Gertrude; or Family Pride

Chapter I

In sitting oneself down to the somewhat idle occupation of " Old tales telling of loves long ago," it is much safer, for many reasons, to give fictitious names to the various scenes in which the circumstances occurred, than to challenge the criticism which might discover either too much, or too little of truth in the details, were the real names to be given. Most of the circumstances upon which the following story is founded, occurred in Ger many, and it is therefore to Germany that I will beg my reader to follow me. VOL. I. B GERTRUDE. It was upon a very fine morning in the month of June, that two individuals, who are the first of my dramatis personæ to be presented to him, might have been seen climbing steadily and perseveringly, but at no very rapid pace, the steep hill whioh overhangs the pretty little town to which I shall give the name of Hindsdorf.

These two travellers were neither mounted knights " pricking o'er the plain," or the hill either ; nor had they, in truth, the appearance of belonging to any station to which the act of walking was not likely to be the ordinary mode of conveyance along any high ways, or bye ways, by which it might be necessary for them to travel. But, nevertheless, few could have looked at them steadily for one moment without feeling, inclined to bestow a second, for the purpose of looking at them again ; for both were very decidedly well-looking, and being male and female, it would have been difficult not to believe that the earnestness with which they were conversing, and the deep attention with which each looked at, and listened to, the GERTRUDE. other, proceeded from that tender passion which is universally considered as being par ticularly interesting.

Both were in the earliest bright perfection of adult comeliness, but the girl looked some what the elder of the two. This was not the case, however, for the young man was three years her senior ; but being, as Rosalind says of herself, " more than common tall," and having, moreover, a remarkably firm step, and upright carriage, the girl looked considerably older than she was. The dress of both was scrupulously neat, but shewed no pretension beyond the Sunday garb of decent, well-con ditioned peasants. If examined by a critical eye, however, the young man might have been suspected to be of a higher class than his companion, for his linen was of a finer fabric than the most gala attire s thought to render necessary among persons of the rank to which it seemed evident that he belonged. Any one within reach of hearing, as well as seeing them, as they pursued their way, would have discovered that there was a difference of b GERTRULE. opinion between them, or some very interest ing point which they were discussing, not withstanding the air of love and devotion which each seemed to feel for the other.

"Fear nothing, my dear friend!" said the beautiful, tall, upright girl, as she stepped firmly and actively on beside her companion ; " fear neither harshness, nor difficulty of any kind, from the venerable man we are about to visit. All wdl go smoothly with us, depend upon it." And then, after the silence of a moment, she added, the words however, being tempered by a most lovely smile, " Nay ! I wdl turn round, and run away ! I will indeed, if you permit yourself to be thus overpowered by terror. Why, your arm positively trembles !" " And can you wonder it should tremble ?" he rephed, looking at her almost reproach fully. " Oh ! do you not tremble too !" " Nay, take my hand, and hold it steadily," she replied, laughingly. " Do you find any symptom of trembling, my good man?" " Surely, surely, you cannot love me as I love you, or you could not be thus brave at GERTRUDE. contemplating the possibility of our being parted for ever !" he answered, in a voice of deep emotion, as he pressed the hand she placed in his.

" But I contemplate no such possibility," she replied ; adding, in a firm but gentle voice, well calculated to soothe the feelings which she affected to chide, " I contemplate nothing but the returning with you along this self-same path within an hour or so, as your wedded wife ; and I see nothing in that at all likely to make me tremble." The young man only answered these cheer ing words by a passionate caress, and then they pursued their way in silence for a minute or two. But this silence was again soon broken by him, for, in a tone which sounded a little as if he were relapsing into the fears for which he had been chidden, he ventured to whisper. " But if this priest should declare that he w7ould not marry us ? If he should say that it was his duty to be assured of the consent of our parents and friends ?" . . .

" Why, in that case, my good man," re- GERTRUDE. turned his still smiling companion, " in that case, we must take our leave of him very re spectfudy, and betake ourselves and our wed ding-fee to another." " But do you not rest too much hope and faith upon that large wedding-fee, dearest?" said the youth, shaking his head. " It is possible I may," she replied ; " but till experience teaches me the contrary, I am strong, very strong, in the faith and hope which the amount of it inspires. They say, that is, the worldly-wise, of course ; but the worldly wise do say that the priesthood (of the present day) have a great respect for money. Perhaps they think that the possession of it may enable them to do much good. And they are right there, my friend. Money is certainly a powerful agent, either for good or evil, as the case may be.

If he be a reasoning, right-thinking man, he cannot fail to perceive, from the amount of the sum we are about to offer him, that the attachment between us is a very true one. It must be a rare thing for people of our station to offer so large a sum for the purpose of being permitted to enter the pale of holy matrimony. GERTRUDE. 7 And though it is likely enough that he will guess, from the secret manner in which we present ourselves, that our respective parents are probably at feud, and, therefore, would oppose the marriage, he must, at the same time, be aware that there would be great and useless cruelty in attempting to keep asunder a pair who love each other well enough to part with a sum which, of course, must be so im portant to them ! Moreover, a very little common sense wdl suffice to convince him that, if he will not marry us, some other priest will."

This conversation, earnest as it was, had not impeded their pace, and they had now reached the summit of the hill they had long been ascending. The level they had thus obtained, however, did not continue above a quarter of a mile, before they arrived at a somewhat steep declivity on the other side, which terminated in the little town which they trusted would prove the termination of their excursion ; for there dwelt the priest whom they hoped would consent to unite them in the bonds of holy wedlock. GERTRUDE. The young girl had never visited this little town before, but it was sufficiently well known to her companion, to enable him, as they de scended the hill, to point out to her the dwelling of the priest whom they came to seek ; which humble dweding seemed to make part and parcel of the little church within whose walls they hoped to receive the benediction which was to insure their mutual happiness for life.

Something hke a tremor seemed to pass over her, however, as he pointed out the spot, and said, " There is the church, dearest ; and there, under the same roof, as it should seem, is the dwelling of the priest." He felt that she trembled as he pronounced these words, and suddenly stopping, he dropped the arm which rested on his, and placing him self directly before her, he fixed his earnestly enquiring eyes upon her face, and said, " Do you repent ? It is not yet too late to say so. Speak !" The young girl did not immediately obey him. She did not speak, but she fixed her elo quent eyes upon his face, and let them speak for her ; and truly it may be doubted, if a GERTRUDE. more perfect model of human beauty, than she then gazed upon, ever met the eye of a mortal, since the original of the Apollo stood before the statuary who has given him an earthly immortality.

She looked at him very fixedly for a moment ; and then she sighed. But it was the sigh of tenderness, and of passion. Regret had nothing to do with it ; and in the next moment she smiled again, and smilingly recovered possession of his arm, and drawing him back to his place at her side, only replied to his question by a gentle pressure, and an accelerated pace. His reply to this silent decision was also given in silence. A look, and again a gentle pressure of the arm, said quite as much as any words could have done. A few moments brought them to the arched gateway of the little town of Hindsdorf, and a few more to the door of the priest's house. " Was the priest at home ?" was the question asked with trembling eagerness by the young man. The answer was in the affirm ative, and about two steps more brought them GERTRUDE. from the humble door of the house to another equally humble, which opened upon a small snug room, near the open window of which sat the holy man, whose services they came to purchase ;' he held a book in his hand, but his eyes were fixed upon the blooming little flower garden, on which the window opened.

It would not have been very easy for even more experienced eyes to have formed any very decided opinion upon the temper and character of the man whose face was turned towards them, as soon as he became aware that the door of the room was opened. His age appeared to be about sixty, or something beyond it, but though rather a spare man, he had still a look of health and activity, and his eye had lost nothing of the keen expression for which it must ever have been remarkable. The old woman who had admitted our lovers, lingered for a moment in the doorway, as if wishing to hear them declare their errand j but her master checked her indiscretion by saying, in an accent which was, however, only remarkable from its peculiar distinctness, " Shut the door." GERTRUDE. This command was as promptly obeyed as it was given ; and then the old man turned to his two young visitors, and said, " What is your business ?"

" We are come to Hindsdorf to be married," replied the young man, without adding another syllable. The old priest looked at them both rather earnestly for a moment, and then raised his eye-brow7s, and shook his head. Any description of the scene which followed would be quite superfluous ; it is enough to say, that the young girl had not rested a vain hope upon the influence of the wedding fee which they had contrived to bring with them. The names of both were equally, and utterly un known to the old man, whereas the value of their gold was a matter of no mystery what ever. Nor did he think it necessary to make any great difficulty about the matter. He very hospitably regaled them with the best refresh ment which his house afforded, and exerted himself very actively while they were engaged in taking it, in order to get everything in order for the ceremony which w7as to follow.

GERTRUDE. The priest of Hindsdorf was greatly re spected in his parish, and he found no difficulty in obtaining proper and sufficient witnesses for the ceremony he was about to perform. In a word, the purpose of the unfriended young couple was achieved with no bustle, and with as little delay as possible ; and the most remarkable circumstance which I have at present to relate respecting it is, that though they walked so lovingly together to the town of Hindsdorf, they left it by two different routes, which appeared to lead them as far asunder as it was possible they could go. > GERTRUDE.

Chapter II

We have all read stately stories of proud old barons in more lands than one ; and if our researches into the annals of the race have led us far back, we may have read too of pre datory barons, nay, of murdering barons also ; each one furnishing a theme fruitful in incident, and precious to all the numerous class of readers who love excitement better than ex ample. I, too, have a story to ted about a baron, and, moreover, about a German baron, which is, I believe, considered as the most romantic species of the class ; but unfortunately the date of my story is not so favourable as I GERTRUDE. could wish it to be, for it is too recent to furnish authority for any of those highly-wrought de scriptions of awful acts, and startling facts, which are so readily welcomed by the imagi nation, when the period at which they occurred is sufficiently remote to render the application of the test of probability, only a mark of ignorance as to the prodigious difference be tween the present and the past.

Such as my story is, however, I will tell it without further preface, only begging for a little more of the indulgence which has so often been granted to me. The Baron von Schwanberg was already an old man when my narrative begins, but still young enough, nevertheless, to be as self willed and headstrong a gentleman as could easily be found at any age. He was, more over, one of the very proudest men that ever existed ; but there was such an honest and undoubting sincerity of belief in his own greatness, that few of those who approached him could refuse to sympathise with his feel ings sufficiently to prevent their betraying any very decided doubt of his greatness ; for it GERTRUDE. was easy to perceive that no such doubt could be betrayed to him, without producing a more violent effect than any reasonable person would wish to witness.

Had he lived more in the world, this half insane state of mind must of necessity have been cured ; but every circumstance of his life had unfortunately tended to increase it. He was early placed, with all the distinc tion usually shewn to rank and fortune, in one of the most favoured regiments of the Emperor of Austria ; and if he had remained there, he would have been sure to learn, notwithstanding this grace and favour, that he was but a man, though a very noble one. But unfortunately his father died within a year after the young officer had attained the age of twenty-one years, and, as the country was then most profoundly at peace, no objection of anv kind was made to his withdrawine himself to his estates in Hungary, which were indeed large and important enough to render the personal superintendence of their possessor extremely necessary.

Setting aside the sort of monomaniacal GERTRUDE. pride above mentioned, the Baron von Schwan berg was far from being a bad man ; and if he believed that the duties which devolved upon him at the death of his father, were only second in importance to those which fell upon the Emperor himself, when his imperial parent was removed from the earth, he believed also that great and grave duties devolved upon him likewise, and very earnestly did the youth ful baron determine to perform them faithfully. Having, by very careful and judicious in quiry, ascertained both the character and the position of the many families in his imme diate neighbourhood, who were either the tenants, or the labourers on his property, he made various regulations, all tending to en courage and reward their industry ; and it would have been difficult to find in any land an estate, upon which the toiling labourers, who converted its sod into gold, had less reason to complain of their lot.

That these labourers w7ere considered by the baron as no more of the same order of beings as himself, than were the docile oxen GERTRUDE. which they led to plough, or the milky herds which enriched their dairies, is most certain ; but the Baron von Schwanberg was as un conscious of committing any fault or folly, by so thinking, as he was when selecting a rose from his flower-garden, and testifying his ap proval of it, by permitting it to bloom for his especial pleasure on his drawing-room table. But, nevertheless, though his gigantic estimate of his own greatness did not weigh upon his conscience, it was in many ways troublesome to him. It cannot be doubted, that such a young man as the baron, almost as far removed from frivolity of all sorts as from right thinking upon most subjects, — it cannot be doubted that such a man had not long found himself at the head of his illustrious house, before he began to turn his thoughts towards the necessary and all-important business of forming such a matrimonial alliance as, while it provided for the continuance of his race, should add no symbol to the bearings on his shield which could be considered as unworthy of a place there.

But the task he thus set himself was, in vol. i. c GERTRUDE. truth, no easy one. Not for a moment during the many years through which this difficult search lasted, did he ever permit his eye to wander in pursuit of beauty, however attractive, or his heart to soften under the influence of the sweetest smiles that woman could bestow. Some adverse fate seemed to be at work against him ; for, although, in addition to his noble descent, and his large and unincumbered estates, he was decidedly a very handsome man, his hand had been more than once rejected. It is probable that he was too much in earnest in the real object which he had in view, to disguise his comparative indifference on other points ; for it would be really difficult to account for his many disappointments on any other ground. At length, how7- ever, his persevering researches were rewarded by what he considered as the most brilliant success ; for during his annual visit to Vienna he had the happiness of meeting, wooing, and winning a young countess, who really seemed to possess every qualification to make the marriage state happy, save aud except the paltry article of wealth ; but as he really GERTRUDE. would have considered a large fortune in his wife a very useless superfluity, the want of it was by no means considered as an obstacle to the union ; and at length, therefore, a few months before his fiftieth birthday, the Baron von Schwanberg was united to the young, beautiful, and high-born Countess Gertrude von Wolkendorf.

When a marriage so every way desirable has been achieved by a lover, he is apt to think that he has reached the happiest mo ment of his existence ; but this was not exactly the case with the Baron von Schwanberg. He was certainly greatly delighted to find himself, at length, married to precisely such a noble young lady as it had been his wish to find ; but not even from her would he have attempted to conceal the fact, that the happiness of possessing her was a blessing of con siderably less importance than that of the heir which he anticipated as its result. Fortunately, the prospect of this crowning blessing soon became evident, and the delight. of the Baron von Schwanberg thereupon was almost too great to be restrained within any c GERTRUDE. reasonable bounds. His young wife w7as often at a loss to know how she ought to receive these vehement demonstrations of his happi ness.

Like most other women, she gladly welcomed the trial that awaited her, for the sake of the treasure which her womanly hope told her would reward her for it ; but as to sympathising with the almost convulsive rap tures daily and hourly expressed by her husband, it was beyond her power. She was by nature thoughtful, gentle, and rather unde monstrative, than the reverse ; and moreover, she was as true as she was reasonable ; and the sort of affectation which it would have required to enable her to appear in a state of ecstacy equal to his own, would have required a sacrifice of sincerity which it was not in her nature to make. As it never entered the head of the Baron von Schwanberg, to suppose it possible that any lady who shared with him in a]l the honours and glories of his position, as his wife, should be insensible to the happiness of transmitting them to an heir, he very soon began to torment himself with the terrible GERTRUDE. idea, that the preternatural composure aud indifference, as he called it, of his wife's man ner, arose from ill-health ; and from the time this idea first suggested itself to him, he never for a moment lost sight of the possibility, nay, probability, that all his hopes might at last prove abortive.

Grievously did he torment his unfortunate lady, wdio, to say the truth, was in very ex cellent health, by his unceasing anxiety about her condition ; till at length, finding that the most tender and persevering inquiries could obtain from her nothing but reiterated as surances that she was " quite well," he sud denly took the resolution of adding a domestic accoucheur to his establishment ; and as he did not deem it either necessary or judicious to explain to his lady all the parental terrors which had induced him to take this step, Madame von Schwanberg was a good deal surprised by the lengthened visit of the grave and not very amusing individual whom her husband now introduced to her as one of his particular friends. This introduction, however, was, of course, GERTRUDE. enough to insure her treating him with all the consideration due to an honoured guest ; nor, to say the truth, was she at all insensible to the relief she might experience by her magnificent husband having the society of a friend, whose presence might occasionally excuse the necessity of her own, and leave her thereby at liberty to listen, in the retirement of her own apartments, to " those silent friends that ever please ;" an indulgence which, if not absolutely denied to her, had been very greatly restricted since the Baron von Schwanberg had made her the partner of his greatness.

But, by degrees, it seemed as if this par ticular friend of her husband's was inclined to assume the right of being her particular friend also. Again and again, it chanced that when the Baron brought him to pay a daily visit of compliment to his lady, in her ow7n particular sitting-room, he lingered behind, when the lord of the mansion retired ; and, by degrees, this very superfluous degree of attention was rendered still more remarkable, and still more disagreeable, by his removing GERTRUDE. from the place he had occupied during the presence of the lady's husband, and taking a seat next to her, often, indeed, on the very sofa she occupied. And then followed, before she could quite make up her mind as to the best mode of escaping this annoyance, the inconceivable audacity of his taking her hand, and holding it for several minutes in his, despite her very decided efforts to withdraw it.

The Baroness von Schwanberg was one of the last women in the world to suspect a gentleman of falling in love with her ; but it appeared to her impossible to suggest any other solution capable of explaining the extra ordinary conduct of the Herr Walters. For several days, however, after this idea first occurred, she very earnestly endeavoured to persuade herself that it was impossible ; and nothing but the persevering repetition of the offence could have induced her, at length, to confess to her husband that she did not like the manners of his friend, the Herr Walters ; that he was a vast deal too familiar in his mode of addressing her, to suit her notions of propriety ; GERTRUDE. and that she greatly wished that a time for his departure might be fixed as soon as possible. It would be difficult to conceive anything more ludicrous than the manner in which the Baron von Schwanberg listened to this re monstrance.

He had cautiously avoided men tioning to his lady the profession of his guest, from the fear of endangering her health by creating a feeling of alarm ; and it was, there fore, with no appearance of surprise, but with an aspect of the most serene satisfaction, that he now listened to her observations respecting the offensive famdiarity of his manner. The Baron von Sclrwanberg had much too profound respect for the noble lineage of his lady, to make it easy for him to allow, even to himself, that she had any of the faults or de fects to which inferior people are liable ; but, nevertheless, there was one trait in her character to which, with all his efforts, he could not be wholly blind, and which, assuredly, often oc casioned him something very nearly approach ing to vexation. And no wonder, for this defect in his lady's character was the apparent GERTRUDE. absence of that noble feeling which the vulgar call pride, but which all higher classes of the human race more properly designate as a high-minded appreciation of their own position.

It was, therefore, with a greater degree of sa tisfaction than can be easily imagined by per sons differently situated, that the Baron von Schwanberg now listened to his lady's indignant observations on the too great familiarity of the Herr Walters' manners towards her. The Baron was not of a caressing disposi tion, or he would probably have testified his feelings by giving his lady a warm embrace. But, although he did not do this, he testified his feelings in a manner equally eloquent, for he immediately stood up, and placing his right hand on his breast while he saluted her, by touching the left with his lips, he made her a very profound bow, and said, with an approv ing smile, as he recovered his perpendicular position : " Your feelings, my dear lady, are exactly what I would wish them to be.

That you should resent anything, and everything, that could suggest the idea of impertinent fami- GERTRUDE. liarity, is not only what I should expect from the lady whom I have so carefully selected as my wife, but it is precisely what I should most honour and most admire in the lady of my choice. And now, having done this justice to you, and to myself, let me also do justice to the very respectable individual whom you have been led to consider as defective in that perfect respect and deference which your father's daughter, and my wife, have such undoubted right to expect. And now permit me to ex plain to you the real cause of the conduct which has appeared to you as objectionable in the worthy Herr Walters." And having said this, the Baron von Schwanberg sat himself down on the sofa beside his lady, and proceeded to explain to her the nature of the attention which their new inmate had bestowed upon her.

There would be no use in attempting to describe the transition from one species of displeasure to another, which was the result of this confidential disclosure to the persecuted baroness, for it may be very easily imagined. The prevailing quality of her temper was GERTRUDE. gentleness, or, more correctly speaking, tranquillity. No lady living ever troubled her self less concerning the affairs of other people, nor was she at all disposed to suspect that other people took the liberty of troubling themselves about hers ; and the now finding herself the object, and the avowed object, of the unceasing observation of her very parti cularly tiresome husband, and his professional assistant, was a sore trial to her usually dig nified composure of manner. If the medical gentleman had touched her pulse at that moment, he would assuredly have felt himself called upon to declare that it made no very " healthful music ;" but, fortunately for her patience, she escaped this trial ; and when her observant spouse perceived that his statement respecting the Herr Walters' position in his family caused a very remarkable augmentation of colour on the delicate cheek of his lady, he permitted himself to look at her with a sort of patronizing smile, as he pro mised to indulge the timidity of her youthful shyness, as far as it was possible to do so without Avithdrawing the attention necessary to her precious health !

GERTRUDE. " The timidity of lief youthful shyness !" The feeling which her unsuspicious husband thus described, might have been called a movement of almost ungovernable rage, with much more justice. The baroness half rose from her chair, and her project was, probably, to leave the room ; but she conquered herself sufficiently to re sume her seat, and another moment enabled her to avoid the folly of expressing anger that would be equally unintelligible, and disre garded. For a second thought sufficed to suggest a wiser course. If their strange visiter was retained in the house for the ex press purpose of examining the state of her health, he might (she thought), if he had been as great a fool as his employer, have made himself still more troublesome than he had been already ; and although his doing so might have saved her from the ridiculous blunder into which she had fallen, it would have left less hope of her being able to pre vent his annoying her for the future.