Read Ebook: Too Rich: A Romance by Streckfuss Adolf Wister A L Annis Lee Translator

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 1576 lines and 109859 words, and 32 pages

It had the desired effect. Bertram's anger passed away; he was induced to take a seat and to listen to her request.

"I must recur once more to this unfortunate quarrel," Eva continued. "You tell me that Herr von Heydeck received your insult in silence, and immediately afterwards left the veranda. Tell me frankly, do you believe that the quarrel will have no further consequences?"

"No; I do not."

"And what will happen now?"

"What Herr von Heydeck will do of course I cannot foresee. I only know what a man of honour would do in his place."

Again Eva's cheeks flushed: "Herr von Heydeck is a man of honour! No one dares to doubt it!"

"I dare to doubt it, Fr?ulein Schommer," Bertram rejoined, with a scornful laugh. "I knew what I was saying when I spoke to him as I did, for a man who does not hesitate to calumniate an unprotected woman has no sense of honour!"

Eva, mindful of how necessary it was for her to keep her temper, made no reply to this remark, but asked, in as quiet a voice as she could command, "Do you think that Herr von Heydeck will accept your insult without resenting it?"

"I do not know; but in any case he cannot escape punishment for his unworthy conduct. If an officer should pocket calmly an accusation of dishonourable behaviour and not challenge his accuser, he would be outlawed from the corps of officers as a coward. Perhaps this will be Heydeck's fate. But if he is really brave enough to challenge me, I shall chastise him as he deserves for unworthy words with regard to a lady for whom I have the highest esteem, although I am so unfortunate as not to find favour in her eyes."

"A duel," Eva said, sadly, not noticing his last words, "a mortal combat, on account of a few thoughtless words."

"A duel will ensue if Heydeck has the courage to challenge me, which I very much doubt."

"You need not doubt it, Herr von Bertram. Herr von Heydeck has proved upon the field that fear is unknown to him; he will call you to account. Do you know that his skill with the pistol is unerring; that he never misses his aim; that your life will be at his mercy?"

"I also know no fear, Fr?ulein Schommer. If it should be my fate to fall in this duel, I shall die content, for my life will be a sacrifice to my duty as a man of honour. Were the consciousness mine that you would give a kindly thought to my memory, I should meet death joyfully."

Bertram spoke these words with immense pathos, looking earnestly at Eva the while. To his chagrin, however, he could not but see that his display of feeling produced no effect whatever upon the obdurate beauty; indeed she scarcely seemed to hear what he had said. She gazed thoughtfully before her for a few minutes that seemed like hours to Bertram, and then, looking up at him, said hastily and with some agitation, "This duel must not be, Herr von Bertram. You can prevent it, and I now remind you of the promise you made me at the beginning of our conversation."

"I do not understand you, Fr?ulein Schommer. It does not depend upon me, but upon Herr von Heydeck, to accept my reproof calmly without sending me a challenge."

"But you can so arrange matters that it need not be incumbent upon him to challenge you. I have read that if, in such cases, the offending man retracts what he has said and begs pardon of him whom he has offended, the quarrel is made up and never proceeds to a bloody issue. It is in your power thus to prevent any combat with Herr von Heydeck. Tell him that you recall your offensive remarks, and ask his pardon; there will be then no reason for his calling you out. Remember your promise, Herr von Bertram; I implore you, speak a conciliating word. You can do it, for Herr von Heydeck did not insult you, but me, and I forgive him. Remember that I never could have another happy moment if I thought that I had been the cause of mortal strife between two human beings. The blood spilled for me would cleave to me like the curse of Cain. Be magnanimous, Herr von Bertram, not towards your enemy, but towards me, I pray you, I conjure you. Make me the sacrifice of the pride which prevents you from speaking the conciliating word."

The first impression produced upon Bertram by Eva's words was that of immense surprise, her request astounded him; was it prompted by fear for his life? No, assuredly not, he had not forgotten the look of hatred which he had seen in her eyes a few moments before.

Suddenly another idea flashed upon him. Eva had defended Heydeck with a warmth she had never as yet shown to any one besides. Was it his life and his future for which she trembled if he should make up his mind to fight? Her tender consideration was, then, all for Heydeck; for him her intense desire that the quarrel should have a peaceful conclusion. She loved Bertram's enemy, hence her sad surprise entirely devoid of anger, when she heard that he had called her purse-proud. She loved Heydeck, who despised her! For an instant, but only for an instant, this thought filled Bertram with savage indignation; the next moment he smiled, for there occurred to him with the swiftness of thought a scheme whereby he might turn this love to his own account. New hopes immediately sprang to being within him; he would not try to win Eva's heart. What did he care for the girl's heart? She might give her hopeless, unrequited affection to whomsoever she chose if she would give her millions to the husband whom she hated.

Bertram needed but a few moments to decide how to act. Fortunately Eva gave him these few moments to ponder upon her request, and when he replied his mind was entirely made up. "You do not dream what you require of me, Fr?ulein Schommer," he said with great gravity. "You ask nothing more or less than the entire annihilation of my future. I spoke the words in question to Heydeck in a public place before numerous witnesses; they must be retracted in the same manner before Heydeck can be justified in not fighting me."

"Do so, Herr von Bertram,--I implore you, do so!" Eva begged afresh.

"And if I do so, what have I to expect? I will tell you, Fr?ulein Schommer; it is right that you should know the full extent of the request you have made of me. After I have made a public retractation all my comrades who have hitherto been my friends will fall away from me and despise me. 'He is a coward,' they will say; 'afraid evidently of Heydeck's well-known unerring aim.' My honour is lost, and with it my future career. I must leave the army, my comrades disdaining to serve with me! I am poor, Fr?ulein Schommer. You, rolling in luxury, have no conception of what it means to be poor. Having left the service, I must accept any, even the meanest, position that can insure me sufficient income to maintain a wretched existence, if indeed I do not have recourse to a bullet through my brains to end a life that has been such a wretched failure. This is my future if I fulfil your request. To-day the world stands open to me. The highest honours that crown a military career may be mine. In a few years I shall be captain and in a condition to offer my hand, without exposing myself to the charge of mercenary motives, to the lovely girl to whom I long since gave my whole heart. These hopes you ask me to destroy with my own hand; for how could I, a beggar, degraded in my own eyes and those of the world, ever venture to aspire to one heaped with all that can make life desirable? I should, and justly, be repulsed with scorn. Have you a right to require this sacrifice of me? I have given you my promise, and if you require it I will keep it, for there is nothing that you can ask which I will not perform, but before I do so, before you ask the sacrifice of my entire future, you must know what are the delicious hopes which you thus annihilate. It is you, Eva Schommer, whom I have loved passionately from the first moment when my eyes were gladdened by the sight of you. I have religiously concealed this love, for what right had a poor dragoon to reveal it? The thought that you might suppose I wooed you for your wealth, and not for your sweet self alone, would have driven me frantic. Therefore I was silent; therefore I curbed the wild desires of my heart. I resolved to wait until with, increase of rank I could offer you a position not unworthy of you. Yes, Eva, I love you with an intensity of which you cannot dream, and hence my right to step forth as the champion of your honour; hence the wound I felt when you so harshly rebuked my presumption. It is but just that I should tell you all this. Now decide my fate; it is in your hands. Ask of me my life, or, what is infinitely more dear to me, my honour, I will sacrifice everything to you."

He ceased, and awaited Eva's reply. Possessed of histrionic talent by no means contemptible, conscious that this was a decisive moment in his life, he was really agitated; and this agitation lent to his words and manner an appearance of reality that could not but impress Eva with a belief in their sincerity. As he spoke, she grew very pale; she was not surprised,--she had long foreseen with annoyance that she should some day be obliged distinctly to reject his proffered affection; and yet she had not looked for a declaration of it just at this time.

What should she say to him? Had she a right to require of him the sacrifice of his entire future? And yet, if she did not do it, this terrible duel, sure to end in the death of one of the combatants, would inevitably take place. It was her sacred duty to prevent this. Bertram had given her a glimpse of a way in which the right to ask him to relinquish his entire future would be hers.

Sacrifice for sacrifice! Her heart seemed to cease beating at the thought. Never had the handsome dragoon been so utterly detestable to her as when he was pouring forth his glowing assurances of affection. But could she hesitate to sacrifice herself? Two human lives depended upon her decision. And what did she resign? A happy future? No! None such could be hers with this curse of wealth cleaving to her. What did it matter in the end whether she gave the hand so coveted to Bertram or to another? were not all her wooers alike indifferent to her? They all coveted her millions, and set no store by the poor girlish heart hungering and thirsting for true affection. Bertram was no worse than the rest; perhaps somewhat better,--at least he was willing to make a sacrifice for her. Certainly his protestations of love had seemed genuine.

And yet, another image would rise before her mental vision,--was there then one to whom she was not so entirely indifferent,--one lost to her forever? Fie! she would not think of him: he was her enemy; he hated and despised her, although he hardly knew her.

"Is there no other way, no honourable way, in which this duel can be avoided without imperilling your future?" Eva asked; her mind was already half made up to sacrifice herself, but she hesitated to say the fatal word.

"None."

"And you will keep your promise, Herr von Bertram? You will sacrifice your future to me if I desire it? You will make the public retractation which will prevent the duel?"

Bertram hesitated for one instant. He had read Eva's countenance; he hoped that his scheme had been successful, but he was not quite sure. It was possible that she might require of him the fulfilment of his promise and yet refuse him her hand! And, if she did, was not a hasty promise better broken than kept? Is it not the brave whom fortune favours? "I will! I swear it by my honour! In your hands lies my fate!" he cried, with well-feigned enthusiasm.

"I accept your promise, Herr von Bertram, and requite it by my own, that, as far as in me lies, I will try to repay the sacrifice you make to me. If you succeed in avoiding this duel, then, Herr von Bertram, I promise to deny you no request you may make of me."

"Eva, what are you doing?" Aline here interposed. "I adjure you to consider what you are saying, and the possible consequences of such a promise!"

Aline knew that her interference was hardly consistent with delicacy, but her friend's happiness was at stake, and speak out she must at all hazards.

"I have considered, and I know what I promise," Eva replied, calmly, in a clear, firm voice. Having once forced herself to embrace a resolution, she would not shrink from putting it into action.

Bertram could have shouted for joy, but he perfectly understood how to retrain any excessive exhibition of delight. "Have I heard aright? Can I trust my powers of comprehension, dearest Eva?" he said, with the due amount of rapture beaming in his eyes, as he took her hand and kissed it eagerly. "I hardly dare to believe it. Will you make me the happiest of men? Will you grant any request of mine, even one for this lovely hand?"

"Any one!"

Eva interrupted her friend. "Stay, Aline!" she said, in a tone so stern and decided that it forbade all further contradiction. "Even from you I cannot suffer any interference with my freedom of action. I will deceive no one,--certainly not Herr von Bertram," and she turned to the dragoon: "Aline has told you that I do not love you; she has told you the truth! I can give you my hand, if you demand it. I cannot give you my heart, but," she added, with a sad and bitter smile, "that will be a matter of perfect indifference to you."

"Can you for an instant doubt what to reply, Herr von Bertram?" Aline again interposed. Eva's harsh words had daunted her for a moment, but anxiety for her friend gave her courage to make one more attempt to save her. "Can you, if you are a man of honour, still ask Eva's hand of her?"

"You are certainly the mistress and I the servant, I know that, Eva. You often forget this; I never do! But now, the duty I owe to my mistress is lost in that which I owe to my friend. You must not obstinately persevere in making your whole future life unhappy, and if I cannot prevail with you to refrain from making such a sacrifice, I must appeal to Herr von Bertram, to his honour, which forbids his thus bartering for your hand. What hard-driven bargain for money could be half so disgraceful? You cannot accept this sacrifice, Herr von Bertram, for you can never succeed in winning Eva's heart!"

"You are not yet justified in doing so. My promise was coupled with a condition," Eva said. She had listened with cold indifference to Bertram's words. She had no faith in this triumphant love; his mocking smile, fleeting although it were, had not escaped her, and had confirmed her in the conviction that he coveted only her hand and her fortune, and not her heart.

The dragoon was nothing daunted by her coldness; he was determined not to let the fortunate moment slip from his grasp.

"Your condition is fulfilled," he replied; "I give you my word of honour that the duel you so dread shall not take place. As soon as I leave you I will go to my friend Count Waldheim, and beg him to summon Herr von Heydeck to meet me at B?chner's there to receive my apology for whatever offensive words I may have used towards him."

"What if, nevertheless, Herr von Heydeck persists in his challenge, since spoken words cannot be made unspoken?"

"That is not conceivable, but should it be so, I still promise you that there shall be no duel. I will repeat my apology, and, moreover, declare that I will accept no challenge. You have promised, dearest Eva, to atone to me, as far as you can, for the sacrifice of my honour which I make to you. You can thus atone if I may carry from your presence the 'yes' I long for. If I leave this house your future husband, I can say to my comrades that I am bound by a promise to my betrothed to avoid a duel with Herr von Heydeck. This statement, which will then be strictly true, will greatly modify public opinion with regard to my behaviour towards Herr von Heydeck. Be magnanimous, dearest Eva; give me this precious 'yes' now, that I may leave this house to fulfil your wishes, your promised bridegroom."

"Do not do this, Eva!" Aline entreated.

"You are cruel, Eva."

"I cannot be otherwise; let there be truth between us. I have told you that I do not love you, and that only a sense of the duty I owe you in atoning for the sacrifice you make me induces me to give you my hand. But my indifference would become hatred should you force me to endure caresses which I abhor,--the first attempt to do so dissolves our engagement and sets me free! Do you accept my conditions, Herr von Bertram?"

"You are very, very cruel; but I cannot say no."

"You agree, then, to my conditions?"

"Yes."

"So be it! Aline, let me present to you my betrothed. Follow me, Herr von Bertram; I will conduct you to my uncle and aunt."

Before Leo von Heydeck returned to his apartments he took a long walk in the park. He wished to be alone to hold communion quietly with himself, that he might come to a decision with regard to his future conduct. He knew that he had arrived at a crisis in his career.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet