*
 
 GERTRUDE; 
 
 OE, 
 
 FAMILY PKIDE. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. TROLLOPE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF A CLEVER WOMAN," 
 " THE BARNABYS," &0. &c. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1855.
 
 )
 
 
 GEETEUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 In sitting oneself down to the somewhat 
 idle occupation of " Old tales telling of loves 
 long ago," it is much safer, for many reasons, 
 to give fictitious names to the various scenes 
 in which the circumstances occurred, than to 
 challenge the criticism which might discover 
 either too much, or too little of truth in the 
 details, were the real names to be given. 
 
 Most of the circumstances upon which the 
 following story is founded, occurred in Ger- 
 many, and it is therefore to Germany that I 
 will bog my reader to follow me. 
 
 vol. i. b 
 
 .
 
 2 GERTRUDE. 
 
 It was upon a very fine morning in the 
 month of June, that two individuals, who are 
 the first of my dramatis persona? to be pre- 
 sented to him, might have been seen climbing 
 steadily and perseveringly, but at no very 
 rapid pace, the steep hill whioh overhangs the 
 pretty little town to which I shall give the 
 name of Hindsdorf. 
 
 These two travellers were neither mounted 
 knights " pricking o'er the plain," or the hill 
 either ; nor had they, in truth, the appearance 
 of belonging to any station to which the act 
 of walking was not likely to be the ordinary 
 mode of conveyance along any high ways, or 
 bye ways, by which it might be necessary for 
 them to travel. 
 
 But, nevertheless, few could have looked at 
 them steadily for one moment without feeling 
 inclined to bestow a second, for the purpose 
 of looking at them again ; for both were very 
 decidedly well-looking, and being male and 
 female, it would have been difficult not to 
 believe that the earnestness with which they 
 were conversing, and the deep attention with 
 which each looked at, and listened to, the
 
 GERTRUDE. 3 
 
 other, proceeded from that tender passion 
 which is universally considered as being par- 
 ticularly interesting. 
 
 Both were in the earliest bright perfection 
 of adult comeliness, but the girl looked some- 
 what the elder of the two. This was not the 
 case, however, for the young man was three 
 years her senior ; but being, as Rosalind says 
 of herself, " more than common tall," and 
 having, moreover, a remarkably firm step, and 
 upright carriage, the girl looked considerably 
 older than she was. The dress of both was 
 scrupulously neat, but shewed no pretension 
 beyond the Sunday garb of decent, well-con- 
 ditioned peasants. 
 
 Tf examined by a critical eye, however, the 
 young man might have been suspected to be 
 of a higher class than his companion, for his 
 linen was of a finer fabric than the most gala 
 attire s thought to render necessary among 
 persons of the rank to which it seemed evident 
 that he belonged. 
 
 Any one within reach of hearing, as well as 
 seeing them, as they pursued their way, would 
 have discovered that there was a difference of 
 
 v ;>
 
 4 GERTRUDE. 
 
 opinion between them, or some very interest- 
 ing point which they were discussing, not- 
 withstanding the air of love and devotion 
 which each seemed to feel for the other. 
 
 " Fear nothing, my dear friend !" said the 
 beautiful, tall, upright girl, as she stepped 
 firmly and actively on beside her companion ; 
 " fear neither harshness, nor difficulty of any 
 kind, from the venerable man we are about to 
 visit. All will go smoothly with us, depend 
 upon it." 
 
 And then, after the silence of a moment, 
 she added, the words however, being tempered 
 by a most lovely smile, "Nay! I will turn 
 round, and run away ! I will indeed, if you 
 permit yourself to be thus overpowered by 
 terror. Why, your arm positively trembles !" 
 
 " And can you wonder it should tremble ?" 
 he replied, looking at her almost reproach- 
 fully. " Oh ! do you not tremble too !" 
 
 " Nay, take my hand, and hold it steadily," 
 she replied, laughingly. " Do you find any 
 symptom of trembling, my good man ?" 
 
 "Surely, surely, you cannot love me as I 
 love you, or you could not be thus brave at
 
 GERTRUDE. 5 
 
 contemplating the possibility of our being 
 parted for ever !" he answered, in a voice of 
 deep emotion, as he pressed the hand she 
 placed in his. 
 
 '■'But I contemplate no such possibility," 
 she replied ; adding, in a firm but gentle 
 voice, well calculated to soothe the feelings 
 which she affected to chide, " I contemplate 
 nothing but the returning with you along this 
 self-same path within an hour or so, as your 
 wedded wife ; and I see nothing in that at all 
 likely to make me tremble." 
 
 The young man only answered these cheer- 
 ing words by a passionate caress, and then 
 they pursued their way in silence for a minute 
 or two. 
 
 But this silence was again soon broken by 
 him, for, in a tone which sounded a little as if 
 he were relapsing into the fears for which he 
 had been chidden, he ventured to whisper, 
 ' But if this priest should declare that he 
 would not marry us ? If he should say that 
 it was his duty to be assured of the consent 
 of our parents and friends ?" . . . 
 
 " Why, in that case, my good man," re-
 
 C) GERTRUDE. 
 
 turned his still smiling companion, " in that 
 case, we must take our leave of him very re- 
 spectfully, and betake ourselves and our wed- 
 ding-fee to another." 
 
 " But do you not rest too much hope and 
 faith upon that large wedding-fee, dearest?" 
 said the youth, shaking his head. 
 
 " It is possible I may," she replied ; " but 
 till experience teaches me the contrary, I am 
 strong, very strong, in the faith and hope 
 which the amount of it inspires. They say, that 
 is, the worldly-wise, of course ; but the worldly- 
 wise do say that the priesthood (of the present 
 day) have a great respect for money. Perhaps 
 they think that the possession of it may enable 
 them to do much good. And they are right 
 there, my friend. Money is certainly a power- 
 ful agent, either for good or evil, as the case 
 may be. If he be a reasoning, right-thinking 
 man, he cannot fail to perceive, from the amount 
 of the sum we are about to offer him, that the 
 attachment between us is a very true one. It 
 must be a rare thing for people of our station 
 to offer so large a sum for the purpose of being 
 permitted to enter the pale of holy matrimony.
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 And though it is likely enough that he will 
 guess, from the secret manner in which we 
 present ourselves, that our respective parents 
 are probably at feud, and, therefore, would 
 oppose the marriage, he must, at the same 
 time, be aware that there would be great and 
 useless cruelty in attempting to keep asunder 
 a pair who love each other well enough to part 
 with a sum which, of course, must be so im- 
 portant to them ! Moreover, a very little 
 common sense will suffice to convince him 
 that, if he will not marry us, some other priest 
 will." 
 
 This conversation, earnest as it was, had not 
 impeded their pace, and they had now reached 
 the summit of the hill they had long been 
 ascending. The level they had thus obtained, 
 however, did not continue above a quarter of 
 a mile, before they arrived at a somewhat steep 
 declivity on the other side, which terminated 
 in the little town which they trusted would 
 prove the termination of their excursion ; for 
 there dwelt the priest whom they hoped would 
 consent to unite them in the bonds of holy 
 wedlock.
 
 8 GERTRUDE. 
 
 The young girl had never visited this little 
 town before, but it was sufficiently well known 
 to her companion, to enable him, as they de- 
 scended the hill, to point out to her the dwell- 
 ing of the priest whom they came to seek ; 
 which humble dwelling seemed to make part 
 and parcel of the little church within whose 
 walls they hoped to receive the benediction 
 which was to insure their mutual happiness for 
 life. Something like a tremor seemed to pass 
 over her, however, as he pointed out the spot, 
 and said, " There is the church, dearest ; and 
 there, under the same roof, as it should seem, 
 is the dwelling of the priest." 
 
 He felt that she trembled as he pronounced 
 these words, and suddenly stopping, he dropped 
 the arm which rested on his, and placing him- 
 self directly before her, he fixed his earnestly 
 enquiring eyes upon her face, and said, " Do 
 you repent ? It is not yet too late to say so. 
 Speak!" 
 
 The young girl did not immediately obey 
 him. She did not speak, but she fixed her elo- 
 quent eyes upon his face, and let them speak 
 for her ; and truly it may be doubted, if a
 
 GERTRUDE. 9 
 
 more perfect model of human beauty, than she 
 then gazed upon, ever met the eye of a mor- 
 tal, since the original of the Apollo stood 
 before the statuary who has given him an 
 earthly immortality. 
 
 She looked at him very fixedly for a mo- 
 ment ; and then she sighed. But it was the 
 sigh of tenderness, and of passion. Regret 
 had nothing to do with it ; and in the next 
 moment she smiled again, and smilingly re- 
 covered possession of his arm, and drawing 
 him back to his place at her side, only replied 
 to his question by a gentle pressure, and an 
 accelerated pace. 
 
 His reply to this silent decision was also 
 given in silence. A look, and again a gentle 
 pressure of the arm, said quite as much as any 
 words could have done. A few moments 
 brought them to the arched gateway of the 
 little town of Hindsdorf, and a few more to 
 the door of the priest's house. 
 
 " Was the priest at home ?" was the ques- 
 tion asked with trembling eagerness by the 
 young man. The answer was in the affirm- 
 ative, and about two steps more brought them
 
 10 GERTRUDE. 
 
 from the humble door of the house to another 
 equally humble, which opened upon a small 
 snug room, near the open window of which sat 
 the holy man, whose services they came to 
 purchase ; he held a book in his hand, but his 
 eyes were fixed upon the blooming little flower- 
 garden, on which the window opened. 
 
 It would not have been very easy for even 
 more experienced eyes to have formed any 
 very decided opinion upon the temper and 
 character of the man whose face was turned 
 towards them, as soon as he became aware 
 that the door of the room was opened. His 
 age appeared to be about sixty, or something 
 beyond it, but though rather a spare man, he 
 had still a look of health and activity, and his 
 eye had lost nothing of the keen expression for 
 which it must ever have been remarkable. 
 
 The old woman who had admitted our 
 lovers, lingered for a moment in the doorway, 
 as if wishing to hear them declare their errand ; 
 but her master checked her indiscretion by 
 saying, in an accent which was, however, only 
 remarkable from its peculiar distinctness, 
 " Shut the door."
 
 GERTRUDE. 11 
 
 This command was as promptly obeyed as 
 it was given ; and then the old man turned to 
 his two vomiff visitors, and said, " What is 
 your business ?" 
 
 " We are come to Hindsdorf to be mar- 
 ried," replied the young man, without adding 
 another syllable. 
 
 The old priest looked at them both rather 
 earnestly for a moment, and then raised his 
 eye-brows, and shook his head. Any descrip- 
 tion of the scene which followed would be 
 quite superfluous ; it is enough to say, that 
 the young girl had not rested a vain hope 
 upon the influence of the wedding fee which 
 they had contrived to bring with them. The 
 names of both were equally, and utterly un- 
 known to the old man, whereas the value of 
 their gold was a matter of no mystery what- 
 ever. 
 
 Nor did he think it necessary to make any 
 great difficulty about the matter. He very 
 hospitably regaled them with the best refresh- 
 ment which his house afforded, and exerted 
 himself very actively while they were engaged 
 in taking it, in order to get everything in order 
 for the ceremony which was to follow.
 
 12 GERTRUDE. 
 
 The priest of Hindsdorf was greatly re- 
 spected in his parish, and he found no diffi- 
 culty in obtaining proper and sufficient 
 witnesses for the ceremony he was about to 
 perforin. 
 
 In a word, the purpose of the unfriended 
 young couple was achieved with no bustle, 
 and with as little delay as possible ; and the 
 most remarkable circumstance which I have 
 at present to relate respecting it is, that though 
 they walked so lovingly together to the town 
 of Hindsdorf, they left it by two different 
 routes, which appeared to lead them as far 
 asunder as it was possible they could go.
 
 GERTRUDE. 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 We have all read stately stories of proud 
 old barons in more lands than one ; and if 
 our researches into the annals of the race have 
 led us far back, we may have read too of pre- 
 datory barons, nay, of murdering barons also ; 
 each one furnishing a theme fruitful in incident, 
 and precious to all the numerous class of 
 readers who love excitement better than ex- 
 ample. 
 
 I, too, have a story to tell about a baron, 
 and, moreover, about a German baron, which 
 is, I believe, considered as the most romantic 
 species of the class ; but unfortunately the 
 date of my story is not so favourable as I
 
 14 GERTRUDE. 
 
 could wish it to be, for it is too recent to furnish 
 authority for any of those highly-wrought de- 
 scriptions of awful acts, and startling facts, 
 which are so readily welcomed by the imagi- 
 nation, when the period at which they occurred 
 is sufficiently remote to render the application 
 of the test of probability, only a mark of 
 ignorance as to the prodigious difference be- 
 tween the present and the past. Such as my 
 story is, however, I will tell it without further 
 preface, only begging for a little more of the 
 indulgence which has so often been granted 
 to me. 
 
 The Baron von Schwanberg was already an 
 old man when my narrative begins, but still 
 young enough, nevertheless, to be as self- 
 willed and headstrong a gentleman as could 
 easily be found at any age. He was, more- 
 over, one of the very proudest men that ever 
 existed ; but there was such an honest and 
 undoubting sincerity of belief in his own 
 greatness, that few of those who approached 
 him could refuse to sympathise with his feel- 
 ings sufficiently to prevent their betraying any 
 very decided doubt of his greatness ; for it
 
 GERTRUDE. 15 
 
 was easy to perceive that no such doubt could 
 be betrayed to him, without producing a more 
 violent effect than any reasonable person would 
 wish to witness. 
 
 Had he lived more in the world, this half- 
 insane State of mind must of necessity have 
 been cured ; but every circumstance of his 
 life had unfortunately tended to increase it. 
 
 He was early placed, with all the distinc- 
 tion usually shewn to rank and fortune, in one 
 of the most favoured regiments of the Emperor 
 of Austria ; and if he had remained there, he 
 would have been sure to learn, notwithstand- 
 ing this grace and favour, that he was but a 
 man, though a very noble one. But unfor- 
 tunately his father died within a year after 
 the vouner officer had attained the age of 
 twenty-one years, and, as the country was 
 then most profoundly at peace, no objection 
 of anv kind was made to his withdrawing 
 himself to his estates in Hungary, which were 
 indeed large and important enough to render 
 the personal superintendence of their possessor 
 extremely necessary. 
 
 Setting aside the sort of monomaniacal
 
 16 GERTRUDE. 
 
 pride above mentioned, the Baron von Scliwan- 
 berg was far from being a bad man ; and if 
 he believed that the duties which devolved 
 upon him at the death of his father, were only 
 second in importance to those which fell upon 
 the Emperor himself, when his imperial parent 
 was removed from the earth, he believed also 
 that great and grave duties devolved upon 
 him likewise, and very earnestly did the youth- 
 ful baron determine to perform them faith- 
 fully. 
 
 Having, by very careful and judicious in- 
 quiry, ascertained both the character and the 
 position of the many families in his imme- 
 diate neighbourhood, who were either the 
 tenants, or the labourers on his property, he 
 made various regulations, all tending to en- 
 courage and reward their industry; and it 
 would have been difficult to find in any land 
 an estate, upon which the toiling labourers, 
 who converted its soil into gold, had less 
 reason to complain of their lot. 
 
 That these labourers were considered by 
 the baron as no more of the same order of 
 beings as himself, than were the docile oxen
 
 GERTRUDE. 17 
 
 which they led to plough, or the milky herds 
 which enriched their dairies, is most certain ; 
 but the Baron von Schwanberg was as un- 
 conscious of committing any fault or folly, by 
 so thinking, as he was when selecting a rose 
 from his flower-garden, and testifying his ap- 
 proval of it, by permitting it to bloom for his 
 especial pleasure on his drawing-room table. 
 
 But, nevertheless, though his gigantic esti- 
 mate of his owm greatness did not weigh upon 
 his conscience, it was in many ways trouble- 
 some to him. It cannot be doubted, that 
 such a young man as the baron, almost as far 
 iv moved from frivolity of all sorts as from 
 right thinking upon most subjects, — it cannot 
 be doubted that such a man had not long 
 found himself at the head of his illustrious 
 house, before he began to turn his thoughts 
 towards the necessary and all-important busi- 
 ness of forming such a matrimonial alliance 
 as, while it provided for the continuance of 
 his race, should add no symbol to the bear- 
 ings on his shield which could be considered 
 as unworthy of a place there. 
 
 But the task he thus set himself was, in 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 GERTRUDE. 
 
 truth, no easy one. Not for a m6ment during 
 the many years through which this difficult 
 search lasted, did he ever permit his eye to 
 wander in pursuit of beauty, however at- 
 tractive, or his heart to soften under the 
 influence of the sweetest smiles that woman 
 could bestow. Some adverse fate seemed to 
 be at work against him ; for, although, in addi- 
 tion to his noble descent, and his large and 
 unincumbered estates, he was decidedly a very 
 handsome man, his hand had been more than 
 once rejected. It is probable that he was too 
 much in earnest in the real object which he 
 had in view, to disguise his comparative indif- 
 ference on other points ; for it would be really 
 difficult to account for his many disappoint- 
 ments on any other ground. At length, how- 
 ever, his persevering researches were rewarded 
 by what he considered as the most brilliant 
 success ; for during his annual visit to Vienna 
 he had the happiness of meeting, wooing, and 
 winning a young countess, who really seemed 
 to possess every qualification to make the 
 marriage state happy, save and except the 
 paltry article of wealth ; but as he really
 
 GERTRUDE. 19 
 
 would have considered a large fortune in his 
 wife a very useless superfluity, the want of 
 it was by no means considered as an obstacle 
 to the union ; and at length, therefore, a few 
 months before his fiftieth birthday, the Baron 
 von Schwanberg was united to the young, 
 beautiful, and high-born Countess Gertrude 
 von Wolkendorf. 
 
 When a marriage so everv wav desirable 
 has been achieved by a lover, he is apt to 
 think that he has reached the happiest mo- 
 ment of his existence : but this was not exactlv 
 the case with the Baron von Schwanberg. 
 "He was certainly greatly delighted to find 
 himself, at length, married to precisely such a 
 noble young lady as it had been his wish to 
 find ; but not even from her would he have 
 attempted to conceal the fact, that the happi- 
 ness of possessing her was a blessing of con- 
 siderably less importance than that of the heir 
 which he anticipated as its result. 
 
 Fortunately, the prospect of this crowning- 
 blessing soon became evident, and the delight 
 of the Baron von Schwanberg thereupon was 
 almost too great to be restrained within any 
 
 C 2
 
 20 GERTRUDE. 
 
 reasonable bounds. His young wife was often 
 at a loss to know how she ought to receive 
 these vehement demonstrations of his happi- 
 ness. Like most other women, she gladly 
 welcomed the trial that awaited her, for the 
 sake of the treasure which her womanly hope 
 told her would reward her for it ; but as to 
 sympathising with the almost convulsive rap- 
 tures daily and hourly expressed by her hus- 
 band, it was beyond her power. She was by 
 nature thoughtful, gentle, and rather unde- 
 monstrative, than the reverse ; and moreover, 
 she was as true as she was reasonable ; and 
 the sort of affectation which it would have 
 required to enable her to appear in a state of 
 ecstacy equal to his own, would have required 
 a sacrifice of sincerity which it was not in 
 her nature to make. 
 
 As it never entered the head of the Baron 
 von Sch wan berg, to suppose it possible that 
 any lady who shared with him in all the 
 honours and glories of his position, as his 
 wife, should be insensible to the happiness of 
 transmitting them to an heir, he very soon 
 began to torment himself with the terrible
 
 GERTRUDE. 21 
 
 idea, that the preternatural composure and 
 indifference, as he called it, of his wife's man- 
 ner, arose from ill-health ; and from the time 
 this idea first suggested itself to him, he never 
 for a moment lost sight of the possibility, nay, 
 probability, that all his hopes might at last 
 prove abortive. 
 
 Grievously did he torment his unfortunate 
 lady, who, to say the truth, was in very ex- 
 cellent health, bv his unceasing anxietv about 
 her condition ; till at length, finding that the 
 most tender and persevering inquiries could 
 obtain from her nothing but reiterated as- 
 surances that she was " quite well," he sud- 
 denly took the resolution of adding a domestic 
 accoucheur to his establishment ; and as he 
 did not deem it either necessary or judicious 
 to explain to his lady all the parental terrors 
 which had induced him to take this step, 
 Madame von Schwanberg was a good deal 
 surprised by the lengthened visit of the grave 
 and not very amusing individual whom her 
 husband now introduced to her as one of his 
 particular friends. 
 
 This introduction, however, was, of course,
 
 22 GERTRUDE. 
 
 enough to insure her treating him with all 
 the consideration due to an honoured guest ; 
 nor, to say the truth, was she at all insensible 
 to the relief she might experience by her 
 magnificent husband having the society of 
 a friend, whose presence might occasionally 
 excuse the necessity of her own, and leave her 
 thereby at liberty to listen, in the retirement 
 of her own apartments, to " those silent 
 friends that ever please ;" an indulgence which, 
 if not absolutely denied to her, had been 
 very greatly restricted since the Baron von 
 Schwanberg had made her the partner of his 
 greatness. 
 
 But, by degrees, it seemed as if this par- 
 ticular friend of her husband's was inclined 
 to assume the right of being her particular 
 friend also. Again and again, it chanced that 
 when the Baron brought him to pay a daily 
 visit of compliment to his lady, in her own 
 particular sitting-room, he lingered behind, 
 when the lord of the mansion retired; and, 
 by degrees, this very superfluous degree of 
 attention was rendered still more remarkable, 
 and still more disagreeable, by his removing
 
 GERTRUDE. 23 
 
 from the place he had occupied during the 
 presence of the lady's husband, and taking a 
 seat next to her, often, indeed, on the very 
 sofa she occupied. 
 
 And then followed, before she could quite 
 make up her mind as to the best mode of 
 escaping this annoyance, the inconceivable 
 audacity of his taking her hand, and holding 
 it for several minutes in his, despite her very 
 decided efforts to withdraw it. 
 
 The Baroness von Schwanberg was one of 
 the last women in the world to suspect a 
 gentleman of falling in love with her j but it 
 appeared to her impossible to suggest any 
 other solution capable of explaining the extra- 
 ordinary conduct of the Herr Walters. 
 
 For several days, however, after this idea ' 
 first occurred, she very earnestly endeavoured to 
 persuade herself that it was impossible ; and 
 nothing but the persevering repetition of the 
 offence could have induced her, at length, to 
 confess to her husband that she did not like the 
 manners of his friend, the Herr Walters ; that 
 he was a vast deal too familiar in his mode of 
 addressing her, to suit her notions of propriety;
 
 24- GERTRUDE. 
 
 and that she greatly wished that a time for 
 his departure might be fixed as soon as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 It would be difficult to conceive anything 
 more ludicrous than the manner in which the 
 Baron von Schwanberg listened to this re- 
 monstrance. He had cautiously avoided men- 
 tioning to his lady the profession of his guest, 
 from the fear of endangering her health by 
 creating a feeling of alarm ; and it was, there- 
 fore, with no appearance of surprise, but with 
 an aspect of the most serene satisfaction, that 
 he now listened to her observations respecting 
 the offensive familiarity of his manner. 
 
 The Baron von Schwanberg had much too 
 profound respect for the noble lineage of his 
 lady, to make it easy for him to allow, even to 
 himself, that she had any of the faults or de- 
 fects to which inferior people are liable ; but, 
 nevertheless, there was one trait in her cha- 
 racter to which, with all his efforts, he could not 
 be wholly blind, and which, assuredly, often oc- 
 casioned him something very nearly approach - 
 in or to vexation. And no wonder, for this 
 defect in his lady's character was the apparent
 
 GERTRUDE. 25 
 
 absence of that noble feeling which the vulgar 
 call pride, but which all higher classes of the 
 human race more properly designate as a 
 high-minded appreciation of their own position. 
 It was, therefore, with a greater degree of sa- 
 tisfaction than can be easily imagined by per- 
 sons differently situated, that the Baron von 
 Schwanberg now listened to his lady's indig- 
 nant observations on the too great familiarity 
 of the Herr Walters' manners towards her. 
 
 The Baron was not of a caressing disposi- 
 tion, or he would probably have testified his 
 feelings by giving his lady a warm embrace. 
 But, although he did not do this, he testified 
 his feelings in a manner equally eloquent, for 
 he immediately stood up, and placing his right 
 hand on his breast wmile he saluted her, by 
 touching the left with his lips, he made her a 
 very profound bow, and said, with an approv- 
 ing smile, as he recovered his perpendicular 
 position : 
 
 " Your feelings, my dear lady, are exactly 
 what I would wish them to be. That you 
 should resent anything, and everything, that 
 could suggest the idea of impertinent fami-
 
 26 GERTRUDE. 
 
 liarity, is not only what I should expect from 
 the lady whom I have so carefully selected as 
 my wife, but it is precisely what I should most 
 honour and most admire in the lady of my 
 choice. And now, having done this justice to 
 you, and to myself, let me also do justice to 
 the very respectable individual whom you have 
 been led to consider as defective in that perfect 
 respect and deference which your father's 
 daughter, and my wife, have such undoubted 
 right to expect. And now permit me to ex- 
 plain to you the real cause of the conduct 
 which has appeared to you as objectionable in 
 the worthy Herr Walters." 
 
 And having said this, the Baron von 
 Schwanberg sat himself down on the sofa 
 beside his lady, and proceeded to explain to 
 her the nature of the attention which their 
 new inmate had bestowed upon her. 
 
 There would be no use in attempting to 
 describe the transition from one species of dis- 
 pleasure to another, which was the result of 
 this confidential disclosure to the persecuted 
 baroness, for it may be very easily imagined. 
 
 The prevailing quality of her temper was
 
 GERTRUDE. 27 
 
 gentleness, or, more correctly speaking, tran- 
 quillity. No lady living ever troubled her- 
 self less concerning the affairs of other 
 people, nor was she at all disposed to suspect 
 that other people took the liberty of troubling 
 themselves about hers ; and the now finding 
 herself the object, and the avowed object, of 
 the unceasing observation of her very parti- 
 cularly tiresome husband, and his professional 
 assistant, was a sore trial to her usually dig- 
 nified composure of manner. 
 
 If the medical gentleman had touched her 
 pulse at that moment, he would assuredly have 
 felt himself called upon to declare that it made 
 no very " healthful music ;" but, fortunately 
 for her patience, she escaped this trial ; and 
 when her observant spouse perceived that his 
 statement respecting the Herr Walters' position 
 in his family caused a very remarkable aug- 
 mentation of colour on the delicate cheek of 
 his lady, he permitted himself to look at her 
 with a sort of patronizing smile, as he pro- 
 mised to indulge the timidity of her youthful 
 shyness, as far as it was possible to do so 
 without withdrawing the attention necessary 
 to her precious health !
 
 28 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 " The timidity of her youthful shyness !" 
 The feeling which her unsuspicious husband 
 thus described, might have been called a 
 movement of almost ungovernable rage, with 
 much more justice. 
 
 The baroness half rose from her chair, and 
 her project was, probably, to leave the room ; 
 but she conquered herself sufficiently to re- 
 sume her seat, and another moment enabled 
 her to avoid the folly of expressing anger that 
 would be equally unintelligible, and disre- 
 garded. For a second thought sufficed to 
 suggest a wiser course. If their strange 
 visiter was retained in the house for the ex- 
 press purpose of examining the state of her 
 health, he might (she thought), if he had been 
 as great a fool as his employer, have made 
 himself still more troublesome than he had 
 been already ; and although his doing so 
 might have saved her from the ridiculous 
 blunder into which she had fallen, it would 
 have left less hope of her being able to pre- 
 vent his annoying her for the future. 
 
 The destiny of the unfortunate Baroness 
 had, unhappily, precluded the possibility of
 
 GERTRUDE. 29 
 
 her acting on any occasion wherein her hus- 
 band was concerned, with the frankness and 
 sincerity which was originally a part of her 
 nature; and after meditating very seriously 
 for the first few weeks after her marriage upon 
 the comparative evils, and the comparative 
 sins, attending a systematic course of false- 
 hood, and a systematic course of truth, in her 
 intercourse with him, she deliberately decided 
 upon the former. 
 
 It took but little time to prove to her, be- 
 yond the hope of mistake, that her husband 
 was a pompous fool, incapable of acting from 
 rational motives ; incapable of forming a ra- 
 tional opinion ; and pretty nearly incapable 
 of uttering a rational word. Should she be 
 doing right if she so conducted herself as to 
 make it evident to himself, and to others, that 
 such was the opinion she had thus formed of 
 him ? She thought not. And having come 
 to this conclusion, she acted upon it with a 
 steady, quiet perseverance, which not only 
 prevented his happiness from being troubled 
 by any doubts concerning either his own 
 wisdom or hers, but which puzzled many an
 
 30 GERTRUDE. 
 
 intelligent looker-on as to the strange pheno- 
 menon of such a woman as the Baroness von 
 Schwanberg thinking it right and proper (as 
 she so evidently did), to listen with attention 
 to the Baron von Schwanberg whenever he 
 thought proper to speak ; let his language be 
 ever so frequent, or ever so long. 
 
 At length, however, a very remarkably clever 
 man, when discussing this puzzling subject with 
 a friend, observed, that he saw but one way of 
 accounting for it ; which was, by supposing 
 that the high-born Baroness was at heart quite 
 as proud as the high-born Baron, although she 
 did not betray the feeling so openly as her 
 husband ; " and in that case," added this phi- 
 losophical observer, " you may depend upon 
 it, she really does think every word he utters 
 is worth listening to." 
 
 But we must return to the tete-a-tete which 
 these remarks have interrupted ; no sooner 
 had the idea occurred to Madame von Schwan- 
 berg, that the physician might not be the fool 
 which he was probably fee'd to appear ; than 
 she determined to give him a hint or two 
 which might prevent the thraldom in which
 
 GERTRUDE. 31 
 
 she was placed, from being utterly intolerable. 
 Fortunately for all the parties concerned, both 
 born and unborn, she found him apt ; and 
 from that time, till his final dismissal after the 
 birth of her child, he proved himself a very 
 usefid friend, cleverly contriving to become 
 the recipient of the Baron's parental medita- 
 tions, whether hopeful or fearful, and pro- 
 curing thereby something like comparative 
 peace to the unfortunate object of his anxiety.
 
 32 GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 But, at last, the great, the important day 
 arrived, which was to repay the Baron von 
 Schwanberg for all the anxieties he had en- 
 dured, by blessing his longing eyes with the 
 sight of the illustrious little Baron, whose dis- 
 tinguished destiny it was, to perpetuate the 
 honours of the Schwanberg race. 
 
 The judicious professional attendant of the 
 lady had succeeded in persuading him, that 
 the most serious and deplorable consequences 
 might ensue, if the latter part of the time, 
 which preceded the anticipated event, were 
 not passed by her in the unbroken repose of 
 her own dressing-room ; and it is highly pro-
 
 GERTRUDE. 33 
 
 bablc, that this friendly precaution, on the 
 part of the rational and kind-hearted indivi- 
 dual, who, from an involuntary persecutor, had 
 become a pitying friend, saved her from such 
 a fever on the spirits, as might have endan- 
 gered her own life, if not that of her child ; 
 for if the ceaseless worry and impatience, in 
 which the father expectant passed this inter- 
 val, had been shared, or even witnessed by 
 his unfortunate wife, it is scarcely possible 
 that it could have failed of producing very 
 painful effects. 
 
 As it was, however, the Baroness von 
 Schwanberg brought forth in safety. But, 
 alas ! her offspring was a daughter ! I will 
 not attempt to describe the state of mind into 
 which the announcement of this fact threw the 
 Baron. This was an occurrence which, from 
 a strange sort of infatuation had never oc- 
 curred to him as possible. In fact, his mind, 
 which was not a very expansive one, had been, 
 not only since his marriage, but long before 
 it, so fully and wholly occupied by the idea of 
 having a son, that the possibility of his having 
 a daughter had never occurred to him. 
 
 VOL. i. D
 
 S4 GERTRUDE. 
 
 The Herr Walters was not only a kind- 
 hearted, but really a sensible man, which was 
 proved by the manner in which he had con- 
 trived to prevent his very unnecessary pre- 
 sence in the family from being an annoyance 
 to its unfortunate mistress. But it should 
 seem that he was not a brave man ; for his 
 courage failed him altogether, when he re- 
 membered that the Baron had made him pro- 
 mise to come to him in person, as soon as the 
 child was born, that he might at once learn 
 his opinion exactly as to its state of health, and 
 so forth. 
 
 But the good doctor really dared not face 
 the Baron under such circumstances. The 
 task of telling him that all his noble anticipa- 
 tions of seeing before him the glorious pros- 
 pect of an endless race of barons were vain, 
 and that, instead of this, he must content 
 himself with being the father of a little girl, 
 was more than he had courage to perform. 
 The direful tidings were therefore conveyed 
 to the unfortunate nobleman by one of the 
 attendants, with an intimation that the 
 Herr Walters was in attendance upon the
 
 GERTRUDE. 35 
 
 Baroness, and could not leave her just at 
 present. 
 
 It would be equally vain and needless to 
 attempt describing the condition into which 
 this announcement threw the unfortunate 
 father ; for, however powerful the description 
 might be, it could only convey an idea of his 
 real condition to those capable of conceiving 
 it, and fortunately the great majority of human 
 beings would, judging from their own feelings, 
 conceive such a description to be unnatural. 
 Yet such things are. 
 
 The judicious Herr Walters took care to 
 prevent his perfectly contented patient from 
 being disturbed during the first days of her 
 convalescence by the presence of her husband, 
 lest the real state of his mind might become 
 apparent to her ; and by so doing he certainly 
 contributed very essentially to her comfort ; 
 nevertheless, the lady would probably have 
 progressed with equal certainty towards reco- 
 very, if these precautions had been omitted ; 
 for the temper, the spirits, and even the feel- 
 ings of Madam von Schwanberg, had become 
 pretty nearly callous to all the superb absur- 
 
 d 2
 
 36 GERTRUDE. 
 
 dities of her husband ; and most assuredly it 
 would have been greatly beyond his power to 
 have expressed or manifested any feeling con- 
 cerning the arrival of her new-born treasure, 
 which could in the least degree have lessened 
 her happiness in possessing it. 
 
 Meanwhile the little Gertrude grew, and 
 prospered • and as it was the will of Heaven 
 that she should be an only child, not even the 
 inferiority of her sex could prevent her becom- 
 ing a person of considerable consequence, even 
 in the estimation of her father. 
 
 To her devoted mother she certainly ap- 
 peared to be as near perfection as it was pos- 
 sible for any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
 to be ; and even her disappointed father soon 
 began to think that, although unfortunately 
 she was not a son, she was such a daughter as 
 only the house of Schwanberg could produce. 
 
 Allowance must be made, however, for the 
 natural partiality both of father and mother. 
 Gertrude von Schwanberg was a splendidly 
 handsome child, and shewed early symptoms 
 both of intelligence and good temper ; but 
 nevertheless, the young Baroness was very far
 
 GERTRUDE. 37 
 
 from being the perfect being her progenitors 
 supposed her to be ; for in truth she inherited, 
 in a very considerable degree, the faults of 
 both. But she wore these faults with a dif- 
 ference ; or rather, the fact of their being 
 blended, produced a result by no means very 
 exactly resembling the character either of the 
 one or the other. 
 
 From her father she certainly inherited a 
 kind temper and a generous hand. Like him, 
 she could never witness want or suffering, 
 without feeling a very earnest wish to relieve 
 it. But she inherited from him also no in- 
 ' considerable portion ol pride. This last- 
 named quality, however, was more changed by 
 transmission, than these before mentioned ; 
 for Gertrude inherited from b,er mother, not 
 only a bright intelligence, but also the clear- 
 ness of head, which, if it has fair play, leads 
 to that most precious of all faculties, common 
 sense ; and where this is found in action, pride, 
 though it may exist, must cast off its fooleries. 
 The mental superiority of her mother, how- 
 ever, could not, either by inheritance or pre- 
 cept, obliterate the self-willed pertinacity of
 
 38 GERTRUDE. 
 
 character which was so remarkable in her 
 father ; but her mind being of larger scope, 
 her self-will could never have been as perfectly 
 satisfied as his, by the preservation of an un- 
 blemished coat of arms. 
 
 And excellent as her mother was, she too 
 had her faults. 
 
 If the Baron had too much pride in one di- 
 rection, she had too much pride in another ; 
 and their child was quite as likely to suffer 
 from this sort of inheritance on the mother's 
 side, as on the father's. 
 
 The Baroness von Schwanberg's adoration 
 of talent, and contempt for the want of it, 
 might very truly be said to know no bounds ; 
 and to communicate these feelings to her child, 
 speedily became the great object of her life. 
 
 Had the father of this child been a little 
 less absurd in his estimate of human affairs in 
 general, and of his own position in particular, 
 the feelings of his wife towards him would 
 have been very different, for, in that case, her 
 estimate of her respective duties as a wife and 
 a mother, might have been more justly ba- 
 lanced ; but, as it was, she felt as if she had
 
 GERTRUDE. 39 
 
 done her child great wrong by permitting her- 
 self to be persuaded to form the alliance which 
 had given her so unintellectual a father ; and 
 in order to atone for this, she put but little 
 restraint upon herself when discussing the 
 inanity of his pursuits, or the absurdity of 
 his notions. 
 
 But, fortunately for both parties, nature 
 seemed to take the feelings both of the father 
 and the daughter into her own hands, and 
 that, too, without changing the intellectual 
 condition of either. The Baron, perhaps, 
 never quite ceased to lament in his inmost 
 soul that his daughter was not his son ; but, 
 nevertheless, a very few years sufficed to teach 
 him that a daughter was a thing that might 
 be very dearly loved ; and he did love his 
 beautiful Gertrude very dearly. 
 
 The young girl, on the other hand, guided 
 by the same kind of unerring impulse, soon 
 discovered that though papa did not know 
 so many things as mamma, it was still very 
 nice to have a father so fond of one ; and 
 perhaps the worst effect of this divided duty 
 was, that it taught her to feel how much more
 
 40 GERTRUDE. 
 
 important she was to both, than either of 
 them was to the other — a discovery which was 
 likely enough to lead to the dangerous con- 
 clusion, that she was able to manage them 
 both. 
 
 And that this was, in a great degree, the 
 case, is very certain ; and had the young 
 heiress been a little-minded girl, she would 
 have been ruined by it ; but fortunately, she 
 was not. She had a multitude of faults, both 
 hereditary and acquired, but littleness of mind 
 was not among them. 
 
 She would have no more condescended art- 
 fully to use her influence on either, for the 
 purpose of obtaining any childish indulgence, 
 than she would have cut off her own little 
 finger ; but she certainly did not scruple to 
 profit by the indulgence of both, in the way 
 most agreeable to each. It was with her 
 father, therefore, that she enjoyed the great 
 delight of cantering on her beautiful little 
 pony, not only over every part of his wide 
 domain, but considerably beyond its confines, 
 when the doing so could afford her an oppor- 
 tunity of looking on upon the chase, in which
 
 GERTRUDE. 41 
 
 her father delighted, and in which he very fre- 
 quently indulged, considering it as the only 
 amusement which could be strictly considered 
 as truly and exclusively noble. 
 
 In this much-loved recreation her mother 
 could take no part, for she had never been a 
 horse-woman ; but having all confidence in the 
 care taken of the little girl by her father in 
 these excursions, her good sense and right 
 feeling taught her to rejoice instead of lament, 
 that there was some portion of her daughter's 
 days which might be passed in the society of 
 her father, without either positive loss of time 
 or positive privation of pleasure. And this 
 portion, and her presence at his daily meals, 
 appeared to satisfy the good Baron com- 
 pletely. 
 
 Her mother, on the other hand, was equally 
 well contented by the portion of this precious 
 daughter's hours which was allotted to her. 
 
 The only stipulation on which she insisted 
 was, that she should have no governess but 
 herself. Her own education had been well 
 attended to. She was an excellent musician, 
 drew with taste and correctness, and was quite
 
 42 GERTRUDE. 
 
 as good a linguist as she wished her daughter 
 to be ; all this, she was quite aware, might 
 be also acquired by her Gertrude, by the aid 
 of an accomplished woman, who might easily 
 be hired for the purpose of teaching her ; nor 
 was she at all unconscious of the fact that she 
 should herself be spared many hours of fatigue 
 by this arrangement. 
 
 But the stedfast-minded mother had what 
 she conceived to be much higher objects in 
 view than could be obtained in the ordinary 
 routine of education by the assistance of a 
 governess. She had long ceased to lament, 
 with anything like bitterness, the fate which 
 had given her one of the dullest men that ever 
 lived as a husband and companion ; for she had 
 enough of practical wisdom to be aware that 
 her happiness would have been much more 
 effectually destroyed by a man who, with less 
 of dullness, had a greater propensity to inter- 
 fere with the opinions of his wife, and who 
 might have interfered more fatally still with 
 the occupation of her time. 
 
 But although she felt that there might be 
 qualities in a husband worse than dullness,
 
 GERTRUDE. 43 
 
 the terrible vision, which was long the bete 
 noir of her existence, arose from the fear that 
 the intellect of her child might resemble that 
 of its father. 
 
 Her chief reason for deciding that she would 
 herself be the instructress of the little Ger- 
 trude, arose from the conviction that so onlv 
 could she be able to form a just estimate of 
 her faculties and disposition. " Should I," 
 thought she, " find my spirits or my strength 
 unequal to the task, I can resign it ; but this 
 shall not be done till I have enabled myself to 
 form something like a correct judgment of 
 what she is." 
 
 The experiment was made, and the result 
 was most propitious in every way. 
 
 It required no maternal partiality to con- 
 vince her that, although the little girl might 
 inherit the Schwanberg estates, it was quite 
 impossible that she should ever give evidence 
 of her lawful right to them by any resem- 
 blance to their present possessor. 
 
 The fate of Madame von Schwanberg had 
 certainly not hitherto been a happy one. She 
 had known what it was to love, and be disap-
 
 44 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 pointed. She had known too, the weariness, 
 not to say misery, of becoming the wife of a 
 man utterly incapable of being a companion, 
 and yet, perhaps, not quite deserving the feel- 
 ing he inspired. 
 
 But, be this as it may, she soon discovered 
 that her only resource against something very 
 like despair must be sought in herself ; and, 
 fortunately, she was not long in discovering 
 that she should not seek it in vain. The 
 quiet Baron had not the slightest objection to 
 her exercising her own taste in the arrange- 
 ment of her apartments ; and if her constant 
 additions to his fine old library had cost him 
 thousands instead of hundreds, he would have 
 made no sort of objection to it, for it would 
 have caused him no inconvenience ; nay, even 
 if it had, and that his forests, or his flocks 
 either, had been thinned to furnish what she 
 needed, he would greatly have preferred 
 making the sacrifice to enduring the idea that 
 his wife, the Baroness von Schwanberg, should 
 want anything which the most powerful of 
 German nobles could obtain. Of course, this 
 sort of indulgence, together with the perfectly
 
 GERTRUDE. 45 
 
 well-founded conviction that the Baron did not 
 expect his Baroness to bestow much of her 
 company upon him, in a great degree recon- 
 ciled her to her lot. 
 
 And then, heaven graciously sent her the 
 little Gertrude ! 
 
 Her satisfaction at the arrival of this pre- 
 cious treasure would have been more perfect 
 still, had not the fears before-mentioned blended 
 her hopes with doubts. 
 
 The scheme she had hit upon, of being herself 
 her little daughter's governess, was extremely 
 well imagined, and perfectly successful ; for, be- 
 fore the little Baroness had completed her tenth 
 year, her mother had become very comfortably 
 convinced that there was as little intellectual re- 
 semblance between the father and daughter as 
 she could possibly desire ; and having ascer- 
 tained this important fact very completely to 
 her satisfaction, she prayed God to forgive her 
 for having been so very anxious about it ; and 
 also for the extreme gratification which she 
 derived from the result of her watchful study 
 of infant character. 
 
 This important question being thus settled to
 
 46 GERTRUDE. 
 
 her satisfaction, the Baroness, like a good 
 woman as she was, took care not to impede, 
 but, on the contrary, to foster, by every rational 
 means in her power, the growing attachment 
 between the father and daughter. 
 
 The little girl had her mother's beautiful 
 eyes, hair, and teeth, but she also, in many 
 respects, resembled her father. Her growth, 
 and finely-formed limbs, seemed to promise 
 that, in a feminine degree, she would prove a 
 worthy scion of the stately house of Schwan- 
 berg ; and it was, happily, very evident also, 
 that, in the vigorous healthfullness of her con- 
 stitution, she much more nearly resembled her 
 father than her mother. 
 
 Of this resemblance the Baron was fully as 
 conscious as his lady could be of the child's 
 intellectual features ; and it would be difficult 
 to say which parent was best pleased by the 
 resemblance which each traced. 
 
 The good Baron, however, reasoned about it 
 much less than his philosophical-ntinded lady. 
 It is very possible that, sincerely as she wished 
 that a strong mutual attachment should exist 
 between the father and his child, she might
 
 GERTREDE. 47 
 
 have been less willing to see them so well 
 pleased in each other's society, had the resem- 
 blance between them been of an intellectual 
 instead of a physical kind. Could she have 
 believed that, during the many hours in which 
 they were riding or walking together, the 
 spirit of the child would have kindled into 
 the same sort of eager animation, that it was 
 the delight of her heart to witness, when she 
 was herself the bright young creature's only 
 companion, a feeling of no very pleasant kind 
 would have bee*n the result. In short, had 
 the father and daughter been more intellectu- 
 ally alike, the mother might have been less 
 willing to see them share so many hours of 
 exercise and amusement together.
 
 4S GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 But Madame de Schwanberg was not quite 
 right in supposing that those very hours could 
 be thus passed tete-a-tete with her father, 
 without producing some effect upon the child's 
 mind, and manner of thinking. In forming 
 this opinion, she had forgotten that the mind 
 of the Baron had its particular hobby, as well 
 as her own, and that her feelings of love and 
 reverence for genius and knowledge, were 
 neither more active nor more ardent, than his 
 for high descent and aristocratic station. Nor 
 did the ample stores of her library furnish 
 more fitting materials for making her child 
 intellectual, than the ample extent of his
 
 GERTRUDE. 49 
 
 domain offered for rendering his heiress 
 proud. 
 
 And, in fact, she rode by his side, and 
 listened to the long stories he recounted of 
 the succession of noble ancestors who had 
 possessed, and ruled over, these fields and 
 forests, and indulged their subject tenants, and 
 their favoured friends, by permitting them to 
 join in the glorious chase, to which their mag- 
 nificent extent offered such rare facilities, till 
 the little girl certainly did begin to think that 
 her papa was a very great man indeed. 
 
 Nor did he permit her to remain long in 
 ignorance of the agreeable fact, that she was 
 destined . by providence to become, in the 
 course of time, a very great woman herself. 
 At first, she only laughed at this, and thought 
 he was joking ; and then, when she perceived 
 he was in earnest, she blushed, and felt half 
 shocked, and half frightened, at the idea of 
 becoming the ruler and the queen over so 
 many grown-up people. 
 
 I'pon the whole, however, the idea was by 
 do means disagreeable ; and by degrees she 
 began to wonder that her dear mamma (who 
 
 vol. i. e
 
 50 GERTRUDE. 
 
 must, of course, know all about her future 
 greatness as well as her papa) had never said 
 one single word to her on the subject. By 
 degrees, too, this reserve became painful to 
 her ; and when she was about twelve years old, 
 she suddenly took the resolution of asking 
 her mother why, among all the things she 
 taught her about what was right, and what 
 was wrong, she never said anything as to the 
 sort of way in which she ought to behave 
 when she came into possession of her father's 
 great estates. 
 
 " I could give you many reasons, Gertrude, 
 for never spending any of our precious time 
 upon such a subject," replied her mother. 
 
 "Pray do tell me some of them, mamma !" 
 returned the child ; "for I want very much 
 to know all about it/' 
 
 " One reason for my silence might perhaps 
 be, that I know very little about it myself," 
 said the Baroness ; " and another certainly is, 
 that I consider it very unlikely that you should 
 ever find yourself in a situation to require the 
 information you ask for." 
 
 " How can that be, mamma ?" said Ger-
 
 GERTRUDE. 51 
 
 trade, slightly knitting her beautiful brow ; 
 " is it not certain that I shall be my papa's 
 heiress?" 
 
 " No, not quite certain," returned her mo- 
 ther, carelessly ; " for I may die before your 
 father, and he might marry again, and have 
 a son. But, even if this does not happen, 
 there is very little danger, my dear, that you 
 should ever be troubled about the manage- 
 ment of the estate. Of course, you will 
 marry, as other girls do, and there will be no 
 more occasion for you to trouble yourself 
 about the estate, than there is for me to do 
 so. 
 
 There are no auditors in the world more 
 amenable to the influence of common sense 
 than children. There is neither fallacy nor 
 puzzle in it, and there is always a sort of self- 
 evident truth about it, which is to the mind 
 what light is to the eye ; and the statement 
 that we believe what we see, is as correct 
 respecting the one, as respecting the other. 
 
 Gertrude troubled herself no more respect- 
 ing the difficulties attending the management 
 of ber future dominions ; but it was not very 
 
 B 2
 
 52 GERTRUDE. 
 
 long before the idea suggested itself to her, 
 that although she might never have much to 
 do with the management of her estate herself, 
 it would be proper for her to be very careful 
 not to marry any one who was not well 
 qualified to manage it for her. This task of 
 selection, however, did not trouble her much ; 
 but, nevertheless, a tolerably firm resolution 
 took root, almost unconsciously perhaps, in 
 her young mind, that the said selection should 
 be made by herself. 
 
 Her life, meanwhile, was one of almost un- 
 mixed enjoyment, for the wearisome dullness of 
 her father was unfelt when she was galloping 
 at his side, up hill and down dale, upon the 
 very prettiest pony that ever carried a young- 
 heiress ; and every hour passed with her mo- 
 ther was so enjoyable, that she only wondered 
 how she could ever bear to leave her, even for 
 a gallop ; for when they were not talking- 
 together, or singing together, or drawing- 
 together, they were both reading, at no great 
 distance apart, in the snug retreat afforded 
 by the fine old library, where no chance 
 visitors were ever permitted to enter, and.
 
 GERTRUDE. 53 
 
 from the threshold of which the magnificent 
 master of the castle instinctively retreated, 
 as if conscious that there was some quality 
 in its atmosphere decidedly hostile to his con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Different people would have doubtless passed 
 different judgments on the conduct of the Ba- 
 roness, respecting this reading portion of Ger- 
 trude's education, had her system been made 
 known. What was coarse and gross, was so re- 
 pugnant to her own feelings, that she would no 
 more have permitted anything of this nature to 
 come in her daughter's way, than she would 
 have suffered poison to be mixed with her 
 food ; but she rather wished to encourage, 
 than restrain the perusal of whatever argu- 
 mentative works excited her interest, being 
 deeply persuaded that truth will make its way 
 to the mind, wherever free discussion is per- 
 mitted between herself and the blundering 
 falsehoods by which she is perpetually as- 
 sailed. 
 
 Madame de Schwanberg's idea on the sub- 
 ject was, that with a fair field, and no favour, 
 tlnre was no more danger that truth should
 
 54 GERTRUDE. 
 
 be conquered in the strife, than that a six- 
 foot grenadier should be overthrown by Tom 
 Thumb. 
 
 She had herself read much more widely 
 and deeply than the majority of her sex, and 
 her opinions upon many points still contested 
 by mankind, were as firmly held as they were 
 carefully formed ; but she recognised no law 
 which, in her opinion, could justify her insist- 
 ing upon her daughter's adopting her opinions ; 
 and Gertrude was in a fair way of profiting 
 as largely by the Baron's polite liberality in 
 the constant purchase of books, as her mother 
 had been before her. 
 
 But this is forestalling ; for there are events 
 of her childhood to be recorded, which oc- 
 curred before the liberality of her parents, 
 either in money or mind, enabled her to cater 
 for herself in this particular. 
 
 It would be doing great injustice to the 
 paternal feelings of the Baron von Schwan- 
 berg to deny, that however constant he might 
 be in theory, to his preference for a male heir, 
 he had become, in practice, to be most fer- 
 vently attached to his little daughter; and
 
 GERTRUDE. 55 
 
 there was no page in the history of his coun- 
 try, that he now dwelt upon with so much 
 pleasure, as that which recorded the greatness 
 of Maria Teresa. In short, if he had not 
 changed his mind upon the superiority of a 
 son to a daughter, he had, in a great degree, 
 forgot to think about it ; and in contemplating 
 the beauty, the vivacity, and the high spirit of 
 his heiress, he could find no room in his heart 
 for any feelings but love and admiration. 
 
 But, of all her accomplishments, ne was 
 decidedly most vain of her horsemanship. 
 He was never weary of pointing out to all 
 who would listen to him, the undaunted cou- 
 rage displayed by the little girl, when she ac- 
 companied him in the chase ; and he believed, 
 as firmly as that the earth was created by 
 God, that the noble daring she displayed was 
 derived from the untainted blood of her long- 
 descended line of ancestors. 
 
 Such being his feelings on the subject, it 
 may easily be supposed that he lost no oppor- 
 tunity of exhibiting her beauty, and her fear- 
 lessness on horseback, whenever he indulged 
 bis more aristocratic neighbours, by inviting
 
 56 GERTRUDE. 
 
 them to hunt upon his land ; and as the Ba- 
 roness had the most perfect confidence in the 
 knowledge and discretion of her husband in 
 all matters appertaining to the chase (the 
 more perfect, perhaps, because unmixed with 
 any suspicion of his superiority on any other 
 subject) ; no objection was ever raised, on her 
 part, to her daughter's sharing in a pastime 
 which she enjoyed with quite as much fervour 
 as the Baron himself. 
 
 It happened soon after she had passed her 
 twelfth birthday, that a grand hunt was pro- 
 posed, in a direction not very frequently taken 
 by the Baron and his sporting friends, on 
 account of the intervention of a stream that 
 was not always easily fordable. But the 
 young Baroness having previously, with her 
 father at her bridle-rein, tried her pony very 
 successfully at the spot where they intended 
 to cross, the party was arranged, and a gayer 
 field had never been assembled at Schloss 
 Schwanberg than that which left it upon this 
 occasion. The weather was delicious. Every 
 thing seemed to smile upon them ; but, alas ! 
 " malignant Fate sat by, and smiled" too.
 
 GERTRUDE. 57 
 
 It certainly was a very pretty sight ; and 
 the saw blooming, fearless little Gertrude, 
 making her spirited little pony pace daintily 
 along, close to her father's horse, was not the 
 least attractive part of the spectacle. 
 
 After about an hour's riding, they reached 
 the spot where they were to cross ; and it was 
 arranged between the Baron and his friends, 
 that they, and the servants, should all precede 
 him and his precious charge, to prevent the 
 possibility of frightening the pony by the un- 
 wonted sound of splashing hoofs behind him. 
 They all made the passage without the slight- 
 est difficulty, the steep descent down the high 
 bank beneath which the little river ran, being 
 by far the greatest impediment to their pro- 
 gress. But Gertrude was far too good a 
 horse-woman to mind this ; and gathering up 
 her reins in as scientific a manner as it was 
 possible for the little hand to achieve, she 
 reached the border of the stream as safely, 
 and as gracefully too, as if she had been riding 
 across her father's lawn. 
 
 " Now then, Gertrude," said the Baron, 
 " put him to it. Let him step in."
 
 58 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Gertrude paused but a moment to gather 
 up her long riding-dress, and obeyed. For 
 the first few paces the little animal seemed to 
 find no difficulty, and made none, but stepped 
 as steadily forward as if conscious of the im- 
 portant duty he had to perform, and the ne- 
 cessity of being more than usually careful. 
 
 The sheltering projection of the steep bank 
 which they had just descended, so effectually 
 impeded the current at the point where the 
 road entered it, that its waters ran almost 
 without a ripple; but having passed this shelter, 
 Gertrude's little steed stopped short, and 
 neighed to his brethren who had preceded 
 him, as if to consult them concerning his 
 progress. 
 
 It is true that he had crossed at the same 
 ford before, and had made no difficulty about 
 it ; but whether the largeness of the party of 
 which he now made one had shaken his nerves, 
 or that the stream ran deeper in consequence 
 of more recent, or more abundant rain ; in 
 short, whatever the cause, he not only stood 
 still, but shewed very evident symptoms of 
 being frightened.
 
 GERTRUDE. 59 
 
 Not so his high-spirited young rider. But 
 if ignorance is bliss, it is not safety. It was 
 evident that the pony was more aware of the 
 real state of the case than Gertrude, or she 
 would have patted him gently, and waited for 
 her father, who followed her at the distance of 
 a few feet ; but instead of this, she gave her 
 little favourite the sharpest touch of her whip 
 that she had ever bestowed upon him, and in 
 order to obey it, he made so great an effort 
 that he was immediately taken off his feet, 
 and the terrified Baron had the misery of see- 
 ing his heiress floating down the stream, very 
 evidently against her will. That it was against 
 the pony's will also, was equally evident ; for 
 though the action of his head and neck very 
 plainly shewed that he was endeavouring to 
 obey the rein which Gertrude still held steadily 
 in her hand, he was unable to do it. Her fa- 
 ther's first impulse was to follow her ; but the 
 powerful animal on which he was mounted had 
 no intention of swimming, and strode reso- 
 lutely onward to the bank, which the rest of 
 the party had reached, without heeding either 
 the heel or the hand of his rider.
 
 60 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Meanwhile, more than one of the sportsmen 
 who had crossed, turned their horses' heads 
 down the stream, in the hope of rinding some 
 point at which they might dash into the river, 
 and by heading the pony and seizing his rein, 
 be enabled to rescue the precious burden he 
 was so evidently carrying to destruction. But 
 this plan was more easily formed than exe- 
 cuted. The bank on the side which the ad- 
 vanced party had reached rose rapidly, and the 
 swimming pony had already passed the last 
 point at which those who wished to rescue the 
 young girl could possibly have reached the 
 stream. 
 
 At this terrible moment, when the thought 
 had occurred to more than one of the party, 
 that it was not the classic Tiber only which 
 was destined to roll its waves over youth and 
 beauty ; it was at this terrible moment that 
 the slight figure of a young lad was seen on 
 the side of the liver wdiich they had just 
 quitted, running with the swiftness of an ante- 
 lope to some point which evidently he was 
 desperately purposed to reach ; and he had 
 already outstripped the swimming pony, when
 
 GERTRUDE. 61 
 
 he was seen to turn suddenly to a projecting 
 ledge which overhung the river, and then has- 
 tilv unclasping his belt, and divesting himself 
 of the loose garment which would have im- 
 peded his purpose, he took a vigorous forward 
 spring, which brought him within a few feet 
 of the advancing pony and his helpless 
 burden. 
 
 After this plunge, the bold boy was for a 
 moment lost to sight, and more than one of 
 the gasping spectators of this frightful scene 
 exclaimed, " He is gone !" 
 
 He was not gone far, however, for, though 
 he had sunk to a perilous depth beneath the 
 surface of the water, he speedily rose again, 
 and vigorously seizing the falling girl with 
 bis left arm, he swam with her, by the help of 
 the right, to a little pebbly cove on the same 
 side of the stream which he had just quitted, 
 and the next moment she was lying, not dry, 
 certainly, but high enough above the water to 
 insure her for the present from any danger of 
 being drowned. 
 
 The scene which followed may be easily 
 imagined. Not only the half-dead and half-
 
 62 GERTRUDE. 
 
 bewildered father immediately set himself to 
 discover the readiest mode of joining the 
 dripping pair, who appeared lying side by 
 side, and equally motionless, on the beach, 
 but every individual of the party — masters 
 and men — were evidently intent on the same 
 object. 
 
 It took not long to decide what was to be 
 done. 
 
 In the next moment the whole group were 
 galloping back to the ferry, which they re- 
 crossed as rapidly as w r as consistent with their 
 recently-acquired knowledge of its danger : 
 and in a few minutes afterwards they reached 
 a point of the cliff, down which they scrambled 
 with no great difficulty, having dismounted, 
 and consigned their steeds to the care of their 
 servants ; and then they very speedily reached 
 the object of their anxiety. 
 
 Poor Gertrude was perfectly insensible, and 
 for a few terrible moments her miserable fa- 
 ther believed she was dead. But more than 
 one of his truly-sympathizing companions, 
 though not a little flurried by the scene they 
 had witnessed, were, nevertheless, sufficiently
 
 GERTRUDE. 63 
 
 in possession of their senses to perceive that 
 the adventure, perilous as it unquestionably 
 had been, was not likely to end in so tragical 
 a manner. 
 
 As there was no one present likely to quote 
 Shakspeare, and exclaim, " Too much of water 
 hast thou "... a very sensible individual of the 
 party ventured to try the experiment of apply- 
 ing a little more ; and as he did this very 
 judiciously, by dashing from a drinking-horn, 
 which he carried in his pocket, a pretty copious 
 libation of the fluid in her face, it proved to 
 be, like many other things, both bane and 
 antidote, according to the mode of its applica- 
 tion, for the beautiful eyes of the young 
 Gertrude immediately opened at its startling 
 touch. 
 
 She first breathed a somewhat sobbing 
 sigh, and then looked about her, very much 
 as if she wanted to find out where she was, 
 and not at all as if she intended to die before 
 she had satisfied herself on this point. 
 
 There were several stout-hearted gentlemen 
 present upon that occasion, who were heard to 
 declare more than once, in the course of their
 
 64 GERTRUDE. 
 
 subsequent lives, that they never should forget 
 the countenance of the Baron von Schwanberg 
 at the moment he first perceived that his 
 daughter was alive. 
 
 Of all the party present, he had perhaps 
 been the only one who had even for a moment 
 hopelessly and completely believed that she 
 was dead ; and his agony under this conviction 
 had been terrible to witness. His heavy, 
 haughty, but very handsome face, had assumed 
 a sort of livid paleness, which it was frightful 
 to look at ; and the features had such an ex- 
 pression of misery, so fixed and immovable, 
 that he looked as if turned to stone. The 
 transition from this condition to the full con- 
 viction that he still possessed the precious 
 heiress bestowed on him by Heaven (expressly 
 for the purpose of proving the absurdity of 
 the Salique law), produced an effect which, for 
 an instant, seemed to overpower him, and he 
 caught hold of the branch of a neighbouring 
 tree, to prevent himself from falling ; but, in 
 the next, he was sufficiently recovered to be 
 on his knees beside his treasure ; and it cer- 
 tainly must have been a hard heart which could
 
 GERTRUDE. 65 
 
 have witnessed the embrace which followed, 
 without emotion. 
 
 I have not, perhaps, on the whole, described 
 
 the Baron von Schwanberg in very agreeable 
 
 colours j but, dull as he might have been on 
 
 some points, he was not dull enough to be 
 
 insensible to the immensity of the obligation 
 
 which he owed to the poor boy who had saved 
 
 his daughter's life, and who was still lying on 
 
 the bank beside her, very nearly as pale as 
 
 herself ; for he had dislocated his ankle while 
 
 dragging the young lady to land, among the 
 
 unsteady pebbles and stones of which the 
 
 river, sometimes a very powerful stream, had 
 
 thrown up a tolerably steep ridge. 
 
 With one arm still clasped round his daugh- 
 ter, he employed the other in trying to raise 
 the pale lad, who certainly did not at first 
 give any very certain indications that his 
 own life might not be the sacrifice he was 
 doomed to pay for having preserved that of 
 another ; but, though in great pain from his 
 ankle, he was neither dead nor insensible, and 
 was soon sufficiently recovered to reply to the 
 questions kindly, and even anxiously, put to 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 GERTRUDE. 
 
 him by the Baron, as to the distance to his 
 home, and the best way of conveying him 
 thither. 
 
 The brave boy's reply to the first question 
 was agreeable to the noble questioner in more 
 ways than one, for it conveyed the information 
 that he was the nephew of a priest well known 
 in the neighbourhood, and that a short cut 
 across the country would speedily bring him 
 to the good man's home, which, for the pre- 
 sent, was his own also, as well as that of his 
 mother, who was sister to the worthy and 
 much-respected ecclesiastic. 
 
 " I am glad to hear it, with all my heart !" 
 exclaimed the Baron, with great energy. " Your 
 uncle shall become my confessor in the place of 
 old Father Ambrose, who has grown too infirm 
 to come to the castle, and too deaf to hear me 
 confess. He shall be pensioned, and your 
 uncle shall be promoted ; and so shall you, 
 too, my young hero, you may take the Baron 
 von Schwanberg's word for that." 
 
 And then followed a consultation among the 
 numerous group which was now assembled 
 round them, as to the best method of convey-
 
 GERTRUDE. 67 
 
 ing the lamed boy to his home ; and as it be- 
 came perfectly evident, upon his attempting to 
 stand, that he was totally incapable of walking, 
 it was speedily decided that the carriage, which 
 was already sent for to convey the uninjured 
 but dripping Gertrude, should convey her 
 preserver to the castle likewise ; while another 
 domestic was dispatched to the Unterthal 
 dwelling of the priest, to inform both him 
 and his sister that the young Rupert was safe, 
 and that both of them would be welcome at the 
 Schloss Schwanberg, if they would come 
 thitherto visit him. 
 
 There might be traced in the well-pleased 
 tone in which the Baron said this, a self-ap- 
 proving consciousness that the invitation thus 
 given must necessarily be so highly gratifying 
 to the persons to whom it was addressed, 
 as to be almost of itself a fitting reward 
 for the service it was intended to acknow- 
 ledge. 
 
 But the Baron von Schwanberg was no 
 niggard either in his gratitude or in the man- 
 ner in which it was his intention to shew it ; 
 and having paused for a moment after pro- 
 
 f 2
 
 68 GERTRUDE. 
 
 nouncing these flattering words, he added, in 
 a tone that had a good deal of solemnity in its 
 earnestness, " Nor will their welcome to the 
 castle of Schwanberg be the only proof given 
 by its lord of his gratitude for, and his ad- 
 miration of, the high courage and the noble 
 impulse by which the life of his heiress has 
 been preserved." 
 
 The pale-faced hero of the adventure, for 
 pale he still was, and still suffering consider- 
 able pain, contrived nevertheless, to smile as 
 he replied, with a disclaiming shake of his 
 head, " There is nobody in the world, I 
 believe, my Lord Baron, who would not have 
 done just the same thing, if he had happened 
 to have been by." 
 
 "It is well and highly becoming that you 
 should say so, my good boy," returned the 
 Baron, with a gracious nod ; " but it would be 
 quite the reverse of this, if I could either think 
 or say so." 
 
 The boldest rider, and the best mounted of 
 his train, had already been sent back to the 
 castle by its master, to order the Countess's 
 coach to be instantly prepared, and brought
 
 GERTRUDE. G9 
 
 with all possible speed to tlie spot where the 
 accident had happened. 
 
 " And, for God's love ! bring back a bottle of 
 brandy or wine with yon," screamed a ready- 
 witted individual of the party, who having 
 turned his eyes towards the young hero of the 
 adventure, when he replied to the Baron in the 
 manner above-mentioned, perceived that he 
 was either fainting or dying, and very con- 
 siderately uttered this injunction as the surest 
 way of rescuing the sufferer from both.
 
 70 GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 It certainly was not the intention of the 
 Baron, when he thus hurriedly dismissed his 
 messenger, that his lady should be made to 
 suffer still greater, or, at the least, more last- 
 ing, misery than he had endured himself from 
 the accident ; but such was the result of the 
 unmitigated clamour which rang throughout 
 the castle, within a few moments after the 
 summons for the carriage arrived at it. 
 
 Either the evident urgency of the case, or 
 their habitual promptitude in obeying the 
 commands of the Baron, produced such in- 
 stant obedience to his message, that the car- 
 riage was fortunately already on its way to the 
 spot where it was so eagerly waited for, before
 
 GERTRUDE. 71 
 
 the alarming report of the adventure had 
 reached the unconscious mother in the quiet, 
 and somewhat remote retreat of her library. 
 
 But her respite lasted no longer, for scarcely 
 had the equipage rattled off over the moated 
 entrance, when her own personal attendant, 
 followed by the steward of the household, and 
 the portly housekeeper, all rushed into her 
 presence together, exclaiming in very discord- 
 ant chorus : " For mercy's sake, don't alarm 
 yourself, madam !" 
 
 " It will all end in nothing, you may depend 
 upon it !" 
 
 "These things are always made the very 
 most, and worst of, my lady !" 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, tell me what you are 
 all talking about," cried the bewildered lady; 
 " is the castle on fire?" 
 
 " No, my lady, no ! God forbid ! Such a 
 noble castle as this ! The whole body of 
 saints and martyrs that lie in the chapel 
 cloisters yonder would rise to put it out, my 
 lady, if it was so," said the old steward, 
 who was renowned for his exemplary piety, 
 and who now, taking courage from the dignity
 
 72 GERTRUDE. 
 
 of his office, and his long service, approached 
 the lady's reading-desk, and bent himself 
 down with a sort of protecting air over the 
 back of her chair. 
 
 She turned suddenly round to hira, but ere 
 she could pronounce the inquiry which was 
 upon her lips, her waiting-woman had dropped 
 on her knees before her and began chafing 
 her hands as if she had been in a fit, while 
 the old housekeeper stood by, in an attitude 
 very eloquently expressive of woe, with the 
 corner of her handkerchief in her eye. 
 
 It was certainly scarcely possible that all 
 this could go on without suggesting, as it was 
 intended to do, the idea of something very 
 terrible, which is the usual mode, I believe, 
 of preparing people for the disclosure of some 
 great calamity ; the reasoning in such cases 
 being, that it is better that people should sus- 
 pect something worse than the worst, at first, 
 in order that when they know the real truth, 
 it may bring with it a feeling of relief. 
 
 Whether such suffering can ever be really 
 beneficial, may be doubted ; but in the case 
 of poor Madame de Schwanberg, it was very
 
 GERTRUDE. 73 
 
 decidedly the reverse, for her daughter being 
 now always the first object of her thoughts, 
 the idea immediately suggested by the moan- 
 ing around her was, that she had been thrown 
 from her horse, and was killed ! 
 
 " My daughter is dead !" she exclaimed, 
 and having distinctly uttered these fearful 
 words, she uttered a piercing shriek, and fell 
 back in her chair as pale and as motionless 
 as a corpse. 
 
 It was in vain that the three raven mes- 
 sengers now screamed in chorus : " No ! No ! 
 No ! not dead, my lady !" She heard them 
 not ; and although she had moved her limbs, 
 and once or twice partially opened her eyes, 
 she was still nearly insensible, when the car- 
 riage conveying the hero and heroine of the 
 adventure returned to the castle. 
 
 On entering the hall, Gertrude, who, ex- 
 cepting the injury done to her pretty riding- 
 dress, was not in the least degree the worse 
 for it, stood for a moment irresolute as to 
 whether she should run first to embrace her 
 dear mamma, and wish her joy of still having 
 a troublesome daughter ; or fly to the house-
 
 74 GERTRUDE. 
 
 keeper's room, to order that a bed should im- 
 mediately be prepared for the young hero who 
 had saved her. 
 
 It was much to her honour that she decided 
 upon the latter, for strong was her longing to 
 embrace that dear mamma, and witness her 
 happiness at having her safe at home again. 
 But the selfish thought was speedily dismissed; 
 one glance at the pale face of her preserver, 
 as the servants assisted him from the carriage, 
 being quite sufficient both to decide and acce- 
 lerate her movements. 
 
 But her active gratitude was of no avail, for 
 it was in vain she sought the important func- 
 tionary at her usual post ; and not finding her, 
 she at once decided that " mamma" was the 
 properest person to say what was immediately 
 to be done in order to obtain for the poor 
 sufferer the relief of lying down, with as little 
 delay as possible. 
 
 Though the distance from the housekeeper's 
 domain to the library, was much more con- 
 siderable than the inhabitants of our degene- 
 rate mansions are accustomed to tread, in 
 passing from one part of a house to another,
 
 GERTRUDE. 75 
 
 the space was rapidly traversed by Gertrude ; 
 but the feeling of thankful happiness with 
 < which she was about to throw herself into 
 her mother's arms was changed to terror, 
 when, on entering the room, she beheld her 
 mother stretched upon a sofa as pale as a 
 corpse, with her eyes closed, and giving no 
 sign of life save deep-drawn sighs, every one 
 of which seemed to be a gasping effort to re- 
 cover breath. 
 
 The servants, who still stood trembling 
 around her, hardly knew whether she was 
 conscious of their presence or not, for she had 
 not spoken since the first heart-broken ex- 
 clamation which she had uttered upon being 
 told that she was " not to alarm herself." 
 
 Deadly pale as were her cheeks and lips, 
 however, she was not insensible, for no sooner 
 had the voice of her child pronounced the 
 words "Mamma! dear, darling mamma!" 
 than the closed eyes opened, and the seem- 
 ingly helpless arms raised to receive her. 
 
 " Is it about me, mamma ?" cried the 
 frightened girl, kneeling down beside her. 
 " Did the people tell you I was hurt, mamma?
 
 76 GERTRUDE. 
 
 It was very, very wrong of them if they did, 
 for I am not hurt, not the least bit in the 
 world ; but he is hurt ! The dear, brave boy 
 that saved my life, without thinking for a 
 moment about his own !" And then the 
 eager girl, addressing the group of servants 
 who still hung round her mother, as if they 
 were performing thereby a most important 
 duty, she added : " I tried to find one, or all 
 of you, even before I came here, that you 
 might get a bed ready, if only for him to die 
 in ! Oh ! I wish you had seen him, mamma !" 
 she continued, while tears of gratitude started 
 to her eyes. " He seemed to think no more 
 of his own danger, when he sprang into the 
 water to save me, than if he had been already 
 as immortal as an angel." 
 
 "Go, go, good Agatha !" cried the Baroness, 
 who seemed restored to life as if by miracle ; 
 " and you too, Hans, go both of you, and see 
 that everything is provided for this boy — this 
 benefactor. And tell him — tell him that I 
 would come to him myself, but that my dear 
 dripping girl must be attended to." 
 
 The two servants she addressed obeyed her
 
 GERTRUDE. 77 
 
 command with all possible celerity ; for, in 
 truth, they were as curious, as obedient, and 
 as eager to wait upon this wonderful young 
 hero, and to hear all that was to be known 
 about him, as their mistress could be that he 
 should be taken care of. 
 
 But no sooner was this duty of dismissing 
 them on their errand performed, than trans- 
 ferring a portion of the attention she had 
 been bestowing upon her daughter's bright 
 face, to her dripping garments, she almost 
 relapsed into terror for her life, when she 
 became aware of their condition. 
 
 She rose from the sofa, from which, a few 
 minutes before, her attendants had doubted if 
 she would ever rise again, and offering her 
 arm to her radiant daughter as if her steps 
 wanted support, prepared to lead her from the 
 room, exclaiming, in the very extremity of 
 eager haste, " Oh, Gertrude ! Gertrude ! why 
 did you not tell me that you were in this 
 condition ? It may be the death of her still, 
 Teresa !" 
 
 "It will be the death of you first, my 
 lady," cried the terrified abigail ; " you that
 
 78 GERTRUDE. 
 
 have been lying here senseless for an hour or 
 more, to be starting up in this way ! Let me 
 alone for taking care of the young Baroness. 
 Come along, my dear !" 
 
 Teresa was an old servant, and a privileged 
 person upon most occasions, and might now 
 have said whatever she chose, without the 
 least danger of being chid ; but as to prevent- 
 ing the resuscitated Baroness from attending 
 Gertrude to her room, she might as well have 
 attempted to make Gertrude herself turn pale. 
 
 The trio, therefore, sought the young lady's 
 dressing-room together, and nothing certainly 
 could be less like sickness or sorrow, than the 
 aspect of both mother and daughter, when 
 they were startled by a knock at the door. 
 
 Teresa immediately opened it, in obedience 
 to a sign from her mistress ; and to the as- 
 tonishment of them all, they beheld the stately 
 master of the castle standing before it. 
 
 Now the Castle of Schwanberg was a very 
 large castle, and the apartments allotted to 
 the different members of the family were not 
 only perfectly distinct, but at a considerable 
 distance from each other.
 
 GERTRUDE. 79 
 
 It might be for this reason, perhaps, that 
 the Baron, who was not only a very ceremo- 
 nious, but (except on horseback) a very un- 
 locomotive person, had rarely, or never been 
 seen before on the spot where he now pre- 
 sented himself. 
 
 If Gertrude had been a little more incon- 
 venienced by her accident, or if her lady- 
 mother had been a little less thoroughly reco- 
 vered from her false alarm, the effect of this 
 very unexpected visit would have been less re- 
 markable. 
 
 But the poor Baron had, with his own eyes, 
 beheld his darling daughter and heiress in such 
 real, and very near danger of death, that he 
 had himself by no means recovered from the 
 shock, and the sight of the mother and daugh- 
 ter sportively engaged in contemplating the 
 condition of the drenched garments, nay, posi- 
 tively laughing heartily at some of Teresa's 
 tragic exclamations as she gazed upon them, 
 so astonished, and in truth, so shocked him, 
 that he dropped into the nearest chair with a 
 look of absolute dismay. 
 
 The Baroness saw how matters stood in a
 
 SO GERTRUDE. 
 
 moment ; and knowing that though it would 
 be impossible to make him gay, she might 
 awaken him to a feeling of happiness, she 
 turned from her laughing girl, and laying her 
 hand kindly on her husband's arm, said to 
 him, with a very sweet smile, " Gertrude is 
 wild with joy at her own escape, and the sight 
 of my happiness." 
 
 " I would rather see her grateful than wild 
 for her escape," replied the Baron, very so- 
 lemnly ; " and though, of course, I cannot but 
 rejoice at rinding her so perfectly recovered, I 
 should have been better pleased if she ap- 
 peared to think more seriously of the danger 
 she has escaped." 
 
 " Do not suspect her of ingratitude for this 
 great mercy ; and do not suspect me of it, 
 either," replied the Baroness, while very pious 
 tears rushed to her eyes, as she raised them in 
 gratitude to Heaven. 
 
 " Of course, wife, of course !" returned the 
 Baron, crossing himself. " God forbid that I 
 should suspect either of you of impiety ! A 
 proper service will be performed with as little 
 delay as possible in the chapel of the castle to
 
 GERTRUDE. SI 
 
 return thanks for the special interference of 
 Providence in my favour, nor can I for a 
 moment doubt, that you will both of you join 
 in this service with feelings of devotion be- 
 coming the occasion. But the gratitude to 
 which I allude is of a different kind. The 
 young lad who so bravely endangered his 
 own life for the purpose of saving that of my 
 daughter, is now suffering, under the shelter 
 of my roof, from the effects of the perilous 
 effort which he made to ensure her safety ; and 
 having already had my mind set at ease by 
 the report of my daughter's safety, I have 
 taken the liberty, wife, of seeking you here, 
 for the purpose of stating to you my opinion, 
 that the condition of this suffering boy well 
 deserves and (considering the cause of it) 
 demands some sort of hospitable attention on 
 your part." 
 
 It must be confessed that it was a very 
 rare thing for the Baron's harangues to pro- 
 duce so great an effect upon those who lis- 
 tened to him, as on the present occasion. 
 Both the mother and daughter were sincerely 
 shocked and repentant, at thinking that one 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 82 GERTRUDE. 
 
 to whom they owed so much, should have 
 been for a moment forgotten ; and the Ba- 
 roness hesitated not to leave her daughter to 
 the care of Teresa, and the consequential 
 individual who had formerly officiated as 
 nurse to the young lady, and who had now 
 joined the party in Gertrude's bed-room. 
 
 It was impossible for the Baron to feel 
 otherwise than satisfied on perceiving the 
 effect he had produced ; and it was, therefore, 
 very nearly in his most gracious and conde- 
 scending manner that he now presented his 
 arm to his lady, in order to conduct her, as 
 in duty bound, to the chamber of their suf- 
 fering guest. 
 
 Nothing could have been more fortunate 
 for the young hero of the adventure, than this 
 fancied superiority of noble feeling and ami- 
 able conduct on the part of the Baron ; for it 
 at once caused him to identify the lad with 
 himself as one party, while his thoughtless 
 young daughter, and her seeming ungrateful 
 mother, formed another. This was of itself 
 quite enough for a man so intensely vain as 
 the Baron von Schwanberg, in order to make
 
 GERTRUDE. S3 
 
 everything concerning the boy, a matter of 
 interest to him. 
 
 It is quite certain, that his marriage with 
 the high-minded woman who had been given 
 to him by her family for his wife, had been 
 as little a source of happiness to him, as to 
 her. To comprehend, or understand her cha- 
 racter and qualities, was beyond the scope of 
 his ability ; but some faculty, apparently ap- 
 proaching to instinct, produced a very dis- 
 agreeable sort of vague conviction on his 
 mind that she was, in some way or other, 
 above him. This feeling would have been 
 more painful still, if his vanity had not taken 
 refuge in the constant recollection of his 
 lady's high birth, which being, undeniably, 
 still more illustrious than his own, accounted 
 very naturally, and almost satisfactorily, for 
 the sort of involuntary deference which he 
 paid her. 
 
 But now it was quite evident that in noble- 
 ness of character he was her superior; for 
 had he not himself stood for several minutes 
 by the young stranger's bed, in order to be 
 sure that he was placed safely in it, while the 
 
 g 2
 
 84 GERTRUDE. 
 
 heedless mother of the heiress whose life had 
 been saved by the young stranger's valour, 
 was childishly at play with her daughter in 
 the most distant part of the castle ! 
 
 Nevertheless, he was generous enough to 
 abstain from uttering a word more of reproach 
 on the subject ; contenting himself by observ- 
 ing, in a very solemn tone, as, with a very 
 solemn step, he led her to the chamber of 
 the sufferer, that "he trusted the humble 
 station of the individual they were about to 
 visit would be forgotten, or excused, in con- 
 sideration of the immense blessing which 
 Providence had ordained that he should be- 
 stow on the house of Schwanberg." 
 
 It is impossible to deny, that the lady 
 to whom this harangue was addressed, had 
 taught herself to hear the pompous platitudes 
 of her lord without permitting them to inter- 
 fere greatly with the course of her, probably, 
 very distant thoughts ; and she was now so 
 occupied by the important question which 
 had just arisen in her mind, as to the possi- 
 bility of Gertrude's having taken cold, that 
 when his speech was ended, which happened
 
 GERTRUDE. 85 
 
 just as they arrived at the door of the boy's 
 room, she replied, " Oh, certainly," in so 
 very careless a tone, that the Baron breathed 
 a silent vow, as he turned the lock, that this 
 unnatural indifference on the part of his wife, 
 should be atoned for on his, in a way that 
 should do his grateful feelings justice in the 
 eyes both of God and man. 
 
 Notwithstanding her momentary oblivion, 
 however, of the errand she was upon, there 
 was nothing like ingratitude in the heart of 
 the Baroness ; and even if there had been, 
 it would have given place to a very contrary 
 feeling, the moment she beheld the suffering 
 boy who had saved the life of her child. 
 
 The paleness which had been the first 
 visible effect of the pain he had suffered from 
 the injury he had received, had now given 
 place to the bright hectic of fever. The least 
 experienced eye could hardly fail to perceive, 
 at the first glance, that the fervent glow of his 
 cheek, and the preternatural brightness of his 
 eye, were the result of suffering, and not of 
 health ; yet, nevertheless, the first feeling of 
 -Madame de Schwanberg, as she looked at
 
 86 GERTRUDE. 
 
 him, was that of unmixed admiration. She 
 thought she had never beheld such perfect 
 beauty before ; and perhaps she was right ; 
 for lovely as her own daughter certainly was, 
 the face which she now saw before her, was 
 lovelier still. The forehead was large and 
 beautifully formed, and the dark eyebrows 
 were of the form which best helps expression, 
 without being themselves a too conspicuous 
 feature. The nose, mouth, and chin might 
 have furnished a precious model to a statuary 
 who wished to emulate the type of Greece, 
 without the sort of exaggerated regularity 
 which, except in a few rare instances, destroys 
 the expression of great intelligence. The 
 rich natural curls of his dark hair were in 
 what could not fail, from their beauty, to be 
 "admired disorder;" but, nevertheless, they 
 had been so wildly handled by the feverish 
 hand which supported his head, that the effect 
 was painful, for his whole aspect suggested 
 the idea of incipient delirium. 
 
 The first effect that his appearance pro- 
 duced ou the lady of the castle was, as before 
 stated, admiration ; but a moment's contem-
 
 GERTRUDE. 87 
 
 plation of it produced alarm, and her first 
 words were expressive neither of gratitude nor 
 welcome ; for she only said, with hasty ab- 
 ruptness, " I hope, Baron, that you have sent 
 some one for Dr. Nieper !" 
 
 The Baron was positively both shocked and 
 angry. " What a reception to give the youth- 
 ful hero who had saved her child !" were the 
 ■words he muttered, as he turned his head away 
 from the offending lady. 
 
 " Do you fear infection, madam ?" was the 
 reply he made to her ; and it was spoken in 
 a tone of so much contempt, that she really 
 hoped for a moment that her fears were ab- 
 surd ; and she answered, with something like 
 a smile, " Oh, no !" but then added, " I 
 really scarcely know what I fear ; but I am of 
 opinion, Baron, that medical advice will be 
 necessary." 
 
 This certainly was said without any smile ; 
 but so strongly persuaded was the Baron that 
 no one but himself had sufficient feeling and 
 discernment united, to be aware of the boy's 
 real condition, that he still thought she was 
 speaking ironically ; and it was really with a
 
 88 GERTRUDE. 
 
 very awful frown that he replied, " I believe, 
 madam, that the best thing you can do, is to 
 return to your daughter ; concerning her con- 
 dition I have no anxiety, having accompanied 
 her home in the carriage, enjoying thereby 
 the great happiness of perceiving that she 
 was never in better health and spirits in her 
 life. I shall, as I have already said, take care 
 that a proper service, at which you will, of 
 course, assist, shall be performed in the 
 chapel, as an acknowledgment to the Virgin 
 for her special care of our child. As for this 
 youth, I will at present trouble you no more 
 concerning him. He would, doubtless, be 
 more interesting if he were of higher birth, 
 but, nevertheless, I feel myself, as the head 
 of a noble house, bound to testify, by every 
 means in my power, my thankfulness for the 
 service he has rendered it. Give yourself no 
 trouble whatever about him. I will take care 
 that he shall neither want medical aid, nor 
 anything else that can be of use to him." 
 
 The experienced Baroness plainly perceived, 
 by the stately manner in which this speech 
 was delivered, that her noble husband was in
 
 GERTRUDE. 89 
 
 one of his magnificent paroxysms, though 
 what it meant on the present occasion she 
 was at a loss to conjecture ; but at that mo- 
 ment she was too much occupied to care 
 about it, and gently replying, that she quite 
 agreed with him as to the necessity of 
 immediately sending to the neighbouring 
 town for their medical attendant, she- hastened 
 from the room, eager to consult her old 
 housekeeper, who was the most experienced 
 person in the family, as to the real state of 
 the poor boy, and the best manner of treating 
 him before the doctor arrived. 
 
 The Baron, meanwhile, was exceedingly 
 relieved by her absence. Like all slow-minded 
 people, he adhered very pertinaciously to an 
 idea, when once he had got hold of it ; and 
 he was now brimful of the comfortable persua- 
 sion, that his noble nature had enabled him to 
 conquer, as if by miracle, all the ordinary 
 feelings of the high rank to which he belonged, 
 in order to prove his devoted love to his 
 child, and his feeling of gratitude to the 
 humble being who had saved her. 
 
 Had he taken it into his head that his lady
 
 90 GERTRUDE. 
 
 had displayed these feelings instead of him- 
 self, his conduct towards his young benefactor 
 would have assumed a very different colour. 
 
 As far as the boy was concerned, nothing 
 could be more fortunate than this delusion • 
 for, being as obstinate as he was short-sighted, 
 the Baron never for a moment lost sight of 
 the idea that the family pride of his wife had 
 caused her to treat him with great ingrati- 
 tude ; and the amiable contrast to this, which 
 his own conduct exhibited, was not only a 
 source of the most satisfactory self- applause 
 to the last hour of his existence, but insured 
 the continuance of his favour to the boy, with 
 the most stedfast and unwearying constancy.
 
 GERTRUDE. 91 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Baroness, notwithstanding her sincere 
 anxiety for Rupert Odenthal, saw no reason 
 why it should detain her any longer from the 
 greatly-longed-for presence of her daughter ; 
 and it was to her room, therefore, that she 
 summoned the venerable Agatha, in order to 
 consult with her as to what it would be best 
 to do for the suffering boy before the doctor 
 arrived. 
 
 On re-entering Gertrude's apartment, she 
 found the young lady still on the bed, in obe- 
 dience to orders, but looking as well and as 
 gay as if she had never sat upon a swimming 
 horse in her life.
 
 9.2 GERTRUDE. 
 
 " How is he, mamma ?" were her first words, 
 as her mother approached her. 
 
 "I really know not how to answer you, my 
 dear child," replied the Baroness, " for your 
 father seems to think that it is his own special 
 duty to take care of him. This is very kind 
 and grateful on his part, and I should be sorry 
 to check it by any interference of mine ; but, 
 nevertheless, I feel very anxious about the 
 boy, who seems to have a great deal of 
 fever. 
 
 "Then, send for the doctor, mamma, at 
 once," replied Gertrude, promptly. 
 
 " Your father has promised to do so," re- 
 turned her mother ; " and, in the meantime, 
 I have sent for old Agatha to come here, that 
 I may hold a consultation with her as to what 
 we had better do for him, before Dr. Nieper 
 arrives." 
 
 This important Agatha soon made her ap- 
 pearance, and, in reply to her lady's question 
 as to what she thought of the boy ? she re- 
 plied, without a moment's hesitation : 
 
 " I think he is very ill, indeed, my lady." 
 
 Gertrude burst into tears.
 
 GERTRUDE. 93 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you think he 
 will die, Agatha?" she exclaimed, in great 
 agitation. " I would rather die myself, 
 mamma ; I do really think I would. As long 
 as I live, I shall always feel that I have killed 
 him !" 
 
 " Don't take on in that way, my dear young 
 ady," said the housekeeper. " I did not say 
 — did I ? — that I thought he must die. I do 
 certainly think, however, that he has a great 
 deal of fever." 
 
 " But we have many drugs that check fever, 
 Agatha," replied the lady. " You are a very 
 good doctor yourself, and I am sure you can 
 give him something cooling before Dr. Nieper 
 arrives." 
 
 " But I can't set the broken bone — if it be 
 broken — my lady ; and the fever won't stop 
 till that has been done," returned Agatha. 
 
 " Is the Baron still in the boy's room ?" 
 said Madame de Schwanberg. 
 
 " I can't say for certain ; but I have very 
 little doubt of it," replied the old woman, with 
 a queer sort of smile. " Master always likes 
 to be Number One in every way, and about
 
 94 GERTRUDE. 
 
 everything, when he chooses to meddle at all. 
 And every word he says about the boy shews 
 that he thinks it a part of his greatness, like, 
 to take the whole management of him upon 
 himself. But I'll go and see if I can be 
 useful, my lady. It won't be like your lady- 
 ship's going." 
 
 Perhaps Gertrude did not quite understand 
 the old woman's meaning, but the Baroness 
 did. She made no commentary upon it, how- 
 ever, but dismissed the sagacious housekeeper 
 with a silent nod, being very much in earnest 
 in her determination that no interference of 
 hers should check her noble husband's inten- 
 tion of proving himself the most generous of men. 
 
 It was for some hours, however, a very 
 doubtful question whether all these magnificent 
 projects of shewing to the whole world how 
 great a great man's gratitude could be, would 
 not be defeated by the speedy death of the 
 individual who was to be the object of it. 
 
 The distance to the doctor's dwelling was 
 considerable, and the doctor's pony not fleet ; 
 but at length, however, they both arrived at 
 the castle, and it was the Baron himself who
 
 GERTURDE. 95 
 
 ushered the astonished Dr. Nieper into the 
 patient's room. 
 
 The Baron, too, very clearly perceived the 
 impression produced by this extraordinary 
 condescension on his part, and, on reaching 
 the chamber of the invalid, paused for a mo- 
 ment before he opened the door, and said : 
 
 " I can easily believe, my good friend, that 
 my accompanying you to the sick-bed of an 
 individual of the rank to which your patient 
 belongs must surprise you. But, in my esti- 
 mation, Dr. Nieper, gratitude in noble minds 
 should never be in just proportion to the obli- 
 gation received ; and the father of the heiress 
 of Schwanberg will prove to the whole world 
 that, in his estimation, the humble youth who 
 saved her life is worthy even of such attention 
 as I am paying him now. Of course, my good 
 sir, a fitting service will be performed in the 
 chapel of the castle, that, in like manner, my 
 gratitude to heaven also may be made mani- 
 fest to the eyes of all men." 
 
 Having at length concluded this speech 
 (which the Baron's slow enunciation rendered 
 rather long), he opened the door, and placing
 
 96 GERTRUDE. 
 
 himself at the bottom of the bed (at each side 
 of which a female domestic was seated), made 
 a sign to the doctor to approach. A very short 
 examination sufficed to enlighten the Dracti- 
 tioner upon the state of his patient ; the ankle 
 was dislocated, and the drive which had fol- 
 lowed had placed the injured limb in so fa- 
 tiguing a position as greatly to increase the 
 inflammation. 
 
 Fortunately, Dr. Nieper was no bungler, 
 and the painful operation necessary upon such 
 an accident was performed without loss of 
 time, and with very considerable skill ; but, 
 nevertheless, the boy fainted under it, and 
 when restored to animation, he was perfectly 
 delirious, and manifested every symptom of 
 fever. 
 
 As the Baron (who, with all his pride, was 
 far from being a hard-hearted man) had left 
 the room during the operation, and only re- 
 turned to it upon being informed that it had 
 been very successfully performed, he was both 
 shocked and surprised at finding the boy 
 talking incoherently, so much so, indeed, as 
 to make him break off in the speech, which
 
 GERTRUDE. 97 
 
 he had began to utter as he entered, concern- 
 ing his purpose of having a special service 
 performed in the chapel of the castle, et- 
 cetera. 
 
 He was, in fact, exceedingly alarmed, and 
 began to fear that the first duty which would 
 devolve upon the boy's uncle, upon his pro- 
 motion to the post of confessor at Schloss 
 Schwanberg, would be to administer the last 
 sacraments to his unfortunate nephew. 
 
 The noble gentleman, in fact, looked so 
 completely dismayed, that Dr. Nieper was in- 
 duced to give him assurances, somewhat more 
 undoubting, perhaps, than his own opinion, 
 that his patient was likely to do well. 
 
 " It may, nevertheless, be right, my Lord 
 Baron," he added, " that the boy's relatives, 
 if he has any, should be informed of his con- 
 dition ; for, in cases of this kind, where fever 
 supervenes so violently as it seems inclined to 
 do here, no practitioner in the world can be 
 sure of the result. Does your Lordship hap- 
 pen to know anything of his family ?" 
 
 " Providentially, I do !" replied the Baron, 
 solemnly. " His uncle is a priest, and lives 
 
 VOL. I. Ji
 
 OS GERTRUDE. 
 
 with this boy's mother, who is his sister, at 
 the distance, I believe, of a mile or two." 
 
 " Then let them be informed of the acci- 
 dent immediately," returned the doctor ; " it 
 is certainly very proper that they should be 
 sent for." 
 
 "Your suggestion, Doctor, is the echo of 
 my own thoughts. They shall be summoned 
 immediately. Alas ! it had been my inten- 
 tion to summon the priest without delay, in 
 order that he might commence the duties of 
 the place to which I meant to promote him, 
 by performing in the chapel of the castle the 
 special service which it was my intention." 
 
 "And if I were you, my Lord Baron, I 
 should include his mother in my invitation/' 
 said the Doctor, rather abruptly interrupting 
 him ; " for although these young women look 
 very gentle and kind, it would be much bet- 
 ter, when his reason returns, that he should 
 not find himself surrounded by strange ser- 
 vants." 
 
 " Alas ! alas !" replied the Baron, very 
 piteously ; " I grieve that it should be so ! 
 But there are some minds, my good sir, upon
 
 GERTRUDE. 99 
 
 which the effect of conscious high rank is not 
 exactly what we might wish it to be. The 
 Baroness von Schwanberg, born Baroness von 
 Wolkendorf, is a lady of very high rank ; and 
 I have certainly never seen her so deeply and 
 strongly influenced by the remembrance of 
 this, as since your suffering young patient was 
 brought to the castle. I will not dwell upon 
 the circumstances which have occurred, and 
 which have all tended to prove her averseness 
 to take any personal interest in the fate of one 
 so much beneath her in station. I will not, 
 I say, dwell upon this, farther than to remark, 
 that I trust my own conduct gives suffi- 
 cient evidence of the much deeper impression 
 which this poor boy's courageous conduct, and 
 subsequent suffering, has produced on my 
 own mind. Nevertheless, I flatter myself, 
 Doctor, that I have never shewn myself un- 
 conscious of, or indifferent to, the dignity of 
 the position in which, by the will of Provi- 
 dence, I am placed. I will, indeed, venture 
 to say, that the Baroness herself cannot be 
 more deeply impressed by the consciousness 
 of her own dignified station than I am, or of 
 
 h 2
 
 I 00 GERTRUDE. 
 
 that in which I and my high-born daughter 
 stand likewise. Nevertheless, I am of opi- 
 nion, that on such an occasion as the present, 
 an occasion which, I conceive, calls for the 
 performance of an especial service in the " 
 
 " Nothing can be more clear and satisfac- 
 tory, my Lord Baron, than your view of the 
 case, which I comprehend perfectly, without 
 your condescending to explain it farther," 
 said the Doctor ; who, with his eye fixed upon 
 his patient, had perceived sundry twitches in- 
 dicative of pain and restlessness, and not feel- 
 ing quite certain that the sonorous voice of 
 the Baron had much to recommend it, by way 
 of a soothing lullaby, he ventured to apply 
 a little of his professional courage to stop it. 
 
 The lord of the castle looked more startled 
 and astonished, than angry ; and thereupon 
 the clever doctor, laying his own head upon his 
 own hand, shut up his eyes, and slightly 
 snored, whereupon every trace of suspicion, or 
 surprise either, vanished from the magnate's 
 countenance ; and making sundry pantomimic 
 signs of intelligence, he walked out of the 
 room with as little noise as a very stately
 
 GERTRUDE. 10 1 
 
 Baron, who did not tread very lightly, could 
 contrive to do. 
 
 The poor boy, however, was neither sleep- 
 ing, nor likely to sleep, as the worthy Doctor 
 well knew, for he was evidently still in pain, 
 and very feverish ; and although these symp- 
 toms were too inevitable, after what had hap- 
 pened, either to surprise or alarm him, he 
 felt anxious to preserve him from such weighty 
 annoyance as the presence of his host was 
 sure to bring with it. 
 
 The two attendant damsels who had been 
 stationed beside the bed by the Baron's or- 
 ders, and who had left the room on his enter- 
 ing it, now returned, and stood before Dr. 
 Nieper, waiting with great docility for his 
 commands. The first he gave was to the 
 younger of the two, signifying his wish that 
 she should seek her mistress, and inform her 
 that he desired to see her before he left the 
 castle ; adding, that, with her permission, he 
 would immediately wait upon her. He then 
 gave instructions to the other, to prepare some 
 cooling beverage, which she was to keep ready 
 at hand, and administer freely to the patient.
 
 102 GERTRUDE. 
 
 In order to obey this command, it was ne- 
 cessary that the person who received it should 
 apply to the house-keeper ; and while the wo- 
 man went in search of her, the Doctor took 
 her place by the bed-side, awaiting the sum- 
 mons which he hoped to receive from the 
 Baroness. 
 
 As this intelligent mediciner had long been 
 the professional attendant in ordinary of the 
 Von Schwanberg family, he had placed but 
 little faith on the Baron's statement respect- 
 ing the feelings of his lady towards the suffering 
 boy; but nevertheless he was rather surprised to 
 see her accompany the messenger he had sent 
 to her, into the room of his patient, and that 
 so promptly, as to prove that she had lost not 
 a moment in seeking him. 
 
 She gave a hasty glance round the room on 
 entering ; and having ascertained that the 
 Baron was no longer there, she stepped gently 
 to the bed-side, and after gazing earnestly for 
 a moment on the fevered face of the patient, 
 she turned a sorrowing, anxious look to the 
 physician, who then stood beside her, and 
 whispered the words, "Does he sleep?"
 
 GERTRUDE. 103 
 
 Dr. Nieper shook his head, and taking the 
 hand which she had extended to him in 
 friendly salutation, he led her to a distant 
 part of the room, and forestalled her question 
 by saying, " I flatter myself, madam, that he 
 is not in danger. Worse accidents are, at 
 his age, often met with sufficient strength to 
 render recovery from them an easy matter. 
 The dislocation of the ancle, however, is the 
 least part of the mischief. His sufferings, 
 probably from being in a constrained attitude 
 in the carriage during his return, have brought 
 on a very considerable degree of fever ; but 
 if he is properly attended to, and kept per 
 fectly quiet, I dare say we shall conquer it. 
 I should be sorry to lose such a patient as 
 that," he added, turning towards the bed ; 
 "I think, madam, that, excepting your own, 
 and your daughter's, it is the most beautiful 
 countenance I ever saw." 
 
 " I could readily forgive you, Doctor," re- 
 plied the lady, " even if you had omitted the 
 polite exception ; for most assuredly I never 
 saw, -either in the glass, or out of it, any face 
 which, in my estimation, can compare with it
 
 104 GERTRUDE. 
 
 in beauty. God grant that he may do well ! 
 You must take care to be very clear and very 
 explicit in the orders you leave about him, 
 for the Baron does not seem to approve my 
 attending upon him myself, which I do assure 
 you I should wish to do ; and we all know, 
 that however much we may rely on the fide- 
 lity of servants, we can trust nothing to their 
 judgment." 
 
 " The Baron seems to think, madam " 
 
 began Dr. Nieper in reply. But, for some 
 reason or other, he deemed it best not to finish 
 the speech he had begun ; for he abruptly 
 added — " Do you know, madam, if the boy 
 has any mother within reach ?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! my housekeeper told me 
 that his mother is living at Francberg with 
 her brother, a very worthy priest, known by 
 the name of Father Alaric." 
 
 " Francberg ?" repeated the Doctor, in an 
 accent of considerable satisfaction ; " Franc- 
 berg is at no great distance ; a man and 
 horse might get there in an hour, if they 
 kept to the bridle path. The carriage road 
 is considerably longer. Let me recommend
 
 GERTRUDE. 105 
 
 you, dear lady, to send to the house of Father 
 Alaric immediately ; and order your messenger 
 to tell both the mother and uncle of this poor 
 boy, that it would be desirable that they 
 should, one or both, come to him immediately. 
 Nothing should be more carefully avoided 
 than letting our patient find himself, upon 
 fully recovering his senses, in the midst of 
 strangers. It might produce a very alarming 
 return of delirium." 
 
 " I am quite aware of it," replied the Ba- 
 roness, earnestly. " But I should greatly 
 wish that you should state your opinion on 
 this subject to the Baron himself." 
 
 " I will do so instantly," he replied ; " and 
 in my judgment, it will be better that you, 
 madam, should not remain in this room. The 
 servant now sitting by him may administer 
 all the assistance he wants, till his own mo- 
 ther arrives to wait on him and it may, 
 
 perhaps, accord better, on the whole, with the 
 Baron's wishes." 
 
 It is probable that there is no class of men, 
 seek for them in what country you will, who 
 form, individually, such correct judgments re-
 
 106 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 specting their fellow -creatures (mentally as 
 well as physically) as those w r ho attend them 
 in a medical capacity. 
 
 The power of the priesthood in this respect 
 is nothing in comparison to it. 
 
 Eor even if we take a penitent at the last 
 gasp, terror may almost involuntarily give a 
 false colouring to his disclosures. But in a 
 sick room, there is always, to an acute ob- 
 server, a great facility given to the discovery 
 of truth, not only as to the state of the in- 
 valid, but likewise as to the mental condition 
 of those around him. 
 
 Dr. Nieper had been the medical attendant 
 in ordinary at Schloss Schwanberg for more 
 years than its present lady had been known 
 there ; he kneAv its master well ; and the 
 pompous harangues in which he indulged, 
 were as familiar to him as was the sound of 
 the sonorous monster bell which announced 
 the arrival of all comers. 
 
 His lady, on the other hand, was not only 
 blessed with that excellent gift in woman — a 
 gentle voice, but she was habitually, especially 
 on matters of business, a succinct, rather
 
 GERTRUDE. 107 
 
 than a verbose, speaker ; and the value ac- 
 corded respectively to their words by the 
 Doctor, might be fairly compared to that 
 given to a huge copper penny-piece, and a 
 tiny golden half-sovereign. 
 
 In reply to this gentle hint respecting the 
 " Baron's wishes," she said nothing, but she 
 made a slight movement with her head ; and 
 thereupon it was as well understood between 
 them, that the Baron was to make as much 
 fuss as he liked, without let or hindrance of 
 any kind, and that everything required for 
 the comfort of the boy, should be furnished 
 without any fuss at all— as if they had dis- 
 cussed the subject for an hour. 
 
 The positive commands of the Baron, aided 
 by the persuasive urgency of his lady, caused 
 the messenger dispatched for Father Alaric, to 
 perform his errand both fleetly and featly ; 
 but it was not till about half-an-hour after he 
 had set off, that the slow-paced Baron was 
 made to recollect, that although the messenger 
 he had sent was well mounted, those he had 
 been sent to summon, were not likely to be
 
 108 GERTRUDE. 
 
 mounted at all, and might therefore be some 
 hours before they could reach the castle. 
 
 How strictly the Baroness thought it best 
 to adhere to her resolution of not interfering 
 in any way, was proved by her making no 
 observation on the subject of their convey- 
 ance ; and she only learnt the fact of its 
 having been omitted, by Gertrude asking, 
 " What carriage had been sent ?" 
 
 Fortunately, however, the Baron had 
 thought fit to repeat his visit to his daughter's 
 room soon after the messenger had been 
 dispatched ; and almost the first words she 
 uttered after he entered it, were, " You are a 
 dear, good papa, for sending for the poor 
 boy's parents ! What carriage have you sent 
 for them ? Not the great coach, I hope, it 
 will be so long coming !" 
 
 " Carriage ! my dear child ! Mercy on 
 me ! I never thought about a carriage. His 
 uncle is only a village priest, my love, and his 
 mother is of the same modest class. I don't 
 suppose they ever rode in a coach in their 
 lives, Gertrude !" 
 
 " But what difference does that make,
 
 GERTRUDE. 109 
 
 papa? They can't fly like the birds, you 
 know, though they do not keep a coach. And 
 if you do not send some carriage for them, 
 it is quite clear that they won't be here to- 
 night. And do just think, papa, what a 
 dreadful thing it would be for rne, if I were 
 ill, instead of this dear, good boy, and had 
 to wait hours, and hours, and hours, before I 
 could see mamma !" 
 
 " My noble-hearted Gertrude !" exclaimed 
 the Baron, with great energy ; " how exactly 
 your generous feelings answer to my own ! I 
 was to blame in not coming to you before I 
 dispatched my messenger. But in my haste 
 to serve these poor people, I positively forgot 
 what it was most essential to remember ! 
 Excuse my leaving you so abruptly, my dear 
 girl ; but you, at least, are aware, if nobody 
 else is, that it is, and ought to be, my first 
 object at this moment to obtain every assist- 
 ance and comfort for the young hero who 
 hazarded his own life to preserve that of my 
 daughter." 
 
 There was just enough emphasis in the 
 pronunciation of the word my, as might sug-
 
 110 GERTRUDE. 
 
 gest the idea, that if the person saved had 
 been any other man's daughter, the saving 
 part of the adventure might not have taken 
 place; and a sort of half glance from the 
 saucy bright eyes of Gertrude towards her 
 mother, might have been received by a less 
 discreet person, as a commentary upon it. 
 But upon this occasion, as upon many similar 
 ones, the Baroness appeared to be rather 
 short, or, perhaps, dim-sighted, for no glance 
 whatever was vouchsafed in return. 
 
 It is not improbable, that the Baron might 
 have lingered some time longer at the bed-side 
 of this important daughter, (for he certainly 
 felt inclined to dilate a little upon various 
 points of his own conduct, all tending to 
 prove that he was the most generous, as well 
 as the most noble of men,) had not Gertrude 
 sent him off by clapping her hands, and ex- 
 claiming, " Go ! go ! go ! my dear, darling, 
 noble baron of a papa, or these poor, dear be- 
 longings of your hero will be struggling about 
 the road in the dark, before the carriage can 
 reach them." 
 
 The Baron obeyed in a moment, as, to say
 
 GERTRUDE. 1 I 1 
 
 the truth, he was very apt to do, when the 
 will of his daughter was made know T n to him 
 by her own irresistible lips. He only lingered 
 at the door for one moment, to say, " If any- 
 thing could add to my happiness in wit- 
 nessing your present safety, my beloved child, 
 it would be, the perceiving that your high- 
 born spirit is in exact accordance with my 
 own, in the feelings of gratitude due to your 
 preserver !" 
 
 For about a minute after the door closed 
 upon him, there was silence between the 
 mother and daughter ; and this, also, was apt 
 to occur when the grandiose lord of the castle 
 disappeared from before them, after having 
 pronounced one of those high-sounding ha- 
 rangues which it was his delight to utter, and 
 which it might have been somewhat amusing 
 to them to hear, had not a sense of propriety, 
 or, perhaps, even a feeling of duty, checked 
 the mirth of both. 
 
 It generally happened, however, after one 
 of these decorous pauses, that the next words 
 exchanged between them were of a purport, 
 and in a tone, which might justify a laugh ; 
 
 8
 
 112 GERTRUDE. 
 
 and so it was now ; for Gertrude broke the 
 silence by exclaiming, as she half sat, and 
 half lay upon her bed ; 
 
 " What a joke it is, mamma, to see me 
 lying here, as if I too had dislocated a limb ! 
 Will you please to give me leave to get up ? 
 And will you please to give my respects to 
 Madam Agatha, and tell her, when she makes 
 her next visit, that I only got up, because 
 I could not lie any longer in bed?" 
 
 And without waiting for an answer, the 
 wilful young lady was upon her feet in a 
 moment, and, investing the said little feet in 
 the silken slippers which stood in waiting 
 for them, began frolicking about the room 
 in a style that gave very satisfactory proof 
 that she, at least, was not at all the worse 
 for the morning's adventure.
 
 GEllTRUDE. 113 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The day was by this time drawing to its 
 close, but there was still an hour of good driving 
 light left, and the mother and daughter began 
 to speculate upon the probability that the 
 carriage might return before the hour at 
 which the Baroness usually retired to rest. 
 
 " I shall not like to go to bed, Gertrude, 
 till I see the mother of this dear boy sitting 
 beside him," said she. 
 
 " And I shall not like to go to bed to- 
 night till you do, mamma," replied the young 
 lady, with somewhat of the accent of spoilt- 
 child pertinacity. 
 
 But Gertrude was only partially spoilt, not 
 
 vol. r. i
 
 114 GERTRUDE. 
 
 thoroughly ; the spoiling stopped short of the 
 heart, though the head sometimes showed 
 symptoms of giddiness from it ; and when, 
 upon the present occasion, she saw her 
 mother looking pale and harassed, upon her 
 reiterating her wish to remain watching, she 
 instantly changed her tone, and said, " Don't 
 look so grave, dearest mamma ! I am ready 
 to go to bed again this moment, if you 
 wish it." 
 
 It was therefore alone that the very anx- 
 ious Baroness awaited the return of the car- 
 riage. The Baron's noble feelings kept him 
 in very unusual activity till his usual hour of 
 retiring to rest ; but having eaten his supper, 
 and inhaled the last breath of his beloved pipe,' 
 he announced to his lady that it was his in- 
 tention to retire to his own apartment. 
 
 " Of course, my dear, you will retire to 
 yours," he added. " I have given orders that 
 several servants shall remain up all night, or, 
 at least, till the carriage returns with the rela- 
 tives of the heroic boy who has insured my 
 gratitude for life ; and the gratitude of Von 
 Schwanbcrg can neither slumber nor sleep,
 
 GF.RTRUDE. 115 
 
 whatever his eyes may do. Bat I mean not 
 for a moment to insinuate that I wish for any 
 watchfulness on your part. On the contrary, 
 I rather wish to make it evident that the gra- 
 titude of the Baron von Schwanberg is suffi- 
 cient, without the aid of any other human 
 being, to repay whatever obligations may have 
 been, or can be, bestowed upon him. Good 
 night, my dear lady ! Good night !" 
 
 The obedient Baroness returned the saluta- 
 tion, and retired. 
 
 Gertrude had already been fast asleep for 
 an hour or two ; and when at length Teresa, 
 in obedience to her instructions, gave her 
 mistress notice that the Baron's personal at- 
 tendant had left him snoring ; she quickly 
 took her way to the sick boy's bed-side, and 
 having dismissed the watchers, who bv the 
 Baron's orders were hanging about him — re- 
 taining only her faithful Agatha as her com- 
 panion — she prepared to pass the hours which 
 might yet intervene before the arrival of his 
 mother, in watching his feverish slumbers, 
 and administering the medicines which had 
 been prepared by Dr. Niepcr for his use. 
 
 i 2
 
 116 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Notwithstanding the promptitude with 
 which the suggestion of Gertrude had been 
 obeyed, night had ceased to be at odds with 
 morning before the carriage returned. For 
 the roads of the shortcut, which had been 
 ventured upon by the coachman, had never 
 been intended, in their best days, for the ac- 
 commodation of so dignified a visitor as a 
 four-wheeled carriage ; and they were now so 
 much the worse for the wear, that the frisht- 
 ened pair, in whose honour it was sent, had 
 to trust to their feet more than once in the 
 course of their trdjet, in order to save their 
 bones from the danger of an overturn. 
 
 It was not much past three in the morning, 
 however, when the equipage and its anxious 
 passengers arrived at Schloss Schwanberg. 
 
 Notwithstanding the sleepy propensities 
 which generally prevail at that hour, there 
 were enough watchers ready to conduct the 
 expected guests to the chamber where they 
 were so impatient to be. 
 
 The Baroness, who had been much too anxi- 
 ous for their arrival, to have enjoyed any re- 
 pose deserving the name of sleep, heard the
 
 GERTRUDE. 117 
 
 approach of the carriage, and was standing 
 outside the door of the sick boy's room, as 
 the priest and his sister reached it. 
 
 The Baroness, being wrapped in a very 
 simple white dressing-gown, with her usual 
 night-gear on her head, suggested no idea to 
 her visitors, as she extended a welcoming hand 
 to each, but that of a sweetly kind-looking 
 attendant, who was attentively awaiting their 
 arrival, with friendly anxiety, but without 
 weariness or impatience. Their address to 
 her, therefore, was perfectly unrestrained and 
 unceremonious. " How is he ?" said the 
 priest, fixing his mild, anxious eyes upon her 
 face. 
 
 And, " Is he alive ?" said the pale mother, 
 with an almost convulsive pressure of the 
 hand that welcomed her. 
 
 " More quiet. Much more quiet," replied 
 the Baroness, at once perceiving, and rejoic- 
 ing at their mistake ; for the wearisome parade 
 of her proud husband, had for years made 
 her rank a burthen to her, and it was a posi- 
 tive relief to be thus addressed as a woman, 
 and not as a sovereign " Lady Baroness"
 
 118 GERTRUDE. 
 
 And those whispered words, accompanied by 
 a kindly return of the pressure her own hand 
 had received, were followed by her saying, 
 " Now you are come to bless his eyes when- 
 ever he opens them, I feel confident, quite 
 confident, that all will go well." 
 
 The trio then entered the room together, 
 and the effect of the first glance exchanged 
 between the mother and the son was very 
 painful, for it was quite evident that he did 
 not know her. 
 
 As the fact that the poor boy had become 
 delirious was already known by every one who 
 had approached him for many hours past, 
 there was nothing in this which could justify 
 the increased alarm which seemed to seize 
 upon the Baroness and her servants ; but the 
 agony of the mother, at finding herself stared 
 at by him as a stranger, was so great, that it 
 was impossible to witness it without sympa- 
 thy ; and not only the gentle Madame de 
 Schwanberg herself, but her handmaids also, 
 were soon weeping for company. 
 
 As for the good priest, though he had cer- 
 tainly visited more sick beds than his compa-
 
 GERTRUDE. 1 J 9 
 
 nions, and might therefore be expeeted to 
 witness even this most painful symptom of 
 fever with more philosophy, he seemed as 
 much overpowered as the rest ; and when he 
 kneeled down, and took from his bosom the 
 well-worn book from whence he was wont to 
 draw the doctrines of resignation and hope, 
 his tears flowed so abundantly, that he could 
 scarcely articulate. 
 
 Till now, the hopeful opinion which Dr. 
 Nieper had given of the boy's case, had so 
 effectually sustained the spirits of those who 
 were left in attendance on him, that the no- 
 tion of his dying had scarcely occurred to 
 any of them after he had uttered it ; for his 
 judgment was held in high estimation at 
 Schloss Schwanberg ; but now all favourable 
 predictions were forgotten, and there was no 
 one present, who did not begin to think that 
 they were watching at the bed of death. The 
 feelings of the Baroness were not onlv those 
 of a woman, but of a mother ; and the true 
 sympathy with which she beheld the intense 
 misery of the unhappy Madame Odenthal, 
 produced so violent an effect upon her, that
 
 120 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Teresa, who was beside her, and who had 
 been terrified by the condition to which her 
 alarm for Gertrude had reduced her in the 
 morning, very properly used a little gentle 
 violence to make her leave the room. It may 
 be doubted, however, whether the remon- 
 strances of her waiting-woman would have 
 proved so effective, if the experienced old 
 housekeeper had not whispered in her ear, 
 " My master will be so vexed if he finds that 
 you are here ! He will be sure to know all 
 about it, if you stay longer." 
 
 The only reply of the Baroness was a very 
 slight nod, but she remained no longer in the 
 room than was necessary for the arranging 
 that every comfort and accommodation pos- 
 sible, under the circumstances, should be pro- 
 vided for her sorrowing guests ; and when 
 this was accomplished, she again took the 
 hands of Madame Odenthal in her own, and 
 having repeated the assurance she had before 
 given, that the Doctor would be with them 
 by the break of day, she pressed the poor 
 woman's forehead with her lips, and left 
 her.
 
 GERTRUDE. 121 
 
 " Who is that sweet, kind-looking woman ?" 
 said Madame Odenthal, to one of the servants, 
 as soon as the Baroness had left the room. 
 
 "Woman!" repeated the housemaid, with 
 a look of dismay ; " that is the Baroness von 
 Schwanberg, the lady of the castle." 
 
 " The Baroness ? The lady of the castle ?" 
 repeated the good woman, with a look of 
 dismay. " Oh dear ! oh dear ! what dread- 
 ful falsehoods* people do tell ! All the country 
 round says, that though they are good and 
 charitable, they are too proud to be spoken to. 
 Why, if she was as poor as I am, she could 
 not be more kind and gentle ; and yet it is 
 the saying of the whole country, that they are 
 the very proudest." 
 
 " Pooh ! pooh ! old lady, you are talk- 
 ing nonsense," said the sagacious Agatha. 
 " There can be only one at a time, you know, 
 
 that is the very proudest and my lady is 
 
 not that one, you may take my word for it." 
 
 As the Frau Odenthal was by no means a 
 stupid woman, it is very possible that she 
 might guess who the individual was, who had 
 a right, in this matter, to be honoured witli
 
 122 GERTRUDE. 
 
 the superlative degree. She was much too 
 discreet, however, to ask any further ques- 
 tions, but quietly sat herself down beside the 
 bed on which her son lay, but with a curtain 
 between them ; for she thought, and, perhaps, 
 with reason, that though it was evident he 
 did not know her, yet that there was a sort 
 of restless, painful, puzzled look in his eye, 
 when it met hers, which seemed to indicate 
 that though not recognised as his mother, she 
 was not wholly forgotten, and that her pre- 
 sence, if he were conscious of it, might dis- 
 turb, though it could not soothe him. 
 
 The priest, meanwhile, as is usual, I believe, 
 with all the professional individuals of his 
 communion, selected as convenient a corner as 
 might be for the purpose of kneeling down ; 
 but in no outward respect does the reformed 
 church differ more essentially from the unre- 
 formed than in such moments as these. It is 
 difficult, while watching a Roman priest under 
 such circumstances, to believe that his thoughts 
 even accompany, still less that they inspire, 
 the words he mutters ; and, if it be other- 
 wise, who is there that will venture to deny
 
 GERTRUDE. 123 
 
 that such service is a dangerous mockery ? 
 Nevertheless, Father Alaric was a very worthy 
 man ; and, if he " prayed the gods amiss," it 
 was the fault of his teaching, and not of his 
 character. 
 
 The hours which followed till the day broke, 
 and the doctor arrived, were as miserable for 
 all the parties concerned as such hours always 
 must be. Anxiety and weariness possessed 
 them wholly, though not exactly in equal pro- 
 portions throughout the group. 
 
 The Baron was habitually an early riser, 
 but, upon this occasion, he quitted his room a 
 full hour before his usual time ; for having 
 learned that the mother and uncle of the boy 
 had arrived during the night, and also that 
 Dr. Nieper was expected at day-break, he was 
 as stedfastly determined, as it was well pos- 
 sible for a gentleman to be, that his noble 
 sense of the service which had been rendered 
 him should be made manifest to everybody in 
 the most striking manner possible. 
 
 And, assuredly, the doctor was a good deal 
 surprised upon entering the sick boy's room,
 
 124 GERTRUDE. 
 
 to find that he had been preceded by this 
 high and mighty personage. 
 
 But his emotion upon this unexpected oc- 
 currence was as nothing when compared to 
 that experienced by Father Alaric and his 
 sister. 
 
 The great object of the Baron von Schwan- 
 berg's life had been to impress the whole 
 country round with an idea of his greatness ; 
 nor had these unceasing efforts been in vain, 
 for he was not only considered as the greatest 
 man in the neighbourhood, but as being pro- 
 bably one of the greatest in the empire — the 
 Kaiser and his race excepted. When, there- 
 fore, his tall person, his brocaded dressing- 
 gown, his embroidered cap, and his velvet 
 slippers entered the room where the sick boy 
 lay, the effect he produced was everything he 
 could desire. 
 
 The sleepy priest, who had been sitting 
 humbly on a low straw chair, with his head 
 resting on the back of another, started to 
 his feet with a degree of agility which persons 
 of his profession are seldom seen to exhibit ; 
 and, crossing his hands reverently upon his
 
 GERTRUDE. 125 
 
 breast, bowed low his head, with a look that 
 had more of veneration in it, than of mere 
 respect from one man to another ; but he did 
 not venture to utter a syllable. 
 
 The unwearying mother, who was still bend- 
 ing over her child, and soothing herself with 
 the idea that he breathed more tranquilly, 
 raised her eyes as the door opened, and beheld 
 the overpowering spectacle with a degree of 
 emotion that caused her pale cheek to become 
 crimson. 
 
 The two female servants who had been com- 
 manded by the Baron to remain in the room, 
 started from their respective attitudes of re- 
 pose, and looked very considerably startled by 
 this unexpected apparition. But the almost 
 awful emotions caused by it were speedily 
 relieved by the entrance of Dr. Nieper, who 
 followed him into the room ; for the Baron had 
 timed his visit well, assisted by the obedient 
 watchfulness of his valet, and mounted the 
 stairs as the doctor dismounted from his 
 horse. 
 
 Nothing could be more satisfactory than the 
 scene which followed, for, in addition to the
 
 126 GERTRUDE. 
 
 fervent expressions of gratitude uttered by the 
 priest and his sister, who seemed to have re- 
 covered their senses in some degree upon the 
 entrance of the physician, the doctor himself 
 joined the chorus of praise and admiration, 
 saying : 
 
 "Upon my word, my Lord Baron, your 
 conduct has been as noble as your name, and 
 that is saying a good deal for it. But, truly, 
 your contriving to get these good people here, 
 notwithstanding the distance and the darkness, 
 has been most kind and most considerate. And 
 now, my Lord Baron," he added, " I believe 
 that I may venture to pronounce the words 
 which your kindness will make the most wel- 
 come to you. This brave boy here is now 
 very healthily asleep, and, I venture to pre- 
 dict, that, when he wakes, his delirium will 
 have left him, and that he will be in a state to 
 join his friends in returning thanks to you for 
 the great kindness which has been shewn 
 him." 
 
 The Baron, upon this, bent his head for- 
 ward, very nearly an inch from the perpendi-
 
 GERTRUDE. 127 
 
 cular, and, with a charming mixture of con- 
 descension and dignity, replied : 
 
 " I should be unworthy the name I bear, 
 my good doctor, had I done less : nor shall I 
 be satisfied till I have done much more. I 
 should be grieved if it could be supposed by 
 any one throughout the whole district in which 
 I live, that my gratitude for the preservation 
 of my daughter and heiress should not prove 
 such as to influence the destiny of this brave 
 youth through life. I have decided, in my 
 own mind, that reference shall be distinctlv 
 made to him in the service which I shall order 
 to be performed in the chapel of the castle, 
 and," .... 
 
 " Hush ! — please hush I" whispered the 
 mother of this highly-favoured individual ; " I 
 think, doctor, he is going to wake !" 
 
 ' Well, good woman, and if he does, there 
 is no harm in that," replied the doctor, 
 cheerily. " I want him to wake. I want to 
 see if he knows you." 
 
 " He did not know me when I spoke to him 
 only a very few minutes before he went to 
 sleep," she replied, in a whisper; "and I
 
 12S GERTRUDE. 
 
 thought it only disturbed him when he looked 
 at me." 
 
 " That is very likely : but I have got his 
 pulse under my thumb, you see ; and if he 
 fairly wakes up, I will bet a florin he knows 
 you now." 
 
 A very few minutes proved the doctor to be 
 right. Rupert Odenthal did fairly wake up, 
 and immediately gave the most decisive proof 
 that he recognized his mother ; for he placed 
 his hand in hers, and, in a minute or two, re- 
 lapsed into quiet sleep again.
 
 GERTRUDE. 129 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The recovery of the boy from the effects of 
 the accident was both rapid and complete j 
 and if the Baron von Schwanberg had been of 
 an inconsistent character, which he really was 
 not, he would have scarcely found time to 
 change all the generous projects he had formed 
 in his favour, before the boy was in a condi- 
 tion to profit by them. 
 
 Having, however, exhibited his magnani- 
 mous condescension in the remarkable manner 
 recounted in the last chapter, he did not ap- 
 pear to deem it necessary that the future 
 favours he meant to bestow should be accom- 
 
 vol. 1. k
 
 130 GERTRUDE. 
 
 panied by any similar excess of personal fa- 
 miliarity. 
 
 His pledged word was most faithfully re- 
 deemed by the special introduction of his name 
 into the service, etc. etc. etc. — which was per- 
 formed as an act of thanksgiving in the chapel ; 
 moreover, the whole adventure was at full 
 length recorded on a marble tablet erected in 
 the vestibule of the said chapel. Neither did 
 he forget his promise of providing a comfort- 
 able retreat for his venerable confessor, Father 
 Ambrose, and of appointing Father Alaric to 
 the office in his stead. 
 
 But when all this was done, his daughter, 
 Gertrude, said to him one day, in her pretty 
 spoilt-child manner, "You are a dear, good 
 papa, for caring so much, and doing so much, 
 all about me. But you have not yet told us 
 what you mean to do for poor Rupert him- 
 self. I am not going to complain about what 
 you have done for his dear, darling of a mo- 
 ther, for I really do think that she is the 
 most" .... 
 
 " The most what ? My dearest love !" 
 said her father, gazing at her according to
 
 GERTRUDE. 1 3 I 
 
 custom, as if lie were in presence of an 
 oracle. 
 
 " Why, really I don't know what to call it," 
 replied Gertrude, laughing ; " the most hug- 
 able, and kissable dear soul in the world; 
 that is what I mean, I believe. And as to 
 your new confessor, Father Alaric, if you were 
 to make him an archbishop, or a cardinal, I 
 should think it very right and proper ; but 
 you know, papa, after all, the real truth is, 
 that it was Rupert who jumped into the river 
 to pick me up ; and therefore I do think 
 you should give him something beside physic, 
 and that is all he has had, as yet, to reward 
 him." 
 
 To say the truth, it would have been a 
 difficult matter for Gertrude to say anything 
 which her father did not think the very 
 cleverest thing that ever w r as said under the 
 circumstances ; and it is no wonder, therefore, 
 that the speech above quoted, appeared to 
 him so admirable, that he almost thought it 
 was uttered from a species of inspiration. 
 
 " It is a very remarkable thing," he said 
 to his lady, the next time he found himself 
 
 k 2
 
 132 GERTRUDE. 
 
 tete-a-tete with her ; " a very remarkable 
 thing, that so young a girl as Gertrude, 
 sliould never give her opinion on any subject, 
 without displaying a degree of judgment 
 which might, and must, make most full-grown 
 people feel themselves her inferiors. I mean, 
 of course, her inferiors in ability ; her inferiors 
 in station, most persons must, unavoidably, 
 be. She has just been speaking to me of her 
 obligations to the poor boy, Rupert Odenthal, 
 and her obligations are, of course, my ob- 
 ligations, also. And yet, excepting that I 
 commanded his name to be mentioned in the 
 special service which I caused to be performed 
 in the chapel of the castle, she is perfectly 
 right in stating, that as yet, the whole of our 
 efforts towards remuneration have been con- 
 fined, as far as the boy himself is concerned, 
 to obtaining the necessary medical assistance 
 for him. How has it happened, Baroness, 
 that this has escaped your observation ? 
 There was an acuteness wonderfully beyond 
 her years in the remark, that the only reward 
 which he has hitherto received for the im-
 
 GERTRUDE. 133 
 
 mense obligation he has laid upon as, has 
 been in the shape of physic !" 
 
 The well-disciplined Baroness did not 
 laugh ; she did not even smile ; in truth, she 
 had pretty effectually drilled herself into a 
 systematic and constant avoidance of any 
 such equivocal demonstration of the effects of 
 the Baron's eloquence; but she replied, "that 
 she doubted not but that, sooner or later, 
 some arrangement would be made, which 
 would properly remunerate the boy for the 
 service he had done them." 
 
 The Baron kept his large dull eyes fixed 
 upon her as she spoke, and when she ceased, 
 he uttered a deep groan. 
 
 After this, he paused for a moment, as if to 
 collect his thoughts ; and then he said, " You 
 must forgive me if I express myself both 
 shocked, and surprised, at the cold indiffer- 
 ence which you display, madam, on a subject 
 which is, in my estimation, the most import- 
 ant that can by possibility be presented for 
 our consideration. For does it not concern 
 the (If 'iii( mstration of my gratitude, the gra- 
 titude of the Baron von Schwanberg, for the
 
 134 GERTRUDE 
 
 preservation of his only child and heiress? 
 I implore you, Baroness, not to mistake me, 
 and not to imagine for a moment that I mean 
 to reproach 3*011. I can never forget, that 
 you are of the noble race of Walkerdorf, or 
 cease to remember, with proper deference and 
 respect, that you are also Baroness von 
 Schwanberg. But the difference in our cha- 
 racters and manner of thinking, is too re- 
 markable, not to produce often an emotion 
 approaching to wonder and astonishment. 
 Happily, however, this marked difference of 
 character between us is not likely in the least 
 degree to lead to any mischievous result. 
 Your principles as a virtuous wife, and ho- 
 nourable lady, will, of course, ever prevent 
 you from interfering in any way that would 
 trouble or annoy me ; and it really seems 
 like an especial blessing of Providence, that 
 our daughter, who is to be my successor here, 
 should, in all things, inherit the character, 
 qualities, and opinions of her father. On the 
 subject of the noble-spirited youth who has 
 made us so deeply his debtors, I think it will 
 be desirable that we should have no farther 
 
 4
 
 GERTRUDE. 135 
 
 discussion. It is evident, that your feelings 
 towards him are by no means in unison 
 with those of my daughter and myself; but 
 your daughter knows her duty too well 
 ever to utter to you anything that should be 
 mistaken for a remonstrance on the subject ; 
 and you, on your side, will, I am sure, coiv 
 sent to promise me, that you will not inter- 
 fere in any way with my intentions respecting 
 him." 
 
 The Baroness readily gave the promise 
 required, and the more readily, from her 
 conviction, that Gertrude was not the least 
 likely to mistake her non-interference, for 
 either indifference or ingratitude towards the 
 individual to whom she certainly owed her 
 life. 
 
 How matters might have gone on, however, 
 if it had not chanced, before the occurrence 
 of the conversation above recited, that Ger- 
 trude had overheard her mother and old 
 Agatha discussing together their hopes, that 
 the Baron would make some permanent pro- 
 vision for the boy, it is impossible to say : 
 for, till the young lady had made the perti-
 
 136 GERTRUDE. 
 
 nent remark above cited, respecting her hopes, 
 that Rupert would have something beside 
 physic as his reward; it is certain, that his 
 being permitted to remain with his mother 
 in the house, (probably, because he was still 
 too lame to walk out of it,) had appeared to 
 the lord of the castle, to be the very perfec- 
 tion of the most generous and condescending 
 hospitality. 
 
 But no sooner had the half-jocose remon- 
 strance of his daughter been uttered, than he 
 determined, however playfully her reproach 
 had been spoken, that he would consider the 
 matter seriously, and that he would go as far 
 beyond his daughter's grateful wishes, as he 
 had appeared hitherto to fall short of them. 
 But, as I have before stated, the Baron was 
 a slow man, and his only reply to Gertrude's 
 remonstrance, was in these words : 
 
 " You are as right on this subject, my 
 dear child, as I hope and expect my daughter 
 ever will be on every subject, upon which 
 she may condescend to bestow her attention. 
 I will inform you, my dear Gertrude," he 
 added, " what my purpose is respecting this
 
 GERTRUDE. 137 
 
 very meritorious lad, as soon as I have had 
 leisure to consider all the circumstances of his 
 position." 
 
 How much, or how little, this meant, Ger- 
 trude did not very clearly understand ; and 
 she therefore, as in all cases of doubt, applied 
 to her mother. 
 
 " Papa has been talking most royally about 
 what he intends doing for Rupert ; only he 
 says, he must have more time to think about 
 it. 7" think he ought to tell Father Alaric at 
 once, what he means to do about him. AYhat 
 do you think, mamma ?" 
 
 " Why, to tell you the truth, Gertrude,"' 
 replied the Baroness, " I perfectly agree with 
 your father, as to the necessity of taking 
 time to deliberate, before any particular des- 
 tination for him is proposed. He is only 
 now just beginning to let me talk to him as 
 if he were not afraid to answer; and till we 
 can get him to speak freely of himself, and 
 his former pursuits, and future hopes, I think 
 it would be injudicious to propose any parti- 
 cular career to him."
 
 138 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Gertrude looked in her mother's face, and 
 laughed. 
 
 " What is there in what I have said," said 
 the Baroness, smiling, "which appears to 
 you so superlatively ridiculous ?" 
 
 " Ridiculous !" repeated Gertrude ; " my 
 laugh was the laugh of triumph, mamma, and 
 not of ridicule." 
 
 " Explain," returned her mother ; " and 
 then, perhaps, I may enjoy a laugh, too." 
 
 " And so you ought," said Gertrude ; 
 "and it should be a very thankful, happy 
 laush. I was thinking, what a very clever 
 pair we must be ! Papa says, that every- 
 thing I say is right ; mid I think everything 
 you say is right. What lucky people we 
 are!... But when shall you begin to bestow 
 some of your most particular cleverness upon 
 Rupert, in order to find out whether he is 
 most fit to be a priest like his uncle, or a 
 soldier like his father? His father, you 
 know, mamma, was killed in battle." 
 
 " No, Gertrude, I did not know it. But 
 there are more professions and occupations
 
 GERTRUDE. 139 
 
 than two. Perhaps I had better begin by 
 talking a little with his mother." 
 
 " Right again, mamma ! You ought to be 
 called the wise woman of Schwanberg Schloss. 
 May I be present at the talk?... Do you 
 know, mamma, that if I see her often, I shall 
 love that sweet mother of his better than any 
 body in the whole world, except yourself? 
 There is not one of all the Baronesses, and 
 Countesses, or Princesses either, that I have 
 ever seen, that I like one half quarter so 
 well." 
 
 " There is something peculiarly pleasing in 
 Madame Odenthal," replied the Baroness, 
 thoughtfully ; " I, too, feel that I should get 
 very much attached to her, if she were to be 
 much with me. I am greatly inclined to 
 believe that her education was befitting a 
 higher station than what she now holds. Not 
 that she ever talks to me of the pursuits of 
 her youth, or having been at all different 
 from what they are at present ; but ne- 
 vertheless, there is something in her lan- 
 guage, as well as in her manner of thinking, 
 which leads me to suspect that she has been
 
 140 GERTRUDE. 
 
 better educated than her present station seems 
 to account for." 
 
 " Then, of course, I am a marvellously 
 clever person, mamma ; for I must have made 
 the same discovery without being conscious 
 that I had made it," said Gertrude. " You 
 laugh, mamma," she continued, very gravely , 
 " but I am quite in earnest. I have thought 
 again and again, quite to myself, as you know, 
 — for if I did not talk about it to you, I cer- 
 tainly should not talk about it to anybody 
 else, — but I have thought over and over again, 
 when I have been listening to the Frau 
 Odenthal, that she did not talk like the other 
 people, who appear to be of the same rank, as 
 far as outward appearances go. Papa and I, 
 you know, ride about in all directions ; and 
 though he does not seem to think it proper to 
 speak much to any people who live in cot- 
 tages, that are not upon the Schwanberg 
 estate, he is constantly stopping to talk at the 
 doors of those who are. And very long talk- 
 ings they are, sometimes, for though his man- 
 ner to them is very stiff, and stately, lie 
 seems very much interested about them all ;
 
 GERTRUDE. 141 
 
 but 1 never, in all these visitings, met with 
 anybody at all like Madame Odenthal." 
 
 " I quite agree with you, Gertrude," re- 
 plied her mother ; " and I am glad to hear 
 you make the observation, though I don't 
 think it shews any marvellous cleverness, 
 dearest, because the fact is so obvious ; but, 
 at least, it shews something like the power of 
 discrimination, which is always desirable. 
 But is your cleverness enough to make you 
 aware, that our discovery adds greatly to our 
 difficulties respecting the son of this myste- 
 rious Frau Odenthal?" 
 
 " No, mamma, I don't see that, at all," 
 was the reply. " Why should it be more dif- 
 ficult for papa to benefit the boy, because his 
 mother has been well educated?" 
 
 " If you were really very clever, I think 
 you might guess, Gertrude. You ride about, 
 as you truly say, a great deal with your papa, 
 and I am quite sure that you must have 
 been present on many occasions when he has 
 shewn himself able, as well as willing, to 
 assist his deserving tenants in the difficult 
 matter of disposing of their sons advanta-
 
 142 GERTRUDE. 
 
 geously. No year passes in which he does 
 not benefit some of them in this wav. But 
 can you not perceive, that he would find it 
 much more difficult to do this, in a case 
 where the boy whom he wished to serve, had 
 been brought up by a mother whose educa- 
 tion had enabled her to instruct her son in a 
 manner very likely to unfit him for any of the 
 humbler stations of life ?" 
 
 " Yes, mamma, I do see it," was now her 
 more grave reply. 
 
 " His uncle's profession is the only one, 
 that I know of, in which a good, or, at least, 
 a somewhat learned education, is found in so 
 humble a state of life as that of Father 
 Alaric," resumed the Baroness ; " and I cer- 
 tainly am of opinion," she continued, " that 
 the obligation we are under to this boy, ought 
 to be rewarded by our placing him in a more 
 comfortable station of life, than any which 
 Father Alaric is likely to attain. Your father 
 might easily obtain for him a place as clerk, 
 in some government office ; but if he resem- 
 bles his mother, such an appointment would
 
 • GERTRUDE. 143 
 
 not satisfy my ideas of what we ought to do 
 for him." 
 
 The conversation between the mother and 
 daughter was interrupted here by the arrival 
 of a noble neighbour, who had driven in 
 state some half-dozen miles or more, in order 
 to learn all particulars respecting the young 
 Baroness's perilous adventure, and to offer 
 congratulations for her providential escape, 
 etc., etc., etc.
 
 144 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Within a day or two after the conversation 
 had occurred between the Baroness von 
 Schwanberg and her daughter, which has 
 been recorded in the last chapter, it happened 
 that the noble lady, and the humble guests 
 whose manners had formed the subject of it, 
 met accidentally in one of the alleys of the 
 castle garden. 
 
 Gertrude was enjoying, with her thrice- 
 happy father, the first gallop to which he had 
 invited her since her accident ; for he had 
 deemed it necessary, or, at least, proper, that 
 the pony should be daily exercised for a fort- 
 night after it had occurred, before the young
 
 GERTRUDE. 145 
 
 lady was again permitted to mount him, in 
 order to ascertain that he had not been 
 taught to start by his misadventure. 
 
 Poor Rupert, meanwhile, though quite re- 
 covered as to his general health, was still 
 too lame to walk beyond the limits of his 
 room, or, at least, of the floor on which he 
 was lodged, for the getting up and down 
 stairs was still forbidden by Dr. Nieper ; and 
 it was therefore in solitude that his mother 
 availed herself of the Baroness's permission, 
 or rather invitation, to walk in the beautiful 
 pleasure grounds for which Schloss Schwan- 
 berg was justly celebrated. 
 
 The salutation with which the Baroness 
 treated the Frau Odenthal, was as usual, full 
 of kindness ; and it was no feigned interest, 
 as to the state of Rupert's health, which gave 
 so soothing a tone to every question she asked 
 concerning him. But these enquiries being 
 all satisfactorily answered, the grateful mother 
 of the boy stood aside, to make way for the 
 onward course of the lady of the castle ; but 
 instead of passing Madame Odenthal. the 
 Baroness turned, and putting her arm under 
 
 VOL. 1. I.
 
 146 GERTRUDE. 
 
 that of her modest visitor, she said, " Let us 
 walk together, my good friend. I am pretty 
 sure that our thoughts have often, at least, 
 one subject in common. Let us discuss it 
 together. You will easily guess that I allude 
 to Rupert, and I will almost venture to say, 
 that you are not more occupied about his 
 future plans than I am. You must be aware, 
 from what the Baron has already said, both 
 to you and to him, that it is his purpose to 
 remunerate him (as far as such a service can 
 be remunerated), for having saved the life of 
 our child, to say nothing of what he has suf- 
 fered since, himself, in consequence of his 
 perilous enterprize." 
 
 " Indeed, madame," replied the Frau Oden- 
 thal, with great sincerity, " I believe Rupert 
 considers himself as very amply rewarded 
 already. Your condescending kindness to 
 him, and the delight he has had from the 
 freedom with which you have permitted me to 
 furnish him with books, has made ' this 
 period of lameness,' as he says, ' the happiest 
 portion of his life.' " 
 
 "Has he indeed said so?" returned the
 
 GERTRUDE. 147 
 
 Baroness with animation. " Such a state- 
 ment from him has a two-fold value. In the 
 first place, it is a great comfort to hear that 
 he has not suffered so heavily from the 
 restraint of his confinement, as I feared that 
 he must have done. And secondly, it is of 
 far greater value still, as furnishing a hint as 
 to the choice of an occupation for his future 
 life. A boy of his age, Madame Odenthal, 
 who can feel that pain and confinement may 
 be atoned for by reading, must not be placed 
 in any situation, where time and opportunity 
 for reading would be denied him." 
 
 " Alas ! my dear lady," replied Madame 
 Odenthal, " that thought is no stranger to 
 my mind. But it is, I am afraid, a dangerous 
 one for those to cherish, who must employ 
 their hours in such a manner as to obtain 
 for themselves the necessaries of life. I fear, 
 that intellectual pleasures are among those 
 which must be set apart among the recreations 
 of the rich." 
 
 "That is a question which will, I think, 
 be more fully and practically discussed in 
 days to come, than it has been in days past," 
 
 l 2
 
 148 GERTRUDE. 
 
 said the Baroness ; " I have a great inclin- 
 ation to believe, that if man was taught to 
 make the best, and the most of his faculties, 
 ways and means might be discovered, by 
 which the action and development of his 
 mind might assist, and not impede his means 
 for providing for the wants of his body. 
 But this is too wide a discussion for us to 
 enter upon now." 
 
 In saying this, the Baroness turned her 
 eyes towards the face of her companion, and 
 could scarcely suppress a smile, as she marked 
 the expression of it. 
 
 The complexion of Madame Odenthal was, 
 like that of her son, rather pale, than 
 ruddy, but now the face was flushed ; her 
 lips were parted, as is generally the case 
 when under the influence of surprize ; and 
 the dark eyes which met hers, said, as plainly 
 as eyes could speak, " how came you to 
 guess that I could comprehend you, if you 
 did discuss it ?'" 
 
 But the four very intelligent eyes which 
 encountered thus, withdrew themselves as by 
 common consent from further questioning .
 
 GERTRUDE. 149 
 
 aud after the pause of a moment, the Baroness 
 resumed, " I am sure you will agree with 
 me, Madame Odenthal, that it will be im- 
 possible for us at the castle to make a judi- 
 cious choice of a profession for your son, 
 Rupert, unless we know more about his cha- 
 racter and past pursuits, than it is possible 
 for us to acquire by our own observation. 
 How old is your son ?" 
 
 " He wants two months of fifteen," was 
 the reply. 
 
 " How has he been educated ? Has he 
 ever been at school?" demanded Madame cle 
 Schwanberg. 
 
 " No, madam, never," said Madame Oden- 
 thal. " All the instruction he has received," 
 she added, " has been from myself, and his 
 uncle." 
 
 There was again a short pause in the con- 
 versation, and then the Baroness said, " Has 
 it ever occurred to you, that you should wish 
 him to adopt his uncle's profession ?" 
 
 As the Baroness said this, she again turned 
 her eyes towards her companion ; and the 
 dark eyes of her companion again encountered
 
 150 GERTRUDE. 
 
 hers. It was but for a moment, however, and 
 then Madame Odenthal quietly replied, " No, 
 madame." 
 
 After another short silence, the Baroness 
 again resumed the conversation, by saying, 
 " The avocations of a priest must, I should 
 suppose, leave abundant time for reading." 
 
 "I do not know," replied the mother of 
 Rupert ; " women," she added, " however 
 nearly related by blood to the ministers of 
 the Roman Catholic religion, know but little 
 respecting their private studies." 
 
 " I was not aware of that," said the Ba- 
 roness ; " none of my ancestors have be- 
 longed to the profession, excepting one Car- 
 dinal, I believe, a century or two ago. But 
 there certainly must be many more hours in 
 the life of a priest which might be devoted 
 to study, than could be afforded in any other 
 profession." 
 
 The arm upon which the Baroness leant 
 had a slight, a very slight movement in it ; 
 but the Frau Odenthal said nothing. 
 
 " Is your brother disposed to be a reading 
 man ?" said the Baroness.
 
 GERTRUDE. 151 
 
 "Father Alaric is only my half-brother," 
 replied Madame Odenthal ; " he is many 
 years older than I am, and I know but little 
 about his private studies now, and still less 
 respecting his education." 
 
 " He seems to be a very good, kind person," 
 said the Baroness. 
 
 " He is, indeed, very good and kind," 
 replied the sister, eagerly, and as if relieved 
 from embarrassment by being able to speak 
 so cordially, and so completely, without re- 
 straint. " I am quite aware," she resumed, 
 " that our being with him must be a heavy 
 burthen upon him, for his professional income 
 is very small, and he has nothing else. But 
 
 when my husband died My husband was 
 
 a military man — an officer, and a brave one ; 
 but when he died, my boy and I were, lite- 
 rally, almost starving, my little pension being 
 scarcely more than sufficient to lodge and 
 clothe us ; and though, by being a very good 
 needlewoman, I contrived to live, the kind- 
 ness of my brother in offering us an asylum 
 in his little home, was, as you may believe, 
 madam, most gratefully accepted. Since that
 
 152 GERTRUDE. 
 
 time, I have been my boy's only instructor, 
 for Father Alaric's parish is large, though but 
 a poor one ; and moreover, to say the truth, 
 I believe it was less troublesome to him to 
 feed my boy, than it would have been to in- 
 struct him. My brother Alaric is a good 
 man ; good, because he endeavours conscien- 
 tiously to do what he believes to be right ; 
 and to avoid doing what he believes to be 
 wrong." 
 
 " If all men did so," replied the Baroness, 
 " the world would go more smoothly for us 
 all." 
 
 " I suppose so," returned Madame Oden- 
 thai, meekly ; " but in order to make so con- 
 scientious a system of important utility," 
 she added, "the judgment must be put into 
 wholesome training. If a man blunders 
 between right and wrong, his conscience may 
 lead him to commit, instead of avoid, sin." 
 
 The Baroness very nearly stood still, while, 
 for a moment, she again fixed her eyes on 
 the face of her companion ; but she gained 
 nothing by doing so, for the eyes which she
 
 GERTRUDE. 153 
 
 wished to look into, were fixed upon the 
 ground. 
 
 " But the priesthood takes this responsi- 
 bility upon itself, I believe," returned Ma- 
 dame de Schwanberg, after a short silence. 
 
 " Not in all lands," said Madame Oden- 
 thal ; adding, almost in a whisper, " my 
 mother was an Englishwoman." 
 
 It would not be easy to describe the effect 
 which these few words produced on the lady 
 of the castle. The history of her own mind, 
 of her long years of solitary reading, and 
 solitary thinking, must be given, in order to 
 make such a disclosure intelligible. A very 
 gentle pressure of the arm on which she 
 leaned, Avas the only reply made at that time 
 to this avowal of her new acquaintance ; but 
 the new acquaintance seemed, by some sort 
 of freemasonry, to understand its meaning, 
 and to feel sufficiently encouraged by it to 
 add:— 
 
 " This will make you understand, madam, 
 why it is that I have never wished my son to 
 adopt the profession of his uncle." 
 
 " Yes/' replied the Baroness, " I under-
 
 154 GERTRUDE. 
 
 stand it perfectly ; and I am glad that you 
 have had sufficient reliance on my discretion 
 to state this fact. Fear not that your con- 
 fidence should be abused. It is important, 
 while considering the future prospects of your 
 son, that I should know what you have just 
 confided to me, but the knowledge of it need 
 go no further. Is Father Alaric aware that 
 
 your son Is he aware what your opinions 
 
 are r 
 
 " I hardly know, Madame," replied her 
 companion ; " my brother Alaric was a very 
 sickly boy when his father married his second 
 wife ; and I have often heard from himself, 
 as well as from my father, that she was as 
 kind to him as if he had been a child of her 
 own. Alaric, himself, is very kind-hearted, 
 and this behaviour in his step-mother natu- 
 rally softens his heart when speaking of her, 
 and I never heard him make any unkind 
 reflections upon her creed. And then, it 
 must be confessed, that my brother Alaric is, 
 both mentally and bodily, very indolent ; and 
 I really doubt, if he has, during the whole 
 course of my life, ever given one whole hour's
 
 GERTRUDE. 155 
 
 thought as to what my opinions really were. 
 The father of Rupert was a soldier ; and it 
 always seemed to me, that as long as the 
 rank and file of a regiment went as regularly 
 to mass as to parade, their officers were less 
 troubled by the priests, than most other 
 people. I lost my dear kind husband at a 
 very early age ; and few people, brought up 
 as I have been in a Roman Catholic country, 
 have been so little interfered with by priests 
 as myself. One reason for this was, no 
 doubt, my having a priest for my brother ; 
 and when I and my little boy took up our 
 residence in his house, it was, of course, sup- 
 posed, by anybody who took the trouble of 
 thinking about us at all, that we wanted 
 no other religious aid than what he could 
 give us." 
 
 The Baroness von Schwanberg listened to 
 this statement, not only in silence, but with 
 great attention. Her answer, however, was 
 very brief. 
 
 " I feel flattered," she said, " by the con- 
 fidence in my good faith and discretion, 
 which you have proved to me by the openness
 
 156 GERTRUDE. 
 
 of your statement. Like you, Madame 
 Odenthal, I have been a licensed reader 
 through life, and wherever this has been 
 the case, the result will, in all probability/ 
 be, on some points, very similar. We will 
 not discuss any forbidden subjects together, 
 because it is far more likely that danger and 
 mischief might be the result, than advantage 
 to either of us. You will easily believe, 
 without my dilating upon the subject, that 
 what you have now said to me must have 
 increased my individual and personal inte- 
 rest for your son. It is certainly possible, 
 that this feeling may have some influence 
 on the future destinv of the bov ; but it 
 is by no means certain that it should do 
 so. From the moment I learnt that I owed 
 my daughter's life to him, I have felt very 
 deeply that he had a claim both on my 
 heart and my justice, and what has now 
 passed between us has certainly not tended 
 to diminish either. And now, for the pre- 
 sent, farewell. I hope I have not detained 
 you from him too long." 
 
 It might be difficult to say, which of the
 
 GERTRUDE. 157 
 
 two women who then shook hands, and 
 parted, was most surprised, and gratified, by 
 the unexpected confidence which had sprung 
 up between them.
 
 15S GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 There was a good deal in the conversation 
 above recited, which was likely to awaken a 
 lively interest in Madame de Schwanberg, 
 both for the mother of the boy whom she 
 wished to serve, as well as for himself. 
 
 The Baron had frequently alluded, in his 
 grandiose style, to his purpose of providing 
 for Rupert Odenthal ; but all he had said on 
 the subject was so vague, that, excepting, as 
 Gertrude had truly observed, in the articles 
 of physic, no very certain conviction had 
 reached Madame de Schwanberg's mind that 
 any positive advantage would be the result. 
 
 But, as she knew also that if it actually
 
 GERTRUDE. 159 
 
 happened that the boy and his mother were 
 permitted to walk off, with no benefit more 
 positive than the reiterated assurance of his 
 generous intentions, it would only be because 
 nothing feasible had occurred to him on the 
 subject. She had long determined to tax her 
 own inventive powers for the purpose of hit- 
 ting upon some expedient by which the pa- 
 tronage of the great man of the castle might 
 be practically useful. 
 
 Had the boy been half-a-dozen years older, 
 it might have been easy enough to place him 
 in a farm upon the estate, on such terms 
 as might ensure its being beneficial to him, 
 without having recourse to the somewhat 
 degrading alternative of offering him a sum 
 of money, as payment for having hazarded 
 his life. But the conversation which had 
 now passed between the boy's mother and 
 the lady of the castle, had thrown a perfectly 
 new light upon the subject, and led to the 
 suggestion of a proposal which seemed likely 
 to remove all difficulty at the present moment, 
 and to afford time, and perhaps opportunity
 
 160 GERTRUDE. 
 
 also, for due consideration of what might be 
 done for him at a more advanced age. 
 
 The plan which she now thought of for 
 him, was one which might immediately be 
 adopted, without any risk that the employ- 
 ment it would give should be too fatiguing 
 to him, although the injured limb had not yet 
 fully recovered its strength. 
 
 The Baroness, who had gone on increasing 
 the already very large library from the first 
 year of her marriage to the present day, had 
 long felt the want of a librarian capable of 
 classing and arranging it, in such a way, as 
 mio-ht save her the trouble and fatigue of en- 
 deavouring to keep it in order, an under- 
 taking which it was, in fact, quite beyond her 
 power to accomplish. 
 
 The strong appetite for reading which the 
 invalid had evinced during the tedious lame- 
 ness which had resulted from his accident, 
 had suggested to her the idea that, young as 
 he was, he might very probably find himself 
 sufficiently at home among books, to be use- 
 ful to lier as a librarian ; and the neat hand- 
 writing displayed, in consequence of her
 
 GERTRUDE. 161 
 
 having told him to write down the titles of 
 any books he particularly wished to read, 
 convinced her that he might be profitably set 
 to work upon an undertaking which she had 
 long wished to achieve, but had never yet 
 found courage to attempt. As far as her 
 researches had reached, she had been unable 
 to find any trace of a catalogue, and the ex- 
 tent of the collection was such as to render 
 the want of it a constant inconvenience. But 
 this very obvious method of placing the boy 
 in a most desirable situation, without any 
 trouble to the slow-moving Baron, was re- 
 jected almost as soon as conceived, from the 
 idea that the nephew and Sieve of a Romish 
 Priest, might be as much shocked, as asto- 
 nished, if his reading habits should lead him 
 to examine all the books which she was in the 
 habit of adding to the venerable collection. 
 But although the conversation which has been 
 just rehearsed as having taken place between 
 the Baroness and the boy's mother, was much 
 too vague to convey to either any very decisive 
 information respecting the religious opinions 
 of the other enough had passed to persuade 
 vol. r. m
 
 102 GERTRUDE. 
 
 the Baroness (who, like the rest of her sex, 
 perhaps, was apt to jump to a conclusion), 
 that she should run no risk of being troubled 
 by the Inquisition, by permitting the young 
 Rupert to set down in his catalogue of the 
 castle library, all the very fullest titles of the 
 books which she was constantly placing on 
 its shelves. 
 
 What followed may be told in a very few 
 words. 
 
 Gertrude was a very quick, intelligent 
 child, and required wonderfully little prompt- 
 ing on the present occasion. Nothing could 
 have less the appearance of a plot, than the man- 
 ner in which she said to her father, as she sat 
 knitting beside him, while he smoked his pipe, 
 " I will tell you what you shall do for Rupert, 
 papa, besides giving him physic. You shall 
 have him here always in the house, to keep 
 the library in proper order. I am almost as 
 fond of galloping over the books, as over the 
 grass ; but my dear pony does not make half 
 so much confusion among the flowers, as I 
 do among the volumes. I don't think I am 
 so naughty about any thing, as I am about
 
 GERTRUDE. 163 
 
 the books ; for when I have got all I want out 
 of one of them, I never can find out the right 
 place to put it in, and so, of course, the con- 
 fusion goes on getting worse and worse every- 
 day. And it is a great shame ! I know 
 that too, papa, for mamma says that quantities 
 and quantities of them have belonged to our 
 grandee ancestors, since the days of Noah, 1 
 believe. Now if you will tell Rupert that he 
 is not to go away at all, but to stay here, and 
 keep your books in order, everything will be 
 right." 
 
 The Baron looked at her with admiration 
 and astonishment, and for a moment or two 
 appeared to be in deep meditation, for he said 
 nothing ; but he spoke at last, and then, 
 as was very usual with him, it was to ex- 
 press his admiration of her extraordinary 
 abilities. 
 
 " Gertrude I" he said, very solemnly ; 
 " Gertrude, my dear, you certainly are a very 
 superior young lady. I ought not, how- 
 ever, either to express, or to feel any asto- 
 nishment at this. You ought, from the name 
 you bear, to be a very superior person. 
 
 m 2
 
 164 GERTRUDE. 
 
 I do not suppose that there ever has been a 
 descendant of the Von Schwanberg race, who 
 has not been superior ; but yet, nevertheless, 
 my dear daughter, I will not deny that I 
 never remark in you any of the superior qua- 
 lities for which our name is celebrated, with- 
 out feeling a very strong sensation of pride 
 and pleasure. It is impossible, my dear, not 
 to perceive, in the words which you have 
 just spoken, a very striking proof of the supe- 
 riority to which I allude. It consists " 
 
 And here the Baron paused for a moment, to 
 take breath. Whenever this happened, Ger- 
 trude never failed to take advantage of it ; 
 for, to say the truth, these long harangues 
 about her own superiority, had long become 
 exceedingly fatiguing to her. She was much 
 too sharp-witted not to perceive that there 
 was so little mixture of truth in the view he 
 took of her, and her qualities, that any one 
 who heard him, and knew her, would be in- 
 clined to doubt which made the most ridicu- 
 lous figure of the two. 
 
 A pause, therefore, was always joyfully 
 welcomed, and turned to excellent account.
 
 GERTRUDE. 1G5 
 
 Sometimes, by her hiding her laughing face with 
 her hands, and running off, as if too modest 
 to hear any more, and sometimes, as in the 
 present instance, by her throwing her arms 
 round his neck, and stopping his lips by a 
 kiss. 
 
 In neither case did the adoring father be- 
 tray any displeasure ; and if she seized the 
 next moment to make, or reiterate a request, 
 she might be tolerably sure that it would not 
 be refused. 
 
 On her now gaily clapping her hands, and 
 exclaiming, " Well, then, dearest papa ! you 
 will let this good boy, who nearly killed him- 
 self to prevent my falling into the water — you 
 will let him stay at the castle, and take care 
 of the Von Schwanberg library, and he must 
 be called the lihrarian, you know. I believe 
 that he is rather young for a librarian, but 
 that does not signify, for he deserves to be 
 treated like a grown-up person, because lie 
 behaved like one." 
 
 " Quite true ! Perfectly true, Gertrude," 
 said the greatly pleased Baron ; who, by 
 by some lucky chance, happened to know
 
 1 66 GERTRUDE. 
 
 that the Emperor had a library, and a li- 
 brarian. " Of course, as you grow up, my 
 dear, it will become necessary for me to make 
 several additions to my establishment. As 
 soon as ever you are old enough to be pre- 
 sented at the different courts, where I mean 
 to introduce you, I shall have a groom of the 
 chambers, Gertrude, for the purpose of an- 
 nouncing to you in a proper manner, all per- 
 sons who may have the honour, wherever we 
 may be, of being permitted to wait upon you 
 and your mamma." 
 
 During this last important speech, the 
 Baron had held the hand of his daughter in his 
 own ; but as this restraint was becoming par- 
 ticularly troublesome to her, she emancipated 
 herself by a sudden movement, and then 
 danced out of the room, kissing the rescued 
 hand to him as she went. The certainty that 
 everything she said, and did, would be 
 considered as right, and well done, was 
 rather a dangerous sort of experience to be 
 acquired by a very lively young lady of twelve 
 years old. 
 
 Such, however, was the fate of my hero-
 
 GERTRUDE. 167 
 
 ine; and her gentle mother often sighed, 
 as she thought how very little it was in her 
 power to do, to counteract the dangerous effect 
 of it. 
 
 On the present occasion, however, there 
 seemed to be no room for regret of any' kind. 
 A real difficulty had been got over, and a 
 real convenience obtained; and slow as the 
 movements of the Baron von Schwanberg 
 generally were, but few hours were permitted 
 to elapse after Gertrude left him, before he 
 dispatched a man and horse to the residence 
 of Father Alaric, requesting his immediate 
 attendance at the castle. 
 
 The newly appointed confessor lost no time 
 in obeying the summons ; and in the course 
 of the interview which followed between him 
 and his noble penitent, he had, while doing 
 honour very justly due to the acquirements 
 of his young nephew, the good fortune to 
 dwell upon one of his acquirements, which 
 added in a very important degree to the 
 satisfaction with which the Baron contem- 
 plated the idea of adding the youth to his 
 establishment.
 
 168 GERTRUDE. 
 
 " We can never be grateful enough," said 
 the humble-minded confessor, " for the noble 
 generosity with which it is your excellency's 
 pleasure to recompense my nephew for the 
 service which the special Providence of the 
 Holy Virgin enabled him to perform to the 
 precious heiress of Schwanberg ; but my 
 happiness, from this flattering arrangement, 
 is very greatly increased, by my thinking, 
 that the education which my nephew has 
 received by the help of his mother, may be 
 of service in more ways than one to your ex- 
 cellence." 
 
 " By keeping the valuable library, be. 
 queathed to me by my ancestors, in good 
 order," said the Baron, with dignity. 
 
 ' Not only that, your excellence, but it is 
 a comfort to me to think that, by the careful 
 instructions of his mother, who is an excellent 
 scholar, he writes so beautifully well as to be 
 quite capable of performing the duties of a 
 secretary to your excellence." 
 
 Now, in truth, the noble Baron von 
 Schwanberg had no more want of a secretary, 
 than of a milliner ; but he was perfectly well
 
 GERTRUDE. 169 
 
 aware, that very great men did employ a 
 secretary ; and though the idea of adding 
 such an appendage to his establishment had 
 never occurred to him, he no sooner heard 
 it mentioned by Father Alaric, than he 
 felt suddenly convinced that he should find 
 such a functionary extremely useful ; but 
 that he had been very neglectful of his own 
 ease and convenience by neglecting to pro- 
 vide himself with this very necessary attend- 
 ant before. 
 
 But though taken a good deal by surprize 
 when listening to this novel proposition, he 
 did not so much forget his habitual dignity 
 as to betray any feeling of the kind. His 
 wife, excellent woman as she was, would often 
 have given gold, could she have escaped 
 thereby from the painful, yet smile-provoking 
 consciousness, that there was something mar- 
 vellously resembling the comic solemnity of 
 the owl in the physiognomy of her noble 
 husband, whenever he happened to take it 
 into his head that he was called upon to look 
 particularly dignified and sagacious ; but 
 happily for Father Alaric's well-being as con-
 
 170 GERTRUDE. 
 
 fessor to the Baron von Schwanberg, he had 
 no such stuff in his thoughts ; and during the 
 interval which followed between his proposal 
 of permitting his nephew to add the duties 
 of secretary to those of librarian, he remained 
 seated, exactly in front of his new penitent, 
 but with his own eyes humbly fixed upon the 
 ground. 
 
 After the interval of some few minutes, 
 however, the Baron slowly unclosed his lips, 
 and began to speak. 
 
 " What you have just said, Father Alaric, 
 has a great deal of very sound sense and 
 good judgment in it. That a secretary would 
 be very useful to me, is most certain ; but it 
 can be scarcely necessary for me, I should 
 think, when speaking to a man of your in- 
 spired profession and excellent understanding, 
 — it cannot be necessary for me, I say, to point 
 out to such a one the extreme importance 
 of not appointing any one to the situation, 
 of whose merits and capacity I can have any 
 doubt." 
 
 The confessor raised his meek eyes, and
 
 GERTRUDE. 171 
 
 looked very much as if he was going to 
 speak. 
 
 " I must beg you, Father Alaric, to wait 
 till I have concluded what I was about to 
 say," said the Baron, with much dignity. 
 
 The confessor coloured slightly, crossed 
 his hands over his breast, and again fixed his 
 eyes upon the ground. 
 
 " Of course, Father Alaric," resumed the 
 lord of the castle, " I must frequently have 
 been inconvenienced by feeling the want of 
 a secretary. To a man of my extensive con- 
 nections, and very large property, it cannot 
 be otherwise than troublesome and fatiguing 
 to be without one. But the fear of bringing 
 into contact with myself any individual whose 
 appearance and manners might be objection- 
 able, or in any way distasteful to me, has 
 constantly prevented my offering the appoint- 
 ment to any one. Your present proposal, 
 however, has much in it to make me hope 
 that I might now safely venture to make 
 this very proper addition to my establish- 
 ment; and I fully authorize you, my good 
 Father Alaric, to impart to your nephew, the
 
 ] 72 GERTRUDE. 
 
 doubtless welcome news of his appointment 
 to the joint offices of librarian and private 
 secretary to the Baron von Schwanberg." 
 
 And then he added, after returning, with 
 great dignity, the humble and grateful obei- 
 sance of the ecclesiastic ; "And I flatter 
 myself, Father Alaric, that this appointment, 
 with such a salary as I shall deem it fit 
 and proper to annex to it, together with my 
 having caused his name to be specially men- 
 tioned in the solemn service of thanksgiving 
 which I commanded in the chapel of the 
 castle, will be considered by the friends of 
 the young boy, as well as by the world in 
 general, as a sufficient proof that I am not 
 ungrateful for the service which your nephew 
 was fortunate enough to confer on me and 
 my race." 
 
 Perhaps there is no attitude better suited 
 for the reception of a long speech than that 
 of crossing the hands with a sort of sub- 
 missive passiveness upon the breast, and 
 fixing the eyes upon the ground. It is an 
 attitude familiar to the Romish priesthood, 
 when listening to theii superiors ; and it was
 
 GERTRtDE. 173 
 
 that to which Father Alaric had recourse on 
 the present occasion. But when the Baron 
 ceased, he raised his eyes, and having gently 
 murmured a thankful acknowledgment for 
 the favours bestowed on his nephew, made a 
 low bow, and departed.
 
 174 GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The style in which this same appointment 
 was communicated to the Baroness, differed 
 considerably from that in which it was made 
 known to the father confessor ; for it was 
 with a dancing step, and a joyous clapping 
 of hands, that Gertrude entered her mother's 
 dressing-room, and announced the news. 
 
 But it was in vain that the elder lady 
 assumed an aspect of the most perfect pro- 
 priety, as she listened to the intelligence ; for 
 Gertrude, with her bright eyes sparkling 
 through her clustering curls, and her laughing 
 lips vainly attempting to screw themselves
 
 GERTRUDE. 175 
 
 into a suitable expression of solemnity, re- 
 lated the harangue of her father (including 
 at full length all his compliments to herself) 
 in so very heroic a style, that for a moment 
 the Baroness' gravity forsook her, and it was 
 in vain that the very useful veil so often 
 furnished by the ever-ready cambric, was 
 called to her assistance ; for, despite her 
 utmost efforts, her mischievous daughter per- 
 ceived that she had succeeded in making 
 her laugh. It was but for a moment, how- 
 ever ; for fondly as she loved the fearless 
 playfulness of her petted child, she was most 
 trulv desirous of veiling from her as much as 
 possible the deficiencies and absurdities of her 
 noble father. 
 
 But this task was every day becoming more 
 difficult ; and when it happened, as in the 
 present instance, that her own gravity gave 
 way, she generally cut short the conversation 
 by saying, " Gertrude ! you are giving me 
 pain." 
 
 But now she felt that a still stronger re- 
 buke was deserved, and her own inclination 
 to laugh speedily gave way before her wish
 
 170 GERTRUDE. 
 
 to correct a propensity in her child, which 
 seemed likely to conquer much more valuable 
 feelings. 
 
 " You have made me laugh, Gertrude," 
 she said ; " but it is a poor triumph, my 
 child ! The ludicrous movements of a mon- 
 key might have the same effect. Our mus- 
 cles are not always under the command of our 
 judgment. On this occasion, particularly, I 
 should have thought that the kindness of 
 your father, in so immediately complying 
 with our wishes, would have created a feel- 
 ing very far removed from ridicule." 
 
 The manner in which this was said, as 
 well as the gravity of the words themselves, 
 was well calculated to produce the effect 
 desired ; and it did produce it. Gertrude 
 never again mimicked the manner of her father, 
 when repeating to her mother any thing 
 which he had said to her; and much was 
 gained thereby on many subsequent occasions ; 
 for the more Gertrude increased in years and 
 stature, the more did she find it necessary to 
 confine to her own bosom the judgment which
 
 GERTRUDE. 17/ 
 
 she was led to form of her father's intellec- 
 tual capacity. 
 
 Bat though relieved from the saucy com- 
 mentaries of her daughter, Madame de Schwan- 
 berg found it no very easy task to place the 
 highly-intelligent boy, whom they had almost 
 made one of their family, in his right place. 
 She had not passed by far the greatest por- 
 tion of the last twelve years in miscellaneous, 
 and sometimes in deep reading, without ac- 
 quiring that sort of insight into the varieties 
 and peculiarities of human intellect, which 
 enables an acute observer to form a tolerably 
 just estimate of the faculties of those with 
 whom they are intimately associated. The 
 boy Rupert was not, either in intellect or 
 character, by any means a common boy. 
 
 Observant persons, who direct their atten- 
 tion to the fact, may often find that a mix- 
 ture of race produces many striking varieties, 
 both of intellect and character. The mother 
 of Rupert was English by her mother's side, 
 and Prussian on that of her father; and her 
 husband, the father of Rupert, was a native 
 of Innspruck. How this variety of lineage 
 
 vol. i. N
 
 178 GERTRUDE. 
 
 affected either the morale or the physique of 
 the boy, I will not attempt to trace, or even 
 to guess, but content myself by stating the 
 fact, that he was, in more ways than one, a 
 remarkable boy. 
 
 In most things, however, he resembled his 
 mother more than he did his father, espe- 
 cially as to the character of his intellect. In 
 that peculiar beauty of countenance, which 
 had struck Madame de Schwanberg when she 
 first saw him in his sick chamber, he deci- 
 dedly resembled both his parents ; but the 
 tall stature which he had already attained, 
 was evidently inherited from his father. 
 
 It took the Baroness but little time after 
 the young librarian had been fully established 
 in his office, to convince her, that if her gra- 
 titude for the service he had rendered her 
 child, had placed before him all the employ- 
 ments and occupations which the world could 
 offer, it would have been impossible for him 
 to have fixed on any which would have suited 
 him so well. 
 
 His passion for reading appeared insatiable ; 
 and no sooner had she perceived this, than
 
 GERTRUDE. 179 
 
 she was induced by various causes to indulge 
 him in it. In the first place, there was her 
 gratitude, which prompted her very earnestly 
 to promote his well-being and happiness, by 
 every means in her power ; and in no way, 
 according to her own estimate of the compa- 
 rative value of the various sources of enjoy- 
 ment granted to us in this life, could she 
 so effectually administer to it, as by indulging 
 his inclination for reading. 
 
 Moreover, it appeared to her, that this oc- 
 cupation, " never ending, still beginning," 
 was the best, if not the only way of supply- 
 ing him with constant employment, for she 
 did not expect that much business would 
 come upon him as secretary to the lord of the 
 castle ; and although she certainly anticipated 
 a good deal of active work for him in the 
 library, she anticipated also that many an 
 idle hour would be left upon his hands, if he 
 had no other employment than keeping his 
 books in order. 
 
 During the first week or two after this ar- 
 rangement had been decided upon, and that 
 his mother had returned to the dwelling of 
 
 n 2
 
 ISO GERTRUDE. 
 
 Father Alaric, the Baron seemed desperately 
 determined to prove to all whom it might 
 concern, that the appointment of this favoured 
 youth to the place of private secretary to the 
 illustrious lord of Schloss Schwanberg was 
 no sinecure, whatever other advantages it 
 might offer. 
 
 To do him justice, he took good care that 
 it should be well salaried, that the room ap- 
 pointed for so distinguished a functionary 
 should be extremely comfortable, and that 
 the domestics, from one end of the establish- 
 ment to the other, should be very distinctly 
 given to understand, that his private secretary, 
 the Herr Odenthal, should be treated and at- 
 tended upon in all respects like a gentleman. 
 
 The arranging all this was not only easy, 
 but agreeable to him ; for he was liberal by 
 nature, and so truly grateful for the service 
 the boy had rendered him, that every oppor- 
 tunity of treating him with generosity and 
 kindness, was a real pleasure to him. 
 
 So far, all was well ; it was only when the 
 unfortunate Baron had to find employment 
 for his secretary, that his troubles began. '
 
 GERTRUDE. iSl 
 
 The first idea which occurred to him in 
 this dilemma, was, that he should dispatch 
 notes to one or two of his neighbours, inviting 
 them to dine at the castle. He really ought 
 to have had his picture taken while dictating 
 these notes ; for never, perhaps, had he looked 
 more superbly dignified during any moment 
 of his existence. Rupert, who, at the moment 
 he was summoned to attend him, had been 
 most deeply and delightfully occupied in the 
 perusal of a volume of newly-arrived English 
 poetry, which the Baroness had good-na- 
 turedly put into his hands, proved the honest 
 earnestness with which he desired to perform 
 the duties assigned to him by the promptitude 
 with which he closed the precious volume, 
 and followed the servant who had been sent 
 to summon him. His eye was still bright, 
 and his cheek was still flushed by the ex- 
 citement caused by the " Lay of the Last 
 Minstrel ;" but the feelings of the Baron were 
 of too grave and solemn a kind, to permit 
 his noticing the animated appearance of the 
 official he was about to employ. 
 
 A table, with all that was necessary for
 
 182 GERTRUDE. 
 
 writing and sealing very carefully placed upon 
 it, awaited the arrival of the young secretary ; 
 a chair also was very attentively placed for him, 
 exactly where it ought to be, and the Baron 
 himself was seated in a very large and pom- 
 pous-looking bergere, at no great distance. 
 
 When the youth was near enough to make 
 his salutation to his dignified employer, the 
 Baron acknowledged it by graciously bending 
 his head, and waving his hand towards the 
 vacant chair, as an intimation that the secre- 
 tary was to seat himself in it. 
 
 The youth obeyed, and in like obedience 
 to another wave of the hand, accompanied by 
 the words, " I wish you to write for me •" 
 after placing himself in the vacant chair, drew 
 towards him the implements for writing, which 
 were placed before it. 
 
 " I wish you," still more solemnly resumed 
 the Baron, " I wish you, Mr. Rupert, to 
 write several letters for me." 
 
 Rupert, upon hearing this, took the pen in 
 his fingers, and with a look of awakened dili- 
 gence, dutifully determined to forget Brank- 
 some Tower, and everything belonging to it.
 
 GERTRUDE. 1S3 
 
 " He — hem !" quoth the Baron. 
 
 The pen of Rupert already touched the 
 paper. A pause followed ; and then the Ba- 
 ron, again clearing his voice, said, very dis- 
 tinctly : " My dear sir" — but there he stop- 
 ped. 
 
 Having waited for what appeared to the 
 unpractised secretary a very long time, the 
 youth began to suspect that he had made a 
 blunder in supposing the dictation to have 
 been already begun, and that he was himself 
 the " dear sir" addressed ; whereupon he said, 
 very respectfully : "Did you speak to me, my 
 Lord Baron?" 
 
 " No ! my good lad, no !" was the immedi- 
 ate reply. "I am addressing myself to one 
 of my noble neighbours, by letter. My dear 
 sir/' he again began ; but these words being 
 already written, Rupert could only refresh the 
 dot over the i, which he did. 
 
 Another interval of silence followed, and 
 then the Baron said : "lam not quite certain, 
 Mr. Rupert, whether the use of the third per- 
 son is not the more correct and dignified 
 mode of expression upon these occasions. Put
 
 184 GERTRUDE. 
 
 aside that sheet of paper, if you please, and 
 begin again." 
 
 Rupert obeyed, as far as the sheet of paper 
 was concerned ; but having very carefully laid 
 another before him, he had to wait several 
 minutes before he received any instructions 
 concerning the use to which it was to be 
 put. 
 
 At length, the Baron spoke again, and, in a 
 still more impressive tone than before, pro- 
 nounced the words, " The Baron von Schwan- 
 "berg presents" — but having proceeded thus 
 far, he again paused, and Rupert, having in- 
 scribed the words in fair characters upon the 
 paper, paused too. 
 
 But, this time, the pause was longer, and 
 there was evidently doubt and difficulty in the 
 mind of Rupert's master, as to what was to 
 follow ; nor was it till the noble author had 
 repeatedly pressed his forehead with his hand, 
 that he again spoke. But, at length, he said : 
 "You have been over -hasty, my good boy. 
 Nothing should ever be written in a hurry. I 
 have still doubts as to which mode of address 
 is, upon the whole, most unobjectionable."
 
 GERTRUDE. 1S5 
 
 Rupert, thus reproved, changed the attitude 
 of his hand, and, instead of placing himself in 
 act to write, took the attitude of the most re- 
 spectful listener. This state of things, also, 
 lasted for some time, and then the Baron said : 
 " On the whole, perhaps, the first person may 
 be preferable. Take fresh paper, if you please, 
 and write carefully, according to my dicta- 
 tion." 
 
 Rupert dutifully listened, and faithfully 
 obeyed, inscribing on the fresh paper, in fan- 
 characters, the following epistle : — 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " It will give both to the Baroness von 
 Schwanberg and myself the sincerest pleasure, 
 if you, my dear Count, with the amiable 
 Countess your lady, and the charming young 
 Countess your daughter, will afford to the 
 Baroness von Schwanberg and myself, as well 
 as to our young daughter the Baroness Ger- 
 trude, the honour and pleasure of your com- 
 pany at dinner, on Thursday next, the 19th 
 of the present month, at the hour of four. 
 " I remain, my dear . . . ."
 
 1S6 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Rupert had already written "Sir," when 
 the Baron stopped him, by saying, somewhat 
 sharply, " What is that you have written, 
 young man ? I must desire you to observe, 
 that my secretary must not write faster than I 
 dictate : I had no intention whatever of re- 
 peating the phrase, ' dear sir.' Nothing is 
 worse in composition than repetition. My 
 purpose was to conclude with the words, ' dear 
 Count.' " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, my Lord Baron," said 
 the boy, colouring ; " I will write it over again 
 in a moment, if you will permit me." 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Rupert. I not only permit, but 
 must insist upon it. It must not, however, be 
 done in my presence. You cannot suppose, 
 young man, that I can bestow any portion of 
 my valuable time, in sitting by while my secre- 
 tary corrects his own blunders. Take these 
 papers with you to the library. If I mistake not, 
 the Baroness permits your proceeding with the 
 necessary business of making a catalogue of 
 the books in my library, without making a 
 point of your leaving the room when she 
 enters it j and, fortunately, the noble size of
 
 GERTRUDE. 187 
 
 the apartment permits her doing so without 
 any inconvenience to herself. Take these 
 papers with you, my good lad, and on no ac- 
 count permit yourself to be in a hurry. Ra- 
 ther than that you should be so, I would per- 
 mit you to have a holiday from your work in 
 the library for the remainder of the day. 
 Your enjoying the joint offices of private secre- 
 tary and librarian, will, of course, render it 
 occasionally necessary that the great work of 
 forming a catalogue should be suspended. 
 Now leave me, Mr. Rupert. My time is very 
 valuable. You are too young and inexperi- 
 enced, as yet, to be aware of the many calls 
 upon the time of a nobleman in my position ; 
 and therefore, for the present, I can only im- 
 press upon you the necessity of never break- 
 ing in upon me without having received espe- 
 cial permission to do so." 
 
 Rupert bowed low, and was leaving the 
 room in respectful silence, when the Baron re- 
 called him, to say : " Of course, you are 
 aware, young man, that you are not to pre- 
 sume to sign my name to this document. I 
 will not believe, as it is evident that you have
 
 188 GERTRULE. 
 
 received a very decent education — I will not 
 believe, I say, that you would be likely to 
 commit such an offence. It is, however, my 
 duty, having received you as an inmate into 
 my family, that I should not trust your being 
 aware of so important a law, to chance. It is 
 not impossible, indeed, or wholly improbable, 
 that when you have listened to such a prohi- 
 bition as that which I am now enforcing, you 
 may have heard it accompanied by the formula, 
 ' with intent to defraud.'' But this qualifica- 
 tion, though enough, if attended to, to exoner- 
 ate you from danger in the eye of the law, is 
 by no means sufficient, in the case of a secre- 
 tary to a nobleman holding my position in 
 society. The law contemplates only the pecu- 
 niary injury which may be done ; but the feel- 
 ings of a nobleman, on such subjects, are far 
 more refined than it is within the reach of 
 mere lawyers to understand. Do you hear 
 me, Mr. Rupert? And do you comprehend 
 what I mean ?" 
 
 " I quite well comprehend," replied Rupert, 
 fixing his eyes upon the ground, " that in no 
 way, and for no reason, my Lord Baron,
 
 GERTRUDE. 189 
 
 Mould you hold me excusable were I to write 
 your name." 
 
 " You have expressed yourself very properly,, 
 my good lad," replied the Baron, evidently 
 pleased by the clear and distinct manner in 
 which his young dependent had worded the 
 important law he had laid down ; " and now," 
 he added, " you may leave me, my good 
 Rupert ; I have business of importance to 
 transact, in which I shall not require your 
 assistance." 
 
 If the boy had looked in upon his noble 
 master ten minutes later, and seen him, as he 
 would have then found him, fast asleep in his 
 arm-chair, it is possible that he might have 
 suspected this august master to have been 
 uttering a jest when he thus dismissed him ; 
 but, in that case, the boy would have blun- 
 dered, for nothing in the least degree resem- 
 bling a joke occupied the mind of the solemn 
 Baron. Perhaps he thought that he really 
 was going to perform important business ; 
 perhaps he had some dreamy sort of notion 
 that he would ring the bell, and tell the foot- 
 man to tell the butler to tell the cook that
 
 190 GERTRUDE. 
 
 it was probable there would be a company 
 dinner given at the castle on the following 
 Thursday. 
 
 But if any such active project really oc- 
 curred to him, the fatigue he had undergone 
 in transacting business with his secretary, had 
 incapacitated him for that, or for any farther 
 exertion ; for, in truth, although he placed a 
 hand on each arm of his chair, as if he in- 
 tended to rise from it, he was too much over- 
 powered by drowsiness to achieve the doing 
 so ; and having gently sunk back into a lean- 
 ing position, had fallen into a sound sleep, 
 which lasted till the first dinner-bell had sent 
 its rousing peal through the castle.
 
 GERTRUDE. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 When Rupert returned with his papers to 
 the library, he found the Baroness and Ger- 
 trude rather lazily occupied ; for, to say the 
 truth, neither the mother, who had sat down 
 with an intention to read — nor the daughter, 
 who had sat down with an intention to draw, 
 could fix their attention sufficiently upon what 
 they were about, to prevent their thinking a 
 good deal, and talking a little upon the sub- 
 ject of Rupert's debut, in his capacity of se- 
 cretary to the Baron. 
 
 They had both been for some days aware 
 that he had been appointed to this important
 
 ] 92 GERTRUDE. 
 
 office, but this was the first time he had been 
 called upon to perforin the duties attached 
 to it. 
 
 Unfortunately — very unfortunately — as the 
 excellent Baroness often told herself, the 
 young Gertrude von Schwanberg had a pecu- 
 liarly acute sense of the ridiculous ; and there 
 was, perhaps, no point of her education which 
 had give her mother so much trouble as she 
 had found in keeping this unfortunate pro- 
 pensity in subjection. The excellent motives 
 which had made this sort of discipline appear 
 so peculiarly important to Madame de Schwan- 
 berg, may be easily guessed at. 
 
 Her consciousness of her own deficiencies 
 in the respect and love with which it is the 
 duty of a wife to regard her husband, was 
 a subject of never-ceasing regret to her ; 
 nay, there were times when the far bitterer 
 feeling of self-reproach was mixed with this 
 regret ; for she was ever perfectly ready to 
 acknowledge, even to her own heart, that her 
 noble husband was possessed of many ex- 
 cellent qualities, and that his obliging and 
 observant conduct to herself had been such
 
 GERTRUDE. 193 
 
 as ought to have atoned to her, more than 
 thev had done, for his slow and weak intel- 
 lect, as well as for the many traits of cha- 
 racter which often excited both smiles and 
 frowns on her part, when, as she was quite 
 ready to allow, they ought not to have excited 
 either. But it was much easier to plead 
 guilty to her faults in these her secret self- 
 examinations, than to correct them in her 
 intercourse with her husband ; all that she 
 could do, therefore, for the ease of her con- 
 science, was to guard as much as possible 
 from betraying any species of disrespect to 
 him, in the presence of her daughter. 
 
 This cautious circumspection on her part, 
 at least, produced one good effect, and that 
 a very important one, for it prevented their 
 ever indulging together in a smile at any of 
 the numerous absurdities of the worthy Ba- 
 ron. How far, in the case of Gertrude, 
 this restraint proceeded from her own con- 
 victions of what was right and proper, and 
 how far from compliance with the example 
 so stcdfastly exhibited by her mother, it 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 194 GERTRUDE. 
 
 might be difficult to say, nor did her mother 
 seek to know. 
 
 When Rupert entered the library, with his 
 hand full of papers, and his eyes full of fan, 
 while the flush upon his handsome face 
 showed plainly enough, that he had passed 
 through some scene which had more than 
 usually excited him, both the Baroness and 
 her daughter behaved admirably well ; and 
 that it was their purpose to do so, was proved 
 by their not even exchanging a glance to- 
 gether. 
 
 The library at Schloss Schwanberg was a 
 very noble and spacious apartment. That 
 part of it which was farthest removed from 
 the door of entrance had three large windows, 
 which commanded a view of the porch. It 
 was here that the Baroness and her young 
 daughter spent by far the greatest part of 
 their days. 
 
 Each of them had their own place there ; 
 a separate table large enough to contain 
 materials for various employments, and a 
 chair ready to be occupied by the person 
 employed. Each of these tables was so
 
 GERTRUDE. 195 
 
 placed as to command the view afforded by 
 the two windows most distant from each 
 other ; while between the two, and in front 
 of the third, was a somewhat longer table, 
 with a sofa, well calculated for the accom- 
 modation of two lounging ladies, the table 
 in front of it being tolerably well laden with 
 books. 
 
 But this portion of the apartment occupied 
 only one-third of its entire size ; the lofty 
 ceiling being in three divisions, each one 
 marked by a very noble arch, and supported 
 by columns of very noble proportions, which, 
 though not advancing above three feet from 
 the wall, gave a sort of enjoyable snugness 
 to the three divisions of the room, which, 
 without them, might have looked too large 
 for comfort. 
 
 Each of the lower compartments had its 
 separate window, and the middle one seem; d 
 dedicated to music, for there stood the grand 
 pianoforte, which both mother and daughter 
 touched so ably, and there also stood a harp, 
 and music desk. 
 
 How the lower end of the room had been 
 
 o 2
 
 196 fiF/RTRUDE. 
 
 arranged before the Schloss Scliwanberg es- 
 tablishment had been augmented by a libra- 
 rian and secretary, it boots not to say ; but 
 at the time of which I am now speaking, a 
 very substantial writing-table, with all appur- 
 tenances and means to boot, was placed at a 
 convenient distance from the lowest window ; 
 and on this table was placed not only all 
 implements necessary for writing, but a 
 goodly show of very ample volumes, ready to 
 receive from the hand of Rupert the titles 
 of the many thousand volumes which were 
 ranged on the massive book-shelves which 
 surrounded the room. 
 
 It should seem, from the aspect of this 
 very noble apartment, that the climate was 
 a cold one, for each division had its separate 
 stove. 
 
 On the entrance of Rupert in the manner 
 above described, the two ladies raised their 
 eyes from their respective employments, and 
 then, having looked at him for a moment, re- 
 sumed them. 
 
 Rupert, too, for one short moment looked 
 at them ; but as they did not address him,
 
 GERTRUDE. M) 7 
 
 or give any other indication of wishing him 
 to approach, he quietly seated himself at his 
 especial writing-table, and in a minute or two 
 afterwards, appeared to be busily occupied 
 with his pen. 
 
 But the sharp eyes of Gertrude speedily 
 perceived that he was not at work upon his 
 catalogue ; and after watching him for a 
 little while, without affecting to conceal that 
 she was doing, she suddenly started up, ex- 
 claiming, " Mamma ! I must see what it is 
 that papa has given him to do, before I can 
 fix my attention upon anything I wish to do 
 myself;" and without waiting for any reply, 
 she bounded down the room with a very 
 active and resolute step, and placed herself 
 behind the chair of the young secretary. 
 
 Rupert behaved admirably well, for he 
 did not, even for an instant, turn round his 
 head to speak, or even to look at her. It 
 might be, perhaps, that he dared not meet 
 her eyes, from fearing that he might laugh. 
 But, whatever was his motive, his demeanour 
 was exactly what it ought to be ; a fact, of 
 which the Baroness, who had followed her
 
 198 GERTRUDE. 
 
 daughter's movements with her eyes, was per- 
 fectly aware. 
 
 She certainly gave the lad credit for his 
 discretion, in so steadily pursuing the occu- 
 pation which had been given him, without 
 permitting the frolicksome approach of the 
 young lady to withdraw his attention from 
 it ; but she was not aware of half his merit ; 
 for there lay all the various sheets of papers 
 before him, on which he had made his first 
 abortive attempts at performing the duties 
 of a secretary, by writing from dictation ; 
 and considering their mutual acquaintance 
 with the peculiarities of the other party con- 
 cerned, which would have required nothing 
 more than a simple exposure of the various 
 folios, in order to make the ludicrous scene 
 which had passed, as obvious to Gertrude as 
 it had been to himself; Rupert indulged 
 not himself by making any such display ; 
 but, on the contrary, contrived to mix the 
 paper with which he had returned so skil- 
 fully, with what he found on his table, that 
 he thought that not even the sharp eyes of 
 Gertrude could make any very important
 
 GERTRUDE. 199 
 
 discovery concerning the business which 
 had been transacted between the Baron 
 von Schwanberg and his newly-appointed 
 secretary. 
 
 The words, as well as the movement of 
 Gertrude, had made her mother aware both 
 of her object, and of the unscrupulous mode 
 she had taken to obtain it ; and as the Ba- 
 roness happened to be so placed, as to be 
 able to follow her wilful daughter with her eyes, 
 without changing her own position ; she had 
 an opportunity of observing the behaviour of 
 Rupert, as well as that of Gertrude ; and she 
 gave him great credit for the manner in which 
 he contrived to defeat her unscrupulous curi- 
 osity, without even appearing to notice it. 
 
 She felt that the boy deserved to be trusted, 
 and the feeling this, was really and reason- 
 ably a great satisfaction to her ; for had the; 
 case been otherwise, the familiarity of inter- 
 course, which was the almost inevitable con- 
 sequence of his employment in the apartment 
 they chiefly occupied, would have been verj 
 objection able. 
 
 But although the Baroness gave him honour
 
 200 GERTRUDE. 
 
 due for the quiet, yet effective manner in 
 which he had avoided the indiscretion, as well 
 as the familiarity, of making the young lady 
 acquainted with the business which he was 
 transacting with her father ; she was very far 
 from being aware, either of the amount of 
 this forbearance on his part, or of the import- 
 ance of it on that of her daughter. 
 
 Well prepared as she was to give the Ba- 
 ron credit for very great absurdity, she by no 
 means supposed that any scene so ridiculous 
 as the one which had just passed between 
 him and his secretary, could have takeu 
 place ; and she therefore attributed no merit 
 to Rupert, beyond that of well-behaved dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 Rupert might, indeed, very easily have repaid 
 himself for the heavy moments which he had 
 passed in the performance of his difficult duty 
 to his master ; for the mere exposure of the 
 various abortive dispatches to eyes and in- 
 telligence as quick as those of Gertrude, would 
 have been quite sufficient to have explained 
 the whole matter to her ; and there was merri- 
 ment enough in one smile of hers, to have
 
 GERTRUDE. 201 
 
 atoned for more than all the heavy dullness 
 from which he had just escaped. 
 
 But Rupert Odenthal had other good qua- 
 lities, besides the courage which had urged 
 him to spring into the water, for the purpose 
 of saving Gertrude's life. Rupert Odenthal 
 • had a conscience." The difference of age 
 between himself and the young Baroness, 
 Avas only three years ; but when the senior is 
 only fifteen and a-half, such difference is apt 
 to appear greater than it really is. More- 
 over, Rupert was a very manly boy of his 
 age, and much older in proportion, as far as 
 judgment went, than the over-indulged heiress 
 of the Baron von Schwanberg. 
 
 There was a bounding gaiety of step in 
 the manner in which Gertrude now approached 
 him, which made him shrewdly suspect, that 
 the young lady might be so indiscreet as to 
 quiz her papa, if he afforded such an oppor- 
 tunity for it, as the variations in his corres- 
 pondence with his noble neighbour might 
 give ; and he accordingly placed the sheets 
 which he had brought back with him (by a hasty 
 movement), between the pages of his blot-
 
 202 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 ting-book, bringing forward, almost at the 
 same instant, a fresh sheet of paper, which 
 he placed before him, while he commenced 
 the dilatory operation of mending a pen. 
 
 But Gertrude had been too quick for him. 
 Ere she had reached his chair, her eye had 
 caught sight of the characters upon the vari- 
 ous sheets which had been taken, and re- 
 jected ; and the real state of the case was 
 revealed to her, as distinctly as if she had 
 been present at the scene. 
 
 Her prompt suspicion of what had passed, 
 was, of course, materially assisted by her fore- 
 gone knowledge of the dull Baron's extraor- 
 dinary slowness and uncertainty upon all oc- 
 casions of the kind ; and for one short mo- 
 ment she anticipated considerable merriment, 
 from the account which Rupert, who was by 
 no means a dull narrator, was likely to give 
 of the affair ; but a second thought brought 
 a repentant blush to her cheek, and she 
 walked back again to her own little table, with- 
 out saying a word. Madame de Schwanberg 
 saw all this, and understood it too, and gave 
 both parties the credit they deserved. Ru-
 
 GERTRUDE. 203 
 
 pert was permitted to proceed with his impor- 
 tant task as secretary without farther inter- 
 ruption ; and when, after the judicious delay 
 of about half-an-hour, he carried the fair- 
 written document to the Baron for his signa- 
 ture, that illustrious individual felt such an 
 agreeable accession of dignity from this royal 
 mode of giving it value and effect, that from 
 that time forth, he never made any other use 
 of his pen than what was necessary to sign 
 his name ; and it would, perhaps, be difficult 
 to trace as much ingenuity and invention in 
 any other circumstance throughout his life, 
 as he displayed at finding occasions for per- 
 forming this important ceremony.
 
 204 GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The instance given in the last chapter of 
 Rupert Odenthal's discreet conduct, and more 
 than discreet feeling, went farther, and did 
 more, towards giving Madame de Schwan- 
 berg a respect for his character and confi- 
 dence in his principles, than might have been 
 produced by a multitude of excellent traits, 
 all perhaps exhibiting great ability, and even 
 good feeling also. 
 
 But the poor Baroness was so deeply con- 
 scious of the profound feeling of contempt 
 with which her noble husband's intellectual 
 deficiencies had inspired her, that she dreaded
 
 GERTRUDE. 205 
 
 nothing so much as seeing her beloved Ger- 
 trude fall into the same sin. So blameless had 
 been her own life, and so truly benevolent and 
 indulgent were the feelings of her heart to- 
 wards every human being with whom she had 
 come in contact, with the sole exception of 
 her wearisome husband, that the conscious- 
 ness of this exception lay very heavily on her 
 spirit, and the idea of her child's being by 
 any means betrayed into the same sin, was 
 really terrible to her. The strong persuasion, 
 therefore, that, instead of being led to this, 
 she would be guarded from it, by the good 
 sense and high principle of the boy, whom 
 accident had thrown into such intimate con- 
 tact with them, was most welcome, and con- 
 solatory. 
 
 Had Madame de Schwanberg's practical 
 knowledge of the world been equal, or in any 
 fair proportion, to the information she had 
 acquired from books, this dread, lest her 
 daughter should sympathise too completely 
 with her in her feelings towards the Baron, 
 would not have taken such painful possession 
 of her ; for with more experience of the world
 
 206 GERTRUDE. 
 
 and its ways, she would have learnt that 
 Nature never blunders as hopelessly as we 
 sometimes blunder ourselves. 
 
 Save in some few rare and perfectly ex- 
 ceptional cases, we never see any dislike be- 
 tween parents and children, that can compare, 
 in bitterness and intensity, to what may fre- 
 quently be seen to exist between husband and 
 wife. 
 
 The community of their worldly interests, 
 and still more, perhaps, the community of 
 their parental feelings, go far towards check- 
 ing this ; so far, indeed, that in a multitude 
 of instances, domestic peace is not disturbed 
 openly, by the want of personal attachment 
 between the parties ; but where parents have 
 authoritatively interfered to bring those to- 
 gether whom inclination, on either side, 
 would keep asunder, they have to answer for 
 the heavy sin of charging the unhappy victim 
 with a weight too heavy to be borne patiently, 
 and a duty too difficult to be sincerely per- 
 formed. 
 
 It was such an authority as this, which had 
 made the high-minded, intellectual Baroness
 
 GERTRUDE. 207 
 
 von Schwanberg the companion for life of 
 the prejudiced and heavy-minded Baron. 
 
 It has been already stated, that this unfor- 
 tunate lady's greatest cause of anxiety, during 
 the infancy of her daughter, arose from her 
 dread, lest her child should inherit the weak 
 and slow capacity of its father ; and the hap- 
 piest period of her married life was decidedly 
 that, during which the bright faculties and 
 clear intellect of her child were displaying 
 themselves under her own able and ardent 
 tuition, in a manner very effectually to con- 
 vince her, that all such fears were vain. 
 
 It was only since the domestication of the 
 young Rupert in the family, that this new 
 cause of natural uneasiness had suggested 
 itself to her. Hitherto, the reading of Ger- 
 trude, though extremely agreeable both to 
 the teacher and the taught, had for the most 
 part been selected more with a view to solid 
 instruction than present amusement ; and 
 though the enchantment created by poetry 
 was beginning to be felt by the young 
 student, it had as yet only reached her in
 
 208 GERTRUDE. 
 
 the form of, or, at least, blended with in- 
 struction. 
 
 Before her accident, too, so large a portion 
 of her favourite exercise, and her favourite 
 pleasure, was enjoyed with her father, and 
 derived solely from his care and attention to 
 her wishes, that her mother's tender con- 
 science was perfectly at ease respecting the 
 mutual feelings of both father and daughter. 
 But the terrific accident which had led to 
 Rupert Odenthal's becoming a member of 
 the family, had, for some time, greatly checked 
 and curtailed this enjoyment ; for the Baron, 
 himself, had been too seriously terrified to be 
 very eager for a speedy renewal of the ex- 
 ercise ; and the mother's agony at the idea 
 of it was such, that Gertrude, from very 
 love and pity to her, was long before she 
 ventured to propose the renewal of her fa- 
 vourite exercise. 
 
 But, somehow or other, it seemed as if the 
 taking a catalogue of the library supplied a 
 source of occupation and amusement, suffi- 
 cient to make them forget the want of any 
 other. The Baron, of course, continued his
 
 GERTRUDE. 209 
 
 usual habit of spending some hours of every 
 day on horseback ; and many weeks elapsed 
 before he even wished to enjoy the much- 
 loved delight of seeing Gertrude riding by 
 his side, so fresh was still the recollection of 
 what he had suffered from seeing her life in 
 danger. 
 
 During this interval, the Baroness, and her 
 aidful daughter also, had not only found the 
 examination and arrangement of the library 
 to be an occupation full of interest and 
 amusement ; but they found also, that, in order 
 to bring it into the condition in which it 
 ought to be, it would be absolutely necessary 
 that Rupert should have all the assistance 
 they could give him. 
 
 They had neither of them, as yet, been very 
 careful librarians; but, nevertheless, they 
 knew their way among the shelves well 
 enough to render his task very much easier 
 than it would have been without them. For 
 the first few days that they thus worked to- 
 gether, the efforts of the trio, though they 
 had all the same object in view, namely, the 
 orderly arrangement of the volumes which 
 
 VOL. i. p
 
 210 GERTRUDE. 
 
 were, as yet, for the most part, placed side 
 by side, without any regular arrangement at 
 all; for the first few days of their labour 
 there was little or no attempt among them 
 to pursue any fixed plan of operations, though 
 one and the same ultimate object was always 
 in view ; on the contrary, indeed, a looker-on 
 might have been tempted to declare, that the 
 object of each was perfectly different and 
 distinct from that of the others. The Ba- 
 roness misrht have been observed to brina; the 
 German, French, and English books, which 
 furnished the fund from which she drew 
 her own resources, into the part of the room 
 where she usually sat ; while it was quite 
 evident, that Gertrude's selection of perma- 
 nent lodgings for the favourites to whom she 
 looked for future companionship, in a great 
 measure depended upon altitude of position, 
 as she carefully avoided placing any volume 
 which it was her purpose to read, above the 
 easy reach of her own hand. 
 
 Rupert's manoeuvres seemed to be regu- 
 lated on a principle quite different from 
 either ; for he very sedulously divided the
 
 GERTRUDE. 211 
 
 volumes according to the different languages 
 in which they had been written, but placing 
 them with very little regard to anything 
 else. 
 
 The tremendous business of dusting, it 
 must be observed, had been previously per- 
 formed under the eye of the house-steward, 
 who, by the help of some half-dozen assist- 
 ants, had, in the course of a few days, taken 
 down every volume, and replaced it again, 
 so as to leave both shelves and books in 
 a condition to be approached and handled, 
 without any risk to the bold invader of being 
 smothered. 
 
 So far, therefore, all seemed to go on 
 smoothly ; till one day, when Rupert had 
 been, if possible, more than usually active, 
 he suddenly suspended his operations, and 
 approaching the Baroness with somewhat of 
 a melancholy aspect, and accosting her with 
 a very ominous shake of the head, he said, 
 " My lady Baroness ! we are all wrong ! This 
 will never do ! How can a catalogue be 
 made out in any regular order, where there 
 is no order in the books themselves ?" 
 
 v 2
 
 212 GERTRUDE. 
 
 The Baroness immediately suspended her 
 own operations, and looked and listened with 
 great attention. 
 
 " Explain yourself, dear Rupert," she 
 said. " What is it that you would pro- 
 . 
 
 " I scarcely know, myself, dear lady," he 
 replied ; " but I am quite sure, that if the 
 books are left as we are placing them now, 
 no catalogue that I can make, will ever assist 
 any one in finding the particular volume that 
 may be wished for." 
 
 The lady of the castle raised her hand to 
 her forehead, and remained for some mo- 
 ments in meditation. At length she replied, 
 with rather a deep sigh, " I am very much 
 afraid that you are right, Rupert." 
 
 " And I am afraid so too," replied the 
 anxious -looking boy. " But if we are to 
 begin all over again," he added, " you must 
 please to promise me, that neither you, nor 
 the young Baroness, will do any more with 
 your own hands. You look tired now, dear 
 lady ! Will you promise not to take any more 
 trouble ?"
 
 GERTRUDE. 213 
 
 "But what terrible labour is it you are 
 going to propose ? I assure you, I like the 
 work, Rupert ; and if I give you the promise 
 you ask for, I should really be promising to 
 give up a very great pleasure. Remember 
 what your mother's darling poet says. ' The 
 labour we delight in, physics pain.' ' 
 
 " Yes, dear lady ! I understand that, and 1 
 feel it, too. But when labour has been per- 
 formed, the having to undo it, and begin over 
 again, is likely to produce a more disagree- 
 able consciousness of fatigue. Do you not 
 think so, madam ?" 
 
 " Why, perhaps I do, Rupert," replied 
 the Baroness, laughing ; " but do you really 
 think that we are in that unhappy con- 
 dition ?" 
 
 It was with some reluctance, and a great 
 deal of modesty, that Rupert was at length 
 fully brought to explain himself, and to show, 
 which he certainly did very clearly, that a 
 catalogue continued upon so very miscel- 
 laneous a scheme as that which he had began, 
 accompanied by such an unsystematic ar- 
 rangement of the volumes on the shelves,
 
 214 GERTRUDE. 
 
 was not likely to insure either the inform- 
 ation or the convenience which had been con- 
 templated. 
 
 Rupert Odenthal and his fair assistants 
 were by no means the first, and will pro- 
 bably not be the last, who have been sorely 
 troubled in finding out the easiest way of 
 getting at the one book we want, among 
 many thousands that we do not want ; and 
 whether the tri-partite ingenuity which was 
 upon this occasion brought to bear upon the 
 question, produced the best result which has 
 been as yet hit upon, I will not pretend to 
 say ; their labours had at least, one effect, 
 which was certainly very agreeable to all the 
 parties concerned, for it would have been 
 very difficult to hit upon any device which 
 would so quickly have led to an equal degree of 
 friendly intimacy and practical equality among 
 the trio thus employed; and the modest bearing 
 and boyish age of Rupert, as well as the 
 childishness of Gertrude, so effectively pre- 
 vented all objection to the sort of domestic 
 familiarity which ensued, from even suggest- 
 ing itself, that Rupert might have been heard
 
 GERTRUDE. 215 
 
 issuing orders to " Gertrude," and Gertrude 
 might have been seen very meekly obeying 
 them, without any thought ever occurring to 
 the busy Baroness, that it might be as neces- 
 sary to keep noble girls and plebeian boys 
 exactly in their respective places, as folios 
 and duodecimos in theirs. 
 
 And yet, it is scarcely fair to employ such 
 a phrase, on such an occasion ; for, if all the 
 boys and girls in Christendom had been 
 brought together for judgment, it would have 
 been impossible any pair so brought, at the 
 respective ages of fifteen and twelve, could 
 have been found, who would have given less 
 reason to their mothers and fathers, their pas- 
 tors and masters, for any anxiety respecting 
 their conduct, separately or conjointly, than 
 did Rupert Odenthal and Gertrude von 
 Schwanberg. 
 
 Nevertheless, wherever it is thought desir- 
 able that an immense distance should exist 
 through life between individuals, the wisdom 
 of placing them in very close juxta-position, 
 at first setting off, may fairly be questioned. 
 
 There was also another point on which the
 
 216 GERTRUDE. 
 
 judgment of Madame von Scliwanberg shewed 
 itself defective. 
 
 She carried her dislike, or rather her dread 
 of ignorant dullness, to such an extent, that 
 during the first ten years or so of Gertrude's 
 life, it had positively become the bete noir of 
 her existence; and, assuredly, she must, in 
 what she would have considered her most 
 reasonable moments, have been ready to de- 
 clare, that there would have been less of last- 
 ing misery to her in seeing her child die, than 
 in seeing any positive symptoms in her of 
 intellectual deficiency. 
 
 It is certain that her anxieties on this sub- 
 ject were effectually and for ever removed at a 
 somewhat earlier period of her daughter's life 
 than she could have reasonably expected ; for 
 Gertrude was not only a sharp-witted child, 
 but, her animal senses being as acute as her 
 intellect, she manifested, at a very early age, a 
 more than ordinary degree of intelligence. 
 
 No sooner did this great question appear to 
 be settled in her favour, than Madame von 
 Scliwanberg became perfectly reconciled to her 
 own destiny.
 
 GERTRUDE. 217 
 
 " It would have, doubtless, been very agree- 
 able," thought she, " to have found a com- 
 panion in my husband ; but if, at this hour, 
 the choice were offered me, I would rather, 
 ten thousand times, find that blessing in my 
 child!" 
 
 Such being the result of her most secret 
 meditations, and such the genuine feeling of 
 her heart, it was natural enough that, in edu- 
 cating her daughter, she should take the most 
 especial care to keep her bright young mind 
 free from the only peculiarity which appeared 
 with sufficient strength and vigour to be fairly 
 considered as a marked feature in that of her 
 father. Nor must this strong feeling, on her 
 part, be considered as any proof of personal 
 hostile feeling towards her husband. That 
 pride of race was the master-feeling of his 
 mind, no one who approached him could long 
 be permitted to doubt ; but her conviction of 
 this fact rather led her to form a higher no- 
 tion of his intellect than it deserved ; for she 
 considered this over-grown and ill-regulated 
 feeling as a species of mental fungus, which 
 had spread over and diseased his faculties, so
 
 218 GERTRUDE. 
 
 as to produce very nearly the effect of mono- 
 mania ; whereas the real state of the case was, 
 that, if the noble Baron had not happily got 
 hold of this idea, he would probably have 
 passed through life without enjoying the high 
 human prerogative of being conscious of 
 having any positive idea at all. 
 
 That, under these circumstances, the culti- 
 vation of Gertrude's mind became the first 
 object of her mother's life, may easily be 
 understood ; and it took her but little time to 
 discover that, if Rupert's courage and dexte- 
 rity had saved the young girl's life, his bright 
 and varied intelligence might be of almost 
 equal utility in assisting the powers of her 
 young mind to develop and strengthen them- 
 selves by the help both of example and emu- 
 lation. 
 
 The good Baroness either was, or fancied 
 herself to be, peculiarly unfortunate in the 
 intellectual peculiarities of most of her neigh- 
 bours. At any rate, she made no blunder 
 when she became, at length, fully, though re- 
 luctantly, convinced that there was not a single 
 reading human being within twenty miles of
 
 GERTRUDE. 219 
 
 Schloss Schwanberg. This she felt to be a 
 grievous misfortune to herself on her own ac- 
 count, as well as a serious disadvantage to 
 Gertrude ; "for how," thought she, " shall I 
 ever be able to make her comprehend that, if 
 she ever lives to mix with the world, she will 
 not find all its inhabitants quite as ignorant or 
 as dull as the noble neighbours of Schloss 
 Schwanberg ?" 
 
 It is extremely probable that she was right 
 in this ; but highly as most assuredly she 
 ought to rank, even amongst the most intel- 
 lectual and the most highly-instructed of her 
 sex, there was one point upon which the 
 Baroness von Schwanberg very decidedly de- 
 luded herself. 
 
 She would have been very indignant, 
 and have considered herself as very cruelly 
 misjudged, had any one told her that she 
 might be fairly charged with displaying a 
 more decided proof of deep-seated aristocra- 
 tical feeling, than ever her husband had done. 
 
 " I ?" methinks I can hear her exclaim — 
 "I? . . . who, from my very soul, abhor all 
 such paltry and childish distinctions ? Where
 
 220 GERTRUDE. 
 
 is the human being who estimates more highly 
 whatever superiority nature has bestowed, or 
 more lowly the trumpery distinctions con- 
 ferred bv man ?" 
 
 It may be difficult to answer this challenge ; 
 but will our philosophical Baroness tell us 
 what is the feeling, and whence it arises, 
 which causes her to look upon it as an event 
 absolutely impossible, that her daughter Ger- 
 trude should join in the pursuits and studies 
 of Rupert Odenthal so thoroughly, and with 
 such sincere participation and sympathy of 
 heart and soul, that she should at last arrive 
 at the conclusion, that — " She of living men 
 could love but him alone ?" 
 
 What is the feeling which makes such a 
 conclusion appear impossible to the Baroness, 
 and whence does it arise ? The feeling can 
 correctly receive no other name than pride — 
 for it can only arise from the deep conviction 
 that the space dividing the noble and the 
 plebeian is too vast, too profound, too incal- 
 culably great, for any person in their senses to 
 contemplate the passing it as a thing possible. 
 
 That such was, in truth, the persuasion of
 
 GERTRUDE. 221 
 
 Madame von Schwanberg, cannot be doubted ; 
 and upon no other theory can her conduct be 
 explained or excused. Notwithstanding her 
 painfully-low estimate of her husband's intel- 
 lect, his station as a high-born nobleman, 
 important to his country both from his wealth 
 and his alliances, was recognised as fully by 
 her as by himself; and though she might have 
 allowed that the overthrowing the dynasty of 
 the Emperor would be a crime more awful in 
 its consequences, she would have scarcely con- 
 sidered it as more decidedly the reverse of 
 right than any act by which the pure nobi- 
 lity of such an escutcheon could be com- 
 promised. 
 
 Those who would declare that such a state 
 of mind, in such a woman, would be unna- 
 tural, blunder as much as a born-and-bred 
 citizen does in doubting the fact, that a 
 thorough-bred sporting-dog would fast, almost, 
 if not quite, to death, rather than feed on 
 game. It is idle to call it unnatural. 
 
 If it be an art, it is " an art that Nature 
 makes," as she does that by which the culture 
 of the gardener can metamorphose a flower.
 
 222 GERTRUDE. 
 
 The most satisfactory source of comfort in 
 contemplating the existence of such a fan- 
 tastic vision, in such a mind as that of the 
 Baroness von Schwanberg, arises from remem- 
 bering that Nature gives us as ample powers 
 for the inoculation of good as of evil vari- 
 eties ; and that, even at this present now, with 
 half the nations of the earth trying to make 
 mince-meat of each other, without any one of 
 them very clearly knowing why, " there's a 
 sweet little cherub sits perched up aloft," 
 who is busily employed in making many of 
 us go in the right direction, though without 
 shewing us exactly where it may lead us.
 
 GERTRUDE. 223 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 As it was by no means a difficult matter 
 to excite in the mind of the Baron von 
 Schwanberg a feeling of admiration concern- 
 ing every thing that he could call his own, 
 the orderly arrangement of the Schwanberg 
 library, and the daily growing catalogue of the 
 volumes it contained, soon became a new, 
 and favourite theme for his eloquence ; and 
 as it was evident that Gertrude listened to 
 him with more than usual interest, when he 
 was expressing his wonder and admiration at 
 all that had been done in that department, 
 he went on admiring Rupert's extraordinary
 
 224 GERTRUDE. 
 
 industry and cleverness in the business, so 
 warmly, that the Baroness, on one occasion, 
 took an opportunity for saying, that she was 
 almost afraid the young man worked too 
 hard, and that he scarcely allowed himself 
 sufficient time for air and exercise. 
 
 "Do you really think so, my dear lady ?" 
 exclaimed the Baron, with a most unusual 
 degree of animation. " I should be very 
 sorry to let any of my people injure their 
 health by over-fatigue in my service ; and with 
 respect to this excellent lad in particular, I 
 would rather permit the great work he is 
 upon to be suspended altogether, than that 
 his health should suffer from his devotion to 
 it. We must never, under any circumstances, 
 my dear lady, permit ourselves to forget the 
 enormous benefit he has conferred upon us. 
 In fact, there would be a very great impro- 
 priety in my permitting an individual, whose 
 name I caused to be specially alluded to, nay, 
 positively mentioned, in the service which my 
 influence with the church enabled me to com- 
 mand, in the chapel of the castle ; there would 
 decidedly be a very great impropriety in my
 
 GERTRUDE, 225 
 
 permitting a youth residing in my family 
 under such circumstances, to run the risk of 
 injuring his health in the performance of a 
 task which I have assigned him, and which 
 was done in the hope of providing him with 
 an honourable and profitable employment, in- 
 stead of doing him a serious injury." 
 
 The Baroness, as was her wont, remained 
 in the attitude of a listener, till her noble hus- 
 band had ceased to speak ; and then she re- 
 plied, that she agreed with him perfectly, and 
 that it would give her much pleasure to see 
 so well-disposed and every way deserving a 
 lad, permitted, and indeed encouraged, to take 
 a little more exercise and amusement. 
 
 It so chanced, that within an hour after 
 this conversation had taken place, the Baron 
 and his daughter accidentally met in the hall 
 of the castle ; upon which, Gertrude stopped 
 him, and said, with great glee, " I am so very 
 glad, dear papa ! for mamma tells me that 
 you are going to be so kind as to order dear, 
 good Rupert to walk about and amuse him- 
 self, now and then, instead of staying in tiie 
 house all day, as he does now, about the cal 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 GERTRUDE. 
 
 logue. I never guessed that you had such a 
 quantity of books, papa ! I really can hardly 
 believe that the Emperor himself can have a 
 much larger library than you have. I think 
 vou will be astonished to see the catalogue 
 when it is finished. And the library is look- 
 ing so different ! It is groAvn quite magnifi- 
 cent." 
 
 "I am very glad to hear you say so, my 
 dear love," he replied, with a look of very 
 great satisfaction. " Magnificent is exactly the 
 word which I should like to have applied to 
 every part of my property ; for the remem- 
 brance that you are to inherit it, my dear 
 child, gives everything a greater value and 
 importance in my eyes now than it ever had 
 before. Come into the library with me now, 
 Gertrude. I should like to see what has been 
 done there." 
 
 The effect produced upon the noble mas- 
 ter of the castle on entering this fine room, 
 arranged and decorated with equal taste and 
 industry as it now was, by the trio who for 
 many weeks past had devoted all their time 
 and talents to its embellishment, was much
 
 GERTRUDE. 2 7 
 
 greater than they had either of them hoped to 
 produce, and his approbation was signified in 
 a manner intended to be very gratifying to 
 them all. 
 
 To his lady he made a speech of consider- 
 able length, signifying his entire approval of 
 everything she had done, and hinting, in a 
 whisper, not intended to reach the ears of 
 Rupert, that however well she might have 
 been assisted by the lad whom he had so for- 
 tunately fixed upon as his librarian, it was 
 quite evident that nothing but the taste and 
 judgment of a person as nobly born as her- 
 self, could have suggested the different alter- 
 ations which had given so noble an air to the 
 apartment. 
 
 He turned to Gertrude, who was on the 
 other side of him as he said this, and added, 
 " I now perfectly understand, my dear child, 
 what you meant when you said the room was 
 magnificent. It is magnificent, Gertrude, 
 and your mother, as well as yourself, have 
 shewn, on this occasion, as I am quite sure 
 you will on all others, the invariable result of 
 being descendants from a noble race." 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 GERTRUDE. 
 
 This harangue was listened to with a smile, 
 pretty equally made up of satisfaction and 
 fun. She was exceedingly well pleased at 
 finding " dear papa" so perfectly contented 
 with all the bold innovations by which they 
 had so greatly altered the aspect of the room, 
 and infinitely amused at the idea that these 
 alterations had been achieved by the vis in- 
 ertia of a noble pedigree. 
 
 But Gertrude had something more in her 
 head at that moment, than the powers of a 
 noble pedigree or the beauty of a fine room ; 
 and having set her heart upon obtaining a 
 very particular favour from her dear papa, 
 she permitted neither fun, nor anything else, 
 to turn her from her purpose ; and having re- 
 spectfully waited till he had completed his 
 speech, by the solemn repetition of his convic- 
 tion, that he should consider himself as guilty 
 of great impiety could he doubt that it had 
 been the especial purpose of Heaven in be- 
 stowing strength and courage upon Rupert 
 Odenthal, to save the life of the heiress of 
 Schwanberg, she quietly replied, " Yes, papa, 
 he must indeed have been very strong, and
 
 GERTRUDE. 229 
 
 very courageous, or he uever could have done 
 it ; and I have been thinking, papa, that it 
 would only be acting like your dear, kind self, 
 if you were to buy a nice little horse for poor 
 Rupert, that he might have a holiday some- 
 times, and ride out with us." 
 
 " You are a noble-minded, generous young 
 lady, my dear Gertrude," replied the Baron, 
 looking at her very approvingly ; " and if 
 every high-born nobleman did his duty to- 
 wards the race from which he sprung, as 
 scrupulously as I did mine, Gertrude, when I 
 took your mother for my wife, we should pro- 
 bably see many more instances than we do of 
 young ladies as high-minded and generous as 
 yourself. Your very proper suggestion shall 
 be immediately attended to, Gertrude ; and it 
 would doubtless have occurred to me before, 
 as a proper thing to be done, had not the 
 multitude of affairs, which every man in my 
 exalted position is obliged to attend to, occu- 
 pied me too completely to leave me as much 
 leisure as I would wish to attend to minor 
 concerns." 
 
 So the nice little horse was bought for poor
 
 230 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Rupert, who thenceforward became not only 
 as well mounted a cavalier as could easily be 
 found in the land wherein he dwelt, but a 
 fearless and graceful one into the bargain. 
 
 But if the gratitude of the Baron thus led 
 him, in the strength and fearlessness of his 
 greatness, to bestow favours upon the low-born 
 boy with no more caution than he would have 
 thought necessary in petting a poodle ; the 
 Baroness, on her side, displayed a still more 
 perilous want of forethought ; for whereas the 
 Baron only mounted him upon a well -bitted 
 little horse, the paces of which might be dis- 
 played without danger to anybody, his lady 
 had the rashness not only to encourage by 
 every means in her power the cultivation of 
 his fine and powerful intellect, but to lead 
 him, solely as it seemed for her own gratifica- 
 tion, to display in familiar, daily intercourse 
 with herself and her young daughter, the 
 Aery brilliant faculties with which Nature had 
 endowed him. 
 
 And this went on from month to month, 
 and from year to year, without any thought
 
 GERTRUDE. 231 
 
 of possible mischief from it, ever entering 
 her head for a moment ! 
 
 But Gertrude was not, by any means, so 
 thoughtless a child as her mother imagined 
 her to be. So much, indeed, did she think, 
 and so justly did she reason, that it is highly 
 probable the danger which now threatened 
 would, to her, have brought no peril at all, 
 had her own judgment been her only guide ; 
 but it was not so. 
 
 Had her father made it less evident that 
 he considered his young secretary as no more 
 belongins: to the same class of beings as him- 
 self, than was the horse on which he had 
 mounted him, neither the heart nor the in- 
 tellect of Gertrude would have rebelled, as 
 they now did, against the impious absurd in 
 of so classing him ; while on the other hand, 
 she never would have ventured to place 
 him, upon the authority of her own judg- 
 ment alone, so greatly above the generality 
 of his fellow-mortals, as she was now disposed 
 to do. 
 
 In short, every individual of the four who 
 now formed the domestic circle at Schloss
 
 232 GERTRUDE. 
 
 Schwanberg, was in a false position, excepting 
 only the young librarian himself. 
 
 He was permitted to eat at their table, 
 because, as the Baron told him, his being 
 nephew to the holy man who had been ap- 
 pointed confessor to the castle, made it ex- 
 tremely fitting and proper that he should 
 pronounce grace at its owner's table; and 
 having once been told that he was to dine 
 there, and for the especial reason so stated, 
 he thought no more about it, but took it 
 for granted, that it was perfectly right and 
 proper that he should do so; and his. com- 
 mon sense, to which he alone applied for 
 counsel on the occasion, made him feel that 
 being thrown into the domestic society of his 
 patron's family, it was desirable that he 
 should, as much as possible, both in dress and 
 demeanour, assimilate himself to them. 
 
 As to the many very busy, and also very 
 delightful hours, which he passed in the 
 great room on the other side of the castle, 
 he certainly found nothing at all likely to 
 puzzle him in any of them. The vocation 
 for which he was expressely hired, seemed to
 
 GERTRUDE. 233 
 
 make him part and parcel of the library ; and 
 as we are told, that men are sometimes so 
 placed, that " their talk is of bullocks," so 
 with him, it was quite as inevitable that his 
 talk should be of books. And so it cer- 
 tainly was — and being so, it speedily became 
 more amusing and more interesting to the 
 ill-matched Baroness than any she had lis- 
 tened to for years. 
 
 Never once did it occur to her as possible, 
 that there could be anything wrong or mis- 
 chievous, in listening to the eager, ardent cri- 
 ticisms of the intelligent lad, as he dashed on 
 from one gifted page to another. Never once 
 did it enter her head as a thing possible, that 
 what she listened to with pleased amusement, 
 might steal into the heart and soul of her 
 young daughter with an effect as lasting as it 
 was delightful. 
 
 In short, a more false, or, at least, a more 
 mistaken, position than that of Madame de 
 Schwanberg, when presiding over the occu- 
 pations of her quiet library, cannot easily be 
 imagined. 
 
 ta to the poor Baron, his little greatness,
 
 234 GERTRUDE. 
 
 and his great littleness, have already been 
 dwelt upon too fully, to require any further 
 description here. But amidst all this blunder- 
 ing, it was the unfortunate Gertrude who was 
 the most likely to stumble outright, for she 
 was really led to believe that she was not 
 only displaying, but feeling, the very noblest 
 sentiments, while cherishing precisely the 
 thoughts and feelings which both her parents 
 would have the most deeply deplored, could 
 they have been made aware of them. 
 
 And on — and on — and on — went weeks 
 and months, and the noble inmates of Schloss 
 Schwanberg took little heed of them. Ger- 
 trude grew tall, and taller, and very tall ; but 
 the eye which first seemed to take note of 
 this, as well as of the bright dawn of the 
 beauty which every day seemed bringing to 
 perfection ; the eye which first seemed to 
 think this dawning beauty worthy of especial 
 note, was not within the castle walls, but seven 
 miles beyond them. 
 
 The young Count Adolphe von Stein feld 
 was the son and heir of one of the noblest 
 and richest of the neighbouring proprietors,
 
 GERTRUDE. 235 
 
 and was almost considered, even by the Ba- 
 ron himself, as having a right to associate 
 with him on terms of equality. 
 
 This young Count Adolphe it was, whose 
 eyes and heart first did homage to the beauty 
 of Gertrude von Schwanberg. 
 
 The two families had been upon friendly 
 visiting terms before Gertrude was born ; but 
 it was not in the nature of the Baron von 
 Schwanberg to be intimate with any one, and 
 nothing less active and less daring in its na- 
 ture than the " sweet passion of love," could 
 even have led to an intercourse so nearly ap- 
 proaching intimacy, as that which had lately 
 grown up between the castles of Schwanberg 
 and Steinfeld. 
 
 Love is not only active and daring, but 
 wonderfully ingenious ; not all the good qua- 
 lities of the young Count Adolphe, and he 
 had very many such, would even have availed 
 in obtaining for him the easy access he now 
 enjoyed to the library at Schwanberg, if he 
 had not continued to run up a very fami- 
 liar and intimate friendship with its young 
 librarian.
 
 23G 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 I should, however, be doing both the 
 young men injustice, if I left it to be sup- 
 posed that the feeling on both sides, which 
 brought them so frequently together, was not 
 originally that of mutual and very cordial 
 liking ; but it may be fairly doubted, if this 
 alone would so very frequently have caused 
 Count Adolphe's steed to be stabled at 
 Schwanberg, as was now the case. 
 
 This young son and heir of the wealthy 
 and right noble Count von Steinfeld was, in 
 many respects, a good deal out of the ordinarv 
 routine of character commonly found among 
 the young aristocracy of Southern Germany. 
 Accident had made him a scholar ; for it was 
 to accident he owed the having been almost 
 wholly educated by an English tutor; and 
 his natural temperament had led him to be a 
 reader ; a peculiarity less common in his class 
 and country, than in any other upon earth, 
 who have made equal advances, in other re- 
 spects, towards civilization. 
 
 It was during a long riding excursion that 
 these two young men first fell into a conver- 
 sation together, sufficiently long, and suffi-
 
 GERTRUDE. 237 
 
 ciently unrestrained, to make them both feel 
 that thev had got hold of something out of 
 the common way, and that they should like 
 to have a little more of it. 
 
 One must have been resident in such 
 lands, and familiar with their inhabitants, 
 before any such freemasonry as this can be 
 comprehended. 
 
 In Southern Europe it is possible (and a 
 good deal more than possible) to live for years 
 in habits of constant friendly association with 
 a great variety of well-born persons, moving 
 in the very highest society, without having 
 your intelligence once called upon, or in the 
 least degree awakened, to the consciousness 
 of being in the society of persons au courant 
 of the age in which we live. 
 
 To those (whether foreign or native) whom 
 accident has jostled out of this routine, every 
 collision with persons who have been equally 
 lucky, is exceedingly agreeable ; and thus it 
 was with the highly-born Adolphe and the 
 lowly-born Rupert. 
 
 More than once in the course of that same 
 ride, the stately horse of the young Count
 
 23S GERTRUDE. 
 
 might have been seen pacing with enforced 
 condescension beside the clever little steed 
 of Rupert ; and if the young plebeian was 
 less startled, and less excited, by the tone 
 and pith of the young nobleman's remarks 
 than his well-pleased companion was by those 
 he himself uttered, it was only because the 
 relish with which one listens to truth, was less 
 new to him. 
 
 The consequence of this was, that the young 
 Count, upon coming to Schloss Schwanberg, 
 and inquiring for Herr Rupert Odenthal, was 
 shewn into the library. 
 
 All that followed was so pretty nearly in- 
 evitable, that it scarcely needs recounting. 
 
 With all the tact of her charming manners, 
 and all the kindness of her womanly heart, 
 the Baroness immediately contrived to put the 
 two young men at their ease together, under 
 circumstances which, had the Baron been pre- 
 sent in her stead, would have been exceed- 
 ingly embarrassing ; but, while giving Adolphe 
 a very cordial reception as a family friend, 
 she took care to make it evident that she un- 
 derstood his visit to be intended for Rupert ;
 
 GERTRUDE. 239 
 
 a fact which had been made evident to her 
 by the servant, who had proclaimed, when he 
 announced him, that he inquired for the Herr 
 Rupert. 
 
 As to Gertrude, though this unwonted oc- 
 currence did not suggest to her the necessity 
 of " looking beautiful with all her might," 
 she very civilly laid her book aside, and so 
 far joined in the conversation as to listen to 
 it, and even " to speak when she was spoken 
 to." 
 
 This was quite enough, and no great won- 
 der, either, to convince Count Adolphe that 
 she was not only the most beautiful, but the 
 most intelligent girl he had ever seen ; and 
 what with the aspect of the room, which set 
 him longing for something like it at his home, 
 and what with the friendly kindness of the 
 Baroness, and the unaffected ease and spirit 
 with which Rupert sustained the conversation 
 (for, not having a particle of vanity, the feel- 
 ing of shyness was, of course, unknown to 
 him), — what with all this together, the Count 
 Adolphe thought of little else, as Ik; rode
 
 240 GERTRUDE, 
 
 home, than of the finding some good excuse 
 for speedily repeating his visit, which most 
 assuredly was, for some cause or other, by 
 far the most agreeable he had ever made in 
 his life.
 
 GERTRUDE. 241 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Count Adolphe von Steinfeld was a 
 warm-hearted, ardent- tempered young man, 
 with fewer faults than might have been ex- 
 pected from one who had undergone so much 
 of the spoiling process, as handsome young 
 sons, heirs, who have no younger brothers to 
 rival them, are usually exposed to. 
 
 It was decidedly a very strong proof of the 
 goodness of his nature, that, before he gave 
 himself up wholly and entirely to the " soft 
 passion of love" for the beautiful Gertrude, he 
 determined to find out whether the extremely 
 probable circumstance of his new friend Ru- 
 
 vol. i. R
 
 242 GERTRUDE. 
 
 pert's having fallen in love with her also, 
 might not already have taken place. This was 
 the more generous, because he was quite aware 
 that he would himself be considered as a match 
 in every way desirable and proper, even for 
 the heiress of Schwanberg, whereas he could 
 not doubt that it would be quite sufficient for 
 Rupert to be caught looking at her with the 
 eyes of affection, in order to ensure his being 
 turned out of his present paradise without 
 an hour's delay. 
 
 But his perfect conviction that in thus 
 thinking he made no mistake, had a precisely 
 contrary effect upon him, from what it pro- 
 bably would have had upon most other 
 people. 
 
 If he had believed himself as superior in 
 talent, or even as superior in the less impor- 
 tant advantage of good looks, as he truly 
 believed himself to be the reverse, he would 
 have been vastly more inclined to take advan- 
 tage of it, even at the cost of sacrificing his 
 newly-formed friendship to his newly-felt love ; 
 but the idea that, if both fairly weighed to- 
 gether, Rupert could only be found wanting
 
 GERTRUDE. 243 
 
 in weight of metal, was repugnant to him, 
 even though that metal was gold. 
 
 It required no great time to enable him to 
 decide irrevocably against running the risk 
 which might endanger the happiness of all, 
 from any such rivalry ; but it took him rather 
 longer, before he could make up his mind as 
 to what would be the best method of pro- 
 ceeding, in order to ascertain whether, in 
 truth, Rupert were as much in love as him- 
 self. 
 
 That he should have lived in the same 
 house with Gertrude, and escaped being so, 
 certainly seemed to him to be pretty nearly 
 impossible ; but, nevertheless, he determined 
 to have better authority than this, before he 
 decided upon what his own conduct should 
 be. 
 
 The result of all his meditations on the 
 subject, was his writing and sending the fol- 
 lowing letter : — 
 
 " My dear Odemthal, 
 
 '•'Though we have so well managed our 
 pleasant rides as to get more talk amidst our 
 
 b 2
 
 244 GERTRUDE. 
 
 gallopings than, I believe, most people could 
 have done, and though the friendship thus 
 began between us took a very vigorous step 
 onward during my unconscionably long visit 
 in the Schwanberg library yesterday, I still 
 feel that I want to know you better yet ; and 
 I am inclined to think that a good long tete- 
 a-tete walk together, would be one of the most 
 agreeable modes of attaining my object. 
 What say you? I know that you are not 
 
 such an idle, useless fellow as myself I 
 
 don't believe I should have liked you so well 
 if you had been .... It must be for you, 
 therefore, to fix the day and hour that will 
 best suit your convenience for our ramble ; I 
 shall hold myself in readiness to meet you 
 when and where you please. 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " Dear Odenthal, 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 " Adolphe Steinfeld." 
 
 The receipt of this note surprised Rupert 
 Odenthal a good deal, but it pleased him con- 
 siderably more. He had been, for the last
 
 GERTRUDE. 245 
 
 year or two of his life, much too busy a per- 
 sonage to have had any time to spare for day- 
 dreams ; but, had he indulged in such, the 
 offered friendship of such a man as the young 
 Count von Steinfeld, would decidedly have 
 been of the number. 
 
 But though his service was a very easy one, 
 he felt at that moment more decidedly, per- 
 haps, than he had ever before done, that he 
 was not quite so free a man as he might wish 
 to be. But ere he had positively breathed a 
 sigh as he remembered this, he threw down 
 his pen, with a smile, as he remembered, also, 
 that it was to the lady of the castle, and not 
 to its lord, that it was necessary to apply for 
 permission to accept the very agreeable pro- 
 posal which the note contained. 
 
 It was with a flushed cheek, and a brightly 
 sparkling eye, that he approached his ever- 
 kind patroness, and placed the note in her 
 hand. 
 
 He had no sooner done so, than Gertrude, 
 with her accustomed unchecked impetuosity, 
 sprung from her own table to that at which 
 her mother was sitting.
 
 246 GERTRUDE. 
 
 "It is not a secret, I suppose, mamma, is 
 it ?" said she, bending over her mother's 
 shoulder, with the very evident intention of 
 reading the note she held. 
 
 " Fie upon you ! naughty Eve, as you are !" 
 said her mother, laughing. " You may per- 
 ceive it is addressed to Mr. Odenthal," she 
 added, holding up the note so as to exhibit 
 the address ; " and, therefore, it is Mr. Oden- 
 thal's permission, and not mine, which is ne- 
 cessary." 
 
 " Indeed, mamma I" said the young lady, 
 bounding back to her accustomed place still 
 more vehemently than she had left it ; "I have 
 not the very slightest wish to force myself into 
 Mr. Rupert's confidence. Will it be more 
 discreet for me to leave the room ? Or will 
 it do, if I go down to the very farther end of 
 it ?" 
 
 " Let me read it aloud, Rupert — shall I ?" 
 said the greatly-pleased Madame de Schwan- 
 berg. " Silly child as she is, I think it will 
 give her almost as much pleasure as it does 
 me ; and I am quite sure it would, if she as 
 well knew its probable importance to you."
 
 GERTRUDE. 247 
 
 She then read the note aloud, and address- 
 ing her daughter as she gave it back to 
 Rupert, she said, "You see, Gertrude, that 
 we are not the only people in the world who 
 find Rupert an agreeable companion. But the 
 messenger is waiting, my dear boy. Sit down 
 and write your answer." 
 
 " But you have not yet told me, dear 
 madam, what that answer is to be. What 
 will you give me leave to say to him ?" 
 
 " Oh, Rupert ! if I were mamma, what a 
 rage I should be in with you !" exclaimed 
 Gertrude, with cheeks as red as scarlet. 
 " Do you really think that mamma wants to 
 make a slave of you? Don't you feel that 
 you hate him, mamma? If I were in your 
 place, I am quite sure that I should !" 
 
 " Not unless you misunderstand his appli- 
 cation to me as completely after you had got 
 into my place as you evidently do now, Ger- 
 trude," replied the Baroness ; " our friend 
 Rupert might as reasonably be accused of 
 being a slave because he opened a door for 
 me, or offered me his arm in a walk, as be-
 
 243 GERTRUDE. 
 
 cause he consulted me as to the best time of 
 appointing Count Adolphe to meet him/' 
 
 " Oh ! if that is all, mamma, it is all very 
 right and proper ; and, of course, I was a fool 
 for supposing that Rupert could mean any- 
 thing else." 
 
 "Suppose you name mid-day, to-morrow, 
 Rupert," said the Baroness, after meditating 
 upon the subject for a moment ; " and you 
 had better say in your note," she added, 
 kindly, " that we should be very glad to 
 see him here to dinner afterwards, at four 
 o'clock." 
 
 Thus authorized to return precisely such an 
 answer as he wished to send, Rupert was not 
 long in dispatching his reply ; and this being 
 done, he quietly sat himself down to continue 
 the employment upon which he had been 
 occupied when this agreeable interruption 
 stopped him. 
 
 But Gertrude seemed determined to atone 
 for her cross fit, by becoming so gaily frolic- 
 some, as to render it impossible for any one 
 within reach of the sound of her voice to 
 employ themselves seriously.
 
 GERTRUDE. 249 
 
 " What is come to you, Gertrude ?" said 
 her mother, laughing with her, because it was 
 impossible to resist her gaiety. " Upon my 
 word, you give us reason to suppose that you 
 are beyond measure delighted at the idea of 
 seeing our agreeable young neighbour at 
 dinner, to-morrow; and I cannot chide you 
 for it, if you are, for there are very few 
 people that I like so well myself, as this 
 Count Adolphe." 
 
 "And I can go farther than that, mamma!" 
 replied the young lady, with great energy; 
 " for I can truly say, that I never in my whole 
 life liked any one so much." 
 
 Her mother looked at her earnestly for a 
 moment, and during that moment she cer- 
 tainly became more conscious than she had 
 ever been before, that Gertrude was no longer 
 a child. 
 
 But neither by look or word did she betray 
 the discovery she had made, to either of her 
 companions. She quietly resumed her own 
 employment, and Rupert proceeded with his ; 
 but Gertrude had less command of herself, 
 and might have been seen, if her companions
 
 250 GERTRUDE. 
 
 had been at leisure to watch her, more occu- 
 pied in plucking the feathers from her grey 
 goose quill, than in writing with it. 
 
 Nothing intervened to interfere in any way 
 with the projects which had been formed for 
 the following day ; and with exemplary punc- 
 tuality to the hour named, the two young 
 men met at the spot indicated by Rupert, in 
 reply to Count Adolphe's note. 
 
 The meeting was joyously cordial on both 
 sides, and they set forward on their projected 
 ramble with as much satisfaction as if the 
 pedigree of the one was precisely on an 
 equality with the pedigree of the other. 
 
 For the first hour or so of their walk, it 
 was Rupert who seemed to lead the conver- 
 sation ; and many interesting themes were 
 touched, not one of which but might have 
 furnished a wider scope for interesting dis- 
 cussion than many a morning's ramble could 
 have allowed time for. 
 
 But at length, just as Rupert was waiting 
 a reply to a somewhat bold speculation, Count 
 Adolphe suddenly stood still, and darting off 
 from the subject they were upon, he ex-
 
 GERTRUDE. 251 
 
 claimed, " What a lucky fellow you are, Ru- 
 pert Odenthal ! I envy you that library ! I 
 envy you the companions with whom you 
 seem to live there ! I really know no man 
 living, whose existence seems to pass so ex- 
 actly as I would wish my own to do. There 
 is but one anxiety which could, I think, in- 
 terfere to torment me in such a situation." 
 
 " And what is that, Count ?" said Rupert, 
 with a smile, as he thought of his right noble 
 patron, the Baron von Schwanberg. 
 
 "Nay," returned his companion, colour- 
 ing, " I assure you that the danger to which 
 I am alluding, has no mixture of jest in it. 
 I do really and truly think, friend Rupert, 
 that if I spent as many hours as you do in 
 the society of the Baroness Gertrude, I should 
 be in great danger of falling in love with 
 her." 
 
 The sparkling eyes of Rupert again kindled 
 into a smile. 
 
 " Were such an adventure to befall me," 
 he replied, " I should most certainly consider 
 it as a very terrible mishap ; but I don't see 
 why it should be so in your case."
 
 252 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 " On account of the contiguous estates, 
 you mean, and all that sort of stuff. Fie ! 
 fie ! Rupert ! I did not expect to hear such 
 trash as that from you. Do you really think 
 that I should consider my happiness ensured 
 by being married to Gertrude, at the com- 
 mand of her father and mine ?" 
 
 " No, indeed, Count Adolphe !" returned 
 his companion ; " I think no such thing. But 
 neither do I think, on the other hand, that 
 the well-pleased consent of both ought to be 
 any drawback on your happiness." 
 
 " I did not exactly mean that, either," re- 
 turned Adolphe, colouring more perceptibly 
 than before. "All I should want or wish, 
 would be, that they would let us alone. But 
 what I want most particularly to know at 
 
 this moment is whether you are in love 
 
 with her yourself, Rupert ?" 
 
 Rupert, in repyling to this very important 
 question, really and truly did all he could, 
 both to look and speak seriously, as he an- 
 swered, " No, my Lord Count. I am not !" 
 
 " Thank God !" exclaimed the young noble- 
 man very fervently ; "I am sure you would
 
 GERTRUDE. 253 
 
 not deceive me, dear Rupert !" he added, 
 " and, therefore, I welcome this very delight- 
 ful assurance, with the most perfect conviction 
 of its truth. But how you have escaped, is 
 to me a perfect mystery ! Tell me, Rupert, 
 did you ever see any one whom you thought 
 more beautiful ?" 
 
 " I am almost afraid to answer you, dear 
 Count !" said Rupert, casting down his eyes, 
 and assuming an aspect of great solemnity ; 
 " but, at any rate, I will not take refuge in an 
 untruth, in order to propitiate your favour. 
 Yes!" he added, "yes! I have seen two 
 people who, according to my judgment, are 
 both handsomer than the Baroness Gertrude 
 von Schwanberg." And here he stopped. 
 
 Count Adolphe raised his arms in an action 
 of astonishment, but this was accompanied 
 by a smile, which plainly proclaimed that his 
 offence was forgiven. 
 
 " Go on !" said the Count. 
 
 Upon which Rupert meekly bent his 
 head, and pronounced, in a deprecatory tone, 
 " I think the Baroness, her mother, is hand- 
 somer."
 
 254 GERTRUDE. 
 
 " And the other ?" said Adolphe, with 
 rather a contemptuous shake of the head. 
 
 " The other is a little girl, whom you have 
 probably never seen, my Lord Count ; for she 
 is the daughter of a poor woman, who lives 
 in the village of which my uncle Alaric is the 
 priest." 
 
 " And you are not speaking in jest, Ru- 
 pert ?" said the young nobleman, gravely. 
 
 " No, indeed, I am not !" returned Ru- 
 pert, with all the simplicity of truth. As to 
 our Baroness at the castle, I scarcely ever 
 look at her without thinking that she is the 
 exact model of what a poet might fancy as 
 the lovely sovereign of some enchanted land. 
 Some of Spenser's descriptions remind me of 
 her. I do not think her daughter will ever 
 
 be so exquisitely graceful as she is And 
 
 as to my little nymph of the fountain — for it 
 is when fetching water from the fountain 
 that I have generally seen her — she is more 
 like a picture, or a dream, than anything 
 made of flesh and blood. The eyes of your 
 young Baroness are very much like the eyes 
 of her mother, and they are, therefore, ex-
 
 GERTRUDE. 255 
 
 ceedingly handsome; but you must see my 
 nymph of the fountain before you can under- 
 stand, how beautiful eyes may be." 
 
 " Yes !" returned Adolphe, rather solemnly ; 
 " eyes may assuredly be very beautiful j but 
 what a providential arrangement it is, friend 
 Rupert, that the judgment of the eyes of 
 those who look, varies as much as the beauty 
 of the eyes looked at. It is long since I felt 
 as light-hearted as I do at this moment, for 
 to tell you the honest truth, I was despe- 
 rately afraid that you too might be in love with 
 this peerless young Gertrude... And yet, my 
 good friend, a moment's consideration ought 
 to be enough to suggest the heavy fact, that 
 although she may not be in love with you, 
 nor you with her, yet nevertheless it does not 
 follow as a necessary consequence, that she 
 will therefore some day be in love with me ! 
 Nay, how do I know that I may not at this 
 present moment, be the object of her peculiar 
 dislike ? Gracious Heaven ! What a dread- 
 ful thought ! And yet my common sense 
 tells me that it is quite as likely that it should 
 be so, as not. . . . ' And having uttered
 
 256 GERTRUDE. 
 
 these terrible words, in a tone of unmistake- 
 able sincerity, the agitated young man sud- 
 denly quitted the arm of his companion, and 
 throwing himself on the turf beside the path, 
 buried his face in his hands. 
 
 "It certainly is a strange choice, Count 
 Adolphe, that has put it in my power to give 
 you hope on such a subject as this," said Ru- 
 pert, gaiiy throwing himself on his knees 
 beside him ; " but so it is, and that too, 
 without any breach of confidence on my part. 
 But when your letter to me was brought into 
 the library yesterday morning, my ever kind 
 friend and patroness, the Baroness, expressed 
 her pleasure at such an unequivocal proof of 
 your amiable readiness to forget the distance 
 which station places between us, and spoke 
 of you generally, my good friend, in the 
 terms which you so well deserve. Where- 
 upon, the young Baroness, Gertrude, blush- 
 ing like a new-blown rose, exclaimed, with an 
 earnest energy, of which I would fain give 
 you an idea if I could, ' I can go farther than 
 that, mamma ; for I can truly say, that I never
 
 GERTRUDE. 267 
 
 in my whole life, liked any one so much/ 
 Does that satisfy yon, Count ?" 
 
 " Satisfy me !" exclaimed the delighted 
 young man, springing up. " Did she really 
 say this, Rupert ? But I know she did, for 
 you are incapable of deceiving me." 
 
 " Indeed I am, dear Count," replied Ru- 
 pert, gravely. " If I know myself, I am 
 incapable of deceiving you in any way ; and 
 trust me, in a case where your happiness is 
 so deeply concerned, I would not only be true, 
 but cautious also. But my memory has not 
 failed me, dear Adolphe ! She spoke the 
 words with even greater energy than I have 
 repeated them ; and her mother was evidently 
 eonscious of this, for she positively started, 
 and blushed too, almost as bright lv as her 
 daughter." 
 
 I will not attempt to describe the state 
 of happiness produced on the young Count 
 by this observation. He seemed to walk on 
 air ; nor was his reception, on returning to 
 Schwanberg, at all calculated to check the 
 hopes which it had created. 
 
 The Baron was as courteous as a Baron so 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 GERTRUDE. 
 
 very solemn could be ; the Baroness was all 
 genuine kindness, and the blooming Gertrude 
 went as far as it was possible for a well-be- 
 haved young lady to go, in making it evident 
 to the guest that she liked very much to see 
 him there.
 
 GERTRUDE. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Once fairly convinced that he had no rival 
 to fear in Rupert, and that the fair object of 
 his passion was by no means disposed to 
 frown upon him, the course to be pursued 
 became equally hopeful and easy to the young 
 lover. In the first place, as in duty bound, 
 he requested a private interview with his 
 father. 
 
 The Count von Steinfeld was in manv re- 
 spects an amiable and estimable gentleman : 
 and if his attachment to his son (his only 
 son) had something approaching to fanati- 
 cism in it, the fine qualities, and excellent con- 
 
 s 2
 
 2 GO GERTRUDE. 
 
 duct of the young man, offered a great excuse 
 for it. The revenues of Count Steinfeld were 
 very nearly, if not fully, equal to those of his 
 neighbour, the Baron von Schwanberg ; and 
 his nobility as unblemished, though not, per- 
 haps, of so high antiquity. The hopes of the 
 young Adolphe, therefore, had nothing de- 
 serving the imputation of presumption in 
 them ; but there is so much of true timidity 
 for ever mixed with true love, that it was not 
 without trepidation that the young man pre- 
 sented himself before his father, to beseech 
 his consent to his offering his hand to Ger- 
 trude. 
 
 Now the only feature in the business in 
 the least likely to check the satisfaction of 
 Count Steinfeld on hearing this proposition, 
 was the recollection that he was himself but 
 just above forty years old, and that his son 
 was not yet twenty. His high rank and 
 ample fortune had produced in him an effect 
 diametrically different to what similar causes 
 had produced on the Baron von Schwanberg ; 
 for whereas the Baron had found it so diffi- 
 cult to discover a lady in all respects deserv-
 
 GERTRUDE. 261 
 
 ing the honour of being his wife, that he had 
 nearly reached the age of fifty before he ac- 
 complished it, the Count had fallen despe- 
 rately in love when he was about the same 
 age as his enamoured son was now ; and 
 though he could not plead his own example 
 as a warning, for he had been very particu- 
 larly happy both as a husband and a father, 
 yet still he felt that there were some rational 
 objections against such very early marriages. 
 
 The first effect of Adolphe's solemn pro- 
 posal was to make his father laugh ; where- 
 upon the young man blushed still deeper than 
 before. 
 
 " Is there anything ridiculous, sir, in my 
 selection ?" said he, with very considerable 
 dignity. 
 
 " No, indeed, Adolphe !" returned his gay 
 father, still laughing. " If you have really 
 made up your mind that you are in want of 
 a wife, I really do not think that you could 
 have chosen better." 
 
 Somewhat mollified and consoled by this 
 assurance, Adolphe replied, almost with a
 
 262 GERTRUDE. 
 
 smile ; " Then may I ask why you laugh at 
 me r 
 
 "Not at you, my dear boy My dear 
 
 man, I mean. Not at you, Adolphe ! Your 
 choice is an admirable one, in all ways. I 
 only laughed at thinking what a lot of dow- 
 agers there will be in a few years, if your 
 progeny follow our example." 
 
 " You were very fortunate, my dear sir, 
 in meeting my mother at an age, which was 
 likely to ensure you a long life of happiness. 
 But at any rate, my dear father, my choice 
 can involve no consequences which should 
 lead you to object to it as imprudent in a 
 pecuniary point of view. The Baroness Ger- 
 trude is an only child, and her father is 
 already an old man." 
 
 " True ! quite true, Adolphe," replied his 
 father ; adding, in a tone which had nothing 
 of jesting in it, " Woo her, and win her, my 
 dear son ! Depend upon it your happiness 
 shall find no impediments from me. If it be 
 settled, as I think it should be, that you 
 should have an establishment of your own, 
 I shall be readv to double whatever income
 
 GERTRUDE. 263 
 
 the Baron may think proper to settle on his 
 daughter." 
 
 It may be easily predicted by what I have 
 stated, that no time was lost by Adolphe in 
 ascertaining whether his friend Rupert was 
 right in believing that he had made a favour- 
 able impression on the heart of the young 
 Gertrude. 
 
 The dinner which had succeeded to their 
 morning walk, shewed her ever readv to 
 listen when he spoke, and to show, moreover, 
 by her replies, that she had listened with 
 pleasure ; and he deserved very great credit 
 for the self-command which enabled him to 
 say farewell when he left her, without uttering 
 a word that might lead her to guess, that 
 before he saw again he would probably have 
 asked, and obtained permission, from both 
 their fathers, to kneel before her, and ask lot 
 her hand in marriage. 
 
 The interview with his own father, which 
 has been already described, took place early 
 on the following morning ; and within half-an- 
 hour afterwards, he was galloping over the 
 three or four miles which divided the two
 
 264 GERTRUDE. 
 
 mansions. He had the good luck of meeting 
 his friend Rupert at the distance of a five 
 minutes' walk from Schloss Schwanberg ; 
 whereupon he sprang from his horse, and 
 throwing the reins over the saddle, he suf- 
 fered the docile animal to follow him, while 
 he profited by the meeting, by making 
 Rupert understand that he came to offer his 
 hand to Gertrude with the full consent of his 
 father. 
 
 " Bravo !" cried Rupert, joyously ; " I wish 
 you joy with all my heart, for I am neither so 
 blind nor so dull as not to think our young 
 Baroness very charming, though not quite so 
 beautiful as her mother. But we must ma- 
 nage a tUe-a-Ute for you at once, Sir Count, 
 somehow or other, for the beauty of the mother 
 will not atone for the inconvenience of her 
 presence at such a moment." 
 
 " Good heaven ! — No !" cried the lover, in 
 a tone which betrayed great perturbation. 
 " Manage this for me, Rupert, and I will 
 cause your name to be specially mentioned in 
 the castle chapel the first day I am the master 
 of it."
 
 GERTRUDE. 265 
 
 " Nay, traitor !" replied Rupert, laughing, 
 " if you turn my own jokes against me, I will 
 so manage as to bring the mighty Baron him- 
 self to be present at the very moment you are 
 making your proposal !" 
 
 A little coaxing, however, so effectually 
 softened the heart of Rupert, that he not 
 only undertook to promise that the Baron 
 should not appear, but also that he would 
 invent some means or other of causing the 
 Baroness to leave the room immediately. It 
 is not necessary to describe the gratitude of 
 the lover on receiving this promise ; suffice it to 
 say, that it was kept, and that Adolphe Stein- 
 feld and Gertrude Schwanberg very speedily 
 found themselves tete-a-tete in the Schwanberg 
 library. 
 
 The reception which Gertrude had given to 
 the young Count upon his entrance, was by 
 no means calculated to discourage him ; for it 
 was with a smile, not only bright and beauti- 
 ful, but too eloquently expressive of real plea- 
 sure to be mistaken. 
 
 The young man lost no time, but had ex- 
 plained the object of his visit, with equal
 
 266 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 eagerness and grace, within a few moments 
 after the successful manoeuvring of his friend 
 had placed him tete-a-tete with the young 
 Baroness. 
 
 Gertrude, too, on her part, displayed more 
 self-possession and propriety of demeanour dur- 
 ing these agitating moments, than might have 
 been reasonably expected from so young a 
 girl. That they were agitating moments, was 
 proved by the deep blush which suffused her 
 beautiful face, and by a tremor in her voice, 
 which reduced it almost to a whisper. 
 
 ' Your attachment, Count Adolphe," she 
 said, ' would do honour to a much worthier 
 object than such a childish creature as I am ; 
 but my esteem for you is too sincere to permit 
 my pleading my youth as an objection to your 
 addresses ; and I will say to you now, what I 
 am quite sure I should say, under similar cir- 
 cumstances, were I many years older. I was 
 but seventeen my last birthday, Count Adolphe; 
 but, if I were of full age, I should tell you 
 that I refer you wholly to my father for your 
 answer. It is not, believe me, because I have 
 any doubts of your merit, or, on that point at
 
 GERTRUDE. 267 
 
 least, any great doubt of my own judgment ; 
 but people of our station of life have duties to 
 fulfil, which may not be neglected with impu- 
 nity. My own case, as you must be aware, is 
 a peculiar one. I have learnt, even from my 
 dear mother herself, that my father's disap- 
 pointment at not having a male heir has been 
 bitterly felt by him ; and I think that I can 
 never be grateful enough for the tender affec- 
 tion which seems almost to have reconciled 
 him to his disappointment. The only ade- 
 quate return I can make for this affection, is 
 referring myself implicitly to him on such an 
 occasion as the present." • 
 
 " May I see him now ?" said the impatient 
 young man, more inclined to bless his noble 
 birth and broad acres at that moment than he 
 had ever been before. 
 
 Gertrude answered him with a blushing 
 smile, which made him forgive the delay she 
 proposed. 
 
 " No ! — not to-day, Count Adolphe ! De- 
 pend upon it, I know best. Let it be to- 
 morrow, at this same hour, if you will : and 
 even so, he may think you, perhaps, over-
 
 268 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 hasty. Oh ! what a little time ago it seems 
 since we were both children !" 
 
 ' And do you really insist upon my waiting 
 till to-morrow?" said the young man. 
 
 ' Yes," she replied, holding out her hand, 
 in token of farewell. 
 
 He saw that she was in earnest ; and he not 
 only took the hand, but ventured to kiss it, as 
 he said, " Farewell, then, dearest Gertrude ! — 
 farewell till to-morrow !" 
 
 She turned her head only as she repeated 
 this farewell. . . . But, on the whole, he was 
 far from being dissatisfied by the interview ; 
 and never in his life before, had he contem- 
 plated with so much satisfaction the stately 
 aspect of his father's noble residence as he 
 did upon returning to it now, with the com- 
 fortable belief that the Baron von Schwanberg 
 could not be insensible to its splendour, or 
 ignorant of the ample revenues by which it 
 was sustained. 
 
 No sooner had the door of the library 
 closed behind him, than Gertrude reseated 
 herself, with the look and manner of one who 
 had been sufficiently agitated to make solitude
 
 GERTKUDE. 269 
 
 and repose very welcome. She did not, how- 
 ever, permit herself to enjoy either very long, 
 but, hastily rising, began seeking amidst the 
 miscellaneous objects which covered her own 
 particular table, and selecting from them a very 
 tiny volume, put it into her pocket, and left 
 the room.
 
 270 GERTRUDE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 It was to the apartment in which her father 
 generally dozed away the interval between his 
 heavy breakfast and his before-dinner ride, 
 that Gertrude now betook herself; and, al- 
 though he certainly looked more than half 
 asleep, she approached him with a sort of 
 resolute step, that plainly showed that it was 
 her purpose to arouse him. 
 
 " Are you at leisure for me to talk to you a 
 little, papa?" said she; "for I have something 
 I want very much to say to you." 
 
 " I am not quite sure that I could find 
 leisure at this moment to converse with any
 
 GERTRUDE. 271 
 
 one else, my dear Gertrude} but you well 
 know that I always contrive to find it for 
 
 YOU. 
 
 " I well know, my dear father, that you are 
 always kind and indulgent to me, even when 
 I come to you like an idle child, to talk to 
 you for my own amusement. But the case is 
 different now. I am come to tell you, even 
 before I mention it to my mother, that the 
 young Count Adolphe von Steinfeld has made 
 me an offer of marriage." 
 
 "You have behaved, as you always do, with 
 the greatest possible propriety in bringing this 
 intelligence to your father, to the head of your 
 own noble house, Gertrude, before you com- 
 municated it to any one else. I am sorry," 
 he added, after a pause — " I am sorry, Ger- 
 trude, that the young man has not shewn an 
 equal sense of what was due to me on such 
 an occasion. However, I presume he must be 
 forgiven on the score of love. I am quite 
 ready to believe, Gertrude, that he is too 
 much enamoured to have entirely the com- 
 mand of his own judgment." 
 
 : You are very kind, papa, to judge him so
 
 272 GERTRUDE. 
 
 leniently. I am quite aware that he ought 
 not to have spoken to me on the subject till 
 he had obtained your leave to do so." 
 
 " Right again, my dear, as you always are," 
 said the B iron, taking her hand. " I am 
 proud of my daughter, and I have reason to 
 be so. However, Gertrude, we must not be 
 too hard on the young man, either. You are 
 certainly a very fair excuse, my dear, for a 
 little blundering at such a moment. More- 
 over, it is impossible that I can deny the value 
 of the compliment he has paid you. The 
 only son of my distinguished neighbour, the 
 Count von Steinfeld, is a very great match for 
 any lady. The estate is a very noble one, and 
 perfectly unencumbered ; and, moreover, it is 
 contiguous to mine. The two estates, when 
 united, would certainly make one of the finest 
 properties in the country, my dear Gertrude ; 
 and I confess to you, that I think it would be 
 difficult to find a more eligible connection for 
 you." 
 
 Gertrude, who had seated herself, and was 
 placed immediately opposite to her father, with 
 her eyes fixed on the carpet, remained silent
 
 GERTRUDE. 273 
 
 for a short interval after he had ceased speak- 
 ing, and then, almost in a whisper, repeated 
 the word " connection ?" 
 
 " Ah, Gertrude !" said her father, relaxing 
 so far from his usual stately demeanour as to 
 smile ; " ah, Gertrude ! I suppose your young 
 heart is too much interested for the young 
 man himself, to permit your giving a single 
 thought to his position in life. Is it not 
 
 SO f 
 
 " No ! my dear father ! no ! It is not so," 
 replied Gertrude, with a degree of earnestness 
 that had something almost solemn in it. 
 ' Can you believe that your daughter can be 
 so lamentably the slave of any passion, as to 
 make her unmindful of the race from which 
 she sprung? Can you forget the hours we 
 have passed together, in which you have ex- 
 plained to me the pure nobility of your blood, 
 and of the higher station still which the family 
 of my mother holds ? If you forget this, dear 
 father, I do not ; and so deeply have your 
 words and your feelings been impressed upon 
 my heart, that I believe myself utterly in- 
 capable of feeling for any man such an at- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 GERTRUDE. 
 
 tachment as a wife ought to feel for her hus- 
 band, unless he were one whom my pride 
 might select as well as my love." 
 
 And then she stopped, again turning her 
 eyes upon the ground, which, while speaking, 
 had been earnestly fixed upon her father's 
 face. 
 
 " When I listen to such words from your 
 lips, my noble-minded Gertrude, it is like lis- 
 tening to the sound of my own thoughts !" 
 replied the Baron in a sort of ecstacy that 
 positively made his lips tremble ; " and deeply 
 indeed should I despiss myself, could I in the 
 choice of a matrimonial connection for you, 
 suffer any consideration of any kind to inter- 
 fere with what we owe to noble blood and 
 high alliances. But this young man, my sweet 
 Gertrude, is a nobleman of high birth, nor 
 do I remember to have heard that his race 
 has ever been degraded by an ignoble mar- 
 riage ! 
 
 " But has it ever been embellished, my 
 dear father, by such alliances as I have traced 
 in our own pedigree?" returned Gertrude 
 solemnly. " Have I not myself heard you
 
 GERTRUDE. 275 
 
 say," she continued in the same tone, " that 
 instead of marrying early, as most men of 
 your rank and fortune are apt to do, have I 
 not heard you say that you waited till what 
 is generally considered as an advanced age 
 for matrimony, solely for the purpose of giving 
 yourself an opportunity of improving your 
 magnificent escutcheon? And how deeply 
 do I feel indebted to you for this ! There are 
 bearings on the Wolkendorf shield, of which 
 sovereign princes may boast with pride." 
 
 " You speak nothing but the truth, my 
 daughter, in saying so," replied the Baron, 
 with the quiet but dignified demeanour of 
 one conscious of merit of no common class. 
 
 " And while you acknowledge this, my 
 dearest father," resumed tiie beautiful heiress ; 
 " can you not sympathise with the feeling 
 which leads me to plead for time, before I 
 engage myself to any man ? When you re- 
 member how young I still am, I think you 
 must allow that I have enough time before nn 
 to justify my pleading for some few years' delay , 
 before I resign the dignified position I hold 
 as your daughter and heiress, in order to 
 
 t 2
 
 276 GERTRUDE. 
 
 become the wife of any man whose pedigree 
 is less illustrious than your own." 
 
 " Admirable ! admirable young creature !" 
 exclaimed the Baron, " most safely may you be 
 trusted in this matter, and I do, and will 
 trust to you implicitly. Fear not, Gertrude, 
 that I should ever urge you to marry any 
 one whose escutcheon you could not explain 
 to your children with as good effect as I have 
 explained mine to you. But are you quite 
 sure, my dear love, that this might not be the 
 case if you accepted the hand of Count Adolphe 
 von Steinfeld? I reallv do not remember to 
 have heard of any degrading alliance con- 
 tracted by that family." 
 
 " Perhaps not, papa," replied Gertrude. 
 " Degrading is a very strong epithet, and I 
 confess to you that the mere fact of their 
 not having degraded themselves by their 
 alliances, would not be enough to satisfy me. 
 I have sometimes thought, papa," she resumed, 
 after a short pause, " I have sometimes 
 thought, that I knew a way by which I 
 could very easily decide whether any one who 
 proposed to me, had any right to hope for an
 
 GERTRUDE. 277 
 
 alliance by marriage with your family or with 
 that of my mother." 
 
 " And what way is that, my noble child ?" 
 eagerly demanded the Baron. 
 
 " Why, by just going carefully through the 
 pages of the Almanack de Gotha. There 
 is one member of your family mentioned in it 
 about seventy or eighty years ago, I think, 
 on the occasion of one of the daughters form- 
 ing a matrimonial alliance with a relative of a 
 reigning Duke ; and there are no less than 
 three of mamma's remote ancestors, whose 
 names are to be found there in the same way. 
 Now it seems to me, that as I am thus 
 honoured on both sides of my house, my 
 name also ought to find its way, by means of 
 marriage, into the same august memorial." 
 
 " I would, indeed, wish that so it should 
 be," said the Baron solemnly ; his whole form 
 seeming to dilate as his daughter thus fed 
 him with the food he loved. " I willingly 
 agree to accept of this as a criterion. But 
 are you quite sure, Gertrude, that our neigh- 
 bour, Count Steinfeld, has never been happy 
 enough to find his way to the pages of this
 
 278 GERTRUDE. 
 
 ennobling record ? His estate is a very fine 
 one, and perfectly unincumbered, which is a 
 circumstance which, I believe, very often leads 
 to advantageous marriages." 
 
 Gertrude did not immediately reply, but 
 she put her hand into her pocket, and drew 
 thence the tinv volume, which she had taken 
 from one of the library tables. 
 
 " I have examined this book, papa, very 
 carefully, from the first page to the last," she 
 said ; " and I pledge you my word, that the 
 Count Steinfeld is not fortunate enough to 
 have found a place there." 
 
 " Enough, my dearest love," replied the 
 Baron ; " I have pledged my word to you, 
 Gertrude, that I will trust to your own dis- 
 cretion in this matter. You are as yet, as 
 you well observe, extremely young ; and with 
 your birth and fortune, to say nothing of your 
 rather striking personal attractions, I certainly 
 feel that I need be in no hurry to part with 
 my daughter." 
 
 " You have made me very happy, my dear 
 father, by trusting me to my own discretion 
 in the important business of marriage," she
 
 GERTRUDE. 279 
 
 replied ; " I shall not be in a hurry, dear 
 papa ! There is no reason whatever to ren- 
 der it desirable that I should be. Your 
 daughter really ought not, child as she is 
 in age, to be married to the first boy who 
 may happen to fancy that he likes her ; or 
 to one who may happen to think that he 
 should like to obtain possession of the Baron 
 von Schwanberg's castles and domains. We 
 are very happy as we are, dearest papa ! and 
 if we are wise, we shall make up our minds to 
 remain so for many happy years yet, unless, 
 indeed, some one were to propose, who might 
 place my name in this dear little book !" 
 
 " You deserve to be my daughter, my high- 
 minded Gertrude ; and I flatter myself that I 
 am not altogether unworthy of being your 
 father !" returned the Baron, fervently. 
 
 " But you must not leave me yet, my be- 
 loved child !" he added, seeing that she had 
 risen as if to quit the room ; " you really must 
 tell me, and tell me precisely, my dearest 
 Gertrude, in what way you would wish me to 
 dismiss this young man. I should be very 
 sorry to offend either him or his family.
 
 280 GERTRUDE. 
 
 What you say about the Almanack is unan- 
 swerable ; and God knows I am the last man 
 in the world, my love, to disregard such 
 an observation, made, too, in so truly noble 
 a spirit ! But it would be difficult to explain 
 all this to him. What do you think I had 
 better say, my dear Gertrude ?" 
 
 "I am not very well versed in such affairs 
 as yet, papa," replied the young Baroness, 
 gravely ; " but the only child of the Baron 
 Schwanberg is not likely to escape proposals 
 of this sort ; and, therefore, dear father, I 
 would recommend you to decide at once, 
 upon the manner in which you will think it 
 best that your answers should be given." 
 
 " Certainly, my dear ! certainly ! Nothing 
 can be more right and sensible than what 
 you say. But it won't do, you know, my 
 dear, for me to learn by heart a form of 
 w^ords about it, because it cannot always be 
 the same, my dear Gertrude. For if you 
 were the daughter and heiress of a king, you 
 must be married at some time or other, you 
 know ; and then, my love, as your own good 
 sense must tell you, the answer must be 
 different."
 
 GERTRUDE. 281 
 
 " Yes, papa, I am aware of that," she re- 
 plied, in the quiet accent which implies as- 
 sumed conviction. " But we are agreed, you 
 know, in thinking that there is no occasion 
 for us to be in a hurry about it. A young 
 lady in my position ought to be allowed 
 time to see a little of the world, before she 
 exchanges the immense advantages of such 
 
 a position for any other less than 
 
 regal." 
 
 " Quite true ! Most perfectly true ! And 
 it is a sentiment worthy of yourself, my 
 darling Gertrude ! But still, you know, dear- 
 est, I should not exactly like to say that to 
 Count Adolphe. Think about it, my love, 
 and let me know the result of your thoughts. 
 I know that I have very considerable com- 
 mand of language myself, but, nevertheless, 
 I think you might be able to assist me." 
 
 " On such occasions, my dear father," re- 
 plied Gertrude, looking a little alarmed ; " I 
 should think the most concise method would 
 be the best, and I am quite sure it would be 
 the kindest. It will be quite enougli to say 
 that you cannot accept his proposal, and that
 
 282 GERTRUDE. 
 
 you hope he will very soon forget having 
 made it ; for that you should be extremely 
 sorry to lose him as an acquaintance and 
 friend, and so would your family also." 
 
 " Well then, my dear love, that is just 
 what I will say; and it sounds so very 
 civil and kind, that I think he cannot be 
 offended." 
 
 "Quite impossible, dear papa!" replied 
 Gertrude, moving towards the door with a 
 quick step. " Good bye !" 
 
 But before she had passed through the 
 said door, she was recalled by the voice of 
 the Baron, who, in rather a loud key, arti- 
 culated : 
 
 " Come back, Gertrude ! Come back 
 for one short moment, my dear love, I 
 must beg of you ! That won't quite do, 
 either, Gertrude ! It is so very abrupt, my 
 dear child ! So very much like what any 
 other person might say — any ordinary person 
 I mean — and, therefore, you see, my dear, 
 I don't think it can be quite the proper thing 
 for me to say." 
 
 Gertrude, of course, stepped back, as in
 
 GERTRUDE. 2S3 
 
 duty bound ; but she looked exceedingly 
 vexed. 
 
 " Then if you cannot find words to refuse 
 him, papa, I suppose I must marry him, not- 
 withstanding all the reasons I have assigned 
 against it." 
 
 And again she turned to leave the room. 
 
 " No, Gertrude ! No !" said the Baron, 
 in his most pompous tone. " It shall never 
 be said, that I gave my daughter and sole heir- 
 ess to a man I did not approve, solely because 
 I did not know how to refuse him. Give 
 me that little book, if you please. My best 
 answer will be, the holding this book in my 
 hand, and saying, (after I have expressed a 
 great deal of personal regard for him) : No 
 man, Count Adolphe, can become the husband 
 of my daughter with my consent, ichose family 
 have not yet found a place here!' 
 
 Gertrude blushed to the very roots of her 
 hair, as she listened to him ; and for some 
 seconds she remained perfectly silent. She 
 then drew a long breath, as if she had strug- 
 gled with herself, and had conquered some 
 feeling which had impeded her reply; and
 
 284 GERTRUDE. 
 
 then she said, " Yes, papa. Perhaps that 
 would be the best answer you could give." 
 
 And having said this, she waited for no 
 farther rejoinder, but hastened back to the 
 door, and left the room.
 
 GERTRUDE. 285 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Before that eventful day was over, Count 
 Aclolphe contrived to seek, and to find his 
 friend Rupert. 
 
 The painful state of suspense in which the 
 reply of Gertrude, and her reference to her 
 father, had left him, could in no direction 
 have found anything so nearly approaching 
 relief and consolation, as in the long walk 
 through the neighbouring forest, which they 
 then took together. Rupert was still san- 
 guine as to the answer he was likely to 
 receive ; but the lover himself was much 
 less so.
 
 286 GERTRUDE. 
 
 "In some respects you ought to know 
 her a great deal better than I do," said the 
 anxious Adolphe; "and yet I think, that as 
 concerns the all-important question, it is I 
 who am right, and you who are wrong." 
 
 " It may be so, dear Count," replied 
 Rupert, gravely; "for most surely I have 
 little, or rather no means of judging correctly 
 on such a subject. What I told you, how- 
 ever, was perfectly true. I can, at least, be 
 certain, as far as having accurately repeated 
 the words I heard her say about you. Far- 
 ther, dear friend, I cannot go ; for if words 
 are uttered with two meanings, I think I 
 am quite as likely as you can be to give 
 them the wrong interpretation, instead of the 
 right." 
 
 The most anxious hours, however, pass 
 away as rapidly as the most delightful ones, 
 if we could but teach ourselves to believe it ; 
 and though the interval appeared immeasure- 
 ably long, the moment for appearing before 
 the august Baron von Sch wan berg seemed to 
 have come all too soon, when it arrived at 
 last. Count Adolphe was, upon most oc-
 
 GERTRUDE. 257 
 
 casions, a very fearless, stout-hearted youno- 
 man ; but, despite his valour, he was very 
 considerably agitated when the moment ar- 
 rived at which he was to request admission 
 to the presence of the always sublime, but 
 now positively awful, Baron von Schwan- 
 berg. 
 
 But having made this request, he was at 
 least spared all farther waiting ; for he was 
 at once shewn into the room in which stood 
 the most luxurious arm-chair which the man- 
 sion could boast, and which, therefore, had 
 long become the favourite dozing room of its 
 master. 
 
 He rose from his chair as his young visitor 
 approached, and extended a hand to him 
 with so very condescending a bow, that the 
 Count Adolphe felt his hopes most agreeably 
 strengthened ; and it was, therefore, with 
 more firmness and courage than he had him- 
 self dared to hope for, that he avowed his 
 attachment, and besought permission to offer 
 his hand to the young Baroness. 
 
 Nobody who had been half-a-dozen times in 
 the com pany of the Baron von Sch wanberg, could
 
 288 GERTRUDE. 
 
 doubt that the first words he uttered would be 
 prefaced by a sonorous " he-hem !" and the 
 sound of this, on the present occasion, though 
 it had, perhaps, something rather more than 
 usually solemn in it, did not, therefore, 
 greatly dismay the young suitor ; but when 
 it was followed bv the drawing from his 
 pocket a richly bound little book, which he 
 held between his hands, and bowed over, 
 with a sort of mysterious reveverence, the 
 young man knew not what to think, and 
 almost began to doubt whether he had made 
 himself clearly understood. 
 
 At last, however, the great man spoke, and 
 uttered these words : 
 
 " No man, Count Adolphe, can become 
 the husband of my daughter, with my con- 
 sent, whose family have not yet found a place 
 here." 
 
 Now, it is certainly extremely probable that 
 the majority of highly-born young Germans 
 know the Almanack de Got ha by sight, for 
 it is, in its ordinary form, a queer-shaped 
 little book, and easily recognized ; but it so 
 happened, that Adolphe Steinfeld did not
 
 GERTRUDE. 2S9 
 
 recognize it ; and he stared at this strange, 
 and to him perfectly unintelligible appeal, 
 very much as if the noble Baron had answered 
 him in Greek. 
 
 A silence, which appeared alarmingly long 
 to the lover, followed ; but as he happened to 
 have so expressive a countenance that even the 
 slow Baron perceived that he had not been 
 understood, this silence rather assisted the 
 denouement than delayed it. 
 
 " Is it possible, young man," said he, " that 
 you do not understand me ? Is it possible 
 that you clo not know this book when you see 
 it? This book, sir, is the 'Almanack de 
 Gotha !' " 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir !" replied Adolphe, " I have 
 often seen it. But what has that book to do 
 with the business which has brought me here ? 
 Surely I have not made myself understood." 
 
 " Pardon me, Count Adolphe von Stcin- 
 feld ! You have made yourself very clearly 
 understood; and it is now necessary that I 
 should make myself equally intelligible. Per- 
 haps you are not aware that this volume, 
 small as it is, contains not only the pedigrees 
 
 vot.. r. r
 
 290 GERTRUDE. 
 
 of all the reigning dynasties of the earth, but 
 records also the names of all those noble per- 
 sons who are in any way connected with them ? 
 Both my own family, and that of the noble 
 lady my w 7 ife, may boast of this honour ; and 
 no man, as I had the honour of telling you 
 before, can become the husband of my daugh- 
 ter, with my consent, whose family have not 
 found a place here." 
 
 Count Aclolphe looked at him steadily for a 
 moment. Perhaps he was speculating upon 
 the possibility of his being in jest ; but if 
 this idea occurred, it did not last ; for this 
 moment being past, the young man thanked 
 him for having spared him the annoyance of 
 uncertainty, by the unconquerable nature of 
 the obstacle to which he had referred ; and 
 then, taking his hat from the table on which 
 he had placed it, he made a low bow, and left 
 the room. 
 
 He paused for a moment in the great hall, 
 to decide whether he should ask for his horse 
 ... or for his friend, Rupert. At length, 
 however, he decided upon the latter; and 
 having made his presence known by aid of the
 
 -GERTRUDE. 291 
 
 door-bell, he said he should be glad to see 
 Mr. Rupert Odenthal, if he were at leisure to 
 come to him. 
 
 " The Herr Rupert is in the library, my 
 Lord Count," replied the servant ; " shall I 
 shew your Lordship thither ?" 
 
 " No !" replied the rejected lover, rather 
 abruptly. " I wish to see him here, if he can 
 come to me." 
 
 On this, the servant disappeared, and Ru- 
 pert obeyed the summons which had been 
 conveyed to him, with as little delay as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 " Can you walk with me part of my way 
 home, Rupert?" said Count Adolphe. " If 
 you can, I shall prefer walking, and will send 
 a servant hither for my horse." 
 
 " Certainly, I think I can walk with you," 
 replied his friend ; " but wait a moment while, 
 I say one word to the Baroness." 
 
 " I had rather not wait here, my good 
 friend," replied the Count, with a smile. " I 
 will go walking on slowly towards home, and 
 you will follow me, if you can." 
 
 Whereupon Rupert gave an assenting nod, 
 
 u 2
 
 292 GERTRUDE. 
 
 and they parted ; but, within five minutes after, 
 Adolphe heard a step behind him, whereupon 
 he turned round, and in another moment the 
 two friends were slowly proceeding together, 
 linked arm-in-arm, the one speaking, and the 
 other listening, in a way that shewed them 
 both to be very deeply interested in the sub- 
 ject-matter of the discourse. 
 
 " Good day, Rupert !" were Adolphe's first 
 words. 
 
 Rupert nodded his head in reply. 
 
 "I am cured, Rupert," was Adolphe's se- 
 cond speech. 
 
 " The devil you are !" was Rupert's recep- 
 tion of this, uttered in a tone of dismay. 
 
 " How much the devil may have to do with 
 it, my good friend, I am not certain ; but not 
 much, I should think, for, altogether, the 
 work is a good work, and I am my own man 
 again." 
 
 " Explain ! dear Adolphe, explain ! Do you 
 mean to say that you are no longer in love 
 with the Baroness Gertrude?" 
 
 " Perhaps I begin to doubt if I ever was 
 very much in love with the daughter of our
 
 GERTRUDE. 293 
 
 thrice-noble neighbour; perhaps you are right, 
 and that the fact of this unfortunate young 
 lady's being the daughter of that insane old 
 booby, is, and ought to be, reason good against 
 any one being in love with her." 
 
 " I never said so, Count," replied Rupert, 
 in a tone of indignation. " I think her very 
 charming, and I know her to be very excel- 
 lent ; but one cannot — at least, / cannot — 
 fall in love with the first pretty and good 
 young lady that one sees. But this is all idle 
 wandering. Do tell me, and in an intelligible 
 manner, if you can, what has happened to 
 
 55 
 
 you. 
 
 "I will, if lean," replied the Count; "and 
 the condition is but reasonable ; for how is a 
 man to make that appear intelligible in rela- 
 tion, which, when it occurred, had the very 
 closest resemblance to a sort of obscure in- 
 sanity ? . . . But wait a moment, Rupert, and 
 I will act the scene, and this will give you a 
 clearer idea of what has just passed, than an) 
 narration of mine could do. . . . Now, then, just 
 sit you down there, upon that fallen tree, and 
 I will sit down upon this one. . . . You don't
 
 294 GERTRUDE. 
 
 happen to have a book in your pocket, do you, 
 Rupert?" 
 
 " The chances are in favour of it," replied 
 the young librarian, laughing. "You know 
 my vocation, Count ! Some of them generally 
 stick to me, if they happen to be small ;" and, 
 so saying, he thrust his hand into his pocket, 
 and drew thence a miniature edition of " La 
 Fontaine's Fables." 
 
 " Selected by Fate, on purpose to assist my 
 exhibition !" cried Adolphe, seizing it. " Only 
 you must be pleased to fancy it a great deal 
 more thick, and a good deal more stumpy. 
 So ! Now, then, remember, if you please, that 
 you are the enamoured Adolphe von Steinfeld, 
 and that I am the noble Baron von Schwan- 
 berg." 
 
 " Go on !" said Rupert, placing himself in 
 the most touching attitude which the seat as- 
 signed him would permit, and assuming an 
 expression of countenance admirably calcu- 
 lated to suggest the idea of a mental struggle 
 between Love and Reverence, Hope and 
 Fear. 
 
 "Yes!" exclaimed Adolphe, "that is the
 
 GERTRUDE. 295 
 
 way I looked at him — at least, I hope so — for 
 that is the way I intended to look. But, now, 
 mark me ! I flatter myself that yon perceive 
 at once my utter contempt and indifference for 
 you and your looks. My thoughts are here, 
 sir ; here, in this sacred little stumpy volume, 
 which is neither more, nor less, than the ' Al- 
 manach de Gotha/ and thus I declare my will. 
 . . . No man shall ever marry my daughter, 
 with my consent, whose family have not found a 
 place here" 
 
 Rupert sprung from his pathetic attitude, 
 and indulged in a hearty burst of genuine 
 laughter. 
 
 " Are you in earnest, Count ?" he said, when 
 he recovered the power of speaking. 
 
 " Most perfectly in earnest, my dear friend," 
 replied Adolphe ; " and now, I presume," he 
 added, " that you will not wonder at my not 
 wishing to delay my departure from the castle 
 longer than was absolutely necessary." 
 
 " That you should wish to get out of his 
 way, if only to enjoy the laugh which I have 
 enjoyed now, I can easily understand ; but not 
 that you should so suddenly have recovered
 
 296 GERTRUDE. 
 
 from your tender passion as to run away from 
 the object of it." 
 
 " My dear Rupert !" replied the young 
 nobleman, very gravely, " I certainly think the 
 Baroness Gertrude von Schwanberg a very 
 beautiful girl ; and moreover, I have fancied, 
 right or wrong I scarcely know, that she was 
 more really intellectual, and more capable of 
 being a rational companion, than any young 
 lady I have yet seen. . . . But, be she what 
 she may, my good friend, I would not take the 
 daughter of that noble owl for my wife, if she 
 were ten times more beautiful, and ten times 
 more intelligent, than I thought her, when I 
 galloped, with a lover's speed, towards Schloss 
 Schwanberg this morning." 
 
 " You rather surprise me, Count Adolphe," 
 replied Rupert, looking at him with very 
 genuine astonishment. " I must confess that 
 I am, except in theory, extremely ignorant 
 of such matters ; but I certainly had fancied 
 that a disappointment in love, was a much 
 more serious affair than you seem to make of 
 it. 
 
 " Well then, I suppose it was only a fancy,
 
 GERTRUDE. 297 
 
 and not a passion... But, at any rate, it works 
 me and irks me no longer. I tell you I am 
 cured, Rupert, and I am thankful ! All I 
 regret is the sort of shyness which I fear 
 may arise between me and that dear library 
 yonder ; which means, being interpreted, 
 that I shall not see so much of you, that I 
 shall not be able to borrow so many books, 
 and that I shall no longer have the refresh- 
 ment of having freedom of thought justified, 
 and made manifest, as you all seem to enjoy 
 it there, without having the fear of priestly * 
 interference before your eyes. I am afraid 
 I must lose all this, and I shall miss it 
 greatly." 
 
 " I do not see the necessity for your losing 
 it," replied Rupert. " Were I in your place, 
 I should recount the whole affair to the young 
 lady's mamma, with precisely the same frank- 
 ness that you have recounted it to me. She 
 is a sort of second providence, in my estima- 
 tion ; and I do not much think that anything 
 could go on well, in our region, without her 
 advice and assistance."
 
 298 GERTRUDE. 
 
 "Do you not think that Gertrude must 
 have told her what passed between us ?" 
 
 " She may have done so, but I do not feel 
 certain of it. The young Baroness only re- 
 ferred you to her father, I think ?" 
 
 " Exactly so. She made no allusion to 
 her mother," replied Adolphe. 
 
 " And how do you mean to communicate 
 to the young lady the rejection you have re- 
 ceived from her father ?" said Rupert. 
 
 " I don't very well know," replied his 
 friend. " I am half inclined to think," he 
 added, " that she guessed what the result 
 would be, when she sent me to him." 
 
 "And even if she did," replied Rupert, 
 " I do not see that you can blame her for it. 
 She would not have been acting properly, 
 according to all your noble notions, if she 
 had taken it upon herself to reply either yes 
 or no. Neither would she have mended the 
 matter if she had referred you to her mother, 
 for she would have known perfectly well that 
 in that case her mother must have handed 
 you to her father. Such being the immu- 
 table ultimatum in all such affairs."
 
 GERTRUDE. 299 
 
 " Yes, Rupert, I know it as well as you do, 
 and I am a fool in affecting to believe that 
 the poor girl had any alternative. Never- 
 theless, I am a true man, and a wise one too, 
 when I tell you that I am cured of my love- 
 fit'; for I swear to you, by all that is beautiful, 
 and all that is good, I would not consent to 
 become the thrall and the son-in-law of this 
 old Almanack, for all the pleasure that beauty 
 and wit united could bestow on me." 
 
 " I am by no means surprized to hear you 
 say so," returned Rupert, laughing, " for 
 methinks I can understand your feelings as 
 well as if I were a count myself. Neverthe- 
 less, dear Adolphe, I still abide by my opi- 
 nion, that in order to make this queer little 
 affair of love, and the Almanack de Gotha 
 pass off without any ulterior bad conse- 
 quences, your best adviser will be found in 
 the Baroness von Schwanberg. But here we 
 must part, my good friend, or I shall leave 
 myself no time to perform any part of the 
 duty for which I receive wages, lodgings, and 
 sustenance. But if you will come to the 
 castle to-morrow morning, and enquire for the
 
 300 
 
 GERTRUDE. 
 
 lady of the castle, I will undertake so to ar- 
 range matters, as may enable you to tell her 
 all that has passed, and receive counsel from 
 her unerring judgment as to the best method 
 to be pursued in order to leave things as if 
 the events of to-day and yesterday had not 
 passed at all." 
 
 " I will in all my best obey you, sir," said 
 Adolphe, gaily. " Contrive to manage this 
 for me, Rupert, and you shall be my great 
 Apollo, for most truly can I assure you that I 
 wish for nothing more." 
 
 Rupert had not undertaken more than he 
 was able to perform. His ever-kind pa- 
 troness never threAV any difficulties in his 
 way when she perceived that he wished to 
 consult her; and within a couple of hours 
 after the deeply-offended Count Adolphe had 
 received his dismissal from the Baron, the 
 Baron's lady was made acquainted with all 
 that had passed, save and except the private 
 interview which had taken place between 
 Gertrude and her father. But, as it hap- 
 pened, the omission of that one little scene 
 produced neither obscurity nor uncertainty
 
 GERTRUDE. 301 
 
 in the mind of Madame von Schwanberg. 
 The drama went on perfectly well to its 
 catastrophe without it. It certainly required 
 some little effort on the part of the Baroness 
 to preserve her gravity as she listened to the 
 description of the almanack scene ; and no 
 little praise was merited on the part of Ru- 
 pert, for the tone of respectful solemnity with 
 which he narrated it. But this moment of 
 danger being happily got over by both par- 
 ties, no difficulty whatever seemed to rest on 
 the mind of the lady, as to the manner of 
 bringino- this foolish little affair to a conclu- 
 sion, without leaving any very painful recol- 
 lections of it behind. 
 
 " If I understand you rightly, Rupert," 
 said she, " Count Adoiphe will be made 
 aware, before I next see him, that you have 
 acquainted me with all that has passed ?" 
 
 " Assuredly," replied Rupert. " It is by 
 his express desire that I have made this com- 
 munication to you, madam." 
 
 " And the advice which I shall give him 
 will be this," returned the Baroness ; " I 
 shall advise him immediately to obtain his
 
 302 GERTRUDE. 
 
 very indulgent father's permission to travel 
 for a month or two ; and, if he follow my ad- 
 vice, he will visit us all after he returns, as if 
 he had totally forgotten that anything of the 
 kind had passed. Of course, Gertrude has told 
 me of his abrupt proposal to her, and of the 
 very proper manner in which she referred 
 him to her father. It is evident to me, that 
 she is much more disposed to forget, than to 
 remember this silly fancy of our young friend ; 
 and I natter myself, that Adolphe will easily 
 be brought to follow her example." 
 
 " Indeed, I hope so," said Rupert, very 
 honestly, but without deeming it proper to 
 avow his knowledge that such was already the 
 state of his mind. 
 
 Nothing, in short, could be more rational 
 on all sides than the* manner in which this 
 juvenile fancy was permitted to evaporate and 
 be forgotten. There was but one feature in 
 the business which at all puzzled the sagacity 
 of Madame von Schwanbsrg ; she was a good 
 deal perplexed to account for the Baron's 
 silence on the subject, and for some time she 
 lived in daily dread of being summoned to a
 
 GERTRUDE. 303 
 
 private interview, for the purpose of hearing 
 of the very magnificent manner in which he 
 had thought proper to reject the splendid pro- 
 posal which he had received from their high- 
 born and very wealthy neighbour. 
 
 Had she been aware that he avoided the 
 subject himself, and had commanded his 
 daughter to avoid it, from the fear that any 
 discussion on the subject might have led to 
 the discovery that the noble refusal, and still 
 nobler manner of it, had not originally been 
 his own suggestion, she would have under- 
 stood his silence concerning it much better. 
 
 end or VOL. I.
 
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