Part 51 (2/2)
The commandant put the corporal under arrest also. The report was sent by courier to Dresden. The rising sun shone on Stolpen Castle, which seemed gloomier than ever. Cosel was in convulsions. About noon General von Bodt and several officials came from Dresden. At first old Wehlen handed his sword without a word, but the General returned it to him; by the King's order only Captain Henry Wehlen and Corporal Wurm were to be court-martialled.
Before the sun set the sentence of death had been carried out. The old commandant's tears and prayers were in vain. Cosel heard the firing, and she s.h.i.+vered; she guessed that the man who loved her was at that moment paying for his love. Zaklika stood pale, like a corpse.
The same day Commandant von Wehlen left the service, after having written a bitter letter to the King. Corporal Wurm had been put in chains and sent to the Konigstein fortress.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Such was Cosel's first attempt to recover her freedom. She cried over the poor young enthusiast who had given his life for her, but she wept also over her own lot. She told the servant to take all the flowers from the garden to Henry's grave. After that event, everything was changed in Stolpen. The command was given to Bierling, who was still more strict, but less intelligent; he was pa.s.sionate, impetuous, arbitrary, and proud, possessing all the faults of old soldiers, and had been more successful than he deserved. He forbade the Countess to leave the tower; the guards were changed, and Zaklika was ordered to return to his regiment.
Taking advantage of the fact that the commandant was drunk every evening, Zaklika went to take leave of Cosel. He found her crying; she could hardly speak.
”Then you also abandon me! Are you afraid?” cried she, bitterly.
”They have ordered me to return to my regiment, and I must go in order to serve you better.”
”And I--have I to weep here for ever?” said Cosel. ”Have I to die here?”
”I will do anything you order,” said Zaklika.
After a moment of reflection, she said,--
”Go, and think what can be done; you will know best. I have lost my common sense. G.o.d and man have abandoned me. But, remember, if you too betray me, I shall curse you!”
Then she told him that in Pillnitz she had buried a box of diamonds under a certain tree. Zaklika was to dig it up, sell the stones, and use the money in preparing for flight. The approach of a servant interrupted their conversation.
For several years following, the faithful servant could do nothing else but let her hear from him through the pedlar. They would not have been any more strict with her, but for another attempt to fly similar to the first, and which ended as unfortunately as the preceding one.
This time the Countess was sure of success. She ordered Zaklika, when he had found some pretext to visit her, to wait for her at a certain place on the frontier, and so have horses and money in readiness. The certain amount of freedom they granted her, she used in gaining over Lieutenant Helm, who, like Wehlen, fell madly in love with her.
This love was still more poetic, more pa.s.sionate than the first one. It lasted two years, till the Countess, having tested the man, having learned of his plan, consented to try.
Lieutenant Helm was captivated not only by Cosel's beauty, but also by her intellect, eloquence, and poetry; for by this time the constant reading of her Bible had made of her an inspired divine. Her speech, dress, movement, and looks, marked an unusual state of mind, which was accompanied by such a.s.surance, such a deep faith and unshaken dignity--that her attractiveness was increased not only in the eyes of this one man, but of all with whom she came in contact.
Zaklika was surprised at such a great change. She was beautiful, as before; but the expression of her face was more severe; misfortune had impressed its mark upon it, but had not lessened its charm. Her liveliness of movement was replaced by dignity; her words were uttered with an impressiveness that made them seem inspired by some mysterious source. She seemed to be some priestess--some sibyl. Zaklika found her reading the Bible with a pencil in her hand. She looked at him and extended her hand. The man's eyes moistened.
”Do you see?” said she. ”I am still alive. G.o.d has permitted me to live, and He has not done so in vain. I know that I shall outlive my persecutors and forgive them. G.o.d granted me life to open my eyes to great truths. I must be free, for I have great things to accomplish.”
”Are you not afraid,” said Zaklika, ”that--”
”I was never afraid of anything,” interrupted Cosel. ”That young man will do what I tell him, and now I possess the secret of seeing clearly ways and means. He will not betray me, neither will Fate!”
They agreed about the place and the day. He did not ask any questions about the plan, but he had fears for the lady; he had a presentiment that it would make her lot worse.
She dismissed him with a nod like a queen. Lieutenant Helm, whom he had seen only for a moment, seemed to him to be as enthusiastic as was the unfortunate Henry von Wehlen.
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