A poor girl

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W. HEIMBURG

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LATHROP

WITH PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS

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NEW YORK :

HURST & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.

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Copyright, 1892, by

f/ORTHINGTON COMPANY

A POOR GIRL.

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IKE a caressing touch, the mild damp spring air, streaming into the room through the wideopened windows, played over the strangely pale and quiet face of a very young woman, resting among the pillows of the bed. The breeze raised the full blonde curls on the pale brow, and stirred the curtains of a cradle draped in blue, which, as if it were everywhere in the way, had been pushed into the furthest corner of the room.

‘‘ Stand up, Hegebach,” said a woman’s deep voice.

God gives and God takes away, and we must bear it patiently.”

She was a tall stout woman, in the forties, who with these words approached the man who lay motionless beside the bed, and had thrown his arms over the dead woman as if in wild grief. He did not move now, and the speaker hastily wiped a couple of tears from her bright intelligent eyes.

Hegebach, you must not, you cannot lie here the whole day without food and drink. Come,” she continued, her reproving tone ending in a half-suppressed sob, ‘‘ come, Hegebach, you still have duties — think of the child ! ”

He groaned and rose. He was a man no longer young, and grief made his bearded face with the unmistakably military cut of hair, appear much older ; his eyes stared almost uncannily at the peaceful sweet face which slumbered there so calmly. Then turning away abruptly, he left the room, with clanking spurs, no longer a mourner, but as one enraged, deeply insulted. The woman left behind straightened the white coverlet over the corpse, and smoothed the childish face caressingly, then brought the cradle from the corner and' carried it out.

In the opposite room something cried ; she hastily opened the door and entered a small one-windowed room, evidently that of the dead woman. It was indescribably dainty, although almost too simple for a lady of rank, with its white hangings and the work-table by the window, through which one could look out into the garden where the young tender green twigs swung in the mild spring zephyrs. There was no one in the room,

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o only on the sofa a little white bundle, from which a pair of tiny red fists protruded, and which emitted a helpless cry.

The tall stately woman suddenly fell upon her knees before the sofa, and weeping hid her face in the small cushions. Yes, yes,” she whispered, the world does not smile upon you, you poor thing ! No mother, no mother ! And your father acts as though God had deeply insulted him in sending him a poor little girl. Foolish little wight, why were you not a boy ? And every one gone, of course ! They leave you here to cry, and you are hungry, too.”

She paused and gazed for a moment, as though pondering, at the tiny puckered red face. “ Wait, wait,” said she, quickly raising the child. I will take you with me to the castle ; what can he do with such an atom ? ”

Two days later the young Mrs. von Hegebach was buried. Her short life was the talk of the day all over the little city, and those who had not known her, soon learned that she had been a penniless girl and had married the man so much her senior, and also without fortune, for the sake of a home. No one had believed it possible that he would ever marry; he had been already an old bachelor, and surly and irritable besides. Now it was just a year since this sunbeam had entered his house — what a short happiness !

If it really was one,” said many. Captain von Selchow assured several younger comrades, on the way to the funeral, that he knew from authentic sources that Hegebach’s marriage had been a coup de disespoir. He, Hegebach, some fifteen months before, had received from his wealthy old uncle, the Bennewitzer, a letter which informed him briefly and explicitly that the uncle had no idea of leaving his fortune to a pair of old bachelors, such as, unfortunately, both his nephews were ; he wished to know for whom he had saved and cared. Whichever of the two men first announced to him the birth of a son and heir should be the chosen one. Daughters were not to be considered. Hegebach’s cousin, of the Fifteenth Dragoons, had not answered this letter ; there was a rumor of an affair from which he could not at once disentangle himself. But our Captain a week later answered very laconically with the notice of his betrothal, voila tout. The rest the gentlemen knew ; to-day they attended the sad conclusion of the story. She was a charming woman, the little Hegebach — a great pity,” he concluded, pathetically.

Mrs. von Ratenow of the castle had cared for the young mother, and made the arrangements for the funeral ; there was a slight relationship between them. The parents of the deceased were no longer living, but the guardian had come to the burial early this morning. Hegebach’s comrades had appeared, and the regimental band had preceded the flower-laden coffin through the winding lanes, and played hymns. The widower followed the hearse in his full uniform; his rigid face ex-

A Poor Girl.

pressed no grief, but rather misanthropy; it even seemed as if the lips under the full beard, already half gray, curled in a scornful smile.

Then that was over. The people had gone. One more fresh mound rose in the churchyard, and the street before the house of mourning was again deserted ; a single carriage still waited before the door, a carriage drawn by a magnificent pair of horses, evidently belonging to wealthy people.

In the dead wife's room the little basket cradle with the sleeping child was rocked softly ; an old servant, her hands in her lap, sat beside it, with eyes red from weeping. She had draped the simple furniture in sheets ; the dainty little table, the flowers at the window, had vanished, as had curtains and rugs ; it looked deserted and uninhabited, as though the owner had gone on a long journey.

Mrs. von Ratenow entered the Captain’s gloomy unhomelike sitting-room. She wore hat and cloak.

Good-by, Hegebach ! ” said she. “ I must go home now ; they have just sent for me. Moritz has come and things have gone at sixes and sevens at home this week. I need not assure you that the little child will be well cared for.”

He had stood at the window and stared out into the narrov/ street ; now he turned and gazed in astonishment at the resolute, still beautiful woman.

“Yes,” she continued, “it needs care and attention, Hegebach. A baby could not thrive here in your

A Poor Girl.

smoky rooms. I do it for its mother’s sake, for 1 am no longer accustomed to little children — Moritz is twenty years old.”

I thank you, dear madam,” he murmured ; ‘‘indeed — I did not know ”

“ Oh, no matter, dear Hegebach ; I should merely like to beg you not to be angry with the poor little creature because you will not receive that sand-hill, Bennewitz. ‘ Man proposes, God disposes ; ’ who knows how it may all turn out ? ”

“ My cousin marries next month, my dear madam.”

“Well, let him marry,” was the answer. “If the much-longed-for son is born to him, the estate and inheritance are his, that we have long known.”

“ And the child ! ” he cried, for the first time letting his wild grief burst forth, and tearing open his uniform. “ If it were not I, Lisa would still be alive ; were it not I, a son would have cried in the cradle ! Who am I to dare stretch out my hand for happiness ? ”

“ Hegebach ! ” said Mrs. von Ratenow, reproachfully.

“A girl without fortune,” he murmured with indescribable bitterness ; “ what that means in our rank in the present time you know as well as I.”

“ Bad enough, to be sure. But she will get along as do other poor girls — she must learn to work ; has two dear little sound hands, and two bright eyes. What shall her name be ? ” she finished calmly. “ Shall she have her mother’s name, Elizabeth ? ”

He nodded, and turned to the window again.

d Poor Girl.

Good-by, Hegebach. Will you not at least see the little thing once ? ”

He pressed his forehead against the window-pane, and made a hasty gesture of dissent.

“ Well, then, I hope that this child may yet prove a blessing from God to you, Hegebach — that you will thank Him on your knees for the consolation sent you in your old age. May that be your reward ! ”

She went to the dead wife’s room, the flush of excitement on her face.

‘‘ Take the child, Susan ; we will set out now.”

And followed by the old woman, who carried the infant, its face carefully wrapped in a blue veil, she got into the carriage.

A Poor Girl.

They had no long distance to drive — down the street, past the old court-house, which still bore on its walls the traces of the thirty years’ war in the form of iron cannon balls, through several winding lanes and an old gate which must date back to the middle ages, then along the city walls, over which peeped the tops of blooming fruit-trees, along a magnificent linden alley, and through a hospitably opened gate, from which the front of a high, massive building with a colossal pointed tiled roof, mossy and gray with age, was visible. And just at this moment, as the carriage rolled into the yard, the sun shed a golden light over the old brick house, which lay surrounded by lindens and ash-trees which had just put forth a light green veil of leaves on their venerable heads, as though it would give a greeting to the orphan child upon her entrance to this house, which in charity and compassion was to offer a refuge to her childhood.

The carriage stopped before the stately door, and a strikingly tall young man, evidently still in travelling garb, sprang down the steps, threw open the carriage door violently, and kissed both hands of the lady as she dismounted.

‘‘Mother, had I suspected,” he said, “but I could not possibly go to the funeral in these clothes. But what is that ? ” he interrupted himself, and pointed to the woman who had just alighted with the child.

“ Lisa’s child, Moritz. For God’s sake, you will let it fall.”

But the young man with the frank handsome face

A Poor Girl.

had already taken the little bundle in his arms and carried it into the house, followed by the two women.

‘‘ Oh, goodness ! ” he cried, having reached the comfortable sitting-room, gazing tenderly as a woman at the tiny little face. How it looks, mother ; so little and twitching — my poor dear Lisa ! ” and he turned quickly to the window as if he did not wish it to be seen that his eyes were moist. This is the consequence, mother,” he continued; “had you not persuaded Lisa to marry that old Captain she would be living yet.”

“ Moritz, you are a monster,” replied Mrs. von Ratenow, and she took the child from him. “ Shame on you ! For whom should the girl have waited ? The great boy has tears in his eyes. I cannot bear to hear these laments of ‘if’ and ‘but,’ Moritz. Lisa has fulfilled her duty as a woman, let her rest.”

“ And the child will stay with us ? ”

“ Certainly, Moritz,” replied his mother ; “ where should she go ? ”

‘‘ That is so good of you,” said he, and threw his arm around the stately woman ; “ good, as you alone can be.”

“No nonsense, Moritz. You know that I am no sentimentalist,” said she, calmly. “ Your father had a tendency that way^ and you have inherited it, eh ? You have again spent all that money in travelling expenses so as to see your mother and your home again, you boy, you ! ”

She tried to look contemptuous, but she did not succeed ; the mother-love shone too plainly from her eyes as she gazed at her only son.

You have hit it, mother ; I had just time enough, and I knew that you would not be vexed.”

‘^This confidence,” said she, smiling ; ^^how well you know me ! But now we will attend to the child. AVhat do you think, Moritz ; shall I commission Aunt Lott with her bringing up ? ”

What ? ” he cried, astonished and yet amused.

Then I must be present ! Give me the young lady, I will carry her upstairs. I must witness the scene.”

Aunt Lott was an adopted sister and cousin of Mrs. von Ratenow and Canoness of Z — ; but, with the exception of the prescribed eight weeks which she must spend each year in Z — , or else forfeit her position, she lived at the castle. She was a quiet, not too intelligent creature, delicate, pale, a bit literary, and was the exact opposite of Mrs. von Ratenow, although the two had grown up together since the earliest childhood. Aunt Lott took a romantic view of everything ; she lived and breathed in the poetry of the higher spheres, high above all the dust of earth.” She read everything that she could lay her hands upon, and the" more touching and heart-breaking the story the more beautiful she thought it. She knew The Enchanted Rose ” by heart, and when she recited the last verse her emotion rose to the utmost height :

“ Of all that blissful time remains to me This song, my sufferings, and my love alone J”

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This was really only sighed, not spoken.

Yes, fate had once showed her a prize — she had drawn a blank ; she had a grave ” in her heart, as she was accustomed to assure her friends.

But in spite of that the two had always been good friends. When her practical cousin married Baron von Ratenow, Lott had remained with the lonely parents.

and after their death she found several pleasant rooms in the upper story of the spacious castle, in which everything was so scrupulously neat that one fairly feared to tread upon the dazzlingly polished parquet.

A purring cat sat on the window-seat behind snowy curtains ; the brass doors of the tile stove shone like pure gold ; a spinning-wheel stood in the corner beside the sofa, adorned with broad ribbons, and the glass cupboard was filled with all kinds of ornaments of a bygone time, chief among which was a Chinaman of Meissner porcelain, which could nod its head for hours at a time. It was enormously valuable, as Aunt Lott assured every one who admired it. She sat by the window reading a psalm ; she wore a black gown and silk apron, for she had truly loved the young woman who had died after such a short life. It had been in this tidy little room that, scarcely a year ago, the girl, weeping and frightened, had laid her hand in her elderly bridegroom’s, whom she had met while visiting at the castle, as the large house of the Ratenows’ was called. They had played whist together, and he had been vexed when she made a mistake. A week later his sabre clanked over the castle steps ; he had come en grande tenue to woo. He had sat in the state-room down-stairs for two hours, in suspense and anxiety, until Mrs. von Ratenow said, Wait, Hegebach ; I will bring the little girl to her senses.” And she had gone up into Aunt Lott’s room, where the girl crouched on a sofa, trembling and weeping, and Aunt Lott vainly

A Poor Girl.

strove to quiet her excited nerves with cologne and lavender, for this wooing had been like lightning from a cloudless sky to her.

After another hour she was betrothed ; the sonorous voice of the mistress of the house had been audible almost in the lowest story ; at least Moritz, who was also home on a visit, declared that he had heard such exclamations as ^‘suitable match” — ‘‘pretensions” — ‘ what are you waiting for ? ” Into the room, where the mother had fought and struggled, Moritz von Ratenow now carried the little daughter, and, without preparation, laid it in Aunt Lott's lap.

“ There, auntie, is something for the cat to be jealous of."

“ Merciful heaven ! ” she screamed, and her eyes wandered from the child through the orderly room, and rested upon the pale, grave face of Mrs. von Ratenow.

“ You have the most time, Lott ; take the child. I have brought her nurse, old Susan, with me ; you will not have much care. It could not stay with him, for it does not yet smoke cigars, and, as you know, I cannot have the care of it with all my housekeeping duties.”

The old maid’s delicate hands already during this speech had clasped the little bundle. She said nothing, she could not, but she nodded so energetically and affirmatively, while her face twitched and she wiped her eyes so vigorously that this could be considered a perfectly satisfactory answer. And so Moritz, at his mother’s suggestion, pushed aside the cupboard which concealed a door, and when this was opened a pleasant little room, with blue chintz hangings, was seen, which had formerly been used for guests, but was now promoted to a nursery. Moritz brought the cradle upstairs, and when it grew dark Aunt Lott sat with her knitting, and near her, young Baron von Ratenow in the light from the night-lamp, beside the swinging cradle, she in a chair and he on a stool, and they spoke in whispers of the dead so eagerly that they did not notice that Mrs. von Ratenow’s head appeared in the doorway, and from there she watched the strange pair. The gray cat had sprung up into the cradle and licked its paws.

''A strange boy! ” murmured the mother, descending the stairs. A man with the heart of a child— his father all over again. Of course, he does not get it from me. And she took the bunch of keys from her girdle with such energy that the girls in the kitchen, who were talking eagerly of the little child brought into the house, hurried to their work, for the mistress would brook no trifling.

So it grew up, the child, in the old house shaded by lindens, and built of and upon the ruins of a castle which had been burned down by the Swedes in the thirty years’ war. A huge thick tower still stood in the garden, a wall and moat still surrounded the building, both of which were blue with violets in the spring. There was an old well, with a sweep, in the garden, a

A Poor Girl.

dungeon, and eerie ghost stories by the hundred. It had long been in the possession of the Ratenows, having fallen to them through a marriage, a Ratenow having long ago wooed and won a Burgsdorf, the last of her race.

When the child's bright eyes looked out of the window, they gazed over the large yard with the stables and bams to the roofs and towers of the little city ; near the tower of the court-house, under the high peaked slate roof, lived the solitary man. And when the little being, scarce two years old, was asked, ‘‘Who lives over there ? " she took her little finger from her mouth and pointed and said with sparkling eyes, “ Papa ! ”

Yes, papa ; the papa who scarcely knew his child, who merely paid an occasional visit to the castle from a sense of duty, and looked at the blonde child as gloomily as though some disagreeable letter had been presented to him. And still the child met him with a cry of joy, and reached out longingly for the bright buttons of his uniform. There must be something in the little heart which made it turn unsuspectingly to the quiet, embittered man.

She was a remarkably pretty child, the darling of the whole house, great friends with Aunt Lott, the gray cat, and big Moritz. Only of Aunt Ratenow was she afraid; the rosy face became waxen at a reproving glance from this lady’s bright eyes. She rushed eagerly to pick up anything that fell to the ground ; but she was not as smilingly ready as with Aunt Lott, although she was no less pleasantly thanked.

i6

“ She must soon go to school,” said Mrs. von Ratenow one day as she sat near the window, and her eyes followed the child, who ran across the yard, her curls flying out behind her, and vanished in the cow-stables, where she was accustomed to drink her evening milk. '' She will be five years old in April,” and she pushed the spectacles, which she had worn for two years, up on her smooth white forehead, that she might see better.

‘^To school?” asked Moritz, who was at home for his Easter vacation, and was pacing up and down the room, immensely tall and blond in his gray summer suit. A pert little mustache covered his mouth, and his face was as rosy as ever.

To school ? ” he asked, pausing before his mother.

Mrs. von Ratenow stared at him.

“ I know very well, dear mother, that she must learn to read and write, but why not here, in the house ? There are plenty of governesses.”

The work sank into his mother’s lap, and her bright eyes had an astonished expression. Moritz, I do not know what you are thinking of ! Had I daughters of my own I should perhaps — I say, perhaps — have selected this aristocratic and secluded style of instruction, but the child would be spoiled by it, and — more’s the pity — she will be soon enough.”

“ Then is the little thing to trot all that distance to school, in all kinds of wind and weather ? Let her at least drive in winter, mother.”

Am I a fool, Moritz ? ” she replied, calmly. If you will guarantee her a carriage later — as far as I am concerned. Beginning with April, Elsa goes to school. How far is it ? Down the carriage drive, through the stone gate into the rose alley, and — she is there !

“ It is for you to decide, mother.''

“Right, my boy. And now let us speak of your plans. Well, then, when you return in the autumn from your trip to Vienna and the Tyrol, we will both reign here together, eh "

He laughed and kissed the hand which she held out to him.

“ I trust you do not yet think of marrying ? " said she, suddenly, and gazed penetratingly at the young man.

“Yes, mother,” he replied, coming closer to her. “ I will frankly confess that I — have thought of it.”

“ Hear the boy ! Whom have you chosen, then, child ? ''

“ An old flame, mother dear ; but do not worry yourself, she is still at boarding-school.”

“ Indeed ! At boarding-school ? What will she learn there, Moritz? She will learn to be pale and fragile, a nervous doll, so that she will never be a healthy wife and mother, and what she forgets there, you have probably not considered. All taste for a quiet family life — that will fly out the window. You should not have let her go there, Moritz, if you wish to be happy with her.”

For an instant Moritz looked really abashed. That i8

A Poor Girl.

his mother took the matter thus, startled and pleased him at the same time. He walked up and down the room several times, his hands behind his back ; Mrs. von Ratenow meanwhile calmly continued knitting her stocking, from time to time gazing out into the yard. This was her manner of passing the time between four and six o’clock in the afternoon — for the rest of the day she gave herself little rest.

Hegebach intends to resign, Moritz ; did you know it ? ” she asked after a while.

It is best ; he will never be promoted,” replied the son, ^‘he quarrels with all his superior officers.”

“But the small pension ?”

“ Oh, well, he can live on it, mother.”

“ He ! He ! — but the girl ? ” was the impatient rejoinder.

“ Oh, mother ! ”

“Yes, merciful patience, Moritz — you speak of marrying ! When once you have half a dozen children, how do you think I shall fare ? ” She had spoken jestingly, and both laughed.

“ You dear little mother,” said he, still laughing, and kissed her.

“ No, joking aside,” she continued, drawing back. “ I take care of Elsa — you need not believe that I will half do the thing. She must learn to do something. I think she will be a governess, and I will send her to D — as soon as she is ten years old. That is the best, eh, Moritz ? ”

At this moment the door opened softly, and a little head peeped into the room, with hair like molten gold ; a pair of large brown eyes looked out from a rosy smiling face, and a sweet, clear, bird-like voice asked,

Moritz, Moritz, will you come into the garden with me ? There is a squirrel in the chestnut-tree/’

“ Come here, Elsa ! cried the young man, and as the child rushed up to him, he picked her up in his arms like a doll, and carried her to his mother.

‘‘ Look at her, mother,*' he begged, in a strangely soft voice.

She looked in the pure childish face, and then up at him, questioningly.

‘‘ So, and now run away, Elsa, I will follow you." And the blond giant carefully opened the door to let the little girl out.

“ She is as fresh, healthy and happy as a rose-bud, is she not ? " he asked, returning. And you will shut her up in a gloomy school-room during the loveliest days of her girlhood, and worry her with severe intellectual work ! See, mother, I can never sleep again from thinking of it. What a world of tears and wakeful nights, of buried hopes and bitter renunciation is contained in the words, ‘ She must be a governess ! ’ Ah, mother, leave her her freedom, do not shut her up, the poor little midget ! "

“ How you can say such a thing, Moritz, I do not understand," replied Mrs. von Ratenow impatiently, paling slightly, “as though I were about to do the child a great wrong. Do you know that she possesses nothing but three hundred dollars of her mother’s, and a few trifles ? Hegebach will leave at the most debts, when he closes his eyes, and what then ? Besides, it is not so dreadful, Moritz, and for the present you need not pity your rose-bud. Because you are in love, my dear boy, I will pardon you the comparison. What ? She is surely a rose-bud, too,” and with these words she energetically put her knitting in its basket, and left the room. And immediately after her resonant voice rang out from the cellar, ‘‘ I will show you that it can be done. One can do everything that one chooses ! ”

Late in the evening, Moritz von Ratenow knocked at the door of his mother’s bedroom.

“ I thought I heard you ride into the yard,^^ she called from within. “ Come in. Where have you been ? ”

He entered, and walked cautiously up to the canopy bed. The full moon shed its light through the arched window and lit up the cosey old room so plainly.

How long it was since he had been here ! There, over the chest of drawers, hung his father’s portrait, and beneath that his own picture taken when a boy. Here stood a cupboard in which his mother kept all her relics, her bridal wreath and his first little cap, his father’s spurs and sword, and the last bouquet of wild flowers which he had picked for her the day before his death, and here it was again, the delicate perfume of lavender — it suddenly seemed that he was again a little

A Poor Girl.

boy, and came to his mother to confess some foolish act.

What do you wish, my boy ? ” she asked gently, in her Bremen dialect. Where were you ?