Read Ebook: No Surrender by Werner E Tyrrell Christina Translator

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Ebook has 1047 lines and 61490 words, and 21 pages

Gabrielle shut herself in her own room. As yet, the decisive word had not been spoken, but her choice was already made. The hours she had just lived through had broken down the bridge connecting her with the past--there could be no going back now. If George himself had appeared before her to assert and to maintain his rights, it would have availed nothing; it was too late--he had lost her. Where the young lover, despite his earnestness and enthusiasm, had failed, the elder man, with his tardily-aroused, but even on that account more glowing passion, triumphantly succeeded. Arno Raven had drawn the girl's whole soul to himself; there was no room in her heart now for another. Raven alone held sway over Gabrielle's thoughts and feelings, and reigned supreme in her dreams when, long after midnight, she sank into a brief uneasy slumber. George's image never once rose before her. Even during her sleep her brain was busy with the events of the last few hours, which passed in a strange fantastic medley confusedly before her.

"It is perfectly unprecedented! Such a thing was never heard of! I cannot believe my own eyes! This undermines all government, saps the foundations of all authority, shakes the very pillars of the State. It is horrible--horrible!"

Thus, in a burst of noble pathos, did the Councillor unburthen himself of his pent-up indignation, addressing the Superintendent of Police, who was just coming down the stairs from an interview with the Governor.

"Do you mean the disturbances in the town?" asked the latter, with a slight and rather scornful smile. "Yes, it was rather noisy down there last night, certainly."

"Who is thinking of the town?" cried the Councillor. "Those disturbances go for nothing. It is the mere rioting of a mob, which can be subjugated, which will be subjugated, by military aid, if necessary. But when revolutionary ideas invade official circles--when men, whose business it is to represent and to support the Government, attack it in such a way as this, there is an end to all order. Who would have thought it of Assessor Winterfeld! A young man who has been looked on as a model to the whole Civil Service! I, indeed, have always had my suspicions of him. His questionable loyalty, his bias in favour of the Opposition, his treasonable connections, have long inspired uneasiness in my mind; and on several occasions I have expressed as much to his Excellency, but he would not listen. He had a predilection for the Assessor. Quite lately even, by getting him transferred to the capital, he opened to this favoured subaltern the most brilliant prospects; and now the traitor rewards him by the blackest ingratitude."

"I got it accidentally, from a colleague who had just received it. A most abominable composition! It is open rebellion, sir--open rebellion! There are things in it addressed to his Excellency--things ... Well, I don't know how such a work came to be printed and circulated. Have you taken no steps to suppress it?"

"I have no orders and no motive for doing so," declared the Superintendent, whose coolness formed a strange contrast to Moser's indignant excitement. "The pamphlet was brought out in the capital, and there was not time, I suppose, to prevent its circulation. Besides, such unpalatable publications are no longer suppressed in a summary manner, as was the custom formerly. Times have changed. As to this brochure, I am quite of your opinion. I doubt if a more virulent attack has ever been made on a statesman holding office under the Crown."

"Because in his case there has been even more than the usual circumlocution. Endless difficulties have been raised touching this matter of his reversion. The gentlemen of the law-courts have, with rather unnecessary severity, let him feel the drawbacks under which he labours in being his father's son and, for the time being, representative. Finding this, he set upon them a little while ago, and subjected them to so drastic a treatment, that they were quite taken aback, and now really seem as if they meant to hasten on the affair. You have a prejudice against the young doctor, Councillor. He is not such a bad fellow as you think."

"Why not say the whole of Europe, while you are about it!" exclaimed the Superintendent, impatiently. "You are completely mistaken. Merely on account of the name he bears, we have kept an eye on the young man, and I can assure you he has not given the slightest cause for any such suspicions. He has entered into no political relations here, and took part neither directly nor indirectly in the late disturbances; he just simply attends to his own private affairs. If I, as head of the police, can bear him this testimony, you may, I think, admit and put faith in it."

"But he is the son of an old revolutionary democrat," persisted the Councillor; "and he is an intimate friend of Assessor Winterfeld's."

"What does that prove? His father was once an intimate friend of the Governor here."

"Were university chums, bosom friends even. I have it from the best source. I suppose you are not going to accuse Baron von Raven of socialist, revolutionary tendencies. But my time is limited, I must be off. Good-morning, Councillor."

So saying, the Superintendent turned his back on the worthy Councillor, who was standing dazed with surprise, and left the Government-house. On his way to the town he encountered the Burgomaster.

"You come from the Castle?" asked the latter. "Have you seen the Governor? What has he determined on doing?"

The other shrugged his shoulders.

"What he threatened yesterday--he will proceed with the utmost rigour. If there is any repetition of the riots, the troops will be called out. All the necessary preparations are made. Precisely as I was leaving, Colonel Wilten came in to consult with him personally on the subject, and there can be no doubt as to the result of the conference. You know the Baron. He will recoil from no measures which may effect his purpose."

"This must not be," said the Burgomaster, uneasily. "The popular exasperation is so great that any display of military force would only add fuel to the flame. There would be resistance and bloodshed. I had made up my mind not to set foot in the Castle again, unless absolutely compelled to go there; but now I think I must make one last attempt to dissuade them from any extreme course."

"I would advise you not to go," returned the Superintendent. "I can tell you beforehand, you will get nothing by it. The Baron is not in a forbearing mood to-day. He has had news which will ruffle his temper for weeks to come."

"I know," put in the other. "Assessor Winterfeld's pamphlet. I received it from the capital this morning."

"What, you have heard of it too? Well, I must say they have lost no time in circulating the book. They seem to have feared it might be suppressed, and to have done what they could to forestall the edict. I think there were no grounds for the apprehension, however. It looks very much as though in high places the intention were to let the matter take its course."

"Really; and what says Raven to all this? The attack can hardly have come upon him unawares. He must have received some hint of what was brewing."

"And from beginning to end it is one long truth," answered the Burgomaster, warmly. "This young man puts us all to shame. What he has now ventured to do, should have been done long ago. When the resistance of a whole city proves fruitless, when all appeals to the Government fail, the dispute should be brought before the forum of public opinion, and there decided. Winterfeld has been clear-sighted enough to see this, and courageous enough to speak the first word. Now that the way has been thrown open for them, all will be ready to follow him."

"Yes, but he is hazarding his position and very livelihood on the die," remarked the Superintendent. "This pamphlet of his goes too far, and brilliantly as it is written, its author will have to smart for it. Raven is not the man to allow himself to be insulted and attacked with impunity. This bold knight-errant may find himself worsted in the tourney. He may fall a victim to his own audacity."

"I am afraid so too," assented the police magnate. "It stands to reason that the Baron will go all lengths now, in order to remain master of the situation. Well, whatever he may do, will be done at his own risk and peril."

While the two gentlemen thus discoursed, going on their way together, the conference, to which allusion had been made, was being pursued between the Governor and Colonel Wilten, in the former's private study. The topic under discussion must have been one of importance, for the Colonel looked exceedingly grave. Raven was, to all appearance, unmoved; the ashy paleness of his countenance and the deep furrows of his knitted brow alone betrayed that some unusually disturbing influence had been at work. His bearing and speech were, as ever, perfectly assured and under control.

"The thing is settled," he said. "You will hold the troops in readiness for an immediate intervention, and you will proceed unsparingly, should resistance be offered. I will take the responsibility and all the possible consequences on myself."

"If it must be ... it must," replied the Colonel. "You know my scruples, and I do not disguise from you that, in case of any difficulty arising, I shall leave the responsibility of this step with you."

"What blow?" asked the Colonel.

"You have not heard the latest news from the capital?"

"No; as you are aware, I have only been back in town a few hours."

Raven rose, and paced rapidly up and down the room. When he returned and stood before the Colonel, his agitation could be read in his features, in spite of all his efforts to keep it down.

"I recommend you, then, to read Assessor Winterfeld's pamphlet," he said, in a tone which was meant to be only sarcastic, but which vibrated with fierce anger. "He feels himself appointed to denounce me to the country at large as a despot who regards neither law nor justice, who has become a scourge, a pestilent source of harm, to the province committed to his charge. A long list of crimes is therein imputed to me; abuse of power, arbitrary action, illegal violence, and all the usual catchwords. It really is worth while to read the precious composition, if only to marvel at the presumption with which one of the youngest and lowliest of my subalterns ventures to arraign his chief. So far, only a chosen few have cognisance of this brochure; to-morrow, the whole town will ring with it."

"But why do you take it so quietly?" exclaimed the Colonel. "These things do not spring up in a day, of themselves. You must have been prepared for it--have had news of what was coming."

"Oh yes; the news reached me yesterday evening, just about the time that the book was being hawked about the streets of the capital, and when many copies of it were on their way hither. The same courier brought me an assurance of the Minister's 'sincere regret' that it had not been possible to prevent the publication; the matter had now gone too far for suppression."

"That is strange!" said Wilten, in surprise.

"More than strange. They are generally well informed at head-quarters as to all that is in the press, and they do not readily suffer anything to appear that is likely to prove dangerous. With the work in question, there could have been no difficulty. They had only to consider the insults offered to me as levelled at the Government, and to suppress the entire edition. But it seems that the will so to act was wanting, and as they feared that I should energetically insist on such a course being pursued, they purposely left me in complete ignorance of the matter, and only warned me when it was too late for the intimation to be of use."

The Colonel looked down meditatively.

"You have few friends in the capital and at court--I told you so months ago. There are constant intrigues on foot against you there, and no stone is left unturned to damage your credit and undermine your influence. If a fitting instrument has been found ready to hand ... Assessor Winterfeld is engaged at the Ministry now, I think?"

"Yes," said the Baron, bitterly. "I opened its doors to him. I myself sent my denunciator to the capital."

"They have got hold of the young man at once, it being known that he came direct from your Chancellery. Perhaps he only contributes his name, and the onslaught really comes from a far different quarter."

Raven shook his head moodily.

"And the Assessor never betrayed himself to you or any one?" asked Wilten. "He must have had associates, confidential friends."

The Baron's lips worked, and his eyes were fixed on the window-recess from which Gabrielle had yesterday stepped forth to welcome him.

"One of his confidants I know, at least," he said; "and that one shall render account to me. As to the young man himself--well, we shall see later on. There can be but one manner of settling such a matter between us two. Just at present I have to reckon with other enemies. It is of little consequence that an Assessor Winterfeld should rise up in virtuous indignation, and declare me a tyrant and my tenure of office a public calamity--others have done this before him. But that he should venture to cry it aloud in the ears of all the world, that such a venture should be tolerated, perhaps encouraged--this is what gives a serious colour, a certain importance, to the affair. I shall at once demand ample satisfaction from the Government, which is attacked with me and in my person; and should they show signs of refusing it, I shall know how to bring them to reason. It is not the first time I have had to set a plain alternative before these gentlemen. I have frequently found it necessary to clear the air a little by some sharp, decided action when the intrigues became too annoying to be borne in silence."

"You take too grave a view of the matter," said the Colonel, reassuringly; "and it is strange in you, who generally meet every attack with absolute, unruffled calm. Why do you now allow yourself to be irritated by mere lies and calumnies?"

The Baron drew himself up proudly.

"Who says they are lies? The animus which pervades the book is stamped on every page, but it does not contain palpable untruths, and I have no intention of calling in question one of the facts adduced against me. I am ready to answer for my acts, but only to those who are entitled to require an account from me, and not to the first man who may feel disposed to sit in judgment on me and my proceedings. To him and to his fellows, I shall give the one answer they deserve."

At this point of the conversation they were interrupted. A report was brought in to the Governor, which the Superintendent of Police had just sent over from the town. Colonel Wilten rose to depart.

"I will go and see that the measures we have agreed upon are taken at once. The Baroness arrived safely, I hope? She came with us to town, but declined our escort up to the Castle. And how is Fr?ulein von Harder? She must have seen something of the rioting last night."

"I do not know," said Raven shortly, almost roughly. "I have not seen her to-day, and I was too busy to receive my sister-in-law in person. I shall go over to them a little later."

He gave his hand to the Colonel, who, after a few parting words, left the room, while the Baron returned to his writing-table, on which last night's despatches still lay, and began a letter to the Minister.

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