Withered Leaves Volume Iii Part 19

Red lamps illumined the place with a festive light. The couples whirled round in merry dance. A joyous hurrah greeted the master, who immediately led his young wife amongst the groups of glad people. She was obliged to open a dance with Olkewicz, and never in his life did the worthy steward experience greater pride than when footing it with the princess out of the fairy lake, the vision of a former occasion, in a place where he usually commanded the united thres.h.i.+ng flails of the village.

But Giulia had to dance with the young people also. There were Poles from beyond the frontiers; one a fine lad, in a laced jacket, knelt down before Giulia, after the dance, and begged her to allow him to take off her shoe, according to Polish custom, so as to drink her health. Resistance was in vain, and the princess of Lago Maggiore had as little cause as Cinderella to conceal her shoe and feet from the world. The lad filled the slipper with brandy, and gave one l.u.s.ty cheer for the lady of the manor, while vowing himself to her service for evermore. The fiddlers struck up a furious tune, with them the two horns in the village band, and the night-watchman's horn, too-tooed joyously. Great was the gladness of the people, and Giulia moved like a strange fairy indeed amongst the women and girls of the village, mostly lacking any beauty. The master himself went about from one to another, talked to the tenants, shook hands pleasantly with those peasants, who, according to old privileges, farmed their own acres, here and there caught a better-looking maiden under her chin, and said a kindly word to her.

Then, suddenly, from behind a pear tree, as if out of a hiding place, two glaring eyes stared at him; they were Ktchen's.

In his pleasantly excited mood he hardly remembered their last weird meeting.

"What in the world brings you here?" asked he.

She did not answer for some time.

"Have you become dumb again?"

Now Ktchen wriggled out from behind the wooden monster, and stood on the bench beside it. She pointed to Giulia with outstretched arms, and said, "Must I take part in your wedding after all? Marriage on land and sea! Hurrah!"

And, like a mad woman, she jumped down, mingled alone in the confusion of the dancers with wild gnome-like bounds, until a little crooked fellow, who could find no partner, took pity on her and twirled her round in the ring.

Then Ktchen disappeared into the night outside; meanwhile the other ladies and gentlemen had also descended to watch the people's enjoyment. One after another Kuhl selected a conspicuously good-looking or ugly partner and bore her in breathless fury over the thres.h.i.+ng floor, so that the fleetest youths were obliged to acknowledge his superiority in the wild dance. The heated fair did not know what happened to them, and marvelled how a townsman, who had never threshed, could have such powerful arms. After this furious round dance Kuhl ascended a tub, imposed silence, and made an impromptu speech to these worthy Masurens, which was frequently interrupted by loud cheers.

The park was illuminated in a dazzlingly brilliant effulgence. Blanden led Giulia on his arm, and the other guests followed along the paths.

The flames displayed letters upon the velvet sward; here was read, in quivering, glowing characters, "Lago Maggiore," there the name "Giulia." The Chinese pavilion on the island in the lake, and the bridge leading to it shone in the gayest reflection of lights. In the hot-houses a splendid group of southern plants, laurels, and myrtles, under the feathery shelter of a pine, gleamed in the radiance of coloured lamps, but most beautiful of all was a red fir outside, decked with ribbons and flags, and when the guests came up to it they were magically illuminated with a flaming red light. Giulia squeezed Blanden's hand.

The sky had become clear, and when gorgeous fireworks were let off upon the lake the rockets ascended to the stars, and the bude lights and Catherine wheels crackled above the moonlit waves.

Then the party a.s.sembled again in the dining-hall, but the bridal couple retired from the scene. Dancing and cards were still kept up for long. Wegen arranged everything admirably. Kuhl was in an excellent humour, and only by degrees one member after another left the happy circle and sought repose. Silence reigned in the old Castle, only the flag upon the tower fluttered in the night wind that had risen from the lake, and lashed the waves higher and higher; still could be heard glad sounds of the drinkers and dancers from the thres.h.i.+ng barn of the farm.

A quiet ray of light fell from Giulia's windows, intercepted by the large fir as it bent its heavy hanging boughs watchfully over them.

All the lights were extinguished in the park. Only between the gaps in the walled-pa.s.sage between the Dantziger and the Castle a stray one seemed to quiver.

Not out of the deep-blue atmosphere of Italy did the stars look down upon this night; from a paler sky shone a paler light! Not the glorious Lago, with its enchanted isles and boundary Alps, rocked all into sweet dreams--it was a sober tide which here surged upon the strand; a tide, whose waves have nothing to tell, whose monotonous play only reflect the infinite wearisomeness of a lifeless landscape.

And yet--it was she herself, in all her beauty, the princess of those days, and it matters not out of what sea Venus rises, she brings Heaven with her all the same.

But the happiness that once the red fir looked down upon, over which the pine spread its loving fans, was ephemeral, grasped from the moment, forfeited to the moment. How different Blanden felt; was happiness secured in his own home, under the protection of his old household G.o.ds? thither he had transplanted the roguish smiling wanderer, where, although deprived of its fluttering wings, it found an abiding place by the family hearth without losing its enchanting smile.

Thus he thought and felt; he did not inhale momentary intoxication from Giulia's lips, but the inauguration of a whole life. She, on the contrary, rejected every thought of the past, of the future. With intentional obliviousness she gave herself up to the present.

What sacrifice had she made, what sacrilege committed to be once more with him, whom alone she loved. She contemplated his n.o.ble gentle features with speechless happiness, in his great, widely-opened eyes she read the same pa.s.sion which animated her, only with fleeting thoughts that swept through her mind as flashes of lightning illumine a weird gloomy spot, dared she think of anything beyond.

She closed her eyes, she did not venture to look at the mirror. If it were to move again; if Baluzzi were to step forth, her bridal coronet in his hand; if Blanden learned the truth, thrust her from him as a deceiver; if a curse were hurled upon her from the bosom that still often breathed uneasily in consequence of the wound which he had received for her sake--it was impossible to complete the thought. She covered her face with her hands. Outside the needles of the fir crackled in the wind, and swept the window. She sank into a light state of semi-somnolence, and she heard the branches crack still more loudly--what a violent storm! It was as though it drove dust and wind into her eyes, and deprived her of breath. With that volition, which does not quite disappear in sleep, she raised herself slowly, and simultaneously Blanden started up.

What had happened? Were they dreaming? But those were no mists and clouds of dreamland, it was smoke and fire that surrounded them. They sprang up and rushed to the window! At the same moment the giant fir outside caught fire. The flames blazed and hissed as they rose, and upon its wide arms the tree bore the fire across to the other side of the Castle roof, away over the apartments in which were the wedded pair.

Giulia's terrified cry for help pierced the night. Blanden remembered the stairs and the secret pa.s.sage. He pushed the mirror-door aside, but an ocean of flame met his gaze; hence came the fire. He rushed to the other side, drawing Giulia after him by her arm with all his might. The first room, also the second, in which Beate had slept on the previous night, were still free, the flames had pa.s.sed over them, but farther on again the branches of the fir had shaken down the sparks. The staircase could not be reached, door and wainscot stood in a blaze. "Lost!" cried Giulia, sinking down with a loud cry.

Blanden shouted once more from the window. In mortal fear he listened for any token of life outside.

Where were the watchmen? Doubtlessly at the dance in the barn.

At last--a sound of voices--they came nearer--it was high time! but how escape?

"Ladders, ladders here!" rang a mighty cry without, it filled Blanden's bosom with renewed confidence; it was Kuhl's voice.

The crowd seemed to rush helplessly in noisy confusion through the park. Olkewicz called for the fire engines.

"Where are the ladders?" roared Kuhl.

Blanden's position became more imminent every moment, the flames already darted through the clattering mirror door, caught the curtains, and the canopy of the bed rattled down over the broken posts.

A moment more--and the flames, which sent a stifling vapour in advance, had overtaken the other chambers, wherein Blanden supported the unconscious Giulia in his arms. With a fearful effort, he dragged her to the window to breathe fresh air, for her strength was beginning to fail.

Outside powerless lamentations and cries for help, futile swearing and cursing by the steward.

But no! The ladder of salvation was brought and placed against the window.

In the midst of the sparks which the burning roof showered upon them, beneath a down-pour of bricks and stones that rattled to the ground with the rapidity of fire itself, Dr. Kuhl sprang up the ladder, received Giulia into his strong arms, and bore her down again as easily, firmly, and unfalteringly as if he were walking down a marble staircase.

Blanden, whose hair was already singed, followed their preserver.

A thundering cry of joy greeted him.

All had become animated in the other wing of the Castle, which the guests occupied, and who had hastened down, the ladies in cloaks which they had thrown hastily over their night robes.

The first fire engine arrived, conducted by Wegen on horseback. The fiery red of the sky must have aroused the neighbouring villages, whither eager messengers had been despatched.

With deep emotion, Blanden gazed upon the increasing blaze, which threatened to reduce the old inheritance of his family to ashes; already the forked tongues of the flames lashed the tower, they boded ill for the dining-hall and chapel. All exertions were now directed to save the centre of the Castle, the actual Ordensburg.

Certainly the fire could effect nothing upon those mighty walls, but as the flames swept in wild haste over the roofs, the falling, burning rafters from above might ignite the doors and panels of the beautiful, well-preserved Castle apartments of the oldest portion.

Meanwhile engine after engine arrived, the whole district was alarmed, the Castle tower of Kulmitten shone like a flaming beacon, but still more did love for the n.o.ble master speed the help that was hurrying to his home. Some of the engines were stationed on the other side of the Castle, some in the park meadows, executing their work of preservation with unflagging labour.

Blanden was first here then there; Giulia had recovered, she stared senselessly into the flames. Had the flash of a tempest set the Castle on fire she would have been convinced that heaven's judgment had fallen upon her sin; that it would proclaim with burning tongues that which she concealed so anxiously, yet although she did not know the cause of the evil, she held the fire to be in some dark connection with her own fate, and sometimes, with a shudder, the thought pa.s.sed through her mind that Baluzzi might be its author.

Despite all efforts of the numerous engines, and the helpful interference of the throng, the splendid dining-hall could not be saved. The flames had penetrated beyond the door, and consumed all inflammable-material which the room contained. Still more was Giulia terrified when the image of the Madonna and child fell half shattered from the niche in the main wall; she was the old patron saint of this Castle, did she flee from the sacrilege which had entered? Cautiously and courageously Blanden, Kuhl and Wegen led the party of firemen, but only towards morning did they become masters of the fire. The chapel was saved, and the burning tower, after it had done its duty as beacon, was extinguished.

The new building, the other wing, remained entirely uninjured.

Now, when only timid flames and clouds of smoke arose from the burning place, when the streams of water hissed more faintly over the smoking ruins, and the first rays of dawn gleamed in the east, Blanden and his friends gained time for calm reflection, which the ceaseless zeal of vigorous action had hitherto not permitted.

First the lord of the Castle mustered all its inhabitants, no one was missing; weeping Beate must be comforted, she had lost all her beautiful clothes, which had been left in the bedroom the day before.

Blanden promised compensation. But then the eager question arose as to how the fire had originated? It had evidently broken out in that extreme wing, which was connected with the front tower by the subterranean pa.s.sage, whence the secret stairs led upwards, but that was the very spot whither usually no human being penetrated. Who could have come there on that day? The subterranean pa.s.sage had fallen in, the secret approach from the lake to the front tower was overgrown.

Blanden knew that for many years, yes, all his life time, the medieval romantic nature of that spot had remained undisturbed.

With a throbbing heart, Giulia listened to these discussions. One knew that dark path, and had already traversed it. Verily he had deceived her, concealed his shameful intentions, too soon already completed the work of his promised revenge. It was Baluzzi, but where had he remained? Was he still tarrying in the vicinity? What disclosures menaced her? Not enough that he had laid the Castle, her new home, in dust and ruins, he would now direct the deadly arrow against herself.

She had relied upon his word, upon the word of a malicious _bravo_.

In order entirely to extinguish the glowing cinders, the water streams were now all directed upon the spot where the fire had broken out; a few bold men, Kuhl at their head, ventured wherever a sudden flame could still dart out.