Marlitt_Old_Mamselles_Secret.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
CHAPTER I.
"But, for Heaven's sake, Ilellwig, where are you
going now?"
"Directly to X , with your kind permission," was
the half-contemptuous reply.
" But there is certainly no road thither over such a hill
A8 this. You know nothing about it, Ilellwig. Hallo I
Btopl I'll get out; I have no desire to be upset and
have all my bones broken. Will you be kind enough to
stop f "
"Upset you? II 'Twould be the first time in my
life," were the words upon the lips of the other; but a ter-
rible crash interrupted him, and the voice of the speaker
was silenced effectually. For a moment, the snorting and
stamping of a horse were audible ; then the animal, having
recovered his footing, galloped madly away.
"This is an upset indeed," growled the first speaker
at last, sitting upright on the damp, freshly-ploughed field.
* Ilellwig 1 Boehm 1 are either of you alive ?"
" I am," said the voice of Ilellwig, not very far off", as he
crept about on the sodden ground searching for his hat
Every spark of self-confidence, of jeering superiority, had
atterly vanished from that feeble voice. The third victim,
too, was now heard complaining, as he tried to lift his
unwieldy form upon all-fours from close contact with his
mothcr-oarth. At last all three regained that posttra
whereby nature distinguishes man as the noblest of Ood*a
creatures, and began to reflect upon what bad happened,
and what was best to be done.
In the first place, the light wagon in which the three
gentlemen had left their homes on that morning upon a
hunting expedition, was now lying completely overturned
by the side of the little hill which had caused the disaster,
displaying its four wheels to heaven ; the sound of the
horse's hoofs as he galloped off had died away some mo-
ments before, and pitchy darkness brooded over the con-
sequences of Hell wig's rash self-confidence.
" Well, one thing is certain, we can't spend the night
here. Let us go forward," said Ilellwig at last, with some
reviving animation in his tone.
"Oh yes, resume the command," growled his stoat
friend, privately assuring himself that the splintered re-
mains of his beautiful meerschaum, and not of one of his
ribs, were making that mysterious rattling sound in the
region of his heart, "resume the command, do, it be-
comes you so well, just after you have been within a
hair's breadth of murdering two fathers of families with
your confounded self-conceit, no, I will not spend the
night in this den of lions but you shall devise some way
out of it A dozen horses shall not drag me from this spot
without a light. I am up to my knees in mud, and the
night air will, I know, fill my bones with rheumatism for
the next ix months, that I must resign myself to, and
it is all your fault, Hellwig. But I will not be so insane
as to risk putting out my eyes or breaking my arms and
legs in the thousand holes and ditches that abound in this
confounded country."
"Don't be a fool, doctor," said the third; "you can't
stand here like a milestone, shifting from one leg to the
TUB OLD MAM'SELLh'8 SECRET. 5
0ther. wLIle Hellwig and I grope our way to the town and
procure help. I knew some time ago that this famous
Jehu was driving too much to the left We have only to
go directly back across this ploughed field, and we shall
certainly come to the road again, so c^me along without
any more grumbling, and think of your wife and children,
who are perhaps drowned in grief at this moment bert not
beside me with thine ever-watchful eyes, and thy heart
full of unspeakable devotion I How can I live never to
hear again thine intoxicating voice, to look into the
heaven of thy smile I How can I live with the torturing
consciousness that I have snatched thee to my arms only
to crown thy life with misery I O thou God above us,
canst thou plunge me into such a hell?" ^Then, more
gently, ''I will atone for my sin against thee, Meta, I
will work for thee, support thee by hard, honest labour
-^together we will seek out some quiet retired spot, and
chore live happy and contented " he tore the spangled
velvet mantle from his shoulders "away with this vile
stuff I It shall never touch me again I Meta, stay with
me, ^we will begin a new existence together I"
A painful smile hovered upon the lips of the dying
woman. She raised her head with difficulty; he put his
arm under it, and with the other hand pressed her pale
face convulsively to his breast.
"lasko, be composed be a man!" she gasped, and her
head fell back; but again she opened her eyes, as though
her parting soul made one more despairing effort to cleave
for a while to the dying body those lips so soon to
crumble into dust must speak once more ; the heart could
not cease to beat and sink into the earth with the yearn-
ings of maternal anxiety unsatisfied.
"Thou art unjust to thyself, lasko," she said afler a
()ause, during which she had collcctt)d all her rcmamip^
TUB OLD MAM'SELLB'S SECRET. 18
BtreDgih "thou hast never caused me misery, I have
had love siich as few other women can boast. I know
what I was doing when I gave my hand to the juggler^
and I left my father's hoase, where the j rejected me on
account of my love, with a happy heart to wander through
life at thy side. If shadows fell upon that life, I only waa
to blame, I who had overestimated my strength which
failed sometimes beneath the disdain that thy position
calls forth. lasko," she continued still more gently, "a
man is exalted above the assaults of the narrow preju
dices of the world by the thought that his art, whatever
it may be, ennobles him, ^but a woman writhes beneath
the sting of the world's contempt. Oh, lasko, anxiety
for Fay makes my death-bed a bed of thorns. I coigure
thee, lot the child know nothing of thy calling 1"
She seized his hand and pressed it closely. Her whole
soul gazed once more from her beautiful eyes, whose light
death w^ould so shortly extinguish.
''I know what a cruel thing I ask of thee, lasko," she
went on imploringly, "part from Fay, give her into
the charge of simple, honest, kind people, that she may
grow up to lead a quiet happy home-life. Oh, promise
me this, my only level"
In a voice choked by sobs her husband promised what
she asked. A terrible night ensued the death-struggle
was long and agonizing, but the dawning morning threw
the roses of its ray through the window upon a fair dead
form whose transfigured features showed no trace of an-
guish. Orlowsky had thrown himself upon the stiffening
body, and the exertions of several men were necessary to
drag him from it to another room.
On the evening of the third day a great crowd followed
the body of the player's wife to its last resting-place.
Kind hands had covered the coffin with flowers, and Ilell*
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II THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET.
fdg walked after it amoDg the most respectable men of
the place. The juggler staggered and would have fallen
as the first shovelful of earth fell dull upon the coffin, had
not Hellwig supported him, and led him back to the inn.
There he remained several hours alone with the broken*
hearted man, who until then had repulsed all attempts to
express sympathy, and had even tried to lay violent
hands upon his own life. Those who passed the door
of the room from time to time afterward heard the ago-
nized sobs of the unhappy man, interrupted by bursts of
passionate tenderness, which were replied to by the gen-
tle voice of a child. It was a heart-rending sound ^the
mingling of the tear-choked voice, and the silvery, laugh-
ing, childish tones.
CnATTBR III.
The evening was far advanced. A keen November
wind swept through the streets, and the first winter
snow-flakes were whitening the roofs of the houses and
the dark freshly-made mound which covered the fair body
of the wife of the Pole.
The table was spread in the sitting-room at the Ilell-
wigs. The service was of massive silver, and the pattern
upon the white damask table-cloth shone like satin.
The lamp stood upon a little round sofa-table, behind
which sat Frau Hellwig knitting a long woollen stock-
ing. She was a tall broad-shouldered woman, just over
forty. Perhaps, while surrounded by the golden light of
youth, her face might have been thought handsome, for
even now it possessed the classical outline demanded as
a condition of regular beauty. But it could never hav
THJS OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 15
been cbarming, for spite of the large well-shaped eye and
the fair, smooth complexion, the want of what only true
sensibility of soul can gi^e to a face must always have
been felt That countenance could nerer have stiffened
into such a hard stony expression if it had been informed
by any warmth of heart. Those bright-gray eyes could
never have shone so icily after a youth full of the Joys
snd sorrows which every susceptible kindly nature must
experience. Smooth bands of hair were laid above a
brow still fair, and the rest of the head was covered by
a spotless muslin cap. This cap and a black dress of the
plainest cut with tight sleeves and narrow white cuffs at
the wrists gave a puritanical air to her whole appear*
ance.
Now and then a side door opened, and the wrinkled
face of the old cook peeped through the crack.
''Not yet, Frederikal" said Frau Hellwig, each time in
a monotonous voice, without looking up, but her needles
flew more quickly, and the thin lips were compressed with
a peculiar expression of self-control. The old cook knew
perfectly well that 'Madame' was impatient she liked to
aggravate the mood and at last said in an almost tearful
tone as she peeped into the room :
''Ah, gracious Heaven I where can the master be? The
roast will be spoiled, and when shall I be through with
my work ?"
This remark did her no good, for Fran Hellwig nevef
suffered her subordinates to express any opinion in her
presence, but the old servant retired with her reproof,
very well satisfied, for she had seen the proof of her power
in the v^rinkle that had appeared between Madame's eye-
brows.
At last the street door was opened as the foil, deep
sound of ^he bell rang through the house.
16 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
"Ah, what a pretty noise I" cried the clear foice of a
child outside.
Fraa Hellwig laid the stockiug she was knitting in a
basket at her side, and arose. The impatient expression
of her features was succeeded by one of astonishment, as
she looked across the light of the lamp toward the door.
Some one outside was rubbing his feet long and carefully
upon the mat ^that was her husband.
Immediately afterward he entered the room and ap
preached his wife with rather uncertain steps, for he car-
ried in his arms a little girl about four years old.
" I have brought you home something, Brigitta," he said,
coaxingly, but he stopped short as he met his wife's eye.
*' Well ?" she asked, without moving.
** I bring you a poor child "
"Whoso is it?" she coldly interrupted.
"She is the child of the unfortunate man who has just
lost his wife so distressingly. Dear Brigitta^ receive the
little one kindly."
"But only for this night?"
"No ; I have given the father a sacred promise that the
child shall be brought up in my house."
These words were spoken quickly and firmly, as though
the speaker wished them well over.
The white face of his wife was suddenly coloured by a
deep (lush, and a sarcastic expression wreathed her lips.
She left her place and came slowly forward, saying, as she
touched her forehead with malicious significance:
"I am really afraid, Hellwig, that you are not quite
right here. To require of me that I should accede to such
a proposal, that I should convert my house, which I en*
deavour to render worthy to be a temple of the Lord, into
an asylum for players' children, implies something moro
in you than mere folly."
%
1
\
THB OLD MAMTSJILLB'S SMCRMT. 1)
HeUwig started, and a most imiiBoal fladi qMrUed fhHB
his kindly eyes.
''Ton have deoeiyed yoorself grossly, Hellwig,'' she t
continued. '' I shall not leoeiye beneath my roof this child
of sin, the child of a lost creatore oyertaken in her iniquity
by the visible wrath of the Lord."
** Indeed I is that your view of it, Brigitta ? Let me ask
yon then what iniquity your brother was guilty of for
which he was killed by a stray shot while hunting 1 He
was pursuing his own pleasure, while this poor woman
died while fulfilling a hard duty."
The flush suddenly left the cheeks of his wife, and she
became ashy pale. She stood silent for a moment^ with
her astonished eyes resting upon her husband, who had
so suddenly developed such an amount of energy in her
presence.
In the meanwhile the little girl whom Hellwig had set
down upon the floor, had taken ofif her pink hood, and eX'
posed to view a charming head covered with thick chest-
Dut curls. The little cloak too had fallen off. How stern
and hard Madame's heart must have been not to have taken
the child at once to her arms 1 Was she entirely blind to
the inexpressible grace of the little figure tripping about
the room upon the prettiest feet in the world, gazing at
the new surroundings with childish wonder 7 The rosy
shoulders contrasted charmingly with the light-blue wool-
len dress, the delicate embroidery of which had perhaps
been the last work of loving hands now cold in death.
But the tasteful dress, Ihe careless, lovely flow of the
curls upon brow and neck, and the graceful movements o
iLo child, only excited Madame's dislike.
" I will not have this puppet an hour in my presence I"
ibe said suddenly without returning a syllable to her hus-
band's striking reproof. ''The forward little thing, with
B 2*
18 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
its corlod hair and bare shoulders, has no place in our dis*
creet serious household it would be opening our doors
to all levity and dissipation. Hellwig, you will not east
this apple of discord into our midst, but will see that the
chifd is taken hence to where she rightly belongs."
She opened the door which led to the kitchen and called
in the cook.
''Frederika, put this child's hood and cloak on," she
aid, pointing to the little garments upon the floor.
" Oo back instantly to your kitchen I" said Hellwig in a
loud angry voice, motioning her to the door.
The wondering servant vanished.
"You drive me to extremities by your sternness and
cruelty, Brigitta!" cried her angry husband. "Ascribe
it to yourself and your own narrow prejudices if I now say
to you what otherwise had never passed my lips. Whose
is this house which, as you falsely declare, you have tried
to constitute a temple of the Lord 7 Mine I Brigitta, you
came to. this house a poor orphan in the lapse of years
you have forgotten it and, alas that I must say it ! the
more labour you have spent upon this temple, as you call
it, the oftener that the words God and Heaven, and Chris-
tian Love and Humility are upon your lips, the more hard,
self-righteous, and uncharitable do you become I This
house is mine, I pay for the bread which we eat, and I
declare to you now that this child shall stay where she is.
And if your heart is too narrow and loveless to feel a
mother's tenderness for the poor little orphan, I can at
least require from my wife that she shall, in conformity
with my will, afford her the requisite feminine protection
If you do not wish to lose all authority with our servants,
give the necessary orders now for the reception of the
child, otherwise I shall give them myself."
l^ot another word did Madame's white lips utter. A.iy
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 19
other woman would at such a moment of utter helpless*
ness have resorted to a woman's last weapon ^tears, but
that relieving fountain seemed dried for those cold eyes.
Her entire silence, her freezing manner, enveloped her
whole form like a suit of armour, and struck a chill into
all around her. She took up a basket of keys, and, still
Bilent, left the room.
With a deep sigh Hellwig took the little ono by the
band, and walked up and down the room with her. Ha
had fought a hard battle to assure this forsaken little being
a home in his house. He had mortally offended his wife.
Never, never, he knew well, would she forgive him for
the bitter truths that he had just spoken, for she was im
placable.
CHAPTER IV.
Meanwhile Frederika placed upon the table a little
pewter plate, a child's fork and spoon, and a fresh napkin.
The bell rang without, and Heinrich admitted a little boy
of about seven years of age.
"Good evening, papa," cried the boy, shaking the snow-
flakes from his fur cap.
Hellwig took his child's head fondly between his hands
and kissed his brow.
"Good evening, my boy,'' said he. "Well, have yov
had a pleasant afternoon with your little friend?"
" Yes, but that stupid Heinrich came for me much too
soon."
"Your mother sent him, my child. Come here, Ni^
thanael, see this little girl her name is Fay."
80 TEB OLD MAJTSELLk'S SECRET.
'' Nonsense 1 How can her name be 'Fay'? That's no
name at all 1"
Hellwig's eyes beamed tenderly npon the little creature
to whom a mother's tenderness had giren the fanciful pet-
name which suited her so welL
"Her dear mother called her so, Nathanael," he said
gently, "her real name is Felicitas. Is she not a poor,
dear little thing 7 Her mother was buried to-day, she is
^ going to live with us, and you will love her like a little
sister."
"No, papa, I don't want a little sister."
The child was the image of his mother. His features
vrere fine, and his complexion remarkably fair and clear,
but he had a habit of resting his chin upon his breast and
peering at you with his large eyes from under his eye-
brows, which gave him a peculiar expression of cunning
and slyness. His head sank now deep upon his breast,
he lifted his right elbow, as if in an attitude of defense,
and looked crossly from under it at the strange little
girl.
She stood opposite him, shyly plucking at her little
dress, ^the 'big boy' eridently impressed her, but gradu-
ally she approached him, and without allowing herself to
be terrified by his defiant attitude, she seized, with spark-
ling eyes, upon the toy sword which hung at his belt. He
pushed her away angrily and ran to his mother, who at
that moment entered.
''But I don't want any sister I" he repeated almost
with tears. "Mamma, send that rude little girl away I I
want to be alone with you and papal"
Frau Hellwig shrugged her shoulders in silence, and
vtepped up to her place at the table.
"Say grace, Nathanael," she said in a monotone, and
folded her hands. Immediately the child clasped hit
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 21
hands, bent his head in an attitude of humility, and said
a long grace. Under the circumstances, this prayer waa
a miserable profanation of a beautiful Christian custom.
The master of the house could not eat. The flush of
mental excitement still coloured his usuiUly pale forehead,
and while he played mechanically with his fork, his troubled
glance rested upon the sullen faces of his wife and child
But the little girl was nowise daunted. She quietly eat
her dinner, carefully putting some bonbons, which Hell-,
wig laid beside her plate, into her little pocket.
''Those are for mamma," she said, confidingly; "she
loves bonbons. Papa always brings her great boxes Aill
of them."
''You have no mammal" said Nathanael, angrily^ to
her across the table.
"Oh you know nothing about it," she replied, in great
excitement. "I have a much prettier mamma than
yours I"
Hellwig stole a shy, terrified glance at his wife, and his
hand made an involuntary movement, as if to shut the
rosy little mouth, which so poorly understood how to
study its own interests.
"Have you seen to her bed, Brigitta?" he asked
hastily, but in a gentle, coaxing tone.
"Yes."
"And where is she to sleep?"
"In Frederika's room."
" Is there not room enough, at least for the first few
weeks, in our bed-room?"
"Yes, if you wish to have NathanaePs bed taken out
of it"
He turned away with an expression of vexation, and
ealled in the servant.
" Frederika," he said, "this child will be under youi
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ta TffE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
care at night, ^be kind and gentle to her. She has been
used to a mother's losing tenderness."
"I shan't hurt the .hild, Herr Hellwig," said the old
woman, who had evidently been listening, ''but I am
come of respectable people, and have had nothing in my
life to do with playerfolk. It would be a comfort, at least,
to know that her parents were married."
8ho glanced aside at Frau Hellwig, evidently expecting
an approving look for her bold answer; but Madame was
untying Nathanael's napkin, and looked as though she
had heard and seen nothing of the whole matter.
"This is too muchl" cried Hellwig, really provoked.
"Must I learn to-day that neither sympathy nor pity is
to be foutid in my house ? And do you consider yourself
justified in cruelty, Frederika, because you are 'come of
respectable people'? Be satisfied that this child's parents
were honestly married, but I tell you now that any ne
gleet or ill treatment of her on your part shall be visited
upon you most severely."
He seemed weary of the contest, rose and carried the
child into the servants' room. She willingly allowed her-
self to be put to bed, and soon slept soundly, after pray-
ing, in a sweet, childish voice, "for papa and mamma,
for her good uncle who would carry her back to-morrow
to mamma, and for the lady with the naughty face."
Late at night Frederika went to bed. She was angry
that she had been kept up so late, and made a great noist
In the roouL
Little Felicitas started from her sleep, sat upright in
bed, and brushing the curls from her eyes, cast a terrified,
searching glance around the smoky walls and meagre
furniture of the small, dimly-lighted room :
"Mamma, mamma!" she cried, loudly.
. "Be still, child! your mother is not here, -go to sleep
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 23
again I*' said the woman harshly, as she went on on-
dressing.
The child looked at her in terror, then began to crj
gently. She was evidently frightened by the strangm
place.
''And now she will rouse the house, and I must bear
this too I Stop that noise, you player's brat I" She raised
her hand threateningly. The child, frightened, hid her
head under the bedclothes.
''Ah, mammal dear manmial" she whispered, "where
are you? Take me into your bed, I'm so afraid, ^I will
be a good little girl, and go right to sleep. I saved you
some bonbons, dear mamma, Fay has something for
you. Or only let me hold your hand, and I will stay
quietly in my little bed, and "
"Are you going to be quiet?" cried Frederika, in a
rage, running to the child's bedside. There was no more
noise, only now and then a sound of suppressed sobs from
under the bedclothes.
Long after the old servant was. sleeping the sleep of
the just, the child, with its little heart full of terrified
longings, was crying softly for its dead mother.
CHAPTER V
Hbllwio was a merchant Heir to a considerable
property, he had increased his wealth by extensive com-
mercial operations. But, as his health was uncertain, he
had early retired from the business world to the narrow
circle of his native town. There the name Hellwig car-
ried great weight with it. From time immemorial thi"
M THE OLD MAM'SBLLE'S 8BCRST.
family had been of the utmost respectability, and fof
years the most hononrable offices in the town had been
constantly filled by some one of the name. The most
beautiful garden to be found outside the gates of the town,
and the finest house upon the market-square, had been in
possession of the family for many generations. The house
reared its stately front on the corner of the Square at the
entrance of a steep ascending street Behind the window-
frames of the upper stories snow-white curtains hung im-
movably from year's end to year's end. Only three times
a year, and then just before some high holiday, did they
disappear from behind the glass while the rooms were
swept and dusted. At these times the huge brazen
dragons' heads, which poured the rain-water from the
gutters on the high roof upon the pavement below, and
the birds as they flew by, looked in upon the hoarded
treasures of the old merchant's house; looked in upon
the old-fiftshioned splendour of the apartments upon
cabinets of costly inlaid workmanship with shining locks
and handles ^upon the rich silk damask covering of the
huge down cushions of the sofas and chairs ^upon high
Yenetian mirrors built into the wall from floor to ceiling,
and, in the. guest-chambers, upon the cushioned and
canopied beds, from the linen upon which issued a strong
odour of lavender.
These rooms were uninhabited. The Hellwigs had
never conformed to the custom of renting a story of their
house.
For a century a grand and solemn silence had reigned
In the upper parts of the mansion, only interrupted, at
long intervals, by a ceremonious marriage or baptismal
feast, and now and then, in the course of the year, by the
Bounding steps of the mistress of the house, who kepi
there her treasures of linei]^ silver, and porcelain
THE OLD MAM'SELLB-S SECRET. 25
Frau Hellwig came to this house a child of twelve
fears of age. The Hellwigs were her relations, and
adopted her when her parents died, leaving their children
destitute. The young girl led a hard life with her old
kinswoman, who was stern and proud. Hellwig, the only
son of the house, felt kind sympathy for her at first, but
this sympathy in time was transformed into love. His
mother opposed his choice, but the lover persisted,
through many hard contests of will, and at last married
as he wished. He had mistaken the young girl's sullen
taciturnity for maidenly reserve, her coldness of heart for
dignified decorum, her obstinacy for strength of character
^and marriage alone banished him from the heaven he
had looked for. In a short time the kindly man felt the
iron pressure upon his life of a despotic will, and where
he had looked for grateful devotion he found only the
grossest egotism.
Two children were born to him ^little Nathanael and
his brother John, eight years the elder. The latter, when
nine years old, had been sent by his father to a relative,
a professor, the principal of a large school for boys, upon
the Rhine.
Such were Hellwig's family circumstances at the time
when the juggler's child was received into his house.
The terrible tragedy of which he had been an eye-witness
had moved him deeply. He could not forget the beseech-
ing, unutterably humble expression of the unfortunate
woman as she stood before his door. His kindly nature
suffered in thinking that perhaps his house had been the
last at which she had felt the sting of the world's scorn
for her husband's calling. Thus, when the Pole made
him acquainted with the promise exacted by his dying
wife, he instantly offered to take the child himself. Only
when, with the child in his aims, he left the inn with the
. 8
26 TffS OLD MAM* BELLE'S SECRET,
heart-rendiug farewell of the unhappy father yet ringing '
in his ears, and the child, clasping her arms aroand his
neck, asked for her mother, did the thought strike him of ^ j
the opposition which he must in all probability encounter
at home ; still he hoped everything from the beauty and \
grace of the little one, and from the fact that a daughter J
had been denied to his own marriage. With all his expe- \
rience he had as yet no suspicion of the utter hardness of
his wife's character, or he would have turned upon the
spot and deliyered the child again to her father's arms. *]
If the relation between Hellwig and his wife had been
none of the closest before the coming of the child into
the household, it now seemed as if a wall of granite
divided the pair. Everything in the house went on as \
before. Each day Madame made her accustomed round '
through kitchen and pantries; her step was by no means
a light one, and there was something in that dull, firm
tread, exasperating to nervous ears. Her right hand
glided over , furniture, window-sills, and banister Ma-
dame had a custom, which amounted to a mania with
her, of brushing her large white hand with its round
finger-tips and broad nails, over everything, and then
carefully examining the palm to see if any atom of dust
or cobweb could be found. Prayers were prayed as be-
fore, and the voices which praised the eternal Mercy and
Love of Ood, and repeated his command which enjoins
upon us to love even our enemies ^preserved the same
unmoved monotone. The family assembled at meal-
times, and on Sundays husband and wife walked side by
side to church. But Frau Hellwig, with an iron determ-
ination, avoided addressing her husband. She answered
his questions and remarks in the curtest and coldest
manner possible and even contrived never to look a:
him, but always over or beyond him. The little intruder,
THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET. 87
too, had no existence for her. On that first stormy even-
ing she had ordered Frederika always to place a plate
opon the table for the child, and had thrown into the old
servant's room all that was necessary for her little bed.
She had also ordered Frederika to open before her the
little trnnk containing the dainty wardrobe which had
^ been brought from the ' Lion/ and to take out and hang
ap in the open air all the articles it contained, as all
exhaled the sweet odour of some delicate perfume laid
^ among them. Thus began and ended her forced care for
the 'player's child,' and when she returned to the room
on that evening the whole affair was for her a closed
^ chapter. Only once afterward a spark of sympathy seemed
kindled within her, when a sempstress was sent for and
ordered to make two dresses for Felicitas after the same
^' stiff pattern which she wore herself; and while they were
a-making, Madame took the struggling child upon her lap,
and worked at her hair with brush, comb, and pomatum,
^ until the lovely curls were sufficiently straight and smooth
to be braided in two ugly knobs at the back of her head
The detestation which Madame entertained of grace and
r beauty, of everything which came in contact with her
narrow prejudices, and which sprang from an apprecia-
tion of ideal excellence this detestation was stronger
^ even than her obstinate determination to ignore the
presence of the child in the house. Hell wig could almost
have wept when he beheld his little darling thus dis-
f' ' figued, while his wife, after having exacted this sacrifice
I to her prejudices, was, if possible, colder and more repel-
I lant to the child than before.
And yet the little one was not to be pitied, she could
I always flee from those Medusa eyes to a warm heart.
^ Ilellwig loved her as though she were his own. It is true
he did not dare to make this depth of affection apparent;
X8 TITB OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
he Lad exhausted his stock of energy on the evening whea
he brought the child home, bat he guarded Felicitas ^ith
never-tiring vigilance. Like Nathanael she had her own
peculiar corner in her foster-father's study, ^there she
could nurse her dolls undisturbed and rock them asleep
with the little songs she had learned at her mother's knee.
Nathanael did not go to the public school, he received in-
struction from private tutors at home, and when Felicitas
attained her sixth year she shared this instruction. A8
soon as the snow melted and the crocuses and snowdrops
bordered the yet empty flower-beds, Hellwig took the
two children daily to his large garden outside of the
town, there they played and studied, only returning to
the house in the market-square at meal-times. Frau Hell-
wig seldom visited this garden, she preferred to sit knit-
ting in her large, quiet room, behind the spotless curtains;
and there was a peculiar reason for this preference. An
ancestor of Hellwig's had laid out the garden in antique
French style. The sandstone mythological figures and
groups which were scattered here and there in the grounds
were master-pieces of art in their way. It is true the
light-coloured forms stood out in strong relief against the
stiff cypress walls. The charming but unveiled form of ^
a Flora, the bare shoulders and arms of a struggling Pros-
erpine, and the muscular figure of her grim lover struck
the eye upon entering the gates, and these figures were
abominations in the sight of Madame. At first she had
peremptorily ordered the removal of such * sinful repre-
sentations of the human form,' but Hellwig had rescued
his favourites from destruction by reference to his father's
will, which expressly forbade the removal of the statues,
whereupon Madame had climbing plants and roses of
every description planted at the bases of the mythologi-
;al apples of discord, and before Icng, Pluto's grim coun-
'A
l
^
f
r
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 29
tenance w^as snrmounted by a green ivy wig. But one
fine morning, Heinrich, by his master's orders and to Ma
own great delight, palled ap and cleared away the green
' parasites, until not the smallest vestige of them remained
j; around the statues, and from that time Fran Hellwig, for
^ her Boul's sake, and because the statues had witnessed
' her ignominious defeat, avoided visiting the garden. All
7 the more did little Felicitas eiijoy it and make it her
home.
Behind the imposing cypress walls there was a wide
'^ extent of meadow and lawn, ^gigantic chestnut-trees
reared their trunks from tho flower-strewn grass, and a
rippling brook intersected one part of the green plain,
its banks were fringed with alders and hazel bushes, and
the thickly-sodded dam which had been thrown up for
protection against the spring floods, was brilliant in May
* with yellow buttercups, while later in the season blue-
eyed grass twinkled up froVn beneath your feet.
Felicitas studied diligently and was never restless at
f her lessons. But when in the afternoon Hellwig declared
study over for the day, she suddenly underwent a trans-
formation. With the flush of serious application yet on
^ her cheek, she grew wild as if intoxicated by liberty,
she would bound apparently aimlessly over the green
lawn, tossing her arms in the air, graceful as the young
steed of the desert. Bhe would climb with lightning ra
pidity the tall trunk of a chestnut-tree, and her face, sur-
rounded by the masses of her loosened hair, would laugh
y out from among the branches, or she would lie upon the
' green bank beside the brook, her hands folded under her
head, and, gazing up into the arch of quivering chestnut
\ boughs above her, would dream ^build fairy fabrics of the
' world of the future, such as must always crowd the brain
of an imaginative child. Beside her the water murmured
b 8*
80 TSE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
moDotonousljythe sunbeams danced upon theifpplesaud
shinurered through the hazel bushes in bright flecks, like
half-veiled mysterious fiery eyes, bees and beetles hummed
above her, and the butterflies, wearied with fluttering
around the rare exotics that filled the garden beds, found
here their promised land, and buried themselves in the
lily-cups that almost touched the little girPs cheek.
Sometimes white fantastically-shaped shining clouds
would float above the tree tops, and then an incompre-
hensible past would suddenly fill the memory of the
thoughtful child. Her mother's dress had been white
and shining too, the light of the candles had illuminated
the flowers that had strewn her narrow bed when Felici
tas had last seen her. She wondered still why her mo
ther had had flowers in her hands and had given hei
none, and why they would not let her kiss mamma, as
she had always done every morning with such delight.
She did not dream that that bewitching face which had
bent over her with such passionate tenderness, had long
since mouldered away in the earth. Hellwig had never
dared to tell her the truth, for although now, after the
lapse of five years, she no longer wept bitterly for her
parents, nor longed so passionately to see them, still sh
talked of them incessantly with touching tenderness, and
trusted with implicit faith in Hellwig's ambiguous prom
ise that she should one day see them again.
It never occurred to him that the veil that he held so
lo^ngly before her might fall from his hand all too soon;
he never thought of his own death, and yet this grim
phantom was noiselessly but surely coming very near.
He had an incurable affection of the lungs, but, like all
affected by this insidious disease, had the most sanguine
hopes of recovery.
It was now ne-^ssary to wheel him in an invalid chaif
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 81
to Lis beloved garden every day; but this he coisidered
only a passing weakness, which did not hinder him from
laying plans of every description for the future.
One afternoon, Dr. Boehm entered Hellwig's study.
The sick man sat at his desk writing busily, several
eushions, which had been placed in the chair behind and
on each side of him, propped the emaciated haggard form
in an upright position.
''Hallo I" cried the doctor, threatening him with his
cane ''What folly is this? Who, in Heaven's name,
gave you leave to write? Come, put away the pen I"
Hellwig turned round, a bright smile played about his
lips. "There it is!" he rejoined, "doctor and death are
sure to come together. I am writing to my boy ^to John
about little Fay, and just as you enter the house, I,
who never in my whole life thought less about dying, am
writing this sentence ^it has just left my pen."
The doctor stopped and read aloud: "I rely with con-
fidence on your steadiness of character, my dear John,
and wish to bequeath to you unconditionally all care for
the child entrusted to my guardianship, in case I should
leave this world sooner than "
" Oh, enough I not another word to-day I" cried the doc-
tor, as he opened a portfolio and laid the half-finished
letter within it. Then he hastily felt the invalid's pulse,
and glanced furtively at the hectic spot that was burning
on either emaciated cheek. "You are a perfect child,
Hellwig," said he; "let me only turn my back and you
are sure to commit some gross indiscretion."
"And you tyrannize over me outrageously. Only wait,
though, next May I shall slip through your fingers, and
you can come after me to Switzerland if you like."
A few days afterward the windows of the sick man's
bedroom stood wide open, and a man in deep mourning
82 TBE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
left, as was the custom, the sad intelligence at the houses
of ft lends that Herr Hellwig had departed this life an
hoar previously.
CHAPTER VI.
Beneath the windows, hung with green curtains open*
ing upon the wide marble paved hall where the beautiful
unhappy wife of the juggler had stood five years before
crushed by Madame's contempt, was now placed the cof
fin containing Hellwig's mortal remains. They had sur-
rounded the earthly shell of the former merchant and
financier with all the pomp of wealth. The decorations
of the coffin were of massive silver, and the head of the
departed rested upon white satin cushions. And, terri-
ble contrast I around the shrunken dead face, fresh, beau-
tiful flowers were exhaling their young life, doomed to
an early death that they might adorn the dead.
Crowds of people came and went, whispering and
noiseless. He who lay there had been a wealthy, influ-
ential man, now he was dead. Men's eyes glanced
shyly at the pale drawn face, but rested long on the
pomp and show by which it was surrounded ^the last
flicker of earthly splendour.
Felicitas cowered in a corner behind the large boxes
(11 which were growing orange-trees and oleanders. They
had not allowed her to see her uncle for two days, his
room had been closed upon her, and now she knelt there
upon the cold stone and gazed at that strange face from
which death had taken so much of kindly expression
What did the child know of death? She had been with
him in his last moments, but had never dreamed that the
THE OLD MAM SELLBTS SECRET. S3
red stream, which snddeDlj gushed from his lips, would
end everything. His gaze had rested upon her with in-
describable tenderness and anxiety when she was sent
from the room. Outside, in the street, she had run an-
grily up and down beneath the windows of his bed-room,
which were wide open. Why were they so careless aa
tc leave them open when they knew how anxiously he
ftT oided every draught of air ? She wondered that no fire
was made in his room at dusk, and when she begged re-
peatedly to be allowed to carry the lamp and a cup of tea
to her dear uncle, Fredcrika said angrily: *'Are you
really not right in your head, child? Or don't you un-
derstand German? I tell you he is dead! dead!" And
now when she saw him again, she scarcely knew him^
he was so changed, and the idea of death began to dawn
upon the child's mind.
Whenever a fresh crowd of the towns-people, impelled
by curiosity, filled the hall, Frederika would come in from
her kitchen, wipe her eyes with the hem of her apron,
and praise the virtues of the man, whom, during life, she
had so often wilfully annoyed.
"But look at that child," she interrupted herself an-
grily, as she discovered Felicitas' pale face, with its hot,
dry eyes among the orange-trees. "She does not shed
a tear I Ungrateful thing! She can't have a spark of
affection in herl"
"You never loved him, and you are crying," remarked
the little girl pointedly but in a low voice, as she with-
drew more entirely into her corner.
The hall was gradually emptied of the throngs from
the lower classes who now took up their positions in the
street Outside to witness the forming of the funeral pro-
cession and the friends of the family appeared, who,
after a moment spent beside thq coffin, betook themsolvef
G
84 TJIJB OLD MAiT SELLERS SECRET.
to the sitting-room to express their sympathy to the
widow.
There reigned in the high-arched hall a momentary
stillness which might have been called solemn had it not
been interrnpted now and then by the low murmnr of
Toices in the adjoining room.
Suddenly little Felicitas started from her deep reverie,
and gazed terrified through the glass door which led into
the court-yard. There, behind the panes, she saw a
wonderful apparition he was certainly lying here with
sunken eyes, and strange lines around his tightly closed
lips, and yet there he was, gazing scarchingly into the
silent deserted hall alive again, with the same kindly
expression of countenance, although the head was partly
concealed by some dark covering.
It seemed like something supernatural when the latch
was gently lifted, and the door opened noiselessly. The
strange apparition entered the hall. Yes, those features
were indeed strikingly like Hell wig's, but they belonged
to a woman ^to a little old lady who, dressed richly
after a fashion long passed away, slowly approached the
coflSn. A neglig6 of heavy black silk enveloped her
small figure, it was short enough to show a pair of ex-
quisitely shaped feet, whose tread was somewhat uncer
tain. Above the brow a profusion of snow-white curia
was most carefully arranged, and covered by a black lace
kerchief which was tied beneath the chin.
The old lady did not notice the child, who without
moving gazed breathlessly at the strange vision, but
stepped towards the bier. At sight of the dead face she
started back, apparently much shocked, and her left hand
dropped a bouquet of costly flowers, unconsciously as it
seemed, upon the breast of the corpse. For one moment
she hid her face in her handkerchief, but then she laid
I
TUE OLD MAiTSJELLE'S SECRET. 85
her right hand in great agitation, as in solemn appeal,
upon the forehead of the dead man.
** Do you know all about it now, Fritz f " she whispered
"Yes, you know it all, as your father and mother have
long known it. I forgave you, Fritz. I always forgave
you. You never knew what injustice you were doingi
Good night ^good night I"
She pressed the wazen hand of the dead tenderly be*
tween both her own ^left the side of the coffin, and was
about leaving the hall as noiselessly as she had entered
it, when the door of the sitting-room opened, and Madame
came out. Iler face looked whiter than marble beneath
the black crape cap which surmounted it, but her features
were more immovable than ever: no trace of tears could
be found in those eyes. She held a thick wreath of flow-
ers in her band, and was evidently about to lay them as
'love's last gift' upon the coffin. Her astonished gaze
met that of the old lady. Both stood for a moment as if
rooted to the spot, but an evil fire began to glow in the
widow's eyes, her upper lip curled a little, showing one
of her white teeth there was something indescribably
malignant in her expression. The features of the old
lady also betrayed deep emotion, she seemed struggling
against an almost invincible repugnance, but overcoming
it at last, with a gentle, tearful glance at the dead man,
she held out her right hand to Frau Hellwig.
[ "What do you wish here, aunt?" asked the widoWj
coldly, entirely disregarding the little lady's gesture.
"To give him my blessing!" was the gentle reply.
"The blessing of an infidel can have no effect."
"God hears it. In His infinite love He regards, not
the empty form, but the prayer of the sincere heart."
"And of a soul laden with sin," concluded Fiau Uell .
wig, with biting scorn.
y
r
as i^UE OLD MAirSELLE'S SECRET
The old lady drew up her slender little figure. .
''Judge not I" she began, and raised her forefingei
threateningly "but no" she interrupted herself with
touching gentleness, and glanced towards the dead man
''not one word more shall disturb your holy rest
Farewell, Fritz 1"
She went slowly out into the court-yard and vanished
behind a door which Fcllcitas had always before found
locked.
"Well, that was bold enough of the old Mam'selle,"
muttered Frederika, who had seen all from her kitchen
door.
Fraa Hellwig shrugged her shoulders and laid the
wreath at the feet of the corpse. She was not yet mis-
tress of her emotion.
Impossible as it was for the features of this woman to
express gentleness and tenderness, immovable as they ap-
peared in their iron placidity, they could be wonderfully
animated by hate and contempt. Whoever beheld the evil
smile which at certain moments played about her lips,
could never again trust in the repose of that face. She
bent over the departed as if to arrange some fold, and her
hand brushed rudely aside the little lady's bouquet, which
fell from the coffin and rolled upon the floor at Felicitas'
feet.
Three o'clock struck. Several clergymen in full canoni*
cals entered the hall, the gentlemen came out of the sit-
ting-room, followed by Nathanael, who held the hand of a
tall, slender young man. The widow had telegraphed her
son John, and he had arrived that morning to attend the
funeral. For a moment little Felicitas forgot her grief,
and gazed with the curiosity of childhood at the youth
who had been his father's favourite. Was he crying be-
hind that slender, delicatelv white hand with which ho
TEE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 81
eovered bis eyes at the sigbt of his dead father f No, do
tears flowed/and to a child's iDexperienccd eye, there was
DO sign of extraordinary emotion in the serious face except
in the unusual pallor which overspread it.
Nathanael stood beside him. He shed many tears, bat
bis grief did not prevent him from gently nudging his
brother and whispering to him, when he discovered Fell-
citas' place of concealment. John's glance followed the
direction of bis brother's finger. For the first time the
little girl encountered his eyes, they were terrible eyes,
serious, gloomy, without one ray in them of kindly ten-
derness. In the Bible there was a picture of the evan-
gelist, 'the disciple whom Jesus loved,' a fair, gentle face,
with almost feminine features, ''That is our John on the
Rhine I" she had always maintained, and her uncle had
Smilingly nodded assent. But they had nothing in coia
mon, those lovely features, with their frame of light curls,
and this head with straight, closely-cut hair, and the seri-
ous, pale, irregular profile.
"Go away, child, you are in the way here," was his
stern command, when he saw that preparations were being
made to close the coffin. Felicitas, terrified and ashamed,
left her corner like a culprit, and, unseen by all, slipped
into her foster-father's study.
And now she wept bitterly. She had never been in his
way I And she seemed to feel his feverish hand stroking
her hair, and to hear his feeble, kindly voice whisper
hoarsely, as it had done so often : " Come, Fay, my child,
I love so much to have you with me."
But, hark! what were they hammering without there f
The sound rang harshly through the high rooms, where
no one even whispered loudly. Felicitas stole to the green
curtain, pushed it aside, and looked out into the hall.
Horrible! Her uncle's form had vanished! that black,
4
S8 TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
wooden cover was laid above his dear face, and would
keep him always lying stretched out so still I If he only
lifted his hand a little he would strike it against the hard
board I And that man was still hammering at the cover,
80 that the hand within could never lift it, never leave
that dark, narrow box, where no one could breathe, and
where it must be so dreadful to be all alone. The child
shrieked aloud with horror.
Every eye turned toward her at the window, but Fell*
eitas saw only the large, gray pair, whose gaze had already
BO terrified her. He looked at her reprovingly; she left
the window, and concealed herself in the heavy folds of
Ihe huge curtains which divided the room in the middle.
There she cowered upon the floor, watching the door
timidly, and expecting that he would certainly appear
presently and send her angrily away.
From her hiding-place she did not see how the bearers
took the coffin upon their shoulders, and how her uncle
left the house forever. She did not see the long black
procession that followed the dead body like the last
shadow at the end of life's road. At the corner of the
street a breeze lifted the white satin ribbons which hung
down from the coffin was it a farewell greeting from the
departed to the forsaken child whom a mother's tender*
ness had snatched from the slough of her father's calling,
only to cast her upon an inhospitable, barren shoief
TUB OLD MAM SELLERS SECRET. %%
CHAPTER VII.
Tax mLrmar of voices in the hall was snddenlj hashed
i^otter silence ensued. Fellcitas heard the house door
dose, but she did not know that the drama in the hall was
ftt an end. She did not dare to leave her hiding-place ^the
Btudj but she sat down in the little arm-chair which her
uncle had given her at Christmas, and rested her head
upon her hands, which were crossed upon the table be-
fore her. Her heart no longer beat so painfullj, but her
head throbbed, and perplexing thoughts filled her childish
brain. Again she seemed to see the little old ladj, whose
bouquet was lying now neglected upon the stone pave-
ment of the hall, perhaps trodden into pieces hj careless
feet This, then, was 'the old Mam'selle,' the lonely
tenant of the upper story of the back buildings of the
mansion a perpetual cause of discord to Frederika and
Heinrich. Frederika maintained that the old Mam'selle
bad a weight upon her conscience she had been the
cause of her father's death. This dreadful story had
filled little Felicitas with fear and horror, but she diebe-
lieved it now utterly. What I that little lady, with the
kind face and eyes full of tears, kill her father I Ileinricb
was certainly right in always shaking his shock head,
and sententiously remarking, "There's another side to
that story 1"
Many years before, the old Mam'selle had had her apart-
ments in the main building, but, as Frederika recounted
with ever-reviving wrath, she would insist upon desecra-
ting the Sabbath with profane songs and pieces of music.
In vain had Hadame pictured to her the joys of heaven
40 TUB OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
ani the pains of hell, the godless music was conUi xitd
until Ilerr Ilellwig acceded to his wife's importuni:des,
and the old Mam'selle was banished to the topmost story,
Just under the roof, of the back building. There she
could do no harm, said Frederika, for not a note of the
wicked music could be heard below. Her uncle, Felicitas
thought, must have been very angry with the old Mam'
%lle, for he had never spoken of her, and yet she was his
father's sister, and looked so like him ; and at the idea of
this resemblance a longing to go up to the rooms under
the roof filled the child's heart, and she would have tried
DOW to do so, but the thought of John^s stern face terri-
fied her she trembled, and wondered hpw long the old
Mam'selle had lived there behind bolts and bars.
At the end of a long, disused corridor, close to the
stairs which led up from the lower stories, there was a
door, and once, when the children were playing there,
Nathanael had said mysteriously, "Yes, she lives up
there always I" and then battering at the door with his
fists, had cried out, " Old witch, up there under the roof,
come down I" rushing down stairs afterward with terri-
fied haste. Ah, how Felicitas' heart had throbbed with
terror 1 She had expected every moment that a horrible
old woman would dart out upon her, knife in hand, and
seize her by the hair.
Outside, the sun was setting. Ilis last golden rays
were gilding the cross upon the gable of the town-hall
opposite, and the tall clock in the corner of the room
struck five just as slowly and clearly as it had struck
three two hours before, when its former possessor, whose
gentle hands had so regularly wound it up, had been car-
ried out of his house never to return.
Thus far all had been quiet through the house, but fte
door of the sitting-room now opened, and a firm, hard tread
TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET 41
uras heard upon the floor. Felicitas shrunk back into the
curtain, for Frau Ilellwig was approaching her husband's
studj. This seemed strange enough to the child, who
nerer during her uncle's lifetime had known Madame to
cross this threshold. She entered with unusual haste,
turned the kej in the lock behind her, and stood still fot
A moment in the middle of the room. There was an ex-
pression of unutterable triumph in the look that she cast
around the apartment from which she had for so long
banished herself.
Above Hellwig^s study-table hung two finely painted
portraits in oil, a gentleman and a ladj. The latter,
whose haughty features were nevertheless brilliant with
gayety and wit, was dressed after that hideous old fashion
which strove to reproduce the costume of the Greeks
The short-waisted white satin dress was made yet shorter
in the waist by a broad gold-embroidered girdle, and the
almost too luxuriant beauty of the neck and arms was
barely covered, and harmonized but ill with the simple
bouquet of modest violets worn at the girdle. This was
Ilellwig's mother.
Before this picture the widow now stood for a moment
gazing at it. Then she mounted upon a chair, took the
picture down from the place where it had hung undis-
turbed for so many years, and carefully, without any
needless noise, drove a new nail into the wall just between
the two old ones, and upon this nail she hung the male
portrait, Ilellwig's father. He now looked down alone,
while the widow left the room with the other picture in
her arms. Felicitas listened attentively, and heard her
pass through the hall and ascend the first flight of stairs,
then the second and third, she must have gone into the
farret
8he had not quite closed the door behind her, and be*
A*
m
if TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET.
fore tte sound of ber footsteps had died away, Ileinrich'i
honest face appeared at the crack.
^'Tes, indeed, Frederikal" he said, in a smothered and
fet terrified tone of Toice, '4t really was old Fran Hell-
wig's picture 1"
The old cook flung the door open and looked in:
"Oh, good Heavens I 'tis the factl" she cried, clasping
ber hands ; "gracious Powers I if the proud old Frau could
see that, she would turn in her coffin, and the blessed old
master too. But then she was horribly dressed, with her
neck so bare, enough to make any good Christian blush.''
"Do you think so?" rejoined Heinrich, winking slyly.
" Let me tell you something, Frederika," he continued,
counting off the fingers of his right hand upon his lefl
thumb, "in the first place, old Frau Hellwig could not
endure to hare her son marry our Madame, and Madame
will never forget that, in the second place, the old lady
was bright and gay, and liked balls and fetes, and in the
third place, she once called our Madame 'a heartless
devotee.' What do you say to that?"
While Heinrich was talking, Felicitas came out of her
hiding-place. The child felt, instinctively, that the rough
but thoroughly good-hearted old servant was now her
only friend. He loved her very dearly, and it wasprinci'*
pally to his watchful care that she owed her happy igno-
rance of her own antecedents.
"Ah, my little Fay, is that you?" he said kindly, and
took the little hand in his hard palm; " I have been look-
ing for you everywhere. Come with me to the servants'
room, nobody wants you here now, poor thing I If the
old pictures must go, 'twill not be long before -'-"
He sighed, and closed the door. Frederika had already
returned to her kitchen, for Madame W0S heard deb.ending
the stairs.
THE OLD MAIf'SELLE'8 SECRET. 43
Felicitas looked timidly around the hall, ^it was emptj.
The floor where the cofBn had been was strewn ^ith
crushed flowers and leaves.
''Where is nnele?" she asked, in a whisper, as Ilein^
ich led her toward the servants' room.
"Oh, they have taken him away, but you know, child,
he is in heaven now, and he is much happier there than
here on the earth," said Heinrich, sorrowfully.
He took down his cap from a peg, and went out to per*
form some errand in the town.
In the servants' room it was already almost dark, and
when Ileinrich left her, Felicitas kneeled upon the narrow,
wooden bench, which wa? placed beneath the small grated
window, and looked up into the little piece of sky, which
was all that could be seen among the gables of the op-
posite houses in the narrow street at the back of the
servants' room : " Up there ? ^was her uncle there nowf '
She started with sudden terror as Frederika entered
with the kitchen lamp. The old cook put a plate of bread
and butter pn the table.
" Come here, child, and cat your supper," said she.
The child approached, but did not touch the food. She
took her slate which Heinrich had brought to her out of
her uncle's room, and began to write. But hasty steps
were heard in the adjoining kitchen, and Nathanael's yel-
low head appeared at the open door ; Felicitas trembled,
for he was always rude to her when they were alone to*
gether.
"Ah, here is Miss Fay I" ho cried, in the tone that Feli-
citas dreaded to hear. "Tell me, you naughty thing,
where have you been hiding all this time ?"
"I have been in the green room," she answered, with*
out looking up.
" Well, you'd better not try that again," he said threati
f TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. I
eningly, "you don't belong there now, mamma saya ^
What are you writing there?"
"My lesson for Ilerr Richter." ^
"Oh, for Ilerr Riehterl" he repeated, and with a sud- i
den movement of his hand he wiped off everything that
fihe had written on the slate. "And do you think mamma
will be so stupid as to go on paying for expensive private j
lessons for you? She knows better than that, she says.
All that is over now. You can go back to where you J
came from, and bo just what your mother was, and they'll
finish you so," and he made a gesture as if shootings '
and cried 'bang!'
The little girl stared at him with wide open eyes. He
spoke of her mother, no one had ever done that before,
but she could not understand what he said. ,
"You do not know my mamma at all," she said, half i
questioningly, and almost breathlessly. !
" Oh, I know more about her than you do," he replied;
and after a pause, during which he looked maliciously at ^ ^
her from under his eyebrows, "I'll bet you don't know
what your father and mother were 1"
The little girl shook her head with lovely innocent "
grace, and her eyes rested upon him with a beseeching
expression. She knew the boy too well not to feel sure
that what he was about to say would wound her. *
" They were play-actors," he cried, with malice in every
tone. " Such people, you know, as we saw at the fair,
they played tricks and turned summersaults, and then
went round with a plate and begged."
The slate fell upon the floor and broke into a hundred
pieces. Felicitas sprang up wildly and rushed past the j
startled boy into the kitchen.
"lie tells a lie I oh, say he tells a lie, Frederikal" sh^
cried shri'ly, seizing the old cook by the arm.
THE OLD MAJTSBLLE'S SECR.tr. 45
"Wtll, I can't exact! J say that," replied Frederika,
whose hai 1 heart was touched by some little compassion
at sight of the child's fearful excitement. "They did not
beg, 'tis true, but they were play-actors."
"And they played very poor tricks," said Nathanael,
toi/cpping up to the hearth and staring into Felicitas' face.
She was not crying, and looked so bold and wild, with
each brigl t sparkling eyes, that he fell into a rage.
"They did horrible things," he went on. "Your mo-
ther tempted Qod, and can never, never go to heaven,
mamma says."
"She is not dead!" gasped Felicitas. Her pale little
lips quivered feverishly, and she clutched convulsively
the old cook's skirt.
"Oh, long, long ago, you stupid thing! Papa would
not tell you. Over there in the town-hall one of the sol^
diers shot her in one of her tricks."
The tortured child uttered a heart-rending shriek.
Frederika confirmed the boy's last words with an affirm^
ative nod. Then he had not lied.
At this moment Ileinrich returned from his errand in
the town. Nathanael ran out of the room as soon as the
old servant's thickset form appeared upon the threshold
Deceitful natures always shun the sight of an honest face.
The cook's conscience too pricked her, and she busied her*
self with her pots and pans.
Felicitas cried no more aloud. With her arms crossed
against the wall, and her forehead supported upon them,
she struggled to suppress her sobs.
The piercing shriek of the child had reached Ileinrich '9
ears. Ue saw Nathanael vanishing from the room, and
knew that some cruelty had been practised here. "With-
out saying a word, he drew the little girl away from *he
wall and lifted up her face, it was distorted with agony
^
4t THE OLD MAATSELLJE'S SECRET.
At sight of him the child broke into loud weeping, 8ol
bing out: "They have shot my dear mother ^my dear,
beautiful mamma!"
lleinrich's broad, good-humoured face grew pale with
anger with difficulty he suppressed an oath.
"Who told you that?" he asked, looking menacingly at
Frederika.
The child was silent, and the old cook began to tell how
It had happened, while she poked the fire, basted her roast,
and did a variety of unnecessary things that she might
avoid looking Ileinrich in the face.
"I think myself that Nathanael might have kept it to
himself for this one day," she concluded; "to-morrow
Madame takes her in charge, and I warrant you she'll
not be handled with gloves."
Ileinrich led Felicitas back to the servants' room, seated
her upon the wooden bench, and did his best to soothe
and comfort her after his rough fashion. He told her as
gently as he could of the occurrence at the town-hall,
and concluded by saying that her dear mamma, who
everybody said looked just like an angel before she died,
must surely be a real angel now in heaven, and could
look down and se^ her little Fay all the time. And then
he tenderly stroked the head of the little girl, who was
weeping again convulsively.
I
I
^^
fPHM OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 47
CHAPTER VIII
The next morning the chnrch bells rung solemnly fy
Ibe town. Crowds of worshippers thronged the narrcw
Btreet at the back of the Ilellwig mansion, on their waj
to the church on the hill. Silks and velvets, with holi-
day dresses of less pretentions fabric, rustled through the
church doors, worn not only in honour of the place, but
with an eye to the admiration of the neighbour whom
we are commanded to love.
A little figure shrouded in black slipped out of the
large house at the corner of the market-square. No ono
would have recognized the graceful form of the little
Felicitas under the thick coarse shawl, which completely
enveloped her from top to toe, and was pinned together
with a large pin under her chin. Frcderika had wrapped
her in it, with many praises of Madame's kindness in
giving her such a beautiful mourning garment, and then,
opening the street door, had dismissed the child with re-
peated injunctions not to go to the family pew as usual
her place for the future was to be upon the benches with
the parish school children.
Felicitas took her hymn-book under her arm and turned
up the narrow street. She hastened on at first; but in
front of her there walked with solemn measured steps,
three figures, at sight of whom she involuntarily lingered
and held back. Yes, it was Madame between her two
sons, and every one, as she passed, greeted her reverently.
'Tis true that no genial expression was ever to be seen
upon that stern face, that to the poor she was a hard t isk
18 Tns OLD mam'sel:.e's secret.
mistress and judge, that the little boy at her side abused
every beggar child who asked for charity at her door, told
falsehoods, ind then denied them solemnly, but all that
was of no consequence. They were going to church,
where they would kneel praying behind the curtains of
the family pew, and God would love them and one day
receive them into his beautiful heaven, for they were no
play-actors.
The three figures vanished within the church. The
child's anxious glance followed them, and then she flew
swiftly past all the open doors from which the tones of
the organ were already rolling, and through which sLe
had a glimpse of the dim religious light within, and of
the crowds of worshippers.
The notes of the organ appealed in vain to the wounded,
defiant, childish heart that hurried past. She would not
pray to God he did not love her poor murdered mother,
and would not suffer her to enter his wide blue heaven ;
she was lying there lonely in the grave-yard far away,
her child would go to her.
Felicitas turned into another street yet steeper than
the one at the back of the house. Then came the ugly
gate of the town flanked by the still uglier tower, but
through the high arch of the gate the green fields beyond
were lovely to behold, and the magnificent avenues of
lindens that surrounded the town contrasted with its
blackened wall like a green myrtle crown upon the gray
brows of age. How solemn and still it was up here!
The child started at the sound of her own steps upon the
gravel she was treading in forbidden paths. But she
hurried on, and at last stood, out of breath, at the en-
trance of the grave-yard.
The little girl had never before visited this quiet place.
She had never seen before those square lots, those grassy
1
THE OLD MAM' SELLS* S SECRET. 49
iQonnds with their white hcad-stoncs, beneath which the
turmoil and hurry of life were stilled forever.
Above the iron grating of the gate two elder bushes
stretched forth their dark branches laden with black shin
ing berries, and on one side were seen the gray walls of
an old church that looked gloomy enough, but then away
u the other side stretched a green lawn planted with
flowers and shrubs, basking in the golden autumn sun*
Ught.
"Whom have you come to see, little onef" asked a
man in his shirt sleeves, who was leaning against the
door of the small house inside, where the sexton kept his
tools, and blowing blue clouds of smoke from his pipe
into the clear air.
** My mamma," replied Felicitas quickly, looking search-
ingly across to the flower-strewn lawn.
"Oh is she here, who was she?"
" She was a player's wife."
" Oh, yes, she was killed in the town-hall five years ago.
There she lies, over there in the corner by the church."
And now the poor little neglected thing was standing
beside the narrow mound that covered the object of all
her longing, loving, childish dreams. Every grave around
was gay with flowers, upon most of them the asters
were so thick that it seemed as though Qod had rained
down his sparkling stars from heaven upon them, but
tile small strip at the child's feet was bare and desolate,
only overgrown with weeds and knot-grass. Careless
feet had made a pathway directly across it, and the plain
square head-stone had sunk so deep into the neglected
earth that the black letters upon it, 'Meta d'Orlowska,'
were only just above the surface of the ground. By this
tone Felicitas knelt down and pressed her little hands
apon the bare mound. Earth nothing but earth. This
I 5
50 TES OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET
heat J, senseless mass was resting upon the teider 'ace,
the lovely form in its dress of shining white satin, and
the cold lily-white hands filled with flowers. And now
the child knew that her mother had not been only
sleeping.
"Dear mamma," she whispered, "you cannot see mo,
but I am here beside yon; and although God does not
love you, he has not given you a single flower, and
no one cares for you, I love you dearly, and will alway
come to you. I love no one but you, dear mamma, not
even God, who is so harsh and unkind to you I"
This was the child's first prayer at her outcast mother's
grave. A light breeze rustled past, gentle and cooling
as the soothing hand of a mother laid upon the feverish
forehead of her child. The asters waved their starry
flowers, there was a low rustle among the weeds and
grass upon the grave, and above all stretched the trans-
parent heaven in unclouded splendour, that eternal,
changeless heaven which man's superstition converts
into a stormy scene of earthly passions.
When, long after, Felicitas returned to the house in
the Square ^the child did not know how long she had
been sitting dreaming in the large quiet grave-yard she
found the street door ajar. She slipped into the hall, but
stood still, terrified in a corner, for the door of her uncle's
room was half open, and the tones of John's voice were
heard as he walked up and down there with steady
steps.
Wild and defiant as was the mood which had possessed
the child since the previous evening, her terror of that
unmoved, cruel voice, and those stern, cold eyes, was
stronger still. She could not pass the open door her
little feet seemed rooted to the stones of the hall.
" I thiiik you are perfectly right, mother,'^ John wa
THE OLD MAUr BELLE'S SECRET. 61
Just saying, "this troublesome little child would be much
better glTCu over to the training of some honest me*
chanic's wife. But this unfinished letter of mj father's
is just as binding upon me as his witnessed will would
haTe been. He once said that the child should never
leave his house, unless sent for bj her father, and with
these words 'I wish to leave the child unconditionally
to your care,' he constitutes me irrevocably the executor
of his will. It does not become me to criticise my father's
actions, but if he had only known how utterly odious to
me is the class of people to which this child by birth be-
longs, he would, I think, have spared me this guardianship."
" You cannot know what you require of me, John,"
rejoined the widow, in a tone of great vexation. " I have
entlured the presence in my house of this outcast, God
forsaken creature, for five long years. I cannot do it any
longer 1"
'' Then nothing remains for us but an appeal, through
the papers, to the child's father."
" You may appeal long enough 1" replied Frau Ilell-
wig, with a short, scornful laugh. ''He is thankful to
be rid of such a burden 1 Dr. Boebm tells me that, as far
as he knows, the man wrote' once from Hamburg, and
never again."
"And as a good Christian you could not consent, mother,
10 have the child go back where her soul would be lost
forever?"
"It is already lost!"
"No, mother, although, I grant you, that blood must
bring with it an utter levity of mind, still I have great
faith in the effect of education."
" Do you intend then that we shall go on paying money
for a creature who has no earthly claim upon us? She is
taking leosims in French and drawing, and ^"
63 TEB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
"Of course not, that never occurred to me," her Bon
interrupted her and for the first time the monotone of
his voice was enlivened by some intonation. " That never
occurred to me," he repeated; "I have no sympathy with
these modern ideas of the education of women. In a little
while we shall search in vain for women like yourself,
of true Christian mind, fulfilling their duties faithfully,
And never overstepping the bounds of feminine propriety.
No, let all that be at an end ; bring up the child well and
strictly, to be what she must be at some future day, a
servant. I place the responsibility in your hands with
confidence, mother. With your decision of character,
your Christian conscientiousness "
Here the door was suddenly flung wide open, and Na-
thanael, who had evidently wearied of the conversation,
ran out into the hall. Felicitas shrunk back against the
wall, but he saw her, and darted upon her like a hawk
upon its prey.
"Yes, hide yourself! that will do you no good!" he
eried, and grasped her wrist so roughly in dragging her
forward, that she cried out. " Come with me this instant,
and tell mamma the text of the sermon! I'll bet you can't
do it! You were not upon the parish school benches. I
looked for you. And how you look! Mamma, just see
her dress!"
With these words, he drew the struggling girl to the
door.
" Come in, child I" ordered John, who stood in the mid-
dle of the room with his father's letter yet in his hand.
Felicitas timidly crossed the threshold. She looked up
5or one moment at the tall, slender figure before her. There
was not a speck of dust upon his well-fitting black dressi
not a hair out of place above the smooth forehead,
acrosis which he passed his white hand continually
r
THE OLD MAWSMLLE'S SECRET. M
Everything about him was fastidioasly neat. He looked
with a kind of disgost at the skirt of the child's dress.
"Where did that come from?" he asked, pointing to
the spot which had attracted his glance.
The little girl looked down styly, ^it was indeed a
sorry sight. The grass and earth in the grave-yard had
been wet with dew, and when she threw herself down
beside her dead mother she had not thought of the traces
which must be left upon her black dress . . She stood
tfilent, with downcast eyes.
"How, no answer? You look like guilt itself. You
were not in church, then?"
"No," said the child, frankly.
"And where were you?"
She was silent. She would rather be beaten to death
than speak her dead mother's name to these ears.
"I'll tell you, John," replied Nathanael, "she has been
out in our garden eating fruit. That's what she's always
doing."
Felicitas glanced at him with flashing eyes, but did not
open her lips.
"Answer," said John; "is Nathanael right?"
"No, he tells an untruth, as he always does," the child
replied firmly.
John here stretched out his arm quietly, and restrained
Nathanael, who was about to rush at his accuser.
"Do not touch her, Nathanael," said Frau Hellwig to
the boy. She had hitherto been sitting silently by the
window in her husband's arm-chair. Now she arose.
Oh, what a shadow her imposing figure threw upon the
room I
"You will believe me, John," she turned to her son,
"when I assure you that Nathanael never tells untruths.
He is a good boy ^li ring as few children do, in the fear
6*
54 TUK OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
of tho Lord. I ha^e taught and trained him myself
which will suffice for you. This wretched creature will
BOW discord between brothers as she has already dona
between their parents. Is it not unpardonable that she
has spent the time which should have been devoted to
church somewhere else wherever that may be."
Her eyes measured the child coldly from head to foot.
"Where is the new shawl that was given to you this
moriing?" she asked suddenly.
Felicitas put up her hands to her neck ^it was gone;
it must have been left in the grave-yard I Now she felt
guilty indeed, guilty of great carelessness. Deeply
ashamed, her downcast eyes filled with tears, and an
entreaty for forgiveness hovered upon her lips.
"Well, what do you think of her now, John?" asked
Frau Ilellwig, in a cutting tone. " I gave her the shawl
a few hours ago, and you can see by her face that it is
already lost I should like to know how much her ward*
robe cost your father yearly. Give her up, I say. It is
time and trouble lost You can never root out what sho
has inherited from a frivolous, sinful mother."
At this moment a sudden change took place in the
child's face and form. A deep scarlet flush overspread
theek, brow, and neck to the edge of the coarse black
woollen dress. Her dark eyes still glistening with re*
pentant tears flashed defiance at Madame. That timid
fear of her which had burdened the childish heart ani
hushdd the childish lips for five years vanished. Every-
thing which since the day before had excited her young
nerves to the utmost, rushed upon her mind with start-
ling distinctness She was beside herself.
"Do not speak of my poor mother! I will not suffor
t!" she cried, with almost a shriek in her usually gentle
voice. "She never harmed you I We should not speak
X
TJtE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 55
evil of the dead ; mj uncle always told me that, for they
cannot defend themselves. But you do it, and it is
wicked, very wicked 1"
"Look at the little fliry, John," said Fran Hellwig,
contemptuously. "This is the result of your father'!
Ideas of education. There stands the 'fairy-like llHle
creature,' as he calls her in his letter."
"She is right in defending her mother," said John, in
an undertone, with a thoughtful glance, "hut her manner
of doing it is dreadful. How dare you speak so disre-
epectfully to this lady?" he turned to Felicitas, and a
slight blush suffused his pale cheeks. "Do you not
know that you must starve if she does not feed you, and
that your pillow would be the stones in the street if she
should turn you out of her house?"
"I do not want her food!" cried the child. "She is a
wicked, wicked woman! She has terrible eyes! I will
not stay here in your house where they tell untruths,
and where I am afraid of being ill treated. I would
rather go under the ground to my mother; I would
rather starve- "
She could say no more, for John had seized her arm in
the clasp of his iron fingers, and shook her several times
violently.
"Come to your senses, you wicked child!" he cried.
'\FieI a girl, and so savage! With all your hereditary
levity and wilfulness is there this ungovernable violence
of temper? I see clearly how much has been neglected
here," he said to his mother, "but under your strict dis-
cipline, mother, all will soon be altered."
He still held the child's arm roughly, and led her to
the servants' room.
"From to-day you must obey me. I am master here,
remcobef that," he said sternly; Vand even when I am
?-Bi
M THE OLD MAiTSELLE'S SECRET.
far away I sfaall know how to punish you whcnerer J
hear from my mother that you have not been submissiFe
and obedient. For your naughty conduct to-day you
must stay in the house for a long time, especially since
you make such a bad use of liberty. You must not visit
the garden without express permission from my mother,
nor must you go into the street at all, except to and from
the parish school, which you will now attend. You will
take your meals here in the servants' room, and stay here
ail the time until you learn to conduct yourself becom-
ingly."
The little girl silently turned her face away from him
and he left the room.
CnAPTBR IX
In the afternoon the Hellwig family drank their coffee
in their garden outside the town. Fredcrika put on her
gay Sunday shawl and her wadded black silk hood, and
went first to church and then to visit a 'cousin of hers.'
Ileinrich and Felicitas were left alone in the large, quiet
bouse. The former had gone an hour before, without
saying a word, to the grave-yard and brought home the
unfortunate shawl, which was now lying neatly brushed
and folded in the drawer.
The honest fellow had heard and partly seen the
morning's occurrences, and had been strongly tempted
to rush in and shake the son of the house with his
brawny arms just as the latter had shaken the tender
form of the rebellious child. Now he was sitting in the
kit4:hen cutting and carving a head upon his caLe, and
THE OLD MAirSELLE'3 SECRET. 51
whistliDg most unmelodionsly. Hie heart was not in
bis work, he was continuallj casting awons, stolen
glances at the silent child. That could not be the little
Felicitas. She sat there like a caged bird, but a bird nn
tamed and full of inextinguishable anger against the
hands that had captured it. Upon her knees lay Robin*
0on Crusoe, which Heinrich had brought her from Na-
thanael's book-shelves, but she had not opened it. Robin-
son had a happj time of it upon his lonely island, for
there were no wicked people there to call his mother
frivolous and sinful. The sparkling sunlight shone all
around him, upon the waving palms and grassy plains,
here God's light seemed almost twilight, coming
through the narrow grated windows, and there was no
green leaf to be seen in the street outside, or anywhere
in the house. Oh, yesl there were the stiff orange- trees
in the hall, and a solitary asclepias plant in Fran Hell-
wig's room, but Felicitas had never loved those flowers
which looked as if moulded in porcelain, while the thick
wax-like leaves did not stir in any breeze. What could
be lovelier than the rustling murmur of the leaves in the
garden outside the town when the winds kissed them!
Suddenly the child started up. Up-stairs in the garret,
at the top of the house she could look across the roofs of
the houses into the open country. There the sun was
shining ^like a little shadow she flitted swiftly up the
winding stone staircase.
The old house had fallen from its once high estate. It
had formerly been a knightly abode. There was still
something very aristocratic in its appearance, although it
did not vie with the old castles which seem to claim close
kindred with the sky; yet there was an imposing air about
the bow-windows, and in especial about the huge chim-
neys, wnoso size was a necessity of those old times when
68 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET.
deer weru roasted whole upon the wide kitchen hearth.
The blue Uood which had coursed through the veins of
the old knightly lords of the mansion was long since
dried; and many years before had, like the old house,
greatly degenerated.
The front of the house which looked upon the Square
bad been somewhat altered and modernized; but the back
buildings, which consisted of three enormous wings, were
yet standing precisely as the original architect had left
them. There were still long echoing corridors with lofty
ceilings and worn floors, where a glimmering twilight
reigned even at noonday the very places where of right
some legendary ancestress in gray robes with a pale face
and shadowy folded hands should wander noiselessly.
One came suddenly and unexpectedly upon narrow creak-
ing stairs which led down to mysterious doors, locked
and bolted, or to some retired corner at the end of a long
corridor, where through the little leaded panes of the
solitary window pale gleams of light fell upon the crum-
bling tiles of the floor. The dust which fell upon your
head was historic, it had had part centuries ago in the
framework of some balcony or in the then fresh plaster,
while the blue blood was still coursing through living
veins.
Wherever a place could be found for it, the builder had
carved in stone the crest of the original possessor of the
mansion, a Lord of Hirschsprung (Stag's leap). Upon
the keystones of the arched doors and windows ^yes,
often upon the tiles in the floor the powerful stag
(Ilirsch) was represented with his forelegs uplifted in
the act of leaping across some deep abyss.
In one of the state chambers of the front mansion the
portraits of the old knight and his dame were painted
\hi ?e ^he door, sti^ stately figures in armour and ruff.
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET 69
Tke baughtj knight still looked proudly down upon a
world where his forgotten dust had long since mingled
with its mother-earth, and where his title-deeds, with
tlieir high-sounding 'forevers/ had long been destroyed.
Felicitas stood at the top of the steep flight of stairs
gazing into a half-open door which had never, that she
could remember, been unlocked before. What an unusual
confusion the fulfilment of her revengeful purpose must
have created in Madame's mind, since it had caused her
to forget locks and bolts I Through this door you looked
into a long corridor, leading over the back buildings, and
into which several other doors opened. One of these
stood open, and revealed a room filled with all sorts of
old lumber, and lighted by a high dormer window. It
was crowded with antique furniture, and in an old-fash*
ioned arm-chair, on one side was placed the banished por-
trait of the old 'Frau.' It was not even turned toward a
protecting wall. Dust and spiders might wreak their
worst upon the face which the artist had completed in
firm faith that it would remain an object of veneration for
centuries to children's children.
The large, wide-open eyes had something terrible in
them, now that the child saw them closely, she turned
away; but ah, how her little heart beat, and how the
blood rushed to her head I that trunk in the corner,
covered with sealskin how well little Felicitas knew
that! Shyly, with bated breath she lifted the cover; on
top lay the light-blue dress with the delicate embroidery
upon the skirt and sleeves. Ah, yes I Frederika had
taken it off of her one evening, and it had vanished, and
she had worn these ugly dark dresses ever since.
The little hands plunged deeper and deeper into the
trunk. Ah, how many things they found, and how the
childish heart thrilled at sight of them I All the^A deli-
60 TUE OLD MAM'SSILE'B SECRET.
cate garmeDts, beautiful enough to bare clotbcd a littk
princess, bcr dead mother had had them all in her hands.
Felicitas remembered with painful distinctness how soft
had been the touch of her mother's hand while she dressed
her. Ah, there was the little striped cat that had once
been the child's greatest pride. It was embroidered upon
a small pouch. But stay, there was something inside-
no toy, as the child at first supposed, but a little agate
seal set in silver, and engraved upon it was the same
leaping stag that was to be found carved everywhere
upon the llellwig house. Beneath the crest were finely
cut the letters ^l, v JR. That must have belonged to
her mamma, and the child's little fingers had stolen it
from her desk.
A flood of awakened memories, across which now and
then there flashed a ray of riper comprehension, over-
flowed the mind of the little girl. Now she understood
the moments when, starting from sleep, she would find
her father and mother standing by her bedside he in a
gay velvet mantle, and she with her lovely hair hanging
loose about her and then, on that evening, when her
mother lay so still with closed eyes, and did not, as
always before, snatch her little Fay to her bosom she
had been shot that night her dear beautiful mamma I
One by one the recovered treasures were stroked and
fondled and laid carefully back in the trunk; and when
the lid was shut ago^in, the little girl put her arms around
it, and laid her head down upon it they were old com
fades, they two, who belonged together in a world which
had not even a foothold of a home for the player's child.
And the defiant little face grew gentle and happy as it
lay motionless with closed eyes upon the moth-eaten lid
of the trunk.
Ihrough the windows ^^ warm air breathed a dell
/^
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE*8 SECRET. 61
eioos odDur into the dark corner where she lay. How
could this delightfal fragrance, which must come from
whole beds of mignonette, mount so high into the air?
And what sounds were those that now floated into the
room ? Fellcitas opened her eyes, and sat up listening.
That could not be the organ from the neighbouring
church. Service had long been over. A more cultivated
ear than the child's, would never have suspected that
those tones proceeded from an organ. Some one was
playing one of Mozart's overtures upon the piano, in a
most masterly manner. Felicitas pushed an old table
under the window, mounted it, and looked out. Ah,
what a sight I There was indeed no view of the distant
fields, which she had so longed for; four different sloping
roofs formed a square before her eyes, and shut out any
distant prospect ; but the opposite roof of the four, which
was much the highest, presented a spectacle to the won-
dering childish eyes, which transcended even the fairy
tales in which she so delighted.
Upon the wide and gentle incline of this roof, instead
of the gray mossy shingles which covered the others,
was blooming a lovely flower garden ; asters and dahlias
were waving their beautiful flowers there, as secure as
were their sisters in the garden outside of the town. As
far as human steps could go with safety from the bal-
cony, which projected from near the upper edge of the
roof, the lovely realm of flowers extended, and where it
ceased was stretched a lattice, upon which vines of every
kind were climbing, showing every shade of crimson in
their autumn foliage, like a gay scarf around the lovely
shoulders of a beautiful woman. Wild grape-vinea
wreathed and twisted themselves even beyond the lat-
tice, and stretched their spiral tendrils and shining leaves
far across to the neighbouring roofs. The gallery ex
6
62 TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET.
tended along the whole length of the roof, and hang there
light and graceful, as though a breeze might stir it; and
yet upon the broad railing around it were placed large
boxes full of earth, in which were growing beds of mig-
nonette, and hundreds of monthly rose-bushes waved
heir tender flowers.
A tolerably stout white garden-chair, beside a little
round table, upon which stood a delicate coffee-service of
porcelain, proved unmistakably that some creature of flesh
and blood had its home here, although the child still sus*
pected that the rooms, which opened by a glass door into
the gallery, must be the abode of the fairy of the flowers.
No stones of the wall could be seen, it was covered with
thick Scottish ivy, mingled with a creeping vine, the heavy
flower cups and orange-velvet leaves of which dangled
out above the glass door which was slightly ajar, and
whence issued the sounds which had attracted the child
to the window. One glance down into the space encircled
by the four buildings, and the child began to comprehend
where she was. It was the poultry-yard. Felicitas had
never entered it ; for Frcderika, for fear lest one of its
winged tenants should stray into her kitchen, or perhaps
even into the hall, always locked it, and kept the key
in her pocket. IIow often had the old cook come angrily
into her kitchen, saying to Ileinrich, " The old woman
is watering her stupid grass again, and the gutters are all
overflowing I" These thousand lovely flowers, then, were
the ' stupid grass,' and she who loved and cherished them,
was the old Mam'sellc, who was again 'desecrating the
Sabbath with her gay music'
These thoughts were scarcely awakened in the child's
mind, before her little feet were upon the window-sill
With the elasticity of childhood, the grief and troul iO
that hfd so burdened her heart a few hours before \i //e
THE OLD MAM'SSLLE'8 SECRET, 63
all forgotten for the moment. She coald climb like a
squirrel. To walk down thid sloping roof was an insig-
nificant featy and the gutters at the edges made quite a
broaa path for her, although thej were slimy and mossy,
and In the corners were crumbling away somewhat. Bat
then they would not really break down for many years to
come, and were not to compare with the slender rope
opon which Felicitas had seen little girls, smaller than
she, dancing at fairs. She stepped out of the window and
reached the gutter at the bottom of the slope in a mo-
ment. It creaked and cracked beneath her tread, but
she went bravely on, no hold for her upon her right
hand, and upon her left a yawning precipice, four stories
deep, if her mother's eyes had seen her I but all went
admirably.
A scramble up the opposite roof, a leap over the railing,
and the child stood with glowing cheeks and sparkling
eyes among the flowers, looking out over the other roofs
into the broad open country, upon which the purple shades
of evening were just beginning to fall.
And then she turned and looked shyly through the
glass door, which perhaps had never before mirrored a
childish face. Did the ivy grow through the roof then,
and clothe the walls of the spacious room ? Scarcely any
of the wall within could be seen through the green of the
climbing vines that were planted in large boxes around
it. Here and there brackets projected from among the
green, upon which were placed marble busts, grave earn*
est faces, which contrasted strangely with the twisting
Tines that wreathed their white brows ^.nd sometimes
even crossed their breasts, hanging down in luxuriant
beauty before the two high windows, from which could
be seen, across the surrounding roofs, a lovely landscape
the duk autumn forest clothing the mountain on the
C4 THE OLD M AM* BELLE'S SECRET,
one hand, and the open fields stretching away on the
other.
Between the windows a large piano was placed. The
old Mam'selle, dressed just as she had been the day be-
fore, sat at it, her delicate fingers touching the keys firmly,
and with expression. Her face was somewhat different,
for she wore spectacles, and there was a flush upon the
cheeks, which had the day before been so pale.
Little Felicitas softly entered and stood still in the arch
of the doorway. Was the old lady conscious of a human
presence? or did she hear thp rustle of the child's foot-
step ? She suddenly broke off in the midst of a brilliant
phrase, and turning, the large eyes gazed over the spec-
tacles at the intruder. She started, is if from an electric
shock, and a low cry escaped her lips ; then with trembling
hand she removed the spectacles and arose, supporting
herself upon the instrument.
**now did you come here, my child ?" she asked at last,
in a trembling voice which terror could not make harsh
or ungentle.
"Over the roofs," replied the little girl in confusion,
pointing across the court-yard.
"Over the roofs! that is impossible I Come here and
show me how you came." She took the child's hand and
led her out upon the gallery. Felicitas pointed to the
dormer window, and showed how she had run along the
gutters. The old lady put her hands before her eyes with
horror.
"Ah, don't be frightened I" said Felicitas, in her sweet
Innocent voice. "I came really very easily, I can climb
like a boy, and Dr. Boehm says I am like a bunch of
feathers with no bones."
The old Mam'selle took her hands from her face and
smiled; the gentle smile discovered two rows of verj
rnS OLD MAWSELLR'B 8SCMET. U
be&utifal white teeth. She led Felicitas back into th*
room and sat down in an arm-chair.
"I see joQ must be the little Fay,** aho aaid, taking
Felicitas upon her lap. '' I know you, although you did
not fiy in here upon gauzy wings. Your old friend Hein-
rich told me all about you to-day. **
At the mention of Ilcinrieh the whole weight of woe
again fell upon the child^s heart As in the morning, a
deep blush suffused her cheeks, and anger and grief, as
upon the night before, changed the whole expression of
the childish face. The sudden change did not escape the
old Mam'sclle, she took the little girl's face caressingly
between her hands and held it up.
''Think, little daughter," she continued, "for many
years Jleinrich has come up to me every Sunday to attend
to various matters for me. He knows how strictly I
have forbidden him ever to allude to what may be going
on in the house, and he has never transgressed my com-
mands until to-day. Think how dearly he must love
little Fay, to have been so disobedient"
The defiant eyes filled with tears.
''Yes, he loves me, but no one else cares for me," sh^
said, and her voice broke.
"^o one elsel" repeated the old lady, looking lovingly
into the child*s eyes. " Don't you know that there is Oufi
who will always love you, even although the whole world
should turn away from you? The dear Ood in '*
" Oh Ue does not care for me, because I am a player'a
, child," interrupted Felicitas with sudden violence. " Fraq
Ilellwig said this morning that my soul is already lost,
and tbcy all say that He will not have my poor mamma
with Ilim. And I do not love Ilim at all I and I do not
want to go to Him when 1 die I what should I do with-
out my dear mammal"
E S*
66 THE OLD MJiM'SELLE'S SECRET.
*'Oracioas Ood! what have these people with theif
Belf-stjled Christianity being doing with you, my poor
child?"
The old lady rose quickly and opened a side door. To
the child the room within seemed filled with heavenly
white clouds, for before the bed, which stood in an al
cove, and over the doors and windows were draped whito
maslin curtains. The pale green of the walls was only
here and there visible among the white drapery. What
a contrast between this little room, fresh and spotless as
the thoughts of a pure and healthy mind, and the gloomy
boudoir in the house below, where Frau Hellwig knelt in
prayer every morning upon a priedieu, upon whose em-
broidered cushion space was found for the representa-
tion of all the cruel symbols of the Passion, but none
for any emblem of the Love which endured all that
suffering I
Upon a little table beside the bed was a large well-
worn Bible. The old lady opened it and read aloud with
much emotion. ' Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, and have not Love,^ I am become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.' She read on, and
finished with the words: ' Love never faileth : but whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be
tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge,
it shall vanish away.'
"And this love comes from Him yes, God is love,"
ehe said, putting her arm around the child. "Your
mamma is His child, as we all are Ilis children, and she
has gone to Him now, for * Love never faileth.' She will
iwell peacefully above with Ilim, and when you look up
at night to nis beautiful heaven, with its millions of
The German Bible reads 'Zte6.'--Tr.
THE OLD MAM'SELLS'S SECRET. 61
gparkling stars, be sure, dear child, that Eternal Lore has
made no such place as hell I And now jou will lore this
kind Heavenly Father dearly, will you not, my little
Fay?"
The child made no reply, but threw her arms passion*
ately around the neck of her kind comforter, and the hoi
tears gushed from her eyes.
Two days afterward a carriage drew up before the Hell
wig mansion. The widow entered it with both of her
Bons, whom she was about to accompany as far as the
next town. John was going to Bonn to study medicine,
and Nathanael was about to enter the school where his
brother had been educated.
Heinrich stood, broad shouldered and sturdy, at the
open door, and looked after the carriage as it rumbled
slowly over the uneven stones of the Square. Some-
thing like a low whistle escaped his lips, a sign that he
was well content, and he stuck both his thumbs into his
closed hands, a provincial gesture signifying 'Preserve
us from a return of misfortune!'
"Well, for nearly half a score of years we shall see
nothing of those boys in this house," he said with glee
to Frederika, who was dutifully holding her apron to her
eyes.
"Does that please you, you blockhead?" she asked.
"Is that all the thanks you have for the present the young
master made you?"
"Qo into your kitchen, you'll find the money lying
upon your hearth. I won't touch it. You can take it
and buy a red dress and yellow shoes to wear at the next
fair!"
"Oh, you miserable fellow! a red dress and yeUow
shoes like a rope-dancer!" cried the angry woman "Oh
68 TBS OLD MAJTSELLB'S SECRET.
it'8 easy enough to see whyyoa are in snch an ill hnmour,
-the yoiiog master served jou well this morning 1"
" Very nmch you know about it," said her follpw-ser-
vanty carelessly. Ue put his hands in his pockets,
shrugged his shoulders, and planted himself upon the
threshold of the door more sturdily than before. This
excited Frederika's rage, as evincing the utmost contempt
for ail she had said.
" For a man with only twenty thalers wages, and at
most fifty thalers in the saving fund, to stand up before
his master like the great Mogul, and say, 'Give me the
child, my sister will bring it up, and she shall not cost
you a farthing,' and"
"And the young master replied," concluded Ueinrich,
turning slowly toward the cook, '"the child is in excel-
lent hands, Ueinrich, she will remain here in this house
until she is eighteen years old, and you must be careful
not to encourage her in any disrespect to my mother;
and if you should ever catch that old witch in the kitchen
listening, nail her ear to the door instantly.' What do
you think, Frederika, of my "
Ue raided his hand, and the old cook ran scolding into
the kitchen.
CHAPTER X.
NiNB years had flown over the stately house in the
Square, but they had left no sign of decay, no alteration
either in the solid walls or in the stern profile daily seen
at the window of the lower story. Perhaps an attentive
observer might have noticed less distinctness of outline
in th^ dragons' heads upon the edge of the roof, but no
TUE OLD MAltSELLE'S SECRET. 6?
wonder, they bad been shedding heaven's tears coniinn
allv through these long years upon the pavement below,
while in the intervals of their weeping the sun had
scorched them with its rays. Such changes always
must alter countenances. But Madame below there
stood firmly upon the pedestal of her faith in her own
infallibility; in the icy atmosphere of that, there are no
4oubts, no conflicts, no inward struggles to break the ex-
lerior petrifaction, which is called ' an excellent state of
preservation.'
Yet there was & striking change in the old house. For
some weeks the curtains at th6 windows of the second
story bad been drawn aside, and vases of flowers stood
upon the window-sills. The glances of the passers-by
fell first, as usual, upon the window with the asclepias
plant, behind which Fran Ilellwig was still sure of a re-
spectful greeting from all ; but then the eyes were irre-
sistibly attracted to the window above. Looking out
from its stone framework was often now to be seen a
charming face, fresh as a rose, a bead covered with flaxen
curls, and two dovelike blue eyes that looked out upon
the world with childlike naivete. To this lovely head
belonged a body of exquisite proportions, clothed almost
always in white muslin. Sometimes not often ^the
lovely apparition at the window was accompanied by
what was indeed a foil to its beauty a little child, who
had clambered upon a chair, looked over the lady's shoul*
der into the Square. The little face was wasted and dis-
figured by disease. The hand that had curled the thio
flaxen hair so artistically, had laboured in vain, ^it had
only heightened the plainness of the face, whose pallor
^as further enhanced by an elegant dress, but poorly
adapted to conceal the missbapon figure aci swoUes
Joints of the poor child.
to TUB OLD MAM*SELLWS SECRET,
Notwithstanding this contrast, they were mother anA
child, and had come to Tharingia on account of the health
of the latter.
Within the last nine years an engineer had flourished
his magic wand above and below the soil of X , and
this modern Moses' rod had revealed a bitter spring,
which if it did not harden into gold and silver upon con
tact with the air, certainly developed precious crystal
ealt. The inhabitants of X took the hint. They
established baths, the fame of which, combined with the
wholesome quality of the Thuringian air, attracted crowds
of invalids from the neighbouring towns.
The aforesaid lady had come to the place for the sake
of the salt baths, which had been ordered for her child
by Professor John Ilellwig, of Bonn. Yes, Madame
behind her asclepias plant had done much for her son.
She had insisted in his early youth that he should be
placed under the strict discipline of her relative on the
Ilhine, and that he should never once visit his home
during the nine years of his stay there. She had sent
him to Bonn his name was upon her lips every morning
at her priedieu, and she was never weary of caring for
the fineness and size of his wardrobe and now he had
become a famous man.
Still the young Professor with all his fame and skiii
would hardly have succeeded in inducing his mother to
receive his patients as tenants of her closed second story,
had UDt these patients been daughter arid granddaughter
of that orthodox relative on the Rhine, by whom Madame
iset great store. And besides, the beautiful young creature
bad quite a high-sounding title she was the widow of a
Court Councillor of Bonn. It could be no degradation
In the world to have a Councillor's widow as tenant|
^
4
*1
I
THE OLD MAdT SELLS' 8 SECRET. tl
rliough Ilerr Hellwig bad always declined all ciric
honours himself; and thus left his widow without a title.
Madame sat on the couch by the window. Time bad
made no change in the fine black dress; the white collar
and cuffs, and even the little brooch at her neck, were
precisely as we found them on the evening when we first
made her acquaintance. Her form was rather fuller, and
the folds of her skirt were perhaps broader and more im-
posing than before. At present, her large white hands,
with her knitting, were resting solemnly in her lap the
great lady had something important to attend to.
Near the door, at a respectful distance, stood a man i
his thin figure was clad in a threadbare coat, and hia
hand, which he now and then stretched out in speaking,
was hard and horny. His tones were low and hesitating,
the room was so embarrassingly quiet that the ticking o(
the clock against the wall could be distinctly heard. Xo
encouraging word escaped Madnme's lips she scarcely
seemed to breathe, so cold and fixed was the gaze which
she riveted upon the man's countenance. At last he
stopped, exhausted, and wiped the perspiration from hia
forehead with his cotton handkerchief.
"You have applied to the wrong person, Master Thiene-
mann," Madame said coldly, after a short pause. "I never
scatter my money about in such small sums."
"Ah, Madame Ilellwig, I never meant that, I would
not have been so bold for the world," replied the man,
coming a step nearer to her " but you are well known as
a benevolent lady who is always collecting a fund for the
I poor your name is often in the paper connected with
charitable purposes all I would ask is that from your
fund for the destitute you will lend me twenty-five th alert
noon interest for six months."
\
I
7S THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
Madame smiled ^the man did not know that this smile
was death to his hopes.
"I cannot conceive, Master Thienemann," she rejoined
sharply, ''how a man in his senses could ask such a
thing. This is something quite new. But I know that
you take no interest in the pious lahours of our church
members, and therefore I roust tell you that not one
thaler of the fund in my hands is distributed in this town.
I have collected it for missionary purposes if is conse-
crated gold devoted entirely to a work well pleasing to
the Lord, not to the support of people who are able to
wort"
"Ah, Madame, I am only too willing to work," cried
the man, with a choking voice; "my illness has brought
me so low . . Good Heavens I many a time in better
days I have spent my holiday in making some little
article for your charitable fairs, because I thought they
were for the assistance of some of my poor neighbours,
but all the money will be sent away from here, while so
many of us have not a shoe to our feet or a stick of wood
in our houses for winter."
"Pray reserve your remarks. We sometimes dis-
tribute charity in this place, but we make exceptions of
those who attend mechanics' lyceums, and waste their
time in listening to lectures full of false doctrine. Yon
had much better. Master Thicnemann, stick to your
work-bench than pry into stars and stones only to find
in them a contradiction of Iloly Writ Yes, yes, we hear
all about such blasphemous proceedings, and act accord-
ingly. Now you know my views, and that you have
nothing to expect from mc!"
. Madame turned away and looked out i/f the window.
"Qood Qod* how much poor people have to endorel"
s^
TUB OLD MAirSELLS'S SECRET. tJ
dgKed the man. " 'Tis my wife's fault, she gave ma no
pAace ^ntil I came here."
lie looked over towards the other window of the apart^
ment, but finding no look of pity there either, he left the
oom
The poor fellow's last look bad been directed towards
the CoQDcillor's widow, who was sittingoppositeMadame,
at the other window. If ever there wjro a woman Appa-
rently created to inspire hope in a ht^art crushed by want,
it was that rosy creature in the airy, spotless white dress.
The tender outline of the profile, the mild glory of the
Mght curls above the brow, with the large blue eyes, pro
dnced the impression of a cherub's-head ; but to the at-
tentive observer it would have seemed cut in stone, for
while Madame's face had now and then been suS'uscd by
a flush, while the poor man had eloquently pleaded hia
cause and told his woes, nothing had disturbed for a mo-
ment the smiling repose of that countenance. The lovely
bosom rose and fell without any agitation, the rose upon
her embroidery had received an additional leaf during the
last few minutes, and no mistake could possibly have been
found in the carefully counted stitches.
"Do not let it vex you, dear aunt," she said, looking
up with a gentle, beseeching glance, when Master Thiene-
mann had left the room. ''My poor husband could not
endure these progressive mechanics, and the lyceoma
were odious to him. Ah, here is Caroline I"
And she pointed to the door leading to the kitchen.
A young girl had been standing there for some minutes,
having entered noiselessly, even before the carpenter had
left the room. Any one who fourteen years before had
seen the beautiful young wife of the juggler as she stood
before the muskets of the soldiers, would have started
7
f 4 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
With involuntary terror at what must for a moment have
Beemed to him a resurrection from the dead. There was
the same graceful figure, somewhat slighter and more
maidenly, and clad in coarse dark stuff, while that un
fortunate woman had hecn surrounded by the glittering
tinsel of the theatre. There was the same faultlessly
haped head, the same low white forehead, and that
slight depression of the corners of the mouth, which gave
to the face an enchanting ex]irc8sion of melancholy. This
expression had, with the unhappy mother, been height-
ened by the tearful glance of dark-gray eyes; but when
the young girl lifted her darkly fringed eyelids, she dis-
closed sparkling eyes of dark-brown. They bore witness
to a nature which could never be crushed into submissive
endurance, ^there was power and resistance in their
gaze, was not Polish blood flowing in her veins,
drops from that noble stream which has always ri|en
fruitlessly against oppression ?
We know now that the young girl standing at the
door is Felicitas, although she answers to the simple
name of Caroline. The 'theatrical name' had been difik
carded long ago, with the 'theatrical stuff' in the lumber-
room, by Madame.
Felicitas approached the mistress of the house, and
laid upon her work-table an exquisitely embroidered lace
handkerchief. The Councillor's widow hastily took it up.
^Is this to be sold for the benefit of the mission?" she
asked, as she unfolded it and examined the embroidery.
"Yes," replied Madame, "I had Caroline work it for
that purpose. She has been long enough about it. I
suppose it will bring three thalers ?"
"Perhaps so," said the Councillor's widow, shrugging
her shoulders. "Where did you get the pattern for the
eorners, dear child?"
'N
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 75
A fleeting blush mounted to Felicitas' cheek: "I de
signed it myself," she replied gently.
The young widow looked up quickly: "Designed it
yourself I" she repeated slowly, and her blue eyes seemed
to have in them a shade of green. " I don't mean to vex
you, child, but, try as I may, I cannot conceive of such
temerity. How could you attempt such a thing, with no
knowledge of drawing? This is genuine lace, it must
have cost aunt at least a thaler, and now it is ruined by
that clumsy pattern."
Frau Ilellwig looked up angrily.
"Ah, do not be angry with Caroline, dear aunt," the
Toung widow entreated, in a gentle, beseeching tone.
" She meant well, I am sure. Perhaps the evil can be
remedied. See here, my child, I have never studied
drawing, I confess, ^the idea of the pencil in a woman's
hand does not please me, ^but I have, nevertheless, the
truest eye for outline. Heavens I look what a monstrous
leaf that is I"
She pointed to a long leaf, the point of which was most
artistically curled. Felicitas answered not a word but
she compressed her beautiful lips, and gazed fixedly in the
face of her critic. The Councillor's widow turned hastily
away, and covered her eyes with her hand.
"Ah, dear child, that piercing look again I" she said,
complainingly. "It really does not become a young girl
in your position to stare so at other people. Think of
what your best friend, our good Secretary Wellncr, al-
ways says: 'Sweet humility, dear Caroline.' And there
18 that contemptuous expression around your mouth
again it is too provoking. Do you really mean to play
a romantic part, and obstinately reject the excellent
man's proposal just because you do not love him? Bi*
#^
T6 TUB OLD MAirSELlE'8 SECRET.
dicnlousl But my cousin John will have a word or two
to say to this matter I"
How perfect the girl had become in the habit of self-
control! At the young widow's last words, the hot re-
bellious blood mounted to her forehead and the head
thrown back showed for a moment something almost
demonic in its expression of hate and contempt. But
she immediately replied, coldly and quietly: "I shall be
quite ready to hear them."
"How often must I request you, A dele, not to allude
to that provoking affair?" said Frau Hell wig angrily
"Do you imagine that you can in two or three weeks
bend this stick of wood this obstinacy which I have
laboured at nine years in vain? As soon as John comes,
the whole matter will be at an end, to my infinite joy
Now go and bring me my bonnet and shawl," turning to
Felicitas, "I hope this wretched piece of work," throw-
ing the handkerchief contemptuously aside, ''will be the
last that you will have an opportunity of spoiling in my
service I"
Felicitas left the room silently. Shortly afterward Frau
Hell wig and her guest walked across the Square'. The
beautiful widow led her child tenderly by the hand.
Several people gazed after her from their windows, the
lovely creature had a gentle childlike smile for all. Rosa,
her maid, and Frederika, followed with baskets. Tea was
to be drank in the garden outside of the town and long
wreaths and garlands were to be made.
To-morrow the young Professor was expected home
after his nine-years' absence, and although Madame mut-
tered something about 'silly nonsense,' the Councillor's
young widow was determined to decorate the young
man's room in honour of his arrival
TEE OLD MAitSELLE'S SECRET. f )
CHAPTER XL
IIeiniiioh closed tbe street door and Felieitas flew' up
lairs. How dear to the young girl was the narrow pas-
sage through which she now hurried I Then came a quiet
landing a winding staircase, with large worm-eaten
steps, that ascended from the twilight below to where a
faint ray of light through old green glass panes revealed
an ancient door, covered with stiffly painted tulips and
brick-red roses. Felieitas took a key from her pocket
and noiselessly opened this door, on the other side of
which was a narrow dark flight of steps leading to the
rooms under the roof.
The young girl had never made another expedition over
the roofs. Ever since that first day when she had made
her unexpected appearance there, Mam'selle's rooms had
been always open to her. For the first year her visits
there had been paid only on Sundays, and then always
in Heinrich's society. But after her confirmation, Mam'
Belle had given her a key to the painted door, and after
that she had slipped up at every spare moment. Thus
she led a double existence. It was not only the material
change from dim twilight below to the clear sunlight
above her mind experienced a like change and at last
grew so strong that all the care and anxiety of the lower
world vanished as soon as she began to ascend the dark,
narrow staircase. Below stairs she ironed and swept
and dusted, using her leisure, as it was called, in em
broidering articles, which were, as we have seen, devoted
to the benefit of the missions, and except in her Bible
and prayer bof k, all reading was strictly forbidden her.
T*
IS THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
But in Mam'selle's home the rich domain of the human
intellect lay wide open for her. She studied with avidity,
and the knowledge possessed by the mysterious inhab*
itant of those rooms was like an iDcxhaustible fountain,,
like a well-cut iianiond, emitting brilliant sparks of light
in whatever direction it was turned. Except Ueinrichf
no one in the house knew of the intercourse between the
young girl and the old Mam'selle, ^'.he least suspicion of
it on the part of Madame would have been its deathblow.
Although Mam'selle had strictly enjoined upon the child
always to tell the truth if questioned upon the subject,
Ileinrich had guarded the secret so closely that no ques-
tions had ever been asked he was always on the watch
with open eyes and ears.
The dark staircase was ascended, Felicitas stood list
ening before a door, then pushed a little panel in it
aside, and looked in smiling. Within there was a perfect
hubbub of singing and chirping. In the middle of the
room two young firs were planted in huge tubs, and all
around the walls was growing a perfect grove of plants,
fresh and green, upon the boughs of which was perched
a multitude of birds. This was the only life with which
the old Mam'selle could surround herself up here in her
hermitage. 'Tis true these little voices always sung the
same thing, but then there was no chance of the change
which characterizes the voices that can cry 'Uosannal'
one day and 'Crucify him' the next. Felicitas closed
the panel and opened another door. The reader has al-
ready seen the interior of this ivy-draped apartment, nine
years ago he knows the collection of grave busts that
is ranged around the walls but he does not know how
nearly they are allied to those large books bound in red
morocco, which he may see behind the glass doors of
that antique cabinet From behind those grave brows a
I
r
[
^ THS OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. f 9
mighty flood of inspiration broke, and there is no loncli^
ness, no desolation for those who can bathe in it The
images 'and the works of the master-composers of 7arioaa
times shared the old Mam^sellc's asylum, and as the ivy
wreathed itself impartially around all the busts, so did
Mam'selle enjoy the old Italian and the German schools
with equal relish. But that cabinet with glass doora
concealed treasures which would have thrown an auto-
graph collector into ecstacics. Manuscripts and letters
of those old masters, most of them of rare worth, were
in portfolios behind those doors. This collection had
been made many years before, when, as the old Mam'selle
said with a smile, her young blood was flowing cheerily
in her veins and her youthful energies stood waiting to
carry out her wishes, ^many a faded autograph had been
the result of girlish perseverance and self-sacrifice.
Felicitas found the old Mam'selle in a room behind her
bed-room. She was sitting upon a foot-stool before an
open drawer, and all around her, upon chairs and on the
floor, lay bundles of linen and flannel, and a multitude of
garments, so small that they were evidently designed to
receive some little human existence after its first cry in
the world. Her delicate features were sensibly altered,
and although she looked up with a welcoming smile, the
traces which the last nine years had left upon her kindly
countenance could not be ignored.
"I am so glad you have come, my dear Fay!" she ex
claimed. " The stork has just paid a visit to poor Master
Thienemann's wife and the poor woman has nothing,
not even a roll of linen, for the baby. We have good
store here, though ; there is not much to be done, and we
can send off a most respectable bundle if you will only
take a few stitches for me," and she held up a little cap
In one hand and a roll of very narrow lace in the other.
80 'TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
''Ah, Aunt Cordala," said Fdicitas, taking up her
needle and thread, 'Hhcse poor people need more than all
this I I have just learned that Master Thienemann needs
money sadly twenty-five thalers."
The old Mam'sclle pondered for a moment.
" Urn I rather a large sum for my present finanoea,'*
said she, '' but he must have it.''
She arose slowly and feebly. Felicitas offered her arm
and supported her to the music-room.
''But, aunt," she said suddenly standing still, "do you
remember a little while ago Frau Thienemann refused to
make up that linen for you for fear of offending Madame ?"
"I really believe you will do your best to lead your
old aunt astray," cried the old Mam'selle, half angrily,
but her eyes smiled playfully, and she lightly tapped the
young girl's cheek with her slender finger. Both laughed,
and crossed the room to the cabinet with the glass doors.
This worm-eaten antique piece of furniture could be
mysterious too. Aunt Cordula pressed a very innocent-
looking ornament, and a little door immediately flew open
in one of the sides. The space thus disclosed was the
Mam'sclle's bank, and in former years had seemed to Fe-
licitas an inexhaustible mine of fairy treasures, so be-
witching had been the few glimpses that she had had of
the wonders that it contained ; on the shelves inside
were several rolls of gold, a quantity of silver plate, and
rarious articles of jewelry.
While Aunt Cordula opened one of the rolls of gold,
and counted out the thalers carefully, Felicitas seized
upon a little box, which was almost hidden in a dark
corner, and opened it eagerly. Within was a golden
bracelet lying upon cotton wool, no precious stone en-
riched it, but its weight showed it to be of massive solid
gfjld. The most remarkable thing about it, however, wa0
TUB OLD MAM'SELLB'S 8BCRBT. %\
lis size. It fieemed to have been made for tbo mascnlar
wrist of a man, it would certainly have slipped oyer
any woman's hand. Towards the middle it was very
broad, and here the graver's tool had carved a graceful
wreath of roses and leaves, wonderfully well executed,
enclosing a medallion, upon which was engraved the fol*
lowing verse:
Swa Hep ein ander meinent,
Ucrzenlichon ane wane,
Und sich beidiu so vereinet,
The young girl turned the bracelet in every direction,
looking for the rest of the verse, for although' not very
learned in old German, she easily translated the last line
into 'And where both are so united,' but that could not
be the end.
"Aunt Cordula, do you know the rest ?" she asked, still
examining the bracelet.
The old Mam'selle pressed her finger upon the thaler
she had just put down, and looked up in the midst of her
counting.
''Oh, child I what have you got there?" she exclaimed
hastily, with displeasure, terror, and grief ail expressed in
the tones of her voice. She took the bracelet instantly,
and with trembling fingers laid it back in its box and
closed the cover. A delicate colour flushed her pale
cheeks, and her knit brows lent an expression of brooding
melancholy to her face, which Felic.itas had never seen
there before. Yes, it seemed as though for a few mo-
ments the present had vanished utterly beneath the flood
of recollection which was overwhelming the old Mam'
Belle's mind, as if the presence of Felicitas were utterly
forgotten,-^for after she had restored the bracelet to its
place in the corner with feverish haste, she took np
F
i% THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
another box standing beside it covered with gray paper,
and smoothed its worn corners and stroked it caressingly,
her face grew gentle again, and she murmured as she
pressed the box between her shrunken hands: ''It must
die before me and yet I cannot look on and see it perish."
Felicitas threw her arms around the feeble little figure,
which seemed for a moment so frail and helpless. It was
the first time in the nine years of their intercourse that
she had ever seen Aunt Cordula lose her self-control.
Delicate and frail as she seemed to the eye, her strength
of mind and soul never forsook her. No outward cir-
cumstance had any power to disturb the balance of her
clear intelligence. With every fibre of her heart she
dearly loved Felicitas, and had lavished upon the young
girl the treasures of her .knowledge and experience, the
results of her true healthy spiritual life, but not an allu-
sion to the past had ever crossed her lips it was as
sealed a book to-day as it had been nine years before.
And Felicitas had just rudely opened the carefully-sealed
book, she reproached herself most bitterly.
"Ah, aunt, forgive me!" she entreated. Uow gently
beseeching were the tones of this young girl, whom Ma-
dame had called a stick of wood.
The old Mam'selle passed her hand over her eyes.
'' Be quiet, child, you did no harm, ^but I I was talk
!ng like a childish old wuman 1" she said, in a choked
voice. " Yes, I have grown old, old and feeble ! I used
to be able to shut my tongue between my teeth, and keep
strict watch over it but I can do it no longer, 'tis time
I laid me down to rest."
She held the little gray box still hesitatingly in her
hands, as if she were struggling for the courage to execute
the sentence of death which she had just pronounced upon
it But after few minutes, she put it hastily back into
TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 83
the coroer whence she had taken it, and closed the cabi*
11^ t, and in doing so she seemed to regain all her former
composure. She went back to the round table near the
cabinet, where she had been counting the money, and, as
if nothing had happened, finished her work.
"Now we will fold the money in a piece of white
paper," she said to Felicitas, and her voice still betrayed
inward emotion, "and put it inside the cap which shall
thus contain a blessing even before the little head is put
into it, and Heinrich must be at his post punctually at
nine this evening don't forget that."
The old Mam'selle was eccentric her deeds shunned
the light. Like the bat, she grew very active at night,
and visited many a haunt of poverty, when the streets
were empty and deserted. Heinrich had for years been
her right hand of which the left was unconscious; he
distributed Mam'selle's bounty as slyly as though dia^*
covery would cost him his living, and many a poor
wretch in the town who gave ear to, and devoutly be-
lieved the most monstrous stories concerning her, lived
upon the old Mam'selle's alms. This eccentricity of hers
would have been inexplicable to those pious souls who
religiously fulfil the Bible injunction: 'Let your light
shine.'
While Aunt Cordula was wrapping up the money, Fe-
licitas opened the glass door which led out upon the gaU
lery. It was the end of May. Ah, how few of those
who are never weary of lauding the spring, know how
delicious is her coming in the land of Thuringial There
she is no fair-haired exultant cMid of the south, with wild
ecstacy in her veins, in whose footsteps spring up groves
of orange and myrtle. Majesty clothes her brow, and
upon her lips blooms the serene smile of thoughtful crea-
tion She mixes her colours gravely, and paints her pio-
84 TBE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET
tares with slow precision we follow the strokes of her
pencil with silent joy thej are not bold and rash, but
tender and full of gral:;e. The brownish-green down
which clothes the mountain's breast while its crest is still
encircled by a snowy crown, she changes gradually and
gently to green twigs of May, the fine network of grass
and weeds that covers the brown sods and the meadows
dull with last year's growth, she sprinkles with snow-
drops and violets like a careful gardener, before she lav-
ishes her wealth of colour upon grove and field. And
the breath of her mouth is that bracing air which steels
the nerves and sinews of the child of Thuringia, makes
his heart sensitive to song, and tenacious of poetic super-
stitions, preserves his sense of right, often inspires him
with a spirit of antagonism, and gives him his naive,
frank nature.
The green strips of cultured land were already seen
running down into the valley from the wooded sides of
the mountains, like green ribbons. The roughest old
knotty pear-tree, as well as the youngest cherry-tree, was
surmounted by its wreath of snowy blossoms, an equally
youthful face upon each stem, an impartiality of nature's
which man longs in vain to partake of. On the edge of
the gallery bloomed hyacinths, May-flowers, and tulips,
and at each side of the glass door large syringa and snow-
ball bushes were growing in boxes.
Felicitas carried into the music-room the round table
and the old Mam-selle's comfortable arm-chair. Upon
the table she spread a fresh napkin, and made the coffee
In the dainty little service. When the rich odour of the
Mocha berry floated out upon the air, the old Mam'selle
sat at the table looking upon the landscape lying bcneatk
ihe genial sun of spring.
Felicitas had taken up her sewing agrin.
1
THE OLD MAM'SELLES SECRET. 85
''Aaiit,"he said after a little pause, emphasizing everj
irord, "he is coming to-morrow."
''So I see, my child, bj the papers; the news letter
from Bonn savs ' Prof. Ucllwig will spend two months in
Thnringia for the sake of his health.' lie has come to
be a famous man, Fay."
'Tame comes to him easily enough. Ilis duty ^an
never be made difficult by sympathy with his kind. He
can cut into the body or the soul of his patients with
equal satisfaction."
The old Mam'selle looked up at the girl with surprise,
this unspeakable bitterness of tone was quite new to
hf5f.
*'Take care that you are not unjust, my child I" she
said slowly, and with extreme gentleness, after a mo-
ment's pause.
l*elicitas looked up quickly, her brown eyes were at
this moment almost black.
"1 should not know how to begin to think otherwise
of him," she replied, ''he has sinned against me most
heavily, and I know that I should feel no pity for any
misfortune that might happen to him, and if by only
raising my finger I could do him a kindness, I know
I should never do it."
"Fie I"
" Yes, aunt, this is the truth. I have always shown
you a cheerful face up here, because I would not for tte
world have poisoned the moments that we could spend
togotLer. You have often thought me peaceful and quiet
in mind, when all was uproar within me. Let yourself
be trodden under foot every hour of every day, hear how
your parents are scorned as accursed of God, every im-
ftgincd fault in yourself ascribed to them, be consciouB of
8
86 TUB OLD MAM'SELLB'S SECRET.
continual aspiration after a higher culture, and find jota*
Beir degraded with eneers to a position amon^ those to
whom culture is unknown because you are poor and have
n right to any lofty aspiration, see how your tonneatorB
arc Burroandcd by a halo of piety, and crush out your
rcry soul with the name of Ood cootinually npon their
lips, aod if you can bear it all quietly, if every drop of
blood ia your reins does not cry out against such iojoa-
tice, yours Is no angelic endurance, but the cowardly
slavish submission of a weak nature which deserves to
be trodden under foot."
Felicitas spoke quietly, in a clear ringing voice. Wh^
power over her exterior this strange young creature poa-
sessedl She scarcely moved a finger as the tide of pas-
sionate words poured from her lips.
"The thought of bciag again confronted with that
stony face excites me more than I can tell you, aunt I
must DOW hear that heartless, soulless voice utter all that
he has written concerning me for the last nine years.
Like some cruel boy who lets a poor bird flutter at the
g, he has chained me to this house, and
inverted my uncle's will into a curse for
Lhing be more cruel than his treatment of
f course impossible that a player's child
y mental capacity, any warmth of heart,
of honour, she could atone for her dis*
tage only by becoming what they call m
the Lord a wretched being cramped im
ly the narrowest prejudice."
are something a little better than tbttt, my
int Cordula, with a meaning smile. "At
jming will bring about & final change in
added more seriously.
viU only be a few struggles more. Uadama
THE OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET. ST
consoled me to-daj with the hope that all wUl soon be
over."
''Then I shall not need repeat to yon that yon must
wait patiently down there, that you may fulfil the last
will of one who took you to his home and loved you like
his own child. Then you will be entirely free, and can
lake care of your old aunt openly, without any fear of
our being separated from each other, for no one will
have any power to do so."
Felicitas looked up with sparkling eyes, she took the
little withered hand o^ the old Mam'selle and pressed it
to her lips. *
"And do not think the worse of me, aunt, now that I
have opened my heart to you," she entreated in gentle
tones. ''I love my kind, I appreciate them highly, and
I have been strengthened in my resistance to mental
degradation by the hope of being something more among
them than a useless beast of burden. If certain among
them have ill treated me, I would not for the world ac-
cuse the mass. I do not even mistrust them. But I
cannot love my enemies, and bless those who curse me.
If this is a dark spot in my character I cannot help it
and indeed, aunt, I do not wish to, for here seems to
me to be the boundary line between gentleness and pu-
sillanimity I"
Aunt Cordula did not speak, but gazed thoughtfully at
Felicitas. Had there been a time in her own life when
to forgive had been impossible, except after heart-search-
ing struggles with herself? She did not continue the
conversation, but took up needle and thread, and both
fie we'' until twilight, when a most comfortable bundle
was ready for the poor Thienemanns. Snugly packed
away in it was the small sum of money for the loan of
which the poor carpenter had in vain entreated the ' chosen
m
S8 TffB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
ot the Lord,' but which he would now unconBcioasly-r^k
ceive from 'one of the world's people.'
When Felicitas left the old Mam'selle, the party from
the garden had returned to the house. She heard little
Anna, the young widow's child, laughing and talking,
snd a loud hammering was going on in the second story.
She flew along the corridor leading to the main building.
Heinrich was standing on a step-ladder nailing garlands
ftboTe a door. At sight of Felicitas, he made an odd
grimace expressiv^e of anger and contempt, in which,
howeyer, there was much dry humour, and gave the nails
two or three additional strokes, powerful enough to have
broken them to pieces, before he descended from his lofty
position.
Little Anna had been gravely holding the ladder that
it might not fall ; but when she saw Felicitas she forgot
her important office, and, tottering feebly towards the
young girl, threw her arms caressingly around her knees.
Felicitas lifted her from the floor and held her in her arms.
"Shouldn't you think," asked Heinrich, in a vexed un-
dertone, "that wo were to have a wedding here to-mor-
row? and all for a man who will walk in, turning neither
to the right nor the left, and will go about all day looking
as if he had been drinking vinegar."
He held up the end of one of the garlands: "Just look,"
he said, "see the forget-me-nots in it. Well, those who
put them there, I suppose know why they did it. But,
Fay," he interrupted himself suddenly, looking at the
child who was pressing her wasted cheek against Feli-
citas' face, "do me the kindness not to be always taking
that wretched child in your arms. There is not a healthy
drop of blood in its body. I am sure it cannot be good
for you."
Felicitas quickly out her left arm around the little giri
THJB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 89
nd pressed her closely to her breast The child hid her
face in terror of Ileinrich's cross words, so that only her
light curls could be seen, and as the young girl stood
there, a more charming picture of a Madonna could not
be imagined.
She was upon the point of replying reprovingly, when
the garlanded door opened, it must have been ajar, for
It swung slowly wide open, affording a full view of the
interior of the room. It was decked as if for a bride
vases full of flowers stood upon the broad sill of its only
window rand the Councillor's widow had just festooned
a long garland above the writing-table. She was stepping
back to observe the effect of her wo^k when she became
aware of the group just outside the door. Perhaps the
resemblance to a Madonna displeased her, for she knit
her brows, and calling to her maid who was dusting the
furniture in the room, pointed towards the open door.
"Get down right away, Anna," said Kosa, hurrying
out. " Your mamma always tells you not to let any one
take you up and carry you. My mistress does not like,"
she continued pertly, turning to Felicitas, ''to have Anna
petted and kissed by everybody ; she does not think it
healthy."
She led the weeping child into the room and closed the
door.
"Ah, gracious powers I what people they are I" growled
Heinrich, as he went down stairs. " You see what you
get by your kindness, Fayl These people think their
diseases arc as aristocratic as themselves, and you must
be grateful to God for permission to lay your healthy
hands upon their sickly bodies I"
Felicitas silently descended the stairs by his side. Just
as they reached the hall, a carriage rumbled across the
Square and stopped at the street door. Before Ileinrif^b
8
#
i
90 TIIJB OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET.
could get to the door, it was thrown wide open. The
ball was nearly dark, and only the outline of a tall manly
figure could be seen upon the threshold.
In three steps the gentleman reached the door of the
Bitting-room, which was opened from within. An excla-
mation of surprise broke from Madame, followed, how-
ever, by the cold greeting: "You have grown unpunctual,
John, we did not expect you until to-morrow," then the
door was closed, and the carriage waiting without and
the delicate aroma of a fine cigar were all that testified to
the arrival.
" It was he 1" whispered Felicitas, laying her hand upon
her throbbing heart.
" Now for it I" muttered Ueinrich, at the same time
listening at the foot of the stairs.
The wild huntsman seemed careering above. The
Councillor's widow actually flew down the steps, her fair
curls waving, and her white dress floating around hei
like a cloud.
She left Rosa and the limping child far behind her, and
quickly entered the sitting-room.
"Aha I Fay, now we know why those forget-me-nots
were so thick in the garland," laughed Ueinrich, as he
went out to superintend the bringing in of the baggage.
The next morning early, Felicitas took advantage of a
leisure moment and slipped up to Aunt Cordula to tell
ber of the success of Ileinrich's errand to the Tbiene-
manns. Upon the landing of the second story, Ueinrich
came towards her with a grin of delight, as he pointed his
thumb over his shoulder at the door above which he had
nailed the garland the day before. The decoration had
vanished a heap of wreaths lay upon the floor, and
several vases of flowers were ranged there close to the
wall.
1
I
j
1
TUB OLD MAWSSLLB'S SECRET. 91
" They came down in a hurry," whispered Ileinrich
" one ^two ^three good tugs, and down came all the for-
get-me-nots. I came up just as he was standing on the
ladder."
" Who ?"
" Why, the Professor. He made a terrible wry face,
for I had nailed the things up to last there forever, and
be had to tug and pull hard enough. But only think,
Fay, he shook hands with me to-day when I bade him
good morning I I tell you I was surprised."
Felicitas' lip curled, a biting comment was upon her
tongue, but she suddenly turned the corner and sped
along the corridor, for quick steps within the room were
heard approaching the door.
As, some time afterwards, she returned from her visit
ap-stairs, she heard the gentle voice of the Councillor's
widow, nothing could be more melodious than this
woman's voice.
"Ah, the poor flowers!" said she.
"You should not have taken all that trouble for me,
Adele," replied a masculine voice, "you know I never
could endure such things."
It was the same cold voice which had once made such
a deep impression upon little Fay, but the tone was
deeper, and was now tinged with vexation. Felicitas
stood upon the landing and fairly held her breath while
she looked down. There he was, carefully leading Anna
step by step down the stairs. There was nothing in
his appearance which could suggest his title of Professor.
The young girl had always imagined the gifted possessors
of this title surrounded by a halo of refinement and cul-
ture, but here she looked in vain for the outward and
visible sign of such mental grace. She saw a muscular,
compactly -built figure, whose angular motions could nut
12 THE OLD MAitSELLS'S SECRET
certainly be characterized as elegant, and about which
there was an air of cold self-reliance, it seemed as thongh,
even in courteous greeting, that back could nerer bend.
And there was nothing in the face to contradict the judg-
ment which the figure elicited. For a moment he turned
his head, but there was no beauty in the expression of the
features which she had connected in her childish imagina-
tion with the Ev^angclist's picture.
A strong, curly, light-brown beard covered the lower
part of the face, reaching to the breast, and between the
eyebrows drawn together at this moment with vexation
at the be-garlunded room was a deep wrinkle. But yet,
there was something distinguished in the air of manly de-
cision and determined force of will that characterized this
unattractive exterior.
And now he stooped down and took the limping child
in his arms.
"Come here, my child, the poor little legs are not
strong enough yet to walk easily,'' he said. It sounded
astonishingly gentle and sympathetic.
"lie is not speaking to a player's child," thought Fe-
Ucitas, and her heart swelled with bitterness.
The morning was a very noisy one for the quiet house.
The bell at the street door rang continually. There were
plenty of people in this little town, as well as everywhere
else in the world, anxious to bask in the sunshine which
stream from any celebrity, entirely oblivious of how it
must illuminate their own insignificance. Their visits
were a reprieve to Fclicitas, who, much as she longed
to have an end put to the life she was leading, shrunk in
terror from the impending interview w^ith those whom she
80 detested. But the tenants of the sitting-room must
have Deen anxious that this same interview should take
place as quickly as possible, for scarcely was dinner over
TEE OLD MAJTSELLB'a SECRET. 93
IV hen Ileinrich appeared in the kitchen, examined Fell*
eitas' dresB most carefully, brushed a little dust from her
black sleeve, and said, with anxiety : '' Put up that curl
that has slipped out just over your ear, Fay, make it
smooth, the people in there don't like anything out of
place, you know. You are to go into my old master's
study, they are there. But what are you afraid of ?*
you are as pale as ashes. Courage! Fay, he can't take
your head oflfl"
Felicitas opened the door and stepped gently into her
uncle's former study. Iler cheeks and lips were still
white, and the absence of all colour gave to her features
an almost unearthly air of repose.
' Just as on that stormy morning nine years ago, Ma
dame sat in the arm-chair at the window. Beside her,
with his back turned to the door and his hands crossed
behind him, stood the man who had resolutely condemned
this young creature to a hard life of servitude, who had
done all that lay in his power to close for her the domain
of the intellect, and who had been, even when at a dis-
tance, always ready to punish without stopping to ask*
'Do you really deserve it?'
Felicitas had been right in dreading this interview for
at the sight of him such a flood of bitterness and dislike
welled up within her as made self-control almost impos-
sible, and yet she never needed self-control more than st.
this critical moment.
"Here is Caroline," said Frau Hell wig.
The Professor turned and started with surprise It
had apparently never occurred to him that the player's
child, who had stood there stamping her foot like a little
fury, might possibly grow up and become quiet and self-
contained. It was she, state/y and composed, although
her eyes sought the ground.
H THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
no stepped towards her, and his right arm moved in**
roluntarilj, was he about to give her his hand, as he
had done to Ileinrich in the morning?
At the thought, her heart throbbed with an access of
scorn, and the delicate fingers of the hand which hung im-
movably at her side closed convulsively upon the palm,-
but she raised her eyes, and from under their lashes looked
with icy coldness at the man standing opposite to her. It
was the gaze with which a bitter enemy meets an op-
ponent. The Professor must have understood it, for he
retreated involuntarily, and measured her with his keen
glance from head to foot.
At this moment some one knocked at the door, and the
Councillor's widow put in her lovely curly head
"May I come in?" she asked, in a tone of soft entreaty,
and without waiting for an answer she came into the
room.
"Ah, I am just in time to hear sentence passed," she
said. "My dear Caroline, you will soon see that there is
a stronger will at work here than yours and poor Well-
ncr will at last be made happy."
"I beg you, Adelc, to let John speak," cried Madame,
ungraciously.
"Well, let this point be settled first," said the Profes-
sor. He crossed his arms upon his chest, and leaned
against a table behind him. "Will you tell me why you
reject this man's honourable proposals?"
llis quiet passionless gaze rested searchingly upon the
girPs face.
" Because I despise him. He is a wretched hypocrite,
who uses piety as a cloak for avarice and greed of gain,"
she replied, with great firmness, these blows must be
parried by quiet, decided frankness.
"Ilcavcnsl what a wicked slander I" cried the Council-
TEE OLD MAJTSELLE'S SECRET. 95
(or '8 widow. In her displeasure she clasped her while
hands and looked beseechingly towards heaven, opening
wide her large blue eyes. Madame uttered a short con-
temptuous laugh.
''Now, John, you have a sample of the mind and man
ner of your precious ward," she cried. "She is quic
enough to despise I can assure you of that. I pray you
end this as soon as possible. You can do nothing with her
and I have no mind to hear honest people slandered."
The Professor did not answer. He was stroking his
beard with his hand which was wonderfully white and
well shaped and gazing at the Councillor's widow, who
stood there like an adoring seraph. It almost seemed as
if he had heard only her exclamation, the corners of his
mouth twitched slightly, but who could read the mean-
ing of that strange face ?
"How eagerly you must have pursued the study of
character, Adele, during the few weeks of your stay here,"
he said. "With such an advocate "
"But, in Heaven's name! John," the young widow in-
terrupted him, "you cannot think that 1 have any par-
ticular interest " She suddenly paused, and a deep
blush mounted into her cheeks.
And now decided contempt looked from the Profes-'
Bor's eyes.
"All the ladies who come here aunt's friends agree
that Wellner is a most excellent man," she said, dcpre*
catingly. "All the missionary funds pass through his
hands and the members of our church have the greatest
confidence in him."
"And you naturally rely upon their judgment," con-
cluded the Professor shortly. " I do not know the man,"
he turned to Felicitas, "and therefore cannot say bow far
you are Justified in your accusation."
96 THS OLD MAM'SELLB'S SECRET.
''John!" broke in Madame, with ezcitemenib
''Not now, mother, we will discuss this at some other
time, alone together," he said gently and soothingly.
" Of course no one will put any force upon you," he con-
tinued, turning to Felicitas again. "I have hitherto al-
ways maintained my right to enforce any commands laid
apon you, in the first place, because I placed implicit
confidence in the source whence such commands have
proceeded, and, in the second place, because your char-
acter is an exaggerated one, and one which always rebels
against whatever would conduce to its best good. But
In a matter of this kind my power ceases. As far as I
know, you are right, for you are young, and he is, as I
hear, a man advanced in years, which is unsuitable. An-
other great objection is the difference of station. At pres-
ent he overlooks your origin, but a time almost always
comes when such a thing is overlooked no longer. A
disturbance of the social equilibrium is always productive
of unhappiness."
How sensible and how heartless all this sounded I*
Ue was the very embodiment at this moment of all those
written instructions from Bonn which had always kept in
full view the siough of disgrace from which the 'player's
child ' had been extricated. lie left his former place and
stepped up to the girl, whose lips were quivering with
a bitter smile
" You have been a great care to us," he said, raising
his forefinger. " You have never known how and as I
am compelled to think, you have never desired, to gain
my mother's approval. As matters stand you can hardly
wish to remain in this house any longer."
"I am most desirous of leaving it immediately."
*That I can readily believe, ^you have never been at
any pains to conceal your dislike of our strict decorous
I
f
THE OLD MAM*SELLE'S SECRET. 9?
rule and your impatience under if Thdre was a mix-
ture of pique and yexation in his voice. ''It is indeed
trouble lost to attempt to suppress the restless, frivolous
inclinations natural to you. Well, you shall have what
you desire, but my task is not yet completed. I must
first attempt to discover your relatives."
'You had different views upon this point formerly/*
(nterrupted Frau Ilellwig contemptuously.
" Those views have been changed by time and circim-
stances, as you see, mother," he replied.
Felicitas was silent, and looked down. She knew that
any such attempt would be without result. Aunt Cor
dula had proved that long ago. For years before she had
instituted a search for the juggler, Orlowsky, or any of
the relatives of his wife, in the columns of all the princi-
pal papers of Germany but without any success. Of
course Felicitas could say nothing of this.
"The necessary steps shall betaken to-day," continued
the Professor, "two months must be consumed in these
inquiries. For that space of time you will continue to
occupy your position as my ward, and my mother's ser-
vant. If by the end of that time, none of your relatives
6ave appeared, then "
"Then," broke in Felicitas, "at the end of the proba*
tion I shaH entreat for an entire release from my present
bonds.".
"Ah, that sounds too harsh I" cried the Councillor's
widow angrily. "It would seem as if you had known
only ill treatment and oppression in this peaceful Chris-
tian household. What ingratitude!"
"You believe, then, that you can do without fiu'ther
assistance from us?" asked the Professor, not heeding
the young widow's angry outbreak.
"I am quite sure of it"
G 9
98 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
^Yevj well," he said, shortly, after a moment's silence,
" after the lapse of two months you shall be free to go
where yoa choose, and do as you choose." He turned
away, and walked to the window.
"You may go," said Madame harshly.
Felicitas left the room.
"Eight weeks more of this struggle I" she whispered^
she went through the hall. "It is for life and death I*^
CHAPTER XII.
Three days had passed since the Professor's arrival.
The monotonous life in the old merchant's house had un
dergone a transformation, but the time had, most unex-
pectedly, passed over Felicitas' head very quietly. She
breathed freely, and yet, strange to say, she had never
felt more humiliated and wounded than at present. The
Professor had not given himself any further trouble con-
cerning her he had apparently begun and concluded all
notice of her in his first interview with her. He had
sometimes passed her in the hall without seeing her, in-
deed, at such times he had seemed very mucb annoyed,
and the expression of annoyance on his countenance by
no means beautified it. The cause of this annoyance waa
Madame*s persistence in sending for him to the sitting-
room whenever visitors were present who wished to see
him. He obeyed her summons, 'tis true, but he must
have proved a most silent and unattractive addition to
society.
There were visitors every day whom Heinrich con-
iacted up- stairs to the second story patients oftea
i^
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 99
miserable, poverty-strickeu wretches whom Frederika,
at any other time, would have sent roughly from the
door, but to her great vexation, and indeed against
Madame's desire, they were now shown up the snowy,
freshly-scrubbed stairs to the Professor's room, where
they always found admittance and a listener. The Pro*
fessor had a great reputation as an oculist he had
effected several cures pronounced by some of his dis-
tinguished brethren impossible and thus the young
man's name had become widely known and famous.
Frau Ilellwig had ordered Felicitas to attend to the
sweeping and dusting of her son's room. The little apart-
ment presented a changed aspect since it had received a
tenant, whereas M had once possessed a pleasant air of
comfort, it now looked like the cell of a bare-footed friar.
The gay chintz curtains had shared a kindred fate with
the garlands, ^they had been sacrificed to the Professor's
love of light, several coarse, brilliantly-coloured battle
pieces which had adorned the walls had been removed,
and instead, just above the writing-table, hung a copper-
plate engraving, rescued from some dark corner of the
house, an exquisite picture of a young mother wrapping
her child tenderly in her own fur-lined cloak. The woollen
cover of the table, and several embroidered cushions had
been banished because they collected the dust, and upon
another table, instead of the Parian statuettes which had
formerly adorned the room, were most symmetrically
arranged the Professor's books. No curled leaves, no
frayed corners, were to be found among them, and yet
they had been well used. The bindings were excessively
simple and the colour of the back was an index to the
language in which the book was written, gray indicated
the Latin tongue, brown the German, 4&c. ''Exactly so
lie would like to arrange human beings," thought Felici'
100 THE OLD MAM' Si LIS 8 SECRET.
tas bitterly, when she saw the books for the first tliie,-^
"and woe to the one who is discontented with bis colour I"
In the morning the Professor drank his coffee with his
mother and the Councillor's widow, then he retired to
his room and studied until noon. He refused from the
first the wine which Madame sent up for his refreshment,
but a decanter of water was always placed upon his table.
He seemed to have a repugnance to being waited upon,
he never used the bell. When the water in the decanter
was no longer fresh he took the vessel down stairs and
filled it himself.
On the morning of the fourth day letters arrived for
the Professor, lleinrich had gone out, and Felicitas was
fient up-stairs with them. She lingered at the door, for
some one was speaking in the room, a woman's voice
was just finishing, as it seemed, some long narration.
''Dr. Boehm spoke to me about your son's eyes," said
the Professor kindly, ''I will see what can be done for
them."
"Ah, gracious Hen* Professor, such a famous man as
you ^"
"I must have none of that, my good woman," he in-
terrupted her so harshly, that she stopped, terrified. "I
will come to-morrow and examine his eyes," he added,
more gently.
"But we are such poor people, we cannot afford . ^
"My good woman, you have said that twice before,"
Interrupted the Professor, somewhat impatiently. " Pray
go now I really have no more time. If I can help your
son I certainly will. Oood-byl"
The woman came out, and Felicitas entered the room.
The Professor sat at his writing-table, his pen was al-
ready rapidly traversing the paper. But he had seen the
young girl eoter, and without lifting his eyes from his
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'A SECRET IQI
nrorky stretched out his left hand for the letters. He
broke the seal of one while Felicitas was retorning to
the door.
"By-the-waj," he asked, without looking up from his
letter, "who dusts this room?"
"I do," replied the young girl, istanding still.
" Well then I must request you to have a little more
regard for my writing-table. It is very annoying to me
not to find upon it the book which I want, and there is
one now I cannot find."
Felicitas stepped composedly up to the table upon
which were several piles of books.
"What is the title of the book?" she inquired.
Something like a smile broke over the Professor's seri-
ous features. Such a question in his study from girlish
lips sounded strange and naive to the grave physician.
"You will scarcely be able to find it it is a French
book, ' Gruvcilhicr, Anatomic du Syst^me Nerveuz' is
printed upon the back," he added with something like
another smile.
Felicitas immediately drew out a volume from under
pile of other French books.
"Here it is" she said, "it lay just where you yourself
put it I never take up one of these books."
The Professor rested his left elbow upon the table, and
turning hastily round, looked the young girl full in tfatf
face.
"Do you understand French?" he demanded.
Felicitas was frightened; she had betrayed herself
She not only understood French, but spoke it with ease
and fluency. The old Mam'selle had been a most thor-
ough instructress. She must reply, and reply immedi-
ately. The steel gray eyes gazed fixedly at her face,
9*
lOa THE OLD MAM" BELLE'S SECRET.
they would detect the slighteBt preyarication, the U aih
must be told.
"I have had lessons in French," she answered.
"Oh, yes, I remember, you studied until you were
nine years old, you have retained something of your
lessons," he said, thoughtfully, rubbing his forehead with
his hand.
Felicitas did not speak.
''And this was the unfortunate circumstance that
made my mother's and my plans for you so utterly
futile, you had learned too much already, and be-
cause we entertained our own peculiar views upon the
subject, you detest us as your oppressors, tormentors,
and Heaven knows what beside. Do you notf"
For one moment Felicitas struggled with herself, but
her bitterness of soul conquered. The colour left her
lips, and she said coldly: ''1 certainly have every reason
to do so."
A frown of displeasure gathered upon his forehead, but
perhaps he remembered how often, as a physician, he had
been obliged to listen calmly to all kinds of fretful unkind
replies from his patients. This young girl was mentally
ill, he thought, and he only remarked with composure:
'/Well, I certainly from this moment acquit you entirely
of the want of frankness of which you are accused. Tou
are more than candid. For the rest we shall be able to
console ourselves, in spite of the bad opinion you enters
tain of us."
He took up his letter again, and Felicitas left the room.
As she stood upon the threshold of the open door, he
glanced once more after her. The landing without was
flooded with golden sunshine the girl's form as she left
the darker room stood out like a painting upon a golden
background. Iler fig are had not yet attained to that
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 103
ripeness of perfection which a few years would bring,*
bnt every outline was indescribably tender, and every
movement full of grace, of that supple ease which fairy
lore ascribes to the heroines of its legends. And what
wonderful hair I It would usually have been called chestr
nut-brown, but when as now touched by the sunshine, it
shimmered like red gold. It was not like that soft yellow
hair which had fallen in such sparkling waves from under
the helmet of the juggler's beautiful wife. It was not
yet very long, bat of immense thickness, and was with
difficulty confined in a large knot at the back of the head.
A rebellious curl would often as at present break loose
from its bounds, and lie upon the white neck, just below
the knot.
The Professor turned to his work again, but the train
of thought which had been first interrupted by the poor
woman's account of her son's eyes, would not be pursued.
He rubbed his forehead with an air of vexation, and
iLrank a glass of water, ^it was of no use. At last, out
of humour with so many interruptions, he took up his
bat and went down stairs. If the Saracen's head in
bronze, which had occupied the respectable position of
penwiper to its learned master for so many years, could
have opened its grinning mouth wider, it would certainly
have done so with astonishment, there lay the pen un*
wiped; the Saracen might long in vain for the accus-
tomed delight of polishing the inky point upon its well*
worn dress. Incredible! Its exact master must have
been greatly disturbed.
"Mother," he said, as he passed by the door of her
room, "pray, in future, do not send that young girl up to
me upon any errand, let Ileinrich come, if he ^ not
here at the moment, I can wait."
'Ahal" replied Malame, in a tone of triumph "In
104 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
the coarse of three days the girl has become intolerable
to 70Q. Think what you have condemned me to for nine
long years."
Uer son shrugged his shoulders without speaking, and
turned to go.
"The instruction that she was receiving at the time of
my father's death ceased entirely when she entered the
parish school, did it not?" he asked, looking back.
"What a silly question, John!" said his mother, with
vexation. ''I am sure I wrote you minutely enough upon
that subject, and told you distinctly all about it when I
saw you in Bonn. The school-books were sold, and the
exercise-books I burned myself."
"And who have been her associates ?"
"Associates? Why, she has had none but Hcinrich and
Trederika; she would have none." The cruel expression
appeared on Madame's features; her upper lip contracted
as it used to do, showing one of the upper teeth. " I
could not undergo the annoyance of having her sit at my
table and in my room," she continued. " I could see in
her only the cause of coldness and dissension between
your father and myself, and besides, each year she has
become more disagreeable to me. But I tried to induce
her to associate with two or three pious girls, daughters
of some of our truly Christian mechanics, and you your-
self know how entirely she refused to have anything to
do with them, declaring that they were wolves in sheep's
clothing, or something of the kind. Oh, you'll find out
much in the course of these eight weeks with which you
have burdened yourself."
The Professor left the house to take a long walk.
On the afternoon of the same day Madame had invited
several ladies, most of them strangers visiting the baths,
iQ take coffee in the garden outside the town. Frederika
THE OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET. 105
was Buddenlj tftken ill, wherefore Fellcitas wr8 sent to
prepare eTerything for the guests. Iler arrangements
were soon concluded. Upon the smooth gravel in the
shade of a high cypress wall stood the delicately ordered
table, and in the kitchen of the summer-house in the gar-
den the hot water was simmering over the fire, all ready
to bA converted into delicious coffee. Felicitas leaned
against the open bow-window in the summer-house, and
looked out in melancholy mood. Without, everything
was as green and blooming in the quiet fragrant air as
though no desolating autumn blast had ever swept through
the branches of the trees, no wintry frost spun its glit-
tering network over the shrubs and plants. And years
before everything had been just as bright and fresh de-
lighting the eyes of him whose warm kindly heart had
now mouldered away in the ground, whose protecting
helping hand had been stretched out wherever there was
work for it to do, amoDg his flowers and plants as well
as among his suffering fellow-men. The tender young
flowers all around smiled as brightly into the faces of
strangers, and he was forgotten. Hither he had brought
the little orphan girl out of the reach of unkind tongues,
not only in summer, but often in the early spring, when
winter was resigning his sceptre reluctantly, and with
many a struggle. A fire had been lighted in the summer-
house, a warm carpet spread upon the floor, and they had
passed many a cosy delicious hour here, when the bwell*
ing buds outside topped against the warm window panes,
opon which an obstinate snow-flake would melt into a
trickling tear, and through which, across the yet deso-
late garden, could bo seen the dear old mountain, half
covered with snow, wearing its familiar crown of pop-
lars. Ah, what precious memories these were I And just
opposite were the chestnuts, their luxuriant young
106 THE OLD MAST SELLERS SECRET.
leavdB not yet fully grown, hanging idly down, as thongn
enerrated by the golden sunlight.
Approaching footsteps and the creaking of the garden
gate startled Felicitas from her melancholy reyerie
Through the north window she perceived the Professor
fast entering the garden accompanied by another gentle*
man. They walked slowly in the direction of the sum-
mer-house. John's companion was now a frequent visitor
at Madame's, he was the son of a man who had been a
dear friend of Herr Ilellwig's. Of like age with the Pro-
fessor, ho also had been educated by the strict and ortho-
dox relative of the Ilcllwigs on the Rhine. Both had
been fellow-students at the University for a short time,
and, although widely different in character and mode of
life, they had always been friends. While John Hellwig
had attained his professorial chair almost immediately
after completing his University course, young Franz had
spent his time in travelling until very recently, when, at
his parents' desire, he had returned to Germany, passed
his legal examinations, and was now a lawyer here, in
bis native town, patiently awaiting cases and clients.
Upon a nearer view, he was seen to possess great per-
sonal beauty, his form was elastic and vigorous, his
features were intellectual and expressive. His classically-
shaped head, with the delicate Qreek profile, might have
seemed almost feminine in outline, had not the masculine
grace of carriage, the strength and vigour of movement,
which characterized its possessor, fully redeemed it from
any such charge.
He took the cigar from his lips, examined it for a mo-
ment, and then tossed it aside. The Professor produced
bis cigar-case and handed it to him.
** Oh, not for the world 1" cried his friend, putting up
hla hands with a comical gesture of refusal. '^ How could
/^
THE OLD MAM'SELLES SECRET. 101
I dream of robbing those miserable l.ttle heathen in the
Sandwich Ialands,-*-and Hearen knows where else be*
Bide !"
The Professor smiled.
"As far as I know," continued the other, " yon hare
persevered until now in the heroic work of self-renun-
ciation which you initiated ten years ago. I remember
you allowed yourself three cigars a day, but you only
smoked one, and devoted the worth in money of the other
two to the missionary fund."
" I have preserved the habit," said his friend, with a
quiet smile, "but the money is differently appropriated,
it all belongs to my needy patients."
" Impossible I you the sturdy, determined defender of
all pious projects for the salvation of the heathen I ^the
foremost among the pupils of our despot on the Rhine !
Is this your devotion to his precepts? Apostate I"
The Professor shrugged his shoulders. He paused, and
thoughtfully brushed the ashes from the end of his cigar.
"As a physician, my views of mankind and of my du-
ties to them as an individual have undergone a radical
change," said he. "I could not hope even imperfectly to
fulfil my desire to be of some use in the world without
forgetting and unlearning much."
They walked on, and their voices died away. But the
eun lay hot and scorching upon the gravel path down
which they slowly wandered, and instinctively they turped
back to the stone-paved walk near the house, which was
Rheltered by tlie thick foliage of a group of acacias.
"It is of no use," Felicitas heard the Professor s^y
rather more quickly than was his wont. "You can;Ht
change me in this. I am just as much bored in the society
of women now as I used to be years ago, and, to tell you
the truth, my intercourse as a physician with the fair f:L^
108 TOS OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
as it is called, has bj no means tended to modify m^
former opinions with regard to them. What a combina-
tion of frivolity and want of character I"
"Of course you are bored in women's society," Frani
declared, pausing beneath the bow- window. "You dili-
gently seek the society only of the most ignorant and
Bimple, not to say silly, women. Tou detest modern
female education, sometimes 'tis true with some show of
reason. I am not going to defend ignorant strumming of
the keys of a piano, or silly, broken French, but there is
another side to the question. At the present time, when
the masculine intellect is continually exploring new and
untried paths, enjoying and participating in the impetus
which science of all kinds has received in this century,
you wish, if possible, to confine women behind the barriers
placed before them during the middle ages to deny their
Intellectual power a wider range than is accorded to their
servants ^this is not only unjust, but pure folly. Why,
women have the souls of your sons in their hands, and at
a time, too, when they are most easily influenced, pliable
as wax, ready to receive impressions which they will re-
tain with the tenacity of iron. Incite women to serious
thought, enlarge the circle in which you, egotist that you
are, have confined them, and which you call 'feminine
vocations,' and you will soon see vanity and want of
character disappear."
"That course I shall most certainly not pursue, my
dear friend I" said the Professor sarcastically, and slowly
walked on a few steps.
"I know perfectly well that you differ from me. Tou
think every requirement for a wife and moiher can bo ful-
filled by a religious woman. My revered Professor, I, too,
would choose a religious wife. A woman without religion
is a flower without fragrance. But I pray you, take care
^^
THE OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET. 109
Ton think her notable, well brought np, and religious^
and while 70a leave all things to her in charge with an
easj conscience, a tyranny is established in yonr home,
against which yon would rebel instantly were it not ex-
ercised by so religious a woman. Behind the mask of
religion are too often concealed the evil tendencies which
peculiarly beset the feminine nature. One can, even in the
smallest sphere, be cruel, revengeful, and haughtily dis-
dainful, condemning and destroying in blind zeal much
that is beautiful and elevating, all in the name of the
Lord, and in what is called the interest cf the kingdom
of Ood."
"You go very far."
"Not too far. I know you will come to see that the
intellectual capacity must be refined and cultivated, and
the soul made open to the claims of humanity, before the
religion of a woman can have the beneficent power that
it should have in the world."
"These are, at all events, considerations that I have
BO inclination to pursue," rejoined the Professor coldly.
"Science so entirely engrosses me and my life "
".A ha I and /ie?" his friend interrupted him in a low
tone, pointing towards the entrance of the garden. There
behind the grating appeared the Councillor's widow, with
her child and Madame. '* Is she not the actual realization
of your ideal?" he continued with undisguised irony.
"Simple,- -she dresses always in white muslin, which,
by-the-way, is extremely becoming to her, religious,
who can doubt it who has seen her in church with her
lovely blue eyes cast up to Heaven? She detests all
science, study, and meditation, because they would hinder
ihe progress of her knitting or embroidery. She is your
rqual in rank, which you know is also one of your India-
10
110 THE OLD MaM'SELLE'S SECRET.
pensable requisitionq for a happy marriage, ^in ehoil^
every one supposes that she is the one destined "
"You are ill natured, and never liked Adele," intcr-
rapted the Professor hastily. "And I am afraid it is
because her father was such a strick disciplinarian. 8he
is sweet tempered, gentle, and an excellent mother."
lie walked slowly towards the ladies, who were ap
proaching, and saluted them courteously.
CHAPTER XIII.
Before long the garden walks were enlivened by
graceful female figures, who, dressed in muslins and
gauzes, hovered about like white summer clouds. The
stiff dark cypress wall, before which the table was spread,
made a charming background for the airy fluttering
figures; silvery laughter and gay feminine conversation
floated out upon the air, diversified now and then by
sonorous manly voices. The guests were soon all as-
sembled around the table, and the ladies produced their
embroidery.
At a sign from Madame, Felicitas approached the table
with the coffee-tray.
"My motto is * simple and cheap,' " she heard the Coud
Ciller's widow say, as she drew near. "In summer 1
never wear a dress that costs more than three thalers."
"But you forget, my dear," said a rather over-dressed
young lady, looking suspiciously at the other's boasted
simple attire, "that you trim this simple material with
quantities of insertion and edging, wL's^h certainly mut
THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET. HI
Increase the price cf the dress to three times its original
cost."
"Ah, who would think of prosaic thalers in connection
with this lovely floating stuff I" cried Franz, enjoying the
malicious glances which the two ladies were interchang*
ing. "It looks airy enough to waft the wearers to
heaven, were it not for yes, were it not for such heavy
golden bracelets as that one for example, which must in-
evitably drag its fair possessor to earth again."
As he spoke his eyes rested with evident interest upon
the wrist of the Councillor's widow, who was sitting very
near him, but who, upon his last remark, started involun-
tarily, while for a moment a deep blush suffused her
checks and brow.
"Do you know, most gracious lady," he said, "that
for the last half hour I have been irresistibly attracted
by your bracelet? It is of such superb antique work-
manship. My curiosity is especially excited by the in-
scription that I can just distinguish, surrounded by that
charming wreath."
The countenance of the young widow had regained ita
usual lovely colour, she raised her placid blue eyes,
quietly unclasped the bracelet, and handed it to him.
Felicitas was standing just behind young Franz. She
could distinctly see the bracelet which he held. Oddly
enough it was in every respect exactly similar to the one
lying in the old Mam'scllc's secret drawer, except that it
was much smaller indeed it was rather tight for the
young widow's wrist.
das ir licbo \^i &no krano
Dio h&t got jesammo gobon
Hd oin wunnoclichcz lebon,
read Franz, with fluency. "Strange I" he cried, "the
na THE OLD MAW SELLERS SECRET.
ferae has no beginning. Ob, I remember it^ it is a qao
tation from one of the old Minnesingers a Terse from
(Jlrich yon liichtenstein's ' Constant Love/ the whole
verse is translated
Whore'or lovo with loye requited
Dwells in two hcartB fond and true,
And whoro both are so united
That this lore is always new,
God to these two hearts has giyen
Bliss indeed, for love is heaven.
"This bracelet has doubtless a faithful companion
closely connected with it by the beginning of the verse,"
he remarked, with lively interest. ''Does its companion
not belong to you also?"
*'No," replied the Councillor's widow, as she bent over
her embroidery, while the bracelet was passed from hand
to hand around the circle.
''And where did you get such a remarkable and ex-
quisite piece of workmanship, Adcle?" asked the Profes-
sor, acroess the table.
Again tne young widow blushed slightly.
"Papa made me a present of it a little while ago," she
answered. "Heaven only knows how far back its an-
tiquity can be traced 1"
She took tltt) ornament, clasped it upon her wrist, and
turning to tht? lady next her, addressed a remark to her
which effectually changed the current of conversation.
While univ^jrsal attention had been occupied with the
interesting bracelet, Felicitas had made the round of the
table every one had been helped from her tray with-
out bestowing a glance upon the person who carried it
She was returning to the summer-house entirely unob*
served. At the request of little Anna, who was limping
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. \i%
ftboat in the shady walk in frout of house, she stopped
for a moment, and lifting her arms, bending back her
head, caught at one of the hanging boughs of an acacia,
and tried to break off a small branch for the child. For
a female figure faultless in outline, there is no more ad
yantageous position than the one thus taken ::ncoii-
Bciouslv, and which she retained for several moments.
IToung Franz hastily raised his eyeglass ^he was slightly
near-sighted, and his dark eyes were riveted with evi-
dent astonishment upon the youthful form beneath the
acacia; he was in his turn keenly observed by the Coun-
cillor's widow, although she was apparently absorbed in
her embroidery. When Fclicitas disappeared within the
house Franz dropped his eyeglass and was turning to
Madame, evidently with a question upon his tongue, when
the young widow interposed with some inquiry concern-
ing an accident which he had met with while travelling,
thus enlisting his attention upon a subject in which he
was, of course, much interested.
Soon afterwards she arose noiselessly, and went across
to the summer-house.
" Dear Caroline," she said, entering the kitchen, "there
is no necessity for your bringing out more coffee. F'll up
the coffee-pot, I see here is an excellent coffee warmer,
-and I will carry it across to the table and pour it out
myself ^it will be more convenient for our guests, and,
to tell you the truth, you are not fit to be seen in that
faded chintz dress. IIow can you come into the presence,
of gentlemen in that ugly short skirt? It is scarcely de-
cent do you not sec it yourself, child?"
The despised skirt was the best w^hich Felicitas poh
gessed her holiday-dress. It was certainly worn and
faded, but it was faultlessly clean, and smoothly ironed.
That she should be reproved for what she had Bilently and
H 10*
r
114 THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET.
ancomplaininglj submitted to made her smile bitterly,*
hut any word of self-justification would have been super-
fluous, and in this case ridiculous.
When the young widow returned to the table, she
found the conversation which she had tried to prevent in
full play.
*' Strikingly beautiful ?" repeated Madame, laughingdia-
cordantly. ** Fie, my dear Franz, I cannot believe you
think so. Striking, I grant you, but not in a way that is
becoming to any young girl. Look closer at that pale face
and odd hair. That forward manner, those careless ges-
tures the eyes which stare you in the face with such un-
blushing boldness, are all inherited from an incorrigibly
depraved mother. Like begets like let the root be rot-
ViD and the bush will show it. Oh, I know it well for
nine long years I have spared no pains in endeavouring
to reclaim this soul to the Lord but the obstinate girl
has defied and defeated all my efi*ortsI"
"Ah, dear aunt, it will soon be over," said the Council-
lor's widow, soothingly, as she was pouring out the coflce.
*' Only a few weeks longer, and she will leave your house
forever. I am indeed afraid that the good seed has fallen
upon stony ground. There can be no pious aspirations in
a soul which has always ungratefully rebelled against
the restraint imposed by strict morality and decorous cus-
toms. But still we who are fortunate in being well bora
fihould not judge her too severely; there is levity in her
blood. If you should travel again in future years, Ilerr
Franz," she said, jestingly, to the young man, "you may
one day chance to-mcet with this former member of aunt*8
household beneath strange skies and admire her as an
ornament to the tight-rope or the circus."
"She does not look in the least like it," said the Pro-
fessor suddenly, in a clear, decided voice. Untd now te
TUE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 116
had been remarkably silent, his dissenting remark was, of
course, most striking. Madame turned towards him sur-
prised and angry, and the young widow lost her stereo-
typed gentleness, but, nevertheless, she shook her curls
with a smile, and opened her lips in the act, of course,
of saying something kind and loving when she was pre*
rented by the loud cries of her little girl. She turned,
and at the sight which met her eyes, uttered a shrill
shriek of horror. The child was running towards her
mother as steadily as her poor little limbs would allow
her in her right hand she held tightly clasped in her
terror a box of lucifcr matches her dress waa in flames.
We have said that the mother uttered a shriek of terror;
-with one glance downward at the light inflammable
material of which her own dress was composed, her pres-
ence of mind forsook heh She stretched out her arms,
as if to defend herself from her child, and, with a leap,
vanished behind the protecting cypress wall. The airily
dressed ladies scattered like frightened doves in every
direction with shrieks of terror. Madame alone bravely
followed the two gentlemen to the child's assistance, but
Ihey were too late, Felicitas was already upon the spot
she wrapped her dress tightly around the child and tried
to smother the flames but they were too strong, the
thin chintz dress caught Are, the young girl was in immi-
nent danger.
With hasty but quiet decision, she seized the child \u
her arms, ran across the lawn, up the side of the dam,
and plunged into the swollen brook.
The deadly peril and the swift rescue had occupied bup
very few moments ; before the two gpntlcmen had even
divined her purpose as she flew past them, the fire was
extinguished they reached the dam just as Felicitas had
regained her footing, t^i)(}, with the child held on her right
lie THE OLB MAM' BELLE'S SECRET,
ftrm, was seizing upon the bough of a hazel busn with hef
left hand, that she might steady herself against the rush
of water which was quite violent just at this spot With
the gentlemen, the Councillor's widow also appeared upon
the dam.
"My child I my Anna I Save my child I" she cried, in
ftecents of despair. She really seemed about to run into
ibe water.
"Don't wet your feet, Adele, you might catch cold,*'
said the Professor to her, with cutting irony, as he quickly
descended the side of the dam, and from the bank of the
stream extended both hands to Eelicitas; but they fell
at his side again, for the hitherto quiet expression on the
girl's face underwent a sudden transformation, the deep
wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows, and she cast
upon him that deadly cold, hostile glance which he already
iinew. Turning away her head, she gave little Anna into
^is arms, and then accepting, with a faint smile of ac-
fmowledgment, the hand which Franz extended to her, she
sprang upon the dam.
The Professor carried the child into the summer-house,
sccompanied by its distressed mother, and there it under-
vient a thorough examination for the purpose of discover-
ing its probable injuries, but, strange to say, it had escaped
almost unhurt no burns were found except on the left
hand, where, as the weeping child now related, the mis-
efaief had originated. The little girl, while her mother
was in the kitchen, had taken the box of matches from the
table as she was lighting one in the garden outside a
piece of linen which had been tied aroiind her finger for
some trifling scratch, caught fire; she tried to wipe off the
flame upon the Skirt of her dress, and thus the disaster
bad occurred.
The terrified ladies now one and all returned. Sympi^
rUE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET. IV\
ifay for the mother and rescued child and cong^atulatlona
resounded from all sides, and the 'little angel' was loaded
with caresses.
"But, my dear Caroline," said the Councillor's widow,
in a tone of gentle reproof to the young girl who stood
near her, anxiously awaitiug the result of the examine*
tion, ''could not you have taken some care of Anna
when she was playing in the garden?"
The reproach was too unjust.
" You had a few moments before forbidden me to leave
the house," replied Felicitas coldly, a blush of vexation
rose to her cheek, and she looked fixedly at her reprover.
"Indeed,^ and what was that for, Adele?" asked Frau
Hell wig, in some surprise.
"Ueavensl aunt," replied the young widow, without
any sign of embarrassment, "you can easily understand
it if you will look at that hair. I wished to spare her
and ourdelves the shame of the impression which such
neglect must produce."
Felicitas hastily put up her hands to her head; she wa.i
conscious of having arranged her hair with great care,-
but the comb, which could never be made to sit firmly
among the rebellious waves, had slipped out, ^it was
probably lying at the bottom of the brook. The wondrous
loosened masses lay thick upon her shoulders with shining
drops of water scattered like pearls here and there amocn
them.
"Is this all the gratitude that you display to the hand
irhich has carried your child unharmed through fire and
water, most gracious lady?" asked the young lawyer,
with some feeling. Until now he had been gazing at F^
licitas.
"llow can you do me such injustice, Uerr Franz?" re-
moni^trated the young widow, much offended. "How by
nS THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET,
comprehensible to a man are the workings of maternal
tenderness I At first the mother involantarily turns with
"eproach towards any one who has caused misfortune to
her child by neglect, although she thankfully admits that
such neglect is atoned for by its subsequent rescue. My
dear Caroline," she turned to the young girl, "I shall
never forget what you have done for rae to-day. I wish
t coulJ prove my gratitude to you upon the spot I" Then,
as if yielding to a sudden impulse, she unclasped the
bracelet from her wrist and held it out to the young girl.
" Take this, I beg of you, I value it highly, but what is
any sacrifice worth in comparison with my little daugh*
ter's preservation?"
Felicitas, deeply wounded, repelled the hand which
would have placed the ornament upon her arm.
"I thank you," she said, with that haughty motion of
her head which her pious employers found so indescrib-
ably unbecoming in the player's child. **I could never
receive a reward for fulfilling a simple duty to a fellow-
creature, still less do I feel inclined to accept any sacri-
fice. You say that I have simply atoned for neglect,
and therefore, Madame, you can be under no obligations
to me."
Frau Hell wig had already taken the bracelet from the
Councillor's widow.
"What are you thinking of, Adele?" she said, with
Bome vexation, "what could the gii;l do with such a
thing as this? Give her a dress of good strong gingham
that will be of some service to her, and that will be quite
enough!"
When she had nishcd speaking, the young lawyer left
the loom. He went for his hat, and came up to the open
window, against which Felicitas was leaning.
"I think that we are one and all behaving most cruelly
^
TBS OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET 119
to you!" he said to her. ''In the first place, we insalt
yoa by the offer of paltry gold, and then let you stand
there in your wet clothes. I am going to hurry to the
town and send out everything that is necessary for you
and the little incendiary."
lie bowed and departed.
"He is a fool!" said Frau Hell wig angrily to the ladies
around, who were looking with ill-concealed regret after
bis retreating figure.
The Professor, busied with the child's examination, had
not lost a single word of the foregoing conversation; and
one standing near him would have seen how, from the
moment when the young widow bad offered the bracelet
to Felicitas, his features had been suffused by a deep
flush. Certainly, as a physician, he would find no favour
with ladies, he was not at all adapted to the study of
those wonderfully refined and subtle ailments to which
the feminine nature is so liable. lie was frightfully
straightforward in his dealings with the fair sex. It was
80 natural that all present should have been frightened'
nearly to death by the child's deadly peril, and should
heap question upon question that they might be assured
of its safety, and satisfied as to the probable consequences,
yet to these questions, put in tones of such touching
Bensibility and sympathy, he returned only the shortest,
driest answers nay, to one or two fair ones, who wera
most tenderly solicitous, he actually replied with sarcasm.
At last, wrapping the child in a thick warm shawl, he
left her to the tender care which all were waiting to be-
stow upon her, and walked towards the door. Felicitas
had retired to the farthest corner of the room ; there she
thought herself entirely free from observation. With
her shoulders slightly contracted, she was leaning against
the wall, her face was deadly pale, and the fixed expres-
\
120 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
Bion of her dark eyes and her compressed lips showed
that she was suffering acute physical pain. She had a
considerable burn upon her arm which was smarting most
severely.
As he was closing the door behind him, the Professor
glanced once more search ingly around the room, his ^aze
encountered Felicitas, he paused ^looked fixedly at her
for a moment, and then approached her hurriedly.
"Are you in pain?" he asked quickly.
"I can bear it," she replied, with trembling lips whioi
closed again convulsively.
"You are burnt?"
"Yes, on my arm." Spite of her suffering she wished
to repulse all assistance, and turned away her head to-
wards the window. She would not for the world meet
those eyes which since her childhood she had so dreaded
He hesitated for a moment, but the sense of his duty as
a physician conquered.
"Will you not allow me to help you?" he asked, very
slowly, and with great gentleness.
"I will not trouble you," she coldly replied. "I can
do everything for myself as soon as I go back to town." ^
"As you please," he said. "But I would have you
remember that my mother still has some claim upon your
time and strength. For which reason you should not ^
wilfully make yourself ill." While he spoke this last
sentence he avoided looking at Felicitas.
"I do not forget that," she answered, with less feeling,
*-she understood perfectly well that he had reminded her
of her duties, not to humiliate her in any way, but evi-
dently to induce her to accept of his surgical aid. "I
thoroughly understand my position here," she added
"and you will find me till the last nioment at the post
signed me."
THE OLD MAM SELLERS SECRET, 121
"Well, is yoor medical skill required here, JoLnT"
asked the Councillor's widow, approaching them.
"No," ho said curtly, "but what are you doing here
Btill, Adele? I told you before that Anna should be taken
into the fresh air, and I cannot imagine why you insist
apon keeping her shut up in this close room."
lie went out of the door, and the young widow taking
h&t child in her arms, and accompanied by the rest of the
ladies, followed him. Madame was already seated quietly
again at the table. Since the last row of her knitting had
been completed, the lives of two human beings had trem-
bled in the scale between time and eternity, but such a
circumstance had no power to disturb the balance of mind
which was the result of iron nerves and a determined
will.
At last Heinrich appeared with the necessary gar-
ments. The honest fellow had run so fast that the per-
spiration stood in beads upon his forehead.
Shortly afterward Rosa came to the garden, and Frau
fiellwig allowed Felicitas to return to the town. She
knew that Aunt Cordula had in her well-stocked medi-
cine-chest a most excellent salve for burns, and therefore
while Heinrich kept watch below, she hastened up to the
rooms under the roof. While the old Mam'selle, roucn
shocked, brought out the cooling ointment and tenderly
bound up the burnt arm, Felicitas related the whole oc-
currence. She spoke quickly and nervously. Physical
pain and agitation of mind had excited her feverishly.
Yet the girl's strong will subdued her passionate excite-
ment, until Aunt Cordula gently observed that she ought
not to have rejected John's medical aid, and then the last
barrier of her carefully preserved self-control was swept
away.
"No, aunt I ' she cried suddenly, "his Land shall nevei
11
129 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
toQch me, even to save mo from instant death. Tba
class to which by birth I belong is 'unspeakably adlous
to him.' That declaration from his lips once wcmnded
my childish heart mortally, I shall never forget it. To-day
his sense of duty as a physician overcame for a moment
hip aversion to the Pariah. I require and will accept no
such sacriflce from him I"
She stopped exhausted, and showed in her face the
pain which her arm was giving her.
" lie is not without compassion," she continued after a
pause, "I know that ho denies himself luxuries for the
sake of his poor patients. In any other man constant
self-denial and quiet kindness would have power to touch
me deeply, but here they excite me as the knowledge of
crime in another would. I know how mean and degrad-
ing an admission this is, aunt, I know it well, but I can-
not help it it causes me great pain, it makes me very
angry to see anything admirable in the man whom I shall
detest to all eternity I"
And now having entirely lost for the moment her firm
foothold of reserve and self-control, she complained for
the first time most bitterly of the heartless conduct of
the young widow. That peculiar hectic glow faintly ap-
peared on the old Mam'selle's cheek.
"No wonder is she not Paul Uellwig's daughter?"
she interposed. There was the sternest disapproval ex-
pressed in these few words uttered gently but most
decisively. Felicitas listened with surprise. Never be-
fore bad Aunt Cordula made the faintest allusion to any
member of the Uellwig family, she had received the
news of the arrival of the Councillor's widow in silence
and with apparent utter indifference, so that Pelicitaa
had concluded that she had never in her life had an^ in*
tercourse with the family upon the llhino.
*i
\
TLB OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 123
"Frau Ilellwig calls him one of the chosen of th
Lord, an unwearied labourer in the vineyard of the true
faith," the young girl said, with some hesitation, after a
short pause. ** lie must be a stern devotee; one of those
zealots who live strictly according to the letter, and feel
themselves justified in judging harshly the failings and
faults of their fellow-men."
Felicitas heard here a strange low langh. The old
Mam'selle's features were of that peculiar kind concern-
ing which it never occurs to us to ask, *Are they ugly or
beautiful?' The refreshing expression of feminine gentle-
ness, and the delicacy of an intellectual nature mediate
between the stern requirements of the laws of beauty
and the irregularity of nature, where the line of beauty
fails expression completes the effect but for this very
reason, this style of face grows almost unrecognizable,
as soon as its accustomed harmony is disturbed. At this
moment Aunt Cordula looked positively uncanny; her
laugh was a laugh of scorn, although low and smoth*
ered, there was something Medusa-like in the look of
bitterness and contempt which for one instant swept
across her face, usually so quiet and loving. This low
laugh with the strange change in the old Mam'selle's
face, threw for one moment a faint reflex light upon her
past life, but no guiding thread appeared in the dark
web, and she now exerted herself to destroy any impreft-
Bicn which her momentary self-forgetfulness might have
made upon Felicitas.
Upon the large round table in the centre of the room
lay several open portfolios. Felicitas well knew the
dheets and slips of paper that were scattered about upon
the table. Many an illustrious name Uandel, Gliick,
Ilaydn, and Mozart was inscribed, often in almost un
intelligble hieroglyphics, upon those yellow pages it
1S4 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET
was Aant Cordala's autographic collection of celebrated
composers. When Felicitas entered the room the old
Mam'selle had been arranging papers, which, having lain
year after year behind the glass doors of the antique
cabinet, exhaled a strong odour of mould. She now
quietly went on with her work, putting the papers most
carefully away in the portfolios. The table was gradually
cleared, and a thick book of manuscript music appeared.
Upon the title-page was written : ** Music for the ope-
retta of ' The wisdom of the magistracy in the institution
of breweries,' by Johann Sebastian Bach."
The old Mam'selle laid her Gnger significantly upon
the name of the composer: "You have never seen that
before, have you. Fay?" she asked, with a melancholy
smile. ''That has been lying for many years in the top
drawer of my secret cabinet. This morning all sorts of
thoughts have been chasing each other through my old
brain -their meaning being that it is time to prepare for
my going home, and among my preparations this book
belongs in the red portfolio. It is the only copy in ex-
istence, ard is well worth its weight in gold, my dear
Fay.
" The libretto of this operetta, written expressly for
our little town of X , in the dialect of the place, was
discovered nearly twenty years ago, and created some
stir in the musical world on account of the music belong-
ing to it which was supposed to have been composed by
Bach but which was nowhere to be found. This com-
position, for which search is still made, lies here. These
melodies, which have been sleeping here upon paper for
more than a century, are for musicians a sort of Nibelun-
gen treasure, especially as they are the only genuioe
opera airs that Bach ever compoBcd. In 1705, the schol-
ars of the put lie school here, and some of the tow is' folk.
V
TEE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 125
!^Mt)aght out the operetta, and it was played in the old
town-hall."
fi^he turned over the title-page, and upon the other side
was written in a delicate hand, 'The MS. composition
of Jotaon Sebastian Bach, written by his own hand, and
received from him as a remembrance, in the year ItO^.
Gottheif V. Hirschsprung.' **IIe suug in the operetta,"
vhe salQ in a voice that vibrated audibly, pointing to the
last nanit).
'*And ikdw did this book come into your possession,
aunt?"
"It waN a legacy," replied Aunt Cordula shortly,
almost hari^.^ly, as she put the partitur into the red port-
folio.
At such moments it was quite impossible to continue
a conversation which the old Mam'selle wished to break
off. There ^ as at these times such a decided and dig-
nified reserve expressed in every line and motion of the
feeble little figure that only utter want of tact and im-
pertinent curiosity could proceed. Felicitas cast a long-
ing glance at the vanishing MSS., the melodies which no
one living except Aunt Cordula possessed excited in her
the intensest interest, but she did not venture to ask for
a sight of them, as she had also previously refrained in
her account of the afternoon's occurrences from all men-
tion of the bracelet ; for the world she would not for the
Becond time have touched a chord in her kind friend*s
memory which vibrated so painfully.
The old Mam'selle opened the glass doors, and Felkitas
stepped out upon the balcony. The sun was setting. Over
the distant landscape hovered what seemed like sparkling
Qoating golden dust, dazzling the eye and mingling the
mdistinct outlines upon the horizon cf earth and heaven.
Like grain flung from the hand of the dower, long rays of
11*
1 26 TUB OLD MAM' SELL E'S SECRET.
light were flung from the setting sun, tipping with ruddy
gold the summits of the mountain forests and the bloa-
som-ladcn orchards in the valley. Single sections of
country stood out revealed by the fading rays amid the
gathering gloom around, like new and sudden },hought3
in some human brain. The little village whose outlying
cottages were boldly climbing the mountain's side lay hid
io the shadow, but upon its high-pointed church spire the
round ball gleamed brilliantly, as though played about
by lightning, and the open doors of the houses revealed
the red light of the fire on the hearths w^here the humble
evening meal was preparing. The delicious calm of
evening brooded over everything, and up here the flowers
exhaled their intoxicating fragrance, which in the intense
quiet of the air hung caressingly around the vine leaves,
yet faint from the warm sun. Sometimes a clumsy
May beetle would fall clattering upon the floor of the
gallery, or a pair of swallows whirr twittering past to
their nest, nothing else disturbed the solemn repose of
nature. And now the chords of Beethoven's funeral
march rang out from the music-room into the stillness
with an indescribable effect, but after the first few bars,
Felicitas raised her head and cast a startled glance back
into the room. Could those sounds come from the piano
within? The whispering dying tones fell upon the young
girl's ear with the force of a mysterious warning from the
spirit world. Ah, the hands gliding over the keys were
weary, weary unto death ; and those tones which they
called forth were the flutlerings of the long-caged epirit
sighing to be free forever I
^
TUB OLD MAM*SELLE'8 SECRET, 181
CnAPTER XIV.
The adventures by fire and flood were not withoa
0il consequences. During the night the child was at
tacked by catarrh fever, and Felicitas awoke next morn*
ing with a severe headache. Nevertheless she attended
to all her customary duties with her usual diligence,^*
her wounded arm was not very painful, for the healing
ointment had worked well during the night.
In the afternoon the Professor came home. lie had
just performed successfully an operation upon the eyes
of one of his patients, which no physician had ventured
hitherto to undertake. In his gait and carriage the usual
quiet assured self-reliance was observable, the colour in
his cheeks was not a shade deeper than usual, but those
who knew him intimately, might well wonder at the un*
wonted fire that burned in his eyes underneath the strong
bushy eyebrows, those usually cold steel gray eyes,
which seemed made only to search closely into the very
souls of others, could then, at certain moments, flash and
glow with genial sympathy and heartfelt satisfaction.
lie stood at the door of the court-yard, and asked
Frederika, who was just coming into the house with a
bucket of water, whether her illness of yesterday had
passed away.
"Oh, I am quite well again, Ilerr Professor," she said,
putting down the bucket, "but the girl there," pointing
across the court to the windows of a room upon the
ground floor of the house, " Caroline, I am sure, caught
something yesterday in all that fire and water. I could
scarcely sleep a wink last night, ^she talked so loud in
128 ^HE OLD MAitSELLE'S SECRET.
her bleep, and to-day she is going about with such a
heavy head, and with a face the coloor of scarlet,
and ^
"You ouf^ht to have told me before, Frederika," Inter-
rupted the Professor sternly.
"I did tell Madame; but she said it would soon pass
e?er. Caroline has never had a doctor in her life since
she came here, and she has grown up strong enough
Rank weeds grow npace, llerr Professor. There is no
use in trying to be kind to her," she added, as she re-
marked a gathering cloud upon her hearer's face, "she
has always ever since she was a little child, been an ob-
stinate thing, behaving herself as though she were a
king's daughter, she, a player girl! Often when I have
baked or cooked up something particularly good for
Madame, I have set aside some of it for her. I always
think of others, sir I But do you suppose she ever
touched it? Not a bit of it. I always had to give it to
some one else. You see, Ilerr Professor, she has been
this way from childhood. She has never eaten half
enough since our old master died, 'tis a wonder to me
that she has grown up so tall. And it is all because of
her obstinacy and evil-minded arrogance, she does not
wish to accept anything from anybody. Did I not hear
her with my own ears telling lleinrich, that when she
had once left this horrible house she would work her
fingers to the bone and send all that she earned to
Madame, until every penny that she had cost, every
mouthful of bread that she had eaten here, was well paid
for?"
The old cook had not observed how, while she was
pouring out her heart in this way, her auditor's face had
been more and more deeply dyed with crimson, until,
scarcely waiUng for the conclusion of the last sentence.
/O
TUB OLD MAM'SSLLJS'S SECRET. itf
idthoat rcpljiug a word he strode across the court-jard
towards the window which she had pointed out to him
It waft a high bow-window cut in the stone, opening
nearly on the ground, and belonged to the room in which
Fredorika and Felicitas slept. It was open at presect,
and through it were plainly seen the bare whitewashed
walls and clumsy scanty furniture; it was the same small
dreary room in which the child of four years of age had
sobbed through her first night of childish longing for her
mother. There she was now at the window ^the obsti
nate outcast who would not even satisfy her hunger
in this hated house who would work her fingers to the
bone that she might free herself from all obligation-
there was pride which she had preserved with even masr
culine determination in the midst of daily humiliations,
and a soul inspired by indomitable energy and inex-
haustible power, all existing in that fair young creature
now apparently sleeping the lovely careless sleep of a
child. Her head was resting upon her arm, which was
lying upoa the window-sill; the snowy forehead and the
glittering splendour of the hair contrasting strangely
with the gray istone. The pure profile with the lips softly
closed and the depression of the corners of the mouth
wore an expression of innocence and gentle melancholy;
the eyes which could flash out such bitter hate and defi*
auce were closed, their long dark lashes resting upon her
cheeks.
The Professor advanced noiselessly and regarded hei
for a moment in silence, standing immovably by the win-
dow, then he bent over her.
" Felicitas 1" his voice was gentle and full of kindly
sympathy.
She started np and gazed incredulously into the eyea
which were fixed upon her; her name spoken by his lipa
UO TUB OLD MAJTSKLLE'S SSCMST.
acted opoD hter like aik dcctric BboA She drew up ha.
figure, which had just now leaned open the sill in the
relaxation almost of childhood, and in oTery line of hei
Uce there was ejqresscd absolute determination as if to
repel some expected hostile attack.
The Professor entirelj i^ored the transformation.
''I hear from Frederika that yon are ill," he said with
the friendly tone usual with a physician.
" I feel quite well again," she answered with constraint.
" Undisturbed repose has always prored my best medi-
cine."
"Hm, nevertheless you look " he did not finish
the sentence, but put his hand across the window-sill, and
attempted to take hold of her wrist She retreated several
steps into the room.
"Be reasonable, FelicitasI" he said with serious kind-
liness, but his brows contracted gloomily as the girl, clasp-
ing her hands almost convulsively in front of her, did not
^proach him. In spite of the thick beard, the angry com-
pression of his lips could plainly be seen.
''Then it is no longer your physician who addresses
you, but your guardian," he said harshly, "and as such I
command you to come here I"
She did not look up, her eyes were still fixed on the
ground, and her chest heaved as though with an inward
conflict, but she slowly approached the window, and with
averted face extended her hand, which he gently took in
his. The well-shaped little band, hardened by labour,
trembled so violently that an expression of great compas-
sion crossed the Professor's face.
** Again, you wilful, foolish child," he said with gentle
gravity, "yon have compelled me to treat you with
severity and I had hoped that we might part without
one more em')ittered word. Ilave you then no look
r\
Tff OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. ISi
for me or for my mother but one of inextin^shabk
hatred V*
"We must all reap as we sow I" she replied in smoth*
ered accents as she tried to withdraw her hand from
his, looking at the slender fingers, that enclosed her wrist
gently and firmly, with as much horror as though they
bid been of red-hot iron.
But he dropped her hand quickly, gentleness and
eyrapathy disappeared from his face, evidently provoked,
he struck with the end of his cane at some innocent
blades of grass that were growing in the chinks of the
wall. Felicitas breathed again, this rough, harsh manner
was familiar to her it was his own she hated his sym-
pathy.
"Always the same accusation," he said at last coldly.
"However your exaggerated pride might be wounded by
it, it was our duty to bring you up with most moderate ex-
pectations. I can bear the burden of your hatred calmly,
for I did my best, and desired only your best good and
my mother? well, her love may be diflBcult to gain, I will
not deny that, but she is incorruptibly just, and her fear
of God would never have allowed her to permit any real
harm or injustice to have befallen you. You are about to
go out into the world upon your own responsibility. In
your case docility is specially needful. How can you ex-
pect to succeed in intercourse with others while you so
rigidly retain your false views of life f IIow can those
defiant eyes ever win alTection or good will?"
She raised her eyes, and looked him calmly and firmlj
in the face.
"If any one can prove to me that my ideas of right
will not bear the pure light of reason I will willingly re-
Dounce them," she replied in her low, expressive voice,
"but I know that I am not alone in my conviction that no
132 THE OLD MAM SELLERS SECRET.
one, whoever he may be, hos the right to condemn anothef
to intellectual death ; I know that thousands feel, as I do,
how unjust and wrong it is to deny to any human soul
the gratification for which it thirsts, simply because it is
confined in a low-born body. I go out into the world with
fX)nfidence, for I believe in human nature, and rely upon
finding those towards whom I shall certainly not preserve
Jtn attitude of defiance. A girl in my unfortunate circum-
Glances, who is obliged to live among heartless people, has
no other weapon than her pride, no support except the
consciousness that she is God's child, and may be a par-
taker of his spirit, lie is no respecter of persons, for
Him the distinctions of rank and class do not exist
they are human inventions, and the more narrow and
contracted the soul, the more does it cling to such dis-
tinctions."
She turned slowly away, and disappeared behind the
door leading into the servants' room, while he stood with-
out gazing after her. lie pulled his hat down over his
forehead, and walked towards the house. No one could
tell what was going on in that bowed head, but one thing
was certain, the glow which had shone in his eyes when
he first returned to the house that afternoon had vanished
gloomy thoughts were evidently brooding behind that
deeply-furrowed brow.
In the hall were the young lawyer Franz, and Ileinrich.
The Professor started as if waking from a dream, as thelf
voices struck upon his ear.
"So you have patients in the house. Professor," said
the lawyer, shaking hands with him. "The fire has had
evil consequences, as I hear. The child "
"Has catarrh fever," completed the Professor dryly.
He evidently was not in the humour for further explauv
tions.
^
THE OLD MAiTSELLE'S SECRET. 13S
"Ah, Heir Professor, that is of very little coriScquence,"
said Hcinrich. '' The child is a poor, wretched little crea-
ture, pining away all the time but when a girl like Fay,
who never has an ache or a pain all the year round, hang9
her head, it is enough to make any one anxious."
" I have really not been able to perceive much hanging
of the head,^' said the Professor, one could see the cor-
ners of his mouth twitching ironically beneath his beard.
'I She holds her head as erect as is at all necessary, rely
upon it, IleinrichI"
He went up-stairs with Franz. At the top of the first
flight Anna ran towards them she was barefoot, and in
her night-dress, her poor little cheeks were scarlet with
fever, and her eyes were swollen with crying.
''Mamma is gone, and Rosa is gone and Anna wants
a drink of water!" she cried out to the Professor. Much
displeased, he took her in his arms and carried her back
into the bed-room. No one was to bo seen. Greatly irri-
-tated, he called the maid. A distant door was heard to
open, and Rosa, flat-iron in hand, her cheeks aflame, came
running along the passage. In the distant room a huge
pile of snowy muslin could be seen upon the ironing-
table.
"Where are you? How can you leave this sick child
entirely alone?" he cried out to her, as she entered the
room.
**Ah, Ilerr Professor, I cannot be in two places at once,"
Baid the girl, almost crying with vexation. "My gracioug
lady must always have a fresh white muslin dress every
morning there is no end to the washing and ironing;
these muslin dresses make more work than "
She stopped hort, for the young lawyer was seized
with a violent fit of laughter.
"Alas for the lady in simple white muslin I" cried he^
12
134 THE OLD MUM'SELLE'S SECRET,
ftctnallj holding his sides, for the gloomy embarrassed
eountenaDce of his friend struck him as infinitely com*
leal.
" My mistress thought," Rosa went on with ner defence,
" that as Anna had only a bad cold, she might easily be
left alone for half an hour her toys were all on her bed
where she could get them."
"And where is my cousin?" asked the Professor,
harshly.
" My mistress and Madame Ilellwig have gone together
to the meeting of the Missionary Society."
"Indeed I" He waived all further explanation, and
looked positively angry. "Now go back and get through
with that stuflF," ho ordered, pointing towards the door
whence she had come; then he called Frederika, but the
old cook, having just put her hands into her fresh dough;
Bent Felicitas.
The young girl came up-stairs. The flush caused by
her late excitement had not yet quite left her cheek, but
her look coolly scanned the irritated countenance of the
Professor. She stood still, with quiet dignity, awaiting
his orders. It evidently cost him a struggle to address
her.
" There is no one to take care of little Anna. Will you
stay with her until her mother's return?" he asked, and
an attentive listener might have observed the effort with
which he compelled his voice to take a gentle tone.
"Most willingly," she answered, without embarrass^
ment. "There is only one ol^ection to my doing so.
The child's mother does not like to have her little daugh-
ter with me. But if you will take all responsibility I
will do what you ask."
"Certainly I will."
Without another word, she entered the bed-room and
*'
TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 135
closed the door. The young lawyer looked after her
wi'.h Bparkling eyes.
"It is Ilemrieh's strange fashion to call her 'Fay,'" he
said to the Professor, as they went up the second flight
of stairs to the room of tho latter, " and oddly us the
Uftme sounds from his rude lips, it suits her marvellously.
\ must frankly confess that I cannot conceive how you
yourself, and your mother, have had the courage to place
this remarkable girl upon a footing with your old cook
and that pert lady's maid."
"Ah, you think we should have robed her in silks and
velvets?'' cried the Professor, more agitated than his
friend had ever known him. "And as a daughter has
been denied to the House of Hell wig, the empty place
could not have been better filled than by this Fay, or
rather Sphinx, as I call her. You were always an en-
thusiast I There is no possible objection," his voice vi-
brated with excitement, "to your making the juggler's
daughter Madame Franz as her guardian I will bestow
my blessing upon you I"
The handsome face of the young lawyer flushed to the
roots of his hair. For one moment he turned in confu
sion, and looked from the window across the Square
they had entered the Professor's room, and then turn-
ing again with a smile, and not without a shade of irony
in his voice, he replied:
"If I comprehend in the least the workings of that
girl's mind, she will scarcely trouble herself concerning
her guardian's blessing, or. even consent her own deci-
sion is all I should have to consult and if you think to
scare me by the term 'juggler's daughter,' you are greatly
mistaken in me, my revered Professor. For you, indeed^
with your ideas, such a thought would unhinge your
whole nervous system. WhatI commingle the wano
136 TffS OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET.
impalsire blood, coming quick from the heart of the jag
gler's daughter, and the cool sluggish stream which flowa
in your veins from your long line of eminently res]ect-
able merchant ancestors why, the idea is monstrous
those worthies there would turn in their graves 1"
He pointed into the next room through the open -door.
There, upon the wall, was hanging a long row of well-
painted portraits in oil, all stately respectable men, with
sparkling diamonds on their fingers, and in their fault-
lessly tied cravats. They were the various Burgomasters
and Councillors of Commerce, who had once borne the
name of Ilelhvig.
The Professor crossed the room and entered the apart-
ment the stings of his friend's irony seemed to glide
harmlesBly off from him. He folded his arms upon his
chest and walked several times up anl down before the
portraits. "They have lived blameless lives," he said
suddenly, standing still. " Has this exterior of staiulcss
dignity and worth been attained and preserved without
fierce mental conflicts? 1 cannot believe it. Human
nature is antagonistic, it rebels most obstinately just
where it should obey most implicitly. Yet all their sac-
rifices have been as blocks of stone contributed to form
one solid structure, and this structure is called 'The
House of Hell wig.' Have they been formed and brought
together only to be thrown down like a house of ^arda
by some unworthy descendant? God forbid I"
It really seemed as if he suppressed some inward
struggle with these words, for the unwonted excitement
which Franz had observed with such surprise entirely
aisappeared when he returned to his own room.
Felicitas had been sitting about half an hour by the
child's bedside, when the Councillor's widow came homi
Her face darkened at once at sight of the young girl.
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 187
"How did you come here, Caroline?" she asked sharply
throwing her sunshade upon the sofa, and drawing of!
her Swedish gloves. "J certainly did not require this
seryice of you."
"But/ did 1" said the Professor, as he suddenly ap
pearcd behind her upon the threshold of the open doer
"Your child needed attendance, she ran out to me bare
footed as I came up-stairs."
"Impossible! Oh, Anna, how could you be so dis
obedient?"
"Are you really in doubt, Adele, as to who was to
blame in this ease?" asked the Professor, still controlling
himself although the tone of his voice betrayed his dis-
pleasure.
"Oh IleavensI How I am tormented with that care-
less creature Rosa I She has nothing in the world to do
except to take care of this child, and yet I know that the
moment my back is turned she is either gaping out of the
window, or standing before the looking-glass."
"She happens at this moment to be standing before the
ironing-table labouring in the sweat of her brow at a
dress which you must a tout prix put on to-morrow,"
Interrupted her cousin, emphasizing every word with cut-
ting contempt.
She started guiltily. For one moment she was quite
overwhelmed with confusion, but she quickly recovered
herself.
"Heavens, how stupid I" she cried again, "she has cu-
tiiely misunderstood me how unfortunate I ami"
"Well," he again interrupted her, "we will suppose it
A misunderstanding and let it go. But how could you
leave your sick child in the charge of a maid who is, is
Tou have just declared, so grossly careless?"
"John I obeyed the call of a sacred duty," answered
12*
r
138 TjIB old MAM' sellers SECRET,
the young widow, casting up her beaatifol eyes with an
expression of pious enthusiasm.
"Your most sacred duty is your duty to your child I**
he cried, now really angry "I, as your physician, sent
you here, not to occupy yourself with missionary socle*
ties, but solely and simply for the sake of your child 1"
"Oh, John, what would aunt and papa say if they
ihould hear you? you used to think so differently."
*That I grant you, but reflection always leads us U
the Orm conviction that we should exert our best and
strongest powers in the sphere where Providence has
placed us. A hundred children brought from Paganism
into the bosom of the church through your means could
not relievo you from one iota of the blame that mu3t
attach to you for any neglect of your own child 1"
The young widow's face glowed like a peony, but she
struggled bravely for her usual gentleness and succeeded.
'' Do not be so harsh to me, John," she entreated. ''Re-
member I am only a weak woman who always means to
do what is right. If I have erred, it was out of affection
for your mother who wished mo to accompany her, I
promise you it shall not occur again."
The young widow spoke in the most melodious tone of
her flute-like voice, and offered her hand to her cousin with
a bewitching smile. Strange the grave man blushed
like a girl. Unconsciously he cast a shy glance towards
the figure by the bedside bending over the little girl ^tLeii
took the proffered hand in two fingers, and coldly dropped
it. The dove-like eyes, which so beseechingly sought his,
suddenly flashed, and the face grew pale but traDquillity
was bravely maintained. The young mother took her
child's head between her hands and kissed the feverish lit*
lie forehead.
" 1 will take care of Anna now, and I thank you most
^%
THE OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET. 139
eordiallj, dear Caroline, for taking my place here in my
absence," she said kindly to Felicitas.
The young girl rose to go but the child began to cry
bitterly, and throwing her arms around her, held her
ightly with both hands.
The Professor felt the poor little wrist.
'' She has a high fever, I cannot consent to have her
excited further," he said kindly but coldly to Felicitas.
"Will you have the kindness to sit beside her until she
falls asleep ?"
She silently resumed her scat, and he left the room
At the same time the Councillor's widow retired hastily
into her sitting-room, and closed the door behind her with
something of a slam. Felicitas heard her walking up and
down with agitated steps, and then there came a sharp
sound like the tearing of muslin. Little Anna started up
and listened, and when the sound was repeated in quick
succession, she began to tremble violently and burst into
tears.
"Mamma, mammal" she cried suddenly, "I will be
good I I will not do so again. Don% dear mammal"
At this moment Rosa entered. Her usually rosy face
looked quite pale.
" She is tearing something to pieces again. I heard it
distinctly on the landing," she whispered to Felicitas with
an expression of great disgust. " Lie still, my darling,"
she said, soothingly to the child. " Mamma will not hurt
you, she will not come here now, and by-and-by she
will be kind again."
Within, a door opened and shut, the Councillor's widow
bad evidently gone out of the room. Rosa now entered
it, and returned immediately with a small bundle of white
rags in her hand. They were the remains of a lace pocket
handkerchief.
140 THE OLD MAJTSELlsE'S SECRET,
''She is perfectly beside herself when she falls into one
of her rages," grumbled the maid. " She tears to piecefl
whatever she has in her hands, and strikes right and left
without mercy. That poor little thing knows that weU
enough."
Felicitas pressed the child to her heart, as if to shield
her from her mother's violent outbreak of passion, but
there was no ground for her anxiety. The voice of the
young widow was suddenly heard from the landing with-
out in all its bell-like clearness of tone, she was chatting
cheerfully with young Franz as he went down stairs, and,
when shortly afterwards she entered the bed-room, she
looked more lovely and gentle than ever. The recent an-
gry flush had subsided, leaving only a delicate carmine
tint on either softly-rounded cheek, and no one would
have dreamed that the heightened brilliancy of the eyes
which beamed in that beautiful face was the result of
anything but some lofty ebullition o^ f^'minine enthusiasm.
CHAPTER XV.
WoEN, at the Professor's request, Felicitas took her
station by little Anna's bedside, she never dreamed that
she had undertaken an office which she was to retain for
many days. The child became dangerously ill, and would
Dot suffer either her mother or Rosa to approach her.
Upon the Professor and Felicitas, therefore, the charge of
watching by her and giving her her medicine devolved.
In her delirium the torn handkerchief played a conspic-
Dous part. John listened with amusement to her childish
THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET. \i\
erietf of anguish and fear, and more than once called up
a blush of confusion and terror into his cousin's cheeka
by his persistent searching questions. 'She, however,
stoutly affirmed and Rosa always confirmed her asser
tion ^that the child alluded to some frightful dream which
the had had.
Felicitas soon became most skilful in her duties as
nurse ; for although daily and hourly intercourse with the
Professor at first made her position a very trying one,
yet the anxiety which they shared together for the child's
life, helped her to overcome the difficulties of her situatiou
more quickly than she had thought possible. She was
amazed to find how well she understood him in his office
of physician. While others even the child's mother-
thought him impenetrable, she always knew whether hfli
considered the danger on the increase, or whether he had
begun to hope, and this almost entirely without a word
of explanation on his part calling her to note any change
that was taking place. lie relieved her by watching himt
self on alternate nights, and during the day he spent much
time in the sick-room. He would sit patiently for hours
by the bedside, laying one and then the other of his cool
hands upon the child's hot forehead. The little girl would
often fall asleep, thus soothed by his gentle hand, which
really seemed to possess magnetic power.
With determined aversion Felicitas tried to drive from
Ler mind the involuntary comparisons that would sug
gest themselves, as sitting at some distance from him her
glance rested upon his face and figure. There were the
same hard, irregular lines in the face, the same broad,
massive forehead, above which ihe thick hair was most
carefully and smoothly brushed, the same eyes, the same
voice, everything just as she remembered him the terror
of her childhood, but she looked in vain for that gloomy
148 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
air of asceticism which had made the jouthfal face and
figure so prematurely old and forbiddiug. A mild light
seemed to surround that broad forehead, and as she
listened to the tones of his voice as he tenderly soothed
the suficring child, she could not but confess to herself
that he certainly appreciated fully the sacredness of his
calling, lie did not stand contemplating, with a cold
shrug of his shoulders, the unavoidable suffering of others;
he not only tried to rescue the body from pain and death,
but the agonized soul might find support and sympathy
in his eyes, and gather courage and consolation from his
Toice. lie had a command of language which few men
possess. Words and tones were at his bidding which
stirred electrically the heart of the listener. Who could
at such times remember his stiff, awkward movements,
or his repellant demeanour in social intercourse? Ilis
presence compelled admiration,.,-he was a man conscious
of power, the deep-thinking, determined mediator be-
tween the two deadly opponents Life and Death. But
whatever thoughts of this nature might at times haunt
and fill Felicitas' mind, her concluding consideration wa9
always the same. If he can think and feel humanely,
sympathizing with the needs and woes of the poorest of
his fellow-men, ^the despised child of the juggler has all
the more reason to detest him, for to her he had been only
an unpitying oppressor and prejudiced unjust judge.
During their present daily intercourse, he had neve/
once adopted towards her that gentle tone and manner
which she so dreaded, and against which she defended
herself with the weapons of defiance and pride. He pre-
served uninterruptedly the air of common kindness which
he had used towards her since their last conversation,
and this was expressed far more in manner than in words,
as, except to ask her some unavoidable question, he hardly
TEE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 143
eyer addressed her. He had a liard part to play with the
Coancillor's widow. At first she behaved like one beside
herself, and insisted that Felicitas should resign her post
to herself or to Rosa all John's quiet decision of manner
was necessary to bring her to reason. Then she could
not be prevented from putting in at the door at all hours
th'^t curly head which the child so dreaded, almost al
ways when her cousin and Felicitas were together in the
room. She wept and wrung her white hands. What-
ever poets may say about heroines Movely in enchanting
tears,' there is no human face that can be beautiful in a
burst of tears that springs from the extreme of agony,
but no line was deepened in that lovely oval face, no dis-
figuring redness appeared upon the transparent skin,
the pearly drops rolled gently over the peachy cheeks.
No artist could imagine a more exquisite artistically
weeping Mater Dolorosa. What a contrast between her
and the pale, anxious watcher by the child's bed I Every
evening punctually, she appeared in an elegant wrapper,
a cap of cobweb lace resting lightly upon her curls, and
a (levotional book in her hand, and begged to be allowed
to watch. One and the same contest always ensued
between her cousin and herself. She made the same pro-
testations against what she called this Invasion of her
maternal rights, and departed to her bed gently weeping
and lamenting, to arise the next morning fresh as a
spring rose.
It was the ninth evening of little Anna's illness. The
child lay in a dull stupor. Now and then an unmeaning
murmur would escape her lips. The Professor had been
for a long while sitting motionless by her bedside, with
his head bowed upon his clasped hands; suddenly he
arose and beckoned Felicitas into the next room.
''You watched last night and have not allowed yoar*
144 TnS OLD MAM^SELLE'S SECRET.
self one moment of rest now for two days," he said, " and
yet 1 am going to ask a further sacrifice of yon. There
will be a crisis to-night. I could easily share my watch
with my cousin or Rosa, for the child is entirely uncon-
scious, but 1 need beside me thorough thoughtfulness and
self-fcrgct fulness. Will you watch again to-night?"
" Tes."
" But you will have to pass hours of anxiety and sub-
(nse, do you think you are strong enough ?"
" Oh yes. I love the child and in short, I wUl be
strong enough."
" Have you such firm faith in the power of your will?"
Ilis voice began to express the gentleness which she so
dreaded.
"It has never yet failed me," she replied, and her calm
eyes grew stern and repellant.
The night fell a lovely, still spring night. The bright
glittering moonlight was bathing the sleeping town, .
it shone into the long room in the merchant's house
where the old portraits were hanging, touching them
with silver, and breathing a strange life into their nio-
tionless features. The flowers on the carpet bloomed
afresh in the magic light, and a million silvery gleams
were reflected from the antique chandelier hanging from
the centre of the ceiling. But within, in the sick-room,
mighty forces were battling above the narrow bed for
the mastery. The conflict was fierce indeed. The child
lay there in violent convulsions. The Professor stood
beside her with his eyes riveted upon the writhing limbs
end the distorted face. He had done everything that
human science and medical skill could suggest, and
now he was patiently abiding the issue of his unwearied
efforts to assist the beneficent forces of nature.
The clock upon the church tower struck twelve in
TEE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 145
slow, deliberate strokeB. Felicitas, who was leaning oyer
the foot of the bed, shuddered, it seemed to her that
that long ringing clang must bear away the childish soul
upon its mighty w^aves of sound, and, in fact, the tightly-
strung limbs suddenly relaxed, the clenched hands opened
and fell feebly upon the covering of the bed, and after a
few more minutes the head lay quietly upon the pillow.
The Professor leaned over her silently for awhile, and
then raising his head, he whispered with emotion, "I
think she will recover I"
Felicitas gazed anxiously at her little charge, she list-
ened to her gentle breathing, and saw how the wearied
limbs had fallen into a childish attitude of repose. Then
she rose noiselessly and went into the next room. She
stepped to the open window. The delicious night-air in
which a breath of morning already mingled encircled her
refreshingly, she leaned her weary head against the
stone embrasure of the window^ and her clasped hands
hung idly before her. On the window-sill was a tall tea-
rose bush, one exquisite flower, doubly pale in the white
moonlight, hung above her snowy brow and glimmering
hair. Ilcr pulses throbbed feverishly no wonder; within
there, in that narrow room, death had hovered very near
a human life. The tension of her nerves during the last
few hours had been fearful,^-her ears had heard only the
sudden shrill shrieks of the child she had seen nothing
but the convulsed little form and the mute, pale face of
the physician who had asked the assistance, which she
could render, only by a glance or a sign. They had been
alone together within four walls, one in the exercise of
mercy and compassion divided by a deep gulf of haired
and prejudice.
The dry heated eyes of the } oung girl gazed from the
window at the front of the town-hall, shining bright io
^ 13
146 TEB OLD MAM*SELLE'8 SECRET.
Ihe n lonlight. The statues on either side of the cloek-
the Virgin and St Boniface stood out in ghost!/ lif^
from their niches, what good did thej do standing pro-
tectingly and beneficently watching there? Directly bo-
neath them the tragedy had taken place. Those thiee
high windows, now glittering silver, had shone on that
sad evening long ago with the golden light of the fairy-
like illumination within, and upon that very spot upon
the floor where now the moon's pale ray was sleeping,
the wondrously lovely woman had stood unfalteringly
before the crowd of spectators and the deadly weapons,
but beneath her breastplate a mother's heart was
throbbing tenderly and anxiously, for a little child was
sleeping lonely at the inn for whom she would work
until ^the six shots fell and all was over.
The Professor now came out of the sick-room and
closed the door noiselessly behind him. He went up to
Felicitas, who was ^ill standing immovably at the
window.
"She is sleeping gently," he said. "I will spend the
remainder of the night with her, now go and rest *
Scarcely waiting for him to finish his sentence, Felicitaa
left the window and walked silently past him to le^ve
the room.
''I think we can hardly separate so coldly to-night," he
said in a low voice before she could reach the door-
it seemed as if against his will he broke the spell of si-
lence. ''During these last days we have stood faithfullj
by one another like true comrades, battling with deatb
for a human life, remember that," ho added with
warmth. '' In a few weeks we shall certainly part at all
events, perhaps never to see each other again in this
world. I mu^t do you and myself the justice to tell you
that by your own force of character you have uttcrljr
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, 147
destroyed the prejudice and dislike of the last i ine years
Only in one dark spot in your inextinguishable hatred
and obstinacy do I recognize the wayward child whc
once aroused all my sternness and severity.''
Felicitas had advanced several steps towards him
The moonlight illuminated her whole figure. As shi
Btood there erect with compressed lip and pale faoo
turned towards him over her shoulder, there was indei^d
an air of determined hostility in her whole attitude wi\
expression.
''In all physical ailments you always inquire mto
causes before you form an opinion," she replied. "But
you never thought it worth your trouble to inquire
whence proceeded that disease, as you chose to call it, of
the soul, which you desired to root out. You judged
blindly upon vague hints of information, and are just as
blamablc as though one of your patients had died through
your medical neglect. Suddenly deprive a grown man oi
his ideal, the golden future of which he always has
dreamed longingly, and, be he never so pious and virtu-
ous, he cannot, in the first shock of his loss, fold his
hands quietly and submit, how much less then could a
child only nine years old, a child, whose whole soul had
been filled with anticipations of the day when she should
once more see her idolized mother in whose mind there
was no hope, no dream in whoso heart no throb that
was not in some way connected with this blissful meet
ing!"
She stopped for a moment, but no word passed her
hearer's lips, he did not even look at her. At the be-
ginning of her accusation he had once made a sudden
hasty movement as if to interrupt her, but as she pro-
eeeded he stood immovable, in a listening attitude, not
148 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'H 8EJRET
tree ralsiug his hand to stroke his beard a motion com-
mon with him when his attention was excited.
"Mj uncle preserved to me my happy ignorance," she
continued, after a short pause, ** but he died, and with
him all pity died in this house. That morning I had
gone for the first time to my mother^s grave, only the
evening before I had learned her terrible fate, they told
me at the same time that the juggler's wife was a lost
creature, whom even a merciful Qod would not admit
into his heaven "
"Why did you not tell me all this then?" interrupted
the Professor gloomily.
Fclicitas, out of consideration for the sick child, had
spoken in an undertone, which added intensity to her ez
pression of bitterness. She continued in the same tone
^-turning her beautiful face flushed with scorn fully
towards him:
"Why did I not tell you all this then?" she repeated.
" Because you had already declared that the class from
which 1 sprung was utterly odious to you, and that there
was hopeless levity in my blood." The Professor covered
his eyes with his hand for a moment. " Young as I was,
with my first bitter experience of life fresh upon me, I
knew well at that moment that I should find no sympa-
thy, no pity. And have you ever had any sympathy or
pity for the player's child?" she asked, advancing one
step towards. him, and emphasizing every word with in-
describable bitterness, "lias it ever occurred to you
that the creature whom you wished to bow beneath the
yoke of servitude might perhaps have capacity to think?
Have you not stretched her soul upon the rack repeat-
edly with your determination to root out, like noxious
weeds, every desire that she might entertain for menial
culture every expression of becoming self-reliance
TUB OLD MAM" SELLERS SEC JET. H)
t^etj aspiration to a loftier atmosphere? Do not think
that I accuse you of wrong in bringing me up to labour.
Labour even the hardest and most fatiguing can never
be a disgrace.- I work gladly, but that you did your best
to make me a soulless toiling machine that you tried to
crush out in me that iutellcctual element which alone can
illuminate and ennoble a life of hard labour that I can
never forget nor forgive 1"
"Never, Felicitas?"
The young girl shook her head with a wild gesture of
refusal.
** Then I must resign myself to your resolution," he
said, with a slight smile that was involuntarily, or even
in spite of himself, full of melancholy. " I have offended
you mortally, and yet I repeat it I could not do other-
wise." He walked several times up and down the room.
** In order to justify myself, I must once more allude to
what I know gives you great pain," he continued quickly.
" Y ou are entirely without means, and are of despised
origin. You are necessitated to earn your own living.
It would have been cruel to have bestowed upon you au
education fitting you for a higher position in life, and
then to have degraded you to the level of a servant,
and yet 1 could not have given you any other position,
for do you suppose that any family could have been iii-
duccd to receive among their children as a governess tl e
daughter of a juggler? Do you not snow that a man,''
he stopped for a moment, his breath came quickly, and
his face grew white, ''yes, that a man of good position
who might desire to hnk his life with yo:irs would be
forced to sacrifice much both in himself and his relations
with the world? And what an unimaginable humilia-
tion would that be for your proud heart! This is the
result of the social laws which you despise but in obedi*
13*
150 TEW OLD MAM'SJSLLE'S SECRET.
enc6 to which Dombers of men exercise an amount of
Belf-control and self-denial that you do not dream of-
clinging to the maintenance of them from reverence for
the past and from a conviction that they are a political
necessity. And I too must obey them, ^we do not all
carry our sufferings written upon our foreheads and my
submission to them condemns me to a life of self-denial
and loneliness."
He was silent. It thrilled Felicitas strangely, this in
voluntary, nay, almost unwilling revelation of his heart-
secrets which this strong reserved man was hastily
making with trembling lips at this midnight hour, ^nd
so he had doubtless give^ his heart to some woman who
stood socially far, far above him. In the midst of the
hate and anger which filled her soul towards him, she
was conscious of being touched by a sorrow such as she
had never known before. Was it possible that she could
feel sympathy for him ? Had she indeed then no force
of character was she so weak? she who such a short
time before had declared so emphatically that she should
'feel no pity for any misfortune that might happen to
him?' And was he in fact to be pitied why, instead of
folding his hands idly in his lap, did he not strive in a
manly way for the lofty prize?
"Well, Felicitas, have you nothing to say?" he asked;
** or are you again offended by my explanation, which is
an honest one?"
"No," she replied coldly. "These are your individual
views, I have not the smallest desire to alter them.
But you cannot deprive me of the conviction that there
exist kind-hearted, unprejudiced people in the world, who
will recognize an honest heart and good intentions even
in a juggler's daughter. But why should I reply? We
should never come to the end. You se^ o^eiything from
TES OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 151
your stand-point of excessive respectability where yon
encase yourself in armour, that even your thoughts may
not deviate from a certain routine. I belong to the class,
derpised by you and such -as you, of those who believe
that thought is and should be free. As you yoursieU
say, our paths in life will diverge in a few weeks never
to meet again ; in mind wo are already far apart. Have
you any other commands for mo with regard to the sick
child?"
He shook his haad, and before he could say a word she
had left the room
CHAPTER XVI.
Anna's recovery advanced rapidly, but Felicitas wan
not yet relieved from her duties as nurse. The little girl,
usually quiet and docile, grew fretful and excited as soon
as she left her bedside, and there was nothing for the
mother to do but to entreat Felicitas to take charge
of her daughter until she was perfectly recovered. The
young widow did this all the more willingly, as the Pro-
fessor no longer spent any length of time in the sick-room.
He came every morning to see the child, but his visits
scarcely lasted three minutes. Sometimes he took her io
his arms and carried her up and down for awhile in the
Bunny sheltered court-yard, but except at such times he
was rarely seen in the house. He seemed suddenly to
have been seized by a positive passion for the garden ;
his whole mode of life was changed; he never studied in
his room any more ; whoever wished to speak to him was
sent out to the garden. Frau Hdlwig yielded with a
wonderfully good grace to this freak, as she called the
15* THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET.
idteration in his habits, and to the great delight of tut
Ooancillo-'s widow arraDged matters so that their prin*
dpal meals we ^9 taken in the garden. Thns the old house
grew more quiet than ever, the family often did not return
to it until after ten o*cloek in the evening. But sometimes
the Professor would come back earlier and alone; Fell-
citas would hear him slowly ascending the first flight of
fttairs, and then almost always an odd circumstance oc-
enrred. He would turn on the landing, and, as if me-
chanically, approach the sick-room, but just outside, when
his hand must have almost touched the latch of the door,
he would suddenly pause, as if recollecting himself, and
then retracing his steps would mount the stairs to his
room with redoubled speed. His room was just over the
one where the child lay, and on these evenings he did not
sit down quietly to his books, but walked restlessly up
and down for hours, this lonely pacing of his room
always interested and excited Felicitas she connected
it in some way with his midnight confession*
About eight in the evening little Anna usually fell
asleep, and then Rosa took Felicitas' place at the child's
bedside, while she took her time of relaxation, and went
up to the rooms under the roof. Aunt Cordula seemed
to have overcome her late physical weakness, and to have
no more presentiments of death, she was more cheerful
than ever, and would exult like a child in the anticipa*
tiou of soon having Felicitas all to herself. She always
waited supper for her. There stood the carefully ordered
tea-table in the gallery, some favourite delicacy of Feli-
citas' was always provided, and a whole bundle of freshly-
arrived magazines and newspapers awaited her, to be
read aloud. During these cosy delightful hours of re-
freshment, everything which had lately so excited and dia^
turbed her mind would, often to her own surprise, utterly
I
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 159
fade away. She never Fpoke of what went on in the front
mansion, and the old Mam'selle ^trae to her custom of
years never asked a question ; and thus the strange ez
perienees through whijh she was passing naturally and
easily fell into the background.
One beautiful sunny afternoon Felicitas was sitting
alone with little Anna,- a church-like stillness pervaded
the house ; the Councillor's widow and Madame had gone
to make a round of visits, and the Professor was surely
in the garden, for there was no sound of life from his room
above. The child had been playing for a long while, but.
now she threw aside her toys, laid her head back on thp
pillow, and begged, " Sing me a song, Caroline dear."
She was extravagantly fond of hearing Felicitas sing.
The young girl's voice was contralto, its tones were
full and round, issuing from the chest, without any un-
certainty, like musical strokes upon a bell, and with that
clear vibration which seems peculiar to the violoncello,
and which in the human voice, without one shade of.
shrillness, breathes a tender melancholy, and is always
expressive of intellectual refinement. The old Mam'sclle,
with her rare musical attainments and the finished culture
which her own talent had attained under most excellent
masters, had trained and educated this magnificent instru-
ment well. Felicitas sang German songs in a perfectly
classic artistic manner. She had discovered that she
eould always soothe the child by beginning some flowing
melody very softly, only lending its full power to her
Toic3 after singing for some moments, and never then, if
she dreamed that unkind eara were near.
* fresh young grass, O tender green I'
The exquisite song of Schumann's now resounded through
Ibo room, sung as only the lips of a true pure young girl
154 THE ^LD MAST SELLERS SECRET.
fan sing it. Felicitas suDg the first verse with touching
simplicity and suppressed force, but at the beginning of
the second : 'Apart from all, alone I go, No human word
can soothe ray woe,' ^her powerful voice swelled forth
like the note of an organ. Suddenly, above, in the Pro-
lessor's room, she heard a chair, not pushed aside, but
burled away; hasty stops crossed to the door, and a bell
rung violently and shrill, like an alarum, through the
quiet house. It was the first time that the bell-rope in the
second story had ever been put in requisition. Frederika
hurried breathless up the two flights of stairs, and Fell*
citas stopped in deadly terror. After a few minutes tho
old cook came hobbling down again, and entered the sick-
room.
"The Ilerr Professor sends you word not to sing any
more, ho cannot study," she said in her rude, rough
way. ''lie was as white as a sheet, and could hardly
speak for anger. What do you behave so for ? I never
heard of such a thing in all my life I You sing exactly
like a man, and, gracious Heavens 1 what a songl Just
like a chimney sweep's I I never saw such a girl as you
arc 1 I used to sing very well when I was young, but I
sung beautiful songs, oh, beautiful ' Life let us cherish,'
and ' Lovely moon, thy quiet beaming.' You'd better let
singing alone, Caroline. You don't know how to sing.
Yes, and tho Professor says you must take the child down
into the court-yard and drag her about in her carriage a
attle."
Felicitas hid her glowing face in her hands she seemed
to have sufiiered a humiliating rebuke. How ashamed,
bow disgraced she felt 1 For although she could be bold
and 1)rave enough in defending her convictions, in tell-
ing the unadorned truth to her enemies, she was incon*
ceivably shy and reserved with respect to her own talenti
i
r
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET. 165
and acquirements. The idea that her voice might reach
the ears of strangers would alone suffice to paralyze
her powers and make her dumb; the thought of wearying
or annoying any one with her singing, was too much.
And now this had actually happened she was thought
forward she had laid herself open to the charge of de-
siring to bring herself into notice, and therefore she had
been punished and disgraced in this way. Madame's
harshest injustice and most wilful misunderstanding and
ill treatment had never drawn a tear from her eyes, but
now she wept bitterly.
A quarter of an hour afterwards Felicitas was dragging
the child's carriage up and down the court-yard. The
feverish glow upon her cheeks was gradually disappear-
ing beneath the refreshing breath of Spring, but it was
powerless to remove the expression of gloomy reflection
upon her brow. After a little while Madame returned,
accompanied by the Councillor's widow, and at the same
time the Professor appeared on the stairs, hat on head
and cane in hand, about to take a walk. All three came
into the court-yard. The Councillor's widow carried a
tolerably large bundle, and after petting and kissing her
child, she tore off a corner of the paper cover of her pack-
age, and said to her cousin with an arch smile:
'' Just look here, John, am I not an extravagant crea-
ture ? Although my heart is steeled against all the at-
tractions of dress, I cannot resist a linen shop. I saw
this beautiful table-cloth exposed for sale ; now could I
walk coldly by f Impossible I Before I knew what I
was doing I had it rolled up under my arm, and this piece
of exquisitely fine linen besides. But good-by to a hand-
some dress this winter I I must conscientiously fill op the
gap that this will make in my finances by dcrying myself
at hast one winter dress, but let it go, a notable Qer-
156 TEE OLD MAM'SELLB'8 SECRET,
man boasckeeper can hardly have her linen press ftiD
enough."
The Professor did not reply he was looking beyond
her towards the gate of the court-yard. The poor woman
whom Felicitas remembered to have seen lately in his
study up-stairs, was just entering. She had a large bun-
dle under her shawl, and made an almost reverential curtsy
as she approached the Professor.
" Her Professor, my William can see again he sees as
well as I or anybody else," she said, her voice trembled,
and the tears gushed from her eyes. " Who would have
thought it! Ah, he was so miserable, and we were all so
unhappy I Now he can earn his living again, and I can
die content, for I shall not leave a poor, helpless, blind
boy behind me. Ah, Ilerr I'rofessor, all the treasures
that the world contains would not be too much for you I
But we are such poor people we cannot dream of reward-
ing you for what you have done for us. I hope you won't
be offended, llerr Professor, but I thought perhaps this
little trifle "
" Well, what do you mean ?" interrupted the Professor
hastily, retreating a few steps.
As she said the last words the woman opened her shawl,
and disclosed a large bird-cage and a roll of linen.
** You seemed to like so much to listen to this nightln-
gale when you used to come to us," she began again,
''and if you only put the little thing in a smaller cage yon
can easily carry it back with you to Bonn. And the piece
of linen, it is not very fine, but I spun it myself, and per-
haps Madame II ell wig would use it for towels "
" What do you mean, woman, by depriving your hui*
baud Df that bird which he is so fond of?" said the Pro-
fessor. '' I cannot endure birds, positively cannot bear
Ihem, and why should you feci yourself called unon to
A
' rUE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 157
provide us with house linen ? Put these things up again
and go directly home."
The woman stood before him surprised and speechless.
"You ought to have spared mc this, Fran Walter I" he
said more gently. "I have told you repeatedly that you
must not bring me anything. There, now go, and tell
William that I shall certainly come to look after him once
more to-morrow."
He gave her his hand, and pulled the shawl over the
objects of her unfortunate expedition. The woman curt-
sied with downcast eyes and went away. Madame and
the Councillor's widow had been mute witnesses of tho
scene, ^the countenance of the former had expressed great
disapprobation, at one time it had seemed almost as if she
would have taken part in what was going on.
"Now, really, I cannot understand you, John," she
said, in a tone of reproach, as soon as the woman had
left " When I think of all that your education has cost,
it seems to me ihat you hava no right whatever to refuse
any compensation for your services. Her idea about the
bird was stupid enough to be sure its shrill piping would
ill accord with my quiet house, but if I had had my way
the woman should have left the linen here a good piece
of linen is not to be thrown away in that style, let me
tell vou."
" Perhaps then, dear aunt, my charitable thoughts would
hardly have found favour in your sight," said the Coan
cillor's widow, in a jesting tone. "Only think, John,^
%he continued, growing serious, "we have just heard this
morning of an unfortunate family, so poor that the poor
little children have scarcely rags to cover them, and they
are most excellent people, too. Aunt and I are thinking
about making a collection for them. If you, now, had
only taken the linen, I should have come begging to you,
14
158 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. '
and I should have made yoa give it all to me, it would
have made such nice clothes for those poor children 1
would have sewed upon them myself."
"Oh, the depth of this Christian charity I" interrupted
the Professor, with a laugh of angry contempt. " The
only. possession of one poor family must be taken to sup*
ply the necessities of another, and the magnanimous de-
viser and executor of this work of love stands beaming
upon a wicked world with a halo of feminine compassion
surrounding her fair curls."
"You are unkind, John," cried the young widow,
offended, "I like to give "
" Undoubtedly, when it costs you nothing in the world,
Adele," he continued, ironically. "Why does not the
notable German housekeeper open the drawers of her
overflowing linen-press? Why not take this superfluous
piece?" he touched the roll of linen that she had in her
arms. Both ladies warded off his hand as though they
feared an attempt upon the young widow's life.
" Oh, that is carrying the joke a great deal too far,
John," she said, in a complaining tone, " this exquisitely
fine linen 1"
" You have often reproached me," the Professor said,
turning to his mother, without appearing to have heard
bis cousin's last remarks, "by declaring that I do not suf-
ficiently prize the results of my very expensive education;
I assure you, I am a practical man. I admit the duty
which lies at every one's door, of getting and gaining,
but my profession leads me also to infinitely higher aima
it gives scope for the exercise of charity and benevo*
lence, to a greater degree than in any other calhng ^with
the exception, perhaps, of the church. I certainly shall
never rank myself among those physicians who, with one
hand, assist a poor man to be rid of a disease, while the?
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. I59
pluuge the other into his pocket and deprive him of the
means of maintaining the life they have saved."
Until now Fclicitas' presence had been unobserved.
His glance passed over her unconsciously but was ar*
rested and fettered for a moment by the glowing ezprea
Bion of involuntary satisfaction that beamed in the girl'
face, for the first time those four eyes encountered each
other with a lightning glance of mutual understanding
and sympathy but only for one moment, Felicitas,
overcome with sudden self-consciousness, dropped her
eyelids, and the Professor, by a hasty movement, pulled
his hat so low over his eyebrows that his flushed face
was almost concealed by its broad brim.
"Just as you please I don't care it is your own
affair, John, you can think as you choose,'' said Madame
coldly. "Your Grandfather Ilellwig would hardly have
been pleased to have listened to your views. The prac-
tice of medicine is your business, and in matters of busi*
ness, he used to say, there must be no sentimental con-
siderations brought into play."
She walked away and entered the house. The Coun-
cillor's widow, pressing her cherished bundle to her heart
with a lovely pouting air, followed her, walking by the
side of the Professor. On the threshold, the latter turned
and looked once more into the court-yard. Felicitas was
just taking little Anna out of the carriage, that she might
comply with her entreaty to be carried up and down two
or three times. It seemed at one moment, while the
child was being lifted up and clung with its arms, a dead
weight around the neck of her kind nurse, as if the
lender figure must break beneath its burden. The Pro-
fessor turned back into the court
"I have several times forbidden your carrying the
child," he said reprovingly, with some irritation, "shu
IdC THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
is too hetry for 70a. Did not Frederika tell 70a thif
afternoon that ircinrich must assist you?"
''No, she forgot it. Ileinrich is not at home."
The Professor took the child from her arms and pnt it
back into the carriage, talking to it gently but grarelj.
1'he expression of his face was gloomier and sterner thaa
7er, at any other time Felicitas would have coldlj
tnrned away from him, but to-day she was the cause of
his ill humor, she had interrupted the physician's pro-
found, earnest studies with her singing, and had possibly
broken up a new and most interesting train of ideas.
But if he were ever so irritated and angry, she must re-
lieve her mind of the burden that weighed upon it he
must know that she had erred ignorantly. The moment
was decidedly favourable, as his face could not be seen
he was still bending over the child talking to her.
*I must beg your forgiveness for having annoyed you
with my singing," she said timidly. This gentle entreat-
ing tone of voice, which was entirely new to him, pro-
duced an evident effect upon him he stood up and looked
searchingly into her face. " I pray you to believe," she
continued, "that I had not the faintest suspicion that you
were in the house at the time I"
The word singing awoke the remembrance of Felicitas'
tears in little Anna's mind. ''Oh, you naughty uncle,
how poor Caroline cried!" said she, and shook her llttla
clenched fist at him menacingly.
"Is what the child says true, Felicitas?" he asked
quickly.
She avoided answering his question directly. ''I have
been much distressed by thinking "'
"That you might be suspected of a desire to be heard
by others?" he interrupted her, and a fleeting smile
liovered upon his lips. "Pray let me reassure you on
^
1
THE OLD MAM'SSLLE'S SECRET. 161
that point However rovengefal and implacable 1 may
consider yon, I could never accuse you of a desire to
please much as I might wish to do so; I sent to ask
you to be quiet not because you exactly disturbed me-^
but because I cannot listen to your voice. That offends
you, of course, extremely?''
Felicitas shook her head with a smile.
"Good that is sensible! For the rest I will tell you
something." He bent his head low down and looked
fixedly into her eyes. ''Your song to-day betrayed a
well-guarded secret to me !"
Felicitas was terribly frightened ; he had then got some
hint of her intercourse with Aunt Cordula. She felt her-
self blush crimson as she looked at him in anxious con-
fusion.
"I know now why you have so peremptorily refused
all future assistance from us. Into the sphere in which
you will shortly Itve and move, it is true our arms could
not reach. You are going upon the stage!"
"No; you are greatly mistaken," she replied decidedly,
and evidently relieved. "Although I bold the power of
representing the creations of master-minds to be one of
the noblest talents that human beings can possess, I have
not the courage which such an undertaking demands. I
am a perfect coward where any publicity is concerned,
and should never achieve anything beyond mediocrity
owing to my entire want of self-confidence. And, besidesp
jfQ such a vocation it is necessary to possess thorough
scientific musical knowledge such as 1 shall never ac-
quire."
"It is quite in your power to do so."
"But 1 do not wish to attain to such knowledge As
a child, music always seemed to me something never to
be learned, acquired like reading and writir g,. but rathef
L U
162 * ^TUE OLD MAM* SELLERS SECRET.
an iuspiration direct from Ilcavcn, and I please mysell
by retaining ibis childish idea. That that, ^hich melts
me to tears and gives me such heart-felt delight, should
depend upon stiff pedantic rules, and be mathematically
produced upon paper in a series of ugly black marks,^-
this thought sensibly lessens my enjoyment. I do not
like to think of it any more than to remember that every
beaatiful human fa^e is formed upon a grinning skull,-^
no glimpse into machinery ever pleases me."
"And hero we come again upon the ground-tone of
your nature, which revolts at all law and rule," he said
sarcastically, although he had listened with evident inter-
est to her peculiar deGnition of music. "Then my con-
elusion was false, and your very striking anxiety super-
fluous," he added sharply, after a pause. "It must be a
most remarkable secret! I am half inclined to insist upon
a revelation of your plans for the future, in right of my
office as guardian."
"It would be useless," she replied. "I shall not speak.
You yourself have pronounced me free at the end of two
months to do what I choose."
" Yes, yes, that mistake has unfortunately been made,"
he rejoined with irritation. "But it seems to me not to
speak harshly at least very bold in any one as young as
yourself to settle the question of your future entirely
without counsel and aid of an older, more experienced
person. Even suppose it were a question concerning
the most important step in the life of a woman the Unk-
ing herself forever to ^"
" In such a case my guardian is the last person to whom
I should apply for advice," Felicitas interrupted him,
blushing scarlet. "I should have been already linked
for life to a man of no character or principle, had I not
been hold enough to decide in such matters entirely for
^
TnE OLD MAM" BELLE'S SECRET. IC^
myself. You would willingly have said yes and ainen
to what were called Ucrr Wcllner's honourabie proposals,
if I had been weak enough to allow myself to be frighir
ened into compliance by the menaces and ill treatment to
which I was subjected before your return heme."
Tliis reproof cut like a two-edged sword, for it was
Just. The Professor bit his lips, and his look sought the
stones at his feet.
"I thought indeed that it would be the best way in
which to put an end to the task assigned me by my
father," he said after a painful pause, his ^ oice had lost
much of its wonted firmness. ** It was an error, but it
was not obstinately persisted in, as you km w. If upon
my mother's representation, and in accordance with her
advice, I gave my consent, I certainly never attempted
to combat your decision with severity or persuasion. My
permission which you allude to will be the laat exercise
of my authority as guardian," ho continued, not without
bitterness. ** I must leave you to your fate. \ ou go to
meet it joyously and hopefully ?"
"Yes," answered the young girl with sparkling eyes.
"And you believe that you will be happy in youi new
relations?"
"As surely as I believe in another and happier life h^
yond the grave !"
As he asked the last question he riveted upon her the
penetrating look, which certainly must often have proveo
effectual with the most obstinate of patients, but a^ her
eyes only gleamed more joyously, he turned away efther
offended or irritated, and said not another word. He
gave his hand to little Anna, and went slowly into the
house.
The same evaning Rosa was sitting in the servants^
room. Iler lap was filled with some airy light blue ma*
161 The OLD MAM'SELLES SECRET.
tertal, and her needle was fljing with almost feverisli
speed. Frederika sat down to talk with her, for the
maid would have to sew until midnight, and the old cook
had -graciously proposed to make a cup of strong coffee,
that they might keep themselves awake.
Ten had long struck. Felicitas was in her room pre*
paring for rest, but the ceaseless gossip of the two women
In the next room over their coffee made the small drearj
bed-room unendurable. She opened the window wide,
seated herself upon the sill, and with her hands clasped
upon her knee, looked out into the court-yard. It was not
quite dark there, for the lamps in the rooms in the first
and second stories were still burning, and through the
high windows long rays of light fell upon the stone pave-
ment, glistening upon the little bubbling fountain in the
corner, bringing into sparkling relief various dim panes of
glass in other corners, and even casting a pale reflection
upon the distant fa9ade of the back building. Above the
building encircling the court-yard stretched the glittering
heavens, as in times long gone by, the quiet stars looked
down into this place, which superstition had made the
scene of many a ghostly legend, ^yes, those changeless
stars had looked upon the blooming living forms whose
shadowy shaies were now said to haunt the place with
mournful wailings, in late repentance for the deeds done
in T.he flesh, noble knights and dignified merchants
aristocratic dames in velvet and well-to-do wives of re-
spectable citizens. Eyes, brilliant with the love of life
had looked up to those stars, and eyes, blinded by dull
egotism and conceit to the glory of Ood's universe, shy
eyes, behind which lurked the consciousness of guilt,
and childish eyes, swimming in repentant tears, their
light was extinguished, they were all mouldering in the
earth, and still the great lesson which nature teaches of
y^
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. Ifit
change and decay, was unlearned. Generation after gen*
eration had, openei their eyes and closed them again,
and between these two moments what a struggle there
had been for a handful of earth, titles and honours, fuH
money-bags, and gorgeous attire I And the one element
of human nature which moves the world, had been at
work here busily the love of rule the unholy desire to
crush down our fellow-men, i^^d tread them under foot,
and where outward circumstances and inborn power had
not yielded sufficient aid to this end, men had wrapped
themselves in the incense-clouds of religion. Nothing
has been so misunderstood and pressed into the service
of worldly passions as the word of God, and no greater
sins have desecrated his beautiful world than those per*
petrated in his name.
Whilst such thoughts occupied the young girl's brain,
Frederika's rough tones and the shrill soprano of the
waiting-maid kept up a constant clatter in the next
room.
''Yes," said Rosa, with a sudden laugh, ''my gracious
mistress looked as if the skies were falling when the Pro-
fessor came home to-night and told how he was making
up a party of several ladies and gentlemen to visit the
Thuringian forest the day after to-morrow, he go with
such a party 1 Oh, good Heavens I In B he sticks to
his books year out and year in visits his patients and
goes to the University, and that's all, never a ball, never
a party. Oh, it's dreadful I I can't endure such straits
laced ideas in a man."
"Fie I you ought to be ashamed of yourself, Rosa,"
said Frederika, with irritation. "What would your mis-
tress say if she heard you?"
'' Well, well, there's reason in all things. When he was
at her father's large school, he would scarcely eat and
IM TUB OLD MA JT SELLERS SECRET.
drink for fear of not being holy and saintly enoagh,-^thea
none of the scholars could bear him I"
"Ob, how wicked men are I And doesn't any one like
him now?"
* Ob, now indeed, now they all idolize him. Nobody
knows how it all came about, but the students are crazy
about him, and as for the women oh, it is really dis-
gusting! I believe they would like to kiss his hands
whenever he writes them a prescription. My mistress is
just like all the rest, sometimes she makes me too pro-
voked. If he were only handsome, it would be a different
thing. But such an ugly man as he is, with his red beard
and bearish ways. I'd teach him better manners if I had
anything to do with him. lie cures everybody with
rough words. For instance, my mistress went to bed
with dreadful spasms, he came up to the bedside, looked
at her for a moment, as if he expected to see directly
through her, and then said: 'Collect yourself, Adelel
Get up this moment. I will leave the room for a little
while, and when I return I must find you sitting dressed
in this chair, do you understand me?' And when he
came back, sure enough there she was sitting, and the
spasms never returned. But tell me yourself do you
consider that the right way to treat a lady ?"
''Well, he might, to be sure, have been a little more
polite," replied the old cook.
"Oh, he tyrannizes over her dreadfully. The greatest
delight she has in life is dress. I tell you, Frederika, in
D we have wardrobes full of such beautiful dresses
^they would delight your very eyes, and whenever the
fashion changes, everything is made new again. But just
because that grum old Professor is always admiring sim-
plicity, my mistress never puts on a handsome dress when
he is by Muslin, nc thing but white muslin. I rather
TUB OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 167
think if he knew how expensive this wonderful simplicity
is He wanted mj mistress to stay at home from this
expedition on account of little Anna, but some of the
party came and invited her so pressingly that she is
going. Don't you think, Frederika, that she will look
lovely in this blue dress that she is going to wear?"
The gossip of the thoughtless Rosa produced a painful
Impression upon Fclicitas. She slipped down from the
window-sill, and determined to go into the servants' room,
i^her presence might prevent any further revelations con-
cerning matters that certainly should not have been dis-
cussed by strangers. Iler glance once more sought aim-
lessly the opposite wing of the house she started. The
astral lamp on the landing of the second story threw its
rays upon the long corridor which led to Aunt Cordula's
flight of stairs, the two first windows here were quite
brightly illuminated the bare whitewashed walls could
be distinctly seen. Along this wall a figure was slowly
pacing, but it was certainly no shadowy ghostly presence
it was he whom the lady's-maid thought so ugly. Fcli-
citas could distinctly see the powerful outline of his head
the decided waves of the thick beard, and the broad
shoulders, which indicated strength indeed, but certainly
did not suggest elegance. lie paced along the whole
length of the corridor, mechanically stroking his beard
with his hand according to his habit, and when he had
reached the furthest end, that led to the landing with the
painted door, he turned and retraced his steps. He was
taking his nightly promenade and because his room was
just above the one where the Councillor's widow and her
child were sleeping he had selected this lonely place,
where he could walk up and down as he pleased without
the danger of disturbing any one. What made him thus
restless? Was he studying out some intricate scientific
us THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECdET.
problem, or was he haanted by the image of her fof
whose sake he had condemned himself to 'a life of lono
liness?'
Felicitas thoughtfully closed the window, and drew
before it the old green curtains, which had from time im-
memorial sheltered the dreams of the cooks in the Hcm
of Ilellwig.
CHAPTER XVII.
On the lawn, in the garden outside of the town, in the
shade of the chestnut trees, the grass was freshly mown
a delicious healthy odour exhaled from the heaps of
new hay and upon one of them little Anna was lying
in great comfort. Felicitas leaned against the trunk of
the largest chestnut it had always been her favourite.
Uow often she had climbed it as a child when not only
the garden beneath her but the whole beautiful world
seemed to her flower-strewn 1 Uer gaze sought the shady
arch above her, where the boughs were stretching boldly
and powerfully forth in every direction. Inside of the
rough bark warm life was pulsing, the healthy sap as-
cended aiid streamed into every leaf and twig thai
stretched itself abroad into the world far from the parent
stem, which must have wondered at its offspring's vaga-
ries, for they trembled in every breeze, rustled and moaned
whoz rough winds swept over them, and drooped ex-
hausted beneath the hot rays of the sun, but whatever
trembling and moaning and sighing went on above, the
old trunk stood firm. How is it with the human soul
when the storms of fate sweep over it? It lies prostrate
beneath them.
THE OLD MAM" SELLS' S SECRET. 169
Thi9 glcomj thought, trite and trae as it sounds, was
fiot exactly vorilled in the case of the giil who is just
pondering upon it, and whose white forehead at this mo-
ment stands out in such lovely contrast with the rugged
trunk against which she is leaning. This young creature,
80 full of sensibility and sympathy, had braved storms
which would have shattered in the dust hundreds of her
iex. Perhaps the sad reflection was induced by some
unconscious dread, some shadowy presentiment of a
coming evil which would prostrate and crush even her ,
iron will. How little do we understand, how little are we
conscious of the processes going on in our own minds!
Not until after the occurrence of some great misfortune
do we recur to the mysterious warnings that foreshad-
owed it to us.
Two days had passed since the departure of the Pro-
fessor and the Councillor's widow upon their expedition
to the Thuringian forest. The former entered the travel-
ling carriage with the air of a man who is shaking off a
heavy burden, which he most willingly bequeathes to the
good little town of X . In the hall he had shaken
bands with Heinrich, Rosa, and the old cook, who all ran
to say 'Good-by;' but he passed Fclicitas with a slight
bow, touching the broad brim of his hat, as cool and in-
different as though her lips had never uttered a harsh
word to him, as if the eyes which had so often flashed
icfiance at him were those of a stranger. 'That was
flensible, and as it should be,' thought Fclicitas, with
tightly-compressed lips. The young widow sat opposite
to him. She had hovered past the assembled household
like a fairy in the middle of a blue cloud, and her charm-
ing face beneath her straw hat beamed as if with the ccr*
tainty of long-desired enjoyment.
15
no THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
It was the second afternoon that Felicitas had been al*
lowed to spend with little Anna in the garden. They had
been peaccfnl hours, and not only that, they had had aa
other and most agreeable, not to say remarkable result.
The next garden, separated from the Ilellwig garden only
by a low green hedge, had a few days prcrviously come into
the possession of the Franz family. The day before th
young lawyer had exchanged salutations and a few cour-
teous words with her across the hedge, and to-day an
old lady, in black silk dress and snowy cap, had suddenly
appeared and addressed her. It was the mother of young
Franz, and a person more gentle and kindly could not
have been imagined. She lived an exceedingly retired
life, devoted to her husband and son, and was regarded
with great respect by the entire town of X . In view
of Felicitas' speedy departure from the Uellwigs, she
begged to offer any advice and assistance that the young
girl might need. What a ray of sunlight upon the path
of the despised player's child 1 And yet Felicitas was
leaning against the trunk of the old chestnut-tree, lost in
melancholy reverie. A light wind whispered in the
branches above her head she smiled sadly their rust-
ling sounded to her like an echo from a lost Eden. She
thought of her early youth, now vanishing, and the
whispering seemed to warn her that she was called upon
to struggle and contend in the life just opening before
her. But it did not warn her that at this very moment
fate was preparing a crushing blow, which would well*
nigh utterly blast all her hopes for the future.
A few minutes before, Ueinrich had entered the garden
--he seemed about to rush up to Felicitas with the great-
est precipitation, but he had suddenly disappeared behind
% cypress wall. Now he came slowly forward. At the
first sight of that broad, honest face, working with some
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 171
riolent agitation, she knew that he brought evil tidBgs.
She sprang towards him, and seized his hand anxiouslj.
"Oh, Fay, I cannot help you. You must know it
soon," he said, in a voice of despair, brushing the back
of his hard hand across* his heated brow, and turning
away his eyes. " You know, my poor child, 'tis the way
cf the world."
" Go on I" she interrupted him harshly, almost with a
Bcream, as she clenched her teeth convulsively.
"But no Heaven take pity on us I if yon are going to
do 80, how shall I ever tell you? The old Mam'selle "
"Is dead I" she shrieked.
"Not yet, Fay, not yet; but indeed it is almost over
she is unconscious she has had a stroke. And, oh,
my God! she was all alone. Her maid found her lying
on the floor in the room with her birds; she had just
carefully attended to the poor little creatures." His
voice failed him, and he cried like a child.
For a moment Felicitas stood as if paralyzed ; every
drop of blood forsook her pale cheeks ; mechanically she
pressed her hands upon her throbbing temples, but there
came not a single tear. For one moment a bitter smile
hovered upon her lips, then with unnatural composure
she took up her straw hat which was lying upon one ot
the mounds of hay, called Rosa, who was sewing in the
shade of the acacias, and delivered the child into her
ehargc.
"Are you ill?" asked the maid. The statue-like ap-
pearance the unnatural rigidity of the girPs pallid feat-
ores frightened her.
"Yes, she is ill," Heinrich answered in Felicitas'
stead, as she walked hurriedly toward the garden gate.
"Oh, Fay! take care what you do," he said, as he
walked part of the way by her side, "Madame is with
i72 TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
ber ; 'tis a good thing that the old Mam'selle cannot kao^
It. Dr. Boehm has gone away, he can do nothing, nothing
more. And that it should have happened to-day 1 Ah,
what an unlucky child you arel"
Felicitas did not hear what he was saying, the wordn
struck her ear, but conveyed no meaning to her mind,
just as one might meet people in the street and not know
it. Unseen by Frederika she entered the house and ran
up-stairs. On the topmost landing she threw her hat on
the ground. The door of the bird-room was ajar, it
resounded with shrill chirpings. How carefully thiR
door had always been closed, that no fugitive might es-
cape ! Now she passed in without closing it. The for-
saken little creatures had better seek for food beneath
heaven's expanse ^they had lost their kind protectress I
She entered the large sitting-room, and from the ad-
joining cabinet issued the inflexible monotonous voice of
Madame, and filled the room that had for so many years
resounded only to the language of music, and to the rare
words that fell from the lips of kindly, peaceful age. The
great l&dy was reading, in a loud voice, one of those old
Calvinistic hymns, which, composed for an age and a
class of men entirely wanting in intellectual culture, have
lost all meaning if looked upon as interpretations of thn
devotional sentiment of to-day. IIow utterly incongruous
it seemed, that those rough rhymes, strung together so
rudely, and abounding in coarse material imagery, should
have been selected to arouse and soothe the dying coo*
Bciousness of one who had, during her whole long life,
paid the truest homage to the Beautiful, and who recog^
nized the Creator always in the beauty and loire inaui-
fested in his works I
Noiselessly as a shadow, Felicitas glided into the room
Frau Ilellwig read on without seeing her. There, b
THE OLD MJLM' SELLERS SECnET. m
ttli the white curtains of the bed, which flattered
gentlj like wings in the breeze from the open window,
as if they were waiting to receive and bear aloft the
parting soul, lay a pale, pale face. Oh, how cruel death
is, when, before snatching our dear ones from us to be
seen no more on earth, he robs the well-known faces of
their kindly loving lo(iks, so that we see only what in*
spires us almost with terror, where we have found
bitherto only sympathy and affection I
The eyelids were not yet quite closed. The eyes rolled
from side to side, and a low rattle was heard with every
deep-drawn breath, now and then the right arm was
slightly lifted, only to fall again helplessly upon the
covering of the bed. What a fearful sight for Felicitas,
for whom the last ray of love that had lighted her life
was about to be extinguished! She stepped up to the
side of the bed. Frau IlcUwig raised her eyes from her
hymn-book, and great indeed was her astonishment as
she saw the pale, tearless face which was bending above
the dying woman.
"What are you doing here? insolent creature 1" she
asked, in a loud, harsh voice, while she raised her large
hand and pointed towards the door.
Felicitas did not answer, but the sudden cessation of
the reading appeared to make some impression upon the
dying woman. She seemed to try to fix her wandering
gaze, it fell upon Felicitas. For a moment there shot
forth a ray of joyful recognition, her lips moved, but no
Bound issued from them, there was an evident painful
struggle to say something, and yet the strong will com
polled once more the service of the broken physical me*
ehanism. ** Bring a lawyer'' issued thickly but distinctly
from her lips.
Felicitas instartly left the room. There was no tim^
15*
_ J
174 TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
to be lost. 8he flew along the passage, ^but just as she
was passing the open door of the bird-room, ehe felt her-
self violently impelled from behind by two strong hands,
which pashed her with a sudden shock into the middlA
of the room, and then closed and bolted the door behind
her. A startling clamour arose around her, the terrified
birds flew hither and thither in the noisiest and most
bewilJering confusion. Fclicitas had stumbled and fallen
ic the middle of the room, dragging down with her one
ot the fir-trees. What had happened? She arose and
put back her hair, which had fallen loosely around hei
face. She had seen no one, had heard no footstep behind
her, and yet some one had certainly been there, and
thrust her in there with demoniac force just at a moment
when she was about to fulfil the request of a dying
w^oman, and when every instant of delay burdened her
soul w^ith a fearful weight of responsibility.
She rushed to the door, but it was firmly bolted, she
knocked, and rattled the latch, but the loud noise made
by the birds drowned all other sounds. The terrified
little creatures wheeled above her head, flew wildly
against the walls, and were scarcely pacified when the
young girl dropped her hands at her sides and stood still
in utter despair. Who would open the door for her?
Certainly not the hands which had just bolted it upon
hcrl She knew that iron grasp only too well; it was
the grasp of the same hand which had just been holding
th3 hymn-book; the book had been thrown aside that
the young girl might thus violently be prevented from
fulfilling her errand, and now the terrible woman was
again sitting by the dying-bed, and her voice was again
heard reading in the same loud monotonous tones. She
could, without emotion, suffer the dying woman to strug-
gle with and prolong the death agony in the vain hope
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. * lib
ef Btill performing some last act of benevolence. Poov*
Aunt Cordulal She left the world, where she had led so
lonely a life, with no pleasant farewell glimpse of it. The
last impressions that her parting soul received were of
religious fanaticism in the person of the woman whom
fihe had loathed, and of the proverbial ingratitude of the
world, which Felicitas must have seemed to exemplify.
At this last thought the blood rushed to the young girP
head. She was beside herself, and attempted with re-
doubled vigour to force the door in vain. Why was
fihe locked up here? Aunt Cordula had told her to bring
a lawyer had she a last confession to make? No, no,
the old Mam'sclle had nothing to confess! If she had
borne the burden of guilt during her life, it was the
guilt of others, a burden fast falling from her now.
This much had become gradually clear to Felicitas in her
intercourse with Aunt Cordula, that the old Mam'selle
-might be' the repository, but never the accomplice, of
^ome guilty secret. Perhaps she had wished to dispose
of her property, and had thus been prevented by Ma-
dame's violence. If Aunt Cordula died without a will,
her entire property would revert to the Ilellwig family,
who knows how many poor suffering human beings
these moments of delay might rob of their future sup-
port, while the storehouses and coffers of the merchant's
family, already wealthy, would receive new accessions
through Madame's cunning.
Felicitas went to the window and looked around upon
the neighbouring houses, anxiously searching for some
human form which might respond to her cry for help,
but all were too far beneath her, she could neither be
beard nor seen. IIow her pulses throbbed with agony
of mind and feverish excitementi She threw herself into
the only chair in the room and burst into tears of despair.
lie TUB OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
Ai all events it would now be too late, even if she wcia
released at this moment. Perhaps the dear eyes in the
next room were already closed, and the heart, which
must liavo looked with such anxiety for Felicitas' return,
bd throbbed its last.
The young girl's keen quick mind could find no conso-
lation in the almost universal belief that the transfigured
soul was at this moment conscious of all that had pre-
vented the fulfilment of its last earthly desire. It is
hard to believe that the human soul, which, like every-
thing that God's wisdom has created, obeys the law of
gradual progress, and passes through countless phases
before arriving at perfection, immediately upon release
from its earthly prison, is endowed with the Divine
attribute of omniscience, and from beyond the grave
reads like an open book all the actions and secret motives
of those whom it leaves behind.
Nearly two hours had been passed in her prison con-
sumed in gloomy reflection and despairing efibrts to ao-
complish her release. The place grew hateful to her.
These senseless creatures which she had once delighted
in, but which renewed their wild fluttering and shrill
chirpings at every movement that she made, seemed to
her excited fancy like supernatural existences, she trem-
bled at her own motions. Tho svening was falling, and
twilight crept into the gloomy room her heart waa
throbbing with its first wild pain for her dear lost friend
-her senses seemed to be forsaking her I Once more she
ran to the door, and paused, overcome with amazement,
the latch yielded easily to her touch. Without, in the
passage, deathlike silence reigned. Felicitas could almost
have believed herself the victim of some frightful dream,
if the door of the sitting-room had not been locked.
Through the keyhole a strong draught of air was blowing
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. Ht
-^-she heard the rustle of the ivy upon the walls within-*
thej had opened the window all then was over, over I
Below, in the front mansion, the old cook sat knitting
at the open street door as was her custom, on fair sum-
mer afternoons. From the kitchen came a strong smell
of freshly-baked bread, she had just taken from the oven
a huge panful of the little biscuits which Madame liked
tD eat with her coffee. Everything down here was going
on in its accustomed routine, while above, a member of
the family had just left the world.
Felicitas went into the servants' room. Soon after
Heinrich enterec . lie hung his cap on its peg and then
silently walked up to Felicitas and held out his hand with-
out a word. II is old weather-beaten face looked unut-
terably sad, and his eyes were red with weeping; the
sight of him was a relief to the paralyzed heart of the
young girl, she sprang up, threw her arms around his
neck, and burst into a passion of tears.
"Didn't you see her again, Fay?" he asked gently, after
a pause. " Frederika says Madame closed her eyes
with those hands that had never been kind to her I Of
course you were out of the question we all know how
it would have enraged Madame if she had caught the
slightest glimpse of you up there. But where have you
been all this time ?"
Felicitas' tears had ceased to flow. With flashing eyes
she told him of what had taken place. lie walked op
ftiid down the room like one possessed.
"Can such things be possible!" he cried again and
again, running his thick hard fingers continually through
his coarse, bushy gray hair. "And could our Father in
Heaven allow it? Oh, Merciful Powers I If you should
go before a magistrate, and tell it all, and accuse her,
you'd be sent directly home again because you have n^
M
178 THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET.
witnesses, and no one in the whole town would believe
you, for she is the pious, worthy Frau Ilellwig and
you, ^Ah, she's a sly one I" he interrupted himself with
a grim laugh. ''Just when the birds were screeching
loudest she softly unbolted the door again. Yes, yes I I
always knew it, she's a perfect limb I And Fay, my
poor child, she has robbed you. This morning the old
Mam'selle sent me to request her lawyer to come to her
to-morrow afternoon she was going to make her will
for your sake. Oh, yes, 'Who knows how soon my
death may come?' she was cleverer than any of us ^
and would have shamed many a learned man with her
wisdom, but she had never learned that verse of the hymn
by heart, or she would not have put it off so longl"
CHAPTER XVIII.
It was quite early the next morning when Frau Hell-
wig appeared in the court-yard. She wore a black lace
cap instead of the stiff white muslin one, the style of
which had been unchanged for so many years. The
worldly woman, who had so often desecrated the Sabbath
of the Lord with her songs and frivolities, was dead,
even the form which had been the abode of that spirit of
levity had vanished from the old house. The body had
been already removed the previous evening to the under-
taker's. But in spite of all this, the dead woman had
borne the name of Hell wig, and therefore Madame wore
the black cap, and the crape collar which to-day replaced
the stiff, white linen strip that usually surrounded hef
throat
ThE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 179
She uulocked the door behind which Felicitas had ^C6
een the old Mam'selle disappear. Besides the well-koown
flight of stairs behind the painted door, another narrow
winding staircase led directly up to the old Mam'selle*8
dwelling from the steep street without Ilere Heixi-
rich and her maid had always found entrance aid
egress.
The marble busts still looked down unchanged from
their brackets, but the genius of the place had fled from
the room which Madame now entered with the air of a
possessor. A cold, contemptuous smile hovered about
her lips as she passed through the little suite of rooms,
each of which revealed in its tasteful arrangement the
poetic mind, the gentle spirit of its former inhabitant;
but she contracted her brows with an expression of hate
as her glance rested upon the rows of volumes in their
costly morocco bindings upon the shelves of the various
book-cases those books which bore the names of the
poets and authors who had been the old Mam'selle's
favourites.
She picked up a large bunch of keys which was lying
upon the *table and opened a desk, apparently the most
interesting article of furniture in the room to her. The
most thorough order reigned in all the drawers and boxes.
She opened each and took out bundles of letters, yellow
with- age, and tied with faded ribbon, and piles of mann*
script. The Urge white hands thrust them back again
Im])atlent1y what interest could all that 'trash' have fof
Madame? she was not curious. But a box, containing
de^s and legal documents, was treated much more re-
spectfully With the greatest care and an expression of
much inward satisfaction Frau Hellwig unfolded paper
after paper. She was an excellent arithmetician. In a
very few moments she had counted, added, and multip(
180 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
ftnd was eutire mistress of the amount of the old Mam'-
Belle's property, it exceeded her expectations.
But she was by no means at the end of her search,-
she now examined the contents of all the different closets,
wardrobes and trunks, and as she proceeded, she became
more hurried and impatient. Gradually her face grew
Bushed. her clumsy figure wandered from room to room,
her hands rumaged recklessly in the linen-presses
tossed about the delicately folded laces and caps of the
departed, and moved the porcelain and glass in the cup-
boards so carelessly that they rang ag:vin, but what she
sought was not to be found. At last, greatly irritated,
she stepped out into the gallery. With her clumsy, awk-
ward movements she overthrew several flower-pots, and
scattered flowers and leaves in every direction, but she
paid no attention to the mischief that she was doing she
was too much preoccupied even to bestow her usual
amount of contempt upon the 'useless trash.'
Frederika was feeding her fowls below. Frau Uellwig
called down to her to send up Heinrich, and stepping
back into the rooms, began her search anew.
"Do you know where the old Mam 'seller kept her
silver?" she asked, addressing Heinrich immediately
upon his entrance. '' She must have had a great deal,
I know about it from my mother-in-law. There were at
least two dozen heavy large spoons, and the same num-
ber of heavily gilt teaspoons, besides silver candlesticks^
a coffee-pot, and a cream pitcher." The enumeration
rolled glibly from off her tongue as though it had been
well committed to memory. *' I can find none of these
articles, where can they be?"
''I do not know, Madame," replied Heinrich quietly.
He stepped up to a table, opened a box upon it, and took
imt two silver dishes. " This is all the silver of the old
THE OLD MAirSELLE'S SECRET. 181
Mam'selle's that I have ever seen/' he said, "I had
to clean it often, for the maid did not make it bright
enough."
Frau Hcllwig bit her lips and walked heavily up and
down the room. The stern reserve which she usually
retained before her servants forsook her for a moment.
**It will be a fine thing a perfect shame ^if the old
woman has sold this valuable family silver, or perhapa
given it away, it would have been just like her!" she
continued as if to herself. ** She had diamonds too some
very beautiful jewellery everything which the Hellwig
family ever possessed of the kind, was divided between
her and my mother-in-law." She paused suddenly, and
her eyes rested upon the old cabinet with the glass doors
t hat Md the portfolios of music. She had not yet searched
that.
The lower part of this cabinet w^as closed by massive
doors of richly carved wood. She tore open these, and
searched the shelves, which were filled with carefully-
arranged magazines and periodicals.
The hard malicious smile appeared on her face, dis*
closing her strong well-preserved teeth. She dragged out
one pile after another, throwing them with such haste
upon the floor that the single sheets flew all about the
room. ^
The old servant was boiling with rage. He clenched
his fists and looked savagely at the Vandal. He had
brought all those papers and pamphlets from the post
himself, ^they had been the intellectual food of the old
Mam'selle, how well he remembered the sparkle of her
kindly eyes as he laid a new book upon her table 1
^ *' These arc all arch-enemies of our church!" she mut-
tered. *' These blasphemous sheets I these devilish in-
ventioDsl Yes, yes, she has led a life of sin, the misein^
U
1S2 THE OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET.
ble old maid I and I have been forced for so manj jean
lo endure this ungodly creature beneath mj roof I"
She arose and looked through the glass doors of the
eabinet. At sight of the music a sort of harsh discordant
laugh broke from her. She opened the doors, and told
Doiurich to bring a clothes-basket, into which she ordered
him to put all the music-books and portfolios filled with
notes. Ileinrich racked his brain with guessing what
was to be the fate of these beautiful books which had so
often lain upon the piano, and from which the old Mam'-
selle had read such exquisite music. Madame stood be-
side him and took care that not a scrap was left behind;
she herself did not touch a single sheet it almost seemed
as if she were afraid they would burn her fingers.
Then she ordered the old scrrant to carry the basket
down stairs. She carefully locked all the doors in these
rooms, and followed him. To the vexation of Frederika,
who always dreaded her visits, she went into the kitchen,
where Ileinrich deposited his burden and was then sent
into the sitting-room for a paper-knife. The old cook had
just made up a blazing fire.
"You will not need so much wood to-day, Frederika,'^
said Madame, throwing one of the loose sheets into the
flames. The beautiful portfolio containing the old Mam'-
aelle's costly collection of autographs lay upon the top of
the basket The silk ribbons with which it was tied to-
gether were loosened one after the other by Madame's
large determined fingers, and ah I how eagerly the blazing
fire devoured them I There a red flame played around tho
name of ' Oliick' the notes of a brilliant cadenza of Cim-
arosa's glowed like fiery pearls, all, Italian, German,
and French, enveloped in the same burning shroud, sunk
peacefully to rest.
Ileinrich stood looking on at first in otter bewilde^
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 188
ment, choking with rage. The body of his dead fricod
was not jet consigned to the earth, and this unfeeling
woman was already abusing and destroying what had
belonged to her more roughly than a common soldier
in a hostile country.
"But, Madame," he said at last, ''perhaps there is a
Willi''
Frau Ilellwig looked up at him. Ilcr face, scarlet with
the heat of the fire, expressed mingled displeasure and
contempt.
" Since when have I allowed you to utter your opin-
ions in my presence?" she asked sharply. In her hand
she held the manuscript operetta of Bach's which the old
Mam'sello had lately declared to bo worth its weight in
gold, as it was the only copy in existence. With in-
creased energy and a singular look upon her countenance,
she cut and tore at the leaves, thrusting them all into the
hottest part of the fire.
At this moment the bell at the street door rang loudly.
Ileinrich went to open it. An official, accompanied by a
lawyer, entered. He bowed to Madame, who came from
the kitchen in much surprise, while he introduced him-
self as the legal commissary, who had been sent to seal
up the property of the deceased Cordula Hell wig, spin-
ster.
Perhaps for the first time in her life Frau Hellwig lost
ber iron self-possession and presence of mind.
"Seal up?" she stammered.
"She has left a will with her lawyer."
"That must be a mistake," she returned. "I know
for a certainty that according to her father's will she was
powerless to make one, her property all reverts to the
Ilellwig family."
"I am very sorry," said the official, shragging his
184 THE OLD MAMTSELLBTS SECRET.
shoulders. " The will exists, and although I greatly r#
gret being obliged to trouble jou, nij duty compels me
to persist, and place seals upon her effects immediately."
Frau Ilellwig bit her lips, took the keys of the rooms
under the roof, and preceded the unwelcome visitora.
But Ileinrich ran up-stalrs exultingly to Felicitas, who
was fulfilling her duties as nurse although, to Anna's
amazement, she sat mute and stiff as a statue to-day bo-
side her chattering little charge. The old servant toM
her all that had happened. At his description of the aula
dafe she started up.
''Were they single sheets that she burnt?" she asked
in a choking voice.
" Yes, single sheets. They were all in blue portfolios,
tied with beautiful ribbons "
She did not wait to hear any more, but hurried down
to the kitchen. Thcro stood the basket, it still contained
some music and some exercises for the piano, but the
portfolios were lying open and defaced upon the brick
floor, not a sheet of their contents remained. The draught
had blown out of the fire a little scrap of paper which was
lying upon the hearth. Felicitas picked it up, ' Hie MS.
composition ofJohann Sebastian Bach, written by his own
hand, and received from him as a remembrance, 1*10*1.
Ootthelf V. Hirschsprung,^ she read with streaming eyes.
It was the last remains of tho mysterious manuscript
The melodies were hushed forever I
Apparently, Frau Ilellwig had not intended at first
that her son's pleasure-trip should be interrupted on ac
count of the death of tho old Mam'scllc, but when the
business of sealing up was over, from which she returned
in an extremely provoked and irritated mood, she wrote
a hasty note rccall'ng him. For, according to Aunt Cor-
dula's directions^ her will was to be read tho day aftei
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 185
the funeral. To enable her to listen to it Madame needed
some support, she had never in her life seemed to possess
80 little self-reliance. The terrible idea of the probable
loss of a considerable property which she had always re-
garded as eventually her own, had a most depressing
effect even upon her iron nerves.
The pleasure party had started without any definite
plans as to where they should first proceed. The pro-
gramme was: 'a pleasure excursion wherever we please,
with pleasant halts where tho woods are greenest.' And
aecordingly Frau Ilellwig could not direct her letter with
any precision. Tho search that Madame had begun in
the rooms under the roof she now continued in her de-
ceased husband's study. Surely among the family papers
the proof could be found that the old Mam'selle had no
right to will away her inheritance as she pleased. Per-
haps indeed her own savings had accumulated. Madame
had suspected as much on the previous evening, and had
trusted in the bolt of the bird-room to preserve these
savings also to the Hell wigs. But although Madame
pondered and tried to remember, she could not recall or
discover why tho conviction was so strong in her naind
that Aunt Cordula had no control over the disposition of
her inheritance. Whether she remembered it as a direc-
tion in the will of Cordula Ilellwig's father, or whether
she had been assured of it upon sufficient authority, sho
did not know, but convinced she was; and there must be
papers in existence which would reveal why, and which
Bhe must search for. She searched and read until tho
perspiration stood upon her pale forehead, to-day was
an unlucky day the afternoon's exertions, like those of
the morning, were entirely without result. Fortune
usually delights to east her roses at the feet of cold*
bloodedi calculating, unimaginative people it seems al*
16*
186 THE OLD MAiTSELLETS SECRET,
most afl if she thought her treasures less safe with richly
endowed, generous natures, than with those whose soula
arc as tightly closed as their money-bags. Madame had
hitherto been one of fortune's favourites, and was all the
more provoked and surprised by this unlucky day.
Two days bad passed. Madame's letter was apparently
travelling in the well-crammed mail-bag through the
green valleys of the Tburingian forest, and the old
Mam'selle was borne to her last resting-place, without
cne of the name of llcllwig to sec her coffin laid in the
ground.
Felicitas bore her sorrow silently with that self-control
which belongs to strong natures. She did not know the
weakness that finds consolation for grief in constantly
speaking of it. From her childhood she had been accus-
tomed to struggle through every trial alone and to let
her inward wounds bleed sorely, without allowing those
around her to suspect their existence. She purposely
avoided looking upon the dead face of her dear old friend.
The last conscious glance of the dying woman had been
a farewell look she would have no memory of that dear
face uninformed by the light of life. But on the afternoon
of the day of the funeral, when Frau Ucllwig had gone
out, she took down a key which was hanging in the serv
ants' room, it unlocked the corridor upon which opened
the old lumber room, which the reader has already seen.
Madame's increase in size and weight during the last few
years had made her very averse to mounting the upper
Qights of stairs, and the keys to the upper rooms had
consequently been handed over to the cook, who had free
Ingress here.
Aunt Cordula must ana should have fresh flowers laid
upon her grave but only those which she herself had
ttourished The rooms under the roof were all, with the
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 187
exception of the bird-room, locked and sealed up, and
there was therefore no way of getting through the house
to the flower-garden, which the carelessness of the officials
bad thus left exposed to neglect. After nine years, Felici-
tas now tood once more at the window of the garret-
room, and looked across to the flowers on the roof. IIow
much lay between that wretched day, when her wounded
childish heart had rebelled against God and man, and to
day I Over there she had found a home. The lonely occu-
pant of those rooms had taken the despised player's child
to her large, noble woman's heart, and had warded off
every blow from her with the weapons of her cultivated
intellect. There the child had studied diligently, and a
new life of the mind had opened before her. He who was
at present wandering through the Thuringian forest with
a brilliant party of friends, did not dream that his won-
derful schemes Abased upon narrow prejudices and false
views of duty would be made of no avail by two little
feet tripping lightly along those tumble-down gutters on
the edge of the roofs.
And now she must tread that path again. Felicitas
got out of the window and walked bravely across the
firm even floor of the gallery was soon beneath her feet,
Those poor flowers which were so unconsciously waving
their heads in the gentle breeze were far worse off than
the lilies in the fields. Magically suspended in air, as it
were, they knew nothing of the nourishing soil nothing
of the warm, fresh mother-earth which takes to its kindly
heart the tenderest fibres of the most delicate flowers, aa
well as the gnarled roots of the mightiest oak ^their
weal or woe had depended upon two little withered white
bands, which were now folded under ground, and would
Boon crumble into dust. The orphaned plants could not
yet know their loss^it had lately rained sevcra] timet
188 TUE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET,
in the night, and thej were flourishing and blooming
gorgeously.
Felicitas pressed her face against the panes of the glass
door and looked into the room. There stood the little
round table the knitting lay in a basket upon it, as
though it had just been put down to be resumed imme-
diately. Directly across an open book lay the spectaclei*
Felicitas could read the page which was open the last
iniellcctual pleasure which the old Mam^selle had had in
this worUl had been Antony's speech, in Shakspeare'a
Julius Cffisar. There stood the beloved piano, and on
one side glimmered the glass panes of the old cabinet, but
the shelves were empty the old piece of furniture had
proved but a faithless guardian of its musical treasures,
which it had yielded up to the ruthless despoiler, and
which were now devoured by thf flames; but it had
tightly clutched other treasures. Madame had sought
in vain for the old Mam'sclle's silver, and Felicitas
suddenly started. The secret depository in the cabinet
contained not the silver only in one corner was a little
gray pasteboard box. "Jt must die before me," Aunt
Cordula had said, wan it destroyed? It was on no ac-
count to fall into the hands of her heirs, and yet how
averse she had been to consign it to destruction herself!
It was more than probable that it was yet in existence.
If the will revealed where the silver was to be found,
possibly a secret might come to light which Aunt Cor-
dula had guarded from the whole world with iron determ-
ination this must never be.
Tne glass door was bolted from within. Felicitas,
without a mementos hesitation, broke one of the panes,
and felt for the bolt. It was not slipped the door had
been locked and the key taken from the keyhole a dis*
heartening discovery. A pasiouatc impatieuco took pes
TEE LLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, \^^
session of the young girl at the thought that fate alw&ya
stepped in to prevent any service that she wished to ren-
der Aunt Cordula. There was now, mingled with hot
grief for the departed, anxiety for the future. Could the
contents of the little gray box effectually crush all whis-
pers of any guilt attached to the old Mam'selle? Or
fcjiight they not be sufficiently incomprehensible and mys-
terious to cast a darker shadow upon her memory ?
She hastily gathered a large bouquet, put two jars of
auriculas, Auut Cordula's favourite flowers, into her
basket, and retraced her steps across the roof, with a
much heavier heart than she had brought with her.
And now she had three graves in the large quiet
grave-yard. The earth covered those who had loved her,
and to whom her warm heart had clung with the fondest
affection. She looked bitterly towards heaven when she
had strewn and planted the flowers upon Aunt Oordula's
grave. There was no one left now to be taken from her.
Her father must have been long dead his bones were
crumbling in some foreign land, here, upon a marble
monument, was the name io gilt letters, *Friedrich Hell'
wig,^ and there she walked over to her mother's grave,
which, thanks to the tender kindness of the old Mam'selle,
had for the last nine years been covered with exquisite
flowers as soon as spriag opened. To-day the head-stone
was lying upon the ground. Ueinrich had declared a short
time before that the letters upon it needed renewing, and
probably the stone had been taken up by his orders. It
had before sunk so deep into the ground that the name
could be deciphered only with diflSculty, but now of course
every letter was plain enough. *3Ieta d^Orlowska,* Fe-
licitas read, her sight dimmed by tears, but there was
another name below it, which had hitherto been entirely
covered with earth. The black colour of the letters was
ISO THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
of course faded, ^but they were cut in the saudstoue, and
geb, von Hirschsprung, from Kiel,^ could be deciphered
without trouble.
Fclicitas sunk into a reverie. This was the name which
had been written upon Bach's manuscript, and it bad
also been borne by the noble Thuringian family whose
crest was so often found carved upon the walls of the old
merchant's mansion, the little silver seal too, which
Felicitas had discovered in her embroidered pouch long
ago, showed the same leaping stag, what a riddle it all
was! The haughty race whose crest it had been, and
whose last scions had been driven by poverty to spade I
and hoe, had utterly vanished. Ileinrich had known the ;
last one of the name, he had been a student at Leipzig,
9 ad had died young, and unmarried. And yet, fourteen
years before, a young creature from the far north had ap-
peared here whose maiden name was the same. Had a
branch been torn from the old Thuringian parent stem to
take root in a distant country? Let the haughty knight
w^hose enduring image gazed upon the altered world from
the walls of the Hell wig mansion rise from his leaden
coffin and wander over this grave-yard : various stones
bear his name carved upon them, and beneath them are
resting men with labour's hard horny hands, men who
earned their bread in the sweat of their brows, although
he left behind him the parchment rolls which should con-
firm the rights and claims of his family to all eternity,
and closed his eyes in the unshaken delusion that the
lofty blood, the aristocratic hands of his posterity could
never be degraded by hard labour. Let him stand by
this grave which covers a daughter of his house who had
wandered hither from afar. The bread that she ate was
bitter indeed. Hers was a despised calling, and had de-
stroyed her blooming body. How incomprehensible are
^
/ .
TUE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, 191
iho changes which, in the history of an individual family
as well as of the world, show here heaven-ascending
heights and there yawning abysses, which a few years
may once more leveJ and connect!
Were any .p^'Pelicitas' relatives still living? The
young girl, when she asked herself this question, replied
with a bitter smile, at all events they did not exist for the
daughter of Meta von Hirschsprung. They had beeo
twice publicly appealed to and had not responded. Per-
haps this branch of the old race had preserved its original
purity until the time when a daughter of the house be-
stowed her heart and hand upon the juggler and was
rejected and ignored forever by all with whom she was
connected. So much was certain her child would never
cross the threshold of those who could publicly disclaim
all relationship to the juggler's wife.
CHAPTER XIX.
FfiLiciTAS, after leaving the grave-yard, did not returi*
directly to the house on the market-square. Rosa and
Anna were awaiting her in the garden, whither Frau Hell-
wig was also coming later in the afternoon, to take the
evening meal beneath the shade of the acacias. Madame
had apparently recovered her outward composure; the
only change in her was that she went out much more fre-
quently than formerly. She seemed to feel the necessity
of some variety and distraction in her life while waiting
for her son's return.
She appeared to desire to ignore entirely her mectini^
192 THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET,
with Fclicitas by the old Mam'selle's bedside. She had
evidently not suspected the young girl's previous intimacy
with Aunt Cordula, but had regarded Felicitas' intrusion
as the result of curiosity, which would most certainly have
met with a severe rebuke under other circumstances, but
was passed over without further allusion in view of the
f uhsequent occurrences of that afternoon, which were best
forgotten as soon as possible.
Fclicitas had made almost the entire circuit of the little
town, and now stopped before a garden-gate. She drew
a long breath, and then with quick decision lifted the latch
and opened it. It led into the garden belonging to the
Franz family. The young girl had now been thrown back
entirely upon her own resources. Although her heart was
torn and bleeding, her inward suffering had no effect upon
her hard- won decision of character. The heavy blows of
misfortune could not long paralyze the clear understand-
ing which confronted the inevitable with calmness; the
mists of sensibility and enthusiasm had never for one mo-
ment clouded her reason.
The gentle distinguished old lady in the white cap who
had accosted Fclicitas a few days before was sitting
writing in a shady arbour. She instantly recognized her
f isitor, and beckoned to her to approach.
"Ah, here comes my young neighbour, and wants some
good advice, does she not?" she asked with winning kind-
ness, making room for the young girl on the seat beside
ber. Fclicitas told her that at the end of three weeks she
should leave the Ilellwigs, and be in need of some em-
ployment.
"Will you tell me, my child, what duties you can un-
dertake!" asked the lady, regarding Fclicitas kindly with
the large honest eyes which reminded one vividly of he?
sou's. The girl blushed scarlet. At last she must speak
v
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 198
of her long-guarded secret, and display her accomplish-
ments and attainments as a peddler does his wares. It
was a painfal dutj, and yet it must be done.
"I think I can give thorough instruction in French
and German, in geography and history," she replied with
hesitation. ''I have also had excellent instruction in
drawing. I am not a thorough musician, although I
could teach the rudiments of singing," her hearer's eyes
opened wide with astonishment ''and then I can cook,
wash, and iron, and if need be, scrub." These last ac-
complishments came much more glibly from the young
girPs tongue than the first had done.
*' You do not certainly wish to remain here in our good
little town of X ?" asked the lady with interest
''I cannot say that I wish to stay here for any length
of time, but there are graves here that are very dear to
me. I cannot leave them immediately."
" Well, then, let me tell you something. My sister's
dame do compagnie in D is going to be married ; her
place will be vacant in about six months. I can easily
procure it for you, and until then you must stay here
with me. Do you consent?"
Felicitas, overcome with surprise and gratitude, kissed
the kind old lady's hand, but then stood up and looked
wistfully into her eyes. It was evident that some re-
quest was hovering upon her lips; the old lady instantly
noticed it.
** There ia something else on your mind, my child. If
we are to be together for a time, we must be open and
candid with each other. Come, tell me what it is," sh^
said encouragingly.
''I wish to ask you to give me a definite office in your
household, even although it should be a most menial
N IT
"
194 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
one, and only undertaken for a few months/' Felicitaa
answered hastily and with decision.
'*Ah, I understand 1 You are tired of eating bread
which Is indeed hardly-earned, and which let us be \
frank is notwithstanding looked upon as given in
harity."
Felicitas assented.
" Well, you shall occupy no such humiliating position
in my bouse, you dear proud child. I now engage you
as my companion. You certainly shall not wash and
iron and scrub; but you must undertake a general super-
intendence of the household, and give the orders in the
kitchen, for I and my old Dora are growing feeble to-
gether. Will you not?"
"Ah, how gladly 1" For the Orst time since Aunt Cor-
dula's death a happy smile hovered about the grave young
face.
A delicate sunbeam that had played up and down upon
the shady walk in front of the arbour was suddenly extin-
guished ^the sun was declining. Felicitas remembered
that she must be at her post in the garden when Frau
Hellwig arrived, and therefore begged leave to retire.
The old lady dismissed her with a warm pressure of the
band, and a few minutes afterward she stood in the ad-
joining garden with little Anna in her arms. Frederika
shortly appeared; she carried a heavy basket of crock-
ery, and looked greatly heated.
** They came an hour ago," she cried quite out of breathy
and very much out of temper, as she deposited her burden
en the ground. "The fact is, everything is turned topsy
turvy with us now. Madame told me when she saw th
carriage coming across the Square that I must get every-
thing ready to stay in the town this afternoon. Just as
I have got everything in order, as sh^ told mo, ib^ Pro
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, I95
feasor insists upon going out to the garden here, and so
I had to pack up everything and drag out.*'
Then she rushed away to the beds to cut a few heads
of salad.
"Oh, they've had a time there, I can tell you a dis-
graceful time!" she said in a low voice as Felicitas stood
by her in the kitchen dressing the salad. *' Madame would
hardly say, 'how do you do?' she was so full of the story
of the will. I'll tell you what, Caroline, I never have
seen our Madame as raging as she was to-day in my
whole life. And the young master talked like a fool all
the' time. He declared that the old aunt had been dis-
owned by the family, who had never troubled themselves
about her living or dying, and he could not see how peo-
ple who despised her could pocket her money. The idea
of her property had never entered his head. And when-
ever Madame stopped to take breath, he persisted in ask-
ing about the family, whether every one had been well
during his absence. Oh, he looked queer enough ; and
there was the young widow with her dress, as if the rats
had gnawed it I"
As usual, Felicitas made no reply to the old cook's
gossip. She took her sewing and sat down under the
chestnut-tree, while little Anna played upon the grass
at her side. Through a gap in the cypress wall that
stretched like a curtain before her, she had a full view of
the garden-gate. This gate, with its delicate cast-iion
tracery framed in on each side by blooming wild rose-
bushes, and opening into the garden from the avenue of
dark-green lindens that stretched beyond it, had always
possessed a mysterious charm for the young girl. How
many forms had appeared and disappeared through this
gate, some kind friendly faces which she had once run
JDy fully to meet, but others there had be^n, at sight of
196 THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECAET.
which her heart was chilled, and behind which as the}
retreated the peculiar creaking, jarring noise of the clos-
ing gate had been music in her ears. Yet never had she
60 thrilled with sudden terror and strange pain as at this
moment when Madame, leaning upon her son's arm, and
followed by the Councillor's widow, entered the garden.
What had she to fear from those people ? Madame, for
the most part, ignored her existence, and the man by her
side had relinquished all attempt to convert her to his
views those views in accordance with which she was a
despised outcast in the world.
Frederika hod said he looked 'queer enough,' and Fe-
licitas herself thought she remarked something strango
in his appearance. No one could connect the idea of
haste with the careless motions and air of indifference
that characterized him in everyday life, and yet it was
the only word that Felicitas could have used in describ-
ing his present manner. lie was evidently trying to
walk quickly an utter impossibility with his mother's
clumsy figure hanging upon his arm, and with head
erect he scanned the entire garden, naturally he was
anxious to see his patient again.
Rosa came running along the paved walk to get little
Anna, and Felicitas followed the two for a few steps that
she might see from behind the first cypress screen the
meeting between the mother and child. The Councillor's
widow, 'tis true, took the child fondly in her arms, and
kissed and patted its chocks, but all the while she was
scolding Rosa for having brought away the key of her
room in her pocket so that she could not perform any
toilette, but had to walk through the town in 'this horrid
dress.' The becoming travelling-dress had indeed lost
some of its original colour, and hung above the crinoline
limp, and much bedraggled about the hem.
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 197
" Yes, to the very last this excursion has been, and I
shall always maintain it, the most stupid expedition im-
Rginablel" said the young widow peevishly, and pouting
visibly as she drew together with a needle and thread a
rent in the unfortunate dress. '^ I wish I had stayed at
home with you, aunt, in your quiet room 1 We had a
thousand unlucky accidents. Let me tell you, whichever
way we went we came upon a shower of rain, and then
this cousin Bruin of mine was in such a bad humour all
the time I You have no idea, aunt, how rude and
charming he was! He wanted to turn round and come
back the very first day. And such trouble as we had to
clear up his cloudy face now and then 1 Praulein von
Sternthal took up the matter with such intense interest,
that I expected every minute she would either make him
a declaration of love or extort one from him. Now say,
flohn, was ihe not all amiability and attention?"
Felicitas d^d not hear the Professor's reply. She had
already returned to the chestnut-tree, and was sewing
diligently ir the hope that she might escape notice. They
did not lo( k pleasantly. The deep flush of violent ex-
citement CDuld still be seen upon Madame's cheeks,
and the ill humour that the journey had produced in her
son seemed not to have been improved by his reception at
home.
For awhile it appeared as though the lonely sempstress
beneath the chestnut-tree would certaicly be allowed to
remain unmolested in her retirement; only once she lifted
her eyes and saw through the gap in the cypress wall the
figure of the Professor. He was sauntering down a
gravel walk with his hands behind him, but the expres-
sion of his face contradicted the negligent indifference of
bis manner, it was excited, expectant, and he looked
198 TJ/E OLD MAM' SELL V'S SECRET,
BearcliiDgly down all the shady walks and behind the
green old walls.
Felicitas sat still and watched him^ involuntarily she
laid her right hand upon her beating heart, she was
afraid of the moment when she should be discovered by
him. More and more slowly he walked up the broad
gravel path that encircled the lawn. Uis head was bare
was it his strange excited expression, or was the
healthy colour gone from his cheeks? the young girl
thought him altered.
lie reached above into the boughs of an apple-tree, bent
down one of the branches, and looked with great interest
at the growing fruit, he could not have seen the girl be-
neath the chestnut-tree yet. The bough snapped up
again, and he pursued his way. lie was coming directly
towards Felicitas, he stopped and plucked something on
the edge of the grass.
**See, Felicitas, it is a four-leaved clover," he said
quietly, without looking up. It sounded as unrestrained
and easy as though his intercourse with her had never
been interrupted or troubled, as though she would natu
rally be found sitting under the chestnut-tree, but still,
something in his manner chained her to the spot.
''Men say these four leaves bring good fortune to him
who finds them," he continued, coming quickly towards
her. "Well, let me see now how much of the saying \a
pure superstition 1"
He stood before her. In his bearing there was a cer^
tain tension, as if the man were summoning to his aid
the whole force of his strong will. The clover leaf fell
from his hands, he stretched them both out to Felicitas.
** Good evening 1" The voice vibrated which spoke
these two common words. Oh, if he had only used this
tone long ago ^x) the child nine years old, whose p^Mi4ioi
TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 19
to little heart was longing for love and sympathy! To
the sad brooding heart of the girl whom he had so long
misunderstood, the confidential greeting which revealed
nnmistakably the delight of return, was too unintelligible.
But she raised her hand, she, the Pariah, who had de-
clared she would reject his aid even though he sought to
Bave her from imminent death, for one moment placed
her right hand in his, overcome by some mysterious ir-
resistible power. It was a kind of miracle, and as such
he seemed to regard it one unguarded look or motion,
and it might fall from his grasp forever. With all the self-
control that he could command, he took a different tone.
'^Ilas little Anna given you much trouble?" he asked
kindly and sympathizingly.
''On the contrary, the child's dependent state touches
me I like to take care of her."
''But you are paler than you were and those melaii
choly lines around your mouth seem to me more deeply
graven than before. You say the child's dependent state
touches you, others are dependent, too, FelicitasI I
will prove it to you. I am sure you have not wasted a
thought upon those who fled from the little town of X ^
seeking new strength for mind and body in the invigor-
ating air of the wide forest f "
" I had neither time nor inclination for such thoughts,'*
she said, blushing deeply.
" I know it. But it was otherwise with me. I thought
of you. Let me tell you when and where. I saw a noble
young fir-tree growing all alone upon a rocky cliff, it
looked as if it had been wounded and made sore in the
forest at its feet, and had fled to this lonely height. There
ft stood fixed and gloomy, and my fancy lent it a human
face, with familiar, proudly-disdainful eyes. A tempest
arofle, the rala drenched its brancheSi and the storm tossed
SOO THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
BDd beat it pitilessly, bat after every attack it reared it
^If again and stood more proudly than before."
Fclicitas raised her eyes and looked at bim balf-shyly,
balf-defiantly. He had come back strangely altered. This
man with the cold steel gray eyes, the former devotee and
ascetic, the ingrained conservative in whom law and the
letter must have smothered every spark of poetic free-
dom he, the pedant, who wearied of a song sung by a
human voice, and was supposed to use his own only in
the service of science, was telling her, in deep melodious
tones, a kind of fairy story, composed by himself, and the
significance of which she could not misunderstand.
"And only imagine," he continued, "there I stood in
the valley watching it through the tempest, while my
companions jeered my folly in not seeking safe shelter.
But they did not know that the shy, awkward physician
was contemplating a vision that no chilling rain or driv-
ing storm could banish or destroy. For he saw a bold
traveller leave the wood below, climb up the lonely cliff,
and throw his arms around the lofty fir, saying, 'You are
miner And what happened then? "
"I know what happened then," the girl interrupted him
in a low, muttering tone, "the lonely tree was true to
itself, and used the weapons which nature had provided
it with."
" Even when it saw how he longed to take it close to
his heart, Fclicitas? Though it knew that it could rest
there safe from all storms, and that he would cherish it
tenderly as the apple of his eye all his life long?"
The narrator had evidently become inspired by a kind
of passionate interest in the fate of these creatures of his
fancy, for he spoke with quivering lips, and there awoke
in his voice all those tones which had so touched FelicitaH
by the bedside of the sick child but they were powerleaa
now.
THE OLD AAM'SELLE'S SECRET, , 201
*The lonely tree must have kDOwn too well tLat be
fvas telling it only fables," she replied coldly. "You say
yourself that it braved the attacks of the storm it must
have been firm and strong, and could need no other sup
port I"
It had not escaped her that ne was growing deadly
pale for some seconds every trace of colour left hia
cheeks. Ue seemed about to turn and go away, but
steps were heard approaching. Ue stood still close by
Felicitas, and calmly awaited his mother, who stepped
through the gap in the hedge upon the ar^i of his cousin.
"Well, upon my word, John," she ren onstrated, "hero
you are, keeping Caroline from her work and letting us
wait an unconscionable time for supper. Do you think 1
shall be pleased if the biscuit are overbakcd?"
The Councillor's widow left her aunt's side and came
across the grass to Felicitas. She was not looking as
well as usual, the light curls were hanging about her
face in great disorder, she was flushed, and there was a
malicious fire in her eyes.
"I have not yet thanked you, Caroline, for the care
you have taken of little Anna in my absence," said she.
The words should have been friendly, but the soft voice
was sharper than .usual, the tone was almost shrill. "But
you are sitting there like a lonely hermit under the chest-
nut-tree how could I know where you were? Uave
you often played this rietiring, interesting part lately? Jt
would explain in a measure my finding Anna upon my
return so shamefully neglected. I have been scolding
Rosa for it. Iler hair has not been attended to at all,
and her skin is so tanned that she looks like a Hottentot
child, and 1 am afraid that she has overheated herself."
"Have you no other reproach for her nurse, Adelof
Think foi a momcnti" said the Profcstsor with a sneer
n
5102 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
"Perhaps it is her fault that your child is not healthy i
possibly she was the cause of the showers in the Thuringian
forest which have spoiled your temper, who knows "
he stopped, and turned away contemptuously.
"No, you had better not finish your sentence, John,"
said the young widow, struggling with tears of anger.
*'It seems to me that you don't care any more what you
Bay to me. I did not mean to offend you, Caroline," she
turned to the girl, "and to show you that I did not, I
beg you to take Anna home and keep her with you to-
night, I am really worn out and ill with our journey."
"No, that cannot be I" said the Professor sternly.
"The time is past for these endless sacrifices. Adele,
you are too willing, you understand too well how to use
other people, you must now take upon yourself the charge
of your child again."
"Yes, I am glad to hear it I" cried Frau Hell wig from
where she stood, "for then the girl can weed these beds
to-night thoroughly I cannot well require Ileinrich or
Frederika to do it any longer, they are growing too old."
The Professor's face flushed. Difficult as it was usually
to decipher those strange features, they now showed un-
mistakable shame and embarrassment. Perhaps he had
never until this moment appreciated fully the position in
which he had helped to place this young gifted creature.
Felicitas left her seat beneath the chestnut-tree. She
knew that Madame's few words were equivalent to a
command, and that if she did not wish to be loaded with
biting reproaches she must instantly obey. But the Pro-
fessor stepped up to her.
"I believe my word as guardian is needed here," he
Baid, with apparent calmness, "and I do not wish that
fou should perform labour of this description."
"Ah would you like to enclose her in a glass case?"
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 203
Askcd Madame stepping her huge foot upon the grass
and advancing with more speed than usual. " She has
been brought up strictly in accordance with jour direc-
tions, strictlj. Shall I show you your letters, where
jou repeated again and again until I was almost tired of
seeing the words, that she was to be brought up to serr
ice, and that she must be subjected to strict discipline?"
'*I have not the smallest intention of disclaiming an
iota of what has been done according to my express ile-
sire," replied the Professor firmly, but gloomily, "nor
can I deny that I did what I did from honest motives,
and in the full conviction that I was acting for the best,
i^but I trust I shall never be guilty of the weakness Oi
persisting in what I have discovered to be an error, for
fear of the consequences therefore I wish now to declare
that my views are changed, and that of course I must act
diflferently."
The Councillor's widow stooped as she heard the last
words. She plucked a lonely clover-leaf which the scythe
had spared, and tore it to pieces. But Madame laughed
contemptuously.
"Don't make yourself ridiculous, John," she said with
a cold sneer. "At your age a man docs not adopt a new
set of ideas. Those which he has must be decided and
strong, or his life will be a failure. Besides, you are not
the only one who has had to do with this matter. I have
done my part, and I should think that tbe proof might
be found in my life that, by the grace of God, I have
always done what was right. I shall be sorry indeed i!
the Hellwig weakness is about to manifest itself in your
character, for, should it do so, I might as well tell you at
once, wo must be strangers to each other for the future.
^8 long as the girl lives in my house, she is subject to
my commands-^she shall spend not one idle minute, if 1
201 TUE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
can preveutit, bat after she leaves me she may be aa
useless as she chooses, for all I care, fold her hands in
her lap and play the lady."
"That she will never do, Madame Ilellwigl" said
Felicitas, glancing at her hands, which were exquisitely
shaped, but tanned and hard with labour. "Labour la
one of the conditions of her life. Will you have the
goodness to point out to me the beds which you wish
weeded?"
The Professor, who had received his mother's coarse
attack with entire composure, turned hastily to Felicitas,
and regarded her "vvTathfully :
"I expressly forbid you to do it I" he cried harshly and
with decision, and a stern frown contracted his brow.
"And if as your guardian my command is powerless to
combat your stubborn determination, let mo as a phy-
sician appeal to your reason. You have over-exerted
yourself with nursing little Anna. Your whole appear-
ance shows it. In a very short time you will leave my
mother's house, it is our duty to take care that you at
least carry a healthy physique with you into your future
sphere of action."
"That," said Madame, "is a sensible reason, which
carries weight." To her ears, after waiting in vain to
hear her son reprove Felicitas, the words 'stubborn de-
termination' were actually like music. " Let her go to
the house now I don't care" she added, "although I
cannot see how all the nursing she has had to do should
have done her any harm. She is young, and has always
been well fed. Look at other girls in her position, John,
they work day and night, and yet what red cheeks
they havel"
She took the young widow's arm, and went back across
the lawn, evidently expecting that her son would follow
c
TUB OLD MAM'SELLRS SECRET, 20j
her, and the young widow, in a pouting, cross mood,
evidently avoided looking back for him. At first he
seemed to be about to accompany them but he turned
back after a few steps, and as the last glimpse of the
unfortunate blue dress disappeared behind the cypress
hedge, he slowly approached the chestnut-tree, and stood
for a few seconds silently beside Felicitas, who was tying
the string of her straw hat beneath her chin. Suddenly
he stooped and looked under the broad brim of the hat,
which entirely shaded the girl's forehead and eyes. The
irritation that was still visible in his face melted away aa
he looked at her.
"You do not know that you have pained me to-day
more than I can tell you?'' he asked, shaking his head,
and as gently as though he were speaking to a child.
She was silent.
"Felicitas, I cannot for one instant believe that you
are one of those women who delight in hearing a man
sue humbly and repeatedly for forgiveness."
She arose. The pure maidenly face flushed painfully.
" Such entreaties, it seems to me, are always most pain-
ful to those to whom they are addressed," she answered,
after a pause, in a gentler tone than she was accustomed
to use to him. "I would not willingly listen to them
from any one who was not my companion my friend.
Children should ask forgiveness of a parent. I should
not like to see the case reversed. Nor should I " she
paused, but the blush still coloured her cheeks.
"Nor would it be any gratification to you to see a man
continually humble himself before you, Felicitas. Am I
not right?" he concluded her unfinished sentence quickly,
and something like hope sounded in his voice. "But to
carry out such lofty views as yours would bring about
evil results," he continued, after a moment's silenca
18
2C6 THE OLD MAWSELLE^S SECRET.
"And now be truly kind, and consider whether it be not
a woman's duty to extend her hand in aid to a man, and
assist him to extricate himself from the error which he
acknowledges 1 Stop, I do not want an answer now, I
fiM^e in your eyes it would not be the one that I wish to
hear. I will wait patiently, perhaps the time may
come when the angry fir-tree upon the rock will not use
its weapons."
lie left her. Upon the ground at her feet lay the four-
leaved clover which had fallen from his hands, and which
had been plucked as a symbol of good fortune. It lay
upon the closely-cut lawn with all its four leaves delicately
spread out. She would not pick it up she bad nothing
to do with his good or evil fortune but she made a wide
circuit around it, she would not absolutely trample the
little green prophet under foot.
CHArTER XX.
After a series of lovely days full of sunshine and
spring breezes, a leaden stormy sky hung above the little
town of X . The dull clouds seemed almost to touch
the top of the lofty tower, whoso round white shaft shot
up into the air, surmounted by a brilliant green point,
like a stalk of asparagus. On such days, under such a
dark sky, the old merchant-house in the Square seemed to
partake once more of the gloomy grand character of its
ancestral times, when grim portraits of robber knights
adorned its walls and a breath from the middle ages
seemed to sweep through its lofty rooms.
To-day the curtains were closed before thi windo^ia of
TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. ^07
tbe rooms in the fron': of the hoase inhabited by the Coua
cillor's widow. Tlicir lovely tenant was suffering witii
headache, and was in such a state of uncontrollable ex-
citement, that her rooms wore darkened and every sound
near them hushed. The stern face which was seen behind
the asclepias plant from year's end to year's end, did not
appear to-day. The gray skies above seemed to bode evil
and, indeed, this day was to be one of the grayest and
gloomiest in Madame's experience, it was the day of the
reading of the old Mam'selle's will. Iler two sons only,
with old Ueinrich, had been summoned to appear by the
lawyer, it would seem that Madame's existence had been
entirely ignored in the matter, but Nathanael was absent
and his mother appeared in his stead.
Towards noon she returned to the house in the Square,
accompanied by the Professor, while Ileinrich followed at
a respectful distance. Sudden deaths and dangerous ill-
nesses among her friends and connections had been pow-
erless to affect any change in Madame's appearance in
public, ^her strong will, which would not bend, her evi-
dent piety^reserved her marble features in their tearless
repose, even in the presence of such visitations of Provi*
dence. How often had she seemed to some writhing, de-
spairing soul, robbed of its dearest treasures, a revelation
of saintly resignation I But to-day there was presented to
the little town of X- an unwonted spectacle. This
model of invincible composure had undergone a change.
Iler features were undeniably flushed with agitation
the deep solemnity of her usual gait was perceptibly
altered, and she moved with unseemly haste, while the
words which she addressed to her son walking silently
at her side, though whispered, were evidently none of the
gentlest.
Notwithstanding her headache, the young widow bad
8C8 TBE OLD MAM'SEL^E'S SECRET.
been peeping from between the curtains of her room, upon
the watch for their return, and as soon as they entered the
house she came down stairs with pale cheeks and heavy
eyes, 'tis true, but most charmingly dressed to hear the
results of the morning. They all entered the sitting-room
together.
" Well, congratulate us, Adele," cried Madame, with a
bitter laugh, full of malice and contempt. '' She has left
property worth forty-two thousand thalers, and not one
cent to the Ilellwig family, to whom the money all be-
longs by right! The will is the craziest piece of work
that can be imagined ; but it cannot be touched we must
not say one word to prevent such injustice and all be-
cause the men of the family have had not one particle of
energy, matters would have been different if / had been
the head of the house! I cannot understand how my de-
ceased husband without having the smallest security
could leave that old woman up there under the roof to do
just as she pleased."
The Professor was walking up and d jwn the room with
his hands clasped behind him. His brow was clouded,
and from beneath the thick eyebrows he shot lightnmg
glances of displeasure, as his mother was speaking. At
last he stood still before her.
" Who insisted that our old aunt should be banished to
those rooms under the roof?" he asked, gravely and point-
edly. " Who strengthened the former head of the house,
my father, in his prejudice against her, and so strictly for-
bade us children ever to approach or have any intercourse
With our old relative? You did this, mother. If you
wished to inherit her property, you should have pursued
a different course!"
'* How ! do you think I could ever have been upon terms
of intinaacy with her? I who have walked in the fear of
THE OLD MAM* SELLS S SECRET. 201
the Lord my whole life long have anythmg to do wit^
that guilty woman, who desecrated the Sabbath and had
no religion I She knows now that the Lord has turned his
face away from her forever. No power upon earth should
have compelled me to hold any intercourse with her. But
Bhe should have been declared of unsound mind, and
placed in confinement there were fifty ways in which
your father could have done so 1"
The Professor's face grew white he looked at his
mother in absolute terror, took his hat and left the room,
without another word* He had had a glimpse of a fright-
ful abyss. And this stubborn religion of the letter ^this
pietistic arrogance, beneath which such boundless spiritual
pride hod been at work had surrounded his mother, in
bis eyes, like a halo of light. This was the character
which had so long seemed to him the model of feminine
perfection! He confessed to himself that he had once
held the same views which were entertained by his
mother and the relative who bad been the guide of his
youth ^yes, he had even gone beyond them in intolerance
and devotion to forms he had been unwearied in the
work of proselytism, seeking to compel all to walk in the
path which he himself was treading, and which he had
lielieved to be the only one leading to salvation. And
that poor innocent orphan girl, with her brain full of
bright hopeful visions, and her proud honest heart he
had seized her with an iron grasp, and had thrust her
into that cold dark region. How she must have suflered
that nightingale among ravens I He covered his eyes
with his hand as if he were giddy, slowly ascended the
stairs, and shut himself up in his lonely study.
While the above was taking place in the sitting-room,
a lilr* cenc of excitement and irritation was going on In
O IS*
210 THE OLD MAM' BELLES SECRET.
th Bert ants' room. The old cook was flying about witli
her cap-striDgs etrdaming and fluttering, but Ileinrich
withstood the stomi of feminine passion, like a rock in the
midst of the ocean. He had on bis Sunday coat, and his
features expressed a strange mixture of joy, sorrow, and
a sense of the ludicrous.
''Don't think I'm envious, Ileinrich that would be un-
christian I" cried Frederika: ''I don't grudge it to youl
Two Ihousand thalersi" She clasped her hands, wrung
them, and let them fall again. '' Tou have much more
luck than wit, Ileinrich I Ah I good Heaven ^here have I
been working all my life long, going to church all winter
on the very coldest days, and praying Ood to send me
some good fortune and I've never had any luck, while
you've got all this I Two thousand thalersi it's a perfect
mine, Heinrich 1 But I can't help thinking of one thing
can you take the money with a clear conscience? The
old Mam'selle ought not to have willed away a penny of
her money it all belonged by good rights to our peo-
ple, and when you come to think of it, it would be
actual stealing to take it, Heinrich. I don't know exactly
what I should do in your place, but "
"I'll take it I'll take it, Frederika," said Heinrich,
with great composure.
The cook ran into her kitchen and slammed the door
behind her.
The old Mam'selle's will, that had elicited so mmh
emotion in the Hellwig house, had been deposited with
her lawyer ten years before. It had been written by the
testator herself, and after the usual formal introduction
read in effect as follows:
' 1. In the year 1633, Lutz von Hirschsprung, a son of
Adrian v. Hirschsprung, who was murdered by Swedidb
soldiers, quitted l! e town of X to settle elsewhere
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 811
To the direct descendants of this brimch of the old noble
Thariogion stock, I bequeath
'a. Thirty thousand thalcrs.
*h. The golden bracelet, upon which are engraved
certain verses in old Qcrman, surrounded by
a wreath of flowers.
*c. Bach's manuscript copy of his opera. It will be
found among my autographic collection of
famous composers, in portfolio No. 1, and is
inscribed with the name OoUhelfvonHirsch-
sprung,
'I herewith direct my lawyers to make an appeal, re-
peating the same if necessary, through the public jour-
nals, to any existing descendants of the afore-mentioned
branch of the Hirschsprung family. Should such appeals
be without result, and no claimant appear, it is my wish
and will at the end of a year that the above-mentioned
capital of 30,000 thalcrs, together with the proceeds of
the bracelet when sold, and of the Bach manuscript also
to be sold, be handed over to the worthy mayor of the
town of X , to be by him appropriated as a fund to
the following purpose :
'2. The yearly interest of the capital safely invested,
shall be divided in all future time equally among eight of
the teachers employed in the public schools of X , in
such a manner that all the public school teachers shall
receive a portion in regular rotation without favour or
partiality. Directors and professors have no claim.
* 1 dispose of my property thus in the firm conviction
that it will be of as much use as if I should call into ex-
istence with it a new institution. The office of public
school teacher is as yet only the stepchild of the State,
the men whose exertions are so useful in building up
what must bo our national bulwark, are still exposed to
%
3S13 TUE OLD MAM" SELLERS SECRET.
pressing pecuniary anxieties, while they enrich tl ousandfl
by their mental labour. May the eyes of others be opened
to this dark shadow in the advancing light of our limes,
and may others aid in exalting and supporting a calling
at present so often under-rated 1
'3. Whatever I possess in silver plate and jewellery,
^ith the exception of the afore-named bracelet, reverts to
ihe existing head of the Hellwig family, as old heirlooms
which must not fall into the hands of strangers, as well
as everything which I possess in the way of furniture
and linen.
' 4. My manuscript autographic collection of celebrated
composers, with the exception of the afore-mentioned Bach
manuscript, will be sold by my lawyers. The proceeds
of the sale I devise to my two grand-nephews, John and
Nathanael Hellwig, in token of the sorrow I have always
felt in not being allowed to send them gifts at Christ-
mas.'
Various legacies to poor mechanics and others followed,
to the amount of 12,000 thalers, among which was the
legacy to Ileinrich of 2000, and one to her maid of 1000
thalers.
Heinrich related to Felicitos as correctly as he could
the contents of the will. There was no mention made of
the place where the old Mam'selle kept her silver ^that,
at least, she gathered from his account, and was rejoiced
indeed. Now, if the secret repository were not discov-
ered by accident, it would be in her power to destroy the
little gray box before any other mortal eyes should rest
upon it.
"I shall always lament it, Fayl" said Heinrich sadly,
as they sat alone together in the servants' room. "Now
you have nothing in the world I If the old Mam'selle
had only lived twenty-four hours longer, she would have
/^
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 13
mado another will, and yoa would havo had heaps ot
money, she loved you dearly."
Felicita& smiled. The self-confidence of youth, whicii
noTer dreams of sordid cares for daily bread, or of pro-
viding for a helpless old age, beamed in that smile.
**It is better as it is, Heinrich," she replied. "Those
poor people whom Aunt Cordula has taken care of, want
the money more than I do, and depend upon it, she had
reasons for the disposition that she has mado of the bulk
of her property, which would have held good with any
other will that she might have made."
" Yes, yes, there's some strange connection with the
Uirschsprungs I" said Heinrich thoughtfully. " I remem-
ber old Hirschsprung very well, he was a shoemaker-
he made my first pair of boots. I shall never forget them.
He lived in the little street there at the side of the house.
And so it came about that his boy and our old Mam'sclle
played together sometimes when they were children. The
boy became a student afterwards, and people said was a
"over of our old Mam'selle's. And they say, too, that
this love affair and this is what provokes me hurried
old Herr Hcllwig, her father, into his grave. Ho could
not endure the thoughts of it, and they say that oncp ho
got so angry with her about it, and she provoked him so,
that he fell dead upon the spot, if it's true, I don't be-
lieve it. A little while afterwards the old Mam'sello
went to Leipzig, the student had a nervous fever, and
she stayed there and nursed him until he died. All her
relatives were raging about it, they declared that her
character was gone, and they cast her off. The people
here followed their example, and no one went near her
when she came back at last. However all that may be,
it seems to me very odd that those people should be bef
HI 4 TJIE OLD MAM' SELL WS SECRET.
heirs ^bo went off so long ago, they had gone bng be^
fore the student was born. I can't understand it."
The following day the seals were removed from the
rooms under the roof.
Dreary days followed. The uniform gray tints of the
ekies were unbroken by any ray of sunlight Day and
night the rain dropped upon the roofs and pavements,
And the dragons' heads on the old house poured down
torrents of water in the Square below, they looked an-
grier than ever, those distorted wide-mouthed faces,
and the discoloured Hood that splashed upon the pave-
ment below might have been poisonous gall; for had they
not been looking in all these years upon the swelling
treasures which poured into the chambers and coffers of
the old house, while but a thin stream had ever flowed
back again into the world? And now, 'twas un-heard-
of, a largo sum of money was to leave this house for-
ever, and the stout old walls and the iron figure behind
the asclepias plant had no power to retain it.
Felicitas spent these rainy days for the most part in the
letirement of the chamber next to the servants' room.
She had been, probably by the Professor's express desire,
relieved from all hard household labour, but she sat al
most buried in huge piles of linen, mending. She must
not cat the bread of idleness.
Without, in the court-yard, the fountain in the corner
bubbled monotonously, the rain fell without cessation^
pattering upon the broad leaves of the coltsfoot growing
there ; sometimes the crow of a cock was heard from the
adjoining poultry-yard, or the gray tone of colour that
brooded over all was broken by two or three doves, who
would light upon the dripping stones and spread their
feathers to receive the rain. Light, sound, and motion
ill seemed muffled dulled \ and the universal gloom was
THE OLD MA ir SELLERS SECRET, 215
apparently shared by the pale young girl sitting at the
bow-window. True, the hand with its thimble moved
regularly and without intermission, but the exquisite
profile bending over the work never stirred from its posi
tion. Life, with its fearful experiences, had thus far
failed in stamping any impress of suffering or submission
upon those beautiful features, they had only grown
paler, as if they were stiffening into marble, wearing the
same proud expression of unconquerable power of re-
sistance.
But beneath the coarse dark dress an anxious heart
was beating, and while the hand mechanically repaired
many a rent, the mind was tortured at the thought of
severe tasks and of the hard struggles that must ensue.
For the lawyers had also searched in vain for the old
Mam'selle's silver plate and antique bracelet. At first
the circumstance Had acted soothingly upon the girl's
disturbed and anxious mind; but Ileinrich had since then
been in a state of the greatest distress. Frau Ilellwig
had informed the commission, with ambiguous gfances
and unmistakable emphasis, that Ileinrich and the maid
had for years been the only persons possessing free ad-
mission to the old Mam'selle's apartments, and upon
this declaration, which looked very much like an accusa-
tion, the honest fellow had immediately been subjected to
a most degrading examination. He was beside himself.
What a trial it was for Felicitas, to see the grief of her
faithful old friend without allowing one word of her
secret to pass her lips! Quiet and thoughtful as he had
always been, his composure seemed entirely to forsake
him before such an accusation, and she Justly feared
that, in the fearful pressure of his anxiety to free himself
from the horrible suspicion, he might commit some indis*
cretion, which would be unfortunate indeed Just at this
f
816 TBS OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
time, when so mach caation was needed to preserve th
old Mam'sello^s secret
It was now doubly difiScult to visit the rooms under
the roof. The Professor had gone through them on tha
da} when the seals were removed, in a state of the great*
est astonishment, and had immediately taken formal pos-
session, as the head of the house, of the habitation of
the mysterious old aunt. Perhaps, at sight of the origi*
nal and tasteful arrangement of the rooms, his eyes had
been suddenly opened to the character and pursuits of
his disowned relative. He would not have a chair moved
from its place, and was greatly provoked when he saw
the Councillor's widow take a needle out of a pincushion.
lie seemed determined to spend as much time as pos*
sible, during the remainder of his stay with his mother,
in the rooms under the roof. He only came down stairs
at meal-times, and then, as Frederika declared, 'looking
as cross as a bear.'
But the Councillor's widow, she, too, had been seized
with n kind of passion for the 'charming quiet asylum,*
and she begged her cousin to allow her, as a special fa*
vour, frequently to share it with him. Rosa swept the
floor, and the young widow removed the dust from the
furniture with her own fair hands. Thus Aunt Cordula's
room was scarcely ever unoccupied, and besides, the
Professor had taken care that the antique lock of the
painted door should be replaced by a new one, to open
which Felicitas' key was of course useless; there was no
way of ingress for her except over the roofs.
At the thought that she should be obliged to steal into
the rooms like some midnight thief, she shook her head
with disgust, and this perpetual watching for the first
moment when their unsuspecting inhabitants should leave
them, was abhorrent to her. Nevertheless, rhe held most
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 21 T
firmly to her determination, and a cold shudder ran
through her whenever she thought that two weeks were
ail the time now left in which to accomplish the task.
At last the rainy days seemed over. A piece of clear
blue sky hung above the square court-yard the coltsfoot
dried its well-washed leaves in a most refreshing breeze
the swallows, whose nests were hanging thick under
the caves, constantly flew in and out, their shining little
backs actually sparkling in the pure warm sunshine. It
was a day to spend in the open air. Perhaps they would
take the evening meat in the garden to-day, and then the
path over the rooffi would be free. But this hope of Fe
licitas' was not fulQlIed. Immediately after dinner, Rosa
came to the bow-window to tell her that she must take
little Anna to the garden the Professor had promised
the child she should go. The other members of the family
would follow later in the afternoon, and take their supper
there.
And soon Felicitas was walking, with the child by her
side, in the lonely garden. Instead of the slates of the
roofs and the wooden floor of the gallery, she had be-
neath her feet the gravel of the sunny garden paths.
During the rainy weather, thousands of roses had come
into bloom. In the broad flower-beds were rare species
of roses rearing their lovely buds with crimson-velvet
leaves proudly above the humbler flowers, like the royal
purple above a crowd of subjects while in the vegetable
garden the more common but exquisitely fragrant anti
folia grew everywhere among the plants, and mingled its
delicious breath with the commonplace odour of dill and*
sweet marjoram.
Felicitas passed by the gorgeous flowers with her head
sunk upon her breast, holding little Anna by the hand,
*Qd the sympathetie little child limped along silently. i&
19
r
S18 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
terrupting the rcvcrio of her kind friend by no childish
prattle. With wild burning pain, Felicitas thought of
the roBcs of other years, how much sweeter was their
fragrance, how much more brilliant their beauty, when
Aunt Cordula's dear kind eyes were still beaming, as on
still Sunday afternoons she read aloud many a delightM
page from her rich library to the pupil at her side, who
listened eagerly to the melodious voice, while from the
dowers around the sweetest fragrance floated on the air,
and the fair land of Thuringia lay spread out before
them I Then gradually the sweet sensation of home had
risen in the girl's soul she felt that she belonged in the
peaceful, happy rooms where she was cherished and
guided by motherly love ^where, if only for a few hours,
she was free, unfettered in her actions and thoughts, en-
couraged to speak of whatever arose in her mind, no
wonder the roses were fairer and sweeter, and the whole
world was flooded with golden sunshine!
She raised her head and looked across the hedge into
the next garden. There she saw the spotless white cap
of Madame Franz. The old lady was seated at a table
with her son, taking her coflce. She was leaning com*
fortably back in a fautcuil and knitting, while he read
aloud to her. The scene was peaceful and homelike.
Felicitas said to herself that, among such kindly culti-
vated people, she should be once more to a :ertain degree
free, that it was impossible that with them she coijld
ever be degraded to a hard-working automaton, whose
bands never rested, but whose eyes and lips must never
betray the existence of an active, self-reliant mind.
And yet in spite of these thoughts her melancholy
mood remained unaltered. Even before Aunt Cordula's
death, there had been a secret corner of her soul which
was entirely unintelligible to her a dull pain that van*
THE OLD MAWSELLE8 SECBE7\ 19
I8hed like a phantom, if she attempted to analyze it. All
she knew with any distinctness about it was that it had
grown out of the presence of him who once was her chief
oppressor. She had, it is true, before his arrival, been
convinced that the sight of him would intensify her dis-
like and bitterness, but she had not dreamed that these
aensations would so react upon her as to produce this
mysterious state of mind which made her a riddle to her-
self.
Now and then, the reader's voice in the next garden
would make itself heard. It was indeed a clear, full-
toned voice but there was in it none of that delicate
modulation, that melodious intonation, which years had
BO wonderfully developed in the former monotonous
voice of the Professor. Felicitas threw back her head.
Why should she make the comparison? She forced her
thoughts into another channel, and occupied herself with
considerations fraught with intense interest to her, and
upon which she had pondered much since the reading of
Aunt Cordula's will. The young lawyer, Franz, had
been constituted, by the legal authorities of the town,
curator to the Hirschsprung heirs, if any such heirs yet
existed. The summons to them had been made for two
days through the public papers. Felicitas was awaiting
the result with feverish impatience it might bring her
bitter pain. If any Ilirschsprungs from K should
appear in answer to this call, which held out hopes of a
rich inheritance, her supposition that the wife of the jug^
gler had been disowned by her family would bo con-
firmed. But what kind of people could they be whose
affection for one of their nearest relatives had so died out
that even the tragical death of the juggler's wife could
not revive it I Felicitas, therefore, had not based a single
hope upon the possible appearance of her near relativev
220 THS OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET.
-for them she could never have an existence ; but hef
heart notwithstanding throbbed wildly at the thought of
a possible meeting between the cruel grandparents and
their unknown silent grandchild.
Madame Franz had observed Felicitas across the
hedge. She arose and came forward, supported by her
eon. Both greeted her cordially, and the young lawyer
expressed his pleasure in the prospect of future inter-
course with her as a member of his mother's household.
And then they passed to other topics of conversation.
Something like embarrassment took possession of the
travelled man of the world, as he talked with this young
girl who had led so secluded an existence, and yet who
looked so fearlessly and seriously into his eyes while she
gave utterance to the most original opinions. They con-
versed long and earnestly, touching upon a wide variety
of topics. At last Madame Franz asked after the health
of the child, and Felicitas took h'ttle Anna in her arms
and pointed with delight to the delicate colour the tinge
of health that was just appearing upon the pale checks.
As they parted, the old lady held out her hand to Fe-
licitas, her son too stretched his right band over the
hedge, and Felicitas frankly laid her own in it. Just at
that moment the gate creaked upon its hinges, and the
Professor entered the garden. He stood still for a few
seconds, as if rooted to the spot, then slowly lifted his
hat and bowed gravely. The young lawyer opened his
lips to address him, but he turned abruptly away and
went into the summer-house.
"Well, that really was done like a genuine absent-
minded philosopher," said young Franz, laughing, to his
mother. "My good friend, the Professor, certainly haa
his brain filled with some unfortunate patient, at such
times he hardly recognizes his best friends."
t %
TUB OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET. 221
Mother and son nventback to their coffee, and Felicitaa
Bought protection and shade under the hedges and treea
upon the lawn.
CHAPTER XXL
The tall screen of the green cypress-hedge afforded an
excellent protection from the sun, from the wind, which
bad just begun to blow with some violence, and probably
from the reproachful glances directed towards Felicitaa
from the summer-house. , She knew the Professor's face
too well not to be sure that he had been vexed and irri-
tated, but not absent-minded. She thought too that she
perfectly understood the cause of his displeasure. He ex-
acted the most implicit obedience to his medical directions,
and was, according to llosa's account of his practice in
Bonn, accustomed to have his wishes respected. He had
repeatedly, and with some irritation, forbidden Felicitas
to carry little Anna, and yet when he entered the gar-
den she had the child in her arms. Thus only could she
explain the irritated surprise that his face expressed upon
bis entrance.
Felicitas seated herself upon a mound upon tlie distant
dam. A lonely birch-tree was growing here its smooth
white trunk crowned by the falling branches, which made
a kind of arbour around it. The wind was scarcely to be
felt in this sequestered spot only ^ow and then the tall
grass trembled as if drawing a deep breath, and the
boughs overhead rustled gently. But the brook swollen
by the recent rains rushed noisily by, its gurgling dis-
coloured waters swirling boisterously about the roots of
the hazel-bushes on its brink.
19*
222 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET
Tho chiM plucked with its poor little awkward fiDgem
a quantitj of buttercups, and brought them to Felicitas
that she might tie up the poor things, broken ofif close to
the flower, into a short-stemed nosegajfor 'Uncle John.'
This tedious task required patience and attention, Fe
licitas' eyes were busj with the bouquet in her hands,
she did not see the Professor come through the gap in
the cypress-hedge and advance quickly towards her
across the wide lawn. Little Anna's exclamation at his
approach first made her look up, ho was already stand-
ing beside her. She would have risen, but he put out his
hand and gently detained her, and then without a word
he seated himself beside her.
For the first time she utterly lost her self-possession
in bis ]Trcsence. Four weeks before she would have
rejected bis hand with aversion and left him instantly,
now she sat there as if paralyzed, as if beneath the spoil
of a magician. It provoked her that he had lately adopted
such a familiar, unconstrained tone in speaking to her,
she longed for nothing niore ardently than to show him
that she thoroughly hated and despised him as she had
always done, but suddenly courage and words both
failed her to tell him so. She shyly glanced up at his
face he looked anything but provoked or angry, ^the
flush of displeasure was gone. Felicitas was irritated to
be obliged to confess to herself that the power and determ-
ination in those irregular features impressed her against
her will.
lie sat for a few moments beside her without speak-
mg. She felt, although she could not see, that be was
regarding her fixedly.
''Do me the kindness, Felicitas, to take that ugly thing
off of your head," he at last broke the silence, and his
roice sounded calm, almost gay, as, without waiting for
.]
TEE OLD MABPSEDLE'S SECRET. 223
Ihe youDg girl's consent, he gently lifted the faded worn
hat from her head, and flung it contemptuously upon the
grass. Through the quivering birch-leaves a sunbeam,
which had hitherto played upon the old straw hat, now
rested upon the girl's chestnut hair a tress sparkled like
pun gold.
" So now I can see the angry thoughts at work be-
hind your brow," he said with a slight, sad smile. "I
cannot bear the idea of a battle in the dark I want to
Bee my foe, and that I have a bitter one there," he
pointed to her forehead, "I know only too well."
* To what would this strange introduction lead ? Per-
haps he expected an answer from her, but she was per-
sistently silent. Little Anna was, with untiring assiduity,
heaping her lap with buttercups, daisies, and grass, and
she tied them diligently together without the slightest
attempt at grace or symmetry. Those fingers that would
not be delayed in their work, had lost much of their
brown colour during the several days spent in the retire-
ment of the bow-window they were really rosy. The
' Professor took her right hand, opened it, and looked
gravely at the palm there were traces there of hard
labour which it would need more time to obliterate. The
girl who at the express command of her stern guardian
had been brought up to servitude, had undeniably done
her best to fit herself for a life of labour.
' Although during this examination a deep blush over-
spread Felicitas' checks, very sensitive natures are aa
much affected by a close observation of the palm of the
p hand as of the features of the face, she recovered at
this moment all her former self-possession. She looked
cp, and he slowly let her hand drop then he rubbed hla
^ forehead several times, ns if seeking words for an embar
rassing thought.
r
J2t THE OLD MAW SELLERS SECREt.
"Yon liked to go to school, did you notf" he asked
BQddcnlj. ''Mental occupation gives you pleasure?"
"Yes," she replied with astonishment. The question
Bounded strangely it was so very abrupt. But spite of
the command of language that this man possessed, diplo
m%i\Q ambiguity was foreign to his nature.
*'Well," he continued, "I hope you have thought
cmetimes of what I said to you the other day 7"
*'I remember what you said."
'^And have certainly arrived at the conviction that it
ill a woman's duty faithfully to assist a man who desires
to retrieve an error?" lie leant his elbow on his knee,
b3nt forward, and looked eagerly into her face.
"Not exactly," she answered decidedly, letting her
b finds with the bouquet fall in her lap, and looking her
irtcrrogator full in the face. "I must first know how he
v^ishes to retrieve the error."
"Subterfuges!" he murmured, and his face darkened
perceptibly. lie seemed to forget that he had hitherto
spoken in generalities, and he continued with irritation.
" You need not be so frightfully upon your guard. I can
assure you that no one who could see your face at this
moment would dream of requiring anything superhuman
of you. The question simply is that you should what-
ever your future plan of existence may be remain under
my guardianship a year longer, and devote this time to
four mental improvement. Let me speak," he said with
% frown, raising his voice as he saw she was about to
interrupt him, "forget that it is I who propose this plan
to you, and only remember that, in caring for your men-
tal culture, I do just what my father would most certainly
have done if he had lived."
"All this comes much too late."
" Too late ? At your age ?"
THE OLD MAM'SELLE 8 SECRET. 225
"You misunderstand me. I wish to say that as a
helpless, irresponsible child, I was forced to accept of
charity, ^this I have been obliged hitherto to submit to.
But now I stand upon my own feet, and I refuse to
accept a penny which I do not earn."
The Professor bit his lips, and contracted his brows so
that his eyes almost disappeared.
"I anticipated this reply," he said coldly, "for I am
thoroughly aware of your unconquerable pride. My
plan is this, I will lend you the means for the necessary
instruction, and later, when you are independent, you
shall pay me back, if you choose, every penny of the
money. I know of a most excellent school in Bonn, and
am family physician to the cultivated instructress who
has charge of it. You would be well taught there, and,"
he added, with a slight tremor in his voice, "a separa-
tiou never to meet again would be postponed for at least
a little while. In fourteen days my holidays will come
to an end. I shall go back with my cousin to Bonn, ^it
will be the most natural thing in the world for you to
accompany us thither. Felicitas, I entreated you the
other day to be good and kind, ^let me repeat the en-
treaty. Do not listen to the whispers of wounded feeling.
I pray you to forget, if only for a few moments, the past,
^-and let me redeem, as far as I may, my error."
She had listened uneasily. As before, while relating
his so-called vision, there was a certain fascination in the
tones of his voice. He was not as evidently excited as
before, ^but the sincere, honest repentance which he se
frankly and seriously expressed without in the least
compromising his manly dignity, touched her in spite of
herself.
"If I still possessed the right of deciding what my life
for ^he next year should lo," she said more gently than
P
126 TITS OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET.
Bhe had ever spoken to him, "I would anconditionall^
and willingly accept your offer, ^but I am not free to do
fio. The day upon which I leave Frau Uellwig's house
will open for me a new sphere of action."
"Unalterably?"
"Yes, ^my word once given is sacred to me. I never
change or tamper with it, although to keep it cause me
the greatest inconvenience."
lie arose and stepped beyond the shelter of the birch-
tree.
"And may I now be permitted to ask what you intend
to do?"
"Oh yes," she replied with entire composure. "I
should have told Frau Ilellwig, if I had had an oppor-
tunity. Madame Franz has engaged me as her com-
panion."
These few words acted like a thunderbolt. The Pro-
fessor turned short round ^his eyes flashed lightning.
"The lady over there?" he asked, pointing toward the
next garden, as though he could hardly trust his ears.
"Dismiss any such project entirely from your mind," ho
said with decision and an air of command. "I will never
give my consent to itl"
The young girl arose with a defiant gesture the care-
fully plucked flowers fell to the ground. "Your con-
sent?" she said proudly. "I do not ask it In fourteen
days I shall be free, and can go wherever it pleases me."
"The case is altered, Felicitas," he said, controlliDg
himself. "I have more right over you than you imagine.
Years may elapse before this right expires and even
then it is a question whether I shall release you."
"We shall see about that I" she said coldly, with de-
turmiped reserve.
" YcR, you shall see about itl I had a long and Bati
THE OLD MAM'SELLB'S SECRET. 221
factory conversation yesterday with Dr. Boehm, my
father's most intimate and confidential friend, concerning
the circumstances of your reception in this house. I
learned from it that yon were committed to my father's
care upon the express condition that yon should remaia
under his protection until your own father reclaimed yoo,
or until some other true protector shall present himself
who will ^give you his name. My father appointed
me in his stead in case of his death, and I am firmly re
solved to abide by these conditions.''
And now Felicitas entirely lost all composure.
"Qod in heaven!" she cried, beside herself, clasping
her bands. "Is my misery, then, never to end? Must I
be forced to live forever in this horrible state of depend-
ence f For years 1 have been sustained by the thought
that my eighteenth birthday would bring me deliverance.
This thought alone has enabled me to preserve my out
ward composure, while I sufiered inconceivably I No,
no, I am no longer the* patient creature who will allow
herself to be trodden under foot out of respect for the
wishes of the dead. I will notl^I will have nothing
more to do with these Ilellwigs. At any cost I will rid
myself of these hateful fetters I"
The Professor seized both her hands in his as she spoka
these last words; his face grew deadly pale.
"Oh, think what you are saying, Felicitas!" he said,
and his voice was tender, but almost stifled with emotioa
''Do not rebel so, like a helpless bird that beats its wings
against the bars of its cage in a useless struggle with the
inevitable. Hateful fetters! Have you, then, no concep-
tion of the bitter, bitter pain that your hard angry words
cause me? You shall be free free to think and act as
you please, only guarded, protected like a-^-fondly'lov^Ml
ehildl Folioitas, vou. shall Icarn what it la to be cherished
,rfj jjj j'
288 THE 01 D MAM' SELLERS SECRET,
and surrounded by love. This is the last time I shall ever
use mj authority as jour guardian. I pra^ you do not
make me wretched by your resistance, for I declare to you
now it will be of no avail. I shall take matters into my
own hands, and will myself break any engagement you
may have entered into with Madame Franz."
"Do so," cried Felicitas almost hoarsely, with quiver-
irg lips, and a face from which every drop of blood had
departed. "But I too can act, and be sure I will defend
myself against you as long as I live."
Never before in her tempest-tossed existence had she
braved so fearful a storm as the one now raging in her
Boul. Suddenly new voices arose there, appealing loudly
in the midst of the uproar, and they sounded like the echo
of his earnest words of entreaty. A fearful peril over-
shadowed her like a dark thunder-cloud, she felt instinct-
ively that she must separate herself from him at any
sacrifice, if she did not wish to succumb irrevocably to
the danger that encompassed her. Already ho seemed to
possess an indefinable power over her whole being ; every
harsh word that she spoke to him struck painfully back
upon her own heart
He had until now held her hands firmly in the clasp of
his own, and gazed, as if he would read her very soul, into
her face which involuntarily mirrored for a moment the
fierce conflict raging within. The keen eyes of the physi-
cian, who had made mankind his study, had probed many
a human breast, although he had never before tried to
read a young girl's heart that, however pride might seek
to defend it, was yet unguarded from the very fact of its
innocence. "You will not succeed!" he said suddenly,
with regained composure. "My eyes are watchful and
my arm is powerful. You will not escape me, Felicitas.
( will under no circumstances leave you here in X ^
.
^
THE OLD MAM' SELLS S SECRET. 829
and it is equally certain that I will not go back to Bonn
without you."
The garden-gate had creaked upon its hinges some time
ft
before, but the noise had been unheard. Rosa now ap-
proached and informed the Professor that Frau Hellwig
awaited him in the summer-house, and that the Council*
lor's widow begged him to come immediately.
"Is she ill?" asked the Professor, without looking at
the maid.
"No," she answered in some surprise, "but my mis-
tress says that the cofiTce, which she is making herself,
will soon be ready, she wishes the Ilerr Professor to
enjoy it while it is hot, ^the young lawyer, Herr Franas,
Is also in the summer-house."
** Very well, I am coming," said the Professor; but he
made no motion to go. Perhaps he hoped that Rosa
would return to her mistress, if so, he was mistaken.
The girl busied herself with little Anna, who was making
a sorrowful lament over 'the pretty flowers all trampled
dead' upon the grass. At last, evidently disappointed,
he walked down the slope of the dam.
" Do not stay there any longer," he called to Felicitas.
" The wind is rising every moment. I think we shall have
a storm. Come with Anna into the summer-house."
He disappeared behind the cypress-hedge, but Felicitas
walked hurriedly along the whole length of the dam. All
was chaos in her mind, usually so clear and decided. In
vain she strove to recover her accustomed composure, to
analyze her sensations and regain her mastery over her-
self. She must then continue to bow beneath the yoke,
and not only be denied all chance of independence for an
mdefinite period of time, but she must live in unavoidable
proximity to him, in daily intercourse with him for
years, as if this were not the most fearful punishment
20
S80 TSB OLD MAJTSELLB'S SECRET.
that abe could undergo. Had she not done eTerjthing
to prove to him how her very soul abhorred him, how
implacable she should always be while she lived ? And
was it not, therefore, the very refinement of cruelty to
fetter her in this way? Why, she would rather a thoo-
aand times be subjected for years to Madame's most cruel
treatment, than pass one month more in the society of
the man who was developing this demoniac power over
ber. Ilis voice already sufficed to bewilder her thoughts,
the indescribably gentle and tender tone that he had
lately adopted, thrilled every fibre of her heart and made
It beat wildly, that must be because of the old hate that
stirred so at his approach. But would not this intensity
of feeling, brought so continually into play, destroy her
physically and morally f The fable of the fir-tree had
constantly occupied her mind, and now its only possible
explanation was made clear by his recent declaration:
''Felicitas, you shall now learn what it is to be cherished
and cared for by love."
lie intended then, in spite of her repeated and determ-
ined declarations that she would decide for herself in all
questions regarding her future, to dispose according to
his pleasure of her hand she must marry as ho should
direct, she would thus be provided for, and his error,
which he now fully admitted, atoned for. At these
thoughts she grew absolutely faint and giddy. How
hard, how wrong, such designs were! Could he compel
any one to love her? He himself had acknowledged
that he cherished an unfortunate passion, that he must
pass a lonely existence, thus yielding to his heart the
right to influence his whole future life. He should see
that she claimed exactly the same right she would not
be treated like merchandise.
What prevented her from instantly going to Madame
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET. 231
Franz and claiming her protection? Ah, there was the
little gray box ^it bound her more firmly to this wretched
bouse than any human will could have done for its sake
she would endure until the last moment.
CHAPTER XXII.
Little Anna interrupted the young girl's anxious and
troubled meditations. The child took her hand coaxingly
and tried to lead her away from the dam. The wind was
already blowing with great force through the tops of the
trees, keen blasts penetrated even the more sheltered
portions of the garden, the terrified little flowers in the
grass bent before their persecutor. Flying clouds now
and then obscured the setting sun, throwing shadows as
of huge birds of prey across the paths and lawn, rose-
leaves whirled about in the air, and even the stiff* cypress
hedges bent like so many stately solemn court-dames.
It was more comfortable within doors. Felicitas brought
a garden-chair into the hall of the summer-house, seated
herself, and took out her sewing. The doors of the little
kitchen and the cosy summer-room were wide open. It
was not easy to imagine anything more charming than
the Councillor's widow when she undertook the rdle of a
notable hostess. She had on a richly trimmed coquettish
black silk apron, a dark crimson rose peeped out from
among her fair curls just above her left oar, she had
evidently plucked it from its stem as she passed the pa
rent-bush and placed it where it now was, unconsclonsiy,
while lost in thought, ^the effect was charming. Her
232 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
fikirt was festooned above her petticoat that it might not
impede her hospitable labours, and the little feet beneath
it in their well-fitting boots moved with childlike grace,
according well with the expression of the rosy face, which
was that of a happy harmless child zealously performing
Bome important duty entrusted to it who would have
suspected the widow and mother in this impersonation
of innocent naivete?
While she was busily preparing the cofiee in the kite hen^
a lively conversation was going on in the next room be-
tween Frau Hell wig and the young lawyer ^the subject
was the old Mam'selle's will. Ileinrich and Frederika
had already declared to Felicitas that Madame no longer
spoke or thought of anything that had not something lo
do with this unlucky story of the will. She saw Ma-
dame's face for one moment through the open door she
thought it perceptibly altered, and there was an unwonted
degree of haste in her manner of speaking. Chagrin and
anger had evidently retained the upper hand in this wo*
man's mind.
The Professor took no share in the conversation, it
even seemed as though ho heard nothing of what was
going on. Lost in thought, with his hands behind him,
he paced steadily to and fro in the room, only raising hia
eyes as be passed the open door, to regard the girl sew
ing in the little hall without.
"I shall never be reconciled to it as long as I live, my
dear Franz," repeated Frau Ilcllwig. "It would be dif-
ferent if every farthing had not been hardly earned by the
llcllwigs. And then to have some worthless person
appear who will squander in a few months the careful
savings, which would have been such a sour^ of bless-
ing in our hands."
"Oh, aunt," said the young widow, who had just then
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 23S
entered the room with her cofifee-pot and was filling tbe
cups, " I am afraiil you are exciting yourself again about
that miserable will indeed it is not good for you, you
will be ill. Think of your children ^think of me, dear
unt, and try to forget itl"
"Forget itl" cried Frau Ilellwig. "Never I IIow
can any one forget who possesses a particle of character,
which indeed our young people now-a-days are strangely
wanting in," here she cast a withering glance at her
son, who was still pacing the apartment. "I feel too
deeply the disgrace of submitting to such gross injustice
I cannot away with it. How can you ask such a thing,
or require such tame forgetfulness of me 1 You are some-
times dreadfully superficial, Adelel"
The face of the Councillor's widow flushed, a hard, ob-
stinate line appeared around her mouth, and the cup
which she was handing to Madame trembled in her hand,
but she possessed sufficient self-control to suppress the
sharp reply that rose to her lips.
" Indeed I do not deserve your reproach," she said very
gently, after a few moments of silence. " No one can
take this miserable affair more to heart than I. It is not
only that I lament the pecuniary loss, dear aunt, which
you and my two cousins must sustain, my woman's
nature recoils from the idea of such moral turpitude
Here has this cunning old woman spent half her life
under your roof devising all the while means of injuring
most deeply her nearest relatives. She has left the world
unreconciled to God or man, and with a catalogue of sins
upon her soul which must eternally shut her out from
the joys of heaven how terrible I Dear John, shall I
pour you out a cup of coffee?"
"No, I thank you," replied the Professor, and went on
pacing the room as before.
20*
234 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET.
I'be work fell from Felicitas' hands. She listened
breathless to every word uttered bj that traducing
tongue. True, Heinrich had told her that the world had
judged the old Mam'selle most hastily and unjustly,-
but this was the first time that any condemnation of her
had reached her ears. Her temples throbbe^i every
word went to her heart like the stab of a knife, the pain
hich she now endured for the dead was greater than
the pang of separation.
" I do not know whether the old lady was really guilty
or not," said the young lawyer. "From all that I hear,
nothing has ever been clearly proved against her. The
scandalous chronicle of our good town has been content
with spreading only vague surmises. Ilcr will, however,
proves that she must undoubtedly have been a most ori-
ginal person, of extraordinary power of mind."
Madame laughed contemptuously, and scornfully turned
her back upon the bold defender of the dead.
"My most excellent friend, it is the duty of your pro-
fession to whitewash the darkest crimes, and to discover
angelic innocence where the whole world has justly con-
demned, when I consider this, I can understand what
you have just said," declared the Councillor's widow with
evident malice. "But there is an opinion which I value
in this case I pray you to forgive me very much more
highly than yours: papa used to know her. She was a
person of such stubborn obstinacy that she literally wor-
ried her father to death. She certainly showed -by her
visit to Leipzig how little regard she entertained for her
own reputation, and her 'extraordinary power of mind,'
as you call it, led her into most devious and crooked
paths, she was a free-thinker an atheist"
At this moment Felicitas rose hastily and appeared upon
the threshold of the door, she stood there for one momenl
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 235
With her right hand commandingly extended, her pa]
cheeks eaffased with a burning glow beautiful in her
wrath as an arenging angel. The rosy lips which had
Just made such frightful accusations with such easy, self-
satisfied confidence, were struck dumb at this apparition.
"She never was an atheist I" said Felijitas sternly, and
her flaming glance rested full upon the countenance of
the slanderer. ''But she was indeed a free-thinker. She
pondered earnestly, without one fear for the salvation of
her soul or one thought wasted upon mere dogmas, upon
the works of God, for she knew that every path through
them leads to Him. The conflict between the Bible and
Natural Science never troubled her or led her astray, ller
faith was rooted not in the letter, but in Ood's fair creation
^-in her own consciousness, in the heavenly gift of
reason, and in the self-reliant thought and action of the
immortal soul. She did not, it is true, go with the multi*
tttde to worship God in a church, but when the bells
rang, she stood in humble adoration before the Highest,
and I cannot think that her prayers were less accept-
able to Him than the worship of those who honour him
with their lips while their hearts are full of evil thoughts
of their fellow-men I"
Involuntarily young Franz arose, he leaned his hand
upon the back of his chair, and regarded the courageous
girl with incredulous wonder.
"Tou knew this mysterious lady?'' he asked breath-
lessly, as Felicitas ceased.
"I enjoyed the privilege of daily intercourse with her."
''This is a most delightful piece of news I" said the
Councillor's widow. The observation was meant to be
ironical, but the voice was uncertain, and the colour for-
sook tho beautiful face for an instant. "You can then,
without doubt, relate many a charming and piquant aneo
^36 TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,
dote from the early experience of your revered friend T'*
fihe asked in a tone which she studied to make indifferent,
as she carelessly played with her coffee-spoon.
" She never alluded to her past life," replied Felicitas.
She knew that she had evoked a terrible storm she must
now await it coolly with perfect self-possession.
"What a pityl" lamented the young widow ironically,
ehaking her curls, the roses had already returned to her
cheeks. " But how I admire your rare histrionic talent,
Caroline I How wonderfully you have contrived to carry
on this secret intercourse! Dear John, do you still con-
tinue to repent your previous false conception of this
character ?"
The Professor had stood perfectly still from the moment
when the young girl appeared upon the threshold. Her
justification of Aunt Cordula had found ready utterance
in clear scourging words. Iler keen decided intellect
never lacked power of expression. The last biting ques-
tion of the Councillor's widow remained unanswered.
The Professor looked steadily at her, and an almost im-
perceptible smile hovered upon his lips, as, in spite of all
her self-control, he saw her wince under that sting.
"Was that your well-guarded secret?" he now asked
her.
"Yes, "answered the girl and her earnest eyes gleamed,
for, strangely enough, at the sound of that voice, the con-
viction suddenly took possession of her that she was not
alone in the coming unavoidable struggle.
"You were going to live with Aunt Cordula, and that
was the happiness to which you were looking forward?"
he asked further.
" Yes."
If the Councillor's widow had not been so much ab'
sorbod in the conteriplation of the 'unmasked hypocrite
f
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. J3:
standing there upon the threshold, she would certain!}
have been shocked by the joy that now sparkled in the
Professor's eyes and transfigured his grave face most
strangely.
Question and answer had hitherto succeeded each other
nitb such lightning rapidity, that Frau Ilellwig had had
ao ttme to recover from her astonishment. She leaned
back in her chair as though stiffened into stone, and the
stocking that sne was knitting fell from her hands, and
the white ball of yarn rolled into the middle of the
room.
"This Is an extremely interesting and important dis-
covery for me I" cried the young lawyer as he hastily ap-
proached Felicitas. '' Do not be afraid that I shall attempt
to pry into vhe private affairs of the deceased lady, far
be it from hie to dream of such a thing. But perhaps
you may be able to give me satisfaction in regard to cer-
tain unaccountable allusions and directions in her will
that "
Ob, IleavensI she was then to bo examined concern-
ing the mibeing silver! A shudder ran through her
whole frame her face grew whiter than snow, in great
confusion she cast down her eyes she was the very
image of convicted guilt.
"As a passionate lover of music and a devoted collec-
tor of autographs, I have been in a state of delighted ex-
pectation since the reading of the will," continued the
lawyer, after a momentary pause occasioned by his sur-
prise at the girPs sudden change of countenance. " The
will alludes expressly to a manuscript collection of the
works of famous composers. We have searched for such
jk collection in vain. It is maintained by many that the
decsascd suffered from aberration of mind, and that this
pait of her pos9)ssions was a chimera, a phantom of her
S88 THE OLD MAM^SELLE'S SECRET,
hraic JlftTe 70a erer seen such a collection In the old
lady's possession?"
" Yes," said Felicitas, drawing a breath of relief, but
outraged by the suspicion hinted at by the young lawyer,
**I knew every sheet of it 1"
"Was it large and valuable?"
''It comprised works by all the famous mnsicianB of
the past century."
'' There is also mention made several times in the will
but here I believe there is really an error existing of
an opera by Bach. Can you remember the title of any
such work ?" the lawyer further inquired, with an air of
intense interest
"Oh yes," replied the young girl quickly. "There
has been no error committed here either. It was an
operetta. Johann Sebastian Bach composed it for the
town of X , and it was brought out in the old town-
hall. It was entitled 'The Wisdom of the Magistracy
in the Establishment of Breweries.'"
"Impossible!" cried the young man, actually starting
back in the excess of his astonishment " This compo-
sition, then, which has been a kind of myth for the mu-
sical world, did really exist!"
"It was a partitur written by Bach's own hand," Fe-
licitas continued. "It was presented to a certain Gotihelf
von Hirschsprung, and was afterwards left as a legacy
to the deceased." ^
" These are priceless revelations ! And now I conjure
you to tell mo where this collection is to be found."
A gulf suddenly yawned "at her feet In her great in-
dignation at the thought that any one could doubt the
soundness and power of Aunt Cordula's mind, she had
told all that she could to refute so horrible a slander. In
her zeal to defend her dear old friend, she had not ro*
L_
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. jt39
fleeted whither her reTelations were of necessity hading
her. Now she must answer this question directly.
Should she tell what was untrue? No, that was impos-
sible!
"As far as I know, it no longer exists," she said in a
much lower voice than before.
"It no longer exists! Tou mean doubtless that it ex-
hits no longer as a collection."
Felicitas was silent she wished herself miles away
from her importunate interrogator.
" Or can it be possible," he continued in a tone of
alarm, "that it is really destroyed? Should this be the
case, you must tell me how such an accident occurred."
Here was a dilemma indeed! There sat the woman
whom her statement must compromise. How often in
passionate moments had an evil desire for revenge upon
her heartless tormentor possessed her ! She had thought
then that it would he sweet to see this odious woman
suffer. And now the moment had come when this desire
could be gratified, she could humiliate the great lady
convict her of an act not to be justified. How little had
she understood the nobility of her own nature! She was
entirely incapable of revenge. She cast a stolen glance
at her foe, and was met by a look positively ferocious. It
was powerless to affect her.
" I was not present when the collection was destroyed,
and 3an therefore give you no account of its destruction,"
she said, so firmly, so conclusivelyr %s to render all further
interrogatories obviously useless. But her forbearance
cost her dear, for now the storm which had been darkly
muttering above her head broke ^oose. Frau Hellwi|r
arose, leaned both hands upon the table before her, and
a gleam of truly demoniac rage illumined her colourlesf
countenance.
240 TBS OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
"Wretched creature, do you *hink to spare me?" sht
cried in a voice trembling with passion. "Do you pre*
Bume to suspect that I desire to conceal anything I have
done from the world, and that you can assist me in such
concealment you 1" She turned away contemptuously,
and addressed the young lawyer with all her previous
coolness and self-confidence. "It is true, I am used to
render an account of my actions to my God alone," she
said. " Whatever I do is done in his name, in his honour,
and for the glorification of his holy church. Nevertheless,
I will tell you, my dear Franz, what has become of your
'priceless collection,' chiefly with the view of convincing
this person of her madness in supposing that I could pos-
sibly act in concert with her. The deceased Cordula
Uellwig was an infidel, a lost soul, and whoever under-
takes her justification will share her condemnation. In-
stead of praying for her vanished peace of mind, she
silenced the voice of conscience with the poison of pro-
fane music full of incitement to worldly pleasure. Even
on the Sabbath she desecrated my quiet house with her
sinful practices. She would sit for days before those
profane books, and the more she was absorbed in them,
the moi e obstinately did she reject and resist my efforts
for the salvation of her soul. Since then I have had no
more earnest desire than to blot out of existence, to de-
stroy from the face of the earth, these miserable human
devices in which the Lord has no part, and which aro
such a stumbling-block in the way of salvation. I burned
the papers, my dear Franz 1"
She said these last words with a raised voice and an
expression of the greatest exultation.
" Mother 1" cried the Professor, hastily approaching
ber.
"Well, my son?" sh^ asked, motioni ig him back. She
rs
TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 241
raised herself to her full height, and stood there as if
clothed in brazen armour. " You will probably reproach
me with having deprived Nathanael and yourself of this
valuable inheritance," she continued. " Rest content
I am resolved to replace the few paltry dollars from my
own purse. You shall be no losers by my act."
"Th3 few paltry dollars I" repeated the lawyer he
actuallj trembled with surprise and indignation. "Ma-
dame Ilellwig, you will have the pleasure of refunding
to your sons five thousjand thalersi"
"Five thousand thalers?" Frau Hellwig laughed
aloud. "That would be a rare jest I Those miserable
yellow sheets 1 Don't make yourself ridiculous, my dear
Franz 1"
"Those miserable yellow sheets will cost you dear
enough, you will find," retorted the young man, trying
to control himself. " I will shoW you to-morrow a notice
written by the deceased lady herself, in which she esti-
mates the value of the collection at five thousand thalers,
at the lowest and this not including the Bach manu-
script As for that, pray understand what I say, Ma-
dame Ilellwig, you can have no idea to what legal
penalties you have made yourself liable by tho destruc-
tion of that priceless treasure. The Hirschsprung heirs
must settle that in the future I Incredible I" he exclaimed,
in utter dismay. "At this moment, John, all that I said
to you in the garden a few weeks ago occurs to me,
you could not have a more striking illustration of my
remarks."
The Professor did not answer. He had stepped to a
window, and his face was turned towards the garden.
No one could judge of the effect of his agitated friend's
appeal to him.
For a moment it seemed as if Frau Hellwig under-
Q 21
/
142 TUB OLD MAJtSELLE'S SECRET.
Btood that she had wilfully suhjected herself to an ( ndlGss
auccession of most annoying and even distressing conse-
quences, her attitude suddenly lost its air of conscious
infallibility and unassailable self-confidence, and the con
temptuous smile which she struggled to maintain almost
faded from her lips. But it could not be, no unforeseen
combination of circumstances could ever produce in Mi^
dame's mind an'y remorse for anything she had done
8he did everything in the fear and to the glory of the
Lord, any fault or error was impossible. She recovered
herself instantly.
"I must remind you, Herr Franz, of what you men-
tioned yourself a little while ago," she said coldly and
formally. '' The deceased is justly accused of mental
aberration, it would not be at all difficult to adduce suf-
ficient proof to substantiate the charge. Who will then
maintain that that ridiculous valuation was not written
in the wanderings of insanity ?"
**I Willi" cried Felicitas, with decision, although her
voice shook with the violence of her conflicting emotions.
''I will defend the dead from those attacks as long as 1
live, Madame Ilelhvig. There never existed a clearer,
healthier intellect than hers. My declaration can, of
course, possess no legal weight ; but should you succeed
in refuting all other evidence of her unclouded mind, the
portfolios in which the collection was placed still exist
those I rescued I Each one contains on the inside of th
cover a complete index of its former contents, with a
faithful eccount of how and at what cost each autograph
was obtained."
"Aha! I have then nourished in my own house a wit-
ness against me I" sneered Madame. '* But it is your turn
to be called to account. IIow dared you deceive me
through all these years with such unexampled insolence?
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 243
You Iiavo eaten my bread while yoa scoffed at me behind
my back. If it had not been for me, you would bav^e bad
to beg your bread from door to door! Out of my sight,
treaclierous hypocrite!"
Felicitas did not stir from the threshold. Her slender
form seemed to dilate beneath the reproaches heaped
upon her; her face was deadly white, but the fearless
pride, the unbending spirit of the girl had never been as
manifest as it was at this moment.
"Your reproach that I have deceived you I deserve,*'
she said with most admirable composure. " I have been
uniformly silent, and would have endured death, sooner
than have allowed a hint of my other life to pass my lips
that is true. Nevertheless, my resolution could have
been easily shaken one kind, cordial word from your
lips one gentle glance from your eyes would have suf-
ficed to overthrow it, for nothing is more odious to mo
than concealment of any kind. But there was no sin in
my deceit. Who would call the early Christians de-
ceivers because they assembled in times of persecution is
direct opposition to the law ? And I too had my soul to
save I" She took breath and riveted her clear brown eyes
with an expression of the greatest decision upon Ma-
dame's face. " I should have been plunged into blackest
night, had I not found an asylum and protection in th^
rooms under the roof. In the wrathful and avenging
God, to whom you pray, who tolerates the existence of a
hell, and leads his children into temptation tb^t Ue n^ay
try, prove, and then punish them, ^in this i^plaeabl^
Supreme Being, I never could believe, Madame Hell wig.
My dear old friend revealed to me a Heavenly Father
who is all Love and Pity, Wisdom and Omnipotence, and
wh ) alone rules in heaven and on earth. The desire of
study the app^titp fo^ )^Qoy$rl^dge was unquenchable in
844 THE OLD MAM'SELLS'S SECRET,
mj childish soul, if you had starTed mj body, Madame,
it would not have been as cruel as were your systematic
efforts to fetter my thoughts, to kill my mind. I havo
never scoffed at you, for when I was with her your name
was never mentioned, but I have baffled all your planfli ^
with regard to me. The old Mam'selle has been my
teacher I"
*' Begone 1" cried Frau Ilellwig, no longer mistress of
herself, pointing towards the door.
"Not yet, dear auntl" begged the young widow, seiz-
ing the outstretched arm of the great lady. "You will
not let such a precious moment slip without taking ad
vantage of it, I hope. Herr Franz, you have performed
your duty as a 'passionate lover of music,' most admira-
bly, let me entreat you to inform yourself with the
same zeal concerning the missing bracelet and silver
plate, if any one can throw any light upon their wher^
abouts, it is this person I''
The young lawyer app'oached Felicitas, whose left
hand involuntarily sought the support of the frame of the
door, and, offering her his arm with a profound bow, he
aaid, with kindly courtesy : " WUl you permit me to con-
duct you to my mother?"
"Her place is herd" said the Professor suddenly, m a ,
clear ringing voice. lie had been hitherto entirely silent. *
Now he stood erect by the side of FeUcitas, and grasped
her right hand firmly in his own.
Young Franz recoiled involuntarily; for one instant S
the two men measured each other silently, there was
none of the warmth of friendship in their eyes.
"Ah, bravo I two knights at once what a charmmg
picture I" cried the Councillor's widow, laughing loudly.
A cup dropped from her hand, and lay in a hundred
pieces upon the floor, a carelessness which would have
THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET, 24S
provoked a stern rebuke from her aant at any other
time, but now Madame was speechless with ang'cr and
amazement.
'' It seems to-day that I am repeatedly tempted to ap
peal to the past," said Franz, in a bitter tone, interrupting
the momentary silence. " Perhaps you may rememberi
John, that not long ago, in virtue of your guardianship,
you fully empowered me to take my present step."
*' I neither forget nor refuse to acknowledge one iota of
what I said. Should you desire a conclusive ezplanatioa
of my inconsistency, I am always entirely at your service
but not here. "
He drew Felicitas from the threshold, and went with
her into the garden.
''Go back into the town, Felicitas," he said and the
gray eyes that used to glitter so coldly, rested upon her
face with the utmost tenderness. '^ It shall be your last
struggle, poor little Fay I This is the last night that you
shall pass beneath my mother's roof, ^to-morrow, you
shall begin a new life I" Unconsciously he pressed the
hand, which he still held in his, close to his heart, ^then
dropped it and went back into the house.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Felicitas left the garden with winged speed. The
Professor was mistaken, so far from spending the night,
she would not even spend the evening beneath Madame'a
roof. The moment had arrived, when she could go to
Aunt Cordula's rooms. In the narrow street she met
21*
246 TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
the old rook carrjiDg the supper oat to the garden. No
one then bat lieinrich was left in the house. IIow the
gust roared and howled through the thick boughs of the
old lindens I The wind drove the girl on, but there was
leTel, firm ground beneath her feet. What a walk wa
l^fore her, over crumbling tiles in the rushing blast I
Ueinrich opened the street door. Felicitas glided
bieathlesslj past him, went into the serrants' room, and
look the kej of the garret from the wall.
"What are you going to do now, Fay?" asked the old
man, with surprise.
''I will bring back with me unstained honour for you,
and freedom for myself, Heinrich," she cried, in her ex-
citement "Keep steady watch here below," and she ran
up the stairs.
"Do nothing rash. Fay child, Fay I" he called after
her, "don't run into any danger," but she did not hear
him. He had to remain upon his post below stairs, and
walked impatiently up and down the hall.
As Felicitas reac^hed the long corridor, upon which the
garrets opened, the wind moaned above her in long sigh-
ing gusts, which ended in low whistling tones. The
woodwork creaked, and the sultry breath of the storm
blew in sudden blasts through the hollow water-pipes
along the edge of the roof. Just now, a mottled gray
and white hail-cloud hung above the four roofs, a lurid
light quivered over the hanging flower-garden, glistened
like a deceitful eye upon the glass panes of the door,
above which wreaths of ivy, loosened from the wall by
the wind, hung helplessly, and illuminated strongly the
tossing leaves of the wild vines.
As she put her head out of the garret window a violent
gust blew dire .*tly in her face it tcok away her breath
and forced her to draw back. She let it rage by, and
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, 241
then leaped out. Adj one who could have seen that
beautiful pale face, with its tightly-compressed lips ana
its air of stern determination, emerge from the dark gat
ret window, would hare admitted that the girl was fullj
aware of the terrible danger she was braving, and that
she was prepared to encounter death, if need be, in pur*
Buit of her object. What a strange mixture this young
creature was I A head so cool and clear above a heart
throbbing so wildly and capable of such strong passion.
With an airy tread she ran along the creaking gutters,
and no giddiness dimmed her clear eyes for an instant,-
but her roaring foe gave her scarcely time to breathe
with a shrill whistle he was down upon her again with
terrific force. The glass door of the gallery flew open,
and some large flower-pots fell from the railing to the
floor, and the crumbling tiles trembled and creaked be-
neath Felicitas' feet. She was still upon the next roof,
but with her hands she clasped the railing of the gallery
which she had just reached.
The gust loosened her hair and tossed about the thick
masses as if to scatter them abroad, but she herself stood
firm. After a moment of patient waiting to recover her
breath, she swung herself over the railing into the gallery
and instantly entered the music-room. Behind her the
storm moaned and roared, but she no longer heard it
she never thought of the death that threatened her return;
with clasped hands hanging idly before her, she stood in
the cool ivy-wreathed apartment it was her last glimpse
of it. The calm snow-white faces upon the walls looked
like old friends, and yet so strangely unfamiliar, they
had once informed this room with life, for their living
thoughts had been conjured up to float around their pale
brows ^but now they were mere ornaments, decorations
f the wall, ^they looked impartially upon the youthful
248 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET.
figure of the coqaettish yoang widow and the pale girluak
face now lifted to them, streaming with tears.
For the rest, the room looked just as cosej and comfort
able as during Aunt Gordula's lifetime. There was not
a ppeck of dust upon the large piano countless tender
tprajs of ivy were shooting forth everywhere from the
green walls in token that they were kindly cared for, and
in a recess by one of the windows stood a young caout-
chouc tree and a slender little palm which the old Mam'-
selle had specially delighted in, and iivhich had evidently
been carefully tended. But the other window looked
oddly, ^the delicate little work-table stood there no longer
the Professor had adopted this corner as his study.
A burning blush rose to Felicitas' cheek. Ilere she
was standing like a thief in his room. Who could tell
what letters and papers might be lying there, which no
strange eye should see, ^he had left them exposed with-
out fear, for he carried the key of the room in his pocket,
she flew across to the old cabinet. On one side of the
old piece of furniture, in the middle of a richly-carved
arabesque ornament, there was a little metal knob, which
could hardly have been perceived by an unitiated eye.
Felicitas pressed it firmly and the door of the secret re
posit ory flew open. There lay be missing treasures in
all their former order. The antique silver coffee-pot and
cream-jug ^the heavy bundles of spoons tied up with silk
ribbon ^the old-fashioned case containing the set of disp
monds, all these things occupied the same places in
which they had lain in dim concealment for so many
years, there in the corner was the casket with the
bracelet, and beside it yes, beside it was the gray box,
pushed a little on one side, just as the old Mam'selle had
hurriedly thrust it there a few weeks before, evidently
she had not touched it again.
f.
THE OLD MAirSELLE'S SECRET. 249
Felicitas lifted it with trembling fingers, it was not
light, its contents must be destroyed, bat how ? What
was it made of?
She carefuUj lifted the cover a thick book, bound
rather coarsely in leather, met her eyes, the stiff leaves
were gaping open, and the corners of the covers were
bent and worn with age. One shy glance within told
the girl that the pages of this book were covered not with
printed but with written characters.
Two eyes. Aunt Cordula, are resting upon your secret
two eyes in which you have countless times read faith-
ful childlike love and devotion, and a youthful heart, which
has never for one instant swerved from its faith in you,
is throbbing to solve the riddle of your life. It is as
flrmly convinced of your innocence as of the existence of
the shining sun, but it would know why you suffered so
it would comprehend the magnitude of your life-long
eacrifice. Your secret shall die these leaves shall crum-
ble to ashes, and the lips which even in earliest childhooa
so well understood how to hold their peace, will forever
be as silent as your own.
The girl's trembling fingers opened the book. * Oscar
von Hirschsprung, Studiosus FhilosophiaB,^ was written
in bold characters upon the first leaf. It was the journal
of the young student, the nobly descended son of the
shoemaker, for whose sake, as report averred. Aunt Cor-
dula had literally worried her father to death. The
writer had only used one side of each leaf, leaving the
other for future annotations. But these others were
covered closely with the delicate handwriting of the old
Mam'selle.
Felicitas read the beginning. Profound original thought,
with a rare power and felicity of expression, riveted the at-
tention and forced reflection. He must have been a remark-
250 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
able man the shoemaker's young son ^with a braiA ikl!
of gorgeous faocies and the soundest judgment, ani si
glowing heart full of the tenderest affection 1 And there-
fore Cordula, the stern merchant's daughter, had loTed
Lim to the death. Thus she wrote :
"Your eyes are closed forever, Oscar, and you did not
f e how I knelt beside your couch and wrung my hands
in passionate entreaty that God would spare you to me.
In the delirium of fever you called my name repeatedly
In tones of ardent love, but then too there were times
when your cry for me seemed to come from the depths of
a wounded heart and to breathe revenge, when I spoke
to you, you looked at me with strange eyes in which was
no recognition, and pushed my hand away.
" You have gone in the belief that I have broken my
vow to you, and when all was over, and they had re-
moved you from your couch, I found this book under
your pillow. It tells me how I have been loved, but it
tells me also that I have been doubted, Oscar I I longed
and watched in your death-agony for only one conscious
look one would have convinced you that I was true to
you, and my sad fate would have been robbed of its keen-
est sting. In vain I There is no greater torture for the
soul than to part forever from one who is dearest to it
unreconciled. If I had committed the blackest crime,
my punishment could not be greater than to carry about
with me this heart, which will not rest, but cries out and
urges me on like the outcast Cain.
"Your stronger spirit is released, and is exploring new
realms, but I must wander here upon this little earth with*
out even knowing whether you can look back to me, I
can speak to none of my inward struggles, and I do not
wish it for who could understand my loss? No one ex-
cept myself knew you. But once only, I must tell how U
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, 251
All happened. You have written down your thoughts in
this book; bold and striking as thej are ^there comes
from them a refreshing breath of tender and undying love
for me, Oscar. Your words speak to me as from your
living lip8, and in your sympathetic voice. I will answer
you hero, upon the same pages where your hand has
rested. 4Lnd I will fancy that you stand beside me ^
that your deep dark eyes are following my pen as stroke
by stroke the riddle is made plain before you 1
"Bo vou remember the day when little Cordula Hell-
wig was searching for her favourite white chicken which
the house-dog had chased into the house? She found it
in one of the deserted rooms in an upper story, where
oolv a board partition divided the merchant's mansion
|Vom the humble dwelling where lived the shoemaker
Uirschsprung. The room was dark and gloomy, but
through a crack between the boards the golden light was
streaming, and thousands of motes were playing in the
jillar of sunshine. The little girl peeped through the
crack. In there, neighbour Hirschsprung had just housed
the golden grain from his small field, and high upon the
yellow sheaves sat his wild boy Oscar, with his black
eyes and raven curls.
" * You can't find me!' cried the child through the crack
The boy sprang down and looked searchingly and boldly
around him. *You can't find me,' repeated the girl.
Then came a crash, and one of the boards behind which
little Cordula was peeping fell in upon the floor of the
room where she was. Yes, Oscar, it was your workl
and 1 know how you would have levelled othei barriers,
and destroyed many a false worldly structure which had
been carefully erected, if you had lived, just as you threw
doWn tne old planks behind which the little girl livaa
leasing yon.
ft52 TnE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
'* I cried bitterly with fright, and in a moment jon wer
all gentleness and tenderness, and throagh the gap you
led me down stairs into the smoky little room where your
father was at work. The board was replaced, but from
that time I ran across to see you every day. Ah, what
winter afternoons those were I Without, the wintry wind
roared, and the snow beat against the little round leaded
panes of the window, where the geranium on the sill quiv
ered with the violence of the storm outside, and the gold-
finch that was usually so merry, retreated to the farthest
corner of his cage. But within, the coffee was heating
on the gigantic stove, your good mother was spinning
at her wheel, while your father upon his bench worked
for his daily bread.
''I can still see his grave melancholy face as he told
as of by-gone days. Then the Ilirschsprungs had been
a powerful family a famous race, gigantic in form, and
mighty in prowess. What a multitude of heroic deeds
had been done by their strong armsl But I shuddered at
the tales of the rivers of knightly blood which they had
spilt I liked much better the story of the knight who
loved his young wife so faithfully and tenderly. He had
two bracelets made, and upon each was engraved half of
an old love song; he wore one, and his dear wife the
other. And when he fell mortally wounded in battle, a
savage foe tried to tear from him the costly love-token,
but the dying man clutched the jewel convulsively with
his left hand, which was almost hacked in pieces before
his squire could come to his aid. The bracelets were
kept in the family as relics until ^yes, until the Swedes
came. Ah, how you hated those Swedes, Oscar 1 They
were the cause of the downfall of the Ilirschsprungs. It
was a sad, sad story, and I could not bear to hear youx
father tell it, fo^ he always concluded with 'Ah, Oscar.
/
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 253
If that had not happened, you could have gone to the
University, and have become a great man, ^but now
there is nothing for you but the shoemaker's bench.' Ah,
the story had another side, which he knew nothing of I
**The Hirschsprungs were all good Catholics, they
clung to the old faith when the whole country was con-
verted to the Lutheran doctrines. On account of their
religion they lived in strict retirement; but this did not
satisfy old Adrian von Hirschsprung, who was a zealous
Papist, and would rather give up his knightly raansiou
and his Thuringian homo than dwell among heretics
lie sold his possessions, with the exception of the man-
sion on the Square, for sixty thousand thalers in gold
coin, and his two sons rode off one day to purchase a
home for him in some Catholic country. Then it hap-
pened that the Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus, with
twenty thousand warriors, came marching through
Thuringia. Uo halted for one day at the little town of
X , on the twenty-second of October, 1632, and his
troops were quartered upon the townsfolk. The old
knight's house up(n the Square was also crowded with
Swedish soldiers, who filled old Adrian with rage and
abhorrence. A terrible quarrel arose between the knight
and the half-drunken men, sitting at their wine in the
eourt-yard, and then the dreadful deed was committed ;
a common soldier stabbed the stern old Papist to the heart
He fell back with extended arms upon the stones of the
court-yard, and died upon the spot without a word. But
the furious Swedes destroyed and burned everything in
the house that they could lay their hands upon, and when
the sons came home to tell the results of thir expedition,
old Adrian was lying beneath the aisle of the church of
the lloly Virgin, and they sought in vain for their in*
beiitance. The Swedes had carried off the sixty thoo
22
254 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET
eand thalcrs, chests and caskets were empty, and theif
contents lay torn and trampled under foot; tie iamilj
papers were scattered to the four winds not a' sheet of
them was left. This was your father's story, Oscar.
And thus the old house was sold for an insignificant sun;
to the merchant Uellwig. The two sons of Adrian shared
the proceeds of the sale. Lutz, the elder, left the town,
and nothing was ever heard of him again ; but the other,
who remained here, hung his knightly sword upon^ the
wall, and the descendants of those who had fought the
Saracen, and whoso bravery and high-born courtesy had
graced imperial halls, took to spade and hoe.
"You did not follow their example, Oscar. As the
thick locks above your forehead curled and waved, defy-
ing all but nature's own arrangement, so your spirit left
the narrow paths which yonr father and his father's
father had pursued, and followed its own course in life,
although you knew that that course must be thorny and
stony, that privation and want must be your close com-
panions. You only saw the goal, the lofty brilliant
goal and your heroic courage led you to a garret to die.
The spirit fled because the body starved 1 Almighty
OodI to think that one of thy noblest creatures died
from wantl
" Who that had ever listened to your noble thoughts
and glorious dreams for the future could have pictured
such an end to your high hopes I And \vhen you sat at
the piano with such wondrous melodies breathing from
your fingers! A wretched little spinnet stood in oue
corner of your father's room, its tones were dull and
harsh, but your genius inspired it it could utter the
wild tones of the tempest or bring visions of a smiling
heaven above a sunny world. Do you not remember
how your good father rewarded you when he was pleased
TI^jS 0U Ma^ SjSLLE'S secret, 255
\ .^h yotif "With ^hat a Pol8b:n air he would open a
lif'tle xik^que Bocretarj and placd 5 xaanuscript masic-
book iipon ihxs dedk of the old spinnetl It was Johann
Seba^itiaa Bach's operetta his grandfatLer had received
it as a gift from the great composer, and it had been
guarded like some saintly relic by the fasnily. When
y^u left the world you left in yoar room not a penny of
money, not a crust of bread, but this manuscript of
Bach's whose material value you well knew was
found upon your table directed to me.
*' On the other page just opposite to where I am cow
writing stands written *My sweet Cordula, with her
golden curls, came in to-day in a white dress,' that was
the day of my confirmation, Oscar. My stern mother
told me it must be my last visit, for that I was now grown
up and there must be no intercourse between the wealthy
merchant's daughter and the shoemaker's family. Your
parents were not in the room and I told you of my mo-
ther's prohibition. How pale your face grew beneath
your coal-black curls I 'Well, go then!' you said roughly,
stamping your foot, but your voice broke, and tears filled
the angry eyes. I did not go our trembling handd snd*
dcnly met in a clasp which death only could sever tha**-
was the beginning of our love.
''Could you think that I could forget this, and afte/
withstanding for years the angry entreaties of my parents,
break my troth to you of my own free will? They calloci
you a beggar, the vagabond son (f a shoemaker, whc
would never earn a living, even with all his grand idea&
-they threatened to curse and cut me off, but I was firm,
and it was easy to be firm, for you were near mo. But
when your parents died and you went to Leipzig tc
study, then a fearful time camel One day, a tall, slender
figure appeared in my father's house, a man with a pale
850 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
Aice And sly cunning lines about his raoutb and around
his eyes which looked out from under a low forehead
crowned by straight thin hair. My instinct was true,
Oscar, I knew that evil crossed our threshold in that
man*s shape. My father judged this Paul Hellwigothei^
wise. Ue was a near relative of ours, the son of a man
mho had made his way in the world, and was now in-
ttailed in a lucrative office. Thus the visit of our young
cousin was an honour to us, and he had a low bow and a
sweet sanctimonious smile and word for all 1
" You know how the wretch dared to speak of love to
me, and you know how indignantly I rejected him he
was mean and dishonourable enough to appeal to my
father, who ardently desired the connection, and now ter-
rible days for me began. No letters came from you. My
father intercepted them. I found them with my own
among the papers which he left. I was treated like a cap-
tive, but no one could force me to remain in the room
when he entered it. I flew then like some hunted thing
through the house, and the spirits of your ancestors pro-
tected me, Osqar, I found many a hiding-place where I
was secure from discovery.
''Was it the invisible finger of one of these spirits
which one day pointed out to me a glittering gold coin
upon the ground?
''A wall in the poultry-yard had sunk somewhat, and
workmen had been busy in the afternoon in repairing the
damage, and had torn down the defective portion. I was
sitting upon the ruins dreaming of the time when these
stones had first been heaped together, when, just at my
feet, I saw a golden coin lying in the grass. It was not
the only one, and, in the masonry of the wall, there was
a yellow glimmer. Probably a large portion of the hugely
thick wall had fallen after the workmen had left the yard,
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 25t
for there was a great pile of rubbish lying there, and from
amojig the broken edges of the part that was still stand*
ing, projected the sharp corner of a wooden chest there
was a crack in one side of it, and through this crack the
yellow gold gleamed.
** Oscar, I did not follow, as I should have done, the
hadowy finger of your ancestor. I called my father, and
the man whom I loathed came-'nto the poultry-yard with
hira. They together extricated the chest, and turned the
large key, which was yet sticking in the lock.
*' The Swedes had had aothing to do with it, Oscar.
There lay the two bracelets carefully preserved there lay
the sixty thousand thalers in gold and the yellow parch-
ments ftnd papers of the Ilirschsprungs. Old Adrian
had concealed everything here as the Swedish army ap-
proached. I was intoxicated with joy. 'Father,' I ex-
ulted, 'Oscar is no longer a beggar!'
'' 1 see him still as he stood there I You know his face
was grave and stem; mirth was hardly possible in his
presence, but his whole appearance bore the impress of
incorruptible integrity. He was more respected than any
one else in the town, ^but now he stood leaning over the
chest plunging his hands into the heap of golden coin.
What a strange glance fell upon me from his cold
eyes! 'The shoemaker's son!' he said, 'what has he to
do with it?'
" ' Why, this money is his, father !' I had old Adrian's
will in my hand, and pointed to the name of Hirschsprung.
" Oh, how terribly his face changed ! that face usually
o rigid.
'"Are you mad?' he cried aloud, shaking piy ari^ vio-
lently. ' This house, with all which it contains, belonga
to me, and I should like to see who can rob mo of one
penny of niy property !'
R 22*
S58 THE OLD UAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
'"Toa are quite right, dear coasin,' affirmed Paul Ilell^
crig in his gentlest Toicc. ' But some years ago the house,
with all that it contained, belonged to my grandfather.'
"'Yes, Paul, I do not deny your claim,' said my fa-
ther. They carried the chest into the house. No one
knew of what had happened except myself and the laB%
ray of the setting sun which had glided curiously over
the golden store. It faded to rise again on the morrow
upon many a happy human being, but I wandered about
seeing only night and woe and crime wherever I looked.
" That very evening I heard from my father that Paul
Hellwig had claimed and received twenty thousand tha-
lers and one of the bracelets.
"Do you know now what I endured while you were
thinking me faithless and frivolous? I stood alone in
the struggle with my two tormentors. My stern but up-
right mother was dead, and my only brother was away
travelling in foreign lands. They no longer required of
me only that I should renounce my love for you I must
bind myself to secrecy concerning all that I knew se-
crecy toward you and toward the world and this I could
not do. Did not your heart sometimes throb in sympa-
thy with mine at the times when I firmly confronted my
father, even when his hand was raised to strike to the
e^rth his 'obstinate and unnatural daughter?'
"I had retained in my possession old Adrian's will
they did Lot know that and one evening, when Paul
Hollwig contemptuously asked how I could prove the
discovery of the treasure, I referred to this paper, and
then came the fearful end I My father had just returned
from a public dinner, his face was flushed, he was evi*
dently somewhat excited by wine. Upon my reference
to the will, he seized my wrists in his iron grasp, and
\ield tnem so tightly that I cried out with the pain, while
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 259
he looked savagely in mj face, and asked me whether
his respectability was worth nothing to me. He had
scarcely uttered the last word, when he dropped my
hands, his face grew purple, he put up both his own
hands to his neck, and suddenly fell powerless upon the
floor at my feet. He still breathed when we lifted him
up. Yes, he was even conscious, for his gaze rested
upon my face with a fearful, imploring look. Then, Os-
car, I gave up I When the physician left the room for a
moment, I drew out the will from my bosom and held it
to the lighted candle. I could not look at my father,
but with averted face, I took a solemn oath that I would
be silent forever, that no blot should jstain his honour by
my consent. And Paul Hellwig smiled'like a fiend as
he heard my oath. Oh, Oscar, this I did. I secured to
my family your inheritance, just at the time when want
bad fitrctched you upon your death-bed I"
CHAPTER XXIV.
Felicitas closed the book, she could read no further.
Without, the storm howled and beat against the window*
panes, so that they rattled again, but what was their
raging to the tempests that had torn the soul of her whose
hand had written what she had just read I
Aunt Cordula had been racked and tortured. Those
who revelled in the possession of stolen wealth, had taken
up their position upon the pedestal of hereditary virtue
and integrity, and had rejected her as utterly depraved,-
and the blind world bad confirmed the sentence passed
fl60 TJTB OLD MAM'SELLS'S SECRET.
Dpon her. She had lived alone, slandered and defamed,
but not one word of her secret erer passed her sealed
lips. She had called down no curse upon the world of
the little town at her feet, ^but many of those who be*
lieved her guiltj, had been nourished and supported hj
her helping hand, which was never closed against a suf-
fering fellow-creature. Her strong mind had created its
own world, and the gentle smile which transfigured the
features of the old Mam'selle, was proof of the triumph
of her exalted nature.
What an inexplicable riddle is public opinion! The
world contains nothing more untrustworthy, and yet how
often it decides the entire earthly fate of individuals! Do
not whole families sometimes sufifer for years, under the
ban which public opinion has passed upon one of its mem-
bers ; and are there not other families who live always
surrounded by a nimbus of hereditary virtue and honesty
which they have been at no pains to acquire, simply be-
cause public opinion declares them 'good!' Ah, how
much bold knavery goes unpunished, how much quiet
merit unrewarded, at the arbitrary nod of public opinion!
The Ilellwig family had always stood on the loftiest
height of an hereditary stainless reputation. If any one
had dared to point to the stateliest and most solemn of
the portraits which hung on the walls of the large room
in the second story and declare : that man is a thief! the
accuser would have lost caste at once, and yet that
Btately merchant had robbed the poor shoemaker's son ( f
his inheritance had died with this crime on his soul,
and his posterity prided themselves upon the wealth
'hardly and honestly earned' of the old house. Ah, if
be who had sacrificed his own hopes in life to time-hon-
oured tradition who had so long held to the belief that
virtue, intellect, integrity were the consequences of rank
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 261
and position, while personal worth had so little weight-
could only have had a glimpse of these pages!
Involuntarily Felicltas lifted the book high in air, as
if in triumph, and her eyes sparkled, what prevented
her from leaving the little gray box with its terrible eon-
tents there upon the writing-table ? lie would enter and
Bit down unsuspectingly in the pleasant ivy-hung room.
With his mind full of his work he would take up the pen
to go on with the manuscript before him. Suddenly he
would see the strange little box, would raise the cover,
take out the book, and read read till the blood should
forsake his cheek and the light of the still gray eyes grow
dim under the load of the terrible discovery. His proud
self-confidence would be gone forever. In secret he must
bear the burden of his disgrace. The comfort that he
takes in his luxurious surroundings is stolen joy, when
he thinks of his respectable name ^there is an ugly blot
upon it, his peace of mind is fled destroyed for all
time I
Box and book fell to the ground, and the hot tears
streamed over the girPs cheeks. No I a thousand times
rather die than do him this injury. Were the lips from
which those last words came gaspingly the same from
which, within these four walls, so short a time before, the
words had proceeded "I know that I should feel no
pity for any misfortune that might happen to him, and if
by only raising my finger I could do him a kindnes8, I
should never do it?" Was it really the old wild httte
which forced the tears from her eyes and filled her he^^rt
with woe at the thought of his possible suffering? Was
the sudden glow with which she conjured up his well-knit,
powerful figure before her mental vision, aversion ? and
bad the blissful conviction that she was destined to guard
him from an annihilating blow any connection with tho
S62 THE OLD MAM' BELLE'S SECRET.
hatifu! desire for revenge? Hate, aversion, and the wish
for revenge ^they were all extinguished in her soul I On
she was drifting, rudderless. She staggered and covered
her face with her hands. The mysterious struggle within
her was made clear to her now, not by the light of %
heavenly ray revealing a sunny landscape before on
inspected, but by a lurid flash of lightning showing
ber the abyss before her, upon whose brink she was
tottering.
Away, away from the spot ! There is nothing to keep
her here any longer. Across the roofs once more, ^then
a step over the threshold of the old house and she is free
gone never to return ^gone forever.
She picked up the book, dropped it into her pocket,
and, holding her breath for a moment, stood as if stiff-
ened into stone, ^in the passage without a door was
heard to shut, and hasty steps approached the room
where she was. She flew to the glass door and tore it
open. The wind rushed in, blowing large drops of rain
into her face. Her eyes wandered over the four roofs,
she could not pass over them now she would be seen
her only safety was in immediate concealment.
On the broad railing at the side of the gallery, out of
sight of any one standing within the glass door, there
was a narrow space unoccupied by any flower-pots. In
an instant Felicitas had climbed upon it, and, as the
rushing wind struck her, she seized and steadied herself
by the iron elbow of the lightning-rod which was carried
over the roof of the apartments just at this spot. Ah,
bow the gust shook the slender figure, threatening in a
new access of rage to hurl her down the abyss which
yawned on one side of her into the street below 1 Black
storm-clouds were driving furiously above her. Was
there no angel behind that tossing, tempestuous mass lo
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 26S
Btreich his arms protectingly over the young girl who
was wrestling with such frightful peril ?
If any one should come out upon the gallery now, the
girl standing there must be in his eyes as a thief. Sh#
bad entered a closely locked and bolted apartment, ^tfae
world called such an act burglary. Suspicion that she
knew all about the missing silver had already 'been at-
tached to her, and now her guilt would be clear as day-
light. She would not be allowed to leave the old mer-
chant's bouse voluntarily she would be expelled from
it, with the brand of crime upon her brow and, like
Aunt Cordula, she would be obliged silently and inno-
cently to bear the burden of unmerited disgrace and
shame as long as she lived. Would it be so hard to yield
herself up to the fury of the storm, and, after only a few
moments of agony, breath^" out her young life upon the
stones of the street below ?
She looked once more towards the glass door, ^the
person who had entered the room had not fulfilled Fe-
licitas' last despairing hope by remaining behind it.
Spite of the storm and rain, he stepped out further and
further upon the gallery, and now she could see who it
was it was the Professor. Ilad he heard the girPs re-
treating steps? His back was turned to her it was still
possible that he might return without seeing her, but
down swept the traitor-blast it forced the Professor to
turn round, and wildly tossed the garment and hair of
the fugitive, and he saw the girl, her face looking down
upon him, white and ghostly, with despairing eyes, from
among the tossing masses of loosened hair, while one
arm was convulsively encircling the lightning-rod.
For one moment it seemed to her that all the blood in
bor body forsook her veins beneath the look of horror
Willi which he gazed at her, and then it rushed wildly
r
864 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET
to her head and robbed her of the last rcmnaDt of sel^
possession
"Yes, here stands the thief 1 Bring the oflBccrs of jus-
tice 1 call Madame Uelhvigl I am discovered!" she
cried wilh a wild langh. She let go the lightning-rod
for a moment and put back her hair which the storm bad
blown about her face.
"For God's sake," shouted the Professor, "clasp the
rod tightly, you are lost !"
"It were better for me if the end had come!" sounded
wailingly through the roaring and whistling of the wind.
He did not see the narrow space upon which Felicitas
was standing. In an instant he threw over the boxes of
flowers and mounted to her side. With irresistible force
he clasped her struggling form, drew her down to the
gallery and into the apartment. The door closed after
them with a crash.
The girl's strong courageous spirit was broken ; utterly
bewildered, she was unconscious that her supposed ac-
cuser was still supporting her, her eyes were closed,
and she did not see how earnestly his gaze was resting
upon her pale face. "Felicitas," he whispered, in a deep
tone of entreaty.
She started up, and her consciousness returned. Once
more the bitter hatred which she had fed in her soul for
do many years seemed to take possession of her, she
tore herself away from him, and again the old demonic
expression lighted up her face, the deep frown appeared
between her eyebrows, and the lines around her mouth
grew hard and full of scorn.
"How can you touch the Pariah!" she cried. But her
erect form staggered again, she buried her face in her
hands and said, in a smothered voice: "Question me,
oiy statement ^all satisfy youl"
TUB OLD MAM SELLERS SECRET. 265
IIo took her hands gently between his own.
"You must first be more composed, Felicitas," he said
In that tender soothing tone which had touched her in
Bpito of herself by the bed of the sick child. " Forget
the wild words with which you always seek to wound
me. Look round, see where we are. Did you not play
here when a little child? Was it not in these rooms that
the lonely woman, whom you so bravely defended to-
daj, extended to you protection, instruction, and love?
Whatever you did here, or came for, I know well that it
was nothing wrong, Felicitas. You are defiant, wounded,
- and very proud, and this sometimes makes you unjust
and unkind, but you are utterly incapable of meanness.
I cannot tell why, but I felt that I must find you up
here, lleinrich's shy, embarrassed face his involuntary
glance towards the stairs when I asked after you, con-
firmed me in the thought. Do not say a word !*' he con-
tinued, raising his voice, as she lifted her burning eyes
to him, and opened her lips. " I will question you ^but
not in the sense that you mean and have I not some
right to question you after climbing through wind and
storm to bring down my noble fir-tree?''
lie drew her further into the room, it seemed as if
the light near the glass door was too brilliant for him,
he needed the half-twilight of the more retired part of the
apartment to speak further. Felicitas felt his hands trem*
ble. She stood just upon the spot where a few momenta
before she had had so fearful a struggle with herself
where she had been tempted to stab him to the heart, tu
indict a wound upon him that he would carry with him
as long as he lived. She bent her head like one convicted
of guilt beneath the eyes, once so grave and serious,
which now glowed with such intensity of feeling.
. " f eli?ltas, you might have fallen," he said, and at th
23
266 TUB OLB MAM'SELLE'S 8ECRST.
mere thought a shaddcr ran through his powerful frama
''Shall I tell you what you have caused me with youf
QDcouquerable pride, that would rather die than appeal
to the calm reason of others? Do you not think that a
moment of such concentrated agony such indescribable
despair may partly expiate the injustice of years?''
lie ceased, waiting for a reply, but her pale lips did
not move, and her eyes sought the ground.
" Your own embittered views of all that I can do and
Bay have actually grown into your very soul," he said,
after a moment of vain expectation, in a despairing tone.
*'It is impossible for you to believe in any change." He
had dropped her hands, but he took her right hand once
more and pressed it to his heart. "Felicitas, you said a
little while ago that you idolized your mother, this mother
called you Fay, all who love you call you thus. Listeii
to me when I say *Fay, I pray you to forgive me I"
" I am no longer angry," she managed to gasp out in
a smothered voice.
''That is much ^much from your lips more than I
had a right to expect, but it docs not content me. What
consolation is it to know you are reconciled if we must
part never to meet again ? What comfort can I have in
knowing that you are no longer angry if I cannot con-
vince myself of it at all hours? When two people who
have been as far apart as we have been are reconciled^
they belong to each other. I cannot endure that a single
mile should separate us. Ah, go with me, Fay!"
"The life in the school which you propose to me would
be odious, I cannot conform to its rules," she answered
hurriedly and with effort.
The shadow of a smile flitted across his countenance.
''Oh I do not propose it to you I That school plai
was only a pretence, Fay. I could not ha\ d endured it.
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 261
ATiy, one, two days might have passed without my see-
^? you, and when I did see you a dozen impertinent
girls might have stood around us hearing all that we
said, or Madame Berg, the strict disciplinarian, would
have been present, and would nevc^r have suffered me to
take this little hand in mine. No, I must be able to look
into this dear proud face every hour of the day, I must
know that when I return home after the weary labour of
the day, my Fay is waiting for me and thinking of mo.
On still evenings when we are alone together I must be
able to entreat for a song, Fay, but all this can onlv
ah, be my wife. Fay 1"
Felicitas uttered a cry and tried to extricate her hands
fiom his clasp but he held them more firmly than be-
fore.
"The thought terrifies you, Felicitas," he said, in great
agitation. ''Let me hope that my abruptness has some
share in causing your terror. I know that a long time
must elapse before you can respond to me with your
character the change must be a slow one which can con*
vert a detested enemy into an object of affection. But I
will woo you with the patience of undying love; I will
wait hard as it will be until you yourself, of your own
free will, say to me: 'John, I willl* I know what mi-
raculous changes can take place in the human heart. I
'fled from the little town to escape from myself and the
fearful struggles in my soul, and what happened ? The
previous conflict was insignificant in comparison with
the torturing longing that possessed me. I knew that I
had been endeavouring to crush out my eternal happi-
ness.
''Fay, in the midst of gay conversation and coquettish
faces, the lonely girl with her proud bearing and her
white brow, belind which dwelt such a brave honest
S68 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
spirit, was alviays by my side wherever we weit, orcr
hill and dale, she belonged to me; she was the ctber half
of my life. I could not tear myself from her without in*
flicting upon myself a mortal wound 1 And now give ni
one kind consoling word, Felicitas."
Tba young girl had gradually withdrawn her hand
from his. Uow was it possible that the change in her
face and figure while he spoke should escape him ? The
eyes from which all hope seemed to have departed were
riveted to the ground: the forehead was contracted as if
with physical pain, and the icy hands were clasped con-
vulsively.
"Shall /give you consolation?" she rejoined in a low
tone. "An hour ago, you said to me, ' This shall be your
last struggle/ and now with your own hand you plunge
me into the most fearful conflict that the human soul can
undergo. What is the struggle with foes without in
comparison with a conflict within with one's self?'' She
raised her clasped hands and threw back her head with
a gesture of despair. " What crime have I committed
that Ood should put this wretched love into my heart!"
"Fayl"
lie extended his arms to draw her to his breast, ^but
she repulsed him with outstretched hands, although a
ray of joy lit up her face for one moment. "Yes I love
you you shall know it, I love you," she repeated in
tones vibrating between exultation and tears. " I could
at this moment say 'John, I will I' but these words shall
never be spoken!"
lie started back, he knew the girl with that proud
bearing and fair forehead much too well not to fear that
this declaration was a death-blow to his hopes.
"You fled from X , and why?" she began again,
looking most searchingly into the eyes whose glcw had
TUB OLD MAIPSELLI'8 SEC&Ef, S69
entireT} Jaded. "I will tell you. Your love for me wafl a
Clime against your position, your name; it contradicted
all your most cherished prejudices and ideas, and was to
be rooted out of your heart as unworthy of you. That
you return from your flight uncured was not your fauH
The same power which forces me to love you against my
will, conquered you. You must have had a hard strug
gle before you could ask the player's child to take her
place among your proud, respectable merchant kin,
nothing in the world could convince me that I should
retain this place forever! You told me a few weeks ago
of your unalterable conviction that inequality of position
was always an obstacle to happiness in marriage. You
have held firmly to this conviction for God only knows
how long, and it is impossible that in six weeks it can
have vanished, leaving not a trace behind; it is only
whitewashed over suspended for awhile. And, even if
it has yielded to other convictions, what time must not
elapse, what changes must not occur before the remem-
brance of your declaration can fade from my mind!"
She ceased for a moment, exhausted. John had cov-
ered his face with his hands. Now he dropped them
slowly, and said, with despairing composure: ''The past
IS all against me, and yet you are wrong, Felicitas. O
God, how shall I prove it to youl"
''There has been no change, not the smallest, in our
outward circumstances,'' she continued unrelentingly.
'^No stain has fallen upon your family, nor has anything
occurred to elevate my despised position, it is my pe^
eonal influence alone which has effected this change in
you ; it would be rash and unjustifiable in me to take ad-
vantage of the moment when, hushing with determina-
tion the voice of your firmest convictions, you give car
only to tie voice of love. I ask you, upon your con-
23*
270 THE OLD MABTSELLE'S SECRET.
8cien3c, do you not yalae above all things the unstained
past of joar family f And have you succeeded in per-
suading yourself for one moment that those anceiV)r8,
whose wives were always of equal rank with their own,
could look with favour upon the alliance of their descend-
EQt with a juggler's daughter?"
" Felicitas, you say you lovo me, and yet you can top-
lore me so frightfully 1" he cried.
Uer gaze, which had rested unalterably upon his coun-
tenance, melted. Who had ever before seen in those
proud eyes the unutterable tenderness which now glowed
in them I She took his right hand in both her own.
" Vfhile you were, a little while ago, describing to me
life by your side, I suffered more than I can tell," she
said, deeply moved ; " hundreds of others, perhaps, would,
in my place, have shut their eyes to the future, and seized
upon present happiness, but, made as I am, I cannot do
this. During my whole life the dread that you might
repent your act would stand like a phantom between us.
At every gloomy look of yours every frown upon your
forehead, I should think: 'The time has come now, he
laments his conversion from his former views he has
returned to them, and he inwardly blames you as the
cause of his fall !' I should make you wretched with my
mistrust, which I could never overcome."
"This is a fearful retaliation!" he said in a low suffer-
ing tone. '^ But I will gladly take this wretchedness that
you speak of to my heart. I will bear your mistrust, how-
ever wounding it may be, without a murmur. A time
must come when all will be clear between us. Fclicitas,
I will make a home for you where anxious thoughts dare
not intrude. It may indeed often happen that I shall
bring home with me gloomy looks upd frowns, but if I
can find my Fay therrj, the frowns wiJ dinappeai, the
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 271
gloom be changed to sunshine. Can you really find it in
your heart to trample your own love under foot and to
render wretched a man whom you can make supremely
happy ?"
Felicitas had gradually approached the door she felt
that her resolution was proving false to her against his
pIoadiDg eloquence, and yet for his sake she must be
frm.
'* If you could live with me alone, and in retirement,"
she re])lied as she seized the handle of the door as if it
were her last refuge, " I would willingly follow you. Do
not think that I dread the world and its sentence its
judgments are almost always blind and undiscerning, but
I fear the enemy within you in intercourse with society.
There a 'respectable origin' is everything, and I know
that you agree with the world. You have great family
pride, although at the present moment you give no ear
to its warnings, in intercourse with others sooner or later
the thought would come that you have sacrificed much,
very much for me."
"In other words, if I would call you mine, I must
either give up all hope of being of any service in the
world, and live in a desert, or I must search out some
stain, some unworthy act in the past of my family!" he
exclaimed.
A flaming blush suffused her cheek at these words.
Involuntarily her hand glided among the folds of her
dress, and she- felt for the sharp corners of the little gray
box, that she might be sure it was quite safe in its hiding-
place.
The Professor walked up and down the room in the
greatest agitation.
'' The stern unbending element in your character never
yields, I know it well," he continued. ''It fascinates and
I
ST2 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
embitters me at the same time. Even at this momenti
wbeL with harsh consistency you trample my affection
beneath your feet and condemn yourself to such a useless
sacrifice, my love bums stronger than ever. I know well
that I cannot for the present advance one step with you,
*-tut give you up 1 I do not dream of it Your assurance
that } ou love mo I regard as a solemn vow. You will
never be false to me, Felicitas?"
"Nol" she replied quickly, and entirely against hei
will a ray of unutterable love beamed from her eyes.
The Professor put his hand upon her head and gently
bent it back, looking in her face with a gaze in which pain,
anger, and passion were strangely mingled. He shook his
head as her eyelids fell and her lips closed firmly beneath
his scrutiny and then he sighed profoundly.
" There, ^go I" he said with forced composure. "I con-
sent to a temporary separation, but upon condition that I
may see you often wherever you are, and that you will
write to me and let me write to you."
She blamed herself for her weakness in extending her
hand to him asscntingly, but she could not resist the
temptation to accord him this consolation. He turned
away and she left the room.
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET. 273
CnATTER XXV
Outside Ij her agony she stretchod her arns to
Heaven. Uow had the torturing pain of theEe lasl
momenta eansed all the other griefs of her young life to
fade into insignificance I
Unconsciously she drew out of her pocket the little
box within it lay the secret which woiild level the bar-
riers between the man whom she loved and herself, ^it
would weigh heavily in the balance against her mean
origin, was the tempter again assailing her? No, Aunt
Cordula, your will shall be done although this book
would justify you so thoroughly! And he? Time will
work wonders, the pain of renunciation ennobles the
soul. The fatal little book shall be destroyed instantly
it shall be consumed to ashes. Felicitas looked back
once towards the room, where she could hear the Pro-
fessor pacing restlessly to and fro, then glided down the
narrow staircase, and noiselessly opened the painted
door.
The traveller who, wandering through the meadows,
steps unconsciously upon the writhing body of a snake,
and sees the reptile erect his deadly fangs directly before
him, is not more horrified than was Felicitas as she
stepped into the corridor. Five fingers encircled with an
iron grasp her left hand in which she held the little box,
and close to her face glistened two greenish eyes, they
were the soft Madonna-like orbs of the Councillor'a
widow.
The beautiful woman had at this moment entirely
thrown aside her fascinating garment of grace and ten-
$T4 TUB OLD MAir BELLE'S SECRET.
demess, ^how energcticallj and even rooghlj those i(M/
fingers, which were accustomed to be so genii j folded in
prajer, could clutch and hold I What an expression of
Satanic malice transformed those angelic features 1 Thejr
were scarcely to be recognized!
'' Uow charming this is, m j beautiful proud Caroline;
I happen to meet you just as jou are about to secure thia
loTclj little jewel-case T' she cried with a jeering laugh as
she seized also with her other hand the wrist which the
girl was vainly struggling to free from her vice-like grasp.
'' llave the kindness to hold this little traitor one moment
longer in your hand, I would not have you let it fall
quite yet. llave patience for one instant. I need a wit-
ness to prove in court that the thief was caught in the
act John I John I"
The young widow's melting voice, usually so expressive
of Christian love and pity, rang shrill and piercing through
the corridor.
"I beg you, for God's sake, Madame, let me gol" im-
plored Fclieitas in deadly terror.
''Not for the world I lie shall see whom be placed by
his side to-day. It was delightful to hear 'llcr place is
here!' was it not, my charming coquette? Your aim
was, YOU thought, accomplished, but I am here, ^the
game is not yet at an end I"
She repeated her cry for help, it was unnecessary,
her cousin had already descended the stairs, and was just
opening the door as Ueinrich also appeared at the other
end of the corridor.
"Oh, were you up there, John?" cried the Councillor's
widow. " I thought you were below. But the art of the
juggler ^s daughter is only the more admirable since she
had contrived to conjure away your old aunt's legacy from
mide* your very eyesl"
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 275
"Are 70a beside jonrself, Adele?" he asked, quickly
leaving the last stair, whence he had sarvejed the incom-
prehensible scene in the greatest astonishment.
'' Oh, not at all/' she replied. '' Do not think me violent,
cousin, because I am compelled to undertake the office of
a bailiff; but Herr Franz, you know, indignantly refused
me his assistance in the discovery of the theft of the silvef
plate, and you yourself took this sweet innocent under
your wing, what was there for me to do but to act upon
my own responsibility ? You see these five fingers hold
ing the casket which they have just brought down stairs,
so far, so good, now we will see what the magpie was
bearing off to her nest."
She snatched the box from Felicitas' hand. The girl
uttered a cry and tried to recover it, but the young widow
fled with her prey along the corridor, laughing loudly, as
in feverish haste she lifted the cover.
''A book I" she muttered, disappointed, the box fell
upon the floor. She took the volume in both hands, held
it open by its covers, and shook it violently, there must
certainly be banknotes, deeds, or some papers of value
hidden between the leaves, ^but nothing of the kind ap*
pcarcd.
In the mean time Felicitas had partly recovered from
her terror. She followed the lady and earnestly requested
her to return the book to her; but in spite of her forced
composure her feverish anxiety was only too apparent.
"How, are you really in earnest?" said the young
widow spitefully, clutching the book tightly as she turned
her back upon her. ''You appear altogether too much
disturbed to allay my suspicions," she continued, looking
contemptuously back over her shoulder at Felicitas. ** The
book must have something to do with some p'ot of yours,
let us see what it is, my dear!"
216 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
She opened the volame,- -it contained no bankaoted,-^
nothing Df value, only delicately written words npon ita
yellow leaves ; but had a dagger been suddenly pointed
at the young widow's breast from its ugly pages, she
could not have been struck more utterly aghast than shA
was at the sight of the few words which met her eye
npon one of the Iraves which she had hastily turned over.
The rosy face grew ashy to the very lips, ^instinctively
she covered her eyes with her hand, and tottered for one
moment as though she were giddy.
But she had learned to control every outward look and
action, in order to walk before the world surrounded by
the nimbus of sanctity. She knew how to cast up her
eyes piously to Heaven, while her heart was full of spite
and malice, she could listen with an air of intense devo-
tion to a sermon, while her mind was busied with a charm-
ing new toilette, she often lamented, with holy indigna-
tion flushing her cheeks, over the sinful ways of the world
and the neglect of the Bible, while she was devoted in
secret to the worst of French romances.
This incredible flexibility and elasticity of outward de-
meanour had often during her life stood her in good stead,
and it did not fail her now. In a few seconds she had
entirely recovered herself. She closed the book with aD
admirably simulated smile of disappointment.
"It is, indeed, wretched old trash I'' she said to her
cousin, while, as if half unconsciously, she put the book
into her pocket. "You certainly have been uncommonly
silly, Caroline, to make such a noise about such nonsen-
sical stuffi"
"Did she make the noise?" asked the Professor, step-
jmg quickly towards her, and with difficulty controlling
himself, "i thought you called me to your assistance,
that you mig'it convict this young girl of the theft of
rirs OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 277
the silrer in the presence of witnesses. Po me the favoni
to justify now, here upon the spot, jour shameful accu
Bation?"
" You see that I really am not prepared, instantly"
"Instantly 1" he interrupted her. " You must recall on
the spot this insulting charge; and in Ileinrich's and my
presence make the fullest apology for all you have said
and done!''
"Most willingly, dear John! It is our Christian duty
to acknowledge and beg forgiveness for an error. My
dear Caroline, pray forgive me, I have done you injustice.''
"And now give back the book," said her cousin, in a
harsh, unrelenting tone.
"The book?" she asked, with all her old air of naive
Innocence. "Ah, dear John, it docs not belong to Caro-
line !"
"Who told you that?"
"I saw Aunt Cordula's name written in it. If any one
lias any right to it it is yourself, as heir to her books and
furniture. But it is apparently not of any value, it
eeems to be filled with old poetical extracts. What
would you do with such sentimental stuff? But I like
such old yellow books. In spite of their worn soiled
leaves, they have a great charm* for me. I pray you give
It to me?"
" Perhaps I may, after I have looked at it," he replied,
shiiigging his shoulders, and holding out his hand for
the volume.
''But 1 should value it much more, if you wou!i gi?8
it to me without looking at it," she continued, in a gentle,
eoaxing tone of entreaty. "Do not let me think that yon
wish to ascertain the actual worth of the only present that
I have ever asked you to make me!"
The Professor looked angry indeed. " I declare to yon,"
24
178 THE OLD MAM*SELLE'S SECRET.
said he, "that what yoa may think of mj persistence is a
matter of entire indifference to me. I insist upon seeing
the book, I suspect you. Some extracts from old sen
timental poetry could scarcely suffice to make so self-
possessed a lady as yourself turn suddenly pale with
terror."
As he spoke he stepped in front of her, her uncertain
glance which had measured like lightning the length of
the corridor, and a quick gesture betrayed unmistakably
that she wished to take to flight Her cousin seized her
band and detained her.
Fclicitas was beside herself at the thought that he
might attain his purpose. It was terrible to see the book
in the possession of the dissembler, but she acknowledged
to herself that it was as safe there as in her own hands,
and that it would certainly be soon devoted to destruc-
tion. She therefore placed herself b^ the side of the
young widow to assist her flight if necessary.
" I pray you, Herr Professor, to let your cousin keep
the book/' she entreated with all the serious composure
that she could command at this critical moment ** By its
perusal she can easily convince herself that she was too
hasty in supposing that the little box could contain any-
thing of value."
The first distrustful glance that she had ever seen in
the steel gray eyes scanned her face it was like the stab
of a knife, she crimsoned and cast down her eyes.
*'And you too come with an entreaty I" he said. " There
is certainly something more in the matter than 'sentimen-
tal trash.' I remember now that my cousin declared that
you looked very anxious, and I confess to having observed
the same thing. Now I ask you, 'upon your conscience,'
*-* What does the book contain?'"
It was a terrible moment, Fclicitas struggled for com-
THE OLD MAM SELLERS SECRET. 279
posuie, she opened her lips, but they refused to utter a
word.
" Yoa need not trouble yourself," he said to her with
an ironical smile, while he grasped still more firmlj his
cousin's wrist, as she writhed in all directions to escape
from him. '' The book then contains no poetic fancies,
but facts, and facts which I shall most certainly make
myself master of at all hazards. Will you at last have
the great kindness, Adele, to give up to me what, as you
have already declared, is my own property?"
" Whatever you do to me, you shall never have it," the
Councillor's widow replied with despairing energy drop-
ping in her fierce passion her role of childlike gentleness.
She made a violent effort to extricate herself, and suc-
ceeded, she flew down the long corridor, but at the end
of it stood Ileinrich, his arms spread out like a wall, fill-
ing the entire passage. She shrunk back. "Insolent
wretch I get out of my way 1" she cried, stamping her foot
frantically.
"In a moment, most gracious lady," he replied very
quietly and respectfully without altering his position one
hair's breadth, "only give up the little book, and I will
step aside instantly I"
" Ileinrich 1" cried Felicitas, rushing up to him, and at-
tempting to pull down his arms in her despair.
"Ah, that'll do no good, Fay," he said with a grin as
bis old bones easily withstood her efforts to move them.
"I am not as stupid as you think. You'd be very likely
to do yourself an injury out of pure good nature, ^and I
won't have itl"
"Let the lady pass, HeinrichI" said the Professor
gravely. " But let me tell you, Adele, that I shall im-
mediately ad^pt all the means in my power to recover
my property! No one can hinder me from supposing that
t80 TUS OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
that book contains important revelations concerning mj
aant's estate possibly it may allude to portions of hei
property that have hitherto lain undiscovered."
"Oh no, nol" cried Felicitas interrupting him.
'* It is my affair to suppose what I choose I" he rejoined
sternly, '' and you as well as Heinrich can testify, if
need be, before the proper authorities that this lady has
perhaps appropriated a considerable portion of my family
property."
His cousin started as though stung by an adder. She
looked savagely at her unrelenting tormentor, and then
the frenzy took possession of her under whose sway she
tore up handkerchiefs and shattered cups. She snatched
the book from her pocket and threw it upon the floor at
his feet with a shrill, bitter laugh.
"Take it, you stubborn fool 1" she cried, and her whole
frame quivered convulsively. "I wish you joy of your
prize. Bear the disgrace which you will find in it with
what dignity you may I"
She flew along the corridor, down the stairs, and they
heard the door of her own room locked and bolted be-
hind her.
Iler cousin looked after her with an expression of utter
contempt, and then picking up the book, he examined for
a moment its clumsy covers, while Felicitas' eyes were
riveted in the greatest anxiety upot tL& hands that held
the volume, and that might open it at any moment Ilia
features betrayed a mixture of anxious thought and pain-
ful emotion, the last mysterious words of the Council-
lor's widow had evidently not shocked him, he had ap-
parently expected some such termination to the previous
scene it only remained to be ascertained what manner
of disgrace had been foretold him. Suddenly he looked
up into Felicitas' bcseechibg brown eyes, what powei
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 281
fcbose ejcs had over the stern man I It seemed as if
some gentle hand passed over his face, smoothing the
wrinkles on his brow, while a half smile quivered about
bis lips.
"And now you must be brought to judgment 1" he be-
gan. "You have shamefully circumvented me; while
you confronted me up-stairs with an appearance of integ-
rity upon which I would have staked my existence you
were carrying the Hcllwig family secrets about with you
in your pocket What must I think of you, Fay? You
can atone for such ugly dissimulation only by answering
all my questions frankly without any reserve."
" 1 will tell you anything that I may, but then I be-
seech you, oh, I entreat you, give the book back to me."
" Is this my proud, wilful, unbending Fay, this girl
who entreats so bewitchingly?"
At these words of the Professor's, Ileinrich noiselessly
and wisely retired, but at the bottom of the first flight
of stairs he sat down in actual terror, and seized his gray
head with both hands, as if to satisfy himself that, after
what he had just heard, it remained in its old place.
" You went up to-day to the rooms under the roof ex-
pressly to get this book, then ?" inquired the Professor.
"Yes."
"IIow did you get there? I found all the doors
" I went over the roofs," she replied with hesitation.
**That is, through the upper rooms?"
She blushed. Although she was entirely acquitted of
all sinister design, still her mode of entering what was
DOW his room was suspicious.
"No," she said in great confusion, "there is noway
thither through the upper rooms, I got out of the garret
window and came across on the roofs."
24*
S8i THE OLD MAirSELLE'S SECRET.
''In this fearful storm I" he ejaculated with horror
'Fclicitas, your resolution is frightful I"
'* There was nothing else for me to do/' she replied
sadly.
"And why were yon so bent upon gaining possessioi
of this book ?"
''I looked upon it as a sacred bequest of Aunt Cordula.
She once said to me that the gray box I did not then
know what it contained ^must be destroyed before she
died. Death surprised her suddenly, and I was con-
vinced that the box was not destroyed, and besides, I
knew that it lay hid in the secret repository where the
silver was to be found. I could not point out that place
to you without giving up the book also, which would
then have fallen into wrong hands."
"Poor, poor child, how you must have suffered! And
all this heroic daring and endurance has availed yon
nothing, ^the book is after all 'in wrong hands!"
" Oh no, you will give it back to me," she entreated.
"Felicitas," he replied, "I pray you answer me most
truthfully two questions. Do you know the exact con-
tents of this volume?"
"Partly, since to-day."
"And do they compromise your old friend?"
She was silent. Perhaps if she replied in the affirma-
tive he would return her the book, having no further in-
terest in it, but then Aunt Cordula's memory would be
stained by her act, and she would seem to confirm the
terrible stories that accused her of crime.
" It is unworthy of you to contemplate a subterfuge,
however pure the motives may be which lead you to do
Bo," he interrupted the momentary silence. '^QIy^ m# a
simple yes or no."
"No."
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 283
" I knew it." he murmured. "And now be reasonable,
and resign yourself to the inevitable, Felicitas, I must
read this book."
She grew paler than ever, but she entreated no longer.
"Do so," she cried, "if you think it consistent with your
honour. You pry into a secret that was not intended for
your eyes. At the moment when you open the book,
you deprive the most fearilil and sustained sacrifice of a
woman's whole life of all result."
"You make a bravo fight, Felicitas," he replied, "and
were it not for the last words which that lady" he
pointed in the direction in which the Councillor's widow
had disappeared "uttered in her rage, I would give the
wretched secret back to you without trying to discover
it. But I must and will know what the disgrace is that
stains my name and if the lonely tenant of the rooms
under the roof was strong enough to guard it from
stranger eyes during her whole life, I think I shall be
strong enough to endure the knowledge of it. It is
doubly my duty to investigate the matter thoroughly.
The Ilellwig branch on the Rhine is apparently in pos-
session of the secret, and possibly concerned in some vil-
lainy although you cast down your eyes and are silent,
I see plainly that I am right in my conjecture. Doubt-
less my cousin knew of this disgrace, and was only
shocked to see it suddenly start up from the written
page before her. Ah, there will be a heavy reckoning
with these hypocrites 1 But take comfort. Fay," he con-
tinued most tenderly, gently stroking the hair above the
forehead of the girl who stood before him in mute de-
spair. "I could not act difi*erently, although my reward
for doing so should be to call you mine. I should even
then have to say 'No.'"
"I shall never forgive myself," she moaned, "for mj
tarelessness has doomed you to misery I"
S84 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S 8ECR2\
** Jjct it console yoa, then, to know surely that yooi
love will enable me to bear whatever fate may hare in
store for me in this life."
He pressed her ice-cold hand .and went back to his room.
But Fclicitas leaned her hot forehead against the window-
frame, and gazed down into the court-yard, where the
rain was falling in such torrents that it seemed as if de
termined to wash away the stains of the murdered Adrian
on Ilirschsprung's blood from the pavcment-r-and with
it the blot upon the name of Ilellwig.
CHAPTEIt XXVI.
An hour later the Professor entered his mother's sit-
ting-room. His check might perhaps be a shade paler than
usual, but his manner and bearing expressed more de-
cided! r than ever the manly determination and resolution
which characterized him.
Fn^ii Ilellwig was sitting knitting behind her asclepias
plant '. row after row those large white hands completed
like the rounds of a ladder upon which she should
mount straight to heaven for it was a missionary stock-
ing that she was at work upon.
Iler son laid a little worn book upon the table before
her.
"I must speak with you, mother, concerning a very im*
portan^ matter," he said, **but first let me beg you to
glance your eye over the contents of this book."
She "^aid the stocking down in great astonishment, put
on hei spectacles, and took up the book, "Ah, those aie
f^
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 885
old Cordula's Bcribblings," she said harshly, but she begaa
to read.
The Professor pat his left hand behind him, and stroking
his beard continually with his right, silently paced to and
fro in the apartment.
"I cannot see what possible interest this childish love*
affair with the shoemaker's son can have for me/' cried
Madame impatiently, after she had read a couple of pages.
" What induced you to bring me the old trash 7 It scents
the whole room with mould."
"I pray you read on, mother," said her son. "You
will soon forget the disagreeable odour in what the book
further contains."
She opened it again with evident reluctance, and looked
over several pages. But suddenly the rigid features ex-
pressed great attention ^the leaves were turned with fe-
verish haste. A slight colour appeared in the pale cheeks,
extended to the forehead and deepened to a flush. Strangely
enough, however, Madame experienced neither terror nor
horror, but testified only overwhelming surprise, in which
there was soon a large admixture of contempt, as she let
the book fall in her lap.
" These are wonders indeed I Who would have dreamed
of such a thing 1 The honourable, highly-respected liell*
wig family!" she said, striking her hands together, in
her voice hate, triumph, and gratified malice strove for the
mastery. " Then the money-bags upon which my mother-
in law so prided herself were stolen, abal she flaunted
it in silk and velvet, she gave entertainments where
champagne flowed like water, and where they all flattered
the gay, brilliant hostess. And I had to wait upon her
riotous guests I No one noticed, in the presence of thft
proud mistress of the house, the poor young relative who
yet stood far aSove all those miserable rioters in her fear
286 THE OLD MAir SELLERS SECRET.
of tho Lord. IIow often have I ground my teeth and
prayed to my God in niy heart that he would in his right-
eousness punish their wickedness! lie had already
judged them. Oh, how wondrous are his ways! It was
stolen money that they squandered. Their souls are
doubly lost !"
Her son was standing still in the middle of the room.
lie had not for a moment foreseen such a result to hia
request that his mother would peruse the little book.
" I cannot understand, mother," he said after a short
pause, '^ how you can hold my grandmother responsible,
she was entirely unconscious that the money which she
spent was stolen. According to your view, our souls
must be lost too, since we have gone on until to-day
spending the interest of this sum. Ilowever, you will be
odI^ the more anxious to assist me in getting rid of the
ill-gotten gold in giving up every farthing of it as soon
possible."
Ilitherto in her astonishment, Frau llellwig had re-
mained sitting with her hands quietly folded in her lapi
Now she started, and putting them upon tho arms o{
her chair, she pushed it back a short distance upon the
floor.
" Giving up?" she repeated, as if uncertain whether she
had heard correctly. " To whom ?"
"Why, to the llirschsprung heirs, of course."
" How pay such an enormous sum to the first miseiw
ftble vagabond who may lay claim to it I Forty thousand
thaler fi remained to this family after "
"Yes, after Paul llellwig, the man of unstained integ-
rity, the champion of God, one of the chosen of the Lord,
had appropriated twenty thousand thalers!" interrupted
the Professor, trembling with indignation. "Mother,
f ou say my grandmother's soul is lost because she uii*
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, 287
fonseiouBlj lived upon stolen money. What does he de
Berve, who, in cold blood, could steal such a sum ?"
"Yes, he yielded in a moment of temptation," she re-
plied, without losing her composure. " He was then a
young and thoughtless man, who had not yet entered the
true path. Satan always selects the best and noblest
Bouls to estrange from the kingdom of Qod, but he has
struggled out of the slough of sin, and it is written:
* There shall be joy with the angels of God over one sin-
ner that repenteth.' He battles unweariedly for our
blessed faith. The money has been blessed and sanctified
in his hands ; for he uses it for aims well-pleasing to the
Lord.''
" We Protestants have our Jesuits among us, I see,'*
laughed out the Professor bitterly.
"And it has been just so with what fell into our hands,"
continued Madame, imperturbably. "Look around you I
Does not the visible blessing of the Lord rest upon all our
undertakings? If the sin still clung to the gold, it could
not bring forth such good fruit. We, you and I, my
son, have converted into a blessing what was once a
crime, by our zeal in the service of the Lord our pious
lives."
"I pray you, mother, leave me out of the question,"
her son interrupted her, unspeakably shocked by what he
heard. lie pressed his hands upon his temples with an
expression of acute suffering.
Madame cast one venomous glance towards him as he
made his protestation, and then continued in a raised
voice: "We are not justified in throwing away, to be
squandered in riotous living, the means which we devote
to such pious purposes. This is the principal reason why
I shall oppose with all my might any revival of this for-
gotten story. My further reason is that, by stirring at
^iS THE OLD MAW SELLS' 8 SECRET.
an in the matter, you hnag disgrace upon one of jour
ancestors."
"He brought disgrace upon himself, and upon us all,"
Ba!d the Professor. "But we can at least rescue our own
honour by refusing to bo dissemblers."
Frau Ilellwig left her arm-chair, and approached her son
clothed in all the commanding dignity of her character.
"Well, then," she said, "suppose that I should agree
with you in your ridiculous views. Let us take these
forty thousand thalcrs, which, by-thc-way, would reduce
us to very moderate means of subsistence, ^but let that
go. Let us, I say, take this money, and return every
penny of it What, if the exulting heirs should then de-
mand interest and compound interest, what then ?"
"I do not think they would be entitled to do so, ^but
if they did, we must remember that 'The sins of the
fathers are visited on the children.'"
"I am no Ilellwig by birth remember that, my son,"
he interrupted him. "I brought an unblemished name
^the same borne by your grandmother before her mar-
riage into this house. My father was court councillor,
the shame does not touch me, and I am not inclined to
make any pecuniary sacrifice to wash out the blot. Should
I, do you think, stai've in my old age on account of the
sin of others?"
"Starve while you have a son who can take care of
ycul Mother, do you not know that I can easily pro-
vide a comfortaWe, even a luxurious old age for you?"
"I thank you, my son!" she said icily. "But I prefer
to live upon my own income and be my own mistress. I
hate a state of dependence. Since your father's death I
have known no will but the Lord's and my own, and so
it must be in the future. And now do not let us quarrel
about nothing. I declare to you that I hold the whole
f
L
THE OLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET, 289
tory tc be an invention of that crazy old woman who
lived under the roof. Nothing in the world can force ma
to believe it really true."
At this moment the door opened noiselessly, and the
Councillor's widow entered. The beautiful creature had
been crying, but not this time as a Mater Dolorosa, the
traces of her grief were plainly visible in her reddened
eyelids, and in the blotches upon her velvet cheeks. Pas-
sion had raged within this tender soul, there was no
doubt of it, although she had done her best to conceal its
undeniable consequences, and to present to the world a
touching picture of sufifering innocence. In order to hide
her dishevelled hair she had wound around her head a
white tulle scarf. The lovely face looking out from the
airy cloud-like fabric, from beneath which some fair curls
escaped, was most picturesque. She had evidently at-
tempted to regain once more, by the aid of her tulle, her
former expression of childlike grace.
She saw the fatal book lying upon the table, and started.
Slowly, like some penitent, she advanced towards the
Professor, and with averted face held out her hand to him
he declined to take it.
"Forgive me, John," she entreated. "Ah, I cannot
account to myself for my impatience and irritation, I,
who am usually so placid in mind, how could I be so ex-
cited! But that miserable book is to blame. Only thfnk,
lohn, how it compromises my dear papa, and besides I so
longed to save you at all risks from such a humiliating
discovery. I really cannot help thinking that Caroline
hunted up the wretched story that she might wreak her
spite upon us before her departure "
"3Iold your slanderous tongue!" he cried menacingly,
and with such suddenness that she was silent in terror.
" YoQ shall have the forgiveness that you ask of me/' he
T 25
890 TUE OLD MAM SELL E' 8 SECRET.
added, after a paase, regaining his composure by a atm^
gle, "bat upon one condition."
She looked at him inquiringly.
" That you tell me, without any reserve, how you ar-
rived at the knowledge of this secret."
She stood silent for a moment, and then she began in a
melancholy voice. "In papa's last illness, which, yoa
know, we all feared would be fatal, he asked me to bring
him from his secretary various papers, which I was to
destroy before his eyes. They were Hirschsprung docu-
ments, which he had apparently preserved as curiosities.
Whether the probable approach of death made him com-
municative, or whether he felt the necessity of telling
some one of his past life, I cannot say, but, he took
me into his confidence "
"And gave you a certain bracelet, did he not ?" asked
her cousin, interrupting her.
She silently assented, looking up at him imploringly
and helplessly.
"After this disclosure, do you still hold the contents of
the book to be the wanderings of delirium?" said the Pro-
fessor turning to his mother with a cold smile.
"I only know that this person's transcendent giddiness
and folly exceed everything that I have ever imagined.
The demon of vanity, always by her side, induced her to
put on the strange bracelet which all the world would
notice, that the pretty white arm might be noticed also.''
The young widow cast one flaming glance upon her
aunt, who so ruthlessly exposed her weaknesses a glance
which did not belong to her role of sufiering penitent.
" I will not inquire, Adele, how the wearing of stolen
property consists with the purity and innocence of your
soul, about which you have so much to say upon every
Docasion," remarked her cousin with forced composure,
in bis voice there was something like the low mutterin|S
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 291
of a coming tempest. "It is for yoa to decide who is the
most culpable, the mother who steals bread for her chil-
dren, or the wealthy woman who revels in luxury and
receives stolen goods. But that you could have th6 inso-
lence to offer this stolen ornament so ostentatiously to the
innooent girl who had just saved your child's life ^you
said expressly that you prized the bracelet highly, but
that you would gladly sacrifice your most valued posses-
sion for Anna's sake that you dared besides, in right of
your stainless descent, to cast reflections upon that girl's
birth, arrogating to yourself all the virtues which spring
from spotless antecedents, and degrading her as of a de-
praved origin, while you were all the while cognizant of
your father's deed, that was so infamous an act that it
cannot be judged too severely."
The young widow tottered, closed her eyes, and with
uncertain hand grasped the table-cover as if to support
herself.
"Yon are not altogether wrong, John," said Madame,
shaking the apparently fainting woman roughly by the
arm all fainting women were an abomination to her
"there is some truth in what you say, but your last sen-
tence was too much. Adele has certainly been very silly,
but you must not on that account forget what is due to
her position. Your comparison with the poor woman was,
excuse me, rather out of place. There is a decided dif-
ference between keeping property that has no owner, and
stealing bread from another's store. But that is all the
result of these modern ideas that would always be com-
paring common people with those of rank and station. I
am extremely surprised to hear you speak so. And to
compare a girl like Caroline ^such a low person with a
lady I"
"Mother, I declared to you this afternoon in the garaen
that I would no loncrcr suffer these inexcusable of saolta
S9a TffE OLD MAW SELLS' 9 SECRET,
apon Fclicitas' honour," cried the Professor, while tli
veins upon his forehead swelled with anger.
^'Oho! I must request a little more self-control and
respect in my presence. Remember I am your mother,"
she said, comm'andingly, while she extended her hand
with a repcllant gesture, and an annihilating glance shot
from her cold eyes. "You play the part of knight to
this wandering princess excellently well, in a little
while there will be nothing for me to do but pay her the
tribute of my deep respect."
"If 1 should ask you to do so, you would surely com-
ply with my request, mother," her son replied with great
composure. "I am sure you will not refuse her your
respect and esteem when I tell you that I trust she will
one day be my wife."
And ^yes, the old house really remained standing
after this announcement! The earth did not yawn and
swallow up the little town with the unworthy descendant
of all the Ilellwigs, as Madame, in the first shock of
astonishment, expected it would, and he stood there
cool and collected, the image of a man clear in his own
niind, upon whom feminine rage, hysterics, and tears
could make no more Impression than tossing waves upon
a rock.
Frau Hcllwig staggered back, actually speechless ; but
the Councillor's widow instantly recovered from her im-
pending fainting-fit and burst into hysteric laughter.
The transfiguring tulle fell from her head upon her
neck, disclosing the dishevelled hair in which the crim-
son rose placed there in the afternoon was perishing
miserably.
" This is the end of your boasted wisdom, aunt," she
cried shrilly. "Now it is my turn to boast. Who begged
and prayed you to get this girl married at all hazards
bc^fore John came home? I had a presentiment the firsl
TUE OLD MAM^SELLE'S SECREl, 293
lime I looked at her that she would bring migfortuDe to
US all. And now you must bear the disgrace to which
you so resolutely shut your eyes. But I shall return
Immediately to Bonn, to inform our Professors' ^ivea
there what a charming creature will shortly claim admit-
tance into their exclusive circle."
And she rushed out of the room.
In the mean time Madame recovered from her aston-
ishment, and spoke again in all the conscious worth and
dignity of her nature.
*' I evidently misunderstood your last remark, John,''
Bhe said, with great apparent calmness.
"If so, let me repeat it," he replied. "I hope to marry
Felicitas d'Orlowska."
" Do you dare to avow such a purpose in my pres-
ence?"
" Instead of answering you, let me ask you, would you
now consent to my marriage with Adele?"
''Most certainly would II it would be a most suitable
match would fulfil my earnest wishes."
The Professor ground his teeth to control the flood of
stormy words that rose to his lips.
" This declaration on your part deprives you of the last
atom of authority to decide in any important question for
me," he said with forced calmness. " You never take into
ccnsideration that this despicable woman, this wretched
hypocrite, would poison my whole existence. You would
Bit here in your comfortable home and content yourself
with saying of your absent son, * He married most suit-
ably.' Let me tell you, mother, that I cannot respect
such boundless selfishness, I long for happiness, and I
can find it only with the orphan girl whom we have long
treated so cruelly."
f ran Ilellwig burst into a scornful laugh.
25*
rf-
194 TEH OLD MAM'SELLS^S SECRET.
"I will Btill restrain myself," she said, ''bat lemem
ber 'A father's blessing builds the son's mansion, but a
mother's curse levels it with the ground.' "
"Oan you maintain that your blessing could wash
away Adele's faults of character? Nor can a curse have
any effect if it is pronounced upon an innocent hea(!\.
Tdu will not speak it, mother I God will not listen to it
it would come home to you and make your old ag
lonely and loveless."
''What do I care I I only know two things in the
^orld, they are what I think of honour and disgrace.
You shall respect my will it is your duty to recall your
words."
"Never, mother, rely upon it I" cried her son, and left
the room, while she stood like a statue with her arms
stretched out in an attitude of command. Did those
tight-drawn bloodless lips ever utter the curse? Not a
sound was heard in the hall, If it were uttered, the air
refused to carry it, a God of love does not entrust such
terrible power to the wicked and revengeful.
In the large square of the court-yard the shadows of
night were already falling. The rain had ceased, but
dark flying storm-clouds were driving and chasing each
other across the sky as if seeking to unite their forces for
another attack.
In the young widow's rooms doors were opened and
ihut hastily, trunks pushed about, and clumsy and trip-
ping footsteps heard running to and fro, ^the tenants
there were packing up for departure never to return.
"Aha, this is the end of the forget-me-nots I" muttered
old Heinrich to himself with delight as he carried a large
trunk into the passage.
How composed and calm after all the bustle and hurry
tho pale young face looked l)ehind the bow-window across
THE OLD MAM'SELLE S SECRET. 295
nha court-yard I A kitchen lamp was burning on the
table, and beside it stood the little sealskin trunk con
taining Fellcitas' childish wardrobe. An hour before
Madame, stocking in hand, had given orders to have ' the
girl's things' all taken to her 'that she might have no
reason for spending another night in the house.' Felicitas
was just examining the old seal by the dim light of the
lamp i%hen the Professor^s pale face appeared outside of
the bow-window.
" Come, Felicitas, you must not stay a moment longer
in this wretched house. Leave those things here, Ilein-
rich can taise them to you to-morrow."
She threw her shawl over her shoulders, and met him
in the hall. He took her hand firmly in his, drew it under
his arm, and conducted her through the street until ho
rang at Madame Franz's door.
"I bring you a fugitive," he said to the old lady, whc
received them in her comfortable, well-lighted room with
a smile of welcome, but in great astonishment. He took
her hand and laid Felicitas' within it " I confide her to
you, dear friend," he said, significantly, "guard and
protect her like a daughter until I can ask her of you
again."
CHAPTER XXYIl.
Felicitas had only passed through a few streets ano
crossed two thresholds, and yet what a change had these
few steps effected in her outward and inward existence I
The huge pile of the old house on the Square lay behind
her, and with it she had cast off all traces of the unkind*
ftess which she had endured. Wherever she looked now.
(96 T^E OLD MAM SELLERS SECRET,
ehe saw only bright Buushine, there was not a particle
of gloomy pietism in her new abode, not an atom of
that stern pretence of religion which brooded over the
Ilellwig house, like some dark bird of prey. A healthy
interest in all that was going on in the world, and a
cheerful, affectionate home-life characterized the Franz
household. Felicitas felt in her element. There was a
pleasing pain in the sound of the old endearing names
which Aunt Cordula had once given her, and which she
now heard again. She became at once the pet of thA
two old people Councillor and Madame Franz.
Thus her outward life was changed indeed, and how
was it with her inward life? She was herself not clear
concerning that, but her uncertainty was not hard to en-
dure. That evening when the Professor had called her,
she had left her few possessions, without a word, in
the hall she had laid her hand in his and followed him
willingly, without asking him whither, and if he had led
her along the dim streets and away through the gate of
the little town, she would have followed him still with-
out a shade of distrust or doubt. She was an odd com-
bination. With all her burning imagination, her strange
enthusiasm, she was unrelenting in her demand for a
firm foundation of principle and well-trained will in life.
The Professor's earnest pleadings his agonized en-
treaties had wrung her heart, but had failed to effect
any change in her fixed resolution, something else waa
needed to win her entirely, and this something had hap-
pened without his knowledge. When he refused to re-
turn the book to her he had said '' I could not act dif-
ferently, although my reward for doing so should be to
call you mine." In spite of the grief and distress then
racking her very soul, her heart bounded at the thought
of the clear manly strength of will that obeyed the caU
i
THE CLD MAM' SELLERS SECRET. 297
hi honour at all hazards. She was filled with that bound-
less confidence in him without which life by his side
would have been impossible for bcr.
Every day he came to Councillor Franz's. He was
jpraver and more reserved than ever, ho was bearing
burdens heavy to be borne. His residence in his mother's
bouse had become unendurable. Apparently the previ-
ous unusual mental agitation had affected even her iron
nerves. Sh3 became ill and was confined to her bed.
She persistently refused to see her son, Doctor Boehm
attended her, but her illness of course detained the Pro-
fessor in X . In the mean time he had imparted the
family secret to young Franz as curator of the possible
Ilirschsprung heirs, and had announced to him his de-
termination to atone for the wrong. His friend endeav-
oured to combat his resolution, or at least to modify it
from a legal point of view, but the Professor shattered
Lis arguments by the simple question ' Do you consider
the money honestly come by V to which even the young
advocate could not say 'yes.' However, Franz agreed
with Madame that it was a coil about nothing, for he
had no faith in the existence of any Hirschsprung heirs.
But he was not inclined to spare the respectable Paul
Hellwig the strait-laced relative on the Rhine a nerv-
ous shock, and therefore the champion of the Lord was
legally summoned to produce the stolen twenty thousand
thalers. The pious man replied quietly, with his accus-
tomed unction, that he had undoubtedly received that
amount of money from his uncle, in liquidation of an old
debt owing to his father from the principal branch of the
Hell wigs. Whence his uncle had procured the money
he had no idea, it was no affair of his, and gave him no
concern whatever. At present the money was in ihe
best possible hands, he did not consider his property as
^
leS TBE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
belonging to himsolf, ^it was the Lord^B, he was onl;
the steward of his wealth. He should most assuredly
retain the sum alluded to, and was quite sure the law,
which must decide, would justify him in so doing.
NathanacPs views were very similar. It made no pos-
sible difference to him that some man who had been dead
for half a century had committed a crime, he did not
consider it his duty to whitewash other people^s char-
acters, and should certainly not yield up one penny of
his inheritance. Ue looked forward with great com-
posure, he wrote, to the future lawsuit, which would cost
the probable heirs dear, and his lofty-minded brother his
good name.
" Then there is nothing for me to do," said the Profes-
sor, throwing the two letters, which bore such witness
to the keen sense of honour of the Ilellwigs, upon the
table, " but to sacriGce every penny of my inheritance, if
I do not wish to be an accomplice in the crime."
And thus the last two weeks of the holidays gradually
slipped away. Frau llcllwig had left her bed, but had
declared her firm resolution of never seeing her son again,
unless he consented to admit the whole Hirschsprung
affair to be .utter nonsense, and to give up all thoughts
of Felicitas. Of course mother and sen were separated
forever.
Felicitas was in a state of mind not easy to describe.
Every afternoon, in her new home at the accustomed
hour she sat at the window with a beating heart cast-
ing stolen glances into the street without ^until a well*
known powerful figure appeared in the distance. Then
she exerted all her self-control not to run to meet him.
He came nearer and nearer looking neither to the right
uor the left, his gaze riveted upon the window, behind
which the lively head was bent over its work; at last
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET, 299
the moment came when she could look up ^their eyes
met an, what bliss life contained of which the young
heart hitherto had never even dreamed I The Professor
never alluded to his love again. Felicitas might have
thought that the experiences of the last few weeks had
crowded it from his mind had it not been for his eves
but those gray eyes followed her unweariedly as she
moved about the room, busy with her household cares;
they lighted up when she entered, or when she lifted her
head from her work and turned her face towards him.
She knew that she was still his Fay whom he longed
to dream of as waiting for him at home, and always
thinking of him. And site whose heart had once been
so filled with hatred, and whose looks had been so cold,
did not dream what a charm there was about her now,
how all the stern unbending points in her character were
subdued by her soul-engrossing love.
But the time was to come to-morrow when she might
sit at the window and await him in vain. In the after-
noon, when his hour for coming drew near, he would be
far, far away from her a crowd of strange faces wouM
separate him from his love and perhaps a whole long
dreary year pass before she should see him once more.
She looked wearily into such a future into which she
was drifting.
The day before the Professor's departure, the Fraus
family and Felicitas were sitting at dinner, when the ser-
vant handed a card to the young lawyer. A deep flush
of astonishment rose to his face he threw the card upon
the table and left the room. Upon the shining little piece
of pasteboard was written * Baron Lutz von Hirschsprung
from Kiel.' A manly well-bred voice was heard speak-
mg in most excellent German in the hall, and then tht
t^o gontlencn wert into the lawyer's study.
M^
800 TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
While Councillor and Madame Franz were engaged in
a Krely conversation about this man, who had appeared
as Ttom the land of fable, Felieitas sat bf them in the
greauist agitation of mind. The poor player's child,
who, deprived of every family tie, had hitherto lived en-
tirely dmong strangers, suddenly knew that she was be*
neath the same roof with a near relative, connected with
her by the ties of blood. Was it her grandfather or her
mother's brother? Had that voice, whoso quiet tones
had thrilled through every fibre of her frame, once pro-
nouncea a curse upon the recreant daughter of the llirsch-
sprungs /
The stranger's name was precisely the one borne by his
ancestor who had left X to seek his home in distant
countries. It was engraved upon his card with aristo-
cratic ostentation. We love to search out names from
vanished ages. Involuntarily, at the sound of thom some
mailed knightly figure rises upon our mental vision, and
they testify to aristocratic blood, although they suit oddly
enough the pigmy race in black dress-coats of to-day.
Evidently this branch of the Ilirschsprungs valued its
ancient ancestry most highly, it would certainly have
been difficult for the juggler's daughter to make good her
claim to relationship with Baron von Hirschsprung. At
the thought of a repulse, Felieitas' blood boiled, she com-
pressed her lips as if to keep down every quick word
that might escape them in her excitement But yet shb
could not control her ardent desire to see the man, and
the opportunity was about to present itself.
Soon after the stranger's arrival, the lawyer sent for
the Professor. The conference between the three gen-
tlemen lasted for more than two hours. During this
time of intense expectation, Felieitas continually heard
Uio step of the Professor pacing to and fro. In her ima|fi
TUE OLD MAM'SELlirS SECRET. 801
Illation she saw the man of science as, stroking his beard
with his white hand, he olTered to the aristocrat monej
and estate that the stain might be erased from the honour
of his name.
At length young Franz sent to his mother to say that
when coffee was ready he would bring his guest with him
to her drawing-room. Felicitas was giving a few addi-
tional orders in the kitchen when she heard the gentle-
men descending the stairs. Her courage almost failed
her as she saw the stranger in earnest conversation with
the Professor pass slowly through the hall. He was
tall almost too tall, for his figure was rather slender
and every gesture betrayed the finished man of the world,
while his whole bearing was that of one born to com-
mand of the self-conscious aristocrat. lie could not
possibly be her grandfather, the refined features with
the short brown hair were far too young for that. At
present he was bending towards the Professor with a
courteous smile, but his classic profile, with its sallow
complexion and thin lips, was evidently utore accustomed
to express command than gentleness or sensibility.
Felicitas stroked her hair back from her brow with
trembling hands and entered the room into which the
servants had already carried the coffee. They were all
standing in the recess of a window with their backs turned
to her as she softly entered. She noiselessly filled the
cups, and, taking up one, handed it with some courteous
words to the stranger, he turned abruptly at the sound
of her voice, staggered back as though he had received a
blow, while his face grew white, and his startled gaze
wandered over the beautiful figure before him.
"Metal" ho gasped hoarsely.
"Meta von Uirschsprung was my mother," she said in
a low melodious voice, with apparent eoir posurc, although
26
SOS THE OLD MAWSELLE'S SECRET.
she put down the cup which began to tremble in her
hand.
"Your mother I 1 did not know that phe had left a
child," he mattered, endeavonring to master his emotion.
Felicitas smiled contemptnouslj, in part at the thought
of her own weakness, which, spite of all her good resolu-
tions, had betrayed her into acknowledging to this man
her parentage. There had been not the faintest sound of
love or sympathy in the tones of his voice, even when the
sadden shock of surprise had thrown him off his guard,
and she felt that she had exposed herself to great humiU
iation before all present, who were awaiting the denoue-
ment of the astounding scene in speechless amazement
Gradually Baron von Hirschsprung's Furprise pasned
away, but only to be succeeded by most pai;ful confusion.
lie passed bis hand over his eyes, and saia stammering*
ly, " Yes, yes, very true; it was in this sam little town
of X that the nemesis overtook that r^ortunate
woman, a fearful but a just nemesis."
lie seemed to recover perfect self-possession 9^ he ut-
tered these last words, lie stood erect, and addressing
himself with well-bred grace to those present, said : " Par-
don me; overcome by a momentary surprise, I did not
remember that I was in the presence of others! I thought
a drama, in which my family had some share, entirely at
an end forever, when suddenly I am confronted with an
unexpected after-piece! You are then the. daughter of
the juggler d'Orlowsky?" he continued, turning to Feli-
citas, and evidently attempting to express careless good
humour in his tone.
" Yes,'' she answered shortly, and confronted him with-
out flinching, and a bearing as proud as his own. And
now the strong family resemblance between the two was
very striking. Pride was the distinguishing character*
THE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET. 30S
0tic of those noblj-formed features, although it was dif
ferently expressed in the two countenances.
" Your father then left you in X when his wif6
died? You have grown up here?" he inquired further,
manifestly much impressed by the imposing figure before
bim.
"Yes I"
"The man had not much opportunity to provide for
you as well as I remember he died of nervous fever in
Uamburg about a dozen years ago I"
"I learn from yourself for the first time that he is no
longer living," replied Felicitas, as the corners of her
mouth quivered, and a tear glittered in her eyes. But
spite of the shock of this intelligence, she experienced a
kind of satisfaction in the knowledge that there had been
no truth in Frau Uellwig's repeated declaration that her
father was vagabondizing about the ^orld, without a
thought for his child's welfare, thankful enough to leave
her to the care of others.
"Ah, I am much pained to have been the means of
communicating such distressing news!" said Baron
Hirschsprung compassionately, shaking his head from
side to side. "In him you have indeed lost the only
relative that yon possessed after the death of your mo-
ther. There was a time when I interested myself to dis-
cover this man's antecedents. lie was left at a very
early age entirely alone in this world."
"And may I be permitted to inquire, sir, in what rela-
tion the mother of this child stood to your family ?" asked
Madame Franz, irritated at the heartless manner in which
he coolly excluded Felicitas entirely from the circle of hia
high-born race.
A slight colour sufi'used his face. Charming as is a
blush upon the check of innocence, it is revolting upon
irOI TUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET
Ihe countenance of an arrogant man who is eridently
straggling to decide whether he shall disclose or conceal
iiome degrading circumstance.
" She was once my sister," he said carelessly, although
he emphasized the word once most decidedly. '^ I pur-
posely avoided alluding to the fact," he continued, after
rather a prolonged pause, ''because, as matters stand, I
am forced to make disclosures which may perhaps strike
you as discourteous. I must communicate to this youn{^
lady several circumstances in connection with her mother
which were perhaps better suppressed. Madame d'Or-
lowska ceased forever to be a member of the family von
Hirschsprung the moment she became the wife of the
Pole d'Orlowsky. In our family record, beside her name
there is no mention, as is the custom, of the man whom
the daughter of the house married. When she crossed our
threshold for the last time, my father with his own hand
erased her name from the book, a proceeding inGnitely
more wounding to his aristocratic feeling than if he had
annexed to it the black cross which signifies 'dead.'
From that time no such name as Meta von Ilirschsprung
has existed for us, not one of our friends ^not even a scr*
vant, has ever dared to utter it aloud, ^my children do
not know that they ever had an aunt, she was disin-
herited, cast off, and dead for us long before the horrible
accident that occurred here some years ago."
He ceased for a moment. During these discloBurea,
made in a manner so hard and offensive, Madame Frani
pit her arm around Felicitas and drew her toward her
with the tenderness of a mother. And there stood the
Professor he did not speak but his gaze rested unin-
terruptedly upon the pale face of the girl who was again
ealled upon to suffer so cruelly for the sake of her 'idol
ized * mother. There was a moment of painful silence, a
TEE OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET. 05
silence which was eloqaent with a stern condemnation.
The speaker evidently could not ignore this fact ^h'' con
tinned with some hesitation. "Let me assure you that
it is a hard task for me to give you so much pain. I ap^
pear even in my own eyes in such an an unchlvalrous
light, ^but, good Ileavens I I must call things by their
true names I I should be glad to do something for you.
What position do you occupy in this very aelightful
household?"
"That of a dear daughter," answered Madame Frani
in Felicitas' stead, as she looked scarchingly at him.
" Then indeed yours is a most happy lot," he said to
Felicitas with a courteous bow to the old lady. "Unfor-
tunately it is not in my power to vie with your noble pro-
tectress. I could not offer you the rights of a daughter
of my house as my parents are both alive, in their eyes
the circumstance of your bearing the name of d'Orlowsky
would be an unconquerable obstacle to ever receiving you
into their presence."
"How, her own grandparents!" cried the old lady in-
dignantly. "Is it possible that they can know of the ex-
istence of their granddaughter and be willing to die with-
out seeing her! You can never persuade me of that."
" My dear Madame Franz," replied the stranger, smiling
coldly, "a deeply-rooted pride in the aristocracy of our
house, and a keen feeling for its unstained honour, are
the family characteristics of the Hirschsprungs, in which I
share myself, ^love with us always occupies a second
place. I perfectly understand my parents' views, and
should in their stead do just as they have done."
" Well, the men of your family may entertain such views
fts you describe," said Madame Franz persistently, "but
your mother why, she must have a heart of stone to
hear of this child and not "
U 26*
f^
80ft TnE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
''She is the most anforgiying of as all/' he interrnpted
the old lady, with assarance. " My mother counts amoug
her noble kin several of the oldest names in Germany^
and is more jealous of the honour of her house than any
woman whom I have ever known. However, you are
perfectly at liberty, my dear Madame," he added, not
without a shade of irony in his tone, "to make an attempt
for your protegee. I assure you that so far from opposing
any such attempt, I will do all in my power to further
your hopes."
"Oh, I pray you, do not say another word I" cried Fe*
licitas in great distress, while she freed herself from the
old lady's arm and took her hand beseechingly. "Be
assured, sir," she turned toward Baron von Hirsch-
sprung, calm and collected, after an instant's pause,
although her lips quivered slightly, "that it would
never occur to me to lay claim to any rights once my
mother's she willingly gave up all such for the sake of
her love, and after everything that you have just said, I
can well understand how happy was the exchange which
she made. I have grown up in the belief that I stand
alone in the world, nothing has occurred to change this
belief. I have no grandparents."
"That sounds harsh and stern," he said with some
embarrassment "But," he continued, shrugging his
shoulders, "as matters stand, I am compelled to desist
from all attempts to alter your conviction. I will, how-
ever, do everything in my power for you. I have no
doubt that I can succeed In inducing my father to allow
you a considerable yearly stipend."
"You are very kind," she hastily interrupted him. "I
have just told you that I have no grandparents, ^you can
scarcely expect me to accept charity from strangers."
He blushed once more, but this time it was the blosb
r\
TUE OLD MAM' SELLS' 8 SECRET, 80?
f shame, wbich perhaps saffused those aristocratic feat*
ores for the first time in his life. Evidently much em-
barrassed, he look up his hat No one requested him to
remain. In a f3w almost whispered words addressed to
young Franz, be touched upon several matters of busi-
ness, and then, as if actuated by a sudden impulse, h
oflfered his hand to Felicitas, but she courtesied to him
formally and profoundly, letting her hands drop slowly
by her sides.
It was a harsh retaliation for the juggler's daughter to
make upon a Baron von Uirschsprung ; but it must be
forgiven to her Hirschsprung blood. He recoiled in con-
fusion, bowed with another shrug to the rest, and, stripped
for the moment of all aristocratic dignity, left the room,
accompanied by the young lawyer.
- As the door closed behind him, Felicitas suddenly
buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.
"Fayl" cried the Professor, and held out his arms.
She looked up, and sought her refuge there. With her
arms around his neck, she leaned her head upon his
breast. The wild young bird was caged forever ^it
made not the smallest attempt to escape. Ah, what rest
there was in those strong arms after its weary, lonely
flight through storms and winds which had so tossed &n^
beaten it I
At this moment the Councillor and his wife ezchange4
a significant glance, and noiselessly left the room.
"John, I toill,^^ she whispered, looking up at him with
the tears trembling upon her eyelashes.
''At last," he said, clasping more closely her slender
form. Those words made her his own. What a mingling
of passion and tenderness glowed in the gray eyes that
sought the smiling face upon his breast I
"I have waited wd longed for those three words from
n
808 TBB 01 D MAM' SELLERS SECREt.
boar to hoar," he continaed. "Thank God, they come of
their own accord I I mast else hav^e besonght for them
again this evening, and I doabt if they woald have sonnded
as delicioaslj in mj ears as now. Ah, Fay, mast snch
hard trials befal me before yoa could consent to make mo
happy I"
"No," she promptly replied, extricating herself from
ikis clasping arms; "it was not the thought of year trials
and suffering that conquered me, ^but it was when you
80 decidedly and consistently refused to give me back
the book, that entire confidence in you first possessed
me "
"And a few moments afterwards, when the secret was
disclosed to me," he interrupted, once more drawing her
towards him, " I was convinced that in spite of all your
pride, there was the deep, undying love of woman in your
heart for me. You would have sacrificed yourself sooner
than have had me suffer. Ah ! we have both been taught
in a hard school ! and do not shut your eyes. Fay, to the
task you have undertaken. I have lost my mother my
faith in mankind has received a cruel blow, and I must
tell you this too I possess at this moment almost no-
thing except my profession!"
"Ah, what happiness to be with youl" she said, laying
her hand lightly upon his lips. "I cannot hope to re-
place for you all that you have lost, ^but whatever a
devoted wife may do to brighten a man's life, that shall
be unreservedly yours."
"And when will these proud lips ever condescend to
make a request of me?" he asked, smiling down upon her.
A blush overspread cheeks and brow.
"Ah, John, do not stay too long away from me I" she
whispered beseechingly.
"And did you really think that I could go with oat
\ 1
rUE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET. 809
jroa!" he said with a gentle laagh. ''If the mtelligecce
did not seem to fit in so well just at this moment, yoa
would have waited until this evening to learn that to-
morrow morning at eight o'clock you will leave X
for Bonn, accompanied by Madame Franz. Our dear old
friend has joined the plot against you, my child, up-
stairs in her guest chamber the trunks have been ready
packed since yesterday, was not my valuable advice
asked and gravely given concerning the travelling hat
which should rest upon that lovely head? One month
you will S|end as my betrothed with Madame von Berg,
and then then a charming wife will share the study of
the grave Professor, who is, you recollect, to bring home
angry looks and a frowning brow every day."
Baron von Hirschsprung substantiated his father's an(!
his own claims, as the only existing heirs of the Ilirscb-
sprung race, to the old Mam'selle's property, which wan
all handed over to him.
lie declared all the Ilirschsprung claims upon the
House of Hell wig finally settled, when the Professor
had added from his own inheritance thirty thousand
thalers to Aunt Cordula's thirty thousand, thus com-
pleting the stolen sum of sixty thousand thalers. He
exacted a thousand thalers from Madame Hellwig as in-
demnification for the burned operetta of Bach's, and she
paid the money with grim reluctance only because she
was assured that, in case of a lawsuit, her pecuniary
sacrifice would be much more considerable.
" Why should I deny it?" said the young lawyer, with
a blush and much agitation, to his friend the Professor,
as they stood together in tlie recess of a window on the
r
810 THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET.
morning of the departure of the latter, waiting for hii
travelling companions. "I grudge you Felicitas. I knew
her for one of the rarest of Ood's creatures when I first
saw her, and it will be a long time before I can forgot.
But I have one consolation, she has made another mim
of you, John, added a convert to the good cause of the
inalienable rights of humanity. There could be no more
thorough illustration of my healthy views concerninje^
our social wrongs than the circumstance that, forgive
the bitter truth, ^the proud Hellwigs were heavy debtors
to the relatives of the despised player's child. Some of
US stand apart looking arrogantly down upon others,
and the blind world never dreams of how rotten at the
core are its arbitrary institutions, and that it needs the
fresh breeze of freedom to sweep away everything that
can foster arrogance, heartlessness, and crime."
"You are right, and I accept all that you say," said
the Professor gravely, "for, indeed, I have greatly erred
but the road along which I retraced my wandering steps
was hard and very stony and so do not grudge me my
dearly-won prize."
The Professor introduced his young wife to the 'exclu-
sive circle' of Bonn, as his cousin called it and in spite
of the last-named lady's malicious whispers, the beautiful
creature was received everywhere with admiration and
love. The picture which had so ravished his fancy be-
came a reality. Felicitas soothes away every frown from
his brow, and when in the evening, after a day of harass*
ing professional care, he entreats, " Give me a song, Fay!"
the same delicious contralto fills the room, which once
drove him from his home to the Tburingian forest, because
it so irresistibly attracted him to its wondrous possessor.
Much of the furniture in the house at Bonn reminds
OS of the rooms under the roof. The piano and the basta^
TUB OLD MAM'SELLE'8 SECRET, 811
with the luxuriant ivy, now adorn Felicitas' own room
In the secret repository of the old cabinet, the young mis
tress of the house still keeps her old-fashioned silver,
but the gray box, with its contents, the Professor burned
on the day when the claims of the Ilirschsprungs wero
finally settled. Thus the account-book is destroyed, the
wrong made right, and Aunt Cordula's spirit can pursue
in peace its flight, which was begun while it was still ia
the body, ti higher spheres.
Iloinrich \i ves in Bonn with the young couple. lie is
held in high honour, and leads a most contented life.
But whenever he passes on the street the velvet-clad
Councillor's widow, who now dresses in silks and satins
after the latest fashion, without a thought wasted upon
white muslin, while she turns away her head, as if she
had never seen his honest face before, he mutters to him-
self with a grin, "Those forget-me-nots were never of
the smallest use, most gracious ladyl"
The beautiful woman can no longer adorn her white,
faultlessly-shaped arm with the costly bracelet Her
father 'conscientiously' delivered it up to the Hirsch-
sprung heirs, with the declaration that it had come into
his possession by 'mistake or chance.' Ue lives at dag-
gers drawn with hi 3 daughter, because she has had the
'inconceivable stupidity' to betray his share in the rob-
bery of the Hirschsprung gold. She has been forced to
give up the part which she could once play so well of
childlike innocence and naivete, but indemniGes herself
by unceasing activity in all pious projects for the conver
sion of heathen souls, while her little Anna, left to the
care of strangers is doomed to an early grave. And he,
the strict orthodox relative on the Rhine? It is not to be
supposed that any nemesis will overtake liim in this
world. He will in pious resignation consider everything
p*
812 THE OLD MAW SELLERS SECRET
that may happen to him, only a proof of his sanctitj.
We will leave him to public opinion, the worst punish-
ment that can befal a hypocrite is to have his mask torn
off in public.
Frau Hcllwig still sits behind her asclcpias plane.
Misfortune has at last crossed her consecrated threshold^
he has lost two children. Her son John she cast off,
and one day she received news that Nathanael had been
killed in a duel. He left behind him many debts and a
Bullied reputation. The iron expression of the rigid feat-
ures is somewhat relaxed, and many maintain that the
head, which was once carried so high in its assumption
of infallibility, sometimes sinks wearily upon the breast.
The Professor, a short time ago, wrote to announce to
her the arrival of his first-born. Since that time, among
the coarse, gray, and white balls in her knitting-basket, a
small pink piece of knitting has lain concealed, upon
which Madame works often in secret. Frederika declares
that it is no missionary stocking, but a pretty little sock
for a child. Whether the delicate rose-coloured articles
will ever enclose the sturdy legs of the youngest mem-
ber of the Ilellwig family, we do not know, ^but for the
honour of human nature be it said : There is no soul so
hard, that it docs not contain some chord that will vibrate
to affection, some tender spot, although it is often un-
conscious of the treasure if nothing happens to reveal it.
And perhaps the love of her grandchildren may prove
this unforeboded, tender spot, from which a mild warmth
may stream to dissolve Madame's icy nature.
We hope so, dear reader!