Withered Leaves Volume Ii Part 20

Then the Doctor watched two utensils, in which, by a peculiar process, he sought to condense and harden carbon; he flattered himself with the hope of being able thus to obtain diamonds; but never was the result attained which his experiments should have given him. He consoled himself with a general observation. The hard coal becomes a diamond; strength of character alone creates great men, the sparkling jewels of mankind, but how seldom this process succeeds. Coal remains coal--with it the furnace only can be lighted.

"While contemplating the immature diamonds, with a hopeless gaze, he heard his mother's voice in the study--

"Where is the youngster, then?" and she soon entered the laboratory, leading Olga by the hand. "Here is a lady visitor, dear Paul! Entertain Olga a short time, I will prepare a little supper for our dear guest."

Frulein von Dornau ventured boldly into the chemical _atelier_, where everywhere, right and left, as upon the Pharsalian fields in the cla.s.sical Walpurgis night, little flames glowed, certainly not fairy-like will-o'-the-wisps, but little altar flames in the sacred temple of knowledge.

Paul greeted her warmly, causing a gla.s.s to lose its balance and be scattered in pieces.

"Sit down, Olga," said Paul, "we can talk here a little."

And he cleared a place for her upon a bench.

"Do not be afraid of this chattering workshop that talks of all the secrets of Nature. Do not be afraid of that which the elements tell, and if the gases and vapours of this witch's kitchen are not so sweet as the aromatic forest perfumes, it is yet just as much the breath of mother Nature, who here inhales it in somewhat deeper draughts than without in wood and field."

Olga coughed slightly, because the sulphurous vapour oppressed her chest.

"I have only to produce ozone out of these fugitive oils. Ozone--I rave about it; it is the genus of oxygen. Where it refuses the power of attraction to the latter, ozone can still work. That is the higher spirit or life! All pa.s.sion is ozone; it is my element!"

Olga, who had noticed that Paul was fond of imparting instruction, enquired as to the origin and nature of ozone, and in return, after a lengthy explanation, received praise for her daily augmenting thirst for knowledge.

After the close of the lecture, and when several more experiments had taken place, Kuhl conducted his visitor into the study.

"I have something important to tell you," said Olga, able to breathe once more in the airy room, the walls of which were covered with high bookcases reaching to the ceiling.

"Go on," replied Paul, "one knows beforehand what seems important to you women; as a rule, they are the most insignificant matters in the world."

"Not this--it concerns us all--you, too."

"Tell it me, then."

"Ccilie, my sister Ccilie--"

"What about her?"

"She is going to be married."

"Impossible!"

"It has become very possible since this morning, yes, almost certain."

Kuhl sprang from the sofa and walked up and down the room several times.

"She is a faithless woman--I have known it for long--a calculating nature! She is not capable of grasping life in the spirit and in truth; she is a Philistine maiden, a Dalilah, and betrays me to the Philistines! Her home is there where cooking pots bubble on the domestic hearth; it is a pity, with such a mind! Of what use is the pure flame of oxygen when it only serves to make old iron rusty? But why do I wonder? Is it not an old tale; all I have to do is to enquire the name of the happy man."

"Herr Baron von Wegen has asked her hand to-day."

"And she has accepted?"

"Not quite irrevocably as yet; but she will--accept--I do not doubt it!

And why should she hesitate? He is an honourable, handsome man; one's heart opens when one hears him speak. He is wealthy and a man of position, and I believe that Ccilie thinks something of belonging to the n.o.bility--it is a matter of indifference to me."

The Doctor had seated himself beside her. She looked so meaningly at him with her large eyes, that at the last words he started up as if he had been stung by a spiteful insect.

"She, too, only thinks of marrying," said he to himself; "I perceive it in every word. Therefore, she brings me this news so quickly; Ccilie no longer stands in her way. Now she flatters herself she shall be sole sovereign of my heart."

And he cast hostile glances at the proud beauty who sought to soothe him, drawing nearer to him, and raising her Juno-like eyes, in which her love was written in German characters.

What should he do? He scolded her on account of her want of understanding; yet she always renounced her heresies at once. Proper guidance was only needed, and as all theory is grey as the uncertain future, and all practice green as the fresh present, he deemed it best not to trouble himself about her fa.r.s.eeing plans, held his forefinger up menacingly and pressed a kiss upon her full lips.

As he looked round, Ccilie stood before him.

Olga blushed this time, although Paul had often kissed her in her sister's presence, and Ccilie too appeared to be disturbed by an occurrence to which usage must really have hardened her.

"Your mother sent me here," said she to Paul in a somewhat sharp tone.

"Olga, you surely did not find Kanzleirath's Minna at home?"

"And I must almost fear," replied the latter, "that Major Bern's child is dead."

"I was not needed; the child has quite recovered."

A short truce ensued between the two powers at war.

Kuhl contemplated them with folded arms and sinister countenance; were they not a living picture of that outrageous weakness of mind, the most contemptible of all pa.s.sions in which jealousy finds utterance?

In vain had he preached against it for many long years; in vain had he extolled a common alliance of hearts; there lay his work in ruins. But why was Ccilie jealous on the very day on which she had sacrificed him to another?

This vile pa.s.sion surpa.s.sed even love itself.

Ccilie, who when angry, spoke still more softly, but yet so that a hissing sound was blended with her fine, sharp tones, said to Olga--

"You have antic.i.p.ated a right which does not belong to you--the right of speaking to others about the affairs of my heart, for only on this account have you deceived us and come here. You will surely grant me the right of speaking to Paul about them as undisturbedly as you have done. Frau Kuhl expects us to tea. You will have the goodness to precede us."

Olga was always accustomed to obey her sister's wishes when they were uttered in that tone of cutting decision. She therefore left the room silently, not, however, without having cast a speaking glance at the Doctor.

Ccilie lighted herself a paper cigarette.

"Naturally, you know all; my sister has saved me a long introduction."

Kuhl remained standing with folded arms, and nodded his head gently.

"Wegen has asked for my hand; he has already paid me attention for a long time."

"But until now the outlines of his courts.h.i.+p were somewhat indistinct,"

said Kuhl, scoffingly.

"He offers me what hundreds of others would consider to be supreme happiness, and when I question myself calmly, I must confess that he is an honourable man, more goodhearted and honourable than most; that he is one of those natures in whom true devotion seems to be innate."