Part 25 (1/2)
”It was I who was forced,” answered Hartmut, sharply and promptly. ”I do not suppose you consider me an intruder? You know full well that I have a right to be here.”
”Hartmut von Falkenried certainly had a right--but all that is changed.”
”Herr von Wallmoden!”
”Pardon me, but not so loud,” interrupted the amba.s.sador. ”We can be heard here easily, and you would certainly not like strange ears to hear the name which I have just spoken.”
”I am bearing my mother's name at present, to which I have certainly a right. When I laid aside the other, it was out of respect--”
”To your father,” interrupted Wallmoden, impressively.
That was an admonition which Hartmut found hard to bear. ”Yes,” he answered curtly, ”and I confess it would be painful to me if I should be forced to mention--”
”And with reason; your _role_ here would, in that event, be played to the end.”
Rojanow stepped close to the amba.s.sador with an angry movement, as he retorted:
”You are the friend of my father's youth, Herr von Wallmoden, and I, in my boyhood days, called you uncle. But you forget that I am no longer the boy whom you could order about and censure at pleasure. The man looks on all that as an insult.”
”I purpose neither to insult you, nor to make mention of former a.s.sociations which have no longer any existence for either of us,” said the amba.s.sador. ”I sought this interview in order that I might explain to you that it is not possible for me, in my official position, to see you in constant intercourse with the Court and keep silence. It will be my duty to explain all to the duke.”
”Explain all? All what?”
”Many things about which none of the people here, not even your friend Prince Adelsberg, know. Listen to me, Herr Rojanow. I will not do this except it is forced upon me, for I have an old and dear friend to spare.
I know how a certain occurrence struck him down ten years ago, an occurrence which is buried and forgotten these many years in our country now; but if all this was brought up and gossiped over again--Colonel Falkenried would die.”
Hartmut paled perceptibly, and the scornful expression faded from his lips.
”He would die!” the words rang in his ears. He knew only too well how true they were, and for the moment all defiance died within him.
”It is to my father that I am answerable, at any rate,” he responded, controlling his voice with an effort. ”To him alone and to no other.”
”He will scarcely call you to account--his son is dead to him. But we can let that rest. I speak especially of those later years which your mother and you spent in Rome and Paris, where you lived at a glittering pace, in spite of the fact that the Roumanian estate had been sold under the hammer.”
”You seem to know all the particulars,” retorted Rojanow, highly indignant now. ”We were not aware that we were under such vigilant inspection. As to our manner of life, we lived as best pleased ourselves, upon the remnant of the fortune which was saved from the wreck.”
”There was nothing saved, the whole fortune was squandered, even to the last h.e.l.ler.”
”That is not true,” interrupted Hartmut stormily.
”It is true. Don't you think I know more about it than you?” The amba.s.sador's voice was sharp and sneering now. ”It is very possible that Frau Rojanow did not consider it necessary to explain to her son the means by which she obtained her gold; better to leave him in ignorance.
I know from whence the money came--if she did not tell you, so much the better for you.”
”Have a care, sir, about insulting my mother,” the young man was beside himself now, ”or I may forget your gray hairs, and demand satisfaction.”
”For what? For an a.s.sertion which I can back with indisputable proof at any moment? Let us put aside all such mad folly and say no more on that subject. She was your mother and she is dead, so her past shall be a dead letter to us. I have only this one question to put to you, whether you will, after this conversation, remain here and become one of the circle which Prince Adelsberg has opened for you?”
Hartmut had become deadly pale at the allusion made to his mother, and the source from which she had obtained money, and the first stare with which he gazed at the speaker showed only too clearly that he had no knowledge of anything disreputable, but at the last question he began to recover himself. He cast an almost insane glance at his enemy, and a wild determination sounded in his voice as he answered:
”Yes, Herr Wallmoden, I shall remain.”