Читать книгу The Breaking of the Storm: Historical Novel - Spielhagen Friedrich - Страница 11

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The Count responded no less cordially to the President's greeting.

"Kind!" he exclaimed, holding fast the other's hands; "and kind of me? Why it is kind indeed, wonderfully kind; but of you, of all of you, to be cast here on the heights of Golmberg, to be thrown upon this most inhospitable shore--inhospitable because no creature ever comes to us, or can come from that side. And now may I ask you to be so kind as to introduce me to General von Werben?"

He turned towards the General, who answered his extremely courteous bow with some reserve.

"It is not the first time that I have had the pleasure," said he; "I had the honour formerly at Versailles----"

"I could not have believed that General von Werben would have remembered so insignificant a matter," cried the Count, "a poor knight of St. John!"

"Our meeting occurred on a very remarkable day," said the General; "on the 18th of January."

"The day of the proclamation of the German Empire!" interrupted the President, to whom the General's last remark, and the tone in which he made it, seemed of doubtful courtesy; "and here comes our heroine! Fräulein Elsa von Werben, here is our deliverer in the time of need: Count von Golm."

"I am highly honoured," said the Count.

Elsa, who had just entered the room, answered only by a bow.

"Now we are all assembled," cried the President, rubbing his hands.

"Captain Schmidt is still missing," said Elsa, looking beyond the Count to her father.

"I am only afraid that we shall put the Count's patience to too great a trial," answered the General in a tone of annoyance.

"I put myself absolutely at your disposal," said the Count; "but may I ask what the question is?"

"There is another gentleman with us, a captain in the merchant service," said the General.

"Whom I mentioned to you," interrupted the President. "He went out again after our arrival here to look after the steamer. I almost think that he must have lost his way among the sandhills, or that some accident has happened to him."

"Some men with lanterns should be sent after him," exclaimed the Count. "I will give the order at once."

And he moved towards the door.

"You need not trouble yourself," cried Elsa; "it has already been done at my request."

"Oh!" said the Count, with a smile; "indeed!"

The blood rose to Elsa's cheek. As she came into the room, and the Count turned quickly towards her--with his regular features and clear bright colouring, set off by a fair moustache--she had thought him good-looking, even handsome; the smile made him positively ugly. Why should he smile? She drew herself up to her full height.

"Captain Schmidt rendered us the most essential service during our passage; we have to thank him that we are here in safety. It seems to me only our duty not to leave him in the lurch now."

"But, my dear madam, I am quite of your opinion!" said the Count, and smiled again.

The veins in Elsa's temples were throbbing. She cast a reproachful glance at her father. Why did he leave her to defend a cause which after all was his? She did not know that her father was extremely vexed at the turn the conversation had taken, and was only doubting whether he could not use the Captain's absence as a pretext to avoid for himself and his daughter at least the Count's hospitality. She did not hear either with what marked emphasis he agreed to the necessity for waiting still some time longer, as she had left the room after her last words.

In the little entrance, in which through the wide open door the light from the carriage lamps now brightly shone, she stood still and pressed her slender hands against her brow. What had come over her so suddenly? Why had she been so eager? To provoke a stranger's smile by her over-eagerness, to draw upon herself the suspicion of taking a too lively interest in the person, when it was only the cause she cared about, only that a debt of courtesy, to say nothing of gratitude, might be paid? Supposing the people who seemed to be just leaving the yard with their lanterns should not find him? How long might she still wait? When ought she to say, We must start? Or, supposing he returned only to say that he was not thinking of going with them, and that childish scene had been acted for nothing? For the third time, and now with right and reason, the Count might smile.

"That I could not bear!" said Elsa, and stamped her foot.

A figure stood in the outer doorway; his wet macintosh shining in the light of the lanterns, the waterproof cap shining, and the eyes in the brown-bearded face shining too--and it all looked so odd and so funny, that Elsa laughed aloud, and laughing exclaimed:

"Have you come straight out of the water, Captain Schmidt? They are getting frightened about you in here. Make haste and come in. We must be off at once."

"I had thought of remaining here," said Reinhold.

Elsa's laugh was checked. She made a step towards Reinhold:

"I wish you would come with us. You must."

She disappeared into the passage which led on the right to the kitchen and the children's room. Had it been jest or earnest? Her voice had trembled so oddly at the words, and her large eyes had shone so strangely!

The door opened; the General appeared on the threshold, with the two other gentlemen behind him.

"Ah, Captain Schmidt!" said the General.

"At last!" exclaimed the President. "You must tell us by-and-by where you have been hiding. This is Captain Schmidt, Count Golm. You are ready, I suppose, Fräulein von Werben?"

"I am ready," said Elsa, who, in hat and cloak, accompanied by the farmer's wife, appeared again in the entrance. "I think we are all ready, are we not, Captain Schmidt?"

"At your orders," answered Reinhold.

"Well, then, good-bye, dear Frau Pölitz! a thousand, thousand thanks for your kindness! and as to the children, you must really send for the doctor, or you will wear yourself to death."

Elsa had spoken the last words so loud, that the Count could not but hear them.

"Are your children ill, Frau Pölitz?" he asked.

"Very ill," answered Elsa. "And Frau Pölitz declares that she cannot expect the doctor to come so far.

"I will myself send from Golmberg to Prora," said the Count hastily: "of course; depend upon it Frau Pölitz! the doctor shall be here to-night--to-night!"

"Then we will not lose another moment," cried Elsa, hastening to lead the way to the carriage.