THE--. LADY WITH THE RUBIES. A NOVEL. By E.IMARLITT, Author of "In the Counselor's House," "Old Ma'm'selle's Secret,' "Gold Elsie," "The Countess Gisela," "In the Schilling scourt," etc., etc. TRANSLATED FEOM THE GERMAN BY MARY STUART SMITH. NEW YOBKJi A. L. BUHT, PUBLISHER. Bntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by GEORGE MUNRO, i the Offlct of the Librarian of Congress, Wathington, D. Q, Stack p-r Annex F I 2-510 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES, CHAPTER I. AUNT SOPHIE had tied on her big apron and was busy stowing away the clothes-pegs in its ample pockets as she took her wash down from the lines. She chuckled while she stepped along under the tight- stretched ropes. Fresh- fallen snow what was that compared to the whiteness of her bleaching table-cloths and sheets? From time immemorial it had only been necessary to air the linen treasures of the honorable house of Lambert and Son, when forthwith there came a season of the finest bleaching weather. Of course there did! And why not? They had as good a right to a prerogative of the sort as the emperor had to his famous emperor's weather, thought Aunt Sophie, with a mischievous twinkle of her eye, though, for there was somebody in the house who positively would not listen to such blasphemies. Again to-day the delicious summer breeze had dried the rows of wet sheets to perfection, and the July sun had seemed to concentrate all its power upon that immense square yard. From over the roofs flocks of swallows shot into that court-yard like glittering steel arrows, their nests hung to the stone window-sills of the upper story in the eastern wing; and there was nobody there to disturb the little blue-coats when they settled upon the sills and en- gaged in their ceaseless chattering. Yes, there was not a creature there to disturb them by a look or startling move- ment of the hand for never a window of this side-building turned upon its hinges save for some hours in the year, when the rooms were aired; immediately afterward the large-flowered curtains fell to again, and patiently suffered the sun to absorb from them the last bit of coloring adher- ing to their rotten silk threads. The main building, whose front opened upon the finest 1630310 6 THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. square in the town,, had rooms ana halls in plenty, with not many inmates, so that the upper floor of the eastern wing was not at all needed. Folks said differently, though. However brightly and airily arose that addition in the rear, and however tranquil it looked with its tall, still windows, yet it was the dismal scene of a struggle, a ghostly struggle, likely to be prolonged to all eternity. So said the people outside in the lanes and streets, and those inside gainsaid them not. And why should they? For since the year 1795, when the lovely Mrs. Dorothy Lambert had with- drawn into that wing of the house to be confined, and there died, when had there ever been a family servant who had not, at least once, seen the long train of a white wrapper gliding through the corridor, or been forced to flatten him- self against the wall of the passage, half dead with fright, that the long, lean ghost with transparent gray gown might have room to pass. That was the reason, said the people, why nobody ever slept in that house over there. A breach of promise had caused this nuisance. Justus Lambert, the great-grandfather of the present head of the family, had been induced to promise his dying wife, Judith, most solemnly that he would give her no suc- cessor; this was done for the sake of her two boys, she would have said, but in reality it was on account of a burn- ing jealousy that would yield to nobody else her place by her surviving husband's side. But Mr. Justus was of a passionate nature, and none the less so was the fair ward who was an inmate of his house. -She had made up her mind not to be parted from him, let the conse- quences be what they would, and to wed him, whether or no, in spite of the jealous departed. And sure enough they had lived together like two turtle-doves until the day came when the fair young Dorothea withdrew into the east wing to take possession, in state, of the elegantly furnished lying-in chamber therein arranged for her accommodation. An infant daughter had been laid upon her arm, and Mr. Justus had announced himself as having reached the sum- mit of happiness. Bat that night, while the nurse sat watching the mother and child, the door of the long, cold passage leading to the other wing flew open, a gray shade in the shape of the departed Lady Judith glided in, drew aside the curtains of the tester, and settled down upon the sick lady THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 7 closely enough to draw the very heart's blood from hex blooming life. The nurse had been paralyzed, as it were, in every limb, and had sat, so to speak, in an ice-house, so deathly cold had been the atmosphere around the specter; her senses had forsaken her, and not until long afterward had she been brought to herself by the screams of the new born babe. ? A fine Christmas-box that to be sure! The door to foe ice-cold passage still stood wide open, but not another glimpse was to be seen of that bad Lady Judith. On the other hand, though, there sat the Lady Dorothea bolt up- right in the bed, her teeth chattering, and shaking with violent chills, while her eyes were fixed widely upon the baby in its crib. Afterward she had fallen into delirium, and in five days more was laid in her coffin with her dead baby in her arms. The doctors had said that mother and child died of severe cold taken; the neglectful nurse must have fastened the door insecurely; fallen asleep and dreamed crazy dreams nonsense! If all this had fallen out in the natural course of things, whence came it that so often afterward the fair traitress might be seen at twilight, fleeing from her former sick-room, the gray fury at her heels, ready to overtake and strangle her in the chill em- brace of those long and skinny arms? The firm of Lambert and Son still dealt in linens at the close of the last century, and the oft-repeated designation, " the Thuringian Fugge," could not have been ill-de- served. Then its great conglomeration of houses in the market resembled a bee-hive, so lively had been the concourse of men resorting thither. Bales of linen had been heaped up to the very eaves of the roofs; and regularly every week great heavily loaded wagons went forth into the wide world without. Aunt Sophie was familiarly acquainted with all this. Not indeed that she had lived in those days, but in her clear head were stored up family tradi- tions, old entries in account-books and diaries; and often curious wills with an exactness, such as is rarely equaled by any keeper of the royal archives. This annual July bleaching was, for her, peculiarly a time for reminiscences. Then old family linen made its appearance on the lines not for use, though. God forbid ! -only that they might not turn yellow, and be laid away 8 THE LADY WITH THE BUBIES. In new folds. Then the huntsmen and Amazons woven therein, with the mythological and biblical figures in the damask, might well be astonished every time to see how still the court-yard had grown, how utterly changed, so that not a word of the price of flax or the wages of the weavers was any longer to be heard; not a single loaded wagon rattled through the high-arched gate- way of the warehouse; and the busy hum of the looms had died away into utter silence. Often, indeed, there was still a murmuring and whispering through the yard, but that came from the wind blowing through the shrubbery and trees. Dear me! how this world does change! Only to think of it! Green foliage flourishing upon the very cen- ter of business traffic, where in those times not the tiniest blade of grass could have forced its way up through that hard bed of smooth gravel! There now, even that old stone pavement had to give way in the course of time! The somewhat sloping ground was now closely sodded; beautiful rose-bushes showered down their bright leaves upon the tender grass; a flourishing arbor of young linden- trees rustled its leaves in front of the western wing, the so- called weaving-room, and the old warehouse, which had shut off the yard to the north was screened from top to bottom by a mock orange bush. The linen business had long since been exchanged for a porcelain factory, and this was to be found outside the city in the adjacent village of Millbrook. The present head of the firm of Lambert and Son was a widower. He had two children; and Aunt Sophie, the last of a collateral branch of the family, kept house for him, in honor and propriety, with due diligence and wise economy. And the good aunt, with her huge nose and sensible brown eyes, denied it the most fortunate circumstance of her whole life that she happened to be an old maid, because in this way, for a little while at least, the face that looked from the housekeeper's room out upon the market bore the physiognomy of a genuine Lambert. To be sure this grated upon Mrs. Counsellor's ears as disagreeably as that other standing remark of hers about the emperor's weather; but Mrs. Counsellor was a very fine lady, who had been presented at court; and Aunt Sophie always put on a most innocent face, so that the differences between the two never amounted to & quarrel. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 9 The father- and mother-in-law of Mrs. Lambert occu- pied the second story of the main building. The old gen- tleman had rented out his beautiful manor and fixed him- self for rest; but town life did not satisfy him long. He often left alone his wife and only son, spending much the, most of his time at Millbrook, in the country where the woods and game were accessible, since he had a standing invitation to occupy the roomy -hunting-lodge attached to his son-in-law's factory as often and" as long as he chose. The clock on the neighboring town-hall tower struck four, and with the hour for afternoon coffee the work of bleaching drew to an end. The clothes in the immense hampers had gradually heaped themselves up like huge snow mounds, and Aunt Sophie, last of all, was cautiously removing the pegs from the most precious relics of family linen. But suddenly she received a stab in her very heart. " A fine piece of business!" she cried in dismay, appeal- ing for sympathy to the old servant who was rendering her aid. " Just look here, Barbara! This table-cloth with the ' Marriage at Cana ' on it, is giving out here is a ter- rible rent in it!" " Well, I am sure it is old enough regular tinder! Every dog has his day, Miss Sophie!" " What are you saying, you naughty old Barbara! I know that old proverb by heart, as well as you do. Oh, me! the tear cuts right down through the middle of the face of the chief man at the feast and to think of the trouble I shall have darning it!" Searchingly she held up the rotten stuff to the light, worn thin as it was from use. '' An ancient heirloom it is to be sure! It was one of the Lady Judith's table-cloths." Barbara hemmed audibly, and cast a stolen glance up at the windows of the eastern wing of the house. " Folks like that, who can not rest quietly in their graves, ought not to have their names pronounced so loud, Miss Sophie!" said she with bated breath, and disapproving nod of the head. " Especially not when they have begun to walk around again just yesterday evening the coachman saw something white running around the corner of the passage. " " White? Then it could not have been she who weare a gray gown. So, ho! that fat, spruce coachman is set- 10 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. ting up for a Sunday's child, in the servant's hall, is he? Better tell this to his master! You will soon have his house in the mouth of everybody, with those idle tales of yours." She shrwgged her shoulders and proceeded with the folding up of her table-cloth. " So far as I am con- cerned personally, it is all one to me. It does not sound at all badly to hear people say: ' The white lady in Lambert's house.' The Lamberts are old and respectable enough I am sure! Can not that luxury be allowed us, just as well as the inmates of a castle." These last words were obviously not addressed to the maid. Aunt Sophie's brown eyes twinkled merrily, as she looked toward the linden bower in front of the weaving- room. There shone a pair of spectacles upon the bridge of Mrs. Counsellor's nose. The old lady had brought her parrot down for a little airing on the "green, and kept watch beside him for fear of the house-cat. She was embroider- ing, and by her side, at the well-stored garden-table, sat her grandchild, little Reynold Lambert, who was writing upon his slate. " I hope you do not mean that seriously, dear Sophie!" said the lady, whose cheeks flushed as she glanced sharply over the tops of her spectacles. " At least one should for- bear jesting about such sacred prerogatives that is now unseemly stricter people than I would say ' democratic. ' " " Oh, yes, likely enough it would strike them so!" laughed Aunt Sophie. " Some people there are, who above all things would like to set the whole world by the ears. But must a person be dubbed a democrat, simply because he does not crawl in the dust like a worm? There is no distinction of class among those who revisit earth in order to terrify living creatures, and the white lady of the palace must first rise from her dust heap just the same as great-grandfather Justus's pretty Dorothy!" The old lady sneered and maintained an indignant silence. She laid aside her embroidery frame and drew near to Barbara. " How is this? l)id the coachman really see anything in the passage last evening?" asked she with some eagerness. " Indeed he did, my lady, and he has not gotten over his fright yet, either. He was waxing those fine rooms up there until nearly dark, and afterward when he was going THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 11 down, it seemed to him as though a door was softly opened in the passage behind him. My dear lady, in that eery passage where not a key has been turned in the door since I can remember! Well, to be brief cold chills ran down his back, and his legs seemed turned to stone ; but for all that he plucked up heart, stepped a little bit aside and shied around the corner. And lo! before his very eyes, gliding along that great, dark passage moved a figure,, slender, delicate, and White as snow from top to toe ; " Don't forget the black kid gloves, Barbara!" inter- posed Aunt Sophie. " Heaven preserve me, Miss Sophie, not a black thread did the ghost have on ! And as it whizzed around the other corner of the passage, it all scattered and flew away, the coachman said, like smoke before the wind. Ten horses could not pull that man again into yonder passage after dark. I know that much/' " Nor will such a monstrous request be made of so brave a hero evidently his place is with old women in the chimney-corner. Let him spin his yarns there!" said Aunt Sophie, half amused, half provoked, as she picked up a napkin to separate it from the other linen ; but the same instant she turned her head. ' ' Bless us, who comes here with such a rush! Why, Gretchen, are you crazy?" Through the arched gate-way of the main entrance came a pretty miniature landau, dashing into the court, drawn by a pair of lie-goats. The driver, a young girl about nine years old, stood erect and held the reins tightly in her grasp. Her round, broad-rimmed straw hat had fallen backward, but was still fastened to her neck by its ribbons and resembled a yellow halo, encircling her dark tresses that were fluttering wildly in the stiff breeze. The equipage rolled up to the linden trees beneath which little Reynold sat. There it halted with a powerful jerk to the terror of the parrot, who screeched aloud, while the boy slid down from his bench. " But, Gretchen, I say, you shall not drive my goats! I will not have it!" whimpered Reynold querulously, his pale and puny face flushing with rage. *' They are my goats! Papa gave them to me!" " I'll not do it again, indeed I will not, my precious pet!" asseverated his sister, springing from the carriage. Come now, don't be mad with me! You love me still, IS THE LADY WITH THE fcUBIES. don't yon?" The little fellow climbed up again to his seat on the bench, and reluctantly submitted to some ardent caresses upon her part. " You see John and Ben wanted to have their fun. too! Poor things, they had been shut up so long in the Millbrook stable. " " So you have actually driven all the way from Mill- brook here?" asked Mrs. Counsellor, indignation and alarm mingling in the tones of her subdued voice. " Of course I did, grandmamma! The fat coachman can not sit behind me in our children's carriage! Papa has ridden home on horseback and I was to have come in the big carriage with the overseer's wife; but her primp- ing lasted too long for me." " Such nonsense! And grandpapa?" " Oh, he! why he was standing in the yard-gate splitting his sides laughing, as I dashed by." " Yes, you and grandpapa! You are my " the old lady wisely swallowed the rest of her bitter speech, and angrily pointed her finger at the body and skirt of her grandchild's dress. "And how you do look! You cer- tainly did not drive through the town that way?" Little Margaret pulled at the ribbon around her neck in order to rid herself of her hat, and scanned with indiffer- ence the embroidered front width of her white dress. " Whortleberry stains!" she said stolidly. " It serves ru quite right for always making me wear white dresses! am always telling you that tow-linen would suit me best" Aunt Sophie laughed, and a male voice chimed in. Almost at the same time with the little landau, a young man had come into the yard, a handsome youth nineteen years of age, who was Mrs. Counsellor's son, and her only child; for she was her husband's second wife, and had been only the step-mother of the deceased Mrs. Lambert. The young man had a pile of books under his arm, and came from college. The little girl looked at him suspiciously. " You need not laugh now, Herbert!" she muttered with vexation, while she again gathered up the goats' reins in orcl't r to drive them to the stable. " That indeed ! Very well, my little lady ! But may one be allowed to ask how the lessons come on at school? I hardly suppose that your ladyship has been conning hey THE LADY WITH THE RtlBlES. 13 French exercise out in the whortleberry bushes, and I should like to know how many blots will be put upon that fair copy-book this evening, when your task will have to be done by smoky lamplight ; " Not any! I shall take pains and do nicely just to spite you, Herbert I" " How often must I repeat to you, ugly child, that you are not to say 'Herbert' but 'Uncle!'" scolded Mrs. Counsellor. " AJ^, grandmamma, that is no go, were he ten times over papa's brother-in-law!" replied the little girl bluntly, shaking the dark curls out of her eyes, with every mark of impatience. " Real uncles must be old! But I know too well all about how Herbert drove these goats and threw balls and stones m at the windows. And the doctor told him too, not to eat any fruit, but he secretly keeps his pockets stuffed full of plums all the time: yes, indeed, I know all about him. And now, he is nothing in the world but an old book-worm, going along with a whole parcel of books under his arm. Ho, John ! "Will you not wait a minute?" she called out to her impatient steeds as she grasped the reins more firmly. The young man had flushed crimson upon hearing this outspoken, reckless criticism proceed from so childish a mouth. He forced a smile, however, saying from between his clinched teeth: " You pert little piece, what you want is the rod!" As he spoke he cast a shy glance across at the warehouse opposite. The little balcony that ran all along the upper story of that old house, in front of the window-sashes was rather shelving and quite arbor-like too, being covered by the foliage of the mock-orange. X)nly here and there room was left for air and light, by openings in the boughs. And in such a green bower, many a time might be seen the flashing of pale gold, as it were, and a soft, white hand dreamily stroking those golden tresses, or else burying itself in their midst. But just at this moment, all over there was f-.till and motionless. Mrs. Counsellor was the only one who had observed her son's stolen glance. She said not a word, but a dark frown overshadowed her brow, while she deliberately turned her back upon the warehouse. " Sophie dear, my son is right. Gretchen grows ruder every day!" She made this remark to Aunt Sophie, with 14 Tflfc LADY WITH THE RUBIES. evident irritation, at the same time laying hold of her par- rot's perch, in order to carry it back upstairs. " I do my very best whenever the child is with me; but what good does that do, when down here nobody does anything but laugh at her rough ways? Why at her age, our dear de- parted Fanny was already a perfect lady; from the time that she was a wee bit of a girl she possessed tact and style to an astonishing degree. What would she say if she could see her child growing up so wild and untamed, what if she heard the bold outspoken way in which that girl talks? I despair of making anything out of a hard-headed piece like that!" " Hard wood, Mrs. Counsellor, must be hard in the whittling, you know," answered Aunt Sophie with a smile brimful of humor. " At real unmannerliness I never laugh, rest easy on that score. But neither do I mean to fret our Gretchen's life out of her for any such cause. It may be true that she is not very graceful in her bows and courtesies: that is a matter I leave to you, for I am no society woman myself, and can not help you in that direc- tion. I shall only see to this, that the child retains her love of truth, and does not learn to dissemble, flatter, and make pretty speeches that have not a grain of honest meaning in them." Meanwhile, little Margaret, who had started up indig- nantly at the word " rod," as though she already felt its blow, with Barbara's help had succeeded in getting the car- riage and 'goats stabled, and Reynold was displaying hi* exercises in writing to his youthful uncle. The boy was extremely delicate-looking, with a poor, shriveled-up little figure, and slow, languid movements. "In Gretchen there is a superfluity of force that will epend itself!" continued Aunt Sophie. " Would to God, that our pale, still-life youngster there had a share of it," said she, furtively pointing toward the little fellow, and her countenance saddened. " Concerning human force so-called I have my own views, dear!" replied Mrs. Counsellor, shrugging her ehoulders. " With me distinguished repose supersedes everything! And now, only behold, we have come to that old subject of Reynold's weakliness if you only knew how much you irritate me with those everlasting prophecies of evil! Bless me, is he not Lambert's only hope, his jewel? THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. lj No, thank God, our boy is really quite healthy. The doc- tor declares so, and I doubt not but that in good time Keynold will quite match his papa in strength and activity!" This assertion seemed very rash, when one compared tho wretched little slip of a human being at "he garden-table with the man who just now rode into the court-yard. Mr. Lambert came from a different direction than had done his little daughter, namely, through the street run- ning back of his property, through which the wagons freighted with linen had been wont to pass. Of late he generally had come this way. As this figure on horseback emerged from the deep embrasure of the warehouse gate, its appearance was most imposing. Mr. Lambert was a strikingly handsome man, tall, slender, and black-bearded, full of fire and dignity both in manner and movement. " Here am I, papa! Full ten minutes ahead of you! Yes, my goats run very differently from your Lucifer, they just run famously!" exulted Margaret, who had come running out of the stable, on to the pavement at the sound of the horse's hoofs. The noise made by the falling-to of the gate had also brought life into the vine-clad balcony above, which wag just over the gate-way. A fair head became visible. Per- haps the green of the overhanging foliage and the wall in the rear, so dark from age, served as a fine foil, and gave double brilliance to the May-blossom freshness of that young creature's face; but however that may be, the maiden that then appeared in light summer dress was an apparition that could but arrest the gaze of all beholders. Full of curiosity, as it seemed, she looked forth from her leafy bower. As she stooped forward, two thick plaits fell over and hung down, so that the breeze caught the blue ribbons at their ends, and they fluttered to and fro. Some flowers must have lain upon the balustrade, for, at the quick movement made by the young girl's arm, as she sought its support, a few beautiful roses blew down and fell right in front of the horse's hoofs, down upon the pavement. The animal shied; but his rider patted him soothingly upon the neck, and rode forward into the yard. With a strangely stolid look, that seemed to turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, he took off his hat as he 13 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. drew near. He had, however, ridden heedlessly over the flowers, and not even glanced up in the direction of the passage whence came those fragrant disturbers of the peace. Mr. Lambert was a proud man, and Mrs. Coun- sellor comprehended fully that he paid little heed to the dwellers within the house over yonder. His little daughter, on the contrary, seemed to be of a different mind. She ran over to the warehouse and picked up the flowers. " Are you making a wreath, Miss May?" she called up at the passage. " A few of your roses have fallen down; am I to throw them up or bring them up? Say!" No answer followed. The maiden had disappeared. It may have been that, frightened by the rearing horse, she had taken refuge in the interior of the house. Meanwhile Mr. Lambert dismounted from his horse. He was near enough to hear his mother-in-law say to Aunt Sophie, with disapproving surprise, " How comes Gretchen to be so intimate with those people over there?" *' Intimate! I know nothing of the sort. I do not be- lieve the child has ever entered that warehouse in her life. It is nothing but her good heart, Mrs. Counsellor. Gretchen just loves to help everybody; that is genuine politeness; and I would a thousand times rather see her so than like those people who are full of compliments on the outside but inwardly think all manner of evil about their neigh- bors. Maybe, too, the child has an eye for beauty. I am no better, for that matter! I confess it delights my old eyes to see that pretty young thing passing to and fro about your gallery." " Everybody to their taste," observed Mrs. Counsellor lightly; but her brow was furrowed with discontent, and a dark glance was directed toward her son who was stooping lower over Keynold's slate. "Blondes never had any at- traction in my eyes," she added in her ever low and sub- dued voice. " For that matter, I certainly find nothing to object to in Margaret's obligingness; on the contrary, it rather pleases and surprises me to find that she too can be polite. I am not one of ' those who inwardly think evil of their neighbors,' by no means, my dear. I am entirely too mild and Christian-like. But I do stick to my good con- servative views, in obedience to which certain limits must be observed. That young girl to be sure she may hav& THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 17 been a governess in England, and had the advantages of a good education (all respect to such exertions) but I say in spite of all this, that girl is at last only the daughter of a man who works for the factory, and is entirely removed from our sphere. Am I not right, Baldwin?" said she, turning to her son-in-law, who seemed to be examining something wrong about bis horse's trappings. He hardly lifted up his head; but in secret, lightning flashed from his glowing eyes, sharp enough to have con- sumed the slender woman before him to d ust and ashes if it had struck her. She had to wait a little instant for his confirmation of her sentence; but then it came coolly and promptly from the handsome man's lips: " You are always right, mamma! Who would dare to be of a different opinion?" He pressed his hat more closely over his eyes and led his horse across into the stable. CHAPTER II. MEANWHILE a pretty animated discussion was going on under the linden trees. Margaret had laid the roses that she had picked up on the garden-table; only, said she, until Miss May should come out upon the gallery again; and thereupon knelt by her little brother on the bench. "Just look here, Margaret!" said Herbert, pointing to the slate. He still looked flushed, and his voice sounded strangely tremulous and suppressed evidently from vexa- tion still, thought the little girl. " Look here," repeated he, " and be ashamed of yourself. Reynold is almost two years younger than you are, and how beautiful and correct is his writing compared with your capitals, that are as coarse and stiff as if they had been written with a stick in- stead of a pen!" " But they are distinct," answered the little girl un- moved; " so plain, Barbara says, that she has no need to put on her spectacles as when she reads in her hymn-book; what is the use of my tormenting myself about those ridicu- lous flourishes?" " Well, one thing I know, you are an incorrigibly lazy .little girl!" said the young man; at the same time, as if in 18 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. mere absence of mind, he caught up one of the roses and inhaled its fragrance; this he seemed to do, however, only with the lips. " Yes, I am lazy at school many a time, that is true/' candidly admitted the little maid; " but not in history; only in arithmetic, and " " And in the school tasks you have to do at home; as your master complains " " He, indeed! What does he know? Such an old man, forever taking that horrid snuff, and shut up in the school- room in that miserable narrow street; no sun shines in, and his room is as full of tobacco as a chimney is of smoke; he knows much about how anybody feels lying on the grass in the Millbrook garden, and Hold! you shall not have that! It is not to be cribbed like that!" said she, interrupt- ing herself and throwing her supple body with lightning- like rapidity across the surface of the table and snatching after the rose, which Herbert, in another fit of abstrac- tion, be it supposed, had just tucked away in his breast- pocket. But the usually self-contained young man was hardly to be recognized again at this moment. Quite pale, with eyes full of rage, he caught her little hand ere it had touched the flower and hurled it from him as if it had been a venomous insect. The child uttered a cry of pain; and Reynold too jumped off the bench in affright. " Halloa, what is to pay here?" asked Mr. Lambert, who had committed his horse to the care of the hostler, who came hurrying up, and now advanced to the table. " He dare not! It is as good as stealing!" burst forth little Margaret, not yet recovered from the shock just re- ceived. " The roses belonged to Miss May " " Well, and " Herbert has taken a white one and put it in his pocket; the very pi'ettiest one of all!" " Child's play!" scolded his mother. " How utterly out of taste are such jests, Herbert!" Mr. Lambert's face was crimson, as though his ride had driven all the blood to his head. He silently drew nearer to the young man and brandished the riding-whip he held in his hand. Gradually a supercilious, mocking smile curled his lip, and he eyed most disdainfully the youthful THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 19 figure opposite him; the lightning in his glance seeming & if it would transfix the young man, who blushed deeply. " Let him alone, my little one," said Mr. Lambert to his daughter, finally, with assumed indifference. "Her- bert needs the stolen flower in school; to-morrow in the botany class he will have to display to his professor a speci- men of rosa alba." " Baldwin!" The young man's voice was stifled as though a hand was clutching at his throat. " >Vhat would you have, young man?" asked Mr. Lam- bert, turning to him with ironical assiduity. " Am I not right when I maintain that the finest scholar, the most anv bitious contestant that ever entered college could never entertain another thought of anything but study, study all trie time, especially just before his final examination is to be passed? Go, and do not work so immoderately! Lately you have grown quite hollow-eyed, and your chubby cheeks have lost their color; but our future minister, like every other minister nowadays, you know, needs nerves of steel and a proper modicum of iron in his blood." He laughed scornfully, slapped the young man upon his shoulder, and walked away. " Let me have a word with you, Baldwin!" his mother- in-law called after him as she once more picked up the perch supporting her beloved parrot, which she had set down again so many times. Mr. Lambert paused, as in duty bound, although he looked as impatient as if the ground burned the soles of his feet. He likewise relieved the lady of the bird; and mean- while Herbert shot past them into the house like mad; and the stone stairs echoed again with the wild exclamations he made as he rushed up to his room. " There, now, Herbert has been declared right!" mut- tered Margaret, drumming angrily upon the table with the palm of her hand. " I don't believe it. Papa was just making fun. Herbert to have to carry a rose with him to the professor! Stuff and nonsense!" She gathered together the rest of the flowers, wound her silk hair-ribbon around their stems, and ran to the ware- house in order to throw the little bouquet over into the bal- cony. It remained lying on the sill. Kobocly picked it up; not a bit of the white muslin dress was visible, still less were any thanks heard to proceed from the balcony in 20 THE LADY WITH THE IIUBIES. that sweet, soft, girlish voice that was so pleasant to hear. Ill-humoredly the little girl returned to the shade of the lindeu-trees. The yard had become right quiet. Aunt Sophie and Barbara had taken the last of their linen down from the line and borne the well-filled hampers into the house; after the man-servant had closed the stable-door he had proceed- ed to attend to other business, and the quiet little boy was again seated on the bench, busy forming on the slate with enviable patience his famous capitals. Margaret sat down beside him with her thin, sunburned little hands folded in her lap; her ever-restless feet were dangling, while with her bright intelligent eyes she followed the swallows in their flight as they crossed over the roofs, and circled through the blue air, to vanish then underneath the broad eaves of the warehouse that was just facing her. Mean\\ hile Barbara came with her cloth and rubbed off the table preparatory to setting it for afternoon coffee. When she had finished, she covered it with a table-cloth, and arranged the tray with its clattering cups and saucers. Then she began to roll up the clothes-line. Every now and then she cast a look of annoyance upon the child, who sat there letting her eyes scan so freely and intently that haunted house, for to the old cook it seemed that she was offering a presumptuous challenge that sent cold chills running over her body. " Barbara, Barbara, turn around quick! there is some- body in there!" suddenly exclaimed the child, pointing, with her finger directly at the window of the fair Dorothea's former lying-in-chamber; and, so saying, she jumped off the bench. Involuntarily, as though moved by some ex- terior force, Barbara turned her head in the direction designated, and in her fright let the great coil of rope that she was winding drop from her hands. " Heaven knows, the curtain is shaking!" she mur- mured. " Nonsense, Barbara! If it had merely shaken, that would signify nothing at all; the wind could have caused that," said Margaret reflectively. " No, it was right there, in the middle;" again she pointed to the window, " it parted there, and somebody looked out; and yet it is droll, because nobody lives there, you know '* " For goodness' sake, child, don't be forever pointing THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 21 Trith that finger of yours \"- and Barbara ran to seize the little hand and arrest its movement. She had stepped close up in front of the children, as though she would cover up their little bodies with her broad and massive figure, and turned her back upon the window indicated. Not for any- thing in the world would she have turned her eyes upon it again. " See there, Gretchen, that's what you get for your ever- lasting gazing about. I would have spoken to you about it just now; but it is always like fire and tow with you, so I held my tongue. For anything like yonder window over there folks should have no eyes." " Superstitious old Barbara! Aunt Sophie should only hear you say that!" scolded the little girl excitedly, as she sought to push the unwieldy old woman aside. " The thing must be looked into first. I want to know who it was. It was all over too quickly. Flash, and it was gone. But I believe it was grandmamma's maid; she has a very white forehead " " She?" Now it was for the scolded cook to put on a reflective manner. " In the first place, how came she into that room? Not through the key-hole, do you suppose? And in the second place, she would not do it, either; not for the world, Grefcchen. The pert thing has been doing just like you; she thought, too, that there was nothing in it, and so, evening before last, at twilight, she had her fright, just as the coachman did yesterday evening. You had better go up into that good room with the crimson hang- ings, where those old portraits are it is she, she with the red rubies in her coal-black hair; she it is! Again she is whisking about in the house frightening people, because once more there is no rest for her upon earth!" " Barbara, you ought not to frighten us children with Buch' idle tales. Aunt has told you so!" cried Margaret, passionately stamping her foot. " Do you not see how you are frightening little brother?" Soothingly, like a lit- tle old grandmother, she threw her arms around the neck of the boy, who was listening with terrified, wide-open eyes. " Come here, you poor little fellow, don't be afraid, and Jo not believe one thing that stupid old Barbara is saying! There are no ghosts none at all! It is all stuff and non- sense!" Just at this instant Aunt Sophis came out of the house. 22 THE LADY WITE THE EUBIES. She brought the coffee with her, and placed upon the table a large iced pound-cake. "Why, Gretchen, child, you look like a quarrelsome little game-cock! What is up now?" asked she, while Barbara made haste out of the way nd pursued her clothes-liue that had rolled off to some dis- tance. " Somebody was in that room over yonder/' answered the little girl shortly and positively, again pointing up at the window. Aunt Sophie, who had just stuck her knife into the cake^ paused. She turned her head, and with a fugitive glance scanned the row of windows. " Up there?" asked she with a half smile. " You are dreaming in broad davlight. child." " No, aunt, it was a sure enough person. Just there, where the curtain is red, it parted. I saw the fingers, very white fingers that pushed it aside, and for a second, too, I saw a forehead with light hair " " The sun, Gretchen, nothing else!" remarked Aunt Sophie with equanimity, going on quietly with her cake- cutting. " At sunset all kinds of colors are reflected in those old weather-beaten panes of glass, and it deceives one. If I had the key you should go with me on the spot up into that room, in order to convince yourself that nobody is there; and then we should see who is in the right, you little goose. But papa has the key, and grand- mamma is with him just now, so that we must not disturb him." " Barbara says the lady who hangs in the red parlor must have looked out; who runs around the house, aunt, and wants to frighten people," whimpered Eeynold in a tone of distress. " Ah, indeed?" said Aunt Sophie. She laid down her knife, and glanced across her shoulder at the old cook, who was working for dear life at the rewinding of her coil of rope. " A pretty piece you are, Barbara; a regular old raven and terrifier of children! What has that poor little woman in the red parlor done to you that you should be making of her a bugbear with which to frighten her great- grandchildren?" " Ah! never you disturb yourself about any bugbear, Miss Sophie," replied Barbara defiantly, without looking away from her occupation. " Gretchen believes just as THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 23 much as she chooses to believe. That is the mischief now- adays. Children come into the world so overly-wise already that they no longer believe in anything that they can not hold in their hands." She continued her winding with so much vim that it seemed as though she would have liked to tie up by the neck every one of the little infidels. " Men believe no longer in ghost and witch stories; soon they will lose faith in our Lord God too, that they will; and this just makes the godlessness of these days, I say, and Til stick to it too!" " You may think as you choose; but for the future you will not meddle with our children's beliefs. This I tell you once for all!" ordered Aunt Sophie severely. She gave the children their coffee, and laid a slice of cake on the plate of each; then she went to disentangle from the clothes-line a rose-bush whose boughs had been caught in it through Barbara's impatience. " But it was not the sun; that is certain! I'll ferret out whoever it is that is always whisking through the passage and slipping into that room !" murmured the little skeptic to herself as she sipped her coffee, and filled her cup with cake crumbs. CHAPTER III. "LET me have a word with you, Baldwin," Mrs. Counsellor had asked, and ever since Mr. Lambert had had the honor of being her son-in-law, with him all her requests had had the force of commands. It was so now. To be sure a deep furrow of displeasure was upon his brow, and he would have liked nothing better than to have twisted the green neck of the spoiled parrot, that kept screeching its protest against so disagreeable a bearer; but the lady was perfectly oblivious of all this, the more so, as just in the nick of time, the servant girl, coming from the upper story, took the creature in charge, and bore him aloft. Unsuspiciously, and gracefully then, the slight, delicate little lady went tripping along by her son-in-law's side. As she mounted the front stairs leading into the house, the lace strings to her cap were caught by the breeze, and the short train to her dark silk skirt rustled as it grazed the steps. Those broad, massive, sandstone steps were muob 24 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. worn. For far more than two centuries all that had been conscious of joy and woe had glided up and down that stairway. Wedding and baptismal solemnities, balls and feasts, beside that last grand funeral of the dear departed yes, all that had filled the heart and stirred the brain of past generations was now dead and gone, nothing left but the trace of where feet had been. And now the dressy old lady, in her dainty little slippers mounted, step by step, in order to rid her bosom of a burden, when she had come to the top. Dissatisfaction and anxiety were portrayed on every feature, Mr. Lambert's private apartment, situated hard by the stairs, formed the conclusion to that long row of rooms running through the middle story. Behind these rooms, overlooking the court, lay the corridor, or hall as it waa usually called, by its length and immense width bearing testimony to the lavish expenditure of space common in tlie days of old. It came to an end only behind the last chamber, the so-called red parlor, there it circled around the corner of the added east wing, and contracted into the dark passage behind the fair Dorothy's death-chamber, into which scanty daylight penetrated through a little win- dow very high up, only at the furthest corner opposite, there where a few small steps led sideways down into the warehouse. In the hall stood old-fashioned cupboards most wonder- fully carved, and back against the wall, between the rich dark folding-doors opening outward from the rooms, were ranged chairs, whose seats and cushioned backs were covered with the same brocaded velvet, which one of the old merchants had brought with him from the Nether- lands. Here many a minuet had been measured, many a feast been served, and even to-day, it took no great stretch of fancy to see moving about there still that ugly Lady Judith in her lace nightcap, and the treacherous young wife with the rubies in her hair, both having lived as mis- tresses in this old Franconian establishment. But much, too, of the magnificence of his ancestors might have main- tained its place here and in the halls and chambers within, before piety had paused before the abode of the master, and modern luxury assumed dominion. It was rather a lady's boudoir than a gentleman's cham- ber, into which Mr. Lambert introduced his mother-in- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 25 law. Rosewood and silk, pictures in water color, and a soft roseate light that came from the curtains and cushion- covers all combined to fashion one of those snug little nests, the occupant of which one would expect to be a beautiful young lady and indeed Mr. Lambert's deceased wife had been domiciled here. Mrs. Counsellor went up to one of the little arm-chairs which, half buried in lace and folds of silk, filled the deep window recess. In this room she was only seldom re- minded of the daughter who had once reigned here; she had become perfectly accustomed to seeing her son-in-law sitting there at the little desk, and using all the pretty conveniences with which it was furnished. A man of stroug passions, in his first grief after the decease of his young wife, he had secluded himself here, and since then this little chamber had been his Tusculum. " Ah, how charming!" exclaimed the old lady, pausing spell-bound before the desk, beside which she was about to take her seat. It was charming, too, that water-color painting upon the medallion on the back of a portfolio, a transparent lace-work of delicate ferns, and behind them, as though imprisoned, a bit of that mysterious wood-flower which sprouts up and blooms close to the ground. " An original idea! and how prettily executed!" added Mrs. Counsellor calling her eyeglasses to her assistance. " That spirit-like little blossom, how longingly it reaches forth from its little bell-flower home, after those strawberries exquisite really! The work of a fair female hand, Bald- win? Am I right?" " Possibly!" opined he, shrugging his shoulder with a quick side glance at the portfolio, while he busied himself straightening a picture on the wall that was hanging awry. " Nowadays industry is recruiting a whole army of help- ful forces from the world of women too " " Then not destined specially for you?" " For me?" The small nail that was to keep in place the crooked picture had fallen out, the tall, stately man stooped low to recover it from the carpet where it had fallen, and when he rose up, stooping had sent all the blood in.his body up to the head. " Dear mamma, can it possi- bly be that you know nothing of that mightiest of all the factors in our modern life, selfishness, and that you really 26 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. imagine that anything at all is done these days in vain, without the least hope of advantage to be gained?" He said this with head still averted, as he went on ham- mering the nail into the wall. Now, for the first time, he turned his face full upon tb* old lady and there was a look of bitter mockery discerni- ble there. " Consider, if you please, the hands of all the fair ladies in our circle, and teil me which of them would be equal to executing such an artistic task, one requiring the greatest patience for a man who is no longer in the market!" He stepped up to the other window, while the old lady settled herself comfortably in her snug, soft arm-chair. " Well, you may be right in that!" said she smilingly, and in that matter of fact tone used in agreeing to an unan- swerable proposition that has long been an understood thing. " The whole town knows that our poor dear Fanny took with her to her grave your vow of constancy to her, for time and eternity. Why, they were talking about it at court only the evening before last. The duchess spoke of the time when my poor daughter was living, and how enviable her lot was deemed, and the duke gave it as his opinion that people ought not to be perpetually making an unfavorable contrast between the so-called ' good old times ' and the present; then he called to mind old Justus Lambert for example, a man so much respected that he was actually feared on account of his strictness, and yet, in the time of his youth he had broken a vow in the most glaring manner, while his great-grandson puts him to shame through his noble firmness." Mr. Lambert had vanished behind the red curtain. He had rested both hands upon the window-sill, and was look- ing away beyond the fountain in the market-square, to the street beyond which ascended abruptly to a great height. Handsome as he was, that man had a remarkable counte- nanc3. Pride or rather haughtiness defined in such sharp lines would have given a frigid, stony expression to any other face; but here the coursing of hot blood was too dis- tinctly marked for that. It caused the eyes to sparkle with the uncontrollable flame of passion, and the sweetest of smiles to play irresistibly about his lips; it caused the veins of his forehead to swell with torrents of fierce rage, and his cheeks to grow pale when anguish wrung his soul. But THE LADY- WITH THE Rt'BlES. 27 now. at those last words of the old lady, Mr. Lambert cast down his eyes. He looked as if he had for a moment utterly lost both the inner and outward props of his soul, all his proud self-confidence, manly self-reliance and full consciousness of a rich possession. Like a chidden and mortified school-boy he stood there, with his head bowed low over his dark, flowing beard, and biting his lips until they well-nigh bled. 'Why, Baldwin!" exclaimed the lady bending forward curiously, because he remained so long at the window, " are you not pleased that they entertain so good an opinion of you at court?" The rustling of the silk curtain drowned the deep sigh that involuntarily escaped him as he stepped back into the chamber. " The duke seems to admire this noble trait in others, rather than in himself he has a second wife!" said he bitterly. " For heaven's sake forbear! What induces you to make such a speech?" cried the old lady in quite an indignant tone. " Let us thank God that we are alone! I hope these walls have not got ears! No, no^ Baldwin, I can not un- derstand how you can venture to make such a criticism!" added she, shaking her head. " That is an entirely differ- ent case! The first wife was very sickly " Pray, mamma, do not excite yourself! Let us change the subject!" " Yes, indeed, let us change the subject," echoed she. " You have well said, * The tempter to be sure would never dare approach you. ' After Fanny, of course it would be quite impossible for you to entertain even a passing fancy for any other woman. The Duchess Fredericka on the con- trary was ugly and ill-natured." Mr. Lambert evidently interjected these words, in order to keep the topic of conversation upon foreign soil. Again she shook her head disapprovingly. " I should never have indulged myself in such an expression. The glare and distinction of high birth cast a glamour over every fault. As for the rest, as I said before, there is a world- wide difference between the two cases; no promise bound the duke; he was free, and perfectly justified in marrying again." So saying, she again laid herself back in her chair, gently shook the lace barbs of her cap out of her eyes, folded her 28 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. hands in her lap, and looked down meditatively. " You can not judge at all of dilemmas of the sort, dear Baldwin. Fanny was your first and only love, and we joyfully gave away our daughter to you. And when you and she were betrothed, your parents wept tears of joy, and called you their, pride, because your heart's affections had elevated, not drawn you downward, as is too often the case with ties formed by misguided youth " here she broke off her sen- tence with a deep sigh, and looked down, as though revolv- ing some serious trouble. " God best knows what a faith- ful, watchful mother I have always been, certainly fully as much so as your parents; and yet it has fallen to my lot to have a son tempted to go astray. Herbert has been giving me indescribable anxiety of late!" " What, your pattern son, mamma!*' exclaimed Mr. Lambert. During his mother-in-law's long discourse he had been walking up and down all the while, mechanically measuring the regular intervals between the bunches of roses forming the pattern of the carpet upon the floor. Now he stood still at the opposite end of the room and asked the above question mockingly, across his shoulder. " Hem!" coughed Mrs. Counsellor, while she indignant- ly straightened herself up. " That he is so indeed in many respects still. He has a high aim." Yes, indeed, as I said awhile ago down in the yard, he wants to mount and mount until he leaves all competitors below out of sight, and recognizes nothing above him save the supreme ruler of the state." " Do you find any fault with this?" " Certainly not, provided that he is made of stuff equal to the strain. Just -see how many cast away their honest convictions, dissemble, fawn, and play the sycophant, and by their flatteries wheedle the authorities into giving them responsible posts that ought to belong of right to men of character and ability!" " You regularly brand the truest devotion and abnega- tion of self!" stormed the old lady. " But I ask you if you would have the audacity, the insolence, to oppose a direction coming from a superior place? I know, for my part, right well, that nobody better than yourself likes an invitation coming from the first circles, and can not rp- member ever having heard a contradiction of opinions pre vailing there, to proceed from your mouth. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 29 Mr. Lambert kept silence at this sharp, and at all events well-grounded observation. He looked intently at the painted landscape before which he was standing, and after a short pause asked: " And what fault have vou to find with Herbert?" " That of a degrading flirtation!" blazed forth from the imbittered old lady. "Were it not to express myself in entirely too vulgar a manner, I should say that I could wish this Blanche May were in Guinea. There the man stands up at the hall-windows forever gazing across at that ware- house over yonder! And yesterday, as I was coming up the front-doorsteps, the breeze blew a rose-colored paper before my feet, and what should it be but a sonnet ad- dressed to ' Blanche ' I am beside myself!" Mr. Lambert still kept his place, with his back turned to his mother-in-law; but suddenly a strange impulse seized him he swung his clinched fist up and down, exactly as just now in the yard he had flourished his riding-whip in the air. " Pshaw, that milk-sop!" said he, when she became silent from exhaustion, as it were, and he let his hand drop. He drew up his magnificent figure to its full height, and with a military but elegant movement, turned, as she paused, and thus stood facing a mirror between the windows that reached to the top of the ceiling; it showed him a flushed countenance that wore a contemptuous smile. " This milk-sop is the son of a noble house, an it please you!" retorted his mother-in-law, lifting up a finger of warning. Mr. Lambert laughed a hard laugh. " I beg pardon, mamma, but with the best will I can not deem this beard- less son of a house however noble, dangerous and treach- erous!" " You can leave the ladies to decide that question/' said Mrs. Counsellor visibly nettled. " I have every reason to believe that Herbert in his nightly promenades beneath the wooden gallery, this Julia's balcony " "How! Does he dare do that?" burst furiously from Mr. Lambert, and at that moment his countenance was unrecognizable, so frightfully distorted by rage were its handsome features. "You use the word * dare ' in connection with this 30 THE LADY WITS THE RUBIES. painter's daughter? Are you out of your senses, Bald- win?" cried the old lady, deeply mortified and suddenly rising to her feet with an almost youthful elasticity. But her son-in-law did not stand to meet the volley of imbit- tered talk that he saw would pour forth unceasingly; he escaped into the window embrasure there he drummed with his fingers upon the glass so violently that they rattled. " For heaven's sake, Baldwin, tell me what puts you out so?" cried Mrs. Counsellor in a somewhat moderated but still excited tone, and she followed him into the win- dow recess. Looking out of doors seemed once more to have brought him to himself. He ceased his drumming and looked down sideways upon the little lady. " It puzzles you, does it, mamma?" mockingly answered he. " Should I not be made indignant, when upon my own territory I will say in my own house such rendezvous are challenged by the chit that he still is. Impudence! Verily for such audacity the birch rod were still in place!" Again the flames of his wrath burst forth; but he kept them under. " Pshaw, let us not provoke one another, mamma!" said he more composedly and with a contemptu- ous shrug of the shoulders. That tale is too youthfully silly! One can easily get the better of a young cub like that, whose business just now is to think of nothing else in the world but his Latin and Greek don't you think so?" " There now, here we are on the same ground, if your expressions are rather too hard!" cried she visibly re- lieved. " That is just why I asked you for an interview. Do not think, though, that this flirtation gives me any uneasiness as to Herbert's future; he would never forget himself to that degree." " To marry a porcelain -painter's daughter? Good Heaven! His excellency, our future minister of state!" laughed Mr. Lambert. " Herbert's career seems to excite your ridicule in a very particular manner to-day! What is to happen, will hap- pen in spite of everything," said she, emphatically. " But laying that altogether aside, I have now in view nothing but his coming examination. It is our solemn duty, to remove everything that can m any way divert bis atten THE LADY W11E. THE EI'BIES. JJ tion, and as a disturbing influence I should put in the first rank that unfortunate flame in the warehouse over yonder. " While she spoke he had moved away from her, and was again pacing the floor. And now he reached out after a miniature volume standing on a book-shelf, opened it, and seemed to be examining its contents. The old lady trembled from vexation. Just now going into a wild fit of passion without any reason whatever, and at this time showing an unbearable superciliousness and in- difference amounting to impertinence. But she knew him; yes, at times he could be right whimsical and odd. Well, this time he mutt keep still until her end was gained. " As for the rest, I can not understand what that girl is doing so long in Thuringia," she continued. " It was said at first that she was going back to England, and had only come to spend her four weeks' vacation with her parents. Well, six weeks in the country she has already had, and no sign can I discover that she is making ready to depart. Such parents I had well-nigh said were deserving of chastisement. That girl is literally idle the livelong day. She sings and reads, dances here and there, sticking flowers in her red hair, while her mother gazes upon her en- raptured, and stands in the passage, day after day, ironing, in the sweat of her brow, the light summer muslins in which the young princess is always arraying herself so coquettishly, and working so much mischief. And all my poor boy's thoughts are fluttering about this will-o'-the- wisp. That girl must begone, Baldwin!" The leaves of the book rustled beneath his perpetually moving fingers. " Must she be put into a convent?" " Do, pray, forbear jesting; this is no time for it. The matter is a really grave one. The whither is perfectly in- different to me. I only say this one thing: she must leave our house!" " Our house! Whose house, ma-mma? So far as I know, we are here in the house Lambert, and not upon the estate of my father-in-law. Moreover, the painter May lives away over the other side of the court-yard." " Yes, that is just the incomprehensible part," she in- terposed, prudently overlooking his sharp reprimand. " I can not remember that the warehouse was ever inhabited before." 32 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. " But it is inhabited now, dear mamma," said he with feigned calmness, carelessly tossing the little book upon a table. She shrugged her shoulders. " Alas and it has been newly carpeted, too, for those people. You begin to spoil your workmen." " That man is no common workman." " Dear me. I am sure he paints cups and pipe-tips. Surely that is no reason why he should be so distinguished as to have an abode in his principal's own house. There is still room enough at Millbrook, I am sure." " When I engaged May last year, he made the stipula- tion that he might live in town, because his wife is subject to violent attacks of illness that make the promptest surgi- cal aid necessary." " Ah, that indeed!" She was silent for a moment, but then said curtly and decidedly: " Good, then there is noth- ing to be objected to that; and all that I ask for my satis- faction is nevermore to hear the sound of that coquette's voice echoing across the yard, nor see her figure darting in and out of that passage. There are boarding-houses enough for common people in town, I am sure." " You mean that I am to drive that man forth, bag and baggage, from his quiet asylum, because well, because he is so unfortunate as to have a beautiful daughter?" His eyes flashed as he fixed them upon the old lady, and a dan- gerous fire gleamed in their depths. ' ' Would not all my people believe that May had done something blameworthy? How could I treat him so? Dismiss the idea from your brain, mamma. I can do nothing of tho sort!" " But, bless my heart, something must be done! This thing can not go on so," cried she half in despair. " There is nothing left for it but to go myself to those people and induce them to hurry the girl's departure. No sacrifice of money, be it ever so considerable, ehall stand in my way." " Would you really do stich a thing?" Something like a secret dread was perceptible in the despondent tone of his voice. " Will you make yourself ridiculous? And above everything, will you compromise my dignity as principal in the eyes of all? Are people to think that the weal and woe of my employe's depend upon the direction of your pri- vate interests? I can not bear that;" he paused; well might he feel that he had spoken too harshly for sensitive THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 33 female ears to hear. " It has always been a joy and grati- fication to share my home with my parents-in-law," added he more calmly; " and certainly your rights to unlimited control in your own domain have never been circumscribed; at least I have always given strict orders that your privi- leges were not to be curtailed an iota. On my side, though, I desire no encroachment to be made on what be- longs to my department. Pardon me, dear mamma, but I am not to be trifled with in this matter; if so, I might make myself very disagreeable, and that were not desirable for either party." " Compose yourself, dear son; you have excited yourself most unnecessarily!" coolly replied Mrs. Counsellor, with a lofty but deprecating movement of her hand. ' ' At last, though, what you are contending for so obstinately is noth- ing but a whim; another time you will be perfectly indiffer- ent as to whether this painter May and his family have a roof over their heads or no. I know your ways. Never mind though. As a matter of course, I am the one to yield. For the time being I shall be forced to stand per- petually on my guard, and not have a single peaceful hour/' ' ' You may make yourself perfectly easy, mamma. You have in me the best of confederates," said he with a sar- dpnic laugh. " An end shall be put to those nightly promenades and bombastic sonnets; my word for it. I shall be upon the heels of that lovesick swain with the keenness of a detective; my word for that." The folding-door outside was noisily opened, and tripping steps crossed the hall. " May we come in, papa?" called Margaret's voice, while her little fingers tapped lustily at the chamber door. Mr. Lambert himself opened the door and admitted the two children. "Well, what is it? You eat up all my confectionery yesterday, you little ones with your sweet- teeth, and the candy -box is empty. " " Oh, thank you, papa, that is not what we want. "We have pound-cake down-stairs to-day. Aunt Sophie only wants the key the key to the back-room in the dark pas- sage which is always locked." " And where the lady from the red parlor looked out into the yard just now," explained Reynold further. " What gibberish is that you are talking? And what 2 34 THE LADY TTTTH THE RUBIES. means that silly talk about the lady from the red parlor?" questioned Mr. Lambert in a tone of annoyance, without, however, being able to conceal that his curiosity was some- what piqued. " Ah, papa, only that foolish old Barbara talks that way. She is so dreadfully superstitious," returned Margaret. And now she told of what she herself had seen at the win- dow, of the great red-flowered faded curtain that had sud- donly opened till there was a wide, dark space in the mid- dle; of the snow-white fingers and the forehead crowned with fair hair, and how Aunt Sophie stuck to it that it was nothing but the sun, which was not true, though; and Mr. Lambert turned aside, and picked up the tiny volume which he had thrown down, in order to return it to its place upon the book-shelf. " Undoubtedly it was the sun, you ninny, that you saw up at the window between the curtains. Aunt Sophie is quite right," said Mr. Lambert, slowly turning toward Margaret. " Consider for yourself, child," and smilingly tapping his forehead with his forefinger, he gave her a sign to reflect. " You have come up for the key to a locked- up room, and I have it, too there it hangs in the key- chest. Now, can a creature of flesh and blood creep through the chinks of a door?" The little girl stood there thoughtfully looking down. Convinced she was not, that they saw. Upon the child's broad open brow was plainly to be read: " I am not to be talked out of believing in what I have seen with my own eyes!" An expression of face that grandmamma particu- larly could not " endure." And so the father's arguments had no further result than to make the child say earnestly: " You can believe me, papa, it was right, certainly. Grandmamma's servant-maid/' Mr. Lambert hereupon laughed aloud, and Mrs. Coun- sellor, in spite of her vexation, could not help piping in, " Emma, child? Good gracious, what mad stuff works in. your brain, Gretchen! l)o you know, too," said she, turn- ing with a significant wink of the eye to her son-in-law, " that the people in the house are again making one's life a burden on account of thiit familiar, newly revived old legend? Reynold's mention of the lady in the red parlor may prove to you that the foolish creatures can not even hold their tongues before the children. Each one will THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 35 have seen something, and this time not merely shadows and cobweb clouds. Emma, for example, declared with trem- bling and chattering teeth that a certain fleeting figure was nothing less than transparent, and that from her floating veil for one minute she lifted an arm so white and round," with a speaking glance she nodded her head expressively, and pressed her clasped hands to her breast. " Would that some direct communication between Herbert and cer- tain people may not be at the bottom of all this! The bare thought makes my blood boil!" "Zounds! that might be so!" assented Mr. Lambert with a sardonic smile, stroking his beard as he spoke. " That would indeed call for argus eyes and never-sleeping ears. As for the rest, I am sick to surfeiting of this per- petual gossiping among our servants; positively, it will bring our house into disrepute. It has always been a mis- take not to make use of that wing of the house; thereby that crazy dream of an old nurse has gained ground from year to year. I'll put an end to it, however! I should like the best in the world to put in there a couple of china- turners with their families from Millbrook; but then the people would have to be perpetually passing my doors on their way to the front hall, and I could not stand the noise. I shall make short work of it, and ensconce myself for a good season in the Lady Dorothy's chamber." " That would be a radical measure of a surety!" re- marked Mrs. Counsellor, smiling. " And a door with a lock to it, which should cut the passage oft' from the front hall, would be the thing too; then those cowards who have business up here would no longer have any excuse for peering around the corner and working upon their imaginations until they have seen phan- toms of their own make. I'll take the affair into consid- eration." He caught up a box of sugar-plums lying on the table. " Only to behold, after all, here are a few stray goodies!" and he filled the little hands of the children with bonbons. " There now, go down again. Papa has a great deal of writing to do." " And the key, papa? Have you forgotten the key?" asked little Margaret. " Aunt Sophie wants to come up right now and open the windows. She says there has been no rain, and the night air ought to sweep through just this 36 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. one time; and to-morrow the rooms and the passage are to be scoured. " Mr. Lambert reddened with vexation. " To the hang- man with this everlasting scrubbing!" burst forth from him as he impatiently drew his hand through his thick hair. " A few days ago the front hall was fairly swimming in water, and the grating and scratching of the scouring- brushes are still beating upon my ears. I'll have none of it! Only go down, Gretchen, and say to your aunt that if she has time I would like to speak with her myself." The children went off, and Mrs. Counsellor too drew her pelerine closer about her shoulders, preparatory to leav- ing. She took her departure in quite a deliberate manner. Her oppressed heart had not been lightened of its load; the porcelain painter was settled more firmly than ever in the warehouse, and the son-in-law who had ever before been so courteously civil, had actually been bearish in his de- portment. And even now, despite his respectful bow, his eyes showed anything but penitence and humble disposition to apologize far rather secret, burning impatience to be left alone. Visibly annoyed, she rustled out of his pres- ence. He remained motionless in the middle of the room. Out- side the bolt was heard to fall in the hall -door lock; then the little high -heeled slippers tripped upward, step by step; he listened until the last echo of her retreating footsteps had died away upon the stairs; then, with a bound, he sprung to the writing-table, pressed the portfolio first to his heart, then to his mouth, repeatedly stroking the little water-color picture with his hand as though to wipe off the look which the old lady had fixed upon it, and locked up the portfolio then in one of his table-drawers. This had been the work of some seconds. Immediately afterward the chamber was empty. Instead, evening shadows soon came creeping in; the rose-tints prevalent there paled, and in the twilight the life-sized portrait of the deceased Fanny looking down from the wall gradually became imbued with life; such a strange, weird life. Gaunt and gray, with her great eyes full of passionate fire, it seemed as if the very next minute she would pick up her gray satin train and step down upon the carpet to seek her revenge as furiously as the Lady Judith had done before her. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 37 CHAPTER IV. IN the dwelling-rooms below the labor of bleaching-day nad come to a happy conclusion. Barbara was already moving about again in her shining, roomy kitchen, and pre- paring the evening meal. The roast of veal was punctually basted, the salad and compote ready to serve; nevertheless, matters were not proceeding so placidly there as they might have done. The kitchen utensils rattled portentously one against the other, potatoes rolled oft' the dresser on to the floor, and the door to the baker slammed as it was opened and shut just as though its hinges would burst. Spinster Barbara was in her grimmest of moods. Again had Aunt Sophie been lecturing her in the most exemplary manner because she had alarmed the washer- women so much with her graphic description of the wabbling curtain that they declined to do the scouring in that haunted wing of the house. So Barbara had not only had the fright to stand, but a scold into the bargain. Things had come to a pretty pass when an old servant had to be treated in this way, who, if needful, would have shed her blood any day for the Lambert family Miss Sophie, most specially, be it observed. Were they really so stone blind, so besotted with levity and unbelief, that they did not see misfortune already hovering over their house, heavy and black as a hail- cloud? Had it not signified death and destruction every single time, when those spirits had been seen running to and fro in that dark passage? Only let them take a walk through the town yes, indeed; they could go from house to house, and in the ladies' parlors as well as among the women at the wash-trough, everywhere they would be sure to hear the croaking over the ghost in Lam- bert's house; things enough to make one's hair stand on end. But there sat " somebody " now, unconcernedly stitch- ing away at the sitting-room window, trying to vamp up the face of that master of the feast at Cana, as if the fate of the whole world depended upon that old table-cloth, and as if there were nothing but sunshine in the house. Well, let them go on. Come it will, steady and sure. And the "kitchen Cassandra broke off in the midst of her monologue 38 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. and jerked at a great earthen vessel on the baker, in ordei to swallow down at a gulp the ill-humor she had been in the whole afternoon. As for the rest, the " somebody " at the sitting-room window was not in such a blissful state of content after all; for it was a hard task even for Aunt Sophie's skillful fingers to restore the features of that master of the feast to its original lineaments, without letting the darn be seen. And neither was Margaret feeling altogether comfortable at the other window. The whortleberry stains had been withdrawn from the offended eye, by means of a clean apron ; then Aunt Sophie had seized her little niece by the shoulders, and in a very energetic manner pointed to the big table in the bow-window. " There now, set to work upon your school-tasks! And recollect, no blots, Gretchen!" she had said. That meant, sitting still within four thick walls, and clasping the pen-holder firmly, so that it should make no eccentric dashes upon the clean white paper.- Up above in the evening sky, the heaped-up clouds were tinged with roseate hues; the window stood open, and from the steep street facing it streamed delicious fragrance from sweet linden-tree blossoms; they came through the tower-gate of the city-wall, to which the street up there led, and over the blackened old walls themselves, behind which ran the gor- geous Linden Avenue. And from the market-place resounded bustle and stir on every side. Apprentice-boys went whistling along with huge stone flasks in their hands to fetch their master's evening draught of beer; from all streets came girls and women with wooden buckets to the market pump, and the maids held tin colanders beneath the spout of the pump, and let the fresh, sparkling water rush out over their green beet-salad it was so pretty, nobody could help taking an- other look. And under the window, two little beggar-girls nodded in passing by. Margaret bent forward, felt in her pocket, and while they held up their little aprons, she threw out to them the bonbons which she had got from her papa. " That is right, Gretchen!" pronounced Aunt Sophie. " You have been eating entirely too many sweets of late, and it pleases the children." " I do not give away my good things," said Eeynold/* THE LADY WITH THE RrBIES. 39 who was erecting a tower out of his building-blocks. "I put them away for myself. Barbara is always saying to everything: * Who knows but one can use it again!' " " Horrors! the merchant oozes out at every pore of that fellow!" laughed Aunt Soplrie, and diligently she went on with her darning. Yes, their aunt was right, they had been eating en- tirely too many sweets of late, those two children! That sweet stuff was no longer relished by them. How much papa had changed. Formerly they had been accustomed to stay up in his room, for hours at a time; he used to let them ride upon his back, had shown them pictures and ex- plained their meaning, told them pretty stories and made them paper-boats, and now? Now he ran up and down the room, whenever they came; often too he made faces and said roughly that they disturbed him, and he could not have them there. Those pretty paper boats were no longer to be thought of, any more than the telling of pretty fairy-tales and true stories papa preferred talking to himself, they could not understand about what, for it was mere muttering. Many a time, too, he would pass both hands through his hair, and stamp his foot, seeming not to remember that the children were there; and then when he did bethink himself, he would quickly stuff their hands and pockets full of sweet things, and thrust them out of the door because he had writing to do, ever so much writing to do. Yes, that miserable writing, it was just for that that he could not stand them! And after all these depressing reflections with their hateful conclusion, the pen was wrathfully dipped into the ink-stand, and lo! there was the blackest of blots on the paper! " You poor unfortunate child!" scolded Aunt Sophie, Hurrying over to her as fast as she could. The blotting- paper was at hand, but on searching for the wasing-knife, (Iretchen had to confess humbly that her master had taken away her knife, because she had been caught whittling the school-desk during the long, tedious arithmetic hour. And ere Aunt Sophie could give vent to her well-grounded in- dignation, the little girl was already outside the door, gone '' to borrow a penknife from papa." A few seconds later, she stood with downcast counte- nance in front of the room above stairs. The door was locked; there was no key in it, and through the key-hole 40 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. she could see that the chair before the writing-table stood empty. Yes, what could be the meaning of this? So it was not true after all, what papa had said about having so much writing to do. He was not writing at all, he was not so much as at home! The little girl cast her eyes around the wide, vast entrance-hall. It was so familiar to her, and yet at this moment so wonderfully new and differ- ent. How often she had romped and played about here with Reynold; but she could not remember ever having been up here alone before. Now it was somewhat dusky, it is true, but so solemn, so delightfully quiet in this hall. Through its lofty win- dows you overlooked the court-yard, and far away over that snug, neat-looking warehouse, out into the green, bloom- ing world beyond. Upon the beinifets stood a quantity of glittering cut-glass, and the chairs, cushioned with yellow velvet brocade, had on their dark oak-wood backs carvings of queer sorts of birds among tulips and long-stemmed foliage. Ink-blots and penknives were totally forgotten, that self-willed young fawn with her reckless but truthful, candid nature, let her bold glance wander freely from chair to chair, passed her hand carelessly over the faded velvet, and dreamed herself into a wonderful world of im- agination that was disturbed by no sound from without. The last chair stood in the corner quite near to the door that led into the red parlor, and thence one looked obliquely across into the dark passage in the rear of Mrs. Dorothea's death-chamber. This too was familiar ground to her, and had never had any terrors for her mind. Just at this moment its opposite end was illumined by the re- flection from one of the last rosy clouds of sunset, peeping into the little window set so high up in the wall. Reynold, indeed, had always stood consistently at the entrance of the passage, and never trusted himself one step nearer; but she had ever gone through its whole length, up to the li-ttle stairs that led sideways down to the ground-floor of the warehouse. On one side, beautifully paneled cham- ber doors broke the uniform flatness of the wall's surface, and against the back wall double-doored clothes-presses stood furnished with brass knobs. Aunt Sophie, once upon a time, had opened and aired them, giving Margaret the opportimity for a peep inside. There hung one costly bright-colored brocade robe after THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 41 the other, some of them also heavily embroidered with silk and gold they were only what the ladies of the Lambert family had worn upon state occasions. Mrs. Judith's bridal dress, too, with her bridal shoes regular monsters of slippers they were had been religiously preserved here. She had been the only daughter and heiress of a distin- guished and wealthy house, and a considerable part of the Lambert estate, indeed, had come from her dowry. Little Margaret did not know this, she would not have had any comprehension of the subject even had it been told her, often though she had rattled at the press-doors for the sake of hearing the mysterious noise made when the stiff silks jostled each other. Now, for once, she was here all by herself. Little brother was not here to pull her back by clutching at her frock, and worrying her with his apprehensive cries. She dived deeper into the passage, and was about to stop in front of one of the presses, when she plainly heard a noise, as though somebody was turning a door-knob quite near to her. The little girl hearkened in pleased surprise, drew up her shoulders, chuckled to herself, and slipped into the dark recess at the side of the press, whence she could see the door which was diagonally across the way. Whew! how Aunt Sophie would open her eyes when she heard that it had not been the sun after all! And Gretchen would be proved to have been right in saying it was Emma, and let her pretend to be frightened ten times over, it was nobody but she hiding in that room! A proper scare would not hurt her at all, no! serve her right! At this instant the door opened noiselessly, and from behind it a small foot stepped from the elevated threshold down upon the plank floor of the passage; then something white gleamed through the narrow opening of the door, for it was only slightly ajar. Nothing was to be seen, however, of the chamber-maid's white bodice and jaunty apron, nothing of her coquettish flounces, a close veil fell down from the top of this person's head, enveloping her whole figure, and its lace trailed after her upon the floor. But, for all this, it was Emma who was playing a trick. She had such a small foot, and always wore neat boots with high heels and ribbon rosettes. Now for it! Here was famous fun ! With the agility of a kitten, the child bounded from, her 42 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. hiding-place, flew after the retreating figure, with the whole weight of her little body threw herself upon it from behind, and embraced it with both her arms; in so doing her little right hand through an opening in the veil caught in the waves of a long braid of hair that, unplaited, fell over the hips she grasped hold of it, and to punish such a silly prank, pulled the hair so hard that the head to which it belonged was drawn far back over the neck. A shriek of dismay, followed by a piteous wail, re- eounded through the passage. What then happened came about with such lightning-like rapidity, such unexpected- ness, that the little one could never, even later, give any clear account of it. She felt herself seized and shaken, until hearing and sight forsook her, her little body flew like a ball almost to the entrance of the corridor, and then she fell to the ground. She remained lying, stupefied, as it were, with closed eyes, and when finally she lifted her lids, there stood her father by her, looking down upon her. But she would hardly have known him, she shrunk from him in horror, and involuntarily closed her eyes again, feeling instinct- ively that something dreadful must follow; for he looked as if he knew not whether to throttle or trample upon her. " Stand up! What are you doing here?" he blazed forth in a voice hardly to be recognized, while he took hold of her with a rough grip, and stood her upon her feet. She was silent; the shock of such an unheard-of thing aa that cruel treatment sealed her lips. " Did you not hear me, Gretchen?" asked he with a greater semblance of self-control. ''' I want to know what brought you here?" ' "At first I wanted to go to you, papa, but the door was locked, and you were not at home." " Foolishness/' scolded he, driving her on before him. " The door was not locked I tell you, you were only awk- ward about opening it! I was here in the red parlor " he pointed to the door, toward which he was shoving the little girl " when I heard your scream." Margaret planted her feet firmly upon the floor so that Mr. Lambert was obliged to stand still too, and turned her face toward him. " I did not scream, papa/' said she, with wide-open, astonished eyes. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 43 " If you did not, who did then? You will not pretend to me that anybody beside yourself has been up here?" He had turned quite red in the face, as was ever the case when he was angry and out of patience, and his eyes flashed at her in a threatening manner. Did he mean that she had spoken falsely! Every drop in the child's body boiled, for she was truth' itself. "I make no pretense, papa, I am telling the truth!" asserted she courageously, meeting without flinching his withering gaze. " You may depend upon it that some- body was up here ! It was a girl ! she came out of that room, you know where I saw the forehead and light hair at the window. Yes, she came out from there and had on shoes with ribbon rosettes, and as she ran off I heard how her heels clattered on the plank floor. " " Are you mad?" With one push, he turned her back toward the passage. Meanwhile the crimson-tipped even- ing clouds had sailed away, and through that lofty little window there only a dusky sky looked in, gray twilight began to fill the whole corridor. " Do you see anything more now, Gretchen?" asked he, standing behind her, and with both his hands he pressed heavily upon the child's shoulders. " No! Then hear reason, child! Through that entrance-hall the supposed maiden could not have escaped, for we ourselves would have blocked up her way; the door, as we see here is locked, as I know best who have its keys; but do you believe that anybody could have flown through that window, the only other way left for one to escape?" Apparently tranquilized, he took her by the hand and led her to one of the hall windows. He drew out his pocket handkerchief, and wiped away from her face the tears that had been forced from her by fright and grief. Suddenly his glance melted into one of tender compassion. ' ' Do you see, now, what a regular little simpleton you have been?" asked he, smiling, at the same time bending low over her, so as to look her in the eyes. Passionately she flung her little arms around his neck, " I love you so much. Oh! so much, papa!" exclaimed she, with all the fervor of a warm, innocent child's heart, pressing her small, sunburned face against his cheek. " But you must not think that I would tell a story. I did uot scream just now, it was she! I thought it was Emma, 44 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. and wanted to frighten her for her foolish trick. But it just occurs to me Emma has not such long hair, and my hand smells now of attar of roses, because I caught hold of her plait, and her whole person smelled of the sweetest roses. It could not have been Emma then, papa. Cer- tainly, I know that nobody can fly through that little win- dow; but maybe the door was open to the little steps, you know, the basement to the warehouse." Already, rising up impatiently, he had loosened her arms from his neck, and now he interrupted her with a discordant laugh; but in spite of this laugh he suddenly looked so pale and so furiously angry that the child timidly drew back into the window corner. " You are an obstinate, hard-headed creature!" raged he, his brow growing darker and darker. " Grandmam- ma is right when she says you need proper discipline. To carry out your own will you concoct the most nonsensical stuff. Who do you think would prowl about in an old trash-room, full of rats and mice, for the sake merely of teasing a little bit of a girl like you? But I see how it is, you are entirely too much in the parlor with company, and have had your head stuffed full of old nursery tales and ghost-stories, and then, in broad daylight you dream of impossibilities. Moreover, you are as wild as a deer, and Aunt Sophie is much too gentle and yielding. Long ago your grandmamma begged me to put an end to the mat- ter, and now it shall be done, and without delay! A few years under the charge of strangers will make you tame and presentable!" " I to be sent off!''' shrieked the child. " For a few years only, Gretchen," said he more mildly. "Be reasonable! I cannot educate you: grandmamma's nerves are entirely too unsteady to stand constant associa- tion with a nature so unruly as yours, and Aunt Sophie well, the whole of the housekeeping rests upon her, and she can not attend to you so particularly as is needful." " Don't do it, papa!" urged she with a positive deter- mination of spirit, almost unnatural in a child. " It will do no good at all. I'll come back again!" " We shall see about that." "Ah! you have no idea how fast I can run. Do you remember how you had given away our Wolf to a gentle- man in Leipsic, and how, early one morning soon after- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 45 ward, the good old dog lay outside of our front door, tired to death, and outrageously hungry? The poor fellow had got homesick, broken his chain, and run away. I should do iust the same!' 7 A heart-rending smile flitted across her quivering lips. " I believe you, you are self-willed enough for anything! But there is nothing left for you to do, but submit; short work is made of such refractory little wretches as your- self!' 7 said he sternly. After he had finished speaking he turned off, and looked apparently through the window down into the yard; in fact, however, his glance was furtively scanning the little face on which was now mirrored a fearful inward struggle, and, as if driven by an irresistible impulse, he abruptly stooped over again, and with his hand gently stroked the child's soft cheeks, that had suddenly become suffused with genuine fever heat. " Come now, be my good little girl!" said he, coaxiugly. "I'll go with you myself we shall travel together. And you shall have beautiful clothes, just like our little prin- " Oh. please, papa, give them to some other little girl!'' suggested the child sadly. " My things are always spotted and stained the very first thing. Barbara is always say- ing, ' It is a perfect waste of good materials to put them on that tomboy/ and she is right too. Besides, I do not want to be like those little princesses in the palace; 77 here she tossed back her head defiantly, and ceased jerking nerv- ously at her fingers. " I can not bear them, because grandmamma is always bowing down so before them. 77 A sarcastic smile flitted across Mr. Lambert's face; nevertheless, he said in a severe tone: "You see, Gret- chen, it is just this which so often throws your grandmoth- er into despair. You are an impolite little thing, and have the most miserable manners; you put us all to the blush. It is high time for you to be sent away!' 7 The little girl opened wide her tear-dimmed eyes and gave him a speaking glance. " Did my mamma have to go away, too, when she was a little child?" asked she, vainly struggling with her sobs. His countenance became darkly overshadowed. " Your mamma was always a very polite, docile little girl, and there was no need to send her away. 77 He said this in a 4C THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. tone as subdued as if, besides himself and Margaret, some one else was listening in the entrance-hall before whom he feared to raise his voice. " I only wisli she were here, poor mamma! I know she would rather take Eeynold up in her lap than me, but then nobody would have ordered me away. A mamma is much better than a grandmamma! When grandmamma goes to the springs she is delighted, and hardly stops to say good-bye. She does not know how a child loves every- thing and everybody, papa, our house too, oh! and Mill- brook " she stopped as though her little heart would break, at the bare thought of separation. With her head pressed close up to the window-pane she looked up plead^ ingly into the face of the stately man, who let his fingers play lightly upon the shelf in front of him, and was evi- dently torn by contending emotions. He made no answer to his little daughter's eloquent lament. For quite a while his gaze was riveted aimlessly upon the broad landscape outside, and when at last he lowered his eyes, he gave a sudden start and his fingers ceased their play. Papa was shocked, about what then? Far or near there was nothing to be seen. The sun had long since set; not a creature was astir in the fields below; not a swallow was any longer to be seen flying in and out; the pigeons too, that all day long were fluttering about the warehouse roof, had sought repose as well, and in the quiet passage beneath the overarching boughs of the mock- orange stood only Blanche May, as she had done every evening since she had come from England. But this time the child had no longer any eyes for the beautiful, fair face, that in gentle radiance shone like soft moonlight from its shrines of dark shrubbery she only saw that her papa was greatly troubled, and that, groan- ing, he put both -hands to his temples, and pressed them as though his brain threatened to burst. The little girl drew fondly up to his side, looking up at him with yet more urgent entreaty in her eyes: " Do you love me, papa?" " Yes, Gretchen." But he did not look at her, he con- tinued to stare at the self -same spot. " Just as much as you do Reynold? Is that so, papa?" "Well, yes, child." " Oh, I am so glad! Then you will let me stay iiere! THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 47 Who would there be, then, to play with little brother, who would be his horse, if I were gone? The other chil- dren will not do it because he strikes so hard with the whip. Please, papa, say you were not in earnest about that travel- ing off? You were only threatening me, because I am such a wild cat. But I will be better now, I will be polite, too, to the little princesses. Please say I am to stay with you, and all the rest. Papa, do you not hear?" Mr. Lambert shivered at the touch of the little hand shaking his arm, starting up as out of a torturing dream. " Good Heaven! child, do not torment me any more with your questions. It is enough to drive one mad!" stormed he at the startled child. He rooted in his hair with both hands, pressed them against his forehead re- peatedly, and walked up and down a few times with dis- ordered mien. It might have been the monotonous tone of her questions which had irritated him by their urgent repetition; their sense he seemed to take in only by reflection, after he had become cooler. ' ' You have taken up quite a false idea, Gretcheu," said he, in a milder tone, finally standing still. " There, where I shall take you, you will have a number of merry playmates, little girls of your size, who love each other as sisters. I know many a child who has wept bit- terly when she had to come home again. As for the rest, it has long been a settled matter between your grandmam- ma and myself that you should be educated at some female seminary the only question was as to the time of its adoption. I have made up my mind now, and there is no more to be said. It is best so, and I shall go directly to Aunt Sophie to make with her the needed arrangements." After he had thus spoken, he went toward the hall- door. " Come with me, Gretchen! You can not stay up here!" he called out to her, seeing that she kept her place, remaining motionless in the window recess. She crossed the hall now, slowly, with bowed head. He waited until she had crossed the threshold before him, then turned the key in the lock, drew it out, and went down-stairs. 48 THE LADY WITH THE BUSIES. CHAPTER V. MR. LAMBERT did not trouble himself any further as to whether the little one followed him. He had been long below, and she had heard him enter the sitting-room while she still stood at the head of the stairs. With her hands resting on the balusters,, she slid down slowly, a step at a time. The sitting-room door had been left open, and through it came the sound of Mr. Lambert's strong full- toned voice, and on getting down, Margaret heard him tell Aunt Sophie of her loud scream, running in the corridor of the east wing, of her seeing fancied apparitions by broad daylight, and of his having been in the red parlor. Ho stuck to it that the child had merely fancied seeing some- body in the dark passage, that the " old-wives' gossip " she had listened to in the drawing-room was to blame for all this, and so, Margaret must be sent off forthwith to boarding-school, where she would get rid of all these im- pressions, and for that matter be taught to have better manners and become more maidenly. With a soft tread the little girl went past the door. She cast a shy glance into the room. Her little brother had ceased his tower-building and was listening with wide-open mouth, and Aunt Sophie's dear, merry face was right pale and sad; she was pressing her clasped hands to her breast, but not a word did she speak " because it would do no good," thought the little girl, as she slipped by; for just let papa and grandmamma agree together that a thing was to be done, and neither prayers nor entreaties helped one bit, grandmamma would have her way. Only one more person had any power, when he put in, blustering and storming dreadfully, and that was grand- papa at Millbrook. He would help, she knew! He would not let them drag away his little Margaret, but the least of all into ' ' that great bird-cage, where they must all whistle in one key," as he had said every time that grandmamma had hinted at a girl's boarding-school for her. Yes, he would help ! What would they do then, when he should come down with his great knuckles upon the table, and say in his earnest voice : "Desist, Fraiicesca! I will have it THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 49 BO, and I am master here!" Yes, if she could only get to Millbrook there would be no more danger! She ran out into the yard in order to get the goats; but the man-servant had locked the doors, and anyway that would make too much noise, for the carriage rattled; then somebody would come and shut the gate in her face, and she would have to stay. The only thing to be done now, was to depend upon her own two feet and run out. As she went along she had picked up her hat, that was still lying on the garden-table; she tied its ribbons under her chin, and set off on her journey. Nobody had seen the child as she passed through the gate- way of the warehouse and slipped out upon the street. There was not a human being in the yard ; Blanche May, too, had again forsaken the balcony. And outside, too, not a creature was stirring; the people had not yet come out to sit before their doors, the evening not being suffi- ciently advanced for that; only a few little ragamuffins were swimming paper boats in the channel of the narrow little branch that cut the street in the middle. " They are having a good time," thought the little one, and she marched over the small bridge into the next alley; then she came to a break in the town-wall, whence ran a foot- path through the fields, and up a low hill to Millbrook. To be sure it made a tolerably wide circuit, and was soli- tary; but she knew it and struck into it now over there in the public road clouds of dust were whirling, whenever there came a puff of wind, as she had experienced this afternoon, when she had been powdered thickly by it, as ghe drove along in her little carriage. Ah, yes, just this afternoon how happy she had been! She could have shouted with delight, as the goats had rushed with her, out of the Millbrook gate. Grandpapa had laughed, and shouted " Hurrah" after her, and the village children, her sworn friends, had run with her a piece of the way, and the boys had said to one another: " Can not she drive, though?" But now she had come again to beg grandpapa to inter- cede for her. Oh! if he would only keep her out here for good and all! She would have gone cheerfully enough to the village school. Grandmamma too, never came out there; she always said that she could not endure the noise of the factory, and grandpapa laughed every time he 50 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. thought about it; and he stayed out there because he could not bear to hear her parrot scream. While this medley was coursing through the child's ex- cited brain, her little feet were trudging forward in the sturdiest manner. For a long stretch of the way it went through waving fields of grain, and there the little girl felt somewhat oppressed in spirit; since she and Aunt Sophie had come that path, the green walls on either hand had grown so very high, and changed to a pale yellow. Only a short bit of the winding path could be seen at any one time before her, so that this tiny human being was, as it were, boxed up in the wheat-field, and the beetle that spread out his shining blue wings and lightly buzzed past, and the gay cockle that stuck its head out above the grain, striving to get a peep out into the world, they had it better than she. And there was a whispering overhead it seemed, and it sounded as if a trained skirt were softly sweeping by, until she felt afraid to look up; but " fear does no good, and there is a natural cause for everything that happens in the world," Aunt Sophie always said, and therefore it could not be that any person was light enough to be trip- Sing along over the surface of the waving wheat-field, "o, it was only the evening breeze murmuring as it passed by and brushing one nodding stalk against the other. And now, too, the narrow lane came to an end; her way led over potatoes and beet-beds, then over grass turf, up the hill which was crowned by a pretty grove, the so-called Millbrook woods; beyond that lay the village. Well, it was still light enough for the child to see the great arbutus bushes, with their white blossoms and red fruit, on the edge of the woods, between the trees; but this time she had no time for stopping to pluck and eat; in breathless haste had she sped up the hill, her little heart was hammering in her breast, and her head glowed until it felt heavy like lead. Now, it was cool in grandpapa's room; there stood the great sofa with its soft cushions, where he always took his afternoon nap, and there, too, the child always rested when she had run herself tired. Only that little bit of a way be- hind the village, then all would be well! The capacious factory-yard lay there silent and vacant, the workmen hav- ing long since stopped work; and through the adjoining garden with its beautifully laid off grounds, and the clear THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 51 limpid lake, in which the pavilion was mirrored, there was no other sign of life than the soft rustling of the mighty tree-tops, beneath which it was already quite dark. Not even did grandpapa's spaniel Friedlin bark, and bound to meet the child; the threshold, his favorite lounging-place, was empty, the doors were shut too yes, they even proved to be fast locked, and to her repeated ringing no sign of response was given. In helpless anguish the child stood before the silent house. Grandpapa was not there. Never, never would this have occurred to her, it was such a matter of course that he should have been at home when she came. She went all around the house; had one of the windows in the lower story stood open (as she had so often done before in sport), she would have climbed up and jumped over the window- frame into the interior; but the shutters were all fastened down tight, there was nothing to be done. She came very near crying, but bravely gulped down her tears. Perhaps grandpapa had gone to see the superintend- ent, who lived just a little way off, in the factory. But in the yard a young stable-maid said to her that the super- intendent and his family had driven to town in the mas- ter's carriage, to be present at a nuptial-eve; but as for Mr. Counsellor, she had seen him ride away several hours before, for there was some sort of a club-meeting going on to-day at Hermsleben. This was a landed estate some miles distant. Dear, dear! what should such a poor tired child do after running all this long way? In her first paroxysm of dis- pair her impulse was to run again, and she went out of the yard-gate, while the maid returned to the stable. But she had only taken a few steps when she made a halt; she could not possibly run as far as Hermsleben, that was too much, it was too far! No, absolutely that was no go; it would be better to wait for grandpapa maybe he would come soon. So saying, the little girl ran back to the pavilion and patiently seated herself on the door-step. That did the lit- tle weary limbs good, and moreover the deep quiet and re- pose round about was a godsend after her exciting march. If only that tiresome hammering in her brain and temples would cease! but now, cuddling up into the corner of thp door-frame, made it double perceptible. And now, too, 52 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. torturing fancies began to troop through her aching head At home supper-time had passed long ago, and they must have missed her from the table. They would assuredly search everywhere for her; and at the thought that Aunt Sophie would be made anxious about her sorely grieved her little heart. But she prayed fervently that the idea of her being here would not strike anybody until after grand- papa's return. She started up with terror at the bare thought, and sought for a hiding-place into which she might creep in case of necessity. For now, since she had run away secretly, they would surely send her off the very next day grandmamma had been providing for it already that inexorable grandmamma, who could be so unjust. If Eeynold fell, in clumsy fashion, then " that wild girl was scolded;" if he cried out of self-will, " that untamed Gretchen had certainly provoked him." Such a grand- mother as that never knew how dearly one loves her own little brother, and bears everything from him gladly, even bites from his mouth, if it would only make him laugh and be merry. Ah, yes; those people in the upper story were not all good to Gretchen! And almost worse than grandmamma was that horrid Herbert, whom she should not call uncle. A pretty uncle, indeed, who had no beard, and had to moil over his school tasks just the same as she had to herself. He had said she ought to be whipped this afternoon ; and the finger which he had almost mashed in his rage hurt her still. How glad he would be if to-mor- row Gretchen were really clapped into a carriage and mer- cilessly dragged away to the " bird-cage." But it should not be done God forbid! She would struggle against it tooth and nail; she would scream so loud that the people in the market would run together. Ah, if grandpapa only would come! But all kept still as death in the garden; over in the high-road, too, the rumbling and creaking of vehicles had ceased. The silence of night had begun, although she her- self had delayed her coming. This had indeed been a golden day, and as the sun's hot breath still brooded heavily over the earth, so also a vestige of this day's spark- ling glory seemed to linger in the air, and be loath to dis- appear. The clock on the factory tower struck quarter after quar- ter of the hour. The ninth hour was already past, and THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 53 now, to be sure, the worst was over. In town grandpapa went to bed always at ten o'clock; he was very punctual, and would certainly soon be back at Millbrook. Oh, yes; and if she heard him galloping along she would run to meet him, and trot along by tbo horse's side; then, at least, he would look down upon " his wild romp," and then nobody could molest her iiobody! And, in sooth, here did come a rider racing at topmost speed; but the little girl did not run to the door; for a second she listened in blank horror to the tramplings of the flying horse-hoofs, than with a wild bound she sprung from the door-step, ran around the lake, and crept into the almost impenetrable thicket which had been allowed to grow up between the opposite side of the lake and the iron trellis separating the garden from the factory-yard. The rider came from the direction of the town it was her papa, who came to look for her. She penetrated deeply into the thorny bushes; her white frock with its whortleberry stains received now many a tear into the bargain, and her feet sunk in the morass; in spite of these things, though, she cowered down on the wet f round and embraced it as closely as though she would re- uce her small body to nothingness. With bated breath and chattering teeth firmly clinched, she listened as her papa in the yard spoke to a maid looking down from an upstairs window. The girl told him that the child had turned around before her eyes and gone back to town; she had seen her run out of the gate herself. In spite of this assurance, Mr. Lambert rode into the yard. From her hiding-place in the thicket Margaret could hear Lucifer's fierce snorting; papa must have rid- den him fearfully hard; then the rider came within the radius of her vision. He rode around tli3 pavilion, and, from his seat on the horse, he could make ;i right accurate survey of the not very spacious garden, with its grass-plgt* and groups of maple and acacia trees. " Gretchen!" he called into every darkening corner. Any other ear would only have discerned in this call a father's unspeakable anxiety; but for the little creature who lay there cowering motionless in the shrubbery, and following with an almost wild glance every movement of the rider, that man on yonder horse was at this moment the same who this very afternoon had bent over her in th? 54 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. dark passage, not knowing whether he would choke her 01 trample her under his heel. And now, when he stopped close by on the shore of the lake, and cast his eyes over the shallow waters which lay there, so lustrous and crystal clear, that even by this dim light the white sand could be seen glit- tering at its bottom; now, when his eyes, beneath their dark, shaggy brows glowed as they always did when he was furious- ly angry, there came over the little girl an indescribable, regularly paralyzing sense of dread. Breathless, as though turned to stone, she cowered down among the brambles, feeling as if she would rather throw herself into the water than let an answering sound escape her. Mr. Lambert turned his horse and rode out again. It must have been the superintendent's man-servant now who crossed the yard and opened the trellised gate for the horse- man. Mr. Lambert spoke with him, and his voice sound- ed hoarse and feeble, like some one whose throat was parched from thirst. He asked how long his father-in-law would be likely to be absent; and the man told him that the old gentleman seldom returned from these club meet- ings before two o'clock in the morning. What mo're was said she did not hear. Mr. Lambert rode over the yard, out at the gate, and the man seemed to accompany him, but not by the public road through the fields seemed to be the way chosen for return to the town. The little runaway was again alone. After that torpor of soul had worn off she became conscious of the painful pressure upon her contracted limbs caused by the twigs displaced in her struggles. The dampness of the ground was plainly felt through her thin goat-skin boots, and the coppice was swarming with gnats that, thirsting for blood, buzzed about her face and bare arms. With difficulty she straightened herself up and drew her feet out of the marsh, into which they were deeply sunken, the mud adhering closely to the soles of her shoes. Now she broke forth into a low, piteous wail: those bad bushes would not let her go. She must stay there in the midst of that horrible, moldy stench, that had been stirred up by her forcing her way through; caught like a poor little sparrow in the hard, tight embrace of the branches, she would have to wait until grandpapa came. And oh! he would not come be- fore two o'clock at night. Five long hours would she have to be fighting those gnats, clouds of which pressed closer, THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 55 ever closer to her body, however often she struck at them. And there were frogs and toads in plenty here too. Rey- nold should only have been there, one time, to see a long, striped snake crawl out of the thicket. She fairly shook from fright when she felt it to be really alive and under her feet. Summoning up all her strength, she worked herself, like somebody mad, through this dismal wilderness, until the last strong-stemmed runners gave way behind her, and with a mighty rustling and crackling set her free. A wretched little figure it was that now tumbled, rather than walked, back to the pavilion. Her hat had been dragged off of her by the higher boughs when she first rushed into the woods; it might be still hanging there. Her dress, utterly spoiled as it now was, gave her no con- cern; only those ugly, coal-black tracks made upon the broad white sandstone stairs at every step she took, were frightful to behold. Her feet were just caked with mud. In the sky one twinkling star after the other peeped forth. But the little creature huddled up there in the door- way noticed them not. If she even lifted up her heavy eyelids, she only saw that the darkness below had swal- lowed up the last glimmer of light shining in the bosom of the lake; the grass-plots underneath the trees looked black, and on every hand was perceptible the whirring past of creatures of the night; owls screeched, and robber-bats came swooping down from the roof of the pavilion. As though in a dream, reached her from the village the bark of here and there a dog, and the tower clock had again marked two quarters of hours. Yet many, many such quarters of an hour must be clicked down from up yonder before two o'clock came. Ah! how dreadful it was! The wetness of her feet sent one chill after another shiv- ering over her frame, and her forehead, leaned against the hard door-mat, glowed and ached terribly. Ah, if she could .just once, only for a few minutes, press her heavy head upon a soft pillow and be allowed a swallow of water from the cool spring at home that must make it well! Aunt Sophie always poured a little raspberry juice into the glass when anybody complained of headache, and for such gnat stings as now burned upon her arms and cheeks she had a soothing salve. Ah, yes, it was nice to be with Aunt Sophie. An uncontrollable longing after her aunt's 56 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. faithful attention suddenly welled .up in the little one I bosom. She closed her eyes again and dreamed herself into her own little room at home. The windows opened upon the still court-yard, and the splashing of the fountain sounded softly and uninterruptedly; it had ever been the lulling cradle-song of the two children. She lay in her soft white bed, and Aunt Sophie cooled her burning face and sore arms until she fell asleep. Yes, asleep, to go home and sleep, that was it! It was that which pushed her up with a jerk, and caused her to tumble out through the garden, across the yard and out upon the field path. She no longer heard the clock strike as she was leaving the yard; that anxious counting of quarter-hours was over; neither did she think of the long road that stretched before her; she thought only of the goal, the wide, cool chamber where she could stretch out her burning body with its throbbing pulses; she heard Aunt Sophie's pleasant voice, and saw the hands that would lift her upon her lap and draw off the wet, heavy burden from her feet. Of what was to conn, next day she thought no more now. And her stiff little legs grew more limber from use. At ever-increasing speed the child flew past the slumbering village. Then emerged the forest a dark mass who would ever have imagined that it was made up of millions of murmuring leaves and leaflets. Past here too she went in heedless haste, and only once did the little racer bound aside. A white gown moved amid the thicket. Oh, it was only the birch-trees, with their light trunks, but they did not stand firmly, they shook so queerly, and the little star that rose immediately above them, over the valley; that light in the top room of the tall watch-tower, which commanded the town, it was shaking too, as if the old fellow, that clumsy tower, were beginning to dance in his old age. Yet this astounding apparition, too, was forgotten in that all- absorbing impulse to go forward. On, on. Home to Aunt Sophie. And in the whispering wheat-field she heard Reynold crying, because " that wild Gretchen " had overturned his tower, and Barbara kept muttering away about the lady with the red rubies in her hair, and of the shaking curtain in the locked-up room, and the red poppies that the child THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 5? had seen glowing like torches in the wheat-field to-day; it made the narrow, dark lane stifling hot; but lie down on the cool earth, to rest? that would never do. Far away Aunt Sophie kept calling: " Come on, Gretchen! Make haste home \" So she ran forward obediently toward the last, indeed, with tottering knees and panting chest, until the town was gained. In many a house of the last lane, through which she dragged wearily, a light still burned, but the doors were locked, and the child's feeble steps fairly thundered upon the hollow little canal bridge, so deep was the noc- turnal stillness already fallen upon street and lane. And now, at last, the warehouse gate loomed up immediately in front of the little maid; it was bad, though, that the heavy, old-fashioned door-lock was fixed so high that a childish hand could not reach it. After a vain effort, the little one sunk down exhausted upon the foundation-stones. She thought that the whole world was whirling about her in circles, and she could hear nothing for the perpetual ham- mering and thumping her pulses; but the murmuring of the canal water shooting by still penetrated to her ear, and the coolness streaming forth from it had a reviving effect upon her fast fading consciousness. And now, too, some- body came along the street; they were strong steps that were drawing near the warehouse, and after a few minutes a man. entered the covered gate- way. So far did the star- lit sky still illumine the night that one could distinguish the outlines of a figure. The man was Mr. May, who lived in the warehouse; a person, too, whom Margaret liked. When she had been playing in the yard he had often ex- changed lively words with her, and in response to a kindly greeting from her, he had stroked her hair with caressing hand. " Let me go in with you, too!" murmured she, hoarse- ly, when he had turned his latch-key in the door and was about to open it. He turned around. " Who is there?" " Gretchen." " What! the child from the house? For heaven's sake, little one, how came you here?" She did not answer, and only felt gropingly after his right hand, which he stretched out, in order to raise her up; but this was absolutely no go; and so, without further 58 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. ceremony he took her up in his arms and bore her beneath the covered gate-way. Inside the deep door-way of the old warehouse it was pitch dark already. Mr. May groped his way cautiously forward with his burden, and finally a door to the left fell back noisily. Immediately afterward the light of a candle fell down athwart the steep stairs intervening. " Ernest?" called down a voice full of anxious solici- tude. " Yes, it is I; here I am, hair and hide, safe and sound as a dollar! Good evening to you, too, Nannie dear!" " Well, God be praised and thanked that you are there! But, dearest, where on earth have you been all this while?" " Did you think I had run off?" said he, continuing to mount slowly. " This beautiful, enchanted Thuringian forest entices one like a Jack's lantern always one point more gorgeous than the other. You race on and on, and think not of the long way back home. I bring back legs wofully tired; but then the sketch-book is full, mother." So saying, he emerged from the darkness and stood upon the staircase landing, while his wife, who was standing at the top with the lamp in her hand, started back. " Yes, guess what I bring with me, Nannie? See what I picked up just now in the door-way!" said he, standing on the highest step, with an expression of face half laugh- ing and half perplexed. He tried to turn the child's head and examine it by the light; but she had flung her arms convulsively around his neck, and pressed her little face (well-nigh covered with disheveled hair) against his cheek. Mrs. May, as quickly as possible, placed the lamp on the hall table. " Give me the child, Ernest," said she, with anxious haste, reaching out after the little girl. " You shall not take one more step on those poor, tired legs of yours; but Gretchen must go home at once. They have been searching for her these many hours. Bless me, what a tumult there has been at Mr. Lambert's. Everybody running, one afoul of the other; and old Barbara howling in her kitchen so that we could plainly hear her at this dis- tance. Come to me, my precious!" coaxed she, in soft and tender tones, " I will carry you over." " No, no!" cried the child, piteously, clinging still more closely to her bearer. " If they were all running about, then grandmamma was down- stairs too," and, wildly con- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 59 fused as were the thoughts of her aching head, yet with re- gard to her reception on the part of that old lady, they were perfectly clear. " No, don't carry me over there!" repeated she, with flying breath. " Aunt Sophie shall come!" "All right, then, darling, then we'll fetch Annt Sophie," said Mr. May, soothingly. " Exactly as the little child likes," agreed his wife, who listened with concern to the hoarseness of the child's voice, observing, too, that she struggled for breath; with quick hand and searching glance she also stroked the tangled masses of hair from her distorted little face. Silently she took the lamp and opened her chamber- door. The warehouse, that oldest of the back -buildings, dating from ancestral times, Was a massive edifice, with thick walls and deep window niches, the peculiar facades of which faced the north of the street. Therefore it was that the breeze which met those coming in was so deliciously cool and perfectly pure, being laden only with the refresh- ing odor of blooming mignonette. Here, in the quiet, cozy home of the painter's family, the child willingly in- trusted herself to the kind, sweet woman, who took her upon her lap, while Mr. May was laying off his hat, plaid, and knapsack. " Blanche is out in the passage," said his wife, as if in reply to the look of inquiry with which her husband sur- veyed the room. " She was here arranging her hair for the evening when the coachman from the other house came to inquire if we knew anything about Gretchen. For a long time, indeed, we had observed the confusion over there; Mr. Lambert had been riding in and out at quite too unusual times; and in the yard every nook and corner was searched. But we adhered strictly to your orders, that W3 should take no notice of anything going on in your prin- cipal's house and yard. But now, since the coachman has been here, our child has been sitting out there in the dark passage, and is not to be persuaded to come in; that dear little thing there is the apple of her eye, although she only knows her by sight; but bless us, child, what is the matter with your feet?" she exclaimed, changing the subject of her remarks, as the lamplight fell upon the muddy little hoots that dangled down over her light dress. With hasty 60 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. hands she felt over the seams of the tattered little frock, which was also soaked in wet from the marsh. " The child has been in the water," said she, in a troubled whis- per to her husband, " her clothes must be changed as soon as possible. Go call Blanche." He opened the door in the back wall of the room. The room behind, which was the kitchen, was dark, but through the opposite wide-open door that led to the passage lights' were seen shining here and there in the house opposite. Upon her father's calling light steps outside were heard tripping over the creaking plank floor of the passage, and then the beautiful Blanche emerged from the deep dark- ness and stood upon the threshold of the door, in a white mantle trimmed with lace, her loosened hair floating around her in waves of gold. Her face was pale, and her bare arms hung despondently by her side. " Have you come at last, father?" asked she in vibrat- ing tones. She remained standing, with shy demeanor and downcast eyes; it seemed as if the lamplight that flood- ed her so suddenly and garishly was intolerable to her, and her sole wish was to fly back into the darkness. " What! is that the only welcome my darling has for me?" cried Mr. May, pettishly. "Neither a kiss nor shake of the hand? and yet I. have brought a lost sheep back with me. Do you see nothing? Who is that sitting there in your mother's lap?" With an outcry of surprise the young girl started and flew up to the child. " See, see!" said Mr. May, half amused, but at the same time a little hurt. " Father might well be jealous. You have really troubled yourself much more about the strange child than about your father's staying out. But now help me to bathe your pet, and put dry things on her. There in the bottom drawer of the bureau some of the clothes you wore when a child lie, and I would like you to find them for me." She seated the little girl upon the sofa, and fetched a basin of water, with a towel, while the young girl knelt down upon the deal board, and with flying hands fumbled over the contents of the drawer. " Where have you been, my child?" said Mrs. May, as she loosened the strings and buttons that confined the lit- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. A 61 tie girPs clothes, for she felt that her body was bathed in perspiration. " I was at Millbrook," gasped Margaret. " But grand- papa could not help me, he was not there." And now, while the lady washed the besmeared little feet with a warm sponge, it seemed as if all the sufferings that had crowded together to oppress her childish heart must find a vent. In convulsive haste all was pictured; her frights in the thicket by the lake, and her dread lest papa might get down off his horse and search the bushes. And why had she run off to grandpapa? Well, because a white figure slips through the dark passage and frightens people. And the room was not locked, most certainly not! She had quite plainly heard the door-knob turned, then she had seen it, as white as snow, glide through the door that was opened just a little way, and long hair was hanging down under the veil; and -because that girl screamed so loud papa was now going to send Gretchen to boarding- school. " The most decided delirium. The little girl is very sick/' murmured Mr. May, with averted countenance. " Make haste with that change of clothes!" And he stole softly out to convey the tidings to the great house. The little dress and child's stockings must have strayed into the most remote corners, for the fair Blanche still knelt in front of the bureau and continued her search for them. In her white robe, and with her long golden tresses streaming unnoticed over the floor, she looked like some princess transformed into a waiting-maid. Now a second drawer was noisily pulled open. Mrs. May arose a little impatiently and approached. " Dear heart, you keep me waiting a little too long; and to have things in such disorder as not to lay my hand directly on what I want is not my way. Where have your eyes been, little bat? There lies that little blue flannel dress right on top, here in the corner lie three pairs of stockings, and here too is a night-gown." She took out what she wanted and closed the drawer. The young girl had no longer any excuse for tarrying in that dimly lighted corner, and when she again came slowly up to where the lamp's rays fell more directly, every drop of blood seemed to have left her lips. " Child, how can you allow yourself to feel so much?" 62 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. cried her mother in alarm. "It is not so bad as your father fancies. With children, fever quickly sets in and just as quickly leaves them. In a few days your pet will be well again. You will see that I am right. Here, put these fresh stockings upon those tired little legs, while I prepare for her a cooling draught." The daughter silently unrolled the stockings, cowered down before the sofa, and set herself to draw them on the naked feet; but hardly had the kitchen door fallen to be- hind her mother before the young girl drew herself up with a passionate gesture, encircled the child in both arms, and vehemently pressed her to her breast. Margaret opened her eyes wide with surprise. They glittered from fever. " Ah, you love me, Miss May? Is that so?" The beautiful Blanche nodded her head in assent; in re- pressed pain she bit her under lip, and a tear stole forth from beneath her lowered eyelashes. " It is so nice in this cool room of yours," murmured the little one, tenderly pressing her face against the mass of fair hair that fell over the maiden's bosom. " I should like to stay here. Grandmamma does not come here no, never; she never goes into the warehouse, neither does papa. But Aunt Sophie comes. Put me to bed!" At this moment her mother entered the room again. "Ah, and how sweet you smell, Miss May!" cried the child in a louder tone, lifting up her head and inhaling a deep breath. " Like the sweetest roses, just like ; ' A pair of hot, quivering lips were pressed firmly upon the lit- tle mouth, and stifled any further speech. " But, Blanche, the child is barefooted still!" scolded Mrs. May. " And who should excite a patient by the sight of one's own distress? Be off, Miss Awkwardness! I'll put them on myself." In a few minutes she had effected a complete change of clothing; haste, too, was indeed needful, for, as already in the wheat-field, fevered images now again mingled in the child's ideas. Mrs. May held to her lips the cooling drink which she had prepared for her, and in eager draughts was the longed-for liquid swallowed. Immediately afterward Bteps were heard coming upstairs, and Mr. May introduced Aunt Sophie. Anyone familiar with that lively " old maid's " f ac THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 63 would have been alarmed, so frightfully had it been altered, in coloring and lineaments, by the anxiety of the last few hours. With a silent greeting for the lady of the house and the beautiful girl, who had again taken refuge in the dark corner of the room, she went straight up to her little niece, who feebly held out her arms to her. A single searching glance, a touch of the child's brow, and she knew that a severe illness had set in. " That comes of handling such an innocent young soul as that like a mean instrument, on which you may strum as much as you choose!" said she, harshly, in unspeakable bitterness of spirit, made reckless by suffering. She wrapped the little one in a plaid, which she had brought with her, took her up in her arms and shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. May. " Thanks, many thanks!" Ere more could be said, she had left the chamber. No sooner had she got into the yard, however, than a tall form stepped forward out of the darkness, and came to meet them. Little Margaret shrunk back, and a shiver passed over her whole body as she felt two hands lay hold of her. It was her father who impulsively strained her to his heart. " My dear child, my good Gretchen, do not be fright- ened. I am papa," said his deep voice tremulously. He clasped her to his heaving chest while he bore her across the yard, and in the brightly lighted front hall, where all the inmates of the household rushed upon him and the child, he imposed silence by an imperious wave of the hand, and went past the hushed group to the children's sleeping apartment. So well so good! The gypsies have not stolen her; and she is not dead, either, God be praised!" said Barbara afterward to the others in the kitchen, and had her first "spell of fainting" after so many hours of anguish. " But nobody need tell me that we have seen the end of it yet. Anybody, to look at that poor little creature, with its dangling legs and arms, would know better than that. What did I say just this evening? Ill-luck is coming; that's just what I said. But there was everybody crying me down: 'Superstitious Barbara,' 'bird of ill-omen,' ' sensationalist!' all such names they called me. Very well, let them mock, it takes no wit to do that; but proof, proof, there's the rub, Well, some day we'll see who'? 64 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. right; those wise folks that believe in nothing or old Bar- bara with her simplicity! Anybody like her with the rubies is not goin' to be careerin' around in that passage for nothin' 't all. It isn't the first time, neither, that such a poor, innocent little lamb as that has gotten a warning. Hear me, it's goin' hard with our poor Gretchen!" At these words she again laid aside the fork, with its spitted morsel, and hid her face in her blue linen apron. And for weeks that kitchen prophetess had the painful satisfaction of being able to refer to " what she had said " as day succeeded day. In the midst of all her genuine grief she had yet feasted her mind with the melancholy pleasure of picturing to herself how she would order the most splendid wreath of flowers to be got, the broad white satin ribbon attached to it being stamped in gold let- ters, with the name of " Barbara Wenzel," when, lo! the strong constitution of the child conquered, and a favorable change suddenly took place in her disease. Again there was sunshine in the house. Mr. Lambert, who had hardly stirred from his child's bedside during her hours of peril, straightened his drooping form and was again his passionate self in look and gesture; yes, the peo- ple thought that he had never looked so proud and self- confident as just now. But what others in the house re- marked joyfully only imbittered old Barbara. He had carried out his purpose of occupying himself for a season in the haunted apartments of Mistress Dorothea; the corridor, too, had been shut off by a door from the en- trance hall. In the old cook's estimation it was almost worse than blasphemy when they saw him freely draw back the faded curtains up there, and, with sinful presumption, step up to the window. Of the fugitive white lady nobody spoke any more, of course. No Christian could see through a thick wooden door! But perversely enough, the morning never came when the gentleman was found dead in his room; on the contrary, he was, as it were, im- bued with new life. And grandpapa, who, on that unhappy night, coming from Hermsleben, had not got off his horse, but ridden straight to town, was once more jesting and joking in his usual blunt and jovial manner; but the very day that his darling could stay out of bed for the first time during a whole afternoon, the ground burned beneath his feet again, THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 63 and he was up and away. The infamous screeeher, that spoiled beast in the upper story, was chasing him out of his own house, he said, smilingly, from his horse's back as he took leave of the little convalescent; and Mrs. Counsel- lor stood up at the window and stroked her parrot, offering him a bit of sugar with her delicate taper fingers. Two days afterward Mr. Lambert, too, rode away for a long while, said his clerks in the office. Little Margaret looked into his face with amazement as he bent over her in taking leave, and promised to bring her the most splendid, presents. She had never seen papa so " excessive]/ pleased," and his eyes sparkling so, she thought. " I believe it," said Aunt Sophie. " He is so glad that his little runaway is well again; and after he has dis- patched the business part of his tour, then he will go to Italy, and maybe further yet. He feels like seeing some- thing of the world again, and he is right. After that time of distress he must be allowed to enjoy himself; we have all had enough for a long while. Yes, Gretchen, I'll re- member that bleaching-day so long as my senses last." And the lindens before the weaving-room, meanwhile, summer-like, had eclipsed themselves; from the bower of roses shone, only here and there, single buds of the jacqueminot like drops of blood fallen from the sky; and upon the glittering waters of the fountain's basin already swam the first yellow leaves of autumn, when the little convalescent was allowed to go out of doors. Much had altered; but the most wonderful thing of all was that papa had actually stayed up there in those rooms, which were being thoroughly aired, now that he had gone upon his travels. The windows stood wide open and the wonderful painting could be seen on the ceiling of that vast drawing- room with its three windows, and in the adjoining cham- ber the green silk canopy of a high-post bedstead. And upon the window-sills stood and lay, ready for the dusting, a great variety of modern knickknacks, smoking utensils, statuettes, albums, and whole stacks of newspapers. Mr. Lambert had had the whole suite of ill-famed apartments made perfectly comfortable and every day in style. The little girl looked up thoughtfully. From that room with the gorgeously painted ceiling had issued the veiled figure; it had been the second of the doors along the cor- ridor from behind which had come in sight that pretty lit- 66 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. tie booted foot. Since she had got well she had had an exact recollection of all this; but she spoke no more of it for vexation because nobody paid any attention to her ac- count of her adventure. She had no idea that the doctoi had declared the "vision" in the corridor to have been already a premonitory symptom of her nervous malady. And so the whole occurrence, with its unfortunate sequences, was a forbidden subject; never a word, either, was dropped about the correction of the " unmannerly Gretchen " by sending her into a boarding-school. It was still as death in the open passage of the ware- house; only the merry summer breezes still disported them- selves among the sheltering branches of the mock-orange bush, agitating the leaves until it seemed as if a million of tiny tongues were murmuring softest tales of the season well-nigh past. In that pretty room, full of the odors of mignonette, sat, it is true, the lady with the sweet, womanly face; but she looked very sad; for the beautiful Blanche was now gone; she had set off early this morning and returned to take her situation in England; and little Margaret had been startled from her morning nap by hearing the news, and buried her head in the pillows and wept silently, so that her aunt and Barbara should not hear. But just now, when Reynold had gone into the house to fetch his box of building blocks, and the little girl was sitting by herself under the linden-trees, the old cook came across the yard with one hand tucked beneath her apron, and scanning the windows in the top story of the great house opposite with a truly inquisitorial look. "' Miss Sophie knows about it, and wants me to give it to you, Gretchen; but I do not exactly care about Mrs. Counsellor's eye being upon us/' said she. " When you were sick, many a tirue the pretty young lady over there would watch hours for me, waiting to hear precisely how Sou were. She never came down into the yard, you know, le whole time she was here. Your papa and grandmam- ma are proud people and put up with no liberties; but this morning, very early, when I went to the pump to get water to make my coffee with, she came across the yard, all dressed in her hat and veil, with a traveling-bag in her hand and pale as death, looking as if she had well-nigh cried her eyes out because she had to go out again by her- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 67 self into the wide, wide world. And she said I must kiss you a thousand times for her, and ' give you this/ '' She drew her hand forth from underneath her apron, and K laced a little packet on the garden-table; with glee the ttle one drew an embroidered pocket out of the paper. " Hush, hush, Gretchen; do not scream so!" warned Barbara. ' ' There might have been a real story to tell about this morning early, and it was not at all handsome of Mrs. Counsellor, now ' all right/ I always say! It is no harm at all if young Mr. Herbert conies down to the pump with his drinking-glass, just at this moment, as he has been doing every morning all these last weeks. He looked right sick, pale as a corpse, and came up to the young girl as if he were about to say something to her, perhaps wish her a pleasant journey, or make some other nice speech; but lo! and behold, there stood Mrs. Counsellor already on the spot, with her night-cap on and her dressing-gown thrown around her, as rf she had just started from her bed, and she looked mad enough to eat the young girl up. Miss May, though, only made her a profound bow and went back to her parents, who were waiting for her on the door- step. Do you know, Gretchen, to say nothing of her being so pretty, the painter's daughter looks as proud and ele- gant any day as our duchess, and it may be that the haughty thing vexed your grandmamma, for before I rightly knew how, she had snatched the paper out of my hand, and peeped into it. " ' It's for Gretchen, Mrs. Counsellor!' said I. " ' Indeed!' said she in a loud angry tone. ' I should like to know how Miss May come to be making my grand- child a present?' And this the poor girl could not help hearing, any more than her father and mother, too. And the young gentleman felt as much cut up as I did; he looked daggers, and rushed into the house. So, there's the whole story, Gretchen. Mrs. Counsellor even wanted to take entire possession of the little packet; but I took to my heels, and Miss Sophie says she can not see why you should not wear the little pocket. " She went back to her kitchen, and' little Margaret sat pondering over what she had heard. It made her heart- sore, and tears of indignation mounted to her eyes, because the good people in the warehouse had been insulted. And Barbara was right, Herbert had altered a great deal, look- 68 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. ing dreadfully pale and low-spirited ; he had not a word to say to anybody now, not even Reynold, who was his favorite. Oh! yes, that grandmamma! How terrible she could look at times, so that even a first-class student like Herbert was afraid of her too; that was plain to see. But she did not care, let grandmamma scold ever so much, and her eyes flash fire too, but wear that pocket she would every day, and although papa should come back too, and take sides with her, for he was proud too, papa was, and may be worse even than grandmamma; you could tell that by his harsh tone when he gave orders, and besides he never talked with the workmen under him. Those artist people were beneath him; he always looked as if he did not know that anybody was living in the warehouse, and no matter who was in the open passages he never took any notice of them. Even on that unfortunate evening he had not entered the house, but preferred to wait in the dark yard until she had been brought out. Only during her sickness he had not seemed so proud ; when she got better and he had been sitting by her bedside, she had ventured to tell him of the pretty room in the warehouse, and of the beautiful young lady who had come in from the passage looking so white, with her hair flowing, and pressed her head so closely to her bosom that the soft, thick hair had fallen all over her face. And papa had not seemed at all worried; but he had kept perfectly still, he had kissed her on the forehead, and pressed her as fervently to his own throbbing heart as the beautiful Blanche had done before. And she was "wondering over it even to this day. CHAPTER VI. THE town of B was not the seat of government for that duchy; but its beautiful, healthy location made it the favorite summer residence of the reigning duke, in spite of its castle being anything but imposing as a building, and hardly affording sufficient accommodation for the entire ducal household. For that matter, during the last three years there had been no such great need of crowding together a concourse of summer visitors to the palace, see- ing that the two beautiful princesses, although hardly more than children in years, had been fetched away and made THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 69 brilliant matches, even for ladies of their rank, and the hereditary prince had been abroad traveling. Whether now the May moon deserved its delightfully sounding appellation, or whether passing over fields of snow still lying upon the mountains, a rude blast from April's breath shed its chill influence over those valleys of the Thuringian Mountains, lying adjacent to the lowlands, never mind, punctually every year on the fifteenth of May, a train of carriages left the capital for the pretty town of B -- , and soon afterward the chimneys of the palace were seen to smoke hospitably, the well-known livery of the ducal servants appeared on the streets, and now and then an equipage stopped before the most distinguished ladies houses the ladies of the court were paying visits. The Lambert house was one of the few burgher ones to which this distinction was accorded. Mrs. Counsellor was just as well received at court now, as ten years before; for full ten years have elapsed since that unhappy bleaching-day, on which little Margaret had run away to Millbrook, for fear of being sent to boarding-school. The sun of ducal favor, as a matter of course, beamed also upon all closely related to the old lady; for example, the firm of Lambert and Son was now represented by a counselor of commerce, the only one in the town of B - , for his most serene highness was very chary of bestowing this title. Mr. Baldwin Lambert, too, was by no means unappreciative of this rare distinction; his business friends maintained that he was so stuck-up now, that there was no such thing as coming near him. Formerly, he used to have obliging manners, at any rate, but all that had been swept away before a repulsive hauteur. It had been years since he had been seen to smile. He traveled a great deal on business, and had hardly been more active in the first years of his majority; but when he came home the house grew really dark, the voices of all his dependents sunk into a whisper, and anxiety sat on every brow, while every foot- step sounded muffled, as though each one feared to scare up the evil spirit lurking in some corner. " That horrid hypochondria a Lambert idiosyncrasy!" said the family physician, shrugging his shoulders, as he perceived the gloomy mood of the returned master of the house, who often locked himself up for days at a time. " It were good to drink plenty of water and saw wood!" And Mrs. 70 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. Counsellor nodded her head eagerly in assent, and pro- nounced it to be that old family complaint, else absolutely nothing! But Aunt Sophie smiled grimly when this oracular sentence reached her ears. " Absolutely nothing, indeed!" she used to repeat ironically. I suppose a bit of longing after genuine family life counts for nothing at all. Ah, yes, take care of that. The man forsooth must thank God, that once, for a certain number of years, he was blessed with a wife, and devote the rest of his days to pondering over the recollec- tion of his past happiness. Fanny must have admired en- tirely too much that last malicious act of old Mistress Judith's life, since she imitated her exactly. Well, for my part, I should have nothing to say, if she had left that poor fellow the widower a couple of strapping lads; but that wretched little Reynold! It is hard to submit, to have the whole honor of a house rest on such shoulders." Eeynold Lambert was indeed the black sheep of the fold, and there was no denying it. He suffered from a heart affection that incapacitated him from exertion, men- tal and physical. He himself was hardly conscious of the deprivations to which he was subjected by being thus cut off from all the delights of youthful enjoyments, for his soul was bound up in business. But if the eyes of the counselor of commerce fell perchance upon the long, pale, thin accountant who stood there at his desk with all the measured sobriety of a gray -beard, unconcerned as to whether snow-blossoms were being shed from flowering trees out of doors, or veritable winter flakes were whirling in front of the windows, there passed a dark shadow over his features, and a bitter contemptuous glance scanned this little heap of mortality that was one day to represent the house of Lambert. But not a word on the subject was ever spoken; only in secret he convulsively clinched his fist when he heard Mrs. Counsellor congratulating herself that the repose of manner distinguishing the dear departed Fanny had been transferred, in so striking a fashion, to her son. And the heir of the Lamberts was not really sickly, as she regarded it, positively not. God forbid! He was o:ily of a sensitive, delicate organization; a woman like Fanny could not, of course, become the mother of coarse, peasant children. Margaret likewise was short and slender, but sound as a doxlar. Just let any one read her letters of THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 71 travel why the girl could endure hardships and fatigue like any man! For that matter these escapades were not at all after the old lady's taste; the development of her granddaughter's character was fundamentally displeasing to her. A sojourn for some years in a fashionable semi- nary, frequented by the nobility, then a presentation at court, and after a few years of social triumphs to wind up by making a good match. Such was her idea of the proper manner of conducting the education of the only daughter of a wealthy family. But already Margaret's hard-headed- ness had frustrated the scheme so far as the boarding- school had been concerned, and to the infinite chagrin of her grandmamma, the maiden had remained in her "abominable native surroundings " until she had passed her fourteenth year. Then occurred a sudden revolution in her life's history. Mrs. Counsellor's younger sister had married a university professor, whose name had attained to a wide celebrity. He was an historian and archaeologist, and since his circum- stances easily admitted of it, he traveled a great deal in order to obtain material for his scientific works, at the fountain-head, and his wife was a faithful companion for him during all his journeyings children they had not. After a long sojourn in Italy and Greece, they had once more returned to their native land, and Mrs. Counsellor esteemed herself fortunate in being permitted to entertain them for a few days on their way through B , because she was very proud of her brother-in-law's reputation. On the first day of their visit, Gretchen, " that unman- nerly piece," was nowhere to be found by her indignant grandmamma. Who, indeed, should have been in such terrible haste to encounter what one dreads? The girl had always stood in great awe of that famous scholar, her granduncle in Berlin. She fancied that he was one of those terrible creatures who clutched unhappy school- children, clamped them between his knees and examined them until cold sweat oozed from their brows. Of course he was lean, lank, and stiff as a ramrod, never laughed, and looked through great round spectacles with keen, piercing eyes. But, on the second morning, she had crept into the front hall and hid herself behind the beaitfct, that stood diagonally across from the parlor-door, whence she could see the professor and his wife breakfasting with hei 72 THE LADY WITH THE BUBIES. papa. And she had opened her eyes; for the handsome old gentleman could not only laugh, but laugh heartily. He had a glorious full white beard flowing down over his breast, and magnificent eyes, without any spectacles. And just as any young man might have done, he had lifted up his glass of sparkling gold wine, and given a playful toast. Then, he had told of the Schliemann excavation son Mount llissarlik; and very wonderful, moreover, had it been that his wife, too, her grandaunt, with her gray hair brushed smoothly over her broad brow, should have joined in the conversation with equal intelligence, it seemed, as the great scholar himself. Yes, a vast, wonderful world full of old buried secrets again lay bare to the learned, and the young ignoramus listening behind the beaufet had gradually straightened her stooping figure; then a soft, sly, and stealthy step had crossed the hall, until the overgrown young girl, with her timid glance, was discernible behind the parlor door. Although her attitude was that of one prepared for instant flight, it was evident that her atten- tion had been aroused, and that she was listening in breathless eagerness, to what was being narrated. " My Gretchen a shy bird, as you see!" her papa had said, beckoning to her with his hand, and thus breaking the charm which had held her spell-bound. But flight and self-willed resistance had availed nothing against the fate which had driven the fugitive resistlessly into a territory at once strange and enchanting; thirst for knowledge had been kindled in that young soul, and led her again and again to the feet of those who could gratify that newly awakened desire, and when eight days afterward the carriage drew up before the Lambert mansion, waiting to convey the travelers to the railroad, then had that un- mannerly Gretchen come out of the house-door too, equipped in veiled hat and traveling-dress, with tear-stained face, it is true, and the sad words of a hard parting still trembling upon her lips; but they by no means had to drag her to the carriage by main force, nor had she screamed so either, that the people on the market-place had come running to her aid; no, with firm determination and voluntarily had she gone with them in order to learn, in company with her uncle and aunt, and accompany them on their travels. Five years had elapsed since then. Margaret was nine- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 73 teen years of age now, and had not revisited her father's house. Her relations, papa in particular, she had often seen meanwhile, sometimes at Berlin, sometimes at a rendezvous fixed upon in the course of their travels, and within the last two years, her grandmamma's visits to Ber- lin had become more and more frequent. She was anxious to take her granddaughter back home with her, but uncle and aunt trembled at thoughts of a separation, and the young lady herself betrayed not the slightest trace of desire to be introduced at the ducal court at home, so that Mrs. Counsellor had invariably to return alone, deeply cha- grined. Aunt Sophie, with the exception of Herbert, was the only one who had been obliged to deny herself the pleasure of meeting Gretchen again. No; nobody should ever be able to say of her that she had left her housekeeping in the lurch, even for a few days, for the sake of any pleas- ure, however near to the heart. It was simply not to be done, because she could not answer for it to her conscience; and so that foolish old heart had absolutely nothing where- with to still its longing. But now the purchase of new carpets and portieres had become a matter of necessity, besides that Aunt Sophie's fur mantle was past wear, in spite of melilot clover and pepper. Now it stands to reason that an expensive article like a new fur mantle is some- thing that can not be bought by order any more than costly carpets and portieres. There was call here for the maturest judgment, and so one day Aunt Sophie steamed away for Berlin, much more eagerly, however, it must be confessed, than merely household purposes required, and suddenly she stood in Margaret's chamber, her face streaming with tears of joy. And what all the earnest entreaties and stringent suasion of Mrs. Counsellor had not been able to effect was accomplished by the sight of that unforgotten motherly friend; a vehement desire was suddenly kindled in the young girl's soul; she wanted to go home for a right long visit, at least to stay over Christmas there; she wanttd Aunt Sophie to light up the Christmas-tree for her in their cozy sitting-room, just as she used to do for her when a child. And so it was settled that she should shortly follow her aunt home, but quite secretly; nobody should know of I'.er intention, because papa and grandmamma were to be surprised. 74 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. Thus it happened then that on a still, mild evening to- ward the close of September, that the young lady, coming on foot from the station, closed after her the folding-doors of the warehouse gate, and smiling, paused for a moment underneath its dark portal. She seemed to be hearkening s.till to the groaning and creaking of the old wooden joints, although they had directly died away. These very sounds had played a part in her childish life, as far back as she could remember, when she was playing in the court-yard, and often startling her out of the sweet unconsciousness of a first sleep. And how often had Aunt Sophie told her that through this very gate for centuries had gone forth into the world wagon-loads of linen, that gold-bringing fabric which had built up the fortunes of the Lamberts. In those days the heedless child had taken but little interest in such narratives; but now her looks were involuntarily lifted as though in spite of the gloom; she must see traces of those towering wagons upon the stone arch curving over- head. In what light generally was she struck by the quiet court- yard of that old patrician house, since her eyes had been opened through study and instructive journeys! She paused, as though spell-bound, after she had run forward a few steps with rapidly beating heart. Beneath her feet dry leaves were rattling, her beloved linden-trees had grown mightily, and for the most part shed their leaves, while be- hind their triuiks loomed the dark walls of the ancient weaving-house. This evening, as upon a certain one of old, a great stream of light from the big lamp on the wall poured out of the kitchen windows; in a broad line it crossed the yard sideways as ever, vividly illumined a great part of the adjoining haunted wing, and lifted out of the evening gloom into pure whiteness the huge stone basin encircling the fountain in the middle of the yard. And that illuminated facade of the side-building jammed in be- tween the warehouse and the great sober main-building, so utterly devoid of architectural grace, to the surprise of the new-comer, displayed the noblest style of the Renaissance, .and the stern figure that in bold relief rose aloft above the four water-dispensing fountain-pipes, and at which Her- bert had once thrown pebbles, and later Reynold had done the same, was a finely carved nymph of the fairest propor- tions. Even more indignantly than of old did the young THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 75 connoisseur in art condemn the vandalism of that throw- ing of stones. " The Thuringian Fugger " had been a name applied to the mercantile house of Lambert by the people, on account of its wealth. In the builder of that side-wing, however, with the fountain belonging to it, must have dwelt something of that taste for art which had d istinguished that renowned Augsburg linen-weaver. Only he had withdrawn his crea- tion from the public gaze in prond, bitter contempt of all fame and praise, and had erected it in seclusion, solely for his own satisfaction, to feast his own eyes. It was right so! The daughter of that ancient house had inherited her share of burgher pride along with their blood. At this moment of home-coming it had its share in the joyfully excited throbbing of her heart. Ah, yes! one was just a tiny bit proud. From the figure surmounting the fountain her glance strayed over to the kitchen window, and she experienced a lively sense of joy in beholding once more the familiar scene. To be sure there was no suggestion of Grecian laws of beauty there. Barbara emerged from the depths of the kitchen and stood in the bright lamplight. She was just as bearish, angular, and unpolished as of yore; her thin, gray hair twisted up in a little tight knot at the back of her head retained its distinguished position, and her tongue wagged as incessantly as ever, detached tones of her rough voice coming through the open window. Things seemed to be going on briskly in the kitchen at all events. Many hands must be busy in washing up china and glass, for there was an incessant clattering and rattling of dishes. Barbara and the man-servant were wiping plates, and a handsome young fellow in livery was running briskly to and fro. Undoubtedly there was a dinner-party going on. Margaret had noticed that the chandelier in the largo drawing-room on the parlor floor was lighted, on first step- ping out of the arch-way to the gate, where all was dark. This did not surprise her; Aunt Sophie had already told her when in Berlin, that something was always going on in the house now; that there was much intercourse between the ladies at court and the Counsellors, and that her papa was a character consequently in great request, and aunt's brown eyes had twinkled merrily while she told this. Any- how here was the best of opportunities for seeing their ex- 70 THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. cellencies as a whole, without herself being seen, as it were, from the recesses of a private-box at the theater. It was worth a trial. She passed through the front hall into the sitting-room. It was rather dusky there; the gaslight came in feebly through the window, and cast only one more intense spot of light upon the flat surface of one wall, also upon the dial-plate of the dear old tall clock in the corner. The slow, regular ticking of that old piece of furniture touched the heart of her who had just come home again like a salutation from some beloved human voice. Aunt Sophie was not there; of course she had her hands full upstairs; nevertheless, the whole of that large room was filled with the perfume of her favorite flowers. Upon the dining-table stood a huge bunch of stock-gilly flowers and mignonette, probably the last of the season from Aunt Sophie's own little garden before the gate. How homelike was all this. Margaret threw hat and mantle upon a chair, swung herself upon the high window-board, and looked out over the gaslit market-place. Everything looking just the same as when she had still worn children's shoes, and felt the sharp stones of the rough pavement under their soles, then that little town of B , with its complicated streets jealously guarded still by ancient walls of defense, this little provincial place had, for her, comprised the world in which, at any price, she desired to live and die! Every- thing was the same as it used to be, the moss-covered Neptune in the market-fountain, the corner house diagonally across, with its stone image above the arched door, which was to say that the owner of the house was authorized to brew beer. The shrill little clock in the council-house tower, that had just struck half after eight o'clock, the far-off tinkling of bells on the shop-doors, and also the noble thirst after knowledge displayed by the good country women who stood there, in a group on the street corner, stretching out their necks to see, while many of them held sleeping children in their arms, wrapped up in their ample cotton shawls; they could not be satisfied with gazing over at the chandelier burning up there in Lam- bert's best room, and bravely they chattered and cackled away. Theirs was the genuine article regular gossip at the street corner! THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 77 The young lady deserted her post in the window-seat and laughed. She was doing not a whit better than that gos- siping crowd over there, for she was just about to slip up~ stairs and see all that this chandelier shone upon. CHAPTER VII. To enter unobserved proved to be no such difficult thing after all. The stairs were covered with rich new carpet- ing, that deadened the sound of every footfall. The before- mentioned servant in livery hurried up in advance of Mar- garet with a waiter full of seltzer-water. He did not perceive the young lady, and heedlessly left the door open quite wide enough for such a " slim witch," she thought to slip through unnoticed. The hall was sparingly lighted, but through the wide- open parlor-door streamed the glare from wax-candles, its broad stripe dividing the immense space into two halves, and at the moment when the servant entered with his bottles the open parlor-door, Margaret slipped behind him into the darkening background and stepped into one of the window niches. She could overlook a great part of the parlor, and really it was exactly as if she were sitting in a box at the theater, and seeing an interesting comedy acted. She could look straight into the face of the star of that amateur troop doubtless that young stranger at the table there hers was a pretty, round, and placidly smiling countenance sur- mounting a fat, fair neck, and broad, voluptuously beauti- ful shoulders. The young lady sat so that to the spectators outside, a famous old piece of the Lambert family plate seemed to stand close beside her. Of pure wrought silver, it represented a huge merchant ship, laden with fruit and flowers; the effect was that of a gorgeously colored paint- ing; nor were the flowers fresher than the dazzling tints of that fair maiden's complexion. "Well, it was not to be wondered at that grandmamma should " turn the house upside down" in furtherance of this new intimacy, as Aunt Sophie had expressed the state of affairs when in Berlin. To be permitted some day to call daughter-in-law a niece of the duke (albeit only the daughter of prince 78 THE LADY WITH IHE EtBIES. Louis, by a marriage that was beneath him, he himself being out of the direct line of descent) far, far exceeded even grandmamma's boldest wishes! How was she bear- ing this superhuman bliss? Well, there reclined the ambitious old lady, at the small side of the table, with a proudly happy expression of coun- tenance, and her hands folded almost reverentially in her lap. No eyes had she for any one save the blonde beauty beside her only and idolized son, who had risen rapidly in the service of the state, step by step, until now at the age of twenty-eight, he was already a member of the board of counselors. How often, when a child, had Margaret heard her papa call him jocularly " our future minister of state!" Already he was near to that coveted goal, as Aunt Sophie had reported in Berlin. She had said that it was already bruited abroad in the country that a charge was in pros- pect. The statesman hitherto at the head of affairs was in bad health, and wished to go to the south. But mean people maintained that his excellency's illness was all stuff, the diagnosis proceeding not from a physician, but from a certain individual of high rank, and Mr. Counsel- lor, in spite of his really distinguished abilities, would, by no means, leap so suddenly into so lofty a position but for this same Lady Heloise von Taubeneck. " Yes, the world will wag her wicked tongue!" Therewith, these latest tidings from home had been con- cluded amid significant shrugs of the shoulder, but her aunt's eye had twinkled most mischievously at the same time. " Anyhow, Herbert has really become a distin- guished man/' she had made haste to add, "as though born to a high station, where one must be fenced in against the rabble." Yes, and moreover he had developed into a handsome man, such a figure as befits a diplomatist, with his self- poised balance of mind and manner. If she had suddenly met him in some strange place, she would probably have beeii struck by his appearance, but certainly not recognized him at the first glance. She had not seen him for a long while, perhaps not for fully seven years. When a student, he had mostly spent his vacations in traveling, and even' though he did come home, he was still the " accomplished studiosus/' who wore no beard as yet, and hence had no right to the dictatorially prescribed title of uncle, and so THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 79 she had wisely kept out of his way, and he had never asked after her hiding-place; of course not, why should he? But now his beard was grown, a fine, dark, full beard slightly divided at the chin, and out of the despised student had arisen a real statesman, who was steering toward wed- lock with full sails, and would in a short time be giving her a new aunt. Then one could say " uncle " with a clear conscience yes, indeed, without any hesitation! The young girl in the dark window corner smiled roguishly, and allowed her eyes to stray further. When she first entered the front-hall a loud confusion of voices had met her ear, and she thought, too, that she had distinguished among them grandpapa's dear, coarse voice. Upon the servant's entrance, however, it had be- come more quiet, and now only a single female voice was to be heard, a pleasant but somewhat oily one; it seemed to dominate, as it were, and there was a perceptible con- descension in its tone, especially when there happened t<5 be a question to answer. Margaret could not see the speaker; she might be sitting on papa's right hand, as was Miss Von Taubeneck his left hand neighbor. The invisible lady told of an occurrence at court prettily, as coming under her own observation, often interrupting herself with a " is it not so, my dear?" the fair Heloise always confirming her statement by a prompt and calm " l certainly, mamma." Then it must be the Baroness Von Taubeneck, Prince Louis' widow, who sat by papa's side. How proud he looked! That moody melancholy, which had ever anew alarmed his daughter whenever they had met, seemed this evening to have totally vanished from his handsome, although time-worn features. Evidently grandmamma was not the only one who basked in the sun- shine of prosperity, now rising upon their family. Mme. Von Taubeneck was just describing with increased animation how the duke's horse had made every exertion to throw his rider, when she suddenly hushed, and assumed the attitude of a listener. Above her tolerably loud voice, a musical tone floated into the room, a long-sustained note; it swelled and swelled, retaining, however, its spiritually tender and unearthly nature, until it suddenly broke off, to begin again on a key about a third lower. "Magnificent! What a voice!" cried Lady Von Tau- beneck in a whisper. 80 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. '* Pshaw it is a young fellow, my lady, an impertinent boy who is forever showing off that voice of his!" said Rey- nold, who sat at the corner of the table by Mrs. Counsel- lor's side, his weak, immature voice trembling from re- strained passion. " Ah, you are right about that; that perpetual singing in the warehouse is quite too much for me, too!" added his grandmamma approvingly, casting an anxious look at the speaker. " But it never occurs to me to worry about it. Take it easily, Reynold ! The family in' the warehouse is a necessary evil so far as we are concerned, and one to which time reconciles. You too will learn that lesson." " No, grandmamma, never in the world!" declared the young man, while with nervous haste he folded up his napkin and threw it upon the table. " Fy, how violent you are," laughed Miss Von Tau- beneck what superb teeth she had! " Much ado about nothing! It is something incomprehensible to me that mamma should allow her sentence to be cut off by those few notes, but still less can I understand your Avrath, Mr. Lambert. I pay no attention to anything of the sort." So saying she raised her white arm, bared to the shoulder, selected a beautiful orange from the epergne, and began to peel it. Reynold's pale face colored a little he was evidently ashamed of his display of temper. " I am only vexed," said he, apologetically, " that we have to put up with that sing-song whether we like it or no. The vain fellow must see that we have company, and thinks he belongs to it too how brazen! He wants to be admired at any cost/' " You are much mistaken, if you think such a thing, Reynold!" said Aunt Sophie, passing along just behind him. She had been hitherto busy at the cotfee-urn, and a strong fragrance testified that she had discharged her office well. She presented in person the first cup poured out, to Lady Von Taubeneck. She wore her rich black-repped silk dress; her full suit of gray hair was arranged as ever, in two snowy puffs on each side of her fair brow, and over them fell a pretty cap of black point lace. She had quite a distinguished air, with her well-preserved figure, of medium height, and steady, graceful carriage. And tak- ing the sugar-dish from the table, she added: " Much oiat little thing is disturbing himself about us; he sings THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 81 for himself as naturally as a bird of spring. That melody gushes spontaneously from his breast, and it is a perpetual delight to me. Such a voice as that is God-given, and a thing to rejoice over and exult in. Hear it, will you?" She looked speakingly across the table and nodded her head in the direction of the yard. " The heavens declare the glory of God the Eternal One," sung the boy over in the warehouse; a lovelier voice, perhaps, had never before hymned the praises of God. Keynold cast a look at his aunt that excited the lively I indignation of the unseen spectator. How dare you join in conversation of so select a circle as this? This question was written unmistakably in his haughty, almost colorless eyes, expressing also the most intense bitterness of feeling. Margaret knew that small, skinny face, in every movement of which the play of muscles drew such hard, sharp lines; as a child she had learned to study it anxiously out of sis- terly love, and, also, because the custom was to make her responsible for every outburst of passion on the part of the weakly boy. He had not altered; he had been always ac- customed to having his own way in consideration of his affliction; now, as of old, his boundless self-will drove the dark blood to his face; with nervous restlessness his hand stirred among the china and glass near him until the in- voluntary listener was startled by a sharp tinkling sound, as one piece jostled against the other. " I beg pardon. I was very awkward!" stammered he, with a gasp. " But that voice makes me quite nervous; it sounds to me just as when one draws his wet finger around the edge of a glass tumbler." " That must not be allowed, Keynold," said Herbert, soothingly. He stood up and came out into the front hali in order to close the parlor-door opposite to the open win- dows. Here again all was the same as it used to be. Reynold had always been Herbert's pet and protege, and, as the diligent student had once been eager to pur out of his sickly nephew's way anything that could vex or cross him, so to this very hour did the young statesman as well. Going along the hall he inspected each one of the win- dows, and thus came to Margaret's hiding-place. She 82 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. pressed deeper into the dark recess, and, in so doing, he* silk dress rustled as it came in contact with the wall. " Is anybody here?" asked he, pricking up his ears. She laughed to herself. " Yes," said she, in a whisper; " but no robber or murderer, not Mistress Dorothea either, from the haunted room. You need not be frightened, Uncle Herbert, it is nobody but Gretchen from Berlin." So saying, she emerged from the window recess, a slen- er girl, who, with indolent grace bent forward a little so that her figure might come within the confirming light of the wax-tapers. Involuntarily he had started back, and stood gazing upon her as if he could not trust the evidence of his own eyes. " Margaret?" repeated he, uncertainly, in a query- ing tone; as he, somewhat slowly, extended her his hand she coolly laid hers in it and dropped it without pressure. A rather stiff salutation, truly, but one quite in keeping. " So you come home by night, in a shroud of gloom?" asked he further. " And nobody in the house knows of your coming?" Her dark eyes flashed indignantly. " Yes, I'll give you to know that I did not send a courier in advance a mode of traveling a little too expensive for my means and then I thought to myself they will be ready for you at home, even if you do cc/me unexpectedly." " Well, if I entertained a moment's doubt as to whether this young lady were actually unruly Gretchen, I am cer- tain of it now. You come back exactly as you went." " 1 hope so, uncle." He turned his face half aside; and it seemed as though a slight smile crossed his features. " But what about the present?" asked he. " Will you come in?" ' ' Oh, dear, no ! The autumn dew upon my clothes, dust and soot upon my face, moreover, a draggled flounce upon my skirt, and a pair of torn gloves in my pocket; a brill- iant debut would I make in the midst of your elegant couit circle of dress suits and sweeping trains." She pointed into the parlor, where already a loud, lively conversation was in progress. "By no means, uncle. And I know you can find no fault with me on this score?" " Well, as you choose," said he, shrugging his shoulders with cool indifference. " Would you like me to send papa to you out here, or Aunt Sophie?" THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 83 " God forbid!" Involuntarily she leaned further for- ward, and stretched out her hand to detain him; as she did go, her head came into the full glare of the wax light a fine, attractive head, encircled by dark ringlets. "God for!) id; what are you thinking of? Both are much too dear for me to be satisfied with a greeting in the dark! I must see their faces clearly; must see if they too rejoice. And should those people over there needs know that you have caught me eavesdropping, as it were, I am enough ashamed without that. But the lights here allured me too temptingly; and so the silly moth flew in. I am going away now. I have seen enough!" " Ah! Well, what have you seen?" " Oh, a great deal of beauty, real admirable beauty, uncle! But much exaltation, too; much condescension; too much for our house." " Your family do not find it so," said he, sharply. " It seems so," assented she, shrugging her shoulders. " They are much cleverer than I am too. The benight- ment of my ancestors, those old dealers in linen, adheres to me still. I do not love to accept favors." He moved away from her. " I shall be obliged to leave you to your . own devices," said he, dryly, with a slight, stiff nod of the head. " Oh, please! Just one second more. Were I the lady with the rubies, then I might vanish without danger, and need not incommode you; but as it is, I must trouble you to close the parlor door for one minute, so that I can get past." He stepped quickly up to the door, caught hold of both wings, and drew them together as he disappeared on the other side. Margaret flew through the hall; she could hear that a unanimous protest was made against shutting the door; and ere she had closed the outer door behind her, she saw the two wings of the folding-door part slowly and the head of a bearded man bent cautiously forth that he might see if the fugitive had found her way out funny! The stuck-up courtier and unmanageable Gretchen in a plot together! Ten minutes before she would not have dreamed that such a thing were possible. She was welcomed by a shriek when she again entered the dimly lighted sitting-room. " Compose yourself, Barbara!" cried Margaret, laugh- 84 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. ing; and advancing as far as the threshold of the brightly lighted kitchen. " I am not a bit like the lady in the red parlor, nor as transparent as the famous Mistress Judith of the cobweb gown; you see I am not. Come here and shake hands with me, good, trusty soul; how often have I longed to see you! There!" she stretched out her pretty little hand, " feel, it is warm, real flesh and blood. You can grasp it with a good conscience." And " the trusty old soul " was presently wild for joy. She not only seized the hand held out to her, but shook it until the young lady's -senses nearly forsook her, and tears started in her eyes. Yes, five years had flown by, nobody knows how. And out of Gretchen had grown up a perfect young lady. And out of what stuff! " Many a time she has pounced upon my broad back like a wild cat from behind, when I was busy over my wash-tub, not dreaming of such a trick," said she to the kitchen-maid, laughing and wiping the tears out of her eyes; " yes, every time the scare tumbled me right over! But," here her loud, sharp voice sunk into a whisper, " one thing you ought not to do, Miss Gretchen. I mean com- pare yourself with such as those up in the passage yonder. I do nothing of the sort; but I tell you, all the same, that you look pale! Oh, so pale!" Margaret with difficulty restrained her laughter. Here too all was as in the olden time. And why not? the cor- ners of her mouth quivered rather satirically. " There is no fault to be found with us, we are good conservatives/' as aunt always said when Reynold so carefully collected the broken arms and legs of my dolls and respected them as old property. You are right, Barbara, pale I am, but robust enough to do battle, tooth and nail, against those ghosts of yours. And you shall soon see my cheeks round and rosy when I have tasted sufficiently of these fine Thur- ingian breezes. But, hark!" Again through the open window came floating the tones of a boyish voice. " Now tell me who that is singing over there in the warehouse?" " It is little Max, a grandchild of the old Mays. His parents are dead, they say, and his grandparents have taken him to live with them. He goes to school here; and must be a son's child, for his name is May. More I can not tell you. You know what quiet people they are, and THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 85 whether they are glad or sorry not a Christian knows any- thing about it. And our master, Mrs. Counsellor, too, can not bear any of us to act as if people lived in the ware- house. It is because of that gossip, you know, Miss Gretchen; and it is all right that a house like ours should not be made common. The little boy, indeed, asks often as to what is the custom with us. It is a fine child, Miss Gretchen; a boy of sharp wits. But, from the very first day, being nothing to me and nothing to you, he ran right down in the yard and played about as if the place belonged to him, just as you and Mr. Reynold used to do when you were children." " Bravo, my young man! A valiant little fellow. There is sense and power in that," nodded Margaret to herself. " But what does grandmamma say to this?" " Oh, Mrs. Counsellor takes it ill enough; and as to the young gentleman; dear, dear!" and r^.o waved her hand " there is a plenty of bad blood there! But they get no good by their opposition at all; and clear as it all was, the master had no ears. I really beti.ve that in the beginning he did not notice the child running all about wherever it chose to; he is always so buried in thought; it all comes from that taint in the family blood, young lady, that, and nothing else ! To be sure it does, and such folks many a time see nothing, be it to the right or left; and they have no eyes for any living creature. But when finally the thing was forced upon his attention, he said that the child might play around wherever he pleased; the yard was big enough; and there the matter has stood, and the bone had to be swallowed." She took a pin out of her neck-handkerchief and made fast a loose ribbon upon the young lady's dress; then she tied more neatly the lace bow at her throat, and with both hands, stroked down her somewhat crumpled silk dress. " There! it will do so!" said she, stepping back. " You will do to appear up there ! So unexpectedly, and in the midst of that grand company." Margaret shook her head until her curls fairly flew. This was not at all according to the old cook's views. "'It is extra fine up there this evening," she suggested; and when the champagne was poured out, all would be made up, she fancied, between the lady of the court and Mr. Herbert. " A splendid couple they will be, Miss 86 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. Gretchen, and a great honor to the family." Thus shn wound up her communications, adding, " I have seen nothing myself of all this pomp and glory, because I stick to my kitchen down here; but those envious people in town say that when it is brought about, Mrs . Counsellor will fairly burst from pride. Yes, how they tattle. Peo- ple can riot be prudent enough." With these words, she took a table-lamp from the shelf, .n order to light it for Margaret; but the young lady for- oade all illumination. She wanted to wait in the dark until the assembly up there had broken up; and again re- sumed her place in the drawing-room window -seat. Gretchen sat in the dark room and thought; and to all that flew through her young head the old clock responded with its regular, monotonous tick-tick, and calmed, as it were, the high-surging billows in her soul. Reynold's- hatefulness, and his and her grandmother's haughtiness made her blood boil; but she trampled down this feeling no, she would let nothing imbitter her home-coming to her father's house. Away with that unrefreshing perception. There was the beautiful face of that young lady from court, there was nothing exciting about that. She must either be of very superior understanding or of a phlegmatic nature, that duke's niece, with her indescribable repose of feature and gesture. Earlier one had hardly ever been conscious of the existence of such a being as Heloise Von Taubeneck. Prince Louis had held a high military post in Prussia, and been stationed at Coblentz. Only seldom had he come to his native court; and Prince's Court, the country palace placed at the disposal of the princes related to the ducal house, had for long years stood unoccupied. It lay outside the city at the foot of a hill formerly forti- fied, the top of which was still crowned by a few ruinous walls. It was a one-storied rococo building, with mansard roof and the necessary appendages and stables, which were completely lost to view beneath the shade of glorious old nut-trees, while, facing the decorated front extended a pretty parterre of grass sod, adorned with flower-beds and statuary. From the Millbrook pavilion Prince's Court was but a stone's throw. Now, it was once more inhabited; and Aunt Sophie had frequently mentioned this change when in Berlin. After the death of Prince Louis, his widow had been glad enough THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 6? to " find a retreat " here, as the villagers had drastically enough expressed it; for the deceased had left her as good as nothing of personal property, and her widow's pension was but small. But, as was well known, the ducal pair entertained a warm affection for their young widowed niece; and it might well happen, from this reason more especially, that means of subsistence were furnished the two ladies, and privileges accorded them usually restricted to those who were their equals in birth. Truly, the equipage which had just dashed across the market and stopped before the door was elegant enough to be a princely gift. The cabriolet sparkled and glittered in the gaslight, and the fiery steeds stamped the ground and pawed from impatience. This lasted some while, until finally the company upstairs was pleased to break up, the sound of voices was heard as the company came down the steps, and the great wings of the front-door were thrown back in order to flood the pavement with strong light flow- ing from the hall-lamp. In this bright illumination appeared first the Baroness Von Taubeneck, waddling to the carriage on Herbert's arm. She was excessively corpulent; and the daughter fol- lowing her might later resemble her in this r-espect. Now, indeed, her tall, full figure was still beautiful and sym- metrical in its proportions. She drew her black lace man- tle more closely over her blonde hair, that fell very low upon her forehead, calmly seated herself beside her panting mamma, and with cool indifference looked down upon the rest of the guests, who, once more repeating their farewells, crowded around the carriage to disperse in all directions afterward. Herbert had stepped back immediately with a low bow; that did not look as if the betrothal had actually taken place. Mrs. Counsellor, on the contrary, had taken the young lady's hands between her own, pressed them while she continued to speak warmly, almost passionately, and suddenly, as if overpowered by tenderness, drew the gloved hand right to her face, whether to press it to her lips or cheek Margaret could not distinguish. Involuntarily she withdrew from the window. Hot blood mounted to her temples; in the depths of her soul ehe felt ashamed for that white-haired old lady who lost so 88 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. completely her accustomed pride and dignity in the pres- ence of so young a creature as that one yonder. Quite imbittered she sprung from her perch at the win- dow. To what a wretchedly contracted mode of thought and action had she not returned? Was it for this that she had taken that wide flight into far-off lands and ancient days, and intoxicated herself upon that spirit which had ilowered in humanity, to such glorious ideals, fraught with a noble perception of beauty, and instinct with thirst after freedom; had she experienced all this, to see here such re- pulsive sycophancy, and to learn how spiritually poor man can become? No, the cage was too narrow! Neither would she sacrifice the extremest wing-tips of her soaring spirit in order to fit herself to it. That which was pervading and demoralizing the whole of modern life, viz., servility, worship of power, and unblushing adulation, with a view to win the favor of influential personages, such were now the ghosts that haunted the house of Lambert, against which she had to arm every power of her being. Verily, " that beautiful lady with the rubies," who had forfeited the rest of the grave, because of warm, uncal- culating love alone, stood aloft, compared with these petty souls! CHAPTEK VIII. THE carriage outside drove away from the door. Mar- garet deserted the drawing-room; but she did not fly to meet her family, as she would have done at first. As though chilled, she slowly descended the few stairs leading down into the entrance hall. Herbert seemed as if he wanted to go straight upstairs; and the councilor of commerce was crossing the thresh- old on his way into the hall. Upon his face might still be seen the reflection of gratified pride, consequent upon the honor which had just befallen his house. He started at sight of Margaret, but immediately afterward, with a cry of joy, spread out his arms and clasped his returned daugh- ter to his heart. And again there was a smile upon her lips. " Is that really you, Gretchen?" exclaimed Mrs. Coun- sellor, who came in just at this moment escorted by Rey- nold. " So entirely contrary to all expectation." THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 89 She dropped the train that she was carefully holding above the floor with her taper fingers, and it rustled as it fell; she extended her right hand to her, and, with digni- fied grace, turned her cheek up to her for a kiss. Her granddaughter did not seem to observe this. She touched her grandmother's hand with her lips, and then flung her arms around her brother's neck. Yes, she was seriously angry with him awhile ago. But he was her only brother, and he was sick; that trickish malady had robbed him of his youth, destroying all the charm and poetry of his heav- enly, fair, eighteen summers. And how restlessly, how feverishly heaved that narrow chest, close to which she fondled ! How his body shivered beneath the breath of the cool night air that blew in from the market! " Let us go upstairs. This draughty hall is a poor place of assembly!" warned the councilor of commerce. Again he laid his arm upon Margaret's shoulder, and, with her, mounted the stairs after Herbert, who was a good many steps in advance of them. " A great girl!" said her papa, with a look of fatherly pride measuring the youthful form at his side. " Yes, she is right well grown," agreed her grandmam- ma, who was slowly following on Reynold's arm. "Are you not reminded in her of Fanny's ways and looks, Bald- win?" " No, not by any means. Gretchen has a regular Lam- bert face," replied he; and his brow darkened. Up in the great parlor Aunt Sophie was standing at a side-table, counting into a basket the silver that had been used. Her whole face beamed as Margaret flew up to her. " Your bed is ready in the identical place where, as a child, you slept off all your wild and merry pranks," said she, after she had recovered breath under the young girl's im- petuous caresses. " And in the yard-room next to it it is . right cozy and comfortable, just as you used to like it so much." "A plot, then?" remarked Mrs. Counsellor, who was ever on the watch. " Aunt Sophie was the confidante, and the rest of us had to stand back until the great mo- ment had come!" She shrugged her shoulders and dropped into the chair nearest at hand. " Would that this great moment had only come earlier, Gretchen! But your return at this time accomplishes really nothing. Within 90 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. the next fortnight the court moves back to M ; a presentation then is hardly to be thought of." " Be glad of it, grandmamma. I would not bring you the least bit of honor. You can hardly believe what a scary thing I am; what a horridly stupid creature when I lose courage. I might manage to hold my ground in pres- ence of our dear old sovereigns; they are mild and gentle, and would never willingly frighten a timid mortal. But as for the rest ; ' She broke off and involuntarily drew her hand through her hair. " But I did not come on any such account as that, grandmamma; it is the Christmas- tree that has attracted me. Christmas in the drawing- room. I am sick of all the fine confectionery and sumptu- ously bound books that Aunt Eliza buys no end of for her tree. I long to live through another of those evenings of preparation, when it was snowing and storming out of doors, while inside the warm room nuts were rattling on the table, gold leaf was flying around, and through the key-holes and cracks in the door came the fragrance of home-baked crullers and other delicious things. The pret- tiest thing will be lacking, though, viz., Aunt Sophie's covered work-basket, from which peeped forth now and tuen a bit of doll's finery; and, alas! I have outgrown pict- ure-books too. But one thing I can enjoy as much as ever, and that is one of Barbara's horse-cakes " " Childishness!" pettishly ejaculated Mrs. Counsellor. " Shame on you, Gretchen. You come back not one whit improved!" " Yes, Uncle Herbert has just told me the same thing." " Not in that sense," coolly assented that young gentle- man. He had entered the parlor with the rest, had so far remained perfectly passive, and stood just in front of the eperyne, where he was cautiously parting fruits and flowers in order to examine the better the wonderful workmanship of the silver vessel. Could it be possible that Herbert had never seen before that familiar old piece of family plate? " What, have you spoken to uncle already?" asked P nold in great astonishment, looking up from the pear tha\ he was peeling. " How is that possible?" " Very easily, brother, since I was up here in person a little while ago." " Not with the intention of coming in?" exclaimed Mrs. Counsellor with open horror. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 91 " Not with that tousled hair and hideous old black gown?" added Reynold with a grotesque gesture of dis- gust. " You have certainly learned to trick yourself out famously in that dear Berlin of yours, Gretchen!" Margaret laughed, and looked down at her dress. " Do not afflict yourself, Eeynold, it is not my only and best/' She moved her skirt from side to side, critically inspecting it, and then said, shrugging her shoulders: " Poor dear old frock! It is no longer brand-new, it is true. It has> had to creep with me through the pyramids and cata- combs, and often been wetted through by glacier-ice and mountain rains, good old companion! Now I have been ashamed of it and disowned it. Uncle Herbert can testify that I did not feel as if my toilet would justify intrusion upon such high company ' " For heaven's sake, child, do me this one favor, and never pass your hand through your hair in that tom-boyish fashion!" interposed her grandmamma. " A dreadful habit! What put such a wild idea into your head as to cut your hair short?" " I had to, grandmamma; and it did not happen with- out a few briny tears being shed, I must admit. But often it was enough to make one desperate when plaiting my hair took no end of time, and there would be Uncle Theobald tearing up and down like somebody wild before my door, full of impatience and anxiety lest we should be left by the train or post-chaise. And so I made short work of it when we were setting out for Mount Olympus, and grabbed up the shears. I would have been shaven bald had it been needful, so impatient and eager was I myself to go forward. Never mind, though, grandmamma, it is not such a bad case after all. This wild hair of mine grows like any weed; and before you know, there will be quite a respectable queue there again." " You can afford to wait, of course," dryly remarked the old lady. " Madness, outright madness!" She then broke forth angrily, " Aunt Eliza should have interfered and blocked that game!" " Aunt? Dear me, grandmamma, she is worse off than I am! Hers is at least a hand -breadth shorter than this," with a mischievous smile she pulled out one of her ring- lets to its full length. " Well, truly, you must lead a fine gypsy life of it upon 92 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. your learned tours I" cried the old lady indignantly, nerv- ously stroking together a few crumbs of pastry that lay upon the table-cloth. " How my sister consents to incom- mode herself so for the sake of her husband's calling I can not understand. What becomes of a wife's right to her own pleasant position in life? Well, it is her own affair. ' As one makes his bed, so he must lie/ But what is to be done now? Only give another look at that girl, Baldwin! Years may pass before she is again presentable. I ask you, Gretchen, how will you manage to fasten even a flower upon such a head as that, much less a piece of jewelry? That star of rubies, for example, which used to be so excessively becoming to your poor dear mamma." " Ah, that star set with rubies? The one which the fair Dorothea in the red parlor wears on her toupee?" asked Margaret eagerly. " Yes, Gretchen, the same," said the councilor of com- merce, who had so far kept silence, and just swallowed down hastily a glass of champagne. He had turned pale; but his eyes glowed beneath their heavy brows, and his fingers clutched the glass until it seemed as if it would be shivered to atoms. " I love you heartily, child, and will give you every desire of your heart; but you may as well dismiss that ruby star from your mind while I live, no other woman shall ever wear it!" Mrs. Counsellor covered her eyes with her handkerchief, and with the corners of her mouth drawn down until she was the picture of melancholy, she sighed forth: " I understand. I comprehend you, dear, dear Bald- win," said she in deeply sympathetic tones. " You loved Fanny too much!" A bitter smile crossed his face, and he drew up his broad shoulders as though he would shake off an intolerable load. The glass clattered as he dashed it on the table, and went with disordered steps into the adjoining room, slamming the door behind him. " Poor man!" said Mrs. Counsellor mysteriously, shad- ing her veiled eyes for a moment with her hand. " I am inconsolable over my awkwardness. I ought never to have touched that never-healing wound. And just this evening he was so bright, I might say, so proudly happy! I have seen him smile again for the first time in many years. Ah! but we have tasted of joy for a few delightful, never- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 93 to-be-forgotten hours! But I must say, dearest Sophie, that one thing fairly agonized me now and then ' ' The soft clinking of the silver behind her ceased. Aunt Sophie hearkened most dutifully to what was coming next " The dishes were served too slowly. My son-in-law will have to provide more helping hands upon such occasions ' " No, indeed, grandmamma; what would it not cost?" protested Reynold. " "We have our allowance for things of the sort, and it must not be exceeded on any account. Frank must just stir up his lazy bones, that is all. I'll put a coal of fire on his back next time!" His grandmother did not speak. She picked up a couple of half withered roses that Miss Von Taubeneck had held in her hand, and dropped at her place, and stuck her sharp little nose into it. She never directly contradicted her excitable grandson. " There was another thing, too, that troubled me, in the course of the repast, dearest Sophie," said she, across the back of her arm-chair, " was not the menu got up on rather too substantial a basis? Not quite stylish enough, you know, my love, for our noble guests? And the roast beef was by no means as fine as it might have been." " Really, you need not distress yourself, Mrs. Coun- sellor," answered Aunt Sophie, "with her brightest smile. " The bill of fare was made to agree with the time of year; and only a rogue gives more than he has. And the roast beef was good, like all that is served at our table. The court butcher tells me that they never see such a fine cut as that the whole year round at Prince's Court." " Ah! hem!" coughed Mrs. Counsellor, for a second bury- ing her face in the roses. " Ah, this delicious perfume!" lisped she. " Only see, Herbert, this white tea rose is a novelty from Luxemburg, as Miss Von Taubeneck told me. Something extra, got by the duke expressly for Prince's Court/' The young gentleman took the rose. He considered its form, tried its perfume, and gave it back to his mother without betraying the slightest emotion. No one would have recognized him for the same man who had once been so enraptured by the sight of such a white rose as to possess himself of it 'by force, and refuse to give it up on any account. Margaret had never been able to forget that enigmatical proceeding; and now it was no 91 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. riddle to her at all; the former collegian had evidently been in love with the pretty young lady over in the ware- house. It had been a case of romantic school-boy love, at which he would, of course, smile compassionately now from his lofty standpoint. The time for poetry was long since passed, and the stern prose of dry, calculating reason had taken its place. There was papa, how different! who had just taken ref- uge with his grief in the next room. He could not forget. Her heart melted within her from compassion and warm, childlike love. Hardly knowing that she did so, she noise- lessly opened the door which he had closed behind him, and slipped into the room. The councilor of commerce stood motionless in the twi- light of the window niche, where fell only a faint reflection from the hanging lamp; and he seemed to be looking out upon the market-place. The thick carpet made her light girlish step inaudible; and so she stood suddenly beside the self-absorbed man and laid her hand soothingly upon his shoulder. He started and turned as though her touch had been a blow, and stared his daughter in the face with wild, dis- tracted gaze. "Child!" he stammered, "you have a way of laying your hand like ' " Like my poor mamma?" He closed his lips tightly, and turned off. Pmt she nestled closer up to him. " Let your Gretchen be, papa! Do not send her away!" implored she fondly and fervently. " Grief is a poor companion; and I shall not leave you alone with it. Papa, I am twenty years old right aged already, you see; and have knocked about in \ the outside world quite enough. I have heard and seen a great deal, have always kept eyes wide open to everything great and grand, and treasured up many lessons, as Aunt Sophie says. And the world is so wondrously beautiful." " Child, do not I live in the world as well?" He point- ed to the adjoining parlor. " I wonder, though, if any people can actually and truly lift you out of your darkness of soul?" He laughed a hard laugh. " Anything else than that! One can onlv hope with soul shut in to find distrac- tion now and then. To be sure, misery comes back with THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 95 redoubled force afterward, and plunges the poor soul into abysses so much the deeper." " Well, then, I would not expose myself to such influ- ences, papa," said she, fixing upon him an earnest look. A shadow of mockery passed over his dark face, while he stroked her hair with his hand. " My little wiseacre, ?)u speak, according to your light, as if that were so easy, ou have crept through catacombs and pyramids, and, hand in hand with your Berlin uncle, traced out in Troy and Olympia the mode of life and thought in the ancient world; but you know little or nothing of modern life. No- body is satisfied nowadays with his own self-esteem. To him who wants to be esteemed as somebody, something of that sunshine is also indispensable which comes from the highest circles." He shrugged his shoulders. " That is indeed in comprehensible to me," said she; and the blood mounted into her face. " However, I know more of modem life than you imagine, papa. Uncle in Berlin suffers nothing questionable in his house that groping in the dark only clear-headed people resort thither, and candid talk comes freshly and freely from the heart. For instance, not long ago a gentleman said there, * Ah, yes, they call it encouraging class-hatred if we rise up and do battle against the oppression threatening. My soul is pure from hatred let others mount high as they will I look at them without envy; only let them not, in so doing, stand upon our bodies. But that is just tbe thing; as they mount, their power grows, and delight in trampling upon us increases. But even for this I do not hate them : I set down the account to the credit of the past. Their aversion to aiding the commoner, or ratlier the struggle to keep him under, is in their blood, if tradition reports truly. On the contrary, I feel rage, uncontrolla- ble rage, against those dastardly deserters from our own ranks, who meanly and for the sake of their own personal advantage, fight against their own flesh and blood, and rage so much the more fiercely because they must be con- scious that they are despised by the honorable remnant/ So said doctor ' " Another one who finds the grapes sour," remarked the councilor of commerce, smiling ironically; " a moth that could not burn his wings simply because it durst not come 96 THE LADY WITH THE BUSIES. near to the light. It is once more hovering in danger- ous proximity, my dear Gretchen. We are just children of our times and no Spartans. And. although wrong things may have accomplished it ten times ovet, and although sycophancy come to light in the boldest, most re- pulsive manner, yet, in spite of all that, the world admire; the decorated button-hole, and reverentially calls the syco- phant by the new title to which he has sacrificed his self- respect. To the number of those servile beings assuredly I do not belong. I want nothing, nor need I ever degrade myself, for never have I felt it to be my calling to enter the arena as a gladiator and make myself ridiculous with tirades against the aristocracy. It is a matter of the under- standing; but that uncontrollable shyness, that involuntary bending before the opinion and dictum of people of high station is constitutional with me. It is stronger than I am. I can not help it. I can not rise superior to it with the very best will and the exertion of all my strength." He suddenly left the young girl standing alone in the recess of the window, and strode up and down the room almost wildly. " Yes, he who can suddenly shake off everything prejudices of birth and education and shows himself as he truly is in matters of feeling and opinion, just as much as if he were unseen on a desert island, I tell you that man " he broke off with a passionate gesture. This maiden's energy and decision of character had evi- dently made him forget for a moment that it was his young daughter before whom he was giving vent to his pain. " Go down now, my child!" said he, restraining him- self. " You must be tired and hungry. I am afraid that nobody has yet offered you anything. And you are not to eat, either, of the remains of the meal on that table. Aunt Sophie shall fix you a comfortable dish of tea, and you love to be with her best, too. You are right, Gretchen, there is gold, pure gold, and iiobody can shake me from that conviction, however often they try to make me sus- pect it. How hot your hand is, child! And how your face glows, pale as it commonly is! Yes, you see, you brave little townswoman, that politics ; " Politics? Oh, papa! I am nothing but a poor simple little girl; what have I to do with politics? I was only repeating after somebody else!" She smiled roguishly. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 97 " Please do not think that Gretchen wants to usurp the province of a man. Heaven forbid ! But I think that the question here concerns all humanity,- it is one of right and wrone% Moral courage and cowardice, proper pride and meanness of spirit. And were your representation of the spirit of our times accurate, and so to remain forever, then rather would one have been a mummy of Memphis or Thebes and lived thousands of years before. But that is not true I' She shook her head energetically. " In spite of all you say, we live at a great period, when we must "truggle with a mightily rushing surge. Uncle Theobold is always saying, ' The good and genuine will come to the top, and the dirty scum that contention now drives to the surface, will not glitter forever and blind the weak. ' And you are not to show how you feel? Lock yourself in out of fear of man? You, an independent man, not to be allowed to be peaceful and content after your own ideas? What good will be done you by favor and grace from without, when inwardly you are starved and perishing " He suddenly drew her beneath the hanging lamp, bent back her head, and with darkly threatening glances looked deep into her eyes that met his freely and fearlessly. " Is this clear-sightedness, or am I being deceived? No, my Gretchen has always been honorable and truthful! There is no falsehood here!" And again he threw his arm around her waist. " My brave girl. I believe you would be the only one in the family to stand by me if I should come under the ban of the world's censure " " Of course, papa, you are right in that!" " Would you help me to overcome an unhappy weak- ness?" " As a matter of course, with all my might, papa. Just put me to the test! I have courage enough for two. Here is my hand; we'll stand by one another!" A lovely smile, half mischievous, half earnest, played about her lips. He kissed her on the forehead, and a few seconds afterward she again entered the parlor. Aunt Sophie was no longer there. She had gone down- stairs with her silver-basket, and, at all events, was getting the tea-table ready as fast as possible. The servant was just extinguishing the lights of the chandelier and Eeynold was taking the confectionery, piece by piece, from the crys- tal dishes and laying them, carefully sorted, in different 98 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. glass jars, to be locked up and put away, Pit Mrs. Coun- sellor sat comfortably ensconced among plusu cushions be- hind the sofa-table, because it was horribly cool upstairs, through long continued airing, but down here it was so snug and warm, as she said. Grandmamma and brother therefore had not much time for the newly arrived, and the "good-night" of both sounded cold and indifferent. The young girl missed nothing, nothing at all. She was glad to have come off so cheaply for this time; she had finished up here. Only as she passed out through the dimly lighted hall she noticed some one standing in the window, apparently looking down into the yard. Herbert! She had thought no more about him; her heart and head had been too full puzzling over the strange mood in which she had just seen her father. To one of her clear, decided way of thinking and feeling, such a dark mysterious con- flict of soul was something quite incomprehensible a human soul thus divided and torn might well be hard to understand. She wondered if it could be possible that memory held possession of that cold dignified man for a lit- tle minute, and leading him to gaze upon the spot where once the golden hair of the beautiful Blanche had gleamed through the green leaves of her bower? " Good-night, Margaret/' said he to her in a different tone from those two preoccupied people in the parlor. " Good-night, uncle." CHAPTER IX. THE room opening on the yard had always had something very attractive about it for Margaret. It was on the ground-floor of the haunted wing of the house, and was close to the chamber formerly occupied by the children. A rather dark passage like the uncanny one above it ran behind the chambers, likewise making a bend around the corner, and separated the kitchen from the drawing-room. There was no connection between the two stories; there was, fortunately, no staircase there; consequently no one need entertain any apprehension, lest the white lady or the one in cobweb attire should take a fancy to slip down it and steal in, as Barbara was always saying. The suite THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 99 of rooms in the lower story was interrupted in its midst by a door leading out into the yard a great heavy door, with massive knockers, and both sides flanked by stone figures in alto relievo. Broad stairs led from it down to the gravel walk, which intersected the grass-plot and ran directly to the fountain. In the yard-room all the furniture was rococo in style, and belonged to Aunt Sophie. Every piece was polished as bright as a mirror; the brass studs glittered, and the old family pieces of Meissen china, that had been ofttimes cemented stood upon the shelves of the glass presses, and upon the secretary with its tall appendages full of innumer- able little drawers. This room, so to speak, was Aunt Sophie's treasure-chest her best room and immaculately neat and orderly, as only can be the apartment of a brisk, lively old maid. Upon this occasion all the finely painted cups and vases standing around to the very pot pourris themselves were filled with great bunches of flowers from the small garden in front of the door; the gay flower-beds must have been fully stripped to do honor to the newly re- turned member of the family; and upon the white plank floor, which had never been stained by a coating of varnish, lay a new, warm carpet, which had been bought with Aunt Sophie's own means. And the long-absent darling of her old heart had no sooner entered and. beheld all the dear, well-known family relics, made visible by lamplight, than she fell upon her aunt's neck and well-nigh smothered her with caresses. The bed, too, had been fixed in its old place; and Aunt Sophie sat beside her a long while after she had retired and talked only of what was cheerful and pleasant for not one note of discord was to mar the harmony of their re- union. And each of the pauses made by her mellow, jovial voice had been filled by the monotonous old song of the fountain, the splashing of its gushing waters being heard from the yard; every now and then, too, had been audible the sharp creaking of the warehouse gate as it opened and shut; and then the former little hoyden who had been so far, far away, and returned so much enriched in mind and heart, had lain asleep upon her pillow with a face as sweetly innocent as though she had only been out at Millbrook and come home to rest after running until she was tired. 100 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. Yes, beloved Millbrook! Now again the going to and fro begins. Grandpapa had not been at the entertainment; as Mrs. Counsellor remarked, with some pique, he had, as lie always did, " a\ oided that select circle for good reasons of his own/' The next morning Gretchen was astir betimes, walk- ing through the dewy stubble-fields to Millbrook, although her papa assured her that the old gentleman would come in in the afternoon, having an appointment with him to go partridge-shooting. And the meeting out there had been even more delight- ful than the young girl had pictured it to herself in Berlin. Yes, she was his pet still. The grand old man, rude in feature and blunt in manner, had been quite mild and tender; he would have loved the best in the world to treat her like a little doll and set her up on his broad palm, to be admired by the gaping work-people. She had stayed until past noon, and the superintendent's wife had had some of her finest omelets fried ; but her still more famous coffee was not waited for; punctually to the minute the devoted old hunter threw his fowling-piece and pouch over his shoulders, and the two set off on the highway at a brisk trot. To one side lay Prince's Court. The atmosphere was so clear and translucent that the groups of flowers dotted over the grass looked vividly bright. To be sure, that lit- tle palace had becoming a charming place. It used to be at the foot of the mountain like a sleeping beauty half under the protecting canopy of the climbing forest, which was already tipped with the yellow and red flames of autumn without splendor or coloring, but little attention was paid to it. Now it had waked up, stretched itself, and opened its eyes; it glittered and flashed amid the nut- trees as though a handful of diamonds had been strewn there; the old motheaten jalousies that used never to be opened had now vanished, and sound new panes of plate glass filled the mighty stone window-frames. " Have you observed, Gretchen, how elegant we have become out here?" asked her grandpapa. He pointed across the way with outstretched arm. How like a giant he strode, that robust man of sixty! Beneath his tread the pebbles on the highway cracked, and his huge, white mustache shone like silver on his bold brown face, which THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 101 had an almost ferocious look, from the broad scar running diagonally nearly all across one side of his cheek, which he had got from fencing. " Yes, elegant and outlandish!" enunciated he, stamping forward. " Although the mother is of good Pomeranian blood, and the daughter, too, upon the father's side has nothing of John Bull about her, or Parlez vous Fraiifais in her veins, either; it makes no difference! they cook and eat there in the English style, and chatter French in the glibbest way. Yes, I do- .bt not but the very old nut-trees look down upon themselves in t-hame and mortification because in their old days they are standing here like rustics instead of having been changed in their youth into dear plantain or something else grand." Margaret laughed. " Yes, you laugh, and grandpapa laughs too! I laugh at the dust being kicked up hereabout by two petticoated creatures a regular fool's play. I tell you ' And he described with his outstretched arm a wide circle, indicat- ing the whole country around " ' Have you been to Prince's Court?' they say, or ' Have you been presented there?' And a person is hardly spoken to by one if he has not been to the great dinner-party, and another stares in your face as if you were a lunatic if you say, Much obliged, but you would rather stay at home. I tell you what, Gretchen, a man is never done learning! I had supposed that I lived in the midst of plain, thorough-going Germans of the genuine stamp, and lo! here they are now, dressed up in swallow-tail coats, shaking abroad their scented pocket-handkerchiefs. Pah ! and sipping a cup of tea with all manner of affectation. I only wish it would choke the sorry fellows!" Margaret slyly glanced at him; she could not detect upon his countenance a trace of the love of fun that his words led her to suspect; but there flashed forth from be- rieath his knitted brows honest, burning indignation. She hung gallantly upon his arm, lifted up her right foot and tried bravely to keep the step with him, long and military as were his strides. He smirked and looked down upon her out of the corners of his eyes. The tiny tips of her little boots looked too ridiculous contrasted with his monstrous hunting-boots. " What a poor walking-cane! And it will be perking up again," mocked he. ?< Go, give it up, Gretchen," and he 102 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. pointed back at Prince's Court; " the young lady there stands upon a different footing. Indeed you two might have been exchanged in your cradles; such an impolitic little foot does not become you, and in an aristocrat a large foot is always esteemed a mere sport of mischievous nature; but in all other respects, I must say she is a beauty, and no mistake! White and red as milk and blood; fair you brown little katydid, you must creep in the dust beside her Tall," he raised his hand almost to the level of his own head, " heavy and dull; a real Pomeranian filly, demure and comfortable-looking! Such a greyhound as trips along at my side has no place there. " 11 Ah, grandpapa, the greyhound enjoys his life, such as it is; you need not grow gray on that account," laughed the young girl. " As for the rest, the poor walking-cane has proved itself to be a right respectable one; and there is very great question if your huge seven-league boots could compare in light-footedness with me on the Swiss mount- ains. Just ask Uncle Theobald in Berlin \" So saying, she happily turned the conversation into a different channel. The old man was deeply aggrieved and irritated, pouring out freely from the vials of his wrath upon the head of his future daughter-in-law. His rela- tions with her grandmamma, therefore, must be even more unsatisfactory than usual. And assuredly he was in the right again; his sharp-sigh ted ness seldom erred; but his granddaughter could not and would not pour oil upon the flames, and so she told, in traveler's style, of the Hospice on St. Bernard, where she had passed the night with her uncle and aunt during a fearful snow-storm, of various ex- periences in Italy and elsewhere ; and the old gentleman listened in rapt attention until the warehouse gate fell-to behind them, and the scattered linden leaves in the yard were rustling beneath their feet. They were just entering the front hall of the main build- ing, when a tiny little poodle dog slipped in through the house door left slightly ajar, coming from the direction of the market. He barked at those entering in a sharp, shrill voice. Margaret knew the little animal. Years before Mr. May had come back from a journey and brought it with him. And it had looked like the pet dog of a princess. Blue silk ribbons had decorated her fleecy hide, and 011 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 103 cold days it was seen running about the passage in a beau- tifully embroidered purple shabrack. In spite of all allure- ments it had never come down into the yard to the chil- dren, for the painter family nursed it like a child. Now, it came running in, and directly afterward the leaves of the gate flew wider open, and a boy sprung after it. Almost at the same minute, too, clicked the window of the counting-room opening into the entrance hall, and Reynold's head was stuck out. You infamous little scoundrel, have I not forbidden you to go through here?" screamed he at the boy. " Is not the warehouse gate broad enough for you? This is the master's house, and neither you nor any of your people have any business here! Haven't I told you this already? Do you not understand German, simpleton?" " How could I help it, if Philine broke away from me, and ran in here? I wanted to catch her, but I couldn't, because I had this basket on my arm!" apologized the little fellow with a somewhat foreign accent. " And I know German very well; I understand every word that you say," he added, in a tone of mingled mortification and pride. He was a most beautiful child, with the head of a young Apollo, encircled by close-cut brown curls, that sat upon a powerful neck, firmly and gracefully. He was the very picture of freshness and blooming health. But all this loveliness had no existence for that pale-faced young man with the keen cold eyes and piping voice who stood at the counting-room window. And now the escaped Philine took it into her head to bound up the steps leading to the drawing-room, just as if she were at home. Eeynold stamped his foot in rage, while the boy anxious- ly ran a few paces after the barking miscreant. " Quick and begone, fellow," sounded angrily from the window, ' ' else I'll come out and beat both you and your cur until you are black and blue." " You will, will you? we'll see about that, your rever- ence! There are some other people here who will know how to hinder such an act!" said the old councilor, and with two strides he stood in front of the window. Reynold ducked his head involuntarily before the sudden and alarming apparition of his grandfather. " A pretty fellow you are!" mocked the old gentleman, 104 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. anger and sarcasm contending for mastery in his voice. " You screech like any fish- wife, and put on airs in your father's house, as if you were lord and master on the premises. Go, you had better let your feathers grow and sharpen your bill first! Why shall not the little fellow go through, eh! You think, I suppose, that he'll wear out that costly stone pavement?" " I I can not bear that barking, it grates on my nerves." " Hush up about your nerves, young man! Such twad- dle makes me sick. Are you not ashamed to do as if you had been brought up in an old woman's hospital? * My nerves!' " mimicked he scornfully. " But enough of this." He gulped down the remains of his wrath, tugged at his .gun-sling and pressed down more firmly upon the forehead his hat that was decked with game-cock feathers. Meanwhile Margaret had come up. " But, Reynold," said she reproachfully, " what has the little fellow done to you " " He? To me?" cried he, interrupting her with a sneer, for his courage had revived. " Well, really that caps the climax, to suppose that those warehouse people make direct attacks upon us. After you have been here a few weeks, Gretchen, you will feel just as I do, you will have looked around by that time, Miss Wiseacre. If we do not keep our eyes open there will soon be not a spot in the house where your fellow " and he pointed to the boy, who had just set down his basket on the floor in order the better to grasp the refractory dog "does not set foot. Papa has grown strangely lax and indulgent. He suffers the boy to range freely over our yard, and spread himself with his copy-book, under the linden-trees, in our own favorite place, Gretchen, where we used to learn our school lessons. We, his own children! And a few days ago I saw him with my own eyes, lay a new book on the table as he was going by." " Envious fellow you!" growled the councilor indig- nantly. " Think what you choose, grandpapa!" burst from the visibly irritated youth. " But I am economical as were all the early founders of our firm, and I get furiously mad over money thrown away. It is not our habit to give to people who render no return into our pockets. Now, by THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 106 the books lying before me, I know that old May has never paid the first penny of rent for the warehouse. Moreover, he is such a slow workman that he hardly earns his salt. Of course then, he ought to be paid by the piece; but lo! and behold, papa pays him his three hundred dollars, year in and year out, all the same, whether he hands in even one plate or not, and business suffers by this dreadfully. If I only had full power for a single day, the order should be given which would send that old shingong traveling." " Well, and a blessed thing it is that such a greenhorn as you must be held in check, until " " Yes, until the chief seat in the counting-room is va- cant/* chimed in the councilor of commerce, who sudden- ly interposed. Apparently he had perceived the approach of his father-in-law and daughter, and speedily equipped himself, so as not to keep the punctual old gentleman waiting for a moment. He was in a- hunting-suit., and as he descended the stairs could hardly have failed to hear the altercation at the counting-room window. There was something abrupt in his sudden appearance upon the scene, and Margaret perceived that his under lip quivered nervously as he spoke. As for the rest he vouchsafed not a glance toward the window, but only shrugged his shoulders, and said quite carelessly, in almost a playful tone: " Alas! papa still holds possession of that seat, and perhaps it will be a right long time yet ere he vacates it for this very judicious son of his." So saying he shook hands with his father-in-law. The window was noiselessly shut, and immediately after- ward the dark woolen curtain hung as motionless behind it as if the shadow of a man were not slinking near. The young hot-spur might have found a place of safety behind his desk. Meanwhile the boy had succeeded in catching the re- fractory Philine; Aunt Sophie, who had just come in from the sitting-room with a basketful of cakes, had helped him by planting herself squarely across the path. Now his little heels clattered down-stairs; on one arm he had the dog, and on the other he now hung his basket again, his little countenance looked very downcast. " Have you been crying, my little boy?" asked the councilor of commerce, stooping down to him. Margaret thought that she had never heard his voice sound so soft 106 THE LADY WITH THE RTTBIES. and tender as the usually proud and reserved man put this gympathetic question. " I? What do you mean?" replied the little boy quite insulted. " The right sort of a boy does not howl!" " Bravo! Eight there, my boy," laughed the councilor surprised. " You are a fine fellow!" The councilor of commerce caught hold of the dog that was making every effort to free itself, and stood it upon its legs. " He will run after you, if you go across the yard," said he soothingly to the child. " But in your place, I should be ashamed to go through the street with that basket on my arm. " He looked disapprovingly upon the appendage to that little arm, as though it vexed him to see that ideal form thus disfigured: " it does not become a gymnast, your playmates will laugh at you." "Oh! just let them try it!" He turned red in the face, and threw back his head boldly and energetically as a young fighting-cock. " I may fetch rolls though for my grandmamma, mayn't I? Our nurse is sick, and grand- mamma has a bad foot, and if I do not go she has noth- ing to eat with her coffee, and much do I care about those silly boys!" " That is handsome of you, Max," said Aunt Sophie. She took a handful of macaroons out of her basket and handed them to him. He looked up at her gratefully, but did not accept the cakes. " I thank you very much, ma'am!" said he pass- ing his hand through his hair, as if embarrassed at refus- ing her; " but you know, I do not eat sweet things, they are only for girls!" Hereupon the councilor broke out in a loud laugh; his whole face beamed, and suddenly he lifted the child, basket and all, high off the ground, and kissed him heartily upon his blooming cheeks. ' ' Yes, indeed, this is from different stock altogether! Hurrah! here's a little one to my mind!" cried he, letting the boy again out of his strong, powerful grasp. " How comes such a little world's wonder to be in a trash-trap like that old warehouse!" " 'Tis a little French child," said Aunt Sophie. " You live in Paris, my dear, do you not?" asked she of the boy. " Yes, but mamma is dead, and " Look yonder. Your Philine has got away again!" called out the councilor of commerce. " Run after her! THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 1C? If you don't take care she'll run up to the old lad) who lives up there." The little boy bounded up the stairs. " Yes, they say both his parents are dead," said Aunt Sophie in a low tone to the old gentleman. But that is not so!" protested the boy down from the steps. " My papa is not dead, only far away. Mamma always said across the seas, I believe." " And don't you long after him a great deal?" asked Margaret. " Why, I have never even seen my papa once," answered he, half dryly, half in a tone of naive astonishment, that he should be expected to long after somebody that he had never known. " That is a silly tale! The devil it is! Hem!" growled the councilor almost angrily, and he dangled the fingers of them," resumed Aunt Sophie. " What was your mother called, my boy?" " Mamma and Apollina she was called," answered the boy curtly. He was obviously tired of being questioned and tried to get past the by-standers. Philine had been pleased at last to take the right way, and had run bark- ing out into the yard. " Now frisk away, youngster/* said the councilor of commerce, who had meanwhile been pacing impatiently between the house and yard-doors, as though he longed to be off and counted dear every minute lost from the delights of hunting. " Hurry up, or your rolls will come too late; the coffee also, will have been long since drunk." " Ah, but it is not made yet!" laughed the little fellow. " I have first to fetch down some wood from the garret, and split it up fine.*' " It seems to me they put a great deal of hard work on you," said the councilor of commerce, while his dark eyes flashed as they sought the warehouse. " Think you that it will hurt the boy?" asked his fa- ther-in-law. " When I was a little nine-year-old lad I used to chop wood, and was as ready to put my hand to work in the field and stable as though I had been a hired farm-hand. Is not the man better for roughing it a little 108 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. as a ooy, especially in case of a poor little waif like this, who nas nothing to look forward to in the future? There is seme thing wrong here and not according to rule, I sus- peci;; and whether that party ever comes back from over the seas is a question, and does the duty that he has been shirking. The breaking of one's word is a light matter nowadays. And then the old man over there " he pointed toward the warehouse " will not be overjoyed at having such an incumbrance all the time, and all this means that our little friend yonder will have to stand up for himself and struggle manfully to keep his head above water in the coming strife with a selfish world/'' " I will take him into my counting-room after awhile/' remarked the councilor of commerce; as he spoke laying his hand protectingly upon the boy's curly head, as though it touched him to the heart to think of the probability of this splendid-looking boy making shipwreck of life. " I am glad to hear you say that, Baldwin. But you will have to gain the consent of that one in there," he nodded his head in the direction of the counting-house window, behind which the folds of the curtain began again to stir traitorously, " else there'll be death and destruc- tion." He tapped his granddaughter's cheek tenderly, and offered Aunt Sophie his hand in leave-taking. " I'll see you soon again, Cousin Sophie " he always called her so "I shall lodge in my town-quarters once more; would like to spend an evening with Herbert and Gretchen to- gether. Please announce this to the authorities above stairs, with my most humble respects," he added with a bow of mock reverence, as he went forth into the market- place. The councilor of commerce stood still another minute, as though rooted to the spot. Turning back he saw how his daughter had flown after the rapidly retreating child, drew him to her by passing both hands through his rich brown curls, and kissed the laughing fugitive. It was a lovely picture, charming enough, to make one forget to move on. " Well, I do declare, she's playing with the child a'ready!" said Barbara who was working at the kitchen window, and from her station could look obliquely across at the group in the yard. She grinned as she made this THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 109 remark to the house-maid. " I thought all the time that our good-hearted Gretchen would not take sides with Rey- nold and her in the upper story over there. That little scapegrace, with his lovely curls, appeals to every creature that has a heart and no stone in his chest. There he runs now, shaking his sides for laughter, that the young lady has caught him by his hair! There is something sweet about youth, certain and sure. You must admit it your- self, Netta, life is a different thing when such young blood mingles with us old fogies. It freshens us up, you see!" And she took two long draughts from her precious coffee-pot, and wiped the sweat from her brow. It was hot in the kitchen. The mighty bake-oven glowed, and delicious odors from good things cooking were wafted out into the sunny autumn air. There was as much brewing and baking going on as if they expected to entertain a whole company of hungry soldiers returning from parade; but all was to do honor to the only daughter of the house, just newly returned after a long absence. CHAPTER X. " THE truth is, Gretchen, you are exactly the same child as when you used to dog my every step, both hands pulling at my skirts, all the same whether I was in the garret or the cellar!" said Aunt Sophie, half laughing, half worried, late in the afternoon of the next day. Hhe was standing in the red parlor of the first story, receiving the pictures as they were taken down from the walls and handed her by the man-servant. All the doors of that suite of rooms opening upon the front hall stood open; the daylight came in through win- dows bare of curtains, and the clouds of dust scared up whirled and danced merrily out into the hall. New tapestry, new cur tains, portieres and carpets were in requi- sition for the coming winter season, which rumor pre- dicted was to be exceptionally gay. " This is no place for you, Gretchen, rash child that you are!" repeated her aunt emphatically, waving back the young girl who still laughingly maintained her ground upon the threshold. "It is windy and dusty, horribly dusty, I tell you.' I should like to know where this per- 110 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. vasive gray powder does come from! Here one is running about, the whole year round, dusting-cloth and brush in hand, as if one was paid extra for it, and only TO behold these clouds! The old gentlemen and ladies up there " she pointed to the different oil paintings still hanging, that were portraits of persons belonging to generations long passed away " must shake it out of their wigs and head- gear, and our poodle curls will be none the nicer for it, Gretchen!" " Oh, it will do them no harm, aunt! Here I'll stay, and ere you know where you are, I shall be holding to youi skirts by two hands again. This is a confusing period at ' which we live. We, too, build our tower of Babel, only in the opposite way, we build downward, piercing into the dark depths below. One hardly knows what is right or wrong, crooked or straight, allowable or interdicted, such a medley of ideas have been originated by the discoveries of the famous exhumers of our time. Then how can a young thing like me help being glad, if she can secure for herself the help of a first-rate pilot, and that is just what you are, aunt!" " Go away! I did think, though, that you had a level head and would not easily mistake ' B for a bull's foot.' Well, then, if you will not go, just turn in and help me; catch her by the other side, I can not drag her along by my- self, this pretty Dora!" And Margaret caught hold of the picture just taken down from the wall, and helped to bear it across the hall away into the haunted passage, the door of which stood wide open this evening. There already leaned a whole row of portraits against the walls; there they were safe; for no passing foot would graze them, and no intrusive sunbeam injure their colors. She was heavy, in sooth, that lady with the rubies. She was incased in a richly gilded frame representing a garland of roses and myrtle entwined by a broad ribbon. The lady also held a few sprigs of myrtle carelessly in her taper fin- gers; so, at all events, she was painted as a bride. The portrait was a half-length one, representing the young wife in an emerald colored robe brocaded with silver flowers. But what sort of a woman was she? Margaret had often gazed upon this picture with childish curiosity; but what had she understood, then, of the soul THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. Ill s mirrored by the form, or of the pencil* s power of repre- sentation? only it had always struck her that while the done- up hair of all the other Lambert wives and daughters was bestrewn with snow white powder, hers retained its blackness intact. Now the young girl knelt on the plank floor in front of the portrait and said to herself, in view of this amazing wealth of hair, out of whose curls fairly glit- tered the illusively painted star of rubies, while here and there a stray ringlet fell caressingly over the perfect bust, that this woman must have been bold and energetic to re- sist the fashion prevailing, and the injury threatened her most precious jewel. Now it was understood why the populace had accredited her with walking after death. Her contemporaries, who had seen the fire flashing from those great, dark eyes of hers in reality, and before whom the living presence had moved and breathed, instinct with soul, down to the very tips of her gracefully curved fingers, they had. not been able to persuade themselves of the actual death and extinc- tion of such charms. There was something wondrous strange about such an old German house with its traditions that linked themselves to the old Franconian furniture and animated every nook and corner. More solemn, but assuredly not more mys- terious, had been the impression made upon her feelings on treading the marble-lined corridors of the old Venetian palaces, than now in her father's house, where the dead planks sighed beneath her tread and the forms of the old linen-dealers, imbued with spectral life, loomed out of the twilight, their long line broken only by those mute, locked doors, behind which so many a secret might sleep. To be. sure, once, many years since, her papa had dis- turbed the reigning silence and quartered himself in those chambers of ill-repute in order to cure his superstitious servants of their belief in ghosts; he had also, during his stays at home, which had only broken his journeys for a few days, remained, by preference, in this his t-usculum. But before two years had elapsed, all this had altered; the outlook upon the quiet court-yard perhaps had palled upon his taste. After an absence of nearly six months, he had one day sent orders from Switzerland that the former boudoir of his deceased wife should be refitted for him. Margaret remembered, besides, that then to her distress 112 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. the rose-colored curtains and cushions, the water-color paintings and rosewood furniture had been carried to another room and replaced by furniture of a somber hue. And when he had come home he had immediately ordered the removal to an adjacent parlor of the great oil painting of his deceased wife, the only one which had kept its place upon the wall; the sight of that portrait, as did everything belonging there, seemed to reopen his old wound, grand- mamma had thought, and therefore cheerfully acquiesced in the arrangement. But the rooms in the side-wing had been under his especial supervision, and were kept in their pristine state not the smallest article of modern furniture was admitted there then he had had them aired and scoured, had drawn the curtains with his o\vn hand, and, as before, put the keys in his pocket. Margaret bent over and saw, through the wide key-hole, into the room with that glorious frescoed ceiling. Like the air in a church, it blew toward her, and the faded, trans- parent bouquets of flowers breathed in over floors and walls a faint, roseate tinge of color. Poor lovely Dora ! Wor- shiped and petted iir her short life, she had expiated her hard-won happiness by an early death, and now should the wings of this Psyche be clipped to all eternity, so that they must forever flutter and beat themselves against the two narrow walls of this dusky passage? As though a far-off cloud of mist glimmered in the girl's mind a recollection of that veiled figure in white. Those mighty impressions of travel which she had received in the outside world, and the exalted intellectual life led in the house of her renowned uncle, had well-nigh expunged from her memory this episode of her childhood, so that finally she had begun herself to believe that the whole singular occurrence had but been the setting-in of the severe nerv- ous fever from which she had suffered at that time. At this instant, however, as she again stood before the very same door whence the fugitive figure had then emerged, and saw standing diagonally across the huge clothes-press, behind which she had hidden, the occurrence again assumed, sharp outlines; and it suddenly seemed to her as if she must now too, as at that moment, hear again the clatter of those little heels as they tapped the floor. In the great clothes-press, which played so prominent a part in Gretchen's memory, hung its key on a big key- <- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 113 ring. Margaret opened wider the door, which was only a little ajar, and saw that Aunt Sophie had deposited on the upper shelf various articles for safe-keeping during the renovation of the house. But on the hooks hung still her great-great-grandmother's costly brocaded robes, with their long trains in perfect order, just as she had often seen them years ago. As upon a tulip and hyacinth bed there flamed divers bright colors, set off by glittering gold and silver laces, heavy fringes and other rich trimmings con- siderable dead capital, this, which the piety and pride of this old commercial house had left to crumble away un- touched in this press. Deep in the darkest corner shone, also, a strip of the emerald-colored robe in which the beau- tiful Mistress Dorothy had been painted. Margaret drew this treasure-trove into daylight. Yes, Aunt Sophie was right when she maintained that in old tH^s people got more for their money. The real silver of the inwoven flowers still glistened; the green was perfectly fresh and unfaded, while only in the folds aid the thick, stiff silk show any tendency to cut. That was i, narrow, small bodice against which had once beat Mistress Dorothy's young heart. Margaret thought that it would just about fit herself; and all of a sudden such a childish freak occurred to her as proved her to be the same frolicsome Gretchen as ever. Quite close to the wall leaned also a tall upright mirror, which stood opposite the pictures. The presumptuous young creature was not even appalled when she saw that the mirror reflected the tall, proud form of her great-great-grandfather Justus. She loosed her long cravat-ribbon from her neck and tied her luxuriant curls upon the top of her head to serve for the toitpet. Her star-shaped brooch of Bohemian garnet, with its ear-rings and sleeve-buttons to match, had to do for the ruby star, and just for a passing glance they answered well enough. It was wonderful, though, that once more nature should have created a form that in size and delicacy was a precise counterpart of the one that had trodden the Lambert house nearly a hundred years ago. The bodice fitted the young girl's waist smoothly, without a wrinkle, and the silver-stuff front of the skirt just reached to the tips of her toes. She was startled at her own appearance after she had 114 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. fastened the last clasp of the stomacher and once more fronted the mirror. She also glanced rather timidly in the direction where, over her shoulder, glowed the eyes of Jus- tus Lambert out of the gloom of the passage, and his benign hand rested as plastically there on that great folio as if the next minute it might come to life and lay hands upon the rash transgressor. Well, the bold masquerade must quickly come to an end; and in a few minutes the dress again hung uninjured in the wardrobe, not, indeed, without Aunt Sophie's having seen the modern impersonation of her ancestress. With involuntary, dignified steps and movements she emerged from the passage. Her train rustled portentously over the bare planks; surely the noiseless flitting of the fair Dorothea would not have been possible in the impris- onment of this prim and grandly sweeping robe of state. The man-servant had just left the parlor and was on his way through the hall to the front door. Turning his head back unconsciously upon hearing approaching steps, with a grotesque bound he shot straight out of the door, which slarnmed to behind him with reverberating sound. Margaret laughed at the effect, and crossed the threshold of the parlor; but she started back in confusion, for her aunt waa not alone Uncle Herbert, standing with her near the window. This time yesterday afternoon it would have been a mat- ter of perfect indifference to her whether or not her uncle stood there. He had never been among the number of those home-people, for a sight of whom she had longed while away, and the first meeting with him upon her re-' turn had in no wise aroused for him any latent interest. Since yesterday evening, however, when she had been several hours in his company upstairs, in the presence of her grandparents, she had had a singular feeling, as though all was not right between them. Not that she had allowed herself to be influenced by her grandmamma's en- thusiastic veneration for her incomparable son, or the un- disguised respect in which her father held his young brother-in-law; she knew, alas, that these two only did homage to the success which seemed to dog his footsteps, and saw perfection in him because those high in office asso- ciated with him on terms of equality that did not corrupt THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 115 her; only grandpapa had startled her, whose character she had ever recognized as such an incorruptible one. It was hardly to be believed that he could be perfectly blind to the manner in which his son had advanced his in- terests; that he was in utter ignorance, for instance, of what powers had lifted him smoothly over steps which others had attained to only by the exertion of all their energies during the space of many years. And yet it was undeniable that yesterday honest approval and fatherly S'ide had fairly beamed forth from the old man's eyes, e had repeatedly inveighed against the modern ambition to rise, irrespective of purity of intention; flatterers, syco- phants, and tartuffes are once more the order of the day; and the upright German mind could but blush in presence of the neighbors, who saw the struggles of these mean fig- ures to take position upon the grand chess-board of ac- tion. Either, in the blindness of paternal partiality, he per- ceived not the arrow in his own flesh, or sand had been strewn in his eyes. How quietly had he sat there; as though this anathema were quite in order. Not a single time had the flush of embarrassment or shame been seen upon his face; he had smoked his cigar, and thoughtfully followed with his eyes its blue rings of smoke; but when he had spoken, it was always to the point, as Aunt Sophie would have said. As for the rest, be the true essence of this character what it may, that was not what concerned her any longer; she was only vexed that he maintained so consistently his early judgment as to the character of his deceased sister's two children. For him the diligent, exemplary Reynold had lost nothing of his virtues, while evidently he could still see no good in " that wild hoyden." And was he not right, too? Reynold was making progress in his calling; he was cool calculation itself; and up to this very day were not mad freaks ever popping into her head, as the figure she now cut showed? With the glow of vexation upon her face she sought to withdraw unnoticed. The two there had their backs turned to her; they seemed to be examining some object lying on the window-sill; and the noise made by the shutting of an outside door had overpowered, she hoped, for their ear, the rustling of her train. But now it tyas again so still that the first backward movement of the 116 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. young girl drew the attention of those standing at the win- dow. Aunt Sophie turned around, and, for a moment seemed speechless; but then she clapped her hands and laughed aloud. " You had well-nigh succeeded, Gretchen! Bless me, a pretty joke it would have been if you had terrified your poor old aunt. As it is, no harm was done; but it did give me a thrust through and through." Involuntarily she pressed her right hand to her heart. " Only, for heaven's sake, do not let Barbara see you! No; how exactly you resemble that poor Dora in shape, although you have not a drop of her blood in your body. You have a very differ- ent face, with your wee little nose and the dimples in your cheek" " Certain lines about the mouth and eyes, with the car- riage of the head, make the likeness," remarked Herbert. " The fair Dorothea, in her combativeness of mood, boldly set herself in opposition to the opinions of the world, as is proven by her marriage and the lack of powder upon her toupet. She must have possessed self-will and arro- gance in a high degree, and these cL r^teristics will set their stamp." Margaret calmly lifted her eyes to the mirror hanging opposite, in which her whole figure was reflected. " Yes, it is true; a great deal of childish presumption lurks behind this silly masquerading. But it does give me amusement a great deal of amusement. And although the whole world should curl their lips in scorn, it would nevertheless give me exquisite delight to trail behind me the sweeping of our ' white-lady's ' court suit. And true it is, moreover, that I like to go counter to the opinions of the world a capital crime that is bound to make the hair of sober people stand on end. And therefore you are quite right, Uncle Herbert, to read me a lecture, if in the dis- guised form of satire." She arranged the fine Brussels lace on the stomacher and sleeves as carefully and com- posedly as if she had never, for an instant, lost her self- possession, and came further into the room. ' ' I only fear that you will have no more patience with me now than in those days when my copy-book and recitation of the French vocabulary used so to irritate your nerves," continued she, shrugging her shoulders. " To this day my writing ia THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 117 mere duck scratching; and for good reasons I never air my Thuringian French in the hearing of Parisian ears." " Come, now, don't exaggerate. It is not so bad at all!" said Aunt Sophie, laughing. " Just come here and look at the mischief done." She took the fragments of an antique vase from the win- dow-sill and laid them upon the center table. " I guard the things up here like the apple of my eye; and until now not a single accident has ever happened to the most fragile thing; but now, that awkward man Fred- erick has played me the trick of throwing this vase off the mirror- table. And I could not even scold him, for the poor fellow's teeth chattered from fright, and it was almost laughable to see him empty his pocket of the few pennies it contained in order to pay for the damage done. I know no more than anything how many dollars those few bits of clay must have cost an absurd amount, though, you may depend upon that. Cousin Geoffrey, your grandfather brought it with him from Italy." Margaret stepped up to the table. " Imitation, and a bad one at that!" exclaimed she decidedly, after a brief examination. " Grandpapa allowed himself to be imposed upon. Throw the pieces into the trash-heap, aunt, with- out any remorse. Barbara's darling coffee-pot is of like origin. " " That sounds as positive as if it had been spoken by Uncle Theobald himself," said Herbert, from the window. "Now I understand why it is that he already misses his co-worker so painfully." "Co-worker!" she laughed heartily. " His ministering spirit, an earth-gnome, you mean ! Such a sprite as noise- lessly watches over the stove in the library in a way that no servant can; that now and then places conveniently a cup of strong coffee when the great investigator is overtax- ing his energies, and, lizard-like, climbs up and down the library step-ladder to prevent his suffering for want of any book aiding him in going back to the orginal sources of things. Such a sprite as that I am to him. And if here and there abides with me something of the mind and spirit pervading the spot like air, is it to be wondered at? But systematically arranged, and practically useful, that chaos is not here;" and she tapped her forehead significantly with her hand. 118 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. " But who asks such a thing of a girlish brain does anybody, uncle ?" Smilingly she threw the broken fragments of the vase down upon the table. " But how do you know that Uncle Theobald docs miss my ' services ' ?" asked she, with sud- den animation. " That is easily told. My mother has just got a let- ter from Aunt Eliza. You are missed not only in uncle's study, but in aunt's parlor, where the friends of the family assemble; there also your speedy return is longed for. Mr. Von Billingen-Wackewitz seems to be the pet of that salon, is he not?" " What are your reasons for supposing such a thing?" A vivid blush suffused her cheeks, while her eyebrows slightly contracted. His penetrating glance remained fixed upon her counte- nance. " I'll tell you why I think so. I would lay a wager that in my aunt's long, full letter, there are not five lines in which the handsome Mecklenburger does not figure." "He is Aunt Eliza's protege, and one of the few noble- men who visit the house of Uncle Theobald, that ' enthu- siast for liberty,' " said she, turning from him, and ad- dressing her explanation to Aunt Sophie. Herbert leaned his back against the casement of the win- dow. " So it is a political affinity, is it, Margaret?" re- marked he satirically. " Aunt Eliza explains the attrac- tion differently." Deeply injured maidenly pride flashed from her eyes; but she restrained herself. " This looks very much like a family dish of gossip; and I shall not believe that an intel- lectual woman like Aunt Eliza would have condescended to put her finger in such a pie," said she, with an in- credulous shrug of the shoulders. He laughed low but derisively. " Experience teaches that with regard to match-making all women are alike, be they intellectual or narrow-minded all share the same little weakness." " Oh! please count me out not me!" protested Aunt Sophie. " I never meddle in such ticklish matters." " Do not boast too soon, Miss Sophie. You are on the eve of being sorely tempted, I can tell you," warned he. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 119 sarcastically. "Mr. Von Billingen is said to be a hand- some man." " Yes, lie is tall of stature, and has a complexion as white and pink as an apple-blossom/' remarked Margaret. Herbert did not look up from his finger-nails that he appeared to be intently scrutinizing. "Above everything, he bears a name which is highly respected, and very old," continued he inexorably. " To be sure, very ancient," assented Margaret. " The masters of heraldry are disputing up to this day whether the singular device upon one of his armorial bearings is the flint hatchet of a dweller in caves or a piece of a loom 'from a later date, when the stakes were used in building." " Nonsense! what sort of a family tree is that? Must our sturdiest oaks cringe before such?" asked Aunt Sophie, with a merry twinkle of the eye. " What, Gretchen! will you plume your flight so high?" The young girl's eyes fairly sparkled in her displeasure. " Dear me, and why not?" asked she in return. " Is not pluming one's flight high a feature of our times? And I, a girl! a girl that has four ounces less weight of brains than the lords of creation; how should I form my own judg- ment and go my own way? No. I am not so rash! I run bravely abreast of the fashions of the day, and do not see why I may not advance my own fortunes and shake off the dust of my humble origin if it please me so to do." " Our old gentlemen up there should only be here to listen to that!" threatened Aunt Sophie, pointing to some of the portraits in oil which had not been taken down from the wall merchants all of them, looking proudly and solemnly down from the midst of their elaborately done up wigs. Margaret smiled and shrugged her shoulders. " Who knows how they would get along nowadays, with their stern people's pride. ' We are children pf our century, and no Spartans/ was a sentiment I heard expressed but a short while ago; and so it might be that those old Lam- berts, with their unflagging energy in counting-room and xvarehouse would always have esteemed themselves happy (even as do many others now) to pour out of their wealth in the shape of a daughter's dowry into the empty cap of some scion of an old and honored stock. Such is the mod- ern burgher's pride so people say. " 120 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. " ' So people say/ " repeated the young statesman, nod- ling his head. " Of course you get this expression of a sharp tongue from others, likewise/' " Of course I do," she laughingly affirmed. " I do just like other young girls do, I repeat after uncle ' I listen when others are discussing the questions of the day, and a great deal really interests me. For example, the climbing- pole, full of desirable things, that is about to be erected in the world " And toward which aspirants are crowding in multi- tude; are they not, Margaret?" interposed Herbert, with A cold smile. The glance which met his was a lowering one. " Yes, indeed, uncle. For such as do not find their native soil good enough, the direct road is not best. Many a brave man is to be thrown down. in that onslaught. If climbing is to be easy, say the people, one must heed only the sig- nals from without; but on no account in the world any inner voice such as proceeds from the heart, or true con victions, else one will fall down, like the awakened som- nambulist from the roof. Fair ladies' hands help too many a time." " Hush!" said Aunt Sophie, lifting her forefinger in the direction of the staircase. It was not displeasing to her that the clattering of footsteps was audible outside, com- ing quite apropos to interrupt a conversation, to which the rash illusions of the young lady threatened to give a pain- ful turn. " Run and take off that dress, Gretchen!" she urged. " By the step, I judge that it is Reynold coming up, and he seldom has any patience with a joke, he is easily put out!" Margaret flew to the door. She avoided anxiously com- ing into collision with her brother; but already it was too late; Reynold came along the hall in attendance upon his grand mamma. CHAPTER XL THOSE entering started back when they saw themselves confronted by the fair Dora, descended from her frame. She had withdrawn again to the table in the middle of the parlor, and stood there with bowed head, as though in THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 121 nnresisting expectation of the reproaches which were to be showered upon her. " This is another of your mad pranks, Gretchen! You might have been the death of somebody/' said Mr. Lam- bert junior, promptly, as soon as he had recovered breath. " Yes, brother dear, it was terribly silly/' assented she with a sweet smile. At the same time she went from door to door, closing those that were open ; for Reynold was in perpetual dread of draughts. " Nonsense!" murmured he, following each one of her movements with a look of vexation. " Hear that rustling and rattling, the silver falling from its rotten threads. Papa should only be here to see you trail that valuable property over those rough planks! He would be cured of his wonderful admiration of you, which must have sprung up in a night, I believe he does just as if you had drunk in wisdom at Berlin, by the spoonful." " Do not get angry!" she implored. " I am going di- rectly. In a few minutes the dress will be hanging in its place, and I'll never touch it again. Come, be good now!" Entreatingly she laid the tips of Iter tender fingers upon his hand, that he was resting on the table; but he pushed her away. " Be done with your childishness, Gretchen! You know from the time that I was little, I never could bear anybody to come too near to me you know it, too!" Smilingly she nodded her head, cautiously picked up her train to hinder its making any noise as she went out, and moved toward the middle door. But on the threshold she lingered and turned back. " What more foolery has been done here?" she had heard Reynold inquire, and now saw him throwing around the fragments of the shattered vase. " Why, you see, Reynold, it is just such a little accident as may easily happen when one undertakes a thorough cleaning," said Aunt Sophie shrugging her shoulders. She purposely avoided drawing his attention to that awk- ward fellow who was really at fault. " What? You call that a little accident," repeated the young man quite angrily. " Why, aunt, you seem to have not the faintest idea of the money-value of the things in- trusted to your charge up here! That vase cost ten ducats cash; I can prove it to you from the inventory -book, ten 122 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. ducats cash! Yes, God knows it is heart-rending to see how often money has been laid out in this house for the merest trash! Our good grandpapa was grand at that thing. Thousands are tied up in the useless articles which he collected, just to be crammed away in a garret. Dealers in the antique know this and are forever applying to us to do the same; but papa is getting pretty rough with them, and for my part, such unwarrantable expenditures put me into a perfect rage. But it will be different some day, and then I know somebody who makes tracks. Then every- thing will be plated, everything that is not absolutely needed for use in the house/' He shook his head and threw the bits in his hand down on the table. " Ten ducats! a mere bagatelle of course! A trifle in the eyes of all in our house who can not count/' " Compose yourself, please; I know my multiplication table by heart, and need not sit at your counting-room desk in order to learn the value of money," quietly inter- posed Aunt Sophie. " Those ten ducats were thrown out of the window in the first instance when the vase was bought. Even the wisest may be caught sometimes by imitation ware, such as this was/' and she pointed at the fragments. " How imitation? Who says that?" " Margaret says so," said Herbert, slowly approaching the table. Reynold laughed loudly. " Gretchen! She?" And he pointed at the maiden with his finger. " Yes, your sister," repeated Herbert emphatically, looking with strong disapproval full into the impertinent, grinning face of his nephew. " For that matter, let me entreat you to alter from this time forth that boyish un mannerly way that you have in addressing your aunt and sister. All your life-long, on account of your irritable nerves, very much has been overlooked in you, entirely too much, I am afraid ; but it is time that you were learning that you, too, owe obligations to others." Reynold had stared at the speaker in utter perplexity when he first began his exordium; but with all his assump- tion he was yet a cowardly fellow, who evaded collision with any stronger party. He bit his lip and adventured not a single word m reply. Shyly looking away, he fumbled in his breast-pocket drew forth a letter and threw THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 123 it down on the table, so that its very large seal came upper- most. " Here, Gretchen, this letter was left for you just now in the counting-room/' said he snappishly. " Only out of respect to its crest, that is almost as large as that of our duke himself, did I climb up these draughty stairs; else it is all one to me who writes to you." The young girl blushed crimson. The exuberance of spirit that had awhile ago animated her whole appearance had sadly evaporated. Almost helplessly, with a shy, dis- tressed glance at the letter, she stood there like a scared child. " That is the crest of Mr. Von Billingen-Wackewitz, Rey- nold," said Mrs. Counsellor impressively, with visible awe. ' ' I could show you many a carefully preserved billet-doux bearing that glorious crest. A Miss Von Billingen was once chief stewardess in the household of our most gra- cious sovereigns. She was very kindly disposed toward me, and corresponded with me about our woman's union. Dear me! if I had had any idea then " she broke off with an almost enraptured glance upward, threw her arms around her granddaughter's waist, and clasped her to her heart. " My dear, dear Gretchen, you little rogue, you!" she cried with deep emotion. " So this was the magnet which held you fast to Berlin? And I have been so un- pardonably short-sighted and actually reproached you while you were preparing to bring inexpressible prosperity to our house! such a blind, unjust grandmamma was I not, darling? Are you angry with me?" The granddaughter freed herself from the embrace, and drew back a step. She had recovered her composure. " I have no ground for being angry, and besides, such a feel- ing would ill befit a grandchild," said she rather dryly, and with a side glance at Reynold, she pulled in order the lace belonging to that "expensive piece of property." " Such demonstrations may not be allowed us, while I am clad in fair Dorothy's court-dress; Reynold will quarrel." " Ah! if he only knew what I know," replied the old lady with a roguish twinkling of the eyes, " then he would agree with me that the robe suits you incomparably! Yes, AS I see you there before me, with your really noble carriage and that (now a grandmother must be pardoned for having a little maternal vanity), as I was saying, that intellectual 124 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. piquant little face, yes, then you might take your place confidently alongside of those illustrious dames, who grace the walls of a certain parlor in this house. " " What, with her shock head, and hoydenish manners, into the bargain, grandmamma?" Mrs. Counsellor grew a little red and raised both hands. " Dear child but no," she said, interrupting herself " to-day I will be still! To-morrow, or maybe in a few days afterward, you will have much to say to me, infinite- ly much, my child, that will be a life-long blessing to me, I know. Until then I shall keep dark!" Margaret made no reply. Shyly she reached out for the letter, thrust it into her ample dress-pocket, and went out, in order to restore the court-robe to its proper place. At this instant Mrs. Counsellor remembered that she had only come down-stairs, to ask Aunt Sophie for a receipt for making a particular tart, but Herbert, who had only been attracted thither in passing by the sound of the fall- ing vase, had meanwhile picked up his hat and cane from the table and left the room. He stood before the nearest buffet and was apparently scrutinizing with much interest its array of old bumpers and bowls, when Margaret passed him on her way to the passage. " You will have much to ask pardon for some day, Margaret," said he in low tones, but emphatically across his shoulder. " I, uncle?" she stayed her steps and secretly smiling came nearer. " If that is so, it shall be done upon the spot, if you like! Daughters and nieces may- do that with a good grace, and diminish none of their maidenly dignity either." He turned square around facing her, but, at the same time cast such a forbidding glance at Reynold who was ap- proaching, that the tall man slunk away abashed, and with the two old ladies disappeared from the hall. " You seem to count double where I am concerned, for the years during which we have not met," said Herbert moodily. " I seem very old and venerable to you, Mar- garet, do I not?" She turned her face somewhat aside, and her expressive eyes passed each of his features in review. " Now I'll let you know, it is not so bad. I do not see a single gray hair in that fine beard of yours." THE LADY WITH THE JIUBIES. 125 " Bad enough if you are looking out for them already!" For a moment, he looked away through the nearest win- dow. " I was a little taken aback by being greeted so re- spectfully by you when you first arrived; so far as I recollect, Keynold always called me uncle, but you never!" " You are right. I never did in spite of ever so many lectures on the subject! You did not seem dignified enough to me for an uncle. ' It is just like milk and blood/ Barbara was always saying." " Ah, indeed! well, has my coloring grown gray enough now for you?" he laughed. " Ah, that has nothing to do with it, it is your beard that makes the difference! Such an aristocratically trimmed mustache gives one a grand air, uncle!" . He bowed ironically. " And then when I saw you sitting there, day before yes- terday evening, by that beautiful lady, and you came out into the hall recognizable as the chief citizen of the town, your whole appearance too irradiated by the reflection of princely grandeur, then came over me a most overpower- ing feeling of respect, and I felt dreadfully ashamed of myself." " Then I must indeed feel much complimented that the title of uncle flows so glibly from your lips?" Smilingly she nodded her head. " Now, you know it is not a thing to be so unconditionally desired. I can see right well that it may not be pleasant to be called ' uncle ' by so old a girl as I am. But I can not help you. We Cr Lambert children are too poor in the matter of kin; e only this one mother's brother, and if only a step- uncle, yet you must submit to be ' Uncle Herbert/ all your life-time." " Very well, I'm content, dear niece. But you must also admit that this acknowledged relationship involves the duty of obedience to said uncle." She started; but directly afterward a gleam of intelli- gence lighted up her features. " Ah, you think so?" She laid her hand, blushing deeply, upon the pocket containing the letter which she had just received, and a fitful gleam shone in her eyes. He cast upon her a furtive glance, but said nothing. " Yes, that is so!" nodded she positively. " You think exactly like grandmamma. You are proud of the prospect 126 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. held out to me, and open heart and arms to my suitor, without having ever seen him. And why so? Merely be- cause you know his name that is enough. Well, but you know your niece's eccentricity, and perhaps entertain the secret dread that she might be guilty of the boundless folly of preferring to remain simple Gretchen Lambert; to have a new force controlling their spirit of opposition, is of great value to the family. The house of Counsellor is about to soar aloft beyond the clouds, and in its own interests de- sires that the kindred Lamberts be likewise lifted higher." " It is astonishing how sharp-sighted you are!" She laughed. " No, uncle, that compliment I reject! You think too flatteringly of me. This here " she raised the little finger of her right hand " does not tell me so. For me the whole air of our house is breathing and ani- mated, whispers and sighs come to me from every passage and corner of the steps; for, you know I was born on an Easter Sunday, and have always been on good terms with the familiar spirits of our house. And as in former days they used to tell me of those old times, of the silver threads of linen which were transmuted in the marts of the world outside, and flowed back into my ancestor's coffers as pure gold, so now they whisper of a very different splendor, of princely grace and condescension, of the favor of high-born ladies, and of the old plebeian blood (mature now, after long centuries of diligence in accumulating) being elevated now to a higher plane." ' ' Kh, those are the charming little cobolds that poison the air with their bits of malice! One must try to catch them." " With your gendarme, uncle. We would but furnish the merry little fellows with matter for jesting. They would just creep up behind, and repeat in mine ear tales of that new drama in Lambert's house, in which that silly thing Gretchen is to play her part, a baronial coronet is to be placed upon her bushy head, and the change is at hand, they think. But you know, uncle, I have just a little voice in the matter, do you -not think so? That little word ' yes ' has yet to be said. And just take heed that the bird does not fly away, before it has sung! Catch me not!" " It might be put to the test. " " Try it, uncle." She glanced back at him across her THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 127 shoulder, and her eyes sparkled as though she were ready, forthwith,, to undertake the spiritual conflict. " I accept your challenge, trust to that! But observe that if I have the bird once, it is all up with it." "Ah! poor thing, then it must sing to your whistle," laughed she. "But I am not afraid lama mocking- bird, uncle, and could easily entice you the wrong way!" She bowed gracefully, and, with a concealed laugh swift- ly entered the passage, behind Mistress Dorothea's death- chamber, and while, with nimble fingers she loosened the clasps of the bodice, she heard Herbert leave the entrance hall. But at the same time she' heard plainly her father's voice, coming upstairs. The two gentlemen exchanged salutations in the door- way, as it seemed; then the door fell to, and the councilor of commerce 'went into his own room. Early in the morning he had ridden away to Millbrook, had stayed to lunch there, and had just now got home. She longed to welcome him, more especially as in the morning he had looked so melancholy and depressed as he sat upon his horse, giving her, in return for her lively "good-morning/' only a slight nod, and not a word of reply. This had fallen painfully upon her bright young spirit. But Aunt Sophie had consoled her. She had sup- posed this to be only one of his bad days, when every one kept as quiet and as much out of his way as possible. He knew himself what was the best thing to do for getting rid of this evil besetment of spirit, viz., a ride in the fresh air, and distraction of mind in the business activities of the factory. In the evening he would come home " more sociable." The brocaded robe of the fair Dorothy again hung in the deepest recess of the wardrobe, and Margaret was just in the act of rearranging her hair, when she again heard her father's door open. She heard him come out and go along the hall. He quickly came nearer, and it seemed as though he was making direct for the passage. Margaret was frightened. She was in her underclothes, and any way did not want him to see her here. She did not know in what mood he had come home, and what would be his opinion of her rash inroad upon the sacred relics of the house. A regular panic seized her. Involuntarily she slipped into the wardrobe and crouched low amid the en- circling folds of rich soft satins and silks. It seemed to 128 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. her as if she were sinking in roaring waters. She drew the door softly to. A few seconds afterward the councilor of commerce came around the corner of the passage. Through the nar- row slit of the door he could be seen by his daughter. Bid- ing in the open air, and the bustle of factory-life at Mill- brook, had not dispelled that black melancholy which so often made this handsome man an object of terror to every- body in his house. In his right hand he held a small bunch of fresh roses, and heedlessly walked between the lines of portraits representing his forefathers. Only the oil-painting of the fair Dorothy seemed to exert an un- wholesome effect upon him, for leaning, as it did, obliquely between the corner of the wardrobe and the wall, the fascinating figure in a certain way confronted him. He started back, and laid his hand over his eyes, as though he were threatened with a stroke of apoplexy. This shock was comprehensible. Over yonder in the red parlor, high on the light wall, the demoniacal nature of this beauty had never b^en so manifest as here in this ghastly twilight. He murmured passionate words to himself in an access of fury, seized hold of the heavy picture, and turned it to the wall. The frame hit hard against the stone wall, and its hinges creaked. His terrified daughter held her breath. It was as though from that dark, melancholy brooding the flames of mad- ness had suddenly flashed forth, as though that strong hand might be suddenly uplifted in some deed of horror, that would change this quiet merchant's house into the theater of scenes awful to contemplate. But nothing dreadful was enacted. With the banishment of that woman's effigy into the dark corner the storm in the bosom of that deeply ex- cited man was hushed. He moved on, close by his daugh- ter, so that his heavy breathing could be heard through the opening in the door, small as it was. Immediately the key rattled in the lock of the next room-door. The councilor of commerce entered, withdrew the key again and drew the bolt inside. A feeling of awe crept over the unsuspected observer. What was he doing in that bare, dusty room, all alone with his gloomy thoughts? Nobody had any idea that he ever came into this part of the house these days. Barbara maintained that he was nsver known now to set foot in. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 129 that passage. She was sure he had had trying experiences there to make so courageous a man plainly shrink from ever trusting himself there again. "Well, in there he cer- tainly was now, buried, as it were, in silence and gloom; for not a sound came thence. But, perhaps it was this very unbroken quiet that he finally sought, when intercourse with the outside world had proved unequal to the exorcism of his evil demon. It soothed that inner storm, and cooled the hot, diseased blood which mounted so darkly and dis- tressingly to his head. Yes, he was sick. It was not ex- clusively grief for her deceased mother's loss which had al- tered him so fearfully, as grandmamma falsely insisted, for in the first years after her death he had not been so morose and unsocial. No, he was diseased, phantoms of the brain ! pursuing and torturing him; this she had been forced to admit on the evening of her arrival. He, the strictly correct, punctilious principal of the highly esteemed firm of Lambert, the proud man to whose honor not the slightest spot attached, he it was who suddenly imagined that there might come a time when the finger of scorn would be pointed at him, and he would be defamed in circles within which his false ambition had continually urged him to aim to be included. Her heart was surcharged with woe, as she pictured to herself the moment when he had stood before her, his child, almost in the attitude of a sup- plicant, pleading for her co-operation and filial confidence. So far had that insidious disease already brought him! For a moment more Gretchen listened at the bolted door, death-like quiet prevailed behind it, then with trembling knees she left her hiding-place, gathered together what of her garments lay around, and flew to one of the front rooms, in order to adjust her dress as quickly as possible. What a piece of good fortune that her father had not got home ten minutes earlier! If that painted, lifeless can- vas had produced such an unwholesome effect upon him, what would have happened if he had suddenly seen before him the apparently living, breathing image of that , wretched woman herself? That the mummery had already 1 done one piece of mischief, she did not concern herself at all. For the past half hour the terrified man-servant had been sitting on a bench down-stairs in the kitchen. His trembling limbs were still unable to bear him, and his 130 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. usually ruddy cheeks were positively livid. The whole kitchen smelled of liquor. " There's nothing better than that!" Barbara had said thrusting into his mouth one soak- ing piece of sugar after the other. All the servants on the place stood around commiserating him, and not to be satis- fied with listening to the recital of his adventure. " No, no, no once for all, no!" repeated he decidedly for the twentieth time. " I'll not touch her again; not for the world! She may just see who will hang her up again upon her hook. And me break anything! Angels defend us, there's my pipe I've had full fourteen years, and I defy anybody to find even the tiniest crack in it. And show me the plate or glass, Barbara, that I've broken, in wiping down here in the kitchen. You can not, witn the best will, you can not! Nothing of the sort can be brought against me! And up there, that thing, that vase just new out of my hand. Such a twitch from behind at my elbow, and crash, there lay the thing broken on the floor. And it was my punishment for having moved her from her place, the malicious creature! I just thought it would be so, and did not want to ' The room is not tapestried, ma'am,' I said. ' The picture might hang there to the end.' But Miss Sophie does not believe in anything. That picture must come down, nothing else would do, and I, poor devil, had to suffer for it. Yes, never in my life will I get over this fright! And afterward when she came up to me, just out of her frame, her green dress rustling and bristling, while those rubies in her hair glowed like sparks of hell-fire, then I thought, ' It's all up with you now, Frederick!' Fortunately I got to the door, and it clapped hard to behind me; but on the steps I felt some- thing ice-cold clutch at my neck." " Stuff and nonsense, Frederick! She did nothing more to you on the steps, she can not cross the threshold!" said Barbara handing him a tiny glas of something. " Here, now take a swallow of this peppermint, and it will soon set you on your legs. And let me tell you, good folks, this story goes no further than ourselves! Upstairs nobody has any faith, though we were to swear ourselves black and blue in the face. First they laugh at us, then scold, and throw up to us our superstition and love of gossip, until we have to go off and swallow our vexation as best we can. And we dare not open our mouths to the townspeople THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 131 either. I rather think not. We Lamberts are not too great favorites there anyway; our great business and re- spectability and uncommon wealth, all that gives food to envy, and there are some who rejoice in a misfortune hap- pening to our family; it is nuts for them to crack, and a misfortune is coming, as sure as you live. That time when our Gretchen came near dying, there was a running to and fro upstairs of ghostly creatures, until the child was brought home to us half dead. What to do now is to keep your ears open and watch. I charge you, watch fire and light, that is our affair! As for that which is to come to pass afterward, none of us can alter it at all. Goose-flesh is creeping all over me:" to prove what she said she rolled back the sleeve from her arm. " Any minute it may come any minute!" CHAPTER XII. AND the following night it did indeed seem as though a piteous voice took up the lamentation of this prophecy, wailing it forth to the market and the whole town the first October storm was howling through the land. The ravens had been circling around the city, in great swarms, the whole afternoon, going on like mad, and in the even- ing the sun had set, as it were, in a sea of blood; the lurid reflection had for a long time shed a strange glare over the church towers and steeples. And now it came. The whole night through the elements roared and raved, allow- ing themselves not a moment's respite, and when day dawned, the storm was still careering madly through the streets. The people crossing the market-place, where the ground was high, could hardly keep on their feet, while hats and caps flew around the street corners in a regular whirling dance. Mrs. Counsellor was out of sorts. Her delicate little feet had become rather tottering and unsteady. She no longer trusted herself out on the street when the wind was high, and so she was obliged to forego the visits which she had engaged to make in the city with her newly arrived grand- daughter. Margaret was so much the better pleased. The free afternoon came to her in the light of a boon. She sat up- stairs in her grandmamma's drawing-room with nimble 132 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. fingers, helping the old lady on a large, magnificent piece of embroidery. The rug was for a Christmas gift to Her- bert, but was destined had been mysteriouly confided to her to lie before his bride's desk, when he should set up housekeeping in future. And Margaret stitched away in- defatigably upon the bunches of flowers over which the foot of the fair Heloise was soon to step. About four o'clock, the young statesman also came home from his office. His study was adjoining. For a long time people were heard coming in and going out, the office-boy brought bundles of law-papers, a gendarme made an announcement, and voices grew loud in entreaty, and Margaret could but think how the carefully guarded quiet of these upper regions had been completely scared away by inmates who did not bear the name of Lambert. Those old merchants had never dreamed of such a thing. It had always been her pride to inhabit it alone, the grand main building, and she would have greatly preferred to leave the upper story empty than to give to any strange foot the privilege of walking up and down its beautiful, broad stairs, and making profane noises. In spite of the storm, indeed, at the very moment when it was at its height and the windows rattled, shaken by a violent gust of wind, a charmingly arranged basket of costly table-fruit was handed in as sent from Prince's Court. Mrs. Counsellor's hands trembled for joy at the attention. As quickly as possible, she covered her Christ- mas work with a cloth, and called her son in after she had dismissed the messenger with a rich bounty. Herbert paused a moment on the threshold, as though surprised to find anybody besides his mother in the room; but then he drew nearer, and nodded in the direction of the window where Margaret sat. " Good -day, uncle!" said she calmly returning his salu- tation, and went on stitching away at an end of the rug that peeped forth from beneath the concealing cloth. His brows contracted and he cast an absent-minded glance upon the basket of fruit which his mother held out to him. " Singular idea that, of chasing a messenger into town during a storm like this!" said he. " There was time enough for that } " No, Herbert!" interposed Mrs. Counsellor. " The fruit is freshly plucked, and ought not to lose its bloom. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 133 A.nd then, you know, the ladies out there do not like a day to pass without some mutual sign of life being exchanged. What delicious fragrance! I'll arrange you a plate full of pears and grapes, and send them over to you directly." " Thank you kindly, dear mamma; enjoy them your- self. I put no claim to them, the attention was wholly and solely paid to yon." So saying he returned to his own room. "He is sensitive because the love-token was not sent to him direct," whispered Mrs. Counsellor into Margaret's ear, while she picked up her spectacles, and went to work again. " Dear me, though, Heloise can not and shall not go on in that way! He is so shyly reserved, so incompre- hensibly backward, and almost seems to hope that she will speak the decisive word. He is frightfully jealous even of me, his unselfish mamma, as you have just seen. Yes, child, you will make your experiences too now in that line!" added she aloud in jocular tone, and again entered upon the theme which the servant's entrance had inter- rupted. She aimed to make a confessional of the window- seat. The question was the writing of Mr. Von Billingen- VVackewitz. Margaret had burned his letter the day before, and her answer, rejecting his suit, was already on the way. But not a word to this effect escaped her. She answered diplomatically in monosyllables, and was intense- ly annoyed that the old lady called the name of the gentle- man sometimes as loudly and unrestrainedly as if he already belonged to the family. It mortified her so much the more, as the door to the next room just now had not been closed tight; the aperture visibly widened, and he who went in and out could hear each of these indiscreet remarks. Grandmamma, indeed, had her back to the door and could not know that it was open, until, her attention being called by some sound, she turned around in astonishment. " Do you want anything, Herbert?" called she across. " No, mamma. Only allow the door to remain slightly ajar; they have overheated my room!" Mrs. Counsellor laughed softly to herself and shook her head. " He thinks we are talking of Heloise, and, of course, that is music for his ear," whispered she to her granddaughter, and immediately began to speak of Prince's Court and its inmates. 134 THE LADY WITH THE EUBIE8. Not long afterward twilight drew on. The work was rolled up and laid aside, and with this grandmamma's lengthy descriptions came likewise to an end. She had no need even to send a greeting across into the next room, for the door had long since been softly closed from the inside. On the staircase the draught had free sweep. No won- der! On the parlor-floor stood open one sash of the great window opening out upon the yard, and the storm that came from the north, across the warehouse roof, blustered directly in and reverberated against the echoing walls like the deep tones of an organ. As she came down, Margaret saw her father standing by the window. The tempest beat against his broad breast, and disheveled the full growth of crisp hair upon his head. " Will you go down?" he shouted, striving to be heard above the warring elements, and waving with his arm to some one on the other side of the yard. His daughter stepped up to his side. He started, and turned upon her a face distorted by violent excitement. " That madcap there apparently wants to break his neck!" said he earnestly, pointing to the open gallery be- longing to the warehouse. There stood little Max on top of the gallery balusters. He had rested his left arm lightly against one of the wooden pillars which supported the far-projecting roof; in the manner of an orator, the other was extended toward the lowering clouds and sung, but it was no connected melody that he sung; he only struck single notes of the scale, let- ting them swell and then die away as if he arrogantly wanted to measure the power of his little lungs against that of the storm. These, then, had been the supposed organ- tones. As for the rest, he could not have heard her fa- ther's shout, for he began anew. " He is not going to fall, papa!" said Margaret laugh- ing. " I know best how many risks one can run at his age. The garret rafters in our top story could tell many a tale of my tight-rope dancing if they chose. And the storm can not harm him, for the wind is at his back. To be sure the old wood-work over there is not to be trusted." She pulled out her pocket-handkerchief and waved it out of the window. This signal the little boy immediately perceived. He THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 135 husked, and jumped down from his high post. Evidently shocked and embarrassed, he made out as if he were doing various things on the gallery; he was probably ashamed of having been noticed. " That little fellow has gold in his throat," said Mar- garet. " But he is a little spendthrift. Twenty years from hence, when he will have learned to treasure up such costly material, he will not so madly sing out into a storm. You will not get him into your counting-room, papa, he will be a great singer some day." " Do you think so?" His eye sparkled peculiarly, almost inimically, as he turned to reply, " I do not believe that he is born to amuse others." At the same time, he laid hold upon the window-sash to close it; but at the same instant a howling gust of wind tore the blind out of his hand, a blast of such overpower- ing force that it shook the walls of the house as it had not done even on that past wild night. What happened dur- ing the next seconds those two tumbling back from the window did not see. They thought that at a single stroke the hurricane was going to sweep away the old merchant-house and all within it that lived and breathed. A terrible crash, a thundering dim of falling ruins, then a momentary lull, as if the mon- ster was shocked himself at the destruction he had wrought, and hardly ventured to touch the impenetrable, grayish- green cloud that suddenly filled the court-yard. The warehouse! Yes, thence came that stifling, choking mass of dust. With a wild exclamation the councilor of commerce bounded past his daughter and down the steps. Margaret flew after him, but not until he had reached the yard did she succeed in clutching hold of his arm. Dumb from horror she could not say to him that he must take her with him. " Stay back!" was his order, and he shook her from him. " Would you be killed too?" Those were sounds that chilled her to the soul, and as she caught a glimpse of his distorted countenance it seemed as if his very hair stood on end. He rushed off, and she threw her arms around the nearest linden-tree, in order to keep herself steady upon bvn dreadfully countrified in this Millbrook of yours! Why, it is almost tea-time! We come from Prince's Court." " I thought so. The mystery is solved." " And would not go back to town without finding out how you were. " " Thanks for your kind inquiries. Well, now, I am having some terrible twinges in my left shoulder, and many a time the noise is a bit too lively for me it is natural, THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 206 To-day I just whistled to it, to put a little measure into the tune." " May we not send a doctor out to you, father?" asked Herbert, solicitously. " By no means, my son. Into this old machine " he pointed to his broad breast " there has never come a drop of poisonous physic, and I do not mean to ruin its working power either in my old days! The superintendent's wife has been plaguing me with mustard, and wrapped a bundle of oakum around me; she declared that it would help me." " Yes; especially if you stand at an open window in the cold, as you did just now," said Mrs. Counsellor, cutting- ly, flirting her muff around to get rid of the tobacco-smoke, which was very perceptible now that the window was closed. " I know you never will have anything to do with doctors, but you ought to try some simple remedy. " " A cup of camomile tea, say, Fannie?" " No; linden-blossoms with citron- juice would be more S-actical; that always helps me. You should perspire, enry." " Brr!" he shook himself. " Eather directly into the fires of purgatory. You see, pet " he flung his arm around Margaret's shoulders. She had long since thrown off hat and cloak, and stood by his side " that is the way they are going to maltreat your old grandfather. To the hospital with him, if he actually drinks linden-blossom tea. Do you not think so?" She smiled, and nestled close up to him. " In such things I am as inexperienced as a child, grand- papa; you need not appeal to my judgment. But, indeed, you must let me stay by you. It will not do for you to be left alone at night, with your pain. I can fill up your pipe, read and talk to you until sleep comes. " " Would you so, Mousie?" cried he, with delight. " Ah, yes; I feel well already. But to-morrow the will is to be opened, and you must not be missing there." " I shall thank uncle to have the sleigh sent for me." " And that provident relative will execute your wishes most punctiliously," said Herbert, with an ironically low bow. " Done !" cried the councilor. " But, Francesca, you are proceeding to the door at a half -run. Well, well I You 20t> THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. put on your best bib and tucker to call over there " he pointed in the direction of Prince's Court '* and your fine clothes will be all smoked up here. I-have done right bad- ly with this smoking and suffocating ; " And with what a quality!" turning up her nose con- temptuously, and shaking out her silk train. " Well, well, I ask pardon. It is a fine weed, a strong weed. But of that you understand as little as I do of your herb-trees, Fannie. But don't put any constraint upon yourself. Your little feet are trembling with eagerness to be out in the fresh air once more. You have done more than your duty in having ventured into my ' smoky den.' 1 Who could have made me believe it a half hour ago? There now, Herbert, lend your little mamma an arm, and hand her back to the sleigh, as prettily and speedily as pos- sible." lie gallantly opened the door, and the old lady glided past him with both hands buried in her muff, and in a min- ute more had vanished into the outer darkness. Just now, Margaret stooped and picked up the camellia from the ground which unconsciously Herbert had brushed off when he unbuttoned his fur coat. Silently she handed him the flower. " Ah! and a little more it would have been trodden upon!" said he, with pity in his tone, as he held the ca- mellia up searchingly to the light. " I should have been sorry for that. It is so beautiful, as fresh and brilliant as the donor herself. Do you not find it so, too, Margaret?" She turned silently away to the window, outside of which grandmamma was impatiently knocking, and he thrust the red flower into his vest-pocket, as once before he had done the white rose, and shook hands with his father; then he was gone. CHAPTEK XIX. THE opening of the will had taken place, and had Drought the bitterest disappointment to many of those dis- agreeable factory-hands who suddenly found themselves dismissed. The will had proved to be of old date. A few years after his marriage, Mr, Lambert had fallen off his horse, and the pbysicians had not been able to conceal the THE LAD1 WITH THE RUBIES. 207 fact that his life was seriously imperiled. At that time he had made his will. His since deceased wife, Fannie, had been made sole heiress; he had, moreover, left direc- tions that the business should be closed, inasmuch as, at that time, there was no male heir. Reynold had been born the year afterward. Consequently, this will was no longer valid, and the two sole heirs, Margaret and Eeynold, entered upon their natural, uncurtailed rights. Immediately after the formality of reading this last will and testament, Margaret had returned to Millbrook, be- cause grandpapa had need of her. Eeynold, on the other hand, had seated himself at his desk, had rubbed his cold hands, together, and kept watch over the clerks as vigilantly and sourly as ever. His mien was unaltered what could that testament have brought to light which could have curtailed, by a jot or tittle, the rights which he had already usurped? And the people glanced timidly with something akin to dismay, at the cold, inexorable man, who now took the place of their former chief, with undisputed right, and to whom they were given over without redress. It was four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. Herbert had just come home, and Mr. Counsellor stood in the front hall, chaffering with a market-woman over a ham. Then came in the painter, May. Dressed in black from head to foot, he approached the old lady in a sort of nerv- ous haste, his usually peaceful, friendly face was uncom- monly earnest, and bore the traces of excited feeling. He asked after her son, and the old lady pointed him to his office; but she followed him with an inquisitive glance, until he had vanished into Herbert's office, after modestly knocking there. The man was evidently out of sorts, as if some heavy burden were pressing upon his mind. She speedily dis- missed the market-woman, and went into her own cham- ber. She could hear the man speaking; he was talking loud and uninterruptedly, as though he were narrating an occurrence. She had kept up her prejudice against this person, up to the present day, not being able to forget that his daugh- ter Blanche had once caused her sleepless nights. What could he want? Should Herbert be engaged to intercede for him with Eeynold, that, dismissed as he was, he might 208 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. yet obtain board and lodging? That should never, nerer be done! Mrs. Counsellor, as was universally known, was an ex- tremely delicate, highly cultured woman. He who should have asserted that her little ear, under its fine lace cap, ever came into close contact with her son's chamber door, would have been branded as a base slanderer. But she stood there now, nevertheless, on tiptoe, bending far for- ward, and listening, listening, until suddenly she fell back as if shot, and turned pale as a sheet. The next minute, she had torn open the door, and stood in the middle of her son's room. " Will you have the audacity, May, to repeat to my face the assertion that I have just heard you make?" She spoke dictatorially to the old man, and yet she visi- bly trembled in every limb. All softness had departed from that chill voice. " Certainly I will, Mrs. Counsellor," answered May, bowing with modest firmness. ' ' Word for word shall you hear my declaration once more: The deceased Mr. Lam- bert was my son-in-law; my daughter Blanche was his lawfully wedded wife." The old lady burst into an hysterical peal of laughter. " Dear man, the carnival is a long way off yet; reserve your coarse jest for that season!" cried she, with crushing contempt, scornfully turning her back upon him. " Mamma, permit me most earnestly to beseech you to return to your room!" said Herbert, offering her his arm in order to escort her back. He, too, was pale as a corpse, and evidently moved to the very depths of his spirit. She indignantly waved him back. " Were the question a matter of public business, you would be right to show me out of your office; but this is an artifully contrived fabrication that will disgrace our fam- ily : " Disgrace!" repeated the old painter, in a voice trem bling from indignation. ' ' Had my Blanche been the child of a knave, a villain, then should I have borne that insult in silence; but as it is, I protest decidedly against that des- ignation. I myself am the son of a distinguished govern- ment officer; my wife comes of a noble but impoverished family, and we have both gone through life with unblem- THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 209 iehed reputations; not the least spot attaches to our name, unless it be one that I have finally sought to earn a liveli- hood in a factory, driven by want of success in my profes- sion, regular academic artist though I am. But it has become the fashion in wealthy burgher families to speak of it as a mesalliance if a poor girl marries one of their set, and to consider their blood contaminated, just as the nobility do in case of mercantile intruders. And, unfort- unately, the deceased had imbibed this utterly groundless prejudice, and thereby burdened himself with heavy guilt against his tenderly beloved son." i " Oh, pardon; I did not know that Mr. Lambert was ever guilty of the least injustice to his only son, my grand- son, Reynold!" scornfully remarked Mrs. Counsellor, with a contemptuous shrug of her shoulders. " I am speaking of Max Lambert, my grandson." " Brazen impudence!" wrathfully exclaimed the old lady. Her son stepped up to her, and earnestly exhorted her to forbear any further insulting remarks. She should let the man speak out; examination would have to be insti- tuted, which should soon settle the merit of his claims. She walked to the nearest window, and turned her back upon them both. And now the old artist drew forth a great letter envelope. " Does this paper contain the legal documents certify- ing the consummation of the marriage?" asked Herbert, eagerly. " No," answered May; " it is a letter from my daugh- ter, written" at London, in which she announces her mar- riage to Mr. Lambert." " And do you possess no other papers?'* " Alas! no. After my daughter's death, the deceased took all those documents into his own keeping." Mrs. Counsellor laughed aloud, and turned around. " Do you hear, my son?" cried she, triumphantly. " The proofs are lacking, as a matter of course! This abomina- ble accusation against Baldwin is an attempt at extortion, in optima forma " She shrugged her shoulders. " It is possible that the seductive arts of that little coquette, who used to flirt on the warehouse balcony before our very eyes, may not have been without their effect upon him, too; it is possible, moreover, that a closer intimacy may jiave sprung up between them in the outside world that is. noth.' 210 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. ing singular nowadays, although I never should have sus- pected Baldwin of such a love-scrape. Never mind; I will allow that; but a marriage! Rather would I be hewn in pieces than believe in such an act of imbecility!" The old painter held the letter out to Herbert. " Please read it, sir/' said he, in an utterly despondent voice, " and appoint an hour to-morrow morning when I may lay the rest before you. It is impossible for me, any longer, to hear my dead child so shamefully calumniated. It requires the greatest self-control on my part to allow other eyes than my own to look upon that writing/' His agonized glance hung jealously upon the letter which Herbert now held. " It strikes me as treason to my daughter, whose only fault Bhe there confesses to her parents. "We had no suspicion that our chief and benefactor had misled our child into an affair of the heart at his urgent desire, in obedience to his positive command, she kept it all secret from us. She died in a foreign land; nobody in this town had any idea of the strange relations that existed, and so far as her honor was concerned, there would have been no occasion ever to divulge the matter. Had she been childless, I should have let the whole affair die a natural death. But the point is to obtain for her son his rights; and that I shall do with every means that lies at my disposal/' " You should have done that in my brother-in-law's life- time/' interposed Herbert, almost impatiently, after he had traversed the apartment several times in evidently great excitement. " Herbert!" shrieked the old lady. " Is it possible that you attach the slightest credence to this tissue of lies?" " You are right, I was too weak in presence of that mas- terful man," answered May, without heeding Mrs. Coun- sellor's outcry. "I should not have suffered him to put me off from time to time with promises, as I did. When, a year ago, we ventured to bring our grandchild home, Mr. Lambert said that circumstances would not allow the open recognition of his son, born in second wedlock. On the other hand, he would make his will as soon as possible, in case of the worst, to secure to little Max his rights as his eon. Well, he did not keep his promise in full conscious- ness of his great strength, that ' worst case ' of his sudden death probably seemed quite impossible to him. But I do not despair; the legal proofs exist somewhere the mar- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 211 riage certificate and entry of my grandson's baptism these papers must be found among his effects. And, therefore, I come to you. Mr. Herbert, I have a repugnance to going to law. I lay the matter in your hands." " I accept the trust/' answered Herbert. " The seala have been removed, now, and I give you my word that nothing shall be left undone that could throw light upon the subject." "I thank you with all my heart!" said the old man, offering him his hand. Then he bowed in the direction where stood Mrs. Counsellor, and went out. For a short time it was still in that room, as oppressively still as it commonly is after the first blast of an oncoming tempest; nothing was heard but the rustling of the paper which Herbert was taking out of its envelope and unfold- ing, while his mother continued gazing as though spell- bound at the door, behind which this unlucky man had dis- appeared. But now she rallied. "Herbert!" she called to her son, reading, "can you really see your mother stand before you in such feaiiul ex- citement while you remain absorbed in the lying tales of that miserable coquette?" " These are no lying tales, mamma," said he, looking up, visibly affected. " Ah, you are touched, my son, are you? "Well, that per is patient; and the pretty woman will, of course, ave used all her arts in order to veil somewhat her misde- meanors from her parents. And a man like you lets him- self be cheated, and believes in them." " I believed in them before, mamma." " Eidiculous! The talk cf an old, half-witted man." " Dear mamma, give up wanting to quiet yourself and me with false imaginations; rather look the truth steadily in the eye! With those first explanatory words of the old painter it seemed as though a bandage had been removed from my eyes. Baldwin's enigmatical bearing during these last years, the key for which we have sought in vain, lies unveiled before me! He was waging a fearful inward con- flict. Had not death snatched away from him this second wife, it might have turned out differently. With that beautiful, highly cultivated wife at his side he might have BO far mastered himself as to acknowledge his domestic ties alter awhile. But then, the charm was broken. Nothing pa ha 212 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. was left to him but the fact that he was the son-in-law of old May, and so the coward in him conquered the wretched coward!" he exclaimed, between his teeth. " How could he find it in his heart to disown his boy, that splendid fellow, who must have been his pride, refusing him access to his natural home? How could he bear to see him suffer from Reynold's mean envy? Poor little fel- low! How he whispered into my ear by the coffin of the deceased, ' I would rather kiss him on the mouth; he haa often kissed me, in the door-way, when we were quite alone ' " " You see, my son, all that only proves me correct in affirming this ' splendid fellow ' to be a bastard," inter- posed Mrs. Counsellor. She had grown quite calm ; even a supercilious smile played about her mouth. " But you seem wholly to overlook the main reason why Baldwin could not, durst not, enter into a second union namely, his oath, which Fanny took with her into the grave " 11 Yes, that is just what I find right hard to forgive in my sister. It is a cruelty, a monstrous action, to take ad- vantage of the pangs of separation, and thus chain a miser- able man for life to the hand of the dead." 11 "Well, we will not dispute about that. I look at it with other eyes than yours; and mark me, this circumstance ia the best weapon left to us. Trust me, those papers are not to be found they have never existed. Well, so much the better! The matter can be settled with money; the prop- erty of the two rightful heirs will, indeed, be made to bleed; but what help is there for it? All can be arranged in perfect quiet, and is much to be preferred to giving wind to the scandal of having a step-mother of low origin." Her son looked her full in the face. "Are you in earnest, mother?" asked he, feelingly. " You prefer to see the departed charged with the base crime of seduction? Great God! to what immorality does not that wretched prejudice of station lead? Was not Fanny herself the daughter of an untitled citizen? And was not her own mother, my father's first wife, also a simple maiden from the middle walks of life?" " That is right! Shout these facts out loud before all the world, just now, when we are about to mount up so rapidly!" said the old lady, in a tone of suppressed pas- THE LADT WITH THE RUBIES. 213 eion. " I do not understand you, Herbert. "Whence, all at once, this painful apprehension ?" " 1 have never thought differently," cried he, warmly. " Well, then, it is your fault if I erred. One never does know how you really think! A free interchange of opin- ion, such as should be between mother and son, never takes place with us one never knows where to find you. As for the rest, think of the affair as you choose; but I have made up my judgment. I do prefer to have a wrong act in the family condoned with money to finding myself sud- denly kin to Tom, Dick, or Harry. But there is another question I would like to ask? Have you no heart what- ever for Fanny's children? If a third rightful heir steps in, then they will suffer a monstrous loss." " There will be plenty left for them." " In your eyes, perhaps; but not in those of the world. Gretchen is one of the first matches in the country; and although she has just foolishly thrown away the most brilliant prospects, there must come a time when she shall take a more rational view of things. But what would be- come of these brilliant prospects if a third of the Lambert property fell to later born children, as to which I do not doubt for an instant." " A girl like Margaret will be in demand, let her fortune dwindle ever so much," replied Herbert. He had stepped up to the window and remained there, with his head avert- ed from his mother. " The less the better!" added he, almost in a murmur. She clapped her hands together over Her head. " Gretchen? Without money? What fancies do take pos- session of you, Herbert! Take that halo from her, and the poor little thing would be like a bird picked of all its feathers. I do declare, I could almost wish that after my death you would be obliged to marry the girl yourself!" " That would not be hard for me to do," said he, with an imperceptible smile. " Rather harder, perhaps, than to appoint a new clerk you may believe your old mother, my son," retorted she, mockingly. " But why discuss impossibilities?" said she, abruptly cutting short their colloquy. " We are both ex- cited I, over the shamelessness of the man who threw a bomb-shell into our house, which, upon nearer inspection, turns out to be a bogus one, and you, because you hare 214 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. come across the secret confessions of a former flame when we have cooled down, we can speak together again. Of course, for the present, this affair remains a secret between as two. The children, Margaret and Eeynold, will learn of it soon enough when the time comes to subtract from their inheritance the sum requisite to atone for the miser- able wrong-doing of their father. Poor children!" So Baying, she left her son's office. CHAPTEE XX. TO-DAY the sun shone full upon the city a pale, power- less winter sun, that tried in vain to produce any impression upon the hardened snow with which the roofs were panoplied. It is true that single fine threads of water ran downward, but they clung to the edges of the roofs in the form of sil- ver fringe. The tender, yearning house-plants behind the windows rejoiced, nevertheless, in the sun's faint smile, and poll parrot in the upstairs parlor shrieked and screamed with delight, as though the gold sparks scintillating from his brass ring and the picture-frames on the wall had ema- nated from real summer warmth, inviting to the green of the court-yard. But pretty poll had other things to make her feel satisfied. It had been long since she had heard so many terms of endearment, or received so much biscuit and sugar as she had this day. Sunshine in general seemed to pervade the atmosphere of the elegant upper apartments of the Lambert mansion. The beggar children got more bread and less scolding than usual; the cook, oftener than was fair, left her duties to try on once more the pretty hat Mrs. Counsellor had given her, that was almost new, and the chamber-maid sung merrily at her work as she pon- dered how she should best remodel her gift one of the old lady's cashmere dresses. L)own in the Lambert kitchen it seemed very different " because they had a heart, and no stone in their breast," as Barbara was forever saying. There was no occasion to trouble now about the warehouse, as had been customary for so many years; but if, in a dwelling just across the yard, a very ill person lay, it was not in the nature of a Christian to act as if that dwelling were a mere heap of gtones, and to forget that hearts therein were beating IE THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 215 trouble and anguish of spirit. And, therefore, it was that folks moved softly, involuntarily more quietly than usual in that kitchen. Yesterday, toward nightfall, Barbara had gone to the fountain to draw water, and at the same time the nurse from the warehouse had come for a fresh drink. With deep emotion, the woman had told how a few hours before Mrs. May had had a stroke of apoplexy she could not speak, and her left side was paralyzed. The doctor, who sat by her bedside, considered the case a very serious one. And the tears had come into her eyes as she told how old Mr. May had walked up and down the room, wringing his 1 hands, and in his agony not having even a look to give poor little Max, who sat huddled up at the corner of his grandmother's bed, never taking his eyes off her distorted face, and refusing to put a morsel of food into his mouth. And then she had whispered, furthermore, into the old cook's ear, that all day long Mrs. May had seemed greatly excited, and that in the afternoon her husband had come home looking as white as a sheet, and so hoarse that he could hardly speak so as to be heard. She, the nurse, had gone into the kitchen to wash up some things, but directly afterward had heard a dull sound, and hurrying into the next room, found that Mrs. May had fallen to the floor. What could have happened to shock the poor man so, the nurse did not know. But Mrs. Counsellor knew. Herbert had had old May summoned to his office in order to report the incontrovertible fact that not the least b' it of paper had been found, not the shadow of evidence among the effects of the deceased to testify to the legal consummation of his marriage to his second wife, nor any Deference to the exist- ence of his younger son. The secret that had threatened to spin its web across from the warehouse to his proud vis-a-vis therewith seemed to fall into that darkness which covers up so many of the unsolved riddles of this world. To be sure, there still re- mained to old May personal investigation in those London churches where took place his daughter's marriage, and the baptism of her child. But in her letter the young woman had not mentioned the name of the church where she " had stood by his side a happy bride, and received from him the wedding-ring." Old May had furthermore told Herbert that one day he had received a letter from his 216 THE LADY WITH THE BUBIES. daughter's nurse (likewise her friend) stating that a grand- child had been born to him, and three days afterward had followed a telegram announcing that Mrs. Lambert lay at the point of death. As speedily as possible he had set out for London, in order, once more, to behold his only child; but he had come too late; the earth had already closed over her. He had found his daughter's home magnificently furnished apartments already deserted; only the nurse was there, attending, by Mr. Lambert's direction, to the sale, by auction, of all the furniture. She had informed him that Mr. Lambert had journeyed away immediately after the funeral. He had behaved like such a madman that she had kept out of his way as much as possible. He had not even looked at his boy, much less caressed him, because the poor child had been the occasion of Blanche's death. Nevertheless, he had carried off with him the little new-born infant and his wet-nurse, for he never wanted to see London again, he said. The entire wardrobe of the deceased, and other little possessions, he had given to her for her attentions, but the lady added, from her desk he had abstracted every letter and paper of all sorts. Not a scrap of writing could be found in any of the drawers, for such a memento of his daughter old May said he had sought for as the only memento that he desired, or upon which he had a claim. Nothing, then, was left for him but her favorite the little pet dog, Philine, which had been left lying in a corner of the room, and now gratefully came to him, licking his hand. Not until the lapse of a year did Mr. Lambert return to his German home a com- pletely changed man, whose outburst of despair had deeply moved and distressed the aged parents of his deceased wife. In the darkness of night he had come to them. Then, for the first time, had they learned that he had given little Max into the charge of the widow of a deceased business friend a highly cultivated and distinguished lady. The child, then, had been well brought up; Mr. Lambert had regu- larly corresponded with the lady, and kept himself accu- rately informed as to all that concerned his little son; on the other hand he had never been able to obtain his own consent to see his child again. But now, about a year ago, the hidy in Paris had suddenly died ; and Mr. Lambert had announced his determination to have the boy brought up in a public school. To this Ilrs. May had declared herself THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 21? bitterly opposed; the child was too young, and needed the soothing influences of the domestic circle; and, moreover, she claimed the privilege of having him in her family as her right as a grandmother. She had long enough con- trolled her desire to see Blanche's child; and so, frightened by her threat of calling in the interposition of her relatives, one day, he had had little Max brought to his grandpar- ents' home in their native Germany. As though by miracle, a sudden change had then been effected; at sight of the beautiful, intelligent boy the deep- est fatherly tenderness toward him had sprung up in the solitary man's heart. Often of an evening he had come over to the warehouse, and for hours sat silently by the bedside of the sleeping child, holding his little hand in his. He had also devised great plans for his younger son's future. All this the old painter had narrated simply and natural- ly in the quiet of the young statesman's office, and if a doubt had still harbored in Herbert's soul it would have immediately been dissipated by the unadorned representa- tion of the deeply moved old man. But here the firmest conviction settled nothing; nothing would do but positive proof, written down in black upon white. " Without regularly accredited documents, all claims vanish into smoke, so travel you must!" Herbert had said. *' You will stumble upon great difficulties, and need much time and money; but for the sake of your righteous cause, you will cheerfully surmount difficulties, and sacrifice your time, and as to money, it will come in due time; do not be uneasy on that score." This was feeble consolation at best, a mere straw to hold by in times of such deadly anxiety; but such consolation as it was, the old man had not been able to impart it to his wife, for at his very first words she had fainted away before his eyes. In the counting-room of the Lambert house, meanwhile, everything went on its usual way. Could the young chief have had any idea of the tempest that was gathering on the verge of the horizon, his attention would have been very differently engaged than with the trifles now making his principal care. He had not yet done with the breaking up of old habits. Here and there were still back doors, through which pilfer- ing might yet be possible. Not only must every nook and 218 THE LADY WITH THE BUSIES. corner of the house be again inspected, but the court-yard, too, demanded watchful eyes, with its second means of egress, viz., the warehouse-gate. Through there came and went female employees, who might thus easily sneak off victuals and wood from the kitchen, and oats from the horses' stalls; therefore, each outlook upon the court-yard was left free, and window-blinds that had been drawn for long years were now thrown open. Already on yesterday, Barbara had experienced the disadvantages of these posts of observation when she had returned with her bucket from the well. Immediately afterward the young gentleman had come into the kitchen, had hotly scolded the old cook, and once for all prohibited this new-fashioned way of servants gossiping at the fountain in the yard. This afternoon, too, Margaret had come back from Mill- brook. She had reason to be content with the results of her filial attentions, for her grandpapa was much better. But the family physician whom Herbert had privately ques- tioned, had expressed the opinion that his disease could never be wholly eradicated in that slightly built pavilion, exposed as it was to all the winds of heaven, and that the old gentleman should by all means transfer his residence to town during the severest winter weather. Thereupon, Mr. Counsellor had given his consent to the change, so much the rather as he was not expected to take up his quarters in the upper story. A few rooms, just over the Lambert suite of apartments, on the first floor, were to be furnished for him, on account of the warmed floor. Now the thing to do was to make the old gentleman's abode comfortable, and on this errand Margaret was in town. Aunt Sophie was charmed to have her again, although Barbara exclaimed piteously, upon seeing "poor, dear Miss Gretchen's little face so thin and puny from grieving herself to death." Aunt Sophie rejoiced, moreover, in secret that the old gentleman was going to make his home there, for a mascu- line will was needed there a voice that, if uplifted in com- mand, could inspire fear and respect. That little dictatorial old woman in the second story needed somebody to manage her, for no sooner hacl the eyes of the former master closed, than she showed her se- i THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 219 eret aversion to that abominably blunt and opinionated Sophie interfering in the management of household affairs and criticising "that old maid/' as though she had been subject to her authority. The first hour of her arrival, Margaret learned of the trouble that had overtaken the family in the warehouse. Aunt Sophie and Barbara were taking counsel together in the kitchen how they might get to old May, unobserved, a few delicacies for the patient. " I'll carry them over," said Margaret. Barbara clapped her hands together over her head. " For God's sake, no! that would cause death and de- struction I" Thus she begged and insisted, saying that the people in the warehouse were still a thorn in Master Eeynold's flesh he despised them much more than his father had done. Yesterday he had stormed at an old servant like her, scold- ing her outrageously because she had chatted awhile with their nurse at the fountain ; and if his own sister were to " make herself so common," no; she would never survive the consequences! Margaret, however, was not to be diverted from her purpose. She silently took charge of a little basket, con- taining some glasses of jelly, and went into her own room. There she wrapped herself up in an ample white burnoose of fleecy white wool, and set out on her way. But she was unfortunate. At the very moment that she set foot upon the stairs leading to the entrance hall, grand- mamma came down the grand staircase in her elegant fur- lined velvet mantle. She was evidently minded to pay a visit in the city. " What, snowy white in the deepest mourning, Gret- chen!" cried she. " You are not going to let yourself be seen in town that way, I hope?" " No. I am going to the warehouse," said Margaret, firmly, yet casting a shy glance in the direction of the counting-room, where was heard the rattling of a window. " To the warehouse!" repeated Mrs. Counsellor, trip- ing down the last steps with redoubled quickness. ' ' Then must speak a few words with you, first." " I, too!" called across Reynold, shutting down the window again. Directly afterward he entered the front hall. " Let us go into the drawing-room," said grandmamma. 220 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. She threw back her veil, and led the way; and Margaret had nothing to do but follow her, for Reynold marched close behind her, like an escorting gendarme. CHAPTER XXI. THEY had hardly got into the room before he uncere- moniously caught hold of Margaret's mantle, and laid bare the little basket on her arm. " Raspberry jelly/' " apricot jelly," he read off the label upon the glasses. " Plenty of good things from our store- room. And that stuck-up little chorister over there is to eat them, I suppose, eh, Margaret?" " No, not he," said Margaret, quietly. " You have heard, perhaps, that Mrs. May is very ill. She has'had a stroke of apoplexy." "No; I know nothing about it. Such things do not come to our ears, because we never gossip with our serv- ants. I am minded just like papa, who never asked whether the people at the warehouse lived or died." " And that is the right way," chimed in his grandmoth- er. " The master of a factory must maintain a severe re- serve; otherwise, how could he get along with his hundreds of workmen? But, for Heaven's sake, Gretchen, tell us what put it into your head to wear that opera cloak in broad daylight?" With keen displeasure, her eyes surveyed the white wrap- piur. '' I did not want to look so gloomy when I stood by a sick-bed." " What! For this woman's sake would you lay off mourning for your own father?" cried the old lady, an- grily. " He will pardon me." " Who, papa?" laughed Reynold, shortly and hardly. ' Do not say things, Margaret, that you do not yourself believe. Just when, before the eyes of us all, too, you are going to act the sister of charity in the warehouse, when, once for all, he forbade your visiting there, because ' such a going to and fro was not our habit!' And I shall see to it that Iris wishes are carried out. Is there not an unpardon- able want of propriety, moreover, in your visiting at the THE LADY WITH THE BUSIES. 221 house of a man whom we have been compelled to dismiss on account of his notorious laziness?" ; ' The man is half blind." " Ah, have you learned that, too, already? Why, yes, he tries to excuse himself in that way, but he is not really so badly off. As for the rest, he has not been nearly long enough in the business for us to be under any obligation to provide for himself and family, even supposing that this pretended blindness were genuine. Ask the book-keeper, he will tell you that I am treating him quite correctly. There now, lay off that opera cloak. You see that you are making a little fool of yourself with your officious a'ssump- tion of the Samaritan's task." " No, Reynold; I see nothing of the kind," answered she, softly but firmly; " no more than I believe that I must be hard and pitiless because you are so. I do not willingly cross you because I know that any contradiction excites you ; but through my desire to spare you any vexation, I may not neglect other duties." " Stuff and nonsense, Gretchen! What is that woman to you?" ' ' She has the same claims upon her fellow-creatures for relief and assistance as any other sick person, and so be good, Eeynold, and do not hinder me from doing what I deem right and proper!" " And what if I forbid you, nevertheless?" " Forbid!" repeated she, indignantly. " You have no right to do that, Reynold?" Hereupon, he flew into a violent passion, and his sallow complexion turned livid with rage. His grandmother caught hold of his hand soothingly. " How can you oppose him so obstinately, Gretchen!" said she, querulously. ' ' Assuredly, he already has a cer- tain right to direct you. In a short time he will be undis- puted master here, for, certainly you know this much, that the old Lambert mansion, together with the firm, falls to the only male heir of the line." " The daughter will then simply have her portion count- ed out to her, and will no longer have any control over that ground, were it ten times over her birth-place," chimed in Reynold, in his squeaking, boyish voice, as promptly as though he had been long waiting for an opportunity to make this revelation to his sister. 222 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. " I know that, Reynold/' said she, mournfully, with moistened eyes, while the lines of grief about her mouth deepened. " I know that with papa I have also lost my dear old home. But you are not master here, yet awhile, to turn me out of doors, if I do not meekly do your will unquestioningly." " And so for these few weeks you prefer to be the same hard head that you have always been, and so go to the warehouse whether or no, G retch en?" put in Reynold, peering at her with his little lion's eyes. At the same time, with assumed indifference, he thrust his hands into his pockets, although he was really trem- bling from exertion. " Well, I don't care," added he, shrugging his should- ers, " if you refuse to listen to reason from me, however, Uncle Herbert will know how to set you straight." " Leave him out of the question, Reynold," objected his grandmother, with animation. " He will hardly put his finger in the pie. He has already positively declined to be- come Gretchen's guardian. Why, what do you see to shock you so in that, Gretchen? Dear me, what eyes! Are you surprised that a man like him should object to having the charge of so headstrong a thing as you are? Bless me, child! anybody who knows ycu would think twice before putting himself into such relations with you. Only think of your unpardonable behavior about that match which we all desired so much for you. However, we have nothing to do with that now. I am in a hurry, else my visit to the sick wife of the privy councilor Somme will be at an un- seasonable hour, and so I shall be brief with you, and let you know that you go against yourself by keeping com- pany with those warehouse people. Very shortly things will come to your ears, startling things, that may possibly cost you lots of money; but if for all this you will have your own way, then, as your grandmother, once for all, I forbid such a visit, and hope to find the obedience that is due!" She took her muff from the table, pulled her veil down, and was about to move off, when Reynold held her back. " Money, did you say, grandmamma?" asked he, in breathless suspense. " I do hope that man over there has not the audacity to set up any claims against our house! He has been referring to Uncle Herbert, hasn't he?" THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 223 " Don't get excited, Reynold/' said the old lady, sooth- ingly. " The affair is only agitated slightly; who knows whether it will ever find bottom? But in any case, we know that these Mays are designing folks, therefore, no mercy, say I! One does not lavish acts of kindness upon one's sworn foesP' She left her room. Reynold, however, picked up the little basket of preserves which Margaret had set down upon the table, and called to Aunt Sophie. She came from the kitchen, and he asked her for the store-room keys. " Heaven forbid ! You do not get them, for you have nothing in the world to do in my preserve closet," declared Aunt Sophie, positively. " Are you going to be a Paul Pry? And let that basket alone, too, if you please; yon have no right to those things whatever! They are made out of fruit from my own garden that I put up every year for poor sick people." He promptly replaced the basket on the table. For, from the time that he was a toddling babe, he had known his aunt to be truth itself, so he did not doubt her now. " If that is the case, I admit that I have indeed nothing to do with them," he agreed; "and you can do what you choose with your own fruit. Only you are to send nothing to the warehouse; that I will not suffer!" " So you will not suffer it! Listen, this head " and she tapped her forehead with her forefingers "forfoity years, it has been so long since my good parents died, has been accustomed to guide its own matters, and never sub- mitted to be twirled about as others dictated, and now shall such a chit as yourself presume to make laws for me? Your sainted father never did anything of the sort." "Oh! he would have acted very differently, if he had known that this creature May was his secret enemy. I never did have any confidence in that warehouse crew, from the time that I was a little thing, their sneaking, deceitful ways have disgusted me. Well, no sooner did papa's eyes close than now they show their teeth regu- lar Jesuits they are. But it is unconscionable of grand- mamma to disturb us by such disquieting news and mys- terious hints. I should have insisted upon her explaining herself. But I know that nothing is to be done with her when ghe has visiting upon the brain, and her velvet cloak 221 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. on, then the ground burns under her feet, and she does as if the life and welfare of the whole city hinged upon hex appearance in a certain parlor. There, now, I see you are going to show yourself rational, Gretchen. That's right, carry your white mantle and put it away again in the wardrobe. But do not think I believe in your perfect con- version, for all that. I shall keep a sharp eye on the court-yard and warehouse, you may depend." With this threat, he took his departure, while Margaret hung her mantle over her arm, in order to carry and put it away. " But do tell me, Gretchen; what carious tales are these? What is this about the Mays?" exclaimed Aunt Sophie, after the door had shut upon Reynold's retreating form. " They are reported to be our enemies/' replied the young girl, with a bitter smile. " Nonsense! All that has been hatched out in that upper story!" exclaimed her aunt indignantly. " If that old man, with his honest, open countenance, is false and double-dealing, one may as well give up everything, for then there is no good in humanity, and there is no use in troubling about what becomes of one. But that story ia not true. I will bet my little finger on it!" " I believe as little in it as you do; and all those hints and threats should not keep me from going to see the sick woman," said Margaret. " But I dare not on Reynold's account. The least excitement makes him turn so blue in the face that it distresses me indescribably, aunt! Hia condition has evidently altered for the worse, although the doctor will not own it. How could I do anything to vex and make him worse? We must devise some other ways and means for conveying a little help to the patient." A little later she went up into the apartments which she was having aired and heated for the reception of the grand- father. The renovation planned in October had, of course, been pretermitted until now. The pictures and mirrors were still standing in the passage of the haunted side-wing. Once more there was to be seen an infusion of life into those deserted chambers; a breath of warmth into the icy atmosphere of that immense hall, whose chill to-day struck to the very heart of the orphan as she entered it, bringing back in full force a sense of the misery entailed by the re- cent dread catastrophe. Here, where ail the windows THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 225 opened to the north, a sad, wintery light pro vailed; and out- side, upon the broad, snowy landscape, that stretched be- yond the town, far, far away to meet the cloudless blue sky, and even the sunshine shed but a pale yellowish glow this late afternoon. All looked so cold, bleak and comfort- less that it was hard to imagine that the earth would ever again be green or bear golden harvests, or that the bare, black arms of those fruit-trees would ever be covered with blossoms. Margaret stood in the last of the hall windows. Here she had heard the sound of her father's voice for the last time, and here, after five years' absence, in her youthful indiscretion she had slipped into this deep, dark niche in order, unobserved, to be a looker-on at the new comedy - being played in her father's house. Yes, and here, too, the former student had appeared before her as the first citizen of her native town; and she had made fun of him and mocked at him in her soul. Oh! that with all her boasted strength of mind and will she could not again attain to the same standpoint! She doubled up her fist involuntarily, and cast an infinitely bitter look out upon the wide, wide world out of doors. But at this moment she shrunk back, starting violently. Herbert came across the court-yard from the warehouse gate. Possibly he had observed her gesture of chagrin, for he smiled and bowed; then she flew into the red parlor, which had been fixed up for a sitting- room for her grandfather. But her rapid retreat availed her nothing; in a few sec- onds Herbert stood before her. He had come almost every day to Millbrook on his father's account, but he now held out his hand to her as gladly as though he had not seen her for a long while. " It is well that you are back again," said he. " Now we shall nurse our patient together finely. It \r as high time for you to have the benefit of the spacious spartments in this house, with their lofty ceilings. Your stay in that damp, contracted little pavilion has done you no good, you have turned so pale." He sought her eyes with solicitude, and yet with a sar- castic smile; but she kept them averted, and then he con- tinued, " Your pale face at the window just now startled me much, as I left the warehouse." " The warehouse?" asked she, incredulously. 226 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. " Why, yes. I have been seeing after that poor, ill lady; have you any objection to it, Margaret?" "I? How should I blame you for acting with such genuine humanity and kindliness?" cried she with anima- tion. Her eyes beamed with gratification, and at that minute she was once more the enthusiastic maiden, whose blood was made to course more rapidly through her veins in response to a warm and noble sentiment. " No, in this I think just as you do uncle!" " Why, only to behold. I have at last done something that meets your approval. I know it from the cordial tone of your voice. We both have the warm feelings of youth such as do not belong to a superannuated uncle; you are conscious of this, too, for that dignified title was pro- nounced by you with difficulty just then; had we not better agree to burv that old uncle?" A faint smile was now apparent upon her face too. Nevertheless she said, putting him off, No, it must stay so! What would grandmamma say, too, if I were to fall back into the rude ways of my childhood?" " I should think that this were a matter between you and me alone." " Oh, no, by no means! Grandmamma will never re- sign her guardianship over us all while the world stands. I know that much!" answered she bitterly. "And you may esteem yourself fortunate that she did not observe your visit to the warehouse, for she would have been very angry." He laughed. " And what would have been the punish- ment for a boy of my age? Should I have been stood in the corner, or been "sent supperless to bed? No, Mar- garet," added he seriously, " however much I may strive to save my mother every cause for annoyance or distress, and make her life as easy and pleasant as I can, yet I can not allow her to decidedly influence my actions. And so, you will often see me come out of the warehouse." She looked up at him brightly. " Had a doubt previ- ously crept into my soul, it would have vanished before (our calm judgment pronounced! That old painter, whom have loved from childhood up, can not be our enemy!" " Who says so?" " Grandmamma. Is it true that he institutes claims against Reynold and myself?" THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. 227 " Yes, Margaret, it is true/' assented he gravely. " He has much to ask of you. Would you yield what he de- mands without protest?" " How could I do otherwise if the claim were a just one?" answered she unhesitatingly; but the flush of a sud- den surprise passed over her face. " Although this claim should considerably diminish your heritage?" She smiled slightly. " Hitherto I have always been pro- vided for by others, and hence have little understanding of money's real value; but this much I know, that I would a thousand times rather earn my bread as a seamstress than keep even a penny that did not belong to me. I know, too, that you would countenance no unjust claim; and therefore I am ready for any sacrifice!" " Brave little girl, that lias her foot in the stirrup forth- with, at the bare mention of a good deed to be done!" Her countenance was overshadowed. " A badly chosen simile fcr one who does not know how to ride," remarked she, coolly, at the same time shrugging her shoulders. " The fashionable world plays in all your thoughts, uncle!" He restrained a smile. " What would you have? No one can easily withdraw himself entirely from the spell of the sphere in which he lives a great deal. Would you have been the ardent lover of liberty, or glowing advocate of a proud, independent citizenship if you had not lived in Uncle Theobald's house? I hardly believe so." " You are mistaken. That is something not got by assimilation, but ingrain with me. It must have been a property of my blood, my soul, without the stimulus of out- side influence, just as they say" here a stroke of her old wilfullness was apparent " that Raphael would have been a great painter, even if he had come into the world without hands." But she speedily resumed her gravity and went back to the subject of Herbert's communication. " Upon what right does Mr. May base his claims?" asked she, with- out circumlocution. " To what extent is he our creditor?" " You will have to be patient for a short while," an- swered he, with hesitation; and his eyes scanned her face curiously, as though he doubted whether or not he should speak even now. " Ah, that is most likely my guardian's affair?" asked 228 THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. she, with apparent indifference; but her cheeks flushed and her voice had a sharp intonation. " You have 110 guardian yet," returned he, smiling softly. " Certainly not beforehand; you would not accept the position." " And has that, too, been reported to you? Why, yes, I did decline it decidedly, because every aimless thing is re- pugnant to my soul." " Aimless! Then grandmamma is right when she says that you decline this office because nothing can be done with one so self-willed as myself." " Why, supposing that reason were put to the test; you are bad enough!" He gave her a roguish side glance. " Meanwhile, I should not be afraid; I should know how to get the mastery of this stubborn will. But I have another reason, which I shall very shortly explain to you." They were interrupted by the entrance of an upholsterer. Herbert wanted a new carpet put down for his father, and the man had come to measure the floor for it. While Herbert was giving him directions, Margaret slipped out of the room. " Yes, Nettie, you're right; it is a sin and a shame!" said Barbara to the house-maid with a sigh, as Margaret went by the open kitchen door to the drawing-room. The old cook was rolling out dough upon the pastry-board. " Yes, it is too bad that this man in our house here will not let a finger be lifted to help those poor people over yonder!" She grew warm. "What would there not be to pay if I should carry over a bowl of noodle soup to the old man and the child? But, Lord ha' mercy! I would not like to try it! That fellow in the counting-room would cut a body's head off!" She angrily strewed a handful of flour over the broad surface of the pastry. " Yes, and the old lady must be badly off, for the nurse came again to the fountain for ice very early this morning, and I've seen the doctor go in twice to-day. Mark my word, Nettie, the lady is dying! She's dying! My kettles have not sung when they boiled for ages, as they have been doing all the morning long; that always means death in the house always!" THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 228 CHAPTER XXII. NEXT day there was a great stir on the first floor. Upholsterers, white washers, and stove-cleaners came and went; and from early in the morning Margaret had been closely engaged. And this was well, because no time was left her for puzzling over things that had already robbed her of her night's rest. She had lain almost the whole night with wide-open eyes, and fierce had been the storms that raged in heart and head. The portraits were to be restored to their old places in the red parlor. For the first time, again, since the wax candles had burned beside the dead in the front hall, Aunt Sophie unlocked the passage behind Mrs. Dorothy's death- chamber, and Margaret followed her with a oloth and dust- ing-brush; she wanted to see to the cleaning of the pictures herself. A thrill of awe crept over her as she approached the dark passage; it had become dismal to her, yes, frightfully dis- mal. Her father's mysterious behavior on that afternoon when he had locked himself up in the fair Dorothea's chamber, his enigmatical hints on that stormy night, and the horrible walk that she had herself taken over those creaking old boards, and the warehouse garret, until she came to the corpse of the newly dead all this rushed back upon her mind with a fresh thrill of renewed grief. She stepped along as timidly as though the sound of her footsteps might arouse those forms ranged along the wall, and reanimate them until they should proclaim aloud all the secrets which they had carried with them to the grave. The pretty Dora still had her face turned to the wall in the corner by the wardrobe, where the deceased had shoved it; the storm had not damaged it. Doubly touching and engaging did that striking countenance look after she had wiped the dust off of so many commonplace, meaningless faces. She knelt before the picture a few seconds, and wondered what of great crime those lustrous eyes and rosy lips could have been guilty to warrant such an outburst of hatred as had come from her father that fatal day after she had been dead, too, some hundreds of years. 230 THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. But Frederick, the house servant, had said down-stairs, after he had come out of the red parlor and cast a shy glance into the dark passage, " Our young lady is kneeling down before her with the rubies! If she only knew what I know ! That lady must have been a very satan in her life- time, not to be allowed to have a bit of rest in her frame. That godless picture belongs of right to the fire-place in the garret. I say, then, for aught I care, she may wander around without a frame as much as she chooses." But that picture was not taken to the garret. Margaret, with the upholsterer's help, hung it herself in its old place. Then she went down into her own snug sitting-room to warm herself. She seated herself at the window, and looked out into the snow-covered yard. The temperature had moderated some- what; here and there balls of loosened snow fell from the boughs of the linden trees; finks, torn-tits, and sparrows sported about on the feeding-place that had been cleared for them, and the tame pigeons, too, came down and helped to pick up the bountifully scattered grains of corn. But suddenly the whole company of birds flew up in alarm. Somebody must have come into the court-yard from the warehouse. Margaret bent over the window-seat and caught sight of little Max, as, with anxiously search- ing eyes fixed upon the kitchen windows, he came directly toward the great house, stamping through the snow. The young lady started in affright. If Eeynold should notice the boy then there would be a storm. She opened the window, and with a half-suppressed voice called the child to come to her. He came across directly, and pulled off his little cap, when she saw tears in his eyes. " Grandmamma wants to be turned in bed, and grand- papa can not lift her by himself," said he hurriedly. " The nurse has gone away. I have looked for her every- where, running all over town after her; but I can not find her. Now we have nobody! Ah, but it is too bad! And then I thought that good Barbara ; " Just go and tell grandpapa help shall be forthcoming directly/' whispered Margaret down to him, quickly clos- ing the window. The little fellow ran home as straight as an arrow; and Margaret, packing up her white burnoose, went to the draw- ing-room. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 231 Aunt Sophie was just on the point of going out. The young girl told her as she moved along, that instant help was wanted at the warehouse, and finally told her, " I know, now, how I can get there unperceived; through the passage and the warehouse garret! Have you in your keep- ing the key to the chamber on the roof ?" Her aunt handed her a new ring from the hook. " There, Gretchen, in God's name go!" Margaret flew up the steps, not without casting an anx- ious side-glance at the counting-room window, but the cur- tain hung motionless behind the panes of glass. It was quiet and deserted in the entrance; and, as awhile ago, not a single face was at the windows looking out upon the court-yard, and up in the red parlor the upholsterers were still busy laying down the carpet. She slipped through the entrance and the still open pas- sage door; the new lock of the chamber on the roof was quickly opened, and no obstruction came in her way as she traversed the whole garret, every door standing open, even the one leading down-stairs. With a deep sigh of relief Margaret found herself in the warehouse sitting-room. Nobody was in there; but from the adjoining kitchen, the door to which was only slightly ajar, came a little noise. The young lady opened the door further and looked into the room, which was filled with the odor of cookery. The painter stood on the hearth, and was just trying to pour broth from the smoking stew-pan into a cup. He had pushed his spectacles up on his forehead, and was making a wry face; the unaccustomed occupation of cook- ing seemed to occasion him much trouble and perplexity. " I want to help you," said Margaret, while she closed the kitchen door behind her. He looked up. " Dear me, Miss Lambert, you have not come yourself?" cried he, with joyful surprise. " Max played me the trick of seeking aid at your house without my knowing anything about it; he is such a resolute little fellow that he never will come home until he has accom- plished his errand." " He did right, like a good boy!" said the young lady. So saying, she took the stew-pan from the old man's hand and poured the broth through the strainer which the in' experienced cook had forgotten to do into the cup. 232 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. " That is the first strong nourishment that my wife has ventured to taste," said he with a happy smile. " God be thanked, she is much better! She can speak again; and the doctor hopes for the best." " But will it not hurt her if an unfamiliar face like mine is suddenly presented to her?" asked Margaret, solicitously. " I'll prepare her." He took the cup and carried it through the sitting-room into the adjoining chamber. Margaret stayed behind. She did not need to wait long. " Where is she the good, kind young lady?" she heard the patient ask eagerly. " Let her come in! Ah, how it cheers and comforts me!" The young lady stood at the threshold, and Mrs. May stretched out her well arm to her. Her face was as white as the sheet on which she lay, but her eyes shone with full intelligence. " White and pure as a dove, she comes on her errand of peace," said she, with emotion. " Ah, yes! she used to be so fond of wearing white, she who went away from us, never to return!" " Don't speak of it, Nannie!" exhorted her husband, uneasily. " You were longing so just now to be moved to a more comfortable couch, and therefore Miss Lambert has come, as I have already told you. She will help me to move you to another bed." " On! thank you. I am lying well now, and although I had my couch on nettles, I believe I should not feel them any longer. I feel so nicely now! The sight of that dear young face refreshes me. Yes; I, too, had a daughter, young and beautiful, like an angel, too, in goodness; but I was, may be, too proud of this gift of God, and, there- fore " " But, Nannie," interrupted the old man, in visible dis- tress, " you ought not to talk so much. And Miss Lam- bert will have to shorten her visit." " Do please let me talk!" cried she, violently excited. " A stone lies on my breast, and it must be lifted by giv- ing utterance to my feelings." She drew a long, deep breath. " Can you not see how it is, that an unfortunate mother wants to enjoy once more the mournful pleasure of talking once more about her dead darling? Do not be un- easy, Ernest, you dear, true heart!" added she, more qui- etly. " Did not Mr. Herbert's visit yesterday do me a THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 233 great deal of good? I could not, indeed, see or converse with him ; but I heard all that he had to say on that sub- ject. He, noble gentleman that he is, believes in us, and every kind word that he spoke brought health to me." She pointed to a porcelain miniature in oval form that hung over her bed. " Do you recognize that?" asked she, ?,nd her glance was fixed almost consumingly upon the young lady. Margaret came nearer. Yes; she knew those dewy lips, those deep, blue eyes, and the golden glory of a wealth of hair surmounting the brow that wondrously beautiful head she knew it well. " The beautiful Blanche!" said she, with feeling. " I have never forgotten her. That night, when Mr. May brought me home in his arms, her hair, that falls over her breast in plaits, in the picture, floated over her shoulders and down her back, like a glittering veil of gold." *' That evening," said the patient, sighing, "yes; that evening, when she had fled into the darkness with her poor, storm-tossed spirit. Oh, her unsuspecting parents! Alas! for the blind mother, who did not understand how to protect her child!" * Nannie!" The old lady paid no heed to her husband's exclamation and deprecating looks. " Go, my dear child," said she, turning to little Max, who sat at the foot of her bed; " go into the kitchen to Philine. Do you not hear her whimpering? She wants to come in, and the doctor has forbidden it." The boy rose obediently, and left the room. " Isn't he a sweet, good child?" asked the sick woman, tears sparkling in her eyes. " Could any father help being proud of such a precious gift from Heaven? Oh! and he can he be a partaker of heavenly bliss, having taken his son's honor and happiness for life into the grave with him?" " Please, dear wife, do not talk any more, just for this day!" pleaded the old man, most urgently. He trembled visibly in every limb. " I shall have to beg Miss Lambert to postpone the rest of her visit until to-morrow, when you will be stronger and quieter." The patient silently but energetically shook her head, and grasped Margaret's liand, saying: 234 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES " Do you mind what I said to you when you assured me that you loved our Max, and would keep an eye upon his course of life?" Margaret pressed her hand gently and soothingly. " You said that many a time altered relations suddenly changed a person's views of things, and who could tell if in four weeks' time, I would be of the same opinion as I was then. Now, then, the relations between us have changed already, I am told; to what extent, I have not yet been informed. Meanwhile, let them be of whatever nat- ure they will, what has this change to do with my partiali- ty for the child? Will he become any the less amiable thereby? But now let me, too, urgently add my entreaties that you talk no more at present. I'll come to you any day, and you may tell me all that can lighten your heart." The old lady smiled bitterly. " This very day, perhaps, you will be prohibited from ever again visiting this hated family." "I go by a way that does not exist for others. I came to-day through your garret." The eyes of the patient opened wide in painful excite- ment. " That unlucky way, into which my poor lamb was en- ticed?" cried she, passionately. " Ah, yes! she went away over my head; and the mother who would have given her heart's blood to preserve the purity of her child's soul, remained blind and deaf, sleeping, as did the foolish vir- gins in the Bible. I have never trodden it, that fatal path through which the white lady of your house is said to walk; but I know that a curse rests upon it, and she, my idol, went that way to destruction! Do not go that way again." " I shall not be deterred, because I go in the discharge of neighborly duty," said Margaret, with unsteady voice and laboring breath. She felt as though she were suddenly gazing into a deep, mysterious pool whence gradually emerged familiar out- lines. " Yes; you are good and pitying as an angel, but must be limited by human possibilities, with all your good will," cried the sick woman, while she lifted herself upon her pil- low by a mighty exertion. " You, too, will finally con- demn us, if you hear that we have made claims without being able to substantiate them with proofs. Dreadful to THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. $35 think of, there is only one ray of light in all this Egyptian darkness. We shall be driven out of doors, and Blanche's son will not know where to lay his head he for whom she gave her young life 1 /' With perfectly colorless lips, Margaret seized the old lady's hand. " Not these half hints," implored she, with difficulty mastering her own fearful excitement, which was great enough to make her heart beat tumultuously, and almost entirely deprive her of breath. " Tel^ me plainly what burdens your heart? You shall find me composed, what- ever may be the nature of those revelations." The old painter hurriedly bowed over the sick woman, and whispered a few words in her ear. " She is not to learn it yet ?" asked she, turning her head away indignantly. " And why not? Would they wait until you have returned from London, and if with empty hands, then let it remain forever in oblivion? No; she shall know at least that it is a rightful heir who is thrust out of his father's house, because he can produce no written proof. Max is just as truly your brother as that cold, stern man in the counting-room," said she to the young lady with inexorable determination. " For one brief year, Blanche was your step-mother; she was your de- ceased father's second wife." Exhausted, her head fell back upon her pillow, but Mar- garet stood for an instant, as though turned to stone. It was less the sudden blunt statement of the fact named than the broad light thus thrown upon a whole chain of hitherto mysterious precedents. Yes, this secret marriage it had been which cast such a dark shadow over the last years of her father's life! She now knew that he had tenderly loved this son of a second marriage, and yet had not found courage to acknowledge him. But she knew, too, that in the awful moment, when he supposed that this darling child lay crushed beneath the toppling ruins, he had firmly resolved to invest him with all his rights. " To-morrow," he had said, pointing to her grandmam- ma's suite of rooms, " there will arise a storm up there, as wild as the one now shaking our old house to its very foundations." Yes, he had had sufficient reasons for anticipating vio- 236 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. lent scenes there. Now, death had spared him this collis- ion with the prejudices of the so greatly dreaded polite world, but at what a price! " You have no written proof s in hand; said you not so?" asked she, with half -stifled voice. " None," answered the old painter, despondently; and bitter disappointment was expressed in the glance, which he cast upon the young lady upon hearing the young lady's question; " at least, none valid in law. The deceased took possession of these jat the time of my daughter's death; but they are not to be found among his effects; they have track- lessly vanished." " They must and shall be found," said she, firmly. So saying, she went to the kitchen, and came in im- mediately afterward, leading little Max by the hand. " He shall always be to me a dear brother," said she, feelingly, while she flung her right arm around the boy, and laid her left hand protectingly upon his curly head. " The child is a legacy to me from my father a precious one. No one had an insight into the secret of his later life; only toward the last, he did give his eldest some hints of it. They were indeed enigmas for me, but now I know the solution. Had rny father lived two days longer, then long since this poor orphan would have borne our name. But I shall not rest, until his last expressed will has been carried out, for I know that it lay heavy upon his conscience before his death. No, say no more!" cried she stretch- ing out her hand in a deprecatory manner to the sick wom- an, who wanted evidently to express the happiness she felt. " You must rest now! Come, Max, grandmamma must sleep so that she will soon be well again!" The boy nodded and stroked his grandmother's hand. He again took his place at the foot of the bed, while the young lady, followed by Mr. May, went into the sitting-room. Here in the deep bay-window he communicated further particulars concerning her father's connection with his family, and during the recital his listener wept. The nervous shock had been terrific, all the more because Mar- garet felt that she must control her own feelings for the sake of Mrs. May; but now came the reaction, and the tears that give relief could no longer be restrained. Before she left, once more she glanced into the sleeping- room. Little Max pointed to the patient and laid his fin- THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 287 ger on his lips; she seemed to be sleeping sweet and sound- ly: the burden had been lifted from her soul to be rolled upon younger, stronger shoulders. A few minutes later Margaret went up the garret steps leading to the warehouse. She walked as in a dream, but in a troubled one. Not much more than a half hour had elapsed since she had unsuspectingly slipped down those stairs, but what an entire revolution had this half hour effected in the tenor of her thoughts! Now it had become clear to her why papa had appealed to her strength and confidence! He had accused himself of a miserable weak- ness; yes, this weakness, this dread of falling under the ban of polite society on account of his second marriage tnis it was that had poisoned life for him ! Involuntarily she paused and looked across at the great house. A cutting wind whistled through the open luthern, and glittering icicles, like dragon teeth, studded its small round arch. Margaret shuddered, but not from the winter's cold, that did but cool pleasantly her glowing face ; there rose up before her soul in vision the battles that had to be fought in that old house, until the right should tri- umph and the youngest-born be permitted access to his paternal mansion. And was not the sick woman right? Was not this handsome, vigorous boy a very Godsend to the house of Lambert, now reduced to such a miserable rep- resentative? But what cared the haughty, cold-hearted old lady in the upper stoiy for the assured continuance of that dear old firm? That child was the grandson of those despicable " painter-people," and that sufficed to infuriate and spur her on to postpone as long as possible the recog- nition of the orphan. And Eeynold, the grasping mer- chant, who had laid both hands firmly on his inherited money-chests, most certainly would not give out a penny, without the most violent opposition. She pursued her way over the garret-planks, that groaned beneath her tread. Ah, yes, not merely the rough soles of the packers' shoes had passed that way, but the winged feet of a maiden had lightly touched those rough-hewn planks, " a white dove " had once flown in and out. As this thought flashed upon her she blushed deeply and buried her face in her hands; then she advanced more quickly to the door, that led to that unfortunate passage; 238 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. she did not, indeed, suspect that mischief was lurking even now behind that door. CHAPTER XXIII. IN the front hall, meanwhile, an exciting scene had been enacted. Barbara had carried up some refreshments to the upholsterers, and after a brief conversation with the men had opened the door, to leave the red parlor; but the leaves of the door had immediately flown to again and the old cook had tumbled back into the room with a shriek. At first she had not been able to utter a word; with her hands pointing to the door, she had dropped into the nearest chair, and thrown her apron over her head. But outside there was positively nothing peculiar to be found, as one of the workmen affirmed who had gone out to see what could have so startled the robust old woman. " You may well believe, not all see it! Ah, it is my death I" Barbara had stammered out underneath her apron. Then she had tried to stand up, but found her limbs so weak and tremulous that she had to sit down again. Only quite gradually had she let her apron drop, and timidly looked around, when the healthy glow upon her sunburned face was seen to have changed to an ashy pallor. But she had grown quiet; those were strange folks, those men, in whose presence one must be mum, else they would blab, and in a few hours the whole town know what had happened at the Lamberts' ! Happily the workmen were soon through with their task, so that she did not have to go alone through that long front hall. She had gone along with two of the appren- tices, had not looked to the right or the left, and had finally slunk into her kitchen. Yes "slunk" the house-serv- ant had called it, coining along like a ghost, until she had dropped down helplessly upon the settle. But now the doors of her lips were unclosed. Now, she too had seen " her with the rubies," and now let anybody come who chose, and dispute what she had seen with her own eyes! Just let them come. And the man-servant with old Nettie were listening with wide-open mouths, the coachman, too, had just come up at the minute when Frederick had asked, " Was she in THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 239 that grass-green dress with the long train, like that time when I saw her once?" Now came up a clerk from the counting-room, to ask for a glass of sugar-water for the young master. " Oh bless me, not green!" Barbara had gasped, shak- ing her head energetically. " Something white, snow- white, flew around the corner of the passage! Exactly as she must have lain in her coffin." And hereupon she launched into a description that even made the -Jerk's hair stand on end. Through him the news of what had happened was con- veyed to the counting-room, lieynold had been much in- censed at the young man's long delay, who accordingly excused himself on account of the uproar in the kitchen. Immediately afterward the young gentleman had come over, wrapped up in a heavy great-coat, and with his warm otter-cap upon his head. " You are to go with me right away, and show me the spot where you report yourself to have seen the white lady!" was his stern address to the old cook, who was still trembling in every limb. " I'll see if we can not come to the bottom of this ghost-seeing. You cowards are bringing my house more and more into disre- pute; how am I to get lodgers if hereafter I want to let out all the superfluous rooms in the house? On, Barbara! You know I'll stand no fooling!" And not a word of objection crossed poor old Barbara's quivering lips. She followed him with quaking knees up the steps and along the front hall; her horrified start at the corner of the passage did not help her at all; he had only seized her by the arm and thrust her along by those ghastly, staring portraits, until she came to the little side staircase leading to the warehouse garret. But here he had suddenly bounded forward like mad, and when he again looked toward Barbara his big, stony gray eyes were full of life, sparkling like those of a mis- chievous cat. " Now, march down to your kitchen again," he had ordered her with a malicious grin, and tell those other cowards that a ghost can not be very dangerous that carries a full basket of preserves upon its arm ! But first go up and ask my grandmother to be so good as to come into the red parlor." Barbara had beaten a retreat as speedily as possible. 540 THE LADY WITH THE BUSIES. But a suspicion had dawned upon her mind that gave her a most uncomfortable sensation of having committed a foolish blunder. And upon Aunt Sophie's soon afterward coming in from her walk, and her starting to tell her a few preliminaries of what had befallen her, she had only had time to~utter a few sentences before that lady exclaimed in dismay: " Oh! you unlucky Barbara!" Then she had begun to lament and hurried up the steps, in her bonnet and cloak just as she had come in from the street. She would have given anything to save her Gretchen a painful scene, or at least to moderate its violence, but she came too late. At the very instant that she entered the hall, Reynold left the red parlor accompanied by his grand- mother. She made an ironically low bow in the direction of the passage. " Eh, my dear Gretchen, you seem to enjoy masquerading as the fair Dora! Recently you had just stepped out of your frame in bridal array, and to-day you are terrifying the people in the house as the white lady. " Yes, as the lady with the rubies!" chimed in Reynold. ' ' Barbara is like somebody deranged ! She caught a glimpse of that famous white opera-cloak darting through the pas- sage, and made the whole house uproarious. It must be so! You people down there stick together like burs, in opposi- tion to me, and now one betrays the other although against her will!" During this impertinent address, Margaret had turned the corner of the passage. She did not answer, surprise seemed to close her lips. " Traitress!" hissed Reynold at her as he advanced to- ward her. " You are going to take such sly ways, are you? Pretty lessons you have been learning out in the world!" " Reynold, moderate yourself!" said Margaret with quiet dignity, as she tried to go across to Aunt Sophie; but he blocked her path. "That's right, fly to your governess! There you have ever found help and protection." " You too!" put in Aunt Sophie. " Your governess I never was " a dry sort of smile crossed her lips. " I un- derstand neither French nor English any more than I do etiquette; but something like the trusty Eckard that is what I have been to you both. I have held my hands pro- tectingly over both your souls and bodies, as well as I could, and used my little strength in your service, so long THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 241 as it was needed. And for you, Beynold, when for years your feeble limbs would not carry you, it was in my arms that you were borne about the house and yard, and into the open air. I never would trust you in anybody else's hands. Now you can run, but not to gladden others. Like a jailer, you run prying from door to door, not being willing that your fellow-creatures should ' even breathe, but as you please and dictate. All must dance to your tune. The old Lambert house has been turned into a regular penitentiary. And so, I think, it is high time for one to leave. I do not need either you or your charity; but Gretchen I'll take with me!" During the administration of his castigation the head of the young man had sunk even deeper into the collar of his furred overcoat, and his eyes aimlessly wandered over the walls. He remembered right well how Aunt Sophie had watched by his sick-bed, for weeks at a time, night after night, and when his appetite had failed utterly she had with her own hands prepared every morsel that he put into his mouth. Even when a boy of seven, she had lifted him upstairs, so that it might well be a blush of shame that was now mantling his sallow cheek. But Mrs. Counsellor was evidently enraged. " Do you really believe that we would let our grand- daughter go with you?" asked she angrily. " That is somewhat bold and overhasty, my dear! I fancy that the rich heiress will consider well before creeping into the first hovel that presents itself." Aunt Sophie smiled humorously. "It is well for the state that you are not commissioner of the treasury, Mrs. Counsellor! It really is not so bad as you imagine, else my name should not be Lambert! Be it observed I only say this to free myself from the imputation of boldness and precipitancy." Margaret stepped up to her aunt and tenderly threw her arm around her beloved form. " Grandma is mistaken," said she. " In the first place, I am not the rich heiress for whom she takes me, and then I would gladly retreat to the humblest home, if I might share it with you. But we two are not to leave this house for the present; I have a mission to fulfill, and you must aid me in it, aunt!" " One thing, Gretchen, this missionary path is to be 24:2 THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. henceforth closed against you. I shall have this door to the warehouse walled up, it serves no other end, and enough of this! I shall see whether I can not get some rest!" said Reynold, as he buttoned up his overcoat more tightly as though chilly and went to the outer door. Tha feeble stirrings of a better nature within him had already been smothered. " As for the rest, to put it mildly, it is an ungrateful thing of you to belittle your inheritance/' add- ed he, again turning back. " You obtain far more than comes to the daughter by law. Had papa made his will betimes as his duty to me, his successor in business re- quired, then the circumstances would have been very differ- ent; but as it is I must count out to you lots of money." " Yes, I too am of opinion that this great inheritance does not belong to me. I shall have to divide it!" said Margaret significantly. " With me again?" laughed Reynold scornfully. '* You can let that be ! You have no right to alienate your prop- erty. And I want none of your generosity, any more than I am minded to give away the smallest iota of what is mine. ' Every man for himself ' is my motto. Let me take this opportunity to say to you, grandma, that not a trace is to be found anywhere of any business contract be- tween my father and that man over yonder," he pointed toward the warehouse. " That claim which you treat so mysteriously, is a mere bogus one and done with so far as I am concerned. I want to hear no more about it. As for the rest, I thank you for coming down at my desire; you are convinced now, I suppose, of the mean, perfidious way in which my sister is accustomed to act." He went out and let the door slam to behind him. Margaret had turned deathly pale. " Don't take it to heart, Gretchen!" consoled Aunt Sophie. " From the time you were a little thing you have served him for a scape-goat! And he has thus grown up to be a heartless fellow, a cruel egotist." " Young as he is, a perfect man you mean, dear Sophie, a man who knows A from a bull's foot " remarked Mrs. Counsellor. " Margaret has nobody but herself to blame, if he talks badly to her. She should not have gone to see those people, who she knew were raising untenable claims against the heirs." " Their claims are just!" said the young girl firmly. THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 243 " What/' burst forth from her grandmamma; " those wretches have been talking to the daughter about her deceased father, out of gratitude, I suppose, for her acting the good Samaritan toward them? And you believe their fables?" She clutched nervously at the cape to her cloak. " It is too cold for me here, Gretchen, you must go upstairs with me, that matter must be talked over!" Margaret followed her in silence while Aunt Sophie went down-stairs, casting an anxious look after her. CHAPTER XXIV. UP in the parlor the parrot screeched and scolded upon Margaret's entrance; from her childhood she never could bear the mischievous, pampered creature, and this the par- rot knew right well. " Be pretty, my pet!" said the old lady fondly, while she handed the screamer a biscuit, caressing it at the same time. Then she slowly and deliberately took the capote from her lace cap, and the wrap from her shoulders, and laid both carefully together. Margaret first turned red, then pale, from excitement and agitation of spirit; she bit her lip, but not a word escaped her; she knew that affected composure; her grand- mamma never appeared colder and more deliberate than when she was inwardly boiling over with passion. " Well, I supposed that you had some astounding piece of information to give me," said the old lady to her across her shoulder, while she slowly put away the box in which she had deposited the things which she had laid off; " in- stead of this you station yourself at the window and gaze out upon the market-place as though you were counting the icicles on the gutters." " I was waiting for you to question me, grandma," an- swered the young girl gravely. " Would that I were tran- quil enough to be able to occupy myself so harmlessly as you suppose! But every nerve in my body is quivering." Her grandmother shrugged her shoulders. " You have nobody but yourself to blame for it, Margaret! 5Tour in- quisitiveness is punished. You had nothing to do with the warehouse. I was shocked, too, when that man came down 24:4 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. upon us with his monstrous assertion as suddenly as a thunderbolt from the skies; but at my time of life one's head is not so easily upset, as at yours. I very quickly saw through the plot laid, and predicted to my son, that accomplished jurist, how it would turn out. The old man can not maintain his assertion because there is no proof of it whatever. He appealed to what would be found in your blessed father's effects; but why need I tell you all this?" said she, suddenly breaking off. " You have heard it already from the lips of your proteges, of course in the point of view whence they regard it, for else you would not just now have maintained that his claims were just." Margaret had glided noiselessly over the carpet and now, pale as a ghost from inward agitation, she stood before the old lady. " That those claims are just and well grounded I know through the lips of another, grandmamma, from those of my father," said she with quivering voice. Mrs. Counsellor recoiled. Speechless from amazement at the first moment, she stared at her grandchild with wide-open, horrified eyes. " Are you out of your senses?" she finally gasped forth. " You are not to impose upon me things that no rational mind can believe. Your father? Who that ever knew him, that sternly reticent man, who could make himself utterly inapproachable by a single glance of the eye, who could believe that he would ever have confided such a secret to so young a thing as you are ! No, my dear Gretchen, he was far from being so childish as that. You claim for yourself a confidence at which I should laugh if your blindness were not really so pitiable? Were it really then so fine and joyous a circumstance to know this cuckoo's egg to be in the Lambert nest? I implore you not to stand before me with such a wise and superior air, a mien that makes every drop of blood boil within me!" With the most vehement signs of displeasure she drew back a few steps further from the young girl, with un- steady fingers tied her cap-strings more tightly under her chin, and drew her handkerchief across her forehead. " Since you are so sure of your cause, and advocate it so energetically," she began again after a momentary silence, "be so good as to repeat to me, word for word, precisely what your father said." " Pardon me, grandmamma, but 1 can not!" answered THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. io Margaret with moistened eyes. " His confidence is a sanctuary that I shall never profane. Only in so far a* it is necessary to act for him, since he can do so no longer for himself, shall I without reserve refer to his last wishes. The very day of his death he wanted to insure to little brother all the rights accruing to him She stopped short; the old lady had burst out into an insulting peal of loud laughter. " Little brother!" re- peated she trembling from passion. " So you really have the face to utter such a monstrosity in your grandmother's presence? And you say you will not divulge what has been told you out of respect and filial piety, do you? I will tell you why your reverence overpowers you so because you know nothing positive! You have only here and there picked up a solitary mysterious hint dropped by your fa- ther, and now holding up these broken bits to the miracu- lous tale just sprung upon us it seems to fit, and you feel yourself called upon to let your light shine. It is a beau- tiful thing, too, to enter the lists publicly in behalf of the poor and persecuted! And cares such a sensation-seeking creature as you, if thereby a family should fall into dis- grace whose name has been respected for hundreds of years?" " ' Sensation-seeking '?" repeated Margaret with dark- ened brow, while she proudly tossed her head back. " I am sure that this hateful feature of our times has not con- taminated my soul as yet. I can afford to be superior to that accusation. And am I to believe that a man's marry- ing for the second time can bring dishonor upon his family?" She shook her head. " Dear grandmamma, do not be angry but you, too, are a second wife, and there are my ancestors as highly venerated as ever/' " How dare you?" said the old lady, flaring up. " How can you compare me with this mere adventuress? You but why should I allow my feeling to be worked upon?" Here she broke off her remarks, and drew up her pretty little figure in the effort to regain her lost dignity. " The whole story turns upon an attempt to swindle and extort money on the part of her parents. Who knows where that girl may be roaming around now?" . " She is dead, grandmamma! Do not speak ill of one dead and buried!" cried Margaret warmly. " You should not, at least for the sake of our family; for, deceive yourself 246 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. as you choose, she was noue the less my father's second wife!" " Really, Gretchen? Well, then, I only ask for the docu- ments that prove it! Granted, that everything happened exactly as those people in the warehouse maintain, ;md you second in your incredible blindness granted that he was hindered by his sudden death from publicly acknowl- edging his secret marriage, then I say, there must have been found among his effects papers referring to the sub- ject. Nothing of all this! Not the least reference in his own handwriting, much less regularly signed legal proofs. But I will go yet further. I will even suppose that these documents have existed," she made a momentary pause, " then we are forced to the conclusion that the deceased himself destroyed them because he did not want the affair to obtain publicity. And this, I think, should induce you to give up the mad idea which urges you to become the exec- utrix of his supposed wishes. ' ' Margaret had started back as though she had trodden upon a viper. " You can not possibly mean seriously what you say, grandmamma. What has my father done to you that you should accuse him of such a mean trick? Ah, his procrastination, his dread of the opinion of the world, of the prejudices of rank, that Moloch to which is sacrificed the happiness of thousands, how severely are they punished at this moment! How has that miserable weakness avenged itself upon him while living, by the tort- ures of self-conflict. And now this end, this awful conclu- sion, that allowed him no expiation of his guilt on this earth! But I know what he wanted, God be thanked that I know enough to be enabled to remove such a suspicion, such a blot from his memory. " " And thereby ring the town-bell to announce this great scandal to all the world; that it will please you to do, Gretchen?" chimed in the old lady scornfully. " Oh, you blinded girl. But, there is the cursed idealism of the pres- ent which, blind and deaf, dashes itself against walls and barriers, asking not what it strikes against so that said false whim its overstrained, one-sided and sentimental view of the world conquers. Understand your father's communications in any way you like, but I stick to it, that he himself wished a veil to be thrown over one dark spot in his life. And he must have wished it for our sakes too THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 247 I mean for the sake of the Counsellor family. We really had not deserved it at his hands, that, through fault of his, a shadow had fallen upon our noble spotless name, that we had become the talk of town and court just now when we are drawing so near to that illustrious circle ! I say, at any cost, old May's attempt at extortion must be kept from the ears of the public; this wicked world is only too glad to believe the worst, and a scandal once started is carried on, no matter if its falsity is proved a hundred times over. Money! You will indeed be the poorer by a few thousand dollars; but with this sum of indemnity the old swindler will clear out, and return whence unluckily he ever re- ' moved." "And the child? The boy who has equal rights with Reynold and myself, what is to become of him?" cried Margaret with flashing eyes. " Is he to go forth into the world without that inheritance which belongs to him of nature and law, without the name in which he was bap- tized? And do you expect me to go through life with a monstrous lie upon my conscience? I should never be able again to look an honest man in the face if I should have to say that a great share of my fortune was stolen goods, that I have cheated a fellow-being out of his precious possession, the esteemed name of his father! And you ask that of me, the grandmother of the grandchild?" " Overstrained sentimentality! I tell you all rational people would demand it of you, all who value the honor and reputation of your house." " Not Herbert!" cried the young girl in passionate protest. " Herbert?" repeated Mrs. Counsellor sharply, in a tone of haughty surprise. " You are going back to your childish ways, I perceive uncle, you meant to say!" A quick change of color was perceptible upon the> coun- tenance of the person reproved. " Well then uncle!" said she, quickly correcting herself. " He will never, never attach himself to those unconscionable, rational people, never! I know it. He shall decide." " God forbid! You dare not speak to him on the sub- ject, until" " Until when, mamma?'* suddenly inquired her son himself, across from his own room. 248 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. The old lady shrunk as though she had received a sudden blow. "Ah! you here, Herbert, so soon back?" stammered she turning around in evident confusion. " You come in as softly as a snow-drift!" " Not at all. I have come back at my usual time, and have been standing here in the open door a long while, only I could get nobody's attention." With these words he came over. He looked grave, even gloomy, and yet it seemed to the young girl as if there was something lightning-like in the glance with which ha scanned her face. " I should have discreetly withdrawn at once," said he, turning to his mother, ' ' if that passionate altercation be- tween you and Margaret had not concerned me too. You know that I have assumed the task of clearing up the mat- ter." " What, still, after you must be convinced that no legal evidence can be brought to bear on the case?" asked the old lady, trembling with anger. She shrugged her shoulders. " Well, in my opinion, you are applying torches to the illumination of a disgraceful affair; more you will not at- tain to! You, Hebert, I do not comprehend. It is patent that the papers if they ever existed, which I disbelieve, out and out have disappeared for good reasons. Did you not say yourself that you sinned greatly in reaping up this unpleasant action on Baldwin's part?" " What, do you call it a sin if I endeavor to atone for his wrong-doing?" stormed her son. " As for the rest, the question is no longer, for me, whether the offense took, place on the side of the deceased or not; I stand here to de- fend the rights of the living, of which he may not be de- frauded. I already know too much ever to let it happen that the ' unpleasant action,' as yoii call the question pend- ing, should forever be shrouded in darkness. Or do you believe that I would ever be a silent participator in a secret crime? Margaret expressed " " Do not come about me with inventions of a diseased fancy!" cried Mrs. Counsellor, with both hands waving him 'angrily back. "One thing is very plain; that to set sii"h a rattle-brained girl as that a-going, only the very slightest clew is needed for her to attach to it a whole web of vagaries." THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 249 Herbert glanced furtively at the young girl. " Do not let her vex you, Margaret," said he. " What a loving, consolatory tone !" mocked his mother. " In time you'll become an affectionate uncle. You, who aover had a particle of sympathy with Fanny's eldest. Go on, join both together against me, the only one who keeps her head above water! You will not bring me over unless I see it down in black and white!" " You will see it in black and white, mamma!" said Harbert quietly and decidedly. " The church registers in London are not all burned up, too." "Oh! Do you, too, mean to say by that, uncle, that my father must have himself destroyed the papers that were in his hands?" cried Margaret in a sort of quiet de- spair. " It is not true! He did not do it! I shall defend him and battle against this foul suspicion so long as I have breath in my body. I am firmly persuaded that no jour- ney to London is requisite; those papers must be found here; we must search for them better." " Alas, I can not strengthen you in this delusion," re- turned Herbert. " All the papers that he left, even the ledgers, have been ransacked; not the least scrap of writ- ing eluding our vigilance. I have gone through the whole parlor floor, even all the drawers and boxes of the unused furniture in the company rooms." " In the company rooms on the parlor floor, did you say?" asked she, as though holding in her breath. " And the chambers in the side wing?" Herbert stared at her. " Who ever would have thoughl of looking there?" " In that haunted chamber, which has not been trodden by the foot of man for years past!" ejaculated Mrs. Coun- sellor, with a scornful laugh. " There, you see, Herbert, the logical working of a brain like this girl's!" " I saw papa go in there shortly before his death," said Margaret, apparently calm; but her voice trembling from inward agitation. " Then we'll go and search forthwith!" cried Herbert in surprise. She flew down-stairs to fetch the key. In a few minute? she returned, and together with Herbert entered the front hall door; but he was not alone; his mother leaned on his arm, muffled up in thick, warm shawls and other 250 THE LADT WITH THE RUBIES. wraps. " She must be by, too/' she said, with a mocking glance at Margaret, " when the treasure was unearthed." CHAPTER XXV. MARGARET hurried forward in advance, and unlocked the chamber door. For the first time in her life she crossal tin's threshold and had that wonderfully painted fresco above her head. Everything before her was slightly tinged with a reddish hue; and she was met by the faint odor of withered flowers. The declining rays of the afternoon sun passed through the' red poppies on the brocade curtains: that retained their color right well, although dropping to pieces from age. This was the threshold over which the white lady was supposed to have glided, and as many ghost-seers averred, followed by the cruel, vengeful Mis- tress Judith; bat over this threshold, too, tripped that lit- tle foot in its heeled slipper from that splendid room, pass- ing to the warehouse garret; and the people in the house had been terrified, and revived the legend of the fair Dora still haunting the scenes of her brief, eventful life. Mrs. Counsellor flirted her handkerchief around on en- tering. " Fy, what a shocking atmosphere! And such clouds of dust!" cried she, quite excited, and pointing across at the furniture. Certainly the sheen of velvet and satin with the splendor of gilding and plate-glass mirrors was but dimly discernible through that grayish veil of dtist. " And you would have me believe that your father resorted hither in the closing days of his life?" Mrs. Counsellor had gathered up her skirts, and with visible surprise had also noticed the print of feet. Now she stood, stretching out her long neck behind her son and granddaughter, and could not conceal her nervousness. The key of the press turned lightly and smoothly under Herbert's hand, and the door sprung open. Herbert drew back, and the old lady uttered a feeble shriek; but over Mar- garet's face flitted a glorious smile of joyful surprise, dashed by an expression of deep sadness. " There she is!" cried she, as though delivered from anguish and suspense. Yes, that was the lovely female head as it had once ap- peared in its frame of green boughs! There was the lily- t'ko purity of complexion which had given to the maiden's THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 251 brow a look so full of innocence there were the deep blue radiant eyes, over which arched those delicately penciled hrows! Only those rich, long plaits were missing that used to fall down over her neck and breast; her hair, in wavy curls, was knotted high above her forehead, and in the midst of their pale glory glittered the ruby star of the lovely Dora. Ah! that was the reason why these stones " should never more deck woman's head while he lived," as the deceased had declared with such passionate emotion the evening of that dinner company. Yes, this wife with the rubies had been just as much loved and lamented as had been that first one, the white lady haunting the Lam- bert house ! Old Justus had never married again, and had remained a gloomy, imbittered man up to the end of his life, like his descendant, the much envied Baldwin Lambert. What demoniacal process of soul could have induced the fair Blanche to array herself so exactly like her unfortunate predecessor, who had taken the same fatal step as herself, and expiated it with her life? An overpowering perfume escaped from the press; round about the picture had roses been heaped up mummy roses which had been left to wither here as vain sacrifices. In front of the portrait lay also that last little bunch which Margaret had seen that evening in her father's hand. The beautiful Blanche must have loved devotedly roses and .the perfume of roses. " Well, that picture proves nothing yet!" cried Mrs. Counsellor, with vibrating voice, breaking in upon that silence which was born of surprise and emotion. " It will turn out as I told you, Herbert! Nothing is proved but that the weakling fell, for a time, into the snares of that coquette." Without replying, Herbert pulled at one of the little sliding drawers, but it did not yield. " The press is probably constructed like one in Aunt Sophie's desk in her sitting-room," said Margaret. She put her hand inside the press and touched a small wooden .mob; with this one push all the drawers on the left side sprung open at once. In the lower drawers were many modern pieces of jew- elry mixed up with lively colored ribbons (probably mere relics for the desolate man), but then came a row of drawer* 252 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. all filled with papers. Margaret heard how suddenly her grandmamma's breath stood still as she stood close behind her. She could also see the fine profile of her aged face over her shoulder, and it was perfectly colorless, while her eyes fairly looked through and through the contents of the drawers. Its contents consisted merely of a few packets of letters tied up with black ribbon; but on top lay a single envelope inscribed by the hand of Baldwin Lambert: " Documents relating to my second marriage," read Herbert aloud. Mrs. Counsellor uttered a shriek of dismay. " So, then!" cried she, clasping her hands together. " Grandmamma, be pitiful!" implored Margaret, fer- vently pleading. " It needs no pity, Margaret," said Herbert, frowning. " I can not understand, mamma, how you could wish these proofs to have been lacking. The boy's manifest rights could have been made clear as sunlight without these papers, and the world would have been obliged to find out in a short time that a son existed born of a second mar- riage. The finding of this document has only value in so far as that it has proved to us, his nearest of kin, that Baldwin never meant to impugn the honor of his dead wife and child for fear of incurring the anathema of fashionable society." " I knew that!" cried Margaret, with beaming eyes. " Now I am satisfied!" "Not so I!" stormed the old lady. "This scandal poisons the last years of my life. Shame upon him for having let us play so shocking a farce ! I have sung his praises at court as much as I could. He has to thank me for the esteem in which he was held by our sovereigns me alone. How they will laugh and jeer at that silly old Mrs. Counsellor who su simply went about introducing old May's son-in-law into the highest circles! I shall never get over it! I shall never dare show my face again at court! Oh! what would I give if I had never condescend- ed to ally myself with such a shop-keeping concern! Now they will point the finger of scorn at this house; and we, the Counsellors, who live here, and you, Herbert, the high- est civil officer of this city. Now do, pray, Herbert, any- thing but that cool, satisfied air!" interposed she with great impatience. " This tranquillity may cost you dearl j THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 25S For you, too, this shameful story may have its possible con- sequences that " " I shall know how to stand, mamma/' remarked he with immovable composure. " Baldwin " Hush! If you have a spark of filial affection left in you, do not call that name! I will not hear it again; by not one sound shall I be reminded of him who has cheated and deceived us, that perjurer." " Stop there!" cried Herbert, while he protectingly threw his arm around Margaret, who supported herself on a table, pale ae death, and trembling. The veins in his forehead were swollen. " Not a step further, mother!" he protested vehemently, and yet with a tone of wounded feeling. " If you can speak so harshly and selfishly against Baldwin, in the presence of" his orphaned daughter, too, I must stand by her. I shall not suffer a single evil word to drop under which she must suffer in addition to the load she already bears through natural grief! But you shall not calumniate Baldwin further, on his own account. True, he has been weak, and his unmanly vacillation is in- comprehensible to me; but there are circumstances that excuse his mode of action. You yourself, at this minute, prove incontestably what storms would have raged around him if, in a manly fashion, he had spoken candidly at the right time. He allowed himself to be enticed through his ambition to become the center of attraction to an exclusive circle; step by step he became more closely entangled in a network of the most unnatural contradictions; and I tell you and all those that think like you, mamma, that it take? a great deal of courage for a man suddenly to rise up and rid himself of all those prejudices imbibed, and follow the natural impulses of his heart. This case in our own fam- ily should open your eyes and show you whither lead these contracted views, this denial of nature, and the sound, true sensibilities of the human heart, viz., to secret, enervating torture of the soul, to lying and deceit, and often even to crime. A part of Baldwin's guilt lies at the door of the present company, the reproach of acting a farce attaches not solely to him!" Mrs. Counsellor had moved further and further away from Herbert while he was speaking; it seemed as though she would voluntarily widen the chasm which suddenly yawned between mother and son through contrast of views. &>"4 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. With firmly compressed lips slie walked to the door; there she once more turned around. " To all that you have just said to me of course I have not a word to say in reply/' called she back into the room, with quivering voice. " I should think my principles have carried me so far right comfortably through the world they are the best part of me my pride, and with them I stand and fall! But look ahead yourself! This ogling with that absurd modern liberalism will never, never do in your position! Yet why do I talk? I have entirely too much tact to pretend to be your adviser. Out at Prince's Court and in the presence of our most gracious sovereigns, you will take good heed not to air such sentiments as those." " With the ladies at Prince's Court I never discuss poli- tics; but the duke knows my opinions thoroughly. I have never left him in any doubt as to their nature," answered Herbert with perfect quietness. She said nothing more. With an incredulous laugh she crossed the threshold and shut the door behind her. Margaret, meanwhile, had withdrawn into the nearest window recess; as quickly as possible she had released her- self from the supporting arms. " You have quarrelled with her on our account," lamented she with painfully quivering lips. " You need not lay it to heart so/' replied he, still struggling with the excitement which had so recently taken possession of him. " Make yourself quite easy," added he, soothingly. " The breach will heal again. My mother will think better of it; she will remember that I have always been a good son to her, if I do insist upon taking my own views of life." \ He began to examine the documents, and put them in : his pocket. " I am now going to the warehouse/' said he. " Every delay is a sin against those old people. It is an errand such as all good people must envy me! But, one thing more: Are you perfectly clear as to how it will be if a third party steps in to share equally in rights hitherto restricted to 'these only two.' If that boy from the warehouse should suddenly turn out to belong to those who look down from the walls of your house, and of whom you are so proud? You have to-day worked with all your might to THE LADY WITH THE BUSIES. 255 have the matter cleared up in order to remove an injurious suspicion from your father's memory." *' Certainly! But at the same time I was contending for my little brother's rights. He shall be a thousand times welcome for me. I shall receive him with open arms! He will give enhanced value to my existence. I shall have to think and care for him. I shall guard him as a jewel intrusted to me by my father. And such a task makes life worth living!" " Are you so poor in hopes for your own young life, Mar- garet?" A look of deep sorrow met his gaze. " I do not need your pity. Nobody needs be pitied who knows how to accommodate himself to his fate," answered she, stiffly. " Well, then, God forbid that this fine pedestal on which you are enthroned may not crumble away beneath your feet!" A soft smile stole across his lips; she did not ob- serve it, for she was looking away over her shoulder out into the court-yard. " But God forbid that I should vex you! We have kept the step together so finely to-day, who knows what the morning may bring us! So, there, give me your hand; let us be friends!" He held out his right hand to her, and she laid hers in it without pressure, without the slightest movement even of the finger-tips. " Whew? how cold, how insultingly cold! Well, an old uncle must keep his temper, else where's the use of bearing a burden of years and dignity!" added he with good humor, letting her hand drop. He pushed the wooden slide back in its old place, locked up the press, and put the key in his pocket. "I shall have to ask you to lend me the key of the door again shortly," said he. "I am sure that the desk contains many a thing that will aid in the administration of your father's estate. And now, do not stay here any longer, Margaret. I have been made to feel that you are chilled to the very heart." Immediately afterward he had left the room. But Mar- garet did not leave yet awhile. She stood in the window corner and looked out across the court-yard. She was not chilly at all; the coldness of the room pleasantly cooled her throbbing temples. , < 256 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. Down by the fountain stood Barbara letting the water run into her brightly scoured bucket. The superstitious old woman had as yet no idea that the part of her " lady with the rubies" was played out forever. Yes, now the riddle was solved that had for years been casting its shadowy meshes around the Lambert house! Margaret looked across at the linden-trees laden now with snow. Just there had once sat " a little wild romp," and had that " vision " so called of the pure white forehead between the bright silk window curtains. And now she herself stood up there and knew that it had been the lovely Blanche, who, enveloped in a veil, had masqueraded as the white lady. What a magic had been exercised by that young girl's beauty, who, breathing an atmosphere of roses, had held captive at her feet a grave, elderly, dignified man like her father. Beside him, at that time, the overgrown school-boy with his rosy cheeks, had not been able to stand. But now how different. Oh! how different! He was the one much sought after who could aspire to so proud a beauty as the duke's niece. Margaret started back, for there he came across the court-yard, going directly to the warehouse. He waved his* hand at her in token of greeting. Bar- bara's head turned; the bucket slipped from her hands, and the dispersed water streamed over the protecting wooden cover of the fountain basin. The old cook stood as though turned to a pillar of salt under that haunted window, whence looked down upon her that young creat- ure of flesh and blood. Margaret drew back and closed the curtains. Once more reigned that twilight which gave the walls a pink hue, and breathed a mysterious life into the Cupids sport- ing on the frescoed ceiling. Those chubby-cheeked curly- haired little urchins up there had at different times looked down as mischievously upon two beautiful ladies of the Lambert house as they did to-day from amid their garlands of flowers and fleecy clouds, peeping down at that mourn- ful, deeply agitated maiden. The dark-haired lady had here closed the dream of her life, while the golden-haired girl had only begun hers. Both had been called to die early. A year one year of brief happiness had been al- lotted to them; but was not this span equal to a whole life- time of renunciation? THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 257 The young girl doubled up her fist and clinched her teeth; were they here again > those tormenting thoughts and feelings, with which she was holding mortal conflict? She had boasted that her best helper would be her head ; and she must stand up to her word if she perished in so doing. She was now to undertake new duties; would not the punctual performance of duty suffice to make life worth living? Was there any necessity for such a superabun- dance of happiness? She stepped out into the passage and locked the cham- ber door. And when soon afterward darkness drew on, obscuring all the passages and corners of the house, the familiar spirits of the family had much to whisper about. The old race of " Thuringian Fugger " had more than one depend- ence now a magnificently healthy scion had shot up beside that wretched little withered shoot, which the old stock and those old merchants who were still leaning against the Avails of the dark passage reproduced in portraiture, might well be proud, for that little fellow was really and truly of their kind, intelligent and full of vigor as they had been in their lives, collectively and individually. And in the warehouse this promising heir was sitting upon the knees of his aged grandfather, by the bedside of his convalescent grandmother, joy beaming from the eyes of the old people. Care and trouble were banished now; and what mattered it if, outside, the icicles glistened on the verge of the low roof, and a thick cushion of snow pressed against the win- dow-panes, if within doors an animating breath of spring pervaded the place. In the Dutch tile stove crackled the fire, and the subdued lamplight spread over every dear piece of old-fashioned furniture, and for the first time there came over the old people that snug home-feeling which is so delightful. Already they had felt themselves to be standing ready for exile into the wide, wide world, not knowing whither they should direct their own steps nor those of their disinherited grandson. But in the great house the waves which had been rolling mountain high on this eventful day were not laid so soon. Mrs. Counsellor had locked herself into her own room, and would let no one in. Her servants shook their heads in amazement at the old lady's deportment, who had come upstairs foaming with rage and full of gall and wormwood. ?58 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. She had given orders that Mr. Herbert's supper be served to him alone, and after she had chidden her parrot as a hateful screamer she had retired to her bedroom and drawn the bolt on the inside. And Barbara would never have thought that she should live to see what this day had brought her to, viz., the con- fession that she was a good-for-nothing creature, not worthy of having the sun shine upon her. An hour ago she had come in, terrified from the fountain, and whispered to Aunt Sophie that she had seen Miss Gretchen standing, solitary and alone, at the window of the haunted chamber. Where- upon, such a lecture as Miss Sophie had given her upon her miserable superstition. Oh ! what a stupid blind old thing Barbara was. To think of her having taken dear Gretchen for the lady with the rubies, and having roused the who'e house with her shrieks, until that hard-hearted young man in the counting-room had been set upon his sis- ter. And oh! what bad, bad talk there had been! No, she was not really fit to have the dear Lord's sun shine upon her, and she would bite off her tongue sooner than have it utter one more word concerning that dreadful thing up in the passage. And so there she sat upon the kitchen bench with her head hidden in her apron, and crying as if her heart would break. Meanwhile Margaret and Aunt Sophie walked to and fro in the drawing-room. The young girl had thrown her arm around her aunt's waist, and told her of the mighty revolu- tion effected in her father's house. It was dark in the room; the blazing lamp had been sent away again directly. Nobody needed to see that the good aunt had been weep- ing; such an indulgence she allowed herself extremely sel- dom. But was it not a pity that this man had, side by side with her, silently borne his torturing grief? And there she had been enjoying her own life unconsciously, that such a tragedy was being played round about her. And that child, that splendid little fellow, had not been allowed to enter his father's house or eat at his father's table; how Baldwin's heart must have been torn! "Dear Heavenly Father! what will not men do and suffer for the sake of being accounted a little more or less, higher or lower!" said she in conclusion, as she wiped the last trace of tears from her face. " God has made them, like a peaceable race, without weapon of offense or defense; but lo! they THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 259 sharpen their tongues into knives and forge iron panoplies for their hearts, until there is nothing like peace uoon earth." To-day, too, the storm passed by the com: Ling-room un- heeded. The young devotee to business sat behind his books and calculated. Little did he dream that his reck- oning was false; that the next thing would be a little finger knocking at the door of this counting-room to demand, for that hated little boy from the warehouse, admission a seat and voice all as a matter of fact. CHAPTEE XXVI. MRS. COUNSELLOR did not yield her point on the next day either. She was at home to nobody, so that only the chamber-maid durst intrude upon her privacy; and when her son came from his office in the middle of the day, and asked admittance, she sent word that her nerves had been so severely shattered that she absolutely required a few days of undisturbed repose. He shrugged his shoulders, and made no further attempt to penetrate into the self-im- posed exile of his mother. In the afternoon he came down to the first story. His horse stood ready saddled, and he was equipped for a ride. Margaret was alone in the drawing-room destined for her grandfather, and was just putting the last touches to its comfortable appointments. Late that afternoon she was to drive to Millbrook and return to town next morning with the patient. She had already seen Herbert once to-day. He had been quite early to the warehouse, and brought her morning greetings from her little brother and his grandparents, with the gratifying intelligence that yesterday's violent nervous excitement had not injured the sick lady in the least; but that, on the contrary, her convalescence was progressing rapidly to a perfect cure, as he had learned from her phy- sician. Now he came in to inspect the apartments once more. Margaret was just placing a beautiful antique chess- board belonging to the Lamberts underneath the rest for pipes. From the door he surveyed the extremely comfort- able room. 260 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. " Ah! how cozy!" exclaimed he, coming nearer. " Our patient will not miss here his solitary lodgings in the pavil- ion ! We must nurse him together, and faithfully see after his health and entertainment; will that suit you, Mar- garet?" She had turned away, and was pulling at the folds of the nearest portiere, which were a little out of order. " I know of 'nothing more delightful than being with grand- papa," answered she, without looking around. " But my little brother has claims upon me, too, now; and whether grandpapa can not grow accustomed to his presence suffi- ciently to let him stay with me, where he is, is very ques- tionable. So, you see, I must divide my time between them." : " Quite right," he agreed. " And the question has one more side which is clear as daylight. Nothing is more nat- ural than for youth to consort with youth; we two old peo- ple my good papa and I can not demand of you such an utter sacrifice of self as to shut yourself up entirely with us. But let us make the bargain now and then we'll have a little chat with you in the evening, shall we not?" She turned to him with the ghost of a smile, and he felt for his beaver, which he had lain upon the table. His un- buttoned overcoat showed that he wore a faultlessly elegant dress suit. He noticed her chilled look of surprise. " Yes, a great deal lies before me to-day," said he, in explanation. " In the first place, I am commissioned to acquaint my father with this new turn in your family affairs, and then " he hesitated a moment, then added more quickly: " You are the first to learn it; not even my mother knows it yet. " " Then I am going to Prince's Court to the betrothal?" She grew deadly pale, and her right hand was involun- tarily lifted to her heart. " Then I may as well congratu- late you now," stammered she in spiritless tone. " Not yet, Margaret," said he turning away, and sud- denly his features too showed the traces of deep emotion; but he quickly suppressed it. " This evening, when I come to Millbrook on my way back to town, you shall have an opportunity of seeing ' uncle ' happy." He waved his hand back at her, and went out with hasty strides. Soon afterward she saw him ride away: she re- THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 261 mained standing motionless at the window. Pressing her convulsively clasped hands against her breast she stared at the strip of sky that arched the broad market-place, and that was melancholy enough to-day as seen through a murky gray fog. The blood coursed wildly through her veins, and yet she felt deadly faint as though she had been cast down to the earth with a stroke. Yes, she had come to that! A few months before the world had seemed too contracted to her, with her presumption storming the skies, youthful exuberance of spirits and aspirations after free- dom; she had laughed at every fetter, and to-day in this wretched pygmy brain a single thought dominated, and her poor soul cleaved to the earth, with pitiable helplessness, as would make all those triumphant who hate and perse- cute proud souls, delighting in their abasement. But need the world know anything about the wounds that were now causing her such unutterable pain? Did not many go through life and take secrets with them into the grave, un- suspected by any living creature? And must she too find strength therefor? She must learn quietly to meet a pair of eyes that had the greatest power over her; she must attain to a degree of self-command that would enable her to have pleasant intercourse with a beautiful woman whom she abhorred, and to pass in and out in a home of which this woman was mistress, and to whom she must show respect, as her high-born aunt. Later she came down into the drawing-room, prepared for her drive to Millbrook. Aunt Sophie chid her for let- ting her coffee sit and leaving untouched the cakes, which the penitent Barbara had baked specially for her and her alone; but the young girl hardly heard what she said. She silently tied her hat-ribbons under her chin; then threw her arm around Aunt Sophie's neck, and there came over her a sudden weakness, namely the deep, longing wish to take refuge here, as she used to do in every distress of her childhood, and whisper into her aunt's ear what was agoniz- ing her whole being. She had always felt comforted after confiding in this faithful friend. But no, that would not do! Her aunt could not survive the sorrow of knowing that she was so unhappy! And so she closed her lips tightly and got into the car- re. the country was reached, she let down the glass 262 THE LADY WITH THE KUBIES. window. From the south a soft breeze greeted her with that sweet breath which brought tears from the rigid ice, that frees bush and tree from their burden of snow, and infuses wondrous animation into all that lives and moves, including human hearts. There was a prospect of a thaw. And the first shades of evening were falling over the landscape as softly as the zephyr that fanned her cheek; the hard, uncompromising light of a wintery day had toned down to a tender neutral tint, whence emerged here and there lamplight from individual village houses. And there to the right were seen flickering lights, in pale gold splendor like a chain of pearls; they shone at the foot of the old nut-trees; the whole row of windows at Prince's Court was illuminated, wax lights were burning for the betrothal. She shrunk back into the furthest corner of the carriage, and not until Prince's Court had been left far behind, and the coachman had turned off from the high-road into the carriage road did she look up, and uncertainly, almost like a timorous child that seeks to assure itself that some hideous apparition has indeed vanished. Her grandfather received her with a joyful exclamation, and at the sound of that dear gruff voice she rallied and tried to return his greeting as naturally as possible. But the old gentleman himself was graver than common this evening. Between his brows lay a fold of brooding dis- content. He was not smoking, his favorite pipe leaned cold against the corner, and after his granddaughter had laid off hat and cloak, he resumed his pacing of the apart- ment, which had been interrupted by Margaret's arrival. ' ' Well, to be sure, lady -bird, who would have thought it?" cried he, suddenly stopping in front of her. A fool, a confiding blockhead has your grandfather been not to have had his eyes more open than that. Here it comes like a summer hail-storm, out of a clear blue sky, and we stand and take it as if we were as well prepared as upon an April day, having to accept the gift and say ' yea and amen/ as if one had expected nothing else." She was silent and her eyes fell. " Poor little thing, how disturbed and miserable you look!" said he, while he laid his hand on the crown of her head, and turned her face to the lamp. " Well, isn't it a wonder? One must mak,e a virtue of necessity though and THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 263 swallow the bitter pill in silence. But, I tell you what, it is more than enough to throw an old fellow like me off his equilibrium, while, bless me, there the child sits as meek and quiet as a lamb. How splendidly you bear it. Her- bert tells me that you worked bravely by his side, like a man, a good courageous fellow/' She turned red as fire, and looked at him as though starting out of a dream! He spoke of the revelations in her family, while she supposed his ire had been called forth by Herbert's betrothal. She was badly off. So exclusively was she possessed by one thought, namely what was | on over at Prince's Court, that everything else had into utter oblivion. " But mark my words, child!" he began again; " in a little while we shall long for a hollow tree in which to hide. The gossips will have their hands full, and it will be a matter of surprise to me if they do not employ a crier to proclaim upon the market-place the sensational happen- ings in the Lambert mansion. What matter though if they do! I never in all my life troubled myself over what was the town-talk, and after all the thing itself is bearable; only one thing I can not overlook and forgive; for shame upon the cowardice, the cruelty with which a father dis- owns his child, and " " Grandpapa!" interrupted Margaret pleadingly, laying her hand upon his mouth. " Now, now," growled he, pushing the little cold finger off his mustache, "I'll be still for your sake, Margaret. I do not want to make your life bitter through impertinent advice and officious lecturing, for you know best that you have a great deal to make up to that little fellow, wh'o chances to be an inmate of your house, and to that poor old fellow, May. I should just like to know how he could bring himself to hush up the matter so long and not insist, from the very first, upon the boy having his rights from that eh, your father. Ah, well, an artist, a soft, moon- shiny nature ! how should he assert himself and show fight." The superintendent's wife had laid out a beautiful little supper; but Margaret could not eat. She waited upon her grandpapa and talked, in a lively manner, while so doing, and after supper filled a pipe for him. Then she packed up his books in a trunk and collected everything needful for his departure next morning. She ran upstairs, down- 264 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. stairs, and then stood still before a window in one of the unlighted rooms upstairs, and pressed both hands against her breast. Strangely near shone the blazing windows of Prince's Court, through the darkness of the night, and at this sight the last remains broke down of that self-control which she had maintained in her grandpapa's presence with almost superhuman effort. With a bitter cry of agony that came from the very depths of her soul, she threw herself down on the nearest sofa and buried her face in its cushions. And there moved victoriously before her the pictures from which she had longed to escape ! She saw glad, happy people throng- ing the brilliantly decorated rooms of that small palace, and the air was laden with the perfume of flowers, but above everything she saw the destined bride, that beautiful blonde who for the sake of love counted as naught the royal blood that ran in her veins, and cheerfully merged her proud name in that of a plain civilian. And the gen- tleman at her side she jumped up and fled from the room. Down-stairs sat her grandfather in his sofa corner behind the table. He had evidently become tranquilized, for he read the newspaper and smoked his freshly stuffed pipe. Margaret caught up her cloak. " I must have a little run in the fresh air, grandpapa!" called she from the door, to the reader. " Go, child," said he. " We have the south wind, that loosens the tight band drawn around nature, and straightens much of the mischief wrought by tierce Boreas, with those blasts of his blown directly from the North Pole. " She went out-of-doors, past the lake, that, hard-frozen beneath its snow-covering, was hardly distinguishable from the road. The lights in the factory buildings had been long since put out; it was still in the court-yard, and only the chained dog came out of his kennel and barked at her when the young lady passed through the gate. The thaw-wind whistled over the open fields beyond, for as night came on it had gradually increased to a storm; it played wildly with the wanderer's uncovered hair, but bathed her face, as it were, in soft, cool and caressing waves. It was very dark, not the least bit of starlight even twinkling down to earth; the heavens hung full of heavy low-lying clouds that would assuredly trickle down to-night in the form of a warm rain. Then would the melting be- THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 265 gin in earnest, and kindly tears would drop from branch and bough, and take from the face of mother earth this white shroud. Yes, if one could just weep one's fill! But to have to look out upon a life of unuttered misery so, with dry, burning eyes! Whither would she go? Ever in the direction of that light, that fatal light, which lures the moth but to singe its wings and consume it. And although blazing flames from those windows should have attacked her, she could not have turned her back upon them! Further, further, even to death itself, if need be! She ran rather than walked along the firmly beaten path that traversed the arable land. The snow still crunched beneath her feet; hitherto that had been the only sound which broke upon the stillness of the night; but now, after the high-road too had been crossed, and the spacious flower-garden of Prince's Court spread out before her, the wind bore to her the sound of rich musical chords. The piano was being played in the palace. There sat the bride at the piano no gentle St. Cecilia with raptured countenance, far rather one of Rubens' blooming embodi- ments of voluptuous womanhood. The full suit of fair hair glittered in the light of the chandelier, and the beau- tiful taper fingers glided over the keys; but no, beneath her fingers the instrument could never have breathed forth such impassioned soul-stirring music; Heloise von Taube- neck played clumsily and without spirit as she had recently proved sufficiently. Who, then, could it be, who was per- forming, for he who played evidently had a share in the ceremonial taking place there this evening ? A very storm of exultation and enthusiasm was heard through the execution. Before the north front of the palace all was a mass of light. The broad grass-plot which was interspersed in summer with beds of variegated flowers was spotlessly white now, a glittering snow-field behind the trellis of running roses, that separated it from a broad gravel walk that stretched along, extending to the very walls of the house. This walk was tolerably clear of snow, only a thin crisp layer covering the gravel. Margaret had come hither, without having been alarmed by human approach. Now she moderated her pace, and passed along underneath the windows. What had she to do here? She hardly knew herself, a mysterious, fearful 266 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. force impelled her hither like the storm driven before the wind; she had to run and look and still knew that the sight of the happy pair would pierce her heart as a deadly dag- ger-thrust. In the parlor where stood the piano the white roller curtains were lowered; not the shadow of a human form moved behind the transparent screen, for it seemed as if the company were held spell-bound by that masterly perform- ance. On the contrary, the three windows of the adjoin- ing apartment were not curtained, in the neighborhood of which the young girl had stood still. The light of the chandelier flowed unobstructedly through the panes of glass, and upon the portraits of princes that in the back- ground of the room looked down from the wall. It was the supper-room; here the betrothal feast had been served, and two lackeys were busied in clearing off the table. They held the half-emptied bottles to the light, and drank what was left from the wine-glasses. The concluding chords of the piece of music had long since died away, and still Margaret stood by one of the ball-acacias, which here and there interrupted the succes- sion of pillar-roses. The wind blew her hair back from her temples and brow, and now and then she was showered upon by snow loosened from the dry branches of the shrub. Sne did not feel it. Her heart hammered inside her chest, with difficulty she struggled for breath, while her hungry eyes wandered incessantly from one to the other of the un- curtained windows. She must see the happy pair just one time. Oh, what a little fool! To tarry persistently in cold and sleet, only to receive a deadly thrust! All of a sudden a door opened quite close to the end of the house-front. From a dimly lighted entry emerged a man, who came down the low flight of steps there while the door closed behind him. The eavesdropper stood for an instant as if petrified by terror. The rose-trellis hindered her from fleeing across the grass-plot, out into the darkness of the open field, and in front of her lay the long gravel walk illuminated till almost as bright as day. But there was no time for reflec- tion; she had been seen, and only her fleetness of foot could save her from undying humiliation. She fled like a thing pursued, along the gravel plot and over the ascent in front THE LADY WITH THE KUBtES. 20? of the western portal of the palace out into the open country. Here the wind hounded her, driving her before it like a snow-flake, and accelerating her flight; but neither the wind nor her own swiftness availed her aught. The steps of the man who pursued her came nearer and nearer. The path had become smooth and slippery; she suddenly glided off and sunk down upon one knee. At this moment of nameless horror, a strong arm seized and lifted her up. " I have caught you, mocking-bird!" cried Herbert, flinging his other arm, too, around the breathless maiden who was trembling in every limb. "Now see when Fll let you go! Never with my consent! The unwary mock- ing-bird who has flown into my snare belongs to me by every right, natural and spiritual. Is this really you, Mar- garet? Ah! she has come in storm and rain!" he recited, and restrained triumph was perceptible in his tone. She strove in vain to disentangle herself, but he em- braced her only the more closely. " Oh, me, I would " " I know what you would," cried he, interrupting the words she gasped forth almost tearfully. " You would be the first to congratulate uncle. That is the reason why you have encountered storm and tempest running through broad, bare fields, forgetting in your haste even to throw- ing a warm covering over that madcap head of yours, and after all your chase has been in vain, and your congratula- tions remain unspoken. Suppose, then, we turn back, and pay our respects to Prince Albert of X and his be- trothed. But, you see, your curls have been too familiar- ly tossed by the wind to admit of your appearing in a sa- loon just now." She had now succeeded in freeing herself. ' " Your happiness makes you arrogant," she burst forth, In bitter indignation. " This is a cruel jest." " Softly, Margaret!" urged he, with gentle gravity, while he again drew her to his side, and held her struggling hand firmly in his own. " I am not jesting. Miss von Tau- beneck, after long hoping and waiting, has finally become the betrothed of the Prince of X and now there is no impropriety in telling that I have been the negotiator in this affair. The red camellia, with which you recently saw me decorated, was a token of gratitude for my efforts, which had been crowned with success. So you were grievously 68 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. mistaken in your interpretation of its significance. On the contrary, I must admit the correctness of jour judg- ment. I am really arrogant. I am triumphant. Has not my happiness run into my arms of its own motion? Yes, have you not come on the wings of the storm, driven by that evil jealousy, that I long ago discerned in your heart? For you are the same sincere little Gretchen you always were, whose pure, candid nature no intercourse with the world can corrupt. Now, deny any longer, if you can, that you love me." " I do not deny it, Herbert." " God be thanked that he is buried, that old uncle! And henceforth you are not my niece, but " " Your Gretchen," she said, with faint voice, perfectly overcome by the abrupt alternation between joy and woe. "My Gretchen, my betrothed!" he pronounced with proud emphasis. " Now you will know, too, why I de- clined to become your guardian." He had long ago so place! himself that his tall figure protected her from the whistling wind; now he bent down and kissed her fervently, then he took the silk shawl from his neck, and tenderly tied it over her uncovered head. Rapidly now they proceeded together toward the factory; and as they went he told his hearer that he had formed a friendship at the university with the young Prince of X The latter was fond of him and depended much upon his judgment. About six months ago the younger brother of the prince had met Miss Von Taubeneck at her uncle's court, and fallen deeply in love with her. This affection had been reciprocated on her side, and her uncle, the duke, had approved. Her lover's princely brother, on the contrary, had decid- edly opposed the match, on the ground of the young lady's illegitimate birth. The duke had finally let Her- bert into the secret, and committed the matter to his medi- ation, and that the result had been fortunate the present festivities at Prince's Court prove. " Have you heard that wonderful performance on the piano?" She assented. " Well, that was the bridegroom, voicing his gladness to all the world. To-morrow our good town will be on its head from astonishment at this event. At both courts the THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 269 strictest silence has hitherto been observed, and that I had to guard the secret just as jealously was a matter of course. I could not have been so successful, but for that silly re- port circulated of my suing for Miss Von Taubeneck's hand. But I have one more account to settle with you. You have decried me for an arch-villain, have said the bitterest things about my stooping to win princely favor; I was taken for one of those unscrupulous aspirants for office, who sought to attain the highest round of the ladder, over the necks of others, whether they are fit for high responsi- ble position or not, and other fine things of the sort you gave me credit for. What have you to say to that?" " Oh! a great deal!" answered she; and if it had not been dark night he must have seen how her face was brightened by that same sweet arch smile that had so surprised and enrapt- ured him upon his first meeting again with the " self-willed Gretchen." " Who deliberately strengthened me in the belief that the young statesman was wooing the duke's niece? Who but you? Who kindled the mean fire of jeal- ousy in a poor maiden's heart, and mischievously blew it into a bright blaze? You, nobody but you! And if in the beginning I could not believe that you felt love, true, deep love for the beautiful but horribly commonplace Heloise, this was through respect to your intellectual supe- riority; and so I, too, had to adopt the opinion of the wicked world that the white hands of our duke's niece were chosen to lift you to the highest step of the political lad- der, viz., the post of minister. I want to hear no more of apology. We are quits. You yourself have had full re- venge. Only think of the poor girl whom you have driven to take ' a trip to Canossa,' through the night and mist!" - He laughed softly to himself. " I could not spare you that. I have suffered myself in allowing it. And yet it was beautiful to observe how you kept coming nearer to me step by step. But now, enough of contention. Peace, blessed peace between us be!" He threw his arm around her shoulders, and now all went swimmingly. ***** * + Next morning it was as if the good town of B had been suddenly startled by the blare of trumpets out of its accustomed round of work-a-day life. The rumor of the betrothal at Prince's Court ran from mouth to mouth; and that not a creature had uae faintest suspicion of it, yes, that 3?0 THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. even its little circle oi ladies, with their undisputed mo- nopoly for sagacity and combinations, had been so stone- blind, threw the people completely off their balance. Through her maid the alarming news came scalding hot to Mrs. Counsellor in her chamber. " Nonsense!'" cried the old lady contemptuously, put- ting both feet out of bed, however, and in a few minutes standing before her son in her gown and nightcap. " What means this silly talk about Heloise and the Prince of X- which the butcher and baker-boy are car- rying from house to house?" asked she, the door-knob in her hand. He jumped up from his study-chair and offered her his hand to conduct her further into the room; but she waved him back. " Let alone that!" said she hardly. " I have no intention of staying here. I only want to know how it is possible that such a groundless report could have origi- nated." He hesitated a moment. It grieved him that she must drain this bitter cup, although she had no one to blame for ib but herself; and yet he now said composedly, " Dear mamma, the people tell the truth; Miss von Taubeneck was most certainly betrothed last night to Prince Von X . The door-knob escaped her hand ; she almost fell to the floor. " True?" cried she, clasping her forehead, as though she doubted whether she were still in her senses. " Keally true?" repeated she, looking at her son with sparkling eyes; then she broke forth into a fit of hysterical laughter, and clapped her hands together. " Well, you have let them lead you about by the nose prettily!" He retained perfect composure. " I have not been led around, but, on tiie contrary, led the bridal pair together/' replied he, without evincing the least irritability; and in a few words explaining the linking together of events. While he spoke, she had continually turned more of her back to him, and kept biting her under lip. " And all this I learn now for the first time!" exclaimed she, with quivering lips after he had ended. " Could you wish that your son should have betrayed a secret confided to him? I did battle with your error as much as I possibly could ; I often enough explained to you that Miss Von Taubeneck was perfectly indifferent to me, THE LADY WITH THE EUBIES. 271 and that I never meant to marry without love. For all these asseverations you never had any thing but a mysterious smile and shrug of the shoulders. " " Because I saw how Heloise always followed you with her eyes, and " He blushed like a girl. " And was not that only on one side? Can you affirm the same of me? Miss Von Taube- neck is conscious of her beauty, and coquets with every- body. Such glances are cheap; they make not the smallest impression upon me. But you should know that it is con- sidered a trivial matter in society for young ladies to amuse themselves in this way, and few esteem such little play with the eyes otherwise than admissible. Miss Von Taube- neck, in spite of all this, will make a good wife; her equable temper gives security for that. " Again the door fell to, and the old lady vanished into her own apartments once more with her pale, distorted face. But one hour later her maid was hurrying to the mantua-maker and milliner, while the man-servant was bustling about in the garret, and came down-stairs drag- ging after him various trunks and bandboxes. Mrs. Coun- sellor was going to Berlin to visit her sister. And when, toward noon, Mr. Counsellor arrived, and, leaning on his son's arm, mounted the frontdoor-steps lead- ing to the Lambert mansion, his wife was just coming down from above in her fur mantle, hat, and veil, in order to pay farewell visits in town. Everywhere she spoke of her long-cherished, ardent desire to hear once more some good operas and concerts, and now declared herself irresistibly attracted to Berlin. The event at Prince's Court was only casually touched upon, and treated smilingly as something long since known, and at which every loyal heart must, of course, rejoice; but to her most intimate friend she whis- pered that she could readily understand Prince Von X 's opposition in the beginning, for it was not everybody who cared to receive into their family the daughter of a ballet- dancer. With her departure came peace and quiet into the old house for a few days; but then came another storm that made the heart of every inmate to quake. Reynold had, at last, to learn the change which had taken place in the family affairs. His grandfather and Herbert had gone to work as cautiously as possible; but nevertheless their revelations had the effect of a bursting bomb. Reynold 272 THE LADY WITH THE KTTBIES. fell into a frightful excitement. He shrieked, and raved, and launched forth into the most violent accusations against his deceased father. His passionate protest did no good; and finally he had to yield to his fate. But henceforth he withdrew himself even more than before from his family; he even eat alone in his room for fear of meeting his little brother in the sitting-room; for with "that fellow" he never, never would have anything to do, though he should live to be a hundred. For this expression the old family physician always had a melancholy smile. He best knew the little probability of his patient ever living to old age. He therefore urged his relations to show him every indulgence and forbear- ance; and this they cheerfully accorded him. Little Max never crossed his path. The door to the ware- house was not walled up, and furnished the ready means for lively intercourse between the front and rear houses. Old Mr. Counsellor had taken the fine boy to his heart as though he had been the child of his own daughter, and Herbert had become his guardian. As had been foreseen, the secret revealed concerning the Lambert affairs created a great stir both in town and country; it was the theme of conversation for many a long day in the clubs, the ladies' circles, and at the restaurants, and there were discussions pro and con. The Lamberts' names were indeed not allowed to rest for a long while. This war of words, however, held far aloof from the peace- ful precincts of grandpapa's room the red parlor where the whole family were accustomed to gather socially. They met there daily, a small circle of people, knitted together by fervent love and congeniality of dispositions. And upon this picture of concord between old and young " the lady with the rubies" looked down smilingly and radiantly. " The beauty of that woman up there is so demoniacal and haunting that one might feel a dread of her," said Mrs. May, one evening, turning pale as she made this re- mark to Aunt Sophie, who sat beside her on the sofa em- broidering Margaret's initials upon a napkin. A lamp stood upon the bureau beneath the portrait; and the young wife stood out from the canvas so speakingly in this stream of light that the next minute one expected her lips to open that she might join in the conversation. " This precious magic must have had its fatal influence THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 273 upon my poor Blanche when she again went out into the world from here/' added the old lady with lowered voice. " She preferred, to any other ornament, the stones that glitter there in those raven tresses; and in her last fevered dream she wrestled with the beautiful Dora, who would take them with her." Herbert arose and pushed away the light, so that the picture retired again into obscurity. " I had those rubies in my hand to-day, and locked them up. They shall never be found in your hair," said he to Margare f . She smiled, " Do you think like Barbara?" " Not that; but I must think on ' the envy of the gods/ And so those unlucky red jewels may rest in peace for the future I" But almost at the identical hour Barbara said to the other servants down in the kitchen, " I do not at all like our young master having to go every day through that passage. That lady with the rubies had to take her young one into the earth with her; and seeing such a fine strap- ping lad to uphold the family stock will make her jealous." " Now, Barbara, you must straightway bite off your tongue!" said the man-servant. " You promised never again, while you lived, to mention the name of that creat- ure. " " Eh, what? one time is no time! It were best if that passage cculd be walled up; for who can know whether that flaxen-haired lady does not walk above ground along with the dark-haired one?" Faith in the powers of darkness will not die so long as the weak heart of man loves, hopes, and fears! THE E2TD HURT'S HOME LIBRARY. Comprising two hundred and fifty titles of standard works, em- bracing fiction, essays, poetry, history, travel, etc., selected from the world's best literature, written by authors of world-wide repu- tation. Printed from large type, on good paper, and bound in handsome cloth binding, uni- form with this volume, Price, 75 cents per copy. Adam Bede. By George Eliot. .aSsop's Fables. Alhambra, The. By Washington Irving. Alice Lorraine. By R. D. Black- more. All Sorts and Conditions of Men. By Besant and Rice. Andersen's Fairy Tales. Arabian Nights Enter- tainments. Armadale. 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