Part 56 (1/2)
”Yes, if we knew that!”
Martin smiled with a somewhat embarra.s.sed look. ”I ventured to take a little liberty--and went--I thought I would try whether I could find out anything from him? Because His Highness--you remember--followed us to Prankenberg.”
”Very true!” The countess nodded in the utmost excitement. ”Well?”
”Alas!--it was useless! His Highness doesn't know anybody, can remember nothing. When you go over to-morrow, you will see that he can't live long. His Highness is perfectly childish. Then he got so excited that we thought he would lose his breath, and at last had to be put to bed.
I could not help weeping when I saw it--such a stately gentleman--and now so helpless!”
The countess listened to this report with little interest. Her father had been nothing to her while he retained his mental faculties--now, in a condition of slow decay, he was merely a poor invalid, to whom she performed the usual filial duties.
”Go on, go on,” she cried impatiently, ”you are not telling the story in regular order. When did you see my father?”
”A week ago, after my talk with the gentlemen.”
”That is the main thing--tell me about that.”
”Why, it was this way: I was sitting quietly at the tavern one night, when Herr von Wildenau's coachman came to me again and said that his master wanted to talk with me about our bay mare with the staggers which he would like to harness with his bay. I was glad that we could get the mare off on him.”
”Fie, Martin!”
”Why--if n.o.body tried to cheat, there wouldn't be any more horse-trading! So I told him I thought the countess would sell the mare--we had no mate for her and I would inform Your Highness. No, the gentleman would write directly to Her Highness--only I must go to them, they wanted to talk with me. Well--I went, and they shut all the doors and pulled the curtains over them, just as your Highness did, and then they began on the bay and promised me a big fee, if I would get her cheap for them. Every coachman takes a fee,” the old man added in an embarra.s.sed tone, ”it's the custom--you won't be vexed, Countess--so I made myself a bit important and pretended that it depended entirely on me, and I would make Her Highness so dissatisfied with the mare that she would be glad to get rid of her cheap, and--all the rest of the things we coachmen say! So the gentlemen thought because I bargained with them about one thing, I would about another. But that was quite different from a horse-trade, and my employers are no animals to be sold, so they found that they had come to the wrong person. If I would make a little extra money by getting rid of a poor animal, which we had long wanted to sell, I'm not the rascal to take thousands from anybody to deprive my employers of house and home. And the poor old Prince, who can no longer help himself, would perhaps be left to starve in his old age. No, the gentlemen were mistaken in old Martin, they don't know what it is”--tears were streaming down the old man's wrinkled cheeks--”to put such a little princess on a horse for the first time and place the reins in her tiny hands.”
”Please go on Martin,” said the countess gently, scarcely able to exert any better control over herself. ”What did they offer you?”
”A great deal of money, if I would bear witness in court that you were married.”
”Ah!”--the terrified woman covered her face with her hands.
”There--there, Countess,” said Martin, soothingly. ”I haven't finished!
Hold your head up. Your Highness, I beg you, this is no time to be faint-hearted, we must be on the watch and keep the reins well in hand, that they may not get the start of us.”
”Yes, yes! Go on!”
”Well, they tried to catch me napping. They knew everything, and I had been a witness of the wedding at Prankenberg!”
”Good Heavens!” The countess seemed paralyzed.
Martin laughed. ”But I didn't let myself be caught--I looked as stupid as if I couldn't bridle a horse, and had never heard of any wedding in all my days except our Princess' marriage to the late Count. Of course I was at the church then, with all the other servants. Then the gentlemen muttered something in French--and asked what wages I had, and when I told them, they said they were too low for such rich employers, and began to make me offers till they reached fifty thousand marks, if I would state what they wanted. Yes, and then they told me you were capable of marrying two men and meant to take the duke as well as the steward, and they didn't want to have such a crime in the family--so I must help them prevent it. But this didn't move me at all, and I said: 'That's no concern of mine; my mistress knows what to do!' So off I went, and left the gentlemen staring like balky horses when they don't want to pa.s.s anything. Then I went to the Prince, and as I could learn nothing there, I knew of no other way than to write to Your Highness. I hope you'll pardon the liberty.”
”Oh, Martin, you trusty old servant! Your simple loyalty shames me; but I fear that your sacrifice is useless--they know all, Martin, nothing can save me.”
Martin smiled craftily into the bottom of his hat, as if it was the source of his wisdom, ”I think just this: If the gentlemen _do_ know everything, they have got to _prove_ it, for Josepha is dead, and if they had found the information they wanted at Prankenberg, they needn't offer so much money for my testimony!”
The countess pressed her hand upon her head: ”I don't know, I can't think any more. Oh, Martin, how shall I thank you? If the stroke of the pen which will give you the fifty thousand marks you scorned to receive from the Wildenaus can repay you--take it, but I shall still be your debtor.” She hurriedly wrote a few words. ”There is a check for fifty thousand marks, cash it early to-morrow morning. Don't delay an hour, any day may be the last that I shall have anything to give. Take it quickly.”
But Martin shook his head. ”Why, what is Your Highness thinking of? I don't want to be paid, like a bribed witness, for doing only my duty.
There would have been no credit in refusing the money, if I took it afterward from Your Highness. No, I thank you most humbly--but I can't do it.”