Under a Charm. Vol. I

"Papa is not here just at this moment, but he will be back directly," replied Gretchen, to whom this late and unexpected visit came as a great relief, offering her the means of escape from her difficulty. Without it, she must either have committed the rudeness of leaving the Assessor alone during her father's absence, or have been compelled to stay with him to keep him company. Instead, therefore, of showing the new-comers into the agent's study, as was customary, she led them straightway into the sitting-room.

"Two gentlemen who wish to speak to papa," said she, by way of explanation, to the astonished Assessor, who looked up and rose as the strangers entered and bowed to him, while the girl, kindly offering to let her father know, went out again for that purpose.

She had just sent off one of the maids, and was about to return to the room, when, to her amazement, the Assessor appeared in the dimly lighted hall, and inquired hastily whether Herr Frank had been sent for. Gretchen answered in the affirmative.

The Assessor came up to her, and said in a whisper–

"Fräulein Margaret, those are the men."

"What men?" asked she, in surprise.

"The two suspicious characters. I have them. They are in the trap."

"But they are not Poles, not a bit of it," objected the girl.

"They are the two individuals who passed me in the post-chaise," he replied, obstinately. "The same who, later on, behaved in a way calculated to arouse suspicion. At all events, I shall take my measures. I shall interrogate, and if necessary arrest them."

"But need it all be done in our house?" asked Gretchen, in a very ungracious tone.

"The duty of my office requires it!" said the Assessor, with dignity. "First of all, the entrance must be secured, to prevent any possible attempt at flight. I shall lock the hall door." So saying, he turned the key in the lock and drew it out.

"What are you thinking of?" protested Gretchen. "Papa won't be able to get in when he comes back."

"We shall post the maid at the door, and give her the key," whispered the little gentleman, who by this time was in a fever of official zeal. "She will open when Herr Frank comes, and at the same time call in the men to guard the door. Who knows whether the delinquents will surrender easily?"

"But how do you know they are delinquents at all? Suppose you were to make a mistake?"

"Fräulein Margaret, you have not the eye of a detective," declared the Assessor, with conscious superiority. "I am a good physiognomist, and I tell you I never yet saw two faces on which 'conspirator' was stamped more legibly, more unmistakably. I am not to be deceived, however pure their German may be. For the present, I will merely subject them to an interrogation, until Herr Frank arrives. It is dangerous, no doubt, to let such men get an inkling that they are found out–extremely dangerous, particularly when one is alone with them; but duty demands it!"

"I will go with you," said Gretchen, valiantly.

"Thank you," said the Assessor, as solemnly as though the girl had resolved on going to the scaffold with him. "Thank you. Now let us act."

He called the maid, gave her the required instructions, and then returned to the parlour, Gretchen following him. She was naturally courageous, and felt quite as much curiosity as uneasiness about the issue. The two strangers had evidently not the smallest notion of the storm about to burst over their heads. They imagined themselves in perfect security. The younger of the two, who was a remarkably tall man, towering more than a head above his companion, was pacing the room with folded arms, while the elder, a person of slight build, with pale but agreeable features, had obediently taken the place offered him, and was sitting harmlessly enough in the armchair.

The Assessor assumed an air of authority. Convinced of the importance of the moment, and conscious that the eyes of his beloved were upon him, he rose to the measure of his task. He looked the judicial mind personified, as he stepped up to the two 'individuals.'

"I have not yet introduced myself to you, gentlemen," he began, courteous as yet. "Government Assessor Hubert, of L–."

The persons addressed could have been no novices in the art of conspiracy, for they did not even change colour at the mention of his official quality. The elder man rose, bowed in silence, but with much politeness, and then sat down again. The younger merely inclined his head slightly, and said in a careless tone, "Very happy, I'm sure.

"Might I in my turn inquire the names of these gentlemen?" continued Hubert.

"What makes you ask?" said the younger stranger, indifferently.

"I wish to know them."

"I am sorry for that. We don't wish to tell."

The Assessor nodded as much as to say: "So I thought." "I am connected with the police department of L–," he said, significantly.

"Very agreeable position," said the stranger, his eyes just glancing at the official with an indifference positively offensive, and then wandering off and fixing themselves on the young girl, who had retreated to the window.

For a moment Hubert was disconcerted. They must indeed be case-hardened conspirators! Even the mention of the L– police could extract from them no sign of alarm, though by this time some inkling of their fate must have dawned upon them. But there were means of overcoming their obduracy. The interrogation proceeded.

"About two hours ago you passed me in a post-chaise?"

This time the younger man made no answer. He seemed to have had enough of the conversation; but the elder replied civilly, "Certainly, we noticed you in your carriage."

"At the last station you left the post-chaise and continued your journey on foot. You were, according to your own statement, bound for Wilicza–you avoided the high-road, and took a side-path across the fields." The Assessor was sternly judicial now again, as he hurled out these accusations one after the other, in a manner which ought to have been crushing, and which did indeed produce some effect. The elder of the two conspirators showed signs of uneasiness, and the younger, on whom the lynx eye of the official had at once fixed as the more dangerous of the pair, went up quickly to his companion, and laid his hand protectingly as it were on the back of his chair.

"We put on our coats, too, when it began to get cool, and left a pair of gloves at the post-house by mistake," said the latter, with unconcealed irony. "Perhaps you would like to add these two facts to your interesting notes on our conduct and deportment."

"Sir, that is not a tone in which to address a representative of the Government," exclaimed Hubert, angrily.

The stranger shrugged his shoulders and turned to the window.

"You leave us quite to ourselves, Fräulein. Will you not come out and deliver us by your presence from this gentleman's unrefreshing discourse?"

The Assessor was seized with a just wrath; such boldness was more than he could bear. The steward might come in at any moment now, he knew, so he threw to the winds his previous caution, and replied in a lofty tone–

"I fear there is much before you that you will find unrefreshing. In the first place you will give me your names, deliver up your papers. I require it, I insist upon it. In a word, you are suspicious characters."

That blow told. The pale gentleman started up with every appearance of trepidation. "Good Heavens, what do you say!"

"Ah, so the consciousness of guilt makes itself felt at last, does it?" said Hubert, triumphantly. "You winced yourself," he asserted, turning to the other, and looking up at him with an authoritative air. "Do not attempt to deny it. I saw your face twitch."

The young man's face had twitched, no doubt, in the most singular manner at mention of the words "suspicious characters;" and now, as he bent down to his companion, the corners of his mouth worked quite perceptibly.

"Why do you not clear up the matter?" asked his friend, in a low beseeching tone.

"Because it amuses me," was the reply, returned in a voice as low.

"No whispering here," interrupted the Assessor. "No fresh conspiring in my very presence–that I forbid. Once again, your name! Will you give me an answer?"

"Yes, we will," said the younger stranger, drawing himself up. "So you look upon us as conspirators?"

"And traitors to the State," added Hubert, emphatically.

"And traitors to the State. Of course–that is the usual complement."

The Assessor stood petrified at such audacity.

"I call upon you for the last time to give me your names and deliver up your papers," he cried. "You refuse to do either?"

The stranger sat down unconcernedly on the arm of the chair, and crossed his arms.

"Quite correct. The whole conspiracy lies in a nutshell."

"Sir, I believe that you are inclined to jest with me," shouted the Assessor, scarlet with rage. "Are you aware that that will tell very much against your case? The police department of L– …"

"Must be in a bad way if it has you for a representative," observed the young man, with imperturbable calm.

This was too much. The insulted official sprang up like one possessed.

"Unheard-of insolence! What, have things gone so far that the authorities are now to be openly scoffed at and treated with contempt? But you shall pay dearly for it! You have insulted and attacked the Government in my person. I arrest you. I will have you handcuffed and conveyed to L–."

He rushed at his adversary, who quietly let him come on, and then with a single movement of his powerful arm sent him back, bounding like a ball on to the sofa near at hand, which happily received him.

"Violence!" he screamed, "violence! an attack upon my person. Fräulein Margaret, fetch your father."

"Fetch a glass of water, Fräulein, and dash it over the gentleman's head," said the stranger. "He needs it."

The girl had no time to obey either of these very different injunctions, for hasty steps were heard in the adjoining room, and the steward, who had seen with extreme surprise the precautionary measures adopted in his hall, and had heard the loud voices, came quickly in.

The Assessor still lay on the sofa, wriggling and kicking in his struggle to get on his legs again, which, in consequence of the shortness of those members and the height whereon he was perched, was a feat difficult to accomplish.

"Herr Frank," he cried, "guard the entrance, call in the men. You have the direction of the Wilicza police–you must support me. I arrest these two persons in the name of …"

Here his voice deserted him; he fought desperately in the air, and at last, by a violent jerk, managed to get himself into a sitting posture.

The younger stranger had risen and gone up to the steward. "Herr Frank, you hold the direction of the Wilicza police as proxy for me, and you will, I trust, reflect before delivering up your own principal."

"Who?" cried the steward, starting back.

The stranger drew a paper from his breast-pocket and held it out to him. "I come quite unexpectedly, and after ten years you can hardly be expected to recognise me, so this letter may serve for my credentials. You addressed it to me a few weeks since."

Frank cast a rapid glance at the page, and another as rapid at the features of the man before him. "Herr Nordeck?"

That gentleman assented. "Waldemar Nordeck, who in the very hour of his return to his own estates has come near being arrested as a suspicious vagrant. A most agreeable welcome, certainly."

He looked across at the sofa. There sat the Assessor, stiff and motionless as a statue, with mouth wide open, arms pendant, staring at the young landowner as though he were out of his mind.

"What a painful misunderstanding!" said the steward, in great confusion. "I am very sorry it should have happened in my house, Herr Nordeck. The Assessor will regret his mistake exceedingly …"

The poor Assessor! He was so crushed, he had not even strength to apologise. The master of Wilicza, the man of many millions, of whom the President had lately spoken, saying that, should he come to Wilicza, he was to be treated with special consideration–and he, the subordinate, had threatened to have this personage conveyed handcuffed to L–! Fortunately Waldemar took no notice of him. He now presented his companion to the steward and the steward's daughter.

"Dr. Fabian, my friend and teacher. We saw that the Castle was lighted up, and heard that a great festivity was going on there. I am quite a stranger to my mother's guests, and as my sudden arrival might very naturally have caused some disturbance, we preferred to make a call on your hospitality–at all events, until the visitors take their departure. Besides this, there are some matters I wish to talk over with you, Herr Frank–matters referred to in your letter, which I only received a few days ago. I was travelling, and it was sent on after me from place to place. Could we have half an hour's talk in private?"

Frank opened the door of his study. "May I ask you to step in here?"

Waldemar turned to his friend before going. "Pray wait for me here, Doctor. I trust you are in no danger now of being treated as a conspirator, and I shall soon be back." He bowed slightly to the young girl, and left the room with the steward, having apparently lost sight of the fact of the Assessor's existence.

"Herr Assessor," said Gretchen, going up to that unfortunate representative of the L– police, "I congratulate you on your promotion."

"Oh, Fräulein!" groaned the unlucky man.

"You will have to acquaint his Excellency the President with the result of your researches, you know, to make a personal report."

"Fräulein Margaret!"

"I have not the eye of a detective, have I?" continued the girl, mercilessly. "Who would have thought that the young heir would have 'conspirator' so legibly, so unmistakably stamped on his countenance?"

It had cost the Assessor a great effort to hold his ground so far. Mockery from those lips was more than he could bear. He rose, stammered an excuse to the Doctor, the principal person concerned being no longer present, and pleaded a feeling of indisposition as a pretext for withdrawing as quickly as possible.

"Fräulein," said Dr. Fabian, rather timidly, but in a compassionate tone, "that gentleman appears to be somewhat eccentric. Is he perhaps …?" and he touched his forehead with a significant gesture.

Gretchen laughed. "No, sir; but he is burning to advance in his career, and he fancies that a couple of conspirators would help him forward immensely. He thought he had found them in you and Herr Nordeck."

The Doctor shook his head sorrowfully. "Poor man! There is certainly something morbid about him. I am afraid his career will hardly be so brilliant as he hopes."

"I don't think it will," said Gretchen, very decidedly. "Our Government is a great deal too sensible for that!"