Part 34 (1/2)
”Very likely, Anton. It is an existence which is becoming more and more unendurable to me. But I cannot take a leave now. I must either disappear from the scene entirely or remain at my post.”
He left the room with a slow step and drooping head. Anton looked after him sadly. ”Poor master! It must have been bad news again. No doubt the young lady has good cause for her acts; but I pity him, for he never loved so before.”
A few hours afterward the prince entered his wife's apartments. ”My dear Ottilie, I must entreat you to grant me a favor. You did not wish to see any one on account of your indisposition, but I beseech you to make one exception.”
”It shall be as you wish, Alfred,” said Ottilie, in a faint voice.
She was reclining upon a couch under an arbor of dense exotic plants, which made one forget the cold, wintry landscape without. The prince took a chair and sat down beside her. ”The matter concerns Ottmar,” he began, breaking a withered leaf from a gum-tree, and thus not observing how Ottilie started. ”I do not know what I am to do with the man.
Something is wrong with him; I cannot discover what. He seems entirely changed. The youngest attache could not make so many diplomatic blunders as he. He brought to the council to-day the rough sketch of a dispatch to R----, which was totally useless. He, our most talented statesman! It is incomprehensible! He is apathetic and reserved; nay, he even permits himself to fail in the personal respect which, as his prince, I am ent.i.tled to demand, and whose punctilious observance has. .h.i.therto endeared him to me. I do not think this proceeds from any diminution in his loyalty,--he has so often a.s.sured me that I was his only friend,--but is the result of some secret disturbance, some physical or mental suffering. All my efforts to obtain his confidence are fruitless, so I thought of applying to my charming wife and calling her to my aid in this, to me, very important affair.”
”But how can I be of any a.s.sistance?” asked Ottilie, in astonishment.
”You shall speak to him, my dear. You are mistress of the art of a.s.suming a condescending manner which induces people to give their confidence freely without forgetting in whose presence they stand. I confess that in this respect you far surpa.s.s me. You remove my subjects' awe of the grandeur of your position, and subst.i.tute reverence for your person. Thus you succeed in being affable without forfeiting any portion of your dignity, and people, open their hearts to you without overstepping the bounds prescribed by etiquette. It is a great art, for which not only intellect and heart, but the unusual queenliness of air that distinguishes you, are requisite.”
”But it is an 'art' which, at all events, I practice very unconsciously,” interposed Ottilie, smiling. ”Yet I thank you, Alfred, for this praise; it makes me very proud. And now I shall try to earn it by attempting to prove my skill upon Ottmar.”
”There is no praise you have not already fully earned. But I will beg you to subdue this reserved diplomat with your--if I may so call it--diplomacy of the heart, and discover what is really the matter with him.”
”But have we a right to interfere, my prince?”
”It is not only a right, but a duty. If he merely neglected me, I would ignore it; but he neglects the obligations of his high position, and thereby injures the interests he ought to defend. This cannot continue, so we must discover the cause of Ottmar's trouble and try to remove it.
If this does not succeed, then----” The prince rose with the shrug of the shoulders he always used to express what was not yet sufficiently decided to put into words. ”At the present critical moment, when everything is crowding upon us, we need men who are thoroughly in earnest, and will hold the reins with a firm hand,” said he, continuing his interrupted chain of ideas. ”It is no time for personal considerations and indulgent delays. Every moment brings and demands important decisions, which should not be permitted to suffer from the absence of mind of any individual. There must be a change soon. I cannot lecture him like a school-boy, but you can say many things as a proof of friendly sympathy, which, from my lips, would sound like an implied reproach.”
”I will try; although I do not expect much from the interview. I can scarcely flatter myself that I shall be able to win from him what he withholds from you, and perhaps the secret may be of such a nature that he cannot confide it to us. Perhaps--he has some love-sorrow.”
”Oh, my dear! Would a polished man of the world, a thorough diplomat, give himself up to such sentimentality?”
The glance that Ottilie cast at the prince had a shade of compa.s.sionate contempt. ”You call it sentimentality because you have never felt the power of a pa.s.sionate emotion. You must consider that the moderation inculcated into the minds of royal personages, that they may be able to rule themselves and others, is an almost exclusive prerogative of their rank, which no one else shares----”
”Except the priests,” interposed the prince.
”You are right. But Ottmar does not belong to that cla.s.s, but to one of great privileges and few duties, who are accustomed to drop the reins of self-control; and these men often lack all support against their pa.s.sions. I have already told you that I do not consider Ottmar a genuine diplomat. He has talent, and will therefore for a time skillfully accomplish whatever he undertakes, but he is far too great an enthusiast to be a good statesman. For this he lacks calmness, firmness of conviction, perseverance in labor, and sooner or later the contradiction between his nature and his profession must appear.”
”Lord C---- made the same remark about him several years ago. Your knowledge of human nature shows itself more and more, and I daily perceive with grat.i.tude what wise counsels I am always sure of receiving from you. Then you will make the sacrifice for me, and speak to Ottmar?”
”I should be deserving of great blame if I refused my husband's request. Under what pretext do you wish the interview to take place?”
”I think we will give a family dinner to-morrow, and invite him to it.
Do you feel well enough for such an effort? In my opinion, it would be the most fitting opportunity.”
”I agree with you, and think my strength will enable me to do the honors.”
”I thank you in advance, my dearest, and hope I have not imposed any very disagreeable task upon you.”
”On the contrary, I so rarely have the happiness of being permitted to do you a favor, that I----”
”Oh, do not say so; your whole life is a succession of kindnesses and self-sacrificing amiability towards me. How ign.o.ble it would be for me to require more than you voluntarily bestow! Pray take care of yourself; the anxiety you feel is felt for me. Au revoir.” He pressed a hasty kiss upon Ottilie's small white hand and left the room.
Ottilie looked after him quietly. Not a feature in her pale face altered. She gratefully perceived that the prince tried to give her at least civility, even deference; instead of love. She had never asked more; and now it was easier than ever to resign it. She was no longer solitary, the life that stirred under her heart filled her with blissful promises of an infinite love never known before. This new and cheering emotion aided her to bear more resolutely than before even the thought of being again thrown into Ottmar's society. The outward world pa.s.sed by her like a dream: there was but one reality to her,--the approaching fulfillment of her mission as a woman; all her powers were exerted for this great end, and peace brooded over her soul.