friends.
 
 322 VIOL ETTA 
 
 For what would become — oh, heavens! what would 
 become of her if he should die? 
 
 This anxiety broiight the moisture to his forehead 
 whenever it occurred to him. lie could not Ignore 
 these people. He must invite them to come again, 
 and some time he must commend Violetta to their 
 kindly care. It would be hard, but they would of 
 their loyalty and love take pity upon her, and he 
 should not have to beg for her of his former friends. 
 
 " Well, Bimbina, my poor little dove, you have given 
 up all thought of the opera now," said the Signora 
 Lucia when she was alone with Violetta. 
 
 The girl hesitated a moment, and then made up her 
 mind that it were best to tell everything. The Signora 
 would then understand and aid her. She must persist 
 in her resolve ; she could not be deterred even by her 
 mourning for her mother. 
 
 "Oh, my angel!" the little Signora said, when she 
 had heard it all, stroking the poor pale cheeks, and 
 with difficulty suppressing her sobs. " I understand it 
 perfectly now. I will speak to the general. I know 
 what to say to him. He will say ' yes.' I shall tell 
 him that your future lies in your voice. He will not 
 wish to destroy your future." 
 
 And Signora Contelli had an interview with the 
 general which lasted an hour. During this time Signor 
 Contelli made his future protegee sing all kinds of diffi- 
 cult passages andßorituri, that he might judge calmly 
 of her method and capacity. He was entirely satis- 
 fied as to her success. 
 
 At last — at last the door opened, and like a fairy 
 godmother Signora Contelli entered, saying, " He con- 
 sents." 
 
 " Oh, my poor, poor papa," cried Violetta ; " how
 
 GONE FOREVER 323 
 
 he must be suffering!" And she hastened to his 
 room. 
 
 He was sitting motionless in his wheeled chair, 
 gazing out upon the lake, and the tears were rolling 
 down his cheeks. "When Violetta kneeled beside him 
 and pressed her lips upon his hand he could not speak 
 at first, and when the words came it was with almost 
 as much effoi't as upon that first terrible day. " I 
 must — I must consent to this horrible sacrifice, for I 
 cannot stand in the way of your good fortune, — your 
 career! I must say yes, I must let my darling child 
 sacrifice herself, because I am too weak to help her." 
 
 In an instant Yioletta's elasticity of spirit gained 
 the upper hand. " Ah, papa, do not be so melancholy. 
 Sacrifice ! Eather scold me, and say, ' You vain, ambi- 
 tious, foolish creature ! People have turned your head 
 with their talk about your angelic voice ; and you im- 
 agine yourself the stuff of which famous singers are 
 made.' There, papa, that is the way you would speak 
 if you were a wise father." 
 
 JFor reply he slowly raised his hand and laid it on 
 the girl's head as if in blessing. 
 
 From this day Violetta was more and more like her 
 own old self, — partly because her father must not know 
 how much she dreaded the stage, and partly because 
 Signora Contelli had assured her that with her name 
 and her voice she could soon earn many thousand lire. 
 
 They must leave this villa and go to Milan ; the 
 costly old carved cabinets, the damask furniture, the 
 wonderful linen, the silver, all must be sold. The 
 outside form of that which she had thought of with 
 such fervent love as her paternal home must vanish. 
 Henceforth she would have only a father's heart for 
 her abiding-place J but as long as that still beat sho
 
 324 VIOL ETTA 
 
 would not complain, and as long as her voice lasted 
 she would not despair. Her whole life, all that she 
 could do, belonged henceforth to the man who had 
 lost everything through her mother. And if the debts 
 could only be paid by her earnings in the course of a 
 few yeai^s ; if she could arrange for his going to be 
 cured in Teplitz, should she not be more than repaid ? 
 
 Meanwhile, more exact intelligence of the loss of tho 
 steamer had been received, and had spread far and wide. 
 The disaster had been caused by a fire between-decks, 
 and Beatrice Fouquet had been drowned, as had also 
 the great singer's early friend and benefactor, Sir 
 George O'Halloran, whose munificent charities in Ber- 
 lin would cause his name to be cherished there al- 
 ways. The news circulated like lightning, setting a 
 thousand venomous tongues in motion, and the poor, 
 paralyzed man knew himself the object of universal 
 contemptuous compassion. But what was this humil- 
 iating consciousness compared with the task that lay 
 before him of informing his son of what had occurred ? 
 It must be done if he would not have Magnus learn 
 the facts from strangers. The general laboured for 
 three whole days at this letter. His j^atient young 
 amanuensis erased, added, rewrote. Every word was 
 well considered ; and when at last they thought that 
 they had instructed him as to their misfortune but 
 veiled from him their misery, Yioletta, shocked at 
 the manner in which her trembling fingers had per- 
 formed their duty, copied the whole letter once more. 
 It was completed at last. 
 
 "You must have heard, my dear Magnus, of the 
 profound sorrow in which we are plunged. Death 
 has snatched away my wife. I cannot conceal from 
 you that the circumstances attending my loss are so
 
 GONE FOREVER 525 
 
 painful to me that I find it hardly possible to dwell 
 upon them. Beatrice had for some time been very far 
 from well, and very unhappy. She could not control 
 her longing for her former profession. I need not tell 
 you how I stood affected in the matter. Death has 
 intervened. The shock has been so great for me that 
 my health is still further impaired; winter in the South 
 does not suit me, and I shall hope to find relief in Tep- 
 litz. We have been, as you know, for several months 
 in Como, but the physicians think the vicinity of the 
 lake very bad for me. In April I shall remove to Milan 
 with Violetta, who has decided to appear in opera. I 
 shall not prevent her from pursuing her vocation ; they 
 say her voice is now as fine as was her mother's. As 
 for mj'self, I will not separate myself from the child 
 while I live." Then followed answers to the questions 
 in Treffenbach's last letter; the brevity of these an- 
 swers his son would readily vmderstand. 
 
 Some weeks later the public was startled by the an- 
 nouncement that Signorina Violetta Fouquet was to 
 appear in opera on a certain night in April. 
 
 The death of the petted Beatrice was still fresh in 
 the memory of all, and there was intense eagerness in 
 the public mind to see her daughter. 
 
 The night came: the curtain rose, and Violetta ap- 
 peared, to be greeted by a burst of applause, — that 
 well-remembered thunder which she had hoped never 
 to hear again. And ah 1 it reawakened in her the old 
 invincible shyness, the dread of all those gazing eyes. 
 She seemed to have had a long, long dream, of peace 
 and rest, of a home, of a father whoso strong arm 
 protected her young life, of a brother who instructed 
 and advised her; and this was the awakening. A 
 dream in clear sunshine ; an awakening in a gaslit 
 
 28
 
 326 VIOL ETTA 
 
 night. And lienccfortli she must live in this night! 
 She stood upon the stage like a confused ciiild, trying 
 to smile her thanks for her reception, her eyes filling 
 with tears. She tried to sing ; her voice failed her, 
 and yet she must sing, she must act. Her fate, her 
 existence, hung upon this evening. 
 
 A whisper began to circulate among the audience. 
 " Her voice and her beauty must atone for her acting. 
 But why is she so afraid ? Madame Fouquet's daugh- 
 ter ought not to be timid." 
 
 Then came a distinct whisper : " Madame Fouquet's 
 daughter is on the stage to pay the debts which her 
 mother left behind her. Do you understand ?" 
 
 In a flash this suggestion acted like an electric spark, 
 kindling emotion, admiration, enthusiasm, in the im- 
 mense audience ; they clapped, they shouted, they wept. 
 Before she had been able to sing a note, " Brava !" re- 
 sounded from a hundred throats. The populace in the 
 galleries, mindful of its former favourite, shouted en- 
 couragement. " O brava ! Coraggio ! Animo ! Va be- 
 nissimo ! Coraggio !" 
 
 Thus, sustained by the ardent sympathy of her emo- 
 tional public, Violetta sang and acted, — she herself 
 scarce knew how. 
 
 When the opera was ended, and Signora Contelli 
 had, with maternal tenderness, conducted the girl to 
 her dressing-room, she sat for a while perfectly quiet, 
 her hands clasped in her lap, her lovely, weary face 
 downcast. " To-morrow it will be easier ; yes, Animo !" 
 she said at last, and, raising her head, she tried to smile-
 
 AN IDYL AND AN EXILE 327 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX 
 
 AN IDYL AND AN EXILE 
 
 They were harvesting on the Eavenhorst meadows, 
 which presented a peaceful picture of rustic indus- 
 try. The wagons were coming and going, rolling, 
 well laden, over the soft meadow soil, now and then 
 swaying so that the laughing girls throned upon them 
 screamed in pretended terror, and those on the ground 
 below, busy with rakes, paused to look after them. 
 
 The harvest-field covered a wide area, broken hero 
 and there by groups of trees, which the axe of the 
 conservative owners of the soil had spared. The cas- 
 tle could be discerned in the distance with its stately 
 terrace, and thither were turned the eyes of the 
 horseman who reined in his brown steed beneath a 
 tree. His gray riding-jacket was unbuttoned, his 
 neckerchief was carelessly knotted about his throat, 
 and now, taking off his cap, he wiped his forehead with 
 his pocket-handkerchief. " Infernally hot !" he ejacu- 
 lated ; but he looked veiy cheerful the while, and soon 
 began to whistle a waltz, — a reminiscence of social 
 brilliancy, operatic delights, and elegant leisure. It 
 sometimes did him good to remember them all. The 
 brown-and-white setter, that had until now been sit- 
 ting still, arose at the sound of the melody, wagged 
 his tail, and leaped up towai'ds his master. 
 
 "Yes, Nero, old fellow, we're badly off; we had 
 looked for some refreshment after the burden and heat 
 of the day, but there's none to bo had. No footman
 
 328 VIOLETT A 
 
 with a bottle of wine, no maid with a neat little bas- 
 ket." He turned again towards the haymakers, and 
 was quite absorbed in watching them, when sud- 
 denly Nero ran barking in the direction of the castle, 
 Avhence approached a tall, slender figure in a light 
 muslin gown, a white straw hat crowning her golden 
 braids. She carried on her left arm a little basket, 
 from beneath the cover of which protruded the neck 
 of a wine-flask, and on her right was a sturdy, laugh- 
 ing little fellow, rosy as an apple, stretching out hi« 
 plump baby arms and calling " Papa !" 
 
 " By Jove !" exclaimed the rider, and in an instant 
 he had sprung from his horse and hastened to meet 
 the new-comer. " What ! coming yourself? And so 
 heavily laden ! I do not know whether to fall at your 
 feet or to scold you tei*ribly !" 
 
 " I am bringing you mental and physical refresh- 
 ment," was the smiling reply. " Which will you have 
 first ?" 
 
 " Both together," he said, laughing, taking from her 
 child and basket at once. " Are you not tired ? Has 
 it not been too much for you ?" 
 
 He looked at her somewhat anxiously, for her face, 
 lovely as ever though it was, no longer wore the ap- 
 pearance of robust health which had foi"merly belonged 
 to it, and the figure, too, was more delicate, and did not 
 move with quite its former elasticity. 
 
 The child buried its chubby hands in its father's 
 hair and called, " Papa, papa !" 
 
 " Good heavens, what w^as that?" asked Count Hesss, 
 as much startled as if his dog had suddenly spoken. 
 
 " My * mental' refreshment. Come, baby, be a good 
 boy, and say 'papa' again." 'Baby' obeyed. 
 
 "That'e positively too ridiculous," said Count Ar-
 
 AN IDYL AND AN EXILE 329 
 
 min. " What a colossal curiosity a follow like this 
 isl" 
 
 "Put him down in the hay, and take a glass of 
 wine. There is everything in the basket." 
 
 So they sat down beneath the tree, and the child 
 on the hay before them began to pound with his little 
 fists the dog lying beside him, that wagged his tail 
 and now and then licked the baby's chubby cheek. 
 
 "He has a deal of pluck," said Count Armin, as he 
 drank his wine ; " the I'ogue is hardly a year old." 
 
 "Ah, I am afraid he is like me," Countess Marie 
 Louise said, wüth a sigh. " Look how mercilessly he is 
 beating the dog." 
 
 "And how delightedly Nero is licking his hand!" 
 He spoke gayly, but again he glanced at his wife 
 with some anxiety. Her lip quivered, and there were 
 tears in her eyes. 
 
 " A magnificent harvest," he said, by way of divert- 
 ing her thoughts, " and I hope we shall get it all in 
 without rain ; or do you think that cloud looks threat- 
 ening ?" 
 
 But she did not look at the cloud. She leaned her 
 head on his shoulder and put her hand in his. " Oh, 
 Armin, how kind you are ! How you try to shield and 
 guard me when I am beset by bitter recollections !" 
 
 " You have no right to have any recollections, dear 
 heart: the doctor has expi*essly forbidden them; and 
 two years ought to have obliterated them. Enjoy the 
 present, and the possession of so uncommonly amiable 
 and delightful a husband as yours." 
 
 She could not help smiling, and as at this moment 
 Armin the younger rolled over and made direct for the 
 horse's heels, she had no time for reflections. She ran 
 after the child, and brought it back, a roguish smile 
 
 28*
 
 330 VIOLETTA 
 
 upon its baby face, that suddenly soothed Marie 
 Louise. " He looks wonderfully like you, Armin, and 
 that consoles me." 
 
 The harvesters had frequently east stolen glances 
 towards the group beneath the shady elm, but even 
 more interest was shown by a young man coming 
 slowly from the castle, who paused to contemplate the 
 picture, — the horse grazing at a little distance, the 
 lovely woman with the sturdy child upon her lap, and 
 the castle's lord reclining upon the grass with the in- 
 dolent grace native to him, and holding up his hock- 
 glass to see the wine sparkling in the sunlight. 
 
 It was a perfect presentment of rest and comfort 
 after the labour of the day. 
 
 The eyes of the stranger were filled with intense 
 melancholy. " Happy people !" he said half aloud to 
 himself, as he leaned against the balustrade of the 
 little bridge that spanned the meadow brook, and 
 continued to watch the group beneath the elm. 
 "Have I striven to attain the worthiest aims, sacri- 
 ficing my time and my powers of mind to the noblest 
 ambition, only to stand here now and gaze, devoured 
 by envy, upon those who have done nothing save live 
 and love ? Is it not shameful that I would fain resign 
 all that I have written and accomplished for a single 
 hour of such rest, such happiness, such peace as they 
 are enjoying? My life has been one of labour and of 
 sacrifice of my own wishes : the consciousness of this 
 ought to steel my soul, and give me sti-ength and con- 
 tent. But human nature is of the earth, and earthly 
 joys must always hover before men's eyes as the 
 highest attainable happiness." 
 
 He walked on slowly, and was close beside the 
 group beneath the elm before he was obseiwed. " Tref-
 
 AN IDYL AND AN EXILE 331 
 
 fenbacb, by nil that is wonderful!" Count Armin 
 exclaimed in the greatest surprise. " Am I dream- 
 ing? Mai'ie, Marie, tell me if you see a Brazilian 
 standing there, with a beard of jet and a skin like an 
 Indian chief's !" And springing up. Count Hess con- 
 fronted his friend, and clasped his hand warmly in 
 both his own. 
 
 Marie Louise, her boy in her arms, held out her hand 
 with a smile, and a blush that extended to the roots of 
 her hair, — two things that caused Treffenbach to doubt 
 her identity. 
 
 Questions and answei-s followed in rapid succession. 
 Magnus had come from Berlin. He had been some- 
 what affected in health by the Brazilian climate, and 
 his chief had insisted upon his returning to Europe 
 for at least a year, wherefore he had come, much 
 against his inclination. 
 
 He looked so haggard and worn that it needed no 
 explanation to see that he had suffered from fever, but 
 it must have been something more than physical suf- 
 fering that had taken from his eyes the look of firm 
 resolve, and had given to the features an expression 
 of weary pain. The man so envied by the man}^, 
 whose career seemed so brilliant and triumphant, 
 looked like one who had suffered shij)wreck in life 
 and who hoped for nothing more. 
 
 Marie Louise went back to the house with her boy 
 to give some necessary directions, and as the two 
 friends sat together on the grass, Count Armin frankly 
 told Magnus how and why his appearance distressed 
 him. 
 
 "Perhaps you are right," Treffenbach said, with 
 some bitterness. '' My life is in most respects shat- 
 tered, ruined, a failure, differing from that of many
 
 332 VIOLETT A 
 
 Others only in that they are for the most part Ic 
 blame for the annihilation of their hopes, while I am 
 the victim of fate. " 
 
 Count Armin whistled softly to himself, and emp- 
 tied his glass with a reflective air. " Or," he then said, 
 " the victim of your own heroism. By Jove, Magnus, 
 I never should have had the force of character to run 
 away so from two charming women." 
 
 " Hush, hush, I beseech you !" said Treffenbach, 
 hastily ; his pulses throbbed. Yes — jqb, thei'e was the 
 root of all his suffering, the sore spot in his heart. 
 
 " Forgive me, Magnus. I am and always shall be a 
 thoughtless fellow, in spite of my blushing paternal 
 honours. Tell me how you think she looks. Do you 
 find her changed ? Is she not very delicate and pale ?" 
 
 At the moment Treffenbach's fancy was so filled 
 with another form that it took some little time for him 
 to collect his thoughts. " Marie Louise ? She is 
 changed, there's no denying that ; but she seemed to 
 me to look wonderfully well. What has been the 
 matter ? Is she ill ?" 
 
 " Two years ago she was desperately ill ; for months 
 I was afraid she would die, and since then she has been 
 delicate in health. I hoped she would recover en- 
 tirely after the birth of her child, but she still seems 
 frail." 
 
 " What caused her illness ?" 
 
 " Oh, that is a very long story. We had taken into 
 the house a poor boy whom we supposed to be a vaga- 
 bond gypsy child, and whom we treated accordingly, 
 but who turned out to have belonged to most respect- 
 able parents, and — well, the whole affair was distress- 
 ing, and Marie Louise took it altogether too much to 
 heart and tormented herself with self-reproaches until
 
 AN IDYL AND AN EXILE 333 
 
 eho became ill. But say nothing of it to liei, I beg of 
 you." 
 
 There was a pause. Treffenbach looked towards the 
 harvesters, then his glance wandered to the castle and 
 finally to his friend. " And you are hapjDy ?" 
 
 Count Hess smiled by way of reply. 
 
 " How do you live ?" asked Treffenbach. " Do you 
 stay here all the year round, or do you pass the winters 
 in Berlin ?" 
 
 " We have never spent a winter there yet. I do not 
 know what should take us there. I should hardly cut 
 a very fine figure in society now." He laughed and 
 held out his hand. " Look, old fellow ; see how my 
 prophecy has been fulfilled. "What would the lovely 
 Countess Mascha say to that paw ?" 
 
 " Oh, I was not thinking of social amusements," 
 Magnus said, hastily. "Marie Louise would never 
 leave her grandparents for the sake of any such, but 
 I thought she had an extended sphere of activity 
 among philanthropic institutions. She laid the foun- 
 dation for it that winter in Berlin when — when we 
 were betrothed; she then became amember of various 
 charities, writing a great deal in their favour and con- 
 tributing largely to their success. A Marie Louise does 
 not pause in such a path.' " 
 
 " Oh, yes, she pauses at once if her husbana saj^s, 
 ' Stop there, my darling !' " 
 
 Magnus looked amazed. " Then she must be im- 
 mensely changed, or — pardon me, Armin — you have 
 turned out a tyrant." 
 
 " Yes, a monster, a Bluebeard, an ogre," Hess gravely 
 assured him. " They all tremble at my nod." 
 
 " But jesting apart, Armin, you ought not to have 
 done this. Marie Louise is a highly-gifted woman '*
 
 334 VIOLETTA 
 
 " And she is also Countess von Hess ; in my opinion 
 all the rest is a secondary consideration." 
 
 " Do not imagine," Magnus said, bitterly, " that I 
 have a word to say in defence of the so-called ' strong- 
 minded' woman of the period. I know where she 
 belongs. But do you estimate Marie Louise so low 
 that you do not think she can do one duty and not 
 leave the other undone? If so, you are far indeed 
 from setting a true value upon the force of character 
 by which she can rule in a wide field of action, with- 
 out neglecting the smallest duty. Such women are 
 rare, Armin, and ought not to hide their light under a 
 bushel." 
 
 " Eavenhorst is no bushel, but a spacious mansion ; 
 and it is there that her light belongs. Just come, my 
 dear fellow, and see how it shines. I am sure that she 
 and her grandparents are expecting you impatiently." 
 
 They arose. Count Hess beckoned to an overseer, 
 to whom he gave several oixlers and resigned the care 
 of his horse, and then the two friends walked slowly 
 towards the castle. 
 
 The sun was setting when they reached the terrace, 
 where Herr and Frau von Plattow received their 
 nephew with a cordial welcome and overwhelmed 
 him with questions. They sat together for an hour, 
 and then the young Countess appeared, having super- 
 intended putting her boy to bed, and they all sat down 
 to the evening meal in the comfortable old dining- 
 room, where TreflFenbach had so often loved as a boy 
 to sit beside his fair, silent cousin, whispering to her 
 of the great deeds he intended to do in the future ; 
 he should certainly do something grand and noble ; it 
 was a pity that there were no longer any dragons to 
 kill.
 
 AN IDYL AND AN EXILE 335 
 
 And now ? How distorted and ruined had been tho 
 close of his youth ! With what an unhol}' passion his 
 heart was filled ! He ! the son of such a mother, — ■ 
 warned and guided from earliest childhood, and so 
 calmly confident in his own strength ! 
 
 " Tell us, my dear Magnus, what your plans are 
 now," said the old Fran, gazing at him with maternal 
 anxiety. She thought him looking very ill. " Shall 
 you stay in Yelzin ?" 
 
 "Yes, probably. I am to have a holiday in this 
 country." 
 
 " Are you not going to — to Italy to see your father ?" 
 This was asked with some hesitation. The subject 
 had not been mentioned before : the thoughts it sug- 
 gested were too painful. 
 
 " I do not know. I hardly know where he is just 
 at present," Treffenbach replied, with an effort. 
 " Have you heai*d from him lately ?" 
 
 No one had heard. Count Hess, after some re- 
 flection, said, " I think the pastor's wife at Yelzin 
 takes pains always to know where they are. She is 
 much interested in Fräulein Fouquet through a friend 
 of hers." 
 
 " Is it true that he is slightly paralyzed ?" Magnus 
 asked, shrinking at the sound of that word. 
 
 " It is impossible to discover the true state of affairs. 
 But has he not told you how he is ?" 
 
 " He writes me only that he is suffering. I heard 
 elsewhere that he had had a stroke." 
 
 There was an embarrassed silence. At last Marie 
 Louise said, " Then you do not know that he went to 
 Teplitz this spring. Armin's mother, who was there, 
 wrote us that the baths had been of great service to 
 him — considering."
 
 336 VIOLETTA 
 
 Treffenbach said iiothini^; and there was another 
 painful pause, until at last they began to talk upon in- 
 different subjects. He then roused himself from his rev- 
 ery and turned his attention to Marie Louise, observing 
 her with ever-increasing admiration. Slie might bo 
 paler and more delicate than of yore, but she was even 
 more lovely, for her face was animated by a quick 
 change of expression, and her clear eyes were full of 
 cordial sympathy. If the conversation turned upon ab- 
 stract matters, she was quite as much interested as for- 
 merly, and at such times her husband looked at her 
 with an amused smile. But often when he expressed an 
 opinion, she seemed to forget that she had any. 
 
 " Now, Treffenbach, pray ask her why we have no 
 house in town, and wh}' we are not conducting six be- 
 nevolent institutions. Marie, you must know that he 
 is terribly shocked at both of us, but especially at me. 
 I have made you false to your lofty aims, and have 
 degraded you to the sphere of the commonplace. 
 You are a marble goddess descended from her ped- 
 estal." 
 
 Marie Louise blushed : " And I shall tell him noth- 
 ing, except that such is your will and pleasure." 
 
 " There, you perceive, Treffenbach, what a domestic 
 tyrant I am. Did you notice the resignation in her 
 glance ?" 
 
 Frau von Plattow patted Armin affectionately on 
 the shoulder. " My dear Magnus," she said, " we owe 
 you our special thanks for sending us this fellow. 
 Since he came we have all grown young and gay." 
 
 After supper Count Hess took his friend up to his 
 own rooms, since the old people were wont to retire 
 early. The two friends smoked their cigars in the 
 Count's study, and talked about all sorts of things in
 
 ' THE WOUNDS OF A FRIEND.' 337 
 
 which neither was greatly interested. Marie Louise 
 came in for a moment. 
 
 " I'm not going to interrupt you," she said, " I have 
 come only to bid you good-night. I am tired, and you 
 can talk together in peace until midnight if you like. 
 You know, Armin, where Magnus's room is, and will 
 show him to it." 
 
 As she left the room Hess became absent and rest- 
 less, and finally he rose and followed her. Treffenbach, 
 through the open folding-doors, saw him speak with 
 his wife in her drawing-room, and then bend down 
 and gaze into her eyes with a look of tender anxiety, 
 which she returned with a smile. Certainly Armin 
 understood the art of being happy and of making 
 others so. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXI 
 'the wounds op a friend' 
 
 " And now," said Count Hess, when a few minutes 
 later they were sitting alone together by the open 
 window, their cigars lit and a flask of Ehine wine on 
 the table, — " now for your affairs. No need, since I 
 see you, to tell me how matters stand with you ; it is 
 written on your forehead. Tell me, then, my dear fel- 
 low, what prevents you from being as happy as I am ?" 
 
 Treffenbach gazed out into the calm night and 
 shrugged his shoulders. " I cannot understand your 
 question. Is happiness a pebble lying bj' the wayside 
 only waiting to be picked up ? Tell me, I pray you, 
 whei-e it is awaiting me, and I shall be forever your 
 debtor." 
 
 V u 29
 
 338 VIOLETTA 
 
 " You know that as well as I do. "Would you per- 
 suade me that you have forgotten Violetta Fouquet's 
 eyes ?" 
 
 Treffenbach shuddered. " Not a word of that !" he 
 said, hastily. 
 
 " You behaved harshly and very cruelly when you 
 left them never to return." 
 
 " If that be so, I alone have borne the punishment 
 for my harshness." 
 
 " But there is still time, Magnus " 
 
 "For what?" the other interrupted him, angrily. 
 " For wooing a soubrette from the stage ? Is that 
 what you would pi'opose to me ?" 
 
 " No," Count Hess said, quietly ; " but to lift the 
 burden of life from the shoulders of an innocent 
 victim." 
 
 " That is mere sentimental rubbish. Listen to me, 
 Armin, and call common sense to your aid. I consent to 
 speak of these things, although my entire nature re- 
 volts, although the whole affair drags upon me like some 
 incurable disease clinging to a man and deforming him 
 while life lasts. Let us begin at the beginning, and set 
 sentiment aside. Let the facts speak. When my mother 
 had been scarcely nine months in her grave my father 
 married Madame Fouquet. Three years later Madame 
 Fouquet ran away. Or is this not so ? You see I have 
 heard everything. That during her flight death over- 
 took her was fortunate for us, but does not alter the 
 fact that the Baroness Treffenbach disgraced our name. 
 My father stayed with the daughter, who, instead 
 of burj'-ing the name of Fouquet in the deepest ob- 
 livion, goes upon the stage, and triumphantly flaunts 
 it abroad. "When I learned this I wrote to my father 
 that, since all ties connecting him with the mother and
 
 'THE WOUNDS OF A FRIEND' 339 
 
 daughter were thus severed, and wc both stood alone 
 again, I would come back to Europe, and we would 
 live together, to which he replied that he never should 
 leave his step-daughter. Now tell me yourself what 
 happiness I can hope for. Shall I do as my poor father 
 did, and pass through the same experience ?" 
 
 " Have you finished ?" asked Count Hess. " Well, 
 then, let me speak ; not of facts, indeed, but of proba- 
 bilities. I have thought much of these matters, and 
 have drawn ni}'- own conclusions, which may all bo 
 false, although I do not believe them to be so. Look 
 you, the girl can never be a celebrity as her mother 
 was: she has an aversion for the stage; yet she goes 
 to Milan and sings and acts. "Wherefore ? Then, too, 
 your father has never told you he was paralyzed. 
 Strange likewise. If you had known that he had had 
 a stroke you would undoubtedly have come to Eui-ope 
 to see him. He keeps the knowledge from you. They 
 say that he is entirely helpless, — able to move only 
 his left arm. AYhy has he not told you of this ? It 
 would seem that he does not want you." 
 
 " I know he does not. He no longer has any aifec- 
 tion for his son. Those others have complete posses- 
 sion of his heart." 
 
 " Do not interrupt me. Did it never occur to you 
 that Beatrice Fouquet was a woman who would have 
 no difficulty in making away with a large fortune in 
 a very small space of time? Are you familiar with 
 your father's pecuniary affairs ? Did you ever re- 
 flect that you were your mothers heir, but that your 
 father's reputation as a monej-ed man was based upon 
 her wealth ?" 
 
 Treffenbach felt the colour rise to his forehead. " I 
 know nothing of my fathci-'s circumstances," he said.
 
 340 VIOLETTA 
 
 "I have alwaj^s supposed him a wealthy man; and 
 then, his pension " 
 
 " My dear fellow, have you the slightest idea of the 
 cost of the maintenance of such an establishment as 
 was his ? And are you further aware that the Fou- 
 quet had debts, and contracted debts ?" 
 
 " That, too ?" 
 
 " No need to excite ourselves about it, we need only 
 admit the fact. His anxious expression often struck 
 me that year in Teplitz, It could not surely have 
 escaped you, his son?" 
 
 " He never admitted me to his confidence," Treffen- 
 bach rejoined, gloomily. 
 
 « Nor me." 
 
 There was a pause. Treffenbach sighed, and wiped 
 his forehead with his handkerchief. " Then you 
 think " 
 
 " I think," Count Hess interrupted him with a 
 fervour quite rare with him, " that he is now at the 
 end of his finances. I think everything was lost in 
 the shipwreck of his life, — honour, happiness, health, 
 money. I think that his ' residence in the South' was 
 his way of burying his misery, of vanishing from the 
 world and from the memory of his friends ; but more 
 than all is he resolved to hide his mental and pecuni- 
 ary ruin from his son. For this son has but one fault, 
 — he is too virtuous. The escapades of a Beatrice, the 
 theatrical career of her daughter, must never be brought 
 into court where he is judge. The only thing that ho 
 can do for this son is to die as soon and in as great 
 seclusion as possible, in order that this whole episode, 
 so little conducive to the honour of the Treffenbachs, 
 may be buried in the sea of oblivion, above which the 
 Bon's fame may shine in full perfection. And to this
 
 ^THE WOUNDS OF A FRIEND' 341 
 
 end he starves, and suffers, and foregoes the best that 
 life has ever offered him, — the society of his son, whom 
 he loves beyond aught else, for whose presence he can 
 never cease to long." 
 
 " You torture me !" TrefFenbach exclaimed, starting 
 up. 
 
 " Then let me give you one consolation. In all this 
 misery he has not been alone. An angel has stood 
 beside him, a sylph with seraph's wings consoled him, 
 strengthened him, loved him, understood him, endured 
 everything with him, cheered him in his dark hours, 
 and nursed him in illness, and since she saw no other 
 way out of the labyrinth of debt and want, did what 
 she could for him and sold her voice. And if all these 
 probabilities of mine should prove to be certainties, she 
 has done more than you or I in our whole lives have 
 ever done, and if I were a free man, with a free heart, 
 I should go south by the next express, and lay heart, 
 hand, and everything that I possessed at her feet !" 
 
 Treffenbach covered his face with his hands. " You 
 crush me to the earth, Armin," he murmured. " Do 
 you know it?" 
 
 " Yes ; and I know, too, that your pride will, per- 
 haps, never forgive me for so doing," the other replied, 
 rising, — " that we may, perhaps, be friends no longer ; 
 but I can do no otherwise." 
 
 " No !" exclaimed Magnus, springing up, and taking 
 Armin's hands in his own. " No ; while life lasts I 
 shall never cease to be grateful to you for opening my 
 eyes, for showing me myself as I am." 
 
 They stood thus for a moment, hand clasped in 
 hand, their hearts filled with memories of a life-long 
 friendship, and then Armin conducted Magnus to his 
 room. There was nothing more to be said. 
 
 29*
 
 342 VIOLETTA 
 
 When the Count afterwards looked into the nursery, 
 he found Marie Louise there in a white peignoir, sit- 
 ting by her boy's cradle, the golden abundance of her 
 hair loose about her. " So soon ?" she asked, surprised. 
 " Has Magnus gone to bed already ?" 
 
 " Yes." Iler husband came and sat down beside her, 
 propping his head on his hand, and gazing thought- 
 fully before him. " It is so fine in both of you, in 
 him and in you, that your pursuit of the truth is so 
 upright and honest that you are really grateful to 
 those who relentlessly tell it to you. Poor fellow! 
 I am afraid he'll not sleep to-night. Distress of mind, 
 remorse, and an invincible passion will all lay siege to 
 him." 
 
 " Oh, I wish I could do something to make him hap- 
 pier! I never can forget how coldly and unsympa- 
 thetically I once left him in his despair." 
 
 " Well, you can do something," he said, with a 
 searching look into her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, tell me what !" 
 
 " Write to Yioletta Fouquet to come and spend her 
 holidays (they begin soon now) with us, instead of 
 starring it." 
 
 There was a short silence. Marie Louise coloured, 
 and seemed to struggle with herself. 
 
 " My poor darling," he said, compassionately, " it is 
 too much to ask of you. I will not do it." 
 
 " But you wish it ?" 
 
 " Yes ; for his sake." 
 
 " Then it shall be done. If you would do it for his 
 sake, I can surely do it for yours." 
 
 When Treffenbach made his appearance the next 
 morning, he looked so pale and grave that all pitied 
 him J and, moreover, he was restless and preoccupied
 
 'THE WOUNDS OF A FRIEND' 343 
 
 until the couveyance which he had ordered from Vel- 
 zin came to carry him thither. 
 
 He spent the day there alone in the old house. 
 Towards evening he went out and stood upon the 
 marble rampart at the bottom of the garden, at the 
 foot of which the gentle waves of the lake plashed 
 softly. It was the season of roses, Yelzin's loveliest 
 time. The gray old house was all wreathed over with 
 trailing branches, heavy with the pink clusters; the 
 garden was wilder than ever, and myriads of rose- 
 leaves were floating upon the near surface of the lake. 
 
 What were his thoughts as he stood gazing down 
 into the water as if to search its depths ? Perhaps he 
 recalled the half-forgotten childish tale, and saw be- 
 low there the castle of gold, ruby, and ivory, and the 
 king lamenting, and the black-tressed naiad gliding 
 by, crowned with lilies, half-fish, half-Avoman, beauti- 
 ful, soulless, with her intoxicating smile. 
 
 Perhaps, too, he wondered whether his whole life 
 had not been a mistake ; — whether he had not been 
 searching for the mote in his neighbour's eye, uncon- 
 scious of the beam in his own ; — or whether he had not 
 striven after lofty aims and neglected the duty lying 
 nearest him ? And at last there occurred to him a 
 verse in praise of charity, — the greatest of all lofty 
 virtues, before which even faith and hope fade. 
 
 As the twilight darkened, he took his way, as was 
 his wont, to the pastor's cottage, where, upon his 
 return, he had found Fran Ehrhardt the same true, 
 faithful friend that she had always been to him, as to 
 his mother. In his previous interview with her upon 
 his arrival in Velzin, not one word had been exchanged 
 between them with regard to his father. There had 
 been much to tell of the success of the schools his
 
 344 VIOLETTA 
 
 mother had established, and of the pastor's flock in 
 the village and his own small flock at home, where 
 Hanna had come to be a most attractive maiden, and 
 her mother's right hand in the parsonage and in the 
 parish. But to-night he sought the cottage with but 
 one thought, to learn, if he might, his father's address. 
 
 Fortunately, he found Frau Ehrhardt alone. Hanna 
 had gone with her father upon an errand to the village, 
 and the younger children had not yet come in from 
 their twilight play in the garden. In a few words, for 
 he could not speak even to this true friend of what 
 had filled his mind all through this day, he told her 
 that he was going to his father, and confessed that he 
 was in ignorance of where in Italy he was at present, 
 although he knew that Yioletta had gone upon the 
 stage in Milan. 
 
 Without a word the pastor's wife produced from her 
 desk her last letter from her friend Frau Forstmann ; 
 a letter that told a sad tale in spite of the writer's 
 evident ignorance of the actual life of her ' dear young 
 Fräulein.' It answered Treff'enbach's question, and 
 when he left the parsonage shortly afterwards, he 
 carried it with him.
 
 IL PALAZZO BELLOm 345 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXII 
 
 IL PALAZZO BELLONI 
 
 Three days later Treffenbach reached Milan as the 
 evening was setting in, and drove through the streets 
 to the address that had been given him by the pastor's 
 wife. Whether it was the effect of the rainy sum- 
 mer evening, or of his own mood, certain it is that 
 the brilliant, beautiful city seemed to him miserably 
 gloomy and sad. The fiacre finally turned into a dark 
 street in the ancient quarter of the town, and drew 
 up before a tall mansion, the exterior of which pre- 
 sented a melancholy picture of former grandeur and 
 present decay. 
 
 Many of the window-panes were wanting or partly 
 broken, and the holes were stuffed with paper or straw. 
 The walls were defaced by cracks here and there, while 
 ornaments and rosettes of a rare, yellowish marble were 
 set in the arches of the windows. 
 
 "This cannot be the house," said Treffenbach, in but 
 indifferent Italian. 
 
 " Oh, sicuro, sicuro I this is the house, — the Palazzo 
 Belloni." 
 
 Treffenbach sighed and got out of the conveyance. 
 An old woman opened the door for him, gazed at him 
 in surprise, and then returned to a small room intended 
 for the concierge, where she was eating her polenta by 
 the light of an oil-lamp. 
 
 His footsteps echoed in the spacious vaulted hall ; 
 he ascended the staii'case, which was of splendid pro-
 
 346 VIOLETTA 
 
 portions ; a silence as of death prevailed, and it all 
 looked deserted and ruinous. The marble stairs were 
 cracked in places ; a piece of the ceiling had fallen, 
 and the frescoed walls showed only spots of colour 
 here and there, like islands amid the crumbling plaster. 
 Apparently this was an ancient palace, — long uninhab- 
 ited, and not thought worthy of restoration. 
 
 Before a door on the first landing a small lamp was 
 burning ; there was nothing else to guide a visitor. 
 Treffenbach discovered a bell-handle, which he pulled, 
 and at the shrill sound the door was cautiously opened, 
 and a round, ruddy face, beneath a shock of flaxen 
 hair, peeped through the crack, drew back, and then 
 appeared again. 
 
 " Friedrich !" Treffenbach said, quietl}^. 
 
 " Herr — Herr — Baron !" 
 
 " Yes, it is I. Open the door." 
 
 "Saints above!" the servant cried, in a stifled voice, 
 " how shall we ever tell him ?" 
 
 " Is my father so ill ?" 
 
 " Ah, Herr Baron, not more ill than usual, but this is 
 such a sui'prise. We — we — ah, Herr Baron, no one 
 can tell you how — but come in." And the faithful 
 fellow almost sobbed. " I will go to his Excellency 
 and try to keep him from being too much startled." 
 
 He conducted Treffenbach to a large, dim room. 
 High uncurtained windows shone gray in the dark- 
 ness. Magnus could distinguish some high-backed 
 chairs with carved arms standing here and there 
 against the walls, could see a huge chimney-piece, and 
 felt beneath his feet the chill of a marble floor ; all in- 
 creasing the sense of discomfort which had distressed 
 him from the moment of his arrival. 
 
 Meanwhile, Friedrich had opened the tall folding-
 
 IL PALAZZO BELLONI 347 
 
 doors opposite, and TrefFcnbach heard him sa}^, " Your 
 Excellency — we — I — it " 
 
 " What is the matter?" the familiar voice exclaimed. 
 " Friedrich ! how you look ! What has happened ?" 
 
 " Oh, nothing, your Excellency ; 'tis — 'tis something 
 very pleasant!" 
 
 " Then your looks belie you." 
 
 " Because I don't know how to tell your Excellency. 
 Some one has come." 
 
 A long pause ensued. At last the general's voice 
 said, in a wavering tone, " Is it my son ?" 
 
 " Now, Herr Baron, you may come in," Friedrich 
 called, with a lately acquired familiarity of manner, 
 which told more distinctly than aught else could have 
 done of the poverty that levels the barrier between 
 master and servant. 
 
 Treffenbach at once entered a second spacious, lofty 
 apartment, almost entirely empty. In one corner — 
 it looked a mile off — stood the campaign-bed which 
 always accompanied the once gallant soldier ; he hoped 
 at least to die upon it, since a glorious death upon the 
 battle-field had been denied him. 
 
 Near a window, beside a table piled with books and 
 papers, stood the general's wheeled chair. If the father 
 hardly knew whether he felt more of joy or of pain in 
 this meeting, the son's sensations were those of over- 
 whelming sadness. He could scarcely speak when he 
 saw before him the shrunken figure, the deeply-lined 
 face of the father who had always been to him the 
 personification of athletic vigour. " Oh, sir, oh, father ! 
 I have but one miserable excuse for my delay in coming 
 to you, — my ignorance of your illness, of your condi- 
 tion. Armin Hess divined it when I did not !" 
 
 The general lifted his left hand and laid it, a leaden
 
 348 VIOLETTA 
 
 weight, upon his son's shoulder: "Do not reproach 
 yourself, my boy ; it was best to keep you in igno- 
 rance, I wished to spare you this sight. I hoped you 
 would have received tidings of my death, but I cannot 
 die. Here you are now, however, and I am glad of it. 
 I have wished it of late for her sake, for she is killing 
 herself for me." He paused, overcome by pain and 
 agitation ; he seemed scarcely to see his son, but to be 
 occupied with other thoughts, which had filled his 
 lonely hours with anxiety. " She is wearing her life 
 away. That cough of hers kills me, and there is noth- 
 ing to be done. The little witch is stronger than all 
 of us. I am afraid she will be too strong for you. But 
 no more of that. Let us talk of yourself, old fellow ! 
 Come, drive away the gloomy thoughts that crowd 
 upon me here while I am sitting alone and counting 
 the moments until she comes." 
 
 Treffenbach looked around the dimly-lit apartment 
 and shivered. " And you live here always, sir ?" 
 
 " It is the Palazzo Belloni. What more would you 
 have ?" his Excellency said, hastily. " "We live in gran- 
 deur. The whole house is at our disposal. Is that not 
 gorgeous ? It belongs to the Menardi family, and the 
 old Princess says we do her a favour by living in it." 
 
 Treffenbach covered his face with his hands. His 
 father's every word, the significance of which he per- 
 fectly understood, stung him to the quick. The gen- 
 eral was living in this ruinous empty old house probably 
 because he had it rent-free. " "Where is Yioletta ?" he 
 asked at last. 
 
 The general glanced at the clock : " She is still at 
 the opera-house. She sings Eossini to-night. My boy, 
 I cannot help it. "What is to become of her when 1 
 am dead ? I know that when she talks of providing
 
 IL PALAZZO BELLONI 349 
 
 for her future it is only a pretence. But indeed her 
 future weighs heavily upon me. Prince Barancovich 
 is my only hope. He is a faithful creature, and has 
 written to me to say that his love is unalterable, and 
 to press his suit ; but the stubborn child will have 
 nothing to say to him. To-night, however, is the last 
 performance of the season. Emma went with her, for 
 Signora Contelli sent word that she wished to see me 
 alone this evening : she had something to say to me. 
 But here I am talking of ourselves again while I know 
 nothing of why you have left Brazil. Yes, and look 
 here, " he interruj^ted himself in the same fever- 
 ish, uneasy way, as he stretched out his hand towards 
 some books on the table. " Your works, my dear boy. 
 I am studying them. Tremendously learned. My 
 poor j^aralyzed brain cannot comprehend them, but 
 I am astounded. Several people — and especially a 
 Spanish diplomatist at the Menardis — lately asked 
 whether I were related to the ' famous scholar.' " 
 
 Treifenbach glanced with a profound sigh towards 
 the volumes, which represented his life's task. "Well, 
 it was completed, and what had he, what had the world, 
 gained thereby ? He had often said to himself, as he 
 sat at work, that only scholars and philosophers could 
 appreciate and value his labours, and he had said this 
 with pride rather than with regret, for what cared he 
 for the applause of the multitude ? For ten long yeai's 
 he had sacrificed every leisure hour of the day, and 
 many a night, to this work, and now ? It all seemed 
 to him more worthless than the paper upon which it 
 was written. 
 
 " There is a ring," said the general. " That must 
 be Signora Contelli. Stay quietly here. She is a 
 worthy woman." 
 
 m
 
 350 VIOLETTA 
 
 He had hardly finished speaking when the little 
 lady appeared, hurried and breathless. 
 
 " Excuse me, your Excellency," she exclaimed. " I 
 meant to have been here sooner, but I was detained. 
 However, there is still time enough." She sat down 
 to recover breath, not perceiving Magnus, who had 
 withdrawn into the recess of a window. 
 
 " Yes, your Excellency, I wanted to say to you be- 
 fore the Bimbina comes, — no starring ! Santa Ma- 
 donna! — the child is singing herself to death. We 
 must be firm. She does not yet know it, but I have 
 put a stop to all the engagements. The impresario 
 has agreed to cancel them. And now there must be 
 eight weeks — twelve weeks, indeed — of absolute rest, 
 or we shall bury the poor little dove in the autumn. 
 She laughs at me, and says she likes it, but there is 
 not a word of truth in that. She has had pains in her 
 chest for days. Yesterday evening she came to her 
 room between the acts looking so that I said, ' Bim- 
 bina! what is the matter? Are you ill?' 'Only a 
 little tired,' said she. ' This part is agitating, and I 
 have so much to do.' And she sat down, and her eyes 
 looked so dull and dead. But when she saw that 
 Carlo Ferrati and I were watching her anxiously, she 
 sprang up and threw her arms round my neck, crying 
 merrily, ' Mamma Lucia, do you know that they want 
 me in Paris? And have you heard what they offer 
 me ? We shall come back perfect Croesuses !' and she 
 chattered away just to distract our thoughts ; but I 
 could hear how short her breath was, and I know how 
 such a flower can fade and die in a day, and so I de- 
 termined to speak to you. What shall we do ? She 
 must go into the country and drink milk and herb-tea, 
 and sit in the sun, and have no anxiety."
 
 IL PALAZZO BELLONI 351 
 
 " Yes, my good Signora, I will consult about it with 
 my son here." 
 
 The Signora started so that she nearly fell off of her 
 chair. She 'had not seen the Signor,' she asked a 
 'thousand pardons' for her intrusion, and then she 
 hurriedly took her departure. 
 
 After she had gone silence reigned for a while in the 
 lofty, dim apartment. Father and son listened for the 
 striking of the clock. A hundred times Treflenbach 
 thought of asking whether he should not go for Vio- 
 letta, but the thought of seeing her once more choked 
 the words in his throat. 
 
 Friedrich came in now and then, and they could 
 hear him lighting the fire and laying the table in the 
 next room. Then he came in again and whispered to 
 the general, who said to his son, " I hope you did not 
 go to a hotel ; Friedrich will lodge you here." 
 
 " I might inconvenience you." 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed, Herr Baron ! We could not let 
 you go elsewhere. Fräulein Emma will attend to 
 everything." 
 
 In spite of his melancholy mood, Treffenbach could 
 not help asking how Fräulein Emma performed her 
 part in the green-room as the duenna of a prima 
 donna. 
 
 For answer the general began to laugh — to laugh as 
 he had not done for a long, long time.
 
 352 VIOLETTA 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIII 
 
 THE 'SOUBRETTE' 
 
 "He is laughing! Positively!" The words were 
 spoken in a half- whisper by a voice at the sound of 
 which Magnus started as if electrified. Through the 
 open door a gray, airy figure came running into the 
 room and to the window where the general sat. Kneel- 
 ing beside his chair, she exclaimed, " You are laughing! 
 you are happy ! Oh, papa, how glad I am !" 
 
 " Look, and see who has come." 
 
 She uttered a low cry and sprang to her feet ; the 
 gray cloak fell from her shoulders, and she stood be- 
 fore him in all the loveliness which he remembered 
 but too well, — the same innocent gayety in her look, 
 the same gentle smile upon her lips, and yet, alas! 
 so altered, so delicate, so ethereal, the eyes grown so 
 large and so supernaturally brilliant, the hand so 
 slight, so transparent, that it seemed as if it must 
 melt away beneath the burning kiss that he imprinted 
 upon it. 
 
 She gazed at him for a moment with wide-open 
 eyes, and then she seemed to comprehend that an 
 end had come to all the dreary days ; and trembling, 
 laughing, and weeping, she kneeled beside the general 
 again : " Oh, my father, now all will be well. He 
 will take you to Velzin. He will make you well. 
 You will be happy, and so will Emma, and Friedlich 
 too." 
 
 " And 3-0U ?"
 
 THE 'SOUBRETTE' 353 
 
 "And I?" She laughed gleefully. "I have made 
 my last appearance on the stage to-night." 
 
 " Aha ! You little hypocrite !" 
 
 She blushed, and looked up at Treffenbach with a 
 smile that was as arch as ever. Then suddenly grow- 
 ing grave, she rose and went to him and laid her hand 
 upon his arm : " Ah, how ill, how unhappy you look ! 
 Do not be distressed about him, he will get well now. 
 All he wants is happiness." 
 
 Then Friedrich opened the doors wide, announced 
 * Supper is served,' and wheeled the general's chair 
 into the next room, where the round tea-table looked 
 like a small oasis in a desert, and whei*e Fräulein 
 Emma, with the same sentimental face, still tied about 
 with a kerchief, presided over the brass tea-kettle as 
 in happier times she had presided over the silver one. 
 Treffenbach's presence, and the inimitable elegance of 
 his attire, brought the ever-ready tears to the poor 
 Fräulein's ej^es. She pressed his hand in silence, and 
 looked at him with inexpressible melancholy. How 
 long it was since she had seen a gentleman who knew 
 how to tie his cravat with so much chic ! It seemed an 
 eternity ! 
 
 Treffenbach at first hardly spoke. Violetta's pres- 
 ence, her changed appearance, and her unchanged de- 
 meanour, absorbed his thoughts. Fräulein Emma tried 
 in vain to induce him to eat ; at last to please her he 
 took something uj)on his plate, when suddenly it oc- 
 curred to him that every article of food here was paid 
 for by the health of this pale delicate child, and he 
 could not eat : each morsel would have turned to a 
 coal of fire between his lips. 
 
 " I am not hungry, thank you, Emma," he said. 
 *' Let me rather discuss plans for the immediate future. 
 X 30*
 
 354 VIOLETTA 
 
 Do you not think, sir," and he turned to his father, 
 *' that the air of Velzin must be better than that of 
 Milan in July?" 
 
 Violetta's eyes beamed with rapture. The general 
 rejilied that all depended upon whether the air there 
 would suit her ; the physician must be consulted. 
 
 " None of the physicians here can judge, for they 
 know nothing of Velzin," Treffenbach said, hastily. 
 It seemed to him that if he did not carry her imme- 
 diately away from here something exquisitely precious 
 and never to be replaced would be lost. 
 
 " We will see," said the general, sighing. 
 
 At last they arose, and the wheeled chair was rolled 
 away from the table. Violetta took up some em- 
 broidery, but she could not remain quiet. She re- 
 peatedly threw her arms about the general's neck, 
 entreating him to take courage now and be glad. 
 
 At last Friedrich came in to take the general to 
 bed, and Fräulein Emma begged Magnus to allow her 
 to show him his room. He looked around for Violetta : 
 she had vanished; but as, following his guide, he was 
 traversing a wide hall, the girl came up to him, held 
 out both her hands, and whispered gaily, " Good-night, 
 dear Magnus !" 
 
 Unable to speak, he carried her hands to his lips. 
 She tried to draw them away. "What is it that 
 troubles you? Why do you kiss my hands?" she 
 asked, shyly, and then, amid tears and smiles, she 
 added, " Ah, how happy I am that God has granted 
 my prayer and brought you back ! If papa sighs still, 
 because he naturally thinks more than ever of the 
 trials we have had since those happy days in Teplitz, 
 he will soon forget it all now that he has you with 
 him. And you must never leave him again, Magnus."
 
 THE 'SOUBRETTE' 355 
 
 She laid her clasped hands upon his arm, and looked 
 up at him beseechingl}'. " T shall not long be worth 
 much, I know that, and what would become of him 
 afterwards? Do you understand, Magnus?" 
 
 For answer he kissed the clasped hands again, and 
 a hot drop fell on them. Then he hurried away, while 
 Violetta stood still and pondered. "A tear! What 
 could grieve him so ?" she murmured. 
 
 Fräulein Emma was waiting for the Baron at the 
 door of an apartment which looked as empty and deso- 
 late as all the other rooms of this palace. But neces- 
 sity had made the Fräulein inventive, and she had suc- 
 ceeded in giving to the room a habitable appearance. 
 
 She had evidently been waiting for this moment in 
 which to pour out her heart ; no compunctious visit- 
 ings interfered to pi'event her from expatiating upon 
 the events of these last years. She was still far from 
 clear as to the why and wherefore of the matter, but 
 the fact was undeniable that on a certain day they 
 had left Como, and the linen, the silver, the furniture, 
 had all been sold at auction " before my very eyes !" 
 she wailed, wringing her hands. " Everything went, 
 — the table-cloth with the stag-hunt, — you remember 
 it, Baron Magnus, — and the two dozen napkins be- 
 longing to it. And then that very old table-cloth with 
 St. G-eorge and the dragon in the centre, — the damask 
 was like pure white sillc There were seventeen nap- 
 kins belonging to it, — that brought bad luck, you see. 
 And upon number five there was a big stain that never 
 would wash out, and they said it was stained so when 
 one of your ancestors was shot during the Thirty 
 Years' War, as he was dining in his tent, and holding 
 a wineglass in his hand. Ah, Baron Magnus, I do not 
 yet see why I did not die on that day !"
 
 356 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Who bought the things ?" 
 
 "A Jew, a Herr Levison, bought most of them: 
 the very thought of him makes me feel ill." 
 
 " But go on, go on, my dear Emma. So you came 
 here, and Fräulein Violetta went upon the stage?" 
 
 " Yes ; and I can only wonder what your blessed 
 mother would have said. ' Emma,' she used to say to 
 me, 'you never neglect propriety; you always con- 
 duct yourself suitably.' And now I have to go and 
 wait behind the scenes often, and hear them all laugh- 
 ing, and listen to the silly music, and then at last she 
 comes to me. Ah, she is an angel ! But those Con- 
 tellis ! They may be very good, but the minute they 
 begin to speak German you can see that they have no 
 education. "Why, the street-boys in Berlin speak more 
 correctly ! And then, last of all, this house, — a palace 
 they call it ! Mercy upon us 1 I should like to show 
 them Charlottenburg. Not a curtain before the win- 
 dows, and hardly two chairs apiece for each room " 
 
 " Yes ; but tell me, have they ever really wanted for 
 anything ?" 
 
 " Well, sometimes. At first Fräulein "Violetta would 
 not eat enough, and the Princess Menardi once sent 
 her a gown. But all that is over now. And I must tell 
 you, too, of something strange that happened to me. 
 Three times there came an envelope, containing three 
 hundred thalers, from a German town, addressed to 
 me, and on a slip of paper inside was written, ' From 
 an old adorer,' — nothing else." 
 
 The Fräulein simpered self-consciously, and Treffen- 
 bach easily divined where the money came from. Hess 
 had not only reflected and drawn conclusions : he had 
 acted upon them. 
 
 At last Fräulein Emma noticed the weariness in the
 
 THE 'SOUBRETTE' 357 
 
 Baron's eyes and withdrew. Friedrich then came to 
 offer his services. " I sleep up here to be near his 
 Excellency," he said. " We are quite alone on this story. 
 The Fräulein Violetta's room is just above this one. 
 She will cough, I know ; I have heard her when I have 
 passed through this room at night. But the Herr 
 Baron sleeps sound, and it may not disturb him, for 
 perhaps it will only last an hour. His Excellency does 
 not sleep well ; he has been so very ill, and Fräulein 
 Violetta has worn herself out nursing him. I always 
 say to Fräulein Emma, 'Mamsell, the old mistress 
 surely sent our Fräulein down from heaven, for no one 
 but herself could have taken such care of the gen- 
 eral.'" 
 
 Magnus bit his lip. Was he to learn this lesson from 
 Friedrich too ? 
 
 What a night ! Above him sounded that hoarse 
 cough, torturing him with its steady recurrence. An 
 hour did Friedrich say ? He sprang up and lit his 
 candle : his watch told him it was two o'clock, and she 
 had not slept, nor even rested, yet. His anxiety in- 
 creased. He listened intently, measured the pauses, 
 hoped, and despaired as often as his hope proved vain. 
 
 Ah, why in his blind pride and selfish determination 
 had he unclasped her hands and left her two yeai's ago, 
 when she foreboded the coming tempest, and, shrinking 
 from the future in terror, had looked to him as to a 
 protector ? 
 
 If he had remained, everything would have been 
 different. True, he would have had to share in the 
 disgrace, instead of standing proudly aloof, but he could 
 have guarded them all from miseiy, poverty, and ill- 
 ness. 
 
 Towards morning the cough was hushed. He might
 
 358 VIOLETTA 
 
 have slept, since the disturbance — if the muffled sound 
 could be so called — had ceased. But he was less 
 than ever able to sleep, for a fresh anxiety assailed 
 him. The cough had been irritating ; this silence was 
 appalling. He fancied the last sound had been like a 
 dying sigh. What if she were no longer living ? Who 
 was up there with her in the ghastly solitude of this 
 house to help her, and to soothe her if pain and dark- 
 ness should terrify her ? 
 
 He tossed about restlessly, gazing at the windows in 
 hopes of perceiving the dawn. At last it appeared, 
 and his exhaustion was so great that he sank into a 
 heavy slumber. 
 
 When he awoke the sun was high in the heavens. 
 He looked about him bewildered : the beneficent obliv- 
 ion of sleep still clogged his senses. Where was he ? 
 Opposite him stretched a lofty sea-green wall, with 
 pictured palms and grotesque flowers, and a panther- 
 hunt painted in the midst of them. On one side of the 
 room the colours on the wall were obliterated, and here 
 there was a yawning fireplace ; the tiled floor was 
 broken and cracked in spots, — the room was drearily 
 spacious. The windows were magnificent, and the 
 apartment this morning was flooded with light, which 
 revealed as the only furniture, two high-backed chairs 
 covered with faded, ragged satin damask, and a table 
 with thin gilt legs. The sad reality flashed upon his 
 mind and roused him fully. 
 
 Upon going to the general's room he found only 
 Fräulein Emma, who had a cup of hot cofi'ee for him, 
 and who told him that his Excellency was always 
 taken out for an airing in his wheeled chair by Fi-ied- 
 rich at this hour of the morning. He might return 
 now at any minute.
 
 THE 'SOUBRETTE' 359 
 
 "And Yioletta?" he asked, with a throbbing heart. 
 
 " She is probably u^i-stairs with her flowers." 
 
 " Can I go up ?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; you cannot miss your way. Her flowers 
 are on the roof, or the lodge, as they call it here. Go 
 directly up the staircase and straight on, and you will 
 find her." 
 
 Hardly giving himself time to drink his coffee, he 
 hurried away and up the wide staircase. There was 
 the same decay and neglect visible everywhere, — the 
 house was indeed on the road to ruin. In the bright 
 sunshine which penetrated even to these halls, every- 
 thing looked worse than ever. He wandered about 
 above-stairs for a few moments, until, at the end of a 
 broad gallery, which was open to the air on one side, 
 defended only by a balustrade, he saw two blooming 
 oleanders in tubs. Here the gallery led out into a 
 square terrace, whence, high above all the noise of 
 the street, there was a beautiful prospect. Flowers 
 were blooming and vines wreathing everywhere here, 
 and in the midst of this little garden sat Violetta, 
 her hands clasped in her lap, gazing out towards 
 the distant horizon. Her dark hair curled low upon 
 her forehead ; she wore a white gown, with a scarlet 
 knot at her throat ; her delicate profile stood out clear 
 against the blue Italian sky. A letter lay on the 
 ground at her feet. When she perceived Treffenbach 
 she picked it up and came towards him. " \Yo did 
 not expect to see you so early," she said. " Papa has 
 gone for his walk." 
 
 " Violetta, my poor child, how you suffered last 
 night I" 
 
 " Did you hear me ? Ob, I am so sorry I I must 
 have disturbed j'^ou."
 
 Jt>0 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Does that go on every night ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, not always ! But please do not say any- 
 thing about it to papa. I really am so grateful to that 
 convenient considerate cough : it comes only in the 
 night, and does not interfere with my singing, which 
 is the chief consideration. But look here, Magnus, I 
 have had such a dear letter from the Countess Hess. 
 She invites me to spend the holidays with them. I 
 shall answer her immediately, but — but " 
 
 " But you cannot, you must not leave my father, 
 Yioletta, and he must come with me to Velzin." 
 
 " No, I cannot leave him yet," she said, simply. 
 
 He sat down beside her upon the broad breastwork 
 of the wall, and they looked down for a while in 
 silence upon the roofs, the streets, and the gardens 
 where childi"en were playing, " This is my garden up 
 here," Yioletta said, gaily, at last. " Friedrich brought 
 up the earth and planted the flowers for me. They 
 grow luxuriantly, as you see. I like to sit here, when 
 I have time, and fancy that it is indeed a home, — such 
 a home as I know yours was once, Magnus." 
 
 " Oh, Yioletta," he broke forth, " if you will but let 
 me give you such a home, — care for you, w^ait upon 
 
 you, surround you with the afi'ection of — of " he 
 
 hesitated ; the passionate words that came thronging 
 to his lips seemed so unjustified, so premature, that he 
 suppressed them, and ended with — " of the tenderest 
 brother." 
 
 " But what could you do ? I need no care. I am 
 very well. Yet all the same," — she blushed and laid 
 her hand on his, — "all the same you must know 
 that I dearly like to call you my brother. I am only 
 afraid sometimes it displeases you." 
 
 " It is natural that you should feel so, and I richly
 
 CONCLUSION 361 
 
 deserve to have you tell me so," he rejoined ; " but 
 one thing, Violetta, you must hear from me. Since I 
 last saw you not a day has passed in which I have not 
 thought of you ; with what pain and longing I should 
 be afraid to tell you, — not a day on which I have not 
 taken out your picture, which still lies next my heart, 
 and — and — gazed at it, fancying that I could hoar 
 your dear voice, your silvery laugh. Oh, my dar- 
 ling, you never were forgotten, but the thought of you 
 pierced my heart with a thousand pangs, blind, egotis- 
 tical fool that I have been !" 
 
 She had looked up at him at first with a smile ; now 
 she rose hastily, and with a timid glance at his pale, 
 agitated face, she shrank from him in evident distress, 
 and said, " Come, we must go ; I cannot stay up hero 
 any longer. Papa will have returned, and he will be 
 wanting you." And she vanished like some fleet- 
 footed fawn, and he was left to find his way alone 
 through the labyrinth of galleries and corridors to his 
 father's room. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 " Once upon a time there was a king " 
 
 " Hanna, my child, you will spoil our lake for Vio- 
 letta with that stupid story." 
 
 * Stupid story ?' A storm of indignant remon- 
 strance burst from five childish throats, and through 
 it rang a soft, musical laugh, while the tempest waa 
 soothed to rest by the gentle entreaty, " Let Hanna go 
 Q 31
 
 362 VIOLETTA 
 
 on, my dear Magnus ; nothing can spoil this lake for 
 me." There upon the broad breast of the dam the 
 childish group is gathered again. Hanna, now a tall 
 maiden, has the youngest in her lap, and beside her 
 sits Violetta, the pale, delicate creature who, since 
 she came to Velzin, has made herself adored by old and 
 young, and who thinks the spot a very heaven. 
 
 Broad as the breast of the dam is, Baron Treffen- 
 bach thinks it necessary to station himself on the 
 other side of Violetta, lest she should fall into the 
 water. 
 
 Of the lake before them and of the purple gleaming 
 moor behind them he sees nothing. His whole atten- 
 tion is given to the airy white figure beside him ; he 
 watches every change in her face, listens with eager 
 anxiety for every tone of her voice. A slight cough 
 is heard, and Treflfenbach says hastily, " Violetta, was 
 that you coughing?" 
 
 "I? Oh, no!" she replies, turning towards him, 
 only to look away again instantly with a sudden 
 blush. 
 
 " I coughed," little Lena, her apron full of berries, 
 said, with an air of importance. " That last black- 
 berry was such a big one." 
 
 Treffenbach looked relieved. " Do you drink all the 
 milk that you were ordered every day, Violetta ?" 
 
 " No, that she doesn't," her treacherous friends de- 
 clared loudly. " "We saw her give half of it to-day to 
 a beggar-boy !" 
 
 « But, Violetta !" 
 
 " But, Magnus ! Do let Hanna finish her story. I 
 am so curious to hear it." 
 
 And Hanna tells the legend, and the gray and white 
 curlews confirm it with their shrill screams, the tiny
 
 CONCLUSION 363 
 
 waves plash at the foot of the dam, and the old fir- 
 trees rustle. 
 
 Oh, she was so happy ! What if he had once re- 
 pulsed her and fled from her? Now his time, his care, 
 and his interest were all for her. His only thought 
 was of her restoration to perfect health. Where the 
 forest bordered on the moor he had had built for her 
 an open pavilion, in which the general could sit in his 
 wheeled chair, and where Violetta, beside him, could 
 drink in the fresh, delicious breath of the moorland. 
 But she was never permitted to read aloud. Ti'effen- 
 bach would not even let her busy herself with her em- 
 broidery. He would read the paper or some book to 
 his father, while the young girl, half reclining on a 
 low divan, gave herself over to pleasant waking dreams 
 and to the healing power of the sunshine and air. 
 
 Sometimes, soothed by the voice of the reader, the 
 lids would droop over the violet eyes until the long 
 lashes lay on the pale cheek, and then involuntarily 
 Magnus would lower his voice, and pause and lose 
 himself in contemplation of the innocent, childlike 
 face. 
 
 And Violetta was gradually recovering all that she 
 had lost. There came days when roses bloomed once 
 more upon her cheeks and she was the Violetta of 
 former times. She was so happy, whether roaming 
 over the moor, or rendering to the general the hun- 
 dred little services which he had been used to re- 
 ceive at her hands, or sitting in silence beside his 
 wheeled chair, her hand in his, while he talked with 
 his son as in the old times, or playing with the happy 
 group of children at the parsonage, where she was 
 immediately at home with Frau Ehrhardt and the 
 good pastor. Her life now seemed to her one long
 
 364 VIOL ETTA 
 
 holiday. To Frau Ehrhardt especially she turned 
 "with wliat soon became an almost daughterly aifee- 
 tion, and from her she learned of the life of the former 
 mistress of Velzin, of the early days of Magnus, and 
 of the almost idolatrous affection of the son for the 
 mother. 
 
 Count and Countess Hess drove over to Velzin one 
 day, finding their way into the old house through the 
 wilderness of roses, and the Count discovered Fräulein 
 Emma behind the door of a wardrobe, whence he drew 
 her forth to present her to his wife in spite of her ex- 
 cuses for not appearing on account of a swelled face. 
 He would listen to nothing, averring stoutly that she 
 was always handsome enough. 
 
 Countess Marie Louise was seated beside the gen- 
 eral's wheeled chair when Violetta entered the I'oom. 
 Count Hess went forward to greet her, took both her 
 hands and carried them to his lips, and then led her to 
 his wife. " Here she is," was all he said. 
 
 Confused and blushing, Violetta confronted the 
 beautiful woman. This, then, was she who was to 
 have been Magnus's wife. The poor child felt as if in 
 her mother's name she ought even now to entreat for- 
 giveness. 
 
 And if the cordial reception that Marie Louise gave 
 the girl was due at first to her love for her husband, 
 half an hour had not passed before Violetta had thor- 
 oughly won her heart, so that on the way home she 
 exclaimed, " I cannot understand why Magnus should 
 hesitate any longer I" 
 
 Yes, why hesitate any longer ? This was Magnus's 
 own thought when Hanna finished her legend and a pro- 
 found silence ensued, so profound that the clock upon 
 the tower of the manor-house was distinctly heard to
 
 CONCLUSION 365 
 
 strike. " We must go home," said Hanna. " Mamma 
 will be waiting supper for us." 
 
 The children scrambled down, and little Ella took 
 Violetta's hand and whispered, " Isn't it a beautiful 
 story?" 
 
 " Ah, it is so sad. I am so sorry for the poor water- 
 witch !" 
 
 " The water- witch ?" cried Ella, her blue eyes wide 
 with wonder. " But you mustn't be sorry for her ; you 
 must be sorry for the king." 
 
 " Oh, no, she is by far the more wretched. She 
 cannot make him happy, and all he thinks of is how 
 to escape from her." 
 
 This astounding view of the story so impressed 
 Ella that she hurried after the others to impart it to 
 them. 
 
 Violetta was still standing on the dam, gazing 
 thoughtfully down into the water, when she felt a 
 hand clasp hers. " My darling," said Treffenbach, 
 *' do not go. And do not take youv hand from mine, 
 Violetta," for the girl shrank from him timidly, " but 
 tell me if I have not done penance enough ?" 
 
 " Penance ?" she repeated. 
 
 " Yes ; you punish me severely, Yioletta, for all the 
 wrong I have done and thought. I do not say the 
 punishment is undeserved, but it is none the less hard 
 to bear. You avoid me, — you reply to me with hesi- 
 tation. It reminds me of the time when you were 
 afraid of me." 
 
 " I am not afraid of you now." 
 
 " But you despise me." 
 
 "Oh, heavens!" 
 
 "Do you not, Yioletta? Then promise me to live 
 always in the old gray house as its mistress, — still a 
 
 31*
 
 366 VIOLETTA 
 
 daughter t<) my father, and to me — a guardian angel, 
 a priceless treasure, ail that life holds dear while life 
 shall last." 
 
 She cast one glance towards the old house, then 
 turned away and covered her face with her hands. 
 ** Oh, why have you said this, Magnus ?" she asked, 
 with a sob. " It cannot be. And — and now I must 
 not stay here." 
 
 " Why can it not be ?" 
 
 She clasped her hands in front of her ; the breeze 
 played among her curls, and the declining sun seemed 
 to bathe her in its beams, as she said, gently, looking 
 him full in the face, " Magnus, when you left us and 
 paid no heed to my entreaty, I was still a child. Since 
 then I have thought much, and many things have be- 
 come clear to me. I know, too, why you went away. 
 You did right to go." 
 
 He grew pale. This was bitter indeed. 
 
 " For you know," Yioletta went on, her cheeks 
 crimson, " it was a great misfortune for your family 
 when your father married my poor mother. I under- 
 stand everything now, and I know that it never should 
 have been. And it must not be that a second Baron 
 Treffenbach shall marry a Fouquet. It is for your sake 
 that I say * no,' Magnus ; for you are proud, — proud of 
 your name, and of your position, which is far above 
 mine, and you have lofty aims in life. Still, I had 
 hoped that there might always be a place here in 
 Velzin for me beside your father's chair. But now — 
 now I must go forth into the world again." 
 
 " Try that at your peril !" 
 
 " You cannot prevent it, Magnus. It would be too 
 hard and cruel." 
 
 "And have you no thought for me, Violetta? — for
 
 CONCLUSION 367 
 
 the love that has dwelt in my heart ever since I heard 
 your laugh for the first time ; for the pain, the anxiety, 
 the constant longing that have tortured me for two 
 long years ? But why should I ask you to think of 
 this?" he suddenly interrupted himself. "I deserve 
 nothing, — least of all that priceless heart." 
 
 " Ah, you and your father are both so dear, so dear 
 to me ! Do not doubt it," she implored him. 
 
 " Yes, dear as a father and a brother." 
 
 " Indeed, indeed you are !" 
 
 " Did you ever have a brother ?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " Then you cannot know how a brother is loved." 
 
 Utterly conquered by the yearning affection in his 
 eyes, her colour deepening still, she suddenly clasped 
 her arms about his neck, looked up into his face, and 
 whispered, " Is it thus ?" 
 
 And it was the third time that this had happened 
 to him. 
 
 Had he grown wise at last ? 
 
 The old firs on the purple moor and the curlews 
 above the lake could have answered this question if 
 they had chosen. For they were witnesses of the kiss 
 of betrothal. 
 
 And there was perhaps one other witness, some one 
 who, sauntering along the shore of the lake, had been 
 gazing towards the dam, a smile on his lips which 
 even his drooping moustacüe could not conceal. It 
 was terribly indiscreet, to say the least, to advance so 
 noiselessly and so curiously, and we are ver}' sorry 
 just now, when we are taking final leave of a very 
 agreeable man, to be obliged to display him in so dis« 
 advantageous a light, but truth before everything!
 
 368 VIOLETTA 
 
 " Let me offer my congratulations," he said, softly. 
 And Magnus, startled, gazed at him as if he never had 
 seen him before. 
 
 But Violetta, blushing, laughing, crying, all at once, 
 turned to him with all the elastic vivacity of her 
 nature, and put out both her hands: "Oh, don't! oh, 
 don't! Eather save me from him. Tell him how 
 wrong it would be. Oh, how wickedly thoughtless I 
 was just now, — when — when you saw !" 
 
 "I saw nothing," Count Armin asserted, unblush- 
 ingly. 
 
 " I do not want to hurt him ; and I do want to live 
 in the old gray house ; and I do want to do all that I 
 can while life lasts to make him and his father happy," 
 she went on. " But I have told him already that there 
 ought to be no other marriage between a Baron Tref- 
 fenbach and a Fouquet. Am I not right?" 
 
 Both men only gazed at her with delight, paying 
 but little heed to what she had to say, as Magnus, 
 drawing her gently to him, and stroking back the 
 curls from her forehead, said, in a voice trembling with 
 emotion, "My darling, the only question here is whethei 
 any Treifenbach who ever lived, or who ever can live 
 was or can be worthy a Violetta Fouquet." 
 
 THE END
 
 
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