Any anxiety about finding places proved quite unfounded. There would have been room for the whole party in the gorgeous dining-room, if every seat had been occupied at the little tables laid for eight or ten people each. But as it had been foreseen that this would not be the case, tables were also laid in the great conservatory, which stood at right angles with the dining-room and connected this wing of the house with the other. The last comers had the privilege of supping under palm trees, as Justus laughingly remarked to Ottomar, both being amongst the latest arrivals.
"Stay with us," said Ottomar, pointing to his table, at which three or four officers and some ladies belonging to the theatre, amongst whom was Bertalda, were trying to arrange themselves. "I think there is room enough, if not we will make room."
"I am sorry," answered Justus; "but I am already engaged to a few friends there in the corner, and if our garden is not quite so brilliant as yours--yet you see we also have roses blooming."
"And magnificent ones. Who is the lady in silver grey? What a splendid figure!"
Justus laughed. "You must not betray me. Perfect carnival freedom reigns here. She is a cousin of my colleague Bunzel, alias--his model, alias----"
"Werben! Werben!" resounded from the officers' table.
"Justus! Justus!" from that of the artists'.
"Hope you will enjoy yourself," cried Ottomar.
"Same to you," said Justus; and to himself he added, "poor boy!"
He knew the sad story, and had besides heard lately from Reinhold, with whom he kept up a constant correspondence, new and worse things of Carla, which Meta, who had arrived quite unexpectedly this morning, fully confirmed.
"You will see," said Meta, "it will turn out badly. Dear Elsa suspects nothing; but I have a pair of sharp eyes, you know, and I am sure that the Count and Carla have got some understanding between them. If only Ottomar would let her go! but he is the sort of man who, if any one tries to take from him what he ought to be thankful to let go, says, 'No, not now.' He is not so sensible as we are, you know. And now make haste and be off to your great party!"
How laughing and beaming were his Meta's eyes, who by her great good sense had overcome all obstacles--"To-morrow we will order the furniture to suit your artistic tastes, you know!"--and how darkly and restlessly gleamed the eyes in which he had just looked! "The handsome face sunken and wasted as if in the last ten weeks he had aged twice as many years," thought Justus, "and in spite of his gay words, how bitter a look there had been upon his lips! Poor boy!"
"What are you making such a wry face for?" cried Kille, the architect, as the new comer approached the table.
"No mooning allowed here!" cried Bencke, the historical painter.
"He is thinking of the left hip of his 'Industry,' which is so much awry that it is almost dislocated!" cried friend Bunzel.
"Or of Lasker's speech, which has been cutting everybody up!" cried the architect.
"I am thinking just now of what you are always thinking of, nothing at all!" said Justus, taking a place next to Bunzel's "cousin," and passing his hand over his bald forehead to brush away the unpleasant impression.
It would have been hard indeed for even a less cheerful disposition to have given way to gloomy thoughts at this table and in such company. They talked and laughed and joked in the most extravagant way. They had all worked at the great building, especially the architect who had drawn the plan and directed the execution, and now were showing up each other's mistakes in good-humoured banter. And between whiles came serious and weighty talk upon art and artists, or upon Lasker's speech, which Justus, who in the sweat of his brow had sat out the whole debate--"for reasons, you know, Meta"--thought splendid beyond all belief, while the architect declared that the man might certainly be right on the whole--there were stranger stories even connected with some of the railroads--but of actual building he knew no more than a new-born babe; till one or the other who thought the conversation was getting too serious, threw in some wild joke, and the laughter that had been for a short time checked resounded again louder and more heartily than ever. And at the other tables, if there was perhaps less mirth, there was no less noise. The champagne flowed in streams. The innumerable servants had enough to do to renew the empty bottles in the silver wine-coolers; and great irritation seemed to be felt at the smallest neglect of the servants in this, matter. Everybody gave orders; everybody wanted the best wine, the second best was good for nothing, People passed the wine or the dishes from table to table, "just as if it had been a public dinner," said Baroness Kniebreche, surveying the crowd through her eye-glass; "quite like an hotel. I never saw such a thing in a private house before. It is extremely amusing. Do you know, Wallbach, that when you passed behind my chair just now I was within an ace of addressing you as the head waiter."
"Ha! Very funny!" answered Wallbach absently. "You cannot expect to find the good company and manners to which we are accustomed in such a house as this. It is and will always remain the house of a parvenu. But I was going to ask you, my dear Baroness, if you had kept your counsel as to the last piece of information I gave you, as I asked you to do?"
"The last piece of information?" cried the Baroness; "but, my dear child, you have told me so much, that I positively have forgotten which is the first and which is the last. Why do you want to know?"
"Ottomar avoids me in a way which, notwithstanding that our relations have been disturbed lately, is most marked. Just now he looked straight over my head."
"Then look over his head, my dear child. I really can give you no other advice. Besides, what is it you want? You can't wash fur without wetting it. That's nonsense. If you want to have a row, have it--if not, let it alone; but don't bother me any more about the matter. And now give me some of that lobster salad--there, at your elbow--it is delicious."
"The old woman is drunk," muttered Wallbach, as he returned to his place at the next table.
Philip had excused himself for a quarter of an hour from the old lady to go round the room, and was now going from table to table with his glass, which had to be constantly replenished, in his hand, received here with praises of the splendid feast, there with cordial shouts, "Splendid, my dear fellow!" "Well done, my boy!" and at several points with hurrahs and drinking of healths; while at others people seemed to require a reminder that the gentleman in the white tie and waistcoat, with the broad forehead, and the courteous smile on his red, clean-shaven face, who stood there glass in hand before them, was the master of the house.
Philip had gone the round of the room, and must now pay a visit to the conservatory which opened out of the room. He came here at once upon a large table surrounded by young men, who received him with such enthusiasm that he seemed quite to overlook a smaller table close by, and with a wave of his hand and a jesting word to the young men was passing on farther, when a hoarse well-known voice said: "Now then, Schmidt, are not we to have the honour?" Philip's face quivered, but it was beaming as if in joyful surprise as he turned round and threw up his arms, crying, "At last! Why, Lübbener, Councillor! Where the deuce have you been hiding? I really thought I was to be deprived of this pleasure. And you are quite alone, too! Like the lions, you keep apart!"
"We were late comers," said the Councillor, touching Philip's extended glass with his; "it was a mere matter of chance!"
"As long as you are amusing yourselves," said Philip.
"Certainly," answered Lübbener. "We can see here into both rooms. It is the best place of all."
"Then it belongs to you by right," cried Philip. "The best place in the room. The best in the house! Where would room and house be without you, my good Hugo? Dear old man!"
And, as if overcome with emotion, he took the little man in his arms, and held him, not daring to resist, pressed to his breast, when a loud voice a few steps from them cried, "Gentlemen!"
"Oh, horror!" exclaimed Philip, letting Lübbener out of his embrace.
"Ladies and gentlemen--"
The speaker was a bank clerk from the young men's table, famed among his companions for his extraordinary talent for after-dinner speeches. He had so placed himself, glass in hand, between the dining-room and the conservatory that he might have been heard in both rooms, if, in the noise which increased every moment, one man's voice had not been as much lost as a drop in the ocean.
"Stand on a chair, Norberg!"
"Hear, hear!"
"Stand on two chairs, Norberg; one is of no use."
"Ladies and gentlemen--"
"Louder, louder! Silence! Hear, hear!"
Nobody could hear anything, but here and there people could see some one standing on a chair gesticulating, and apparently making an attempt to speak; they drew the attention of their neighbours, and though silence was not attained, Herr Norberg, with renewed hopes, exerted the full force of his lungs, so far overpowering the noise as to make himself audible, at least to the circle which had gathered round him, and which was increasing every moment.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Our German proverb says that every man forges his own fortune--"
"Bravo! hear, hear!"
"But, unfortunately, every one does not understand smith's work, and the work fails in consequence. For the smith's work we need a Schmidt--"[1]
"Very good! Hear! Silence there!"
"And if a smith forges his fortune, we may be assured that it is a work which he need not be ashamed of before masters or apprentices."
"Capital! Bravo! Bravissimo!"
"And, ladies and gentlemen, the masters, and more particularly we young apprentices who have still much to learn, and who wish to learn, will watch his fingers in order to find out how and with what tools he works; for the tools are the first consideration!"
"Bravo! Bravo!"
There was almost perfect silence. Herr Norberg, now sure of his effect, continued in a pathetic tone of voice:
"But what are his tools? First, of course, the anvil--the immovable anvil, formed of the cast steel of honesty--"
"Hear! hear!"
"Of honesty, which can bear every blow and shock, because it rests on its own merits, and tested as it is by the enduring and flattering confidence of the initiated, and, if I may so express myself, polished by the good report of all honest people--"
"Bravo! bravo!"
"May laugh to scorn the rust of slanderous tongues which are raised against it and its like, if such there be, even should it proceed from the tribune of a certain great House--"
The last words were scarcely to be heard in the indescribable uproar which arose at the first allusion to the great event of the day, with which the minds of all were still filled, or at least occupied. Whether the opprobrious word was approved or condemned by the majority of the company, it was impossible to decide. Encouraging, even enthusiastic acclamations, in which Norberg's particular friends were the loudest, words of dissatisfaction, of disapproval, even of the greatest indignation, all this buzzed, resounded, and reverberated, till almost suddenly the storm abated, as if all, friends and foes, were curious to hear what the man would utter further, as they all took it for granted that he would not rest satisfied with this one sally.
But the prudent Norberg was careful not to stake the issue of his well-considered speech by another impromptu. He spoke again in the flowery language in which he had begun, of the "Heavy hammer of Strength," which the master he honoured could wield better than any other; of the indefatigable "Pincers of Energy," with which he held fast to plans that he had once made; even of the "Bellows of strong breathing Courage," which ever renewed in his own breast and in the hearts of his fellow-workmen the flame of inspiration which belongs to all creative power. Provided with these tools, and gifted with these qualities, it had been possible for the master to attain to this imposing result; to carry through his vast plans in spite of the indifference of the public, in spite of the ignorant opposition of the authorities; to make new roads for trade, convenient ways for commerce, towards the completion of which he was now working, it might reasonably be hoped not in vain, in spite of all and everything. Lastly, as the keystone of the edifice of his fortune, or to keep to his simile, "as the last link in the long chain of famous works which he has forged, to erect this house, which he has made so great, so splendid, not for himself, for he is the most retiring of men, but for his friends, whom he has assembled around him to-day in hundreds, as representatives of the remaining thousands, and who may now prove their representative powers by three times three, as from the thousands, for the brave, disinterested Schmidt, the smith of his own fortune."
The company acceded to the invitation, some from conviction, the majority excited by wine, not a few out of mere politeness, with loud hurrahs, accompanied by a noisy flourish from the band, while the speaker descended from his chair and received, with proud modesty, the thanks of his host and the congratulations of the guests. He had surpassed himself to-day; he had been magnificent, it was only a pity and a shame that he had not given it stronger to Lasker, who really had deserved more.
"I do not think he will be too pleased as it is," answered Herr Norberg complacently; "but now, Schmidt, old boy, up with you! You can't help yourself!"
"No, you can't help yourself!" chimed in the guests; "up with you! fire away!"
"But, gentlemen," exclaimed Philip, "after such a speech! Let me have a few minutes to think at least."
"It won't do you any good!" said Herr Norberg encouragingly and patronisingly, "I know all about it! Improvise as I did, it always answers best."
"If you think----"
"Silence! listen! don't you see?"
The tall, broad-shouldered man who now stood on the chair was visible enough; and as his appearance in that place was already expected, there ensued at any rate sufficient quiet to enable him to begin with a certain amount of dignity.
He would be brief, as fortunately he was in a position to be. The gratitude he felt for the distinguished honour which had just been shown him, for the kindness, the friendliness, yes, he ventured to say the word--the affection which was showered upon him--such gratitude, heartfelt as it was, could be expressed in a few words which, however, came from the heart. Besides, it was not expected from the man of deeds, in which capacity he had just been honoured, that he should be an orator like his predecessor, whose speech it was easier to criticise than to surpass; he had detected one defect. His strength, his courage, his honesty had been praised; those were qualities which, the latter especially, he expected from every man; and he therefore ventured to accept a small portion of the exuberant praise lavished upon him.
"The whole of it!--without deduction--without discount--with interest!" exclaimed the enthusiastic crowd.
"Well, well, gentlemen!" exclaimed Philip, "if you will have it so, the full praise! But, gentlemen, what of the head, the mind and understanding! Perhaps you will say they do not exist----"
"Oh, oh! I will take a hundred thousand shares in you!" shrieked the enthusiastic auditors.
"No, no, gentlemen!" shouted Philip over the heads of the shouters; "where nothing exists, the King himself must lose his rights. I am no Prince and Imperial Chancellor, who has not only his heart, but his head also in the right place."
Here Philip was compelled to pause, till the storm of applause which his last words had called forth was somewhat abated.
"Yes, gentlemen, I acknowledge it; he is my ideal, but an unattainable one! The qualities that a great man, world-renowned as he is, unites in himself--the most opposite qualities, yet all equally necessary to success--for these we small people must combine. And with me it is no accidental chance, but a dispensation of Providence, and a sure confirmation, that in this moment, without any previous agreement, as you will believe me on my word, the two men who are my associates in business and in every sense of the word, are standing near me; and in this association if I am really the heart, they have unquestionably the department of the head; here to my right, Councillor Schieler--to my left, the banker, Hugo Lübbener."
Uproarious applause followed, which changed to shouts of laughter, in which even the impartial spectators joined, when the next moment, raised and held fast by the irresistible hands of the half-intoxicated crowd, the two gentlemen named by Philip appeared in person on chairs to his right and left. Philip, with quick presence of mind, seized the hands of both, and cried:
"Here! I have you, I hold you, my two heads who are only one, and who are all in all one with me; one heart and one soul! I was about to call for a cheer for these two, without whom I were nothing; but as we three are one, and cannot with the best wishes for health drink our own healths, I ask you, we ask you for a cheer, a hearty cheer for those whom we have to thank for the satisfaction of being here together this evening, and I think I may say, of enjoying ourselves; the architect of this house and the artists who have decorated it."
While the company willingly complied with his request, and the band again accompanied them with a shrill flourish of trumpets; while Herr Norberg embraced Philip and assured him that he himself could not have done it better; while the two other gentlemen, who had sprung quickly from their chairs, were overpowered with shaking of hands and congratulations, great excitement reigned in the group of artists. Of course somebody must answer, but who should it be? The historical painter would just as soon have mounted the scaffold; one or two others "could have done it, but it was not in their line;" the architect, as a native of Berlin, freemason, and member of numberless societies, a born and bred orator, did not see why he who had done the most should do anything extra now.
"Justus must speak!" exclaimed Bunzel; "he can take the opportunity of putting to rights that dislocated hip."
"As you will," said Justus; "there is something here that requires setting to rights undoubtedly, of which your empty heads would never think."
"Silence there! Hear! hear! Silence!" thundered the artists.
"Bravo! bravo!da capo!" shrieked the young men.
"I think once will be enough, gentlemen," said Justus, who was already mounted on the chair.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I come before you as a boy before his schoolmaster. For though it is only proper that we artists should express our thanks for the kindness shown to us, I am neither the eldest nor the youngest amongst us, neither the one who has the greatest merit with regard to this beautiful house, nor perhaps the one amongst us who has sinned most with regard to it; but as I am here, I offer in all our names my most grateful thanks for your goodness, and as I feel by no means steady on this rickety pedestal, and as I have learnt from my predecessors----"
"Bravo! bravo!" exclaimed the artists.
"That if one wishes to leave this place one must first look out for a successor, but feel that in this way the matter would never come to an end, I have chosen for the purpose a person who is not in this company; and I ask you to give a cheer for him, who has already spoken himself to-day, and has spoken to my heart, and, I know, to the hearts of many in this company; and to give a second cheer for him, because it would ill become this company if a word were spoken against him here, as has been done, without an answer being forthcoming from amongst us; and a third cheer, and long life to him who requires three lives in order to carry out the herculean labour he has undertaken!"
Justus drew up his slender figure, and his clear voice sounded like a trumpet:
"Long live Edward Lasker!"
And his "Hip! hip! hurrah!" resounded in shouts from the artists, whilst the astonished opponents remained silent, and all who had been shocked at the previous offensive words, and they were many, cheered with them, and the music sounded in the midst, so that the whole room shook, and old Baroness Kniebreche shrieked out to Baroness Holzweg, "I really believe I can hear again with both ears!"
The storm was still raging when Anton, the valet, came up to Philip, who stood shrugging his shoulders and trying to smooth matters amidst a group of gentlemen who were all talking to him at once, with violent gesticulations, hoping and expecting that he would properly resent and punish such a public insult. Anton must have had something very urgent to say, as he pulled his master repeatedly by the sleeve, and dragged him almost by force out of the group.
Philip's face had got very red, but at the first words which the servant, as he unwillingly bent towards him, whispered in his ear, it became white as ashes. He now himself hastily drew the man a few paces farther on one side.
"Where is the gentleman?"
"He is close at hand, in the billiard-room," answered Anton; "here is his card."
The servant was as pale as his master, and brought the words out with difficulty from between his chattering teeth.
"Any one with him?"
"They are in the vestibule and out in the street and in the court--oh, sir, sir!"
"Hush! Will you help me?"
"Willingly, sir."
Philip whispered a few words into the man's ear, who then went hastily through the room into the vestibule, from which, unchecked, he disappeared, through a door, into the cellar regions. Philip stood there for a few minutes, his firm lips tightly compressed, and his fixed eyes bent on the floor. He had not expected this; he had hoped to have had at least another week's law. The devil must have prompted Lübbener. However, the great haul must in the end have failed, and he had got the ready money, at any rate, provided; but he must venture it! If he could only get out of the house, they must be more than cunning--he had had everything prepared for weeks in case of this happening. As he again lifted his gloomy eyes, his glance encountered Lübbener's, who, only a few paces off, apparently in eager conversation with the Councillor and some other gentlemen, had closely observed the short scene between the master and servant, and, as the former stepped back to the group, now turned his back upon him.
"Excuse me for a few minutes, gentlemen," said Philip; "I have still some arrangements to make for the cotillon, and then, if you please, we will leave the table."
He said it in his usual loud and swaggering tone, whilst at the same time he caught Lübbener by the wrist, as if in an overflow of hilarity, and drew him out of the group.
"What do you want?" gasped Lübbener.
"To tell you," said Philip, grinding his teeth, "that you shall pay me for this, sooner or later!"
He flung the little man from him so that he tumbled backwards into the group, and making his way through the conservatory with a firm step, passed into the billiard-room, to meet a gentleman who stood there alone with folded arms, leaning on one of the tables, and apparently studying the ornamentation of the door through which Philip entered.
"Inspector Müller?" said Philip, who still held the card in his hand.
"I have that honour," answered the inspector, unfolding his arms so slowly that he could not well take Philip's outstretched hand.
"And what procures me this pleasure?" asked Philip.
"The pleasure is a very doubtful one, Herr Schmidt. I have a warrant against you!"
The officer took a paper from his breast-pocket, and so held it that Philip could easily have read it by the lamp over the billiard-table; but Philip had taken up a ball, and was making a hazard.
"A warrant! How very strange! Look there! a double hazard too! Are you a billiard player, Herr Müller?"
"Occasionally, when I have time, which I seldom have--for instance, not at present. I must therefore beg of you to follow me without delay."
"And leave my guests? But, Herr Müller, just imagine--four hundred people, and no host! It is absolutely impossible!"
"It must be possible."
"But it is not necessary. You are my guest. Toilette at this hour is of no consequence; besides, you are got up regardless. Remain by my side, of course--a cousin who has just arrived--what you will! Your men, in plain clothes I take it for granted, can amuse themselves finely meanwhile with my people. Afterwards we can drive together in my carriage----"
"You are very kind, but a carriage is already provided, and now stands in the courtyard amongst a number of equipages, so that we need not again pass through the vestibule. You see, Herr Schmidt, I go to work with the greatest consideration; but I must now really beg that you will not put my patience to a longer test."
Philip rolled the ball which he held in his hand from him at random, and turned round.
"Well, if nothing else will satisfy you; but I hope I may change my dress?"
"I have no objection to that, only you must submit to my presence meanwhile."
"No apologies, Herr Müller, between men! Will you be so good?"
And he led the way, the officer following on his steps. In the library, which opened out of the billiard-room, an assistant officer was waiting, who now joined them.
"You are very cautious, Herr Müller," said Philip over his shoulder,
"My duty, Herr Schmidt!"
He touched Philip's arm, and said in a low voice, "If you will give me your word of honour to make no attempt at escape, which would moreover be quite fruitless, I can"--and the inspector made a sign over his shoulder--"spare you at least this escort."
"No attempt at escape!" said Philip laughing; "oh! Herr Müller, I can think of nothing else. I would vanish through the floor or the walls if I only could."
The officer could not help smiling.
"Go back into the vestibule again, Ortmann," he said.
"Thank you for your confidence," said Philip, as they went up a winding staircase, guarded by a handsome richly-gilt railing, by means of which the library was connected with the upper story of the right wing, which was separated from the ball-room by the whole width of the courtyard, that was partially glazed like the conservatory.
"The fact is, Herr Müller, that inconvenient as it certainly is to me, I cannot take this episode really in earnest----"
Philip had opened a door in the corridor in which they now stood.
"This is a passage-room," he said in an explanatory tone; "I should prefer to turn to the right, through that door into my living rooms, which are to-day being used also as company rooms. But as there is no help for it, we must go through the one on the left to my bedroom."
He pushed the door open. "Pray go first; for the time being, at least, I am still the host here."
The officer did as he was asked, ready, if his prisoner should attempt to shut the door upon him, which opened inwards, to stop it with his outstretched foot. But Philip followed him close, shutting the door behind him.
"My bedroom!" said Philip, waving his right hand, whilst the left still played with the lock, to the magnificent apartment, which, like all they had passed through, was brilliantly lighted with wax candles; "furnished in French style, and as if it were for a young lady who had just returned home from school! but these upholsterers are autocrats. This way, please, Herr Müller--my dressing-room--the last in the row--and dark--but that we can rectify."
Philip held up the branch candlestick, which he had taken from the console under the looking-glass in the bedroom, and threw the light all round as if to assure the Inspector that there was no second door in the space left free by the carved oak wardrobes, and that the one they had come in by was the only entrance and exit. He put the candlestick down on a table, took off his coat, and opened one of the cupboards.
"I will wait in your bedroom while you are dressing; said the officer.
"Pray do," said Philip, as he took off his white waistcoat and undid his tie; "I hope you will find the arm-chairs to your taste----"
The officer returned to the bedroom without quite shutting the door, and took his place on one of the magnificent sofas.
"From Delorme in Paris," said Philip, opening and shutting the cupboards in the dressing-room; "it is supposed to be something quite out of the way, although I cannot see it. Only a few minutes, Herr Müller; I am just as if I had come out of the river. My whole house is ventilated after the newest principles, and yet this awful heat!À propos, I suppose I may give notice downstairs that I have been taken suddenly unwell, and so forth."
"I have no objection," said the officer. "I am only afraid that, discreet as I have been, the rumour will have spread; it is generally so at least."
"It can't be helped then," said Philip, who seemed busy with his boots; "will the thing never come out? There, at last! What a pity that it is midnight, and the magistrates cannot be got hold of, or I should certainly be back again in half an hour. I have never asked what it is about. I know without asking; it is some wretched trick of Lübbener's, to drive me out of the board of directors. I knew that he had been for some days in frightful difficulties, and was certain that our preference shares were not safe from him. No respectable bank would advance him a farthing upon the whole four million; but some swindling firm--he knows plenty of them--might advance him six or eight hundred thousand--a mere nothing in his position, but when there is nothing better to be had the devil himself eats flies. So, thought I, they are more secure in my hands than in the safe. In proof that I was right, he has found me out. You must know from experience, my dear Herr Müller, that no one thinks of looking for a man behind the bushes unless he has been in hiding there once or twice himself. It was a bold thing to do, I know, but mine is a daring nature. There! now another pair of boots, and I am ready."
Herr Schmidt, who must have been going about in slippers for the last five minutes, appeared to have gone again to one of the cupboards, in which he was hunting about. "Varnished boots? Impossible! these are the right ones--these," the officer heard him say, as if to himself. The creaking of a chair--he was a heavy man--a smothered oath--the boots apparently did not go on easily--then silence.
Absolute silence for a minute, during which Herr Müller got up from his arm-chair and went to the window to look across the glass roof of the courtyard, to the illuminated windows of the ball-room, behind which one or two ladies and gentlemen could be seen. The supper had apparently lasted too long for the lovers of dancing, and since the master of the house had vanished, they wanted to set the ball going again of their own will. And indeed the music began again now from beyond, whilst beneath the glass roof sounded the stamping of horses, and the talking and shouting of the coachmen.
"A terrible business for Herr Schmidt," thought the Inspector; "the affair is certainly not literally as he represents it, but Lübbener is perhaps the biggest swindler of the two. They generally get off free. He might really be ready now."
Herr Müller stepped from the window back into the room. "Are you ready, Herr Schmidt?"
No answer.
"Are you---- Good God! the man must have done himself an injury!"
The officer pushed open the half-closed door--the candelabra burnt on the dressing-table--coats and linen were strewed about--the room was empty.
"Don't play any foolish tricks, Herr Schmidt," said the officer, looking towards the big cupboard, whose door stood partly open.
But he no longer believed in a joke, as after having hastily glanced into the open cupboard, he threw the light of the candelabra right and left over the hangings, which were leather coloured to represent wood. No trace of a door! And yet there must be one! There, at last! This scarcely perceptible crack, where the darker stripes of the hangings met the lighter wainscoting--wonderfully done!--and here below, hardly visible, the tiny lock. Herr Müller pushed and kicked against the door, only to discover that it was made of iron and would defy his utmost efforts. He rushed out of the dressing-room into the bedroom--the door into the anteroom was locked! There, close to the handle, was the same lock as that on the concealed door, no bigger than the key-hole in the dial plate of a clock. He was a prisoner!
The infuriated officer threw open the window, and called as loudly as he could to his men, of whom two should be in the courtyard. But on the other side the fiddles squeaked and the violoncellos growled, and below the horses stamped and the coachmen shouted and laughed. No one heard the cries from above, until in his despair he took the first thing that came to hand and flung it through the glass, so that the fragments fell upon the heads of a pair of fiery horses, which, frightened out of their wits, reared and backed, driving the carriage into another one behind them, which rolling back again made the horses of a third recoil. In the midst of the frightful confusion and the tremendous noise that ensued, the shouts of the officer were overpowered, until at last one of the policemen remarked them, but without being able to understand a word his superior said. Nevertheless, he hurried out of the court into the vaulted passage which, running on the right side of the building and round behind the court, connected the latter with the street, and was used for the exit of the carriages, those coming in entering on the opposite side, to tell his comrades who were posted there that something had happened, and that they must be on their guard. He had done so in a few breathless words, and was in the act of running back, when from one or other of the doors opening into the passage, two servants rushed out, one an elderly man, who seemed to be trembling from head to foot with excitement, and one younger and very tall who nearly ran into his arms. The policeman connected the hurry of these servants with what had just occurred, and he was confirmed in this opinion by the fact of his remarking at the same moment, that a narrow, steep stone staircase led up from the door which the servants had in their haste left open.
"What has happened upstairs?" cried the policeman.
"Herr Schmidt has had a fit of apoplexy," answered the tall servant. "I am going for the doctor, do not detain me. Here is the Inspector's card."
"All right!" said the policeman, throwing a glance at the card. "Let him pass. He is going for the doctor. How can I get upstairs?"
"Straight up these steps," was the breathless reply.
"Then be off with you!"
The man rushed breathlessly to the exit past the policeman, who willingly made way for him, ran to the string of cabs which stood before the house, only carriages being allowed inside the courtyard, and sprang into the end one, calling to the driver to go as quickly as possible; he should be well paid. It was a matter of life and death!
In the supper-room the confusion increased as the absence of the host continued.
Amongst the few who still kept their place was Baroness Kniebreche, although Herr von Wallbach urgently pressed her departure.
"Only a few minutes more," cried the Baroness, without taking her glass from her eye; "it is so interesting. In spite of my eighty-two years, I have never seen anything like it. Only just look, my dear Wallbach, at that table where the little bald-headed man is sitting who a little while ago proposed that man Lasker's health; tell me--I did not hear a word of it for my part. The man with the long fair hair is positively kissing his neighbour--an artist too of course--enviable people! Who is the handsome young man with the black hair and fiery eyes; at the same table? I have noticed him already this evening--a foreigner, we do not grow such plants. He, moreover, never takes his eyes off Ottomar's table. He seems to be struck by the pretty ballet-dancer. I cannot understand how Ottomar can go on flirting with Ferdinanda, when he has such a choice before him. But it is no use disputing about taste; it is a wonderful thing. That faded Agnes Holzweg and Prince Wladimir. Well, he cannot be very particular, and it seems to be going off too, as he has not even been here for a few minutes. Take care of the old lady! Pooh! She can hear me? I can hardly hear myself speak. That old woman is a tremendous chatterer. She was talking just now for ever so long to young Grieben of the Hussars, who I think is somehow related to her, and has also paid attentions to Agues in his time, before the Prince began to do so. There he is talking to Ottomar. If the old lady has been chattering, Grieben will take the greatest satisfaction in boring Ottomar with it, as he knows of his dislike to Agnes, whom Grieben, I hear, in spite of all, still adores."
"But, my dear lady," cried the horrified Wallbach, "you have not told that notorious gossip--"
"Look! look!" cried the Baroness, giving Wallbach a sharp blow with her closed fan, "there, at the first--second--fourth table! The men are coming to blows! it is really splendid! I never saw anything like it in my life."
"It really is high time for us to go," said Herr von Wallbach; "it is getting too bad. Allow me to send a servant for my carriage--"
"Well, if you really are determined," said the Baroness, "but I am still amusing myself immensely."
Herr von Wallbach had stood up, but the servants who were hurrying about with wine and ices seemed little inclined to do his errand, and he was forced to look elsewhere through the room for some one more accommodating.
Whilst he was still talking to the Baroness, Ottomar went up to Justus, who was talking to his friend Bunzel as quietly as if the storm which he had raised, and which increased in fury every minute, was not of the slightest consequence to him.
"A word with you, Herr Anders,"
"Ten, if you like," rejoined Justus, jumping up; "but for heaven's sake, Herr Von Werben----"
"What?"
"Pardon me! you did not look very cheerful before, but now--has anything unpleasant happened to you?"
"Indeed there has. Tell me, Herr Anders, I am in a great hurry, and cannot stop to explain--I know that you are very intimate with Captain Schmidt, and I have just heard that there exists, some understanding between him and--my sister. Do you know anything of this?"
Justus did not know what this meant. Ottomar's eyes, blazing with fury and an excitement which rose above the fumes of wine, boded no good; but no evasion was possible.
"Yes, Herr Von Werben; and I am convinced that only the lack of any friendly advance on your part has made my friend hold back, and caused him to leave you in ignorance of his understanding with your sister, whilst, so far as I know, your father has long been acquainted with it."
"Very likely, very likely," said Ottomar; "my family and I have long been--but no matter! And in any case--I deeply regret that I did not cultivate Captain Schmidt's friendship--however, I admire and esteem him highly, very highly--I should always have considered it an honour--everything might have been so totally different----"
He passed his hand over his brow.
"Is there still no possibility?" asked Justus quickly.
A melancholy smile passed over the handsome face.
"How I wish there were," he said. "I thought myself--but it is too late, too late! I have found that out--this evening--just now--a man in my position cannot allow his name to be in every one's mouth; and that fact is used with great skill--the greatest skill--confounded skill!"
His teeth were gnawing hard at his lip, his angry eyes looked beyond Justus into the room as if seeking some one, and they kept their direction as he asked, even more hastily and abruptly than before:
"Perhaps you are also acquainted with Car--with Fräulein von Wallbach's relations with--with--I see by your eyes that you know what I mean. And you--but the others, who are talking of it all round, and reckoning that for well-known reasons I must keep quiet about it; but I'll be hanged if I do!"
"Only a man cannot have everything at the same time," said Justus.
"But I will keep quiet before those chatterers until it suits one of them to speak out. I will settle it, believe me, in five minutes!"
Ottomar suddenly rushed away from Justus, "Like a falcon after its prey," thought the latter, "Oh, this fatal honour! What sacrifices has Moloch already required! Poor boy! I like him in spite of all the harm that he has already done and that he still seems intent upon doing. Well, I cannot hinder him with the best will in the world. Good gracious!--already half-past one!"
Justus had of his own accord promised Meta to leave the party at twelve o'clock punctually. He looked round for Antonio, who was talking eagerly, near the table at which Ottomar and the other officers had supped, with the piquante young lady whom one of the officers--not Ottomar--had conducted to supper, and who, now that Ottomar was also gone, appeared to have been left behind by the whole party.
"He is always making up to somebody, is Antonio," said Justus, as he watched the insinuating manners of his handsome assistant and the smiles of the young lady. "Let him be; I shall not get him to come home with me."
He looked from Antonio to the tall painter who was in hot argument with a few men who belonged to the "young men's table." "He will soon finish them off," thought Justus, just as two or three men left the group and came with angry faces towards him.
"You took upon yourself to wish long life to Lasker!" said a swarthy youth.
"And I hope that he will long gratify that wish," answered Justus, with a courteous bow, as he continued on his way past his astonished interlocutor.
Ottomar, meanwhile, had gone up to the Baroness, and, without taking the chair next to her, although it, as well as half those at the table, had long been unoccupied, said in a loud voice, as was necessary to the deaf old lady in the noise which prevailed around:
"Pardon me, Baroness, but will you allow me to trouble you with a question?"
The Baroness looked at him through her immense glasses. She knew at once what Ottomar wanted to ask, and that Baroness Holzweg must have repeated what she had told her, and she was determined not to allow herself to be mixed up in the matter.
"Ask anything you like, my dear child," she said.
"Certain rumours which are circulating in this company, about myself on the one hand, and Fräulein von Wallbach on the other, and which have come to my ears from Herr von Grieben amongst others, are traced hack to you, Baroness, as Grieben has them from his aunt, Frau von Holzweg, and she asserts that she had them from you."
"That is a long preamble, my dear child," said the Baroness, to gain time.
"My question will be so much the shorter. From whom did you hear this story?"
"My dear child, all the world is talking about it!"
"I cannot be content with that answer, my dear lady; I must know the actual person."
"Then find him for yourself!" said the Baroness in her rudest tone, turning her back upon him.
Ottomar bit his lip, and went straight up to Herr von Wallbach, who, having vainly sought for some willing messenger through the whole room, now returned to the Baroness to tell her that he would go and look for the carriage himself.
"Baroness Kniebreche has commissioned me to discover the actual person who has set in motion certain rumours about myself and your sister. Am I to find him in the person of that sister's brother?"
"Really, Werben," said Herr von Wallbach, who had turned very pale, "this is not the place to talk about such things."
"That comes rather late, it seems to me, from you, who have spoken of it here, as it appears, not once, but often, and with many people. However, I have naturally no desire to enter into a controversy, but simply to make sure of the fact that this story, impossible as it seems, emanates from you."
"But really, Werben, I may have--it is just possible--made some communication to our old friend Baroness Kniebreche."
"Pardon me one moment, Herr von Wallbach. Herr von Lassberg, would you be kind as to come here for a minute to hear an explanation which Herr von Wallbach will be good enough to give me? You say, Herr von Wallbach, that it is quite possible you may have made a certain communication to our old friend Baroness Kniebreche. Will you oblige me by going on?"
"I really do not know what communication you are thinking of!" cried Herr von Wallbach.
"Do you mean to compel me to mention names?" asked Ottomar, with a scornful movement of his lip, whilst his flashing eyes seemed to pierce Herr von Wallbach's, who stood there helpless, in painful perplexity.
"I think this is sufficient," said Ottomar, turning to his companion; "of course, I will put youau courantat once. Herr von Wallbach, you will hear more from me to-morrow, for to-day I have the honour----"
Ottomar took his companion by the arm, and walked back to his place with him, talking to him with passionate eagerness, whilst Wallbach was surrounded by several of his acquaintances, who from a distance had watched the scene between him and Ottomar, and now wished, with all discretion, to know what had passed between him and his "brother-in-law."
"I cannot engage myself without first speaking to Herr von Werben," Bertalda was just saying, her eyes shining with the desire to dance with the handsome young Italian.
"Are you engaged to that gentleman!" asked Antonio.
"No, but he brought me here in his carriage, and is to take me back again. He wanted to go before. There he comes, ask him--or I will do so myself."
Ottomar, who had just parted with his companion, with a shake of the hand and the words, "To-morrow, then, at eight," was now close to them.
"This gentleman--Herr Antonio Michele, wishes to dance the next waltz with me," said Bertalda. "They are dancing upstairs quite merrily."
Ottomar did not answer immediately. He had already once or twice looked at Antonio, who had sat corner-wise to him at the artists' table, without being able to recollect where he had seen that handsome dark face before. Now as he looked into the black eyes, he knew it was in Justus's studio. This was Justus's Italian assistant, whom Ferdinanda had warned him against, of whom she had said that he persecuted her with his love, that she trembled before his jealousy! In the black eyes which were fastened upon him there gleamed, in spite of the courteous smile upon the lips, an evil flame, as of hate and jealousy mingled. An inexpressible mixed feeling of contempt, disgust and terror passed through Ottomar. After all he had already suffered this evening, that this should be added!
"I must beg you to excuse the lady," he said in his haughtiest tone; "I was just going to offer her my carriage to return home in."
Antonio had discovered long ago from the artists, who were greater frequenters of the theatre than himself, who Bertalda was.
"I will see the lady safely home by-and-by," he said, with an equivocal smile.
The blood flew into Ottomar's face.
"Insolent fellow!" he cried between his teeth, as he lifted his hand.
Antonio started back and put his hand to his breast pocket. Bertalda threw herself almost into Ottomar's arms, and drew him on one side. At that moment, a perfect swarm of men, who had assembled for a game of pool in the billiard-room, poured into the conservatory between the disputants.
Their startled countenances, their violent gesticulations, their loud and confused words, all proclaimed that something unusual had occurred, and that they brought terrible news. But the terrible news had already spread from the other side--from the vestibule into the supper-room. It had already reached the dancers above, who were hastening down the broad stairs, whilst many others met them from the supper-room. "Is it possible?--Have you heard?--Good heavens!--Pretty work!--Who would have thought it!--A man like that!--Let us get away--No one can get away till the house has been searched!--We shall see about that!--Good gracious! where is papa?--A glass of water. For heaven's sake! don't you hear?"
No one heard. Neither the servants, nor the guests, who were streaming out of the rooms into the vestibule and cloak-room, where there was soon a positively dangerous crowd.
It was in vain that some calmer people attempted to quiet the mob; in vain that the released police officer and his men tried to stem the current. The terrified people crowded in confused masses from the brightly-illuminated house, which was still echoing with the noise of the festival, into the dark streets, through which the midnight storm was howling.