On the Heights Part 167

He wore a light dress and a hat with a feather. She felt as if her heart must burst and, with convulsive grip, she held fast to one of the iron rails of the fence in order to support herself. Then she walked on toward the garden-gate.

"Frau von Gerloff--the prince--my child! my child!" she cried, while she rushed toward the prince and, kneeling down in the gra.s.s, kissed and embraced him.

The boy screamed.

"Oh, that's his voice!" cried Walpurga.

Startled for a moment, Frau von Gerloff stood there as if rooted to the spot. Then she approached and ordered Walpurga away. The servants also advanced and ordered her to go. The prince nestled against Frau von Gerloff, as if to hide himself.

Walpurga was still kneeling in the gra.s.s, and could not rise.

"He don't know me any more, and I'm his nurse!" she cried, looking around confusedly at those about her. Her voice seemed to exert an influence on the child. It turned its face toward her. It was flushed with red and a tear still hung on his eyelashes, although his face was wreathed in smiles.

"G.o.d greet you!" said he. He had been taught this expression, on account of their sojourn in the country.

"He can say 'G.o.d greet you'--oh, he can speak! Dear me, he can speak!

Now just say, 'Walpurga,' child. Can you say, 'Walpurga'?"

"Walpurga," repeated the child.

The queen approached, attended by Countess Brinkenstein and Paula.

Walpurga was about to hasten toward her, but the queen motioned her away, and ordered Frau von Gerloff to remove the prince. The prince was led out of the garden, but he looked back at Walpurga, who nodded to him and quite forgot that she was in the presence of the queen, until the latter said:

"You have thrust yourself in here. You must certainly be aware that we did not desire to see you, and you know why."

"I don't want to defend myself now. I've come for something else,"

urged poor Walpurga.

"What is it?" asked the queen.

Breathing heavily, and with frequent pauses, Walpurga hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty, one may be looked upon as wicked, or may not be looked upon at all, and yet be honest. You and I are both of us in good health and can settle that some other time. But I have a few words to tell you--quite alone. Dear queen! for mercy's sake!--you'll be glad of it to your dying hour. Dear queen, you must die as well as the rest of us--I beg you, for pity's sake, listen to me alone, only for one minute! Send the others away, there's no time to lose!"

The queen motioned Countess Brinkenstein and Paula to withdraw. She was alone with Walpurga, and the latter, with throbbing heart, said:

"Irma lives!"

"What do you say?"

"She's dying; perhaps she's dead by this time!"

"I don't understand you. Are you mad?"

"No, dear queen. Sit down here on this seat. You're trembling all over.

I've been awkward about it, but I couldn't help it. But it doesn't matter about me, now. Do with me what you choose--Irma lives--perhaps only this day, perhaps not even that long. Dear queen, you must go with me. You must go to her. It's all that's left her on earth--A single word--a hand--"

Countess Brinkenstein and Paula, who saw that the queen was leaning back, as pale as death, hurried to her a.s.sistance. As soon as she heard the rustling of their dresses, she raised herself and said:

"Walpurga, repeat what you have just told me."

Walpurga repeated that Irma was still alive, and added that she had been concealed with her for nearly four years, and that Gunther was now with her.

The two ladies seemed dumb with surprise, but Walpurga again turned to the queen and exclaimed:

"For G.o.d's sake, don't lose a minute! Come with me. Stasi, who once turned a prayer for the queen to me, lives in there. Dear queen, if you can't forgive others, how can they still pray for you? Just think how you felt in that solemn night, dear queen. Stand up, put all else away from you and hold fast to your good heart alone! Dear queen--"

"Do not annoy her majesty," said Countess Brinkenstein, interrupting her.

But Walpurga continued:

"Your Majesty, when you die, neither court ladies, nor anything else can help you. Leave all behind you, for one short hour of your life!

Come with me alone, and ask me nothing more. She'll be dead before night. This very day, you can perform a good deed which will last for ever."

"I will--I must go to her!" said the queen, rising from her seat and walking toward the house. Her step was quick, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"Your Majesty," said Countess Brinkenstein, remonstrating, "the gracious king is out riding, and will be at the waterfall at dinner-time. Will Your Majesty not wait until then?"

"No," replied the queen, in a determined voice, as if the question had interrupted a train of thought. "I desire," said she, "to be permitted to act upon my own responsibility."

"Your Majesty, there is no carriage-road to the mountain meadow,"

mildly added Countess Brinkenstein.

"But there's a bridle-path almost all the way up to the cottage,"

replied Walpurga. "And there's Stasi's husband; he's a forester and knows all the roads; I'll call him."

She hurried to the inspector's office and brought him out with her. He confirmed her statement that they could drive for a good distance, and that then they could ride.

The queen ordered him to precede them with saddle-horses. She retired to her apartments, and soon afterward, accompanied by Paula, Sixtus, and Walpurga, drove up the mountain. Two lackeys were sitting upon the rumble.

The betrothed of the man who had once loved Irma, and the wife of him whose love Irma had returned, sat side by side, hurrying to her death-bed. It was not until they were well on their way that they regained their composure.

There was but little that Walpurga could tell them about Irma's simple life, and she, therefore, made so much the more of the uncle's account of how Irma had traveled to the capital with him, in disguise, and how, at the summer palace, she had once more beheld the queen and the prince. Her recital was frequently interrupted by tears, while she went on to tell them how Irma had nursed her dying mother, and how her mother, who had known all, had, on her death-bed, given Irma her blessing.

The queen held her handkerchief to her eyes and silently extended her hand to Walpurga.

The more Walpurga told them, the more pure and exalted did Irma appear.

Turning to Paula, the queen said:

"That is life in death--it must have required inconceivable courage."

"There are saints even in our days," replied Paula. "All that olden times knew of the great, the beautiful and the true, still exists in the world, even though it be scattered and hidden from view."

In the depth of her sorrow, the queen's eye beamed with conscious delight at the thought that, although Gunther was no longer with her, that which was best in him was now beside her in his child.

Walpurga was again obliged to tell them of that morning by the lake.

And then she went on to speak of Irma's beautiful work, but she soon noticed that the queen was not listening, and stopped.