Part 50 (1/2)
”I am only treating you as you behaved to one of the n.o.blest and best of men,” replied Marie, voice and look betraying her deep feeling. ”You thrust from your door, with scorn and contempt, a man worthy of your esteem and recognition, although you knew that my heart was breaking.
I am only following your example and exercising my just rights, and am less guilty than you are, as neither of us has need of the respect or esteem of the other.”
”Can you suffer this, my son? Do you allow any one in your presence to treat me so shamefully? After all, it is your house; do speak and exercise your right as master here: tell your wife that I am her mother, and you, my adopted son, who bears my name, and that I have the just right to come here as often as it pleases me.”
”Speak your mind to Frau von Werrig,” said Marie, as Ebenstreit remained silent. ”Decide which shall remain, as one or the other of us must leave; you are perfectly free to choose.”
”Then, naturally, there is no choice left me,” replied Ebenstreit, despondingly. ”I declare myself for my wife, of course, who is the n.o.blest and proudest beauty in Berlin, and will make my house the centre of attraction to the aristocracy, n.o.bility, and wealth. This is my greatest pride, and to secure this I wooed my beautiful bride, and have submitted to all the sorrow and humiliation which have been my portion.
If I must choose between the mother and daughter, I naturally prefer the latter.”
”He abandons me also!” cried the mother. ”You are an ungrateful, wretched man! You forget that you owe every thing to me, and that without me you were a miserable mercenary, whose stupidity and tediousness were the ridicule of every one, and you had never gained the entrance to a genteel house. What have you now become? A high-born man, whose house every one will crowd, and who could even appear at court, as he bears our n.o.ble and distinguished name. To whom do you owe all this, but to me alone?”
”G.o.d in heaven, Thou hearest it!” cried Marie, solemnly, with uplifted arms. ”She acknowledges that she alone has brought this misfortune upon me, and in this hour I stand justified.”
”Pardon, Frau von Werrig,” said Ebenstreit, haughtily; ”you are going too far. After my fortune, I thank you for my position. I am certainly of insignificant birth, but I am ambitious and rich. I said to myself, 'Money can bring about all that I wish,' and you see it has accomplished it. My wealth procured me a t.i.tle, a splendid house, a beautiful wife, and a position in society. I acknowledge that you aided me in the carrying out of my plans, but you would not have done it, if I had not been in a position to pay you. You receive a very considerable annuity from me, therefore you cannot accuse me of ingrat.i.tude, but must confess that you have driven a very good bargain. You must forgive me if I beg of you to end this painful scene.”
”That means that I must leave,” said Frau von Werrig, mildly, remembering the gambling debt and the annuity. ”Very well, I will go, and promise you never to return, upon two conditions.”
”Have the goodness to communicate them,” said Ebenstreit.
”The first is, pay the gambling-debt of my husband, who has played away the entire sum you allow us yearly, and do not deduct it from our income. The second is, increase your allowance five hundred thalers, without letting the general know it, and pay it to me.”
”It is impossible,” cried Ebenstreit, terrified. ”You mistake me for a Croesus, whose wealth is inexhaustible. If this expenditure and demand increase, my colossal fortune will be entirely wasted, and--”
”You exaggerate,” interrupted Marie, with a peculiar brilliancy in her eyes. ”Such wealth as yours is never-ending, and the banking business, which you are still engaged in under another name, is an inexhaustible source of wealth. I beg you to accept these conditions, that we may at last be at peace.”
”Very well,” said Ebenstreit, to whom the words of Marie sounded as the sweetest music. ”I will then accord your wishes, and you shall have the five hundred thalers for yourself.”
”For me alone?”
”Yes, for yourself alone, Frau von Werrig.”
”Who vouches for the fulfilment of your promise?”
”My word, Frau von Werrig.”
”I have no confidence but in a written promise.”
”Then I will have it made out, and bring you the doc.u.ment to-morrow morning.”
”Then our business is finished, and I can go.--Farewell, baroness; this is my last word to you. I cursed you from the moment you came into being. If you had been a son, the rich estate in trust of my family would have pa.s.sed to you, of which I was the natural heir. As it was, it went to a distant relative, and we received nothing. Therefore your parents could not rejoice at your birth, and we only pardoned you when you married a rich man, who could free us from want, and now the separation is no grief to us. You have always been a disagreeable burden, and I am only quit of a discomfort, and renounce forever the sight of you.--Give me your arm, my son, and accompany me at least to the threshold of your house, that you may be able to say to this cold-hearted viper, that she is forever rid of the sight of her mother, who will never think of her but with chilling contempt.” She seized Ebenstreit by the arm, who had not the courage to resist her, and drew him along with her, casting a look of supreme disgust at old Trude, who stood pale and sad near the door.
CHAPTER x.x.xIV. BEHIND THE MASK.
As the door closed, and Marie found herself alone with her old friend and nurse, a peculiar change was visible in her sad face; something of its former sunny radiance brightened its usually sorrowful expression, and she turned to greet Trude with the smile of earlier, happier days, though it was tinged with sadness and grief. Impulsively she threw her arms around her faithful nurse, kissing her, and, with quivering lip, whispering: ”A greeting and a blessing for you, dear mother! Take me to your kind, disinterested heart, and let me there find repose from all this torture and love the poor lost one, who--”
She drew suddenly back, her face a.s.suming its usually cold, look as she heard her husband enter.