The Voice of a Flower

Front matter

BY MRS. MOLESWORTH. STUDIES AND STORIES. With Frontispiece by Walter Crane. Crown 8vo, cloth 3.C 6d. By the Author of ' Amethyst.' WAYNFLETE. A Novel, by C. R. Coleridge. 2 vols. Crown Svo, 215. A NEW HANDY RAILWAY SERIES. Price is. per Volume, or in cloth, 2s. SPORT ROYAL. By Anthony Hope, Author of 'Mr. Witt's Widow.' GRIM TALES. By E. NeSBIT. LONDON : A. D. INNES & CO. 3i & 32j Bedford Street, Strand, W„C. " Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak ; Augurs, and understood relations, have By maggot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood." Macbeth^ Act III. Scene BY E. GERARD, author of 'a secret mission,' 'bis,' 'the land beyond the forest,' etc. ; joint author of REATA,' 'THE WATERS OF HERCULES,' ' BEGGAR MY NEIGHBOUR. ETC. LONDON : A. D. INNES AND CO. 51 & 32, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1893. [All rights reserved.]

Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. RIVAL FLOWERS ... ... ... I II. A SYLVAN SHRINE ... ... ... 20 III. THE LEGEND OF THE RONSECCO CARNATION 45 IV. THE PINK COUNTERPANE ... ... 51 V. SANCT NOTBURGA ... ... ... 67 VI. CARNATIONS OR CORNFLOWERS?... ... 84 VII. GUIDO ... ... ... ... ... 103 VIII. SEED ... ... ... ... ... 112 IX. GAME ... ... ... ... ... 124 X. WAITING ... ... ... ... 138 XI. MISS MAUD NICHOLSON ... ... ... 1 52 XII. RITTER HERIBERT ... ... ... 165 XIII. FROZEN ... ... ... ... 178 XIV. THE HIRSCHTHALER SEE ... ... 1 88 XV. WOOING ... ... ... ... 207 XVI. FLIGHT ... ... ... ... CONTENTS. VIII CHAP. PAGE XVII. SPRING-TIME ... ... ... _. 233 XVIII. A NEOPHYTE ... ... ... ... 24- XIX. DISTANT THUNDER ... ... 257 XX. DENOUNCED ... ... ... 268 XXI. CONFESSION ... ... ... ... 284 XXII. SILENT FLOWERS ... ... ...

Chapter I. Rival Flowers

. . . The fairest flowers of the season Are our carnations." — Winter's Tale. The air was faint with the scent of roses and carnations, for all the gardens and glass-houses within ten miles' radius had been rifled of their treasures in order to grace the horticultural exhibition yearly held on the property of Count Sturmfeder. Every gradation of colour and every variety of rose was here represented. Great pyramids of pale tea-roses were piled up in rank profusion in the centre of the tent ascribed to the flower department, forming a r creamy hillock against which were displayed the more vigorous beauties of blush pink and deep red flowers. On smaller tables were grouped the pinks and carnations, fuchsias and geraniums, calceolarias and petunias, to which as many prizes were destined, and near to the entrance of the tent pitched within the precincts of the Sturmfeder park were placed a double row of velvet chairs, arranged for the accommodation of the Sturmfeder family and their guests.

They had been inspecting the outer sheds devoted to fruits and vegetables, and now came into the tent all talking together, in real or affected ecstasy at the floral display. " Oh, how perfectly delicious ! " exclaimed a tall fair girl, tripping up to the centre table and burying her pretty little retrousse1 nose in a large bunch of pink moss-roses. "The very flower I doat upon. Count Sturmfeder, you really must give me a sprig of these, to wear this evening in my hair," " You have only to command, Baroness Ebba," replied the gentleman thus addressed ; " my flowers can only feel flattered by your notice." " You must feel like a sort of Rose King to-day — now, don't you ? " pursued the vivacious damsel, "with all these lovely flowers ranged before you and waiting on your Majesty's verdict."

" Will you act the part of Rose Queen to-day, and help me to distribute the prizes ? " said Count Sturmfeder, bending down a little towards the glowing face that was so eagerly raised to his own. She too at that moment resembled a fresh blush rose, waiting to be plucked by a monarch. He could pluck her whenever he chose, he felt no doubt on this subject, and perhaps this conviction it was that made him hang back from speaking the de cisive word, which sooner or later must be spoken. Had it not long since been an under stood matter between the families that Wolfram Sturmfeder was to lead to the altar one of the two fair daughters of his neighbour Baron Ottenfels — Ebba or Kuna ? The only question now remaining to be decided was whether his choice would eventually fall upon Ebba or Kuna. Wolfram Sturmfeder was perfectly resigned to his fate, as well he might be, seeing that either of the two maidens would make an ideal German Hausfrau and a fitting mistress for Castle Sturm feder, but he was in no particular hurry to clinch the matter, and perhaps unconsciously enjoyed the suspense to which he was subjecting the two fair candidates.

Sometimes he seemed to incline most towards the glowing charms of Ebba, the elder sister, sometimes again he would appear more smitten by the subdued grace of Kuna, who was slighter, fairer, more sentimentally blue-eyed than her sister. It was Kuna who now spoke in a gentle, musical voice, sweet-toned, but somewhat monotonous. " Oh, how wunder — wundevschon," she mur mured, having moved a little aside to the table on which were ranged the carnations. " I have never seen a flower like this before. It surely deserves the prize. Just see, Herr Graf, does it not look exactly like blood-drops upon snow ? " Thus appealed to, Count Sturmfeder lounged up to the carnation group ; he did not feel particularly interested in either roses or carnations, but the annual horticultural show at Castle Sturmfeder was a traditional thing which had to be kept up, and it was incumbent on him as the actual head of the family, for this one day at least, to play the part of patron to the farmers and tenants.

His father, Count Gunther Sturmfeder, had taken much interest in the breeding of kine, the management of field and forest, and other such pastoral pur suits, and had died two years since, leaving Wolfram, his only son, undisputed master of all his worldly possessions. Wolfram showed but little inclination to tread in his father's footsteps ; caring nought for the peaceful mono tony of a country gentleman's life, he was chiefly distinguished by a fierce love of sport, which he proceeded to gratify, as soon as he found himself his own master, by a prolonged tour in the East in quest of big game. After a year and a half s absence he had now returned home at the request of his aged mother, who urged him to give up his wandering habits, settle down, and marry. She was old, she said, and grown feeble, and longed to hold a grandchild of her own in her arms before she died.

So Wolfram had returned, and was doing his best to accommodate himself to what was expected of him by playing lord of the manor, and it was in view of the coveted grandchild that he was endeavouring with somewhat indifferent success to adapt him self to the part of suitor. Wolfram was a tall, massively-framed man of the true German type. An indescribable flavour of something slightly barbaric hung about his person and movements, and it required no great stretch of imagination to picture Count Wolfram Sturmfeder attired in a wild beast skin, and wielding a gigantic club after the fashion of his Teuton forefathers — slaying bears and wolves single-handed, or bear ing off the woman of his choice by sheer brute strength. The skin draperies were now replaced by a rough tweed shooting-coat, and in lieu of a club he invariably wore a silver-hilted Hirsch fanger or hunting dirk by his side ; yet despite the surface gloss which every educational advan tage could bestow, Wolfram Sturmfeder was intrinsically much the same as those ancestors who had wandered about the German Urwalder a thousand years ago.

Aged about twenty-six, he might have been called a handsome man but for the over-massive square-shaped jaw, and heavy, overhanging brows, which in repose gave his face a slightly gloomy appearance. Some what sleepy blue eyes and a head and beard of reddish fair hair, worn decidedly longer than custom prescribes, rendered him not unlike a young lion, but a lion which has not as yet tested its strength, and in which the instincts of its kind are still dormant. Only a certain blue fire, which in rare moments of excitement would shoot from his usually expressionless orbs, re vealed the volcano within. There was no trace of this fire just now as he turned to the younger sister. " You are right, Baroness Kuna, as always, and undoubtedly this carnation deserves to be crowned in preference to any other.

It is a most unusual specimen, and I do not remember having seen the like before in any of the cottage gardens. I wonder to whom it belongs ? " Deserting the roses, the guests now thronged round the carnation table in loud and voluble admiration. Certainly the flower was a notice able one, being a double carnation almost twice as large as any of its comrades, snow-white at the edges, but with a deep crimson heart, which, as Kuna had remarked, suggested blood-drops upon snow. Not only the flower itself was remarkable, but likewise the vase which contained it, for whereas the other pinks and carnations all grew in common earthenware flower-pots such as may be seen in every cottage window, this particular carnation was planted in a curious old majolica jar of foreign appearance, blue and yellow in hue, and with an intricate design in bas-relief representing a mythological subject, viz. the bearing off of Europa by Jupiter under the form of a bull — such a vase as we sometimes come across in an antiquary's shop, or may chance to light upon in some old Italian palazzo with faded frescoes adorning its crumbling walls.

" Here is the name," said Kuna, drawing out a narrow slip of wood which, stuck in the soil between the stalks, had hitherto escaped her eyes, and she read aloud — " Garofano Cor di Sangue," and underneath in smaller characters the name, " Livia Ronsecco." The name was unknown to all the party. Who could she be ? Curiosity on the subject was presently to be satisfied. It was only after the prizes for fruit and vegetables had been dis tributed to stout farmers and buxom matrons, and the little band of musicians stationed behind the tent had struck up a long-drawn dreamy German valse, that the flowers had their turn. There were a dozen prizes to be distributed, each consisting of ten silver Hirschgulden thalers placed in a little silk bag, which, like the ribbon to which it was attached, was blue and orange, the colours of the Sturmfeder coat of arms.

It was Ebba Ottenfels who, in her newly-assumed character of Rose Queen, and with a bunch of pink moss-roses stuck in the bosom of her white muslin dress, had undertaken to assist Count Wolfram in this part of his duties, he holding a silver salver whereon reposed the little silk bags which she presented to each fortunate winner, passing the ribbon round his or her neck, with a pretty smile and a few gracious words of congratulation. It was sometimes amusing to note the curious incongruity existing between the flower and its owner. Thus, for instance, the white rose prize was bestowed upon an exceedingly red-nosed old peasant, whose walk was scarcely steady as he approached the table to claim his reward, while a beautiful deep purple pansy turned out to be the property of a skinny, freckled, squinting little school-girl.

The carnations were last upon the programme, and one silk bag only remained upon the tray when the name of Livia Ronsecco was called. Wolfram had put down the now empty tray, and was holding the bag in readiness for Ebba, who by this time, rather flushed and overcome by the heat, was yawning behind her white lace fan. At first it appeared as though the summons were to remain unanswered, and the name had to be called a second time in louder accents before the crowd gathered round the entrance of the tent parted a little in order to make way for an old man, leading by the hand a young, a very young girl. The man, who walked with a slight stoop, wore a brown velvet suit, considerably the worse for wear, but which harmonized well with the long white beard reaching almost to the waist, as with the well-marked sweeping eyebrows, aquiline nose, and dark flashing eye, which showed that he must formerly have been pre-eminently handsome.

Now bent and broken as he was, he looked decidedly too aged to be the father of that exquisite child. If the red and white carnation had attracted attention mid the humble cottage flowers, so in far higher degree did this young girl stand out from her surroundings. Great startled-looking brown eyes, set rather far apart in a delicate classical oval, gave her face a singularly youthful expression, further enhanced by two coal-black plaits of hair hanging far below her slender waist. This youthful appearance was not, how ever, backed up by her dress, which, consisting of heavy black brocade woven in a stiff floral pattern, seemed rather to belong to a former generation. On her breast she wore a curious gold cross of Florentine workmanship, sus pended from a massive chain of the same metal, and matching the ear-rings which seemed to be all too heavy for the delicate shell-like ears.

Despite, however, the intrinsic richness of these items of costume, the general effect produced by it was to an attentive observer rather suggestive of poverty than wealth, by reason of the incon gruity of some of the details. The heavy brocade, frayed and worn at some places, was further disfigured by various unsightly patches which had been applied without much art or method to conceal the ravages of time. The gown had, moreover, been obviously designed for a figure of far more redundant proportions, and in order to accommodate it to its actual wearer, had been drawn together at the waist by a shabby black leather belt ; coarse grey cotton gloves ill matched the gold ornaments, and the well-worn yellowish lace ruffles at throat and wrists were unrelieved by the smallest bow of ribbon. The strangeness of the girl's appearance for a moment overpowered the sense of her remarkable beauty, and a scarcely subdued titter of amusement ran round the assembly as this singular couple entered the tent.

The two fair sisters, Ebba and Kuna, gazed at her in round-eyed, open-mouthed amazement, as they might at some beautiful wild animal which had strayed unawares into their midst. It was Wolfram Sturmfeder who first recovered his presence of mind. " Mein Fraulein," he said, advancing to meet her, " permit me to congratulate you on the possession of this beautiful flower. It deserves the prize which I have the pleasure of be stowing upon you ; " and apparently forgetting that his part in the prize distribution had hitherto been a passive one, and that there was no obvious reason for departing from the order of the day, he himself passed the ribbon attached to the little silk bag round the girl's fair neck. He was not overskilled in such matters, it seemed, and had better have left the office of decoration to feminine hands, for in reaching the ribbon over her head, it somewhat unaccountably got entangled between the hair and the gold chain.

The girl put up her hand in order to release the long hanging plait, and as Wolfram bent down for the same purpose, for one brief moment his large muscular hand closed over her slender fingers — it was but a moment, for in the next the plait was restored to liberty, scarcely roughened by the little episode, but that moment had sufficed to bring a deep flush into the girl's face, and a flash of blue fire into Wolfram's eyes. " Excuse me, mein Fraulein," he said, trying to carry off his embarrassment with an uneasy laugh, " I trust I have not hurt you by my awkwardness ; I am clumsy-fingered I know, and am more accustomed to handle the gun and dirk, than to adorn fair ladies." " Then why did you attempt it ? " said Ebba, with a slight touch of asperity. " Count Sturmfeder," now put in the sweeter tempered Kuna, " can we not perhaps induce this young lady to sell her carnation pot ?

I would give anything for a bunch of these flowers to wear at your dance this evening ; and," she added in a lower undertone, " they look poor, so no doubt the proposition will be acceptable. Pray tell her that I am willing to pay twenty or even thirty marks for it." Wolfram frowned, somehow the idea of seeing those flowers in Kuna's possession was unpalatable to him, he could not exactly have explained why and wherefore ; but he could not refuse to put the question, and he felt a burning curiosity to hear the sound of that dark-eyed child's voice. " Mein Fraulein," said he, turning back to the strange couple which all this time had been standing motionless before him, " will you kindly tell me what price you put upon your flower ? I should be happy to become its purchaser." The effect of his words was unexpected.

Dropping the old man's arm, the girl had sprung forward and seized the carnation pot in her arms. " Nonno ! ' she said in Italian, speaking in low hurried accents; "tell him — tell the gentle- U FLOV I : ■- '7 man that we cannot sell the carnation. It is all we have remaining. Do not let him take it ! " The old man turned to Wolfram. "Gracious sir.' 1 he said,, speaking in rather broken but perfectly intelligible German, " my little granddaughter thanks you for your kind offer, but we cannot part from the carnation. It is an heirloom in the family No sum tint you could offer us would induce us to sell it." He spoke in a rich southern voice, and was of almost regal dignity in his manner, which con trasted strangely with his shabby attire. Just so might have looked some old Venetian doge superbly waving aside the bribes of a traitor.

Never before had Count Wolfram Sturmfeder, standing on Ins own ancestral territory, and sur rounded by his vassals and tenants, felt so acutely conscious of his own insignificance. Anxious to repair the blunder, he now said hastily — " The day's festivities are to conclude with a little dance at the castle by and by, you would greatly oblige me by becoming my guest for c the evening along with your Fraulein granddaughter." " I am myself too old, and Livia is too young to go to balls. We thank you kindly for your gracious invitation, Signor Conte, which we are however unable to accept." He bowed profoundly as he finished speaking, while the girl dropped a demure old-fashioned curtsey, without relinquishing her grasp on the carnation pot, which she held tightly clasped to her bosom like a timorous mother anxious to shield her babe from a murderous grasp.

A minute later both man and girl had disappeared in the outside crowd. Ebba now sat down on the nearest chair and burst into an irrepressible fit of laughter, in which, however, a slightly artificial ring might have been detected. "You may thank your stars, Count Wolfram," she exclaimed, as soon as she had apparently recovered breath, " that your rash invitation was not accepted. Only fancy inviting a pair of RIVAL FLOWERS. 19 guys like that to the ball. What can you have been thinking of? It was scarcely kind to the poor girl to have suggested such a preposterous idea. Just think what a figure she would have cut in that frightful gown ! " and Ebba cast a well-satisfied glance at her own irreproachable muslin costume copied from the latest number of the Berliner Modenivelt. " I never looked at the gown," returned Wolfram, shortly.

Chapter II

A SYLVAN SHRINE. The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf and dull." Titus Audronieus. WHILE the lights were being lit in the ball room at Castle Sturmfeder, and the ladies had retired to adorn themselves for the dance, the old Italian and his granddaughter were walking in the gathering twilight along a rustic lane, leading in the direction of the convent of Sanct Notburga, which lay some three miles distant at the foot of the hills. The air was still sultry, and they made but slow progress at first, for the old man's steps were lagging and feeble, and the girl was alike encumbered by her trailing brocade gown, and by the heavy carnation pot which she carried in her arms. They proceeded in silence, even when having reached the cool dark forest, which stretched away for miles over the country at this place, they struck into a little path winding in and out between massive beech stems.

This track was one but little used by the country people, as might be seen from the almost unbroken carpet of velvet moss overlying it, and from constant disuse it had grown so narrow that two persons could scarcely walk abreast with any degree of comfort, except perhaps a pair of very united lovers, and even these would have had to bend their heads repeatedly, and stretch forth their arms to brush aside the long trailing branches of wild rose or briar which had been suffered to grow unmolested. A vastly superior road, capable of accommodating a cart on occasion and in very dry weather, traversed the forest from length to length at a slightly different angle some hundred paces to the right, and was generally made use of by the country folk about the place, whenever business or pleasure took them to the little country town of D ; but this semi-forgotten pathway was the road which used formerly to connect the castle with the convent of Sanct Notburga, in the days when the latter used to form one of the dependencies of the Sturmfeder family, and its inmates paid tribute to the lords of the country.

The old Italian had elected to come this way as being fully half-an-hour shorter than the better kept road along which they had been driven in the forenoon by a good-natured peasant couple, who, themselves bound for Castle Sturmfeder with specimens of turnips and radishes, had offered them a seat in the rustic conveyance. It was their driver who had called their attention to this convenient short-cut branching off from the main road in the convent's direction. "You cannot mistake it, mein Herr," had said the peasant, touching his cap to Signor Ronsecco with rustic courtesy. " If you just follow your nose between the trees it will take you straight to Sanct Notburga as sure as my name is Peter Steiner. About half-way there is a small open space in the forest where hangs a crucifix against the trunk of a large double fir tree — ' Die zwei Fohren ' — that is what they call it ; and a wooden bench too there used to be for people to rest upon ; but like enough the bench is rotten or broken by this time, for the place lies out of our way, and has seldom been used these forty years and more, ever since arose the quarrel between the lords of Sturmfeder and the Abbess of Sanct Notburga.

But the old cross stands just half-way between the two places. When you have reached that spot you are precisely three-quarters of an hour from Sanct Notburga, and three-quarters from Castle Sturmfeder. You cannot possibly mistake the place. I cannot offer to drive the gnddiger Herr Maler and the young lady back this evening, for I shall not be returning till late — after midnight maybe. The Herr Grafs beer and brandy are too good to be left so quickly ; and who knows," concluded Peter Steiner with a sly twinkle in his eye, " whether my hand will be quite as steady for driving then as it is just now. He ! he! he ! " " For shame, Alter," expostulated the wife, a buxom, red-faced woman of fifty or thereabouts, and who looked as if she likewise on occasion would not disdain a glass or two by way of refreshment.

"What will the gentlefolk think of thee for talking in this silly fashion ? He only jokes, believe me, Fraulein, for he has far too much manners to get tipsy up yonder at the castle. If he does drink a glass too much on occasion — as every one does now and then — it will only be in the village Schenke of a Saturday evening, or at the cattle show, when we have had luck in selling a calf or a heifer. But as to such a thing happening at Castle Sturmfeder — no, never. So if the Herrschaften can afford to wait a little after the exhibition is over, and will again accept a seat in our modest conveyance, I am sure we shall be most happy . ." But Livia had shrunk back timidly against her grandfather. The prospect of a moonlight drive with a possibly sober peasant was hardly reassuring. Old Ronsecco seemed to guess her thoughts, for he hastened to put in — " No, no — many thanks — my granddaughter and I will not take advantage of your kindness a second time.

A walk home through the forest in the cool of the evening can only be pleasant, and we shall have no difficulty in finding our way from your directions." The path, however, which had looked so invitingly cool in the glare of the mid-day sunshine, like a flash of emerald light shot 'twixt the shadows, looked scarcely as attractive in the gloaming. " Must we really go in there, nonno mio ? " said Livia, coming to a standstill at the place where the two roads branched asunder, and peering a little nervously through the branches at an endless vista of gnarled trunks, which in the twilight were beginning to assume all sorts of fantastic threatening shapes. " Of what are you afraid, batnbina ? " returned the old man gently ; " there are no wolves or bears to be feared at this season, and you heard what the peasant said this forenoon.

We shall gain a good half-hour at least by taking this short-cut." Livia merely sighed, without attempting further expostulations. She knew that at her grandfather's age, to shorten the walk by half an-hour was no small inducement. As it was the effort was taxing his feeble powers to the utmost, as might be heard from his difficult laboured breathing. The girl walked first, sometimes stopping to remove an inconvenient branch across their passage, or to disentangle her trailing gown from the clutch of a rude dog-rose bush which had laid hold of her with no gentle touch. After walking for about half an-hour, the forest seemed to grow lighter of a sudden, and without preparation they emerged on to an almost circular clearing in the forest, which the last rays of the setting sun, coming slanting through the trees, was flecking with gold and crimson patches.

" How lovely and how peaceful," exclaimed Livia, heaving a deep sigh of mingled relief and admiration. "Lovely, indeed!" echoed the old man. " And see, how lucky, the bench is still remaining, and will I dare say bear our weight. We shall rest here for twenty minutes, bambina, before proceeding on our way. It will not be dark yet awhile, and the path grows broader on this side of the clearing the peasant said." It was beautiful here to be sure, for the little clearing, scarcely twenty feet broad and thirty long, was like a dazzling pearl cast in the midst of sombre waters, and looked doubly so by contrast to the dark tortuous path they had been traversing. On all sides the massive beech stems, closely pressed together, stood like an army of advancing warriors suddenly checked in their progress — thus far and no further — the ground before you is sacred — you durst not touch it — seemed to be the order received from an invisible commander — and obediently the legions had halted, standing motionless these hundred years and more in close drawn ranks to guard the sorest sanctuary.

One solitary exception there was, however, to this rule, a large double Scotch fir tree, which, standing boldly out upon the little meadow, some paces removed from the outer belt of trees, was conspicuous by its size and shape. For this reason probably it had many years ago been selected as the worthiest site on which to fasten one of those little wayside shrines, to be found all over the Catholic parts of Germany in field and forest. This particular image represented the crucifixion of our Lord, rudely carved in the very coarest style, its colours well-nigh obliterated by wind and weather, despite the protection of a slight protruding roof, formed by a couple of slanting boards, which the damp drip from the trees above had coated with a i smooth layer of emerald moss. It was evident that the spot was but rarely visited by passers by, for the shrine was undecked by the smallest wreath or bunch of field flowers, such as mostly adorn these wayside chapels ; and in the past spring-time a profane chaffinch couple had built their nest, and reared their young un checked, within the shelter-place afforded by the space betwixt cross and roof.