Part 23 (1/2)
CHAPTER XV.
A BIRTHDAY FeTE.
Otto obeyed his grandfather's commands, handed in his resignation, and was shortly established as a volunteer a.s.sistant in the administration of Count Klausenburg's model estates, a step which naturally gave rise to the most contradictory reports. According to some, Otto had run in debt again, and the Freiherr had now 'taken him in hand;' others stated from a trustworthy source that the young man had broken away from all his a.s.sociations on account of an unfortunate love-affair; others, again, had heard that quarrels with his comrades had caused him to leave his regiment. His fellow-officers were convinced that he never would 'stick to agriculture,' but would soon return to the army; and the youthful fair bewailed his resignation, declaring that he was not half so handsome in civilian's dress.
Elfrida Klausenburg, the s.h.i.+ning light of the family, put by all these reports and explanations with a meaning smile. The dress of an heir was even more becoming than a uniform, she declared, and it seemed to her only just and fitting that in view of Johann Leopold's continued ill health the Freiherr should contemplate the possibility of another grandson's proving his heir, and that he should wish to educate this grandson in a way to enable him to administer such extensive estates with judgment and skill.
Countess Elfrida repeated this so often and so decidedly, old Count Klausenburg smiled so diplomatically when he declared that he knew really nothing of Otto's circ.u.mstances and prospects, and Otto was so continually at Donninghausen, that all reports to his disadvantage gradually died away, and he came to be looked upon more and more as the future heir. It did no good for him to contradict this view of the matter whenever it was brought to his knowledge. The Donninghausens had always been rather reserved with regard to their family arrangements, and out of consideration for Johann Leopold they were of course especially inclined to secrecy in the present case. That Otto never ceased to pay this consideration to his cousin, even in intercourse with his most intimate friends, spoke well for his delicacy, his prudence, and his trustworthiness. It was remarkable how many excellent qualities, hitherto concealed in him, now came to light.
Otto knew that the many attentions which he received were paid, for the most part, to the future heir; but he was rather vain than proud, and vanity delights in the homage paid to appearances. So he allowed himself to be borne along in contemptuous ease upon the current of universal favour without asking whither, and helped Elfrida Klausenburg to build castles in the air, the rule of which she was resolved, in spite of all rivals, to share with him.
The most dangerous of these rivals seemed to her to be Magelone. ”It is disgraceful the way she flirts with Otto Donninghausen,” the young lady said to her sisters; ”but I hope he is too clever to allow himself to be caught. Any one can see that it is the heir she is after.”
Amelie, whose years forbade her joining in this contest, replied with some asperity, ”The same thing might just as well be said of others who until now never seemed to think much of the young man.” And Helena, who had for some time played the part of a man-hater, declared, sharply, that for her part she thought it doubtful whether Magelone were flirting with Otto or he with her. Elfrida replied to her sisters' remarks only by an indifferent shrug. She was sure that Otto had fallen a victim to her flaxen hair and blue eyes, and knew from his own lips that he only rode over to Donninghausen to please his grandfather.
It was true that these visits formed part of the programme laid down by the Freiherr, but if Otto had not found them agreeable he would soon have devised a way to curtail them. His intercourse with his family had proved pleasant beyond his antic.i.p.ations. His grandfather, immediately after meals,--during which, it is true, he paid less attention to Otto than formerly,--retired to his study, where Johanna read aloud to him; and then Aunt Thekla would try, by redoubled kindness, to indemnify the 'poor boy' for the old Herr's coldness, and Magelone was so enchanted to have the monotony of her days relieved by her cousin's visits, that her coquetry wore at times the disguise of sincere affection. Even the diminution of his intercourse with Johanna, caused by the Freiherr's claims upon her time, was rather a relief than a disappointment to the young man, for, although she never had referred to the help she had been so ready to give him, he could not but feel a sense of obligation and embarra.s.sment when with her. Nevertheless, at times she exercised the old influence upon him, and then if he could speak with her alone, which was rarely the case, he would complain that they saw so little of each other, accusing her of intentionally avoiding him, and a.s.suring her that only the prospect of her society had induced him to comply with his grandfather's arrangements.
”You influence me for the best; you arouse and bring to the surface all that there is in me worth anything. With you I am cleverer, stronger, better than at any other time,” he said, and he was really sincere so long as he could gaze into her eyes. But when she had left him he seemed to breathe more freely, and Magelone's graceful folly appeared to him more graceful than ever.
Thus the last half of August was reached, and his birthday drew near.
The morning before, Aunt Thekla had summoned up all her courage and reminded her brother of it. ”As to-morrow is Sat.u.r.day, he will come to dinner as usual,” she added, ”and I wanted to ask you, dear Johann, if you would not like to have a few friends invited. No party, only from eight to ten people, perhaps----”
”What for?” the Freiherr burst out, and she lowered her eyes before his, which flashed angrily. ”Not, I hope, to celebrate that fellow's birthday. He will be thirty years old, and he conducts himself like a boy of twenty.”
Aunt Thekla took courage again. ”Dear Johann, there is more joy over one sinner that repenteth----”
”Repenteth?” the Freiherr again interrupted her. ”There's no question of that here. Monsieur accommodates himself to circ.u.mstances for the present, but he is ready for a fresh escapade at any moment. No, Thekla, there's no occasion for slaughtering the fatted calf. If you wish to bake the boy a cake, I've no objection; I'll put the customary bit of money underneath it and wish him joy decently; but no further festivities, I beg.”
It was impossible to transgress these orders; and although Aunt Thekla took care that the cake and its customary wreath were provided, and even increased the Freiherr's 'bit of money' to the extent that her resources would permit, and although Magelone and Johanna presented their gifts duly, Otto felt the depression which weighed upon the family generally, and it did not need the Freiherr's homily, in which he was reminded that now he was thirty years of age and must put away boyish follies, to put him thoroughly out of humour.
The crosser he felt, however, the more he resolved not to show it. In defiance of the old Herr, who, he said to himself, was always doing his best to crush out all independent thought and action, he persisted, undeterred by Aunt Thekla's warning glances, in provoking conversation at the dinner-table, and, failing in this attempt, he proposed as soon as the meal was over, in direct opposition to the custom of the family, to take coffee under the three oaks in the forest,--a spot dedicated by all the gentry in the country round to parties of pleasure in the open air.
The Freiherr, who had just reached the door of the dining-hall, paused.
”Well, child, you are not going to absent yourself from the party?” he said, looking over his shoulder at Johanna, who was following him. ”I will do without you to-day.”
She cast one longing glance towards the group at the window, and then looked into her grandfather's gloomy face. ”Thank you,” she made reply, stepping up to his side; ”I would rather stay at home with you.”
The next moment the door closed behind them. Otto bit his lip impatiently, Magelone laughed derisively. ”Oh, this Johanna!” she exclaimed, irritated by Otto's evident vexation, ”how clever she is! She has added in a twinkling another ray to the saintly halo around her brow.”
”But, my child,” Aunt Thekla interposed, reproachfully, ”you cannot mean--Johanna is really so good,--so simple,--so modest.”
”There is just where she shows her art, my dear aunt, in preventing almost every one from observing the pains she takes to make herself of importance,” Magelone rejoined. ”A simple creature like myself would have said, 'Thanks, my dear Otto; it is rather too warm for your scheme.' But she sacrifices herself for grandpapa,--stays in a cool room entirely for his sake.”
”You are unjust,” Otto said, with unusual emphasis.
”And you are partial,” Magelone declared. ”But wait; your eyes will be opened. At present it would be pleasant to close them,” she added, changing her tone, ”in this intolerable heat.” And, fluttering her fan diligently, she followed Aunt Thekla into the drawing-room, where the old lady took her accustomed seat in the corner of the sofa for a short nap, and her niece seated herself near her in a rocking-chair, and from beneath her drooping eyelids watched Otto, who had withdrawn to the centre window in an ill humour and was turning over the leaves of a periodical.
Magelone's fan fluttered faster. How strange that Otto should not avail himself of this rare opportunity for an undisturbed _tete-a-tete_! Had he been really provoked by her attack upon Johanna? If this were the case, he must be duly punished. A minute or two pa.s.sed in impatient expectation, and then, when Aunt Thekla's regular breathing betrayed her unconsciousness, Magelone called, in an undertone, ”Otto!” He looked up, and she signed with her fan towards an ottoman near her.