Old Fritz and the New Era Part 18

"As soon as one of the brothers orders you, in my name, 'Rescue this man or that woman,' so do every thing; even risk and sacrifice your life to rescue him."

"I swear it."

"You stand in the holy temple of the order, but also under its avenging sword. Be mindful of it in all your acts. The world is open to you, and our influence will be with you everywhere. You shall win the hearts of the great and the mighty to us, and place the Order of the Rosicrucians on the steps of the throne. The Great Kophta shall lead believers to us."

"The Great Kophta will perform all that you command, as he is only the humble servant of his general," said Cagliostro, kissing the hand extended to him.

"Do not kiss the hand, it is only that of an inferior mortal: kiss the ring, for it is the imperishable sign of our immortal saint."

"I kiss the ring of the immortal Ignatius Loyola, and swear eternal fidelity, constant obedience, and firm love, until death."

"Rise! for the time has come for us to separate. I have provided for the journeys the necessary means. Here are letters of recommendation to Warsaw and Mittau, others to Paris and London; but, the most important of all, letters of credit upon well-known bankers to the value of five hundred thousand dollars--all valid, though delivered years hence."

"A half million!" cried Cagliostro, almost terrified.

"Does a half million astonish you?" repeated the General, and his gray, fleshless face was distorted into a smile. "The Great Kophta must travel and live like a prince, that he may dazzle the eyes of the brothers, and subjugate the minds of the powerful. We give you the money, but remember you are always under the watchful eye of the order, and there is no spot on earth where you can hide yourself from our vengeance with the trust confided in you. You shall spend it to buy souls and win thrones, for hearts and consciences are sold; money will buy every thing. Take your letters of credit; you shall live as a great lord, and the Great Kophta shall be equal with princes."

He handed Cagliostro five sealed letters, saying: "They are made out for five years; only one for each year, as the number indicates. Number one is for this year, and number five is only valid at the expiration of five years. The order is mindful of your security, and thus five years of your life are freed from earthly care. You shall work in spirit, and you shall enchant the world, that it may be saved through the only saving Church, and the Holy Order."

He bowed a farewell, making the sign of the cross upon Cagliostro, and bent his steps to the throne, raising the veil which enveloped Lorenza.

She looked up to him with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, smiling. By this she would express her thanks for the princely gift to her husband, and swear to the General her delight, her fidelity, and love. He regarded her as coldly and calmly as a physician a patient.

"Yes, holy father, I have heard all," she said, with a sweet, flute-like voice. "My heart is filled with grat.i.tude and emotion."

"Prove it by a.s.sisting your husband to attain the goal for which we send him forth. I have already said that vice must serve virtue, Lorenza.

Beauty is a power, and if it serves holy purposes, so is it sanctified.

Employ your beauty to win adherents to the order, and extend the power of the Rosicrucians in every land, and among all nations."

"I swear that this shall be my holiest endeavor," cried Lorenza, rising.

The General pressed her back upon the pillow, saying: "Remain, for there is no one here for you to enchant. I bring you pardon for your sins, and an indulgence for every sin which you will commit, if you swear to serve faithfully the holy Church and the pious fathers of Jesus."

"I swear," solemnly cried Lorenza.

"Here is the letter of indulgence from Pius VI. himself, made out in your name for you. Take it, and perform your duty." He laid down the parchment provided with the papal seal upon her shoulder, and drawing the veil over her made the sign of the cross, saying, "I bless you, and give you absolution for your sins."

"Bless me also, lord and master," cried Cagliostro, kneeling upon the lowest step to the throne.

"I bless you in the name of Loyola. Remain upon your knees, and follow me not." He extended his hands over him, and blessed him, then slowly withdrew.

The first beams of the morning sun shone through the great window-panes, lighting up with its golden rays Cagliostro's kneeling form. He remained with his head bowed until the General had pa.s.sed out. "He is gone; Heaven be praised, he is gone!"

"Yes, he is gone," repeated Lorenza, springing from the couch. "Is it true, has he given you half a million?"

Cagliostro held up with triumphant air the letters. "See, these addresses are upon the first banking-houses in Rome, Paris, London, and Berlin!"

"Do you believe that they are genuine?"

"I am convinced of it."

"Then we have attained our aim; we are rich and powerful."

"No," answered Cagliostro, mournfully, "we are poorer than ever. This money makes us slaves, makes us dependent tools. Did you not hear him say, 'You are admitted into the Temple, but the avenging sword of the order everywhere hangs over you.'"

CHAPTER XIII. A PENSIONED GENERAL.

"Wife," cried the General von Werrig, limping around the room, leaning upon his crutch, "here is the answer from our most gracious lord and king. The courier arrived to-day from the war department, and sent it to me by an express."

"What is the king's answer?" asked the general's wife, a pale, gaunt woman, with a pock-marked face, harsh, severe features, dull gray eyes, which never beamed with emotion, and thin, bloodless lips, upon which a smile never played. "What is the king's answer?" she repeated, in a rough voice, as her husband, puffing and blowing from the effort of walking, sank down upon a chair, and dried his fat, ruby face with a red cotton pocket-handkerchief.

"I have not read it," panted the old man. "I thought I would leave the honor to you, as you, my very learned wife, wrote the letter to his majesty."

His wife was not in the least astonished at this thoughtful conduct of her husband. She impetuously seized the sealed doc.u.ment, and, retiring to the window-niche, slowly unfolded it, whilst the old general fixed his little gray eyes upon her emotionless face. His own was bloated and red, expressing the greatest anxiety and expectation. Perfect stillness reigned for some minutes, only the regular strokes of the pendulum were heard from the clock on the wall; and, as the hands pointed to the expiration of the hour, a cuckoo sprang out of the tree painted over the dial, and eleven times her hoa.r.s.e, croaking voice was heard.

"It gets every day more out of tune," growled the general, as he looked up to the old, yellow dial, and ran his eye over the cords which supported the weights. Then glancing around the room, he saw everywhere age, decay, and indigence. There was an old divan, with a patched, faded covering of silk, and a grandfather's arm-chair near it, the cus.h.i.+on of which the general knew, by the long years of experience, to be hard as a stone. A round table stood near the divan, covered with a shabby woollen cover, to hide the much-thumbed, dull polish. A few cane-chairs against the wall, an old black-oak wardrobe near the door, and the sewing-table of Madame von Werrig in the window-niche, completed the furniture of the room. At the window hung faded woollen curtains, and on the green painted walls some pictures and portraits, conspicuous among them a beautiful portrait of the king, painted on copper, which represented Frederick in his youthful beauty. It was a morose, sullen-looking room, arranged most certainly by its feminine occupant, and harmonized exactly with her fretful face and angular figure, void of charms. At last the general broke the silence with submissive voice: "I pray you, Clotilda, tell me what the king wrote."

She folded the paper, joy beaming in her eyes. "Granted! every thing granted!"

The general jumped up to embrace his wife with youthful activity, in spite of the gout. "You are a capital wife," he cried, at the same time giving her a loud, smacking kiss upon her cold, gray cheek. "It was the brightest, cleverest act of my life marrying you, Clotilda."

"I might well say the reverse, Emerentius," she replied, complainingly.

"It surely was not sensible for me, a young lady from such a genteel family, and so spoiled, to marry an officer whom the king enn.o.bled upon the battle-field, and who possessed nothing but his captain's pay--a fickle man, and a gambler, too."

"Yes, Clotilda, love usurped reason," soothingly replied the general; "love is your excuse."

"Nonsense!" cried Madame von Werrig. "Love is never an excuse; it is folly."

"Well, let us suppose, then, that you did not marry for love, only from pure reason, because you found that it was quite time to espouse some one; and that, in spite of your many ancestors and genteel family, no other chance was offered you, unfortunately no one but this captain, whom the king enn.o.bled upon the battle-field of Leuthen on account of his bravery, and who was a very handsome, agreeable officer, expecting still further promotion. And you were not deceived. I was major, when the Hubertsburger treaty put an end to a gay war-life. You will remember I was advanced during peace; his majesty did not forget that I cut a way for him through the enemy, and he made me lieutenant-colonel and colonel, when I was obliged to resign on account of this infamous gout, and then I received the t.i.tle of general."

"Without 'excellency,'" replied his wife, dryly. "I have not even this pleasure to be called 'excellency.' It would have been a slight compensation for my sad, miserable existence, and vexed many of the female friends of my youth if they had been obliged to call me 'excellency.' But my marriage brought me only cares, not even a t.i.tle."

"Do not forget a lovely daughter, Clotilda. Our Marie is beautiful, wise, and good, and through her you will yet have tranquil happiness.

For you say the king has granted all we wish."

"Every thing!" repeated the wife, with emphasis. "We have at last finished with want and care, and can count upon an independent, quiet old age, for G.o.d has been gracious, and forced you, from the gout, to give up gambling, and we are freed from the misery which has so often threatened us from your unhappy pa.s.sion."

"At the beginning, I played from pa.s.sion; afterward, I only played to win back what I had lost."

"And in that manner played away all we possessed, and played upon your word of honor, so that for years the half of our pension went to pay your gambling-debts. Heaven be thanked, the king did not know it, or we would have experienced still worse!"

"I pray you, beloved Clotilda, do not fret yourself needlessly about the past; it is all over, and, as you say, I am unfortunately a prisoner in the house from the gout, which s.h.i.+elds me from the temptation."

"I did not say unfortunately; I said 'Heaven be praised, the gout had put an end to your fickle life.'"