"Most Respected Herr,--Pardon a stranger for venturing to intrude upon you with a complaint and a request. In the unfortunate situation in which I am placed no other choice is left me. I must appeal to you, most honoured Herr, if I would not run the risk of losing forever a sum of money hardly earned and accumulated only by constant self-denial. Permit me to lay the case before you.
"Some years ago I loaned the Schulze Brandes, in Wilhelmshagen, the sum of four hundred thalers at a reasonable rate of interest, knowing him to be an honest man. He has justified my estimate of him as such, for although impoverished and forced to emigrate to America, he sent me before his departure all that he owed me, both capital and interest, but in such a manner that I am in danger of losing my hard-won savings entirely. Before leaving for America he gave it to my nephew, Gottlieb Pigglewitch, commissioning him to hand it to me. Whilst on the ocean he conceived a suspicion that Gottlieb had not fulfilled his trust, and therefore he wrote me immediately upon his arrival in New York to ask me if I had received the sum in question. Unfortunately his fears were but too well grounded; my nephew has never paid me the money, it is probably squandered, or lost at cards.
"My nephew, the son of my sister and the deceased Pastor Pigglewitch, of Wilhelmshagen, has repaid by the basest ingratitude the benefits conferred upon him by me when he was left a friendless orphan. He has never concerned himself about me since he left my house to enter upon an independent existence. He has forgotten my teachings, he has squandered his substance, leading a dissolute life, and given over to a passion for cards. His conduct lost him a good situation in Wilhelmshagen, since which I have heard nothing of him until the arrival of Schulze Brandes's letter, which has filled me with anxiety concerning my money.
"More than four weeks had passed since this money was intrusted to Gottlieb Pigglewitch. I did not know his address, and therefore wrote to his patron, Herr Director Kramser, from whom I learn that my nephew is receiving a high salary in your worshipful household as tutor to your son. I have now written to him to beg him to restore my property to me, but I fear that my request will be vain if it is not seconded by yourself, respected Herr. It is not probable that the money is at present in my nephew's possession, therefore he could not pay it even if he wished to do so. I might easily bring him to justice, but a feeling of kinship restrains me; I could bring myself to adopt such extreme measures only in case my nephew should refuse to pay me the money with interest. He can do this if he chooses.
"I learn from Herr Director Kramser that my nephew receives from your highly-respected self a salary of three hundred thalers cash. A young man can get along extremely well upon one hundred thalers yearly; I myself as a Candidate did with much less than that sum; he can then pay me at least two hundred thalers every year, if he only will.
"My humble request to you is, respected Herr, that you will compel my nephew thus to fulfil his duty by giving him only one hundred thalers yearly of his salary, and transmitting the two hundred to me, until the debt is liquidated. My nephew will, I am sure, be content with this means of returning to me my money; he will not force me to appeal for justice to the law of the land, and you, respected Herr, will establish a claim upon my everlasting gratitude by yielding to my entreaty.
"With devoted respect, your obedient servant,
"Widman,Pastor of Wennersdorf."
"A most edifying document!" Egon said to himself, when he had read the letter. "I suppose the communication which I received this evening and put unread into my pocket also comes from Uncle Widman." He took out the letter and read it. Yes, it was from Widman, and contained threats of arrest and exposure if his nephew refused to devote two hundred thalers of his salary each year to the payment of his debt.
Egon indignantly crushed the letter together in his hand. "Gottlieb Pigglewitch has lost his money for the third time," he muttered. "There is no helping him, he must be left to his fate. He probably knows this, and therefore has made no further attempt to extort money from me by threats and promises."
Once more the young man read the letter to Herr von Osternau; it filled him with a vague apprehension. What should he say to the kind old man on the morrow? In his eyes, his tutor was Gottlieb Pigglewitch, the confirmed gambler, who had actually appropriated money intrusted to him for his uncle. 'I do not deny that this letter has affected my good opinion of you,' Herr von Osternau had said, and certainly he was justified in saying so.
"It is high time that this farce were ended," Egon murmured. "I must leave this house, and break the spell that has been cast about me!"
He had often of late made this resolve; almost nightly, after he had retired to his solitary apartment, and thought over the events of the day, he had determined to tear asunder the bonds that were being woven about him, but the next morning found him powerless to carry his determination into execution. Yes, a spell had been cast upon him which paralyzed his will, and whose this spell was, he could not rightly tell.
When Bertha's wondrous beauty filled his mind, a wild feeling of delight thrilled through him, his pulses throbbed, his thoughts made chaos within him, he longed to clasp in his arms as his own her whom he had so foolishly insulted and scorned.
But in the midst of this rapturous intoxication he was recalled to a sober certainty of waking disgust when he remembered various expressions of Bertha's which had revealed to him her true self; he turned away from the thought of her, chilled and repelled, and in her place there was a very different image,--Lieschen gazed at him with a look of reproach, and yet of love! In thought of her he was calmed and cheered, she incited him to continued exertion, she called forth all his better nature,--she, the good angel who had led him out from the slough of an existence into which the beautiful fiend with the glowing eyes would fain drag him back!
Did he love Bertha? Did he love Lieschen? He did not know. Bertha exercised a demoniac influence upon him, Lieschen's spell was fairy-like, but mighty. His soul hovered between the two, in a conflict which robbed him of repose, subjugated his will, and made any firm resolve impossible for him.
Perhaps chance would befriend him.
Herr Von Osternau passed a miserable night. Pastor Widman's letter had excited him more than he cared to confess to himself. If he could have told his faithful partner of the wretched epistle, he would soon have been soothed to rest, but he could not do this for fear lest his Emma should find in the Pastor's letter fresh reasons for urging her oft-repeated desire for the tutor's dismissal. Herr von Osternau's sense of justice revolted against condemning the accused without allowing him a hearing.
As he had frankly confessed, his faith in the Candidate was shaken, and the more he thought, during his sleepless night, of the Pastor's letter, the more he suspected that he had bestowed his confidence upon one quite unworthy of it. The Pastor's accusation of his nephew did not seem like an invention, and if it were well grounded, Pigglewitch could no longer be retained as Fritzchen's tutor. The man who could lose at play money not his own was unfit for such an office, whatever might be his intellectual acquirements. But perhaps he was not so guilty as he seemed. He should not be judged before he had been allowed to speak in his own defence.
The next morning Herr von Osternau awaited the tutor's visit with the greatest impatience, continually consulting the clock as he walked to and fro in his sitting-room. It was only half-past eight; there was still half an hour to wait, since he had appointed the interview at nine o'clock.
He was pleased and surprised when thus early, nevertheless, a knock was heard at the door. Upon his "Come in," however, he was equally disappointed by the entrance not of Pigglewitch, but of the Lieutenant.
"Is it you, Albrecht? I thought you had gone to the meadows," he said, rather testily, but the next instant, perceiving that the Lieutenant looked downcast and unhappy, he continued, kindly, "What is it, Albrecht? You look out of sorts. I hope nothing is the matter."
The Lieutenant did not reply immediately. He had meant to look desperate, and not merely out of sorts, and it cost him some effort to make his features convoy the desired impression. Perceiving in an opposite mirror that his efforts were crowned with a degree of success, he said at last, in a trembling voice, "I come to you, Cousin Fritz, a prey to remorse and despair. On the day before yesterday evening I actually had my revolver in my hand to put an end to my wretched existence, but I thought of you, and of the contempt which you feel for a man who lays violent hands upon himself; the pistol dropped from my grasp, I had a glimmer of hope. I remembered your inexhaustible kindness. You have helped me so often that I cannot but look to you in my extremity."
Herr von Osternau's face had grown dark as the Lieutenant spoke. He had heard words like these too often not to know that they were the preface to a demand for money to pay some extravagant or gambling debt. He replied, indignantly, "Spare your words, cousin; they are useless. I must remind you of what I told you last year when I paid two thousand thalers for you. I assured you then that it was for the last time, and the money was paid upon your solemn promise never again to contract a debt which you could not pay yourself. It is of no use to continue this conversation. I shall be true to my word."
"I implore you, Cousin Fritz----"
"I will hear nothing further. I should wrong my daughter by sacrificing fresh sums of money to you. I felt free to do for you what I have done, but now it is time that I should lay by Lieschen's portion, since I have been spending my whole income all these years upon the improvement of the estate."
"All that is needed is three thousand marks, an insignificant sum for you. Would you for such a trifle drive me to suicide, Cousin Fritz?"
"It is sacrilegious to talk thus."
"Do you not force me to it? Can I live disgraced? I have signed a note of hand. I must pay the money in fourteen days, or I shall be dishonoured."
"You told me a year ago that you owed nothing."
"It was true, but--I am ashamed to confess my folly--I was insane enough to be tempted to play. I fell in with some of my comrades the day before yesterday in Berlin, and cards were proposed. I refused for a long time to join the game, but I was overpersuaded. At first the stakes were very low, and I won, but the luck changed, I lost my head, and I came away with a debt of honour for three thousand marks. If it is not paid in fourteen days I shall be dishonoured."
"You are dishonoured already, even though your debt were paid; you promised me never again to touch a card."
"I was mad! I was mad!"
"Your word of honour should have kept you sane. But I shall not depart from what I told you a year ago. You have no help to expect from me."
"At least lend me the three thousand marks. You can easily do so; you have ten thousand there in your desk; the trifling sum can readily be paid from my salary in two years at the latest."
"That cannot be done, either; you must learn to help yourself."
"You drive me to suicide."
"That threat is useless. It will not move me to break my word to you."
An evil look was the Lieutenant's only reply; he saw that further entreaty would be of no avail. There was no need, then, to subject himself to further humiliation. The expression of despair in his face gave place to one of sullen defiance. Without another word he left the room.
Herr von Osternau had been calm and decided so long as Albrecht was present; but now that he was alone he grew restless and anxious. Had he perhaps been too hard? No, he could neither speak nor act otherwise. For years he had been far too much influenced by the reflection that Albrecht had been deprived of an inheritance which he had long considered as his own. The sums which had been sacrificed for this dissipated, reckless relative were enormous; the sacrifice had been made in vain, Albrecht was utterly ungrateful. He seized every opportunity for a visit either to Breslau or to Berlin to resume his dissolute career, to contract fresh debts. There was no helping him, least of all by compliance with his demands. Only by being thrown upon his own resources, with no hope of assistance from his cousin, might he perhaps be induced to resist the temptation to play.
Herr von Osternau was sure that he had acted for the best, but nevertheless he felt very anxious. The thought that his cousin might fulfil his threat of self-destruction, filled him with dread. His kindly nature gave him no repose. He sat down at his writing-table and scratched off a note to Herr von Sastrow begging him to write to Albrecht and offer to lend him the money he needed upon his promise to repay him from his salary. The money, Herr von Osternau assured his uncle, should be repaid him,--for that he would go surety,--but of this the Lieutenant must be kept in ignorance. He must believe that the offer of help came unsuggested from Herr von Sastrow alone.
When the note had been handed to Wenzel, with orders to take it directly to the post at Station Mirbach, Herr von Osternau felt relieved, but so occupied had he been with the Lieutenant's case for the last half-hour that it was only when the Candidate presented himself punctually at the appointed time that he was reminded of Pastor Widman's miserable letter, according to which the Candidate, like the Lieutenant, had squandered his patrimony; like Albrecht, he was an inveterate gambler, who had lost at play money not his own. Involuntarily Herr von Osternau compared the two men in his mind. There was no trace in the Candidate's face of the theatric despair which Albrecht had laboured to display. Herr Pigglewitch was so calm and collected that Herr von Osternau was half convinced of his innocence before he had spoken a word, and not until the young man avoided his searching glance did he again doubt him.
Did Egon suspect this? He looked up again frankly, and in a clear, calm voice, without embarrassment, without waiting to be questioned, he opened the interview which was to decide his future relations with the lord of the castle.
"You made use of harsh language to me last evening, Herr von Osternau. You told me that you had lost confidence in me----"
"No, I only said that my confidence in you was shaken. It was best to be frank, and you could not but see that I was justified by the Pastor's letter. The importance to be attached to that letter depends entirely upon the explanation which I expect from you."
"I am ready to give you an explanation. I assure you that every word which I am about to utter shall be perfectly true, but I do not deny that the circumstances in which I find myself forbid my telling the whole truth. I am forced to be silent with regard to these circumstances, whilst I could by a single word prove the falsehood of the ridiculous charges--ridiculous so far as I am concerned--contained in the letter. This word, however, I shall not speak. If the explanations which I am able to give you do not satisfy you, then, Herr von Osternau, I must remind you of our agreement when I first came to your house. We reserved for each of us perfect liberty to dissolve at any given moment a connection which cannot continue to exist if you withdraw your confidence from your son's tutor or believe him capable of appropriating to himself money confided to him by others."
"This is a strange preface to your explanation, Herr Pigglewitch; it can be answered only when I have heard you further."
"I do not ask a reply until then. I understand perfectly that this letter, which I beg now to return to you, has shaken your confidence in me. Your knowledge of me is of too recent a date to convince you that in spite of grievous defects of character I am incapable of a dishonourable act, and Pastor Widman's letter, containing as it does a mixture of truth and falsehood, may well give you cause for reflection. Let me refer to the letter in detail. It is untrue that Pastor Widman befriended his sister's orphan boy. He treated him with great severity, only sending him to school when he was forced to do so, the expenses of his education being defrayed from the orphan boy's patrimony. On the other hand, it is true that the weak, thoughtless young man squandered the rest of his inheritance, and sacrificed his first situation to his passion for gaming. Later, in another situation, he so won the esteem of his employer that Doctor Kramser felt himself justified in recommending him to you for your son's tutor. I candidly confess to you, Herr von Osternau, that I have led a life far from blameless, that I have foolishly squandered both time and money, but I swear to you that I have never been involved in any dishonourable transaction. It is true that the Schulze Brandes gave the sum in question to the nephew of Pastor Widman for transmission to his uncle, and that this money has not yet been paid him, but I have neither appropriated this money nor have I lost it at play. The reason why this money has not been paid I cannot now disclose to you, all I can say is that I have a perfect right to refuse to give this sum to the Herr Pastor. Nevertheless, he shall have his money without abatement of a penny; here it is, and I beg of you, Herr von Osternau, to transmit it to him."
As he spoke, Egon took out his pocket-book and counted out the notes upon the table.
Herr von Osternau was amazed. "You have the money? Why then did you not send it to your uncle long ago?"
"I regret that I cannot answer this question, for in doing so I should be obliged to refer to matters which were best passed over in silence, at least for the present. I can only assure you that I never even dreamed of depriving Herr Pastor Widman of his property. If this does not suffice you, Herr von Osternau, I can no longer remain in the castle; I must resign my situation here, much as I regret to do so. I can no longer be your son's tutor if you have lost faith in me."
"No, I have not lost it. I believe you to be incapable of anything dishonourable, but I tell you candidly that I do not like your wrapping yourself up in mystery."
"I regret being forced to do so. At present I cannot tell you the whole truth, and I will not tell you a falsehood."
"I have no right to force your confidence or to lay down the law to you, but, as a man much your elder, I have a right to tell you honestly what I think. The manner in which you speak of your uncle displeases me as much as does your foolish mystery. You speak of him as Herr Pastor Widman, in the most formal way; however harshly he may have treated you years ago, you are wrong thus to bear malice. When there has been a coolness or a quarrel between relatives, it is the duty of the younger to take the first steps towards a reconciliation. If my good opinion is worth anything to you, you will accept my advice to put back into your pocket-book the money you have counted out upon the table. I will not undertake to mediate between uncle and nephew. You ought to return his property to him; if you comply with my wishes, you will take it to him yourself. Wennersdorf is only a few hours' journey from Breslau. The journey thither is neither difficult nor expensive. Take your uncle his money, pay him a visit of a few days, and be reconciled with him. I will gladly give you leave of absence for a week. Will you not start early to-morrow morning?"
Egon hesitated to reply. He had not expected such a proposal. Could he accept it, since he could not possibly deliver in person Pastor Widman's money? He could not positively reject it without wounding Herr von Osternau, and, besides, it had a certain attraction. If he could be delivered for a few days from the spell that bound him, if he could make a short excursion in the Riesengebirge, he might perhaps come to some clear conclusion in his own mind. After a short pause for reflection, he said, "I can give you no decided promise, Herr von Osternau. If you will allow me leave of absence for a few days, I shall be grateful for it. I shall then go to Breslau to-morrow, but whether I shall go thence to Wennersdorf, or employ the time granted me in making a pedestrian excursion among the mountains, I cannot at present tell you."
"I do not ask you to tell me. I hope that calm reflection will show you the right path to pursue. At all events I am glad that our interview has had the effect of entirely restoring my confidence in you, in proof of which I beg you to transact a little business for me in Breslau to-morrow. A manufacturer in Breslau, whom I have known for many years as an honest, industrious man, became some time ago so involved in his pecuniary affairs as to solicit of me a loan of some ten thousand marks, for which he gave me his note. It falls due to-morrow. I do not wish this note presented at the bank, it might injure the man were it known that he had borrowed money of a private individual; nor do I wish the note to be protested if he should not be quite ready to pay the money. I have entire confidence in his honesty, and I do not wish to embarrass him. I thought of sending my cousin Albrecht to-morrow to Breslau to attend to this affair for me, but since you are going I should be much obliged by your undertaking it. Will you do so?"
"With pleasure."
"Use your own discretion. I do not want to have my debtor harassed. If he pays the money, please send it to me immediately by post, I shall receive it to-morrow afternoon; if he does not, send me back the note."
Herr von Osternau went to his secretary and opened it. In one of its centre partitions stood an iron-bound box with a patent lock. From it he took first a pile of bank-notes representing a considerable sum; these he laid on the desk of the secretary until he had found the note, then returning them to the box, he locked it and the secretary, and turned to Egon. "I hope," he said, kindly, "that our conversation to-day, painful as it was at first, has left no unpleasant impression on either of us. I shall be glad if it is the means of reconciling relatives at present at odds. And now, Herr Pigglewitch, I will detain you no longer. Fritzchen is, I am sure, awaiting you."
He dismissed Egon with a friendly grasp of the hand, and when the young man had left the room, gave himself over to reflection as to whether he had not been somewhat hasty in putting so much trust in him. "I am sure he will justify it," he concluded. "If he had not held sacred the money intrusted to him for his uncle he would have used it in Breslau to purchase what he so greatly needed; he would not have paid for his clothes by instalments. I would far sooner trust him than Albrecht with ten thousand marks. Still he is a strange, incomprehensible fellow, and I detest mysteries. He said himself that he could not tell me the whole truth. I wonder what he suppressed." Upon this he pondered for some time without coming to any conclusion.
It was an uncomfortable, wearisome evening. A conversation like that of the morning between Herr von Osternau and the tutor always leaves traces, even although it has ended satisfactorily for both parties; for some short time at least it leaves behind it an uncomfortable sense of restraint, and this was evident now. Herr von Osternau could not recover from the effect upon his mood of the interviews with the Lieutenant and the tutor. He tried to be as cordial and kindly as usual, but he did not succeed very well, and his efforts were by no means seconded either by Albrecht or by Pigglewitch.
The Lieutenant was so absent-minded and self-occupied that he took no part whatever in the conversation, and the Candidate was noticeably taciturn. He did not add to the evening's entertainment either by playing or by singing; he declined, indeed, to sing when asked, pleading fatigue, even when Lieschen added her voice to the general petition for a song.
"He is jealous," Frau von Osternau whispered to her husband, and it really seemed as if she might be right. Herr von Osternau noticed that the Candidate was watching Bertha narrowly, and if he really were in love with her she certainly gave him abundant cause for jealousy.
Bertha alone of the little assemblage was in the rosiest mood, she was so gay, so absolutely charming, that Herr von Wangen was to be pardoned for having eyes and ears for nothing save her radiant self. The young fellow, who was wont to be so shy, now conversed with readiness and ease, nay, he and Bertha monopolized the talk. He did not find the evening wearisome, he could have wished that it might last much longer when Herr von Osternau declared that it was time to separate for the night, since Herr Pigglewitch would be obliged to rise early for his journey the next morning.
"You are leaving us?" the Lieutenant asked, suddenly becoming interested. "Where are you going, and for how long?"
Lieschen looked at Egon in surprise, awaiting his reply.
"I do not yet know how long I shall be gone," Egon replied. "My leave of absence is for three or four days."
"Oh, no, Herr Pigglewitch," Herr von Osternau interposed, "I leave that entirely to you; if you wish to remain longer with your uncle you need not return for a couple of weeks. Herr Pigglewitch, Emma, is going to visit a relative of his, Pastor Widman, in Wennersdorf," he added, in reply to his wife's look of surprised inquiry.
An odd smile hovered about the Lieutenant's features for an instant. His sullen mood was suddenly dissipated, and with a good grace he wished the tutor a successful journey and a speedy return. In this he was joined by Bertha and Herr von Wangen, but Lieschen said not a word; there was only a dreamy, far-away look in her eyes as she bade him good-night, and her hand rested in his a moment longer than was usual.
Herr von Osternau had another interview on his hands this evening. He had his confession to make to his wife. She had a right to know the meaning of this sudden visit of the Candidate to his uncle. Her husband could not but acquaint her with Herr Pastor Widman's letter, and with his conversation of the morning with Herr Pigglewitch. As he did so he expressed his conviction that Pigglewitch was a thoroughly honest man, and he added an account of the commission with which he had intrusted him.
Frau von Osternau did not share her husband's faith. "I am afraid, Fritz," she said, shaking her head, "that you have allowed yourself to be carried away again by your kind, unsuspicious nature. Had you not better recall the commission? Ten thousand marks is a large sum, quite sufficient to tempt a poor Candidate who, as we now learn, has a passion for play. Let Albrecht go to Breslau to-morrow, or Herr Storting, or Herr von Wangon."
"To change my messenger now would be a positive insult to Herr Pigglewitch. I was perhaps imprudent, but it is done now and cannot be altered."
The old Herr, however, was not quite easy in his mind. He slept but poorly, and awoke the next morning so weary that in spite of the glorious weather he did not go out, but sat at his favourite window in his arm-chair. Lieschen and her mother kept him company, but they could not enliven his gloomy mood, which was partly caused by his confinement to the house and partly by a vague feeling of anxiety. His thoughts dwelt upon the Candidate. Would the money arrive punctually from Breslau?
Towards eleven o'clock the Lieutenant entered the room, and seemed confused and not quite agreeably surprised to find Lieschen and Frau von Osternau with his cousin, but quickly collecting himself he said, "I come to you at a rather unusual time, Cousin Fritz, to ask you for leave of absence for a few days. I must attend to that money matter of which I told you. I must spend a short time in Berlin."
"You know I never wish to put any restraint upon you," his cousin said, kindly; "still less would I do so in this matter, in which I wish you all success. When would you like to go?"
"With your permission, immediately after dinner. I wish to leave Breslau by the night-train, and so have the entire day in Berlin to-morrow."
"I am quite willing. I beg you, however, to go to see Sastrow to-morrow as early as possible. I know that you are not on very good terms with him. I ask you as a favour to me to see him yourself, and learn from him about Bertha's affairs: whether anything has been heard of young Herr von Ernau, and whether there is any abatement of the disagreeable gossip of society. Write me to-morrow what you hear."
"It will hardly be necessary. I can tell you the latest news of the affair without having seen Sastrow. You must pardon me for not letting you know before what I heard from a friend in Berlin, who accompanied me to the railway-station when I was last there. I was so preoccupied with my own affairs that I quite forgot Fräulein von Massenburg's. However, I told Fräulein Bertha herself soon after my arrival that there was no longer any doubt of the death of Herr von Ernau, his body has been recovered from the Spree."
Herr and Frau von Osternau uttered an exclamation of surprised dismay. Lieschen was not at all surprised. "Now I understand," she said, "Bertha's excited manner on the evening of her conversation with Cousin Albrecht in the window-recess, and her great amiability towards Herr von Wangen after it. As Herr von Ernau is certainly dead, Herr von Wangen is to take his place."
"How can you speak so unkindly, child?" said her father.
"I only speak the truth. I know that she would have preferred the millionaire, but since she must give up all hopes of him, Herr von Wangen will do."
"Not another word, Lieschen!" Herr von Osternau exclaimed. "Hush! If you cannot conquer your childish, unfounded dislike for Bertha, at least do not give it utterance. Go on, Albrecht, tell me what else you heard."
"Nothing else, except that the body of the unfortunate man had been found in the Spree. Whether Herr von Ernau was murdered or had drowned himself my friend did not know. The chief of police, from whom he had his information, did not know either, but suspected he had been murdered, since none of the money which he had drawn from his father's bank on the morning of his disappearance was found upon the body. Doubtless all this has tended to increase the talk about Fräulein von Massenburg, so it is scarcely necessary for me to go to inquire of Herr von Sastrow."
"You will, however, oblige me greatly by doing so, and by letting me know what he says."
"Your wish shall be my law, Cousin Fritz. My first visit to-morrow morning shall be to Herr von Sastrow. I shall leave, then, immediately after dinner, and I must ask you to advance me five hundred or a thousand marks. I dislike to ask this favour, but if I am to make any settlement of the matter I spoke of to you I must have some cash in hand."
Herr von Osternau frowned. He would fain have refused the young man's request. He suspected that the money would be used to attempt to recover his losses at play, but he did not wish to expose the Lieutenant before Lieschen and her mother, and he could not explain to them his reason for wishing to refuse a demand apparently so reasonable.
He rose slowly and went to his secretary. It was usually opened with great ease, but now something seemed the matter with the lock, he was several moments in unlocking it, and he had the same difficulty with the money-box. "Strange!" he said, trying to turn the key in the last; "either I am very awkward today or these keys are growing rusty." As he spoke the lock yielded and the lid of the box opened. One glance showed him to his dismay the reason why he had found so much difficulty in turning his keys. His secretary had been forced in the night by means of false keys, and the money had been stolen from the iron-bound box. The bundle of bank-notes which Herr von Osternau had returned to it on the previous day, after giving the note of hand to the Candidate, was gone.
One look sufficed to tell Herr von Osternau that he had been robbed, and by some inmate of the castle; no one else could have known of the considerable sum in the money-box, no one else could have used false keys in the night without a forcible entrance into the castle, of which there were no traces.
It was not the loss of his money, but the thought that there was a thief beneath his roof which so disturbed Herr von Osternau that he tottered, and might have fallen had not his wife and the Lieutenant hastened to his assistance and helped him to his arm-chair.
It was but a momentary weakness, however, to which the old Herr succumbed; in an instant he was on his feet again, examining the secretary and the papers left in his box. They were all there, even a package of certificates of stock in a sugar-refinery, worth some ten thousand thalers; everything was there save the bundle of bank-notes. The thief had been too cunning to take anything which might lead to his detection.
But who was the thief?
This question Herr von Osternau put to himself and to his wife, after informing her of his loss, and of his belief that he must have been robbed by some one of his household.
Frau von Osternau was no less shocked than her husband, she did not reply. The Lieutenant made answer in her stead. "It can be no other than that fellow, the Candidate, who left the castle this morning with the booty obtained thus in the night."
He had scarcely finished speaking when Lieschen, flushed with indignation, confronted him. Her little hand was clinched and her eyes flashed as she said, in a voice which she vainly tried to steady, "It is a vile, cowardly calumny! You would not dare to say it to his face if he were here! I should sooner believe that you were the thief than that he could be guilty of a dishonourable act!"
The Lieutenant started and turned pale at this sudden denunciation; unable to meet Lieschen's indignant eyes, he cast down his own and answered not a word.
"My child, my child, of what are you thinking?" Frau von Osternau exclaimed.
But Lieschen was not to be stopped. With flashing eyes still riveted upon the Lieutenant, she went on, "I will not have an innocent man slandered when he is not here to defend himself, and by one, too, who has always shown himself his enemy, and who may have his own ends to serve by this accusation."
"Cousin Fritz, can you allow your cousin to be thus treated by your daughter?"
Herr von Osternau had entirely recovered from the shock of his discovery, and he replied calmly and gravely to the Lieutenant's complaint: "No, neither can I allow an unfounded charge to be brought against one who, as Lieschen says, is not here to defend himself. My child is right in espousing the Candidate's cause, but her manner of doing so I cannot approve. Go to your room, Lieschen, and stay there until Cousin Albrecht consents to pardon you."
Lieschen silently obeyed the father whom she loved, but her glance at Albrecht, as she left the room, spoke of anything save a desire for pardon at his hands.
"It is infamous!" the Lieutenant exclaimed, when Lieschen had left the room; "just to whitewash a vagabond, an adventurer, dropped down among us from nobody knows where, I am exposed to such vile insinuations! This Pigglewitch----"
"Has done nothing to lay himself open to the charge of a midnight robbery," Herr von Osternau interposed.
"But, cousin, you yourself said that the thief must have been one of the household. Whom else can you suspect save this fellow? The servants are honest and tried, and have been here for years, while the tutor has been here but for a short time. We know nothing of his past, he never mentions it. Such reserve betokens an evil conscience. I never trusted him. I will not repeat my suspicions, but surely they are justified by his absent-minded manner yesterday, his strange behaviour, and the fact that the robbery occurred the very night before his departure. I shall avail myself of my short time in Breslau to-day to notify the police of what has happened, and beg them to try to arrest the thief. He probably has the money still in his possession; to-morrow he will have hidden it in some safe place or will run off the day after from Hamburg or Bremen for America. Whatever is done must be done quickly."
"I strictly forbid all notice to the police. I will not have an innocent man insulted by their interference in his affairs."
"But, Fritz, will you let the thief escape with his booty? How are you to discover him if you do not call in the police, whose business it is to catch thieves?"
"I do not wish to discover him," Herr von Osternau quietly replied to his wife. "You will let the money go?"
"That is the least of my loss, although the sum was a considerable one. What I find hardest to bear is that among those whom I have trusted there is a scoundrel, a thief. I do not wish to know him, to bring him to punishment. I can do without the money. I would rather lose it than have Castle Osternau made the subject all over the country of the talk which I hate. Therefore, I beg you to say not one word to any one about the robbery. You hear, Albrecht? You understand?"
"As you really desire it, I will promise to be silent."
"Enough. Now I will detain you no longer. Before you start I will find means to give you the advance you have asked for, and to do this I must drive to Mirbach myself. Pray have the horses put to the light, open wagon, and brought round to the door as soon as possible."
"Do you mean to drive yourself, cousin? No, you must not; you look pale and ill. The discovery has agitated you, the drive might do you harm. Permit me----"
"You have preparations for your journey to make."
"But, Fritz, I pray you let Albrecht go with you," Frau von Osternau said, anxiously, but her husband shook his head impatiently. "Do not oppose me," he said. "I have reasons for wishing to go alone. The wagon must be at the door in five minutes; pray see to it, Albrecht."
There was no gainsaying the old Herr when he was thus decided, and the Lieutenant left the room to do as he was requested. No sooner had the door closed behind him than Herr von Osternau said to his wife, "I must go to Mirbach myself. If Pigglewitch has received the money on the note and sends it immediately by post, it will arrive with the mid-day train. I must see for myself whether he has sent it."
"I am afraid you will have your drive in vain. All excitement is, as you know, injurious to you; why will you not let Albrecht go?"
"Let him go? Do you forget what Lieschen said, Emma?"
"For heaven's sake do not tell me that you share the suspicion at which Lieschen's words pointed so unjustifiably?"
"Lieschen's look probed her cousin's soul, he could not endure it, an evil conscience spoke in his eyes. Do you guess now why I would rather lose the money than ask the police to interfere? Their investigation might result in what the Lieutenant would hardly like. I have made many a sacrifice to preserve the name of Osternau from dishonour, I shall make this one also. There must be no whisper of even a suspicion that an Osternau could be guilty of theft."
"But you cherish such a suspicion, while your confidence in Pigglewitch, whom there are quite as many reasons for suspecting, is unshaken."
"I hope in a short time to bring you proof that the Candidate deserves my confidence; this is why I am going to Mirbach."
Frau von Osternau said no more, but accompanied her husband to the hall door, before which the light wagon was waiting.
As he drove off she followed him with anxious eyes, and then applied herself to waiting patiently for his return. Fortunately, she had not long to do so; hardly three-quarters of an hour had passed when the vehicle again drove up to the hall door, and her husband sprang from it with an elasticity and vigour which showed that he felt stronger than before his drive.
"I was not deceived," he whispered to his wife, who had come from the sitting-room to receive him. "I do not deny, Emma," he went on, when they were alone together, "that I could not help being somewhat doubtful as I drove to Mirbach. I thought of Lieschen, of her implicit trust in Pigglewitch, of her fearful disappointment if he should be discovered to be a scoundrel who might well be suspected of theft. My heart beat faster when I asked for my letters at the post-office, and when they handed me the envelope with five seals, I was delighted. Here it is. Pigglewitch is all right, he has executed his commission promptly and well. If he had committed the robbery, he would surely have added to his gains the ten thousand marks which he sends me here, that he might carry away in his flight everything he could get. This letter is the best proof of his innocence. Do you suspect him how?"
"No; but I cannot tell whether to rejoice that I do not, and I cannot see how you can be so glad. How can you look so happy when, as you cease to suspect a stranger, your next of kin takes his place in your suspicions?"
"I gavehimup long ago," Heir von Osternau replied. "I keep him beneath my roof because my duty and the honour of our name link me to him, and because I owe him some indemnification for the annihilation of his hopes. The unhappy event which has just occurred does not relieve me of this duty, it must remain a secret between us two."