European Slave life [A novel.] ... Translated from the German by E. Woltmann

Front matter

EUROPEAN SLAVE LIFE. BY F. w. hacklAnder. lEnm-litt-i. from the (Strmart II V E. WOLTMANN. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. SAMUEL TINSLEY & CO., 31, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND. 1880. [All Rights Reserved.] CONTENTS OF VOL. III. CHAPTER PAGE I. A WILD LIFE ---.- 1 II. A DANGEROUS PAPER - - - - 15 III. BENEATH THE STAGE 31 IV. IN THE WARREN ----- 50 V. SHOULDER-KNOTS AND CARICATURES - - 62 VI. M. DE BRAND'S SEAL 80 VII. MARIE AND CLARA - - -92 VIII. EVERYTHING LOST - - 93 IX. MADEMOISELLE THERESE - - - - 110 X. JOHANN CHRISTIAN BLAFFER AND CO. - - 125 XI. JOHANN CHRISTIAN BLAFFER ALONE - - 137 XII. GENERAL AND PRESIDENT - - - 153 XIII. SHOULDER-KNOTS ----- 174 XIV. IN THE WARREN - - - - 186 XV. AT THE PRESIDENCY OF POLICE - - - 202 XVI. A FANCY DRESS-BALL AT COURT 211 XVII. FAVOUR AND DISFAVOUR AT COURT - - 221 XVIII.

HIGH-CLASS SOCIETY - - - - 233 XIX. THE WUNDEL FAMILY - - - - 244 XX. CLARA ------ 263 XXI. WHIST WITH THE " DEAD MAN " - - 274 XXII. THE VALET'S REPORT - - - - 298 XXIII. CONCLUSION -----

Chapter I

A WILD LIFE. *' Ah I" continued the baron, after a while, " it is a very peculiar sensation to shed anyone's blood. I don't suppose that ever happened to you, did it ?" " God have mercy upon me ! No," replied Mr. Beil, horrified at the bare idea. " And yet you wanted to take your own life ! See, now, how good it was for you to have met that ghost." " My neighbour's blood ! It's a dreadful idea." " Yes, yes," said the baron absorbedly, " you can forget everything afterwards about such an occurrence, — the man's face whom you killed, his blood, which you saw ; but there is one thing you can't forget, and that is, the horrid sensation when the dagger enters his breast. That is awful !" " Well, you have one consolation." observed Mr. Beil, good-naturedly, " at that time you were hardly responsible for your actions; you were a child, in fact."

"Ah, don't say that. I seemed to pass through quite a number of years at that moment, and after wards I was so resolute and collected that they would not have taken away my mother a second time. How ever, that was too late then. Well, then, he fell down. Of course, I let go the handle of the dagger, and sat down on the bed again. The doors were being opened, servants were running about; I was hoping every moment to see my father back. Instead of him, how ever, there appeared an elderly gentleman, who seemed VOL. III. to walk with considerable difficulty. It was my grandfather. I saw that by the marvellous resemblance to my father, and have never forgotten his features. 'A. nice piece of work he has made there,' he exclaimed angrily. ' Take the man away, and see whether there's any life left in him.' That was all in vain, though ; he was dead.

I and my poor sister were being pushed out of the room. I need not tell you that she had suffered very much during this scene, because, however young she was, she felt that her brother had done something dreadful. We were taken away, after they had put old, miserable-looking clothes on us. The journey took several days and nights. At first I did all in my power to keep awake, so as to try and recog nise, perhaps, some place or other for the purpose of being able to find my way back to the castle at a future date. You may think it strange that at this time I did not know my grandfather's, or even my father's name ; the latter was always called simply ' Sir Robert ' by our servants in Palermo. Do you know, I should have liked to take that knife with me ; it was a fine weapon. Strangely enough, it came into my possession many years afterwards.

However, we will go on ! " I could not keep awake, although I did my best to do so. Sleep overpowered me; I forgot everything; and, when I did awake, it was simply by my being taken out of the carriage. Imagine my horror when I found my sister gone. Where and how we had been separated, I could not comprehend. I remembered distinctly to have clasped her in my arms before going to sleep, just like my mother used to do. Ah, this was a sad blow to me, for we had always consoled each other. " I was -taken to the house of a repulsive-looking individual. He was a hypocrite, who was never with out his Bible or Prayer-book, but whoJ swindled and cheated his neighbours wherever he could. He got a small sum paid for my keep every year ; he was to see what I was fit for, or to let me learn a trade to which I might take a fancy.

That is what he said ; but I was clever enough to see, very soon, that his orders were to let me do whatever I liked, provided always that it was some mischief or vice. I had full liberty to do anything of this description I pleased. So I loafed about all day long. I began to drink spirits ; 1 played at cards, at first honestly, afterwards I cheated ; and, as I was a good-looking boy, all the neighbours liked me. I rode their horses ; I found their cattle when it had gone astray ; I got strong and agile ; no horse was too wild, no window or tree too high for me ; I underwent all kinds of fatigue, and in time it was j nst the same to me whether I slept in a bed or on the ground, in rain or storm. But the most important thing, viz., hypocrisy, I learnt from my master ; occasionally he would ignore my wild behaviour, at other times he would beat me mercilessly ; and this he did especially when I told him honestly what I had been doing ; but when I began to deny everything, when I cast down my eyes and sneaked about the house, I found that that was what he wanted.

" You can imagine that I did not forget my past life, my parents, or my sister ; and you may wonder why I did not try to escape, as I had full liberty to run about outside our village ; but I was knowing enough to see that I, without means, could simply do nothing. Don't think, therefore, that I had forgotten that dread ful scene, or the mysterious occurrences which I had witnessed on entering this country. Ah ! I meant to revenge myself; and the more I grew up, the more deserving it seemed to me to have killed that man. Besides, I was always in hopes of receiving some sign of life from my mother or sister, but in vain. I can't tell you how fond I was of the latter; she had been my only playmate, and her gentle disposition har monised wonderfully with my wild, hasty temper. She, too, was very fond of me ; in fact, we were a couple of happy children.

" I used to come into frequent contact with a number of gipsies, who often camped near our village ; they used to like me very well. I accompanied them on various short excursions, and one day the chief made 1—2 me a proposal to go with them on a longer trip. They were to take horses from the Scotch mountainous dis tricts to England. He promised me a share of the profits. Of course I consented, and left the house, where I had been hitherto, without any regret or pangs of conscience. My hair, fair like that of my father, was dyed black, and thus we went along in short marches. I was ever on the look-out for some of those landmarks which I had seen on my journey at that time, but always in vain, although I fancied sometimes that I recognised this or that. Occasionally it seemed to me as if I knew the gate of some park we happened to pass.

Yes, I thought even I had seen the park itself before ; but when I came to look close enough, I found myself mistaken. At last, by a curious accident, I came upon the very thing for which I was looking. I had for a long while been wandering round a large park, encircled by high walls ; the keeper wouldn't allow a gipsy boy to enter. All at once I heard children's voices, and presently a ball flew over the wall, close to where I was standing. ' What a pity !' some one exclaimed ; 'now we have lost it !' I seized the ball, ran back to the keeper, and gave it to him. He wanted to give me something ; but I asked him, instead, to do me the favour and allow me to see the park. He consented, and his son accompanied me. "Yes, this was the same stone gate, overshadowed by trees, the same winding paths, the same alleys, along which my father had ridden on the night of our arrival.

My heart beat violently. I would have liked to hurry into the mansion, but I had to follow my little guide, who had orders to deliver up the ball first. Presently we came to a lawn surrounded by flower beds ; two children were playing there, a boy and a girl of some five or six years of age • a lady in deep mourning was looking at them. She thanked me, and while she was talking to me I looked at the two pretty little children before me. I don't know what I felt, but a feeling of compassion overcame me. I could have wept aloud. I could have knelt down before the children and kissed their pretty little hands and fair hair. It was like a picture of my past life. Oh ! I was sure that this was my father's park. I, too, might have played here happily ! And besides all this, the little girl was not unlike my sister.

" Presently the lady called the children to her. We went away, but I looked back many and many a time. We walked towards the mansion. To be sure, there were the same stone portals, the windows, everything. My heart told me it was the same. What would I not have given to enter it ? But this I was not permitted to do. I asked the little boy whether there were fine rooms upstairs ? ' Yes,' he said. ' Is there one,' I asked, ' panelled with wood, and in which there are a lot of swords, daggers, and knives ?' ' Yes, yes,' he replied ; ' rny father has shown it to me many a time when the family was away from home.' ' And is the family here now V I asked, hesitatingly. ' Why,' he said, ' we just saw the lady on the lawn, and the children too ; the lady is in mourning for Lord K .' ' Go on,' I said, ' go on ; what about him ?' ' Lord K , the owner of this estate, died about a year ago.

He fell with his horse while hunting.' — My father was dead. " Without another word I crossed the park, saluted the keeper, and went away. How dreadful for me, to have seen the wife of my father, and yet not my mother; to have seen his children, my brother and sister, who were utter strangers to me. We stopped the night at a neighbouring village, and there I heard the history of the place — my own history, I may call it. Eight years ago, I was informed, young Lord K returned with his family to Scotland, from Italy, in consequence of a repeated invitation from his father. Immediately after his arrival, the marriage was declared null and void, through his father's influence ; the mother was sent back to Italy, and the children were treated as illegitimate. The son seemed to have made no attempt at remonstrance, and com plied with his father's desires, for soon afterwards he married a rich heiress.

" Thus I was an outcast — without name, without family. My mother, I was told, had returned to Italy ; but where was my sister ? It seemed to me, that if I wanted to find any trace of her, I had better go to Sicily ; but — I am sure you will laugh at me — I could not persuade myself to leave my present friends. In fact, I had come to like the wild life I was leading, and I was without means. I need not tell you that I felt my position severely, and that it required all my light-heartedness to repress my remorse ; I dared not think the matter over ; I dared not think what I might have been and what I was. Ah !" the baron ex claimed, in a sad voice, "when these thoughts came over me, I tore my hair, I ran my head against the wall, and I would draw my knife from its sheath. " 1 forgot to tell you," he continued presently, in his usual manner, " that I found the very knife with which I had killed the old man, in the village ; but I have never been able to ascertain how it had got there."

Here he paused, took out his perfumed handkerchief, wiped his moustache, and then pressed it to his eyes. When he let his hand sink down again, his features had assumed a very sad expression. He held out his hand to Mr. Beil, who shook the same most cor dially. " If you knew, he said, " what a relief it is to me to be able to speak to a man without hesitation ! But remember, my friend, if I speak to you of my past life, you must preserve this in your breast, like a wave of the ocean closes over the body of a man who has died at sea. Promise me this, and I shall con tinue. Before you do so, however, I must tell you that you have not heard the worst yet. If you are capable of preserving my little secrets, give me your hand ; it will require no words." Mr. Beil again seized the proffered hand with great emotion, and shook it warmly.

"From that day I became the wildest of the whole band of gipsies. I must not forget to mention that up to that time I had not taken any part in some of their business. I had hitherto earned my living de cently and honestly, but now I gave the leader to understand that I was disposed to take part in other more daring enterprises. I was greatly flattered to find that he accepted my proposal with evident delight. It was easy to understand, however, why he felt pleased, because I was a match for three or four men as regards strength, and in cunning I could hold my own with a dozen. Of course, I wouldn't trouble myself about little matters ; I was longing for some enterprise which required courage and daring. " We went further into the country ; and a few days afterwards the leader took me aside and said : ' Look here, if you like to risk something, we can both be rich men within twenty-four hours.' Naturally, I agreed to everything. ' To-night,' so he said, ' one of the richest estate-owners is going to the capital ; he has got some of his servants with him, but also a lot of money.

Shall we take any of the others, or shall we try to do the business by ourselves ?' ' We two alone,' I replied. To this he agreed.. Night approached ; we took two of our best horses, and rode off, well armed. We crossed a large plain ; it was so stormy that we could scarcely keep our hats on. We stopped at a little wood. It must have been near midnight when we heard a carriage approach ; it came closer; it was being drawn by four horses; two postilions were directing it, and two footmen sat on the seat be hind. I galloped up to the leaders, pulled the one postilion off the horse, while my companion rode up to the window and called out ' Stop !' Although the carriage came to a standstill instantly, still various shots were fired at us, to which, however, we made no reply. While my friend guarded the carriage, I jumped off my horse, pulled the other postilion down, without doing him any harm, whereupon I forced them both, by means of a pistol which I held close to their heads, to unhorse the carriage and let the horses go wherever they liked.

The latter bolted, and their riders followed them in great haste, of which I took no par ticular notice, except that I gave a loud laugh when I saw them depart. " My companion had not been idle in the meantime. He forced the two footmen to sit still, while I went up to the window of the carriage. I was sufficiently cautious only just to show myself, and then to jump aside, for the resolute owner of the carriage fired two shots at me, one of which slightly grazed the skin of my head. After this I went up to the window once more, and requested him now to leave off all further nonsense of this kind. The person whom I was addressing was an old gentleman, lame in the right leg, and as he had left his stick behind him, I lifted him out and put him down on a milestone close to the spot where the carriage stood.

I was perfectly calm, and, so far, our enterprise seemed to me to be very simple. Imagine, however, what I felt when I took down one of the carriage-lanterns, held it close to his face, and found it to be the same old man whom I had seen but once in my life — my grandfather. I left my companion to empty out the contents of the carriage, while I stood by the old man and thought of that night when I saw him for the first time. Aye, we couldn't part in this way ; he should know how Providence, or fate, sometimes punishes the guilty. I pulled out a broad knife, and when he saw that, he gave a start. However, I only just held it close to his face, and asked him to go back in his memory for about eight years. ' Recollect, please,' I said quietly, ' that night in the palatial mansion, which you left not long since ; that night when, by your will, a whole family was torn asunder ; when you forced the father to commit a crime, threw the mother into miseiy and wretchedness, robbed your own grandchildren of their honest name, and condemned them to a life of poverty and vice.

Yes, vice ; for I, who should be by your side, and protect you from an occurrence of this kind ; I — that boy who on that eventful night committed a murder with this same knife — I am now a highway robber, and might become your murderer if God had given me your heart/ " " Dreadful, dreadful !" "That it was, certainly," continued the baron, quietly. " The other had in tho meantime emptied all the money-bags, and put the whole into a large sack which we had taken with us for this purpose. I turned to the old man, and said : ' I dare say we shall never see each other again, unless you should think fit to put the matter into the hands of the police. All I have done is to take my legal inheritance. If you do try to prosecute me, I should appear before you again, but then in the role of the avenger of my poor mother.' He made no reply, but let his head hang down upon his breast.

Perhaps he was thinking how he had wronged me ; or maybe he was angry at his own inability not to be able to annihilate me. "The horses were ready. I put my knife into its sheath. We mounted, and although my companion wanted to ride off at full speed, I made him go at walking pace ; and so we rode right across the country, greatly to the astonishment of the two footmen, who, no doubt, had never witnessed a scene like this. We went on for about an hour, until we came to the ruins of an old abbey, which were well known to both of us. Here we dismounted and examined our booty. The amount was very considerable; divided into two parts, each formed a handsome fortune. We quickly settled this, and the only thing which I claimed was the bank-notes and papers, while I left my companion his part mostly in gold.

I can assure you the fellow was intensely de lighted when he heard that the old man was a relation of mine, and that I had simply taken what should have been legally mine, because he was rather afraid of the gallows. I told him he might now live in peace for the rest of his days, and that we had in reality committed no robbery at all. " Thereupon, of course, we took leave of each other for ever. He returned to his people, while I left England, after having arranged my money matters. I went to Paris, en route for Sicily; but before I left the former place, I caused inquiries to be made in Palermo with regard to my mother and sister. I got a very bad account ; in fact, they had not been heard of, and our misfortune was scarcely known there to its full extent. It was supposed that my father had got a divorce from my mother, who had therefore left England with her share of his fortune and settled down in Ger many.

My informant wrote to say that our relations preferred to ignore us entirely, and unless I were forced to come over, he thought it would be better for me not to come to Palermo. " Thus my only home was denied me. I had no one in whom I could place confidence, from whom I might have expected assistance. Oh, I felt very miserable, I assure you. I was on the point of taking the same step as yourself, but fortunately I was prevented from doing so by my own conscience. Besides, a voice within me seemed to say, What a coward you are, to leave the world and your enemies in this way, without making an attempt at revenge. Show a bold front; face the world ; try and tread them under foot, like they did with you. Think of the time when you were free and independent, when you rode across hills and plain, when you could take any and everything a courageous man can take !

This is what I seemed to hear, and I followed the voice ; I did as it suggested. I was rich, so I went to the capital and lived in the best society. I learnt how to move in the upper circles, and little by littles opened my connections in them. At the same time I looked round among the lowest classes of society, and there I found many friends — real friends. Yes, you look at me in astonishment ; but I only tell you the truth. I assure you, when I left a soiree at night, threw off my fine clothes, donned my blouse, and arranged my hair somewhat differently, any one of the fine ladies with whom I had been dancing would have felt disposed to give me a penny !" " Aha !" said Mr. Beil. " And don't think, pray, that I disliked to move in these lower circles. There you see the people as they really are, good or bad, without any attempt at disguise; but you must not appear among them as a stranger, you must be one of their number, and then a word, a shake of the hand, is enough to make them risk their very lives for you.

Ah, I can tell you, that was a delightful life for me, to move about, just like a ghost. I knew, and could do, more than all the secret police. I saw a thousand intrigues commenced ; I myself started them, and whenever I felt so disposed, I brought them to an end. I was simply the master of thousands of slaves." "And that you are to this very day?" inquired the other, with an evident effort to hide his surprise. " That I am," replied the baron, while he raised himself proudly, and looked firmly at his vis-a-vis. "Yes, that I am, and I will not deny it to you, whom I have given an account of my whole life." " After all, then, it is true ! Pardon me, sir ; for give my surprise — yes, my fright ; because, all at once, you show yourself in such a mysterious light, almost like a phantom. Yes, a phantom," he continued, terror stricken, while he wiped the perspiration from his fore head, and gazed at the other's eyes.

"A phantom, in deed, the very same which appeared to me that night at the canal. But it is stupid," he said, after a while, *■* to make such a fuss. You are sitting before me, and that phantom — was yourself." " Yes, my friend, you are right ; it was I," replied the baron. " I saved your life, and, what is more, your soul ; and if I tell you that I did so for my own purposes, it was simply and solely to gain a friend who is far removed from my wild sphere of life, to whom I could open my heart, and who will not deny me his ad vice if I require it. Oh, don't be afraid, I shall never bring you within this dark circle. This house, this room, shall be and shall remain, as pure as the mind of the child which sleeps in the next room." " And this child — is it yours ?" " Oh no," said the baron, with a sad smile ; " I am not so fortunate as that.

Listen to me for a minute — I shall finish my story in a moment. At first I thought I could lay aside this strange mode of life as easily as I took it up. And to do so I left Paris and went to Germany. But although I kept aloof at first from everything, which formerly used to give me pleasure, this did not last long. I could not resist the temptation of interfering with people's fate, where I felt an inclination to do so. I rewarded or punished just as I thought proper, but I may say that I effected the former more frequently than the latter. I am sure you will believe me if I assure you, that I never took even the smallest profit from my doings — never, although large sums of money were offered to me on many occasions. I never was a spendthrift; what I possessed increased in a perfectly legitimate manner, and wherever I could I assisted the needy or unfortunate.

At one time I happened to be in W , and there I heard of a very extraordinary occurrence from some of the young fellows with whom I was in daily communication. A mother, they said, had sold her daughter for a considerable sum of money, and the girl was in despair, being in love with another man. That was a case for me; my first idea was to carry the poor creature off, secure her independence, and then, if possible, hand her over to her lover. Im possible ! This lover was so much above her in posi tion, that a marriage was not to be thought of. So I resolved to introduce myself to her, and this I did.' At these words the baron heaved a deep sigh, and when he passed his hand over his face the former trembled violently, and the words seemed to come with great difficulty. " Well, I went. I never was at a loss for a pretext — without much ado I entered the room, where I found the girl alone ; a shudder passed through my body, and my teeth chattered, as if I had an attack of fever.

There was no doubt about it ; I recognised the features of the child in the grown-up woman. 1 stood before my sister — good God ! before my sister, who had been sold by her, by my mother, to a life of shame. But no ! no ! Fortunately it was not so bad as that, and I'll only give you an outline of the case. It was my sister, certainly; but our poor mother was dead long since ; she had searched for, and found her child in Scotland; they had led a wretched life ; my mother had worked day and night to be able to live honestly, but at last she succumbed to the privations which she had had to endure, to the treatment she had received from my father, and to her loss which she sustained by my death, for she firmly believed me to be dead. After she died my sister stood alone in the world ; by an accident she met with this woman, who called herself her mother, and who gave her a very superior education, well knowing that the pretty, clever girl would pay her well in time to come.