Problematic Characters Part 58

"Ah _voila_, dear Timm, how do you do?" said Baron Felix, emphasizing the last word in a peculiar manner, when Mr. Timm entered. "Pardon me for troubling you so early; but I--why on earth has the donkey brought me hot water again instead of warm water?--excuse me--Jean, warm water, rhinoceros!--now tell me how are you, Timm? Glad to meet you here by accident. How do you do?" and the baron held out one of the fingers of the left hand, which he had just been drying.

"Thank you, baron, tolerably!" said Albert, touching the proffered finger very lightly with two fingers of his own hand, for it was not one of Albert's foibles to let himself be overawed by haughty insolence--"I really thought _you_ would have forgotten me and my name."

"Oh no!" said Felix, "I thought of it directly this morning, when Jean counted out the company.--But how divine you look in citizen's dress!

ha, ha, ha! if our comrades could see you! really divine! upon honor!"

and Felix, a hair-brush in one hand and a small looking-gla.s.s in the other, remained standing before Albert, and stared at him from head to foot as if he were examining an animal from foreign lands.

"Do you think so?" asked Albert, dryly; "glad of it. Am sorry cannot return the compliment. This much I can tell you, however--you don't look any younger. Have you another cigar? or is the Havana you are smoking the last of the Mohicans?"

"There, on the table," said Felix, "in the ebony box--press the spring down--not younger? but I hope not older, I mean perceptibly--at least you see I still enjoy all my teeth, and five-sixths of my hair," and Felix brushed with infinite satisfaction the very pretty crisp curls which covered his well-shaped head in surprising abundance.

"Well, the hair is tolerably fair," said Albert, pitilessly; he had taken a seat on the sofa and examined Felix, as he stood before the long mirror, with great delight; "but what has given you all those wrinkles in your face? The bright morning light is really not good for you any more. Formerly I used to compliment you on your likeness to Byron; but now you are more like Byron's father. And then--you never were particularly stout, but now you are really reduced to a minimum."

"The slimmer the more elegant," replied Felix, "and besides that comes back. I have been kept rather short of late by my doctor."

"The old story?"

"Well, perhaps a new edition."

"Revised and augmented?"

"So, so; but it is all right now. We have become steady; we are going to settle down. How do you like these trousers? I had them built. A clever combination of the military cut and the civilian cut. We are going to marry----"

"You ought to leave that alone, baron."

"Why?"

"At least you ought to many a sensible elderly woman."

"Why?"

"Because ere long you will need a motherly friend much more than a pretentious young wife."

"Pshaw! _mon cher_, I have the honor to come from a race in which men can live fast and yet long. A little rheumatism--that is the worst. How do you like this coat?"

"Why, I cannot say. You know I never understood anything about these things."

"I know. You were always the unclean vessel into which our good colonel discharged his wrath. Do you know the poor devil has killed himself?"

"No; why?"

"Some say on account of debts; others, because he could not survive the disgrace of having had a whole company appear in white trousers, instead of cloth trousers, at the last parade. The commanding general reprimanded him publicly."

"May he be happy!"

"Amen! Apropos, how long have you been here? I am told several weeks; you must know the company inside and outside. Oh, what I wanted to ask you! How is my worthy uncle and my excellent aunt? And how does my cousin look? Did you ever see such a watch! Double second-hand--the hand above shows months and days--direct from London--I believe it is the first that ever was brought to the Continent. Apropos, who on earth was that pretty black-eyed little thing we roused last night, and who slipped by us in the pa.s.sage, in a delicious little night-costume---she looked like a sort of housekeeper, or some such thing? There is no other visitor here now?"

"No----"

"Ah, quite _en famille_, then? Will you please pull the bell just over your head? I think I look uncommonly well today?--Jean, did I not tell you, you camel, that you must not wear that coat here?--go instantly and put a new one on! and then go and ask if I can pay my respects to the baron and the baroness."

"The baron has asked already twice after the baron."

"Well, then say I am coming directly--_au revoir_, dear Timm; I hope to see you at dinner"--and with a last look at the mirror, and after pouring some Cologne on his handkerchief, Felix left the room, while Jean respectfully held the door open, without deigning to notice Albert, who followed close behind him.

Mr. Timm looked after his friend with a bitter smile on his thin fine lips. "Dear Timm," he murmured, "I'll teach you to say Dear Timm, you monkey!"

It was the evening of the same day. They had just finished dinner, which was always served on the terrace when the weather was good, and were getting ready for a walk through the beech-forest down to the beach, which the baroness had proposed. Oswald would have preferred remaining behind, but Felix, who seemed to take a great fancy to the silent, sober man, had begged him so earnestly not to spoil the pleasure, that at last he decided to accompany them. Bruno was rejoiced. They all started together, and soon reached the wood, where the red evening lights were still playing merrily in the green branches. Felix had offered his arm to the baroness, and Miss Helen walked by the side of her father; Oswald, Albert, and the boys, and Mademoiselle Marguerite, went before or behind, now singly, and now in pairs, as the narrow forest path permitted. Felix, whom the physician had warned against catching cold, found it cooler and damper in the forest than he had thought, and wished in his heart the excursion might soon come to an end. But he thought it best not to give utterance to his secret wishes, but to compliment the suggestion of this romantic promenade.

"I am glad I have antic.i.p.ated your wishes," said Anna Maria. "I confess I had not expected you would have so much taste for the simple pleasures of country life. How fortunate it is that Helen has the same taste! You will lead a very sensible, quiet life one of these days, as it suits your position."

"Well, my position, dear aunt----"

"Will be very good, I doubt not; but you will have to work hard, dear Felix, till you can breathe quite freely again. How long it has been before we could remove the most serious obstacles here in our own position! And, after all, our position will not be perfectly secured till Stantow and Baerwalde are positively our own, and the other farms are in the hands of new tenants. You ought to have your estates also surveyed anew, Felix. You would find Timm a clever and diligent workman. I was quite surprised to hear that you knew him before, as cadet, I suppose?"

"Yes, dear aunt; he was a great----"

"Favorite--I doubt not. We all like him very much."

"I did not mean to say that exactly," replied Felix, laughing. "Still, they were generally quite fond of him. He was an indefatigable joker, and whenever some bold prank was to be played he was sure to lead.

However, it is well to keep an eye upon him; he is one of those people who, if you give them the little finger, are sure to take the whole hand."

"Ah! indeed!" said Anna Maria, raising her eyebrows; "I took the young man to be modesty personified; he certainly is far more modest than, for instance, Mr. Stein."

"Really!" said Felix. "Why, I thought Mr. Stein was fully aware of his position!"

"Well, you will learn to know him better. He is one of the most arrogant men of his cla.s.s I have ever known."

"We'll soon get that out of him," said Felix, twirling his very diminutive moustache. "With such people short answers are best. I know that. These low-bred people are all alike. As soon as they find out that we really mean to be what we are by right--the masters at home and in the State--they become submissive. It is our own fault if they are impertinent. They have to be kept down in a proper knowledge of their position. You have been too kind to that man, that is all. To tell the truth, I was wondering at dinner why Miss Helen should submit so very patiently to some correction or other."

"Well, Helen is not generally a friend of his. She has a thoroughly aristocratic aversion to everything plebeian. I hope you will encourage her in these principles. Besides, that is the nearest way to her heart."

"Well, I hope the way will not be so difficult to find," said Felix, with a self-complacent smile; "I have some experience in that line, _ma chere tante_."

"Which you will all need in this case, dear Felix. Helen is a very peculiar character, hard to understand. I confess I have not ventured yet to tell her of our plan. I wished first to see what impression you would produce on her heart. You have the finest opportunity here to show yourself in the most favorable light; there is not even a rival to fear. We live very retired, and I shall take good care that our retirement is interrupted as rarely as possible while you are staying with us."

"Pardon me, dear aunt," said Felix, "if I differ with you on that point. I should really have to pay forfeit if I had to be afraid of a comparison with the young men of my cla.s.s here in the country. On the contrary, I am very anxious to measure myself with these goslings!

Every one of them whom I defeat is a step nearer to my goal, if it is really so far off. No! Ask as much company as you choose. Make Helen's presence and mine the pretext for giving little dinners, suppers, teas.

etc.; and then sum it all up in a great ball, on which occasion our engagement can be proclaimed, and thus produce a sensation such as these people have not often experienced."

"You are bold, dear Felix," said the baroness, who liked this method all the less that it was rather expensive.

"What else would have been the use of my wearing a sword by my side so long?" replied Felix, gallantly kissing her hand.

While the baroness and Felix were disposing so coolly of Helen and her fate, she and her father had had a conversation which oddly crossed the cunning plans of the baroness, and the idea of the victorious race which the young ex-lieutenant so navely expected to win.

The old baron loved his beautiful daughter with all the love of which his good heart was capable; he loved her all the better, as he had always had great doubts about the justice of the law which excluded the young girl from the entailed property. Besides, he felt the indifference with which his wife had so far treated their daughter, although he had been too weak to take measures to counteract it, and especially to make an end to the exile in Hamburg. He had, likewise, consented to the proposed match only because Anna Maria had persuaded him that thus the inequality in the fortunes of the two children could best be remedied, since Helen, as Felix's wife, would obtain possession of the whole estate, if Malte should die without heirs. But here also he had stipulated that Helen must give her free consent, and in return he had pledged himself to leave the whole management of this delicate affair in the hands of his wife, and especially not to divulge the project before the time.