"There have been some ugly scenes, and at such times, it is we who always have to bear the brunt. We are not to proceed with harshness, if it can be avoided, yet we are to make our authority respected, and the whole responsibility of whatever may happen falls upon us. So the Colonel and all the officers take it very kindly of Arthur that he has held out, and still persists in holding out, against his rebels by himself."

Eugenie listened to her brother with breathless attention. He seemed to look upon her as quite uninterested in the matter, and addressed himself solely to his father. The Baron, who had noticed with rising displeasure the constant recurrence of the word "Arthur," now said in a tone of chilling reproof:

"You and your comrades appear to be very well acquainted with all that goes on at Herr Berkow's works."

"The whole town is talking of it," declared Conrad, quite unmoved. "As for me, I certainly have been out there pretty often."

At this avowal his father gave a start of surprise.

"You have been out to see him, and that frequently?"

Perhaps the young man had observed the emotion which at his last words had become visible in Eugenie's face. He took her hand in his now and held it fast as he continued in the same careless way:

"Well, yes, sir. You told me not to talk about that business, you know, and it would have looked odd if I had ignored my brother-in-law altogether, especially situated as he now is. You did not forbid my going out there."

"Because I imagined your own sense of propriety would have forbidden it," said Windeg, highly incensed. "I took it as a matter of course that you would avoid that connection, instead of which you appear to have sought it, and that without writing one word on the subject to me.

Really, Conrad, this is too bad!"

If he had told the whole truth, Conrad must have confessed that he had feared to receive a direct prohibition, and so had prudently abstained from all mention of his proceedings in his letters. In a general way he stood in proper awe of his father's frown, but to-day Eugenie's presence seemed to counterbalance its effect. He looked in her eyes, and what he saw there must have made the paternal reproaches easy to bear, for he even smiled as he answered quite unconcernedly,

"Well, I can't help it if I have taken such a liking to Arthur. You would have done the same in my place. I a.s.sure you he can be perfectly charming if he likes, only he is always so awfully grave. To tell the truth, his gravity suits him very well, though. I said to him yesterday, when I was coming away, 'If I had known from the first what you were, Arthur'"----

"Arthur!" interrupted his father, with his severest intonation.

The son tossed his head rather defiantly.

"Well yes, we call each other Arthur and Con, now, that is, I asked him to. I don't see why we should not, he is my brother-in-law."

"He is your brother-in-law no longer," said the Baron coldly, pointing to the table. "There lies our pet.i.tion for a divorce."

Conrad glanced, not over tenderly, at the doc.u.ment in question.

"Oh, the pet.i.tion. Has Eugenie signed it?"

"She is about to do so."

He looked at his sister. Her hand trembled in his, and her lips quivered as if she could with difficulty repress her agitation.

"Well, it seems to me, sir, that precisely with regard to this matter of the divorce, Arthur has behaved in a way to make all reproachful and bitter feeling towards him out of the question. It would be mean not to do him full justice now. I never should have thought it possible that a man could so shake off his languor and rouse himself to such energy as I see in him.

"All that he has been doing during the last few weeks, choosing always exactly the right time and place to make his action felt, all the horrible scenes and conflicts he has prevented, he alone in the midst of those rebellious ma.s.ses by the mere force of his presence and personal influence--all that must be seen to be believed. He has become a regular hero. That the Colonel and all the officers say; in fact the whole town says so. The officials have behaved remarkably well, because he is always at their head.

"Not one among them has left the works, but when I came away, they seemed to have reached the extreme limits of endurance. The misfortune is, Arthur has taken it into his head that no stranger shall come between him and his people, and he is carrying out his resolution with rare consistency. I think, if it comes to the worst, he is capable of barricading himself and his staff up in the house and of making them all defend themselves to the last man, rather than call for help. It would be just like him!"

Here Eugenie pulled her hand out of her brother's; she got up quickly and went to the window.

The Baron rose also with an expression of the most lively displeasure.

"I really do not know, Conrad, how it is you answer a simple question about the state of things on Herr Berkow's estate by so exaggerated a panegyric of him. It shows a want of consideration for your sister which I should not have expected from you, for you have always professed to regard her with special affection. You will find yourself in an awkward position when the divorce proceedings become known. What figure you will then make with your eccentric admiration for this man, which you appear to have paraded before the whole garrison, I leave you to reflect. But now I beg this conversation may cease, you see how painfully Eugenie is affected by it. Pray come with me."

"Leave Conrad with me just a few minutes, papa," said his daughter; "I should like to ask him something."

The Baron shrugged his shoulders impatiently.

"Well, be so good then as not to touch upon this subject again, and so agitate yourself still more. In ten minutes the horses will be below, Conrad. I shall expect you to be there. Good-bye for the present, Eugenie."

The door had hardly closed upon him, when the young officer rushed up to his sister at the window, and threw his arm round her with rough but unmistakable tenderness.

"Are you angry too, Eugenie?" he asked, "was I really unfeeling?"

Eugenie looked at him with pa.s.sionate eagerness. "You have seen Arthur, have spoken to him frequently, yesterday even, when you were coming away. Did he send no message by you, absolutely none?"

Conrad looked down. "He desired to be remembered to you and my father,"

said he, rather crestfallen.

"How? In what words?"

"He called after me when I was in the carriage, 'Remember me to the Baron and to your sister.'"

"And that was all?"

"That was all."

Eugenie turned away. She wished to hide from her brother the bitter disappointment which was written in her face, but Conrad held her fast.

He had her own beautiful dark eyes, but with him their expression was bolder, more full of vivacity. At this moment, however, as he bent over her, all his thoughtless gaiety had vanished, and given place to a most unaccustomed earnestness.

"You must have wounded him cruelly at some time, Eugenie, and in a way he cannot get over. I would so gladly have brought you a line or a word at parting, but it was not to be had from him. He would never talk about you, but each time I mentioned your name he went deadly pale and turned away, and then dragged in another subject by the ears, so as not to hear any more, just exactly as you do when I speak to you about him.

By Jove! there must be a regular hatred between you two?"

Eugenie tore herself free from him.

"Leave me, Con, for Heaven's sake! leave me, I can bear it no longer."

A look almost of triumph pa.s.sed over the young man's face, and there was a ring of repressed joy in voice.

"Well, I don't want to intrude upon your secrets. I must go now, or my father will be getting impatient, he is in such an awful temper to-day.

I shall leave you alone now, Eugenie; there is that divorce pet.i.tion to be signed, you know. It will be ready, no doubt, by the time we come home. Good-bye."

He hurried off. The horses were standing before the door, and the Baron was looking impatiently up at the windows above. The ride was not a particularly agreeable one, for not only the eldest, but the two younger sons, soon felt the effects of their father's ill-humour. Baron Windeg could not endure that any one bearing the name of Berkow should, in his presence, be spoken of in terms of praise; and, as he naturally supposed his daughter to have the same feeling, he considered that an offence had been offered both to her and to himself.

Conrad had to bear many allusions to his "want of tact" and his "want of consideration." He let it all pa.s.s very quietly, however; on the other hand, he showed the most lively interest in the ride, or rather in the duration of it. It was so long since he had been in town; the drive on the outskirts was so animated and diverted him so much, that he contrived to spin out the expedition to a considerable length, and it was growing quite dark when the four returned to the city.

In the meantime Eugenie had remained alone. Her door was locked, she could endure no one near her now. The walls of her room and the old family portraits which adorned them, had witnessed many a fit of weeping, many a bitter struggle when the girl's marriage had been under discussion, but none so cruel as the present, for now the battle was with herself, and the enemy was not easy to conquer.

There upon the writing-table lay the paper by which a wife prayed to be judicially parted from her husband; only the signature was wanting.

When once that was affixed the divorce would really be gained, for the consent of her husband and the Baron's influential connections a.s.sured to the affair a speedy and favourable issue. She had refused to make that all-important stroke of her pen, but it must be made now. What had the one hour availed? It would be all the same whether the inevitable step were taken sooner or later! But just then Conrad had come in with his story, and had torn open afresh the wounds which had not yet ceased to bleed.

And yet her brother had brought her no message, not even a word of greeting. "Remember me to the Baron and to your sister," that was all!

Why not rather "to Lady Eugenie," that would have been colder still and more fitting. Eugenie went up to the writing-table, and her eyes wandered over the words of the doc.u.ment. There too all was cold and formal, though the fate of two people was decided by it. But Arthur had willed it so. He it was who had first spoken the word of separation, who first and unhesitatingly agreed to hasten it on; and, when she had gone to him and declared herself ready to stay, he had turned from her and bade her go. The blood rushed to her temple again, and she stretched out her hand to take the pen.