;-NRLF 
 
C A, 
 
ONE SUMMER. A Novel. Illustrated by AUGUSTUS HOP- 
 PIN. i2mo, $1.25. 
 
 ONE YEAR ABROAD. European Travel Sketches. i8mo, 
 1.25. 
 
 THE OPEN DOOR. 12010,^1.50. 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY. 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YOPK. 
 
r 
 
 - 
 
 THE OPEN DOOR 
 
 BY 
 
 BLANCHE WILLIS HOWARD 
 
 ii 
 
 AUTHOR OF " ONE SUMMER," " GUKNN," " ONE YEAR ABROAD," ETC. 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 (Stlbe Cttoer? iDg ^r?^, 
 
Copyright, 1889, 
 B* BLANCHE WILLIS HOWARD. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 
 The Riverside P*ress, Cambridge: 
 Electrotyped aud Priated by H. 0. Houghton & Co. 
 
" Laissez-moi faire a loisir le tissu ne notre roman, et n en 
 pressez pas tant la conclusion," 
 
 MOLIEKE. 
 
 912877 
 
THE OPEN DOOR , ; , ; . /, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " WHAT are you going to be when you are a man ? " 
 the Countess von Kronfels guests would ask hand 
 some little Hugo, as he pranced about the cheerful 
 samovar, begging for nine lumps of sugar in his infin- 
 itesimally diluted tea. 
 
 " King! " the child would reply with superb convic 
 tion, straightening his four-year-old back, and regard 
 ing them an instant with bold, unconscious eyes, before 
 resuming his quest. Why the ladies always made this 
 inquiry, and why they always laughed at his reply, he 
 did not deign to consider. Indeed, he scarcely noticed 
 them. He was too busy, too serious, too intent upon 
 pleasantly personal matters. Sweets for the moment, 
 royalty later ; such was his clearly denned sketch of 
 existence. But Fate drew other lines. 
 
 More than a score of swift years passed. The child 
 became a man. His throne was an invalid s chair ; 
 his sceptre, a crutch ; his crown, pain. 
 
 He had had, indeed, his bright, brief reign, his 
 goodly share of the purple state which by the grace of 
 this obsequious world encompasses the heir to an old 
 name and large wealth ; and he had revelled in that 
 more glorious sovereignty which nature may deny a 
 prince and lovingly bestow upon a vagabond, the 
 absolute monarchy of youth, beauty, and strength, 
 the kingship of a fearless spirit. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 His golden days were dead and gone. One Sep 
 tember 0veiim<r four men, with blanched faces and slow 
 and heavy tread, bore his unconscious body through 
 tli^i lori^* l-rJl, past a group of frightened servants, to 
 his own rooms. His young strength fought hard for 
 life. His soul balanced many weeks between this 
 world and the next. At length the suave doctors pro 
 nounced him " saved," which meant, being inter 
 preted, that his broken machinery had been cleverly 
 repaired, that the ugly wound on his head was healing, 
 and that everything, indeed,, was highly gratifying, 
 except the recalcitrant spine, which, refusing to re 
 spond to the skill of world-renowned specialists, threat 
 ened to make him a cripple for life. 
 
 After six months seclusion, the invalid felt a strong 
 and sudden longing for the coming spring, and ex 
 pressed a wish to be taken out into the garden. " Put 
 me out there, anywhere," he said in the scornful tone 
 with which he always now alluded to himself, and the 
 servants carried him with clumsy kindness across the 
 threshold. Although nearly as helpless as the dull 
 dead weight brought in a half-year before, he was now 
 painfully sentient and tortured by a hot and rebellious 
 soul. 
 
 Wrapped in furs, pale, motionless, his eyes closed, 
 he lay back in his wheel chair, where the noon sun 
 shine fell warmest on the lawn> and no straight-legged 
 peasant-boy, tramping by lustily to Leslach, but was 
 more " king " than Count Hugo. 
 
 " You can go, Lipps," he said to his servant. 
 
 Lipps adjusted a rug, moved the chair a half -inch 
 to the right and waited, his eyes fixed like a dog s 
 upon his master s face. 
 
 " You can go, I say," repeated the invalid wearily. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 3 
 
 Lipps readjusted the rug, and moved the chair a 
 half-inch to the left. 
 
 " Good heavens, man," began the count vehemently, 
 his dark eyes looking unnaturally large and brilliant 
 in the pale, thin face, " can t you leave me alone ? 
 Have n t I had you pottering about all winter ? Can t 
 you obey orders ? Can t you let me " he hesitated, 
 then added bitterly " enjoy myself ? " 
 
 Lipps s stolid face brightened at the familiar out 
 break. 
 
 " The count was so pale and his eyes were shut," he 
 explained apologetically. 
 
 " You thought I was going to shrivel up like one of 
 those frost-bitten snow-drops ? " 
 
 Lipps grinned. 
 
 " You donkey ! " remarked the count, in a low, 
 pleasant voice, and with a kindly glance at the man. 
 
 " Yes, sir," returned Lipps cheerfully. 
 
 " No such luck for me," muttered the count. 
 " There, there, don t stand and stare like a Chinese 
 idol ! Go off, now. You will find my sacred person 
 all here an hour later, every fragment of it. No 
 body wants to steal me. Lipps, if you don t want me 
 to swear, take your stupid eyes off me ! Oh, I know 
 very well what is the matter with you." 
 
 Lipps looked abjectly conscious of guilt. 
 
 " Come, come, Lipps, out with it. Speak up like 
 a man, and confess that you suspect me of having 
 arsenic or a dagger concealed in the tragic folds of 
 my dressing-gown. Or, perhaps, I m going to swal 
 low my crutch ? " the count went on languidly. 
 " Lipps, there are things one does n t talk about, you 
 know, but really you weary me with your anxious 
 watchdog ways. You are uneasy. What is more, 
 
4 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 you have removed my pistols from their old place on 
 my wall." 
 
 " I only thought that the count would n t be likely 
 to be wanting them for anything just now," stammered 
 the man, shamefaced and conscience-stricken ; " that 
 is, not till he s well and strong again." 
 
 " Precisely. And the pistols took up room on the 
 wall where you wanted to hang medicine-bottles, or 
 bandages, or books, or something. All very reason 
 able. That mask of hopeless idiocy does not help you, 
 my poor fellow. And I have to speak at last, because 
 you bore me unmercifully, you make me nervous, 
 Lipps. If you don t treat me better, the doctor will 
 send you about your business." 
 
 Lipps grinned with delight at this pleasantry. He 
 knew that no mortal power could send him away from 
 Count Hugo. 
 
 " But seriously, Lipps, the next time you see me ex 
 amining any object, don t feel called upon to secrete it, 
 the moment you think I am asleep," the count resumed 
 with great sweetness of manner, " and you go into the 
 house now and put those pistols where they belong. 
 And be perfectly easy in your mind about me." 
 
 " The count is getting well as fast as ever he can," 
 Lipps declared stoutly. 
 
 " Undoubtedly," Count Hugo returned with a cu 
 rious smile. " But you see, Lipps, if you are fool 
 enough to be attached to a man who abuses you sys 
 tematically, and swears at you when his pain is bad, 
 and has even been known to fling his crutch after you ; 
 if you tend him like a baby, and sit up nights with 
 him, and refuse your legitimate Sunday out, and for 
 get your beer, some fine day you will find yourself 
 in a retreat for aged imbeciles." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 5 
 
 " The count never swears at me except when I de 
 serve it," Lipps protested. 
 
 " There, go in peace, you great soft-hearted phe 
 nomenon, and no more nonsense, you understand, 
 no more foolish fancies. Go now. You tire me. You 
 make me talk. The noises out here are too much for 
 me. I never knew the world was so loud. I must be 
 born again ; yes, here is the whistle. If I have the 
 ghost of a wish I will summon you." 
 
 He closed his eyes. Lipps, having basked again in 
 the invalid s affectionate smile, and reassured by his 
 bantering tone, withdrew reluctantly, looking back 
 over his shoulder at the outstretched, motionless fig 
 ure, and walking cautiously, on tiptoe, across the turf. 
 
 It was a mild day toward the last of February. 
 The chill of winter lingered in the shade, and the 
 west wind, sweeping up at intervals from the Cold Val 
 ley, sent an occasional sharp gust across the invalid s 
 face. But the sunshine was strong and full of prom 
 ise, the stir and thrill of spring were in the air, in 
 every swelling bud in the villa-garden, in every slen 
 der, yearning twig of the bare shrubbery near him. 
 Men were working in the vineyards on the broad hill 
 behind the house, and in the market-gardens skirting 
 the slope below it. Hungry crows were cawing and 
 circling heavily over freshly up-turned fields. It was 
 a land of hills. Irregular lines of them intersected 
 one another abruptly, never rising to the sublimity of 
 mountains, yet presenting an ever-varying landscape 
 of plain, valley, and height ; and of long, fair reaches, 
 overhung with fleeting, bluish mists. Down in the 
 valley lay the city with its large vague murmur, and 
 dense smoke columns rising from many factory-chim 
 neys, black and tall in the hazy atmosphere, like 
 
6 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 huge guardian spirits of toil and traffic watching over 
 their own. 
 
 " It is like the ocean far away at night," 
 thought Hugo, used to the extreme quiet of his rooms. 
 " It is the distant roar, not of waves, but of life ; and 
 I I am worse than dead." 
 
 The -villa stood on a broad, handsomely curving 
 street at the west end of the city, and in the late 
 count s days seemed fairly out of town in its semi- 
 rural solitude. But the city had stretched grasping 
 arms up to it and beyond, toward the village of Les- 
 lach, and with a rapid growth of cottages and stately 
 houses was steadily pushing the country-element far 
 ther west. A huge sandstone structure was building 
 directly beyond the villa garden, and the scaffolding 
 of another high house was already up. Hugo heard 
 the incessant click of scores of chisels on blocks of 
 stone, the irregular fall of mallets, the harsh rhythm 
 of saws and planes, the tread of slow hoofs as carts 
 were backed up, the unloading of bricks, the rattle 
 of spades against pebbly earth, and the voices of vig 
 orous, hard-working men ; and to all these common 
 sounds he listened as if for the first time, and to 
 his painfully acute senses, each separate tone in this 
 powerful symphony of work taunted him with his 
 helplessness. 
 
 " Oh, my lost strength," he sighed, " my good lost 
 strength ! " 
 
 High on the stone house, an inconsequent oriel- 
 window leaped out to surprise the passer-by, and had 
 the air of being a merry caprice on the part of the 
 architect. Here, under a rude canvas shelter, a 
 young stone-carver was working on the massive head 
 of a broad-eyed deity with ringlets, a Pomona, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 7 
 
 possibly, since a horticultural exhibition of amazing 
 variety flanked the goddess on either side. Chiselling 
 his solid fruits, the man on his high perch sang in 
 a high, fresh tenor, and every one who listened was 
 glad at heart for the glad song, except Count Hugo. 
 
 " It hurts to hear the fellow sing like that," he 
 groaned. 
 
 The clock on St. Mary s church tower struck twelve. 
 Hugo could see the spire from where he lay. The 
 factories responded with their long shrieking whistles, 
 and the bells proclaimed the noon rest. From the 
 great gymnasium, whose roof was visible from the 
 villa garden, a thousand schoolboys came tumbling 
 out, and the hum of their riotous voices, the scuffling 
 of their turbulent feet on the pavements, the shrill 
 laughter and shouts of the happy young mob sent up 
 new and painful waves of sound to the still listener. 
 The men ceased work, except the carver, who tapped 
 busily with his mallet and sang on. Some of the ma 
 sons, with blue blouses and brawny arms, passed by, 
 singly, and in groups. Wives and sisters and sweet 
 hearts brought bread and beer in little baskets. Hugo 
 could hear the careless laughter following some rough 
 joke. A squad of infantry marched, singing, down an 
 adjacent street. He listened to their measured tramp 
 and the loud swinging folk-song. Some red-capped 
 schoolboys had climbed the hill, and were making 
 prodigious leaps, with poles snatched from the build 
 ing materials. 
 
 It seemed to the cripple that the whole wide world 
 was teeming with movement, color, contrast, and 
 happy unrest ; that out of the silent earth pulsating 
 life was reaching up about him ; that new, myste 
 rious strength stirred in the cool and sunny air that 
 
8 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 touched his cheek ; that everywhere was force for 
 all the world, but not for him force that in cruel 
 irony mocked his weakness. 
 
 " If my spirit were but crippled too ! If I need 
 not hear or see or feel ! If I did not long with 
 every atom of my being for life, strong, glad life ! " 
 
 Hoofs came clattering up the street. A young 
 horse plunged by in a clumsy hard gallop, the blue 
 and white and silver of his rider s uniform brilliant 
 in the sunlight. 
 
 Hugo shuddered and shrank under his furs, as if 
 he would conceal himself from every eye. 
 
 " My God," he groaned, " I was like that ! I, even 
 I ! And now I am an old man. Old, at twenty- 
 seven. Worse than an old man, for my heart is hot 
 within me. Worse than dead, infinitely worse." 
 
 Bitter rebellion shook his soul, fierce protest against 
 the laws that held him in the bondage of joyless life. 
 
 "They shot my poor Comet, when they found he 
 was done for. Why were they less merciful to me ? " 
 
 The noisy, leaping boys had run home. The street 
 was stiller. Some of the workmen were lying out 
 stretched in the sunshine on the sandstone blocks, 
 and some were smoking their pipes against the wall, 
 and ruminating in dull content. A little bare-armed 
 baby, with a red blanket pinned over its head, cooed 
 and crowed in the arms of the singer, who was 
 neglecting his dinner to play with it. The young 
 mother stood awkwardly swinging her empty basket, 
 and smiling on the child. 
 
 " Wait till you Ve got a half dozen of your own, 
 Dietz," called out baby s recumbent papa from his 
 sunny sandstone couch, "and you won t be leaving 
 your grub to fool with devil a one of them." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 9 
 
 " Not much," some of the others joined in, with a 
 laugh. 
 
 Dietz had slow ways and the baby s hands were 
 clutching his beard, but at length he turned his head 
 toward the men, and, smiling at them an instant be 
 fore he spoke, " Why not ? " he said tranquilly, then 
 resumed his attentions to the little red bundle. 
 
 Hugo s face was weary and drawn as if from bodily 
 pain. 
 
 " And why should they not laugh ? " he asked him 
 self. " I am a weak fool. Have I not exhausted the 
 subject of me and my future ? Have I not chosen 
 my course ? I am the meanest kind of philosopher. 
 Not one of those old fellows would own me. Patience, 
 Seneca ! Give me a little time. Fling an empty- 
 headed dragoon into a ditch, and does he arise a full- 
 fledged Stoic ? " 
 
 He smiled faintly with satirical recognition of his 
 shortcomings. "It would be easy enough," he re 
 flected. " There are a dozen ways. I have had time 
 to reduce the thing to a science this winter, while 
 poor old Lipps thinks that he has removed the danger 
 with the pistols. A pity he took alarm. Though I 
 think I have pacified him now. Unaccountable, this 
 thing we call affection ; the man is dull, yet he read 
 me like an open book. No, no, he must not be made 
 uncomfortable. That is, not beforehand. I must see 
 to that." 
 
 " I should never, indeed, choose an explosive exit, 
 when a quiet one was attainable. Now here s the 
 sharp point of a penknife, and there s an artery. 
 Two and two are four and all is well. My mother 
 would wear Paris mourning, and Lipps for some 
 months would be more stupid than ever. Countess 
 
10 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Mercedes would burn some relics. So would little 
 Laura at the Varietes. Then each would act her 
 part, one in the world, the other on the stage, as be 
 fore. Not one soul would really mourn, except, per 
 haps, Lipps. It may be a delusion born of my weak 
 state, but I believe the man loves me better than his 
 pipe, and sometimes, when I meditate crossing the 
 border, the thought of his heavy perplexity and dull 
 regret, should he seek and not find his querulous, 
 exacting master, holds me back like a rough, honest 
 hand. 
 
 " And my father ! Why does he restrain me ? My 
 father, with his wise, satirical face, and his overween 
 ing pride in his good-for-nothing son. Pride ! Well, 
 when a brilliant old bachelor marries at fifty, his only 
 son is necessarily a marvel, and even an old diplomate 
 may have one weakness. It is a sick fancy, easily 
 explained by the hole in my head and the fever, but 
 when I am near quite near the end of all this wea 
 riness, I see him, his positive self, not tragic, no pose, 
 no theatre-ghost he could not be ill-bred and mel 
 odramatic in any phase of being ; but all the same I 
 see him, his quiet, smiling presence, and I hear his 
 mocking yet tender voice, as of old when I flew into 
 a great passion: Seize the advantage, Hugo. The 
 mills of the gods grind slowly. All things have their 
 ebb and flow. Seize the advantage, my son. He 
 would have seized the advantage of his own mistakes, 
 of a friend s treachery, of famine, flood, and pesti 
 lence ; no doubt of an injured spine and helplessness. 
 But he was wise, and I am a hot-hearted fool, fighting 
 fate, then passive from sheer weariness, until a trifle, 
 a breath of air, a sweet sound, rouses old longings, 
 and the struggle begins anew. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 11 
 
 " Now what if there were an advantage ? It would 
 be a vastly clever thing to find it, upon my word ! " 
 
 He smiled drearily, and taking a note-book from 
 an inner pocket, began to turn the leaves listlessly. 
 
 " Who would ever suspect me of making friends 
 with these worthies? One man in a dungeon occu 
 pied himself with a flower, and another with a mouse, 
 and I in mine with my wise father s books. 
 
 " Here you are, old Seneca ! Now what have you 
 to say about it ? 
 
 " Do you seek the way to freedom ? You may 
 find it in every vein of your body. The eternal law 
 has decreed nothing better than this, that life should 
 have but one entrance and many exits. Why should 
 I endure the agonies of disease when I can emanci 
 pate myself from all my torments and shake off every 
 bond ? For this reason, and for this alone, life is not 
 an evil ; that no one is obliged to live. The lot of 
 man is happy because no one continues wretched but 
 by his fault. If life pleases you, live. If not, you 
 have a right to return whence you came. " 
 
 He shook his head sadly. 
 
 " Old Seneca, old Seneca, there are some glowing 
 embers in your ashes. There is a throb of passion 
 somewhere here ! There s a protest against pain. 
 You plead too much, old Seneca. You had not tram 
 pled upon yourself enough when you wrote that, my 
 friend. I, an ex-dragoon, accuse you of feeling. No, 
 no, your sentiments are not lofty enough for me. If 
 I m going in for philosophy, I want the unadulter 
 ated article." 
 
 Again he turned the leaves of the little black book, 
 closely and faintly written in pencil, the companion 
 of many hours of pain and loneliness. 
 
12 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Something cold and temperate suits me. And 
 there s one of those estimable old heathen I forget 
 which whose talk is as passionless as a peak of the 
 High Engadine. Ah, here he is : 
 
 " Above all things remember that the door is open. 
 Be not more timid than boys at play. As they, when 
 they cease to take pleasure in their games, declare 
 that they will no longer play, so do you when all 
 things begin to pall upon you, retire. But if you stay, 
 do not complain. 
 
 " With that, all is said," thought Hugo, re-reading 
 the passage slowly. " Epictetus, you re my man ! 
 The door is open. If you wish, retire I like that 
 * retire, if you stay, do not complain. Stay or go, 
 but don t whine. That s sense. It appeals to me. 
 It is curt and military." 
 
 Horse s hoofs sounded again. The lieutenant of 
 dragoons had mastered his strong and awkward young 
 animal, and was walking him panting down the street, 
 now and then giving him a condescending stroke of 
 approval which told him he was a good fellow to let 
 himself be conquered by the weaker party. 
 
 A bugle-call echoed along the opposite hills. A 
 young girl s laugh sounded fresh and free. 
 
 Hugo s face set slightly, then relaxed into a derisive 
 smile. 
 
 " Oh, rawest recruit among the philosophers ! I 
 must learn to hear hoofs and bugles and woman s 
 laughter unmoved, if I stay; and I will stay, for a 
 while at least, since, thank God, the door is open. " 
 The rider was passing the gates. 
 
 " Good fellow ! Good Ajax ! " he said to the pow 
 erful, panting brute. 
 
 " Why, it s Raven ! " and Hugo instantly blew a 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 13 
 
 long shrill note on a silver whistle attached to his 
 chair. 
 
 The horseman involuntarily halted, and peered with 
 good-humored inquiry into the garden, while Lipps 
 precipitated himself out of a conservatory window and 
 hastened breathless to his idol. 
 
 " Open the gates for Lieutenant von Raven, and 
 beg him to come in," said Hugo, surprised at his own 
 animation. 
 
 Lipps ran down the drive, swung open the gate, and 
 Lorenz von Raven rode in. Seeing Hugo, he dis 
 mounted, but before he spoke to the invalid, he said: 
 
 "He s wet, Lipps. Lead him up and down the 
 court-yard, will you?" His attention divided between 
 his retreating horse and Hugo, he advanced with a 
 broad smile on his ruddy face. 
 
 "Upon my word! my dear fellow really now! " 
 he ejaculated with friendly incoherence, and a queer 
 disjointed manner, laughing a little, aimlessly, stretch 
 ing and straightening his handsomely booted and 
 spurred cavalry-legs, and switching a sumach bush with 
 his whip. 
 
 " How are you, Lorenz ? " Hugo began quietly, ex 
 tending his hand in welcome. " I hope you did n t 
 mind my whistling. It s a novel way to call a com 
 rade. Is thy servant a dog ? you might retort, but 
 I m glad that you don t feel inclined to." 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! Of course I did n t mind that. I 
 didn t see you at first." 
 
 " I suppose not. Lipps seems to have deposited 
 me in a very good place for seeing and not being 
 seen." 
 
 "Indeed," muttered Lorenz, absently. The airy 
 preliminaries over, he felt ill at ease before this help- 
 
14 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 less bundle of furs and rugs, with a white face and 
 extremely big, alert eyes. " It does not seem in the 
 least like Hugo," he decided. "I wonder if I d 
 better speak of the accident. I wonder what he would 
 like me to talk about." 
 
 "How insolently well he looks," thought Hugo. 
 " How strong and straight he stands." 
 
 "Ages since I saw you," Lorenz began abruptly. 
 " Landstein ball, was n t it ? " 
 
 " Now that is deuced awkward," he reflected with 
 growing discomfort. " His dancing days are over." 
 
 "No, I have seen no one," Hugo returned, lan 
 guidly. "I have been in an unbearable humor all 
 winter. Only experienced bear-tamers have dared 
 venture into my den." 
 
 " We all came," Lorenz hazarded, hesitatingly, " at 
 first, you know, to inquire. Of course the countess 
 told you." 
 
 " Yes, she told me. You were very kind." 
 
 Lorenz made a valiant effort to put the heavily 
 dragging conversation into a proper pace. 
 
 " You gave my Ajax a look, did n t you ? " 
 
 "Yes. Good back, I thought, and neat little 
 head." 
 
 " He s going to make a racer, you know," Lorenz 
 began, brightening visibly then stopped with an 
 unintelligible stammer, and stared helplessly down 
 upon his friend s pale face. 
 
 " Great powers," he thought, " and there is no 
 more racing for him ! " 
 
 Hugo stirred uneasily, then broke out with 
 
 " Oh, come now, Raven, don t go on like that. 
 Don t be afraid of me. Don t handle me with gloves. 
 It s no crime, so far as I know, to lose the use of 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 15 
 
 one s legs. You need n t mince matters with me, you 
 know. Speak out, if you like. It makes me savage 
 to be stared at in compassionate silence. As if words 
 could hurt after this ! " 
 
 He uttered his impatient appeal with nervous 
 rapidity, and accompanied the final contemptuous 
 word with a sweeping gesture embracing his whole 
 person. His hand, falling back abruptly upon his 
 breast, felt the little black book in the inner pocket. 
 
 "Now I m glad to hear that," returned Lorenz, 
 greatly cheered. "People are different. One can t 
 tell. Had an uncle. Great uncle, you know. Hurt 
 iii the same way. Ages ago. Before my time. Aw 
 fully mashed, you know. Horse fell on him. Never 
 allowed anybody to mention it. Cripple all his life. 
 Remember we children were deucedly afraid of him. 
 But he lived any amount. Eighty," he added, 
 nodding convincingly at Hugo. " Eighty-five at least, 
 when he died." 
 
 " That is encouraging," Hugo returned dryly. 
 
 "Oh, yes. Isn t it?" said Lorenz, exhilarated by 
 his success. " I don t know but that he was eighty- 
 six." 
 
 "Come now, Lorenz," Hugo interrupted, "can t 
 you let the old gentleman sleep with his fathers? 
 You 11 trot him up to a hundred if you keep on." 
 
 His voice was quiet, but his smile was flashing and 
 queer. Lorenz was not sure that it did not look 
 rather bad-tempered, and hastened to say, 
 
 " Sorry I could not be at the races. Last Septem 
 ber, you know. My cousin s wedding. Had to go to 
 Berlin. Three days. Inconvenient season. Famous 
 work you did on Comet," he added, heartily. " Noth 
 ing like it, they all said." 
 
16 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I ve proved that, before gods and men," Hugo 
 rejoined with bitterness. 
 
 " Oh, an accident," deprecated Lorenz. " Nobody s 
 to blame. Devil s own luck. Nothing to do with 
 riding. I say so. Whole Casino says so. Only yes 
 terday von Paalzow said, Thinks he can ride, does 
 he ? Ought to have seen Kronfels on Comet. Poor 
 Comet ! " he exclaimed, with warmth. 
 
 The frown between Hugo s eyes deepened, and after 
 a moment he asked abruptly, 
 
 "What s the news, Lorenz? Is there no scandal? 
 Has the Wynburg world grown pious since I disap 
 peared from it ? " 
 
 "No, but they say you have," rejoined the other, 
 laughing. 
 
 "I? Who says so?" 
 
 " The countess herself." 
 
 " She ought to know," Hugo remarked, with a 
 curious intonation. 
 
 " She s glad you are so serious. Says it s a com 
 fort to her. Proper for you to be religious now. 
 Appropriate." Raven went on. "Says you have a 
 little holy book always with you. Priest and breviary, 
 you know. I didn t know. Thought it might be 
 true." 
 
 Hugo s amazement resolved itself into laughter. 
 
 " Proper and appropriate," he repeated. " Lorenz, 
 I m obliged to you. I have not laughed like this in 
 six months. I did not know that I should ever laugh 
 again. But this would make a corpse laugh." 
 
 Lorenz looked at him doubtfully. 
 
 "Odd to imagine you goody. Made us fellows 
 smile. But what s your joke ? " 
 
 " Why should it be more incumbent upon a crippled 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 17 
 
 man to be religious than upon a well man ? " demanded 
 Hugo. 
 
 " Don t know," replied Lorenz, with candid indif 
 ference. " Cripple s got more time," he suggested, 
 with admirable simplicity. 
 
 " Precisely. That s my joke." 
 
 " I don t seem to understand it," Lorenz admitted, 
 good humoredly. 
 
 " It might not interest you. It s only a queer asso 
 ciation of ideas. There used to be an old woman who 
 came to us now and then. She was a pauper. At 
 least she lived in a Home with other old parties. She 
 wandered in here one day, and as she demanded books 
 instead of food or money, the servants naturally con 
 cluded she was a suspicious character. They were 
 trying to eject her when I, luckily for her, rode into 
 the court-yard. I let her tell her tale. She made an 
 impression upon me at once. She was the only logi 
 cal woman I ever knew, I like to read, she confided 
 to me. It s the only joy I have left, and I can t get 
 anything but tracts and pious things. Why don t 
 they send tracts to rich people, who have pleasures 
 enough to compensate for dull reading? Isn t it 
 enough to be poor without also having to read tracts ? 
 she demanded indignantly. I may be a sinner, but 
 nobody can deny I m getting a good part of my pun 
 ishment in this world, and the rich sinners are not, 
 and it s an impertinence for them to dictate to me 
 what I shall read. My mother was horrified, and 
 said the old woman was impious if not crazy. But I 
 admired her sense. I gave her on the spot all the 
 yellow-covered novels I could find, and I subscribed 
 to a circulating library for her, which kept her sup 
 plied with light literature until she died. And this 
 
18 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 much I must say for the plucky old soul, I never 
 heard a complaint from her lips except the protest 
 against tracts. Tracts are all very well, she used to 
 say, but it s hatefulness to thrust them at you just 
 because you are unfortunate. There is enough in my 
 life to make me serious. When I read, I want to 
 forget. Let the rich people read the tracts and get 
 ready for heaven. The Bible says they will have a 
 tight squeeze to get in. Then she would chuckle and 
 smile knowingly at me. She was sure of my sym 
 pathy, but neither she nor I suspected that it was a 
 kind of prescience." 
 
 Von Raven stared. " Hugo always was odd," he 
 thought. 
 
 " Dull story, eh ? " said Hugo. " You still don t 
 find my joke ? It must be a poor one." 
 
 " Don t know much about old women," Lorenz ob 
 served with a self-satisfied smile. 
 
 " Then tell me something about young women," 
 Hugo returned quickly. 
 
 " There s not much new, except Countess Merce 
 des, you know." 
 
 " What about her ? " Hugo asked brusquely. 
 
 Lorenz eyed him inquisitively and hesitated. 
 
 " Had n t you heard ? They say it s a sure thing 
 this time. The French Embassador. She s uncer 
 tain as the wind. Would n t bet much money on it." 
 
 Hugo gave no sign of surprise. " Old Vallion ! " 
 he was saying to himself in a whirl of pain, incredu 
 lity, and reminiscence, " Old Vallion." He held him 
 self rigid upon his cushions. " Epictetus, you old 
 poseur" he thought, " what have you to say to this ? 
 Epictetus, you never waltzed with Mercedes ! " and 
 his smile grew more mocking and his eyes more bril- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 19 
 
 liant, until Lorenz decided it could n t have amounted 
 to much after all, the affair between Kronfels and the 
 Countess Mercedes, but he related to a comrade the 
 same day, " Hugo does get a look on him, you know ! 
 Why he looks like anything, you know ! Looks 
 like the very devil, you know ! " 
 
 " The marquis must be sixty-five or so," Hugo said 
 politely. 
 
 Von Raven shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Oh, well ; what can she do ? She can t marry 
 a nobody. And she must have money. We lieuten 
 ants are mostly too poor for her. She s getting on 
 too." Hugo s queer smile continued. Lorenz s single 
 sentences were like amputated members of his whole 
 harangue. " Beautiful, but six and twenty. And aw 
 fully sharp, you know." The young man s remarks 
 assumed a faint tinge of reminiscence, if not personal 
 grievance. " A man does n t enjoy being made un 
 comfortable. Don t know whether a girl is laughing 
 at him or not. Feels like a fool. When I conclude 
 to settle down, shall take a pretty little thing. Not 
 too much to say for herself, you know ; most of us have 
 made up our minds to that." It was a long speech for 
 Lorenz. The cavalry-boots stepped about in a brisk 
 and convincing manner, and the florid lieutenant 
 pushed up his stiff cap and wiped his retreating, nar 
 row forehead as if the proclamation of his views had 
 cost him some effort. 
 
 " I never found her sharp," said Hugo quietly. 
 
 " Oh, you ! " rejoined Lorenz significantly. " I sup 
 pose not. Everybody thought " he began, but 
 Hugo s expression was not inviting. " That is," floun 
 dered Lorenz, " everybody thinks it s a good thing." 
 
 " Admirable, I should say," 
 
20 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " She wants family and money. Old Vallion has 
 no end of both. Her mother pushes it like mad, you 
 know." 
 
 " I can imagine it," said Hugo. 
 
 " Then there is Elsa jolly little thing kept 
 back in the school-room. Kicking her bars. And 
 Olga, pretty as girls go. No show beside Mercedes. 
 Deuced row all round." 
 
 " Of course," was the quiet response. 
 
 " Upon my word," and Lorenz gave a loud laugh, 
 " I m glad I have no sisters. No end of work to 
 establish them. Poor things ! " 
 
 " Oh, they seem to enjoy the man-hunt." Hugo re 
 turned with an ugly sneer. " I notice they don t have 
 to learn much from their mammas. They are armed 
 and equipped from the start, nowadays. Particularly 
 the naive ones. But give me some mor3 delicacies 
 of the season, Lorenz. Mamma has scrupulously 
 refrained from bringing any world noises in to me 
 lately. I understand now. She does not wish to 
 startle my pious ears." 
 
 " You have a way of looking precisely like your 
 father, you know. Odd ! Never noticed it before. 
 Reminded me of him a dozen times this morning. If 
 you had glasses and shaggy eyebrows, now ! " 
 
 " There would have to be radical changes inside of 
 my cranium, before I could hope to look like him. 
 But go on, Lorenz." 
 
 The sunshine fell upon Lorenz s high-colored, good- 
 humored, vapid face. Seated on a garden-bench, one 
 tall boot crossed over the other, he spoke with the 
 drawl affected by his set, and in the dislocated man 
 ner peculiar to himself. Without malice, but in the 
 easy slighting tone with which people like to discuss 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 21 
 
 the absent, breaking out, now and then, into an empty 
 laugh, he related the good thing Hubert had said to 
 the pushing Jew banker ; the duel they had hushed 
 up about R. s pretty wife ; how the duchess had de 
 liberately turned her back upon the Baroness Marie, 
 upon which Count Dings what could one expect 
 of a fellow who had bought his title ! had delib 
 erately left her standing in the middle of the hall, 
 like the cad that he was, when up rushed that shy 
 little secretary of the Austrian Legation who never 
 dares say his soul is his own and offered her his 
 arm, his face as red as a turkey-cock ; how Hans 
 black mare was lame and he had bought a full-blood ; 
 how little Laura was making a famous fool of Rich 
 ard, whose papa had found it out, and was furi 
 ous when he was n t maudlin ; how the court-theatre 
 was growing worse and worse with ugly soubrettes, 
 worn-out tenors, and Juliets painfully suggestive of the 
 allotted threescore years and ten ; how Kurt s gam 
 bling debts were mountains high, and there was really 
 no help for him unless he married the little Ameri 
 can girl and done with it ; her mother was hanging 
 diamonds on the child, and throwing her at Kurt s 
 head ; the little thing herself was a good little thing, 
 but it was rather rough on Kurt, since all the world 
 knew that he was madly in love with his cousin Me- 
 lanie and she, not a penny to her name, and he only 
 his pay and his debts, etc., etc. 
 
 So the endless stream ran on. 
 
 At first, Hugo listened with a semblance of inter 
 est. But the chronicle began to grow remote as a six 
 teenth-century tale, and his thoughts wandered. 
 
 " Have I not heard it all before ? This was my 
 world," he reflected with dull surprise. " I cared for 
 
22 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 it. It seemed to care for me. I was important in it. 
 If the spirit hovers over the scenes it frequented in 
 the body, it must be greatly astonished to discover, 
 in spite of some honest tears, how unimportant it was 
 in the world, and I am experiencing this, while still 
 on earth." 
 
 Again he smiled like his father, and Lorenz was 
 encouraged to believe himself entertaining. 
 
 " I wonder," thought Hugo, his eyes fixed on Lo- 
 renz s complacent face, " what Mercedes thought she 
 loved in me. Except for my powers of locomotion I 
 am the same man. I can t ask her to take a stroll in 
 the garden, but I could have loved her still. What if 
 she had come to me, and knelt down by this chair, and 
 looked at me with her beautiful eyes, and said low, 
 she can speak low and soft though Lorenz never heard 
 her suppose she had come and said : Hugo, I love 
 you, more than any other soul on earth and more, 
 all the more, now that you have this sorrow and I 
 will come to you and love you and help you bear it. 
 What would I have said ? What would I have done ? 
 God knows ! I might have been a coward and taken 
 her at her word. I might have been a man and 
 sent her away. But to hear such words from such a 
 woman s lips would be so glorious, a man s heart 
 would leap with joy, in spite of his crippled legs. 
 It seems to me I could bear it all and be glad, if 
 Mercedes had come, with pity and faithfulness and 
 love in her eyes. But the woman does not live who is 
 loving enough for that ! Yet why I am even now 
 a greater horror than that old roue, Vallion, I can t 
 make out. Well I am. I am a horror for all time." 
 He looked intently at Lorenz s muscular well-pro 
 portioned form and laughed, to the latter s surprise, as 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 23 
 
 he was not aware that he was saying anything amus 
 ing at the moment. 
 
 " Ought to be going," he said at length. " Don t 
 whistle. I 11 go round and mount. Good by, Hugo." 
 
 " Good-by, Lorenz. Thanks for your visit." 
 
 They shook hands. Lorenz could think of nothing 
 more to say. He strode off a few steps, turned, hesi 
 tated, and came back. He had a vague sense that 
 there was something else incumbent upon him, and he 
 was what is called good-hearted, for instance, always 
 kind to his dogs. 
 
 He looked down once more upon Hugo s pallid 
 face, and the rugs and shawls and furs, and said 
 kindly enough, 
 
 " If I can do anything in the world for you, send 
 for me, will you ? And I 11 come in now and then, if 
 you like, and cheer you up." 
 
 " Thanks," returned Hugo, extending his thin hand. 
 " If you happen to meet Countess Mercedes, give her 
 my congratulations." 
 
 " Bather premature," laughed Lorenz, " and you 
 will get her announcement." 
 
 " Of course," Hugo assented, " but perhaps you 
 could mention to her sometime that we discussed it, 
 and that I thought well of it. She might be pleased 
 to receive such a message from an old friend, before 
 the formal congratulations begin to pour in. Tell her 
 I said I thought it was an admirable arrangement 
 for all parties. And wish her happiness for me, 
 much happiness." 
 
 "All right. Good-by again, Hugo," and off he 
 went to find Ajax, satisfied that he had remedied his 
 incompleteness. In a few moments he rode down the 
 drive, calling out his cheerful banalities as he passed. 
 
24 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 A red-cheeked maid, coming out of the house with 
 a snarling little yellow dog, met the rider face to face, 
 and stopped and stared in open-mouthed admiration. 
 The dog s bell tinkled incessantly, and he snapped at 
 everything and nothing, with a never-dying grudge 
 against all nature. 
 
 Lipps was again hovering anxiously near the in 
 valid. 
 
 " Take your mummy into the house," said Count 
 Hugo. " Put it on its sofa. I have had enough 
 gayety, for one day." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ADELHEID, Countess of Kronfels, was in the habit 
 of rising between ten and eleven A. M. This event 
 was accompanied by the vehement pealing of electric 
 bells, and by the breathless hurrying up and down, 
 stairs and through long corridors of her own maid, 
 the second maid, the first housemaid, and the corpu 
 lent butler. Although from one year s end to an 
 other, there was slight variation in the ceremonies of 
 the Countess of Kronfels morning toilette, although 
 her slaves and vassals had never failed to produce the 
 requisite bath-tubs, the hot and cold water, the toast 
 and tea, the morning post, and to regulate heat and 
 ventilation, and consult thermometers, all in the de 
 sired sequence, she invariably presupposed something 
 was about to be wrong in the matutinal rites, and 
 began each day with a jealous suspicion that her fel 
 low-creatures might underrate her importance. 
 
 Her methods, however open to criticism, had the 
 advantage of securing praiseworthy speed and punctu 
 ality in her service, for none knew when her habitu 
 ally cold and imperious manner would resolve itself 
 into violence. Until her attendants were aware that 
 she had advanced from her exclusively personal obser 
 vances to the toilet of her little yellow dog Mousey, 
 their vigilance was unremitting, and they dared 
 breathe freely only when she was enveloped in a vo 
 luminous wrapper, surrounded by Mousey s ivory 
 brushes and tortoise-shell combs; Mousey s towels, 
 
26 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 embroidered witli his own monogram ; Mousey s 
 sponges, flannels, and rugs ; Mousey s bath of warm, 
 scented water, and the object of her adoration snarl 
 ing on his blanket stretched across her knees. 
 
 For if the countess tyrannized over her quaking 
 household, Mousey enacted the role of god of ven 
 geance, and for every affront which she offered harm 
 less human beings in her power, the insolent, bad- 
 tempered little cur exacted retribution. Let philoso 
 phers determine the nature of the attachment between 
 the old lady and her mongrel pet, whose every snap 
 and snarl were her laws. Indeed a tradition existed 
 to the effect that the first and only time that the coun 
 tess attempted to chastise Mousey for some breach of 
 canine etiquette, he turned fiercely and bit her. Hap 
 pily his teeth were poor. But the countess grew pale 
 with fright and remorse, and tearfully entreated the 
 sulky little brute, who was far too clever not to re 
 cognize his crime and was guiltily backing under a 
 chair, expectant, no doubt, of capital punishment, to 
 " come to his mamma," which, after a long period of 
 coaxing, and extravagant endearment, he finally con 
 sented to do. The reconciliation was complete, but 
 who ruled the villa after that was no secret. The 
 second maid, who ventured to say, " Why, I thought 
 they always killed em when they was nasty enough to 
 bite their masters," was discharged on the spot for 
 impertinence. 
 
 Mousey was tiny, flaxen-blonde, shaggy and silky, 
 with the cleverness of a fiend peering out of his 
 wicked black eyes. He had a pampered body, an 
 undeniable malformation of the hind legs, and no 
 tail. He was ugly, vicious, unfaithful, hypocritical, 
 and of nameless race. Men were apt to raise their 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 27 
 
 eyebrows with an amused expression, when the coun 
 tess descanted volubly upon his "points," but if a 
 guest was so reckless as to imply a doubt of Mousey s 
 pedigree, never again did he have the honor of dining 
 at the villa. Better discover a blot on the Kronfels 
 scutcheon, than on Mousey s. He slept in the coun 
 tess s bed. He feasted at her table. She did not 
 love animals. To her there was but one dog, and she 
 was his prophet. 
 
 The moment of the countess s descent to her son s 
 rooms was nearly as absorbing to her retainers, as 
 were her first bells and commands. Large, corpulent, 
 pale, with cold light eyes, a thin and severe mouth, a 
 small straight nose with flat nostrils, and the conspic 
 uous whiteness which, according to the erudite inter 
 preters of this feature, denotes " cruelty," yet alto 
 gether what is called a handsome presence, she came 
 slowly down the marble stairway, panting slightly 
 with a suggestion of asthma, and holding her treasure 
 under her left arm, above which Mousey s sagacious, 
 diabolical eyes gleamed through his silky, overhang 
 ing yellow locks. The procession was headed by the 
 portly butler to fling open the doors, while behind the 
 majestic, slowly advancing figure, the countess s own 
 maid followed with a breakfast shawl, and a second 
 maid with Mousey s ball, doll, and white lamb s wool 
 rug brought up the rear. 
 
 Such was the train which, heralded by occasional 
 irrelevant yelps, approached the wing occupied by 
 Count Hugo, and happily remote from the countess s 
 precincts. He was lying on his sofa, weary from his 
 unwonted exertion, and wearier from his painful 
 thoughts, which seemed to revolve continually in a 
 fatal circle. The unutterable melancholy of his eyes 
 
28 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 filled Lipps s heart with discomfort, and the poor fel 
 low whose strength lay not in book-lore, was blindly 
 groping in the recesses of his memory for the name of 
 the volume over which he had seen the count smile 
 some days previous, when the butler s knock an 
 nounced the approach of the countess and her suite. 
 
 Bidding her son good-morning, she extended her 
 large, well-shaped hand, which he mechanically raised 
 to his lips, rejoining : 
 
 " Good-morning, mamma. How are you to-day ? " 
 
 The butler and second maid had withdrawn. The 
 countess s own maid waited, in case Mousey should 
 express a wish. Lipps, with a non-committal mien, 
 stood with his shortness well drawn up behind his 
 master s sofa, prepared for offensive or defensive pos 
 sibilities as circumstances should demand. 
 
 " Oh, I am sadly fatigued," sighed the countess, 
 " and my neuralgia scarcely allowed me to sleep an 
 hour. My breathing is troublesome again, too. Is n t 
 it, Mousey, mon bijou ? Come to your own mamma. 
 Did it want to play a little, the dear little sportive 
 lambkin? Well, it should." What the sportive 
 lambkin chiefly wanted was to snarl and snort and 
 snap at the head of the white bear skin flung over 
 Hugo s low, broad sofa, and it gave full vent to its 
 inclinations. 
 
 " Do you still take a few glasses of curagoa and 
 some sweet biscuit before going to bed ? " the count 
 inquired coolly. 
 
 " But I feel so faint, Hugo, I require it." 
 
 " It would make the boniest lieutenant begin to get 
 puffy." 
 
 " Bony ! Puffy ! What expressions, my son ! You 
 know very well I cannot fast. I am too sensitive." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 29 
 
 " I know simply this : you eat too many sweets and 
 take too little exercise. Any doctor would tell you 
 that. Walk regularly every day and your breathing 
 will be all right." 
 
 " Any doctor I " exclaimed the old lady, mounting 
 a hobby. " No doctor here understands my consti 
 tution. In fact I never met but one physician who 
 suited me. That dear Pressigny in Paris ! What a 
 man ! What a manner ! What a voice ! And what 
 broad shoulders ! What insight and intuition ! 4 My 
 dear, dear madame, he used to say, you, with your 
 sensibilities, can never be treated according to ordi 
 nary rules I Is your doctor capable of that, Hugo? " 
 
 " Emphatically not." 
 
 " I prefer then to be my own doctor, so far as pos 
 sible following his footsteps. Poor dear man ! So 
 tender, so discriminating ! We wept when he died, 
 did we not, Mousey, my angel ? " 
 
 The angel was up on the window-seat, barking an 
 grily at a dog he perceived at a safe distance. For 
 reasons which did credit to his intelligence if not to 
 his valor, he was never known, unless protected, as in 
 this instance, by the window pane, to insult an animal 
 of his own size, but greatly enjoyed snarling at the 
 heels of some great good-natured mastiff who would 
 regard his petulant ebullitions with dignified surprise. 
 
 " Do you feed Mousey with curacoa and sweet bis 
 cuit, too ? " 
 
 " A wee crumb of biscuit now and then, for he loved 
 it. Did n t you love it, pet ? " 
 
 "Because he is asthmatic too. Hear how stuffed 
 and strangled his bark sounds." 
 
 " Hugo ! How cruel you are ! Do you want to 
 frighten me ? " 
 
30 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 44 Not in the least. I merely say the dog is over 
 fed." 
 
 44 His poor little stomach was rather distended last 
 night. I rubbed it with sweet oil and gave him three 
 globules of nux-vomiea. But I know it is not his 
 food. It is a little fever. He is so sensitive. He is 
 going out with his mamma to take a little airing after 
 lunch, and then he will feel better. Won t he ? Yes, 
 he will, poor little suffering, sweet thing ! Babette," 
 she called, with a sudden change of tone, " when you 
 see that Mousey wishes to play ball, why are you not 
 more attentive ? Eoll it for him nicely, Babette." 
 
 " Give him nothing but water and a bone for two 
 or three days and his sensitiveness will be all right," 
 the count said carelessly. 
 
 44 Since I find you in this unsympathetic mood, my 
 dear Hugo," she began rapidly in French, " I can of 
 course leave you. I came in with the kindest inten 
 tions. For I think it is in every respect proper that 
 a mother should sit a while every day with her invalid 
 son. But of course if you desire, I can go in now 
 to my lonely lunch. Come, Mousey, my comfort, 
 my only friend ! Lipps," she said sternly, " when 
 Mousey s ball rolls under the book-case near you, 
 can t you get it for him ? " 
 
 Lipps stood as if riveted to the floor, his eyes fixed 
 upon his master s face. 
 
 Hugo nodded, and the man took a ruler from the 
 writing table and pushed the ball towards Mousey, 
 who received it with engaging growls and gnash- 
 ings. 
 
 44 1 had no intention of being unsympathetic," Hugo 
 said, without looking at his mother. 
 
 44 1 know in your state " she began. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 31 
 
 " Kindly leave my state out of the question," he 
 interrupted with a quick flush. 
 
 " I know," she persisted, " that one must make 
 allowance for your condition. But Hugo, if you 
 would only cultivate resignation ! " 
 
 He closed his eyes and did not reply. Lipps 
 watched him uneasily. 
 
 " Because," she continued, always in French, " after 
 all, what God does is well done." 
 
 " I presume so," he returned with a sneer. 
 
 " Hugo," she began, rising with dignity, " one 
 thing which I will not permit in my presence is irrev 
 erence. You know my principles." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I think I know them. Suppose we 
 don t discuss them just now. What did you wish to 
 say to me ? And won t you send off your woman, and 
 Mousey ? His bell is rather distracting when one is 
 dead tired. Lipps can go too. I can listen better, 
 and we are a more harmonious family party without 
 so many spectators." 
 
 " Of course, if you insist, although it is a mystery 
 to me how you can be so hard hearted to Mousey. 
 He wears his little bell because he was out for a 
 frolic with Roschen, and is going out with his Mum- 
 sey directly after lunch. Blessed little sweetheart, 
 come to your Mumsey ! " making a dive after him 
 with some difficulty, as her velvet gown was tight 
 in the waist and sleeves. 
 
 The gifted Mousey s human contemporaries unani 
 mously attributed to him comprehension of every 
 word in all languages spoken in his presence, as well 
 as a proficiency in mind-reading which would put most 
 popular psychic experts to shame. With an undeni 
 able snap at the countess s persuasive hand, he dodged 
 
32 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 it easily, and retreated beneath Hugo s sofa, snarling 
 sotto voce, and promenading himself tantalizingly be 
 yond her reach. Kneeling, breathing loud, she coaxed 
 and pleaded in vain. 
 
 " Come here, you fiend ! " said Hugo in a low voice. 
 
 Mousey with a bound came up over the back of the 
 sofa and stood upon Hugo s breast with a sardonic 
 grin on his countenance and a plain intimation that 
 if he had had a tail he would have wagged it. 
 
 " How he jumped ! " exclaimed the countess, panting 
 as she reseated herself ; " and the roguish little love 
 always makes me lift him." 
 
 " You demon ! " said Hugo in the same low tone, 
 parting the silky hair falling over the dog s eyes and 
 looking at him attentively. 
 
 " Singular, that he lets you touch his head," she 
 said jealously ; " why he scarcely bears my hand on 
 it. But don t call him names. It hurts his feelings. 
 
 O 
 
 Do you know he would have come when I called him, 
 only he is a little vexed with me, are n t you, sweet 
 pet ? because I would n t give him another lump of 
 sugar ; but it was for your good, you darling dog- 
 gums." 
 
 "Here, Lipps, take him out," and Hugo put the 
 shrinking animal into the man s arms. 
 
 Again a striking metamorphosis took place in 
 Mousey s eloquent personality. Small as he was, he 
 seemed to diminish bodily and become the most harm 
 less of inanimate flaxen balls as soon as Lipps touched 
 him. His expression was meek if not pious, and he 
 subtly conveyed the impression that he was drooping 
 the tail he had not. 
 
 " Be attentive to Mousey, Babette, and entertain 
 ing. Ask him if he would like a run in the garden. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 33 
 
 Adieu, my precious," throwing kisses to him as Lipps 
 with unwonted rapidity left the room. 
 
 " I am convinced that Lipps is a bad man," the 
 countess began when they were alone. " I frequently 
 urged your father to discharge him." 
 
 " But my father did n t," observed Hugo dryly. 
 
 " No, your father was peculiar in some things," 
 she said with a sigh. " But I wish you would send 
 the man off. Mousey s behavior is so singular. He 
 positively shrinks before him. And when he hears 
 Lipps s step, he often runs and hides. His more deli 
 cate perceptions teach him what is hidden to our 
 duller senses." 
 
 Hugo privately suspected that Mousey s delicate 
 perceptions had more than once come in contact with 
 Lipps s indelicate boot. For when the dog s nervous 
 patter and the incessant tinkling of his bell were 
 heard too near the invalid s quarters, Lipps would 
 steal out and after a somewhat excited though hushed 
 colloquy, in which Mousey tenaciously defended his 
 position, certain unequivocal sounds were heard, which 
 resulted in the sudden diminuendo of the tinkling, 
 while Mousey, as fast as his too long legs could carry 
 his too fat body, pattered down the corridor and up 
 the stairway, to the flesh-pots of Egypt which always 
 awaited him in his own apartments. It was under 
 these circumstances that the countess hearing him im 
 periously demand admittance, was apt to cry in rap 
 ture : 
 
 " He wants his own Mumsey, yes he did, the dear 
 faithful heart ! He loved his Mumsey, and his Mum 
 sey loved her Mousey ! Yes, so she did ! " where 
 upon she would rain showers of kisses upon him, even 
 upon his rather warm nose. 
 
34 THE OPEN DOOR, 
 
 " I think I will keep Lipps for the present," Hugo 
 replied with a slight smile ; " Mousey is welcome to 
 his estimate of the man s character, but you know he 
 happens to be in my personal service, and as Mousey 
 did not engage him, it strikes me that it is little less 
 than a liberty for Mousey to interfere." 
 
 " How absurd you are, Hugo ! I do not quite see 
 how you can care to joke so much. One would think 
 you would feel sad and dignified." 
 
 He tugged at one of his cushions and finally pushed 
 it violently until it fell. 
 
 " I was never good in private theatricals, you re 
 member. I always refused to play the r61e assigned 
 to me. And you see that I am inordinately merry 
 and full of jest." 
 
 She sighed. It was hard to reconcile so much 
 levity with a recumbent position. 
 
 " If I had found you in a different mood, I should 
 have talked with you about Gabrielle." 
 
 " What, again ? " he returned in unfeigned sur 
 prise. 
 
 " I have been reconsidering " 
 
 " Then I am sorry," he said quickly. " I thought 
 we had settled all that." 
 
 " But, Hugo " - 
 
 " Mamma," he said, raising himself upon one elbow, 
 and speaking impetuously, " why discuss the mat 
 ter ? Have we not exhausted every detail ? You 
 know my opinion. I know yours. You shared mine 
 at one time. You decided not to have her come. 
 That you begin again is conclusive evidence that 
 somebody has influenced you. Doubtless, the Frau 
 Major," and he looked at her sharply. 
 
 " She was considerate enough to think that a bright, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 35 
 
 sunny young girl would cheer me when I was low- 
 spirited," the countess admitted uneasily. 
 
 " And who will cheer your bright, sunny young girl 
 when she is low-spirited ? " he demanded hotly. " And 
 have you intimated to the Frau Major what dot you 
 intend to settle upon your sunny young girl, in case 
 she suits your whims and Mousey s ? " 
 
 " Hugo, you forget yourself " 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said, falling back wearily. 
 " Do me the justice to remember that I tried to avoid 
 the conversation." 
 
 " It seems to me very proper to discuss a step of so 
 much importance with one s only son." 
 
 " But if one s only son has already declared himself 
 unalterably opposed to the step ? " 
 
 " So unreasonable," she murmured, " so obstinate ! " 
 
 " It is possible. I admit the question does not con 
 cern me materially. Your sunny young person will 
 not disturb me. But still I protest. Why must you 
 do it, mamma ? Why add a new name to the sad old 
 list. You never were satisfied with one of them. You 
 suspected them of a thousand meannesses. No, I 
 don t intend to be rude. But remember, there was 
 always, sooner or later, an open scene after a long 
 smouldering quarrel ; then complaints, tears, recrim 
 inations, and the rapid exit of the companion. We 
 have tried relatives, strangers, German, French, and 
 English girls. There was Cousin Marie, a widow 
 a pleasing, gentle little woman musical, cheerful, 
 practical " 
 
 " Don t talk to me of her, Hugo ! Deceitful little 
 cat ! " 
 
 " Precisely. Let us for the sake of argument admit 
 that they were all deceitful cats. In that case I don t 
 
36 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 see what is going to prevent this Gabrielle from also 
 being a cat, and deceitful. You will adore her and 
 caress her and call her 4 Moonbeam if she is fair, and 
 Twilight if she is dark, and there will be peace for 
 fourteen days* for three weeks provided she is a 
 miracle of patience ; then her fall from favor will be 
 more rapid than her ascent." 
 
 " One would think, Hugo, that I was a " 
 
 " I am not analyzing the reasons of things, but 
 merely sketching their outward sequence. You have 
 made fifteen trials of companions, have you not ? Or 
 is it sixteen ? " 
 
 " I have been singularly unfortunate, I admit. I 
 am too trusting. Then Gabrielle will not be like a 
 companion. A girl of good family a baroness a 
 distant relative of ours, she will be like a daughter 
 of the house." 
 
 " It sounds well," Hugo returns skeptically. " But 
 she is poor, and young, and will be in your power. 
 Our servants have at least their Sunday out, and can 
 ridicule us and abuse us royally down in the base 
 ment. But what vent to her feelings has the com 
 panion of a fashionable woman ? Particularly if she 
 is a poor relative. Her dignity forbids her to com 
 plain, until she grows desperate and throws up the 
 situation. She could not, for instance, even confide to 
 me that she found be*sique a bore and hated Mousey." 
 
 " You are complimentary as usual, Hugo," she 
 retorted displeased, " and yet you know well that my 
 ideal is the companionship of a true friend," she 
 continued in a curiously sentimental manner. " All 
 my life I have longed for sympathy, and in vain. 
 Why should my son wish to deny me the possibility 
 of finding it ? " 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 37 
 
 When the countess was sentimental she always had 
 him at a disadvantage. For thin, empty, and tran 
 sitory, as her feeling was, he believed it to be not 
 wholly insincere. He dreaded the little conscious 
 smile so foreign to her hard features, and the school- 
 girlish talk of the ideal woman-friend. Whether her 
 own fault or not, it represented her sense of dissatis 
 faction with her life, her longing for something she 
 had never had ; it meant a note of unhappiness, which 
 seemed real and human to him, and when he heard it, 
 he was sorry for her. 
 
 " I wish I need not offend you," he said gently. 
 " What I mean is that your personality is so so 
 so dominant, so engrossing, I do not think you adapted 
 to the intimacy which you always seem to desire with 
 another woman. Friendship necessitates some kind 
 of equality. You are used to the constant society of 
 servants, whose smiles and lip-service you buy ; and 
 you are accustomed to superficial intercourse with 
 women of the world, whose smiles and lip-service you 
 also buy in a certain sense, at least you exchange 
 yours for theirs ; but in both cases thoughts are free 
 and well-disguised, and I do not believe any other 
 relationship would satisfy you. Above all, this child 
 from the country. For the last time, I say let the 
 girl stay where she is." 
 
 " But I intend to make her happy. I have always 
 wanted a daughter. A daughter would have under 
 stood me." On the cold face was still the thin mask 
 of sentimentality. 
 
 " I have heard you frequently say so. But the fact 
 remains, this girl is not your daughter. She will have 
 no freedom, she will have no rights. If she is ani 
 mated, you will call her pert. If she is quiet and de- 
 
38 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 liberate, you will find her not prevoyante. Whether 
 pretty or ugly, she will be in your opinion coquette. 
 Whether she will or not, she must drive with you, 
 pay visits, go shopping, as if under military orders." 
 
 " And is that a hardship for a young girl from the 
 country, I should like to inquire ? To go where I go 
 and do what I do ? " 
 
 " I don t know," he replied curtly. " It depends 
 upon the girl. If she is a toady, she will enjoy it 
 vastly for a time, because she will be playing her own 
 game. But if she has an atom of honesty in her 
 composition, she would rather go out on the road and 
 break stones." 
 
 He moved his hands restlessly, his cheeks were hot. 
 
 " You have a singularly unamiable way of present 
 ing your views " she complained, hesitated a mo 
 ment, then with increasing coldness, " For my part I 
 anticipate only agreeable experiences with Gabrielle. 
 I have had the rose-room prepared for her." 
 
 Hugo threw back his head, rolled up his eyes to 
 ward his frescoed ceiling, and stared at a flying swal 
 low under a cloudy sky. 
 
 The countess was never calm under disapproval. 
 
 " Well ? " she said, in peevish interrogation. 
 
 He stared persistently at the bird and did not open 
 his lips. 
 
 " I meant it as a pleasant surprise for you. She 
 arrives to-day." 
 
 Still no response from Hugo. 
 
 " Have you nothing to say, Hugo ? Why do you do 
 that ? " she demanded with great irritation. 
 
 " I congratulate the Frau Major," he said at length. 
 
 " Nonsense ! You do her injustice. I sometimes 
 think she is the only faithful friend I have." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 39 
 
 " There is safety in your sometimes. Should you 
 always think so vce metis ! And mamma, when 
 she has decided upon your course another time, pray 
 dispense with my superfluous reflections. I have not 
 over-abundant vitality. Why should I waste it attack 
 ing your foregone conclusions ? I suppose she means 
 Lorenz and Egon to run ? I bet you five to one on 
 Lorenz. Just give me a hint from time to time which 
 leads. And otherwise, mamma, leave me out of your 
 calculations. Don t ask me to burn incense when the 
 girl comes, or fling brickbats when she goes. Once for 
 all, I wash my hands in innocence." 
 
 " Hugo," said the countess rising, " I consider some 
 of your remarks coarse." 
 
 " It is the nature of man," he returned uncompro 
 misingly. 
 
 She was angry he saw by her increased paleness. 
 The black lace of her coquettish French cap with its 
 crimson rose trembled wrathfully, and so did the 
 smooth white hands. She was a handsome woman 
 still, he thought, with her regular features, her deli 
 cate, wonderfully preserved skin, and her gray hair of 
 exquisite quality, and beautiful enough to frame the 
 pure and serene countenance of a typical, aged saint. 
 He watched her with his flashing, unpleasant smile. 
 Whatever self-command she had she was apt to use 
 in his presence. 
 
 " I really ought to go," she said, " I have worlds 
 to do, and it must be nearly two o clock." 
 
 " I will call Lipps," and he raised his whistle. 
 
 Her cold eyes looked uneasy and wandering. She 
 stood by her son resenting his disapproval. Lipps 
 came in and held the door open for her. " Oh, I saw 
 you on the lawn, this morning. You bore it well, I 
 hope." 
 
40 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 44 Well enough, thanks." 
 
 " I am glad to hear that," she remarked formally. 
 " And you are sleeping well ? " 
 
 " Well enough, thanks," he said again, still with 
 the smile that made her uncomfortable, and reminded 
 her of the late count. 
 
 44 That is more than I can say. My neuralgia " 
 she murmured, " and Mousey is so restless and those 
 horrid workmen begin now before seven. You are for 
 tunate that they are not on your side of the house." 
 
 " Very fortunate." 
 
 " Well, a pleasant day to you, Hugo. I am glad to 
 be able to give so good an account of you to your 
 friends. As you are determined not to approve of Ga- 
 brielle, I presume I need not hasten to present her." 
 
 44 No, that ceremony can be indefinitely postponed." 
 She extended her hand, which he again raised mechani 
 cally to his lips. 
 
 44 The gracious countess is served," announced the 
 fat and solemn butler at the door. Presently Mousey s 
 bell and her voluble endearments were heard in the 
 hall. 
 
 " I wish to be alone," said the count to his man. 
 " Leave me." 
 
 An hour later Lipps stole softly in, and found the 
 invalid asleep. Two bright spots glowed on his cheeks, 
 and from time to time his hands twitched nervously. 
 In a distant corner the little black book lay spread out 
 on its face, as if flung by an impatient hand. Lipps 
 solicitously smoothed its crumpled leaves. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 " WON T Mousey say goocl-by to his poor Mumsey ? " 
 pleaded the countess. 
 
 Mousey emphatically declared that he would not. 
 
 " But I cannot take you to the chu-chu-train, love, 
 for you know that the chu-chu-train frightens my 
 little pet, and the noises and the crowd are so loud, 
 and the bad, bad men are so unkind to my innocent 
 lamb. I know I promised you should go out with 
 me, but I have been detained, and there is 110 time 
 now, dearest. Don t be cruel, Mousey ; say good-by 
 and smile at Mumsey before she goes, and amuse 
 yourself well, sweetheart, until I come with a pretty 
 new lady to play with you." 
 
 But Mousey was deaf to her blandishments. He 
 would not give his paw and say good-by, a ceremony 
 which he always performed when she drove out and 
 he elected to remain at home. He had expressed his 
 intention to go to meet Gabrielle, and had argued the 
 point when the countess deprecatingly explained to 
 him her reasons for depriving herself of his compan 
 ionship. Now, as she sought to coax a parting smile 
 upon his gloomy countenance, he shook his small 
 person resentfully, and with unspeakable disdain 
 turned his unaesthetic back, and went pattering off 
 toward the second maid s room. His wisdom recog 
 nized the inexorable necessity of occasional outward 
 submission to human will, since inscrutable nature 
 had given to his indomitable spirit so minute physical 
 
42 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 adjuncts, that a struggle with the countess, the butler, 
 the coachman, and two maids for a place in the car 
 riage would result in his inglorious defeat. But he 
 knew that the final victory would be his, and went off 
 grinning like a fiend to plan a long and sweet revenge 
 consisting in a delectable perspective of slights to the 
 countess. 
 
 She, meanwhile, a softly attractive Paris bonnet 
 perched upon her silvery hair, her face set, cold, and 
 composed, drove to the Frau Major s. She felt more 
 than ever in need of the balm of the Frau Major s 
 presence, after Hugo s opposition. In the complex 
 mechanism of the Countess of Kronfels soul one need 
 was paramount, the oil of adulation upon the axles 
 of her capriciously revolving deeds. Yet, since in 
 spite of being held in bondage by Mousey she was by 
 no means a stupid woman, the lubricator of her fickle 
 wheels of action required unusual versatility of in 
 tellect, a nice touch on the pulse of society, as well as 
 many other special gifts. All of these the Frau Major 
 von Funnel possessed to an eminent degree. For ex 
 ample, the countess changed her opinions with the 
 wind ; the Frau Major, without surprise or argument, 
 blandly changed with her. The countess contradicted 
 to-day what she had solemnly affirmed yesterday ; the 
 Frau Major with gentle aplomb did likewise. The 
 countess was often irritable, uneasy, uncertain, vacil 
 lating ; the Frau Major, with her unique command of 
 language, would soothe her friend s most impossible 
 mood, and tell her she was a " loving, sensitive soul," 
 when others were flying to bathe their wounds. 
 
 The Frau Major did not heap on flattery with a 
 trowel, after the manner of a coarser artisan. She 
 knew that when one is surrounded by sycophants, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 43 
 
 one s taste is cloyed with sweets, and while one s 
 appetite is insatiable, it is only the novel and pungent 
 flavor that one relishes. Yet the charm of her low, 
 peculiar, penetrating voice that one heard at a dinner 
 party, though a dozen ordinary mortals were speaking, 
 endowed her lightest word with profound significance. 
 
 Not only to the countess, but to every person, 
 young or old, rich or poor, with whom she associated, 
 she offered the tribute of peculiar interest and per 
 sonal devotion. Her way of saying the simple word 
 "you" had enthralled legions of hearts. Her noble 
 head with its handsomely marked features, strong 
 nose and chin, deep-set cold eyes and heavy mouth 
 might have belonged to the wiliest statesman in an 
 album of "Portraits of Eminent Men." But her 
 charming smile, the softness of her curling gray hair 
 which lay in babylike rings round her forehead, and 
 her low magnetic voice suggested to the ordinary ob 
 server only her ultra-feminine attributes. Her man 
 ner was simple, sincere, and possessed the rare charm 
 of perfect repose. In a crowded theatre or concert 
 room, the noble profile and self-contained expression 
 of the Frau Major afforded a positive delight to the 
 weary eye, seeking beauty or character in rows of 
 commonplace beings. Walking, she was less impos 
 ing, having a short, plump figure, and a curious wad 
 dling gait. 
 
 Few society women had done more good in the 
 world than she. And whatever were the recording 
 angel s private convictions, he had in his books a 
 long list of helpful if conventional charities to her 
 credit. She figured largely in philanthropic societies 
 and clubs, and was prominent in benevolent bazars. 
 In soliciting funds for her asylums she was incompara- 
 
44 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 ble, and the man who could say her nay was almost 
 unknown, so persuasive was her gentle voice, so calm 
 and reasonable her argument, so inexpressibly signifi 
 cant her trusting appeal to "you." 
 
 She carried her fifty years with marvellous grace, 
 and made her home attractive to scores of gay young 
 men and pretty girls, all of whom sung her praises 
 with warmth. There was not one of them that did 
 not cherish the ingenuous conviction that he or she 
 was the special pet of the Frau Major ; not a mid 
 dle-aged woman in the circle but deemed herself the 
 Frau Major s most intimate friend ; while clever men 
 never left her benign presence without the reflection 
 that here, at least, was a woman of rare insight, who 
 knew how to revere a godlike intellect. She won 
 affection, respect, influence, power, and her indomi 
 table will, working with ceaseless activity and wisest 
 tact, kept what she gained. " She deserves her troops 
 of friends," people often remarked, " for she is so 
 kind. When does she ever say an uncharitable 
 word ? " In truth, she never blamed, never criticised, 
 never did anything that could displease or wound. 
 She knew that all walls have ears, and that a bird in 
 the air sooner or later chirps to the world most spoken 
 words. Therefore, if some quick tongue pronounced 
 a woman ugly and untidy, the Frau Major would 
 smile lovingly on the speaker, and add, " But a dear 
 motherly soul." She might never have seen the person 
 in question with a child, might not know she had one, 
 and ugliness and untidiness do not necessarily suggest 
 motherliness to the ordinary mind. It was simply 
 the Frau Major s habit to praise, to praise largely, 
 to praise at morn, at noon, at night, in public, in 
 private, everywhere and always. It would almost 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 45 
 
 seem that to her human nature had no frailties, and 
 that crime was a mere invention of romance and the 
 courts. Her universal approval, in contrast to the 
 habit of censorious gossip common to many women, 
 was original and refreshing, and only an occasional 
 grumbler, like Hugo von Kronfels, took exception to 
 it. " Is it possible," he had asked himself many years 
 before, " that so clever a woman is color-blind ? Is 
 black white to her ? Is night day? Does she perceive 
 no difference between noble and ignoble, good and 
 bad ? Is that rich old profligate Zwetchgen, in reality, 
 as she says, so marvellously tender and noble in the 
 recesses of his nature, so like a rich pomegranate? 
 Are those vapid, conscious, envious, senseless Mayer 
 sisters such dear happy little sweethearts ? Her 
 mellifluous cant would make one lose all sense of pro 
 portion ; " and Hugo watched her gravely, and never 
 enrolled himself among her knights. 
 
 But the Frau Major went her appointed way, a 
 broad and flower-grown path it was, and old Zwetch 
 gen, having heard from afar how profoundly she ad 
 mired him, would succumb in her presence to the 
 charm of her gentle and deep glances, dedicated, it 
 seemed, exclusively to him ; and his purse, closed in 
 general to all things except his selfish pleasures, 
 would open as if by witchery and pour its gold into 
 her tender palm. While the dear happy little sweet 
 hearts hung about her and caressed her, and basked 
 in her unqualified approval, and knew that in spite of 
 her engrossing occupations, and important friends, 
 she felt for them a "peculiar and close affection," and 
 it is needless to add that their pin-cushions and baby- 
 blankets were always ready for her fancy fairs. So 
 her charities flourished, and all was loving-kindness. 
 
46 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Dear Adelheid," she said, as she took her place 
 beside the countess, and gave her hand a long and 
 gentle pressure, " your punctuality is admirable. It 
 is really a comfort, as well as an example to us all," 
 continued the earnest, sympathetic voice. " You are 
 feeling tolerably well to-day?" she asked with solici 
 tude. 
 
 " No, I am far from well. My neuralgia is very 
 trying, and I am fatigued and distressed," the countess 
 replied in a nervous, complaining tone. 
 
 " You are so sensitive," murmured the other. 
 
 "Yes, I am sensitive, but Hugo never considers 
 that in the least. Of course I make allowances for 
 his condition," she said, irritably, " but he is often 
 very difficult, very unreasonable." 
 
 "Men do not know how to bear pain as well as 
 we," suggested the soothing voice. " Poor, dear 
 Hugo ! What would he do without his mother ! " 
 
 " He has been unpleasant about Gabrielle. I hope 
 it is a wise step. I hope I shall not regret it. What 
 if I do not like her? What if she should be ugly and 
 ordinary? I wish I had not engaged myself posi 
 tively. I wish I had taken more time to consider." 
 
 These flurried doubts and fears were speedily al 
 layed by the comforting views of her friend. 
 
 "Naturally your judgment is wiser than poor 
 Hugo s, although one can easily comprehend and 
 sympathize with him ; but your prompt and hearty 
 decision has greatly pleased me, and that you stead 
 fastly adhere to your purpose is, of course, only what 
 one could expect of you." 
 
 Praised for steadfastness, the countess looked a 
 trifle less nervous and harassed. 
 
 " Still it is very uncertain," she urged. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 47 
 
 "I should call it tolerably certain," thought the 
 Frau Major, " with the express that is actually bring 
 ing the girl almost here." 
 
 " It is a little romantic," she replied encouragingly. 
 " I have always found the loving, youthful element in 
 you so rare and so attractive, and it is this that in 
 duces you to take this unknown young girl to your 
 heart and home and make her happy." 
 
 44 1 have always wished that I had a daughter." 
 
 44 She will seem like your daughter, dear friend." 
 
 " I have believed from the first that it was a good 
 plan," said the countess with the decision of a field- 
 marshal. 
 
 44 You need some one near you to comprehend you 
 and sympathize with you." 
 
 44 1 shall be so devoted to her ! " 
 
 44 The Dohnas are a handsome race. She will no 
 doubt look well in your carriage." 
 
 44 After the dullness of Dohna, how she will enjoy 
 city life ! " 
 
 44 Always so thoughtful of others ! " 
 
 44 Of course I shall have to open the house again. 
 Hugo could hardly expect me to shut out the world 
 forever." 
 
 44 No," said the Frau Major very sweetly. 44 You 
 have faithful Leible on the box, I see." 
 
 44 Yes, he finds people better than the footman. 
 And I shall remain in the carriage. It makes me 
 fairly ill to be jostled and pushed by a coarse crowd." 
 
 44 If the dear girl should prove to be all that we 
 hope, instead of a year she may remain altogether," 
 the Frau Major suggested innocently. 
 
 44 1 do hope there are no flagrant irregularities in 
 her education. Her father is a perfect cavalier, or 
 
48 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 was when I last saw him. Perhaps country living has 
 dulled him. But he writes me Gabrielle has never 
 had a governess. I was rather startled when I read 
 that. I pictured her a savage." 
 
 " Whatever there may be amiss, the privilege of 
 living with you will be a liberal education to her. 
 With your tact and knowledge of the world you can 
 mould her as you desire. And after all she is a 
 Dohna ; and your cousin, however far removed, can 
 not be uncouth or unpresentable." 
 
 Now the irregularities of Gabrielle von Dohna s 
 education would have made any enlightened principal 
 of an institute for the higher culture of young ladies 
 shudder and shrink. Measured by conventional stand 
 ards, Gabrielle knew those things which she ought not 
 to have known, and did not know those things which 
 she ought to have known. Her free life on her 
 father s estate, her supreme importance in the adja 
 cent village, her constant association with him, had 
 made her his good comrade and friend, and a verita 
 ble if an unconscious autocrat. 
 
 When Ernst von Dohna lost his beloved wife, his 
 only child was but five years old, and he scarcely 
 thirty. To his simple and direct nature his duties 
 lay plainly defined before him : to clear the estate of 
 the encumbrances with which he had inherited it, and 
 to devote himself to his little motherless daughter. 
 The first task, he knew, would be long and laborious, 
 perhaps beyond his strength. The second he ingenu 
 ously regarded as natural and easy. He had no theo 
 ries whatever in regard to rearing girls. Gabrielle 
 was his own and looked at him with her mother s lim 
 pid, honest eyes. He remembered that one of the first 
 things that his father had taught him was the some- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 49 
 
 what antiquated sentiment that he was a gentleman, 
 and a gentleman must hate a lie. Without more ado, 
 he impressed upon his five-year-old Gabrielle that she 
 was a lady, and a lady must hate a lie. He remem 
 bered, too, that he had been happy as a child in 
 his love for his horse. Accordingly little Gabrielle 
 learned to hate a lie and love a horse. She rode be 
 side him on her pony every day, and heard his orders 
 to his farm-laborers ; knew a field of wheat from a 
 field of barley; had an intimate knowledge of bird- 
 notes, trees, and animals; loved every living thing 
 she saw, down to caterpillars, lizards, and snails ; was 
 an eager and omnivorous reader for her age ; and 
 these accomplishments composed the entire education 
 of the little Baroness von Dohna, up to her eleventh 
 year. 
 
 Then it suddenly occurred to her father that per 
 haps she ought to study something. He remembered 
 that a tutor used to give him Latin and mathematics 
 when he was even younger than Gabrielle. There 
 were no aunts and cousins to tell him that she ought 
 to have a governess or be sent to school, and that it 
 was ridiculous to treat her like a boy. He had no 
 desire to see strangers in his house, and no money to 
 pay for their services. He therefore, with great 
 tranquillity of spirit, began to work with the child 
 evenings. It was, of course, the wrong time of day, 
 but he and Gabrielle enjoyed themselves and were 
 quite unaware that there was anything curious in their 
 conduct. Thrown constantly upon his companion 
 ship, she absorbed much from him, and his thoughts 
 and language descended upon her. The hearty, un 
 restrained child reached up with all the tendrils of 
 her loving nature toward him, while he leaned down 
 
50 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 toward her, needed her, and depended upon her, since 
 young as she was, she was his sympathetic and blithe 
 little comrade, both in his work and in his hours of 
 rest. 
 
 His means did not allow large hospitality, but when 
 friends announced themselves, or a dinner party was 
 inevitable, the small person who did the honors of his 
 table was no disgrace to his name. At least, no one 
 criticised her to him. One hardly chooses the mo 
 ment of eating a man s meats, and drinking his wines, 
 to find fault with his daughter, and his women guests 
 were naturally lenient to the amiable widower, and all 
 that was his. 
 
 Long winter evenings, when no mortal approached 
 the snow-bound Schloss, father and daughter sat 
 together in the library. It may be he forgot how 
 young she was ; it may be nobody had ever told him 
 how gradually one ought to appeal to a child s intelli 
 gence, but the truth is, the misguided man would 
 often look up from his book to discuss a knotty point 
 with the long-haired, short-skirted philosopher in her 
 low chair by the fire. 
 
 " My dear, just listen to this," he would say, read 
 ing with convincing emphasis : " Professor R. declares 
 so and so, which is simply preposterous ; whereas 
 Professor S., by far the greater authority, distinctly 
 states the contrary. Now if R. s position were tena 
 ble, don t you see that," etc. Gabrielle, listening, as 
 if her life depended upon her attention, and gravely 
 nodding, would unhesitatingly support the theory of 
 Professor S. If a poem delighted him, he would read 
 it to her. Travels, inventions, politics, earnest ques 
 tions of the day, he laid before her as if thinking 
 aloud, and more for his own satisfaction than with any 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 51 
 
 defined purpose of improving her mind. When she 
 ceased to nod invariable assent, like a little pagoda, 
 when she began to understand things for their own 
 sake and hers, to advance fresh opinions, to question, 
 and now and then to differ, he no more knew than 
 the exact moment when dawn becomes day. 
 
 They were all and all to each other, and awaited no 
 change. One day was like another, and the years 
 went softly by. He smilingly called himself an 
 old man and Gabrielle at twenty-one seemed still a 
 child to him, when something happened which trans 
 formed all his comfortable convictions. He discov 
 ered that a man is still young at forty-six, in spite of 
 gray theories and gray hairs, most ardently and 
 longingly young. He discovered also, in this moment 
 of illumination, that a spirited girl past twenty, who 
 has never seen the world, would be incalculably ben 
 efited by the society of a lovely and experienced 
 woman. He pictured by his fireside in the future, not 
 alone his faithful comrade, but another with suave 
 smiling ways, learned in a so-called larger world than 
 Gabrielle had known. 
 
 It all happened so easily. For many years he had 
 as far as possible declined, because he could not suit 
 ably return, the proffered hospitality of the land-own 
 ers of the region. As his patient effort began to tell, 
 and the disreputable mountain of debt and mortgages 
 which he had inherited from his illustrious forefathers 
 had gradually contracted into a modest hillock, he 
 met an old acquaintance, one day, and rode with him 
 through the woods. The result was an invitation 
 to dine, which von Dohna cheerfully accepted for 
 himself and his daughter. 
 
 Happily Lucie von Rahden was a very good woman. 
 
52 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 A rich and childless widow who had made the best of 
 a bad matrimonial bargain, she was determined never 
 to repeat her experiment, but to enjoy life in her 
 independent, sunny fashion the rest of her days. Her 
 uncompromising views in regard to a second marriage 
 she was wont to expound in a pleasingly satirical 
 manner, for the entertainment of friends. Neverthe 
 less she with her prejudices, and he with his, fell in 
 love at a dinner party in good old orthodox fashion. 
 
 Gabrielle came home and wept bitterly. It was 
 her first sleepless night, except when she had watched 
 by an ill child in the village ; and she found that pity 
 and anxiety and fatigue were after all more restful 
 companions for a long night than these newly roused 
 spirits of wounded pride and jealousy, these rebellious 
 passionate feelings to which indeed she gave no name. 
 
 The next morning her papa rode away with a flower 
 in his button-hole. Every day she wandered alone in 
 the old familiar paths, and he rode off gayly in the 
 other direction. She grew unhappy, unjust, and very 
 lonely. She did not know that she was jealous. 
 How should she ? One does not lightly admit the 
 presence of that quality. Jealousy to Gabrielle meant 
 Othello, Eleanor, the Princess Eboli, Medea, and such 
 people ; while she was merely hurt, neglected, suspi 
 cious, and sorrowful. 
 
 Von Dohna and Frau von Rahden advanced rap 
 idly toward a perfect understanding. One day he 
 expressed his surprise at the new born unreasonable 
 ness of his daughter. She had been the dearest girl 
 all her life, loving, appreciative, sympathetic, and so 
 clear in her judgment. Now she seemed quite 
 changed. She avoided him and his confidences, with 
 reserve and obstinacy. She had shared his joys and 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 53 
 
 sorrows to a most unusual degree. Now she said 
 coldly : " I don t understand you, papa," and the 
 more he explained the situation, the more uncomfort 
 able it grew. 
 
 " There is but one remedy," said Lucie von Rahden. 
 
 " And what may that be ? " 
 
 " Send her away for a while." 
 
 " Lucie, she has never been separated from me a 
 day in her life. She would be miserable. It would 
 seem cruel to her." 
 
 " It would be the wisest and kindest thing you 
 could do." 
 
 " But why should I ? Why should Gabrielle not 
 rejoice in my happiness ? Would I not rejoice in 
 hers?" 
 
 " But yours has come first," returned Lucie with a 
 charming smile, " so you can afford to be generous." 
 
 " She cannot live with you without yielding to 
 your charm. The daily intercourse will win her com 
 pletely. She does not know you yet. The idea of 
 change has startled her." 
 
 " My dear Ernst, what you are good enough to 
 call my charm will madden the poor child, and 
 the daily intercourse will irritate her beyond en 
 durance." 
 
 " I was so sure that she would love you," he said 
 helplessly. 
 
 "It is because I am determined that she shall love 
 me that I advise sending her away from me at once. 
 See, Ernst, if we three live at Dohna together, the 
 situation will be frightfully strained. Gabrielle will 
 regard me as her enemy, nothing more or less. Do 
 what I will, I cannot please her. If you finally de 
 cide that this is best," remarked the wise little woman, 
 
54 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " of course I shall agree, and then I should not despair 
 of gaining her affection in time, but it will take 
 
 ages!" 
 
 " I do not think you realize how reasonable Gabri- 
 elle is," he urged. 
 
 " Ah, what has this to do with reason when a 
 girl sets her lips as Gabrielle does, and grows icy at 
 the mere sight of me. And I do not blame her in 
 the least. It is altogether natural. What she says 
 is true. She does not understand. She does not 
 know what love is," she added softly. 
 
 " See, dear," she went on candidly, " I will tell you 
 all I have thought, and if you know anything better, 
 I will yield; but this is not a light question, since 
 Gabrielle is not a child, but a very spirited, decided 
 girl. I even believe that she herself will approve 
 my plan. If she does not, we will stay here, if you 
 prefer. But all my life I have longed to travel 
 to travel far and with one person, who never came, 
 
 and now he is come ! And you, during all your 
 years of seclusion with your little daughter, have 
 longed not for the world, the gay world which you 
 used to know, but also for travel, for strange lands 
 and new people. You confessed all that to me at 
 that blessed dinner. 
 
 "Why should we not, dearest?" she murmured 
 caressingly. " You have had your sorrows and your 
 heavy cares. I have had mine. But happiness has 
 come to us. If we have a right to it, let us seize it 
 like young lovers. Let us be glad and at peace. Let 
 us go to Japan, and everywhere," she pleaded. 
 " Give Gabrielle the choice of going with us. She 
 will refuse. And it is not cruel to leave her, it is 
 not selfish, except so far as it is selfish to love you 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 55 
 
 and be happy; it will be the best thing in the end 
 for us all." 
 
 " But where how ? What could I do with the 
 dear girl? If we should go off on this marvellous 
 trip," he said smiling doubtfully, " I should have to 
 close the house. Perhaps Gabrielle would like to stay 
 at the rectory." 
 
 " At Dohiia ? At a country parson s ? Never ! " 
 laughed Lucie. " No, no ; send her into the world, 
 where, however happy the auspices, she must meet 
 with some insincerity, some deceptions and disap 
 pointments, and where her own sweet will cannot rule 
 all things as at Dohna. And then, don t you see, you 
 stupid man if you were a woman you would have 
 understood without a word ; but then if you were a 
 woman I should n t love you so much ! don t you 
 see, when she comes back there will be a chance 
 for me ? And believe me, Ernst, then we shall really 
 be friends, good loving friends, your child and your 
 wife." 
 
 " Is it not a rather roundabout course ? " 
 
 " It only seems so," she replied cheerfully. " I 
 shall reach her heart sooner via Japan than via 
 Dohna." 
 
 " Hm ! And you propose giving her a course of 
 disappointments." 
 
 " That is a man s way of expressing it. I propose 
 to help you find the very nicest people socially who 
 would most naturally receive her, that is, relatives 
 of your own, city-people of course. Do you know, 
 it is a very good thing for Gabrielle that I appeared. 
 What were you going to do with her ? Did it never 
 occur to you that a girl like Gabrielle usually mar 
 ries ? Indeed, you have kept her here quite long 
 enough." 
 
56 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Is there anything the matter with her ? " he asked, 
 conscience-stricken. 
 
 Lucie laughed. 
 
 " She is the most charming little despot I ever saw. 
 No, Ernst, seriously she is a girl in a thousand. You 
 have done wonderfully well with her. But she is 
 a Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, and not a prince in 
 sight." 
 
 " You would hardly expect me to send her hunting 
 for one ? " he said gravely. 
 
 " By no means. Only I would let her see a few. 
 And nowadays princes prefer city-life." 
 
 The next time, which was soon, that von Dohna 
 and Lucie discussed this subject, it was he who pro 
 posed some of these already suggested details, and she 
 who listened and smilingly approved. 
 
 After various tentative correspondences, the cordial 
 response of the Countess of Kronfels allayed all his 
 doubts, difficulties, and embarrassment, for his desire 
 to make suitable arrangements for Gabrielle was only 
 equalled by the countess s ardent wish to take the 
 young girl to her heart and home. Their needs dove 
 tailed with comforting precision. The countess al 
 luded delicately and tenderly to her son s condition 
 and to her grief and loneliness. 
 
 Another distant relative declared herself willing to 
 receive Gabrielle, and promised her a gay season with 
 her own daughters. 
 
 " You might be happier with girls, Gabrielle," her 
 father suggested anxiously. 
 
 But Gabrielle, who had fulfilled Lucie s prophecy 
 by emphatically declining the voyage, and by ex 
 pressing a deep desire to go among strangers, now 
 remarked quietly, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 57 
 
 " No, papa, I would prefer to go to the Countess 
 Kronfels." 
 
 " She is past sixty, and it may be dull for you, dear 
 child." 
 
 " No, I shall like it," she persisted. " I like old 
 ladies." 
 
 " She is not a chimney-corner old lady, I believe," 
 Lucie said demurely. 
 
 " She was a handsome woman of the world when I 
 last saw her. What she is now we can better judge 
 when we go on to Wynburg. And then if you don t 
 think you are going to be happy, we 11 change our 
 minds, little girl. We 11 run away." 
 
 "But, papa, is it not decided? How could we 
 run away ? And indeed, I wish to go to Wynburg. 
 Only I would rather go alone. That is, not with you, 
 papa. Please let me go alone, or send one of the ser 
 vants ; if you like I would rather begin quite fresh 
 not see your face there, and then miss it," she added 
 low and pleadingly. 
 
 " But, my darling child " he began. 
 
 " It is the only thing you can do for me now," 
 she murmured wistfully. 
 
 " Why not let her have her will? " Lucie s cheery 
 voice broke in. " She is not going among dragons. 
 The worldly auspices could not be better. She will 
 see life and have great social advantages." 
 
 Gabrielle looked at her gravely. 
 
 " I like old ladies, and I would like to know Count 
 Hugo, and help his mother take care of him. That is 
 why I should like to go to Wynburg." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GABEIELLE and her father stood in the library, and 
 all the tranquil years and their dear memories seemed 
 to pass in review before her. 
 
 " Be happy, child," he said folding her in his arms, 
 " and if you are not going to be happy, come with us. 
 If you waver if you fear, your place is with me. 
 You are my own precious child. If you should be un 
 happy I should never forgive myself," and the warm 
 tone of his voice comforted and strengthened her. 
 
 She clung to him silently. 
 
 " I will telegraph that you will not come," he said, 
 moved by the soft clinging arms. " You and Lucie 
 and I will go off together." 
 
 She raised her head and smiled, though her eyes 
 were wet. 
 
 " Think what little girls go to boarding-school, 
 papa. One would imagine I was an infant in arms ! 
 Be happy yourself, papa, and come back safe to 
 Dohna. If you love me, I am not afraid." 
 
 " I love you with all my heart." 
 
 " Not all, for you love Lucie," she insisted. 
 
 " I love her with all my heart, too," he said, smil 
 ing. 
 
 " Then you have two hearts, papa ! " 
 
 " It may be. But nothing 011 earth can make my 
 beloved child less dear to me. Eemember that, what 
 ever may grieve you during our separation. Remem 
 ber that I love you always, and trust you perfectly." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 59 
 
 " Then I shall be content," she said bravely. 
 
 It was shortly after the wedding in the village 
 church. Gabrielle had chosen this day for her de 
 parture. 
 
 " Let us go to her," she said. " We are leaving 
 her so long." 
 
 " She understands." 
 
 " And she will have you a whole year," Gabrielle 
 added quickly. 
 
 " I fear I am very selfish," she said to Lucie, look 
 ing earnestly in her eyes. 
 
 " My dear Gabrielle, liking step-mothers is a culti 
 vated taste," replied Lucie with a smile and a sigh. 
 
 " I did not know you at all," the young girl mur 
 mured, watching her intently. 
 
 " Some time you will know me," the older woman 
 returned very kindly. " Some time I hope that you 
 will find me worth loving." 
 
 " If papa loves you, you are worth loving," Ga 
 brielle answered gravely, " and I hope " she hesi 
 tated " I will try to be fair," she said simply. 
 
 " That is quite enough," Lucie assured her cor 
 dially. " And some day, that happy far-off some day, 
 you will understand that I am in reality taking no 
 thing from you." 
 
 Gabrielle shook her head sadly and turned away. 
 
 She did not wish to be tragic, and make scenes, but 
 it seemed to her that Lucie had taken from her all 
 that she held dear, her father, her home, her peace 
 of mind ; and as she passed down the steps and 
 through the great gates, where the servants were gath 
 ered weeping and wailing, no doubt with sincere 
 affection for their young mistress, yet also impelled 
 by their sense of conventional appropriateness, to 
 
00 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 accentuate the sadness of parting and the luxury of 
 woe, and when the huge Leonberger followed her 
 to the carriage with a bitterly reproachful air, and 
 threw back his head and howled forth his sentiments, 
 she felt like little less than a dethroned queen. 
 
 The old housekeeper, who served as escort, wept 
 comfortably from time to time, partly with pleasure at 
 the thought of visiting her son whom she had not seen 
 in years, and partly with excitement caused by the 
 prospect of a journey of twenty-four hours to South 
 Germany. Gabrielle soothed her kindly, and felt that 
 she herself was very wretched. But perfect health, 
 youth, and a good conscience were surprisingly rapid 
 consolers for her grade of misery. The long journey 
 through the night was like a strange dream. A thou 
 sand new things interested her, and she was full of 
 eagerness as to her coming experiences, and confident 
 of her devotion to the countess, whom she pictured 
 quite clearly, and to Count Hugo, to whom she would 
 read hour after hour, and bring flowers. " I must tell 
 him papa says I play a very decent game of chess," 
 she thought, suddenly waking from a queer vision of 
 old familiar things and imagined scenes with Hugo 
 and his mother, as the train glided into a brilliantly 
 lighted station at three o clock in the morning. But 
 this was not her destination, and she slept the broken 
 half sleep of the night traveller again. 
 
 When she stepped from the coupe arriving at Wyn- 
 burg, and Leible with unerring instinct accosted her, 
 she realized that she was launched on an unknown 
 sea. He seized her travelling bag and piloted her 
 through the crowd. 
 
 She came on with the easy step of a good walker. 
 Her clear young eyes, trained to long distances, saw 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 61 
 
 vividly, before she reached the carriage, the faces of 
 the two ladies in the open landau, both turned to 
 ward her, the correct coachman s profile, the sober 
 livery, the over-fed handsome bays, the people pass 
 ing, a clock on a public building opposite, and a vane 
 by which she instinctively noted the points of the 
 compass and the way of the wind, remembering the 
 old weather-cock at Dohna, and how she watched it 
 at harvest time. 
 
 " Thank Heaven she is not countrified ! " was the 
 countess s pious exclamation. 
 
 " She looks so clever and decided," murmured the 
 Frau Major admiringly. " Too clever, too decided, I 
 fear," she privately commented. " Moulding her will 
 be no easy task, still with patience " 
 
 The countess kissed Gabrielle airily on each cheek 
 and welcomed her with incoherent effusion. The Frau 
 Major held both of the young girl s hands in a signi 
 ficant pressure, and bending her handsome, earnest 
 face toward Gabrielle, said in a low magnetic voice : 
 
 " I knew your dear father, years ago. You remind 
 me of him. I feel a very tender and special interest 
 in you." 
 
 Gabrielle was charmed with the voice, which seemed 
 to take possession of her with its tenacious, caressing 
 cadence. " Is he well ? " continued the Frau Major, 
 with her peculiar emphasis, conveying, beneath the 
 three words of commonplace inquiry, an impressive 
 undertone of interest, remembrance, and regard. 
 
 Gabrielle gave her a bright, grateful glance. 
 
 " Papa is well, thanks," she said. " I think I never 
 heard him mention you," she added, with frank sur 
 prise at the omission. It seemed to her very remark 
 able that her papa, who had described to her all his 
 
62 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 old friends, had not mentioned this lovely person who 
 seemed to know him so well and retained so much 
 affection for him. 
 
 " It was so long ago," returned the Frau Major 
 vaguely, and with her air of unfathomable calm, 
 regarding the fascinated young eyes opposite her 
 gently and solemnly, and she might have added : 
 " And no wonder he has forgotten me, since the whole 
 acquaintance consisted in a stiff bow on his part and 
 a smile on mine when somebody presented the shy 
 eighteen -year -old boy to me, more than twenty-five 
 years ago in a crowded drawing-room. But why men 
 tion the unedifying episode ? Why ever recall any 
 thing that does not give positive pleasure ? The one 
 thing of which the human heart never wearies is the 
 honeyed voice of approval." 
 
 " You must be tired," began the countess. " No 
 thing fatigues me like the railway. My neuralgia is 
 always worse, travelling, and my asthma gives me no 
 peace. Does travelling give you neuralgia ? " 
 
 " It seems to give me nothing but dust and dirt. 
 But this is my first long journey, and I know nothing 
 of neuralgia or any illness at least from my own 
 experience." She spoke half -laughingly, half -apolo 
 getically, but with a very direct manner, and not a 
 trace of shyness. 
 
 " I think one ought to know pain," rejoined the 
 countess with her sentimental air, " at least, to be truly 
 sympathetic. I am a great sufferer." 
 
 " That is a pity," Gabrielle said kindly, but with in 
 ward wonder. She was accustomed to listen patiently 
 to the complaints of bed-ridden old women in the vil 
 lage whose loquacity in regard to their symptoms, and 
 huge enjoyment in dilating upon their diseased organs, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 63 
 
 she had ascribed to want of breeding and paucity of 
 ideas. An invalid of sixty odd years with skin, hair, 
 and teeth in an enviable condition, sitting erect in an 
 elegant landau, and wearing a juvenile love of a bonnet 
 was an enigma to her. 
 
 The countess drew her velvet mantle closer, and 
 remarked with a frown, as if resenting a personal an 
 noyance : " It is so raw to-day. I am so sensitive," 
 she explained to Gabrielle. " I am obliged to spend 
 many winters on the Riviera. But the transition is the 
 difficult thing in that case. One feels it so keenly, it 
 really undoes all the benefit one has received from the 
 warmer climate." 
 
 The Frau Major murmured a gentle acquiescence. 
 
 " I bask in sunshine," the countess explained, fall 
 ing into French. " I am a sun-worshipper a poor 
 foolish Parsee." She smiled with pleasure at the apt 
 ness of her language, and her face wore its most agree 
 able expression. Her small pretty teeth revealed 
 themselves amiably, and her fluent French ran on in 
 airy flights. 
 
 They were driving up one of the principal business 
 streets of the city. Gabrielle s keen eyes, accustomed 
 to watch the flight of birds, caught clear glimpses of 
 palms, and anemones, and pictures, and jewels, and 
 silver-ware, and stuffs, and spring-gowns in the shop- 
 windows, and all the time heard with a certain sur 
 prise the dominant voice of the countess, and met the 
 reassuring, comprehensive gaze of the Frau Major. 
 
 The day was beautifu 1 to her in its breezy fresh 
 ness. Last spring on just such a day she and her 
 papa had gone trouting. How pleasant the library 
 had been at night after their tramp in the wet woods ! 
 How they had enjoyed their cozy supper and how 
 
64 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 they had laughed ! Could anything ever be as pleas 
 ant again ? Would Lucie know his ways ; when to 
 speak and when to be silent ? How could her papa 
 feel familiar and easy with Lucie, when she, Gabrielle, 
 did not ? That was the strange thing. One evening- 
 had overbalanced years and years of sweet companion 
 ship. No, that was untrue, for her father s last em 
 brace was infinitely loving, his voice was warm and 
 moved, his eyes wished her unspeakable blessings. 
 Still he would be happy with his Lucie, and the old 
 life was gone. This was the new life beginning, and 
 suddenly all seemed unreal to her, the shops, the 
 busy street, the two smiling women, even she herself. 
 She roused herself. "But it is real," she thought. 
 " It has begun." 
 
 How handsome the countess was, with her silvery 
 hair and fine skin. How curiously, for her age and 
 size, her phrases darted about. Those butterfly flights 
 and poises seemed odd for so large a woman. She 
 was not in the least like an old lady, and her mind 
 rested nowhere. 
 
 They drove by a crowded entrance to a gallery 
 where a celebrated picture was on exhibition. 
 
 Gabrielle read the announcement, and said eagerly, 
 "Ah, I shall be glad to see that." 
 
 Upon which the countess attacked the painting and 
 its admirers. She did not criticise. She massacred. 
 She seemed to wrathfully cut the canvas with sharp 
 shears and trample on the fragments. Her easy 
 mockery, and massive disparagement, and the techni 
 cal phrases which she flung one after another at the 
 offending landscape, greatly astonished Gabrielle. 
 
 " But he is a great artist," she said innocently. 
 
 The countess stared. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 65 
 
 " And he has worked a year on this picture. A 
 whole year of his life, an artist s life. That means 
 something." 
 
 " It means money, my dear, money," the countess 
 returned with a little derisive laugh. " As for the 
 praise, the critics are paid, too. Greedy, grasping set, 
 all of them ! " 
 
 Gabrielle looked at her wonderingly. 
 
 "Papa and I read the critiques. Could I have 
 made a mistake ? Could there be two artists of that 
 name ? But now I must not fail to go to see the pic 
 ture at once," she announced cheerfully. 
 
 An ominous cloud was gathering on the countess s 
 face. 
 
 " There is a charming little picture," began the Frau 
 Major, " which we are about to raffle off at our next 
 bazaar. The countess bought it out of pure charity ; 
 she is always doing kind things," the sincere voice 
 explained, " and perhaps you would undertake it. A 
 stranger always succeeds so well, and you," with her 
 slight impressive lingering accent, " would succeed in 
 anything. She may sell the tickets, may she not? 
 Would it not be a good introduction ? The picture, 
 presented by the Countess of Kronfels benevolence, 
 and sold by the Countess of Kronfels cousin, or 
 what shall we call our dear young friend ? " she asked 
 gently. 
 
 "Well, niece," returned the countess, after a 
 pause, in which she measured Gabrielle from head to 
 foot. 
 
 " We are eleventh cousins," Gabrielle said, with a 
 quick laugh, " at least papa and I decided that we 
 could scarcely reckon the relationship closer than that." 
 
 " A woman of my age," remarked the countess, with 
 
66 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 a coquettish smile, which invited protest, "might be 
 anybody s aunt." 
 
 "Why yes, of course," assented Gabrielle, seri 
 ously, " but " 
 
 A sweet and satisfied " Then it is all arranged," 
 evinced the Frau Major s illimitable content. " The 
 countess s niece will sell the countess s picture. It is 
 a gem, of course, as it is her own selection. A girl 
 is waiting on the shore for her sailor lover. There 
 is a breadth, an atmosphere " 
 - "Gabrielle should wear white, thick white," in 
 terrupted the countess. 
 
 " Thick white, by all means," assented the Frau 
 Major, placidly. 
 
 Gabrielle saw herself summarily arrayed in a gown 
 not of her own choice, raffling off a Sailor s Bride 
 at a fashionable bazaar and surrounded by a crowd of 
 strangers. Her personality seemed to have no im 
 portance except as it fitted in the mosaic of other 
 people s plans. She was about to say flatly that she 
 had no thick white gown, no experience in raffling, 
 and would rather not assume the responsibility of 
 the Sailor s Bride, when the Frau Major looked at 
 her earnestly. 
 
 " You are going to do our poor dear countess a world 
 of good. Youth is so comforting and when one 
 has griefs, and disappointments," - she murmured 
 vaguely. Turning to the countess, " She will be in 
 deed like a daughter to you." 
 
 Her tone of profound conviction carried weight. 
 Her gentle solemnity was fascinating and subjugating 
 in the extreme to the young girl. She forgot her 
 momentary impatience, as she listened to the low, per 
 suasive voice. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 67 
 
 " What does it matter, after all, what I do or where 
 I go ? " she reflected. " Or, at least, why should I be 
 unamiable ? Of course there must be new things and 
 ways here. Of course I am not so important as I 
 used to be at Dohna. The Frau Major means that 
 the countess suffers on account of her son. How self 
 ish I have been not to speak of him." 
 
 With a compassionate glance, she ventured to say 
 timidly : 
 
 " I hope poor Count Hugo is a little better. We 
 heard about it last winter. We were so sorry," she fal 
 tered. It was not easy to approach so pitiful a grief. 
 
 " It has been a terrible affliction, and wearing 
 very wearing," sighed the countess. "I shall never 
 forget how I felt the evening they brought him home. 
 I went from one fit of hysterics into another. Her 
 majesty sent at once to inquire. We had every mark 
 of sympathy and attention." The young girl s honest 
 eyes stared at her with unmistakable, indignant re 
 proach. 
 
 " He was so brave, so distinguished, so admired," 
 the Frau Major began. "I have always been so 
 peculiarly fond of Hugo, for his own sake as well as 
 his mother s. He has a very remarkable character." 
 
 " But no resignation. If I could induce him to 
 cultivate resignation. I spoke with him about it to 
 day. I urged him to consider it," the countess said 
 in an aggrieved tone. 
 
 " He is so noble ; so clever. He will surely be all 
 that you desire, in time," the Frau Major assured her, 
 soothingly, with a private suspicion that the flash in 
 Gabrielle s eyes boded no good. 
 
 " Hugo has much to learn," the countess returned, 
 loftily. 
 
68 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Who could be resigned ! " began Gabrielle, before 
 the safe conductor could avert the youthful lightnings. 
 " And a man like Count Kronf els papa said he was 
 so spirited. If one were born a cripple I could under 
 stand, though it seems more natural for a cripple to 
 be wicked and rebellious. There is one in the village. 
 He is hump-backed. He is an angel of goodness, but 
 I always thought if he were a thief and a murderer, 
 a straight-backed jury ought to have the decency to 
 acquit him. Oh ! " she exclaimed, with an overpower 
 ing remembrance of the joy of gallops over the breezy 
 moors, of breathing the freshness of the woods, of the 
 sense of freedom on the mountain, with only skies 
 above one, and space and silence around, and with 
 an intense consciousness of her own love of action, 
 motion, living, " how can he be resigned how can 
 he?" 
 
 Even the Frau Major could not invariably predict 
 how her uncertain friend would meet unwelcome turns 
 in a conversation. The wise woman now preserved 
 her inscrutable repose of manner, meanwhile anxiously 
 watching the countess, and reflecting : "Is the girl a 
 fool, to quarrel with her bread and butter ? If she 
 were prudent she could command a brilliant future. 
 That poor, ill-natured Hugo has more than enough 
 for himself, and who knows, indeed, how long he will 
 last ? It would certainly be a mercy to him if his 
 sufferings should not be prolonged." For in her self- 
 communings, the most astute of her sex did not hesi 
 tate to call a spade a spade. 
 
 But the mercurial countess, with her airiest shrug 
 and a quizzical smile, replied : - 
 
 " How you will entertain me with your village ex 
 periences, my dear Gabrielle ! They will be quite 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 69 
 
 idyllic and refreshing. As for Hugo, he would not 
 be even grateful for your plenary indulgence. He 
 does not you will have to know sooner or later 
 extend his welcome to you, I regret to say. He does 
 not sympathize with my delight in having you with 
 me the boorish boy ! " 
 
 Gabrielle flushed, and was singularly ill at ease. 
 She did not understand why Count Hugo should feel 
 unfriendly to her, still less the smiling malice on the 
 countess s face. 
 
 " I am sorry " she began, " I did not know " 
 Then her characteristic bright look of good sense and 
 good humor dispelling all uncertainty and regret, 
 " After all," she said smiling, " it is his matter. I 
 don t blame him. If I were he, I should hate every 
 body. Particularly strangers." 
 
 " What principles ! " exclaimed the countess lightly, 
 adding, with a didactic air, " but remember, my dear 
 child, every back is fitted to its burden. He doeth all 
 things well. It is a heaven-sent trial, and the incon 
 venience it causes in the house no one knows except 
 his poor mother. Will you hear that ugly pug bark ? 
 How Mousey would despise him ! Mousey is a gentle 
 man." 
 
 Gabrielle s condition of mind was bewilderment 
 rather than antagonism or censure. " Everything is 
 so new," she thought. " I was excited and wrong at 
 home. I am excited and wrong here. I must be 
 making mistakes. Nobody can be quite what the 
 countess seems to be." 
 
 "There is the Countess Fanny," the Frau Major 
 said cordially. " Pretty woman, and so clever so 
 like her papa." 
 
 " She was pretty, you mean ; and as to her father, 
 
70 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 he is clever in a certain sense. That is, lie has clever 
 intervals. But you can t deny he has just stultified 
 himself completely in our affairs with Russia." She 
 briefly sketched the foreign situation, and depicted the 
 minister s errors with masterly clearness. 
 
 " In these things you are incomparable," her friend 
 remarked. " Women are usually so stupid and vague 
 when they speak of political matters, and 110 man 
 makes a complicated question so clear to me as you." 
 
 " Oh, I always liked chess and politics," replied the 
 countess simply, "and then one does not marry a 
 diplomate for nothing." 
 
 Gabrielle was now more than ever convinced of her 
 own injustice. The countess s manner was sensible 
 and sincere, her smile young and kind, her little white 
 teeth gleamed engagingly, and the western sunshine 
 fell on her silvery hair. Gabrielle s spirits rose. 
 
 " How lovely it is here ! " she said. They were 
 approaching the villa, and the largeness of the view 
 surprised her. "It is so high and free ! " 
 
 "It is, indeed, a beautiful situation," agreed the 
 Frau Major s low lingering tones. " We all envy the 
 countess her ideal view." 
 
 " View ! " repeated the countess, with an exasper 
 ated air. " What is a view when those people straggle 
 up the hill every day and intrude themselves upon 
 it stout fathers, and dowdy mothers, and knock- 
 kneed babies ? And they all stand before my gates 
 and stare ! " 
 
 The Frau Major s glance conveyed true sympathy, 
 as she said, with a low laugh, " Poor things, how can 
 they help it? It is so pretty." 
 
 " The place was always too far from town to suit 
 me," continued the countess, irritably. "And now 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 71 
 
 that it has become Tom, Dick, and Harry s chosen 
 promenade, and this incessant noise of building is 
 going on directly under my ears, it is too near, I as 
 sure you. Pound, pound pound click, click, click. 
 So it goes all day long. And the clank of the chains 
 when they lift those great stone blocks ! they seem 
 to be pulling at my nerves. And if you have ever 
 had my kind of neuralgia not the ordinary kind, 
 you know, but something quite different seated in 
 the finer nerves ; Doctor Pressigny explained it to 
 me, but the doctors here don t know anything about 
 it ; there is one nerve, in particular, that goes from 
 your brain to your heels, and " 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Gabrielle. The carriage was 
 turning slowly into the Kronfels gates. In an instant 
 she had flung open the door, and was hurrying to 
 wards a scene of dire confusion, from which infantile 
 wails were vigorously ascending, while from the scaf 
 folding above, the workmen looked down and laughed 
 unfeelingly at the catastrophe. If Gabrielle had per 
 formed some dangerous feat on the high trapeze, the 
 countess would have been scarcely more astonished, 
 but there seemed to be nothing to do but to let the 
 carriage wait, and to watch the young girl s eccen 
 tricities. 
 
 For some moments Gabrielle, coming up the hill in 
 the perfectly appointed equipage, had been watching 
 a less perfectly appointed one coming down. There 
 was a fat baby-boy in the shaky little cart, while tied 
 inextricably to it was another child scarcely bigger 
 than her charge and officiating as nursery-maid, as is 
 the imperative fashion in families where a baby a year 
 is no novelty, and mamma takes in washing. 
 
 What could be more fascinating than the building 
 
72 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 of a house? What more natural than to approach 
 what one likes? With serene disregard of loose 
 bricks, stones, bits of wood, and inequalities of the 
 way, the shaky little cart crossed the street, dumped 
 down into the gutter, jerked cheerfully up again, and 
 established itself as nearly as possible beneath a great 
 quivering stone block, going slowly up and accom 
 panied by the sailor-like cries of men and the creak 
 ing, clanking chain. Gabrielle had been speculating 
 afar-off upon this pigmy cavalcade, and as the countess 
 discoursed volubly upon her peculiar high-born ail 
 ment, the young girl was heartily wishing that poor 
 people were not obliged to send one baby out into the 
 world to take care of another, and reflecting that if 
 the ugly great stone should fall, which of course it 
 would not, those two atoms would be crushed out of 
 existence, when she saw Fate in the shape of a little 
 yellow dog attack them from another direction. 
 
 Open-mouthed with delight, they clapped their 
 hands at the beautiful, clanking chain; with heads 
 thrown back, they watched the ponderous thing sus 
 pended in mid-air above them. Through a hole in the 
 hedge, inclosing the villa garden, a tiny flaxen dog, 
 with a paroxysm of angry yelps, appalling to infants 
 unacquainted, with the condition of his teeth, rushed 
 straight at the sturdy but insecure legs of the leader 
 of the expedition. She screamed and jumped. This 
 the dog found attractive, and darted in and out be 
 tween her feet, intent upon evil. The harnessed child 
 could not escape without her train. In a frantic 
 effort at self-preservation she sprang to the right, the 
 left wheel struck a stone, and over went cart and chil 
 dren, in a helpless struggling heap, amid all the sharp- 
 edged chaotic fragments. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 73 
 
 It was at this crisis that Gabrielle flew to the 
 rescue. She extricated the tangled babies, set the 
 roly-poly protector and guide on her feet, straightened 
 out the queer little mass of humanity in the cart, 
 quickly ascertained that there was no harm done be 
 yond some insignificant bruises, pulled the wagon out 
 of all entanglements, turned the children homewards 
 on a straight road, told the baby-girl she must not tip 
 the baby-boy over again because it might hurt his 
 back, and it would be better not to be harnessed like 
 a pony, but if she must fall, to fall alone ; recognized 
 the absurdity of this sage advice to the poor little 
 mite, and found time in the midst of her ministrations 
 to seize and soundly cuff the dog, that, stimulated by 
 his conspicuous success, was obviously bent on fright 
 ening his victims into convulsions. 
 
 The astonished dog, with a howl of remonstrance, 
 started indignantly down the street, as Gabrielle, with 
 heightened color, hastened smilingly back to the car 
 riage. 
 
 " Why, there is Mousey ! And the angel is without 
 his collar ! Mousey, Mousey, love, come to your 
 Mumsey ! " But the black, satanic eyes gave her a 
 glance of scorn, and the small, yellow object trotted 
 determinedly past the carriage. 
 
 "Follow him ! Follow him instantly, Leible," com 
 manded the excited countess. The portly servant 
 descended from the box, gloom on his features and 
 wrath in his heart. He was so large, Mousey was so 
 small ! And to follow the dog, pattering along just 
 beyond reach, down through busy, crowded streets, to 
 endure the ignominy of having Mousey turn and grin 
 derisively at him, then frisk on, snapping at his bet 
 ters and barely escaping horse s heels and carriage- 
 
74 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 wheels, was odious to him. His sense of dignity suf 
 fered ; he lost his patience with his breath ; moreover, 
 he knew well that if the idol were not restored safe 
 and sound to his devotee, Johami Leible s services 
 would no longer be required at the villa. To-day 
 Mousey felt unusually insulted, his wind seemed in 
 fair condition, and vindictiveness lent him speed. 
 Leible foresaw that the chase would be long and har 
 rowing. He tried to look unconscious of the scam 
 pering little fiend in front, and assumed his best air 
 of respectable-family-servant out on some appropriate 
 errand, but his anxious eyes never lost sight of the 
 elusive quadruped. 
 
 " I could stand it," he thought, stopping to take 
 breath, remove his hat, and wipe his forehead, 
 " I could stand it better if the little devil would n t 
 look round and laugh ! " 
 
 Gabrielle watched the little girl tugging bravely 
 at her heavy load, but looking back with wistful eyes 
 at the place of delight and peril. With heightened 
 color and the amused smile she had given the children 
 still lingering, she glanced up at the house as she 
 returned to the carriage. Some of the men were 
 looking down. A carver had turned from a massive 
 head and met her gaze. He wore a whitish-gray flat 
 paper cap, and had a long, curling beard like the pic 
 tures of Jove, she noticed. 
 
 " Old putty-face seems to have got some common- 
 sense to go out driving with her to-day," commented 
 one of the beings at whom Adelheid, Countess of 
 Kronfels, never looked except with unseeing eyes, and 
 a conviction that their plebeian lime and bricks, and 
 wood and stone, and hammers and saws and chisels 
 existed purely for her discomfort. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 75 
 
 " Oh, what an excitement ! Oh, my poor nerves ! " 
 groaned the countess. 
 
 " They are not hurt," Gabrielle returned, inno 
 cently. "Poor little dumplings, they have n t any equi 
 librium. Of course they tip over. It is such a pity 
 that there is nobody to take care of poor children." 
 
 "Dirty little wretches! What business had they 
 to frighten him ? " 
 
 "Him! Whom? That dog? Why, he frightened 
 them ! Did you not see ? But I took care to " 
 
 "Dear friend," and the potent sweetness of the 
 Frau Major s voice fell like a heavy curtain over 
 indiscreet revelations, "do take some sal volatile at 
 once. Do try to be calm. Dear little Mousey will 
 come to no harm. Faithful Leible is with him." 
 
 "Is that little scrub her Mousey?" Gabrielle was 
 about to ask, but again the suave voice interposed. 
 
 " Without his collar or his bell ! " the countess ex 
 claimed. " At the mercy of everybody ! Sweet little 
 unprotected lamb ! Babette shall answer for this." 
 
 A couple of frightened maids stood at the house- 
 door. 
 
 " Babette," demanded the countess in what the 
 servants called her " awful voice," " what does this 
 mean ? " 
 
 "Indeed, it was not my fault," pleaded the girl, 
 " Mousey would n t look at his collar, and he took off 
 his bell himself. He was in such a terrible temper ! 
 I mean he was missing the gracious countess so hard," 
 she added adroitly, " and he slipped out sly, when he 
 heard the carriage coming a long way off." 
 
 " The dear thing ! " exclaimed the countess. " You 
 should see his welcome, when I have been driving 
 and he has preferred to remain at home. Such joy ! 
 
76 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Such rapture ! All the way down the stairs he leaps 
 and cries in a kind of ecstasy ! It is really pathetic." 
 
 The first maid dropped her eyes that she might not 
 meet the glance of the second maid, for it was an 
 open secret in the servants quarters that Babette 
 pinched and squeezed and shook Mousey to excite him 
 to the desired degree of rapture, as she hurried down 
 stairs with him in her arms. 
 
 " I do not understand how it could have happened. 
 I am so distressed. She gave me palpitation when 
 she jumped from the carriage, and I shall not have a 
 moment s peace until my sweet pet is safe. That 
 stupid Leible has no attraction for him whatever. He 
 will go far beyond his strength. She did not startle 
 him, did she ? He is so sensitive ! What did she 
 do? I did not see what happened," she said irri 
 tably. 
 
 " Let us talk of it when you feel stronger, dear. 
 Let me come in with you now," cooed the Frau Major. 
 " You are so weary and unnerved ! And our dear 
 young friend here could I give any order," she 
 murmured, " after the long journey " 
 
 Gabrielle, scarcely beyond the threshold of the 
 strange house, stood as silent and unnoticed as the 
 marble pillar behind her. Her lips were compressed, 
 her face was a little haughty, and the want of wel 
 come made her heart ache. 
 
 " Oh dear, yes," returned the countess absently. 
 " Roschen can show her her room, and bring her 
 some tea or something. I must go and lie down, or I 
 shall faint." 
 
 " Dear child," said the Frau Major, coming forward 
 as the countess retired and pressing Gabrielle s hands 
 warmly and looking pleadingly into her eyes, "the 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 77 
 
 countess took such pleasure in preparing your room 
 as if for a dear daughter. Roschen will make you 
 quite comfortable, and I know you will soon feel at 
 home. It is unfortunate, this excitement ; it makes 
 her so ill she has so much heart and the little 
 dog is like a child to her, and " 
 
 " Oh thanks, I shall do very well," Gabrielle an 
 swered gratefully. " Please do not be troubled about 
 me. You are very good ; of course I understand." 
 
 " I must go to her. She is so very nervous. She 
 is ill with anxiety. I am sure you will be very happy 
 in your new home, though the beginning is a little 
 agitated," and she smiled lovingly and held the young 
 girl s hands again in her warm, comforting pressure. 
 
 The countess had disappeared without another 
 glance at her young guest. The longed-for ideal, over 
 which she had wept but a few hours previous, was for 
 gotten, and her whole being was concentrated upon 
 that little yellow animal pattering onward, ever on 
 ward, down toward the wicked city, with the luckless 
 Leible swearing and perspiring in pursuit. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 GABRIELLE, having been treated as thin air, was 
 relieved to find herself beyond the reach of the dog 
 agitation, in an attractive corner-room with long 
 windows opening upon small, semicircular balconies, 
 which commanded the garden, the city in the valley, 
 and hiUs far and near. She stood motionless after 
 the maid closed the door, scarcely knew whether to 
 yield to tears or laughter, compromised with a long 
 sigh, threw open a casement, and stepped out on a 
 balcony. The shadows of early twilight were steal 
 ing fast over the valley. She looked thoughtfully on 
 the new landscape which for an indefinite time was 
 to be a part of her life, and saw simultaneously the 
 home-scenes grove, field, and stream ; the poplar- 
 marked white country road ; and the flat village 
 with its overhanging, irregular red roofs. The law 
 lessness of thought led her to dwell more upon the 
 absurdity of her entrance, than to reflect seriously 
 upon her future, or even to yield herself to tender 
 reminiscences of the father from whom she had but 
 yesterday parted. The soft-skinned, hard-featured 
 old lady with the coquettish Paris bonnet, jumping 
 from German to French and back again with appar 
 ent unconsciousness, smiling winningly one instant, 
 glancing about with shifting, uneasy eyes the next, 
 uttering sense and nonsense in one breath, who had 
 not thus far had a good word to say for a fellow- 
 mortal, and who was madly infatuated with an ex 
 tremely ugly and plebeian dog, seemed to the young 
 girl an astounding and incomprehensible figure. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 79 
 
 " She is old," she reflected, drawing off her gloves. 
 " I must not judge. I always jump at conclusions. 
 I have lost my bearings. To-morrow, perhaps, it will 
 all seem quite different." Yet, endeavor as she would 
 to be charitable, she felt guiltily confident that the 
 remembrance of Mousey s irate expression, as he trot 
 ted off, and of the countess s tragic and wrathful fore 
 bodings would always have power to rouse her irrever 
 ent mirth. 
 
 The maid presently returned with some sandwiches 
 and wine proffered by the Frau Major s hospitality. 
 
 As Gabrielle came from the balcony, the girl has 
 tened to close the casement. 
 
 " The draught," she said. 
 
 " I like it," Gabrielle answered carelessly. 
 
 "The countess thinks it is sure death," Koschen 
 announced, with a giggle. 
 
 Gabrielle had been reared in blessed ignorance of 
 the fatal animosity lurking in draughts and neighbor s 
 opinions ; those two powerful factors in the education 
 of girls. 
 
 " The countess is neither young nor strong," she 
 said gravely and reopened the casement. 
 
 44 If you please," began the maid, " the Frau Major 
 thinks it might be pleasanter for the gracious fraulein 
 to have a cosy little dinner up here instead of dining 
 alone down-stairs. The countess is in such a state of 
 nerves, that dinner s no object to her. She s going 
 to have her hysterics if Mousey does n t come back 
 soon, and the Frau Major thought the gracious frau 
 lein would feel lonely in the dining-room." 
 
 " She is very kind," Gabrielle returned thought 
 fully. She had had a glimpse, as she passed through 
 the hall, of a room dark with much carved oak, of a 
 
80 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 row of tall painted chair-backs, stained glass, and a 
 general aspect of dusky solemnity, like a Gothic choir. 
 " It would be rather dreadful down there all alone," 
 she thought. 
 
 " And any way there is n t going to be any dinner," 
 Roschen communicated further, "for the butler is chas 
 ing the dog, and they ve countermanded the cook s 
 orders, and the countess vows she never will eat again 
 until Mousey comes back, and Babette has put her into 
 her wrapper, and the Frau Major is giving her sal vol 
 atile and trying to cheer her, and I am to bring up 
 the gracious fraulein s dinner at seven." 
 
 " Then I simply have no choice. It s a species of 
 genteel solitary confinement," Gabrielle perceived, not 
 without indignation. Where was the loving welcome 
 promised ? . Apparently only in the countess s fluent 
 and affectionate letters. Gabrielle considered the wis 
 dom of instant flight. What if she should steal out 
 in the twilight and order somebody to take her and 
 her trunk to the station ? But no ! That would be 
 an ignominious step, simply because a poor old lady 
 was unhappy about her dog. 
 
 " And I am to wish the gracious fraulein good-night 
 and pleasant dreams in her new home." 
 
 " From the countess ? " Gabrielle asked, cheerily 
 confident that this message must have come from her 
 hostess. 
 
 " No, the Frau Major," Roschen answered, with her 
 giggle. 
 
 " Then thank the Frau Major for me," Gabrielle 
 said gravely, " and wish both ladies good-night." 
 
 "Oh, I rather think I d better not. Because," 
 continued the maid, in response to Gabrielle s look of 
 inquiry, " because I m not to go in there again, unless 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 81 
 
 I m rung for. Sometimes I laugh," and again the 
 vapid involuntary giggle escaped. 
 
 " Oh," rejoined Gabrielle, endeavoring not to look 
 amused, " that is another thing." 
 
 " Babette told me to keep out. And I m to help 
 the gracious fraulein unpack. And I m to wait on 
 the gracious fraulein when I m not needed elsewhere. 
 But sometimes the countess needs us all. And then 
 forty would n t be enough." 
 
 " I don t require much service, thanks. But you 
 may help me this evening, when they send up my 
 trunks." 
 
 " They would have come up at once if Leible 
 was n t off with the dog. When Mousey has a tan 
 trum, the whole house is in a muddle." 
 
 Gabrielle sat before her plate of sandwiches, her 
 hat not yet removed. She thought this was a rather 
 bold and loquacious young woman, but did not won 
 der at the mischief in her eyes when she alluded to 
 Mousey. 
 
 The maid stood near the table, watching her in 
 tently. 
 
 " What shall I call you?" Gabrielle asked pleas 
 antly. 
 
 " Eoschen. I am the baker s Eoschen from Les- 
 lach," the girl said with a conscious sir. 
 
 " Indeed," returned the young baroness civilly. 
 
 Roschen s bold curious stare greedily followed every 
 movement of the stranger. Gabrielle glanced at her 
 from time to time, somewhat surprised at the perti 
 nacity of the inspection. 
 
 " What does she see in me? " She observed Ros- 
 chen s well-grown form, her fresh color, her heavy 
 braids neither blonde nor brown, her clear .brown 
 
82 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 eyes, and suddenly, with an odd feeling of amaze 
 ment, comprehended the cause of the unblushing 
 scrutiny. 
 
 " She is really not unlike me, and she perceives it. 
 We have about the same height, the same coloring, 
 and I should say the same age." 
 
 The maid did perceive the resemblance, and was 
 making minute comparisons, all in her own favor. 
 " I m a good deal more of a girl," she told herself 
 proudly. " I ve got more hair, and it s curlier. I ve 
 got more figure and redder cheeks, and a more tak 
 ing way with me. But she s pretty, oh, yes, she s 
 pretty," Roschen admitted magnanimously. " My 
 hand would make two of hers," she thought with a 
 pang of envy. " And the color of mine is n t right. 
 If I could get some of that salve, or cream, or what 
 ever it is the countess uses" and her meditations 
 ran ambitiously on in pleasing visions of a beautified 
 Roschen, her one fault coarse hands magically 
 corrected ; envied by the girls, observed of all men, 
 smiled at approvingly by the beautiful young officers 
 who rode past the garden, and came now and then to 
 pay their respects to the countess and inquire after 
 Count Hugo, when she oh, bliss ! sometimes suc 
 ceeded in opening the door instead of old Leible, who 
 happily was slow in his motions as well as addicted to 
 napping whenever he felt that the countess s frantic 
 bell was not imminent. 
 
 Indulging in such ecstatic reveries, her large rough 
 hands folded across her white apron, her gaze pur 
 sued Gabrielle as she rose, went to the window, took 
 off her jacket and hat, opened her travelling-bag, and 
 found her portfolio and ink-stand. 
 
 " This grows irksome," the baroness admitted. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 83 
 
 " And since the power of the human eye belongs to 
 the occult sciences, I don t know what will happen to 
 me if she continues. I suppose a fool could make a 
 wise man uneasy if he looked at him long enough. 
 Not that I am wise." 
 
 " You may go, Koschen," she said kindly. " I will 
 rest and write a little." 
 
 The maid longed to continue her complacent study 
 of resemblances, contrasts, and possibilities. She had 
 always known that she was a beauty and not like the 
 other girls, but she had not suspected that she was 
 like a baroness. What would Bernhard, with his dull 
 notions, say to that ? Well, it was the simple truth. 
 He could see for himself. Seamstress and second 
 maid in the villa well, she did not say it was not a 
 good position, and easy, but there was no doubt 
 about it she could look higher ; and as for Bernhard 
 well, he was good-natured, but things were n t set 
 tled for ever and ever yet, and nobody could tell 
 what might happen. 
 
 Koschen was honestly glad, too, to have another 
 young thing in the dull house. One could scarcely 
 open one s lips in the presence of the countess, she 
 was that crushing. And as for Count Hugo, he was 
 like a man buried alive. Nobody could catch sight of 
 him, except now and then a pair of big eyes, like 
 a wild animal under a bush, or something. Herr 
 Lipps would not let the king so much as bid his mas 
 ter good-morning, if he wanted to be let alone, which 
 he mostly did. 
 
 Therefore Koschen lit the gas, adjusted the shades, 
 and reluctantly withdrew, resolving to beg the cook to 
 hurry with the dinner, that she might return legiti 
 mately to the rose-room, and see what kind of a ward- 
 
84 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 robe the new young lady had. For who knew when 
 the coast would be so clear again, with the countess 
 conveniently having her " nerves," and a body free 
 from reprimands from superior officers, like Babette 
 and Leible ? 
 
 Gabrielle began to write rapidly. Her affection, 
 her talk of home, her journey, her impressions of the 
 city, all this wrote itself eagerly. But when she 
 found herself saying : " The countess is a very hand 
 some old lady. I am not dining with her this even 
 ing, because she is distressed about her little dog that 
 has run away," although the facts seemed to be indis 
 putable, she tore off the half-sheet with a doubtful 
 smile, thinking : " Why, it sounds positively mali 
 cious," and began again : 
 
 " The countess is very handsome, and a little uncer 
 tain in her ways, perhaps. She is not quite well this 
 evening, having lost her little dog. My room is very 
 pretty, with rose-colored walls and hangings, and a 
 lovely view of the city and over the hills. The Frau 
 Major is a most winning person, with a fascinating 
 voice. She seems to have great influence in this 
 house." 
 
 Again she hesitated. Her habit of unreserved ex 
 pression of her ideas and feelings to her father was 
 already restrained by one day s new influences. 
 
 " Why do I write trifling things like a village 
 gossip ? " she asked herself reproachfully. " Why do 
 I harp upon that absurd dog ? How do I know how 
 much or how little influence the Frau Major has in 
 this house ? " 
 
 She shook her head and destroyed the page. Once 
 more she wrote, and with a certain desperation : 
 
 " Do not expect me to give you my impressions, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 85 
 
 dearest papa, for they are too confused and worthless. 
 I am in a completely new world, and must learn its 
 ways. All that I do, all that I think, you shall know 
 sometime. But this first evening I feel so inexpe 
 rienced and ignorant, that I suspect if I find things 
 queer, it is the fault of my own spectacles. Be happy 
 about me, for I am safe and cheerful, except when I 
 think too long of you ! And I am interested in my 
 coming experiences. I suppose one must have some 
 thing which may be called experiences, even if one 
 lives in a cave, which I emphatically do not, as you 
 would agree if you could see my rose-walls and my 
 balconies, from which I can see so far so far 
 almost to you I thought just now, and then suddenly 
 realized that I was gazing longingly due south, where 
 you are not. You know, dearest, I am not trying to 
 be prudent or guarded. I could not think of such a 
 thing ! I really do not know what to tell you, because 
 everything is quite different from what we expected. 
 The countess is not like her letter no, not in the 
 least. She is handsome, her eyes are uneasy, 
 she kissed me on both cheeks, and she speaks beau 
 tiful French. Her friend, the Frau Major von Fun 
 nel, who remembers you so pleasantly, has won my 
 heart. She is a distinguished looking woman, with a 
 wonderful voice that holds one in bondage. I cannot 
 escape from it. You must not think I am lonely if I 
 speak of the strangeness here, and tell you that I am 
 alone this evening. For since my arrival, the coun 
 tess has been very nervous and excited on account of 
 her little dog that she idolizes. There, papa, I have 
 tried to keep that little beast out of this letter, but he 
 will pop up unexpectedly, so I might as well introduce 
 him to you. Frankly, you would not look at him. So 
 
86 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 far as I can judge from an extremely brief acquain 
 tance, he is an unmitigated cur ! But the poor coun 
 tess adores him, and is wild with grief because he has 
 run away. 
 
 " Count Hugo, it seems, is very unhappy and lives 
 a most secluded life. His rooms are just below mine, 
 the maid told me. As I write, I am so sorry for him, 
 and picture him in his great loneliness. You and 
 I were not much of a family, papa, but what there 
 was of us was always together. Here, the countess 
 is at one end of the house, I am at the other, and the 
 poor count is in his corner below. Of course it is 
 merely an accident that I am to dine alone to-night, 
 and my constant inclination to talk about it as if it 
 mattered is a proof that I am puffed up with an idea 
 of my own importance. Never mind ! You will for 
 give me, because I am your child, and it was you that 
 spoiled me. When you come home from Japan oh, 
 papa, it sounds so long ! it sounds so far ! I shall 
 have learned humility, and other graces perhaps ! 
 
 " By the way, the young woman detailed for my ser 
 vice looks astonishingly like me, except she s hand 
 some and imposing. You will say it is my nonsense, 
 but indeed, papa, it is quite true. It may be a blow 
 to your pride, for you have always thought too well 
 of me, but I am calm and reconciled. There is a ver 
 itable resemblance, not perhaps in expression, and I 
 venture to trust not in manner, but we are somewhat 
 the same kind of girl. I was startled, she looked 
 so familiar. Where have I seen you ? I vaguely 
 wondered. Then suddenly I perceived that she re 
 minded me of Gabrielle Dohna. We stared at each 
 other like the snake at the Zoological Gardens and 
 his predestined fattened rabbit. That is, I inwardly 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 87 
 
 blamed the girl for staring; but I must have been 
 staring too, or I would not have known that she 
 stared. I sent her away, for which my conscience 
 reproaches me. She did so enjoy gloating over me, 
 it was cruel to disturb her. But I hear her now, com 
 ing with a tray and glasses that rattle. She has 
 knocked. Papa, she cannot keep her eyes off me ! 
 While she sets my little table for dinner she is eying 
 me, and longs to speak, but does not dare. She is 
 a very communicative maiden. Papa, if I were the 
 baker s Eoschen, and she were your Gabrielle, I ask 
 you, would I be like that ? For instance, would I be 
 so inquisitive ? Would I giggle so easily ? Suppose 
 we d been changed in our cradles. Imagine the two 
 of us unpacking and arranging my possessions this 
 evening. Imagine me philosophizing in boundless 
 fields. It is really an extraordinary experience. It is 
 very curious to meet your other self. Of course it 
 makes one think. Is it true that one never sees one s 
 real self in the glass ? 
 
 " Roschen s hair curls tight, where mine only tries 
 to wave. My color is rustic enough, but hers is car 
 nation. She is the freshest, heartiest, most whole 
 some-looking girl, full of life and strength and bloom, 
 and smiling at one like a great simple child. She 
 is a thousand times better-looking than I, yet the re 
 semblance is there. My anatomy may be a trifle finer. 
 How vanity will assert itself ! Yet I am compelled 
 to admit that her flesh is handsomer than mine, and 
 in revenge I take refuge in my bones. Which means 
 that my 4 attaches are smaller. Am I chattering too 
 long about her? Forgive me. She is such a sur 
 prise. 
 
 " She has told me the news which she was longing 
 
88 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 to announce ten minutes ago. The prodigal clog has 
 returned and the countess is weeping over him. The 
 Frau Major has gone home. Nobody expects any 
 thing of me whatever. Nobody shall be disappointed. 
 I will stay here and eat my sequestered dinner. 
 
 " A knock. Babette brings me a card on a salver. 
 
 " God bless you, my sweet child ! Rest well in your 
 new nest. Pardon my seclusion this evening. My 
 agitation was inexpressible. You will rejoice with me 
 that my Precious has returned. Good-night, and 
 sweetest dreams. 
 
 " There, papa ! What more can the heart desire ? 
 Is n t it all that is kind ? Is it not like the letters she 
 wrote to Dohna ? Only don t show it to Lucie, for 
 she will laugh. And I I am trying not to ! Give 
 my love to Lucie no, not my love give her my 
 thoughts ; tell her I think of her. And she must 
 make you happy, very, very happy ; yet not so happy 
 that you will forget the old days, and your child who 
 loves you." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HUGO heard the carriage drive up to the door, 
 bringing Gabrielle. He imagined her entering the 
 house amid kisses and embraces and voluble gushes 
 of sentimentality. His face grew a trifle more unami- 
 able, and he mechanically read and re-read the same 
 sentence repeatedly. Lipps, evidently bursting with 
 information, wished to communicate something when 
 he brought in the count s dinner ; but Hugo s forbid 
 ding expression nipped his revelations in the bud. 
 
 Lipps had discreetly chosen the moment of the 
 stranger s arrival to store away a package of Hugo s 
 superfluous effects in the tower-room, which lofty post 
 of observation commanded the garden, the drive, the 
 houses building, and a good portion of the street. 
 
 Lipps had been seriously opposed to Gabrielle s ad 
 vent. To the best of his ability, he had worn upon 
 his pink, full-moon countenance the cold and distant 
 expression which he had observed upon his master s 
 pale features. Not a word in regard to the young 
 stranger had passed the count s lips in his servant s 
 presence, therefore he too was sternly silent in the 
 servants dining-room. 
 
 Why the count looked so gloomy about her, Lipps 
 was at a loss to imagine. It was enough for him that 
 proud reserve was indicated as the attitude of " our 
 wing," as Lipps called Count Hugo s rooms, and the 
 man s efforts to be impressive wherever he moved that 
 day were at least admirably conscientious. 
 
90 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Having deposited his convenient package in the 
 store-room, he took his place at the window and 
 watched the carriage approach, preparing to extend 
 to the new-comer the same unflinching antagonism 
 which he cherished for the countess. His hatred may 
 not have been sufficiently intense for a tragic villain, 
 happily great hate is even rarer than great love, 
 but it was the strongest emotion of the kind that his 
 honest soul could produce, and such as it was he gave 
 it lavishly. But when he saw the new young lady 
 spring out of the carriage as quick as a flash, pick 
 up and straighten down those unfortunate convoluted 
 babies, and cuff Mousey vigorously, not once, nor 
 twice, but three times, he gave his simple allegiance 
 then and forever to Gabrielle von Dohna, and in the 
 security of his lofty ambush, relieved his feelings in a 
 series of hearty slaps of his person, and lively gyra 
 tions, sufficient to compensate for a month s aristo 
 cratic repression, downstairs. To be sure, he rea 
 soned, those bricks and timbers may have concealed 
 the deed from the countess, for the young lady was 
 kneeling kneeling quite unconcerned in all that 
 rubbish; still to cuff Mousey by daylight, in the 
 face and eyes of the countess and the universe, was 
 a mighty plucky performance. It seemed to him 
 indeed nothing less than heroism. Unpoetically and 
 with queer grins of reminiscence he told himself, in 
 substance: " Mon ame a son secret, ma me a son 
 mysfere" and all the more he honored the daring 
 young spirit that dispensed with secrets and myste 
 ries, and cuffed openly with splendid promptness. " I 
 must tell Count Hugo just how she did it. I must 
 show him how the pretty lady set up those young 
 things on their legs and hit out at the little beast." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 91 
 
 But in the presence of the pale, silent, outstretched 
 man, Lipps found no chance to speak. 
 
 The countess had many theories with regard to ser 
 vants and the best methods of treating them. 
 
 " I am never familiar with them," she would often 
 say. " Familiarity is the greatest mistake. They 
 have not our education, they have not our souls. 
 Kindness and indulgence, so far as possible, but no 
 familiarity." 
 
 Meanwhile Babette knew every weakness of her 
 heart as every secret of her toilette, and in certain 
 relaxed, hair-brushing moments not only listened to 
 peppered stories of noble friends, family jars, and 
 scandals, but proffered in return her own equally 
 spicy narratives of more humble, yet not less human 
 circles. 
 
 Hugo, on the contrary, was sadly destitute of dig 
 nified theories as to his demeanor toward social in 
 feriors, and had he been asked if he were familiar 
 with Lipps would have said that it was very good of 
 Lipps to be willing to be familiar with him, since the 
 man was not compelled to submit to the caprices of 
 a cross-grained invalid, but could keep a beer-shop, or 
 be a street-car conductor, or seek independence and 
 peace of mind in some other congenial vocation. Yet 
 all the same, when Count Hugo wore a certain expres 
 sion, Lipps dared not speak. 
 
 To-night he stepped softly to and fro, lighting 
 lamps, adjusting shades, always casting furtive trou 
 bled glances at the invalid. Hugo shivered slightly. 
 The man instantly laid another rug over the count s 
 feet, and lighted the fire on the hearth, again exam 
 ining the windows and drawing the heavy curtains 
 closer. It seemed to him that the hollow circles 
 
92 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 under the count s eyes were deeper than usual, but 
 perhaps it was owing to the fall of the light, which 
 also gave a transparent effect to the thin hands hold 
 ing a Eevue des Deux Mondes. When the servant 
 
 O 
 
 brought the dinner-tray, he saw that the magazine 
 was open at page 255. He stole noiselessly out. Re 
 turning in half an hour, he removed the tray, which 
 had scarcely been touched, and as he passed behind 
 his master he slyly glanced at the Revue. Still 
 p. 255. The man s mouth drooped sorrowfully. He 
 came back and stationed himself out of sight and 
 hearing in the dressing-room, where he sat on a stool 
 in the dark, now and then stifling a sigh ; motion 
 less, watchful, his eyes fixed on the count s face, 
 stern, white, and strongly lighted in the third room 
 beyond. Lipps listened for the turning of the leaf, 
 but knew too well that p. 255 still urged its right 
 to be read, while the count stared at his ceiling. 
 
 Three hours passed. The count summoned his 
 servant. 
 
 " Lipps," he said irritably, " I wish you would go 
 out nights and enjoy yourself. What business have 
 you sulking away there in the dark ? " 
 
 Lipps smiled like an ugly seraph, so content 
 was he to hear his master s voice, and without a 
 word went softly about, making ready for the night. 
 He put the count to bed with the tenderness of a 
 mother to a suffering child, and with marvellous dex 
 terity. 
 
 " Let the lamp burn," Hugo said. " And bring me 
 those books. I am not sleepy to-night." 
 
 " Nor I either," Lipps returned with a deprecating 
 grin. " It s something in the weather I suppose ; I 
 shan t sleep three winks all night, and so if the count 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 93 
 
 would just let me sit there comfortably in the dressing- 
 room " 
 
 " It would be a kind of heavenly enjoyment, I don t 
 doubt," the count broke in hastily. " Lipps, why do 
 you insult me ? Have I not passed beyond the need 
 of watchers ? And if I should happen to want you in 
 the night, would n t my bell ring in your ears like the 
 last trump ? Don t be an idiot." 
 
 The man silently brought the lamp, books, a vial 
 and a spoon, then took a final survey of the room. 
 
 " Good-night, Lipps," and the count suddenly put 
 out his left hand toward the man. Lipps took it 
 as if he did not know what to do with it, and held 
 it a moment in his limp, loose, awkward grasp, his 
 own fingers straight and unresponsive. 
 
 " Thanks for everything," Hugo added, with a 
 smile which illumined his drawn face old and hag 
 gard before its time with the light of youth and 
 rare sweetness, " and Lipps, you may tell me all about 
 it another day." 
 
 Hugo was alone. The house was still. From the 
 rooms above he had during the evening occasionally 
 heard the muffled sound of voices, the opening and 
 closing of casements, and footsteps 011 the uncarpeted 
 floors. The wood-fire, safely screened, crackled with 
 subdued cheerfulness in his front room. Now and 
 then an old oak armoire gave a portentous creak, and 
 added its tale to the other voices of the night. He 
 looked at his watch. It was nearly twelve. His 
 mother s last pet, Mousey s rival, after her rapturous 
 reception was no doubt sleeping the sleep of health 
 and virtue. "Virtue," he sneered. So far as he 
 knew, lies could sleep as well as truth. Lies could 
 eat and smile and prosper, and live in peace and 
 
94 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 enjoy the respect of all mankind. What was that ? 
 Footsteps? Regular, slow, soft footsteps, from one 
 end to the other of the two rooms above him ; the 
 footsteps of a person lost in thought. What then had 
 the chief favorite at his mother s court to consider, 
 in the still watches of the night? After a month 
 he could well imagine her involved in complications 
 that might rob her repose. After three months, 
 be she a wise or a foolish virgin, Heaven help her ! 
 But the night of her triumphant debut, with kisses 
 and joy-bells and incense still lingering in the air, 
 why should she wander up and down like a rest 
 less spirit ? He tried to read. Involuntarily he fol 
 lowed that soft, measured tread. He noted when she 
 paused. He knew where she turned. The mirror 
 in her dressing-room defined the northern limit of 
 her course. The window toward the garden bounded 
 it on the south. " If mamma had given her the 
 third room," he thought impatiently as if personally 
 curbed, " she would have longer range." 
 
 " Now what is the trouble ? " he asked himself. 
 " A happy girl does not walk her cage all night. A 
 happy girl goes to bed and to sleep. So does a syco 
 phant. Is she laying Machiavelian plans ? Surely 
 not. It is too soon. And if she is sly she trusts 
 her slyness for inspiration. Is she thinking of home ? 
 Why did she leave it, if she loved it ? What plans 
 but unworthy ones at least purely selfish and 
 worldly could lead her here?" 
 
 He pictured her vaguely, her head drooping, 
 her hands clasped, walking slowly up and down in 
 the stranger s house. Her eyes well what were 
 they to him ? What mattered it whether they were 
 black or blue, since he did not intend to see them ? 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 95 
 
 But would she walk and walk, and think and 
 think, all night ? A happy girl would not, and a 
 stupid girl could not. In spite of himself, his heart 
 softened toward her. Perhaps, after all, she had not 
 come to take her part in the man-hunt. She might 
 already have a lover, and the thought of him was ban 
 ishing sleep from her young eyelids. Lovers indeed ! 
 When would a man learn wisdom, according to the 
 gospel of Epictetus ! What had a cripple for life to 
 do with girls and lovers ? Was he not in enough pain 
 to-night, and weary and sad enough, without any devil- 
 sent speculations on this lost good, to crowd his 
 brain with mocking images and reminiscences ? Did 
 Mercedes ever pace her room like this girl overhead ? 
 No, her foot would not be so measured, so regular. 
 She would dash up and down wildly, and wear her 
 self out, and weep hot passionate tears, of which she 
 would scrupulously remove every trace before seeing 
 the French embassador. Still the footsteps, with 
 out haste, without rest. It was impossible to resist 
 the magnetic influences descending from the thought 
 ful brain and overcharged heart of the stranger. 
 Did she call herself unhappy ? If she but knew how 
 blessed she was, being able to walk up and down 011 
 her own good feet. What is any grief, he thought, if 
 you have the use of your legs ? 
 
 She had stopped now. She had opened the case 
 ment. She was looking out into the night. He saw, 
 with her, the star-lit heavens, the dusky valley, the 
 broad hillside, rearing itself directly opposite her 
 windows. With her he followed the mysterious, van 
 ishing distances. He knew that she was wondering 
 why here and there a light was burning. He knew 
 that she was questioning whether it was for illness, 
 
96 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 for birth, for death, for patient study, for revelry, for 
 sorrow. Earlier in the evening, hundreds of homes 
 on the hillslope sent forth across the valley the radi 
 ance of their cheerful windows in such a multitude of 
 lights that one could scarce tell where they ceased to 
 twinkle along the crown of the hill and where the 
 stars began. But it was midnight now, and the sober 
 folk were mostly asleep, except for the scattered 
 problematic fires burning on good or evil altars far 
 away. 
 
 She stood long on the balcony, and the night was 
 cool. A queer girl, indeed! Now she was closing 
 the casement, softly, slowly. Were his senses less 
 alert, and all not so still, he would not have heard her. 
 Would she go to rest now? No, she was resuming 
 her gentle, slow walk. His whole power of attention 
 concentrated itself upon that lonely figure pacing 
 the floor above him. He saw her too, quite clearly, 
 except she seemed to have no face. The shadowy 
 features eluded him. But that did not trouble him ; 
 it was like the hilltops veiled in mist. The main 
 thing was to count her footsteps, and watch her turn 
 to the right by the window, to the left before the mir 
 ror. His nerves grew tranquil, his thoughts were no 
 longer bitter. Listening to the soft monotonous 
 tread, he ceased to ask himself why the young girl 
 walked, but only followed her mechanical movement. 
 
 It seemed to him of vast importance to count 
 busily, to know where she turned and make no error 
 in his computations. Listening, counting, presently 
 he ceased to listen and to count, and fell asleep with 
 out his drops. . 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN the villa -garden were sheltered corners and 
 narrow winding paths, barely wide enough for two 
 abreast, and completely beyond range of the windows, 
 " unless somebody was mean enough to be spying 
 from the tower," Roschen admitted on her first recon 
 noitring expedition, " and neither the countess nor 
 Count Hugo will ever climb as high as that until they 
 go to heaven, which is one comfort," she concluded 
 cheerfully. 
 
 The countess was apt to complain that the box-bor 
 ders, cedar hedges, and close shrubbery of the old- 
 fashioned labyrinth made it " stuffy," and she fre 
 quently threatened to transform it into a plain lawn. 
 
 "When I have time, I shall design something 
 myself," she would often say, but as she was always 
 nervously hurried, doing nothing at all, her time for 
 designing lawns never came, and the objectionable 
 mazes remained in all their overgrown and neglected 
 luxuriance, the beckoning suggestive alleys became 
 with every season wilder and more tangled, and the 
 air, laden with the indefinable mixed odors of many 
 sweet and pungent shrubs, more heavily aromatic. 
 
 For Roschen s purposes the paths were wide enough. 
 Bernhard Dietz also found their construction faultless. 
 At a tolerably early morning hour, there was a brief 
 but eloquent pause in the work on the houses, and a 
 long line of thirsty masons and joiners, in enforced sin 
 gle file, their path down the side of the hill being 
 
98 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 steep, rude steps between the vineyards, descended 
 to a beer-shop for the customary first tankard. Dietz, 
 waiving this solace, instead of following the blouses 
 walked off in the opposite direction, and sheltered by 
 the disorder of his surroundings waited by a certain 
 thin place in the hedge which separated the sanctity 
 of the villa-garden from the profane world without. 
 
 Within the great house a supernatural stillness pre 
 vailed. Doors and windows were stealthily opened, 
 furniture was coaxingly moved, brooms and dusters 
 were employed sotto voce, big felt shoes bearing anx 
 ious mortals slid about on the polished floors, and no 
 one dared to so much as sneeze with freedom until 
 the countess s imperious bell announced that she had 
 deigned to open her eyes once more upon an unworthy 
 world. 
 
 Roschen, seizing her opportunity, would slip out 
 unobserved, hurry through the court, take a clever cir 
 cuitous route round the conventionally handsome gar 
 den, and disappear in the unconventional region which 
 Hugo in his childhood had called " The End of the 
 World." Here, across the straggling cedar twigs, 
 Bernhard looked in her eyes, and found there all his 
 happiness and all his hope ; while Roschen looked at 
 him, and at every other man she could see. The 
 hedge episode took place every morning. To Dietz 
 it was like a benediction on his day, and Roschen met 
 it with more punctuality than she employed toward 
 her other engagements. She liked the gaze of Bern- 
 hard s kind eyes well enough, and then there were 
 the other men, and they too had eyes. All men had 
 eyes, she observed, wherever she passed. 
 
 Again, toward evening, when the countess sat en 
 throned in the ecclesiastical dining-room, Mousey 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 99 
 
 reposing on her knee, or snapping sportively at the 
 solemn butler s heels ; when she was occupied with 
 the chief event of her day, and the only thing in life, 
 beside Mousey, of perennial interest to her, Rbschen 
 knew that no one would think of her for an hour and 
 a half at least. For Babette and the upstairs people 
 had only this respite the whole day long, and were 
 making the most of it, while the cook and the butler 
 and all the lower vassals were at the high-water mark 
 of trepidation and active service. So, in the gloam 
 ing, the lovers returned to the trysting-place, and this 
 time Bernhard did not remain upon the cold world s 
 side of the hedge. 
 
 The singer was the first to begin, and the last to 
 leave his work. Amid the innumerable sounds from 
 the growing building, his beautiful voice was always 
 carolling like a bird of good omen from his high perch. 
 It was a rare moment when he was silent. Some 
 times, indeed, he stopped singing to whistle, and then 
 again, he would stop whistling to sing, and it was 
 hard to say which was busiest all the day, his smile, 
 his chisel, or his song. 
 
 An obstinate man was Bernhard Dietz when once 
 he had made up his slow and gentle mind, and there 
 were three questions which he had decided to his own 
 satisfaction for all time. 
 
 Strangers driving past him at his work had often 
 stopped to listen to his high pure voice, spoken to 
 gether with animation, listened again, then requested 
 an interview ; and the tall, brown - bearded man, in 
 his grayish-white blouse and whitish-gray paper cap, 
 would answer smilingly, " Well, why not ? " make a 
 civil attempt to brush away with his handkerchief 
 some of the stone-dust that liberally powdered his 
 
100 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 face and hands and hair, and coming down in his de 
 liberate fashion, humming as he came, would join the 
 strangers and tranquilly let them talk. What they 
 had to say he had heard, indeed, scores of times, 
 and he merely smiled at their marvellous tales, and 
 shrugged his shoulders good-humoredly at the mention 
 of fabulous sums which he could earn upon the stage. 
 
 " I have learned my trade," he would at length 
 reply in his exasperatingly beautiful tenor and with 
 the simplicity of a child, " and years and trouble 
 enough it has cost me, and now I am going to stick to 
 it. A voice ? Every man s got a voice, if he will 
 open his mouth and let it out. Me strutting before 
 the footlights in velvet breeches ? I m obliged to 
 you, sir. I could never learn those tricks, if I died. 
 No, sir ; I 11 carve for pay, and I 11 sing for nothing. 
 That is the way I m built." They left him as they 
 found him, gentle, imperturbable, and deaf to their 
 eloquence. Since money did not tempt his contented 
 soul, they pronounced him stupid, and lamented na 
 ture s inscrutable irony in endowing so dull and gro 
 velling a spirit with a voice of rare power and sweet 
 ness, and with the stature of a Siegfried. 
 
 Meanwhile Dietz was first tenor in a men s chorus, 
 that shouted lustily and quaffed gallons of beer every 
 Saturday night in the inn known as the "Ox," in 
 Leslach. Often, too, Sunday evening Bernhard paid 
 his forty pfennings for a seat in the fifth gallery at 
 the opera. As he was born to whistle and sing every 
 thing he had ever heard, and as he had heard almost 
 everything worth hearing, his carving grew to the 
 sound of choice and classic melodies, his mammoth 
 goddesses wore a contented air, and his fruits looked 
 big and healthy like himself. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 101 
 
 Another of Ms obstinate 3<5nviciions was "TCliat life 
 is worth living. His friend ; .Peter ; lost- li opportu 
 nity to advance the contrary opinion/ Peter > was t a 
 beetle-browed stone-mason with a long, pointed nose. 
 He sang bass in the chorus at the Ox. The two had 
 known each other as boys, lived in the same street, 
 often returned from the day s work together, and pre 
 served that species of intimacy, so hard to define, 
 which never was and never could be friendship, yet 
 kindly in the main, and through force of habit a dis 
 tinct part of their lives. 
 
 While those handsome stone houses were building, 
 Peter proved incontrovertibly and many times, that 
 no man alive had any right to be rich enough to 
 build them. He preached equality and abolition of 
 power, and division of property, and poured forth 
 various advanced theories upon Bernhard, who, for the 
 most part silent and with smiling eyes, would neither 
 lose his temper nor be enlightened. 
 
 But one rainy noon, when Roschen had declined the 
 rendezvous, and Peter had come up to stare wrath- 
 fully at the last goddess s ringlets, and to declare in 
 her very presence that she had no right to exist, Bern- 
 hard, after appeasing her for the spretce injuria for- 
 mce by singing a charming low love-song to her as 
 he chipped at her Olympian ear, turned, put down 
 his chisel, listened a moment to the rain-drops fall 
 ing hard upon the canvas stretched above him, and 
 then, to the grumbler s secret surprise, replied to his 
 last tirade. 
 
 " Why not ? " he began placidly. " Why should he 
 not build it ? Why should n t he have carving on it 
 if he likes ? Where would you and I be to-day, if no 
 one was rich enough to build houses, Peter?" 
 
102 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 "That is n t the question." 
 
 .<tf It. tiiy, question,, and my question is as good as 
 another man s," Dietz* said with his slow, gentle into 
 nation. 
 
 " It s the general question of freedom and justice," 
 Peter returned grandly. 
 
 Bernhard looked at him smilingly and whistled be 
 tween his teeth. 
 
 " In America it s different. All men are equal 
 there. America is the land of liberty." 
 
 " Oh, I suppose there are n t any rich men there 
 who build houses and hire stone-masons." 
 
 " It s the principles," Peter said vaguely, u the 
 principles are different." 
 
 "Why not? But they re human over there? 
 They can t fly yet ? Why, man, it s all one thing. 
 If there had n t been any Europe, there would n t be 
 any America. There s good and bad there as here. 
 It s a pretty sensible country, so far as I know, 
 but I Ve no wish to emigrate. England is a pretty 
 sensible country too," he added, "but it suits me 
 here." 
 
 " Well, it does n t suit me, and when I get the 
 chance I m going to America." 
 
 " I don t think you will like it much better." 
 
 " Perhaps I shall not. But I want to breathe free 
 air once in my life," Peter replied irascibly. "If 
 there is any liberty, I want some." 
 
 "Liberty!" repeated Bernhard, softly. "No man 
 anywhere has more than the liberty of doing his 
 duty." 
 
 " I deny the rights of kings," Peter exclaimed 
 fiercely. " I deny the privileges of birth and inher 
 itance. I deny " 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 103 
 
 " Deny for all of me. As far as I see, somebody 
 has got to rule, and I d rather be ruled over by a 
 decent kind of king who s tried to learn his trade 
 than by a mob of hot-headed fellows like you." 
 
 " The voice of the people " began Peter. 
 
 "Yes, yes, I hear a great deal of talk about that 
 voice. I don t think much of it myself," Bernhard 
 rejoined thoughtfully. " Sometimes it shouts right 
 and sometimes wrong. Once it shouted Crucify 
 him ! And though I don t pretend to know much 
 history, it seems to me it has been mostly cruel ever 
 since ; as cruel as kings." 
 
 "You talk so old-fashioned, Dietz," Peter said con 
 temptuously. "You ought to come with me and hear 
 some speeches." 
 
 " I don t think I d find anything new in them 
 either. Envy and murder are as old as Cain and 
 Abel." 
 
 " You can t smile away the oppression and injustice 
 and suffering," Peter cried angrily, "and hard work 
 and poor pay and no chance ! " 
 
 " I m not denying there is great wrong in the 
 world, and great unevenness some too high and 
 some too low. But the ones that are down and tram 
 pled upon, why do they want to turn things topsy 
 turvy and get on top ? To help ? To show the right 
 way of doing things because they have suffered from 
 the wrong ? Not a bit of it ! To trample in their 
 turn. And that s why I say sneaking about with 
 dynamite bombs in your pocket and blowing up 
 kings and churches and bridges and women and little 
 children is mighty mean business in the first place, 
 and in the second, it is n t going to change things. 
 The heart of things is always the same." Turning 
 
104 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 his calm, ruminating gaze from Peter toward the city 
 and the encircling heights, " There will always be differ 
 ences," he said, with a slow, sweeping gesture, " there 
 will always be hills and valleys. That s nature." 
 
 "Nature be hanged," said Peter, turning his back 
 on the wet, gray landscape, and relighting his pipe. 
 " A man s well, that s nature ; a man s sick, that s 
 nature ; he s dead, that s nature too. You call in a 
 doctor to cure him is that nature ? " 
 
 Bernhard nodded. 
 
 " Yes, that s nature," he admitted. 
 
 "You see, nature is anything you like. Well," 
 Peter went on with a grim smile, " there is something 
 we mean to cure. There is a bad kind of disease that 
 needs doctoring. We are going to doctor it. That s 
 all." 
 
 Dietz folded his arms, leaned against the window- 
 frame, and continued to stare far down the valley, 
 with the peculiar mildness of expression which Peter 
 found more irritating than the most quarrelsome retort 
 of another man. 
 
 After a moment, he began again, abruptly glaring 
 at the offending goddess above Dietz s head, 
 
 "Look at the man that s building these houses. 
 He s piling up his millions. He does n t know what 
 to do with his money. He builds houses because he 
 can t think of anything else to do. He is a hard man, 
 a close man, hard as flint. Why should he hoard, 
 and we work and pinch? Answer me that." 
 
 " See here, Peter, I earn more money than you, 
 don t I ? because carving pays better than masonry. 
 Is that any reason why you should hate me, and come 
 in the night and smash my goddess here, and steal my 
 wallet? Well, the man that s building this house 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 105 
 
 earns more money than either of us. I don t care 
 how. He s got it, and it s his." 
 
 Peter interrupted impatiently, but Bernhard went 
 on : " No, Peter, you have been talking at me for 
 months. Now it s my turn. I 11 tell you once for 
 all how I look at these things, and then we 11 have 
 a rest. I say the man has a right to his own. But 
 suppose you kill him, and take his money ? And sup 
 pose there is n t any law to punish you you fellows 
 want to abolish the law, too, with the other things ; 
 well, you would have the money instead of his having 
 it. That is all the difference I see. For there is one 
 thing sure. If you had a fortune, you would not talk 
 so loud about division of property. Perhaps there is 
 a poor man," Dietz added, meditatively, " who, if he 
 should inherit a fortune this minute, would distribute 
 it before sundown. When I see him do it, I 11 be 
 lieve in him." 
 
 " It s no use beating about the bush. No man has 
 a right to pile up money and crush down other people. 
 No man has a right to live in luxury, and let people 
 starve around him." 
 
 " It does seem as if it would help along if they d 
 use in good ways what they can t eat or enjoy or use 
 sensibly for themselves ; but it is a hard question, 
 Peter, and better men than you and I are working at 
 it. All I have to say is, cursing and killing will never 
 do any good; but perhaps sometime the clever heads 
 will think out a way to help. If each man would do 
 his own work, and mind his own business, and have a 
 friendly thought for his neighbor, that would be all 
 the revolution the world needs, and I take it we d be 
 vastly astonished at the change," Bernhard added, 
 with a pleasant laugh. 
 
106 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " There s another kind of change coming," Peter 
 muttered. u Put your ear to the ground and you can 
 hear it gathering." 
 
 " Well, it won t change the heart of things," Bern- 
 hard rejoined tranquilly. "And it won t succeed, 
 because it will find too many men ready to fight for 
 peace." 
 
 " There are times when a man with any spirit in him 
 must rebel. Let cows chew their cuds and be con 
 tent." 
 
 " Thank you, Peter, thank you kindly," Dietz said, 
 with aggravating good-humor, " but let me tell you it 
 is n t always the spirit in a man that makes him want 
 to fight, instead of chewing his cud like an honest 
 cow? sometimes it s liver. When a man s liver s 
 wrong, he always wants to meddle. Look at yourself, 
 Peter. Look at your long, bilious, yellow, discon 
 tented nose ; you d better take care, or you 11 follow 
 it to a bad end. Sometimes I think if the Lord s 
 made any mistake, it s in creating too much liver." 
 
 " That s foolish talk," Peter replied, with a reluc 
 tant smile. 
 
 " But there s something in it," Bernhard persisted. 
 " Look at Russia. There s a deal of liver in Russia." 
 
 " You need n t look so far," retorted the other dog 
 gedly. "Look at home. Look everywhere. Look 
 and listen. It s rising. It s coming. And then the 
 brothers of the poor and the crushed will stand shoul 
 der to shoulder." 
 
 " Peter," Bernhard began gravely, " I believe you 
 are better than your talk. You don t mean all that 
 you say. I would do as much for a man in need as 
 any of your brothers, and you know it. But I have 
 no faith in your leagues and devil s fermenting-pots. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 107 
 
 And you 4 brothers don t hang together, either. 
 When Johann had his fever, and could n t pay his 
 rent, or his life insurance, and there were the four 
 young ones, and a baby a few days old, what did I 
 hear you say, but that it served him right for his tip 
 pling ? And when he had knocked at the doors of 
 all his relatives and friends, and at last the Lord 
 above put it into the heart of a stranger, a rich 
 stranger, mind you ! to lend him the money, were 
 you glad ? No, Peter, you were not. You said that 
 the stranger was a fool and would never see a kreutzer 
 of it again, but since he had it to give, he would never 
 miss it; so the giving was no virtue, and trusting 
 Johann no kindness ; and Johann was a fool to be 
 married and have such a family at his age, and 
 everybody got blame and curses all round." 
 
 " Oh, come now, Dietz, a man s hasty words have 
 nothing to do with his convictions." 
 
 " Well, I think they have, and more than all the 
 hashed-up talk he gets out of bloodthirsty pam 
 phlets." 
 
 " It s being down-trodden that hardens a man " 
 
 u You re not starving," Bernhard said dryly. " I 
 notice that all you fellows that are smouldering and 
 ready to break out have your beer pretty regular. 
 I d forgive a starving man for anything. But I can t 
 abide you others, raving about Labor and Capital as 
 if the poor were all saints and the rich all devils, 
 and plotting to destroy, and all the time hating one 
 another, and envious and grudging and quarrelsome, 
 every man s hand against his brother. Is that the 
 way to help along ? Is that the way to make things 
 happier ? Do you call that reason ? Do you call that 
 progress ? I m obliged to you, Peter," the slow, soft 
 
108 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 voice concluded. " I don t want any liberty thrust at 
 me on the point of a bayonet, or flung at me in dyna 
 mite. A king may be old-fashioned, but I think I 11 
 stick to him a little longer." 
 
 And Bernhard s socialistic notions progressed not a 
 whit. And if he could not be persuaded to grasp his 
 own advantage and climb a musical ladder toward 
 fame, or join the underground brotherhood, he was a 
 thousand times more tranquilly stubborn, more smil 
 ingly blind in his attachment to Roschen. 
 
 His parents had never liked the girl, his friends won 
 dered as friends are apt to wonder what he saw 
 in her, and everybody knew that he could look higher. 
 But since his boyhood, when he used to watch the 
 girls and children filling their pitchers at the old foun 
 tain in the middle of the square at Leslach, where the 
 closely packed, irregular houses, with tumble-down 
 roofs and steep gables, seemed to lean forward in the 
 twilight and listen with him to the gossip and laugh 
 ter of the women, Roschen had been his idol. She 
 had a peachy look, and a fresh smile, and a way with 
 her which he could not resist. Indeed, he had never 
 made the faintest effort to resist Roschen, and when 
 he once took the loving thought of any man or woman 
 into the stronghold of his kind and loyal heart, he 
 never again let it go. 
 
 " She s light-minded and spoiled," his old mother 
 did not hesitate to tell him with many a doleful sigh. 
 " She has her eye on the men." To which Bernhard 
 would respond with a smile of security and infinite 
 indulgence. 
 
 He considered himself rather a travelled man, for 
 a patron strongly interested in him had once induced 
 him to go to London, where in spite of an excellent 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 109 
 
 position and high pay he grew silent and pale, neither 
 whistled nor sang, and one day announced to his em 
 ployer, " I must hurry back." 
 
 To entreaties, arguments, and substantial promises, 
 he listened with an absent look in his eyes, a queer, 
 shy smile, and the one soft, obstinate answer, " I must 
 hurry back." 
 
 For a deadly home-sickness was consuming him, and 
 London was but a poor, wretched place without Ros- 
 chen. If he stayed he could earn more money than at 
 home, and repay his father for the extra time and 
 training he had allowed him, as well as certain fam 
 ily debts which he had assumed, and consequently 
 be sooner free to marry. This consideration tortured 
 him a whole day, presenting itself in the light of a 
 possible duty. But before sundown his doubts were 
 fled. " Money s not the best thing in the world, 
 thank God," he reflected cheerfully, " and Roschen 
 and I are young yet." 
 
 And he did " hurry back " to earn less, sing more, 
 and be happy in his own way. They were to be mar 
 ried in a year now, he hoped, and when^ instead of a 
 gloomy London Sunday with no sweetheart and no 
 music, he could walk out arm-in-arm with Roschen, 
 hear music, and see cheerful faces on every side, 
 and when in addition to so much bliss, some houses 
 requiring much carved ornamentation engaged him 
 weeks in the Heine Strasse, and close to the villa 
 where Roschen was employed, and he could catch fre 
 quent passing glimpses of her, beside having a blessed 
 little chat over the hedge now and then, his sunny 
 spirit was less than ever inclined to remodel a world 
 so full of gladness and hope. 
 
 As for Roschen, she liked to walk out with him 
 
110 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 when he wore his Sunday suit, in which he looked 
 rather awkward and ill at ease ; but she secretly dis 
 liked the long white blouse and paper-cap of week 
 days, because they reminded her of the paternal 
 bakery. That a man shaped stone instead of dough 
 was but a small advance in gentility, provided he 
 must still wear that ugly garment. If he were only 
 well-dressed and smiling behind a counter ! That 
 would be finer than chipping all day at stones like a 
 common mason. But most of all her mind was always 
 wandering from him and his happy plans to lay its 
 crude admiration at the booted and spurred feet of 
 every military man that strode by. 
 
 " Bernhard, I look like a baroness," she announced 
 triumphantly, the evening after Gabrielle s arrival. 
 "I do, really ! I look like the new young lady." 
 Her thoughts made wild, confused flights into a realm 
 of unknown splendor. One of the factory girls had 
 told her of a ballet-dancer who married a prince. 
 Well ! After that, anything might happen. 
 
 " Child, you don t know how you look," the man s 
 tender voice answered in the dusk. " You can t know. 
 But I know, and there is something I am going to do 
 before I die. I am going to make a figure of you. I 
 never did such a thing, but I can of you! I feel 
 that I can. I see it before me night and day. And I 
 could model you if I were blind, for you re carved 
 in my heart, Roschen, carved in my heart." His 
 voice faltered for love of her and for the daring of 
 his thought ; but her color did not deepen, her bold 
 gaze never drooped, and her bright, satisfied young 
 smile had nought for him that the whole world might 
 not claim. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " I DID N T even ask him to come down. In fact, I 
 told him he d better stay upstairs. There s an east 
 wind and he s feeling low." 
 
 " Oh," returned Gabrielle surprised and uncertain, 
 " I beg your pardon, but I understood that Count 
 Hugo s rooms were on this floor, under mine. I am 
 sorry he feels so ill." 
 
 " Hugo ? " said the mother, with a stare. After a 
 pause, she resumed : "I happen to be speaking of my 
 poor little Mousey. The darling is so sensitive, and I 
 do not feel quite sure whether it is his liver or his 
 lungs. I gave him some nux in the night, some hy- 
 oscyamus early this morning, and just now a good 
 dose of aconite. I have great faith in aconite. He 
 looked disgusted when I offered him beef-tea, but I 
 finally prevailed upon him to sip a little barley-water." 
 
 It was Gabrielle s first lunch in the cathedral-like 
 dining-room, where the countess had just appeared 
 looking anxious and hurried. Gabrielle had been all 
 the morning at a loss to know what was expected of 
 her. She first awaited a summons from the countess 
 and none came. " Perhaps she expects me to come 
 and bid her good-morning," she thought, and wan 
 dered along the corridor toward the countess s rooms, 
 but was intercepted by Babette, who in a civil but 
 energetic whisper warned her off those precincts. 
 Sympathetically imitating the air of stealthy misde 
 meanor worn by every one in the house at this hour, 
 
112 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 she crept down the great stairway and met the butler, 
 who was astonished but not ill-pleased at her phe 
 nomenal appearance at nine o clock in the morning. 
 Bewildered as he felt, his genius rose to the occasion. 
 Striding before her in his big felt shoes, with the con 
 spicuous effort of a stage villain, turning now and 
 then and beckoning encouragingly, he opened sev 
 eral doors for her with a practiced manipulation of 
 knobs and a masterly avoidance of creaks, and finally 
 ushered her into a small octagonal library with a blue 
 dome-ceiling, where he panted as if they had just 
 scaled a steep and perilous path, and with an eloquent 
 pantomime respectful, deprecating, yet insistent 
 gave her to understand that it would conduce to the 
 general weal if she would remain there. 
 
 " Am I in an asylum of deaf-mutes ? " thought the 
 young girl, as she was left alone, amused, yet not 
 without a certain sense of wounded dignity. " Last 
 night a prisoner in the southeast upper corner, this 
 morning in the southwest lower corner. Never mind. 
 This is but the beginning. It simply can t go on in 
 this manner. The little library is charming, and per 
 haps I d better wait quietly here until somebody sends 
 for me, since wherever I appear I seem to produce as 
 much consternation as an epidemic." 
 
 Taking a book from the shelves, she seated herself 
 at a window and read hour after hour, occasionally 
 watching the builders and listening always to Bern- 
 hard Dietz, who was interpreting Wagner this morn 
 ing now low, now loud ; now pausing to scrutinize 
 his work; now whistling with extraordinary perfec 
 tion of detail, now breaking forth in a great gush of 
 song, tossing the melody back and forth from his 
 whistling-voice to his singing-voice, and as uncon 
 scious of effect as a free glad bird. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 113 
 
 " A man does good who sings like that," thought 
 Gabrielle, and read patiently until the butler sum 
 moned her to lunch. 
 
 The countess, with a preoccupied air, kissed her 
 lightly on either cheek. " I hope you rested well, my 
 dear," she said, and without waiting for Gabrielle s 
 reply, added : " We have had a wretched night. Lei- 
 ble, the cook is inexcusably careless. Tell her if she 
 serves this coarse ragout again, I shall discharge her. 
 I need something to tempt my appetite this morning. 
 Bring me some pate de foie gras." 
 
 The anxious butler moved noiselessly to and fro. 
 The countess ate hurriedly, finding fault with, yet de 
 voting herself assiduously to each dish. Gabrielle 
 had never seen any one take lunch so seriously. The 
 atmosphere was so heavy, the countess so dominant 
 and self-engrossed, that the young girl, though quite 
 untrained to timidity, experienced a certain embarrass 
 ment and doubt. She ventured a harmless remark, 
 which the countess chose to ignore. Gabrielle col 
 ored, and determined to be silent and dignified. But 
 her stiffness produced no more perceptible impres 
 sion than had her modest attempt at entertainment. 
 It seemed to her that she had lived a century or two 
 at the villa, and was of somewhat less consequence 
 than the sideboard. 
 
 At length the countess deigned to look at her as if 
 she were a visible object, and suddenly communicated 
 the fact that she had not asked " him " to come down 
 stairs, and alluded to " his " lowness of mind on ac 
 count of the east wind. 
 
 When the identity of the sufferer had been fully 
 established in Gabrielle s mind, she succeeded in ex 
 pressing a carelessly benevolent wish for the dog s 
 
114 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 speedy convalescence, but was unable, in spite of her 
 courteous effort, to concentrate her attention upon his 
 various organs, which the countess with animation and 
 unflinching realism now laid bare for her inspection. 
 
 " And Count Hugo ? " she inquired, seizing a for 
 tuitous moment, when the countess discontinued her 
 exposition, in order to extract a delectable bit of 
 truffle from her pate. " How is he this morning ? " 
 
 u Oh," said the countess, " Hugo is as usual, I pre 
 sume. There is no especial change from day to day. 
 That could hardly be expected. I have not seen him 
 yet. I make it a rule to go to him always before 
 lunch," she added with a fine air of conscientiousness, 
 " but I was detained this morning, as I have told you." 
 After a moment she added, u There is something so 
 pathetic in his sufferings." 
 
 " Ah, yes," murmured Gabrielle with warmth. 
 
 "A little, suffering, dumb thing," continued the 
 countess. Gabrielle gave a slight start, and leaned 
 back in her chair. " So innocent, so appealing," 
 a pretty, meditative smile played over the countess s 
 face. " Nothing touches me like the thought that 
 he cannot tell me where his pain is, and whether it is 
 lungs or liver." 
 
 She excavated another truffle. 
 
 " I am sure that it is either the one or the other," 
 she remarked with conviction. 
 
 Gabrielle had lost her appetite. She watched the 
 countess s large, pale hands moving softly and busily 
 with a splendid flashing of diamonds and sapphires, 
 and began to fancy the hands themselves, independent 
 of the woman behind them, were greedy and insati 
 able. The long silences and the gloom of the room 
 oppressed her. Eallying, she asked brightly : 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 115 
 
 " And when am I to see Count Hugo ? " 
 
 The countess put down her knife and fork. 
 
 " This is the third time," she said with a mistrust 
 ful, jealous expression incomprehensible to Gabrielle, 
 " that you have demanded Hugo. Pray did you come 
 here to be my son s companion or mine ? " 
 
 Not the words so much as the positive brutality of 
 accompanying voice and look made Gabrielle feel as 
 if she had received a blow in the face. No one had 
 ever spoken to her in so aggressive and rude a tone. 
 She fixed her eyes upon her hostess with unequivocal 
 hostility. 
 
 The countess gave a short nervous laugh. 
 
 " Well, you need n t get into a pet about it, need 
 you ? You need not stare so." 
 
 Gabrielle lowered her resentful gaze to her own 
 plate, and said nothing. 
 
 After a long uncomfortable pause, the older woman 
 laughed uneasily again, and asked : 
 
 " Why are you so anxious to see Hugo ? " 
 
 " I am so very sorry for him," returned the young 
 oirl, her voice at first low and uncertain. Then look- 
 
 O 
 
 ing squarely at the countess, " And I did hope to be 
 more or less a companion to him," she added. " It 
 was my strongest reason for coming here. I longed 
 to do everything in my power for him. And it seems 
 to me a very natural wish on my part," she concluded 
 with composure and a covert challenge. 
 
 " He was a great lady-killer, before this happened," 
 the countess informed her, with airy irrelevance. 
 " Not that his estimate of woman was ever what it 
 should have been, I grieve to say," with a sigh sug 
 gestive of lofty morality, " and his ideas at present 
 are still worse, distorted," she cut a good thick 
 
116 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 slice of pate " cynical really quite shocking. And 
 I am afraid, my dear, that you are going to be sadly 
 disappointed," she continued with a malicious mock 
 ing air, " for you could not expect me to act against 
 his wishes, poor boy ; and I can scarcely venture to 
 refer to you again, at least not for some time, and 
 you would not wonder, if you had seen how irritated 
 he was yesterday, when I simply announced that you 
 were coming." 
 
 " Oh, I certainly do not wish to see him against his 
 will," returned Gabrielle very rapidly and trying to 
 smile. " I shall not insist upon the acquaintance. 
 But he may change his mind. And I am sorry for 
 him all the same," she exclaimed with generous 
 warmth. " I would do anything in the world for 
 him." 
 
 " Well, well," said the countess, as if they had 
 been discussing nothing more serious than syllabub, 
 " I must not sit here all day. My little man will be 
 wondering what has become of me, and at three I 
 must drive to the Frau Major s. I should like you to 
 come too, Gabrielle." Rising, she smiled pleasantly 
 on the bewildered girl, and patted her shoulder. " I 
 wish to present my new child to some of my friends. 
 You must call me Aunt Adelheid. Wear a pretty 
 street gown, my dear. Whoever ordered your ward 
 robe did well. Your travelling suit was perfect. I 
 did not suspect you of so much elegance in your 
 remote wilds." 
 
 " Frau von Eahden that is, Frau von Dohna or 
 dered everything for me in Berlin. I deserve no 
 credit," Gabrielle returned coldly. 
 
 " Well, make yourself charming. You will have 
 no difficulty, I am sure. This evening we will go to 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 117 
 
 the opera. It is Carmen. I am a perfect child about 
 Carmen. You know it?" 
 
 " No," Gabrielle said gravely, restive under the 
 pressure of the countess s hand on her arm, as they 
 walked through the hall, and wondering at the win 
 ning smiles and artless juvenile manner of her poly 
 morphic companion. 
 
 " So much the more pleasure for you. As for me, 
 none feels music as I do. I am most exquisitely sensi 
 tive to it. I revel in it. I presume you have n t a con 
 ception of my feelings when I am listening to music." 
 
 " No," said Gabrielle absently. 
 
 The butler was on the alert to see in which direc 
 tion he should fling open the doors. 
 
 The countess stopped, hesitated, sighed, and an 
 nounced virtuously : 
 
 " I will go in a few moments to my son. He will 
 not thank me, but a mother s duty is sacred, whatever 
 be the son s mood. Gabrielle, if you will dress and 
 come to my rooms a little before three, I will see if 
 Mousey feels like meeting you. He is sensitive to the 
 approach of strangers, and ought not to be excited 
 to-day. But I will ask him if he wishes to see you, 
 and if he says he does I don t think you will do him 
 any harm. On the contrary you might divert him. 
 Au revoir, my dear ! " 
 
 Gabrielle took refuge in her room, sat down, and 
 stared blankly at her rose-colored wall. It was petty 
 to feel so vexed and uncomfortable, she reflected. 
 And if the old lady was impatient, what then ? But 
 she was not only impatient. She was startling and 
 unexpected in the extreme. It was difficult to follow 
 her volatile springs, while her disapproval was heavily 
 aggressive and insultingly suspicious, and her direct 
 
118 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 blows were ponderous as a blacksmith s fist. " And 
 the trouble is, she makes me conscious of myself, and 
 that irritates me. I have never been accustomed to 
 be peering in my own soul-windows all the time, and 
 I don t like it." Yet Gabrielle was ashamed of her 
 condemning spirit, of her flushed cheeks and quick 
 ened pulses, and felt inclined to blame herself for 
 some involuntary misconception. " No doubt she is 
 unhappy," she reasoned, " and nervous, and Count 
 Hugo is a trial to her." But she grew more and more 
 confused and uncertain of her own opinions, as were 
 most people who attempted to study the Countess 
 of Kronfels mercurial idiosyncrasies. Resolving to 
 have patience in any event and wisdom if she could 
 attain to it, she tied her bonnet-strings with un 
 wonted gravity, and vaguely commending herself to 
 all good spirits, went slowly toward the countess s 
 rooms, not precisely timid, but excited and with an 
 unpleasant sense of having lost her ancient land 
 marks. 
 
 Her thoughtfulness, together with the serious effect 
 of her best bonnet, gave her an unusually dignified 
 expression as she joined the countess. That lady 
 sat in an easy-chair near a table, upon which were 
 magazines, newspapers, and a liqueur-stand. She was 
 smoking a cigarette, skimming through her Figaro, 
 and conversing at intervals with the indisposed Mou 
 sey, who was stretched upon her knee in a languid 
 and loose attitude, his paws clasped dejectedly over 
 his countenance. 
 
 He sprang down, however, and greeted the stran 
 ger s entrance with a volley of sharp barks, rush 
 ing furiously at and around her, and attacking her 
 skirts and feet with futile snaps. She stood quite still 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 119 
 
 during this paroxysm, congratulating herself that his 
 teeth were few and blunt, and that his worst bite was 
 but a pinch. 
 
 " There, there, my pet," said the countess, with an 
 indulgent smile. " It will not hurt him," she ex 
 plained to Gabrielle ; " on the contrary, if he does not 
 become over-excited, this animation will do him good. 
 His lethargy has alarmed me. Come, Mousey, my 
 angel, come and shake hands. Mumsey must go now 
 and put on her bonnet." 
 
 But Mousey, who, like his mistress, could usually 
 be relied upon for the unexpected, looked from one to 
 the other with malicious scrutiny, and without more 
 circumstance, turned his back and trotted into his vel 
 vet house. 
 
 " Mousey does not seem to like me," Gabrielle said 
 demurely. 
 
 " He does not know you. He is always reserved 
 with strangers. It is a fine trait, I think. Only shal 
 low natures make friends easily. But you will soon 
 see that he is no ordinary dog." 
 
 "No, I already think him a most extraordinary 
 animal," Gabrielle could not resist the temptation to 
 retort. 
 
 A long low growl from the velvet house followed 
 her double-faced remark. 
 
 " Do you hear ? He knows that we are talking of 
 him. Sometimes he does not like it. He is so highly 
 organized, so sensitive to every word and look and 
 tone. You would not believe that I was entertaining 
 him with French politics just now." 
 
 " Oh ! " ejaculated Gabrielle with a merry laugh, 
 which she tried somewhat ineffectually to repress, per 
 ceiving that the countess was quite serious. 
 
120 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 *" You do not believe it ? Wait. You will soon 
 find out whether my blessed Mousey has intellect or 
 what stupid people call instinct. Your gown is very 
 well, Gabrielle. A little serious, perhaps, but it errs 
 on the right side. You must not be forbidding, my 
 dear. Society does not admire that manner in youth. 
 Don t look so earnestly at people. It is unusual. It 
 makes one uncomfortable. You were so tall and still 
 and grave as you entered the room, it was quite appall 
 ing. A girl like you ought to be sunny and expan 
 sive. Why, when I was your age I had wings ! " 
 
 " Indeed," was the frigid reply, and Gabrielle felt 
 that her wings were being clipped closer every instant. 
 
 " Amuse yourself a few moments. My bonnet and 
 gloves are self-adjusting. I leave vanity to youth." 
 She rustled into her dressing-room, throwing a kiss to 
 Mousey, whose bright eyes were visible, gleaming from 
 his own portals. 
 
 His yellow head now thrust itself across his thresh 
 old. He surveyed Gabrielle with unremitting atten 
 tion. Presently he came out of his retreat and ad 
 vanced toward her, his shrewd gaze fixed upon her 
 face. He sniffed her gray silk folds, reconnoitred 
 the resting place afforded by her knees, and with a 
 trust in her magnanimity which argued well for his 
 knowledge of human nature, sprang up and took pos 
 session of her. 
 
 Amused at the comedy he had played, her hand 
 fell naturally upon his little curled-up back. The dog 
 growled and turned his head with a threatening move 
 ment. 
 
 " Oh, come now, Mousey," she began, looking in 
 his false bright eyes, " if you can t bear my hand, I 
 can t bear you on my knee. If it s a liberty on my 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 121 
 
 part, it is a greater one on yours, and you may get 
 down as soon as you like, sir ! " 
 
 Mousey put his head on one side, cocked his left 
 eye wickedly at her, and weighed her words. Mean 
 while her hand was resting quietly upon his sacred 
 person. Concluding that she meant what she said, 
 and finding himself in comfortable quarters, he had 
 a special predilection for reclining upon new silk of 
 good quality, his weariness relaxed, he drooped his 
 head, and with a long sigh of satisfaction, went to 
 sleep. 
 
 In spite of the self-adjusting properties of the 
 countess s attire, Babette and Roschen were minister 
 ing to her for some time, with hair-pins, hand mirrors, 
 powder-puffs, and perfume ; but invariably, it would 
 appear from the excitement attending her toilet, 
 they proffered the article undesired at the moment, 
 and never could learn to anticipate her wish. 
 
 " The little love ! " she exclaimed rapturously, as 
 she rejoined Gabrielle. " And you a perfect stranger. 
 Is not that sweet-tempered ? Angel-dog ! " 
 
 Gabrielle smiled, and her hand, resting on the little 
 warm body, moved innocently up to his head. 
 
 But no sooner did the napping animal perceive the 
 slight pressure between his ears, than he sprang at her 
 face like a mad creature, with a succession of angry 
 snaps. 
 
 Gabrielle, startled, pushed him down, and rose. 
 Had Mousey been a pack of dogs he could scarcely 
 have attacked the enemy at more points at once, and 
 uttered a greater number of fiendish yelps. 
 
 " But you ought not to have touched his head ! " 
 shrieked the countess. " You ought not ! He never 
 allows it." 
 
122 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 The dog was beside himself with rage. 
 
 " In old times they would have said he was pos 
 sessed of a devil," Gabrielle thought, watching him 
 with a certain fascination, as he circled round her, 
 seizing her wherever he could, his black eyes gleam 
 ing fiercely, his voice raised in maniacal expostula 
 tion. 
 
 "Calm thyself, my angel," cried the countess in 
 French. " He will be so fatigued after this. Oh, 
 how could you touch his head ! How could you be so 
 unkind ! " 
 
 She stooped and seized the quivering animal, held 
 him to her cheek and fondled him, her eyes suffused 
 with tears. 
 
 " My treasure my dove. There ! there ! " and 
 Mousey, exhausted by the violence of his outbreak, 
 suffered her caresses. Breathing stertorously and 
 casting an evil eye at Gabrielle, he was redeposited in 
 his velvet house, where he consented to swallow six 
 globules of aconite. " He is trembling like a leaf. 
 He is most dangerously excited," the countess said 
 testily, wiping her eyes and breathing loud. " Why 
 everybody persists in touching his head I can t im 
 agine." 
 
 " But I did not know," protested Gabrielle. 
 
 " You have driven him to the very verge of brain 
 fever." 
 
 Gabrielle had not found being the object of the in 
 furiated little animal s aggressions a pleasing occupa 
 tion, and felt disinclined to fall prostrate before the 
 dog, or for the matter of that, before the countess. 
 The whole scene seemed ludicrous to her, and she was 
 determined not to make a tragedy of it. 
 
 " But what should one touch, if not a dog s head ? " 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 123 
 
 she replied brightly. " Surely not his tail ? Then 
 Mousey has none, to speak of." 
 
 This derogatory remark induced a glance of stern 
 reproach from the countess, and a growl of protest 
 from the velvet house. 
 
 " I have always believed," began the countess sol 
 emnly, " that Mousey was once badly hurt on the 
 head, in his infancy, perhaps, and that he re 
 members the pain, and on that account dreads being 
 touched there." 
 
 "Why, that sounds very reasonable," Gabrielle 
 returned cheerfully, " only don t you think he could 
 be taught to be a little less demonstrative ? It would 
 really have thrown some women into hysterics, you 
 know ; and then, why did you not tell me ? " she per 
 sisted, laughing slightly, and looking at the countess 
 with resolute good humor. 
 
 " Oh, I have told people till I am tired. It makes 
 110 impression. They always know more about your 
 own dog than you do. They smile and stroke his 
 head in spite of my warning, and Mousey invariably 
 responds with an attack of delirium, poor dear, poor 
 dear ! It is his temperament," she concluded with 
 fatalistic helplessness. 
 
 It occurred to Gabrielle that the excess of temper 
 ament might have been lessened by a judicious modi 
 cum of chastisement. Still smiling she inquired, 
 
 " Does he entertain all your visitors with this ani 
 mated scene ? " 
 
 " If they are so dull as to touch his head, yes," said 
 the countess with a frown. 
 
 " What a general favorite he must be ! " returned 
 Gabrielle gayly. 
 
 " If you think it good manners to ridicule an old 
 
124 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 woman and her only friend, pray continue," said the 
 countess, white with wrath, and in the deep and sur 
 prising bass which, striking one suddenly, had the 
 effect of a mental sledge-hammer. 
 
 Gabrielle felt, indeed, more or less stunned, and 
 already deplored her vivacity ; yet an instinct of self- 
 preservation induced her to rise and front the foe, 
 rather than be at once and forever crushed into noth 
 ingness. 
 
 She came toward the countess, who stared straight 
 before her, without a glance at the young girl. 
 
 " She is very, very trying," thought Gabrielle, 
 watching the stony, unpropitious face, and the chest 
 laboring for breath, " but she is more than sixty years 
 old and she is not well; she is very uncomfortable, or 
 she would not lean back and breathe like that." 
 
 " Aunt Adelheid," she said for the first time, and 
 with a queer little cough, as if the words choked her, 
 " I did not ridicule you. I was laughing at Mousey, 
 for he is very funny. Why may not one joke about 
 a dog ? " 
 
 No answer. After a long pause, Gabrielle con 
 tinued with less spirit : 
 
 " I am sorry if I have annoyed you." 
 
 No response. 
 
 Gabrielle gave a little sigh. 
 
 " We were always joking about everything at 
 home," she said pleadingly. 
 
 The countess rose, poured a glassful of curaoa, and 
 drank it hastily. 
 
 " This unpleasant scene has shaken my nerves," she 
 said coldly, without a glance at Gabrielle. " I dislike 
 scenes, and they are very injurious to me. Let us go, 
 since go we must." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 125 
 
 " Why need we go, if you do not feel well enough? " 
 Gabrielle suggested conciliatingly. 
 
 " Perhaps you will allow me to arrange my time and 
 engagements for myself," returned the bass voice, fol 
 lowed by a caressing treble, which murmured, " Adieu, 
 sweetheart. Rest well and be comforted." 
 
 Gabrielle silently accompanied the heavy rustling 
 figure through the corridor and down the stairway. 
 The butler and maids knew the meaning of that rigid 
 white face. 
 
 " She s been rowing it with the young lady," whis 
 pered Roschen, hurrying towards the outer door with 
 wraps. " So much the better for you and me." 
 
 " Don t be too sure ! There is always enough row 
 left for us," muttered Babette, advancing the next 
 moment to the coupe with extreme deference, bearing 
 the countess s card-case, visiting-book, vinaigrette, and 
 lorgnon, and depositing them in a carriage-pocket, as 
 tenderly as if they were precious relics. 
 
 The countess looked large and forbidding. Ga 
 brielle in her corner tried to make herself as small as 
 possible, and felt like a culprit. As they drove out 
 of the gates, Peter scowled, thinking, " There they go, 
 the idlers, who have nothing to do but enjoy them 
 selves and spend money, curse them ! " While Dietz, 
 who was whistling the Minuet from Don Giovanni, 
 glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of 
 the beautiful young lady, who was like his Ros- 
 chen, only different ; and the thought which he sent 
 after the retreating carriage was so purely kind, it 
 resembled a blessing or a prayer. 
 
 "Shall I speak? ShaU I remain silent?" Ga 
 brielle asked herself. "It is easier to be silent, so 
 perhaps I ought to say something." 
 
126 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " How cheerful and busy the workmen sound," she 
 began. " I watched them a long time this morning. 
 It was very interesting. I think I have always taken 
 a house quite stupidly, as a matter of course, but to 
 day I began to respect the work in it, the patience 
 and skill." 
 
 " I admire the refinement of your tastes," remarked 
 the countess. 
 
 " But don t you think it picturesque, those groups 
 of busy men, and all the movement and color ? " 
 
 " I think it a horror and an insolence to build in 
 one s face and eyes." 
 
 " Some of them have strong, interesting heads," 
 Gabrielle continued. 
 
 " I never look to see whether such people have 
 heads!" 
 
 " Have you not noticed that handsome stone-carver 
 with the young face and a beard like a patriarch 
 and the beautiful voice ? " Gabrielle went on, en 
 couraged to find her attempt at conversation, if not 
 warmly approved, at least tolerated. 
 
 " Do you mean the man that bellows from morning 
 till night ? " 
 
 " Oh, I never heard a voice like his," Gabrielle 
 exclaimed with enthusiasm, " so strong, so glad and 
 sweet ! " 
 
 " You have never heard much, Gabrielle," returned 
 the countess freezingly, " but of course if you can 
 oppose me, you will not lose your opportunity." 
 
 The young girl colored indignantly, shrank into her 
 corner, looked persistently out of the window, and 
 maintained complete silence until they reached the 
 Frau Major s. 
 
 That exemplary woman sat with a group of satellites 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 127 
 
 in her pleasant drawing-rooms. Her house was a 
 popular resort of gay young people. One was toler 
 ably certain to meet somebody, or hear something 
 there ; and if by chance no pretty girl drifted in, or 
 no lieutenant bent on pleasure, one could never weary 
 of the Frau Major herself, whose gracious hospitality 
 was so cordial, whose dainty tea-cup was presented 
 with a smile of concentrated sweetness born for " you," 
 whose interest in one s pursuits was an important 
 element of her life, whose sympathy with one s tastes 
 was closer than a brother s ; who, in short, lived and 
 breathed in one s happiness and success, and looked 
 so distinguished and handsome withal, and spoke in 
 that voice peculiar to her alone of all mortal women, 
 and to certain alluring damsels who once resided upon 
 the island of Caprea. 
 
 Several people were gathered about her and her 
 tea-tray : an old colonel who enjoyed young chat 
 ter, some quiet maidens who had patiently appeared 
 everywhere for years and were a little tired behind 
 their smiles, and two women whom the Frau Major 
 always classified as "representative people," that is, 
 persons of easy means and conventional deportment. 
 Lorenz von Raven stood in the middle of the room 
 with a cup of black coffee in his hand, and another 
 lieutenant, equally rosy and contented, was providing 
 the Mayer twins with very thin bread and butter. 
 Those special pets of the Frau Major were dressed 
 elaborately, and confusingly alike, since had so much 
 as a ribbon been different, their acquaintances might 
 have hoped to distinguish Fraulein Emma from Friiu- 
 lein Berta. They talked incessantly and said little, 
 scanned the horizon eagerly, adored the Frau Major 
 and the social avenues which she opened before them, 
 
128 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 were as inseparable as love-birds, and sincerely at 
 tached to each other, which trait the Frau Major 
 accentuated in her laudations, but which Hugo von 
 Kronfels had once ill-naturedly denominated " self- 
 love," since, he declared, " nature in a frugal mood 
 had divided one soul between two beings." 
 
 A significant lull in the conversation greeted the 
 entrance of the countess and the young stranger. The 
 Frau Major went forward rapidly and met them al 
 most upon the threshold, somewhat after the man 
 ner of the fair Elizabeth in Tannhiiuser, when beyond 
 the heads of ordinary courtiers she spies afar some 
 royal dame, and advances with a certain sweet pre 
 cipitation in her graciousness. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE Frau Major conveyed her dearest countess to 
 a large arm-chair in the centre of the older group, and 
 with a sweetly protective manner, most soothing to 
 Gabrielle s wounded sensibilities, led her to the young 
 people, presenting her with smiles of perfect benevo 
 lence and low subjugating tones. 
 
 Von Raven, counting himself lucky to behold a new 
 and pretty face, hastened to offer Gabrielle the cup of 
 tea which the Frau Major prepared for her with ten 
 der solicitude, and von Haller, not wishing to be out 
 stripped, followed with sandwiches, cakes, and wafers. 
 The young girls, after inquiring how she liked Wyn- 
 burg, resumed their conversation, discussing in a high, 
 rapid way topics of which she knew nothing, the 
 general tenor of their remarks relating to where they 
 had been and where they were going. 
 
 " Of course you are going to the French embassa- 
 dor s ball ? " said Fraulein Emma Mayer, her lively 
 black eyes examining every detail of Gabrielle s toi 
 let. " Everybody is going. I am going." 
 
 " Of course," echoed Fraulein Berta. " I am going. 
 Everybody is going." 
 
 " Certainly we shall go," said the countess benignly 
 from her central throne. " My niece must not miss 
 anything so pleasant." She nodded affectionately at 
 Gabrielle, the pretty little teeth gleaming agreeably, 
 the rare rose-leaf flush tinging her pale cheek. " Ah, 
 youth, youth," she sighed ; " alas, it comes but once ! " 
 
130 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " But, countess," the gallant old colonel rejoined 
 from his corner, with a bow and a large wave of the 
 hand, " there are some whom it never leaves ! " And 
 the quality of his repartee blessed him that gave and 
 her that took. It promoted her kindliest mood, while 
 he chuckled frequently over his ready tongue, and was 
 comforted, and reminded of old days when the world 
 listened to him. He regaled various pensioned com 
 rades with his happy retort, beginning cheerfully : 
 " By the way, did you happen to hear what I said to 
 the Countess Kronf els, the other day ? It was not so 
 bad, I assure you." Or, " Speaking of good stories, 
 I must tell you a little experience of mine with the 
 Countess Kronfels handsome woman still, by Jove ! 
 I managed to turn her a compliment rather neatly. 
 Young Raven and Haller heard me. Well, well, when 
 you and I were lieutenants, we would not have let an 
 old fellow get the start of us with a gallant speech to 
 any woman, young or old. But we were live men in 
 those days, and times have changed since then! The 
 countess, you see, always a bit of a coquette, you re 
 member, challenged squarely, and I with a smile 
 responded " etc., etc. In fact, the old gentleman 
 prepared a score of introductions, and with him, for 
 weeks, all roads, political, philosophical, agricultural, 
 or military, led sooner or later to his repartee. 
 
 Gabrielle sat quietly expectant of some other ele 
 ment in the conversation, something in which she 
 could join. It all seemed preliminary to her, and she 
 waited. But nothing else came. The young people 
 were evidently accustomed to converse only in this 
 fragmentary fashion, with a series of half -questions, 
 the half-answers to which they already knew. There 
 was not much laughter, for little was said to awaken 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 131 
 
 it. Gabrielle, mechanically replying to Lieutenant 
 von Raven, was guilty of listening to a story which 
 the countess was telling in her best French manner. 
 It was a good story, she told it well, and was alto 
 gether a charming personage, as she sipped a tiny 
 glass of curagoa after her coffee, with a friendly smile 
 and an apt word for each and all. 
 
 Meanwhile the Frau Major stole softly over to gaze 
 with tender admiration in von Raven s eyes, to smile 
 at von Haller like his guardian-angel, to let her hand 
 fall with a lingering caress upon her dear little Berta s 
 shoulder, to murmur a word of loving commendation 
 in her sweet Emma s eager ear, and to convey to 
 Gabrielle in one grave, soulful glance the assurance 
 of peculiarly delicate comprehension and sympathy. 
 
 Having exhausted the list of places where they had 
 recently been and the places where they intended to 
 go in the immediate future, von Raven boldly leaped 
 over a few months, inspired to this unwonted intel 
 lectual feat by the novelty and charm of Gabrielle s 
 presence, and inquired if she were going to the May 
 races. 
 
 " Oh, everybody will go," chirped Emma Mayer. 
 
 " Oh, yes, everybody ! " repeated Berta. 
 
 "Great thing, you know, the May races," von 
 Haller informed her. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " exclaimed Berta Mayer. 
 
 " Yes indeed ! " added Emma. 
 
 " Pretty women, toilets, crowd, gold cup," von Ra 
 ven announced with a staccato effect. 
 
 " Prince s cup," explained von Haller. " We ride, 
 von Raven and I," and both men beamed with joy. 
 
 " Oh, it wiU be delightful ! " sighed Emma Mayer. 
 
 "Heavenly! " Berta murmured. 
 
132 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I do not know whether I should like races or not," 
 Gabrielle said, "but I am sure that I should like to 
 see the horses." 
 
 "The gracious fraulein rides?" von Raven asked, 
 smiling with pleasing anticipations. 
 
 " I have ridden almost since I began to walk. My 
 father taught me." As she uttered the commonplace 
 words, she saw the cool wood-paths and lanes of her 
 childhood, and her father towering beside her on his 
 high bay, with indulgent amused smiles for the little 
 girl on her pony, and all her chatter and eager confi 
 dences. She sighed, then said brightly, "In the coun 
 try one must ride. One has so much time." 
 
 The young men looked at her with frank approval, 
 then at each other, von Raven deciding that his Jenny 
 was about up to her weight, and von Haller mounting 
 her in imagination on his Sylphide. 
 
 Gabrielle thought that they moved their feet about 
 in a very lively way, and seemed to be shaking out 
 their knees. 
 
 Both were ruddy and beardless, except for feeble 
 straw-colored mustaches. Both had a regulation 
 manner, and a great deal of it, which often served as 
 compensation for a want of lingual fluency. Both 
 had thin dark-blonde hair, closely cut, and a certain 
 emptiness or lack of resonance in the voice. Von 
 Raven was a trifle taller than his friend, she noticed, 
 and had better eyes. But they moved, spoke, and 
 apparently thought alike. Too angular in their ways 
 to possess what is called ease of manner, they were 
 yet never embarrassed, since the security of their 
 social position, together with their categorical train 
 ing, had endowed them with automatical propriety of 
 demeanor, and when the winged word failed they did 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 133 
 
 not suspect the deficiency. Every situation of life 
 they met with the large composure of men whom no 
 consciousness of inferiority, no morbid introspection 
 could perturb. Their complacency, however, was of a 
 naive and harmless variety, as was their vast enjoy 
 ment of their sphere and their amiable indifference 
 toward all pursuits outside of the army. With entire 
 absence of aspiration, except to be promoted in due 
 season, they were blessed with perpetual cheerfulness, 
 were merry and honest, punctilious in the discharge 
 of their duties, and in the observance of their own 
 peculiar code of honor, which, while forbidding among 
 other things cheating at cards and lying to men, 
 allowed under certain conditions an indefinitely broad 
 margin for cheating and lies to the other sex. 
 
 They drew themselves up, performed a few knee- 
 shaking evolutions, and contemplated Gabrielle with 
 frank pleasure. She thought that they looked very 
 boyish, but smiled to find herself comparing them with 
 her father. At all events, they seemed friendly and 
 honest, and she could talk with them more easily than 
 with the young girls. The conversation, as soon as it 
 became exclusively equine, grew brisk. One of the 
 quiet young women whose name Gabrielle had not 
 understood, but whom the Mayer sisters called " dear 
 Sofie," observing von Raven s interest in the stranger, 
 remarked with fine acerbity, 
 
 " We ride, of course ; but mamma prefers that we 
 should not know much about horses." 
 
 " Then how can you ride?" Gabrielle asked simply. 
 
 The lieutenants laughed, and Sofie never forgave 
 Gabrielle their merriment. 
 
 " Oh, we ride as everybody rides," was the annoyed 
 answer, " but we never go into the stables." 
 
134 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 44 Dear Sofie," Berta Mayer reminded her friend, 
 " the Princess Degenhart goes into the stables." 
 
 " Dear Berta," returned the other oracularly, " the 
 Princess Degenhart is a princess ! " 
 
 44 That is perfectly true," Emma Mayer corrob 
 orated, nodding gravely. 
 
 Gabrielle looked smilingly from one to another of 
 her critics, not suspecting that her offence lay less in 
 her conversation than in her attractive personality. 
 
 44 What I know," she began, 44 is really very little. 
 In the country, where I have always lived " 
 
 This admission produced half-conciliated murmurs 
 of urban superiority. 
 
 44 Oh yes." 44 The country !" 44 That is dif 
 ferent." 
 
 44 1 have ridden sometimes all day long. And my 
 father used to tell me one never knows one s horse 
 completely, any more than one perfectly knows a hu 
 man soul, but a good rider must study his animal. 
 He wished me to ride well, that is intelligently, and 
 I have loved it, and my horses, and have had, I con 
 fess, the habit of visiting them in their own apart 
 ments," turning involuntarily, as she concluded, to 
 ward the lieutenants. 
 
 44 He was right. A man never knows his horse," 
 von Raven said with a laugh. 
 
 44 You think you do," von Haller added, 44 and then 
 he shows you a new trick." 
 
 44 To ride well is an elegant accomplishment, but 
 one should never be horsey," persisted Sofie, incensed 
 at what she considered Gabrielle s arrant coquetry, 
 and looking with appealing gentleness at von Raven. 
 
 44 But why does one not know people ? " Emma Mayer 
 asked, with an air of amusement. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR, 135 
 
 " Why, of course one knows people," Berta said, 
 complacently smoothing her long gloves. 
 
 " How funny ! " Sofie exclaimed. " It would really 
 be odd if we did n t know one another, would it not, 
 Herr von Raven ? " with a melting glance. 
 
 " I suppose so," he returned indifferently. He was 
 familiar with her repertoire of glances, and Gabrielle s 
 had the charm of freshness. 
 
 At the moment, she was looking at him curiously. 
 
 " I presume Count Hugo was something like him," 
 she thought, and presently said : 
 
 " You were a friend of Count Kronfels, I believe ? 
 I mean, you are his friend ? " For why should I speak 
 of him as if he were dead ? she asked herself. 
 
 44 Oh, yes ! Poor Hugo ! Awful thing, that ! Saw 
 him yesterday. Looks like a corpse. Hollow cheeks. 
 Big eyes." 
 
 " Best rider among us. Awful thing, that acci 
 dent." Von Haller had the grace to lower his voice 
 and glance at the countess. 
 
 "You saw him yesterday?" Gabrielle repeated 
 thoughtfully. It seemed strange to her that von 
 Raven had seen the mysterious tenant of that silent 
 east wing. In spite of their poverty of expression, 
 the young men evinced a certain amount of regret 
 and good feeling. 
 
 " Was riding by," von Raven replied. " He was 
 sunning himself. Good fellow, Hugo. Clever. 
 Plucky." 
 
 " He was perfectly splendid ! " sighed one of the 
 Mayers. 
 
 " Perfectly ! " gasped the other. 
 
 " Shall be coming to see him soon," von Raven an 
 nounced with unprecedented astuteness. 
 
136 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I too," von Haller hastened to say with a sly smile 
 at his friend. 
 
 " Perhaps you would kindly tell him," von Kaven 
 added. 
 
 " Yes, tell him, please," von Haller begged. 
 
 Gabrielle colored slightly, and hesitated. 
 
 " I will tell him when I see him," she returned 
 gravely. 
 
 " Dear countess," the Frau Major was saying in her 
 rich caressing tones, " how noble, how tender ! Yet I 
 am not surprised. I knew well that whoever failed 
 me, I could depend upon you ! " 
 
 " But who could fail you in so distressing a case ? " 
 demanded the countess. " Hundreds of people dead 
 crushed mangled ; families impoverished chil 
 dren weeping for their parents parents for their 
 children. Oh that such things need be ! " 
 
 " It is a church in Ancona," the Frau Major ex 
 plained to the younger group ; " the floor gave way 
 and a wall fell. I am raising funds for the Italian 
 Consul he is a special friend of mine I am plan 
 ning a small bazar," she murmured. " Every one is 
 so kind, my friends are so noble but our dear coun 
 tess is grand in her giving." 
 
 The countess s eyes were moist. She was touched 
 by those sufferers whose moans she could not hear, 
 whose mangled bodies she need not see, whose sor 
 rows and wrongs were too remote to incommode 
 her. 
 
 She rose, glancing at Gabrielle, who came quickly 
 forward. The countess s face as she made her adieux 
 was softened and strikingly fine. 
 
 " And dear Count Hugo," murmured the Frau 
 Major. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 137 
 
 " Ah, yes. I will not fail to tell him. He will 
 surely wish to give. He of all men." 
 
 " He is always noble," returned her friend, adding 
 in her calm tone of inward conviction, " he is like his 
 mother." 
 
 Gabrielle s heart was full of sympathy, and not 
 free from self-reproach. Descending the stairs, she 
 reached out with a mute and gentle gesture, and 
 slipped her hand under the countess s arm. 
 
 " Don t touch me ! " was the querulous response. 
 " I hate to be touched going downstairs." 
 
 " I beg your pardon," the girl returned drawing 
 back quickly, and with the positiveness of youth in 
 ferring that the previous access of benevolence 
 in reality quite genuine while it lasted had been 
 simulated. 
 
 " The Countess Waldenberg s," the countess or 
 dered her coachman. " Drive fast. We have stayed 
 an unconscionable time," she complained. "It is too 
 late to make formal visits. I will take you to a couple 
 of houses where I go often intimate friends. You 
 were not especially affable to those young girls. They 
 go everywhere." 
 
 Gabrielle looked inquiringly at her. 
 
 " How you stare, child ! I do not say they are im 
 portant in themselves, but they are a part of public 
 opinion. One must respect public opinion. If I 
 take you out with me, I wish public opinion in your 
 favor." 
 
 " You surely cannot mean those little Mayer sis 
 ters ? " returned Gabrielle, opening her eyes wide, 
 and recalling their minute personalities kindly enough, 
 but with the conviction that their contribution to pub 
 lic opinion could not be very weighty. 
 
138 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Why not ? " demanded the countess sharply. 
 " They may not be profound, but society likes them 
 all the better for that. Society," she continued point 
 edly, " does not like a young person to act like an old 
 maid, or a blue-stocking, or be instructive or superior." 
 
 " I should hope not ! " Gabrielle rejoined with per 
 fect unconsciousness and a fresh little laugh. 
 
 " Hm ! " said the countess dryly. 
 
 After a moment, she began : " Be a little careful 
 here, Gabrielle. You were too formal with girls of 
 your own age. You can scarcely be formal enough 
 to please the Countess Waldenberg. She is the most 
 influential woman at court. The queen is strongly 
 attached to her. She is marrying off her daughters 
 now not without difficulty," she added with an un 
 pleasant laugh, " and she is not in the most amiable 
 mood in the world. The truth is, she is cold as a 
 stone except for her boundless ambition. But she is 
 clever, and a great reader. Never talk about books 
 with young people, Gabrielle. It is pedantic. But if 
 the countess begins, follow her lead. Be intelligent, 
 but on no account original." 
 
 " A well-bred duck turns her toes in ! " thought 
 the girl recalling Hans Andersen s mother-duck tutor 
 ing her ducklings before launching them upon the 
 duck-plane of desirable society. 
 
 The countess frowned at the mischievous, wilful 
 face turned towards her, and continued : "It is no 
 laughing matter. I wish you to make a favorable im 
 pression. Otherwise you reflect discredit upon me." 
 
 Gabrielle stared at her haughtily. By what right 
 did this woman presume to dictate to a Baroness von 
 Dohna ? Surely she was not an appurtenance of the 
 Kronfels estate. Surely what she did or left undone 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 139 
 
 concerned herself chiefly. And as for discredit the 
 word was strong ! her father would not fancy it used 
 in connection with his daughter. 
 
 " Well ? " said the countess impatiently. 
 
 Gabrielle was silent. 
 
 "What are you thinking? Why consider your 
 words ? Young people should be ingenuous." 
 
 " I am thinking," began Gabrielle, breaking bounds 
 impetuously, "that the Countess Waldenberg will, 
 have to take me as she finds me, whether she likes me 
 or not, and perhaps indeed, it is very probable I 
 shall not like her. And I am thinking that you might 
 be the freest soul on earth ! You have everything. 
 Years enough to make you wise and sure. Wealth 
 enough to satisfy every wish and bless the lives of 
 thousands. Position that gives you dignity and power. 
 Why should you care for the others? Why should 
 you listen to what they say? Why should you not 
 walk the streets barefoot, if it were with a good pur 
 pose and it pleased you ? " 
 
 The countess, watching her with increasing enter 
 tainment, now broke into a merry laugh. 
 
 " Tiens, tiens" she exclaimed, " imagine me walking 
 the streets nu-pieds, like little What s-Her-Name in 
 the play ! " Then with a very successful air of kindly 
 wisdom, she continued : " But my fiery little revolu 
 tionist, the sooner you abandon those ideas, the better. 
 Freedom to be one s self in a city where king and 
 court reside ? Nonsense ! It does not exist. The 
 king s not free. The queen s not free. Nobody is 
 free. In fact it would be a very vulgar state of so 
 ciety your freedom ! " and she raised her vinaigrette 
 as if some unpleasant odor pervaded the atmosphere. 
 
 " In our village, the people watched and feared one 
 
140 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 another," returned Gabrielle, conscious of fighting 
 not only for a principle but for her personal inde 
 pendence, " and when the baker s wife cringed to the 
 butcher s wife, I thought it was because they were 
 uneducated." 
 
 " Ah, our village ! " The countess lifted her eye 
 brows ironically and prolonged her delicate attentions 
 to her vinaigrette. " But we wander from the sub 
 ject. We were speaking of society. I assure you 
 that if I watch the Countess Waldenberg, she watches 
 me no less. The whole court watches and listens. 
 Something is hinted. Every tongue wags. It has 
 always been so. It will always be so. Why, it is, 
 in short, civilization ! " she concluded triumphantly. 
 
 " I would rather be a hermit in a cave ! " Gabrielle 
 retorted with indignation. 
 
 " Everybody must care for his neighbor s opinion, 
 whether he care for his neighbor or not." 
 
 " Then everybody is a coward ! " 
 
 " Tut, tut ! that is scarcely civil," returned the 
 countess with great exhilaration " and here we are. 
 
 O 
 
 Smooth your ruffled plumage, or they will say that 
 we have been having a tiff, which, to be sure, is not 
 unknown in their family, Mercedes being no dove, but 
 they don t admit the public to their private diver 
 sions. Now be wise, Gabrielle. Don t drag out your 
 little pet guillotine and cut off our heads," and she 
 smiled like the most affable and simple-hearted old 
 lady in the world, as she entered the Countess Wal- 
 denberg s drawing-room, Gabrielle following helpless 
 and indignant, with luminous eyes, a glow on her 
 cheeks, looking tall, holding her head high, and greet 
 ing the countess with a haughtiness which that criti 
 cal dame found admirable. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 141 
 
 " Hugo being hors de combat, what does our friend 
 here mean to do with this interesting girl ? " she 
 asked herself, as she chatted suavely with her guests. 
 " No girl in Wynburg has this faultless repose. It 
 suits my taste far better than Mercedes manner. 
 She has, at times, too much Southern vivacity to 
 please me. Why my children should both lack my 
 fastidiousness is a mystery. I don t think this girl 
 will interfere with Elsa. The styles are too different 
 to conflict. And Elsa is so perfectly superficial," re 
 flected the impartial mother, " that a man who would 
 fancy her would find Fraulein von Dohna too earnest. 
 But Mercedes is inclined to have ideas. Mercedes 
 thinks. She would have found a rival here possibly. 
 It is well that she has listened to reason. It is well 
 that her future is assured." 
 
 Inquiring solicitously after Hugo, and listening to 
 evidences of warm maternal feeling, of sorrow, sym 
 pathy, and loving pity, in short, all that could be 
 desired during a brief visit, the Countess Walden- 
 berg, noting Gabrielle s cold and steady gaze at the 
 lamenting mother, decided : " Yes, she certainly has 
 very remarkable pose for her age. It might have im 
 pressed the marquis. It is well that things are 
 settled." 
 
 " But let me not linger upon my poor boy s suffer 
 ings, dear friend. How is Mercedes? And sunny 
 little Elsa? You are blessed in your children," with 
 a sigh. 
 
 " I am indeed," was the suave answer. " Elsa, I 
 am sorry to say, is not at home. She would have 
 been so pleased to meet Fraulein von Dohna. But 
 Mercedes " she paused, smiled, and gave her audi 
 ence time to prepare for an impressive statement. 
 
142 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I know you will sympathize with my great happi 
 ness," she resumed, "the engagement will be an 
 nounced formally in a few days ; in the mean time it 
 gives me pleasure to confide it in advance to so old 
 and dear a friend. Mercedes is engaged to marry 
 the Marquis de Vallion." 
 
 "Dear Olga! " exclaimed the Countess Kronfels. 
 
 " Dear Adelheid ! " murmured the Countess Wal- 
 denberg. 
 
 They embraced and kissed each other. 
 
 " Mercedes is so happy ! " 
 
 " She must be, indeed ! " 
 
 " Nothing else could have gratified her father and 
 me so deeply. The little difference in years " 
 
 " Ah, what is that ? I have known the happiest 
 marriages in spite of that unimportant disparity. 
 Mercedes has chosen wisely." 
 
 " We think so. And I was about to say that there 
 is after all a certain earnestness in Mercedes, a seri 
 ousness beneath her vivacity ; and this she has now 
 proved." 
 
 " Undoubtedly. And there is an element of dig 
 nity and security in marrying a person of mature 
 years." 
 
 " Quite true, dear Adelheid, and yet the marquis s 
 devotion is all that the fondest young heart could 
 desire." 
 
 Gabrielle was greatly interested. Here at last 
 was a pleasant experience. The stately mother was 
 so unfeignedly glad in her child s happiness, that the 
 young girl felt at home with this simple display of 
 natural feeling, and smiled charmingly, and extending 
 both hands with a cordial gesture, wished the countess 
 and her daughter happiness. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 143 
 
 " Mercedes," said the delighted mamma, slightly 
 raising her voice. " Mercedes ! " 
 
 Some one replied from the next room. A heavy 
 portiere was pushed back, and a strikingly handsome 
 dark woman, in black velvet, followed by the most 
 wonderfully made old man Gabrielle had ever seen, 
 came in smiling and received the Countess Kronfels 
 hearty congratulations. 
 
 Glancing furtively at the marquis, Gabrielle was 
 sick at heart. Was this the person of mature years 
 who could afford rest and dignity? Who could offer 
 the fondest devotion, fill the mother s soul with con 
 tentment, and the daughter s with joy ? She scarcely 
 dared to look at him for fear Mercedes might imagine 
 she was trying to discover how he was put together. 
 
 For Mercedes brilliant eyes were incessantly upon 
 her ; Mercedes hands, glittering with gems, made 
 rapid pretty little gestures which fascinated her ; Mer 
 cedes laughing voice ran on, and the wonder of 
 it ! never gave a quiver or a cry of disgust. She 
 left her marquis adroitly with the older ladies, and 
 devoted herself to Gabrielle, chatting gayly of many 
 things, some indeed which the Mayers had men 
 tioned, but with a world-wide difference, for Countess 
 Mercedes had a charm and a grace and a gleam of 
 feeling in all that she said, however trivial the theme. 
 
 "Your cousin must be immensely glad that you 
 have come," she remarked suddenly, with her flashing 
 smile. 
 
 "My cousin? Oh, you mean Count Kronfels. 
 We are only cousins by courtesy. And I " Gabri 
 elle hesitated, " have no reason to suppose that he 
 is glad. In fact " 
 
 "The villa must be so large and lonely for an 
 
144 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 invalid," Mercedes went on, smiling more intensely. 
 "The countess is, as we all know, devoted to him. 
 Still he must be glad of your presence, even if he 
 has not said so. He must indeed have changed if " 
 She broke off abruptly, cast one glance at the veter 
 ans. " Let me show you this lovely photograph of 
 the young princess," she said very distinctly, draw 
 ing Gabrielle toward a table at a little distance. 
 "How does he bear it? Tell me about him," she 
 said, smiling steadily. 
 
 " He has not left his rooms since I came, and I can 
 tell you nothing. I have been here so short a time, 
 and" 
 
 " Ah, yes, yes, I had forgotten," Mercedes rejoined 
 hastily. She was silent a moment. u Will you tell 
 him that we spoke of him that I think of him, 
 often ? No, don t tell him that," she exclaimed, 
 laughing, " that is an imbecile message. Hugo and I 
 used to be very good friends," she explained ; " and 
 how is he looking ? " 
 
 Gabrielle had not had the faintest impulse to reveal 
 to Lieutenant von Raven, when he sent his friendly 
 greeting to Hugo, that in all probability she would 
 have no opportunity to deliver it ; but as she stood 
 face to face with this beautiful woman, whom she 
 liked at once, and whose eyes were seeking hers with 
 an intentness which the smiling mouth contradicted 
 in vain, she replied simply : 
 
 " I am very sorry. But I do not know how he 
 looks. I have not seen him. He does not wish to 
 see me. Why should he care to see a stranger ? I 
 understand it very well," she said with heightened 
 color. " But you," she added, after a moment, " you 
 were his friend. Why do you not come to see him ? 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 145 
 
 He must be very lonely. Surely it would give him 
 pleasure to see you ! " she exclaimed with innocent 
 admiration. 
 
 Mercedes gave her a peculiar but kind glance, and 
 said gently, " Thank you, but I doubt it." 
 
 The veterans were looking toward them. 
 
 " Here is another one with the prince," Mercedes 
 went on in a clear voice. " I don t like photographs 
 where the man sits and the woman stands, do you? 
 It does n t seem civil. But the photographers insist 
 upon it. They say a woman 4 takes better stand 
 ing. What odious beings they are photographers ! 
 Such tyrants ! " 
 
 " How brilliant and well she looks," the Countess 
 Kronfels observed. 
 
 " Yes, dear Adelheid, it is her happiness," returned 
 the mother placidly, reflecting : " How can she drop 
 him like an umbrella in the corner and coolly walk 
 off? She is not married yet!" beaming upon her 
 future son-in-law, her senior by fifteen years, who, 
 with a juvenile frisk and a vain smile, raised her 
 hand to his painted lips. 
 
 The older women made the lingering adieux of lov 
 ing friends loth to part. Upon reaching her coupe 
 the Countess Kronfels glanced hurriedly at her watch. 
 
 "Shall I go? Shall I not?" she said gayly. 
 " Yes I will, for the merest little three minute visit." 
 As they drove away she muttered : " I must see how 
 the Baroness Fuchs takes the engagement." 
 
 " Does it matter how anybody takes it ? " Gabrielle 
 asked sadly. 
 
 " Matter ? It matters immensely. How society 
 takes a thing is more important than the thing itself, 
 of course. Be a little gayer at the Baroness Fuchs , 
 
146 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Gabrielle. She likes us to seem intimate with her. 
 She is not one of us, you know. She is an American. 
 Her people made hats or buttons in Philadelphia. 
 Some say hats. Some say buttons. Whichever it 
 was, it is now enveloped in prehistoric gloom. And 
 she is a success here. That cannot be denied. She 
 has married four daughters to the best names in the 
 kingdom. No one feels the pulses of society better 
 than she. Between us, she is a bit of a mauvaise 
 langue, and hates the Countess Waldenberg. You 
 see they both had daughters," laughed the old lady. 
 " But they have always been devoted to me. I had 
 a son." 
 
 " Is she your intimate friend, too ? " 
 
 " I presume that is satire," returned the countess, 
 imperturbably. " My dear, in the great world people 
 have little time for sentimental friendships. The 
 Baroness Fuchs and I are on excellent terms, as you 
 will see." 
 
 Gabrielle did see, and hear, and wished that for 
 the moment she were blind and deaf. For the small 
 and pompous woman with fishy eyes and a cold 
 guarded smile implied the most unpleasant things of 
 the Countess Mercedes, who, Gabrielle was convinced, 
 was nobly immolating herself, like girls of whom one 
 reads, for her family for a principle; and since 
 the Waldenbergs lived in luxury, and were powerful 
 for something mysterious, indeed, yet cruelly inex 
 orable, or Mercedes would never marry that ghastly 
 old man. 
 
 The countess s brilliant spirits continued at dinner. 
 She chatted of Paris, of the late count, of persons 
 whom she had known in Italy, in Spain and Russia. 
 She laughed much and made Gabrielle laugh. For 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 147 
 
 she had travelled far and wide, met eminent men and 
 women, and in the rare moments when her mind 
 dwelt upon pleasant subjects, she knew how to be 
 amiable and humorous, and recalling some witticism 
 of long ago could revivify it with rare skill. 
 
 After dinner she smoked a cigarette, drank a little 
 glass of curacoa, put on a black lace cap with a bunch 
 of crimson roses on one side, pinned it with diamond- 
 headed hair-pins, and drove to Carmen with Gabrielle, 
 who longed to remain at home, but was not asked to 
 indicate her wishes. 
 
 She was weary and excited, and the passionate, wild 
 music moved her strangely. In the pauses many men 
 came to pay their respects to the countess, and the 
 engagement was discussed with enigmatical smiles. 
 When von Raven and von Haller appeared for a 
 few moments, and one of them remarked : " Old skel 
 eton. Second childhood. Handsome woman." And 
 the other : " Can t she waltz ! Famous. It s a shame. 
 Upon my word," Gabrielle s heart went out with 
 thankfulness to these honest youths, and she smiled 
 cordially and listened scrupulously, for she sometimes 
 failed to instantly catch their meaning, and it occurred 
 to her if, as she had read, language was originally in 
 ter jectional, their mode of speech must bear some 
 resemblance to the natural and spontaneous ejacula 
 tions of primeval man. 
 
 " Really, I did not imagine the little Methodist 
 could illuminate herself to this extent," was the coun 
 tess s secret comment. " She evidently enjoys atten 
 tion, and is opening her batteries upon von Raven 
 with no loss of time." 
 
 After the opera the countess insisted upon Gabri 
 elle s presence for a " cosy quarter-of-an-hour," smoked 
 
148 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 some cigarettes and sipped a couple of glasses of cura- 
 $oa, laughing at trifles like a merry child, and looking 
 pretty and gay. 
 
 " I must think of something sweet to call you," she 
 said suddenly with a sentimental air. 
 
 "Don t you like my name?" Gabrielle rejoined in 
 differently. 
 
 " Oh, yes, but when I really love any one, I like to 
 choose a name for her. It is a fancy of mine. I am 
 full of fancies, as you will discover." 
 
 Gabrielle was tired and sleepy. She suppressed a 
 yawn and said nothing. 
 
 " I have it ! " exclaimed the countess with her most 
 engaging smile. " There is something soft yet clear 
 in you." 
 
 " Indeed," Gabrielle returned wearily. 
 
 " Yes, and I shall call you 4 Moonbeam. " 
 
 Gabrielle would not have objected at the moment 
 had the countess chosen to call her Heathen-Darkness. 
 Her one desire was to escape. But she braced herself 
 to suffer some kisses, and to listen to erratic senti 
 mental flights, and finally after twelve the countess 
 declared that she had had a charming day, but was 
 somewhat weary, and Gabrielle must remember that 
 very sensitive nerves needed considerable sleep. 
 
 " Good-night, my sweet Moonbeam. I am sure that 
 you are going to be the loving heart that I have 
 sought and never found." 
 
 Gabrielle shook her head, and was about to depre 
 cate this assumption, but it sounded sincere and puz 
 zled her. She hesitated, then said gravely : 
 
 " Do you mean that no one has ever loved you, and 
 that you miss affection ? " 
 
 " Loved me ? I have been adored worshipped," 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 149 
 
 returned the countess pettishly, repudiating Gabrielle s 
 matter-of-fact translation of her rhapsodies. " But no 
 one has ever comprehended me fully," and she sighed. 
 It seemed like a genuine sigh from an old grief. 
 
 With the persistency of a child Gabrielle asked : 
 
 " Not your husband ? " 
 
 " What a question ! He was devoted to me, of 
 course. But that is not what I mean. Then the count 
 was very peculiar." 
 
 " Not your son ? " 
 
 " Hugo least of all." 
 
 " It is very sad," murmured Gabrielle. " It is ter 
 ribly sad." 
 
 " Well, well," remarked the countess, to whom this 
 solemn catechism was growing irksome, particularly 
 as Gabrielle was staring at her with a kind of com 
 miseration, and while it was one thing to allude 
 feelingly to one s uncomprehended superiority, it was 
 quite another to be regarded as a forlorn and pitiable 
 object, "let us follow Mousey s example and sleep 
 away our sorrows. Hear the little love snore. Is 
 it not cheerful ? Good - night," kissing her, " and 
 God bless my pretty Moonbeam. Roschen," calling 
 the sleepy maid waiting in the corridor, " light the 
 Baroness von Dohna to her rooms." 
 
 When Roschen lighted the gas, Gabrielle saw with 
 amazement that shawls were pinned across her toilet- 
 table and every mirror. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " she demanded. 
 
 " Oh, it s what I Ve learned from the countess. 
 Babette and I have to cover up all the mirrors every 
 night. She s got so many, it s a deal of work, but 
 here it was no trouble." 
 
 " I don t understand you." 
 
150 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " It is bad luck to sleep with mirrors looking at 
 you," pretty Roschen explained with a not too re 
 spectful smile. " She s that nervous " 
 
 "Take those things down, please, and don t tell 
 tales." 
 
 The girl obeyed, then waited. She was stifling her 
 yawns, yet was curious in regard to that great, beauti 
 ful, happy world of rich people, fine gowns, and daz 
 zling lieutenants, where the young baroness had been. 
 Surely a crumb of information might fall from her 
 lips, when the countess brought back whole loaves to 
 Babette. 
 
 " You may go, Roschen. Good-night." 
 
 The maid reluctantly withdrew. The door closed 
 upon her. Gabrielle was at last alone. She leaned 
 her elbows on the table, her chin in her hands, and 
 drew two or three long, deep breaths. She was no 
 longer sleepy, no longer fatigued, and she experienced 
 a sense of relief as if a heavy physical burden had 
 fallen from her shoulders. She threw open the win 
 dows. The night-breeze, blowing straight through her 
 rooms, was the one familiar and friendly thing in that 
 great house, 
 
 " I must decide now ! " she thought, walking 
 slowly up and down ; and Hugo, sleepless and in pain, 
 listened to her step, and in spite of his ready sneer for 
 his mother s toy, was forced, in reason, to admit that 
 she must be unhappy. 
 
 " She is a conspirator a nihilist. She s a Roman 
 Catholic, trotting up and down for penance. She is 
 a Lady Macbeth, with remorse in her soul. Or she is 
 a good sort of girl in the wrong place." 
 
 But the mocking fancies vanished, and only the 
 final simple conclusion remained in his mind, and his 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 151 
 
 thought of her was not without pity. " Well, she 
 must fight her own battles. After all, what are they to 
 me ? " Yet he began to wonder again how she looked 
 
 this girl, with her unknown griefs ; and what his 
 mother had said and done ; and whom they had seen, 
 to-day, of the people whom he used to know, when he 
 was alive. 
 
 If there was a rude simplicity in teaching Gabrielle 
 to hate a lie and love a horse, and not letting her sus 
 pect the manifold dangers lurking in draughts and 
 neighbors judgments, it would yet appear that there 
 were some advantages in the Dohna system. For a 
 good stout hatred of lying, in general, tended to pre 
 serve her from the most insidious form of the disease 
 
 flattering falsehood to one s self. While being a 
 girl who really loved her horse, and had ridden him 
 gallantly, and learned to bear wind and weather, heat 
 and cold, broiling sun and drenched raiment, fatigue, 
 lame muscles, bruises and broken bones if need be, 
 and loved him loyally all the same, she had gained, it 
 may be, a suspicion of what patience and fortitude 
 mean. And as to neighbors and draughts, she was so 
 ignorant of their hydra-headed possibilities, that she 
 was able to consider her course with far more single- 
 
 O 
 
 ness of purpose and fearlessness than if she had been 
 preyed upon by premonitions of influenza, or the 
 haunting necessity of suiting her decision, not to the 
 demands of her own conscience, but to the fluctuating 
 sentiments of the world at large. 
 
 " I must decide," she told herself. " Shall I go or 
 stay ? I do not like it. That is sure. It is detest 
 able. And there is no good in it, for Count Hugo 
 will not let me be useful." 
 
 Not yet two days ? It was incredible. All the 
 
152 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 persons she had met came passing in review. The 
 colossal egotism of the countess had surely been ap 
 propriating her, body and soul, longer than that. 
 How it pervaded and possessed the villa ! Even those 
 great empty rooms below, seldom used, were full 
 of it, and every soul in the house staggered under its 
 weight. 
 
 And who and what was the countess ? WTiich was 
 she ? Which of all those rapid, confusing phases ? 
 
 44 Oh, papa," she sighed, " you thought that it 
 would be so pleasant and enriching for me, and 
 Lucie said that I ought to see a little life, and here it 
 is! This! 
 
 " What have I been this day ? Everything that I 
 despise. A toy, a captive, a tool. Not once has she 
 inquired what I like, what I think or feel or am. 
 She has simply dragged me after her chariot. But I 
 am not her slave not yet bought and sold. If I 
 write, my letter will reach them in Paris. I can join 
 them at Marseilles. Or I could go to the other cou 
 sins in Berlin. If it would do any one any good, 
 I could bear it here. But why be uncomfortable for 
 nothing ? Now if it were for papa. I could yield my 
 will and dignity and peace of mind for papa. For 
 papa, I would be burned at the stake ! " 
 
 She paused. Her expression changed. 
 
 " Oh, would I ? Would I indeed ? And this is 
 how I prove it. It s quite like me. I I I that 
 is what occupies me ! I am willing to be burned at 
 the stake, oh, yes, but I wish to choose my stake, ad 
 just it to my size, and appoint the hour for lighting 
 the fagots ! " 
 
 She pushed back her hair impatiently. " Let me 
 look at this thing squarely, with no nonsense. Papa 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 153 
 
 has placed me here. There is still time to beg him to 
 take me away, and he will never leave me if he knows 
 that I am unhappy, not for Lucie not for the whole 
 world. He would not let me try any more cousin- 
 experiments, he would simply take me with them, as 
 he at first intended. He would telegraph me to join 
 them. And when they sail, there I should be be 
 cause I cried out with pain and ran away be 
 cause I was too babyish to be left behind because I 
 did not hesitate to disturb everybody s arrangements 
 because I was selfish, and a coward ! " 
 
 Hot tears started to her eyes, and a great longing 
 for her father s protecting arms filled her heart. 
 
 " I shall not be poisoned, or starved, or beaten. I 
 shall be safe, and live in a beautiful house, and drive 
 in a fine carriage, and I shall hate it all, and be very 
 lonely and unhappy. That is all. It is not tragic." 
 Yet it occurred to her that what we call tragedy might 
 be, in a certain sense, easier to bear nobly, and that in 
 all the tragedies she had read, love and pain and sor 
 row and danger seemed to strengthen and elevate 
 souls, and even sin advanced with slow motions and 
 long trailing garments, and crime was fate, and there 
 fore had its dignity. 
 
 But where was the dignity here ? What was this 
 but vulgarity, from Mousey s snarls to the countess s 
 violence ? And the circle she had seen that day ? 
 What mattered it what they called themselves ? How 
 were they essentially different from the old women 
 of the village gossiping, suspicious, unloving, and 
 envious, yet smiling indefatigably at one another on 
 the market-place? 
 
 And yet, the village-folk how brave they were 
 and self-sacrificing when Marco s house burned how 
 
154 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 generous to his children how kind when the tree 
 crushed Karl s leg, how they mourned when little 
 Paul died ! " It is I who am unloving and arrogant. 
 How do I know what these people here are ? How 
 can I know what good they do, and what sorrows they 
 have ? The Frau Major is kind to all the world, not 
 hard like me. And Countess Mercedes has she not 
 a thousand times more to bear than I? Yet how 
 brave and gay she is ! 
 
 " And Aunt Adelheid ? Ah, when I come to her, I 
 must shut my eyes and go on blindly, for there is no 
 comfort in seeing the path before me, except, we 
 are not married, it is not forever ! " 
 
 She covered her face with her hands and sat long 
 and motionless at the table. When she looked lip, 
 her eyes were wet, but her mouth was resolute. 
 
 She went to close the casement. Along the hill 
 side across the valley glimmered the remote scattered 
 lights. " I shall see them for a long, long time now," 
 she thought. " I shall learn to care for them." 
 
 The heavens were brilliant with stars. Into the 
 Silence, into the Unknown and Infinite, her young 
 heart sent a prayer for strength and patience, while 
 blended inextricably with her pure aspiration was an 
 intense desire for personal happiness, and the warm 
 sustaining hope that the frowning and unpromising 
 year might yet have some fair days in store for her. 
 
 " At all events, whatever comes," and as she 
 turned there was a faint smile on her compressed lips, 
 " there never was a Dohna who ran away ! " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE Countess Kronfels had the habit of writing 
 school-girlish notes, folding them in ingenious shapes, 
 and sending them on a silver salver to inmates of her 
 household. Like some other imaginative works, they 
 were composed under various animating influences, 
 late at night, and their loving-kindness of diction left 
 nothing to be desired. 
 
 One of these twisted missives reached Hugo early 
 the following morning. 
 
 MY DEAREST HUGO, My love and blessings to 
 my dear son, before I sleep. I must tell you how you 
 can help on a humane and Christian work. Send 
 some money to the Frau Major for the sufferers at 
 Ancona. Here is a newspaper slip describing the 
 accident. It is heartbreaking. Everybody is giving. 
 I gave a thousand marks. She depends upon you. 
 I really think, Hugo, it would look well, if you, un 
 der the circumstances, should contribute handsomely. 
 Good-night. God bless you. I shall come to you 
 to-morrow morning, and earlier than usual. 
 
 Your loving and faithful MOTHER. 
 
 Hugo twisted the note with vindictive emphasis, as 
 if he would like to wring its neck, then read the 
 enclosed newspaper-cutting. 
 
 " Poor devils," he muttered. " Paper, Lapps, and 
 a pencil." 
 
156 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 MY DEAR MAMMA (he wrote) I ain not, as 
 you know, philanthropic, and I have frequently ex 
 pressed to you my unalterable decision never to figure 
 in the Frau Major s charity-lists, where I, a notorious 
 black sheep, would surely be out of place among the 
 pure and righteous. Since you reflect sufficient glory 
 upon our name, pray excuse 
 
 Your affectionate son, HUGO. 
 
 "Poor devils!" he repeated, then shook his head 
 as if to free himself from an unpleasant thought. 
 
 " Lipps," he began, after a moment, " do you think 
 you and the others could put me out there by the lit 
 tle fountain, out of sight and hearing, you know, 
 there behind the shrubbery, at the end of the garden, 
 where nobody goes ? " 
 
 Lipps stoutly declared his ability to transport the 
 count illimitable distances provided he could bear the 
 fatigue. 
 
 " Very well, then," Hugo went on. " I think I d 
 like to try it out there, and as soon as possible," look 
 ing at his watch, and thinking, " She said earlier than 
 usual, and my note will certainly rouse her. She will 
 be in a fine rage. A masterly retreat is often good 
 strategy. She may forget Ancona before to-morrow. 
 She will, surely, if Mousey has the colic, which may 
 Heaven precipitate ! " 
 
 " Lipps, put me out there as soon as you can, and 
 with as little noise as possible, you understand ; and 
 after, not before, I m established take this note up to 
 Babette for the countess." 
 
 " Yes, sir," answered Lipps, wisely looking foolish. 
 
 The remote and neglected garden-spot proved to be 
 a very good place for Hugo. There was almost no 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 157 
 
 wind there, and the sun beat down warmly upon a 
 dense battalion of cedars and firs and pines, with 
 an occasional hemlock tree and a few larches. The 
 water plashed softly from a bronze griffin s mouth into 
 a stone basin with a broken, ivy-grown moulding, and 
 fragments of an urn, also clothed with ivy as with a 
 garment, lay near. 
 
 " It is what mamma would call appropriate, v 
 thought Hugo. " Decrepit, and suggesting dead 
 pleasures." 
 
 Lipps looked at him anxiously. 
 
 "It is vastly entertaining out here," the count said, 
 gravely. " I shall remain here some time. I am con 
 vinced that I shall not want to leave this spot, until 
 after the carriage drives away this afternoon. I have 
 everything, thanks. The books, writing block, and 
 oh, Lipps, just stand those crutches against the foot 
 of my chair, will you? They d better be within 
 reach. I might want to fling one at somebody. Not 
 that it would hurt him much, but it might be a relief 
 to me. You can look after me in a couple of hours, 
 Lipps." 
 
 He lay so motionless that a blackbird hopped along 
 the path and stared at him, and a yellow-hammer 
 perched boldly on the white pine near his head. 
 
 " Hundreds of them," he thought, " children too, 
 poor little devils ! " 
 
 He idly cut the leaves of a new magazine, and 
 glanced at an article which seemed to reveal Napo 
 leon in a glare of electric light. He held the pam 
 phlet loosely, and turned the pages with nervous 
 haste. The book fell, and as he sought to recover it, 
 his abrupt movement knocked it beyond his reach. 
 His interest in Napoleon was instantly augmented. 
 
158 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 He stretched his arm ineffectually after the magazine, 
 which lay flat on its face, tantalizing and unattain 
 able. It seemed of immense importance to him to 
 regain it. He exerted himself until he was weary, 
 then raised his whistle, paused, and let it drop. 
 
 " No, I won t call him. The man ought to have an 
 instant to breathe. I should think he d feel as if he 
 were chained to a corpse." 
 
 Once more he stretched his arm to the utmost, but 
 Napoleon refused to be captured. Slowly and with 
 difficulty, the invalid secured a crutch, and tried to 
 rake up the book with it, but his strength failed, the 
 crutch dropped, and he sank back with a sigh. 
 
 Suddenly he heard a sound as of a substantial 
 weight dropping on two feet, followed by steps behind 
 his chair, and saw first a hand and workingmaii s 
 sleeve, then the being to whom they belonged, a tall, 
 large man, with a paper cap, brown smiling eyes, a 
 long curling beard, and a whitish blouse reaching 
 nearly to his heels. 
 
 He silently gave Hugo the magazine, and stood 
 looking down upon him like a gentle giant. 
 
 " Thank you," began the count, regarding him curi 
 ously. "This is unexpected good luck. I hope it 
 will not seem ungrateful, if I venture to inquire how 
 you happened to observe my predicament." 
 
 " Why not ? " returned the man placidly. " I was 
 looking over the hedge." 
 
 " Oh," said Hugo dryly, reflecting : " As there is 
 literally nothing to see here but a wall of green, 
 he was looking for somebody. I, too, have been in 
 Acadia. " 
 
 The stranger stood in the strong sunshine which 
 brought out reddish gleams in his dark beard. His 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 159 
 
 large, kind gaze met Hugo s squarely, and the count 
 found the simplicity and repose of his presence singu 
 larly attractive. 
 
 " I am glad that you were looking over the hedge," 
 Hugo continued after a moment, adding to himself, 
 "whatever brought you, and it s probably that rosy 
 last one. No man would look twice at any of the oth 
 ers. Mamma selects frights on principle. She as 
 sumes that ugly women are more virtuous than pretty 
 ones. Now I never observed that there was any par 
 ticular difference." 
 
 "You took a handspring from the fence outside," 
 he remarked, noting the powerful figure and repress 
 ing a sigh. 
 
 " Yes, and I am mighty sorry you can t do the same, 
 Count Kronfels." 
 
 " He is the first person who has spoken to me as if 
 I were still a man," Hugo realized with surprise. 
 "To the doctors I am a case. To Lipps I am a 
 fetich. While my pious mamma thinks I ought to 
 spiritualize myself into a holy example for ungodly 
 lieutenants. Raven was evidently afraid of me. This 
 fellow is refreshing." 
 
 " You know me, then ? " 
 
 "Why not? Everybody knows the count, and is 
 sorry for him," replied the giant, in his deliberate 
 and gentle manner. 
 
 " Ah, I had not thought of that," rejoined Hugo 
 again with surprise. 
 
 "It is good for the count to be out in the sun 
 shine," the other said with a strikingly sweet and 
 cordial smile, his gaze wandering slowly from the in 
 valid to the trees and the bare but budding pushing 
 shrubs. 
 
160 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 "Do you think so? Then I must come often. 
 You look as if you knew what is good for people." 
 
 The man laughed. 
 
 "I don t know much," he rejoined, his handsome 
 brown face untroubled and vastly content. 
 
 " Would you have the kindness to move my chair a 
 little ? " Hugo asked, with a sudden desire to make use 
 of this big man s gentle strength. " The sun will be 
 in my eyes soon." 
 
 Chair and invalid were instantly seized, lifted, and 
 softly replaced. 
 
 " You are very kind and strong." 
 
 " Yes, I m strong," returned the other cheerfully, 
 " and I d like to do anything I could for you, count," 
 again unhesitatingly accentuating the contrast between 
 them, his clear eyes shining with benevolence. 
 
 " I like the fellow," decided Hugo. 
 
 " I ought to go now." 
 
 "Oh, must you?" Hugo rejoined with regret. 
 " Good-by, then. Perhaps you 11 be looking over 
 the hedge again some day." 
 
 The man had sauntered on a few steps. He now 
 returned. "I ought to tell you, count," he began, 
 4 that there s no harm in it." 
 
 " Of course not," Hugo replied dryly, adding with 
 a touch of his careless lieutenant-manner, "it can t 
 hurt the hedge." 
 
 " There s a girl in your house," continued the other 
 steadily, " the best girl in the world and I m going 
 to marry her." 
 
 Hugo held out his hand quickly, regretting his 
 worldliness. " Oh, that s it, is it ? Then I wish you 
 
 joy-" 
 
 " Why not ? " was the curious response, with a shy 
 and happy smile. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 161 
 
 The long thin hand with prominent veins lay in 
 the large brown palm. The strong man regarded the 
 emaciated fingers attentively, and said with infinite 
 gentleness : 
 
 " It could n t do much hard work, count." 
 
 " No," Hugo returned quietly, " it is not a danger 
 ous fist. It would n t intimidate a burglar." 
 
 " Or even handle a chisel and a mallet," added the 
 other. 
 
 " You are a stone-carver, then. I presumed so." 
 
 " Yes, I carry my trade about with me, like a mil 
 ler," brushing the fine white dust from his beard. 
 " My name is Bernhard Dietz." 
 
 " What are you working on, now ? " asked Hugo, 
 inclined to prolong the interview. 
 
 " I m to do all the windows and doors, that is, the 
 brackets and cornices, on both houses. I m on the 
 oriel-window now. You ought to see that. That s a 
 rich design." 
 
 " Oh, you are the singer," Hugo said quickly. 
 
 "Why not?" Bernhard admitted with his gentle 
 upward inflection. " No," he continued, " there s not 
 much carving like that window in Wynburg. The 
 people economize too much. In London there is 
 some good work. But the stone is harder there." 
 
 " Ah, you have been in London ? " 
 
 "Yes, but I had to hurry back," Dietz replied, 
 with a soft, shy look which he wore now and then. 
 " The men have taken their beer, count." 
 
 " But you will come again ? " begged Hugo. 
 
 "Why not?" returned the stone-carver, with his 
 serene smile, as if visiting lame counts in wheel 
 chairs had been his inveterate habit from childhood, 
 
 Hugo listened for the thump of feet on the other 
 
162 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 side of the hedge, and shortly after, when he heard 
 above the noisy work 011 wood and iron and stone, 
 and the clanking chains and men s calls, Bernhard s 
 glad voice soaring strong and free on wings of song, 
 the lame man s mood, if sad, was yet without the 
 fierce protest of the previous day. 
 
 " That fellow has common sense. I should like to 
 talk with him about those Ancona people. 4 Why 
 not ? as he says. I should like to do something for 
 those children, if there is any way to reach them with 
 out getting into the clutches of the fashionable phi 
 lanthropists, like Frau Funnel & Co. I am too un- 
 regenerate to work amiably with the professionals. I 
 don t know the ropes in the benevolent line, and my 
 idea is deucedly irregular, I presume, but I am tolera 
 bly clear as to what I would like to do. For instance, 
 an airy, sunny house for the smashed infants, good 
 doctors of course, and I suppose that necessitates a 
 kind of hospital stiffness at first ; but when the poor 
 little souls are well, that is to say, well like me, 
 incurable cripples, then what ? Well, a good big gar 
 den, hammocks and cushioned chairs, and pretty soft- 
 voiced women I suppose there may be such women 
 in Italy! yes, decidedly, pretty women I won t 
 have an ugly one in the house," making a note of this 
 regulation ; " and music," Dietz was whistling frag 
 ments of Carmen with the swing of a whole orchestra, 
 and catching up a refrain with his great voice, flung 
 Escamillo s sentiments in triumph over all the neigh 
 borhood, " yes, certainly," noting music. " Hm," he 
 muttered, reading his notes with a queer smile. " I 
 don t suppose they would call this practical. I must 
 talk with the consul. I could do the thing well 
 enough, I should say, for less than I have always 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 163 
 
 paid for extra horses, cards, and champagne suppers. 
 Though to be sure no man knows less than I the cost 
 of a virtuous action. So far as I can recollect, I 
 never performed one in my life." 
 
 He jotted down a few more notes, then under the 
 condition of profound secrecy imparted to the Italian 
 consul some of his ideas and requested an interview. 
 The pencilled letter, written in good faith and without 
 circumlocution, produced a singular effect upon the 
 gentleman who finally received it. His face as he read 
 expressed violent surprise, and he had a suspicion 
 that somebody was playing a practical joke upon him, 
 after which he laughed heartily, but kindly, and at 
 last had no desire to laugh, but looked thoughtful, 
 took out his handkerchief, flourished it largely, and 
 furtively wiped his eyes. " He begs me to come as 
 early as half-past eight, that we may not be disturbed. 
 I presume they are doing something the whole day to 
 amuse the poor fellow. And no wonder, cut off from 
 everything, and a heart like that ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the letter, unfinished, lay on Hugo s 
 block, and he was looking doubtful over his plan. 
 How a lieutenant of dragoons feels when he sees an 
 indefinite future of iiivalidism stretching on before 
 him, he knew but too well; but how children, little 
 children, the children of laborers would feel and what 
 would make them happiest, he could only vaguely im 
 agine. " Dietz would know," he thought. " I wish I 
 had asked him to come in again to-day." 
 
 " If I do this thing," he mused, with a curiously 
 defiant look, "it is simply because I wish to. It is not 
 to pave my way into the next world, if there is any. 
 It is not to make my accounts look better before I go. 
 It is my whim, like any other, and I won t have it 
 
164 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 credited to me like a death-bed repentance. I 11 take 
 my chances over the border as I have lived," he mut 
 tered doggedly. 
 
 Lipps appeared with a glass of wine and water and 
 some biscuit. 
 
 u I am very comfortable, Lipps, and I don t want 
 anything except to stand a moment. Help me to 
 ground crutches ! will you ? " 
 
 He stood a few minutes, and with great exertion 
 and fatigue walked two or three steps. 
 
 " It is no use," he murmured, his face contracting 
 with pain. 
 
 But Lipps, laying him back on his cushions, lift 
 ing his feet and covering him well, declared unblush- 
 ingly that there was striking improvement and soon 
 the count would be walking off as strong as anybody ; 
 whereupon the servant stood looking very mournful, 
 his face working as if on the verge of tears. 
 
 " If you tell so many lies you will go to a very hot 
 place," the count said faintly. 
 
 The servant protested that he could only say what 
 he believed, which was that the count would be on his 
 feet in no time, walking and riding and dancing, as 
 gay as a lark ; and here the man gave an unmistaka 
 ble sob. 
 
 " I don t wonder that such a big one as that chokes 
 you," Hugo remarked with a kind smile. " Come, 
 Lipps ; never mind me. I am tired of that subject 
 morning, noon, and night. I want to ask you some 
 thing. Suppose you were a little fellow, and some 
 thing should fall upon you, and you couldn t run 
 about any more could n t work or play like me, 
 in short what would you want ? What could any 
 body do to make things more decent for you ? " 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 165 
 
 Lipps was thrown into utter confusion. 
 
 " Surely the count knows best." 
 
 " Don t be idiotic." 
 
 "Surely the count is not asking me for my 
 thoughts ? " 
 
 " Yes I am." 
 
 Lipps was red with embarrassment. 
 
 " Out with it ! " Hugo urged. " I perceive there is 
 an idea in your head, struggling to free itself." 
 
 "Well," faltered Lipps as if confessing a crime, 
 " if I was a little chap, and lame, and on my back, 
 the count means ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes," Hugo said impatiently. 
 
 " I think I d like a big red balloon with a long 
 string better than anything in the world. I always 
 wanted one and never had it," he admitted with a 
 childish grin, recalling years of fruitless longing. 
 
 "Good heavens, man! " began Hugo, staring; then 
 gravely, " It is a very good idea, Lipps. Thank you. 
 And what else ? " 
 
 Lipps grew bolder. 
 
 " Does the count allow me to say anything ? " 
 
 " Anything and everything. Let your imagination 
 run riot. Fire away. Let us have something extrav 
 agant." 
 
 " Well, then, meat once in two days, and a bit of 
 sweet custard Sundays. There ! " 
 
 Hugo was silent some moments. 
 
 " Is that your idea of bliss ? " he asked at length, 
 and with peculiar gentleness. 
 
 " Poor children don t get meat and custard," Lipps 
 explained timidly. " In service of course a man eats 
 well ; but I almost never saw meat when I was a boy, 
 and I remember it." 
 
166 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " What a selfish brute I have been all my life," 
 thought Hugo, scrupulously noting on his extraor 
 dinary list, " balloons, light toys, and plenty of meat 
 and sweets." 
 
 The servant watched him wonderingly. 
 
 " I know no such boy," the count said, answering 
 the question in the man s eyes, " I am only amusing 
 myself." 
 
 " Yes, sir," Lipps returned cheerfully. " I did n t 
 think there was one round here. But if there was 
 any such child, and he had a balloon, and meat and 
 custard, he ought to be happy and no mistake." 
 
 "Happy! Why?" 
 
 " Because it is more than such as he has any right 
 to expect, or ever would expect." 
 
 Again Hugo stared at him. 
 
 " Oh, it is, is it ? That will do, Lipps. You have 
 answered very well. Thank you and you can go 
 now." 
 
 The morning advanced. The sun grew warmer, 
 the balsamic odors heavier. Hugo was occupied with 
 his scheme. Now and then he would jot down an 
 item with an ironical smile. The soft plash of the lit 
 tle fountain sounded pleasant to him. The children 
 should have one. " Meat once in two days and sweet 
 custard Sunday. And the rivers of champagne I 
 have drunk!" The bells and whistles and general 
 pandemonium announced high noon. The men 
 knocked off work with admirable promptness, he no 
 ticed. Presently he heard a welcome voice : 
 
 " Shall I come over, count ? " 
 
 " Ah, do ! " Hugo called eagerly. 
 
 " I only thought that I d see if you were still there 
 or tired, or anything," Dietz began, standing again 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 167 
 
 by the chair. " It must be lonely for you, count, since 
 you are too weak to do anything with your hands 
 except write a little, or hold a book." 
 
 " I might take up knitting," retorted Hugo soberly. 
 
 Dietz smiled. 
 
 " It would n t be the worst thing for you perhaps, 
 but there might be something better." 
 
 " What would you propose ? " 
 
 " I should have to consider, for a man like you." 
 
 " Well, then, not for a man like me. Wait. You 
 don t look as if you would chatter." 
 
 " No, I don t believe I do." 
 
 Still Hugo hesitated. He felt curiously shy, and 
 dreaded, above all things, being suspected of what 
 he called " posing " for charity and benevolence, but 
 something in Dietz s eyes gave him confidence, and at 
 last he muttered somewhat grimly : 
 
 " If there were children, mangled made useless, 
 like me workingmen s children " 
 
 " Is it a fancy of yours," asked Dietz, " or is it 
 true?" 
 
 " It is true." 
 
 " That is a pity." 
 
 " And I would like to do something for them." 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " I am awkward and blundering about it. I don t 
 know anything about such children." 
 
 "How should you, count?" rejoined Bernhard, 
 gently. 
 
 "But you do?" 
 
 " Yes, because I was one of them. My parents 
 were poor as crows when I was a boy." 
 
 " Will you glance at these things for me," and Hugo 
 abruptly thrust his letter and notes toward Dietz. 
 
168 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Bernhard read them slowly, and his face was calm 
 and benign as an angel s as he turned to Hugo. 
 
 " You mean to do that ? All that ? You are a for 
 tunate man to have the power to do a thing like that." 
 
 Fortunate ! Hugo looked up sharply, and was about 
 to reply with bitterness, but meeting Bernhard s tran 
 quil gaze, asked instead : 
 
 " What would you suggest? " 
 
 Dietz answered reflectively : 
 
 " Schooling. Some of them could bear it, and the 
 others would like to listen. Light work, for it s a 
 comfort to move the hands and know one is useful. 
 That s what I was thinking when I saw your hands so 
 white and still on that red plush. There are many 
 children?" 
 
 " A great many, yes." 
 
 " I d have them learn to draw. Some would have 
 talent, and that would be a comfort. I d have them 
 taught a little music. Many of them would like that 
 best. Some will be strong enough to go out into the 
 world later. Others won t. Well, that s not your 
 affair. But such things would keep them good in 
 spite of pain." 
 
 " Good ? I don t care a straw whether they are 
 good or not," Hugo retorted with some heat. " I only 
 want to make them a little happier, if possible." 
 
 "It is about the same thing, isn t it?" Bernhard 
 said tranquilly. 
 
 " If they draw," Hugo resumed after some mo 
 ments, "they ought to have good things to look at, 
 ought they not? Pictures and busts?" 
 
 " Yes, not too many, but good. Drawing will be a 
 comfort to them. It makes the men happier in the 
 prisons." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 1<:>9 
 
 "The prisons?" 
 
 " My professor has taught drawing in the prisons 
 Sundays for ten years. He has discovered talent 
 that the men never suspected. There was a young 
 fellow of twenty, a murderer, who had never drawn 
 a stroke. I wish you could see the heads he did after 
 six months training. They were masterly work, and 
 uUl of feeling." 
 
 " A murderer ? A murderer, do you say ? " repeated 
 Hugo. 
 
 " You lieutenants don t call a duel murder, do you ? 
 Yet that is planned. His sin was one hot moment. 
 He had had too much wine and he was jealous. Mur 
 der is an ugly word. This man was quiet and gentle 
 and drew all day long things the master gave him, 
 things that he remembered. The king shortened his 
 life-sentence to ten years, and now he has gone to 
 America to start fresh. I was glad that he got an 
 other chance. There are good hearts in the prisons," 
 Dietz went on thoughtfully. " There are bad ones all 
 around us that never are found out. There is some 
 thing queer in that." 
 
 Hugo looked at him in astonishment. 
 
 " Do you go into the prisons ? " 
 
 " I help my professor a little now and then," Dietz 
 answered modestly. " I am mighty sorry for them," 
 he added. " But I must go and eat my dinner now," 
 he announced. " I 11 be thinking of your plan. It is 
 a blessed kind of plan, count. I 11 ask some of the 
 men, if you will let me, some of the level-headed 
 ones. I will put the case imaginary, of course. Men 
 with children might know best, though I hope to 
 have some of my own, some day, please God and 
 a man can think beforehand." 
 
170 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Will you come in to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Why not ? " Dietz said. " I d be pleased to come 
 often and talk with you, count," and he smiled his 
 smile of peace and good-will, moved Hugo s chair 
 slightly, re-covered his feet, and walked off, humming 
 as he went. 
 
 He was scarcely gone when Lipps, standing as for 
 mally by a lilac-bush as if it were a door to be closed 
 behind a guest, ushered in von Raven. 
 
 " Good-morning. Surprised, eh ? " 
 
 "I am, rather." 
 
 " Riding by again. Thought I d find you. Ajax 
 pulls like Lucifer. Warm noon." 
 
 " Sit down, Lorenz. There ought to be a rustic 
 chair somewhere in the next path if you will take the 
 trouble to find it. I have not realized my attractive 
 ness, consequently my audience-chamber looks some 
 what inhospitable." 
 
 " Oh, I 11 stand, thanks." 
 
 Hugo said nothing. 
 
 " It s a warm noon," remarked the visitor again. 
 
 " Very, for the season," returned Hugo politely, 
 thinking, " Now he never came in here to tell me 
 that." 
 
 " I say, Hugo," von Raven began after considerable 
 hesitation. " Saw your cousin yesterday." 
 
 "Ah?" 
 
 "Did she tell you?" 
 
 Hugo contemplated him silently before replying : 
 
 " No, I have n t heard her say anything about you." 
 
 Von Raven looked slightly crestfallen. 
 
 " Talked with her some time. Thought she might 
 mention it. But girls are queer." 
 
 " They are," said Hugo, staring at the sky. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 171 
 
 " Beautiful girl, eh, Hugo ? " 
 
 " I can t say that I agree with you." 
 
 " Oh, come now ! " 
 
 " Nor am I prepared to call her the reverse," Hugo 
 added in a judicial tone. 
 
 u Don t mind telling you. I m struck. I m gone. 
 Nothing left of me." 
 
 " Ah, but that happens so often ! " 
 
 " Not like this," von Raven protested. " Never 
 saw anybody like her. Beats Countess Mercedes at 
 eyes, and can gi,ve her points on figure. All of ours 
 are talking of her." 
 
 u Indeed. That s quick work." 
 
 " I believe you ! Sensation, I tell you. Acknow 
 ledged beauty." 
 
 Hugo knew what a sensation in Wynburg meant. 
 He could scarcely reconcile it with those sad, slow 
 footsteps which he had heard at midnight. Von 
 Raven s florid, heated face was turned eagerly toward 
 him. He could not have told what wearied and irri 
 tated him, as he involuntarily compared the baron 
 with the stone-carver who had stood a few moments 
 before in the same place. 
 
 " Want to take her out on Jenny. Haller means 
 to be along to-day. Got the start of him. Jenny is 
 a better mare than Sylphide." 
 
 " Well? " said Hugo coldly. 
 
 " Thought of you." 
 
 "You thought what?" demanded Hugo with a 
 frown. 
 
 "No end of opportunity. Chatting. Reading. 
 Sisterly attention," von Raven went on with an empty 
 little laugh, sketching with unusual play of imagina 
 tion Hugo s helplessness and harmlessness. 
 
172 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Good word, now and then. Advice. Influence, 
 you know." 
 
 He whipped his boot with his riding-stick and looked 
 tolerably sure of his results. 
 
 Hugo scowled steadily, resenting Raven s confi 
 dences, his appeal, for the moment even his careless 
 and satisfied existence. 
 
 " The governor wants me to marry. Mamma is 
 always at me. A man must, sooner or later. She 
 pleases me," he concluded, with the lordly simplicity 
 of a three-tailed pasha. 
 
 " Thought you would help a fellow," he added, sur 
 prised at Hugo s silence. 
 
 "Well, I won t." 
 
 " Oh, come now ! " von Raven returned good-hu- 
 moredly. " Old comrade. Yes, you will. Why 
 won t you?" 
 
 " I am not a match-maker," Hugo growled. " I 
 leave that trade to women." 
 
 " Oh, you will do a friend a good turn," laughed 
 von Raven. " Know you. But how about Jenny ? " 
 
 " I do not know Fraulein von Dohna s tastes suffi 
 ciently to answer for her," Hugo rejoined very for 
 mally, " but if she wishes to ride, of course we shall 
 provide her mount." 
 
 "Merely thought you wouldn t have anything in 
 the stables just now " 
 
 "It is deucedly obliging on your part, Lorenz, to 
 be looking after the condition of my stables " 
 
 " And I thought Jenny would suit." 
 
 "Jenny won t do." 
 
 " She s light on the bit, and " 
 
 " She won t suit Fraulein von Dohna," Hugo said 
 angrily. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 173 
 
 It occurred to von Raven that he would do well to 
 lead Jenny out of the conversation, also that he could 
 ride with the young lady whether his horse or Hugo s 
 had the honor of carrying her. 
 
 " Splendid figure," he exclaimed. " Don t you say 
 so?" 
 
 " I have nothing whatever to say about it." 
 
 " But her eyes, Hugo ! You can t remain cold to 
 those eyes." 
 
 " I have no difficulty thus far." 
 
 " You are in no end of a mood. Never mind. No 
 harm done. By the way, Frau von Funnel s getting 
 up bazaar. Ancona sufferers. Wants Fraulein von 
 Dohna. Gypsy encampment. Hair down. All that 
 sort of thing. Decided after ladies left yesterday. 
 Entrance fee. Raffles. Mayers, flower-girls. Dance 
 afterwards. Your cousin will join ? " 
 
 " If she wishes to exhibit her hair and waltz in 
 pity for the Ancona cripples, yes." 
 
 " The Frau Major thought you d be interested. 
 Take some shares." 
 
 " She was mistaken. I am not interested." 
 
 " The devil ! You are joking. No shares ? Char 
 ity ? Benevolence ? " 
 
 " Nothing of the sort." 
 
 Von Raven stared, wondering if free-handed Hugo 
 had grown parsimonious, but excused him on the plea 
 of illness. 
 
 " Well, old fellow, can t quarrel with you. Good-by. 
 I 11 come again." 
 
 " Come when I m in a better temper," Hugo said 
 with a smile, putting out his hand. 
 
 " Oh, that s all right," von Raven hastened to 
 reply. "My compliments to the ladies. By Jove, 
 
174 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 there s a pretty girl ! Saw us and started back. 
 White apron." 
 
 " One of the maids," Hugo returned indifferently. 
 
 " Fresh as a peach, whatever she is, neat, like saucy 
 little stage-maid," and the lieutenant peered through 
 the shrubbery. 
 
 As he strode through the garden, silly Roschen took 
 pains to cross his path. He put up his monocle, 
 stared at her, smiled like a coxcomb, twirled his 
 mustache, turned and watched her walk away. Her 
 foolish heart beat fast, and she scarcely thought of 
 anything but that splendid vision for days, finding 
 the gentle giant in his blouse tiresome after so much 
 blue-and-silver and high-boots. 
 
 " It must have been Roschen," thought Hugo, 
 " tripping to the trysting-place, which I have cruelly 
 usurped. No doubt she s disappointed. But there 
 are always snug corners for fond lovers. They won t 
 suffer." 
 
 He lay still with his eyes closed. He was exceed 
 ingly weary and could no longer think quietly of his 
 new scheme. Yon Raven had put him completely out 
 of tune, with chatter of hair and figures and eyes and 
 Heaven knew what. " I don t know why he set me on 
 edge. The man is not to blame for being well and en 
 joying himself. But I wanted to swear at him. Let 
 Frau von Funnel, or somebody whose back doesn t 
 ache, take care of the little cripples. Let pretty 
 girls dance and flirt and show their long hair for the 
 little wretches. Nobody needs me." 
 
 All was quiet near him. Now and then the breeze 
 stirred the twigs, or a bird chirped. He heard foot 
 steps, and the rustle of bushes. 
 
 " It s that girl .again. If mamma sees her haunting 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 175 
 
 this part of the garden, when not escorting Mousey, 
 she 11 be discharged. I wish they would all leave me 
 in peace still Roschen," he called, " Rosehen ! " 
 
 The person behind him stepped back quickly, as if 
 anxious to retreat, then paused, and at length replied : 
 
 "It is not Roschen." 
 
 Coming forward, she stood beside his chair, and 
 said, looking down upon him gravely : 
 
 " I am Gabrielle von Dohna." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 GABRIELLE soon found that her only free time was 
 early in the morning. After the countess appeared, 
 the young girl came and went under stricter subjec 
 tion than Babette and Roschen, whose lax consciences 
 allowed them subterfuges and tricks to gain odd mo 
 ments now and then. Every day at lunch the countess 
 dilated upon her own ailments and Mousey s. Every 
 day she fulminated at the butler and threatened to 
 discharge the cook. She never by any accident con 
 sulted Gabrielle s pleasure, or asked if she had a choice 
 of occupation. " We are going to drive at three," she 
 would say ; " wear your gray, and don t keep me wait 
 ing. I was educated to be punctual, above all to show 
 some deference to my superiors.". 
 
 At first, Gabrielle, surprised and ready to justify 
 herself, would answer : 
 
 " I beg your pardon, but have I ever kept" you wait 
 ing ? " But she speedily grasped the portentous fact 
 that what she had done or left undone, what she was 
 or was not, had not the remotest connection with the 
 countess s insinuations. It was impossible to know 
 what was wise and right to reply. The slightest 
 attempt at self-justification would irritate her pro 
 foundly, silence made her furious, while an amiable 
 effort to change the theme was apt to fan her wrath 
 to a white heat. 
 
 It is easy to call a temper, colossal in its violence, 
 a weakness. When one is exposed to its cruelties, it 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 177 
 
 has the effect of huge and brutal strength. Gabrielle 
 was frequently wretched, indignant, outraged. Accus 
 tomed to exceptional freedom, she felt the indignity of 
 her position more keenly than a less spirited girl, or 
 one more docile to worldly training. She made many 
 mistakes, had too little tact and wisdom with the sur 
 prising old lady who could open fire on all sides at once 
 and was capable not alone of malicious spurts but of 
 sustained and dangerous hostility. Whatever Ga 
 brielle did or said, she always had reason to wish that 
 it had been something different. In spite of the con 
 stant overthrow of her calculations, she would ingen 
 uously work out problems by which she hoped to attain 
 to reasonably pleasant intercourse with the countess ; 
 and every evening, honestly reviewing the day and call 
 ing herself strictly to account, she would create con 
 versations in which the suavity and sense of her own 
 remarks induced refreshing cordiality on the part of 
 Aunt Adelheid. Thus equipped, the young girl 
 would go forth to meet the exigencies of the morrow 
 with hope and courage. But the countess s response 
 was invariably all things else rather than what Gabri- 
 elle s imagination and buoyant hopefulness had antici 
 pated, and she was at last forced to sorrowfully admit 
 that not patience, not undaunted cheerfulness, and not 
 vigilance, could prevent the Countess Kronfels rages, 
 or ward off her missiles. 
 
 Meanwhile the handsome old lady and the charming 
 young girl drove in and out of the great gates, went 
 shopping, paid visits, and presented to the world an 
 attractive picture of serene age and youthful grace, 
 of kindly family-life and sympathetic companionship. 
 The people sauntering past the villa had the naive 
 habit of standing and gazing at anything that pleased 
 
178 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 them. When the Wynburg folk went out for a stroll, 
 it took its pleasures simply, but it took all that there 
 were. It had a frugal mind and let nothing escape 
 it. On Sunday, on the frequent holidays, at evening 
 after the day s work was done, it was always strolling 
 and tranquilly staring. It was a peripatetic populace, 
 and the broad well-kept roads on all the hills around 
 the city seemed to be ever echoing the slow footsteps 
 of placid-faced pilgrims, fathers and mothers with 
 an incredible trail of children, and little bow-legged 
 babies, since almost as soon as they had made their 
 appearance on this planet, they had begun to soberly 
 measure off long distances upon it with methodical 
 Sunday excursions. Very old men and women walked 
 regularly by the villa, guarding tenaciously their feeble 
 allowance of life ; while the steep flights of steps be 
 tween the vineyards on the hill behind the house were 
 haunted by anxious beings, ascending with painful 
 puffs, and eager to leave behind, not their sins, like 
 the motley pilgrims on the Scala Santa, but a portion 
 of their superfluous adipose tissue which is apt to 
 prove, in most instances, a heavier burden than in 
 iquity. Once, when a man climbed three hundred al 
 most perpendicular steps at dawn of day, he was a 
 poet, a painter, or a lover. Now he is a disciple of 
 Schweninger. 
 
 All the little world of pedestrians looked at the 
 countess and Gabrielle, and envied them. " Nothing 
 to do but to be happy," was the usual comment, made 
 with a stolid stare, a weary sigh, or a ferment of envy, 
 according to the heart of the speaker. Yet Gabrielle 
 was counting the days of her bondage, like a prisoner 
 in his cell, and comforting herself with visions of 
 home and freedom, when her father should have 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 171) 
 
 returned from far-off seas. In her quieter and better 
 moments, when some recent affront was not rankling, 
 she was beginning to realize with a kind of w r ondering 
 pity, that Countess Kronfels was a most unhappy old 
 woman. Gabrielle often speculated upon the quality of 
 the intercourse between mother and son, but had no 
 opportunity to see them together. So far as she knew, 
 the countess made a more or less hasty descent upon 
 Hugo s quarters, every day toward noon, provided a 
 formal visitor in her own boudoir or an indisposition 
 on Mousey s part did not prevent. 
 
 April, after a prematurely warm March, was cold 
 and rainy. Hugo did not leave his rooms in some 
 weeks, and Gabrielle while regretting the invalid s en 
 forced seclusion, could not suspect that the weather 
 was not its exclusive cause. 
 
 A spirited Hungarian horse found its way into the 
 Kronfels stables. Its name was Sphinx, which she 
 thought delightful. When, one morning, Lipps told 
 her that there was a horse for her to try in the court 
 yard, she was on his back in a twinkling, and thanked 
 the countess warmly at lunch for the pleasure the 
 splendid animal had given her. The countess said 
 " Hm ! " and for various motives kept her son s secret, 
 while Gabrielle for months cherished the innocent 
 conviction that the horse was a living proof of the 
 countess s inherent kindness. After being insulted, 
 brow -beaten, meanly suspected, and trodden under 
 foot, the young girl with a triumphant want of logic 
 would say : " How uncharitable I am ! There is 
 Sphinx." 
 
 She rode early every morning with Lipps in attend 
 ance. When she found that he was detailed for her 
 service, she was greatly distressed, and assured the 
 
180 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 countess that she would rather not ride at all than 
 take Count Hugo s man, and indeed she needed no 
 groom out on the country roads. 
 
 To this the countess responded, with her inexpli 
 cable look of jealousy and mistrust, that she would 
 thank Gabrielle not to attempt to dictate or interfere, 
 that Gabrielle would perhaps allow one to have some 
 control of the servants in one s own house ; that Lapps 
 was the only one who had time to go ; that it was 
 very indelicate for a young lady to ride alone, what 
 ever people did at Dohna ; and as to getting in a pet, 
 and not riding at all, if Gabrielle, after a horse had 
 been specially provided for her, imagined that she 
 could play fast and loose in an ill-bred and capricious 
 fashion, she was extremely mistaken. This tirade, 
 induced by the countess s chronic objection to inde 
 pendent enjoyment on the part of her subjects by her 
 deep-seated envy of youth and freshness, and by the 
 hot remembrance of Hugo s stern injunctions which 
 controlled her against her will, was sufficient to ren 
 der Gabrielle perplexed, uncomfortable, and indig 
 nant, but could not permanently cool her ardor. 
 How early she began her flight, how swiftly she went, 
 and how far beyond Leslach out into the open coun 
 try, through woods and a game-park, past sloping 
 orchards and undulating meadows and villages nestled 
 high and low among a myriad of hills, the countess 
 never inquired, and Gabrielle soon learned to avoid 
 the subject. In rash enthusiasm, she ventured to ex 
 patiate upon the delights of her first ride, and told 
 the countess that the country was as fresh as the 
 Garden of Eden. 
 
 " Spare me your rhodomontades ! " was the reply. 
 " One would think no one else had ever ridden. I 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 181 
 
 was an expert horsewoman, when I was " she hesi 
 tated, then said " strong. Dear Dr. Pressigny told 
 me that I was too sensitive to bear so violent exercise. 
 Women who ride have usually rather tough nerves," 
 she added, with a disparaging scrutiny of Gabrielle s 
 fresh color. After that, Gabrielle spared her, reflect 
 ing that it was very remarkable for her to sweetly 
 provide the pleasure, and then be so inconsistent and 
 unamiable because one thoroughly enjoyed it ; but, as 
 in many another instance, the young girl concluded 
 to hold her peace and accept the inevitable ; and as 
 the inevitable included a horse, the countess s antago 
 nism sank into the background. 
 
 Gabrielle would return from her ride fresh, free, 
 and glad, slip in the side-door, out of consideration for 
 the countess s nerves and Mousey s, tip-toe up the ser 
 vants stairway, and write a happy letter to her father. 
 Only the man whose smallest practical need a hand 
 kerchief from his chest of drawers, a book from his 
 shelves required another s ministrations knew how 
 long she rode in the fresh morning world. Her let 
 ters of this epoch conveyed to the Baron von Dohna 
 an impression of excellent spirits, but he sometimes 
 wished that she would say less of her horse and the 
 beauties of nature, and more of the people with whom 
 she was living. 
 
 The line of march for the afternoon was consistent 
 in its inconsistency. If the countess said that they 
 were going shopping, Gabrielle could be tolerably 
 sure that they would make visits ; if the order was vis 
 its, they usually spent a few hours in shops, where the 
 countess would sometimes buy with large and luxuri 
 ous caprice, and again would grow unhappy over the 
 price of a necessity. Gabrielle greatly dreaded the 
 
182 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 countess s access of economy, and particularly her 
 soap-quest. With an uneasy look on her pale face, 
 she would drive to small out-of-the-way shops and hag 
 gle long with strange anxiety. Mousey, who usually 
 accompanied them on these expeditions, seemed to 
 growl at dogs and men with even a darker misan 
 thropy than that which ordinarily filled his fierce 
 breast. While the countess was suspiciously glaring 
 at the humble soap-boiler and frightening his sickly 
 wife and the children clinging to her skirts, Gabrielle, 
 left in the coupe to entertain the lovey-dovey-dog- 
 gums, could with difficulty prevent him from spring 
 ing through the glass in insensate fury at the poor 
 and needy whom he hated, and who in these unfash 
 ionable streets, where the countess for inscrutable rea 
 sons sought to save a penny, were continually passing 
 with their irritating bundles and insulting baskets, 
 exciting him to the verge of delirium. 
 
 In large shops, where the countess would order the 
 last expensive thing in bric-a-brac, she was welcome, 
 for a skilful salesman knew how to play upon her 
 capricious vanity and reach her eminently respectable 
 purse ; but she was a terrible scourge whenever her 
 large, stern, yet uneasy countenance appeared in a 
 poor man s precincts; and it often occurred to Ga 
 brielle, as she sat struggling with the dog and watch 
 ing the scene in the little shop, that if the patient and 
 long-suffering Wynburg populace should ever rise and 
 slay in revolutionary madness, the Countess Kronfels 
 would surely be among the first victims. 
 
 The drives, the visits and dinners grew more and 
 more tedious to Gabrielle, and her manner became 
 more indifferent every day. If she happened to 
 like a face, or be attracted by some stranger, she 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 183 
 
 straightway heard a defamatory tale from the coun 
 tess s mocking lips. Gabrielle might refuse to believe 
 it, but it would haunt her memory, perplex her, and 
 restrain the cordial greeting and outstretched hand 
 she would have proffered if left free to follow her in 
 clination. Perhaps her hardest trial was the necessity 
 of listening to belittling recitals of the world in which 
 she now found herself. No one escaped but Frau 
 von Funnel. Toward this exemplary person Gabri 
 elle still felt the innocent and impassioned homage 
 which a young girl sometimes offers an older and fas 
 cinating woman. Gabrielle s desire to serve, to yield 
 her will to that serene guiding power, to become as 
 wax in those deft hands, had not as yet found verbal 
 expression, because she never had seen the Frau Ma 
 jor except in the presence of the countess ; still, with 
 out words, Gabrielle knew from the Frau Major s 
 subtle sympathy that the mute allegiance was com 
 prehended and accepted. Another person whom Ga 
 brielle greatly liked was Mercedes von Waldenberg. 
 She was beautiful, brilliant, and uniformly attentive 
 and friendly. They became friends, so far as an af 
 fectionate and free intercourse skimming along cheer 
 ily on the surface of things means friendship. They 
 called each other by their first names, enjoyed each 
 other s society, and each kept her own secrets. This 
 easy and amiable relationship bade fair to continue 
 as it had begun, and doubtless would never have de 
 veloped any ambition toward a profouiider and there 
 fore more troublesome element, had not Gabrielle 
 been constitutionally inclined not to let well enough 
 alone, but to struggle to make it better, also to leap 
 before she looked, and in short to disregard all old 
 saws in which caution figures as the highest virtue. 
 
184 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 One night, returning home unusually late, she 
 noticed far down the drive that Hugo s rooms were 
 lighted. She had enjoyed the evening. After the 
 opera, there had been a gay little supper with the 
 Waldenberg party, at a restaurant. Mercedes was 
 charming and in brilliant spirits. Beside her marquis 
 she had several officers in her train, among them a 
 man with steady, sensible eyes, whom she presented to 
 Gabrielle as " a very, very old friend, Baron von 
 Paalzow, returned, at last, from Berlin." 
 
 Leaning back comfortably in her corner of the car 
 riage, Gabrielle recalled the evening with unwonted 
 satisfaction. She had been skilfully seated by Mer 
 cedes, in the centre of her gay young court, and invig- 
 oratingly far from Aunt Adelheid. With the removal 
 of the crushing and benumbing influence, Gabrielle s 
 natural cheerfulness rebounded and asserted itself 
 blithely. Silent, smiling, lost in indolent retrospec 
 tion, she was now approaching the house, when the 
 sudden gleam of Hugo s windows between gaunt, 
 black tree-trunks revealed his forlorn figure to her 
 consciousness as vividly as if she were beholding his 
 actual presence, and involuntarily she reproached her 
 self for her light-heartedness. How hopelessly long 
 and lonely his days were, and how different it might 
 be at the villa, how sunny and kindly and sympa 
 thetic ! Why could she not run in and bring him 
 some of the laughter and brightness and careless gay- 
 ety of the evening ? 
 
 " Are not Count Hugo s rooms lighted very late ? " 
 she remarked. 
 
 " Oh dear, yes, he reads late. Do you know, if 
 I were the Marquis de Yallion, I would nip Mercedes 
 and Paalzow s reminiscences in the bud? They 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 185 
 
 seemed to date from cradle-days, and they promise to 
 multiply with amazing rapidity." 
 
 " But it is not his reading-lamp, Aunt Adelheid," 
 Gabrielle persisted ; " the whole wing is brilliantly 
 lighted, as if Lipps had forgotten, or had been too 
 busy to think of lights and windows. Could Count 
 Hugo be suffering? Could he be suddenly ill?" 
 
 " Why do you deliberately go out of your way to 
 choose annoying subjects that try my nerves ? Do 
 you wish to keep me awake till morning ? And why 
 always harp upon Hugo ? Has he not the right to 
 burn his gas as long as he pleases, without consulting 
 you ? He would not thank you for your interference 
 and inquisitiveness, so much I can assure you ; and 
 I don t thank you for your croaking." 
 
 Gabrielle sighed. 
 
 " I was only sorry," she answered. 
 
 " Sorry ? What of that ? Is that anything ex 
 traordinary? Who is not sorry? It seems to me 
 nothing less than impertinence to tell his own mother 
 in that tone of voice that you are sorry ! Sorry, in 
 deed ! Hm ! " 
 
 Gabrielle said nothing, and presently the countess 
 went on with abated heat, but still irritably : 
 
 " Suppose I should go to him. Is that what you 
 mean to insinuate ? I should simply meet with a very 
 unpleasant and mocking reception for my pains. 
 There is nothing sudden to be apprehended in Hugo s 
 case. It is a dispensation of Providence, and ought 
 to be borne with resignation. As for rushing in and 
 making a scene every time he has a light more or 
 less, really, Gabrielle you have positively no 
 tact ! " 
 
 Under other circumstances the singular climax to 
 
18G THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 this oration might have made Gabrielle smile. In 
 her present state of mind she perceived nothing amus 
 ing in the situation. 
 
 " You are right," she said with grave acquiescence, 
 " I have none. No one in the world could have less." 
 
 The countess being in an evening mood, and her 
 " French " mood, and a pleasingly stimulated after- 
 supper mood, did not dwell long upon the disturbing 
 topic of her son s infirmities. Once in her room, and 
 having had some of her stiff worldly harness replaced 
 by a wrapper, she sat in her favorite chair, sipping a 
 last glass of curacoa, a " wee nightcap," she called 
 it, and, graciously ignoring Gabrielle s want of tact, 
 reinstated her in favor as " Moonbeam " and " sweet 
 pet," and commented with sprightliest malice upon 
 the friends of whose salt they had just partaken. 
 
 When at last Gabrielle was released and safe in 
 her own room, she was eager to satisfy herself that 
 those lower windows no longer sent out their unwonted 
 message, but the lawn was still flooded with light. 
 Listening uneasily, she heard doors close, and once 
 she was sure that Lipps went for something in a dis 
 tant part of the house. Count Hugo was undoubtedly 
 ill. He was always ill, indeed. But he must be suf 
 fering unusual pain. She had known it instinctively, 
 when instead of the one faint glimmer from the shaded 
 reading-lamp in his sleeping-room she had perceived 
 that startlingly irrelevant illumination. She had 
 learned to watch for his window as she drove home 
 late, to greet it afar off as a familiar and pleasant 
 thing, and to send him, in spite of himself, a kind 
 good-night and gentle pitying thoughts. More than 
 once she had smiled at the interest she regularly felt 
 in the faintly shining distant window of a man who 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 187 
 
 persistently manifested, not mere indifference, but a 
 pronounced objection to her society. But her sym 
 pathy was too sincere, her indulgence too large, for 
 her to be capable of any petty annoyance because of 
 his attitude toward her. Then there was so little 
 that was homelike at the villa, so little to which she 
 could feel attached, that she had grown to make the 
 most of that one window, and to regard it with a spe 
 cies of affection, whatever inimical sentiments toward 
 her might be cherished behind it. She had even ac 
 customed herself to see in imagination the invalid s 
 face on his pillow, and the pile of books and maga 
 zines on one table, while upon another, the best pos 
 sible burner under the best possible shade shed its 
 light upon his midnight vigils. Through floors and 
 through walls, she pictured him day by day. What 
 she, who never seemed to ask a question, learned from 
 Lipps, who never seemed to communicate anything 
 about his master, was also considerable, and the bound 
 less devotion of the simple man who rode behind her 
 nearly every morning did not tend to make her think 
 less kindly of the count. Then she had seen him by 
 chance that day in the garden, and could not lightly 
 forget his pale worn face, his searching eyes, and long 
 thin hands. To-night she recalled him with peculiar 
 vividness, lying in his chair among red cushions, saw 
 him make an instinctive effort to rise, then sink back 
 wearily, as she stood by him a little startled, yet not 
 ill-pleased to look at last upon the mystery face to 
 face. It was not, indeed, a grewsome mystery. She 
 had felt that, with a warm rush of pity in her heart, 
 as the pale man fixed his eyes in silence upon her. 
 He had extended no hand in welcome. He uttered no 
 word of greeting. The countess had told her, indeed, 
 
188 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 and often enough, that he did not desire to know 
 her. But as she saw pride and strength laid so piti 
 fully low, she had no thought of self and wounded 
 dignity. 
 
 "I did not know that you were here," she had 
 begun, and how the fresh sweetness of her voice 
 sounded in Hugo s ears after his long exile from the 
 world she had no suspicion, "I did not know, but 
 I am not sorry, unless it disturbs you." She held out 
 her hand frankly. " I have greatly wished to know 
 you," she continued after a little pause, in which she 
 waited in vain for him to speak. 
 
 He did not appear to notice her gesture. 
 
 She colored slightly and began again, not without 
 timidity : 
 
 " Could I not come and chat with you, now and 
 then?" 
 
 " Thanks," he said at length and very coldly, " I 
 am not a sociable person. I am not fond of chatting." 
 
 Again she hesitated. 
 
 " I could read to you," she proposed. 
 
 " Thanks. There is nothing whatever the matter 
 with my eyes." 
 
 " That is a mercy," she said simply. " Yes, they 
 look strong," scrutinizing them in a business-like man 
 ner, and not as women in former days had regarded 
 Hugo Kronfels eyes. 
 
 " And I really can do nothing for you nothing 
 at all ? " she asked regretfully. 
 
 "If I were not a cripple she would not insist," 
 Hugo told himself with bitterness. " A cripple is no 
 man. Hence her fearlessness and pious benevolence." 
 
 " Nothing, thanks," he returned with extreme cere 
 mony. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 189 
 
 She looked distressed and was silent, while her soft 
 clear gaze rested long and thoughtfully upon him, 
 noting his strong spirited features, pinched and wan 
 now, the compressed mouth, the pallor of his hands, 
 and the books lying on his knee. 
 
 " I am very, very sorry," she said, and turned away. 
 Then, with a quick movement, and a sudden and 
 charming smile, "You may change your mind," she 
 added hopefully, " and if you should ever want me 
 and would kindly send for me, you would make me 
 very happy." 
 
 But nearly a month had passed, and he had not 
 sent for her. He had been invisible, buried in his 
 rooms. Why did he see no one ? Why were things 
 so unnatural, so uncomfortable, so much worse than 
 they need be ? If everybody would only do his best, 
 it would all be quite different. But everybody seemed 
 determined to do his worst. For instance, at that mo 
 ment, why were she and the countess not with him ? 
 A woman s presence would surely be of some comfort. 
 Surely sympathy, affection, kindness, would be worth 
 something to him. The countess was human, she 
 could not be entirely destitute of natural affection ; 
 she had her amiable qualities, there was Sphinx ; and 
 had she not subscribed very liberally for various char 
 ities ? If she could only be induced to forget herself 
 and Mousey, for her son s sake. She was so pretty 
 when she was not angry or mistrustful. There was 
 not a prettier old lady in the world. She could not 
 really know how forlorn Hugo s fate was. No one 
 was wholly cold, wholly selfish. 
 
 Ah, it seemed as if they were all led by some per 
 verse malicious imp to do the wrong, unlovely thing. 
 Hugo himself one could excuse him indeed 
 
190 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 was the most uncompromisingly ungracious being in 
 the world. If he had not had such great sad eyes, 
 she could scarcely have forgiven him for his frigidity. 
 
 She indeed was always blundering, always awkward 
 and unfortunate, literally without " tact," as the coun 
 tess had said. How was it possible to live weeks in 
 this house, and with the best will in the world never 
 succeed in doing anything sensible and desirable and 
 good ? She had excelled in the art of irritating the 
 countess, and had advanced not an inch toward Hugo. 
 Yet his prejudices the whims of a sick man could 
 not be invincible. Here was no robber-knight s castle 
 to be stormed. Here was no arduous task. The facts 
 were simple, commonplace indeed, yet stubborn and 
 immovable, crystallized in unyielding forms. If she 
 had but approached him wisely in the garden that 
 morning ! How hard, how impossible it was to be 
 wise ! Yet at Dohiia, she had never troubled herself 
 to consider whether she was wise or unwise. 
 
 "I have been so self-confident," she thought sorrow 
 fully, " and I have no qualities which are of any use 
 in this situation. It is obvious that no one could do 
 worse than I have done. Lucie would know how to 
 make things more kindly and human," she reflected, 
 with sudden surprise at this involuntary tribute to 
 Frau von Dohna s sagacity. " The Frau Major could 
 advise me, but it is not easy to speak of Aunt Adel- 
 heid to her intimate friend." 
 
 And Mercedes ? Could she not help matters ? Why 
 did she not come to Count Hugo ? Why did not 
 everybody do the simple natural thing ? They had 
 been friends. Mercedes said so, and the world with 
 knowing hints and sly smiles and the all-potent "if," 
 never ceased to allude to them together. At the 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 191 
 
 opera, that evening, Gabrielle had thought much of 
 Mercedes, watching her across the house, as she came 
 in beautiful and radiant, followed by her smirking 
 old marquis. Afterwards, at supper, Gabrielle forgot 
 her earnest thoughts, and enjoyed herself without 
 restraint, for Mercedes could be as droll as she was 
 winning, and to-night her mood was irresistible. 
 
 But now Gabrielle s problems confronted her again. 
 Until the lights were out below, she did not sleep. 
 She was excited, troubled, and sad. It seemed to her 
 that it would be a crime for Mercedes to marry that 
 old man. And as she thought of Mercedes, it seemed 
 to her that strange magnetic currents were bringing 
 her messages from the sufferer, telling her of his pain, 
 his loneliness, and his defiance, were revealing his 
 pale haughty face, pathetic in its gloom and reserve. 
 Was this life ? Was this the world they had wanted 
 her to see ? Only a little circle, yet all wrong, where 
 it might easily yes, easily be right. A touch 
 here, a change there, and all would be transformed. 
 Yet how powerless one was ! Had one always one s 
 self to thank for one s misfortunes ? Was each soul 
 always its own worst enemy ? 
 
 The hill-lights burned across the valley. It was 
 very still, except for a dog barking at intervals in a 
 lower street, and somewhere near or far she could not 
 judge some one was splitting wood with surprising 
 distinctness. She wondered why, at that hour. Per 
 haps there were illness and suffering there too. Per 
 haps the man s wife or child was ill. How much sor 
 row there was in the world ! Yet though disease and 
 pain and death must come, if tenderness and truth 
 need not fail this thought seemed wonderful and 
 new to the young girl, and took possession of her with 
 
192 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 the strength of a great revelation might there not 
 still be peace mightier than fate s most cruel blows 
 
 a peace that passeth understanding ? 
 
 The lawn was gradually growing dusky. Lipps was 
 putting out the lights. It was after two o clock. 
 " Dear old faithful, patient, loving Lipps ! " she mur 
 mured. " If we all knew our duty and did it as sim 
 ply as you, and with your untiring heart ! 
 
 " But I will not give up. I will talk with Mercedes. 
 I will see her at once to-morrow. She can do what 
 I cannot. She can do anything she will. At all events 
 I must speak with her of herself of Count Hugo 
 
 of all these thoughts that haunt me." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TOWARD nine the following morning, Mercedes sat 
 in her room, drinking her coffee and reading a French 
 novel in a desultory fashion, when Gabrielle was an 
 nounced. As she entered, Mercedes cried : 
 
 " This is perfect ! Come and sit here by me, and 
 tell me all about it." 
 
 "Tell you about what?" 
 
 " Why, whatever sent you down to me so early, 
 Heaven bless it ! I hope it is an affair of the heart, 
 if that is not too indiscreet on my part." 
 
 " You do yourself injustice," Gabrielle replied ; " I 
 have come simply to see you, to see you freely and 
 alone, without all the world watching and listening." 
 
 " Ah, the world ! " yawned Mercedes, throwing up 
 her slight round arms in their loose sleeves, and lean 
 ing her head back comfortably. " Poor old world ! 
 How they did abuse it ! Surely you are not going to 
 attack it, Gabrielle? It is amazingly kind to you." 
 
 " I suppose it would seem very stupid of me to find 
 fault with what I understand so little ; yet I don t 
 always like it that is not so much of it and all 
 the time. In the country, I used to meet fewer people, 
 and meet them differently." 
 
 " Your affectation of rusticity is always a delight to 
 me. You know very well that you crush us all with 
 your grand air. Mamma praises you unconditionally. 
 I can hardly expect you to appreciate the awful signi 
 ficance of this information," Mercedes laughed a 
 
194 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 little, " but I assure you it lias never happened in 
 the case of any other mortal. Some one asked me 
 last night, Do you suppose it is possible for anybody 
 to be as quiet as the Baroness von Dohna looks ? " 
 
 " What nonsense ! I am far from quiet. I am un 
 quiet, and restless. That is why I am here." 
 
 " Ah, a heart-history, after all ! " Mercedes had or 
 dered some hot coffee, and now poured a cup for her 
 guest. " Drink and confess ! " she said with a flash 
 ing smile. She looked less fresh and young than in 
 evening dress ; her face in repose showed some hard 
 deep lines about the eyes and mouth, and the skin was 
 "fatigued," as the French say. But Gabrielle was a 
 generous critic, and found the graceful dark woman, in 
 her fantastic ntgligt of rose-colored crepe, marvel 
 lously lovely and winning. 
 
 " Come, child, which one is it ? " 
 
 Gabrielle smiled. " Shall you not be interested 
 unless I talk of lovers ? I really have none." 
 
 " I am interested in you, and everything that con 
 cerns you," Mercedes replied cordially. " Still, it is a 
 pity that you can t, or rather won t, entertain me with 
 lovers. Lovers may not amount to much, but they are 
 more interesting than most things women talk about. 
 It is so good of you to help me dawdle away my morn 
 ing. My book is as stupid as it is immoral, and my 
 thoughts are far from merry." She sighed, then added 
 brightly : " What a mistake late suppers are ! They 
 are ruinous to the spirits and death to the complexion. 
 Particularly game-patties, don t you think so? " 
 
 "Mercedes," began Gabrielle abruptly, "do you 
 know any happy people ? " 
 
 " Oh," returned the other, smiling and lifting her 
 eyebrows, " the inquisitor-general ! Let me see that 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 195 
 
 there are no spies." She walked across the room, 
 opened a door, and glanced into the adjoining cham 
 ber. "My sprightly sister has gone down," she ex 
 plained. " She is younger than I, she is not engaged 
 to be married, and her days are not too long. I am 
 my own mistress only in the morning, like you 
 you poor dear," she added laughing lightly. " After 
 that, we are the slaves of age. That is not a nice 
 speech, I admit. You look so serious and honest, you 
 tempt me to speak the truth, but it s not a frequent 
 fault of mine, and I repent already." 
 
 " Mercedes ! " expostulated Gabrielle laughing. 
 
 " Now for your catechism. Do I know any happy 
 people? Except children and fools, no. Do you?" 
 
 " Not here ; not in Wynburg. That is, not in your 
 world." 
 
 " My dear Gabrielle, I must insist upon respect for 
 my world, in my presence. I am a worldling to the tips 
 of my toes. The world snaps at me, as that little vile 
 Mousey snaps at the Countess Kronf els, and abuses me 
 and tyrannizes over me, but I am faithful to it as she 
 is to her ugly little cur. By the way, is he not a nui 
 sance ? If I were you, I should be tempted to give him 
 a dose of cyankali. But her devotion and mine are 
 pathetic all the same. We cannot live without our 
 heart s desire." 
 
 Gabrielle smiled with candid admiration. She liked 
 Mercedes rapid way of talking nonsense. 
 
 " I have seen but one happy person since I came to 
 Wynburg," said the young girl meditatively. " He is 
 a stone-carver, who works on a house near us. He 
 sings like a glad angel all day long. The other day, 
 in a violent thunder-storm, between the peals, I heard 
 that man s high sweet voice singing Robin Adair." 
 
196 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Mark my words, he is doomed. He will fall from 
 Ms scaffolding and break his neck, or even now some 
 curse is on him which he does not suspect. He belongs 
 to the children-and-fools category." 
 
 Gabrielle shook her head. " He is not a fool. He 
 has a lovely face, and he looks calm and wise." 
 
 " After all, his singing proves nothing. We all sing, 
 do we not? I sing." 
 
 " Not like him," Gabrielle said gently. 
 
 " But we can t all take to stone-carving and tenor 
 solos for our peace of mind ? " 
 
 "No, but I wish we might learn his secret. He 
 comes in now and then to see Count Hugo." 
 
 "Ah," said Mercedes quickly, the mockery fading 
 from her face. 
 
 " Lipps he rides with me now, you know tells 
 me the count likes the man greatly." 
 
 " Lipps ? Not Count Hugo himself ? " 
 
 " I never see Count Hugo. I have seen him but 
 once, and that quite by accident." 
 
 " Indeed," rejoined Mercedes. 
 
 Neither spoke for a moment. 
 
 There was not a sound in the room except the gentle 
 ticking of a crystal clock. Mercedes, usually given to 
 fluttering, rapid gestures, sat motionless, her head 
 drooping, her eyes fixed upon her rosy folds and lace. 
 While Gabrielle, her elbow on the table, her cheek rest 
 ing on her hand, regarded the lovely woman before her 
 so thoughtfully, and with so direct and questioning a 
 gaze, that Mercedes felt it through her downcast lids. 
 
 " Count Hugo lies hours and hours alone, every 
 day entirely alone," Gabrielle began, low and slowly, 
 and with little pauses, as if she saw what she re 
 counted. " He reads much, of course, but one cannot 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 197 
 
 always read. There he lies, thinking the saddest of 
 sad thoughts and staring at the ceiling with his great 
 mournful eyes. When I saw him it was in the gar 
 den, a month ago his face was pale as death, and his 
 hands were thin like a woman s at home who died. 
 I can see him still, just as the sunshine fell on him, 
 shivering under his wraps, and I remember his eyes 
 his great beautiful melancholy eyes." 
 
 " Don t," Mercedes ejaculated inaudibly. 
 
 " I beg your pardon." 
 
 " No, no, it is nothing. I merely Go on, Gabri- 
 elle. Do you know," she continued lightly, "it is 
 really beginning to be as interesting as lovers ? You 
 were saying that you remember Count Hugo Kronfels 
 eyes. They are very handsome eyes, so why should 
 you not remember them ? What next ? " 
 
 " They are very sad eyes. They make one s heart 
 ache. Even pain and a crippled body need not make 
 them so unutterably sad. But they look upon nothing 
 happy, nothing loving and true." 
 
 Mercedes played with the lace on her sleeve, and 
 after a moment replied, with somewhat hard mirth : 
 
 " No, if he won t look at you, and only sees his 
 mamma! She is certainly not happy and loving and 
 true. What deliciously odd words you use ! " 
 
 " I doubt if she can help him," Gabrielle said gently. 
 " I think that you are the only one who could help him, 
 Mercedes." 
 
 " I ? Impossible," she returned with a start. 
 
 " Were you not his friend? " 
 
 " I knew him well yes." 
 
 " And you liked him ? " 
 
 Mercedes smiled singularly. " Yes, I liked him 
 much." 
 
198 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " And what was he, in those days ? " 
 
 Mercedes stared, shrugged her shoulders, was about 
 to give an evasive reply, hesitated, then yielding irre 
 sistibly to Gabrielle s soft persistence said impetu 
 ously : 
 
 " Hugo von Kronfels was the handsomest, kindest, 
 sunniest, happiest, bravest man I ever knew ! " 
 
 " Then why do you leave him to suffer alone you 
 who were his friend ? " asked the mild, relentless voice. 
 
 " But, Gabrielle," protested Mercedes, " one does 
 not ask such questions ! Not that my conscience has 
 not asked them, scores of times," she added gayly, 
 " but I have the habit of snubbing my conscience. It 
 has not dared to give a sign of life, since really, I 
 forget when it last spoke, it was so long ago." 
 
 Gabrielle waited, and at length rejoined : 
 
 " But you don t answer me." 
 
 Mercedes frowned slightly, looked sharply at Gabri 
 elle an instant, then smiled with an incredulous air, 
 as if so much seriousness and honesty were beyond 
 belief. 
 
 " What a child you are ! You forget that I have 
 promised to marry the Marquis de Vallion." 
 
 " Oh, no, I remember that only too well." 
 
 This unequivocal statement produced in Mercedes a 
 strong feeling of surprise. What people thought of 
 her engagement she was fully aware ; but, as she had 
 observed, there are questions one does not ask and 
 things one does not say, and to the steps of the altar, 
 and beyond, she expected to be accompanied by a loud 
 and unbroken chorus of felicitation. It was an artis 
 tic combination of perjury and orange-blossoms, but 
 why not ? Did it not happen every day ? She looked 
 kindly at Gabrielle, reflecting that the thing that did 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 199 
 
 not happen every day was listening to truth from the 
 heart of a friend. Yet it being the habit of her life to 
 jest, she did not surrender at once, but rallied again. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Gabrielle," she said with mock 
 seriousness, "do you feel quite well this morning? Be 
 cause, do you know, you have certain symptoms that 
 are so unusual, they alarm me." 
 
 " I think that I am in my right mind," Gabrielle 
 returned, " but perhaps I am not, after all, for every 
 body seems unhappy to me, and everything is at cross 
 purposes, and it might all be so different." 
 
 "What might be different?" demanded Mercedes 
 abruptly. Then in her bantering tone: "One must 
 humor you, for evidently there is no escape for the 
 light-minded and giddy." 
 
 " But that is not what you are, Mercedes." 
 
 " You do not know me." 
 
 " I know that you are beautiful and good, and 
 not happy." 
 
 " Happy ! " repeated Mercedes bitterly. 
 
 " I don t mean that one can draw a line of demarca 
 tion between the positively happy and the positively 
 unhappy," Gabrielle went on trustingly, and appeal 
 ing always to the real Mercedes behind the mask. 
 " Children reason in that way, and I may have had 
 that uncompromising idea not so very long ago," she 
 added with a slight smile. " But lately it seems to me 
 there must be happiness, beyond all griefs, happiness 
 or something better." 
 
 " Better than happiness ? You are sure it is n t a 
 conundrum ? I really can t soar in your lofty regions, 
 and happiness is quite good enough for me." 
 
 " One hears things all one s life that are only empty 
 words, until suddenly their meaning dawns upon one. 
 
200 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 It was so with me last night," Gabrielle continued 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " It was not in church last Sunday ? " Mercedes sug 
 gested. 
 
 " Ah, let me tell you ! There were all the people, 
 Mercedes, and I was watching them, and suddenly I 
 thought : Each one of us is a spirit, not only when we 
 die, but now. I perceived it, I felt it, and I cannot tell 
 you how strongly, as if it were my own discovery, 
 and no one had ever known it before. Beneath the 
 silk, I thought, 4 and velvet, and feathers, and lace, 
 and the smiles, is a soul. " 
 
 "Are you so sure of that? " Mercedes asked scorn 
 fully. " Some of them yes. but not all. Oh, 
 dear, no ! " 
 
 " And it seemed to me all the souls were seeking and 
 not finding, and that so many were wandering on the 
 wrong road." 
 
 "Please don t let it be an allegory, Gabrielle! I 
 can bear a sermon, having just had my coffee. But 
 allegories never agreed with me." 
 
 Gabrielle looked at her affectionately with a little 
 laugh. 
 
 " I don t doubt it all sounds stupid enough. I am 
 only trying to show you what I was thinking at the 
 opera, and afterwards late in the night, at home, and 
 then you would understand why I came to you this 
 morning. I saw how lovely you were, and it seemed 
 to me that you were on the wrong road, too. I thought 
 that your loveliness could comfort one who is sorrowful 
 and forsaken, and that you might find a joy deeper 
 than any you now know. And I wondered why no 
 one was loving enough to dare to tell you so. I 
 wondered why all were silent, your mother, your 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 201 
 
 sister, and every one. Suddenly, something within 
 me said : 
 
 " 4 But you are silent, too. Why do you not speak ? 
 And here I am, Mercedes, and I have spoken." 
 
 " Like a little bishop ! " retorted Mercedes, smiling 
 gallantly still, " like an apostle to the heathen." Sud 
 denly she crossed her arms on the table and leaned 
 her head upon them. 
 
 Gabrielle rose, and stood with her hand on the bowed 
 head. 
 
 " Forgive me, Mercedes, if I am awkward," she said. 
 " I don t really care for that, if only you understand. 
 Listen, Mercedes. Why may I not speak the truth ? 
 You cannot love that old man. Must I pretend that 
 I think you do ? Why do you marry him ? Why do 
 you not come to that lonely room and seek your friend ? 
 If he was kind and generous and brave when he was 
 well, is he less so now? If he loved you when all 
 the world was at his feet, would he not love you infi 
 nitely more, now that the world has forgotten him ? 
 It would be so beautiful to be needed. I know one 
 naturally thinks first of strength, bodily strength, and 
 health, and all that, but when one sees the strong ones, 
 and how vapid they are sometimes, how thoughtless 
 and selfish, and then when one looks at him, why, 
 Mercedes, I could take you in my arms and carry you 
 to him!" 
 
 Mercedes neither spoke nor moved. 
 
 " I come home late, perhaps. I hear no sound from 
 below. Yet I cannot forget that he is lying there, 
 often sleepless and in pain. He is patient with pain 
 and neglect and loneliness. But he has lost some 
 thing precious. Something dearer than health. I 
 think it is you, Mercedes, and his faith. Last 
 
202 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 night, he seemed to be ill. I saw him before me every 
 instant. A poor man in a hut, with one soul near to 
 love and comprehend him, is better off. I saw you 
 too, smiling, and bewitching, I never saw any one 
 as lovely as you, and I thought, if he is wretched, 
 so is she ; if his life has no love and faith, hers too 
 is cold, and perhaps, as the years go by, hers will be 
 the more cruel, for one could imagine his spirit free in 
 spite of his bonds, while her chains must grow heavier 
 in time. But these were only my thoughts and it is 
 not too late, Mercedes." Her voice sounded glad and 
 sure as if heralding good tidings. " Dear Mercedes ! " 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 At last Mercedes raised her head. Her hair was 
 slightly roughened, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes 
 singularly brilliant, and she began in the half affec 
 tionate, half mocking tone, which she was apt to use 
 with Gabrielle : 
 
 " My dear child, it all sounds beautiful, but it is too 
 late, just six-and-twenty years and five months too 
 late." 
 
 " I do not see why," returned Gabrielle quickly. 
 " You would say to the marquis : Marquis, forgive 
 me ; I have made a great mistake, but I should make 
 a worse one for you and for me, if I should marry 
 you. You would say to the countess : 4 Mamma, I 
 simply cannot and will not marry him. Then you 
 would come straight to the villa, and pass through 
 the long corridor to Count Hugo s rooms, and knock. 
 He would call, Come in, quite indifferently. And 
 the door would open, and it would be you you, 
 Mercedes, standing there and from that moment, 
 his life would be glad ! " 
 
 Mercedes made a hasty gesture, as if she would in- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 203 
 
 terrupt, but let the young girl go on, and finish the 
 picture, which seemed to her so defined in its outlines, 
 so easy of execution, and which brought a succession 
 of emotions to the listener s face, and finally a smile at 
 Gabrielle s preposterous simplicity. 
 
 " Oh, you little Donna Quixote ! Are you going to 
 make the crooked straight and redress all wrongs? 
 Do you intend to tell the little Mayers that they will 
 kill themselves if they lace so unconscionably ? Now 
 I personally think that it is not of the slightest impor 
 tance, whether they squeeze their various minute organs 
 out of existence or not, and I should never feel called 
 to the holy mission of expostulation." 
 
 The light of enthusiasm faded from Gabrielle s 
 face. As she had warmed with her subject, she per 
 suaded herself with happy confidence that all would 
 yet be well. But Mercedes raillery discouraged her 
 at last, and she looked pained and doubtful, as she 
 replied : 
 
 "You mean that I am meddlesome." 
 
 " No, a thousand times, no ! " Mercedes exclaimed 
 warmly. " It is only that you are wasting time and 
 feeling on me, and I am not worth it. What you say 
 is true, or would be true, if I were like you. I am not 
 in the least like you, and you forget that." 
 
 " Nothing that you say of yourself makes any differ 
 ence," Gabrielle returned eagerly, brightening again 
 with Mercedes cordial tone. " I am so sorry to be 
 intrusive. Aunt Adelheid complains that I have no 
 tact, and she is perfectly right. But let me speak out 
 this once." 
 
 " What, have you not spoken out, yet ? You 
 surely cannot surpass this ? " 
 
 " Oh, you may laugh at me as much as you wish, 
 
204 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Mercedes. I do not feel that I have said anything, 
 not anything at all yet. Or if I have, I have said it 
 so badly that it makes no impression. But imagine it 
 said cleverly, with tact, " she pleaded, laughing a 
 little in spite of her earnestness, and looking wistfully 
 at her friend. " Let me try again. I think that I see 
 a danger threatening you. I see it and feel it. Then 
 why should I not warn you ? One lesson I have 
 learned for all my life. If you live with some one who 
 loves you and comprehends you, with whom you are 
 fearless and free, whose nature you reach and rest upon, 
 whose sympathy you need like sunshine and air, why 
 that is the most beautiful thing on earth, whether the 
 some one be your father or your mother, your sister or 
 brother, or lover or husband or friend. But if you 
 live intimately with a person who does not love you, 
 and whom you do not love, who misinterprets every 
 word and look, who suspects you and makes you sus 
 picious, who crushes you, hurts you, rouses all that is 
 mean in you, and there is no escape from her I 
 mean from the person why that is, I won t say the 
 most miserable thing in the world, for there may be 
 something worse, but it is the worst that I know, and 
 it is a bad thing, Mercedes, a very bad thing, an 
 ugly thing ! That is why I dare to ask you what will 
 ^our life with the Marquis de Yallion be ? What can 
 he give you ? What can you give him ? What kind 
 of companionship would that be ? Oh, Mercedes, 
 Mercedes, it will be terrible ! " 
 
 " What ! So impassioned ? Actually, tears in 
 your eyes ! But, Gabrielle, believe me, it is not so 
 tragic. They are not going to burn me alive. There 
 is no sacrifice, no compulsion. I wish to marry the 
 marquis." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 205 
 
 \ 
 
 44 You wish to marry the marquis ? " faltered Gabri- 
 eUe. 
 
 44 That is, I do not ardently desire to marry any one. 
 But since it is about time that I should marry, in 
 fact, my sisters accuse me, with some justice, of cul 
 pable delay, he will answer my purpose." 
 
 44 But why must you marry ? " 
 
 44 Why ? Really, Gabrielle, your 4 why is ubiqui 
 tous. You question self-evident truths ; but since you 
 insist upon categorical answers, after a certain age 
 one is less comfortable and free, unmarried. One is 
 a little absurd, you know. I could be a 4 Stiftsdame 
 as a last refuge, of course. But I have no talent for 
 retirement, and the intimate society of other women 
 is, to speak mildly, obnoxious to me. No, I greatly 
 prefer men, even the marquis. Now it s my turn 
 to question. Why are you not more charitable, like 
 Frau von Funnel, for instance? How do you know 
 that you are not doing the marquis injustice ? How 
 can you prove that he has not some hidden charm, 
 some grace that only I perceive ? It is evident that I 
 do not marry him for his youth, or strength, or beauty, 
 or intellect, but how can you be sure that he has not 
 irresistible heart-qualities ? How can you reconcile it 
 with your conscience to jump at conclusions in this 
 manner and doubt the elevation of my sentiments?" 
 
 44 That s not fair," Gabrielle returned, hurt and 
 offended. 44 1 don t deserve that." 
 
 44 No, I don t think you do," Mercedes admitted 
 reflectively ; 44 1 rather like a fencing match, but I see 
 that you are in no mood for one, and then I confess, 
 although you have said very droll things to me, in 
 fact, from any one else I should consider them imper 
 tinent, I do not regard you as an enemy to be routed. 
 
206 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 You have been honest with me, and I like you for it, 
 particularly, as I cannot discover what, in any event, 
 you have to gain by it." 
 
 She spoke in a light, laughing voice, with much ani 
 mation of manner and gesture, and a charming and 
 friendly smile. 
 
 "Now my honesty is not your honesty," she contin 
 ued, " but it is the best I can produce, and such as it 
 is, you shall have it. I do not deny that you have 
 said things that move me this morning, that make me 
 think, even regret, softened me, don t you know ? 
 Yes, softened is the word in Sunday-school books, 
 hardened reprobates always become 4 softened 
 but it won t last, child ! Nothing lasts with me. 
 I am fickle as the wind, except in one respect my 
 ambition. I must have power, and one wants more, 
 not less, as one grows old, and one s beauty goes. I 
 don t care to live without it. I want balls, and din 
 ners, and toilettes, and admiration. I adore the world. 
 I pretend that I am weary of it. I may be now and 
 then. But I cannot live without it. I can talk about 
 solitude and purling brooks and self-communion, but 
 they would be insufferable to me. So you see, you 
 dear, queer little prophet, before you rescue me you 
 must construct, not new circumstances alone, but a new 
 Mercedes. Cheer up, then, and wish me joy. I shall 
 be a gracious embassadress, hospitable and indulgent 
 to the foibles of the world, the flesh, and the devil. 
 My married life will be perfection, for the marquis and 
 I shall meet too rarely to quarrel. I shall drive and 
 dance and chat with all my old friends as to-day, ex 
 cept I shall be freer to amuse myself, and infinitely 
 more important than Mercedes Waldenberg." 
 
 " And Hugo ? " demanded Gabrielle abruptly. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 207 
 
 Mercedes turned, walked down the room and back, 
 came close to Gabrielle, put her hands on the young 
 girl s shoulders, met her direct questioning gaze with 
 an inscrutable smile, and said kindly : 
 
 " You are a great child. You insist upon pressing 
 your finger on old wounds, and you are more merciless 
 than you know. Never mind. This is my first and 
 last confession. You have roused me to a certain ex 
 citement. Did I not prophesy that you would be as 
 interesting as lovers ? My dear, the kindest deed 
 that I can do Hugo von Kronfels is never to see him 
 again. Do you think that I have not considered? 
 Can you possibly imagine that I did not weigh every 
 thing in the balance those first days when he lay be 
 tween life and death, and later when his old comrades 
 were denied admittance, and I heard how gloomy and 
 changed he was ? Do you suppose that I did not know 
 in my heart that he was waiting for me ? Have I not 
 longed a thousand times to steal through that corridor, 
 as you say, and knock and go in ? " 
 
 " But Mercedes, see, * Gabrielle urged impetuously, 
 "you think yourself there. That is almost being 
 there. It is still not too late. You have the choice." 
 
 " No, no, I have no choice." 
 
 " It is cruel," murmured Gabrielle ; " I would go to 
 him, if I had to crawl ! " 
 
 " Then what prevents you ? " Mercedes retorted 
 calmly, smoothing a knot of ribbon on her sleeve. 
 
 " He he prevents me," said Gabrielle innocently. 
 
 " Ah, yes, I remember." 
 
 " I pity him with all my heart, and I feel his pres 
 ence always." 
 
 " I understand ; and that made you exaggerate." 
 
 " I pitied you, too." 
 
208 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Envy me," returned Mercedes, airily, " for I shall 
 have what I wish. I simply must have brightness and 
 gayety and excitement. I have a horror of pain and 
 illness and darkened rooms and fumigation and all 
 that. I don t think there is a phenomenon in the uni 
 verse so wonderful to me as a woman who deliberately 
 chooses to be a nurse, unless it is a man who elects to 
 be a doctor. I faint at the sight of blood. I hate and 
 fear physical pain. You may call it what you will, 
 but I could not bear to see Hugo Kronfels crippled. 
 I did not dare to see him. I am a mean coward, you 
 see, but this is why I did not go and knock, and enact 
 the charming little comedy on the lines which you have 
 indicated." 
 
 " Oh, Mercedes, Mercedes I " 
 
 " I could not look upon him broken and helpless, 
 he was so full of splendid life. If I should see him 
 now, I should be afraid of him. I should turn away 
 from him in horror. I should have no comfort to 
 give him. As to marrying him, which you ingenuously 
 suggest, without even knowing that he wants me, it 
 would be living death to me to spend my days in an 
 invalid s room. It would be a tomb. For me, Hugo 
 died last September. Voila tout ! " 
 
 " Ah," sighed Gabrielle, " I have made a great 
 mistake ; I thought that you were his friend." 
 
 Mercedes gave her a quick, keen look, but saw that 
 no sting lay in the girl s words, only simple, sorrowful 
 conviction. 
 
 " You have been constructing a little romance, my 
 dear," Mercedes began in a soothing tone, after a pro 
 longed pause. " You have put together what you 
 have heard and seen, and more that you have felt 
 and imagined, and it is no wonder that you take 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 209 
 
 refuge in your own thoughts, for you certainly can t 
 follow the countess s ; but now you see that you have 
 exaggerated, that you are fanciful and morbid, that 
 everything is exactly as it should be, and that I am 
 most contented, if not blindly infatuated with my 
 lot. Let me give you a bit of advice, my dear girl : 
 don t run about appealing to people s better natures. 
 They might not all enjoy it as much as I do." She 
 was smiling constantly, and very curiously, as she 
 went on in her quizzical fashion : " Take us sinners 
 as we are, that is, as we seem, and you 11 find us very 
 good company." 
 
 Gabrielle for her only answer put both arms round 
 Mercedes, held her close an instant, and kissed her 
 warmly on the mouth. " I will go. I have been 
 stupid, and I have done no good." 
 
 " I don t imagine that you have done much good," 
 Mercedes rejoined gayly. u On the other hand, you 
 certainly have done no harm, except, perhaps, to that 
 pretty wing in your hat, on my shoulder just now. 
 By the way, how becoming that hat is ! " 
 
 " Mercedes, of course I don t believe half that you 
 say of yourself." 
 
 " That proves your perspicacity, my dear child. If 
 you were still wiser, you would not believe a word 
 that I say of myself, or anybody else. I do not, on 
 principle." 
 
 " But I believe in you." 
 
 " Still ? Ah, what courage ! Now I shall imagine 
 you walking home snipping and snapping with your 
 dear little scissors ! " 
 
 " My scissors ? " 
 
 "Yes, your little scissors," Mercedes said caress 
 ingly, " such as they give children, with blunt points, 
 
210 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 you know, that don t hurt. I testify that they don t 
 hurt. You intend to cut all the intricate knots you 
 see with them. You think, with fearlessness and a 
 snip-snap, the deed is done. But the world s meshes, 
 you will find, are too tangled and tough for you, and 
 reach down strong roots into the nether regions, and 
 have an evil life of their own." 
 
 " Oh, do not fear. I have nothing special to say 
 to any one else. It was only to you. I shall try to 
 cut no other knots now." 
 
 " Not even the little Mayers corset-lacings ? Then 
 I ought to feel flattered, indeed." 
 
 "How extremely disagreeable I must have been, 
 since you find it necessary to punish me with so 
 much derision," Gabrielle returned, drawing on her 
 gloves. 
 
 "High-minded people are mostly unpleasant, but 
 indeed you have been charming," Mercedes sweetly 
 assured her. 
 
 " Forgive me, and don t let it make any difference 
 between us. You are sure it won t make you like me 
 less?" 
 
 " On the contrary, I think you the most adorable 
 little missionary that ever " 
 
 " Ah, don t ! " exclaimed Gabrielle with impatience. 
 "I can t bear any more of that." After a moment 
 she said gravely : "I wish everybody were as honest 
 and good as you, Mercedes." To Mercedes incredu 
 lous disclaimer. " Oh, of course I cannot pretend to 
 answer you. There is so much that is incomprehensi 
 ble to me, and it all seemed so simple and clear last 
 night. I have been very odious and presumptuous, 
 and yet, what I said is true ! r she concluded 
 suddenly. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 211 
 
 " Bravo ! A sentiment worthy of Galileo ! 
 
 " I shall think about it " 
 
 "Shall you? Now why? I would n t. I never 
 
 think." 
 
 "You have been very patient with me, Mercedes, 
 and I believe in you, thoroughly." 
 
 "You could not hang your faith upon a looser 
 peg," laughed Mercedes. "Do come again," she 
 urged in her most gracious, indulgent, and cordial 
 manner. " Come some morning next week, and," 
 with her gleaming, mischievous smile, " don t forget 
 to bring your scissors ! 
 
 Gabrielle was hardly gone when Mercedes locked 
 her doors. Neither to the knocks of the servants, 
 nor to the impatient demands of her sister Elsa, and, 
 finally, not to the repeated and hortatory appeal of 
 the maternal voice, did she deign the faintest re 
 sponse. The Countess Waldenberg, in spite of her 
 august multiplicity of ancestors, hung about the cor 
 ridor like any helpless and plebeian mortal, stood 
 irresolute, frowned, gave the door-knob a parting, 
 futile shake, returned to the drawing-room, and 
 blandly announced to the marquis that "darling 
 Mercedes was so sorry, but she had a violent head 
 ache, and really felt too ill to receive him. She sent 
 her dearest love, and would try to come down by 
 evening." The countess asked the marquis if he did 
 not think it might be electric. The marquis agreed 
 with the countess that it probably was electric. The 
 countess remarked that so many headaches nowadays 
 were electric ; in fact, most things were electric, more 
 or less, were they not? 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 As the influence of Mercedes fascinating personal 
 ity grew fainter, Gabrielle s flouted convictions re 
 assembled and formed in stalwart line, stronger and 
 surer than before. There had been moments during 
 the conversation when she had half doubted if she 
 were not, after all, interfering in her neighbor s pri 
 vate affairs, like any other busybody. The conscious 
 ness of meaning well was but a meagre consolation, 
 while Mercedes playful parting thrusts seemed to 
 give her the victory, and Gabrielle a sense of soreness 
 and discomfiture. " It is very confusing, this life 
 they wanted me to see," she thought, as she walked 
 rapidly homeward, " but all the same, I am glad that 
 I spoke to Mercedes. It is better than to think it all 
 and not dare to say it." 
 
 At the villa gates, she stood hesitating whether to 
 go in, or on and down the lane. Over the hedge 
 drooped branches of long yellow laburnum blossoms 
 like golden rain, amid masses of rosy hawthorn and 
 pale, feathery young willow leaves ; the dense foliage, 
 in its May freshness, completely screening every shady 
 nook and path of the old garden from the curious 
 passer-by. 
 
 " It is enchanting in there. It is a little wildwood. 
 I wish I might go in, but since Count Hugo likes it, 
 and does n t like me, and might happen to come out 
 this very morning, it seems rather mean for me to 
 risk meeting him. Still I might take a little run, for 
 he was surely ill last night, and the countess is still 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 213 
 
 at her toilette. It is a pity for nobody to get a 
 glimpse of all the lilacs and apple-blossoms and sweet 
 fresh things that are perfuming half the street. But 
 perhaps I d better go in the house and try to re 
 connoitre first. He has been in an age now, and if 
 he should by chance come out to-day, it would be very 
 discouraging to him to meet me at once. Dear, dear, 
 iiow unfortunate it all is ! " 
 
 But with her hand on the gate, she paused and 
 turned again, for Mousey, without his protective col 
 lar and bell, and wearing a blue embroidered blanket 
 with a count s coronet worked in silver in one corner, 
 capered suddenly into notice, and greeted her with sig 
 nificant gestures and wicked leers and winks. 
 
 " What, Mousey, alone ? Who ought to be on duty ? 
 You little yellow, four-legged, inhuman count! " 
 
 He ran a short distance up the street, then stood 
 and looked to see if she were coming. 
 
 Gabrielle glanced into the garden ; no servant was 
 visible. 
 
 " Evidently I must go with him. He probably only 
 wishes to show his contempt for the workmen." 
 
 She followed him, seated herself on a block of 
 sandstone, watched the builders, and listened to the 
 incessant, irregular fall of the mallets. Dietz was up 
 aloft at his post. He pulled off his paper cap as he 
 saw her, and went on hammering contentedly, whis 
 tling an amorous ditty to his heavy-eyed goddess. 
 Gabrielle spoke to some of the men. They liked her 
 not only because they had seen her rescue the babies, 
 and perform other acts of good- will and common sense 
 to vagabond children, but for the simple reason that 
 she seemed to like them. The masons in their shirts 
 of many colors, the rolled-up sleeves showing sun- 
 
214 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 burned muscular arms, were stooping over the great 
 blocks, and looked warm. 
 
 " How goes it, Peter ? " she said to the scowler. 
 
 " Bad," he muttered, "bad and worse." 
 
 " Now that s a pity," she returned cheerily. 
 
 " That s a pity is easy to say," remarked Peter 
 sullenly, always eager to mount his hobby. 
 
 The other men grinned and looked curiously at the 
 pretty young lady. 
 
 " I know it is easier to talk than to work," Gabri- 
 elle rejoined conciliatingly. 
 
 " I could tell you things," he began, glaring at her 
 as if she were the embodiment of the world s tyranny, 
 and all the wrongs inflicted by capital upon labor, " I 
 could tell you things that would make your hair stand 
 on end." 
 
 " I am sure that you could, and I should like to 
 listen to you some day when we both have time. It s 
 warmer to-day, Peter." 
 
 " It s hot for such as have to earn their bread in 
 the sweat of their brows," and Peter ostentatiously 
 wiped his forehead on his sleeve. 
 
 " Yes, so I am going to send you out something cool 
 to drink this afternoon, some light cold punch ; enough 
 for you men here under this shed." 
 
 u I m obliged to you, miss," Peter began gloomily, 
 " but my principles " 
 
 " Oh," she said smiling, " the punch has nothing to 
 do with principles, nothing at all, I assure you. One 
 is thirsty, you know, whatever one s principles may be." 
 
 A laugh of assent and approval greeted this state 
 ment, and the men pulled off their caps with hearty 
 smiles, one of them finding his tongue only when she 
 had gone a few steps toward the villa. " Thank you 
 
THE OPEN DOOK. 215 
 
 kindly, miss," he called after her, " and if Peter don t 
 want his share, he won t have any trouble in borrow 
 ing a throat for it." 
 
 " Peter is chronically cross," she reflected, " but not 
 crosser, after all, than the countess, and in her case, at 
 least, it is not overwork that has ruined her disposi 
 tion. Mousey, will you be quiet ? I know that you 
 object to the workmen, because you are an incorrigi 
 ble snob, but I shall talk with whom I please, sir, and 
 you may remonstrate until you burst." 
 
 It was impossible to associate with Mousey and not 
 converse with him. His moral character may have 
 been perverted, venomous, and a bottomless pit of 
 treachery, but his acumen commanded respect, and his 
 humor induced companionship. 
 
 " What are you trying to tell me, Mousey ? Some 
 thing unpleasant of course, or you would n t grin in 
 that fiendish manner and feel so sportive." She 
 glanced up as she passed Dietz balcony. He was 
 neither singing nor working, but standing motionless, 
 shading his eyes with his hand, and peering between 
 the tree-tops into the villa garden. 
 
 Mousey mirthfully persisted in making his myste 
 rious and unintelligible communications. 
 
 " There is no doubt that you are cleverer than we. 
 Mousey. You always understand us, and we rarely 
 understand you." 
 
 Mousey put his head on one side and cocked an eye 
 at her, superciliously intimating that the obtuseness of 
 the human intellect had long since ceased to surprise 
 him. 
 
 As she reached the garden gate, it was violently 
 flung open and Roschen in peculiar agitation gasped : 
 
 " Mousey, what a fright you have given me ! I 
 
216 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 was looking everywhere. What a mercy he was with 
 the gracious fraulein ! " 
 
 " But Roschen, it was the merest chance that I saw 
 him outside the gates. You really should not leave 
 him an instant. Where were you ? " 
 
 The girl turned away uneasily and did not reply. 
 
 " Your orders are strict, and you know perfectly 
 well that you would lose your place to-day, if I should 
 choose to report." 
 
 The brown eyes of the maid shot into the brown 
 eyes of the baroness a glance of defiance and mistrust. 
 
 " The gracious fraulein is too kind," murmured 
 Roschen. 
 
 " I certainly shall not mention the circumstance," 
 Gabrielle rejoined coldly, " though it s no question of 
 kindness. Only if you are in charge of the dog, be 
 faithful and watch him well." 
 
 As she gave this injunction, she looked intently at 
 the girl, and noticed that her cheeks were flushed, her 
 eyes excited. 
 
 " There s a visitor," stammered Roschen. 
 
 " Well? " said Gabrielle indifferently. 
 
 " And the countess is in a state, because the gra 
 cious fraulein is out." 
 
 " She wants me ? " 
 
 " She is n t dressed. She was rubbing Mousey s 
 lungs longer than usual. She said his bronchial tube 
 was husky. That s why he s got his blanket on. 
 She said," continued the girl with insensible literal- 
 ness, "that it was ridiculous the gracious fraulein 
 should be gadding about, Heaven knew where, just 
 when for once in her life she could make herself a little 
 useful, and " 
 
 " Never mind that, Roschen. You need not repeat 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 217 
 
 the countess s remarks. Whatever she wishes to say 
 to me she will tell me herself. Who is the visitor ? " 
 
 " The Baron von Raven," answered the maid with a 
 great rush of high color up to her curly hair, and pull 
 ing her white apron nervously with her heavy square- 
 tipped fingers. 
 
 Gabrielle s face fell. 
 
 "I don t feel like talking with him," she thought. 
 
 Mousey, like a spoiled precocious boy that under 
 stands his elders annoyances, drew his lips in and out 
 with queer grimaces, watched her mockingly, and 
 danced with delight. 
 
 " Where is he ? " 
 
 " In the small reception room down-stairs. Shall I 
 open the doors for the gracious friiulein? " 
 
 " Certainly not," the baroness answered in cold sur 
 prise. " You stay with Mousey. And you d better 
 take him into the back garden," she added, with a 
 vague remembrance that Roschen always seemed to 
 be hovering conspicuously about whenever Lieutenant 
 von Raven came. 
 
 The girl looked obstinate. " I m to follow Mousey," 
 she retorted sullenly. " I in allowed on the lawn and 
 the front drive and wherever Mousey likes." 
 
 " That is true, Roschen," Gabrielle admitted gravely, 
 and went toward the house. 
 
 The rosy young maid let Mousey commune with him 
 self, and devour what he pleased, and snarl and choke, 
 while she stood reflecting in her dull way upon the in 
 justice of fate that sent baronesses to talk with beauti 
 ful clanking lieutenants, and let maids keep dog-watch. 
 She began to pace the lawn directly in front of the 
 house, where neither man nor mouse could come out 
 without meeting her face to face, and Bernhard Dietz 
 
218 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 caught glimpses of her bare brown head in the sun 
 shine, and singing, blessed it, and blessing it, sang, 
 and asked nothing more of the gods. 
 
 Gabrielle went directly in to the lieutenant. 
 
 " You have been waiting long, they tell me, baron," 
 she said kindly. 
 
 He gallantly protested that it was a pleasure to wait 
 for her, and added that it was a fine day. 
 
 To this she assented and remarked that she had en 
 joyed her walk. 
 
 " Countess well, I hope ? " 
 
 " Thanks, she is as usual. She will come down soon, 
 I think." 
 
 " And Hugo, poor fellow ? " 
 
 " Thanks, there is little change, I believe." 
 
 u Asked for him. Would n t see me." 
 
 " Ah ? " 
 
 " Sad case, Hugo s." 
 
 " Very," Gabrielle said coldly. She had been plead 
 ing Hugo s cause too fervently with Mercedes to dis 
 cuss him again with the florid lieutenant. 
 
 Von Raven, having acquitted himself of his conven 
 tional obligations, now advanced cheerfully to the main 
 object of his visit. 
 
 " Going to be festival," he announced with a gleam 
 of enthusiasm. " Tournament. Sixteenth century. 
 Maximilian. Gold brocade. Wigs. Knights. Pages. 
 All that sort of thing." 
 
 " Yes, I have heard of it. It will be interesting, no 
 doubt. I presume that you will ride." 
 
 " In a half dozen different costumes. No end of 
 things. But there s a quadrille with ladies. Choice. 
 Gracious fraulein, could I have the honor ? " 
 
 " Oh thanks, but I don t think I would care for that," 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 219 
 
 Gabrielle began. " I should like to see it, but it would 
 be a little like a circus, would it not ? Eight ladies 
 and thousands of spectators, and one s hair flying, 
 as somebody told me. Thank you very much, but I 
 would rather not ride." 
 
 " You can t mean it," exclaimed von Raven. " La 
 dies wild about it. All want to ride. Only eight can. 
 Charity." 
 
 Gabrielle laughed in frank amusement. 
 
 " They do such droll things for charity here." 
 
 " Droll ? " repeated the young man somewhat bewil 
 dered, " this will be great. Whole court. Toilettes. 
 Benevolent object." 
 
 He wondered why she laughed still. His face was 
 eager and boyish, and not disappointed at her refusal, 
 because he could not believe that any girl in her right 
 mind would decline such an invitation. 
 
 " Ask some one who is wild to ride, for indeed I am 
 quite tame and would much rather be a spectator." 
 
 " Gracious fraulein is joking ? " staring doubtfully 
 at her. 
 
 "No, no, I am quite serious. I thank you very 
 much, but I would prefer not to ride at the festival." 
 
 " Of course she will ride at the festival," said the 
 countess blandly, entering the room and welcoming von 
 Raven with marked graciousness. "A young girl s 
 No often means Yes, baron. Frau von Funnel has 
 just written me that it will be the event of the season. 
 My niece will be charmed to ride, I assure you." 
 
 Her tone was indulgent and slightly sportive, as if 
 she were opposing the whim of a three-year-old child. 
 Von Raven beamed with pleasure and gratitude for 
 her support. But Gabrielle, rising haughtily, turned 
 to him with composure : 
 
220 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I have already given you my answer, Herr von 
 Raven, and if you will allow me, I will now bid you 
 good- morning." With a slight inclination toward the 
 astonished countess, she left the room. 
 
 Immediately after lunch that day, in the hour usu 
 ally devoted by the countess to a cigarette, a glass of 
 t-ura9oa, a brief siesta, a glance at Figaro, a period of 
 love-making to Mousey, the special torture of Babette, 
 and a few last touches on the toilette, and by Gabri- 
 elle to books, there was a significant and ceremonious 
 interchange of cards and messages between two persons 
 in Villa Kronfels who ordinarily had no communica 
 tion whatever, while Roschen, inquisitive and alert, 
 and Lipps, equally curious, but mindful of the dignity 
 of "our wing," felt that life at the moment was worth 
 living. 
 
 Gabrielle for her part was by no means sure that it 
 was. Lunch had been a heavily disastrous experience. 
 She had taken refuge in her room in extreme cha 
 grin and helplessness, when a sudden idea seemed to 
 suggest a possible way out of her labyrinth. 
 
 She hesitated, but not long, and rang for Roschen. 
 " I can try, at least, and if I do not succeed I shall 
 be no worse off than I am now, at all events." 
 
 " Take this to Lipps, please," she said, giving the 
 maid an envelope. 
 
 "To Lipps?" 
 
 " To Lipps," Gabrielle repeated with emphasis. 
 
 A few moments later Hugo read with exceeding sur 
 prise : 
 
 " The Baroness Gabrielle von Dohna begs the priv 
 ilege of speaking a few moments with Count Hugo 
 von Kronfels." 
 
 " Hm," he muttered, eying the visiting card suspi- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 221 
 
 ciously ; " I bet two to one that it s piety, or benev 
 olence or something of the sort. She has n t any 
 thing to do to-day, and being bored, remembers that 
 one must make charity-visits, for of such is the king 
 dom of heaven. I will lay that scheme low." 
 
 Smiling satirically, he too wrote on a visiting card : 
 
 " Count Hugo von Kronfels presents his compli 
 ments to the Baroness von Dohna, and since he is feel 
 ing very comfortable, and is well supplied with books, 
 fruits, and flowers, and requires nothing whatever for 
 his comfort or entertainment, he begs to decline with 
 many thanks the honor of her visit." 
 
 " There," he exclaimed, " I should think that would 
 do," and gave it to Lipps. 
 
 Presently down came another sealed proposal. The 
 former was written handsomely with ink. This, scrib 
 bled impatiently in pencil, and with no formal em 
 ployment of the third person, was direct if not abrupt. 
 
 " But you quite misunderstand, really ; I don t want 
 to see you at all. I only want to ask you something." 
 
 " How we men, sick or well, flatter ourselves ! This 
 is odd, and it certainly does n t sound pious or benevo 
 lent. However, I won t be beguiled," and he wrote 
 with scrupulous ceremony : 
 
 " Count Kronfels compliments, and if the Baroness 
 von Dohna does not wish to see him, could she not 
 save herself the trouble of the interview and commu 
 nicate her commands by the present easy method ? " 
 
 Down came Gabrielle s third missive with surpris 
 ing promptness : 
 
 " I could, but I prefer to see you. I will not 
 trouble you long. Please let me come." 
 
 " The deuce ! It s a row with mamma. I knew 
 that the prayer for intercession would be heard 
 
222 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 sooner or later. She has held out very well. I will 
 see her, and tell her once for all that I do not choose 
 to interfere. Whereupon she will weep and moan 
 and enumerate her grievances. As if she could tell 
 me anything new ! " 
 
 "Lipps, ask Roschen to beg the Baroness von 
 Dohna to kindly give me the honor of a few mo 
 ments conversation." 
 
 Sooner than it seemed to him possible for any mor 
 tal to descend that long stairway and pass the length 
 of the house, there was a light knock at his door, and 
 Gabrielle came in, the reverse of lachrymose, and un- 
 suggestive of grievances. 
 
 " Count Kronfels," she said, looking down upon 
 him with a spirited and an eminently dry-eyed ex 
 pression, " would you be so very kind as to give me 
 some wine ? " 
 
 " Will I give you some wine ? " he repeated. 
 
 " About two bottles," she continued in a quick, 
 matter-of-fact way. " I should think that ought to 
 be enough for eight or ten men, should n t you ? Of 
 course I shall not make it very strong." 
 
 " You will not make it very strong ? " 
 
 " No, I never make it strong," she remarked with 
 decision. " Papa says that my concoctions taste 
 chiefly of lemon peel and chopped ice. But they 
 always like it, and after all the main thing is that 
 it is cold, and that there is enough of it, don t you 
 think so ? " 
 
 It seemed to Hugo that he had never seen so fault 
 lessly fresh a girl. The strong light from three win 
 dows fell broadly upon her, and she stood so close 
 to his sofa, that he noted the fineness of her hair, the 
 delicate rim of the ear turned toward him, he had 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 223 
 
 theories about ears, the clearness of her eyes, the 
 wholesome red of her lips, her good white teeth, and 
 her whole air of sweetness and strength. " She has 
 lived a great deal in the open air," he concluded, 
 " and she looks as if she had bathed in what the poets 
 would call crystal fountains or morning dew or moun 
 tain brooks something pure and invigorating, at 
 all events." Her hands were lying easily one in the 
 other, both palms upturned. They looked soft and 
 pink and babyish to him. " What a charming thing 
 a woman s hand is ! " he reflected. " Is she so excep 
 tionally pretty, or have I forgotten ? Now what kind 
 of a revel for ten men is she talking about ? " 
 
 Such thoughts, and many more of her and of the 
 past, flashed through his mind during the instant 
 following her remark. But without perceptible delay 
 or surprise he answered gravely : - 
 
 " I could hardly venture to express an opinion 
 whether it ought to be cold or hot, but I unhesitat 
 ingly agree with you that there should be enough 
 of it." 
 
 Gabrielle gave a little laugh. 
 
 " Ah, I forget that you know nothing about it." 
 
 " How should I ? " Hugo returned dryly. " But 
 that is not important. If I owned the great Heidel 
 berg vat, I would place it unconditionally at your 
 service, full of Johannesberger Schloss. If I can do 
 anything else for you and your friends, pray count 
 upon me." 
 
 She could not see the vague tantalizing visions of 
 festivities and merry-makings passing before him, and 
 she wondered at the extreme formality of his tone. 
 
 " His profile is like St. Casimir," she decided, " but 
 his expression is not at all saintly." 
 
224 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " The Heidelberg vat full of Johannesberger would 
 be very inappropriate magnificence," she rejoined. 
 " But I shall be very grateful for a couple of bottles 
 of ordinary Khein wine, or light claret. I should not 
 need to appeal to you at all, if it were not for Peter." 
 
 Hugo raised his eyebrows. 
 
 Gabrielle, meeting his slightly ironical gaze, colored, 
 and said apologetically : 
 
 " I beg your pardon, count. If I take your wine, 
 you have a right to know what I do with it." 
 
 " Not the least," protested Hugo with a deprecat 
 ing gesture ; and although the young girl s sudden en 
 trance, her spirited personality, her request, and her 
 extraordinary allusions to ten men and Peter all filled 
 him with wonder, he hypocritically added : 
 
 " Moreover, I am not curious." 
 
 " No," she said gently, her eyes full of kindness and 
 pity, and looking frankly at the invalid s room, that 
 seemed with its luxury and its stillness miles away 
 from the group of warm and boisterous masons out 
 on the sunny road ; " no, of course you are not. But 
 it is all very simple. Peter is a stone-mason, to whom 
 I promised to send some cool drink this afternoon. 
 He is a cross-grained and very skeptical person. It 
 won t tire you to listen ? " 
 
 " Not at all," Hugo replied with a perceptible in 
 crease of cordiality, and conscious of sudden friendly 
 sentiments toward the unknown Peter, and mankind 
 in general. " But I am allowing you to stand, bar 
 oness." 
 
 " Thanks," she said, merely leaning her arm on the 
 back of a large easy-chair. 
 
 " Peter believes that all people who are not day- 
 laborers have bad hearts," she continued. " Now it 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 225 
 
 would not be pleasant to break one s word to any 
 body " 
 
 " I never knew that girls had any word, " re 
 fleeted the ex-lieutenant of dragoons, searching his 
 great book of reminiscence. 
 
 " But I think I would rather fail to keep mine to 
 almost any one else to a gentleman to you, for 
 instance " 
 
 " Thank you," said Hugo gravely. 
 
 " Than to Peter. For Peter," she explained with a 
 mischievous and lovely smile, " expects the worst pos 
 sible conduct of me, and of everybody who happens 
 to have clean hands ; and if I should break my word 
 to him it would only strengthen his pessimistic theo 
 ries, you understand, and that would be a great pity, 
 for they make him very uncomfortable." 
 
 " I am beginning to understand. But if you will 
 not think my question ungracious, indeed it is a 
 pleasure to me to serve you, and a gigantic event in 
 my monotonous life, why did you not simply give 
 your orders to the butler ? " 
 
 He watched her keenly, reflecting : 
 
 " She can t resist that. Now come the grievances 
 and mamma." 
 
 She looked at him squarely with her fearless, sensi 
 ble eyes. 
 
 " This morning I told them, Peter and the others, 
 that I would send it. No doubt I spoke rashly. It 
 was an impulse. I see now that I ought not to have 
 offered them anything ; I ought to have remembered 
 that I was not at home, where in such matters, in 
 most matters, indeed, I did what I liked ; but having 
 promised the men the punch, I do not see how I 
 can fail to send it out to them." 
 
226 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " No, neither do I," remarked Hugo. 
 
 " Do you not ? I am glad of that," she exclaimed 
 warmly, then hesitated. 
 
 " Here s her hedge," thought the young man. 
 
 "At lunch I found that the idea did not please 
 your mamma," she continued with neither complaint 
 nor subterfuge. 
 
 " How well she took it ! " he was forced to admit. 
 
 "Did mamma refuse you point blank?" he asked 
 in a queer tone. 
 
 " It is only fair to say," Gabrielle replied, after a 
 moment, "that perhaps she would not have refused, 
 if I had not done something disagreeable and rude, 
 something that displeased her, just before." 
 
 " Would it be too indiscreet if I should inquire 
 what your awful crime was ? " 
 
 "Something was said that I did not like, and I 
 stalked out of the room. I don t think, myself, that 
 it was a nice thing to do. I have a very bad temper," 
 she said seriously. " But it was all petty, count. 
 Don t let us talk about that. If it had not been for 
 Peter, I would have gone out and excused myself, 
 and told the men that I would try to make the punch 
 for them another time/ 
 
 " Impossible," commented Hugo with a frown. 
 
 " Not pleasant, I admit ; but by no means impossi 
 ble," she amended. "At first I thought that there 
 was nothing else to do, and it seemed to me that 
 they would believe I was sorry. Don t you think 
 so?" 
 
 Hugo muttered some unintelligible expletive under 
 his breath. 
 
 " Then I determined to go down town and buy some, 
 but that would have been so unnatural and indelicate, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 227 
 
 and perhaps unkind, and certainly very conspicuous 
 and defiant. Suddenly I discovered that I could not 
 if I would, for I had already spent my month s allow 
 ance. Altogether I felt very foolish, and like a 
 school-girl in disgrace. Finally, I thought of you. It 
 seemed probable that you would help me. Men are 
 usually willing to help one," she added sagely. " It 
 was so trivial a thing in itself, and yet had caused 
 me so many conflicting thoughts, that is why I burst 
 in upon you so strangely. When one thinks hard 
 of anything, one supposes that other people know all 
 about it. I hope that I have not troubled you too 
 much." 
 
 Her voice was so fresh and confident, so utterly un 
 suspicious, she was so loyal, so eager to do everybody 
 justice, no one could have appealed more strongly to 
 Hugo s peculiar sympathies. His thoughts were in a 
 strange tumult. The chivalrous sentiments, that were 
 current coin in his gallant past, urged him to respond 
 in words as simple and frank as her own. But some 
 wayward instinct induced him to still intrench himself 
 behind the defensive wall of reserve which he had 
 erected during these days of hopeless invalidism. 
 
 " I have gone far on my lonely road," he thought, 
 " and there are many beautiful girls in the world. Be 
 cause this one comes in here and looks as fresh as a 
 June rose, is any fact in my life altered ? Am I less 
 a cripple ? I said that I would have nothing to do 
 with her. Let well men assure her of their interest 
 and protection. What is mine worth ? " 
 
 " I am surely tiring you," said Gabrielle, as his 
 bright watchful expression vanished, and his face grew 
 gloomy and haggard. " Ah, forgive me ! And you 
 were so ill last night." 
 
228 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 How fair she was ! How sweet were the sudden 
 transitions in her voice, the trembling light and shade, 
 the youth and warmth and pity. She had come 
 nearer and was looking anxiously at him, with compas 
 sion in her sincere eyes. 
 
 " Are you not very weary ? " she asked again. 
 
 He longed to answer : 
 
 " God knows I am weary, soul and body, with a 
 deadly weariness," but he merely said in a somewhat 
 cold tone : 
 
 " Not especially." 
 
 " I will go," she murmured. 
 
 Again an imperious longing bade him reply : 
 
 " No, stay with me. You are beautiful and bright 
 and good. You have crossed my threshold like an 
 angel of light. You cannot leave me in my unutter 
 able loneliness. Give me your sympathy, your pity. 
 Yours I will not reject." Her hand was so near his, 
 one slight movement, and he could have touched it. 
 Would there not be comfort and healing in the clasp 
 of that loyal hand ? Fool and coward, what were 
 soft hands, and lovely pitying eyes to him ! They 
 were of the past and the past was dead. Before him 
 was a straight and narrow way which he must tread 
 alone, and beyond the door was open. 
 
 " Baroness," he resumed courteously, " I thank you 
 for the honor you have done me, and if in the future I 
 can ever be of the slightest service, pray command 
 me. You have only to give your orders to Lipps " 
 
 He saw the wondering troubled look induced by this 
 plain hint, but he went on with resolute politeness : 
 
 " Lipps will bring whatever you want now to the 
 dining-room, and as often as you wish wine or anything 
 else for your proteges I beg you will tell him. My 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 229 
 
 wine cellar is in a plethoric condition which it would 
 be a kindness to relieve." 
 
 " Ah," she returned, shaking her head slightly, " I 
 shall not want to make any more punch for people." 
 
 " It has not been a pleasant experience for you," he 
 observed less stiffly, thinking, " Poor child, how un 
 mercifully mamma has been nagging her ! Fancy her 
 driven to apologize to a pack of dirty masons or buy 
 ing wine with her own pocket money ! It is disgust 
 ing and would be incredible except it is mamma ! " 
 
 " It was not easy to invade your castle," she be 
 gan with a pleading look which he understood per 
 fectly, " but I am glad I came. It is pleasant here, 
 and homelike." She gave a slow wistful glance at 
 Hugo s books and pictures. " It is a little like papa s 
 room ; " she sighed faintly, and turned to him again 
 with a quick flush, a warm smile, and a sudden move 
 ment of the hands toward him in frank entreaty. 
 
 " Ah," she exclaimed, " if if you if you knew 
 how I wish " 
 
 " I beg your pardon," interrupted Hugo, " but is 
 that Mousey ? Do you not hear ? " 
 
 A querulous yelp and some scratching, followed by 
 a scampering down the corridor, announced the dog s 
 presence and departure. 
 
 " He has been listening at the door," Hugo re 
 marked with perfect gravity. " He has all the mean 
 est vices of humanity. He has now gone to tell his 
 mistress that you are here." 
 
 " But that is neither a crime nor a secret." 
 
 " It is a great kindness and an honor to me," he 
 returned with a formality that restrained her ardent 
 impulse to beg him to let her come every day, to let 
 her be a friend and good comrade to him. He checked 
 
230 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 and chilled her, and she could not accentuate her 
 desire against his will. 
 
 " Mousey is the real cause of my perplexities," she 
 said quietly. " He was out of bounds. I went after 
 him. If I had not followed him, I should not have 
 passed the workmen and stopped to bid them good- 
 morning. If I had not talked with Peter, I should 
 not have perceived that he was in an unusually misan 
 thropic mood, which made me wish to try to appease 
 him with gifts and libations. And if I had not prom 
 ised him the punch I should not now be here. Pardon 
 me for troubling you, and thanks for everything." 
 
 " Don t thank me," Hugo rejoined quickly. " The 
 indebtedness is entirely mine. It has been a great 
 and unexpected pleasure, and makes me feel singularly 
 benevolent toward Mousey for his mediation. Al 
 though the truth is, in this house little happens in 
 which he is not concerned, first or last." 
 
 u Yes, I have noticed that," she returned, in the 
 same quiet tone. With every light word he seemed 
 to increase the distance between them. How hollow 
 his temples were, how sallow and ill he looked. 
 How politely he smiled, with a drawing-room manner, 
 as if he were on his feet and in uniform, not stretched 
 on his back. She forgot the workmen and that the 
 hour of the afternoon drive was approaching. She 
 wished she were Mercedes, or any one who could help 
 him and be useful and companionable to him, and 
 whom he would not repulse with this freezing, smiling 
 ceremony. Yet a few moments ago he had been 
 almost friendly. 
 
 She turned to go. 
 
 Hugo raised himself slightly, steadying himself with 
 one elbow. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 231 
 
 " It is awkward," he said with the smile which hurt 
 her, "that a man is forced to be discourteous, and 
 keep this attitude when a lady leaves his room, but you 
 will take the will for the deed." 
 
 His manner was light, even flippant, as if the sub 
 ject were, when all was said, of extremely little im 
 portance. 
 
 "How can you speak to me so?" she returned 
 quickly, looking at him sorrowfully, and with a note 
 of reproach, even of indignation, in her voice. " Do 
 you think me so dull and heartless that you must talk 
 to me like that ? " 
 
 Hugo s society smile faded. He stared at her si 
 lently, as she murmured her adieux and left the room. 
 
 She looked at her watch. The minutes had flown 
 fast. The drive was imminent. " I will run up first, 
 put on my hat and take my gloves, so that I need not 
 keep her waiting. I don t like the concealment, but I 
 can t help hoping that everything will be quiet, and 
 that I can mix my draught for those thirsty men with 
 out more excitement. Afterwards I will tell her and 
 take the consequences." 
 
 She reached her door, which was ajar, and ran lightly 
 in, stopping suddenly with a startled " Oh ! " Hugo s 
 jest had been founded on fact. Mousey had certainly 
 told tales. There in the middle of the room, established 
 firmly as if she meant to remain, was the countess, 
 stern, angry, and pale. Near her, his yellow haunches 
 planted on a blue chintz chair, and wearing a grin of 
 malevolent expectation, sat Mousey. 
 
 " I did not know that you were here," Gabrielle ejac 
 ulated nervously, after which platitude all three were 
 silent. She surveyed her judges, the big one and the 
 little one, and knew that her portion would be neither 
 
232 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 justice nor mercy. " And it is not made ! " she realized 
 with anxiety. " If she should positively forbid me to 
 make it ! " 
 
 " You have come to speak with me ? " she began. 
 
 " I have," returned the countess. 
 
 " Will you pardon me," the young girl said rapidly, 
 and with decision. "I have something to do down 
 stairs ; I will come back in a very few moments." 
 
 Waiting for no reply, she closed the door and ran 
 down to the dining-room, where with Lipps assistance 
 she flung water and wine and sugar and chopped ice 
 and slices of lemon into a flagon. 
 
 " She won t follow me because she has not her hat 
 on, and she 11 never attempt the stairs twice in succes 
 sion," she reasoned. 
 
 " There," she murmured triumphantly, " I hope they 
 can drink it. It ought to be good. It is thrown to 
 gether with the madness of genius. Lipps, take it to 
 Peter. You know Peter. Here, Lipps, go out this 
 door." 
 
 He demurred respectfully. 
 
 "The dining-room balcony door? It is not usual." 
 
 " Never mind. Only go." Opening it, she fairly 
 pushed him out. 
 
 " Lipps," she added breathlessly, " tell Peter it is 
 Count Kronfels wine, the wine of a man who would 
 be thankful if he could grow weary and warm and 
 thirsty from hard work on stone this day." 
 
 The old servant looked distressed at this message. 
 It was also unusual. 
 
 " Ah, say it, Lipps ! It can t hurt Count Hugo, 
 and it may do Peter good." And when she smiled 
 so sweetly on him, Lipps felt nerved to commit an 
 even greater social solecism. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 233 
 
 Lipps and the tall flagon disappeared behind the 
 hedge. 
 
 She drew a sigh of relief. How excited she felt, 
 and how eventful the day seemed, yet nothing great 
 had happened. She pressed her hands an instant to 
 her flushed cheeks, brushed a little sugar from her 
 sleeve, and thought, as she passed along the cor 
 ridor : 
 
 " And now, courage ! For I am going to my exe 
 cution." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE Frau Major von Funnel sat in her boudoir 
 and thought. The room was small, still, and grave 
 as an anchorite s cell. It was here that the serious 
 business of her life was conducted, and no bric-a-brac, 
 nothing light and diverting, met the eye. A simple 
 writing-table with plain appointments stood in one 
 corner near a hanging shelf of books, consisting 
 chiefly of Aphorisms, Wit, and Wisdom of one great 
 author, Memorable Words of another, Anthologies, 
 in short, collections of miscellaneous quotations in 
 prose and verse, under various titles. She was not a 
 reader. She had little time and less taste for books, 
 but she succeeded, nevertheless, in conveying a very 
 good imitation of a literary atmosphere. When at 
 the close of a conversation with some distinguished 
 man, already charmed by her womanliness, her sweet 
 gravity, and her rapt attention to his remarks, she 
 would look up confidingly into his eyes, and softly 
 murmur a word from Marcus Aurelius, or Pascal, or 
 Goethe, or some other condensed immortal of the 
 goodly fellowship on her little shelf, the effect was 
 perfect, and nothing could ever convince that man 
 that the Frau Major was not as modestly erudite as 
 she was appreciative of true greatness. 
 
 If some relentless inventor in addition to the 
 detective camera which steals and reflects our unsus 
 pecting countenances at midnight as at noonday, 
 and the pitiless apparatus whose mission is to tran 
 scribe and retain to our perpetual regret and shame 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 235 
 
 all our foolish and hasty words should construct 
 a still more diabolically clever machine which would 
 print our secret thoughts upon our walls, perhaps 
 some of the worst of us would hold up our heads, and 
 some of the holiest would blush and squirm. For the 
 vagabonds and what does vagabond mean but 
 " floating about without a certain direction " ? - 
 those souls whom nature has created to be, however 
 sweet and pure their own harmonies, forever out of 
 tune with the world s formal measures have some 
 times a kindly and guileless way of looking at life, 
 while the most highly decorous and conventionally 
 respected individual may proceed upon base and sor 
 did lines. Most assuredly the walls of that little 
 boudoir, if detailed by the command of genius to 
 reveal the Frau Major s habitual meditations, would 
 have displayed fine and subtle hieroglyphics, and sen 
 timents that would have startled the best society out 
 of its complacency. 
 
 The Frau Major was not incommoded by that 
 human quality or frailty awkward and compromis 
 ing at times, yet often an amiable and cheerful guide 
 which we call impulse. She must indeed have 
 possessed the attribute, and it must have moved, 
 since, as old Heraclitus informed mankind, " Every- 
 thing flows," but with her it took its rise in pro 
 foundly remote causes, and its action was impercepti 
 bly slow, like the movement of glaciers, or the ocean 
 undermining a cliff. 
 
 If, for instance, she was seen in some brilliant gath 
 ering to distinguish a shy, uninteresting, and hitherto 
 unnoticed youth ; if she stood long with him, gazing 
 up into his face with the deep womanly admiration 
 which she always offered the superior being, man, and 
 
236 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 which the superior being, man, always condescended 
 to accept in as large measure as she would mete ; if she 
 hung upon his words, smiled upon him with her calm, 
 clever, and benign countenance, spoke with him in her 
 measured and enthralling accents, and left him her 
 captive and slave for life, somewhat astonished too 
 at the good sense, wit, and fine sentiments which he 
 had been able to display to this sympathetic woman, 
 when thus far in his social career his fellow-creatures 
 had had the effect of disastrously damming his elo 
 quence, and he had been miserably conscious that 
 his only memorable words had been interchanged 
 exclusively with himself, either before or after the 
 occasion when they were demanded, if, then, she 
 singled him out, and intoxicated him with bliss, her 
 reasons were apt to proceed from fathomless depths 
 of policy and " caverns measureless to man." 
 
 It was not her broad charity, which her whole fol 
 lowing lauded to the skies ; it was not even her shrewd 
 principle that in certain calculations one reckons false 
 if one calls any mortal unimportant. These motives 
 would have induced an approving smile, a tender 
 hand-clasp, a subtly appreciative word, but not the 
 long and absorbing interview ; it was a farther reach 
 ing and deeper incentive which projected the Frau 
 Major upon this apparently unremunerative plane. 
 
 The youth was poor, but his great-great-grand 
 father s cousin s wife had been rich and had left 
 a fortune to the collateral branch of the family, the 
 senior of which was at present a gouty country gen 
 tleman, aged eighty-six, the father of five sons. The 
 oldest of the brothers was long since dead. The sec 
 ond had been detected by his comrades at an officer s 
 club playing with marked cards, and out of regard 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 237 
 
 for his name was hustled off to America that vastly 
 receptive Reform School for Europe s bad boys as 
 fast and as secretly as possible. The third was an Af 
 rican explorer, for many months missing. The fourth 
 was consumptive and seen only at Baths. The fifth was 
 a dashing lieutenant, fond of wine and hurdle-races. 
 
 Recently the Frau Major had overheard a certain 
 royal personage, who always had a kind word for 
 everybody, and remembered everybody s relations, 
 inquire after the health of the youth s aged relative, 
 and she had been fortunate enough to hear the reply 
 that the old gentleman had had a slight stroke of 
 paralysis. She was strong in genealogy, and necrol 
 ogy, and knew what most persons of her set had 
 forgotten, the exact connection between the youth s 
 own family and the other branch. She computed the 
 tottering chances for a gouty man of eighty-six who 
 had had his first stroke of paralysis, for a long-missing 
 African explorer, for a pronounced consumptive, and 
 for a plethoric lieutenant addicted to duelling, wine, 
 and breakneck races, and in her calculations did not 
 forget that the prince had twice spoken with that 
 stupid boy, that his Highness s adjutant was reported 
 to be in disfavor, and that the prince allowed himself 
 now and then the luxury of a simple .and unaccounta 
 ble liking. These somewhat tediously involved men 
 tal processes but approximately indicate the workings 
 of the Frau Major s " impulse " to honor the awkward 
 youth, to invite him to her Thursdays, to present him 
 to her special pet, Emma Mayer, and her darling little 
 Berta, and to explain to her friends in her candid and 
 impressive manner : " His face is so unworldly and pure 
 it attracts me. I admire him," she would add, contem 
 plating him seriously. " I think he looks like a poet." 
 
238 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 The Frau Major sat motionless in her low chair and 
 thought. Her face looked heavy and sad without the 
 luminous sympathetic glance which she wore in so 
 ciety. The small cold eyes were downcast, the large 
 unsmiling mouth was for once off duty. She was 
 weary. Her creed was that of Major Pendennis: 
 " Life without money and the best society is n t worth 
 having." The best society she had, but she was 
 obliged to work hard to maintain in it, without money, 
 the foothold which she regarded as desirable. She 
 cherished no illusions with regard to her own impor 
 tance, but was fully aware that if she did not con 
 stantly earn popularity and prominence, she would be 
 simply a lonely elderly woman, about whom the world 
 would not trouble itself. Was not General S. s wife 
 once popular ? Did she not give dinners and balls ? 
 The general died. What was she now ? Respected ? 
 Dear, yes, when any one happened to think of her. 
 
 The Frau Major knew that if she did not periodi 
 cally organize a charity-bazar, philanthropic theatri 
 cals, or a benevolent masquerade, the world s restless 
 waves would sweep on and leave her stranded. She 
 earnestly studied a note-book in which were names, 
 dates, and mathematical calculations. Her situation, 
 she reflected, had changed little in years. She was 
 the most popular woman in Wynburg, welcome in 
 many circles, praised by the wise and the foolish, 
 prominent in all good works, a pillar of society, and 
 with the reputation of lofty principles and fervent 
 religious feeling. But without money it all cost un 
 ceasing toil and tact. With money she could have 
 given frequent and choice little dinners which would 
 command solid and permanent respect, and render 
 bazars superfluous. "Ah," she sighed, "if I had 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 5239 
 
 but had daughters ! I would have married them so 
 well ! " It was absolutely indispensable for her to 
 obtain fresh and strong influence in several house 
 holds. She was resistlessly impelled to exert influ 
 ence upon her fellow-creatures, to pull wires and 
 make complicated plans, and she was aware that her 
 talents would have been invaluable in agitated politi 
 cal circles; still she saw no reason to let them rust 
 here where fate had placed her. Life without this 
 species of gambling would have been stagnation to 
 her, and social insignificance was worse than death. 
 
 She regarded her human chess-board. Each pawn, 
 like little Emma Mayer, had its own value. She saw 
 many parallel happy contingencies, and simultane 
 ously advancing perils. But her chief interest was 
 centred in the Kronfels group. The countess might 
 be, with a few modifications, but was not, all that 
 was desirable for a friend. Intimacy with her was an 
 impressive fact before the world, but no school-girl 
 was so fickle and uncertain in her attachments, and 
 nothing except nitro-glycerine required more careful 
 handling. To preserve her good-will, to propitiate or 
 at least not to irritate that cynical, mistrustful Hugo, 
 to win Gabrielle completely, and see her safely mar 
 ried to Lorenz or to Egon, to be her guide, philoso 
 pher, and friend, and Gabrielle herself with the 
 Kronfels fortune would be a social power later, was 
 motherless, sisterless, and surely already convinced 
 that she could obtain no support or sympathy from 
 the countess, all these seemed to the Frau Major 
 to be clearly defined duties. Beside her instinct to 
 govern people s lives and the social prestige which 
 she held so dear, there were certain practical advan 
 tages in associating with rich people, which she by no 
 
240 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 means ignored. There were drives and invitations to 
 the theatre and opera, hot-house flowers and fruits, 
 and innumerable gifts, which she knew how to accept 
 with no loss of dignity, and which were a great aid to 
 a small income. " One can do without the necessities 
 of life, but not without the luxuries," she thoroughly 
 realized. 
 
 She had not been able to pay Gabrielle any special 
 attention yet, she reflected ; it was well to proceed 
 slowly. If the countess s jealousy was roused, all was 
 lost, and the girl would simply be sent home portion 
 less and in disfavor. How providential it was that 
 Hugo and Mercedes had not married before the acci 
 dent. Mercedes was never malleable, and it woidd 
 be a crime for the Kronfels wealth to be cast to the 
 four winds of heaven by that haughty, mocking, 
 sharp-tongued, clever woman ! " The Kronfels fam 
 ily is interesting, but not unlike a powder-magazine," 
 she thought. "Hugo is difficult, the countess danger 
 ous, and Gabrielle, inexperienced as she is, has a 
 certain natural shrewdness, and a directness that is 
 sometimes positively appalling. She has still much 
 to learn, but I should really like her, and I could be 
 of infinite service to her if she but knew it." 
 
 At this point in her reflections, her maid an 
 nounced : 
 
 " The Baroness von Dohna." 
 
 The Frau Major smiled charmingly. She was 
 adored by her servants, for she had no petty vices 
 of impatience and unreasonableness. "In the little 
 salon ; I will come at once." 
 
 The little salon was as dainty as the boudoir was 
 austere, and Gabrielle waited there but a few mo 
 ments before she saw the Frau Major s handsome 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 241 
 
 face smiling upon her, while a cordial hand extended 
 an exquisite half-blown Niphetos rose, and the incom 
 parable low, slow voice said : 
 
 " Dear child, I was thinking of you," with a tender 
 lingering on the final word. 
 
 44 You are very good," Gabrielle returned grate 
 fully. 
 
 The Frau Major sat down on the little sofa with 
 Gabrielle, took her hands, and looked intently and 
 gravely into her eyes. 
 
 " No one is waiting for you ? " 
 
 "No one. I came quite alone, and of my own 
 accord." 
 
 "Lorenz has proposed, or Egon, and she wants a 
 confidante," concluded the Frau Major. The gentle, 
 infinitely sympathetic glance rested tranquilly upon 
 her visitor. 
 
 " That is kind, and what I have often wished you 
 would do. You are not driving to-day ? " 
 
 44 Not now. We were out a short time, a few mo 
 ments." Gabrielle hesitated more than her wont, for 
 she could scarcely inform the Frau Major that the 
 countess s temper was at white heat, that she had 
 given the coachman three different orders in rapid 
 succession, and after driving ten minutes had called 
 44 Home ! " in a hoarse voice, and left her without 
 word or glance in the vestibule. 
 
 The young girl looked frankly in the wise and kind 
 face bent tenderly toward her. 
 
 44 1 have come to ask a favor," she continued. 
 
 44 It is granted, dear child." 
 
 44 Ah, that is generous, to promise without hear 
 ing it." 
 
 44 1 know that whatever you would ask I would do 
 
242 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 for you," returned the lovely voice with its calm 
 tone of conviction. "I have a very special interest in 
 you ; and what is more natural than that a young 
 girl should be in doubt as to her course should 
 perhaps need counsel ? " 
 
 "But I am not at all in doubt," Gabrielle said 
 simply, " at least not in regard to this matter. You 
 are very good to me, and I am very grateful ; but I 
 have come to-day to ask you if you will be so kind 
 as not to propose anything for me to Aunt Adelheid, 
 
 any pleasures, or gayeties, or anything whatever?" 
 " She is actually suggesting to me to mind my own 
 
 affairs," the Frau Major realized with amusement. 
 
 " Dear child," she murmured, and awaited further 
 developments. 
 
 "I know," Gabrielle went on, "that you are only 
 thinking of my happiness." 
 
 " And of your good," added the other solemnly. 
 
 " Yes, of everything kind and sweet and gracious 
 and unselfish, and like yourself. There really is 
 something preposterous in my daring to ask you not 
 to do whatever seems good to you. Several times 
 when I have thought of it before, I have decided it 
 would be absurd. But to-day " 
 
 " To-day, dear child?" 
 
 " To-day, the tournament, and your letter " 
 
 The Frau Major patted Gabrielle s hand encour 
 agingly and listened with her wise and tranquil air. 
 
 " And a conversation I have just had with the 
 countess, and some other things, lead me to beg you 
 to propose nothing at all for me ; nothing ! " 
 
 " Dear Gabrielle, say no more ! Did I not promise 
 you your wish, though it were the half of my king 
 dom ? I will never again be so cruel as to suggest 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 243 
 
 that my special pet among all girls shall be arrayed 
 in gold brocade and violet plush, and ride before 
 royalty with a stately knight in armor. Is that the 
 extent of your grief ? " 
 
 Gabrielle laughed brightly. 
 
 " It does sound small, does it not ? But I thank 
 you with all my heart. You relieve me more than 
 you know. Of course I was sure that you would 
 have but one answer for me." 
 
 " I am a childless woman : I love young people ; it 
 was a joy to me to be thoughtful of your interests. 
 That was all." 
 
 " I know," returned Gabrielle regretfully, " and it 
 seems ungrateful and selfish on my part, yet it will 
 help me very much, as things are," she added with 
 rising color, " if you recommend nothing to Aunt Adel- 
 heid." 
 
 "I promise," said Frau von Funnel sweetly and 
 solemnly. " But others will if I do not." 
 
 " No one else has your influence." 
 
 " As to that, you overestimate me, dear. But I can 
 help you in no other way ? " 
 
 Gabrielle looked at her wistfully. 
 
 " Ah, you could, I am sure you could ! You are 
 so wise and good. But I have no right to discuss my 
 little perplexities, in which others are concerned." 
 
 " Remember that I know the countess exceedingly 
 well," was the soft and significant response. 
 
 " I wish I had your secret of never offending her," 
 Gabrielle broke out impetuously, " and that is all I 
 have to say upon that subject, and I fear it is already 
 too much." 
 
 " I know her idiosyncrasies, her sorrows, and her 
 nobility. I am devotedly attached to her." 
 
244 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 "Yes, I know you are," returned the young girl 
 thoughtfully. " I observed that the first day I saw 
 you." 
 
 " If I could only tell her everything and beg her to 
 advise me. She would show me my mistakes and 
 guide me. But I simply cannot live under a woman s 
 roof, eat her salt, and go and discuss her faults with 
 her most intimate friends. No, that is impossible. 
 Then even the Frau Major cannot make Aunt Adel- 
 heid reasonable, or me clever enough to avoid fric 
 tion." She gave a little sigh. 
 
 " Now for our love affairs," thought the Frau 
 Major. 
 
 "You are troubled, dear?" said the ineffable voice. 
 
 "I have had a rather exciting day. How good you 
 are to let me sit here quietly with you. How restful 
 it is," Gabrielle exclaimed impulsively. " You are 
 like a cathedral, calm and still, and large enough to 
 receive all sorts of sinners." 
 
 "The day has been exciting, dear?" repeated the 
 gentle voice. 
 
 " Oh, the day in itself is like any other, only this 
 is the fourth important conversation I have had, 
 important to me, that is, and it seems a long time 
 since morning." 
 
 The Frau Major smiled lovingly at her and waited. 
 
 " The first was with Mercedes." 
 
 " Dear Mercedes ! " murmured the Frau Major. 
 
 "Yes, she is very dear and beautiful," said Ga 
 brielle warmly. 
 
 " And so happy." 
 
 " Ah, do you think that ? " asked Gabrielle won- 
 deringly. " I wish I were sure of it." 
 
 After a moment she said : 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 245 
 
 " I think you are the only really happy person I 
 know here. You are sure and at rest. You have 
 nothing to seek, nothing to gain ; and you are happy, 
 because you are loving and large-hearted, and live for 
 others." 
 
 The Frau Major gave a little deprecating gesture 
 in response to this excessive praise, and with a beatific 
 smile remarked : 
 
 " So many of my dear friends are blessed in their 
 natures and in their lives. Almost everybody, indeed, 
 seems happy to me." 
 
 " I may be very ill-natured, but they don t to me. 
 They seem always restless and seeking, going up and 
 down like the animals at the menagerie." 
 
 " Not ill-natured, but a little out of tune, perhaps. 
 Not quite what your papa would desire in his fresh 
 bright-eyed girl." 
 
 "Ah, papa ! " said the girl confidently. "Nothing 
 in me would astonish him much." 
 
 " Did your weighty conversations induce your un 
 flattering zoological comparisons?" 
 
 " I think not," Gabrielle replied laughing. " I am 
 often reminded of the poor beasts. They remember 
 something better, crave something better, and hate 
 their limitations. People are very like them." 
 
 " And you, yourself, dear child ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am one of the worst. I am a young 
 hyena ! " 
 
 " My dear Gabrielle ! " the Frau Major gently re 
 monstrated. 
 
 " The crowd and the whirl oppress me. I am 
 weary of seeing so many people, and never really 
 knowing any one. The worst of it is, while I am 
 sure there is good everywhere, I cannot find it. It is 
 
246 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 my own fault, but it proves that I do not belong here. 
 Indeed, indeed, I remember but too well the old days 
 and green woods and freedom," she exclaimed. 
 
 " Adelheid Kronfels must have applied the thumb 
 screw lon and often to have induced this state of 
 
 o 
 
 mind," mused the tranquil, softly - smiling dame. 
 "Positive honesty is an awkward thing. I could 
 bring a score of worldly girls to the altar with less 
 difficulty." 
 
 Gabrielle was still smiling playfully, but with her 
 last words her eyes were slightly suffused, and there 
 was a ring of repressed emotion in her voice. 
 
 " Ah, dear Frau Major, how patient you are with 
 my nonsense ! How I should like to confess and be 
 shriven ! But I cannot make it seem quite honor 
 able." 
 
 " Her scruples are tedious," thought the older 
 woman. 
 
 " What Mercedes and I said seems to belong to 
 her. What Count Hugo and I said, I could tell you 
 easily enough, except it concerns another person." 
 
 " Ah, Hugo ! Noble, interesting sufferer ! " 
 
 " What Aunt Adelheid and I discussed belongs 
 to her. Yes, most emphatically. So, altogether, I 
 cannot ask you to show me my path." 
 
 "Dearest girl, I feel confident that you," sweetly 
 accenting the pronoun, " will always choose the right 
 path. Nothing else causes you doubt and excite 
 ment ? " 
 
 " I think not," replied Gabrielle candidly. 
 
 " You do not consider my dear young friend Lorenz 
 important, then ? Yet he was full of joy at the 
 thought of seeing you to-day." 
 
 " But you would not expect me to call his conver- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 247 
 
 sation important ? " Gabrielle retorted mischievously. 
 " I confess that he is concerned in my vexations, and 
 more than I like," she added with spirit. " I thought 
 it best not to dilate upon the matter, but perhaps 
 I ought to tell you that Aunt Adelheid wishes me 
 to ride with him at the tournament, and I have re 
 fused." 
 
 " Why do you not wish to ride with him ? " inquired 
 the Frau Major placidly. " He is such a favorite of 
 mine. So gallant so so manly and sweet- 
 tempered." 
 
 "Is he all that?" Gabrielle asked indifferently. 
 " I find him amiable and droll. It is not that I ob 
 ject to him, but I do not wish to ride at all." 
 
 " And why, dear child ? Tell me. Am I not your 
 friend? " urged the caressing voice. 
 
 " Ah, yes, I am sure that you are," Gabrielle cried 
 warmly. " I have a score of little reasons. I feel 
 that I should not like it." 
 
 " Feel ! " repeated the Frau Major, raising her eye 
 brows with an indulgent smile. 
 
 " For one thing, the costume must be elegant, and 
 I cannot afford it." 
 
 " Of course the countess arranges that ; you would 
 not deny her that pleasure ? " 
 
 " I cannot bear to have her buy velvet and brocade 
 for me," the girl rejoined in her quick way. 
 
 " Your aunt " 
 
 " By courtesy only." 
 
 " It is useless," thought Gabrielle. " She cannot 
 and ought not to understand that it is hard for me to 
 accept gifts and insults from the same person." 
 
 " Then the rehearsing will take so much time." 
 
 " And whose time is all her own if not yours ? 
 
248 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Who has a better right to freedom and gayety and 
 laughter with young companions ? " 
 
 Again Gabrielle looked perplexed. 
 
 " How can I explain that I have only the early 
 morning, and with the blankets I am to embroider for 
 Mousey, perhaps not that ? " 
 
 " I am more occupied than I seem to be," she re 
 plied quietly, " but there are still other reasons." 
 
 The Frau Major rose, put her hands affectionately 
 on Gabrielle s shoulders, and smilingly said : 
 
 " Do not search for them. They all mean simply 
 that the little girl has made up her mind to be wilful 
 and disappoint her friends. Why should we discuss 
 it longer ? Please yourself, dear Gabrielle, and you 
 will please me." 
 
 Gabrielle looked discouraged. 
 
 " Ah, you think it is merely selfish. Do you know 
 it is the first time that I have refused an express wish 
 of Aunt Adelheid ? " 
 
 The Frau Major replied gravely : 
 
 " I am sure that you are considerate toward an 
 old lady who has had many sorrows, and who greatly 
 desires your happiness." 
 
 Both were silent some moments. Gabrielle fixed 
 her eyes upon the rose in her hand, as if there were 
 wisdom to be gained from its pure white petals. 
 
 " You do not urge me. You do not blame me. 
 But you think I ought to ride," she said suddenly. 
 " Ah, I am so little in the mood for it, believe me ! " 
 Her honest young eyes looked pleadingly at her 
 friend. 
 
 " Then why ride, my dear ? You feel that you 
 would not like it. You are not in the mood. 
 
 Gabrielle watched her thoughtfully. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 249 
 
 Was it then all selfishness and prejudice and ob 
 stinacy and caprice ? 
 
 " You evidently will not persuade me, but what do 
 you really think? " she asked doubtfully. 
 
 The Frau Major answered in her reasonable and 
 convincing fashion, and in a tone as inoffensive as a 
 purling brook, that she certainly did not desire to 
 influence Gabrielle, for a girl had a right to her little 
 youthful fancies about things, and why should she be 
 forced even to enjoy herself ? Still, if Gabrielle really 
 wished her to give her views of a not very important 
 situation, did Gabrielle not take it all a little too 
 seriously? Did she not come to Wynburg, to see 
 life, to go into society, to meet and know people? 
 Would not her papa like her to enlarge her experi 
 ence, and was it not quite natural that the countess 
 should expect her to take part in whatever festivities 
 were thoroughly desirable ? Then the tournament 
 would be so choice, so distinguished, so artistic ; not 
 too much of the painter element, which would make 
 it Bohemian, but just enough to impart a fresh and 
 attractive flavor, and under the special patronage of 
 royalty. Indeed, his Highness was going to ride in 
 costume. Why should Gabrielle not participate in 
 a splendid historical pageant ? Why be a recluse at 
 her age and with her charm ? 
 
 The angry countess had made use of practically 
 the same arguments, but flowing harmoniously from 
 the lips of this disinterested woman, they seemed 
 new and impressive. Indeed, at all times the Frau 
 Major s lightest words, which if spoken by a flippant 
 voice would have sounded commonplace or false, were 
 freighted with meaning, and suggested unlimited 
 reserve power. She could not so much as speak of 
 
250 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 the weather without a certain dignity and benevo 
 lence which would enlist one s sympathies for the 
 rawest day. 
 
 She now glided adroitly from the riding to the 
 riders. 
 
 " Mercedes rides ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And that would be delightful for you, you like 
 her so much. You are sure that you would not prefer 
 Egon to Lorenz ? They are both dear to me. I knew 
 them as children. I remember them as pretty boys 
 in pinafores. You do not prefer Egon ? " 
 
 " Oh dear, no," Gabrielle returned with a little 
 shrug. " One is as good as the other. But I wish 
 that they were little boys in pinafores now. I should 
 like them better in pinafores than in uniforms." She 
 began to laugh. " Do you know they would really be 
 lovely in pinafores ? They have such plump rosy 
 cheeks, and such nice little shaved flaxen heads, and 
 such very pale blue eyes." 
 
 " We must discuss your costume with the countess," 
 the Frau Major remarked, after an indulgent smile 
 for her special pet s little jest. 
 
 Gabrielle did not remember that she had agreed to 
 ride, but she felt reluctant to begin the argument 
 anew, and to be obstinate and unamiable to this kind 
 and judicious friend who had taken so much trouble 
 to convince her. 
 
 " The Misses Mayer," announced the maid. 
 
 " Beg them to kindly wait a few moments in the 
 drawing-room. 
 
 " And Lieutenant von Raven and Lieutenant von 
 Haller." 
 
 Gabrielle rose. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 251 
 
 " I may slip out unseen, may I not ? " 
 
 " Ah, will you not come in and chat ? The dear 
 little mice would be so glad. They admire you so 
 much." 
 
 " The Countess von Kronfels," announced another 
 servant. 
 
 " No, no, I won t come in, thanks. You have been 
 so kind." 
 
 " Come often to me, dearest child. Enjoy yourself. 
 And if I may presume to preach a small sermon, do 
 not be such a serious little philosopher. The world 
 is very kind to sweet young things like you. If we 
 all have our little trials, we have our compensations. 
 Your dear brown eyes will not always be clear and 
 strong. Your hair will some day be gray like mine. 
 Your beauty and freshness and health, which are 
 my delight as if you were my own dear daughter, can 
 not remain as they are. Then be happy now, dear 
 girl, and do not be too wise. Surely you have no 
 real griefs." 
 
 " You are right. I have none. I am anything but 
 wise. I am only selfish and exacting. But you have 
 done me good. A thousand thanks." 
 
 " The Countess von Waldenberg and the Countess 
 Elsa." 
 
 " Ah, the whole world is coming ! Let me run away. 
 I am detaining you." 
 
 " There is no haste. I have always time for you," 
 returned the sweet voice with its lingering cadence. 
 " Let me be a comfort to you. Let me aid you, for you 
 are near and dear to me. Be happy, child. And au 
 revoir, since you will not come and take a cup of tea 
 with us, and chat about the tournament." 
 
 It was with some surprise that Gabrielle found her- 
 
252 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 self pledged after all to ride, but she went off full of 
 confidence and veneration for the Frau Major, and de 
 termined to seek her counsel as often as possible arid 
 try to learn the secret of her kindly atmosphere. The 
 countess would probably remain in that delectable 
 circle until dinner-time. Gabrielle decided to make 
 the most of her freedom. She passed the villa, and 
 her friends the masons under the shed, who took off 
 their hats with alacrity and .smiled as she went quickly 
 by; but Peter greeted her with incorruptible and 
 morose melancholy, insisting upon the purity of his 
 principles after as before the flagon episode. 
 
 The great broad-backed hill, green with vineyards, 
 met the sunny May sky. She followed the lane wind- 
 ing along its base, enjoyed the cool freshness of the 
 path between stone walls, and the smell of the woods 
 and the earth. Beyond >the lane, the way led past 
 orchards and neat little patches of market-gardens, 
 where stooping blue figures were working. " How 
 kind they are to make the men s shirts and the 
 women s aprons of the blue that fades into that 
 pretty soft dullness," she thought gayly. 
 
 In Leslach she spoke to some children, whose 
 scanty flaxen locks were strained back and braided 
 into shining little tails. They grinned at her North 
 German. She began to imitate their dialect. At this 
 they laughed outright, and followed her facetiously in 
 single file, five or six half shy, half roguish faces. 
 How it would shock Aunt Adelheid ! She gave her 
 guard of honor a few pennies, whereupon Mariele 
 and Babele and Rickele quickly dispersed to regale 
 themselves at a booth, where an old woman sold 
 bretzels, acidified raspberry-shrub, and floury high- 
 colored bonbons. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 253 
 
 A couple of young wolf-dogs grew excited and 
 leaped about furiously as she drew near their en 
 closure. But when she stood and talked soothingly 
 to them, and assured them that she was an intimate 
 friend of their family, and had some cousins of theirs 
 at her own home, and that she could appreciate their 
 prejudices, for she too sometimes felt cooped-up and 
 irritable, the fiery gleam disappeared from their small 
 reddish eyes, and they became friendly and expressed 
 considerable regret when she finally wandered on. 
 
 The smallest thing gave her pleasure, her heart 
 was so light and free. For she had responded warmly 
 and gratefully to the Frau Major s kindness, and to 
 the affectionate tone of which she had been so long 
 deprived. " When one is homesick, one is simply 
 irresponsible," she admitted. " How I have been 
 abusing everybody, and conjuring up ghouls to haunt 
 the best society." 
 
 Smiling, looking pretty and happy and dainty, she 
 stopped in surprise, as a great bell sounded suddenly 
 near her, and out of a court came running, chatter 
 ing, springing, thirty or forty factory girls, each 
 holding a beer-glass, and hurrying across the pave 
 ment and the street to a garden over the way. They 
 reminded her of the cigar-factory girls in Carmen, 
 except here was no coquetry, no theatrical effect. 
 Ugly and pretty, young and old, they came trooping 
 out rudely and roughly, intent upon quenching their 
 thirst and getting back in time. Gabrielle could not 
 go on without pressing through the turbulent little 
 army. She drew back and watched them. Some 
 were stolid and weary ; some comely young faces re 
 turned her gaze with not unfriendly curiosity. Others 
 stopped with a half -finished jest upon their lips to 
 
254 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 nudge one another and call attention to her hat or 
 gown. There were bold, unpleasant leers among them 
 too, and in the rear two women loitered and walked 
 so close to her that she instinctively retreated a step, 
 to avoid the touch of their threatening elbows and 
 shoulders, when one stood and devoured her with 
 ugly, insolent eyes in which Gabrielle, to her surprise 
 and discomfort, perceived something intentionally sin 
 ister and brutal. 
 
 " Why does she hate me ? " she asked herself, trou 
 bled, and walked on quickly. The woman gazed after 
 her, neglecting her beer to follow with aggressive 
 glances the well-clothed, well-fed, well-cared-for girl, 
 who could saunter about smiling, with gloves on her 
 idle hands. 
 
 " That dark woman has the evil eye," Gabrielle 
 thought, waiting at a safe distance until the wild 
 troop, with emptied glasses, streamed out of the beer- 
 garden, recrossed the court, and returned to their 
 looms and shuttles. The street seemed suddenly dark 
 and still, after the passing of those loud colors, noisy 
 feet, and boisterous voices. 
 
 She turned thoughtfully toward home. On a cross 
 street she saw straw strewn thick before a house with 
 closed shutters, and from the door came a Sister of 
 Mercy with noiseless step and downcast eyes, and 
 under the white cap of her order the serene face 
 which such as she know how to bring from weary 
 midnight vigils and the chamber of death. 
 
 They were all every-day sights and sounds, but Ga- 
 brielle s spirit, startled by the hatred in the coarse 
 woman s eyes, had lost its brief lightness, and as she 
 returned through the village and the quiet lane, her 
 mind dwelt upon the old, old questions which sooner 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 255 
 
 or later torment every heart large enough to care for 
 joy and sorrow beyond its own. The toil of the fac 
 tory girls, the vast ease of the countess who yet each 
 day manufactured wrongs and grievances for herself; 
 lovely Mercedes deliberately choosing that unlovely, 
 unloving fate, the little black-robed sweet-faced Sister ; 
 the pain and tears of the silent house, the laughter of 
 the children ; Peter s scowl at the world s injustice 
 and the malignant resentment of the strange woman; 
 Bernhard Dietz s healthful, joyous presence, the lame 
 count s dark mournful eyes and pale drawn face look 
 ing up at her from his red cushions ; the people work 
 ing in the fields and at the forge as she passed, and 
 this time she did not think of the color of the blouse, 
 but of the aching back beneath it, the gay, selfish 
 circle working only to amuse itself; the mean little 
 houses on the outskirts of the village where small chil 
 dren and old women were splitting wood and drawing 
 water, the great luxurious empty villa where fifteen 
 human beings seemed to be necessary for the comfort 
 of three, all these sharp and cruel contrasts loomed 
 up before her as distinctly as if they were rocks along 
 the path. Poverty for one, infamy for another, dis 
 tinction for a third, and why why? And why 
 build our ease upon the pain and misery of other 
 hearts ? 
 
 " I wish I could go back and speak to that woman 
 with the hate in her eyes," she thought. " I would 
 tell her that I am sorry for many things. I should 
 like to say to her that I would rather work in that 
 factory all day and every day, and be with my papa 
 evenings, than live the life I am leading now without 
 him. Perhaps she would not hate me if she knew 
 that." Pondering upon these sorrowful problems 
 
256 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 which met her face to face, yet innocently blind to 
 the vast and mournful ones of disease and crime be 
 yond her knowledge, and reasoning in a circle after 
 the fashion of many a wiser head, she entered the 
 villa and met Lipps in the lower corridor. 
 
 He stood and stared at her in a dejected, helpless 
 way. 
 
 " What is it, Lipps ? " she asked kindly. 
 
 " I don t know what it is ; and if I don t," he began 
 dully, " nobody does ! " he broke out with a kind of 
 desperation. " But I am taking a liberty. I beg the 
 gracious fraulein s pardon." 
 
 " Oh, never mind the liberty. Besides, it is n t a 
 liberty." 
 
 " I was so glad when the gracious fraulein came in 
 to-day," the poor fellow, thus encouraged, began to 
 say hurriedly, with a watchful eye on the staircase. 
 " Thinks I to myself, there s one straight, right 
 thing happened in this crooked house. That s what 
 ought to be. The young lady in our wing. And I 
 felt as light as air. It s no use. He s worse than 
 ever. He s in his dumb starings." 
 
 " In what, Lipps ? I do not understand." 
 
 " After the gracious fraulein went, was he cheerful, 
 was he happy, as I like a fool expected ? No, he was 
 awful," groaned the servant. " Something settled 
 down on his face like a fog like midnight. Oh, 
 I know it. It was there always at first, but it got 
 better. He does not move or speak ; he scarcely 
 breathes ; he only stares straight before him with his 
 big eyes." 
 
 " Was it directly after I went ? " 
 
 " Begging the gracious fraulein s pardon, it was. I 
 kind of hung round softly ; I could n t bear to leave 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 257 
 
 him like that. Says he, Lipps, you may go ; and 
 let no one in, no one, do you understand ? Says I, 
 kind of venturing, Not even Herr Dietz ? For he 
 is uncommon cheery, and Count Hugo watches him, 
 and smiles in the old careless way. No one, says he, 
 and shut his mouth like a nut-cracker. I know what 
 it means now. Dumbness for days, and a look in his 
 eyes that makes me ache." The man gave a gulp 
 which he discreetly transformed into a cough behind 
 his hand. 
 
 " I am so sorry, Lipps, so sorry ! " Gabrielle 
 stammered. 
 
 On the landing, half-way up the great stairway, 
 appeared Mousey, freshly combed and wearing a 
 white cravat. He regarded the two with his worldly 
 air of intelligent scrutiny, turned himself about, and 
 promenaded up-stairs. Gabrielle started as if he 
 were a human messenger admonishing her that din 
 ner was imminent, and that she should hastily prepare 
 for that portentous rite. Shortly after, the butler, 
 the countess, smiling and debonair in stiff satin, with 
 a pink rose blooming in her cap and speaking French 
 volubly to the snapping idol on her arm, demure Ba- 
 bette with a scarf, and Rb schen with Mousey s rug, 
 came in the usual slow and superb procession down 
 the marble stairway. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " How is he to-day, Lipps ? " inquired Gabrielle. 
 coming down for the afternoon drive before the 
 countess, and meeting the man in the hall. 
 
 " Nothing but a corpse and Count Hugo can be as 
 still as that," he answered drearily. 
 
 Each day she heard a similar response, and turned 
 away with a pang of self-reproach. 
 
 " What did I do to him ? " she asked herself. " How 
 could I have hurt him ? Ah, if I had not gone in ! " 
 
 After some days, Lipps announced with nascent 
 hopefulness, and in a mysterious whisper, for the but 
 ler was passing : 
 
 " He s got as far as the little black book." 
 
 " I don t know what that means, but I hope with 
 all my heart that it is something pleasant." 
 
 " It might n t be very pleasant for anybody else," 
 Lipps admitted, " for we are gloomy still, and not so 
 much appetite as a canary. But the book is better 
 than the stare, and when he takes it up again, I know 
 that he is kind of working along out of the fog." 
 
 She wondered what he meant, and thoughtfully 
 regarded his ugly, unselfish, faithful countenance, 
 softened now with feeling, and brightened by a slight 
 ray of hope. " I am glad that he has you, Lipps," 
 she said sweetly. 
 
 Lipps s affection was not rhetorical. He hesitated, 
 gulped, stammered, coughed, flushed, and rejoined in 
 uncouth agitation : 
 
THE OPEN DOOR 259 
 
 " If being chopped in pieces would do any good, all 
 I d have to say is Chop ! " 
 
 But Gabrielle understood him as well as if he had 
 uttered the eloquent heart-cry of a poet, and replied 
 softly : 
 
 44 Only let jne know when I can do anything for 
 him, or for you." 
 
 At the close of this interview, the countess, passing 
 down to the carriage, cast upon them the peculiar 
 glance of vague distrust which she habitually be 
 stowed upon any two persons talking together in her 
 house with an appearance of good understanding, and 
 demanded testily, as they drove away : 
 
 " Why do you talk to that man, Gabrielle ? " 
 
 44 1 was inquiring after Count Hugo." 
 
 44 Of course. I did not imagine that you were talk 
 ing astronomy. But I always send Babette, that is, 
 when I do not go myself ; and as His Royal Highness 
 is having a fit of the sulks and ostracizing me for 
 some days, I cannot now present myself in person. 
 But I never encourage Lipps to talk ; I distrust him. 
 Mousey s instinct is unerring, is it not, dear pet ? 
 Yes, so it was ! Then Hugo spoils the man. You 
 could send Roschen, I suppose ? " 
 
 44 1 could ; yes." 
 
 44 For my part, I neither go nor send too often to 
 inquire just now. I found his doors locked several 
 times ; but I can overlook the incivility. It is best 
 to wait till he recovers his equanimity. One must 
 have patience with an invalid s moods," she added 
 sententiously. 44 Hugo has his ups and downs. One 
 must have tact and consideration. Yes, one must, my 
 bright-eyed little man ! How clear his precious little 
 bark sounds. So jovial ! Gabrielle, really you have 
 
260 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 an amazing stare. I am not aware that there is any 
 thing preposterous in my remarks or personal appear 
 ance. My bonnet, I trust, is not awry, nor my hair 
 in maniacal disorder." 
 
 " I beg your pardon," returned the young girl with 
 a slight choking sensation. ^ There is nothing the 
 matter with your bonnet, or your hair. ^ 
 
 " You look positively incredulous," declared the old 
 lady, angrily insistent. "Perhaps you know best. 
 Perhaps you wish to contradict." 
 
 Away flew Gabrielle s restive resolutions. " I did 
 not know how I was looking," she began with spirit. 
 " I certainly never wish to be rude to you, Aunt Adel- 
 heid ; but I was thinking that if I were Count Hugo s 
 mother, I would not leave him night or day, and 
 nothing would give me any joy, not friends, not 
 toilettes, or gayety, or books, or the king himself, 
 nothing, nothing in the whole wide world outside 
 of those four walls, nothing but the thought of car 
 ing for him, and comforting him, if with only a word 
 a look a clasp of the hand." 
 
 She stopped, her cheeks glowing, her voice broken, 
 and she anticipated for her crime the severest punish 
 ment known to her tyrant, something resembling 
 the bastinado, followed by decapitation. But the mar 
 vellously versatile countess broke into a laugh so light 
 and girlish and merry that it startled Gabrielle, and 
 suggested, under the circumstances, the vagaries of an 
 unsound mind. 
 
 " Tiens, tiens, I must tell Hugo that. She says she 
 would like to sit and hold Hugo s hands. Do you hear 
 her, Mousey, my treasure ? Oh, what a droll idea ! 
 Bless my little angel-love ! Yes, he was an angel ! 
 And when he died, he should go straight to heaven, 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 261 
 
 like Martin Luther s little dog, and. have a little golden 
 tail, like his ! So he should ! For he was a thousand 
 times sweeter " (kiss) " and cleverer " (kiss) " and 
 handsomer and more angelic " (kiss) " than Martin 
 Luther s little dog, yes, so he was ! " 
 
 Gabrielle shrank into her corner to retreat from the 
 extraordinary plunges and dives of the breathless old 
 lady, devouring the snarling, struggling animal with 
 kisses. The young girl, with a curious mingling of 
 emotions, a ferment of generous indignation, compas 
 sion, wonder, and disgust, found herself involuntarily 
 picturing Mousey in a purer world, wagging the pro 
 posed decorative adjunct ; and she reflected that if, as 
 some claim, both man and beast will receive in another 
 sphere exact compensation for the deprivations of this 
 life, then surely a golden tail on Mousey would be but 
 a logical sequence. 
 
 The following morning she sat in the garden em 
 broidering a yellow dog-blanket in gold. It was the 
 special design of the countess, who said that her idol 
 " with his fair hair would be a splendid bit of color, 
 a sunbeam, a little golden glory, a Phoebus- Apollo 
 doggums ! " 
 
 Gabrielle looked up smiling, as Lipps came hurry 
 ing toward her. 
 
 " If the gracious fraulein pleases, the count is bet 
 ter." 
 
 " Ah, I am very glad," she returned warmly. 
 
 " And I am to go for Herr Dietz." 
 
 " He will be good for him, I am sure." 
 
 " But he could n t take care of him ? " Lipps stam 
 mered uneasily. 
 
 " As you do ? Never I Nobody could," she de 
 clared heartily. 
 
262 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Lipps looked relieved, and presently said : 
 
 " It s an awful thing to be afraid." 
 
 " Afraid ? You were distressed, Lipps, but not 
 afraid ? fc There surely was no danger ? " 
 
 All intelligence faded conveniently out of the man s 
 face. " The gracious fraulein knows best," he mut 
 tered in his humblest and stupidest manner, and stole 
 off on cautious tip-toe. 
 
 Presently he repassed, followed by Dietz. Gabri- 
 elle had never seen him walking on earth like other 
 men. To her he meant a voice, a note of gladness up 
 in the higher air, and she regarded him with pleased 
 surprise, as the tall white figure, towering head and 
 shoulders above Lipps, and with stone-dust powdering 
 his great beard, emerged from the shrubbery. He 
 snatched off his paper-cap as he perceived her, and 
 strode on with a slow long step. Lipps looked eager, 
 anxious, pleased, and fussy. The broad-shouldered 
 giant behind him wore an air of deep and gentle repose. 
 
 Gabrielle stitched various curious reflections into 
 the canine Apollo s golden mantle. 
 
 Lipps ushered Bernhard into the count s room, and 
 left them. 
 
 Dietz stood looking down with his kindly smiling 
 eyes upon Hugo, who said languidly : 
 
 " Ah, good morning, Dietz. It is good of you to 
 come over at once." 
 
 " Why not ? " replied Bernhard, noting the count s 
 excessive pallor and the weariness of his voice. 
 
 After several moments of gentle scrutiny, Bernhard 
 continued : 
 
 " You have been worse ? " He was about to say 
 "ill," but scarcely knew what word to use to a man 
 always on his back. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 263 
 
 " I have been the devil ! " returned the count with 
 a short laugh. 
 
 The men again regarded each other in silence. Sud 
 denly Hugo turned slightly, and with his nervous hand 
 clutched Dietz s arm and held it fast. In that one mo 
 ment the lonely soul imprisoned within the crippled 
 body surrendered its pride, confessed its pain and 
 weakness, and reached out through the longing eyes 
 for human sympathy. 
 
 In Bernhard s face was boundless pity, but the kind 
 eyes were smiling as a mother smiles on her suffering 
 child, and slowly lifting his left arm, he covered with 
 his broad, brown palm the emaciated fingers grasping 
 his wrist. 
 
 At this, Hugo broke into an ungovernable paroxysm 
 of weeping. Shaken by deep ,sobs, he buried his face 
 in the cushions, and lay helpless and broken in a tem 
 pest of emotion. 
 
 Dietz turned away, bowed his head, and waited. 
 
 At length the count recovered himself. For some 
 moments he lay motionless, except for an occasional 
 long, shuddering sigh that shook his whole frame. 
 
 " Damn my woman s nerves ! " he muttered. 
 
 Dietz approached the sofa. 
 
 " Count," he began in his calm, mellow voice, " will 
 you let me take you out into the garden ? It is a won 
 derful morning for freshness and birds and sweet 
 smells. There is a little white birch out there. You 
 can see it from your corner by the fountain. It s as 
 pretty as a girl. So straight and slender, and mod 
 est yet kind of beckoning. And the air you never 
 breathed such air the air is the best doctor on earth, 
 and you have been in the house too long, count. 
 That s what s the matter." 
 
264 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I wish you could stay here," said Hugo wearily. 
 
 " Well, I can t. May I take you out ? " 
 
 Hugo stared straight at the swallow on the ceiling. 
 
 After a while he asked, 
 
 " Is any one out there ? " 
 
 " That beautiful young lady your cousin is 
 sitting on a bench near the house, sewing on something 
 yellow." 
 
 " I don t feel well enough to be moved this morn 
 ing," Hugo rejoined quickly after another pause. 
 
 Dietz reflected. His mind was not rapid in seizing 
 conclusions, but he thought, "Every sick man is a 
 child. One must act for him." 
 
 " Wait," he said placidly, and left the room. 
 
 Presently Gabrielle saw him coming across the grass 
 toward her. 
 
 She looked up inquiringly. 
 
 He pulled off his paper-cap, and said in his tranquil 
 way : 
 
 " The count is coming out here." 
 
 Gabrielle sprang up, gathered together her silks and 
 gold thread and scissors and little basket, and stood 
 ready to take instant flight. 
 
 Dietz was surprised at this extremely rapid response 
 to his mission, and explained : 
 
 " He did not tell me that he wished you to go away. 
 But he is ill and nervous. I think he dreads seeing 
 anybody. He ought to be out here." 
 
 " Of course he ought," Gabrielle agreed heartily. 
 " I will go at once. I am glad to go. I thank you 
 for telling me." 
 
 She started toward the house. He followed more 
 slowly. At the door, she turned and waited. 
 
 " You do him good, Herr Dietz," she said. " You 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 265 
 
 seem to be the only one who can," she added a little 
 sadly. 
 
 " The fresh growing things will do him good," Bern- 
 hard rejoined. He liked her way of holding up her 
 pretty head, and looking straight into his eyes, thought 
 fully yet very cordially, and with something soft yet 
 courageous in her manner. She was about as old as 
 his Roschen, he decided. 
 
 " There is nobody out there," Bernhard announced 
 to Hugo, who glanced up sharply. 
 
 " The lady who was there has gone in," Dietz added, 
 " and I m going to take you out now." Hugo, weary, 
 spent, and passive, let the strong man and Lipps do 
 with him what they would. 
 
 Dietz turned the invalid s chair toward the point 
 in the tangled shrubbery where the maidenly birch 
 gleamed white among the hawthorns and acacias and 
 willows. The water plashed softly from the dragon s 
 head. There was a warm balsamic odor from the 
 rank neglected pines and cedars and firs and larches. 
 The lilac bushes waved their violet and white plumes, 
 and exhaled their strong breath to mingle with the 
 delicate fragrance of fruit blossoms and the fine odors 
 of innumerable shrubs. Nearer the house, a row of 
 huge horse-chestnut trees raised their massive leafy 
 domes, crowned with rich tropical spikes, from which 
 with every breeze fell a snow-storm of white petals. 
 There was a mysterious murmur in the poplar leaves, 
 a hum of bees and insects, a flutter and a twitter and 
 a warbling of birds. 
 
 " I am the one ugly spot in Nature s May pageant," 
 thought Hugo. Dietz stood with his hands on his 
 hips, looking about and smiling as contentedly as if 
 he had made it all. " It s healing," he remarked. 
 
266 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " It s a disgrace to a civilized household," Hugo 
 retorted querulously. " There s enough raw material 
 here to stock ten respectable gardens." 
 
 Dietz gave him the sweetest glance that ever a big 
 man in a blouse bestowed upon one of his own sex, 
 and without speaking continued to investigate the 
 secrets of the surrounding tanglewood. 
 
 " I m going, count," he said at length. 
 
 " I have taken a great deal of your time," rejoined 
 Hugo. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 Hugo looked at him affectionately, and with a faint 
 flash of amusement. 
 
 " I think it would be more sensible to ask Why ? 
 rather than always 4 Why not ? " he remarked. But 
 Dietz took his meaning, whatever it might have been, 
 as another incomprehensible and unimportant whim 
 of a sick man, and wasted no thought on it. 
 
 " Do you think you can come over again to-day ? " 
 
 " I 11 come as often as you want me. Don t hesi 
 tate to send, for I work by the job, you know," Bern- 
 hard added practically, " not by the day. I m well 
 enough along to spare a little time for you," he went 
 on cordially, " for I begin before the other men, and 
 work longer, and often through the nooning. That s 
 because my work is pleasanter than theirs," he ex 
 plained modestly. " If they had my work they d like 
 to begin earlier, when the morning is fresh. Mine 
 is the pleasantest work in the world. Sometimes I 
 hope," he went on with a genial laugh, " that if I m 
 lucky enough to get into the New Jerusalem they talk 
 about, there 11 still be a little building going on, for 
 I should n t feel at home without a block of stone to 
 chip at." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 267 
 
 " Have you never longed to carry it farther, Dietz?" 
 and Hugo fixed his eyes curiously on the placid face. 
 " Have you never desired to create, to be an artist, not 
 an artisan a real sculptor ? " 
 
 " Oh, when a man s young, he has his fancies," 
 Bemhard admitted. " Yes, I went through all that. 
 You ought to see the queer things I modelled. It 
 cost me some tears and sleepless nights before I gave 
 it up. But it s a good thing for a man to find his 
 level. Anybody can see there s no artist in me. Still 
 I m the artist s very good tool. I m a part of him 
 and his work. That s the way I look at it, count. 
 But there s one thing I am going to do before I die," 
 he said with sudden shyness. " I am thinking of it 
 all the time ; I have almost got it, only it changes ; it 
 comes and goes/ He put his hand over his eyes an 
 instant, then threw back his head and smiled. " It 
 will come yet ; it will come and stay, and then I shall 
 envy none of the great ones. But there ! I am wan 
 dering off again," he said apologetically. " There are 
 things that make a fool of a man." 
 
 Hugo watched him languidly, wondering at the soft 
 ness of his voice. " Have you no troubles, Dietz ? " 
 
 Bernhard hesitated. 
 
 " Yes, count, but no more than are healthy for a 
 man. But I must go. There s something you do 
 like a girl," he added with his indulgent smile. 
 
 "I don t doubt it," Hugo said curtly. "That is 
 my impression of a good deal of my conduct." 
 
 " You only begin to talk when I really can t stay." 
 
 " Oh, is that all ? That is my feminine slyness, 
 Dietz. I like to keep you with me," and Hugo held 
 out his hand. " It s no use trying to thank you," he 
 said with much feeling. 
 
268 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I wish you good rest and good thoughts, count," 
 returned Bernhard simply, and went. 
 
 But he would not have considered Hugo s thoughts 
 good. 
 
 " The truth is," he reflected, occupying himself, as 
 soon as he was alone, with his ever-haunting theme, 
 taking it up where he had left it, as one opens a 
 familiar, well-loved book, and reads on wherever the 
 glance falls, " every man to whom the question pre 
 sents itself has the right to decide it. The pious 
 souls who think the Bible forbids it with c Thou shalt 
 not kill seem to feel no virtuous repugnance toward 
 the existence of capital punishment or war. What 
 twaddle conventional morality is ! Obermann is about 
 right. When I am able-bodied and happy and love 
 life, I am taught that it is sweet and glorious to die 
 for the fatherland. Wretched, useless, longing for 
 death, I am warned that I have no right over my own 
 existence, and that it is a crime to shorten it. Logical, 
 that ! If it is dear and beautiful, it is my duty and 
 privilege to sacrifice it. If it is hideous, I must cling 
 to it. It is honorable for me to march out and kill a 
 man who never harmed me, and who desires to live. 
 To seek death when I fear and hate it is noble. To 
 seek it when I long for it is sin. If my life does not 
 belong to me, what right have I to consent to risk it 
 in war ? Can I give what I do not possess ? If I as 
 an individual have 110 such right, whence then the 
 right of society, or a government, or any corporation 
 or union of individuals to demand my life for their 
 purposes ? I claim no angelic purity of motive. I 
 admit that my views are low and selfish. But they 
 relate only to one worthless existence ; and are n t 
 they, all in all, as lofty and rational as the bickerings 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 269 
 
 of nations about boundaries and South Sea colonies 
 and fishing-smacks and the claimants of penny-thrones 
 for which, in the sacred name of patriotism, gov 
 ernments are ready to slaughter millions of men? 
 So far as consistency is concerned, neither saints nor 
 sinners are in a position to throw stones. No, death 
 comes sooner or later to us all. It is not like a 
 wrong, a crime, or suffering that could be avoided. 
 What harm in anticipating the inevitable end ? Who 
 dares pronounce it unpardonable ? W^ho can prove it 
 is not desirable ? If a man has duties, responsibil 
 ities, a wife, a child, a single soul to whom he owes 
 protection or allegiance, the question assumes other 
 proportions. But who on this earth is so alone as I ? 
 Not a dog would be worse off for my death ! Some 
 times it does seem to me like a certain form of de 
 sertion, but that, no doubt, is early prejudice, instilled 
 into me by my elders and betters ; and it may be 
 vanity, too. One regards one s existence as too im 
 portant, even in a maimed, miserable hulk like mine." 
 
 The air was sleepy and still and growing warmer. 
 There was a ceaseless soothing murmur of living 
 things and fluttering foliage. Hugo stared wearily 
 into the cloudless sky. " Suppose, above that blue, 
 there were, after all, the heaven and the great white 
 throne in which the church teaches we must believe 
 or be damned. Suppose I, having this day the choice 
 to stay or go, should go, and should stand before the 
 throne. Why, then, so far as I see, I would have the 
 right to say : 
 
 " Lord, it was Thy will, since Thy will is omnipo 
 tent. If Thy will is not omnipotent, then let my 
 soul travel farther, and like St. Christopher, seek the 
 Mightiest. Him only will I serve." 
 
270 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 He took out his little black book. During the few 
 previous weeks he had added to his notes and quota 
 tions and pasted in newspaper cuttings. He regarded 
 his collection with a certain complacency. There was 
 a great deal of carefully sifted information in it. 
 
 With morbid exactness he considered the great 
 suicides of antiquity, their motives, and their details. 
 "There is a vast difference between the calm and 
 classic manner, and the modern sensational style. 
 There is a rational and an irrational kind. When, 
 for instance, a boy and girl lash themselves together 
 and jump into a lake, because their cruel parents won t 
 let them marry, that is eminently irrational, for the 
 chances are ten to one that if they do nothing rash, 
 they may live to thank their parents ; and again, if 
 they were permitted to marry, perhaps they would 
 jump into the lake separately. Then the woman 
 scorned who shoots her faithless lover and herself, 
 that s very yellow-covered ; and in my humble opin 
 ion, she never loved him ; she loved herself. Now 
 here is an account of two young girls, promenading 
 in the moonlight before a certain castle, and taking 
 poison beneath a young man s windows. It is vulgar 
 and stagey. The newspapers are full of such things. 
 The doctors say it is a malady, and increasing. Look 
 ing at it fairly, it seems that in most cases in my list 
 it is caused by drugs, or drink, or insanity. Poor 
 desperate souls ! They act too rashly ; they should 
 have patience ; they should wait a year, and then 
 perhaps some of them would be glad and gay, and 
 have no wish to go. 
 
 " But if after waiting a year," his eyes rested upon 
 the fluttering crown of fresh birch leaves, " the wish 
 is still there, deep and unchangeable, then not in pas- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 271 
 
 sion, but gently and calmly world, farewell ! One 
 ought to be willing to prove the sincerity of one s 
 vocation for the shades, as when a worldly man wishes 
 to become a monk. All the old fellows, Plato at 
 the head, say that incurable bodily disease is reason 
 enough ; and if not only the body is worthless, but 
 the life helpless, useless, loveless, while the heart 
 rages and struggles, and never yields, never learns 
 what they call resignation, why, then then ah, 
 father, even you will smile and say it is .well done ! " 
 
 The sunshine and the faint breeze played with the 
 pale green leaves of the young birch. 
 
 " To look down the years, and see but this ! 
 Deathly loneliness and no control of myself, no 
 more than an hysterical woman, and horror of a 
 beautiful face, for the agony of remembrance and 
 cowardice it awakens. Ah, father, father, I will 
 wait, but thank God the door is open. How quietly, 
 how thankfully I shall pass out into the great dark 
 ness, into the great calm." 
 
 The birds were busy in the shrubbery, the water 
 plashed its lullaby, the warm, soft, sunny life in the 
 old garden breathed upon him in countless subtle 
 odors, spoke to him with innumerable voices. 
 
 He turned from his friends the stoics, to statements 
 of the modern French medical school. Sometimes he 
 forgot himself in his subject, and out of his rambling 
 thoughts, his curious statistics, his medley of reflec 
 tions, grew a singular restfulness. 
 
 " I could write a pamphlet for them ; I have studied 
 this thing ; I not only know how it looks from with 
 out ; I know how it feels within, and whatever re 
 mains I shall know soon. If I only could wait better ! 
 It is folly to be tragic ; but let them who teach that 
 
272 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 the spirit sits up aloft in the cranium explain, if they 
 can, why a man loses his courage with the strength of 
 his back. Was my soul in my spine ? " 
 
 From beneath half-closed lids, he stared icily into 
 the greenness. The breeze blew the scolloped edge of 
 his awning to and fro. 
 
 " How it all goes on every year, year after year. 
 How all the color and freshness come and go in the 
 bushes all the leaves and blossoms, and the pink 
 and the yellow, and the fragrance. Where does it 
 come from ? Where does it go ? Where shall I go ? 
 Shall I come up again somewhere, or not? At all 
 events, I shall not fear to take my chances. The vast 
 Unknowable God, in whom I believe and who is every 
 where, will be more pitiful than the jealous Hebrew 
 God on his throne." 
 
 Straight before him amid the caressing foliage was 
 the gleaming stem of the birch. Dietz was singing 
 somewhere overhead, and the pounding on the houses 
 was cheerfully monotonous. 
 
 " I wish Dietz would come in and stay. I don t 
 know what it is that I like in him, but I like him all 
 through. How the water plashes ! With my eyes 
 closed, I could think I was in Rome again, in the old 
 Corsini garden, where the water falls under the cy 
 presses. There was Mercedes, seven years younger, 
 laughing and enchanting. And I a boy off for a holi 
 day. Much I cared then for cypresses and fountains 
 and views. But now I see it all clearly, and I am the 
 same man except these bonds and Mercedes has 
 grown wise, and will marry the French Embassador. 
 May she have seven daughters as wise and beautiful 
 as she, and may they all marry embassadors and make 
 glad the heart of their mother ! 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 273 
 
 " Dietz said that birch was like a girl modest yet 
 beckoning. The big fellow has a tender heart. How 
 straight she stood the other day, how honest and inno 
 cent she was, and how like a tomb the room seemed 
 afterwards. She must not come again. I am too 
 weak, too weary. Let me be quiet, and await the end. 
 Why suffer ? Why excite myself ? Surely I have 
 suffered enough. I suppose if my senses were fine, 
 I should see all those acacia leaves growing and hear 
 undreamed-of sounds. We are coarse brutes, after 
 all. Dietz said the birch was beckoning." 
 
 He vaguely saw something lovely and young in the 
 thicket, something fair and virginal, a gracious figure 
 with luminous hazel eyes, noticeably far apart, and a 
 look in them of truth and fearlessness. The vision 
 did not torture him now. He was too weary. He 
 could only fix his languid gaze on the slender, beckon 
 ing white birch. " She had an adorable smile," he 
 thought. 
 
 At noon Bernhard stood by him, and Lipps came 
 cautiously from the other direction, making grimaces 
 expressive of satisfaction. There was no movement 
 from the lame man s chair. 
 
 Dietz once more embraced tree and bush and plant 
 with his look of large approval, and gazed long at the 
 sharp profile under the awning. 
 
 " I don t know why I like him," he thought, " but 
 when he turns those big hollow eyes on me, I could take 
 him and carry him in my arms all over the world. I 
 never liked anybody so well except Roschen, 
 bless her ! and that s different, quite different." 
 
 He smiled to think how very different loving 
 Roschen was from anything that ever had been or 
 ever could be. and strolled back to his work. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " WHAT was it like ? " asked the countess. 
 
 " Oh, it was wonderful ! Sixteen horses pawing 
 and snorting, the thud of their hoofs in the soft tan, 
 the gleam of their eyes, the breath of their nostrils, 
 their plunges and bounds, and quivering " 
 
 " Who was in the gallery ? " interrupted the coun 
 tess, while a vague uneasiness and jealousy of so 
 much youth and life and spirit crept into her cold 
 eyes and her voice. " The Countess Waldeiiberg, of 
 course, since she offered to chaperon you with Mer 
 cedes. She d better keep her eyes on her erratic 
 daughter, Mercedes is flirting disgracefully with 
 Paalzow, I hear." 
 
 " She was lovely this morning," returned Gabrielle 
 heartily. " She is bewitching on a horse." 
 
 " Contradict, by all means. If I say she is dis 
 graceful, of course you find her bewitching. When 
 I ask a simple and natural question, instead of in 
 forming me sensibly who was there, beside the riders, 
 and what was going on in general, you go off into a 
 rhapsodic hippique ! No, my precious little sweet- 
 urns, no more sugar, not a crumb. Sugar is bad for 
 Mumsey s angel ! Well ? " sharply to Gabrielle. 
 
 "I did not notice the gallery much, Aunt Adel- 
 heid," Gabrielle began in a soberer tone. " The royal 
 manege is so large, and the spectators were so far off 
 and in shadow, and I was so extremely absorbed by 
 Sphinx. He was the most excited creature," laugh- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 275 
 
 ing and speaking brightly and rapidly again, "so 
 full of nonsense and antics. He knew nothing what 
 ever of quadrille figures, nor I either for that matter, 
 and we found turning sharp corners and wheeling 
 on our own axes very different from free riding on 
 country-roads. Then while I tried to learn the evo 
 lutions, Sphinx was determined to learn nothing, and 
 that created a certain confusion in our manoeuvres. 
 But Herr von Raven was patient and Mercedes help 
 ful, and finally Sphinx and I became of one mind, as 
 horse and rider should be." 
 
 The countess frowned. 
 
 " I have no patience with horsey talk, and the way 
 you allude to Sphinx jars upon me. How can you 
 identify yourself with a horse, and say 4 we did this 
 and that ? Sweetheart ! Bebe ! Did he want a crumb 
 of sugar? Did he put up his angel-paws and beg? 
 Well, he should have it, because he loved his Mumsey 
 and his Mumsey loved her Mousey ! " 
 
 The girl s eyes danced with merriment as the coun 
 tess made love to the dog on her knee, whose greedy 
 gaze was fixed on her lips, from which she conveyed 
 to him fragments of a lump of sugar bitten small for 
 his refection. 
 
 " I fear that my affection for horses is incorrigi 
 ble," Gabrielle replied, not without mischief. " I 
 have grown up with our colleague the horse, as Pro 
 fessor Huxley says ; I admire him and believe in him. 
 I used to wish that I could find Gulliver s unpro 
 nounceable horse-kingdom, and live there. When I 
 was first reading mythology, I used to imagine a cen 
 taur galloping over the plain and running away with 
 me." 
 
 The countess replied with a mocking smile : 
 
276 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I know centaurs enough who would run away 
 with you upon conditions." 
 
 " Oh," returned Gabrielle innocently, " a real cen 
 taur never stops to make any. He snatches his prey 
 and is gone ! " 
 
 " Ours are more circumspect," sneered the old lady. 
 " They make minute inquiries as to the prey s dot. " 
 She stopped rubbing Mousey s stomach, and gave 
 Gabrielle a long, suspicious glance. 
 
 " Then, happily, they will not want me," laughed 
 the girl. . " But Aunt Adelheid, Herr von Raven is 
 really very amiable as a centaur. I like him much 
 better so, than in his abnormal, dismounted state. By 
 the way, I have discovered why he and his set speak 
 so curiously. They are almost always riding, and 
 they ride German trot when on duty, and it jolts 
 more of course than when one rides in the stirrups. 
 Consequently their conversation is broken - stac 
 cato. They have the habit of talking between jolts. 
 Famous (jolt) i proud of my pupil (jolt) upon 
 my word (jolt) 4 to the left, please (jolt, jolt) like 
 chain in Lancers (jolt, jolt, jolt) quite simple 
 (jolt) bravo (jolt) light, firm hand (jolt) per 
 fect ! (jolt) ! In a drawing-room one should always 
 imagine the motion of a horse." 
 
 "Don t mimic, Gabrielle. It is bad taste, and 
 silly. Should-ums did-ums want his crumb of sugar ? 
 There ! " 
 
 " Some of the officers wives ride very well, but 
 Mercedes is most charming. She leads with Herr von 
 Paalzow." 
 
 " While her old marquis is constructing himself 
 for the day ! Was the Frau Major there ? " 
 
 " I merely caught a glimpse of her at the door." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 277 
 
 " With the Countess Waldenberg? " 
 
 " I really did not notice." 
 
 " But Gabrielle, you are too tedious ! " 
 
 " I will observe the whole row of chaperons to-mor 
 row," the young girl rejoined conciliatingly. " I was 
 so occupied with Sphinx, Aunt Adelheid. He did 
 not know whether he -wished to stand on his ear or 
 his tail ! " 
 " A very refined description ! " 
 
 " I mean that he was nervous, and could not un 
 derstand what was required of him." 
 
 "Horses are stupid animals are they not, Mou 
 sey? Great blundering stupids ! Look at Mousey s 
 frontal development," and she parted his yellow locks 
 as one pushes back the curls from the forehead of a 
 loved child. " Look at that ! Did you ever see any 
 thing like it ? Did a horse ever have that intellect ? " 
 She gazed fondly into the diabolical eyes. 
 
 "No, never!" Gabrielle rejoined emphatically. 
 " Mousey is the cleverest thing in this world. I shall 
 always concede that." 
 
 Either the dog found something objectionable in 
 her remark, or resented having his forehead exposed 
 and discussed, for he snapped at the countess s hands, 
 and barked viciously at Gabrielle. 
 
 u Wonderful animal," exclaimed the countess. " His 
 sensitiveness is a perpetual surprise." Mousey s rage 
 was subsiding in a series of sniffs and grunts. " Poor 
 little sorrowing heart ! He never allows a stranger to 
 touch his head, and it grieved him to have us even 
 allude to it so pointedly. It was inconsiderate on my 
 part. His reserve is so fastidious. He is so aristo 
 cratic." 
 
 The lauded object gave a long and comfortable 
 
278 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 snore. He was not asleep, but merely taking his ease 
 and expressing his feelings with characteristic dis 
 regard for his inferiors. 
 
 " What do you think of Herr von Paalzow ? " began 
 the countess abruptly. 
 
 " Oh, he is charming." 
 
 " That is unequivocal, at least ! " 
 
 " But you asked me." 
 
 " Don t be captious, Gabrielle. A well-bred girl 
 when asked her opinion of a man usually expresses 
 herself with some reserve. She may say he seems 
 agreeable, or has distinction of manner. She does not 
 start and open her eyes and smile and pronounce him 
 4 charming with that amount of emphasis. 
 
 Gabrielle colored vividly. She was apt to lose 
 patience quickly when her conduct toward men became 
 the subject of the countess s criticism. 
 
 " Herr von Paalzow seems to me agreeable and dis 
 tinguished, since you prefer those expressions, and 
 if I am allowed to observe his personal appearance 
 I think him handsome. He is very brave, they tell me, 
 which is more important." 
 
 " He seems to have made an impression on you, my 
 dear." 
 
 " Why, yes, a very good one. There is something 
 happy and sunny in his face, and he seems kind. I 
 noticed his manner to his groom." 
 
 " It strikes me that you have noticed him closely." 
 
 " I have. When I saw him with Mercedes, I 
 wished with all my heart that she was going to marry 
 him instead of the marquis." 
 
 " Tut, tut!" exclaimed the countess in her bantering 
 tone, Gabrielle s somewhat irritated manner moving 
 her pleasurably ; " the Waldenbergs would not thank 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 279 
 
 you for your match-making schemes. Von Paalzow 
 has no fortune. They would be eager enough to catch 
 him for Elsa, and with old Valois secured, they could 
 not do better, for Paalzow is a rising man. But it is 
 a pity that Mercedes will not let him alone. If she is 
 not less reckless, she will not only ruin silly Elsa s 
 hopes, but her own with the marquis. His old eyes 
 are, I admit, weak and watery ; still some things are 
 plain enough for even a man in his dotage to see." 
 
 Such remarks always made Gabrielle restive. 
 " Catching Paalzow " " securing Valois," - Merce 
 des deceiving an old man who trusted her, laughing, 
 careless Elsa scheming meanly for a husband, it was 
 all untrue, she knew that, but it was hard always to 
 breathe mephitic air ! She had been happy that morn 
 ing, her natural, unrepressed self, fearless and free, 
 prone to laughter, to sympathy. When those sixteen 
 splendid animals came tearing down the length of 
 the manege, neck to neck, shoulder to shoulder, then 
 halted as still as the bronze horses at Venice, while the 
 bugles blew a long shrill blast, she no longer called 
 the tournament a circus, she forgot her prejudices, and 
 was thrilled with joyous excitement. It was a taste of 
 her old innocent freedom ; it was like her native atmos 
 phere, she drew it in with full glad breaths, and was 
 radiant when she rejoined the countess in the villa. 
 Now she sat silent and ill at ease. 
 
 " How is Herr von Paalzow with you ? " 
 
 " I have talked with him very little," she returned 
 listlessly. " He is easy to talk with. He likes many 
 things that I like. -He cares for books. I never like 
 to talk with any one very long who does not like 
 books." 
 
 " Nonsense ! How pedantic ! " 
 
280 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 44 Oil, I do not mean a person who talks of books 
 exclusively. He need not say a word of them. But 
 one knows a book-lover intuitively. Books are such 
 a comfort and refuge ! " 
 
 "Thank you for your information. I believe I 
 learned all that at the age of ten, in one of Lafontaine s 
 fables. Really, how can you air such platitudes ? " 
 
 44 Because," persisted Gabrielle, u when I talk long 
 with Herr von Raven, for instance, I have a sensation 
 that he lives in one world and I in another, and there 
 is no connection between the two, except a suspen 
 sion-bridge, which we can cross only on horses." 
 
 44 Hm ! " said the countess. 
 
 " I think he reads nothing but the sporting news. 
 He is so good-naturedly condescending to authors. 
 They are not in the army, poor things ! " She laughed 
 a little. 
 
 The old lady, who bestowed her fluttering, uneasy 
 kind of attention upon her Figaro, while adoring- 
 Mousey on her knee, and who had not read an entire 
 book in years, replied sharply : 
 
 44 There is n t a girl in town who would not be glad 
 to marry him. He is a soldier and a gentleman. 
 Would you have him a book-worm to boot ? " 
 
 44 1 don t mean that one could n t like him, or that 
 he may not be clever in ways that don t appear." 
 
 The countess laughed in spite of herself. 
 
 44 He would thank you for that speech." 
 
 44 1 do seem to make it worse instead of better," 
 Gabrielle returned smiling. " But I meant nothing 
 unkind. When we talk of horses, our conversation 
 goes galloping along cheerfully, and it may be my own 
 fault that we stumble and halt when we try other 
 themes." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 281 
 
 " You frighten him, no doubt, with your superior 
 airs." 
 
 " Oh, he is not at all shy, and certainly does not 
 suspect his limitations. We are friendly enough in a 
 superficial way." 
 
 " Good heavens, Gabrielle, you set my nerves on 
 edge with your phrases ! Superficial. What more do 
 you expect ? Must one swear eternal friendship with 
 everybody one meets in society ? And your limita 
 tions ? What kind of a word is that for a girl to use ? 
 Limitations limitations ? Really, it is an exasper 
 ating word. An odious word. Limitations, indeed ! " 
 
 She rose with an offended air and walked slowly and 
 heavily from the room. Gabrielle followed, resolving 
 for the thousandth time never to permit herself to 
 make a natural remark, since it was sure to displease. 
 On the landing the countess stopped, panting audi 
 bly. She looked singularly pale, whether from fatigue 
 or anger Gabrielle did not presume to judge, but 
 there was an unhealthy whiteness in the large face, 
 and the thin lips were parted, drawing short and pain 
 ful breaths. 
 
 " Let me give you my arm, Aunt Adelheid. At 
 least let me take Mousey. Why should you carry the 
 lazy fellow up-stairs ? " 
 
 But the dog, objecting to be called a lazy fellow, re 
 fused to come to her, slipped down, made an evil face, 
 and walked up the stairs on his own indignant paws. 
 
 " Give me some Chartreuse," gasped the countess, 
 pointing to the liqueur-stand when they reached her 
 room. 
 
 "It is so sweet and heavy ! Will it not make you 
 worse ? " Gabrielle asked kindly. 
 
 But the countess frowned and insisted. She sipped 
 
282 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 it, nibbling a sweet biscuit, and giving crumbs to 
 Mousey stationed on the table near the refreshments, 
 leaned her white cheek against the chair-back, breath 
 ing with much exertion. Gabrielle watched her, silent 
 and sorry. 
 
 The countess lighted a cigarette, and after some 
 whiffs, murmured with bitterness : 
 
 " It will take me off some time ! " 
 
 " Can nothing be done ? " the young girl asked com 
 passionately. 
 
 The countess waited a few moments until her respi 
 ration was more natural, before replying : 
 
 " Oh, I have tried one doctor after another. They 
 all tell the same story. Exercise is their war-cry now 
 adays. No one has ever understood me except Pres- 
 signy." 
 
 " But if they all agree ? " suggested Gabrielle gently. 
 
 " Pressigny never allowed me to exercise. He never 
 allowed me to fast. Once I consulted Hugo s doctor. 
 I felt weak. I wanted a tonic. He felt my pulse, he 
 listened to my breathing, knocked about my chest with 
 a business-like rapidity that was positively brutal, I 
 might have been a beer-cask for all the deference he 
 showed ! and then he had the impertinence to say : 
 4 My dear madam, I congratulate you upon your 
 strength and constitution. You need no tonic, only 
 less food and more exercise. I will prescribe your 
 diet. If you follow it closely, you will soon be in en 
 viable health. There is some fat about the heart, and 
 if you continue to live unwisely, it may make trouble 
 for you. What kind of a tirade was that ! " 
 
 " But was it not true ? " 
 
 " Don t ask silly questions, and don t interrupt," 
 returned the countess, her breathing still laborious. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 283 
 
 " 4 Doctor, said I, 4 1 cannot diet. He shrugged his 
 shoulders. 4 That is as you please, he answered. I 
 will send you my instructions. I shall not starve you 
 or train you for athletic sports. I shall merely indi 
 cate a rational mode of life for a woman of your years 
 and habit. Good-morning, madam, and he whisked 
 out of my room. He has no more delicacy, no more 
 tact, no more sympathy, no more feeling than that 
 poker ! " 
 
 " Perhaps you d better not talk, Aunt Adelheid." 
 
 " I prefer to talk ! " said the old lady sternly. " He 
 sent his instructions. When I saw that he expected 
 me to rise at eight and walk fifteen minutes up the 
 Heine Strasse, I threw his precious rules into the fire. 
 No liqueurs, I saw too. Now I positively require 
 liqueur. Dr. Pressigny told me that my over-sensi 
 tiveness demanded certain aromatic stimulants. Im 
 agine the blunderer telling me to walk out at eight 
 like a market-woman ! Is that the way to prescribe 
 for a lady ? The coarseness of the idea is revolting. 
 I cannot walk. I never could. I am not accustomed 
 to it. At my age one should never change one s mode 
 of life. Fill my glass, Gabrielle." 
 
 " I cannot bear to give you any more," Gabrielle 
 exclaimed. " I am sure that it is bad for you. I 
 will walk with you gladly every morning." 
 
 " Thank you ; but I shall never promenade myself 
 at milk-maid s hours. I am not bucolic in my tenden 
 cies. Dr. Pressigny assured me that long repose was 
 indispensable to my sensitive organization." 
 
 " Then perhaps later in the day ? " 
 
 " Don t be obstinate, Gabrielle. No one now has 
 any comprehension of my case. The Frau Major is 
 not without insight, but Hugo is terribly unsympa- 
 
284 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 thetic. I had hoped," she said with one of her sur 
 prising changes of tone, " to find sympathy and affec 
 tion in you." 
 
 Gabrielle felt uncomfortable and was silent. 
 
 Suddenly the countess rose, came toward her, em 
 braced and kissed her effusively. 
 
 " There, I will trust you ! I admit I have been sus 
 picious." 
 
 Gabrielle retained a stiff and unresponsive attitude. 
 If for inscrutable reasons the countess chose to 
 throw her arms about her in an eccentric manner, 
 Gabrielle felt no impulse to fall weeping upon the 
 old lady s shoulder. 
 
 " Let us be friends," cried the incomprehensible old 
 woman. fck Let us be all in all to each other. I have 
 longed all my life for a friend. It is my ideal ! " 
 There were tears in her eyes and voice. 
 
 Mousey sat on the table and regarded the scene 
 with a knowing grin. "* I have seen this sort of thing 
 before," he reflected, munching a crumb of biscuit. 
 wt There is nothing new under the sun." 
 
 " I am sorry," stammered Gabrielle, embarrassed, 
 "but" 
 
 " I have every element necessary to an ideal friend 
 ship," and a sentimental smile played over the hard 
 old face ; " I have hesitated. I have doubted you, I 
 confess. I have feared that you were insincere." 
 
 " If not always saying everything that one thinks 
 is insincerity," Gabrielle broke out desperately, " then 
 I am insincere." 
 
 " See, you admit it yourself ! " exclaimed the coun 
 tess triumphantly. u Never mind. I can be generous." 
 
 " I can only be what I have been, thus far," began 
 the young girl, " and " 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 285 
 
 " Now listen to me, Gabrielle. I have a great 
 secret to tell you. I have put your name down in my 
 will." 
 
 Mousey buried his nose in his paws and shook 
 with silent laughter. 
 
 " But Aunt Adelheid," protested Gabrielle with a 
 start, " you you really make me feel very uncom 
 fortable !" 
 
 " You are surprised ? My dear, your books are 
 all very well. Who prizes them more than I ? My 
 husband s library consisted of six thousand volumes. 
 He had read simply everything. Hugo is a great 
 reader. But books will not feed and clothe you and 
 give you a place in society. Gabrielle, be guided by 
 me. As my adopted child, you will have them all 
 at your feet. Mark my words, you have simply to 
 choose. Von Raven, von Haller, von Paalzow, whom 
 you will. With me behind you, you command the sit 
 uation." 
 
 Gabrielle stared at her in haughty astonishment. 
 
 " I am not adoptable," she said curtly. " I hap 
 pen to belong to my father." 
 
 The countess persisted in her good humor. 
 
 " Never mind what we call it," she replied with a 
 little chuckle. 
 
 " Do I understand you to propose to me to buy a 
 husband with your money ? " 
 
 " My dear, with the Kronfels fortune, I could buy 
 you a prince. Who knows ? Perhaps a king," laughed 
 the countess. " There are several impecunious small 
 majesties making themselves conspicuous in Europe 
 just now." 
 
 Gabrielle rose. 
 
 " I decline everything," she began rapidly, with an 
 
286 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 abrupt gesture, palms outward as if pushing away 
 some obnoxious thing. " I do not wish to be rude or 
 unkind. But I decline. I cannot promise to be dif 
 ferent to you from what I am this moment. I will 
 be as companionable as you will let me be. I will try 
 to please you, but I cannot be your ideal friend, and 
 I will not have my name in your will." Her voice 
 rang out scornfully as she concluded : " It is a poor 
 compliment to any man, or to me, to imply that the 
 Kronfels fortune could influence either of us." 
 
 Mousey watched her with closest attention. " This 
 is new," he admitted gravely. 
 
 Again the countess laughed, well-pleased. 
 
 " I shall soon call you Tornado instead of Moon 
 beam. Seriously, Gabrielle, you surely do not expect 
 me to believe that you, a poor girl, have never pri 
 vately speculated upon the possibility of inheriting 
 something from me ? Nonsense. There never was a 
 companion or relative in this house who had not that 
 thought first and last. Some conceal it better than 
 others, that is all the difference. Sly cats they were, 
 most of them ! " 
 
 " You insult me," the young girl said coldly. 
 
 "Tut, tut ! don t be tragic." 
 
 Gabrielle looked steadily at her, and replied : 
 
 " There have been wild and reckless and hot- 
 blooded men in my race, but there never was a 
 Dohna, man or woman, so despicable as to think the 
 thoughts you have attributed to me." 
 
 The countess moved about uneasily. 
 
 " You are so extreme, Gabrielle, so theatrical." 
 
 " I do not bear things meekly that reflect upon my 
 honor." 
 
 " There you go again ! " retorted the countess with 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 287 
 
 a shrug. " No one has reflected upon your honor, as 
 you call it. Silly child ! Consider. I shall die some 
 day. It is not an agreeable thought ; I entertain it as 
 little as possible. I don t intend to go very soon, I 
 promise you. Give me a glass of Chartreuse. You 
 have agitated me. Very good, if you do not wish to 
 pour it, I will pour it myself. It is evident that I 
 must leave my fortune to somebody. Hugo does not 
 need it. I shall probably outlive him, too," she added 
 with a certain eagerness. " I have been obliged to 
 alter my will frequently. I have been deceived in 
 people. There is something wanting in everybody," 
 she muttered with a singular expression of suspicion 
 and reluctance, as if she were tempted to suddenly 
 withdraw her proposal ; " but no, I have decided ! 
 You are a handsome girl, Gabrielle, and a social suc 
 cess. You be guided by me. I did not like to say 
 this. One does not enjoy regarding one s shroud. 
 Still, it is best to have the matter settled. After all, 
 as the Frau Major says, I may live twenty years." 
 
 44 If you have the habit of inserting names in your 
 will and then removing them, I need not distress my 
 self, for you will surely remove mine." 
 
 44 We shall see," returned the countess affably. 44 But 
 I trust you will give me no occasion. Now Gabrielle, 
 which shall it be? The Frau Major is in favor of 
 von Raven or von Haller, she knows the families so 
 well" 
 
 44 The Frau Major ? " 
 
 44 Yes ; she is going to get up some theatricals to 
 give you an opportunity to study Herr von Paalzow, 
 nevertheless." 
 
 44 The Frau Major? Frau von Funnel ? " 
 
 44 Yes, of course," the countess answered with some 
 
288 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 impatience. " Why you make that horror-struck face 
 is beyond my comprehension." 
 
 "You have discussed this matrimonial plan with 
 her ? She approves ? She is planning theatricals and 
 counting upon me ? " demanded Gabrielle. 
 
 " I confess I was not to tell you. It was to be a 
 surprise. The Frau Major swore me to secrecy. But 
 it slipped out unawares. After all, it is no crime. 
 Oh, yes, we planned several pleasant things. She is 
 ingenious. She has time to be." 
 
 " When was it ? " 
 
 " That we spoke of the theatricals ? Oh, her last 
 reception-day last Thursday. She said that she had 
 been having a chat with you." 
 
 " It was immediately after the chat with me that 
 she planned all these pleasant things for me, the 
 Frau Major herself ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," the countess said pettishly. " Surely 
 there is nothing extraordinary in that ? She is devoted 
 to me. She is naturally interested in you for my 
 sake. After the theatricals comes a picnic. After 
 the picnic, I forget what. All for charity, too. She 
 is untiring. I should like to be as active as she," 
 she added with a trace of jealousy, " if I had her 
 strength and leisure." 
 
 Gabrielle sat down and shaded her eyes with her 
 hand. Mousey employed himself in licking her 
 wrist, upon which he detected traces of Eau de 
 Cologne. 
 
 " She gave me her promise," thought the young 
 girl. " She looked me in the eye, and spoke deliber 
 ately and gently. She went from my presence and 
 broke her word. There was no temptation. There 
 is no excuse. I will never trust her again. It does 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 289 
 
 not matter whether the promise related to kingdoms 
 or human lives or trifles. A lie to the friend who 
 trusts you is treachery. Ah, whom shall I believe 
 if she is false ? " Suddenly she gave the countess a 
 searching look. ^ Aunt Adelheid never tells a straight 
 story. She does not see anything as anybody else 
 does. Perhaps the Frau Major knows nothing of all 
 this. Could that wise, calm, good woman stoop so 
 low? It is impossible." 
 
 But the doubt had taken root. 
 
 " I do not wonder that you are excited, Gabrielle," 
 observed the countess complacently. " Any girl would 
 be. We shall have a fine comedy playing on our 
 private stage. It will amuse me. I give you your 
 choice, my dear. No one can call me exacting. Herr 
 von Raven would be easiest to manage. Herr von 
 Haller has a bit of a temper sometimes. This I 
 can assure you, von Paalzow will be apt to be master 
 in his own house. But all that is your affair. As to 
 money, one may have a trifle more than another, but 
 in our circumstances we can happily ignore that con 
 sideration." 
 
 Amused by her projected puppet-show, possessed 
 by her caprice of the moment, she chatted on smil 
 ingly, and failed to interpret the uncompromising lan 
 guage of the young indignant eyes opposite her. 
 
 " Take von Paalzow, my dear ! " she said genially. 
 " He is better suited to you. I admit that the others 
 are more boyish. But von Paalzow is a cavalier, a 
 man of distinction. Then Mercedes" she gave a 
 hard little laugh " would be so astonished. She is 
 accustomed to reign supreme. It would be amusing 
 to see her routed by some one belonging to me." 
 
 " Don t, Mousey ! " said Gabrielle, impatiently push- 
 
290 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 ing the lapping, sniffing dog away. " I cannot bear 
 it!" 
 
 "How can you be so harsh to my angel? Come 
 here, lovey ! " Mousey did not budge, but continued 
 to sniff about Gabrielle s hands, until she put them be 
 hind her for safe-keeping. He had either inherited 
 or acquired a pronounced taste for alcoholic stimu 
 lants. On one occasion, after partaking of whipped 
 cream strongly flavored with arac, he had even been 
 known to temporarily lose that quality of intellectual 
 clearness which was his distinction, to ignore the laws 
 of gravitation, and to evince but a blurred conscious 
 ness of the position of table-legs and other familiar 
 objects. Over this frailty the countess drew a veil of 
 tender reserve. 
 
 " In any event," continued the countess oracularly, 
 " it would be well to be a little distant to Mercedes 
 just now. She is compromising herself seriously. She 
 is not yet madame la marquise. I have heard it 
 even hinted that her conduct is not approved by Her 
 Majesty. Mercedes can permit herself considerable 
 liberty, but she goes beyond all bounds. She flings 
 prudence to the winds." 
 
 " What has poor Mercedes done now ? " 
 
 " Oh, my dear ! Don t expect me to relate all the 
 extravagances of her coquetry. She came riding gayly 
 home the other night at twelve o clock with von Paal- 
 zow. They had lost the path. They had lost their 
 groom. They had lost their heads. Heaven alone 
 knows what else they had lost." 
 
 " I have no doubt whatever that they lost the path," 
 Gabrielle said hotly. 
 
 " Oh, dear, yes, of course ! " 
 
 " Who told you it?" 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 291 
 
 " The Frau Major was deploring it. She loves and 
 admires Mercedes. She has always endeavored to help 
 her. But Mercedes is imperious and wilful. The 
 Frau Major is grieved and anxious about her. If the 
 marquis is willing to marry her still, why that alters 
 the matter. Then of course no one has anything to 
 say." 
 
 " Ah ! I who like Mercedes must not go to see her 
 because people who like neither her nor me prefer that 
 I should not? Is that it?" 
 
 " Society charges her with many imprudences, my 
 child," the countess replied with a pious air. 
 
 " I must not associate with Mercedes von Walden- 
 berg because she and Lieutenant von Paalzow lost 
 their way in the woods," persisted Gabrielle, " but if 
 that old dandy marquis marries her, then she is not 
 wicked, and I may go to see her again? " 
 
 " Why," said the old lady, with smiling conviction, 
 " one cannot very well turn the cold shoulder upon the 
 wife of the French Embassador, can one ? " 
 
 Gabrielle broke into a nervous laugh. 
 
 "It is of no use," she said in her rapid way. "I 
 know that before I begin. But one must say something 
 one must!" She paused, struggling for control. 
 The countess s confession of faith, her social tactics, 
 were so repugnant, so horrible to Gabrielle that she 
 felt outraged and helpless. " About Mercedes. You 
 know that I like her. I do not think any one under 
 stands her. I am very sure that I do not. I only 
 wish that I had known her longer and better, for then 
 I could be of some use to her now. I do not believe 
 one word they say against her ! I do not know what 
 it is all about. It is ridiculous, what they say ! I do 
 not believe that she has done wrong in the slightest. 
 
292 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 But if she has, it is because she is unhappy and des 
 perate, and then more than ever she needs her friends. 
 What is friendship ? " demanded the scornful young 
 voice. " Is it something that simpers and flatters 
 when all is well, and sneaks away when all is ill ? Is 
 it a coward, a poltroon ? " 
 
 " I should say," chuckled the old lady with a world 
 ly-wise smile, and highly entertained by Gabrielle s ex 
 citement, " I should say that it was usually about that. 
 Precious little sweetheart, he was the stanchest little 
 friend ! He could teach them all, yes, so he could ! " 
 Mousey blinked at her ironically, and accepted a crumb 
 of sweet biscuit, then desiring to watch Gabrielle, 
 snapped at the hand that fed him. 
 
 " If you love any one," Gabrielle went on impetu 
 ously, " you love him still, though he should become a 
 thief or a murderer. You go to him and suffer with 
 him. If you hold up your skirts for fear of contam 
 ination, your cowardice is stronger than your affec 
 tion. If it is true in great things, it is true in small. 
 Mercedes is lovely and good. I am attached to her. 
 She has done nothing wrong. But if she had, a mis 
 take is not a contagious disease, so far as I know. I 
 shall make mistakes enough in my own life, no doubt. 
 But it is not probable that I should catch Mercedes 
 particular kind of mistake, simply from putting my 
 arms around her when she is unhappy." 
 
 The countess regarded her with a prolonged and 
 quizzical smile. 
 
 " Mousey, my seraph, listen to her ! Really, Gabri 
 elle, if these are your sentiments, we have removed you 
 not an instant too soon from your Dohna." 
 
 " My Dohna ! " repeated the young girl with a sigh. 
 " I never considered such things there. Perhaps that 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 293 
 
 is why I lose my bearings here. I frequently change 
 my mind, I know. But I never shall in this. At 
 Dohna, or anywhere else, I hope I may never be 
 come a coward and slink away from a friend in mis 
 fortune." 
 
 " But misfortune which she has prepared for herself 
 and deserves ? " 
 
 u Is it not misfortune all the same, however it came ? 
 What if it were sin, disgrace ? Is it not all the bit 
 terer if one must blame one s self? Then, exactly 
 then, one needs a friend s love. Aunt Aclelheid, I 
 cannot take your advice. I must act freely toward 
 Mercedes. I answer unhesitatingly for my father s 
 approval." 
 
 " Hear her, my treasure ! " exclaimed the countess 
 in French. " Art thou not content to witness this lit 
 tle theatre under thy own adorable nose ? Well, well, 
 as you like, Gabrielle. After all, I am your back 
 ground. Then Mercedes is Countess of Waldenberg. 
 One can t send her to Coventry as if she were a no 
 body. Besides, if you go there you will certainly 
 meet von Paalzow. But perhaps you had thought of 
 that yourself ? " she added slyly. 
 
 " Oh," groaned Gabrielle desperately, " it is of no 
 use. I said it was of no use." 
 
 "He is with her constantly. Our lady mamma is 
 anxious, but smiles and pretends that he comes to see 
 Elsa. How long the marquis will believe her, we are 
 all asking ourselves. For let the marquis retire, and 
 down falls our fine castle, since it is evident that 
 von Paalzow is only flirting." 
 
 " How do they know that ? " the girl demanded 
 fiercely. " Has society an All Seeing Eye ? Can it 
 penetrate the heart and read motives ? " 
 
294 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Be careful, Gabrielle. I never permit in my pre 
 sence anything that borders upon irreverence." 
 
 " Aunt Adelheid, if I should talk a year " 
 
 " Pray do not, my love," returned the old lady laugh 
 ing. 
 
 " I could not tell you how I feel." 
 
 " I will tell you how you feel," said the countess 
 with her new air of extreme indulgence. "You feel 
 romantic. Now I presume you will admit that I have 
 seen somewhat more of the world than a young per 
 son of your years reared at Dohna. Perhaps you 
 will believe me, when I say that I have observed the 
 most frantic love-matches with nothing a year usually 
 end in bickerings, misery, divorce, or worse, and that 
 most men are not mad enough to treat a woman badly 
 if she happens to have a large fortune settled upon her 
 self. What young people call love, my dear, is all 
 very well in poetry and on the stage ; though for my 
 taste it occupies too much space there and everywhere. 
 But it is not nutritious for one s daily food. There 
 are a great many important things in life entirely 
 unconnected with it. That is what you must learn as 
 soon as possible." 
 
 " I believe that it is all of life, the beginning 
 and the end and the soul of it. I do not mean any 
 thing romantic, as you may think. I don t even mean 
 marriage. That is only a part. But we do not love 
 enough you do not, I do not; and there is noth 
 ing really wrong in the world, except too little love." 
 
 " Except again," remarked the old lady wickedly, 
 and quite unmoved by the strong feeling in the young 
 voice, " when there is too much." 
 
 " There cannot be too much. Then it is something 
 else." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 295 
 
 " Come, come, what does a girl like you know of 
 such things ? " returned the countess airily. 
 
 " One cannot read, without knowing that there is sin 
 in the world, and shame and misery." 
 
 " But well-bred girls do not discuss such things." 
 
 "I do, when I must, Aunt Adelheid. And there 
 is one thing I wish to say, that you may make no mis 
 take about my attitude, whatever comes. It has been 
 in my mind ever since you have been speaking. If I 
 should do what you propose, trade with your money 
 for a husband, if I should sell myself to you, and to 
 one of those officers, I think that I should be worse 
 than those poor creatures we call bad " 
 
 " Good heavens, Gabrielle ! " 
 
 " Far worse, because I should be a hypocrite, pre 
 tending to lead a virtuous life, which they do not." 
 
 " But I call this coarse. I call it revolting. I 
 blush for you, Gabrielle." 
 
 " To me, the unspeakably coarse thing is to marry 
 a man for his money, or induce him to marry me for 
 mine, if I had any." 
 
 " But have I expressed the faintest objection to your 
 falling in love with one of those young men ? " 
 
 " You tell me to pick one of them as I would pick a 
 cherry. But I think better of all of them. Lorenz 
 Raven and Egon Haller may not be great philoso 
 phers, but I believe that they are gentlemen at heart. 
 As to Herr von Paalzow, there is nothing mercenary 
 in that man nothing ! " 
 
 " Oho ! have they so spirited a champion ? I will 
 wager this ruby that every one of your blameless 
 knights will declare himself before a month is gone, 
 and with all respect, my little pepper-box, not ex 
 clusively for your beaux yeux. Indeed, poor Lorenz 
 
296 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 has been sighing audibly for some time. He has 
 spoken to me. I have encouraged him. I shall en 
 courage them all," she declared maliciously. 
 
 " I presume," said Gabrielle slowly, " that it would 
 not be impossible for him to like me for myself." 
 
 " There ! Now you are recovering your common- 
 sense. Of course they will all like you immensely. 
 May I inquire if it is a crime for a man to prefer a 
 handsome, clever girl with a fortune, you, for instance, 
 to Sofie Gobert, who has neither beauty nor wealth ? " 
 
 " It is a crime for a human soul to sell itself." 
 
 " Good heavens, child, one would think I had sug 
 gested something monstrous instead of an every-day 
 occurrence. Your ideas are dangerous. They would 
 undermine society." 
 
 " I wish that they could, if society means trading 
 with men and women." 
 
 " What was your lovely Mercedes intending to do, 
 before von Paalzow appeared upon the scene ? In 
 fact, what is she still intending ? For she has no idea 
 of relinquishing the marquis as long as she can throw 
 dust in his eyes." 
 
 " I have said that I do not pretend to understand 
 Mercedes. Perhaps her home is not loving enough." 
 
 " A very logical reason for marrying the Marquis 
 de Vallion," sneered the countess. " Really, Gabrielle, 
 it is too droll, but Lucie von Rahden had a very snug 
 little fortune ! " 
 
 Gabrielle stared as if she had not heard aright. 
 
 " My papa ? " she stammered, the quick blood 
 mounting to her temples. " My papa ? " Moments 
 passed, in which she did not speak, or turn her in 
 tense gaze from the countess. But gradually as she 
 looked at the white-faced, cold-eyed old woman, who 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 297 
 
 with a cynical smile on her thin lips sat rubbing her 
 little mongrel dog s back, he responding with small 
 grunts of enjoyment, the young girl s anger and 
 heat passed away, and a radiant smile illumined her 
 features, a smile of love and faith. 
 
 " You do not know him," she said softly ; and still 
 looking at the loveless, faithless old woman, friend 
 less, homeless, and poor in spite of her millions, 
 Gabrielle pitied her. 
 
 A servant entered with a salver, upon which was 
 Herr von Paalzow s card. 
 
 " Quick, Babette, my last cap. Or no, my bonnet, 
 Roschen. Gabrielle, the ball opens. Will you come 
 down as you are ? " 
 
 " I will not go down to-day. Pray excuse me." 
 
 " But wait, let me consider. Yes, it is as well 
 upon the whole. I will drive Herr von Paalzow to 
 the Frau Major s. Stupid, the last bonnet, with the 
 blush roses. Au revoir then, my pretty Moonbeam." 
 She embraced Gabrielle vivaciously, to the huge 
 edification of Mousey and the maids. " I do not 
 mind your little excitement. We understand each 
 other. We start fresh to-day. Everything is changed." 
 
 " Pardon me, but nothing is different," Gabrielle re 
 turned hastily. "As to your plan I am not afraid, for 
 you will change your mind. I decline, you remember. 
 I decline everything." 
 
 She could not make her repudiation more explicit, 
 before the two curious maids. 
 
 " Babette, another fichu," called the old lady 
 sharply, seated at her toilette-table, with its array of 
 ivory and silver and crystal. " Roschen, devote your 
 self to Mousey, when I am .gone. Sometimes after 
 walking in the garden with you, the poor dear comes 
 
298 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 in looking quite bored. Devote yourself to him and 
 not to your silly thoughts. Say good-by, Mousey." 
 Mousey deigned to trot to the chair, extend his paw 
 languidly, nod and give two short barks. The coun 
 tess caught him up and kissed him until he growled. 
 
 " There, take him. Let the angel eat a little grass. 
 I cannot imagine what makes his breath feverish. 
 How shocking the light is. Glass is so poor nowa 
 days. Babette, draw the shades with some reference 
 to me ! " Carefully adjusting the diaphanous bonnet 
 whose blush roses lay tenderly on the pretty gray hair, 
 she smiled at the handsome old lady in the mirror. 
 " The keys, Babette ! " counting them suspiciously. 
 
 Gabrielle accompanied her to the stairway. 
 
 " Do you know," the countess began with her mock 
 ing air, " you are cleverer than I thought? You 
 almost deceived me. Sancta simplicitas is also a pay 
 ing role, and you do it very well. Reject, by all means, 
 my dear. Continue to reject ! " 
 
 Gabrielle said nothing, but watched her slowly 
 descend the stairs, heavy and uncertain of foot, and 
 smiling back maliciously, as she paused 011 the land 
 ing to rest. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "DiETZ," said Hugo abruptly, as Bernhard sat 
 with him one noon in the garden, " have you any reli 
 gion?" 
 
 Dietz, being a slow man, except with his music 
 and his smile, crossed one leg over the other, put 
 his paper cap on the bench beside him, ran his hand 
 through his hair, watched a blackcap on a hawthorn 
 tree, picked up a fallen poplar-leaf, and twirled the 
 stem in his teeth, regarded Hugo some moments with 
 a ruminating expression, and finally replied : 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " What is it like? " demanded Hugo. 
 
 "There are a great many kinds," Bernhard said 
 after another pause. 
 
 " Why yes, I suppose there are as many kinds as 
 there are men and women 011 this earth and other 
 planets ; more perhaps, but it s your kind I am ask 
 ing about." 
 
 " I mean that I Ve got a good many kinds," Dietz 
 admitted seriously. "Any one of them does very 
 well for me, and I am a little apt to mix them. I sup 
 pose a clever man like you, count, would need some 
 thing different." 
 
 Hugo looked at him questioningly. 
 
 Bernhard rose, parted the shrubbery with widely 
 outstretched arms, and putting himself conveniently 
 at one side, looked over his shoulder at Hugo. 
 
 " Can you see St. Mary s spire ? Well, it is my 
 
300 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 religion they blow with their wind-instruments from 
 that belfry every Sunday morning." 
 
 "Roman Catholic? I should scarcely have sup 
 posed that." 
 
 " Not at all," returned Bernhard, with a low, happy 
 laugh. " The church is good Roman Catholic. But 
 my religion is up in the belfry at sunrise, every Sun 
 day morning." 
 
 " I don t know what you mean, but it is lofty, at 
 all events." 
 
 " You have never heard the music ? you are asleep 
 at sunrise, I suppose. Well, you see there s a Protes 
 tant banker down on that street. He is a rich man, 
 and good as gold. He is working all the time for lit 
 tle children. He s got hundreds of them off in the 
 country for the summer. He has babies taken care 
 of while the mothers are working, and he s educating 
 and helping along and cheering up, and there is no 
 end to the good he does. Well, he thought he would 
 like some chorals on the belfry-tower. And no won 
 der, they sound so sweet and solemn in the morning 
 when everything is fresh and still and the tones seem 
 to float over the city. Now the Roman Catholic bel 
 fry happens to be the only one in this neighborhood. 
 So what does the banker do but go to see the priest. 
 He is a poor man and good as gold, working in the 
 prisons, working in the worst holes, picking people 
 up and standing them on their feet, helping along 
 and comforting them, and doing no end of good. 
 So the banker says, Your Reverence, may I have 
 some music played every Sunday morning on your 
 belfry tower ? His Reverence thinks a while and 
 says, Your music, of course ? Why yes, says the 
 banker. Then his Reverence thinks a while again, and 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 301 
 
 says, I should like the music. If you will let your 
 musicians play some of our hymns too, I shall be 
 grateful to you, and I think there will be no objec 
 tion. They shook hands on it, and the banker pays 
 the musicians. Now what happens every Sunday? 
 First comes a Roman Catholic bit, for the banker 
 is very polite and begins and ends with the priest s 
 own music ; then comes some good tough Protestant 
 choral, then a prayer to the Virgin ; but all the same, 
 there is Martin Luther sandwiched in between the 
 Bleeding Hearts and the Hail Maries. That is my 
 religion, count." 
 
 "And all that goes on while we are asleep? Is 
 nobody s conscience outraged ? Why there have been 
 wars for less." 
 
 " Oh, the ones that listen early in the morning like 
 it too well to fight about it." 
 
 " But do you go down there to church? " 
 
 " Sometimes to hear the organ," he added with 
 simplicity. 
 
 Hugo smiled. 
 
 " Sometimes I stroll into the synagogue, if I 
 have a spare hour on their Sabbath, and sometimes I 
 go to church in the woods, and lie under a tree, and 
 listen." 
 
 " But Dietz, that is all very well, only what do 
 you believe ? " 
 
 " I told you it would not be clever enough for a man 
 like you," Bernhard replied gently, unconscious that 
 the exposition of his views left anything to be desired 
 in the way of clearness. 
 
 " But do you know, they would call you a pagan ? " 
 rejoined Hugo amused. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
302 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Hugo probed no farther that day. Indeed, Dietz 
 shortly after returned to his work, leaving the invalid 
 smiling over the stone-carver s ideas or personality. 
 Hugo sometimes questioned if Dietz was in himself 
 interesting or only seemed so to him in contrast to 
 Lipps meagre powers of entertainment, and the tread 
 mill of petty complaint, censorious gossip, and sordid 
 sentiments which the countess provided for him every 
 morning. But the more he saw Dietz the better he 
 liked him. The man amused him, won his respect and 
 confidence, and soothed his irritable nerves. Although 
 Hugo occupied himself hour after hour with more or 
 less morbid and sophistical speculations upon subjects 
 which Dietz had never consciously considered, the count 
 usually found when he would propound one of his 
 knotty queries that in the utter simplicity of Bern- 
 hard s reply lay a wholesome truth which would return 
 when Hugo was alone and confront him with some of 
 Bernhard s own cheerfulness. 
 
 " Your conundrums, count, are very good to sharpen 
 a man s wits," he told Hugo admiringly one day, smil 
 ing down upon him as if he were a precocious child, 
 and as if the problems and dogmas on account of 
 which men have been hating and slaying and burning 
 and boiling and racking and excommunicating and 
 crucifying one another for centuries, and the mysteries 
 over which philosophers have spent their yearning 
 lives, were all products of Hugo s fertile brain. It 
 must be confessed that the count took a certain ma 
 licious pleasure in dragging out of their corners the 
 world s hoariest old dry-bones of contention, and fling 
 ing them down before this fresh and unapprehensive 
 mental appetite. Bernhard would dispose of them 
 with one slow gulp, and smilingly await more. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 303 
 
 Every day when he came over the hedge with his 
 good thump, the stone-dust in his beard and nails, and 
 his breath smelling of beer, which he swallowed fast 
 that he might have more time with the invalid, he used 
 to put Hugo on his crutches, and make him walk 
 across the little grass-plot in front of the fountain. 
 Hugo objected and protested at first. 
 
 " It is useless trouble and pain," he said. " I shall 
 never walk again. I can totter across there, of course, 
 if you enjoy the spectacle, but I assure you it is abso 
 lutely useless." 
 
 " It is more natural to walk a little," Bernhard would 
 reply, his strong right arm supporting the count ; and 
 as Dietz was big and sweet-tempered and persistent, 
 Hugo found himself yielding, at first reluctantly, later 
 as a matter of course. 
 
 " You cannot make me any better, I suppose you 
 are aware," he said one day, frowning and not stirring 
 as Dietz stood waiting with the crutches, smoothing 
 one with his large hand. 
 
 " I don t know anything about that," Dietz returned 
 placidly. " Nobody knows. But it is n t natural to 
 make yourself worse. You might as well use what 
 you ve got left," and the calm directness of his allu 
 sions to Hugo s infirmity never gave offence, while the 
 slightest word on this subject from the countess was 
 apt to rouse his ire. Day after day he lay out in his 
 sheltered corner of the garden, where he could only 
 see the trees and shrubbery closing around him like a 
 bower, and the sky above, and if his chair was turned 
 in that direction, the steep slope of the broad vine-clad 
 hill. His companions were chiefly books, but oftener 
 and oftener as the long sunny spring wore on, he 
 would drop his book to watch a lizard or a beetle. 
 
304 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 The birds grew so tame that they ceased to fear the 
 long motionless figure. He began to take an intimate 
 pleasure in butterflies and bees. He slept more, the 
 warmth and the odors and the interminable droning 
 and buzzing tranquillized him, and the sound of build 
 ing no longer seemed to him a cruel and noisy noise, 
 nerve-wrenching and soul-exasperating, but something 
 too sustained, large, and po\\ erf ul to annoy him. 
 
 The countess complained that the morning visit 
 which she conscientiously paid her son must now take 
 place in precisely the part of the garden which she dis 
 liked, and which she declared inimical to her health 
 and Mousey s. As she was always complaining of 
 something, Hugo was unfilial enough to reason that it 
 was upon the whole of small consequence what roused 
 her lamentations. 
 
 " It seems as if it were arranged especially to annoy 
 me," she remarked, the first time she was obliged to 
 penetrate to his retreat. " Now, why could you not be 
 brought out a little later, Hugo, when I go to lunch ? 
 If you knew how that odious box oppresses me, 
 and the stuffy cedar ! " 
 
 " I don t think myself that it is of much importance 
 where I am put, whether here or anywhere else," 
 Hugo replied in not the most amiable tone in the 
 world. " But they happen to like to keep me out here 
 all day." 
 
 " They ? Who are they ? Whose wish should out 
 weigh your mother s, my son ? " 
 
 " On conventional principles, nobody s," Hugo re 
 torted with scarcely a pleasant laugh. " But the 
 doctor, for one, seems to entertain the idea that the 
 longer I lie here every day, the better it is for me. 
 I know you don t prize his opinion, but as I never had 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 305 
 
 the honor of meeting Dr. Pressigny, my doctor hap 
 pens to be the best of his species that I know." 
 
 " Don t eat that box, dearest ! It will poison you," 
 cried the countess. 
 
 " I had the impression," Hugo remarked politely, 
 " that animals were endowed with the knowledge of 
 good and evil herbs, and needed no warning from our 
 smaller discrimination. That is, animals in a state of 
 nature ; I admit that Mousey s sedentary mode of 
 life may influence " 
 
 " Never mind Mousey," she said curtly. " You 
 were telling me who induced you to come out to this 
 unhealthy spot." 
 
 " Beside the doctor, who does n t count with you in 
 the least, two others who count less, Lipps, and my 
 very good friend Bernhard Dietz." 
 
 " Oh, that man ! " she exclaimed with hard con 
 tempt. 
 
 u Precisely. That man." 
 
 She sat silent a moment, a nervous perturbed look 
 on her face. 
 
 " Hugo, I hope that you fumigate thoroughly. I 
 cannot interfere with your whims, however strongly I 
 may disapprove them. But I think that I am justified 
 in insisting upon fumigation. When one thinks of 
 the bad drainage and fever and Heaven knows what, 
 that such people carry about in their clothes " 
 
 " I 11 ask Dietz if he has anything of the kind in 
 his pockets." 
 
 " It is a poor jest, as we all may find, when he has 
 introduced some vulgar disease into the house. I sim 
 ply shuddered and held my breath, when I first saw 
 that man passing through my corridor, and I fumi 
 gated at once.. I wonder at you, Hug o, I do. indeed." 
 
306 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 He merely regarded her from beneath half-closed 
 lids, and with an odd smile that reminded her un 
 pleasantly of the late count. 
 
 At length, he said coldly : 
 
 " I have already told you how I regard him. When 
 I say that he is my friend, and that I never liked any 
 man as well, it is sufficient, I think." 
 
 She sighed behind her handkerchief and vinaigrette 
 held closely to her face. Her anxious, mistrustful 
 glance wandered from tree to bush, from Mousey 
 to her son, falling from time to time upon the box- 
 border, whose poisonous exhalations rilled her with 
 dismay. 
 
 " Don t be nervous, mamma," Hugo said kindly 
 enough, "there is no deadly upas-tree here." 
 
 " What does that man do? " she asked as if the odi 
 ous box and the malarial possibilities and Dietz be 
 longed in one category. " What is it that attracts you ? 
 It is incomprehensible." 
 
 Hugo raised his eyebrows, stared at her an instant, 
 then said quietly : 
 
 " He is singularly kind to me." 
 
 " Kind to you ! Kind to a Count Kronfels ! I 
 dare say he knows on which side his bread is buttered," 
 exclaimed the old lady with a laugh. 
 
 There was silence in the sunny garden, except for 
 the softly plashing fountain, Mousey snapping at a 
 toad and vituperating it for escaping, and the short, 
 loud breathing of the countess. 
 
 " Mamma," said Hugo slowly and with his father s 
 smile, which made her uncomfortable, " if you were a 
 man, and if I had not the honor of being your son, 
 and if I were not a cripple, and if it were worth 
 while, and if, in short, a variety of circumstances were 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 307 
 
 otherwise, I might feel inclined to resent that re 
 mark." 
 
 " Pshaw, Hugo," returned the countess, " I have not 
 the remotest idea what you mean." Presently she re 
 sumed, " I had something important to tell you this 
 morning, but this place is so trying to my nerves ! 
 Hugo, if you had one atom of my sensitiveness, you 
 could not endure this atmosphere." 
 
 He drew a sigh of profound weariness. 
 
 " Why do you give yourself the trouble of coming 
 to me ? Why don t you send your love or something 
 byBabette?" 
 
 " You know well, Hugo, that nothing would make 
 me neglect you. It is the rarest thing that I omit my 
 visit, only when something unavoidable detains me." 
 
 " Mousey s colic," muttered Hugo. 
 
 " It is a matter of principle with me, and I shall do 
 a mother s duty, even " 
 
 " Even if you have to face the perils of box and 
 breathe the rank poison of the cedar of Lebanon." 
 
 " Laugh, by all means, Hugo. You have not my 
 nerves." 
 
 " What was it you wished to tell me ? " he asked, 
 moving restlessly. 
 
 " I have put Gabrielle down in my will." 
 
 After a pause she continued, " Well, have you 
 nothing to say to that ? " 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 " Why do you smile ? I told you that von Paalzow 
 had come back. I think she will take von Paalzow. 
 Have you nothing to say to that either ? " 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 " Gabrielle is very trying at times. She is not lov 
 ing. She is not what 1 have longed for. Ah, if I 
 
308 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 had had a daughter, she would have comprehended 
 me ! It is a sad fate to feel that strangers are schem 
 ing for your money." 
 
 Hugo made no response. 
 
 " She is ungrateful. When one thinks of all the 
 pleasures that I provide for her ! She does what I 
 tell her, but she has no initiative. She is not pre- 
 voyante. There is always something wanting in our 
 intercourse. Then when I remember how she tried 
 to make trouble between you and me, how she ac 
 tually went to your room and complained, I am un 
 certain of her." 
 
 " I can only repeat what I have already told you, 
 that nothing of the kind occurred. The Baroness 
 von Dohna, on the one occasion when I had the honor 
 of any prolonged conversation with her, conducted 
 herself more like a gallant man than like the enraged 
 governess or abused companion I expected to see. 
 She made no complaint whatever of you. As you are 
 perfectly aware that I am not in the habit of tell 
 ing lies, why can you not dismiss that doubt of her, at 
 least?" 
 
 " A man always defends a pair of pretty eyes," 
 muttered the old lady, wavering. 
 
 He frowned. 
 
 " Is that the only time you have seen her ? " she 
 inquired with a resentful air. " She never comes 
 down and talks with you ? Never comes out here ? " 
 
 " Except that time," he began with scrupulous repose 
 of manner, " and once here by accident, and glimpses 
 of her in the distance, coming and going in the carriage, 
 I have never seen her. But if I had," he broke out 
 with a fierce, unaccountable impulse, " what then ? If 
 she had talked with me, and smiled on me, and 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 309 
 
 brought some freshness and beauty and goodness into 
 my life, what then ? " 
 
 " How can you be so violent ? Did you not refuse 
 to know her ? Have you not declined to take any in 
 terest in her, and scarcely had the patience to listen 
 when I have spoken her name ? You are very inconsis 
 tent. There would of course be no impropriety in her 
 talking with you. The thing itself is irreproachable, 
 since you are completely uncompromising. But, as 
 you vowed that you would not see her, and are pre 
 judiced against her, it is evident, if you meet, that 
 she seeks you ; and you must confess, Hugo, that clan 
 destine tete-a-tetes between my son and a girl upon 
 whom I lavish every luxury, and for whose future I 
 am most generously providing, are not very agreeable 
 to contemplate. Ah," she sighed, recalling the long 
 perspective of women, tall and short, plump and thin, 
 dark and fair, whom before her marriage and after 
 she had elected to the nondescript office of companion, 
 confidante, recipient of her bounties, and kisser of the 
 hand that smote hard and often, " they have been 
 mostly sly cats. I am a lonely old woman, Hugo ! " 
 and tears started to her eyes. 
 
 But he scarcely heard her concluding sighs, for one 
 phrase of her tirade had awakened in him unreason 
 ing and vehement contradiction, and an impulse of 
 self-assertion so strong and imperious that he would 
 fain have cried : 
 
 " Wait ! Don t be so sure of me ! How dare you 
 pronounce me harmless ? I am not dead yet. I am 
 a living man. What if I and my crutches should 
 hobble into the lists, and compete with your padded 
 old sires and your brainless young ones ? " A great 
 throb of life, of painful, hungry, masterful life shook 
 
310 THE OPEN DOOR, 
 
 him cruelly. It was incomprehensible. Had he not 
 laid these spectres low? These ghosts of joy and 
 desire ? These visions of fair women ? What then 
 was this insensate thought, leading him to defy, to 
 assert, to claim what he would for his own ? 
 
 St. Mary s clock, followed by all the clocks far and 
 near, struck twelve, and the whistles and school-boys 
 began their riot. 
 
 A step was approaching the hedge. 
 
 Hugo s eyes were luminous, two bright spots glowed 
 on his cheeks. " Here comes Dietz, mamma," he 
 said. " You d better ask him if he has any of those 
 things in his pockets." 
 
 She rose with every appearance of consternation, 
 but before she could draw her light shawl over her 
 shoulders, gather up her vinaigrette and handker 
 chief and parasol and fan, Dietz was over the hedge 
 and advancing toward them. Seeing her he hesitated, 
 then came on with his deliberate step, smiling kindly 
 on mother and son. 
 
 " Dietz," said Hugo, his hand closing affectionately 
 over Bernhard s, " it is a great pleasure to me to pre 
 sent you to my mother." He experienced, in fact, 
 a delectably malicious satisfaction in watching his 
 mother s august countenance. " Mamma, this is my 
 friend, Herr Bernhard Dietz," he continued in the 
 suave accents of perfect ceremony. 
 
 Adelheid, Countess of Kronfels, actually confronted 
 by this representative of bad drainage, contagious 
 disease, and unconscionable plebeian vices, no longer 
 fled to her vinaigrette, but resorted gallantly to 
 that weapon of offence, her eye-glass, mounted on a 
 hammered-by-hand gold stick nearly a foot long. 
 Through this intimidating observatory she surveyed 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 311 
 
 handsome Bernhard s six feet two and a half inches 
 of height, the large features of his peaceful and sunny 
 countenance, his beard, and his blouse. In her eyes, 
 about her thin lips and pinched nostrils, was an ex 
 pression so coldly aggressive that in a lady of less 
 degree it might have been called brutal. 
 
 She turned to the invalid. 
 
 " Good-morning, Hugo," she said, extending her 
 hand. For the first time in his life he did not per 
 form the parting ceremony of raising it to his lips. 
 
 " Mousey, my angel," she called, " come away." 
 She did not say " Come " simply, but " Come away! " 
 meaning, "Away from this infection, this pestilence 
 that walketh in my garden." 
 
 Mousey turned, and delivered a volley of sharp 
 short barks at Dietz. The dog s pedigree being at 
 best miscellaneous, he felt the greater need of pub 
 licly asserting his contempt of the lowly-born. So he 
 yelped his social prejudice at the man in the blouse, 
 and followed the countess. 
 
 Bernhard attentively watched the black satin folds 
 and French cap disappear behind the shrubbery, after 
 which he sat down on the bench that the lady had just 
 occupied, whistled softly through his teeth, glanced at 
 Hugo, then at the tree-tops and the sky, and finally 
 looked long at the count s excited eyes and nn- 
 natural color. 
 
 " You are tired," said Dietz after a while. " Per 
 haps you are too tired to walk to-day." 
 
 " On the contrary, I am eager to be off. Give me 
 my wings." 
 
 He hobbled painfully to the fountain and back. 
 
 " Do you find me graceful, Dietz ? Do you think 
 me winning ? " 
 
312 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Bernhard said nothing, but merely watched him 
 with his steady, sensible, gentle gaze, glanced up at 
 the noon-sun, moved the chair slightly, and turned the 
 cushions. 
 
 Hugo found his wings clumsy and leaden, while his 
 eager spirit leaped on uncontrollably. 
 
 " A crippled body on two sticks, and a rebel of a 
 soul," he thought. " I trample on him, he gets up 
 and defies me. Still a man does n t want to be called 
 uncompromising, not while he lives." 
 
 His smile was flashing and cynical, his eyes singu 
 larly brilliant above his flushed cheeks. " That s too 
 serious a blow. She might have let me think I was 
 dangerous. I was already so elated, so complacent, 
 why did she disturb me ? " 
 
 " Is n t that enough ? " Dietz suggested. 
 
 " No," Hugo replied, turning and going a second 
 time to the fountain. He came back exhausted. 
 Dietz took the crutches, put him in his chair, still 
 without speaking, and sat down again, the minuet 
 rhythm from Don Giovanni lingering almost imper 
 ceptibly in his breath, with a sound too faint to be 
 called whistling, and in an occasional nod of his head, 
 to mark the end of a phrase. He let Hugo rest some 
 minutes before he said : 
 
 " Count, why don t you see more people ? " 
 
 Hugo responded with a supercilious grimace, de 
 signed for himself or the people or both. 
 
 " Because it s more natural." 
 
 " You forget that I am an unnatural object." 
 
 " Suppose I should lie on my back, and think of 
 myself all day ? " remarked Bernhard meditatively. 
 
 " How do you know what I think of all day, you 
 great innocent ? " 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 318 
 
 " I should be foolish and fanciful," said Bernhard, 
 calmly pursuing his own line of thought. " I should 
 see things crooked." 
 
 " Prescribe for me, Dr. Bernhard Dietz," returned 
 the count with a certain eagerness, in spite of his 
 light tone. " I don t promise to take your pills and 
 nostrums, mind you ! " 
 
 " Why don t you have a big dog ? " Bernhard went 
 on, gentle, massive, and imperturbable, and reply 
 ing only with his kind eyes to the invalid s interrup 
 tions. tk A big dog is a deal of company and com 
 fort. Suppose you had one to lie down there and 
 snap at flies, and come and put his nose in your hand, 
 and look at you with his trusty eyes ? " 
 
 " Prescribe something else, my dear fellow. That 
 ugly little bastard that barked at you suffers no 
 rival. I have never been able to keep my dogs near 
 me. I had a couple of Gordon setters not very long 
 ago. I introduced them surreptitiously into my quar 
 ters via my balcony window. Mousey was sleeping 
 the sleep of the glutton in his padded velvet box, at 
 the extreme end of the house up-stairs. Yet I assure 
 you that in less than a half -minute he was writhing 
 in convulsions of jealousy before my door, and howl 
 ing enough to wake the dead. Talk of magnetic cur 
 rents and the psychic force ! What roused the little 
 over-fed brute ? What told him that my high-bred 
 glossy long beauties were stretching themselves on 
 my hearth-rug ? No, no, Dietz, I m a clog-lover, but 
 indeed I humbly bow to Mousey s will. There are 
 things to which it is wisest to submit. If you lived 
 in our house, you would cringe before Mousey, with 
 the rest of us." 
 
 Dietz obstinately regarded the point in the foli- 
 
314 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 age where he had watched those stout black satin 
 shoulders and the fluttering ends of the French cap 
 disappear. He still saw the hard face and soft hair 
 of the count s mother, and the gaunt craving look in 
 Hugo s weary face did not escape him. 
 
 " It is n t natural," he muttered, so low that the 
 words lost themselves in the half-breathed melody 
 from Don Giovanni. 
 
 " Why don t you see some of your old friends ? " 
 
 " Would you ? " 
 
 " Why not ? And why don t you talk with that 
 beautiful young lady ? She would like it." 
 
 He spoke slowly with long pauses, nor was Hugo 
 in a loquacious mood. 
 
 Dr. Dietz, I m afraid that you are a quack,! he 
 returned after some time. 
 
 " A dog, some children " 
 
 " Children ! " repeated Hugo derisively. 
 
 " A dog, some children, some old friends, a wo 
 man s voice and hand and smile, some music, and 
 some laughter," Bernhard enumerated deliberately, 
 looking about as if he were peopling the garden ac 
 cording to his own scheme. 
 
 " I hated all that, you know," Hugo muttered, with 
 not unswerving purpose. 
 
 " Of course. You were ill," said the sweet and in 
 dulgent voice. 
 
 O 
 
 " You are an awfully good fellow, Dietz," and Hugo 
 abruptly put out his hand. 
 
 "It does n t sound generous for a strong man 
 to say it to a weak one," Dietz went on, " it does n t 
 seem fair play, but it s true all the same. There 
 are harder things to bear than your troubles, though 
 yours are pretty hard, count, yours are hard," he 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 315 
 
 repeated, nodding his conviction, and looking down 
 with his large soft gaze on the lonely cripple. 
 
 " At least my ambition does not soar beyond my 
 own," returned Hugo, with a flash of irritation and 
 some astonishment. 
 
 " There s a woman down our way who s been bed 
 ridden fifteen years. That is a long time." 
 
 Hugo listened with at first a curious sense of per 
 sonal wrong. He did not want to hear about the 
 woman, he felt reluctant to expend sympathy or pity 
 upon her. He was vexed with her for appearing upon 
 his horizon. . But, perhaps because Dietz was silent 
 for some moments, the count could not escape the 
 thought of her, and began to wonder about her and 
 picture her vividly. 
 
 At last he said coldly : 
 
 " If she had n t been a fool, she would have gotten 
 rid of herself long ago." 
 
 " I don t think she s a fool," Bernhard rejoined 
 with much gentleness. 
 
 " Then why does she bear it ? " 
 
 " I suppose she thinks it is best. She sees a good 
 many people. They get a good deal of comfort and 
 advice from her. It is a queer thing, there is a kind 
 of mischief in her still, and it takes her about three 
 minutes to get most people telling her of their head 
 aches and backaches. She never speaks of her con 
 dition." 
 
 " Why do you talk to me about her ? " demanded 
 Hugo with some vehemence. 
 
 "I thought you might like to have me." 
 
 " Well, I don t." 
 
 " She has children that have grown up around her," 
 Dietz continued tranquilly. " When they were little, 
 
316 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 she could n t work for them and care for them. That s 
 the hardest thing for a woman. They are poor, and 
 she is an expense. That s hard for her. She is alone 
 a good deal, as you are, and she has no little whistle 
 that will call somebody with shawls and cushions and 
 wine and fruit and new books." 
 
 "Dietz," began Hugo, more moved than he cared to 
 confess, " I m obliged to you for your penny-lecture. 
 It sounds like Sunday Chats for Little Ones at Home. 
 But I tell you in the first place, I can t bear your 
 virtuous cripple. She is distasteful to me. A well- 
 regulated cripple ought to swear and throw things 
 about." With a sudden boyish, affectionate smile, 
 which he often had for Dietz, he added : " But per 
 haps she did n t have at the start a brute of a 
 temper, like mine? " 
 
 " No, she did n t," Bernhard admitted, " she was 
 always patient." 
 
 " Confound the woman ! " exclaimed Hugo after a 
 while. " I wish you had n t introduced her to me." 
 
 " She does more good than many who can go about 
 and work. I know others too. There is a good deal 
 to bear in the world." 
 
 " Thank you. This dose is sufficient for me to- 
 day." 
 
 " You d better see more people, count," returned 
 Bernhard with gentle persistence and seeming irrele 
 vance. 
 
 " Fifteen years ! " muttered Hugo. " She d better 
 get rid of herself." 
 
 " How do you know that she can ? " asked Dietz. 
 
 " Why, man, it s easy enough." 
 
 " It is easy for her to get rid of her body, I know," 
 Bernhard remarked thoughtfully. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 317 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " I m not sure that she can get rid of herself, 
 that s all. There is something that she did n t give 
 herself, and I don t know whether she can take it 
 away or not. I don t believe she can." 
 
 Hugo hesitated. 
 
 " Why, Dietz," he said gravely, " have you thought 
 about such things ? It is n t like you, is it ? " 
 
 " I had to think about it once," Bernhard replied 
 simply, "because a friend of mine got desperate 
 about money, and shot himself. Every man of us 
 would have helped him, if he had asked, but he 
 did n t. I saw him, and I had to think about him ; 
 and I made up my mind then and there, and I have 
 never changed it. You see," he added, " you can never 
 destroy anything, you can only seem to. The life in 
 us, it does n t ask us if we want to be born, it 
 does n t ask us if we want to die ; it is beyond us, and 
 I don t believe it can be destroyed." 
 
 " Dietz," returned Hugo, profoundly surprised, 
 " there are wise men who believe the contrary." 
 
 " Why not ? Every man has a right to his opinion. 
 I should never have thought about it, probably, if it 
 had n t been for the poor fellow. I have n t much 
 time for mysteries, and not being a clever man, they 
 are hard for me. But that day, when I looked in his 
 white face, these thoughts came to me, and I was sure 
 he had only gone on somewhere." 
 
 " You think he would have done better to 
 stay?" 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " And your well-behaved cripple, your example to 
 sinners, what if she should decide to take the matter 
 into her own hands, after all ? " 
 
318 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 There was a strange quick glance exchanged be 
 tween the two men, a silent furtive appeal, a calm 
 response. 
 
 " I should be sorry," Dietz answered, " for she 
 would have to suffer horribly before she came to that," 
 and his voice imparted tenderness and strength to 
 his simple words, " but I should still think she would 
 have done better to bear it. She will bear it. She 
 has courage." 
 
 " Oh, she has courage, has she ? " 
 
 " More than any man I know." 
 
 Hugo laughed. 
 
 " You hit a fellow pretty hard when he s down." 
 
 " You d better see more people, count. There s a 
 good many people that would like to see you. It 
 is n t healthy to lie all day and think of your 
 self." 
 
 " You are an exasperatingly obstinate man, and I 
 am not sure that you are not impudent," Hugo said 
 with a smile. 
 
 " I never liked a man as well as I like you," the 
 big fellow returned shyly. 
 
 Hugo looked at hini long without speaking, then 
 broke out with, " I say, Dietz, that woman, I don t 
 like her, do you know she s detestable, but will 
 you find out what she wants ? " 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Get her anything she wants from you, mind 
 you; I want to drive the thought of her out of my 
 head ; I m only buying my peace. Has she a good 
 chair, for instance ? No ? Well, get her one like this. 
 But don t you mention me to her. She s a horror to 
 me, I tell you. Get her some fruit and some wine. 
 Get her books, whatever she likes. Occupy her. Set 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 319 
 
 her doing something else beside lying there and being 
 angelic, and giving cheerful advice to her neighbors, 
 and never complaining. She tires me, I tell you. 
 Feed her ! " 
 
 Dietz laughed, and said : 
 
 " Will you see some people, count ? " 
 
 " Yes, if only to stop your harping." 
 
 Dietz went back and wrought a stone-rose as big as 
 an artichoke, and breathed the Don Giovanni minuet 
 into its petals, while Hugo communed with his some 
 what novel thoughts. 
 
 " As Dietz says, Why not ? " he reflected ; " why 
 not be a little less like a mummy ? It is only for a 
 while. It cannot change the end.. Why not appear 
 and surprise them ? Why not make some studies of 
 my fellow-creatures ? I may be repulsive to some, it 
 is true, but some who walk very well on their two 
 legs are repulsive to me. Why not watch the race, 
 and find out what it is that women love ? One may 
 be as harmless as an old mule, but one does n t like 
 it thrown in one s face." 
 
 Whether it was a mere invalid s caprice, or pure 
 perversity roused by the maternal taunt, or docile re 
 sponse to Bernhard s good advice, or the unconscious 
 influence of a gain in physical strength, or a young 
 man s sudden desire to see a pair of eyes that had 
 pleased him, or all these forces working together, he 
 shortly after told Lipps to wheel his chair in front of 
 the house. 
 
 " I wish to be seen and admired," he said seriously 
 to the astonished and delighted servant ; and when the 
 countess s victoria went slowly down the drive, Hugo 
 took off his hat and wished the ladies much pleasure 
 with matter-of-fact friendliness, and resumed his book 
 
320 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 as if he had not heard his mother s incredulous 
 " Why Hugo ! " or caught with a certain exhilaration 
 the gleam of gladness in the young girl s face. 
 
 " Now what can that mean ? " asked the countess 
 uneasily. 
 
 "It is very pleasant, at all events," Gabrielle ven 
 tured to reply. " It makes one s heart ache to think 
 of him always living like a prisoner." 
 
 " Oh, but he can t mingle with the world, it would 
 be too exciting to his nerves. He is very difficult, too, 
 poor Hugo ! Very fractious ! But of course one has 
 to make allowances. I wonder what he means by 
 coming out there. I wonder if he intends to ask that 
 man to take his ease on my lawn," she went on in the 
 portentous basso-profundo that frightened the maids. 
 " You don t suppose he will let that man sit there with 
 him ? That man in the blouse ? That Mietz ? " 
 
 " Herr Dietz." 
 
 " Dietz or Mietz or Pietz, it is quite immaterial. I 
 have implored Hugo to fumigate, but he laughs in my 
 face. Why he does n t ask a gentleman to sit in the 
 garden with him is beyond my comprehension. Why 
 does he not ask Lorenz von Raven, or Lieutenant von 
 Paalzow? Why does he insist upon grouping him 
 self with a blouse, in a kind of prince-and-peasant 
 tableau? " 
 
 "But he likes Herr Dietz." 
 
 " Likes Herr Dietz ! And pray why should he like 
 Herr Dietz unless he likes him solely and simply to 
 annoy me ? Does n t he see the criminal reports ? 
 Why should he desire to encourage the lower classes ? 
 The lower classes ought to be kept where they belong. 
 They commit all sorts of crimes and excesses if they 
 are encouraged. Why should Hugo associate with 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 321 
 
 immoral people ? Well ! Answer something, can t 
 you?" 
 
 44 Have you ever seen him well ? " 
 
 44 1 saw him face to face in the garden this morning, 
 and Hugo actually presented him to me. I went in 
 and took some quinine, however, and inhaled cam 
 phor." 
 
 44 You are surely joking," said Gabrielle laughing. 
 
 44 1 am very sensitive to contagion. I always take 
 proper precautions. There is nothing whatever to 
 laugh at." 
 
 44 1 thought that perhaps you had not really seen him, 
 for except that he is too large and strong and healthy 
 and happy, there is something Christ-like in his ex 
 pression. I have never seen such ineffable mildness 
 in the face of any man or woman." 
 
 44 You know that I never countenance irreverence," 
 said the countess sternly. 
 
 44 Then I think you mistake his position, Aunt 
 Adelheid," Gabrielle continued, pleasantly. 44 He is 
 a stone-carver, almost a sculptor." 
 
 44 Distinctions in blouses do not exist for me. I am 
 willing to subscribe for their coffee-houses, and their 
 public baths. The Frau Major s theatricals are for 
 something of the sort, the amelioration of some of 
 them. I am perfectly willing to have them amelio 
 rated. But I am not willing to have them sitting con 
 spicuously on my front lawn." 
 
 44 But if it makes Count Hugo happier ? " Gabrielle 
 said gently. 
 
 44 Of course if you can oppose me and argue, you 
 will." 
 
 Gabrielle leaned back and was silent. 
 
 The countess s insensate rage increased every mo- 
 
322 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 ment. She was jealous of Dietz because Hugo was 
 interested in him. She was afraid of Dietz because 
 she suffered from a cowardly, morbid dread of con 
 tagious disease which she believed lived cheek by 
 jowl with the laboring classes. Being jealous of and 
 afraid of Dietz, it was the most natural thing in the 
 world, according to her logic, to turn upon Gabrielle 
 and threaten to disinherit her. 
 
 The countess s last will and testament was a docu 
 ment that could boast more action and variety of inci 
 dent than most modern novels. Only her attorney 
 knew how many times she had changed the personality 
 of her hero or heroine, and sometimes a whole or 
 phan asylum or missionary society would triumphantly 
 march in and displace the last " sly cat." But the 
 orphans and missionaries were upon the whole less 
 entertaining. She could not very well fall upon their 
 necks and weep maudlin tears, she could not tyran 
 nize over them, and torture them, and dangle the 
 golden prize before them, now high, now low, and 
 make them leap and creep for it. She therefore pre 
 ferred individuals to corporations, and by all means 
 that the object of her testamentary caprice should live 
 under her roof and eat her salt. 
 
 Some of her companions and distant relatives had 
 been very good women, perhaps not strikingly clever 
 or courageous, but it is not easy for a woman to be 
 actively courageous on nothing a year. When, how 
 ever, she has a couple of boys to educate, or an in 
 valid girl who needs more luxuries and better care, it 
 is astonishing how much courage of endurance under 
 insult sometimes shows itself in the most timid woman. 
 Cousin Marie, for instance, was neither a sycophant 
 nor a toady, but she suffered, meanly suffered, she 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 323 
 
 often told herself with blushes of shame, from the 
 countess s cruel caprice, and was glad and believed the 
 old lady when she promised the fortune, and wept and 
 trembled when it was withdrawn, and vibrated be 
 tween hope and misery until indignant, dishevelled, 
 desperate, and hysterical she rushed in tears to Hugo 
 and declared that she could bear it no longer. 
 
 She left the house the next day, with swollen eye 
 lids and the countess s anathema, while the only com 
 fort the poor woman carried with her, after eight 
 months humiliation and bondage, was in her purse, 
 and the remembrance of the handsome young lieuten 
 ant s laughing farewell : " Cheer up, Cousin Marie, it 
 won t seem half so bad after you get away. Here s 
 a trifle for the little chaps, if you don t mind ; " and 
 the trifle was more than her eight months salary. 
 Hugo was sorry for her, but he could not help laugh 
 ing, for he took life in the jolliest way in those days, 
 and he kept a private list of the exasperated and 
 lachrymose females who, fleeing from the persecutions 
 of his mamma, had thrown themselves upon his sym 
 pathies. " I don t like to see the poor things weep, 
 but upon my word it is a perfect vaudeville," he used 
 to think. 
 
 Perhaps the ease with which the average woman s 
 smiles and tears rotate, perhaps the childlike confi 
 dence and soft patience of Cousin Marie and her kind, 
 had not exercised a healthful influence upon the coun 
 tess ; and perhaps the practice of dangling her last will 
 and testament before needy and timid companions had 
 not served to elevate her naturally low opinion of hu 
 man dignity. At all events the will manoeuvre was 
 a weapon in her hands. It was a power. It was an 
 old habit as familiar as her gloves. 
 
324 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 In her angry agitation, she was now about to crush 
 Gabrielle with it, when a most unwelcome remem 
 brance of the girl s own haughty words occurred to 
 her. " If you have the habit of inserting names in 
 your will and removing them, I need not distress my 
 self, for you will surely remove mine." 
 
 Baffled and caught in her own snares, the coun 
 tess glared helplessly at Gabrielle, who turned her 
 clear eyes and unclouded brow toward her and 
 said kindly : 
 
 "You look distressed. You are breathing badly 
 again. Shall I fan you ? Had n t we better drive up 
 011 the hills where the breeze is stronger ? " 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE great stone houses grew under the patient 
 hands of the builders ; the young vines on the hill 
 side grew beneath the sunshine and the dews ; the 
 army of school-boys broke loose every noon and scuf 
 fled and shouted like mad ; every evening in the 
 twilight lovers walked in the lane that led between 
 the high garden-walls to Leslach ; every day little 
 squads of soldiers marched down from the shooting 
 grounds, singing as merrily as if war and its prepa 
 rations were a pastime or a joke ; men with bowed 
 backs and faces like brown parchment worked in the 
 market gardens, and women in faded blue gowns and 
 bright kerchiefs walked by with a free, strong step 
 and with baskets on their heads ; Bernhard Dietz 
 carved his cornucopiae and huge divinities, and sang 
 like a thrush, and did not think as much in the course 
 of the day as some people perhaps, but whatever he 
 thought was sunny and sweet to the core ; every 
 morning Gabrielle rode off on Sphinx to her aristo 
 cratic circus, where she assiduously practiced figures, 
 and laughed and enjoyed herself and found life at 
 tractive, and came home to lunch and drive and dine 
 and go somewhere in the evening with Aunt Adel- 
 heid, when after twelve hours of the countess, life 
 seemed but a period of stern discipline and mortifica 
 tion of spirit ; and the villa gates swung open to 
 admit handsome carriages bringing richly dressed 
 women and gay men, in short a whole little world 
 
326 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 of work and pleasure and fashion and luxury and 
 idleness, and love of all descriptions, love in the 
 drawing-room and love in the lane, revolved before 
 Hugo, while he, lying motionless hour after hour, was 
 near it yet remote, the one still, lonely figure in the 
 lively panorama. 
 
 Yet he was steadily drawing nearer to the world 
 which he had shunned so long, and he was learning to 
 see much in it which he had never seen before. He 
 did not group himself picturesquely with a blouse on 
 the front lawn for the simple reason that Dietz would 
 not be grouped. No argument or persuasion could 
 move his gentle obstinacy when it once showed itself ; 
 and although for the most part he evinced a manly 
 unconsciousness of the peculiar character of the rela 
 tionship between himself and his patrician friend, he 
 refused to sit and chat with the count except in his 
 rooms, or in the secluded corner of the garden beyond 
 the range of the villa windows and the curious eyes 
 of the world. Indeed, between four walls and with 
 a ceiling above him, Bernhard seemed less free than 
 when he could stretch himself on a garden-bench, and 
 twirl a leaf in his mouth, and look up at the sky 
 through the tree-tops. As a drawing-room ornament, 
 he was overgrown and clumsy. Nothing could induce 
 him to share Hugo s breakfast, which Lipps brought 
 out prepared with new and skilful devices each day, to 
 tempt the invalid s appetite. Only once did Bernhard 
 consent to take a glass of wine, when he stood hold 
 ing it high in the sunlight, and said, " Your health 
 and happiness, count ! " with so sweet and hearty a 
 resonance, that it seemed more like a potent beiiison 
 than a mere form. But after that he invariably de 
 clined all hospitality, and to Hugo s remonstrances 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 327 
 
 would simply retort that it was not natural; and 
 farther than this his reasoning, or perhaps his vocab 
 ulary, did not extend. 
 
 Hugo s habits, then, began to crystallize into a cer 
 tain routine. He would spend the whole morning by 
 the fountain at " The End of the World." Dietz ap 
 peared at noon, and the man s tranquillity and con 
 tentment were an elixir of life, exerting strong and 
 positive good effects upon the sensitive invalid, whom, 
 on the other hand, his mother s excessive fidgetiness 
 seemed as perceptibly to unnerve. In whatever mood 
 Hugo began his day, he invariably found Bernhard s 
 repose restful. He was no more given to morbid in 
 trospection than the tree against which he would lean, 
 or the birds that sang in its branches. After these 
 quiet hours, Hugo appeared at what he called " dress- 
 parade." He became visible, accessible, even en 
 couraging and inviting to visitors, and unblushingly 
 frequented the front lawn. It was exceptional when 
 his chair was not prominent somewhere near the 
 house during the first hours of the afternoon. Mousey 
 protested belligerently against the innovation, and 
 the countess frequently inquired : " What can he 
 mean ? " but the villa was a very different place to 
 Gabrielle, when every day she saw Hugo s thoughtful, 
 observant eyes watching all that passed, and his quick 
 smile not always the most amiable smile in the 
 world flashing over his dark pale face. 
 
 Whether the wheel-chair and its fluttering awning 
 was behind the great white rose-bush, or by the weep 
 ing ash, or under the chestnuts, Gabrielle spied it in 
 stantly and with gladness. She approached him tim 
 idly at first, fearing not only a repulse on her own 
 account, but being also haunted by the unpleasant 
 
328 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 notion that her society if forced upon him might in 
 duce him to abandon his new mode of life, and shun 
 his fellow-creatures in the old gloomy fashion. It 
 was a somewhat depressing sensation to feel that with 
 the mother she was a firebrand destined to kindle at 
 any moment a blaze of wrath, and with the son a 
 Medusa whose passing presence might cause days of 
 stony "dumb starings." She was therefore greatly 
 relieved when, a few days after his mysterious reap 
 pearance, she found him stationed so near the carriage 
 as she went down some moments before the countess, 
 for the daily drive, that even her unsuspicious mind 
 was forced to admit that he must in this instance 
 " mean " something by it. Her instantaneous im 
 pression he took pains to strengthen by saying at 
 once : 
 
 " Baroness, I have waylaid you to ask you if you 
 have forgiven me yet ? How long must I do penance 
 for sins like mine ? " 
 
 " But I was the culprit," she returned, hesitating, 
 and wondering at the friendliness of his tone, which 
 was now as incomprehensible to her as his previous 
 coldness had been. 
 
 " Forgive me," he repeated. " I don t want justice ; 
 it would crush me. I want mercy, any amount of it." 
 He was smiling, but his manner was pleading and 
 sincere, and he spoke as fast as possible, fearing the 
 descent of the countess. 
 
 " The truth is, I have ill-natured moods," he 
 went on. 
 
 " You have cause," she said gently. 
 
 " Possibly ; but I assure you I make the most of it. 
 I stretch it. And I had no cause to be anything but 
 grateful to you. Let us not talk about it. Let us 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 329 
 
 begin again tabula rasa. I don t know why you 
 should forgive me for being disagreeable, still forgive 
 me ! " he concluded abruptly. 
 
 " Ah, you make so much of it," she said cordially, 
 " but it is a relief ! " she admitted. " I have been feel 
 ing so anxious. I have feared to look at you lest you 
 should disappear again." 
 
 " I wish that you would look at me often and long," 
 Hugo returned gravely, " the longer and oftener the 
 better, if it would n t be a bore to you." 
 
 " You make me very happy," she exclaimed, smil 
 ing radiantly upon him with a sudden freedom and 
 lightness of heart. " You are very good to speak so ! 
 You do not know how glad I am," she added with 
 a warmth and simplicity that touched him, and led 
 him to rejoin a little sadly and incredulously : 
 
 " 1 make you happy ! " But whatever else he 
 would have said died upon his lips, for the countess 
 at that moment came out, breathless, hurried, and 
 wearing an expression of vast discontent, which 
 merged into positive displeasure when she saw Ga- 
 brielle standing by Hugo s chair. 
 
 " Aunt Adelheid," the young girl began rashly as 
 they drove away, " could n t you let me stay at home 
 one afternoon in the week ? Or once in fourteen 
 days ? Even Roschen has her day out." 
 
 " The comparison is worthy of you ! " 
 
 " But suppose you should let me stay once a week 
 with Count Hugo," Gabrielle urged warmly. "Ah, 
 please ! " 
 
 " Did he propose it ? " 
 
 " No, it is my own idea, but he looks as if he would 
 let me stay with him. I really think that he would 
 let me, now," she added with evident delight. 
 
330 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " You d better wait until he asks you," the coun 
 tess returned with a sneer. 
 
 " Why should I be ceremonious with a chronic in 
 valid ? Then I like him. I think he is wonderfully 
 patient." 
 
 " Patient ! Hugo patient ! That is news." After 
 a while she remarked : " He has every luxury. He 
 does not really suffer much now." 
 
 " The doctor says that he does," Gabrielle returned 
 promptly. 
 
 " How in the world should you know what the doc 
 tor says ? " 
 
 " Because I stopped him one day in the hall, and 
 asked him." 
 
 " You do very queer things, Gabrielle ! " 
 
 " But may I have a day off ? Why should I always 
 drive in the park and pay visits and go shopping 
 and see the same people and say the same things ? 
 Nobody would miss me if I should stay at home, and 
 then it seems to me there is nothing more senseless 
 than spending hours leaving bits of pasteboard at 
 people s houses, and being glad when they are out." 
 
 " Pray how could there be any society without 
 cards?" 
 
 " Oh, it is not the cards alone. It is the waste of 
 time and the fruitlessness of a great deal of it." 
 
 " When a girl of good family has plebeian tastes 
 and prefers to go out and talk with masons " 
 
 " But I would much rather talk with Count Hugo, 
 and surely his family is aristocratic enough to please 
 you," Gabrielle retorted with a laugh. "Ah, do let 
 me stay at home once a week with him ! " 
 
 " My neuralgia is a very peculiar neuralgia," began 
 the old lady, " a very uncommon neuralgia, Dr. Pres- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 331 
 
 signy used to tell me. I presume that it gives me 
 more acute pain in one day than Hugo feels in a 
 month. And when you talk of patience " 
 
 She gave Gabrielle a look of jealous reproach and 
 suddenly broke out with : 
 
 " Why do you never wish to entertain me ? Why 
 is it such a hardship to drive and make visits with me ? 
 Some girls would consider themselves very lucky to 
 have the privilege of accompanying me. Hugo looked 
 very comfortable. Perhaps, Gabrielle, if you had a 
 particular nerve that went from your head to your 
 heels, I mean if yours were in a state of the most ex 
 cessive sensitiveness, you might be more considerate of 
 other people s sufferings. I have always maintained 
 that only through our own pain do we learn sympathy 
 with the pain of another." 
 
 " But " Gabrielle hesitated, looked keenly at 
 her inconsequent companion, and concluded to let the 
 subject drop, remembering that " there are people in 
 whose presence one can praise only the Emperor of 
 China." The countess proceeded to relate with much 
 animation and interest the details of all the illnesses 
 and indispositions which had ever had the honor of 
 residing for more or less time in her corporeal frame. 
 She dilated with peculiar pleasure upon the treatment 
 which they had received, and the remedies used to 
 expel them, and her therapeutic memories proved so 
 entertaining to her that she grew unusually amiable, 
 called Gabrielle "Moonbeam," and quite forgot the 
 original grievance. 
 
 Some days after, she expressed the intention of 
 walking a little after lunch. " The Frau Major thinks 
 that it would be good for me," she announced gravely, 
 and as if the idea were quite novel. Hugo s chair 
 
332 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 was in the chestnut avenue, as the countess, leaning 
 on Gabrielle s arm, and preceded by Mousey, who 
 was not in sympathy with the scheme, came toward 
 him impressively. 
 
 " Good-morning, Hugo. I was detained this morn 
 ing, and could not come to you. Mousey swallowed a 
 piece of worsted, poor little love. I was so alarmed ! 
 I am walking for my health. Slower, Gabrielle. The 
 Frau Major says that the new method is slow and reg 
 ular." 
 
 " Ah, the Frau Major is doctor now ? " Hugo said 
 blandly. " Does she prescribe for you too, baroness ? " 
 
 " Gabrielle has no need of her advice, at least in 
 * respect to health," the countess answered. " Gabrielle 
 has no pain, consequently no sympathies. She is not 
 sensitive." 
 
 " Indeed," remarked Hugo, watching the young girl 
 attentively, who colored beneath his gaze, and sug 
 gested : 
 
 " Like a clam, or a jelly-fish." 
 
 " An admirable temperament," he said seriously. 
 " I am educating myself in that direction." 
 
 " You have no idea how I ]ove trees ! " exclaimed 
 the countess. " Gabrielle, I suppose you cannot imag 
 ine my feelings about trees. They talk to me. I talk 
 to them. I love them. They respond." Upon which 
 she embraced and kissed the stout trunk of an old chest 
 nut, with an air of infantile vivacity curiously at odds 
 with her proportions. 
 
 " It is plucky," commented Hugo. " I don t doubt 
 it is stirred to its roots, but it controls its emotions 
 like a weather-beaten man of the world." 
 
 "Why are you never serious, Hugo?" she asked 
 with a displeased air. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 333 
 
 " Because I have a light and superficial nature, I 
 presume." 
 
 Gabrielle had never before seen mother and son 
 together. She looked from one to the other, turned, 
 and walked a few steps down the path. 
 
 " She proposed coming to amuse you once a week," 
 the countess said with a laugh. " I don t think you 
 need any amusement. Your spirits are better than 
 mine." 
 
 " Why did you not let her ? " he retorted coolly. 
 " As you have taken pains to inform me, I am abso 
 lutely uncompromising." 
 
 " Oh, as to that ! " she said with a shrug. " But 
 it was probably only a passing whim. She has not 
 mentioned it again. Then I cannot always tell when 
 I can spare her. She is occupied too. Do you know 
 we think Herr von Raven may win after all ? She 
 has been very merry with him at the riding lately. 
 She is playing her game very adroitly. Mercedes her 
 self is not a more skilful coquette." 
 
 " Neither the one nor the other is a coquette," he 
 returned curtly. 
 
 She laughed mockingly. 
 
 " Oh, Hugo ! Tell that innocent tale to somebody 
 who will believe you ! " 
 
 Gabrielle strolled back. 
 
 " I should like to ask you something, count," she 
 began. " Suppose some women, society women, should 
 say something in your presence about another woman 
 something very ugly, I mean, what would you do ? 
 We were discussing it after the riding this morning, 
 and we disagreed. That is, I disagreed with every 
 body else." 
 
 " You mean what would I have done ? " 
 
334 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " No," she said quickly, " I mean, what would you 
 do to-day?" 
 
 " But what I do or leave undone is of no importance 
 to-day." 
 
 She came impulsively toward him. 
 
 " Ah," she exclaimed eagerly, " your personal influ 
 ence, your dignity of character is as strong now as 
 then." 
 
 The sweet conviction of her tone filled him with un 
 reasoning gladness. 
 
 " I never had any of those lofty attributes," he 
 returned quietly, " and you cannot deny that a man s 
 influence is practically stronger, when he is able to en 
 force his arguments with deeds. When, for instance, 
 I could shoot a man who insulted me, or knock him 
 down, I had what I call influence." 
 
 " Did you ever shoot a man ? " 
 
 " No," he said smiling. 
 
 " And if you ever had shot one, I don t doubt it 
 would have made you miserable all your life. I can 
 imagine a better influence than that kind," she said 
 very sweetly, " and you exerting it. But you observe 
 this is no question of pistols, for one can t shoot 
 women." 
 
 " I have often sincerely wished that one could." 
 
 " Mousey, my gold-dog, my jewel, my treasure, 
 come and hear how dull and pedantic these young 
 people are ! " cried the countess in French. " Gabri- 
 elle, if you had chosen to consult me, I could have told 
 you what a man ought to do. I think that my opinion 
 upon social questions ought to have as much weight at 
 least as Hugo s. The man should as soon as possi 
 ble simply change the subject if it is not agreeable to 
 him. If he defends the woman, in all probability he 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 335 
 
 damages her. For all the ladies smile significantly, 
 and retort, Ah, yes, of course you defend her ! So 
 she gets one more rap, and very likely deserves it ! " 
 laughed the old lady. 
 
 " That is precisely what I heard this morning," Ga- 
 brielle rejoined quietly. 
 
 " What else could you hear from rational people ? " 
 demanded the countess complacently. 
 
 "But you, what do you say?" and Gabrielle 
 turned again to Hugo. 
 
 " I usually acted in those days on the impulse of 
 the moment," he began, speaking, it seemed to her, as 
 a disembodied spirit might allude to his life ages ago, 
 " but I believe I usually had the decency to lie, if 
 a woman s reputation was at stake. A man has to 
 do it now and then to preserve the balance, for the 
 woman s lie is often against the woman." 
 
 " You speak so carelessly of lies," sighed the coun 
 tess. 
 
 " If I believed the woman guilty of any indiscretion, 
 I should certainly have had no desire to throw stones 
 at her. I should have held my peace, if possible ; but 
 if set upon by a tough brigade of old drawing-room 
 gossips " 
 
 " I admire your language, Hugo ! " 
 
 " Thank you, mamma. If brought to bay, and 
 forced to deliver my opinion, of course I should have 
 expressed myself unhesitatingly in favor of the ac 
 cused." 
 
 " But if you knew her, and liked her," persisted Ga 
 brielle, " and believed in her ? " 
 
 " I should have asserted my respect for her and 
 confidence in her until I was black in the face and my 
 hearers were exhausted." 
 
336 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Of course ! " cried Gabrielle triumphantly. " I 
 knew you would say that." 
 
 " And you could not do anything less wise, Hugo. 
 You could not more signally blast the woman s repu 
 tation." 
 
 " Why should an honest man deign to consider the 
 possible inferences of low minds ? " 
 
 " That is your extravagant way of expressing your 
 self, Gabrielle. If he is sensible, he will conform to 
 the methods of society." 
 
 " If society is so cowardly and so cruel, it seems 
 to me that it is still very uncivilized," retorted the 
 young girl. 
 
 " Possibly," said the countess, laughing, " but your 
 views will not be apt to transform it. If the woman 
 is young and pretty, he d better not defend her too 
 valiantly ; and if she is old and ugly, she s not at 
 tacked." 
 
 " I had a curious experience in the country once," 
 said Hugo. " I was riding from a friend s place, and 
 had stopped in a small town to let my horse rest a 
 couple of hours. I saw a crowd going into the court 
 house, and followed. They were trying no less a per 
 son than their bin-germeister for falsifying deeds and 
 obtaining money fraudulently. He was a young man 
 still, with a good face. He was terribly hard hit. I 
 was sorry for the poor fellow." 
 
 " Was he guilty ? " Gabrielle asked. 
 
 " There would be no doubt of that. He had a 
 childish, silly wife whom he adored. It seems he 
 could refuse her nothing, and she had insisted upon 
 living beyond their means. However, that is the old 
 story. But I learned something that was new to me 
 at least." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 337 
 
 " Come, Mousey, my heart s delight, and listen to 
 the words of wisdom of Hugo the preacher. And 
 don t run after that low dog that is insulting you be 
 yond the gate." 
 
 "Because, my heart s delight," added Hugo po 
 litely, " that low dog, if I read his eye aright, won t 
 stand much nonsense, and for once in your life you 
 may meet with your deserts. I listened to the argu 
 ments for and against the biirgermeister," he con 
 tinued, " and was struck with the brilliancy of the 
 prosecuting attorney for the crown and the weakness 
 of the prisoner s counsel. Near me, among the spec 
 tators, was a distinguished attorney whom I had met 
 at home. Why does n t he have a decent man 
 to defend him ? I asked. 4 If he were innocent, 
 that man s gabble would be disastrous. The lawyer 
 laughed. Oh, he does n t need brains to plead for 
 him, he answered. The sympathies of the court are 
 with him, the spectators wish him well, and the coun 
 try jury, every man of them sitting there looking so 
 superhumanly stolid, thinks in his heart that the 
 poor fellow ought to get the lightest possible punish 
 ment. General sympathy is usually with a prisoner, 
 he went on, except in one instance, when a woman 
 is on trial. Then, singularly enough, all the women 
 are clamorous for her condemnation. I was sur 
 prised, but he declared that in a long experience this 
 had invariably been the case. He said, If a man 
 is accused of almost any known crime, the mass of 
 the people usually hope that he may be acquitted, 
 or receive the smallest punishment. If a woman is 
 accused, the women fiercely proclaim her guilt and 
 declare that no fate is bad enough for her. " 
 
 " It is a libel," said the countess. 
 
338 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I don t know anything about it. I merely repeat 
 what an expert told me." 
 
 "Then what earthly difference does it make how 
 common women who go to common trials conduct 
 themselves ? " the countess remarked with airy dis 
 dain. " That s right, my blessing ! Stand at a safe 
 distance, and tell him that he is a low fellow. Tell 
 him that he s a snob and you are a gentleman. Hear 
 his little bark ! " 
 
 " But there is no way of not hearing it unless a 
 benevolent Providence should strike us with deafness," 
 Hugo returned impatiently. 
 
 " Did the attorney say why the women are so 
 hard ? " asked Gabrielle, who had stood near Hugo, 
 listening earnestly. 
 
 " He said that he had never been able to decide 
 whether it was sheer cruelty, or something quite dif 
 ferent, an extreme desire to guard the sacredness 
 of their order, a jealous sense of honor repudiating 
 the slightest stain. I ventured to say that according 
 to the second theory, the vestal virgins must have 
 felt a grim delight when one of their number was 
 buried alive." 
 
 " I am afraid that they feel it still," said Gabrielle 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " When I was young," began the countess, " we 
 used to talk of things somewhat more modern than 
 vestal virgins, and more sprightly than provincial 
 courts. We did not resurrect such mouldy subjects. 
 Oh," she screamed violently, " he will kill him ! O Ga 
 brielle ! O my sweet angel ! O Hugo ! O my poor 
 love ! " 
 
 She started towards the scene of contest, while 
 Gabrielle ran quickly past her and gathered up 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 339 
 
 Mousey, whom the low snob had seized by the nape of 
 the neck and vigorously shaken. Mousey sobbed and 
 spluttered and complained, but was evidently more 
 frightened than hurt. The countess thought that 
 she must faint, but observing Hugo s smile, concluded 
 that she would not. 
 
 " Send for a surgeon, Gabrielle. Send Leible. 
 No, Babette goes faster. Get the arnica. Get some 
 bandages. No, stay here. I feel so ill. Run for the 
 sal volatile. Can t anybody do anything for the poor 
 little suffering dumb doggie ? " 
 
 " He s not dumb. He s swearing like a dra 
 goon," said Hugo, who had taken the animal from 
 Gabrielle, and was examining him. " The other fellow 
 has only chewed him a little. The teeth have made 
 a good impression, but they have not penetrated his 
 sacred skin. He will feel swollen and uncomfortable 
 for a day or two, but if you diet him, mamma, I don t 
 think you 11 have to take him to Pasteur." 
 
 The tearful, trembling, white-faced old lady, the 
 tiny yellow dog sitting on Hugo s breast, and relating 
 with many execrations the tale of his woes, and de 
 manding, like a human sufferer, as much sympathy 
 as if he had not deserved them, and Hugo with his 
 languid, ironical seriousness, were a curious group. 
 Gabrielle endeavored to restrain her laughter, but it 
 crept into her voice and eyes. 
 
 "How heartless you both are! Come to your 
 Mumsey, precious ! " 
 
 Mousey snapped at her and manifested a perverse 
 preference for Hugo. 
 
 "I warned you, you fiend," said Hugo looking 
 straight into the dog s eyes. " I saw the breadth 
 of beam in the other fellow s jaw. And he was not 
 
840 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 quite big enough to bear your insolence. He had not 
 the chivalrous sentiments upon which you usually 
 speculate with safety. But he was generous after all, 
 Mousey. He could have slain you, and he only 
 choked and shook you and went his way. But if that 
 dog should come again, beware ! Don t call him 
 names, and tell him that he s a street-dog and a snob ! 
 Not if you value your life, you concentrated es 
 sence of sneak ! " 
 
 The dog, steadily returning Hugo s gaze, listened 
 to the low voice, and when it ceased slunk down and 
 crept whining to the countess. 
 
 " See how he loves me ! " she cried. " Don t speak 
 of that monster to him, Hugo, and don t talk to him 
 so cruelly. He cannot bear it, the little maltreated, 
 tender-hearted lambkin ! Was he abused by a great 
 ferocious brute-beast ? Yes, so he was ! " She held 
 him against her shoulder, laid her cheek on his head, 
 and kissed him many times. " I will give him six 
 globules of aconite. He will be feverish after this 
 excitement. I shall alternate with aconite and bella 
 donna, and keep a cold compress on his poor neck. 
 And I will sit with him and comfort him. Come, 
 Gabrielle, you can help entertain him. I shall not 
 drive this afternoon. Gabrielle, countermand the car 
 riage. As if I would go away, and leave my poor 
 little lonely, sensitive, suffering darling ! Gabrielle, 
 if you had been watchful, it would never have oc 
 curred," she concluded in a rasping tone. 
 
 Hugo started and was about to speak, but reconsid 
 ered, and watched Gabrielle, who, stepping forward, 
 took the dog under her arm. 
 
 " Shall I not carry him for you, Aunt Adelheid ? " 
 she said calmly, and they started toward the house. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 341 
 
 " I have n t cut the leaves of the last Revue de 
 Deux Mondes. Here it is. Don t you want to read 
 it to him?" Hugo called after them. " Or the Nord 
 und Sud ? " But the countess marched on unheeding. 
 
 Suddenly Gabrielle turned, went back to the wheel 
 chair, and extended her hand without a word ; but her 
 eyes were luminous, and she smiled wondrously on 
 Hugo, and shook her head slightly as if she could not 
 or would not speak, and her soft glance lingered upon 
 his shawls and cushions and crutches, and the gentle 
 pressure of her hand seemed to convey to him a 
 tender and comforting message. It was but a mo 
 ment, and she was gone, but the pantomime recurred 
 to him in his solitude, and largely occupied his 
 thoughts, while the countess and Gabrielle and Ba- 
 bette and Roschen and Leible were one and all em 
 ployed in tearing linen for bandages, and running for 
 rose-water and lead-water and beef-tea and barley- 
 broth and oatmeal gruel, and circling about the cush 
 ion on the centre-table, where the little blinking 
 black-eyed rascal with his swollen neck lay in state 
 and was waited upon by his hand-maids. And if the 
 countess could have had him serenaded by the king s 
 most skilful musicians and chief singers, or could 
 have produced a troupe of ballet-girls to dance before 
 him, she would have been better satisfied. 
 
 " The pathetic thing is that he cannot speak, can 
 not tell me what he wants, if his head aches, if he still 
 feels sad. Look at those eyes. Ah, the sweet mar- 
 tyrl" 
 
 She sat near him and clasped his paw. 
 
 "Hugo may scoff, but I often do read to Mousey. 
 He likes it, it is soothing. And I would read till I 
 was hoarse, if it would calm his nerves, his poor, dear, 
 
342 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 little quivering Eolian-harp nerves ! Is n t it pathetic, 
 Gabrielle ? " 
 
 And Gabrielle, looking at the old woman and her 
 one love, shook her head with a queer little motion 
 which she had taken up of late to express the un 
 speakable, and murmured : 
 
 " Yes, it is pathetic. Indeed, indeed it is." 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE weather grew suddenly warm, which the coun 
 tess resented as a personal affront on the part of 
 Providence. She announced to Gabrielle immedi 
 ately after one of the Frau Major s Thursdays 
 that she was thinking of running over to Baden-Baden 
 for a few days. Wyiiburg people were apt, in May, 
 to talk of running over to Baden, but the process in 
 the case of the countess was light and rapid only in 
 name. There was indeed a vast amount of running 
 accomplished, but it was performed by servants and 
 shopboys, and the transportation of her accoutrements 
 and Mousey s was nearly as arduous as the furnish 
 ing of a man-of-war, and far more agitating. The 
 tubs elected to make the slight journey, the predes 
 tined easy-chair and foot-stool and foreordained dog 
 house, together with other heavy and cumbersome 
 objects, and the row of traps and trunks which the 
 countess deemed necessary to sustain life amid the 
 rigors of a hotel, were finally conveyed to Baden- 
 Baden with the countess, Gabrielle, and Mousey in a 
 reserved coupe, Babette, Roschen, and Leible in an 
 other, and a special wagon for the Kronfels luggage. 
 
 The countess abhorred hotels. She could not con 
 trol strangers pianos, and it seemed, indeed, that 
 the ubiquitous Maiden s Prayer which lurks in 
 ambush upon every route of summer travel on the 
 earth, though sometimes dormant from exhaustion 
 thrilled with new life and vigor at her approach. She 
 
344 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 was obviously powerless to prevent waiters and maids 
 from running about the corridors at all hours, and 
 the consciousness that other people had wishes and 
 were actually ringing bells to indicate them, filled her 
 with incredulous rage. Her high grade of animosity 
 amounted to disease. Mousey too was wretched. His 
 movements were more restricted than at home. He 
 had not a whole great house, and all that therein was, 
 at his sovereign disposal. He had no green and 
 shady garden. When he listened and yelped at 
 doors, some profane foot was apt to come out and 
 kick him. Neither he nor his mistress possessed, 
 even in their better moments, the animus of Abou Ben 
 Adhem may his tribe increase ! but how promptly, 
 how thoroughly, and with what satisfaction their fel 
 low-men were ready to reciprocate their hostile senti 
 ments, they realized only in travelling, in hotels, and 
 in crowds, where they found the huge selfishness of 
 humanity an appalling evil. Certain English boys 
 who approached Mousey amicably and were seized by 
 his feeble teeth cuffed him soundly, and, what was 
 harder for him to bear, jeered at the shape of his 
 hind-quarters. He suffered from other disillusions, 
 and was continually rushing to the countess in what 
 she called high fever and treated with aconite. After 
 wards he would have the sulks, which she called lassi 
 tude and treated with China. 
 
 Gabrielle had reason to ponder upon some prob 
 lems in the fine measurement of forces. If the ther 
 mometer indicated 90 in the shade, how much hotter 
 did a fidgety and utterly unreasonable old lady make 
 the atmosphere ! Also, how much did the mercury 
 fall, under the cooling influence of a persistently 
 suave presence ! For Frau von Funnel was in Baden- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 345 
 
 Baden, as guest indeed of the Countess Kronfels, and 
 had brought " dear Sofie, one of her special pets, so 
 sweet-tempered, so dainty, so noble, so sympathetic, so 
 like a little field-flower." 
 
 It struck Gabrielle that no girl could be less like a 
 flower of the field than Sofie Gobert, and some of 
 these adjectives impressed her as humorous. But she 
 had a dawning perception that society was not apt to 
 painfully strain its attention listening to the praises 
 of any mortal, and that the Frau Major s soft and 
 brilliantly irrelevant eulogies were rarely subjected to 
 much comment, but served rather to fill gaps in a 
 lukewarm conversation, with their womanly and be 
 nevolent hum, which redounded to her reputation for 
 goodness, and at least did no harm to her protegee. 
 Gabrielle s attitude toward her was now one of 
 unceasing watchfulness, for which she occasionally 
 reproached herself, without, however, being able to 
 relax her vigilance. She belonged no more to the 
 Frau Major s Legion of adoring and docile girls. 
 Without discussion, without explanation, she had 
 gradually withdrawn, and stood aloof with intelli 
 gently critical eyes, of whose significant gaze the lady 
 was thoroughly aware. Why the Frau Major desired 
 her to marry Lorenz von Raven, Gabrielle could not 
 comprehend ; still more mysterious was the new-born 
 enthusiasm for Sofie. Yet she was fervently thankful 
 for the sweet tranquillity and unfaltering tact with 
 which Frau von Funnel steered her ponderous and 
 perverse friend. And in those days of heat and toil, 
 of watching races under a blazing sun, and staring 
 at far-off bits of red and blue which meant officers, 
 revolving round a white road that glared and hurt 
 one s eyes ; of driving and dressing, and meeting the 
 
346 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 upper half of Wynburg, from the Waldenbergs down 
 to the little Meyers Gabrielle, weary of the heat- 
 lightning of blame continually playing about her head, 
 weary of Lieutenant von Kaven s attentions, and of 
 Sofie Gobert s jealousy, thinking much and longingly 
 of a quiet outstretched figure, a dark and wasted face 
 with hollow eyes which she had last seen under the 
 great chestnut-trees behind the villa, gravely admitted 
 that although the Frau Major s methods were tortuous 
 and inscrutable, it was nevertheless a great virtue to 
 have a supple temper, and unfathomable patience. 
 
 Meanwhile Hugo was discovering that he had been 
 having for weeks a species of companionship, some 
 times unconscious but always dangerous, with a 
 charming girl, and that the villa was dull and gloomy 
 without her. He had heard her step in the rooms 
 above, her voice at the casement ; he had seen her 
 pure features as she passed in the carriage ; he had 
 felt her presence for months in the house even when 
 he had wilfully barricaded his heart against her, and 
 recently there had been indeed various moments of 
 friendly intercourse, brief but memorable to him. He 
 missed her, and acknowledged it with profound sad 
 ness, but calmly. Once it would have created a storm 
 of rebellion, now it was pain to miss her, but a pain 
 which he would not be without. He thought of her 
 incessantly, picturing what he would do, if he were 
 a well man. He loved her. He knew he must love 
 her. He had known it the moment he looked up in 
 her face in the garden. He had fought against it. 
 He had denied it. Now he could fight no longer. 
 This too he must bear, this too would pass away. 
 
 He was more than ever alone now, for Dietz was 
 gone. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 347 
 
 " I wish you would go down and take a look at 
 those children," Hugo had said one day to Bernhard. 
 " Everything is beautiful by letter, but it would be 
 a satisfaction to me to send my own envoy." 
 
 " I ? " Dietz returned with a start. " I go down 
 there?" 
 
 " Why yes, if you would be so kind, and since I 
 can t," rejoined Hugo, at a loss to understand the 
 man s delighted yet timid expression. 
 
 After a while Bernhard suggested gravely, " It will 
 cost a mint of money." 
 
 Hugo glanced up with a surprised smile, but meet 
 ing something childlike in the big man s gaze, returned 
 soberly : 
 
 " I can save it in shoe-leather." 
 
 Dietz ruminated again. 
 
 " I don t know the language." 
 
 " There are interpreters enough. Better still, take 
 somebody along who speaks Italian, and who would 
 like to go." 
 
 " But," began Bernhard with his air of frugal fore 
 thought. 
 
 " I can save his expenses in gloves and cravats," 
 Hugo interrupted quickly, anticipating his objection 
 with a laugh. " My dear fellow, are you determined 
 to make me ashamed of myself, remembering how 
 much money I used to spend on nothing, on clothes 
 that I never wore, on suppers that nobody ate, be 
 cause there was too much expensive wine to drink ; 
 or are you too proud to take anything from me," he 
 went on gently, " who take so much from you, 
 time and care and patience and moral lectures, in 
 short, everything that I can get ? " 
 
 Dietz walked away a few steps, and when he re- 
 
348 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 turned there was the same pleased softened look in 
 his face. 
 
 " It is because I want to go," he said simply. " It 
 seems too much." 
 
 " Oh, you want to go." 
 
 " I have wanted to go down there for years and 
 years." 
 
 " My dear fellow " 
 
 " And I never thought of being proud, as you call 
 it. I don t know what you mean. It s natural that 
 you d like to see those children, or send somebody to 
 look as nearly as possible with your eyes. But I don t 
 know whether I am the right man, and I want to go 
 too much to judge." 
 
 " You are the only man I intend to send," Hugo 
 retorted with decision. " I have been waiting for you 
 to finish that last window. You have been disgrace 
 fully lazy and slow with it. You are always wasting 
 your time on the maimed and the halt. If you won t 
 go for me, nobody shall. It is your verdict that I 
 want. I want you to talk with the poor little devils. 
 You can talk with them after a fashion, if you don t 
 know Italian. You can find out what more they want 
 and if they like the things they have. I want to 
 know how they look, and how they take it, and what 
 their names are, and who is getting better. I want to 
 knc who scowls, and takes it hardest, and makes the 
 most trouble, he s my boy ! You d be surprised to 
 know how curious I feel," he admitted in a somewhat 
 shamefaced manner. " The consul lays the business 
 documents faithfully before me, as you saw the other 
 day, I see the doctor s reports, and the head nurse 
 writes to the Honored Protector ; she thinks I m a 
 venerable old party. But I want you to report to 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 349 
 
 Hugo Kronfels, you understand. It would be awfully 
 good of you, Dietz. They say they have got two 
 nouses with a garden between. You can sketch it. 
 I want the dimensions and every detail. I want to 
 know about the baths and the ventilation and the 
 drains. I m great on drains. It s a talent which I 
 inherit from my mother. And look well at each little 
 beggar, will you ? Find out where his pains are, and 
 what particular form of smash has clutched him. It 
 is astonishing how solicitous one grows, when one 
 suddenly finds one s self the father of a large family, 
 all of them resembling their papa." 
 
 Bernhard stared straight before him with smiling 
 happy eyes. 
 
 " There s a man I know who might go, count. 
 He s a waiter. He s had to stop work. His lungs 
 are weak. He knows Italian. Perhaps he d be glad 
 of the chance to go and stay down there." 
 
 " Take him along by all means. Offer him his ex 
 penses and whatever you think best besides. Offer 
 him something cheerful. Don t haggle with a con 
 sumptive, you miser." 
 
 " I don t deserve luck like this," Bernhard pro 
 tested. " No, I never expected this." 
 
 " And of course, since you are there, you will have 
 to run down to Florence and Rome," Hugo added in 
 an off-hand manner. 
 
 " That s what takes hold of me the thought of 
 seeing the things I Ve read about. I ve got a reason 
 for wanting to see them. But I can go myself. Be 
 ing down there, you know, I could manage it. And 
 going to Florence for my pleasure would n t be your 
 errand," he explained carefully. 
 
 " I know it s not my errand, although I could easily 
 
350 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 invent something for you to do for me, and you 
 are such a simpleton you d believe me, but can t 
 you do that much to please me, Dietz ? " Hugo said 
 quietly. 
 
 Bernhard looked at him long, slowly, very slowly 
 it seemed to Hugo, making up his mind. 
 
 " I 11 go anywhere you like, count," he finally an 
 swered. 
 
 Hugo held out his hand quickly. 
 
 " Thanks, Dietz," he said. After a moment he 
 resumed : " You are the most obstinate man I know, 
 and a tyrant to boot. I m proud of having my way 
 for once with you. If you 11 hunt up your travelling 
 companion, and make your preparations, I 11 jot down 
 a few notes for you, and you might start to-night," he 
 proposed with the eagerness of an invalid to set things 
 in motion. 
 
 Bernhard s face fell. How could he go to Italy 
 without taking leave of Roschen? And she was still 
 in Baden-Baden. 
 
 The count smiled. 
 
 " Nobody knows when they 11 come home," he said. 
 " They may go somewhere else. My mother hates 
 travelling, but once started, she s capable of going to 
 Jericho." 
 
 Bernhard nodded gravely. He believed her capable 
 of this and worse. 
 
 " Then I 11 go to-night," he agreed. " She 11 be 
 safe in your house," he added simply. 
 
 "Oh, that s all right, that s all right," Hugo re 
 turned hastily, and not perhaps with perfect sympathy. 
 How a noble fellow like Dietz could worship a common, 
 empty-headed girl like Eoschen was incomprehensible 
 to him, and when any allusion was made to her, which 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 351 
 
 was rare, he instinctively dropped the subject without 
 delay. But after Bernhard had held his hand in a cor 
 dial farewell grasp, and beamed his warm parting smile 
 down upon him, Hugo was led to speculate upon the 
 nature of the bond between these apparently incompat 
 ible temperaments. After all, he reflected, it proba 
 bly made more impression upon him, because he liked 
 Dietz. In the great world, people were as queerly 
 matched, for the most part. The twin-soul theory was 
 very pretty in books, but in life a man seemed usually 
 to get somebody s else twin. If he had head and heart, 
 his wife as often as not was a little shrew, and many a 
 glorious woman was chained to a vulgar fool. He re 
 membered that his comrades had frequently filled him 
 with amazement by marrying women in whom he saw 
 no charm, and that he had indeed been inclined to view 
 their matrimonial ventures skeptically, suspecting a 
 hoax, as in their other escapades. It was as difficult 
 to realize another man s passion as his rheumatism, 
 unless he happened to offer his devotion to the woman 
 one loved one s self. But Dietz adored the girl. That 
 was evident. Each time this idea presented itself to 
 Hugo, he was conscious of the necessity of carefully 
 putting himself in a receptive condition, before he 
 could imbibe it. This was not in the least, he assured 
 himself, because Roschen occupied a menial position 
 in his house. Bernhard s personality had been a rich 
 revelation to him, the man s strength and sweetness 
 impressed him profoundly, his affection for him was 
 great, his crippled condition was in itself so thorough 
 a leveller of petty worldly distinctions, or rather a 
 marvellous alembic for the distillation of the purely 
 human quality ; and all in all he felt himself capable 
 of largely indulgent views toward any woman dear to 
 
352 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Dietz, provided she were not Rbschen. Pie could 
 imagine the woman for Dietz. But Dietz hadn t 
 asked his advice. He had chosen for himself with the 
 imbecile aplomb of a lieutenant and he had chosen 
 Roschen with her vain inviting eyes, her love of taw 
 dry finery, and her bold vulgarity suitable to a third 
 rate cafe, chantunt. And it was no use to call his in 
 fatuation extraordinary. It was not, it happened 
 every day to the wisest and the best ; and the kindest 
 thing a friend could wish was that his eyes would never 
 look upon the girl with less delight and more discrim 
 ination, but it was a sad sort of business when all was 
 said. 
 
 Hugo found that there was always a breath of air 
 stirring in the poplars and the pines by the little foun 
 tain, those warm mornings. It was out there that he 
 saw Gabrielle first. It was cooler under the chestnut 
 trees, later in the day. It was there that he had seen 
 her last. Here he would lie until the dusk came and 
 the bats, and long after, motionless, invisible in the 
 deep shadows, watching the stars and breathing the 
 cool perfumes of the night. The roses had bloomed 
 in profusion, and the garden was full of their fra 
 grance. That would please her when she came. Be 
 hind the villa was a narrow road along the vineyards, 
 a branch of the lane that farther on ran between 
 high walls and gardens to Leslach. It seemed to him 
 that he had never realized what a vast number of 
 lovers there was in the world, until he heard all the 
 sighs and vows and amorous plaints, rising and falling, 
 ebbing and flowing in this little lane. For hours 
 he would listen to lingering footsteps, to low laughter, 
 to murmurs and pleadings and feigned repulses, and 
 protests lost again in the distance as a couple walked 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 353 
 
 on. His hearing was keen, and it seemed to him he 
 was learning to recognize some of these regularly re 
 curring simple swains. There was a girl with a fresh 
 young voice, and her sweetheart had a shuffling gait. 
 They came every evening, and after their blissful half 
 hour his heavy feet went in one direction, and her 
 light ones ran off in the other ; but regularly every 
 night before the parting was entirely accomplished 
 it always took place with relapses the girl modestly 
 exclaimed : " Now how can you, Wilhelm ! " But 
 Hugo observed, and not without a certain altruistic 
 satisfaction, that Wilhelm always could. 
 
 Not all were young and innocent like Wilhelm and 
 his demure fresh-voiced little girl, who, for whatever 
 reasons she met him clandestinely, always tripped 
 away from the trysting-place with a light and inno 
 cent heart. Hugo invented for them a combination 
 of cruel parents, patient waiting, hard work and pov 
 erty, and wondered if Wilhelm knew how blessed he 
 was to be able to wander up and down that lane in the 
 starlight, hand in hand with the girl he loved. There 
 were unhappy couples too, weeping comfortless women 
 or a man s voice, urging and begging in vain, and 
 meeting in response only a flippant indifferent word 
 or stubborn silence. Hugo found himself feeling 
 kindly to all these shadows of the night, these invisi 
 ble beings with voices, flitting past him, each with a 
 hope or a grief in the heart, and he wished them well, 
 all of them, the just and the unjust, the guilty and the 
 innocent. All this sort of thing had always been 
 going on, he reflected ; yet once these wandering 
 couples would not have occupied his thoughts an in 
 stant unless he had chanced to meet one face to face, 
 when he would have passed with the careless reflection 
 
354 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 that policemen and maidservants must have their lit 
 tle recreations as well as lieutenants. But now he re 
 garded it all differently, he was sorry for them. They 
 were not simply common people idly making love in 
 the lane because not privileged to idly make love in 
 drawing-rooms. They were human hearts, born to 
 suffer, to hope, and to die. There was feeling even in 
 the fragmentary tones reaching him, often without 
 words and after long silences. 
 
 Night after night he remained late beneath the 
 drooping chestnut branches, and Lipps, who feared that 
 these vigils would recall the old dumb mood, was re 
 lieved to see that his master s face, when he brought 
 him into his lighted rooms, was tranquil. It seemed to 
 Hugo that his eyes were beginning to see clearer in 
 the darkness than in the light of the careless old 
 days, and that the nights were bringing counsel, from 
 whence, from whom, he did not ask. His thoughts 
 followed Bernhard, and pictured the big gentle fellow, 
 with his lovely voice and kind eyes, among the cot-beds 
 of the injured children. But whatever Hugo thought, 
 whether of Bernhard, or the little cripples, or the lov 
 ers in the lane, whether of the past or the future, of 
 life or death, of immortality or annihilation, Gabrielle 
 was the beginning and the end of his musings, and the 
 link between the most widely disconnected themes. 
 She was his one delight, she was unspeakable sorrow 
 to him. 
 
 Staring up into the starlit heavens, he felt keenly, 
 but without the old petulance of his self-centred grief, 
 that a vast mass of hopeless misery was revolving with 
 our insensible old planet. Yet was there nothing 
 else ? The shadowy, fugitive, hushed voices in the 
 dusk, the languorous breath of the rose-garden, the 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 355 
 
 tender stir of birds in the black foliage above him, 
 whispered to him of something in the world that was 
 not misery, while above all his own heart solemnly 
 warned him that there was something stronger than 
 misery or happiness or pain or death. As he mused 
 thus, a woman s sob broke on the stillness. "Poor 
 atoms that we are," he thought ; " and life, a point 
 in eternity, why can she not take it quietly ? And 
 I ? What have I been but a peevish boy ? What if it 
 should be better to bear it, as Dietz says? To en 
 dure quietly, with one s eyes wide open on one s losses, 
 to endure with the nerves throbbing with pain to 
 endure to the end? It cannot all be purposeless. 
 Unless Cruelty governs the universe, there must be 
 some meaning in suffering." The little black book 
 was in his breast pocket. He touched it with a kind 
 of affection. " Who knows ? " he thought wearily. 
 " Yet what if it were better, after all, to endure, 
 to love, to be a decent kind of friend, to use what 
 one has left, to be patient with one s broken life ? " 
 It was only a query, a thought, but having come 
 once, it came often. It remained with him, and gained 
 ground. 
 
 One day he received two letters which diverted him 
 greatly. He played with them, comparing one with 
 the other so often that he finally began to assure him 
 self somewhat apologetically that a man who lies, day 
 in, day out, on his back may be pardoned for making 
 much of trifles ; that when he was in active life he 
 had been uncommonly busy all the time riding various 
 horses, drilling his men, looking into the eyes of 
 pretty women, making visits on all the old dowagers, 
 dancing hard, eating well-chosen dinners, drinking 
 good wines, strolling with his comrades in fashionable 
 
356 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 streets, playing baccarat, and doing other equally im 
 portant and indispensable things. Now, in his species 
 of solitary confinement, deprived of his legitimate 
 lieutenant- joys, his own thoughts were his friends or 
 enemies, and human character the one spectacle which 
 never failed to exhibit itself before his peculiar pro- 
 scenium-loge. From over-much musing upon himself, 
 he was gradually working round to long meditations 
 upon others. His fellow mortals had become interest 
 ing to him. Even Lipps s familiar, patient counte 
 nance, with its deep wrinkles, had a new meaning, as 
 it bent over him solicitously. It seemed to him that 
 there was a large amount of human nature in the let 
 ters. 
 
 One was from Florence, and to the effect that the 
 little chaps in Ancona were doing well ; sketches and 
 notes taken as per order ; that there was a little fellow 
 with big black eyes and a bad hip who scowled as 
 hard as the count himself, a fine little fellow and 
 plucky ; that the head nurse was a kind woman and 
 knew what she was about ; that it was a pleasure 
 to see things so comfortable, and the count was lucky 
 to have heart enough and money enough to help 
 along ; that the sky was blue and there were no end 
 of things to see clown there ; that the waiter was a 
 good fellow, and had got an easier situation and was 
 happy and would stay ; that after taking a peep at 
 Rome, the writer would turn about and start for home, 
 which, after all, was the best place for a man, but it 
 was a great thing to see what the great ones had 
 thought out and made ; that he hoped the count did 
 not forget to do his walking every day, for it was nat 
 ural not to waste what one had left, and the writer 
 would be mighty glad to hand him his crutches again ; 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 357 
 
 that there was no need of knowing a language when 
 everybody was so smiling and pleasant ; when he was 
 hungry he pointed to his mouth, and nobody failed to 
 understand that ; and when he lost his way, he pointed 
 to a name in his book, and there was always some 
 body to walk along with him, sometimes a man, some 
 times a woman, sometimes a child, who would take his 
 hand and lead him, and chatter to him as pretty as 
 music. But when a man had home-people to think 
 about, besides something particular that he d got in 
 his head, he would n t have time to talk to foreigners, 
 even if he knew how. But kind they were, that he 
 should always say, a sweet-tempered, sweet-spoken, 
 uncommonly obliging folk. The weather was pretty 
 hot, but no more than might be expected anywhere 
 in the month of June, besides being natural and 
 proper to Italy, which was a warm climate. The let 
 ter closed with somewhat old-fashioned expressions of 
 duty and respect, and it diffused from its simple pages 
 an atmosphere of affection, common-sense, and invigo 
 rating good will. 
 
 The other letter was from Baden, and informed him 
 that they were having simply intolerable weather, and 
 Hugo could not imagine how she suffered. Her neu 
 ralgia was excruciating, and she had not the slightest 
 appetite. Neither she nor Mousey had been able to 
 touch a morsel for days. Her condition made as 
 usual no impression upon Gabrielle, who was occupied 
 solely in amusing herself, dressing, driving, and en 
 couraging Lorenz von Raven most pointedly. If she 
 did not marry him, she ought to, and that was the 
 opinion of most people. For her own part, she knew 
 Gabrielle was cold, and she suspected her of being 
 designing, and only wished she could find an unselfish 
 
358 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 and sympathetic girl who would be a true friend. She 
 was not at all sure but that Sofie Gobert might be a 
 nice person to go to the Riviera with her next winter. 
 Hugo knew that she had remained at home last year 
 entirely upon his account, and very willingly of course, 
 for she shrank from no sacrifice which it was a mo 
 ther s duty to make for an invalid son, but he was so 
 comfortable now, and her chest was so troublesome ! 
 Sofie Gobert had perhaps not read so many books as 
 Gabrielle, but Sofie was sweet-tempered. The Frau 
 Major, who knew her intimately, said her temper was 
 heavenly ; and when a girl read great authors, that 
 is, unexpurgated editions, it made her strong minded 
 and radical, there could be no doubt of that. Sofie 
 had been driving with them several times, was very 
 gentle and attentive, and extremely devoted to Mousey. 
 She, the countess, had decided upon nothing, and 
 certainly was most unfortunate in always being de 
 ceived in people after lavishing so much affection 
 and every luxury on them, and in being obliged to 
 change so often. If she had only had a daughter, she 
 would have understood her. 
 
 As for Baden, it grew more common every year. It 
 was crowded with cockney English, and vulgar Amer 
 icans. They had been in three hotels in ten days, and 
 each was as dirty, as noisy, and had as execrable a 
 cuisine as the last. What was worse, she was positive 
 that where they now were the drains were defective, 
 and she was therefore coming home immediately, and 
 would arrive the following day. She was so peculiarly 
 sensitive to poisonous and malarial influences, she 
 scarcely expected to escape without a fever. The Frau 
 Major and Sofie thoroughly agreed with her, and they 
 all had taken quinine twice a day regularly together. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 359 
 
 Gabrielle laughed unfeelingly and refused to admit 
 that she perceived the slightest taint in the atmos 
 phere. Hugo would please tell Lipps to tell Leible 
 to tell the housekeeper to air the rooms and her bed 
 all day. Babette had written to announce their ar 
 rival and give the necessary orders, but they were all 
 so negligent there was no knowing what they would do, 
 and as she had not had a wink of sleep since she had 
 been in Baden, she hoped that it was not too much to 
 expect that her own home could be properly made 
 ready for her. The cook should prepare a little sup 
 per some salmon and mayonnaise, and some sweet 
 breads and artichokes, and strawberries and cream, 
 and any little trifle in the way of pastry that might 
 tempt her appetite. After the heat, and the discom 
 fort, and the obnoxious food, and being in all proba 
 bility threatened with typhoid fever, she needed to be 
 built, up, for she was simply exhausted, but remained 
 Hugo s faithful, devoted, and most loving mother. 
 
 When they returned, late that evening, Gabrielle 
 far down the drive watched for his light, and seeing 
 none concluded that he was already asleep. Con 
 cealed in the blackness of darkness, under his tree, 
 he listened to the carriages and the luggage-van drive 
 up, and to all the commotion incident to the arrival, 
 the hurrying steps in suddenly lighted rooms, his 
 mother s imperious voice, and Mousey s bark and bell. 
 The whole house grew alive and busy, then relapsed 
 into comparative quiet, as the countess withdrew into 
 her own apartments on the other side. Lipps came 
 out to report the progress of events and to ask if the 
 count wished to be brought in. But Gabrielle was 
 there behind those walls, and Hugo felt sleepless. 
 
 " It s too warm to go to bed," he told the servant. 
 
360 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Take a nap yourself, if you wish, and leave me for a 
 while. You always hear my whistle, asleep or awake." 
 
 The fragrant, languid summer night seemed to 
 descend upon him and fold its soft wings more closely 
 about him. The house was dark, except for a light 
 in the butler s pantry, where a shutter was slightly 
 ajar. One long ray projected itself across the lawn and 
 the trees began to take queer shapes : a rotund thuya 
 assumed a grotesquely nodding head, like a tipsy friar, 
 a weeping ash extended transparent skeleton arms, and 
 sudden glaring ghosts walked at will in the shrubbery. 
 Idly watching these transformations, idly hearing the 
 great frog-chorus from the Witch s Cauldron up over 
 the hill, he presently perceived that some unghostly 
 person was coming along the path. He heard a light 
 step, and was instantly aware that Gabrielle was 
 standing near him. He knew that it was impossible 
 for her to see him, but he had caught one glimpse of 
 her as she crossed the shaft of light. His heart 
 leaped and sank. He grew hot and cold by turns. 
 It was strangely sweet to feel her sudden presence 
 in the darkness. He would not and could not speak. 
 He held his breath and waited, too eager to be sure of 
 himself ; as she paced slowly on, he feared she would 
 leave him, and an involuntary sigh escaped his lips. 
 
 She started and stood motionless. 
 
 "Don t be afraid, baroness," said a low voice, 
 moved in spite of its endeavor ; " it is only I." 
 
 In an instant she was leaning over him, so near 
 that her breath touched his cheek, and how it was he 
 did not know, but he found himself holding her hands 
 close against his breast. Those two dear hands in 
 his ! It seemed to him he could never let them go. 
 He held them fast, and she suffered it. Still she 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 361 
 
 did not speak, and he could not see her face, only a 
 gracious shape bending over him, and the gentle 
 breath on his cheek was fluttering and quick. Hugo 
 had a whole squadron of theories of conduct toward 
 her ; they were well drilled, and he had confidence in 
 them, but they now basely deserted him. He kissed 
 her hands many times, not with the frigid frugality 
 of demonstration displayed when he brushed his 
 mother s fingers with his mustache, but with warm 
 lingering lips and famished eagerness. 
 
 She withdrew them, and after some moments, in 
 which she was trying to recover from her surprise 
 and the rush of glad, warm feeling in her heart, she 
 remarked mechanically : 
 
 " I came out here to be alone." 
 
 " And found me ! " he replied for want of a better 
 answer. " What a disappointment ! " 
 
 " No," she returned softly. 
 
 In a moment she said in her natural voice, except 
 it persisted in sounding too glad for her matter-of-fact 
 communications : 
 
 " We have seen a great many people. We have 
 been very busy. That is what I mean. Your mamma 
 is tired and ill. It is not a sleepy night. I thought 
 I would come down alone for a few minutes. The 
 garden is cooler, and the roses are so sweet." 
 
 " I heard your Noah s Ark disgorging itself at the 
 door. No wonder you are tired, travelling with such 
 a caravan." 
 
 She laughed a little. 
 
 "How have you borne the heat?" she said. 
 
 " Better than most people, I presume. If one is 
 always lazy, a little additional laziness is unimpor 
 tant." 
 
362 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 "And what have you been doing all this long 
 time ? " 
 
 " Eavesdropping. I have become an expert. And 
 you?" 
 
 She hesitated. 
 
 " I think I will tell you to-morrow, or when I can. 
 I will go in now. Good-night. I am glad I found 
 you here," she added very softly. She did not give 
 him her hand, and she was gone before he could reply. 
 
 Again the sweet, dense, silent night closed around 
 him, and shut out everything but Gabrielle, and noth 
 ing in the past, nothing in the future, nothing in the 
 universe was strong enough to prevent him from being 
 glad that she had come. Between dreaming and wak 
 ing he felt her hands on his breast, and to the impla 
 cable ominous thoughts already hovering near his spirit 
 pleaded, " Not to-night. Not yet. You have pursued 
 me long enough. Let me be happy this night. Let 
 me forget." 
 
 From the same direction in which she had appeared, 
 again he heard a step. His heart beat fast. Was it 
 she ? Had she returned to say one word more ? He 
 was about to speak, but some instinct restrained him. 
 It was not like her to come back, and the step was 
 not hers. It was heavier, yet stealthy and slow. 
 Hers had come lightly and steadily on. This made 
 pauses, as if the person were listening. If it were not 
 she, it was immaterial who it might be. A servant. 
 A rendezvous. The lane again. His interest ceased. 
 Whoever it was would have to pass the butler s treach 
 erous light. Without curiosity, and merely because 
 his chair and eyes were turned toward that quarter, 
 he watched a woman with a scarf over her head cross 
 the Rubicon. He could not see her face, and she was 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 863 
 
 wary enough to take the danger with a rapid bound, 
 but the tall, well-grown figure suggested Roschen. His 
 mood changed instantly. It was as if a rude hand 
 had snatched some marvellously precious thing from 
 him, and left dross in its place. 
 
 " What in the deuce is the girl prowling about for 
 at this time of night ? She never came down for the 
 coolness and the roses ! " 
 
 He listened with mistrustful attention. " Roschen," 
 he called, low but distinctly. " Roschen ! " he repeated 
 louder. " I can t swear that it s she, but I 11 risk it. 
 Confound the girl ! What is she doing ? She must 
 have heard. She s running across the lawn where her 
 tread is lost. She s going slow again on the paved 
 court. She s out the gate. She s up the lane." 
 
 He had risen on one elbow the better to follow her 
 movements. Now he sank back, with an unpleasant 
 sensation, a presentiment of evil. 
 
 " Dietz in Italy," he thought, " and I sent him off ! " 
 
 He heard her footsteps, brisk now and decided, 
 hurrying in the direction of Leslach. 
 
 But why should a man always suspect evil ? Because 
 he finds it in his own heart. Still, to look at it ration 
 ally, her parents lived there. She d been away. She 
 might have reasons for wanting to see them at once. 
 A girl of that sort did not mind going out at night. 
 Then the lane was quiet. Lovers did n t care for 
 other people. And the billing and cooing seemed to 
 have ceased. His mother was so sharp she forced ser 
 vants into such things. No doubt it was all right. 
 
 Still he did not believe that it was all right. He 
 felt uneasy. He saw Bernhard s trustful eyes ! What 
 was it he d said ? " She 11 be safe in your house, 
 count." 
 
364 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Safe ? Of course she was safe ! What a fool he was 
 to work himself into a fever about nothing. She had 
 rushed home to see her mother. At this, the old skep 
 tical, lieutenant voice in him hooted, and derisively 
 inquired if he really thought her so tenderly desirous 
 of the maternal presence, and if he would trust a girl 
 with that look in her eyes, round the corner. 
 
 Up the lane from the Wynburg side now came a 
 new step, loud but not heavy, and which Hugo could 
 affirm that he had never heard there before, although 
 familiar to him elsewhere. It was a long, precise, 
 trained step, the unmistakable, consequential tread of 
 a certain type of military-man, the tread of the foot 
 that never forgets it belongs to the Prussian army. 
 Hugo knew its kind well, and why should it not go 
 by, Hugo asked himself with irritation. He was not 
 a detective, or a guardian of public morals, or his 
 brother-officer s keeper. 
 
 The step passed the gates, and after some moments, 
 on the still, soft, rose-scented air came the faint odor 
 of a cigarette, Hugo s favorite brand, and much af 
 fected by the lieutenants at the Casino. 
 
 " I am hunting mare s nests. If I were in bed, 
 where I ought to be, I should not be constructing ill- 
 favored romances. In the first place, it was n t Ros- 
 chen, probably ; and if it was, what can I do about it ? 
 In the next place, she may have nothing whatever to 
 do with the man who has just gone by." But he lis 
 tened intensely, with increasing foreboding and with 
 the thought of Dietz weighing heavy on his heart. 
 Against the steep hillside, sounds in the lane below 
 seemed to strike, rebound, and travel far through the 
 still air. He now heard voices, a conscious exclama 
 tion, a shallow laugh. " It is nothing serious, at all 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 365 
 
 events," he thought. He could not judge how far off 
 they were, the acoustic properties of that lane had 
 already impressed him as curiously deceptive, but it 
 was a rendezvous and a flippant one. He felt a sud 
 den fierce anger with them, whoever they were. After 
 twelve o clock at night, people need n t meet to giggle, 
 and toy with each other, and alarm one for the sake 
 of an honest man, whose happiness might be trem 
 bling in the balance. Anguish, desperation, passion, 
 in short a great love had its supreme rights, but for 
 vapid, empty, coarse flirting, surely there were time 
 and opportunity enough, without profaning the mys 
 tery of a night like this. 
 
 But Roschen had just returned. In a Baden hotel, 
 there had been more chance for her ambitious arts and 
 wiles than at home. There must have been a legion 
 of lieutenants coming to pay their respects to the 
 ladies, and staring hard at the pretty maid in the cor 
 ridor, perhaps whispering a word in her ear. " What 
 fools men are ! " he thought with disgust. " I as much 
 as any. But thank God, I have n t that sort of thing 
 on my conscience. As bad perhaps but not that." 
 
 " I must find out who they are. That is plain. If 
 it s Roschen, she will try to slip in as she went, and I 
 may not see her, especially since the butler s light is 
 out. And if I challenge, she won t answer. But the 
 man I must see, for Dietz s sake. And if it is not she, 
 I must know that for Dietz s sake. And if I whistle 
 for Lipps and inquire for her, it will make a com 
 motion, and perhaps she does n t deserve it. Dietz 
 does n t, anyhow. So there s no help for it." 
 
 With these thoughts he took his crutches and 
 pulled himself up, a feat which he never attempted 
 without aid, stood an instant to steady himself, and 
 
366 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 started out painfully across the lawn. It was not far 
 to the gate, but several times farther than the length 
 of his daily promenade from his chair to the fountain, 
 which distance he could accomplish twice in what he 
 called his good days. This was not a good day. The 
 sultry air charged with electricity seemed to have 
 drawn his small strength from him and put pain in its 
 place. He more than once thought he should fall in 
 a helpless heap on the grass, and ingloriously sum 
 mon Lipps to pick him up. He was ashamed of his 
 physical fear, his cowardly dread of falling. " Con 
 found the girl ! " he muttered, and staggered on. " No 
 doubt I am a fool for my pains. But now there is no 
 retreat." On he plodded doggedly, compelling his 
 trembling body to obey him to the utmost limit of its 
 meagre provision of strength. In the annals of his 
 family was a tale of another Hugo von Kronfels, who 
 in the sixteenth century added glory to the name by 
 attacking, single-handed, a band of caitiffs, and rescu 
 ing a high-born damsel from their miscreant hands. 
 He slew them all, of course, and married the fair Ctin- 
 igunde. But since slaying was the accomplishment 
 in which the noble youth was most proficient, and since 
 his valor was stimulated by the presence of helpless 
 beauty, it is possible that in his historical bravoure- 
 feat, he actually expended less force of will, less bod 
 ily effort, and less simple courage than his namesake, 
 who with no thought of heroic deed, feeling, in fact, 
 very mean, with a certain mental nausea caused by the 
 situation, and a positive physical nausea induced by 
 over-exertion, was now dragging himself with infinite 
 pains over thirty yards of ground, when no doctor on 
 earth would have pronounced him able to walk ten. 
 With weak, spasmodic, faltering, and slow move- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 367 
 
 ments, he finally reached the gate. " The girl may go 
 to perdition, for all of me ; but if anything s wrong 
 with her, I never want to see Dietz s face." He 
 groaned, not exclusively from physical pain. 
 
 He leaned partly on one crutch, partly with one 
 knee on the stone moulding, and worked his right 
 hand and wrist convulsively into the iron fence, that 
 he might not fall, for his heart was beating violently 
 and there was a curious feeling in his head. Crouch 
 ing against a stone post, he tried to recover his breath, 
 but had not much time, becoming aware of the close 
 proximity of a couple sauntering down the lane. One 
 dull gas-lamp was burning at some distance from the 
 gates. 
 
 " She shall not escape me when she comes in, but 
 him I must see when the light strikes him." 
 
 Hugo raised himself again on his crutches. " Hold 
 out one moment now, and then collapse if you will ! " 
 something within him cried contemptuously to his 
 quivering body. The couple approached. From the 
 blackness of his shelter, Hugo peered toward them. 
 It was Roschen, with her silly, vain, flattered giggle. 
 He saw her distinctly, saw her spring back into the 
 shadow, heard a sportive altercation, a man s laugh as 
 familiar as Hugo s own. It was altogether facetious, 
 entertaining, and mirthful, this midnight encounter. 
 
 " Be careful. We are too near the villa. Some 
 body spoke as I came out. Or I imagined it, I was so 
 flustered. Do you really think me prettier than her ? " 
 
 " Of course. No end. Miles." 
 
 " Oh, I know you ! " Hugo thought savagely. 
 
 " Well, I suppose I 11 have to believe you," rejoined 
 Roschen coquettishly, " though I must say it s a great 
 compliment." 
 
368 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 What the man responded, Hugo could not hear. 
 The two were sauntering slowly up and down beyond 
 the light. Again he caught, 
 
 " Must go. Friend waiting. Important. Will 
 come sure. Which house ? " 
 
 He lost the beginning of the answer, but heard, 
 
 " Kohler s. Don t make any mistake. And it s 
 only to talk things over, and all you ve promised." 
 
 " Pretty little witch. We 11 talk things over," the 
 man retorted with a complacent laugh. 
 
 " There 11 be a friend of mine there. It s her room," 
 said Roschen, with a spasm of propriety. "And I 
 wouldn t see you, only you do beg so awfully hard, 
 and it is n t easy to refuse you everything, for you ve 
 certainly been very polite to me, though to be sure all 
 the young gentlemen were polite at Baden ; not that I 
 have n t heard of barons that liked poor girls before 
 now, though they were probably an awful sight pret 
 tier than me." 
 
 " Fool ! " muttered Hugo. 
 
 " Prettier ? Could n t be," protested the man, laugh 
 ing. " Nobody prettier. Whole court nowhere. Upon 
 my word." 
 
 Hugo felt convinced that the speaker was victori 
 ously twirling his moustache. 
 
 " Now I know that s flattery," giggled Roschen. 
 
 " Mean every word. Such a figure ! " Here he 
 seemed to be putting his arm around it. "Such 
 cheeks ! " From the little outcry Hugo concluded that 
 he pinched them. " Such a deuced tempting mouth ! " 
 There was no doubt that he kissed it. 
 
 " Now I shall be mad with you if you do that again," 
 said the girl, her voice excited, her resistance feeble. 
 " We must talk everything over before you do such 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 369 
 
 naughty things. Because I am a very respectable 
 girl, you know." 
 
 "Awfully respectable," returned the young man, 
 " and awfully sweet," holding her long in his arms, and 
 stifling her protests with greedy kisses. 
 
 "Oh," she panted. "Don t. That isn t fair. I 
 am going." 
 
 " And I m coming." 
 
 She hesitated. " No, you must n t." 
 
 " But I will. You said so." 
 
 " Well, are you really, honestly, truly fond of me ? 
 Not playing with me the way young gentlemen some 
 times do ? " 
 
 " Dead gone. Awfully fond of you. Little beauty. 
 Handsome as a peach. Stony heart." 
 
 " Well, you d better not come," she said archly. 
 
 " Would n t let you go now. Must. Friend. En 
 gagement. Paris train. Come straight to Leslach. 
 Find you sure." 
 
 " Then you must be very good. We 11 talk things 
 over." 
 
 " Oh yes, we 11 talk them over." 
 
 Hugo lost a few hurried sentences, heard some 
 laughter, some ejaculations ; then, to his dismay, per 
 ceived that Roschen, instead of coming toward the 
 house, was running along the lane toward Leslach, 
 while down the middle of the road, consciously smiling 
 and stroking his moustache, Lorenz von Raven came 
 striding beneath the light. 
 
 Hugo was about to call to him then and there, when 
 suddenly the iron to which he was clinging retreated 
 from him, his crutch on the other side tottered 
 strangely, and the whole world began to sink, as he 
 fell fainting on the grass. 
 
370 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 When he recovered his consciousness, he lay a few 
 moments stupidly wondering how he was ever going 
 to get up, for his whistle was tied to his chair, and it 
 was evident that no power of his own could help him. 
 A step on the gravel-walk near the house and Lipps s 
 loud ejaculation of terror at finding the empty chair 
 happily suggested relief. He called faintly, for even 
 his voice had deserted him, and at the third summons 
 Lipps heard. 
 
 " Here I am under the bushes at the right of the 
 gate," Hugo called languidly. 
 
 " O my poor count ! O my poor count ! " 
 
 " Don t blubber ! " said Hugo sternly, venting all 
 his outraged nerves and sensibilities upon the innocent 
 first-comer. "Just bring along the chair," 
 
 Lipps, fairly sobbing with excitement, obeyed. 
 
 " O my poor count ! " he exclaimed, returning. " On 
 the ground ! What wretch did this ? " and the man 
 knelt and slipped his arm under Hugo s shoulders. 
 
 " I did it," he said feebly. " I was communing with 
 nature. Wait. Put me down. Do you think you 
 can lift me ? All of me ? I am helpless. I m a rag." 
 
 Lipps knelt and raised him to a sitting posture, stood 
 and lifted him to his feet, took him in his arms, laid 
 him on his cushions, and after these three adroit and 
 successful movements began to wheel the chair to 
 ward Hugo s balcony. 
 
 " Stop, Lipps. Don t take me in yet. There is n t 
 time, and I m tired. I want Fraulein von Dohna." 
 
 " O my poor count ! " groaned Lipps. 
 
 " I m not delirious. Appearances are against me, I 
 admit. But you go and get the young lady and you 11 
 understand later. Knock softly, and don t wake any 
 body else." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 371 
 
 " She was on her balcony not long ago." 
 
 " So late ? All the better. Speak from mine. Ask 
 her to be good enough to come to me, and to wear 
 something on her head." 
 
 It seemed to Lipps that his master was very ill, but 
 if he had requested the moon, the man would have 
 taken proper steps to procure it, and therefore with a 
 heavy heart he delivered the message to Gabrielle, who 
 sat looking at the hillside lights, and was keenly aware 
 that Hugo had not yet come in for the night. To her 
 it did not seem in the least degree unnatural that he 
 on whom her thoughts were concentrated should sum 
 mon her. She stole from her room with all possible 
 caution and down to the lawn, where Lipps met her 
 and conducted her to Hugo. 
 
 " My poor count s very ill," he confided to her. 
 
 " Lipps, you idiot, it is all right. Go and get me a 
 swallow of wine, and don t come back till I whistle." 
 
 " He says you are ill," said Gabrielle anxiously. 
 
 " He is mistaken." 
 
 Hugo was silent a moment. 
 
 " I am afraid I must ask you a strange question 
 a brutally direct question," he began. 
 
 "Ask it," returned Gabrielle astonished, and re 
 sponding to the repressed excitement quivering beneath 
 the gentleness of his voice. 
 
 " It s an impertinence. But here in the dark, and 
 to me who am nobody " 
 
 " Ah ! " she murmured. 
 
 " Perhaps you can answer. Do you are you 
 that is, have you any special interest in Lorenz von 
 Raven ? Answer bravely. Trust me." 
 
 " I will answer that to all the world and by daylight," 
 she returned in a cool, clear tone. " None whatever." 
 
372 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " I knew it," lie exclaimed with involuntary exulta 
 tion. " Then you can help me. There is something 
 wrong. You are the only person in the house with any 
 sense. Roschen is in Leslach waiting for von Raven." 
 
 She started. "Roschen? Impossible. She went to 
 her room long ago with a bad toothache. Her face 
 has been bandaged all day. I begged Aunt Adelheid 
 to excuse her." 
 
 " I wish she were muzzled and chained, but she is 
 not. She s roving wild and free in Leslach." 
 
 " But where ? " 
 
 " Imbecile that I am, I can t tell you. I could n t 
 hear. I saw them both in the lane. I did n t under 
 stand. I thought she would pass me returning to the 
 house. I heard them plan a meeting. I never ima 
 gined it was for to-night. I have n t managed it very 
 cleverly to let them both escape. At the end, I was 
 awkward. She ran off. He s gone to the station. 
 There 11 be a lot of men there, and it will be some 
 time before he gets back." 
 
 He spoke with extreme rapidity and she in the same 
 manner replied : 
 
 " I will go and find her and bring her home." 
 
 " It s an abominable business for you to be mixed 
 up in. But it would break Dietz s heart." 
 
 "Iknow"- 
 
 " They said Kohler s " 
 
 " That s the beer-garden." 
 
 " But she can t be there. It s too public. Besides, 
 it will be closed. And she won t be at her father s. 
 There least of all. She said a friend s room. Nothing 
 could be more indefinite." 
 
 " Never mind, I will find her. Has she been gone 
 long?" 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 373 
 
 " I don t know. I think not." 
 
 This answer seemed odd, but she had not time to 
 consider it. 
 
 " Good-night," she said, and started. 
 
 " But Gabrielle " He had never before called 
 her by her name. With a swift movement, she was by 
 his chair. " You are sure you are not afraid ? " 
 
 "What should I fear?" 
 
 " Ah," he murmured with passionate protest, " to 
 lie here like a log, and let a woman do such work for 
 me!" 
 
 It was the first complaint she had ever heard from 
 his lips. 
 
 " Hush," she said sweetly. " Don t speak so. I 
 would do anything in the world for you, and this is 
 not much. The lane is quiet ; the village still and 
 small. I m not in the least afraid." 
 
 " Then go," he said with a groan. " Go for Dietz s 
 sake. I see no other way. If any one can find her, 
 you can. She would laugh in Lipps s face. And we 
 can t expose her. I don t think there s any great 
 harm as yet," he continued with some embarrass 
 ment, " but I don t much like the probabilities." 
 
 " I understand everything only too well," she replied 
 quietly. " I saw a great deal at Baden." 
 
 " Lipps shall follow you immediately, and wait at the 
 fountain in the middle of the square. He can t keep 
 up with your pace, and you can manage the girl better 
 without him. But he will be there soon, and if you 
 call from any house, he will hear." 
 
 " Nothing will harm me. If only I can find her ! I 
 shall knock where I see a light. There won t be many 
 lights in a village at this time." Suddenly, in a plead 
 ing and an unconsciously caressing fashion, she added : 
 
374 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Now, you will let Lipps put you to bed, won t you ? 
 For you are very tired. I hear it in your voice. And 
 it is so late. And you have been having adventures out 
 here. I will do everything I can for the poor girl 
 and for Dietz and for you," she concluded softly, 
 and went. Hugo blew his whistle. 
 
 Taking the wine from Lipps s salver, he drank it at 
 one draught, then said to the bewildered servant : 
 
 " Put me to bed as fast as you can and follow the 
 gracious friiulein. Station yourself at the fountain in 
 Leslach, and be ready to answer her call. Keep your 
 eyes open and your mouth shut. There s nothing the 
 matter except Rbschen is a fool, which neither you nor 
 I ever doubted. And I have fainted once to-night, and 
 if you re not uncommonly quick in following Frauleiii 
 von Dohna, I intend to faint again." 
 
 With a long sigh of exhaustion, he delivered him 
 self passive and silent to the servant s ministrations. 
 Shortly after, he looked up from his pillow with an 
 eager : 
 
 " I ve got him now ! Lipps, you stand at the foun 
 tain and listen. You will probably hear a cavalry offi 
 cer s step. You can t fail to hear it if it conies. You 
 go straight toward it, and you 11 meet Lieutenant von 
 Raven. Give him Count Kronfels compliments, and 
 perhaps it would interest him to know that the Baron 
 ess von Dohna is in Leslach with Roschen. And will 
 he be good enough to give Count Kronfels the pleasure 
 of a brief interview to-morrow morning at eleven? 
 Now step out well." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 IT was scarcely a half-hour s walk to Leslach, and 
 Gabrielle in her excitement reached the heart of 
 the village in twenty minutes, meeting no soul on 
 the way except a stout policeman, who trudged by, 
 humming, yawning, illuminating himself vividly with 
 his lazily swinging lantern, and not burdening his 
 mind with superfluous conjectures in regard to hiding- 
 places afforded by the jutting corners of vineyard- 
 walls, against one of which Gabrielle shrank as the 
 guardian of public safety passed on his accustomed 
 beat. 
 
 The village was dark and still. An inconsequent 
 cock was crowing in a desultory, feeble, and prema 
 ture manner. She stood by Kohler s garden and 
 looked about. The place was ostensibly closed, but 
 there was movement behind the shutters. In the gar 
 ret of a house across the square a light was burning. 
 Some men sat in the dark garden, singing solemnly, 
 softly, as if apprehensive of interference, and 
 with good voices, each pitched in a key independent 
 of its neighbors, the after-echoes of their last chorus. 
 Some one came round from the side of the house, and 
 a woman s voice said, 
 
 " Better go home, boys." 
 
 " Can t. Got to finish it," replied one of the men 
 with thick utterance. She laughed, and they with 
 maudlin conscientiousness continued their muffled and 
 impotent chorus. 
 
376 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 
 
 44 1 will speak to her," Gabrielle resolved, and walked 
 toward the advancing figure, meeting her under the 
 lantern which lighted the fountain and the great tank, 
 and recognizing the factory-girl with the ugly stare. 
 She was carrying in either hand a mug of foaming beer. 
 She gave a start as she saw Gabrielle, and stopped 
 short. 
 
 Gabrielle looked questioningly at the beer for two, 
 and at the light in the garret-window. She was sure 
 of nothing, but chance and her instinct indicated the 
 way. Here was a woman, at all events, and one could 
 talk to her. 
 
 " Do you know where Roschen Bauer is ? " she asked 
 gently. 
 
 " Is it any of your business whether I do or not ? " 
 
 44 1 think so." 
 
 44 Well, I don t know. I suppose she s sound asleep 
 in your big house down there." 
 
 Gabrielle looked steadily in her defiant eyes and 
 said : 
 
 44 No. She is not. She is here. Please help me. 
 Please take me to her." 
 
 44 You let me alone. What do you mean by gluing 
 yourself on to me ? " demanded the woman with con 
 centrated offensiveness, turning her back and walking 
 on, but taking the precaution to change her course. 
 
 44 1 shall follow you," returned Gabrielle. 
 
 The two went several steps across the silent square 
 enclosed by black gables against a vague and sombre 
 sky, the woman with her beer-mugs in advance, Gabri 
 elle three paces behind. 
 
 Suddenly the woman stopped with a coarse laugh. 
 
 44 Come on, then ! If you want to make a circus, 
 make it. I 11 take a front seat." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 377 
 
 She turned sharply, and led the way in the opposite 
 direction toward the garret-light. 
 
 Gabrielle followed silently, ascended three steep and 
 narrow flights of stairs in utter darkness, groped her 
 way along a sticky wall, stumbled over brooms, wood- 
 boxes, and various other obstructions, at which the 
 woman chuckled, and entered a small room with a 
 sloping roof, and lighted by a foul-smelling kerosene 
 lamp. 
 
 Roschen sprang up with a cry of consternation. 
 
 " Sit down," said the woman reassuringly. " This 
 is my place. No bows and scrapes here. Let her 
 find a chair for herself, or stand." 
 
 Roschen, trembling, stood staring at the baroness. 
 But her friend, putting her hands on the girl s shoul 
 ders, sat her down forcibly ; then seated herself at the 
 bare pine-table, in the only remaining chair. 
 
 " Here s your beer, Roschen. Make yourself com 
 fortable. Don t be put upon. People that invite them 
 selves can look out for themselves." 
 
 Gabrielle came forward. 
 
 Again Roschen, from force of habit, rose in the 
 presence of her mistress. 
 
 " Sit down, I say ! " roared the woman. 
 
 Gabrielle looked from one to the other with a cer 
 tain bewilderment. Intent upon her object, she was 
 as yet almost unmindful of the insults. The woman 
 was rough and aggressive certainly, but what did that 
 matter, provided Roschen would come quickly ? 
 
 " But I don t care about chairs," she said gravely. 
 "I only want Roschen. Roschen," with a note of 
 unconscious and quiet haughtiness in her voice, the 
 voice that with her beauty had descended to her from 
 an imperious race, accustomed for centuries to com- 
 
378 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 mand and to be obeyed, " you must come home 
 with me now. Come at once, please." 
 
 The girl turned away sullenly. 
 
 " I have come down here alone in the middle of the 
 night for you. Will you not come back with me ? " 
 
 The girl did not speak. 
 
 " Well," began the mocking voice from the other 
 side of the table, " is that anything to boast of ? You 
 wanted to come, did n t you ? A good many women 
 have to walk about at night, whether they want to or 
 not. I know a woman seventy years old who starts 
 at two o clock in the morning, three times a week, 
 and walks five hours up hill and down, to bring 
 her butter and eggs to market for such as you to eat. 
 Drink your beer, Roschen. Don t be upset. Let her 
 jaw." 
 
 Gabrielle turned to her haughtily. 
 
 " WiU you be good enough not to interfere ? I 
 am speaking to Roschen. It surely does not concern 
 you." 
 
 " Well, I like that," answered the other with fierce 
 mirth. " She pushes her way into my room. She 
 conies where she s not wanted. And wiU I be good 
 enough not to interfere, she asks as cool as a cucum 
 ber. And she s speaking to Roschen," imitating Ga- 
 brielle s clear-cut accent. " Well, I m going to in 
 terfere, as you call it. And I won t stand any airs 
 either." 
 
 With her hands on her hips she advanced threaten 
 ingly, lowering at Gabrielle, so near, so long face to 
 face, eye to eye, that the young girl, erect, not retreat 
 ing a hair s breadth, wondered if a blow would follow 
 that hostile demonstration. 
 
 " There s going to be fair play, I tell you." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 379 
 
 " Fair play is all I wish," said Gabrielle, her voice 
 trembling with excitement and indignation. 
 
 The woman stepped back, and looked keenly at her, 
 as if surprised at the answer, then said : 
 
 " Oh, afraid, are you ? " 
 
 " Of you ? Not the least," was the cold response. 
 
 The woman resumed her seat. 
 
 " Will you not come, Roschen ? It is so very late. 
 It is so strange here. Come now, and we will go qui 
 etly home, and we will not discuss anything to-night, 
 not a word. To-morrow, you shall tell me everything 
 that troubles you. I will be kind to you. I will help 
 you. I promise it." 
 
 She went to the girl, and put her hand on her shoul 
 der, and looked pleadingly into the sullen face which, 
 destitute at the moment of all coquetry and conscious 
 ness, heavy with disappointment, fear of consequences, 
 fear of the overthrow of her ambitious plans, and the 
 old jealousy and envy, seemed to Gabrielle far hand 
 somer than ever before, and with the frown between 
 the large downcast eyes, the fresh sensuous lips pout 
 ing strongly in selfish distress, the rich hair growing 
 low on the brow, the cheeks velvety and vivid as a 
 Jacqueminot rose, was like the face of a beautiful, 
 naughty child. 
 
 " Go with the pretty lady, Roschen, and tell her all 
 your troubles. She 11 be kind to you, don t you hear 
 her ? Trot along like a little lamb, and she will lead 
 you with a blue ribbon." 
 
 Roschen guarded her obstinate silence. 
 
 Gabrielle withdrew her hand and sighed. She had 
 not counted the costs of this undertaking. It had 
 
 O 
 
 seemed to her she had but to find the girl and all 
 would be well. She had found her and was powerless. 
 
380 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 The woman smiled maliciously. 
 
 " You see she isn t your property. You have n t 
 got any mortgage on her. She s a girl as much as 
 you are. She s a right to her pleasures as much as 
 you have. She has a right to her friends, yours, too, 
 if she can get them. You d better go home." 
 
 " I shall not go home without Roschen," Gabri- 
 elle declared, her eyes steady, her voice low and reso 
 lute. 
 
 " She s going to stay all night." 
 
 " Then I shall." 
 
 " I like that ! What if I put you out the door ? " 
 
 " I shall wait on the stairs." 
 
 " What if I help you down stairs fast ? " 
 
 " I shall wait at the door below." 
 
 " Where you 11 meet him first ! " shrieked the girl, 
 roused at last to speech by her jealousy. " You want 
 him yourself ! You know you do ! " 
 
 " Roschen, you forget yourself," Gabrielle reminded 
 her icily. 
 
 " None of that ! " exclaimed the woman brutally. 
 " There s no baronesses and no servants here this night. 
 Any woman that comes into my room without my 
 asking has got to put up with my terms. Go ahead, 
 Roschen. Don t let her freeze you up. Don t be 
 bullied." 
 
 But Roschen needed no urging now. A vision of 
 Lorenz von Raven, or rather of his uniform, his shell, 
 dazzled her foolish brain. Her deadly fear of losing 
 him, her long-repressed envy, burst forth in vehement, 
 foolish words, while her friend rocked to and fro on 
 her chair in an ecstasy of evil glee. 
 
 " He does n t want you. He has told me so a dozen 
 times. He says I in handsomer. He told me so to- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 381 
 
 night. He was only coming to talk things over. He 
 says barons have often married poor girls. Every 
 body knows they have. There was a prince married 
 a ballet-girl. And I am better than a ballet-girl. I 
 am perfectly respectable. There is n t any harm in it, 
 if he does like me. When he comes to see you, I let 
 you alone. When he comes to see me, why can t you 
 let me alone ? " 
 
 " That s the talk ! Give her another." 
 
 "O Roschen, Roschen," murmured Gabrielle, ap 
 palled. 
 
 The girl was sobbing violently. 
 
 " And now you Ve come and spoiled everything. 
 You ll tell of me. You ll do something hateful. 
 You 11 get him away from me. But he likes me best, 
 and he thinks I m handsomer. He wants me. He 
 does n t want you. And now you ve come to get him 
 away." 
 
 A great sickening disgust of the girl and her angry, 
 puerile, complaining insults, of the bad leering wo 
 man, of the smoky room, of Lorenz von Raven and 
 the whole odious situation, seized Gabrielle with over 
 whelming force. For a moment she was on the 
 point of yielding, of abandoning it all, of fleeing to 
 seek pure air to breathe, pure thoughts to think, of 
 changing her garments contaminated by that tainted 
 atmosphere ; she longed indeed to change her whole 
 self, steeped now in these noxious and impure fumes. 
 
 " You ve tried to get him all the time, and he likes 
 me best. You Ve come to take him away, and it s 
 mean, for we ve never had a chance to talk things 
 over," whined Roschen. "You can t deny it. You 
 know you want him, and he wants me ! " 
 
 It seemed to Gabrielle that if her life depended 
 
382 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 upon it she could not answer the girl s senseless re 
 iteration, could neither admit nor deny her charge, 
 could not speak one word that even approximately 
 assented to the loathsome supposition that Gabrielle 
 von Dohna and Roschen Bauer were rivals in the affec 
 tions of this despicable man. 
 
 " You are a little fool," said the woman, but not un 
 kindly. " Let up on that. Strike up a new tune. 
 Don t you know she d die before she d answer you 
 fair and square ? Don t you know you and she can t 
 be mentioned in the same breath ? You ve both got 
 legs and arms, and flesh and blood, and you can like 
 and hate ; you are both girls that men fool about and 
 kiss and lie to, but there s something altogether 
 different about her. O Lord, yes ! She s a sort of 
 little High Altar ! " She threw back her head and 
 laughed derisively. 
 
 Gabrielle turned to her with a quick revulsion of 
 feeling. There was truth in the coarse speech. It 
 fairly described her attitude. It surprised her vastly, 
 but it appealed to her sense of justice. She had 
 thought all along if it were not for this person she 
 could prevail upon the girl to come with her. She 
 had felt only horror and impatience toward her. Now 
 she regarded her more attentively. There was hate 
 and rancor, but intelligence, in her eyes. And Ros 
 chen was too dull to listen to reason. The woman 
 must help. If she had that sort of divination, then 
 perhaps she could be convinced that one meant only 
 good to the girl. 
 
 With a strong effort toward the suppression of her 
 natural instincts of delicacy and reserve, and wonder 
 ing if she were really unjust, Gabrielle said gently and 
 somewhat vaguely to her chief antagonist : 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 383 
 
 " I am sorry. And I will try to be fair and square 
 with her, as you say. It is true that we are both only 
 girls. But Rosehen, will you not come ? I beg you 
 to come. There will be a worse scene if we remain. 
 Surely this is scene enough," she exclaimed involun 
 tarily. 
 
 " But we enjoy it," jeered the woman. " We don t 
 have as much excitement as you others. We don t 
 have the money to put on fine clothes and drive behind 
 high-stepping horses down to our opera-box. We 
 never happened to have a baroness performing for us 
 before. Roschen is going to stay where she is." 
 
 Gabrielle hesitated, and a score of conflicting im 
 pulses struggled for supremacy, before she gravely 
 addressed her eccentric hostess : 
 
 " Will you kindly give me a chair ? I am extremely 
 tired. If you were staying as long in my room, I 
 would offer you one." 
 
 The woman stared, grinned, pushed her own chair 
 toward Gabrielle, dragged a box from under the bed, 
 and sat down on it, her head leaning against the wall, 
 her feet stretched out generously in an attitude un 
 impeded by small scruples. 
 
 " Thank you. Now Roschen, I will try to be fair. 
 How have I ever injured you ? " 
 
 " There never was one of your kind on this earth," 
 the woman broke out impetuously, " that was fair with 
 one of our kind ! Get all the work out of us you can 
 when we are steady, and when we are not, reclaim us, 
 4 elevate us. O Lord, yes ! I know all that gabble. 
 4 There s so much good in the poor things, she minced 
 in scornful mimicry. " Give charity-concerts, and 
 build a pretty little coffee-house for us, and spend more 
 money on the clothes you wear to your committee-meet- 
 
384 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 ings, and the carriages you drive in, and the suppers 
 you eat afterwards than all you gain." 
 
 " I agree with you in some respects," rejoined Ga- 
 brielle with cool courtesy. " But allow me to suggest 
 that if you were in my room trying to talk to a third 
 person, I would not continually interrupt you. If you 
 demand fair play for Roschen, why will you not give 
 it to me also ? " 
 
 A quickly suppressed flash of genuine amusement 
 appeared in the woman s face. 
 
 " Fire away ! " she remarked to her friend. 
 
 "You can t deny he thinks me the handsomest," 
 Roschen began. 
 
 " I don t deny it, and you are handsomer." 
 
 " And you know he wants me." 
 
 " He does not want to marry you," Gabrielle forced 
 herself to say. 
 
 The low reluctant words were barely uttered before 
 Roschen retorted : 
 
 " That s a lie ! He does." 
 
 Gabrielle, with a flash in her clear eyes, drew back 
 quickly, but controlling herself, appealed with puncti 
 lious civility to the tribunal on the box. 
 
 " Is that fair play ? " 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " A lady does n t tell falsehoods." 
 
 " Well, I don t know anything about that," drawled 
 the woman with ineffable insolence. "Then there 
 ain t any ladies here. There s two girls quarrelling 
 about a man, and me to see that there s a fair fight. 
 If she thinks you lie, she s got a right to say so. You 
 think one thing. She thinks another. Nothing is 
 proved either way. I rather think you 11 have to 
 bear it." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 385 
 
 Gabrielle reflected. 
 
 " Very well, I will bear it. Roschen, let me assure 
 you that you are mistaken. I am telling you the truth. 
 There is some terrible misunderstanding. But trust 
 me. Try to believe that I am not your enemy. In 
 deed, indeed, I am not. It is all false and dangerous 
 and wicked. Don t think of it. Let us come away 
 from it. I am sure you have meant no harm. But 
 think of your friend who is away, the kindest, best, 
 sweetest soul, he will be coming home soon, and he 
 will know how to take care of you." 
 
 At this prospect Roschen began to whimper. 
 
 "Oh, come now, don t pile on the agony. Don t 
 worry her with your sermons. Your kind changes its 
 mind now and then, does n t it ? Flirts with one man, 
 likes another, and marries a third for his money? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Then it ain t any worse in her than it is in a girl 
 with a handle to her name ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. But when one thinks of Bernhard 
 Dietz, and " she faltered, she could not speak von 
 Raven s name, " a man not worthy to wipe the dust 
 from his shoes " 
 
 " Oh, well, that s all according to taste," remarked 
 the woman impartially. " Dietz is n t a bad fellow, if 
 he is a fool in some things. But she s got the right 
 to choose, to change her mind, to play fast and loose, 
 like your kind, to go to the devil if she pleases. 
 That s where I stand." 
 
 " A right, do you say ? It is folly to discuss it. 
 There is never any right in treachery." 
 
 " But I have n t done anything wrong," the girl 
 broke in, petulant and frightened. " You talk as if I 
 were somebody else. Everybody knows Roschen Bauer 
 
386 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 is perfectly respectable. Bernliard himself would n t 
 have a right to blame me if I should change my mind. 
 Other girls have married barons." 
 
 " You have known Bernhard so long," pleaded Ga- 
 brielle patiently. " He has been so good to you." 
 
 " All the men are good to me." 
 
 " He loves you so." 
 
 " Other men like me too." 
 
 " You have been promised to him years and years. * 
 
 " I was too young to know my own mind." 
 
 " But why, why is it ? " persisted Gabrielle sor 
 rowfully. 
 
 " Oh, what s the use ! " cried the girl irritably. 
 " I m tired of it all. I hate work. I ve had to work 
 all my life. I should have to work with Bernhard. 
 I don t say there s anything wrong with Bernhard. 
 But he s tiresome. I hate to be shut up. I want to 
 see the world. I want to dance, and sing, and go to 
 big places where there are lights and people. I want 
 to be gay and enjoy myself. I want to drive in a 
 carriage like you. I want to wear handsome clothes 
 like yours. He would give me such things, if you 
 would n t take him away from me. And Bernhard 
 would get over it. Why should n t I enjoy myself ? 
 It s my nature. Why should n t I have things that 
 I want?" 
 
 Gabrielle s heart sank as she listened to these sulky 
 sentences jerked out unwillingly one by one ; but was 
 there not a familiar strain in them ? Was not this 
 miserable, sordid, fickle, loveless creed practically the 
 same as what Mercedes von Waldenberg had laugh 
 ingly professed, with variations, indeed, and softened 
 by her grace and her humor, but similar in its gen 
 eral tenor ? And Mercedes was clever, with every 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 387 
 
 advantage of worldly training and education. Ga- 
 brielle was attached to her, and believed in her in spite 
 of her own words. Could one, then, be hard and 
 stern with this senseless, deluded girl ? Moved by a 
 great compassion, Gabrielle began : 
 
 44 This is all very sad, but it s not too late to clear 
 away the misunderstandings. There are things one 
 does n t talk about, but " 
 
 " Of course," sneered the woman. " Did n t I tell 
 you so ? You 11 give bread when you have eaten all 
 you want, but you d die before you d give a word 
 from the inside of you to such as us." 
 
 " But," continued Gabrielle, ignoring the interrup 
 tion and going on determinedly, "Lieutenant von 
 Raven deserves no consideration at this moment. He 
 formally proposed to me this morning at Baden." 
 
 Roschen gave a cry of rage. 
 
 " And he has frequently discussed his intentions 
 with the Countess Kronfels. Any man who would 
 seek me as he did this morning and you this even 
 ing is unworthy of either of us, or any decent woman. 
 Now will you come home with me ? " 
 
 " But you ? What did you say ? " 
 
 44 1 refused him." 
 
 44 You did n t want him ? " gasped the girl incred 
 ulously. 
 
 44 No." 
 
 44 Oh, how do I know that it s true ? How do I 
 know?" 
 
 44 1 have nothing better than my simple statement 
 to convince you. But if you will have patience till 
 to-morrow, Count Kronfels, who saw and heard Lieu 
 tenant von Raven in the lane with you, and who 
 knows his attitude toward me, will give you some 
 
388 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 proofs, I am sure." She spoke soothingly and stood 
 by Roschen as she had frequently during the even 
 ing, gazing at her earnestly, pleadingly, compassion 
 ately. 
 
 The girl burst into tears. 
 
 " It s your money, then," she declared. " If I had 
 it he would n t look at you." 
 
 " That s the right kind of talk. That s hitting 
 the nail on the head," said the woman, from the dor 
 mer window where she had frequently gone to watch 
 a mysterious man standing motionless by the fountain. 
 Now she saw two men, and one had square military 
 shoulders. " Hm ! " she muttered. 
 
 Gabrielle went back to her place with a sense of 
 utter defeat. Anything more exhausting and more 
 loathsome than this struggle, she could not imagine, 
 unless Lorenz von Raven should walk in that door. 
 This impending calamity led her to turn to the woman 
 with an imploring 
 
 " Help me. Help Roschen." 
 
 "Me?" 
 
 " You. You can. She won t listen to me." 
 
 " No. She s listening for somebody else," returned 
 the woman with a singularly clear glance of intelli 
 gence at the baroness, and a derisive shrug at Ros- 
 chen s imbecility. Then, as if repenting her momen 
 tary abandonment of her colors, she added doggedly : 
 
 " But she s got a right to." 
 
 " Why do you always say that ? " demanded Ga 
 brielle indignantly. " You know better." 
 
 " Oh, you want to have it out with me, do you ? 
 Come on then. You 11 find me primed." 
 
 " Why do you help her do wrong ? You are older. 
 You know what you are doing. It is wicked." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 389 
 
 " I have told her she was a little fool. But I say 
 she has a right to be if she wants to. It is nobody s 
 business. Least of all yours/ 
 
 " Pardon me. It is mine." 
 
 " Because it makes you mad to have a maid mixed 
 up in your affairs. You re too mad to take him now. 
 You re too proud. But marry her to Dietz, and then 
 you 11 shut your eyes, and forgive your baron. I mean 
 she shall have her chance. You mean she shan t." 
 
 " Yes, that s what she means," groaned Roschen. 
 
 " No, no, a thousand times no," cried Gabrielle 
 with horror, and not glancing at the feebler accuser. 
 " And you do believe me. I see it in your eyes. You 
 believe me in spite of yourself. It is because she s 
 a girl a girl like me in danger that I am here 
 to help her. Count Kronfels sent me. He wants to 
 help her. Herr Dietz is his friend and far away. It 
 is Count Kronfels who is protecting her this moment. 
 I am only his messenger. He will know what to do 
 to-morrow. And to-night I will not leave her unless 
 safe in her room in the villa. If Count Kronfels had 
 not cared, had not been large-hearted and loyal to his 
 friend, do you not see " 
 
 She faltered, her voice broke, she turned away, the 
 words died on her lips. 
 
 " The cripple," said the woman slowly with neither 
 malice nor apparent sympathy. 
 
 " Yes he is a cripple, but his heart is not crippled, 
 and the man who has made all this trouble, his soul is 
 stunted and deformed. He is nothing to me. He 
 never was, never for one instant. You must believe 
 me. I am speaking solemnly and sacredly. And 
 now I will never see him again if I can help it. He 
 is worthless." 
 
390 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Her low voice vibrated with icy scorn. 
 
 " Now that s an awful pity," remarked the woman 
 with venomous emphasis. " For I m sorry to say I 
 do believe you. I ve lost the game. She " point 
 ing her thumb contemptuously at Roschen, " said you 
 wanted him. She has told me so all along. She said 
 it was a neck-and-neck race. And I was waiting to 
 see you beaten." 
 
 " You have been deliberately trying to hurt me ? " 
 
 " That s about it." 
 
 " Why do you hate me ? I wanted to ask you that 
 long ago." 
 
 The woman looked at the fair, high-bred girl stand 
 ing there in a gown far simpler than Roschen a, looked 
 with lingering scrutiny at the lovely face to which 
 this strange and trying night had lent an unusual pal 
 lor, at the limpid, wistful eyes fixed steadily upon her 
 own, felt the nameless grace of purity and innocent 
 daring, of the whole maidenly presence, and threw 
 herself back against the wall. 
 
 44 Why do I hate her ? " she exclaimed. " O Lord ! 
 O Lord ! " breaking into vehement, dreary, ironical 
 laughter. 
 
 Gabrielle waited an instant. There was something 
 terrible to her in the weight of mysterious malevo 
 lence hoarded in this fierce heart. She forgot Ros 
 chen, the hour, the circumstances. 
 
 " Yes. Why do you hate me ? " she insisted. 
 
 " Why ? That why reaches up up," she flung 
 up her arms as if the low roof oppressed her, " up to 
 heaven where a God ought to be, and is n t, and it s 
 as long as forever and ever." 
 
 " Tell me," said Gabrielle, drawing nearer and 
 watching her with dilated, fascinated eyes. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 391 
 
 " It s no use. You won t understand." 
 
 " I will try to understand." 
 
 A gleam of dreary triumph lighted the woman s 
 features as she saw the baroness standing in soft en 
 treaty before her on her box. She stretched her legs 
 still more recklessly. She was judge. This girl and 
 her kind were accused before her bar. She laughed 
 with hoarse, sad laughter. 
 
 " Were you ever cold ? " she demanded abruptly. 
 
 Gabrielle, wondering, replied : 
 
 " Cold ? Of course. But," catching the woman s 
 meaning, " never without knowing where there was a 
 fire that would warm me." 
 
 " That is n t being cold," rejoined the other con 
 temptuously. " Being cold is when it settles in your 
 bones and your marrow, and creeps into your very 
 thoughts, and is deadly round your heart, and you 
 forget you ever were warm, and when there s no fire 
 for you on this earth, and you d go to hell to find 
 one." 
 
 " No," said Gabrielle faintly, " I never was cold." 
 
 " Were you ever hungry ? I don t mean did you 
 ever wait an hour for your dinner. That s not being 
 hungry. Hunger is never having enough, never in 
 your life, always the gnawing in your stomach, and 
 the pain, not knowing whether you 11 get to-day as 
 much as barely kept you alive two days ago ; hunger 
 is when you d sell your soul for a bone they throw 
 a dog." " 
 
 " No, I never was hungry," murmured Gabrielle. 
 
 " Were you ever beaten, flogged, for everything 
 you did and everything you did n t do, waked in the 
 morning with a blow and a curse, kicked into your 
 corner of the bare floor to sleep ? " 
 
392 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Gabrielle shook her head. 
 
 " Then what do you want here ? What have you 
 got to do with me ? " 
 
 The woman rose and faced her, haggard, unwhole 
 some, her eyes blazing with the light of old wrongs 
 and griefs. 
 
 Eoschen, always listening greedily for a footstep 
 on the stairs, not caring for their dull talk, staring 
 moodily into the lamp-flame, now lifted her swollen 
 eyelids and wet lashes, with a trace of curiosity. 
 
 " Suppose you d never known anything else ? Sup 
 pose you d always been hungry, always been cold, 
 always been cursed and beaten ? Suppose you d never 
 known your father and mother ? Suppose you d 
 lugged a baby round when you were hardly more than 
 a baby yourself ? Suppose you d slaved for poor folks 
 to get your bit of crust to eat, and your bit of garret- 
 floor to sleep on ? Then suppose you were sixteen, 
 and little and light, not having had much chance to 
 grow in your life, and not bad looking, and quick with 
 your smile and your word, and suppose you got your 
 first chance, a place in a great country house ? And 
 suppose you got on fast, having a bit more sense than 
 some, and were promoted and praised, and suppose 
 you heard the first kind words that anybody ever 
 spoke to you, soft wheedling words, whispered to you 
 all the time, in odd places and odd minutes, not by 
 one of the servants, oh no, they let a girl alone, but 
 by the young baron himself with his handsome face 
 and gay laugh, and friends and horses and money, and 
 his pick among twenty women of his kind. Well ? " 
 she demanded fiercely. But Gabrielle kept her great 
 pitiful, innocent eyes on her and did not speak. 
 
 " They drove me out. They said it was terrible so 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 393 
 
 young a girl could be so depraved. They said of 
 course young men would be young men. They mar 
 ried the baron to his cousin. She was your kind. I 
 was a long time in the hospital. They said the child 
 was my shame. The child was the only decent thing 
 there ever was in my life. The child was the only 
 thing I ever was proud of. It was white and soft, and 
 it smiled and knew me. It was beautiful and big 
 and strong. It did n t look like a poor giiTs baby, 
 and me so little and thin. I never was so glad. I 
 did n t care for the neighbors talk. I did n t care for 
 the misery in the hospital, or anything that ever had 
 been. I was happy. I went into the factory. It 
 was regular work, and paid well enough, and I could 
 keep the child near, and run to it at beer-time, both 
 morning and afternoon, and have it two hours at noon, 
 and the whole evening and all the night. I did n t 
 envy the queen. I felt kind to everybody. I kept 
 myself neat and mannerly. Then some charity-women 
 came nosing about. They pulled down their mouths 
 because I was only seventeen, and they preached at 
 me considerable, but I did n t mind it, for they went 
 wild over the child. He was a wonder, if I was an 
 awful sinner. They talked about their c crib, and 
 they told me something might happen to him alone in 
 my room while I was at work, and they would take 
 care of him. They were friends of the working-women, 
 and all that trash. They were your kind. I know 
 what it means now. But I was young then, and like 
 a fool I believed them, curse them ! and one morning 
 I took him there well, and when I went for him at 
 night he was stone dead. They had killed him." 
 
 "Killed him ! " stammered Gabrielle aghast. 
 
 " They talked about convulsions. They talked about 
 
394 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 teeth. How do I know ? He was always well with 
 me. I was n t there. I only know I left him warm 
 and crowing and cooing, and I found him cold and 
 stiff. If I had had him he would n t have died. Why 
 did n t they let me alone ? Why did they come and 
 take him away ? I say they killed him." 
 
 Gabrielle was grasping the chair-back rigidly with 
 one hand, and covering her eyes with the other. She 
 shuddered visibly, and made no attempt to speak. 
 
 " Oh, it makes you ill, does it ? It shakes your 
 nerves ? And it s only words words words," the 
 harsh voice shrieked. " Live it and see how you feel. 
 The lives of such as us, and the misery crowding 
 around you on every side, you can t so much as hear. 
 It takes the gloss off the little High Altar. Live it, I 
 say ! " 
 
 " But me ? I still don t understand why you hate 
 me," murmured Gabrielle, almost inaudibly. 
 
 " Not yet ? I should think you d had enough. But 
 there is another reason. You are like her. You don t 
 look like her, but you are her kind, the kind they 
 make happy and handsome, and keep away from every 
 thing. When they found out they said, For heaven s 
 sake don t let dear Vera suspect. But I got a chance 
 and spoke to her. She was so pretty and pleasant I 
 always liked her. She was n t much older than me. I 
 thought she would have a fair word for me and help 
 me, and I was frightened and half crazy. First she 
 blushed. Then she turned pale. It was a lie to pre 
 tend she did n t know. Girls are sly. They always 
 know what s going on. You must n t talk to me, she 
 said. You are a very wicked girl. If you don t go 
 away I 11 call mamma. I am so miserable, I told 
 her ; I am so afraid. Go off ! she said. 4 1 don t 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 395 
 
 want to know about improper things. Her eyes were 
 as hard as flint, and she turned me off like a dog. 
 And her babies did n t die ! She s got them all, 
 grown now. She s prospered. She s kept her young 
 looks. And when she drives by a lot of us she s sort 
 of pleased and surprised, like you the day I saw you 
 staring at us by the factory, as if we were a new kind 
 of monkey put there to amuse you." 
 
 " And he ? " 
 
 The woman drew up her knees to meet her elbows, 
 held her face in her palms, and stared at the opposite 
 wall. 
 
 " I ve hated him twenty years," she muttered ; 
 there was utter silence in the room, she drew a hard 
 breath ; " and there was n t one moment of it when I 
 would n t have forgiven him if he d come back." 
 
 "And this girl here?" demanded Gabrielle, her 
 tone low, clear, and solemn, her eyes still shaded, her 
 brain making its best effort to comprehend, and real 
 izing that this woman must be met with intelligence 
 or all was lost. " Why were you you of all women 
 helping her toward sorrow and shame ? " 
 
 " Well now, I was n t ! " The woman s mocking 
 laugh was startling. " You see I should have seen 
 him to-night. I thought perhaps he did want to 
 marry her. She said so, and there s every kind of 
 fool among men. I thought I d find out. But if lie 
 did n t want to marry her," she stopped, glanced at 
 the sullen figure, then keenly at Gabrielle, and with 
 scathing disdain continued, " why, she s got a streak 
 of your kind in her. I d trust Roschen to look out 
 for herself with any man. She s respectable. For 
 a house and a title she d take considerable trouble, 
 but bless you, she s cool-headed. She knows where 
 
396 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 to draw the line as well as you others. Oh dear, yes. 
 Eoschen is respectable." 
 
 " Well, I am," declared the girl. "I have always 
 been. And I intend to be." 
 
 Gabrielle never glanced at her. It seemed to her 
 that Roschen was of no importance whatever. It was 
 this fierce woman whom she must answer, and she 
 longed for a higher and more profound insight. Not 
 pity alone, not gentleness, and soft assurances of sym 
 pathy could win this defiant spirit, it would laugh 
 them to scorn ; but sense, strong sound sense, must 
 meet it on its own ground. 
 
 " And now you know why I hate you. Have you 
 got enough ? You d better go off now. She s all 
 right, you see. And I m a bad lot. I never was re 
 spectable, and never wanted to be. Her father would 
 be in an awful rage if he knew she was here to-night. 
 He s one of the respectables. You go home now and 
 send me a tract, and tell me you 11 pray for me. But 
 you 11 have to pray hard. I m not the only one. 
 There are thousands like me." 
 
 " You don t hate me," began Gabrielle, her eyes 
 resolute and shining brilliantly in her pale face. " If 
 you had hated me you would never have told me your 
 poor sad life. You would never have trusted me to 
 understand. You know in your heart that you don t 
 hate me. And you are unjust. You talk a great deal 
 about fair play, but you don t give it." 
 
 Incredulous and amazed the woman got up slowly 
 and came forward. 
 
 " You are hard to my kind, as you call it, hard and 
 cruel. Isn t it enough to have had all your sorrow 
 and pain without filling your heart with doubt of 
 everything good ? You have a terrible pride. You 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 397 
 
 are prouder than we. You are no cheap, empty-headed 
 woman, no narrow brain and thin nature. You are 
 wise enough to see things right. You are strong. 
 You are loving. You are loyal. And yet you make 
 yourself cruel. You make yourself blind. Oh no, 
 you are not fair. You wrong me and my kind. I 
 blame you for your hard heart." 
 
 With widely opened eyes and parted lips the woman 
 stared, as if dumb with amazement. Gabrielle was 
 not slow to perceive her advantage. 
 
 " If your poor little baby had lived, you would have 
 worked to keep him white and sweet and beautiful. 
 You loved him so. You were so proud of him. You 
 would have made his home clean. You would have 
 tried to keep him from harm. And when he was 
 older, you would have done everything in the world to 
 make him good and happy. You said it yourself. 
 You were not hard then. There was only kindness in 
 your heart when your poor little baby was with you. 
 And would you not have been right to love him and 
 care for him ? And what more does my kind do than 
 to love and care for its own ? To want to keep its 
 children from harm, and to give them bright, soft, 
 beautiful things ? Would you not have done all that 
 if you could ? And would your little baby have been 
 to blame if he had grown up happy and contented, 
 and unconscious of even your former misery? You 
 cannot condemn us there. There our kind and your 
 kind and all the world are alike." 
 
 The woman made a gesture as if she would reply, 
 but Gabrielle said with soft insistence : r- 
 
 " No, let me speak now. You have told me your 
 life. Now hear mine. Where you as a child had 
 blows and toil and curses and cold and hunger, I had 
 
398 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 tenderness and warmth and ease and careless joys and 
 freedom. You were beaten, I was caressed. You 
 never had a home, you were neglected, you have been 
 grossly outraged and betrayed, you suffered miserably 
 in a hospital, you lost your beloved child. And I 
 have known only truth and devotion in my home, only 
 scrupulous respect from the world. I never have had 
 a great sorrow, at least since I was old enough to 
 understand it, and I realize to-night that I never have 
 had even trials, only petty annoyances that I in my 
 selfishness chose to construe as important. I scarcely 
 know physical pain. And yet do you think I am 
 ashamed to stand before you ? Ah, no ! For I was 
 always sorry for you sorry for you before I under 
 stood, sorry before I ever saw you. You say there are 
 thousands of you. There are thousands of us long 
 ing to be something better than ignorant and careless 
 and heartless, yet not knowing how to reach you, 
 exactly such women as you, and if we make mistakes, 
 if we cannot grasp it all at once, if we go to work 
 awkwardly, it proves nothing against us, the longing 
 is still there. If we are hard upon what we do not 
 understand, you are harder, you are prouder, you build 
 a great wall of envy and hate and mistrust between 
 us, you shut us out ! 
 
 " I grieve for your cruel childhood. For your sor 
 row all of it there is only pity in my heart. In 
 my life there is such wealth of love and promise, I 
 long to draw you toward it and cover you with the 
 sunshine of my own past." 
 
 " You can t," said the woman, drearily. " No God 
 and no devil can give me my lost chance." 
 
 "Who knows the future?" 
 
 " They killed mine long ago." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 399 
 
 " Forgive them ! " cried Gabrielle passionately, with, 
 as gallant and generous an impulse as ever inspired 
 any boy-knight of the old Dohnas to succor a wounded 
 enemy. " Forgive us. Forgive me. There are wrongs 
 on both sides, but ours against you are a thousand 
 times the blacker. Don t you suppose we know it? 
 Can t you see my heart is breaking over you this 
 night ? Be merciful. Don t shut me out. Forgive. 
 Only the strong forgive. You have lost your chance. 
 You lost it long ago. But you can turn your misery 
 into gladness and blessings for many." 
 
 "Me?" 
 
 " Yes, you ! You ! You can reach them when we 
 are helpless and awkward. You understand them. 
 To you they will have no mistrust, no reserve. Ah, 
 don t you see that? That is the one thing needed. 
 We do have hearts, but we don t know how to find 
 yours. But if some of your kind and some of my 
 kind would only stand firmly together, shoulder to 
 shoulder, we could move the world ! " 
 
 Her voice rang out like a young prophet s, and she 
 smiled from her brave and hopeful heart. 
 
 Neither spoke for many minutes. 
 
 " Will you not try to trust me a little ? There is 
 something in you that I trust. And there are things 
 you say which I believe and / think you would 
 find that I should learn to understand." She held 
 out her hand frankly. " Won t you believe at least 
 that I mean to be fair with you ? " 
 
 The woman did not take the proffered hand. Long 
 and searchingly, with a singular watchfulness, she 
 studied Gabrielle s face, and finally with grim delight 
 in her own irony, 
 
 " I 11 give you a trial," she said dryly. 
 
400 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Will you come to see me ? " 
 
 " What will you do with me ? " 
 
 " I don t know yet." 
 
 " You won t try to reclaim me, or anything ? " the 
 woman asked with redawning mistrust. 
 
 Gabrielle shook her head, as if that were scarcely 
 worth answering. "Would you like something to 
 read ? " 
 
 " Something you read yourself, or something se 
 lected for my kind ? " 
 
 Gabrielle smiled, in spite of her night s work, a 
 fresh, young, girlish smile of amusement and sym 
 pathy, and the woman liked it. 
 
 " I am reading a pamphlet, and all of the leaves 
 are not yet cut. You can see for yourself. Would 
 you like that?" 
 
 "What sit about?" 
 
 "About prisons in France, and what people are 
 trying to do to make them better and more humane." 
 
 " Are they doing anything particular ? " she asked 
 negligently. 
 
 " It seemed so to me." 
 
 " Well, I don t mind looking at it. I ought to know 
 more about prisons than you. I ve been in em." 
 
 " Will you come and get it ? " 
 
 " You d better bring it to me." 
 
 " But you will come to see me ? " 
 
 " No. I don t like old Putty-Face." 
 
 "Will you come to see Count Hugo?" Gabrielle 
 asked with a sudden inspiration. " He is Bernhard 
 Dietz s best friend." 
 
 " The cripple ? " the woman said in the same ex 
 pressionless tone as before. " Well, perhaps I would n t 
 mind coming to see him." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 401 
 
 " And now will you let me take Roschen home ? " 
 The girl had fallen asleep with her head on the 
 
 table. Her friend shook her. 
 
 " Wake up ! It s three o clock in the morning. 
 
 Your circus is over. Your officer stalked off long 
 
 Rubbing her eyes, rosy, dimpled, her curly hair in 
 disorder, Roschen looked younger than ever, and 
 stared at them like a suddenly roused baby. 
 
 Gabrielle felt ages older than she, older indeed than 
 the Gabrielle of a few hours since. 
 
 " Poor Roschen," she said indulgently. " You are 
 only a great child. I am sure you meant no harm. 
 And everything will be happy again when Herr Dietz 
 knows it all." 
 
 " When Bernhard knows ! " shrieked the girl, now 
 thoroughly awake. " You are not going to tell him ? 
 Not going to take away the baron, tell Bernhard, and 
 leave me without anybody? " 
 
 Gabrielle looked at her in dismay. 
 
 " But you will tell him, Roschen ? You surely 
 would not marry a man without telling him? You 
 could not." 
 
 " There s no knowing what queer things very re 
 spectable girls will do," remarked the outcast, with 
 her bitter smile. " Hold your tongue, Roschen, and 
 come along home. I 11 come, too," she added, but 
 looked sharp inquiry at Gabrielle, who said : 
 
 " Yes, come. I should be glad." 
 
 The morning twilight, as the singular company 
 marched in silence back to the villa, revealed two hag 
 gard faces. The woman s tinged with chronic sick- 
 liness, and Gabrielle s marked with dark circles of 
 weariness and excitement beneath the eyes. The girl 
 
402 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 for whom they had fought walked along sullenly, like 
 a stupid, greedy child deprived of an anticipated feast, 
 but handsome and fresh-colored still, refreshed by her 
 long nap, and not preyed upon by over-much feeling, 
 while Lipps in his faultless livery followed Gabrielle 
 at the regulation distance ; 011 his clean-shaven face 
 was no intimation that he perceived the slightest ec 
 centricity, or in fact that he even saw any one but the 
 baroness, for whom his master had sent him. 
 
 As they passed the market-gardens, there were 
 lights moving in some of the little houses, sounds 
 within and without, a wagon had been brought for 
 ward to load, and a man was gathering salad. 
 
 The woman with a brusque gesture called Gabri- 
 elle s attention, who nodded gravely. 
 
 At the villa gate the woman said surlily : 
 
 " You Ve beaten this time." 
 
 " Ah, no," returned Gabrielle warmly. " It is you 
 who have beaten both me and yourself." 
 
 They stole into the house by a back entrance. Ga 
 brielle watched Lipps lock the gate and doors, and 
 pocket the keys, then crept with the lightest possible 
 step to her balcony. 
 
 " He is asleep, of course," she thought. 
 
 " Is all well ? " asked Hugo s voice instantly. 
 " You Ve got her ? " 
 
 " All is well," she returned in a stage whisper. 
 
 " You have been gone so long. You have had 
 some odious scene. I have been very anxious about 
 you. You must be dead tired." 
 
 She waited a moment. Then he heard her voice 
 low and tremulous and glad : 
 
 " I never was so happy in my life." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " I DON T mind a noise at night," the countess an 
 nounced with acerbity, " if I only know what it is." 
 
 " That s precisely my case," rejoined Hugo. " For 
 instance, when I merely suspect it to be a burglar, I 
 am not happy, but when I positively know that it s a 
 spook, bliss is no name for my condition." 
 
 She frowned. 
 
 44 But there were noises last night. Doors, footsteps, 
 creaks. Mousey was wild. I can t tell you how many 
 times the poor angel started from his restless sleep and 
 barked. He was perfectly aware that something was 
 going on." 
 
 44 My dear mamma, something is always going on," 
 he returned pacifically. 44 Why agitate yourself ? 
 How many times a year do you complain to me of mys 
 terious noises in the night ? Obviously they can t be 
 burglars, for we don t miss any spoons. Suppose we 
 accept the spook theory and be tranquil. But if you d 
 walk a half-hour in the garden just before going to 
 bed, and not touch curacoa or Chartreuse, and would 
 lock Mousey every night into a padded cell, a shindy 
 of burglars and spooks together could prance all over 
 the house without disturbing you." 
 
 He hoped by this light charge with the old and 
 hated weapons to divert her attention from the main 
 body of her grievance, and he also put much faith in 
 his undignified language as a successful irritant, but 
 she insisted querulously : 
 
404 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 "My nerves cannot bear it. As the Frau Major 
 says, my nerves must be considered above everything. 
 It was between three and four o clock this morning, 
 that I distinctly heard one of the house doors and some 
 other doors." 
 
 He regarded her covertly from his pillow and re 
 sorted to another species of defence sometimes the 
 best mask in the world the truth. 
 
 " It was without doubt Fraulein von Dohna return 
 ing at that hour from some midnight adventure." 
 
 "Nonsense, Hugo!" she exclaimed irritably, now 
 convinced of the absurdity of her vague suspicions. 
 
 " Come, mamma," he said affably, " let s talk poli 
 tics. You are better at politics than any woman I 
 know." 
 
 " Are n t you rather pale, Hugo ? " 
 
 " If you say so, it must be true," he responded with 
 equivocal civility. " The weather is a trifle sultry." 
 
 " Yes, it is frightfully enervating. My pulse is 
 scarcely perceptible, and Mousey can hardly hold up 
 his head." 
 
 " Is he pale ? " 
 
 " He is fatigued," she answered curtly. " How can 
 you bear to stay in bed so late? " 
 
 " It s indolence. Then my duties are not onerous." 
 
 " I wish mine were not," she sighed. " And I am 
 so troubled and uncertain of my course." 
 
 " Indeed ! " 
 
 " I think there is no doubt that Gabrielle is insin 
 cere. I don t exactly know what it is my duty to 
 do. Of course I desire to be scrupulously delicate in 
 my consideration of the family. But after one has 
 that peculiar feeling in regard to any one, it is irk 
 some to always have her about. And I am confident 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 405 
 
 Gabrielle is not the best person to take with me to the 
 Biviera next winter. I shall remain here during the 
 summer. One is cooler after all at home. And 
 Mousey hates being cooped up in those horrid hotels 
 in warm weather. But I wish to go away as early as 
 September, and I must decide. It is very trying." 
 
 Hugo held four long emaciated fingers above the 
 sheet, and surveyed them with his father s smile. 
 
 " What are you doing ? You look like Launcelot 
 Gobbo." 
 
 " Counting months/ Why should you be in doubt, 
 mamma ? It s much longer than your average." 
 
 " Do you mean that you approve ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " Of sending Gabrielle away and taking Sofie Go- 
 bert?" 
 
 By all means. Why hesitate about such a little 
 thing as that ? " 
 
 " Do you think Sofie will suit me ? " 
 
 " Better than Fraulein von Dohna ? Unquestion 
 ably." 
 
 " But you always seem to think Gabrielle is perfec 
 tion," she rejoined petulantly. 
 
 " Pardon me. I have not intimated that I person 
 ally should prefer Sofie Gobert to Fraulein von Dohna 
 in any imaginable position. I am merely giving my 
 attention in the most scientific and objective spirit 
 which I can command to your interesting system 
 of rotation of companions. Sofie Gobert has every 
 quality which Fraulein von Dohna has not." 
 
 " Oh, Hugo, even when you pretend to take some 
 interest, you are ironical. I am very unhappy." 
 
 "I am not ironical in saying take Sofie Gobert. 
 You require change. Take it. You are tired of -Frau- 
 
406 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 lein von Dohna. Send her away. You wish to invite 
 Fraulein Gobert to pass the winter with you on the 
 Eiviera. Invite her. I shall never oppose you again 
 in such a matter. Man proposes. Frau von Funnel 
 disposes. Kismet." 
 
 " I wish you would take things more seriously. If 
 Gabrielle were not so disappointing so inscrutable," 
 she went on with a vacillating, distressed expression. 
 " I don t know what she wants. She has encouraged 
 Lieutenant von Raven for months, and then refused 
 him point blank at Baden. It is ridiculous." 
 
 " I think it is." 
 
 " And it s disgraceful. She knows what I expect 
 of her. Of course she does n t mean it. I told him 
 so. He is coming to see me to-day. If she would be 
 reasonable I could overlook much." 
 
 " Raven has been here." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 " He came to see me a few moments. He did n t 
 stay long. I think he was in a hurry." 
 
 " Did he ask you to intercede for him with Gabri 
 elle?" 
 
 " Well no, he did n t. I rather think he has 
 given that up. I fancy he is going to get leave of ab 
 sence for a while. He seems to want to go to Geneva 
 to improve his French. I told him I thought it was a 
 good plan. His French ought to be improved." 
 
 " And he did n t ask for me ? " 
 
 " The conversation was short, and I remember it 
 without difficulty," Hugo said dryly. " Your name 
 was not mentioned." 
 
 " I am astonished. I don t understand it." After a 
 while she said ponderously, " This is the last straw. 
 This decides me. She must go." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 407 
 
 " You have not told her yet ? " he asked carelessly. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "You see her father is off there," he suggested 
 mildly. " Of course you 11 give her a little time to 
 look about. One does as much as that for a cook. 
 And I believe their house is closed." 
 
 " She has friends somewhere, I presume. And then 
 those Berlin Dohnas." 
 
 " No doubt. No doubt." 
 
 "And I shall be most punctilious in my conduct 
 toward her." 
 
 " Naturally." 
 
 " I m going to have the Waldenbergs to dine while 
 the roses are so abundant. I shall not tell her till 
 after that. She might be disagreeable." 
 
 " No, I would n t. Have you any other candidate 
 in view behind Sofie Gobert ? Because I advise you 
 to keep a row of them to windward." His tone was 
 utterly gentle and inoffensive. She began to breathe 
 uneasily. 
 
 "You are so unfeeling," she exclaimed. "If" 
 
 " Ah, mamma, let us leave that unborn sister of 
 mine out of the question ! " And earnestly, kindly, 
 sadly, knowing the fruitlessness of any appeal, but 
 moved, as the wisest of us may be now and then, to at 
 tempt the impossible, and wrestle with the gigantic 
 invincible fatality of temperament, " How wretched 
 you make yourself ! " he said. " Have faith in Gabri- 
 elle. Be content. Be at rest. Trust her. She is 
 truth itself, and generosity and goodness." 
 
 She stood by him panting slightly, and with her 
 sudden painful look of jealousy, her singular min 
 gling of sternness and vacillation, 
 
 " I cannot," she whispered helplessly. 
 
408 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 He sighed and said no more. He knew that she 
 could not. He remained in bed several days, by his 
 doctor s orders, and feeling, indeed, no temptation to 
 disobey them. Lipps, dissatisfied with the count s ap 
 pearance, had on his own responsibility summoned the 
 physician, who after his examination inquired : 
 
 " What have you been trying to do ? " 
 
 " Athletic sports," returned Hugo. 
 
 " It looks like it. You d better stay where you are 
 for a while." 
 
 A message of cheerful import was conveyed to Ga- 
 brielle to the effect that she no longer need be anxious 
 about her stupid sheep, for the wolf had left town. 
 Beyond this, she had no communication with Hugo, 
 he being invisible, and she in closest attendance upon 
 the countess, who developed a peculiarly difficult and 
 exacting mood, and required her constantly. She sent 
 down wistfully from her balcony every evening a soft 
 little " Good-night." There seemed to be a great deal 
 unspoken between them, all the events of that noc 
 turnal expedition, and much, much else. It was not 
 always easy to wait. 
 
 Dietz came home and reported to Hugo, laying notes 
 and sketches before him, but singularly uncommuni 
 cative about the journey. He was cordial, grateful, 
 affectionate, but not his restful self. He seemed pre 
 occupied, and the count feared that the poor fellow 
 had been met at once on his arrival with the tale of 
 Koschen s performances, and when Dietz said some 
 what shyly that he was rather busy, and should not be 
 able to come again very soon, Hugo pressed his hand 
 in mute sympathy, thinking, " A man has to fight 
 that sort of thing out for himself. I can t speak till 
 he speaks." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 409 
 
 One afternoon the Frau Major was closeted long 
 with the countess, while Gabrielle, in her room, con 
 gratulated herself that she was not summoned. Stand 
 ing on her balcony, wondering when she should be 
 allowed to see Hugo, whom Lipps said had been pro 
 moted to the sofa, she saw the two ladies in the rose- 
 garden, and retreated. 
 
 " You are fatigued, dear friend," she heard the 
 Frau Major say tenderly. 
 
 " I have had to arrange all the flowers in this great 
 house. I have nobody who thinks for me, who saves 
 me care, who is prvoyante. With my chest, and my 
 nerves, I need a sustaining influence. Gabrielle is so 
 self -engrossed, so unsympathizing." 
 
 " She is young, still. Youth is apt to be self-ab 
 sorbed," returned the other indulgently. " Let us re 
 member she is unaware of her deficiencies. Sofie is 
 older and the sweetest temper. But Gabrielle is 
 very, very dear. She has been a special pet of mine. 
 I interested myself greatly in her on your account. 
 With your wise guidance, she might still " 
 
 " She has a great deal to learn. She has treated 
 Lorenz von Raven abominably. She is very ungrate 
 ful." 
 
 "Perhaps the dear heedless child really prefers 
 Egon. I am going to give a fete champetre for the 
 Orphans, and we could arrange some pleasant little 
 combinations. As to sweet Sofie Gobert " 
 
 They had passed. Gabrielle, hearing her name, 
 had instantly withdrawn as far as possible within the 
 room, but this choice conversational fragment floated 
 up to her nevertheless. 
 
 She sighed and smiled. That morning after she 
 cut the roses, she began as usual to fill the vases, 
 
410 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 " Let me do it ! " said the countess jealously. "Flowers 
 are one of my few joys. You might at least allow 
 me to arrange my own roses." 
 
 " It is a trifle," thought Gabrielle ; " yet a few 
 months ago it would have broken my heart. It must 
 be growing tough with use." 
 
 Some one knocked lightly, and Mercedes von Wal- 
 denberg s handsome head looked in. 
 
 "They said you were here. I insisted upon not 
 being announced. This is my revenge-visit. We 
 won t reckon all the stiff ones on the countess. This 
 is solely for you. How pretty your room is ! I shall 
 never forget the day you sat in my room and reviled 
 me, you dearest girl ! " 
 
 " I shall ask, as you did, what have you come to 
 tell me ? " Gabrielle returned, laughing. " Lovers, 
 I know ! " 
 
 " Not lovers, a lover," Mercedes corrected prettily. 
 " The one." 
 
 " I knew it ! " and Gabrielle threw her arms about 
 her warmly. 
 
 " Oh," began Mercedes, " if you could suspect all 
 the wickedness I ve been perpetrating. It is deli 
 cious ! I have come to tell you wonders." 
 
 " Mercedes," Gabrielle broke in impulsively, " if 
 you would only come down with me and see Count 
 Hugo. You have always refused, but now you are so 
 near ; and I think he would be glad, and you would 
 not be sorry, and I I wish it so much." 
 
 " I shrink from seeing him, Gabrielle. I don t 
 deny it." 
 
 " Oh, you need n t be afraid of him," retorted Ga 
 brielle with a little heat. " He looks very handsome 
 and noble." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 411 
 
 Mercedes smiled with mischief and quick intelli 
 gence. 
 
 " It is not that alone," she said. " But send down 
 and ask him." 
 
 Hugo s civil reply to their message came up 
 promptly, and presently he saw them the two women 
 who had had the strongest influence upon his life - 
 entering his room together. 
 
 Mercedes took his hand with perceptible timidity. 
 The elegant composure of the woman of the world 
 fled before this gaunt vision of the friend of other 
 days, whose last gay and gallant greeting as he passed 
 the crowded tribune before starting on that fatal race, 
 and turned in the saddle to seek her glance, she re 
 membered well. 
 
 " This is very strange, Hugo," she murmured help 
 lessly. 
 
 He looked at her and saw his youth, with its long- 
 vista of dead delights, of sunny moments gone for 
 ever, of dear lost hopes. His heart was tender to 
 them and to her. But suffering had transformed not 
 his body alone. It was a changed soul that greeted 
 her through his deep and luminous eyes, and before 
 he answered, they sought Gabrielle with a grave, lin 
 gering glance. 
 
 " Perhaps it would not seem so strange to you if 
 you had come before," he said with quiet friendliness. 
 
 " Yes, I ought to have come," she admitted remorse 
 fully. 
 
 " I have sometimes thought so." 
 
 " But I never was famous for doing what I ought." 
 
 " I remember that," and he smiled, adding, " I do 
 not reproach you, Mercedes, and it is very good of 
 you to come to-day. I am glad to see you again." 
 
412 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Reassured, she began brightly : 
 
 " But I m better now, Hugo. I Ve reformed. You 
 have no idea. Gabrielle has plucked me from the 
 burning." 
 
 " I never before heard the Marquis de Vallion 
 called by that name," Gabrielle retorted coolly. 
 
 Mercedes gave her a quick smile. 
 
 " Hugo, of course you hear all the gossip about me. 
 I want your blessing," she said, less at ease than she 
 appeared. 
 
 " It is the heavy stage-father who blesses," he re 
 turned languidly. " I fear I am scarcely corpulent 
 enough." 
 
 " Never mind. Give me as good a one as you can. 
 I would rather have a little from you than a large one 
 from most people. And I need it. It s the reverse 
 of blessings that have fallen on my head lately. I 
 have something to tell you. Of course you know al 
 ready. My iniquities are published far and wide. In 
 deed, it has not been easy for me. Some day I will 
 tell you both the whole story. There have been scenes 
 for painters, and diplomacy enough to run the govern 
 ment the remainder of its existence. But I must talk 
 fast to-day, for mamma is walking in the rose-garden 
 with the countess and Frau von Funnel, and may 
 send for me any moment." She hesitated an instant. 
 " Erich von Paalzow has always been celebrated for 
 his courage, you remember, Hugo. He has proved it 
 again," she continued, demurely. " He is determined 
 to marry me." 
 
 "I don t think he will regret it," Hugo returned 
 cordially, extending his hand. 
 
 " But the delicious part of the matter is, they 
 mamma and Frau von Funnel have actually sue- 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 413 
 
 ceeded in persuading the marquis that it s Elsa he 
 wanted all the time, and Elsa needed no persuasion. 
 Oh, do let me laugh ! At home it is impossible. We 
 are too proper and serious in this business. The Frau 
 Major is the cleverest woman in Europe. She origi 
 nated the transfer. But mamma was not slow in 
 assimilating it. And the two have not only converted 
 the marquis to the new faith but made him supremely 
 happy. And there is no embarrassment. We are the 
 sweetest family ! We are perfect. Elsa always having 
 been one of the Frau Major s specialest special pets, 
 and most responsive to her saccharine methods, it is 
 the Frau Major who will be in a certain sense the real 
 Marquise de Vallion. Benevolence will flourish here 
 like a green bay-tree next winter, and there 11 be an 
 epidemic of matrimony. See what you have done, 
 Gabrielle! But don t molest Elsa. Don t interfere 
 with her future after ruining mine." 
 
 "You bring the freshest and most entertaining 
 news, Mercedes, one wonder after another ; but might 
 I inquire what possible connection Frauleiii von Dohna 
 has with this romance ? " 
 
 " Ah, don t, Mercedes ! " protested Gabrielle, fear 
 ing the mischief dancing in her friend s eyes, and 
 about the corners of her mouth. 
 
 " She ? She has done it all. She is a dangerous 
 person and a match-maker. She came one morning to 
 me and objected in plain language, very plain, to my 
 engagement with the Marquis de Vallion. She in 
 sisted in the most peremptory manner upon my falling 
 in love with somebody else, more to her taste. She 
 urged me violently to come up here and fall in love 
 with you. But I was considerate," she gave the 
 word a certain audacious emphasis, "I refrained. 
 
414 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Still, her suggestion remained in my mind. Some 
 of the extraordinary things she had said had an un 
 pleasant way of occurring to me when I looked at the 
 marquis. Then I looked at him as little as possible. 
 Indeed, the diamonds he brought always edified me 
 more than his personal appearance. I tried to forget 
 her sermon, but it clung to me. Finally I acted upon 
 it. I fell in love with Herr von Paalzow, entirely in 
 my effort to lead a better life and please Gabrielle. It 
 created an indescribable tumult in my family, a per 
 fect cyclone. Mamma s consternation was simply pa 
 thetic, until the Frau Major von Funnel came gliding 
 in, perfect mistress of the situation, and showed 
 mamma how she could still be happy. Mamma is 
 mamma and not dull, but only one mortal woman 
 could have executed this coup d Stat. Few would 
 have had the genius to even design it, but only she 
 the skill to sweetly burrow it along to completion. 
 Sift powdered sugar and it shall be sifted unto you 
 again, is her unerring motto, and with it she wins her 
 tens of thousands. But now you understand, Hugo, 
 that if Gabrielle had not induced me to like Herr von 
 Paalzow, Elsa would not marry the French Embassa- 
 dor, hence Gabrielle is a match-maker." 
 
 " You of course are at liberty to believe as much 
 of this as you like, Count Hugo," Gabrielle said, 
 laughing heartily, " but I would merely beg to state 
 that when I talked with Mercedes that morning, I 
 had never seen Baron von Paalzow. I did not even 
 know such a man existed." 
 
 " That is an unimportant anachronism. It does 
 not injure the general character of my history in the 
 faintest degree. Oh, I will come and tell you some 
 tales ! I will act some scenes for you. I will bring 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 415 
 
 Herr von Paalzow. What we two have suffered! 
 Talk about the way of the transgressor being hard ! 
 The way of the transgressor is easy, easy as waltz 
 ing. It s when the transgressor turns about, and tries 
 to be an honest woman, that her path becomes almost 
 impossible. Never have I had such obstacles set be 
 fore me, and never, whatever I did, have I so horrified 
 Mrs. Grundy as since I have conscientiously endeav 
 ored to act upon Gabrielle s advice." 
 
 " It was a very free translation of my advice." 
 
 " I can t help that. I hold you responsible. If 
 Herr von Paalzow does not treat me well, does not 
 make me happy and I require considerable to be 
 happy I shall blame you. And I have told him, 
 that if the Marquis de Yallion should disappear soon, 
 which is highly probable, I have thought for some 
 time that he was in danger of shrivelling and blowing 
 away like dry thistle-down, and if he should leave 
 our silly little Elsa a young widow with all that 
 wealth and power, I should simply die of envy. I 
 have told Erich worse than that. I think I have told 
 him everything," she said more seriously, and with a 
 straight glance at Hugo ; " but he has n t blenched 
 yet. He s a brave man." 
 
 " Ask him to come soon to see me," he rejoined. 
 " And it s pleasant news you bring to-day, Mercedes. 
 I am far too good a friend to like the idea of your 
 marrying old Vallion. But Paalzow is one of the 
 best men I know. It seems to me that you are both 
 doing a very sensible thing. I 11 give you my bless 
 ing or whatever you choose to call it." 
 
 " Ah, Hugo," she said gratefully, " you always were 
 a dear ! We will come soon together. We will come 
 often if you will let us. We shall be here next win- 
 
416 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 ter, although we expect to be ordered off to some hor 
 rid little garrison in the spring. I shall be misera 
 ble. I despise small towns. I shall quarrel with all 
 the women and flirt with all the men. I have warned 
 Erich categorically. Fancy me rusticating, and Elsa 
 in a palace ! Then the weddings. Hers comes first. 
 That s Funnel-salve for the marquis s feelings. It will 
 be large, superb, embassadorian ! Mine, the oldest 
 sister s, follows, small, modest and meek like Erich and 
 me, and his pay. Elsa is going to have seven 
 bridesmaids, seventy if the Frau Major thinks best. 
 And I am going to have only one, if I can get ner. 
 Can I, Gabrielle?" 
 
 She chattered on, and they laughed at her droll 
 complaints, while her eyes were shining with a soft 
 and happy light. 
 
 Meanwhile, she was thinking : 
 
 " Poor old Hu<ro ! I wish that I had come before. 
 
 o 
 
 I have been a selfish coward. It is n t so bad as I 
 feared. But I should die to be always here. It 
 would be like living with a ghost. I shan t mind so 
 much when I can come with Erich. And no doubt 
 one can accustom one s self to it. Gabrielle has evi 
 dently. He does look handsome, but so ghastly, and 
 his eyes are like flames." 
 
 And Hugo told himself that she was beautiful, she 
 was graceful, she was charming, she was good, but 
 was it she who had caused him such agony and de 
 spair but a few short months ago ? Was it longing 
 for her that had nearly driven him mad ? A great 
 wonder and incredulity descended upon him, and a 
 sense of the elusiveness and mystery of the human 
 heart. 
 
 His grave gaze lingered upon Gabrielle. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 417 
 
 The two were summoned soon to have tea with the 
 others, and Hugo realized, only when they were gone, 
 that he and Gabrielle had scarcely exchanged a word. 
 He would have said, without considering, that they 
 had had a long and profoundly intimate conversation. 
 He had still his episode to relate to her, and she her 
 long adventure. Dietz, too, had evidently much on 
 his mind, and even the countess had not divulged her 
 intentions. They were like a mass of storm clouds, 
 ready to discharge. Yet the less he saw of her the 
 better. In September, she would probably go south 
 after all. His mother could simply set her adrift, and 
 might have fifty plans in the meantime. Poor little 
 girl, so bright and brave, and not dreaming Sofie 
 Gobert was her Damocles sword. It would be the 
 happiest thing for Gabrielle to go anywhere away 
 from his mother, still being dismissed would be scarcely 
 pleasant. He must ask her about those people in 
 Berlin. It would be well for her to go somewhere as 
 soon as possible. Yes, she ought to go away. He 
 could not bear the look in her eyes much longer. He 
 would not ask her to come to him. It was better 
 so. When she came accidentally, with others, he would 
 see her, but he would not beg her to come, not once 
 again. 
 
 He had gone too far the night she came home. He 
 should not have kissed her hands, at least, not in that 
 way. He must listen to his mother s talk of the at 
 mosphere of sympathy which she desired in her own 
 house, and he must see the loveliest, freshest, sweet 
 est, truest-hearted girl on this earth turned out of 
 it. The house happened to belong to him, and him 
 alone, a wise provision on his father s part against 
 the danger of sudden and capricious sale. The idea 
 
418 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 was distasteful to his mother, and she ignored it 
 with consistency, always saying " my house," and up 
 to this moment it had merely amused him. But now 
 he might not shelter under his own roof the woman 
 he loved, must even welcome any chance that might 
 drive her away. Welcome it for her sake, he reflected 
 with an infinitely sad smile. 
 
 Gabrielle herself interrupted his musings. 
 
 " I have not come to talk with you now," she began 
 brightly, unconscious as a bird that pours forth its 
 glad song when one s heart is heavy. " I have so very 
 much to tell you, but I have escaped only an instant. 
 I was asked to bring Mousey s blanket from my room, 
 the gold embroidery, and I am on my way. They are 
 going immediately and without me ; and Herr Dietz 
 is at the side-door, and says he would like to show 
 me something and begs me to come with him. He 
 says he will show it to you later. But it would be a 
 great favor to him if I would look at it. Don t you 
 think that is very strange ? He seems odd, but I 
 really cannot say whether he is glad or sorry." 
 
 " Oh, he s sorry enough." 
 
 " But I am not sure this is about Roschen," she 
 said doubtfully. 
 
 " It must be, or he would not come to you. It s 
 a letter, I presume." 
 
 " But would n t he simply bring a letter ? And he 
 has a carriage waiting. I shall go, of course, whatever 
 it is. If it is Roschen s affairs, it is very painful, 
 but of course I must tell him what I know." 
 
 " Must you ? " he returned in consternation. 
 
 " But ought n t he to know ? She will not tell him. 
 It would seem a cruel thing to do, but I greatly fear 
 you or I ought to tell him, if she won t." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 419 
 
 "I? Never ! " Then thoughtfully, " A woman sees 
 those things differently, I suppose. I could not tell 
 him. I would rather shoot him. And I don t see 
 why he ought to be told. She is the only one who 
 can tell him." 
 
 She colored. " I must go. I think he ought to 
 know," she reiterated gently. 
 
 " I d think about it," he returned. " And will you 
 come to me afterwards and tell me what has hap 
 pened ? " 
 
 Dietz scarcely spoke as they drove out to Leslach. 
 Always the village ! And she found it to-day, in her 
 cooler mood, a more curious experience to be sitting 
 in a droschky with Bernhard Dietz than to hurry on 
 foot through the lane at midnight. He looked odd 
 to her in his ill-fitting Sunday suit. She watched him 
 furtively. Again her instinct told her that there was 
 repressed excitement but no grief in his face. 
 
 The carriage stopped. Dietz opened a gate and 
 led her through a narrow court, where children paused 
 in their play to stare, and a head appeared miracu 
 lously at every window. Dietz, who could not us 
 ually pass a child without a word or a caress, looked 
 neither to the right nor the left. Once, with a soft 
 but mechanical movement he lifted a sprawling baby 
 out of her way. He unlocked the door of an unfin 
 ished room in a shed, and relocked it after her. A 
 cloth was nailed carefully across the window, and some 
 thing tall and draped stood in the middle of the floor. 
 
 Dietz turned and looked at her. It seemed to her 
 that he wished to speak, to give her some introduction, 
 some explanation, but could not. There was a 
 struggle of some kind in his mind. He smiled, shook 
 his head, and removed the damp cloths. 
 
420 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 It was a girl s full-length figure in clay, revealing, 
 beneath scant, short clinging skirts, an open blouse, 
 and rolled up sleeves, free, long, lithe limbs, and the 
 chaste breast but faintly beginning to round into the 
 curves of dawning womanhood. With one uplifted 
 arm steadying a water-bucket on her head, one bare 
 foot thrown firmly forward, the other lightly poised, 
 the charming head turned slightly, with a smile on the 
 full, parted lips, as if, going reluctantly, she would 
 fain listen to the gossip of the women by the fountain ; 
 listening, smiling, looking back, seeking, longing for 
 her pleasure, she seemed moving, so real were the 
 vigor and grace of her pose. And more touching 
 than her mere beauty was the flowerlike freshness, 
 the innocence, the rare maidenliness which the loving 
 soul of the artist had breathed into his creation. 
 
 Dietz saw the excitement in Gabrielle s face. Its 
 cause he could not know, but it emboldened him to 
 speak. 
 
 He drew a long, deep, happy sigh. 
 
 " Now I ve got that done," he began, and his beauti 
 ful voice was shy and unsteady, " I am willing to die. 
 I don t want to die. I am happy. There s no man 
 on earth so happy, and with so much reason. But 
 there s a feeling that everything has come to an 
 end. That s what I mean. You are a woman, and 
 you know her. You see her every day. Somehow I 
 can talk to you, if you don t mind." 
 
 Gabrielle murmured an unintelligible assent. 
 
 " It has been so long, so long that this thought has 
 been in my head. Since I was fourteen, and carved 
 my first rough ivy-leaf at the night school. It has n t 
 been a happy thought always. It has troubled me. 
 It has been a kind of pain. I could n t do it, and I 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 421 
 
 could n t forget it. I m a slow man, and I m not a 
 clever man. A fellow who began with me was clever. 
 He could model everything. They sent him to Rome. 
 He was a good fellow, and quick. I did n t envy him. 
 I did n t want to model everything. I only wanted to 
 model her. This is the way I always saw her, but I 
 could n t seize her. I ve dreamed of her a thousand 
 times like this. She has waked me from my sleep 
 standing before me so. But I was too dull to reach 
 her. It was in me somewhere, but it was n t in my 
 head or in my hands. It was n t where I could get at 
 it. I never should have gotten at it if Count Hugo 
 had not sent me to Italy. He has helped me find it. 
 He has given me my dearest wish. And I d rather 
 owe it to him than to any man on earth." 
 
 He paused, and smiled like a seraph. She clasped 
 her hands tighter and more painfully together, and 
 waited for the slow, soft, tranquil voice. 
 
 " I was as frightened as a boy when I came home 
 last week. I thought I d got it, but I was n t sure. I 
 had seen so much that the great ones had done, and I 
 saw how they went to work, bold and fine all at 
 once, you know, with a strong eye and a light hand 
 and a deep soul, and I thought I had caught some 
 thing. But I had my fears, and they made me sick. 
 You see if a thing has been coming and going before 
 your eyes since you were a little chap, you can t be 
 sure. But this much I knew, if I could n t catch it 
 and fix it now, I was lo^t for all eternity. Well, I ve 
 hardly seen anybody. I have been queer even to 
 Count Hugo, who has done it all. I suppose I ve 
 been half crazy. I locked myself in here, and went 
 at it. And I ve caught it at last. It can never run 
 away from me again." 
 
422 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 He gazed with ineffable tenderness at the pure con 
 tours. 
 
 " There she is," he murmured, whether to himself 
 or to her, Gabrielle was not sure. " That s her 
 pretty throat. That s her dimple in the left cheek. 
 That s Rbschen. God bless her ! Why I never hol 
 lowed out the heart of a rose without longing to carve 
 her lips instead. I never worked at any head without 
 seeing her sweet face, and aching to chisel it. It has 
 been a kind of hunger all these years, and often I have 
 feared I would carry it to my grave. But there she 
 is. I wanted you to see her. You know something 
 about such things, and you know her." 
 
 " Yes, I know Rbschen." 
 
 " I don t deserve it," he broke out. " I don t de 
 serve such happiness. It s enough to make a man 
 afraid. There were some debts I ve had hanging on 
 to me since I started. I shall get the last one paid 
 next month. In October, Rbschen and I are going to 
 be married. She has promised. And this off my 
 mind ! Why, it makes a man as free as air ! " 
 
 " Roschen has promised you ? " 
 
 " Yes. She never would set the time before. She 
 is young yet, and likes her freedom like any young 
 thing. And I could n t urge her until I got the 
 .money all paid off. But I m going to get a lot of 
 money for this," he said shyly. " It seems odd, but 
 my professor says so. I showed it to him first. He 
 always looks at all my work. He says it is good. He 
 says he never believed it was in me, and now I must 
 go on. That is the first mistake he ever made with 
 me. I never shall go on. I don t want to go on. 
 Why, I m thirty years old and slow. This is all there 
 is in me. This is me. This is Rbschen." 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 423 
 
 " And she s the best girl in the world. It is n t 
 like meeting a pretty girl on a holiday and being 
 pleased with her, no matter if you like her ever so 
 well," he went on softly, his smiling eyes fixed on the 
 figure. " I ve always known Roschen. She s like 
 my own life. Why, I carried her in my arms when 
 she was a baby. She looked like a peach, even then. 
 And I ve watched her going to school, and helped her 
 carry bundles and draw water, and seen her growing 
 up, always sweet as sunshine, always kind and good, 
 and working with her mother, and making the house 
 bright because she was in it, always tidy." 
 
 " Yes, she is tidy," gasped Gabrielle. 
 
 " And gay as a lark, and sweet-tempered, when an 
 other girl as beautiful would have had her head turned 
 long ago. For far and near she s the beauty, and 
 ever since she was a little thing all the strangers that 
 stopped to water their horses at the fountain have 
 talked of her hair and her eyes and her smile ; for she 
 has a way with her, and everybody that sees her likes 
 her, and the old folks are proud of her, and she could 
 look higher, but she s promised to marry me in 
 October that s Roschen." 
 
 He was tranquil. He had spoken from his over 
 full heart to this gentle lady. He folded his arms, 
 and regarded his work in silence. 
 
 " It is beautiful," Gabrielle began, uncertain of her 
 voice. " I thank you with all my heart. I will tell 
 Count Hugo everything." 
 
 " When it is in marble, he shall see it first." 
 
 " I will tell him how beautiful it is, and he will be 
 proud of you, as I am, proud to have you for his 
 friend. And I can t begin to tell you what I feel 
 perhaps later ; and I wish you d take me home now." 
 
424 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Her voice was so tremulous and abrupt that he 
 feared she was ill. He hastened to take her back to 
 the villa. She passed through the house, meeting no 
 one, went straight to Hugo s room, and entered with a 
 pale, set face. Throwing herself into the great easy- 
 chair, 
 
 " O Hugo!" she cried, " O Hugo!" and burst vio 
 lently into tears. 
 
 He watched her with a drawn look and longing 
 eyes. This was one of the things it was better to 
 bear. If he were a strong man she might be weeping 
 in his arms and on his breast instead of on that chair- 
 back. She had come to him in her sorrow. She had 
 called him by his name. He loved her. Therefore it 
 behoved to him to be wise. He had not believed 
 his mother s fickle stab would wound her so deeply. 
 Surely, she had sounded every note in that gamut. 
 All had come as he had foreseen, and she, she the 
 bright and strong and beautiful, with her clear, 
 brave eyes and resolute lips, was weeping now like all 
 her predecessors, sobbing passionately, and he could 
 not comfort her, could not protect her, could not mur 
 mur loving words in her ear, could not touch her 
 though she was within reach of his hand. Cousin 
 Marie had flung herself into that same chair, he re 
 membered, but how different her tears had seemed. 
 He had not had the remotest desire to kiss them away. 
 He smiled a long, sad, patient smile. 
 
 Gabrielle turned her wet, flushed face toward him. 
 
 " How good you are ! Any one else would have 
 talked to me. Forgive me. Indeed it is not like me. 
 I rarely cry." 
 
 " Why should you let her hurt you so ? " he asked, 
 with well-controlled kindness. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 425 
 
 She looked a quick inquiry. 
 
 " Oh, it is not that. It is not she. And it is no 
 misfortune. It is something beautiful. That night, 
 when everything sad and dreadful was poured into my 
 ears, I was quite calm. But your friend Bernhard 
 Dietz has almost killed me with his loveliness. If I 
 had listened to him a moment longer I should have 
 broken down like a baby, there in his little shed." 
 
 Hugo, holding himself in an iron grasp, thought 
 that her fresh, young, candid smile was harder to bear 
 than her tears. 
 
 " And I, like a prig, was going to take things into 
 my own hands and direct them ! I was going to tell 
 him. I thought he ought to know. I was ready to 
 tangle up the affairs of Providence. As if an angel 
 did not stand at his right hand ! As if he needed 
 me ! As if that man s boundless love had not strength 
 to warm and purify any heart, even Roschen s ! " 
 
 " I did n t think you would hurt Dietz much," he 
 replied with his quiet smile. " I knew him, and I 
 knew you. Can you tell me now what happened? 
 Don t hurry. I can wait." 
 
 She rose, looked at the great chair, pushed it aside, 
 saw a low stool, drew it near his sofa, and seated her 
 self, earnest and unconscious as when, years before, at 
 home in the firelight, she had told important tales to 
 her papa. 
 
 " There is so much to tell," she said, as if he had a 
 claim upon her confidences. " But I must begin at the 
 end." 
 
 Warmly, eagerly, her eyes still wet, her voice rich 
 with emotion, she repeated Bernhard s words, and told 
 Hugo how her heart had swelled with pity and pain, 
 listening to the man s simple story of patience and 
 
426 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 tenderness and faith. How she trembled for him, see 
 ing, instead of his pure ideal, only a cold, sordid, and 
 grasping girl, yet how after all she ceased to pity or to 
 fear, for such nobleness and such love were in them 
 selves divine, and who dared say what miracles they 
 might not work? Roschen was silly, vain, heartless, 
 false, but she could not no woman could look in 
 Bernhard Dietz s tranquil, trustful eyes, and not con 
 fess her weakness and be forgiven. 
 
 Hugo listened with utter incredulity as to any saving 
 grace to be evolved by any means whatever from Ros- 
 chen s inner consciousness. But he had not the heart 
 to make skeptical comments and cool Gabrielle s en 
 thusiasm. 
 
 He watched her intently. He realized what she 
 in her eagerness did not remember, that this was the 
 first time they two had been alone together, in free 
 and close companionship. It might be the last. He 
 saw deep down in her heart as she spoke, and per 
 ceived treasures of richness and sweetness. His smile 
 grew more resolutely patient. His eyes never left her 
 face. 
 
 She confessed, among other things, that she blamed 
 herself in a vague way for Roschen s escapade. It 
 was not easy to say what she had left undone, but if 
 she had been wiser and kinder, perhaps the foolishness 
 might not have assumed such dimensions. She thought 
 with the best will in the world there were still a 
 great many remains of old prejudices in her, and echoes 
 of stupid traditions of rank and dignity and the rela 
 tions of mistress and maid. She reproached herself 
 for a certain negligence toward Roschen, a carelessness 
 
 O O 
 
 of her danger, and an indifference to her claim upon 
 her as a woman, near and misguided. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 427 
 
 Hugo had his private opinion of this question of 
 conscience also, but listened without comment. 
 
 She related to him every detail of her adventure at 
 Leslach. It filled him with profound tenderness that 
 she fearlessly and pitifully revealed to him that whole 
 tale of sorrow and sin, her voice unfaltering, her 
 clear eyes seeking his own. 
 
 Having told him her hopes and plans with regard to 
 the woman, who she declared was a strong character, 
 full of delicacy and feeling beneath the coating of bru 
 tality her life had given her, Gabrielle now sat silent 
 and thoughtful, a little smile of reminiscence hover 
 ing over her lips, when Babette brought in a note 
 with many apologies, for she thought the gracious frau- 
 lein was out, but had seen her a moment ago from 
 the garden, where she was walking with Mousey. 
 
 " It is from your mamma. May I read it ? " 
 
 " I would undertake to read that telepathetically," 
 he replied. 
 
 She opened it and read it beneath his gaze. 
 
 " It is impossible ! " she said softly, and passed it to 
 him. 
 
 MY DEAR FRAULEIN VON DOHNA (it began) : 
 You are too clever not to have already perceived 
 that our relations are too strained to be prolonged, and 
 not to have foreseen my request that out of considera 
 tion for my nerves, which require the utmost tranquil 
 lity and sympathy, you will seek the protection of some 
 other family. I shall be happy to facilitate your go 
 ing in every way in my power, and am ready to send 
 you with escort to your relatives in Berlin. But spare 
 me, if you please, any discussion. I am fully decided. 
 In my own house, I require a more restful and con- 
 
428 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 genial atmosphere, and in my chosen companion affec 
 tion and above all perfect ingenuousness. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 ADELHEID VON KRONFELS. 
 
 She sat so near him, staring incredulously into his 
 eyes, yet -an impassable chasm separated them. Not 
 even in this moment of insult might he protect her. 
 
 " I fancy your relatives in Berlin will not be able to 
 surpass that," he said quietly. 
 
 " My relatives in Berlin," she repeated slowly. 
 " Why, you do not think " - 
 
 He stared at his old friend, the swallow. He could 
 not look in her eyes and speak the words which he was 
 resolved to say. She was too lovely, too near and too 
 dear to him. There was a softness in her bearing, it 
 might be pity, it might be something else, but what 
 ever it was, it was dangerous, and the sooner she went 
 the better. His mother s characteristic missile was a 
 blessing in disguise. 
 
 " It is a disgusting letter," he began. " We don t 
 need to waste any words on it. But it will be a happy 
 release for you. It is a mystery to me that you have 
 borne your life here so long. I wonder that you stayed 
 here a week. There are three daughters in your cousin s 
 family in Berlin, I think you said once," he remarked 
 with considerable animation. " You will be sure to like 
 Berlin." 
 
 She merely looked at him. 
 
 " There is everything to interest you there." 
 
 " I am interested here," she returned softly. 
 
 " This is a dull little place." 
 
 " It is not dull to me. I should be sorry to leave 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 429 
 
 " But after that letter " - 
 
 " She may change her mind." 
 
 " I think not in this case." 
 
 " The letter impresses one because it is a letter," she 
 hastened to explain. " Words seem stronger, written. 
 Why should I take it more seriously than things she 
 has said ? It would be a pity to take it too seriously. 
 It would be a pity to feel offended, and go among 
 strangers to leave you all." 
 
 Her voice appealed to him cruelly. He would not 
 look at her. 
 
 " Oh no, I cannot go merely because she is displeased 
 with me. She has been often displeased, and after 
 wards quite friendly. I came to stay a whole year. 
 It would be absurd to go away because she wrote that 
 letter in a mood that may change completely to-mor 
 row. I cannot go. I know people well at last. I have 
 work to do, earnest work. With that strong woman, 
 there is no end to what one may do, good human 
 work. And I want to be better to Roschen. I have 
 something to atone for to her. And perhaps I can 
 induce her to tell Bernhard. And I must see the 
 statue in marble. And I must be Mercedes brides 
 maid. Why, I seem to have taken root here ! It 
 would be a little like dying to go away. Do you not 
 see? I cannot go ! " 
 
 She gave a score of reasons, all indeed but the one 
 supreme reason, but that he heard trembling sweetly in 
 her voice. 
 
 " Why do you not look at me ? Why do you 
 not speak? Why do you not tell me I cannot go 
 
 ?M 
 
 ^V,,^J . 
 
 Still he was silent. 
 
 " Ah, Hugo, Hugo ! " she murmured desperately. 
 
430 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 At this he fixed his sorrowful, yearning eyes upon 
 her. 
 
 " You must go," he said. " If you will not go for 
 your sake, then in pity for mine ! " 
 
 With a rapid movement she was kneeling, her face 
 close to his on his cushions. 
 
 " Now I will never leave you," she said solemnly. 
 
 He groaned. 
 
 " Listen to me," he began, and in his struggle, his 
 voice grew stern. " I suppose this had to come. God 
 knows 1 tried to avert it. But let it stop where it is. 
 Don t say any more. There is no harm done." He 
 went on with an attempt at lightness. " We won t be 
 tragic." His smile was a miserable failure. " Draw 
 that chair nearer, won t you ? You will be tired kneel 
 ing there. And let us discuss it like the good friends 
 that we are, Gabrielle. Let us be reasonable." 
 
 "I don t want to be reasonable," she murmured 
 without moving. 
 
 He began again in a different key with a semblance 
 of graybeard wisdom : 
 
 " I understand it all so well. I understand it a 
 thousand times better than is possible for you. And 
 I shall never forget your goodness and your pity 
 and your generosity. But to-day I am very tired 
 to-day, if you would kindly leave me, another 
 time." 
 
 He grew paler as he spoke. 
 
 She shook her head. " No, no." 
 
 Again he pulled himself together. 
 
 " You are a little romantic," he exclaimed indul 
 gently. " It is natural for a girl of your temperament 
 to have her theories and fancies. But trust me. In 
 deed I am your friend. Some day you will thank me. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 431 
 
 The only thing for you to do after that letter is to act 
 upon it promptly. There is nothing else to be done ! 
 
 Suddenly she put up her arms and clung to him. 
 
 "Dearest, I love you," she murmured, and laid hef 
 head on his breast. 
 
 At her touch he forgot. He seized her in his arms, 
 and clasped her close and kissed her hair and cheek 
 many times with hot and hungered kisses. 
 
 Then he held her face in his hands, looked in her 
 eyes with nameless longing, and pushed her gently 
 from him. 
 
 " Forgive me," he said ; " let me be an honest man." 
 
 "I love you, Hugo." 
 
 " And does that make the crooked straight and the 
 lame walk ? " he broke out bitterly, at the end of his 
 strength. "Don t I know that you love me? But I 
 ought not to listen if you are mad enough to tell me 
 so. I do not know how it has come that I am listen 
 ing to such words from your lips. You ought not to 
 say them. I ought not to hear them. We will forget 
 them. Ah, child, child, how hard you make it for 
 me!" 
 
 " Hugo, look at me. Don t turn away. Look in 
 my eyes. It is you whom I love. What is it one 
 loves ? A man s riding or walking ? That would be 
 a poor thing to love. I love you you you ! And 
 a thousand times better for your sorrow and your lone 
 liness, for your dignity and your patience. You are a 
 greater hero in my eyes than if you were leading men 
 to battle. You may send me away now if you will, 
 but you will break my heart. For I want nothing in 
 the world except to be near you, to be your friend, to 
 be your love. It is not pity. It is not romantic. It 
 is something else. Ah, Hugo ! " 
 
432 THE OPEN DOOR, 
 
 He shook his head desolately. 
 
 " I shall never be well. I am a cripple for life." 
 
 " I know," she sighed, with a tender smile. 
 
 " I lie here always in the shadow of death. Who 
 knows when my faint pulses may expire ? Who knows 
 when " He did not finish. 
 
 " Every soul that is born lives always in the shadow 
 of death. Should that make one afraid ? Is it not 
 right to love and be glad a little while ? " 
 
 " It would be like being chained to a corpse. All 
 that the world holds dear would be lost. Pleasure, 
 gayety, distinction " 
 
 " They are all good in their way, but did they ever 
 make any one happy ? Is there anything better than 
 love?" 
 
 " You do not know what you are doing. You do 
 not know me. I am not patient. I am rebellious 
 and defiant. I have many moods. I am irritable, 
 bad tempered, and perverse." 
 
 She lifted his frail hand and kissed it. 
 
 " Hugo, you cannot frighten me. I would rather 
 be wretched with you than wretched without you. But 
 I shall not be wretched. I shall be so glad that you 
 will be comforted. And you will see how useful and 
 helpful you are, how different it will all be, how far 
 your spirit will reach in wise thought and control, and 
 I shall be your proud messenger. Out of this quiet 
 room, out of the depths of your suffering there will 
 come power and peace. The woman would not come 
 to me, but she will be glad to come to you, Hugo. She 
 will not feel strange with you. It is pain that draws 
 hearts nearer together." 
 
 He covered his eyes with his hands and breathed 
 deeply. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 433 
 
 " I ought not. I dare not. It is incredible. If a 
 man were here to help me to convince you ! " 
 
 It was long before she spoke. 
 
 " Hugo, this is all I ask. Let me be your compan 
 ion next winter instead of your mamma s. You surely 
 will consent to that ? There is nothing so terrible in 
 that. And if you do not like me, you may send me 
 away, but try me first." There was a glad, sweet 
 playfulness in her tone, a ring of comfort and security. 
 
 " If I do not like you ! " 
 
 " Because," she continued, " toward spring papa 
 will come, and then there will be a man to help you, 
 and if you will agree to be guided by him, I will 
 and oh, Hugo, if he himself asks you, you will no 
 longer be afraid ? " 
 
 " Ah, Gabrielle," he sighed, and took her head be 
 tween his hands and pressed it convulsively to his 
 breast. 
 
 " Shall we not leave it so ? " she asked. " Why 
 should we distress ourselves about the future ? Is it 
 not enough to be together? And when papa and Lu- 
 cie come you will like Lucie they shall decide. 
 Only keep me with you now, Hugo. Don t let me be 
 sent away. Let me be near you," she whispered. 
 " This is my place." 
 
 " But you have not seen enough men," he said after 
 some time, and abruptly contrasting people he had 
 known in his old brilliant life with this poor shadow 
 of his former self, and crowded drawing-rooms with 
 his monotonous quiet. 
 
 " Oh, I have seen so many, so many," she returned 
 in tender triumph, " soldiers and statesmen, and schol 
 ars and artists, but no one like you." 
 
 " Poor little girl ! " 
 
434 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Suddenly he thrust the little black book into her 
 hand. " Read this, and then talk of my dignity and 
 my patience." 
 
 She took it innocently, but as she read her face as 
 sumed a pained intensity. She glanced at him with a 
 strange and alarmed protest, then rose quickly and 
 went to the other side of the room, where he no longer 
 saw her. He heard her turn the leaves. There was 
 a long silence. 
 
 She brought it back with tears of pity and terror 
 in her eyes. 
 
 " I cannot read it all ! I cannot ! I have read 
 enough. Let me burn it, my poor Hugo. Let me 
 burn the black thoughts that have haunted you so 
 long." 
 
 A startled look answered her pleadings. He put 
 out his hand and with distinct anxiety closed it upon 
 hers that held the familiar little volume. Over it the 
 two gazed with mute entreaty into each other s eyes, 
 and neither would give way. But as he looked upon 
 her loveliness, and felt it near him and his own 
 and knew her pure soul was near his own soul for 
 all time, the nervous tension in his pallid face relaxed, 
 his trouble merged into profound calm, his eyes seemed 
 illumined by a deep inner flame, as of the spirit, and 
 he said with extreme gentleness : 
 
 " Don t burn it. What I say may sound strange to 
 you. But the book has helped me. It has been my 
 friend. It has taught me something, and it has occu 
 pied me and comforted me when I had small comfort 
 else. I can t talk of my infirmities, Gabrielle. But 
 you unseal my heart. It is as if I spoke to my own 
 soul that knows my burden is not light. You see, for 
 months Lipps had to turn me in my bed like a log. 
 
THE OPEN DOOR. 435 
 
 He turned me four times every night. And there are 
 cramps that a fiend would not have the heart to wish 
 one. But enough of that. Such things don t make 
 a man like me good. They don t give him either 
 sense or courage. They give him black thoughts, as 
 you say. But the book and all that went to make it 
 revealed the misery in other lives, taught me that I 
 did not suffer alone, and that such thoughts are also 
 human and have pursued men not always the worst 
 and smallest men pitilessly, in all ages. I have be 
 gun to believe that there is a vast and mysterious pur 
 pose in it all, that so much, so over-much grief can 
 not be blind chance ; that it is best to submit to the 
 Great Law, call it by what name one will ; that it is 
 worth while to endure without complaint ; that it 
 would have been better to bear my curse more quietly 
 than I have been able to bear it ; and that it is not 
 a man s right to shorten his time of dwelling in the 
 body. That time is short at best. And the Power 
 that put him there is eternal, whatever life or death 
 comes next. But I am an ill man. I am a weak 
 man, a man of shifting moods. Who knows what 
 sinister doubt may master me again ? Let me keep 
 the little book, Gabrielle, I like it," he said, with a 
 faint boyish smile. " I may need it sorely. I don t 
 dare to let it go," he confessed with appealing eyes. 
 " Now you know what a mean fellow I am." 
 
 She slowly loosened her grasp. She withdrew her 
 hand. She comprehended. He slipped the book into 
 its old place. To die for him that instant would 
 have been rapture. She stood speechless, moved by 
 the strength of her pure passion and illimitable pity. 
 She stooped and kissed his forehead with a sense of 
 consecration. 
 
436 THE OPEN DOOR. 
 
 Without in the corridor they heard the approach of 
 an imperious voice, and the incessant tinkling of a 
 little bell. 
 
 " You have been too much alone, Hugo," she said 
 simply. But in her heart a voice cried with exalta 
 tion : 
 
 " I fear no evil. Love guards the door. And what 
 is so strong as Love ? " 
 
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 We Girls : A Home Story. Illustrated. I2mo 
 Real Folks. Illustrated. I2mo 
 
 5 
 5o 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 5 
 W"e and Our Neighbors. Illustrated. I2mo . . . 1.50 
 
 Poganuc People. Illustrated. I2mo 1.50 
 
 The above eleven volumes, in box 16.00 
 
 Uncle Tom s Cabin. Holiday Edition. With Intro 
 duction, and Bibliography by George Ballen, of the 
 British Museum. Over TOO Illustrations. I2mo . 3.00 
 The Same. Popular Edition. I2mo i.oo 
 
 Octave Thanet. 
 
 Knitters in the Sun. i6mo 1.25 
 
 Gen. Lew Wallace. 
 
 The Fair God ; or, The Last of the Tzins. I2mo . 1.50 
 
 Henry Watterson. 
 
 Oddities in Southern Life. Illustrated. i6mo . . . 1.50 
 
 Richard Grant White. 
 
 The Fate of Mansfield Humphreys, with the Episode 
 
 of Mr. Washington Adams in England. i6mo . . 1.25 
 
 Adeline D. T. Whitney. 
 
 .50 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 SO 
 
12 Works of Fiction. 
 
 The Other Girls. Illustrated. I2mo $1.50 
 
 Sights and Insights. 2 vols. I2mo 3.00 
 
 Odd, or Even ? I2mo 1.50 
 
 Boys at Chequasset. Illustrated. I2mo 1.50 
 
 Bonnyborough. I2mo 1.50 
 
 Homespun Yarns. Short Stories. I2mo .... 1.50 
 
 Kate Douglas Wiggin. 
 
 The Birds Christmas Carol. Square I2mo ... .50 
 
 Justin Winsor. 
 
 Was Shakespeare Shapleigh? A Correspondence in 
 Two Entanglements, Edited by Justin Winsor. 
 Parchment-paper, i6mo 75 
 
 Lillie Chace Wyman. 
 
 Poverty Grass. i6mo 1.25 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 SEP 11 1952 
 
 LD 21-95m-ll, 50(2877sl6)476 
 
he 
 
 912877 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY