Fickle Fortune

the better was noticeable in the management of his estates. On the contrary, all remained in statu quo. Rüstow's urgent persuasion so far prevailed that the land-steward received notice to lea

er-in-law's plans and projects, agreed with him on all points, and regularly gave him an assurance that he would see about it all 'to-morrow'; but th

ected resistance from the Countess, who thought it highly unnecessary that anyone should now attempt to tutor her

ly and a comparatively unproductive one, but so it had been for long years. It was all part of the large and liberal style in which they were accustomed to live. Any limitation of the staff, that fretting and minute attention to all the details of management which Rüstow advocated, appeared to the Countess as a species of degrada

eges; and the Countess, for her part, now declared that the Councillor was really too peculiar, and that it was impossible to accept all his whims without re

use he was so soon to leave. Moreover, his legal studies absorbed all his time, and afforded him a pretext for withdrawing

ction now existing between the houses, this duty could not be avoided, though Oswald had postponed its fulfilment to the last moment. He had intended to drive over in Edmund's company, but the Count, it appeared, had agreed to join a shooting-party on that very day, so his cousin had no alternative but to proceed on his expedition alone. Despite the Councillor's friendly and oft-re

nd carefully examined first one and then another of several elegant articles of toilette which lay spread out before her. They were patterns

s reading. He turned over the pages absently, and at leng

e looking over those things yet, Lina?

hrugged her

nds to leave it all to me. I must make a sele

nterest in these matters. They all relate to her own tro

' said Aunt Lin

have something on his mind. Presently h

to say to you--Hedwig do

e avoided looking at her cousin, and kept her

hat you would like. According to you, Hedwig was always too superficial and light-minded; now she is growing so wonderfully profound in her feelings

n up contradiction, and

ruption. He went up to his cousin, and poste

of my merry, saucy Hedwig, my madcap who was nev

Erich,' said Aunt Lina calmly. 'I ha

cried the anxious father, in a dictatorial tone. '

and pensive of late, but you must remember she is about to take a most important step, to leave her father's house and enter upon new relation

f the Countess and of me? Is not Edmund the most tender, the most attentive lover the world ever saw? And you talk about a sense of duty! It is a very excellent thing in its w

to face with life's graver side and with its duties when she goes to live at Ettersberg. The situa

ffort made to lead him from the topic under discussion. He follow

ed by strong and timely measures. No, all must go on in the old routine! The most necessary reforms are rejected if they, as she thinks, in any way diminish the glory of the house, or impair the halo surrounding it. The actual owner and master does just nothing at all. He thinks he has made the greatest effort that can be demanded of hi

, disburdening his heart of its pent-up fears and anxieties

standing by the w

g,' said she, returning t

y good-bye, no doubt. I know he was to leave one of these day

wig intended going for a walk. It will not be so easy to

f her future husband comes to take leave of us,' said Rüstow angrily. 'The man shall go out,

to the bell, but Aunt Li

her. You stay and recei

ew minutes. She knew very well that Hedwig was in the park, ye

commonplace chat ensued. The Councillor regretted much that his daughter had gone out for a walk. He had sent into the park after the truant, but presumably the man had failed to find her. Oswald, in return, expressed polite regret, begged that her father would present his kind

many days and weeks was at an end; a struggle which none had witnessed, but which had shaken the young man's being to its very centre, and had threatened completely to unhinge him. It was high time he should go. Distance would enfeeble, and perhaps ultimately break, the spell; and even were it not broken, a partition-wall of defence would be erect

ht of a slender girlish figure--and in a trice all the wise comfort he had been administering to himself, all his fine resolutions for the future, melted away, fell to

ched the goal before him, his pace slackened, and when at length he mounted the steps, and Hedwig came forward to meet him, he had fully recovered his usual calmnes

father,' he began; 'and I could not omit s

ng shortly?' i

after t

r departure was imminent

o consult our feelings. When Fate decrees a s

rested on Hedwig as she stood before him, leaning slightly against the wooden railing. The Councillor's a

ng snow. The flower which has blossomed in the full sunshine, but on which suddenly a shadow falls, remains in form and hue the same; it sends forth the same fragrance, only the sunlight has gone from it. Such a shad

ul to you, then?' Hedwig said

will often come over me, a longing for Ed

e for Et

on

the girl looked up in surprise. Oswald no

was thinking only of the circumstances which have made my sojourn t

have been modified. The family now place no

; but it cost a conflict, and to contend with my aunt is

trust no contention may ever aris

red her companion with a half-proud, half-a

's marriage--of retiring to her house of Sch?nfeld. Edmund opposes this plan vehemently, and hitherto you have lent him your support. Do so no longer; on the contrary, persuade him, if possible, to let his mother go. You owe it to him and to yourself, for both

Hedwig, not a little agitated. 'Prejudice? Enmity? You canno

ommoner. But your father knows, and he is mistaken if he thinks that the Countess has outlived her prejudices. She gave her consent to this union in a moment of surprise, moved by a sudden burst of gratitude towards the man who had saved her life,

cilessly set before her had become dimly apparent to herself, especially in these

dmund's mother,' she said hesitatingly. 'She h

tily affe

g girl w

ht you should be warned before you set foot on it. Your mother fought a hard fight for her wedded happiness, but at least she had in her husband a firm stay and valiant defender. In your case the struggle will begin only after the marriage, but I fear it will not be spared you; for you are entering the bigoted and narrow-minded circle from

t will be difficult, if not impossib

nced wife!' conclude

on Ette

ings of his nature you have left to his mother, who has well known how to pursue her advantage. Edmund is capable of something better than superficial, playful tenderness. Beneath that gay exterior lie warm affections--I might almost say strong passions

and flattering the words certainly were not. But a few months previously Hedwig would either have resented such a warning as an offence, or have laughed it away in happy, lighthearted

in vain for an answer. 'You reject my advice, you

n the contrary, I thank you, for I feel all the

t costs me

t he did not pronounce them. Perhaps

n-summits which were in reality far distant, but which in that clear atmosphere seemed to have advanced their posts and to have drawn quite near. The particular spur of forest which formed the boundary between the Ettersberg and Brunneck domains coul

lds, the swallows, had pierced their way through masses of dense mist, ere they emerged suddenly in the gray distance. Yet those winged messengers had borne spring on their swift pinions--none knew this bette

h foretells a speedy fall. The gay wealth of flowers had vanished from the meadows, all but the pale saffron, which yet glimmered here and there, and the swallows, streaking the sky in long

pressive silence which ha

too,' she said, pointing up

her meaning--'but there is this d

ome back to Ettersberg

th a certain eager anxi

, and changes his way of life entirely, as I am about to do, it is best for him to remain away, and to devote all his energies

out you and your future than y

led half d

h, and then to abandon it feebly halfway. What I have begun I shall carry through, an

ds weigh so he

a crushin

erg, you are unju

you see, I could not. You do not know what it is constantly to bend to the will of another, when your own judgment has long been formed, to be thwarted in every effort, checked in every aspiration, not even to have the right of reply and remonstrance. I know that my future is uncertain, that it may be thorny, that I shall need

orne so silently, but with so much grievous suffering, fell from the young man's shoulders. He stood bold and defiant, ready to accept the world's challenge, and to fight the

od what this proud, unbending nature had endured from a position which many were dis

ain, but the ring had died out of his voice now; it w

a few days,' said Hedwig, half hesitatingly. 'He

oldhearted and unkind if I stay away. He mus

will n

N

xplanation of his curt, harsh-sounding answer. His meaning was understood. He read this in the look which met his; but fierce and

Ettersberg,' said Hedwi

xtended to him. That pressure was the only betrayal of how matters stoo

quite, Fr?ulein,'

s too late. As the boughs closed again, the first faded leaves fell in a shower on the young girl's head. She shrank beneath them, as at some g

its thousand mysterious voices whispering around. Now all these sounds had ceased. Nature's fair lif

warmed, streaming hither and thither in long flights. Today the swallows swept not to the earth with loving greetings and pleasant messages of happy days to come. They passed high overhead, far, far beyond reach, flitting away into the blue di