Part 71 (1/2)

Mr. Schmenckel seated himself on the outer edge of an arm-chair.

”Do you recognize me also?” asked the lady.

Mr. Schmenckel bowed, placing his hand on his heart.

”Why did you not come to me directly?” the princess continued in a tone of gentle reproach. ”Why did you take the count into your confidence?

Have I ever been ungenerous towards you. Was it my fault if our last meeting ended as it did?”

Mr. Schmenckel was about to reply, but the princess continued.

”If I had known that you were still living, and where you were living, I would have provided for you liberally; and I am still willing to do so. But one condition I must make: you must have nothing to do with the count; and, above all things, you must never dare come near the prince.

If you will comply with these conditions you may ask what you choose, and if Alexandrina Letbus is able to do it it shall be done!”

The princess extended imploringly her thin, transparent hand; her black eyes filled with tears; the rosy twilight gave a spiritual beauty to her pale but still beautiful features. Mr. Schmenckel had a susceptible heart in his bosom, and the humility of the great lady moved him deeply.

”Let me say a word now, too, your grace,” he said ”I am not the scoundrel you make me out. I should never have dreamt, your grace, of writing a letter to the count, if I had not been persuaded to do so by an awfully bad man. Timm is his name. I never knew at all that Caspar Schmenckel, of Vienna, had such a great lord for his son. But that man Timm said to me: No harm in beating about the bush; no harm in that!

Then he wrote the letter, and carried it himself to the count. The count came the same evening to the Dismal Hole to see me, and told me he was very glad if I could make life a little hard to you, Mrs.

Princess. But he said I must not say a word to the prince, or there would be an end to the fun. And then, says he, you ask too much; a fourth of it is enough. And he told me to talk it over with your grace and then he would pay me the money this forenoon at his hotel. Now, your grace, you may believe it or not, as you choose, but Caspar Schmenckel, from Vienna, is an honest fellow, and don't like to do any harm to anybody, least of all to a beautiful lady who was once upon a time very kind to poor Caspar. And when your grace sent for me, and let me know that you wanted to see me yourself, I said: Caspar, says I, go to the princess and tell her so and so, and she must not trouble herself about it any more; Caspar Schmenckel will never come near her in all his life. And as for the money, I tell your grace, not a penny do I want to touch of it, not if it were to turn into pure gold on the spot. And so, your grace--princess, good-by to you! And if we don't see each other again you must remain well, and don't you trouble yourself any more about Caspar Schmenckel; he'll never do you any harm. I kiss your hand, your grace!”

With these words he rose and made his best bow.

The princess was very much touched.

”Good fellow,” she said, with trembling voice.

Her eyes dwelt with pleasure upon the herculean proportions of the man who was the father of her son. The extraordinary resemblance between them, in figure as well as in face, filled her with mournful satisfaction. She thought of the days when this man, a lion in strength and agility, had conquered not her heart but her imagination. But at the same moment a sudden fear overcame her lest her son should find his father here--lest her son with his pride and his pa.s.sionate temper should ever discover that this juggler, this rope-dancer, was the father of Prince Waldenberg.

”You must go!” she said, hurriedly. ”Here,”--she took a superb ring from her finger, in which the diamonds shone in all the colors of the rainbow as they caught the light of the fire--”here; no words, take it!

I wore it long, long ago, even when Nadeska first brought you to me; take it as a keepsake from Alexandrina Letbus! But now go, go!”

She touched the silver bell. Nadeska entered.

”Show him out! Mind that no one sees you!”

Nadeska took Mr. Schmenckel, who would have liked to say something, but was too confused and embarra.s.sed to find words, and led him through a secret door which led near the fire-place into a narrow pa.s.sage, and then through a private staircase into the courtyard.

The princess sank exhausted back into the cus.h.i.+ons of her easy-chair, and hid her eyes behind her hand. She did not notice that a heavy curtain on the right hand from the fire-place, which had been moving several times during her conversation with Mr. Schmenckel, now opened and admitted the prince. She only heard him when he was close by her.

She opened her eyes, and at the same moment she uttered a piercing shriek--his unexpected appearance and a single glance at his pale, disturbed face told her that he had heard all.

”Mercy, Raimund! Mercy!” she cried, raising her folded hands in agony towards him.

Raimund's broad chest was heaving as if it were struggling with an overwhelming burden, and his voice sounded like a hoa.r.s.e death-rattle, as he now said, pointing with the finger at the door through which Schmenckel had left,

”Was that man who has just left you my father?”

”Mercy, Raimund! Mercy! Are you going to kill your mother?”

”Better you had never borne me than this!”