Volume I Part 21 (1/2)
”Take four of the horse-police to your a.s.sistance,” he exclaimed to them. ”Seize me the young lord of Hochberg, and fling him into the Hildebrand until farther orders.”
But at this there arose a murmur of contradiction amongst the aldermen, who stood up from their seats and shook their heads; and Martin, the youngest amongst them, found courage to speak out his sentiments.
”Under favour, wors.h.i.+pful Mr. Burgomaster. The young lord was indeed somewhat too rough here, but in the main point he was unfortunately right; and if we would imprison all those who blame our this day's proceedings, we shall soon have to convert our sessions-room into a Hildebrand. I vote against the arrest.”
”And I!” cried Miller and Trentler, as if from one mouth.
”Have you a wish for another execution?” said Kaspar Franz to the gloomy despot.
”We are already deep in the mire through Tausdorf,” observed Doctor Grenwitz, shrugging his shoulders:--and the vice-consul Drescher whispered to the burgomaster,--”Recall your order!”
Erasmus bit his lips till they bled.
”What are you standing for, idiots?” he exclaimed to the three servants who remained at the door in anxious uncertainty as to which command they were to obey. ”Don't you know that the majority of voices decides in our sittings? The arrest of Von Hochberg may remain.”
The servants left the room; Erasmus, rising from his chair, said, ”The sitting is over, gentlemen; but we will, with your good pleasure, have a meeting extraordinary to-morrow, to weigh maturely what farther is to be done in this matter.”
”If in this extraordinary sitting,” said Kaspar, as he broke up, to his neighbour, ”we do not find the art of replacing heads that have been chopped off, we shall descend from the Sessions-house as wise as we went up.”
The other aldermen said nothing, but saluted the burgomaster in silence; and the old man soon stood alone before the council-table in the empty chamber.
”Yes,” he muttered; ”I must no longer conceal it from myself; it is coming to an end with the old lion. Teeth and claws grow blunted. The brutes, that once shook at his roar, now renounce their obedience, and mock the feeble monarch; even the a.s.s must give his kick. Die, therefore, Erasmus, die soon, that you may not outlive yourself.”
”A new misfortune has happened, Mr. Burgomaster,” cried the city-marshal, entering hastily. ”The gardener in the park, who exhibited the aloe for some time past, has suddenly disappeared; but the Netherlandress, who lodged with him, was found dead in her room an hour ago. I went thither with two officers to seal up every thing, and took the town-physician with me; for the flight of the host, and the lady's death, seem to stand in a doubtful connexion. The people of the house talked of poison. I found the woman lying on the floor, in an upper room, horribly disfigured; and on the table was a cup, the dregs of which the physician positively declared to be poison. In her stark right hand the corse held fast this writing. It is addressed to you, Mr. Burgomaster, and sealed moreover.”
”To me!” said Erasmus, in alarm; tore the writing away from the marshal, and broke it open. A quant.i.ty of dry leaves fell out of it towards him--”Strange!” he murmured, and began to read; and, as he read, the hand in which he held the letter trembled more and more, till at last he grew so faint that he sunk back into his chair. But he forced himself to read it to the end, and then burnt the letter in the flame of the expiring candle, waiting with great patience till the paper was entirely converted into ashes. He then turned to the marshal:--”Let the body be watched by six gens d'armes till night; then let it be carried behind the wall to the churchyard, and there silently interred. I will myself take an inventory of all that is left, and you will be silent as to the whole transaction--on your oath of office.”
The old man's voice broke at the conclusion of his discourse, and with tottering steps he left the Sessions-chamber.
Three years had pa.s.sed since Tausdorfs death. Christopher Friend had remained a widower, and by all means, just as well as unjust, had considerably increased his mammon. He was asleep in his own bedroom, on a beautiful summer's night, when he was awakened by a grasp at his throat, and, on opening his eyes in terror, there sat upon the bed two men, fearfully illuminated by the moon. They were enveloped in dark cloaks, with black masks on their faces, and held two daggers glittering at his breast, in the pale yellow light. The one figure had his hand about Christopher's throat, and seemed ready to close it at the slightest motion of his victim.
”Gracious Heavens! what does this mean?” groaned Christopher; but at the instant he felt a tighter pressure of the hand about his throat, and the daggers p.r.i.c.ked him in the region of the heart.
”Still!” whispered one of the masks. ”A loud word, a cry for help, sends you in the same moment to h.e.l.l. We are here to sit in judgment on you, though, indeed, in a fairer way than your father used three years since. It has cost no little time, and trouble, and gold--nay, even two journies to Bohemia--to penetrate your tricks and blinds; but at last all has become clearer to us than the day. We had paid you a visit long before this, but that the n.o.ble Althea prayed so irresistibly for you, that during her life we could not undertake any thing against you. Now at last she has sunk under the grief for her betrothed: Tausdorf's old father has to weep for his daughter, and the last chain is snapped in which our revenge lay bound. Your father has to answer to the emperor for his notorious crimes; but you have done and concealed your deed with equal cunning, and no earthly court of justice will ever be able to convict you of it. You must, therefore, answer to our _secret tribunal_, of which we are ourselves the chief and the judges, the accuser and the executioner. You have had intercourse with the Netherlandress at the nurseryman's in the park; and this very woman wanted to hound me on to your brother's murder.”
”By Heavens! I know nothing of it,” whined Christopher.
”Still!” continued the mask. ”Failing in that, she has a long conversation with you in private. Upon this you invite Tausdorf to your murderous banquet, and, while you promise Althea that your brother shall not be present, you secretly induce him, through a third hand, to appear: then comes the Netherlandress, masked, to your party. After a conversation with her, the most violent wrath is perceived on the face of Francis. You pour him out another gla.s.s of wine, like oil in the flame, upon which he allures into the park Tausdorf, whom he had never seen before, and that event takes place which thousands of honest people lament. Now then answer for yourself, but with a low voice, or we strike you down on the spot.”
”How can I answer for all the unlucky events, the chain of which has cost me a beloved brother?” whispered Christopher, in a voice which, from fear of the daggers, was scarcely audible. ”What motives could I have to destroy Tausdorf, who had never offended me? Why, too, should I particularly fix on my brother as the instrument of my evil purpose? By the----”
”Still!” said the mask again. ”I hate you as the serpent that stung my friend to death, but I would not send you to the devil with perjury upon your tongue; you have without that enough of old sin posted in the great reckoning-book above.--You ask, why you should wish to destroy Tausdorf? Because Althea refused your hand for his sake.--Why you chose your brother for the instrument? Because, with true brotherly affection, you hoped the instrument might be broken on the occasion, that so you might stand as the ONLY son of the rich Erasmus. Recollect your former calumnies against Tausdorf; recollect what you said to Althea at your father's door on the morning after the misfortune, and deny no longer. You will not lie yourself out of our hands again, and a frank repentant confession of your sins may propitiate the wrath of the judge before whom you will stand ere the morning breaks.”
”Mercy!” murmured Christopher in low, piteous tones. ”Only spare my life, and I will confess all. The woman seduced me into bringing Tausdorf together with my brother that they might quarrel, but it was not so evilly intended as it turned out.”
”The woman seduced you?” exclaimed the mask. ”It was so our grandfather, Adam, excused himself, and the seducer laid it all upon the serpent; but the angel with the fiery sword drove them all out of Paradise, to which they no more belonged, as you no more belong to life. Therefore pray a short farewell prayer, for we are Christians.”
”Mercy!” groaned Christopher piteously. ”I cannot pray. Take half my wealth as an atonement, but do not kill me.”