For Sceptre and Crown Volume I Part 20

The king stood still and exclaimed:

"Herr pastor!"

Pastor Berger walked up to him and said in a firm, clear voice,

"I salute most respectfully my royal master and supreme bishop!"

The king started when he heard his voice.

"Have I not met you formerly in Wendland?"

"It is too gracious of your majesty to remember it. I am the pastor Berger from Blechow."

"Quite right, quite right," exclaimed the king with satisfaction; "I remember the great pleasure your loyal reception gave me, and all the interesting things you told me of the customs of your people. How glad I am to meet you here! What brings you to Hanover?"

"Your majesty, my strength is not what it used to be, and I am obliged to think of procuring some a.s.sistance that my flock may not suffer from my increasing age. The service must not grow old and feeble. I therefore greatly wish my sister's son, the candidate Behrman, to be appointed as my adjunct, and, if G.o.d wills, my successor in my holy office. I came hither to make my request to the consistory."

"It is granted, my dear pastor," cried the king; "the qualifications of your nephew are doubtless correct, or you would not make the request.

Your nephew is your adjunct. How happy I am to fulfil your wishes here and at once."

Touched and surprised, the pastor could only say: "I thank your majesty from my heart."

"And now, my dear pastor, I must take care that you are shown everything worth seeing in Hanover. Make yourself quite at home at the castle. To-morrow I shall expect you to dinner; come an hour beforehand. You must tell me much about my dear, faithful Wendland.

Have you seen the park and the hot-houses?"

"We were on our way, your majesty. I have just left the mausoleum, and I am still deeply impressed. I lifted up my soul to G.o.d there, and prayed fervently that he would protect your majesty in these difficult and dangerous times."

The king looked very grave.

"Yes," he then said, "the days are dark and difficult, and we need G.o.d's blessing. I will do what you have done. I will pray at the grave of my parents for strength and wisdom. Farewell; we meet to-morrow."

And with a soldier's salute he turned away and walked towards the mausoleum.

Pastor Berger looked after him with great emotion; he raised his hand as if impelled by some unseen power, and he said in a clear voice, which resounded strangely through the wooded solitude:

"The Lord bless thee and keep thee! The Lord lift up the light of His countenance and be gracious unto thee! The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace! Amen!"

At the first words of this blessing, King George stood still and removed his cap. A deep feeling of devotion appeared in his face.

As the pastor's words ceased, he covered his head, greeted him by a silent movement of the hand, and slowly entered the quiet, simple building, which protected the last rest of his parents.

CHAPTER VI.

AN ERRING METEOR.

In the boudoir of the house in the Ringstra.s.se, where Lieutenant von Stielow had repaired after Count Mensdorff's soiree, the same wonderfully beautiful woman who had received him with such glowing pa.s.sion lay stretched upon a couch.

She wore a pearl-grey morning dress with light rose-coloured ribbons, and a white lace handkerchief surrounded the fine oval of her face, and nearly concealed her glossy hair.

The morning sun streamed through the window hangings of her very elegantly furnished room. The reflections that played over her face at every movement were most becoming to the young lady's extreme loveliness, and apparently she knew it, for she glanced from time to time at a round mirror, which was so placed on the opposite wall as to show nearly the whole of her form, and she was careful not to withdraw the dark red cus.h.i.+on on which her head lightly rested, from the softened sunbeams.

Her features did not wear the enchanting expression of softness and enthusiasm with which she had received Lieutenant von Stielow; an icy coldness rested on her face, and a look of scorn played round the beautiful lips, which were slightly parted and showed her white teeth to be firmly closed.

Before her stood a man of about thirty, dressed with a much greater adherence to fas.h.i.+on than is usual amongst persons of real distinction.

His features were not ugly, but they were common, and his appearance betokened a dissipated man of the second or perhaps third rank of society.

This man, who accorded so ill with the really elegant arrangements of the boudoir, and still less with the graceful and aesthetic beauty of the young lady installed there, was her husband, the merchant and exchange agent, Balzer.

The conjugal tete-a-tete did not appear to be of an agreeable nature, for the husband's face bore evident traces of anger and scornful irony.

"You know me," he said, in a rough voice, which betrayed too great an indulgence in stimulants, and nightly dissipation, and in the rude manner only found amongst uneducated persons, dest.i.tute of good breeding. "You know me and you know I will have my wishes attended to.

I must have twelve hundred gulden, and have them by to-morrow," he cried, stamping with his foot on the ground.

The young lady played with a bow on her dress; its rosy colour was not softer nor brighter than her small finger tips, and she replied without altering her position or looking at her husband, in an almost hissing voice:--

"Then gamble luckily, or cheat some of the people who trust you with their business on the Bourse."

"Your sneers are lost upon me," he said, with feigned indifference; "I believe we may both spare ourselves the trouble of displaying our wit.

I am practical, and above all things a man of business," he added, with a cruel laugh; "you know our compact, and you know under what conditions I, your rightful lord and master, shut my eyes to proceedings to which I might strongly object--if some day it should please me to do so."

She did not move a muscle, but the slight blush which pa.s.sed over her beautiful white brow, showed some inward emotion.

Without in the least modifying her tone, she said coldly:--

"You also know how easy it would be for me to free myself from the chains with which you threaten me. You must know me well enough to feel sure that my conversion to Protestantism would not give me a moment's uneasiness, if I wished to obtain a separation."

"I do not think religious compunctions would ever trouble you," he said, scornfully.

"Well, then," she said, calmly, without looking up, "I only continue to endure this heavy chain, because I wish to avoid scandal, and because I do not wish a creature"--and this she said with unbounded contempt--"whose name I bear, to fall into the lowest depths of vulgar crime. These are my only reasons for enduring and maintaining you. Take care of making the chain heavier than it is. As to what you are pleased to term our compact, on my side it has been punctually fulfilled. Have you not regularly received what I promised you?"

"I am not talking about that," replied Herr Balzer, rudely; "I am saying what I want, to meet unavoidable debts, and I must have twelve hundred gulden and you must get them for me,--you _can_ do it easily.

Your little Uhlan lieutenant is an inexhaustible gold-mine," he continued, with a low laugh.

"I am sorry," she replied, coldly, "that you require another gold-mine."

"You wish to avoid scandal, as you said just now. Eh bien! I will arrange a fine scandal for you as soon as he comes."

"Such a scandal," she said, smiling, "would cause you to be kicked down-stairs, neither would you ever receive another kreutzer from me."

He was silent for a moment, her simple logic seemed to make some impression upon him. But after a short time he came a step or two nearer to her; a horrible smile played round his mouth, and spiteful satisfaction shone in his eyes.

"You are right," he said, "such a scandal would be aimless. But since your dear Herr von Stielow is so ungenerous, I shall take care that you break with such a sterile friend, and turn to others who bear more of the golden fruit. Herr von Stielow shall be freed from the sweet chains in which you hold him captive. I am sorry to give pain, for it seems as if this little Uhlan had somewhat touched the hitherto icy heart of my wife. But what must be, must--business first and pleasure afterwards."

Her slender fingers trembled slightly, but she grasped the ribbons she held firmly, and for the first time during the conversation she raised her dark eyes. She flashed a piercing look at her husband; he perceived it, and smiled triumphantly.