E. Werner

“ Gabrielle assumed a highly-offended expression of countenance.
"Oh, so you think I am only a sort of gaily-painted, frivolous moth, Uncle Arno?"
"I think it would be unjust to require of you that you should meet suffering, or face struggles of any kind," said Raven, more gravely. "Beings of your order are created for the sunshine, and can exist in no other element. Work and the battle of life must be left to me, and to such as me. To be a sunbeam, and to cheer and lighten the darkness of others, is a vocation, too, in its way. ”

“ I have often let them feel the power of the hated parvenu; now that the power is in their hands, they overturn me--I could expect nothing else; but I feel now that Rudolph was right. It is worth something to have kept one's faith in one's self, in the better, higher part of one's nature. The man who stands and falls by his principles can endure reverses; but he who has given the best energies of his life to a cause which was never his at heart, which in his inmost soul he must condemn and despise, has no anchor, no stay in the hour of misfortune."
"And I?" asked Gabrielle, reproachfully. ”

“ Are you still jealous?" whispered Gabrielle, with a delicious mixture of roguishness and penitence. George would not have been young or in love, could he have withstood that smile and that appeal. He was already convinced that he had done wrong to reproach his darling with her radiant gaiety. She was so innocently happy in it--and, in spite of her caprices and wilful ways, had not this beaming, joy-loving child found her way to his very heart of hearts?
"My Gabrielle!" was all he said, but infinite tenderness lay in the softly-spoken words. ”

“ The fervour with which George clasped his beloved to his heart spoke the reply before his lips could frame it. Again his arms were round her; again she listened to his words of love, as she had listened years before. In those early days she had, indeed, known nothing of the keen, surpassing joy she had since tasted, when, folded to Arno's breast, she had, as it were, been lifted to the very pinnacle of human bliss--when, in a few short hours, she had lived through a life-time of felicity--alas! quickly to be plunged into a very abyss of woe, and taught the lesson of life's misery. ”

“ Gabrielle listened in a sort of stupor to this passionate outbreak, which found but too ready an echo in her own heart. Raven was faithfully describing her own experience. She, too, had fought and wrestled with her love; she, too, had sought to fly from a power so strong that no escape was possible. Before the glowing lava-stream of words which burst with one great throe of Nature from the innermost heart of this man, usually so cold and so constrained, all the fairy fabrics vanished which a young girl's fancy had built up, all her childish conceptions of love and life ”

“ Max stood by his father, whose pale face and haggard eyes told of a sleepless night, and who in vain strove to hide his feverish agitation. His lips were tightly set, and the hand his son held twitched every now and then with a nervous quiver.
"Compose yourself, father," Max whispered; "your hand is so unsteady, you will hardly be able to press the trigger."
"No fear, I shall be able," replied the Doctor, in the same subdued voice, glancing at the pistols, which were at that moment being loaded by the seconds.
"Colonel Wilten's attention is already attracted this way," said Max, significantly. ”

“ Gabrielle saw very well that he was hurt, but it did not please her to notice his humour. She teased and jested on, giving full rein to her high spirits, and indulging in all her wilful little ways, sure of her influence which had often stood fiery tests, and which worked again now. The cloud dispersed from George's brow. Anger and resentfulness could not hold good before the chatter of those rosy lips, and when the dear face looked up at him, roguish and smiling, it was all over with his resistance--he smiled too. ”

“ Gabrielle raised her eyes to his face. A bewitching smile played round the corners of her dimpled mouth, as she replied:
"I do not think the 'stranger' is so much to be pitied. He knows very well that I am his, and his alone."
"On a ball-night such as this you certainly are not mine," replied George, rather bitterly. "You are given to the gaiety and the dance and the homage paid you on all sides. You belong to anything and everyone rather than to me. All the time that passed before that waltz, I was striving to meet your glance. ”

“ You do not know him, child; he is not worthy of your love."
Gabrielle gently freed herself from his embrace.
"Do you think it is my own happiness I am seeking? No; what I wish is to be at Arno's side when all are forsaking him, to share his fate--his disgrace, if it must be. That is the only happiness I look for, and of that, at least, no one shall deprive me!"
There was infinite, pathetic tenderness in her words. George's gaze rested sorrowfully, regretfully on the youthful creature who had so quickly learned all a woman's devotion and self-sacrifice. ”

“ What should hinder you from emulating his brilliant career?"
"What good will it do me?" cried George, vehemently, springing to his feet. "What good will it do me to struggle and fight and work my way up yonder, while here I am being robbed of all that gives me hope in the future and makes life dear? I know that I shall lose Gabrielle if she remains here for years exposed to all the hostile influences which are arrayed against us. A nature such as hers cannot hold out long under circumstances so cruelly adverse; and to lose her is more than I can bear." ”

“ She had very quickly regained all her old ease of manner in her intercourse with him. That strange hour by the 'Nixies' Well' had long since been forgotten, together with the transient seriousness it had called forth. Like a dream, its influences had come upon her; swiftly and traceless as a dream they had vanished again from her mind. On that sunny ground nothing approaching a shadow could for any length of time hold its own. Gabrielle certainly felt that during the last few days the Baron had treated her with unwonted gentleness and indulgence. ”

“ I have already heard from Rudolph Brunnow's mouth that I have forfeited all claim to confidence. He, indeed, can meet any charge with an unruffled brow; no defence set up by him would pass unnoticed, for his past, his whole life testifies for him--mine condemns me. The man who has abjured his convictions may also have betrayed his friends. The curse of that fatal hour, wherein I proved untrue to myself, weighs on me now, and makes me powerless to refute the calumny which works my fall."
"And who are they who turn against you?" cried Gabrielle, with a burst of indignation. ”

“ And even if you should succeed in winning her over, nothing will change your guardian's views. I know him. He will never give his consent."
Gabrielle leaned her fair head against the tree's mighty trunk, and plucked carelessly at some blades of grass.
"I do not care for his consent," she said. "I shall not allow him to dictate to me one way or the other. Let him try to coerce me!"
"No one will attempt to coerce you, but they will separate us," replied George. "The very moment our love is discovered, our separation will be decreed. ”

“ There was a lonely, desolate air about the Castle in these days. Baroness Harder and her daughter had left for the capital, and if the elder lady, with her caprices, her requiring temper, and other not very amiable characteristics, was not painfully missed by the household, the absence of the younger, who had won all hearts to herself, was sincerely deplored. With her, sunshine had come into the house. During the few short months of her stay there, she had filled the great sombre spaces with light and animation, quickening and brightening their lifeless splendour. ”

“ Winterfeld shall answer to me for this surreptitious love-making, for the sweet speeches with which he has befooled you into giving a promise--a promise which is null and void, seeing that you are not free to dispose of yourself as yet. He courts in you the presumptive heiress, and calculates that through her he shall attain to wealth and influence. He may find himself deceived. I alone have to decide as to your future, which is altogether in my hands. Your lot in life depends on me, and if I accord to you a brilliant position, I shall expect implicit obedience in return. ”

“ Would it positively distress you to see it stopped?"
"Yes," said Gabrielle, in a low voice, looking up at him. Her lips uttered no word of entreaty; but her eyes besought him earnestly, pleading for the doomed fountain.
Raven was silent. For some minutes he stood by her without speaking. Then he began again:
"I frightened you just now with my harsh views of life, but no one says you must share them. I forgot for a moment that youth has a right to dream, and that it would be cruel to rob you of the privilege. ”

“ The thing she had hitherto called happiness paled and disappeared like some thin phantom before the fierce incandescent glow of this man's fervour.
The young girl made one last attempt to cling valiantly to the past.
"George ... he loves me--trusts me. He will be so utterly miserable, if I forsake him!"
"Do not speak his name!" cried Raven, his eye sparkling with furious enmity. "Do not remind me that this man alone stands between me and my felicity. Ill might betide him through it. Woe to him if he should try to hold you to your hasty promise! I should free you by fair means or by foul. ”

“ There is plenty of romance in your love, I should fancy. A young middle-class Government clerk without fortune or prospects, and a high-born Baroness and future heiress--secret meetings--prospective opposition of the whole family, struggles and emotions ad infinitum. I congratulate you on all these pleasant things. I should look on the business as an awkward one myself, I know."
"That I believe," said George, with a touch of sarcasm; "but, my dear Max, you really are not competent to pronounce on such matters." ”

“ George turned round. In the sorrowful eyes which met his, he recognised a kindred spirit.
"There are wounds which never close," he replied. "I cannot, perhaps, make such passionate demonstration of my feelings as some, but when I once give myself heart and soul, my attachment knows no change. I could not put it from me, even if I would."
"Have you seen Gabrielle lately?" asked Brunnow, after a pause.
"Yes, too often for my peace. I am now constantly thrown into the society which she frequents, and in the capital unexpected meetings are almost inevitable. ”

“ Poor Agnes was far too agitated to think of this; and moreover Dr. Berndt had so impressed upon her the utter hopelessness of the case, that she dared not admit to herself even the possibility of recovery. She took the patient's animation for the excitement of fever, and truly believed that she was witnessing the last transient flicker of life's flame--the gleam which precedes its final extinction.
"I shall never forget you," she sobbed. "What in life I never should have owned to you, now in the presence of death I may confess--my love is endless, unspeakable; it will reach beyond the grave. ”

“ No sound was to be heard but the Baron's echoing step and the rustle of his companion's dress.
"It is like being in an enchanted castle," said Gabrielle, playfully. "We are the only living creatures amid all this sleeping splendour. I had no idea you had so many fine things at your disposal, Uncle Arno. It must be grand to feel one's self the master of such a place." ”

“ Raven threw himself into a chair. The interview had taken an unexpected course. His intercourse with Winterfeld had hitherto been simply official. He had always considered him to be talented and clever in his profession, without ascribing to him any very extraordinary merit--the difference of position precluded all close contact and deeper interest. To-day, for the first time, they had met, not as superior and subaltern, but as man to man; and to-day the Baron had discovered that behind that modest demeanour and that mild, clear brow, there lay concealed an energy equal to his own. ”

“ Brunnow's bent form was drawn erect as he spoke these words with passionate warmth, and for a moment the bright enthusiasm of youth kindled in his eyes again. Gabrielle leaned her head on his shoulder, and wept--wept as though her heart would break.
"And now, do not let me go from you without an answer," said the Doctor, after a pause. "I have so seldom in my life brought happiness to those about me, that I would fain do so once before I depart hence, and my time here is growing short. May I give George any hope? Will you see him again?" ”

“ Where the young lover, despite his earnestness and enthusiasm, had failed, the elder man, with his tardily-aroused, but even on that account more glowing passion, triumphantly succeeded. Arno Raven had drawn the girl's whole soul to himself; there was no room in her heart now for another. Raven alone held sway over Gabrielle's thoughts and feelings, and reigned supreme in her dreams when, long after midnight, she sank into a brief uneasy slumber. George's image never once rose before her. ”

“ George was silent. That was the sore spot with him. He had often felt, as the Baron said, that Gabrielle was the last woman in the world for such abnegation as this "idyl" demanded.
"Let us make an end of this," said Raven, drawing himself up, and waving his hand imperiously. "I cannot concede to my niece a right to dispose of her future without my knowledge or consent, and I decline to enter into a discussion respecting wishes and hopes, which are, for me, simply non-existent. You know that a guardian's powers are unlimited as a father's, and you are bound to submit to my decision. ”

“ Then his silence and reserve gave way, and I had a glimpse into the depths of his love, which is still ardent and faithful as ever. He will never find consolation in other ties. I know him--he will go through life a lonely man; and, amid all the success that awaits him, will feel only the emptiness, the void which that cruel parting from you left with him. You are young still, Gabrielle--you have your whole life before you. Devote that life to him--he is worthy of it. ”

“ George had grown deadly pale. His eyes were fixed anxiously on the girl's fair face, all glowing with excitement. Her vehemence betrayed too much, and the young man's heart thrilled with a great dread. He felt that his dream of happiness was over.
"What has taken place between you and the Baron?" he asked. "It is not so that a girl defends her guardian, her relative. You might have spoken so of me, had I been exposed to any danger. What has happened during this separation of ours, Gabrielle? No, I cannot believe it. You cannot ... cannot love this Raven?" ”