Part 24 (1/2)
She had finally struck the right chord. The young lord started at this thought and bowed his head mutely when Antonie entered, quite unconcerned.
”You have returned already, w.i.l.l.y?” she asked. ”I thought--but what is it? Has anything happened?”
”Yes,” answered Frau Regine, grasping the reins, as usual, decisively.
”We have just received a communication from Burgsdorf which forces us to depart to-morrow morning. You need not be frightened, my child, it is nothing dangerous--only a foolishness”--she laid sharp emphasis on the word--”a foolishness which has been committed, but which will be removed just as speedily by quick interference. I will tell you all about it later, but for the present nothing can be done but by our departure.”
Curiosity was not one of Antonie's faults, and even this quite unexpected news was not able to ruffle her composure. The statement that nothing serious was concerned satisfied her entirely.
”Must w.i.l.l.y leave also?” she asked without particular enthusiasm.
”Cannot he at least remain?”
”Answer your fiancee yourself, w.i.l.l.y,” said Frau von Eschenhagen, fixing her sharp, gray eyes upon her son. ”You know best what the circ.u.mstances are. Can you really consent to stay here?”
A short pause. Willibald's glance met his mother's; then he turned away and said in a suppressed voice, ”No, Toni, I must go home--nothing else is possible.”
Toni accepted the decision, which would have pained another girl deeply, with moderate regret, and began to inquire directly where the travelers would dine to-morrow, since the fast train had no stoppage anywhere. This seemed to grieve her as much as the separation, but she finally concluded that it would be best for them to take a lunch along to eat on the train.
Frau von Eschenhagen felt triumphant when she went to her brother-in-law to notify him of their departure, for which she had already found a pretext.
Many a thing could happen on the large estates to afford an explanation.
Naturally, the Chief Forester must not learn the truth any more than his daughter, although he had caused the whole trouble in his blindness.
Regine did not doubt in the least that as soon as she removed her w.i.l.l.y from the fascinating circle of this ”witch” he would return to reason.
Had he not shown it just now?
She would not see that honor toward his betrothed alone had conquered, and that it had been a terrible mistake to expose his feelings to another.
”Wait, my boy,” she muttered grimly. ”I will teach you to commence such things, and to rebel against your mother. When once I have you at Burgsdorf, may G.o.d have mercy on you!”
CHAPTER XX.
On the appointed day the Duke, with the d.u.c.h.ess and a numerous suite, arrived at Furstenstein, and the life full of splendor which had been led in former times began again in the wide, beautiful hunting grounds of the Wald.
The present sovereign was no ardent huntsman, and the hunting lodge of his ancestors had stood deserted for years, or was occupied only at long intervals for a brief visit. Now, when a prolonged stay was antic.i.p.ated, the s.p.a.cious castle scarce afforded room enough for the guests; a part of them were quartered in neighboring Waldhofen, which made the little town, as well as the entire vicinity, very festive in joyful excitement.
The owners of the neighboring castles and villas, who, like Prince Adelsberg, belonged to the best families of the land, were induced by the arrival of the Court to take up their fall quarters there, too.
Nearly everybody had brought numerous guests, and so an unusual life and bustle developed in the silent Wald, the centre of which activity being, of course, Furstenstein.
The castle shone to-night in fullest splendor; every window of the upper floor was lighted, and in the court torches threw their red light upon the walls and towers gray with age.
It was the occasion of the first large fete since the arrival of the princely family, to which were asked all the n.o.bility of the neighborhood, the higher officials of the district, and, in short, everybody who had any claim upon their sovereign's notice.
The castle, which was built in a grand style, contained a number of gorgeous rooms of state, which, with their old-fas.h.i.+oned but costly furnis.h.i.+ngs, and the brilliant company moving through them, afforded a decidedly splendid spectacle.
The young wife of the Prussian Amba.s.sador was a new star among the ladies present. Mourning for her father, who had died shortly after her marriage, had kept her from all festivities, and she entered to-day for the first time this brilliant circle, where the position of her husband a.s.sured her a prominent place, and where she was being treated by the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess with noticeable distinction.
The rising of this new star was noticed by the ladies, of course, with some displeasure. They found Frau von Wallmoden very haughty in her cool composure, and that she had very little occasion for such bearing; for, of course, they all knew that she was a born burgher, who did not properly belong in this circle, even if her father's wealth and his prominent position with the industries of the country gave her a certain distinction. Nevertheless, she moved upon the foreign soil with a strange ease--the husband must have schooled her well for this first appearance.