Morganatic

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CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

THE

Joseph Whitmore Barry
dramatic library

THE GIFT OP
TWO ERIENDS

OF Cornell University

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arV10120
Morganatic.

Comatt University Library

3 1924 031 325 487
oiin.anx

Cornell University
Library

The original of tliis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031325487

MORGANATIC

MORGANATIC

BY [[

MAX NORDAU

TRANSLATED BY ELIZABETH LEE

J PHILADELPHIA T

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

1905
F

MORGANATIC

BOOK I

" Hee Highness the Princess of Meissen-Loewenstein-
Franka ! " shouted the servant at the top of his sonorous
bass voice, as he threw open the second wing of the
folding-doors.

The announcement created a sensation in the crowded
room. The ladies who were seated turned their heads
round, and in great excitement lifted their lorgnettes to
their eyes. The men who lined the walls stood on tip-
toe. Two reporters asked their neighbours in a whisper
to repeat the name, and hastily wrote it down in their
notebooks. Madame Abeille, the hostess, left two ladies
whom she had scarcely finished greeting, with scant cere-
mony, flew through the crowd which divided to let her
pass, to meet the new-comer.

" My dear princess," she said, " how are you .-' I
feared something had kept you from coming."

" Yes, my dear friend," answered the princess, " we are
a little late. I was uncertain up to the last. It is the
first time I have been out since my year of mourning.
But 1 wanted to give you my first evening."

"Thank you, princess, thank you," replied Madame
Abeille. "Ah, good evening, my dear Prince Siegfried.
It is charming of you to come with the princess."

" Madam " murmured the prince, while he bowed

somewhat stiffly and offered his hostess his finger-tips.

"Let me introduce my little protegee,^ said the

? MORGANATIC

princess. " Mademoiselle Nicoline Flammert, the daughter
of an old Diesa friend who has asked me to show her some-
thing of Paris."

Her hostess glanced at the girl who, blushing, stepped
forward with a slight bow.

* "I congratulate you, my dear young lady, on your
chaperon. And still more on your youth and beauty,"
she added with a polite smile. " Will you be so good as
to come with me .'' "

Madame Abeille walked in front. There was a good
deal of pushing and squeezing, disguised by such polite
phrases as, " I beg your pardon," " Can you make a little
room ? " " I'm so sorry to disturb you," " If you please."
In this way the little procession reached the front row
of seats, in the midst of which an empty armchair awaited
an occupant.

"We'll find a place for you directly, Mademoiselle
Flammert," said her hostess, before the girl had time to
feel embarrassed.

Beckoning to a young man, she whispered a few words
in his ear. He vanished behind the row of black-coated
guests who lined the walls, and quickly returned with a
low, green varnished chair of a modern style, and placed it
on the left of the armchair, just a little in front of the line.

The Princess had meanwhile seated herself, and her
hostess introduced her to her right-hand neighbour.

"Allow me — the Princess of Cyprus, her Highness
the Princess of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka." Then
pointing to the stool, she said, " There, Mademoiselle
Flammert, you see there's space for a rose-leaf even in a
closely crowded room." With a smile and a nod, Madame
Abeille retired.

The two princesses glanced quickly and sharply at
each other, and exchanged bows. The Princess of
Cyprus's greeting was a little hasty, that of her High-
ness lacked eagerness and was almost hesitating. The
politeness of the two ladies went no further, although
they secretly eyed each other.

The young man whom the hostess had addressed' as
Prince Siegfried, joined the group of men who were

MORGANATIC 8

standing. He evidently knew none of his neighbours, for
no hand went out to him, no smile greeted him, no word
nor recognition was vouchsafed him.

The programme was fairly well advanced. Two poets
had recited; the charming Blanchon of the Com^die Fran-
paise, and Saint-Denis, the star of the Gymnase, had acted
a little play. Now came the chief attraction of the even-
ing. It was a novelty, if not invented by Madame Abeille,
developed by her, and brought to the level of a recognized
drawing-room entertainment. It consisted of a speech on
some question of the day, followed by the reply of a sup-
porter of the opposite view. In the open space in front
of the rows of seats to which screens arranged at the back
and sides lent a sort of likeness to a stage, were two
armchairs. Two young men, one with a cornflower in his
button-hole, the other with an orchid, entered, bowed to
the audience, smilingly acknowledged the applause with
which they were received, and sat down. Then one of
them began to speak freely and surely, whik the other
leaned back carelessly, crossed his legs, and apparently
hypnotized by the sharp points of his shining patent
leather shoes, showed agreement or disagreement, with an
elegantly restrained, yet sufficiently plain gesture and
expression. The subject of discussion was a burning one :
The organization of Society on an aristocratic basis or on
one of democratic equality. The supporter of the motion
defended the necessity of grades in Society; his opposer took
democracy under his wing with a sort of indulgent con-
descension; both spoke in indignation of the power of
money, and in bitter scorn of its human representatives.
That was in good taste here, for Madame Abeille's late
husband had been a banker, and many of the ladies present
bore names of a provokingly financial sound. Neatly
turned compliments, epigrams, witticisms, and bold para-
doxes were scattered through the alleged extempore
debate. It was a free imitation of the speeches which it is
customary to make at the reception of a new member into the
Frmch Academy, and the disputants, both young writers,
wlffie ambition taught them to value the patronage of
influential women, seemed to regard the performance as

4 MORGANATIC

good practice for the parts they would in the future play
in the Academy.

Few of the audience, and especially few of the ladies,
followed the speaking for more than five minutes. To
speak truthfully, it was very tedious. The extreme
pleasure and self-satisfaction which the two orators ap-
parently found in hearing themselves speak afforded a
little amusement. But Madame Abeille had issued a
decree that a speech-tournament was an intellectual
pastime, and one of a far higher tone than the entertain-
ments of ordinary superficial society, and so the company
bored itself out of politeness.

The orators had sufiicient tact not to indulge their
pleasure in talking for too long a time. With a last
harmless display of wit, and some well-turned flattery,
having smilingly shaken hands and bowed to the audience,
the two young men advanced into the room, amid clapping
of hands and rustling of fans, and a chorus of " bravo,"
"delightful,'" "very nice."

Many ladies rose, and either alone, or accompanied
by a gentleman, went into the next room where a buffet,
shining with glass and silver, was spread with champagne,
ices, fruit syrups, cakes and sandwiches. The princess, with
a curt bow to her neighbour, stood up and followed the
others. She did not, however, approach the buffet, but
walked through the apartment into a neighbouring room
which was empty when she and her girl companion
entered it.

The princess, who was well on in the forties, was
of middle height and dignified embonpoint. The too
pale face, the full lips of the small mouth, the eyelids,
were all artistically painted without the plebeian anxiety
that desires to conceal the work of camel-hair brush and
powder-puff. She carried her head, with its powdered hair
under the black lace Marie Stuart cap, high, and the
somewhat tired blue eyes had a certain undefined expres-
sion w^ich appeared to look over the unimportant people
present, and to seek a worthier goal of observation ii^the
distance. She wore a plain black silk gown, the^ftily
trimming of which was of magnificent chantilly lace, of

MORGANATIC 6

an individual cut without reference to the fashion, ancient
in form like the earrings, the diamond stars in her hair,
the broad necklace of emeralds surrounded with diamonds,
the green varnished walking-stick, with its gold handle set
with diamonds on which she supported herself as she
walked. This indubitably studied outward appearance
exacted attention everywhere. The princess looked as if
she had stepped out of another age and society, a portrait of
some eighteenth-century ancestor which only lacked the
higher mode of hairdressing and hoops to be perfectly
correct.

Both her son and her hostess observed her rise, and
they joined her in the room to which she had withdrawn
with her young companion.

" Won't you take just a little champagne, princess .'' "
asked Madame Abeille.

" No, I thank you," replied the princess.

" But the young people " said Madame Abeille.

The girl blushed deeply. The young man bowed
slightly. His expression was cold and unamiable, his
manner stiff. He was very tall, in this assembly even
something of a giant, and despite his three and twenty
years, somewhat stout. His hair, cut very short, like his
moustache, was light brown.

In the upper part of his face he resembled his mother,
but the likeness was not very strong. The broad, heavy
jawbone, and the thin, firmly closed lips showed a different
origin.

"How did you like the debate. Mademoiselle
Flammert ?" asked her hostess.

The'girl blushed again and the princess answered for
her.

"The child does not speak French very fluently, and
that embarrasses her."

" But she understands ? " said Madame Abeille.

" Oh yes," replied the girl with animation, and with
far less awkwardness than her chaperon's words implied.

" I understand everything. Only with J^he answers "

She stopped to find the word. r

" It sticks," Madame Abeille smilingly completed the

6 MORGANATIC

girl's sentence. Turning to the princess, she continued,
" The two young authors whom you've just heard ask
for the honour of an introduction, may I "

" With pleasure," calmly replied the princess.

Madame Abeille approached the door and signed to
some one in the dining-room. The young orators ap-
peared, and Madame Abeille pronounced their names.
The cornflower made a bow in perfect Court style,
while his comrade, the orchid, seemed less versed in
ceremonial forms of greeting.

" I am very glad to make your acquaintance," began
the princess, acknowledging their greeting with a slight
movement of eye and head.

"Your royal highness— too kind," murmured the
young men.

" Of course. I have long known you by your writings.
I always read your articles in the Vercingetoriai with
the greatest interest." The words fell slowly from her
full lips, each divided from its forerunner by a significant
pause. She spoke with the consciousness of the impor-
tance which every one of her utterances must have for
those she so distinguished. "The lecture, the debate,"
she continued, " was excellent, most entertaining. You
speak with as much talent as you write."

"Your opinion, your royal highness, is most flatter-
ing," murmured the cornflower.

"Princess, the honour of speaking before you, gives
inspiration," fawned the orchid.

In the meanwhile other people had entered ^e room,
and begged Madame Abeille tQ introduce them, ^phe two
reporters, a lady wearing an cirder who was pointed out
as a teacher of singing, a little professional pianist with
her husband, a fashionable American lady shared the
honour. The princess deserved admiration. She had
suitable words of friendly commonplace for everybody.
She was the brilliant queen of a veritable court. The girl
who sat beside her took no part in the conversation, but
observed the difF^mt persons with alert, sharp eyes which
apparently took in every feature of the picture. She
seemed to find it all most amusing. The prince, on the

MORGANATIC 7

contrary, who stood behind his mother, became more and
more gloomy the longer the court lasted. He could not
avoid being occasionally drawn into the conversation, but
his remarks were brief and made with evident reluctance.

Saint-Denis, the actor, entered the room, hurried
through the groups of people who yielded to his im-
petuosity, to the princess, seized her hand, raised it
quickly to his lips, and exclaimed —

" Princess, allow me to pay you my respects. For-
give me for not having yet called on you. I have only
just returned "

"But I read weeks back in the Verdngetorix "

rejoined the princess.

" Three or four weeks," interrupted Saint-Denis.
"When a man returns from an American tour, he finds
such mountains of arrears "

"Of course," replied the princess, "you had more
important things to do than to give your old friends
pleasure by going to see them. Since the prince's death,
my house is less attractive."

" How can you think that, princess .'' Ah, my dear
Prince Siegfried," he said, " how are you ? " He held
out his hand to the young man who took it without
enthusiasm. "You were not here in time for our little
play ? What a pity ! The audience seemed quite carried
away."

" You would have been as perfect as ever, my dear
Saint-Denis," said the princess.

" A man does his best. But Blanchon supported me
capitally — the piece was very good," he replied.

While he spoke he smiled at himself intermittently
in the mirror over the fireplace, and eyed the girl beside
the princess. Her fresh beauty evidently surprised him.
The dazzling red and white complexion, the oval-shaped
face, the large intrepid blue eyes, the wealth of naturally
waving fair hair, the finely modelled nose, standing out
of the profile as if by a Florentine cinquecento engraver of
coins, reminded him of a royal head that he had had the
opportunity of admiring, when he was winning triumphs in
Russia, and often played before the Court.

8 MORGANATIC

The princess, observing the direction of his glances,
came up to him and said —

" I'm sorry the child did not see you play. My
godchild, Mademoiselle Nicoline Flammert. She is pas-
sionately interested in the theatre. She belongs to it,
I may say. Her mother is one of our best Wagner
singers. My husband thought great things of her."

The low depreciatory tone in which the words were
uttered brought the blood into Nicoline's cheeks, and she
looked down.

The actor seemed a little surprised. He had expected
to be introduced to a princess of the blood royal, or, at
least, to some great aristocrat. Only theatrical blood !
That gave him the right to be familiar.

"Ah, indeed, almost a little colleague. 'I suppose you
are studying fojr. the stage, mademoiselle.''" ventured
Saint-Denis. ':' '

Nicoline blushed again.

" That is my especial desire. I want to sing. But I
don't know yet."

" Meanwhile, she's studying under Signora Conti,"
interrupted the princess. "We shall see how the voice
turns out."

At that moment the Princess of Cyprus rustlg^ injo
the room with a train of young people, but went out
again directly she saw that the place of honour on the
sofa by the fireplace was already occupied. Samt-Denis
had not time even to bow.

" You know the Princess of Cyprus .'' " he as^ed.

" She sat next me in the drawing-room," replied the
princess, indifferently."

Her son raised his head and frowned.

"Princess of Cyprus.? What sort of a princess is
that?" he asked.

The actor smiled in a conceited fashion, and was glad
of the opportunity of a little gossip.

" Oh, don't you know her, my dear Prince Siegfried?"
he said. " She is a very wealthy woman, of undecided
nationality, Russian, Greek, or Italian. She lives in a
magnificent house in the Avenue Victor Hugo, entertains

MORGANATIC 9

largely, chiefly foreigners. She says she is descended from
the ancient kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem. Others deny
that, and assert that the historical race of those kings
died out long ago. But the family itself must surely
know better than strangers whether it is extinct or
not. The fact is, that the princess bestows decorations on
her friends, which they wear in her drawing-room, and also
in those which she frequents ; nymph decorations, so called
after her coat-of-arms and the legend of her descent. Her
houses traces its origin to a nymph."

Prince Siegfried cleared his throat, but said nothing.

The princess looked at the little watch set with
diamonds in her bracelet, and rose.

" Are you going already, princess ? " asked the actor.

" Yes, it is the first time I have been out since my year
of mourning." She stretched out her strikingly large,
strong hand, every finger of which was, according to the
fashion, covered with rings. " I hope, my dear Monsieur
Saint-Denis," she said, " you will soon find your way again
to the Rue Palestrina."

With an obeisance in real Louis XIV. style, he bent
over and kissed her hand.

" Princess," he said, " I have never forgotten the way.
My pleasantest memories often turn to it."

Just then Madame Abeille came up. " You're not
going, my dear friend ? " she said.

The princess nodded. " My little protegee works to-
morrow with her singing mistress. Late hours are good
neither &r her nor her voice. I hope to see you soon."

"In a day or two, dear friend," replied Madame
Abeille.

" I want to give you a story for your paper, by a
young Viennese authoress whom I wish to help. Siegfried
has translated it into French," said the princess.

A shadow crossed Madame Abeille's good-natured face.
She quickly chased it away, and replied with a courteous
if scarcely cheerful smile, " Always at your service, my
dear friend, as far as it is possible."

Leaning on her green stick, the princess, accompanied
by her hostess, Siegfried, and Nicoline, walked with dignity

10 MORGANATIC

to the door through the silent groups of people stand-
ing about the dining-room and drawing - room, who
subjected them to a cross-fire of discreet or impertinent
glances.

In the hall a little, round middle-aged woman jumped
up from a sofa, and hurried to the princess as quickly as
her corpulency permitted. While she helped her on with
a handsome violet silk swan's-down lined evening cloak, the
princess asked —

" Is Janusz there ? "

" He did not go far away, baroness," said the maid.

Her mistress looked at her so angrily that she was silent.

In the mean time Siegfried had secured his coat, and
they all went down the staircase. The carriage waited
before the street-door. It was an unusually roomy closed
landau, of old-fashioned build, but of splendid equipment.
The cut-glass lamps, with silver mounts, bore a curved
crown in the same metal. A golden curved crown was
painted on the door, with its silver handle. The inside
was upholstered in dairk blue leather. The harness of the
big, heavy, overfed horses was silver-plated. Carriage and '
horses reminded one of an archiepiscopal gala coach. The
shaven old fat coachman on the high box-seat belonged
to the picture.

A little active servant with a dark cunning face — he
was a Pole — opened the door. All four entered, the maid
included, who sat beside the young man opposite the
princess.

The Polish footman swung himself on to thaabox. and
the carriage rolled at a moderate speed along the Boule-
vards which were not very full since the theatres were not
yet out.

It was a bright starlight, moonlight night; and for the
season, towards the end of October, quite warm. The
princess let down the window on her side. With much
decision the maid closed it again, and grumbled, " Baroness
will catch another cold."

" Bertha, you are impossible," said the princess.

" Oh no ! If baroness is ill who has all the bother ? "
She spoke the purest Viennese dialect,, which also betrayed

MORGANATIC 11

^ itself in her mistress's speech although she toned it down
and sought to hide it by cultivating the accent of the
actors of the Hof burg theatre.

The young man listened with frowning brows, and
opened his window with a violent jerk. The maid turned
quickly to him, but seeing him look so gloomy and cross,
did not venture to say anything, and drew back into her
corner with a long sigh.

For a time absolute silence reigned in the carriage,
and each of the four occupants was wrapped in his own
thoughts. Those of Nicoline appeared to be pleasant.
At last the princess grumbled out, " You with your
everlasting baroness."

" But bar , but I spoke German, and the people

don't understand," said Bertha.

;. Nicoline could hardly suppress a smile.

** Baroness is baroness in every language," scolded the
princess.

" It is very difficult to change a habit of twenty-three
years," replied Bertha. "I have grown old in baroness's
T; service, and as long as his highness lived "

" Don't answer me," returned the princess ; and in her
violence the dialect came out in all its glory. " You must

k yourself of it, or else "

Jf Then I must indeed break myself of it," murmured
the maid, dejectedly.

The princess could not remain long angry. She was
too weH-fell, too good-natured, of too volatile a spirit.
Her ill-humour quickly disappeared, and after a short
pause she began again, " Well, Nicoline, did you enjoy
yourself ? "

" Oh, immensely, aunt, it was very amusing. It was
so kind of you to take me." And she grasped the
princess's firm hand and kissed it. "If only I spoke
French fluently, and could join in the conversation and
not sit dumb."

"In large assemblies, a young girl need not join in
the conversation," observed the princess. " She should
only see and hear. The more reserved she is, the more
distinction she has.'l

I r

12 MORGANATIC

" Oh, I don't care a bit about distinction, I want to
enjoy myself," she exclaimed, proudly throwing up her :
fair head. ^

"But here you are under my protection and appear?
in society with me," returned the princess. "Do you
understand, Nicoline ? You must behave yourself."

Nicoline blushed notwithstanding the semi-darkijess,
and said nothing. The silence was not again broken
until the carriage stopped before the princess's house.

It was situated in the " Cite Dubois," a street of private
houses branching off from the Rue Palestriria into the
Arc de Triomphe quarter. The "Cite" consisted of two
rows of large and small houses standing in the rear of
large gardens enclosed in front by iron railings.

When the Polish footman had got down, and the
four occupants had left the carriage, it rolled a,way with
suppressed clatter over the macadam of the narrow road.
Coachhouse and stables were rented elsewhere. The
house in the " Cite Dubois " was not provided with those
appurtenances.

The incomers were greeted by the joyful deep, clear,
barking of a dog ; the iron gate fell back into its lock
and let loose a loud threatening bell. A big black*
Newfoundland fawned round the princess, and a silver-
grey, long-haired, long-bodied Scotch terrier tried to jtwHp
on her. She stroked the creatures. .:,

" Quiet, Nero ; quiet. Bella, you mad thing ! "

The garden stretched before them. The clprnps of
old trees still bore sufficient foliage to keep off" tfie moon-
light from the ground at their feet. Only the clear spaces
were light, and a well-kept lawn and a few flower-beds
could be distinguished, round which ran, its length in-
creased by artistic skill, a winding gravel path.

As they walked up the paved way to the house,
Nicoline suddenly uttered a low exclamation. In sur-
prise the princess turned to her with, " What's the
matter.'"

" I beg your pardon, aunt — the animal ! "

Her glance fell on a china fox modelled with
absolute truth to life which stood at ^the place where

MORGANATIC 13

one of the side paths turned off. In the uncertain light
the statue made an impression of reality upon the
uninitiated.

" You silly little goose ! You've seen the things
before," said the princess.

" Yes, aunt ; but when one isn't thinking about them
and conies upon them so suddenly "

"It was my angel prince's hobby. He liked to have
all kinds of game around, both here and in the park at
Franka." J*^

" A chiraish pleasure," grumbled Siegfried.

" It is not for you to criticise your deceased* father,"
rejoined the princess, with more energy than she might
have been credited with. «

"There's no law against that," answered Siegfried,
coldly and sulkily.

The princess had a reply on the tip of her tongue,
but suppressed the words which she was on the point of
pronouncing. She did not want a scene before Nicoline.

At the end of the garden stood the inconspicuous
villa of two stories with five windows and the half-window
of the basement kitchen. Six steps under a glass roof led
sideways to the entrance, over which a bright gas-jet
burned in an opal globe cut with stars.

The princess dismissed Nero at the door with a last
caress, but permitted Bella to follow her into the house.
She passed through the hall into the lighted dining-room
where the table was laid for tea. While the maid removed
and carried away her wraps and those of Nicoline, the
princess, who had thrown herself into a chair, said —

"I am quite faint. What will you have, Nicoline — a
cup of tea or a glass of champagne ? "

" A glass of champagne, aunt, if I may ?"

" And you .'' " said the princess, turning to Siegfried.

" Just a sandwich, mamma."

" Janusz," said the princess, " bring a bottle of cham-
pagne, and something to eat, and then you can go to
bed."

The footman hastened to execute the order. As soon
as theiy yftere alone, Nicoline tried to begin to talk

14 MORGANATIC

about Madame Abeille's party ; but she stopped when she
found that no one was listening to her. The princess and
Siegfried were sunk in an ill-humoured silence. Without
speaking, the princess swallowed the sparkling wine, and
ate one or two sandwiches. At last, unable any longer
to suppress what was troubling her, she uttered in sulky
tones, almost more to herself than to her two companions,
"Bertha will make me ridiculous with her want of
tact."

" No, mamma, it's not Bertha who makm^you ridicu-
lous," replied Siegfried, emphatically. ~

The . princess looked at him angrily. He bore it
calmly. She turned her head away, paused for a moment,
ai^ then said —

"Nicoline, you had better go to bed. You have
your lesson to-morrow morning."

The girl rose obediently, kissed the princess's hand,
received an indifferent kiss on her brow, gave Siegfried
her small hand with its long pointed fingers and opal
nails which he pressed, and left the room, slowly and
silently. The carpet in the hall and on the staircase
deadened the sound of her light footsteps, which were
only audible when she reached the landing, that shook
a little under her tread.

Until then the princess remained silent. Now, when
she could no longer be overheard, she asked in a choking
voice, which trembled from inward excitement —

" What do you mean by the remark that I make
myself ridiculous .''"

The young man impolitely shrugged his shoulders, and
did not reply.

" Answer me," she said, more violently. " Your
mother has a right to demand an answer from you."

" Why, then, did we go to Madame Abeille's ?'"

" Why ? Do you ask seriously .-' "

"Quite seriously."

" Don't be so stupid. You are no fool."

"I must be more stupid than I seem. For it's, in-
explicable to me why we should go to a parfca^hl^ we
play an ambiguous and humiliating part."

MORGANATIC 16

" What do you mean ? Have you ever seen me play
such a part anywhere? Were we not properly treated
at Madame Abeille's ? "

" Undoubtedly. We were treated with the same
distinction as your neighbour, the Princess of Cyprus.
Princess Loewenstein-Franka, Princess of Cyprus — perhaps
there were other princesses of similar calibre in the room.
Why not .'' We have only to go on. Then we shall soon
hold high rank in the Tout-Paris of shoddy folk."

The princess turned ashy pale under her mask of
thick enamel.

" I forbid you to speak in that way — do you hear,
Siegfried? The best society in Paris goes to Madame
Abeille's, and your highness is in no way compromisedv"

Siegfried laughed scornfully. " My highness ! You
are right to jeer at me to my face, as people do doubtless
behind our backs."

The princess seemed to repeat his words, and to
improve matters, said —

" Such self-torment is morbid. Who should jeer at
us ? And for what reason ? "

"But, mamma, it does not really require unusual
maliciousness to laugh at people who are highnesses in
the drawing-room, and once outside it are suddenly
addressed by their servants as barons ! "

The princess was silent for a space, then her eyes
overflowed, and she began to cry quietly.

The outburst of feeling made no impression on her
son. Apparently he was not sensitive. He leaned back
in his chair, and stared angrily at the ceiling.

When the princess realized how little effect her tears
had, she dried her eyes with a nervous movement, and
said crossly —

" It is so foolish of that silly Bertha, and I have scolded
her for it. That our position is not quite as good as I
could wish, I know as well as you, but "

" But, then, we must draw the right conclusions," inter-
rupted Siegfried, violently, " and conduct ourselves in
accordance with our unfortunate position."

"What," she exclaimed, louder than before, "am I

16 MORGANATIC

to give up the struggle ? Never, never ! I know what
I owe my angel prince."

"Madame Abeille's drawing-room is scarcely the right
ba«lefield."

" You know nothing of the world and life, and yet you
try to teach your experienced mother. The newspapers
print reports of Madame Abeille's entertainments, and
to-morrow you will read in the Vercmgetorix that her
highness, the widowed princess, and Prince Siegfried of
Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka, were among the guests."

" Yes, with the Princess of Cyprus, who is not men-
tioned. The paragraph can only serve to expose us,"
retorted Siegfried.

" You know as well as I do, that the Verdngetorioo is
the first paper that the Grand Duke Hilarius reads at
breakfast. Hardly had my angel prince closed his dear
eyes when the family struck us out of the Almanach de
Gotha. So the Grand Duke and all his tribe will at
least see that their own newspaper recognizes me. That
they can't prevent."

"They can easily prevent it if they wish. If they
don't, it proves that they don't care. In this way we
shall never get a step farther, and shall only have to
repent our self-esteem."

" You are very ungrateful."

" Yes, I am very ungrateful."

" I desire nothing more in the world for myself. You
know that well enough. It is all for your sake."

"I am much obliged, but I entreat you to leave it
alone. I have made up my mind not to repeat to-day's
experience, not even for the sake of a paragraph in the
Vercmgetorix, not even to annoy the Grand Duke."

The princess threw the embroidered Russian tea-
serviette on the table, pressed the electric bell, and as
Bertha entered, got up. Siegfried also got up, wished
her good night, and made as if to kiss her hand. She
drew it away from him, and with a slight bow, lean-
ing on her maid's arm, she walked heavily out of the
room.

The stairs creaked under her weight. She stood, for a

MORGANATIC 17

long time at the top, breathing with difficulty ; when she
recovered her breath, she entered her brightly lighted
bedroom with its salmon-coloured carpets, chairs, sofas,
and bed-hangings. She was perfectly silent while Bertha
helped her to undress and prepare for bed. Only the
deep sighs that escaped at intervals betrayed the drift of
her thoughts.

"It is more difficult to get on with Siegfried every
day," she murmured more to herself than to the maid.

Bertha thought it her duty to reply. " Children grow
into men and women, and then you have your troubles
with them."

" Be silent, if that's all you have to say ! " commanded
the princess. She sank again into her own thoughts,
and after a while began afresh, " I take the greatest
trouble to procure him a position in society, a support,
but he scarcely helps me at all. Often I almost lose
courage."

Without a syllable Bertha finished her mistress's hair,
put on the little lace cap, and the silk, richly embroidered
night-gown, pulled off the long silk stockings, helped her
into bed, arranged the pillows high up behind her back
so that she rather sat than reclined, tucked the quilt
in round the bed, spread the eiderdown out over its foot,
fetched a medicine bottle from the mantelshelf, and
poured some of its contents into a glass.

The princess took the medicine, swallowed it with a
grimace, drank a little soda-water, and sighed —

" Why does one hold on so to life ? It's not worth the
trouble."

"Baroness is unwell and tired to-day. To-morrow
she'll be in a Jjetter frame of mind."

The princess did not think of reproving the relapse
into her ordinary tone.

"No," she continued, "there's nothing pleasant left
for me. What more have I to expect in this world ?
How often I said to my angel prince, it would be terrible
if I outlived him ; and I was right. My angel prince
always answered, ' No, no, Pepi, I forbid you to die first.
I'll have no bother with your corpse.' "

c

18 MORGANATIC

" Yes, his Highness was terrified of bother all his life
long," agreed Bertha.

" And we have to pay for it now," from the princess
ended the discussion ; she gave the maid her hand to kiss
and dismissed her.

Bertha Hackl had no light place with her mistress,
especially since Prince Albrecht's death. So long as he
lived it was not specially hard. Every one filled his
particular place, and knew exactly what he had to do.
It was Bertha's duty to guess her mistress's rapid changes
of humour quickly, and to meet them with understanding.
She could then do whatever she liked with her. She
was the princess's confidant, in both small and great
troubles, her adviser in all circumstances ; she was indis-
pensable to her and did not apparently abuse the position,
for she seemed submissive, and led her by an invisible
silken thread. But since Prince Albrecht's demise great
changes had occurred. The day on which she donned
widow's weeds changed the baroness into a princess. And
her character underwent signal change. She who had
always been gay, became peevish and irritable. She who
had talked incessantly, scarcely spoke a word. She who
had been childishly frank and comfortably trusting,
became suspicious and reserved. If Bertha, as in old
times, chattered about parties, and gowns, and aristocratic
acquaintances, the baroness irritably bade her hold her
tongue. If she was silent and wrapped in her own
thoughts, her mistress remarked angrily, "I don't want
funeral mutes about me. Why do you gape about in
that imbecile fashion ? Have you forgotten how to talk .■' "
If, as had always been the custom, she asked about the
contents of letters, or the reason of visits, the baroness,
flying into a passion, said, " What's it to do with you ?
This everlasting spying is intolerable." If Bertha was
not well versed in all the details of their daily exist-
ence, she grumbled, " I don't know where your head
can be. Certainly not with your work." The young
master did not like her. That had always been the
case, but now it was worse, for he did not trouble to
conceal his dislike. Then, too, the physical side of her

MORGANATIC 19

work was much harder than before. The baroness had
become very stout, very heavy, and suffered from her
heart She was continually needing assistance and help in
various ways. She suffered from sleeplessness, and her
bell summoned the sleeping maid from the neighbouring
room to her bedside. All this was neither comfortable
nor cheerful; melancholy brooded over the formerly
cheerful house. The rich soui-ce of tips had almost run
dry. The future promised no improvement, but contained
undoubted threats of trouble and deterioration. Bertha
was no longer the young, bright, active girl she had been
when first she came to the baroness. She was very
nearly fifty, and so stout that she had to be careful; she
required undisturbed sleep at night, and a few hours
rest in her own room in the day. She had always been a
good manager, and had known how to make the best of
her opportunities. She had saved up a nice little property,
and the thought continually occurred to her that there
was no real need for her to be worried and ill-treated.
She seriously entertained the notion of leaving her mistress,
and of returning to her Austrian home, there to enjoy her
savings. But she had never had courage enough to make
up her mind finally, and to tell the baroness of her deter-
mination. For with all the selfishness that belongs to a
low order of mind, with all the unconscious hostility of
servants to their masters, she had some affection for her
mistress. She knew that, estranged from her son and
unacknowledged by her deceased husband's family, she
stood almost alone, and would feel her departure a very
hard blow. And she did not like the thought of grieving
the woman whose happier years she had shared, and in
whom, in the enthusiasm of youth, she had been keenly
interested, not only from the point of view of a trusted
servant, but from that of an industrious reader of penny
novelettes.

The baroness's history was sufficiently romantic and
sentimental to make a deep impression on the heart and
imagination of a Viennese girl of the people.

Baroness Josephine, a native of Vienna, was the
daughter of lower middle-class parents. Her father.

20 MORGANATIC

Peter Schwandtner, rejoiced in a certain local reputation
as a musical composer. He composed Church music
which was somewhat dull, but was valued by connoisseurs
for its clever counterpoint. He was more than an average
violinist, but his great modesty prevented him from ever
aspiring to the career of a concert player. He was con-
tent with a place in the chief quartette of the orchestra
of the Imperial Opera, where he was also conductor of
the ballet music. His musical knowledge, together with
his regular life and loyal sentiments, attracted the atten-
tion of the Court, and procured him the poorly paid yet
greatly coveted post of music-master to the Imperial
children. He moved over the polished parquet of the
Hofburg with a certainty that a man of the lower rank
only possesses when he is either very clever or unusually
simple-minded. He amused the high-born ladies and
gentlemen with his delightful mixture of plebeian bash-
fulness and professional dignity. As a subordinate, he
died of humility in the presence of noble persons ; as a
teacher, he was sure of himself even to presumption, and
firm even to severity with his Imperial pupils. He was
by nature a perfect courtier, for he let it be seen how
deeply, almost painfully, the exalted presence impressed
: hjm, and he never seemed to get accustomed to it ; yet he
was withal so simple and natural that he won the sort of
\ove bestowed on a trusty dog, and yet had never felt
•encouraged by this gracious condescension to desire any-
thing for himself. In fact, he possessed just the qualities
that the great like to find in the small.

Peter Schwandtner had three children, two daughters
and one son. The son owed a small post as inspector on
one of the Imperial estates to his father's connections, in
which he gradually grew old on little work, small pay, and
slow advancement. The elder of the girls, like her homely
mother, was an insignificant person. But the younger,
Peperl, inherited her father's musical talent, was in fact
himself turned into a woman and made young again, but
fresher, more brilliant, more piquant. Pepi was a prodigy.
Her musical propensities and talents showed themselves
ridiculously early. Before she could speak she could

MOflGANATIC 21

warble tunes which she had heard sung. As a tiny little
thing she stole to her father's piano, and tapped on the
keys with her small fingers until the tones had some
meaning. One day when her father was copying music in
his room, he heard Weber's " Invitation k la Danse," in-
genuously harmonized, in the next room, and played with
certainty and animation. In surprise he hastened to the
door and opened it — it was Peperl ; she was seated at the
old-fashioned instrument, with the greatest confidence, a
smile on her parted lips, her eyes looking up in enchantment
at the ceiling, so engrossed in her playing that she was
only aware of her father's presence when he stood beside her,
and exclaimed, " Peperl, where did you learn it .'' " She
turned fiery red, jumped off the music-stool that was much
too high for her, and tried to run away. But her father
held her fast, questioned her closely, and discovered that
she had gained her skill quite alone.

Henceforth, he devoted himself to the development of
her natural gift. She did not cause him unmixed joy. She
had no mind for theory, and could not get on at all with
thorough bass. She was all for rhythm and melody, from
the crown of her fair head to her dancing feet. When
in the right mood she sang extempore rhymes to melodies
of her own composition, which were neither particularly
original nor deep, but flowed smoothly, like a cheerful,
bubbling spring. With similar readiness, she improvised
on the piano, and her playing, singing, and rhyming
excited her so greatly that she would leave the instrument
and dance round the room to her own singing until the
impulse died down, and she was tired.

" A savage ! " said her father, discontentedly shaking
his head.

" A genius ! " returned her mother, angrily. That was
the opinion, too, of the few friends before whom Peperl
had exhibited her powers, and they succeeded in making
her father leave the child to her own artistic impulses.
Apparently she would never be a solid musician in his
sense of the words. And so, with a deprecatory shrug of
his shoulders, he allowed her to compose doggerel rhymes,
light rhythmical songs and dances ; notwithstanding, she

22 MORGANATIC

attained great skill as a pianist, and took dancing lessons
from the ballet-master of the opera.

Pepi was scarcely twelve years old when she made her
debut at a respectable suburban theatre. She created a
new line. She sang, accompanying herself on the piano.
She danced, singing her own songs the while, and the
versatility of her talent, combined with her childish charm,
took the easily inflammable Vienna public by storm. She
awoke in the morning to find herself famous ; the news-
papers devoted much space to her, the drawing-rooms in
which her father was esteemed grew enthusiastic about
her, and an ingenious author appeared on the scene who
wrote a sort of comedy especially for her, in which she
could display her various talents organically instead of
disconnectedly.

During the winter of her debut her performances
became the fashion at private parties and formed the great
attraction of the evening. The Court heard of the prodigy.
Some one had seen her at an evening party, another had
seen her at the theatre. People talked about her, read
about her, and very soon her father was jestingly re-
proached in the most aristocratic circles for concealing the
star that had risen in his family. He stammered out
confused replies ; he was not flattered by the noise his
little girl was making ; he had hoped that his name might
be in people's mouths for quite different reasons. His child's
talent was merely superficial; happily she was young enough
to develop her powers in directions more worthy of praise ;
in any case, he had done nothing to attract attention to
such unimportant family concerns. But his excuses and
asseverations were cut short by a command to bring little
Pepi to Court. So, accompanied by a pale, anxious father,
she made her entry into the great world. She felt shy
for a moment herself when she made the ceremonious,
much-studied obeisance to the aristocratic assemblage, but,
encouraged by friendly glances and cheering words, she was
quite at her ease by the time she sat down to the piano.

In a portrait of that period, from the flattering hand
of a Court painter, which hangs in the Grand Ducal Picture
Gallery at Franka, or at least did hang there in Prince

MORGANATIC 23

Albrechfs lifetime, she is represented as a pretty child,
with a long face, full cheeks, dreamy eyes, a charming snub
nose, wilful, somewhat pouting lips, her hair parted in the
middle, and standing up stiffly on either side of the part-
ing. She is dressed in the decorative fashion usual for
children in the sixties — a short barege frock, with three
flounces over a crinoline of moderate dimensions, a white
shawl worn scarf-wise, the fringed ends being brought
round from behind, and slung over both arms, then hanging
loosely down, straight, plain calico drawers showing below
the dress, and reaching to the feet with their heelless san-
dalled shoes. A tastelessly bound book and a pencil were
placed in her hands, made by the painter far too old for
her, and folded one over the other. A richly embroidered
evening cloak lay on a chair in the corner, with a hat of
almost the same shape as that worn by the female officers
of the Salvation Army.

The Court was enchanted with the delightful child,
who was modest and bold, respectful and impudent at the
same time, and who played, sang, danced, and recited
monologues in so entertaining a fashion. Her programme
contained originally only four items, but the little artist
had to go through almost the whole of her repertory,
including, by the special desire of the Grand Duke, who
had heard her at the theatre, the songs in Viennese slang,
which her father had ruled out as too strong. She was
applauded as enthusiastically as was possible in that circle.
The father was overwhelmed with compliments, which he
received in a comically embarrassed and sour manner.
Great ladies condescended to talk to the child, a royal
hand patted her blushing cheeks, she had supper at a table
presided over by a lady of the highest distinction, and was
dismissed with a gift of a sapphire and diamond bracelet,
regarded by her ever after in the light of a fetish.

Her appearance at Court assured her reputation. An
impresario offered her a tour, under most brilliant con-
ditions for that time. His offer was accepted as soon as
her mother, after a hard struggle, overcame the father's
opposition. Schwandtner was the victim of his daughter's
fame. His home was as good as broken up. His wife

U MORGANATIC

naturally accompanied Peperl, and her father remained
behind, a grass widower, for whom his sixteen- year-old
elder daughter kept house.

Pepi Schwandtner travelled on tour for four years, not
only in Germany, but also in neighbouring countries, where
she did not appear in public, but only at Court; her
introductions from Vienna procured her a hearing. Then
she returned to her father's house, famous, terribly spoiled,
well off, with a collection of splendid jewels, gifts of the
royalties before whom she performed, but anaemic and
with shaken nerves, so that the physicians prescribed
absolute rest and quiet.

A curious period of her life followed. Josephine
Schwandtner was tall, a little stout for her age, with pale
cheeks, frightened, questioning eyes, a complaining, loose
mouth, languid in her movements, lacking in energy, hesi-
tating in her speech, of uncertain temper, more often
gloomy than cheerful. Her relations with her family were
scarcely comfortable. She was only confidential with her
mother, the companion of her professional tour. The
others had become estranged from her. Her brother was
already in his little post, and only took his old place at
the family dinner-table on Sundays. He regarded her as
a creature from a higher sphere, to whom he scarcely
dared lift his eyes, and if she spoke to him first, he could
with difficulty be persuaded to reply. The elder sister
kept herself at a cool, nay almost hostile distance. She
had always disliked playing Cinderella to her taciturn
father, while her younger sister flew about the world like
a fairy with iridescent wings. Now, she envied her her
jewels, her money, her fame. Her quiet manner seemed
to her arrogance ; her modest bearing odious afl^ectation.
She was always trying to make her feel that she thought
small things of her, and considered herself as good as she
was. Then Josephine withdrew to her room in tears ; the
parents sharply reprimanded her sister for her ill-temper,
a circumstance that did not improve her opinion of the
more favoured Josephine.

By degrees, however, the housemates became more
reconciled to the condition of things. The father soon

MORGANATIC 25

became enthusiastic, and directly he noticed the change
in Josephine's demeanour, he began to give her almost
idolatrous reverence. She was no longer the giddy girl
who had whirled about the world. She had apparently
given up laughing. She avoided light songs and skipping
dance music. That she should dance herself, she regarded
as an offensive presumption. For hours at a stretch she
sat silent, wrapt, dreaming dreams that took her far away
from place and time, or she betook herself to the piano
and improvised melancholy, tenderly melodious, or solemn
airs, or she played strictly classical music, with a serious-
ness, a devoutness, which moved her father to tears, and to
fold his hands as if in prayer.

She refused all proposals from theatrical managers and
concert directors. She was not seen in public for a
whole year. Then she appeared again, though only at a
sacred concert on Good Friday, where, to the admiration
of the audience, among whom she numbered countless
worshippers, she played Church music and cantatas. The
public had to get accustomed to the transformation of
the pert singer of dialect songs, the playful dancer and
lively pianist into a pious interpreter of sacred musical
thought, but, like true Viennese, they quickly and willingly
did so.

She was as gladly welcomed as the interpreter of serious
music as she had formerly been admired for her mirth
and liveliness. She filled a secure place in the artistic
life of the city. As her health improved, she appeared
more frequently in public, and society again invited her
to its parties, not, perhaps, so eagerly as before, for
edification is less liked as entertainment than uncon-
ventional gaiety. It was not long before she was again
commanded to Court, and this time she made a conquest
of an old, very religious princess, who in the past had
not shared the general enthusiasm for little Peperl because
she considered her art too frivolous and worldly.

Although her nerves gradually found their balance
again, Josephine went through a long, difficult crisis of
mysticism. Accompanied by her mother, she went daily
to a convent church whose organist was celebrated, knelt

26 MORGANATIC

as if in rapture while the music lasted, and could neither
be torn from her fervour by her anxious mother, nor
be persuaded to a reasonable shortening of the period
of her morning devotions. She took it into her head
to renounce the world, and there was a long family
struggle in order to divert her from her decision. She
could not be prevented from procuring a dress of the
order into which she intended to enter, and wearing it at
home. She only gave up the folly when, at the instance
of her parents, her confessor told her it was forbidden.
Schwandtner found the most effective support in his
struggle against his daughter's intention of entering a
convent, in the old princess who had become fond of
Josephine. Despite her piety, she counselled the girl
not to become a nun, for, she said, she felt clearly
that she had not the vocation, however praiseworthy
were her sentiments and conduct. The good old princess
could not forget the laughing child with her topical
songs, her stiff locks, her short frock, and her long
trousers.

So Josephine gave up the idea of a nunnery, but
declared she would never marry, and, to her father's
extreme vexation, curtly refused a promising, and later a
celebrated, conductor of the opera orchestra with whom
she had become acquainted in her parents' house, and who
wished to marry her. Her father, greatly annoyed, asked
her what she meant by such conduct, and how she in-
tended to arrange her life. She replied with a dreamy
expression, her eyes, as it were, looking inward, that she
should live for her art, and not spoil it by the troubles
and cares of everyday life. She was not quite sincere.
Piano playing, composition, filled the foreground of her
mind. But far behind, in a dimly lighted corner, there
hovered mysterious, shadowy dreams — pictures which
showed a Josephine with a coronet on her head, the black
ribbon of a decoration over her shoulder, seated in a room,
the silken hangings of which were embroidered with gold
coronets and black eagles. She was improvising at a
lacquered and wonderfully painted grand piano, while
near her, in a low armchair, almost at her feet, sat a

MORGANATIC 27

handsome young prince gazing at tier with admiring eyes.
The prince''s face sometimes showed quite clearly, and then
she recognized her father's favourite pupil. But such
clearness disturbed her, and by a painful effort of will,
she tore herself away from the vision. She preferred
him less corporeal, more dreamlike. He should remain
an uncertain presentiment, and should not become an
independent conception. It was the final thrill of the
mystical crisis, the translation of the spiritual character
of her high-reaching aspirations into a material one, with
a corresponding change of the subject of consciousness,
where a lordly palace, splendidly decorated as if for a
court festival, took the place of heaven, and troops of
angels and saints.

Three years passed in these inward developments and
experiences. Josephine, now nineteen years old, was fully
restored to health, and was moreover in the full charm of
her youth.

Then an event happened which decided her fate in
life.

At the time of the Confederation of the Rhine, Prince
Ditmar, brother of the reigning Grand Duke of Loewen-
stein and Franka, in anger at his brother's friendly policy
towards France, left home, and entered the Austrian
service. He rose high in the favour of the Emperor
Francis, who showed him as much attention as he could
without offending the Emperor Napoleon. He gave him
an Uhlan regiment, in the command of which he won dis-
tinction during the war of Liberation. After Waterloo
and the second entry of the allies into Paris, the twenty-
nine-year-old colonel was promoted major-general. He
was reconciled to his brother, and received the title of
royal highness, which was recognized by the Emperor of
Austria and the German Confederation. He remained in
Austria and quickly rose to be a cavalry general. He
was one of the most conspicuous and brilliant figures at
Court, and the hero of many highly coloured stories of
daring adventures in love and war. But his happiness
was clouded by pecuniary difficulties. He possessed nothing
besides his pay as a general on active service, and the

28 MORGANATIC

income due to him from the family, but, since his recon-
ciliation with his reigning brother, that was measured
according to the requirements of a petty German Court,
and not to those of a splendid Imperial Court. He was
in everlasting need of money, and was helped at almost
regular intervals by his commander-in-chief. But the
amounts at length became too much for the parsimonious
emperor, and he informed his favourite that he must
either cut down his expenses or marry an heiress.
"Rather cut down expenses," exclaimed Prince Ditmar,
bringing his spurs together with a click, and he went
away and borrowed a larger sum than usual. But
his master meant it seriously, and this time left him
in the lurch. His creditors pressed the pleasure-loving
prince so sorely that he was compelled to ask for a pro-
vincial command in order to avoid dismissal, and a return
to Franka as a fugitive. He was now ready for his benevo-
lent patron's schemes. His magical good luck stood him
even here in good stead. An heiress fabulously rich for
that period was awaiting a husband. She was the Polish
Princess Level, whose property lay in three states, and
was bigger than the whole of the Grand Duchy of Meissen-
Loewenstein. There were difficulties to be overcome
besides Prince Ditmar's objection to matrimony. The
prince was forty years old ; the little Level, as she was
called at Court, barely twenty. The alliance was not
one of equal birth ; for the father of the great heiress
had been created a prince by the emperor, and although,
after his elevation, complacent genealogists had invented
a family tree for him, which reached far back, and showed
him doubly related to Jagello and Sech, it was known
perfectly well that the nobility of the family was of recent
creation, and that its enormous wealth came partly from
the successful manipulation of the affairs of a Polish
noble family, who were ruined while their steward grew
rich, and partly by the skilful acquirement of confiscated
or ruined estates after wars or revolutions. The demand
that his only child should conclude a morganatic marriage
with the foreign Prince so angered old Level that for a
long time he would not listen to the proposals. He

MORGANATIC 29

demanded a properly recognized and equal marriage by
which his daughter would become a member of the Grand
Ducal house, and a royal highness, and that the children
of the marriage should stand in the line of succession to
the throne. That necessitated a modification of the laws
of the house of Loewenstein and Franka, and the recog-
nition of new statutes by the Federal Council. It required
the whole power of the emperor to carry this through at
a time when questions of the position of the reigning
families were regarded as the most important of all diplo-
matic and political affairs. The difference in religion was
a hard nut to crack. Prince Ditmar was not only a
Protestant, but also the scion of a princely house that
had first accepted the reformed belief, nay, had almost
itself invented Protestantism, at least politically, while
the Princess Level, as a Pole, was naturally a Catholic.
Prince Ditmar must abjure his belief, a concession not
easily to be gained from him and his brother, but more
easily, perhaps, than the recognition of the equality of
the marriage. At length the alliance was accomplished,
but the Emperor Francis used to say afterwards that the
gaining of Lombardy, Venetia, and Galicia, had been an
easier task than the marriage of Prince Ditmar with the
little Level.

The history of the marriage need not be related here.
There were five children of it, of whom Prince Albrecht
was the third, a brother and sister coming before.

Even as a child. Prince Albrecht showed himself
singularly lacking in talent of any kind. But he had a
gentle, amiable disposition, which made him more like a
girl than a boy. He reduced his teachers to despair, but
they could not be angry with him — he was too good-
tempered, defenceless and insinuating. His father would
have liked to be more severe, but his mother would not
permit it ; and when Prince Ditmar died, in his sixty-
second year — the members of the house of Loewenstein-
Franka were not, as a rule, long-lived — no one troubled
about the little nine-year-old prince. He grew up, so to
speak, in the folds of his mother's skirts ; he clung to
her with almost morbid love, and she bestowed on him

30 MORGANATIC

all the affection of which her somewhat chilly heart was
capable.

Princess Hedwig, his sister and his junior by four
years, the spoilt pet of the family, divided his affections
with his mother. She was Prince Albrecht's idol. As a
little boy of five he could have no greater pleasure than to
be allowed to hold his little sister in his arms, and carry
her about. His parents and brothers and sisters therefore
mockingly called him " nurse." Later, he would not stir
from her side, and was always miserable if he could not be
with her. The only hostile feeling that could be attri-
buted to him at that period was violent jealousy of his
youngest brother, with whom Princess Hedwig preferred
to play because he was two years nearer her in age and
more lively and cheerful than the slow and somewhat
capricious Prince Albrecht. The impressions of childhood
were never effaced, and the mutual relations of the brothers
remained cold and formal till the end of their life.

Whatever knowledge Prince Albrecht acquired he
learned in the company of Princess Hedwig, at whose
lessons his mother allowed him to be present. He was
tolerably proficient in French, but all other subjects
remained hazy to him for the whole of his life. He was
a good rider and an excellent shot, a zealous and persistent
adherent of the chase, an untiring playgoer, a passionate
lover of music who tried successively to master piano,
violin, and flute, but never succeeded in achieving even
the skill of a dilettante on either instrument. On the
other hand, thanks to Schwandtner's teaching, Princess
Hedwig became a pianist and musician of considerable
proficiency, and Prince Albrecht could never be induced
to leave the music-room on any pretext whatever when his
sister was at the piano.

Prince Albrecht was destined for the military career
for which his elder brother did not show the least taste.
It was greatly deplored in high places that the name of
Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka should not be represented in
the Imperial army, and a wish was expressed that the
second son should adopt the vocation. Prince Albrecht
likewise had little desire for it ; but refusal was out of

MORGANATIC 81

the question, and on his sixteenth birthday he was
appointed to a lieutenancy in a fashionable dragoon regi-
ment. His uniform, and especially the helmet with its
projecting crest, amused the twelve-year-old Princess
Hedwig, and she told her brother she would gladly drive
and ride with him in the Prater ; and so, in the begin-
ning, he found pleasure in his new calling. But it did
not last long. The punctuality demanded in his work
and a certain amount of inevitable exertion were distaste-
ful to him, and he told his mother plainly that he had
had enough of the military game. There were storms in
the palace of Loewenstein-Franka. When the princess
realized that nothing could overcome her son's decision,
she succeeded in obtaining that no demands of any sort
should be made of him, and that he should be appointed
to the suite. Sharp tongues at Court made some scarcely
courteous remarks about the extraordinary influence that
the Level blood exercised on the Loewensteins.

At the outbreak of the war with Italy he was by
favour promoted first lieutenant, assigned a post in the
military suite, and was permitted to accompany it to the
seat of war. The twenty- one-year-old young man behaved
like a child who was going to school for the first time.
He would not leave Vienna, threatened to do all sorts of
absurd things, was deaf to his mother's commands, although
he generally yielded her obedience. " Are you a coward .'' "
the princess was forced to exclaim when all reasonable
argument had been exhausted. Instead of an answer, as
quick as lightning, he thrust a Malay dagger that was
lying on the drawing-room table deep into his arm.
"You can see for yourself whether I am a coward,
mamma." After this mad trick, which happily entailed
no bad result, he was brought to confess that he did not
wish to go to Italy because he could not bear to be
separated from Princess Hedwig. Then the little princess
took the matter in hand, and succeeded where her mother
had failed. She persuaded her brother to fulfil the hght
duty laid on him.

He was only absent a few weeks. He returned a
captain of horse, with a war medal, but found that

32 MORGANATIC

the old conditions no longer prevailed. His exaggerated
devotion to his young sister gave his mother cause for
thought, and she so arranged that the two should not
continue their hitherto free intercourse, but should only
be together at meal-times and during the princess's music
lessons. He suffered under this privation, but was com-
pelled to submit, for his mother made it clear to him that
Hedwig was now a grown-up young lady, and no longer
the play-fellow of her big brother. In the following year
he had again occasion to feel and to declare that he could
not live away from the presence of his beloved sister. The
government of the kingdom of Atlantis sought a princely
consort for the queen. Around this Atlantidian marriage
were woven a thousand intrigues, the threads of which
reached to all the great courts. The destinies of the house
of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka had experienced an extra-
ordinary elevation in the last generation. Its scions sat
upon the new throne of Hageland, and on the first step of
the ancient and famous throne of Gotheim, and the Got-
heim Prince Consort drew the attention of the Queen of
Atlantis and her counsellors to the Vienna cousin. The
old princess joyfully received the confidential overtures,
and when she had come to an understanding with the
special envoy who was entrusted with the affair, she in-
formed her son that it was in his power to place a kingly
crown on his head. She lost all self-control when Prince
Albrecht stubbornly replied, "I don't want it." In her
anger she said that if she had not nursed him herself she
should think he was a changeling, and not a child of hers
and of his father. His mother's hard words made him
weep, but did not overcome his obstinacy; he would
not marry to live so far away, not even for the sake
of a king's crown. The princess and the Loewenstein-
Franka family were determined not to let the crown
escape them, and when they saw that, unluckily, nothing
was to be done with Prince Albrecht, they put forward
his younger brother, although he was only twenty years
old. He was not so handsome as his tall brother by
a long way, whose good-tempered and classically regular
face was not brightened by an intellectual expression.

MORGANATIC S3

but after a little opposition at Atlantis he was accepted,
and the wedding took place. The princess was proud to
think that under the dynasty of Meissen-Loewenstein-
Franka-Level — she had insisted on the inclusion of the
last name in the title — a new epoch began in the history
of the kingdom of Atlantis.

On his father's death, the eldest prince became the
ducal head of the Austrian line of the family as heir of the
entail established by Prince Ditmar's marriage, and with
his income of ten million gulden, was a desirable match.
When his younger brother became titulary king, the last
reservation that had existed against him in the inner
circle of the Court on account of his maternal origin
vanished. He married an archduchess who stood very
near the throne, despite his thirty-three years, his un-
attractive appearance, and his somewhat riotous past. By
this new alliance the princess attained almost the highest
position at Court, and as she had years before married her
elder daughter to a Bourbon, she reckoned with certainty
on an archduchess for Prince Albrecht, and an archduke
for Princess Hedwig.

Princess Hedwig made no difficulties. When she had
completed her twentieth year, the Archduke August Ferdi-
nand of Umbria demanded her hand. He was accepted after
a little delay, caused by the fact that shortly before the
Umbrian line had lost their throne, and therefore occupied
an ambiguous position at Vienna. At the same time, nego-
ciations were begun on Prince Albrecht's account, for whom
an archduchess belonging to a distant branch was destined
The alliance depended on the old princess's willingness to
establish an entail out of her own property in favour of
the second son, so as to make him independent of his
brother's bounty who, in spite of his enormous wealth,
was not distinguished for liberality.

The affair was well advanced when fate changed every-
thing with terrible suddenness. The beautiful, excitable,
and imprudent young princess took cold at the betrothal
party, celebrated with great pomp at the Loewenstein
Palace on a chilly evening in late autumn. To the general
consternation, she was obliged to retire before the end of

34 MORGANATIC

the evening, on account of a violent fit of shivering.
The physicians pronounced it a bad case of double pneu-
monia ; four days later, the princess was dead.

The effect of this terrible blow on Prince Albrecht
was such that torturing anxiety about her son drove the
mother's grief for the loss of her daughter into the back-
ground. He behaved like a madman. During his
sister's illness he had only been allowed to see her once,
for a few minutes on the first day. Then the physicians
forbade him to enter the sick-room, because the invalid
had to be kept from all excitement. But he could not
be prevented from putting up a camp bedstead in the
anteroom of his sister's apartments, and from lying in
wait night and day before the door through which the
doctors, the nurses, and her mother went in and out.
They tried to calm him, but when, on the fourth day,
he saw the Court chaplain appear with the viaticum, the
truth became clear to him, and he determined to enter the
sick-room by force. It took the most strenuous exertions
on the part of all the servants to convey the frenzied young
man, who was as strong as a lion, into a distant wing of
the palace. Other outbreaks followed the first. After a
family council, the princess declared that she could not take
it on herself to conceal his sister's death from her son.
She went to him, but did not need to utter a word. Her
tearful countenance, the absence of all jewelry, even of her
earrings, which always seemed part of her, told the news
plainly enough. Prince Albrecht fainted when he saw her.
When he came to, he asked with such violence to see the
departed that the terribly anxious mother did not dare to
refuse. He threw himself on the beloved corpse with the
roar of a wounded lion, took it in his arms, covered it
with kisses, rained streams of tears on it, and was only
separated from it by force.

He uttered violent threats against the doctors, and
swore he would murder them as they had murdered his
darling. He was dragged to his room, and closely
watched. He ill-treated the servants who tried to prevent
his outbursts of fury, and shrieked that he would not allow
the Princess Hedwig to be buried. After a couple of days

MORGANATIC 85

the usual reaction set in. The prince refused food, and
in the moments of excitement that now and again broke
his languid misery, he could be prevented with difficulty
from running his head against the wall or jumping out of
the window. His brothers and sisters asked that he should
be placed in an asylum, but his mother could not make up
her mind to such harsh mea^sures, and he remained under
the care of his family.

By degrees, his despair sank into a uniform melan-
choly, which seemed to take eternal possession of his
spirit. He lost touch with the outside world, lay the
whole day on the sofa, his eyes closed, his face turned
to the wall, repeatedly sighing, sometimes crying quietly.
He had to be forced to go to meals. He did not answer
when spoken to ; even if they shook him, he resisted but
weakly, and the longer this condition lasted, the more
seriously the physicians shook their heads. They pre-
scribed that he should walk about the palace, in order to
force his limbs into activity, and to break the monotony
of his voluntary imprisonment. During these promenades
he came upon the little music-room on the first-floor,
where Princess Hedwig's piano stood. Then he awoke, as
if from a trance, look and manner became alive, and he
asked quietly and gently to be left there for a little while.
He sat down on the low chair near the piano, as he had
been accustomed to do while his sister played, and looked
steadfastly at her empty place. He remained so for a long
time. Then he stood up, went to the piano, opened it
with a clatter, passed his hand caressingly over the keys,
and more willingly than usual accompanied his attendants
back to his room. The next day, he went to the music-
room of his own accord and behaved in the same way.
His attendants told the physicians of the prince's conduct,
and thereupon one of them had an idea ; he urged the
princess to try a music-cure, to have the favourite pieces
of his dead sister played to the prince by some young
and pretty pianist. The idea was somewhat daring, for
it might renew his grief, but it was more likely that it
would work favourably.

At the doctor's suggestion, the princess applied to a

36 MORGANATIC

leading light of the Vienna High School. The choice of the
artist was soon made. It could, as a matter of course, be
no other than Josephine Schwandtner, who was a persona
grata at Court, who had often played at the Loewenstein
Palace, and whose father had been poor Princess Hedwig's
music-master.

A servant was immediately sent to bring Schwandtner
to the palace. At sight of him, the princess burst into
tears, described to him in a few words the condition of
Prince Albrecht's mind, and informed him what service
she hoped his daughter might render. Schwandtner was
moved to his inmost heart. He had been much attached
to his pupil, who had become poetically transfigured
through her early death, and it was a testimony of faith
to her memory to be able to assist in healing her brother's
deeply wounded heart.

Josephine, too, regarded the task with emotion and
pride. Her lively imagination made her dream a noble,
ideal part in the affair for herself. She was music
embodied, and would be a consoling angel to a suffering
heart. She was to bring the lonely, loving brother a
harmonious message from heaven. The voice of the dead
herself should speak to him out of her playing, and change
his grief into hope and trust. In that fanciful mood,
accompanied by her father, she went to the Loewenstein
Palace. A ducal carriage had been sent to fetch her. It
was a gloomy January day, and snow was falling fast. Old
Schwandtner wished her to dress in black, but Josephine
put on a white gown. She felt that she must not remind
the prince of death, but of transfiguration. The princess,
herself in her deep mourning garments, started when
she saw the pretty girl in her light toilette. With
womanly penetration she imagined the artisfs reason
and made no remark. She thanked her for her willing-
ness to do a service of love with her art, implored her
to have patience with Prince Albrecht, if he — she could
not at once hit on the word — was unfriendly, graciously
dismissed Schwandtner, whose presence was not necessary,
and took Josephine to the little music-room.

The girl's heart beat high when she sat down to the

MORGANATIC 87

piano. The princess seated herself in an armchair near
one of the windows. Soon the door opened, and Prince
Albrecht entered. His nurse and his two attendants
remained in the anteroom. At the same moment Jose-
phine began to play the Allegro maestuoso of Chopin's
Sonata, op. 68, a piece that the princess had played
beautifully, and a favourite of Prince Albrecht. The
prince stood by the door as if rooted to the ground,
turned deathly pale, stared with wide-opened eyes at the
corner where the piano was, and moved his hands grop-
ingly in the air as if in search of support. The tears
rose in Josephine's eyes, her whole body trembled, and
she was scarcely mistress of her technique; but she
played bravely on, and gave the tender persuasive melody
with a fervour which would have gone straight to the
heart of a calm and healthy listener. Prince Albrecht
looked round in confusion, descried his mother at the
window, crept up to her on tip-toe, put both arms round
her neck, and stammered softly into her ear —

" Oh, mamma, mamma ! "

The princess sought to calm him by gentle caresses,
and Josephine stopped. He turned round quickly and
whispered —

" Go on, go on ! "

His mother pointed to the chair by her own ; Prince
Albrecht sank into it, leaned back and closed his eyes.
When the piece was finished he sat up straight, and
called out loudly —

" Again, again ! "

Then Josephine, who had regained her composure,
played the whole sonata through, and then, with a ques-
tioning glance at the princess, looked up from the piano.

She nodded, " That is enough for to-day, my dear ;
many, many thanks."

The prince stood up, and, approaching the deeply
blushing girl, said, with emotion —

" Best thanks, my dear young lady ; you have done me
good. Will you come again ? "

" Certainly," replied the princess, quickly, for Josephine.
" Fraulein Schwandtner will come as often as you like."

38 MORGANATIC

Prince Albrecht bowed to the artist, who had risen
from her chair, grasped her hand, and pressed a long kiss
on it.

The physicians, the princess, and Josephine, were all
equally satisfied with their work. The idea proved right.
The artist, fetched and taken home in the ducal carriages,
came to the palace every day, at first accompanied,
later alone ; she played for a longer time, at last for an
hour and a half, Prince Albrechfs favourite pieces of
Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The princess was
fairly musical, but scarcely appreciated a large daily
amount of piano-playing. At first she was present
during the music, and rejoiced deeply at the change that
was being wrought in her son. After a week, however,
she made her appearance less regularly. If she was other-
wise occupied, she did not disturb herself when told of
Fraulein Schwandtner's arrival ; she contented herself with
looking into the music-room for a moment, and respond-
ing amiably to the girl's respectful greeting. She had
no scruples in leaving her alone with Prince Albrecht.
For she looked on the whole matter as a remedy, and
regarded little Pepi Schwandtner as a medicine or a
tool.

But little Pepi Schwandtner was a remedy possessing
feeling and imagination. Prince Albrecht revived, regained
colour and animation, and once again felt a pleasure in
existence. Josephine, on the contrary, became pale and
absent ; she was sunk in far-away dreams, and only
awoke when the hour struck for the drive to the palace.
The princess saw Prince Albrecht become himself again
with the keenest satisfaction ; Schwandtner saw Pepi fall
back into her old illness with increasing anxiety. The
princess did not observe when she entered the music-room
that her son, no longer wrapt in himself, occupied a stool
near the player, and eagerly and attentively turned over
the pages. The Schwandtners found it natural that Pepi
should talk a great deal about the prince whom she saw
every day, about his handsome person, his good temper, his
engaging simplicity, his love of music. This lasted for
six weeks. Then the doctors declared that the concerts

MORGANATIC 39

had done everything that was expected of them, and that
Prince Albrecht might be regarded as cured. The
princess informed her son that Josephine Schwandtner
would discontinue her visits.

He looked surprised, frowned, and asked, " Why ? "

"Well, she can't come here for ever," rejoined the
princess.

" Why not .'' " he returned, in such evident annoyance
that the princess's attention was aroused ; she looked at
him searchingly, and when he looked down in con-
fusion, like a boy convicted of some naughty act, she
observed —

" You're a child," and ended the conversation.

Josephine came to the palace no more, but Prince
Albrecht, who had been going out again for a fortnight,
found his way to the Schwandtners. His first appear-
ance in the humble middle-class dwelling had the effect
of a thunderbolt. Frau Schwandtner shrieked when the
maid introduced the tall young officer into the room, and
instead of greeting the prince, whom she recognized at
once, she ran to her daughter's room, and breathlessly
stammered out —

" Pepi, the prince is here, and see what a sight I
look ! I shall die of shame."

Josephine at once understood what had happened, and
although she was only wearing her ordinary house-frock,
she went into the drawing-room without delay, and left
her mother to array herself in her best.

When she appeared at the door. Prince Albrecht
hastened towards her with open arms, and before she
realized it, they were round her, and she was exchanging
passionate kisses with him. All the restraint which the
music-room in the palace had exercised through associa-
tion and habit was here, in other surroundings, removed
as if by the enchantment of a kindly fairy, and the two
fell into each other's arms as if they had belonged to each
other from time immemorial.

But when, after about a quarter of an hour, Fi-au
Schwandtner appeared in a stiff* silk gown, with a heavy
gold chain round her neck, and three bracelets on her

40 MORGANATIC

wrists, she found two well-behaved young people seated at
a respectful distance from each other, one of whom got up
and greeted her pleasantly. She did not observe their
flushed faces, their shining eyes, their quick breathing,
because she was too much occupied with the curtsey which
she made the prince in true Court style. It was all very
awkward, for although on her tours with Josephine, Frau
Schwandtner had come into brief touch with highnesses
and even royalties, she was not accustomed, like her
husband, to close intercourse with them, and the presence
of Prince Albrecht in her modest home entirely upset
her. She could not raise her eyes or find anything to
say ; the prince on his side was no genius at conversa-
tion, and on this occasion had special reason to prefer
silence. Thus it fell to Josephine to bear the burden of
the talk, but even she could not prevent long pauses
between the brief remarks, and after a little while Prince
Albrecht himself awoke to the situation. He got up,
kissed Josephine's hand, pressed that of her mother, sent
his remembrances to her father, asked permission to come
again, and told Frau Schwandtner she was on no account
to allow his visits to put her out.

When Schwandtner came home, mother and daughter
told him of their visitor ; he frowned and stared at them.
At first he muttered something incomprehensible, and
then said clearly —

" What has the prince to do here ? "

Josephine turned crimson, and said nothing. Her
mother answered for her —

" He wished to thank for the concerts."

"Quite unnecessary," grumbled the old man. "He
could have done that at the palace. I do not like such
visits."

" We often received visits of the kind on our tours,"
said Josephine, modestly.

" Then you were a child, and now you are a marriage-
able young lady," replied her father, harshly.

" We can't forbid the prince the house," whined Frau
Schwandtner.

" ril receive him the next time he comes," remarked

MORGANATIC 41

her husband, and closed the conversation. But he re-
mained very much out of humour.

He did as he had said. When Prince Albrecht
came the next day, in the afternoon, he found, not
altogether to his joy, Schwandtner in the drawing-
room, who, with well-feigned surprise, greeted him, and
asked —

" Your highness, what procures me the honour .'' "

The prince was embai'rassed, and began to stutter out
in confusion —

"I thought you knew, sir, that I — that I — ^was here
yesterday "

" Indeed ! " drawled the old man, and looked at him
searchingly.

The prince avoided his glance, and continued, "I
have got so used to seeing Fraulein Pepi every day ; her
society did me so much good in my grief. I am so grate-
ful to her. I don't want to bi'eak oif the intercourse so
entirely "

Schwandtner interrupted him with, " Does the prin-
cess, your mother, know of these visits ? "

Prince Albrecht lifted his head and turned very red.
He scarcely knew whether to be angry or to treat the
thing as a joke. After a short struggle he decided on
the latter, and replied, with a forced smile and pretended
good-humour —

" But, my dear Schwandtner, don't behave like this ;
a major in the Imperial army is no schoolboy to ask his
mother's permission to go out."

" I beg your pardon, your highness, it was not so
intended. I mean that, if a Prince Meissen-Loewen-
stein-Franka-Level visits middle-class folk like us, there
will be gossip."

"What do you mean by middle-class folk? Art
raises everybody to the level of the nobility," replied the
prince.

"I am convinced of that," said Schwandtner; "but
everybody does not recognize that nobility, and there are
evil tongues enough in the world."

" What does that matter ? " said the prince.

42 MORGANATIC

" It matters nothing to you, your highness," returned
Schwandtner, " but to my daughter ! "

Prince Albrecht, who had meanwhile taken a seat,
looked down, and was silent for a while. Then he
said —

" It will not hurt Pepi. Have confidence in me."

" What do you mean by that ? " asked the father.

" I am in love with the girl," answered the prince.

" A nobleman's caprice," returned Schwandtner.

" I'm not that sort of person, you must know," said
the prince.

"Your highness, you must forgive a father. My
girl can only love a man who wishes to and can marry
her. And that your highness can't do," said Schwandtner.

" Why not ? " asked the prince, simply, and this time
looked the old man full in the face.

" Are you serious, your highness ? " said Schwandtner.

The prince nodded. Then the old musician seized
the prince's hand, and in spite of his objections, covered
it with kisses and broke out into loud sobbing, that
brought the women, who had long been listening outside
the door, into the room. The prince took no heed of her
parents, but hastened to Josephine, and the two embraced
and kissed each other passionately, while the old man
dried his eyes, and his wife clasped her hands in con-
fusion.

Schwandtner felt that he had fulfilled his paternal duty
like a hero. He took his wife by the hand and led her
into the next room, leaving the lovers alone. There, speak-
ing below his breath, he told her quickly what had taken
place. She was so confused that she began to pray. He
also found it necessary to pull himself together. When
he had regained his composure, he said, " Come in ; it's
not right to leave them alone." But she refused, whisper-
ing that she could not trust herself. He had actually to
drag her into the drawing-room again. The prince and
Josephine looked very happy. He had asked her if she
would marry him, and she had at once consented, without
hesitation, without pretending surprise and embarrass-
ment, without humble words concerning her unworthiness

MORGANATIC 43

and the like. She simply saw a dream realized, in which
she had long trusted. The prince fitted into a picture
that had been before her inward eyes for years, and in
which only one detail had been shadowy : the form of
the noble suitor.

"Then we are to celebrate a betrothal.?" asked the
musician, with trembling voice.

The word struck the prince unpleasantly. "Let us
keep the matter to ourselves for a little," he said, more
quickly than was his custom. " Don't you agree, Pepi ? "

"I agree to everything," joyfully exclaimed the girl,
and there followed more kissing, so that the two old people
turned away their eyes in confusion.

When the prince left the Schwandtners' house, despite
his indubitable lover's excitement, he was not very happy
in his mind. He had not thought of marriage, when an
impulse, about which he did not think very deeply, led
him to Josephine. It appeared to him now that he had
been taken unawares. Something like hatred stirred within
him against old Schwandtner, who had presumed too much.
But he was not accustomed to worry himself seriously for
long about anything, and he came to the conclusion that
required the least trouble, that is, to let things go as they
would, and to say nothing to his mother, because it would
not be becoming in these early days of mourning. He did
not apply that convention to himself.

He went to see Josephine regularly every afternoon,
and spent hours with her; sometimes her meek, silent
mother would sit in a corner ; more often they were alone,
and would talk, or he would listen to her playing ; in fine
weather he invited her to drive with him. After a week
he was so much at home in the little house, that he invited
himself to supper. This put good Frau Schwandtner
into a great pother. She was not accustomed to Royal
guests, and the gentle, meek woman lacked the pride
that would have led her to give the prince a simple meal,
simply served. Without a thought of the expense, she
procured a smart meal from a high-class restaurant, served
with silver, china, and glass. The prince wondered how
a little music-master could aiFord to eat oysters, chicken

44. MORGANATIC

consomme, trout, venison, truffled capon, asparagus (in
March), pa^e de foie gras, fruit, ices, Roquefort cheese, and
to drink champagne. When Frau Schwandtner apologized
for the modest meal, he was simple enough to reply, " But,
I assure you, my dear madam, I don't get anything better
at home."

Josephine's elder sister was almost ill with envy, and
gave vent to her irritation in bitter, hateful speeches,
which threw doubt on the prince's intentions. She refused
to join the supper-table, saying she was not good enough
to sit down with a prince. The parents found that she was,
in the main, right. The guest was not congenial to them,
and the next time he stopped to supper, they laid the
table only for him and Josephine, and left them together
in a cosy tete-a-tete. The prince regarded this as tender
consideration, and accepted it without remark. They had
to reckon with his presence as part of their regular daily
life and to arrange things accordingly. Schwandtner
dipped deeply into his daughter's property, bought new
drawing-room and dining-room furniture, and table silver,
and gave a standing order to Sacher, the best restaurant
in the town, to send in a choice supper every day. The
prince took no heed, and let it all go on. This non-
chalant life lasted for some weeks, and became more
enjoyable with the advent of May, when instead of con-
fidential talks in the Schwandtner house, excursions could
be made in the delightful environs of Vienna. The prince
had got over his grief ; his dead sister seemed almost for-
gotten, he was happy and always ready to trifle and joke.
But Josephine became quieter and paler, her mother often
found her in tears, and wept with her without exchanging
a word. One day, when the prince arrived at his accus-
tomed hour to spend a pleasant afternoon and evening,
Josephine told him a piece of news that ruffled his
temper. As he said nothing, Josephine, summoning all
her courage, asked, " When shall we get married ? " He
stammered something about preparations, about difii-
culties, about the year of mourning of which only five
months had passed, and ended by saying that he could fix
no certain time.

MORGANATIC 45

" Does your mother know ? " asked the anxious girl, in
fear.

" No," he replied quietly.

Then she burst out sobbing in despair, and would not
allow herself to be consoled by the embarrassed and ill-
humoured prince. " You don't love me, you are playing
with me. I shall not survive it," she repeated again and
again, when he tried to calm her with meaningless
words. He found the situation uncomfortable, and as
he did not like that sort of thing, he simply took his
departure.

He went, and did not return. When he did not
appear the next day at his usual time, Frau Schwandtner
asked in surprise, " Is the prince ill .-' "

" It would seem so," replied Josephine ; and she quickly
sought her room, in order to cry her fill.

The second and third day passed, and no prince
appeared. Then Josephine could bear it no longer, and
wrote him a note, simply containing the words, " My
angel prince, wiU you forsake me, after making me
unhappy .'' Your inconsolable Pepi."

She waited for an answer for two days, shut up alone
in her room, dissolved in tears, neither eating nor sleeping,
but none came. Then the misery became too great for
her to bear alone ; she threw herself into her mother's arms,
who plied her with questions, and hiding her blushing face
on her mother's breast, sobbed out her bitter grief over the
deceitful love, and her deadly fears for the future. The
mother never thought of keeping the girl's dieadful secret
to herself for one moment, but told her husband directly
he came home.

Then Schwandtner became a hero. He, who only
displayed courage in the defence of good musical prin-
ciples against contemptuous ignorance and the idleness
of his pupils, but who extinguished himself in true
humility before the higher beings whom God himself had
given as masters to common mortals, did not delay or
hesitate for a second ; he clapped his hat violently on his
head and ran out of the house, without bidding any one
good-bye. A cab took him to the Loewenstein Palace

46 MORGANATIC

with all the celerity for which the Viennese drivers are
famed. Suppressing all outward signs of agitation, he
asked for Prince Albrecht. He was at home. The
footman, who knew Schwandtner, admitted him without
further question, and did not find it remarkable that he
followed closely behind him. The prince was visible to
the servant and the visitor at the same moment. He
turned very red, but pulled himself together. The con-
versation was short and pregnant.

" Your highness," said Schwandtner, " you promised to
marry my daughter. Are you ready, as man and prince,
to keep your word .'' "

The prince muttered something about surprise, about
forgetfulness to whom he was speaking; but Schwandtner
held him fast to the point.

"It is we who are surprised ; it is Josephine. I do
not forget that I am speaking to a great noble, who per-
sisted in entei-ing a respectable middle-class house, in
asseverating his honourable intentions, and was only
received on that understanding. There is no time to lose.
By my right as a father, I demand an immediate answer.
Is your highness prepared to act as a man of honour or
not ? If not, then I know what I have to do."

The vagueness of the threat naturally made a strong
impression on a man of the prince's character, and he an-
swered quietly that he must first have his mother's consent.

" We'll ask it at once," said Schwandtner, firmly,
signed to him with a commanding gesture of the hand to
get up off the sofa, pointed with outstretched finger to
the door, and led the almost hypnotized prince as if by the
ear through corridors and by staircases to the princess's
apartments.

The second interview was less triumphant than the
first. The princess was greatly astonished. When the
prince, in spite of Schwandtner's repeated demands, re-
fused to open his mouth, Schwandtner was himself com-
pelled to explain matters. The princess was so enraged
that at first she found nothing to say. As soon as she
could speak, she exclaimed —

" Albrecht, you have been entrapped. You were stupid

MORGANATIC 47

enough to be caught. Go to your room. Go ! But it is
incomprehensible to me that you should think of marriage
for one moment. You are a sensible man. Josephine has
behaved unpardonably ; it serves her right. But I like
the girl, and don't wish her to come to harm. We shall
deal with her as it becomes the Dukes of Loe wenstein. Now
go home and tell your daughter."

Prince Albrecht actually obeyed, and sheepishly left
the room without uttering a word. But Schwandtner,
his whole body quivering with an excitement which he
could scarcely suppress, replied —

" I do not know how your highness can insult us so
cruelly. I am not here to ask for money. My daughter
has means of her own ; she has her parents. She wants
no money, but her honour."

" She should have taken care of herself," snapped the
princess ; and she stood up.

" So she did," returned Schwandtner ; " the prince was
received in our house on a promise of marriage."

" You're mad ! " shouted the princess, quite beside
herself. " Go away ! "

" Your highness "

" Go away, or I shall call the servants."

There remained nothing to do but to go. But the
unhappy father had not finished his day's work. He
hurried off to the old pious princess, who had always been
his daughter's patroness, found her at home, was admitted,
and in stammering words, yet without any reserve, made
his confession, and implored her to say a word for his child
with the Princess Loewenstein, the more that Prince
Albrecht made no difficulty about fulfilling his duty. The
old lady listened, with closed eyes and folded hands, was
silent for a time after Schwandtner had finished, and then
slowly let fall the words —

" Your daughter has sinned. She must atone. That
is the rule God has set before us all."

" It will be her death, your imperial highness ! " replied
the father, and burst out sobbing.

" I hope she will live, in order to repent," said the
princess.

48 MORGANATIC

The musician fell prostrate at her feet and clasped his
hands.

" Your imperial highness, be merciful."

She bade him get up, and said in her gentlest
voice —

" I can do nothing for you. Josephine has committed
a fault. She must take the consequences. She should
have taken better care of herself. You see, this is what
comes of sending children into the contaminated atmos-
phere of the theatre, and letting them dance, and sing
frivolous songs on the public stage."

When Schwandtner, with gloomy countenance and
firmly shut lips, reached home, his wife tried to question
him. He growled —

" Let me alone."

But he took the steps necessary to gain an audience in
the highest quarters, and there he met with a favourable
reception. He obtained a promise that both sides should
be heard, and some decision arrived at.

The affair was soon known at Court, and aroused
passionate sympathy. Old Schwandtner and Peperl had
many patrons, Prince Albrecht had no friends. The
prince declared his readiness to keep his word. His
mother violently objected, and her sons, especially the
King of Atlantis, supported her. Her son-in-law of the
House of Bourbon was also strong in opposition. The
reigning Grand Duke, on the other hand, and the Hage-
landandGotheim lords and ladies, learning the truth from
the highest quarters, were in favour of a chivalrous settle-
ment. The princess could not long keep up her opposition.
She saw herself threatened with the Emperor's displeasure,
and notwithstanding her family connections, her position
was not firm and certain enough to risk banishment from
Court. She gave her consent, but under the least amiable
conditions. The marriage must naturally be a morganatic
one. The young couple must not live in Vienna, because
intercourse with the middle-class relations must be pre-
vented. The prince must be satisfied with an allowance
which would not admit of his living in Vienna in accord-
ance with his rank.

MORGANATIC 49

The negociations with the Courts of Franka, Hageland,
and Gotheim were carried on by Schwandtner himself,
who weis accompanied by a privy councillor, and introduced
by letters in the Emperor's own hand. They were pushed
on with the greatest zeal and energy. But they took
several weeks, and the mother and daughter, who had
naturally remained in Vienna, had ample time to be
worried to death by the tortures of suspense. At last
Schwandtner returned, bringing with him the settlement.
He had the consent of all necessary, and a patent of
nobility from the Grand Duke, who conferred the title
and rank of Baroness von Gronendal on his future cousin.
The marriage could take place at once, but the command
went forth that it should be celebrated as quietly as was
consistent with the law. The ceremony was performed
one day in August, in a suburban chapel. All the
Schwandtner family were present, all the Loewenstein
family absent. The Grand Duke and the musician's noble
patrons sent representatives. Josephine could wear a
wedding-gown without public scandal. But it was high
time.

Directly after the wedding the young couple left
Vienna. The Baroness von Gronendal was not received by
her mother-in-law in a farewell audience. The honey-
moon was spent at a hunting-box in the Tyrol belonging
to the Duke of Loewenstein-Level. Prince Albrecht
gave himself up almost entirely to the chase. When it
began to get cold in the mountains, they settled at Castle
Lindenheim in Franka, which his cousin the Grand Duke
had presented to him as usufruct. There, one January
day, Siegfried, Baron von Gronendal, first saw the light.
His entry into the world caused great difficulties. The
court officials did not know how to treat this family
event. To ignore it ? That would be against all tradi-
tion, and would have a disconcerting effect on the citizens
of Franka. But the date ! the date ! That must in no
case be publicly stated. As a matter of fact the official
organ preserved silence at the time, and only four months
later announced the existence of a son of Prince Albrecht,
when he was baptized in the presence of the Grand Duke.

50 MORGANATIC

A marriage concluded under such circumstances might
have been very unhappy. But, thanks to the cleverness
and power of adaptation of the Baroness von Gronendal,
it turned out well. She took pains to study the aristo-
cratic persons among whom she now moved, and as soon
as she came to understand them, she cleverly succeeded
in making herself liked by nearly all of them.

She put forward no claims of any sort, and her modest
bearing disarmed haughtiness on the part of others. She
demanded no rank at Court, and gratefully received what
was offered her. In the family circle she soon took the
secure position of a relative, and on ceremonial occasions,
or when foreign visitors were present, she kept away, so
that there might be no question of etiquette.

She quickly won the liking of the Grand Duke. He
had a weak point which made him hers at once. He
thought himself a divine-inspired artist, and had indeed
some slight talent for music and poetry. He wrote
dramas, composed operas, and invented ballets. He
found a sympathetic collaborator, and an ever-flattering
admirer of his works, or more correctly of his intentions,
in the Baroness von GronendaL For he never got beyond
intentions. He hummed what he took for themes and
melodies. Josephine harmonized them, and wrote them
down. He related plots for dramas and scenes ; she built
them up, and developed the dialogue. If the thing
turned out at all tolerable, he was pleased with himself.
If it turned out commonplace, he was displeased with his
collaborator. And as Josephine never contradicted him,
the most perfect harmony reigned between them. Through
intercourse with his cousin, the Duke discovered in himself
leanings towards the stage which seemed to him vocation
and talent. Occasionally he organized performances at
the Castle before a select court-circle; they kept him
pleasantly excited for weeks at a time with costumes,
scenic decorations, the assigning and studying of parts,
rehearsals, and stage fever. The Grand Duchess, a weak,
quiet, childless woman, who hitherto had had much to
complain of in her husband, recognized that the new
member of their circle had a favourable influence on the

MORGANATIC 61

Grrand Duke. She gave Josephine her affection, and
extended it also to little Siegfried. She was and re-
mained the only relative vpho ever gave him a smile, a
kind word, a caress.

Josephine understood how to make Prince Albrecht's
life pleasant. She never interfered with him. She never
worried him. She had her own interests, with which she
did not importune him ; he had his, into which she never
sought to intrude. She was in secret the secondary
director of the Court theatres of Loe wen stein and Franka ;
she summoned stars from Vienna, who, for her sake, came
for little remuneration, and occasionally introduced them
to the Grand Duke, for which he, with his adoration of
the fair sex, was grateful. Prince Albrecht devoted him-
self to hunting in the Grand Duke's famous forests, and
made a collection of antlers which still forms the most
notable feature of Castle Lindeiiheim. If he wanted
amusement, Josephine recalled her early days, played
lively waltzes, sang songs in the Viennese dialect, in which,
so far away from his native town, he took the greatest
delight, and performed character dances in the costume of
her girlhood. If he was bored by the monotony of the
Court — a thing that happened two or three times a year —
he took a pleasure trip to the Royal courts of his brothers
and cousins, in Atlantis, Gotheim, and Hageland, or to
Vienna, where his mother and sisters had become reconciled
with him. Josephine always let him take these journeys
alone. He did not invite her to accompany him, and she
did not desire to go. Without a word she spent weeks as
a grass widow, and did not worry the prince with letters.
Despite his undisguised egoism, he appreciated her dis-
cretion, and on his return rewarded her by taking her to
watering-places or towns where there was no question of
presenting himself at Court. If he met royalties, he
introduced his wife with all consideration. He especially
interested himself in the theatre and in concerts, and
allowed Josephine to introduce all sorts of artistic people
to him. That gave her great satisfaction, but it was
counterbalanced by certain unpleasantnesses. The prince
travelled as a Royal Highness, and that cost money. It

52 MORGANATIC

did not trouble him, for he had absolutely no idea of the
value of money. It was his wife's task to keep house with
his meagre allowance, to moderate and rule his expenditure
in a way that should not press on him, and should, indeed,
be scarcely observed by him. That was the hardest part
of her obligations, and it must be said that her married
life was often a hard struggle, made harder since the
purveyors and creditors of the Baroness von Gronendal
were much less considerate than those of his Royal High-
ness Prince Albrecht would have been. So far as she
could the baroness kept these financial importunities from
reaching the prince, and he was very grateful to her. He
often said, in his rough, kindly way —

" Do you know, Pepi, I am well satisfied with you. I
married my steward like other men marry their cook."

He spoke quite honestly. He had forgiven her for
having been obliged to marry her, and they had become
good comrades, who would not willingly forego each other's
society. But he could not forgive Siegfried. He had
been the cause of his forced marriage, and he made the
child atone for his unwilling fault through an invincible
indifference, which later seemed to develop into positive
dislike.

Josephine's relations with the family gradually became
pleasanter. After a while, her mother-in-law invited her
and Siegfried to stay with her at Vienna in the Loewen-
stein Palace, and allowed her to call her "Mamma,"
when they were alone. The King of Atlantis and the
Bourbon brother-in-law and his wife were almost intimate,
and only the duke, who had to make the allowance out of the
entail, remained cold, because his sister-in-law was some-
times obliged to make forcible struggles in order to get
him to open his fast-closed hand just a little. Evil tongues
repeated to her that he accused her of enriching herself
and her tribe of relations. The slander hurt her the more
since she had broken off all personal intercourse with her
family. She carried on a cold correspondence with her
parents at rare intervals, until their comparatively early
death. She never saw her brother and sister again. When
her brother, who held a small official post, married, and

MORGANATIC 53

quickly became the father of a large family, she made him
a small yearly allowance out of her own property. She
had a strange idea of duty. She persuaded herself that
she must sacrifice all former relations to her position, and
that she owed it to her noble husband to avoid carefully
the barest chance of intercourse that might still further
lower his standing.

After nearly two decades of friendly relations with the
Grand Duke, the wretched financial question caused a
breach. There were once more debts and creditors ; ordi-
nary purveyors, jewellers, and even hotel-keepers became
pressing, and getting no satisfaction at Castle Lindenheim,
did not scruple to importune the Grand Duke himself.
He took it very ill, and roundly gave the Baroness von
Gronendal to understand at the first opportunity that
when a woman had the good fortune to attain to the highest
social summit, it behoved her to cultivate feelings which
were consonant with the dynastical point of view. The
baroness, greatly irritated, ventured to reply that she
certainly possessed such feelings, but they seemed, how-
ever, to be lacking in her husband's highborn relatives,
since, notwithstanding their great wealth, they refused to
move a finger to help the prince when he was in difficulties.
The prince, who was a witness of this unpleasant quarrel,
felt himself obliged to take his wife's part. He complained
bitterly that he was kept as short as in his lieutenant days,
and told the Grand Duke that a single word from him would
bring his brother the duke to reason. One word brought
forth another, and the angry Grand Duke so far forgot
himself as to make an insulting allusion to the low maternal
origin of the new Austrian line of the house of Loe-
wenstein. All the members of the Level branch were
extraordinarily sensitive on that point. Prince Albrecht
broke with the Court, and the very next day vacated
Castle Lindenheim. The Grand Duke repented his hasty
words ; he was sorry to have to do without the baroness,
to whom he had grown accustomed, but he was too obsti-
nate and haughty to be the first to tender the olive branch,
and his dignity, as the person offended, forbade Prince
Albrecht any advance that might look like self-huiniliation.

54 MORGANATIC

The princely family, accompanied by Bertha, who had
not stirred from the baroness's side for twenty years, Frau
Biichler, formerly Siegfried's nurse and his constant atten-
dant, and the prince's Polish valet went for a few weeks
to a quiet watering-place in the Taunus, and then settled
in Paris. That was the result of long discussions and
deliberations. If they did not give up the advantages
and distractions of a metropolis and retire to Switzerland
or to some provincial hole, Paris was the only place in
Europe where the prince had no dynastical or Court
obligations, where he need make no sacrifices for his
rank, and where he would be submitted to no control.

The baroness, as once before, during the period of her
engagement, dipped deeply into her own property, and
bought the pretty house in the Cite Dubois in the Rue
Palestrina. The prince should not, like any ordinary
person, live in a rented apartment, and rub shoulders
with Brown, Jones, and Robinson on a common staircase.
The prince took it all as a matter of course, and entered
into possession of the new home his wife had prepared for
him.

Prince Albrecht had been a frequent guest at the Tuile-
ries, and had had relations with Imperial society under the
empire. His elder sister's husband was a member of the
Bourbon family. He felt himself obliged to visit his
relatives, but they were reserved and cold, and the con-
nection was not maintained. If he did not wish to lead
a hermit's life, he must enter the circle which the baroness
created for herself, and which, corresponding with her
tastes, consisted chiefly of artists, actors, and authors.
The prince did not feel at home in that society. It was
too intellectual, and talked too fast. He liked slow,
scanty talk, and abhorred wit, that enemy and disturber
of comfortable, lazy conversation. He often stayed away
from his wife's receptions and dinners, and she had to
excuse him by alleging illness. In his absence the guests
adopted the habit of addressing the baroness as " princess "
and " your highness." When the prince first heard it, he
frowned, and looked indignantly and inquiringly at his wife.
She blushed and turned away her face. As soon as they

MORGANATIC 65

were alone he frankly told her he did not like it. She
burst into tears, and contented herself with saying —

" I have never pretended to be anything I was not.
I can''t help it if these republicans do not understand
what a morganatic marriage is. Explain it to them, if
you like.'"

He did not do that, he only sulked when any one
called her " princess " in his presence, and spoke of her
himself as baroness.

The death of the old duchess, which took place
somewhat suddenly about this time, brought the prince
and the baroness a great disappointment. Considering
her large personal fortune, they had hoped to be re-
membered in her will. But she left them a proportion-
ately small sum, scarcely enough to pay off their old
debts, and devised a small pension to her second son. She
knew her eldest son and heir well enough to express
emphatically her expectation that he would not in the
future reduce the allowance which Prince Albrecht had
hitherto received, on account of the pension his mother
had left him. She left her daughter-in-law her blessing,
couched in cold, pious terms, and the grand piano on
which she had formerly played for her husband's love,
which would be sent to Paris, carriage paid. The
baroness felt herself mocked at by this contemptuous
treatment. She did not ascribe the insult to the old
duchess, but to the evil wit of the duke ; she knew his
ironical turn of mind, and believed he had prompted the
duchess with every appearance of bland innocence.

The increase of income permitted a somewhat freer
life, but the hope of a secure future for the son was
dashed to the ground, and the family were legally
dependent on the favour of the holder of the entail.
That widened the breach between Prince Albrecht and
his brother, and the prince gave up hunting in his pre-
serves, hard as it was to do so.

The society that frequented the house in the Rue
Palestrina became more and more mixed as time went on,
a circumstance that was unavoidable if it was to be held
together. The guests asked permission to introduce

56 MORGANATIC

friends ; a refusal might mean a breach. The persons who
were anxious to make the acquaintance of a real prince
belonging to a reigning family, who had become easily
accessible through his misalliance, were naturally not the
most desirable. Snobs who wanted a highness on their
visiting lists, decoration hunters without official position
or relations with the diplomatic circles, nobles of doubtful,
or of their own, creation for whom appearance in a prince's
drawing-room would mean a sort of recognition of their
questionable patent of nobility, were more numerous in the
baroness's house than persons of undoubted social rank, or
than authors and artists of reputation. The baroness
succeeded in arranging her acquaintances in two divisions,
and in keeping them quite apart from each other. With-
out such foresight, those acquaintances who had no
ulterior motive in going to see her, and undoubtedly the
prince himself, would have avoided her drawing-room.
Even so. Prince Albrecht felt himself more and more
uncomfortable in his own house, and escaped from the
Villa Josephine as often as he could to breathe the freer
atmosphere of the neighbouring courts of Gotheim and
Hageland. About three years after they had settled in
Paris, the prince contracted a severe cold on a journey to
Gotheim one stormy night, to which the big, apparently
enormously strong man, scarcely fifty years old, quickly
succumbed. The comparatively happy and brilliant pei'iod
of the baroness's life was at an end, and she began to
wander along a road of sorrow.

People who called themselves her friends put it in her
head that there was no such thing as a morganatic mar-
riage before the law, that ancient legal decisions of a
princely house might count in the Grand Duchy of
Loewenstein, but nowhere else in the world, and that she
was the rightful Princess of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-
Level. She believed these sanguine counsellors, and from
now onwards made it her life's task to secure for her only
son, to whom she could leave no property, what was, in her
opinion, his proper rank and title. She was determined,
if necessary, to take up the quarrel with the family. If
the family actually disinherited and denied her son's rights,

MORGANATIC 67

she thought of another way in which to gild his title.
There were plenty of American millionaires with daughters
who would like to be called your highness and to be
related to the Queen of Gotheim. Then he would have
the wealth without which a title in our days is a mockery,
and she did not doubt that, sooner or later, the family
would become reconciled with the possessor of an enormous
trans- Atlantic fortune.

She began her campaign in the very presence of the
prince's dead body. She announced his death to the Royal
and noble relatives and Imperial patrons in Vienna by a
telegram, and boldly signed herself " Princess Josephine
von Loewenstein." The announcement made a deep im-
pression on those to whom it was sent, as she was soon
to discover. Not one of them replied. Gotheim and
Hageland expressly refused any acknowledgment. The
telegram to the Grand Duke was returned with the legend,
"To be returned to the sender, the Baroness von
Gronendal in Paris." A Court secretary wrote officially
from Vienna that his master had been unpleasantly sur-
prised by the form of the announcement, and out of
respect for the deceased Schwandtner, begged to warn his
daughter, who had now lost her chief support, to beware
of false counsellors.

The baroness had the prince's body embalmed. By
no means intimidated by the animosity of the family, she
telegraphed again to the Grand Duke, to ask him if he
desired Prince Albrecht to be buried in the family vault
at Loewenstein. She waited five days, and as no answer
was forthcoming, she bought a large grave in the ceme-
tery of Mont Pamasse, and had the prince buried there.
The funeral cost fifteen thousand francs, and was most
gorgeous. As the prince had possessed the Grand Cross
of the Legion of Honour — it had been conferred on
him by Napoleon III. at his first visit to the Tuileries —
the burial was conducted with much military display.
But neither the French Government nor the family of
Loewenstein-Franka nor Bourbon was represented. The
newspapers printed long, highly coloured reports of the
ceremony, and mentioned that her Highness the Princess

58 MORGANATIC

of Loewenstein-Franka-Level and Prince Siegfried had
accompanied Prince Albrecht to his last resting-place.
Three days later, there appeared in the official organ of
Franka a short notice in widely-spaced lines, curt and
sharp as the guillotine, which said that the Parisian
papers mentioned a Princess Josephine and a Prince
Siegfried of Meissen - Loewenstein-Franka-Level ; there
were no Ipersons of those names, and if any one in Paris
claimed such a title, he was guilty of a gross fraud.

A dozen anonymous friends hastened to send the
baroness the paper. It stabbed her to the heart, but only
determined her to continue the war. She concealed the
disagreeable notice from Siegfried, and as no other paper
copied it, on account of its harsh style, and as the Franka
paper was not a world-famous journal, not only Siegfried
but Parisian society in general were ignorant of the
paragraph.

The baroness erected a magnificent tombstone to the
prince, that bore beneath his coat-of-arms and various
titles the inscription : " To her never-to-be-forgotten hus-
band from his inconsolable widow, the Princess Josephine."
Knowledge of it came to Loewenstein, and steps were
taken in a serai-official way to induce the Municipality
of Paris to order the words to be effaced. The Munici-
pality advised the complainants to go to law. They
feared, however, that the courts of Paris might decide in
the baroness's favour, and so secure her a rightful title,
which so far, in accordance with the Loewenstein interpre-
tation of the law, she did not possess. They punished
her in another way. The " Almanach de Gotha," which
was published two months after Prince Albrechfs death,
did not record it, and omitted the baroness's name.
She, with her son, was banished from the consecrated
circle. She replied by offering money to an inventive
genius to publish a " Club- Almanac." An attempt was
made to circulate it in cosmopolitan society with a great
flourish of trumpets, and the princess and Prince Siegfried
appeared in its genealogical tables in their rightful places
among the members of the House of Meissen. This
caused great annoyance in Franka and Vienna, and the

MORGANATIC 69

allowance, which was paid quarterly, was reduced on the
next occasion by a third. The baroness wrote to the Duke
demanding a widow's jointure of suitable amount, and
sent a list of the debts the prince had left, the cost of the
funeral and the tombstone, on the payment of which she
insisted. When she received no answer, she threatened
legal proceedings, and when that produced no effect, she
actually instructed her lawyer to begin. His respectfully
composed paper was most ungraciously received and firmly
nonsuited by the ducal courte in Vienna.

These disputes and excitements filled the year of
mourning. So far, the war, if bitter, had been carried on
quietly and privately. Now it was to be waged publicly,
and Siegfried, whom the baroness had at first kept out of
the struggle, was to take part in it.

Bertha, her mistress's confidant, was initiated into her
plans. With deep regret she saw the advent of a period
of excitements and worries without the least likelihood of a
satisfactory result. Her egoism counselled her to play the
part of rats in a sinking ship. Her native kindliness
strove against such counsel, but it would not take many
evenings like this to turn the scale in favour of egoism.

BOOK II

When on the evening of Madame Abeille's party the
baroness retired to her bedroom after her conversation
with Siegfried, he remained alone in the dining-room. He
felt too excited to sleep. He lighted a cigarette and
went into the garden. Nero lay in front of his kennel
behind the steps that led into the house. The enormous
animal barked loudly when he saw the young man, got
up, sprang on him, and then bent down before him.
Siegfried stroked his large fine head, and the dog,
keeping step with him, strolled along the winding gravel
walk. The full moon rode high in the heavens, and its
light gave a pearl-like effect to gravel, foliage, grass,
and masonry. Siegfried looked thoughtfully at the pale
colour of all the various surfaces, and said half aloud to
his four-footed companion —

" Look, Nero ; the garden is wearing its silver uniform
to-night."

The dog looked at him and wagged his tail so violently
that it made a loud noise each time it knocked against
Siegfried's leg.

The remark had a special significance. The light-
green livery of the Grand Ducal court was generally
trimmed with cotton lace. On great occasions, however,
the trimmings were of silver, and the court servants
called it the silver uniform. The association of ideas led
Siegfried's thoughts to Franka, and, as was often the case,
he became absorbed in the remembrance of his joyless
youth.

He had grown up between his nurse, Frau Buchler,
and his tutor, Dr. Pelgram. The first had been there

60

MORGANATIC 61

from time immemorial, the second had come when he was
nine years old. Frau Biichler had taken Siegfried when
he was weaned. She was a Viennese by birth, had lost
her husband, a petty court official, and likewise two
children; she was alone in the world, and when she, a
quiet, sorrowful woman of forty, entered Castle Linden-
heim she could give all the feeling she possessed to her
little charge. The mother soon saw that she could fully
rely on the careful little matron, and gave her the whole
care and responsibility of the child. Frau Buchler brought
him up quite alone, and received her salary even after he
was grown up. She lived with him in Paris, and was the
only person in the house with whom he never lost his
temper.

Dr. Pelgram was his tutor for ten years. Siegfried
did not go to a public school. He was educated at home
under Dr. Pelgram's superintendence. When he was
nineteen, he passed the final examination with great
difficulty, and with all admissible and some other
exemptions. It was understood that Dr. Pelgram had
finished his work, the Grand Duke conferred on him the
title of professor, and as a recognition of his services to
Siegfried he was received into the public school service of
Franka. The relations between tutor and pupil were not
broken oflF. They corresponded, and every year Pelgram
spent a few days in Paris when, according to his custom,
he visited his brother at Gotheim, who was private
secretary and librarian to the queen, and had indeed
procured him the post of tutor to Siegfried. There was no
great affijction between the pupil and his former tutor.
Dr. Pelgram was too cold, too sarcastic, too prudently
reserved to attract the devotion and affection even of a
happy disposition, but he took the right amount of
interest in Siegfried, who respected him, and felt sure
that he would find him a sensible and sound adviser in all
the difficult circumstances of life.

A child is usually a bond of union between his parents.
That Siegfried had never been. Prince Albrecht did
not love him. His unconscious, impulsive racial feeling
gave him a repulsion for the half-blood in whom the

62 MORGANATIC

Loewenstein type showed more perfect and handsome than
the veritable scions of the house. He bore him a grudge
as the compulsory cause of the misalliance, which he always
repented whenever he reflected on himself and his life,
a thing, fortunately, that rarely happened. Josephine
read her husband's simple mind clearly. She saw that
he did not relish Siegfried's presence, and she had no
intention of frightening Prince Albrecht away. So, in
order that the child should not keep him away from her,
she kept the child away from him. Thus Siegfried lived
a lonely, dull existence in a wing of Castle Lindenheim,
first with Frau Biichler and then with Dr. Pelgram, and
a servant. He never accompanied his parents on their
travels. He never appeared when there were noble
visitors. He would never have gone to the Grand Ducal
castle if the Grand Duchess had not occasionally expressly
desired it. The boy, who was shy, sulky, and unamiable to
everybody else, was at his ease and happy with the kindly
princess, and the childless woman took a sad pleasure in
his innocent adoration, in which a reserved yet deep love
and admiration sought expression. The natural, simple
disposition of the Grand Duchess dimly felt that the
innocent child had been greatly sinned against both
before and after his birth, and that it was the duty of his
father's family to make some compensation.

When Siegfried grew older, the intercourse could no
longer be carried on in this harmless fashion. She still
allowed him to call her aunt among her intimate circle,
and always remembered his birthday by some affection-
ately chosen offering. Another heart that he conquered
was that of the Queen of Gotheim. Although his parents
made a practice of keeping him away from all family
gatherings, he saw the queen by chance on one of her
visits to Franka at a great Court banquet. He was then
a lanky awkward youth of sixteen, who did not know
what to do with his long arms and legs, and in his agony
about the terrible order of precedence leaned against the
wall far from his father, who shone in the unapproach-
able distance, and separated also from his mother, who
had a place in the first rank of those who were not

MORGANATIC G&

royalties. When the queen caught sight of him, she
stopped, surprised, and asked the Grand Duke, who was
leading her through the hall, who the young man was ?
He was the very image of her ever-adored husband, as
she had learnt to know and love him when he was a
youth of nineteen, and the unexpected likeness set her
life back twenty years. The Grand Duke could not
avoid inti'oducing his nephew. Prince Albrecht, for whom
the queen had some regard, joined the group ; the queen
spoke a few courteous words to the blushing, embarrassed
youth, reproached his father for never having introduced
the baron to her, and expressed a wish that he should
bring him with him the next time he visited her. Prince
Albrecht would have made a grimace had he not learnt
in childhood to control his feelings. But a wish expressed
by the queen was a command, and Siegfried accompanied
him on his next visit to Gotlieim. That was the first and
only time that he went abroad alone with his father.
The memory of that week in Gotheim was a nightmare.
Prince Albrecht did not trouble about him at all, hardly
spoke to him, introduced him to nobody. The Court
society treated him politely when they saw that the
queen kept him near her person, and although she did
not talk to him much, she paid him many little motherly
attentions. The presentations, however, were made by
the Grand Marshal, who always called him "Baron von
Gronendal," and made no allusion to his relationship to
Prince Albrecht. Ceremony made his father even a
greater stranger here than he was at home, and the misery
of it all so oppressed him that he would have been guilty
of a boyish escapade, namely, of escaping from the Castle
some dark night, had he not found a support in the
queen's secretary, his tutor's brother, who took some
interest in him.

After the examination, the Grand Duke Hilarius
received Siegfried and his tutor, acknowledged his in-
debtedness to Dr. Pelgram, and dismissed him graciously,
with the announcement that he had been appointed
a professor.

Left alone with Siegfried, he asked him cheerfully —

64 MORGANATIC

" Now, my dear Siegfried, what are your plans ? Are
you going to be a soldier or a scholar ? "

"I haven't yet thought about it," was Siegfried's
answer, which affected the Grand Duke unpleasantly. For
he had reckoned on the young man replying joyfully, " A
soldier, of course."

" Very well, then, think about it now ; it's quite time,"
said the Grand Duke, curtly ; and the interview was over.

It did not occur to Siegfried to seek his parents' advice
on this weighty question. He felt that they would have
nothing helpful to say to him. He consulted Dr.
Pelgram.

"What shall I be, sir?"

"A soldier, of course," returned the tutor, without
the least hesitation.

"Do you really think that I have a vocation for
obedience .'' " asked Siegfried.

"As far as I am concerned," replied Dr. Pelgram, with
his peculiar sarcastic smile, " you have not certainly shown
much talent that way, but in the excellent school of the
army you may develop it. A small amount of obedience
is tempered there by many commands."

Siegfried assumed his most obstinate manner, and
shook his head.

" What do you want to be, my dear Baron Siegfried ? "
asked Dr. Pelgram.

" Independent," he replied,

" That is the dream of a self-sufficient boy. No one
who belongs to an organized society is independent.
Even our Grand Duke is not. Nothing prevents you
from rising to a generalship in the army, and that seems
to me to be a goal high enough for your ambition,"
observed the tutor, whoj seeing he could not convince
Siegfried, left the matter alone. He was no longer the
young man's tutor, had no further responsibility for his
actions, and felt no necessity to continue the discussion
from pure love of the art. So he concluded the decisive
interview with the words, "You asked for advice. I
have given you the best I know. You are, of course, free
to do as you choose."

MORGANATIC 65

A few days passed, during which Siegfried was more
reserved than usual. Then, to Prince Albrecht's un-
disguised astonishment, Siegfried, one day, at dinner,
the only occasion on which he saw his father, if he was not
hunting or travelling or dining at the palace, informed
him shyly and curtly of his interview with the Grand Duke.

The prince frowned, and remarked, " The Grand Duke
has said nothing to me. It was very kind of him to
trouble about your future. Why didn't you say that you
left the decision in his hands ? "

" He expressly left it to my judgment," returned
Siegfried.

" You don't know whafs seeming," said his father,
so angrily that Josephine said, imploringly —

" But, my angel, don't get so excited."

The warning had some effect, but the prince was out of
temper.

" Well, have you thought it over .'' " he asked Siegfried.

" Yes, papa."

" Then which arm of the service is it to be ? " said his
father.

" I don't want to go into the army, papa," replied
Siegfried.

" What ! Not go into the army! Well, indeed ! What,
then, do you want to be ? A musician, perhaps ? " he
said.

Both Siegfried and Josephine turned crimson ; but the
prince either did not notice it, or did not care. His son
boiled with anger at the cruel speech, and said firmly —

" A musician needs talent, and every one hasn't got it.
It can't be borrowed. There are many things I should
like to do, but I do not know of what I am capable.
Therefore I will study. In the course of my studies light
will probably come to me."

His son's unusually long speech annoyed the prince.

" In our family," he said, " we are not in doubt what
we shall be and of what we are capable. Your ceise,
however, is different."

" Exactly so," replied Siegfried, so calmly and boldly
that his parents were extremely surprised. " If I were a

66 MORGANATIC

prince and a highness, I should not have to break my head
over my profession and my capability; but, as I am
not "

" Kindly speak only when I ask you to," was all that
Prince Albrecht, in his irritation, found to reply.

He said nothing further to his son about his future.
Later, when they were alone, and Josephine returned to
the subject, he grumbled out —

" The boy can do what he likes. If he wishes to study,
let him study. That's all the fashion now in our circles.
Only it mustn't cost too much."

" That shall be my business," Josephine assured him ;
and so the matter dropped.

Siegfried went to the University, where he was well
received as a prince incognito. He joined in all the
amusements and the drinking and duelling of the students,
and troubled little about lectures. This lasted for just
over a year. Then came the rupture with the Grand
Duke, and his parents' decision to live in Paris. His
allowance was reduced and thereby his popularity. Under
those circumstances, his sojourn at the University was
no longer a pleasure, and after a few months he followed
his parents to Paris. He felt no pang, for he had never
seriously thought of deciding on a profession, and con-
cluding his course of study with an examination.

Thenceforth he lived a barren existence of terrible
idleness. Sometimes the tedium of it was so great that
he hovered between the maddest plans of adventure and
thoughts of suicide; and then he would make a great
effort to put more interest into his life. In dilettante
fashion he tried all sorts of occupations, by preference
those that were easiest. He made translations from
French into German, and from German into French, and
published them in periodicals, thanks to the connections of
some of his mother's guests. Instead of his name, he signed
them with a little coronet, and it gave him pleasure to
be so printed. But the pleasure did not last long, for he
soon recognized how very second-rate it was. That his
mother took the translating business seriously largely
contributed to his disenchantment. She praised him

MORGANATIC 67

excessively, as often as he blackened a few white pages,
was everlastingly telling her acquaintances of his literary
gifts, and assumed a great air of importance when she
told him that her recommendation had been successful
in getting a French translation of his into her friend
Madame Abeille's weekly paper, or a German one into
the Frankfort Salonblatt, whose editress she had patronized
in the Franka days. He felt this importance to be gro-
tesque, and, after a short time, renounced writing, which
offered him nothing intellectual, in order to dawdle away
his time uselessly in sport. He bicycled, frequented a
shooting-gallery, and for the first time in his life per-
severed long enough to become a crack pistol-shot. Even
Prince Albrecht was interested, for acquaintances hsid
told him of his son's prowess. As a first-class rifle-shot
himself, he could appreciate skill with other weapons, and
of his own impulse was present at a competition in which
Siegfried came in second. But he took great offence
because the Verdngetorix repeatedly spoke of "Prince
Siegfried " in its report of the contest, and he never again
troubled himself about his son's favourite pursuit. Less
harmless than all this were visits behind the scenes of
second-rate theatres. Two young men, guests of his
mother, the Barons Dorman, were his devoted pilots on
these pleasing expeditions. The ladies to whom the
experienced brothers introduced him, treated him as a
prince, and expected the same in return, but his pocket-
money was not adequate, the less since the Dormans pos-
sessed an admirably developed talent for letting other people
pay for their pleasures. So Siegfried got into difficulties
out of which his mother had to drag him, and thus his
self-respect underwent humiliation.

His father's brief illness and death woke him from the
stagnation which had lasted for two years. On his death-
bed. Prince Albrecht was as indifferent and egotistical as
he had been during his whole life. There was no expres-
sion of feeling, no affectionate drawing together of father
and son, and before Prince Albrecht knew how seriously
iU he was, he closed his eyes for ever. Siegfried felt no
sorrow at his death. Indeed, he pitied himself most

68 MORGANATIC

deeply that he, an only son, could not, at the moment of
his father's death, feel the slightest grief, or any of the
emotions that men mostly feel at such times. It seemed
to him that he was not only shut out from his own
natural circle, but also from humanity itself. The sense
of loneliness overpowered him so greatly as he walked
behind his father's hearse with its splendid decorations
of nodding plumes and silver statues of angels, at some
distance from the masters of the ceremony carrying the
ribands and stars of the grand cross on a purple velvet
cushion, that tears rose to his eyes. But grief for his
loss had nothing to do with his sobs. He wept from
impotent anger with the man who had so deeply sinned
against him, and out of grief for his own fate that rose
before him, as formless and gloomy as heavy, black, heaped-
up banks of cloud.

The year of mourning was really a year of mourning
for him ; but he himself formed the central point of his
grief. He continually thought of his future, but did not
know in the least how to organize it. He came so far as
to envy the servant Janusz from the bottom of his heart.
The wily fellow had a fixed round of duties in the present,
and for the future, plans, hopes, a goal towards which he
strove. But Siegfried had nothing of the kind. Even in
his dreams he resembled a rudderless ship driven by
momentary moods and fancies as by winds and currents.

His mother was as much a stranger to him as before.
The habit of holding aloof from him survived its cause
— cowardly consideration for Prince Albrecht. She always
had Bertha, her confidant, her adviser, her consoler. She
discussed her plans of campaign against the family with
her. She thought it unnecessary to entrust her son with
them. He learned, however, what she was intending,
for Bertha opened her discontented heart to her country-
woman, Frau Biichler, and the old nurse told her charge
everything she heard.

To acquire his dead father's title and rank ? Why
not.' That was something tangible. That gave his
desires a fixed direction, and with his instability of cha-
racter, he was even grateful to his mother for showing him

MORGANATIC 69

a firm point to which he could attach his thoughts. He
thought of nothing but the struggle, he followed its
events with increasing excitement, but felt annoyed at
his mother's methods of attack. They seemed to him
childish and absurd, but it did not occur to him to tell
her so. The breach between the two, each so deserving
of pity, was irreparable. In his mother's decision to
withhold her plans from him and not to claim his co-
opei-ation, Siegfried saw lack of confidence and vexatious
contempt. But the baroness really left him out of her
efforts for quite other reasons. She loved him after
her fashion, and even suffered pangs of conscience for
her neglect of her maternal duties. She thought to com-
pensate him by sparing him all the fighting. She herself
would step into the breach, make the attacks, receive the
blows, and finally present him with the victor's prize for
which she alone would have bled.

If they could once have spoken frankly to each other,
Siegfried would have said, "Mother, why don't you let
me share your labours ? " and the baroness would have
answered, " My boy, I owe you a successful issue, and I
wish to strive for it without worrying you. You shall
inherit what your parents owe you, without having to
sue for it in humiliation." Then, maybe, for the first
time in their lives, they would have warmly embraced
each other and would have joined hands in order to
follow together the end for which they were striving.
But they were outwardly stiff and cold, and so remained
estranged.

After the disagreeable impressions of Madame Abeille's
party and the angry interchange of words with his mother,
these memories and thoughts swarmed tumultuously in his
head like an ant-hill roughly stirred up by a stick. As he
walked up and down, crushing the gravel under foot, he
gradually grew calmer, and his bitter mood softened.
Unconsciously he was feeling the effects of a new influence
in his life. There was a party in one of the neighbouring
houses. A fresh, trained woman's voice sang the " Erl-
konig," then a skilful hand played the " Moonlight " and
" Pathetic " sonatas, and isolated phrases of a violin piece

70 MORGANATIC

floated down to him, which at first he did not recognize,
for the tones reached his ears in disconnected phrases, and
the loud passages were divided from the indistinct mur-
muring of the soft ones, like the white foam of the billowy
crests from the dark, deep troughs of the waves. Involun-
tarily, he stood still, in order not to lose the broken,
melodious tones of the violin, and after a while went into
the arbour, where he could hear more comfortably.
His suspense was ended when he recognized a concerto by
Bach.

Suddenly he heard the house door close softly, and a step
glide down the steps and along the gravel path. Nero,
who had been lying at Siegfried's feet, raised his head,
and gave a short bark. Siegfried laid his hand gently on
his cool nose, while a clear strong voice from outside
shouted, " Quiet, Nero. Where are you ? Come,
Nero."

Siegfried recognized Nicoline. He got up out of the
basket-chair, the dog sprang to his feet, and the animal
and his master met the girl at the entrance to the arbour,
overhung with faded woodbine.

The girl, surprised, stood still when the moonlight
revealed the two forms.

" Have you also come down, prince ? "

He started. It was the first time that she had
addressed him by that title. The few times that she had
spoken to him, in the short period since her arrival, she
had called him Baron Siegfried.

" I was not sleepy. I wanted to smoke another
cigarette. But, Nicoline, won't you take cold ? "

" I ! Don't you see I'm wrapped up in a thick shawl,
like an old market woman. And, besides, I'm made of
iron. I don't know what a cold means."

Both were silent. Nero audibly licked the girl's hand
with his great tongue. The violin concerto in the neigh-
bouring house sounded now loud, and then sank away into
a faint wailing. Nicoline and Siegfried listened without
saying a word. After a time, they heard subdued hand-
ckpping in the distance through the closed windows.
Then all was still.

MORGANATIC 71

" Nothing has such magic as the distant sound of a
violin in the night, carried in gusts by the wind. It
reminds one of odours from an enchanted garden, over
which the breeze has passed," said Nicoline, enthusiasti-
cally.

" How sentimental you are ! " said Siegfried, somewhat
mockingly.

Nicoline threw her head back, smiling.

" I .'' Sentimental ? There you are quite off the line.
I beg your pardon, you are in error. But I am keenly
alive to every sort of beauty. I can't help it."

" You have no need to make excuses on that account,"
observed Siegfried.

"Oh yes," returned Nicoline, "there is beauty that is
out of fashion. For instance, a garden bathed in moon-
light, and filled with unknown music was charming in
the time of Geibel. Now it is despised as common-
place or provincial. That's the rule ; but I don't worry
myself about rules."

Siegfried looked at her sideways, and let his cigarette
go out. The beautiful girl wore a silk shawl crossed over
her chest and fastened in a knot behind. She had thrown
a white lace shawl over her head like a mantilla. A
rough impulse stirred in him to draw her violently towards
him, and to press her in his arms till she screamed. But
he restrained it, and felt ashamed of himself. She stood
unsuspicious and trusting beside him ; she was living as a
guest under his roof She was entrusted to his mother's
care. But he felt uncomfortable to be alone with her at
night in the dark arbour, and he said, hesitatingly —

" We should not — stand — here."

" No, we'll sit down for a little ; " she answered, and
going into the arbour, sat down on one of the four wicker
chairs that stood round a garden table.

He looked at her in stupid astonishment, but did not
move.

" Aren't you coming in ? Are you frightened of me ? "
she asked merrily.

" You're extraordinary," he murmured, and slowly
approached the chair opposite hers

72 MORGANATIC

"Am I really?" she replied simply, while he
hesitatingly sat down.

Was the girl an impertinent, practised coquette ?
Was she in search of a vulgar adventure, like a servant
girl on her Sunday out ? or was it proud, modest uncon-
sciousness, the calm trust of innocence? He had only
known her now for a few days, although in former years
he had seen her as a little girl fairly often. But since
her arrival, he had not been alone with her. He only
knew so far that she was beautiful and high-spirited,
and he guessed that she was clever. He guessed it
both by what she said and by what she did not say, and
by the confident way in which she treated his mother,
outwardly submissive, inwardly independent. Unhappily,
he did not in the least know how he ought to treat her.
Chivalry and the bad habits which he had contracted as
a student and as a constant visitor behind the scenes of
second-rate theatres fought in him for mastery, and the
victory was still very doubtful, when Nicoline further
astonished him with the question —

" Have you a cigarette, prince ? "

" What ! Do you smoke ? " he said.

" Oh, only rarely, and in secret ; but that makes it all
the nicer. Mamma has forbidden it — mammas always
forbid — that seems to be their work in life — and I do not
wish to annoy her. I can't very well go into a shop here
and buy a packet of cigarettes. In Diesa, my girl friends
get me what I want. So I must make you the accomplice
of my crimes. Will you help me, prince ? "

Siegfried was not quick at repartee. Silently he
handed her his cigarette case, struck a match, and its light
revealed to him a roguish smile on Nicoline's face. He
received the impression that she was poking fun at him,
and that made it easier for him to keep cool.

She pulled strongly at the cigarette, so that the
fragrant smoke filled the arbour. The point of glowing
light opposite him hypnotized him. Both kept perfectly
still, for a numerous stream of people, laughing and talk-
ing in low tones, poured out of the neighbouring house
into the road leading to the Cite Dubois. Nero had

MORGANATIC 73

jumped up and bounded to the garden gate, where he
treated the passers-by to his threatening bark.

" Do you like Paris ? " asked Siegfried, in order to say
something.

" Oh, a week has not spoiled the enchantment," ex-
claimed Nicoline. " How good and sweet it is of the princess
to have me here ! I'm so grateful to her. And also to my
poor mamma, who actually managed to make up her mind
to part with me."

"Your mother is very fond of you?" observed
Siegfried.

Nicoline answered in surprise, " Yes. Isn't that always
the way ? "

" No," he replied, curtly and sternly.

She threw the remains of her cigarette away.

" Will you have another .'' " asked Siegfried.

" No ; one is enough," she said. " I don't believe you,
prince. A mother always loves her children. A father —
well, that is different."

" Oh, a father ! " murmured Siegfried, and so much
bitterness lay in his low voice that Nicoline could not
refrain from saying in tender tones, that sounded very
differently from her former ones —

" Poor prince ! how you say that ! And you haven't
so much to complain of, either."

" What ? " he interrupted hastily ; he did not shout,
for his voice came through his clenched teeth. "I
haven't much to complain of ! You are an inmate of our
house. You were witness of this evening's dispute. You'll
hear many more of the same kind. It would be ridiculous
to try and conceal things from you. And there's really
nothing to conceal. Don't you see how wretchedly my
father has treated me ? "

" Prince, prince, no, no ! It pains me to hear a son
speak so of his father," said the girl.

" ' Prince ! ' I seem to hear mockery in the word," said
Siegfried. " And yet when you call me ' baron,' I feel
vexed and annoyed, although I have no formal right
to feel so. I am almost worse than a foundling. If
I were one, I should doubtless, like all foundlings, dream

74 MORGANATIC

a wonderful romance about my birth, and imagine myself
the unknown son of a king, and read my family history
in fairy tales or penny novelettes. The foundling's most
extravagant dreams are absolute truth in my case. I am
the son of a prince ; but if I give myself out for what I
am, I am scorned, or persecuted, or both. Why .'' It is
true ! By all divine and human laws, I am Prince
Albrechfs son, and my nearest relatives, my uncles and
cousins, are the greatest emperors and kings of the earth.
And I am asked not to regard my father's brothers as
uncles, or the children of my father's brothers and sisters
as cousins. It is an atrocious outrage."

" What would you have ? " said Nicoline. " The law
of equality of birth is a law."

" Certainly," replied Siegfried. " I say nothing against
that. I make no claim to the succession. And that is
the only practical purpose of the equality of birth doctrine.
But has any one the right to thrust me out of my natural
and legal family because my father had the good taste to
marry an artist, who was more beautiful and clever than
all our princesses ? If it was a crime, my father ought to
have been punished for it, not me. I am not guilty."

" You exaggerate," replied Nicoline. " It's not such
a terrible punishment to be Baron von Gronendal."

" And to stand alone in the world," returned Siegfried,
"denied by your father's family, estranged from your
mother's, cheated by your parents of childhood and youth,
sacrificed by your mother to a loveless father, without
position, without means, without a profession, without
an outlook. Ah, Nicoline, I am so unhappy that I often
have compassion on myself, tender, tearful, unmanly
compassion."

From his voice, Nicoline thought that he was very near
crying. He had his back to the moonlight, and she could
not see his face clearly. She remained in thought for a
time.

" Do you know," she then said, " how you strike me ?
Like a man standing in a courtyard in front of a waD
and wanting to get out, and who is angry that it does
not give way before him, while just behind him is a door

MORGANATIC 75

set wide open. Turn round, and instead of trying to get
through the wall, go quietly through the open door.
Everything that you lack and that you wish to have,
you can acquire. You are a young giant. Why don't
you conquer the world, if you wish to see it at your
feet.?"

" You think it's an easy matter to conquer the world ? "
remarked Siegfried.

" If it were easy, it wouldn't be worth the trouble," she
returned calmly. " Life is a game. The conquest of
difficulties is what makes it exciting and amusing."

" That's not my philosophy," he murmured. " I'm not
enough of a sportsman."

Both were silent and followed their own thoughts.
Nero had returned, and with a noisy yawn stretched him-
self at the entrance to the arbour. After a long pause,
Siegfried continued —

" I often ask myself if there is something in me that
repels people. For I have never had a real friend."

"You are bitter and unjust," said Nicoline. "Old
Frau Buchler idolizes you."

" She's paid for it," said Siegfried.

" Prince, that's a cruel remark," replied Nicoline ; "you
cannot buy love."

" We'll leave good old Biichler out of it," said
Siegfried. "But my father had a real antipathy to me.
I should like to find the cause in myself, for then I could
forgive him. But if it isn't in me, it was pure wickedness
in him."

" Not at all," said Nicoline, " it was only thoughtless-
ness. From all I have heard of Prince Albrecht he was
an easy-going gentleman who disliked bothering himself
over things. He cannot have been a bad man. He acted
honourably towards your mother. If you speak like that
of your father, what am I to say of mine .'' "

He pricked up his ears. " What do you mean ? "

" Don't pretend. You know very well," returned the
girl.

Siegfried was again astonished at the girl's calm uncon-
cern. Of course he knew what she meant. But that was

76 MORGANATIC

just the reason why he had not imagined it possible that
she could refer to such a subject.

It was no secret in his circle that Nicoline was the
daughter of Prince Johann of Meissen-Diesa-Kupfer-
berg. His relations with Frau Flammert were as well
known as such things usually are. He had made the
singer's acquaintance when she was a girl, he had married
her to Flammert, the director of the Court theatre, and
had taken care that from the wedding-day he should
always be employed at foreign theatres. Every one un-
hesitatingly recognized the prince as her protector. And
this incomprehensible girl referred calmly to things of
that sort.

"Permit me — I mean — in your case " he stam-
mered in confusion, and stopped, since she was so incon-
siderate as to let him speak out.

She was sorry for his embarrassment and said, " In my
case, I have been sinned against in a different way. Prince
Albrecht fell in love with your mamma and acted as an
honourable man should in such a case. He married her."

" Morganatically," muttered Siegfried between his
teeth.

" That's all the same. It was a legal marriage. The
prince desired no sacrifice on the part of the woman of
his choice, but he made a sacrifice for her — I mean from
his point of view. He introduced your mother into his
circle."

" Which now thrusts her out," interrupted Siegfried.

"The prince can't help that," said Nicoline. "He
treated you as his son "

" Maltreated me rather," returned Siegfried.

" He called you his son, and you called him father.
Isn't that so ? " replied Nicoline.

Siegfried did not answer.

" And my father," continued Nicoline, " he made my
mother's acquaintance when she was a girl, and a brilliant
future lay before her. You don't know my mother. You
have only seen her casually and rarely on our flying visits
to Franka and our brief sojourns in Diesa and Frankfort.
You don't know what she is."

MORGANATIC 77

" Yes," said Siegfried, " I know how my mother speaks
of her."

" Yesjthat's all very well ; but, to appreciate her properly,
you must breathe the same air with her. She is not only
the most beautiful and the most charming woman I know,
but she is the most inspired artist I have ever set eyes on.
She was destined to be a star of the first magnitude.
Another Malibran or Patti. And with it all so good and
gentle, much too gentle and yielding. She would have
become world-famous, and have made millions of money.
She would have had the world at her feet. Had she
desired to make a man happy with the gift of her hand,
she could have chosen from the sons of emperors and
princes, perhaps even from emperors and kings them-
selves. Then Prince Johann crossed her path, and it
was all up with everything — everything ! " She uttered
this with passionate violence, and stamped her foot so
that Nero lifted his head in surprise. After a brief
pause, she continued, " My worthy papa has accepted every
sort of sacrifice from my mamma as a matter of course,
and with a calmness that has often secretly amazed
me. Oh, my papa is a very great man, and found it quite
natural that my mother should throw herself away on him,
that she should renounce her career as an artist "

" She is the ornament of the Diesa Opera," interrupted
Siegfried.

" I love my native town," said Nicoline, " but I am
unable to regard it as the centre of the universe. Mamma
has never left Diesa ; she is as if rooted there. She re-
nounced all professional tours, she renounced shining in
Paris and London and America. Merely because it
wouldn't suit Prince Johann. Because he could neither
accompany her nor do without her. Because it's more com-
fortable for him to have her always at hand. He allowed
her no furlough in which to become famous and rich. And
so she has always remained the poor little provincial artist,
a caged phoenix."

"He has, anyway, been true to her," murmured
Siegfried.

" Is that a merit ? " exclaimed Nicoline.

78 MORGANATIC

" Yes " began Siegfried.

" It is to my mother's credit that she has been true to
him," interrupted Nicoline, " especially since he did her the
injury of bestowing on her the name of Flammert. I have
never forgiven my papa that."

" But, Nicoline," he cried in horror, " would you have
preferred "

" Yes," she replied, " if, then It would have been

less hateful, less unpleasant than as it is."

" But the world — the world," observed Siegfried.

"The world.?" returned Nicoline. "Has the thread-
bare and vrorn-out cloak ever pi-evented the world from
gossiping until its throat was dry, and from slandering
my mother's pure, angelic character.'' No. It was not
the act of a great nobleman, but of a wealthy parvenu
soap-boiler, who thinks himself obliged to make a con-
cession to the habitues of his club in the county town.
Why was your papa able to marry ? "

" Prince Johann was not free," said Siegfried.

"He should have got a divorce from Princess Agnes.
And so he would, if my mamma had not been so
amiable. I've told her so over and over again," returned
Nicoline.

" What ! You discuss such things with your mother ? "
Siegfried's astonishment increased to such an extent that
he nearly lost his self-control.

"But, my dear Prince Siegfried, do you take me for
a little fool .'' " asked Nicoline. " Nowadays a girl must not
be ignorant. I am not sure if our mothers and grand-
mothers were more ignorant than we are. Apparently
they only pretended. We despise that sort of thing.
A human being of twenty is no longer a child. I know
quite well that life is a struggle, and much more so for
women than for men. I am preparing myself for a serious
battle by timely drill."

The military simile acquired a warlike sound through
the energy with which Nicoline spoke. Everything about
the girl made a strong, almost an intimidating, impression
on Siegfried.

"I stick to my opinion," continued Nicoline, after a

MORGANATIC 79

short pause, "that it was an incomprehensible act of
contempt, and that my mother should not have allowed
it. What do you think of my father sitting for years in
the royal box beside the Princess Agnes when my mother
sang ? "

" It would have been difficult to avoid it so long as
the princess lived," observed Siegfried.

"Respect and affection for my mother should have
led him to make it understood that, when he was obliged
to go to the theatre with his wife, she should not appear,"
insisted Nicoline.

" Did your mother feel it an insult ? " asked Siegfried.

"I felt it so when I understood the situation, and

that's sufficient. But mamma's too Do you seriously

think that it could be a matter of indifference to her to
display herself on the stage while the other sat in the
royal box and criticised her from above ? " said Nicoline.

" She was obliged to let herself be criticised by all the
rest of the people in the theatre," argued Siegfried.

" That didn't matter to her. She felt far above all of
them ; but she could not feel herself above the Princess
Agnes. Oh, I hate papa for acting towards us in such a
fashion ; and even now, when he is a widower "

" Oh, Nicoline, you scolded me for speaking like that
of my father, and now you "

" You are right. I ought not to speak so. And it's
not the truth. I say that, but, in fact, Prince Siegfried,
you must know that my feelings change most curiously.
Often I really do believe that I hate Prince Johann —
when he comes to see us, and graciously sends for me, and
kindly inquires about my progress, and calmly lets me
address him as 'your royal highness.' Of late years I
have often nearly said to him : ' This has lasted long
enough ; either you address me, too, as " royal highness,"
or I call yow ** papa." It'll come to it, I assure you."

" I should like to be present," laughed Siegfried.

" Don't dare me. I get quite near enough to it. Yes.
At such moments I hate him, and his calmness and his
humbug, and that he should treat me like a stranger, and
should feed on my dearest mother's life and happiness and

80 MORGANATIC

reputation like a heartless parasite. Then, at other times,
I feel grateful to him, and am glad he is my father. I
am of his blood. He can't take that away from me,"
concluded Nicoline.

" You're the exact likeness of him, only incomparably
handsomer," Siegfried assured her.

"I do not thank you for the compliment," answered
Nicoline. " Of course I'm handsomer than he, although
the prince is really a good-looking man. I'm of his blood,
but freshened and revived and improved by my mother's
genius and rich nature. It's very good for princes to step
down to the people and to strengthen their race with its
unexhausted strength. I think that you and I are good
proofs of that."

" You have thought over that too ? " he said.

" Of course. You surely don't think that a girl
who is descended from the gods of the earth has her head
full of stupid, ordinary hobbledehoy dreams.?" declared
Nicoline. " Am I only to think of my partners or flirta-
tions ? Just as if I should ! No. I think about my
relations to the universe, and what I desire, and what I
can, and what I may become. And chiefly, of course, I
think of my origin, and of all that it implies. I compare
myself with my half-sisters. Do you know them ? "

"I saw them at Franka. They wore short frocks
then," said Siegfried.

"Now they wear trains, but they're not any more
beautiful in consequence," Nicoline assured him. "Poor
girls ! So wanting in charm ! so sour ! I always think
of unripe gooseberries when I see them. They are royal
highnesses, and I am little Nicoline Flamraert. But I
don't envy them. They pity me ? On the contrary, they
envy me. You can read that in their irritated expressions
when they direct stolen glances at me."

"Yes. Do you think the princesses know ?"

asked Siegfried.

"But, really, my dear Prince Siegfried, you have a
curious idea of girls. My half-sisters know as well as I
do myself Whenever we meet at the theatre, or in
church, they never leave ofl' staring at me. And then I

MORGANATIC 81

recognize that the princesses and their dead mother belong
to a diflFerent species of humanity from me, and not to a
better. His royal consort was my father's punishment
and my mother's vengeance, and his royal daughters are
so still. He and I will not die without my telling him so."

" You won't accomplish that," said Siegfried.

" No, perhaps not. But it would be a satisfaction to
my feelings ; and happiness, I believe, is only to be found
in individual satisfactions — that and others." After a
pause, she continued, " The future, — that's another story.
My singing will provide that."

"What a shame that I haven't heard you!" complained
Siegfi'ied.

" People say that I have inherited my mother's voice.
But I hardly dare believe that. The good fairies can't
have been so extravagantly generous to me," she laugh-
ingly exclaimed.

" You must sing to me, Nicoline."

" What! now, as the Voice of the Night .''"she laughed.

" No, but to-morrow, or to-day, rather. It's past
midnight," he returned.

" Signora Conti has strictly forbidden me to sing any-
thing except elementary exercises. But that's all the same.
You'U have an opportunity of hearing me. I believe in
my voice, and I believe in myself. I will work that — no,
I won't use ugly expressions. I've already used too many.
I'll attain all that Prince Johann prevented my mother
attaining. A world-renowned prima dorma counts for
something in these days."

" For a very great deal. It's even a sort of sovereignty,"
acquiesced Siegfried.

"Yes. And when I grow old and my voice loses its
freshness — who knows? I may have meanwhile become
an ambassadress — maybe a minister's, or even a prime
minister's wife. For I aspire to become that. I will be
everything that one can be. It would be amusing if, in
the end, I did come to rule a country, not as a woman
whom a prince had condescended to marry, but as the
man at the wheel, who would then be a woman at the
wheel."

O

82 MORGANATIC

" How I envy you the picture you draw of your future ! "
said Siegfried.

" But, Prince Siegfried, every one's free to do that. I'm
not twenty yet, and life stretches out before me immeasur-
ably great and broad, like an enormous hall into which the
sun pours through innumerable windows, and which is quite
empty, and which I am to furnish. And so I put in it
everything that's beautiful and precious. And there's room.
What prevents you from doing the same .'' "

" I've no voice, and I don't care much for politics. I
see nothing before me but a hard struggle for my birth-
right."

" That is something," she exclaimed vivaciously. " That
is much. That need only take a very little while, if you
go the right way to work."

" The right way to work ! What do you consider that
to be.?"

" I'll tell you what I should do if I were you. I should
conquer a native tribe somewhere in Central Africa, or
organize a revolution in an interesting nation in the East.
A revolution is always the surest way to rise, to rise high.
And when you're king of the negroes, or prince of the
Balkans, your family will speedily acknowledge you. And
then you won't care about their acknowledgment. But
that's how things are. You only get a thing when you
no longer want it."

"You're an inimitable teller of fairy tales, Nicoline,"
he said, with a deep sigh.

" Why fairy tales ? And Stanley .? And Cecil Rhodes ?
And Prince Henry of Battenberg .i* There are examples
enough ! What others have done, you can do. I hold to
this point. We can't, of course, compare ourselves with
divine spirits. But I consider I'm as good as any being
of flesh and blood. What he can do, I can do. Only I
must fit myself for it."

" I'm no adventurer," he murmured.

" Stop ! A man only admits that when he's un-
successful. If he's successful, he says something different.
Unusual ends are only to be reached by unusual means.
Audacity ! Necessity gives that. We must have inherited

MORGANATIC 83

it with our blood. Not to beg, but to take ! That's the
way by which our relatives will most surely acknowledge
that we belong to them."

He kept silence. His brain worked more quickly than
ever in his life before. Imaginary pictures of war cam-
paigns, triumphs, homages, and gorgeous court ceremonials
rushed tumultuously through his mind. And he was filled
with admiration for this astonishing girl, such as he had
never before felt for any human being, not for the kind
Grand Duchess, not for the clever, cold, highly cultivated
King of Hageland, but a little perhaps for the Queen of
Gotheim.

Nicoline shuddered audibly. " B-r-r ! It's beginning to
get cold."

Siegfried got up so hastily that Nero also was brought
to his feet.

" Yes ; it's frightfully imprudent to sit like this so late
into the night. You must go to bed at once. I can't
forgive myself for keeping you up so long."

" But you haven't. I kept you."

She stood up, and he stepped respectfully back while
she passed out of the arbour. Outside she stopped,
looked at the clear sky, the full moon, the edge of which
was cut off by a neighbouring roof, the glistening garden
with the china foxes, and walked slowly towards the house.

Siegfried followed her. "I could listen to you the
whole night through. I could hardly see you ; it was
like a mysterious voice, speaking to me out of the
darkness."

"Like the Witch of Endor, or the weird sisters in
Macbeth,^ she laughed.

" No. I thought rather of an oracle in a shady temple,
or of a Valkyrie. Anyway, of a supernatural being who
inspires thoughts and projects. I have never been so
stimulated by any one in my life as by you in this
never-to-be-forgottten hour. You generate energy."

"A kind of Leyden jar."

"Don't laugh, Nicoline. If I had you always near
me, then, indeed I might be capable of doing great
deeds."

84 MORGANATIC

She gave him her hand, and pressed his with masculine
strength. " Our paths in life will run parallel for the next
year or two. We have the same blood in our veins. Our
fates are similar. We are evidently destined to become
good friends."

They had reached the door, which Siegfried opened for
her. She patted Nero, who had accompanied them to the
steps, and then said —

" It must be one o'clock, and to-morrow, at ten, I have
my singing lesson with Signora Conti. Good night, Prince
Siegfried."

"Good night, Nicoline, thank you," he said softly,
and waited below until she had gone upstairs, and had
vanished along the corridor. Then he locked the door
and sought his room, but it was long before he fell asleep.

The next morning there was much whispering in the
house. Janusz, who had eyes and ears everywhere, told
the cook, his special friend and confidant, how the young
master and Fraulein Nicoline had sat alone together in
the cosy dark arbour late into the night or rather into
the early hours of the morning, and the cook hastened to
spread the news with some embroidery, so that it reached
the ears of Bertha, and of old Frau Biichler. The latter
reprimanded the cook for her disagreeable remarks. But
Bertha repeated the gossip to her mistress when she took
her the customary morning chocolate.

Through her heart complaint, restless nights, and
sleeping draughts, the baroness was always in a par-
ticularly bad temper when she woke up. She was ill-
humoured almost to weeping, hopelessly pessimistic, and
immensely irritable. Her first action was to tear open
the Vercmgetorix, which Bertha handed her with the choco-
late, and to look for the report of Madame Abeille?s
party. Her countenance brightened as she glanced through
it. Bertha seized that moment to tell her the story,
mysteriously and importantly, while her voluble tongue
stuttered out of the new highness into the old baroness.
Her mistress's expression suddenly became gloomy again ;
she sat up in bed as quickly as her weight allowed her,
frowned, and asked —

MORGANATIC 85

" How do you know that, Bertha ? "

" Janusz saw the bar , the prince go into the

garden, and he remained up because he had to lock up
the door for the night," replied Bertha.

" They are a couple of innocent children, but imprudent,
as one generally is at their age. They must be cautioned.
But don't gossip about it any more. Do you hear,
Bertha.?"

" Very well, bar , your highness."

When the princess had finished her morning toilette,
she went into her pale blue boudoir. She received an
aflFectionate morning greeting from Bella, the pretty little
Scotch terrier, and a much colder greeting from Siegfried.
She said, without preamble —

" It's not right for you to hold long conversations with
Nicoline in the garden at night. The girl is in my charge,
and I don't want her to take cold and be unable to sing.
And then it doesn't do for the servants."

Siegfried gave his mother a sharp penetrating glance,
and as she seemed quite unconcerned, he replied in a low
voice —

" It was quite unpremeditated. Of course it goes
without saying that it won't be repeated every night."

" Where's Nicoline .'' " she continued crossly. " Isn't
she awake ? Bertha, go and see. It's time she got ready
for her singing lesson."

When the maid had left the room, she asked, " Sieg-
fried, have you read the Vercingetorix ? "

" Yes, mamma."

" Now, who was right .'' My clever and dignified son,
or his stupid and undignified mother ? "

Siegfried was silent.

" The Grand Duke Hilarius will give a great jump
when he sees the report, and we'll take care that he shall
often indulge in such acrobatic feats," said the princess.

Nicoline appeared at the door in a light blue morning
gown, went quickly up to the baroness and kissed her
hand, while the elder lady touched the girl's smooth
brow lightly with her lips. Then she turned unaffectedly
to Siegfried, who stood up, gave him her hand, and

86 MORGANATIC

looked full at him with a smile, while he gazed at the
floor.

The baroness attentively observed their attitude to
each other.

" Now, lazy bones, have you slept well ? " asked the
princess.

" Thank you, aunt, splendidly ; and you ? "

"Never ask about my nights. And did you have
enough sleep.?"

There was something in the baroness's tone that made
Nicoline turn her head quickly away and blush deeply.
She felt her cheeks burn and was very angry with herself.
That she changed colour so easily was really intolerable.

" Ah, you mean because I went to bed so late, aunt.'"'
she returned, and looked hard at the baroness.

" It is well that you don't deny-

" Deny ! " she almost screamed. " Aunt-

"It wouldn't have surprised me. I send you to your
room, so that you might be properly rested to-day, and
instead of obeying, you go down, and talk your head off
for hours. Is that the way to behave .'' "

Nicoline got visibly angry, but she controlled herself.
" Don't be annoyed, aunt. I wasn't sleepy, and instead
of rolling about feverishly, I preferred to enjoy the
wonderful moonlight. It did me good, for I feel quite
fresh and rested to-day."

"Well, well," muttered the baroness, ungraciously.
" Don't let it happen again. I am responsible for you,
for your health, and everything." She emphasized the
" everything " so strongly that a flame passed over
Nicoline's face. " I take your mother's place here."

" Thank you very much indeed," replied Nicoline. " My
mother would not forbid me anything. She knows me.
She knows that I can take care of myself better than
anybody else can."

" Don't be so self-sufficient," replied the baroness.

Siegfried could not refrain from defending Nicoline.
" It was my fault," he began.

" Please don't trouble to defend me," said Nicoline,
almost angrily. " Aunt is anxious about my health, and

MORGANATIC 87

Tm very grateful to her. As it didn't hurt me, she has
quite forgiven me, haven't you, aunt ? "

" H'm," muttered the baroness. " Now, go and dress,
so that you may not be late at Signora Conti's. Bertha
shall go with you, though it's a little difficult to spare
her in the morning."

" But I can quite well go alone "

"Nonsense. A girl can't walk about the streets of
Paris eilone. You don't understand."

" I'll go with Nicoline, with the greatest pleasure,"
suggested Siegfried.

" You're not to be trusted," exclaimed the baroness,
irritably. "Go and get ready, Nicoline. Bertha will
go with you."

As soon as Nicoline had disappeared, the baroness
turned to her son.

" Nicoline is not your sister. You must take care. A
young girl is always unprotected."

"Nicoline is an inmate of our house," replied Sieg-
fried. " If intercourse in the house does not harm her, I
don't see how our being together in the streets can harm
her either."

"And I must really add this worry to all my other
worries," grumbled the baroness. " That's what happens
when one tries to please everybody. It's a disease."

She spoke some loving words to the hvely, barking
Bella, and went to her writing-table in order to attend
to her correspondence. With a curt nod, Siegfried left
the boudoir.

During the next few days, he only saw Nicoline at
meals. In the morning she had her singing lesson, and
remained to listen to the lessons of the other pupils. In
the afternoon she accompanied the baroness when she
drove out in her grand state carriage, paid visits, or went
to picture galleries, or concerts, or matinees at the theatre.
In the evening she was, as a rule, left to herself. The
baroness insisted that she should go to bed early. If
there were guests, Nicoline, often to her great disgust,
despite the respectful and flattering intercession of the
company, was obliged to withdraw directly dinner was

88 MORGANATIC

over. If the baroness went out, which happened almost
every night, Nicoline stayed at home alone, wrote letters,
or read, or asked Frau Biichler to keep her company, and
to tell her her reminiscences of Franka. She thus learnt
the detailed history of the Grand Ducal palace and that
of Castle Lindenheim, and of the principal and subordi-
nate persons, and was placed, so to speak, at the central
point of her godmother's interests.

The baroness's passion for the theatre outlasted all
the ups and downs, the joys and disappointments of her
life, and filled all the corners of her heart not occupied
with titles and rank. She had to make up for the ab-
stinence of the year of mourning, and devoted most of
her evenings to the theatre. Siegfried had to accompany
her. She generally offered a seat in her box to one or
other of her acquaintances, and he would be her guest at
dinner, which would be eaten quickly before the per-
formance, at a restaurant. Nicoline was only allowed to
be of the party on Saturday evenings, because she had
no singing lesson on Sundays, and could stay in bed
longer in the morning.

On all these occasions the baroness took care to
occupy a conspicuous place. The box was engaged by
telephone from the manager of the theatre himself.
During the intervals she sent one of the attendants for
the director or at least for the secretary, and courteously
asked for information about the receipts, the novelties
and pieces that were to be produced next. On first
nights she asked for the author to be introduced to her,
and pleased him with flattering words, and often with an
invitation. She received the principal actors in her box,
and was delighted when the younger actresses treated
her with the familiarity that would have been natural
towards a retired member of the profession. She was
known to the persormel of all the larger theatres. In
Prince Albrecht's life-time he had almost always accom-
panied her, and the artists had crowded round him. The
baroness procured small decorations and medals, the
title of " Court " actor, and professional engagements
for them. That had ceased now. But the baroness

MORGANATIC 89

continued to patronize her protSges as a great lady. She
bestowed on them flowers and even jewels. The men
had sleeve-links or breast-pins, the ladies bracelets or
lockets, and each piece bore an inscription which gave it
a mark of documentary importance.

Nicoline's keen-sightedness soon understood all the
details of this business. After a fortnight the house in
the Cit^ Dubois had no big or little secrets from her.
She wrote to her mother every day, sometimes long letters,
sometimes short ones, and was not content unless she
received an answer at least every other day, even if it were
only a word on a post-card.

Her letters formed a sort of diary, a continuous
account of her observations and impressions, but omitting
the most interesting, her own emotions and dreams.

" Poor, kind godmother," she wrote in one of her
letters, "I am often forced to. laugh at her; but at the
bottom of my heart I am frightfully sorry for her. She
acts the princess with the most terrifying consequences.
She gives jewellery that must cost a great deal of money
to her friends among the actors and actresses. Baron
Siegfried, who is a great deal cleverer than you think,
mummy dear, said yesterday, when the jeweller appeared
with an enormously long bill which the baroness could
not pay at the moment, 'The Princess of Cyprus's
system seems to me more practical than yours, mamma.
The decorations which she bestows at least cost nothing.'
The baroness was deeply oflended and left the room.
But Siegfried is right. If only poor godmother had any
thanks for her pains ! But I really believe that the
recipients laugh at her behind her back."

In other letters she described the people who fre-
quented the baroness's house. "It's just like a pigeon-
house — an incessant running in and out of people.
They are curious figures. First there is Count Laporte,
tall, thin, with a hawk's nose, and a heavy, grey moustache.
He is a Belgian, and was once an oflicer. He calls my
godmother, 'ma cousine.' For his mother was a Prin-
cess Friedrichsberg of Austria, and the Friedrichsbergs
are related to the Meissens because sixty or eighty years

90 MORGANATIC

ago one of them married a princess of that family. He
tells my godmother court and society gossip, but I
doubt if there's a word of truth in anything he says.
How does he know it all.'' He can hardly see any one
except my godmother, for he is here nearly every day,
and sometimes twice. He brags of kings, princes, and
ambassadors as if they formed his entire circle, and he
talks as if my godmother was in the same set. That's
his method of flattery. I asked Siegfried what Count
Laporte is, what he has, what he does, and he told me :
'The man lives on lawsuits, which he has been carrying
on for twenty years.' ' Does he gain them ? ' I asked.
That seemed to be a naive question, for Siegfried laughed,
and answered, ' It isn't necessary. The chief thing is that
they should continue. People are always to be found
here who will lend money for lawsuits as long as they
are going on.' Did you ever hear of such a thing,
mummy dear ?

"Then the Barons Dorman. Two brothers with ten
years' difference between them. The elder must be about
thirty-five. He squints, has a crooked nose, and looks
like one of the executioners who nail the Saviour to the
Cross in the pictures of the old German masters. I can't
bear him. His brother is merely ridiculous. A very
small face, a little straw-coloured moustache, little eyes,
an everlasting smile on his little round mouth, little pink
cheeks which at first I thought were rouged, a little
piping voice, altogether a most unattractive creature !
He made some little attempts to pay me attention, but
was sensible enough to see that he was wasting his time,
and now honours me by taking no notice of me. They
come of a good Bonapartist family, their father was
prefect under the second Empire, and their grandfather
general under the First. They are like regular boarders
at my godmother's. They fill the office of ambassador
with her, and with Siegfried that of maitres de plaisir.
If I had the right, I would warn him of these parasites.
But I have no right !

"The Dormans are always introducing the most
extraordinary people to my godmother. The day before

MORGANATIC 91

yesterday they brought an elderly gentleman, a M. Tissier
de Lage, who made the impression of an idiot on me. He
devotes his life to the defence of that Naundorft" who is
said to have been the son of Louis XVI., and has written
a whole library of books on his lost cause. You'll never
guess what brings him to my godmother ! Don't try,
mummy dear. He makes her bows at an angle of a
hundred and twenty degrees — it was easy to measure,
for Siegfried stood by straight as a column — and after a
generous flow of compliment, this came out : the testi-
mony and proof that Naundorff was Louis XVII. were
to be found at Potsdam, but the Government jealously
guarded the papers, and a request from M. Tissier to be
allowed to see them was curtly refused, although it was
made through the German embassy. So he ventured to
ask my godmother if she would help him with her
powerful influence at the Court of Berlin; he felt quite
sure that her intercession would procure him what he
wanted. And now, think of it, mummy, my godmother
gave the old gentleman her hand to kiss, smiled at him
graciously, and actually promised to say a good word
for him at Berlin. And I sat by and heard it. Poor
godmother !

" The case of the celebrated Saint-Denis is similar. You
must certainly know him by name. He is one of the best
known and most liked actors here, and really an admir-
able artist. I like him immensely on the stage. But in
ordinary life! Such egotism is almost incredible. And
the mixture of tasteless familiarity and servility towards
my godmother ! Prince Albrecht promised him a trivial
Meissen decoration, but died before he had obtained it.
Now the booby hovers round my godmother in order to
obtain his little order, and is weak enough to believe that
she can procure him the riband.

"I really do not understand my godmother. Her
most intimate friend here is Madame Abeille, a tall,
stout sort of female dragoon with a visible moustache.
I went to my first party in Paris at her house. She
edits an important weekly paper, and takes herself for
a great politician. To listen to her you would believe

92 MORGANATIC

that she makes and unmakes ministers, concludes and
breaks treaties, and holds all the threads of diplomacy in
her really uncommonly strong hand. She was here, as
often, to-day, and talked to my godmother about la haute
politique. The two solemn ladies made universal history
in grim earnest. I have never seen anything more ap-
proaching to farce on the stage. Madame Abeille haughtily
demanded the return of Alsace-Lorraine. My godmother
opposed at first, and wished to make conditions. But
Madame Abeille would not give way an inch, and in the
end my godmother yielded. Then Madame Abeille em-
braced her friend, and shouted in exultation, ' Yes, my
dear princess, that's what we must do. The young emperor
has a noble, lofty mind. We may expect chivalrous con-
duct from him. And you will be the greatest benefactress
of two famous empires, and deserve everlasting glory if you
bring about so desirable an event.'

" That wasn't enough to ease her mind, and so she
turned to me, sitting dumb and stupid in my corner, and
caused me much internal amusement.

" ' See, my lovely child, that is our high mission. We
women must step between brutal men and reconcile them.'

" ' The eternal Sabines,' I observed wittily. She rushed
at me, squeezed my head between her strong hands, kissed
me on the brow, and exclaimed —

" ' Bravo ! as ready at repartee as a little French girl.'

" This is all in strict confidence, mummy dear. I believe
the princess is greatly worried about money. Something
is not right with her jointure, for uncomfortable disputes
often occur between mother and son, carried on even in
ray presence, so that I feel embarrassed and get away if I
possibly can. There is incessant ringing at the bell.
You're for ever meeting jewellers, dressmakers, keepers of
the restaurants where my godmother gives her little dinners,
in the hall with their bills, and they mostly go away as
they came. My godmother is callous, but Siegfried visibly
suffers under these circumstances. He reproaches his
mother in a way that I find hard, but he is really in the
right. ' Mamma,' he said yesterday, when a creditor was
again dismissed with his bill unpaid, 'this can't go on.

MORGANATIC 93

Where is the sense in feeding a pack of spongers every
day, giving them champagne to drink, and getting into
debt with jewellers for a pack of actors ? ' My godmother
did not allow him to get any further.

" ' Be quiet ! ' she exclaimed in a passion ; ' there's
nothing high bred about you. You've no feeling and
no understanding for the situation. I know what I owe
my angel prince. I know how to defend my rank as his
widow.'

" ' Through drinking champagne that hasn't been paid
for,' he said drily. My godmother burst into tears and
fell back in her chair. Bertha sprang forward with the
ether bottle ; Siegfried left the room. It wasn't pretty.
His ' pack of actors ' offended me. He should have
remembered that his mother was an actress, that you are
one, and that I shall be one. He is not considerate. But
is it possible to be so when you are embittered ? Alas !
my only mother, I begin to think over things. Ought I
to accept my godmother's hospitality.'' I am not any
special expense to her, but it's not a pleasant feeling to
be in a house where there are constant difficulties. Think
it over, mother. I like being in Paris immensely. But
if it were possible, under other circumstances."

Nicoline had observed correctly. The baroness was
in pecuniary difficulties. Her jointure was not nearly
enough for her way of life. She put aside any idea of
retrenchment, and was therein supported by Bertha, who
was her most influential adviser in all practical questions.
She had saved a sum that was by no means to be despised.
If it had been at her disposal it would have permitted her
to maintain her course of life for four or five years. But
the capital stood as an irredeemable mortgage on a house
in Franka, and she could not make up her mind to sell
it. Everything got known in Franka. The Grand Duke
would know if she took steps to realize money on her
mortgage. Then he would know that she was hard
pressed, and she did not wish him to know. She sought
other ways out of the difficulty.

The Dormans had introduced one of their friends to
her, a young journalist named Coppee, who wrote society

94 MORGANATIC

notes for the Verdv^etorix, and witty paragraphs for the
Vie Frangaise.

"Named Coppde," is scarcely a correct statement.
His real name was Koppel, and he was the son of a
German teacher cast adrift in Paris. He had become a
perfect Frenchman, or rather Parisian, and had chosen a
nam de plume which should conceal his German origin. He
pretended that he only understood German imperfectly, and
when he permitted himself to make use of that language,
as he could not well avoid doing at first when talking to
Nicoline, he murdered it in so incredible a fashion that
doubt of his genuineness was increased.

He was an elegant young man, with an eyeglass always
in the regulation place, always dressed in the fashion of
to-morrow, a precursor in all things great and small, with
relations in all societies that set a value on advertise-
ment, and possessed of that invincible self-confidence
which old-fashioned people called impudence. He was an
easy talker, as fluent with the tongue as with the pen,
ever pouring out amusing, but never kindly, stories which
he had heard or at need invented, about the persons who
played a part in the comedy of the state and of society.
He was a mocking connoisseur to whom nothing came
amiss, a blase, smiling scoffer at the world and its inhabi-
tants, whose motto appeared to be " Vanity of vanities,"
and withal a snob who boasted of his turf acquaintances
like a travelling courier, and who paid the most servile
attention for months to a Colonial Oflice secretary so as
to get the dragon order of Anam.

The baroness singled him out more than her other
guests, for he was one of the very few who asked nothing
of her, but, on the contrary, did her small services. He
wrote about her, her receptions and her guests, in the
tone that flattered her secret desires, and she was the
more grateful to him because he guessed without need of
a word from her what she would like. He esteemed it
sufficient reward for his favours to be seen in the baroness's
box, and to be allowed to pilot Siegfried behind the
scenes, to the fencing-school, or the picture exhibitions.
It was his gnawing ambition to be a real live prince's

MORGANATIC 95

aMacM. But while waiting for the great day that should
bestow that office on him, he was content to shine along
with his highness in sight of his acquaintances of both
sexes. He understood Siegfried's position exactly, but he
was also quite aware that Siegfried was far more genuine
than most of the princes with whom he had hitherto
associated.

One day at dinner, Copp^e, according to his custom,
poured forth a never-ending flow of anecdotes ; among
them was one of a well-known member of several clubs
who had made about a million on the Stock Exchange in
the last fortnight by successful speculation in gold-mines.
The baroness became exceedingly thoughtful, and after
dinner in the drawing-room, beckoned the young man to
her, and began a whispered conversation with him, while
the Dormans, Count Laporte, and an actor formed a
circle in the opposite corner round Siegfried and
Nicoline.

She wanted details about the successful speculator and
his millions, and how he had managed to enter the pleasant
kingdom of mammon. Coppee was one of the initiated.
He told her it was now the fashion to speculate in gold-
mines ; everybody did it. At midday the smartest people
were to be seen at the gates of the Stock Exchange ; even
ladies of the best society did business from their carriages,
and a dozen names well known in the clubs could be men-
tioned, the bearers of which had lately made fortunes in
that way.

"You make one's mouth water," murmured the
baroness. She took pains to make her voice sound in a
half-joking fashion. "Couldn't I manage to do some-
thing of the kind ? "

" Nothing is simpler, your highness," replied Coppee.
" You give a commission — one, two, or three — and the
thing is done."

" A commission ! Yes. But to whom — how — where ? "
said the baroness.

" To a stockbroker," returned Coppee, " how and when
and where you please."

" Do you know one, my dear Coppee ? "

96 MORGANATIC

" Half a dozen, your highness, and one is only cleverer
than the other."

Notwithstanding her pains to seem indifferent, and
above such transactions, the baroness's growing excite-
ment became more apparent every moment.

" 1 wonder," she observed, " that any one should work,
since it's so easy and simple to get rich."

" I beg your pardon, your highness, it's not quite so
easy and simple. You must have a connection, credit,
decision, means of obtaining news and of knowing how to
take advantage of it at the right moment. He who
delays, is lost. So that speculation is a dangerous game
for any one who does not belong to the inner circle of
the privileged."

" And do you join in the game ? " asked the baroness.

" I join in every game, your highness," replied Coppee,
with a self-satisfied smile. "That is part of my pro-
fession."

The baroness hesitated a moment. Then, as if she
could not restrain herself, she exclaimed —

" Then you must also be a millionaire, my dear friend."

He pretended to be modest. " Oh, a million ; that's
rather a big sum."

She looked at him with secret respect, almost admira-
tion, and again fell into thought. A struggle was going
on within her. But it did not last long.

" Tell me, my dear friend," she said decisively, " since
you know so many stockbrokers, couldn't you introduce
such a miracle- worker to me? "

" Of course, your highness, with the greatest pleasure.
When shall I do it.?"

" As it is always best to seize the opportunity, it had
better be without delay," answered the baroness. " Bring
the gentleman with you to-morrow afternoon. Is that
convenient to you .'' "

" I am always at your service, your highness."

Coppee w£is punctual. He came with his miracle-
worker the next afternoon, during the hours in which the
baroness received. He had not been quite above board.
He was not a stockbroker, but a remisier, a common

MORGANATIC 97

tout. He was a little, fair, bald Berliner, and in spite
of his calling, somewhat shy, and quite dazzled by a
highness. He was so confused when he was introduced
to her that he almost sat on the floor instead of on the
chair she placed for him ; his voice trembled, and he
uttered some meaningless absurdities before he recovered
his presence of mind.

The baroness was greatly pleased with the impression
she made on the stockbroker, and was exceedingly polite
to him. She graciously inquired about his private cir-
cumstances, where he originally came from, how long he
had been in Paris, whether he was naturalized ; then she
abruptly turned the conversation to the Stock Exchange,
and asked for information about the conditions and
methods of speculation. After Posner — that was the
little man's name — had made a few vague remarks, she
came to the point without further beating about the
bush.

"Our mutual friend," she began, "has enticed me to
try my luck on the Stock Exchange."

Posner bowed eagerly.

" What do you think of gold-mines ? " asked the
baroness.

" Generally speaking, your highness, they have a high
reputation. The cream of the best ones has been skimmed,
perhaps. But, all the same, I feel sure that the rise is
not at an end. With a careful choice there's still some-
thing to be made out of them."

" Could you help me in that choice, Herr Posner ? "

" It would be a great honour, your highness."

The matter was swiftly settled. The baroness gave an
order of such magnificence, that Posner was startled for a
moment; but he offered no objection. He only asked
that the order should be set down in writing. He said
nothing about taking it up. When he left, the baroness
gave him her big fat hand to kiss, and asked him to look
in again often. Posner could not thank Coppee enough
for the opportunity of making so distinguished an
acquaintance, and the baroness, after telling Bertha of the
transaction with Posner, said —

98 MORGANATIC

" How people exaggerate when they speak so ill of the
Jews ! There are very nice people among them.'"

The early days of the new acquaintance were charming.
Posner bragged about his secret relations with crowned
heads on the Stock Exchange till he became a laugh-
ing-stock. He was asked, with feigned anxiety, whether
there was any truth in the rumour that he had been
appointed Minister of Finance to a certain great State.
Another time he was loudly congratulated on his eleva-
tion to the rank of a Count, as they had heard, and such-
like chaff. For those paltry disagreeables which Posner
bore in manly fashion, he found ample reward in the
baroness's homage. She sent him three or four express
letters a day, full of questions, inquiries, recommendations,
and proposals which generally required that he should call
on her shortly before the dinner hour, in order to give her
a verbal report of business on the Stock Exchange. He
was often invited to stay for dinner.

When, after the first monthly settlement, he laid a
goodly bundle of thousand-franc bonds at the baroness's feet
as the result of the operations, she was so delighted that
she invited his wife to dinner. Posner had reached the
zenith of happiness, and it did not in the least disturb
him, in fact, he did not observe it, that, except the
inmates of the house, only Coppee took part in the dinner,
and that Siegfried did not address a single remark, either
to him or to his wife, during the whole evening.

A striking change took place in the baroness. As
depressed and melancholy as she had been before, so was
she now hopeful and animated. She paid a part of her
debt to the jeweller, and gave fresh orders, for it was
December, and she wished to give her whole circle valuable
gifts, Nicoline and the faithful Bertha included, who,
seeing the improved state of things in the house, post-
poned her plans of leaving. The baroness's spirit of
enterprise so increased that Posner, in spite of his devo-
tion and servility, ventured to warn her, but without
success. Since Prince Albrecht's death, she had paid her
brother his small allowance unpunctually and incompletely ;
she now made up all arrears, and wrote that in future he

MORGANATIC 99

would receive his allowance regularly every quarter. She
invited her Vienna lawyer to come to Paris at her expense,
in order to discuss plans of campaign against the Grand
Ducal family.

Doctor Wolf von Osterburg came. The baroness
asked him to stay with her, but he declined. He was a
bland, good-looking man of forty, with a handsome black
beard, of which he was very proud, prodigal of smiles,
extravagant in bows, deliberate in speech, conciliatory
on the whole, when there was nothing to annoy him, but
with an unsteady, furtive look, which did not willingly let
itself be surprised by another eye. The baroness had
unbounded confidence in this legal friend. Bertha felt
the same, for he was specially pleasant to her, and his
beard enchanted her. Nicoline who was insensible to such
vulgar influences, felt strongly distrustful of him, and
could not restrain herself from warning Siegfried.

" I don't like the man at all. I think you ought to
advise your mother to be prudent."

" My mother won't be advised," he said ; " at least, by
me. I think, however, you do him wrong. He has looked
after our business for many years, and was devoted to my
father."

She let the subject drop, but was not convinced.

In the first business talk with the baroness. Doctor von
Osterburg made only a few general remarks. The duke
was not well affected towards her. He would undoubtedly
have stopped her allowance altogether if he had not had
some consideration for Prince Siegfried. According to legal
testimony, she was the Princess von Meissen-Loewenstein-
Franka-Level, and Prince Siegfried was heir to his father's
name and title. The Franka- Level branch of the house
was Austrian, Prince Albrecht was an Austrian, and the
Austrian law did not recognize morganatic marriages ; but
relations of the native reigning house stood under a special
family law. The law of the Meissen branch held good in
the Grand Duchy, apparently also in the German Empire,
and there the legal recognition of their rights would never
be obtained. The difference in birth would be an in-
vincible obstacle, that could only be overcome by favoui

100 MORGANATIC

of the Grand Duke Hilarius. But in Austria the Meissen
family law had no legal power. An action was by no
means hopeless. The heir might certainly claim the
Level entail, leaving aside, of course, the question of the
Loewenstein-Franka accession. But Prince Siegfried, who
had apparently lost his rights of naturalization in Vienna,
must again become a member of the Austrian Empire.
The simplest way would be for him to settle in Vienna.
The favour of the monarch could do much, indeed every-
thing, and so far as he knew, the princess could count on
kindness in the highest quarter. But then "

" But then ? " asked the baroness, in the greatest
suspense.

Osterburg hesitated. "The family is powerful — the
struggle will be unequal — the lawsuit will perhaps last
for years. It will cost a large sum of money."

" If that's all," exclaimed the baroness, " I see no
obstacle."

Osterburg pricked up his ears. " Ah, so much the
better ; but it is my duty to call your highness's attention
to the fact that the first counter-thrust of the family to
our attack will be the stopping of the allowance."

" Of course, I reckon on that. But it's of no conse-
quence." The baroness spoke with calm self-confidence.

Osterburg became more attentive. " H'm ! Yes.
That would be a good beginning. The first point would
be won if the family saw they could not starve us out. It
is then only a question for how long we are provided "

" There's no limit," declared the baroness. " If my
own means are exhausted before we have conquered, my
numerous friends will put at my disposal all I need,
during the struggle for my rights."

Osterburg looked searchingly at her, and waited.
But she said nothing more.

" That's very nice. Then we can make the venture.
In any case, we have all that's necessary for the attempt.
I must, however, ask for a somewhat large advance for the
first outlay for stamps for the various documents, for the
importance of the action is considerable."

" The duke," she replied, " will certainly pay what is

MORGANATIC 101

due to us at New Year, for we shall hardly begin proceed-
ings before that. You can keep the five thousand gulden
for the early expenses. That will do for a time, I
suppose .'' "

" Certainly, certainly," the lawyer hastened to reply,
and involuntarily rubbed his hands. "If we can move
freely, things will take a different aspect. My plan of
campaign would be as follows : — We purchase a house in
Vienna."

" Is that absolutely necessary ? "

" Absolutely, your highness, absolutely. It need not
be a palace. A modest piece of real estate, a portion of a
house, and we need not pay aU the purchase money down.
Something in advance will do. The rest can remain."

" But why ? " objected the baroness.

" I will explain to your highness. As a purchaser, we
will have Prince Siegfried of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-
Level entered in the land register. The authorities will
either give effect to the entry or they will refuse it. In
the first case an important advantage is gained. We have
procured a legal title which forms a very useful basis for
the remaining claims. In the other case we must attack
the refusal, and so the whole affair is opened up. The
family must necessarily take up their position as parties to
the lawsuit, we draw them into the action, and it's no
longer a little matter of a land register, but of a judicial
recognition of your claim to the rank and title of
Prince Albrecht, in which is included the recognition of
your rights as heir-apparent to the entail.

" Yes, indeed," murmured the baroness, thoughtfully.
" That seems to me a clever and practical plan. And —
how much will the purchase of the house require ? "

"Probably a hundred thousand gulden will be
sufficient." The baroness started at the figures, and
Osterburg quickly continued, " Oh, the money won't be
lost ; it's an investment, a splendid investment. And it's
not necessary to have it all available, forty or fifty thou-
sand gulden will be sufficient."

" Have you anything actually in view. Dr. Oster-
burg?"

102 MORGANATIC

" Yes — no — that is, I'm thinking of various things. It's
a very favourable opportunity. There's a crisis in house
property in Vienna just now. We have a capital choice.
Your highness may have confidence in me."

" You know that you possess my fullest confidence, Dr.
bsterburg." She gave him her hand.

He lifted it eagerly to his lips. "Your highness, I
know what risks I run "

"Risks?"

" Of course. Your highness knows to what circle my
clients belong. They will not like my defending your
cause. I shall have to expect a general boycott."

" I am sorry," said the baroness ; " I do not wish "

" What does it matter, your highness .'' I shall take
the risk. Business takes the second place with me. I am
a man before I am a lawyer. I do it for the sake of Prince
Albrecht, for your sake, your highness, for that of Prince
Siegfried, who is badly treated and disowned. And also
for the cause itself. It is a distinction for me that your
highness should place the defence of your rights in my
hands. We undertake something of which the conse-
quences may be incalculable. The case may establish a
principle of the greatest importance."

The more he talked, the more excited and eager he
became.

" Yes, your highness, of the greatest importance. If
we win — and we shall win, your highness, we must — we
shall destroy the antiquated idea of equality of birth in
marriage and the right of inheritance. In our day there
can't be two kinds of marriage. A sacrament is a sacra-
ment. The sanctity of marriage must be recognized on all
sides. At least the noble, natural defenders of divine and
human laws must do nothing that can diminish or destroy
the respect for marriage."

" I cannot understand how the family fails to see
it," murmured the baroness, who drank in Osterburg's
words.

" They do not see it because no one has ever placed the
matter before them in the right light. And how is that to
be done ? They won't read memorials, and they won't

MORGANATIC 103

listen to me. In the courts we can speak out, and our
adversary must listen. And what we have in hand, your
highness, is nothing revolutionary. I may be trusted to
know how to respect and honour the necessary and whole-
some privileges of reigning houses. No, we are not going
to pull down princes from their rightful position. On
the contrary. We demand for high-born blood the esteem
that is its right. We carry on the most beautiful, the
most ancient traditions which have become dimmed in the
course of centuries. The old princely right knew nothing
of equality of birth. Blood is decisive. Princely virtue
dwells in the blood, in the origin. Equality of birth is a
later, degrading invention. We'll chase it from the world
your highness. You don't realize it perhaps, your high-
ness, but we are on the point of making history."

Osterburg had spoken with such enthusiasm that he
had risen from his seat, and had shouted the last sentences
with violent gesticulation as if he had been addressing the
jury. But the baroness had scarcely followed his loud
talking, she had been absorbed in calculation.

" Your enthusiasm is infectious," she said, after a brief
pause. " Let me consider a little. Tell me exactly
how much money I shall want, when it must be available,
and everything. Then we can conclude the necessary
business."

Dr. Osterburg was graciously dismissed, and could give
himself up to the attractions and sights of Paris. The
baroness had a long consultation with Bertha, who
listened in silence, according to her custom, until her
mistress had finished, and then observed —

" There's a good deal in what Dr. Osterburg says. Yes.
And the purchase of a house in Vienna pleases me much.
But where's the money to come from ? "

" Why, little Posner ! He comes in there."

" Yes, but is he to be relied on ? " asked Bertha.

« Of course."

"For thirty thousand gulden.? And for all that is
needed for expenses so long as the allowance is not forth-
coming .'' "

" That depends," replied the baroness, " on what sort

104 MORGANATIC

of business we do. If it's good, then we shall have more, if
not, then naturally less."

" I do not understand that. Your highness knows
best. If there's no anxiety about money, then let Dr.
Osterburg, in God's name, proceed with the action. I think
that's the best course we can take," said Bertha.

Bertha's agreement set the baroness's mind fully at
rest, and made her come quickly to a decision. She gave
Osterburg the necessary powers, signed the requisite powers
of attorney, promised to send him the needful funds
before the middle of January, and during the week he
spent in Paris, she wore a proud, self-satisfied air that had
not appeared in her for along time. Osterburg was invited
to dinner every day ; he was taken each evening to a theatre,
a circus, or an artists' cafe ; once a large evening party was
given in his honour, to which her whole circle was invited,
ladies, too, whom Nicoline had not yet seen. When at
length Osterburg departed, he was enriched with the
baroness's gift of a valuable breast-pin, " since you won't
stay till Christmas," she said, " will you accept this trifling
gift now .^ " He left with assurances of his devotion, and
with the promise to lead her to decisive victory.

Following her usual custom, she deemed it unnecessary
to inform Siegfried of her plans. But he learned them in
the usual way from Frau Biichler, to whom Bertha had
made certain communications. He felt humiliated that
his mother should always act without consulting him,
but the plan pleased him greatly, and he did not spend
much thought on how the means for its execution was
procured.

He employed the first occasion on which he was alone
with Nicoline to tell her,

" Now, my dear Nicoline, our cause will take its course.
Osterburg seems to be a splendid legal strategist. He
has laid a plan of campaign full of good augury before us.
I am to buy a house in Vienna, and so regain my position
as a native of Austria. As an owner of house property I
shall be entered in the land register by my father's name
and title. My uncle is sure to oppose it. We shall com-
mence an action against him, and in that way dispute our

MORGANATIC 105

rights, at least in Austria, where morganatic marriages
have no legal recognition. What do you think of it,
Nicoline ? "

She remained thoughtful and silent.

" Well," he said, " don't you like the plan ? "

" I don't know," she said at last ; " it's not exactly
what I should wish. And possibly the Grand Duke
Hilarius will not recognize an Austrian verdict."

" Of course he won't," replied Siegfried.

"Then you won't have got much farther," said
Nicoline.

"I say of course he won't," returned Siegfried, "il
mean : not at once. If I am legally Prince Loewenstein
in my own home, according to the general view, I am so
everywhere, except in Loewenstein-Franka. I can put up
with that. In time even Franka will think differently.
But tell me what would be a better course of action in
your opinion ? "

" I have no opinion," she replied thoughtfully. " I
picture a struggle differently ; not in the foi'm of house
purchasing and land registers. But that is of course
childish. Probably it's the best method of proceeding,
at least as a beginning."

Siegfried tried to be with Nicoline as much as he
could. Except by crafty planning this was only possible
at meals, and then the presence of the parasites, ordinary
and extraordinary, excluded all confidential talk. The
late autumn weather did not often permit of walking in
the garden. On days when the paths were dry and the
sun shone, Nicoline, when she came back from her singing
lesson, liked to spend the intervening time before lunch
walking up and down between the flower-beds and the
hedges. Siegfried invariably joined her. It was a subject
of observation and talk among the servants how absorbed
they seemed to be in each other at those times.

Once during Osterburg's visit Siegfried had so arranged
matters that he had not accompanied his mother to the
theatre. Nicoline, also, had remained at home, and, as
usual, wrote to her mother. Siegfried hoped she would
come down to the drawing-room, for she must have heard

106 MORGANATIC

him come home after dining at the restaurant. But she
stayed in her room. Siegfried waited impatiently for
half an hour, then he summoned his old nurse Frau
Biichler from the kitchen and sent her to ask Nicoline
to come to the drawing-room, if she was not too busy.

She came directly. "Do you want anything, Prince
Siegfried?"

" Only to have a chat with you, Nicoline."

" Really ! Your lordship commands me to be at your
service." She said it jestingly, yet with a slight tone of
annoyance.

" Why do you laugh at me, Nicoline ? It's not nice
of you. I haven't seen you since lunch, and have hardly
spoken to you for three days. I find it too long. I wish
you did too."

Nicoline hesitated on the threshold, pen in hand.

" Put that stupid pen aside, and sit down. Have you
really so much writing to do ? "

" Yes; but it's not work, it's pleasure," replied Nicoline,
sitting down in a chair near the stove, and placing her
penholder by the side of the handsome Meissen china
clock. " I write to my mother every day, and, if possible,
a long letter. I feel the need of speaking out. And
I've no one here to whom I can do that. I am too much
alone. And I'm not used to that."

" Alone, why you're here as with your own family.
You're surrounded with friends in the house. And you
must have dozens of companions of your own age, com-
rades, if I may say so, at Signora Conti's," exclaimed
Siegfried.

"I beg your pardon," returned Nicoline. "They are
by no means companions of my own age. I am by far
the youngest in the class, and there are four and twenty
of us. And they're not comrades either. I do not know
if it's my fault or theirs, but after more than two months
I've not found the right friend. Perhaps its because of
the difference in language. The young ladies are mostly
American or English. I don't know any English. And
their French is almost as poor as mine."

" But you speak quite fluently," Siegfried assured her.

MORGANATIC 107

" It's just beginning to go better. And that has had
its effect. Besides, my fellow-pupils are so full of their
future fame. Each considers herself a star of the first
magnitude, and is consequently jealous of all the others,
and fears or hates possible rivals in them. How can there
be any confidence between us.? I sometimes picture to
myself all our futures, and then I am merry and sad at
once. Some of them have quite nice voices, others not.
They all fail in actual perfection. I judge them by my
motiier," said Nicoline.

" That's rather a high standard," suggested Siegfried.

"True, but it's the one I am accustomed to. And
then I think to myself: most of them will wisely give up
singing, and vanish among the pots and pans of domestic
life. I shall meet others again on my tours as chorus
singers, and then I ask myself whether it will show better
feeling to recognize them or not to recognize them ? "

" And you have no doubt about your own tours ? "
asked Siegfried, with a smile.

"Why should I have?" returned Nicoline, with
surprise.

" You are right, there is no need. But it might happen
— there might be some one who would not care to see you
a prima donna."

She blushed. "Are you sure that I should heed such
a wish .'' "

He did not reply. He did not wish to pursue the
thought farther.

" I must become a prima donna," she said, " I do not
see how I can otherwise gain the crown to which I am
destined."

"Will it be a prince, who shall place the crown on
your fair hair ? " said Siegfried, softly.

" Certainly," she returned quickly ; " a little morganatic
crown with false pearls and a coat of arms with a motto :
' Humble yourself, my dear.' "

He avoided her glance, and looked somewhat absently
at the full length portraits of Prince Albrecht and Prince
Ditmar in gilt frames, with the Meissen arms and the
ducal crown which hung on either side of the fire-place.

108 MORGANATIC

An expressive pause followed, broken by Siegfried, with
the irrelevant remark —

" I am sorry we do not satisfy you. I should so like
to see you contented and happy."

"Thank you, Prince Siegfried, you are very kind. I
want nothing here but a friend. It is perhaps ungrateful
that I should feel such a need. I am as well taken care
of here as I could possibly be. It is quite natural that
my aunt should not bother about me. She has other
cares, and cannot, of course, spend her time talking to
me I have been spoilt in that respect."

" Only in that respect .'' " asked Siegfried, smiling.

" You are right," she said. " My mother is an angel.
She sympathizes with my every heart-beat. She follows
all my thoughts as far as I wish it. She has kept
marvellously young, and thoroughly understands a girl's
heart! And now, when I can't discuss everything with
her, I must anyway write her everything."

" I'd give something," said Siegfried, " to look over your
shoulder."

" It wouldn't interest you," she returned. " I just
put down whatever comes into my head, any sort of non-
sense, with which one's mother has patience."

" But let me, Nicoline."

" What ? let you read my letters ? "

He nodded.

" That's an original idea," said Nicoline. " Why do
you want to read them .'' "

" To see what you say about me," replied Siegfried.

" Oh, indeed ! Are you sure that I say anything about
you ? " mocked Nicoline.

" Yes, Nicoline," he said simply, and looked at her.

She lowered her eyes. " How conceited men are ! "

" Nicoline, I know that you never tell an untruth. Can
you assure me that you never say anything about me to
your mother."

" I refuse to make a declaration," she said.

"That's a confession," he replied quickly. "Now
take back at once what you said about conceit."

She raised her head. "I don't send my mother

MORGANATIC 109

poems. Of course I tell her what I see, what I expe-
rience, what surrounds me. I've often told her of Nero
and Bella."

" Thank you," interrupted Siegfried, with a smile.

" Don't you like that ? If you only knew how much I
am in love with Nero," she continued.

" Then I envy Nero," said Siegfried, softly.

She was silent, and remained for a short space sunk
in thought, then reached her penholder and got up.

"Good night, Prince Siegfried. You know that
the night before a singing lesson I mustn't go to bed
late."

" You're going to leave me alone so soon ! How
unkind!"

He grasped her hand and kissed it. She drew it away
quickly and hurried out of the room.

He had got up as if to hold her back. He sat down
again and stared into the fire, which was nearly out. He
could not conceal from himself that he had made her an
absolute declaration. Superficially he regretted it, if it
made their relations difficult. In the depth of his semi-
consciousness he was glad. For he had felt impelled to
tell her that she was not indifferent to him. His thoughts
took him far away from the reality, and he was only
recalled to the present by Nero's violent antics, who made
his greetings in his usual stormy fashion. Siegfried got
up at once and hastened to his room. He wished to avoid
his mother.

When the baroness entered the room with Bertha, she
could teU by the smell of the cigarette smoke that Siegfried
had just left it, and she felt surprised and hurt that he
had not waited a minute to bid her good night.

" He's not a bit affectionate," she could not help com-
plaining to Bertha, who did not feel called upon to defend
him.

The next morning after obtaining the information
from Frau Biichler, she told her mistress that Siegfried
and Nicoline had spent the whole evening alone together
in the drawing-room. At the moment the baroness had
no time to pay heed to the matter. Final discussions with

110 MORGANATIC

Dr. Osterburg filled the whole of the short winter's day,
and on the morrow the lawyer took his departure. Then
she turned her attention to Siegfried and Nicoline.

" I believe they're flirting with each other, and I don't
like it," said the baroness.

" Neither do I, your highness."

" Perhaps it wasn't wise of me to have Nicoline here."

" That's possible, your highness."

"What's to be done?"

" Does your highness think it's very dangerous ? "

"As soon as my back is turned," said the baroness,
"they get together. That's very suspicious. Nicoline
has not had a good example before her at home, and is by
no means an ignorant baby. And I don't put much trust
in Siegfried, since he's been under the Dormans' tuition. I'm
responsible to Prince Johann, and also to Frau Flammert."

" Perhaps they've got a slight fancy for each other, but
that'll pass," suggested Bertha.

« When it's too late."

" Maybe your highness can warn the prince."

" Wouldn't it be better to speak to Nicoline .'' "

Bertha was silent.

" I'm only anxious to protect Nicoline, not Siegfried,"
said her mistress.

"It might vex her. And it's not her fault," said
Bertha.

" Oh, there's some coquetry in it. But you are right
I'll speak to Siegfried at once.

When Nicoline had gone to her singing lesson, the
baroness sent for Siegfried to her boudoir, and for the first
time told him of the arrangements she had made with
Osterburg. Siegfried listened in silence, and was careful
not to betray the fact that it was no news to him. His
apparent indifference annoyed her.

" You sit there like a post and don't stir. And I'm
simply wearing myself out for you."

" It's your own fault, mamma. You do everything
alone, and only tell me when the deed's done. What
else can I do except listen and hold my tongue ? " said
Siegfried.

MORGANATIC 111

"That's the most comfortable way. But you're old
enough to be my coadjutor," observed his mother.

"That's just what I wish. But you have not done
me the honour of inviting me to share your labours,"
replied Siegfried.

"Because you seem so dull and indifferent," said the
baroness. " For instance, you haven't asked me where I'm
going to get the money from to pay for the house and
the lawsuit that is probably in front of us."

" You've never told me anything about our pecuniary
position. How am I to know whether you've got the
money or not ? " asked Siegfried.

" Well, it happens that I have got it. But I'm making
a great sacrifice. I'm spending my last drop of blood in
order to attain our end. We shall, I hope, win our
suit, but we shall be Prince and Princess Without-a-
Penny."

" But our allowance remains," said Siegfried.

" We can't count on it. You know the duke," said
his mother.

" Can't we compel him to pay it ? "

" How are we to do that .•* By holding a pistol to
his head.?"

" By legal proceedings."

" The duke has no duties to us, legally."

Siegfried shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

" I must count on you, then," said the baroness.

" On me ? " he asked, surprised.

"I lift you into the saddle. It's you who have to
ride. I win a position for you in the family. You must
provide the means to live up to your rank by a suitable
alliance," she said.

He looked up gloomily, and changed colour.

" You understand me ? " asked the baroness.

"Yes," he replied shortly.

"Now you know what I expect of you. You know
the part allotted to you in the campaign. So you
must arrange accordingly. Amuse yourself in the way
congenial to your rank and age. But don't hang a chain
about your neck, and, above all, no scandal! You

112 MORGANATIC

must keep yourself free and give no cause for gossip.
That would spoil your prospects," said the baroness.

Siegfried said nothing. The baroness grew impatient.
She hoped he would ask her why she spoke like that.
It would have made her task easier.

" I say all this because I think I have noticed some-
thing lately. I should be the last person to interfere with
your pleasure when it is harmless, as you know. But you
must leave Nicoline alone," said the baroness.

Siegfried started as if he had been bitten by an adder.

" Mamma, whatever do you mean .'' "

" Don't be so sly, you humbug. We see clearly that
you're greatly attracted to her. But you musn't flirt with
her. I'll have no scandal in my house," continued his
mother.

" Mamma," cried Siegfried, " what do you take Nico-
line for ? What do you take me for .'' "

" For two attractive young people, whom their
elders must warn to be on their guard," returned the
baroness.

He struggled with himself for a moment, and then
said —

"You do us wrong. Nicoline is very proud, and
would know how to take care of herself under all circum-
stances. And you may rely on me to know the respect
due to a girl who is under our protection."

"All the better, my son, all the better," she said.
" It was my duty to draw your attention to the matter.
It's better to shut the stable door before the horse has
escaped. So no clandestine meetings, and no long tete-a-
tete evenings."

Siegfried felt it his pressing duty to take Nicoline
under his protection.

" I don't know what gossip has been carried to you,
mamma," he said, "but it's all supposition — hateful sup-
position. We live in the same house. We take our
meals together. We talk together. That's natural
enough, and we don't think anything of it. It's an insult
to Nicoline if any one thinks otherwise."

" You defend her with such zeal and warmth "

MORGANATIC 113

"That's a matter of course, considering my friend-
ship for her."

"Indeed?"

" Certainly. I think any one would be her friend who
knows her character and intelligence. Aren't you fond of
her, mamma.''"

The baroness looked at him searchingly. " Siegfried,
you're not frank with me. Things seem to have gone
further than I feared. You talk like a man in love."

" And if I were ? " he exclaimed angrily,

"Then, my son," replied the baroness, with studied
gentleness, " you must bear in mind that Nicoline, although
she is destined to go on the stage, is not one of your little
friends behind the scenes."

" I know that ; and if I was in love with her, I should
marry her," replied Siegfried.

" You've even thought of that. Well, my dear, let
me tell you that it's a very mad thought. You talk like
a shopman at the Bon Marche. You forget who you are.
Princes are not privileged to marry according to their in-
clinations, if the inclination does not coincide with the
interests of their house." She had not the least idea how
grotesque such a speech sounded in her mouth. She
really thought of herself as of a noble ancestress who
was defending the prestige of her crown against her
offspring's amorous aberrations. " If you marry a little
singer "

" Or a great one," interrupted Siegfried.

" Or a great one, you will end everything. Your life
will be over. You've nothing to expect from the future.
It would be moral suicide, and I don't think you'll com-
mit it."

Siegfried got up. " Have you anything more to say
to me, mamma ? "

" No."

He kissed her hand and left the room. The baroness
rang for Bertha.

"It's worse than I imagined," she told her, and
repeated the conversation. She concluded her account
with, " Nicoline must go."

I

114 MORGANATIC

Bertha agreed. " Yes, your highness, that's the wisest
course."

But how was it to be worked ? It was a ticklish job.
There was nothing of which to accuse Nicoline, and she
could not be suddenly turned out. It was equally impos-
sible to ask her mother to send for her home. For the
baroness had asked her of her own free will to let Nicoline
go to her when she heard that Frau Flamraert intended to
send her daughter to Paris to study under Signora Conti.
Any such change of mind must have a sufficient reason,
and how was one to be given to the mother .''

As usual, Bertha had an idea. She devised a plan to
which, after some hesitation and reflection, the baroness
assented. The guests at luncheon included Count Laporte,
Saint-Denis, the actor, and an American lady and her
daughter, who lived in great style, whose husband, so
Coppee said, possessed silver mines in Idaho. When they
had gone, and Nicoline was about to go to her room,
the baroness said —

" Wait a minute, Nicoline, I want to speak to you."

Somewhat surprised, Nicoline stopped in the middle of
the room, and, at a sign from her hostess, sat down near
her. The baroness sent Siegfried and Bertha away, and
said to Nicoline, whose curiosity was aroused by these
prelim inaries —

" What have you decided to do for Christmas, my
dear.?"

" Must I decide anything ? " asked Nicoline, surprised.

" I thought you would wish to spend the holidays
with your mother," said the baroness.

" I should like it very much. But mamma hasn't said
anything about it, and I can hardly now pay a flying
visit to Diesa. Signora Conti only gives us two days'
holiday, and I do not want to miss any of my lessons,"
answered Nicoline.

The baroness let her have her say. Then she
observed —

" It's a pity ; if you had gone home, there would have
been no difficulty. I must teU you that the doctor has
ordered me south. You know how unwell I am, and all

MORGANATIC 115

these excitements make me so much worse. I have decided
to go to Nice in a few days."

A pause ensued, which Nicoline broke by exclaiming
softly —

"Oh!"

"Yes, my dear. Siegfried and the servants will, of
course, go with me. I am puzzled what to do about
you."

"There is no need, aunt," said Nicoline. She grew
very red, and looked down.

"But there would be no purpose in taking you.
What would you do at Nice.? And I can't leave you
here alone in the house. I am very sorry, but I see
nothing else for you than to go home," said the baroness.

" I beg your pardon, aunt, but I can't do that in any
case," replied Nicoline.

" What do you mean ? " exclaimed the baroness, who
was beginning to get excited. " Your mother trusted you
to me "

" By your desire, aunt."

" Certainly. But if the doctor sends me south for
my health, I can't stay in Paris on your account," said the
baroness.

"But, aunt, whatever makes you imagine that I
should ask such a thing of you.-"" rejoined Nicoline.

" If I'm not in Paris, how can you remain there .'' "
objected the baroness.

" I should have come to Paris without your kind invi-
tation. Mamma is convinced that I need Signora Conti's
teaching, and I agree with her. If I can't live with you,
I must go to a boarding-house. How do my fellow-pupils
manage ? " said Nicoline.

"Ah, you'd like to run about Paris all alone," ex-
claimed the baroness, in a loud voice.

"Run about Paris ? But, aunt "

" You talk like an irresponsible child. I received you
from your mother's hands, I must return you to her.
Thus I free myself from any responsibility. If your
mother likes to send you back to Paris alone, she can
reconcile it with her own conscience. But I doubt if she

116 MORGANATIC

will do it. Meanwhile, you must go back to your mother,"
said the baroness.

Nicoline was silent, but her lips were shut firmly, and
her intrepid blue eyes sparkled angrily.

" And when will you start ? " asked her aunt.

" I see no reason for it," replied Nicoline.

" Then I shall write to your mother and ask her to
send for you home," said the baroness.

" I shall write to my mother and ask her to leave me
here," retorted Nicoline.

"I do not wish you to remain in Paris," shouted the
baroness.

The more excited she became, the calmer Nicoline
remained.

"I beg your pardon, aunt, you can turn me out of
your house "

" I have not turned you out of my house. Don't,
please, twist my words. 1 have told you that I must shut
up my house for a time."

" Very well, aunt, you shut up your house, and I'll
get on by myself as well as I can."

" That's pure madness. Be sensible, Nicoline ; I speak
in your interest."

" I thank you sincerely ; but my mind is made up.
And please leave me to attend to my own interests. I
can do it all right, I assure you. I shall do like the
Americans who live here alone and study."

The baroness's large fat hand clutched the arm
of her chair, and the veins on her forehead swelled
visibly.

" Nicoline, you're an obstinate girl. You're not to be
convinced. But take care. I can settle other people, and
I shall settle you. You shall go home "

" Don't get so excited, aunt. I am very sorry to vex
you so much. Forgive me. I thank you over and over
again for all the kindness you've shown me, and I won't
be a burden to you any longer."

Nicoline got up and moved as if to take the baroness's
hand. She drew it hastily back, and got purple.

" I forbid you to remain in Paris," she shouted.

MORGANATIC 117

" Forbid ? " answered Nicoline, drawing herself up.
" I don't see how you can do that."

"You shall see. I shall go to Signora Conti, and I
know how to arrange so that she won't keep you," said
the angry woman.

"Ah ! you'll do that ? I begin to see that it's not on
my account you want me out of Paris, but on yours. But
I've no idea why," said Nicoline.

"You don't know why? Well, I'll enlighten your
ignorance." She was madly angry, and had no longer any
control over her words. "You can't pretend with me.
I see through you. You're trying to catch Siegfried "

Nicoline uttered a low cry and turned deathly pale.
The baroness raged on, " But you won't succeed. I've a
word to say in that. You're playing the game of the
Grand Duke Hilarius. That's quite the form of the
old intriguer. You're a little too ambitious, my dear ;
put that notion out of your head."

Tears rose to Nicoline's eyes, but she made an im-
mense effort to control herself. She passed her hand
quickly over her wet eyes, and said in a low, tremulous
voice, "You abuse your rights as mistress of the house,
baroness "

She could not get farther. The baroness rose quickly,
but staggered back into her chair, and shouted —

"Bertha! Bertha!"

The maid came rushing upstairs while the baroness
gasped —

" You impertinent creature, don't forget who you are
and who I am ! "

"Certainly not, baroness. If we each remember our
origin, you know which of us deserves to be respected by
the other."

Bertha had opened the door, and, open-mouthed, had
heard the end of the conversation.

" My drops ! my heart ! " muttered the baroness, with
husky voice, and fell over in a heap in her chair.

The maid hurried to her mistress's assistance, and
Nicoline left the room.

When she reached her own room, she cowered down

118 MORGANATIC

in a corner of the sofa. Her strength was exhausted,
and she broke out into bitter sobbing. But it did not
last long. Pride soon took possession of her again, and
gave her self-control. She began to write to her mother.
But her hand shook, and she threw the pen down. Her
mother should not perceive any excitement in the letter.
First she would do her packing. She had only her hand-
bag in her room. That would not be of any use. Her
large trunk had been taken away. She must ask one of
the servants for it. But how ? Go down and ask Janusz
or the coachman ? That was too humiliating. Ring the
bell .'' But if no one came ? If no one took any heed of
her.'' If they showed her that she could no longer give
orders here ? That would be more humiliating still. So
she hesitated, filled with bitterness. But not for long !
She was not going to be timid ? Not at all ! She would
leave the house in which she had been so cruelly insulted,
but as a lady. For she was a lady, and all these people,
the poor frantic baroness included, should treat her as a
lady. With a steady hand she pressed the button of the
electric bell, and held it down longer than usual, so that
it sounded loud and commanding in the servants' part of
the house. Janusz hurried upstairs and almost tore
open the door.

" Fetch my large travelling trunk," she ordered calmly
and loudly without letting him enter.

He stared at her in amazement.

"Did you not understand me? I want my trunk
here."

" Very well, very well," he answered quickly. " Where
is it.'"

" I do not know. You must inquire. But be quick."

Janusz went down and sought Bertha in order to
inform her of the young lady's extraordinary request.
Bertha was occupied with the baroness, who was gradually
recovering from her excitement, and was preparing to go
up to her boudoir supported by her maid's arm. Bertha
repeated to her mistress what the servant had whispered
to her.

" Take her her trunk, Janusz," ordered the baroness,

MORGANATIC 119

in a weak voice ; and turning to Bertha as soon as Janusz
had gone, added, "Let her get out of my sight; the
sooner, the better."

"But where can she go, your highness?" asked
Bertha.

"That's not my business. We have only to wire to
her mother that she's left us. We need not fear. Weeds
come to no harm."

Meanwhile Nicoline waited impatiently for her trunk.
She was anxious to get away from a house where a hostile
atmosphere surrounded her. Her thoughts turned to
Siegfried. At first with resentful anger. Trying to catch
him ? What a base accusation ! What could the baroness
imagine.? Was she an old maid who wanted a husband
at any price ? What was there in Siegfried that she
should wish to run after him ? She was certain that
men very different from him would be at her feet as soon
as she made her debut. Then a question occurred to her
and rather hurt her. Had he any share in the silly old
woman's outbreak which now began to appear more absurd
than insulting, probably, too, intended to serve the crooked
intrigues of the Grand Duke of Loewenstein ? Had he
bragged like a coxcomb .'' Or let fall an imprudent re-
mark .'' Did he think that she had any intentions towards
him ? If he did ! That was too horrible. But it could
not be. Siegfried was disturbed by her presence. She
saw that plainly enough. Indeed she must have been
blind not to see it. He sought her much more than she
sought him. She had never said or done anything that
could give him the least encouragement — and that he
should invent something hateful — he was not so mean as
that. How ought she to have treated Siegfried? She
had been unsuspicious of her companions in the house.
He was indiflFerent to her.

Was he so really ? For the first time she considered
the question, shyly, gently, and although she was alone,
she blushed. No, he was not altogether indifferent to
her. She liked to talk to him. He was very good-look-
ing. His fate closely resembled hers. He did not impress
her intellectually. But what man did? They all felt

120 MORGANATIC

themselves so superior, Siegfried like the others. She gave
him a sort of sisterly, almost motherly, sympathy. Try
to catch him ! Fie ! fie ! If he was seriously in love with
her ? If he proposed to her ? No. Impossible. Marry
him ! That wouldn't do. She only wished to be his friend
— the good, true friend whom he had never had — whom
he needed — they were both of the same family — ^they both
had to complain similarly of their near relatives, and of
the decrees of society — it seemed to her that their fates
were mysteriously knitted together — that she must help
him — she did not know how — but marry him ? No. She
had not that kind of feeling for him. She did not want
to marry at all. Why should she .'' To be the slave of
a vain, selfish idiot? She wanted to be free, free, and
the architect of her own fortune. Her father denied her
the name that was hers by natural laws. It was a proud
name. She would accept no lower one. Such a name, or
her own that she herself would lift high. Poor Siegfried
could not help her to that, he could only hinder her. If
he was really in love with her, and told her so, she would
press his hand warmly and heartily, and reply, "No, friend
Siegfried, no. We will like each other very, very much,
but our paths in life are narrow. We must follow them
alone. There's not room for two." She spoke the last
words unconsciously, half aloud, tears rose to her eyes,
and she imagined she felt Siegfried's hand in hers.

A knock at the door woke her from her dream.

" Come in."

Janusz dragged in the big trunk, and at a sign from
Bertha, who accompanied him, went.

" You wish to leave us, Fraulein Nicoline ? "

"No."

"But the trunk, Fraulein .?"

"Don't pretend. Bertha. I am leaving the house."

" I know that, Fraulein. But where are you going ? "

" That's my business."

During this conversation she had already begun to
take her things out of the wardrobe and the chest of
drawers, and to arrange them in the trunk.

« Can't I help you, Fraulein ? "

MORGANATIC 121

" No, thajik you. I can manage quite well."

" But Fraulein Nicoline, we must know what is going
to become of you, where you're staying, if your mamma
asks about you."

" You don't suppose that I'm going to run away from
my mother ? We do not require a go-between."

Bertha said no more, but she remained in the room and
looked on. Nicoline took no further notice of her, but
proceeded with what she had to do. When the trunk was
packed, she asked quietly and firmly —

" Will you ask them to get me a cab ? "

" Certainly, at once," answered Bertha, and went away
abashed.

Nicoline waited, in hat and coat and with gloved
hands, for the announcement that the cab was there.
She thought of the effect of her disappearance on
Siegfried. Who would tell him what had happened.?
How would they tell him ? How would he take it ?
Should she write him a word of farewell ? Perhaps. Yes.
No. It wasn't a farewell. He would certainly seek her
out. But how ? Where ? The scrap of sly romance
that ever lurks in a girl's heart — at least, in an artist's
heart — awoke. She would vanish, and leave no trace.
Siegfried should feel some anxiety. A sleepless night, a
restless day. She would be responsible for so much. At
bottom, it was his fault that she had to go through this
disagreeable adventure. He would find the clue if he
employed a little ingenuity. He had only to apply to her
mother. But would he venture on such a step.? And
what would her mother think ? Perhaps it would be
better to leave her address behind.

Her address ! Thoughts of the future flashed through
her head for the first time. Hitherto, only the past and
the present had filled it. She had no address. Where
was she to go ? What was she to do ? She must go to a
boarding-house. That was evidently the only thing she
could do ; but she knew of none. And how could she look
for one with her box on the roof of the cab. That
Siegfried should just have gone out! If only he had been
at home, she could have asked him to help her.

122 MORGANATIC

At last Bertha reappeared, accompanied by Janusz, to
carry the trunk downstairs.

"Perhaps Fraulein wishes to bid her highness good-
bye "

"That's unnecessary. The baroness doesn't want to
set eyes on me again. I have thanked her for her
kindness, but you can do it again, in my name."

" I will do so, Fraulein. Where is the cabman to go ? ''

Now she must speak out. And for the rest, what was
the good of secrecy.'' They could take the number of
the cab, and could thus discover what they wished to
know.

" To Signora Conti's," she said.

" Ah ! " was all that Bertha said.

To Signora Conti. That was the idea of salvation
that Bertha's question had evolved.

She went downstairs. Old Frau Biichler, with a troubled
expression on her face, stood in the hall. She did not dare
to show her sympathy much because of Bertha, who would
at once tell the baroness ; but the old dame was really very
sorry that Nicoline was going. She had seen more of her
in going with her to her singing lessons than any other
member of the household, and she had grown very fond
of her.

Nicoline held out her hand to her before she could
think of anything to say.

" Good-bye, dear Frau Biichler. Don't forget me. I
shan't forget you. And remember me most warmly to
Siegfried."

Before Nicoline could prevent it, the old woman kissed
her hand, and a tear fell on her glove.

Nero, who was disporting himself in the garden,
hurried up to Nicoline as she came down the steps, and
barking loudly, tried to jump up on her. She stood still,
warding off his attentions — for his paws were muddy —
stroked him several times, and said softly —

" Good-bye, Nero, good-bye. It's a pity I can't take
you with me."

Bertha, like Nero, accompanied Nicoline to the garden-
gate, where the cab waited. Janusz held the door open.

MORGANATIC 123

As Nicoline got in, she slipped a gold ten-franc piece into
the hand of the man, who bowed servilely. She would
have liked to tip Bertha also, who stood there curtseying,
if only to abash her. But

But she had no more money, and had necessarily to
content herself with nodding to her from the cab.

She cherished a secret hope that she might meet
SiegMed while the cab slowly wended its way through
the quiet streets of the Cite Dubois. Turning pale, he
would see the trunk on the top, bid the driver stop, and
she would let her friend get in. But the cab reached
the Rue Palestrina, and began to go faster, and there was
no sign of Siegfried's tall figure.

Nicoline had no money. Hitherto she had not needed
any. The baroness bought her what she wanted for her
dress, and also paid three hundred and fifty francs a month
in advance to Signora Conti, for the singing-lessons.
The baroness settled directly with Frau Flammert for
that outlay. For small needs, and so as to have a few
shillings in her pocket, Nicoline was allowed twenty
francs a month. The tip she had given to Janusz was
the last of it.

" Poor as a church mouse ! " thought Nicoline, and
smiled to herself. The thought did not disturb her in
the least. On the contrary, it amused her. She would
know what it was like to be in the world without money.

After a while, the cab stopped at Signora Conti's
house. Nicoline told the driver to wait, and went in.
She found her teacher with a class of about a dozen young
ladies, and with her accompanist at the piano.

" Fraulein Flammert," she exclaimed, " what brings
you here ? "

" May I speak to you for a moment, madame ? " asked
Nicoline.

" What is it, my child ? " said the signora.

" Not here, if you'll be so kind," said Nicoline.

Signora Conti looked annoyed. She did not like to be
interrupted during lesson hours. But a glance at Nicoline
revealed to her that something unusual had happened, and
she took the girl into the next room.

124 MORGANATIC

Here Nicoline told her in a few words that she had
left the baroness and was homeless.

Signora Conti uttered an exclamation of surprise.
'Why.?"

" Because of a delusion on her part," replied Nicoline.
" The princess wants to have me out of Paris. I want to
stay because my future as a singer lies in your hands.

" But what delusion ? I don't understand," said the
signora.

" I'll tell you all about it, signora, but don't leave me
in the lurch," implored Nicoline.

" Little fool. That goes without saying. Does your
mother know ? " she returned.

" Not yet. It has all come about so suddenly. An
hour ago, I knew nothing of it myself," said Nicoline.

"I've no time now, my dear. Tell me quickly what
you want me to do," said the signora.

" Recommend me a boarding-house so that I can drive
there at once. I can manage then," said Nicoline.

" Is your cab waiting .' "

" Yes, signora."

" Send it away. Stay here quietly until the lesson is
over. Then we can discuss the matter in peace," advised
Signora Conti.

Nicoline turned very red. " I've no money to pay the
cab," she said in much embarrassment.

Signora Conti frowned. "You're madder than my
maddest Americans," she murmured. She pressed the
electric bell near the stove and gave the servant who
answered it an order in a low voice, and returned to the
classroom with the small stage at the back.

During thirty years of active work, the celebrated
teacher had accustomed herself to refrain from taking any
very warm interest in her pupils' private affairs ; she had met
with too much ingratitude and heartlessness. She was care-
ful to make her intercourse with them entirely professional.
But each year there were one or two among her thirty or
forty pupils from both hemispheres in whom she took
a special interest, because they were unusually talented,
and promised to become famous. It was of the greatest

MORGANATIC 125

importfince for her own reputation that at least one star a
year should arise from her classrooms. She became a sort
of mother to the girl, and took an interest in her far in
excess of her duty. This year Nicoline was the favourite.
She had the finest voice, the strongest temperament, real,
native dramatic talent, a mother who occupied a foremost
place on the stage, in short she was a piece of the future
that secretly promised much.

When the pupils who were then at work had finished
their scales and tone exercises, and there was a short pause,
Signora Conti called up two or three of the young ladies
whom she regarded as particularly serious-minded and well-
behaved, and asked them about the boarding-houses in
which they lived and if there was a vacancy for Fraulein
Flammert. They all rejoiced, and each wanted to have
Nicoline with her. For, in spite of ordinary jealousy, her
comrades felt that there was something unusual in her, and
most of them were friendly to her. A pretty, lively
American won the day. Her boarding-house was near
Signora Conti's, not immoderately expensive, kept by a
widow of good family and her two daughters, and she took
only a few boarders, and only persons of good standing —
so Signora Conti entrusted Nicoline to her. The American
was to take her at once and help her to make arrangements
with the landlady. Signora Conti had her own carriage
got ready, so that she might see that Nicoline was not
merely anybody.

" Now, go, my dear, and if you'll come a little earlier to
your lesson to-morrow, we will have a talk. Take this
until you hear from your mother." And she pressed a
twenty-franc piece into the girl's unwilling hand.

When Nicoline found herself in the carriage with her
comrade, she was obliged to smile again, and more gladly
than before. It was really easier to get on without money
than for all her self-confidence she had hoped.

There were no difficulties at the boarding-house. There
was a room for her. It was not so pleasant as at the Villa
Josephine. The window did not look into a garden, yet a
glimpse of bare trees was not wanting so long as it was
winter, and with regard to the appointments inside, her

126 MORGANATIC

glad youthfulness cared nothing for those. She partially
unpacked, threw her gloves, coat, and hat on the bed, and
wrote to her mother.

"Deaeest Mdmmy,

"Don't be alarmed. I have changed my
abode. The baroness has a tile loose. It's impossible to
get on with the poor creature. She wanted to send me
off to you to-day like a parcel. I naturally could not agree
to such a piece of folly, so I have left her to her delusions,
and come to this boarding-house which was recommended
by Signora Conti. I am very sorry to put you to more
expense, but I know, my only mother, that you won't
mind, since it's for me. And it is better so. I have often
wondered, in my own heart, how you came to accept such
a favour from the baroness. I do not want to be indebted
to her for a material service. It was very uncomfortable in
her house. Nothing was in harmony. I only regret Nero.
I shall miss him. A thousand kisses from your

« Nico."

She was not quite honest. Nero was not the only thing
she regretted.

BOOK III

Siegfried had spent the afternoon at a dress rehearsal at
one of the Boulevard theatres ; he had been vastly bored,
had gone afterwards to his shooting-gallery, had placed a
dozen bullets with his usual skill, and, much pleased with
himself, went home in time to dress for dinner. He found
Coppee and Posner in the drawing-room, and vouchsafed
them a curt greeting. Inquiring for his mother, Janusz
informed him that she had not been out that afternoon,
and was now dressing. He went to his room, accompanied
by Janusz, who gave him a helping hand. He performed
his task in silence, for he considered it superfluous to tell
his young master what had happened in his absence.

Siegfried was ready in a quarter of an hour. Passing
Nicoline's door on his way down, he knocked and called
out cheerfully —

" Are you ready, Nicoline ? "

Now Janusz thought it time to open his mouth.

" Fraulein Nicoline is not there, your highness."

" Is she down already ? " asked Siegfried.

"No, your highness; Fraulein Nicoline has gone
away."

" Gone away ? To dinner ? "

"Away from the house, your highness, with her
things."

Siegfried opened his eyes wide, and looked at the ser-
vant's cunning, smooth face with the greatest astonish-
ment. His habitual self-control helped him to restrain
his movements. Without a word he left Janusz, and
knocked at the door of his mother's boudoir.

Bertha opened it, and looked somewhat embarrassed
127

128 MORGANATIC

when she saw who it was. He did not notice it, but
walked straight up to the baroness who, sitting in front
of her triple mirror in her dressing-jacket, was occu-
pied in rouging her heavy, pale cheeks. She looked up
at her son, and gave him her hand to kiss. He responded
formally, and said quickly —

" What does Janusz mean ? He says Nicoline has
left the house. What am I to understand by that ? "

" What it means. She has left us," said his mother.

" But she hasn't run away just for fun. Something
must have happened. But what .'' " demanded Siegfried.

The baroness kept silence and went on painting her
face ; but her hand visibly trembled.

" Mamma, I implore you. What has happened ? "

She placed the powder-pufF on the dressing-table,
turned to him, looked him straight in the eyes, and
said —

" If you really wish to know, she has behaved like the
impertinent thing she is. She has betrayed herself. I'll
have no spy and enemy in my house."

" Mother, I beg of you, stop these enigmatic speeches,
and tell me plainly what has passed."

" Don't ask anything more. Be thankful we are rid
of her," said his mother.

" But how ? Why ? You didn't turn her out ? " said
Siegfried.

The baroness did not reply.

" On my account, perhaps .'' " continued Siegfried.

" And if so ? Wasn't I right ? "

" Oh, mamma ! " he exclaimed, and grasped the back
of her chair with such force that he broke it.

The baroness contented herself with looking at him
again, more fixedly and severely than before. She was
sure of her power over his passionate but brief outbreaks.
But this time he resisted longer than usual. He boldly
returned her gaze, and said angrily —

" Where has she gone ? "

" I don't know," replied his mother.

" Mamma, I don't believe that ; it's not possible that
you've sent her out into the streets without troubling

MORGANATIC 129

about what becomes of her. Has she gone home ? " asked
the 3'oung man.

The baroness wiped her cheeks in silence.

" Mamma," exclaimed Siegfried, almost shrieking,
" answer me."

The baroness leaned back in her low chair, and in
tones which betrayed suffering, said —

" I have had a heart attack to-day. Don't excite me,
unless you wish to have your mother's death on your
conscience."

Here Bertha interfered. " Her highness was really
very bad this afternoon. We were obliged to send for
the doctor. We feared her highness would not be able to
go down to dinner."

" Go, Siegfried ; leave me alone so that I may recover
myself," ordered the baroness.

He understood that he must obey, and that in any
case nothing was to be learned from his mother. He
hurried back to his room and rang for Janusz.

" Do you know why Fraulein Flammert has gone
away .'' " he asked the servant.

" No, your highness," replied the man.

" Where has she gone ? " demanded Siegfried.

" I don't know, your highness," answered Janusz.

" I don't believe that. You know perfectly well,"
asserted Siegfried.

Janusz looked down and remained calm.

" Did she drive to the station .'' " Siegfried asked him.

" Perhaps. Probably, your highness," said the man.

"At what time did she leave the house.?" Siegfried
inquired.

" About half-past two," returned Janusz.

"There's no train to Diesa at that time. You're a
liar. Lieave the room."

Janusz took himself oiF with a contented expression of
countenance. Siegfried leaned his head on his hand for
a moment, and then went to find Frau Biichler. He
knew that his old nurse helped in the kitchen at this hour.
He went down and saw Janusz, Frau Biichler, and the
cook standing together and eagerly whispering. As he

180 MORGANATIC

entered, the group broke up, and Janusz slipped into the
servants' hall, while Frau Buchler trotted up to Siegfried.
He signed to her to follow him, and began to question
her almost before they had reached the hall.

Frau Biichler made no difficulties about informing him
that Nicoline had driven off after a dispute with his
mother, and had left a kind message for him. She had
given the coachman Signora Conti's address. Her high-
ness had sent a long telegram to Frau Flammert. She
did not know its contents, for Bertha had taken it herself
to the office, and so far had not told her anything.

Siegfried knew enough. " Tell mamma not to wait
dinner for me," he said to Frau Btichler, who nodded, and,
quickly putting on his overcoat, he left the house.

He was soon ringing at Signora Conti's door. The
servant who opened it said his mistress was dining out,
and had just driven away.

" Where is she dining .'' " asked Siegfried.

" I don't know," returned the man.

" It is most vexing," Siegfried could not restrain him-
self from uttering.

" Can I do anything for you .'' " asked the servant, who
was preparing to shut the door.

" You can perhaps tell me what I want to know," said
Siegfried, who stepped inside, and stood close to the
surprised and somewhat suspicious servant. " Did Fraulein
Flammert come to Signora Conti this afternoon ? "

" Fraulein Flammert?" repeated the man.

" One of Signora Conti's pupils."

"I do not know the lady's name. There are so
many "

" I mean, did a young lady come with travelling things
and a trunk ? "

" Oh," exclaimed the servant, " yes, the young lady
came, but drove away again directly."

"Where.?"

" That I don't know. Our coachman could tell you.
He drove her."

"If I only knew how could I get hold of him!'*
murmured Siegfried half to himself.

MORGANATIC 131

" He must be back here in half an hour at latest,
unless he's driving round the Boulevards, or has to wait
for the mistress all the evening. But that's very unlikely."

For a moment Siegfried was undecided whether to
wait for the coachman in the house or in the street,
but determined on the latter proceeding. He thanked
the servant who stood vainly expecting a tip, and turned
to go. The door was slammed behind him.

It was not a pleasant experience to spend the dinner-
hour standing on the muddy pavement, in the cold damp air
of a winter's evening, waiting for the servant, but he felt
that it was the only thing to do. He must know whether
Nicoline had left Paris. And if she was still there, he
could not possibly put off seeing her till the next day. He
must see her that very evening, find out from her what had
taken place, make sure that nothing had happened to her,
that she did not need his help, that she was all right.
He tried to guess what had occurred. The extraordinary
hints that his mother had given him in the morning came
back vividly into his mind. Did she believe that Nicoline
must protect herself from him .'' And that the only way
was for her to leave the house .'' Yes, that must be it. And
if it was so, then his mother's conduct was hard and cruel
in the extreme. Did he deserve such suspicion .'' Was he
capable of doing Nicoline any harm ? He had far too
much respect for her. She stood too far above him. But
it was always the way. His mother did not know him,
and she would not take the trouble to learn to know him.
And it was this heart-breaking ignorance that made her
act so hastily and cruelly towards Nicoline and himself.
Yes, towards him. For he knew very well that even if
Nicoline remained in Paris it would henceforth be very
much more difficult for him to see her, and he should
greatly miss her beautiful proud face, her strong character,
her clever, amusing talk, her unfailing confidence in the
future, her cheerful outlook on life. For the last three
months he had become accustomed to her presence. He
now first discovered that she had become a need to him,
and formed the brightest and cheeriest point of his
existence.

132 MORGANATIC

The carriage which now stopped before the house
aroused him from his thoughts. Without waiting until
the coachman summoned the servant to open the door for
him, he astonished the man by asking —

" Where did you drive the young lady, who visited
your mistress this afternoon, with her luggage ? "

The coachman hesitated a little. The gentlemanly
appearance of the tall young fellow with the splendid fur
coat, awoke in him the feelings due to social rank, and
before Siegfried had pressed a five-franc piece into his
thick-gloved hand, he submissively named the street and
the number of the house. He felt inclined to smile know-
ingly at him, for he understood Siegfried's inquiry, but
the strange gentleman's manner offered no encouragement,
and he preserved the correct demeanour of a servant.

Siegfried had not far to go to the boarding-house.
He almost flew there, he was so delighted that Nicoline
had not left Paris.

The girl was at dinner in the ugly boarding-house
dining-room with fourteen other persons, chiefly ladies
with two or three gentlemen. They had reached the
dessert. Nicoline had only spoken a few words, and had
scarcely eaten anything. The company took this for the
natural modesty of a young girl at her first appearance
in strange surroundings, and had tactfully spared her
apparent shyness. But it was a false supposition. Nicoline
did not concern herself in the least with her companions,
and with the exception of two fellow-pupils, had scarcely
noticed them. She was thoughtful and oppressed, with-
out exactly knowing why. One of the two maids who
waited at table came into the room, went up to Nicoline,
who, as the latest comer sat at the lower end of the table,
and whispered to her —

" Fraulein, there is a gentleman outside who wishes to
see you."

" Ah," said Nicoline, quickly, and blushed a deep red,
a fact that did not escape the maid, "have you shown
him into the drawing-room ? "

" I will do so at once," replied the girl.

It did not occur to Nicoline to ask who the gentleman

MORGANATIC 183

was. She knew perfectly well. Her first impulse was to
jump up and hurry out of the room. But the meal was
not quite over. All eyes were on her. She must wait for
the remaining few minutes. " What!" she thought, after
a brief hesitation, "am I to bother myself about these
people ? I shall do what I please." With entire self-
possession she got up, and, with a hasty bow, left the
room.

When she entered the drawing-room, which was on
the opposite side of the hall, Siegfried turned towards her,
his arms spread out, as if to draw her to his heart. Nico-
line stopped, and satisfied herself with grasping both his
hands.

" Forgive me for disturbing you during dinner," he
said.

" Don't be so stupid," she replied quickly ; and a slight
smile played round her lips. " Do you know, you've
waited a long while. It is eight o'clock, and I left before
three."

"But, Nicoline, it's not my fault. How was I to
know where you had gone ? You did not leave word ! "

" Where would have been your merit, if I had made it
too easy ? It was to be a little test," declared Nicoline.

" Did it really need a test ? " asked Siegfried.

" It was necessary for me to know on whom I could
rely. After your mother's conduct "

"Tell me all about it, Nicoline. I know nothing.
What has happened ? "

" Didn't they tell you anything .-' "

"Nothing," said Siegfried. "Frau Biichler gave me
your kind message, and told me you had gone to Signora
Conti's. That was all."

" Whom did you question ? "

" Mamma, of course, after Janusz had told me, in his
stupid way, that you had gone away."

" Janusz is not stupid," asserted Nicoline ; " but that's
of no consequence. And what did your mother say ? "

" She refused to give me any explanation," said
Siegfried.

Nicoline looked searchingly at Siegfried. He returned

134 MORGANATIC

her glance without the least embarrassment. He was
undoubtedly sincere.

" My dear friend," she said slowly, " your mamma is ill.'"

Siegfried nodded and looked sad.

" She imagines that she is being persecuted," con-
tinued Nicoline, " and that I am a spy in the pay of
the Grand Duke Hilarius."

" No ! " exclaimed Siegfried, and lifted his head in
surprise.

" Exactly as I tell you. But shan't we sit down .'' —
unless you've taken a vow to stand."

A load had fallen from her heart. She knew now
that no thoughtless remarks of Siegfried had put ugly
thoughts in the baroness's mind, and she was glad to be
relieved of her suspicions of him.

Siegfried, too, felt greatly relieved. It was not his
fault that Nicoline had been forced to leave the house in
so unceremonious a fashion. It was another of the
extraordinary whims in which his mother had lately in-
dulged in increasing number.

" A spy of the Grand Duke ! " murmured Siegfried,
while he seated himself by the stove opposite to Nico-
line. " That is really too — I mean, if that's the case, the
matter can soon be set right. I'll speak to mamma this
evening."

"Do nothing of the kind," exclaimed Nicoline,
vehemently. " It can't be set right. If I am shown the
door, I do not return."

" Not even if my mother herself begged it of you ? "
asked Siegfried.

" She will not do that. If she did — leave the matter
alone. It is as it is."

" You say that so unconcernedly, Nicoline. Our house
seems so desolate without you "

She looked at the tips of her shoes.

" We were such good friends. How will it be now ? "

Nicoline slightly shrugged her shoulders. At that
moment, two gentlemen and three ladies entered the
drawing-room, and bowed to the two occupants.

Siegfried looked at them in annoyance, returned their

MORGANATIC 135

greeting with the slightest of bows, and said softly to
Nicoline —

" Must we stay here ? "

The new-comers seated themselves round a table, but
kept the pair by the stove well in view.

" My apartments, just now, are confined to a small
bedroom,"" said Nicoline.

"Small or large, what does that matter.!"' retorted
Siegfried.

" We can't go up to my room," said Nicoline.

" Why not ? " he persisted.

" But, Prince Siegfried, what would the people here
say.?"

" It is the first time I ever heard you say you cared
what other people thought. I took you to be too regal,
too far above that sort of thing," said Siegfried.

" You have too good an opinion of me," she replied.

Siegfried said nothing. He did not perceive, or he did
not heed, that his whispering and his confidential attitude
damaged the girl in the eyes of her fellow-boarders as
much as if he had gone to her room with her.

" What are you thinking of doing in the future ? " he
asked, after a pause.

" I must wait for mamma's decision. I want to stay in
Paris, of all things in the world. I have made so much
progress, even in this short time ! Signora Conti stands
alone, inimitable. She will enable me to be successful
on the stage. Mamma will have to make greater sacrifices
than she reckoned for. But how can I help it .'' "

" It is unfortunate that you should have to go through
this ! It would have been so nice if you had stayed
quietly with us," declared Siegfried.

" That's over and done with," returned Nicoline.

"And if your mother does not consent to your
staying .'' " asked Siegfried.

Nicoline smiled.

"Mamma will agree. I need perhaps a year to finish
my studies. It would be a sin to break off now. I
must also perfect myself in French. It is indispensable
to me in my career."

136 MORGANATIC

" Always your career ! Always ambition ! Always
the thought of shining ! " objected Siegfried.

" Is that intended for a reproach ? " asked Nicoline.

" As you choose to take it," he replied.

"Then it isn't a reproach. For your will is as
determined in that direction as mine."

Siegfried contented himself with sighing. After a
brief silence, he asked —

" And how shall I learn what you decide upon ? "

" You'll come and ask," she said.

"May I?"

" Of course," she exclaimed but blushed deeply when
she became conscious of her eagerness.

Siegfried got up.

" Are you going already .'' " said Nicoline.

" If I may. I've not dined yet "

" What ! and it's nearly half-past eight ! Go at
once. I had no idea. I should not have kept you so
long."

" I can forget my hunger for a time when I talk to
you," he said, looking into her eyes.

She pressed his hand as she walked with him to the
drawing-room door.

When he had gone, her American fellow-pupil who
had recommended her the boarding-house, came up to
her with characteristic indiscretion, and observed —

" What a strikingly handsome man ! "

" Do you think so .-' " said Nicoline, drily.

" Everybody would think so," returned the young
lady. " The gentleman is not French ? "

" No," said Nicoline, in the same tone as before, and
added —

"Excuse me, I must go up. I have ever so many
things to do."

She cared nothing for these people, but it vexed her
that they should gossip about her.

The next day, shortly after two o'clock, a cab drove
up to the Villa Josephine, and a handsome woman, in a fur
cloak, got out. She walked quickly through the garden,
and rang loudly at the door.

MORGANATIC 137

" Can I see the Baroness von Gronendal ? "" she asked
Janusz, who opened it.

He looked at her in surprise. It was now unusual
for his mistress to be asked for in that manner.

The stranger thought that he had not understood,
and repeated her question in French with a very foreign
accent.

" Her highness is just going out," said the servant,
in German. " I do not know if she will receive visitors.
Whom shall I say.?"

"Frau Flammert from Diesa," she said, and stepped
without hesitation into the hall.

Janusz gave a slight start of surprise. He had not
recognized her, for when she brought Nicoline to Paris in
October, he had only seen her for a moment. He
hastened to show the lady into the drawing-room. He
then went upstairs quickly, knocked at the door of the
baroness's boudoir, and with a wink, whispered to Bertha,
who opened it —

" Fraulein Nicoline's mother is here."

"Ah!" said Bertha, and shut the door. She repeated
the man's words to the baroness who was dressed for going
out.

"Very disagreeable," murmured the baroness. "But
I suppose I must see her — eh ? "

" I think so," Bertha satisfied herself with replying.

Leaning on her stick, the baroness went slowly and
heavily downstairs into the drawing-room, the door of
which Janusz opened for her and closed behind her.

Frau Flammert stood at the window. She had kept
on her cloak. The baroness went towards her with out-
stretched hand. The singer went a few steps forward to
meet her, took no notice of the hand, and without
giving her time to utter a word of greeting, exclaimed
excitedly —

" Good morning. Where is Nicoline ? "

" Now, now, my dear friend, take off' your things and
sit down. I had not expected you so soon."

" That surprises me. But where is Nicoline ? "

" She went to Signora Conti's," said the baroness.

138 MORGANATIC

" Ah ! " said Frau Flammert, and drew a breath of
relief. " That was the most sensible thing the child could
have done. Good-bye. I must hasten to the siguora's."

" Carlotta," cried the baroness, " you'll leave me like
this.?"

" I must first learn why Nicoline left you."

" I think I can tell you that," said the baroness.

" Yes, your telegram told me. But now I must hear
about it from my child. Good-bye, baroness."

She lifted the portiere.

" You'll come back, Carlotta ? " asked the baroness.

"Yes, later," said Frau Flammert without turning
round, and hurried from the room.

The baroness sank upon the sofa, and murmured to
Bertha, who now came into the room, and looked at her
with a questioning glance —

" I have never in my whole life seen such an ill-bred
woman. That's the thanks one gets for one's kindness."

Nicoline sat opposite Siegfried in the boarding-house
drawing-room ; he had come soon after lunch to inquire
how she was getting on.

She had slept better than she had expected after the
excitements of the day ; she had been in capital voice in
the morning, and everything had gone splendidly. Signora
Conti had questioned her closely. She had told her that
it was impossible to get on with the princess, since she
believed herself to be watched and spied on by the Courts
with which she was connected. Signora Conti smiled,
although she expressed herself very cautiously. It would
be best that he should repeat that to his mother, so that
if she saw Signora Conti, and discussed the matter, she
might be prudent. For if she so far forgot herself as to
say anything bad of her

" Nicoline," said Siegfried, " how can you think that ?"

" People who are nervous and ill often "

At that moment she heard some one come into the
hall, and ask the servant who opened the door, for Frau-
lein Flammert. Nicoline jumped up as if she had been
shot, stood still for a second, and flew out of the room
like a fleet doe, without giving any heed to Siegfried, who

MORGANATIC 139

had heard nothing, and who stared at her in astonish-
ment.

" Mummy, you ! "

" Nico ! Darling ! " With a double cry, mother and
daughter sank in each other's arms.

" How is it possible ? How did you get here so
quickly ? " exclaimed Nicoline, cuddling up against her
mother, and covering her face with kisses.

The maid tactfully withdrew.

" Show me your room," said Frau Flammert, keeping
her ai m round her daughter.

" Come, mummy,'" said Nicoline, releasing herself and
hurrying on so fast, that her mother could scarcely keep
up with her.

Once in the room, there was more embracing, and
while Nicoline took oiF her mother's hat, cloak, and gloves,
she said —

" I recognized your voice at once. I knew I could not
be mistaken. But I hardly trusted my ears. How could
you be in Paris.'"'

" What ? Did you imagine that, after I received the
telegram I shouldn't put myself in the train at once "

" The telegram ? " asked Nicoline.

" You did not telegraph, you naughty child ; but the
Baroness "

" Ah ! let me see," asked Nicoline.

Frau Flammert hesitated.

" Show me, mummy, quick," insisted Nicoline.

Her mother took from her pocket a crumpled telegram
worn by much reading, and handed it to the girl. She
read eagerly — "Sorry obliged inform you that the pro-
pinquity of Nicoline and my son under one roof awakes
doubt. Nicoline's return to Diesa urgently desired.
Nicoline refuses to return. After painful dispute with
her must part. Consider girl's remaining in Paris without
surveillance dangerous. Renounce further responsibility.
Must immediately interfere with maternal authority. Kind
regards. — Josephine."

She was very red when she handed the paper back to
her mother, who had closely watched her while she read it.

140 MORGANATIC

" Now, tell me all about it," she said.

"What is there to tell?" returned Nicoline. "The
poor baroness is perfectly mad. She seems to imagine
that I " She hesitated.

" That you ? "

" Ah ! mummy, it's too stupid," she murmured, putting
her face against her mother's, and whispering softly in her
ear, "she imagines that I — that I — am trying to catch
Siegfried "

" Impossible ! " exclaimed Frau Flammert, drawing
back, and holding Nicoline by the shoulders at arm's
length from her.

"And further," continued Nicoline more calmly and,
firmly, "that I am doing it Jis a commission from the
Grand Duke Hilarius."

Frau Flammert laughed heartily, but immediately
became serious again.

" The woman is certainly fit for an asylum. The
Grand Duke ! As if he cares in the least what she does !"

She was silent for a time. Then she asked gently, but
emphatically —

" But what put this nonsense into her head .'' Nicoline,
you must tell your mother everything."

" Mother, have I ever concealed anything from you ? "
asked Nicoline.

" It would give me great pain if I had to think so."

" Have I ever told you an untruth ? "

" God forbid ! " said her mother.

"Well, then, I assure you that it is a pure piece of
imagination. The baroness is entirely mistaken."

"Haven't you been imprudent.'' haven't you flirted just
a little bit ? You are a beautiful girl, and no one could be
indifferent to a word or look of yours," said Frau Flammert.

" Others don't see me with your eyes, mummy darHng,"
smiled Nicoline. " No. I have not the slightest cause to
reproach myself. At least, not so far as I know."

" Has the young man paid you any attention ? " asked
her mother.

Nicoline cast down her eyes, and blushed again,
" What do you mean by paying me attention ? "

MORGANATIC 141

"Now, Nicoline, you're not being frank with me,"
exclaimed Frau Flammert.

" Indeed I am, mamma," said Nicoline, quickly.
"There is no question of that. We have been just
friendly, like any two people living in the same house.
He has never said a word that could harm me."

" H'm — harm ! Were you much alone together, Nico ? "

Nicoline looked down.

" Nico, look me straight in the face and answer me."

Nicoline moved impatiently, looked her mother full in
the face, and said in a determined tone —

"Mummy, since you wish it, I'll put the dots on the
'i's.' Siegfried does like me. I should be blind not to
see it. And it's quite natural. You can have no idea
how lonely, dull, and unhappy the poor fellow's life is.
He is pleased to have found a human being to whom he
can speak out and who sympathizes with him. I pity
him. Is that wrong .'' "

Her mother was silent, and reflected. " Pity — pity,"
she murmured to herself. "The young man is evidently
in love with you."

" No, mummy," exclaimed Nicoline, passionately. " We
are good friends, comrades, nothing more."

"The baroness is an absurd fool. But it is perhaps
as weU that you have left the house."

" Yes, indeed," corroborated Nicoline, eagerly. " You
don't know what goes on there — debts and quarrels and
money cares, and peevish tempers "

" You wrote about that "

"I didn't write everything," continued Nicoline. "It
was really most uncomfortable."

" I can't understand how I ever came to let you go,"
said Frau Flammert. "But she asked it in so kindly
a way, and it was so important that you should have
some one to look after you in Paris."

" Don't make excuses for yourself, mummy."

" Yes, it was stupidly thoughtless of me," affirmed her
mother. " However, it can't be helped now. The thing
is over and done with. But it is unpardonable that the
baroness should have turned you out in such summary

142 MORGANATIC

fashion, instead of first sending for me. Just imagine my
thoughts during that horrible night in the train."

"Mummy, you knew I should not come to any
harm.""

"You are right. If all at once I had found myself
in a strange town without a roof or home, I don't
believe I should have known what to do," said her
mother.

"Yes, you " rejoined Nicoline. But she did not

continue, and changed the subject. " See how — how wisely
you acted. You rush off directly you get the telegram,
without waiting to ask if I had started home, as the
baroness wished. Why, we might have passed each other
without knowing it somewhere between Strasburg and
Carlsruhe."

Frau Flammert, taken aback, hung her head, and said
irritably —

" That's right ; scold me well."

"But, mummy, how could I?" exclaimed Nicoline,
and petted her mother more affectionately than before.
"I know why you did it, why you didn't take time for
reflection."

" What should I have done ? What would you have
done in my place ? " asked Frau Flammert.

" I should have telegraphed to my Nicoline "

" That would have been clever ! Where could I
have telegraphed ? I did not know where you were," she
objected.

" 1 should have telegraphed to the " baroness, and
reckoned that, in spite of her headstrong stupidity, she
would have sent it on to me. Or, no. I should have
waited quietly until I got a letter from my Nico. It is
on the way. That you can well think, mummy."

" No, I can't cultivate a Juno-like repose when I know
that my child is in difficulties."

" In difficulties. No, no ^

♦' Why didn't you telegraph to me ? " interrupted her
mother. "That was very inconsiderate and blame-
worthy."

"Thanks, mummy, now we're quits. I did not

MORGANATIC 143

telegraph to you because I did not take the afFair so
tragically."

"Thank you, again."

"No. It doesn't do to get excited. In your place,
mummy, I should have kept calm, because I should have
had confidence in my Nico."

"Very well, we'll leave that. What's to be done
now ? " said Frau Flammert.

" What's to be done now H First, is that handbag
aU your luggage ? Where is your trunk ? " asked Nicoline.

" On the cab waiting at the door."

"But, mummy, send it away and have the trunk
brought up. I will find out if there is a nice room free,
and, if not, you must share my bed. It's not so small.
Oh ! how nice that would be ! " She rang the bell.

" What have you got into your head now ? " exclaimed
Frau Flammert. "Do you suppose I'm going to settle
in Paris ? I am going back to-night, and shall take you
with me."

The maid appeared and Nicoline gave iier the order
about the cab and the trunk. When she had gone,
Nicoline turned to her mother and asked —

" You are not in earnest .-' "

"Indeed I am."

" Two nights following ! You'll make yourself ill."

" What can I do ? I'm a poor captive beast ! I ought
to have sung yesterday evening, and am cto sing to-
morrow evening. I got the telegram at five o'clock, just a
few minutes too late for the Orient express. I was beside
myself. Half an hour before the performance I sent a
message to the theatre that I couldn't play, and went at
once to the station so as to avoid questioning and talk.
The director will have been in a terrible way. I don't
know how he will have got out of the scrape. They
have nobody who can take my place at a moment's notice,
And the prince, who had invited himself to supper! I
must telegraph home at once that they may count on
me for to-morrow. Give me a pen."

" Mummy, you can't. You won't be in voice. And
I must part with you again "

144 MORGANATIC

Frau Flammert did not let her continue. " Be quiet,
my dear: I must. They will have greatly blamed me
already. And the prince has such a horror of these sort of
surprises. Give me a sheet of paper."

There was nothing to be done. Nicoline gave her
mother what she asked for, and had the two telegrams
sent off.

" There ! " said Frau Flammert ! "And now, get every-
thing ready so that we may bid Signora Conti farewell,
and dine in peace."

" Why bid her farewell ? You do not really mean
that you're going to take me with you .'' "

"Of course!"

" Mummy, you won't."

" But, my dear, you can't remain in Paris alone."

"Why not.?"

" I should not have an hour's peace."

" Mummy, let me speak. You are not so old-fashioned
as that. What do all Signora Conti's pupils do .'' They
are all alone here."

" What they do has nothing to do with us."

"And you'll tear me away in the midst of my studies !
Didn't Signora Conti tell you what progress I am making ? "

" I did not wait to ask. I only asked where you
were to be found."

" Well, but do ask. It would be a sin to interrupt
my work, just when I am in the swing of it."

" Singing is to be learnt in Diesa."

" You know how far I got there, and you'll see what
progress I've made here."

" It's no use, my dear. We must go back."

" Mummy, you might at least leave me here till
August. Then I can make my debut in the autumn,
and a new life will begin for all of us."

Frau Flammert gave a deep sigh. At that moment
a servant knocked at the door, and brought in the ele-
gant leather trunk. When he had gone, she said —

" You imagine it's all so easy. In fact, it's not so at
all. You think I'm very rich. But I shall find it very
difficult to spare the four hundred francs a month which

MORGANATIC 145

it has cost up to now. And the five hundred or six
hundred that will be needed in the future is beyond my
resources."

Nicoline angrily stamped her foot. "Do you meaR
that such a trifle gives you anxiety ? That is a shame.
The prince must give me the money. It is no sacrifice
for him, and I have a right to demand it."

" Nico ! What an idea ! " exclaimed Frau Flammert,
and an expression of anxiety passed over her face.

" Well ! if there's no other way, I'm not going to
be worried about that. I shall speak to the prince
myself."

" Be quiet," ordered her mother, vehemently, and put
her hand on her mouth. There was a pause, during which
both visibly struggled with their thoughts. The mother
was the first to break the silence. " And even if the
expense could be got over — I'm not easy — about this
business with young Gronendal."

Nicoline jumped up from the little sofa on which she
was sitting by her mother, blushed a fiery red, and rushed
out of the door before Frau Flammert could question her
or keep her back. She had entirely forgotten that she had
left Siegfried in the drawing-room without a word of ex-
planation, and hurried oiF now to dismiss him in proper
form. But he was no longer there. After waiting a little
he had gone.

"What's the matter.?" asked Frau Flammert, when
Nicoline returned.

" Nothing, mummy ; I'd forgotten something."

« What was it .? "

" Nothing, I assure you."

"You must tell me."

"Baron von Gronendal was here when you came, and
I left him somewhat unceremoniously."

" What ! Gronendal is here ? "

" No ; he's gone."

" He comes to see you here in the boarding-house ? "

" Why shouldn't he, mummy .?"

"Nico, I shall not leave you in Paris. You must
come back with me."

146 MORGANATIC

Nicoline put her arm round her mother's neck,
nestled up against her, and said very seriously and very
firmly —

" Mamma, what do you fear ? "

"You are a thoughtless, innocent child. You don't
know "

" Mothers make mistakes. Forgive me. I am neither
thoughtless, nor innocent, nor a child. I mean in the
sense of a little goose. I don't, perhaps, know everything,
but as much as affects myself. You know I am pure-
minded. You have sometimes said almost morbidly so.
I shall always preserve myself from stain. You can rely
on that, mother."

" Stain ! We need not think of stain. Gronendal
may have serious intentions ; but even so, it would not
be a happy thing for you."

"Mamma, I will be quite frank with you. Not a
shadow of reserve shall be between us. I, too, have
thought of that. It is possible that Siegfried may wish
to marry me. But I do not wish it. In the first place,
he's not a good match. Neither am I. We should not
improve each other's position. His is ambiguous ; he
has not even a fixed name. He depends on the favour
of hard-hearted people, and from one day to the next
may be left without means. His poor mother would
object, and you will understand that that would not
suit me. No. In any case, he must wait. That will
be good for both of us. I must first become famous and
rich. In the interval, his position may perhaps improve,
and his constancy and truth will be tested. Then we
can see."

Frau Flammert listened to her open-mouthed, and her
expression was a mingling of astonishment and horror,
at which Nicoline was obliged to smile.

" And you've thought all that out so calmly and
clearly ? "

" Yes. Who could do it for me, mummy, if I didn't
do it for myself ? "

Frau Flammert shook her head slowly. " You're too
prudent for a singer."

MORGANATIC 14.7

" What an idea, mamma ! A singer can't be too
prudent."

Frau Flammert heaved a deep sigh. " If I'd only had
your sense ! "

Nicoline drew her mother to her bosom, cradled her
head there, as if she had been the mother and Frau Flam-
mert the child, and said softly, in tender flattering tones —

" Mummy darling, don't be modest. You've got
plenty of sense, but more heart. That's why you're such
an angel. It would certainly have been better if you'd
always had me at your side. My advice would have been
useful. Your mother was a simple kind of woman. Many
things made an impression on you that would leave me
quite indifferent. You must understand that, mummy,
and therefore there's no need to fear for me."

Frau Flammert understood her very well, so well that
the tears rose to her eyes, and flowed slowly down her
cheeks.

Nicoline kissed them away, "Don't cry, mummy.
Why should you ? There's nothing wrong, is there ? "

"Everything's wrong, if you won't come back
with me."

" That's our fate. But material distance does not
really separate us. I'm always with you in thought.
Don't cry. You torture yourself quite needlessly. When
a creature like me doesn't see the least little spot
in you, and respects and honours you, that's something.
How much do I counterbalance ? A million, ten million,
say, mummy."

Frau Flammert said nothing, but yielded to her
daughter's caresses.

"Then, mamma, it's settled. I stay here, at least
until the year's up. And if you have no money, then
the prince must "

" Nothing of the kind," exclaimed her mother,
vehemently.

" You must pawn some jewels you don't want. I've
no conscience about it, for I'm quite sure I shall be able
to redeem them for you in a very short time."

Frau Flammert was no match for her daughter. She

148 MORGANATIC

hung her head in silence, and Nicoline understood that
she had conquered. Now she tried to persuade her
mother to remain longer in Paris. But that she posi-
tively refused to do. Her long connection with a Court
theatre had engendered conscientious habits of work, and
the director's displeasure was a terror to her.

Four hours remained until the departure of the Orient
express, and they flew like a moment. Nicoline wanted
her mother to rest, but she was not to be persuaded
to do so. All cause for anxiety being removed, she re-
covered her energy, and was the beautiful, imaginative,
and for her forty years, astonishingly young artist, who
bewitched all who came in contact with her. She changed
the position of the furniture in her child's room, she in-
terviewed the landlady, who felt as if she had had an
audience with royalty. Frau Flammert made Nicoline
sing to her, and accompanied her herself on the semi-
grand piano in the drawing-room, and was immensely
pleased with her voice, her certainty, and her grace and
charm, paid a second visit to Signora Conti with Nicoline,
and had along and hopeful discussion about her daughter's
future.* The mother and daughter then dined together
at a restaurant near the Gare de I'Est, and Frau Flammert
found time to retail a whole budget of Court gossip.
Nicoline was naturally most interested in the Loewen-
steins and their relations and connections, and about the
Gronendals' claims and doings. Her mother gave Nico-
line all the money she had with her that she could spare
as she got into the sleeping-car, and took as passionate a
farewell of her as if it had been for life.

The landlady received Nicoline on her return with
enthusiastic praise of her mother's beauty, distinction,
and charm. Nicoline thanked her shortly and somewhat
impatiently, remarked that she should not go in to
dinner, as she had already dined, and went to her room.

About an hour and a half later, the housemaid
entered, and told her that the Prince of Loewenstein-
Franka — her pronunciation of the name beggars descrip-
tion, but Nicoline understood her — was waiting in the
drawing-room. It was the first time that he had so

MORGANATIC 149

called himself, and the impression it made upon the
servant appeared to be very strong. Nicoline hesitated
a moment, and then said —

" I will come directly.'"

She soon appeared in the drawing-room, where a few
of the boarders were sitting and whispering together.
Siegfried went quickly towards her, and grasping her
hand, said softly —

" I found out at home that it was your mother. You
left me so suddenly that I didn't know what to make of it."

" When my mother arrives unexpectedly in Paris to
see me, I can't stand on ceremony."

" Of course not. I'm not blaming you. Now for the
important thing. Are you going to remain in Paris ? "
asked Siegfried.

"Yes."

" Ah ! Capital ! I am glad. If it isn't too late — ^but
perhaps your mother is tired after the night journey — I
should like to pay my respects to her "

" She's already gone," said Nicoline.

" What .'' " exclaimed Siegfried.

They had both stood through this rapid interchange of
words, and Nicoline did not ask Siegfried to sit down. As
she did not reply to his last exclamation, he continued —

"May I venture to ask how your mother took the
disagreeable episode .'' "

" Just as I did," rejoined Nicoline. " But forgive me,
Prince Siegfried, if I don't keep you any longer now. I
begin to feel the effects of these two exciting days, and my
nerves need rest. Good night. Good-bye." She grasped
his hand, shook it firmly, and disappeared through the
door.

Siegfried, much disconcerted, remained standing in the
middle of the room, and stared at the departing figure.
But when he remembered that eight or ten eyes were
observing him, he bowed stiffly and went.

The discussion with her mother compelled Nicoline to
see clearly what had hitherto been indefinite and vague.
She became conscious of her feelings for Siegfried, and her
relations to him took definite shape in her imagination.

150 MORGANATIC

She felt warm friendship for him, she would like to be his
adviser, protector, patroness ; but, if he desired more, he
must first deserve it. Meanwhile intercourse with him
must not place the least importunity on her, not even that
of a polite control of momentary moods. She felt that it
might have been quite different if things had developed
without interference, if their inclinations had grown un-
consciously. The baroness's rough interference had
crushed out all tenderness. So much the worse.

In the Villa Josephine the atmosphere was more stormy
than ever. Mother and son were more estranged than
before. Siegfried could not forgive his mother for turning
Nicoline out of the house and depriving him of the
presence that had made his life so much brighter. On her
side the baroness was specially annoyed at his coldness,
which politeness scarcely veiled, because she was convinced
that she had been forced to an unpleasant and disturbing
course of action entirely for his advantage. She could
only relieve her feelings in speaking to Bertha, to whom
she daily complained of her son's ingratitude. " I have got
into Frau Flammert's bad books," she said the day after
her hostile interview with the singer. " She'll set Prince
Johann against us. He might have been a support. I
reckoned on him. But I was obliged to act as I did in
order to save Siegfried from a piece of stupidity for which
there would have been no reparation. And this is the
thanks I get."

" Yes," said Bertha, " the prince is exactly like his
father — he only thinks of himself."

" What nonsense you talk ! " rejoined the baroness.
" My angel prince never failed to see when anything
was done for his good. Siegfried doesn't think of him-
self; he doesn't think of anything."

Just before Christmas, another event greatly disturbed
her. Little Posner appeared one afternoon at an unusual
hour at the Villa Josephine, and, as the baroness was out,
waited until she returned. She was surprised to hear from
Janusz, who opened the door, that Posner had been waiting
in the drawing-room for half an hour. She sent Bertha to
ask him what he wanted. He said that he must see her

MORGANATIC 161

highness herself. She kept him waiting while she changed
her di'ess, and then went down to the drawing-room.

" What procures me this pleasure, my dear Herr
Posner ? " she asked.

He respectfully kissed the large hand she offered him,
and replied in flattering tones —

" Nothing very special, your highness. Only a little
business formality. Things have been going badly on the
Stock Exchange for the last few days. Everything has
gone down. I would not trouble your highness about it
yesterday. I hoped things would go better to-day. But,
on the contrary, they are still more flat, and I thought it
my duty to recommend your highness to make your
position easier."

" What am I to understand by that, my dear Herr
Posner.?"

" I mean that your highness should sell a part of your
shares, perhaps the half, so as to diminish the risk. It
can't be done even now without loss, but that need not
specially worry your highness since both the last settle-
ments were so favourable."

" Loss ! That's a pleasant outlook ! " said the baroness,
gloomily, and unconsciously put her hand to her heart,
which began to beat painfully.

" It won't be very serious, I hope," Posner hastened
to reassure her. " And with what you keep back, you'U
recoup yourself. I think this is only a passing distur-
bance. A brief storm, then sunshine returns."

" Well, if it must be — I understand these matters so
little — I must rely entirely on your skill "

Posner, against his will, was obliged to smile at
that word; but he soon recovered his seriousness, and
replied —

"Your highness can assuredly place every confidence
in me. I always keep your interests in view. I advise you
as I should advise myself. Nothing could be more prudent.
But no one on the Stock Exchange is infallible, not even
Rothschild."

An embarrassing pause ensued, which Posner broke after
a while : getting up, he observed —

152 MORGANATIC

" We decide then, your highness, to sell the half of
your shares at the first price to-morrow. If that is too
unfavourable, I will see what it will be best to do. I
am on the spot. And" — he said this with hesitation
and with some confusion — " for the other half the stock-
broker insists on payment " The baroness looked

at him without the least sign of comprehension. " These
people always get anxious when there is a downward
tendency. And we can't blame them if they ask for
security "

"What security.?"

" Twenty thousand francs would be sufficient, I think.'"

The baroness grew angry. " What ! Do I under-
stand you rightly .'' I am to give twenty thousand francs ? "

" Give ! No, your highness, only to place them as
security for the time."

" Isn't my name sufficient ? Am I not trusted ? "

" Of course, your highness, of course. But it is
a general decision from which no one can stand apart.
It is the stockbroker's duty to demand security from his
clients."

"But it hasn't been done before," objected the
baroness.

"That was from negligence. We mustn't complain
because the regulations are held to."

" And where am I to find twenty thousand francs all of a
sudden?" asked the baroness.

" I brought your highness more than eighteen thousand
francs out of the last two settlements."

"You keep a very strict account of my money. Do
you suppose I put it in a stocking, or bury it in the
cellar ? I shouldn't meddle with the Stock Exchange if I
had superfluous money."

The interview began to be very uncomfortable for
Posner.

" It need not be ready money," he put in, " paper
will do."

" I've nothing in paper here," she said sharply.

" Jewels would, if necessary, do for security," rejoined
Posner, anxiously.

MORGANATIC 153

" I'm not a cook that I should be asked to give security,"
she broke out angrily.

" Your highness need not get so annoyed, really not.
It is merely a Stock Exchange custom. Even crowned
heads, when they go in for speculation "

The baroness interrupted him impatiently. " Do me
the favour of giving the security yourself, if it is really
demanded."

" I .'' " exclaimed Posner, in amazement.

" Am I asking too much of your friendship ? The
security is not touched actually, if I have understood you
correctly ? "

" That is — of course — it is presumed that the business
may be carried through easily. But it is most unusual for
the agent "

" It is likewise most unusual for a duchess of
a reigning house to do business on the Stock Ex-
change," interrupted the baroness, with a scornful
smile.

" Not as unusual as your highness thinks. Much less
so than that an agent "

" I ask it of you," She said it so that it sounded like
a command.

Posner gazed at the imperious eyes turned on him, cast
down his own, bowed, and murmured humbly —

"Your highness — I will see. I will do what is
possible "

The baroness got up, gave him her hand, which he
kissed with noticeably less devotion than before.

" Keep me informed of what goes on, my dear friend.
I count upon your bringing me after New Year at least as
much as the last time. I am greatly in need of it. You
mustn't fail me."

" Alas ! your highness, if only we could be always sure

of winning " he tried to object, but broke off when

he noticed her impatience. It seemed to him useless to
try to prove anything to a woman who so obstinately fol-
lowed her own thoughts, and he made his adieux without
adding another word.

Christmas Eve fell the next day. A tall Christmas

154 MORGANATIC

tree stood in the drawing-room of the Villa Josephine, on
a pedestal draped with stuff of the Meissen-Loewenstein-
Franka colours. A big star made of gold paper, and two
flags of the Grand Duchy, were fastened to the topmost
bough. Otherwise it was decorated in the usual way. Gifts
for Siegfried, Count Laporte, and the Dormans, who were
invited to the Christmas party, lay on the drawing-room
table ; on another were those destined for the servants. It
had been growing dark for the last half-hour, the guests
were in the dining-room, with Siegfried at the tea-table,
and Janusz had been told to light the candles on
the Christmas tree, when a letter was brought to the
baroness. It was a communication from one of her
unknown stockbrokers that her business on the Stock
Exchange had been wound up that day, and left her a
debtor to the tune of eight thousand five hundred francs.
She had to read the printed form that was filled in with
a not too legible handwriting several times, in order to
discover what it was all about. It was the more difficult
for her to understand because hitherto she had only
had to do with Posner, and not directly with the stock-
broker who carried out her orders. When at length,
with Bertha's assistance, she understood, her intense
anger brought on a heart attack, and she was obliged
to let Bertha put her to bed. She sent her excuses
to her guests, the presentation of gifts took place without
her, and was soon over. The inmates of the house
were so depressed that the guests thought it better to
depart, although they had been definitely asked to stay
for dinner. Siegfried found the loneliness on a holiday
evening so intolerable that, when he ascertained that
his mother would not come down to dinner, he prefei'red
to dine in one of the restaurants on the Boulevards.
Afterwards he would go and see Nicoline, so that he
might feel like Christmas for half an hour, recount his
depressing Christmas Eves at Castle Lindenheim and in
the Grand Ducal Castle at Franka, and hear her talk of
the Diesa Christmas celebrations, at which Prince Johann
never failed to put in an appearance, even if he could
only spare a quarter of an hour.

MORGANATIC 165

As soon as the baroness had recovered a little, she
sent an excited letter to Posner by express, asking what
the stockbroker's official document meant, and why he
had gone beyond the instructions, which had expressly
been to sell half her shares and keep the other half
until the storm had blown over. She ended by saying
that she counted on seeing him the next morning, and
on a verbal and satisfactory explanation.

Posner took good care not to accept the invitation.
About noon the baroness, who was waiting in a condition
of great irritation and impatience, received, instead of
Posner, a letter, in which he politely, but briefly, informed
her that, to guard against the risk of further loss, he had
found it advisable to settle all her obligations. The
difference would not have to be paid until January 5th, so
she had plenty of time to arrange. There would still
remain a gain of nearly ten thousand francs, and for a
first attempt that was not so bad. It went without saying
that he was always at her service, if she cared to make use
of him again.

The baroness was beside herself. Although it was the
luncheon hour, she sent Janusz in a cab to Coppee, with the
commission to bring him back under any circumstances,
whether he was at luncheon or had gone out, and had to
be fetched away from some party. Hardly had a quarter of
an hour elapsed before the young man stood in her own
drawing-room. He seemed to be in a very bad temper.
Janusz had caught him while he was dressing to go to
lunch with a celebrated actress, whom he hoped to interest
in a piece by himself and a friend. Coppee's temper
did not improve when the baroness received him with
knitted brows, and, instead of apologizing for incon-
veniencing him, handed him, with a cursory greeting, the
communications from Posner and the stockbroker, and
said, in a tone of command —

" Read those ! That's my Christmas gift."

Copp6e read them, screwed his eye-glass into his eye,
while he returned them, and observed coldly —

" Thank you, your highness. Very interesting. Little
Posner has done very well,"

156 MORGANATIC

The baroness stared at him. She had the impression
that he was wickedly making fun of her.

" What ! You find it all right that the man should
ruin me ? ■"

" Oh, I beg your pardon, your highness, he speaks of
ten thousand francs gain."

" I've long since disposed of that. I must now pay so
much out of my pocket that breath fails me."

"Well, that's always so in speculation. You must
say to yourself, 'A ball is round and turns. What is
below comes uppermost, and vice versa,'' " Coppee assured
her.

"That's all very wisely observed," said the baroness,
"but it doesn't help me. I confess that I have a good
mind not to trouble about the affair at all."

" How do you mean, princess ? "

" I mean that I shall not pay what these people
demand."

" I fear, princess," said the young man, in icy tones,
" that is not a happy thought. People do not under-
stand jokes in business. They would be quite ready to
serve you with a writ. There would not be the least
doubt of your condemnation."

" I should just like to let it come to that. I do not
know the stockbroker. I have done everything through
your friend Posner, and he has acted without my sanction
and not in accordance with his own statements. Let him
get out of the mess as best he may."

" Princess, you are not in earnest."

" You'll soon be convinced that I am."

"Then let me emphatically warn you. The bailiffs
will distrain you for what you refuse to pay of your own
free will. I should be very sorry if there was a scandal,
both for your sake, princess, and for that of Posner, for
whom I feel responsible, since it was I who introduced
him to you."

The blood mounted to the baroness's face, and she
exclaimed, in a voice shaking with anger —

" Am I to be spared nothing ? I receive a stock-
jobber, a Jew, and even his wife, invite them to dinner.

MORGANATIC 157

and in return they swindle me out of some thousands
of francs ! Threaten me with distraint ! That's a little
strong."

Coppee got up, bowed to the baroness, and said, with
an impertinent smile —

" Your highness, you're visibly nervous to-day. Under
such conditions, it would be very wrong to irritate you
by contradiction. Allow me to withdraw."

He did not wait for permission, but took his departure
without further ceremony.

As soon as he had gone, the baroness recognized that
she had committed a fault. Coppee had done her
numerous favours with the Press, which she greatly
overrated. If she quarrelled with him, not only would
he do her no more favours, but she also feared he
might make her a butt in the newspapers. That sort
of thing amused her greatly when it concerned other
people in society. But she did not desire to be held up
to ridicule herself.

She was in such a bad humour the whole day that
every one who could, avoided her. Only Bertha was un-
able to do so. She was obliged to weather the storm.
The resolution to get away from all the discomfort
became more decided than ever, and more than once
during the afternoon the formal notice had been on her
lips. What prevented it was a mixture of cowardice and
pity, and a dim foreboding that things could not long
go on as they were, that something must happen which
would procure her the desired liberty without necessity for
a breach with her mistress.

Towards evening the baroness grew calm enough to
take counsel with Bertha. The maid strongly advised her
to pay the difference, and never again to meddle in such
matters.

" That is cleverly said," exclaimed the baroness. " Do
you suppose I should have had dealings with a Jew if it
had not been so pressingly needful ? "

" Yes," returned Bertha, calmly, " if only more reliance
could be placed on such proceedings. First it's all jubi-
lation, and then it's all woe."

158 MORGANATIC

"And where's the money to come from? Have you
thought of that ? " asked the baroness.

" Yes," said Bertha, simply. And she explained to
her mistress that she must alter the arrangements that she
had made, and instruct Osterburg to send her the allow-
ance at New Year as usual.

" ThafU help us greatly ! It's only just enough to
satisfy the swindling stockjobber, and I shall have abso-
lutely nothing left. And, maybe, Osterburg has already
had expenses, and has taken them out of the five thousand
gulden."

" But it's the only thing we can do meanwhile. Your
highness will see afterwards what more can be done."

The baroness then wrote out a telegram to Dr. von
Osterburg that would have cost over twenty francs. Bertha,
calmly commented on its length. The baroness tried to
shorten it, but could only do so at the cost of its clear-
ness. Discouraged, she laid down the pen, her eyes filled
with tears, and she said, in a hoarse voice —

" It's come to this, then. I must count the half-
pence. If my angel prince knew that, he would turn
in his grave."

" Yes, that's true," remarked Bertha, with well-feigned
innocence; "his highness always disliked arithmetic."
When she noticed the tears in her mistress's eyes, she
added, " I think, your highness, that the telegram is quite
unnecessary. A letter will do as well. We should dis-
turb the doctor in his sleep. He does not receive the
allowance till the second, so a letter will reach him quite
soon enough."

The baroness agreed.

She counted on a reply from Osterburg by return of
post. But she did not receive a letter from him until
January 4th, after she had reminded him by telegraph on
the !2nd that she expected to hear from him. The lawyer
wrote that he was very sorry to be unable to carry out
her highness's new directions. Without losing any time
he had acted as they had definitely arranged, the
treaty of purchase for a portion of a house had been
legally concluded, the five thousand gulden which he had

MORGANATIC 159

received two days previously from the trustees hardly sufficed
for the settlement of expenses that had been already in-
curred, and he must humbly beg her highness, in view of
the payment for the house, to realize the ready money as
soon as possible, so that he might have the entry made in
the Land Register, and commence the suit against the
family.

That was a hard though scarcely an unexpected blow,
and it was not the only one. Bills poured into the house
at the turn of the year, and they had to be left unsettled.
The next day there came a document from the stock-
broker, in which she was summoned to go that very day
to the cashier, or legal proceedings would at once be com-
menced against her. That alarmed her greatly, the more
so as Bertha, too, looked anxious. She did not wish to
ask her Paris lawyer's advice, for it was not advisable for
him to know her circumstances too minutely. She con-
fided only in old Count Laporte, who came to lunch, and,
while they were drinking their coffee, made an attempt at
asking a loan. The baroness was forced to refuse, and
she took the opportunity of referring to her own difficulties.
She told him, of course from her point of view, of the
adventure with Posner, and showed him the stockbroker's
threatening letter. Count Laporte took the matter very
seriously, and strongly advised her not to let it come into
the law-courts. With a heavy heart she decided to swallow
the bitter pill, and begged Laporte to go to the broker
and ask for a delay, as some time must elapse before she
could procure the ready money.

Count Laporte's mission was unsuccessful. With no
attempt at politeness, the broker insisted on having the
money at once, and nothing remained for the baroness
but to pawn her jewels. The unpleasant commission fell
to Bertha, who had to have the receipt made out in her
name. Thus the name of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka
would not be tarnished, the baroness affirmed. In fact,
she wished to avoid signing herself as Baroness von
Gronendal, for all official documents bore that signature.

The sale of her Franka mortgage could no longer be
avoided. That was her last resource. She must write to

160 MORGANATIC

her Franka lawyer. Even that simple business presented
difficulties through the false position in which she had
put herself. She knew the lawyer to be a pedant who
worked almost like a machine, and invariably refused to
carry out any suggestion that was not in full accordance
with the regulations. He would probably have dismissed
a document from the Princess von Loewenstein-Franka as
unseemly jesting with serious matters. She did not believe
in calling herself Baroness von Gronendal when treating
with a Loewenstein official. There was much head-break-
ing before she cleverly found a way out by signing herself
" Josephine, widow of his Royal Highness, Prince Albrecht
of Loewenstein-Franka." The formula was unilsual, and
the lawyer considered its familiarity somewhat improper.
For he had never received a letter from a lady not a
member of his family, merely signed with her Christian
name. But the signature offered no objection from the
legal point of view, and the lawyer contented himself
with signifying his disapproval by the manner in which he
addressed his reply to " Madame Josephine, Baroness von
Gronendal, widow of his Royal Highness Prince Albrecht
of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level," thickly underlining
the name Gronendal.

It was nearly four weeks before the lawyer could
send her the sum she had demanded. Meanwhile she
suffered much annoyance, for Siegfried bore the large
reduction in his pocket-money with the greatest im-
patience, and Bertha had to make several journeys to
the pawnbroker's.

When the scarcely remarkable sum from Franka
arrived, the baroness felt so deeply discouraged, that she
burst into loud sobs. Bertha tried to comfort her by
conventional speeches, but she exclaimed —

"Be silent. Leave me in peace. I know too well
what is weighing on my heart."

And speaking more to herself than to the maid,
complained —

" The Grand Duke is right to make fun of me : the
game is up." i

She learned that the Grand Duke had said that at

MORGANATIC 161

dinner when he heard, through a letter to Frau Biichler,
who kept up a fairly regular correspondence with friends
in the service of the Court, that the baroness had sold
her Franka mortgage.

" The tiger sees me beg or starve, and is glad. And
what remains for me ? When these few thousand francs
are gone, I have literally nothing."

" Let us hope the Vienna lawsuit will be decided
before that," suggested Bertha.

" Yes, I hope so. But if it isn't ? Then I must give
up the game. And I have become an old woman !
People used to envy my happiness. They should have
waited till the end. A bad end. Bertha, a bad end," she
continued after a short pause, while she dried her eyes.
" Have I deserved it ? As a child I was a celebrated
artist. If I had gone on, I should now have been
world-famous and worshipped, and a multi-millionaire.
But I am lonely and persecuted, and hold the last pieces
of my maiden property in my hands."

She remained for a time immersed in her thoughts,
and then broke out again —

" And why should I worry about it all ? What have
I to gain .'' I am ill and shall not live long. When I am
dead it'll be all the same to me what is written on my
tombstone. I do it for Siegfried's sake. And what
thanks does he give me ? When I ask him to spend a
little less on his frivolous pleasures, he objects that it is
his money that I have made over to Osterburg. Perhaps
it would really be best to give up the game. I should
at least have peace."

" I have thought that for a long time, your highness,"
agreed Bertha.

The maid's imprudent candour brought about a
complete change in the baroness's mood. She sat straight
up on the sofa, her eyes darted lightning at Bertha, and
she exclaimed vehemently —

" Oh ! so that's what you have thought for a long
time, is it ? But you've always said the contrary."

" But your highness, I have "

"Hold your tongue, you serpent. You're a spy and

M

162 MORGANATIC

a traitor. Biichler at least shows me the letters she
writes and receives. I know nothing of what you do.
But I see clearly that you wish to discourage me. I am to
bow down before the Grand Duke and my brother-in law ?
What do they pay you for giving me such advice .'' "

" If your highness has such suspicions of me "

said Bertha, deeply offended.

"It is best that we should part, isn't it.'' Well,
you can go when you like. The sooner the better."

" Very well, your highness. I will go," said Bertha.

" You have waited some time. Now you show your-
self in your true colours. Naturally there's nothing to
be got out of a poor, miserable widow."

That was too much for Bertha, who was convinced
that she had made considerable sacrifices for the baroness
during the past year and a half, and she burst into
tears.

"Don't weep," said the baroness. "Tears are no
longer of any avail with me. I shall only keep you until
I have found a substitute. Go away out of my sight."

Bertha went. As soon as the baroness was alone,
her anger vanished, she saw the consequences of her out-
break, and felt afraid, like a nervous child in the dark.
What was to become of her if Bertha left her ? How
easy she had found it to announce her departure. That
was her faithfulness, her dependence ! No one was to be
trusted. The baroness never thought for a moment
that her own act was responsible for the breach. She
hoped that Bertha would come to a sense of her bad
conduct, and repent, and ask her pardon. But as dinner-
time arrived and nothing of the sort had taken place,
she became gloomier than ever, and really believed that
the end of all things had come. She sent for her
physician, who could do nothing except offer her some
commonplace words of consolation, and then rang for
the maid to inform her that she should not go down to
dinner, that Siegfried could make what use he pleased
of the box she had taken at the theatre, and that she
must rest.

Bertha performed her duties silently and coldly. The

MORGANATIC 163

baroness could not endure that for long, and expressed
her grief that any one who knew what her life was
should be so hardhearted. A fresh discussion arose
between them, the baroness humiliated herself. Bertha
gave way, and when she had put her mistress to bed, the
quarrel was ended by a gentle sermon from Bertha, and
a correct apology from the baroness who could then sleep
in peace.

Each day brought some fresh trouble. Little Coppde
avenged himself for what seemed to him rank ingrati-
tude in a cunningly spiteful fashion. Whenever he had
occasion to mention the baroness's presence at a dinner*,
an ' at home,' or a private view, he printed her name as
" Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Loewenstein-
Franka," following it in brackets with ' Baroness von
Gronendal.' It got so on her nerves that she began to
refuse all invitations in order that she might not be
named in the Vercingetorix in so olFensive a way.
But in the end she found herself unable to keep to that
line of conduct. For if she systematically withdrew from
society, she would soon be forgotten, she would lose all
the relations with it that she still possessed, and she
would render difficult, nay, even impossible, the realization
of the plan from which she hoped salvation : a brilliant
marriage for Siegfried. She must make her peace with
Coppee. She could not employ either Count Laporte or
the Dormans as intermediaries, for she did not wish to
lay her wounds bare before them. The haughty and
resentful young man took no notice of a letter of invita-
tion to visit her. There was nothing left but to ask
Madame Abeille to speak for her, a task she gladly
undertook. Coppee declared his conditions. Long
since the baroness had promised him a Diesa decoration.
He desired that the promise should be redeemed, for he
found that it was time for him to begin to make a start.
How was the baroness to keep her word .'' She had
counted on Prince Johann, but after the quarrel with
Frau Flammert, she did not dare to approach him with
a request. For she felt certain it would only result in
further humiliation for her. Here, too, she lacked the

164 MORGANATIC

moral courage to recognize frankly that the Prince of
Diesa had nothing more to ofiFer her, there was no recon-
ciliation with Coppee.

For similiar reasons the friendly relations between her
and the actor, Saint-Denis, were threatened with a break.
A decoration had likewise been promised to him, and the
baroness could not keep her word. After a disagreeable
discussion of the matter, Saint-Denis discontinued his
visits to the Villa Josephine. This deprived her of a
connection that had been of the greatest value. It had
enabled her to recommend German plays sent her by
ambitious writers, who were keen to see their work pro-
duced in Paris, to Saint-Denis, who invariably promised to
take up the matter. So far nothing had come of it, but
it permitted a vast amount of activity in building castles
in the air. The baroness wrote cheerful letters to the
dramatists, which mentioned the forthcoming production
of their work in Paris ; through Coppee information of
a similar character was inserted in the Vercingetorix and
other journals, so a few were made happy and many
jealous. The legend of the baroness's decisive influence
on the Parisian stage prevailed in German dramatic circles,
and produced afar-reaching correspondence which flattered
and consoled her, and gave her an importance in her own
eyes, the loss of which caused her deep sorrow.

On one of the rare days when she dined alone with
Siegfried she spoke of these things. She complained of the
ingratitude and faithlessness of Coppee and Saint-Denis,
and declared it was of importance for him to bring about
a renewal of their former relations.

" YouVe not in earnest ? " exclaimed Siegfried.

" Why not ? The men are useful to us. It is to our
interest to keep them in our circle," replied the baroness.

"I beg you pardon, mamma, but I have never been
able to see that. They have never done anything for us
worth speaking of, and never will, although meanwhile
they'll get all they can out of us."

" Don't be so positive," said his mother, " you are
inexperienced and know nothing of the ways of the world.
Persons in our position cannot do without the press "

MORGANATIC 165

" And comedians ? "

"And comedians, too, as you contemptuously express
it. You overlook the fact that through the comedians I
hold the German writers, and, through them, the German
press, in my hands."

" I certainly do overlook it, or, to be more accurate, I
don't see it," retorted Siegfried. " What has come of the
dozen pieces I have translated.'' Not one of them has
been performed. Saint-Denis has led us by the nose, and
we have led the authors by the nose. We have sacrificed
our time, our money, and our dignity, and have gained
nothing but hostility."

The baroness, quite taken aback, was silent. She had
never seen things in that light. Neither did she desire to
be deprived of her self-deception.

"Yes," she replied, in tones of irritation, "that's how
you understand me. You can only doubt, and criticise,
and deny. That won't bring us any farther."

"Neither will your methods,mamma. We shall never be-
come Dukes of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka- Level through
the favour of the press. I consider that Osterburg has hit
on the only right way. We must quietly await further
developments. Let us take no heed of Coppee and
Saint-Denis. Let us rejoice to be free of them."

But the baroness would not give in. " I can never
count on you, not in the smallest thing ! "

"Not in things which I consider entirely hopeless,"
Siegfried agreed.

" Don't irritate me ? " she exclaimed angi'ily. " You
always forget for whose sake I put up with all the agitation,
persecution, and struggle. Is it for myself.'' I am becoming
an old woman. I have done with life. For the few years
more that God has, perhaps, allotted me, I should like peace.
What would you say if I submitted to the family, and
vanished into obscurity, and let you make your own way in
the world as a mere baron ? "

"I should say you were continuing what papa so
affectionately began," replied Siegfried, grimly.

The baroness got up, and left the dining-room in
silence. Siegfried let her go without stin-ing.

166 MORGANATIC

The uncomfortable surroundings at home made Nico-
line's cheerful society a pressing need for Siegfried. The
strained relations with his mother and all the human
beings round him froze his heart, and his longing for
warmth drove him almost unconsciously to seek it in
Nicoline with the force and certainty of a natural impulse.
They had agreed to meet eVery afternoon about half-past
two in front of, or in the Eglise St. Augustin, which was
near her house. For the gossip of her feUow-inmates
about Siegfried's long daily visits which could not but
come to her ears, annoyed her, despite her proud contempt
for the opinion of persons she did not know and to whom
she was entirely indifferent. She had fallen in with the
plan in order to preserve her liberty of action. Siegfried
was never to wait for her more than half an hour. If she
was not there by then, she would not be coming. As a
matter of fact in three weeks she had not missed going
three times. As a rule the young people remained
together till twilight. They visited everything that Paris
afforded in the way of museums, galleries, and other
sights. Siegfried was not a first-rate guide. He had
little understanding for art, and insufficient culture to
appreciate historical, scientific, or technical subjects, and
was, in fact, only good as an excellent walker. They
made expeditions to the outlying Jardin de Plantes,
the Jardin d'Acclimatation, and the Bois de Vincennes.
But, all the same, Nicoline was not often bored in his
company. She had the feeling that he was her property,
her chattel, and felt no more responsibility to him than
she would have to some domestic pet or a piece of
furniture.

They did not escape observation, either in the street
or in the buildings. No one passed the couple without
giving a pleased or envying and always surprised
glance at the young giant and his beautiful and distin-
guished-looking companion. People often stopped and
looked after them for quite a long time. Facts were not
greatly perverted when they imagined themselves to
be princes, who desired to go about unconventionally,
like ordinary mortals, and that the people saw through

MORGANATIC 167

their incognito and followed them with respectful
curiosity

If NicoHne hoped to escape the boarding-house gossip
by meeting Siegfried away from it, she made a very natural
mistake. The less she concerned herself with others, the
more they concerned themselves with her. The only fellow-
inmate, the landlady and her daughter excepted, with whom
she was on confidential terms, was the American student.
But she recoiled from her because her indiscretion annoyed
her. The girl was vexed that Nicoline did not introduce
Siegfried to her, and when she learned, from the chatter at
Signora Conti's, who the visitor was, she boldly asked,
" Dear Miss Flammert, won't you introduce the prince
tome.?"

" I will ask his highness if it would be agreeable to
him," replied Nicoline, with cutting coldness ; she left the
room, and confined herself henceforth to the exchange of
conventional greetings with the American.

It was a principle of the boarding-house only to take
ladies. But exception was made in favour of three gentle-
men. One was with his wife, another with his sister, and
the third was a young Levantine, a distant relation of the
landlady.

The Levantine was pursuing questionable studies in
political and economic science at semi-public, semi-private
institutions, with a view to a post in the diplomatic
service of his native land. He dressed like a fashion
model, and evidently considered himself an irresistible
conqueror of women's hearts. He was not so much to be
blamed for holding so good an opinion of himself, for it
was justified by the success he had had with the young
ladies who were his fellow-inmates during the year he had
honoured the boarding-house with his presence.

Hardly had Nicoline become an inmate of the house
than he took the utmost pains to approach her. He got
the landlady to introduce him, and at once poured forth
a shower of intrusive, eager compliments. Nicoline
looked at him in astonishment, bowed slightly, turned
and left him. Whenever she entered the dining-room,
he greeted her warmly and respectfully, inquired after

168 MORGANATIC

her health, her studies, and tried to enter into conversation
with her on the topics of the day. Nicoline was so an-
noyed that she determined not to go down until long
after the gong had sounded. Then they would all be
seated, and the Levantine would not be able to annoy
her. But after a few days he arranged so that his place
should be next hers. And thus her unpunctuality was
useless. She had to endure his chatter. But not for
long. When it availed nothing that she kept silent and
did not listen to his insipid compliments, she remarked
quite loud and in excellent French —

" Excuse me, sir, but I neither speak nor understand
French."

Growing alternately red and white, he drew back,
and made no reply. But at the same time he swore to
be revenged for the repulse. He would not be the butt
of the young ladies whom he had thoughtlessly begun to
neglect on her account, and who had been glad witnesses
of his discomfiture. She must be his, cost what it
would.

What specially annoyed him was that he ascribed her
rudeness to the existence of a rival. He did not believe
her unapproachableness to be the result of virtue, but of
some other tie. She repulsed him because she had another
knight. Should he leave the field to him ? Certainly
not. He had no fear of Siegfried. He only reached to
his shoulder, but he considered himself far handsomer and
more elegant than he. His princedom made little im-
pression on him, for he soon discovered how ambiguous it
was, and he judged from his appearance that he was a
melancholy, wooden-headed fool, in no respect to be
compared with himself.

He had no doubt as to their relations, and he first
set out to discover where the turtle-doves had their
nest ; then, after careful research into her pretty secret,
he would go to her, and with oriental contempt for
women, say, " Little one, don't play the prude any
longer. I know this and that. I don't want to spoil
sport, I only want to go shares.'" What did he risk ?
That she would fly into a passion .-^ That was all the

MORGANATIC 169

same to him. That she would complain to her knight.
Then there would be a conflict, and he would wrest his
love away from him with mailed fist. He greatly prided
himself on his skill in swordsmanship, and he would feel
specially flattered if he inflicted a wound on the lanky,
fair-haired German. And even if he could not attain his
end by those means, he would have humiliated Nicoline
and avenged himself on his favoured rival. If he could
not triumph over Nicoline, that was the next best
satisfaction.

He had a friend, a fellow-countryman who was exactly
like himself. Nicoline had never seen him. He got him
to dog her steps for several days. The result was dis-
appointment. The voluntary spy informed him that
Nicoline met her cavalier every day, but in a church, and
that they then took a walk together, sometimes going
into a museum, but never into a house ; that they never
drove together in a carriage or visited a cafe or restaurant.
As a man of experience in such affairs, he assured his
friend he might rely on him that there was nothing, or at
least nothing yet, between the young couple ; the cold-
blooded German shuffled awkwardly along beside her,
never touched her, or kissed her at meeting or parting,
even when he could have done so without risk of observa-
tion. The connection was then in the early stages of
hungry and thirsty courtship.

That information in some measure spoiled the Levan-
tine's impudent plan, but not altogether. Nicoline's
beauty intoxicated him more and more, and her cool
contempt stirred his blood. Granted that she allowed
her prince no privileges, that she was only selfishly play-
ing with him, that relations with a person of his rank
flattered her ; what was there, then, so great about her ?
She was studying to be a singer just like any other con-
servatoire student. That sort of person was well enough
known in Paris. She scarcely held a higher position than
the little milliners for whom he waited of an evening at
their shops or workrooms, and to whom he owed many
delightful hours. In his expeditions after such game he
had scarcely ever failed to attain his object. Why should

170 MORGANATIC

he not try his luck with this noble creature ? Nothing
venture, nothing have.

And he ventured. One afternoon he watched Nicoline
out of the house, and when she began to take her way to
the accustomed tryst, he approached her quickly, and
lifting his hat, said, with a bow —

" Mademoiselle Flammert, may I venture to ask a few
moments' conversation ?"

Nicoline stood still in surprise, and following her
unfortunate habit, turned very red. Great indignation
overcame her, and her first impulse was to respond in
anger. But she controlled herself by a greab effort,
looked at him scornfully, and said —

"You choose a strange time and place, sir. I can
permit no conversation in the streets." With that she
turned her back on him, and walked rapidly on.

His importunity was not damped by her repulse. He
kept up with her, put on his hat, and whispered im-
pertinently —

" Mademoiselle, you're not as severe with everybody as
you are with me."

Nicoline stopped a second time, and said, with tremulous
voice —

" If you don't leave me alone at once, I shall call a
policeman."

That had its effect. He bowed and took himself off.
She walked on quickly, though her knees trembled, and she
was inwardly furious. His insinuation struck her like a

dagger- thrust. The man knew, then ? She did

nothing that the whole world might not know. She was a
girl alone in a strange city ; she had a natural craving for
companionship, for exchange of thoughts. Who could
object to her harmless intercourse with a compatriot, a
friend, a sort of relative .'' She reproached herself bitterly
that she had not let Siegfried come and see her quietly
every day. Certainly there was no room in the house
where they could talk together free from interruption.
But people might put an unpleasant interpretation on
these half-stolen meetings with her friend, and get quite
erroneous ideas into their heads. Nicoline did not dare

MORGANATIC 171

to look round. She tried to think that it was all the
same to her if the shameless fellow did follow her. But
the notion was extremely unpleasant.

" Let him dare ! " she thought, and unconsciously
clenched her small though strong hand. If the man
followed her, so much the worse for him. Then she would
tell Siegfried everything, and as to what happened after

Painful thoughts surged up in her mind. No, she could
not say anything to Siegfried. Why should she ? The
man had done her no harm. His last remark was oflf'ensive.
Otherwise he had said nothing that could strictly be
called insulting. He had been formally introduced to her.
He had sat next her at table for weeks. He might not,
perhaps, consider it improper to address her in the street.
To desire a conversation is no crime, at the most it was a
want of tact. She had some notion of what he intended
to say. But she was not a child. She knew that it was
difficult for girls to prevent men making love to them.
Had she not excited herself unnecessarily .'' Would it not
be best merely to laugh at the man's impertinence ?

But at the bottom of her heart she felt no inclination
to laugh. The fact remained, and she could not overlook
it, that the man had intentions towards her, and had
already been lacking in the respect due to her. Was
she not therefore compelled to leave the boarding-house ?
It would be, very tiresome; it would interfere with her
habits ; it meant trouble, expense, and loss of time, and
might land her in even more objectionable surroundings.
The impulse of comfort made her reject that solution.
But at the same time other thoughts arose. She was
alone at the boarding-house, and absolutely unprotected.
For it was doubtful if the landlady, the servants, or her
fellow-inmates would interfere if she was compelled to
appeal to them. Anything might be expected of the
man, even physical force. His importunity, both in the
house and in the street, left no doubt of his bold impu-
dence. It was imprudent to be quite unprepared.

A few minutes later she shook hands with Siegfried in
the lobby of the Eglise St. Augustin. He found her
silent, ill-humoured and irritable that afternoon. But

172 MORGANATIC

as a tender inquiry as to the cause of her mood was curtlj
turned aside, he avoided annoying her by importunate
questioning. They had settled to walk to the Buttes-
Chaumont whenever the weather should permit. The
February day was dry, bright, and almost warm. But
Nicoline surprised Siegfried with the proposal —

" I should so much like to see your shooting-gallery.
Won't you take me there ? "

" To my shooting-gallery ? What an extraordinary
idea ! " replied Siegfried.

" Is it very unusual for ladies to go there .'' ■" asked
Nicoline.

" Not at all. There are lady subscribers who go
regularly," rejoined Siegfried.

" To look on or to shoot .'' "

" Both."

" Then," said Nicoline, " I should like to try. It's
absurd not to know how to handle guns. In this age a
lady ought to have that knowledge."

Siegfried made no further resistance, but took the way
to the shooting-gallery. There the owner, the servants,
and the guests treated him as a person of importance not
only on account of his title, but also on account of his
skill in shooting. His target, with the inscription, " His
Highness Prince Siegfried von Meissen-Loewenstein-
Franka," and the date, hung in a conspicuous place and
excited the admiration of visitors.

Siegfried sent a dozen bullets into the black, and was
glad that his friend should have the opportunity of admir-
ing his infallibility, pistol in hand. Then he wanted to
give her a Flobert carbine or a drawing-room pistol.
Nicoline contemptuously refused both.

" No plaything, please, but a real weapon."

Siegfried was forced to obey. He reached down a
target pistol, explained its mechanism to Nicoline, and
entrusted it to her. She took aim bravely, did not quiver
an eyelash at the report, and shot capitally. It vexed
her that a small circle of spectators had formed round
her. She shot again and again and the fifth time hit the
target although in the last ring. She could not repress a

MORGANATIC 173

slight exclamation of delight and Siegfried said, " Bravo."
Her zeal was not to be restrained, and she fired some thirty
times, until her wrist was tired.

" You^e had enough for to-day ? " asked Siegfried.

" Let me rest a little," she replied, " and then I'll try
with a revolver.'"

He knew that it was useless to contradict her when she
took an idea into her head, and he waited patiently until
she was ready to begin again. She soon mastered the
revolver. She did not succeed in hitting the centre, but
she handled the weapon with certainty.

She would not leave the shooting-gallery until it began
to get dai-k —

" Come, Prince Siegfried. Now I'll go and buy a good
revolver, and you can give me the benefit of your advice."

" I don't understand what has made you suddenly "

" It's not necessary," said Nicoline ; " only do what I
ask you."

" If you must have a revolver, let me give you one. I
inherited a whole collection of such things from my father,"
said Siegfried.

She considered a little, and then said firmly, " No, I
pi'efer to buy one."

It was imprudent of her to ask his advice, for his taste
and knowledge made him choose an excellent and exceed-
ingly expensive weapon. When Nicoline heard the price
she was a little frightened, hesitated, and remarked in a
low tone that she had thought revolvers were much cheapei'.
Siegfried saw that he had made an absurd blunder. He
hastened to repair his thoughtlessness. The price
swallowed up the whole of her month's pocket-money, but
it was possible.

" I may need it," said Nicoline, reproachfully, when
the carefully packed revolver was delivered to her, and
they prepared to leave the gunmaker's shop.

" Have you a campaign in view .'' " asked Siegfried,
half wondering, half amused, while the shopman handed
her a box of cartridges.

"Perhaps," she answered enigmatically, without
smiling.

174 MORGANATIC

When, some three hours later, she entered the dining-
room, the whole company was as usual seated at table.
The Levantine occupied his accustomed place. The
greeting with which he acknowledged the general bow
she gave resembled that of all other days, and he seemed
entirely unembarrassed. She was filled with deep disgust.
What a low nature a man must possess who could calmly
look a lady in the face, who a few hours earlier had
threatened him with a policeman. Any kind of wicked-
ness might be expected from such a creature. During
the meal she felt more estranged from her surroundings
than ever, and kept thinking that the neighbourhood of
this man would make it too uncomfortable for her to
remain in the house, and how disgraceful it was that
such a shameless rascal should have it in his power to
interfere with her peace, while she was unable to do
anything against him.

She was too full of the events of the day, and too
frank towards her mother not to make some allusion to
what was filling her mind.

"Do you know, mummy," she wrote, among other
things, " directly I am independent, I shall not live at
an hotel or boarding-house. It is intolerable to be stared
at by strangers. Of course I shall be stared at in the
theatre, but then they will have paid for the privilege."
And further on, she said, "I like being in Paris, and
take pleasure in my work, in the town, in everything I see,
learn, or experience. But I wish my studies were finished,
so that I could be with you again, at least, for a time.
For this boarding-house life, this semi-intercourse, this
demi-semi-confidence with the most ordinary people, begins
to be unendurable."

Before she went to bed, she played a little with her
revolver, and laid it quite proudly on the table by her side.

" Now, let me catch you," she thought, and blew out
her candle.

The next day, after luncheon, she lay on her sofa,
reading, when there came a low knock at the door. She
thought it was the housemaid, and called out unsuspi-
ciously, without changing her attitude —

MORGANATIC 175

« Come in ! "

The door opened, and the Levantine stood before her.
He closed it behind him, and came quickly towards her.
Nicoline felt all the blood rush to her heart. She stood
up, and exclaimed in a hoarse voice —

" What do you mean ? Leave my room at once."

" You called out, ' Come in,' and I accepted your
invitation. Let us talk together in a reasonable fashion."

" Once more leave my room, or I shall call some one,"
replied Nicoline.

" Don't trouble yourself, mademoiselle ; every one is
out, except the maids, and they are busy in the kitchen.
I must speak to you, do you hear ? I must. You escaped
me in the street, there's no opportunity in the drawing-
room, it must be here. Mademoiselle, I love you "

" Not another word ! I warn you. Your life is at
stake ! I will not listen to you."

" You must listen to me. If necessary, I'll force you
to. Your threat doesn't alarm me. I quite understand.
You'll complain. You'll send your fiiend to me. I
laugh at the idea. You're in my power now."

He darted to the door and bolted it. Then he went
determinedly up to Nicoline, and made as if to embrace
her.

Nicoline's confusion only lasted for a moment. She
found the situation more humiliating than dangerous,
and soon regained her composure. When the Levantine
bolted the door, quick as lightning she flew to the table
by her bed, hastily pulled open the drawer, snatched up
the loaded revolver, and suddenly turned on the Levantine,
who was holding his hand towards her.'

« Back, or I shoot ! "

In surprise, he drew back from the shining barrel.
She used the brief instant to huny past the intruder
to the door, and to reach the bolt. But he did not give
her time. In the twinkling of an eye, he was at her side,
and tried to get possession of the revolver. Nicoline
dealt him a violent blow with her clenched left hand,
and took aim with the right. He uttered a low cry of
rage, and tried to rush upon her. She fired. He drew

176 MORGANATIC

back, pushed up his sleeve, and saw that shirt and arm
were covered in blood. The bullet had gone through his
forearm and had driven a hole in the wall over the bed.

While he was occupied with his wound, Nicoline
succeeded in pushing back the bolt ; she opened the door
and stepped into the passage. Then she said to the
Levantine, who was gazing at his bleeding arm —

" Go, and get it bound up."

He came slowly out, threw a murderous glance at her,
and murmured —

" You shall pay for this."

" Willingly. There are plenty more bullets ready for
you."

He said no more, but with downcast head went to his
room, which was at the corner of the passage.

Nicoline went back into her room, bolted the door,
refilled the empty chamber of the revolver, and sat
down.

" My mother," she thought, " would have been terrified
if she had witnessed this quarrel, but my father would have
been pleased with me."

Her first feeling was one of triumph that she owed her
deliverance to her own determination. But gentler feelings
soon stirred in her. Perhaps she ought to have assisted
the monster. Was he in pain .'' The wound did not seem
to be dangerous. It was only a punishment he well de-
served. Certainly, it might have ended differently. If
she had wounded him dangerously, or if she had killed
him ? If a corpse had now been lying in her room ? A
shudder ran through her at the idea. Disagreeable pic-
tures presented themselves before her eyes. People rushing
in — shrieks — confusion — the police — examination — legal
proceedings. She knew, however, she would have had
nothing to fear. She had only acted in self-defence. There
was no jury in the two hemispheres that would not have
acquitted her, and congratulated her on preserving her
honour. But the vexation ! the excitement ! The fierce
light of publicity ! Horrible ! And yet it could not be
avoided. Was it not terrible that a girl should be
exposed to such an adventure ? Yes, and a thousand times

MORGANATIC 177

yes. She had acted rightly. Such examples were neces-
sary and useful. If only a hundred, perhaps even a dozen,
intemperate men found their impertinence punished by a
pistol bullet, then, perhaps, a woman would be able to live
as safely as a man amid our boasted morality. And who
was to give the necessary example if not the courageous
£uid strong of her own sex.

Her glance fell on the hole in the wall, and the idea
came into her head to find the bullet, and keep it as a
remembrance. She did not have to search long before
she saw it on the quilt of her bed. It was quite flattened
out, much torn, and hacked into the shape of a star.
With a little imagination, it might be regarded as a
battered decoration.

" My first war medal," said Nicoline, aloud, as she
wrapped it in paper, and put it in her purse.

Reaction now followed on the inward excitement,
which, despite the outward calm had been very great,
and she felt terribly depressed. She struggled with the
tears that would rise. She longed for her mother. She
was too lonely ! Then, for the first time, she thought of
Siegfried. How strange that he should have entirely
vanished from her mind when excitement had been
running so high in her ! He would already be waiting
for her. It was almost the time for their meeting.
Should she go ? And tell him what had happened ?
Impossible. To keep silent over it ? That would not
do. What should she do ? What should she decide ?

And the future ! She could not remain in the
boarding-house unless the man took himself oiF of his
own accord. Should she wait until he left the house ?
or should she forestall him .'' The shot did not seem to
have been heard. The report had not been very loud.
But the hole in the wall — that could not escape the
housemaid's notice. Should she say that the pistol had
gone ofi' by accident.'' The lie was repugnant to her.
To say nothing at all ? Would that be best .'' Perhaps
the man's wound would betray her. The secret was in
his keeping. He was a relative of the landlady. She did
not know if they were on confidential terms. Her reason

178 MORGANATIC

told her that she should tell the landlady of the affair,
and put herself under her protection. She did not, how-
ever, like the idea of such a proceeding. She came to no
decision.

She prepared to go and meet Siegfried. She made
a great effort to seem calm, and believed that she was a
miracle of self-control. But at the first glance Siegfried
sawthat something unusual had happened, and almost before
he had greeted her, asked anxiously —

" You're not ill, Nicoline ?"

" Oh no. I should not have come then."

" What is it, then ! Has anything unpleasant happened
to you," he demanded.

She looked astonished. "What makes you think
that.?"

" But, Nicoline, do you think I'm blind, or indifferent,
which would be worse ? "

" You see ghosts," replied Nicoline, crossly. Her tone
gave him no encouragement to insist on a plain answer.
Siegfried bowed slightly, and they walked along the
Boulevard Malesherbes in silence.

Where the Boulevard Haussmann crosses it, Siegfried
asked —

" Where shall we go ? To shoot again .'' "

" No," exclaimed Nicoline, so loudly that two working-
women, who were passing, looked at her in astonishment.

" Then, where .'' " inquired Siegfried, in a low tone.

" I can't walk about to-day," said Nicoline, ashamed of
her vehemence, " I must sit down."

" Shall we go to the Louvre ? "

" That's too far. Let us take the boat at the Place
de la Concorde."

When they had taken their places on the deck of the
Seine steamer going to the Pont d'Austerlitz, Siegfried
began to tell a story of a political adventurer whom
Madame Abeille, with her usual pretended importance, had
introduced to his mother, a circumstance that would
probably lead once again to some imprudent act. Sud-
denly he broke off in his narrative, and said —

" You're not listening."

MORGANATIC 179

"Forgive me, Prince Siegfried, I am considering
whether I ought not to look for another boarding-house."

" Really ! why ? " he asked.

Nicoline hesitated.

"You seem quite comfortable there," said Siegfried.
" What has made you change your opinion so suddenly ?
Is the food bad?"

" No, it's not that," she replied.

"What, then.?"

"There are importunate people there, and I cannot live
in the same house with them."

Siegfried listened attentively. " Importunate people !
Who are they.?"

"A man, a relative of the landlady, a Turkish
diplomatist, or something of the kind," replied Nicoline.

"Oh, the little greasy dark man with the piercing
eyes. I noticed the fellow. Has he dared to annoy
you.?"

" Yes," she replied.

" And what has he done .? "

" What that kind of person always does ; said pretty
things, paid me attention."

" And therefore you must leave the house instead of
sending the impertinent fellow about his business.?"
exclaimed Siegfried.

Nicoline was silent.

"Nicoline, you are concealing something from me.
I've no right perhaps to force your confidence, but it
pains me to be shut out from it."

He said that in so sorrowful and sincere a tone, that
Nicoline felt her reserve vanish, and told everything,
the attempts to approach her, the conversation in the
street, up to the insolent knocking at her door. She
said nothing of the intrusion into her room and its con-
sequences.

Siegfried's face seemed to turn to stone while he
listened. His eyes and mouth assumed an alarmingly
angry expression, such as the faces of his distant
ancestors might have had when they gave the command
for captive enemies to be impaled or flayed alive.

180 MORGANATIC

" The fellow shan't get off like that. I shall challenge
him and shoot him dead," he declared.

"What are you thinking of.''" exclaimed Nicoline.

" I shall do it, whether you like it or not."

" He is already punished," escaped her ; and then she
told the rest.

Siegfried shook his head. " You acted as I should
have expected, but ifs not enough. With only a slight
flesh wound he'll begin all over again to-morrow. He has
forfeited his life."

" I beg your pardon, but what right have you to call
the man out .'' " asked Nicoline.

" What right ! I think "

" According to my knowledge," interrupted Nicoline,
" only a near relative or a husband can defend a lady.
Any other knight compromises her."

" You have forgotten a third contingency," Siegfried
reminded her.

"Which.?"

" A.Jiance" said Siegfried, softly, without looking at
her.

Nicoline turned crimson. " You're not my Jiance.""

" You have only to wish it, and I am."

A long silence ensued. At length Nicoline collected
herself.

" Siegfried," she said, in a low voice, to which, despite
superhuman efforts, she could give no firmness, " I shall
be grateful to you till my last breath "

" Grateful .'' " interrupted Siegfried, with unusual
animation. " It is I who will be eternally grateful to you
if you will make me so happy."

" Let me finish," she replied, with some impatience.
"I did not mean it like that. I owe no one thanks for
wooing me. I'm good enough for any one. But I am
grateful to you that you have never come to me with pro-
testations of love, although you care for me "

" Oh, how much ! " he murmured, and tried to take
her hand/

She pressed his slightly, and let it go again. " That
was splendid of you. There your race spoke. And mine.

MORGANATIC 181

It made it possible for me to meet you without embarrass-
ment. Siegfried, let it go on the same."

"A refusal.?"

" No," she said, with animation, " you mustn't take it
so. We are good friends — good, true, and close friends."
She accompanied each epithet with a glance from her blue
eyes that set his heart beating wildly. " Nothing will be
changed. No formal engagement as yet. No smooth
path lies in front of either of us. We shall have to work
very energetically to reach success. We must not hinder
or cripple each other. We must march separate, in order,
perhaps, one day to strike a blow together. I've all sorts
of things in my head. But I'm not going to talk. Only
this : the first to reach the goal shall stretch out his hand
to the other. You agree ? "

" I don't exactly understand. I only know that you
refuse me," declared Siegfried.

" But I don't, Siegfried," asserted Nicoline. " I only
consider it prudent for us not to bind ourselves at once."

" I have bound myself. Only when you violently tear
the bond asunder shall I believe in the freedom I don't
want, and with which I'll have nothing to do."

" In that case, everything is right once more : we must
both be outwardly free. How you regard our relations
from within is your affair. You must arrange that with
yourself. I shall do the same. Let us live, let us fight ;
perhaps we shall conquer."

" I should be more likely to do that with you than
without you."

She shook her head.

"I know," he continued, "that at present I've nothing
to offer you. I don't even know what name I could give
you as my wife "

"Siegfried, do you think I'm acting from worldly
motives, that I won't take you until you can make me a
duchess ? Do you believe that .'' " Nicoline asked.

Siegfried made a slight uncertain movement of his
hand.

" You hurt me." She moved a little away and looked
at the river and the banks slowly gliding by.

182 MORGANATIC

" But, Nicoline, ifs no reproach to you. It's natural
that you should take into consideration, in such ambigu-
ous circumstances "

" Not another word. You don't understand."

" Then," he implored humbly, " explain more clearly."

" Whether you are prince or baron is all the same to
me. I only want you to attain some fixed plan of life.
If you can one day say, ' I have compelled the family to
my will, they have given me a place among them,' then
all will be right. But if you say, ' The struggle is useless,
I give it up, I will stand as Baron von Gronendal,' that
will also be right. That is also a solution, and, to my
taste, not the worst one, provided that Baron von
Gronendal signifies what I imagine. In the one case as
in the other, you can come to me and ask, ' Does our
compact still hold ? ' "

" Meanwhile, you've had a hundred occasions to lose
your heart "

" Siegfried, do you know me so little .'' "

" You will be free. For I've no claim on you, and
dare not complain if you "

"I repeat," she rejoined, " that we shall be outwardly
free. But I am sure of myself. You are bound in no
way. Whenever you come to me again, you'll always find
me free. I will not betroth myself to you. I cannot and
will not betroth myself to another. For a while I must
live only for my art. That excludes all frivolities and
distractions. I only ask you to promise me one thing :
if you change your mind, if you think your life's happi-
ness lies elsewhere, I must be the first to be told."

" You attribute such inconstancy to me ? "

" I attribute nothing to you. I only want you to feel
really free. But you must take on yourself this burden :
I demand your formal promise that you will let me know
should you choose elsewhere."

" I can easily promise that ; it's quite possible I may
die, but it's impossible that it should come to that. May
I now ask the same on my part ? "

Nicoline smiled. " You may. But I say, like you,
the promise is needless."

MORGANATIC 183

The boat had reached the Pont d'Austerlitz. Nico-
line wanted to go back without leaving the landing-
stage. Her love-aJBFairs which she had felt to be a great
event in her life, had driven what lay nearest out of her
mind. Siegfried was the first to return from dreamland
to the firm ground of reality.

" But, for all this, I can't let the fellow off' so easily."

"I think he's sufficiently punished," said Nicoline.
" You must promise me to leave him in peace."

" That is hard," declared Siegfried.

" But consider, Siegfried, how can you interfere in a
thing of the kind ? "

" Yes, yes ; but, on the other hand, it would be too
comfortable if every low fellow was safe from punishment
for his rascalities. I'm in a foreign land here. That
makes it easier for me."

" I will not have it, Siegfried. I know that your
pistol is infallible. Let me have the consciousness that
this wretch's life is in my hands and that I give it him.
Then I'm no longer a girl that a scamp has insulted.
I'm a Semiramis or a Catherine against whom a
slave has offended. I can have him killed, or exercise
mercy according to my humour. It pleases me to be
merciful."

" You're really a royal creature," said Siegfried, in a
tone of such reverence that Nicoline smiled ; but she was
secretly glad that he expressed what she herself felt.
" But there's still the tiresome question of the boarding-
house."

" Yes, that's very bothering. If the man doesn't go,
isn't already gone, I must move. The search — and my
mother — I must explain to her why I leave — and that'll
put ideas into her head and worry her — there's the un-
pleasant, prosaic dregs of a romantic potion."

" I think I had better go back with you. You never
can teU "

She considered a little. " No," she said, " I had better
tell Signora Conti everything. She will advise me what I
had better do."

She parted from Siegfried at the Place de la Concorde,

184 MORGANATIC

but promised to let him know by express letter in the
evening what further took place.

When she appeared at such an unusual hour at her
singing mistress's, the signora imagined some unpleasant
business, despite Nicoline's calm, almost cheerful demeanour.
She at once left her class and took Nicoline into a small
drawing-room, and asked —

" What's wrong now ? "

Nicoline told her afternoon's adventure briefly, and
with almost brutal candour.

"But, Nicoline," exclaimed Signora Conti, in horror.
" To shoot at him ! You're a dangerous person ! "

" What ought I to have done ? "

" Ring ! Call ! At most a box on the ears ! "

" I think a bullet's cleaner."

The teacher shook her head. "Nicoline, Nicoline,
you're the heroine of too many tales. You must put an
end to it."

" Is it my fault ? " asked Nicoline, offended.

" I did not say that. It's a misfortune, if you like ;
but believe me, my child, keep a guard over yourself. I
mean well by you."

She did mean well by her. Nicoline developed exactly
as her teacher desired, and she took her more carefully and
lovingly under her protection. She did not put great
faith in her virtue. Thirty years' activity in a profession
which brought her into contact with thousands of young
women preparing to be singers, made her indulgent. She
knew Frau Flammert's life, and accepted the fact that the
fruit does not fall far from the tree. Besides, she did not
concern herself greatly with her pupils' way of life, so long
as they gave her no annoyance. That she knew how to
avoid. If pupils to whom she was indifferent committed
faults, and became talked about, she expelled them from
her classes. But, with a star like Nicoline, there could be
no question of that. In such a case the evil must be
prevented, adjusted, hushed up,

Signora Conti commissioned her husband to accompany
Nicoline back to the boarding-house, and to be ready to
assist her, A strikingly dignified and handsome man,

MORGANATIC 185

he looked after the social relations of the house. He did
it admirably, and in such splendid style, that he associated
with ministers and ambassadors on a footing of equality,
and had relations with all the most distinguished persons
in Paris.

Arrived at the boarding-house, Signor Conti asked
that the landlady should be summoned to the drawing-
room. Refusing her invitation to sit down with the
gesture of a great man, and stretching himself to his full
height, he informed the landlady briefly, and in a com-
manding tone, of the insult her boarder had received
under her roof, and asked if she was prepared to give
Nicoline satisfaction, and turn the evil-doer out of the
house without delay.

" Poor fellow ! " murmured the landlady, quite cast
down. "I've always thought his gallantry would play
him a bad turn one of these days. It was imprudent
of me to have him here." The masterful, tall man, with
the short grey beard, and the decoration in his buttonhole,
overawed her. She saw herself summoned to the police
court, the reputation of her house and her means of liveli-
hood gone, and became so excited that she rushed up to
Nicoline, who had not opened her mouth, kissed her
hand, asked her pardon, and agreed that her cousin — the
relationship was so distant, so little — should leave the
house at once.

The landlady carried out her promise with great
decision. But not without some stormy recrimination,
through which the servants and of course the boarders
came to the knowledge of every detail.

When the dinner-bell rang, Nicoline went haughtily
into the dining-room. She had determined to go back
again if the Levantine was still there. But he was not
there, and his place had disappeared. In her place lay,
for the time of year, a magnificent bouquet ; as she entered
she received a low bravo and subdued applause from the
ladies, and her American fellow-pupil said aloud with her
foreign accent, " I have always admired you as an artist.
Now I admire you as a brave woman. I have never been
so proud to call you my friend as I am to-day."

BOOK IV

In her impatience to reap some advantage from her
sacrifice, the baroness wrote to Dr. von Osterburg every
day, and demanded over and over again that he should
send her daily reports of the progress of her affairs,
Osterburg met her restlessness with a stoical calm. For
a dozen of her letters he sent one answer, which was
distinguished by respectful brevity, and made no allusion
to the eleven he had consigned to the waste-paper basket,
often emphasized as they were by telegrams like trumpet
blasts.

But he kept her punctually informed of all he under-
took. The affair went on stroke by stroke. The directors
of the Land Register refused to admit her Royal Highness,
the Princess Josephine of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-
Level, as owner of the portion of the house that had
been purchased, and demanded a proof that the purchaser
was entitled to bear that name and title. Osterburg
offered his client's marriage-certificate as a proof. The
directors pronounced that testimony insufficient, declined
to change that view, and left it to the lawyer for the
prosecution to contest the decision in the superior court.
That authority demanded a testimony from the head of
the Austrian line of Loewenstein-Level, or from the
reigning Grand Duke of Loewenstein and Franka that
the mover in the affair was a member of the Grand Ducal
house. Osterburg protested against the demand. He
showed it to be contrary to the law, and strove that the
supreme court should declare itself incompetent, since the
reigning house and those houses connected with it, could
not take cases before the ordinary courts, but had a
special court in the Lord Chamberlain's office.

186

MORGANATIC 187

Osterburg declared that the Austrian house of Loe-
wenstein-Franka shared the privilege of the special court.
The ministry of the Imperial house certified that members
of the Austrian line of that family were to be regarded
and treated as relations of the Imperial house.

It will be clear that all these proceedings and counter-
proceedings were not accomplished in a day.

Although the courts and authorities participating in
the affair acted with astonishing rapidity, and accomplished
in weeks, often in days, what might easily have taken
months, and although there was no opening for com-
plaints of delay or dilatoriness, time had gone forward,
and April had arrived.

The beginning of the quarter brought Osterburg's
account. The sight of it brought the tears to the
baroness's eyes. Not only was there no surplus, but she
owed some hundred gulden. Luckily her brother-in-law
paid her allowance on April 1st. Out of that Osterburg
was able to pay the rest of the money due for the house,
and the current expenses of the lawsuit. The small sum
that remained over he kept as an advance for future
outlays.

How were things to go on .'' How was she to keep
her head above water until the result of the Vienna
campaign was decided ? Nothing was coming in for the
moment. Her ready money had been absorbed in the
unlucky, if doubtless necessary, purchase of the house in
Vienna, or at least locked up there for an inconceivable
time. She had debts for which she had pawned the most
valuable part of her jewels. Necessaries began to fail in
the house. The servants' wages were not paid regularly.
Her brother's annuity was not forthcoming. Since she
could not altogether cease her gifts to actors and others,
she was again deeply in debt with the jewellers. That
did not much trouble her, since it was an aristocratic
obligation. On the other hand, she loathed the little
common debts to greengrocers and coal-merchants, a mob
of poor creatures who, because they were her creditors,
had the right of pulling her bell, of talking in a rough,
loud voice in her hall, and making her talked about by

188 MORGANATIC

the neighbours. But she must irrevocably come to it
now.

But it should not come to it, not at any price. She
determined to exhaust every possible resource first. She
mortgaged the Villa Josephine for as high a sum as was
to be obtained. She shed plenty of tears before she could
decide to entrust her lawyer with the business. She felt
like a ruler who was giving up all claim to his throne, or
who was forced to let his crown be annexed by some
stronger power. Mortgaging her house procured her the
means of going on for another year. In that time she
must either get safely into harbour or perish. If by
that time she had not come to an understanding with
the family, or if Siegfried had not married a wealthy
heiress, there was no way out. At least she saw none,
although she discussed the matter with Bertha with morbid
persistence.

In her bitterness of spirit she hatched the most mar-
vellous schemes for putting pressure on the family. That
such methods meant blackmail, she either did not know or
would not confess. She thought of writing her memoirs, and
of relating therein all the Court scandal of the last thirty
years with which she was naturally intimately acquainted.
An authoress whose indifferent novel she had introduced to
Madame Abeille in Siegfried's translation was to help her.
The lady had shown her gratitude for that service by
writing an article for an important German paper under
the title of " A German Prince's Home in Paris," in
which she described the Princess Albrecht of Loewenstein's
" palace," her " receptions," her daily life, not without a
fantastic mingling of truth and fiction. The article was
much disliked by the Courts it concerned, and a semi-
official despatch was sent to the paper in which it
unfortunately appeared that "no widowed Princess
Albrecht of Loewenstein existed." That gave the baroness
the idea that she could later employ the authoress as her
collaborator in the composition of a volume of reminis-
cences that would have a stronger effect on the Courts
than a newspaper article.

Another time she considered whether she should not

MORGANATIC 189

take up her art again, and come forward as a virtuoso and
actress. She could not of course play the parts that had
been written for her in her youth, for singing and dancing
were no longer in her power. But that was not now
essential. The chief thing was that in the great cities of
both hemispheres enormous placards adorned with royal

arms should announce, " This evening in X Theatre,

first appearance of her Royal Highness, the Princess
of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level." The family could
not possibly long stand out against such tactics. And
even if it did not bring about a treaty of peace, such a
tour would, at any rate, bring in money.

Then it occurred to her that if the worst came to the
worst, she might " marry a rich old Jew," and so revenge
herself on the family that way. She had often heard at
Court the most aristocratic noblemen, when they were in
difficulties, sadly or seriously threaten, if they were not
helped, " to marry a rich Jewess," and she so little under-
stood the meaning of the threat, that she seriously
believed that rich old Jews would be as desirous of her as
rich young Jewesses of a prince.

A curious episode in the domestic politics of France
gave the baroness's restless mind a new direction for a few
weeks.

General Menard, a frivolous, stupid place-hunter, had,
by means of his eloquence at public meetings, so ingra-
tiated himself with the leaders of the Left, that they
imagined they had discovered the phoenix, or that rara
avis — a general who was a radical. He was advanced to
the highest posts, and he used his position to turn the
heads of the populace with his personal popularity by the
coarsest means. His patrons soon saw him in his true
light, and dismissed him from his offices with as little
ceremony as they had put him into them. But it was too
late. General Menard had become a power in the State.
He had numerous adherents both in the administration
and among the people. Those who were discontented or
greedy of gain gathered round him. Here he promised
promotion, there vengeance, fresh military glory and
greatness of the fatherland; he made some believe that

190 MORGANATIC

he was in France and elsewhere the soldier of the Church ;
he gave others to understand that he would cut the throat
of the Republic and set up the monarchy again.

General Menard was surrounded by a court of extrava-
gant, self-important, and foolish women, who were fanatical
enemies of democracy. His advisers were as ignorant of
the general trend of circumstances as he was, and vied
with him in forming phantoms of the brain, the childish
stupidity of which excited the unbounded astonishment of
reasonable men.

Madame Abeille was one of his most confidential friends,
for she put her weekly paper, her drawing-room, her
personal influence unconditionally at his service. She
thought herself a diplomatic genius, and dreamed of
playing an historic rdle as Madame de Stael, Frau von
Kriidener, and the Princess Lieven had done in different
lands and at different periods. A wonderful plan occurred
to her, for the execution of which she relied chiefly on her
friend, the baroness.

She rushed into the Yilla Josephine one day like a
whirlwind, and after the first greetings, said —

"My dear princess. General Menard has the greatest
desire to be introduced to you. May I bring him to see
you.?"

" General Menard ! " exclaimed the princess.

" Yes. He is one of my greatest friends, and it seems
to me unnatural that you should not know each other,"
replied Madame Abeille.

" Your friends are my friends. You must both come
and dine to-morrow evening. I don't know whom else to
invite "

" No one," interrupted Madame Abeille, quickly. " I
want you to get to know each other, and that is easiest
among a few people. Just we three and, of course, Prince
Siegfried. Don't you agree .? "

"Isn't that presumptuous.? The general is such a
famous man. Everything's at his feet. It is hardly
possible that he'll care for a poor thing like me," suggested
the baroness.

•' Only a truly great lady could be so modest. The

MOBGANATIC 191

general will understand how to value such an honour.
It's settled, then ? " said Madame Abeille.

" Yes ; it's settled," agreed the baroness.

The next evening the general sent an enormous and,
for that season of the year, a very costly bouquet, com-
posed of his favourite flowers and hers — tea roses and
red carnations — and made his appearance with military
punctuality at half-past seven. Three peals of the bell
announced his entrance into the garden, Siegfried met him
at the bottom of the steps leading to the front door, Janusz
set. open both wings of the drawing-room door, and the
baroness, painted, powdered, and adorned with all the jewels
that remained to her, leaning on her gold-mounted stick,
met him on the threshold. His bouquet stood on the
console table under the life-size portrait of Prince Albrecht.

The general was in evening dress, and wore the star of
a grand officer of the Legion of Honour. He was a
tail, thin, young-looking man, with a coquettish black
moustache and tuft on his under lip, and close-cut bristly
dark hair. A short roundish nose made his face re-
markably insignificant, and he vainly tried to give his
brown eyes an eagle-like glance, but they kept a somewhat
childlike simple expression when they were not observing
keenly.

He gallantly kissed the baroness's hand, and uttered
some complimentary phrases. He had been primed before-
hand by Madame Abeille, and spoke with respect of the
greatness of the house of Meissen and of its renown in
war and peace. The baroness replied by congratulating
him on his unexampled political success, and expressed her
conviction that he was destined to renew the glory of
France, and lead her to a brilliant fate.

The conversation took a similar tone at dinner. General
Menard told of his campaigns, of his sojourn in Germany,
of his acquaintances among the princely families there and
in other countries, and the baroness gave her reminiscences
of the courts of Vienna, Franka, and Diesa. The general
asked incidentally about the Grand Duke Hilarius, the
Queen of Gotheim, the Queen of Atlantis and Hageland,
and the baroness gladly expatiated on their affairs, showed

192 MORGANATIC

how intimately she was acquainted with them, and always
mentioned them as her aunt, her cousin, her brother-in-
law. The general observed, apparently by the way, that
she must certainly know the Emperor William, and she
confirmed the supposition. As a prince he had often been
at Franka, and had visited her at Castle Lindenheim.
Since his accession to the throne she had only seen him
once.

" And how do you stand with his Majesty, your high-
ness ? " asked the general.

"That is difficult to say, general. You probably
know that I am not on terms with a portion of my
family "

The general nodded.

" And that injures my relations with the Kaiser, who
is very fond of the Grand Duke Hilarius."

"But you can approach his Majesty.?" the general
inquired.

" Undoubtedly," she answered. " I have had no occa-
sion to do so of late, but the Kaiser is a chivalrous man,
and I am convinced that he would not show himself less
amiable to the widow who is treated so unworthily and
unkindly than he was in happier days to his cousin, Prince
Albrecht's wife."

Apparently that was what the general wanted to know.
He now drew the silent Siegfried into the conversation,
and laid himself out to attract him as he had already
enchanted the baroness. It was not easy, for he was not
sympathetic to Siegfried, who was annoyed to hear his
mother speak of her connections in a manner which an
ill-natured critic would characterize as a falsification of
facts. He was, however, polite, and less reserved than
usual.

At a sign from Madame Abeille, as soon as they
had taken their cofiFee in the drawing-room, the general
said —

"Your highness, I am acquainted with your habits
through our mutual friend, and I beg you not to alter
them for me."

" It is true, general, that, as a rule, I retire early, my

MORGANATIC 193

health is so bad. But when I have the honour of enter-
taining so celebrated a soldier for the first time, I may
allow myself to make an exception."

"You must not do that, princess," said Madame
Abeille. " We've so many other things to discuss that
we should not any way have time for them, so that, with
your permission, well come soon again."

" Whenever you like, my dear friend, whenever you
like," said the baroness.

The farewell was most cordial, the general was accom-
panied to his carriage with the same ceremony as on his
arrival, and when he had gone, the baroness discussed
him with Siegfried. What a distinguished man ! What
a delightful talker ! What an amiable disposition ! He
was as attractive as Napoleon and Gambetta together!
How lucky France was ! At each turning-point of her
history she was provided with a man for her protector and
her saviour as by a miracle. She overflowed with affec-
tion for Madame Abeille, who had shown herself a true
friend in introducing the general to her. Relations with
a man who would probably be the head of the State to-
moiTOW, or who might be next in succession to the throne
would be most valuable to her.

Siegfried endured his mother's enthusiasm, but, as
usual, was himself unmoved. He put no faith in the
general's star.

The next morning a servant came from Madame
Abeille with a letter, asking if she could receive the
general at three o'clock that afternoon ; he had things of
the greatest importance to discuss with her, but wished to
know first if she felt equal to such an interview. The
baroness answered in the affirmative, and looked forward
to the visit with great excitement.

She again received her guests in the drawing-room
on the ground-floor. Madame Abeille asked imme-
diately —

" Princess, are we quite safe from eavesdroppers here ?
We have to discuss things that require the strictest
secrecy."

That made the baroness so curious that she found it

194 MORGANATIC

difBcuIt to preserve her composure. She took Madame
Abeille and the general up to her boudoir, threw open the
two doors, one of which led into her bedroom, the other
into the linen closet, and remarked —

" As you see, the rooms on both sides are empty. No
one can spy on us here."

Madame Abeille was the first to begin. "May I
venture, general, to speak first ? "

General Menard bowed his consent.

"I won't waste time beating about the bush, but
plunge at once into the heart of the matter. We have
not concealed from you that the general has great plans
and perfect confidence in the future. He is not even
afraid of war. A man of his temperament would
rather attain his ends by an appeal to arms than by
peaceful negotiations. But we are dealing with a pusil-
lanimous set of people. The general's programme con-
tains, as the first item, the reacquisition of the lost
provinces. He can only realize his projects if he has
power in his hands, and the surest way to obtain it is to
restore the lost provinces to his country. You follow me,
princess, I hope .'' "

"Of course I follow you," replied the baroness, with
animation. She listened, however, with the greatest
astonishment, and vainly sought to guess how these high
political questions could concern her.

" You see, princess," continued Madame Abeille, " that
it is most necessary that the general should be success-
ful in this important matter. Then France will lie
at his feet. But it is you alone who can help him to
success."

" I ? " exclaimed the baroness.

"You, your highness," interposed the general. His
pleasant baritone took a deeper note, and trembled
pathetically. " You see, your highness, the welfare and
peace of the globe, of humanity, depend on the Alsace-
Lorraine question being wiped off the face of the earth.
Most probably it will be done by the sword. I confess
that is what I should prefer. But perhaps war can be pre-
vented. If a peaceful settlement is possible, we shall be

MORGANATIC 195

content with the restoration of French Lorraine, and
the neutralization of the rest. But you will readily
understand that the matter cannot be brought forward
officially. It must be worked in unofficial ways. Now,
we have no one whom we can commission or ask to under-
take an interview in Berlin in the right quarter in an
unprejudiced and irresponsible fashion."

The general paused. The baroness held her breath.
The hissing of the wood in the stove could be heard.

"Ah, your highness," he continued more emphati-
cally "if only you would be the angel of peace,
the good genius of two great nations, of the whole of
mankind ! Your Kaiser is a talented and chivalrous
man. Great intentions and world-embracing plans are
ascribed to him. Maybe, he suffers under the situation
which he did not create, which he found ready to his hand,
as much as we do ; he has, perhaps, the same secret wishes
as we have, and sees just as little the way to communicate
with us as we do with him. You have the honour to know
his Majesty. You are received by him. How splendid it
would be if you could say to his Majesty : Sire, there is a
large party in France ready for reconciliation and for
friendship with Germany, if only she will restore a small
portion of the Lorraine territory, and make the rest into
a Luxembourg or a Switzerland. France will pay the
necessary milliards. Germany needs colonies ; France
possesses great tracts of land across the seas for which she
has little use, she would share her surplus with Germany.
The two nations, united, would have irresistible power;
they could destroy England's sea-power, and humiliate her
pride. They would defend Europe against the threaten-
ing American danger, and with Russia's co-operation
they would make Asia and Africa of use to them. A
new epoch of the world's history would begin. Such a
great deed would secure for all who had helped towards
its accomplishment, fame, immortality, and the eternal
gratitude of humanity."

Madame Abeille had listened with shining eyes, and
had drunk in the general's well-chosen sentences, spoken
with all an actor's talent, words which she well knew

196 MORGANATIC

were not originated in the general's mind. She could no
longer control her excitement, and interposed —

" What a rok for you, princess. I am quite over-
come when I think of it. It is the noblest task that
could be assigned to a woman. To establish peace, to
prevent bloodshed, to disarm noble armed hands, and to
place them one in the other ! Ah, my friend ! " And
she threw her arms round the baroness, while the tears
streamed from her eyes. The baroness herself, was very
near weeping, and felt her eyelids grow wet. It was
all most touching.

" It is a magnificent outlook, general," stammered the
baroness. "But I don't quite see how I — ^yes, if my
angel prince was still alive — but since his death my
influence "

"That's not the point," the general broke in, too
eager to be polite. " What has influence to do with it ?
You will be believed if you say : I am only repeating the
words of Frenchmen who are prepared and able to carry
out all they promise. The one thing needful is that
these words shall reach his Majesty's ear without our
being formally responsible, and that we may learn with
certainty what his Majesty replies to the overture. His
Majesty can be quite candid with a member of a
German reigning family. If nothing comes of your
communication, well, then, good! we have gained
nothing. The refusal may take a harsh form, but, even
so, we cannot be offended; a conversation between his
Majesty and a German relative does not affect us. If his
Majesty favours your communication, then, your highness,
your rdle is ended, the rest is a matter for fully empowered
negotiators, who need no longer be timid, since they will
know themselves to be on safe ground. In either case
you will have done us a great service, which we shall know
how to repay."

The general let the effect of his speech work for a
little while, then he drew nearer to the baroness, lowered
his voice and spoke with intimate confidence.

" Your highness, I know your difficulties. Let me
be quite frank. If I am successful, we, you and the

MORGANATIC 197

prince, your son, shall be acknowledged. And she who
is the Duchess of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka in the
eyes of the French Government, is so for the whole
world, let the Grand Duke Hilarius agree or not as he
pleases. We shall also find employment for Prince Sieg-
fried if he wiU devote his talents to France. True he is a
German prince, but he comes of the Austrian branch
of your family, and could at need be reckoned an
Austrian. He can found a French branch of your illus-
trious house, and it lies with him to make the new line
as famous as the others. Everything is in your hands,
your highness. Set to work. The sooner the better.
For I have to do with dangerous enemies, and must ere
long strike a blow in order not to be overthrown. At
present my cause is good. But the iron must be struck
while it's hot. I must offer something tangible to my
adherents so that they may make a last effort for me.
Stand by me, your highness. I shall not feel humiliated
to owe my victory to you."

" I wiU do what I can," said the baroness, in a voice
full of emotion, and gave the general her hand.

He immediately bent his knee, reverently kissed her
hand, and slowly let fall these words.

" Your highness, if God blesses your undertakings,
then great nations will lie at your feet, as I do at this
moment, and honour you as a benefactor, a mother, a saint."

" Stand up, general, and do not say such things to me,"
murmured the baroness, embarrassed. Madame Abeille
grasped both her hands, and looking into her eyes,
exclaimed —

" We have just lived through a historical moment !"

The visitors prepared to go.

" You won't lose any time, your highness, will you .'' "
asked the general, at the boudoir door.

" I must find out his Majesty's movements, and make
a few preparations. I will take the necessary steps as
soon as circumstances permit.

" There is danger in delay, your highness," emphasized
the general. " Do what you intend doing at once, I beg
of you, and keep me informed of what happens."

198 MORGANATIC

" You may count on that, general.'"

The baroness was about to press the bell in order to
summon the servants. The general prevented her.

" Excuse me, your highness, but it is better that we
should get away quietly. We know the way."

When the baroness was alone, she sank back on the
sofa, and lived the experiences of the last hour over
again. Bertha entered the room, treading softly, and
looked at her questioningly. She expected an exhaus-
tive report of the visitors' business, and the details
of the interview. She considered it her right, and
was offended that the baroness not only kept back the
anxiously expected narrative, but also said, in a tone
of annoyance —

" Go away, Bertha. The visit has tired me. I must
be alone. I'll ring when I want you."

The secret weighed heavily on her mind, and it
would have been a great relief to tell Bertha. She felt,
however, that, no matter how difficult it was to keep what
she knew to herself, she ought not to reveal it. She
reasoned with herself that State affairs of such enormous
importance ought not to be intrusted to a subordinate,
even if she was to be depended on. But a stronger
reason was the unconscious fear of making herself ridicu-
lous in Bertha's eyes.

For opposing ideas struggled violently in the baroness's
head. What still remained of her former practical good
sense whispered in her ear that she had undertaken some-
thing as much in her power as a voyage to the moon.
But her powers of imagination, inflamed by the general's
speech and Madame Abeille's extravagance, and enhanced
by her passionate desire of personal success, spoke more
loudly. She tried to persuade herself that, although
it was difficult, it was not wholly impossible to keep
her promise. She tried to rearrange and put a fresh
construction on her reminiscences. Like a stage manager,
she placed them in an artistic light, added and sup-
pressed what was needed, in order to bring the illusion
into relief, and placed on the boards a highly romantic
piece with the elements of reality, in which she played

MORGANATIC 199

the part of an intimate friend of the Kaiser. Had
he not really been very intimate with Prince Albrecht?
Had he not once, while prince, dined with them ? And at
the Grand Duke's had he not repeatedly conversed with
her in the most amiable way ? And had he not sent her
his remembrances in letters that she had seen ? The
connection with the great man had certainly ceased
for years. But why could it not be renewed? It was
almost incredible that he would not receive her if she
went to Berlin and begged an audience. Of course, there
was always the old difficulty: under what name should
she announce herself ? As " widow of his Royal High-
ness," etc. .'' Or should she sacrifice herself and appear as
Baroness von Gronendal ? That was hard, but perhaps
the wisest. And, in any case, if her mission was successful,
it was the last time she would have to suffer the
humiliation.

She had not the least doubt on that point. The
general's plan seemed to her quite reasonable. She
was not German in regard to the Alsace-Lorraine
question. It was a matter of indifference to her. She
had French predilections. The many years' sojourn in
Paris, the daily reading of the Boulevard journals,
the intercourse with Madame Abeille, the Dormans,
and other French acquaintances, had unconsciously
attuned her feelings to the French key. Prince Albrecht
and the whole Loewenstein Court had had French sym-
pathies from the time of the Empire onwards, on the
expression of which the baroness put a wrong inter-
pretation. She saw nothing remarkable in speaking
to the wearer of the German imperial crown, of yield-
ing a German province to France. On the contrary,
she took the general's point of view. She was doing
something eminently meritorious. She was doing the
Kaiser and the Empire a favour that would have un-
speakably beneficial consequences. And while she was
thinking out all this, and losing herself in a land of
fabled wonder, she attained such importance in her own
eyes that it gave her a marvellous respect for herself and
a fresh joy in life ; it raised and widened her ego, and

200 MORGANATIC

formed an astonishing contrast to the feelings of depression
and insignificance that had assailed her during the last
months.

She was so full of her new importance that she found
herself unable to resist giving it some sort of expression.
She pulled herself together, sat down to her little writing-
table, and spent almost the whole time till dinner in
writing out a sort of account of her interview with the
general and Madame Abeille ; it would form an important
historical document for the edification of Siegfried's
descendants, and for the archives of the youngest line of
the house of Loewenstein-Franka. Notwithstanding the
fatigues of the day, she was more lively at dinner than she
had been for a long while, and delighted Count Laporte,
the Dormans, and a diplomatist from Central America,
who were her guests, with her animation and talkativeness,
and surprised them with mysterious, scarcely compre-
hensible allusions to General Menard, his importance, his
policy, his views. The next day she hastened to her
jeweller, and ordered a breast-pin, in the form of a red
carnation. That was her special eccentricity. She must
make small gifts of jewellery. Her first impulse was to
have the flower in rubies. The price, however, frightened
her, and she contented herself with red enamel on gold.
She asked for it to be delivered as quickly as possible.
The gift would prove her sympathy for the general, and
that she was working eagerly at the task which had been
intrusted to her.

She commissioned Siegfried to subscribe for a month
to an important Berlin newspaper. He carried out her
wishes, as was his habit, without asking the why and
wherefore. That irritated the baroness, but she said
nothing until the first number of the paper arrived.
Meanwhile she had decided to take Siegfried into her
confidence. As she unfolded the paper after lunch, she
asked her son —

" You've no desire to know why I subscribe to this
paper ? "

" You know, mamma, that curiosity is not my failing,"
he replied drily.

MORGANATIC 201

" I should, however, like to feel that you took some
interest in my doings," rejoined the baroness, sharply. The
acrimonious feeling that was always present in her inter-
course with her son vexed her. Siegfried became silent as
soon as he recognized the customary tone, and withdrew into
himself. If the baroness looked to pursue the conversation
and to reach the desired point, she would have to go the
whole distance alone, Siegfried would not meet her
halfway.

" It is on account of the Court news."

" Ah ? " said Siegfried.

"I must be informed of the Kaiser's movements,"
continued his mother.

"Really?"'

" For I mean shortly to pay him a visit."

Siegfried opened his eyes wide, and said quickly,
" Impossible ! " He paused for a while, and then con-
tinued, " That's a courageous determination, mamma, but I
fear it's a useless effort. I'm sure the Kaiser will not mix
himself up with our family affairs, and if, contrary to all
expectations, he did, the Gi'and Duke Hilarius stands
nearer to him than we do."

" That's not the reason ; that would be absurd,"
said his mother.

" Then, I can't think "

" Of course you can't."

When he looked at her wonderingly and questioningly,
she became quite tender and affectionate, asked him to
sit close to her, and read him the account of her inter-
view with General Menard. In spite of his habitual
self control, Siegfried's countenance expressed the
greatest astonishment which was gradually replaced by
discontent.

" But, mamma," he exclaimed, when she had finished,
" how could you possibly let yourself get so far with the
general .'' "

" Always fault-finding ! " she replied ill-humouredly.
" Don't you understand what it means to have an ally in
the man who will be ruler of France to-morrow ? "

" That's not certain. And it may be very bad for us

202 MORGANATIC

to ally ourselves with him. What should we do if we were
expelled the country ? "

"They wouldn't dare to do that."

" Tm not so sure ; and even if that didn't happen, I've
no confidence in the man. I don't think he's so near his
goal. To be quite candid, I don't believe in his success.
But, even if he does succeed, the dictator will be in haste
to forget what the demagogue promised."

" Why do you always look at the worst side ? The
general is incapable of meanness, I'm certain. Besides,
it'll cost him nothing to keep his promise," affirmed the
baroness.

" And then, how can you dare to approach the Kaiser
with such a presumptuous demand .'' " asked Siegfried.

" What do I risk ? If the Kaiser finds the general's
proposition unacceptable, he will say so."

" But very ungraciously."

" I don't see why. I'm only a higher sort of postman.
Yes, if I recommended the plan "

" Only that was lacking ! You're not on the French
side in this question ! "

" It grieves me, my child, to see such a narrow spirit
in you. I'm neither on the French side nor on the Ger-
man side, but on our side. Don't you understand?
Jingoism is for the Philistines of the beer-house. We
stand above it. Only our family interests weigh with us, and
we only value patriotism so far as it furthers those interests.
Do you suppose that your uncle of Atlantis, or your cousin
of Hageland, or your aunt of Gotheim, are ever actuated
by feelings of German patriotism ? No, their desire is
to do everything for their own crowns, even if it's not
to Germany's advantage.? At the present moment our
best policy is to foi'm an alliance with France. That was
your great-uncle's policy towards Napoleon I. Our family
didn't do badly by it, did they.^" I don't see why I
should not follow my great-uncle's example."

The baroness saw the mirage so clearly embodied before
her, her self-deception was so complete and frank, that
even Siegfried could not help being somewhat infected
although he heard an inward voice calling, " It's all

MORGANATIC 203

absolute nonsense." He contented himself with saying
half aloud —

" The diminution of Germany is a high price to pay
for the recognition of our rights."

" We shan't have to pay, boy," exclaimed the baroness,
passionately. " Our game is certain. If the Kaiser thinks
that the friendship of France is worth a small sacrifice,
he'll make it. If not, he won't. In either case I have
only been an honourable go-between, and claim my reward
for undertaking the mission."

" Always provided the general can pay it," observed
Siegfried.

"How can you doubt it? Look at the man,
triumph shines out of his eyes. I see the star above
his head. Napoleon must have looked like that after
Lodi."

Siegfried bowed in silence.

" For the present," said his mother, " all I want of you
is silence."

" That is a matter of course," he replied.

" You may leave the rest to me."

Siegfried carefully kept the secret although he found it
difficult not to confide in Nicoline. He could not entirely
avoid allusions to his mother's relations with General
Menard, but they were too vague to awake Nicoline's
curiosity. Had she pressed him with questions, it is very
doubtful if he could have resisted her desire to know, and
his desire to impart what he knew.

One evening in the following week Janusz told the
baroness that an unknown gentleman, who would not give
his name, wished particularly to speak to her. She sent
Bertha down to survey the visitor, and if possible to find
out his business. The maid returned with the information
that he came from Madame Abeille, and desired to speak
to her highness herself. The baroness said she would see
him. As she entered the drawing-room, into which he had
been shown and which was only dimly lighted, there
hurried up to her an apparently very stout man in a broad
cloak, with a long fair patriarchal beard, and blue
spectacles ; he greeted her in a not altogether unfamiliar

204 MORGANATIC

voice. She looked at him searchingly, and said, with
hesitation —

" Sir, you come from Madame Abeille "

He seemed to play a little with her hesitation,
and then said —

" You don't recognize me, your highness ? "

She looked at him more closely, but found no solution.

He removed his spectacles, and held his hand in front
of his beard.

" General Menard ! " she exclaimed, in the greatest
surprise.

"S-sh," he said smiling; and added softly, "The disguise
is successful."

" But what does it mean ? " asked the baroness.

" It means that this wretched Government have set a
pack of detectives to dog my steps. Most of those good
people are friendly, and desire nothing better than to
serve me. They shut their eyes as soon as they see me,
and are in haste to lose my traces. But there are some
mangy dogs among them, and so I must be careful. I only
go out after dark and always in a new disguise. It is very
amusing. I visit openly only those persons whom I can't
compromise, or whom I wish to compromise. You, your
highness, belong neither to the one nor the other. There-
fore I am compelled to surprise you in this fashion. It
will not be repeated. I esteem you too highly for that.
I won't give the wretches a chance of revenge here." In
silence she gave him her hand, which he kissed, and asked
him to sit down.

" That's the situation, your highness," continued the
general, after he had fastened the spectacles behind his ears
again. " Things are rapidly heading to a crisis. I must
strike my chief blow. May I venture to ask what you have
done so far .'' "

" I have made all preparations," she replied boldly.
" I have written to Berlin so that I may be kept in-
formed of the Kaiser's movements. Just now he is hunting
in East Prussia, and it would be difficult to gain access to
him. As soon as I hear that he's at Potsdam, I will
consider further."

MORGANATIC 205

" I beseech you, your highness, not to delay. Success
in that direction will ensure success in my plans."

"Excuse me, general, but I don't quite understand
one thing. Do you mean that you want a conclusive
treaty in a few days or hours ? Under the most
favourable circumstances the negotiations must take
months."

"If I judge your Kaiser aright, he is thoroughly
modern, and the modern man makes decisions quickly. The
details will require time, but the main point can soon be
decided. That is sufficient. If I can only say to the army
and the people that 1 bring them the revision of the Peace
of Frankfort as an introductory gift — ^you'll see how that
will work."

She threw back her head quickly, and exclaimed,
"But, general, wouldn't a premature revelation spoil
everything ? "

The general smiled complacently.

" Why should it .'' I shall know how to carry the
matter through with the Kaiser, so that he doesn't draw
back. Always provided of course that he finds it to his
advantage to come to an agreement with me."

His easy unsuspicious trustfulness worked on her like
magic. She became absolutely unable to distinguish
between the possible and the apparent, and she lived in
the fairy tale as if in the most natural circumstances. She
promised all he asked, and they parted as if they had
brought their cause nearer to its great end.

But the impression did not last long, and away from
his presence the feeling for reality awoke again. The
journey to Germany became a distant, hazy idea; she took
no decisive step. She contented herself with driving to the
jeweller's and urging him to send her the gold carnation
as quickly as possible, and so eased her conscience with
regard to the general. But the general, who naturally
knew nothing of all she was doing for him with the jeweller,
became very impatient, and, after waiting a day or two,
sent Madame Abeille to find out if the baroness had started,
and if she had not yet left Paris to urge her to do so with-
out delay. The interview between the two friends was not

206 MORGANATIC

agreeable. Madame Abeille heaped reproaches on the
baroness that were gentle only in tone. She gave her to
understand that greater zeal had been counted on, more
cordial return for the hospitality which the self-exiled
woman had received in Paris, a stronger love for the
country which had offered her an honourable refuge when
persecuted in her native home. The baroness felt the
ambiguity of her position too keenly to point out to the
angry woman that she was neither France nor Paris, and
had no sort of right to speak, to warn, or to demand, in
the name of either one or the other. She was more
anxious for evasion, and declared that she had delayed the
execution of the plan because one consideration had
occurred to her — " What consideration ? " asked Madame
Abeille. That she ought to have some authority, some
credit —

Madame Abeille strongly opposed that idea. What
made her of such inimitable value as a go-between was that
she needed no such credit, that her words could raise no
doubts, that her supporters could be entirely concealed
and could negotiate in full security.

The baroness held to her pretext. She did not of
course need an introduction. But, considering the im-
portance of the business, she did not care to rely on
an impromptu speech, but wished the general to put
formally in writing what he desired and what he
offered. The note would be only for her, not for the
Kaiser, and would help her to avoid any vagueness in the
decisive interview.

That satisfied Madame Abeille, and she promised to get
the general to write the desired note. The next day
Madame Abeille appeared again, bringing the document
with her. It was in her handwriting. The small sheet
of letter paper, with writing only on one half side,
betrayed no sort of connection with General M6nard.
Madame Abeille pointed out the advantages of that.

" The paper compromises no one, neither you, princess,
nor the great party which sets its hopes on you. Start
at once, princess. Our heartbeats accompany you."

As the baroness, lost in thought, stared at the paper

MORGANATIC 207

and said nothing, Madame Abeille came close up to her,
and said in a hoarse voice —

" Princess you and your deceased husband did me the
honour to call me your friend. You had sufficient con-
fidence in me to let me know something of your circum-
stances. That encourages me to touch frankly on a
delicate point. You will have to make an appearance in
Berlin in accordance with your rank. Such a journey is
expensive.'"

The baroness started. But Madame Abeille put her
hand on her arm, and continued quickly —

"Ready money is not always available. Anybody may
be so hindered. And it would not be right to allow you to
make great sacrifices. It is more than enough that you
should undertake the troubles and perils of the mission.
You will permit us "

" I will permit you nothing," exclaimed the baroness
angrily. " I know you do not mean to ofilend me. Not
another word ! "

Madame Abeille stood up, embraced her passionately,
and whispered —

" Always the princess from head to foot. Forgive me."
She went away quickly.

The baroness now felt herself hard pressed. She
must keep the promise so lightly made, or Madame
Abeille, General Mdnard, and all their circle would regard
her as a mere swindler. As long as the undertaking
remained in the region of dreams and legends, there
seemed nothing impossible about it. But now that
it drew near, and took solid form, deeply contrite, she
recognized that she had entered on an unpardonable
gasconade, and could not escape bitter humiliation.
Sleep, which she only secured by the use of drugs, left
her even in spite of increased doses, and during two
nights of veritable martyrdom she thought and thought,
but all in vain, of some plan that would save her.
Nothing occurred to her usually fertile brain. She had
not even the comfort of talking the matter over with
Bertha, and utilizing her inventive skill. She became so
ill that her physician ordered her to stay in bed for a

208 MORGANATIC

couple of days. When he said, " Your highness, you can't
get up to-day," the long-sought means of safety flashed
through her mind.

" Would you be so kind, doctor, as to write this for
me to my friend, Madame Abeille," she implored.

" With pleasure, your highness," said the physician,
and he showed Madame Abeille in a couple of lines that
the condition of his patient's heart required instant
and complete rest.

The note brought its recipient to the baroness's bed-
side without delay. Madame Abeille was too kind-
hearted to worry the sufferer with business, but her
manner betrayed impatience and excitement. The
baroness understood the hoarse tone of the voice in
which she expressed the hope that her illness would very
soon pass, and that she would resume her active habits.

"Unhappily the doctor does not seem to think it
very likely," complained the baroness.

" I heartily hope he is mistaken, and that your strong
vitality may give the lie to his prognostications. Illness
invariably comes when it isn't wanted, and never more
than this time."

Madame Abeille made no other allusion to the affair.
Only when she brought the short visit that was permitted
to an end, she said —

"Get well quickly, dearest princess; we have such
need of you."

How long could the baroness diplomatically use this
illness to her advantage .'' She could not condemn herself
to eternal confinement to her bed or her room. Should
she shelter herself behind a general medical order for-
bidding her long journeys or excitement.'' In that case,
in order to play the part properly, she must give up
going to plays, dinners or parties, indeed all social life,
and that was impossible. At last a solution occurred to
her, but one of unspeakable meanness. She would actually
go to Berlin, remain there for a few days, and ask for an
audience. If she was received she would simply pay the
Kaiser the homage due to him from herself and her son,
and take care that her reception was mentioned by the

MORGANATIC 209

Press. If she did not succeed in obtaining an audience,
it would make little diflPerence. In either case she would
return to Paris, and sorrowfully inform Menard that her
mission was unsuccessful ; the Kaiser had graciously lis-
tened to her, had asked for information about Parisian
politics and persons, but had decisively refused to yield
German territory. She could dish up this story with
perfect safety. Who could prove it to be false ? General
Menard had no means of ascertaining that the Kaiser
had not received her, and it was quite impossible for
him to discover the real trend of the conversation. She
would have formally fulfilled her promise, and General
Menard would be her debtor.

The intercession of St. Antony of Padua, whom she
specially reverenced, and to whom she made many gifts,
as the special providence that watched over widows, spared
her the miserable fraud. She began preparations for the
journey, ordered the astonished Bertha to have the trunks
fetched up, and pack them for the next day, when a
thunderbolt fell. The government determined to imprison
General Menard, the decision was quickly notified to
him by one of his secret adherents in the police, and,
without delay, he fled in disguise beyond the frontier.
Siegfried brought his mother the evening paper with the
news of Menard's flight, and asked her —
" What about the general's star now .'' "
He looked surprised that she seemed in no way
disturbed by the news. The " Impossible ! " with which
she received it sounded more like an exclamation of joy
than of grief. She asked him to go to Madame Abeille
at once, and discover the details. She called to Bertha
joyfully—

" We shan't want the trunks. I'm not going away."
She regarded the general's fall as a release in her
uttermost need, and showered gifts on St. Antony of
Padua as if her life had been saved. At the same time
she somewhat contradictorily nursed the vague hope
that the general's fate might turn, that he might come
back, and be placed at the head of the State by his party,
and then do for her all that he had promised.

210 MORGANATIC

She determined, so far as in her opinion it could be
done without danger, to cherish her relations with General
Menard more carefully than ever. At last the jeweller
sent home the gold carnation about which with continual
grumbling over the indolence of the workmen, he had
taken nearly three weeks. The baroness informed Sieg-
fried that he must go to Gotheim in order to deliver
the jewel in person to the general who had pitched his
tent in a suburb of Thiodvik ; there he was far enough
from Paris to be out of reach of his political adversaries,
but near enough to be in readiness for action.

It was the first time that the baroness had employed
her son on any sort of mission. She let him feel what an
important task she was entrusting to him, and gave him
most minute instructions. He was to assure the general
of her unchangeable devotion. The affair had become
abortive through the unfavourable turn of fortune, but a
change would come, and should the general again be able
to speak in the name of his country, she was at his service.

The Dormans knew nothing of the high political matters
that bound the general and the baroness together. But
they knew of their friendship, and had declared them-
selves fanatical supporters of General Menard; for, thinking
that they saw in him a future Caesar, they nursed the
hope that if he was successful, they might creep into a
small place in his anteroom. The baroness did not
hesitate to speak of Siegfried's journey to Gotheim, and
its purpose, the presentation of the gold carnation, before
them. Without any fixed plan, merely as the result of
their everlasting parasitical ways, they both immediately
asked who was going to accompany the prince.? When
the baroness, in surprise, said that for so short a journey
no companion was needed, they declared, respectfully
but firmly, that it was quite out of the question for the
prince to travel alone. He was in some measure under-
taking an official, ceremonious commission to the future
ruler of France, and must therefore have a small suite.
If he went as an insignificant messenger, he lowered his
own dignity and the character of his mission. Therefore
he must take them with him to Thiodvik.

MORGANATIC 211

The idea harmonized too well with the baroness's
feeling for her to oppose it. But consideration for her
position compelled her to accept the young men's oifer
under one condition. Only the younger Dorman, the
little fair Guy, should accompany Siegfried. Thereupon,
although all his expenses would be paid, he asked for a
suitable sum of pocket-money for his stay in Gotheim;
the baroness gave it him with secret pain.

Nicoline was surprised when at their next meeting,
Siegfried informed her of his coming journey. He told
her only of the gold carnation which he was to present
in person to General Menard, because his mother would
not trust it to the post. He felt justified in keeping
silence about the political side of his mission. He
did not feel himself so at one with Nicoline as to be
unable to keep anything from her. The concealment
caused him a slight uneasiness which he tried to overcome
by telling himself that he was silent out of regard for
her, so as not to disturb her with the knowledge of dark
and daring undertakings.

Nicoline took no interest in the domestic politics of
France. She saw two or three Paris daily papers, but
she only read the news of the day, and the notes on the
theatres and on art. The rest she merely skimmed. She
had scarcely noticed the stormy agitation which had arisen
over General Menard. He was perfectly indifferent to
her. His flight to Gotheim made no impression on her.
She regarded Siegfried's journey as one of the baroness's
usual bids for notoriety, and was only sorry that he should
permit himself to be employed in such foolishness. She
asked him how long he would be away.

"Three or four days, perhaps. I may like to stay
a few days longer in Thiodvik and look about me. I saw
so little of it when I was there with my father five years
ago," he replied.

The answer irritated her, she did not quite know why ;
but she concealed her annoyance.

" A pleasant journey, and a good time," she said.
" Send me some picture postcards, and let me know as
soon as you are back,"

212 MORGANATIC

"Of course, Nicoline, And won''t you write to
me?"

" It's not worth while. And I shouldn't have any-
thing to tell you."

" Yes, you would."

"What?"

"Whether you are thinking of me. Whether you
miss me."

" It's rather late to think of that."

He began to make some asseverations ; but she stopped
him, saying —

" Go, Siegfried, the change will do you good. I'm
sorry you won't be here for our concert. I should have
liked you to be present at my first public appearance.
But I'm not superstitious."

Two or three times a year, sometimes for a charitable
object, sometimes without that pretext, Signora Conti
gave concerts in order to introduce her pupils to the
public and to the Press. She considered that Nicoline
had made sufficient progress to sing twice at the concert
arranged for May.

Siegfried had no inclination to put off his journey for
a few days in order to be present at the concert. Nicoline
would certainly have declined the sacrifice ; but she would
have been grateful for the intention. She parted from
Siegfried somewhat coolly, and thought, as she went the
last part of the way home by herself, " In fact, he only
thinks of himself, as they all do."

Siegfried and his companion took up their quarters at
one of the best hotels at Thiodvik, the former inscribing
himself boldly as the Count von Gleichen. That was one
of the twenty or thirty titles of the Loewenstein family,
and, on account of a romantic legend connected with it,
they liked to use it when they tea veiled incognito. He
acted thus on his mother's advice, who had impressed on
him the necessity for great prudence.

He sent Guy de Dorman to General Menard to tell
him that he was in Thiodvik, that he had something to
give him from his mother, and to ask when he could see
him. Dorman did not succeed in seeing the general

MORGANATIC 213

himself. He only saw his secretary, who took his address,
and promised that he should soon hear from him, where-
upon he assured him that the prince and himself would
remain at their hotel during the afternoon, and hold
themselves at the general's service. Soon after lunch,
first Dorman and then Siegfried was called to the tele-
phone. The secretary named himself, and asked if he
was speaking to Prince Loewenstein-Franka. Upon an
affirmative answer, a brief pause ensued ; then Siegfried
heard Menard's voice, saying —

" How do you do, prince ; it's very kind of you and
your mother to trouble about me. What have you got
for me .? "

"General, I should consider it a great privilege to
speak to you in person. When may I go to you ? "

" I advise you not to come. My house is under con-
stant supervision, and spies are set on every visitor.
There's no point in your compromising yourself. The
post and the telephone are safer. If you have papers for
me, send them by post. If it's a verbal communication,
make it now at your ease."

" It isn't papers, general, but a little present from my
mother, a breast-pin in the form of your favourite flower,
with a few engraved dedicatory words, a modest assurance
of my mother's sincere friendship, and, I venture to add,
of my own devotion."

"Really! Most kind. Best thanks. What else.?"

" I am to tell you from my mother how sorry she
is that events did not allow her to act in the matter
arranged "

" You know about it .-' " sounded hastily through the
telephone.

" Yes, I know, general. My mother is also very sorry
that no time was left for her to carry out the business,
and she holds herself at your disposal, for the time,
assuredly not far off, when you will have an opportunity
of making use of us again."

"Is that all.?"

" Yes. I've nothing else to say."

A strange silence followed, which made Siegfried think

214! MORGANATIC

that the connection was switched ofF. But before he could
ask, he heard the general's voice again.

" Prince, during the last few days, I have been
forced to learn much treachery. I conclude that my
experience with the princess does not come under that
category."

" General ! " angrily exclaimed Siegfried.

" Let me speak frankly," came severely back. " Tell
your mother that her illness was a great misfortune for
us all. She had it in her power to turn events. She did
not do so."

" Was unable to do so, general."

" So you say, prince. Certain opportunities once
lost, never recur. Give your mother my respectful
remembrances, and greet my beautiful France, which
welcomes you, a stranger, while I dare not cross the
frontier."

" Then you won't see me, general .'' "

" Better not."

" And the breast-pin ? "

A short pause, then, "Send it by post, or by your
companion. Pleasant journey."

The interview was at an end. With a whirling head
and clenched teeth, Siegfried left the office in which it had
taken place. Dorman hastened to meet him, and, with a
constrained manner, Siegfried told him to go back to
Menard with the parcel, and to give it to him, or if to
his secretary, to demand a receipt. As he offered no
explanation, Dorman guessed that the mission was
unsuccessful. Siegfried wrote to his mother —

" Dear Mamma,

"General Menard is a mean wretch. Under
specious pretext he refused to see me, and scarcely thanked
for your thoughtful gift, which I've sent him by Dorman.
He gave me clearly to understand that he considered you
had deceived him. I've the greatest desire to challenge
the fellow; but that would be doing him too much
honour, and here, in Gotheim, such things are no joke.
Menard richly deserves his fate. It is well that things

MORGANATIC 215

have so turned out. The swindler would have thrown us
into a bed of nettles, and there let us lie. I hope you
are well. Best love from your dutiful son,

" Siegfried."

He sent Nicoline a picture postcard, with the
words —

"Dear N.,

" I think of you, I think of our walk which I
must forego to-day. I shall soon see you again. Don't
quite forget your faithful

"S."

Dorman could hardly be back for three hours. Mean-
while, Siegfried took a walk through the noisy streets of
Thiodvik. He felt a great void in himself, and a painful
purposelessness in his wandering, or keeping at home, in
his journey, and also in his life. He had honestly believed
that he had nothing to expect or hope from Menard ; but,
now that the castle in the air had disappeared, he was
obliged to acknowledge that he had built himself one on
the promises of the political adventurer. Nothing, then,
was to come of the French alliance, as his mother grandly
called it, or of the recognition of the French government,
with the pressure brought on the Grand Duke Hilarius
by the insistence of a great power. A gold and enamelled
jewel that his mother certainly had got on credit, a point-
less journey, which had brought him no amusement, that
was the whole result of the important business of the
last weeks.

And to anticipate a little: that was, and remained,
the whole result. For, a few weeks later. General Menard
lay on a garden path with a bullet in his breast, shot in a
duel by the husband of a woman he had betrayed. At
the sale of his effects, after his burial in foreign soil, a
collector acquired the baroness's breast-pin for less than
the value of the gold, and the newspapers which published
an illustration of it and the inscription, added the ques-
tion, " What romance is hidden in this gift from a loving

216 MORGANATIC

hand, with its sentimental dedication from an unknown
donor ? "

Although Siegfried was so deeply sunk in thought, he
noticed, after a time, that he was attracting the attention
of the passers-by. He was accustomed to be stared at in
the streets of Paris on account of his great stature. But
that could not be the reason here, where tall and very tall
men were much more frequent than in Paris. Many people
stopped and looked after him, couples whispered a hasty
word to each other when they saw him ; some greeted him
in so respectful a manner that at first he did not think it
was he that could be meant, and looked about for the
person for whom the bow was intended. He could not,
however, remain long in doubt that it was meant for him,
and the discovery embarrassed him, because it set him a
problem. Suddenly a solution dawned on him. He passed
a shop window in which large photographs were displayed,
and to his liveliest astonishment, he seemed to recognize
his own likeness. He stopped and read, "His Royal
Highness, the Crown Prince."

So that was it ! The people took him for their crown
prince. At first he felt flattered, then he was filled with
fresh bitterness. He had not hitherto thought of it.
Now he became clearly conscious of it. He was once
again, as during all his boyhood until they settled in
Paris, in a land ruled over by his family ; he was actually a
member of the reigning family here, and was wandering
about the capital of their empire like a nameless outcast,
honoured by the greetings of the passers-by, which were
irony to him, and about which they would be seriously
annoyed when they discovered their error.

Following the direction of his thoughts, Siegfried
suddenly came to a decision. Why should he not wait
on the queen ? Years ago she had desired his visit. She
had been very kind to him ; perhaps her feelings had not
changed. So possibly the broken threads between himself
and his family might be mended just at one of the
most important places, and he would have done some-
thing for himself and his future at last.

Without delay, he called a cab, and bade the driver

MORGANATIC 217

go to the royal palace. On the way he kept asking
himself: "What shall I say to the queen?" And then
a strange thought came into his head. He tried to pene-
trate right into Nicoline's soul, and to say and do in his
interview with the queen exactly what from his knowledge
of her temperament, Nicoline would say and do under
similar circumstances. He felt certain that in this way
he would strike the right note.

When he alighted at the principal entrance of the
palace, he saw that the flag was not flying. He went to
the porter's lodge, which opened off the great hall close
to the entrance, and asked unconcernedly —

"Her majesty is not in town ?"

" No, your highness," replied the man in the gold-laced
red coat, getting up most respectfully. "Her majesty
has been at Castle Stormby for a week." The porter did
not doubt for a moment that one of his mistress's foreign
relatives stood before him. "The Lord Chamberlain is
in the palace. Would your highness like to see him ? "

"No, thank you. It's not necessary," said Siegfried,
whose scanty knowledge of the language compelled brevity,
and he took his departure, much pleased with the impres-
sion he had made on the servant.

Castle Stormby was about an hour by train from
Thiodvik. Siegfried thought it impracticable to go that
afternoon. Notwithstanding the distance, he walked back
to his hotel, and on the way received many tokens of
respect from policemen, soldiers, and casual passers-by,
without embarrassment, as if it was his due, and a matter
of course.

He found Guy de Dorman waiting for him. He
had seen General Menard, and had delivered the gold
carnation. After a cursory glance at the jewel, the
general had laid it on his writing-table, asked after the
baroness's and Prince Siegfried's health, demanded his
own name and circumstances, and, with kind remem-
brances to both, had dismissed him.

Siegfried listened to the report abstractedly. He had
done with Menard, his mission was insignificant ; he lived
now in the expectation of his interview with the queen.

218 MORGANATIC

He contented himself with informing his companion, " We
shall stay here a little longer ; " and he, much delighted,
immediately suggested a series of amusements for that
evening and the next day. It was approved with some
abbreviations.

The next day Siegfried went to Stormby. Before the
principal gate of the castle stood a double guard. When
the sentries saw the young man, they hesitated and then
presented arms. With a slight acknowledgment, Siegfried
went past them through the great courtyard to the steps
leading to the central pavilion, where an official met him,
who looked at him sharply, and then, lifting his hat,
waited for him to speak.

"Is her Majesty here.''" asked Siegfried.

"No. Their highnesses have been cruising about
the islands in their yacht since the day before yesterday.
They are expected back to-mori-ow evening."

« Dr. Pelgram ? "

"Is with them."

Siegfried said nothing, and after waiting a little, the
official asked —

" With whom have I the honour to speak ? "

Siegfried pretended not to have heard, nodded slightly
and went, taking in, with a long glance, the central build-
ing, the two wings, and the gilded railings of the entrance
side. He remembered its form exactly, and lived over
again the confused impressions, born of pride and humilia-
tion, that he had received there in his youth.

He was so full of his purpose, that he could not resist
telling Dorman that he meant to pay the queen a visit,
that she was now at sea, and would not be back till the
day after to-morrow. It made such an impression upon
his companion that he, in his turn, could not repress the
feeling of importance that came over him, and he began to
talk in the hotel. Siegfried" noticed' the- change in- the
behaviour of the servants, and of his fellow-guests towards
him, but he took it for a consequence of the family likeness.

Two days pass quickly in Thiodvik, even when a
future day is eagerly desired. Siegfried could scarcely
manage to send his mother a few colourless words, and

MORGANATIC 219

Nicoline a brief greeting. The third day he went to
Stormby again. This time the royal banner floated over
the central pavilion, the courtyard was full of animation,
officials and servants coming and going, and at the en-
trance, a man in uniform asked Siegfried what he wanted.

"To see Dr. Pelgram," said Siegfried. Dr. Pelgram
was the queen's German secretary and librarian, and held
a position of confidence with her far beyond the usual
duties of the post. He was the brother of Siegfried's
tutor, and he regarded him as a near friend.

"Will you give me your card."" asked the man in
uniform.

Siegfried felt in his breast-pocket, suddenly grew red,
took his hand out, and said —

" Have you a piece of paper and a pen or pencil ? "

The official silently went towards a room in the wing,
bade Siegfried enter, and gave him what he asked. Sieg-
fried wrote " Baron von Gronendal," and gave him the
paper. The official looked at it quickly, and said, in a
much stiffer manner, " Will you wait here."

It was fully a quarter of an hour before he returned,
and signed to Siegfried to follow him. He led him up the
steps into the great ante-hall which was filled with a dozen
servants, two or three officials, and a number of non-
commissioned officers and soldiers. Siegfried's appearance
roused among them a restrained yet unmistakable atten-
tion. His likeness to their prince amazed them, but from
the behaviour of his guide they concluded he could not be
what he seemed.

He was delivered over to a footman with the direction,
" To Dr. Pelgram." He was led up staircases, along
corridors, and through rooms to a little door which the
man opened, and then shut behind him. Siegfried found
himself in a moderately large, simply furnished room, the
two tall windows of which looked out on to an extensive
park. A thin man of middle height, with shaved face and
carefully brushed hair, in a black coat and white tie, rose
from behind a massive writing-table covered with books
and papers, and with even steps went to meet his
visitor.

220 MORGANATIC

" This is a real surprise," he said, holding out his hand
to Siegfried without bowing and speaking in a quiet voice,
the tone of which he did not raise, " Come nearer. Baron
von Gronendal, and sit down."

When they were both seated, he continued —

" Now, how are you, my dear Baron von Gronendal ? "

" Thank you, quite well ; and you, doctor ? "

" Much work, little recreation, the old story. It's a
long time since you were in Franka .'' "

" A very long time."

" H'm. Well, well. And what procures me this
pleasure ? "

" Isn't it natural that I should come and see you when
I aminThiodvik?"

"Ah yes, of course. Have you been long in
Thiodvik ? "

" A few days."

" Really, really."

A pause followed which lengthened out and began to
be painful. Siegfried had to decide on a line of action.

" How is the queen .'' " he asked.

Dr. Pelgram threw a quick glance at Siegfried from
his piercing blue eyes, and then turned them away.

" Her majesty is very well except for occasional
rheumatic pains."

" Do you know, doctor, I should so much like to see
her.?"

« Indeed."

" Will you procure me an audience ? "

" I .''" exclaimed Dr. Pelgram, waking into life for the
first time, and pushing back his chair. " How do you come
to that idea, my dear Baron von Gronendal ? You know
too much of court etiquette to believe sei-iously that I dare
take it on myself to announce visitors to her majesty !
People have to gain an audience through the official court."

" People ! But I'm not people. You forget that I have
the honour to be acquainted with her majesty, that I
have been her guest, that I am closely related to her."

"That's all quite right, but it has nothing to do with
my office, to the duties of which I strictly adhere."

MORGANATIC 221

As Siegfried said nothing, and kept his eyes down, Dr.
Pelgram, rising, added —

" And now you must excuse me, Baron von Gronendal.
I received you as a matter of course, but at half-past
eleven I am commanded to make my report, and you
will understand that I must not keep her majesty
waiting."

Siegfried hastily consulted his watch, and saw that there
was plenty of time still. He got up, however.

" Thank you for seeing me, although your time is so full.
I should like to ask one question. Will you tell me how I
am regarded here, and what sort of a reception I may
hope for .'' "

The question was put so frankly and straightforwardly
that it disarmed Dr. Pelgram's diplomacy.

" You want to know the truth .'' Then I won't hide it
from you." His tone was more cordial than it had been
all the time. "Don't take the trouble to ask for an
audience, it would not be granted you. There is a good
deal of sympathy for you in the highest places, but your
mother's behaviour has made a very unfavourable impres-
sion, and you are held somewhat responsible for it. For
you are now of age, and could have let it be seen that you
did not share your mother's strange views."

The veins in Siegfried's forehead swelled, and he
replied more passionately than he was conscious of —

" But I share them entirely, and do not see how they
are strange."

" You have not asked for my views," said Dr. Pelgram,
and his tone again became cold, " but for those held in
influential quarters. I allowed myself to answer you to the
injury of my official duties, because I have human sym-
pathy with my brother's pupil, whom I have known from
childhood. Discussion of these far-reaching questions
would be never-ending. I can't enter on them. Excuse
me — my duties."

Siegfried had regained his composure, and felt sad —

" Have you nothing else to say to me ? I'm going
away at once, and you will probably never see me
again."

222 MORGANATIC

Dr. Pelgram gave him a long look. Then he stretched
out his hand, and said —

"I wish, with all my heart, that you may be well
advised. You have everything necessary to happiness, and
you are on the road to destroy it. Turn round. There is
still time. That is the warning of a man of common sense,
I may say, of a friend." He went to the door, and opened
it Siegfried pressed his hand in silence, bowed, and
went.

This time nobody troubled about him, and he had to
find his way out alone. He lost himself several times in
the intricate corridors before a servant appeared and
showed him the way. The sentries at the doors, the
chamberlains and adjutants in the rooms, the servants in
the passages, demonstrated clearly by what a power the
inner circle was closed to him. And yet his place was there
— his right to it was written on his face — and he wished
to obtain it. But he went forth now a contemned stranger,
and he thought bitterly —

" It only needs a revolution and all these sentries would
turn their bayonets against you. Then you would have to
get through these corridors, unattended, secretly, as I
have done. You would deserve to be treated as you treat
your own flesh and blood."

His ill-humour made him feel the need of being alone.
He lunched at a modest inn which he found near the
railway station, loitered a little on the river bank, took
a slow train back to Thiodvik, and reached the hotel late
in the afternoon.

Guy de Dorman did not appear until dinner-time.

" Ah ! " he exclaimed, " the queen invited you to
luncheon. I thought that was it when you did not turn
up at one o'clock. Now, prince, tell me all about it."

" Dorman, we return to Paris, to-night. Ask for the
bill," was Siegfried's dry answer.

Somewhat surprised, Dorman bowed, rang for the waiter,
who received the order with the customary " Yessir." A
quarter of an hour passed and he had not appeared ; during
the time Siegfried received Dorman's repeated approaches
with a rough —

MORGANATIC 223

" Let me alone ! "

They had to ring again before another servant appeared
with the bill.

A shadow crossed Siegfried's face when Dorman
handed him the paper he had taken from the tray. When
the man had gone, Siegfried said —

" They're a set of thieves ! "

Dorman looked at the figures, and murmured —

" Well, it's certainly not cheap here."

" The tariflF is hung up in the rooms. The figures don't
tally. Will you go and see about it at the office ? "

Dorman muttered confusedly —

" H'm, that's rather difficult. Evidently they've seen
through your incognito. NohUsse oblige. "

Siegfried could have laughed aloud. He enjoyed all the
advantages of his royal standing without the official
recognition of it. His depression was stronger than his
sense of humour —

" I fear I haven't so much with me. Perhaps you "

" Ah, no, prince," answered Dorman, quickly. " I am
myself short of money to-day, and intended to ask

"Then we're in a nice mess," murmured Siegfried,
taking a rapid look at the money in his purse, a pro-
ceeding that did not diminish his dissatisfaction. " I've
no choice but to write to Paris, and wait for the
reply."

" Then we shan't leave to-night .'' "

" Of course not."

" Shall we dine here, prince ? "

"Yes."

Dorman went to his room, in order to dress for
dinner. Siegfried sat down and wrote to his mother
that she must send him five hundred francs immediately,
since the thousand he had with him would not suffice to
pay the disgracefully exorbitant hotel bill.

Dorman thought he ought to continue to fill the
office of master of the ceremonies, and proposed that
they should go to the opera, and some music-halls that
night, and the next day to the races. Siegfried, however,

224. MORGANATIC

declined so ill-humouredly, that, despite his parasitic
ability, the young man could not summon up courage to
ask for an addition to his pocket-money.

Siegfried spent the next two days in the Gotheim
Museum, in the National Gallery, and the Zoological
Gardens, paying scant attention to the objects of interest
that surrounded him, tortured as he was by his inmost
thoughts. He was thoroughly discontented with himself.
He was not greatly affected by Menard's refusal to receive
him, although, unconsciously, it left a sting. He re-
proached himself for having been so easily discouraged
by Pelgram. Why hadn't he carried out his plan.'
Why hadn't he quietly gone to the chamberlain, or
the adjutant in attendance, and asked to be announced
to the queen. That is what Nicoline would have done.
He could never have carried it through. His strength
would have failed halfway. He must train himself to
persevere. Otherwise he would have to renounce every-
thing, and submit like a weak coward.

At last his mother's letter, with the money, came.
She wrote —

"Dear Siegfried —

"Enclosed are the five hundred francs. Now,
come back at once. I have no objection to your amusing
yourself, but I expect some consideration for our circum-
stances in a young man of your age.

" Your suffering

" Mother.
"P.S. — In order to procure the money, Bertha had
to pawn my topaz bracelet."

Siegfried reached Paris late in the evening. The
baroness was alone, and had waited dinner for him. He
greeted her coolly, and gave an account of his mission
during dinner. His mother contented herself with a sigh
and the observation —

"The general is embittered. He does not value the
sacrifice we made for him. Ingratitude is a common
feature in those Caesar temperaments."

MORGANATIC 225

After some delay and inward struggle, Siegfried told
her of his interview with Dr. Pelgram.

The baroness was all attention. " How did you come
to that notion ? "

" I hoped he would help me to see the queen."

The baroness shook her head. "Siegfried, Siegfried,
how can you be so stupid .'' "

" I thought I might help our cause."

" You thought. That's just it. You shouldn't think.
It's always foolishness. You should always leave it
to me, or at least ask me beforehand, when you can't
restrain an impulse to action. Pelgram is a sneak
and a cringing creature. He is the Grand Duke's tool,
and fills the queen's ears with things in our disfavour.
He was the very last person to whom you should have
turned."

Siegfried was again driven back on himself, and said
no more.

After dinner he went out. He wanted, if possible, to
see Nicoline that evening. He felt he owed her much.
During these last days she had been relegated to the
background. He had not kept his promise to write every
day. And he had not brought her anything from
Thiodvik; not the smallest souvenir, to prove that she
had been in his thoughts during the separation. He
did not venture to call on her, for she had expressly
forbidden him to do so, but he walked up and down in
front of the house, hoping that good luck might bi-ing
her to the window. He had, however, to content him-
self with writing to her that he had come back, was
most impatient to see her, and hoped she would meet
him to-morrow afternoon as early as possible at the usual
place.

She came. He hurriedly kissed her hand, and his lips
trembled a little. She drew her hand away, and said, in
a slightly reproachful tone —

" At last ! You weren't away four days, but a whole
week."

" Yes, Nicoline ; unforeseen events kept me in
Thiodvik."

Q

226 MORGANATIC

" Oh ! I feared your letters had gone astray. Did
they?"

" I wrote three times," said Siegfried, in a low voice.

"Then I received them all. But when three days
passed without a sign from you, I was anxious, and
thought something had gone wrong with you or your
correspondence."

"No — I was only — I was always on the move — I
couldn't "

" Don't make excuses. You had something more
important to do. Affairs of state come first. That is a
matter of course.''

" Nicoline, you're laughing at me."

" Laughing ! I thought that was why you went to
Thiodvik."

" It's too big a word for the commission I executed
for my mother, and what else I did had nothing to do
with politics. I wanted to do something in my own
affairs."

"In Thiodvik?"

" Yes. I wanted to see the queen. You know that
she's my father's cousin. She was very intimate with him,
and was very kind to me."

" Well, how did she receive you ? "

" I didn't see her."

"Why?"

" I went first to her German secretary, my tutor's
brother, a good old friend, and he strongly advised me
against the step."

" You shouldn't have listened to him."

" He gave me good reasons. It seems that the queen
has been set against us."

" In your place, I should not have heeded these tale-
bearers."

" Yes, perhaps I was too soon discouraged. But what
could I do ? When one is left without any sort of guid-
ance, and feels one's way so insecure "

"Don't worry. I dare say you've not lost much.
I can't exactly see what the Queen of Gotheim could have
done for you," said Nicoline.

MORGANATIC 227

" Can't you ? Why, the Grand Duke Hilarius looks
up to his sister-in-law. She is the only human being who
has any influence with him. If the queen said a word to
him in our favour, he would recognize me as his nephew,
and would make the Vienna uncle let me have my father's
allowance. And I can count on justice and kindness from
the queen. Her favourite daughter raai-ried a man who
is not of the blood royal."

" Well, if you knew all that, you should have carried
out your purpose and seen the queen."

He looked down, and said nothing. They walked in
silence for a time along the Boulevard Haussmann.

" You don't ask how I've been getting on ? " began
Nicoline, at length.

" Why didn't you write to me, even once .'' " returned
Siegfried.

" Well, I really don't know, exactly. Perhaps because
I didn't quite know how to write to you. And then I
thought you'd only be away three days. And when it
wa* longer, and I heard nothing from you, I didn't know
what had become of you."

" A word from you would have done me so much good."

" Have you heard nothing about me ? "

" How could I ? From whom ? "

"Haven't you seen any of the Paris papers — the
Figaro?''

"No."

" Or the Thiodvik papers ? "

« Yes."

" And was there nothing about me in them .'' "

" About you ? "

"Thank you for giving me a lesson in modesty.
I see what fame is — fame which went to my head at
the first draught. All the newspapers were full of me
for two days. I imagined that the whole world was occu-
pied with me, and you know nothing about it, and
haven't even seen my name once. That's a wholesome
experience."

" I don't understand — you must forgive me. I merely
glanced at the papers. What was it .-' "

228 MORGANATIC

She smiled, and said nothing.

" How did the papers come to mention you ? "
continued Siegfried. " It can't be anything disagreeable
or you wouldn't look so pleased. What is it.?"
" You've quite forgotten the concert .'' "

" The concert ! Of course ! You sang "

" Yes, I sang, and his highness Prince Siegfried, wasn't
there. And it was a success that might well turn a girl's
head. The hall was packed full with the best audience in
Paris — I mean the most discriminating. And they were
like mad. When I sang my first song, ' Cette nuit j'ai
revu le palais de men pere,' from Gluck's Iphigenia, a stir
went through the hall, a murmur of surprise, then such
applause as I should have thought impossible from an
audience of that kind. I was in excellent voice and
extraordinarily courageous. I did not feel the least shy.
I appeared incognito as it were. No one knew me.
And nothing depended on it. At least, so I thought,
but I discovered my error later. For if I had known, I
should have suffered from stage-fright. My turn ceyne
again at the end of the second part. The good signora
had saved me for la borme bouche. It was the dying
song from Othello. Signora Conti will have nothing to do
with Wagner. Music ends for her with the classical com-
posers and the Italians. When I entered, there was a
deathlike stillness, then a double round of applause.
That had not occurred before during the concert. When
I had finished no one moved, and all cried out, ' Encore !
Encore ! ' and would not be silenced. But in such things
Signora Conti is not to be moved. In fact, she never
permits a repetition. But that made no matter. ' The
people are infatuated with you,' she said, half irritably,
half gladly. 'Now, for Heaven's sake, go back so that
they may be quiet. But no more Othello. I'll have no
encore. Sing the air, " Queen of the Night." ' I did, and
with what success you can't imagine. Then up came
haughty American ladies, and desired to make my ac-
quaintance, and loaded me with the most exaggerated
compliments. Another Patti, another Jenny Lind, that
was the least of them. And after them came reporters,

MORGANATIC 229

among them your friend Coppee, who claimed me as an
old acquaintance, and they rained questions on me, and
my answers, when I did answer, were written down ; but
Signora Conti spread her wings over me like a brooding
hen, and exclaimed, ' No interview,' and hunted them all
away."

The words flowed from her lips in an apparently in-
exhaustible stream, and her shining eyes, beaming ex-
pression, and smiling mouth, showed how the remem-
brance delighted her.

"Signora Conti is a sympathetic creature," she con-
tinued. " I naturally wrote to my mother the same even-
ing, and I got an answer the day before yesterday, and
she said she might perhaps have thought my account
exaggerated ; but Signora Conti had confirmed it all.
Just think, she wrote to my mother, and never said a
word to me. That's something far beyond the usual
interest shown by a teacher. The next day the class
received me with clapping of hands, and presented me
with a wreath — that's something for your rivals to do,
isn't it .'' And Signora Conti handed me a sheaf of news-
papers, and said before them all, ' I ought to hide it all
from you, but perhaps you had better see it. Read
it, but don't lose your head. It's all rubbish. The
reporters know nothing about art. Your pretty face
attracted them, and so they exaggerate blindly. It
would be a very serious matter if you believed them.
You're very far from perfect yet. You've a great deal
more to learn.' My good old Signora Conti ! As if I
didn't know that. Then came letters offering me en-
gagements for evening parties. But Signora Conti won't
hear of that. Nor will I. I have been asked for
my photograph for publication. The Diesa papers
copied, the Paris reports, and our Anzeiger hopes that
our director will not let the rising star escape him. I
laughed heartily over that. The good people of Diesa
think they are justified in inheriting such an usufruct
free of expense. My mother has let herself be so used.
That is enough. The daughter will act very differently.
Besides, th«re are other people besides our director who

230 MORGANATIC

do not intend to let the rising star escape them. You
won't believe it, but yesterday an impresario really and
truly came to see me, a flesh-and-blood impresario, who
offered me an engagement for several years, for my whole
life, if I would. The man did not inspire confidence ; he
prejudiced me against him, for he tried to set me against
Signora Conti. He had first been to her, he told me, but
she had summarily dismissed him, because she intended to
keep me as her own property — such absurdity ! I should
never settle anything without consulting Signora Conti
and my mother. But I was immensely amused. My first
offer ! I told the man to leave me the terms of the
contract. I shall not answer him, nor see him again.
But I shall keep the paper as a souvenir. It will
form a landmark in my life. Aren't you curious to
read it.?"

" What — what do you wish ? " asked Siegfried, waking
out of his thoughts.

" I talk and talk, and you don't listen to a word,"
grumbled Nicoline, with a pout.

" I do, Nicoline, I do," he assured her lamely.

But she was right. The details of her story gave him
no pleasure. They slipped away from him. He had
only the impression that she was full of herself and of
an experience that had no value in his eyes. Apparently,
during all these days he had had no place in her thoughts.
That humiliated and annoyed him, and his injured feelings
took an ignoble revenge in depreciating the interests
that now occupied the girl.

" Pah ! " he thought, " Stage gossip, theatrical
anxieties, comedians, vanity — already ! That's all far
below the place on which I stand."

He did not know how haughty he looked as these
thoughts passed through his mind. Nicoline, with her
sensitiveness and intelligence, read them in his look and
manner as in an open book.

" Forgive me, Siegfried," she said, proudly controlling
her feelings, " it was presumption on my part to think
you could be interested in my little affairs." She wanted
to add, " I can't put myself in the same category as

MORGANATIC 231

political generals and great queens,'" but she repressed the
ill-natured words.

" You are wrong, Nicoline," replied Siegfried, seriously.
" Everything that concerns you interests me deeply. Only
you oughtn't to blame me if it saddens me a little, that
in all your success you should have thought so little,
perhaps not at all of me.'"

" You''re wrong, Siegfried. I thought of you so much,
that the whole hall full of people was indifferent to me
because you weren't there. Why weren't you there ?
I shall always believe that you could have put off
going to Thiodvik for three days, if you had really
wished it."

He could not actually deny that, and so said
nothing.

" You've never heard me sing, have you ? " asked
Nicoline, after a pause.

" Yes, I have. Don't you remember ? The day after
your arrival when you sang the ' Miillerlied ' to your
mother's accompaniment."

" Oh, that was child's play. I mean something
dramatic."

" I recognized the bell-like tones of your voice," he
assured her.

" I had had no training. My voice was like an uncut
precious stone. Now it's quite different."

" I should certainly like to admire it. But how and
where ? I can't go to you "

Nicoline blushed.

" I must wait to hear you, till I can buy the right at
the box-office."

" No, you needn't wait till then. Signora Conti has
fixed her last pupil's concert before the holidays for the
end of July. It's a sort of final examination with a view
to engagements. I shall take pains to show what I can
do. Signora Conti will be delighted to send you an
invitation if you express a wish to come. I tell you now,
so that you may be able to arrange it in case you have to
go to Gotheim again."

He received her stab with an inclination of the head.

232 MORGANATIC

Again they walked on awhile in silence.

" Final examination,'" said Siegfried, at last. " That
points, perhaps, to the end of your stay in Paris."

" Not perhaps, but certainly. I can't accept the
severe sacrifice my mother is making any longer, and I
feel myself fledged."

" So near ! Scarcely two months ! "

" Yes. Time flies. When I think that I've been
away from my mother for eight months. And I must
make the greatest use of the few weeks that remain.
For things are now serious. I must study at least eight
or ten parts. I am working with M. Courtois of the
Grand Opera to whom Signora Conti recommended me.
Then I have to take lessons in elocution and deportment,
the first with a professor at the Conservatoire, the second
with the ballet-master of the Grand Opera. It seemed
to me at first rather absurd, but Signora Conti assures me
that it is absolutely necessary. It takes up my whole
day. And when I have no lessons, I must learn my parts
by heart. In a word "

" In a word, my poor Nicoline, you're leading a terrible
life."

" It's not easy, and great ideals are not attained with-
out effort. Henceforth, I can't give up the afternoons to
our pleasant walks "

He looked at her in alarm. " Do I rightly under-
stand ? You won't any more " ^

" I can't. I haven't time."

" And you can say that with so light a heart."

" You don't know whether it's with a light or a heavy
heart. Let us be wise. We mustn't be sentimental.
That was our agreement, wasn't it ? What we wish for
we must wish for earnestly. You didn't hesitate to
remain away from me for a week when you thought it
necessary for your aflkirs. That's not a reproach," she
said quickly, when he seemed about to reply ; " indeed,
it called forth a certain respect from me, for it shows
energy. But you must understand that I can be as hard
on myself as you on yourself."

" I shan't see you any more "

MORGANATIC 233

"I haven't said that. There are still Sunday after-
noons."

" That'll only make nine or ten meetings."
" We must be satisfied with those, Siegfried ? "
"And then "

« Then, yes, then "

" Separation."

" Serious life's work."

"To forget."

" Are you speaking of yourself or of me ? " she
asked.

He did not seem to have heard the question. " You
won't have much time for thinking of me when you are
quite given up to your work."

" It's not in our power to regulate our struggle with
circumstances. Would it be any better if I were not to
work.? I know what I am striving for. If I succeed in
what I undertake, I shall soon be mistress of my fate —
and then you know what we decided."

They had now reached the Arc de Triomphe, and
Nicoline bent her steps towards the avenue Wagram,
which led to her house. They only spoke in monosyllables.
Nicoline had a dozen newspaper cuttings with her, but
she waited in vain for Siegfried to express a wish to see
them. He never thought of them, and she was too much
hurt by his indifference to offer them to him ; each thought
there was reason to complain of the other, and so their
parting was cool and strained.

They had only been separated a week, and it seemed
as if years lay between their parting and meeting. The
events of that important week had shown them both that
their paths lay wide apart, and would nowhere meet, and
that their own interests occupied them more than thoughts
of one another.

Meanwhile the baroness's affairs grew from bad to
worse. Without exactly cutting her, Madame Abeille
treated her with distinct coldness. She apparently
shared General Menard's opinion that she had not
acted in good faith. Madame Abeille's whole circle,
the baroness's social support in Paris, was infected with

234 MORGANATIC

her mood, and the altered circumstances made themselves
felt sensibly in the weeks between the Vernissage at the
Salon and the Gramd Prix, weeks usually crowded with
invitations.

Nothing but news of disaster came from Vienna.
Osterburg informed her that the upper Court had finally
thrown out her claim to be entered in the Land Register
as Princess of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level. It
established the judgment regarding the personal rank of
Prince Albrecht's widow, that she had, according to the
Loewenstein-Franka family law, no claim to the rank
and title of a member of that royal house. There could
be no appeal against the decision. Only the head of the
State could change it by his own power. Osterburg made
an attempt to get at the Emperor. The civil cabinet
curtly directed the appellant to apply to the reigning
Prince of Loewenstein-Franka, who was alone concerned
in the matter.

So that campaign was lost, and the baroness, after six
months' worry and a heavy outlay, was just as far as she
had been at the time of Osterburg's visit. The ingenious
lawyer did not, however, rest long, and proposed a new
plan of campaign. He offered to compose a memorial
which should prove that the principle of equality of birth
was broken by the marriage of Duke Ditmar with the
Princess Level, since that lady was not a member of the
high nobility in the sense of the regulations of the German
Federal Diet of 1815, 1818, and 1825. Likewise the
Austrian branch of the Meissen - Loewenstein - Franka
family, in consequence of its descent from an ancestress of
unequal birth, was not a part of the whole family, and so
the equality of birth principle could no longer be enforced
in regard to the wives of princes of that branch. The
impression conveyed by the Charter of Institution of the
Loewenstein-Level entail, was that the princess and Prince
Siegfried were justified in demanding the widow's jointure
and allowance which was set aside for widows and princes
of the younger lines. He would send this memorial to
the courts and governments of Franka, Gotheim, Atlantis,
and Hageland, and to the reigning houses related to them.

MORGANATIC 235

If that produced no effect, he would try publicity, and
send the memorial to all the great newspapers of the
world, to all the most distinguished liberal and socialist
members of parliament, and would take care that the
journalistic and parliamentary discussion of the affair
should not cease until it was settled according to the
sense of right, and to modem views. It should be his
life's task to fight for the rights of a royal widow to
the end, and he was willing to sacrifice his peace, his
professional income, his position to the cause. His letter
concluded with the request for a larger advance for the
printing expenses of the memorial, which was to appear
in both German and French.

The baroness acceded to the new proposition without
hesitation. But she sent no money, and asked Osterburg
to let her have his work in manuscript, and said that she
would look after the French translation and the printing
in both languages in Paris. As there was now no longer
any purpose in being a landlord in Vienna, and as the
purchase of the house had proved so bad an investment,
she commissioned Osterburg to dispose of her share of it
as soon as possible, even if a small loss should be entailed.
In this way she hoped to recoup herself for the 50,000
gulden, or at least in great part. Her peculiarly versa-
tile mind now saw only that result of the wreck of Oster-
burg's first plan of campaign, and she almost congratulated
herself on it.

One afternoon, soon after his return from Thiodvik,
Siegfried was walking alone on the Boulevards; he had
taken to the practice since he had been obliged to give
up his daily meetings with Nicoline. It was one of the
first warm days of June, and the cafes and beer-houses
were full of loungers idly enjoying iced absinth or beer.
As Siegfried passed Pousset's, he glanced at the unknown
faces of the guests sitting in the open air in a melancholy,
unsympathizing fashion, when suddenly one of them
arrested his gaze. He was a middle-aged man, dressed
in a light flannel travelling-suit, a cheap straw hat
on his head, his ungloved hands folded over the ivory
handle of the waJking-stick he held between his knees.

236 MORGANATIC

He had a long, brown, somewhat flabby face, with a
short beard, and a long, level, light-brown moustache
Siegfried was so surprised that he involuntarily stopped
and stared at him. His first impulse was to go up to
the man. Then he saw that a lady was sitting with
him at the table on which stood a large glass of beer
and a small one, and he felt that he had better not
speak to him or seem to see him. But meanwhile the
man had seen him, and, although he looked surprised,
seemed in no way desirous of avoiding a meeting, but
nodded to him cordially and signed to him with his
hand. With bared head Siegfried went up quickly to
him, and said, with a low bow —

" Your Imperial Highness here ! What an unexpected
meeting ! "

" S-sh ! " said the man, and introducing Siegfried to
his companion, said, "Baron von Gronendal, Prince Al-
brecht of Loewenstein's son. Join us, if you've nothing
better to do,'' he added, drawing up an empty chair.
When Siegfried, had taken his place at the table, the
man continued, "Let me introduce my wife, Frau
Heeremann."

Despite his self-control, Siegfried looked more as-
tonished than ever.

" Your Imperial Highness," he stammered, bowing to
the lady ; " I had no idea — I have seen nothing about
it in the papers — I am quite ashamed "

The man vastly enjoyed Siegfried's confusion. "Yes,"
he said gaily, " we managed that very cleverly. So far
we've escaped all stupid gossip. I hope we shall con-
tinue to do so. I heard in Vienna that you went in for
journalism. Now, no gossiping ! Entire silence ! " And,
smilingly, he held up a threatening finger.

" Your Imperial Highness, you may rest assured "

" One thing, above all. Have done with ' Imperial
Highness.' "

" Of course — incognito ! "

"No, my dear fellow, I'm no longer an Imperial
Highness, I'm Herr Ernst Heeremann, now and for ever."

" I don't understand "

MORGANATIC 237

" It's quite easy. I've renounced my rank and title,
and the Emperor has accepted my resignation."

Siegfried turned crimson. For a moment the thought
flew through his head —

" He's making fun of you, he's burlesquing your
struggle for rank and title." The man who was comfort-
ably drinking his beer amid the crowd was the Archduke
Ernst Ferdinand of Umbria, the younger brother of the
Archduke August Ferdinand, who had once been engaged
to the Princess Hedwig, his fathers sister. In spite of the
ten years' difference in age, Archduke Ernst Ferdinand
had been very intimate with Prince Albrecht, frequently
hunted with him, often visited him at Franka, and treated
Siegfried much more kindly than was the custom with the
rest of his father's relatives and acquaintances.

The archduke was regarded as the most gifted
member of the family, and was perhaps on that account
not specially loved by his relations. As a young captain
he boldly desired to introduce some innovations, into the
army, and was immediately dismissed. His military
career being thus destroyed, he entered into politics, and
made a speech at a party banquet after which he was
requested to travel for a time on the other side of the
Atlantic. He refused to marry the princess who had
been chosen for him, and was therefore for some time
banished from Court. In short, he had altogether proved
himself an obstinate independent character, who would not
submit to the tyranny of his caste. He w^as also a witty
caricaturist and a composer of epigrams which publicly
scandalized the Court, and privately delighted it. He
might be counted on to provide amusement.

"It is extraordinary," murmured Siegfried, and his
countenance darkened, "that such an unprecedented
event — it is, I take it, unprecedented — can have so
escaped me."

" You need not wonder about that. It has not yet
been made public. As a last favour I got the Emperor to
promise that my renunciation should not appear in the
Vienna papers until I had left Europe." He spoke quite
seriously and calmly. It could not be affectation.

2S8 MORGANATIC

" Your Imperial Highness is leaving Europe ? "

" Do leave off that. Yes, my dear fellow, we've been
wandering round and enjoying life for a fortnight. At
least I have," said the former Archduke, with a bright
smile at his wife.

" I, too, dearest," she replied, and smiled back at him
happily.

" We've three days more, and then we take ship at
Bordeaux for Patagonia."

"For Patagonia.?"

"For Patagonia. It's a beautiful country, my dear
fellow. We've bought land there, and hope, as pioneers
of civilization but without over-civilization, to live there as
happily as mortals can. But, come ! drink a glass of beer
with us." He called the waiter and gave the necessary
order. Siegfried, half-dazed, looked at the former Arch-
duke's wife and scarcely knew what to make of it all. The
lady was dressed with studied simplicity, she was fair,
young, fresh, pretty, with mischievous eyes, and a happy,
cheerful expression, a delightful Vienna type, and still, from
her appearance and the few words she had so far spoken,
not to be classified. Who could she be ? Also a member
of the nobility who, for a similar paradoxical whim had
descended from the heights .' Or a nobody .'*

"To your good health !" said the Imperial Prince
when the waiter had brought the beer, and clinked glasses
with Siegfried. " Do you know that I've only come to
know the delicious flavour of beer since I've been a free
man. My rank formerly prevented me from going, like
an ordinary man, into a good tavern, and buying a
draught fresh from the tap. My servants only provided
me with stale bottled stuff. Hot coffee, and cold beer,
those are the things we can't have so long as we stand
too high above men to enter their cafes and taverns.
I was forty before I came to know what a pleasant
place the world can be if you only wear a straw hat on
your head instead of a crown. But I'm talking too much
about myself I'm so full of my own impressions that
my words run away with me. The more so because
you're the first acquaintance I've spoken to since I left

MORGANATIC 239

Vienna. I avoided everybody. Now it's your turn.
How have you been getting on since your father's
death?"

" Your Imperial "

" No, Heeremann."

" Herr von Heeremann — "

" Not von Heeremann, simply Heeremann."

" What ? You've not even kept to the nobility .'' "

"My dear fellow," said the new Herr Heeremann, smil-
ing, and tapping his neighbour cheerfully on the shoulder,
" if I had wanted to be a nobleman, I could be an Archduke.
Mark you, I am Ernst Heeremann, nothing but Heere-
mann, a Fatagonian farmer. Tell me about yourself and
your mother."

Siegfried spoke stammeringly and embarrassed. He
could not quite find the right way to behave towards this
Herr Heereman, who was always an Imperial Highness in
his eyes. He informed him of his mother's bad health, of
her Parisian acquaintances, of his own loneliness and lack
of aim. He said nothing of their efforts to obtain recogni-
tion of their position in the Loewenstein-Franka family.
How could he to a man who had renounced an Arch-
duke's crown ?

" I should like to go and see your mother," said Herr
Heeremann.

" Ah, that would be very kind — will you both come and
dine."

" Yes. To-night then. But tell the baroness to
receive us like the simple honeymoon couple that we are.
That's the one condition. And we must be alone with
you two, and must leave early because we have two
seats at the Frangais. Out there my wife will have to do
without the play, and so I can't let her miss her last
visit to the theatre."

" Exactly as you like," replied Siegfried. He asked
where they were staying, and was given the address of an
obscure hotel in the Champs Elys^es. Then he said
good-bye, and hurried home to tell his mother the
astonishing news.

When the baroness, who was out driving, returned, and

240 MORGANATIC

heard the Archduke Ernst Ferdinand's story from Siegfried,
she could not keep calm.

" If all he says is true, the poor Archduke is appar-
ently" — she tapped her forehead expressively with her
forefinger. " He was always rather strange." She was
chiefly curious about his wife. Who could she be ? How
could she find out ? Never had she felt more bitterly than
now how completely she had lost touch with the circle to
which she claimed to belong.

Count Laporte and an American family were expected
to dinner. Janusz had to take a cab and make the
baroness's apologies. She dressed herself as for great
occasions, and the lights, the silver;, glass, service, and menu
were in keeping.

Herr and Frau Heeremann arrived with royal punc-
tuality. The former Archduke wore ordinary evening dress
without any decorations, neither the golden fleece, nor the
star of St. Stephen. The baroness welcomed his wife with
some reserve, but overwhelmed him with cordiality. He
was the first royalty who had been to see her since the last
visit of Prince Johann of Diesa.

" Your Imperial Highness, I am delighted to see you
again after so long a time."

" Very good of you, I'm sure, my dear friend, but
hasn't the baron told you ? "

" Your Imperial Highness, you must forgive me if
I can't take the joke seriously. In Lindenheim days the
little masquerade would have amused me, but since that
time I've unhappily grown gloomy and depressed."

" But what do you mean, my dear Josephine ? Joke ?
Masquerade .'' It's complete, adamant earnest, so far as
this life is earnest."

" Your Imperial Highness, you can't change your blood
nor deny it. I don't know if you can be by birth any-
thing else than an Archduke; but I know you can only
cease to be one at death."

" Now, if I'm not a living proof to the contrary,
you must take it as you please."

The baroness complimented him on his appearance.
Smilingly, he stroked his long, fair moustache.

MORGANATIC 241

" I've grown younger, eh ? Yes, my dear friend, that
is what happens when an old worn-out Archduke dies,
and is born again as a fresh, new Heeremann."

She turned to the young woman, and asked her
about her travels, and her impressions of Paris, avoiding
addressing her directly, not knowing what title to give
her. The accent with which Frau Heeremann replied
made the baroness say —

" You are Viennese ? "

" Almost," she answered. " I come from Schbnbrunn.'"

"From Schonbrunn," flashed through the baroness's
mind. " Perhaps an Archduchess, a cousin."

At length Herr Heeremann satisfied her burning
curiosity.

" My little wife," he said, " is the daughter of the head-
gardener at Schonbrunn "

" Ah ! " the baroness could not refrain from exclaiming.
" And was reared by her father with the rest of his
precious flowers in the conservatory."

" Oh no," retorted his wife, " I grew up in the open-
air, the right place for an ordinary field and meadow
plant."

Janusz announced that dinner was served, and Heere-
mann gave the baroness his arm. She was hurt that he
should wear no decoration. After they were seated, she
turned to him, and said —

" Your Imperial Highness is not wearing your Fleece
because you are going to the theatre ? "

" My Fleece ? But, my dear friend, how can simple
farmer Heeremann possess a Fleece ? My orders have
been left in Vienna with my rank and title. The only
fleece I shall in future possess will be that of the sheep
I hope to rear."

" And you consented to this renunciation, madam .'' "
asked the baroness.

"I wasn't asked," said Frau Heeremann, brightly.
" It was all settled and finished before my husband asked
me to marry him. Besides, it matters nothing to me,"
she added, with an afiectionate look at her husband, " I
wanted to marry him, not his orders,"

B

242 MORGANATIC

He stretched his hand across the table and pressed hers.

" That is more than all my brothers and cousins could
say of themselves, isn't it, my dear friend ? "

" My angel prince could have said it of himself," replied
the baroness, simply.

Her guest became serious. " Yes," he said thought-
fully, " your Albrecht also knew how to procure a slice of
happiness for himself in this world."

" Which Siegfried and I are paying for now," com-
plained the baroness.

Heeremann gave her a swifb look, but took no notice
of the allusion.

" His method was not sufficiently radical. If you want
to arrange your life comfortably you must live on the same
story of the house as your wife. You above, she below,
that never works."

" And so your Imperial Highness couldn't find a corner
for your charming wife in your story."

"Oh, I so much prefer to live on the ground-floor,"
exclaimed Frau Heeremann.

" I didn't try," replied Heeremann. " But you
musn't imagine that my wife is responsible for my decision;
You are painting some romantic picture ; but, I assure
you, it's all plain prose. I had reached the age when a
man begins to think about himself, and his aim in life. As
a young fellow I had plenty of bees in my bonnet. What
dreams I dreamed ! I was going to move the world.
I regarded myself as a power of nature, to say nothing
more. I was a little boy when my parents were driven
out of their country. I determined to set up our throne in
Umbria again, and to make our house among the first in
the world. I never doubted for a moment that I wasn't
capable of it. I learned and served with passionate
enthusiasm. I attacked everything eagerly. But each
time the thing took shape it was torn from my hand,
and my fingers were well rapped. It took me some time
to understand that a prince has no right to be or do
anything himself. But when, at length, I did understand,
I drew my own deductions. I've no talent for being
the caryatid of a throne, or a walking gentleman in Court

MORGANATIC 243

ceremonials, or a reserve for the succession, with a million
to one against the probability of ever attaining it. And
since a man only lives once, I implored the Emperor to
let me live as I pleased. Annie had nothing to do with
it. I made up my mind directly my regiment was taken
from me. Annie is simply my reward for bravely carrying
out what I planned."

Siegfried followed his neighbour's line of argument with
peculiar inward excitement, but the baroness looked dis-
contented. The Archduke's views were a universe apart
from hers ! She asked, turning aside from the point at
issue —

" But how did your Imperial Highness come to choose
the name Heeremann .'' That doesn't occur in the title,
or does it come somewhere in the et cetera ? "

Heeremann laughed.

"You won't give up your incognito idea, my dear
friend. No. Heeremann was the maiden name of Annie's
mother. She comes of a family of village smiths in
Westphalia, and declares that the founder of her family
was present at the surrender of the armourer of Witte-
kind. It amuses me to fasten my posterity to an honest
Saxon sword-cutler."

Siegfried thought, " It is surely of more worth to be
allied with him who swung the sword than with him who
forged it." But he said nothing.

" May I venture to ask if your Imperial Highness has
quarrelled with the family ? " inquired the baroness.

" Not at all," replied Heeremann. " We've just drifted
apart. And as I'm not going to stay in Europe, and we
shall have no further communication, it doesn't matter
to either side. But my eldest brother won't give me up.
I believe he'd like to follow my example. I dissuaded
him. He's too old to begin life again. And he has no
little wife to help him. But he wants to come and see me
out there, and I've not the heart to refuse him."

The baroness gently shook her head. " Your Imperial
Highness, it's not for me to criticise your actions, but I
don't know, I ask myself if it's right towards one's
children and one's children's children to deprive them

244 MORGANATIC

of the incomparable possession that we received from
our fathers."

Heeremann became very serious. He was silent for a
space, and stroked his long, fair moustache. Then he
said, slowly, with pauses, like one dreaming aloud, "I
asked myself the same question, my dear Josephine, and
I found the answer. Incomparable possession ! Yes, if
it were. But I don't believe that any more. What have
I got out of my Imperial Highnesship .'' Always to stand
on the stage — to be looked at through a thousand opera-
glasses — to be bound in limb and tongue — that's no life !
If only something could be made of it ! Then it might
all be endured. But you can't do anything with it. A
prince should have no ambition — at least, none beyond the
patronage of a charity ball, or of a patriotic rifle-club.
Otherwise he'll come to grief. I got terribly tired of
always standing on parade in the scorching sun, and fled
into the shade. That is what is precious, my dear woman
— shade. To have no heed taken of you. To get out
of the glass house. To live inside opaque walls. I hope
Annie will give me little boy Heeremanns and little girl
Heeremanns. I shall love them dearly, and rejoice that
they can grow up in obscurity."

Frau Heeremann turned crimson and looked at the
speaker, whom she evidently reverenced as a higher being,
with shining eyes.

"To reign — ^yes, that's worth the trouble," he con-
tinued. " But only one of us can do that, and the other ■
three dozen and a half reservists can only look on. It's
not so bad to be a legitimate king in exile, if you have
the right sort of temperament. But if you are neither a
reigning king, nor an exiled king, what's the good of
being a highness ? Then it's much nicer to sow grain in
Patagonia, to breed sheep, and to do or let alone as you
please."

" Do you share these ideas, madam ? " asked the
baroness.

" With my whole heart," exclaimed the young woman.

"Now, I'm curious to know what the descendants you
wish for will think."

MORGANATIC 245

" Tm not afraid of their verdict," said Heeremann,
smiling. " Til show you a hidden place in my heart that
I mostly keep locked — the romantic corner. As boy and
youth, I really thought that I belonged to the gods, and
was quite different in body and soul from an ordinary
human being. Later, I began to have doubts about my
divinity. That was a very painful state of things. Think
how uncomfortable Jupiter would have found it, if, standing
behind the altar in his temple, he had always had to
torment himself with the question : Am I a god ? or am I
only a god of stone that any hammer can knock to
pieces ? I am making a great experiment. I shan't see
the result ; but that doesn't matter, the idea is particu-
larly enchanting. I go from the light into darkness. If
my descendants stay there, then it's the right place for
them, for then it is proved that there's nothing special in
us or them. But if we are something special, and it's
possible, no one can know for certain, then one of my
far-oflF descendants will rise up again, and become some-
thing great. It will be his right to rule, he will have
risen again through his own strength."

A brief pause ensued, during which Heeremann
seemed to be following a thought. Then he gave a short
laugh.

" It might even be better still. Our family may use
itself up, and perhaps die out — we live such unnatural and
joyless lives that where are we to get vital strength ? My
descendants will develop out there through fresh blood
and freedom into Patagonian giants, and they'll return to
the old country and take the crown again, and one day
there will be seen in the Hofburg a magnificent race of
powerful men more like their ancestors than my legendary
ancestor Radbot. And I, just because I withdrew from
the dynasty, shall be the upholder of the dynasty. Won't
that be a splendid joke .'' "

The meal was over. The former Archduke took the
baroness back to the drawing-room, and said suddenly,
while he swallowed his sugarless black coffee —

" My dear friend Josephine, will you be very kind ? "

" Your Imperial Highness "

246 MORGANATIC

" You know we shan't get any music out there. Play
me something for the very last time. Perhaps Chopin,
as only you can play him. We shall carry the sound
away as a souvenir."

The baroness was not particularly pleased. "I've
hardly touched the piano for two years "

" That doesn't matter. Quick, to the piano. I want
it for my Annie."

It was no use. The baroness had to comply. If Herr
Heeremann made the request, he was still very much the
Archduke. When she sat down to the instrument her
ambition revived, and she did her best, which was very good.

Frau Heeremann was enchanted and applauded loudly.
Heeremann thanked her cordially, and said —

" Now something simple. I know you'll laugh at me ;
but play the Radetsky march and the Sambre-et-Meuse
march. That's the finest march in the world. Then
we'll go."

The baroness did as he asked. When the final notes
of the warlike music had died away, Heeremann got up,
pressed both the baroness's hands for a long time, and
said —

" Farewell, my dear friend, I'm glad to have seen you.
We shall think of you. You will forget us. I wish you
every prosperity. The best is and remains the acknow-
ledgment that happiness is something other than the
vanities of the world."

In the hall he said to Siegfried who was helping Frau
Heeremann on with her cloak —

" If you like, drive with us to the theatre."

The baroness had put her state carriage and two fat
horses at their disposal.

On the way Heeremann began, " I did not like to say
more for fear of worrying your mother. But I can speak
to you as man to man. I have seen with real sorrow that
since your father's death you have quarrelled with his
family. You're on the wrong tack, my dear fellow. If
you wish to protest against a morganatic marriage, you
should not wait till the silver wedding. That's just a
little late."

MORGANATIC 247

" I couldn't protest before I was born," replied Sieg-
fried. " I did as soon as I could."

" That may be. But you didn't do it the right way,
believe me. You undertook something that's not easy.
You can't annihilate the family of Loewenstein — Napoleon
nearly annihilated the Bourbons. You can perhaps rise
above the house of Loewenstein, but you can't enforce
your reception into the family by law-suits. Take warn-
ing. Don't spoil your life by what can never be carried
through. Leave the Loewensteins alone, and become an
ancestor yourself. It was never easier than it is to-day
for a young, strong, determined man to succeed. Look
round you — look how things go in the world to-day.
A man who was a shoeblack is now a millionaire, and
associates with the aristocracy as with his equals ; another
was a little journalist in India and is now world-famous,
and if he's ill the greatest emperors in the world have
daily bulletins of his health telegraphed to them. And
it's just the same in art, in politics, in everything. If
you're ambitious, make the name of Gronendal famous.
Found a Gronendal dynasty by your own strength."

" Your Imperial Highness has too good an opinion of
me. I've no talents to make me a celebrated artist or
poet. And as for founding a dynasty — I don't think that's
to be done by one's own strength. That must be done
by a party, a revolution. I've no such ambition."

" What is your ambition ? "

" To rank as my father's heir."

" My dear boy, I mean well by you. Personality is
the important thing, not the title. You can make quite
as fine a figure in the world as Baron von Gronendal, and
it's far easier for you than for a million others to bring
out everything that's in you. How would you be more
as a little Prince Loewenstein-Franka who is nothing, and
has nothing, and can do nothing ? You seem to me like a
man who fights to get a seat in a show that he imagines
to be immensely fine. I come out from the show and tell
you : don't struggle to get in, it's not worth the trouble."

The carriage stopped in front of the theatre. Heere-
mann and his wife parted cordially from Siegfried.

248 MORGANATIC

" Think of it well," said Heeremann to him, as he gave
him his hand. " I've been in and come out, and I assure
you it's not worth the trouble."

The remarkable resemblance between some of the
Archduke's observations and those of Nicoline gave Sieg-
fried so much to think of, that he felt the need of a long
solitary walk. He dismissed the magnificent coachman,
and returned home on foot.

BOOK V

With the first week of July came Dr. Osterburg's new
account. It so excited the baroness that she fainted.
The house, far from bringing any profit, needed' some
addition, and the allowance was swallowed up in law
expenses, the cost of researches in the archives for the
working up of the memorial, and similar things. Indeed,
the account left a balance on the wrong side, and the
baroness was in debt to her lawyer for a small sum. He
sent the memorial, but that was scarcely a substitute
for the sacrifice Osterburg required of her.

When the baroness was calmer, she gave Siegfried
Osterburg's work to turn into French. She telegraphed
to the lawyer to sell the house at once, and regretted
that he had delayed the transaction, although she had
told him to carry it out six weeks ago.

A few days later Osterburg humbly informed her —
he never hurried about his answers — that a hasty sale in
the middle of summer would be most disadvantageous.
She desired him by wire to carry out her command. He
obeyed, and in the middle of the month informed her that
the sale was concluded. But he was sorry to say under
most unfavourable conditions, namely, for a hundred
thousand florins, just the sum of the mortgage. Her
fifty thousand florins were thus gone to the last penny.
The game was really over now. The blow completely
undid the baroness. She was obliged to keep her bed
for two days, and all the while moaned to Bertha, who
was nursing her —

" What's to be done now, Bertha, what's to be done
now .? "

249

250 MORGANATIC

In vain the maid implored her not to worry about
business so long as she was ill, but the baroness could not
forget the miserable figures, and with torturing exactness
she reckoned that there was just sufficient on which to
live very carefully until the printer's bill fell due, and then,
failing a miracle, she would be without food or shelter.

"There's no need of a miracle. Before it comes to
such a pass, your highness must make it up with the
family."

"Then I shall take a good big dose of chloral, and
have rest," murmured the baroness, gloomily.

" Your highness would not be so wicked," exclaimed
Bertha, crossing herself. "What about the prince.?
Your highness never thinks of him. He'll make every
thing right."

" Yes, but how ? " inquired the baroness.

"The prince must marry. You've often thought of
that," replied Bertha.

The baroness said nothing, and remained sunk in
thought. It was indeed time to carry out that plan,
since all others had failed. She knew that since Christ-
mas Siegfried and Nicoline had met nearly every day, she
had heard that from many quarters, for they did not hide
themselves, and acquaintances had seen them together in
the streets and in the museums. She also knew that since
Siegfried's return from Thiodvik, the meetings had ceased,
for apparently his afternoons were free, and he spent
them as formerly, with the Dormans, at the shooting-
gallery, at race-meetings, or at home, and careful obser-
vation did not reveal where and when he saw Nicoline/
She did not trouble herself about the cause of the change
in their relations, she concluded that a coldness, perhaps
a break, had arisen between the pair, and it took a load
off her heart. Siegfried was free, and she need fear no
resistance on his part if she sought to marry him advan-
tageously, an event that would put an end to all their cares
and struggles.

Formerly the baroness had seriously reckoned on the
effect of Siegfried's personality. He showed himself with
her at the theatres and the Hippodrome. He went to

MORGANATIC 251

"At homes" with her. The subscribers to the Grand
Opera, to the Op^ra Comique, and to the Fran9ais must
at least know him by sight. His handsome person must
strike them. He must make conquests.

The baroness's expectations were not fulfilled. They
were indeed childish. Well-brought-up girls in Paris do
not trouble themselves about a handsome and interesting
stranger whom they see at the theatre. That intriguing
women should observe him through their glasses, and try
to attract his attention, did not help her in her purpose.

She had to learn that her circle could not provide what
she wanted. Well-to-do people were to be met at Madame
Abeille"'s, but there were no great heiresses, and a dowry of
a hundred thousand or a million francs, which might suffice
for the frequenters of Madame Abeille's drawing-room,
would be useless to her. The Americans with whom she
had relations were not of the highest class, and it rightly
seemed to her useless to get into close relations with
people whose real circumstances were their own secret.
The connection with Count Laporte and the Dormans
was equally fruitless. Everything depended on winning a
prize, and nothing of the sort was to be come at there.
Had her Bourbon brother-in-law received her, it would
have been easy enough to find a brilliant match for Sieg-
fried. But the prince and his wife had treated her
haughtily and contemptuously, even worse than had the
Queen of Atlantis, and since Prince Albrecht's death, the
connection had been entirely broken off.

The fortune that she desired was to be found only
in the highest financial circles, and among undoubted
trans-Atlantic millionaires. With a little skill on her
part, and goodwill on that of Siegfried, it did not seem
a difficult thing to enter that society. But the baroness
, was too proud or too depressed to take the necessary
steps. Her idea of her dignity forbade advances that
might look like a business venture. Siegfried would
thrust aside in horror the thought of intruding among
insolent people who wanted none of him.

Another way reaching the desired goal must be found.
The baroness was not in doubt as to what it should

252 MORGANATIC

be. When she was able to go out again, her first drive
was to St. Antony of Padua, under whose special pro-
tection she put her projects, not of course without
dedicating to him considerable gifts, as a preliminary,
and promising a much larger gift when things were
brought to a happy conclusion. Then she went to her
Father confessor, a Father of the Assumption, a clever,
worldly man, and told him unreservedly, as her confidence
in him permitted, that she wished to marry her only son,
who had just entered his twenty-fourth year. He had all
the qualities, both physical and mental, calculated to
make the most difficult young lady happy. Living under
a democracy she was ready to make no inquiries as to the
ancestry of the lady on whom her son would confer a ducal
coronet, provided that the family was strictly honourable
and belonged to the Church. She must, however, possess
a dowry which would enable the young couple to live as
beseemed near relatives of the greatest emperors and
kings in the world. At the present moment she was
quarrelling with them. But everything would undoubtedly
right itself when Siegfried married well, and was in-
dependent, and could make a show that would do honour
to the family. She knew the influence of her confessor,
and his order, and did not doubt that he would be able
to procure her what she wanted. As a true son of the
Church, Siegfried would receive his wife with peculiar grati-
tude from its hands, and it was the Church's business to
see that great fortunes did not fall into hands that would
make a godless use of them. The prince would always
regard his earthly possessions as property in trust for the
benefit of the Holy Faith. The Father sifted the essen-
tial from the ornamental of the baroness's edifying
harangue, and regarded its purpose as important. He
praised her greatly for her pious frame of mind, promised
to think the matter over, and let her know the result as
soon as possible. He consulted the Father Superior, and
then informed the baroness that he regarded the marriage
of a prince of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level of such
importance that it was far outside the province of a poor
monk. Only the Nuncio of his Holiness or his Eminence

MORGANATIC 25S

the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris could be of use in such
great matters, preferably the latter, since he knew more
of the French families than did His Excellency. He
would put her in communication with his Eminence,
and let her know when she could be received at the
archiepiscopal palace.

The baroness began to speak of her indebtedness to
the Order in case of any result, but the monk interrupted
her, smiling, with the observation that he acted solely
from the love of God.

Three days later, the baroness received a written com-
munication from the archbishop's office, informing her
that his Eminence, in accordance with her wish, would
receive her the next day at eleven o'clock in the morning.
She looked forward to the meeting with great excitement.
But there was a difficulty to be overcome. Should she go
alone or take Siegfried with her ? It seemed to her neces-
sary to introduce him to the cardinal, but she thought it
hazardous to inform her son of the purpose of the visit
before she knew whether the cardinal regarded her desire
favourably. She preferred to act on her old principles:
everything for him, nothing with him. In order to solve
her doubts, she determined to consult the vicar-general.
In the afternoon she drove alone in her state carriage to
the archiepiscopal palace, and asked to see the vicar-
generaJ. She was taken to the high dignitary, who
inquired kindly what she wished.

" Vicar-general, to-morrow, I have the privilege of
offering my homage to his Eminence."

" I know, princess."

" Do you also know the reason of my visit ? "

" I know that also, princess."

" Now, my son, who is chiefly concerned in the matter,
knows nothing of this step. He had the misfortune to lose
his father early, so that, failing the powerful protection of
his royal highness, my deceased husband, I, the poor
widow, must fulfil the parental duty to our child. As a
Christian mother I shall do everything I can to see him
woi'thily married. It might, however, be unpleasing to
him to know that I am asking this holy assistance."

254. MORGANATIC

The vicar-general listened dutifully, and nodded
agreement from time to time.

"I don't know whether to take my son with me
to-morrow "

" Of course," said the vicar-general, " the prince must
be introduced to his Eminence."

" Naturally, but if I speak to his Eminence of the
purpose of our visit, my son would learn "

The vicar-general almost jumped out of his chair.

" What ! princess ! " he exclaimed loudly, " youVe
surely not that intention! I must entreat you, not, a
syllable on the subject, not a syllable."

"But "

"It gives his Eminence great satisfaction to receive
the pious princess, he is happy to make the acquaint-
ance of a scion of an illustrious race, he will gladly
support mother and son in their praiseworthy and de-
serving actions, and give them his blessing. His Eminence
naturally knows nothing of other things. His high office
claims all his thoughts. Other persons look after
worldly matters. I have confidence in your delicacy of
feeling, princess, that you will be careful not to allude to
anything of the sort."

The baroness was somewhat surprised, but she thanked
the vicar-general for his instructions, and asked whether
she might hope for success, and if anything suitable was
in view.

" Princess," replied the vicar-general, smiling, " present
yourself and your son to his Eminence, then we will think
what to do further."

The baroness informed Siegfried at dinner that she
intended to take him the next morning to see the cardinal
archbishop of Paris. Since he looked much surprised, she
continued —

" There is no court here. Your uncle Bourbon will
have nothing to do with us. The Republican drawing-
rooms are not the right ones for us. You felt that to be so,
and I own that you were right. The archi episcopal palace
is the only place where you can hope to meet nice people.
Therefore, I deem it necessary to introduce you there."

MORGANATIC 255

Siegfried thanked his mother for her consideration, and
his tone was more cordial than usual.

The baroness and Siegfried arrived at the palace with
regal punctuality. The baroness was dressed entirely in
black, a sapphire cross her only ornament. A young
abbe led them to the vicar-general, who at once took
them to the cardinal's room, and remained present during
the interview.

At the baroness's entrance, the cardinal rose from his
writing-table, advanced to meet her, and gave his ring
to be kissed, first to her and then to Siegfried. The
appearance of the fair handsome young giant seemed to
surprise and please him. He signed to the baroness to
sit down on a somewhat stiff Empire sofa, and Siegfried
on a chair, and after the presentation by the vicar-general,
who then respectfully seated himself a little apart,

"Your highness, I am very glad to see you and your
noble son here. I know your piety and am convinced the
prince will imitate so holy an example."

" Your Eminence," replied the baroness, " holy Church
has been my support in all my troubles ; and my life has
been full of troubles. I want my son also to have the
protection of the Church and its prince."

The vicar-general cleared his throat.

" The Church," replied the cardinal, " is a good mother
to all her children. She rewards faith with faith, and he
who obeys her finds his salvation in her. Prince, pro-
vidence, as I rejoice to see, has richly endowed you with
its gifts, and I doubt not a beautiful soul dwells in so fair
a form."

Siegfried thanked the prince of the Church for his
good opinion.

" I am sorry," said the cardinal, " that I never had the
opportunity of making Prince Albrecht's acquaintance.

The baroness, who took this remark as a slight
reproach, interrupted respectfully —

" Your Eminence, he always intended to wait on you,
but God disposed otherwise. He was taken from me soon
after we settled in Paris."

256 MORGANATIC

The cardinal made a deprecatory wave of the hand, as
if in apology, and began to talk to Siegfried. He inquired
about his education, his travels, his impressions of Paris.
He received the brief but intelligent replies with visible
satisfaction, and said —

" My son, it gives me the greatest pleasure to make
your acquaintance. The blood of a great saint whom I
have always held in special honour flows in your veins.
Few historical events gave holy Church more pain and
grief than the unfortunate lapse of your illustrious family.
So much the greater its joy at your grandfather's return to
its bosom. You see how the Lord has blessed your branch
since he found the right course again. As apostates, your
family would never have placed on its heads the crown of
Atlantis, or of Hageland. I allow myself the hope that
the repentance of a three hundred years' error by one
branch may have some importance for the future decisions
of the whole family. Meanwhile, every Catholic owner of
the great name of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka is especi-
ally dear to the Church. I hope, my son, to see you again
from time to time."

The Cardinal rose, gave the baroness, whose tears were
running down her cheeks, and then Siegfried his hand to
kiss, bestowed his blessing on them, and accompanied them
almost to the door. The vicar-general, who took them
to the top of the staircase, congratulated the baroness on
the excellent impression she had made on his Eminence,
and answered her inquiring glance with a smile that
seemed to promise much.

In the carriage, Siegfried said, " He actually called me
his son twice."

"I heard it with joy and gratitude," replied his
mother. " I feel that we have gained a valuable friend
in the cardinal. It was one of the many and serious
negligences of your poor father that he did not wait on
this prince of the Church when we settled in Paris."

The same afternoon, the cardinal-archbishop's card was
left at the Villa Josephine, together with that of the vicar-
general. The latter had written below his name, " repeats
his congratulations of the morning, and will always be glad

MORGANATIC 257

to see your highness any Monday or Friday morning
between ten and eleven."

As it was Tuesday, she had to wait for three whole
days, in torturing impatience. On Friday she went to
the palace. The vicar-general's ante-room was already
full of people. Clergymen, nuns, some ladies and a
gentleman were sitting there. When the baroness was
announced, the vicar -general received her without delay.

" How are matters going, vicar-general ? " the baroness
began at once.

" Princess, I am delighted to be able to inform you
that your son made an excellent impression on His
Eminence."

« Ah ! "

" I think he may be able to help us in settling him."

"That's a great relief. May I venture to ask if you
have anything actually in view ? "

" H'm ! Anything actually in view ? " He seemed to
be considering. " Perhaps. We know a young lady, a
pattern of modesty and piety, well educated, charitable,
and of pleasing appearance. If it is the will of Provi-
dence to grant the prince her hand, they will make a
remarkable pair."

" And — is the pecuniary situation "

"Something like fifty millions in estates, houses, and
French Rentes," said the vicar-general, carelessly. " And
an only child, too."

At the mention of the sum the baroness turned very
red. She closed her eyes for a moment in enthusiastic
indulgence of a brilliant dream.

"The young lady is French?" she asked, when she
again opened her eyes.

" Certainly, princess."

"Of good family.?"

"Princess, we are only acquainted with good
families."

"Forgive me, vicar-general. Your description much
attracts me to the girl. How are we to enter into
relations with the family ? Shall we meet them anywhere,
or "

268 MORGANATIC

"I must just say one thing. The family is not of
particularly distinguished origin. The father is the
architect of his great fortune. He went to South Africa
as a young man, and after a few years returned a
millionaire."

" Oh ! He — is not in business still .-* "

"Oh no. He is a rentier.'''' After a pause, he con-
tinued, "The mother, to be quite frank, was a simple
work-girl, a milliner, I've heard it said. But she only
kept a milliner's shop in Johannesburg for a very short
time. No one in Europe knew her at that stage."

The baroness looked troubled. " That is indeed rather
— rather — but the parents' manners are "

"Perfectly correct. They are received in the very
best society, and fit in with it quite well, chiefly
through their elegance and liberality."

"In that case," murmured the baroness, "the parents
won't expect very much "

"I beg your pardon," replied the vicar-general, em-
phatically ; " the parents expect a great deal, and
with a perfect right. The young lady's father has been
recommended by his Eminence to the Holy Father to
be raised to a rank of which his conduct and his works
make him worthy. When he is made a Roman Count
by the Holy Father's favour, he will be everybody's
equal."

The baroness bent her head in silence.

" To complete the integrity of my statement, I must
not omit to mention," continued the vicar-general with
well-feigned indifference, "that the father is of Jewish
extraction ,"

The baroness uttered a low cry of astonishment.
" Jewish "

" Extraction, I say. The mother is of good Catholic
descent. He himself is, of course, baptized, and has
proved the firmness of his belief so often and so brilliantly,
that no one has a right to doubt it. He warmly supports
all our undertakings. He has founded both a monastery
and a convent on his estates. He is never asked in
vain for a bell or an altar-piece for a poor church. He
is ever ready to make sacrifices for our schools, for our

MORGANATIC 259

press. Indeed I regard him as the pattern of a zealous
Catholic."

"There's just one thing," the baroness ventured to
object; "I do not know if my son will overcome the
prejudice."

" I can't help that," drily returned the vicar-general.
"It is not my duty to persuade, only to state facts. I
cannot praise the attitude of hostility towards an Israelite
who has found salvation. We grieve for the obstinate
Talmud-Jews who remain in their soul-blindness. We
must struggle with all our might against the atheistic
cosmopolitan who despises his own belief. But we must
receive as brothers the Jews who repent of the sins of
their fathers. The Church teaches that, and we must
abide by it."

The baroness lowered her eyes and said nothing. It
was a matter of supreme indifference to her whether
her daughter-in-law's father was of Jewish, Turkish,
or Chinese extraction. She merely thought that she
owed it to herself and her point of view to consider
how a princess of Jewish extraction might affect the
chances of reconciliation with the family.

In spite of his cleverness and his knowledge of the
human mind, the vicar-general was unable to guess the
baroness's real thoughts. He took her silence for op-
position, and got up.

"Princess, I repeat, if what I have told you — and it
was my duty to tell you — makes the connection unde-
sirable, then we may regard our conversation as not
having taken place."

The baroness kept her seat, and replied quickly:
"But in no way, vicar-general. Your arguments fully
convince me. I only asked if my son's social position
will remain what it must remain "

"Anxiety in that direction is quite unfounded. The
family is well received everywhere. They are themselves
very particular, in my opinion, too much so. You can
imagine, princess, that the young lady has many suitors.
The most distinguished names are at her feet. But the
father is difficult. He will have nothing to say to foreign

260 MORGANATIC

nobility. , He will also have nothing to say to any nobility
which finds it necessary to gild its coat-of-arms. He will
only ally himself with the highest and the most undoubted
nobility of France, and you can understand that the very
few available young men in that class do not find it
necessary to seek a wife outside their own circle. Not
even for the sake of half a hundred million. For they
are rich enough in those circles ; much richer than before
the Revolution. Our friend does not know that. Few
outsiders do know it. Of course, your son is a foreigner,
but a prince of the blood royal cannot be compared with
a Neapolitan duke or a Polish count. For the sake of
such an illustrious name, the father will give up his
fixed idea of only taking a member of the ancient landed
aristocracy of France.

The baroness still sat on. She wished to come to some
definite result.

" How is the introduction to be made, vicar-general ? "

The priest sat down again. " The family is already
at their villa in Trouville. They generally stay there
until the commencement of September, the hunting
season. Then they go to their castle on the Loire.
The best thing would be for you and your son to
go to Trouville at once. I will then tell you their name,
and it will be easy for you to see the young lady with
her parents on the beach, on the promenade, or at the
theatre. If the prince is attracted by her appearance
the formal introduction can follow. We have friends
at Trouville with whom the family is acquainted. We
will give you introductions to them, and thus the young
people will have an opportunity of getting to know each
other. I have no doubt that the young lady will find the
prince sympathetic, if he pays her proper attention. The
rest will come of itself. If the father likes the prince, he'll
invite him for the hunting ; at the castle they'll have an
opportunity of becoming more intimate, and if all goes
as we hope, the engagement will take place in the
autumn."

" You'll tell me the name of the family, vicar-
general."

MORGANATIC 261

" Of course, princess. And I shall also have the honour
of giving you a letter of introduction to the widowed
Countess de Rochenoire, and to the priest of Trouville.
But first there is just one little formality to be gone
through.""

He got up, opened a small corner cupboard, and
hjinded the baroness a paper.

" You will be good enough to sign your name here.'"

The baroness took the paper and read —

" We undertake within four weeks of the marriage of
the undersigned with Miss " — here there was a blank space
— "to pay to Maitre Duplan du Poul de Ker, lawyer,
practising in Paris, two million francs."

" Two million ! " murmured the baroness, horrified.

"It is almost a year's income for the young couple.
But they can easily spare it. They won"'t have many
expenses the first year. And if the prince must pledge
his own credit to fulfil the obligation, that will be no
misfortune. Under those circumstances we have plenty
of friends who will help him, and he can take two or thi'ee
years to pay off the debt, so that it won't be a great
burden."

The baroness seemed as if hypnotized by the magnitude
of the sum, and repeated almost unconsciously —

" Two millions ! "

"Think what the church needs in these times of
anarchy and godlessness. The great ones of the earth can-
not be permitted to live in scandalous luxury while the
defenders of the faith are hampered in all their activities
for lack of necessary means. It is only right that they
should sacrifice something of their overplus, if in this
case it can be called sacrifice. For they have to thank us
that through the discipline which we impose on men, they
are able to enjoy their wealth. On the day on which
the masses give themselves up entirely to atheism, the rich
will see what they will have to suffer from the infamous
greed of those who possess nothing."

" That's true," said the baroness, humbly.

" I explain these things to you as to a good Christian
who understands and sympathizes with the situation of the

262 MORGANATIC

Church. There can be no discussion over the conditions.
They are the result of a minute and careful adjustment
with the circumstances. We know the value of the service
we are rendering you, princess."

" Very well, vicar-general," replied the baroness ; " may
I ask you for a pen ? "

" You need not sign the paper straight away. You can
do so quietly at home, and then let us have it."

" But I should like you to fill in the blank space. You
must understand, vicar-general, that I am curious to know
the name "

" I am sorry, princess, that I cannot satisfy your
very natural curiosity now. Your son must sign the
paper before we can write in the young lady's name."

" I must inform my son of my step ? I would so much
rather not do that."

"I respect your sensitiveness, princess," replied the
vicar-general, smiling ; " but you can scarcely marry the
young man without his knowing it."

" Of course not, vicar-general," rejoined the baroness,
quickly. " I only wished and hoped to have been able
to introduce my son to the young lady without his
knowing how the thing came about. When an impres-
sion has been produced on both sides, then he can be asked
to sign the paper without hesitation."

" I am sorry, princess ; but I am not permitted to act
like that. The paper must be returned to me with both
your signatures, then the space will be filled in, you will
know the name, and receive the letters of introduction."
He got up again, and bowed to the baroness.

She had no choice. She folded the paper, put it in her
note-book with the gold and enamel cover, and took leave
of the high dignitary.

On the way home she told Bertha, who had been wait-
ing for her in the carriage, of the business in hand. Her
mistress's frequent visits to the archiepiscopal palace had
greatly excited the maid's curiosity, and she was irritated
that the baroness did not make her the confidence to which
she considered herself entitled. Now her suspense was
pleasantly ended.

MORGANATIC 263

The baroness told her everything except the Jewish
extraction of the heiress. That she kept to herself.

" We are lowering ourselves a little," she said ; " but it
serves the family right, why should they treat me so ? '" She
grumbled at having to go to Trouville. That upset her
usual habits. For years she had spent the bathing season
at Etretat. She had been accustomed to go there with
Prince Albrecht, she was known at the hotel, at the Casino,
whereas at Trouville, she would be entirely unknown. But
things could not be altered, and she was ready to make the
sacrifice. She could not get the two millions out of her
head. But Bertha, to whom she showed the paper, reassured
her.

" It doesn't seem to be dangerous, your highness. It
binds you to nothing, for if the marriage doesn't come
off, you owe nothing, and if the prince marries the
young lady your highness knows where to get the
money."

" Yes, but I can't help feeling a little anxious. What
I am to pay is clearly stated, but how much we're to get is
not written down,"

" If it were an ordinary agent, I should advise your
highness not to sign. But since it is the cardinal himself
who is arranging the matter, it is certain that it's all
straightforward."

" I hope so, I'm sure. Now there is another difficulty.
What will Siegfried say .'' You know what he's like."

" Yes, your highness, it's quite time to speak openly to
the prince. For whom is your highness doing all this ? For
him. Now he has an opportunity of reaching his goal. If
he doesn't take it, it proves that he would rather be Baron
von Gronendal than Prince Loewenstein-Franka. Then
your highness will have done more than your duty, and
need not worry any more."

" I know that kind of answer," replied the baroness,
angrily. " You're always ready with that advice : give it
up. I've told you I would sooner die."

She did not tell Bertha why the thought of the un-
avoidable and decisive interview with Siegfried disquieted
her. She hardly confessed it to herself. It was nothing

264. MORGANATIC

clear, but a gloomy uneasiness full of anxious forebodings
and conjectures.

Some days back, Signora Conti's great concert had taken
place ; it formed a sort of annual examination for her
pupils. The baroness had not accepted the invitation,
because Nicoline was put down in the programme for
three songs, and she did not wish either to see or hear
her. It had stabbed her to the heart to read this morn-
ing in the Vercmgetorix that Siegfried had been among
the guests. The name of Frau Flammert, the " cele-
brated prima donna of the Diesa Court Theatre," also
figured in the list. She had come to Paris in order to
be present at her daughter's debut. She did not doubt
that Siegfried had gone out of love for Nicoline. That
was suspicious. What were their relations to each other ?
Was there anything between them ? Was he not free, as
she had believed and hoped all the time that he must be,
as the new turn of circumstances demanded.'' And
Frau Flammert ? Had she anything to do in the
matter.'' Here was a dark place — a kind of weather-sign
which threatened indistinctly but ominously.

In other ways, the VercingetorUc had not pleased her.
Besides the report of the concert, it published a special
article about Nicoline on the first page. It described the
unexampled triumph of the young prodigy, and the
enormous effect of her debut on the delighted audience.
All the nouns, adjectives, and adverbs that express
admiration, were united in this inspired rhapsody, which
glorified the appearance as well as the voice and style
of the young artist. In conclusion, it stated, "What
is here offered is more than promise. We never remem-
ber a debut of similar brilliance. The Parisian and
international connoisseurs who were assembled in Sig-
nora Conti's concert-room to-day, can boast that they
assisted at the rising of the sun."

The baroness found this exaggeration repulsive and
wanting in taste. She reckoned that the puff, with
its beating of drums and blowing of trumpets, must have
cost at least three thousand francs, and she wondered, not
without a slight touch of envy, that Frau Flammert could

MORGANATIC 265

approve such a proceeding. Had Prince Johann become
so generous in his old age? Extravagance was his last
fault ! But perhaps he thought to do his daughter a real
benefit. It was very foolish, since such publicity could
not be of any real use to her ; but it was a kindly action
on his part. He had more feeling for his own flesh and
blood than certain other people.

The bai'oness was wrong. The article in the Vercmge-
torix was no paid advertisement, and no exaggeration. It
was the actual impression of the audience and the press-
men who were there; they deemed that they had been
■witnesses of an event in dramatic history. Little Coppde
who, despite a crust of indifference, was still capable of
enthusiasm, had written thus enthusiastically from the
direct impression made on him and on the delighted
audience by Nicoline's artistic perfection.

" My deal" fellow, a little more cautiously, more care-
fully, I beg," said the editor, when he read the eff'usion.
And Coppee answered —

" Why ? Let it go as it is. To-morrow, all Paris will
be talking of this little Flammert, and the next day, the
whole world, whether you like it or not. It is just a
question whether the Vercingetorix will be beforehand or
limp behind."

After the concert, Frau Flammert fell sobbing on
Signora Conti's neck. The teacher was congratulated
almost as enthusiastically as the pupil, who modestly tried
to escape the praise by taking refuge in a side room.
While Nicoline was singing, Siegfried felt the full charm
of her beautiful figure, her expressive countenance, her
shining eyes, and especially her magnificent bell-like voice ;
but he was terribly put out when the beautiful sounds
ceased, and the wild applause broke out. He felt clearly
how all this tumult overshadowed his presence, his words.
Amid the picture of heated faces, open mouths, wildly-
clapping hands, he vanished entirely. The surging audi-
ence came between him and Nicoline, and brutally tore
him from her. For it was literally impossible for him to
see her after the concert, and say a few courteous words.
His giant stature and great physical strength was of no

266 MORGANATIC

avail, for he could not push through this select company
like a luggage-porter. Unknown and unnoticed, a prince's
privilege that the crowd should humbly give way before
him, could not help him. He must wait patiently ; and
it was not until the crowd of elegant ladies, inconsiderate
theatrical people, journalists keen to do their duty, had
scattered, that he succeeded in reaching Nicoline. She
gave him both her hands, and interrupted his low and
stammered congratulations with the cordial, and it seemed
to him somewhat condescending words —

"Thank you — thank you ; I'm glad that you, too, are
pleased. You are one of the three or four persons for
whom I sang."

" Three or four," he thought, while he bowed. Then
he saw Frau Flammert standing by her, and greeted her
in surprise. She was one. Perhaps Signora Conti was
another. Who was the fourth, if he was the third ?

The fourth was a great impresario, who was eagerly
talking to Frau Flammert, and had left off when Siegfried
came up to her. But he only found that out later.

Frau Flammert was not pleased to see Siegfried; but
her annoyance was diminished by Nicoline's unconcern.
She asked coldly after his mother, and made no remark
when he mentioned her sufferings. She then suddenly
inquired as to his summer plans. He replied that he
supposed he should go to Etretat as usual, and asked how
long she intended to stay in Paris.

" Oh, I've only come to take Nicoline home. She
must get out of this furnace as soon as possible, into our
hills and forests, so as to recover from her labours. The
poor child has had a year's very hard work."

Siegfried turned pale. " Are you leaving Paris so
soon .'' " he asked, turning to Nicoline, who was receiving
last compliments from some of the Signora's friends.

" Yes — what am I to do .'' Mamma wishes it ; Signora
Conti sends me away. On all sides I hear, ' Rest ! '
'Recreation!' So I must have done with Paris." He
thought she said it with remarkable lightness of heart.

" When do you think of starting ? " he asked.

"That depends on mamma," replied Nicoline.

MORGANATIC 267

"I should like to go to-morrow," interposed Frau
Flammert.

" That's impossible," said the impresario, quickly ;
" things can't be hurried up like that."

" We can't do it here, Herr Griin ; come with us.
What's a journey to Diesa to you ?"

" Yes, yes ; but before I consent to accompany you, I
must at least be clear as to the preliminary conditions."

" Who is the man ? " Siegfried asked Nicoline, in a
whisper.

" Grun, the famous impresario, who is offering me
work," she replied.

" Is that settled so quickly ? "

« That's the rhythm of the age."

Some of the attendants came into the artists' room
and claimed Signora Conti's attention, Grun talked
eagerly to Frau Flammert, a group of Nicoline's fellow-
pupils and of Signora Conti's friends prepared to take
their departure, and attention was somewhat drawn away
from Nicoline. Siegfried seized the moment to whisper
quickly to her —

" I must see you before you go. How can we manage
it?"

"Come and see me to-night after dinner," replied
Nicoline.

His face grew dark. " Shall we be alone ? "

"No."

" Why not, then, come rather to St. Augustin ? " he
asked.

" My mother won't stir from my side."

The whispered colloquy stopped because Frau Flammert
turned to her daughter —

" Come, my child, we must go, or the attendants will
turn us out."

Siegfried was forced to go, if he did not wish to seem
an intruder.

When Nicoline gave him her hand, she said aloud,
" Au revoir till this evening."

" Why ? " asked Frau Flammert, discontentedly, as
soon as Siegfried had disappeared.

268 MORGANATIC

" He wishes to make a formal call on you ; surely
that needs neither explanation nor excuse," rejoined
Nicoline, simply.

" I would have let him ofF," returned her mother,
threatening her gently with her forefinger.

They had got rid of Griin, the impresario, for a
moment — he had invited himself to dine with them — and
were alone in the caniage, and Frau Flammert put her
arms round her daughter, and said —

" Haven't you put that nonsense out of your head ? "

Nicoline nestled up against her mother, and replied,
" But, mummy dear, why do you call it nonsense ? We
have been, and still are friends. Nothing has happened
to spoil that relationship. Can you say that it has
prevented me from working .'' "

" I don't say that."

" Now, why should the lonely young fellow be at
fault because I have given him my friendship ? "

" No, of course he isn't. But I'm glad you're going
to get away from here."

About nine o'clock, the housemaid brought Siegfried
to the little room in Nicoline's boarding-house, which
served Frau Flammert as a reception-room. It was
heavily scented with the perfume of flowers. Wreaths
and bouquets were piled up on the scanty pieces of fur-
niture, and among them a heap of letters and telegrams.
Nicoline's triumph continued.

Griin, the impresario, sat at the table with Frau
Flammert ; papers lay spread out on it. He looked very
excited and busy. An introduction could not be avoided.

" Herr Griin, the well-known impresario^'' said Frau
Flammert, " his highness Prince Siegfried of Loewenstein-
Franka " — Nicoline had asked her mother to give him the
title.

Griin made a low bow, and remarked modestly, " ' Well
known ' — you are too kind, madam. Scarcely yet. But
I hope some slight reflection of this young lady's triumph
may fall on me."

" This man would turn my head if it wasn't so strong,"
said Nicoline, smiling, while she asked Siegfried to sit down.

MORGANATIC 269

"No one will turn your head," rejoined Griin ; "but
you'll turn all their heads. Your highness^ Mademoiselle
Flammert is as good a man of business as she is a great
artist."

" A man of business ! I don't know you in that
character, mademoiselle," said Siegfried,.

" Mr. Grun exaggerates," said Nicoline. " The tempter
wants to buy my soul, and I have defended it, that's
all."

" Splendid ! One would think I had horns and horse's
hoofs, and that this bond was signed in blood." He looked
with delight at the paper before him, saw that the ink
was dry, folded it up, and put it in a big morocco leather
letter-case. " I hope we shall both be satisfied with one
another. And not only for two years, you cruel little
person," he added, turning to Nicoline as he got up.
" You will let me help you at the station .'' " he said to
Frau Flammert, who accompanied him to the door.

"Please don't trouble. We've hardly any luggage,
and have only to get our tickets."

" I shall not be dissuaded. My service begins thus."

" There are things of which they have no idea at Diesa,"
said Frau Flammert, when she resumed her seat. " Just
think, prince, Griin offered Nicoline an engagement for
life."

" I am not surprised, madame," said Siegfried. " He
runs no risk."

" You are right. One hundred thousand francs paid
down at once ; fifty thousand francs for the first year,
every succeeding year fifty thousand francs more up to
two-hundred and fifty thousand francs for a hundred
appearances each year, and all travelling expenses paid
for Nicoline and her suite."

" A mighty sum, indeed," murmured Siegfried.

" Stars danced before my eyes, and this rascal remained
perfectly ice-cold, and calmly said ' No ' ! " Frau Flammert
told him.

"Mummy is easily dazzled. I'm not. You threw
yourself away, mummy, so I must take my revenge."

" No one ever made me such an offer."

270 MORGANATIC

"Because you buried yourself in Diesa. But a new
period opens for you now. Only let me get to work."

" But you seem to have signed some contract," said
Siegfried, gloomily.

" Oh, just a simple one that does not bind me to much.
When I refused to bind myself for life, he climbed down
— ten years, five years, and finally two years. To that I
consented. So he will help me at the beginning of my
career with his experience and business knowledge, and I'll
take care he earns something."

" Do you really think he can make much out of it ? "
asked Frau Flammert, and turning to Siegfried, read out
the contract lying before her, " thirty thousand francs
premium — fifty thousand francs the first year — for twenty-
four performances in London during the season, and free
quarters in London for Nicoline and three persons. The
next year, one hundred and twenty thousand francs for
sixty performances, besides a six months' tour and hotel
expenses — for two years the premium of a life insurance
for three hundred thousand francs in my favour — that was
my darling's idea." She kissed Nicoline, while her eyes
grew dim with tears.

" I must at least repay what I have cost you," said
Nicoline, responding to her mother's caress.

Siegfried felt very uncomfortable. As a lover of the
drama, these details interested him, but it seemed to him
that Nicoline was turning her back on him, leaving him
standing on the steps, while she went into the house and
shut the door in his face. He could not see where, in this
new condition of affairs, there would be any place, even
the smallest, for him.

" I hoped," he said, in order to say something, " that
you would sing in Paris."

" Yes, she replied gaily, " Signora Conti wished so also,
and took steps that the director of the opera should hear
me. It was pathetic. But the director ! It is easier to
gain access to an emperor's palace than to your Opera
House. There came printed answers, and then written
answers, then conditional granting of an audience, as the
high-flown document expressed it, then the fixing of a

MORGANATIC 271

distant appointment. Meanwhile, Griin stepped in and
settled matters, and now I can snap my fingers at all this
dull, conceited set."

She suited the action to the word.

" Nicoline,'" said her mother, reprovingly.

"I beg your pardon, mummy," said Nicoline, coax-
ingly. " I'm so glad I haven't got to go the rounds of all
these directors. That's the pleasantest result of my con-
tract with Griin."

" Sooner or later you'll sing at the Opera here. That's
unavoidable in a great career."

" Certainly ; but only when I'm so far up the
ladder that they'll have to entreat me, not the other
way about. London is no bad place for an artist's
reputation."

" And are you going to rest till the London season ? "
asked Siegfried.

" Oh no ! What are you thinking of ? Mamma did not
read out that item of the contract. I am obliged, until
April 15th, to appear at least thirty times, and in six
important parts, as I prefer, on either a German or
Italian stage. That will give me sureness and practice so
that I may be quite perfect in London."

" And have you chosen the theatre which you desire
to honour .'' "

" Mamma wishes it to be Diesa."

«Ah!"

" That's the simplest thing to do," interrupted Frau
Flammert, " there you'll be with me, and the public will
spoil you "

" I should be with you under any circumstances, for I
should take you wherever I went. That goes without
saying. And I care nothing about the public. It'll
only be a trial trip. I should have preferred Milan or
Bologna. Autumn and winter are pleasanter there. But
no doubt things will go on all right at Diesa. It'll do for
sowing one's wild oats."

" Don't be so proud, Nico. It's the setting in which
the whole of my artist existence has been spent," said her
mother.

272 MORGANATIC

Nicoline suddenly became serious, and her face was
slowly suffused with a deep flush.

" That is exactly what makes me so contemptuous of
Diesa. Setting, you call it. I call it a place of sacrifice."

" Let us drop the subject, my dear."

" Willingly, mother ; it is finished."

Siegfried got up. He felt he should be wanting
in tact if he stayed any longer. He would have gone
before, only he was in such a wretched state of mind.
His attention was so entirely taken up by a tumult of
inward voices, and he seemed so distracted and absent-
minded that he made the impression of an idiot on Frau
Flammert. He felt that, and was irritated and depressed
at the same time. Could she think kindly of him .'
What role was he playing there ? What did she know ?
How much had Nicoline confided to her ? Two or three
times a terrible impulse had come on him to jump up,
catch hold of Nicoline's hand, and to exclaim passionately,
" But, Nicoline, don't think only of yourself and your
contract ; introduce me to your mother as your fiance.'"
But convention was too strong. He dared not. Nicoline
did not encourage him with word or look. She was as
indifferent to him as to a stranger. And he was not
really her^^awce.

He must have things clear between them, and she
must speak to him before they parted. Therefore he
must see her alone. How ? Where ? When ?

She knew perfectly what was passing in him. For
when he went, she accompanied him into the hall.

"Nicoline, I must see you again," he whispered,
passionately, pressing her hand.

" Come to-morrow morning," she replied, and with-
drew her hand quickly from his.

"Where.?"

" Here, of course."

"Don't torment me, we must be alone."

" We shall be alone. About eleven o'clock."

Her mother thought the leave-taking lasted too long,
and came out of the little drawing-room, the door of
which had remained open, into the hall.

MORGANATIC 273

" I should like to say good-bye to Nero, too. Bring
him with you, will you ? " said Nicoline, aloud.

Siegfried made a low bow and went.

The tall, handsome young man, and his beautiful
dog, excited observation in the streets through which he
walked the next morning in order to reach Nicoline's
house.

He had not long to wait for Nicoline after the maid
showed him and his dog into the drawing-room. She was
dressed in light blue, trimmed with cream-coloured lace,
and looked pale and tired. In spite of her strong nerves
she had had to pay for the excitement of the day before,
in broken sleep and feverish dreams.

She allowed Siegfried to kiss the hand she gave him,
and began to stroke Nero, whom she had greeted with a
loud cry. The dog did not recognize her at once, and
growled under her touch.

" But, Nero ! " exclaimed Nicoline, while Siegfried
bade him " be quiet."

"So soon are we forgotten by our best friends," said
Nicoline.

Her voice evidently helped Nero's memory, and he
gradually recalled her. It could be perceived how her
form became clearer to his dog's consciousness. He began
to wag his tail, at first hesitatingly, uncertainly, gently,
then more decisively and quickly, and at last he gave a low
bark, and licked her hand joyfully with his big red tongue.

" My mother has gone shopping, and I managed to
persuade her to do without my company. I told no lie
when I said I was too tired."

She had sat down on the sofa, Siegfried took a chair
beside it, and warded off the dog's expressions of friend-
ship, which were becoming warmer and warmer.

"You're not ill.?"

There was a note of anxiety in Siegfried's voice.

" Oh no. Only a little over-done. It was rather too
much yesterday."

There was a short pause, during which Siegfried
looked at her, and tried to read the expression in her blue
eyes.

T

274 MORGANATIC

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity," he
stammered out in a low tone. " It is humiliating for us
to be condemned to have secrets from your mother."

"Not at all," said Nicoline, quickly. "She knows
that you are here."

" And how did you explain "

"A whim. I wanted to see Nero before my de-
parture "

" And doesn't she know anything about me, about our
— about our friendship.'' "

" Yes. She knows that we are friends. She sees that
we are. It's quite natural when we lived for three months
under the same roof, and dined at the same table."

" You've not told her anything else ? "

"What else.?"

" Nicoline, have you forgotten our discussion ? Are
we nothing to each other ? "

" I have forgotten nothing, and nothing has changed
between you and me. We are to each other what we
were .''

" I haven't got that feeling. Until yesterday we have
only seen each other five times in six weeks. And you
were always so full of your work and plans that you
hadn't a single cordial word for me."

" Circumstances have brought that about."

" And now you are leaving Paris, and God knows
how long the separation will be, and I must bid you
farewell at the station like a stranger, with a bouquet,
and a formal bow, and shall probably be thrust aside by an
impresario and other important people."

"Those are mere outward circumstances. We must
bravely endure them," said Nicoline.

" That's all very fine. But what is behind these out-
ward circumstances .'' What am I to you .'' "

Nicoline let go her hold of the dog, and sat up
straight.

" Siegfried," she said, in a calm, determined voice,
"you know I hate roundabout ways. What I think, I
like to say out. What do you wish ? To marry me ? "

" Yes."

MORGANATIC 276

" Now, at once ? "

" Now, at once — that isn't possible."

"Why not?"

" Nicoline, you are cruel."

" No, only sensible. I repeat, why not .-' "

" But, Nicoline," he said, stuttering and casting down
his eyes, " how can I think of marrying now ? I don't
know what I have to offer you — I possess nothing — I've
no position "

" Very well. But it's clear that I shall earn enough
for the two of us "

" Nicoline ! " He got up so hastily that Nero also,
who had laid himself down, sprang to his feet.

" I know, I know. You need not get excited. You
don't wish to be merely the husband of your wife."

" You should not express it like that," objected Seig-
fried.

" I should not be able to respect you, and I must
respect the man to whom I give myself. What other
feeling should I have for him .'' Pity ? I can't feel as a
mother to you. You're too big and strong."

" Where does love come in, Nicoline ? "

"That's taken for granted. That's the hypothesis.
If it wasn't, you may be sure I have character enough to
say, let us each go our own way."

He was silent for a while, and painful thoughts went
through his mind. At length, looking up straight at
Nicoline, he said —

" How do we stand to each other ? Are we bound ?
Do you want to be free? "

Nicoline returned his look, and said in a firm voice,
" You are bound if you feel yourself bound, and free if
you feel yourself free, only in that case you must tell me
so. I am not proud. I am content to let my conduct
depend on yours. So long as you don't give me my
dismissal, I shall keep my word."

He grasped her hand and kissed it, and then growing
bolder, made a slight effort to draw her towards him. She
gently resisted. He grew red and white by turns. She
was like a mere straw in a storm before his strength —

276 MORGANATIC

why did he not press her to his breast and devour her with
kisses as he ardently desired to do, and take no heed of
her resistance.

Nicoline felt the stirrings of passion within him, and
drew back. He pulled himself together and regained his
self-control.

" That seems clear, and is yet ambiguous. I shall never
change. But when may I come to you .'' Only when I
have an assured position ? "

" I care nothing about that," she replied hastily. " I
hope you don''t misunderstand me. I have said it so often.
I should be glad if you could make good your claims.
Not because I want to be a princess, but because you
would have overcome powerful adversaries in a splendid
fight. If victory is not possible, that will not trouble me,
only the thing must be ended once and for always and
must not any longer influence our lives. You must find
some other way of employing your energies that shall be
worthy of you, and content you."

He smiled bitterly, " Meanwhile you, quite undis-
turbedly, will devote yourself to your career."

« Of course I shall. Do I deny it ? "

" Am I presuming too much if I ask if we are to write
to each other ? "

" Why so ironical, Siegfried .'' You must always tell
me everything that passes in you and around you, and I
promise you to do the same."

" May I sometimes go and see you .'' "

" You will always and everywhere be welcome."

He got up. " You're really going to-morrow ? "

"At 8.25, from the Gare de TEst."

" I don't know whether you would like me to come to
the station."

" Perhaps it is better not. It would leave a bitter
after-taste."

He suddenly drew her towards him, and before she
could prevent him, kissed her passionately on the mouth,
and when she gave a low cry, and resisted with both arms
against his breast, he said, in a hoarse, imploring voice — ■

" Nicoline, for the sake of the sweet after-taste."

MORGANATIC 277

She freed herself without opposition on his part,
nodded, waved a quick, gentle farewell with her hand and
slipped from the room. Siegfried stared at the door
through which she had vanished for a while, called Nero,
and left the house which henceforth would have no
interest for him.

As he walked home, he was filled with strong feelings
of displeasure. He was beset by an immense desire for
the girl which must now be unsatisfied. He was ashamed
as is a tiger who jumps just short of his prey and sees it
escape. He was vexed with his weakness of spirit. Why
had he always treated her like the princess for whom she
took herself. Why had not he taken her, as behoved
superior man.? It is true that she shot a man if he
annoyed her, but surely she would not act so towards all.
Who was she that she should impose conditions with such
condescension ? A disowned child of sin. Talented, cer-
tainly. But if she lost her voice to-morrow, a mere nobody,
and that kind of thing happened. He was really doing
her great honour to ask for her hand. But she resisted.
Did she really love him.'' Sometimes he had thought
so. But all that she had said to him to-day was so
cold and reasonable.

How soberly she had preached to him, " A man is
himself! Be the architect of your own fortune." Just
like that eccentric Heeremaim. Brave men think of such
things. What could he do if his birthright was withheld.
Go on the Stock Exchange and become a millionaire.
Heeremann should have tried that first. He could take
up his studies again, complete them and enter official life.
Then there would be the hope, if things prospered, of
being, in ten years' time, president of a Government Board
— a goal worth the labour involved ! Perhaps it would
be possible for him to become an officer. But he was five
years behind his comrades, unless the authorities were
gracious enough to antedate his commission — and possibly
he might attain the rank of major, an entrancing dream.

A great destiny ! That was perhaps possible in
America, he couldn't say, but in old, worn-out Europe, no.
There life goes on its way in well-defined ruts, and it's

278 MORGANATIC

useless to try to go across country, everything is built in
by walls and palings. Napoleon would have been all his
life an obscure little artillery officer ; Bismarck a capricious
dike-director and village grandee ; Gambetta would have
remained a briefless barrister if a wave of revolution had
not carried them on its crest to giddy heights. Architect
of one^s own fortune ! One's legendary ancestors could
become head of the army in a time when battles were won
by sheer physical strength. Who knows how far the
founders of the house of Meissen might have come in the
time of the magazine-rifle ! But to rise to high places
through your own strength — that was a wild, fantastic
dream. He who was not originally a ruler of society,
could not carve himself a path to such glory through its
strata ; those strata can only be upset through some
powerful commotion which, like an earthquake, brings
down everything in ruins. Was he to wait for a catas-
trophe in order to claim Nicoline .''

While such thoughts were passing through his mind,
his mother had been having her interview with the vicar-
general. They both sat at lunch, sunk in their own
thoughts, and did not talk. When it was over and Sieg-
fried was about to go to his own room, the baroness
said —

" Siegfried, come up with me, I want to speak to you."

He was alarmed. Did she know where he had been
yesterday and this morning ? Would she read him another
lecture ? In his present mood that was most distasteful.

Although she mounted the stairs very slowly and rested
several times, it was some while after she reached her
boudoir before she could get her breath. When at last
she was able to speak, she turned to her son, who stood
before her with a hostile and reserved manner.

"You guessed, perhaps, why I went with you to his
Eminence ? "

" You told me, mamma. In order to gain an entry
into aristocratic Catholic society."

" Yes ; but not only that. It is time that we looked at
things seriously. I've only a few thousand francs left.
When they are gone we have three courses : to go to

MORGANATIC 279

the family, hanging our heads like whipped dogs ; to open
a milliner's shop ; or to die of starvation."

Siegfried frowned. His lips trembled. " You don't
think the cardinal will help us ? "

" No. But he will marry you."

« Oh, indeed ! "

A deep red slowly overspread his face, and he cast
down his eyes in order to avoid his mother's glance.

" He has a young lady in view for you, with a dowry
of fifty millions and prospects. She is not of specially
distinguished origin, out you are sufiiciently so for two,
and she has everything else that can make a man happy."

He listened in silence, staring in front of him.

" We can live here in accordance with our rank with
two millions income. No one opposes our title in France.
Then we needn't trouble ourselves any more about the
grand-duke and the duke. And when we don't want any-
thing of them they will make advances to us. If they
make too much fuss when the marriage of his highness
Prince Siegfried of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level is
announced, you can challenge one of them, even if it's an
uncle. If he refuses, well, he won't have public opinion
with him. If he accepts, you need not kill him, you can
content yourself with wounding him. Your hand is sure
enough. It will be a warning to the others." She
stopped; but when Siegfried made no reply, she asked,
" Now, what do you think of it .'' "

" To sell one's self — that's what it is," he murmured
gloomily.

" VVhat an idea ! " she exclaimed. " Why, I shan't even
tell you beforehand the lady's name. You will meet her
in society, together with other young ladies, and you
won't know which she is. You may have a notion. So
you will get to know her quite easily, and only when I find
that you like each other shall we formally demand her
hand in marriage. That is a concession to your senti-
mentality. But it is quite superfluous. The founding of
a new branch of your dynasty on a base of fifty millions
is an important historical event, which will have its effect
on future centuries. Sentiment has no part to play in it.

280 MORGANATIC

For the sake of the great end, you must put aside personal
inclination. But I am sure it will be in accord with your
inclination. Why not.'' A beautiful, young, clever girl
— it would be against nature if she did not strongly
attract you."

At that moment he felt sincere, almost sympathetic
admiration for his mother. What a wide view ! What
elevated thought ! A veritable ancestress ! He com-
pared her with his deceased father. The real royal
nature was undoubtedly on her side. But Nicoline ?
Well, he would be committing no impropriety towards
her. " You are bound if you feel yourself bound, free if
you feel yourself free." He heard the tone in which
Nicoline had said those words, and it had sounded to him
icy. He might as well see the girl. If she made no
impression on him, then he would have done Nicoline no
injury. If she took Nicoline''s place in his heart, Nicoline
could not complain so long as he loyally told her of the
change. He would not omit to do that.

" And what do you expect of me .'' " asked Siegfried.

The baroness had watched him with concealed anxiety
all the while he had been silently thinking. She heaved
a deep sigh of relief, answered gently, almost caressingly —

" Only that you shall make yourself pleasant when you
are introduced to the young lady at Trouville — we are
going to Trouville. It should not be difficult for you to
turn a little girl's head."

"To Trouville, then.?"

" Yes ; and there's just one thing more — a mere
formality. You must sign this with me."

She took the vicar-general's document out of her note-
book, signed her name slowly and deliberately, and handed
it to Siegfried.

He took the paper, read it, and exclaimed softly, " Two
millions ! "

"That need not frighten us," she observed quickly.
" If you marry her, why, you've got it. If nothing comes
of it, we are not liable."

" The cardinal doesn't work for nothing."

" Siegfried, that's not nice of you. Remember the

MORGANATIC 281

churches and monasteries and abbeys that your ancestors
founded in Loewenstein and Franka and Diesa and Kup-
ferberg. Unfortunately theyVe not Catholic any longer.
Ifs only seemly that Duke Siegfried shall inaugurate the
foundation of his new house with a similar presentation."

" The name is not filled in ? "

" For the reason I told you. You are to know nothing,
so that you may not be handicapped in any way."

He hesitated an instant, then signed in a firm hand.
The baroness folded the paper, and said with emotion —

" Thank you, Siegfried, you are doing it of course for
yourself, but you are acting as a dutiful son, and that will
bring you happiness. I hope that we have come to an end
of our trials. Now leave me. I am tired."

When Siegfried had gone, she rang for Bertha, and said
gaily to her as she entered the room —

*' I've spoken to Siegfried. He agrees ! "

" Then everything's all right, your highness," replied
Bertha, and kissed her mistress's hand.

Preparations for the journey to the seaside were begun
at once. The French translation of Osterburg's memorial
which Siegfried quickly finished was sent to the printer
with the German original, and the order that pamphlets
should be sent to Osterburg directly they were ready. On
the following Monday the baroness again went to the
vicar-general's and he again received her before his other
visitors ; she gave him the signed document. He examined
the papers, then filled in the blank space with his fine,
stiff handwriting, and returned the paper to the baroness.
She read half-aloud, with wrinkled brow, "Marie-Jeanne
Bloch," and without remark handed him the paper back.

" If you will allow me, princess, I'll give you the letters
of introduction now," said the vicar-general. "It won't
take long."

It did not take long, for the letters to the priest and to
the Dowager Countess de Rochenoire were both ready, and
the vicar-general had only to sign them and address the
envelopes.

" The Countess de Rochenoire," he explained, as he gave
her the letters, " plays a leading part among the Norman

282 MORGANATIC

landed nobility. The whole valley of Touques belonged
to her family before the Revolution. She is an old lady.
It won''t do any harm, princess, if you call on her first.
I merely mention this to avoid misunderstandings."

The baroness thanked him, and took her departure.
As the vicar-general accompanied her to the door, he
said —

" Let us pray that the Lord will bless the beginnings of
our enterprise. I shall be informed of its progress ; but I
beg of you to write to me yourself, all the same."

In the letter to the lady at Trouville which she hastened
to read as soon as she was in the carriage, she was described
as " Her highness the widowed princess of Loewenstein-
Franka, Baroness von Gronendal," while in that to the priest
she was described only as Princess Loewenstein-Franka.

The baroness, with Siegfried, Bertha, Janusz, and Bella
— Frau Biichler, the cook, the coachman, and Nero were left
at home — took up their quarters at Trouville in the Hotel
des Roches Noires where she paid a hundred francs a day.
She saw that it would run away with the rest of her pro-
perty, but what of that ? She began her existence on the
scale of two millions a year. She presented the letter of intro-
duction to the priest in person, that to the Countess de
Rochenoire she sent by Janusz, with a note asking when
she might most conveniently be received. The priest paid
her attention beseeming her royal rank, and on her first
visit complained that the resident community was small
and indifferent, that for the most part the brilliant and
numerous summer guests consisted of irreligious worldlings,
but that side by side with their luxury was much wretched-
ness, and that the means at the priest's disposal for help-
ing the needy was very small. The baroness could not do
less than celebrate her entry into the priest's house by a
considerable offering for his pious work of alleviating
misery.

Madame de Rochenoire wrote pleasantly that she had
heard of her coming to Trouville through mutual Paris
friends, and that she would be very glad to make her
personal acquaintance if she would do her the honour of
coming to see her on her ' At home ' day.

MORGANATIC 283

The countess lived in a fine house, with courtyard and
garden which seemed to be badly kept. The statues which
filled the niches in the seventeenth-century style lacked
heads and arms, the wide steps leading to the entrance were
worn down, crooked, and partly broken, and several railings
were wanting to the balustrade. The interior likewise
showed a character of inherited solidity which had not
been kept up and renewed. The household arrangements
made no impression of luxury. The gate on the street was
only latched. No servants appeared, either in the hall or
on the staircase, except an elderly man, looking like a
peasant, who cpened the door to the baroness. The
mistress of the house was a little old lady in widow's
weeds, softened by white frills, with white hair, and a little
grey moustache. She was dignified, reserved, and some-
what ceremonious, but the pure Norman dialect which
she spoke like any dairy woman of the district, contrasted
with her patrician manner. The baroness might have
smiled at this, but her gaiety vanished during her
conversation with the old lady.

After the exchange of a few ceremonious remarks,
the countess said she should be very glad to arrange for
the prince to meet the Blochs. She did not doubt that the
match would come off', for the Blochs were eagerly looking
out for a great alliance. She congratulated the princess
in advance, for the girl was charming and her fortune
large. She would do everything in her power to assist the
enterprise, for she must not conceal from her that she had
a very serious interest in it. On a wondering look from
the baroness, she continued with the greatest brutality —

" Yes, princess, the land brings in scarcely anything.
We live in the country, in order to economize ; but here
we must respect our rank, and during the season, social
duties are the same as in Paris. I am at the cardinal's
service, and am glad to be of use to his friends, but I
expect some acknowledgment."

" We shall not fail in that point," said the baroness,
with annoyance.

" I should like to know exactly on what I can count,"
continued the old lady, pitilessly.

284 MORGANATIC

The baroness was much embarrassed. " Trust to our
right feeling."

The countess was not to be put off. " Let us state a
sum. That will simplify the matter for both of us."

" Perhaps you will be good enough to tell me how
much you expect .'' "

" I don't think a hundred thousand francs too much,
when it's a question of ninety or a hundred millions."

The baroness protested strongly. There were not
nearly so many millions.

" With expectations," put in the old lady.

"Then the cardinal has made the price too high.
There can be no question of one hundred thousand
francs."

A regular haggling followed between the two women,
in which the baroness was almost a match for the little
Norman. She gave her to understand that she considered
she made a great sacrifice in receiving people like the
Blochs, notwithstanding their great wealth and their close
relations with the Church, and it did not make the least
impression on her that the baroness, on her part, alluded
to the distinction conferred by her and her son on every
house they entered. Finally, they agreed on fifty thousand
francs. But when the Countess de Rochenoire asked for
an immediate payment of five, or two, or, at least, one
thousand francs, she found the baroness adamant. What
made her so was the fact that she had not got the money.
The old lady had to be content with a promise that
should be redeemed after the wedding.

The baroness and her son were much observed in
Trouville. The local journal announced their arrival in a
courteous paragraph. The manager of the Casino hastened
to call on them in person, and to place admission tickets at
their disposal. Some Russians, English, and Spaniards were
introduced to them at the hotel. Siegfried was invited to
lawn-tennis parties and chosen to compete in the pigeon-
shooting matches, where his skill excited remark. The
women admired his appearance when they saw him on the
beach, and they openly ogled him. He met numberless
young ladies, some of whom he found attractive. But he

MORGANATIC 285

felt a certain constraint in his intercourse with them, since
he asked himself anxiously at each new introduction, " Is
it she?"

The baroness made it her business to get a sight of
the girl whom she already regarded as her future daughter-
in-law. But during the first week she did not succeed, either
on the beach, in the theatre or casino, at the races or the
pigeon-shooting matches. None of the three or four hotel
acquaintances who pointed out the distinguished persons
in the place, mentioned the name of Bloch. She was,
however, to see the whole family first in quite another
place — at high mass, the second Siinday of her stay. In
the front row, a few places from her and Siegfried, a strik-
ingly Jewish-looking man, a dark-haired girl, the very
image of him, and an elderly lady sat on red velvet chairs.
It rushed through her head, " It's they." Her heart
stood still; and then began to beat again, painfully,
quickly, and irregularly. She observed them carefully
throughout the service. The man distinguished himself
by his devotion. He knelt from beginning to end of the
office. The girl looked gentle, pretty, and lively. She
had no clear impression of the mother, who looked well-fed
and heavy, except, perhaps, that of commonplaceness. She
impatiently awaited the conclusion of the service, and then
went in all haste to the sacristy, bidding Siegfried wait for
her at the door, asked the priest who her neighbours were,
and received confirmation of her guess.

Those were they, then ! She was not greatly impressed,
but it would do. The parents were not exactly charming,
but that could not be altered. Possibly the girl's face
only looked so unmistakably Jewish when seen beside her
father's. Alone, she might be taken for Southern,
Proven9al, or Spanish. On the whole, the baroness was
not displeased, and full of hope, she looked forward to the
formal introduction, which would doubtless take place at
the dinner and soiree at the Countess Rochenoire's, to
which they had received an invitation for next Saturday.

The evening arrived. The dinner guests numbered
twelve, inclusive of the lady of the house, the niece who
lived with her, and the priest. The baroness saw at the

286 MORGANATIC

first glance that the Blochs were not there. Were they
waiting for them ? No. Dinner was announced. Per-
haps they were only invited to the soiree. That was a
want of tact on the part of the countess ! Guests kept
arriving from half-past nine, families from the neighbour-
hood with high-sounding titles, a few Parisians, two or
three foreign visitors to Trouville, and besides ladies and
gentlemen of various ages, only two girls, one a very
pretty blonde from Paris, who roused Siegfried's interest,
but he did not like to pay her marked attention for fear
of annoying the other who was less pretty. He did not
know which was the right one. There were about thirty
people present.

The baroness had been silent and absent-minded
during dinner. In the drawing-room she carefully observed
the arrivals. About eleven, when for over half an hour
no one more had come, she could no longer restrain her-
self. Somewhat suddenly leaving her neighbour, the
owner of an estate in the district, with whom she had
been carrying on a tedious, indifferent conversation, she
took the mistress of the house aside and whispered —

" The Blochs are not here ? "

" No, princess," replied the little old lady, and tried
to make her escape.

" I thought you had invited them ? " continued the
baroness, placing herself in front of the countess so that
she could not get away.

" I did, of course ; but they sent an excuse."

And she had not been told! What did it mean?
"Monsieur and Madame Bloch knew that they would
meet us here ? "

" Certainly, princess. Excuse me "" And she

succeeded in escaping, and took refuge in a group of her
guests.

The baroness looked for Siegfried, beckoned to him,
and after a cool leave-taking of her hostess, left the house.

When, by noon the next day, she had received no
sort of explanation, the baroness resolved to pay her
complimentary visit at once, and without Siegfried.

" I was greatly disappointed not to meet the Blochs

MORGANATIC 287

here yesterday," said the baroness, almost rushing into
the house.

" So was I, princess," replied the countess, with
enigmatic curtness.

" What excuse did they give ?"

"Really, none. A few hours before the dinner
Madame Bloch wrote to me that she was very sorry not
to be able to come, but they had decided to leave
Trouville earlier than usual, in order to go to their
estates. Full stop. That was all."

" Ah ! " was all the baroness said.

The little old lady merely shrugged her shoulders.

The baroness thanked her for her hospitality, and
found it unnecessary to prolong the conversation. The
Blochs'' departure made Madame de Rochenoire useless
to her. She sent her in the evening a splendid bouquet,
with a note in which she told her that, in consequence of
her bad health, she was not able to receive guests at
Trouville. She hoped to have the pleasure of seeing her
when she came to Paris.

She wrote to the vicar-general at once, told him
of the incident, and asked what she was to understand by
the sudden departure ; whether it meant a desire to avoid
the introduction to her ?

The high dignitary's reply did not reach her till four
days later, during which the baroness did not go out, and
indeed only got up for a few hours each day. He wrote in
terms of the greatest politeness, yet with no beating about
the bush, that Monsieur Bloch had informed him, not
without reproach, that he had made inquiries as to
Siegfried's position, and had learnt that the Prince of
Loewenstein and Franka had no right to that title and
rank. He was surprised that any one could imagine he
should allow his only daughter to enter into an alliance
under such shady circumstances, or to be reproached that
she should claim a title which had no rightful existence.
The vicar-general added that, for his part, he was very
sorry that Monsieur Bloch was so particular. On the
other hand, she might learn a lesson from the failure of
the plan • it might be easier to marry the Baron von

288 MORGANATIC

Gronendal than the impugned Prince of Loewenstein-
Franka, only in that case the demands must be
considerably lowered.

The baroness was in bed when Bertha brought her
the letter. After a few moments she let it fall from
her hand, perhaps without having read it through, groaned
slightly, then became suddenly quiet, and her head rolled
to one side of the heaped-up pillows.

Bertha taking it for one of the usual fainting fits to
which she was accustomed, hastened to her mistress's assist-
ance, and administered the ether remedies always ready in
case of need. When Bertha found that the liquid was not
swallowed but ran out of the mouth over the cheek on to
the pillow, she was much terrified, and, with a shaking
hand made an injection of ether as she had been obliged
to do on two or three former occasions. But when that
failed to bring the baroness to, a great terror fell on
Bertha, and she summoned help. Janusz and the hotel
servants came running up, a doctor was sent for, and also
Siegfried who would probably be found at the Casino or
on the beach, and Bertha begged Janusz not to leave her
alone with the baroness.

The doctor came before Siegfried arrived, and stated that
the baroness was dead. For the last ten minutes Bertha and
Janusz had no longer doubted it. At length Siegfried tore
open the door and came hastily in. The hotel servant had
told him of his mother's sudden illness, and the porter,
instructed by the doctor, had informed him of her death.
In reply to his questions. Bertha told him in short broken
sentences, sobbing the while, all she could of her mistress's
sudden death, and gave him the letter she had been reading
which lay open on the coverlet. Siegfried motioned that
he would be alone with his mother. When Bertha and
Janusz had gone, he knelt down by the bedside and kissed
her nerveless hand. He did not feel an impulse to kiss her
face. That had not been a childish custom with him.
He had never done it. And as there were no witnesses,
there was no need to force himself to anything that did
not come naturally. No tears moistened his eyes. He
was of a hard, or, perhaps, rather of a hardened nature.

MORGANATIC 289

But a number of vague thoughts rushed through his dis-
turbed and confused brain. His mother had not loved
him greatly. He was wholly convinced of that. But, all
the same, her death was a heavy blow to him. She
had thought and acted for him. She had taken all
responsibility from him. He had played, on principle, the
comfortable part of a strong opposition. Now he had
to play that of government. He could no longer criticise
and grumble, but must himself act. She had been the
clucking hen who had protected him with her wings.
He first became conscious of the warmth and comfort
of that shelter, when it suddenly failed him, and he
felt the cold till he shivered. What was to be done
now.? He was so terribly alone in the world. He
had no family, for his own flesh and blood denied him.
He did not perceive that at this hour his mother's relatives
did not even come into his mind. He had no connection
with anybody or anything. He felt no support, no firm
ground under his feet. It seemed to him he was orphaned
like no other orphan in the world.

Only after giving rein for a while to his gloomy
thoughts did he at length pull himself together and rise
from his knees. His eyes fell on the letter he still held in
his hand. He read it quickly, with clenched teeth. So the
young lady to whom he was to have sold himself was called
Bloch ! That was why the name had been concealed from
him. And he was not even good enough for this Bloch.
The letter, as in a flash of lightning, lit up the precipice
beneath his feet. Bloch wouldn't have anything to do
with him. He must make more modest demands, more
modest than putting up with Bloch !

" Father, mother, how have you sinned against me ! "
That was the thesis of his reflections in his hour of grief.

Material concerns now claimed his time and thoughts,
and for many days he had no leisure for introspection.
He did not find money enough to settle the Trouville
bills. Happily every one allowed him credit, and with
regard to the extortionate demands of the hotel, who
charged for new furniture for the death-chamber, of the
doctor who put each visit at a hundred francs, of the firm

U

290 MORGANATIC

of undertakers to whom was entrusted the coffining of the
body and its transport to Paris, he was not sorry that he
could not pay them immediately.

He telegraphed to all the members of the Meissen
family, and to all his mother's noble relatives that she had
died suddenly of heart disease, and signed himself " Sieg-
fried of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level." He did not
receive a single reply, but after a while learnt that
three recipients of the telegram had refused to take
it in.

The funeral took place in Paris. Besides Siegfried and
the servants scarcely a dozen persons followed the hearse,
decorated with coronets and armorial bearings. There was
of coinrse hardly any one in town in the latter part of
August. Siegfried remembered the military and official
display, and the crowd attracted by it, on the occasion of
his father's funeral, and the feeling of his neglected and
outcast condition came over him with such force that it
brought to his eyes the tears that the sight of his mother's
coffin had failed to evoke.

The press did not treat her kindly. The Paris papers
announced her death in a brief paragraph in society news.
The Franka official organ said nothing. In a couple of
German papers, contributors remembered the woman who
had been kind to them at Castle Lindenheim or the Villa
Josephine, and dedicated obituary notices to her in which
she was celebrated as the former prodigy and artist. Little
Coppee wrote a long notice of her in the Vercingetorio!
which put her on a pedestal, and he took the opportunity
of referring in flattering terms to the " young prince, the
inheritor of the illustrious blood of his father, and of the
talents of his gifted mother, before whom lay a delightful
future whether he entered public life, or restricted himself
to playing a leading part in society." Siegfried wrote him
a polite letter of thanks, upon which Coppee paid him a
visit. He alluded to the misunderstanding that had lately
produced a coolness between himself and the baroness, but
added that at heart he had never failed in his devotion to
her, and would be glad to be of use to Siegfried in any way
possible. And the kindly speech did not deteriorate into

MORGANATIC 291

an open or implied demand for a loan. It was the only
case of the liind. Saint-Denis, the actor, when he paid his
visit of condolence, merely asked whether steps had been
taken by the deceased lady for obtaining his decora-
tion, or whether Siegfried could do it. Siegfried had
to say no to both propositions, upon which the artist
swiftly took his leave, and Siegfried never saw him
again. Count Laporte seemed much disappointed that
his dear friend and patroness had not left him even a
souvenir, and pathetically described how very much he had
been counting on her kindness for the future. Siegfried
made short work with the parasite. He assured him that
he would never get another penny, and that for the future
his visits to the Villa Josephine might be dispensed with
without regret.

" Blood is everything," the old aristocrat somewhat
enigmatically observed, as he withdrew in a dignified
manner. The Dormans proved themselves friends indeed.
Taking it for granted that they could not leave Siegfried
alone in his grief, they came to every meal at the Villa,
and it was only with great difficulty that he prevented
them sleeping there, for there was room now, and they
were ready to do everything for him for a not inconsider-
able commission.

The condolence letters he received were very cool.
Madame Abeille contented herself with a brief con-
ventional note. Others merely sent a visiting card.
He received an electric shock, when, from some Thu-
ringian summer resort, he got a letter from Nicoline,
to whom he had not announced his mother's death. She
wrote —

"Dear Siegfried,

" I have just seen in the newspaper that your
poor mother is dead. I can scarcely believe it, for surely
you would have sent me word. Couldn't you find a
minute amid your grief and the endless little importunate
worries you must have had at such a time, you poor fellow ?
In that case I am doubly sorry that I could not be with
you. You should have asked me to come. I could have

292 MORGANATIC

come without neglecting my duty, for my work does not
begin until the middle of September. Tell me all about
everything. With heartfelt sympathy,

" I am, your true

" NiCOLINE.'"

Siegfried made the miserable excuse that he did not
know where to write to her, and gave her some details
about the death. He naturally aid not say what had
taken his mother and himself to Trouville, but he had the
vicar-general's letter in his mind all the time he was writing
to her, because, although she was not formally his Jiancee,
he regarded her as belonging to him.

His maternal uncle had also learnt the death of his
sister and benefactress from the newspapers. He wrote to
his nephew in a respectful fashion, and on a sheet of
official paper, in order to offer his condolence, to point out
his very narrow means as a poorly paid father of many
children, and to say, humbly, that he hoped his never-to-
be-forgotten sister had arranged to remain his guardian
angel even beyond the grave.

That side of the family asked something of him, while
the other denied him ! He found the letter, which was
scarcely humorous, a droll satire on his situation, and
left it unanswered.

Such discourteous conduct was to be in some measure
excused by his pecuniary affairs, which were certainly
hopeless. Siegfried studied them with his lawyer. There
was nothing left but bills and pawn-tickets. The Villa
Josephine, was deeply mortgaged. When the death
duties were paid, it was doubtful if anything would remain
behind the mortgage. On the debit side there was only
some jewellery and the furniture of the Villa Josephine
and Castle Lindenheim.

In order to clear the air a little, Siegfried sold the
jewellery — the unpledged as well as the pledged. Entirely
ignorant in such matters, he was obliged to accept the
eagerly proffered services of the Dormans, who took care
that the results of the business should bring him very
little.

MORGANATIC 293

Bertha was enraged at Siegfried's procedure. She had
reckoned on at least a portion of the jewellery, as a reward
for faithful service, and considered herself a victim of the
blackest ingratitude. The nice Uttle property that she
had acquired at the baroness's side in the course of years,
did not lessen her irritation. That was a diff'erent thing.
A few day's after her mistress's burial, she told Siegfried
she wished to leave and return to her home, and Siegfried
let her go without a sentimental farewell.

He used the opportimity to break up the household.
The old coachman, Janusz, and the cook were dismissed,
the state carriage and the fat cobs were sold for a mere
song, Nero was given to the Polish servant, who immediately
disposed of the splendid creature for a hundred marks.

He was undecided what to do about Frau Biichler.
The family had settled an annuity on her when she entered
Prince Albrecht's service, and she could spend it where she
pleased. He asked her whether she wished to go or to stay
with him. The elderly dame had a sharp struggle with
herself. Although, since he had been grown up, he had
done nothing to keep her love, she was attached to the
yovmg man to whom she had supplied a mother's place
from infancy. Undoubtedly she would live more peace-
fully, if she went back to her home. But she found it
hard to leave Siegfried, who had been the object of her
hfe for twenty-three years, and who, she felt, was lonely,
and surrounded by unscrupulous parasites, and less able
than ever to do without her. So her answer was decisive.

" Your highness, if you'll keep me, I'll stop."

Even his reserve melted before the cordiality of her
look and tone. He pointed out to her that life with him
would not be attractive, it might even entail a good deal
of self-denial. She shook her head, and said —

" I've spent pleasant days with you ; I can take the
less pleasant in with them. My annuity wiU keep me
from want."

He gave her his hand, which she covered with tears
and kisses, and said —

"Very well, then, if you really wish it. I have to
take a long journey for the settlement of my aflFairs. I

294 MORGANATIC

shall be obliged to sell the house. Meanwhile you will
remain here and keep it in order, if you are not afraid of
staying in it alone."

" How long wiU your highness be away ? "

" I don't know ; in any case, some weeks."

Frau Biichler considered a little, and then declared
that she would prefer to go to acquaintances at Franka
during his absence.

"To Franka? That fits very well. That's where I'm
going first," said Siegfried.

The Dormans begged to be allowed to take the ViUa
Josephine under their protection, but in vain, and they
were unpleasantly surprised when they found that it was
dismantled, the furniture warehoused, and the house placed
at the lawyer's disposal for sale. Accompanied to the
station by the grieving Dormans, Siegfried and Frau
Biichler took the train one September evening for Franka.

Siegfried's feelings were of a painful nature, when he
came out of the station at Franka, and drove in an ordinary
fly to the outlying portion of the town where Castle Lin-
denheim was situated. He rang, and the surprised custodian
admitted him into the fine old building which had been
the scene of his joyless childhood. The rooms were clean
and in good order, the fine park well kept, resplendent
now in its autumn glory. The china animals, the
prince's ridiculous hobby, lay on the turf by all the paths
in their grotesque, yet not wholly unnatural attitudes. The
three fountains, and the little waterfall by the shell grotto,
splashed and sparkled. Tears rose to Frau Biichler's eyes
as her glance strayed over all the beauty. Siegfried re-
membered how oppressed and confined he had always felt
there.

The custodian, a servant of the grand ducal household,
apologized that the beds were not made, the drawing-room
furniture uncovered, or the carpets laid down. If the
baron had only announced his coming, so that he might
have had a few hours for preparation !

Siegfried, offended by the term "baron," which the
man dragged in as often as possible, ordered him to pre-
pare rooms for himself and Frau Biichler, and said that

MORGANATIC 295

she would help. He, meanwhile, would go into the
park.

There the man soon followed him. "I beg your
pardon, baron, what about the flag ? " The expression of
his face showed how deeply the matter worried him.

" What flag ? " asked Siegfried.

"I mean, baron, what flag shall I put up? We've
only that of his highness. Prince Albrecht, and I don't
know if "

"Don't trouble yourself about such things. I don't
want a flag."

"Very well, your highness." The decision evidently
took a load oif his heart.

Siegfried dined alone in the enormous, bare dining-
room, with its decoration of antlers, one of the sights of
Franka, off the dishes prepared for him by the cus-
todian's wife, while Frau Biichler joined the man's family
party, and exchanged confidences until late in the
night.

Sleep scarcely came at all to Siegfried that night.
He revolved plans and projects in his head, and a feverish
impatience for decisive action made him jump out of bed,
and walk up and down the room for a quarter of an hour
at a time.

The next morning he inquired of the custodian con-
cerning the movements of the grand ducal family. The
Grand Duke Hilarius was hunting in the Tyrol. The
grand duchess was at the palace, preparing to leave in a
few days for her yearly visit to Nice.

That suited him. He at once proceeded to the palace.
A few pedestrians in the Ditmarstrasse, and in the Castle
square recognized him ; they stopped in surprise, greeted
him, and stared after him. He had changed very little
during his four years' absence.

Everything small and great that happened in Franka
soon found its way to the palace, and it was known there
that Siegfried and his old nurse had suddenly arrived at
Castle Lindenheim. With the certainty of a friend of
the house, he walked straight past the sentries, servants
and officials to the well-known apartments of the Grand

296 MORGANATIC

Duchess, and asked the maid, who was in the anteroom,
to announce him to her Royal Highness.

He had not long to wait. The maid appeared at the
door, and said, curtseying —

" If you please, baron."

Baron ! Yes. He must be satisfied with that, pro-
visionally.

He composed his features so that his expression should
not betray his bitter thoughts, and entered the little
drawing-room, of which only one of the folding doors was
opened for him.

The Grand Duchess, in a blue morning-gown, sat at a
little table from which the breakfast-tray had not yet been
removed. An elderly lady-in-waiting, and a young reader
were with her. She signed to them to withdraw. When
they had left the room, she stretched out her hand to
Siegfried who, after a low bow, had. remained near the
door, and in the poor thin voice of a sufferer from throat
trouble, said, " Welcome to Franka ! "

He walked quickly up to her, kissed her hand respect-
fully, and said, hoarsely —

" I have to thank your royal highness for the kindness
with which you have received me."

" Not at all, my dear Siegfried, not at all," she rejoined.
" Call me ' aunt,' as in the good old times. You are no
stranger to me."

" I have almost feared so, aunt," he said, drawing
himself up, and looking into her tired grey eyes.

A shadow flew across the royal lady's thin, pale, but
gentle countenance. She repUed, turning from the
subject —

"Sit down here, Siegfried. I saw you coming across
the Castle square, and recognized you at once. You have
improved greatly. And it is extraordinary how you
resemble my Gotheim brother-in-law. He stands before
me as he was thirty years ago."

" I was often told that in Thiodvik, when I was there
just lately. I was taken for the crown prince. I was
obhged to correct the error, and say I was only an obscure
Baron von Gronendal." His word^ sounded very bitter.

MORGANATIC 297

The kindly expression vanished from the Grand
Duchess's face. She said more coldly —

" I fear you are always unsettled and discontented.
That troubles me. I see your mother's influence in it, and
that was never good."

" My mother is dead "

"Tdl me how it happened, and especially how you
Hved all the time, and what you think of doing now ? "

Siegfried briefly related the manner of his mother's
sudden death, and continued —

"Since my father's death we have led a wretched
existence, like exiles, like outcasts. I have come to Franka
in order to see if I can effect some change in my circum-
stances."

The Grand Duchess looked full at him. She raised
her voice a little, and in her excitement became hoarse.

"Your mother was a remarkably gifted and clever
woman. We all admired her. She made your father as
happy as was possible, considering. And we are grateful
to her. But, unhappily, she lost at last all comprehension
of her position. That surprised and grieved us. Not so
much on her account as on yours. For she stood between
us and you and made it impossible for us to show any
interest in you. That obstacle is now removed. I
earnestly hope that you will return to your natural sphere,
like a sensible young man."

" If I only knew what m}' natural sphere is ! I'm the
legitimate son of Prince Albrecht of Loewenstein-Franka."

"Siegfried, you are no longer a child. You will be
wise not to emphasize that fact. Do you understand
me.?"

He turned crimson, and looked down.

The princess's soft heart felt a touch of compassion.
She cleared her throat and continued in a low voice —

" I did not mean to hurt you ; it's not your fault, and
I've no wish to throw stones into your mother's grave.
No one will dispute your origin, and you may rightly be
proud of it. But you must see that you will lose every
title to our sympathy if you claim what does not belong
to you."

298 MORGANATIC

" Aunt, I beg your pardon, but ' claim ' is a painful
term."

" I'm sorry that I can't avoid using it."

"I feel that I am my father's son. I read in the
people's faces that they have a similar impression, and
then I open the ' Court guide ' and find that my father
never had a son."

" Why do you look in the wrong book ? You'll find
yourself in your rightful place in the 'The Peerage.'"

"Yes, aunt, a place that is a sort of purgatory.
There the poor souls are between heaven and hell. They're
not to be sent straight to hell. They haven't deserved
that. But they are not admitted to Paradise," objected
Siegfried.

" Paradise ! Our existence seems to you Paradise !
Poor boy ! " She gave a deep sigh, leaned back in her
chair and closed her eyes for a moment.

He waited until she opened them again. " Of course,"
he said, " I know a prince's life is not all couleur de rose.
But in a firmly established, recognized position, a man
has the strength to bear any fate. If he is always hover-
ing about in a false one "

" That's your mistake. Baron von Gronendal is in no
false position. Your position is only false if you claim a
title to which you have no right."

" I beg your pardon, aunt. My blood gives me that
right "

" Now, leave off, Siegfried, or you'll make me angry,"
said the Grand Duchess, impatiently. " I consider that
we fully recognize the rights your blood undoubtedly
gives you by looking after you. Your father's Vienna
brother will doubtless continue the old allowance if you
approach him in proper form. We, too, shall do some-
thing for you. You must have inherited theatrical tastes
from your mother. You may get a post as director.
Indeed, you are of use to us. At the present time thrones
cannot have too many trustworthy defenders. Men like
you are destined to stand very near the throne, to support
it from without like buttresses which organically uphold
the inner arches of the dynastical edifice."

MORGANATIC 299

She drew a deep breath. After a pause she said
exhausted—

" I am talking too much. That is bad for me."

Siegfried got up and made a low bow.

" One thing more," said the Grand Duchess, signing to
him to sit down again. " I prefer to tell you now what
you will soon hear officially. The Grand Duke has disposed
of Castle Lindenheim."

Seigfried started.

" You wouldn't know what to do with such a large
house," she went on consolingly. " We gladly left it to
your mother as long as she lived, but now that it is free we
want it. It is time that our heir" — the childless woman
could not repress a sigh — " came to know the country.
Prince Godwin is to come from Gotheim and take up ms
permanent abode here. WeVe nothing suitable to put at
his disposal except Lindenheim. You can remove your
furniture, but you would do better, I think, to leave it for
Prince Godwin. He will give you a good price for it, and
the money will be useful just now. And besides, it will set
up relations between you and the prince. It is important
for you to stand well with Gotheim. When we are gone,
there'll be no one here who knows you, and has cared for
you as we have."

" That's my future," he said gloomily. " Cast out of
my father's house as well as out of his family, and my
compensation a post among the upper servants ! "

The Grand Duchess got up with a jerk, and, without
turning her head, walked past Siegfried with an energy of
movement with which no one would have credited her, and
vanished through the door of the next room where her
attendants were. He jumped up at once, and looked after
her in amazement. He struggled with the impulse to
hurry after her and ask her pardon, when the door opened,
the elderly lady-in-waiting appeared on the threshold, and
said loudly and haughtily —

" Her royal highness desires you to withdraw, Baron
von Gronendal."

Siegfried stared at her for a moment, and then went
without vouchsafing her a greeting or a word of farewell.

300 MORGANATIC

As he paced through the corridors and down the stairs to
the great door, he said to himself that it was the last time
that place would see him. He was in the same mood
as when he left Stormby under similar circumstances.
Another thread that bound him to his family, perhaps
the last, in any case the strongest and most important,
was snapped ! He had now lost the favour of his only
patroness. He was sorry to have vexed the kindly old lady.
And yet he was not wholly dissatisfied with himself. He
had at least spoken out plainly what was ou his mind.

He next went to his old tutor, Professor Pelgram. He
found him in his comfortable, almost luxurious bachelor
quarters on the point of sitting down to a nicely laid
luncheon-table. He had not seen him for about a year and
a half. Pelgram greeted him without extravagant signs of
surprise, and invited him to share his modest meal. Only
the host, not the meal, was modest. That was choice
and superior. Pelgram was an epicure, and was as
careful of his cooking and wines as of his books, and his
collection of wood engravings — ^his great hobby.

Professor Pelgram listened to the late experiences of
his former pupil over a glass of most excellent Braunberger,
" a Christmas gift from his illustrious patron, his Majesty
the King of Hageland." Among other courses was a
partridge " sent me yesterday by his royal highness, the
Grand Duke." He listened in silence, keeping some of
his attention for his glasses and dishes, gently shaking
his head from time to time sufficiently to show Siegfried
that he was following him, but not sufficiently to excite
him, or urge him to more emphatic speech.

" What are you going to do now ? " asked Pelgram,
when Siegfried had finished the account of his interview
with the Grand Duchess.

" That's what I want to ask you, professor," returned
Siegfried, gloomily.

" My dear Baron Siegfried," said Pelgram, " five years
ago I gave you the best advice possible. I recommended
you to become an officer. You did not follow it. Now
it's too late, I fear, especially since, to my sorrow and sur-
prise, you have quarrelled with your noble patroness

MORGANATIC SOI

entirely without need or purpose. For her royal highness
was quite inclined to be most motherly to you."

An uncomfortable pause ensued.

" So nothing's to be made out of me ? I'm good for
nothing," asked Siegfried, grimly, after a while.

Pelgram gently shrugged his shoulders. "You were
rarely favoured by Fate, but you have obstinately thrust
happiness from you whenever it approached you."

" That's how you see my case, is it, professor ? "

" No man with any sense could see it otherwise. You

are of most distinguished birth "

■ « That's my fate."

"Let me speak, my dear Baron Siegfried. You are
rich "

" As poor as a church mouse."

"Because you will have it so. You could have a
hundred thousand marks a year, and a man doesn't starve
on that. The most brilliant careers are open to you. But
you ignore all these actual good things, and chase a
dream."

" A dream ? The one good thing that is of any value
to me, and that is legitimately mine."

Pelgram left off smiling, and said, very seriously, " In
the long years during which I had the training of your
mind, I failed in teaching you the right views about one
of the most essential questions of humanity. For this I
must reproach myself. Although you are now beyond
my instruction, will you permit me to try and make up for
my neglect."

This exordium was spoken in the solemn tone he had
been accustomed to use when lecturing on the history of the
house of Meissen. The old influence worked on Siegfried,
and he unconsciously became, once again, in the presence
of the tutor, the somewhat stubborn but submissive pupil
of former days.

" I take it for granted, my dear Baron Siegfried, that
you are a Monarchist ? "

" Certainly, so far as it is made possible for me."

"That's a stupid answer. A thoughtful and moral
man must be a Monarchist without reference to his personal

302 MORGANATIC

interests. The interests of morality stand higher than
those of the individual, no matter who he may be. But
monarchy is the pledge of morality, for without mon-
archy there can only be anarchy, and a falling back into
barbarism.

" Where do you put France ? " asked Siegfried.

"Wait, my dear Baron Siegfried. France is now
feeding on its rich monarchical inheritance. When that is
used up, you'll see how it gets on with its Republic.
Monarchy is the ideal form of government, for it assures
the citizens the greatest measure of freedom possible in a
community founded on order and discipline."

Astonishment pervaded Siegfried's countenance, and
he was about to speak when Pelgram commandingly pre-
vented him.

" Attend to me, instead of going off the point, for I
want to put it briefly and clearly. Where any one can
obtain the highest power, the ruling party must treat
the party that wants to rule as an enemy, and keep it
down. In a monarchy the reward of party struggle is not
rule, the struggle is an intellectual one of views and
thoughts, and need not degenerate into the oppression
of the minority by the majority. In order that the
monarch may fulfil the task which the profoimd theory of
monarchy points out to him, he must be as immutable as
an element, or as a law of nature ; more correctly he must
be a symbol and divest himself of the changeable human
elements so far as human nature allows. But he can only
remain a symbol if his origins are mythical. No one
must have seen his genesis."

"And Napoleon.? And the new dynasties that are
only a hundred years old ? "

" Napoleon desired to be his own grandson. But that
did not help him. His grandfather came to grief. He
could not prevent it. He could not have done so under
any circumstances, not even without the wars of inde-
pendence. New dynasties are only possible in the east,
where the people are accustomed to despotism and slavery.
We, the Aryan peoples of Central Europe are too de-
veloped and too proud for that sort of thing. We will

MORGANATIC 803

submit ourselves to none whom we have known as our
equal, and who has come to the top like a gymnast or a
wrestler. We will suffer a symbol, a thought, to rule us,
but not a clenched fist."

" But what has all this to do with my case, pro-
fessor ? "

" I am just coming to that. Monarchy can only work
out its full blessing when its representative is of a
historical, or I prefer to keep to my former word, a
mythical dynasty. Happy the people who can boast such
a monarch. It is an hereditary position that nothing can
replace. That people has every reason to preserve its
dynasty jealously. It may not suffer it to come down
from its unapproachable heights. Therefore the dynasty
must inexorably preserve equality of birth, and must
under no circumstances admit elements which might
drag it down into the circle of ordinary, middle-class
interests, family concerns and relations."

" Thank you, professor. New blood seems to you quite
superfluous ? "

"Quite. Whether the prince is handsome or less
handsome, clever or less clever, is of no importance. He
represents a principle. He is a symbol. His corporeal
organization is of no accoimt. But our princes are, as
men, splendid examples of their race, and that they
have gained by breeding in and in."

" I am obliged to you for the verdict you pronounce
on my mother and me."

"Present company is always excepted. There is no
need to state that, I conclude. The enchanted circle which
surrounds historical or mythical dynasties must remain
perfectly impenetrable. The religion of Monarchism
demands it."

" Then the members of the dynasties must only marry
women of their own family, and have no children except
by mothers of equal birth."

" That is my opinion."

" But as they have done it and do do it "

" Then they have stepped outside the enchanted circle
and there is no return for them, nor for their posterity.

304 MORGANATIC

That is the solution of the painful problem. Not only
are you not Prince of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka, but
Prince Albrecht ceased to be so through his marriage.
The soul of the German people has always clearly recog-
nized this, and expressed it in significant legends, in the
legends of Hans Heyling, of the elves and nixies who
marry mortals and so forth. The immortal who stoops to
a mortal loses his divinity. Therein lies tragedy, and
sometimes beauty."

" Whether I can disprove your words, I can't say.
But everything in me rebels against your doctrine. It
can't be right."

" It is indisputable."

" I am a living man of flesh and blood, and you wish
to slay me by an icy theory. I am stronger than the
theory."

" You are mistaken, my dear Baron Siegfried. The
icy theory is stronger than the living man of flesh and
blood."

« We shall see."

" Not at all. Don't take the wrong turning ; I know
how obstinate you are. I don't blame you. It is a form
of strength of character, and is the best thing you've
inherited. But turn that royal virtue to a better
purpose, to something attainable. Remain with us,
spend your allowance here as the great nobleman you
can be, marry according to your rank, and you can look
very high, for we have so many princesses that they must
consent to marry educated people of lower rank, if they
don't wish to remain single, and become the founder of a
line of able Gronendals. Then you will not have lived in
vain."

Siegfried's face grew crimson. " I seem to be useful in
your eyes as a breeding animal. You don't seem to
think I'm good for anything else. Well, professor, I've
eaten your bread and drunk your wine, and, as your guest,
do not wish to behave discourteously. You have been
frank with me, very frank "

"It was my duty, as your old tutor "

"Let me speak now — in my turn. I will now be

MORGANATIC S05

&ank with you. It is I who made you a professor and a
well-to-do state pensioner "

" You ? "

" I, my dear Professor Pelgram. You were rewarded
for your artistic piece of work — my education. But what
have you made of me ? You continued and finished my
father's work. If my father did not wish to make a
prince of me, he should have made me a peasant or an
artisan. But, no, he made nothing of me, and you helped
him as far as lay in your power."

Pelgram got up, with an ashen face and furious eyes.
" Baron von Gronendal ! "

" Don't interrupt me," thundered Siegfried, and, drawn
up to his full height, he looked so terrible that the shght,
clever, cool-headed tutor of princes, and courtier trembled
to his very marrow. " You only wanted to please my
father and the Grand Duke, and never thought that a
time would come when I should pass judgment on you,
your methods, and yovu- intentions. Perhaps you thought
me too stupid, I now correct that view. You are respon-
sible, in any case, partly responsible, that I am good for
nothing except to be a prince and to marry ! Well, I
mean to try and be something in spite of you. It will be
amateur work, for I learnt nothing from you. So much
the worse. I will show you that I am stronger than aU
of you. And if I fail, you'll know, professor, on whom
the responsibiHty rests." He spoke the last words in a
tone of penetrating, steely scorn, bowed, and with long
strides, left the room and the house. He was in such a
hurry that he pulled his overcoat violently from the peg
on which it hung in the hall, and only put it on when
he had gained the street.

Pelgram sank back in his chair. His legs refused to
support him. The same evening he wrote a detailed
report to the Grand Duke in which he stated unreservedly,
that he did not consider young Baron von Gronendal of
sound mind, and strongly recommended that he should
be placed under supervision, and that his derangement
should not be treated as harmless.

The treatment that Siegfried received everywhere so

X

306 MORGANATIC

embittered and excited him that he was in a sort of
Berserker fury, and lost all self-control, all command over
his thoughts, words, or actions, all common sense or
consideration. He went straight from Pelgram to his
parents' lawyer, and told him, with a violence and rough-
ness which surprised and hurt the conventional old man,
to proceed at once and as quickly as possible, with the
sale of the furniture to the heir apparent, since his one
wish was to have done with the whole business.

The chamberlain's office had all the necessary powers,
and put the matter in hand at once. At the end of four
days, during which Siegfried either shut himself up in his
room, or wandered about the park, the matter was con-
cluded. Siegfried knew that the contents of the house,
not including gifts in the form of objects of art, curiosities,
and a few valuables, had cost over one hundred thousand
marks. They offered him sixty thousand marks under the
express condition that everything the Castle contained
should be included in the purchase, with the exception of
the furniture of three bedrooms, and two portraits of the
baroness of which they "did not wish to rob" her son.
Siegfried gave the furniture to Frau Biichler, whom he
left at Franka, sent the paintings carefully packed to the
repository at Paris, placed the money in a Vienna bank,
and shook the dust of Franka from his feet.

He immediately went to Vienna, entered himself in
the hotel register as the Count von Gleichen, and then
drove to the Franka-Level palace. Fortunately his uncle
was in town. The porter who opened the door, and gave
him the desired information about the duke, referred
him to a footman, who took him to one of the officials
of the house. Siegfried told him he wished to see the
duke.

" Have you a letter of audience ? " asked the official.

" It's not necessary," answered Siegfried, curtly.

The tone and the personal appearance of the visitor
impressed the official.

" With whom have I the honour to speak ? "

"Announce me as his nephew. Prince Albrecht's
son."

MORGANATIC 807

" Ah ! " said the official, smiled, bowed, signed to hiin
to sit down, and departed.

Siegfried was left a very long time alone in the room
chiefly furnished with shelves filled with registers. He
had ample time to reflect on his situation as an unrecog-
nized stranger in this lordly house which his grandfather
had built, in which his father was born and had lived until
he reached manhood.

At last the official reappeared. He was now stiff and
cold.

"His highness is busy and cannot see you, baron."
He laid particular emphasis on the title. "But Privy-
councillor Stepanski asks you to go to him for a moment.'"

Stepanski was the agent for the administration of the
Franka- Level ducal estates.

Siegfried was within an ace of giving loud vent to his
rage. But he had sense enough to recognize that violence
towards an inferior would only make him ridiculous.
After a brief struggle with himself, he said — •

" Where is the privy-councillor ? "

" Please follow me, baron."

After traversing a corridor and an anteroom, Siegfried
found himself in the presence of the old gentleman, with
his gold spectacles and short white moustache. He came
forward politely, and, pointing to a chair, asked —

" What brings you here, baron ? "

" I wish to speak to my uncle, and not to you, sir."

" His highness has asked me to receive you in his
stead."

" Why does my uncle shut his door on me .'' "

" The reason of his highness's decision is as little known
to me as it would be possible for me to influence it."

" Can you tell me if my allowance is to be continued
in the future .'' "

" Yes, baron, Jean and I am sorry to inform you that
it was paid to your lawyer four days ago for the last
time. His highness deems it advisable to discontinue it."

Siegfried burst into a short, grim laugh. " Well, that's
nice ! I'm not only thrust out of the family but condemned
to die of hunger as well. That's the simplest way to get

308 MORGANATIC

rid of me. And you think that I shall submit to this new
robbery ?"

The old gentleman shrugged his shoulders, and looked
over his spectacles up to the ceihng. His calmness increased
Siegfried's rage.

" The allowance is no favour, but my right. The deed
of foundation of our entail compels the eldest of the family
to make suitable provision for his relations. There are
judges ! I wiU force him to do his duty."

" We will run the risk of that."

Siegfried jumped up. "I will see if my uncle will
repeat that to my face." He made as if to hurry out.

The privy-councillor hastily got up. " Baron, I im-
plore you, no violence. What could you gain ? There
are twenty men in the palace in his highness's service, not
to mention the police."

Siegfried, who was already at the door, turned round,
and with a bound was at the privy-councillor's side.

"You stoop to threaten me. Another word, and
ru "

" It's not very heroic to attack a man old enough to
be your grandfather."

The remark brought Siegfried to his senses. He
wiped his hot face, and stammered —

"That is what is offered me under my grandfather's
and father's roof, a roof that, under other circumstances,
might have been my own."

" You invoke your illustrious ancestors, and yet you
insult them, even in the grave."

" I ? "

" You, baron. No one else would have dared."

" I have insulted my ancestors ? How and where ? "

" In your pamphlet, which has been sent to the courts,
and in which you deny equality of birth and a rightful
place in the dynasty to the Level branch of the Meissen-
Loewenstein-Franka house.

" It was not meant so. And besides, I did not originate
the opinion."

" That we know. But before it was sent, you must
have read it, and we take it that you were able to judge

MORGANATIC 809

the beai'ing of the contents of the disgraceful effusion.
That is why his highness has withdrawn his favour, and
if you would recover it, you must call in the pamphlet
formally and publicly, and ask his highness's pardon for
the stain put on his coat-of-arms."

Siegfried said nothing.

"Take my advice, baron, and make it up with his
highness. You can do it without in any way demeaning
yourself, for your inexperience has made you the victim of
an unscrupulous cheat. Osterburg is your evil spirit. He
has embroiled you with your family, in order to fleece you.
We know everything. Did you know that he robbed you
of fifty thousand gulden through a pretended sale .'"'

" Through a pretended sale ? "

" He obtained half his sister's house for you for fifty
per cent, above its value, and a few months after bought it
back for his sister for fifty thousand gulden cheaper."

« Can that be proved ? "

" At any moment.'"'

" Then I may at least thank you for the information.
Good-bye."

He was gone before the councillor could say a word,
and he contented himself with looking after him and
shaking his head.

Siegfried was in Dr. von Osterburg's oflice as quickly
as a swift Vienna cab could take him. He took no
heed of the director of the office, who told him that the
lawyer was engaged with a client ; he pushed him aside
like a piece of thistledown when he tried to bar his way,
tore open the door without ceremony, and entered
Osterburg's room.

When Osterburg saw him he changed colour, jumped
up and exclaimed —

" You here, bar — prince ! What a surprise ! I thought
you were in Paris ! " He stretched out his hand ; but
Siegfried ignored the movement.

With a few whispered words, Osterburg dismissed the
gentleman with whom he had been talking, accompanied
him to the door, and said, after he had shut it behind his
visitor —

310 MORGANATIC

" I was going to write to you to-day, prince. Welcome
to Vienna, prince. I am glad to see you, prince."

Without waiting for an invitation, Siegfried sat down,
crossed his legs, and said, looking Osterburg full in the
face —

" I know nothing about that. Let us come to the
point. I have just learned on trustworthy authority that
the house you procured for us at a hundred and fifty
thousand gulden belonged to your sister, and that you
bought it back again for your sister for a hundred
thousand gulden.

" Indeed ! May I know who told you that ? "

" That is of no consequence. Is it true ? "

Osterburg had entirely regained his composure.

" Certainly it is true. It is no secret. A visit to
the Land Register Office would confirm that simple fact.
Whoever told you that as a terrible revelation has per-
mitted himself an unseemly joke at the expense of your
inexperience in business."

"You consider it right and just that through this
peculiar business you have — well, shall we say — deprived
me of fifty thousand gulden."

"Who.? I?"

" Yes, you, Herr von Osterburg."

"I beg your pardon. Not I, but my sister, who is
married and independent. There is nothing peculiar about
the business, it is entirely usual. Whoever says the contrary
is guilty of malicious slander. As I considered it necessary
that you should purchase house property in Vienna, I was
very glad to find my sister ready to sell her house. At that
time you could not have found a better price and more
favourable conditions of mortgage. You have certainly
lost by the sale ; but that's always the case, if a man wishes
suddenly to sell at any price at an unfavourable time of
the year. If my sister had not been willing to buy it,
you would have had to deplore a much greater loss. I
got nothing out of the business but my modest legal fees
and your thanks, prince, for my trouble in furthering your
interests."

Siegfried was no match for this man. His desire for

MORGANATIC 311

attack died away. A moment later, he gave up the
struggle and answered Osterburg's inquiries. He described
his interview with Stepanski. Osterburg listened, smiling,
and stroking his splendid beard, and Siegfried did not
contradict him when he remarked —

" The blow has told, then. We have hit your illustrious
family in a sensitive place. We must hammer away at it.
They think to frighten you by stopping your allowance.
I hope you aren't destitute of means .'' "

"No."

" Capital, capital." He rubbed his hands. " Now
we'll carry the thing through ; we'll push forward our
journalistic and parliamentary troops. We'll bring your
struggle for your most sacred rights into publicity. We
shall win. Perhaps we shan't get everything. But we
can afford some concessions when it comes to a treaty of
peace. We shall, of course, stand by our claims for a
rightful allowance. As regards the question of the
title "

" That's the essential thing ! "

" Yes, certainly. If the family are willing to create a
new title for you, and to acknowledge you in the coat-of-
arms by an additional sign, if I were you, I would be
satisfied. Our illustrious archducal family, the deceased
Elector of Hesse, the Russian Imperial family, and other
reigning houses have done it constantly."

Siegfried pricked up his ears. " Has anything of the
kind been offered.''"

Osterburg smiled mysteriously. "Offered — well — if
you mean a formal offer — no. But I repeat, there seems
to me here a basis for a treaty of peace, but only if the
family are convinced of our seriousness, and of the effect
of our weapons."

Siegfried pressed Osterburg to give him a more decisive
answer, but in vain. He got nothing but evasive, am-
biguous speeches which, however, left the impression :
"No smoke without fire." Siegfried alluded to his last
quarter's allowance which the lawyer had received, and
Osterburg advised Siegfried to leave the five thousand
gulden with him for current and future expenses in the

312 MORGANATIC

matter of the press campaign, and promised to account
for it punctually. Siegfried was entirely conquered,
and as he went out the clerks saw a calm, almost cheer-
ful-looking, young man, whom their chief accompanied
into the hall, smiling and pleased, and of whom he took
farewell with handshakings, and wishes to meet soon
again.

Remark and gossip occurred in Siegfried's hotel when
a reporter from the Volksblatt came in the afternoon
and inquired for the Prince of Loewenstein-Franka. On
hearing that no guest of that name was there, he added
that perhaps he was known as Baron von Gronendal.
Siegfried had forgotten, when he gave Osterburg his
address, to add that he called himself the Count von
Gleichen. The reporter refused to be convinced, declared
that he was certain of his facts, and guided by Osterburg's
cursory remarks, began to describe, with professional genius,
the personal appearance of the man he sought.

" Perhaps you mean the Count von Gleichen "

"That's just whom I do mean," replied the reporter,
without hesitation, and asked to be taken to him.

A prince, who is at the same time a baron, and writes
himself down a count — who travels without attendants,
and with very little luggage — made the managers, upper
waiters, and porter, think that the young man was a
swindler, and that it was necessary to keep an eye on
him, and to communicate discreetly with the police.

The reporter welcomed his highness to his native town,
asked about his impressions, about his future plans, and
when he could extract no answer, turned the conversation
to Paris and his life there. At the end of the interview,
he asked for a portrait of his highness, but as Siegfried
had not got one with him, he could not comply with the
request. But it did not matter in the least. The
Volksblatt published next morning a picture which bore
a certain distant likeness to every young man with
a small moustache, accompanied by three columns of
printed matter which, after a flattering introduction
concerning his highness, placed a number of significant,
clever and paradoxical remarks in the mouth " of the

MORGANATIC 31S

young Prince of the Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka-Level
family, personally unknown at the Court of Vienna in
consequence of his many years' sojourn abroad."

The article attracted attention. All the evening
papers copied it. The next number of the Volkshlatt
contained a contribution from Privy- councillor Stepanski,
who stated, in the name and by the desire of his Highness
the Duke of Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka- Level, that the
paper was the victim of a mystification, that the gentle-
man who had been interviewed, and who had given himself
out as a Prince Loewenstein-Level, was the legitimate
son of the morganatic marriage of the deceased Baroness
von Gronendal, and had not the slightest right to the
title he assumed.

Siegfried hastened with the paper to Osterburg.

" What now ? * he asked.

"Our affair's going splendidly. The discussion is
opened. We shall now reply, and publicly prove our
right. It surpasses my boldest hopes that your uncle
should have at once flown to the newspaper."

" I leave the conduct of the legal proof to you," said
Siegfried, firmly, " but I shall challenge my uncle."

When Osterburg heard this, he assumed at first a
thoughtful expression, but after some reflection, it seemed
to him that Siegfried could not act otherwise, for the
correction had been needlessly insulting. He refused,
however, while politely, but firmly, thanking him for the
honour, to act as bearer of the challenge. His profes-
sional position made that impossible. Siegfried was an
entire stranger in Vienna; to whom could he turn.''
Osterburg came to the rescue. He introduced him to
one of his clerks, a clever lawyer and a reserve officer.

The clerk was not charmed by the request, but did
not dare to place his position with Osterburg in jeopardy
by a refusal. With great presence of mind he demanded
an advance of money, for carriages and some additions to
his toilette, and set out for the Ducal Palace.

He soon came back. He had not been admitted, had
not even seen Privy-councillor Stepanski. He had only
spoken with inferior ofiicials, who replied to his appeal

ai4 MORGANATIC

with a shrug of the shoulders, and advised him to put
his business in writing. Siegfried wrote the duke a
short note in which he challenged him, and demanded
seconds, and sent the young man back to the palace
with it.

After being kept waiting a long time, the young man
was received by Privy-councillor Stepanski, who returned
him Siegfried's letter, told him it was all silly nonsense,
and that his highness the duke refused to be worried by
such things.

Siegfried was pale with excitement. Without listening
to Osterburg, he sent the following hnes to his uncle.

"To THE Duke of Meissen-Loewenstein-Fbauka-
Level in Vienna.
" You have no son whom I can call out in your
stead for the insult to my dead mother. I must, therefore,
address myself to you, although you are an old man in
comparison with me. If you do not apologize, or render
me the satisfaction of a gentleman within twenty-four
hours, I shall take it wherever I may meet you.

" Siegfried von Meissen - Loewenstein - Feanka -
Level."

Then he returned to the hotel and awaited the con-
sequences. Long before the twenty-four hours were past,
they came in the shape of a police official, who ordered
him to go with him. He offered him some advice.

"Baron von Gronendal, you give yourself out for a
prince, which you are not. You write yourself in the
hotel register as Count von Gleichen, which you are not
any the more. You annoy persons in high stations with
threatening letters. By such conduct, and by transgressing
the rules about audiences, you have made yourself liable
to be punished by law. Out of consideration for your
birth, however, justice will be tempered with mercy, and
you will be expelled the territory of the monarchy as an
undesirable alien."

Siegfried objected, raging, but in vain. The official
advised him to give heed to his words, for there were

MORGANATIC 315

limits to the clemency shown him. He pleaded that
he was an Austrian, and could not be turned out. The
official replied, " The contrary opinion is held here." He
asked for time so that he might enter a complaint at
the ministry, appeal to the Emperor, or at least com-
municate with his lawyer. The official regretted to be
compelled to refuse. The only thing that was allowed
him was to get a cheque cashed at his bank through a
police officer. For some hours he was detained under
surveillance in a comfortably furnished bureau, where he
was provided with books, newspapers, writing materials,
and a meal. Then he was taken to the railway-station.
The police paid his hotel bill, and procured the tickets
for the train. He found a place reserved for him in the
sleeping-car, and the railway servants were most obliging
throughout the day. But the same two inspectors who
had accompanied him to the station, also took places in
the sleeping-car, and sat almost the whole night before
the door of Siegfried''s compartment. About four o'clock
in the morning they opened it quietly, and looked in.

Siegfried was not asleep. He sat up, and asked,
" What do you want ? "

" Nothing, nothing, sir ; pardon ! " said the policeman,
subserviently. " We are nearly at Freilassing, where we
get out, and we have only acted in accordance with our
office. Excuse us, sir ; a pleasant journey."

" Oh, then I'm free ! Wait a moment." He reached
for the purse in his coat-pocket, took out a hundred-
gulden note, and said, "Take this for yourself and
your colleague, to remind you that you accompanied a
prince."

" We see that, sir," replied the delighted officer, and
vanished amid bows.

The ticket that the police had taken for him was
for Munich. Siegfried spent two days in the Bavarian
capital. A thousand plans were simmering in his head.
At first he would return to Austria by another route, spy
on his uncle in secret, and attack him, let the consequences
be what they might. But when he thought it over, and
remembered that the old gentleman scarcely reached to

816 MORGANATIC

his shoulder, he felt ashamed. He put himself in tele-
graphic communication with Osterburg, and received long
messages in reply, imploring him to keep quiet, and
assuring him that the episode was most advantageous for
the Press campaign, and would win him sympathy
everywhere.

What was he to do now ? He came upon a notice in
a newspaper, at which he was glancing in a cafe, about
the extraordinary success of a young singer at Diesa —
Fraalein Nicoline Aseid. It described her debut at the
opera there, and added that, notwithstanding the some-
what Arabic sound of her name, she was a German,
daughter of the well-known Frau Carlotta Flammert.

" To Diesa to see Nicoline ! " he suddenly thought.
But only for a moment. No, he had no right. He had
not acted to her as he ought. He had been ready to part
from her. Ought he to bind himself again to her as if
the journey to Trouville had never taken place? And
what had he to do in Diesa? Especially now when he
had experienced such deep humiliation ! Measure his
defeat by her success .? She was more, he was less than
ever. Less."" He was nothing. She would perhaps re-
ceive him affectionately. But what could come of it?
To live near her as an appendage until he had spent his
last penny, and then marry her in order to assure himself
board and lodging as the husband of his wife? He
trembled at the mere thought.

He felt it his duty as an honourable man to write
to Nicoline in accordance with their arrangement and
formally give her back her word. But he did not do
it, from modesty he persuaded himself, but in reality from
an obscure, very much more deeply rooted feeling. He
did not know if he loved her. His was not a loving
temperament. He received strong impressions, but he
preserved cool and superficial remembrance of them. He
would not set Nicoline free. She was the reserve which
he could not do without. His dreams flew to her when
the future appeared most wretched. He was not conscious
of the selfishness of his point of view.

Yes. He would keep her for a time. Who knows —

MORGANATIC 317

perhaps one day he would fetch her. And he indulged in
all sorts of wild dreams. Confused fragments formed
themselves into a series of dim pictures of the future, one
or the other of which would be realized. He thought he
knew what he would do.
Back, to Paris 1

BOOK VI

Frau Flammert's annual holiday of two months began
shortly after her return from Paris. She went to Walles-
roda, a beautiful place situated amid hills and forests,
where she had been accustomed for years to find rest and
recreation. The choice, however, was not entirely due to
its natural beauties, but to the circumstance that at the end
of the valley, a very short distance from her hired villa,
Prince Johann had a shooting-box, where he spent most
of the period of the singer's holiday.

During the early days at Wallesroda, Nicoline was
strangely reserved and thoughtful. At first, after the
year's separation, she had been very demonstrative in her
affection for her mother. But as soon as they were
settled at Wallesroda, Nicoline sought solitude, and either
sat in the arbour in the little garden behind the house, or
in her bedroom, or wandered through the forest, remaining
out for hours, till her mother became almost anxious. But
she took no notice, for she thought her daughter was
probably regi'etting Paris, or thinking of the future that
promised to be so brilliant, perhaps, too, of young Gro-
nendal. She did not doubt that such impressions would
gradually fade away. So she waited with sympathetic
reserve on her own part, until Nicoline should of herself
recover her balance.

She was, however, much disturbed, when one lovely
morning in the first week of August, she asked Nicoline
at breakfast how she had slept, and received the reply —

" Very badly, mummy dear, very badly ; like every
night since I left Paris. But I shall be better now, for
I've fought it out with myself. My decision is made.

318

MORGANATIC 819

Mummy, we'll write to-day to a lawyer, perhaps to Dr.
Leyding, so that he may arrange for a divorce."

" Wha — at ? " exclaimed Frau Flammert, and stared at
Nicoline in horror, as if she thought the child had taken
leave of her senses.

" Yes, mummy. It's time I took your affairs in hand, and
reduced them to order. And first you must get a divorce.
The connection is unworthy of you. It's a shame that you
should bear that name. From what we know of Flam-
mert, he'll make no difficulty, if we pay him well. That
was why I thought of the premium in our contract with
Griin."

Frau Flammert seemed entirely overcome. She strug-
gled for breath. At last she stammered out —

"But, Nico — whatever makes you — fall on me so sud-
denly — I had no sort of idea "

NicoUne left her chocolate untouched, came round the
table to her mother, drew a chair to her side, and put her
arms round her.

" Mother," she said, seriously and firmly, " it must be.
Let me act. I do not choose that my darling, splendid
mummy shall Uve in ambiguous and embarrassing circum-
stances any longer."

Frau Flammert pushed her daughter away. " I have
got quite accustomed to them. I have only one desire —
peace, rest. And now you're going to involve me in
terrible excitement and worry."

" But, mummy, what an absurd idea ! You represent
it all as so dreadful — rely on me ; it'U go as easily as any-
thing. Flammert will be glad to drive a second bargain
with you on which he had never reckoned."

"But why.? why.?"

" Why .'' You've borne a name which sullies you long
enough. It doesn't matter to me. For I shall make a
name for myself. But for you. ITie hateful business is a
stain on your life. It's time we wiped it out."

Frau Flammert's face began to work, and she burst
into tears.

Nicoline embraced her mother again, and kissed away
her tears.

320 MORGANATIC

"Mummy, don't cry," she said, in her softest, most
affectionate voice. " I alone of all human beings know
your life, and know how perfectly pure and true it is.
You are compact of faith and duty. Such virtue and
nobility must not be obscured any longer by this mock
marriage."

" What will people say .'' "

"They've said aU they had to say long ago. You've
only to think of yourself. And befieve me, they would
have respected Fraulein Carlotta Scholz just as much as
Frau Carlotta Flammert. You have the right to acknow-
ledge your real life, and you must have the courage to do
it. It's no disgrace; it's an honour. If others have
treated you badly, your simple integrity stands out all the
more."

Frau Flammert struggled with herself. Finally she
brought out with difficulty —

" But the prince — ^he won't."

Nicoline became violently excited. "The prince!
What has it to do with him ? Whether he will or will
not isn't of the least consequence. We do what seems to
be right and good for us. The prince ! You've been his
humble victim long enough. It must cease. I won't
endure it any longer. You've always been defenceless.
Now you have some one to defend you."

" But I'll not submit to a state of war. I do not
agree-

" Don't worry, mummy ; it won't come to that. It is
not necessary to ask the prince for his opinion. He can
be told when the deed is done. If he gets wind of it
sooner, well, that won't hurt. He has always intimidated
you. Your birth and education did not fit you to look
the brother of your sovereign straight in the face and to
assert yourself. It's only natiural that I should take a
different view."

Having thus made up her mind, and informed her
mother, Nicoline took the divorce in hand. She wrote to
Dr. Leyding, a distinguished Diesa lawyer, and an old
friend of theirs, and put before him the plan of pleading
malevolent desertion on Flammert's part. Then he should

MORGANATIC 321

find out from Flammert under what conditions he would
agree not to oppose a divorce and begged him to settle the
business as quickly as possible.

Dr. Leyding was quite ready. He went himself to
Flammert, who had grown fat and old as second director,
and a player of small parts, at the Court Theatre of
Marwurt, and entered into verbal negotiations. The man
was vastly astonished to hear from his wife. She had long
ceased to play any part in his life, and he had almost for-
gotten her existence. He jumped at the proposal, for
he scented a capital opportunity for gentle pressure,
and his sole thought was to secure the most favourable
conditions. Happily in his narrow surroundings his desires
were modest. He demanded five thousand marks down, and
an annuity of twelve hundred marks to be purchased for him
at a first-rate insurance office, and could hardly believe
it possible when it was all agreed to within twenty-
four hours. He imagined they would offer him less
than he asked, and he had therefore demanded double in
order to get the half with which he would have been
perfectly contented. He did not understand why his
wife should make what seemed to him a considerable
sacrifice in order to free herself from fetters which pressed
so lightly ; but he did not trouble his head over it.
Dr. Leyding was not able to settle the business during
the vacation, and so, after the lawyer had obtained all
that was needed from Flammert, Nicoline had to curb
her impatience until October. She conducted the corre-
spondence with Dr. Leyding herself in order to spare her
mother all the trouble possible. At this stage of the
proceedings, Frau Flammert only had to sign her name a
few times. But Nicoline coidd not spare her the unplea-
santness of the Conciliation Court and final proceedings,
which, though not carried out in public, required Frau
Flammert's presence at Marwurt. But they were mere
formalities, and all concerned made them as little trying
as possible. On both occasions Flammert's conduct was
perfect. His greeting of the wife he would scarcely have
recognized in the street, the respectful manner in which he
held aloof at the Court of Justice, the loyal fashion in

322 MORGANATIC

which he acknowledged his faults towards his wife, his
broken-heartedness at the announcement of the verdict,
were remarkable performances, far beyond his average
powers of acting. Nicoline learned later that the man
who passed for her father before the law, married, a few
weeks after the divorce, a well-to-do woman, the widow
of a hotel- keeper, whose boarder he had been for years.
She only hoped that her mother would never hear of this
ending to the vulgar farce of her mamage, for it brought
to light the meanness of the treatment she had suffered for
so many years.

Prince Johann always spent the first half of August at
the well-known watering-place, Warmbronn, where, not-
withstanding the little interest he took in the turf, he
had to perform his duties as representative and president
and patron of the Racing Society. It was one of the few
occasions on which he managed to break away from his
accustomed habits, and to leave Frau Flammert for a while.
But she was not quite free all the same. She had to write
to the prince every day, and give him a detailed account of
all that concerned her. On his part, he generally con-
tented himself with sending her a telegram daily without
signature, and a letter with a more detailed account of
his doings once or twice during his absence. Frau Flam-
mert had of course told him about her journey to
Paris, about Nicoline's success, and her brilliant con-
tract with Griin, and in a postscript the prince had
remarked —

"The little one's getting on splendidly. I'm very
glad."

At length one afternoon, the prince's gillie appeared ;
he was an old and confidential servant, and had been in
the service of the former Grand Duke. He announced
that his master had arrived at the shooting-box and would
come to dinner.

Nicoline had longed for this moment ever since she had
got into the train with her mother at Paris. So long as
she could remember, with the exception of the rare and
brief absences from Diesa and Wallesroda, the prince had
always come to tea every day, and to dinner two or three

MORGANATIC 823

times a week. She had been trained to leave the room
when the prince entered it. She kissed his hand, and
greeted him ; occasionally he patted her on the cheek, and
still more rarely invited her to stay in the room. When
he dined with them, she was sometimes of the party, but
only if the prince specially asked her. After her confirma-
tion the hand-kissing was discontinued, and replaced by a
curtsey and a handshake. Ever since she could speak she
had addressed him as " your royal highness," and he had
called her, " httle one," or when he was in a particularly
good humour, " Nico." Of late years her keen blue eyes had
seen through everything, and her clear, penetrating intelli-
gence had understood all. She knew that little Nicoline
Flammert was the daughter of his royal highness. Prince
Johann of Meissen-Diesa-Kupferberg, brother of the
reigning Grand Duke, brother-in-law of the King of
Frankenland. Her father's cool, uncle-like friendliness
was a continual source of pain to her. She could no
longer bring herself to call him "your royal highness," and
avoided addressing him directly so cleverly that no one
noticed it. She had had plenty of time and cause in Paris
to think over her circumstances, and in proportion as old
habits were lost, and the picture of her maternal home
receded into the distance, she clearly saw that it would no
longer be possible for her to return to the old ways. In
her dreams she set things right as her deep love for her
mother, her pride of birth, and her sense of justice
demanded, and when her castle in the air was finished, it
pleased her so much, that she vowed to do all in her power
to give reality to the dream -building. It seemed to her of
good omen that after the return from Paris she would
have her mother to herself for a long time, and would be
able to prepare for the part she intended to play. The
divorce was the most pressing thing, and must be brought
forward first. When it was accomplished, her mother
would not suffer too deeply if a finger was laid on another
painful place ; and if only she would blindly trust herself
to her daughter s plans, Nicoline could proceed with the
further tasks.

Now the meeting with Prince Johann was at hand.

324 MORGANATIC

The prologue was over. The play was going to begin.
She suffered more from stage fright than she would have
thought possible. She would have been glad if something
could have prevented her appearance on the stage. She
was angry with herself, for her weakness and pusillanimity.

" Are you the brave Nicoline who fears neither death
nor devils, who shoots down her enemies with revolvers, who
is preparing to conquer the world ? " she asked herself in
bitter self-contempt, and was ashamed of her beating heart,
her changing colour, her trembling limbs. She made the
greatest efforts to control her agitation ; she called up all
the pictures that had given her for months past so much
inward satisfaction, and gradually her terror vanished, and
her cool composure returned.

With the punctuality of royalty, Prince Johann rang at
the door of the villa at two o'clock.

The prince was a tall, strong, and still handsome man,
with a beard, once fair, now getting grey, which made him
strikingly like theEmperor Frederick, a thin, straight nose,
rather full lips, and large commanding blue eyes under
fair bushy eyebrows. The grey moustache was loyally
twisted into perpendicular points, and the proportionately
small head was bald.

Frau Flammert looked anxiously at Nicoline when the
bell rang. She returned her mother's glance with one
that was perfectly calm and open, although her face
gradually became very red. The prince entered the little
simply furnished room a moment later. He was dressed in
a grey hunting suit, with light green facings and horn
buttons. Frau Flammert went quickly forward to meet
him ; he chivalrously kissed her hand, and exclaimed,
pleased and smiling —

" Well, Lotta, how are you .'' Everything right ! "
Turning to Nicoline, who had risen and curtseyed, " Well,
so we've got the little Parisian back again ! It doesn't
seem to have done you any harm. And so you mean to be
a great singer. Well ! I congratulate you — I congratulate

Then came from Nicoline the clear distinct answer,
" Thank you, papa."

MORGANATIC 325

The prince's legs remained as if rooted to the spot, but
the upper part of his body started back with a sudden jerk,
as when a man sinks under a blow he has not been able to
parry, and from his throat escaped a half-articulated —

«Wha !"

" I say ; thank you, papa ! " repeated Nicoline, slowly,
firmly, pitilessly, sounding every syllable.

The prince turned round, threw a glance at Frau
Flammert, who had sunk into a chair, and was gazing at
NicoHne with wide-opened, terrified eyes, and without a
word, and with great strides, left the room.

Frau Flammert jumped up, and began to hurry after
him, exclaiming —

"But Hansel!"

Nicoline kept her back with a firm grasp, until the
iron gate feU clattering into the lock.

" For Heaven's sake, child, what are you doing ? " ex-
claimed Frau Flammert, wringing her hands. " Why ?
Why ? You should have told me what you meant to do.
I understand, that you — that you don't — I can fully sym-
pathise with you. But that was too brutal, so sudden,
after a whole lifetime."

Nicoline let her mother have her say out, and then
rephed calmly.

"Mummy, my best, my darling, be calm. I acted
quite rightly. I have already told you that I won't have
any more hes round me. I must and will put everything
straight. I will have a thorough clearing up."

Frau Flammert began to sob. " Child, you are
stronger than I am. I'm no match for you. But I never
thought you would abuse your strength."

"Abuse! Mother!"

" Hitherto, my life has been peaceful and not unhappy,
whatever you may think. Now you bring storm and
stress into it and destroy everjrthing."

"I destroy nothing. I build up. Only let me
act."

"I cannot suddenly change my life, and break relations
that are my whole existence."

" But of course not. Who asks you to do that .'' "

326 MORGANATIC

" YouVe scared the prince away with your unexpected
behaviour."

" Be calm, mother ; he'll come back."

"No, child; you don't know him. When he thinks
that his dignity is injured, he's not to be appeased."

"He'll come back, and quickly, too. He can't live
without you. If you don't yourself prevent it, he'll think
it over, come to his senses, will see that open relations are
better than deceit, which, as everybody sees through it, is
really impudent. Do you really think it becoming that I
should go on calling him your royal highness, and go
out of the room, like a good Uttle child, whenever he comes.
It is inconceivable. If he wants to be comfortable here,
the truth must be acknowledged."

Frau Flammert slowly shook her head, and did not
appear convinced.

The servant came in, and asked if they would
wait for his royal highness. The dinner was getting
spoiled. Mother and daughter got up and went to
table. But Frau Flammert could eat nothing, although,
at a sign from her, the prince's place had been cleared
away.

Nicoline continued, "Mother, be comforted. What
I did was only to clear the air ; and I have cleared it. We
shall all breathe more easily. I'm sure my father will
come back. If he doesn't, it will prove that he was never
worthy of you. If he can leave you so easily, then you
must do the same more easily. I expect and demand that
of your pride. I can't allow my mother to throw herself
away."

She spoke the last words so loudly and violently, that
her terrified mother whispered —

«S-sh."

Notwithstanding her straightforward and strong nature,
Nicoline, with the natural astuteness of her sex, did not
ignore side issues and secret designs. She did not leave
her mother alone the whole afternoon and evening, and
did not stir from her side when she spoke of a sick
headache, and the efficacy of a walk in the forest. She
suspected that Frau Flammert would slink away to the

MORGANATIC 827

shooting-box, and was determined to prevent anything of
the kind.

Early the next morning, the gillie appeared with a
letter from the prince. Nicoline kept careful watch.
She took the missive out of the maid's hand, and carried
it to her mother, who was not yet up- Frau Flammert
turned very red, hurriedly tore open the envelope, read
the note, and crushed it in her hand. Nicoline asked
quietly —

" What does papa say ? "

"You're going to spy on my correspondence now,"
exclaimed Frau Flammert.

"Of course," replied Nicoline, and got possession of
the paper. Without paying the slightest attention to
the imploring and begging, and threatening, " Nico !
But, Nico ! What are you doing ? I forbid you. Do
you hear, Nico ! " she read aloud —

" Carlotta, I have waited in vain the whole afternoon
for an apology or an explanation. Are you conspiring
with that little wretch? It seems incredible, unbeliev-
able. I consider you perfectly incapable of such ingrati-
tude. Let me know what I'm to understand by the
horrible scene. And take care the little wretch doesn't
come in my sight again. Else I must avoid the house.
Do you understand ? Your

« Hans Pe. D.

" P.S. — I was so rejoicing to see you again after so
long an absence. And then, such a reception !

« H. Pa. D.

" 2nd P.S. — Is it Parisian impertinence ? or arrogance
on account of her success ?

« H. Pe. D."

Nicoline smiled and said, " I will answer papa."
Frau Flammert saw the uselessness of opposition, and

gave in.

When she was dressed, Nicoline brought her this

reply —

328 MORGANATIC

"Papa,

cc

'You must put up with me as mamma's secre-
tary. If you won't read any further, you must do as you
please. But I beg you to have patience.

"I have every right to be offended that you should
speak of a horrible scene, when I modestly and respectfully
reminded you that you had a daughter of whom you have
no need to be ashamed. But I do not believe that those
words express your real feeling. They are the result
of the shock a man feels when suddenly disturbed in his
comfortable habits. You will be sorry yourself when you
have thought the matter over.

" Do you deny that I am your daughter ? If you were
capable of such an insult to my mother, I should utterly
hate and despise you. If you do not deny it, then I have
the right to call you father, and you have only yourself to
reproach that you did not teach me to exercise that right
as soon as I could speak.

" I am sorry to make myself unpleasant to you by this
outspokenness. I cannot spare it you. You cannot have
hoped that you would always escape. You must have said
to yourself that I should not always be an ignorant child.
I am now grown up, and you have to reckon with that.
Every one learns sooner or later that he must bear the
responsibility of his own deeds.

I am of royal blood. You know that better than I.
I have the pride of my race, even with regard to you. I
shall always act so that you must recognize ' Every inch
my daughter ! '

"When you come back — and you will come back,
for my poor mother needs you sorely — ^you will always
see me, so long at least as I live with my mother, and it
can hardly annoy you to meet a dutiful daughter who
has never withheld from her father the respect due to
him. It must also satisfy your feelings of chivalry to find
yourself at last in natural surroundings. I cannot believe
for one moment that you can wish to act the stranger to
me for ever, and thus have neither any ground nor any
right to be a daily guest in our house. Your sole justifi-
cation is that you are my father.

MORGANATIC S29

" I kiss your hand as in the days of my short frocks
and long plaits, and, hoping for your kindness, am

"The Little Wretch.

" P.S. — My conduct is the result of my clear sight and
capable brain, and neither Paris nor my small success has
anything to do with it.

" NlCOLINE."

Frau Flammert wished to strike out or soften over
some of the harsher expressions, but Nicoline would change
nothing.

" And if you write without telling me, and spoil all that
I'm taking so much trouble to do," she said, smiling, and
with a threatening gesture, " I shall never forgive you."

" In short, you'll bring about a break. A severe
judge has arisen in my own child, who condemns me
for the past, and lays a heavy penance on me in the
future." Again the tears rolled unrestrainedly down her
cheeks.

" Do you feel it like that ? " asked Nicoline, and took
her mother in her arms.

She yielded to the petting like a little child in
trouble.

" How can I feel it any other way ? I may be very
wicked, but it hurts me that you should tell me so."

Then Nicoline drew her mother down to her breast,
and much moved, whispered —

" I wanted to keep it to myself. But you force me to
tell it prematurely. You are completely in error, mummy.
I neither reproach you nor judge you, and in my opinion
you need not lower your head before any man. I want
your unselfish faith to be rewarded. I wish — yes, mummy,
I wish my father to marry you."

Frau Flammert pulled herself out of her daughter's
embrace.

" Impossible ! "

" Why impossible .'' My father is free. You will be
so in a few weeks. I see no obstacle,"

" I have never desired it of him."

"There you were wrong. You were always too

330 MORGANATIC

modest. You were not conscious of your worth and
power. I must be so for you."

Frau Flammert slowly shook her head. "That's a
fairy tale youVe conceived in your romantic girl's
mind."

" I romantic ! " laughed Nicoline.

Frau Flammert continued without letting the inter-
polation put her out —

" You don't consider the fearful obstacles, the Grand
Duke and the King of Frank wald, and the Princesses
Adelheid and Hildegard — the prince would have too hard
a battle to fight, even if he wished "

" He must wish it, and he will wish it."

" And why disturb him, and why thrust him into
strife and quarrel ? I'm not keen for the honour of being
the prince's wife. His faithful friendship satisfies me.
The Pharisees are tired of throwing stones at me. Good
men who understand a woman's heart have been witnesses
of my life here for twenty years, in this nest where every-
body knows what his neighbour has for dinner. They
know that I have always been unselfish, and moved only
by the sincerest feeling. They won't respect me more if
the prince marries me. Perhaps less if I compel him by
holding a knife at his throat. The prince has told me
a thousand times that I am the happiness and sunshine
of his life. Am I to become the torment of his old
age ? "

" Mummy, if you only pleaded for yourself half as
eloquently as you plead against yourself, your cause would
be already won."

" Ah, nonsense ! And how do you mean to arrange
the practical side ? Are we to set up house together ?
I as the stepmother, you as the stepsister of the Princesses
Adelheid and Hildegard. And I must leave the stage,
renounce my art "

" That's the only thing that troubles me. It is a heavy
sacrifice. But you must make it. You can always sing
in your own drawing-room, and all who hear you will be
as grateful as they would be in the theatre; nay, more
grateful. As to the princesses, we'll marry them. They're

MORGANATIC 331

none too young. And they are of good enough family
not to want for suitors. Trust me to have thought
it all out. Leave everything to me, my darling mother.
We're living now in a new age. There the daughters
marry their mother, and not the other way about, as
formerly."

In spite of her depression, Frau Flammert smiled.
" You imagine great things from this progress."

"Certainly I do."

"Now, I'll tell you, I shall not move a finger or
speak a word to help you to realize your castle in the
air."

"You needn't, mummy. I literally mean what I say,
that I shall marry you. You've only got to let it
happen."

" You really intend to go straight to the prince

" Of course," said Nicoline, simply.

" But, child ! Haven't you any feeling how horrible,
how entirely brutal it is for a girl, a daughter, to discuss
such subjects with her father ? "

Nicoline smiled again. " I don't deny that there is a
certain brutality in me. And I'll horrify you still more,
my dearest ; it's just the peculiarity that I most value in
myself. It's inherited from my father."

Mother and daughter waited for the result of Nicoline's
letter in an anxiety that in Frau Flammert became almost
a fever. No sign came that day or the following from
the shooting-box. Then, through skilful and seemingly
aimless questioning of the tradespeople, they learnt that
Prince Johann, after staying twenty-four hours at Walles-
roda, had suddenly taken his departure again.

Nothing authentic was heard of him for a long time.
Only a well-meaning colleague of Frau Flammert was
kind enough to retail in her letters all sorts of theatrical
gossip —

" Here is something else that will interest you.
Evil tongues say that Prince Johann objects to your
daughter's engagement at the Court Theatre. It is scarcely
conceivable. Is the director shielding himself behind his
royal highness in order to justify himself for an unamiable

332 MORGANATIC

refusal? It would be just like him, but particularly
tactless in this case."

Frau Flamtnert showed the letter to Nicoline without
a word of comment. She read it and turned very red.

"I don''t believe it," was her first remark. After
thinking a little, she added, " It is just possible. Papa
is evidently writhing to get rid of me. He hopes, per-
haps, to drive me away from here so that you may be in
his power again. Poor papa, he doesn't realize that I shall
take you with me if I don't stay."

" That, too ! A fresh surprise every day ! What'U
come next ? "

" If necessary, you can begin a new life as an artist.
You are at the zenith of your powers, and in full posses-
sion of your splendid voice. Gnin can do for you what
he's doing for me. And for mother and daughter to
appear together would have a vast attraction for the
public. You'll put me in the shade ; but I'll permit that,
mummy."

Meanwhile, the piece of gossip had not fallen on deaf
ears. On their return from Paris, mother and daughter
had spoken to the director about Nicoline's appearance,
and had asked him to state his conditions for a six months'
engagement. On her side Nicoline only asked that she
should be allotted leading parts. The director desired
a short time for consideration, and since then they had
heard nothing from him. Nicoline now wanted to know
where she was, so that in case of a refusal she might make
other plans. After reading the Diesa singer's letter, she
wrote to the director in order to remind him of his promise,
and to request a definite answer.

The girl's letter caused the director great embarrass-
ment, for the singer's gossip had a foundation of truth.
Frau Flammert had informed the prince of everything ;
he knew that Nicoline was to sing at Diesa in the winter,
and make her debut in London in the spring, and immedi-
ately after her interview with the director, Frau Flammert
had told Prince Johann of his answer.

The first sentences of Nicoline's letter threw the prince
into a terrible rage; he thrust it from him, but soon

MORGANATIC 833

picked it up again and read it through half a dozen times.
Its effect was to drive him at once from Wallesroda. He
went to Kupferberg, where his daughters were staying with
the Grand Ducal pair at their summer palace. The director
was also accustomed to spend part of his holidays there.
The prince was determined that the little rebel should feel
his power. She must not imagine that she could simply do
as she liked at Diesa. She should not sing at the theatre.
He summoned the director, and asked him if he had
definitely committed himself to engage Fraulein Flammert.
He replied in the negative, and then the prince informed
him that he did not wish her to appear first at Diesa. A
failure would cause her mother great distress, and the
Grand Ducal theatre had no interest in affording its
chief star unpleasant experiences. So far, there was no
satisfactory ground for counting on a success. The
director bowed. He understood. But he was much per-
plexed. One the one hand, he did not dare to oppose the
prince ; on the other, he knew Frau Flammert's worth too
well to risk offending her. Like a wise courtier, he deter-
mined to wait. He did not see his way clearly, and hoped
for hints that might show it him. Then came Nicoline's
letter, and he was obliged to take up some position. It
struck him that, so far, the negotiations had been carried
on by Nicoline, while her mother had been merely passive.
Now, a mother might possibly not care to see her daughter
her rival, and Frau Flammert might have made Prince
Johann her mouthpiece. The director determined, after
some delay, to ask Frau Flammert whether she perhaps
preferred that her daughter should not be engaged. She
could write to him privately ; she knew he could keep
silence, and he would then inform Fraulein Flammert of
his decision.

When Frau Flammert received this letter from the
director, she handed it to Nicoline, trembling with rage.

" What a set they are ! ■" she exclaimed, while her mother
hastened to her writing-table, and in her excitement wrote
out this telegram —

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Neither of
us will have anything more to do with Diesa."

334 MORGANATIC

But Nicoline prevented the despatch of the message,
and a few hours later the following letter was sent : —

"Dear Baeon,

"You do not realize the effect that the sup-
position that I should intrigue against my own child is
likely to have on me. I am sorry that you should think
me capable of such an action. I have nothing to reply
except to make use of Article VIII. of my contract, and
if my daughter is not engaged for the winter season, to
terminate my connection with the Grand Ducal Court
Theatre on March 1st of next year. With kind re-
membrances,

" Yours obediently,

"Caelotta Flammert."

The letter showed the director that he was on the
wrong scent. Standing between the prince's wish, and
the threat of his best singer, he saw no other solution
than that of asking the Grand Duke's opinion.

For a hundred years Diesa had been regarded as a
centre of art and culture. Flatterers called it the
European metropolis of ideals, and the Grand Duke con-
sidered German intellectual life to be a province of his
Grand Duchy. As he had neither an Academy nor an
University, he gave all his attention and patronage to the
theatre, and the slightest events in connection with it were
treated as affairs of State.

The director made his report, and acknowledged his
embarrassment. The Grand Duke asked on what ground
Prince Johann interfered. The director replied that his
royal highness seemed to think he was defending Frau
Flammert's interests against those of her daughter, but
that Frau Flammert herself took a different view. The
Grand Duke said nothing for a while, and then let fall
the words, " That's not nice of my brother."

That was sufficient. The director was now protected,
and he wrote to Wallesroda that he engaged Fraulein
Flammert for six months, from September 20th. He
would allot to her all the parts that her mother might

MORGANATIC S35

wish her to represent, and she should sing them in turn
with her. He could only offer her provisionally seventy-
five marks remuneration for each performance, with a
minimum sum of four hundred and fifty marks a month,
but he hoped that her success during the period of
probation would ensure her more brilliant conditions in
the future.

At this juncture came the Baroness von GronendaFs
death, the news of which the inhabitants of the villa learnt
from the newspapers. Nicoline wrote at once to Siegfried,
whose form suddenly rose vividly before her, and in her
first rush of feeling it seemed to her that she must go to
him and help him to bear his grief, and act the Ariadne
in the labyrinth, knowing as she did his habitual helpless-
ness. But the impulse soon died away. A conflict of
duty arose in her mind, and she feared Siegfried's answer.
It was a great relief that he did not take her at her
word. Just then, too much rested on her shoulders, which,
so far, had been free from burdens. She had to conduct
the correspondence about the divorce with the lawyer,
Dr. Leyding, to fight the battle with Prince Johann, to
keep up her mother's courage through the storm, and to
learn the parts from Wagner, Humperdinck, and Mascagni,
in which she was first to appear. That was about as much
as her nerves, strong as they were, could bear.

Prince Johann soon learned that, in spite of his wish,
the director had engaged Nicoline, and he incurred, on that
account, the prince's great displeasure. The Court official
answered his remarks with the simple assertion —

" A personal command of our gracious master ! "

The prince was incredulous, and asked his brother for
direct information. He only obtained in reply —

"I can't understand why you wish to deprive our
theatre of a young singer who made such a successful
debut in Paris. Or perhaps you don't want the girl to go
on the stage at all ? "

Prince Johann said nothing, and withdrew. At the
first measuring of their strength Nicoline had proved the
stronger. He was defeated.

He left Kupferberg and travelled. By that means he

336 MORGANATIC

hoped to learn to do without Frau Flammert. He went
to Berlin, to Brussels, and to London, remaining only four
or five days in each place. His listlessness and his unex-
pected visit created surprise at the courts at which he
appeared. The press began to take notice of his move-
ments. One very clever paper announced that the prince
was fulfilling an important political mission. Other news-
papers that also heard the grass grow, knew the purpose
of his tour. It concerned the reconciliation of a dethroned
royal family with their enemies. Nicoline smiled at these
suggestions. She knew better. She never doubted that
the prince sought distraction and oblivion. Intercourse
with his equals at foreign courts would strengthen his
resistance against his secret inclination to strike his flag
before his indispensable friend and her daughter. She did
not know why, but she felt very confident. Her mother
was too precious, he could not let her go, and her father
was at heart of too distinguished a character to remain
long a party to an unworthy mode of conduct.

Frau Flammerfs eyes grew very red, she looked as if
she did not sleep, and since the contract with the director
had been signed, she avoided speaking of the prince. She
contented herself with eagerly searching the newspapers
for information about his movements. Thus passed three
weeks. Then, all of a sudden, one afternoon, a telegram
arrived at the villa, containing only the words —

" Had never believed such ingratitude possible. Find
it more and more incomprehensible."

It was not signed, and came from Windsor.

" He's giving in, mummy," said Nicoline, joyfully, as
soon as she had read it.

" What shall I reply ? " asked Frau Flammert, with a
deep sigh.

" Nothing at all. Keep still as a mouse until he yields
entirely."

Two days later came another telegram with the answer
prepaid —

" Will never forgive such conduct. Is anything wrong
with you ? "

MORGANATIC 887

Nicoline answered at once —
" Yes. — Cakloita.'"

When the telegram had gone, she said to her mother,
" Now you may expect a visit from him at any moment.''

A few anxious days of waiting followed, during which
Nicoline asked herself if she had read her father's mind
aright. The tension was broken when the gillie appeared
at the villa with a letter. The prince wrote —

" Bad, ungrateful Woman !

" This can't go on. Tell me where and when I
can see you. I've only been here half an hour; tired,
wretched. It would be best if you came up here to me.

« Hans Pr. D.
" P.S. — Such things are a disgrace after two and twenty
years. " Hans."

No further speech was needed between mother and
daughter. The correspondence was in Nicoline's hand, and
Frau Flammert did not seek to interfere. The man took
back the following answer : —

"Dear Papa,

" Mamma is delighted at your return. We both
hope to see you here very soon. So far as we are con-
cerned, you will be mside as comfortable here as you used
to be.

" Your dutiful daughter,

" Nicoline."

Frau Flammert was allowed to add in her own hand :
" Lots of kisses from your Carlotta."

An uneasy stillness prevailed during this day and the
following. At afternoon tea, Frau Flammert asked—

« Weren't we too hard."

" Not in the least, mummy. Only hold out. You'll
see." But her heart beat somewhat quickly.

The evening had drawn in, and a fine rain was falling.

z

338 MOKGANATIC

September had come in coldly, and a small wood fire was
a necessity in the white-tiled stove in the drawing-room.
The door-bell rang, not once and loudly, but twice ; the
first time hesitatingly and softly, the second more loudly.
That was not the prince's usual way. But all the same,
mother and daughter got up and listened, holding their
breath. A few minutes later the maid opened the door
and the prince entered. He looked tired, and his beard
was whiter. Frau Flammert went to meet him with out-
stretched hand. He threw a shy side-look at Nicoline's
blushing face and curtseying figure, and bent over her
mother's hand.

" At last ! " exclaimed Frau Flammert.

" Yes," growled the prince, and sat down in a corner
of the sofa.

" You'll stay to supper ? "

"If I'm allowed," he muttered, and again looked at
Nicoline.

She made an effort to regain her composure, and
remain mistress of the situation. She came nearer, raised
her head, and, looking the prince full in the face,
said —

" Father, why do you hate me ? "

" Stuff and nonsense. What put that into your silly
head?"

"But I must think so. Else why did you think it
improper for me to call you ' papa ' ? "

" Ah ! well ! — you used not to do it." He stroked his
moustache nervously, and avoided looking Nicoline in the
face.

"Unfortunately not. But it had to be some time.
I'm no longer a child. I know and understand."

" Bad enough," he growled.

" But it's worse to act a comedy that deceives no one,
and to live a lie that lowers us all."

"No one has ever dared to speak to me like that,"
roared the prince.

" That's the misfortune of kings and their like. You
only know the historical modes of speech. You have
duties in this house. You have never been reminded of

MORGANATIC 339

them. But you can't neglect them any longer," declared
Nicoline.

" Oh ! And how do you make that out ? " He turned
to the silent Frau Flammert, who had seated herself in
an armchair near the sofa.

Nicoline put her arm protectingly round her mother.
"It means that you must conclude one period of your
life, and begin a new one. You were ready to commit an
unheard of wrong in separating yourself from my mother."

"You forget to whom you are speaking," exclaimed
the prince, his voice trembling with anger.

The more excited the prince became, the calmer grew
Nicoline.

" I am of your blood, father," she said, with provoking
gentleness. "I'll have none of your royal highnesses.
It disgraces me. Now listen quietly. You went away
with the intention of not returning. You have discovered
that you can't so easily break a bond that is twenty
years old. We must draw a lesson from the episode.
The bond must be strengthened, so that it may be pro-
tected from sudden caprices. Your child asks, what your
wife before God and your conscience has never asked:
you must marry mamma."

" Have you all gone mad ? " shouted the prince, getting
up off" the sofa, and walking towards the door.

With a bound Nicoline reached it first. " Sit down,
father," she said, with a firmness that overpowered the
prince. " Don't run away. You'd only have to come back
again, and that would humiliate you. Spare yourself and
us that. You can't live without mamma. If you don't
know it, I tell you it is so. So make everything straight.
You owe it to your self-respect, even if not to respect for
my mother and your children — all your children. Give
my mother at last the place that belongs to her."

" Ah ! into what lunatic asylum have I come ? "
shouted the prince, gnashing his teeth. "You're a
married woman "

"Not any more," returned Nicoline, calmly. "The
divorce proceedings are going on, and wiU be finished in
a few weeks."

340 MORGANATIC

" Ah ! You've done that ? " turning in amazement to
Frau Flammert. " Behind my back ? "

" Nicoline would have it," murmured Frau Flammert,
apologetically.

"Yes," affirmed Nicoline, "and I also wish you to
marry mamma."

" Go away," ordered the prince, his energy flaming up
again, " and leave us alone."

Nicoline shook her fair head. "No, father, I'm at
home, and you've no right to turn me out of my own
drawing-room. You will only have that right when you
are master here as my mother's husband."

"That is impertinence — vulgar mutiny!"

"You are mistaken, father. Not vulgar mutiny, but
loyal assertion of our rights. I am of noble birth."

He was crushed and prostrated. " Hoped to spend a
pleasant hour," he muttered gloomily, " after so much worry
and vexation. Instead of that this most unseemly scene."

"I beg your pardon, papa. On the contrary, what
we desire is your future peace and comfort. Don't you
feel it?"

He did not seem to hear the remark. "There's
the thanks for my faithfulness," he murmured, as if to
himself. I

That brought another electrical outburst from Nicoline.
" It is you who have to thank my mother for her faithful-
ness, and not the other way round. She has sacrificed her
life, her reputation, the millions of golden coins that lay
in her throat, to you. Her love was so strong that no
sacrifice my mother brought you was too heavy for her.
What have you given her in return ? I am all she has of
you."

" But once more," exclaimed the prince angrily, turn-
ing to Frau Flammert, " I speak to you and not to her."

" You forget that you are not only my father, but
also a nobleman, and that you are speaking to a girl."

Reply and counter-reply clashed like hurtling daggers.

"Nicoline," said Frau Flammert, in deep emotion,
"you go too far. Your father's love has brought me
happiness. The aim of my artistic efforts was to deserve

MORGANATIC 341

his praise. That I should make sacrifices for him, and
desire none in return, raises me in my eyes."

Her tone found the way to the prince's heart. He
seized her hand, and said, in a voice to which he could
give no firmness —

" Ah ! that's like you always were. Trust to me.
Thank you, Carlotta ; thank you."

A pause ensued, which worked with gentle influence
on them all. The prince was the first to break it.

"You can't wish impossibilities. You know the
question has never entered our minds ; never can enter
tiiem — never, never."

"Don't be angry, Hansel, but that isn't quite true,"
replied Fi'au Flammert, lifting up her head. Something
impelled her not to leave her daughter under the impression
of the prince's assurance.

i " It is so long ago — you may well have forgotten it —
everything stands as clearly before my eyes as if it had
only happened an hour ago. It was after my second
appearance, as 'Elizabeth.' You sent me the diamond
necklace — you know. I refused it, and told you that a
prince might only ofifer me flowers and bonbons. Then
you came yourself, and spoke intoxicating words to the
singer, and when you saw my confusion, you suddenly
grasped my hand, and said, in a trembling voice, ' I lay
my heart at your feet.' I answered, ' I dare not pick it
up,' and escaped. And then you came again, and per-
sufided me when I refused you, and knelt down before
me ^"

" Yes, yes," murmured the prince.

" And knelt before me and wept-

" Ah ! what do you mean ? Childish ! "

" And wept and said, " Fraulein Carlotta, don't be
hard, don't be cruel. If I were free, I should ask you to
be my wife. A crown would hardly adorn you, but you
would adorn any crown.' Is that true. Hansel ? "

" Yes, certainly ; but I mean "

" And when you persuaded me to marry for the sake
of appearances, did you not say, ' He is not marrying you,
I am marrying you by proxy,' And your first letters,

342 MORGANATIC

do you know how they addressed me ? And who wished
Nicoline to be called Mter your grandfather ? And who
always longed for his little princess, while she was a
babe?"

The prince rocked himself backwards and forwards in
his sofa corner, and tugged at his cravat.

" It's warm here — too warm."

Nicoline flew to the window and opened it a little.
" Is that better, papa ? "

"Thank you, Nicoline," he said, half sulkily, half
genially.

She came back, and with an imploring look, spoke
softly, emphatically, affectionately.

"See, father, you are now just what mamma has
always known and loved. Why do you pretend to be a
cruel tyrant ? Let your heart speak, and obey its
promptings. Then you'll do the right thing."

The prince's face worked strangely. He tried to avoid
his daughter's glance. He cleared his throat, looked at
his watch, and got up. Frau Flammert hastened to the
door.

" We'll go in to supper," she said, and took the
prince's arm. He allowed himself to be led into the
dining-room, and he sat down in his usual place.

He ate and drank in silence. Neither of the women
spoke. He was thinking too deeply for them to wish to
disturb him. When the roast meat came on, he began
to speak again.

" Too difficult. Well-nigh impossible."

" Neither impossible nor difficult, father, if you are
only determined."

" My daughters "

"We'll marry them. That won't be unpleasant to
them."

" My brother — my brother-in-law "

" You're independent, papa."

" You don't understand anything about it. Carlotta,
leave everything as it is. We are married. Shall soon
celebrate our silver wedding. What do people matter?"

"Yes."

MORGANATIC 343

Nicoline felt her mother become weak and yielding at
this exhortation. She went hastily to her support.

" No, father, you mustn't appease your conscience with
comfortably sounding phrases. People do matter. If
you feel yourself married, you can't dislike the notion of
being really so."

"Perhaps, you've got the priest and the registrar
waiting ? " asked the prince, scornfully.

"There is no such hurry," returned Nicoline, calmly.
"We shall neither surprise nor force you into it. You
shall decide of your own free will, and carry it out after
reflection."

" Of my own free will is very pretty," growled the
prince. But he ate with a better appetite than at the
beginning of the meal.

After a brief pause, he took up the thread again,
speaking more to himself than to his companions.

" And the question of rank — my brother, my brother-
in-law won't have it. Can't beg a title from foreign
princes, can I ? "

"That's the least difficulty," said Frau Flammert.
"I set no store by a title. I don't want one. Carlotta
Scholz, if that suits you, Hansel, well, it suits me."

A slight shadow flitted over Nicoline's face. " Mummy,
you mustn't be too modest, Carlotta Scholz is certainly
better than Carlotta Flammert. But you must take care
that everybody adds, ' Wife of his Royal Highness Prince
Johann, of Meissen-Diesa-Kupferberg.' "

" Ah ! you mean to be a princess ? "

"I am that anyway, papa. I've no wish to use the
title. I shall create a title for myself. I only desire
that the marriage shall not be concealed. Any other rise
in rank except the marriage is unnecessary. If I had
brothers, I would not suffer a morganatic marriage. I'U
have no strangers in the family. But, since I have no
brothers, and am not likely to have any "

Frau Flammert blushed like a girl at the unconcerned
tone in which the words were spoken, and the prince
stared at the speaker openmouthed. This was quite a
new species of humanity that was being revealed to him.

344 MORGANATIC

" Do you smoke ? " he asked.

" Yes, papa," Nicoline replied without wincing.

« A pipe ? "

« Not yet."

The prince smiled for the first time that evening. " Do
you hunt ? "

" You haven't taught me, papa. But mamma has
taught me to sing."

" Glibness of speech leaves nothing to be desired."

He became deep in thought, his cheerfulness vanished,
and he looked worried again.

" And your singing. After a public marriage, my wife
can scarcely let herself be stared at by the gallery."

"Mamma must make you that sacrifice," observed
Nicoline, quickly. " She must give up the stage, difficult
as she will find it."

"But you?"

" I .'' No, papa ; I shall not forego my career. But
it won't disturb you. For I shall take an assumed name,
and work abroad."

He gave up the contest. He was beaten.

Immediately after supper the prince took his departure.
The scene had exhausted all three of them, and they felt
the need of rest. In the hall, he kissed Fi-au Flammert
on the brow, looked for a moment in silence at Nicoline,
who was standing by her, and then, with a sudden move-
ment, gave her his hand. She was crimson, tears started
to her eyes, and she kissed it affectionately. Then the
prince put his left arm round her, drew her to his breast,
kissed her fair head, and with long strides went out into
the darkness.

The fortnight that followed this fateful evening, was,
Frau Flammert acknowledged, the happiest of her life.
She dreamed, and feared, and was glad, like a girl just
engaged, and to any other eyes than Nicoline's, she might
have appeared somewhat ridiculous. The handsome
woman of forty was rejuvenated by half her age, and
seemed to be her daughter's elder sister by a few years.
The prince spent almost the whole day with them, with
Nicoline too, of whom he grew very fond, although, or

MORGANATIC 345

perhaps because, she impressed him more and more.
They made driving and walking excursions together, and
in the evening, mother and daughter sang scenes and
songs from operas to the music-loving prince with such
glorious voices and perfect art, that he entirely forgot the
world. When there was a full moon, they went late in
the evening to the neighbouring valley, which was cele-
brated for its birds, and woke with their singing the
hundreds and thousands of birds of passage, who paused
there on their way south, till all the trees and bushes, the
reeds on the bank, and the boulders on the hillside rang
with sound.

At the beginning of the autumn they had to go back
to Diesa. The prince had promised to consider the sub-
ject of his daughters' marriages. The new season began
at the theatre. Nicoline was to appear at the commence-
ment of October. The rehearsals began at the end of
September. Frau Flammert had given up to her the part
of " Elizabeth " in TannhoMser, in which she herself had
made her greatest success, and had sung only a few weeks
ago. Gossip flew round the town that something extra-
ordinary was to be expected, that such a voice had not
been heard in Germany within the memory of man, or
such a temperament seen on the stage. Everything tended
to make the performance an event that roused the greatest
expectation; the comparison of the daughter with the
mother, the young artist's birth naturally known to every
child in Diesa, the reputation she had gained in Paris,
the reports of the members of the orchestra and others
employed in the theatre, and also the curious name, Aseid,
under which she was announced to sing, had something to
say in the matter.

Five days before the performance, all the reserved
places were sold. On the evening itself more than a thou-
sand persons who sought admission to the unreserved parts
of the house, were turned away. The Grand Duke and
Duchess occupied the royal box ; Prince Johann, with the
Princesses Adelheid and Hildegard, was in his. All the
members of the Court were present. Frau Flammert was
behind the scenes, and only moved from Nicoline's side

346 MORGANATIC

when she was actually on the stage. The girl was
marvellously calm — more like a veteran than a novice.
The other singers had never seen anything like it.

When she first appeared on the stage, a sudden
stir went through the theatre. The spectators saw
before them to the life the former Grand Duchess, whose
portrait as a young woman hung in every loyal citizen's
parlour, and of whose masculine determination, pride,
benevolence, and strange ideas there were a thousand
tales. The likeness was so striking that the Grand Duke
exclaimed, half aloud —

" Incredible ! Is it nature, or art ? "

" What do you mean ? " asked the Grand Duchess.

"Nothing, nothing," he replied, but could not take
his eyes olF the artist the whole evening, for his mother
was before him as he had known her as a boy.

The audience felt throughout the performance that it
was not an artist acting a part, but a real princess living
her life before them in joy and sorrow, in pride and
maidenly humility. And then the voice, powerful as a
big silver bell in its full tones, warm, sweet, light as that
of a trilling nightingale — indeed, there was nothing with
which to compare it. It was not applause that she re-
ceived. Despite the presence of the Grand Duke and
Duchess, it was a shrieking, a shouting, a mad clapping
and stamping and roaring, as if overpowering feelings
must find vent in wild relief before they could become
calm again. They had not finished calling her before the
curtain when it fell for the last time, the footlights were
extinguished, and gradually all became still.

Nicoline lay in her mother's arms. Frau Flammert
was weeping with joy. Round them stood Tannhauser,
W^olfram, the Landgraf, the conductor of the orchestra,
all respectfully tendering their congratulations, when the
director hurriedly came up, and, offering her his arm, said —

" You are to be presented to their royal highnesses.
Come at once, Fraulein."

" What ! in costume .'' " interposed her mother.

" Yes, yes," exclaimed the director ; and took Nicoline
away.

MORGANATIC Sil

A moment later she was in the brilliantly lighted
room with its blue silk hangings that lay behind the royal
box. The director remained respectfully near the door.
The Grand Duchess sat in an armchair between two of
her ladies-in-waiting. The Grand Duke, whose adjutant
stood by him, went quickly forward, gave Nicoline his
hand, and said —

" I congratulate you, Fraulein — heartily congratulate
you. It was an inimitable debut.''''

Nicoline made a low curtsey, first to the Grand
Duchess, then to the Grand Duke.

" Very good of you, your royal highness."

"But tell me, my dear child, how did you come to
choose yoiu: Arabic stage-name ? "

" Arabic ? It's not Arabic, your royal highness."

« Aseid ." Not Arabic ! What is it, then ? "

" Hasn't your royal highness guessed ? "

*' Must confess — no. Help me, Fraulein."

"Your royal highness has only to read the name
backwards."

The Grand Duke started, spelt it in his mind, and
broke out —

" Diesa ! Oh, an allusion to your native town ? "

" If your royal highness likes to understand it
so "

It was time for the Grand Duchess to join in the
conversation.

" I have to thank you for a pleasant evening, my dear
young lady," she said. " And what specially pleases me
is the continuance of our traditions, which is assured by
your appearance. We admired your mother, the new
generation will admire you. Isn't such an inheritance to
be prized?"

" Certainly, your royal highness. I also treasure in-
heritances, all inheritances." Nicoline laid such stress on
the " aU," that those present exchanged glances.

The Grand Duchess dismissed Nicoline with a bow,
the Grand Duke with a shake of the hand. When she
was gone, the Grand Duchess asked her husband —

" Are those Parisian manners ? "

348 MORGANATIC

The Grand Duke so far forgot himself as to shrug
his shoulders slightly.

" The young lady decidedly betrays race," was his reply.

On leaving the theatre with her mother, Nicoline had
a little surprise. As usual, a crowd of gaping sightseers
had gathered round the stage-door. A man separated
himself from it, approached the ladies with rapid steps,
and exclaimed in bad French —

" Long live the triumphant. You have exceeded all
my hopes, mademoiselle. You are a great artist."

With a little shriek, Nicoline said, " You here, Mr.
GrUn.?"

" You did not seriously imagine I should not come
to-night. May I walk with you ? "

" With pleasure, Mr. Grtin."

" Too much depended on it for me. But I am no
longer anxious, if I ever was so really. Do you know,
mademoiselle, what the head-waiter of my hotel had to
pay for the very poor seat he secured for me at the last
moment ? A hundred marks ! In Diesa ! Well, people
shall often pay a hundred marks to hear you. And what
manners and customs you've got here ! Your Court
theatre officials are more inaccessible than our president.
They wouldn't hear of my going behind the scenes to see
you, although I revealed myself in all my greatness."

Nicoline smiled. " Why didn't you send your card
tome.?"

" S-sh ! You mustn't talk out-of-doors on an October
night. Keep your mouth tightly shut, and let me do the
talking."

" I haven't sung," said Frau Flammert, " so I may
talk. When did you arrive, Mr. Griin ? "

" Yesterday afternoon, madam."

"And you didn't come to us at once ?"

" Oh no. I wanted to go to the theatre incognito in
the midst of the public, so as to hear people's real
opinion. Magnificent, madam, magnificent. Be kind and
good, mademoiselle. Let us make an agreement for a
longer time. Two years pass so quickly, and I'm
ready "

MORGANATIC 849

" No, Mr. Griin," began Nicoline.

" S-sh ! You mustn't talk. Your mother will answer
for you."

" This is scarcely the time and place "

"Prejudice, my dear madam, prejudice of slow, back-
ward folk. Good business can be done anywhere and
everywhere. Make up your minds, ladies. It must be a
good thing for you to have the future as well assured as I
can make it for you. Of course, the future is in God's
hands, and if it can be enjoyed in the present, I
think "

" How long are you staying here, Mr. Griin ? " asked
Nicoline.

" I'm going off to-morrow morning. I've to make
preparations for my London season. But I'll willingly
stay here until you sign my new contract."

" So long "

" S-sh ! Mademoiselle, you really mustn't."

" Ah ! let that alone. I'm made of iron. I never take
cold. No, dear Mr. Griin, you can't stay here so long as
that. For under no circumstances will I sign a new con-
tract this year."

"But "

" Don't press me, Mr. Griin. It's of no use. But you
may rest assured that no success can cause me to forget
how pleasant it was that you swept all difficulties aside for
me in the beginning. We are faithful and grateful people,
aren't we, mummy .'' "

Her mother drew her closer to her side. They had
reached their house. The impresario hesitated a little,
but as they did not ask him to go in, he took leave of
them at the door.

They had not long sat down to supper when the door
opened, and Prince Johann came in. Both flew to meet
him. He put his arms round Nicoline, and said, in a voice
full of emotion —

" I was proud of you, Nico."

He sat down between them, and apologized for not
going to them, either in the theatre or after the perform-
ance; he had to take leave of his brother, and see his

350 MORGANATIC

daughters home, so that he could not get to them until
now.

He was silent for a while. When supper was over,
he suddenly took a rather large blue velvet case, with
a gold catch, out of his pocket. He put it in front of
Frau Flammert, pressed the snap, and a splendid diamond
necklace came into view.

Frau Flammert uttered a cry, " Hansel, that is "

The prince nodded. " Yes, it's the same. You
refused it then. You were right. Now you may take it.
Meant to wait till the silver wedding. Would rather you
had it to-day. You'll inherit it, Nico. Not for a long
while, I hope. I had it from my mother, of whom you
are a perfect likeness."

NicoUne fastened the jewels round her mother's
beautiful neck while tears rolled down her flaming
cheeks. She seized her father's hand, kissed it, and
said —

" A thousand, thousand thanks, father. Now I recog-
nize you as your old self. You have made me a royal gift.
You could not have pleased me more."

The next day, as early as good manners permitted,
the director went to see Flau Flammert, greeted Fraulein
Nicoline, and assiduously asked after her health, handed
her the five Diesa morning papers in case she had not yet
seen them, and said —

"My dear young lady, after yesterday's success we
may regard the probation period as at an end. I am
glad to be able now to agree to a final contract. I
have put down the chief points. You must appear
twelve times a month. Every year you will have three
months' holiday, from May 1st to November 1st. You

will receive " — here he paused, .and spoke his next

sentences in as solemn a tone as if they contained a
revelation — "eighteen thousand marks salary, and fifty
marks remuneration for each performance."

He looked up to observe the effect. He was astonished
to see Nicoline and Frau Flammert merely exchange a
swift, amused glance.

"You see that we are offering you the salary your

MORGANATIC 851

mother had only after she had worked for ten years. You
certainly cannot expect nor wish to receive more than so
distinguished an artist as your mother. We should like
to know your wishes regarding the length of the engage-
ment, and the notice for terminating it."

Nicoline smiled at the director, and said nothing.

" Well, Fraulein Flammert ? " he asked, after a little
while, feeUng surprised and uncertain.

" I am very much obliged to you, baron, but the six
months' contract already made is sufficient."

" You are not serious ? " exclaimed the director.

" I should never allow myself to jest with you."

" But can it be possible .'' A brilliant engagement
like this offered to a mere beginner. Are your wishes
more ambitious ? "

" No, baron ; I only wish not to bind myself for a
time."

" I purposely refrained from telling you that yesterday
during the first entr'acte his Royal Highness emphatically
expressed the wish that we should secure your talent for
our theatre. You know what that means. Before two
years are past, you have the title of a Grand Ducal
Chamber singer."

" I shall try in the next six months to please the Grand
Duke."

" By accepting the contract ? "

" By singing as well I can."

The director shook his head, and in great annoyance
took his departure.

It was soon known in the castle, the theatre, and the
town, that Nicoline had refused a splendid contract, at
any rate for Diesa, without explanation, and everybody
was greatly puzzled as to what was behind such arrogant
conduct, something fixed, or merely self-sufficient mystery.
Her fellow-citizens did not cease to occupy themselves
with her the whole winter and spring, but chiefly in
legitimate fashion. Each performance was a new artistic
revelation, and a fresh triumph. Each representation
became a kind of festival. Special trains were run from
places in the surroimding district, and invitations to sing

352 MORGANATIC

at other theatres, and proposals for engagements, which
she had of course to refuse, poured in.

Then no beginner ever had such press notices. The
local papers and those of neighbouring towns expressed
their admiration so emphatically that the notice of the
whole press of Germany was attracted, and it occupied
itself with the new star. Mr. Griin took care that the
French, English, and American press should do the same.
He managed so that the important illustrated papers
published Nicoline's portrait, and that it was displayed in
booksellers' and art dealers' shop- windows in all the capitals
of the world. Interviewers came to Diesa at his expense,
and sent long articles to London and New York, describing
a small German town, which was the seat of a Court, a
German artist's home, the conditions of a German Court
theatre, personal anecdotes of mother and daughter, and
snapshots which illustrated the chief of the descriptions.
Mr. Griin was laying the foundations of his star accord-
ing to the most approved American financial rules, and
effected that Nicoline's reputation reached a high premium
before it was put on the market.

This part of their impresario's work was secretly
disliked by Nicoline and her mother, but it was not
possible to prevent it. It was the custom of the age, and
necessary as preparation for the success that she must
achieve if Mr. Griin was to recoup himself for his great
speculation.

She was specially moved to find in the papers which so
extravagantly described her first appearance, the Vienna
reporter's interview with Siegfried, and the mysterious
story of his expulsion from Austria. He was also be-
stirring himself ; he was making efforts ! It did not
matter that the campaign opened with a defeat. The
essential thing was the battle. That he should not write
to her about his plans and doings seemed to her very
considerate on his part. He adhered to the treaty : each
was to strive for his goal, and was only to approach the
other when it was attained. That was right and manly.
And one day he would acknowledge that she knew how to
appreciate his conduct.

MORGANATIC 353

At the end of October an event occurred which had
the effect of a bomb. One evening the bills announced a
performance of Traviata: "Violetta" — Frau Carlotta
Scholz ; and the next morning the journalists wrote that
the public must be vastly surprised to see an unknown
Frau Scholz announced for one of the favourite parts
of Frau Flammert, but that the riddle was soon solved,
since Frau Scholz and Frau Flammert were one and the
same person. She had again assumed her maiden name,
long forgotten by the public, because she had quietly
been divorced from her husband, who lived at Marwurt.

Prince Johann had never concealed his relations to
her. He did so now less than ever. The people were not
fools ; they saw a connection between the divorce and the
fact that the prince dined every day with the singer, and
began to hint that a marriage was in view. The rumour
soon reached the highest quarters, and was at first treated
as idle gossip. It was only regarded seriously when an
unwonted and surprising energy was observed in Prince
Johann, in regard to seeking husbands for his daughters.

In the case of the Princess Adelheid there was little
difficulty. Her uncle, the King of Frankenwald, was
childless, and his cousin, the heir to the throne, was an old
bachelor, so that it was highly improbable that there
would be an heir in that quarter. Therefore, the crown
would devolve on the Princess Adelheid and her descen-
dants, so that she was a desirable match. Several princes
visited Diesa in the course of the autumn, and in January
the engagement of the Princess Adelheid to a royal prince,
attractive in person, and of pleasing manners, was officially
announced. The wedding took place six weeks later, at
Carnival time. Among the gaieties to which it gave rise
was a gala performance at the opera, and a concert at
Court. Frau Scholz and Nicoline assisted at both. Prince
Johann begged them not to refuse on account of the
gossip ; they did not let him finish. They did not feel
like inferiors on such an occasion, but as near relatives
who gladly helped to make such a period pleasant for their
step-daughter and step-sister.

It was less easy with the Princess Hildegard. She stood

2 A

354 MORGANATIC

farther from the throne of Frankenwald than her elder
sister. She was neither rich, nor beautiful, nor brilliant,
nor in good health. None of the princely visitors developed
into suitors ; by Easter they had all passed her in revievir,
and it was acknowledged at Court that there was nothing
to do but to await some fortunate chance.

But Nicoline would wait no longer, and desired,
amiably and calmly, yet decidedly, that Prince Johann
should redeem his promise. The moment had come. He
must speak to his brother.

The Grand Duke was not surprised. " If you can't
leave it alone, for God's sake, do it," was his answer.

Deeply moved, Prince Johann sought to kiss his
hand.

He would not have it, but added, with a smile, " You
need not thank me. If children were likely, that would
complicate the matter. But that is out of the question,
so that there's nothing to discuss. It's a pity that it must
disorganize my opera, for, naturally, the two ladies cannot
remain on the stage. To lose two such magnificent artists
at one time is hard; but since it's necessary to your
happiness "

The Grand Duke inquired how his brother intended to
arrange his life in the future, and received the answer, that
he had hardly yet thought about it..

" And what title shall we bestow on your bride ? "

"Thank you very much for your kindness," replied
Prince Johann, quickly, "but it's needless. Carlotta
makes no claims in that direction."

The Grand Duke shook his head. " Impossible, if
we are to see each other. How am I to address her.''
As Carlotta ? Too familiar. As Frau Scholz ? Not to
be thought of. There remains only, my dear baroness.
That's all right."

" Well, if you insist "

" Do you know what, Hans ? Let's dub her Baroness
von Aseid. It was so bold a stroke on the part of
that nice girl, that the idea deserves to be permanently
recorded."

Having won the Grand Duke's approval, the prince

MORGANATIC 355

found it easier to tell the Grand Duchess of his deter-
mination. His sister-in-law pretended only to recognize
outward, correct facts.

"Frau Scholz is a divorced woman," she said coldly
and with dignity, "and, as a rule, I don't like divorces.
But I know that others think differently. Besides, I
am told the verdict was against the husband, so Frau
Scholz deserves no blame. Personally, I like her very
much, and I set her very high as an artist, and her
daughter too. I wish you every happiness."

Now he had to make things right with Princess
Hildegard. That was the most difficult. He asked her
to come to him in the smoking-room. They sat opposite
each other, and he said, stuttering, and speaking with
more difficulty than usual —

"Well, Hildegard, you're no longer a child. You'll
understand me. Your poor mother — dead. Adelheid —
married. You, too, I expect very soon. Well, I shall
be alone. Hard to bear. Am no longer young. And
so, and so — can't help it. You'll understand — must marry
again."

The princess turned very red, and then became paler
than usual. She cast down her eyes, and said in her
weak voice —

" I quite understand, papa. Frau Flammert has well
deserved it."

He started as if he had been shot. " Frau Scholz," he
stammered — " Frau Scholz. But how do you know .? Has
any one told you already ? "

" But my dear papa ! " was all that she replied, with
a melancholy, reproachful smile.

" Stepmother — al ways such things. Would have gladly
spared you. It'll cease when you marry — and if you prefer
it, you can go to your uncle at Marwurt."

"Do you want me out of the house?" she asked

sadly.

"No, oh no!" he said at once. "I only mean —
living together might be difficult — on account of the
difference in rank."

"That need not trouble you, papa. I shall meet

356 MORGANATIC

your wife quite easily, I am grateful to her that she
is so much to you. And" — she spoke more softly, and
her voice trembled — "you will be glad to know that
mamma had no prejudice against her. On the contrary."
Something rose in his throat, and made breathing
difficult. He cleared his throat loudly, in order to get
rid of the obstruction. A distant voice sounded from
the grave, in order to absolve him. But the absolution
was itself a verdict.

When he had regained his composure, he asked,
"There's still another thing; how shall your — my — Frau
Scholz address you ? "

"Doesn't she know that my name is Hildegard .J"'
asked the princess, simply.

Her father embraced her. " You're an angel, Hilde-
gard."

As far back as she could remember, the poor, un-
attractive creature had never received a caress from her
father. How she would have liked to have remained a little
while warmly folded in his arms ! But the happy moment
did not last. The prince set her free, and got up to go.

The prince told Frau Scholz briefly, but with visible
emotion, of the satisfactory way in which he had spent
his morning. Despite her efforts at self-control, she burst
into tears, and Nicoline alternately kissed her father's
hand and her mother's face. She was particularly de-
lighted that her mother should be called Baroness von
Aseid.

" See, mummy," she whispered, between the kisses,
"I've not only married you, but also given you a name.
The thing could not have been done more perfectly."

The prince suggested to his future, who was also his
past and his present, that he should introduce her at once
to the Princess Hildegard.

Nicoline clapped her hands, "Yes, mummy, go!
Go at once ! And be just as nice to her as you know
how ! ''

"Won't you come too?" said the prince.

She hesitated, turned crimson, was silent for a while,
and then said softly —

MORGANATIC 357

" Thank you, papa. But, you know — I'm sensitive —
you understand ! "

" Rubbish ! "" exclaimed the prince, crossly, in order
to hide the slight trembling of his voice. " Hildegard is
sensible and kind. There's nothing to fear."

Thanks to the tact and naturalness of the Princess
Hildegard, the first meeting went much more pleasantly
than those who took part in it had imagined possible.
Prince Johann took his fiancee and his daughter into the
library, sent for Princess Hildegard, and, as she entered,
said —

" I want to introduce my future wife and her daughter."

Both got up and bowed in silence. The princess gave
her hand to Frau Scholz, and asked softly —

" May I call you mother ? "

Frau Scholz looked at her, and, with sudden emotion,
put her arms round her.

" My good, dear princess ? "

" You must call ilie daughter, will you, mother ? "

Frau Scholz nodded, and her tears fell on the princess's
scanty brown hair.

Hildegard then turned to Nicoline, who, fiUed with
deep emotion, stood beside her mother.

" Welcome to the house of your father, my beautiful
sister," she said.

Nicoline, who was a head taller than the sickly, plain
girl, bent down and kissed her. Then the princess put
her arms round her neck, and said passionately

" Oh, how glad I am ! How I have longed for this
moment ! How I have always admired you ! Your
beauty, your regal stature, your splendid voice! Only
admired, believe me, never envied ! "

Nicoline then asked the princess to take her to her
apartments, and there the sisters spent a happy half-hour.
The two girls talked freely and unrestrainedly about all
that lay closest to their hearts. It was hard for Hilde-
gard to part with her sister when it was time for her
to go.

Until the wedding, they spent almost the whole of
everv day together. Through the kindness of the Grand

358 MORGANATIC

Duke, all formalities were shortened and simplified. The
director cancelled the contract of his chief singer. The
publication of banns was dispensed with. The oflSce
which dealt with such things had quickly prepared the
patent of nobility for the Jiancee who was so well received
by the Court. One sunny morning the marriage was
quietly celebrated in the chapel of the castle, after the
Minister of the Interior had conducted the civil ceremony.
The Grand Duke and his heir were present ; the Grand
Duchess was represented by her first lady-in-waiting.
The couple drove from the chapel to the railway-station,
whence they set out for a tour in Italy, to be extended
even to Palermo. Hildegard and Nicoline were in the
Court waiting-room. The parting of mother and daughter
was long and painful. The prince had taken it for
granted that Nicoline would give up the stage, but she
had declared that she had no intention of so doing.
While her mother was in Italy, she had to fulfil her
London engagement.

" I can't imagine it ! " complained her mother. " When
I come back, I shan't find you here — and you'll be quite
alone in a strange land, and be living so far from me."

"Mummy, such is life. I must. We must. I've
won my first campaign. Now I undertake my second.
By myself alone. After the first battle, when I've
conquered, you may come and see me in London."

" Ah, that would be splendid ! " exclaimed the
Princess Hildegard. " May I come too .?"

" Dearest Hildegard ! " said Nicoline, and kissed her
on the brow.

When their parents were gone, Hildegard wanted
Nicoline to go and live with her at the palace ; but she
refused. She would be leaving Diesa in a few days, and,
until then, the preparations for her journey would wholly
occupy her. Mr. Griin had arrived in Diesa soon after
Easter, and she found his help invaluable. Before she
left, she was able to procure for him the Diesa medal for
art and science, and the order of merit ; and to take with
her to Paris, for Signor Conti, her singing mistress's
husband, the cross of a commander of the Grand Ducal

MORGANATIC 859

house. She was to go first to Paris, with a suite of a
lady companion, a lady accompanist, and a maid.

They put up at Paris, by Mr. Griin's desire, at one of
the best hotels. The papers announced her arrival in the
society news. Signora Conti, to whom she went first,
received her like a princess, and gave a "send-ofiF" dinner
in her honour, to which ambassadors, envoys, a minister,
and several great ladies were invited.

The first thing that Nicoline did after taking posses-
sion of her rooms at the hotel, was to write to Siegfried,
giving him her address, and saying —

" Dear Siegfried,

"I have been just an hour in Paris, and am
staying three or four days. I shall be glad to see you
again. I have much to tell you. And you ? I am on the
road to success. And you ?

" Your unchanged

" Nicoline."

The first day she awaited his coming with impatience
and a certain excitement, the next day with surprise and
annoyance. But he did not come. On the fourth day,
the post brought her letter back with the legend, " Not
known. Gone away, leaving no address. Return to
sender."

Before this, little Coppde, who had learnt her arrival
from the newspapers, had been to see her in order to get
material for a long article in the Verdngetorix about
her Diesa performances, her London plans, her mother's
marriage, and the Grand Ducal Court ; and, in return, he
had told her the latest gossip about the people she had
formerly known in Paris. She waited until he should
mention Siegfried, but he thought it better to avoid doing
so. Then she asked straight out —

" Do you still see Prince Siegfried ? "

An ironical smile played round the young man''s
mouth.

" Prince Siegfried ? No, mademoiselle ; I have not
seen him since he left Paris."

360 MORGANATIC

" What ! isn't he here ? " she asked.

" No, mademoiselle," replied Copp&.

"Where is he, then?"

" I don't know exactly. People say all sorts of things ;
but it's such nonsense, it's not worth repeating."

" But if I ask you to ? " she said.

" Well, then, yes. Some say he has gone to America,
in order to catch a rich heiress ; others, that he has
allied himself with foreign political adventurers, and is
playing the part of a revolutionary chief, a claimant to
the throne or something of the sort, in a piratical state."

At the first words Nicoline turned suddenly pale, at
the following she regained her colour.

The prince is evidently slandered," she murmured.

"That's always the case when people speak of their
fellow-creatures. But there's some truth in the tales."

"Which tale — the American heiress hunt, or the
claimant to the throne .'' " she asked

" Perhaps in both. I can certify, from my own know-
ledge, that he was much seen at American houses this
winter, and was very attentive to young ladies who are
said to be heiresses — as attentive, that is, as his cold and
haughty temperament permitted him."

" You're no friend of the prince, M. Coppee."

Coppee smiled again, " His friend ! The proud
man would not have that. The abyss is too wide. But
he interests me as a problem in heredity, and our relations
were always pleasantly polite. I could tell you something
more ; but perhaps it's better that I should not speak
of it."

"Of what.?"

" Oh, a story — a little service I was able to do him ;
but let's leave it."

" You make me curious. Tell me. I insist."

Coppee bowed. " You remember the Dormans ? "

Nicoline nodded.

"The fellows preyed on him, although you could see
how far from brilliant his circumstances were. He had
sold his house and taken a furnished apartment. But
even so, they could not let him alone, and continued to act

MORGANATIC 361

the parasites I could not see it go on, although I know
it is foolish to interfere in other people's affairs. I learnt
that these nice brothers had played him a very nasty
trick. They told him that a young American, whose
acquaintance he had made at a subscription ball, was
madly in love with him, but that her parents and brother
would not hear of an alliance with a poor European prince.
She wrote to him, and he replied. She sent him her photo-
graph, and he sent his in return. The correspondence
was carried on by means of the young lady's maid, who
had to be largely rewarded. It went on for some weeks.
Then it happened that the maid left the American family,
and went to an artist of the ' Varietes,' a friend of mine.
She soon began to chatter, and told how she had played
a part in a farce which was being carried on with a rather
stupid German prince. His friends gave her love-letters
to him to copy, which she sent him, and he replied. It
was amusing at first, but it lasted too long, and began to
get wearisome. My friend questioned her, and learnt who
the German prince was, and who were his friends. She
knew that I was acquainted with Prince Siegfried, and
told me the whole story red-hot. I then questioned the
young woman, for I wanted to find out what she had
done with Prince Siegfried's love-letters. She had given
them up to the Dormans, and she was sorry, because she
understood they were valuable. We forbade her to
continue the deceit, and she was quite ready to break
with the Dormans, for she was not at all pleased with
them ; for they had all along promised her a reward,
but had not kept their word. I asked myself why the
Dormans had acted like this. My first idea was that
they meant to extort money, and so the prince's letters
that were in their possession would come in useful. I
learnt later that I was mistaken. The wretches had
only set the business on foot in order to swindle the
poor prince out of the few louis he gave them for the
maid, money which they kept for themselves. I deter-
mined to protect the prince from these curious friends. I
invited the Dormans to my friend's house, confronted
them with the maid, and asked them to give up the

362 MORGANATIC

letters. At first they took a very high tone, but that
availed nothing with me, as you may well imagine, made-
moiselle. Then they declared that they had burnt the
letters. I did not believe that, and decided, therefore, to
reveal the trick to the prince. At first he was greatly
ashamed, then broke out into a veritable fury — uttered
threats against the Dormans, which, had they been carried
out, would have cost him some thousands of francs. I
feared I had set more mischief afoot than I had intended,
and did what I could to calm the raging prince. It seems
that I had no success. It came to an ugly conflict
between the prince and the two rascals. I am told that
he called them to account, and gave them a horsewhipping.
They did not boast about it, but it became known, and
was even published in some scurrilous newspaper, Soon
after, Prince Siegfried vanished, leaving no certain informa-
tion behind him."

Nicoline did not interrupt him in his long tale, which
he told with evident enjoyment. She thanked him for
his interesting information, and dismissed him without
further inquiries.

His story made a very strong impression on her.
Notwithstanding all the careful detail, she did not quite
believe it. Siegfried owed her nothing but honesty. That
had been expressly arranged between them. If he loved
her, how could he be carrying on adventures with
Americans .'' If he did not love her, why did he not tell
her so, as he had promised .'' And why should he marry
an American.!' Because of her money. She, Nicoline,
was certain to be earning in a few years four or five
hundred thousand marks a year, and that would surely
be enough for him. Or did he prefer to be supported by
an heiress rather than by an artist.'' That must be it.
But then, according to their compact, he ought to give
her formally her freedom. Was she, was his word so
little to him, that he did not think it worth the trouble
to write a few lines : " Nicoline, I release you from your
promise, and take back mine.''" Her pride refused to
let her think that for a moment. She knew Siegfried to
be weak and selfish, and had always been indulgent

MORGANATIC -

regarding those imperfections of his character. She refused,
however, to helieve that he was capable of a mean act,
for she had as high an opinion of his blood as of her own.
She did not confess it, but felt dimly that it was his
descent which, together with his handsome face and
figure and his love for her, that attracted her and kept her
true to him. Could he be false to his origin ? No, no.
Coppee's gossip could not be true — at least, not entirely.
She gave Siegfried the benefit of the doubt. She must wait
until he explained. Till then their contract remained
binding.

It gave her a certain satisfaction when the post re-
turned her her letter to Siegfried. Her imagination began
to work. He had mysteriously hidden himself, in order one
day to come brilliantly forth with brave deeds behind him —
perhaps really with a crown on his head. Why should
a Meissen-Loewenstein-Franka not be capable of that ?

In London, where Mr. Griin had rented a splendid flat
for her in a big building in the neighbourhood of Whitehall,
she became a society lion. The impresario did what he could
to bring that about ; but Nicoline made it peculiarly easy,
for she was specially adapted to make a " sensation."
Was she not a step-daughter of a veritable prince of the
blood, of a brother of a reigning Grand Duke, and of a
brother-in-law of a king, and almost a relative of the native
royal family ? People who made her acquaintance might
hope some day to knit up relations with his royal highness,
or, at least, with his morganatic wife. What an excite-
ment! What enchantment! And her charming, strong
personality ! Heroic legends had preceded her arrival
in England. When both the European and American
newspapers published accounts of her triumphs at Diesa,
and also the story of her mother's marriage to Prince
Johann, Nicoline's American fellow-pupil felt sure she had
a famous acquaintance, and began to boast about her.
She became, for the correspondent of one of the chief
New York papers, an inexhaustible source of interesting
anecdotes about the new star, of whom the public could
not read enough. She told him the story of the revolver
and the Levantine. She exaggerated and embroidered

364 MORGANATIC

shamelessly. The journalist concocted a story, in the style
of the romancers of the wild west, that made the blood
run cold — a night surprise, a desperate life-and-death
struggle, mortal wounding of the good-for-nothing as-
sailant. The tale, of course, found its way across the
Atlantic, and was reprinted in the London daily and
weekly papers. Everybody read it, and Nicoline appeared
to aU in the light of a lovely maiden, beautiful in the
privacy of home, brave in battle, a terror to her enemies,
a delight to her friends, the embodiment of the English
ideal of woman. Her photograph sold in thousands.
The enthusiasm was so great, that tickets for her first
performance became as valuable as shares on the Stock
Exchange, and the object of wild speculation. She did
not need to be either the beautiful woman nor the great
artist she was to secure a tremendous reception. But it
did not harm her chances of success that she should be a
heroine after the heart of the English, that she should
hypnotize the snobs through her connection with royalty,
and charm connoisseurs by her wonderful voice, her
admirable acting, and her dazzling beauty.

Since their separation, mother and daughter daily ex-
changed telegrams, and, after her first performance, Nicoline
wired —

"Success almost intoxicating. Press entirely kind.
Griin says, ' She came, sang, and conquered ; London lies at
her feet.' Why were you not there ? That was wanting
to my happiness. Am well and happy. Kisses for both.

NlCOUNE."

On her first free evening, the German Ambassador gave
a dinner in her honour, and invited the most distinguished
persons in London society. Nicoline did not speak English,
but spoke French perfectly. She sat at dinner on the left
of the ambassador. On his right was an English duchess.
Nicoline''s neighbour was Mr. Edwin Mallock Gray, an
American, and the duchess's younger brother, who had
expressly asked for the privilege, although, according to
the strict order of precedence, he had no right to that
position. But when Mr. Gray made a request, it was not,

MORGANATIC 365

as a rule, refused, if it was possible to grant it. For he
was one of the greatest capitalists in the United States,
a millionaire himself and connected with millionaires, coal-
king of North America, engaged in a campaign that
would make him indiarubber king of both hemispheres :
in short, one of the powers of the world.

Mr. Gray had learned German at Harvard, and, after
the completion of his studies in America, had spent two
years at German high schools, and so spoke German
fluently. He was possibly about thirty-five, but it was
not easy to judge his age from his appearance. In repose
he looked older, in animated talk, younger. He was a
typical American to look at ; tall, thin, almost lanky in
figure, a clean-shaven face, his fair hair, sprinkled with
grey, parted at the side, a massive chin, hard mouth, proud,
imposing biow, but remarkably soft, dreamy, brown eyes,
which gave his face at times an almost paradoxical, gentle
expression. Nicoline learned later that his eyes and
certain peculiarities of temperament were inherited from
his Irish mother.

When the ambassador introduced Mr. Gray, he
added, after mentioning his name, with a courteous smile,
" Industry captain."

Nicoline, who knew neither the term nor its significa-
tion, thought that she had not understood the first half
of the expression, and judged by the last that the stranger
held some sort of military rank. She therefore addressed
her neighbour as " captain," a circumstance that greatly
amused him.

His whole conversation was an homage, but his remarks
were always in good taste, to the point, and never clothed
in meaningless phrases. He congratulated her on her
unusual talent, mentioned the indelible impression that
the three parts she had as yet filled had made on her
hearers, and remarked as if in parenthesis — " I was one of
them each time." He asked about her future creations,
and whether there was any chance of her visiting
America.

" I think my impresario means to take me there at the
end of September.

366 MORGANATIC

"You will have even a greater triumph in America.
We are a nation that knows how to appreciate perfection."

" You exaggerate, captain."

He smiled. " That is hardly my way."

" I am very far from considering myself perfect," said
Nicoline. "He who takes his art seriously, has a high
ideal, and must despair of ever reaching it."

" Modesty is a passive, not an active virtue. Supposing
that you are sincere."

"Captain!"

" I say, supposing you to be sincere, modesty in such a
case as yours proves that you do not sufficiently know
your powers. What would you say of a jSeld-marshal
who did not know the number and value of his troops .'' "

" Forgive the discourtesy of another question. What
would you think of a field- marshal who chattered about
the number and value of his troops to the enemy ? " asked
Nicoline.

" But I am not your enemy," said Gray, softly, and
with singular warmth.

That was as much as good manners permitted at a
first meeting, less through the words than the tone. She
was displeased, and became cold and monosyllabic. Her
neighbour observed it, and spoke of impersonal things :
the season, London and New York theatres, music,
European and American landscape. It struck her how
he divided his conversation into two classes of subjects :
the things he knew, which he spoke with authority,
and those he did not know, about which he modestly
asked for instruction. His opinions were like coins of
the worth of which there could be no doubt. He made
it quite clear that he recognized the competency of
his interlocutor to answer his inquiries, and that he ex-
pected from him accuracy and sincerity. He spoke in
a low tone, like a man who never found it necessary to
shout or to interrupt others in order to gain a hearing,
and who had no need to emphasize his words in order
to recommend them to his listener's attention. Hitherto
her uncle was the only person that Nicoline had heard
speak with equal authority, but she had never received

MORGANATIC 367

from any man a similar impression of intellectual
superiority.

In the drawing-room, after dinner, she saw how her
neighbour, when he left her side for a moment, was sm--
rounded, and how respectful was the attention paid him
by all, even by the ladies ; he was always the centre of
changing groups, and she thought to herself she must have
misunderstood. It was impossible that the gentleman was
a captain ; he must be a general at the very least. Mr.
Gray began decidedly to interest her ; she would have
liked to find out who he really was, but there was no one
present whom she knew sufficiently well to ask.

His sister, the duchess, came over to her, and talked
to her in bad French. It struck Nicoline that during the
whole evening Mr. Gray had not once referred to her
parents — her first experience of the kind since her arrival
in London. It annoyed her a little, while at the same
time it impressed her, and left her in doubt whether her
origin was unknown to him, or whether the democratic
pride of an American republican made the matter of no
interest. The duchess, on the other hand, inquired about
his royal highness, her father, about the Diesa Court, a
little about the baroness, her mother ; asked if her father
was coming to London, and invited Nicoline to call on her
and bring her parents should they be with her.

Mr. Gray joined them, and asked Nicoline, " When are
you at home ? "

" I have not fixed any day, chiefly because I have no
free time."

" May I call on you all the same ? " asked Gray.

She looked at him. His soft, imploring eyes fascinated
her. As she hesitated, the duchess said —

"I will come with my brother. Fix a day and hour
after next Wednesday."

Nicoline named the following Sunday afternoon, for on
that day there would be neither a rehearsal nor a per-
formance."

"Six days! That's a long time," murmured Gray.
" But I hope to see you at my sister's before that, and to
hear you at the theatre at least four times."

368 MORGANATIC

" At least ! at most ! " exclaimed Nicoline.

" You are thinking of the fatigue of singing ; I of the
enjoyment of listening."

Nicoline wished to leave the embassy early and
quietly. Mr. Gray, who did not lose sight of her for a
moment, discovered her wish, and accompanied her to her
carriage.

When Mr. Griin came to see her at his usual horn:
the next day, the first question she asked him was if he
knew Captain Gray.

" Captain Gray ? A very ordinary name. What is
he .'' An English officer in the Guards .'"'

"No; an American. If he's an officer I can't say,
although he was introduced to me as ' captain ' — the
Duchess of Berkshire's brother."

" Oh ! " exclaimed the impresario, " Mr. Edwin Mallock
Gray ! Of course I know him. Everybody knows him.
He's one of our biggest millionaires ; the third or second
richest man in the United States ! "

" Oh, now I understand," said Nicoline. " But what
does ' captain ' mean ? "

' You musn't attach any importance to that. We
Americans are not republicans and democrats for nothing.
With us every millionaire must belong to a noble family,
and every hi- or tri-millionaire must descend from a royal
house, and every citizen must have a title. Perhaps Mr.
Gray is in a militia regiment ; or he bears the title as the
owner of a yacht."

" Does Mr. Gray live in London ? " asked Nicoline.

" I don't think so. He is probably here for a holiday.
For such men, with their immense plans and world-
embracing operations, the fever, and fret, and hurry of
European capitals mean repose and rest. But it is quite
possible that he came over to hear you."

«No!"

" Oh yes ! We worked over there enough for you, to
rouse people's interest, and Mr. Mallock Gray is known to
be a musical enthusiast. He has founded splendid con-
servatoires in three towns, and often arranges operatic
performances merely for himself and his friends in which

MORGANATIC 860

the greatest European prima dormas and tenors take part.
Unfortunately, I have not succeeded in coming into
relations with him."

" Are you anxious to do so ? " inquired Nicoline.

" Very much so,"" replied Griin.

At that moment the maid entered with a sealed
packet that had been brought by an old gentleman. He
asked for a receipt.

Nicoline, in much curiosity, tore off the paper, and
discovered a jewel-case. She opened it, and found a
wonderful diamond necklace. There was a card on which
she read: Mr. Edwin Mallock Gray "begs Fraulein
Nicoline von Aseid to do him the honour of accepting
this small token of his admiration, and of gratitude for
the pleasure her art has given him."

Nicoline turned very red. In her first excitement,
almost without knowing what she was doing, she handed
the jewels and the card to Griin.

" Good Heavens ! " escaped him. And he hurriedly
added, " I beg your pardon. That's just like him. You
sing pearls, and he thanks you with diamonds. That is
the way in which a millionaire expresses his enthusiasm.
These stones represent a fortune."

She had listened in silence. She thought of her
mother. Then she went to the writing-table and wrote
on her card : Nicoline von Aseid " thanks Mr. Gray for
his attention, but cannot permit any gifts to be offered
her except flowers."

She had the messenger summoned. It was the jeweller
himself. She handed him the case and an envelope con-
taining the card, and asked him to deliver both to the
sender.

Griin was a silent witness of this scene, and tried not
to betray what he thought of it.

Nicoline sang that evening. When she reached the
theatre she found her dressing-room transformed into a
conservatory, in which the rarest and most magnificent
orchids, precious exotics of all kinds, filled every free space.
She was no connoisseur, but she guessed that these rare
flowers represented a fortune. No card named the donor,

2 b

370 MORGANATIC

but that was not necessary. And she had formally per-
mitted, almost asked for, this Crcesus-like homage ! She
was annoyed with herself, and regretted that she had
been moved to imitate her mother. When she appeared
on the stage, flowers were showered on her from all parts
of the house so thickly that the servants, to the great
sensation of the audience, had partly to clear them away
before the performance could begin. At the conclusion
of each act she was presented from the wings with
enormous wreaths and bouquets. Gray did not show
himself. Nicoline was so distracted by all this that she
had to pull herself together in order not to spoil her part.

The next afternoon she called on the Duchess of
Berkshire. Mr. Gray was there; he greeted Nicoline
respectfully, and made no allusion to what had happened.
It was the duchess who asked with perfect unconcern —

"Tell me, mademoiselle, what difference do you see
between jewels and flowers ? "

Nicoline was irritated with herself for blushing, strove
against her embarrassment, and made a brave effort to keep
cool and calm.

" A difference in value, duchess."

"Is that it.? But that's of no importance to my
brother."

Gray did not seem to have heard these remarks,
" You must forgive me, Fraulein," he said, " for not hitting
your taste at once. I did not know that you preferred
flowers to precious stones. You are certainly right.
Flowers are more beautiful."

" I want you," added the duchess, " to accept the
necklace from me. You won't refuse me the little
souvenir."

She rang the bell and gave an order to the man who
answered it. The butler immediately brought the case,
and the duchess insisted that Nicoline should accept it in
due form. Nicoline asked Gray not to send flowers again
to the theatre.

" Your command is a law to me," he said, with a
bow. And then added, smiling, " Laws must be strictly
interpreted."

MORGANATIC 871

She did not then understand what he meant, but she
discovered later. He sent no more flowers to the theatre,
but her house was daily lavishly supplied with fresh flowers
by a first-rate florist.

On Sunday afternoon, according to arrangement, the
duchess returned Nicoline's visit. To her surprise, she was
accompanied by the duke. She made a few commonplace
remarks, but did not stay long. When she got up, she
said huiTiedly, in a low voice —

" My brother intends to call on you. Be kind to him,
mademoiselle, he deserves it." She pressed her hand and
looked into her eyes.

Nicoline was much disturbed. What did these remarks,
this recommendation mean ? Why had not Gray come
with his sister ? She began to regard his visit with
suspicion, and her strong heart was seized with an un-
known feeling of oppression.

She had not long to wait. When Gray was announced,
Nicoline went to meet him, and gave him her hand.
After answering a few questions about her health, Nicoline
said —

" Mr. Gray, you've turned my house into a flower-
garden."

" You allowed me to send you flowers."

"I did not mean it like this. I must ask you to
discontinue the kindness."

" Why are you so cruel .'' You will not listen to what
the flowers whisper to you."

Nicoline frowned, and said curtly, " I don't understand
the language of flowers."

" Then let me translate. The flowers say : ' He who
sends them, changes your house into a garden of flowers :
won't you do the same for him ? ' "

" I am to send you flowers ? "

Gray bit his lips, and replied softly, " Be as kind as
you can be roguish."

" I understand you less than ever, Mr. Gray."

He was silent for a little while, and seemed to consider.
Then he looked up and said in firm tones —

"You are right. I don't see why I should treat an

372 MORGANATIC

important affair in my life less seriously than my usual
business which does not touch me so closely. So, without
the language of flowers, and without metaphor, will you
be my wife, and make me happy ? "

Nicoline started back in her chair, turned crimson, and
with a nervous laugh said —

" You don't lose much time, Mr. Gray^"

"Lost time is the one thing on earth that can't be
recovered. I humbly beg for your answer. Will you be
my wife ? "

Nicoline became very serious, and answered with a voice
trembling with emotion —

" Your question is a surprise, I was not prepared "

" And you need time for consideration. That I
understand, although I am sorry. Only tell me that you've
no antipathy towards me. Then I will wait. Only not
long, not long, I implore you. Life is so short."

Nicoline looked down. She stammered out the words
from her trembling lips.

" You've not rightly understood me, Mr. Gray. I need
no time for consideration. That won't alter things. I'm
not free."

" Not free," exclaimed Gray. " You are engaged ? "

Nicoline shook her head.

" Then — in love .'' " asked Gray.

" I have pledged my word," she replied dully.

Gray seized her hand, which she hesitatingly drew
away,

" If you've pledged your word, you've done so without
love. Everything you say proves that. I'm right, am I
not?"

Nicoline said nothing.

" My dear Fraulein von Aseid," he begged, " trust me,
tell me the whole truth. Have your parents arranged a
marriage for you .'' "

" It's not that. It's a complicated story. Absolve me
from telling it you. I have given my word, and I can't take
it back."

" Who is the man who stands in my way ? "

"The best shot in the world."

MORGANATIC S73

" An American, then,"' said Gray, surprised.

Although she felt so serious, Nicoline could not
help smiling at this naive outbreak of American
pride.

" No ; a German."

« But who is he ? "

" There would be no point in mentioning his name,"
said Nicoline.

"I'm ready to fight for you, if need be. But I
must, at least, know my rival. If he's the better
man, then I must yield. That is just. Only he must
prove it."

An iron determination made itself felt in his voice.
He bit his lips hard. His usually soft brown eyes flamed
with a duU glow. She had the feeling that it would be
difficult for any one to get the better of this man
in a struggle. She could not subdue his latent
strength.

" I do not allow myself to be fought for," she said
firmly. " I'm not a passive booty of war."

He said nothing, and a long, uncomfortable silence
ensued. At last he broke it with —

" Then there's no hope for me ? "

" I'm not free," she replied softly.

" But, in Heaven's name ! " he exclaimed passionately,
" you're not engaged, not in love, not promised by your
parents — what binds you .'' "

« My word."

" We're turning in a circle. We get no further. At
least, tell me how and why you gave your word ? "

" Don't press me, Mr. Gray ; I'll be greatly indebted
to you for your forbearance."

He let his eyes, which were very sad, rest on her
beautiful bent face, seemed to reflect, then suddenly got
up, made a deep bow, and said —

" I obey. I will always obey you, but be a kind
mistress."

When he had gone, Nicoline gave orders that she was
at home to no one, went into her bedroom, drew the
curtains, and so changed the sunny May afternoon into

374 MORGANATIC

twilight, threw herself on the sofa, shut her eyes, and sat
in judgment on her feelings. Here was a crisis which
decided her life. Was she right to refuse Gray .-' A soft
voice whispered that she had not refused him, that out of
the " No ■" spoken aloud, he had heard a timid " Yes," and
would not consider himself dismissed. If he came back —
what then .■' Where did her heart lead her .'' She was not
in love with Gray. She thought she was quite clear about
that. She did not feel for him what she had read about
in her favourite poets. But perhaps the poets did not
speak the truth. Or perhaps girls feel differently from
men poets ; or she was not one of those who could entirely
lose herself in a man she loved. She was certainly not
indifferent to him. He interested her immensely, and his
passionate feeling — she could not be blind to it — flattered
and moved her. Was she, then, more in love with Sieg-
fried than with Gray ? Involuntarily she shook her head.
Siegfried was much younger and handsomer than Gray,
but far below him intellectually. But he was so un-
happy ; while Gray — she was angry with him that he
was so frightfully rich. No, not with him, with herself;
because she caught herself being impressed with his wealth,
and she considered that a vulgar impulse ; because, ac-
cording to the way of mankind, being discontented with
herself, she liked to vent her displeasure on another.
Siegfried now had no one on earth except her. If it was
true that he was unfaithful to her, of course, he deserved
no consideration. But perhaps it was slander. She
must not betray him while he, perhaps, 'was venturing
much in thought of her. Oh, if she could only speak
to him ! But she knew nothing about him. His silence
seemed no longer sympathetic, but inconsiderate and
cruel.

She thought and thought for hours, until her thoughts
became a dream, and she fell asleep exhausted by the
excitement. She was awakened by a knock at the door.
The maid came in with a letter, which a footman had
brought. He was waiting for an answer.

Nicoline went into the sunny boudoir, and read, with
eyes which the light hurt —

MORGANATIC 876

"Dear Miss Aseid,

" Will you be very nice ? Come and dine with
me. I will wait till 8.30. We shall be quite alone, just
you and I. I cein taite no refusal.

" Always yours,

" Gladys Berkshiee."

She hesitated a little. Would the duchess's brother
be there? "Quite alone, just you and I." The duchess
was not capable of a subterfuge. She wrote in reply —

"My dear Duchess,

"Best thanks for your kind invitation. I accept.
" Yours truly,

"NicoLiNE Aseid."

When, shortly after eight, Nicoline entered the
duchess's drawing-room, she came forward quickly to meet
her. She was very simply dressed, and wore no jewelry,
except her wedding-ring and the two long diamond ear-
rings which she never took off in the house. She pressed
both the girl's hands, and said —

"It's very nice of you to have accepted, dear Miss
Aseid. Forgive my importunity. But I was so impatient,
so nervous, I felt I must see you to-day. Let us go to
dinner at once."

She told the servants not to wait, but to put the
things on the table, and they would help themselves.

As soon as she and Nicoline were alone, she began
without ceremony —

" My brother has told me everything, dear Miss Aseid.
It is a great disappointment for him and for me. I do not
believe it can be your last word. You have a secret, and
do not care to tell it to a man. I understand that. But
to me ! To a woman ! To a sister ! "

" Would you really like so much to have me for a
sister-in-law, duchess .-' "

"Oh, indeed I should. You have a fine nature, and
my brother loves you sincerely. I do so wish to see him
happy. He has had so little happiness in his life ! And

376 MORGANATIC

he so deserves to be happy ! What I can do towards it,
I mean to do — to persuade you — convince you. I am ten
years his senior. He is my only brother. I can say
I brought him up. Our poor mother did not trouble
much about us, she was too beautiful and too worldly.
Just think, she was killed by a fall from her horse when
hunting at the age of sixty-two ! Edwin's marriage, too,
was a sad mistake."

" His marriage .'' "

"He married a beautiful, soulless statue in our set.
It lasted six years, and was six years of hell. Do you
know — as I am an American, and old enough to be your
mother, and you are not a silly doll, I may talk to you
as to a sensible person — his wife would not have any
children because it would spoil her beauty. Edwin put
up with it for six years, then he made an end of it."

"Divorced?"

" Divorced. Do you mind that ? "

" I beg your pardon — what has it to do with me .'' "
observed Nicoline.

"But it has. You must be Edwin's wife. Through
you he would become a happier and better man. I assure
you you would develop much good in him. Do say ' Yes,'
now at once," returned the duchess.

" Since Mr. Gray has told you everything "

" Not free ! Very well. But Miss Aseid ; think for a
moment. Do you know that nowadays an emperor's
daughter would not refuse Edwin Mallock Gray ? Except
perhaps if she was passionately in love with another. Is
that your case ? "

Nicoline was silent.

" Your secret, I must know your secret. Tell me, tell
me ? " implored the duchess.

" But there is no secret. I can speak out with head
erect. I have given my word to Prince Siegfried of
Meissen Loewenstein - Franka - Level," said Nicoline,
simply.

The duchess looked at her in surprise. " Who is he ?
Prince Siegfried of Meissen. Oh ! forgive me, I don't
know the Almanach de Gotha by heart."

MORGANATIC 3T7

" You wouldn't find him there."

« What? he's not in the Almanach de Gotha ?"

"No, for he's not actually Prince of Loewenstein-
Franka — or how shall I put it, he is actually, but, so it
appears, not legally. He is the issue of the morganatic
marriage of a Prince of Loewenstein-Franka and a
Baroness von Gronendal, and is not recognized by the
Grand Ducal family of Loewenstein-Franka."

" Oh, these morganatic marriages," exclaimed the
duchess. " It is incomprehensible . how you European
women can countenance such things. A woman, if she
is pretty and well educated — she need not even be too
well educated — is the equal in birth of any man, indeed,
she is superior to any man, were he a hundred times king
or emperor. I am ashamed of European women. They
do no honour to our sex. Only wait. We Americans
will abolish the barbarity of these morganatic mar-
riages " She suddenly stopped, hesitated, and added

in confusion, " I beg your pardon, Miss Aseid, I had
forgotten your mother."

" Don't apologize. I am entirely of your opinion.
My mother has always been an uncrowned queen. She
did not insist on the title out of pride. But so far as I
am concerned, I should regard it as a serious offence if
any one ventured to come to me with any morganatic
nonsense. You are quite right," concluded Nicoline.

" Bravo ! But now to the matter in hand. What is
your prince, who is no prince, doing ? Where is he ? "
asked the duchess.

« I don't know."

" You don't know where your ^ficmeS is ? "

" He is not my Jtcmce."

" But, Miss Aseid, don't talk to me in riddles. You
have given your word, and are not engaged. How is that
to be understood ? "

" The prince — or whatever you like to call him — asked
me to marry him when I was studying in Paris. He was
so terribly alone in the world, without brothers or sisters,
his father was dead, his mother ill, and not very fond
of him — since then, she is dead too — son of one of the

378 MORGANATIC

greatest houses in the world, and yet without a family;
standing very near the proudest throne and yet an out-
sider without position or profession, a thorn in the flesh of
his nearest and dearest, a laughing stock to people in
general — all this awoke my sympathy. But I would not
formally engage myself. I wished to remain outwardly
free in order to win a place for myself in the world by my
own efforts," confessed Nicoline.

"A brilliant place which princesses might envy,"
interposed her grace.

" You are very kind. And so I said I can't give you
my hand yet, but I pledge you my word that I will not
engage myself to another until — well until either you can
give me an assured position, or " — her voice became lower
— " until you release me from my promise."

" H'm, weU. And you don't know where the gentle-
man is ? "

" No. He may be in America."
" May ! Doesn't he write to you ? "
" No. He's probably preparing some surprise."
" How long have you lost sight of him ? "
" Since I left Paris. Let us say since October."
The duchess got up. Neither had eaten much. She
took Nicoline's arm, and led her on to the terrace in front
of the dining-room and sank down beside her on a divan.
The western sky glowed red with the remains of the sun-
set. The Sunday crowds in Hyde Park spread far beneath
them. Berkshire House was in Park Lane, and the
street lamps blinked at them through the light evening
mist.

"Nicoline," said the duchess, fondly and warmly,
" you're a child. I know the world and life. Believe me,
this prince does not love you, and you do not love him.
His fate touched your imagination and your kind heart.
You only pitied him, and nothing more. But you're too
precious to bestow yourself as alms. Let the prince go, it
won't make him unhappy. But you wiU make my brother
happy if you give him your hand."

Nicoline slowly shook her head. " I cannot break my
word."

MORGANATIC 879

" Rather break a heart, a warm, honest heart full of
love for you."

" My heart, but not my word. To break my word
would make me terribly unhappy. No ; so long as he does
not set me free "

" He will set you free," eagerly exclaimed the duchess,
" he must. He takes no interest in you. Or he would not
leave you for months without news of him. You really
mean it that you don't know where he is ? "

" I have been told that he may be in America."

" Let my brother take the matter up. If he's there
he will find him. And as you insist on it, he shall
formally release you."

" Do you think he can be bought .■* "

« I don't think, I know."

« Oh, duchess ! "

"Call me Gladys. You don't know, you don't know
yet what money is, a great deal of money — tres, tres beaw-
coup dTargent " she said in her ridiculous French.

" Would Edwin give me up to another for tres, ires
heaucoup d! argent f " asked Nicoline.

" That's not the same thing. No one in the world has
money enough to attract him."

" But if some one had "

"Let us keep to facts. You must be my sister-in-
law. Say yes. And give Edwin the right to do what is
necessary to set your conscience at rest."

In Nicoline's inmost heart it was as when the waves
beat up against a reef.

" Mr. Gray may try to find the prince. But if the
prince does not release me, then I am bound and remain
bound."

" How can you be the slave, the victim of an uncon-
sidered promise .-' "

" We have only one word, even if it costs us our
life."

The duchess did not smile at the pathos in Nicoline's
voice. She felt there was something adamant about the
girl, against which no one could strike without being
wounded.

380 MORGANATIC

" Write down the prince's name, Nicoline," asked the
duchess.

She hesitated a little, but when the duchess repeated
her request, she went in and did it.

" May Edwin go to see you in the meanwhile ? "
" I don't know — I think — no, it's better we should avoid
each other."

" Don't be hard and cold, Nicoline, for my sake."

" I shall be glad to meet Mr. Gray at your house.
He is sympathetic enough not to press me — if it can't be."

The duchess embraced her tenderly. "You will be
my sister-in-law," she whispered. She insisted on taking
Nicoline home in her own brougham, first going for a
long drive in Hyde Park.

In the course of the following week, Nicoline was
presented at Court by the German ambassadress; she
sang at a Court concert, at which, out of consideration
for her parents, no one performed besides herself; in
this way it was wished to emphasize the great diiference
between herself and other artists. After this distinc-
tion the full flood of social life broke over her, ready
to absorb her. But she defended herself against it
bravely and effectually. She refused, almost without excep-
tion, on the score of her professional engagements, the in-
vitations showered on her by the aristocracy, and declined
all requests to sing at private parties, even at the house of
a South African millionaire who offered her a fee of four
hundred guineas. Her success in public far exceeded Mr.
Griin's wildest hopes. He, nor indeed any other opera
impresario, had ever had such a season. Evil tongues
certainly began to busy themselves with her reputation.
People saw how the Duchess of Berkshire chaperoned her.
They heard how at the concert given by Nicoline for the
benefit of the German Hospital in London the astonishing
sum of three thousand eight hundred pounds had been
made, and that a person unnamed, afterwards discovered
to be Mr. Edwin Mallock Gray, had paid two thousand
five hundred guineas for his seat. People were not wanting
who connected that fact with her haughty refusal of the
big fees offered her to sing at private houses.

MORGANATIC 881

Happily, the futile gossip did not reach Nicoline's ears
and spoil the cordiality of her relations with the duchess.
She went to see her very often, constantly accompanied
her in Rotten Row, and dined with her two or three times
a week. She met Gray there almost every time, but he
strictly kept the promise made to his sister. He was re-
served almost to painfulness, his usual economy of words
in conversation was reduced to monosyllables, but his
melancholy brown eyes dwelt constantly on her, and
appeared to drink in her beauty with an unquenchable
thirst.

Meanwhile, he was not idle. No word was spoken
between them that made allusion to his wishes and hopes ;
but the first detectives in London and Paris, the news
agencies of the world, the information departments of
three London and New York papers, his own business
representatives in both hemispheres were working for him.
Daily reports were sent him of the results of the investi-
gations which almost from the first followed a special
line. The movements of a man leave traces behind in all
civilized countries, but generally, no one troubles about
them, and they remain unremarked. But they can be
made very plain if the sight is fortified by heavy gold
spectacles, and the attention held by means of the chink
of gold. Thus Franka and Vienna delivered up Siegfried's
life-story, that of his parents, of his mother's and father's
families, and of his latest adventures in those places.
Detailed reports of his doings in Paris were furnished by the
police, by Baroness von Gronendal's lawyer, by Siegfried's
last landlady — indeed, by all persons with whom he had had
intercourse, so that a fairly complete picture of the life he
led after his return from Vienna was composed. It was
not very satisfactory. In the autumn he had been refused
by two American heiresses. He had sold his villa, but
scarcely anything remained over of the money so gained.
A printer, an almanac publisher, a jeweller, had lodged
claims against him founded on notes of hand, and had not
been paid. Yet he seemed to have been not entirely
destitute, for from October to March he had drawn from
a bank seventy thousand francs, which had been sent hini

382 MORGANATIC

from Vienna. Since February he had been very often seen
in the company of some Brazilian adventurers, who repre-
sented themselves as political refugees, or voluntary exiles,
but who were regarded by the police as swindlers. He
left Paris with three of them in the middle of March,
and embarked under an assumed name in a messagerie
steamer bound for Rio Janeiro. Such was the outcome
of ten or twelve days, as well as a large photograph of
Siegfried, .which Gray had procured. He found his
appearance less intelligent and less brutal than he had
expected, but was repelled by his actions. Yet he scarcely
felt for him the dislike customary in a rival ; it was
rather the contempt of a high nature for a mean one.

To his sister, who was eager to learn the result of the
investigations, he merely said, " He is a contemptible
creature," and a few days later, " Even if Nicoline won't
marry me, she mustn't marry this fellow." Despite her
questions, he gave the duchess no details.

They lost trace of Siegfried after his arrival at Rio
Janeiro. The police there were not skilful, there were
no detective agencies ; reference to newspaper correspon-
dents and a bank, produced no results, and so an unpro-
ductive fortnight went by.

The last week of May brought Nicoline a great plea-
sure — a visit from her mother, who, after her return from
Italy and a stay in Diesa just long enough to settle into
Prince Johann's palace, came to London with her husband
and the Princess Hildegard. They stayed at Nicoline's
flat. The prince and his daughter travelled incognito as
Count and Countess Hunenstein, and did not present
themselves at Court.

Her mother found Nicoline looking pale and ex-
hausted ; she, on the contrary, found her mother looking
splendid, and ten years younger. Prince Johann, too,
was all the better for the Italian journey, for the new
plan of life, for the peace of mind won after so many
struggles with his conscience. He looked pleased and
animated, and was less wrapt up in himself, and more
ready to interest himself in others than ever before. He
allowed the impresario Griin to be introduced to him, and

MORGANATIC 883

went to the opera the evening of his arrival in spite of
the fatigue of the journey, in order to hear Nicoline, and
to rejoice and wonder over her success.

As soon as they got back from the railway-station,
Nicoline told her mother many things she had not been
able to say in the daily telegram. She told her much of
the Duchess of Berkshire, nothing of Gray. She showed
her the necklace which the duchess had given her, and
allowed her to show it to the prince and Hildegard.
The prince looked at the jewels in astonishment, and
said —

" The enthusiasm for art in English duchesses is very
costly. Her father the emperor, never gave my mother
anything so valuable."

He expressed a wish to make the lady's acquaintance,
and Nicoline undertook to arrange the introduction. But
there was a difficulty. Was the prince, as he was travel-
ling incognito, entitled to exact the first visit .'' He
thought so, but Nicoline feared that an English duke in
his own country would not understand such a proceeding.
She cleverly found a way out. During an entr'acte she
asked her parents and the ducal pair to come and see her
in her dressing-room, and so mutual introductions were
easily and unceremoniously effected. The extraordinary
likeness between Nicoline and the prince so surprised the
duchess that she nearly showed her astonishment. The
prince gallantly asked when he might call on her, where-
upon the duke fixed the next day.

So the intercourse began. After the exchange of
formal calls, the prince accepted an invitation to dine at
Berkshire House on condition that it was a small party.
There were only the host and hostess, their heir, the
Marquis of Reading, the duke's younger brother, the Earl
and Countess Ork, and Mr. Gray. The prince made him-
self most agreeable. He talked chiefly to Mr. Gray, both
because it was easier to talk to him, as he understood
German, and because he found him the most interesting
of all the persons present. The prince observed that the
American democracy no longer upheld the principle of
equality, but were creating an aristocracy. Gray replied —

384 MOKGANATIC

"I see no great diiference between a democratic and
an aristocratic society. In both the best man wins the
prize. Only, in a democracy he must always be ready to
compete again if he is challenged, whereas, in your aristo-
cratic monarchy, he wins an inheritance. From the true
sportsman's point of view, I think our system is to be
preferred.'"

The prince nodded, smiling. " Yes, yes. That was
our system, too, in the beginning of our history, about a
thousand years ago. But sons and grandsons find the
hereditary possession of the prize pleasanter than con-
tinual fresh struggles. Your form of society is a thousand
years behind ours. Quite a long distance for a republic
that wishes to be in advance of everything."

" That's quite a new idea ! " laughed Gray, " surpris-
ing, but witty."

That word had not often been used in connection with
Prince Johann. Nicoline listened with such delight to
their conversation that she did not hear the shy remarks
of her neighbour, Lord Reading. How extraordinarily
invigorating Gray was ! He even made the prince talka-
tive, clever, and full of ideas.

After dinner. Baroness von Aseid noticed Gray's atten-
tion to Nicoline and her behaviour, things that naturally
impressed themselves on her maternal feelings. She said
nothing until they were at home. Then, while the prince
and princess were talking over the party in the drawing-
room, she took Nicoline into her boudoir, and asked —

" Well, child, what about Mr. Gray .»"

Nicoline turned crimson. "What do you mean,
mother ? "

" You're not truthful. Do you think I'm blind ? "

" But, mummy, I assure you "

"You withhold your confidence now you're indepen-
dent. That pains me."

There was so much grief in her tone and looks that
Nicoline kissed her, and whispered —

" Mr. Gray wants to marry me."

" He has proposed to you ?

"Yes."

MORGANATIC 386

"Formally?"
"Yes."

' And you ? "

" Oh ! mummy, I can't "

" Why ? You are certainly not indifferent to him."

"I — I— am not in love. I — don't want to hurry.
When I give myself— I shall give myself wholly — for life
— life is long," said Nicoline.

" Yes. Haste is needless. I do not object to your
making sure before you decide. But-^why did you not
confide this to me ? " asked her mother.

" How could I ? You were in Italy. You can't put
things of that sort in a telegram."

" I thought such a modern young lady as you "

Nicoline kissed her mother and smiled. But she was
not at peace with her conscience. She had not been quite
sincere, and she suffered therefore. And yet she could
not make up her mind to speak of Siegfried. It seemed
to her that the considerations which prevented her accept-
ing Gray were so fragile, so slight that they would not
bear being spoken of aloud. They were for others what
a cobweb is for men, for her what a cobweb is for a

It was nearly a fortnight since Gray had received the
last news from Brazil. Now came a cablegram from Rio
containing important information. The correspondent
of a New York paper had cleverly tracked the game
he was after, and related the following: The pretended
prince had gone from Rio to Laguna, and thence to the
German Colony of Santa Catharina, and had suddenly
circulated printed proclamations in two languages, in
which he challenged the adversaries of the republican
mal-administration and adherents of the destroyed
monarchy to collect round him as a relative of the de-
throned dynasty, to turn out the revolutionary destroyers
of the country, and to restore the monarchy. Many
laughed at the document which left it quite dark whether
the alleged Prince of Loewenstein-Franka was working for
himself or his cousins. Sensible Germans shrugged their
shoulders and took no notice. The governor of Santa

2

386 MORGANATIC

Catharina, however, would permit no jesting, and he issued
a warrant to imprison the European adventurer, round
whom had collected a' few unemployed foreigners and
some negroes. Siegfried got wind of it, hurriedly left
Blumenau, and took refuge in the forest of the Serrado Mar.
Troops were sent in pursuit, and reached him after several
day's pursuit; they surrounded the hut in which he was
hiding alone, his companions having soon left him in the
lurch. After a desperate resistance, in which he killed or
wounded several of his opponents, and after being shot
through the leg himself, he was smoked out of the hut
which had been set on fire, overpowered, bound, and
delivered up to the governor. His examination revealed
that the young adventurer had been deceived by swindlers
who informed him that there existed a widespread monar-
chical conspiracy in Brazil which only needed an energetic
leader to break out. They had given him documents from
alleged committees which were found in his possession, and
which were ridiculous forgeries. The purpose of the deceit
seemed merely to extort money from the simple-minded
young man to pay their travelling expenses to Brazil.
ITiey accompanied him to Rio and Laguna, but vanished
as soon as their victim had printed and circulated the
proclamation, of course composed by them. The farce had
been played in the second half of April, but had attracted
so little notice that only a few local papers had devoted
short, contemptuous paragraphs to it, and they had not
found their way into the press of the capital. The
governor did not take the yoimg man and his doings
seriously, but kept him in prison for a month, acquainted
the Central Government with the case, in order to learn
what connection his title and relationship bore to the
dethroned dynasty. Meanwhile, he was accused of breach
of the peace, rebellion, armed resistance to the govern-
ment, and manslaughter. His wound seemed to have been
cured.

When Gray received that cablegram he regarded the
task which he had set himself as accomplished, and gave
all the reports to his sister, with the remark —

" It means sixteen thousand pounds, very much more

MORGANATIC 387

than the fellow is worth. Read them, and tell Miss
Aseid what you think best."

The duchess read them with the deepest interest, and
asked Nicoline to come and see her at once, as she had
news of Prince Siegfried. It was the day after the dinner
at Berkshire House. Nicoline went without delay. The
duchess only showed Nicoline two of the eighteen or
twenty reports : those of the Paris detectives about his
chase of American heiresses, and the last despatch from
Rio, the six hundred words of which meant an outlay of
over three thousand marks, and which the duchess trans-
lated to her from the English. To the duchess's intense
surprise she took the Paris report quite calmly, while the
other undoubtedly excited her.

" Are you free now, Nicoline .'' " asked the duchess,
when she finished the despatch.

Nicoline slowly shook her head.

" What can bind you to a man who has betrayed
you ? " exclaimed the duchess, in astonishment and indig-
nation. " Haven't you understood it ? "

" Yes," said Nicoline, softly ; " but perhaps it's only
gossip."

" Gossip ! The American families made inquiries
through agencies as to the prince's circumstances ! "

"That only shows that he interested them. People
imagine so much for which there is no ground. I
cannot bring myself to judge any one unheard," said
Nicoline.

" He is lying in a Brazilian prison "

"I will set him free, and give him the opportunity
of hearing what is said of him, and telling me the
truth. Then my duty will be ended." She spoke in a
low voice, but so firmly that the duchess did not press her
farther.

Nicoline drove home, and waited with the utmost
impatience for her parents' return ; they had gone to a
picture-gallery. She told them the story of Siegfried's
Brazilian adventure and its unlucky ending, and asked
Prince Johann to procure his release from prison.

" God forbid ! " grumbled the prince. " Always

388 MORGANATIC

thought young Gronendal a fool. Thought it would end
like this."

" If a man lacks guides, you can''t reproach him if he
goes astray. That Siegfried is now in a Brazilian prison is
the fault of the family that disowned him. I implore
you, father, say a good word for him."

" But what's it to do with you ? " asked the prince,
sharply.

" I knew him in Paris. I saw his forlomness, his weak-
ness, and it made me very sorry. Be kindhearted, father."

" The Franka and Vienna Level people are nearer to
him. He should appeal to them."

" They would not trouble themselves about him. You
know that, father."

Baroness von Aseid had listened most attentively and
had closely observed Nicoline. She did not understand
her daughter, did not see at what she was driving, but
felt some great desire in her words, and that was sufficient.
She came to Nicoline's aid, and supported her request.
Prince Johann had renounced the habit of resisting them.
After suitable hesitation, he sourly gave in, and desired
Nicoline to prepare a brief written statement of the affair
which she gave him before she went to the theatre.

The prince was uncertain how to act. Should he
appeal to his brother ? or to the Grand Duke Hilarius ?
or to the Vienna duke ? or simply recommend the young
man to the Foreign Office ? perhaps write to the emperor .'*
It was three days before he came to a decision. At last
under pressure from the ladies, he decided for a private
letter to the Chancellor, and promised to send it the
next day.

But the next day was the Derby day, and he had no
time, for he had accepted a place on the Duke of Berk-
shire's four-in-hand to drive to Epsom. The party con-
sisted, besides the duke and duchess, of the prince and
the princess Hildegard, the baroness, Nicoline, Lord Read-
ing, and Mr. Gray.

The duchess put Nicoline between herself and Mr.
Gray. On the way, while the prince was absorbed in the
landscape, she said in a low voice to Nicoline —

MORGANATIC 889

" Prince Siegfried is released from prison."

The colour flamed in Nicoline's face. " Have you had
news ? "" she asked in surprise.

" A cable arrived in the night. My brother asked the
governor of Santa Catharina to temper justice with mercy,
and he has given your protege his freedom on his written
promise to leave Brazil at once, and never to return with-
out permission from the Government.

" You have done this, Mr. Gray ? " she asked, giving
him her hand.

" Since you wished it," he replied, gently pressing it.
His brown eyes were more melancholy than ever.

For the first time she responded to the pressure of his
hand. A slight tremor went through the strong man.

Before her father, a royal highness, could decide at
which end to take hold of the matter, Mr. Gray, quietly,
without fuss, had settled it in his cold, practical way.

The duchess roused her from the silence into which
she had sunk by the low, pressing question —

" You are free now then, since you've fulfilled your last
duty.?"

" Not yet. I must have an interview with the prince.
Mr. Gray, I have a last request to make of you. I should
like to telegraph to the prince that I want to see him. I
don't know where to send it, for perhaps he has already
left Brazil, and is on the high seas. But you rule our
little globe. It will certainly be easy for you to find him.
Will you?"

" I will do what you wish."

" Do I pain you, Mr. Gray ? "

*' Do you pain yourself ? "

" Yes," she said softly.

He pressed her hand again, longer, more warmly than
before, and no word was spoken between them. Arrived
on the race-course, she pencilled the short message on a
leaf of her note-book, and gave it to Gray.

The prince returned to town, greatly pleased with his
day. In the evening Nicoline told him that he need not
trouble any more about Siegfried, as Mr. Gray had efiected
his release from prison.

390 MORGANATIC

" These Americans ! They're the very devil ! " was all
the prince murmured. But he seemed much pleased to be
relieved of the affair.

Nicoline's parents and half-sister left London four days
later. The prince had, however, accepted an invitation
from Mr. Gray to make an excursion with him on his
yacht in August to the Norwegian coast, and perhaps to
Iceland. Nicoline, in a last talk with her mother, told
her she was arranging an interview with Siegfried in
order to make her position clear. Her mother, in sudden
uneasiness, asked Nicoline why this was necessary, and
whether there was anything between them that she did
not know. Then Nicoline made a full confession. Baroness
von Aseid considered Nicoline overstrained; she believed
in Siegfried's treachery, and declared that the characterless
man deserved no place in her thoughts. But Nicoline
replied that she knew she was acting rightly, and that she
must be left alone. Her mother, seeing that she was not
to be moved, anxiously took leave of her.

The theatrical season came to an end six weeks later,
and Griin gave Nicoline her freedom till September 20th.

After a stay of ten days at Diesa, Nicoline and her
people were fetched by Mr. Gray and the Berkshires, who
had an excellent reception at Court, and taken by special
train to Kiel, where they embarked on the steam yacht
Carlotta. Baroness von Aseid was astonished that the
beautiful ship should bear her name, and asked its owner
if he had a relative called Carlotta. He smiled slightly,
and said " Yes, baroness." Much later she learned that
the ship had formerly been called Columbia, and had
received the new name only a short time before this ex-
pedition.

It was the 6th of August. The yacht was at Dron-
theim, where an enormous number of letters awaited them.
There were letters and newspapers even for Nicoline. When
she spread them out on the table in the saloon, the sight
of the writing on one of the envelopes made her utter alow
exclamation.

" What's the matter ? " asked her mother, who was
sitting by her.

MORGANATIC 891

" Nothing, nothing," replied Nicoline, quickly.

The letter was addressed to " Fraulein Nicoline Flam-
mert, Diesa, Germany," with " To be forwarded " twice
underlined. It bore a Belgian stamp, and the postmark,
"Andenne, 30 July." She opened it in some agitation,
and read —

"Deak Nicoline,

" I found your telegram from London when I
landed at Southampton on June 19th. It was forwarded
to me from Brazil, where it arrived after my departure.
It struck me like a blow, for it revealed to me my heavy
offence against you.

" Yes, Nicoline, I have treated' you very badly. But
you will forgive me on account of my repentance and
atonement. It is only one of the many faults I have com-
mitted in life, but it's the worst, and the one that most
clearly shows me my worthlessness.

" Don't be vexed that I did not grant your wish and
go to see you. The meeting would have been painful for
both. Let me now in writing bid you farewell for life.

" I was in terrible despair after my last crisis. I had
loved you, and yet my love was not strong enough to keep
me from being unfaithful. I wanted to raise myself in my
own eyes by some deed, and I learnt that I was weak and
incapable. I trusted men, and discovered that they had
shamelessly deceived and plundered me. I wiU not name
them. I have forgiven them, and forget their names. I
found everywhere, in myself, as in others, only evil and sin.
I did not know what to do in this world where I was
nothing, had nothing, could do nothing. Filled with
disgust for myself, thinking of you with shame and self-
condemnation, cursing the memory of my parents, I saw
only one door open to me, a dark, narrow one, with the
fires of hell flickering behind it.

" The Lord and Saviour and my patron saints showed
me at the right moment another door, through which, with
the Lord's mercy, I hope to reach happiness. I have been
a lay brother for five weeks in this Camaldolite monastery
of St. Gregory, and hope, as soon as the rule permits,

392 MORGANATIC

through the kindness of the Prior and the Brothers, to take
the vows.

" Here I shall find the peace that the world denied me.
I already feel a foretaste of it in my sadly tortured soul.
I think of my father, from whom I only inherited lack of
talent, without bitterness, as of my mother from whom I
have only pride, and a leaning towards the vanities of this
world, and of my family, who seem to have remembered
me in my misfortune. I have to thank them for the
European intervention in my favour, of which the Brazilian
Government told me, and for five hundred pounds which
was handed to me when I left the prison. I wrote to my
uncle, the duke, to thank him, and asked him to pay my
debts— he would never miss the money — and to allow
my mother's brother the small annuity he had been
accustomed to have from her. The duke has not answered
me, but I hope he will fulfil my request. Your telegram
makes me think that perhaps you heard of my attempt, and
have, perhaps, interceded for me. If my supposition is
correct, I thank you many, many times.

"A monastery is the right place for a poor prince's
son, reared with certain claims, and then thrust into the
world without support or rights. With the help of God
and the saints, I have now found a niche for myself, and
shall devote myself to the preparation of my own salvation,
until the Lord graciously summons me. What remains to
me of mortal life is not too long for that purpose, and also
to pray that my parents may be forgiven their faults.

" Forget me, Nicoline, and be happy, as a high, pure,
rare creature like you deserves. I must forget you, too,
although you are the only being who brought any light
into my life. I would transform myself into an angel — if
it were not wicked — in order to dare to think of you
always.

" The Lord and Saviour bless you !
" Your repentant,

"Siegfried von Geonendal,

" In religion, Beothee Guigo."

Nicoline had been obliged to dry her eyes repeatedly

MORGANATIC 393

in order to be able to see what she was reading. When
she had finished, she gave the letter to her mother who
looked through it quickly, kissed her daughter, and said —

" What a happiness for the poor man that he is a
Catholic!"

Nicoline then translated the letter to the duchess, who
rejoiced exceedingly.

" Then we can announce the engagement at once ? "

" No, there is still one thing I must do."

"What is it?"

Nicoline hesitated for some time. At last she said
softly, as if ashamed —

"I must go to the Belgian monastery and see the
unhappy man."

" Why ? That's quite mad."

" No. I must be certain that I bring Edwin a whole
heart and soul. As a last proof, a meeting is imperative.
I am almost sure that I shall stand it. But I must not
feel any doubts,"

Edwin was now called in, and hurriedly informed of the
new situation. He opened his arms with such an im-
ploring gesture that Nicoline sank powerless on his
breast. He held her fast, and covered her soft silky fair
hair with innumerable kisses. At last he set her free and
said —

« Go to Belgium, if you must. I will go with you.
Now, rU settle things with your father."

" Edwin— not yet — wait until "

" No. I've had enough of v^aiting. I'll come back

directly."

A minute after he stood under the awning on the
after-deck before Prince Johann, and said—

"Your royal highness, I have the honour to ask the
hand of your daughter Nicoline."

" Well, I never ! Have you spoken to the baroness ? "

« Not yet, your royal highness."

« But to Nicoline ? "

" Oh yes."

« Does she consent ? "

" She has given me permission to speak to you."

394 MORGANATIC

The prince stroked his upstanding moustache. "I
gladly give you my blessing. You've chosen well, Mr.
Gray. A splendid girl — Nicoline ! "

" So Tve always found. I was not modest. I did not
need to be. To the best man, the best wife, and to their
children the world ! That's my conviction, your royal
highness."

" To the best man, the best wife, and the world to
their children," repeated the prince, slowly and thought-
fully. Then he added, "Right. Deep. If one is only
free to think of one's self. Good principle for beginnings.
At the founding of a new dynasty. Well, are you going
to buy a small kingdom, somewhere, Mr. Gray ? "

The next morning, the Carhtta put about, and made
straight for Antwerp. The rest of the party stayed on
board, while Nicoline, accompanied by Gray, went by
special train to the little station of Andenne, whence a
carriage took them in half an hour to the monastery,
situated high up on the forest-covered hills. Gray remained
at the monastery gate, while Nicoline rang, and after a
lengthy negotiation with the brother who answered, was
admitted to the waiting-room. She succeeded in getting
permission to send a written message to the lay brother,
Guigo, to the effect : " Nicoline is here, and would like to
see you before you take the vows."

She waited a few minutes alone in the bare room.
Then the messenger returned, and said in French, with a
strong Belgian accent —

"Brother Guigo asks you to excuse him. He is in
chapel, and cannot come."

" Not after the service ? "

" Not even then. He wishes you a pleasant journey."

" Oh ! " She was silent, and thought for a moment.
" Can I go into the chapel ? "

" Yes — in the gallery."

He showed her the way, and she went up the stairs to
the gallery. About twenty monks in white gowns were
kneeling in the choir. For a long time she sought in
vain. Suddenly she started. The one before the last in
the row was Siegfried. The service was over. The

MORGANATIC 395

monks and lay brothers rose. In the long gown Siegfried
seemed more of a giant than ever, although he avoided
stretching himself to his full height by assuming a humble,
bent attitude. Nicoline was alone in the gallery, and
leaned far over the railings. As he walked behind the
rest to the entrance to the choir, Siegfried involuntarily
looked up, and his eyes met those of Nicoline. He
quickly looked down, felt for his rosary, and without
agfdn turning his head, went slowly on. Nicoline looked
after him until he disappeared. A cold shudder ran
down her back. But it was only the feeling evoked in
highly strung temperaments by a serious and solemn
drama. The young monk deserved sympathy. But he
was a stranger to her. Her strong, sound nature, re-
joicing in life, turned from this weak renunciation of the
world.

Gray looked at her inquiringly when she came back
to him.

" I've seen him," she said. " Everything is settled."

He grasped her hand. " Then you're mine ? "

" Wholly and entirely."

To the Belgian coachman's astonishment, he drew her
to him in a long embrace.

The wedding took place in September. Gray bought
off Griin with a sum that should have satisfied him, had
he not, like every speculator, lost aU sense of proportion.

The renunciation of her artistic career was a grief to
her ; but Gray consoled her.

" If you want to sing in the future, you shall do so to
an audience of kings, not to people who also like to hear
Christy Minstrels. And the listeners shall not pay, but
you shall make them the princely gift of your art."

They travelled for three months. Whenever Nicoline
asked when they were to settle in a permanent home, he
smiled mysteriously, declared he still had business in
Europe, and bade her be patient.

They set sail for America after Christmas, and on the
last day of December he took her to the house in New
York in which she was to rule as queen.

896 MORGANATIC

When she saw it, she uttered a cry. "Am I
dreaming ? "

Before her, imitated in every detail, stood the Grand
Ducal Castle of Diesa, in which her father was born.

" How is it possible ? " she asked.

"I wanted to give you a little surprise. I hope you
are pleased."

" But how could it be done so quickly ? It's magic ! "

^' Quickly ? The architect has had seven months since
the end of April.'"

" Since the end of April ? That was when you saw
me for the first time."

" Yes. I gave my order after that first dinner at the
German Embassy, when you called me ' captain.' "

" But I was a perfect stranger to you then."

" I intended you to be mine. And as I wished it, I
knew it would be so. Therefore I could confidently build
your father's castle here."

On the wall of the largest and most beautiful drawing-
room hung portraits of Prince Johann and Baroness von
Aseid, the prince's-wedding gift. The frame was sur-
mounted by a crown. Below was an open scroll, with
the inscription, " Prince Johann of Diesa to his son-in-law
Mr. Edwin Mallock Gray. To the best man, the best
wife, and the world to their children ! "

THE END