Part 48 (1/2)
”Who summoned me?” repeated the figure. The prince's lips refused to respond, and shuddering he gazed upon the corpse-like face, so exact in feature to the old Roman emperor.
”You answer me not!” thundered the voice, ”but I will tell you who you are--one lost in sin and an apostate!--the crown prince of Prussia, a future king, who will be called to govern a people, and knows not self-government! Turn from the path of vice while it is yet time; rise from the dust, that the ashes of retribution do not bury you in a living tomb, like the sinful Pompeians. No monument marks the place of the sinful; he sinks into the night of oblivion, or he is cursed by succeeding generations. Therefore turn from the errors of sin. Rise to virtue, that the blessed may approach you. I shudder in your presence.
Woe to you! woe! woe!”
The cloud-portrait vanished, and darkness reigned for a moment. The prince cried in anguish: ”I will hear no more; this air oppresses me--open the door--I renounce communion with the spirits; I will go out!”
The light reappeared in the dark room and another form hovered over the prince--of grave, obscure face, with a great peruke, staring at him. He recognized the distinguished philosopher Leibnitz, whom he had desired to see, but who now filled him with unspeakable terror. Like the former spirit, he also, when unanswered, reproached the erring prince, conjuring him to return to virtue.
As the menacing ghost disappeared, the prince felt for the door, and shook it with the power which terror lends, crying, ”Open, open!”
It opened not, and the third summoned, the great elector, Frederick William, appeared, with high, up-lifted arm, glittering eyes, advancing with angry mien, shaking his lion's mane against the erring son of his house, whom he menaced with curses and revenge, if he did not renounce the courtesan who had seduced him to vice and unchast.i.ty.
”I will become better,” groaned the prince. ”I will perform the wish of the spirits. Only have mercy on me--free me. Help! help! Open the door, Bischofswerder, I will do better. Open the door!”
This time it really opened, and a long train of dark, masked forms entered the dusky room surrounding the prince, wringing their hands, imploring him to turn from sin, and forsake the unholy woman.
They whimpered, they implored, sinking upon their knees, beating their clinched hands, and weeping: ”Turn, beloved elect! Renounce Wilhelmine Enke; renounce vice! Repulse the seductress, and turn your countenance to Virtue which you have seen in all her beauty!”
”I will perform that which you demand,” wept the prince, as the deathly terror and nervous excitement made him yielding.
”Swear!” cried the chorus of masks.
”I swear that Wilhelmine Enke shall no longer be my mistress. I swear by all that is holy that I will renounce her! I--”
Voice failed him; there was a ringing and buzzing in his ears; every thing swam before his eyes, and he sank fainting. The prince awoke after long unconsciousness, and found himself upon his bed in the new palace at Potsdam, Bischofswerder at his side, watching him with the tenderest sympathy. He bent over him and pressed his hand to his lips with a cry of delight. ”Heaven be praised; my dear prince, you have awaked to commence a new life! You now belong to the virtuous and honorable, whom the Invisible Fathers bless!”
”Is it true, Bischofswerder,” said the prince, languidly, ”that I have sworn to renounce Wilhelmine Enke, and never to love her more?”
”You have sworn it by all that is holy, and all in heaven and on earth have heard your oath, and there is joy thereat.”
The prince turned his head, that Bischofswerder might not see the tears streaming down his cheeks.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII. THE RETURN HOME.
The beautiful house which Herr Ebenstreit von Leuthen possessed upon the finest street in Berlin, ”Unter den Linden,” had been newly arranged and splendidly ornamented since his marriage and elevation to a t.i.tle, and now awaited his arrival. For many weeks mechanics and artists had been busily employed; and the good housekeeper, old Trude, saw with bewildering astonishment the daily increasing splendor of gilded furniture, costly mirrors and chandeliers, soft carpets, tapestries, and gold-embroidered curtains, exquisite paintings and statuary, which the possessor had forwarded from Italy, and many other objects of art standing upon gilt and marble tables.
Every thing was completed. The bustle of the busy workmen had ceased, and Trude slowly wandered through the solitary rooms, examining every article. Her face bespoke dissatisfaction, and a smile of contempt was visible there.
”Miserable trash, for which they have sold my poor child!” murmured the old woman. ”For these worthless, glittering toys have they ruined the happiness of the dear innocent heart, and on them the guilt will fall if her soul is lost! I remark how she is changed in her letters since her shameful, mercenary marriage. She writes of nothing but the arrangement of her house, and speaks as if the beauty and costliness of things were only to be thought of, and there is not even a confidential, heart-felt word for her old Trude. It would seem as if she had forgotten all former objects of interest. Oh, what trouble and sorrows the rich have! That good-for-nothing money hardens their hearts and makes them evil and selfish.”
The loud ringing of a bell sounded through the solitary drawing-rooms.
”That is, undoubtedly, the general's wife,” said Trude, shaking her head. ”She rings as if she would announce the king, with her nose turned up so high, or as if she were the money-sacks of her son-in-law!”
Trude was right; her shrill voice was heard ordering the steward, who had but just arrived. ”It is abominable, it is unheard of!” she cried, as with a heavy push she burst open the door; ”this man presumes to contradict me, and--ah, there you are, Trude!”
”Here I am,” she answered; ”were you looking for me?”
”Yes, and I would ask you if my orders are not the same as if given by Herr Ebenstreit von Leuthen or his wife, or have you instructed the new steward otherwise, which, it is laughable to say, you have engaged?”