Читать книгу Castle Hohenwald - Streckfuss Adolf - Страница 6

"I will explain it immediately, if you will be so kind as to give me an answer."

"I cannot see what possible interest the amount of money that I carry in my pocket-book can have for you, Count Repuin, but, since you wish it, I can tell you about how much there was. When I sat down to play I had five one-hundred-thaler notes in my pocket-book; one of these I exchanged for two fifties; one of these again I put into my pocket-book, using the other for the game, so that, besides some small notes, the amount of which I cannot tell you, since I do not know how much I won or lost, my pocket-book must contain four hundred-thaler notes and one fifty."

"Thank you. I pray your patience for a moment, and you shall understand my apparently indiscreet question. Be so obliging as to take out your pocket-book and see whether it contains the sum you have mentioned."

"Count Repuin, this is a most extraordinary request!"

"It is; and if you insist, I will instantly explain it to you, but you would greatly oblige me by first glancing at the contents of your pocket-book; my demand can easily be complied with."

Styrum could not avoid granting a request couched in terms so courteous; he opened his pocket-book and counted his notes, finding, to his great astonishment, that they numbered only three hundred-thaler notes in addition to the fifty and the smaller sums.

"Well, is your money all right?" asked Repuin, who was watching him with eager interest.

"No; a hundred-thaler note is missing. It must have dropped on the floor when I changed the other. I will go look for it."

"Do not trouble yourself, Count; you will find nothing," the Russian calmly rejoined. "I will find it for you, and, in doing so, will entirely explain my apparently unjustifiable curiosity."

He awaited no reply from Styrum. Opening the door leading into the next room, he called, in an imperious tone, "Herr von Sorr, one word with you. Count Styrum wishes to speak to you."

A livid pallor overspread Sorr's countenance. Did he suspect what was coming? He started, and one hand sought his breast-pocket, but before it could reach it it was seized by Count Repuin and held as if in a vice. "Leave the contents of your pocket untouched," the Russian whispered in his ear. "Follow me instantly,--I command you!"

Sorr obeyed, following the Russian like a trembling slave.

"What is the matter?" was the question that hovered upon the lips of all, and that was uttered aloud by one of the young men at the table. Although Repuin's last words had been spoken in a tone so low as to reach Sorr's ears alone, all had heard his first authoritative summons and had seen Sorr's confusion as the Count had seized his hand, and all wondered what was the matter, although only one uttered the question.

"Something very disagreeable, most certainly," Heinrich von Guntram made reply. "In my opinion, gentlemen, we had better finish the game and go back to the ball-room as soon as possible. Let those three end their business as seems to them best; the less we know of it the better."

"But our bank!" Herr von Saldern exclaimed.

"Arnim, who is banker, will attend to all that, and see that each one receives his due proportion; will you not, Herr von Arnim?"

"'Tis already done, my dear fellow. You will take charge of Count Styrum's share," replied Arnim. "Be quick, gentlemen; here is your money. I agree with Guntram that the less we hear of what is going on in the next room the better. Let us go back to the ball-room. This scandalous scene will at all events convince our friend Guntram how unfit Sorr is to be admitted to the society of gentlemen, and we shall, I hope, be spared any association with him in future."

Count Repuin closed the door of the next room after Sorr, and then, turning to Count Styrum, said, "I will now give you the solution of the riddle I have just read you, Count." As he spoke he leaned against the closed door, and looked with disdainful contempt at the miserable wretch before him, who would evidently have fled from the room had not the Russian's tall form barred his egress.

Styrum had already taken a thorough dislike to Count Repuin, from witnessing his behaviour towards Fran von Sorr. Now, as he marked the triumphant malice that mingled with the contempt expressed in his face, this dislike deepened to what was almost a horror. He divined what would be the solution of the riddle of the lost money; he remembered all that the Assessor had said of Sorr, and, recalling the keen scrutiny that Repuin had bestowed upon Sorr's movements at the gaming-table, he could not doubt why the Russian had summoned the pale, trembling wretch before him. Still, he could not understand the triumph with which Repuin was regarding the detected thief. Was he not, according to the Assessor's report, the man's intimate friend? What reason could he have for sacrificing him merely to restore some lost money to a stranger? This riddle Styrum could not solve, for it was incredible that Repuin should act thus, simply from indignation at Sorr's dishonesty.

After a moment's pause the Russian turned to Styrum: "Do you now guess, Count, where your hundred-thaler note will be found? You do not reply? Well, I will tell you; it is at present in Herr von Sorr's breast-pocket, whither it was conveyed from your pocket-book, with immense dexterity it is true, but not dexterously enough to elude my vigilance. He is the thief,--does he dare to deny it?"

He did not dare. Repuin's words seemed to annihilate him, all the more that they were uttered by a man whom he had thought his friend. Pale and trembling, unable to articulate a word in self-defence, he bowed before the terrible fate that had thus overtaken him. All power of resistance seemed crushed out of him. In silence he awaited his sentence.

"Give back the stolen note to Count Styrum," the Russian ordered.

Again he obeyed; he was incapable of thought,--Repuin's iron will ruled him irresistibly. Automatically be put his hand into his breast-pocket, took out the note, and handed it to Count Styrum.

"I have kept my word," Repuin continued. "You are again in possession of the missing note. We must now consider what is to be done with this scoundrel. It is your part, as the sufferer by his theft, to decide this. Shall we deliver him over to justice and a jail? He is ripe for it; this is not his first crime of the kind, as his skill in committing it testifies. Let us take the gentlemen in the next room into council, and send for the police. What say you, Count?"

"For God's sake, have mercy upon me!" With this cry Sorr threw himself at the Russian's feet. But Repuin thrust him from him. "Hands off, scoundrel! To me you appeal in vain. There stands your judge!"

He pointed as he spoke to Count Styrum, and to him the wretched Sorr turned with clasped hands. "Spare me, Count!" he implored. "I have given you back the note. Have pity!"

Pity for the worthless creature who crawled thus in the dust after his detection Count Styrum could not feel. Why should he have any compassion upon the miserable worldling who had squandered his means in every kind of low dissipation and was now nothing more nor less than a common thief? He deserved mercy less than did the criminal whom want and misery had driven to steal. It was his duty to banish him from the society of honest men and deliver him over to a just punishment.

And yet, just at this moment, there presented itself to Count Styrum's mind a vision of the lovely young creature who, without a suspicion of the horrible fate impending over her, had but a short time before listened to his words with such interest. Would not a just sentence pronounced upon her husband crush her also? And Adèle,--Frau von Sorr was her dearest friend. What a blow her misery would inflict upon Adèle!

Thus Styrum was still undecided between the consideration he felt for Frau von Sorr and for his cousin's peace of mind and the evident duty of delivering over a thief to justice, when suddenly an idea occurred to him that caused him to waver no longer. What reason had Count Repuin for convicting his friend of a theft? Was he weary of a friendship which, as the Assessor reported, cost him so much money? Had the disdainful repulse he had but now received from Frau von Sorr incited him to revenge? Or did he hope by ruining the husband to plunge the wife into such misery that she would in the end be accessible to his degrading advances? He looked quite capable of so devilish a scheme.

"Decide, Count!" Repuin said, hastily. "What is done must be done quickly!"

"I have decided," Count Styrum replied. "We owe it to the hospitality extended to us beneath this roof to avoid a scandal which would be most painful to my uncle and to my cousin Adèle."

"And you will let the fellow go scot-free?" Repuin asked, gloomily.

"If we allow him to escape the legal penalty of his villainy, his sole punishment must be the memory of this hour, which, I trust, may serve him as a warning."

"Oh, Count Styrum, how shall I thank you!" exclaimed Sorr, to whose cheeks the colour began to return, as he attempted, but vainly, to take Styrum's hand.

"Spare me your acknowledgments," said Styrum, turning from him with disgust. "It is owing to no sympathy for you, but to consideration for the society in which I find you, that you are spared the punishment you deserve. Go,--take my advice, and leave my uncle's house on the instant. I trust I shall never meet you again beneath his roof."

Sorr would immediately have followed this counsel, but it was impossible, for Repuin, who was still leaning with folded arms against the closed door, did not stir. The Russian's eyes were gloomily fixed on the ground; evidently he was dissatisfied with Styrum's decision, and was considering whether or how he should combat it. As Sorr approached him he looked up. "You are in too great a hurry," he said, disdainfully. "You and I are not yet quits; we have a few points to discuss that would hardly interest Count Styrum. I left the decision in this matter to you, Count, since you were the injured party, and I bow to it, but I cannot suffer this man longer to frequent a society in which he is regarded as my friend, and where I must continually encounter him. The means that I shall use to prevent this will depend upon the result of a private conversation, which I must insist upon having with Herr von Sorr."

There was in these words so direct a request to be left alone with Sorr that Count Styrum could not but comply; he had no right to remain, although an imploring look from Sorr seemed to entreat him to do so. With a slight inclination to Repuin, who instantly made way, and even opened the door, he left the room.

Scarcely was he gone when Sorr raised his head. The degradation of the moment when his villainy had been unmasked in the presence of a stranger had robbed him of all power of self-defence; now that he found himself alone with the Russian he was once more able to speak; his wrath he might hope to appease. Although Repuin's savagely passionate nature had always impressed him with a kind of terror, he thought he could devise a means to pacify him, difficult as it might be. Extreme caution was necessary,--in Count Styrum's presence this means could not be mentioned, but now, let him but soothe his antagonist with hopes of the fulfilment of his wild desires and all might yet be well.

"How could you--you of all men--act as you have just done, Count?" Sorr began. "How have I deserved such treatment at your hands? You know how devoted I am to your interests, how grateful for all you have done for me,--that I should think no sacrifice too great to testify this gratitude to you, and yet you--you it is who would ruin me!"

Repuin looked down with haughty contempt upon the cringing figure before him. He had spent months in studying this man, and his servile, degraded soul was as an open book before him; he knew the precise value of all these asseverations.

"Spare me your protestations, Herr von Sorr," he replied, "they will avail you nothing. I did not detain you here to listen to your assurances of friendship and gratitude, but to put a stop to any such. I have lost my interest in the game which you and your beautiful wife have been playing with me. I must be done with it. Understand me,--I refuse to be any longer either your dupe or your wife's."

"I do not understand you. I----"

"You shall learn to do so. I know you. I have scrutinized your every action for months past; your very thoughts are laid bare to me; I knew, when I brought you to Guntram's room to-night, that you would deliver yourself into my hands, either by cheating or, as has been the case, by theft. I knew when Count Styrum left his pocket-book open before you how it would all end."

There was an expression of absolute horror on Sorr's face as he listened to these words. That Repuin's treatment of him was due to no sudden impulse, no outbreak of passion, but was the result of a cool, well-considered scheme, robbed him of all hope, and he stood before his savage persecutor and judge an image of despairing guilt.

A cruel smile hovered upon Repuin's lips; he was satisfied with the effect his words had produced; without awaiting a reply, he continued: "You thought to play with me, Herr von Sorr; you were but a tool in my hands,--a tool to be thrown away whenever it pleased me. I should have done so long since, but for certain considerations. I might have unmasked the thief in the little affair with that other lost note of Herr von Saldern's, which I see you remember, but the fruit was not quite ripe, and I disdained to shake the tree. I am not fond of violent measures. I prepare them for my use, but I use them only in cases of absolute necessity. So long as I hoped to win your wife to listen to my suit, and to purchase her husband's easy compliance with money and a show of friendship, I allowed you to go your way. I thought you wise enough to use your influence with your wife in my favour. I paid you well for such service; but to-day she has shown me that it is vain to attempt to proceed upon a friendly footing. She has offended, insulted me; the consequences be upon her head. For what has happened to-night you may thank your beautiful wife."

"What--what has happened?" Sorr exclaimed, marking with terror the savage gleam in the Russian's eyes.

"Your wife repulsed me with scorn and left me, when, after the dance to-night, I whispered a few passionate words in her ear; and although by agreement with you she was engaged to me for supper, she refused my escort, and took the arm of that fool, Von Hahn!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed Sorr. "When she promised me so faithfully! She shall atone for it; she shall make you ample reparation!"

"If your influence with your wife is so powerful, you should have exerted it earlier," Repuin said, with cruel scorn.

"How was I to know that Lucie would break her word? But you shall have satisfaction; I swear you shall. I do not deserve that you should punish me thus for Lucie's actions. I am your most devoted friend; ask of me what you will, and you shall be obeyed."

"I look for no less from you," Repuin replied, "though I certainly do not reckon upon your friendship or gratitude, but upon your fear. That you may know clearly what you have to expect, I will tell you plainly what I meant, and still mean to do. Entire frankness is the best policy between us. I love your wife passionately, madly; I have sworn that she shall be mine at all hazards. Though I should commit murder in pursuit of her, she shall be mine. You must separate from your wife. She must be left to me."

Sorr fairly staggered. He had, indeed, long known that Count Repuin loved his beautiful wife; he had built upon this love his hopes of mollifying the Count; but for this infamous demand he was not prepared. He had often made shameful capital of his wife's exquisite beauty when young men of fortune were to be decoyed to his house and to the gaming-table; his dissipated life had long since destroyed in him all ennobling affection for her; he felt no jealousy upon seeing her surrounded by admirers; he had even exulted when the wealthy Russian had been evidently conquered by her charms. And yet he was horrified by Repuin's demand; to comply with it would banish him from the world in which he had hitherto lived; who would take the slightest notice of him if Lucie were no longer his wife?

"What you ask is impossible!" he gasped, at last.

"Do not dare to talk of 'impossible' to me!" the Russian angrily exclaimed. "I require obedience of you, and if you refuse I will hand you over to justice. Count Styrum, if summoned to court as a witness, must tell what he knows, however unwilling he may be to do so. Your fate in such a case is certain. Your only alternative would be to send a bullet through your brains before you were arrested. If, however, you consent to my will, I will not only be silent, and engage that Count Styrum shall be silent, but I will also pay you ten thousand thalers down. You shall receive the money on the day when your wife becomes mine and we start for the Italian tour. You see I am magnanimous. I buy your wife of you when I might force you to give her up to me. Choose,--your fate is in your own hands!"

As Sorr looked up at the Count's face filled with savage resolve, he felt that all hope was lost. "My wife will never consent to it," he said, with hesitation.

"That would be unfortunate for you; but I am sure she will yield if you tell her the true state of the case. Describe to her her future as the wife of a convict. How will she live when her present support is closely confined behind bolts and bars? Upon the other hand paint to her the delights of a life by my side. There is no wish that she can frame that it will not be my joy to gratify. If the fair Lucie is not insane, I think that a just representation of the state of affairs--and this must be your task--will soon convince her of what choice she had best make."

"You do not know my wife," Sorr said, still hesitatingly,--he was afraid of arousing the Count's anger, and yet he dared not keep back the truth: "her pride transcends belief; she would prefer the most fearful fate, even death itself, to a life with you."

"Exert all your eloquence, Herr von Sorr, and I am convinced you will succeed. Remember the sword that is suspended above your head, and that you alone can avert its fall. But enough for the present; you will now return to the ball-room, only to leave it immediately with your wife upon whatever pretext you may devise,--a sudden indisposition or something of the kind. I owe it to Count Styrum that you spend not an instant longer than is absolutely necessary beneath this roof. You will inform your wife this very night of what has been agreed upon between us. I will wait no longer than to-morrow morning for the result. Come to me early and let me know what it is, and I will decide what is next to be done."

"Count----"

"Not another word! Your part is to obey; woe upon you if you fail! I shall expect you to-morrow morning by eight o'clock at the latest!"

With a haughty, scarcely perceptible nod, the Russian withdrew, and finding Heinrich's room--whence the gamblers had long since departed--empty, returned to the ball-room.