Withered Leaves. Vol. III.(of III)

in the old wing of the Castle. Blanden had ridden over to the near

l arch was erected; canon resounded far and near, and genuine, indeed, were the rejoicings of the people, who idolised Blanden. None of the proprietors on the lakes of Masuren wer

hich was listened to with intense weariness by all but the bride-elect, for whom an accusation lay in every one of those moral sen

nto a well-regulated world governed by moral laws, into touching familiarity amongst equals, into a beautiful blending together of past and future; and to herself she appeared in the light of an intruder, who deserved to be cursed, who tore down the old saintly household gods from the domestic hearth, and wi

errily in the breeze; all the doors were wreathed; here a dense crowd--part of which had hastened

ought of his father, of the old lords of the Castle--they blessed his entry. His feelings were solemn as he lifted his future b

truggle from day to day for a living, competing for fame and gold, and the favour of the variable crowd which alone could grant both to her. The labour of art in the muses' temple appeared like a miserable daily task, which is forced from the reluctant senses, while only the holiness of enthusiasm

given up to the mob! And how one must learn to love every little spot of earth which, by the habit of long association and possession, has become a portion of ourselves! Without, the trees

urrounded it; the bridge over the lake; upon the island stood the swans' houses: at first all seemed but a pretty picture for her con

hose heavy curtains, which formed an easily moved partition between the secret concealed cabinets and drawing-rooms! How pleasant the faces of the old male and female servants, who

d was pressed convulsively to her heart; painfully she felt the rift that extended through her whole life--that she always experienced, even

, Signora, at the foot of the hill, still stands a massive square tower. I enquired about it, they call it the 'Dantziger;' it was used for watching the besiegers and taking them in their rear, it also ensured escape, as a secret outlet leads to the lake. The stone passage, with its handsome arches, unites it with the

le with your love o

But enough of it. They are very lively over in the new wing, where all are preparing for the Polter-abend entertainment; they say it is just like being behind the s

en entered; she possessed tact enough

true, but yet one always possesses some real friends. The Castle is full from attic to cellar; for twenty years o

arms and pressed a fer

x," said Giulia, "which

come with a full heart, and

and bracelets of the most magnificent pearls, and beside them unset precious stones, sapphire

mistresses of this house, there being no living heiress who has the right to these ornaments. From henceforth you shall w

he-wisps, like snakes of fire, they flashed and quivered before her

their bony hands in protest, or touched her brow and imprinted the sign of the curse upon her. She was only conscious of Blande

neck, enframed a face whose fine moulding did not suffer from the pallor of its features, for that Venetian colouring appertained to the beauty of marble, to that idealism of form which was peculiar to her. Her tall slight figure was seductively enveloped in clouds of pink tulle, and as if of gleaming foam, bos

th; the latter held his finger thoughtfully to his nose, and after his address, "dear friends," had allowed a considerable pause to follow, "she is a most beautiful woma

splendid toilet! But a betrothed should reall

I exclude our wives--we have no beauties in the district who can be compared with her. And they who stayed at home have all happily escaped this sensation. In words they would not have acknowledged this beauty, but at heart they would have bowed bef

elves in two garlanded arm-chairs to receive the homage of the Polter-ab

e daughter of the Sanit?tsrath from the district town, the daughters of a retired ma

of the legend, were of varying degrees, the young widow's being

ome of sisters

ty, our sov

d, never hopin

image agai

hall mirror

d triumph we c

ath of laurels in her hand; behind her, Thalia and Melpom

posed these lin

adly, we see

ingdom made g

fame must give p

re is more la

ss that canno

behind who wil

urself will ev

we rejoice, our

the new mistress of the Castle, and poured forth praises of the perfection of her beauty

of the Order; their white mantles with the black cross, harmonised w

d some humourous flashes; it spoke of a fair lady who had not, as in former times, surreptitiously entered the house of the Order, and by the back way, but like a mistress, who is entitled to go up the principal w

alone possessed a right to these forests and lakes; he declared war to the knights who had been imported into this free land, to those monks of the sword, that black-crossed hypocrisy; with his pe

t by every

wars for

blood shall

all reign et

s clamour fo

all offer the

self as the Italian Heinrich Heine, and in a mixture of verses, which were collected, partly from the Ottave rime of the poet of Reggio, partly from fr

lossoms in her hair. It was Iduna; she had left Fr?ulein Baute's school, after having met with frequent insults from the mistress, and openly displayed con

were absent, the coldness of the members of his party in the capital, all proved to him that he had once more rendered it impossible to take a firm foothold in his home, and to attain a higher position in political life by any recognised influence; but it was only a transient heretical thought! There she stood before him in all her beauty, a fascinating woman! Her eyes gleamed with promise; dancing had brought a warmer colour to the marble of her features; her bosom heaved with sweet excitement, she appeared like a b

ell-paying house; that Dr. Sch?ner will never more arrange a poetical nosegay for my vase; no Spiegeler cause me sleepless nights by the stings of his wasps and bees. But away with all laurel wreaths! Wit

f the dance demanded, now turned to Giulia and began a battle of words with her upon which she readily entered. Kuhl had only seen her as Blanden's nurse, when wounded, and sp

heism, and that you shall neither worship the slight Italian marble goddess nor plump Iduna with her apples of eternal youth, neither one of Raffael's no

n it, pondered over the fate which even the most irrefutable theories find in life's irksome custom. He resigned himself to the

their chambers. Blanden accompanied his betrothed to the carved oak door of her apa

as so fatigued that she had thrown herself, half undressed, upon the bed in h

h into the air the fountain cast its stream of silver, gently around the t

cated her. Was not the world

ke the ray of water sprin

beautiful, youthfully beautiful? A heavy destiny had passed over her, but in its flight it only slightly touches the favourites of the gods. No creases, no wrinkle

took out the jewel box which Blanden had given to her. First she let the splendid stones glisten in the lamp light, then

ning with rubies and emeralds. She thought herself magnificent as a queen; thus, in her dazzling splendour, ornamented with the prince's crown, might not

t the sparkling brilliance of mammon and soulless splendour. She walked up and down before the mirror, bent her head to see how the coronet of brilliants became her dark locks, turned to the right and to the left; but then the spirit of the stage came upo

no dream--the mirror began to move; it was pushed on one side by invisible hands: she commenced to tremble, to rub her eyes--her own reflection disappeared with the mir

s Bal

back with

ed he, "now you a

h one hand resting upon the back of the roccoco chair, s

ailing voice, that was almost st

ou to-day than any other being whom the world contains. I come most inopportunely, I

if in a heavy dream, in which one seeks in blind haste to protect life, possessions and e

fore others you are a bride elect, before others you may feign modesty, and wrap yourself in the bridal veil, not before me! I have an old and sacred right over you--your body, your soul belong to

a strong arm, and laid the other hand upon her marble

ia in a suppressed tone of alarm, "s

g eyes to implore me--for silence, for forgetfulness! Is it not so? A cry for help!--what is a cry for help but a cry for shame, for disgrace, for law and executi

from Baluzzi's arms. "And if I declare you before all the world to be a robber and

oofs ar

haps; but they

n so harmless I should have prevented it, but it was great amusement for me to watch the lizard as it glided into the crevices in the church walls, and to carry on a game with it; unfortunately she swooned too soon. I should have liked to torture her still lo

ully and alarmed at Baluzzi's scorn, because she could not h

taunch friends, even at the holy courts of law. A priest, with whom I worked formerly in Monaco, at my desire, enquired if amongst the deeds of the suit a copy of the registry of San Giulio did not exist; a legal official copy certified by the chaplain. I had reason to expect this because the suit concerned a falsification of the register. My supposition was well-founded--now I was safe, now I could play with that dangerous culprit who is your greatest friend, as a cat does with a mouse. All respe

is power, thus everything that she had done to free herself from him, even Beate's crimina

exact information as to where the document can be found which p

covered her face

very considerate of me, and on a toilsome road too. A wonderful child led me here--my rare little

of? Impossible!" said

e knights, and the hidden road ensures them flight in case of defeat. From the tower a secret walled passage leads into the Castle. It is covered with rubbish and ruins, and there are awkward steps to go up and down. But then a little masked winding-staircase in the wall leads up to this mirror door. My wonderfully clever seal discovered all this. It took us some time last night before we could find out the mechanism of this door. We kn

of your sen

led. I became a croupier in Monaco, your fame was augmenting. Our paths led farther and farther asunder. All the same, I loved you fervently, but I perceived that your love diminished daily. You were ashamed of me. You began to avoid me, to fly from me. I required money, much money for my habits of life. They are as respectable and distinguished as those of a well-born prince who squanders his heritage. How often was I not in embarrassments enough to

"and more than this, I have often sta

you were here in Prussia during the s

to you must have been lost--an unfortunat

time, nevertheless you thus became my debtor. However, if you leave the stage, you cannot redeem yourself now, you no longer have your own independent

Giulia, fold

ce I have seen you once more, because you are the most beautiful woman whom I have met with upon my manifold journies in life, and I have seen women of every nation a

er face as s

ne unworthy who might not follow in the ascending paths of your life, even in the desolate existence that I led, still I always looked up as one looks up at a heavenly orb through a crevice in a grotto. Then came those days of Lago Maggiore, I watched and saw how you were

ed, even when it clutches convulsively at transient felicity? Well, I may belong to you, but you do not belong to m

ered herself, overcame her fear and ter

day on which a crime shall be consecrated. The cocks have already crowed, midnight is past, your second wedding day will soon dawn, do not forget your first myrtles

e best of men, but I only deceive him out of endless love, and so utterly unworthy is th

is sin pardoned, it w

me Bal

e the pirate's pulses, who rejoices over the captured beauty. Never shall I forget that you injured and betrayed me beyond expression, that you are my slave, over whom I exercise my proud right of master, whether I torture and chastise, or whether I love her. What are your laurel wreaths to me? Dried up straw which I burn, because no more gold glitters on its leaves, but as in mo

follow you, give myself up to s

a light heart can greet the first ray of the morning sun; but I am on my guard, my glances do not leave you, do not leave that door behind which Bea

i pulled o

dissoluble also for me here, because I dare not venture forth with this life-long lie, without forfeiting my future happiness. But you would not be separated, although to do so lay in your power. I beg, I implore you, do not let your old right interfere in my life. I was always your friend, I will remain so, but upo

t and to rejoice in my beautiful possession; my blood surges up within me, like the fire-spring of Salfatora. I am no Don Juan who breaks at night into the sanctuary of the house, I am no adulterer, no seduc

o not to

am safe from you

trol which your right and will exercise, rather would I fall crushed upon my knees before every one, confess the incredible, pray for mercy, and then seek and find death. You know me! I dare do much, I dare do wh

those convulsively closed lips, those knitted eyebrows, those rigid

of recollection--but not the bliss of the rack, and what his passion, his avari

ed, and

swept across her head-dress, so that the diamonds flashed and quivered, and

nament which he had, indeed, perceived immediately upon his

the bracelets; they passed on to the open jewel casket on the table

iven place to mute greed, to avarice, that sought gratification, not from the animate, but the inanimate objects

aid Baluzzi, suddenly

present," re

precious stones, too?

e drank in their radiance as he slowly examined them. Then, as if making some calculation, moved his lips; every one of t

is liberal, and although I may earn nothing more myself, his gifts will render it

aluzzi, as he looked at h

not demand impossibilities, take the circumstances into consideration; less than formerl

When did you ever have such

jewels, they do not belong to

yourself that he ha

ms revert to the family. I look upon the

ts," cried Baluzzi,

ia, paling. "They are my w

le snakes, such as play around the heads of the Furies? I have a great undertaking in prospect, besides, I have much money to pay

gly at him. Her eye dropped. She

Baluzzi! What shall I s

lie, more or less, cannot matter to you, and

ge to resign, standing before supreme happiness, not the courage of truth, not the courage to speak one single word, to avoid an act of infamous sacrilege! Unworthy struggling, and cheating! That is the greatest humiliation. In open confession, in th

ited the decisive result of this monologue, at the same t

erless! Duty's command appears like a horrible spectre that gives me up to boundless misery, whil

clasped hands; Baluzzi answered,

he diamonds! It

--your everlas

in! But, by my honour, for a year, if I live so

estroy what once was ours? And what once it has bought from hell can never be reclaimed! And yet--how my heart will

em, give them, s

wrenched it from Giulia's hands af

life! For I have sworn before I die to be revenged upon you!

t high in the air, he disappeared behind the mirror-door,

to the night. The moon had set. The grey dawn did her good. Everything faded into uncertainty. A cradle song passed through he

tops of the trees. When Beate entered Giulia was still si

und K?tchen sitting upon the first steps of th

rept up the stairs. She had listened, but understo

It was a bat which had whirled around her lantern, and threatened to

, and

e," said the Italian. "Sh

diamonds, but they made no

ised the lantern, let the bat fly away, a

teps through the rubbish i

en stopped

will still take

s,

wond

not yo

gend says,

the rubbish. Bats whi

o to the district t

will dance in the barn with

an gave h

efore commencing the still more toilsome path th

her delicate little feet! Why, you said you would torture her, bind her firmly if she resisted, oh, I had bandages ready that she could not have torn. We should have stowed her away in the boat lik

eaks," said Baluzzi,

over," K?tchen mu

gh the loopholes of the Dantz

in the dark. Here is the passage to the shore. Stoop, you

tered Baluzzi, while he measured the hei

horns and thistles will not sting you now. I have beheaded and cut th